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While Barack Obama met with Benjamin Netanyahu, Max Blumenthal was dodging tear-gas canisters in the West Bank, where a two-state solution seems very, very far away. When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Barack Obama at the White House on Monday, he warned the president that time was running out to stop a nuclear Iran. By impressing upon Obama the immediacy of the threat from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Netanyahu hoped to avoid committing to the two-state solution he and his right-wing governing partners have so far openly and forcefully opposed. While Netanyahu attempts to recalibrate the discussion toward Iran, his government...

In the first case of its kind, a Palestinian Authority "military court" on Tuesday sentenced a Palestinian man to death by hanging after finding him guilty of selling land to Jews. The verdict came shortly after the PA's chief Islamic judge, Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi, issued yet another fatwa (religious decree) banning Muslims from selling land or houses to Jews. The death sentence is seen as an attempt by the PA leadership in Ramallah to deter Palestinians from conducting real estate transactions with Jews. It follows reports according to which Jewish individuals and organizations recently bought land and houses from Arabs...

Netanyahu: "If Israelis can't build homes in the West Bank then Palestinians shouldn't be allowed to either" Czech PM: We'll fight EU calls to freeze Israel ties By Barak Ravid Haaretz Last update - 21:45 24/04/2009 haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1080699.html Czech Prime Minister Mirel Topolanek told President Shimon Peres on Friday that his country, which holds the EU's six-month rotating presidency, would fight against calls within Europe to suspend the upgrade of relations with Israel. The visiting Czech premier's remark came one day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told him that Israel's relationship with the European Union should not be linked to its...

How the CNN & WP Legitimize murdering little chidren (by racist Arabs / Islamic bigots) on the basis of their origin - "occupation" crap   April, 2009   Regardless of the facts that most Palestinian Arabs are children or grandchildren of immigrants from surrounding middle eastern countries, the term "occupation" has been used by Arab leaders to wage genocidal wars since the 1960's, never mind that the racist attacks on Jews started long before that 1960's occupation excuse, in the 1920's in particular (with clear declarations of "driving all Jews into the sea, "Itbach al Yahud" - AKA Kill Jews, wiping...

While the world was harrumphing yesterday because Israel’s new foreign minister affirmed the obvious futility of the Annapolis peace conference, an axe-wielding Palestinian terrorist slaughtered a 13-year-old Jewish boy and wounded another. This disgusting crime took place at the town of Bat Ayin, a Jewish settlement a few miles southwest of Jerusalem.

Israel has seized another 425 acres of West Bank Land. This will create challenges for President Obama who has promised to get quickly involved in Middle East peace. President Obama will have great difficulty working with the next government of Israel if it is led by hardliner Benjamin Netanyahu. No party has enough votes to form a government at the moment, but the right wing Likud party seems to have the best chance.

A rally held here on Tuesday in solidarity with the Gaza Strip drew about 150 protesters. Similar demonstrations in other parts of the West Bank over the past 11 days have also attracted small numbers of Palestinians. As the demonstrators in this city's central Manara Square chanted slogans condemning Israel as a "Nazi state" and calling on the Arabs to severe their ties with Israel and on Fatah and Hamas to join forces, shopkeepers did not shut their businesses to participate in the rally. Nor did many passersby heed the protesters' appeal to join the rally. At the Stars &...

You know, this one reminds me of a game show. I am talking about those times when the contestant should keep their 100 thousand dollars and go home, but he decides to try to double the money just one more time--even though the entire audience is screaming "don't be an ass !" When this guy opens up whats behind door number 3 on national television and it turns out he traded 100 grand for 12 dollars and a stick of bazooka Joe, he looks like the biggest ass that ever lived, the only redeeming feature is the confused look of...

General James Jones, Obama’s choice for National Security Adviser, again revealed his staggering ignorance. The general might be an authority in conventional warfare - though it is unlikely, given his mere few months battlefield experience in Vietnam. General Jones pushes his hallmark solution for the West Bank: IDF moves out and NATO troops move in. The proposal reveals Gen. Jones complete ignorance of anti-terrorist warfare. IDF is the only army in the world which curbed terrorism: from near-war levels in 2000-2003 to near-absence today. The success is due to two factors: extremely exhaustive intelligence and freedom of operations. IDF runs...

There are signs that Fatah is preparing to launch a major operation against Hamas in the West Bank in the coming weeks ahead of expected turmoil when Mahmoud Abbas's term as PA president ends in January, a top IDF officer has told The Jerusalem Post. Abbas's presidential term is scheduled to end on January 9, and the IDF Central Command is preparing for the possibility that Hamas will try to take advantage of political instability in Ramallah to take over West Bank towns and cities. In the absence of elections or a compromise with Hamas, according to the Palestinian Authority...

How The West Was Won The rapid and unexpected decline of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq was officially recognized this week, when Maj. Gen. John Kelly, commanding the Marine Expeditionary Force, turned operational control of Anbar Province over to the Iraqi army and police. Anbar, a vast expanse of desert the size of North Carolina, had been the stronghold of the Sunni insurgency. For years, foreign fighters loyal to al-Qaida had sneaked across Iraq's northwestern border with Syria, into Anbar and down a "rat line" of safe houses in Haditha, Ramadi and Hit. From Fallujah, the arch terrorist Zarqawi...

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday that the government must start preparing now for the evacuation of settlers from the West Bank. "Since it is possible we will need to make decisions in the future that will involve the evacuation of residents, we should already prepare for this now and think about its consequences, especially while serious [peace] negotiations are being held," said Olmert. The prime minister made the comments at the beginning of a debate on Vice Premier Haim Ramon's evacuation-compensation bill at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. The bill would enable settlers who live beyond the...

A moment before beginning his supper, Masab, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, glances at the friend who has accompanied him to the restaurant where we met. They whisper a few words and then say grace, thanking God and Jesus for putting food on their plates. It takes a few seconds to digest this sight: The son of a Hamas MP who is also the most popular figure in that extremist Islamic organization, a young man who assisted his father for years in his political activities, has become a rank-and-file Christian. "I'm now called Joseph," he says...

PALESTINIAN security forces in the occupied West Bank today arrested dozens of demonstrators calling for the resurrection of the Islamic caliphate, security officials said. Police loyal to president Mahmoud Abbas arrested more than 50 members of Hizb al-Tahrir (the Islamic Liberation Party), a group calling for the replacement of the Palestinian Authority and Arab governments with a greater Islamic state. The group was founded in 1953 and has branches all over the world. When they were arrested the activists were heading to a football stadium in the town of Beit Jalla outside Bethlehem for a demonstration marking the anniversary of...

Palestinian Authority security forces were put on high alert Wednesday following threats by Hamas against its senior officials, PA security sources told The Jerusalem Post. The PA leadership was taking Hamas's threats seriously and had ordered its security forces to be prepared to foil any attempt to harm PA figures, the sources said. Additional bodyguards have been assigned to a number of top PA officials in the West Bank, and security had been beefed up around the homes of PA President Mahmoud Abbas and other senior officials in Ramallah, the sources said. Leaflets distributed over the past few days by...

Excerpt- Forces encircle house in search of wanted Hamas member. Blasts heard in building during exchanges of fire as result of explosive devices kept inside. Body of man who planned Dimona terror attack removed from rubble. Hamas: Our response will be painful IDF and police forces have killed senior Hamas member Shihab Natsheh, who was behind a terror attack in Dimona last February which left one woman killed. Natashe was killed during exchanges of fire with the forces in the West Bank city of Hebron early Sunday. There were injuries among the forces. ~ snip ~

Senator Barack Obama, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, will meet with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank during his trip overseas next week, the first details of which began to emerge on Monday. “I did not use those occasions to criticize Mr. Obama,” Mr. McCain said, adding that he “would prefer not to do so today.” “But he suggested in his speeches here and there that I turned my back on comprehensive reform out of political necessity,” Mr. McCain said. The reality, Mr. McCain said, is that he risked “political suicide” by teaming up with Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat...

A UN agency has severed ties with Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev over allegations that he helped fund construction in the West Bank, Reuters reported on Friday. According to the report, Leviev, who is the chairman of Africa Israel Investments, is in charge of at least one company in his conglomerate which the Arab rights advocacy group Adalah-NY claims built Jewish settlements on West Bank land. Adalah-NY launched a campaign against Leviev whereby they appealed to the UN children's fund UNICEF to cut its connection with the Israeli businessman, the report said. UNICEF has received direct and indirect funding from Leviev...

RAMALLAH, West Bank, June 20 (UPI) -- Arab militants shot at a group of hikers Friday in Samaria near the West Bank city of Ramallah, wounding three of them, officials said. One hiker received minor injuries and two were in listed in moderate and serious condition, IsraelNN.com reported Friday. They were all air-lifted to a hospital in Tel Aviv, officials said. "We are now dealing with providing the injured with medical care, evacuating them and searching for the terrorists. We will lay our hands on the terrorists," an Israeli military official told Ynetnews. Some people have said "good will measures"...

The Israeli government defied American pressure on Wednesday and resolved to build hundreds of new homes inside a West Bank settlement as President George W Bush arrived to celebrate the country's 60th anniversary. Shortly after landing at Ben Gurion airport, Mr Bush hailed Israel as America's "strongest ally and friend in the Middle East" and praised the region's "only true democracy" for standing firm against the "forces of terror". The president's three-day visit will include an address to parliament on Thursday, marking the 60th anniversary of the country's foundation after British rule. Palestinians refer to this event as "al-nakbar" or...