peace talks

Only the other day, Benjamin Netanyahu earned a small note of immortality when he said the peace talks were ended by the new arrangements between the Palestine Authority and Hamas: Netanyahu’s announcement bundled a record number of lies into one mouthful of words.  There, of course, never was anything properly called peace talks with Israel. There has been only a long series of closed-door personal, and security-scrambled telephonic, exchanges with America’s superbly ineffectual John Kerry, exchanges in which the Palestinians played virtually no role and in which Mr.

Questions activists want answered are posted here

To understand how thoughtless the US latest ‘peace process’ drive has been, one only needs to consider some of the characters involved in this political theater. One particular character who stands out as a testament to the inherently futile exercise is Martin Indyk.

For the first time since the US launched the Middle East peace talks last summer, the Palestinian leadership may be sensing it has a tiny bit of leverage.
Barack Obama met the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Washington last week in what Palestinian officials called a “candid and difficult” meeting. The US president hoped to dissuade Abbas from walking away when the original negotiations’ timetable ends in a month.

 
 
by JAMAL KANJ
 
 FOLLOWING serious cajoling by the US, the European Union and arm twisting by Arab governments, the Palestinians entered what was to be nine months of negotiations with Israel. The Palestinians, who had forgone demands for Israel’s compliance with previous signed agreements before starting new negotiations, were promised that this time Israel would enter into serious discussions to reach a final agreement by April 29.

 
Christof Lehmann

 
(Alalam) –  Jordanian demonstrators have held a protest rally against the Israeli regime and the US-proposed talks between Tel Aviv and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

 
by JONATHAN COOK                 Counterpunch
 
(Nazareth) – Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rarely been so politically embattled. His travails indicate the Israeli right’s inability to respond to a shifting political landscape, both in the region and globally.

 BDS won’t work, Zio leaders tell Methodists…          

by Stuart Littlewood
Of course, it wasn’t going to be long before the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BoD) stuck their oar into the Methodists’ big debate on BDS (Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel http://www.methodist.org.uk/bdsbriefing, which included a public consultation questionnaire.

Barghouthi: “Israel Used Peace Talks To Implement Apartheid”
by Saed Bannoura
Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi