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"Air Force strikes in Gaza" SNIPPET: "IDF retaliates for deadly Qassam attack: Air Force hits several Gaza targets, including metal foundry, smuggling tunnel; Vice PM Shalom says Israel to offer strong response to rocket attack that killed Thai worker Thursday" SNIPPET: "IDF aircraft struck at least four targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday, a day after a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave killed a Thai worker in Israel, Hamas security officials and witnesses said." SNIPPET: "Israel also sent a letter of complaint to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is due to visit Israel at the weekend,...

Obama and Judea >“The let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let Him who is on the house top, let him not come down to take anything out of his house: neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And Woe to them that are with child and to them which give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in winter, neither on the Sabbath day: for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time,...

It's not exactly Watergate but Barack Obama's inauguration was back in the dock today after it emerged that the quartet of classical musicians who ushered him on to the steps of the Capitol were faking it. In a report headlined "The Frigid Fingers Were Live, but the Music Wasn't", The New York Times said that the four, including the violinist Itzhak Perlman, had already recorded their contribution two days earlier and played along just for show. A spokeswoman for the congressional committee, which organised the inauguration, the biggest and most costly in history, told the newspaper that the musicians could...

UNITED NATIONS – Key world powers trying to promote Mideast peace urged Israel and Hamas on Tuesday to immediately stop fighting in Gaza and southern Israel, the United Nations announced as international efforts to calm the conflict picked up pace. The Quartet of Mideast peacemakers — the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia — appealed "for an immediate cease-fire that would be fully respected," U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said. The statement came four days after Israeli warplanes started bombing in Gaza, targeting Hamas-related installations and homes in an attempt to force a halt to militant rocket attacks...

LONDON - Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad warned Friday that peace talks could collapse unless Israel changes course and accepts a more conciliatory approach in negotiations. Fayyad, in London for diplomatic talks, said Israel has not complied with any of the obligations set out at the U.S.-backed peace conference in Annapolis, Md., late last year. "Israel has failed to meet any of its obligations from the road map, including a freeze in settlement activity," he said. "Unless that changes, the political process is being stripped of its meaning." Fayyad gave a highly pessimistic progress report after meeting with Israeli Foreign...

JERUSALEM (AP) - Envoys from the United States, European Union, Russia and the U.N. will meet Tuesday in Jerusalem for the first time since Hamas militants seized control of the Gaza Strip, an Israeli government spokeswoman said Friday. The meeting will be of low-level envoys, spokeswoman Miri Eisin said. A higher-level meeting of officials from the so-called Quartet of Mideast peacemakers was to have taken place Monday in Egypt. But that session was delayed to allow Quartet officials time to assess changes in the region after Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza last week. There has been no official announcement...

Jordan expected to host Quartet meeting Jordan was expected on December 1 to host a meeting of the international Quartet’s top representatives to help push the Mideast peace process forward, an official told The Jordan Times last night. The foreign ministers of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt were to attend the meeting, which was scheduled to be held at the Dead Sea. The Quartet of the US, Russia, the EU and the UN designed the roadmap to the Middle East peace process — JT Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Last update - 00:51 13/09/2006 U.S.: deal on unity gov't doesn't meet Quartet terms By Aluf Benn, Avi Issacharoff and Shmuel Rosner, Haaretz Correspondents and Reuters The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday that it would not deal with the new Palestinian unity government unless it met three conditions it had specified in the past and so far, it seems that the Palestinians are not complying with the demands. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch said Washington would only deal with a new unity government if it met three conditions laid down by the Quartet...

NEW YORK - Members of the Quartet of Middle East peace brokers, which is meeting at the United Nations in New York, agreed Tuesday to back a "temporary international mechanism" to channel aid to the Palestinians for a trial period to ease the financial squeeze on the new government following the election of Hamas. The Quartet members - the European Union, United Nations, U.S. and Russia - reached a "silent agreement" to establish a trust fund that will pay the salaries of Palestinian civil servants through the office of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Advertisement The group issued a statement...

Last update - 21:04 09/05/2006 Quartet meets on Palestinian aid; U.S. may soften stance By News Agencies The Quartet of Middle East peace brokers met in New York on Tuesday to discuss the future of aid to the Palestinian Authority, as a source close to the talks said that the United States was edging closer to agreeing to a "temporary international mechanism" to pay employees of the Hamas-led government who have not received wages for two months. "America is softening its position. The Arab foreign ministers made very clear if the Palestinian Authority collapses then you could potentially have a...

EU suggests creating fund for aid to Palestinians JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 5, 2006 The EU has suggested to the US, Russia, and the UN that a joint fund be created to give humanitarian aid to the Palestinians that will bypass the Hamas-led government. The EU prepared a $43 million aid package that would help fund Palestinian health and education services, and suggested that Arab and other countries - including Israel - could provide aid to the Palestinians through the fund, Israel Radio reported. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas would not be able to decide how the fund distributed...

The Hamas-led government faced a financial crisis on its first day in office Thursday, as Western nations threatened to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority if the militant group does not soften its stance on Israel. Hamas leaders said the aid cuts violate the Palestinians' democratic rights, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared: "The principle is very clear. We're not going to fund a Hamas-led government." Hamas has rejected Western demands to renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. The United States and European Union list Hamas as a terror group, as...

Christians United For Israel Rapid Response Update March 20, 2006 Let me begin this Rapid Response by congratulating Mac Hammond of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Billye Brim of Missouri and Robert Stearns of New York for the splendid progress they are making in their regions. Our targets remain: 1) Get your State Directors and City Directors appointed and functioning. 2) Build and develop the E-mail/Fax Rapid Response capability in your region. There is a matter in Washington D.C. that merits our attention. We need to support the Hamas Anti-Terrorism Act. There are two Bills in the House and Senate that would deny...

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Romanov.) - Russian diplomacy has recently taken a number of extraordinary steps with difficult-to-predict consequences, such as an attempt to take the issue of Iran's nuclear program out of the blind alley and to invite to Moscow a delegation of Hamas, an organization which is blacklisted as terrorist in the United States and Western Europe, and which is responsible for hundreds of Israeli deaths. The invitation to Hamas, made public by Putin during his official visit to Madrid, took everyone aback, including Russia's partners in the Middle East settlement. Having heard additional explanations from...

Welcome bear hug By Arnon Regular Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement that he would be willing to meet with Hamas leaders did not come as a complete surprise to Hamas, which is currently on a drive to obtain international legitimacy for its future government. Within 24 hours after Hamas won the Palestinian elections, its leaders had identified the Russian-Chinese axis, as well as a few European countries, as the place to concentrate its efforts to soften the stringent conditions for acceptance by the international community that are currently being set by the United States, Israel, Egypt and Jordan. Nevertheless, even...

Joint Press Availability With European Union High Representative Javier Solana and Quartet Special Envoy Jim Wolfensohn Secretary Condoleezza Rice David Citadel Hotel Jerusalem November 15, 2005 SECRETARY RICE: Good morning. Two months ago, Israel and the Palestinian Authority took an unprecedented step on the road to peace with the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, returning control of that territory to the Palestinian people. Israeli and Palestinian leaders have been hammering out practical arrangements to gain the benefits of that withdrawal and improve conditions in the rest of the Palestinian territories. I am pleased to be able to announce today...

European Snubs Europe Spain's former prime minister admitted that Europe is an unreliable mediator in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. "Europe likes appeasement very much; this is one of the most important differences between us and the States," Jose Maria Aznar told the Jerusalem Post last week. "In Europe, Israel is not very popular, not only this (Sharon) government, all governments," he said. "Most Europeans support the Palestinian cause." Aznar, who was ousted last year amid public opposition to his commitmnet of Spanish forces to help the U.S.-led war in Iraq, is in Israel to receive an honorary doctorate from Bar-Ilan University....

Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu intends to vote against disengagement in Sunday's cabinet vote unless Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agrees to a national referendum, sources close to him said on Tuesday. The minister is to vote in favor of the disengagement implementation bill in the Knesset on Wednesday. Netanyahu does not plan to announce how he intends to vote in Sunday's cabinet vote on the withdrawal until the last minute, but a source close to him said he has made up his mind and something very dramatic would have to happen for him to vote in favor. The source said that...

Israeli adviser: Egypt proposing Mideast peace conference Thursday, July 22, 2004 Posted: 5:42 AM EDT (0942 GMT) JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Egypt is proposing a Mideast peace conference in October, according to Moshe Debi, an adviser to Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. The October talks would include Israeli and Palestinian foreign ministers, as well as foreign ministers from the "Mideast Quartet" -- the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia, Debi said.

Jordan's King Abdullah (R) meets with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei at Beit al-Barakeh in Amman June 24, 2004. The King said during talks with Qurei that any steps that Jordan takes on training the Palestinian security forces, will be done through coordination with the Palestinian National Authority, and that any request on this issue will be through the PNA. REUTERS/Yousef Allan   Last Update: 25/06/2004 12:22 King Abdullah: Jordan ready to train Palestinian police force By Yoav Stern and Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondents, and Reuters Jordan is ready to extend "all forms of support" to the Palestinians, including training...