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☆ Muslims spot Ramadan crescent moon in Saudi Arabia, meaning month of fasting starts Monday for many
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-10 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Officials saw the crescent moon Sunday night in Saudi Arabia, home to the holiest sites in Islam, marking the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan for many of the world's 1.8 billion Muslims. Saudi state television reported that authorities there saw the crescent moon. However, there are some Asia-Pacific countries like Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, that will begin Ramadan on Tuesday after failing to see the crescent moon. In Saudi Arabia, the kingdom had been urging the public to watch the skies from Sunday night in preparation for the sighting of the crescent moon. The Palestinian territories will begin Ramadan on Monday as well.

Persons: Jordan, Saudi King Salman, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ramadan, Robabeh, it's, Prophet Muhammad, Israel, Jerusalem's Organizations: Iran's, Hamas, Islamic Locations: Musyari'in, Jakarta, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Islam, Saudi, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Asia, Pacific, Australia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Oman, Israel, Gaza, Palestine, Mecca, Iran, Tehran, Persian, Nowruz, U.S, Jerusalem's Al, Aqsa, Sudan

☆ Oil prices ease, U.S. crude stock build fuels demand fears
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Oil prices eased early on Thursday after a larger-than-expected build in U.S. crude stockpiles stoked worries about slow demand, while signs that U.S. interest rates could remain elevated for longer also added to pressure. Oil prices eased early on Thursday after a larger-than-expected build in U.S. crude stockpiles stoked worries about slow demand, while signs that U.S. interest rates could remain elevated for longer also added to pressure. "The anticipation of delayed U.S. rate cuts also weighed on the market sentiment as it could undermine oil demand," he said. Traders have already dialed back expectations for U.S. interest rate cuts after a slew of strong data, including hot consumer price index and producer price index readings. Still, the conflict in the Middle East is expected to keep a floor under oil prices, Rakuten's Yoshida said.

Persons: refiners, Satoru Yoshida, Rakuten's Yoshida, Jerusalem's Al, Joe Biden Organizations: Brent, . West Texas, Energy Information Administration, EIA, Rakuten Securities, Traders, U.S, Hamas Locations: U.S, Aqsa, Gaza, Israel

☆ Israel to Set Security Limits on Ramadan Prayers at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa, Netanyahu Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: 1 min

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that he had made a "balanced decision" to allow freedom of worship at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa mosque during Ramadan, but that access would be limited according to security needs. Asked about the possibility of blocking access for Israeli Muslims to Al Aqsa, a flashpoint prayer site in Jerusalem's Old City, Netanyahu's office said: "The prime minister made a balanced decision to allow freedom of worship within the security needs determined by professionals." It gave no details. Israel often sets limits on which worshippers can reach the prayer site - for example based on age - in order to avoid violence from erupting at the site, which is part of a compound also holy in Judaism. War in Israel and Gaza View All 209 Images(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by James Mackenzie)

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Ari Rabinovitch, James Mackenzie Locations: JERUSALEM, Jerusalem's Al Aqsa, Al Aqsa, Jerusalem's Old City, Israel, Gaza

☆ Israel and Hamas at war: Latest news
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The United Nations World Food Programme said crucial supplies were running dangerously low in Gaza after Israel imposed a total blockade. * When Israel called up its reservists and declared war this week, the response was swift and overwhelming. [1/6]Israeli soldiers patrol following a mass-infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in Sderot, in southern Israel, October 11, 2023. * What are global firms with a presence in Israel doing after the Hamas attack? * Israel has raised $200 million in diaspora bonds since the war with Hamas began, Israel Bonds said.

Persons: Antony Blinken, Kan, East Jerusalem's, Israel, Mahmoud Abbas, Violeta Santos Moura, Donald Trump, Netanyahu, Tayyip Erdogan, Wang Yi, Mohammed Deif, upends, Kazuo Ueda, Israel Bonds, Kristalina Georgieva, Stephen Farrell, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: Hamas, United Nations, Food Programme, West Bank, Rights Watch, Britain, Royal Navy, REUTERS, White, Republican, Bank of Japan, * Airlines, Monetary Fund, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Washington, Israel, East, East Jerusalem's Al, Aqsa, Lebanon, Egypt, Sinai, Sderot, Palestinian, Paris, Israeli, Jerusalem, Saudi, Lincoln

Israel's military chief, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, said lessons would be drawn from the security failures around Gaza that enabled the attack. The U.S. military is placing no conditions on its security assistance to Israel, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, adding Washington expected Israel's military to "do the right things" in prosecuting its war against Hamas. Scores of Israeli and foreign hostages were taken back to Gaza; Israel said it had identified 97 of them. [1/4]Israeli soldiers hold an Israeli flag while in a tank near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, October 12, 2023. "This war is harsh beyond imagining," said Hamdan, who has worked through repeated wars since becoming a rescuer in 2007.

Persons: Antony Blinken, Blinken, King Abdullah, Mahmoud Abbas, America's, General Herzi Halevi, Lloyd Austin, Austin, Benjamin Netanyahu, East Jerusalem's, Kan, Ronen, Israel, Cross, Fabrizio Carboni, Los Angeles, Kathy Hochul, Mount Herzl, Khan Younis, Ibrahim Hamdan, Hamdan, Henriette Chacar, Dedi, Maayan Lubell, Emily Rose, Nidal, Emma Farge, Jeff Mason, Humeyra Pamuk, Steve Gorman, Dan Whitcomb, Michael Martina, Howard Goller, Diane Craft Organizations: Israel U.S, West Bank Security, Hamas, U.S, NATO, Palestinian, Palestinian Authority, West Bank, United Arab, U.S . Defense, Washington, Public, REUTERS, International Committee, United Nations, Food Programme, ICRC, New, FBI, Mount, Thomson Locations: East Jerusalem, Europe JERUSALEM, GAZA, TEL AVIV, Gaza, Israel, Jordan, U.S, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Iran, East, East Jerusalem's Al, Aqsa, Washington, Europe, Paris, Amsterdam, London, New York, Los, Jerusalem, Geneva, Tel Aviv, Los Angeles

A view shows the ruins of a Palestinian house hit by Israeli strikes at al-Shati (Beach) refugee camp, in Gaza City, October 12, 2023. REUTERS/Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa Acquire Licensing RightsGAZA/RAMALLAH, West Bank, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Gaza's ruling Hamas militants called on Palestinians to rise up on Friday in protest at Israel's bombardment of the enclave, urging Palestinians to march to East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque and clash with Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank. The Gaza violence has reignited tensions in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank, where Israeli troops have killed at least 34 Palestinians during clashes since the Saturday Hamas attack, according to Palestinian officials. Hamas urged Palestinians in the West Bank to "demonstrate, mobilize and clash" with Israeli troops and settlers. Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah, West Bank; Writing by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa, East Jerusalem's, Nidal al, Ali Sawafta, Rami Ayyub, Sandra Maler Organizations: REUTERS, West Bank, Hamas, Thomson Locations: Gaza City, GAZA, RAMALLAH, West, East, East Jerusalem's Al, Aqsa, Israel, Gaza, East Jerusalem, Al, Mecca, Medina, Syria, Lebanon, Ramallah

[1/3] The remains of a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel lies on a road where it fell in Ashkelon, southern Israel, October 10. An Israeli security source said Deif was directly involved in the planning and operational aspects of the attack. Deif said Hamas had urged the international community to put an end to the "crimes of the occupation", but Israel had stepped up its provocation. He also said Hamas had in the past asked Israel for a humanitarian deal to release Palestinian prisoners, but this was rejected. He was arrested by Israel in 1989 and spent about 16 months in detention, a Hamas source said.

Persons: Amir Cohen, Mohammed Deif, Al, Deif, Israel, Hamas's Al, Yehya Sinwar, Israel's, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ali Baraka, we've, Mohammad Masri, William Maclean, David Clarke Organizations: REUTERS, Brigades, Lebanese, Hezbollah, Tehran, Hamas, West Bank, Islamic University, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel, Ashkelon, Al Aqsa, DUBAI, Jerusalem's Al Aqsa, Jerusalem, Iran, Tehran, Washington, Khan

In southern Israel, Hamas gunmen were still fighting Israeli security forces in several places 24 hours after their incursion in the early hours of Saturday, both sides said, as more rockets were fired from Gaza, sparking air raid sirens. More than 300 Gazans were killed when Israel responded with one of its most devastating days of retaliatory strikes. [1/23]Palestinian inspect a mosque destroyed in Israeli strikes in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 8, 2023. Bodies of Israeli civilians surrounded by broken glass were strewn across the streets of Sderot in southern Israel near Gaza in the aftermath of Saturday's assault. Senior military officers were among those killed in fighting near Gaza, the Israeli military said.

Persons: Israel, Israel Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, DAWN, Gunmen, Al Hadath, Khan Younis, Abu Mustafa, Peacemaking, YOU, Ismail Haniyeh, Gazans, Jerusalem's Al, Joe Biden, Osama Hamdan, Maayan Lubell, Nidal, Ammar Anwar, Henriette Chacar, Emily Rose, Dan Williams, Ali Sawafta, James Mackenzie, Angus McDowall, Robert Birsel, Lisa Shumaker, William Mallard, Alex Richardson Organizations: Hamas, Gaza, Jets, Palestinian, West Bank, REUTERS, Jerusalem, Senior, Islamic, BIDEN, NETANYAHU, White, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Israel, Lebanon JERUSALEM, GAZA, SDEROT, Gaza, Lebanon, Israeli, Egypt, Syria, Yom, U.S, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Gaza's Beit Hanoun district, Aqsa, Sderot, United States, Iraq, Yemen, Jerusalem, Ramallah

Hamas fighters killed at least 250 Israelis in clashes through the day and escaped back into Gaza with dozens of hostages. More than 230 Gazans were killed when Israel responded with one of its most devastating days of retaliatory strikes. Israeli troops battled Hamas gunmen through the night in parts of southern Israel. The West Bank has seen stepped-up Israeli raids, Palestinian street attacks and assaults by Jewish settlers on Palestinian villages. Hamas said the attack was driven by what it called escalated Israeli attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem and against Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

Persons: Mohammed Salem, Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, Peacemaking, YOU, Ismail Haniyeh, Gazans, Jerusalem's Al, BIDEN, Joe Biden, Osama Hamdan, Saleh al, Arouri, Al, Maayan Lubell, Nidal, Ammar Anwar, Henriette Chacar, Emily Rose, Dan Williams, Ali Sawafta, Patricia Zengerle, Robert Birsel, Lisa Shumaker, William Mallard Organizations: Rockets, REUTERS, Hamas, Palestinian, West Bank, Jerusalem, Senior, Islamic, NETANYAHU, White, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel, Israel JERUSALEM, GAZA, SDEROT, U.S, Iran, Israeli, Aqsa, Sderot, United States, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Al Jazeera, Jerusalem, Ramallah

Israel battered Palestinians with air strikes in Gaza on Sunday, with hundreds reportedly killed on both sides. Austin also added that the United States will provide munitions to Israel, and that its security assistance will begin moving on Sunday. Austin said he ordered moving a carrier strike group closer to Israel, which includes the Ford carrier and ships that support it. The United States on Sunday said that Saudi-Israel normalization efforts should continue despite the latest attack. Blinken labeled the attack on Israel as a "terrorist attack by a terrorist organization."

Persons: Antony Blinken, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Frantz, Lloyd Austin, Israel, Austin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Gerald R, Ismail Haniyeh, Jerusalem's Al, Netanyahu, Jon, We're, Blinken, Kanishka Singh, Idrees Ali, Steve Holland, Susan Heavey, Joey Roulette, Heather Timmons, Lisa Shumaker, Mark Porter Organizations: Hamas, White, REUTERS, Rights, Defense, Pentagon, Israeli Defense Forces, Ford, Ford Carrier Strike Group, CNN, Saturday, West Bank, U.S, Deputy National, Fox News Sunday, Thomson Locations: Israel, Washington , U.S, United States, Washington, Saudi Arabia, Gaza, Egypt, Syria, Yom, Jerusalem, Aqsa, East, Saudi, GAZA, Israeli, Iran

☆ Suspected Palestinian gunmen kill Israeli woman in West Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Israeli troops stand guard, at the scene of a shooting, near Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank August 21, 2023. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma Acquire Licensing RightsNEAR HEBRON, West Bank, Aug 21 (Reuters) - An Israeli woman was killed in a suspected Palestinian shooting attack near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron on Monday, the Israeli military said. Violence in the West Bank has surged over the past 15 months with stepped up military raids, Israeli settler rampages, and Palestinian street attacks. U.S.-brokered peace talks aimed at establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, collapsed in 2014 and show no sign of revival. Its growing settlements in the West Bank, where Palestinian have limited self-rule, are considered by most countries as illegal, a view that Israel disputes.

Persons: Mussa, Hazem Qassem, rampages, Yoav Gallant, Benjamin Netanyahu, Gallant, Jerusalem's, Israel, Yosri al, Jamal, Maayan Lubell, Nidal, Ali Sawfta, Ari Rabinovitch, Henriette Chacar, Angus MacSwan, Bill Berkrot, Mark Potter Organizations: West Bank, REUTERS, West, Hamas, Thomson Locations: Hebron, HEBRON, West, Israeli, West Bank, Gaza, Israel, Iran, Tehran, Nablus, Jerusalem's Al, Aqsa, U.S, East Jerusalem

☆ Israel PM cautions Saudi Arabia about Iran after China-brokered deal, urges greater U.S. presence
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The China-brokered March 10 détente between long-term rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran has dealt a blow to Netanyahu's diplomatic crusade of pursuing Tehran's political isolation. I think that Saudi Arabia, the leadership there, has no illusions about who are their adversaries, and who are their friends." Before that, footage of Israeli forces beating worshippers in Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque during the Arabic holy month of Ramadan drew international condemnations, including from Saudi Arabia. "We'd like very much to have peace with Saudi Arabia. watch nowNarrowing down to just the potential of a relationship with Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu said, "I think the sky's the limit.

☆ Israeli PM reverses course on sacking defence minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, April 10 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he would leave Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in place given an escalating security crisis, reversing a decision to fire the minister that triggered protests and raised alarm abroad. The attacks, after a night of cross-border strikes in Gaza and Lebanon, added to heightened Israeli-Palestinian tensions following Israeli police raids in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque this week. "I'm not disturbed by the poll," Netanyahu told reporters. The prime minister said relations with the United States, which appeared strained over the government's planned judicial overhaul, remained "stronger than ever" and the two countries enjoyed security and intelligence cooperation. Netanyahu also addressed the issue of not yet being invited to an official visit at the White House in his latest stint as prime minister.

☆ Israeli sisters killed in shooting attack laid to rest
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KFAR ETZION, West Bank, April 9 (Reuters) - The family of two Israeli sisters who were killed in a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank shared tearful eulogies on Sunday with a room full of weeping mourners, while their mother who was wounded remained in a coma. Hours after the sisters were killed, an Italian tourist was killed in a ramming attack in Tel Aviv. The attacks added to heightened Israeli-Palestinian tensions following Israeli police raids in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque last week. Since the beginning of the year, at least 18 Israelis and foreigners have been killed in attacks in Israel, around Jerusalem and in the West Bank. In the same period, Israeli forces have killed more than 80 Palestinians, most of them fighters in militant groups but some of them civilians.

Salvoes of rockets from Lebanon and Gaza struck north and south in Israel over the past day and the Israeli military replied with air strikes. Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, praised the shooting attack but stopped short of claiming responsibility. [1/3] Israeli troops stand guard at a shooting attack scene in the Jordan Valley, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank April 7,2023. With the international-led peace process long moribund, Palestinians' hopes of creating an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital, have faded. Israel's new hard-right government is set on expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank and includes members who rule out a Palestinian state.

[1/4] Israeli policemen stand next to smoke from a fire following incoming rockets from Lebanon to Israel in Bezet, northern Israel, April 6, 2023. The Israeli military said 34 rockets were launched from Lebanon, of which 25 were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome, anti-missile system. There was no claim of responsibility but an Israeli military official also said that Israel was working on the assumption that the attack was Palestinian-linked. "It's not Hezbollah shooting, but it's hard to believe that Hezbollah didn't know about it," Tamir Hayman, a former head of Israeli military intelligence said on Twitter. In response, Israel has hit targets in Gaza linked to Hamas, which it holds responsible for any attacks from the blockaded coastal strip.

☆ Israeli police raid Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque during Ramadan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Jillian Kumagai | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

The death toll from a violent storm that whipped up tornadoes in the southern and midwestern regions of the United States rose to at least 32 over the weekend, according to officials and media reports.

☆ Israeli police attack worshippers in Jerusalem's Al Aqsa
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Israeli border policemen set up a fence near Al-Aqsa compound also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, while tension arises during clashes with Palestinians in Jerusalem's Old City, April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Ammar AwadJERUSALEM, April 5 (Reuters) - Israeli police attacked dozens of worshippers in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound before dawn on Wednesday, witnesses said, in what Israeli police said was a response to rioting. It said in a statement that Israeli forces were preventing its medics from reaching the mosque. Friction at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, has set off violence in recent years. Videos circulating on social media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed fireworks going off and police beating people inside the mosque.

☆ Turkey's Erdogan condemns Israeli police raid on Al-Aqsa mosque
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISTANBUL, April 5 (Reuters) - Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday condemned the Israeli police raid on Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque, which led to clashes with worshippers, calling such acts in the mosque compound a "red line" for Turkey. The incident came during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and on the eve of the Jewish Passover, stoking fears of further violence at the mosque compound, a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "The name of this is the politics of repression, the politics of blood, the politics of provocation. Turkey can never remain silent and unmoved in the face of these attacks," Erdogan said. "Putting a hand on al-Aqsa mosque and trampling on the sanctity of the Haram al-Sharif is a red line for us."

☆ Cross-border fire in Gaza after Israeli police raid Al-Aqsa mosque
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Israeli police entered Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound before dawn on Wednesday and clashed with worshippers, in what police said was a response to rioting that set off a furious reaction across the West Bank and cross border strikes in Gaza. Witnesses said Israeli tanks also shelled Hamas positions along the border fence in the southern part of the Gaza strip. Israeli police walk inside the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, early on April 5, 2023 after clashes erupted during Islam's holy month of Ramadan. Ahmad Gharabli | Afp | Getty ImagesThe Palestinian Red Crescent said 12 Palestinians sustained wounds from rubber-tipped bullets and beatings in clashes with Israeli police. Videos circulating on social media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed fireworks going off and police beating people inside the mosque.

☆ Factbox: Where is Al Aqsa mosque and why is it so important in Islam?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 5 (Reuters) - A Israeli police raid on Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque on Wednesday has triggered a furious reaction from Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and the wider Arab and Muslim world. WHERE AND WHAT IS THE AL-AQSA MOSQUE? The Al-Aqsa compound has long been a flashpoint for deadly violence over matters of sovereignty and religion in Jerusalem. Under the longstanding "status quo" arrangement governing the area, which Israel says it maintains, non-Muslims can visit but only Muslims are allowed to worship in the mosque compound. Palestinians protested, and there were violent clashes that quickly escalated into the second Palestinian uprising, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada.

☆ Canadian PM urges Israel to change its approach after raid, clashes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Ismail Shakil | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Ammar AwadOTTAWA, April 5 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday criticised the Israeli government's "inflamed rhetoric" and urged it to change its approach to the Palestinians amid an upsurge in violence. He also condemned the rocket attacks by Palestinian militants from Gaza. "We're extremely concerned with the inflamed rhetoric coming out of the Israeli government, we're concerned about the judicial reforms ... we're concerned by the violence around the al-Aqsa mosque," Trudeau said. "We absolutely, unequivocally condemn the rocket attacks from militants in Gaza. We need to see a de-escalation of violence," Trudeau added.

JERUSALEM, March 24 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers flocked to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque on the first Friday of Ramadan for noon prayers, which passed peacefully amid tight security imposed after months of escalating tension and violence. "I cannot describe to you how happy I am to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque. I'm 50 years old and they only recently removed the security ban that had prevented me from coming here," said Nasser Abu Saleh, a resident of the West Bank city of Hebron. The Muslim Waqf, custodians who manage the site which houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque, said around 100,000 people had visited for the first Friday prayers of Ramadan. [1/5] Palestinians make their way through an Israeli checkpoint to attend the first Friday prayers of Ramadan in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque, in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank March 24, 2023.

☆ Egypt hosts Israeli-Palestinian talks in push for pre-Ramadan calm
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CAIRO, March 19 (Reuters) - Egypt hosts Israeli and Palestinian officials on Sunday in the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh in a U.S. and Jordanian backed effort to calm a surge of violence in the West Bank ahead of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. The meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh "aims to support dialogue between the Palestinian and Israeli sides to work to stop unilateral actions and escalation, and break the existing cycle of violence and achieve calm", a statement from Egypt's foreign ministry said. This could "facilitate the creation of a climate suitable for the resumption of the peace process", it added. The Palestinians aim to establish an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital - territories Israel captured in a 1967 war. But peace talks have been stalled since 2014 and Palestinians say Jewish settlement expansion has undermined the chances of a viable state being established.

☆ Jordan hosting Israeli-Palestinian talks to avert escalation in violence
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Suleiman Al-Khalidi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The meeting is aimed at giving Palestinians hope for a political future, a senior Jordanian official told Reuters. In addition to averting violence, it is hoped Sunday's meeting will halt unilateral measures by Israel, the Jordanian official said. Jordan has been concerned about stepped-up Jewish settlement building, and has accused Israel of trying to change the status quo in Jerusalem's holy sites. Most world powers view as illegal the settlements Israel has built on land it captured in a 1967 war with Arab powers. Israel disputes that and cites biblical, historical and political links to the West Bank, as well as security interests.

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