Rebel News - Independent News and Analysis

US President Barack Obama claims direct talks between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israelis will end the Israeli occupation of 1967.

During the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank, including East al-Quds (Jerusalem), the Golan Heights in Syria, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, and the Gaza Strip.

A group of Pakistani military officers have left the United States in protest to "unwarranted security checks" at Dulles International Airport in Washington.

The nine-member delegation, headed by a two-star Navy rear admiral, refused to take part at an annual conference at US Central Command after they were pulled off a plane and questioned for more than two hours.

Over 150 Israeli academics say they will no longer take part in cultural activities or lecture in the occupied West Bank settlement of Ariel.

In a signed petition, faculty members from universities across Israel vowed not to lecture or participate in any discussions in the illegal settlements area and voiced support for the theater artists who have said they would refuse to perform in this West Bank settlement.

On the eve of peace talks between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israelis, a poll shows two-thirds of Israelis support occupation in the West Bank.

Sixty-four percent of those questioned favored resumption of settlement construction in the occupied West Bank territories after a 10-month moratorium expires on September 26, according to the poll conducted by Gal Hadash Institute and aired on private Channel Ten TV station Wednesday.

Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says Tehran is still waiting for a response from the Vienna Group.

Mehmanparast noted that the group -- which involves the US, Russia, France and the International Atomic Energy Agency -- is yet to pin down an exact date for the resumption of negotiations.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman says the enemies of Islam seek to create discord among Muslim countries to continue oppressing them.

If Muslim countries unite to confront the aggressions against the interests of the Muslim world, they can become a great power and prevail over Israel and its supporters, Ramin Mehmanparast said on Wednesday.

Despite international calls for a permanent freeze on settlement expansion in the West Bank, the Israeli premier announces plans to resume the construction work within one month.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he would not extend a 10-month partial moratorium on settlement construction which expires on September 26.

Iran's Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi says Tehran is engaged in a "multifaceted and complicated" defensive war which has been imposed by the US.

"This is not a conventional military warfare, it is harder and more complicated than that," ISNA quoted Moslehi as saying on Wednesday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the trial and punishment of the invaders of Iraq, saying such a move would end terrorism.

“Those behind such a wrong decision, which led to the killing of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, must be punished,” Ahmadinejad said in an interview with al-Alam news channel on Wednesday.

Two Israelis have been wounded in an attack on their car in the occupied West Bank reportedly by Palestinian gunmen.

The shooting occurred near the Jewish settlement of Kochav Hashachar on Wednesday night, Micky Rosenfeld, Israeli police spokesman, said.