The Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip released 150 prisoners on Thursday, including what it calls security detainees, in honour of the Muslim feast Eid al-Adha. Those released include at least 25 "security detainees" and 77 people held on criminal charges, prison official Nasser Suleiman told reporters. He added that 53 of the detainees were near the end of their sentence. Outside the prison, the released men were embraced by joyful relatives and led home to celebrate Eid Al-Adha... Read Full Story
Israel has lifted orders for the capture of a new batch of fugitives from president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party provided they do not leave Palestinian-administered areas, a spokesman said on Friday. "We have granted our forgiveness to a new group of Fatah activists within the framework of an agreement reached in 2007," a spokesman for the Shin Bet security service said, without specifying how many. Under the 2007 deal, agreed in a bid to boost Abbas after the Islamist Hamas movement ousted... Read Full Story
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said presidential and legislative elections scheduled for January will be postponed, confirming that he has accepted advice not to hold the vote. Abbas, speaking to BBC Arabic, said the Palestinian leadership would take measures to avoid a constitutional vacuum when the term of the current legislature and his term as president expire on January 25. He did not say what measures would be taken to avoid a constitutional... Read Full Story
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (C) and Ibrahim al-Amin, member of the political bureau of the Lebanese Hezbollah party (L), attend a rally to mark the 22nd anniversary of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, at a Palestine refugee camp near Damascus November 6, 2009. Nov. 30 ( Bloomberg ) -- The Islamic Hamas movement banned girls last month from riding behind men on motor scooters and forbade women from dancing at the opening of a folk museum. Girls in some schools must wear Islamic... Read Full Story
Mahmud Abbas's mandate as Palestinian president, disputed by Hamas, could be extended to avoid a constitutional vacuum, a Palestinian official said on Sunday. "The PLO central committee will discuss the options to avoid a constitutional vacuum" at its meeting due to take place on December 15, Mohammed Dahlan told reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah. "One of them (the options) is the extension of the mandate of president Abbas," said Dahlan, a member of both the committee and of the... Read Full Story
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has agreed to postpone parliamentary and presidential elections that had been set for January. The Palestinian Election Commission said Friday it would meet in December to set a new date, though the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers maintain they will boycott the vote. Abbas said in an interview with BBC Arabic on Thursday that he hopes to reconcile with his Hamas rivals so a vote can go forward in Gaza, as well as the West Bank and Arab areas of Jerusalem. Abbas... Read Full Story
The Palestinian electoral commission on Thursday said the elections called for January should be postponed because the vote can not take place in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. "I regret to say it is unfortunate that the elections will be postponed," commission head Hanna Nasser told reporters. "It has become clear to us that conducting elections in the Gaza Strip is not likely to happen." The election delay risks throwing the bitterly divided Palestinians into a legal and constitutional limbo... Read Full Story
The Palestinian electoral commission on Thursday said the elections called for January should be postponed because the vote can not take place in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. "I regret to say it is unfortunate that the elections will be postponed," commission head Hanna Nasser told reporters. "It has become clear to us that conducting elections in the Gaza Strip is not likely to happen." The election delay risks throwing the bitterly divided Palestinians into a legal and constitutional limbo... Read Full Story
Israeli President Shimon Peres called on Tuesday for Palestinians to "show that they control their own people" before seeking UN recognition of an independent state. Peres, who is ending a two-day visit to Argentina, said Palestinians "have split their country, not us." It is "not enough to say: we are going to ask for a resolution. Hamas will not let (Palestinian president Mahmud) Abbas to do so," Peres told the Argentine Council for International Relations on the UN Security Council... Read Full Story
The Palestinian electoral commission has said the elections called for January should be postponed because the vote can not take place in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. "I regret to say it is unfortunate that the elections will be postponed," commission head Hanna Nasser told reporters on Thursday. "It has become clear to us that conducting elections in the Gaza Strip is not likely to happen." The election delay risks throwing the bitterly divided Palestinians into a legal and constitutional... Read Full Story
