Free Republic

After earlier reports said that the Palestinian Authority was considering suspending all security cooperation with Israel in the wake of Binyamin Netanyahu's reelection, the PA officially announced Wednesday night that it was hoping to renew talks with Israel, regardless of who was Prime Minister. Nabil Abu-Rudeineh, the PA's official spokesperson, said that the PA has “no interest in the disposition of Israel's Prime Minister. The only thing we are interested in from any Israeli government is the recognition and acceptance of the two-state solution, with Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state.” At a press conference in Ramallah, Abu-Rudeineh...

In a definitive disavowal of his Bar-Ilan two-state speech, prime minister makes last-minute attempt to draw voters from Bennett's Habayit Hayeudi. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhau said Monday that if he were to be reelected, a Palestinian state would not be created, in a definite disavowal of his 2009 speech, in which he had voiced support for the principle of two states for two peoples. Netanyahu's remarks in an interview with the NRG website - which is owned by casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and tied with the settler newspaper Makor Rishon - were a last-minute attempt to pull right-wing voters away...

Israel must allow Palestinians complete freedom of movement, which requires removing all roadblocks and checkpoints in the West Bank. In particular, Israel should dismantle the security barrier erected throughout the last decade to defend against Palestinian terror attacks... – Naftali Bennett, “A New Plan for Peace in Palestine,” The Wall Street Journal, May 20 The proposals from the Israeli right-wing, however inadequate… add a little bit to that hope [of bringing an end to Jewish Israel]… We should watch how this debate develops and engage and encourage it.... – Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the vehemently anti-Zionist “Electronic Intifada,” on Al...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu denied Saturday that he is only pretending to seek a two-state solution, as Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon hinted broadly in a weekend interview. Danon’s comments “do not represent the position of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the government of Israel,” sources in the Prime Minister's Office told the Times of Israel in response to Danon’s interview, which the same news outlet published Thursday. The sources said that the prime minister “is interested in a resumption of negotiations without preconditions,” and that his positions regarding support for a two-state solution remain in force. .....

Seeming to give credence to Orwell’s observation that “some ideas are so stupid that only an intellectual could believe them,” on April 6th and 7th, Boston University will be hosting a Students for Justice in Palestine-run “Right of Return Conference,” yet another example of how purported scholarship about the Middle East is frequently biased and diluted by ideology. Most sentient observers of the Palestinian issue know that the “right of return” issue is a core tactic in rendering real peace, any viable Arab/Israeli solution, effectively impossible, that the prospect of some 5-7 million Palestinian refugees flooding into what is now...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu indicated on Wednesday, at his press conference with President Barack Obama, that Israel is "fully committed" to resolving the decades-long conflict with the Arabs with a solution which involves two states for two peoples. During the joint news conference, Netanyahu said the U.S. president's historic visit presented "an opportunity to try and find a way to advance peace" with the Palestinian Authority. "My new government was sworn in two days ago. I know there have been questions regarding what the policy of the new government will be towards peace with the Palestinians,” said Netanyahu. “So let...

Full video of Netanyahu-Obama press conference and full text of U.S. President's statements. U.S. President Barack Obama announced Wednesday in a news conference with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that he would take steps to ensure that U.S. funding for Iron Dome is not interrupted. snip This is the full text of Obama's remarks after meeting Netanyahu for almost three hours. snip

Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have said they share the same goals, as the US leader makes his first visit to Israel as president. Speaking in Jerusalem, the two leaders said they agreed that Israel had the right to "defend itself by itself". Mr Obama said there was "not a lot of light" between the US and Israel in assessing Iran's nuclear programme. The leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. snip Following talks in Jerusalem, Mr Netanyahu said the fact the US president had made Israel the first foreign visit...

..... Senator John Kerry says he is worried the door for a "two-state solution" may be closing and that would be "disastrous". .....

Democrats and the mainstream media have tried to paint Republicans as a regional -- and predominantly Southern -- party of white males, but nearly 30 percent of Democrats in the House will come from just two states -- California and New York -- when the next Congress convenes. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) on Wednesday said to “take a good look when the House convenes after this next Congress is sworn in” to see that the Republican party has gotten “white and more male,” while Democrats are “majority minority and female.”

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney supports a two-state solution to solve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, he told CNN during his visit to Jerusalem. In an interview with the American news network, which took place in Jerusalem on Sunday, Romney was asked if he saw the starting point for negotiations as the borders which existed prior to the 1967 Six Day War. He responded by saying, “I'm not being that specific. I'm saying that there will be borders that have to be negotiated and what the starting point is something which will be decided by the...

Two weeks ago, US Congressman Joe Walsh published an oped in the Washington Times in which he called for the US and Israel to abandon the two-state solution. After running through the record of Palestinian duplicity, failed governance, terrorism and bad faith, he called for Israel to apply its sovereignty to Judea and Samaria. In his words, he said Israel should, "adopt the only solution that will bring true peace to the Middle East: a single Israeli state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Israel is the only country in the region dedicated to peace and the only...

Israel Radio reported Monday morning that King Abdullah of Jordan said "Israel has an expiration date." Abdullah's comments were reportedly made to the BBC last week. During the interview Abdullah said Israel's survival was dependent on a two-state solution. Israel does not realize it needs such a solution, he added. Abdullah added his government would increase pressure on Israel to reach a final status agreement with the Palestinian Authority. He did not, however, provide any concrete facts to buttress his oft repeated assertion of Israel's imminent doom. Israel remains a regional leader in the realms of economics, military, science, and...

Before delving into the question of what follows the death of the two-state solution we must get a certificate of death. This may prove to be more difficult than getting a certificate of live birth for President Obama. Everyone prefers to kick a dead horse, so to speak, than to acknowledge it is dead. The Arabs were against the creation of Israel in the first place. They opposed the Palestine Mandate, The Partition Plan, The Declaration of Independence by Israel and Resolution 242. In 1968 they decided at the Khartoum Conference on the three “no’s”; no recognition, no negotiation and...

By Marylou Barry “My fear is that in a few months from now, no one will remember what Netanyahu said about demilitarization. They will only register the fact that the head of the national camp in Israel supports the formation of a Palestinian state.” – Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau June 14, 2009 was a sad day for Israel and her true friends the world over, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu caved in to the demands of the U.S. Imposter-in-Chief and whoever it is that is yanking his strings. Israel's Last Great (human) Hope, who has been telling us for...

JERUSALEM – Israel's defense minister said Saturday he believes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will endorse the creation of a Palestinian state during his upcoming meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington. It would be a significant shift for the Israeli leader, who has made clear in the past that he does not think the Palestinians are ready to rule themselves. But that position has put him at odds with long-standing U.S. policy that supports Palestinian statehood as the cornerstone of Mideast peace efforts. "I think and believe that Netanyahu will tell Obama this government is prepared to go for a...

hat was agreed to at Annapolis will destroy Israel. By Ted BelmanLet me count the ways; 1. Israel consented to being castrated. [That says it all but I’ll continue anyway.} 2. The Bush administration agreed to physically separate the Jews from the Arabs at the Annapolis conference in a manner that aligns with the apartheid policies of the Arab world which prohibit Israelis from setting foot on Arab soil. 3. In accordance with Saudi demands, the Americans prohibited Israeli representatives from entering the hall through the same door as the Arabs. ] 4. Israel gave up all protection afforded by...

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have pledged to forge a peace between their countries, calling the vision of two states, side by side, the only path. With Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas watching, Livni told the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum that a Palestinian state is "not an illusion. It's there, it's achievable". Livni urged the international community to support moderates in the Middle East. She told Abbas that "compromising with extremists will not promote anything" - a clear reference to Hamas and other militant groups. Abbas listened intently, nodding his head, and afterwards...

Some 54 percent of the Palestinians support a two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 lines, with border corrections and no massive return of refugees, confirming that there has been a change in Palestinian public opinion since the death of Yasser Arafat. Those findings in a comprehensive public opinion poll among 1,319 respondents conducted at the end of December contrasts with a similar poll done in December 2003, which showed only 39 percent of the Palestinians supported an agreement with Israel. And a parallel poll, conducted in Israel among a representative sample of Jewish and Arab voters, showed that...

LONDON (AFP) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites), in an interview with a British newspaper, expressed his fears that "time is running out" for a two-state solution for peace in the Middle East. Speaking to The Guardian at his Ramallah compound in the West Bank, Arafat blamed the double impact of Israel's security barrier and the spread of Jewish settlements for undermining the prospects of a future Palestinian state. "Time is definitely running out for the two-state solution," despite Palestinian commitments going back to the 1980s to accept the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web...