Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon threatened to oust Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as head of Likud if he makes too many concessions to the Palestinians in the current round of peace talks.
Netanyahu and Danon – Photo: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST
Speaking Thursday in an interview with Army Radio, Danon said that US Secretary of State John Kerry’s yet-to-be publicly released framework agreement can not be accepted by the head of the right-wing faction. Continue Reading »
By Reuters
The Jerusalem municipality approved building plans on Wednesday for 184 new homes in two Jewish settlements in the West Bank, drawing anger from Palestinians engaged in faltering statehood talks.
A construction worker working on a new housing unit in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa, which the EU considers illegal [Archive] – Photo: AP
A municipality spokeswoman said the local planning committee had approved requests by private contractors who purchased the land years ago for the construction of 144 homes in Har Homa and 40 dwellings in Pisgat Zeev. Continue Reading »
By i24news
US President Barack Obama on Monday told Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas that both he and Israeli leaders must make tough political decisions and take “risks” for peace.
Mahmoud Abbas & Barack Obama at White House on 17 March 2014 – Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP
Meeting Obama at the White House, Abbas said a scheduled Israeli release of a fourth tranche of Palestinian prisoners by March 29 would show how serious Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was about extending peace talks.
By i24news
Four Palestinian factions on Saturday urged President Mahmoud Abbas to withdraw from the ongoing peace talks with Israel, and announce the US-brokered efforts a failure.
Abbas in Ramallah on 10 March 2014 – Photo: Abbas Momani/AFP
“Accepting the plan of (American Secretary of State John) Kerry to sign the framework peace deal is like committing a suicide, and this plan has many dangerous consequences on the Palestinian cause and our people’s legitimate rights,” read the press release put out jointly by the Democratic Front to Liberate Palestine, the Palestinian National Initiative Party, the Peoples’ Party and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Continue Reading »
Israel may block further prisoner releases if the Palestinian leadership refuses to extend negotiations by another year, top minister Jacob Perry told Israel Hayom in an interview to be published Friday.
A prisoner released from an Israeli prison is welcomed by relatives in the West Bank city of Ramallah early December 31, 2013. – Photo: Reuters
Perry, who joined Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party and then the government as minister of Science and Technology in 2012 after serving as head of the Shin Bet security service and a long career in business, is considered to be dovish.
The Palestinians responded Wednesday to U.S. President Barack Obama’s promise to pressure Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “to make tough decisions” in their March 17 meeting, saying they have nothing left to make concessions on.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo, November 11, 2013. – Photo: Reuters
A top U.S. official told Haaretz that Obama made the promise to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting in Washington Monday.
The Palestinian Authority said in a statement Wednesday, “It is important for you to know Mr. Continue Reading »
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a unilateral end to peace talks in his speech at the annual AIPAC conference, a top Palestinian official said on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Netanyahu addressing the AIPAC conference. – Photo: AFP
In his address to a gathering of the pro-Israel lobby, Netanyahu reiterated his demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a nation-state of the Jewish people.
“President Abbas, recognize the Jewish state,” Netanyahu declared. “In doing so you will tell your people that, though we have a territorial dispute, Israel’s right to exist is beyond dispute.
Brussels. Even as the entire world’s attention is turned towards Putin’s maneuvers in Ukraine and Crimea, European Union officials stress that nothing will make the 28-nation member organization stop striving to achieve a Middle East peace deal and a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
US Secretary of State John Kerry (R) walks with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (L) before their meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (not pictured) in Geneva, on November 8, 2013 – Photo: Jason Reed – POOL/AFP
Some 20 Israeli journalists were invited to EU headquarters in Brussels as part of the organization’s efforts to demonstrate the importance it places on the process, and in order to allay the mistrust that characterizes Israel’s relations with the EU. Continue Reading »
America’s ability to “manage the international fallout is going to be limited” if Israel does not strike a peace deal with the Palestinians and there is “continued aggressive settlement construction,” US President Barack Obama said in an interview published on the eve of his Monday meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
US President Barack Obama at White House – Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Washington’s inability to manage this fallout will have consequences, Obama said in the interview with Bloomberg’s Jeffrey Goldberg that appeared Sunday. Continue Reading »
U.S. President Barack Obama plans to take a more active role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, quoting Obama administration officials.
U.S. President Barack Obama plans to become more involved in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks – Photo: AP
Obama will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday at the White House and will push him to agree to the framework deal currently being drafted by U.S.
Ousted Fatah official Muhammad Dahlan accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his confidants of taking part in negotiations with Israel for their own political and financial benefit, and not in order to win rights for the Palestinian people.
Dahlan & Mahmoud Abbas – Photo: TARA TODRAS-WHITEHILL / REUTERS
Speaking in an interview with Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida, Dahlan, a long-time rival of Abbas and the former security commander in the Gaza Strip, said that he was not against the principle of negotiations, however the talks in their current form constitute “a crime against the people fighting for freedom.” Continue Reading »
Salah Bardawil, a member of Hamas’s “parliament” in Gaza, attacked Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas Friday, calling him a “coward” for considering accepting the US framework agreement.
Kerry and Abbas meet in Paris – Reuters
“If the US framework agreement is accepted, the Palestinian problem will lose all meaning,” Bardawil fired. “The situation is very dangerous because of the denial of the right of return to their homes of six million Palestinian refugees.” Continue Reading »
By Israel Today Staff
Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Danny Danon, insisted earlier this week that Jews require permission from no one to pray at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, the retaining wall of the Temple Mount that for centuries has been Judaism’s holiest site.
Praying freely at the Kotel (Western Wall, Wailing Wall) – IsraelandStuff/PP
At a meeting with Israeli students in Ramallah on Sunday, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas insisted the Palestinians must win control of the eastern half of Jerusalem in order to make peace, but promised to still allow Jews to enter the Old City and pray at the Western Wall. Continue Reading »
By Yitzhak Benhorin
US government officials expressed concern over comments made by Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian Authority’s chief negotiator, who recently threatened to promote economic boycott on Israel.
Saeb Erekat – Photo: AFP
“We are of course concerned about the recent comments by Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat,” said State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.
US officials hinted that Kerry is to raise the issue of Erekat’s comments during his meeting in Paris with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday. Continue Reading »
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