Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman called for new national elections during a speech in New York, saying he preferred a poll to freeing more Palestinian prisoners. Liberman, who is scheduled to meet in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry later this week, made the call for new elections during an annual conference sponsored…
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Friday the United States was evaluating whether to continue its role in Middle East peace talks after both Israeli and Palestinian sides had taken steps that were not helpful. Speaking during a visit to Morocco, Kerry said it was “reality check time” and there was a limit…
When Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed onto 15 international conventions on Tuesday, he shocked the U.S. sponsors of troubled Middle East peace talks. But the move was carefully limited to avoid American retaliation. Abbas’s action may have been designed more as a symbolic act of defiance to shore up his tenuous standing among Palestinians frustrated…
Talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are at a critical moment although progress was made in overnight discussions, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday. “The dialogue remains open. There was progress made in narrowing some of questions that have arisen as a result of the last few days but there is still…
Washington is keeping up efforts to put Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations back on track despite “unhelpful steps” taken by both sides in the past day, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday. A surprise decision by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday to sign more than a dozen international conventions that could give Palestinians greater leverage…
The Jonathan Pollard matter just won’t go away — and for good reason. The most recent flurry of interest surrounding the case was fueled this week by the news that the White House might be moved, at long last, to release Pollard from prison. But the problem with the case — however troubling the case…
It’s not clear whether the idea was leaked by the Obama administration or advanced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But the very suggestion that convicted spy Jonathan J. Pollard may be released from his North Carolina prison as part of an effort to resuscitate the flailing Israeli-Palestinian negotiations has accomplished something rare in Middle…
President Barack Obama has not made a decision to release convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday. “Jonathan Pollard was convicted of espionage and he is serving his sentence,” Carney said. “I don’t have any other update to provide you on Mr. Pollard’s status. There are obviously a lot…
