Semaine 23 / 2007

     Quelque 1 800 personnes ont manifesté samedi dans le centre de Tel-Aviv pour dénoncer l’occupation des territoires palestiniens, à l’occasion du 40-e anniversaire de la guerre de juin 1967. Ces manifestants, qui s’étaient réunis à l’appel d’un collectif réunissant les mouvements hostiles « à l’occupation israélienne » ainsi que des organisations arabes israéliennes, ont brandi des pancartes proclamant : " Non à l’occupation, oui à la paix "(21,34)

     The IDF confirmed Saturday afternoon that Palestinian gunmen broke through Israel's border fortifications around Gaza on Saturday and exchanged fire with Israeli troops inside Israel. The attack took place near an IDF outpost at Kissufim crossing, on the border between central Gaza and Israel. Military sources said that the IDF’s Gaza division, in cooperation with Shin Bet, was prepared for the incident in which four Palestinian gunmen broke through Israel's border fortifications around Gaza on Saturday, and as... [Lire la suite]

    Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told leaders in his party that a collapse of Fatah's shaky coalition with Hamas will lead to more chaos. In a speech to Fatah leaders late Friday, Abbas warned that "the alternative to the national unity government is chaos and loss," the Al Ayyam daily reported on Saturday. Abbas said Fatah must act responsibly. "Fatah will not be the trigger to ignite the fire," he was quoted as saying. "On the contrary, it will work to extinguish the fire."... [Lire la suite]

     The Lebanese troops pounded al Fatah al Islam militants dug in at the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el Bared in north Lebanon on Friday after the gunmen refused demands they give themselves up. Artillery and tanks blasted several areas of the squalid Nahr al-Bared camp, where Fatah al-Islam militants have shown stiff resistance in nearly three weeks of often ferocious battles. Lebanese sources said the Islamic Action Front, which includes Sunni politicians and clerics, would continue its efforts to find a... [Lire la suite]

     Damascus is interested in renewing the peace process with Israel, a Syrian official said yesterday, one day after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made similar remarks. "Our stance remains as it was. We are ready to renew negotiations for peace and interested in working for peace," the Syrian official told the Agence France-Presse news agency. Referring to Olmert's call for a resumption of direct negotiations with Syria, the official said: "Syria is following the Israeli announcements very closely."... [Lire la suite]

      A bomb went off near a Christian town north of Beirut on Thursday, killing at least one man and wounding three others, in the latest string of explosions that have shaken Lebanon since fighting erupted between army troops and Islamic gunmen in a northern refugee camp three weeks ago. Security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media, said the blast occurred in an industrial area in the town of Zouk Mousbeh, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Beirut and... [Lire la suite]

     The Middle East Quartet ( the US, EU, UN and Russia ) will meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in three weeks in Egypt, possibly at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The Palestinians cancelled Wednesday a summit scheduled for Thursday between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. But a short time after the announcement, Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr told a news conference that the Quartet had invited the two leaders to Egypt on June 25th. He said... [Lire la suite]

      A senior Egyptian official has blamed Israel for the impasse in contacts on the release of IDF captive soldier Gilad Shalit. According to the official, Hamas agreed to reduce by more than half the number of prisoners it is demanding be released -- from 1000 to about 400. The official said Israel has shown no flexibility, perhaps out of the government's concern for public reaction. If only one side makes concessions, it is not negotiations but dictates, the Egyptian source told the London-based daily Al-Hayat.... [Lire la suite]

      Palestinians in Lebanon should be permitted to set up their own security force in refugee camps there to prevent the formation of armed gangs in the future, the top PLO official in Lebanon said Thursday. The official, Abbas Zaki, spoke after briefing Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on the fighting in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared near the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli. In the camp, an al-Qaida-inspired group, Fatah Islam, has been fighting the Lebanese army since May 20.More... [Lire la suite]

   Palestinian factional violence continues Thursday in the Gaza Strip. Fatah gunmen raided the home of a Hamas member in Rafah and shot and seriously wounded him. Earlier Thursday morning, a Fatah member was killed in exchanges of fire with gunmen from the rival group. Five other people were wounded, two of them seriously. Near the Jebalya refugee camp in the northern part of the strip, Fatah-linked security forces Wednesday night uncovered a tunnel dug by Hamas members. The security forces came under fire from Hamas gunmen... [Lire la suite]