A major showdown awaits Palestinian leader in Riyadh

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is on his way Tuesday to Riyadh where he faces a stern demand to break away from the Turkish-Qatari-Jordanian line-up fighting US political steps in the region. DEBKAfile reports that Saudi Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman will not give way on this demand and, if Abbas holds out, the showdown could end in the Saudis cutting off assistance to the Palestinian Authority.

Israel on high alert, deploys Iron Dome batteries against missile attack

 

Israel remained on high alert Tuesday, Nov. 14, after deploying Iron Dome batteries in the center of the country as well as the south, against threatened Jihad Islami and Hamas missile attacks on towns in southern and central Israel.

Palestinians gain membership of Interpol

A general assembly of the international police organization (Interpol) meeting in Beijing Wednesday voted to accept as a member the “State of Palestine” – against Israeli opposition. The Palestine Liberation Organization said on Twitter that more than 75 percent of Interpol members voted to approve its membership. US and Israel efforts to prevent this failed.

Palestinian official: ‘I pray to Allah that Iran will produce 1,000 nuclear bombs’

Salah Zawawi

 

Israel is “truly terrified” of the nuclear deal Iran signed with world powers, the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) envoy to Iran said, adding he hoped Teheran would “produce 1,000 nuclear bombs.”

The comments by Salah Zawawi were made in a Feb. 20 interview on Iran-backed Hizbullah’s Al-Manar TV and were translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

DEBKA Exclusive: Iranians, Palestinians meet secretly in Brussels

DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report explusively on Wednesday that Iran and the Palestinian Authority held secret talks in the Belgian capital. The Iranian delegation was made up entirely of officials representing Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the sources said.

Trump freezes Obama’s last-minute $221 million gift to Palestinians

Former President Barack Obama with PA leader Mahmoud Abbas in 2013. /AP

 

A payment of $221 million to the Palestinian Authority (PA) that was authorized in the final hours of Barack Obama’s presidency has been frozen by the Trump administration.

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Just hours before President Donald Trump took the oath of office, then-Secretary of State John Kerry formally notified Congress that State would release the $221 million to the PA.

U.S. Sent $221 Million to Palestinians in Obama’s Last Hours

FILE – In this Jan. 15, 2017 file-pool photo, Secretary of State John Kerry speaks with the media in Paris. Defying Republican opposition, officials say the Obama administration in its waning hours quietly released $221 million to the Palestinian Authority that GOP members of Congress had been blocking. The official said John Kerry had informed some lawmakers of the move shortly before he left the State Department for the last time on. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool, File)

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Officials say the Obama administration in its waning hours defied Republican opposition and quietly released $221 million to the Palestinian Authority that GOP members of Congress had been blocking.

A State Department official and several congressional aides said the outgoing administration formally notified Congress it would spend the money Friday morning. The official said former Secretary of State John Kerry had informed some lawmakers of the move shortly before he left the State Department for the last time Thursday. The aides said written notification dated Jan. 20 was sent to Congress just hours before Donald Trump took the oath of office.

Palestinians: Why Our Leaders Are Hypocrites and Liars

While Hamas and Islamic Jihad are continuing to exploit our teenagers in the Gaza Strip by training them to join the jihad against Jews and “infidels,” our leaders in the West Bank are committing a similar crime against Palestinian youths.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, who falsely describes himself as President of the State of Palestine, has been encouraging our teenagers to engage in the so-called “popular resistance” against Israel. But these leaders, including Abbas himself, are not willing to send their own children and grandchildren to participate in the “popular struggle.” As usual, our leaders want the children of others to take to the streets and throw stones and firebombs at Jews.

President Mahmoud Abbas says Palestine no longer bound by agreements with Israel

The “Palestinian” people, a KGB created proxy tasked with taking on “evil” Israel, is now engineering an excuse for further agitating the Jewish state. Before the Americans came to the Middle East, the Soviets were there laying their traps which have effectively worked. The United States is now bogged down, chasing hundreds of terrorist ghosts that are easily replaceable — and with its first anti-American president in history.

 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has declared he is no longer bound by agreements signed with Israel and called on the United Nations to provide protection for Palestinians, describing Israel’s decades-long military occupation as “unsustainable”. Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly following weeks of rising tensions in Jerusalem and across the West Bank, President Abbas said Israel was destroying the two-state solution.

He described “an apartheid regime that is currently imposed on the territory of the state of Palestine and against the Palestinian people on the one hand, and another regime of privileges and protection to the Israeli settlers on the other hand”.

Is U.S. Israel’s Ally “When It Matters”?

Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, says the U.S. will no longer automatically exercise its veto in the UN Security Council to protect Israel.

In testimony before the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, Power specifically declined to rule out support for resolutions on Palestinian statehood or the “peace process.” “We will look to see what will advance Israel’s security and what will advance peace in the region… Our objective as an administration is what can we do to defuse tensions, what will it take to get those negotiations back on track.”

When Committee members expressed skepticism, she replied, “We will continue to work extremely closely with Israel in New York. As you know well we have a record of standing when it matters with Israel.”

Obama Declares War on Israel

Many Arabs and Muslims are rubbing their hands in joy as they watch U.S. President Barack Obama declare war on Israel after the victory of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party in last week’s general election.

They do not see the rising tensions between Obama and Netanyahu as the result of a personal dispute between two leaders. Instead, the dispute is seen by many Arabs and Muslims as part of the Obama Administration’s strategy to undermine Israel and force it to make territorial concessions that would pose an existential threat to Israel.

At the beginning of his first term in office, he raised high hopes in the Arab and Islamic countries when he rushed to deliver an apologetic speech at the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Al-Azhar University in Cairo. His speech left many Arabs and Muslims with the impression that here, finally, is an American president who is prepared to sacrifice Israel for the sake of appeasing its enemies.

After Netanyahu win, Obama takes off the gloves

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration woke up Wednesday morning to a sobering new reality on the ground in Jerusalem – instead of a weakened or rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Washington will now face the return of “King Bibi.” The White House has to come to terms with a Netanyahu who, defying the predictions, has been shored up by a strong mandate for his rightward-turning campaign.

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In a set of coordinated messages, the White House and State Department launched their first barrage, mostly focusing on Netanyahu’s comments apparently repudiating his 2009 statements in support of a two-state solution.

EU to Israel: If you want to get along with us, make peace

Forcing this will only bring about war. Another important note is to know, which was also mentioned in another post, what happens to those who attempt to divide or split Israel.

 

The EU warned on Monday that continued growth of its bilateral ties with Israel and the Palestinian Authority was directly linked to their actions with regard to the peace process.

“The EU recalls that the future development of the relations with both the Israeli and Palestinian partners will also depend on their engagement towards a lasting peace based on a two-state solution,” the EU’s foreign ministers said after a council meeting in Brussels.

The meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council comes amid increasing tension between Israel and the EU over settlement activity.

On Sunday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said that it was a mistake for the EU to link its ties with Israel to the peace process.

King of Sweden congratulates ‘State of Palestine’ on its ‘National Day’

The king of Sweden on Saturday congratulated the people of the “State of Palestine” on their “National Day” in a letter.

It marked the first time a European monarch officially hailed the Palestinians’ unilateral declaration of independence in 1988.

“On the occasion of the National Day of the State of Palestine I wish to convey to your Excellency my best wishes for your health and happiness and for the prosperity of the people of the State of Palestine,” Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden wrote in a letter to Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority and chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Kerry and Ban in truce bid to save Hamas from defeat. Israel holds reply. Cairo won’t amend truce proposal

Three rival groups are in a tug-o’-war over a ceasefire initiative for the Gaza conflict: The US and UN are pulling one way; Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the other; and Qatar, Turkey, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, are trying to manipulate the others.

Monday night, July 21, US Secretary of State John Kerry and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Cairo to press their case with Egyptian President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi: Kerry’s directive was outlined by President Barack Obama a few hours earlier, “to focus on bringing about a ceasefire than ends the fighting and can stop the death of innocent civilians.”

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Reported to be pushing for a long-term ceasefire, the UN Secretary went on to comment that it was impossible to go back to the situation that caused the conflict. He ruled out the “status quo ante” for the Gaza Strip as untenable.