Free Republic

Since 1948, Palestinians living in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza have remained effectively stateless, caught in the limbo of a decades-long peace process that has yielded neither peace nor a state to call their own. But on Wednesday, three European countries—Ireland, Norway, and Spain—announced their decision to officially recognize a Palestinian state alongside Israel. The decision is set to go into effect on May 28. Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Simon Harris, who announced the decision in a press conference, likened Palestinians’ bid for self-determination to the Irish people’s history seeking international recognition of their independence in 1919. “Today,...

As part of its Islamic-based business model, Guidance Residential featured a recitation from the Quran by Noorulhuda Khalid, 10, during a recent gathering for prospective borrowers at the Mezban Curry and Grill restaurant in Houston. Share Print Email Del.icio.usDiggTwitterYahoo! BuzzFacebookStumbleUponFor five years after moving to Houston, Pakistani immigrant Abdul-Jabbar Khan rented an apartment even though he had saved enough money to make a down payment on a house.

Voici principal measurements, in particular employment education, announced or confirmed by the Prime Minister, Domenica de Villepin, at the time of its intervention at the French National Assembly, Tuesday November 8: EMPLOYMENT - All the young people of less than 25 years, applicants for work or not, living one of the 750 significant zones, will be received in the three next months for a "maintenance deepened" by the ANPE, in the local missions or the Houses of employment. A "specific solution" will be proposed to them in the three months (formation, training course or contract). - the social recipients...

U.S. Secretary of State Powell tells Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom that the road map is not dead

White House: watching Mideast events closely, committed to road map, all must consider consequences of actions (Reuters)

State Department official: IDF operation in Nablus is another example of need to find different way to move forward (Reuters)

WASHINGTON US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday dismissed Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's characterization of the road map as being "dead," and insisted the step-by-step peace plan is the only mechanism for ending violence and creating a Palestinian state. "We didn't deal with Yasser Arafat when we were putting the road map together. And so his comments don't mean a whole lot to me, and I'm not responding to them in any way," Powell told reporters at the State Department, where he outlined a draft resolution the US is submitting to UN Security Council members calling for a...