Global impunity fuels Israel’s illegal push to annex West Bank: Amnesty

The international community’s lack of action in taking punitive action against Israel over its pervasive breaches of international law in the occupied West Bank has contributed to making the annexation of Palestinian territory an “irreversible” reality, Amnesty International has said.

О поселенческой активности Израиля на оккупированных палестинских территориях : МИД РФ

МИД РФ/СООБЩЕНИЕ ДЛЯ СМИ:
"10 января в Израиле было объявлено об одобрении планов по возведению более 1100 единиц жилья в 20 поселениях на Западном берегу р.Иордан. По поступающей информации, в ближайшее время могут быть согласованы дополнительные строительные проекты Израиля на оккупированных палестинских территориях.

Israeli Jets Attacked by Missiles From Syrian Territory

Israeli Air Force planes were targeted from the ground after they attacked several targets on the territory of Syria, a spokesperson of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told Sputnik on Friday.

U.N. slams Israel destroying Jordan valley homes

The U.N. humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories Friday criticized Israel’s demolition of 36 homes in the Jordan Valley and urged a halt to such actions in the West Bank.
Hundreds of activists, meanwhile, staged an overnight demonstration in the Jordan Valley region.
The moves came as fresh opinion poll evidence showed that faith in the Middle East peace process has largely evaporated among both Israelis and Palestinians.
The demolitions in the Jordan Valley community of Ain el-Helwe on Thursday displaced 66 people, including 36 children, James Rawley said in a statement.

Israel summons EU ambassadors over 'blame Israel' policy

Israel’s foreign minister has summoned EU ambassadors over what he called their “one-sided stance” against the Jewish state, which he says undermines regional peace efforts. The move comes as Israeli envoys in the EU were called in over settlements.
Israeli FM Avigdor Lieberman called in the ambassadors of the UK, France, Italy and Spain and “stress[ed] to them that their perpetual one-sided stance against Israel and in favor of the Palestinians is unacceptable and creates the impression they are only seeking ways to blame Israel," AFP cites his spokesman as saying in a statement.

Νέο σχέδιο κατασκευής 272 κατοικιών σε εβραϊκούς οικισμούς της Δυτικής Όχθης

Ένα σχέδιο για την κατασκευή 272 κατοικιών σε εβραϊκούς οικισμούς στη Δυτική Όχθη εγκρίθηκε την παραμονή της αναχώρησης του υπουργού Εξωτερικών των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών Τζον Κέρι, αποκάλυψε σήμερα η οργάνωση κατά του εποικισμού «Ειρήνη Τώρα».
Η κατασκευή 250 κατοικιών στον οικισμό της Όφρα (κέντρο) και άλλων 22 στην Κάρνελ Σόμρον (βόρεια) εγκρίθηκε την Κυριακή (χθες), σύμφωνα με ένα επίσημο έγγραφο που δημοσιοποιήθηκε στην ιστοσελίδα της ισραηλινής στρατιωτικής διοίκησης που είναι υπεύθυνη για τον εποικισμό, ανακοίνωσε η μη κυβερνητική οργάνωση, εκτιμώντας πως "η κατασκευή μπορεί να αρχίσει σύντομα".

Netanyahu hints he's willing to give up empty West Bank land

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has hinted on Monday that he is fine with giving up empty West Bank land as a part of a peace agreement with the Palestinians, but stressed that he has a problem with evacuating settlements.

Speaking at the Likud faction meeting, Netanyahu told party MKs that he is persuading Kerry of many of Israel's positions.

Erekat: Palestinians have most at stake in peace talks . -Kerry returns to Jerusalem to meet with Netanyahu following Abbas meeting

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat urged Israel to stop building Jewish settlements over the Green Line, on land the Palestinians want for a future state and to halt house demolitions, which rights groups view as a form of collective punishment.

But Erekat, standing beside US Secretary of State Kerry in a meeting Saturday in Ramallah, also made a case for peace directly to the Palestinians.

Μερική πρόοδο στις διαπραγματεύσεις Ισραήλ – Παλαιστίνης διαπιστώνει ο Κέρι

Το Ισραήλ και οι Παλαιστίνιοι έχουν πραγματοποιήσει πρόοδο στις διαπραγματεύσεις για την υπογραφή ενός πλαισίου ειρηνευτικής συμφωνίας, αλλά ακόμη δεν το έχουν επιτύχει, δήλωσε ο υπουργός Εξωτερικών των ΗΠΑ Τζον Κέρι από τη Δυτική Όχθη.

Ο ίδιος είπε ότι αύριο Κυριακή θα επισκεφθεί τη Σαουδική Αραβία όπου θα έχει συνομιλίες με τον βασιλιά Αμπντάλα.
Ο Κέρι προέβη στη δήλωση αυτή ύστερα από συνομιλίες που διήρκεσαν περίπου τρεις ώρες με τον παλαιστίνιο πρόεδρο Μαχμούντ Αμπάς, στην έδρα της παλαιστινιακής κυβέρνησης στη Δυτική Όχθη.

Israeli politicians visit controversial Jordan Valley prior to Kerry's visit

JERUSALEM, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- A team of Israeli right-wing parliament members on Thursday inaugurated a new neighborhood in a settlement in the Jordan Valley, few hours before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to visit the region.

Israeli Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar, who led the delegation, said Israel will not have strategic depth if it withdraws from the Jordan Valley and the Israel Defense Forces should maintain its presence in the area "for all eternity," Israel Radio reported.

"We are here in the Jordan valley out of recognition that during these days, one of the most crucial issues to Israel's future is at stake," Sa'ar said.

There are 21 Jewish settlements and reported near 7,000 Jews in the Jordan Valley annexed by Israel amid the 1967 Mideast War.

Israeli ministers endorse legislation to annex part of West Bank

The Israeli proposal to incorporate the Jordan Valley within its borders, endorsed by the cabinet's legislative committee, was the first Israeli step in years to annex any territory occupied in 1967. 

A panel of Israeli cabinet ministers endorsed proposed legislation on Sunday to annex an area of the occupied West Bank likely to be the eastern border of a new Palestinian state.
The move, pushed by far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, could weigh on troubled U.S.-brokered peace negotiations several days before another visit to the region by Secretary of State John Kerry.
But centrist Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who also heads Israel's negotiations with the Palestinians, immediately challenged the motion, and said she would use her powers to block the legislation from being voted on in Parliament.
Peace talks have shown few signs of progress since Kerry oversaw their renewal in July after a three-year deadlock.

Arab League slams US security ideas for future Palestinian state

The Arab League on Saturday rejected US proposals that would allow Israeli soldiers to be stationed on the eastern border of a future Palestinian state, underscoring the challenge facing a US effort to wrap up a peace deal by April.
At an emergency meeting called at the request of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday, Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby said there could be not one Israeli soldier in the territory of a future Palestine.