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The Palestinian U.N. ambassador said Friday his government wants the U.N. Security Council to vote on a resolution before the end of the year that would set November 2016 as the deadline for Israeli troops to withdraw from all Palestinian territories. Riyad Mansour said Friday that if the resolution is defeated—which is almost certain because of opposition from Israel’s closest ally the United States and others—the Palestinians have other options. …

Venezuela’s Tarek El-Aissami The Americas Report | Oct 03, 2008  By Nicole Ferrand [...] Mr. El - Aissami is a Venezuelan national of Syrian descent who, before becoming Minster of Interior and Justice, occupied the position of Deputy Interior Minister for Public Security. His father, Carlos Aissami, is the head of the Venezuelan branch of the Iraqi Baath political party. Before the invasion of Iraq, he held a press conference in which he described himself as a Taliban and called Osama Bin Laden, "the great Mujahedeen, Sheik Osama bin Laden." Tarek's great-uncle Shibli el-Aissami was a prominent ideologist and...

For more than a decade, Berlin has been governed by an openly homosexual mayor. But is the city, renowned for its tolerance, ready for a leader from a Palestinian background? It may have to be. […] … Berlin SPD parliamentary leader Raed Saleh only needs to open his mouth to stand out from the crowd. Saleh came to Berlin at the age of five with his Palestinian parents, and although his German is beyond reproach, he speaks the language with a distinct Arabic twang. “Berlin is a city of diversity; a city of 100 different accents,” Saleh told DW. “People...

International donors this week praised the leaders of the Palestinian Authority as moderate peace-seekers who can be trusted with billions of dollars in aid for Gaza—at the very same time the PA was being named “second worst offender” for distributing anti-Semitic publications at Europe's largest book fair. The European branch of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, headed by Dr. Shimon Samuels, this week released its list of those who circulated anti-Semitic books and magazines at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest annual gathering of publishers in Europe. Qatar was cited as the “Worst Offender of 2014.” But the Qataris had stiff...

European officials are looking at new ways to press Israel to halt its building of settlements on land the Palestinians want for a state, as frustration over the construction program reaches a new high, European diplomats say. The discussions are at an early stage, but officials say the European Union may look at stopping Jewish settlers convicted of crimes from visiting the EU and could examine the fine print of a free-trade agreement, although there is no talk of sanctions. A series of steps by Israel in recent weeks, including the seizure of 1,000 acres of land near the Palestinian...

The United States is promising $212 million in immediate assistance to the Palestinians as part of an international effort to rebuild the Gaza Strip after this summer's 50-day war. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says people in Gaza "need our help desperately.

Palestinian demonstrators clashed with Israeli police on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount on Wednesday, leaving three policemen lightly injured, a police spokeswoman said. The clashes erupted after several dozen masked Palestinians began throwing rocks, fire crackers and other pyrotechnical devices at police when the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the “Noble Sanctuary,” opened for prayers on Wednesday morning, said the spokeswoman, Luba Samri. […] Police chased the demonstrators toward the Al-Aqsa mosque, where they barricaded themselves inside and continued hurling objects in the direction of the police, said Samri. She said that at least one Molotov cocktail was thrown at the...

Sweden’s new prime minister said Friday that his government will recognize a Palestinian state, a move that drew praise from Palestinian officials. In a declaration listing his government’s priorities, Social Democratic leader Stefan Lofven told lawmakers that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be resolved through a two-state solution requiring “mutual recognition” and a will from both sides to co-exist peacefully. “Therefore Sweden will recognize the state of Palestine,” Lofven said. …

The Palestinians are asking the U.N. Security Council to set a deadline of November 2016 for an Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 including East Jerusalem in a new push to achieve independence. […] The draft calls for intensified efforts, including through negotiations, to reach a peaceful settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and “a just resolution” of the status of Jerusalem as the capital of two states and of the Palestinian refugee problem. Its key provision calls for “the full withdrawal of Israel, the occupying power, from all of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East...

The Jerusalem municipality says it is pressing forward with a plan to build a controversial new housing development in east Jerusalem. In a statement Wednesday, the municipality said Deputy Mayor Kobi Kahlon has signed an order approving the construction of some 2,500 homes in Givat Hamatos. …

A Haaretz reporter was ejected from a pro-Palestinian conference at Birzeit University on Saturday, reporter Amira Hass said—simply for being an Israeli Jew. Hass attempted to attend the “Alternatives to Neo-Liberal Development in the Occupied Palestinian Territories—Critical Perspectives” conference at the university, which is located near Ramallah where she lives. But she was ejected from the hall by the organizers, Hass claimed, after students at the admission desk noted she worked for the Israeli publication and alerted security authorities to intervene. Birzeit University has had a policy of barring Israeli Jews from the campus for over 20 years, administrators said,...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that too many Israelis were ready to abandon a bid for peace in the region and, in a departure from his prepared remarks, added that this was something Israelis should think about. Related Stories 1. Obama urges Iran not to let opportunity pass for nuclear deal Reuters 2. What Obama Wants From The UN (The Note) ABC News 3. Modi's Power Play - Can Obama Charm Him? Huffington Post 4. Obama says will allow no 'safe haven' for Islamic State militants Reuters 5. Khorasan planned imminent attacks against U.S....

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas vowed on Monday to present a new timetable for peace talks with Israel when he addresses world leaders at the United Nations later this week, according to AFP. “I say today to Prime Minister (Binyamin) Netanyahu: end the occupation, make peace,” Abbas told an audience in New York. In a passionate address to students in the Cooper Union hall, Abbas said, “The international community has the responsibility to protect our people, living under the terror of settlers, an occupying army.” …

NOGALES, Arizona -- On September 11, 2014, individuals or a group in Mexico hung a message to America over the U.S.-Mexico border wall condemning American support for Israel and declaring support for Palestine. U.S. federal agents discovered the banner draped over the primary border fence in Arizona’s Yuma Sector in a restricted area that could only have been reached from Mexico.

Ted Cruz has made a serious mistake—one supported by sentiments of millions of American evangelicals—and it could cost the lives of many Christians. I suppose you’ve heard by now that Ted Cruz was recently “booed off stage” for a senseless, ill-placed “stand with Israel” gaffe at a banquet for persecuted Middle East Christians. The worst part of his comments is not that they were calculated for self-serving political purposes—as others have noted already. Although that is certainly bad enough, it is hardly as offensive as the main implication of what he said. Apparently, we must agree with him, or else...

Thirteen years after nearly 3,000 people were killed in Islamic terrorist attacks on US soil, a Palestinian monument has finally been set up to commemorate the event and to honor those who died piloting the aircraft involved. A forty-foot statue of a Boeing 767-200ER crashing into a skyscraper was unveiled this morning in the square amid fanfare and speeches by political and cultural figures calling for continued resistance to Western “colonialism.” A military band played nationalist songs in praise of martyrdom while sweets were distributed to children, and attendees held aloft banners in tribute to the 19 men, mostly Saudi...

The idea of land grants by Egypt - and also Jordan--now remain the last route to peacefully creating the two-state solution The two-state solution has suddenly come back to life. Thought dead and buried after Hamas had shown that it could indiscriminately fire rockets from Gaza into Tel Aviv and Jerusalem over a 50 day period—even forcing international carriers to cancel flights into Ben-Gurion International Airport for 24 hours—Caroline Glick reported on its amazing resurrection:

The University of Illinois board of trustees on Thursday affirmed its refusal to hire a professor who posted a series of harsh anti-Israel tweets this summer. The professor says the act is part of an effort by “wealthy and well organized groups to attack pro-Palestinian students and faculty.” The case has drawn wide attention on college campuses because it raises the issue of the suppression of academic freedom around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—a hot-button topic at universities across the country. Steven Salaita, a Palestinian-American professor with an expertise in indigenous studies, accepted a tenure-track position last year to start working in...

In Defense of Christians President Toufic Baaklini issued the following statement in response to a disruption at the Inaugural Summit Gala Dinner: “As Cardinal Rai so eloquently put it to the attendees of the In Defense of Christians’ inaugural Summit gala dinner: ‘At every wedding, there are a few problems.’ In this case, a few politically motivated opportunists chose to divide a room that for more than 48 hours sought unity in opposing the shared threat of genocide, faced not only by our Christian brothers and sisters, but our Jewish brothers and sisters and people of all other faiths and...

Egypt even offered to allow all the so-called “Palestinian refugees” to settle in the expanded Gaza Strip Something extraordinary has happened. On August 31, PLO chief and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told an audience of Fatah members that Egypt had offered to give the PA some 1,600 kilometers of land in Sinai adjacent to Gaza, thus quintupling the size of the Gaza Strip. Egypt even offered to allow all the so-called “Palestinian refugees” to settle in the expanded Gaza Strip. Then Abbas told his Fatah followers that he rejected the Egyptian offer. On Monday Army Radio substantiated Abbas’s claim....