Free Republic

Have the ancient Christian communities in northern Iraq fallen prey to Iran’s radical Islamist aspirations?Will Iran be permitted to complete its “Shi’a Crescent” or “land bridge,” stretching from Tehran through Iraq, into Syria and on into Lebanon, where Iran’s proxy Hezbollah already asserts enormous power? Is President Donald Trump’s bold assertion that Iran will be denied hegemony in the Middle East being refuted by the facts on the ground? Just last week, I wrote about the renewed hope that surged across displaced Christian communities in Iraq’s Nineveh Plain following Vice President Mike Pence’s encouraging speech at an Washington D.C. event.

IT IS common knowledge that oil and territorial issues spark conflict in the Middle East, but there is now growing alarm over the risk that water could be the catalyst for the next war in the region. Middle East nations record some of the highest birth rates in the world but have only 0.4 per cent of the world's recoverable water resources. Some 80 per cent of people in the region rely on water that flows into their country from at least one other. The potential for disputes over this scarce essential resource is obvious, a risk clearly illustrated by...

Turkey and Israel are negotiating the construction of a multi-million-dollar energy and water project that will transport water, electricity, natural gas and oil by pipelines to Israel, with the oil to be sent onward from Israel to the Far East, Antalya Mayor Menderes Turel said this week... "We are talking about a global energy project, which would be a very important engine of peace in the region," Turel said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post. Turel, who was here to take part in an International Conference of Mayors held in Jerusalem, said that the grandiose project had received tentative...

The Hamas terrorist organization declared on Wednesday that “Al-Quds [in its entirety] is the eternal capital of Palestine, not its eastern or western part, and is an Arabic Islamic city.” The statement, released in honor of the 30th anniversary of the founding of Hamas, is in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel will not cancel the right of the Palestinian national and religious people to the city, and Al-Quds will remain an Arab Islamic state, Hamas stressed. The terrorist group further stressed that...

Breaking with years of courting the U.S., Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Wednesday for the United Nations to replace Washington as a Mideast mediator and suggested he might not cooperate with the Trump administration’s much-anticipated effort to hammer out an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. At a summit in Turkey, Arab and Muslim leaders “rejected and condemned” President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital — the trigger for Abbas’ sharp policy pivot — but stopped short of backing his more combative approach toward Washington. A possible Palestinian refusal to engage with the U.S. and growing backlash against Trump’s shift on...

Israeli army has denied carrying out a strike in Gaza on Tuesday that killed two members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Beit Lahia in the northern part of the Hamas-run enclave. According to Palestinian Maan News agency, sources close to Islamic Jihad said that the two men — 25 year old Hussein Ghazi Hussein Nasrallah and 29 year old Mustafa Sultan — were part of the group’s armed wing Saraya al-Quds and had been working for its northern brigade’s engineering unit. The group later posted a statement on its website saying that the two men were on a “jihadist...

Full Title: Here’s How Trump’s Pledge To Move The U.S. Embassy To Jerusalem Changes The Palestinian-Israel ‘Peace Process’ President Trump’s decision to have the United States recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was not taken in a vacuum. It was another step in changing the moribund Palestinian-Israel “peace process” into something else. What else is not clear, but the intention and the antecedents are. The intention is to disabuse the Palestinians of the notion that the U.S. is neutral between them and our democratic, pro-Western, tolerant, free-market ally Israel. Clarity will actually make the U.S. an honest broker in...

 The Israeli military on Sunday said it has destroyed a tunnel built by the Hamas militant group that stretched from the Gaza Strip several hundred meters (yards) into Israeli territory, declaring a breakthrough in its war against underground threats from the Palestinian enclave. Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, told reporters that Israel had used a new set of “tools” developed since a 2014 war with Hamas in order to destroy the tunnel. He said forces had detected the tunnel months ago and continued to monitor construction efforts by Hamas militants before demolishing it. ... Conricus said a new...

An Israel Defense Forces tank and aircraft carried out strikes on two Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip on Thursday evening in retaliation for Palestinian rocket attacks. The strikes came as a terrorist group in the Strip launched a rocket that hit an open field in the south of the country, after two previous attacks that failed to reach Israeli territory, the army said.

One protester was killed and 100 were wounded Friday during a “day of rage” in the West Bank, Gaza and in East Jerusalem, as Palestinians railed against President Trump’s recognition of the ancient city as Israel’s capital, according to reports. The dead man was felled by Israeli fire in Gaza, while others were injured from tear gas inhalation and rubber bullets, Palestinian officials say. As Friday prayers ended at the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, worshippers made their way toward the Old City and chanted: “Jerusalem is ours, Jerusalem is our capital” and “We don’t need empty words, we need...

An Iranian-backed militia in Iraq threatened on Thursday to attack US forces in the country over US President Donald Trump recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. "The decision by Trump on Al-Quds [Jerusalem] makes it legitimate to strike the American forces in Iraq," Al-Nojaba militia chief Akram al-Kaabi said in a statement. The group, established in 2013 and supported by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, numbers around 1,500 fighters and is part of the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization) auxiliary force that has fought alongside the army against ISIS. Following Trump’s announcement, Iran strongly condemned the decision, saying it threatened a...

‘Time to Officially Recognize Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel:’ Trump Recognition in the Interest of U.S. and Mideast Peace, Trump Says Trump Directs State Department to Begin Process of Moving U.S. Embassy U.S. Would Support ‘Two-State Solution’ to Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Trump Says Trump Says U.S. Not Taking Position on Final Status Issues Trump Says U.S. Will Work for an Agreement that Satisfies Israelis, Palestinians President Trump Asks Regional Leaders to Join U.S. in Mideast Peace Push

(JTA) — The Palestine Liberation Organization office in Washington, D.C., canceled its Christmas reception due to President Trump’s expected announcement that he will be recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Monday, The New York Times published the Palestinian response to an alleged Saudi peace plan. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly presented it to PLO chief and Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas last month. According to the Times’ report, Mohammed told Abbas he has two months to either accept the Saudi proposal or leave office to make way for a new Palestinian leader who will accept it. The Palestinians and their European supporters are up in arms about the content of Mohammed’s plan. It reportedly proposes the establishment of limited Palestinian sovereignty over small portions of Judea and Samaria....

“Whatever Israel wants, we in Ghana will go by that, because that is essentially an internal decision” While the Trump administration has been hit with a barrage of warnings that is stands to throw the Middle East into chaos if it recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the possible move has garnered support among Israel’s allies in Africa.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump informed Palestinian President Mahmolud Abbas on Tuesday that he intends to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, Abbas’s spokesman said.

Wait. It comes as a surprise to President Trump that many world leaders, especially from the Middle East, oppose him recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's historic and undivided capital? Facing dark warnings of a historic misstep and widespread unrest, US President Donald Trump on Monday delayed a decision on whether to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and move the US embassy there. The White House said Trump would miss a deadline to decide on shifting the embassy from Tel Aviv, after a frantic 48 hours of public warnings from allies and private phone calls between world leaders. When he was...

(AFP) - The European Union warned on Tuesday of possible "serious repercussions" if United States President Donald Trump decides to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and move the US embassy there. EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini's office said, in a statement, that "any decision or unilateral action affecting Jerusalem's status" might have "serious repercussions on public opinion in large parts of the world." It added, "The focus should therefore remain on the efforts to restart the peace process and avoiding any action that would undermine such efforts." ....

Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan says the Jerusalem issue is likely to bring an end to the diplomatic relations between Turkey and Israel, according to Reuters. .....

Video A top Democrat warned President Donald Trump against recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital Monday night, calling the expected declaration “a horrible tragedy”. .....