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On Monday afternoon, the Palestinians destroyed officially whatever was left of the concept of a peace process with Israel. When PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas signed a deal with Hamas terror-master Khaled Mashaal in Doha, Qatar, the notion that there is a significant segment of Palestinian society that is not committed to the destruction of Israel was finally and truly sunk. >>SNIP<< It is a testament to the weakened state of the US in the region that in his hour of distress, Abbas opted to turn to Hamas.

Fatah and Hamas announced Monday they had reached another reconciliation agreement to end their differences – this time under the auspices of Qatar. According to the new accord, dubbed the Doha Declaration, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is to serve as interim prime minister of a unity government consisting of independent figures. The government’s main mission, the agreement stipulates, would be to prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections and rebuild the Gaza Strip. No date has been set for the elections. But some Palestinians said the vote would take place 90 days after the formation of the new government. Other...

The Washington Post ran several articles and columns this week about the emergence of once-secret U.S.-Taliban talks designed to pave the way for an American exit from Afghanistan. Writers have likened them to the talks that preceded our exit from Vietnam. Maybe, but there is another cautionary tale in our history: what happens when the United States ignores the nature and behavior of an adversary and pretends that a) people devoutly wedded to a violent ideology will accept less than ultimate victory and will allow their darkest enemy to "win" as well; and b) legitimizing them and providing concessions will...

The Palestinian Authority anti-corruption commission announced Monday it was seeking to restore plundered public funds hidden abroad by PA officials. Rafiq al-Natsheh told the PA affiliated Ma'an News Agency that the commission is chasing corruption suspects living outside PA enclaves pending an agreement with their countries of residence. Natsheh's remarks follow a report in the Jordanian newspaper al-Dustour last week that PA officials were moving deposits from Jordanian banks to foreign accounts. "If suspects accused of stealing public money (are moving funds abroad), that falls within our jurisdiction," al Natsheh said. "We will ask these countries to help us restore...

The United States transferred $40 million in foreign assistance to the Palestinians. ... During yesterday’s State Department briefing, spokesperson Victoria Nuland emphasized that it was not in the interest of the United States to withhold assistance to the Palestinians. “We don’t think it’s in U.S. national interest to keep this money frozen. So from that perspective, we’re gratified that 40 million has now been released,” Nuland said.

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) officials said Friday their decision to return to 'popular resistance' is aimed at 'disengaging' from Israel. PLO Executive Committee member Tayseer Khalid said the new unified Fatah-Hamas strategy will be based on 'popular resistance' which will spread into PA enclaves in Judea and Samaria. "The popular resistance will reshape the Palestinian relationship with Israel... to reach total disengagement with Israel," Khalid said. "We will never accept to be an agent for the Israeli occupation," he added. Khalid's statements are only the latest in the intransigent unilateralist mantra coming out of Ramallah and have led analysts to...

Buried in news stories about the conviction on a former president of Israel on rape charges was a telling insight into the Jewish state: The three-judge panel that convicted Moshe Katsav and the three-judge tribunal that rejected his appeal each had a justice who is an Israeli Arab. Arabs make up 20 percent of the population of Israel, and, as the Katsav story indicates, they are able to play prominent roles in the country’s governmental life, including service in the Knesset. Hundreds of thousands of Jews live in communities in the disputed West Bank territories. To Israelis, the West Bank...

Senior Hamas official: "Anyone who thinks Hamas has changed its positions is living in an illusion." Hamas is joining the PLO not as a result of a change in its ideology but because it wants the PLO to stick to its original platform – liberating Palestine and achieving the “right of return” for Palestinian refugees, Hamas leaders explained over the weekend. The Hamas leaders’ clarifications came in response to claims that Hamas’s decision to join the PLO was a sign the Islamist movement was moving toward moderation and would abandon its radical ideology. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other radical Palestinian...

Israel slammed the Palestinian deal paving the way for Hamas to join the PLO on Thursday, with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev saying that if Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas "embraces Hamas, if he walks toward Hamas, he is walking away from peace." Leaders of several Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Fatah, agreed Thursday to “activate and reconstruct” the PLO so as to allow other non-member parties to join the organization. Palestinians hailed the agreement as an “historic event” that would mark the beginning of a new era for the Palestinian issue. The move will pave the way...

Video has surfaced of a group of more than a dozen Arabs appearing to surround and beat a Jewish man in Israel with rocks, sticks and other implements before he is able to get away, Israeli news site Arutz Sheva reported. The 38-second video, uploaded to YouTube and titled “Hit the settlers in the village of Asira,” is filled with shouting. The words “Allahu Akbar!” can clearly be heard as the man, dressed in light-colored clothing, tries desperately to escape his attackers. They all appear to be male, though several look like they’re only young boys. The man is ultimately...

Recognition of Palestinian statehood has dangerous consequencesThe Palestinian Authority’s bid for U.N. recognition has substantial downsides, including wrecking the peace process and increasing regional instability. The upside is that it could drive the United States out of the United Nations. On Monday, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voted overwhelmingly to admit the Palestinian Authority to full membership. This step triggered an immediate cutoff of U.S. funds to the organization, which total around $70 million annually. The UNESCO defunding was based on legislation from 1990 and 1994. Section 414 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, fiscal 1990...

Palestinians are using archeology to advance their statehood bid. Prominent archaeologist Gabriel Barkai called it "cultural Intifada." The PA will seek World Heritage status for the birthplace of Jesus, Bethlehem, once the UN’s cultural agency (UNESCO) admits them as a full member. Hamdan Taha, the Palestinian Authority minister who deals with antiquities and culture, also listed Nablus and Hebron among 20 cultural heritage sites which he said could be nominated as World Heritage Sites. Professor Taha is a pioneer of the new Palestinian revisionism. Last January National Geographic magazine ran a “Travel Palestine” ad that appeared to blot out the...

<p>Palestinian Authority terrorists continued their attacks on innocent Jewish motorists over Yom Kippur, this time attacking a woman in labor and her husband as they rushed to the hospital.</p>

A senior member of the Fatah Central Committee led by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in an interview referred to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and U.S. President Barack Obama, as “dirtbags,” and explained how causing Israel to leave Judea and Samaria would spell its doom. Abbas Zaki told the interviewer that any final status agreement between Israel and the PA “should be based upon the borders of June 4, 1967... everybody knows that the greater goal cannot be accomplished in one go.” Israel claims that Abbas and numerous other PA Arab officials have made it clear in many ways...

The United States Congress has blocked nearly $200m in aid to the Palestinians, the U.K’s Independent newspaper reported on Saturday. The aid, which was destined for projects related to food aid, health care, and state building efforts, was to have been transferred to the Palestinian Authority during the U.S. fiscal year that ends today, according to the report. However, following what the Independent described as an “unpublicized block” imposed on funding to the Palestinians since August this year, in response to the Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN, the remainder of the aid allocated to the Palestinian Authority for...

It should be obvious to anyone familiar with the venomous UN speech just delivered by Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, calling for Palestinian statehood, that the so-called two state solution is dead. The idea of two states was first proposed to a delegation of PLO terrorists visiting North Vietnam in 1973 according to recently de-classified Soviet era documents. Abu Iyad, a member of that delegation visiting Hanoi, wrote in his memoir "Palestinian without a Motherland," that the North Vietnamese suggested that the PLO "stop talking about annihilating Israel and instead turn your terror war into a struggle for human rights…Then...

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has handed over a historic request to UN chief Ban Ki-moon asking the United Nations to admit the state of Palestine as a full member. The Palestinian leader won huge applause and a standing ovation on Friday from some of the assembly as he entered the hall before beginning his speech. Abbas said he was ready to return to the negotiations, saying he did not want to isolate or delegitimize Israel. "Here I declare that the Palestine Liberation Organization is ready to return immediately to the negotiating table on the basis of the adopted terms of...

Please pray for me. I am in meetings with Iranian leaders at the hotel where Ahmadinejad is staying, giving them my testimony! Bill O'Reilly has asked for my help arranging an interview for tomorrow on Fox News. I am standing for Israel as your ambassador. Almost thirty years ago when I anointed Benjamin Netanyahu with oil and prayed with him, I told him he would be prime minister of Israel twice. My prayer ended with, “the second time will be the gravest days of Israel’s history.” The following day, I shared the prophecy with then Prime Minister Menachem Begin and...

Handling the Israeli-Palestinian relationship is one of the most delicate and time-consuming tasks faced by a U.S. president, as demonstrated by this week’s drama concerning the Palestinian push for recognition as a state by the United Nations. In fact, one can argue that missteps early in President Obama’s tenure have helped lead the administration to the crisis it now faces today. That’s why Perry’s comments to Time magazine struck us as interesting and potentially revealing. How deep is his understanding of this long-running conflict? The Facts Perry’s statement had three parts: Palestinians must recognize Israel’s existence; they have to denounce...

The Palestine Liberation Organization's ambassador to the United States said Tuesday that any future Palestinian state it seeks with help from the United Nations and the United States should be free of Jews. "After the experience of the last 44 years of military occupation and all the conflict and friction, I think it would be in the best interest of the two people to be separated," Maen Areikat, the PLO ambassador, said during a meeting with reporters sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor. He was responding to a question about the rights of minorities in a Palestine of the future....