Free Republic

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Monday expressed support for the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) move to seek membership in international organizations, reports the Ma’an news agency. “The decision by the Palestinians to exercise their right to join international organizations should not be seen as a blow to the peace talks,” Carter said in a statement. “I hope that, on the contrary, it will help to redress the power imbalance between Israelis and Palestinians, as we approach the 29 April deadline set by Secretary Kerry,” he added, according to Ma’an. …

For over two hours, the Cabinet, at its weekly meeting Sunday, discussed incitement and the culture of hatred in the PA. A Government Press Office (GPO) release said that Intelligence Affairs Minister Dr. Yuval Steinitz and the Director General of his ministry, Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Yossi Kuperwasser, presented the annual “Palestinian Incitement Index” that includes new findings from the recent months, during which diplomatic negotiations have been conducted. The findings show that incitement against Israel and the Jewish people is continuing on official media channels including—inter alia—by bodies that are very close to the PA Chairman and in educational and religious...

The EU is knowingly paying Palestinian civil servants who have not worked in years, its spending watchdog says. The Luxembourg-based European Court of Auditors published its findings in a report, out on Wednesday (11 December), on the EU’s “Pegase” program. It noted that the Union has paid the Palestinian Authority (PA) around €200 million a year between 2008 and 2012 to cover public sector salaries. The money has funded approximately half of the PA’s 170,000 civil servants and pensioners. Beneficiaries are supposed to meet basic EU criteria. But in Gaza, up to 24 percent of people on the payroll of...

Under Sequester, U.S. Giving Islamists $500 Million Posted 07/29/2013 06:49 PM ET Mideast: The sequester has "cost jobs," says President Obama, and "gutted investments in education and science and medical research." But somehow he's earmarked $500 million for Hamas terrorists. Circumventing Congress and with no fanfare, President Obama last week issued an executive order enabling him to send an additional $500 million directly to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank — much of which you can bet will wind up going to the Iranian-backed Hamas terrorist organization. According to Obama, "it is important to the national security interests of...

The time has come to reveal the Palestinians’ true colors. While world leaders attempt to cajole and nudge the two sides into negotiations, only one side consistently says it is ready to sit face to face without preconditions—Israel. The Palestinians, on the other hand, refuse to meet unless Israel agrees in advance to several demands. This should be a red flag indicator of their disingenuous intentions. … The Palestinians do not wish to see a Jewish state of Israel as their neighbor. In fact, if they had their way, Israel would cease to exist altogether in favor of one Arab...

The Palestinian Authority’s prime minister Rami Hamdallah on Sunday became the first PA premier to visit the Al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem, AFP reports. “Jerusalem is a symbol of the Palestinian question,” Hamdallah was quoted as having told the official WAFA news agency. “Our visit today shows how important Jerusalem is to the Palestinian government.” … The Al-Aqsa mosque is located on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Jerusalem which was left in the hands of the Waqf following Jerusalem’s reunification in 1967. Arabs continuously make false accusations that Israel is “Judaizing” the Temple Mount, sometimes...

The militarization of a population, the manner by which a regime systematically destines its people for a perpetual clash with an enemy, is a prime method for dangerously prolonging a conflict, sometimes for decades. Indeed, the past couple of weeks of unrestrained provocations have reminded us of the 60- year-old war footing maintained by the North Korean government against the West. But one need not look so far eastward to find another example of a regime using its resources for waging hostilities with both its external and internal enemies. Indeed, Israelis can find a more telling example of a government...

The Palestinian Authority, despite complaining constantly that it is suffering from a severe financial crisis, is continuing to provide monthly payments to terrorists serving time in Israeli prisons, the Makor Rishon newspaper reported Friday. This is not the first time that the enormous salaries the PA pays terrorists have been exposed. According to Friday’s report, which was based on data collected by the research department of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, at least 4% of the PA government’s budget is allocated for terrorists' salaries. Each month, the PA transfers about 17.5 million shekels to terrorists, the Foreign Ministry has found. While...

Five weeks after the Obama administration asserted that a United Nations vote on upgrading the Palestinian entity’s status “does not establish that Palestine is a state,” Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday ordered that all references to the Palestinian Authority be changed to the “State of Palestine.” From passports to postage stamps, diplomatic mission titles to official stationery, the name of a state that does not legally exist will replace that of the self-rule administration established under the Oslo Accords, brokered by the Clinton administration in the early 1990s. Abbas issued the decree instructing the change several days after saying during an...

Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority signed orders, Thursday, directing all PA institutions to stop using the term "Palestinian National Authority" on official documents and to replace the term with "the state of Palestine". The change went into effect immediately, and was applied to official documents, seals and medals. .....

Only 10 percent of Americans sympathize with the Palestinian Authority, according to a new Pew Center poll, which shows that the United States public is also going isolationist.In answer to the question, “In the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, which side do you sympathize with more, Israel or the Palestinians?”, 50 percent identified with Israeli and only 10 percent with the Arabs. … The overwhelming support for Israel in the poll was more prominent among Republicans and evangelical Christians. …

On November 29th, 1947, the United Nations’ General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. The Jewish leadership accepted the plan; the Arab leadership rejected it. Sixty-five years later, on November 29th, 2012, Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, excoriated Israel, praised Islamic terrorists, and received the overwhelming approbation of the General Assembly, which voted 138 to 9 (with 41 abstentions) to recognize Palestine as a “non-member observer state.” Abbas was perfectly clear: “The moment has arrived for the world to say clearly: Enough of aggression, settlements and occupation.” The world, then, through the...

Editor's Note: This column was coauthored by Bob Morrison. Pete Wehner is a real gentleman. His reproofs are generally not caustic and are almost always intended to have his opponents listen to what Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature.” Thus, when he recently criticized Kirsten Powers, he provided a most useful sketch of the history of Arab-Israeli conflicts in recent times, at least since 1967. Wehner’s column should be required reading for anyone taking part in Mideast policy discussions. In the main, we agree with his assessment of this good woman’s errors. But in gently rebuking Kirsten Powers,...

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has pledged support for a future Palestinian state on his first official trip to the region. Speaking alongside Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Ramallah on Sunday (8 July) he said that "through our … political and financial support, we are laying the foundations of a future democratic and viable Palestinian state—its institutions and its infrastructure." He voiced "concern" about "the continuous growth of [Irsaeli] settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem."He also "welcomed" the prospect of a unity government between the more moderate Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the militant...

The Palestinian Authority declared a Baptist Church in Bethlehem to be unlawful and said that it will no longer receive rights as a religious institution, Algemeiner reported. This decision comes a week after Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told an audience of Evangelical Protestants that his government respected the rights of its Christian minorities. “They said that our legitimacy as a church from a governmental point of view is not approved,” said an assistant pastor at the First Baptist Church. “They said they will not recognize any legal paper work from our church. That includes birth certificates, wedding certificates and death...

Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, who preached in Tahrir Square 10 days ago, loathes Israel, justifies suicide bombings against its civilians. 1. Sheikh Dr. Yusuf Abdallah al-Qaradawi is a central figure affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. He was expelled from Egypt and found refuge in Qatar, operating from there throughout the Muslim world. 2. Many consider him the supreme religious and ideological authority for the Muslim Brotherhood, although he is not officially its leader. (In the past, he refused to accept the title of the Muslim Brotherhood’s General Guide). He is influential in Egypt and considered one of the most important Sunni...

The Palestinian Authority may soon fail financially and cease to exist, its prime minister warned on Thursday. Salam Fayyad warned that if Israel does not resume the transfer of tax revenues it collects for the PA, the entity will collapse economically and thus cease to exist. Already now, Fayyad claimed, the PA cannot pay salaries to its employees. Channel 10 News reported that Fayyad made the comments following a meeting with Norway’s Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. According to the report, Fayyad said that the collapse of PA institutions “is advancing rapidly toward the point at which they will stop...

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is to meet with Hamas leaders in Cairo Thursday to sum up a unity deal based on “resistance,” a Palestinian Authority state based on the temporary 1949 Armistice Lines and non-recognition of Israel. Abbas, head of the rival Fatah faction, formally signed a formal unity agreement with Hamas in May, but it quickly became nothing more than a ceremonial act following disagreements. The failure of the Palestinian Authority to gain admittance as a full member in the United Nations has been a game-changer. Following the American and Israel decision to cut off funds to the...

The Palestinian Authority on Saturday warned the US against using the veto to thwart its plan to seek membership for a Palestinian state in the UN next week. The PA said that a US veto would "destroy" the two-state solution. The warning came hours after PA President Mahmoud Abbas announced in a speech in Ramallah that he would ask the UN Security Council to accept membership of a Palestinian state. Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat warned that the US Administration's use of a veto to foil the PA move would destroy the two-state solution. "Anyone who supports the two-state solution...

Following are excerpts from an interview with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, which aired on Palestinian Authority TV on June 2, 2011: Mahmoud Abbas: With regard to [Palestinian recognition] of a Jewish state, or whatever, this has never been an issue. Throughout the negotiations between the Israeli and us, from 1993 until a year ago, we never heard the words "Jewish state." Now, they have begun to talk about it, and our response was: "Go to the UN, and call yourselves whatever you want. We are not the party to address. Not only that – we refuse to recognize a Jewish...