Arab leaders have gathered in Amman for a significant Arab League summit that appears set to follow a familiar script, taking a united stand against Israel, but not quite trusting the Palestinians, while remaining divided on regional troublemaker Iraq.
The Labor party on Friday voted for eight ministers to fill its allotted seats in the emerging government of Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon, with MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a reserve brigadier general, besting several challengers for the position of defense minister and elder party statesman Shimon Peres winning the foreign ministry post by default.
Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon looks set to meet his Wednesday deadline for presenting his government to the Knesset, after his coalition negotiating team initialed a deal with the ultra-Orthodox Shas party Sunday night giving him a parliamentary majority of 64 seats.
Israel still has plenty of reasons to be concerned that PLO chief Yasser Arafat will not honor the Sharm e-Sheikh cease-fire, as armed Palestinian elements continue to fire upon Israeli targets and Arafat has yet to clearly order his forces to quell the uprising.
The Arab world marked the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha on Monday, traditionally a day of food, family and festivities. But this year, the holiday was noted for intensified anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric, continued violence and economic hardship in Palestinian areas, and the tragic death of 35 pilgrims during the hajj to Mecca.
Aides to outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak tried to distance him from the controversy surrounding former US President Bill Clinton and the “pardongate” scandal, refuting claims on Saturday that Barak had made three calls to Clinton that ultimately persuaded him to pardon fugitive financier Marc Rich.
After quickly pulling together a broad coalition of national unity, Israeli war hero and long-time politician Ariel Sharon was sworn in as Israel’s 11th prime minister in a special Knesset session late Wednesday evening, becoming the leader of the largest cabinet in the nation’s history.
Israeli authorities are wrestling again with the “Jewishness” of immigrants under the Law of Return, while a group of new immigrant soldiers are asking to use the New Testament instead of just the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, during their induction as IDF soldiers.
Pledging to work for peace but only if Palestinian violence stops, Israeli war hero and long-time politician Ariel Sharon was warmly welcomed to his new position at the Prime Minister’s Office by outgoing leader Ehud Barak on Thursday.
A diplomatic dogfight is taking shape at the United Nations, as Israel ponders how to foil Syria’s drive to become one of the ten non-permanent members of the Security Council.
Investigators in the congressional probe into former US President Bill Clinton’s controversial pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich plan to formally question ex-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak about his role in the possible pardon-for-money scandal.
According to Iran’s state-run radio, the country is receiving help from Russia to complete its nuclear power plant at Bushehr, which is expected to be operational within two years.
The Lebanese army has detained 12 people, including a Palestinian officer, accusing them of spying for Israel, the military said Thursday. The army statement did not say when or where the 12 were arrested, but said they were caught with sophisticated wireless and camouflaged photography equipment.
United Nations and European Union officials increasingly fear that the worsening economic conditions in the Palestinian Authority will only increase poverty and lead to more violence. But for the first time, the EU is seriously threatening to withhold further funding unless the PA starts to combat terrorism and adopts a revised and “transparent” budget plan.
Despite universal outrage and even widespread condemnation from leading Muslim circles, the ruling Taliban faction in Kabul has proceeded with the destruction of non-Islamic statues in Afghanistan.
The gnawing debate inside Israel’s peace camp about whether arch-dove Shimon Peres should replace Ehud Barak as the Labor party’s candidate for prime minister seemed less relevant on Friday, as the latest polls showed Likud chairman Ariel Sharon now defeating either one come February 6.
Fresh eye-witness accounts indicate the Muslim Waqf has added a new tunnel accessing the ancient Hulda Gates corridor to its growing list of “archaeological crimes” on the Temple Mount.
With elections only a week away, the biggest concerns in the Likud camp of front-runner Ariel Sharon have less to do with what will happen on election day, and more about how Sharon can ensure a stable government once he is elected.
QUOTES FROM SHARON SUPPORTERS:
“[The Oslo Accords were] illusions that one-sided concessions to an authoritarian regime, who is ready to use terror as the leverage on us, can really bring peace. Ariel Sharon will no doubt try to build the government which will be based on the broad consensus and to negotiate, to negotiate on the basis of reciprocity.” – Natan Sharansky, noted Soviet refusenik and head of the Yisrael B’Aliyah party.
Following the US-British air strikes on Iraq’s air defense system Friday night, Baghdad threatened to retaliate, intensifying not only its anti-US rhetoric, but also its continued campaign to eliminate the Jewish state.