Palestinian president urges to end Israeli occupation in talks with Blinken - China.org.cn

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday told visiting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories must end through a political solution.

Israel bars all Palestinians after Tel Aviv attack

The Israeli army said Friday that it was temporarily barring all Palestinians from entering Israel, stepping up already tough restrictions announced after Palestinian gunmen shot dead four Israelis in Tel Aviv.

Attentat à Tel-Aviv : Israël gèle le permis d'entrée de 83 000 Palestiniens pendant le ramadan

Au lendemain de l'attentat commis par deux Palestiniens, qui a fait quatre morts à Tel-Aviv, Israël a annoncé jeudi le gel de dizaines de milliers de permis d'entrée délivrés à des Palestiniens pour le ramadan.

Palestinians seek U.N. vote on Israeli troop pullout

The Palestinian U.N. ambassador said Friday his government wants the U.N. Security Council to vote on a resolution before the end of the year that would set November 2016 as the deadline for Israeli troops to withdraw from all Palestinian territories.

Riyad Mansour said Friday that if the resolution is defeated - which is almost certain because of opposition from Israel's closest ally the United States and others - the Palestinians have other options.

Palestinians ask Australia to clarify stance on east Jerusalem (an "unoccupied" area)

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has officially asked Australia on Sunday to clarify the declaration of Australia's Attorney General that considered east Jerusalem as an "unoccupied" area.

Reyad al-Malki, the PNA minister of foreign affairs in the unity government told a news conference in Ramallah that his ministry summoned Australian ambassador to the PNA Thomas Wilson to hand him a letter of protest.

"We asked the Australian ambassador to present a clarification to the Australian Attorney General George Brandeis for declaring that Australia doesn't consider east Jerusalem as occupied area," said al-Malki.

Australia removes "occupied" from East Jerusalem

AFP, Sydney , Friday, 6 June 2014.- Australia has decided to remove the term “occupied” when referring to East Jerusalem in a move blasted by an opposition party leader Friday as “inflammatory” and “at odds with the peace process.”

The issue flared in the upper house Senate this week with Attorney-General George Brandis issuing a statement to clarify Canberra’s stance on the controversial question of the legality of settler homes.

Abbas et Peres au Vatican le 8 juin pour prier avec le pape

Cette date a été acceptée par les deux parties", a indiqué le porte-parole du Saint-Siège, le père Federico Lombardi....
 
Les présidents palestinien Mahmoud Abbas et israélien Shimon Peres se rendront au Vatican le 8 juin pour prier avec le pape François pour la paix au Proche-Orient, a annoncé le Vatican.

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.

L'extension du boycott inquiète de plus en plus Israël

Le ministère israélien des Affaires étrangères proteste officiellement auprès des Pays-Bas. Il juge inacceptable la décision d'un fond de pension qui brasse des milliards d'euros de boycotter les banques israéliennes. L'extension de ce mouvement qui rejette la politique israélienne dans les Territoires palestiniens occupés commence à inquiéter en Israël.

Le fond PGGM est l'un des plus grands des Pays-Bas: il affirme gérer 153 milliards d'euros. Il a annoncé cette semaine mettre fin à ses investissements dans les produits de cinq banques israéliennes car elles financent la construction des colonies dans les Territoires occupés. Ces colonies sont illégales au regard du droit international, parce que bâties sur des terres qui ne font pas partie de l'Etat israélien."Étant donné qu'il n'y a aucune perspective de changement dans un futur proche", PGGM a arrêté d'investir dans ces cinq banques à partir du 1er janvier 2014.

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.

"Go home": John Kerry in Palästina ausgepfiffen

John Kerry traf am Freitag den palästinensischen Präsident Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Der US-Außenminister wurde von Demonstranten beschimpft.

Mehrere Hundert Palästinenser haben vor einem Treffen von US-Außenminister John Kerry mit dem palästinensischen Präsident Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah gegen die US-Friedensbemühungen demonstriert. 

"Go home" skandierten Demonstranten am Freitag und beschimpften Kerry als "Feind des palästinensischen Volkes", der nur die Interessen Israels vertrete, wie die Zeitung "Haaretz" berichtete.

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.

EU auditors say aid money to Gaza paid to non-workers./La Cour des comptes de l'UE recommande de suspendre l'aide à Gaza

The European Union should stop funding Palestinian civil servants in the Gaza Strip because money is going to officials who do not work, European auditors said on Wednesday.

As the biggest aid donor to the Palestinian territories, EU taxpayers pay a fifth of the salaries of teachers, doctors and bureaucrats in the small coastal territory, which has been governed by the Islamist group Hamas since 2007.

But following an investigation into how EU aid is being spent, the European Court of Auditors has found that large numbers of recipients are providing no public service.

Israelis and Palestinians must refrain from undermining renewed talks – UN political chief

19 November 2013 – Four months since their resumption, Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have reached a delicate moment, the United Nations political chief told the Security Council today, warning that the consequences of failure would be dire for both parties.
“On the positive side, it appears that the negotiators have been engaging on substance and have gone some way towards narrowing their differences, notwithstanding the great difficulties that peace will entail. But strains have been growing dangerously between the parties, and these can and must be overcome,” said Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman.

Hollande: We won't allow a nuclear-armed Iran. -French president tells Israeli MPs that such a situation would be a threat to Israel and a threat to the region.

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Francois Hollande, the French president, has told Israeli MPs that his country would not allow Iran to secure a nuclear weapon, saying that such a situation was a threat to Israel and the region.
To loud applause inside the Israeli parliament, Hollande said: "We have nothing against Iran, or its people, but we cannot allow Iran to get nuclear arms as it is a threat to Israel and the region."