Netanyahu folds under US pressure for pulling out of West Bank towns before peace talks
DEBKAfile Special Analysis
June 25, 2009, 9:41 PM (GMT+02:00)
Binyamin Netanyahu welcomed by Nicolas Sarkozy
Despite his pledge to keep security considerations uppermost in his dealings with the Palestinians, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is buckling under pressure from the US administration aimed at softening Israel up ahead of Middle East peace talks.
This pressure turned Netanyahu's first official visits to Rome and Paris sour. He agreed to pull the IDF out of the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jericho and Qalqilya, without Italian or French budging on their demands for settlement freeze in line with Washington.
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Small protest turnout outside Iran's parliament is violently dispersed
DEBKAfile Special Report
June 24, 2009, 6:37 PM (GMT+02:00)
Basijj rule the streets
Seeking to revive his flagging protest movement, opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi scheduled a demonstration for Wednesday afternoon, June 24, outside the Iranian parliament building on Baharestan Square. According to eye witnesses, several hundred demonstrators turned up and were brutally dispersed by Iranian security forces and arrests made Some said they opened fire on the crowd and one young woman was injured.
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US military strike at North Korean vessel would send Tehran a strong signal
DEBKAfile Special Report
June 23, 2009, 12:56 PM (GMT+02:00)
Suspect North Korean vessel Kang Nam
US president Barack Obama appears to be on course for a military showdown with North Korea, Iran and Syria's nuclear collaborator. US satellites and the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain are shadowing a North Korean vessel suspected of carrying weapons for Myanmar.
Obama's non-confrontational stance on the Iran crisis obliges him to apply muscle to the Security Council's sanctions against Pyongyang - or lay himself open to criticism for being soft on both nuclear rogue states.
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Tehran takes note of Israel's non-interference in its domestic turmoil
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
June 22, 2009, 10:41 PM (GMT+02:00)
Binyamin Netanyahu
Ruling circles in Tehran have interpreted a remark by Israel's Mossad director Meir Dagan as signifying Jerusalem's non-interference in the domestic turmoil besetting the regime over the disputed presidential election, DEBKAfile's Iranian sources report. They see Israel lining up with the mainstream Arab governments such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which have watched Iranian unrest for ten days with hardly a word.
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Iran crisis tightens top-level Israel-Egyptian-Saudi strategic interaction
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
June 21, 2009, 8:38 PM (GMT+02:00)
Mubarak and Barak - plenty to discuss
Israel's defense minister Ehud Barak said his talks in Cairo Sunday, June 21, with President Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian defense minister Gen. Tantawi and intelligence minister Gen. Omar Suleiman were interesting and wide-ranging.
Iran obviously figured high on their agenda with both sides trading views, intelligence input and evaluations.
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Insider rifts cast a lengthening shadow on Iran's popular protests
DEBKA-Net-Weekly Exclusive Report
June 23, 2009, 10:53 AM (GMT+02:00)
Read DEBKA-Net-Weekly's short guide to the backstage rivalries at the top of the regime. See how they impact the extraordinary battle of wills in the streets of Tehran.
Don't miss this and other exclusive insights in the coming issue of DEBKA-Net-Weekly out Friday.
To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weekly click HERE .
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