Middle Orient

Iraq security contractors face end to immunity

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Private security guards in Iraq, whose armored convoys once barreled through the streets with impunity, could face being thrown into crowded and violent Iraqi jails once their era of legal immunity ends on January 1. Under a security pact signed with the United States, foreign contractors, including …

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Jewish settlers set fire to Palestinian home

HEBRON, West Bank (Reuters) – Jewish settlers torched a rooftop enclosure of a Palestinian man’s home in the West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday, a Palestinian police spokesman said. The United Nations as well as Palestinian and Israeli officials have condemned violence by settlers since tensions rose on Thursday …

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Israeli warships ‘block’ Libya aid reaching Gaza

GAZA CITY,Israeli warships on Monday prevented a Libyan cargo vessel from reaching the Gaza Strip, the impoverished Palestinian territory under a crippling Israeli blockade. The ship, laden with 3,000 tonnes of goods, was stopped several kilometres (miles) off Gaza’s shores and ordered to return to the Egyptian port of El-Arish, …

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Hamas, Islamic Jihad reiterate their boycotts to Egypt-mediated inter-Palestinian dialogue

GAZA, Nov. 12 – Hamas, which controls Gaza Strip, and the Islamic Jihad on Wednesday reiterated that they boycotted Egyptian efforts for an inter-Palestinian dialogue to reconcile between the main rival factions of Hamas and Fatah.

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