Call for referendum on peace deal panned by Liberman, Livni

End Of Days News

Avigdor Liberman, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman and head of the hawkish Yisrael Beytenu, referred in recent weeks to referendums as a way for “decision makers to run away from responsibility.”

On Friday, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced that both the Israelis and Palestinians had agreed to a “framework” for the resumption of talks. The Palestinians, however, have yet to confirm their participation.

Livni, who is charged with heading the Israeli negotiating team, Netanyahu’s envoy Yitzhak Molcho and Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat would meet in Washington in the coming days to begin the process for the renewal of negotiations, Kerry said.

Read More: http://www.timesofisrael.com/call-for-referendum-on-peace-deal-panned-by-liberman-livni/

Kerry: Israeli ‘prosperity’ preventing sense of urgency about peace

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Israelis’ “sense of security” prevents them from feeling sufficient urgency to resume peace talks with the Palestinians, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Jerusalem Thursday, warning of fast-approaching “challenges” that required a change of approach for the Jewish State.

“I think there is an opportunity [for peace], but for many reasons it’s not on the tips of everyone’s tongue,” Kerry told reporters before entering a meeting with President Shimon Peres. “People in Israel aren’t waking up every day and wondering if tomorrow there will be peace because there is a sense of security and a sense of accomplishment and of prosperity.”

Read More: http://www.timesofisrael.com/kerry-israeli-prosperity-preventing-sense-of-urgency-about-peace/

Erdogan: Fatah must cooperate with Hamas en route to Mideast peace

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Joel 3: 1: For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

2: I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

Visiting Washington, Turkish prime minister slams Netanyahu government for oppposing Palestinian state, calls on Israel to ‘retreat to 1967 lines’

Without an internal Palestinian reunification deal, there is little chance Israeli-Palestinian peace talks can lead anywhere, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday during a visit to the US.

Speaking to reporters at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, Erdogan said, “There will be no negotiations without Hamas, therefore Fatah must cooperate with it.”

Palestinian unity talksstalled after the last set of meetings, held in Cairo in February, failed to mend the rift between Fatah and Hamas and send the Palestinians to parliamentary elections. The two parties signed a reconciliation deal in 2011, but it has yet to be implemented, and the particulars of the agreement remain undefined. The two parties were split on issues regarding the Palestine National Council, the PLO parliament, and legislative and presidential elections in the Palestinian territories. In recent days, Palestinian officials have again spoken of a possible unity deal within three months.

Read More: http://www.timesofisrael.com/erdogan-says-palestinian-unity-critical-for-mideast-peace/

One Jerusalem. Undivided. Open to all. Controlled by Israel

End Of Days News

One Jerusalem. Undivided. Open to all. Controlled by Israel

Nir Barkat says he doesn’t know who’ll be running against him for the Jerusalem mayoralty in October, but he’s confident he can defeat all-comers. That’s because, he says, he’s turned the city round — economically, educationally, culturally, and even politically — reducing tensions between different sectors, and gradually impressing upon all residents of the city, emphatically including East Jerusalemites, that he seeks to improve the quality of life for all.

Still, he cautions, the renaissance of Israel’s capital is a work-in-progress, and it would be a dreadful retrograde step if he was not re-elected to complete it. “We want to put a lot of gas on the pedal. For me, the next term is crucial,” he says. “Don’t stop the momentum. Let us continue the positive momentum,” he urges.

Read More: http://www.timesofisrael.com/one-jerusalem-undivided-open-to-all-controlled-by-israel/

Obama phones Netanyahu over ‘regional security issues’

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US President Barack Obama spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone Wednesday to discuss regional security issues and Middle East peace, the White House said.

A brief statement said the two leaders agreed to continue their “close coordination.”

The call came amid a renewed peace push by the Americans and days after Israel reportedly carried out a number of airstrikes on weapons transfers within Syria, a move US officials said Washington backed.

The Obama administration has said it is considering providing weapons to vetted units in the armed opposition, among other military options, following last week’s revelation of a US intelligence assessment suggested chemical weapons use by the Assad regime. The US also is looking for ways to halt the violence that has killed more than 70,000 people.

Read More: http://www.timesofisrael.com/obama-phones-netanyahu-over-regional-security-issues/

‘Obama won’t bring peace plan or even general framework’ to Israel

End Of Days News

Multiple sources reject Israeli TV report on US president’s briefing for Jewish leaders, but one says he spoke of possible ‘policy initiative’ 6-12 months from now

 

 

NEW YORK — President Barack Obama will not be bringing any peace plan or even a “general framework” with him on his trip to Israel later this month, and he did not say he would in a briefing with Jewish leaders at the White House Thursday, according to sources in the administration and several participants in the meeting.

 

According to one participant, however, the president said: “That doesn’t mean six or nine or 12 months from now we won’t be in the midst of a policy initiative.”

 

Earlier Thursday, Israel’s Channel 10 reported that Obama planned to present a “general framework” for Israeli-Palestinian peace during his visit, quoting what it said were remarks made by the president in the White House briefing.

 

While he would not unveil a “comprehensive Middle East peace plan” during the trip, the Israeli TV report said, he told the Jewish leaders they should not rule out him doing so “sometime in the next six, nine or 12 months.”

 

A US source familiar with the White House’s plans for the trip described the Channel 10 report as “absolutely false.”

 

A senior administration official told The Times of Israel: “The president did invite leaders from across the American Jewish community to discuss and get input about his upcoming trip to Israel. He did not present a framework for peace talks.”

 

Read More: http://www.timesofisrael.com/obama-wont-bring-peace-plan-or-even-general-framework-to-israel/

Netanyahu mulling minor ‘land transfer’ to Palestinians ahead of Obama visit

End Of Days News

Package of goodwill gestures — including approval of building requests, release of prisoners and transfer of ammunition — reportedly drawn up by defense establishment

 

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly mulling transferring responsibility for small areas of West Bank land to the Palestinian Authority as part of a package of major goodwill gestures drawn up by the defense establishment ahead of US President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to the region.

 

According to a report in Maariv on Tuesday, the gestures will include the transfer of authority over two access roads — one to the new Palestinian city Rawabi, and the other to the West Bank city of Tulkarem — to full Palestinian control, the approval of building plans for 10 Palestinian villages currently deemed illegal and under threat of being demolished, the release of many of the 123 Fatah prisoners arrested by Israel before the Oslo peace talks, and the transfer of small arms ammunition to the Palestinian security forces.

 

The report states that the gestures were discussed in the past in talks with Quartet envoy Tony Blair, but Netanyahu rejected them. The defense establishment reportedly drew up the plans while explaining to Netanyahu that the moves would not be a major political liability for the prime minister, but could create a positive global public relations effect.

 

Netanyahu made brief reference to Israeli concessions in his Monday address to the AIPAC Policy Conference, but focused more on Israel’s imperative to ensure its security.

 

“Israel is prepared for a meaningful compromise, but as Israel’s prime minister I will never compromise on our security,” Netanyahu told the Washington gathering by satellite feed from Jerusalem, noting that Israel had withdrawn from south Lebanon and Gaza, “and we got terror. That can’t happen a third time.”

 

“Israel seeks a peace with our Palestinian neighbors, a peace that will end our conflict once and for all,” he insisted, “but that peace must be grounded in reality and in security…. In the Middle East, a peace you cannot defend will not hold for five minutes.”

 

Netanyahu’s caution was in keeping with US Vice President Joe Biden’s decidedly pessimistic tone on the prospects of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

 

“It’s going to require hard steps on all sides, but we all have a profound interest in peace,” Biden told the conference. “We’ve got to get caught trying,” he quipped, quoting former US president Bill Clinton.

 

“So we remain deeply engaged. As President Obama has said, while there are those who question whether this goal will ever be reached, we have no apologies for continuing to pursue this goal.”

 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-mulling-minor-land-transfer-to-palestinians-ahead-of-obama-visit/