Headlines

-Israel Postponed Vote on New Housing Ahead of Speech by John Kerry 

-Russia Rejects Kerry’s Proposal for Quartet to Adopt U.S. Principles on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict 

-Kerry's six principles for peace:

1. Peace must provide for secure and recognized borders based on the 1967 lines, with mutually agreed land swaps and a contiguous state for the Palestinians;
2. Fulfillment of U.N. General Assembly Resolution 181, which called for two state for two peoples;
3. Fair and “realistic” solution to the Palestinian refugee problem that did not “affect the fundamental character of Israel”;
4. Shared capitals in Jerusalem that ensured free access to holy sites and no redivision of the city;
5. Israeli security guarantees along with an end to the occupation; and,
6. Final end to the conflict and all outstanding claims along with the establishment of normalized relations.   

Washington DC, Dec.28.─ Stepping into a raging diplomatic argument, Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday staunchly defended the Obama administration's decision to allow the U.N. Security Council to declare Israeli settlements illegal and warned that Israel's very future as a democracy is at stake.

Beijing asks president-elect not to destroy foundation for Sino-US cooperation  

Beijing, Dec. 13.─ The Foreign Ministry urged US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday to act prudently on the Taiwan question to avoid "serious damage to the Sino-US relationship", after Trump once again publicly provoked China.

Beijing could react with countermeasures in trade and regional issues, if Trump keeps challenging the time-tested one-China policy, which is the diplomatic cornerstone of relations between the world's two biggest economies, Chinese experts said.

Beirut/Aleppo, Dec.12.─ Hundreds of Syrians stood in long lines Sunday, some getting on government buses, to flee the ever shrinking rebel-held enclave of eastern Aleppo as military troops and allied militias continued their push to regain full control of the opposition stronghold.

Syria’s state news agency said at least 4,000 people fled the enclave Sunday. The state TV channel said more than 70,000 of eastern Aleppo’s estimated 275,000 residents have fled in recent days — mostly to government-held western Aleppo districts.
 

 Newcastle, Dec.5.─ She’s thousands of kilometres away from her homeland, but Muzoon Almellehan is still fighting for Syria.

The rainy grey streets of this English port city could hardly feel further from the olive grove-covered hills of her home province of Daraa, but the 17-year-old Ms. Almellehan sees everything she does here – from her high-school studies to her relentless campaigning to ensure other refugee children get access to education – as a front in the war for her homeland’s future.