Conflict Blotter

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Entries Tagged as 'Diplomacy'

Misinterpreting Syria’s nuke program

October 17th, 2007 · 9 Comments

The Syrian envoy to the UN said two days ago during a meeting of the First Committee on Disarmament that Israel had bombed a Syrian nuclear facility, or so the UN reported in a subsequent press release:
Moreover, Israel was the fourth largest exporter of weapons of mass destruction and a violator of other nations’ airspace, […]

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Tags: WMD · UN · Diplomacy · Syria · Israel

More airport security complaints

September 18th, 2007 · 8 Comments

The US State Department has grown sore with Israeli airport screeners’ treatment of American citizens of Arab descent, Haaretz reports.
The State Department officials stressed that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was very perturbed by this issue and said they expected immediate improvement.
They also warned their Israeli counterparts that unless there was a change, they would […]

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Tags: Diplomacy · Israel

World opinion shifting in favor of Hamas

July 28th, 2007 · 13 Comments

Hamas PM Ismail Haniya’s claim in Thursday’s Guardian that the UK and Hamas have strengthened their ties seems credible . After all, the British government reversed its policy of boycotting Hamas when Alan Johnston was kidnapped and since then Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad has been to the UK twice, as has Haniya advisor Ahmed Yussuf. […]

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Tags: EU · Hezbollah · US Policy · Diplomacy · Hamas

Blair named Middle East envoy

June 27th, 2007 · 7 Comments

The basic line on Tony Blair as the Quartet’s new Middle East envoy is that the Palestinians and Arab world are angry about the decision because Blair has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with George W. Bush for six years. He invaded Iraq and he backed Israel’s 34-day war against Hezbollah. Palestinians by and large seem to back […]

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Tags: Palestinian · Diplomacy · Israel

Sharm summit expectations

June 25th, 2007 · 5 Comments

At today’s summit in Sharm al Sheikh look for Israel to make a number of minor concessions to Abbas, such as increased security cooperation, shipments of armoured cars and bulletproof vests to West Bank security forces, issuing more VIP permits to Palestinian businessmen, and the release of more Palestinian tax dollars.
But Olmert has already indicated […]

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Tags: Ehud Olmert · Mahmoud Abbas · Diplomacy · Egypt

The ghost of Sharm summits past

June 25th, 2007 · 3 Comments

Yediot Ahranot reminds us of the grim history of Sharm al Sheikh summits:
1996: Sharm summit attended by Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin, Jacques Chirac, John Major, Helmut Kohl, Jordan’s King Hussein, Morocco’s King Hassan, Yasser Arafat and Shimon Peres. The summit aimed to stop Hamas’ bombing campaign and save Peres from electoral defeat to Netanyahu. […]

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Tags: Diplomacy · Egypt