Free Republic

...Those who talk about a durable peace are by definition giving up on Palestine...

As western leaders push for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, urging Israeli concessions—including the release of convicted terrorists—the PA leadership is continuing in its longstanding tradition of honoring terrorists who murdered Israeli civilians, report Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik of Palestinian Media Watch. PMW points to a picture that appeared on an official Fatah Facebook page, glorifying five of the suicide bombings for which Marwan Barghouti prepared explosives, which killed 61 “Zionists.” The graphic was posted by the administrator of the official Facebook page of the Enlistment and Organization Commission of Fatah. Terrorist Barghouti was honored as...

Palestinian Authority factions Hamas and Fatah are at it again. Fatah spokesman Ahmed Assaf on Sunday accused Hamas of being responsible for Egypt closing the Rafiah border crossing with Gaza. Egypt decided to close the crossing, he claimed, because Hamas had intervened in Egypt's internal affairs in favor of its parent movement the Muslim Brotherhood. Assaf said that Hamas's position does not represent the “Palestinian people” and, in fact, causes damage to their interests. As well, he claimed, Hamas hurts the efforts "to end the occupation, establish a Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem and the bring about the return...

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas continues to promote the PA libel that Israel is scheming and acting to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Palestinian Media Watch reported. In an interview to the Saudi paper Al-Watan, Abbas said that the Arab and Islamic world should become more pro-active in responding to the Israeli “plot”. "All these [Israeli] actions indicate an evil and dangerous plot to destroy Al-Aqsa [Mosque] and build the alleged Temple,” Abbas said, according to PMW. “Unfortunately, these dangers, which are clear for everyone to see, have yet to receive proper Arab, Islamic and international responses," Abbas said....

Israel wants peace, but it is not willing to sacrifice its security for it, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Thursday evening at the closing session of the Presidential Conference. “For peace to be maintained, we must be strong in the present and in the future. Because a peace accord that compromises our security will not endure, and I will never compromise the security of the State of Israel and its citizens,” said Netanyahu. … Netanyahu noted that “Palestinian society is divided into two: those who openly call for our destruction and use terror for that effect, and those, the...

Samantha Power will take over at as ambassador to the United Nations following Susan Rice’s promotion to national security adviser. Here are Power’s five most embarrassing comments. 1. Power called for global apology tour Power wrote that U.S. foreign policy “needs not tweaking but overhauling,” in a 2003 New Republic article. Power recommended that United States officials should apologize to the world for its past failures in order to enhance credibility with foreign countries. “A country has to look back before it can move forward,” Power wrote. “Instituting a doctrine of the mea culpa would enhance our credibility

WASHINGTON: The problems that plague the Middle East, including Iran's nuclear ambitions and Syria's civil war, require "political, not military" solutions, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday. Saying the "old order" was vanishing in the region, Hagel stressed in a speech that the United States would work to promote democratic reform while bearing in mind the "limitations" of American power. Although the Pentagon chief made clear that Washington had not ruled out potential military action against Iran or Syria, his remarks highlighted President Barack Obama's cautious stance on resorting to armed force in the volatile region. He said that...

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday he would begin talks with rival factions, including Islamist Hamas, to form a unity government, a crucial step towards healing years of damaging internal divisions. … The need to form a new administration was prompted by the resignation earlier this month of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad because of a rift between him and Abbas, and it has created an opportunity for Abbas to forge a unity government. …

President Shimon Peres said on Monday that he does not regret the Oslo Accords, despite the fact that their signing brought about hundreds of Israeli victims who were killed in terror attacks.Speaking in an interview with the Walla website, on the occasion of Israel’s 65th Independence Day, Peres said that terrorist attacks against Jews had taken place long before the signing of the Oslo Accords. “There were terror victims before the Oslo Accords. Before the Accords there was only one Palestinian camp and that camp supported terrorism. Now we have two camps, and one camp is against terrorism and in...

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee tells Newsmax that President Obama won’t succeed in restarting peace talks in the Middle East because the Palestinians have “zero interest” in negotiations. The 2008 Republican presidential candidate also says the administration’s dealings with Mohammed Morsi and Egypt are “foreign policy gone wild,” and warns that the United States will be viewed as a “toothless tiger” if Obama doesn’t respond as promised to the use of chemical weapons in Syria. … “You’ve got a Palestinian government that refuses Israel’s right to exist. It’s really hard to negotiate with someone when they don’t even believe you...

The map of the Middle East displayed in an Obama administration video released days before President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel shows the Jewish state dispossessed of substantial parts of its current territory, including its capital. The map of Israel, displayed repeatedly during the video, shows the Golan Heights, Jerusalem, northern Israel, and areas surrounding what is currently the West Bank as non-Israeli territory. The Golan Heights is shown as part of Syria; Jerusalem is shown as part of the West Bank; and northern Israel is shown as part of Lebanon. The itinerary on the White House website also implies...

President Barack Obama promised a group of Jewish leaders that he would stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons but said he’s refraining from “extra chest-beating” as he pursues a diplomatic solution. The hour-long meeting with some two dozen American Jewish leaders Thursday was closed to the press, but the Israeli daily Haaretz managed to nevertheless get comments from those who met with the president in advance of his upcoming trip to the Jewish state. Israel and the United States share the same intelligence on Iran and therefore have a good understanding of how close the Islamic Republic is to having...

President Shimon Peres held out hopes Wednesday of seeing the Middle East draw inspiration from the European Union by one day turning a region long at war into one at peace. Praising Europe for overcoming 1,000 years of conflict in six short decades as he visited EU headquarters, Peres said, "You have the gift of a united hope even if you have a divided economic situation." "I hope the time will come when the Middle East will become a peaceful united region like you," he added. Peres, on an eight-day tour to Brussels, Paris and Strasbourg, said he believed there...

As Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi said that virulent anti-Semitic comments which he reportedly said prior to his election were taken out of context, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) released another video which depicts him making similar comments. The latest video is an address delivered by Morsi, which was posted on the Internet on January 10, 2010. It was translated by MEMRI and published on Wednesday. In the newly exposed remarks, Morsi calls U.S. President Barack Obama “insincere” and calls for Arabs to raise their children on hatred of Jews.

Tens of thousands of Fatah supporters rallied in the Hamas stronghold of Gaza on Friday for the first time since they were routed from power there by the Islamist militants in 2007. The rally, approved by Gaza’s Hamas rulers, marks a renewed attempt by the rival Palestinian factions to show unity following a fierce Hamas battle with Israel in November and Fatah’s subsequent recognition bid at the United Nations. … Abbas has enjoyed a boost in his status since he led the Palestinians’ successful bid to upgrade their status at the United Nations to a non-member observer state. On Friday,...

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah party's new logo shows all of Israel as Palestine, claimed on Sunday that he seeks peace with the Jewish State. Abbas, who met with Arab MKs Mohammad Barakeh and Said Nafaa, said that the "Palestinian people" are striving for peace in accordance with the decisions of international institutions and seek to establish an independent Palestinian state within the 1949 armistice line with its capital in Jerusalem. Abbas said that the PA Arabs desire peace and want to have a "partner who believes in peace." He added that the Palestinian aspiration is to establish...

Masked and armed members of Fatah, Hamas’ rival party headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, shot automatic rifles in the air as they marched through Hevron on Saturday. The parade marked the anniversary of the founding of Fatah by Yasser Arafat, who was succeeded by Abbas after his death eight years ago. The scene of masked men shooting rifles was identical with Hamas demonstrations in Gaza over the years. The march did not encroach on the Jewish neighborhoods in Hevron, but it illustrates the face of Fatah not reported in mainstream media, which promotes Abbas as Israel’s ”peace partner.”...

The Fatah party, headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, has made official what it has been saying more quietly and has adopted a new logo showing all of Israel as Palestine. The logo marks the 48th anniversary of the founding of Fatah by Yasser Arafat and includes a map with the PA flag and a map of Israel that appears to be a depiction of the black and white checkered kefiyah, a symbol of the violent intifada, and the slogan “the state and victory." PMW revealed that the official PA daily published the new official logo. For the past...

Chairman Itzik Shadmi of the Binyamin Residents' Council played down on Thursday suggestions that Palestinian Authority Arabs have launched a new terror war (intifada) in Judea and Samaria. "We don't have to bother ourselves excessively with it too much at the moment, but the IDF should prepare for such an option," Shadmi told Arutz Sheva. Shadmi noted he is not worried by a possible takeover of Judea and Samaria by Hamas, similar to the terror group's bloody takeover of Gaza in 2007, saying, "At least this way we will recognize the enemy we already know. I'm more concerned by the...

Yisrael Beiteinu head Avigdor Lieberman, until recently the Foreign Minister, reacted with joy Friday as Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas threatened to quit if negotiations do not resume. Abbas has refused to negotiate in absence of several Israeli concessions, including a complete freeze on construction east of the 1949 armistice line. According to Lieberman, Israel "can't wait" for Abbas to follow through on his threat. "We congratulate Abu Mazen [Abbas] for reaching the correct conclusion, that only his leave from the PA leadership will allow the diplomatic process to resume," Lieberman said. "We anxiously await the official announcement from the...