The United States-Russian deal for the destruction of Syria’s huge chemical weapon stocks caused Israelis to breathe an audible sigh of relief.
Flashing images of corpses under rubble, the pungent stench of cadavers and nagging sounds of gunfire were enough to push Syrian artist Abdel Satar to join a fleet of refugees as they escaped the mayhem of war.
Hani Abu Aliyan, 28, has been convicted of two separate murders in the Gaza Strip. In the first case, he was only 14-years old in 2000 when he allegedly sexually assaulted and killed another boy.
The Islamist Hamas movement has sharply criticized the Palestinian Authority for resuming peace talks with Israel, saying that President Mahmoud Abbas is giving in to American pressure. The criticism comes as Hamas moves toward a rapprochement with Iran, despite differences over Syria.
Did an Israeli drone cross into Egyptian airspace over the weekend and fire a rocket at gunmen in the Sinai Peninsula who were about to launch a strike on Israel? Probably. Will any Israeli or Egyptian official admit it, even off the record? Probably not.
In the oppressive heat of a Jerusalem afternoon, neither Israelis nor Palestinians could summon much enthusiasm for the peace talks that are set to resume on Wednesday for the first time in three years. Each side believes the other is not serious about peace and almost nobody thinks there will be any real progress.
Luke, an American photographer and editor for an English-language local newspaper, lives in one of the tall historic buildings in the city. With increased kidnappings of Westerners in Yemen, he also lives in fear.
Egypt’s military chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi today called for mass rallies on Friday to give him a mandate to confront violence. Coming three weeks after the army deposed Mohamed Morsi, the call puts pressure on Islamists, who vow they will continue to fight for Morsi to be reinstated.
Ahmed Abu Hamda, a journalist and producer in the Gaza Strip, had some work to do in the morning. But as happens frequently in Gaza, there was an electricity blackout because the area’s sole power plant is running low on fuel.
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