Politics

The White House 5:27 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. Upon taking office, I declared that America is a friend of each nation and every person who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that the United States was ready to lead in pursuit of that future. At the beginning of my administration, … Continued

CNN on Wednesday removed its senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs, Octavia Nasr, from her job after she published a Twitter message saying that she respected the Shiite cleric the Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, who died on Sunday. Ms. Nasr left her CNN office in Atlanta on Wednesday. Parisa Khosravi, the senior vice president … Continued

The Arab League will turn to the UN Security Council to declare a Palestinian state if proximity talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials fail to achieve progress by September, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abul Gheit said Saturday. According to Egyptian news site Al-Masry Al-Youm, Abul Gheit said Arab countries should act while taking into consideration … Continued

War drums are beating in the Middle East. In a short time, the United States has increased the number of its carrier strike groups opposite Iran to three, and reports are raining down of a tightening ring of American and Israeli concentrations all around the Islamic Republic. On the diplomatic front, the Israelis are unusually … Continued

An U.S. State Department official said President Barack Obama is preparing to appoint a new ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic after a four-year hiatus, according to Reuters. The new ambassadorship is part of Obama’s drive to improve relations between the United States and the Islamic and Arab world. The official said the Syrian Ambassador … Continued

The president of the nation’s largest Arab American advocacy group called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s endorsement on Sunday of an independent Palestinian a “positive first step.” The news broke of Netanyahu’s first-ever call for a limited, demilitarized independent Palestinian state at the conclusion of the annual conference of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. “If (Netanyahu) … Continued

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed a Palestinian nation beside Israel for the first time Sunday, reversing himself in the face of U.S. pressure but attaching conditions such as demilitarization that Palestinians swiftly rejected. A week after President Barack Obama’s address to the Muslim world, Netanyahu said the Palestinian nation would have to be unarmed … Continued

Former President Bill Clinton told a gathering of Arab Americans on Saturday night that the increasingly interdependent world must learn to embrace diversity or risk perishing. Alternating between humor and heavy philosophizing, Clinton pointed to scientific breakthroughs, spiritual texts, the recent economic meltdown and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to deliver a near 40-minute-long message that the … Continued

Former President Jimmy Carter’s latest Mideast peacemaking trip will include a visit with the father of a captive Israeli soldier and a tour of a West Bank settlement. Carter is visiting Syria, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza in his effort to help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Carter Center said Tuesday that Carter will … Continued

Washington wants stalled Middle East peace talks to resume soon and wrap up quickly, US envoy George Mitchell told Israeli leaders on Tuesday, as it was announced he would make his first visit to Syria. Mitchell, whose visit comes just days before hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to outline his cabinet’s peace … Continued

The United States on Monday renewed its support for Lebanon after a surprise election victory by US allies, grouped in an anti-Syrian coalition, over opponents including Iranian-backed Hezbollah. President Barack Obama, whose country has backed the anti-Syria bloc, said Washington would “continue to support a sovereign and independent Lebanon, committed to peace”. “It is our … Continued