Middle East

By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — It’s not hard to agree that the settlement movement in Israel—a hybrid of indigenous religious zealots and immigrant fundamentalists from places like Chicago, Toronto, and Johannesburg—is something of a complication for the peace process.  This is true even though the overwhelming majority of Israelis—people making car payments, trying

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — It was they who put on the table the demand for a total freeze in Jewish construction throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The result was to increase the political demands of the Palestinians, as well as the Israeli settlers and their supporters.  Increasing demands of both sides before the start of

NEW YORK (Press Release)–Following is a transcript of remarks made by President Barack Obama to the General Assembly of the United Nations on Thursday, Sept. 23: THE PRESIDENT:  Mr. President, Mr. Secretary-General, my fellow delegates, ladies and gentlemen.  It is a great honor to address this Assembly for the second time, nearly two years after my

By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Obama administration has announced a $60 billion sale to Saudi Arabia, including include 84 F-15 fighter planes, 70 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, 72 UH-60 Blackhawk utility helicopters, and 36 MH-6 Little Bird surveillance helicopters. The package also includes HARM anti-radar missiles, more precision-guided JDAM bombs, Hellfire air-to-ground missiles

NEW YORK (WJC)–Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has signaled that a renewal of settlement construction in the West Bank might not necessarily mean the end of the current peace talks with Israel. Abbas met on the sidelines of the UN summit in New York with American Jewish leaders for dinner. According to a transcript of

LONDON (WJC)–The British intelligence service MI6 used bombs and covert tactics to try to thwart the settlement of Palestine by Jewish refugees in the aftermath of World War II, according to a new book by Keith Jeffery on the history of  MI6 during the first part of the 20th century. Jeffery, a historian from Northern

NEW YORK (WJC)–President Shimon Peres has told the UN Millennium Development Goals summit in New York that Israel was ready to enter peace talks with Syria “straight away”. He offered to share Israeli technological advances with other nations, including countries without diplomatic ties to Israel. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Lebanese President Michel Suleiman left

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)–The Quartet of the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia on Tuesday, Septe. 21, issued the following statement regarding the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations: “The Quartet expressed its strong support for the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, which can resolve all final status issues within one year. The Quartet reaffirmed its full

JERUSALEM (Press Release)–U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was interviewed in Jerusalem by Israel Channel 10 personality Yaakov Eilon on Sept. 16.  The transcript of thier interview was just released. QUESTION: Madam Secretary, thank you very much for speaking with us at Channel 10. Welcome to Jerusalem. SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you. It’s wonderful to be back.

TEL AVIV (WJC)–Ehud Olmert, Israel’s former prime minister, has said in a speech that the Bush administration in the United States would have accepted 100,000 Palestinian refugees had Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accepted his diplomatic overtures in 2008. In a speech at Tel Aviv’s Eretz Israel Museum, Olmert outlined the offer he made the Palestinians at

JERUSALEM (Press Release)– The U.S. State Department released the following transcript of an interview of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by Christiane Amanpour of ABC Television Network.  It was conducted on September 16. QUESTION: Madam Secretary, thank you for joining us. SECRETARY CLINTON: It’s a pleasure. Thank you for being here in Jerusalem. QUESTION: How are