Free Republic

The Obama administration has decided to provide about $1 billion in debt relief for Egypt, a senior official said Saturday, in the boldest U.S. effort yet to shore up a key Middle East ally as it attempts a democratic transition.

The Muslim Brotherhood opposition group in Egypt has called for a review of the 1978 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel and says it should be resubmitted to a “freely elected” parliament for approval. Regarded as the best-organised political group in Egypt, the Brotherhood is poised to play an influential role in politics in the country after the fall of the regime of Hosni Mubarak, the former president. Egypt is due to hold parliamentary elections in September and the group is likely to emerge with the largest bloc in the assembly. It said this week that its candidates would compete...

White House officials working furiously on new negotiation plan, 'New York Times' reports; Clinton calls for immediate resumption of talks. US President Barack Obama's advisers are working to draft a fresh potential Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal, The New York Times reported Wednesday. The conceivable proposal will address the four major sticking points which have repeatedly foiled negotiations in the past three decades, the Times said. Those include the right of the return for Palestinian refugees, a desire which Obama will likely declare untenable, as well as the bifurcation of Jerusalem. Obama's plan was tipped to call for the division of Jerusalem,...