Free Republic

Oct 3 (Reuters) - Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza proposal, and signalled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

President Donald Trump is inching closer to delivering on his 20-point proposal to end the war in Gaza, as he announced on Saturday that Israel has agreed to the initial withdrawal line to facilitate a hostage release.Trump detailed Israel’s cooperation in a post on Truth Social, saying it has been shared with Hamas. “After negotiations, Israel has agreed to the initial withdrawal line, which we have shown to, and shared with, Hamas,” the U.S. president posted. “When Hamas confirms, the Ceasefire will be IMMEDIATELY effective, the Hostages and Prisoner Exchange will begin, and we will create the conditions for the...

The BBC reported this evening (Thursday) that mediators Qatar and Egypt contacted the head of Hamas' military wing in Gaza, Izz ad-Din al-Haddad, who made it clear that he opposes US President Donald Trump's 21-point plan. According to the report, al-Haddad believes that the US plan is intended to bring about the end of Hamas's rule - whether the terrorist organization agrees to it or not - and therefore, from his perspective, there is no point in accepting it, and Hamas must continue fighting. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump told reporters that Hamas has three to four days to...

SummaryKremlin denies Trump and Putin spoke Kremlin says reports are 'pure fiction' Kremlin says Europeans are nervous about Trump Russia will continue Ukraine operation, Kremlin saysThe Kremlin on Monday denied reports that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent days, and said Putin had no concrete plans yet to speak to Trump. The Washington Post, opens new tab first reported that the call had taken place, citing unidentified sources, and said that Trump had told Putin that he should not escalate the Ukraine war. Reuters also reported on the call, citing an unidentified source....

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have released an open letter warning the Israeli government against applying sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria region. The letter addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior members of his government was endorsed by 191 out of 233 House Democrats. None of the 197 Republicans in the House supported the move. “[W]e express our deep concern with the stated intention to move ahead with any unilateral annexation of West Bank territory, and we urge your government to reconsider plans to do so,” the House Democrats wrote, referring to Prime Minister...

Paying murderers and felons who kill and maim Jews has finally become the PLO's political downfall Israel’s decision to withhold US$138 million dollars in tax revenues collected for the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) - equalling the estimated annual payments made to Palestinian Arabs (or their families) carrying out random and indiscriminate attacks against Israeli civilians—marks a watershed in Israel-PLO relations. Israel’s action will see the PLO being finally jettisoned as a possible negotiating partner on President Trump’s long-delayed peace plan—deferred yet again until after the Israeli elections in April.

President Donald Trump has reportedly shelved his ‘deal of the century’ peace plan, at least for now, Palestinian Authority media outlets reported on Thursday. The decision was taken after Ron Dermer, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, reportedly recommended that the White House postpone the publication of the initiative because of the political and security crisis in Israel, according to the Palestinian Authority paper Al-Quds. An unnamed Israeli diplomatic source said Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu "prefers no ‎announcement of the plan whatsoever, especially now, amid the ‎recent developments in the region and the political ‎crisis in Israel." The Trump...

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said President Trump must respond with more than “just words” if Saudi Arabia is found to be behind the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi or it would undermine the United States’ reputation as a champion of human rights. “I’m glad the president didn’t tie his hands in terms of exactly what we are going to do. But it needs to be very strong and meaningful, it can’t be symbolic, it can’t just be words,” the Florida lawmaker said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Trump has threatened “severe consequences” against Saudi Arabia but hasn’t gone...

The President of the PA, Mahmoud Abbas, addressed the United Nations Security Council yesterday. Of note was the fact that during the PA president’s speech, he told the audience that his people were part of a culture of coexistence, that he wished for his people to far from terrorism and extremism and finally that the United States had contradicted itself and was not capable of solving the “regional conflict”. In addition to what Abbas said, as usual, he conveniently forgot to mention that the PA pays terrorists and their families for murdering Israelis. He also conveniently forgot to mention that...

Arab diplomats quoted as saying yet-to-be revealed plan will nix refugees' right of return, raze far-flung settlements, place Jerusalem's Old City under international protection The Trump administration’s plan for peace in the Middle East may include US and international recognition of a Palestinian state and acceptance of East Jerusalem as its capital, the London-based Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported on Wednesday. The plan, the report said, calls for placing the Old City of Jerusalem under “international protection.” The report quoted “knowledgeable Arab diplomatic sources” in Paris as saying that the US is planning to present its plan in the framework...

Dan Shapiro, who the US ambassador to Israel during President Obama's term, estimated in an interview with Kol Rama radio that there is no chance for peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority at present time. "The administration is full of problems, and Netanyahu is busy with investigations, and I do not see it happening," Shapiro said....

the White House held a Middle East summit that demonstrated Tillerson’s basic assumptions have the problems of the Middle East precisely backwards.Under the leadership of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, along with Jason Greenblatt, Trump’s senior negotiator, Israeli officials sat in the White House for the first time with Arab officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar. Representatives from Egypt and Jordan, with which Israel enjoys open diplomatic relations, were also in attendance. Canadian and European officials participated as well. Although they were invited, the Palestinians chose to boycott the conference. Their boycott was...

When it was Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’ turn at the recent Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to condemn President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, he added a strange, almost parenthetical paragraph to his rant: I don’t want to discuss religion or history because they [Israelis and Jews] are really excellent in faking and counterfeiting history and religion. But if we read the Torah it says that the Canaanites were there before the time of our prophet Abraham and their existence continued since that time—this is in the Torah itself. But if they would...

On October 9, 2009, then United States President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” While the award was given to Obama just eight months after he was inaugurated, nominations for the prize were closed a mere 11 days after he took the oath of office. In essence, Obama was bestowed this prestigious award for merely the hope he represented as President of the United States. Sadly, the hopes were misplaced for at no time during his presidency did Obama accomplish any great achievements for peace, nor...

South Korean president Moon Jae-in said Monday that President Trump deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in spurring negotiations between North and South Korea after a decades-long stand off. “President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize. What we need is only peace,” Moon told a meeting of senior secretaries in response to the suggestion that he deserved the award, according to a South Korean official who briefed the media. Kim Jong-un became the first North Korean leader to cross into the South last week for a summit that culminated in a pledge to work toward the “complete...

With the unthinkable now cautiously possible, peace between North and South Korea, speculation about President Donald Trump becoming a Nobel Peace Prize winner has begun. If peace in the Korean Peninsula truly happens, the Nobel committee could be left with a difficult choice regarding Trump’s candidacy. Recognizing those who helped bring peace to the region would seem like an easy choice, but a decision to give Trump the award could force the Nobel Prize committee into a fierce political debate on whether a man who has openly mocked foreign leaders, launched multiple airstrikes and has threatened war, deserves an award...

Eighteen members of the House of Representatives officially nominated President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize Wednesday; formally submitting the required paperwork to reward the President for his role in fostering peace on the Korean peninsula.

Rep. Luke Messer (R-IN) tweeted out that he and 17 of his House colleagues wrote a letter to Oslo recommending Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. The letter contends that Trump ought to receive the prize for “his work to end to [sic] the Korean War, denuclearize the Korean peninsula, and bring peace to the region.” Advertisement “President Moon Jae-in of South Korea has consistently praised the Administration’s work and recently said, ‘President Trump should win the Nobel Prize,” the letter reads. (AFP translated Moon’s remarks differently, saying that he said “President Trump can take the Nobel prize. All we...

North Korea's claimed willingness to give up its nuclear ambitions is a "great opportunity" to defuse a major threat in the world, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker told CNBC on Wednesday. But the U.S. needs to be skeptical, he added. President Donald Trump and members of his administration did a great job of "bringing people together," including Chinese President Xi Jinping, to put pressure on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Corker said on "Squawk Box." The retiring Tennessee Republican, who has had an on-again-off-again relationship with the president, said Trump would deserve the Nobel Peace Prize "if...

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