Archives for October, 2014

IAEA: Military issues in Iran's nuke program won't block deal

Iran is dragging its feet on resolving questions about possible military nuclear research, but the head of the IAEA suggests cooperation will accelerate if and when there is a long-term nuclear agreement.

(L-R) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are photographed as they participate in a trilateral meeting in Vienna October 15, 2014. REUTERS/Carolyn Kaster/Pool (AUSTRIA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4A9TG

Kerry, Zarif to meet in Oman ahead of final push for Iran deal

US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the EU's Catherine Ashton in Oman Nov. 9-10, ahead of the final push by Iran and the P5+1 to try to close an Iran nuclear deal in Vienna.

French President Francois Hollande (R) and Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan hold a joint press statement at the Elysee Palace in Paris, October 31, 2014. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer (FRANCE - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4CBOI

Syria strengthens Turkish-French ties

French President Francois Hollande met with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Paris on Oct. 31 to discuss the crisis in Syria.

Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami speaks with Reuters correspondents in Tehran January 22, 2008. Khatami has withdrawn his name as a candidate for the upcoming presidential election. Khatami, who served from 1997 to 2005, oversaw a thawing in Iran's ties with the West. Those relations have since sharply deteriorated under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is expected to seek a second four-year term. REUTERS/Caren Firouz/Files (IRAN POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTXCU5T

Iran's 'second-generation' Reformists off to shaky start

A new group of Reformists has aligned to form a political faction that attempts to capitalize on the Reformist platform without repeating what they view as the original Reformists' mistakes.

Gaber Gad Nassar (front row, C), president of Cairo University, poses with graduating Engineering students after an interview with Reuters in Cairo October 15, 2014. The government has tightened security at the university as it seeks to avert another year of unrest on university campuses, among the last bastions of protest and dissent in Egypt. Nassar denied the security measures were intended to restrict academic freedoms. Picture taken October 15. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany (EGYPT - Tags: EDUCATION

التعليم العالي في الشرق الأوسط

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Caricatures of Erdogan flood Twitter

International support for persecuted cartoonists in Turkey challenges the Justice and Development Party's doctrine that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is above all criticism.

A man waves a Kurdistan flag as a Turkish military truck escorts a convoy of peshmerga vehicles at Habur border gate, which separates Turkey from Iraq, near the town of Silopi in southeastern Turkey, October 29, 2014. Iraqi peshmerga fighters arrived in southeastern Turkey early on Wednesday ahead of their planned deployment to the Syrian town of Kobani to help fellow Kurds repel an Islamic State advance, a Reuters witness said. REUTERS/Kadir Baris (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF TH

Turkish military angered by Ankara’s peshmerga move

The Turkish military is said to be riled and to have informed the government of its opposition to seeing Iraqi Kurdish fighters in Turkey.

A masked Palestinian protester uses a sling shot to throw stones at Israeli troops during clashes, following an anti-Israel demonstration over the entry restrictions to the al-Aqsa mosque, on a rainy day at Qalandia checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah October 31, 2014. Muslim men over 50 prayed at the Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday amid intense security, a day after Israel closed all access to the sacred compound for the first time in more than a decade following violence on the st

War and peace of Jerusalem

Jerusalem could become the world capital of peace, hosted by both Israel and Palestine, if the United Nations moved some of its agencies to the city, as suggested by a Palestinian policymaker.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (C) stands between Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh (L) and senior Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan during the letter of appointment ceremony in Gaza February 15, 2007. Abbas formally asked Haniyeh of Hamas on Thursday to form a new unity government and urged him to abide by peace accords signed with Israel. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA) - RTR1MG8Z

Will Hamas, Dahlan unite?

Hamas sources are talking about a possible alliance with Mohammed Dahlan, President Mahmoud Abbas’ rival, who might harm the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation.

Palestinians take part in an anti-Israel rally over the entry restrictions to the al-Aqsa mosque, in the West Bank city of Hebron October 31, 2014. Muslim men over 50 prayed at the Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday amid intense security, a day after Israel closed all access to the sacred compound for the first time in more than a decade following violence on the streets. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST RELIGION) - RTR4CBH7

Could Jerusalem's youth revolt turn into an uprising?

Despite efforts by Israel and Palestinian Authority to ease tensions in Jerusalem, clashes between Palestinian youth and Israeli police may turn into a full-fledged uprising.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan talks to the media in Istanbul February 3, 2014. Dozens of their colleagues are in prison or on trial, thousands of faceless opponents hound them on Twitter, and phone calls from government officials warn them over their coverage - all hazards of the trade for Turkey's journalists. Government critics who refuse to be muzzled can find themselves sacked. Others avoid trouble, such as the broadcaster which screened a documentary on penguins last June while police sprayed

The Middle East 'mastermind' who worries Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his team apparently see the Middle East not as chaos populated by many independent actors, but as a chessboard whose men are controlled by an unseen power.

Volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi Army to fight against predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), carry weapons during a parade in the streets in Al-Fdhiliya district, eastern Baghdad June 15, 2014. The insurgent offensive that has threatened to dismember Iraq spread to the northwest of the country on Sunday, when Sunni militants launched a dawn raid on a town close to the Syrian border, clashing with police and government forces. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Suda

Iraqi weapons trade thrives

The weapons trade in Iraq has become widespread in light of the escalation of the war against the Islamic State, and an increasing number of Iraqis possess guns for personal use.

Gaber Gad Nassar (front row, C), president of Cairo University, poses with graduating Engineering students after an interview with Reuters in Cairo October 15, 2014. The government has tightened security at the university as it seeks to avert another year of unrest on university campuses, among the last bastions of protest and dissent in Egypt. Nassar denied the security measures were intended to restrict academic freedoms. Picture taken October 15. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany (EGYPT - Tags: EDUCATION

Higher education in the Middle East

Palestinian police Colonel Adnan al-Damiri speaks during a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah about a deadly shootout in Qalqilya on May 31, 2009. Six people were killed in a West Bank shootout on May 31 during an arrest operation for a senior Hamas militant, deepening the rift between the rival Palestinian factions. The Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip warned that the rival Fatah movement loyal to president Mahmud Abbas had crossed a "red line" by carrying out the operation whi

PA spokesman: 'Israel has an Islamic State-like government'

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Adnan al-Damiri, the Palestinian Authority security services' spokesman, reacts to the Israeli decision revoking his VIP border pass.

Yehuda Glick, an activist of the "temple mount faithful" group, poses for a photo in Jerusalem June 30, 2011. Glick was shot and severely wounded in Jerusalem on October 29, 2014 as he left a conference promoting a Jewish campaign to permit praying at a compound in the Old City that that has become a flashpoint as both Jews and Muslims regard it as a holy site, Israeli officials said. Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian on Thursday after he fired at them resisting arrest in East Jerusalem hours after the

Israeli MK: Israel must reaffirm sovereignty over Jerusalem

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Knesset member Orit Strock blames the government for not clarifying long ago its stance concerning control of the Temple Mount, saying that this indecisiveness permitted the attack on rightist activist Rabbi Yehuda Glick.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) makes remarks as he meets with U.S. President Barack Obama in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington March 3, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3FZZ2

Is a Netanyahu-Obama accident waiting to happen?

While relations between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama are about to reach a breaking point, the shooting in Jerusalem of a right-wing activist risks provoking a regional explosion.