1425 GMT: Palestine. Thousands of mourners have turned out for the funerals of three Palestinians, including two teenagers killed by Israeli army gunfire in Tulkarm.
On Tuesday, Maysara Abu Hamdeya, a 64-year-old prisoner serving a life term in an Israeli jail, died from cancer.
Palestinian officials accused Israel of delaying treatment for Hamdeya and gave him full military honours at the funeral in Hebron, where masked gunmen fired into the air as his body arrived at a mosque.
Amer Nassar, 17, and Naji Belbisi, 18, were killed in the wave of disturbances that followed the announcement of Hamdeya’s death.
1045 GMT: Egypt. Writing for the Associated Press, Maggie Michael and Sarah El Deeb describe the bloody clashes last month outside Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo:
The riot on March 22 revealed a new readiness of some in the anti-Brotherhood opposition to turn to violence, insisting they have no choice but to fight back against a group they accuse of using violence against them for months. The fight featured an unusual vengefulness. Young protesters were seen at one point pelting a Brotherhood member with firebombs and setting him aflame. Others chased anyone with a conservative Muslim beard, while Islamists set up checkpoints searching for protesters. Each side dragged opponents into mosques and beat them.
Since the fight, Islamists enraged by what they saw as aggression against their headquarters have for the past week hiked up calls for wider action against opponents — and the media in particular — accusing them of trying to overthrow Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
1025 GMT: Egypt. Minister of Planning Ashraf al-Araby has said the Government expects to reach a final agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a $4.8 billion loan within two weeks.
An IMF delegation resumed negotiations with Egypt on Wednesday. Agreement has been held up for months by political and economic tensions, with President Morsi introducing but quickly withdrawing required tax increases and cut in subsidies last autumn.
Foreign reserves are at $13.4 billion, covering less than three months of imports.
0735 GMT: Palestine. US and Palestinian officials say that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will suspend “all unilateral measures” at the United Nations to give US Secretary of State John Kerry time to pursue a new round of Israeli-Palestinian talks.
A source said the Fatah Central Committee, led by Abbas, passed a resolution for the suspensions on Tuesday.
“For a limited and specified period of time a new opportunity will be given to international efforts under way to break the deadlock in the peace process,” the resolution read. It went on to say, “In the event Israel thwarts such efforts, we will again turn to international organizations.”
In November, the UN General Assembly recognised Palestine as an Observer State, angering the Israelis and leading to a cut-off of tax revenues from Israel to the PA. West Jerusalem warned the PA, which controls the West Bank, not to pursue accession to UN agencies and bodies such as the International Criminal Court.
Sources gave the timeframe of the suspension of the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to secure member-state status in various UN agencies as around eight weeks starting on 22 March, when President Obama concluded his visit to the region, with a possible four-week extension.
Abbas is due to meet Kerry on Sunday.
0710 GMT: Palestine. Two Palestinian teenagers have been shot and killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Tulkarm amid clashes.
One teenager was confirmed dead on Wednesday while the body of a second youth was found on Thursday.
The Israeli military said its troops opened fire on Palestinians who threw firebombs at a guard post.
0650 GMT: Israel and Turkey. We start this morning with an analysis by Shoshank Joshi and Aaron Stein of the recent “reconciliation” between West Jerusalem and Turkey, marked by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s apology over the killing of nine Turkish citizens by Israeli commandoes during an attack on a Gaza-bound “Freedom Flotilla” in May 2010.
On EA, we have emphasised the place of Syria in this reconcilation, with the US and others seeking to get Turkey and Israel on the same side over support for the insurgency. In the final third of the article Joshi and Stein add other dimensions:
1. The potential of exports of Israeli natural gas to Turkey, downplayed by the authors;
2. “What the apology could do is restart Turkey and Israel’s defense relationship”, with supply of Israeli drones, specialized equipment for Turkey’s U.S.-made Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft , and other technology and weapons;
3. “An upgrade in intelligence cooperation in Syria”;
4. “The apology may shake up Turkey’s diplomacy in the Palestinian territories….Turkey may even feel well placed to broker reconciliation between the two factions [of Hamas and Fatah].”
via EA WorldView – Home – Israel, Turkey (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A New Israeli-Turkish Relationship?.
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