Israel's News & Views BlogThe Italian Prime-Minister Silvio Berlusconi came to Jerusalem on Monday to meet with our fearless Prime-Minister, Mr. Binyamin Netanyahu. The visit was amiable and showed promise for Israel’s future as a welcome country in European eyes.
Bibi, in his Knesset remarks, said that
“Israel knows it has a great friend in Europe in Berlusconi.”
He [...]
When Binyamin Netanyahu declared the 10-month freeze on building settlements in the West Bank, he was following Barack Obama’s direction aiming at benefiting the Palestinian cause. However, at the Jalazon Refugee Camp, no one is thanking the Israeli Prime Minister or the American President. They just want their work back.
Before the freeze, roughly half of [...]
Alright, alright…Calm down! What’s that, boy? Really? Hamas will recognize Israel? After the vast oceans of blood and tears? Why, that’s great, boy! What else boy? Hamas will nullify the charter that calls for the destruction of Israel? Good boy!
The word came from Aziz Dwaik, Hamas’s most senior representative in the West Bank. Go here [...]
At an Israeli Air Force School Graduation Ceremony on Thursday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak called on Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority to reenter in negotiations on the Middle East peace process. It is expected that Abbas will meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday, when the two leaders are expected to discuss [...]
Leaders of the Palestinian Authority are planning to launch a diplomatic campaign to gain world support for a Palestinian state. The state would include the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. The idea which Abbas is behind would be proposed to the United Nations, who would vote on acceptance of a sovereign Palestinian [...]
At a meeting of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas threatened to not run for re-election in January. The threat, says Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, is meant to be a warning to America and Zionists. He said:
“We advise him to … face the Palestinian people and [...]
This month’s War and Peace Index is out. Who wants to know what Israelis think now? Unfortunately, that’s almost impossible, since polls can only give indications of trends, and minds change so quickly that it may actually be a good thing that the government falls every two years. People need to keep reassessing their decisions [...]
Fatah, the PLO faction group founded in 1954 by Yasser Arafat, is having its 6th general convention today. I have some questions about it. First, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas opened the festivities by condemning Hamas and saying that investigations are ongoing as to the cause of Arafat’s death.
Question: Why? The fact that he [...]
Former US. President Jimmy Carter went on a three hour tour of Gaza on Tuesday, in which Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told him that “Hamas will accept the two state solution if Israel is ready to return to the former, pre-1967 boundaries”. Haniyeh also spoke to Carter about the case of captured Israeli soldier [...]
The Palestinian city of Bethlehem, located a few kilometers south of Jerusalem, may be celebrating its best holiday season in years. Reports from merchants and hotel reservation desks say that the number of pilgrims and tourists visiting the city of Jesus’ birthplace are at least 50% more than in 2006. Times haven’t been good for [...]
Israeli government plans to attend the upcoming Middle East conference in Annapolis Maryland next month have been complicated considerably by release reports that Palestinian Fatah gunmen had plotted to attack Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s convoy during his meeting with P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas (photo) in Jericho last August. The disclosure, only released now, stated that [...]
Saeb Erakat at the Muqata, February 25 2006. Photo by Lisa Goldman.
Saeb Erakat, the chief negotiator for the PLO, has written a fascinating op-ed piece for the New York Times. In it he explains why he, a supporter of Mahmoud Abbas, does not view Hamas’s victory in the recent Palestinian elections as a setback for [...]
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas denied reports of being depressed and justified his condition as just being exhausted because of his elections
campaign work. He also hinted at the same time that he might resign if the government formed after the nearing parliament elections will oppose his policies, including peace talks with Israel.
Abbas also reacted to Olmert’s [...]
