APS Diplomat Recorder articles from September 2008

APS Diplomat Recorder archives from September 2008

ARAB AFFAIRS - Sept 4 - Syria Sends Peace Proposals To Israel.
September 6, 2008... President Bashar al-Assad of Syria says that his country had made specific proposals to Turkish mediators for peace with Israel. But he said that the latest round of indirect negotiations between Syria and Israel had been postponed because of...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Sept 4 - Peres Proposes Direct Talks With Syria.
September 6, 2008... The Israeli president Peres says Syria and Israel should hold direct talks in Jerusalem or Damascus. Peres, who holds a largely ceremonial role as president, extended an invitation to Syria's Bashar al-Assad with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Sept 4 - Sarkozy Warns Iran It Risks Attack By Israel.
September 6, 2008... The French president Nicolas Sarkozy, warns Iran that it is taking a big risk by seeking to obtain a military nuclear capability, saying that one day it could find Israel had decided to attack. In one of the most explicit warnings to Tehran by...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Sept 4 - Bashar Gets Shalit Letter.(Bashar Assad and Gilad Shalit)
September 6, 2008... France hands Syria a letter for an Israeli soldier held by Hamas Islamists for two years, hoping the message from his father will reach him, an official close to President Nicolas Sarkozy said. Gilad Shalit, who has dual Israeli and French...

ARAB ISRAEL RELATIONS - Israelis And Palestinians Doubt Deal Will Be Reached Quickly.
September 6, 2008... Israeli and Palestinian officials play down the prospect of any quick peace deal as PM Ehud Olmert of Israel headed into his final stretch in office. Pointing to "considerable gaps" in the negotiating positions, Mark Regev, a spokesman for...

ARAB ISRAEL RELATIONS - Aug 31 - Israel Favours ME Peace Deal Without Jerusalem.
September 6, 2008... Israel wants to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians by the end of the year but postpone a final agreement on the future status of Jerusalem, a senior government official said yesterday. Both sides are interested in reaching a full...

ARAB ISRAEL RELATIONS - Sept 1 - Abbas Rejects Partial Peace Agreement.
September 6, 2008... Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejects Israel's idea of an interim peace agreement at a summit, a Palestinian negotiator said, insisting on an all-or-nothing approach that virtually ruled out an accord by a January target date. The latest...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Sept 5 - Rice Buries Enmity On Historic Step In Libya.(Condoleezza Rice)
September 6, 2008... The US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, arrived in the Libyan capital Tripoli on what she described as a "historic visit" that was proof Washington had no "permanent enemies". "This demonstrates that when countries are prepared to make...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Sept 5 - US Plan Would Shift Troops From Iraq To Afghanistan.
September 6, 2008... The US will carry out a modest shift of American forces from Iraq to Afghanistan by early next year under a confidential recommendation to President George W. Bush by the Pentagon's top civilian and military leaders. The number of American...

IRAQ - Aug 31 - Kurdish Troops In Standoff With Iraq Forces.
September 6, 2008... A new flashpoint has emerged in the Iraqi government's tense relationship with Kurds as rival Kurdish and Iraqi government forces vie for control of an ethnically mixed town. "The Iraqi army still wants to enter Khanaqin, and the peshmerga...

IRAQ - Sept 1 - Iraqis Take Control Of Anbar.
September 6, 2008... The US military hands the Iraqi government responsibility for security in Anbar province, the former stronghold of the Sunni insurgency. Anbar is the 11th of Iraq's 18 provinces, and the first Sunni Arab one, to be returned to Iraqi control...

IRAQ - Sept 3 - US 'Mistaken Fire' Kills 6 Iraqis, Officials Say.
September 6, 2008... American troops on boats in the Tigris River mistakenly killed six Iraqis on Sept 3 in an exchange of fire between the two sides north of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said. The clash began when Iraqi troops at a checkpoint fired at approaching US...

LEBANON - Sept 4 - Berri Flays Gadhafi Over Sadr's Disappearance.(Nabih Berri, Moammar Gadhafi and Musa al-Sader)
September 6, 2008... Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri held Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi responsible for the disappearance of Imam Musa al-Sader, a Shi'ite cleric who founded Berri's Amal Movement. "We tell the leader of the Libyan regime Moammar Gadhafi: you are...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Sept 11 - Iran Protests Israeli Threat To Kidnap Ahmadi-Nejad.
September 6, 2008... Iran protested against Israeli threats to kidnap President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad and use force against the Islamic republic, declaring it would not hesitate to act in self-defense. In a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Iran's UN...

ARAB ISRAEL RELATIONS - Sept 11 - Israel 'Confiscates' West Bank Land.
September 6, 2008... An Israeli human rights group says Israeli authorities and settlers have seized large plots of land surrounding settlements in the occupied West Bank and are blocking Palestinians from accessing them. Citing security reasons, Israel has taken...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Sept 9 - Bush keeping Iraq troop levels mostly steady.(George W. Bush)
September 6, 2008... President Bush announced on Sept 9 that he will keep the US force strength in Iraq largely intact until the next president takes over, drawing rebukes from Democrats who want the war ended and a bigger boost of troops in troubled Afghanistan....

AFGHANISTAN - Sept 8 - Al-Qaeda Calls Iran A 'Crusader' Ally.
September 6, 2008... In a video issued to mark the anniversary of the September 11 2001 terror attacks, al-Qaeda accuses Tehran of collaborating in a "crusader" war conducted by the west against Islam. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the terrorist group's deputy leader, hit out...

EGYPT - Sept 10 - Egypt Thwarts Protest Against Siege On Gaza.
September 6, 2008... Egyptian authorities block an opposition convoy headed for the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip. The group of judges, independent MPs, members of the main opposition Muslim Brotherhood and activists from other parties wanted to protest...

IRAN - Sept 8 - Pressure Mounts On Iran President.(Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad)
September 6, 2008... Amid mounting domestic pressure on his government at least 40 members of Iran's parliament have called for President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad to be summoned over pro-Israel comments made by one of his closest aides. No parliament has used this...

IRAQ - Sept 7 - Roadside Bombs Hits Eastern Baghdad.(Brief article)
September 6, 2008... Roadside bombs wound eight people in eastern Baghdad, police said, in a sign of the ongoing security threats despite a sharp reduction of violence in the Iraqi capital. One blast occurred at 9:10 am along Palestine Street near Beirut Square...

KUWAIT - Sept 7 - Kuwait PM Set For Historic Baghdad Visit.(Prime Minister Nasser Al Muhammad Al Sabah)(Brief article)
September 6, 2008... Kuwait's PM is set to make a historic visit to Iraq sometime this week. Kuwaiti PM Shaikh Nasser Al Muhammad Al Sabah will meet his Iraqi counterpart, Nouri Al Maliki, during the visit, the first high-level trip since Saddam Hussain invaded the...

LEBANON - Sept 10 - Fadlallah Urges Women To Enter Politics: 'Strength Means Responsibility'.(Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah )
September 6, 2008... Senior Shi'ite theologian Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah stresses the right of women to become involved in politics and urged the Lebanese people to rebel against "anyone who obstructs the building of a strong Lebanese state". Discussing the...

LEBANON - Sept 11 - Lebanon Assassination Raises Tensions.
September 6, 2008... The assassination of a pro-Syrian politician has heightened tensions in Lebanon, less than a week before talks begin aimed at reconciling deep divisions between the country's rival factions. Saleh Aridi, a senior member of the Lebanese...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Sept 16 - Lawmakers Seek Unified GCC Stance On Iran.
September 20, 2008... Kuwaiti and Bahraini MPs have rejected Iran's denial of spy networks, telling Gulf News that there is strong evidence of the illicit activities of Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the Gulf. On Sept 16, Iranian Defence Minister Mustafa Mohammad...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Sept 17 - Sleiman Predicts Official Ties With Syria By End-2008.
September 20, 2008... President Michel Sleiman says that Lebanese-Syrian relations are on the right track, adding that Beirut and Damascus were likely to exchange ambassadors by the end of 2008. Sleiman's remarks came during a meeting with a delegation from the...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Sept 19 - Syria Should Not Trust Israel.
September 20, 2008... In an interview with The Washington Times, published last week, Israeli Ambassador to Washington Sallai Meridor ascertaines the key objective that induced Israeli leaders to resume peace talks with Syria. "By far, the first reason to engage...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Sept 16 - Far-Right Euro-Mps Bid To Have Hizbullah Blacklisted As Terrorist Organization.
September 20, 2008... Members of the EU's Parliament launches a campaign this week to have Hizbullah listed as a terrorist organization by the 27-member bloc. A coalition of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) circulated a "written declaration" on Sept 16...

ARAB ISRAEL RELATIONS - Sept 15 - As Peace Talks Sputter, Israelis And Palestinians Eye Plan B.
September 20, 2008... Over the past two decades of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, deadlines for peace agreements have come and gone with precious few treaties. Now, amid low expectations for an agreement before the expiration of the Bush administration's target...

ARAB ISRAEL RELATIONS - Sept 18 - West Bank Settlers Thwart Israel's Evacuation Plan.
September 20, 2008... Israeli forces cancel a planned evacuation of an illegal settlement outpost near the West Bank city of Ramallah after a throng of settlers who learned of the plan gathered at the site before dawn. Israeli security sources said that a...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Sept 17 - US Acts To Curb Iranian Nuclear Progress.
September 20, 2008... The US announces measures against a network of companies it accuses of helping Iran with its nuclear programme and with weapons used against US troops. The moves, co-ordinated by the departments of Treasury, Justice and Commerce, are centred on...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Sept 18 - US Is Reviewing Afghanistan War Strategy, Gates Says.(Robert Gates )
September 20, 2008... In an echo of a time when things were going from bad to worse in Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the Bush administration is reviewing its war strategy in Afghanistan amid spreading insurgent violence, rising US and allied military...

AFGHANISTAN - Sept 15 - Taliban Trains Sights On Un As Suicide Bomber Hits Medical Convoy.
September 20, 2008... The suicide bombing of a medical convoy raises fears that the Taliban have begun targeting the UN in their campaign to oust Afghanistan's US-backed government and foreign troops, Despite many years working in Afghanistan, the UN has not been...

IRAN - Sept 16 - Iran Puts Revolutionary Guards In Charge Of Gulf Defense.
September 20, 2008... Iran announces that it has put the Revolutionary Guards in charge of defending the country's Gulf waters, in what appeared to be a hardening of its stance in the vital oil route. US commanders in the Gulf have said in the past that they found...

IRAN - Sept 18 - Ahmadi-Nejad backs aide over Israel.(Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad)(Brief article)
September 20, 2008... Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, defied politicians and senior clergy by backing remarks made by one of his closest aides over friendship with the Israeli people. Although Ahmadi-Nejad is more used to attacking Israel and predicting its...

IRAQ - Sept 13 - Assassination Is A Blow To Iraqi Citizen Patrols.
September 20, 2008... The Sunni Arab leader of a citizen patrol group in Baghdad who had also been a proponent of reconciliation and moderation in his neighborhood is assassinated. The killing of Fouad Ali Hussein al-Douri, the head of a group of about 65 guards and...

IRAQ - Sept 14 - Iraq Ready For New Talks With US, Iran.
September 20, 2008... Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari says Iraq is prepared to restart talks with the US and Iran, and is checking with both sides to see if a fresh round can be scheduled. The US and Iran, which have not had diplomatic ties for almost three...

ISRAEL - Sept 17 - Livni Favourite To Win Israel Leadership.
September 20, 2008... Israel's FM Tzipi Livni, enters a crucial party primary as the hot favourite to succeed Ehud Olmert both as boss of the centrist Kadima party and as the country's next PM. According to the latest polls taken among the party's 74,000 members, Ms...

ISRAEL - Sept 16 - Nasrallah Urges Broader Participation In Talks.(Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah)(Brief article)
September 20, 2008... Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah calls for increasing the number of participants in Lebanon's national dialogue, which kicked off at the Presidential Palace under the auspices of President Michel Sleiman. Nasrallah said that other...

ISRAEL - Sept 17 - Livni Looks Set To Lead Next Israeli Government.(Tzipi Livni)
September 20, 2008... Israel's FM Tzipi Livni, looks to have emerged victorious from a crucial party primary putting her in a commanding position to become the country's next PM. According to three separate exit polls released after voting closed, she trounced her...

LEBANON - Sept 14 - Hariri Rejects Preconditions On Dialogue.(Saad Hariri)
September 20, 2008... Parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri says during an iftar dinner that the success of the upcoming dialogue requires that no preconditions be set by the rival sides. Speaking earlier on Sept 14, Hariri also said that he had no objection to...

LEBANON - Sept 16 - Lebanese President Opens National Dialogue.
September 20, 2008... Lebanon's president calls on rival leaders to unite at the first session of talks that will focus on one of their deepest areas of division -- the role of Hizbullah guerrillas in defending the country. President Michel Suleiman opened a...

LIBYA - Sept 17 - Libyans Await Benefits Of Better Ties With The West.
September 20, 2008... Libya's exit from diplomatic isolation has raised expectations for change among ordinary Libyans frustrated with poor services and corruption, as well as improving leader Muammar Gaddafi's standing abroad. The regime could once tell its...

PALESTINE - Sept 16 - Gaza Strip Clashes Leave 12 Dead-By Tobias Buck In Jerusalem.(Brief article)
September 20, 2008... At least 12 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip over the past two days, in the latest clashes between the Islamist Hamas group that controls the territory and one of the strip's powerful clans. According to Hamas officials, security...

PALESTINE - Sept 16 - 11 Are Killed As Hamas Raids Compound Of Rivals In Gaza.
September 20, 2008... Ten members of a large Palestinian clan, including a one-year-old infant, and a Hamas police officer were killed late Sept 15 and early Sept 16 when Hamas forces clashed with gunmen from the family in its compound here, witnesses said. The...

PALESTINE - Sept 16 - Top Hamas Leaders Re-Elected In Secret Poll.(Brief article)
September 20, 2008... Thousands of Hamas members vote in a secret internal ballot in the Gaza Strip that re-elected the group's most prominent leaders to its highest bodies and signalled no change in policy. "The election showed the face of democracy within Hamas....

YEMEN - Sept 17 - Bomb At US Embassy In Yemen Kills 16.
September 20, 2008... Islamic militants launch a car bomb attack on the heavily fortified US embassy in Yemen, killing at least 16 people. The bomb was followed by several secondary explosions, and there were reports of a gun battle erupting between security guards...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Sept 22 - Top Security Official Warns Iran Against Involving Gcc In Nuclear Conflict.
September 27, 2008... Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police Lt.Col Dahi Khalfan Tamim warns Iran against involving the GCC in any conflict with the West, saying that the GCC will react strongly to any threat against its stability. In a rare reaction to Iranian leader's...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Sept 23 - Laf Officer Plays Down Massing Of 10,000 Syrian Troops On Border:.
September 27, 2008... Thousands of Syrian troops have amassed along the Lebanese border in what Damascus says is an effort to combat smuggling, Lebanese military sources said on Sept 22, stoking speculation and concern in Lebanon. A source in the Lebanese Army...

ARAB AFFAIRS - Sept 23 - Don't Soon Expect A Syria-Lebanon Border Agreement.
September 27, 2008... When Lebanon's new president, Michel Sleiman, and his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, held a landmark meeting in Damascus last month, one of the agreements reached between them was to delineate and demarcate the 320-kilometer border between...

ARAB EUROPEAN RELATIONS - Sept 24 - Russia Stalls Talks On Iran Nuclear Plans.
September 27, 2008... The leading powers are forced to cancel a meeting due to be held on the Iranian nuclear threat after Russia said the talks were not urgent, in a further sign of Moscow's frostier relations with the west after the Georgia crisis. Foreign...

ARAB US RELATIONS - Sept 23 - US Launches Plan To Boost Iraqi Army's Capability.
September 27, 2008... The US and Iraq's defence ministry have embarked on a major plan to bolster the country's military capability substantially by 2020. In an exclusive interview, Babaker Zebari, chief of staff of the Iraqi army, said by the end of 2010 the army,...

AFGHANISTAN - Sept 22 - Taliban Kidnap Over 140 Afghan Labourers.
September 27, 2008... Taliban insurgents have abducted more than 140 laborers involved in the construction of a military base in Afghanistan's western province of Farah. They were seized by suspected militants on Sunday while traveling in three buses on a road in...

IRAN - Sept 21 -Iran Warns Against Attack On Nuclear Facilities.
September 27, 2008... President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad says that Iran's military will "break the hand" of anyone targeting his country's nuclear facilities. The president spoke during a military parade displaying various types of Iranian-made missiles, including...

IRAQ - Sept 24 - Iraq MPs Approve Long Delayed Elections Law.
September 27, 2008... Iraq's parliament unanimously approves a provincial elections law after months of bickering between Arabs and Kurds, and called for the vote to be held before Jan. 31 next year, legislators said. The polls had been scheduled for Oct. 1 but the...

ISRAEL - Sept 21 - The Maneuvering Begins As Olmert Resigns.(Ehud Olmert)
September 27, 2008... Ehud Olmert officially resigns as PM of Israel, but the woman who hopes to replace him, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, faces formidable obstacles in preserving the governing coalition. Labor, her main governing partner, is weighing a move to...

ISRAEL - Sept 22 - Israeli President Shimon Peres Holds Talks To Discuss New Coalition.(Brief article)
September 27, 2008... Israeli President Shimon Peres hold talks with parliamentary leaders over the formation of a new coalition government, a day after PM Ehud Olmert resigned. Peres has met representatives of the four largest parties -- Kadima, Labour, Likud and...

ISRAEL - Sept 25 - Jewish Extremists Suspected In Attack On Israeli Peace Activist.
September 27, 2008... The police suspect that Jewish extremists carried out a pipe bomb attack that wounded a prominent Israeli peace activist and chillingly recalled the violent climate that prevailed before PM Yitzhak Rabin's assassination in 1995. Zeev Sternhell,...

LEBANON - Sept 23 - Hizbullah 'Not Gearing Up For War'.(Brief article)
September 27, 2008... Iran is halfway to a nuclear bomb, and Hizbullah, Hamas and Syria are using the status quo to rearm, the head of the Israeli military intelligence research division said, according to Israeli media reports. "Iran is developing a command of...

PALESTINE - Sept 21 -Taking Gaza By Force Is An Option.
September 27, 2008... The chief of Palestinian national security forces in West Bank, Gen. Dhiab Al-Ali, says that the PA must be ready to use force against Hamas in Gaza "to reunify the homeland". Al-Ali (nicknamed Abu Al-Fatah), told an Israeli daily in an...

PALESTINE - Sept 23 - Fatah OKs Plan For New Govt.(Brief article)
September 27, 2008... The ruling Palestinian faction Fatah has agreed to an Egyptian proposal to create a new government that would be acceptable to the international community. The announcement by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah came two weeks before...

SYRIA - Sept 24 - Syrian Troops Raise Beirut Anxiety.
September 27, 2008... The massing of 10,000 Syrian troops on the Lebanese border this week has raised fears among Damascus's opponents in Beirut that Syria is seeking to consolidate its influence over its smaller neighbour. The deployment, accompanied by the...