Israel Cabinet rejects delay in Gaza pullout

Israel's parliament voted on Wednesday against delaying a withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip, quashing a late attempt by settler allie...

Israel’s parliament voted on Wednesday against delaying a withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip, quashing a late attempt by settler allies to stall the plan due to start next month.

However the vote again exposed the division in Israel over the plan to ‘‘disengage’’ from conflict with the

Palestinians.

Keeping up the pressure, thousands of rightist protesters in southern Israel vowed to force their way past a police blockade and march to the main settlement bloc.

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Internal rivalries heightened by the pullout plan also flared on the other side of the lines. Gunmen from President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction clashed with Hamas militants hours after they agreed to end the worst domestic violence in years.

Police blocked afresh attempt by thousands of rightists camped out in southern Israel to march on Jewish settlements in the occupied Gaza Strip and prevent their planned evacuation. Led by ultra nationalist rabbis, the protesters — penned into Kfar Maimon village for three days in desert heat— massed at the gates but stopped short of a confrontation.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due in the region on Thursday in a hastily arranged meet. Speaking in the course of an Africa visit on Wednesday, Rice warned Israel and the Palestinians the deadline for the Jewish state to withdraw from Gaza was looming and they needed to hammer out how to implement the mid-August pullout.

‘Bangladeshis’ and ‘ghuspaithiyas’: BJP MP Brij Lal stops five sanitation workers on road in to quiz them on video

‘Bangladeshis’, ‘ghuspaithiyas’: On camera, BJP MP quizzes 5 sanitation workers

Cities2 hr ago

BJP MP and former UP DGP Brij Lal has sparked controversy with a video accusing five sanitation workers in Lucknow's Gomti Nagar Extension of being Bangladeshi infiltrators. Lal, a former IPS officer, claims to know how terrorism works and alleges that these workers are a threat to the nation. He appeals to CM Yogi Adityanath to deport them and claims they have fake identities.

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