The Israeli-Palestinian peace conference scheduled to begin in France on Friday may be successful if it leads to direct negotiations between the two sides, but will be a failure if it merely encourages the Palestinians to hold out for the “vain hope of an imposed solution,” a former senior Israeli official said Thursday. Eran...

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Hamas lawmakers said that they approved a measure allowing public executions on Wednesday, defying the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who had condemned the terror group’s plan earlier in the day. Although the announcement was made by Palestinian legislators in Gaza, it is unclear how many Hamas-affiliated parliamentarians approved the executions,...

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally signed a coalition agreement with the Yisrael Beiteinu party Wednesday, pledging during the ceremony to work towards peace with the Palestinians. The coalition agreement expands the governing coalition to 66 members of the 120-seat Knesset, expanding from the razor-thin majority of 61. “Israel needs governmental stability if it is...

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Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s offer of bilateral talks on Tuesday. “Time is short. Netanyahu is trying to buy time, but this time he will not escape the international community,” Hamdallah said in a meeting with French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who was visiting...

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A recent poll of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip found that 95.5 percent believe that there is corruption the government of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday. The survey of 1,200 people, conducted by the independent Palestinian firm AWRAD, also found that 82 percent of Gazans believe...

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Hamas announced that it will carry out 13 public executions in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, presenting a challenge to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who must approve all execution orders. The condemned prisoners have been charged with murder and robbery, although none have been accused of collaborating with Israel. Capital...

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told French Prime Minister Manuel Valls during a meeting on Monday that while he appreciates France’s desire to pursue peace between Israel and the Palestinians, the international peace initiative Paris is planning will not lead to a negotiated solution, which can only be reached by bilateral talks. Netanyahu instead called for “direct...

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French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announced on Thursday that an international conference to discuss possible parameters for a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority will be held on June 3 in Paris. A previously planned conference for May 30 was scrapped when Secretary of State John Kerry said that...

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As long as Palestinian leaders encourage children to hate Israel and glorify terrorists, “more violence is inevitable,” the son of terror victim Richard Lakin, who was killed in a terrorist attack last October, warned in a Wall Street Journal op-ed (Google link) Wednesday. Micah Lakin Avni recalled that his father was motivated by a commitment...

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Israeli Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold thanked Norway after the Norwegian foreign minister vowed that his country would no longer transfer financial aid to the Palestinian Authority that would be used to pay terrorists. “It is outrageous that killing Israelis has become a source of income for many in the PA,”...

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