Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer

In Brief: Labour calls for new approach to Iran and tougher nuclear deal

Posted 19 January, 2021 in Analysis, Iran, Labour Party, Middle East
July 2015 Iran nuclear deal: agreement in Vienna. From left to right: Foreign ministers/secretaries of state Wang Yi (China), Laurent Fabius (France), Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Germany), Federica Mogherini (EU), Mohammad Javad Zarif (Iran), Philip Hammond (UK), John Kerry (USA). (Photo: Dragan Tatic, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons) A new tougher nuclear deal with Iran is needed, the shadow…

more

0Comments 0Likes 21Views

In Brief: Abbas announces Palestinians will vote in new elections this year

Posted 19 January, 2021 in Analysis, Palestinian Territories
Mahmoud Abbas. Photo: Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons Mahmoud Abbas has fired the starting gun on presidential and parliamentary elections in the West Bank and Gaza - 15 years after Palestinians last went to the polls. The Palestinian president signed a decree on Friday scheduling parliamentary elections for 22 May. Presidential elections will follow two months later on 31 July, with a vote…

more

0Comments 0Likes 15Views

In Brief: US bill with $250m boost to Israel-Palestine peacebuilding becomes law

Posted 13 January, 2021 in Analysis, Coexistence, Israel, Middle East, Palestinian Territories, Peace process
Nita Lowey. (Photo: The Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, CC BY-SA 4.0  via Wikimedia Commons) The US Congress has passed a historic bill which will provide a $250m boost to coexistence work in Israel-Palestine, as well as Palestinian economic development. The legislation, which received bipartisan support, was signed after days of prevarication by Donald…

more

0Comments 0Likes 20Views

In Brief: Weeks, not months, to revive Iran nuclear deal, warns IAEA head

Posted 13 January, 2021 in Analysis, Iran, Middle East
July 2015 Iran nuclear deal: agreement in Vienna. From left to right: Foreign ministers/secretaries of state Wang Yi (China), Laurent Fabius (France), Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Germany), Federica Mogherini (EU), Mohammad Javad Zarif (Iran), Philip Hammond (UK), John Kerry (USA). (Photo: Dragan Tatic, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons) Joe Biden has weeks, not months, to revive the Iran nuclear deal,…

more

0Comments 0Likes 17Views

In Brief: Outgoing Labor leader Amir Peretz won’t stand in new Israeli elections

Posted 13 January, 2021 in Analysis, Israel, Israeli Politics
Amir Peretz Photo: רווח הפקות, CC BY-SA 3.0 The outgoing Labor leader Amir Peretz announced today that he won't stand in the Israeli general election scheduled for 23 March. Peretz announced he was quitting as Labor leader shortly after new Knesset elections were triggered last month following the government's failure to pass an annual budget. Peretz controversially broke…

more

0Comments 0Likes 24Views

Analysis: How Israel came to lead the global vaccination drive

Posted 13 January, 2021 in Analysis, Israel, Palestinian Territories
Image Source: Our World in Data, CC BY 4.0 Israel continues to lead the world in the speed of its coronavirus vaccine rollout programme. Less than one month after Benjamin Netanyahu became the first Israeli to receive the covid-19 immunisation jab, the country has vaccinated over 22 percent of its population. By the start of this week, nearly three-quarters of…

more

0Comments 0Likes 40Views

Analysis: After Israel’s Morocco deal – what next?

Posted 16 December, 2020 in Analysis, Israel, Middle East, Palestinian Territories, Peace process
King Mohammad. Photo: MehdiBitw98, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons Morocco last week became the fourth Arab country in as many months to announce it would be normalising its relations with Israel. The announcement formalises relations between the two countries which the Moroccan foreign minister described over the weekend as “already normal”, and, given the ancient ties…

more

0Comments 0Likes 86Views

In Brief: Hezbollah member gets five life terms for murder of former Lebanese PM

Posted 16 December, 2020 in Analysis, Hezbollah, Iran, Middle East
Rafiq al-Hairi. Photo: Helene C. Stikkel, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons A United Nations special tribunal last Friday sentenced a member of Hezbollah to five life sentences for his role in the 2005 assassination of Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hairi. Hairi (pictured), who was murdered in a bomb attack on his motorcade, had been attempting to curtail…

more

0Comments 0Likes 28Views

In Brief: Knesset set to dissolve as new Sa’ar party soars and Blue and White implodes

Posted 16 December, 2020 in Analysis, Israel, Israeli Politics
Gideon Sa'ar. Photo: Ziv Koren (זיו קורן), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons The Knesset appears on track to dissolve next Tuesday, triggering the fourth round of Israeli elections in a little under two years. Negotiations between Likud and Blue and White – the two largest parties in the country’s “unity government” – to resolve a…

more

0Comments 0Likes 17Views

In Brief: FASC issues Iran warning as Tehran hangs dissident journalist 

Posted 16 December, 2020 in Analysis, Iran, Middle East
The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee this week issued a strong warning about Britain’s relationship with Iran. In a report entitled “No Prosperity Without Justice”, the committee suggested that Iran’s malign regional actions challenge the values which underpin British foreign policy. The warning came as Tehran executed dissident journalist Ruhollah Zam (pictured) who…

more

0Comments 0Likes 26Views