Tag Archive for Palestinian Authority

| December 13, 2012
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Israel to the PA: Pay your Debts!

Israel is doing what it said it would do: Money from Palestinian Authority taxes will be used to pay year long PA debt for electricity it used.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

 

Israel has decided to pay off Palestinian Authority debts for electricity by using tax money the government collects for it.

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz ordered that 435 million shekels – more than $110,000,000 – not only will be withheld from the Palestinian Authority, but also will be transferred to the Israel Electric Corp, to cover part of an outstanding debt of  $190,700,000 incurred by the PA during the past year. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| December 12, 2012
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Israeli FM: Europe doesn’t care if Israel is destroyed

 

Europe remains silent on Palestinian violations because many of it leaders  agree with the long-term goals of Hamas.

“As far as they’re concerned, the destruction of Israel is a matter of course,” said Lieberman.

By Israel Today Staff

 

Israel this week expressed deep disappointment after the European Union condemned the building of new homes for Jews in Judea and Samaria (the so-called “West Bank”) as the main obstacle to peace.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman

In an official response to the EU statement, Israel’s Foreign Ministry noted that “settlement activity” had never before hindered the peace process, and that the true obstacle to peace is the Arabs’ ongoing refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| December 11, 2012
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Want to be a State? Pay your electricity bills!

Israel’s Finance Ministry deducts withheld tax funds from part of the NIS 731 million the Palestinian Authority owe the Israel Electric Corp

By Lior Gutman, Calcalist

 

The Finance Ministry transferred NIS 273.5 million (about $71.35 million) to the Israel Electric Corporation in recent days to cover 37% of the Palestinian Authority’s electricity debt, which has reached NIS 731 million ($190.7 million) over the past year.

Israel Electric Corp. Complaining about PA’s growing debt as Electricity is on the way to the Palestinian Authority – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

The source of the funds transferred to the Electric Corp is the deduction of tax revenues collected by Israel on behalf the PA and transferred to the cash-strapped authority on a monthly basis. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| December 10, 2012
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Hamas TV: Death to America, Death to the Jews

The new Fatah-Hamas alignment further demonstrates Mahmoud Abbas’ unwillingness to live up to his repeated commitments to cease incitement.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

 

The new Hamas-Fatah unity further exposes the Palestinian Authority’s failure to live up to pledges to stop incitement.

Abbas’ unity with Hamas now unmasks his image of a “peace partner” by binding him as a partner in Hamas’ stated goal of killing Jews and destroying Israel.

Hamas TV broadcast 10 days ago a speech by a Muslim cleric who preached, “Our mantle is death to the Jews and to America.”

“The prophet said ‘judgment day will not come until you fight the Jews,” the cleric said. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| December 10, 2012
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Palestinian Authority posting signs delineating new State of Palestine

Analysts point out that the Palestinian leaders now have little incentive to hold bilateral talks, and even less reasons to make any compromises in ‘the quest for peace’. No need to ‘negotiate’ when the int’l community will impose their will on Israel.

By  Ryan Jones

Eager to turn their victory at the United Nations last month into facts on the ground, Palestinian Arabs have begun posting official-looking signs on roads throughout Judea and Samaria delineating the new “State of Palestine.”

Under a bold headline of “Warning” the signs state in English, Arabic and Hebrew that the visitor is now standing on “illegally occupied land. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| December 4, 2012
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Abbas: Israel must be held accountable, a ‘rogue state’

In a letter to UN Sec.-Gen. Ban, Palestinians call Israel a “rogue state” & claim settlement expansion is a “war crime”

Australia & Brazil summon envoys over settlements.

By REUTERS

 

UNITED NATIONS – The Palestinians accused Israel in a letter to the United Nations of planning to commit further “war crimes” by expanding Jewish settlements after the Palestinians won de facto UN recognition of statehood, and warned that Jerusalem must be held accountable.

PA President Abbas and Ban Ki-moon at the UN

PA President Abbas and Ban Ki-moon at the UN – Photo: Chip East/Reuters

In the letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Security Council, the Palestinians said Israel was behaving “in a rogue, hostile and arrogant manner, contravening all principles and rules of international law and reacting with contempt to the will of the international community.” Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| December 1, 2012
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Israelis can now sue the Palestinian Authority on terrorism charges

 

A teacher from east Jerusalem, abducted twice & each time brutally tortured by agents of the PA, paved the way for terror victims to charge the PA in Israeli criminal & civil courts.

A precedent-setting verdict handed down by Judge Moshe Drori, establishes that the authority is not immune to lawsuits for damages.

By Nadav Shragai

 

For years, the Israeli courts have gone back and forth in the case of a man known only as Abdullah, an east Jerusalem teacher who was kidnapped and tortured by the Palestinian Authority’s security apparatus over suspicions that he had collaborated with Israel.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| November 30, 2012
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AIPAC ‘MEMO’ calls to review U.S.- Palestinian agreements

PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas rebuffed a direct request by Israel and President Obama not to seek upgraded status at the United Nations, which was in direct violations of the signed Oslo Peace Accords.

 

Palestinian U.N. Upgrade Undermines Peace Efforts

The U.N. General Assembly’s (UNGA) passage today (29 Nov. 2012) of a resolution granting the Palestinians non-member observer state status is a direct blow to Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. An actual Palestinian state can only be achieved by direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. UNGA recognition of a virtual state of Palestine does nothing to advance that process and hinders resumption of real peace talks. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| November 30, 2012
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The US quantifies: This UN Resolution did not create a Palestinian state

 

U.S. Amb. Susan Rice says UN resolution ‘does not establish that Palestine is a state’

Attila Somfalvi

 

US Ambassador to the UN Sudan Rice said Thursday after the General Assembly vote that recognized Palestine as an observer state that the resolution “does not establish that Palestine is a state.”

סוזן רייס, אמש בעצרת האו"ם (צילום: AFP)

Susan Rice at General Assembly – Photo: AFP

“Today’s grand pronouncements will soon fade. And the Palestinian people will wake up tomorrow and find that little about their lives has changed, save that the prospects of a durable peace have only receded,” she remarked

Rice stressed that the only way to achieve a two-state solution is through direct negotiations. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| November 29, 2012
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Former PM Olmert: No reason to oppose Palestinian UN bid for statehood status

Ex-prime minister Ehud Olmert tells Daily Beast that Palestinian request for upgraded UN status is congruent with 2-state solution, and says UN General Assembly resolution will lay foundation for peace talks.

By Yitzhak Benhorin

 

Washington – Despite an aggressive campaign by the United States to head off a UN vote on the Palestinian Authority’s bid for an upgraded status, the General Assembly was expected to grant the request on Thursday. And former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he sees no reason to resist the move.

אולמרט ואבו מאזן. ארכיון (צילום: רויטרס)

Olmert with Abbas – Archive photo: Reuters

“I believe that the Palestinian request from the United Nations is congruent with the basic concept of the two-state solution. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| November 28, 2012
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Israeli Embassy posts video slamming Abbas – Ashrawi says US stance ‘pathetic’

The Israeli embassy in Washington has uploaded a video to YouTube which has sparked debate with an animated portrayal of PA President Abbas as he’s driving a bus on a road to the UN

Elior Levy, Reuters

 

RAMALLAH – Britain said it would support a Palestinian bid for a diplomatic upgrade at the United Nations if it received assurances that the Palestinians would return to peace talks and would not seek to prosecute Israelis through the International Criminal Court.

מסיבת העיתונאים ברמאללה (צילום: אוהד צויגנברג)

‘Wrong side of morality.’ Ashrawi’s press conference in Ramallah Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg

“Up until the time of the vote itself we will remain open to voting in favour of the resolution if we see public assurances by the Palestinians,” Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament on Wednesday. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| November 28, 2012
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In anticipation of Palestinian UN bid, diplomatic tension rises

 

Israel is strongly opposed to the statehood bid & is concerned the Palestinians will ask the Int’l Criminal Court at the Hague to prosecute its leaders

France was the 1st to acknowledge a “yes” vote,  Germany expected to vote “no” or abstain.

Britain still unsure, seeks Palestinian guarantees they will refrain from applying to The Hague

U.S. Congress may withhold funding to the Palestinian Authority.

By Yoni Hirsch, Shlomo Cesana, News Agencies & Israel Hayom Staff

 

France announced Tuesday that it plans to vote in favor of upgrading the Palestinians to an “observer state” at the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| November 25, 2012
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Arafat’s Exhumation is Set for Tuesday Morning

PA officials reported that the body of former PLO Chairman Arafat will be exhumed to see if he was murdered.

By Elad Benari

 

Palestinian Authority officials said on Saturday they would exhume the body of former PA Chairman Yasser Arafat next week to see if he was poisoned with a radioactive isotope, AFP reported.

Arafat posters

Arafat posters – AFP photo

The announcement came as a group of international experts arrived in Ramallah to take samples of the remains of Arafat’s bones and clothing for further study in European labs.

“The tomb will be opened on (Tuesday) and experts will take samples the same day within a matter of a few hours,” Tawfiq Tirawi told reporters in Ramallah, according to AFP. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| November 24, 2012
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Palestinians bid for statehood recognition next week

Washington urges Israel not to build in ‘Area E-1’, between Jerusalem & Ma’aleh Adumim as a punitive response to PA statehood bid.

Washington is urging Israel not to allow construction in the area known as E-1 between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim as a possible response to the Palestinian bid for statehood recognition next week at the UN, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas addresses UNGA - Photo: REUTERS

PA President Mahmoud Abbas addresses UNGA – Photo: REUTERS

Building in E-1, which would create contiguity between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim to the northeast beyond the Green Line, is something various Israeli governments have long wanted to do, but which US opposition has prevented.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| November 23, 2012
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France FM Hints they Will Support PA’s UN Bid

Laurent Fabius reminds senate that President Hollande promised to promote recognition of a Palestinian state.

By Elad Benari

 

France is considering voting in favor of the Palestinian Authority’s unilateral statehood bid at the United Nations, its foreign minister hinted on Thursday.

Speaking at a hearing in the French senate, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius reminded that French President Francois Hollande promised during his election campaign to promote the issue of Palestinian statehood.

Laurent Fabius - Photo: BERTRAND

Laurent Fabius – Photo: BERTRAND

“I would like to mention that in his election campaign, President Hollande said he would work toward international recognition of a Palestinian state,” Fabius said. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
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