Free Republic

“The Arab world now says that relations with Israel is more important than the Palestinian issue, which cannot be solved by Abu Mazen, for the foreseeable future.” The constellations of moderate Sunni Arab states which are on track to normalize relations with Israel view Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as irrelevant, a former top Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) official has told The Jerusalem Post. Former head of the counter-terrorism division for Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria Arik “Harris” Barbing told the Post on Sunday that, “the Palestinian issue is not a focus of the Arab states.” Harris said that, “Abu...

On Thursday United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent the Security Council a letter nominating as the new head of the UN's mission to Libya a former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, Salam Fayyad -- who was described in the letter as "Salam Fayyad (Palestine)." America's new ambassador, Nikki Haley, said no. Having thus blocked Fayyad's appointment, Haley then put out a statement explaining why: For too long the UN has been unfairly biased in favor of the Palestinian Authority to the detriment of our allies in Israel. The United States does not currently recognize a Palestinian state or support...

DEAD SEA, Jordan - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday he was concerned about the Israeli killing of a leading member of Hamas but nevertheless emphasized that Hamas and Islamic Jihad shoulder primary responsibility for the difficult situation facing the Palestinian people. Powell added that Middle East peace negotiators needed to keep working despite the killing of the Hamas leader in Hebron on Saturday at the hands of Israeli special police forces. "I regret we had an incident that could be an impediment to progress," he told a news conference after a meeting of the "Quartet" of key...

US Secretary of State John Kerry looks like a bit of an idiot these days. On Monday he announced that he will be returning to Israel and the Palestinian Authority and Jordan for the fifth time since he was sworn into office on February 1. That is an average of more than one visit a month. And aside from frequent flier miles, the only thing he has to show for it is a big black eye from PLO chief and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. When Kerry was here last month he unveiled a stunning plan to bring $4 billion...

As Independence Day celebrations were winding down Tuesday night, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made a guest appearance on Channel 2's left-wing satire show Eretz Nehederet. One of the final questions that the show's host Eyal Kitzis asked the premier was how he would like to be remembered after he leaves office. Netanyahu thought a moment and said, "I'd like to be remembered as the leader who preserved Israel's security." On the face of it, Netanyahu's stated aspiration might seem dull. In a year he'll be the longest-serving prime minister in the state's history, and all he wants is to...

Salam Fayyad has resigned as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. Losing practically the only Palestinian leader committed to building civil society and limiting corruption is a blow for those hoping for a two-state solution or even an improved quality of life for Palestinians. Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told me in a phone interview Sunday, “This is undeniably a defeat for the administration and undeniably a defeat for the Palestinian cause.” According to Schanzer, Secretary of State John F. Kerry was aware of the brewing crisis since February, but neither his recent efforts to restart...

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas may fire Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, a Fatah member said, as the party criticised the premier's government as being "improvised and confused." ... "I am angrier than all of you at the government... but I don't want to say more than that now. Just wait for three days," he quoted Abbas as saying at a meeting of the council in Ramallah. He said the key factor was disagreement over the resignation of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority's Finance Minister, which Abbas refused to accept but which Fayyad, a US-educated economist, agreed to. Nabil Qassis, a former...

As the civil war in Syria enters its third year, there is much discussion of the regimeÂ’s chemical weapons and whether SyriaÂ’s Bashar al-Assad will unleash them against Syrian rebels, or whether a power vacuum after AssadÂ’s fall might make those horrific tools available to the highest bidder. The conversation centers on SyriaÂ’s chemical weaponry, not on something vastly more serious: its nuclear weaponry. It well might have. This is the inside story of why it does not. Relations between the United States and Israel had grown rocky after IsraelÂ’s incursion into Lebanon in 2006, for Secretary of State Condoleezza...

Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Mininster Salam Fayyad of the Palestinian Authority (PA) feel anger and dissatisfaction at the new Egyptian administration over its approach to the PA, especially its representation, according to PA sources cited, Monday, by the London-based Ash-Sharq Il-Awsat daily. The sources say Abu-Mazen and Fayyad are not pleased that the government of President Mohammed Morsi "has ties with Hamas as if it is the representative of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, while ignoring the role of the Palestinian Authority." The sources added that "Egypt is negotiating with the Hamas government

Every day in the Middle East, terrible things happen. The lies and distortions of truth help ensure things don’t get better. Every day in the Middle East, terrible things happen. The worst are the acts of violence and oppression. The second worst are the lies and distortions of truth that help ensure things don’t get better. Every day in the West, the lies are echoed and amplified, and new ones invented. This not only helps ensure things don’t get better in the Middle East, it guarantees they will get worse in the West. There is an ancient Navaho proverb that...

Finally, we have evidence that Islamists and even al-Qaeda supporters will play a central role in Libya’s new regime. Up to now there has been reasonable speculation that the U.S. government and NATO might be installing an anti-Western, Islamist government in Libya. Now there’s proof that this is so. The actual government remains in the hands of non-Islamists, technocrats, ex-regime officials, and moderates. But the armed rebels who actually made the revolution have voted and their idol is…an al-Qaeda guy. Political power, said Mao Zedong, grows out of the barrel of a gun and in Libya’s case this seems a...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad suffered a heart attack while visiting the United States and was hospitalized for treatment, according to a spokesman from the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank. Fayyad felt chest pains Sunday while visiting Austin, Texas, for his son's graduation from the University of Texas, Dr. Ghassan Khatib said from Ramallah early Tuesday. The prime minister was hospitalized and doctors found a blocked artery that they corrected, Khatib said. Fayyad is in "good condition" at Seton Medical Center in Austin, Texas, spokesperson Adrienne Lallo told CNN on Monday.

JERUSALEM – Israel's leader on Sunday dismissed a call from a key government partner to share the holy city of Jerusalem with the Palestinians, a reminder of the obstacles facing already troubled peacemaking efforts. Conflicting claims to east Jerusalem lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The dispute over the area, home to sensitive Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, has derailed past peace talks and spilled into violence. Palestinians claim the sector as the capital of their future state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reaffirmation of his intention to hold on to east Jerusalem drew criticism from the...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-press-secretary-israel-s-announcement-gaza Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 20, 2010 Statement by the Press Secretary on Israel’s announcement on Gaza The President has described the situation in Gaza as unsustainable and has made clear that it demands fundamental change. On June 9, he announced that the United States was moving forward with $400 million in initiatives and commitments for the West Bank and Gaza. The President described these projects as a down payment on the U.S. commitment to the people...

RAMALLAH, West Bank (CNN) -- The new Palestinian government is seeking "intensive and active cooperation" with Israel to ensure that the chaos that recently gripped Gaza does not re-emerge in the West Bank, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told CNN on Thursday. "We have sent that message [to Israel], and we are waiting to get started with this," Fayyad said in his first interview with a Western network since he was appointed to the post more than a week ago. Fayyad rejected the notion that his stance on dealing with Israel might be seen by some Palestinians as collaborating with...