Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah today, and apparently prevailed upon Hamdallah to retract a resignation that he had angrily tendered yesterday. Hamdallah, it turns out, was surprised to learn that he has no real power: “Hamdallah discovered that the Palestinian Authority president wants...

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been under pressure to return to negotiations with Israel, after Israeli leaders again reiterated their willingness to return to peace talks without preconditions. Yesterday Abbas told EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton that he too is committed to the peace process: During a meeting with...

Last year, in response to accusations that it was allowing Iran to evade international sanctions, Georgia issued a flat denial. This morning, the Wall Street Journal evaluated that denial and came away… unimpressed: In recent months, Iranian nationals have taken the reins of a private Georgian airline, a major trade...

The State Department constantly evaluates the global community on the degree to which it helps combat trafficking. A report recently released by State puts Israel near the top of the list: The report lauded Israel for its “law enforcement against sex and labor trafficking, improved identification of trafficking victims, and...

Al-Monitor, an online news site that conveys and translates news from the Middle East, is facing questions about perceptions that it has been conveying the line of Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime. It is also facing questions about its founder and owner, Syrian-born businessman Jamal Daniel, who has made large investments in...

Iranian president-elect Hassan Rouhani served on the Iranian government committee that approved the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina that killed 85 people. Former Iranian intelligence official Abolghasem Mesbahi, who defected from Iran in the late 1990s, testified that the decision to launch the attack was...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is emphasizing that Russia remains committed to honoring arms contracts with the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, including a contract under which Russia will deliver S-300 missile defense systems to Damascus. Russia last month acknowledged it has agreed to sell Syria advanced S-300 air-defense missiles, which...

Saudi Arabia is set to expel all Hezbollah supporters from the Gulf nation, the country’s ambassador to Lebanon said Wednesday, after Qatar already deported 18 Lebanese citizens with ties to the terrorist organization. “We will deport all those who support Hezbollah, the party that wronged itself, its sect and Lebanon,” Asiri told...

Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah this morning submitted his resignation to Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas. The story was first reported in Arabic media. Hamdallah issued an announcement via his official Twitter feed. The feed itself starkly illustrates his short tenure, which lasted some two weeks: Reuters conveyed a government...

A recent survey found that Yemenis consider Iran to be their country’s Yemenis “number one enemy,” outpacing national antipathy for Israel and the United States. There’s a good reason for that: An expanded roster of Yemen-based allies would give Tehran a lever against the U.S., which relies on Yemen’s government...