Semaine 41 / 2007

       Al-Hayat newspaper quotes French official as saying Israel is convinced Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were kidnapped by Hizbullah last year, are dead . "Israel is convinced that its two soldiers who were kidnapped by Hizbullah were killed and that the organization is manipulating the situation by saying it is preventing any visits," the official said. Israel on Thursday denied a report that claimed it believes Israel Defense Forces soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were killed during... [Lire la suite]

       The Palestinians are ready to yield parts of the West Bank to Israel if compensated with an equal amount of Israeli territory, the lead Palestinian negotiator told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. Ahmed Qureia, a former prime minister who has dealt with five Israeli prime ministers during 14 years of failed peacemaking, is trying again with No. 6, Ehud Olmert. And he's full of optimism, saying the US-hosted Mideast conference in Annapolis, Md., tentatively set for Nov. 26, is a "very,... [Lire la suite]

       The fate of the Golan Heights will not be raised at the Annapolis peace summit, Prime Minister Olmert said Monday during a meeting with the Turkish foreign minister, Ali Babacan, media reported. Olmert told the visiting foreign minister that only Palestinian issues will be on the agenda at the peace summit next month. Also, Olmert did not accept Babacan's position and said that dialogue with Syria can only take place when it stops supporting terror. He acerbically asked the foreign minister, "If Syria's... [Lire la suite]

     Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told her Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan that Iran is an international problem. Regarding the Palestinians problem, Livni said she believed agreements must be reached and differences must be bridged based on the American road map. "We have the will to reach agreements and we must act wisely," Livni said.(14,51)

     Top officials from the World Jewish Congress were meeting Monday with Pope Benedict XVI to stress their desire to continue Jewish-Catholic collaboration despite recent internal feuding at the group. Billionaire and WJC president Ronald Lauder and the group's new secretary general, Michael Schneider, were meeting with Benedict and the Vatican's official in charge of relations with Jews, Cardinal Walter Kasper. Schneider said the delegation thanked the Pope for his work supporting interfaith relations and invited him... [Lire la suite]

      Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told Presiden Peres that the Syrians are serious about peace in a meeting between the two men after the Turkish leader arrived in Israel from Syria on Sunday. "I encouraged the leaders to take part in Bush's international peace conference and they explicitly told me that they are interested in having Israeli-Syrian issues brought to the negotiating table at the conference," Babacan said. President Peres responded by saying that if Assad is serious, Israel would... [Lire la suite]

      The prime minister Ehud Olmert told the cabinet that "any solution that will be reached will be dependent on the implementation of the road map principles with an emphasis on the order of action it calls for, which is of special importance." The road map lays out a three-stage program for establishing a Palestinian state, and states that in the first stage, the Palestinian Authority must wage war on terrorism and reform PA institutions, while Israel must remove all illegal outposts established in... [Lire la suite]

       Israel says the rocket that landed in Netivot on Sunday morning was a Katyusha rocket. Security experts identified the rocket as a Russian-made Grad projectile, with a range of up to 20 kilometers. It exploded near a residential area of the Negev town, causing no injuries or damage. It was the closest a rocket has come to Netivot since Palestinians began firing rockets at Israel. Security sources noted that this was not the first time Palestinian terrorists in the strip have tried to launch a Katyusha rocket... [Lire la suite]