Tag Archive for peace talks

Former Egyptian President Mubarak: Israel tried returning Golan to Syria

– Former Egyptian president said PM Netanyahu was prepared to return all of the Golan Heights in 1998 for peace & the opening of embassies.
– Former US Amb. to Israel, “The Syrians were never prepared to end their relations with Iran & their support for Hezbollah. That was far more important for the Assad regime than recovering the Golan Heights.”

By ANNA AHRONHEIM

 

Syria rejected an Israeli offer to return the Golan Heights in exchange for the normalization of relations and the opening of embassies in the two countries, former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak told Egyptian media.

“I contacted the Israelis to try to recover the Golan Heights, but they demanded the opening of an Israeli embassy in Damascus and a Syrian one on their land as a kind of Syrian recognition of the Israeli state,” he told al-Hayat. Continue Reading »

White House adviser Jared Kushner set to share update on US peace plan

REPORT: For the first time, US President Trump’s senior adviser will reportedly provide an update on the long awaited Israel-PA peace plan during the upcoming Warsaw Middle East conference next week.

By Elad Benari

 

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner is expected to share an update about the Trump administration’s Middle East peace plan during a public session at the Warsaw Middle East conference next Thursday, Channel 13 News’Barak Ravid reported on Tuesday.

A White House official said Kushner will be participating in a discussion hosted by former Norwegian foreign minister Borge Brende on efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict. Continue Reading »

REPORT: President Trump wants Israel-PA peace talks to commence within a month

According to Israel TV10 News, U.S. Administration officials say President Trump wants Israel-PA peace talks to begin in a month, two at the most.

By Elad Benari

 

U.S. President Donald Trump wants to resume peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) as soon as possible, according to officials involved in contacts between Israel and the U.S. who were quoted by Channel 10 News on Friday.

The sources said that the U.S. administration wants the talks between Israel and the PA to start in Washington within a period of one to two months, with the goal of narrowing the gaps between the sides as much as possible before beginning talks on issues of substance. Continue Reading »

Preempting President Trump’s visit to Israel, Jordan & Egypt declare E. Jerusalem ‘capital of Palestine’

 

In anticipation to President Trump’s arrival, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan & Egypt claim to promote a peace deal at a meeting in Amman, and expressed opposition to “unilateral steps in Jerusalem,” but went on to declare east Jerusalem ‘capital of Palestine.’

By Roi Kais, Elior Levy and Moran Azulay

 

In anticipation of US President Donald Trump’s visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia, pressure is mounting on him to start a diplomatic process and leave the American Embassy in Tel Aviv. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday told NBC’s Meet the Press that the though US Embassy would move to Jerusalem, the president wanted to know how such a move would affect the peace process. Continue Reading »

REPORT: ‘Abbas has agreed to reach a peace deal with Israel’

 

Abbas has said that he would renew peace-talks under Trump’s auspices without preconditions, unlike in the past when he had refused to negotiate with Netanyahu until there was first a cessation to settlement construction and prisoners released from incarceration.

By YAAKOV KATZ

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has crossed the Rubicon and voiced “unprecedented” readiness to reach a peace deal with Israel, sources close to the efforts to renew talks between Israel and the Palestinians have told The Jerusalem Post.

Abbas, according to the sources, made this clear to President Donald Trump during their meeting at the White House last week. Continue Reading »

Peace will come when Israel & Arabs swap lands and populations

 

Israel’s Defense Minister Liberman says Jerusalem needs to restart negotiations with the Palestinians, supports two-state solution based on lessons learned from the past.

By Hezki Baruch

 

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) spoke on Monday morning about Israeli envoy Jason Greenblatt’s upcoming meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman – Knesset TV screenshot

 

“This is a new opportunity to restart the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians,” Liberman wrote on his Facebook page. “This is an opportunity to learn lessons from the past.”

“The first thing we need to learn is that any attempts to solve the Palestinian issue on the basis of ‘land for peace’ will end in failure. Continue Reading »

Emboldened by White House, Abbas already demanding preconditions for peace talks

 

PA chairman Abbas responds within hours of Kerry’s anti-Israel speech by once again demanding preconditions from Israel before commencing peace talks.

By Elad Benari

 

Hours after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech on the Middle East peace process, Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday again imposed conditions on peace talks.

Abbas, reacting to Kerry’s remarks, said he was ready to resume peace efforts with Israel if it stops “settlement building”.

“The minute the Israeli government agrees to cease all settlement activities… and agrees to implement the signed agreements on the basis of mutual reciprocity, the Palestinian leadership stands ready to resume permanent status negotiations on the basis of international law and relevant international legality resolutions… under a specified timeframe,” he said in a statement quoted by AFP. Continue Reading »

PLO Official says Israel will prevent French int’l peace conference

 

Israeli official repeats calls for direct talks, instead of being forced to cater to the interests of each European country participating in the initiative, when some have clear anti-Israel positions.

By ADAM RASGON

 

Top Abbas advisor Ahmad Majdalani said on Sunday that the Palestinian leadership still hopes to participate in an international peace conference in Paris before the end of the year, but fears that Israel will prevent it from taking place.

Ahmad Majdalani (left) speaks to the press - Syrian News Agency

Ahmad Majdalani (left) speaks to the press – Syrian News Agency

“I cannot say with certainty that [the conference] will take place because the Israeli government is placing all the possible obstacles and impasses in front of it,” Majdalani, who also serves as a PLO Executive Committee member, told The Jerusalem Post, adding, “I don’t think Israel will participate and it is also pressuring its allies not to participate.” Continue Reading »

Quartet envoys met in Jerusalem set on restarting Israel-PA peace talks

 

Middle East Quartet, made up of the US, Russia, EU & UN, met with officials from Israel’s Prime Minister’s office & the Foreign Ministry, as well as representatives from the PLO & Palestinian Authority.

 

Envoys from the Middle East Quartet, made up of the US, Russia, EU and UN, met in Jerusalem earlier this week to work on a report it is expected to release in a number of months on the steps needed to create a political environment conducive to a relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Continue Reading »

Palestinian FM says in Japan: Face-to-face talks with Israelis will never happen

 

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Malki said in Japan, “We will never go back and sit again in direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.”

By i24news

 

One-on-one talks with Israel are out of the question, Palestinian foreign minister Riad Al-Malki said Monday.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki attends the raising ceremony for the Palestinian flag on October 13, 2015 at the United Nations Office in Geneva – Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI (AFP/FILE)

“We will never go back and sit again in a direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations,” Malki said in a press conference in Japan.

He is visiting Japan with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later Monday. Continue Reading »

Trump announces he’ll force peace talks on Israel – Obama II?

 

Ahead of a trip to Israel, the Republican contender places the responsibility for a lack of a peace deal on Israel, saying the Jewish State has to prove if it’s ‘willing to sacrifice.’
By Ari Yashar

 

Ahead of his trip to Israel this month, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump revealed in an interview Thursday that forcing peace talks on Israel will head his priorities if elected – and that the onus for the lack of peace lies on the Jewish state, not the Palestinian Authority (PA).

“I have a real question as to whether or not both sides want to make it,” Trump told The Associated Press, clarifying that he has more concerns regarding “one side in particular.”
Continue Reading »

Israel Discusses Peace with the Palestinians with Gulf States…and Hamas

Israeli strategists sense that a weakened Hamas might be ripe for a long-term hudna or ‘truce’ with Israel, instead of trying to strengthen the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority that rejects every attempt at peace.

By LESLIE SUSSER

 

A YEAR after last summer’s fighting and Gaza is still in ruins. Very little has been done to rebuild. Over 100,000 people are still homeless or living in decrepit bombed-out buildings. The economy has shrunk dramatically. At 43 percent, unemployment is the highest in the world.

Continue Reading »

Palestinian Official Claims France Abandoned UN Peace Talk Initiative 

PA Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki claims France was pressured to drop its proposal that advanced a UN resolution that forces resumption of peace talks.

By Elad Benari

 

The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki said Tuesday that a French diplomatic bid to advance a United Nations resolution to restart the peace process between Israel and the PA has been abandoned by France, Haaretz reports.

However, senior PA officials in Ramallah later told the newspaper that al-Malki’s comments were not entirely accurate, and were based more on his analysis of the updates he had received on the matter than on information from an official decision by Paris. Continue Reading »

French PM Jumps After Netanyahu’s Skepticism: ‘Don’t Prejudge My Peace Proposals’

view videoWATCH as Netanyahu tells his Cabinet Ministers how again int’l peace proposals are forced on Jerusalem, pushing Israel to indefensible borders

By REUTERS

 

Following earlier comments made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu critical of international efforts to restart the stalled talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius urged Israel not to prejudge his efforts and warned of the dangers of a continued stalemate.

fabiusFrench Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius gestures during a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah June 21, 2015. – Photo: ABBAS MOMANI/AFP

 

Fabius is on a two-day visit to the Middle East and made the comments at a news conference in Ramallah. Continue Reading »

France threatens Israel with 18-month deadline for peace talks with Palestinians

French plan demands solution for Arab refugees, withdrawal of the IDF from West Bank & a demand for Palestinians to recognize Israel as Jewish state.
• According to French initiative, if sides fail to reach agreement by deadline, Paris will officially recognize State of Palestine.

By Itamar Eichner

 

France is pushing forward with its Middle East peace initiative, shortening the deadline for Israeli-Palestinian talks from two years to 18 months, French magazine Le Figaro reported on Wednesday.

French President Hollande meets with Palestinian President Abbas in Ramallah – Photo: Reuters

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius recently presented the Arab League with a detailed plan to renew peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Continue Reading »