Free Republic

Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah is challenging those who try to minimize its leadership role in the Palestinian conflict with Israel. To show its prominence it did not choose to cite any actions seeking peace but only actions of violence and terror, even claiming fictitiously that its attacks have killed 11,000 Israelis. One of the actions it bragged about was being the "first Palestinian faction to reach the [Israeli] nuclear reactor," which is actually reference to a bus hijacking and murder of three Israeli civilians on their way to work at the nuclear plant. Throughout the current Gaza war, Palestinian Media Watch...

Arab news sources reported Wednesday that Egypt has agreed to open the crossing between it and Gaza at Rafah, on the condition that the Gazan side be supervised by the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas, and not by Hamas. Hamas has reportedly agreed to this, mostly because the it is now a part of the PA government, since joining Abbas's Fatah in a unity coalition. Abbas is supposed to serve as the link between Egypt and Israel regarding Gaza, according to the reports. It was also agreed that a conference would be held next month in Norway, to collect funds...

<p>John Kerry is upset by heavy criticism from Israelis — left, right and center — of his recent ceasefire diplomacy. But that’s only half the story. More significant is the consternation of America’s Arab partners, starting with the president of the Palestinian Authority. Mahmoud Abbas was stunned that Kerry would fly off to Paris to negotiate with Hamas allies Qatar and Turkey in talks that excluded the PA and Egypt.</p>

(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration Sunday disputed reports in Israeli and Arab media suggesting that Secretary of State John Kerry had tried to push a Gaza ceasefire plan promoted by Hamas-supporting Turkey and Qatar, at the expense of proposals put forward earlier by Egypt and backed by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas. In a conference call with Israeli reporters, a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity disputed reports that a plan, which was flatly rejected by the Israeli cabinet on Friday afternoon, amounted to...

Not to be outdone by the Hamas terrorists in Gaza who have been showering rockets on southern Israel, Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction has stepped up its threatening rhetoric against Israel. Fatah threatened death against Israelis by telling them to “prepare body bags,” writing on its official Facebook page Monday, “Sons of Zion, this is an oath to the Lord of the Heavens: Prepare all the bags you can for your body parts.” The statement, translated by Palestinian Media Watch, is just the latest in a recent string of calls to terrorism by Abbas’s party. On Saturday,...

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has called an "emergency meeting" over the news that the bodies of Gilad Sha'ar (16), Naftali Frenkel (16), and Eyal Yifrah (19) have been found in the PA. "Abbas has convened an urgent meeting of the Palestinian leadership tonight to discuss the latest developments," his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP. .....

Chairman Wassal Taha of the National Democratic Assembly (at-Tajamuʿ al-Waṭanī ad-Dīmūqraṭī in Arabic-Balad in Hebrew) issued a statement, Friday, expressing his complete opposition to a statement, this week by Member of Knesset Hanin Zoabi that Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority (PA) committed an act of treason through security coordination with Israel in its search for three teens abducted on June 12th in Judea, according to a Friday report by Kol Yisrael government radio. The statement said Zoabi's words did not represent the position of the party. .....

Mahmoud Abbas must be great at cards. The PLO chief has no real assets to speak of. He's physically unattractive. He has zero charisma. He's old. And no matter how hard he tries, Abbas can't do much of anything to dampen public support for Hamas or raise public support for himself. By many accounts, if elections are ever held, Hamas would win them in a walk. As for money, beyond the PLO's slush fund, all Abbas has is what outsiders give him. He is completely dependent on the Americans, the Israelis, the Europeans and the Gulf states. Without them, he...

A former Hamas government spokesman revealed on Sunday that Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has said in private meetings he is lying in public statements to “trick the Americans.” The spokesman, Ihab al-Ghussein, wrote on Facebook that “behind closed doors,” Abbas had said “when I go out and say that the government is my government and it recognizes ‘Israel’ and so on, fine—these words are meant to trick the Americans.” Palestinian Media Watch translated and exposed the Facebook post. “Guys, let me (continue) saying what I say to the media. Those words are meant for the Americans and the...

The Ecumenical Patriarch has accepted the invitation extended by Pope Francis and will be in the Vatican with Presidents Mahmoud Abbas and Shimon Peres (©LAPRESSE) FRANCIS WITH BARTHOLOMEW IN JERUSALEM At the encounter to pray for peace in the Holy Land, called by Pope Francis at the Vatican on Sunday, June 8th there will be also the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew.   Vatican Insider received this confirmation from authoritative sources of the patriarchy. The decision will be made ​​official most likely tomorrow, after the meeting of the synod during which the patriarch will present the initiative.  It was Pope Francis...

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his “cabinet” in Gaza have resigned, Hamas spokeswoman Israa al-Mudallal said, “paving the way for the new ministers of the consensus government.” Haniyeh welcomed the new cabinet as “a government of one people and one political system.” […] Hamas and Fatah swore in a “unity” government earlier Monday, despite last-minute tensions which almost prevented the Palestinian Arab reconciliation. The joint government elected Palestinian Authority (PA) official Rami Hamdallah as Prime Minister. …

President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas immediately accepted a surprise invitation by Pope Francis in Bethlehem on Sunday to join him at the Vatican to pray for peace. He issued his call on the second day of his Middle East trip, in the midst of a large public Mass he celebrated in Manger Square, the site of Jesus’s birth. “Here, at the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, I wish to invite you to join me in heartfelt prayer to God for the gift of peace. I offer my home in the Vatican as a place for this...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu distanced himself from the meeting last Thursday in London, held between Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, stating that Livni represented only herself. Livni, who was chief negotiator for Israel in the talks that failed after the PA unity deal with Hamas last month, told Netanyahu about the meeting last week two days before it took place. Sources in the prime minister’s office said Saturday night that Netanyahu made it clear to Livni that she would be representing only herself, and not the Israeli government. …

National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen has sent protest letters in the last two weeks to the White House as well as various other Western governments, in which he argues that the Palestinian Authority (PA) planned the failure of peace talks. In the letter, Cohen states that the PA deceived US Secretary of State John Kerry regarding its intentions in the talks. Haaretz published the letter on Wednesday, after having received a copy on April 22. A 65-page document submitted to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas by PA Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat on March 9 is attached to the letter. The date places the document...

President Shimon Peres revealed on Monday that three years ago he reached a peace agreement with Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Speaking to Channel 2 News in a special interview on the occasion of Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day), Peres said that his contacts with Abbas were made on behalf of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, but that at the last minute, Netanyahu changed his mind and the agreement fell through. .....

Editor's Note: This column was coauthored by Bob Morrison. "I will not allow my commitment to Israel to be questioned by anyone, particularly for partisan, political purposes, so I want to be crystal clear about what I believe and what I don't believe," Kerry said after U.S. lawmakers and pro-Israel groups criticized him, with some demanding his resignation or at least an apology…”I have been around long enough to also know the power of words to create a misimpression, even when unintentional, and if I could rewind the tape, I would have chosen a different word [than Apartheid] to describe...

And you thought John Kerry had already hit rock bottom, n'est ce pas? In anonymous briefing to top columnist, members of Kerry’s team slam Netanyahu, empathize with Abbas, warn Palestine will rise ‘whether through violence or via int’l organizations’ American officials directly involved in the failed Israeli-Palestinian peace process over the last nine months gave a leading Israeli columnist a withering assessment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the negotiations, indicated that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has completely given up on the prospect of a negotiated solution, and warned Israel that the Palestinians will achieve statehood come...

According to Robert Serry, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, the so-called reconciliation deal reached by rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas to form a “unity” government in the coming weeks may be a good development that is consistent with continued peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. He reached this conclusion based on the word of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Serry said President Abbas assured him, during a meeting he held with President Abbas in Ramallah, that the reconciliation agreement will be implemented under President Abbas’s leadership and on the basis of...

Hamas will never recognize Israel's right to exist or put its terrorist army under Palestinian Authority (PA) control according to a senior Hamas official, who on Tuesday revealed his version of the unity government deal reached last Wednesday. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas declared on Saturday that the new government will "obey my policy," and would "recognize Israel and reject violence and terrorism, and recognize international commitments," even as he re-declared the government would never recognize Israel as the Jewish state - a point Hamas concurred on. However Mahmoud Al-Zahar, a senior official and co-founder of Hamas, had a different recollection...

Netanyahu: Rather than soothing international public opinion, Abbas should choose between Hamas and peace with Israel.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas released a special message on Sunday in Arabic and in English on the occasion of Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day, in which he decried the murder of Jews in the Holocaust as "the most heinous crime against humanity in modern history. This is the first time a Palestinian president has ever made such a public declaration.