Iran vowed it will cling on to its right to enrich uranium to more than five percent purity even if it strikes a deal for a third party to do the work, as Israel came out against any such deal. "As we have said before, we will not give up our rights," Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, was quoted as saying by state-owned Iran newspaper on Thursday. Full details of an enrichment agreement between the Islamic Republic and international powers will be unveiled on... Read Full Story
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday hailed a US move to create a sea-borne anti-missile shield to ward off Iranian threats in place of a planned system in eastern Europe that angered Russia. "We've listened very carefully to the American argumentation about the change in policy," Barak told reporters during a visit to Poland, where Washington had planned to base a battery of missile interceptors. "The new approach really provides more flexibility and, in a relatively short time... Read Full Story
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak branded as "absurd" a bid to have him arrested as he attended the governing Labour party's annual conference in Britain. Pro-Palestinian activists lodged an application in a London court for the arrest warrant over Israel's offensive in Gaza in 2008, which left more than 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead. The request was denied by a judge after a hearing on the grounds of diplomatic immunity for Barak, according to lawyers who filed the application... Read Full Story
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak paid a private visit to the World War II-era Nazi German Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps Thursday, the Auschwitz museum said. Accompanied by his wife, Barak visited part of the museum devoted to the Holocaust as well as buildings housing the former Auschwitz camp's infamous crematoria and gas chambers, said a statement from the museum in Oswiecim, southern Poland. Leading a small delegation, the Israeli official then visited the Birkenau camp, located some... Read Full Story
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was quoted on Thursday as saying he does not view Iran as a threat to the existence of the Jewish state, a view that would seem to depart from Israeli statements of the recent past. Israel's mass-circulation Yedioth Ahronoth daily quoted Barak, the head of Israel's center-left Labour party, as saying "Iran does not constitute an existential threat against Israel." In response to a question about Tehran's nuclear programme which Israel... Read Full Story
Israel's defense minister told visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday that his country is taking "no option" off the table regarding Iran's nuclear program, indicating that a military strike remains a possibility even as the U.S. tries to persuade Israel to give diplomacy more time. "This is our position. We mean it," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said, standing alongside Gates. At the same time, Barak said that the current priority should be diplomacy. Gates's visit to Israel... Read Full Story
LONDON (Reuters) - Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday he and U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell had made progress in their second session of talks within a week on encouraging regional peace. "I think there is progress. There's still a way to go," Barak told Reuters after the talks in London. He said he expected no imminent announcement on Israeli settlement building, a key issue in the talks aimed at healing a rift with key ally the United States which has demanded a halt... Read Full Story
Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place
Essays on politics, culture and ideas about Israeli-Arab peace and world music
Muslim and Jewish Women in Nazareth
'We can live in peace'...John Lennon (photo: Dafna Tal)
Mahzor
New York Public Library
Sarajevo Haggadah
Mah Nishtanah
Antaea Darom
Israeli women's art
Torah as music
Ben Heine
ceramic bowl
Mohammad Said Kalash, "Offering Reconciliation" exhibit... Read Full Story
Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place
Essays on politics, culture and ideas about Israeli-Arab peace and world music
Muslim and Jewish Women in Nazareth
'We can live in peace'...John Lennon (photo: Dafna Tal)
Mahzor
New York Public Library
Sarajevo Haggadah
Mah Nishtanah
Antaea Darom
Israeli women's art
Torah as music
Ben Heine
ceramic bowl
Mohammad Said Kalash, "Offering Reconciliation" exhibit... Read Full Story
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak will fly to London Sunday for a meeting with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell, an Israeli official said on Friday. The meeting between Barak and Mitchell, U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, will be their second in a few days after they held meetings in New York in a bid to narrow the division with Washington over the settlement issue. "Defense Minister Barak will leave Sunday night for a meeting Monday with U.S... Read Full Story
