Tag Archive for Palestinians

| July 22, 2013
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Martin Indyk to represent US at Israeli-Palestinian peace talks

Former Ambassador Indyk said to be an accepted mediator by both PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Abbas.

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Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk might be appointed the U.S. representative at Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, American blogger Laura Rozen reported Sunday, quoting diplomatic sources.

Martin Indyk speaks during U.S.- Islamic World Forum in Doha, June 2013.

Martin Indyk speaks during U.S.- Islamic World Forum in Doha, June 2013. – Photo: Reuter

Writing in Al-Monitor website, Rozen suggested the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was considering appointing Indyk, who also served as the Clinton’s administration’s assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs as the man in charge of the day to day negotiations. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , , ,
| July 14, 2013
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When Egypt Punishes the Palestinians it’s not News Worthy

After Palestinians were caught meddling in the internal affairs of Egypt,  triggering acts of violence & instability, the int’l media & even public opinion tend to look the other way.

by Khaled Abu Toameh

 

 

Egypt is allowed to strangle the entire Gaza Strip and deny its people food and fuel, especially on the eve of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, but one hardly hears about these anti-Palestinian measures: they are being carried out by an Arab country, not by Israel.

Egyptian Army soldiers guard gates of Sinai Gaza closed border crossing, May 20, 2012.

Egyptian Army soldiers guard gates of Sinai Gaza closed border crossing, May 20, 2012. – Photo: Reuters

The Palestinians often complain that Israel, the US and other countries keep intervening in their internal affairs. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| July 7, 2013
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Hamas busts Gaza counterfeit ring with NIS 20 million in ‘funny-money’

Hamas authorities in Gaza report the bogus money was confiscated before the counterfeiters were able to put it into circulation.

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Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip broke up a counterfeiting ring that had printed millions of shekels worth of fake money, the organization said Sunday.

funny money

Policeman displays fake 100-shekel bills seized in Gaza City. – Photo: AP

Police spokesman Ayyoub Abu Shaar said that authorities uncovered the ring last week when they traced a man trying to use a counterfeit 100-shekel bill last week. The Palestinian territories use Israeli currency for many transactions.

AP

Fake bills and equipment seized by Hamas authorities in Gaza City.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| June 28, 2013
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Egypt hurts Gaza’s tunnel smuggling operations curtailing taxes to Hamas

Egypt deploys security reinforcements & sets up roadblocks across the huge Sinai desert running from the Suez Canal east to the Gaza border, causing shortages in the Palestinian enclave and hurting smuggling taxes to Hamas’ leaders.

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An Egyptian security crackdown has severely disrupted smuggling to the neighboring Gaza Strip, causing a fuel shortage, doubling the price of building materials and shutting down some construction sites in the Hamas-ruled territory.

Tunnel smugglerEgypt’s military clamped down on the lawless Sinai Peninsula, which abuts Gaza, in the run-up to mass protests planned for Sunday by Egyptian opposition activists trying to force out the country’s president, Mohammed Morsi. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| June 26, 2013
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Jordan’s king: Palestinians may launch Arab Spring if peace talks don’t resume

London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reports King Abdullah II warning of ‘new intifada or a new cycle of violence and counter violence’ if Palestinians feel prospects for a peaceful settlement of their conflict with Israel have reached a dead end.

By Reuters

Jordan‘s King Abdullah believes that Palestinians could launch an Arab Spring-style revolt if they felt prospects for a peaceful settlement of their conflict with Israel had reached a dead end, a pan-Arab newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Jordan's King Abdullah speaks in Amman, February 20, 2011.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II – Photo: Reuters

He welcomed efforts by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, but warned of a narrowing window for peace due to Israeli settlement building, according to the report in the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| June 23, 2013
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Netanyahu: Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be solved to prevent a bi-national state

In interview with Washington Post, PM Netanyahu: If Kerry pitched a tent between Ramallah & Jerusalem, I’d stay there until securing peace.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday that he is committed to reaching an agreement with the Palestinians.

John Kerry and Benjamiin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, gestures while meeting with Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Thursday, May 23, 2013. – Photo: AP

 

In the interview, the prime minister said that he is willing to restart negotiations with the Palestinians, but their demand that Israel halt settlement construction as a precondition serves as an obstacle. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| June 21, 2013
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Lapid calls for ‘honest divorce’ from Palestinians but Bennett urges ‘coexistence’

Economy and Trade Minister Bennett suggests gov’t give Area C Palestinians Israeli citizenship.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
 

 

Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) came out in support of a two-state solution, while his coalition partner Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett (Bayit Yehudi) rejected it completely and urged for “coexistence” between Israelis and Palestinians, in interviews they gave separately to the Washington Post this week.

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Bayit Yehudi head Naftali Bennett at Knesset swear in, Feb 5, 2013.

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Bayit Yehudi head Naftali Bennett at Knesset swear in, Feb 5, 2013. – Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post

Dubbing the two-state solution an “honest divorce” between Israel and the Palestinians, Lapid vowed to “push for this as hard as [he] can.”

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| June 8, 2013
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Palestinians condemn Israel for quitting the ultra-bias UNHRC

 

Canada & the U.S. lauds Jerusalem’s move to re-engage with the overtly anti-Israel United Nations Human Rights Council while Pakistan and the Palestinians cynically remain skeptical.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF

 

 

Palestinians attacked Israel as the only country to cut its ties with the United Nations Human Rights Council, in spite of Jerusalem’s efforts to resume those relations, during a Geneva debate on the matter Friday.

UNHRC

“Israel is the only state that has expressed its disengagement from the council,” the PLO deputy charge d’affairs Imad Zuhairi told the UNHRC.

Jerusalem cut is ties with the the UNHRC in March 2012 to protest council actions which it considers show a persistent bias against Israel.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| June 3, 2013
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American official: Kerry will drop peace process if Israelis & Palestinians aren’t serious

Abbas isn’t responding to American or Jordanian pressure. Abbas reiterated to Judeh that a freeze on settlement construction  AND the release of Palestinian prisoners is the way to restart negotiations.

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If U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry determines that Israelis and Palestinians are not serious about the peace process, he will abandon his efforts on the matter, a senior U.S. official told Reuters.

John Kerry (C) with President Shimon Peres (L) and President Mahmoud Abbas.


John Kerry (C) with President Shimon Peres (L) and President Mahmoud Abbas at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa on May, 26. – Photo: Reuters

 

In an article by Arshad Mohammed, the Reuters journalist responsible for covering the State Department in Washington, the reporter cited those who called Kerry a “Lone Ranger” condemning the Middle East peace process, and that many involved call Kerry “naive.” Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , , ,
| June 1, 2013
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FIFA not bending to Palestinian pressure to sanction Israel

FIFA chief Sepp Blatter will meet with gov’t officials in Jerusalem & members of the IFA to try and come up with a compromise arrangement with the Palestinian players.

By Moshe Boker and Reuters

 

Anyone in Israel concerned that FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, was about to acquiesce to the demands of the Palestinian soccer federation and impose sanctions against Israel, can rest easy.

Jibril Rajoub - AFP - April 14, 2011

Former French soccer star Lilian Thuram, left, watches as Palestinian Football Association chairman Jibril Rajoub kicks the ball during the inauguration of the new stadium Thursday. – Photo: AFP

On Friday afternoon, Israel Football Association chairman Avi Luzon managed to convince FIFA’s all-powerful president, Sepp Blatter, to seek a less aggressive solution to the long-running problem of limited freedom of movement for Palestinian players in Gaza and the West Bank. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| May 29, 2013
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Gov’t ‘Stealing’ Jordan Valley Land for new PA City

Jordan Valley Council chief: We will fight to prevent the construction of a PA city on council lands.

By David Lev

David Alhiani, chairman of the Jordan Valley Regional Council, told Arutz Sheva in an interview Tuesday that Israel was set to lose the Valley – and it was all the fault of the government. The construction of a new Arab city in the Jordan Valley, as announced by the Civil Administration, will effectively close off a large portion of the Valley to Israelis, he said.

Greenhouses in the Jordan Valley - Photo Hagai Huberman

Greenhouses in the Jordan Valley – Photo Hagai Huberman

“The city will consist of over 1,100 lots, and will have housing for 10,000 people,” Alhiani said.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| May 24, 2013
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White House appoints Gen. John Allen the U.S. security envoy for peace talks

Former NATO forces commander in Afghanistan has been appointed to formulate U.S. security policy in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

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Gen. John Allen has been appointed special U.S. envoy on security issues in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. He will not mediate between the parties; his work will almost exclusively involve contacts with Israel. Allen will deal with the U.S. position on Israeli security needs and the security arrangements that would accompany the establishment of a future Palestinian state.

Gen. John Allen, in a July 2012 photo.

Gen. John Allen – Photo: Reuters

 

Senior U.S. and Israeli officials note that while U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made the appointment it was coordinated with U.S. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| May 15, 2013
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Dutch Court won’t charge local company on Israel’s ‘Security Wall’

A Palestinian rights organization al-Haq & Dutch lawyer had petitioned the Dutch courts to prosecute Lima Holding B.V. for war crimes for providing equipment for constructing  Israel’s ‘Security Wall’.

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Dutch authorities say they will not prosecute a company for renting out equipment used to construct Israel’s West Bank separation fence.

West Bank separation fence

Children walking in front of a mural painted on the West Bank separation fence, -. Photo: Reuters

A Dutch lawyer and Palestinian rights organization al-Haq had asked the Dutch to prosecute Lima Holding B.V. for war crimes for providing the equipment.

In a statement Tuesday, the National Prosecutions Office said that investigations revealed that Lima, known in the Netherlands as Riwal, rented cranes and aerial platforms that were used in construction work in the occupied territories. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| May 11, 2013
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Since the PA won’t hold overdue elections, on ‘reality TV’ they do

 

The ‘reality TV’ program “The President” is broadcast weekly & offers participants a chance to address the Palestinian people on what they would do on a variety of subjects if elected to replace Mahmoud Abbas.

The winner will be determined in late June & travel the world as an ‘honorary’  ambassador.

By The Associated Press & Israel Hayom Staff

 

The Palestinians haven’t elected a president since 2005, but now they are finally getting a chance to do so — virtually — thanks to a hit reality TV show.

Palestinian contestant Soaar Salman stands in front of the judges during the taping of the program “The President” in Bethlehem – Photo: AP

“The President” is broadcast weekly on Maan TV, a popular independent Palestinian TV station in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| May 11, 2013
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Syrian-Palestinian terror group says units forming to fight for the Golan

Palestinian terror group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) said that after nearly 40 years of quiet on the Syria-Israel border, it was now preparing for new (terrorist) operations .

By Reuters

 

 

A militant Palestinian group in Damascus said it is forming combat units to try to recapture Israeli-occupied territory, in particular the Golan Heights, after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Hezbollah that they would support such operations.

The Golan Heights.


A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border shows a Syrian woman waking near the Syria-Israel boundary fence in the Golan Heights near the southern Syrian village of Ar Rafide, May 7, 2013.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
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