Facts, News, Trends, Analysis
Early Monday morning, December 15, more than 220 Palestinian prisoners freed by Israeli authorities arrived in the West Bank. They were greeted by a crowd that seemed to be overjoyed with the release, a move that Israel has termed a gesture of goodwill towards Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority. However, comments made by [...]
Twenty Palestinian prisoners were removed from the list of prisoners to be released from Israeli custody, Tuesday, December 9. In what they described as a gesture to the Palestinian Authority, the Israeli government had stated that it would release 250 Palestinian prisoners – the list is now down to 230. The move to release these [...]
Undercover Israeli troops suspected that Jihah Nwada, a fighter involved with the Islamic Jihad group, was planning to carry out an attack in the West Bank town of Jenin. Nwada fled when troops attempted to arrest him outside of a café, causing them to open fire and kill him. Overnight, a total of 22 Palestinian [...]
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has garnered little support for his rumored plan to extend his term in office by an additional year. A recent poll conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research indicates that almost two-thirds of Palestinians believe that Abbas’s term should end in January, rather than be extended without new [...]
The central bank of Saudi Arabia reduced key policy rates by 50 basis points to help boost banking sector liquidity. Charging or paying interest is forbidden by the Sharia, which, technically, should be the law that governs the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia is feeling the effects of the international financial crisis. One of the country’s flagship [...]
The Human Rights Commission, a government group, issued a statement outlining their commitment to improving human rights conditions in Saudi Arabia. Some of the progress includes a multi-faith dialogue recently held in New York, sponsored by King Abdullah. One of the most significant involvements of HRC is perhaps its intervention in court cases that are [...]
If historical evidence is anything to go by, the former appears to be the case. In an effort to curb falling oil prices, which could have damaging effects on some of the petro-dollar-reliant economies, OPEC has announced production cuts since crude fell from a $150/barrel high (now at $40/barrel). However, the effectiveness has obviously not [...]
For the fifth time this month, the Israeli military has allowed humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, temporarily permitting international officials to travel through the blockade it has in place. Though Hamas controls Gaza, the United Nations has urged Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to allow aid to be dispersed to hundreds of thousands of [...]
Not until recently when US banks begin to topple left and right did the activities of so-called Sovereign Wealth Funds begin to occupy the headlines. Indeed, very little has been heard about what the Gulf Oil States do with their sizable petro income. What’s for sure is that the billions of dollars are not stuffed [...]
“So what if the guy threw his shoes at me?” questioned President Bush in the wake of an attempted assault in Baghdad. In the midst of a surprise final visit to Iraq, an intrepid Iraqi reporter, later identified as “Shoeless” Muntadar al-Zeidi, abandoned his objective journalistic stance and let his unconventional footwork do the talking [...]
You are currently browsing the Middle East Politics.Net blog archives for December, 2008.
