Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas praised Egypt’s military on Thursday for toppling President Mohamed Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood, the ideological ally of Abbas’s Hamas rivals. The fall of Mursi’s government deprived Hamas of a sympathetic neighbor, and may strengthen Abbas’s chances of nudging Hamas toward a long-delayed reconciliation and power-sharing pact. By intervening to remove…
Haaretz reporter Barak Ravid writes that Secretary of State Kerry is arriving in Israel today amid “no signs” that he’s “nearing a breakthrough” toward peace talks. The funny thing is, it’s in the middle of an article that reports clear signs of a breakthrough. Specifically, he reports on a “senior Likud minister” telling him Netanyahu…
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is said to be willing to return to direct peace negotiations with Israel, reports Arab affairs correspondent Ehud Yaari of Israel’s Channel 2 TV News, who is probably Israel’s best informed and most respected reporter on the topic. Yaari claims that’s “what he [Abbas] is explaining in the corridors in…
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has named British-educated political independent Rami Hamdallah as new prime minister, a Palestinian official told Reuters on Sunday, in a move that was immediately condemned by Gaza Strip rulers Hamas. A little known figure outside Palestinian territories, Hamdallah is a professor of linguistics who has been president of An Najah National…
A funny thing happened to Israeli figurehead president Shimon Peres on his way to the World Economic Forum. Scheduled to address a gathering of Middle Eastern political and business leaders at a Jordanian Dead Sea conference center on Sunday evening, the 89-year-old elder statesman came under furious attack from Likud cabinet ministers Sunday afternoon for…
Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday the Arab League’s acknowledgment that Israelis and Palestinians may have to swap land in any peace deal was “a very big step forward.” Arab states appeared to soften their 2002 peace plan on Monday when Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, said…
When Salam Fayyad took over the Palestinian ministry of finance, the No, 1 complaint against the Palestinian leadership was corruption. I should know: In 1996 I was jailed for seven days because the small TV station I was running dared to broadcast live a session of the newly elected Palestinian legislative council dealing with corruption….
Palestinian officials voiced optimism on Sunday the resignation of U.S.-backed Prime Minister Salam Fayyad would not hinder Washington’s planned development initiative for the West Bank. Fayyad quit on Saturday after months of tension with President Mahmoud Abbas, leaving the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in confusion just as the…
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