US, Israel raise hopes for Mideast peace restart

JERUSALEM (AP) — The United States and Israel raised hopes Thursday for a restart of the Middle East peace process, despite little tangible progress so far from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's two-month-old effort to get Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

As they met in Jerusalem, Kerry praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the "seriousness" with which he is looking at ways to revitalize peace hopes. Kerry expressed optimism without outlining any concrete strategy for ending a stalemate between the two sides that has seen them hardly negotiate one-on-one at all over the last 4½ years.

"I know this region well enough to know there is skepticism, in some quarters there is cynicism and there are reasons for it," Kerry told reporters. "There have been bitter years of disappointment. It is our hope that by being methodical, careful, patient — but detailed and tenacious — that we can lay on a path ahead that can conceivably surprise people and certainly exhaust the possibilities of peace."

"That's what we're working towards," said Kerry, who met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas later Thursday in Ramallah.

Netanyahu said his conversation with the top American diplomat would touch on mutual concerns about Iran and Syria. "But above all," he said, "what we want to do is restart the peace talks with the Palestinians."

"It's something I want, it's something you want," Netanyahu told Kerry. "It's something I hope the Palestinians want as well and we ought to be successful for a simple reason: When there's a will, we'll find a way."

Israel's chief peace negotiator, Tzipi Livni, said Thursday that Israel must push forward with peace efforts, in a message directed mainly to hardliners in her own country.

"Livni said the Israeli-Palestinian standoff only serves those who believe in mantras like "here we are holding on to the land, here we built another house, here we prevented an agreement."

"This isn't me and I don't believe it represents the mainstream or the basic position of the Israeli public," she said. "And I believe I represent the Israeli national and security interests in the long-term."

Noble finds more natural gas offshore Israel
— 23 May 2013

"Noble Energy Inc. NBL -0.39% said Wednesday it found natural gas at the Karish prospect offshore Israel, about 20 miles northeast of the Tamar field in the Levant Basin."

"The rig that drilled the well on Karish will relocate to Cyprus, where it will start a new well next month, Noble said."

"The eastern Mediterranean is a hot spot in oil and natural-gas exploration these days, with energy-dependent Israel wrestling with how to manage its gas riches."
http://www.cyprusgasnews.com/archives/2515

Israel pushed to spell out gas export plan
UPI ^ | May 17, 2013 at 3:26 PM | UPI

"TEL AVIV, Israel, May 17 (UPI) -- Nobel Energy of Houston, which discovered Israel's big natural gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, is pressing the government to decide on an energy export policy as the prospect of an undersea pipeline to Turkey gains credibility."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3021613/posts

This isn’t a peace process. It’s a pieces process.

I say this, because this process will never be achieved...

Until Israel is broken into little pieces...

And it’s citizens swimming in the Mediterranean.

What a humongous waste of money. I'm dismayed Israel even tries.

There will never, ever, ever be peace in the Middle East because the Moslems have been commanded by their "prophet" to kill the infidels until there are just Moslems left.

If you doubt that previous paragraph, go watch this.

The ONLY, long term, permanent solution is the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Until then, these yahoos are just wasting time and taxpayer dollars.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.