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Israel announced Tuesday it will launch an international awareness campaign highlighting the historic injustice done to Jews from Arab countries. Following the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948 numerous Arab countries expelled their Jewish citizens and seized their assets - forcing them to become refugees in Israel. Foreign ministry officials note that 850,000 Jewish refugees lost billions of dollars in assets and were forced to begin anew in Israel with only what they could carry on their backs. The officials added that while Arabs nations have perpetuated the status of "Palestinian refugees" in their nations for generations in...

The Arab League summit that began Thursday in Baghdad has illuminated the political and religious divisions splitting with Arab world, while powerful eastern non-Arab neighbor Iran looks on and tries to pull Iraq's strings. One of those fractures is between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, branded a would-be dictator by domestic rivals, who is sitting down with the new leaders of countries that have overthrown tyrants in the often-bloody Arab Spring revolutions. The meeting of Arab leaders in the cavernous Republican Palace built by Saddam Hussein is the first such gathering since those political convulsions began in Tunisia in January...

If one needed a textbook example of how propaganda can help turn defeat into victory then one should look at Western media coverage of recent diplomatic battles on Syria. Everybody agrees that the so-called “presidential statement” on Syria the U.N. Security Council adopted on March 21 was a turning point in efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis. It marked the first time the Security Council (SC) had reached an agreement on Syria and endorsed a peace plan proposed by U.N. and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan. The surprise consensus in the Council, which was earlier riven by divisions, raised the...

Diplomatic sources said that while the Arab League called for Mr. Assad's exit, there was hardly any consensus within the 22-nation grouping on how that result could be achieved. The call by Qatar, which was endorsed by Saudi Arabia to arm the Syrian opposition, which itself stood divided, had not been endorsed by the rest of the League... With the divergences on how to resolve the Syrian crisis remaining unbridged, the Arab League and its components are set to hold a flurry of meetings. Their diplomatic activism includes an upcoming meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), whose core members,...

The current bigoted anti-Israel boycotts, are NOT related to any "policies." It began many years before Israel was re-established, in 1922. It was pushed mainly by the infamous Mufti Haj amin al-Husseini, who allied himself with Hitler later on. A call went out in 1922 from the Fifth Arab Congress, meeting in Nablus, for all Arabs to boycott Jewish businesses; seven years later, the First Palestine Arab Women's Congress asked "every Arab to buy nothing from the Jews but land, and to sell them everything but land." Other, similar calls went out in 1931 and 1933, and in 1936 a...

The UN General Assembly has voted in favour of a resolution condemning human rights violations in Syria and calling for an end to the violence. The Arab-backed initiative, which also calls on President Bashar al-Assad to resign, is the latest of several attempts to bring an end to the crisis. Syria said the move would only worsen the crisis and encourage "terrorists". Earlier, China said it was sending a senior envoy to Damascus to negotiate a "peaceful and proper" solution. The non-binding resolution adopted by the General Assembly backs an Arab League plan aimed at stopping the killings. It was...

The U.S. and Turkish foreign ministers vowed on Monday to work toward a peaceful resolution to the Syrian crisis. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the escalating violence across Syria 'deplorable', saying that the government was using "artillery and tank fire against innocent civilians." ... She said the United States is looking forward to joining the Arab League initiative for the Friends of Syria group, which will have its first meeting in Tunisia on Feb 24. "Certainly, Minister Davutoglu and myself will play a very active role in trying to search for solutions," the top U.S. envoy said. ......

Arab nations on Sunday night called for a joint United Nations peacekeeping force to be sent to the country. Syrians carrying the revolutionary flag and some of them weapons as they take part in a protest at Clock Square in Idlib, Syria. At a crisis meeting in Cairo, the Arab League agreed to take exceptional measures to halt President Bashar al-Assad's violent repression of civilian protesters. It voted to scrap its much criticised observer mission to Syria, severed all diplomatic relations with the Assad regime and reinforced economic sanctions. The League called for the opening of "communication channels with the...

In a move that was decried by the U.S., France, and Arab countries, Russia and China on Saturday vetoed a U.S.-backed proposal at the UN Security Council to condemn Syrian leader Bashar al-Assed for violence against Syrian citizens. The resolution that had demanded that Assad resign was backed by the Arab League, and the League on Saturday night called on Arab countries to shut down their embassies and consulates in Syria, and remove Syrian ambassadors from their countries. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said that Washington was "disgusted" by the vetoes. The vetoes followed a particularly bloody night...

Updated at 12 p.m. ET: Amid fresh bloodshed in the Syrian city of Homs, the U.N. Security Council on Saturday failed to pass a resolution calling on the Syrian president to step down. Russia and China vetoed the draft resolution endorsing an Arab League call for Bashar Assad to leave power. The unusual weekend U.N. session came as Syrian forces pummeled the city of Homs with mortars and artillery. Activists said more than 200 people were killed in what they called one of the bloodiest episodes of the uprising. The U.N. says more than 5,400 people have been killed over...

The Syrian government has condemned a decision by the Arab League to pull its monitors from the raging civil war zone. The Arab League said Saturday it had decided to "immediately" suspend its mission to monitor the situation in Syria due to the growing violence, the BBC reported. The decision came less than a week after a vote to extend the mission another month. Fierce fighting near Damascus centered on several eastern suburbs that had been seized by opposition forces, and which government troops fought to recapture. At least 12 people were killed and 30 others were wounded in the...

Mohammad Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi The World's Worst Human Rights Observer As Arab League monitors work to expose President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown, the head of the mission is a Sudanese general accused of creating the fearsome "janjaweed," which was responsible for the worst atrocities during the Darfur genocide.BY DAVID KENNERDECEMBER 27, 2011For the first time in Syria's nine-month-old uprising, there are witnesses to President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown, which according to the United Nations has claimed more than 5,000 lives...

BEIRUT (AP) — The Arab League demanded Sunday that the Syrian government immediately stop all violence and allow more monitors in, as activists reported at least 10 more civilians, including two teenagers, were killed by regime forces.

Their mission appears to have been designed for failure. With 60 monitors on the ground and another 90 to follow, the number of atrocities is too many and their locations too vast for observers to even scratch the surface. The observers are completely dependent on the Syrian government for transport and security and are unable to speak to victims without tipping off authorities, who have reportedly hidden hundreds of detainees in off-limits military sites. Without unrestricted access to hot spots, the results of any observer mission will lack credibility. The choice of a Sudanese general to head the Arab League...

A Syrian man has been killed 'execution-style' in Germany as fears grow that the Damascus regime is actively hunting down its critics in Europe. The 35-year-old man was killed after he stopped in his Volkswagen car at a set of traffic lights in Sarstedt, near Hanover, and two men opened the doors and fired inside. The two assassins then fled the scene. The victim died from head wounds and a special murder squad has been formed at Hildesheim, where he lived. Police made no speculation whether his murder was linked to the unrest in Syria that has been continuing since...

The Syrian opposition denied the reports about withdrawing troops and military vehicles from the Syrian cities, Al Arabiya reported on Tuesday. Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Araby said on Monday that Syria's military had now withdrawn from residential areas and was on the outskirts of the cities, but gunfire continued and snipers were still a threat. Syrian activists published footage on the social networks showing an Arab observer saying that the Syrian military is still spreading in the cities and that snipers are still on the building roofs... As many as 24 people have been killed by the gunfire of...

Russia backed Friday a first assessment by the head of the observer mission to Syria, Sudanese Gen. Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, that the situation in the country was "reassuring." "Judging by the public statements made by the chief of the mission Dabi, who in the first of his visits went to the city of Homs, ... the situation seems to be reassuring," Russia's Foreign Ministry said on its website. After meeting with Mansour Saturday, Zasypkin said Moscow was working on a U.N. Security Council Resolution that would press for a lack of foreign intervention in Syria, a halt to violence...

The two leading Syrian opposition blocs have agreed on a roadmap, in the event of a popular uprising succeeding in toppling the government of President Bashar al-Assad. In a document signed in Cairo, the National Co-ordination Committee and the Syrian National Council, called for civilians to be protected under international law. They also rejected any foreign intervention that could affect Syria's sovereignty and demanded a new constitution with a transition to democracy. The latest development came as hundreds of thousands took to the streets across the country on Friday, aiming to demonstrate the strength of their movement to Arab League...

This clip presents footage of an Egyptian soccer game, in which an antisemitic slogan appeared on a huge banner held by soccer fans. The footage was posted on the Internet on April 6, 2011. Slogan: "One Nation for New Holocaust"

Qatar Creates 20000 strong Anti-Syria Mercenary Force based in Turkey, Israeli Media Reports. Qatar finances and arms radical intervention force based in Turkey to activate it in Syria with the purpose to defeat the government of Tyrant president Bashar al-Assad reports the Israeli website DEBKAFile. According to this report, which Cham Press Agency echoes today, that paid contingency made of mercenaries from several countries of the region plus radical Syrian from Muslim Brotherhood had named it Syrian Army of Liberation, DEBKAFile says. The statements specifies that the paid force by Doha had been mobilized in battalions and military brigades in...

Arab League observers have been on a mission since Monday to assess whether Syria has halted its nine-month crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad. But a group that advises the Arab League says the monitors, some with a controversial history, are inadvertently helping the Syrian regime cover its continued violent crackdown. Some Syrian opposition groups are even calling for the immediate withdrawal of the mission, which was expected to last for a month. Ashraf Al -Moqdad, an opposition activist, spoke to Al Jazeera from Cairo, Egypt's capital, on why he believes the Arab mission has failed in Syria.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said Friday that the comments from Arab League observers in Syria sent to check whether government forces have halted violence against protesters showed that the situation in the country was "reassuring." "Judging by the public statements made by the chief of the mission M. Al-Dabi, who in the first of his visits went to the city of Homs...the situation seems to be reassuring," the ministry said in a statement on its website. The ministry said that Moscow was counting on the team's "professionalism and impartiality."

Syrian pro-democracy activists plan to rally after midday prayers Friday against an Arab League observer mission they say will stall tougher action against the government over its opposition crackdown. An Arab League advance team arrived in Syria Thursday to oversee a plan to end nine months of bloodshed as the opposition accused regime forces of "massacring" hundreds in two days. But using the slogan "Protocol of death, a licence to kill", activists called on Facebook for nationwide protests against the mission. Opposition leaders have charged that Syria's agreement to the mission was a mere "ploy" to head off a threat...

Arab League condemns Gingrich's remarks on Palestinians Mr Gingrich has defended his claim that the Palestinians are an "invented" people... The Arab League has condemned the Republican US presidential contender, Newt Gingrich, for calling Palestinians an "invented" people and "terrorists". Mohammed Sobeih, who handles Palestinian affairs for the regional organisation, said the claims were racist...

STORY HIGHLIGHTS - The violence spiked after Syria agreed to an Arab League plan to calm the situation - The United Nations estimates that about 5,000 people have died in Syrian violence this year - The Syrian National Council wants U.N. and Arab League action - It says nearly 250 civilians died over a two-day period

Western powers will not likely intervene to stop the crisis in Syria because of the "complexity" of the issue, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby told Egyptian daily Al Shorouk Tuesday. ... Elaraby was citing fears that a military intervention in Syria would drag the region into a larger conflict due to Damascus's allies and enemies in close proximity. Libya is more territorially isolated. The Arab League chief said the Syrian opposition "has not matured yet," saying the Syrian Revolution General Commission, a coalition of some 40 opposition groups, is unable to change the facts on the ground. Speaking a day...

Syrian security forces have reportedly opened fire on anti-government protesters after hundreds of thousands took to the streets across the country. Activists said at least six people had been killed in the restive central city of Homs, where 200,000 joined marches following Friday prayers. There were also clashes in Hama, Deraa and Deir al-Zour. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 200,000 demonstrators came out in several districts of Homs on Friday, demanding that the Arab League stop extending a deadline is has given Damascus to end the crackdown and agree to an observer mission. The Local...

Italy will continue its efforts within the UN to issue a new Security Council resolution "explaining for everyone the mechanism of economic pressure on the (Syrian) regime, Terzi said during a meeting of the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC), headed by Burhan Ghalyoun. Italy is determined to impose stricter sanctions against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and his aides," he said. Opening a humanitarian passage in Syria "is a complicated problem in front of the force deployed by the regime," added Terzi. Terzi, meanwhile, noted possibility of deploying Arab League observers in Syria to pave way for stability in some tense...

The secretary general of the Arab League has said its approval of unprecedented sanctions has sent a very serious political message to Syria. Nabil al-Arabi told the BBC that the Syrian government could not carry on as if it was business as usual. He said new sanctions recently agreed by Arab states would come into force on Saturday unless Syria kept its promises.Syria's foreign minister has described the sanctions as "economic war". In a BBC interview at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Mr Arabi said the Arab League had agreed to sanctions "with a heavy heart".

Arab states plan to freeze assets, impose travel ban on senior officials and halt commercial flights to Syria, according to draft document. Arab states plan to cut commercial ties with Syria's government and freeze its assets as they step up pressure to end months of political violence in the country, a draft document to be discussed by Arab ministers on Sunday showed. The sanctions would also include a travel ban on senior Syrian officials and a halt to commercial flights to the country, according to the Arab League document seen by Reuters on Saturday. Dealings with Syria's central bank would...

The Arab League voted to suspend SyriaÂ’s membership at its meeting on Saturday and said it would impose economic and political sanctions against the regime of Bashar al-Assad as well as call for the withdrawal of Arab ambassadors from Damascus. The Arab foreign ministers meeting at the LeagueÂ’s headquarters in Cairo also called on the Syrian army to cease its involvement in the killing of civilians and invited the Syrian opposition for transition talks. Opponents of Assad were hoping that the Arab League would suspend SyriaÂ’s membership after Assad pressed ahead with a military crackdown on the unrest despite an...

The Arab League on Monday rejected a push by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Cooperation Council allies to suspend Syria's membership in the body over Bashar al-Assad's brutal seven month crackdown, Arabic daily al-Hayyat reported. Instead, Qatari Prime Minister Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani said, the Arab League will seek to bring Assad's regime and Syria's nascent opposition National Council to the negotiating table. "We will call all of the parties of the opposition and government to hold a dialogue within 15 days," Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Arabi said after an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo....

The regime of embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad has recognized the Palestinian Authority as a sovereign state, Reuters reports. The statement added that Syria now regards the Palestine Liberation Organization office in Damascus as the official embassy of the 'Palestinian state.' Assad's recognition comes at a time when mass protests calling for his ouster are being staged and the world questions his legitimacy to rule. Meanwhile, Qatar has suspended diplomatic relations with Syria due to an attack on its own embassy by Assad supporters. The announcement follows the Arab League draft statement last week saying it will submit a motion...

The precedent of the imposition of a No Fly Zone over Libya to assert the “Right to Protect” (R2P) the civilian population from Gadhafi forces has led to its predictable end with the Arab League now demanding the United Nations to send member nations’ forces to impose a No Fly Zone under R2P the civilians in Gaza from Israeli air strikes. The Arab League has labeled the Israeli retaliatory strikes on terror targets as brutal. Color me shocked as who could have seen this coming down the pike from miles away. Does this mean the Arab League called for the...

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa announced Wednesday his willingness to accompany Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the Gaza Strip in order to facilitate the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas. Palestinian President Abbas has officially asked Moussa to accompany him in his visit to Gaza on behalf of all Arab nations, said chief Palestinian negotiator Dr. Saeb Erakat in a joint press conference with Moussa... Erakat explained that after holding talks with Abbas, two main points were agreed upon: the first is the president's trip to Gaza to start talks with Hamas and the second is forming a technocrat government...

Egyptian Foreign Minister Dr. Nabil al-Arabi yesterday stated that the Gulf's security, stability, and Arab identity represent a "red-line" which Egypt rejects any transgression against. In related news, the Arab League informed its member-states that Qatar had officially nominated former Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] Secretary-General Abdulrahman al-Attiyah, to replace Arab League Secretary-General Amr Musa, who is set to leave his position as head of the Arab League in May. During a press conference on Wednesday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi welcomed the results of the recent meeting of GCC foreign ministers. He said that the GCC states had "succeeded in...

The Arab League on Saturday announced it would host next week a conference on war-wracked Libya, which will be attended by UN chief Ban Ki-moon and the European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. The April 14 gathering will focus on political solutions to the crisis and "reinforce coordination between the Arab League, UN, African Union and Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC)," league number two Ahmed Ben Helli said. Amr Mussa, who heads the 22-member pan-Arab body based in the Egyptian capital, OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and Jean Ping, head of the African Union Commission, will also attend the...

The Libyan mission Operation Odyssey Dawn, under UN authority, is a dog's breakfast and nothing good is going to come out of it. The conniving elite of the Arab League has snookered an ever-ready coalition of western powers to do its bidding. And the western powers (Britain, France, the U.S. and Canada dutifully in tow), with their sights protectively fixed on oil-rich desert patches of the Middle East and North Africa, needed little urging to respond. This operation, as repeatedly broadcast by coalition leaders, is to save Libyan lives. Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague, for instance, announced in Parliament: "Our...

Maybe the next time Pres. Barack Obama is tempted to follow the leadership of the Arab League, he’ll think twice. Having brandished the Arab League’s call as the classiest of multilateral credentials for going to war in Libya, and praised its members as partners, Obama is now left with little more from this crew than promises and the on-again off-again hectoring of Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa. To be sure, there are good arguments for intervening in Libya. As leader of the free world, the U.S. is called upon by its own decency and democratic values to act when longtime...

For all of that still unsettled pain, the foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari -- in his new capacity as head of the Arab League -- rushed off to Paris last Friday evening to join Western and Arab allies, where he argued passionately in favor of action against Libya, citing the American no-fly zone in northern Iraq that protected the Kurdish population from Saddam Hussein in the years before the American invasion here, according to a senior official who took part in the Paris deliberations. And soon, Iraqi leaders, who are facing their own protest movement, plan to use their own troublesome...

Arab League chief Amr Moussa said on Monday that he respected a UN resolution that authorized military action on Libya, after earlier comments suggested he was concerned by actions taken by Western powers. "The Arab League position on Libya was decisive and from the first moment we froze membership of Libya ... Then we asked the United Nations to implement a no-fly zone," he told a news conference with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "We respect the UN resolution and there is no conflict with it, especially as it indicated there would be no invasion but that it would protect civilians...

The head of the Arab League Amr Moussa, has condemned the allied bombing outside of Benghazi, saying the action "differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone," and what he wants is "the protection of civilians and not the shelling of more civilians." The Washington Post: Moussa's declaration suggested some of the 22 Arab League members were taken aback by what they have seen and wanted to modify their approval lest they be perceived as accepting outright Western military intervention in Libya. Although the eccentric Gaddafi is widely looked down on in the Arab world, Middle Eastern leaders and...

Ed Henry on CNN from Brazil says the White House is telling him that Obama is "ferociously working behind the scenes" to prop up faltering Arab League support for the bombing campaign in Libya.Henry says Obama specifically called Jordan's King Abdullah.

The Arab League secretary general, Amr Moussa, deplored the broad scope of the U.S.-European bombing campaign in Libya on Sunday and said he would call a new league meeting to reconsider Arab approval of the Western military intervention. Moussa said the Arab League’s approval of a no-fly zone on March 12 was based on a desire to prevent Moammar Gaddafi’s air force from attacking civilians and was not designed to embrace the intense bombing and missile attacks—including on Tripoli, the capital, and on Libyan ground forces—that have filled Arab television screens for the last two days. “What is happening in...

CAIRO - The Arab League on Sunday criticized Western military strikes on Libya, a week after urging the United Nations to slap a no-fly zone on the oil-rich North African state. "What has happened in Libya differs from the goal of imposing a no-fly zone and what we want is the protection of civilians and not bombing other civilians," Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa told reporters. On March 12, the Arab League urged the United Nations to impose a no-fly zone on Libya and said Moammar Gadhafi’s regime had "lost legitimacy" as it sought to snuff out a rebellion...

The call by the Arab League for Western military intervention in an Arab state — in this case asking that a UN “no-fly zone” be imposed over Libya – is not only without precedent but it puts in formal terms what Governor Palin stated three weeks ago should have been America’s response to the political and humanitarian crisis now unfolding there. The former GOP vice presidential candidate was being interviewed on February 23rd on national television by Sean Hannity on a range of issues. On the Libya crisis, she proposed a no-fly-zone to protect the armed and un-armed opposition to...

I respectfully dissent from Wendesday’s NRO editorial, which urges that the United States go to war with Libya. The editorial doesn’t put it that way. Indeed, it doesn’t call for President Obama to seek a congressional declaration of war, or at least an authorization for the use of military force, as the Bush administration understood was required before commencing combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. In this case, complying with the Constitution is almost certain to result in a resounding “no” vote from the people’s representatives — and if you think getting the Patriot Act reauthorized was uphill, figure getting...

"The international community cannot simply watch from the sidelines as this quest for democracy is met with raw violence," said Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, in a lengthy policy speech today. The Massachusetts Democrat said the Arab League's endorsement this weekend of a no-fly zone over Libya is unprecedented. "The Security Council should act now, in my judgment, to heed the Arab League's call" and to avert a humanitarian disaster, said Kerry, in remarks to a room packed with foreign journalists at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington think tank. Kerry's call for action on a...

CAIRO (Reuters) - Arab states must intervene in Libya or risk unwanted foreign intervention, Oman's foreign minister told an Arab League meeting on Saturday. European states hope the Arab League will take the lead in shaping policy towards the revolt that has divided Libya. The League has suspended Libya for its crackdown on an uprising against Muammar Gaddafi but has not severed all ties to Tripoli. Gulf states including Oman have voiced strong criticism of Gaddafi and called for a no-fly zone over Libya, but the position of other Arab League states is not clear. Analysts doubt its members will...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned Friday that it would be madness for the United States and its NATO allies to go to war in Libya to try to topple Moammar Gadhafi. Chavez, a friend and ally of Gadhafi, criticized President Barack Obama for expressing support for the Libyan opposition. "Right now they are preparing a war, the Yankees and their NATO allies," Chavez said in a televised speech. He predicted a larger war in Libya could push world oil prices to $200 a barrel, and he echoed Gadhafi's warnings that a foreign military intervention would unleash much more bloodshed. "If...