Venezuela expels Israel’s envoy over Gaza attacks

July 3rd, 2009 US envoy returns to post in VenezuelaCARACAS, Venezuela — A U.S. envoy who was expelled last year by President Hugo Chavez said Thursday he hopes to re-establish dialogue after resuming his post in Venezuela.

March 5th, 2009 GAZA - Israeli jets Wednesday evening launched a missile in northern Gaza Strip, killing two Palestinians and wounding five, medics and witnesses said. Gaza emergency chief Mo'aweya Hassanein told reporters that two Palestinians were killed and five injured in an Israeli airstrike on a local car that drove in northern Gaza Strip.

February 9th, 2009 UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that the global organisation will form a panel to probe into Israel's Gaza raid. The UN chief made the announcement at a meeting of the UN Security Council Monday.

January 22nd, 2009 JAKARTA - The Islamic Hamas is not broken by the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, a Palestine official said here Friday. Sammi Abu Uzair, a special envoy of the Palestine prime minister, said the Hamas still holds the power in Gaza and is not broken by the three-week-long Israeli bombardment, which began Dec 27.

January 17th, 2009 TEHRAN - The presidents of Bolivia and Venezuela were invited to a feast here by Islamic Students Society to celebrate Palestine's victory over Israel in Gaza, IRNA reported Sunday. The feast will be hosted by Tehran University to celebrate the end of the 22-day conflict in Gaza, the ISS said but the agency gave no date.

January 17th, 2009 TEHRAN - A senior official at Iran's presidential office Sunday said that the unilateral ceasefire announced by Israel in Gaza was an admission of defeat, IRNA reported. Ali-Reza Zaker Isfahani, chairman of the Strategic Studies, said Israel's unilateral ceasefire indicated its absolute defeat.

January 15th, 2009 GAZA - The toll in the Israeli operation against the Hamas-led militant groups in the Gaza Strip has risen to 1,133, emergency officials said here Friday. Gaza emergency chief Mo'aweya Hassanein said three Islamist gunmen and three children were killed in separate Israeli attacks early Friday.

January 14th, 2009 LA PAZ - Bolivia broke diplomatic ties with Israel over the 'disproportionate' attacks of the Israeli Army on the Gaza Strip, Bolivian President Evo Morales said Wednesday in La Paz. Morales made the announcement as diplomats accredited in Bolivia greeted the president in accordance with protocol, Bolivian media reported.

January 14th, 2009 CARACAS - Venezuela has announced that it was breaking diplomatic relations with Israel 'in the face of the seriousness of the atrocities against the Palestinian people', EFE reported Thursday. In a communique released by the foreign ministry, the government of President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday that it would insist 'before the international community that the crimes against humanity committed by (Israel's) leaders be denounced before the International Criminal Court'.

January 13th, 2009 JERUSALEM - A senior Israeli defence official will visit Egypt Wednesday for talks over a possible ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, a media report said. Amos Gilad, head of the Diplomatic Security Bureau of Israel's defence ministry, is scheduled to meet Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman for facilitating a talk with Hamas, Ynet news service reported.

January 11th, 2009 CAIRO - Former British prime minister and Middle East special envoy Tony Blair Monday said 'elements were in place' for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Speaking after a meeting with Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak in Cairo, Blair stressed that any agreement must be predicated on an end to weapons smuggling into Gaza and an end to the blockade of the territory.

January 11th, 2009 TEHRAN - Iran Monday called upon Muslim countries to severe all their relations, including diplomatic and trade, with Israel as a protest against its military operation in Gaza Strip. Iran's Foreign Minister Manuchehr Motaki told reporters here that he had sent letters to his counterparts of a number of Islamic countries, urging them to take decision similar to what Venezuela and Mauritania had taken in the wake of the Gaza offensive.

January 9th, 2009 GAZA - The toll in the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip has risen to 801, officials said Friday. Israel launched massive air and ground assaults against the Islamic Hamas in Gaza Dec 27, in response to the continuous rocket attacks by the militants on its territory.

January 3rd, 2009 PARIS - The French government late Saturday sharply criticized Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip, saying it 'complicated' peace efforts. 'France condemns Israel's ground offensive against Gaza just as it condemns the continued rocket attacks' by Hamas against Israel, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

December 30th, 2008 CAIRO - The head of the Arab League urged the United Nations Security Council Wednesday to take immediate action to stop Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip. 'We urge the Security Council not to fall under any pressure and take an immediate decision to stop the Israeli attacks on Gaza,' said Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa at the opening of an emergency meeting of the body.