PA Threatens ‘War Crime’ Charges at ICC if Direct Talks Fail

Decline and Fall of the ‘Peace Process’
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If the State of Israel does not agree to Abbas’ unconditional conditions for non-negotiated negotiations for a Palestinian state, the PA will charge Israel with war crimes at the Hague.

By: Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu

 

Senior Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat threatened on Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority will carry out its threat to charge Israel with war crimes in the international court if it does not agree to direct talks for establishing a Palestinian Authority independent country based on the PA’s definition of borders.

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Middle East Peace Process, May It Rest in Peace

He also said that it will be Israel’s fault if Palestinian Authority violence and terror escalates unless Israel agrees to its conditions for talks, which U.S. Continue Reading »

Hezbollah seeking reason for confrontation in Golan, Israel says

 

IDF officials: Hezbollah seeks to ensure Golan Heights  doesn’t fall under rebels’ control.

Hezbollah also hopes to use confrontation in Syria to acquire advanced Syrian weaponry without being detected by Israel,  although no attempt has been made since the alleged Israeli airstrike.

By Lilach Shoval

Israeli defense officials believe Hezbollah has been trying to establish a strategic foothold in the Syrian Golan Heights to facilitate attacks on Israel from that area, Israel Hayom has learned.

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After Syrian military defeats rebels, they threaten Israel

General Command of the Syrian army warns the Zionist enemy involved in the aggression against Syria that they’re ready to face any aggression against their homeland.

JERUSALEM  — Syria’s military threatened Israel after reportedly capturing the town of Qusair on the Lebanon border.

The Quneitra Crossing between Syria and the Israeli Golan Heights - Photo AP

The Quneitra Crossing between Syria and the Israeli Golan Heights – Photo AP

 

SANA, Syria’s state news agency, said the Syrian army on Wednesday took control of Qusair from rebels who had been fighting government forces and Hezbollah volunteers for more than two weeks as part of Syria’s two-year civil war. Qusair had been in rebel hands for more than a year, according to reports.

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Rice ready to defend Israel’s legitimacy

Israel will be keeping the new US National Security Adviser Susan Rice very busy

By JTA

 

 

Susan Rice has said that a “huge” portion of her work at the United Nations was defending Israel’s legitimacy. Her new job will likely be no less Israel-centric.

Susan Rice meets with PM Netanyahu in 2009.

Susan Rice meets with PM Netanyahu in 2009. – Photo: Moshe Milner/GPO/Getty

President Obama plans Wednesday to name Rice his national security adviser and replace her at the UN with Samantha Power, one of his top White House advisers. Rice would succeed Tom Donilon, who has been in the post since 2010.

Rice has scored mostly high marks from Jewish groups for her defense of Israel at the United Nations, although right-wing groups were furious with her in 2011 when she condemned Israel’s West Bank settlement policies.

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Two Syrian shells explode in northern Golan Heights

 

Two Syrian shells land in open area, but, IDF still uncertain on which side of the border.


Assad’s forces clash with rebels over the last 24 hours in villages near Israel’s border.

Yoav Zitun

 

 

Two mortar shells exploded in an open area near the Syrian border in the Golan Heights, south of Majdal-Shams.

 

IDF tanks in the Golan Heights - Photo Courtesy IDF Spokesperson's Office

IDF tanks in the Golan Heights – Photo Courtesy IDF Spokesperson’s Office

 

The IDF is currently investigating whether they fell on the Israeli or Syrian side of the border.

Over the last 24 hours fierce battles were fought between Syrian rebels and Assad’s forces in villages adjacent to the border. Continue Reading »

Netanyahu sends message to Abbas from the Knesset: ‘Give peace a chance.’

PM Netanyahu uses his Knesset address on the Arab Peace Initiative to send a message of Peace to the Palestinians and another to his restive coalition partners.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used a Knesset debate on the Arab Peace Initiative to allay fears in some quarters that his three-month-old coalition is on the rocks – and to urge Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resume negotiations with Israel.

Netanyahu addressing the Knesset April 24, 2013.

Netanyahu addressing the Knesset – Photo: Emil Salman

“I want to send a message to Abu Mazen [Abbas] in a language that both of us understand: Give peace a chance,” he told lawmakers. Continue Reading »

Hamas Condemns ‘Illegal’ New Abbas Appointed Government

Hamas furious at newly created PA leadership, accuses Fatah of prolonging dispute.

By Maayana Miskin

 

The Hamas government in Gaza has slammed Fatah for creating a new Palestinian Authority government.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya - Photo AFP

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya – Photo AFP

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has tasked Rami Hamdallah with serving as Prime Minister and putting together a new cabinet. Hamdallah is expected to announce his cabinet on Thursday.

Abbas’ move “proves that the Fatah leadership is willing to maintain and prolong the state of disagreement,” read a Hamas statement printed by Maan news.

Hamas sources noted that they have no objections to Hamdallah in particular. Continue Reading »

Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor reportedly damaged by 2 earthquakes

 

Saudi Arabia & other Arab diplomats say they are particularly worried because they have received information that the Bushehr reactor was damaged during recent earthquakes, with long cracks appearing in at least one section of the structure.

By The Associated Press and Israel Hayom Staff

Several countries monitoring Iran’s nuclear program have picked up information that the country’s only power-producing nuclear reactor was damaged by one or more of several recent earthquakes, with long cracks appearing in at least one section of the structure, two diplomats said Tuesday.
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Greek FM to American Jews: Anti-Semitism in Greece will be ‘confronted’

“The social factors that have allowed this to happen, as in other European countries, must be successfully addressed,” Greek foreign minister told an American Jewish audience.

 

WASHINGTON — The Greek foreign minister told an American Jewish audience that his government would “never allow hate to grow and spread,” but did not address specific calls to marginalize the ultranationalist Golden Dawn party.

Golden Dawn members with party leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos (front left)

Golden Dawn members with party leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos (front left)

“Let me state from this forum, in the most determined and compelling manner, that Greece will never allow hate to grow and spread,” Dimitris Avramopoulos told the American Jewish Committee’s annual Global Forum in Washington on Monday.

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For 12th time Abu Bluff threatens to dismantle Palestinian Authority

PA minister for civilian affairs says Palestinian President Abbas is giving Kerry until June 20 to revive the peace talks….or else.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
 

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to dismantle the PA should US Secretary of State John Kerry fail to “salvage the peace process,” a senior PA official said Tuesday.

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas - Photo Mark Israel Sellem

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas – Photo: Mark Israel Sellem

Hussein al-Sheikh, the PA minister for civilian affairs, said that Abbas has informed Kerry that the PA’s functional role would end if current efforts to revive the peace process did not succeed.

“Israel, as an occupying force, would then have to assume full responsibility [over the Palestinian population],” Sheikh told the PA’s Voice of Palestine radio station.

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Bipartisan Congressmen urge Obama to relocate embassy to Israel’s capital, Jerusalem

Marking 46 years since Israel’s reunification of Jerusalem, heads of the bipartisan Israel Allies Caucus in Washington say moving US Embassy to Israel’s capital a ‘no brainer’

By Ynet news

 

The heads of the bipartisan Congressional Israel Allies Caucus on Tuesday urged the Obama administration to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv, Israel - Facebook profile Photo

U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv, Israel – Facebook profile Photo

“We strongly believe that Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of Israel with no waivers and no caveats,” said Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-05), in an event on Capitol Hill Tuesday marking 46 years since the reunification of Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

UK’s push to blacklist Hezbollah encounters EU opposition

A few European countries are concerned the blacklisting would increase instability in the Middle East.

By Reuters

A British request to blacklist the armed wing of Hezbollah ran into opposition in the European Union on Tuesday, with several governments expressing concern that such a move would increase instability in the Middle East.

Nasrallah speaking in Beirut

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah addresses supporters during a Jerusalem Day rally in Beirut, August 17, 2012. – Photo: Reuters

Britain has argued that the militant Shi’ite Muslim group should face European sanctions because of evidence that it was behind a bus bombing in Bulgaria last July that killed five Israelis and their driver. Continue Reading »

Israeli industries targeted by low taxes from Palestinian Authority

Factory owners explain how the PA deliberately cuts taxes so that Israeli industries can’t compete.

‘Bennett must intervene before we become totally dependent on the PA.’

By Maayana Miskin

 

Israeli factory owners in the textile and furniture industries have called on Minister of Economics and Trade Naftali Bennett to tax Palestinian Authority-area goods in order to save Israeli industry.

Despite its reported financial crisis, the PA is deliberately taking in less tax income than it could in order to hurt Israel, says factory owner Shaul Ben-Yosef, who spoke to Arutz Sheva.

Israeli factories are currently forced to compete with PA factories – a competition that is heavily biased in the PA’s favor, he said. Continue Reading »

Female Soldiers’ Kidnap Attempt Unsuccessful

Police are searching for two Arab men suspected of attempted kidnapping of 3 soldiers from a base near Hadera.

By Maayana Miskin

 

Female soldiers serving at a base near Hadera reported Tuesday night that two Arab men attempted to kidnap them.

Female soldiers Photo Hagai Huberman

Female soldiers – Photo: Hagai Huberman

The Arab men reportedly attempted to drag three soldiers into a car by force.

Police are searching the area. They suspect that terrorists may be behind the attempted kidnapping.

In recent months terrorist groups have made several attempts to kidnap Israeli soldiers and civilians in order to barter for the release of terrorists imprisoned in Israel. Continue Reading »

The Israeli Start-Up Device Provides the Visually Impaired a Way to Read

The OrCam system is designed to have a minimal control system, or user interface. To recognize an object or text, the wearer simply points at it with his or her finger, and the device then interprets the scene.

 

JERUSALEM — Liat Negrin, an Israeli who has been visually impaired since childhood, walked into a grocery store here recently, picked up a can of vegetables and easily read its label using a simple and unobtrusive camera attached to her glasses.

eye

The OrCam device

Liat Negrin, an employee at OrCam, wears a device made by the company that consists of a camera and a small computer. Continue Reading »