Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Israeli Military Overruns Village of Bab al-Shams

See also Syria Live Coverage: The Fight Near Damascus
Saturday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Insurgents Advance While Brahimi Stalls

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1830 GMT: Israel-Palestine. A day after ordering the military to disband a new village on Palestinian territory, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he will support Jewish settlements on the site.

Netanyahu told Israel Army Radio that, while it will take time to build in the "E1" area, "we will complete the planning, and there will be construction".

Asked why the protesters were removed, Netanyahu said, "They have no reason to be there. I asked immediately to close the area so people would not gather there needlessly and generate friction and disrupt public order."

1500 GMT: Iraq. Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi, the leading Sunni elected official, has backed protests against the Government. He said that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki should reform laws seen as unjustly marginalizing Sunni Muslims or risk demonstraations spiralling out of control.

Al-Nujaifi said Maliki should pass a draft amnesty law to free detainees jailed on terrorism charges and modify laws that many Sunnis say are used to target them unfairly.

"They say they want justice and they want to be treated as citizens of the same class...and if these demands which they present are not met, certainly they will call for ousting the government," Nujaifi asserted. "We are afraid protest leaders and representatives will lose control of demonstrations after a while if they don't convince them that our political partners will change their policies."

1345 GMT: Libya. Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi has condemned a Saturday attack by gunmen on Italy's consul in Benghazi as “a vile act of terrorism”

Consul Guido De Sanctis’s bullet-proof car came under fire on Saturday. The diplomat was unhurt.

A Libyan official said no arrests have been made.

1255 GMT: Mali. French aircraft are now reportedly attacking three areas of the country: Konna, Douentza, and Léré.

A leader of the Ansar Dine insurgency, "Kojak", has been killed in the weekend fighting in Konne, taken by the insurgents last Thursday and hit by French warplanes.

The first British military plane, a C17 transport, is leaving this afternoon to provide "logistical military assistance" to the French operations.

1245 GMT: Saudi Arabia. The court verdicts on two prominent human rights activists, Mohammad Al-Qahtani and Abdullah Al-Hamid, have been postponed indefinitely.

The court was due to rule on Wednesday.

The two activists have been on trial since June for charges that include “breaking allegiance to the ruler and his successor” and “trying to impede the country’s developments".

1125 GMT: Mali. A Presidential spokesman says at least 11 Malians were killed and more than 60 injured in the assault, which included strikes by French warplanes, against insurgents in Konna.

The Ansar Dine group had taken the town last Thursday.

The mayor of Konna, Sory Diakite, said at least three of the dead were children, who drowned after they threw themselves into a river to escape the bombardment.

0935 GMT: Egypt. An appeals court has ordered a retrial for former President Hosni Mubarak and former Minister of Interior Habib Al Adly on charges that they were involved in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising against the Mubarak regime.

The two men were given life sentences last year in a highly-publicised trial.

Crowds of Mubarak supporters cheered as the decision was announced.

Six aides in the Ministry of Interior will also be retried.

0745 GMT: Palestine. The Israeli military has carried out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's order to overrun the village of Bab al-Shams, established on Friday by activists on Palestinian territory.

Bab al-Shams, which means "Gate of the Sun", was a challenge to the Israeli Government's support of proposed Jewish settlements in the "E1" area near East Jerusalem.

Israeli forces  dismantled the tents, the medical centre, and a library that was being built. They briefly detained several activists, including Mustafa Barghouthi, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative. Four people were reportedly admitted to hospital in Ramallah with minor injuries.

Earlier in the day, Netanyahu had declared the area a "closed military zone", cutting off access to anyone trying to reach the village, including leading Palestinian officials and the media. Israel's Supreme Court had issued an injunction against the "evacuation" of the village, allowing the activists to stay for six days. Netanyahu quickly challenged the ruling.