PA demands end to settlement construction, release prisoners.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday reiterated his demand for a full cessation of settlement construction and the release of Palestinian prisoners before returning to the negotiating table with Israel.   Abbas raised with visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry the issues of continued construction in settlements, Israeli assaults on Jerusalem, settler assaults and the continued incarceration of...

UNRWA representative pictured holding a map showing Israel as ‘Palestine.’ UNRWA's explanations fail to satisfy.

The United Nations’ Relief and Works Agency is again facing accusations of supporting anti-Israel sentiment. In the latest incident, the UNRWA director in Lebanon, Ann Dismorr, was pictured posing with a map that showed all of Israel as “Palestine.”   The picture was made public by the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) organization.   The map...

PLO negotiator says PA will hold off on applying to join UN institutions to give peace a chance, then blasts Israel's "apartheid'.

The PLO’s chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said on Monday that while the PA has done all the legal work necessary to join 63 UN agencies, conventions and treaties, it will hold off on applying for now in order to give U.S. efforts to resume peace talks a chance to succeed.   At the same time, he slammed Israel as an “apartheid...

Hamas student group posts cartoon with ‘Palestine’ throwing Star of David in the trash.

The Hamas-affiliated student union in Gaza published a cartoon Tuesday in which a person whose body is made of a Palestinian Authority flag is seen throwing a Star of David – one of the best-known Jewish symbols – into a garbage can.   Text under the picture says, “Keep the world clean.”   The cartoon uses a Star of David rather than an explicitly Israeli...

WASHINGTON – A bipartisan group of congressmen condemned comments made by a Palestinian Fatah official in support of the murderer of an Israeli father of five.   The letter sent to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday strongly condemned Fatah’s Sultan Abu Al-Einein following his “open support for the murderer of Eviatar Borovsky,” and called for him to be removed from office.   Al-Einein called the terrorist an “heroic...

Senior PA official says if PA had a nuclear weapon, ‘we’d have used it this very morning.’

If the Palestinian Authority had advanced weapons, it would destroy Israel rather than negotiating, senior PA official Jibril Rajoub said recently, speaking to Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen TV. The interview was translated and publicized by the Palestinian Media Watch organization.   The TV host asked Rajoub if the PA intends to return to “the negotiations game.” Rajoub...

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will temporarily refrain from unilateral action against Israel to give peace talks a chance to resume.

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will temporarily refrain from unilateral action against Israel to give U.S.-brokered peace talks a chance to resume, a PA official told AFP on Thursday.   "Abbas and the Palestinian leadership have decided to give a sufficient chance for (U.S. Secretary of State John) Kerry's efforts to succeed,"...

Jailed Fatah leader would defeat Abbas, Haniyeh in PA presidential elections; poll finds 55% support a two-state solution.



Jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti would defeat Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in  presidential elections, a public opinion poll published on Monday showed.

Conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, the poll covered 1,270 Palestinians and has a margin of error of 3%.



The poll...