peace process

Palestinian youth are calling for a silent protest this Saturday outside the headquarters of Palestinian Authority ruler Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah to protest the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in Jordan.

The human rights organization Al Haq published a new report on the illegality of ‘land swap’ agreements that warns Palestinian leaders that as long as Israel occupies the Palestinian territory, any ‘land swap’ agreement is contrary to international law.

The PLO “chief negotiator” Saeb Erekat has categorically denied a report in The Washington Post suggesting that the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership that he represents has dropped its insistence that Israel halt settlement construction in the occupied West Bank before resuming US-brokered negotiations with Israel.

President Barack Obama laid out in a little bit more detail a US “vision” of what “peace” would look like in his much anticipated speech on US policy in the Middle East and North Africa, there was precious little new. Moreover, the speech affirmed that the United States will not take any effective action to advance its vision of a two-state solution.

Exclusive: Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas plans to allow Israel to annex settlements in the West Bank even if UN agrees to recognize a Palestinian state “on the 1967 borders” in September.

A remarkable editorial in The New York Times this morning calling on President Obama to resume the “peace process” between Israelis and Palestinians (President Obama and the Peace Process). It’s remarkable for how detached it is from reality.

It is time for Mr. Obama — alone or, better yet, in concert with Europe, Russia and the United Nations — to put a map and a deal on the table.