New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani hosted a gallery of guests from Israel at a gathering in New York City Hall on Thursday afternoon in a display of unity and support for undivided Jerusalem and Jewish sovereignty over the Temple Mount.
With a wide lead in the polls, Likud chairman Ariel Sharon confidently launched his official campaign for prime minister on Wednesday night at a packed party gathering in Jerusalem’s largest auditorium.
Many leaders in the international community are troubled with the increasing probability that Likud chairman Ariel Sharon will be elected prime minister of Israel in early February, but US President-elect George W. Bush may have a different opinion, describing him recently as a “great warrior and hero of freedom and democracy.”
With US President Bill Clinton headed for the sidelines, Israeli and Palestinians negotiators have engaged in direct talks again in recent days, but there is little progress to report on either security or political issues. Both sides admit the gaps are too wide to conclude a “declaration of principles” before Clinton leaves office, and the immediate goal may be simply to prevent a fresh flare-up in his last week out of respect for the out-going American president.
Early Sunday night, Israeli security forces discovered the bullet-ridden body of rabbi Hillel Lieberman, a dual US/Israeli citizen living in Elon Moreh, who was last seen heading for the scrorched Joseph’s Tomb in nearby Nablus (biblical Shechem) to salvage the synagogue’s Torah scroll.
In the first spot on an otherwise squeaky clean record, US Secretary of State-designate Colin Powell has run into a flap for recently accepting a large sum of money for delivering a university lecture subsidized by a senior Lebanese official with ties to Syrian intelligence.
The massive Jerusalem rally on Monday night left a big impression on the Israeli public, according to the nation’s leading Hebrew newspapers, but Shimon Peres on Wednesday declared that no single religion can have a “monopoly” on the holy city.
Falling further behind in successive polls, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is facing increasing calls to set aside in his bid for re-election in favor of the Labor’s party elder statesman and leading dove Shimon Peres, who appears to have a better chance at defeating Likud Chairman Ariel Sharon in balloting on February 6.
Outgoing US President Bill Clinton appears to have finally given up on his long quest to forge a landmark Israeli-Palestinian peace pact before leaving office, as his special Mideast envoy Dennis Ross on Wednesday postponed a planned trip to the region. The move is a setback to the electoral hopes of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who wanted Clinton to issue a “presidential declaration” on the status of negotiations to aid his waning chances for retaining office in early February balloting.
Though some detected a “lull” in the three-month-old intifada due to fatigue, Palestinians used gunfire and firebombs to attack Israeli soldiers and civilians throughout Judea/Samaria and Gaza in recent days, following pledges by militant groups to continue the armed struggle with Israel until their political goals are achieved.
Israel’s security services have captured the terrorist responsible for planting pipe bombs on a Tel Aviv bus two weeks ago, and it turns out he is a Fatah activist of Jordanian origin.
Trailing badly in the latest polls, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s campaign for re-election has charged opponent Ariel Sharon with sparking the recent Palestinian intifada, contradicting his government’s official position to the outside world.
In perhaps the largest Jewish gathering in the city’s history, a massive crowd estimated at well over 300,000 people filled the streets around the Old City of Jerusalem on Monday night, waving flags and signs in a display of Jewish loyalty to a united city under Israeli rule.
An Arab reporter for the Hebrew-language newspaper YERUSHALAYIM recently reviewed the plans of the Palestinian Authority should Israel cede control over east Jerusalem, which includes a plot to flood the city with Palestinian refugees.
The campaign financing scandal from the 1999 elections continues to haunt Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at an inopportune time.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud BaraK today said the Red Cross will visit the three IDF soldiers kidnapped by Hizb’Allah on Saturday along the Lebanese border.
Caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and challenger Likud leader Ariel Sharon are beginning to gear up for the special election for the premiership on February 6, a race that promises to be impassioned and gritty.
Outgoing US President Bill Clinton’s hasty drive to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by January 20 sputtered again on Thursday when Arab foreign ministers enshrined the Palestinian right of return as “sacred.” The decision reinforces PLO chief Yasser Arafat’s hard-line stand on an issue Clinton’s “outline” for peace requires him to compromise and calls into question Washington’s claim Arafat has said “yes” to the president’s plan.
Adopting unusual language, Iran has issued a warning that if Israel were to attack Syria or Lebanon in reaction to Hizb’Allah cross-border actions, Tehran would retaliate in an “astounding and unexpected” way.
Resurgent Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein presided on Sunday over a massive military parade in Baghdad under the name of the “Al-Aqsa Call” and intended to show support for the Palestinian uprising.