23:48 Ten soldiers from the Golani unit sent a letter on Monday to the President of the State, Shimon Peres. They stated: ”We arrest terrorists several times a week, but we feel betrayed every time you release them”. (Guysen.International.News)
23:37 The PA security services reported that they arrested ten Hamas members on Monday, who were planning to disrupt the general order in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli and Palestinian security services have been on high alert recently, in light of the Annapolis conference. (Guysen.International.News)
22:58 Iraq: gunmen have killed eleven members of the family of a journalist who expressed positions favorable to the dissolved Baath party of the former dictator Saddam Hussein. (Guysen.International.News)
22:39 Iraq: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has requested that the next renewal of the annual mandate from the United Nations for international troops to be stationed in his country be the last. The mandate of foreign forces engaged in Iraq would thus terminate at the end of 2008. Nouri al-Maliki also hopes to sign a bilateral agreement on security cooperation with the United States by July next year. This agreement would permit a greatly reduced number of American soldiers to remain in Iraq. (Guysen.International.News)
22:27 Washington: during an interview with Israeli journalists, Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, said: ”I represent the honor of the people of Israel. If there is still someone who refuses to shake hands with the people of Israel, I will not shake his hand”. Olmert was referring to the refusal of Saudi foreign minister to shake hands with him at a meeting with the various participants prior to the Annapolis summit. (Guysen.International.News)
22:14 The American president, George Bush, has said: ”The United States can not impose peace in the Middle East, but it can contribute to the peace process”. The American president made this statement a few hours before the start of a dinner for the representatives of 40 countries attending the Annapolis conference. (Guysen.International.News)
21:56 The Egyptian police discovered a weapons cache north of the Sinai desert, 40 kilometers from the Israeli border. More than 100 mines and 9 bombs were found. The police opened an investigation to determine who these munitions belong to. (Guysen.International.News)
20:39 The destroyer USS Oscar Austin of the American fleet docked in the port of Haifa on Monday. This is the first time in seven years that an American warship has arrived in an Israeli port. (Guysen.International.News)
20:15 Jerusalem: thousands of people are attending the demonstration organized by right-wing movements against the Annapolis conference. The demonstrators gathered in Paris square, in the center of the capital, brandishing posters such as: ”Annapolis will explode in our faces.” (Guysen.International.News)
19:28 According to a Japanese newspaper, several North Korean experts allegedly traveled secretly to Syria, in early November, to discuss the possibility of providing Syria chemical warheads for Scud missiles. The newspaper said that Syria has already carried out several tests, the last in July 2007 which was a failure. (Guysen.International.News)
18:38 The meeting of the Israeli troika (Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the ministers Tsipi Livni and Ehud Barak) with President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has just begun at the White House. A press conference will be given at the end of their meeting. (Guysen.International.News)
17:26 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired two mortar rounds in the direction of an IDF force near the Erez industrial zone. There were no injured. (Guysen.International.News)
16:57 IAEA inspectors arrived in Russia on Monday to discuss the nuclear substances to be delivered to the Boushehr plant in Iran. (Guysen.International.News)
16:37 The Foreign Minister of Bahrain, Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmad El-Khalifa, revealed on Monday that he had rejected the proposal made a month ago by his Israeli counterpart Tsipi Livni, to establish diplomatic relations between the two countries. He reportedly proposed to await the outcome of the Annapolis conference. (Guysen.International.News)
14:28 ”The arrangements to be concluded at the Annapolis conference will only be binding on their signatories”, Ismail Haniya, the head of the Hamas government said on Monday in Gaza, adding that ”the Palestinian people knows that this conference is useless”. (Guysen.International.News)
13:18 An IDF helicopter raid against kassam launchers in Beit Hanoun: a helicopter gunship shelled terrorists who were preparing to fire at the western Negev, one of them died, two others were wounded. (Guysen.International.News)
12:21 The IDF has begun clearing areas north of the Gaza Strip. According to Palestinian sources, Israeli forces began to clear the land and destroying buildings in the Erez industrial zone, despite protests from Palestinians. (Guysen.International.News)
12:09 An alternative conference to the one being held in Annapolis is meeting this Monday afternoon in Gaza, at the initiative of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian factions. The number two of the Hamas political bureau, Moussa Abu Marzouk, said the counter conference planned to take place in Damascus has not been canceled and will take place as scheduled. (Guysen.International.News)
11:44 Bernard Kushner has demanded an explanation from Russia on the repression of anti-Putin demonstrations. The head of French diplomacy has called on Moscow to explain why 200 opposition demonstrators, including the former world chess champion, Garry Kasparov, were arrested on Sunday. (Guysen.International.News)
11:11 Lebanon: Hezbollah has accused the United States of interfering in the Lebanese presidential elections and argues that any candidate for the succession of Emile Lahoud must commit to supporting a military conflict with Israel. (Guysen.International.News)
10:27 The United States would agree to discuss the issue of the Golan Heights on the side of the Annapolis under pressure from Saudi Arabia, forging the way for Syria’s participation at the peace conference. These revelations were made by Arab diplomats in Arabic newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi. Damascus had finally agreed to attend the international summit to reduce American tensions against it. (Guysen.International.News)
10:09 Oxford has invited the Holocaust denier David Irving to speak to its students on Monday. In line with Columbia University who invited Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the podium a few months ago, a forum from the University of Oxford, arguing ”freedom of expression”, took the same approach to with regards to Irving, and the President of the British National Party (BNP) Nick Griffin. (Guysen.International.News)
09:54 Lebanon: Hezbollah does not recognize the legitimacy of the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, which took over the presidential powers, vacant since Friday at midnight. (Guysen.International.News)
09:18 The Gush Katif evacuees from Netzarim, are again under a deportation order. Twenty-five families evacuated from Netzarim in the context of the disengagement in 2005, who had resettled in the town of Ariel, were ordered this to leave their caravans in 5 months. The mayor of Ariel explained that he was obliged to issue these orders: The Department of Defense has in fact ordered a freeze in construction in settlements. “We cannot build final housing for these families, and the district in which they are temporarily settled is illegal”, he said. (Guysen.International.News)
07:58 Students from the Ben-Gurion University of Beersheva have been rewarded in the USA for their research on algae. Four Israeli students have participated for the first time in the Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge of the Berkeley University and won the second prize of this competition organized for the 3rd consecutive year. This competition rewards the best technical applications that can profoundly change society. They worked on the production of biodiesel from microalgae. (Guysen.International.News)
05:42 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, has expressed concern over the possibility of an explosion of the governing coalition after the Annapolis conference. Yisrael Beitenu and the religious party Shas, could decide to leave the ruling coalition, as a result of agreements with the Palestinian Authority at the summit in the United States. (Guysen.International.News)
04:14 The French company Areva will provide two third generation nuclear reactors to China. This was announced today by the chairman of the board of the energy company, Anne Lauvergeon. The contract is estimated at eight billion euros. (Guysen.International.News)
03:28 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, will hold talks on Wednesday with President Bush, the day after the Annapolis conference. The means of putting an end to the Iranian threat will be the main topics for discussion at this meeting. Negotiations between Israel and Syria, as well as bilateral Israeli-American relations will also be discussed. (Guysen.International.News)
02:41 Afghanistan: on Sunday the international coalition forces announced the deaths of 80 Taliban in various air raids. (Guysen.International.News)
