Word: palestinians
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...dark picture of a region consumed by conflicts old and new, threatened by emerging Sunni-Shiite tensions and at risk of being completely destabilized if the U.S. attacks Iran. "I believe the Lebanese war dramatically opened all our eyes to the fact that if we don't solve the Palestinian issue, the future looks pretty bleak for the Middle East," he said. "I'm one of the most optimistic people you'll come across. For the first time, I started becoming pessimistic towards the region...
...Without urgent diplomatic efforts that yield tangible results to achieve peace between Israelis and Palestinians, "I don't think there will ever be a Palestinian state," he said. "By 2007, if we don't see something that reassures all of us - the international community, the Israelis, the Arabs and the Palestinians - then I think we are doomed to another decade or decades of violence between Israelis and Arabs, which affects everybody...
...case of Shalit, the Israelis have plenty of Palestinian prisoners for an exchange. For starters, the Israelis will almost certainly release more than 30 parliamentarians belonging to the Hamas-led government, who were arrested after Shalit's capture, presumably to be used as bargaining chips. A cell of the military wing of Hamas, along with other Palestinian militant groups, is thought to have carried out the raid on an Israeli army post near Gaza in which Shalit was captured. The Israelis are also holding thousands of Palestinians for alleged terrorist crimes, and some of these may also be thrown into...
...Hamas sources in Gaza tell TIME that talks over Shalit's release could lay the groundwork for a wider truce between Israel and the Palestinian authorities. Hamas sources say their militant leaders are offering a cease-fire and will stop lobbing rockets into Israel from Gaza if Israel lifts its blockade on the Palestinian coastal strip. Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres also made clear Tuesday that the return of Shalit would likely be followed by talks between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Olmert - a significant development since Abbas looks set to work together with Hamas in a national unity...
...Israeli military officials say they haven't given up on the possibility of staging a rescue operation to free the hostages. Palestinians in Gaza say that Israeli intelligence officers are squeezing their informers for any scrap of evidence that might lead them to Shalit's captors. In Lebanon, the task is more daunting; the last war exposed that Israeli intelligence lacks the contacts to penetrate Hizballah as deeply as they have the Palestinian militant outfits. During the campaign in Lebanon, according to various Israeli news reports, Israeli commandos raided a hospital in Baalbek, where an Iranian doctor had supposedly treated...