Posted on March 12th, 2010 by Marian Houk
It was a lovely, sunny, warm spring-like morning in Ramallah. It was Friday — the day off work, the day of the Friday prayer for Muslims, who would prefer to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of East Jerusalem, if they could…if they could get a permit.
Friday is also the day of [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on March 11th, 2010 by Marian Houk
Fallout continues on Thursday, days after serial Israeli government announcements of settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Israel’s Kadima Party, led by former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is considering calling a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Kadima won the February 2009 elections by a narrow popular vote, but Livni was [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, International Humanitarian Law, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Negotiators and negotiations, Palestine & Palestinians, USA
Posted on March 9th, 2010 by Marian Houk
In a sharp statement, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, currently on a visit to Israel in which there has been a lot of schmoozing going on (but tomorrow he visits Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah), said tonight that “I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Negotiators and negotiations, Palestine & Palestinians, USA
Posted on March 9th, 2010 by Marian Houk
According to a report compiled by three senior Haaretz correspondents (Barak Ravid, Akiva Eldar, Avi Issacharoff) published today, U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell, who met with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah yesterday after two days of talks in Israel, “told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, International Humanitarian Law, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Negotiators and negotiations, Palestine & Palestinians, USA
Posted on March 8th, 2010 by Marian Houk
The U.S. State Department has just released the following statement in the name of U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell: “I’m pleased that the Israeli and Palestinian leadership have accepted indirect talks. We’ve begun to discuss the structure and scope of these talks and I will return to the region next week to continue our [...]
1 Comment »
Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Negotiators and negotiations, Palestine & Palestinians, USA
Posted on March 6th, 2010 by Marian Houk
Palestinian officials are saying that they were under too much pressure from the Europeans and the Arabs to resist any longer accepting an American proposal to undertake “indirect” or “proximity” talks with Israel after more than a year of no negotiations. “It’s only for four months”, Palestinian officials say, apologetically, with a shrug of [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Gaza, International Humanitarian Law, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Negotiators and negotiations, Palestine & Palestinians, UN General Assembly, UN Secretary-General, UN Security Council, USA
Posted on February 28th, 2010 by Marian Houk
Where to begin?
Israel’s YNet news website is reporting today that Israel’s State President Shimon Peres “is unpleased by the government’s decision to renovate a selected list of heritage sites – which includes the Cave of the Patriarchs [which is also, for Palestinians and Muslims worldwide, the Ibrahimi or Abraham Mosque in Hebron] and Rachel’s Tomb [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on February 26th, 2010 by Marian Houk
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad attended the Friday prayers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron today.
In remarks to journalists in Hebron, Fayyad accused Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and his government of “expropriating” or “annexing” the Ibrahimi (Abraham) Mosque and several other sites important to the three monotheistic religions, including Rachel’s tomb in Bethlehem. [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Human Rights, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, United Nations Agencies and Programmes
Posted on February 25th, 2010 by Marian Houk
At the dawn prayers in the Ibrahimi (Abraham) Mosque in Hebron on 25 February 1994 — during the month of Ramadan – American-born Baruch Goldstein walked in, armed, past the armed Israeli soldiers on guard who had so terrified me the afternoon before, when I was sitting in the back seat of a clearly-marked UN [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Human Rights, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians
Posted on February 24th, 2010 by Marian Houk
Unrest continued for a third day in Hebron over the Israeli government decision to declare the important Ibrahimi (Abraham) mosque an Israeli heritage site, as schoolgirls in headscarves and green and white striped dresses over their jeans confronted Israeli troops who shot tear gas at them, while the situation was discussed at an Arab League [...]
No Comments »
Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Human Rights
