Tag Archive for Mahmoud Abbas

| June 8, 2014
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Clinton’s memoir: Obama’s demand for 2009 settlement freeze was ‘tactical mistake’

In soon to be released memoir, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, (& possible 2016 presidential candidate) says White House hard line on Jewish construction did not work, and describes Obama’s fury at PM Netanyahu.

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Former U.S. Secretary of State claims in a new memoir that the American administration made a tactical error by demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze construction in the settlements in 2009.

Washington, September 1, 2010.

U.S. President Barack Obama with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the White House in Washington, September 1, 2010. – Photo: Reuters

“In retrospect, our early, hard line on settlements didn’t work,” Clinton writes in Hard Choices, to be released next week, AP reported.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , , ,
| June 1, 2014
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Palestinians: Israel Threatens to Sever Ties With Hamas-Fatah Unity Gov’t

 

According to PA official at President Mahmoud Abbas’ office, only security related matters will continue when Hamas sworn in with Fatah government.

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Israel has informed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas directly that all contact with the Palestinian Authority will be severed the moment the new Palestinian unity government is sworn in, a senior figure in the Palestinian president’s office has told Haaretz.

Abbas, Hamdallah, Ramallah, May 29, 2014

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas (R) meeting with Palestinian premier Rami Hamdallah to hand over an agreement for Hamdallah to head the unity government, Ramallah, May 29, 2014 – Photo: AFP

Despite the warning, Abbas has confirmed that the cabinet will be sworn in Monday at the Muqata government compound in Ramallah.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| May 29, 2014
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Abbas: I expect Israel to accept upcoming Palestinian election results

 

Abbas’ comment comes as IDF soldiers order Palestinian newspaper to stop printing material by outlawed terrorist organization Hamas.

By Ben Stansall (AFP)

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that peace talks are the only way forward and that he “expects Israelis to respect the decision of Palestinians in the upcoming elections,” Israel’s Channel 2 reported Wednesday.

British Prime Minister David Cameron (L) welcomes Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in London on May 14, 2014 – Photo: Ben Stansall / AFP

In a meeting with representatives of Israeli peace NGOs in the West Bank City of Ramallah, Abbas discussed the coming elections and how the transfer of power would be carried out. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| May 1, 2014
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Trying to Sell a Moderate Hamas

A Point to Remember: The ideological orientation in Hamas for its use of mass murder through suicide bombings & rocket attacks on Israeli population centers, has never been condemned by the Palestinian leadership in Gaza or in Ramallah.

By Dore Gold

 

Every time the profile of Hamas rises as a result of some development in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, there is an effort undertaken to repackage Hamas as a moderate organization.1

Ismail Haniyeh (R) with Hamas chief Khaled Mashaa (L) – Reuters

Right after the Palestinian elections in 2006, Musa Abu Marzuq, the deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, published an op-ed in the Washington Post declaring: “a new breed of Islamic leadership is ready to put into practice faith-based principles in a setting of tolerance and unity.” Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| April 29, 2014
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Jerusalem to begin sanctions against Palestinian intransigence

In response of Fatah-Hamas unity deal and bid to join UN organizations, Israel confirmed list of additional sanctions against Palestinian Authority to begin day before ‘peace-talks’ set to reach deadline.

By Elior Levy

 

Israel has begun implementing economic sanctions against the Palestinians, after threatening to do so in wake of their new bid to join some UN organizations and recently announced unity deal between rival Fatah and Hamas, a senior Palestinian told Ynet Monday evening, a mere day before peace talks reach their deadline.

Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh - Photo: REUTERS

Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh – Photo: REUTERS

Israel confirmed additional sanctions Monday, saying has frozen plans to build housing for Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank, which is under full Israeli control. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| April 27, 2014
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Abbas denounces Holocaust as ‘most heinous crime in modern era’

Abbas who’s on record disputing the accepted number of deaths in the Holocaust as well as accusing Zionist agitation as the cause of the Holocaust, releases a Holocaust condemnation, the 1st of its kind from a Palestinian president.

Netanyahu: Instead of soothing int’l public opinion, Abbas should be choosing between Hamas & peace with Israel.

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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas released a special message on Sunday in Arabic and in English on the occasion of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, in which he decried the murder of Jews in the Holocaust as “the most heinous crime against humanity in modern history.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| April 24, 2014
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Analysis – Abbas sends message to US & Israel: ‘Meet my demands, or else…’

 

Just a week before the Israel-PA peace talks deadline of April 29, PA president Abbas has clearly tried every possible maneuver to exert pressure on the US & Israel to get what he wants.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
 

 

Wednesday’s “historic” agreement between Hamas and Fatah should be seen in the context of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s efforts to send a message to Israel and the US concerning the crisis in the peace talks.

Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh - Photo: REUTERS

Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh – Photo: REUTERS

Abbas’s message: Look what I’m capable of doing if you don’t comply with my demands.

The timing of the Fatah-Hamas accord is not coincidental. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: , , , ,
| April 22, 2014
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Lieberman: Bennett’s threat to leave coalition is a bluff

 

Foreign Minister Lieberman says threats by Habayit Hayehudi leader to quit the gov’t if incarcerated Israeli Arab murderers are freed, should ‘not be taken seriously.’

On the stalled peace talks, Lieberman says the ‘ball is in Palestinian court.’

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Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Tuesday that he does not believe Habayit Hayehudi party will leave the coalition if Israel releases Israeli Arab prisoners as part of a deal to extend peace talks with the Palestinians.

Foreign Minister Lieberman at press conference in Knesset, March 25, 2014.

Foreign Minister Lieberman at press conference in Knesset, March 25, 2014. Photo: Olivier Fitoussi

Speaking at a press conference with his Austrian counterpart Sebastian Kurz, Lieberman was referring to recent threats made by Habayit Hayeudi leader and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| April 22, 2014
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US to Abbas: Dissolving the PA may end financial assistance

 

State Department spokeswoman Psaki warns Abbas that ‘dissolving the PA is not in interest of Palestinians’ and his proposal would have implications for US relations & US aid.

By Yitzhak Benhorin

 

WASHINGTON – The US administration warned the Palestinian leadership Monday night not to proceed with a proposal to dismantle the Palestinian Authority – or risk damaging their ties to Washington.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki (Photo: AFP)

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki – Photo: AFP

“Those kinds of extreme measures would have grave implications,” said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki. The harsh American threat to the PA followed Yedioth Ahronoth’s report that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was considering shuttering the PA’s government if the peace process did not yield results. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| April 20, 2014
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6th Time: Abbas Again Threatens to Disband the PA

The PA contends that such an action would see the collapse of the Oslo Accords, making Israel ‘vulnerable’ to international legislation. But will that really be the case?

By Tova Dvorin

 

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas hinted at plans to dismantle the Palestinian Authority (PA) over the weekend, according to a report in Yediot Aharonot, and thus enact a serious blow to Israel through international legislation.

According to the daily, dismantling the PA would transfer all responsibility for the Palestinian Arabs to Israel, dissolving the Oslo Accords. But it would also leave Israel vulnerable to litigation over the “settlements” in international courts – and change Israel’s demographics to tip the religious and ethnic majority. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| April 18, 2014
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Abbas’ move at signing international treaties could backfire, bigtime

 

An Israeli lawyer reveals that if the PA president decides to use the new formal status as signatory to Geneva Conventions to file war crimes charges against Israelis, it may simply open himself up to past & future counter-complaints.

By Itamar Eichner

 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ recent grand gesture in front of the cameras, asking to join 14 international treaties and conventions, could open him and other Palestinian officials up to prosecution for war crimes, according to one Israeli lawyer.

PA leader Abbas may face charges in the Hague. (Photo: AP)

PA leader Abbas may face charges in the Hague. – Photo: AP

Last year, Mordechai Zivin filed a complaint against Abbas and senior members of Hamas at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| April 11, 2014
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Talks continuing as Israel hits Abbas’ PA with punitive economic sanctions

 

U.S. State Department official reports gaps narrowing between Israel & Palestinian Authority, but reports of agreement are premature.

By HERB KEINON, KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

 

 

Israeli and Palestinian officials did not reach an agreement on Thursday during their fourth session in a week to find a way out of the current impasse in the talks, but sources familiar with their discussions said they did agree to continue meeting in the days ahead.

Netanyahu and Abbas - Photo: REUTERS

Netanyahu and Abbas Photo: REUTERS

The sources’ comments came amid reports coming from Cairo – where Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met with Arab League officials – that there was a breakthrough in the talks that would enable a continuation of the talks past the April 29 deadline. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| April 9, 2014
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Abbas worried Israel will freeze tax revenues to PA in retaliation to unilateral moves

 

PA official says Abbas will ask the Arab League for financial support in the event of Israeli economic sanctions.

By REUTERS, JPOST.COM STAFF

 

Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki said Tuesday that PA President Mahmoud Abbas will appeal at an Arab League meeting in Cairo on Wednesday for political and economic support in the event of Israeli punitive measures.

Abbas

Abbas at Arab League summit – Photo: REUTERS

Malki’s comments came after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu earlier this week issued a stern warning to the Palestinians about their application to join 15 international treaties and conventions and any future steps the PA might take outside the negotiating process to shore up legal standing as a state. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| April 2, 2014
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Abbas Signs PA Requests To Join UN Agencies in Breach of Agreements

Abbas violates peace talk agreements by making unilateral bid for int’l recognition in UN agencies & NGOs.

Kerry canceled his upcoming visit to Ramallah.

By Ari Yashar

 

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas breached the conditions of the peace talks Tuesday by signing a request to join several United Nations (UN) agencies.

Mahmoud Abbas and Ban Ki-moon (file) – Reuters

Abbas obligated himself to refrain from such unilateral moves for international recognition during the course of the peace talks, restarted last July by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

“The Palestinian leadership has unanimously approved a decision to seek membership of 15 UN agencies and international treaties, beginning with the Fourth Geneva Convention,” Abbas said on TV following the signing, reports AFP. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| April 1, 2014
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Palestinian Authority Threatens Kerry With Ultimatum Over Releasing Terrorists

 

Ramallah tells US: Get Israel to release imprisoned terrorists within 24 hours – or we will turn to the UN instead.

By AFP and Arutz Sheva Staff

 

The Palestinian Authority on Monday gave US Secretary of State John Kerry 24 hours to get Israel to release the fourth batch of terrorists, according to AFP, after which they will resume moves to seek international recognition.

Exasperated. John Kerry (illustrative) – Reuters

“If we don’t get an answer from John Kerry on the prisoners tonight, we’ll begin to ask for membership in all UN agencies tomorrow,” Palestinian MP Mustafa Barghuti told AFP following a top-level leadership meeting in Ramallah which took place as Kerry arrived in Israel. Continue Reading »

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