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Former IDF Commander Slams Natural Growth
July 7, 2009 2 min. read

Shaul Arieli, former commander of the northern brigade in the Gaza Strip, candidly reject the Israeli governments insistence that natural growth in the settlements must continue, he said in an interview with Middle East Progress. He stated that hundreds of unoccupied apartments remain in the settlements and that these housing units should be occupied before […]

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Lapid: Arab Birth-Rates a Non-Issue
July 7, 2009 2 min. read

Israelis on both sides of the political spectrum always lament that high Arab birth rates represent an existential threat to Israel that dwarfs any terror strike or Iranian nuclear weapons program. These pessimists (of which I’m one) contend that non-Jewish Arabs procreate at much higher rates than Jews. Due to the semi-democratic nature of Israel, […]

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Nuclear Power Accelerating in M.E.
July 6, 2009 1 min. read

Middle Eastern nations are rapidly revolutionizing their fuel cycles to focus on nuclear power, according to a new INSS report. The author contends that countries in the region prefer to use nuclear facilities in order to curb their long-term domestic energy costs. By using nuclear power, these countries can export fossil fuels, a commodity whose […]

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Nuclear Iran Back in the Limelight
July 6, 2009 3 min. read

As the protests in Iran seem unlikely to fuel regime change, the prospects of the radical Shi’ite regime obtaining a nuclear weapon returns to the forefront of international debate.  Notably, comments made yesterday by Vice President Joe Biden and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen signal the lack of an internal […]

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Saudi-Syrian Summit Expected Monday
July 5, 2009 5 min. read

Saudi King Abdullah and Syrian President Bashar Assad are expected to meet Monday in Damascus to discuss regional affairs. The two nations are  rivals  in the Middle East and are often at odds with each other. Last week Saudi Arabia sent two lower level envoys, including the King’s son Prince Abdul Aziz, to Syria with […]

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Israel and Saudi Relationship Expanding Over Iran
July 5, 2009 2 min. read

Israel appears to have an unusual bedfellow- Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Arabian government agreed to permit the Israeli air-force to flyover the Islamic nation in order to attack Iran, according to reports. An official old the Sunday Times that if Israel quietly performed the operation, Saudi Arabia would not object to the flyover. Notably, former U.S. Ambassador to […]

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U.S. Troops Withdraw from Iraqi Cities
July 4, 2009 3 min. read

Iraqis were partying in the streets on Tuesday last week, celebrating the withdrawal of U.S. Troops from Iraqi cities.  As Newsweek reported, U.S. military operations have moved to nonurban areas and “belts” around major cities such as Baghdad, Basra and Mosul.  American troops will still be at the disposal of Iraqi security leaders, preparing to […]

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Inane burqa controversy attracts more press attention
July 3, 2009 2 min. read

President of France Nicholas Sarkozy’s new initiative – to outlaw the wearing of a burqa in public in France – has sparked quite a debate over the past week. Adding to it on the New York Times op-ed page is self-identified Muslim feminist Mona Eltahaway, agreeing earnestly with Sarkozy that the burqa in fact constitutes […]

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Israel Admittance to OECD by May 2010
July 3, 2009 1 min. read

Israel should attain full membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development by May 2010, according to reports following a meeting between Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria. By the end of the year, Israel will undergo a series of hearings regarding economic development before OECD releases a report assessing […]

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Bolten: Call for an Israeli Strike on Iran
July 2, 2009 2 min. read

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolten intensified the call for an Israeli strike on Iran in an editorial today in the Washington Post. The post-election uprisings in Iran increased sentiment that regime change could result in a halt to the Iranian nuclear program. Bolten criticizes the new administration’s approach that would likely […]

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Army Draft Dodging
July 2, 2009 1 min. read

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, another Israeli citizen received notice from the IDF to report immediately to military service. This time, the citizen in question resides in the United States and is obtaining his medical degree at Colombia University. Even though the student request deferment of his military service and offered to serve in […]

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Al Qaeda (North African chapter) responds to France's research on burqa/niqab
July 1, 2009 1 min. read

And, unsurprisingly, they are not pleased. Even more unsuprisingly, it is not Al Qaeda in Iraq or Al Qaeda from a cave in Pakistan that responded but Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and for Islamic Maghreb we can read Former French Colonies, particularly Algeria, and the country of origin for a good number of […]

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