September 9, 2010

The statement asked that parties invested in the talks work to "forbid extremist forces in Israel from derailing peace talks," and reiterated the support of the body for the negotiations.

Next round of talks to be split in Egypt, Jerusalem

WASHINGTON (Ma'an) -- US Mediators will meet in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm Ash-Sheikh on Tuesday, and then move Wednesday to Jerusalem where talks will continue.

"The Egyptians have volunteered to host a round of direct negotiations," State Department spokesman Phillip Crowley told reporters Wednesday, and confirmed that a move to Jerusalem for a second day of talks had been agreed to during discussions the week before.

Crowley gave no explanation for the change in location, which was expected to be Egypt for both days of talks.

Erekat did not intend to 'apologize to Israel'

JERICHO (Ma'an) -- Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat issued a statement on Wednesday alleging his televised address to Israelis asking that they be his "peace partner" was altered.

Pessimistic about peace, Israelis greet new year

JERUSALEM — Israelis usher in the Jewish new year, or Rosh Hashana, at sundown Wednesday with a widespread sense of pessimism that a new round of U.S.-sponsored Mideast talks can achieve peace.

President Barack Obama wants a deal within a year, but Israelis are deeply skeptical after decades of failed efforts.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged the widespread doubts.

Occupation, split complicate Palestinian forces' reform: report

Reforming Palestinian security forces in the West Bank would remain difficult as long as Israel occupies large parts of the area and internal Palestinian political split persists, a new report said.

"Security reform is one of the Palestinian National Authority's (PNA) most notable successes," says the report named "Squaring the Circle: Palestinian Security Reform under Occupation," released this week by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.

Clinton: Arab momentum building for two-state solution

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday dismissed doubts over the success of Middle East peace talks, saying skeptics were "wrong" and that negotiations had gained momentum with backing from Arab states willing to accept a two-state solution.

"There's a certain momentum," she said. "You know, we have some challenges in the early going that we have to get over, but I think that we have a real shot here."

'Neither Israel nor the Palestinians can afford to walk out on the U.S.'

As peace talks cranked into a higher gear, with Palestinian and Israeli leaders finally meeting face-to-face in Washington and limbering up for the next round in Cairo, Haaretz caught up with David Makovsky, one of America's leading Mideast analysts, to ask if there is really enough meat to the new negotiations to appease the cynics.

Amr Moussa, the Secretay General, of the Arab League, predicted on Friday that the new round of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians will be the last. Do you agree?

PA official: We won't recognize Israel as a Jewish state

The Palestinian Authority will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state, even though the PA acknowledges there is a Jewish majority in Israel, senior Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath said at a press conference in Ramallah on Wednesday.

According to Shaath, the Palestinian negotiating team turned down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request to discuss the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state during the upcoming round of peace talks in Sharm el-Sheikh next week.

Hamas: Fatah protecting enemy

Hamas threatened the Palestinian Authority Thursday after members of the organization were arrested in relation to terror attacks that killed four and injured two in the West Bank.

"This criminal campaign has crossed all red lines and constitutes direct cooperation with the enemy, in the clear light of day," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

On Tuesday the Palestinian Authority announced it had arrested the six terrorists who carried out the attacks one week earlier – four shooters and two accomplices.

Clinton: There may never be another chance for peace

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated the American administration's optimism as to Israeli-Palestinian peace process' chances of success Wednesday.

Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations, Clinton said that she believed the "pessimists" were wrong to think the talks were doomed to fail. Peace can be achieved, she said, if the parties will overcome "initial obstacles" – a clear hint the settlement freeze set to end on September 26.

The Palestinians have already threatened to walk away from the negotiating table should Israel resume its settlement activity.

PA committed 'treason' in W.Bank terror suspects' arrests

Hamas accused the Palestinian Authority of "direct cooperation with the enemy" after it arrested Hamas members in conjunction with recent West Bank terrorist attacks that left four Israelis dead and two others injured last week, Army Radio reported Thursday.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum likened the arrests to "treason" and warned the Fatah run authority not to hand the men over to Israel.

"The continuation of this criminal campaign crosses all red lines and is direct cooperation with the enemy in the clear light of day," Barhum continued.

Diplomacy: Talking the talk

Politicians and pundits both here and abroad were left scratching their heads following last week’s talks in Washington. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in two tightly and carefully written statements, did not come across in a way in which he could be easily pigeonholed.

The pundits could not cast him, as they generally love to, as that “hard-line,” right-wing leader who misses no opportunity to torpedo any chance for peace, because his rhetoric did not fit that characterization.

Hamas militia's secret West Bank stronghold

Amid the dust at the side of the road at the Bani Nayim junction in the southern West Bank there is a small makeshift shrine - a pile of rocks covered with Israeli flags.

It was here, just over a week ago, that four Israeli settlers were shot dead - their car riddled with bullets - in a drive-by attack by Hamas militants.

That attack and another the following day at Ramallah, in which two Israeli settlers were injured, were together a message from Hamas: "You can't ignore us."

Secret army

Both attacks were carried out by the al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas military wing.

Sanctions shortened for Muslim student group

A Muslim student group at the University of California, Irvine, had a yearlong suspension shortened to four months.

The Muslim Student Union (MSU) on the Irvine campus will be barred from operating this fall semester, the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles reported.

The university had recommended a yearlong suspension in May in response to the group’s orchestrated heckling of Israeli U.S. Ambassador Michael Oren during his address to the university last February. Oren walked off the stage twice, unable to continue because of the disruption.

Europe’s Absence from the Palestinian-Israeli Negotiations

French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed a high degree of resentment of the fact that the European Union was not invited to the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, during his meeting with President Hosni Mubarak at the Elysee Palace on his way to Washington. Meanwhile, the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was the only European minister who sent a letter to Catherine Ashton, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union, to say that the absence of the European Union (EU) from the these talks is unacceptable.

Another War Zone: Social Media in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

In late May 2010, the convoy known as the Freedom Flotilla met off of Cyprus and headed south, carrying humanitarian aid and hundreds of international activists who aimed to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. The organizers used social media extensively: tweeting updates from the boats; webcasting live with cameras uplinked to the Internet and a satellite, enabling simultaneous rebroadcasting; employing Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and other social networking websites to allow interested parties to see and hear them in real time; and using Google Maps to chart their location at sea.

How to Make Peace in the Middle East in Six Months or Less Without Leaving Your Apartment

Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, brokered by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, are set to resume in two weeks’ time. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says reconciliation is “difficult but possible.” That was last month.

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