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Outgoing US Secretary State John Kerry expressed disappointment Sunday that his efforts over the past four years have not put an end to the construction of homes in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. Speaking at the Saban Forum, Kerry said that Israel is "heading to a place of danger" and that the chances for peace are eroding "by virtue of this continued settlement process." "I don't agree with him that settlements are not an obstacle to peace," Kerry said. "Let's not kid ourselves here– you can't just wipe it away by saying it doesn't have an impact. It has...

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry excoriated the Israeli right, claiming that support for settlement construction stems from a desire to subvert Israeli-Palestinian peace, during a speech before the Brookings Institution’s Saban Forum on Sunday afternoon. A subdued Kerry, wearing reading glasses and referring to extensive notes, notably refrained from committing to veto any UN resolution intended to establish a Palestinian state, only promising a veto “if it is a biased, unfair resolution calculated to delegitimize Israel.” US officials last week indicated that US President Barack Obama had nearly ruled out any major last-ditch effort to put pressure on...

France published an official notification Thursday urging businesses to use labels to identify goods produced in the Israeli settlements, prompting a swift condemnation from Israel. It was not immediately clear whether the notice published in the French Official Journal is binding for retailers or a recommendation. A press official with the trade ministry said late Thursday she was not aware of the notification and couldn’t immediately say whether it was mandatory or advisory. In Nov. 2015, the European Union recommended that its member states put special labels on exports from the West Bank, but said the technical guidelines on the...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday expressed concern that U.S. President Barack Obama, during the final days of his term in office, might take diplomatic steps that could harm the fate of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israel is concerned that the United States might not rally to its assistance in the event that an anti-settlement resolution is put to a vote in the United Nations Security Council and that Washington might not use its veto to quash such a move.

The Palestinians say they are sounding out members of the U.N. Security Council on a new resolution demanding a halt to Israeli settlement building and about prospects for becoming a full member of the United Nations. Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said Thursday he has met about half the 15-member council in the last 10 days and expects to meet the rest in the next week. He said he will then report back to the Arab ministerial committee which will decide on next steps. …

Republicans in Congress are plotting ways to block the Obama administration from paying insurance companies hundreds of millions of dollars as part of an ObamaCare program. GOP lawmakers say they are looking at “a dozen” options — including a possible provision in the year-end spending bill — to prevent the administration from using an obscure fund within the Treasury Department to pay out massive settlements to insurers. The insurance companies are suing over a shortfall in an ObamaCare program that they say is damaging their businesses. Settling the cases could help insurers deal with losses on the ObamaCare marketplaces, but...

The White House accused Israel of a betrayal of trust, in an unusually sharp rebuke over its plans to build hundreds of new settlement homes deep in the West Bank. Days after President Barack Obama approved a $38 billion Israeli military aid package and attended former president Shimon Peres’s funeral in Jerusalem, the White House railed at the construction of 300 housing units on land “far closer to Jordan than Israel.” Warning that the decision jeopardizes the already distant prospect of Middle East peace as well as Israel’s own security, press secretary Josh Earnest said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s word...

JERUSALEM (AP) — In his landmark speech to the Arab world seven years ago, President Barack Obama warned that Israeli settlements on occupied territories were undermining hopes for peace. “It is time for these settlements to stop,” he declared. As Obama heads into the home stretch of his presidency, he leaves behind an unfulfilled vision. Not only did he fail to stop it, but he watched Israeli construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem thrive — despite repeated White House condemnations. According to Israeli government data obtained by The Associated Press, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed a wave...

Obama administration officials and leaders of the Zionist Union party lambasted Israel’s government on Sunday over a 70 million shekel spending plan for Yesha towns, including a large allocation to boost security. The coalition government passed on Sunday morning the spending plan, which includes 15 million shekels to bolster Yesha communities suffering from Arab terrorism in recent months. Also included in the spending package is 10 million shekels for renovations and improvements on public facilities, 12 million shekels for security improvements, 6 million shekels for social services, and 5.5 million shekels for tourism sites. In response, US State Department spokesman...

Following reports Wednesday morning of possible cuts in American military aid to Israel, Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated that the Obama administration was prepared to give the biggest military aid package in history, calling it “the largest single pledge of military assistance from the United States to any country in our history, cementing an unparalleled security relationship all the way to 2029". Blinken’s comments came during his address at the Herzliya Conference Wednesday afternoon. While the Deputy Secretary indicated the White House was likely to increase aid to Israel, he emphasized the Jewish state’s need to take concrete...

The United States will endorse a tougher tone with Israel in an upcoming international report that takes the Jewish state to task over settlements, demolitions and property seizures on land the Palestinians claim for a future state, diplomats told The Associated Press. The U.S. and its fellow Mideast mediators also will chastise Palestinian leaders for failing to rein in anti-Israeli violence. But the diplomats involved in drafting the document said its primary focus will be a surge of construction in Jewish housing in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The U.S. approval of the harsh language marks a subtle shift....

A Jewish group has launched a lawsuit against British local authorities that called for boycotts of goods from Israeli settlements, claiming the actions are anti-Semitic. Jewish Human Rights Watch is asking the High Court to rule against three councils: Leicester in England and Swansea and Gwynedd in Wales. It claims the authorities have failed to consider “the impact of their actions on the Jewish community.” …

British Prime Minister David Cameron used particularly harsh language against Israel's presence in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria which were liberated during the 1967 Six Day War. Speaking at Parliament, Cameron branded Israel’s construction of new communities in these areas as “genuinely shocking”, The Independent reported. The Prime Minister said that though he was a strong supporter of Israel, he had been taken aback by what had seen first hands on visits to Jerusalem. “I am well-known as being a strong friend of Israel but I have to say the first time I visited Jerusalem and had a proper tour...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says staffers for U.S. Vice President Joe Biden are arriving in Israel ahead of a possible Biden visit. [...] Biden's last visit to Israel sparked a diplomatic spat with Washington in 2010, when Israel announced settlement construction plans during Biden's visit. ...

The United Nations says Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stands by every word of his criticism of Israeli settlement-building this week and rejects Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's comment that the remarks justify terrorism. The U.N. chief on Tuesday told the Security Council that settlement activities are "an affront to the Palestinian people," and he called for Israel to freeze them. He also said "it is human nature to react to occupation." ...

US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro voiced a particularly sharp attack against Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria on Monday, accusing Israeli authorities of holding them to different standards of law. He expressed the unusually harsh criticism during a speech at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) conference in Tel Aviv. Shapiro condemned two brutal stabbing attacks on Sunday and Monday as "barbaric acts of terrorism," before launching into a critique of Israel's policies concerning the communities in Judea-Samaria. "We are concerned and perplexed by Israel's strategy on settlements," Shapiro stated. "This government and previous Israeli governments have repeatedly...

The Two State solution (TSS) is dead but rather than bury it, the US and the EU want to embalm it, in the off chance that it can be brought to life in a decade or two. In the meantime they are doing their utmost to prevent Israel from building Jewish homes east of the armistice lines, including in Jerusalem. They do this in knowing violation of Israel’s rights. Moshe Arens, a former Israel Ambassador to the US, Israel Defense Minister and Minister of Defense, noted in Haaretz, Israel’s version of the New York Times: "These critics (of settlement construction)...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has instructed the Foreign Ministry to reassess its involvement with European Union (EU) institutions regarding the political process with the Palestinians. Until the assessment is completed, Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the suspension of all political contact with EU institutions and representatives on the issue.

US President Barack Obama's administration on Thursday voiced its approval of the discriminatory EU decision the day before to label Jewish goods from Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The administration said the move is only a "technical guideline," and is not a boycott, reports Associated Press - despite the obvious assumption that consumers would follow the labeling when choosing what products to buy. US State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said, "we do not believe that labeling the origin of products is equivalent to a boycott. And as you know, we do not consider settlements to be part...

Archaeologists at Historic Jamestown have discovered the tenth Virginia-made pipe with a name inscribed on the stem. It’s the first new named pipe found at the site since 2009, and in contrast to most of the earlier discoveries, the name is complete: William Faldo. The stockholders of the Virginia Company were expecting to make a quick profit from their investment in the Jamestown settlement, but the struggling colonists could barely keep themselves alive, never mind send back the riches in minerals and trade goods the company had envisioned. They weren’t even self-sufficient, having clashed with the Powhatan tribes weeks after...