Israel-Palestine Live Coverage (6 November): Moves by Hamas and the Palestinian Authority Before a UN Vote

1920 GMT: Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor wrote a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon critical of three tanks crossed into the demilitarized zone between Syria and Israel last week and of Syrian gunfire hit an Israeli military jeep on Monday.

1830 GMT: Fatah central committee member Azzam al-Ahmad said they are committed to go to the UN. He continued:

We know there is an Israeli ministerial committee to discuss the issue and to start setting punishments on use but we have decided and it's not over, we're going despite the results.

1800 GMT: After Israeli decision to construct new settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem and in Ariel in the West Bank, PLO leader Hanan Ashrawi said:

Such organized efforts to construct more units in the illegal settlements of Pisgat Zeev, Ramot, and Ariel are a deliberate attempt to breach international law and to destroy all chances for peace.

With today’s announcement, it is obvious that such actions are in response to our decision to go to the United Nations, which serves to rescue the failed peace process and end the illegal occupation. 

As such, this sends a clear message to both the international community and to the Palestinians that Israel is more committed to annexing Palestinian land than committing to any peace resolution with the Palestinian people.

Click to read more ...

US Elections Opinion: Q: Who Won the Presidential Debate? (A: Israel)

This entry has been moved...

Click to read more ...

Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Deaths at the Aleppo Bakery

The aftermath of Tuesday's shelling of a bakery in Aleppo

See also Syria Feature: Activists in New Roles as Relief Volunteers
Tuesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The UN Talks Cease-Fire --- Is Anyone Listening?

---

2015 GMT: Egypt. Ten liberal and leftist political forces boycotted a meeting with President Mohamed Morsi today, objecting to the proposed Constitution and the Constituent Assembly that drafted it.

The boycotting factions included the Constitution Party, the Popular Current, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, the Nasserist Party, the Karama Party, the Free Egyptians, the Socialist Popular Alliance, Free Egypt, and the Adl Party.

The meeting was attended by Ayman Nour, spokesman for the Conference Party and member of the Constituent Assembly; Mohamed El-Beltagi, prominent member of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party; and Essam Sultan, deputy head of the Wasat Party and Constituent Assembly member. Presidential advisors Emad Abdel-Ghafour --- who is also head of the Salafist Nour Party --- Ayman El-Sayad, Omaima Kamel, Pakinam El-Sharqawi, and Farouk Gowida.

Some of those who attended expressed concern about the Constituent Assembly. Nour told Morsi, "The threat of dissolving the assembly has vanished. We're now left with the possibility that one wing will control the assembly, and therefore we need your intervention."

Nasserist Sameh Ashour said that finalising the constitution before the High Constitutional Court (HCC) rules on the Constituent Assembly was "wrong", insisting that the assembly should freeze its work until the HCC issues its verdict.

Click to read more ...

Syria, Lebanon (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Will a Beirut Bomb Widen the War?

Activists and crew on the Estelle, the Gaza-bound ship of the Freedom Flotilla, which was boarded this morning by Israeli forces

See also Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: At Least 44 Dead in Airstrike on Ma'arat al-Numan
Israel-Palestine Live Blog (19 October): A Centre-Left Alternative to Netanyahu?

---

1840 GMT: Egypt. France 24 TV says its correspondent in Cairo, Sonia Dridi, was "savagely attacked" near Tahrir Square on Friday night, shortly after a live news report.

The channel said Dridi was rescued by a colleague and other witnesses. The reporter and crew were safe "but extremely shocked".

France 24 said it would file a suit against unspecified assailants.

1720 GMT: Syria. US officials have put out the message, via The Washington Post, that they are stepping up intelligence co-operation and military consultations with Turkey over the Syrian conflict.

In particular, the officials confirmed that Washington was the source of intelligence for Ankara's grounding of a Syrian passenger jet, travelling from Moscow to Damascus, earlier this month. Turkish officials claimed the aircraft was carrying radar and electrical parts for Syria’s Russian-made anti-aircraft systems.

Click to read more ...

Israel-Palestine Opinion: No Pleasure in Bad News --- The Bad Math of the Zero-Sum Game

Human Rights Watch on the abuse in Gaza's prisons

---

Zero-sum logic ignores the fact that, like it or not, we are all in this together. Each act of political violence that occurs in Israel and Palestine these days is deeply intertwined with the failure to make peace and the cycle of violence that has arisen in its stead. Torture on either side of the Gaza border will never enhance security on the other.

Click to read more ...

Video and Transcript: President Obama's Speech to the UN

---

The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam. Yet to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn the hate we see when the image of Jesus Christ is desecrated, churches are destroyed, or the Holocaust is denied. Let us condemn incitement against Sufi Muslims, and Shiite pilgrims. It is time to heed the words of Gandhi: “Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.” Together, we must work towards a world where we are strengthened by our differences, and not defined by them. That is what America embodies, and that is the vision we will support.

Click to read more ...

Iran Interview and Analysis: Ahmadinejad's Show Begins with Washington Post --- An Easy Ride on Nukes, And Nothing on Human Rights

An extract from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's interview with Piers Morgan of CNN

---

Perhaps most striking is the Washington Post interview is the lack of concern with any developments inside Iran, and thus any consideration that these may be linked to the Islamic Republic's foreign policy. There is nothing here on the economic situation, nothing on the political manoeuvring within the system, nothing about the 2013 Presidential election, and --- perhaps inevitably --- nothing about the post-2009 repression and human rights.

Click to read more ...

Iran Interview: Middle Class Suffers, But Regime Will Take "Fair Package Deal" on Nuclear Program --- Iranian Analyst

The middle class feels it more than other sectors. The poor remain poor, and as always, rich people are less affected. It is the middle class --- the sector which protested the most for change in Iran following the 2009 elections, and the people who have the potential to change --- who have been hit the hardest, because they are becoming poor, and their influence diminishes. It follows that the sanctions decrease the likelihood of political change in Iran. People are increasingly dependent on the government, and the likelihood of an uprising while risking their source of income, will be lower.

Click to read more ...

Iran Propaganda 101: Press TV Re-Arranges Ban Ki-Moon's Words

---

On Thursday, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon addressed the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran. Press TV did not cover the speech. Instead it used Ban Ki-Moon's press conference today --- rewriting the translation on its own video --- to claim, "UN Censures West’s Threats Against Iran's Nuclear Energy Program".

A comparison of the Press TV account and what Ban Ki-Moon said on Thursday....

NUCLEAR ISSUE

Press TV: “I have condemned the threats by any member state to destroy or delegitimize another. I have reminded the leaders...throughout the world to lower the volume and stop the provocation that can lead the area down a slippery slope of conflict."

Ban Ki-Moon: "For the sake of peace and security in this region and globally, I urge the Government of Iran to take the necessary measures to build international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear programme."

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (29 August): Side-Stepping Syria at the Summit

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon meets the Supreme Leader today

See also The Latest from Iran (28 August): The Propaganda Display at the Summit

---

2040 GMT: Summit Watch. Looks like the meeting between United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the Supreme Leader was quite feisty for a diplomatic encounter....

Ayatollah Khamenei replied to Ban's concerns on the nuclear issues (see 2015 GMT) with the challenge that the United Nations is "defective", given the "dominance" of the US and its allies in the Security Council.

The Supreme Leader also spoke at length on Syria and "the victimisation of the innocent people of this country", criticising "a flood of weapons" to "irresponsible groups" and the opposition for a "proxy war".

Ayatollah Khamenei's website did not present his responses to Ban's comments on human rights issues and "offensive and inflammatory statements" on Israel.

Click to read more ...