BY JONATHAN SCHANZER, COMMENTARY— On May 3, Hamas and Fatah, the two largest and most influential Palestinian factions, created a unity government. Following a brutal civil war in 2007 that left Hamas in control of the Gaza Strip, the two foes appeared to be locked in an intractable conflict. Then, seemingly out of the blue,…
BY ANNE BAYEFSKY, JPOST— On Friday at 6 p.m. the Obama administration promise to fix the disreputable UN Human Rights Council by becoming a member died a predictable death at the UN General Assembly. Knowing they were headed for certain defeat, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Esther Brimmer, spoke to a…
BY EARL COX Recent news reports declare that President Barack Obama once again tried to bully Israel into making land concessions that would strengthen and embolden Israel’s enemies. He again declared that Israel should pull back to the pre-1967 Six Day War borders, and he audaciously added that they should do it in 30 days.…
BY CAROLINE GLICK, JPOST— Outgoing US Defense Secretary Robert Gates is worried about the shape of things to come in US foreign policy. In an interview with Newsweek over the weekend, Gates sounded the warning bells. In Gates’ words, “I’ve spent my entire adult life with the United States as a superpower, and one that…
KHALED ABU TOAMEH — The Hudson Institute — As the world focuses its attention on the Palestinian Authority’s plan to ask the United Nations in September to recognize a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 lines, the Palestinian political scene is in disarray as a result of power struggles, personal and political rivalries and divisions. Everyone…
BY YORAM ETTINGER— President Obama pressures Israel to adopt his initiative, which is based on the 1949 ceasefire lines, including the repartitioning of Jerusalem and land swaps. He implies that Israeli rejection of his initiative would undermine US-Israel relations, while advancing Palestinian maneuvers at the UN. However, Obama lacks the domestic backing to effectively pressure…
BY ELI LAKE, THE WASHINGTON TIMES— The White House is pressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly adopt President Obama’s view that Israel’s pre-1967 borders should be the basis for future peace talks. A senior administration official Friday told American Jewish leaders that the request for Israel to endorse the president’s peace principles was…
BY CLIFF MAY, TOWNHALL— When President Obama said last month that “Israel cannot be expected to negotiate with Palestinians who do not recognize its right to exist,” he was referring to Hamas. In its charter, Hamas calls Palestine an “Islamic endowment” and specifically rules out a peaceful solution to the conflict with Israel. Hamas describes…
BY STAN GOODENOUGH— News Item#1: The United States has been holding separate talks with Israeli and Palestinian delegates to see if they are willing to go back to the negotiating table based on Obama’s May 19 speech. (Ha’aretz, June 7, 2011) News Item#2: Seventy-seven percent of Israelis oppose returning to pre-1967 lines even if it…
BY ISRAEL TODAY— Just as Israeli officials feared, US President Barack Obama’s “vision” of pushing Israel back to it’s 1967 borders has become the basis for international peace efforts in the Middle East. Last week, France offered to host renewed peace talks based on the “Obama vision.” Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas at the weekend accepted…