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Palestinian Affairs

Controversy intensified today regarding the degree to which national and global media outlets had been overly credulous in suggesting earlier this year that the 2004 death of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was due to polonium poisoning, after the disclosure earlier this week of a new French forensic report debunked...

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Featured

Multiple outlets reported yesterday and today on persistent bipartisan skepticism in Congress towards the Obama administration’s stance on Iran, with the White House meeting resistance as it tries to convince lawmakers that they should wait for the formal implementation of a recently announced interim agreement – which would subsequently be...

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Europe

French forensic specialists investigating the death of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have concluded that he died of natural causes, ruling out conspiracy theories that sought to link the terrorist’s decline to polonium poisoning. The French findings are in tension with media reports published last month describing the results of a...

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Diplomacy

The White House late Tuesday issued a statement declaring that the Obama administration is prepared to allow Iran to continue enriching uranium in the context of a comprehensive agreement over Tehran’s nuclear program, after a report on the issue published by the Washington Free Beacon generated questions from journalists seeking further clarification. The Free Beacon reported:...

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Diplomacy

Politico yesterday reported on a confrontation between State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki and Fox News’s Chief Washington Correspondent James Rosen, in which Rosen pressed Psaki on statements made in February by State’s then-spokesperson Victoria Nuland, in which Nuland was asked about the existence of bilateral talks with Tehran: With current State Department spokesperson...

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Featured

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Shimon Peres this weekend declared that Israel would continue pursuing a multi-year plan to economically develop the country’s southern Negev region and politically integrate the Bedouin populations that live in the area, after activists late last week staged violent rallies opposing the so-called Prawer-Begin plan: Israeli...

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Global Affairs

The Washington Post on Thursday described the interim agreement signed between the global P5+1 powers and Iran as “notable for its omissions,” and expressed concern over the deal: But the agreement leaves the United States and its partners at a disadvantage in negotiating the comprehensive settlement. The concessions made to Iran will...

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Diplomacy

A statement issued last week by Yukiya Amano, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, emphasizes that the organization continues to be concerned about possible clandestine elements in Iran’s nuclear program oriented toward the production of a nuclear weapon: The Agency continues to verify the...

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Israel

The Associated Press reported this weekend that Hamas had cancelled the terror group’s previously scheduled 26th anniversary rally, with the terror group citing what the outlet described as ‘deep economic woes’ in the Gaza Strip territory that it rules: The decision illustrated just how hard the Gaza economy has been hit since...

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Featured

TIME reports that Saudi Arabia is considering acquiring nuclear weapons – almost certain to be purchased off the shelf from Pakistan, the nuclear program of which Riyadh sponsored – in response to fears that the international community is positioning Iran to complete what is widely believed to be its drive toward producing...

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