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<p>VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican officially recognized the state of Palestine in a new treaty finalized Wednesday, immediately sparking Israeli ire and accusations that the move hurt peace prospects.</p> <p>The treaty, which concerns the activities of the Catholic Church in Palestinian territory, makes clear that the Holy See has switched its diplomatic recognition from the Palestine Liberation Organization to the state of Palestine.</p>

The Vatican has officially recognized the state of Palestine in a new treaty. The treaty, which was finalized Wednesday but still has to be signed, makes clear that the Holy See has switched its diplomatic relations from the Palestinian Liberation Organization to the state of Palestine.

The Vatican has officially recognized the state of Palestine in a new treaty. The treaty, which was finalized Wednesday but still has to be signed, makes clear that the Holy See has switched its diplomatic relations from the Palestinian Liberation Organization to the state of Palestine. The Vatican had welcomed the decision by the U.N. General Assembly in 2012 to recognize a Palestinian state. But the treaty is the first legal document negotiated between the Holy See and the Palestinian state and constitutes an official recognition. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is due to see Pope Francis on Saturday before the...

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Moscow on Monday where the issue of Middle East peace talks will be raised, Russian authorities announced Thursday. “The two leaders will hold talks concerning key aspects of Russian-Palestinian relations and their future, with particular attention on the trade, economy and humanitarian sectors,” the Kremlin said in a statement according to AFP. There will also be “an exchange of ideas on the process of Israeli-Palestinian talks and other problematic regional situations,” the statement continued, adding that North Africa would also be on the agenda. …

The PA officially announced Wednesday night that it was hoping to renew talks with Israel, regardless of who was Prime Minister. After earlier reports said that the Palestinian Authority was considering suspending all security cooperation with Israel in the wake of Binyamin Netanyahu's reelection, the PA officially announced Wednesday night that it was hoping to renew talks with Israel, regardless of who was Prime Minister. Nabil Abu-Rudeineh, the PA's official spokesperson, said that the PA has “no interest in the disposition of Israel's Prime Minister. The only thing we are interested in from any Israeli government is the recognition and...

Palestinian officials believe they can build a stronger case for international pressure on Israel now that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have cruised to re-election by adopting hard-line positions. In the last days of the hard-fought election Netanyahu ruled out Palestinian statehood under current conditions—despite long-standing assurances to the West that he supports the idea. The two sides appear poised for diplomatic confrontations, but also share an interest in preventing an escalation on the ground. …

JNS.org – In various cultures, a particular month, day or time is associated with a certain annual activity. For example, here in the United States, November—every other year—is election time. In Israel, every May brings the solemnity of remembering fallen soldiers, followed immediately by celebrations of national independence. And if it’s March and you happen to live in Palestinian Authority (PA)-controlled territory, then you know it’s time for publicly praising and honoring one of the most gruesome Palestinian massacres of Israelis and Americans in modern history. That’s because March 9, 1978, was the day that a squad of 13 Palestinian...

Palestinians marched in the West Bank and Gaza on Thursday to commemorate their displacement in the 1948 Mideast war that followed the establishment of the state of Israel. Sirens wailed at noon in Ramallah and elsewhere across the West Bank for 66 seconds to symbolize the number of years since the “Nakba,” or “catastrophe” in Arabic—the term Palestinians use to describe their defeat and displacement in the war. Israel overcame the armies of surrounding Arab states as well as local Arabs who attacked after the Jewish state was declared on May 15, 1948. […] “It is time for the leaders...

US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah II on the sidelines of economic talks in Egypt on Friday, US officials said. The talks are likely to focus on the economic crisis facing the Palestinian Authority and could be a four-way meeting which would also include Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a State Department official said. "We continue to be concerned about the PA," the official told reporters travelling with Kerry on his plane to the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. "It’s really part of the continuous, ongoing conversation we’re...

“In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)v15 activist campaigning in the Machne Yehuda open market in Jerusalem. OneVoice, a US-based advocacy group which counts the son of Mahmoud Abbas among its senior advisors, has partnered with V15 in a campaign to replace the current Likud administration in Israel, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu. According to two US lawmakers, their involvement may be illegal, and they have called for an investigation into the group’s financial activities. OneVoice Israel is a part of the OneVoice Movement, a US-based...

A Lebanese newspaper reported that Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas told Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi that the Palestinian Authority would not file a case against Israel in the International Criminal Court if negotiations between Israel and the PA resumed “in the coming weeks.” According to the report in the Al-Ahabar newspaper, Abbas made the comments to Sisi during their meeting in Cairo Wednesday. The PA several weeks ago formally requested membership in the ICC. Approval of the PA's membership is expected within two months. Last week, the PA recognized the ICC's jurisdiction to investigate what it said were Israeli war...

Commentators on both the left and the right are slamming President Obama for missing the march in Paris last Sunday. Even a stalwart courtier like CNN’s Jake Tapper sniffed that he was “ashamed” that the U.S. was represented by an ambassador––one, by the way, who got her appointment by bundling money for the president’s political campaigns. But who’s surprised at this latest display of diplomatic incompetence? This is the same president who gave the queen of England an I-Pod loaded with his speeches, banished a bust of Churchill from the White House, bowed low to the Saudi King, blew off...

Just one more bizarre and stupid charade that Abbas and the Palestinians engage in from time to time The news of the day is former President Jimmy Carter who placed the blame for the Paris jihadist massacre on—you guessed it—Israel. That reflects the surreal world in which anti-Semites live. Meanwhile, the Palestinians, both Fatah and Hamas, are running out of friends. For reasons that defy any logic and which have no basis in fact, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is seeking recognition of the Palestinian state from the United Nations. He’s also applied for membership in the International Criminal Court....

Mahmoud a-Zahar, a top Hamas terrorist in Gaza, slammed Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas for participating in the anti-terror rally in Paris Sunday. A-Zahar called Abbas “hypocritical” for participating in the event. “The participation of Abbas in this event is part of the hypocrisy and political acrobatics that Abbas commonly participates in,” a-Zahar said. “Abbas wants to show that he can fight terror, but he does not even know the meaning of terror.” In an interview, he said that Hamas was opposed to the terror attack at the Charlie Hebdo magazine, in which 13 people were killed, saying that “Hamas...

The French government was opposed to the idea of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attending Sunday’s historic march in Paris, believing the Israeli leader’s presence at the rally would be “divisive,” Israeli media reported Sunday. Netanyahu did not initially plan to attend the event, which was organized in a show of solidarity and defiance after terrorist attacks in the French capital which claimed 17 lives. However, the Prime Minister changed his mind after Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett announced they would join the march, Israel’s Channel 2 news reported. In retaliation to Netanyahu’s sudden change of heart,...

-excerpt- In 2008, Israel offered Mr. Abbas a state covering 94% of the West Bank, along with a compensatory 6% of Israeli territory and a land bridge to Gaza. Mr. Abbas never took up the offer. Last March, President Obama personally offered Mr. Abbas a U.S.-sponsored “framework” agreement. Again Mr. Abbas demurred. The following month, Mr. Abbas signed a “reconciliation” pact with Hamas. War came by summer. Now Mr. Abbas has moved to have “the state of Palestine” join the International Criminal Court, chiefly in order to harass and perhaps arrest Israeli military officers and politicians spuriously accused of war...

Palestinian source says Hamas, Islamic Jihad willing to risk counter-suit should Israel be investigated Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has asked the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel for war crimes allegedly committed during the 50-day war with Hamas and other Gaza terror groups last summer. In the request filed with the Dutch Embassy Thursday morning, Abbas asked the court in The Hague to investigate Israel retroactively for alleged war crimes starting from June 13, 2014 — a day after three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered by a Hamas cell in the West Bank, an unnamed NGO worker told...

The official Facebook page of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party is marking 50 years since the founding of the Arab nationalist group—and in typical style has posted a graphic image glorifying the murder of Israelis in celebration. The image posted on the Fatah Party Central Page shows a pile of skulls and bones, topped with a rifle bearing the Fatah flag. Several of the bloodied skulls are marked with stars of David. The caption reads: Fatah will remain, over your skulls …

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who is often touted by the West as a “peace partner” of Israel’s, recently declared that there are six million “Palestinian refugees”, and that he is one of them. Abbas’s comments were made in an interview with the Egyptian daily Akhbar Al-Yawm, published last week and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). In the interview, Abbas reiterated that he did not recognize Israel as a Jewish state, because this contradicted the Palestinian interests by “harming Israeli Arabs and preventing the return of the Palestinian refugees.” He said that there were six...

“We will never recognize the Jewishness of the state of Israel,” Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas declared on Saturday. Abbas’s statement came at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers and was quoted by Channel 10 News. At that same meeting, the foreign ministers announced their “categorical rejection of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.” According to Channel 10, Abbas said in his remarks at the meeting that the security coordination between Israel and the PA would be suspended unless peace negotiations resume. …