Tag Archive for Mahmoud Abbas

| April 11, 2013
No comments

Reuters: Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad tenders resignation

Sources report that Palestinian PM Fayyad offered his resignation to PA President Abbas on Wednesday.

By Reuters

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad offered his resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday following a rift between the two men over government policy, two sources told Reuters.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Jan. 6, 2013.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Jan. 6, 2013.- Photo: AP

Abbas was due to return to the West Bank from Jordan on Thursday, and it was not immediately clear whether he would accept the resignation of the U.S.-educated economist.

A spokeswoman at Fayyad’s office declined to comment on the reports, which followed persistent rumors that Abbas wanted to sack Fayyad following internal political wrangling. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| April 8, 2013
No comments

Kerry meets Abbas then conveys to Israel precondition #6 to begin talks

When Kerry met PA president in Ramallah, Abbas adds relinquishment of W. Bank area under Israeli control (as per Oslo Accords) to list of preconditions.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH & HERB KEINON

 

US Secretary of State John Kerry flew into Israel from Turkey late Sunday afternoon, his second visit in two weeks, and went directly to Ramallah for talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Ramallah

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Ramallah – Photo: REUTERS

Abbas reiterated his stance regarding the resumption of peace talks with Israel, but added a new demand: that Israel hand control over parts of Area C in the West Bank to his authority.

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| April 6, 2013
No comments

Abbas demands map for future Palestinian from Netanyahu as precondition

 

Abbas demands Netanyahu present US with map on 1967 borders for future Palestinian state before resumption of peace talks with Israel.

AFP

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu present a map for a future Palestinian state before any peace talks can resume, an aide said on Friday.

Mahmoud Abbas - Photo Reuters

Mahmoud Abbas – Photo: Reuters

Abbas “wants to know, through a map to be presented by Benjamin Netanyahu to (US Secretary of State John) Kerry, what the prime minister’s view of a two-state solution would be, especially the borders,” political adviser Nimr Hammad told AFP.

The remarks came just days ahead of a visit by Kerry, who will hold fortnightly meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, local media say, as he tries to revive the stalled peace process. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| March 31, 2013
One comment

Palestinians & Jordan sign agreement to protect Jerusalem holy sites

Abbas, during his visit to Amman with King Abdullah, signs agreement regarding the protection of Christian & Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.

By Eilor Levy

 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah signed Sunday an agreement by which they pledge to cooperate on protecting holy sites in Jerusalem.

The two leaders signing the agreement – Photo Gettyimages

The agreement was signed during Abbas’s visit in Jordan, in the presence of Palestinian Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud al-Habash and his Jordanian counterpart.

According to al-Habash, the agreement was devised in order to coordinate the protection of the al-Aqsa Mosque and all the Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| March 28, 2013
No comments

Palestinian journalist jailed for a year for ‘insulting’ Abbas

Arab Journalist sentenced to a year in prison by Palestinian Authority court after posting photo comparing Abbas’s face to a fictional villain on a Syrian TV show.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Palestinian journalist Mamdouh Hamamreh from Bethlehem was sentenced on Thursday to one year in prison for “insulting” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Facebook.

The photo that landed Palestinian journalist Mamdouh Hamamreh in jail.

The photo that landed Palestinian journalist Mamdouh Hamamreh in jail. – Photo: Courtesy

He is the second Palestinian to be sentenced to prison for one year on the same charges since the beginning of the year.

Hamamreh, who works for the Palestinian Al-Quds TV station, was found guilty of sharing a photo on Facebook that compared Abbas with a villain who played the role of a French spy in a popular Syrian TV series.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| March 28, 2013
No comments

Obama tells Palestinians: Accept Israel as the Jewish State

While telling the Palestinians to accept Israel as the Jewish state is not the only shift in US policy announced during Obama’s Jerusalem trip (another: telling the Palestinians not to set preconditions for negotiations), this one looms largest because it starkly contravenes the Palestinian consensus.

By Daniel Pipes

One key shift in U.S. policy was overlooked in the barrage of news about U.S. President Barack Obama’s eventful fifty-hour visit to Israel last week. That would be the demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state, called by Hamas leader Salah Bardawil “the most dangerous statement by an American president regarding the Palestinian issue.”

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| March 23, 2013
No comments

Still the President who wants to ‘throw Israel under a bus’?

After this Presidential visit, seen with such support & sympathy, Obama’s rivals will have to muster all their cynicism to claim the US President has Israel’s worst interests at heart.

 

One can only speculate what history might have looked like if United States President Barack Obama had made his “Jerusalem Speech” on June 5, 2009, immediately after his “Cairo Speech”, and how the Middle East would have developed if his attempt to turn a page in U.S. relations with the Arab world had been accompanied by the kind of effort to touch the hearts of the Israeli public that Obama made in Jerusalem on Thursday. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| March 23, 2013
2 comments

Report: Obama to Abbas – Don’t charge Israel at the ICC

Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported that during the Ramallah talks US president urged Abbas to refrain from charging Israel at the int’l court in the Hague for any reason.
The PA leader defiantly threatens to haul Israel to court as soon as the Jewish state should start building in the E-1 area.

By Roi Kais

 

US President Barack Obama asked Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to refrain from taking Israel to the International Criminal Court in The Hague for any reason, the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported Saturday.

Obama and King Abdullah, Friday

The newspaper quoted a Palestinian official as saying that during their meeting in Ramallah on Thursday Abbas told Obama he would wait two months before talking any measures against Israeli settlement construction, but stressed he would turn to the ICC immediately should the Jewish begin building in the E1 zone between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| March 22, 2013
No comments

Palestinians disappointed with Obama – Calls for resistance against occupation

PA disappointed at US president’s stance on prisoners, and Jewish construction. 

Obama rejects Palestinian preconditions to peace talks.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Even before US President Barack Obama left Ramallah, Palestinian Authority officials were quick to express disappointment with the result of his talks with PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Obama shakes hands with a Palestinian teen during his visit to the Bireh Youth Center in Ramallah - Photo REUTERS

Obama shakes hands with a Palestinian teen during his visit to the Bireh Youth Center in Ramallah – Photo REUTERS

The officials discussed the differences between Abbas and Obama on two major issues: settlements and Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Click here for full JPost coverage of Obama’s visit to Israel

They said that during the meeting Abbas reiterated his demand for a full cessation of settlement construction and the release of Palestinian prisoners in order to pave the way for the resumption of the peace process. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| March 14, 2013
No comments

Abbas seeks peace talks with Israel in 2013

Meeting with Russian President Putin PA President Abbas expressed caution but hopes peace talks with Israel will resume in 2013, leading to a 2-state solution.

By Reuters

 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday he hoped peace talks with Israel would restart this year although the chances of a resumption seemed slim.

Mahmoud Abbas Photo by Marc Israël SellemAbbas made his comments during a meeting in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said Russia would do all it could to promote peace in the region.

“We … hope that substantive peace talks will start this year, although the hopes are probably not very high,” Abbas said through an interpreter at talks at a state residence outside Moscow. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| March 4, 2013
No comments

Abbas tells Kerry: Pressure Israel on settlement freeze

PA official reports: Abbas also tells Kerry to exert pressure on Netanyahu to release Palestinian prisoners in a Saudi Arabia meeting.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met in Saudi Arabia Monday with US Secretary of State John Kerry and discussed with him the latest developments in the region, Palestinian officials in Ramallah said.

Mahmoud Abbas

Mahmoud Abbas – Photo: Marc Israël Sellem

This was the first meeting of its kind since Kerry replaced Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.

“The meeting focused on efforts to revive the peace process,” said a Palestinian official. “They also discussed President Barack Obama’s planned visit to the region later this month.”

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| February 7, 2013
No comments

Is Abbas the last PA president?

With the fading significance of the Palestinian cause those concerned with peace may need to consider contingency plans for a West Bank without Abbas.

Muhammad Dahlan was a possible replacement until allegations by Abbas that Dahlan had murdered Arafat using poison.

By MUDAR ZAHRAN

 

After Israel’s most recent military operation in Gaza, which ended with a cease-fire, Hamas has been claiming victory and enjoying popularity with the Palestinians, which comes as a setback for Hamas’s rivals; Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction.

Mahmoud Abbas Photo by Marc Israël SellemWith Hamas popularity on the rise, Abbas was left with one desperate option to boost his image: pressing his quest for UN recognition of Palestine as an independent state. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| January 30, 2013
No comments

Hamas’ Mashaal to challenge Abbas for PLO presidency

Palestinian sources as saying Qatar & Jordan are pushing for Mashaal to chair PLO, according to ‘Al-Quds Al-Arabi’.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is seeking to take over the presidency of the PLO, currently chaired by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported on Monday.

PA chief Abbas and Hamas leader Mashaal in Cairo - Photo by Reuters

According to the report, Mashaal’s desire to chair the PLO is behind his decision not to stand for reelection to his position as chairman of Hamas’s Political Bureau.

Al-Quds Al-Arabi quoted Palestinian sources as saying several Arab states, led by Jordan and Qatar, are pushing for Mashaal to chair the PLO as a way of getting Hamas to sign the Oslo Accords and recognize Israel.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , , , ,
| January 27, 2013
No comments

Abbas tells African Union: Palestinians will defeat Israeli apartheid

Abbas tells African Union that Israeli coalitions may change, but Palestinian demands won’t.

By Elior Levy

 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that the Palestinians’ goals for the peace talks with Israel will remain unchanged, regardless of the makeup of the governing coalition in the Jewish state.

Zionism = Nazism

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators spreading lies and hate to further their cause.

Addressing the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Abbas stipulated that the negotiations must achieve a settlement construction moratorium, secure the release of prisoners and address other core issues, including Jerusalem and the refugees.

Abbas further blasted Israel for imposing a blockade on the Gaza Strip and accused the Jewish state of subjecting the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank to racist policies by razing homes, confiscating land and falsely arresting thousands. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| January 21, 2013
No comments

Abbas boasts Nazis & Zionist were linked before WWII

In an interview on Lebanon TV, PA president Abbas was quoted as saying Israel’s PM agreed to allow Palestinian refugees to flee Syria to W. Bank on condition they relinquish right of return. Abbas also linked Zionism to Nazism.

Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office official said Abbas’ statements were “full of inaccuracies.”

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was quoted Monday as saying that the Zionist movement had links with the Nazis before World War Two.

Mahmoud Abbas Photo by Marc Israël SellemAbbas was speaking during a lengthy interview with Al-Mayadeen, a Beirut-based TV station that is affiliated with Hezbollah and Iran.

Asked about allegations that he was a Holocaust denier, Abbas said that he had “70 more books that I still haven’t published” about the alleged link between the Zionist movement and the Nazis.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
« Older Entries   Recent Entries »