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Former US President Bill Clinton admitted Tuesday that he intervened in the Israeli elections in 1996 to help then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres defeat rival Binyamin Netanyahu. "It would be fair to say that I tried to help Peres win the elections, and I tried to help him in such a way that I would not be openly involved," Clinton said in an interview with Israel's Channel 10 News. "I tried to help him, because I thought he was a bigger supporter of the peace process, and I tried to do it in a way that served, in my opinion, Israel's...

Critics of Israel persist in the contention that the existence of Israeli settlements is a core, even the main, impediment to peace and to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. Once again, in the U.N. Security Council's Resolution 2334 of December 23, 2016, which was passed by a vote of 14-0, with the U.S. abstaining and therefore allowing it to pass, the settlements were held to be illegal. They have been held innumerable times, though incorrectly, in international forums to be violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49, and The Hague Convention of 1907. Ignoring the refusal of...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is stressing the need to work for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after President Donald Trump signaled that he could accept a different outcome. […] Merkel said: “I think we must continue on the way to a two-state solution. I see no other possibility becoming reality to achieve a peace process.” …

Originally published by the Jerusalem Post. It is not in the least surprising that the PLO-controlled Palestinian Authority did not condemn the terrorist attack on Sunday. It is not surprising because the PLO-controlled PA encouraged the attack. As Khaled Abu Toameh wrote for the Gatestone Institute, in the aftermath of last month’s US-enabled passage of UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which criminalizes Israel, the PA went on the warpath. . Among other things, Muhammad Abu Shtayyeh, who serves as a close adviser to PLO chief and PA leader Mahmoud Abbas called for an intensification of terrorist attacks against Israelis. Shtayyeh...

The State of Israel is preparing for a new diplomatic battle, this time in Paris. In less than a week the Paris International Conference will convene with participation of delegates from 70 countries. Participants at the conference will call on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to disassociate from Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett due to his opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state. The world leaders will call on Israel to endeavor to establish such a state in order to reach an agreement with the Palestinian authority. The leaders maintain that there is no possibility of implementing such a solution...

I wrote a column six years ago that addresses how matters should be handled regarding resolving the issues between Israelis and Palestinians. Nothing much has changed since then regarding the actions needed to resolve the issue. President Obama and his feckless Secretary of State John Kerry have temporarily changed how the United States asserts itself into the issue. Kerry failed to move the Palestinians any closer to recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, bring them to the negotiating table or accept Israel’s very right to exist so he did what weak people do – blame the Jews. Just think;...

Outgoing Secretary of State John Kerry outlined a plan last week at the State Department for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on “a broad consensus on balanced principles that would satisfy the core needs of both sides.” Kerry’s plan was criticized by Israelis for focusing on settlements and giving away Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem. This week, a senior Palestinian figure rejected it for a more fundamental reason: Palestinians refuse to accept a Jewish state. Palestinian Media Watch notes that Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee member Hanan Ashram — a frequent spokesperson for the Palestinian cause in...

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has joined the outgoing U.S. administration in defending the two-state solution as the best way to achieve lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. A spokeswoman for the 28-nation bloc reiterated the EU's support for the two-state solution on Thursday, the day after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry tore into Israel for settlement-building.

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who is also leader of Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), on Wednesday declared that Fatah will never give up on its principles, its character and its identity in order to achieve the dream of freedom and an independent state. Abbas was speaking at the Fatah congress being held in Ramallah, a day after he was re-elected by consensus as Fatah leader. Attendees at the congress, which is being held for the first time since 2009, include representatives of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist groups, who were invited directly by Fatah, despite...

Egypt’s foreign minister paid a rare visit to Israel on Sunday, saying that his country remains a “steadfast and unwavering” supporter of a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians but warning that conditions for achieving that are deteriorating. Sameh Shoukry’s trip was the first official visit to Israel since 2007 and reflected the strong but low-profile ties that have developed between the two countries in recent years. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Shoukry’s visit was aimed at reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. …

China supports the creation of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday during an Arab League convention in Cairo. The Palestinian issue "should not be marginalized," Xi said, according to Xinhua, China's official news agency. "We are in favor of putting in place a new mechanism to promote peace as to the Middle East question, and support efforts made by the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation toward this end," said the leader of the world's most populous country and its second-largest economy. Xi declared that that Beijing "firmly supports the...

DEBKAfile reports exclusively from Washington: US President Barack Obama did not wait for Binyamin Netanyahu to finish building his new government coalition by its deadline at midnight Wednesday, May 6, before going into action to pay him back for forming a right-wing cabinet minus any moderate figure for resuming negotiations with the Palestinians. Banking on Netanyahu’s assertion while campaigning for re-election that there would be no Palestinian state during his term in office, Obama is reported exclusively by our sources to have given the hitherto withheld green light to European governments to file a UN Security Council motion proclaiming an...

Dennis Ross and David Makovsky in Israel’s Drive Toward Self-Destruction, argue that Netanyahu must offer up hope to Palestinians or face a revived de-legitimization movement. They’re certainly right to point out that the delegitimation movement will grow, but they are wrong to suggest that the answer is for Israel to offer hope to the Palestinians. How facile is that? They argue that what Israel needs to do is begin capitulating even before the negotiations commence, let alone, conclude. They want Israel to give up its bargaining chips for nothing in return. The Palestinians don’t hope to be given a state,...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's waffling on the idea of a Palestinian state comes as the idea is less popular in the United States than it has been in at least two decades. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that the idea of establishing a new Palestinian state alongside Israel in the Middle East is more divisive than at any point in the past 20 years, as a long period of generally bipartisan support for the concept has passed. The idea is still slightly above water, with 39 percent in support and 36 percent in opposition. But that's a...

The outgoing UN Middle East envoy said in his last report Thursday that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's new coalition government must freeze Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria for "peace." The Jewish building threatens to "kill the very possibility of reaching peace," Middle East coordinator for the UN Security Council Robert Serry said. "Illegal settlement activity cannot be reconciled with the objective of a negotiated two-state solution and may kill the very possibility of reaching peace on the paradigm of two states for two peoples," Serry said. The envoy said he was "frankly concerned" by Netanyahu's pre-election remarks...

Foreign minister says Paris to advance Security Council resolution on peace negotiations; EU weighing new action to pressure Israel on talks. UNITED NATIONS (AP) — France’s foreign minister said Friday his country will move forward on discussions with its partners on a possible UN Security Council resolution that could present a framework for negotiations toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Laurent Fabius said “there is no other solution.” He spoke to reporters Friday at UN headquarters before planning to leave for the Iran nuclear talks in Switzerland. France put off a previous council resolution to wait for the results of Israel’s...

Thursday, March 26, 2015 Obama’s Two State Tantrum Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog Obama’s two terms showed us that he was a sore winner. Israel’s election showed us that he is even more of sore loser. Ever since Netanyahu survived an election that he was supposed to lose, Obama has been throwing a floor-pounding, siren-shrieking and high-kicking tantrum over the Jewish State. Its latest kick and shriek had White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough sidling into the toxic atmosphere at the D.C. conference for the anti-Israel lobby J-Street to berate Netanyahu. In attendance at the...

Obama’s Two-State TantrumPosted By Daniel Greenfield On March 25, 2015 @ 12:50 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | No Comments Obama’s two terms showed us that he was a sore winner. Israel’s election showed us that he is even more of sore loser. Ever since Netanyahu survived an election that he was supposed to lose, Obama has been throwing a floor-pounding, siren-shrieking and high-kicking tantrum over the Jewish State.Its latest kick and shriek had White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough sidling into the toxic atmosphere at the D.C. conference for the anti-Israel lobby J-Street to berate Netanyahu.In attendance at the conference were such luminaries...

Historian reveals the key clashes between US presidents and Israeli prime ministers, and why none have been as bad as the current one. The current diplomatic crisis between Israel and US President Barack Obama's administration is the most vicious and public yet among only a handful of crises that have marred the close, long-running relationship, says an expert on relations between the two nations. Obama's frosty relationship with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hit new lows this month, with the White House criticizing remarks Netanyahu made on election day, in which he said a Palestinian state would not be founded if...

Obama sent his chief of staff, Denis McDonough, to J Street where he brought the crowd to their feet when he said this: “An occupation that has lasted more than 50 years must end.” Mark Levin was right. Obama is definitely going full Mussolini and he’s using Netanyahu’s campaign rhetoric as the excuse to couch it in. POLITICO – White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough made clear in a speech to a left-leaning Israel advocacy group that President Barack Obama isn’t letting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu off the hook for his dismissal of a two-state solution. That stance,...