Free Republic

Iran envoy Mottaki denies Iran's Holocaust denial while visiting Europe. Back home, I suspect he'll have to deny that very denial of the original denial. The article: "Iran's foreign minister was in Oslo on Tuesday, and he denied that his country's leaders doubt whether the Holocaust occurred. Nor would Manouchehr Mottaki claim that Israel has no right to exist. Iranian critics have often pointed to last year's seminar in Teheran for Holocaust skeptics, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's suggestions that Israel should cease to exist. But Mottaki, after holding meetings with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, claimed that Iran...

At least five Palestinians were killed as Israeli armor swept back into the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun Sunday and shelled the south as it continued an offensive launched three weeks ago after militants captured an Israeli soldier. Tanks, armored vehicles and bulldozers rolled into Beit Hanun before dawn, in the deepest Israeli incursion into the area since Israel began its punishing offensive on June 28 after the capture of Corporal Gilad Shalit. In the latest strike, an unmanned Israeli drone fired a missile at a group of gunmen as they clashed with Israeli troops in Beit Hanun, killing...

Since 9/11, dozens of Muslim charities in the United States, Canada, Asia and Europe have come under fire for allegedly channelling the funds they collect to terrorist groups. According to the usual pattern, the accused group will foreswear support for terrorists -- and deny up and down that one cent of its revenues goes to suicide bombers or masked gunmen. But in the Palestinian Authority, several charities are breaking with this pattern -- most notably, the Red Crescent, the Palestinian equivalent of the Red Cross. At a meeting with the National Post editorial board on Monday, Itamar Marcus of Palestinian...

The chairman of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat said he had informed the US secretary of state Colin Powell that the Palestinian people are in need of deploying UN forces immediately in order to protect the Palestinians from the israeli aggression. The US continues to show understanding to the Israeli aggressions against the Palestinians as justified. The US President George Bush also continues to lay blame for terrorism on Arafat saying "I have been disappointed in his unwillingness to go a hundred percent toward fighting terror." On the other hand, Arafat who is besieged by Israeli tanks at his headquarters...

Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday that the confinement of Yasser Arafat to his compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah was ended, and the Palestinian leader could now move within areas under Palestinian rule. Sharon quot;decided to no longer restrict the movements of Arafat in the territories of the Palestinian Authority,quot; the Prime Minister's Office said in an official statement. Sharon's foreign policy adviser, Danny Ayalon, said earlier Monday that Arafat still requires Israeli approval to travel abroad. Israel has kept Arafat under house arrest since December, and made his release conditional on the arrests of the...

By Ross Dunn, Herald Correspondent in Jerusalem and agencies For the first time, the United States is proposing to station American observers in Palestinian territories as part of a new diplomatic effort to halt escalating Middle East violence. The move may be seen as something of a political victory for Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, who has repeatedly appealed for international monitors. He also appears to be winning on the diplomatic front to get Israel to lift its travel ban on him. US special envoy to the Middle East, Anthony Zinni, a retired marine corps general, is expected to put forward...

The Arab League Council, which met at the level of Arab Foreign Ministers, Sunday issued its final statement in which it dealt with the following issues: -To continue Arab political moves at the United Nations and with the parties concerned to halt Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people and their leadership and to provide international protection for the Palestinian people in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions and the Geneva conference on 5/12/2001 to apply the fourth Geneva convention on occupied Palestinian territories including East Jerusalem. To urge popular Arab organizations to continue to support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people...