Free Republic

CAIRO (AFP) - The Arab League has called on the United Nations Security Council to find a new mechanism to relaunch the Middle East peace process, at the opening of a meeting of foreign ministers in Cairo. Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said the League would call on the Security Council "to review the peace process... and to find a new and effective mechanism to activate it, based on Security Council decisions and the Arab peace initiative." The 2002 Arab initiative proposed a full normalization of relations with Israel in the exchange for the return of all...

Former US President Jimmy Carter unleashed a fierce attack against the Israeli and American governments in his speech at the Geneva Initiative's ceremony in Switzerland. Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, blamed US President George W. Bush for anti-American sentiment and worldwide terror. "Bush's inordinate support for Israel allows the Palestinians to suffer," Carter said. "This is a source of anti-American sentiment in the world and encourages terror." Carter said Israel's settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the security fence are the main obstacles to peace. He called repeatedly for the return of Palestinian refugees to the...