By Israel Hayom— Israeli officials on Monday leveled harsh criticism at Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for his speech on Sunday in which he railed against U.S. President Donald Trump, rebuking him for his Dec. 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and for “mistreating” the Palestinians. Using particularly jarring language, Abbas said, “Trump, ‘ikhrab…
By Caroline Glick, JPost- The PLO and the Palestinian cause more generally are sinking into irrelevance and rather than reform their policies to rebuild their position, they have adopted a scorched earth policy that only intensifies their race to the bottom. On the face of things, the situation isn’t bad. Last month the PLO got…
By AFP News— A top aide to US President Donald Trump said Thursday that an emerging Palestinian unity government must recognise Israel and disarm Hamas, following a landmark reconciliation deal signed last week. “Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognise the state of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the…
By Caroline Glick, JPOST— On Friday, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis will visit Israel as part of a tour of the region that will bring him to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Djibouti. The declared purpose of Mattis’s trip is to “reaffirm key US military alliances, engage with strategic partners in the Middle East…
By Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone— Some 300 members of the Palestinian Fatah faction, headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, have begun receiving “military training” in the Gaza Strip in preparation for war with Israel. The armed wing of Fatah, Aqsa Martyrs Brigades – The Martyr Nidal Al-Amoudi Division, announced that its members have…
By: Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik, Palwatch— On the occasion of Nakba day – the day Palestinians commemorate “the catastrophe” of the establishment of the State of Israel – Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement reiterated its message that there is no room for Israel in the region. The movement posted the following text on its…
By ITAMAR MARCUS AND NAN JACQUES ZILBERDIK, PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH— Even at the height of the peace negotiations with Israel, in December 2013, Fatah official Tawfiq Tirawi said that Palestinians were not committed to non-violence. Rather, he said that negotiations are just one option, and do not preclude use of the “rifle,” which the Palestinians…
by KHALED ABU TOAMEH, GATESTONE— The Fatah leaders are yearning for the days of Yasser Arafat, when they were able to steal international aid earmarked for helping Palestinians. The Palestinians’ problem with Fayyad is that he did not sit even one day on an Israeli prison. For them, graduating from an Israeli prisons even more…
By DAVID BEDEIN— On February 5, the reconstituted US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Middle East and North Africa held a subcommittee hearing on the subject of “Fatah-Hamas Reconciliation: Threatening Peace Prospects.” Two senior expert witnesses from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy testified and expressed optimism that US-trained Palestinian Security Forces, affiliated with…
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,…