CAIRO: As thousands in Istanbul gave Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan a hero s welcome for storming out of the World Economic Forum in Davos, his actions are being met with similar enthusiasm in Egypt. Erdogan had left a forum panel on Thursday after a heated discussion on Gaza in which he was refused …

JERUSALEM: Israel vowed to strike back at Hamas on Sunday after renewed rocket fire from Gaza two weeks after the end of a bloody war in the battered Palestinian territory. “We’ve said that if there is rocket fire against the south of the country, there will be a severe and disproportionate Israeli response, Prime Minister …

CAIRO: Security forces on Saturday detained Magdy Ahmed Hussein, secretary general of the Labor Party, for allegedly entering Gaza illegally. Magdi El-Kurkur, a member of the Labor Party, said Hussein was arrested as he attempted to cross back into Egypt through the Rafah border Saturday, with no source of identification except a driver’s license. Hussein …

CAIRO: Independent MP Hamdeen Sabahy censured Hezbollah leader Sayed Hassan Nasrallah for attacking “the Egyptian political regime. “Nasrallah’s statements seek to engage Egypt in a war and that is something that we will never allow, Sabahy said in a press conference organized by the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) Saturday. This is seen as a rare show …

CAIRO: Egypt is to host an international conference on March 2 to raise funds to rebuild the Gaza Strip, which was devastated by a 22-day Israeli assault, the foreign ministry announced on Friday. Cairo has undertaken intensive diplomatic contacts with regional and international parties to convene the conference at the level of foreign ministers, ministry …

CAIRO: Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit admitted that Egypt caused the Doha summit to fail in order “to save Arab unity. In an interview with Orbit satellite television channel Tuesday evening, Aboul Gheit also heavily criticized Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah for attempting to force a confrontation during the Israeli offensive on Gaza. He said, “Egypt …

RAMALLAH: US envoy George Mitchell called for a durable truce in Gaza on Thursday as spiraling violence threatened to shatter ceasefires that ended a devastating war in the Hamas-run enclave. It is important to consolidate a sustainable and durable ceasefire and encourage efforts in that regard, Mitchell told reporters after holding talks with Palestinian President …

DAVOS: The United Nations will launch a $613 million appeal to meet the massive needs of those hit by Israel s 22-day war in Gaza, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Thursday. The money is needed to provide food, water, shelter, healthcare and other assistance after the conflict which left at least 1,300 dead and caused …

CAIRO: Israel conducted another aerial strike aimed at the tunnels beneath the Egypt-Gaza border at the town of Rafah in the early hours of Wednesday. Sources in the area said that the bombings began at 2:15 am on Wednesday and that there were three strikes. No one was injured on the Egyptian side of Rafah. …

VIENNA: The head of the UN atomic watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, has cancelled planned interviews with the BBC in protest at the British broadcaster s refusal to air a Gaza charity appeal, the IAEA said Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency said that the director general has cancelled his scheduled BBC World Service …

CAIRO: New US peace envoy George Mitchell said on Wednesday it was critically important to consolidate the Gaza ceasefire, as Israel warned it would defend itself when Israeli a soldier was killed. It is of critical importance that the ceasefire be extended and consolidated. We support Egypt s continuing efforts in that regard, he said …

CAIRO: Governments of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) should sign the new international treaty banning cluster munitions, Human Rights Watch said Monday. So far, only Lebanon and Tunisia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was opened for signature in December 2008. “Lebanon and Tunisia have recognized how important it is to free …

CAIRO: The new American envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell kick-started his first visit to the region with a trip to Egypt Tuesday and from which he will depart today. The man who was instrumental in the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland comes with the expectation that he might be able to achieve …

CAIRO: Egypt has proposed that a yet to be agreed truce between Israel and Palestinian factions in Gaza begin on Feb. 5, a Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) official told AFP on Monday. Hamas and Israel, which fought a 22-day long war in Gaza that killed at least 1,300 Palestinians, have both …

NEW YORK: Former President Jimmy Carter says that Israel will face a catastrophe unless it revives the Mideast peace process and allows the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Carter pointed out in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday that Arabs will outnumber Jews in the Holy Land in the foreseeable future. If …

BERLIN: Germany says it has sent a team of six experts to Egypt to assess how to help beef up security on the country s border with the Gaza Strip. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says the experts from his ministry and the Interior Ministry left for Cairo Monday evening. He says that effectively fighting weapons …

CAIRO: In an exclusive interview with Dubai-based television network Al-Arabiya, US President Barack Obama discussed his new strategy for achieving peace in the Middle East. It was Obama’s first formal television interview as president. During his talk with host Hisham Melhem, Obama reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict early in his presidency. …

CAIRO: Captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit should not be part of a deal to end the siege of Gaza, a Hamas leader said after talks in Cairo, where the Islamists said they were mulling an 18-month renewable truce. Hamas leaders held talks with Egypt s intelligence chief Omar Suleiman on Sunday aimed at shoring up …

BRUSSELS: European Union foreign ministers pressed Egypt on Sunday to do more to prevent weapons from being smuggled to Hamas in the Gaza Strip – a problem undermining efforts to cement a durable truce in the Mideast. The EU s 27 foreign ministers sought support from their Jordanian and Turkish counterparts in talks meant to …

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama is sending his special Mideast envoy on an initial mission to the region for talks on keeping alive a fragile Gaza ceasefire with Israel and reviving Mideast negotiations. State Department spokesman Robert A. Wood told reporters that George J. Mitchell leaves today on a visit to Israel, Egypt, the West Bank, …

CAIRO: The People’s Assembly decided Sunday to postpone the discussion of a parliamentary interpellation over the government’s refusal to halt gas exports to Israel during the Gaza offensive. The parliamentary interpellation criticizes the government for exporting gas to Israel at cheap rates despite internal natural gas shortages, accuses it of cooperating with Israel in blockading …

CAIRO: Secretary General of the National Democratic Party’s (NDP) policies committee, Gamal Mubarak, slammed some intellectual and media figures at a conference Saturday, accusing them of trying to incite Egyptians against the government. “They were only opposed to Egypt’s role [in its ceasefire initiative] to get attention, he said, Al-Masry Al-Youm local daily reported Sunday. …

GAZA CITY: It’s been barely a week since both sides of the Israel-Hamas conflict fumbled their way to a ceasefire. But when the guns stopped firing, both sides were quick to declare victory. “Olmert: We’ve achieved what we wanted, read a headline in Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronoth, Reuters reported. Khaled Meshaal, Hamas’ exiled leader in …

RAFAH: Israeli troops have shot dead an Egyptian Bedouin man who entered Israel illegally, an Egyptian security official said on Sunday. Attia Mosleh Oda, 30, was shot dead on Saturday night after he crossed the Egypt-Israel border. Israeli authorities handed the body back to Egypt without providing further details on the circumstances of his death, …

JERUSALEM: Egypt can end arms smuggling from its territory into the Gaza Strip, top Israeli defense ministry official and negotiator Amos Gilad said on Saturday. Israel considers that Egypt is in a position to confront the matter of arms smuggling and to put an end to it, Gilad told Channel Two television, adding that the …

CAIRO: A Hamas team met Egypt’s intelligence chief Omar Suleiman on Sunday in a bid to clinch a lasting truce in war-battered Gaza, after an Israeli negotiator held similar talks in Cairo. Egypt’s state MENA news agency said Suleiman and the Hamas officials discussed “Egyptian efforts to consolidate the ceasefire, reach a (permanent) truce, reopen …

CAIRO: A Greek national has presented a complaint to the Greek Embassy in Cairo accusing the Greek government of “co-responsibility for the war in Gaza. Marina Demetriadou, a student of Arabic in Cairo, handed the statement to the embassy on Wednesday morning. She was told that the ambassador himself would be unable to receive it …

GAZA CITY: US President Barack Obama said Thursday he was dispatching new Mideast envoy George Mitchell to shore up the fragile truce in Gaza, as Israel warned it would strike again if Hamas is allowed to rearm. Both Obama and United Nations officials also called on Israel to open Gaza border crossings. As part of …

CAIRO: Egypt has proof that the majority of weapons that are smuggled into the Gaza Strip come from Israel, said the general secretary of Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights Mukhlis Qutb. In an interview with the state owned Al-Ahram newspaper, Qutb said Egypt has the necessary documentation and confessions proving that weapons are smuggled …

CAIRO: A Hamas delegation from Gaza crossed into Egypt on Friday for talks to shore up the ceasefire with Israel which ended a 22-day assault on the coastal strip, a border official said. The official said the six-member delegation entered Egypt through the Rafah crossing and was on its way to Cairo, where talks are …