Middle East peace process - Page 6

TEL AVIV – Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat reiterated the position that no Palestinian has been given authorization to attend next month’s US-led peace conference in Bahrain, amid reports that Arab countries are pressuring the Palestinians to walk back their rejection of it. 

TEL AVIV – Iranian youth will witness the demise of Israel and American civilization, Iran’s supreme leader on Wednesday said in comments translated by Reuters.

The Palestinian leadership on Monday pushed back against a plan for an economic conference next month in support of Washington’s Middle East peace plan, saying it was not consulted and no party was entitled to negotiate on its behalf.

TEL AVIV – Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly offered Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas $10 billion if he accepts President Donald Trump’s long-anticipated peace plan, the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported on Tuesday.

TEL AVIV – President Donald Trump’s long-anticipated peace plan is an effort to “think out of the box and capture the imagination and hopes of both sides for a better life,” U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told the Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

TEL AVIV – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told Arab states on Sunday that President Donald Trump’s long-awaited peace plan had “nothing to offer” the Palestinians and added that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had no interest in peace. 

TEL AVIV – The Arab League on Sunday pledged $100 million per month to the Palestinian Authority to cover the funds suspended by Israel in taxes and tariffs owed to the PA over the latter’s so-called “pay-for”slay” scheme paying salaries to terrorists and their families.

TEL AVIV – The US has for the first time published an international map showing the Golan Heights as part of Israel, three weeks after President Donald Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the territory captured from Syria in 1967.

TEL AVIV – The newly appointed Palestinian Authority prime minister on Tuesday said declared that the long-anticipated U.S. peace proposal for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be “born dead.”

TEL AVIV – The Palestinians are turning to Russia for help in bypassing the long-anticipated U.S. “deal of the century” for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Palestinian officials said on Tuesday.

TEL AVIV – President Donald Trump’s long -awaited peace plan will include major economic and other incentives for Palestinians, but is likely stop short of realizing the vision for the establishment of a Palestinian state, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

UNITED NATIONS — Britain, France and Germany accused Iran of developing missile technology in contravention of a UN resolution, and called for a full UN report on recent activities, according to a letter released Tuesday.

TEL AVIV – President Donald Trump is slated to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Washington on April 9 to discuss “strengthening the strategic partnership between the United States and Egypt, and building on our robust military, economic and counter-terrorism cooperation,” a statement from the White House said. 

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Monday recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, reversing more than a half-century of U.S. policy.

BAGHDAD — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrived in Baghdad on Monday, Iraqi state television said, making his first official visit to the nation that Tehran once fought a bloody war against and later backed in the battle with the Islamic State group.

TEL AVIV – Senator Lindsey Graham, on a visit to Israel’s north with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel must keep the Golan Heights or face a “strategic nightmare,” and vowed that he would work to get U.S. recognition of the area as part of sovereign Israel.

JERUSALEM – In a move that angered Palestinians, the U.S. officially closed its consulate in Jerusalem on Monday, merging consular activities with the main embassy which was relocated to the capital in May. 

TEL AVIV – U.S. Ambassador David Friedman slammed the official Palestinian Authority newspaper for running an opinion piece that described US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East as a “mongoloid,” a derogatory term for a person with Down syndrom

Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist movement on Friday condemned Britain’s decision to outlaw its political wing, describing the move as an “insult” to the Lebanese people that hurt the “feelings” of many of its local followers.

TEL AVIV – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed in Moscow early on Thursday for a brief trip during which he is expected to discuss Syria and Iran with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

TEL AVIV – The IDF on Tuesday concluded a major spontaneous drill simulating a future war against Gaza-based terror groups. 

New Right chair Naftali Bennett launched a direct assault on Donald Trump Wednesday morning, accusing the US president of “planning a Palestinian state right over our heads,” and calling on him to release his closely guarded Middle East peace plan before Israel’s April elections.

TEL AVIV – Israel is too lenient with the Palestinians and should have cut funds to the Palestinian Authority a long time ago, Syrian opposition activist Issam Zeitoun told Breitbart News.

TEL AVIV – Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned the Arab world not to play into Israel’s hands and become its “tool,” amid news of warming ties between Israel and Gulf states following the U.S.-led Mideast conference in Warsaw. 

TEL AVIV – Iran’s foreign minister on Sunday claimed that Israel is “looking for war” and warned that its behavior along with that of the U.S. was increasing the prospects of a conflict in the region.

TEL AVIV – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that the rollout of the Trump administration’s much-anticipated peace plan will begin “immediately following” Israeli elections on April 9 and that certain aspects of the proposal have already been discussed with regional partners. 

TEL AVIV – Amid another flare-up along the Gaza border during which a Palestinian sniper opened fire on a group of IDF soldiers and explosions were reportedly heard in the northern Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stopped the transfer of Qatari funds to the Hamas-run enclave. 

UNITED NATIONS — Russia on Tuesday slammed a planned US-Polish conference on peace and security in the Middle East as “counterproductive” because of its focus on countering Iran, and said it would not attend.

AMMAN, Jordan — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has begun a Mideast visit to talk to regional leaders about ramping up pressure on Iran.

Hosting a senior aide to US President Donald Trump in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on the administration to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Moscow will early next year host the leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey to discuss the Syrian conflict, Russia’s deputy foreign minister said Friday, after the United States announced it was withdrawing troops from the country.

TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to have tried in vain to persuade President Donald Trump to walk back his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, a move that was met with significant “disappointment” in Jerusalem, Israeli media reported. 

TEL AVIV – The soon-to-be-unveiled Middle East peace plan by the Trump administration will “be different from all previous ones,” outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said on Tuesday

President Donald Trump’s reported decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria could negatively impact the campaign to rid the country of Iranian influence while the pullout telegraphs a message of abandonment to our Kurdish allies and comes as Russia solidifies control in Syria.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley denounced the world body as “hopelessly biased” against Israel on Tuesday, using her parting address to the monthly Security Council meeting to outline the Trump administration’s Middle East peace plan.

TEL AVIV – Despite reports of a ceasefire, projectiles continued being launched at Israel from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon.