UNESCO approves Palestinian membership bid - Middle East - Al Jazeera English
►http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2011/10/2011103172551498181.html
UN cultural body admits Palestine as full member despite US threat to cut off tens of millions of dollars in funding.
Israeli ex-soldier faces prison over leaks - Middle East - Al Jazeera English
►http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/10/20111030113048320412.html
An Israeli court has sentenced a former soldier to four and a half years in prison for leaking classified military documents to a newspaper, which later reported allegations of a policy to assassinate Palestinian fighters.
A three-judge panel handed Anat Kamm a 54-month sentence and an additional 18-month suspended term on Sunday, with judges writing in the court document that they had found “the motive behind taking the documents was mainly ideological”.
Kamm, 24, copied more than 2,000 military documents from army computers between 2005 and 2007, when she served as a junior clerk in the office of the Israeli commander responsible for the illegally occupied West Bank. About 700 were classified.
Avigdor Feldman, one of Kamm’s lawyers, said at the time she was convicted that she had “believed she stumbled onto [evidence of] war crimes.”
Israeli airstrike kills five Gaza fighters - Middle East - Al Jazeera English
►http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/10/201110291390845324.html
Israeli forces have launched an airstrike on an Islamic Jihad camp in southern Gaza Strip, killing a commander of the group and at least four other fighters, officials from both sides have said.
The raid on Saturday in Rafah, a town on Gaza’s border with Egypt, followed a Palestinian rocket attack on Thursday which landed deep in Israel but caused no casualties.
Fierce fighting erupts in Yemen’s capital - Middle East - Al Jazeera English
►http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/10/20111022101744709230.html
Fierce clashes have erupted between forces loyal to Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his opponents in two areas in the capital Sanaa, a day after the UN urged the embattled leader to hand over power.
In the area around Change Square, where thousands of protesters have been camped out calling for Saleh to quit, fighting erupted on Saturday between government troops and defected soldiers loyal to dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar.
Five soldiers belonging to the rebel first division were reportedly killed by gunshots from forces loyal to Saleh, in what appears to be a continuation of fighting that began a day earlier.
Witnesses and AFP correspondents in Sanaa said explosions were heard throughout the capital from the early hours on Saturday.
Le prince héritier séoudien 83 ans, ministre de la défense depuis 48 ans, est mort. Je ne serais qu’à moitié surpris si son frère, le roi Abdallah, avait l’idée saugrenue, lui aussi, de décéder prochainement.
Heir to Saudi throne Crown Prince Sultan dies - Al Jazeera English
►http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2011/10/2011102235021833.html
Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, the 83-year-old defence minister and first in line of succession to become king of Saudi Arabia, has died.
“With deep sorrow and sadness ... King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz mourns the death of his brother and his Crown Prince Sultan who died at dawn this morning Saturday outside the kingdom following an illness,” the Saudi state press agency said.
Prince Sultan’s funeral will be held on Tuesday, the statement said.
He was an “important and influential senior prince” who played a key role in relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council, particularly Yemen, said Hussein Shobokshi, a columnist for the Asharq Alawsat newspaper.
Angry Arab: Western reactions to the death of Prince Sultan
►http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/10/western-reactions-to.html
Just watch the respect that Western capitals will pay to one of the most corrupt men in power in the 20th century. This man, Prince Sultan, is probably the recipient of the most bribes in human history, especially if you count his sons’ bribes as well.
US defence chief says Israel ’isolated’ - Middle East - Al Jazeera English
►http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/10/201110341753393563.html
Leon Panetta, the new US defence secretary, says Washington is committed to ensuring Israel maintains a “qualitative military edge” in the Middle East, but warned that the country is becoming increasingly isolated.
Panetta, who is due to arrive in Israel on Monday on his first visit to the region since taking charge at the Pentagon, said he planned to use the trip to reaffirm US security commitments to Israel and try to improve its deteriorating relations with Turkey and Egypt.
“It’s pretty clear, at this dramatic time in the Middle East when there have been so many changes, that it is not a good situation for Israel to become increasingly isolated. And that is what has happened,” Panetta told reporters on his plane.
“The important thing there is to again reaffirm our strong security relationship with Israel, to make clear that we will protect their qualitative military edge,” Panetta said.
“As they take risks for peace, we will be able to provide the security that they will need in order to ensure that they can have the room hopefully to negotiate.”
Cette dernière phrase est très drôle.