Closed for the Holidays

No talks until Israel halts settlements: PLO
By Ali Sawafta Ramallah, West Bank | Sun Oct 3, 2010 6:37am EDT Ramallah, West Bank (Reuters) - Direct Talks with Israel will not resume unless it halts the building of Jewish Settlements on occupied land, the Palestinian leadership said on Saturday. U.S.-backed Peace Talks, launched a month ago in Washington, were plunged into crisis this week by the end of a 10-month Israeli Moratorium on new settlement building in the West Bank. Israel has said it will not extend the freeze. "The resumption...

Jamal Dajani: The Making of a Virtual Palestinian State
U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell has been frantically shuttling between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem in order to salvage the month-old direct negotiations. The European Union's Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton has also been recruited to throw the weight of the EU behind the peace efforts. Even President Obama himself has been personally involved, trying to find "common ground between the parties." In fact, in...

PLO backs quitting peace talks over Israel settlements
The decision by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Saturday strengthened president Mahmud Abbas, who has threatened to shun US-backed Talks relaunched a month ago over the recent resumption of building in the West Bank. However, Abbas has said he would not make a final decision on the Talks until after meeting Arab Foreign Ministers in Libya on Friday, giving US mediators another few days to try to strike a Compromise. "The resumption of negotiations requires tangible steps from...

Palestinians issue talks threat
The Palestinian leadership has said it will not continue Peace Talks with Israel unless a freeze on Jewish Settlements in the West Bank resumes. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met political leaders after settlement building resumed this week. "The leadership confirms that the resumption of Talks requires tangible steps, the first of them a freeze on Settlements," said senior Palestinian official Yasser Abed Rabbo. Israel said the Talks should continue. Continue reading...

PLO demands settlements freeze before peace talks
Leaders of the main moderate Palestinian factions yesterday voted to oppose further negotiations while building continues in Jewish Settlements, amid increasing US frustration at Israel's refusal to prolong a 10-month Moratorium on construction. The Palestinian Liberation Organisation executive decided that any resumption of direct Peace Talks – the first for 21 months – "requires tangible steps, the first of them a freeze on Settlements". A senior PLO official, Yasser Abed Rabbo,...

No talks until Israel halts settlements, PLO says
By Ali Sawafta Ramallah, West Bank | Sat Oct 2, 2010 4:59pm EDT Ramallah, West Bank (Reuters) - Direct Talks with Israel will not resume unless it halts the building of Jewish Settlements on occupied land, the Palestinian leadership said on Saturday. U.S.-backed Peace Talks, launched a month ago in Washington, were plunged into crisis this week by the end of a 10-month Israeli Moratorium on new settlement building in the West Bank. Israel has said it will not extend the freeze. "The resumption...

Maan News Agency: Mitchell tours region in bid to save talks
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- As Palestinian leaders meet in Ramallah, US Envoy to the Middle East Peace process George Mitchell began a tour of the region in an attempt to secure the backing of the Arab World for continued Peace Talks. With an Arab League meeting planned for 6 October, White House officials said Mitchell left Jerusalem for Doha on Friday where he will meet with officials early on Saturday then travel to Cairo and Amman on Sunday. "We continue to urge the parties to continue in these...

Mideast peace talks stall after West Bank settlement freeze expires
Jerusalem — The month-old U.S.-led Peace process fell further into jeopardy Saturday, as senior Israeli and Palestinian leadership maintained their steadfast and opposite positions on Israel's West Bank settlement construction. Dozens of senior Palestinian leaders announced Saturday that they would support President Mahmoud Abbas' refusal to take part in Peace Talks, as long as Israel continued to expand its Settlements. "The Palestinian position is clear," said senior...

Peace talks stall over Israel's West Bank settlement policy
Jerusalem —The month-old U.S.-led Peace process fell further into jeopardy Saturday, as senior Israeli and Palestinian leadership maintained their steadfast and opposite positions on Israel’s West Bank settlement construction. Dozens of senior Palestinian leaders announced Saturday that they would support President Mahmoud Abbas’ refusal to take part in Peace Talks, as long as Israel continued to expand its Settlements. “The Palestinian position is clear," said senior...

PLO urges Abbas to quit peace talks
An influential Palestinian body has urged the Palestinian president to quit direct Talks with Israel, saying there should be no further Peace Talks as long as Israel continued settlement construction in the occupied territories. Reading from a statement on Saturday, Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's Executive Committee, said Israel's failure to extend a 10-month partial freeze in settlement construction in the West Bank...

PM supports continued talks: 'We have a mission for peace'
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told US Special Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell that Israel wants to continue negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, in a meeting on Friday in Jerusalem. In his opening words, Netanyahu said: "We are making a joint effort with Senator Mitchell to continue Talks with [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas. We want to continue Talks, and I want it." RELATED: Mitchell, Ashton to meet leaders for Peace Talks push Arab League postpones meeting with...

US Envoy in Effort to Save Mideast Talks
Published : Friday, 01 Oct 2010, 6:02 PM CDT Jerusalem (AP) - A U.S. Envoy is shuttling between Jerusalem and Ramallah in an effort to salvage Mideast Peace Talks facing collapse because of a spat over Jewish Settlements. George Mitchell is meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders at odds over the end Israel's temporary settlement slowdown. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to quit the Talks if the restrictions are not extended. Israel has refused to extend the curbs. Abbas...

Between stumbling peace efforts, then and now, an Israeli settlement in West Bank expands
REVAVA, West Bank — The American president was pushing hard for a Mideast Peace agreement when six Jewish families arrived on this West Bank hilltop early one morning with cribs, refrigerators, Israeli flags and flatbed trucks carrying Mobile Homes. White House condemnation came quickly: "Settlements are an obstacle to Peace and their continuation does not contribute to the development of a Peace process which we have all been working toward." It was April 16, 1991. Since then Peace...

Peace talks come and go, but a settlement grows
It was April 16, 1991. Since then Peace Talks have started, stopped, restarted, and now it's President Barack Obama's turn to feel frustrated. Last week Israel ended its temporary settlement slowdown, Palestinians threatened to quit the Talks Obama has brokered, and settlers were celebrating in Revava, where those first trailers have been replaced by red-roofed suburban homes and six families have become 250. The story is the same across the West Bank, where Settlements have evolved from tenuous...

West Asia Peace Talks are a Game for Netanyahu
The much-hyped Middle East Peace Talks are facing a dead end, with all parties standing rigid and unmoving in their positions. As the self-imposed partial freeze of settlement building  expired on September 26, the building resumed, despite warnings and requests from the US establishment. Eretz Yisrael Although the Peace Talks were supposed to be held without preconditions, the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mr. Abbas, declared before the Talks that Israel must freeze its...

Peace talks come and go, but a settlement grows
REVAVA, West Bank -   The American president was pushing hard for a Mideast Peace agreement when six Jewish families arrived on this West Bank hilltop early one morning with cribs, refrigerators, Israeli flags and flatbed trucks carrying Mobile Homes. White House condemnation came quickly: "Settlements are an obstacle to Peace and their continuation does not contribute to the development of a Peace process which we have all been working toward." It was April 16, 1991. Since then...

Israeli Jews celebrate Palestinian Oktoberfest
TAYBEH, West Bank -   This Palestinian village celebrates Oktoberfest each year even though it's a tiny Christian enclave in a Muslim-majority area, under Israeli occupation. But on Saturday, Israeli Jews were among those sipping the signature, honey-colored Palestinian Beer, providing an unlikely sight after years of forced separation at the height of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Held in the tiny Christian village of Taybeh — the name of the village, and the Beer, means...

Israeli Jews raise a glass of Palestinian beer in Oktoberfest in West Bank village of Taybeh
TAYBEH, West Bank — This Palestinian village celebrates Oktoberfest each year even though it's a tiny Christian enclave in a Muslim-majority area, under Israeli occupation. But on Saturday, Israeli Jews were among those sipping the signature, honey-colored Palestinian Beer, providing an unlikely sight after years of forced separation at the height of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Held in the tiny Christian village of Taybeh — the name of the village, and the Beer, means "tasty" in...

Senior Palestinians close ranks behind Abbas: No peace talks without Israeli settlement freeze
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends a meeting with the leading members of the PLO in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday. (Majdi Mohammed/AP) Ramallah, West Bank — Dozens of senior Palestinians on Saturday backed President Mahmoud Abbas' refusal to negotiate with Israel as long as it builds in West Bank Settlements, dealing a new setback to troubled U.S. efforts to salvage Peace Talks. Israel refuses to extend a 10-month-old curb on settlement construction, while Abbas...