Semaine 38 / 2011

              Envoys from the Quartet of Middle East negotiators will meet on Sunday in a last-ditch push to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and avert a showdown over Palestinian statehood at the United Nations, an European Union diplomat said on Saturday. The meeting in New York will come two days after President Mahmoud Abbas said he would demand full membership of the United Nations for a Palestinian state when he goes to the UN General Assembly next week,... [Lire la suite]

         A United States proposal aimed at convincing Palestinians to withdraw their statehood bid at the United Nations and return to the negotiations table was the "last straw," and convinced Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that appealing to the Security Council was the best option, Fatah official Nabil Shaath told reporters in Ramallah. According to Shaath, the American proposal, which was delivered at the last minute by US envoys David Hale and Dennis Ross, did not mention a moratorium... [Lire la suite]

             Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted Thursday that Israel is responsible for the release of tapes revealing secret talks between Ankara's intelligence officials and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The Turkish leader defended his country's National Intelligence Organization Chief Hakan Fidan. “We know certain circles have targeted Hakan Fidan in the past,” Erdogan told reporters, referring to Israeli accusations claiming Fidan is... [Lire la suite]

            Egyptian presidential hopeful and former Arab League Secretary-General, Amr Moussa, is in no hurry to support the call to re-open the Camp David Accords to negotiation, as he tells a Kuwaiti paper Al-Jarida that the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt "has become a historical record." Moussa called the Camp David peace treaty "untouchable," after senior officials in the Egyptian government angered Israel's Foreign Ministry officials on Friday when raising the... [Lire la suite]

         Turkey does not need United States' mediation to solve a long-lasting crisis with Israel over a deadly 2010 flotilla raid, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday. "We do not need mediation ... for Israel in any way," Davutoglu said during a televised press conference in the central province of Konya when asked to comment on the possibility of the US helping to resolve their differences."There is no such situation in which mediation is needed. The demands of Turkey are... [Lire la suite]

              The US State Department on Friday said that Washington remains committed to getting Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table following a televised speech by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in which he vowed to demand full membership for a Palestinian state at the United Nations. "What we are focused on is ... getting them back to the table so that they can address the many final status issues and reach a comprehensive peace... [Lire la suite]

            Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that "peace cannot be achieved by going unilaterally to the United Nations and joining forces with terrorist Hamas," in a statement responding to an earlier speech by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday. A statement from PMO spokesman Ofir Gendelman added that "peace can only be achieved through direct negotiations with Israel, but the Palestinian Authority and its president have avoided them consistently."He... [Lire la suite]

       Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speaks in Ramallah in the lead-up to the vote on Palestinian statehood in the UN next week; says 'we will go to the UN Security Council". The Palestinians are proceeding with their United Nations statehood bid because US President Barack Obama said he wants to see a Palestinian state, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas said in his Ramallah speech. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says that the refugee problem needs to be resolved, charging that the Israeli... [Lire la suite]

            While the EU and the Palestinians are trying to work out a compromise over statehood bid, the US stated it was not involved in efforts to tone down the draft UN resolution on the Palestinian statehood bid. Speaking to representatives from the Jewish media on Thursday, Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations said: “We’re not negotiating any text, we’re not engaged in efforts to water down a text,” adding: “We’re making the case that this is not a productive... [Lire la suite]

         Egypt's most powerful Islamist group warned Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday that his country should not seek to dominate the Middle East despite his enthusiastic welcome at the start of a regional tour. Erdogan was also criticized for his calls for a secular Egypt. After his widely praised call for democracy in the Arab world, Erdogan was given a more reserved reception by officials of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose old guard do not share the admiration of the group's... [Lire la suite]