PA to stop security cooperation with Israel if US ‘peace deal’ is applied
Middle East Monitor / February 4, 2020
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas said he would stop security cooperation with Israel if the US insisted on implementing the deal of the century, Arab48 reported yesterday.
“We will stop the security cooperation and will not accept US replacement of its legitimacy with the international...
Fatah calls for turning the PA into civil service body
Middle East Monitor / February 4, 2020
Member of Fatah Central Committee Nasser Al Qudwa called for turning the Palestinian Authority (PA) into a civil service body, Al Wattan Voice reported yesterday.
Al Qudwa said the measure would help Palestinians undermine US President Donald Trump’s “peace plan” for the Middle East dubbed the...
Ex-Israel army chief admits arming Syria opposition
Middle East Monitor / February 3, 2020
Former Israeli army General Gadi Eisenkot has gone on record affirming long-held allegations that Israel has directly provided weapons to Syrian opposition fighters against the government of President Bashar Al-Assad.
According to Haaretz, the revelations made last month, depart from Israel’s previous media policy on...
Will Ireland’s next government ban goods from Israel’s settlements ?
Ciaran Tierney
The Electronic Intifada / February 3, 2020
Two of Ireland’s largest political parties have committed to banning goods from Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank if they form a government.
Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin are tied in first place, according to the latest opinion poll conducted ahead of the...
UN agency seeks $1.4bn to help Palestinian refugees this year
Taylor Luck
The National / February 3, 2020
Official fear that fallout of US peace plan will increase demands on its services.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees appealed on Monday for $1.4 billion from donors to fund its programmes this year amid fresh political threats to its survival posed by...
Russia questions US peace plan for Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The National / February 3, 2020
Moscow said the proposal contravenes several United Nations resolutions.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, right, shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bethlehem on January 23, 2020. Russia has expressed doubts over the feasibility of the Trump peace plan. AP
A Middle East peace plan presented by...
Germany, Europe react to Trump’s Middle East ‘peace plan’
Deutsche Welle / January 29, 2020
Following Trump's release of his Israeli-Palestinian plan, world leaders have responded to his proposal of a two-state solution with Israeli settlements. The plan calls for a minimum four-year freeze in settlements.
The proposal was released alongside Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington. Palestinian leaders said they...
No deal: why Trump’s plan for Palestine will only create more conflict
Rashid Khalidi
The Guardian / January 30, 2020
US policy for the Middle East cannot work because it requires the Palestinians to accept they are a defeated people.
In 1919, Arthur James Balfour, the foreign secretary, wrote that in Palestine, the British government did not “propose even to go through the form...
CIA director meets with chief of PA’s intelligence agency
Middle East Monitor / February 3, 2020
Director of the CIA Gina Haspel secretly met with the chief of the Palestinian Authority (PA) intelligence agency, Majid Faraj, in Ramallah, Safa news agency reported yesterday.
According to the Israeli Public Broadcaster (Kan), Safa said that Haspel met with Faraj and other PA officials on...
Arab envoys who accepted US ‘peace plan’ reject it after learning full details
Middle East Monitor / February 3, 2020
The ambassadors of three Gulf Arab states who were sent to the White House last week for the unveiling of US President Donald Trump’s “peace plan” – otherwise known as the deal of the century – have been revealed to be against the...