Mahmoud Abbas

New Palestinian Prime Minister appointed

Zoe Winograd — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 14:58:30 +0100

On Sunday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced that Rami Hamdallah would take the position of prime minister.

The 55-year-old, British-educated professor of linguistics has served in various Palestinian academic forums and has been president of Najah National University in the West Bank. In a written statement published after the announcement, Mr Hamdallah thanked Mr Abbas for his trust and pledged his support to the Palestinian government.

Mr Hamdallah will replace Salam Fayyad who resigned from government earlier this year.

US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke positively about Mr Abbas’s choice of leader. He said: “Together, we can choose the path of a negotiated two-state settlement that will allow Palestinians to fulfil their legitimate aspirations, and continue building the institutions of a sovereign and independent Palestinian state that will live in peace, security and economic strength alongside Israel.”

Recognition not a pre-condition for Netanyahu

Anshel Pfeffer — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:16:55 +0100

Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly said that he is willing to sit down with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas without preconditions and, at the same time, has said that Israel will insist at the start of any talks that security arrangements are discussed and that the Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state.

While the issue of recognition is seen by many Israelis, especially on the right, as a demand Israel must insist upon, Israeli diplomats have stressed recently that it is not and never was a pre-condition for talks.

Tzipi Livni, Israel’s new Justice Minister, who is to lead the talks with the Palestinians whenever they are renewed, said as much last week, much to the anger of others in the Netanyahu coalition.

The Palestinian side is still demanding a freeze on settlement building, although some PA officials have intimated that they are willing to compromise on this. More significantly, they have demanded an Israeli commitment to a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders and a map with proposed borders between the two states.

PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has resigned

Zoe Winograd — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:05:12 +0100

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has resigned.

President Mahmoud Abbas accepted Mr Fayyad’s resignation after a brief meeting at the Muqata government compound in Ramallah on Saturday.

Rumours of Mr Fayyad’s resignation surfaced last week following his disagreement with Mr Abbas over the departure of finance minister Nabil Qassis.

He quit despite US government’s efforts to keep him in the post . US Secretary of State John Kerry met Mr Fayyad during his recent visit to Israel .

Mr Abbas announced that he will name a new prime minister within days.

US and Europe act to prevent resignation of Fayyad

Zoe Winograd — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:03:00 +0100

American and European officials have asked Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to postpone a meeting with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad which was meant to take place today.

It is believed that Mr Abbas wanted to discuss the possibility of Mr Fayyad leaving the government.

According to sources, Mr Fayyad may have resigned following a disagreement with Mr Abbas over the departure of finance minister Nabil Qassis.

It remains unclear whether Mr Fayyad officially handed in his letter of resignation: some sources have reported that Mr Abbas fired Mr Fayyad.

The historically unstable PA has a track record of resignations that never materialised.

The US and European Union are eager to keep Mr Fayyad in his role while US Secretary of State John Kerry tries to facilitate negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis.

A senior diplomat in Jerusalem told Ha’aretz: "Fayyad's departure would have a serious impact on relations with the international community."

Mr Kerry met Mr Fayyad in Jerusalem during his shuttle diplomacy visit to Israel this week.

Opinion divided over Kerry peace talks visit

Zoe Winograd — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:24:06 +0100

US Secretary of State John Kerry has left Israel feeling optimistic – but the Palestinians less so - after a three-day shuttle diplomacy visit.

Mr Kerry met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas separately to discuss peace process negotiations expected to take at least three months. Mr Kerry has told sources that he and Mr Netanyahu agreed "to do our homework over the course of the next weeks… with a view to seeing how we can really pull all of the pieces together and make some progress."

Before meeting with Mr Kerry yesterday, Mr Netanyahu said that he was "determined not only to resume the peace process with the Palestinians, but to make a serious effort to end this conflict once and for all".

According to sources, Mr Netanyahu has refused to freeze settlement expansion as requested by the Palestinians. Mr Netanyahu has also laid out Israel’s preconditions for a peace agreement – a Palestinian recognition of the Jewish state, a halt to unilateral initiatives in the international criminal court and for the West Bank Palestinian Authority to severe ties with Hamas.

According to Haaretz, Palestinian officials were less impressed by their meetings with the secretary of state. “The situation is quite clear. The Palestinians have stated that renewed negotiations must be based on a clear formula which will include the determination of Palestine’s borders and the release of prisoners. As long as Israel does not agree to this, we cannot talk of discussions that will lead to a settlement of the conflict," said one senior Palestinian official.

The Iranian nuclear programme was also a topic on the agenda during Mr Kerry’s visit.

Kerry arrives in Israel to kick-start peace process

Zoe Winograd — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:26:37 +0100

US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Israel to broker negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Mr Kerry is expected to take part in the Yom Hashoah ceremony at Yad Vashem this morning followed by a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres in the afternoon.

Last night Mr Kerry met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah where the two agreed that the PA would cease unilateral measures at the United Nations for the next eight to 12 weeks. Mr Kerry has plans to speak to other Palestinian officials today.

Before arriving in Israel, Mr Kerry visited Istanbul where he met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. The meeting reinforced efforts made by US President Barack Obama last month to strengthen ties between Israel and Turkey.

Mr Kerry said about Turkey and Israel: “We would like to see this relationship that is important to stability in the Middle East and critical to the peace process ... get back on track in its full measure.”

Obama in Ramallah to meet Abbas

Anna Sheinman — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 10:44:33 +0000

US President Barack Obama is now in Ramallah in the West Bank to meet Palestinian Authority leaders on the second day of his trip to the Middle East.

This morning Mr Obama saw the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum, accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He then flew to Ramallah, where he was due to meet PA President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and other Palestinian ministers.

Back in Jerusalem, students and press were already queuing outside the Jerusalem Convention Centre where Mr Obama is due to speak in five hours' time.

While the President’s visit is keeping to schedule, it has not been a quiet morning in Israel. Sirens sounded in the early hours in southern Israel as the launch of four rockets from Gaza were detected. Two of the rockets exploded in the Israeli town of Sderot, with damage caused to a house. The other two landed in Gaza. No one has been reported as injured.

Livni ‘helped foil Abbas peace deal’

Anshel Pfeffer — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:50:40 +0000

Former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2008 not to sign a peace agreement that Mr Abbas had formulated together with the then Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Ms Livni, who is slated to serve as justice minister in the next Israeli government, believed that she would succeed Mr Olmert as prime minister and would then be capable of signing and implementing the agreement.

According to a feature by Ben Birnbaum in the latest edition of New Republic, former US President George W Bush urged Ms Livni to sign the agreement with Mr Abbas before the elections of 2009 and run on it as her platform.

However, she preferred to wait after the elections and, although her party, Kadima, received more votes than Likud, she failed to form a coalition.

The deal set out the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank with a land swap. Mr Olmert agreed to divide Jerusalem along ethnic lines and to accept a limited number of Palestinian refugees back into Israel.

Mr Abbas’s decision not to sign was partly based on his fear that Mr Olmert, facing corruption charges, would not be able to deliver on the deal.

West Bank calms down as Gaza reheats

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 13:10:18 +0000

Although a rocket fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday threatened to ignite already heightened tensions between Palestinians and Israelis, Israeli military officials said the surge in violence throughout the West Bank over the death of a Palestinian prisoner was subsiding.

“We are closely following the situation on a daily basis, and have seen a decline in the volume of the events,” said IDF spokesman Major Arye Shalicur on Wednesday. In the meantime, “the IDF is exercising enormous restraint on the ground,” he said.

The death of the 30-year-old Palestinian prisoner, Arafat Jaradat, at the Israeli Megiddo jail on Saturday sparked confrontations across the West Bank. Two Israelis and seven Palestinians were injured as a result.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas blamed Israel for Jaradat’s death and condemned what he said was an “unprecedented Israeli escalation”. He also demanded a UN investigation into the case.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that the PA curb the riots, and officials accused the government of inciting violence and, possibly, a third intifada.

Palestinians claim that Jaradat had been tortured under Israeli interrogation, while Israeli officials initially named cardiac arrest as the cause of death, but then said more tests were necessary.

On Monday, 10,000 people flocked to usher Jaradat’s body from a Hebron hospital to the cemetery in his home village of Sa’ir, where he was given a hero’s funeral. On Sunday, thousands of Palestinian prisoners staged a hunger strike out of solidarity with Jaradat.

In an attempt to restore calm, Israel transferred $100 million in tax money to the PA on Sunday and held talks with PA officials.

10,000 Palestinians attend Jaradat's funeral

Zoe Winograd — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:20:38 +0000

The funeral of Palestinian detainee Arafat Shalish Shahin Jaradat was attended by over 10,000 Palestinians today.

People in the crowd were waving flags and handing out leaflets urging a response to Jaradat’s death which, the Palestinian Authority has claimed, was a result of torture.

Meanwhile, reports say that 100 Palestinians clashed with IDF forces outside the Israeli prison where Jaradat died last Saturday. The IDF has announced that six Palestinians were wounded with injuries from rubber bullets. Protests of this kind have erupted in several spots around the West Bank.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas made a statement whilst attending another memorial service: “We won’t let them play with the lives of our sons.”

“They stand before our children and target them with live fire,” he said. Mr Abbas added that the Palestinian people want ed peace and the removal of settlements.

Israeli officials have maintained that Jaradat's death was a result of a heart attack. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yigal Palmor said: “Israel’s treatment of detainees and prisoners is transparent and up to the best international standards of Western democracies.”