CAIRO: Independent MP Talaat El-Sadat has submitted his resignation from the People’s Assembly (PA) National Security and Defense Committee in a written memo to house Speaker Fathi Sorour. El-Sadat said that the committee’s discussion of the construction of the new underground barrier between Egypt and Gaza and the reaction of MPs from the ruling National …

CAIRO: Aid convoys bound for the Gaza Strip will now be banned from traveling across Egypt after activists this week clashed with police, the foreign minister said in remarks published on Saturday. Ahmed Aboul Gheit told government newspaper Al-Ahram that members of one convoy led by British MP George Galloway committed “criminal acts on Egyptian …

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday urged Palestinians and Israelis to resume peace talks without preconditions, backing Palestinian aims for a state along the 1967 boundaries. However, trying to revive Obama administration diplomacy that fell flat last year, Clinton said the lines would be modified through mutually agreed land swaps, presumably to …

RAFAH: A jackhammer pounded large steel beams side by side into the sandy soil on the Egyptian side of Gaza’s border, putting in place an underground wall that could shift the balance of power in this volatile area. Once completed, the steel barrier would cut off blockaded Gaza’s last lifeline and – by slicing through …

CAIRO: British Respect MP George Galloway was deported from Egypt Friday upon his return from Gaza and declared persona non grata, according to the Foreign Ministry. “George Galloway is considered persona non grata and will not be allowed to enter into Egypt again, a Foreign Ministry statement said. Galloway left for Britain Friday morning after …

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration on Friday begins a flurry of high-level talks aimed at reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, after its Middle East diplomatic debut fell flat last year. Accompanied by Middle East envoy George Mitchell, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet in Washington with Foreign Ministers Nasser Judeh of Jordan and Ahmed Aboul Gheit …

CAIRO/MADRID: The nascent Mediterranean Union is very close to naming its first secretary general, who will be from an Arab country, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Tuesday. He was speaking at a news conference in Madrid before leaving for Cairo to attend a meeting of representatives of member states. The Mediterranean Union is …

CAIRO: Calm returned to the Egypt-Gaza border Thursday after clashes between Palestinian protesters and Egyptian border guards left one guard, 22-year-old Ahmed Shaaban dead, and nine injured from both sides. The protests were preceded by earlier protests in Al-Arish between security forces and members of the Viva Palestina convoy. The conflict started Tuesday night when …

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has assured Saudi Arabia his movement is loyal to Arab states, the kingdom s foreign minister, Prince Saud Al-Faisal, said on Tuesday. I asked Khaled Meshaal whether the movement stood with Arabs or with others, Prince Saud said, referring to Iran, a strong regional backer of Hamas, the …

CAIRO: The last members of the Viva Palestina convoy headed to the Gaza Strip landed in Al-Arish airport Tuesday after earlier arrivals conducted a sit-in to insist that all members be allowed into Gaza. The first 100 arrivals were told Monday that only they would be allowed to go to the Gaza Strip with the …

JERUSALEM: Washington is pushing a plan to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that foresees reaching a final deal in two years and agreeing on permanent borders in nine months, a daily said Monday. Under the plan, the Israelis and Palestinians will immediately start final status talks that were suspended during the Gaza war a year ago, …

CAIRO: The Viva Palestina convoy intended for the Gaza Strip finally docked in the port of Al-Arish some 40 km away from the Rafah border crossing after a protracted delay due to a disagreement over its appropriate landing destination between convoy members and the Egyptian government. The Lifeline 3 convoy – comprising some 150 vehicles …

CAIRO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday he was open to peace negotiations with Israel, but that as agreed with Egypt talks could only resume when Jewish settlement activity ends. There is no objection to returning to the negotiating table or holding any meetings in principle, Abbas told reporters in Sharm El-Sheikh after talks …

RAMALLAH: Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas was to travel to Egypt on Sunday to discuss the possible relaunch of US-backed peace talks amid lingering divisions over Israeli settlement expansion. Abbas s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said he would meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday to discuss important …

CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak announced Sunday afternoon the appointment of Alaa El Din Mohamed Fahmy, head of Egypt National Postal Authority, as the new Minister of Transport, and Ahmed Zaki Badr, President of Ain Shams University, as the Minister of Education. Fahmy replaces former Minister Mohamed Lotfy Mansour who resigned last October in the wake …

RIYADH: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said on Saturday that Israel acts like a “spoiled child and stalls Middle East peace talks thanks to easy international treatment. “We can’t reach a solution with the preferential treatment that Israel gets, Prince Saud told a news conference in reply to a question on restarting the peace …

CAIRO: Mohamed Habib, deputy supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, resigned from his posts in the group in opposition to the recent Guidance Office elections, from which he was left out. Habib resigned from his positions as deputy supreme guide, member of the MB’s International Guidance Office and member of the International Advisory (Shoura) Council …

CAIRO: International activists from the Gaza Freedom March (GFM) continued protest action against the Egyptian government’s refusal to let them into Gaza with a demonstration in downtown Cairo on Thursday and another outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo on Friday. GFM protestors were allowed to demonstrate in front of the Israeli embassy on Friday, traditionally …

RAMADI: Blasts in central and western Iraq killed 30 people and wounded the Anbar provincial governor on Wednesday, the latest in a series of attacks in recent months against government targets in Iraq. The worst violence struck the western city of Ramadi, where 23 people were killed and 30 were wounded in coordinated bombings, blamed …

CAIRO: Eighty members of the Gaza Freedom March (GFM) left Cairo yesterday morning for the Rafah Crossing, pursuant to an agreement reached with Egypt’s First Lady Suzanne Mubarak. However, GFM spokesman Ziyaad Lunat emphasized to Daily News Egypt that the group which left yesterday at 11:30 am “were not going in GFM’s name. “The individuals …

In the story Gaza Freedom March continues Cairo protests for permits to enter Gaza (Daily News Egypt, Dec. 30), participants of the march said that about 30 Americans were surrounded by riot police inside the US embassy in Cairo. In response, an official from the US embassy said, “No one has been detained inside Embassy …

CAIRO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed efforts to revive the stalled Middle East peace process Tuesday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, but Cairo said talks can only start when Jewish settlement activity stops. “The talks were very positive, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters after the meeting. “We have seen that the …

CAIRO: Members of the Gaza Freedom March (GFM) in Cairo continued to protest on Tuesday, demanding that the Egyptian government allow them into Gaza. “My question is, what is the Egyptian government afraid of? Do we look like criminals? We want to bring humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza who have been suffering terribly …

CAIRO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Cairo on Tuesday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on US efforts to revive stalled Middle East peace negotiations. But the talks were overshadowed by Israel s announcement that it had invited tenders for the construction of hundreds of new homes for Jewish settlers in annexed …

TEHRAN: Tens of thousands of government supporters rallied across Iran on Tuesday to call for the punishment of opposition leaders for fomenting unrest after June s disputed presidential poll, state media reported. Hardline rulers intensified a crackdown on the reform movement on Sunday by rounding up leading moderates to try to end street protests after …

CAIRO: The United States is drafting two letters of guarantee for Israel and the Palestinians to serve as a basis for the relaunch of stalled Middle East peace talks, Arab and Western diplomats in Cairo said. “US special envoy George Mitchell will present two draft letters of guarantee, one for Israel and one to the …

BEIRUT: The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group has accused Egypt of “choking off an entire people by building an underground barrier meant to stop smuggling goods and weapons to Gaza. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah says Egypt should be condemned by all Arabs if it continues installing the barrier. Egypt is under fire from Arab and …

TEHRAN: Iran’s government cracked down on its opponents Monday, websites said, arresting two outspoken critics as well as several aides to main opposition leaders after eight people died in fierce clashes in Tehran. Opposition website Rahesabz said that Ebrahim Yazdi, who served as foreign minister in the early months of the 1979 Islamic revolution, and …

CAIRO: In Cairo, Al-Arish and Aqaba in Jordan, activists from all over the world continued their attempts to reach the Gaza Strip, whether to transport aid or to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Israeli offensive on Gaza. There was an end to the impasse of the Viva Palestina convoy, stuck in Aqaba since Tuesday. …