juin 2008

      A court has sentenced an Iranian man to death on charges of spying for Israel, Iranian media said on Monday. Monday's report identified the convicted as Ali Ashtari, a 45-year-old tradesman in electronic merchandise who supplied military, security and defense centers across the country with electronic devices. Iran state television quoted an unnamed official as saying Ashtari relayed sensitive information on military, defense and research centers to Israel's Mossad intelligence officers. The material... [Lire la suite]

        Hezbollah considers itself free to strike Israeli soldiers and civilians unless it receives maps of minefields and areas peppered with cluster bombs during the Second Lebanon War, a Lebanese journalist believed familiar with the Shi'ite group's thinking wrote in an article appearing Monday. "This will be a sufficient reason for the resistance (Hezbollah) to carry out a thousand operations and to kill the enemy soldiers as it wishes, and perhaps its civilians, as long as the Israeli killing machine... [Lire la suite]

           Israel has Sunday morning re-opened at least three of its border crossings with the Gaza Strip. The crossings had been closed since the middle of last week in response to a rocket attack from Gaza by the Islamic Jihad terror group. The attack was a violation of a ceasefire brokered by Egypt. There have been additional violations since then, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak to respond to every violation with an... [Lire la suite]

      The cabinet overwhelmingly agreed to swap notorious Lebanese prisoner Samir Kuntar for the bodies of captured IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, according to a senior government official Sunday afternoon. The cabinet debated the deal for nearly six hours before the vote, which was approved 22-3, with Roni Bar-On, Ze'ev Boim and Daniel Friedmann the only ministers to vote against. As well as freeing Kuntar, who is serving multiple life terms in a 1979 infiltration attack in Nahariyah, Israel will... [Lire la suite]

Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin has somewhat softened his position regarding the prisoners who could be released in return for Shalit. Diskin is now prepared to release some prisoners "who have the blood of Israelis on their hands," so long as the risk they pose is lessened. The government's coordinator for hostage negotiations, Ofer Dekel, left for Cairo on Thursday, where talks have resumed over a deal to secure the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Shalit was abducted two years ago in a... [Lire la suite]

       Israel and Hezbollah have prepared a written agreement on a prisoner exchange that the cabinet will deliberate on Sunday and possible approve. If approved, Israel will sign the deal that will then be taken to Beirut by the German mediators for Hezbollah's signature. The deal with Hezbollah aims to secure the release of IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were captured in a cross-border raid by the Lebanese guerillas in July 2006, sparking the Second Lebanon War. The cabinet will meet Sunday... [Lire la suite]

     The peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians is within reach and this is the time for tough decisions, said top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Thursday. In a conference held at Tel Aviv University on the Israel-Syria peace negotiations and their influence on the Palestinians, Erekat said that if Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas succeed in striking a peace deal, they would be "the most important people in Jerusalem since Jesus walked in it." At the... [Lire la suite]

       At a high-level security meeting late Thursday, Israel decided to keep the border crossings into the Gaza Strip closed on Friday because of the latest rocket attack defense officials said. A limited amount of fuel will be transferred, they said. Earlier Thursday, two Qassam rockets were fired from the Strip into Israel. The militant Fatah offshoot Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack and demanded that the cease fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which currently includes only... [Lire la suite]

      Continuing her campaign for the leadership of the Kadima Party, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni again railed against corruption in politics on Monday, promising to restore the public's faith in its elected representatives. "There is no doubt that the public has lost its faith in politics," Livni said during a speech at Tel Aviv University. "From here the path to an unstable foundation of democracy and anarchy is very short." "This year we celebrated [Israel's 60th anniversary]," she... [Lire la suite]

      The prisoner swap deal with Hizbullah to secure the release of captured IDF reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser will be brought for cabinet approval on Sunday, it was decided Tuesday after a meeting between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Goldwasser's wife, Karnit. "I believe we can bring them home now," Karnit told Channel 10 following her meeting with the prime minister. "I really hope the ministers will do what they promised and secure Ehud's release." The meeting came a day after... [Lire la suite]