Author: admin
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said the UK government is involved in discussions with France and Saudi Arabia about recognising a Palestinian state ahead of a key United Nations conference on the issue in June. Speaking to the House of Lords’ international relations and defence committee on Wednesday, Lammy said it was “unacceptable” that the Palestinian people remained stateless, and said a two-state solution remained the only option. He acknowledged for the first time that the UK was working with France and Saudi Arabia in the run-up to the UN conference in New York to “to ensure we keep…
Pakistan says it has credible intelligence that a military incursion by India was “imminent” in the aftermath of a deadly attack by gunmen on a group of tourists in India-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people earlier this month. “We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now. So in that situation, some strategic decisions have to be taken, so those decisions have been taken,” Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said during an interview in Islamabad on Tuesday, and was reiterated by Pakistani officials on Wednesday during a press conference. Late on Tuesday, Pakistan’s Federal Minister…
Israeli settlers entered the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem early Tuesday, escorted by Israeli police, Wafa reported. The settlers reportedly moved in groups, toured the compound in what local sources described as a provocative display. Among those present was far-right rabbi Shimshon Alboim, who leads a group advocating for the mosque’s demolition to build a Jewish temple. Witnesses said Israeli police imposed tight restrictions on Palestinian worshippers at the mosque, seizing identity cards at the gates and limiting access. The Jerusalem Islamic Waqf confirmed that extremist “Temple Groups” have launched a petition urging far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to…
Last year’s Israeli war on Lebanon has left Hezbollah in a precarious position. Weakened by a relentless bombing campaign, a ground invasion and targeted strikes that killed much of its senior leadership – including its influential leader Hassan Nasrallah – the group has been facing mounting internal and international pressure to fully disarm. The United States, which helped broker the November ceasefire that halted the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, has long insisted that the Lebanese government be the sole authority in control of weapons within the country. In an interview with Lebanese broadcaster LBCI, US deputy special envoy for the Middle…
The expanded FIFA Club World Cup is underway, with Manchester City, Chelsea and Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami involved.The new-look Club World Cup, which features 32 teams, started on June 14 (in the early hours of June 15, UK time), with the final taking place on July 13. Manchester City have been drawn against Juventus of Italy, Moroccan side Wydad AC and Al Ain of the UAE, while Chelsea have been pitted against Flamengo of Brazil, Esperance Sportive de Tunis of Tunisia and Los Angeles FC. What’s the format of the Club World Cup? The tournament format works exactly the same…
For decades, Abdullah Ocalan has been at the heart of the Kurdish question in Turkey and the wider Middle East. The founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistane or PKK) in southeastern Turkey in 1978, Ocalan has been incarcerated in Imrali island prison south of Istanbul since 1999. But even from prison, he remains a crucial political figure, issuing orders and pronouncements that can change the future of the region. Why does Ocalan matter? To describe Ocalan as a controversial and polarising figure is an understatement. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and…
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader, Abdullah Ocalan, issued an order on Thursday for the group he founded to disband and disarm. His announcement was largely welcomed by Turkish political leaders and the media. Ocalan, who has been imprisoned on Imrali Island in the Marmara Sea since 1999, had previously called for ceasefires, most notably between 2012 and 2015, but he had never before explicitly asked for the PKK to dissolve itself. Sources close to the negotiations between the Turkish government, Ocalan and the PKK say that the process leading up to this decision lasted more than a year. The…
Senior British defence officials asked their US counterparts running the F-35 fighter jet programme if there were options available to stop UK-made components from reaching Israel without disrupting the global fleet, new court documents reveal. But the UK had concluded by last July that there were “significant obstacles” in the way of any such ban, with Defence Secretary John Healey warning Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds that month that the programme, a backbone of British and Nato air power, would be disrupted “within weeks” if the parts were suspended. Six weeks later, the UK government announced it was suspending 30 licences for the…
David Cameron, the former British prime minister and foreign secretary under the previous Conservative government, said he planned to impose sanctions on two senior members of the Israeli government – but stopped short of doing so because of the general election in July. In an interview with the BBC on Tuesday morning, Cameron said he wanted to impose an asset freeze and travel ban on Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, and the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir. He told Radio 4’s Today programme: “Smotrich and Gvir had said things like encouraging people to stop aid convoys getting into Gaza and encouraging extreme…
Halima Abu Dayya thought she lived the worst day of her life when Zionist militias expelled her from her home during their ethnic cleansing campaign of Palestine in 1948, known to Palestinians as the Nakba. But that day turned out to be merely a glimpse of the hardships she endured during the ongoing Israeli campaign of bombardment, starvation and forced displacement in Gaza. Hardships that eventually led to her death in Gaza City, according to her family. Middle East Eye spoke to the grandmother, a resident of Gaza City, in 2018, when she was 91. Then, she recalled her forced…