Tag Archive for peace talks

| February 5, 2014
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Hamas renews its condemnation to peace with Israel

 

Hamas official in Gaza says Palestinians will not accept any agreement President Abbas signs with Israel, claiming peace-talks are aimed at “liquidating” true Palestinian cause.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

Hamas on Tuesday reiterated its opposition to the peace talks with Israel.

The Palestinians will not accept any agreement that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas signs with Israel, Hamas official Salah Bardaweel said. Bardaweel claimed that the current peace talks were aimed at “liquidating” the Palestinian cause.

IDF tanks and a flag being hoisted on the Gaza border – Photo: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit

He criticized Abbas for telling The New York Times earlier this week that he would agree to the establishment of a demilitarized state. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: ,
| February 2, 2014
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Chief PA negotiator: Palestinians were here before the Jews

 

Abbas’ chief negotiator Saeb Erekat claims ancestry from the Canaanites.

U.S. Sec. of State Kerry praises the Palestinians & the Israelis for their efforts in the negotiations and warns them of the fallout should they fail.

By Daniel Siryoti, Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff

 

The Palestinians cannot accept Israel as the Jewish state because they lived in the region long before the Jews, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said over the weekend.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat – Photo: AP

Speaking with Justice Minister Tzipi Livni at the Munich Security Conference, Erekat rejected the Israeli demand that the Palestinians recognize it as the Jewish homeland. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| January 28, 2014
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Palestinians Gives Israel 3 Years to Withdraw from Judea & Samaria

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas gives Israel a 3 year deadline to withdraw every Jew from Judea and Samaria, in the event of an interim deal.

By AFP and Arutz Sheva Staff

 

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has given Israel 3 years to withdraw from Judea and Samaria in the event that an interim agreement is reached, according to AFP.

“Those who are proposing 10 to 15 years (before a withdrawal) do not want to withdraw at all,” Abbas said in an interview screened on Tuesday at the annual conference of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) taking place in Tel Aviv. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| January 23, 2014
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For 3rd time EU threatens Israel & Palestinians of repercussions of peace failure

 

Israel’s largest economic partner who’s also the Palestinians’ biggest donor says both parties to suffer if peace-talks fail.

EU representative: Israel will find itself increasingly isolated

By Reuters

 

Both sides of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks risk paying a high price in losing European Union trade and aid if negotiations collapse, the EU ambassador to Israel said on Wednesday.

 

EU Parliament in Brussels

Pedestrians walk toward EU Parliament in Brussels. – Photo: Reuters

For long seen as a “payer not a player” in the region, the European Union has started making clear that its role as Israel’s biggest trade partner and the Palestinians’ largest donor should not be taken for granted. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| January 22, 2014
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Palestinian Authority Palestinians vs. Pro-Palestinian Israelis

The Israeli peace activists were escorted out of Ramallah in police vans after Palestinian protesters attacked the hotel where a “peace conference” was taking place.

Not a single Palestinian official has condemn the assaults on the Israeli & Palestinian peace activists.

by Khaled Abu Toameh

 

 

Israeli peace activists who arrived in Ramallah recently were forced to leave the city under Palestinian Authority [PA] police protection.

Palestinian protesters try to force their way into the “Minds for Peace” conference in Ramallah. – Photo: Screenshot from Zamnpress YouTube

The activists were escorted out of Ramallah in police vans after Palestinian protesters attacked the hotel where a “peace conference” between Israelis and Palestinians was taking place. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| January 10, 2014
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Israel’s FM: Israeli Arabs are ‘schizophrenic’ – unable to decide whether Israeli or Palestinian

 

British Telegraph reports FM Avigdor Lieberman saying in an interview that the current peace deal with a Wadi Ara land swap is best future for Israel, but Israeli Arabs are divided, unable to decide whether they’re Israeli or Palestinian.

By Ynet

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Arabs with Israeli citizenship need to decide to whom they are loyal – to Israel or to the Palestinians.

President Shimon Peres and Avigdor Lieberman in a diplomats' meeting (Photo: Mark Neiman, GPO)

President Shimon Peres and Avigdor Lieberman in a diplomats’ meeting – Photo: Mark Neiman, GPO

“They live in some kind of schizophrenia,” he said in an interview with the British Telegraph. “They don’t know if they are Israeli citizens or if they are Palestinians. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| January 5, 2014
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Mahmoud Abbas had ‘tough talks’ with Kerry in Ramallah

 

 

U.S. Sec. of State Kerry tells reporters in Jerusalem that White House’s Mideast plan will be ‘fair & balanced’ and that the US is committed to equitable peace deal that improves security for all.

By AFP

Tough words were exchanged between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and US Secretary of State John Kerry this weekend, as the two met to discuss the peace process, an Abbas aide said Sunday morning.

Kerry in Jerusalem Photo: Matti Stern, US embassy

Speaking to the Arab world media, Yasser Abed Rabbo said their conversation Friday in Ramallah “was very tough indeed”, in particular when it came to the American wish for the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| January 5, 2014
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Liberman: Israel’s Future Border with Palestine to be ‘Near Highway 6’

FM Liberman supports agreement, but asks how the future Palestinian state will accommodate it’s 3 million new Arab residents from the refugee camps.

By Maayana Miskin

 

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman spoke in favor of Israel-Palestinian Authority diplomacy on Sunday, while rejecting some of the PA’s key demands.

Liberman began by thanking United States Secretary of State John Kerry for his efforts to push a deal. “I want to express genuine appreciation for Kerry’s efforts, and for his stance regarding security in particular,” he said.

“Any alternative proposal that Israel gets from the international community will be worse than what Kerry offered,” he argued. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| January 4, 2014
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Sen. McCain: Netanyahu and I have ‘serious concerns’ over Kerry’s proposal

Republican Senator John McCain, who is in Israel visiting, admits he shares P.M. Netanyahu’s concerns about whether parts of Kerry’s ‘framework agreement’ are realistic.

By

 

 

Republican Sen. John McCain says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “serious, serious concerns” about parts of the proposal Secretary of State John Kerry is using to broker peace with the Palestinians.

U.S. Senator John McCain answers reporters' questions at the meeting in Italy, September 7, 2012.

U.S. Senator John McCain answers reporters’ questions during a meeting on World Economy in Cernobbio, Italy, September 7, 2012. – Photo: AP

McCain spoke Friday in Jerusalem where Kerry is making his tenth visit to craft a peace accord. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| January 3, 2014
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PLO: We’ll ignore any ‘worthless’ framework deal we sign

Abed Rabbo dismisses idea of land swap, calls for timetable for full Israeli withdrawal and return to pre-1967 lines.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

 

 

On the eve of US State Secretary John Kerry’s meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the PLO said that the Palestinians wouldn’t pay attention to a “worthless” framework agreement presented by the US.

PLO Exec Ctee SecGen Abed Rabbo

PLO Exec Ctee SecGen Abed Rabbo – Photo: Mohamad Torokman/Reuters

Kerry is expected to meet with Abbas in Ramallah on Friday.

PLO Secretary-General Yasser Abed Rabbo said that the Palestinians have already spent the past few months negotiating with Israel, and there’s no need to start new talks about the implementation of a new framework agreement. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| December 31, 2013
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Israeli official: Kerry ‘Deceived Israel’ on Terrorist Prison Release

PM Binyamin Netanyahu has clarified to the White House that no Israeli Arab terrorists will be released as any “gesture” to the Palestinian Authority.

By Elad Benari

A senior Israeli official said on Monday that United States Secretary of State John Kerry had “deceived” Israel with regards to the release of terrorists as a “gesture” to the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The unnamed official, who spoke to Channel 2 News, said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has made it clear to Kerry that the next batch of 26 terrorists that Israel is to release will not include any Israeli Arabs, contrary to the PA’s demand.

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| December 21, 2013
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PLO Official: Strip West Bank Residents of Their Israeli Citizenship

Former PA negotiators puts the blame on Israel for failures in peace talks, threatens to coerce other countries to strip ‘settlers’ of Israeli citizenship.

By Dalit Halevi, Tova Dvorin

 

Mohammed Shtayyeh, Member of the Central Committee of Fatah, a former Palestinian Authority (PA) cabinet minister, accused the Israeli government of avoiding political agreements and employing a policy of “settlement” expansion, house demolitions and “killing civilians.”

Shtayyeh was one of the negotiators who submitted his resignation to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas earlier this year.

Ma’an reports Friday that at a restaurant in the PA village of Beit Jala, Shtayyeh claimed the “so-called bilateral Palestinian-Israeli negotiations are not going to take us anywhere”. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| December 20, 2013
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Erekat: PA Ready for 12-Month Interim Deal – If Israel Meets Our 5 Demands First

PLO official claims PA ready for interim deal. The catch: meeting the PA’s demands on a number of key issues: designating borders, land swaps, security arrangements, Jerusalem, & “refugees”.

By Dalit Halevy, Tova Dvorin

 

Saeb Erekat, chief of the Palestinian Authority’s negotiating team, declared to journalists in Bethlehem Friday that the PA is ready to accept a 12-month interim deal with Israel – as long as demands regarding borders, land swaps, security arrangements, Jerusalem, and “refugees” are met.

“The deal is much more than a declaration of principles,” Erekat stated, “but it would need to turn into a [permanent] peace agreement after a short period of 6-12 months.” Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , , , ,
| December 15, 2013
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Time to acknowledge the truth: Abbas doesn’t aspire to reach any peace deal with Israel

If Israel’s P.M. Netanyahu offered Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas an interim deal, the truth would be revealed — Abbas doesn’t have the will nor the capability to sign any sort of peace agreement with Israel.

By Dan Margalit

 

The government is operating as if it was a carousel or a roller coaster. What was promised has not been fulfilled and what was decided has not been guaranteed.

President Mahmoud Abbas – Photo: Reuters

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett will not leave the government, mainly because they are replaceable. There are bench players waiting to take their places on the court. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| December 14, 2013
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Security Points of the Israel-Palestinian Negotiations Come into Focus

 

After months of secret backroom talks, US & Israel leaders finally provided some clarity this week as to what security solutions they’re trying to achieve and about Abbas’ intransigence.

By HERB KEINON

 

 

IDF soldiers detain Palestinian in Jordan Valley, September 20, 2013 Photo: REUTERS

Finally, after some 4-1/2 months of Israeli- Palestinian negotiations, some kind of game plan is beginning to emerge. Finally, some sort of indication about how this is all supposed to work – the logistics of the process, what a number of the key actors (namely the US and the Israelis) are thinking – is coming out into the open. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
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