Middle East diplomacy - Page 13

A senior Palestinian official on Monday denied a report about a confrontation between US President Donald Trump and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during the American leader’s visit to Bethlehem last week.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov directly challenged US President Donald Trump’s tough stance on Iran this week during a briefing with journalists in Moscow.

JERUSALEM — In a keynote speech today that capped his 24-hour visit to Israel, President Donald Trump outlined his administration’s approach toward Israel and vowed an “unshakable bond” between the U.S. and the Jewish state.

JERUSALEM – In his speech at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, President Donald Trump noted the “big beautiful difference” between his administration’s relationship with the Jewish state and the previous administration, and reiterated his promise that Iran would not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.

JERUSALEM – On the tarmac of Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his hope to President Donald Trump that one day an Israeli head of government will be able to visit Saudi Arabia.

US President Donald Trump was said to have blazed a new trail between the Arab world and Israel Monday, with his plane believed to be the first to fly directly from Saudi Arabia to the Jewish state.

President Donald Trump was welcomed to Israel on Monday with at a red carpet ceremony at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv featuring a large delegation that included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sarah as well as Netanyahu’s cabinet and Knesset Members.

The Islamist Palestinian group that controls the Gaza Strip on Sunday rejected US President Donald Trump’s linking it to terrorism and said his description of the group showed his “complete bias” towards Israel.

US President Donald Trump told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday during talks in the Saudi capital that he would soon visit Egypt.

A diplomatic row between Israel and Jordan escalated on Tuesday when Israeli Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis cancelled a scheduled visit to the Hashemite kingdom for a ceremony highlighting regional scientific cooperation.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Wednesday that security relations with the US will remain as strong as ever.

NEW DELHI, India — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas landed in New Delhi late Sunday for a three-day visit, looking to strengthen ties with India ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic trip to Israel.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday congratulated Ismail Haniyeh on his recent election as the new head of the Gaza Strip-ruling Hamas terrorist organization.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Office denied on Wednesday reports that it had received notice that US President Donald Trump has decided not to move the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

King Abdullah II of Jordan, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Niger’s Mahamadou Issoufou are among leaders invited by Saudi King Salman for a summit with US President Donald Trump.

A new invitation for the British Royal Family to visit Israel for Balfour Declaration commemorations has been issued. It comes just days after UK media reported a previously-planned trip to the Holy Land had been binned by Whitehall bureaucrats.

Ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to Israel, US Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford landed in the Jewish state on Monday as a guest of IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot.

An insider account of the events surrounding last week’s meeting between US President Donald Trump and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas reveals optimism among Palestinian officials regarding the new White House occupant.

President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia scheduled for later this month serves as a correction of sorts for the Obama administration’s orientation away from the Saudis and toward Iran, contended Abdel Rahman Rashed, a leading Saudi media figure.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will travel to Russia next week to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian media reported.

(AFP) TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s armed forces warned Iranian President Hassan Rouhani against discussing the country’s defense program after he criticized the anti-Israel slogans written on the side of ballistic missiles, local media reported on Saturday.

Russia, Iran and Turkey on Thursday signed an agreement on setting up four safe zones in Syria that the United Nations described as a promising step to wind down the brutal six-year war.

WASHINGTON – In an appeal for religious tolerance and unity against the scourge of radicalization, US President Donald Trump has chosen to travel to Riyadh, Jerusalem and Rome on his first presidential trip overseas, senior administration officials confirmed on Thursday.

A University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB) student group was caught on Wednesday falsely claiming that Israeli founding father David Ben-Gurion backed the expulsion of Arabs from areas that would become part of the Jewish state.

A tweet on President Trump’s account about what an “honor” it was to host Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House was removed.

Sweden’s ambassador to Israel was summoned Wednesday to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, where he was dressed down over Stockholm’s support for an anti-Israel resolution that was passed at the United Nations’ cultural agency the day before.

Turkey under President Tayyip Erdogan has turned its back on joining the European Union, at least for now, the bloc’s top official dealing with Ankara said, offering economic cooperation instead if both sides can restore friendly ties.

US President Donald Trump will meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday for their first face-to-face talks, with the PA leader hoping the billionaire businessman’s unpredictable approach can inject life into long-stalled peace efforts.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Sunday in Amman in order to coordinate positions ahead of Abbas’s meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House this week.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived on Sunday in Saudi Arabia, where she is expected to press royals on a number of sensitive issues, including taking in refugees, while also boosting important business ties in her first visit to the country in seven years.

US President Donald Trump refused to confirm reports that he would announce the transfer of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem during a visit to Israel next month, but hinted Thursday that he may clarify the issue at that time.

The prime minister of Libya’s United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) has reportedly urged Russia to help him end his war-ravaged country’s domestic conflict.

Officials in Jerusalem and Washington are in advanced talks to arrange a visit by US President Donald Trump to Israel in May, Hebrew media reported on Wednesday. If the plans go ahead it will be Trump’s first ever visit to Israel.

A U.S. Navy destroyer had another close encounter with an Iranian Revolutionary Guard “fast attack craft” in the Persian Gulf Monday.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel moved quickly to defuse a diplomatic row with Israel on Tuesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a face-to-face sit-down in protest of Gabriel’s meeting with a far-left Israeli group during an official visit to the Jewish state.

In an interview with Fox News, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed peace prospects with the Palestinians, saying, “I think the first test of peace is to say to them, ‘Hey, you want peace? Prove it. Confront terrorism, stop rewarding terrorism, stop paying terrorists.”