In a decisive showdown in the Sinai on Monday, key regional and world leaders will goad Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO chief Yasser Arafat to meet face-to-face to discuss terms for ending the lethal Palestinian uprising over the past two weeks. There appears to be little reason for optimism that a truce can be concluded quickly, or that the Oslo peace process can be revived anytime soon.
A new political tempest erupted in Israel after it was learned that representatives of Likud prime ministerial candidate Ariel Sharon secretly met in Vienna on Thursday with a key economic adviser to PLO chief Yasser Arafat, raising the ire of Prime Minister Ehud Barak and even members of Sharon’s own Knesset faction caught off guard by the meeting.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell revealed on Tuesday the Bush Administration will not appoint a new Middle East peace envoy to replace Dennis Ross, signaling that America will play a less active role in the peace process than in the past. US President George W. Bush also plans to begin the “process” of moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as promised in the recent campaign.
In the latest instance of Israelis being brutally murdered in Palestinian areas, masked Arab gunmen grabbed two owners of a Tel Aviv restaurant who were shopping in Tulkarm on Tuesday and executed them on the edge of town.
The campaign of front-runner Ariel Sharon hit a few bumps in Israeli high schools in recent days, but among the country’s adult electorate, he still looks on course to survive his opponents scare tactics and complete a remarkable political comeback.
Israel has frozen cooperation with the Mitchell Committee appointed to investigate the causes of the current violence, following an unauthorized visit by the committee’s technical team to the Temple Mount last week.
Lebanese Deputy Prime Minister Issam Fares’ associations with high ranking US Republican officials continue to raise suspicions, especially after a donation of $100,000 was made under his name to the inaugural fund for newly-installed US President George W. Bush.
JERUSALEM, Israel, 11 October 2000 (Newsroom) — With more than 90 deaths and the destruction of synagogues and mosques, observers increasingly are describing the recent strife between Palestinians and Israelis as a religious war.
The unofficial three-way race for prime minister is also a three-way rumor mill, as conspiracy charges swirled in recent days between the rival camps of Labor nominee Ehud Barak, Likud’s Ariel Sharon and virtual candidate Shimon Peres.
In a serious replay of past “archaeological crimes,” the Muslim Waqf on the Temple Mount has once again recklessly dug in areas rich with ancient artifacts, this time on the raised platform around the Dome of the Rock, and Israelis are upset that Prime Minister Ehud Barak refuses to stop it.
Hamas staged a roadside bombing in Gaza on Monday that harkened back to the IDF’s long fight against Hizb’Allah in Lebanon, while the Arab woman believed to be part of a Fatah terrorist cell that lured Jewish teenager Ofir Rahum to his death in an ambush near Ramallah last Wednesday has been captured by Israeli security forces.
After Prime Minister Ehud Barak gave his approval, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators launched an intense round of peace talks in Sinai on Sunday to try to reach a framework agreement before the February 6 election in Israel. Barak is playing down expectations and blaring his “red lines” to Israeli voters, but his negotiating team seemed a bit surprised by the Palestinian side’s sudden willingness to quickly ink an accord.
On his last full day in office, US President Bill Clinton gave the incoming Bush administration some unsolicited advice on how to handle foreign policy, but with the Middle East still sliding towards conflict, clearer heads are urging a complete reassessment of the Clinton approach to regional peace-making.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry was “shocked” to learn that members of the US-led Mitchell fact-finding committee had visited the Temple Mount on Sunday without Israeli knowledge and accompanied by Islamic Waqf officials.
Promoting Islamic apocalyptic themes, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein marked the Gulf War’s 10th anniversary on Wednesday by declaring the conflict a glorious moment in Iraqi history while ignoring the economic plight his brutal regime has imposed on his countrymen. In addition, Iraqi media is reporting that Saddam used the Gulf War anniversary to threaten Israel once again.
With just three days left of the Clinton presidency’s hand in Mideast diplomacy and an Israeli election only three weeks away, Prime Minister Ehud Barak has decided to finally put peace negotiations with the Palestinians on the back burner for now.
The special Israeli election for prime minister heated up on Tuesday when local air waves were opened to a steady diet of campaign ads for the Labor and Likud candidates, with both parties depicting the opponent as dangerous.
Israel reversed course and re-imposed a strict closure on the Gaza Strip on Monday, after the bullet-ridden body of a missing Israeli man was found this morning near his hothouse complex outside Kfar Yam, in the Gush Katif bloc.
Thumbing its nose at the international community, the Palestinian Authority summarily executed two alleged “collaborators” with Israel on Saturday in a desperate attempt to spread fear among Palestinians thinking of cooperating with Israeli security forces.
While recent reports of a sudden lapse in the health of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein may be unfounded, Iraq’s decades of ailing relations with Syria appear on the mend under the new boss in Damascus, Bashar al-Assad.