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In 1994, Israel asserted, and the PLO accepted, that construction would continue on existing Jewish settlements. For the next 15 years, negotiations were never stopped by that building. In January 2009, the Palestinian Authority (PA) stopped negotiations because Hamas attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip and Israel defended itself. Of course, Hamas is also the PA's enemy and the PA would be delighted if Israel destroyed that group. But for public relations' purposes, the PA had to pretend inter-Palestinian solidarity. Then came President Barack Obama who demanded a stop to all construction on settlements in 2009. Israel finally complied but...

Speaking at Herzliya Conference, Netanyahu praises Palestinian efforts to improve economy and build institutions, appeals to them to accept resumption of efforts toward peace accord. Photo by: GPO Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Wednesday he had reason to believe that long-stalled peace talks with the Palestinians could resume in a matter of weeks. Netanyahu did not give details, but an Israeli official indicated Israel would take a step to make it possible for the Palestinians to agree to talks. He did not give details and spoke on condition of anonymity because no offer has been made. Palestinians have been insisting...

The Middle East peace talks are at a deadlock. Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians to move ahead with the plan established by the so-called Quartet – the US., U.N., EU and Russia -- have faltered and come to a complete standstill. Continuing with this inertia will have a long-term negative effect on the future of the region both from a political point of view as well as from a business perspective. With the exception of a few risk-takers, what company or business executive would be willing to invest in the Middle East once the region plunges onto the abyss...

Truthfully, the real reason there is no peace between Israel and the Palestinians is the Palestinians don't want peace. No other country in the world has made concessions the way Israel has. Since 1977, they given up areas of land three times the size of the State of Israel. The Oslo process began in 1993. Sixteen years have passed since then, and they are no closer to a permanent settlement. The Palestinians don't want peace, after all its bad for buisness. It is the hatred of Israel that allows the PA to keep power. It deflects public anger from their...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared that he wanted to immediately resume negotiations with the Palestinians Monday and rejected the charge that he wasn't interested in reaching an agreement. "We need to move toward peace with a sense of urgency and a sense of purpose," Netanyahu told the Jewish Federations of North America's General Assembly during a trip to Washington. "My goal is not negotiations for the sake of negotiations; My goal is to achieve a permanent peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians, and soon. I cannot be more emphatic on this point." Critics of Netanyahu, particularly in the Arab...

Palestinians on Sunday accused US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton of undermining progress toward Mideast peace talks after she praised Israel for offering to curb some Jewish settlement construction

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli and Palestinian activists on Tuesday presented the most detailed vision yet of what a peace deal could look like — more than 400 pages crammed with maps, timetables for troop withdrawals and even a list of weapons a non-militarized Palestine would be barred from having. The manual has no official standing, but has generated interest among Israeli and Palestinian leaders and is meant to show it's still possible to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel, despite many setbacks, said those involved in the drafting. The plan's details illustrated the many obstacles that have to be...

President Obama's Middle East policy is in ruins. While the US continues to press Israel for a settlement freeze (and now a freeze on Jerusalem) his strategy is falling apart piece by piece. He has turned the Israeli populace against him and strengthened the hand of Prime Minister Netanyahu. At the same time he has eroded his own support among American Jews and other US friends of Israel. The Arab League nations answered no to the Presidents request for a peace gesture and the President of the Palestinian Authority uses Obama's settlement pressure as his "out" from re-entering negotiations. What...

Defense minister briefs senior cabinet members on London meeting with Obama's Mideast envoy; one of them quoted as saying Barak 'offered dismantling of illegal West Bank outposts in exchange for nothing' Roni Sofer "(Defense Minister Ehud) Barak returned with nothing from his talks with (special US Mideast envoy) George Mitchell; it appears that he offered the dismantling of illegal West Bank outposts in exchange for nothing," a senior minister said Tuesday. The minister, who asked to remain nameless, was also quoted by his associates as saying, "The inclusion of Syria and Lebanon in the statement on a comprehensive peace agreement...

For the past month or so, President Obama has been putting most of the blame for the lack of Middle East peace on Israel and the settlements. His demand of a settlement building freeze requires a prohibition on construction inside the footprint of communities that today are de facto Israeli territory. These are the city-settlements that have long been slated for inclusion into Israel in any final-status agreement, with equivalent Israeli territory awarded to the future Palestinian state through land swaps. But the presidential myopia goes beyond that, Obama has chosen to ignore the one single fact that has stalled...

Since we are about to embark on another fruitless peace effort in the Middle East, it probably makes sense to take another look a the UN Resolution we will be hearing a lot about over the next few months, resolution 242. You will hear politicians and diplomats say that Israel must withdraw to the pre-1967 borders per UN Resolution 242. These people have no Idea what the resolution calls for: Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict; It all surrounds the use (or non-use) of one simple article "The." The Arab side and their supporters...

Most people do not understand the real problem with securing a "two-state solution" between the Palestinians and Israel, only one side, Israel is interested in achieving peace. The Palestinians have NEVER made the commitment to live aside a Jewish State of Israel, in fact the new PA government is not even willing to commit to new negotiations. As reported by my friend Barry Rubin: The Palestinian Authority (PA) has announced its thirteenth government in fourteen years. Its prime minister is Salam Fayad, a Westernized professional economist who has no political base whatsoever. Why is he prime minister? The only reason...

Well this should make negotiations go much quicker. Palestinian President and "Moderate Terrorist, Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday that there will be no negotiations until Israel agrees to return to the pre-Six-Day-War Borders. Previously he has said that he will not recognize a Israel as a Jewish State, Israel must agree to give the Temple Mount to the Palestinians, and that Israel must agree to a Palestinian right of return. In other words, give us everything we want, then we can talk. Folks, this kind of talk proves that there will peace will not happen in the near future, because the...

ANKARA (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday the United States strongly supported the aim of setting up a Palestinian state living "side by side" and at peace with Israel.

In the Israeli political game, there are some things too important to play with. Has new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu safeguarded Israel’s security and foreign relations while meeting party and coalition needs, and what is the likely result of this new government’s policies internationally? Netanyahu had to put together a complex web of parties and personalities to get a Knesset majority. The result is a cabinet with more ministers than Jerusalem has rabbis. Yet equally impressive is that of the 30 ministers, almost half of them will deal with some element of national security or foreign policy. Is this a...

The Pro Arab Lobby always needs a boogie man. For years it was former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. You remember him, he was the guy who unilaterally pulled out of Gaza. In fact even when he did that, he was roundly criticized. After the stroke that keeps Sharon in a coma to this day, Ehud Olmert took the stance to aggressively pursue peace at all costs,possibly to hide the corruption that surrounded his administration. What Olmert found is that even the supposedly moderate Abu Mazen was not a willing peace partner. Within two days Bibi Netanyahu will take the premiership...

The expected appointment of a special envoy to breathe new life into Israeli-Palestinian negotiations could split the pro-Israel center while pleasing the Jewish left and outraging the right. The schism could be particularly deep if, as widely reported this week, President Barack Obama appoints former Sen. George Mitchell to do the job. Some Jewish leaders say the very qualities that may appeal to the Obama administration - Mitchell's reputation as an honest broker - could spark some unhappiness, if not outright opposition, from some pro-Israel groups. "Sen. Mitchell is fair. He's been meticulously even handed," said Abraham Foxman, national director...

Israel Cabinet: Israel, Syria In Serious, Responsible Peace Negotiations By Israel News Agency Staff Jerusalem ----- May 25, 2008 ....... The following was communicated by the Israel Cabinet Secretariat and the Israel Government Press Office to the Israel News Agency. At the weekly Cabinet meeting held today in Jerusalem, Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Israel Security Agency Director Yuval Diskin briefed ministers on diplomatic and security matters. The former discussed the resumption of contacts between Israel and Syria on the basis of the 1991 Madrid Conference. The latter reviewed the situation in Gaza, including the sides' positions on the...

Published: 04.09.08, 23:20 / Israel News US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to travel to the Middle East this month to build support among Arab countries for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and to lobby Iraq's neighbors for help in stabilizing Iraq. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack says Rice will meet April 22 with foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council, Egypt and Jordan in Bahrain. He says she plans to discuss Middle East peace talks as well as Iraq. (AP)

Syria is softening its refusal to attend the Annapolis peace conference and already has won dividends, including a visit from Jordan's king that marked an end to regional isolation. But as it bends, it risks alienating Palestinian militants and its ally Iran. Syria was unlikely to announce a final decision on whether it will go to the conference until after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers to be held in Cairo on Friday to map out a joint strategy. Publicly, Syrian officials have said Syria would not go unless its demands for the return of the Golan Heights, seized by...