Blog Archives
Egyptian president says his regime is ready to protect Israel
Source: middleeastmonitor.com
Egyptian President Abdul-Fattah Al-Sisi told an Italian newspaper that his country is ready to send troops to Palestine in order to guarantee Israel’s security and work jointly against terrorism.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Al-Sisi said: “We are prepared to send military forces inside a Palestinian state. They would help the local police and reassure Israelis in their role as guarantors.”
The streets of Gaza in November 1917 after a British attack on the city in WWI. (IMAGE)
The streets of Gaza in November 1917 after a British attack on the city in WWI. The First Battle of Gaza was fought on 26 March 1917 during the first attempt by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) to invade the south of Palestine in the Ottoman Empire during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. Fighting took place in and around the town of Gaza on the Mediterranean coast when infantry and mounted infantry from the Desert Column, a component of theEastern Force, attacked the town. Late in the afternoon, on the verge of capturing Gaza, the Desert Column was withdrawn due to concerns about the approaching darkness and large Ottoman reinforcements. This British defeat was followed a few weeks later by the even more emphatic defeat of the Eastern Force at the Second Battle of Gaza in April 1917.
Dar al-Ifta in Egypt issues fatwas against “selfies” and online mixing
By: Madeline Grant
Source: http://www.newsweek.com/
An Egyptian Islamic authority has issued a fatwa prohibiting online contact between men and women, dismissing online chatrooms as “frivolous” and “evil”.
My name is Luke and this is my story of how I accepted Islam.
Source: http://hadithoftheday.com
I was born in Sydney Australia to an Australian born mother and an Egyptian born, Greek Italian father, who migrated to Australia in his thirties.
My mother had been a nun prior to her marriage to my father, so my siblings and I grew up with Sunday church and Catholic ideals. We gradually stopped going to church soon after my mother passed away when I was 11 years old. I know that I personally developed a bit of resentment towards a God that I believed could take my mother away from us when we needed her most. At age 11, I guess this was my way of dealing with it.
Gaza ceasefire extended by five days
Welcome reprieve continues for Gaza as sides agree more time needed to hammer out a permanent end to conflict.
Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have agreed to extend a ceasefire in Gaza for another five days after failing to reach a long term agreement in Cairo-mediated talks, Palestinian and Egyptian officials said on Wednesday.
A previously agreed three-day truce was set to expire less than an hour afterwards, at midnight local time (2100 GMT).
“We have agreed to give more time for the negotiations,” Azzam al-Ahmed, head of the Palestinian delegation in Cairo said on Wednesday, saying the extra time would be a further five days.
Egypt’s Rabaa Massacre A ‘Crime Against Humanity’, Human Rights Watch Report Finds (Video)
On the anniversary of last year’s Rabaa Massacre, Human Rights Watch has released a report that finds the killing of more than 800 people by Egyptian forces to be planned and methodical.
Palestinian leaders poised to join ICC in order to pursue Israel for war crimes
Diplomats expect plan to join international criminal court and call for investigation to be used as bargaining chip in Cairo talks
By: Julian Borger and Ian Black
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/
Palestinian political leaders are poised to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) with the aim of putting Israel in the dock on war crimes charges, officials said today.
“Israel has left us with no other option,” Riad Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister, told reporters after meeting ICC officials in The Hague to discuss the implications of signing the Rome Statute. It would make the Palestinian state a member of the court with the authority to call for an investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Hamas and Israeli officials talk to Al Jazeera about truce (Video)
Israel and the Palestinian factions, including Gaza’s Hamas movement, have accepted an Egyptian proposal to cease fire from 0500 GMT on August 5 for at least three days. Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas leader, and Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, confirmed the deal to Al Jazeera, with officials from each side pledging to commit to the truce and warning the other against violating it.
Algeria confirms crash of passenger airliner
Air Algerie plane was carrying 116 people from Burkina Faso to Algiers when it disappeared over northern Mali.
Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/
Algerian aviation officials have confirmed that a plane operated by Air Algerie carrying 116 people from Burkina Faso to Algeria’s capital has crashed over northern Mali.
Flight AH5017 disappeared from radar over northern Mali after heavy rains were reported, according to the owner and and government officials in France and Burkina Faso.
The flight, owned by the Spanish private company Swiftair, was carrying 110 passengers and six crew.
There were no additional details over casualties.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Air Algerie Flight 5017 had “probably crashed,” adding that “no trace” of the plane had been found.
Two French fighter jets are among aircraft scouring the rugged north of Mali for the plane, which was traveling from Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, to Algiers, the Algerian capital.
Air navigation services lost track of the MD-83 about 50 minutes after takeoff from Ougadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, at 1.55am GMT on Thursday, the official Algerian news agency APS said.
The list of passengers includes 51 French, 27 Burkina Faso nationals, eight Lebanese, six Algerians, five Canadians, four Germans, two Luxemburg nationals, one Swiss, one Belgium, one Egyptian, one Ukrainian, one Nigerian, one Cameroonian and one Malian, Burkina Faso Transport Minister Jean Bertin Ouedraogo said.
The six crew members are Spanish, according to the Spanish pilots’ union.
Transport Minister Jean Bertin Ouedraogo also said the plane sent its last message about 1.30am GMT, asking Niger air control to change its route because of heavy rains in the area.
Frederic Cuvillier, the French transport minister, said the plane vanished over northern Mali.
The plane had been missing for hours before the news was made public. It was not immediately clear why airline or government officials didn’t make it public earlier.
Air Algerie Flight 5017 was being operated by Spanish airline Swiftair, the company said in a statement. The Spanish pilots’ union said the plane belonged to Swiftair and it was operated by a Spanish crew.
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