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PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas says he will hold a general referendum among his population over any final status agreement that might be reached with Israel before signing the dotted line. According to a report broadcast on the Hebrew-language Voice of Israel radio, Abbas said Monday that any agreement reached with Israel would be put to a vote before the Ramallah government would make any final deal with Israel. The announcement came after a similar one on Sunday by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in which he said he will propose a law requiring a referendum on any agreement before he...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Friday the resumption of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. "I'm pleased to announce that we've reached an agreement that establishes a basis for resuming final status negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis," Kerry told reporters in Amman, Jordan, according to AFP. "This is a significant and welcome step forward,” he added. “The agreement is still in the process of being finalized so we are absolutely not going to talk about any of the elements now." The top U.S. diplomat added that PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and Israeli...

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday told US Secretary of State John Kerry, currently visiting the Middle East, that Israel’s goodwill gestures were too insufficient for the resumption of peace talks, the Chinese news agency reported early Saturday. Kerry, currently on his fifth Middle East visit in three months, is shuttling between Amman and Jerusalem, meeting Abbas and Netanyahu in his latest effort to restart negotiations. No concrete progress has been reported from his efforts. >>SNIP<< The official reportedly said Israel would have to freeze settlement building and accept a two-state solution with pre-1967 borders for talks between the...

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas continues to promote the PA libel that Israel is scheming and acting to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Palestinian Media Watch reported. In an interview to the Saudi paper Al-Watan, Abbas said that the Arab and Islamic world should become more pro-active in responding to the Israeli “plot”. "All these [Israeli] actions indicate an evil and dangerous plot to destroy Al-Aqsa [Mosque] and build the alleged Temple,” Abbas said, according to PMW. “Unfortunately, these dangers, which are clear for everyone to see, have yet to receive proper Arab, Islamic and international responses," Abbas said....

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...

DEAD SEA, Jordan – US Secretary of State John Kerry unveiled on Sunday a $4 billion economic plan to revitalize the Palestinian economy, as he called on Israelis and Palestinians to forgive past wrongs and return to the negotiating table. “The plan for the Palestinian economy is bigger and bolder and more ambitious than anything proposed since Oslo more than 20 years ago,” said Kerry as he spoke at the closing session of the World Economic Forum by the Dead Sea in Jordan.

AL SHUNAH, Jordan: US Secretary of State John Kerry unveiled on Sunday a plan to boost the Palestinian economy by attracting $4 billion in private investment, saying it could transform the lives of the people. As he seeks to bring Israel and the Palestinians back to the table to negotiate a peace deal, Kerry said it was also imperative to create jobs and meet the hopes of young people for a better economic future. He has tasked Tony Blair, the Quartet's special envoy to the Middle East, with drawing up a plan to revitalise the West Bank through boosting industries...

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday that peace between Israel and the PA is “still possible”, but continued to accuse Israel of “occupying Palestinian lands”. The AFP news agency reported that in a speech to the World Economic Forum in Jordan, Abbas called on Israel to “end the occupation of our lands”, evacuate Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and free PA Arab terrorist prisoners. These are the same preconditions he has imposed for years on peace talks with Israel. … PA leaders have long accused Israel of “apartheid” policies, even though they themselves have clarified that if...

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...

The Palestinian Authority on Sunday sent a warning to Israel, over what it calls its attempts to harm the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Speaking during a meeting of the PLO's Executive Committee, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that it is impossible to hold back in the wake of what he called the attacks by Israel on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and PA Arabs in Judea and Samaria, in particular by local Jewish residents. "We cannot remain silent over such actions, nor can we accept their recurrence," Abbas said. "If Israel is dreaming about establishing facts on the ground through its...

ROME (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday he would depart in two weeks on another trip to the Middle East to push peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Speaking to reporters alongside Israeli peace negotiator Tzipi Livni, Kerry said he'd depart on his fourth trip to the Jewish state as America's top diplomat around May 21 or 22. He will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "We are working through threshold questions," Kerry said, ahead of his private talks with Livni in Rome. "We're doing it with a seriousness of purpose that...

The upcoming visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to China is expected to further promote mutual political trust and cooperation in the fields of economy, trade and science. Netanyahu is due to leave for China Sunday night for a five-day official visit, the first of its kind since 2007 when then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert visited China. Chinese Ambassador to Israel Gao Yanping told Xinhua in an interview that China and Israel have maintained close high-level contact in recent years, creating a good atmosphere for the growth of bilateral ties. Recent years have also witnessed increasingly closer exchanges...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will leave this afternoon for a five-day trip to China, where he will try to bring Israel’s perspectives on a slew of regional issues such as Iran, Syria and Egypt to the country’s new leadership. Netanyahu will be meeting with the new Chinese president, Xi Jinping, as well as with the country’s new prime minister, Li Keqiang, in an effort to shape their impressions of the Middle East as they begin what is expected to be a decade of rule. While two previous attempts to arrange a visit by Netanyahu failed to materialize, the trip is...

In a further indication of stirrings in the long-stagnant Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni met Thursday in Washington with US Secretary of State John Kerry, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said for the second time in a week that he supports a public referendum on any agreement with the Palestinians. Yitzhak Molcho, Netanyahu’s envoy on the Palestinian issue, accompanied Livni to her meeting with Kerry, where they discussed the peace process as well as regional developments, particularly Syria. The meeting came three days after an Arab League delegation met with Kerry and US Vice President Joe Biden. Kerry...

- FrontPage Magazine - http://frontpagemag.com - A Death Cult’s Endgame UnveiledPosted By Ari Lieberman On May 3, 2013 @ 12:05 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 2 Comments In November 2009 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a 10-month halt to settlement construction in Judea & Samaria (West Bank) in a futile bid to jumpstart the so-called “peace process.” Instead of embracing Netanyahu’s bold peace initiative, the Palestinian Authority’s Holocaust-denying strongman, Mahmoud Abbas, waited nine months before responding to the Israeli gesture, ensuring that there would be virtually no time for substantive progress. Abbas, who had made the settlement issue the cornerstone...

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas again insisted at a two-day “Freedom and Dignity” conference in Ramallah last week that Palestinians who murder Israeli Jews cannot be punished. The conference was to mark the 11th anniversary of Israel’s arrest of Marwan Barghouti, who, according to Israel Today, is a senior member of Abbas‘ Fatah party who was convicted of directing “numerous terrorist attacks against Israelis.” Israel Today reports that polls show the majority of Palestinians want Mr. Barghouti for president if he is ever released. Mr. Abbas declared that many of the Palestinians who were jailed after killing Jewish men, women and...

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday he would begin talks with rival factions, including Islamist Hamas, to form a unity government, a crucial step towards healing years of damaging internal divisions. … The need to form a new administration was prompted by the resignation earlier this month of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad because of a rift between him and Abbas, and it has created an opportunity for Abbas to forge a unity government. …

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl1908.aspx Treasury Identifies Kassem Rmeiti & Co. for Exchange and Halawi Exchange Co. as Financial Institutions of “Primary Money Laundering Concern” 4/23/2013 In First Use of Section 311 Against a Non-Bank Financial Institution, Treasury Acts to Protect the U.S. Financial System from Foreign Exchange Houses Tied to Global Narcotics and Money Laundering Networks and Hizballah WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today named two Lebanese exchange houses, Kassem Rmeiti & Co. For Exchange (Rmeiti Exchange) and Halawi Exchange Co. (Halawi Exchange), as foreign financial institutions of primary money laundering concern under...

WASHINGTON, April 23 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday thanked the emir of Qatar for the "excellent relationship" between the two countries with respect to security and trade. "Qatar has been a center of innovation," Obama said after their bilateral meeting in the Oval Office. "We've seen enormous progress within the country on everything ranging from education to health care. And I think His Highness has shown extraordinary leadership over the last many years in helping to guide this country. "Obviously, Qatar is also an important country in the region, and has an influence that extends beyond its relatively...

Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmud Abbas may fire Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, a Fatah member said, as the party criticized the premier's government as being "improvised and confused." Abbas "is leaning towards dismissing Fayyad from the head of the government and forming a new one," a member of Fatah's Revolutionary Council told AFP late on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity. "I am angrier than all of you at the government... but I don't want to say more than that now. Just wait for three days," he quoted Abbas as saying at a meeting of the council in Ramallah. He...