Syria is having second thoughts about signing the European Economic Agreement. Evidently,\u00a0 Syrians worry that it will compromise their economic sovereignty.See the following article on “Syria Steps.”<\/p>\n
????? ??????? ????? ?? ???????<\/a> Turkey-Israel Row Could Signal Geopolitical Change In Region By Ron Synovitz<\/a>, RFE\/RL<\/p>\n “….Indeed, after Turkey announced Israel’s exclusion from this week’s NATO exercises, Syria said it would conduct military exercises with Turkey. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Mualem welcomed Turkey’s decision, saying it “reflects the way Turkey regards the Israeli attack in Gaza.”<\/p>\n Israel dismissed the Turkish-Syrian announcement. Israeli cabinet minister Benny Begin says Turkish-Syrian exercises are part of Syria’s desire to create a new bloc of countries in the Middle East that would include Iran, Syria, Turkey, and Iraq.<\/p>\n But Joffe says it is not yet clear whether there has been a complete breakdown of the Turkish-Israeli alliance. “It is perhaps the Gaza incident that has persuaded the Turkish government that it can’t afford to maintain too close a relationship with Israel. And therefore, it is trying to distance itself little by little,” he says.<\/p>\n “Whether that will mean a breach and the complete transformation in relations is not yet clear. But it is quite clear that there is some fundamental change taking place, and I think that mirrors the internal changes in Turkey in terms of the relationship between the government and the army command.”<\/p>\n Joffe says the declining influence of the Turkish military on Ankara’s decisions would be a cause of concern for Israel…..”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Netanyahu: Turkey can’t be ‘honest broker’ in Syria<\/a> Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want Ankara serving as mediator in any future diplomatic negotiations with Syria, in view of the crisis in relations between Israel and Turkey. On Friday, Israel’s ambassador in Ankara, Gabi Levy, …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cFor Iraqis, prison in Britain is probably better than living in Syria<\/a>,\u201d Mr. Sultan, Iraqi minister of displacement and migration, said. The National Security Advisor, General James L. Jones<\/a>,<\/p>\n reiterated the Administration’s commitment to establishing a Palestinian state and determination to move forward with peace talks, At the Fourth Annual Gala of the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP).<\/p>\n “We are clear, unambiguous and consistent,” said Gen. Jones, “The time has come to relaunch negotiations without preconditions to reach a final status agreement on two states.” The National Security Advisor emphasized that, “President Obama’s dedication to achieve these goals is unshaken, is committed, and we will be relentless in our pursuit of achieving these.” He said that ending the conflict and the occupation is essential because what is at stake is “nothing less than the dignity and the security of all human beings.” “We must move beyond talking about talks and get to the hard work of addressing the core issues that separate Israelis and Palestinians,” Jones said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Egypt: Fatah-Hamas deal deferred due to ‘inappropriate conditions’<\/a> Egypt announced on Saturday the latest postponement of a reconciliation agreement between rival Palestinian movements Hamas and Fatah was due to “inappropriate conditions.”<\/p>\n The announcement came after Fatah unilaterally signed the pact in Cairo on Thursday without reservations. Hamas, however, said it needed another few days to consider the document, and that the Islamist group had reservations about it.<\/p>\n Egypt, which has been attempting to broker the deal, had initially planned for the sides to sign the accord on Thursday. The country has yet to set a new date for a signing ceremony. Hamas’ deputy political leader, Abu Marzouk, said: “Today the Hamas leadership will relay to Egypt a document containing the necessary reservations and amendments for the Egyptian document.”<\/p>\n According to the Damascus-based official, one of the reservations is about the U.S. demand that the unity deal follow the conditions of the Quartet, which include recognition of the State of Israel, acknowledging earlier agreements and renouncing terrorism.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n UN: Most Iraqi refugees in program go to US<\/a> (AP)<\/p>\n GENEVA \u2014 The U.N. refugee agency says more than 30,000 Iraqis have moved to the United States under a resettlement program that began in 2007.<\/p>\n The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says much smaller numbers have gone to more than a dozen other countries.<\/p>\n UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic says the agency has recommended the resettlement of 82,500 people.<\/p>\n But Mahecic says that so far only 33,000 have been accepted by their proposed host countries.<\/p>\n UNHCR urges nations to expedite the resettlement of the Iraqi refugees particularly at risk.<\/p>\n The agency says most of the 2 million Iraqi refugees are still living without permanent homes in neighboring Syria and Jordan.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n “Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat<\/a><\/p>\n received advice to advance the date of his visit to Syria so that it precedes the visit of PM-designate Saad Hariri to Damascus after the cabinet’s formation.\u00a0 According to information circulated in tight circles, Jumblat is seriously studying the possibility of visiting Syria in a few days on the occasion of a ceremony held in Syria to commemorate Sultan Basha al-Atrash.<\/p>\n Naharnet also learned that the occasion will turn into a major popular ceremony where the Druze sect followers will participate largely in it.<\/p>\n The sources added that Jumblat’s participation will regain his status as the first Druze leader after ex-Minister Wiam Wahab managed to penetrate the Syrian Druze community backed by the Syrian leadership due to the divergence between Jumblat and the Syrian officials in the previous period.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Despite promises to Obama, construction continues in dozens of W. Bank settlements<\/a> Haytham al-Maleh<\/strong>, 78, prominent lawyer and rights activist, disappeared on October 14, 2009. Three Syrian human rights activists told Human Rights Watch that they believe that Political Security is detaining him. Two said they believe that the reason for his arrest is a phone interview that aired on October 12 on an opposition television station, Barada TV, in which he criticized the Syrian authorities for their ongoing repression of freedom of expression.<\/p>\n The Syrian embassy announces:<\/strong><\/p>\n “The Syrian government welcomes the release of two of its citizens, Bisher Suleiman Ahmad Maqt and Assem Mahmoud Ahmed Wali after spending 25 unjust and grueling years in Israeli prisons where they faced different forms of gruesome torture.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Syria is having second thoughts about signing the European Economic Agreement. Evidently,\u00a0 Syrians worry that it will compromise their economic sovereignty.See the following article on “Syria Steps.” ????? ??????? ????? ?? ??????? ???????? ?? ?????? ??????? ?? ?????? ??? 26 ????? ?????? Turkey-Israel Row Could Signal Geopolitical Change In Region By Ron Synovitz, RFE\/RL “….Indeed, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18,15,22,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hr-prisoners","category-israel","category-lebanon","category-turkey"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n???????? ?? ?????? ??????? ?? ?????? ??? 26 ????? ??????<\/p>\n
\n2009-10-18, Haaretz<\/p>\n
\nNYTimes…”Iraq Sends 41 of 50 Deported Refugees Back to Britain”<\/p>\n
\nBy Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent
\nTags: Gaza, Fatah, Israel News<\/p>\n
\nAdvertisement<\/p>\n
\nBy Akiva Eldar and Chaim Levinson
\n
\nUN Human Rights Council PASSES Goldstone Report on Gaza War Crimes ++ Israel Latest Settlement Spree<\/a>
\nBy M.J. Rosenberg – October 16, 2009,<\/p>\n