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News from the Middle East is usually cast in gloom and doom. What a delight that a positive image has emerged with the information that, with the help of the United States, a peace deal to normalize relations has been agreed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE is a kingdom comprising seven small entities called emirates, possessing oil and natural gas reserves. Its capital Dubai is an important economic center, the most populous city and the business hub of the area. A three-way phone call on August 13, 2020 announced an Abrahamic accord, salam aleykum v’shalom...

Trump brokers Middle East Peace Deal…. – Democrats and Palestinian Terrorists Hardest Hit. This of course was the biggest story from Thursday. Where every U.S. president since Harry Truman has failed, Donald Trump and his much-derided son-in-law, Jared Kushner have succeeded. From a piece at the Jerusalem Post: Israel and the UAE agreed to full normalization of relations in a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Thursday, marking the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country in 25 years. Israel agreed to suspend its planned extension of sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria to facilitate...

The Arab League of 22 Muslim nations failed to pass a resolution condemning the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.After three hours of discussion the League members decided to drop the topic and move on. In a historic first Israel and the UAE announced a peace agreement in August. The Trump White House was instrumental in brokering the deal. This was a major step toward peace in the Middle East.Democrats attacked the peace agreement and bumbling Joe Biden took credit for the deal. Israel National News reported: The Arab League on Wednesday failed to pass a resolution...

When Norwegian parliamentarian Christian Tybring-Gjedde nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize on Wednesday, the president's critics went into shock on social media. The criticism, of course, did not respond to Tybring-Gjedde's specific citations of Trump's role in brokering a landmark normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Kashmir border dispute between India and Pakistan, or the conflict between North and South Korea. Trump's critics instead attacked the credibility of Tybring-Gjedde, who serves as chairman of the Norwegian delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and expressed disbelief that Trump could possibly share the same prize...

In 2009, the Nobel Committee decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama as a way of encouraging him to do something peaceful. As it happened, Obama was an exceptionally un-peaceful president, using drones to kill civilians, starting a war in Libya that turned it into a hellhole, creating a vacuum in the Middle East that ISIS filled, failing to support the Green Revolution in Iran, and passively presiding over the disastrous and deadly “Arab Spring.” In 2021, though, the Committee will have before it the choice of one man who really does seem to be bringing peace...

The Palestinian leadership have positioned themselves on the wrong side of history. They are leading their people along a road to nowhere. It is becoming increasingly obvious to the world at large that a peaceful, productive, flourishing Middle East is not only possible, but within grasp. Steps are being taken, plans are being made to achieve a bright new future for the region. The Palestinian people could share in that prosperity, but their path forward is being blocked by their leaders – all of them, right across the Palestinian political spectrum. It is clear that the Palestinian leadership simply cannot...

Senior official says foreign ministers were not in agreement on Palestinian issue, after PA foreign minister criticizes body for failure to show unity in backing its cause A banner showing the flags of Arab countries and reading "History will only glorify those loyal to Palestine" is seen during a rally against the UAE-Israel normalization deal, in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on September 9, 2020. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP) The Arab League failed to pass a resolution on Wednesday proposed by the Palestinian Authority which would have condemned the normalization deal between Israel and the United...

Trump adviser warns Palestinians that if they continue to reject Trump peace proposal ‘the situation is just going to get worse and worse for them’; says US won’t ‘chase’ Ramallah NEW YORK — Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner said on Wednesday that the Trump administration’s peace plan is an attempt to “save the two state solution” because it stops Israel from further expanding its presence in the West Bank. “The reality today is that a lot of this land is inhabited with Israelis,” Kushner told reporters during a phone briefing ahead of the White House signing next week of...

The Arab League on Wednesday rejected a Palestinian Authority demand to condemn the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, the Abraham Accord, soon to be signed on the White House lawn. The PA wanted the League to censure both Israel and the UAE, but a Zoom session of foreign ministers from the 22 member countries voted the proposal down. Meanwhile, major Arab countries such as Egypt, Omar and Bahrain have gone on the record as supporting the accord and others, like Saudi Arabia, have expressed their tacit approval. PA officials protested bitterly, saying the normalization of relations...

A dam has broken and our media are desperate to avert our eyes from it.  I am stunned at the succession of positive developments that has followed the announcement almost a month ago that the United Arab Emirates is normalizing relations with Israel. Momentum is accelerating toward the long dreamed-of goal of peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors. I have to pinch myself after writing such a thing to remind myself that decade after decade of strenuous effort has failed, frustrating presidents of both parties and stymieing plan after plan put forth by diplomats and NGOs. Yet, improbable...

Construction, which began with the ground-breaking ceremony, is set to last until 2021. Once completed, it will be the reference point for the community of northern Arabia. In addition to the church, it will have a residential area for the episcopal curia, a guest house and educational facilities. A time capsule was placed in its foundations with the history of the local Church and Christians.Manama (AsiaNews) – The Church of Bahrain and the Gulf recently celebrated the formal start of the construction of the new cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, patron saint of the Arabian Peninsula. The new place...

Manama (Agenzia Fides) - Coptic Orthodox priest Royce George, engaged in the pastoral care of the Orthodox Coptic community in Bahrain, has confirmed the donation of land by King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa for the construction of the second Coptic church in the Kingdom. The new building of Christian worship will rise in the capital, Manama, and will become a point of reference for the liturgies and pastoral activities that will involve approximately 1,500 Coptic families resident in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The donation was announced after the meeting which took place in late April between the King of...

Coptic Orthodox priest Royce George, engaged in the pastoral care of the Orthodox Coptic community in Bahrain, has confirmed the donation of land by King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa for the construction of the second Coptic church in the Kingdom. The new building of Christian worship will rise in the capital, Manama, and will become a point of reference for the liturgies and pastoral activities that will involve approximately 1,500 Coptic families resident in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The donation was announced after the meeting which took place in late April between the King of Bahrain and Coptic Orthodox...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bahrain has become the latest Arab nation to agree to normalize ties with Israel as part of a broader diplomatic push by President Donald Trump and his administration to fully integrate the Jewish state into the Middle East. Trump announced the agreement on Friday, following a three-way phone call he had with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. The three leaders also issued a brief six-paragraph joint statement, attesting to the deal. The announcement on the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks came less than a week...

The Gulf state of Bahrain is to normalise relations with Israel, the diplomatic correspondent for Israel’s public broadcaster Kan said on Friday, without citing sources. Another Israeli reporter, Raphael Ahren of the Times of Israel, said U.S. President Donald Trump would on Friday announce that Bahrain was joining its neighbour the United Arab Emirates in formally establishing ties with Israel. The White House had no immediate comment. Trump will on Tuesday host a White House ceremony solemnising the Israel-UAE deal, which was announced on Aug. 13. The Kan reporter, Amichai Stein, said in a tweet that Bahrain Crown Prince Salman...

The preferred steady diet of anti-Israel indoctrination. The Palestinian leadership didn’t boycott the Trump administration’s economic meeting in Bahrain last week because it denied them a future political horizon. They oppose the Trump Prosperity to Peace plan because it gives them an open road to success. The footage of the administration’s workshop last week on developing the Palestinian economy made for surrealistic viewing. Sitting in Manama, Bahrain, were representatives of most Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Egypt, and Jordan. There were also leaders of international economic institutions, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund....

23:05 27.06.2019(updated 23:38 27.06.2019) According to Iraqi security officials, the Bahraini embassy in Baghdad was stormed Thursday by protesters who disapprove of Bahrain's hosting of a US-led peace conference aimed at securing an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Images on Facebook show protesters in and around the Gulf island nation's diplomatic compound in Baghdad Thursday evening, carrying Palestinian flags and burning US and Israeli flags. They were reportedly particularly angry at the Bahraini foreign minister's interview with an Israeli television station about the conference. Video filmed on a cellphone outside the embassy showed protesters waving large Palestinian flags atop the...

Iran launched dozens of rockets at Israel yesterday, causing little damage thanks to Israel's missile defense system. In retaliation, Israel targeted Iran's ability to operate in Syria. While this military confrontation is huge news, a Twitter message from an Arab diplomat may prove comparably important.On Thursday, Bahrain diplomat Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa declared that the state of Israel has a right to defend itself against the Islamic Republic of Iran. "As long as Iran has breached the status quo in the region and has evacuated its troops and missiles, any state in the region, including Israel, is entitled...

Dramatic Break With Arab Precedent Follows Iranian Missile Assault Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa (far right) with fellow Arab foreign ministers in Cairo in July 2017. Photo: Reuters / Khaled Elfiqi. The foreign minister of Bahrain on Thursday issued an unusually forthright defense of Israel’s sovereign right to defend itself, hours after Iranian forces in Syria aimed a barrage of missiles at the Jewish state, inviting a wave of Israeli air strikes in response. “As long as Iran has breached the status quo in the region and invaded countries with its forces and missiles, any state in the...

Iran launched dozens of rockets at Israel yesterday, causing little damage thanks to the “Iron Dome” system Israel employs for just such occasions. In retaliation, Israel launched a wide-ranging military strike on Iranian assets in Syria. It might have looked proportional at first, but it has now become apparent that Israel has decided to reduce Iran’s ability to operate effectively in Syria at all: