By Karen DeYoung, Steve Hendrix and John Hudson, The Washington Post—- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that the Trump administration had determined that Israel’s West Bank settlements do not violate international law, a decision he said had “increased the likelihood” of a Middle East peace settlement. Pompeo said the Trump administration, as it…
By Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, Ettinger Report— The US position on the future of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) should be based on US interests in the context of a violent, volcanic, uncontrollable and unpredictable Middle East. On September 18, 1970, the pro-USSR Syrian military invaded Jordan in an attempt to topple the pro-US…
By Ken Cohen, Israel Hayom— The Palestinian Authority has been a hotbed of corruption and financial mismanagement since its birth in 1993 under Yasser Arafat. This has been an impediment both to Palestinian self-rule and to peace with Israel. Arafat’s successor, PA President Mahmoud Abbas – now serving the fifteenth year of his four-year term…
By Israel Hayom—- Yisrael Beytenu’s Avigdor Lieberman was not in good spirits Wednesday afternoon when he predicted that Israel was likely on its way to a third election, just two months after Israelis went to the polls in what was in an of itself a revote. Speaking at a press conference, Lieberman ruled out joining…
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Breaking Israel News— While much of the world screamed at the Trump administration’s announcement that international law does indeed grant Israel the right to Judea and Samaria, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the opportunity to move forward towards redemption. U.S. Opens the Door and Netanyahu Jumps Right In On Monday,…
By David Horovitz, Times of Israel— Israel has presented to senior members of the Trump administration a major, long-term economic proposal to employ a quarter of a million Palestinians in Israeli-run West Bank industrial zones, and to develop up to two dozen major West Bank Biblical tourism sites with a focus on Evangelical Christian visitors,…
By Yaakov Katz, JPost— In a historic reversal of US policy, the Trump administration announced on Monday that it does not view Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal. The policy change was announced by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington. “After carefully studying all sides of the legal debate, this administration agrees…
By Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone— Iran’s Palestinian proxies, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), after last week’s round of aggression towards Israel, are said to be at odds with each other. PIJ is reportedly disturbed that Hamas did not join in firing rockets at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of senior PIJ commander Bahaa…