Jerusalem

By Teymoor Nabili in Middle East on October 18th, 2011
The Israeli government may be planning to build a new Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem [EPA]

On the Al Jazeera Newshour today, I spoke to Israeli spokesman Mark Regev. Mostly we discussed the prisoner exchange, but I also asked him whether the possibility of any further peace talks may have been compromised by talk of a new settlement in Jerusalem.


I was referring to the widely covered story that Israel was planning a major new expansion of settlements in Jerusalem.

By Sherine Tadros in Middle East on January 13th, 2011

This week a female journalist went to attend the Israeli prime minster’s annual speech to the foreign media at a Jerusalem hotel. She was stopped by Israeli security, taken to a room, body searched and told to take her bra off.

Tags: Jerusalem
By Sherine Tadros in Middle East on October 26th, 2010
Photo by GALLO/GETTY

Turkel Schmerkel.

For the past few days I've had the delightful task of hanging around the Yitzhak Rabin Guest House in West Jerusalem. I was covering the latest round of questioning by (Israeli) judges, appointed by the (Israeli) government to examine the legality of their deadly raid on the Gaza-bound aid ship last May.

By Sherine Tadros in Middle East on October 14th, 2010
Photo by AFP

Six weeks to the day since direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority were relaunched and we've seen the settlement moratorium expire, the Palestinians threaten to walk out of talks and the Israeli cabinet approve one of its most racist laws of all time. 

But the main players did fit in a nice post-summer mini-break, aka 'peace summit round 2', in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

And to think we were all skeptical at the start of this US-led peace endeavour.

But this week has seen an interesting twist to the story.

On Sunday, Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli PM, revealed he had offered to [consider] asking his cabinet to extend the [partial] settlement freeze in the West Bank (not including Jerusalem).

In return, he asked for the Palestinians to recognise Israel as the Jewish homeland (and not the homeland of millions of Palestinians that fled following Israel's creation and hope to one day return). 

Amaz

By Hashem Ahelbarra in Middle East on October 7th, 2010
Photo by AFP

Peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis have once again shipwrecked on an ocean of semantic squabbling.

Relaunched in September, the talks have tested a core premise of the American diplomatic effort in the Middle East: bringing the two sides to sit down and hammer out a comprehensive peace deal that would pave the way to the creation of a Palestinian state.

After three rounds of direct talks in Washington, DC, the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh and Jerusalem, negotiations collapsed when Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, refused to extend a moratorium on illegal settlement construction in the West Bank.

The Palestinians and the Israelis haven't had a chance to tackle core issues: the borders of the future state, security, the refugees, Jerusalem and the settlements.

By Nour Odeh in Middle East on September 14th, 2010
Picture from AFP

The view is as ironic as the reality. Standing on the edge of a house under construction in Bethlehem, I can see the Church of Nativity, Israel’s separation Wall surrounding Bethlehem, the city’s traffic, and the ever-expanding Israeli settlement Har Homa – while covering Palestinian-Israeli direct talks underway in Egypt.

Palestinians know the settlement as Jabal Abu Ghneim; Israel says it’s part of greater Occupied East Jerusalem. Palaestinians also know this illegal settlement of 30,000 residents was built in the height of the Oslo peace process on their private property.

By Teymoor Nabili in Middle East on September 13th, 2010
Photo from Reuters

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has a new report entitled "Unsafe Space. The Israeli Authorities' Failure to Protect Human Rights amid Settlements in East Jerusalem".

The short version: Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, especially the Old City, are increasingly subject to hostility and violence because authorities are joining political extremists in attempts to “Judaize” Palestinian areas.

The group's attorney Nisreen Alyan says:

Human rights in Silwan, Sheikh Jarrah and other neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem are at an all-time low as a result of the authorities' policy to side with settler groups. The level of tension and violence is on the rise, but the police are not providing Palestinians with the protection they need and deserve.

By Ayman Mohyeldin in Middle East on June 15th, 2010
Picture from AFP

Despite the fact East Jerusalem remains, under international law, an occupied city, many Israeli officials, including West Jerusalem's Jewish Mayor Nir Barakat, profess that Jerusalem is a city open for all to live in and move around freely within, including Arabs.

Israel claims even Palestinian residents of the city (who endure systematic discrimination, home evictions, demolitions, land confiscation and other forms of state and non-state duress and oppression) are free to live where ever they please. 

But a new report by two Israeli human rights organizations says that the real estate market in Jerusalem is not free and that "80% of lands in Jewish neighbourhoods in Jerusalem cannot be purchased by Palestinians". 

So Palestinians in East Jerusalem whose homes and lands are constantly confiscated,

By Al Jazeera Staff in Middle East on June 1st, 2010
The Mavi Marmara nearing Ashdod Monday night. (Photo: AFP)

We'll once again be keeping tabs on the latest reaction to Israel's deadly attack on a flotilla of activists carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Yesterday's live coverage is here.

The death toll has been revised down to 10, according to the Israeli army, which also says seven Israeli soldiers were wounded in the attack. Those numbers have been impossible to confirm independently, because the Israeli army has restricted access to the ships, which have been towed to Ashdod port. (All times are GMT, except where noted.)

If you have comments.

By Gregg Carlstrom in Middle East on May 31st, 2010
Protesters in Istanbul wave Palestinian flags after the raid (Photo: AFP)

Early Monday morning, Israel attacked a flotilla of aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip; up to 10 people were killed in the pre-dawn raid, according to organisers and media sources.

We'll be live-blogging the aftermath of this incident throughout the day; keep checking back for international reaction, news from our correspondents on the ground, photos and video. (All times are GMT, except where noted.)

Tags: Ahmet Davutoglu, Algeria, Ali al-Shami, AM CDT, Amman, Amr El-Kahky, Amr Moussa, Angela Merkel, Arab League, Arab socialist party, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Australia, Avigdor Lieberman, Avital Leibovich, Ayman Mohyeldin, Baghdad, Ban Ki-Moon, Barack Obama, Beijing, Belgium, Bill Burton, Binyamin Netanyahu, Cairo, Canada, Catherine Ashton, Chicago, China, Congress, Egypt, Ehud Barak, European Parliament, European Union, Facebook, Fatah, Filippo Grandi, Gabi Ashkenazi, Gaza, George Washington University, Germany, Greece, Greek government, Greta Berlin, Guido Westerwelle, Ha'aretz, Haifa, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Hamas, Hillary Clinton, IDF, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Israeli army, Israeli consulate, Israeli consulate in Istanbul, Israeli embassy in Amman, Israeli government, Israeli military, Israeli navy, Israeli police, Istanbul, James Jones, Jerusalem, Jerzy Buzek, Jordan, Kamel Khatib, Kampala, Kuwait, Lebanon, London, Mahmoud Abu Attar, Malaysia, Malcolm Smart, Marc Lynch, Mohammad Dahlan, Moqtada al-Sadr, Nabil al-Sharif, Nablus, navy, New York, Norway, Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Paris, Physicians for Human Rights, Raed Salah, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Robert Serry, Ron Ben Yishai, Saad Hariri, Saeb Erekat, Salam Fayyad, Serbia, South Africa, Stephen Harper, Sweden, Tel Aviv, The Los Angeles Times, Turkey, Turkish consulate in Istanbul, Twitter, Uganda, Umm, Umm al-Fahm, UN security council, United Kingdom, United Nations, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, United Nations Security Council, United States, Washington, White House, William Hague, Yang Tao

Al Jazeera Live

What's Hot


Recent Comments

This work is licensed under Creative Commons. Please read our attribution policy.