Posted on December 22nd, 2011 by Marian Houk
This is only a preliminary report… and is still Breaking News – UPDATE: Nabil Shaath told journalists at a pre-Christmas in Bethlehem tonight [Thursday] that “I heard good news, basically, from Cairo … Hamas is willing to accept non-violence, basically, a long-term ‘hudna’, but they do not want us to talk about it very much [...]
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Filed under: Egypt, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, Quartet, USA
Posted on October 26th, 2011 by Marian Houk
Envoys from the Quartet met, separately, with Israeli and Palestinians at the UN’s lovely and venerable Government House — the seat of government built by the British during the Palestine Mandate period — on the southern edge of Jerusalem today. The location seems to have been specially selected to please the Palestinian side, and was [...]
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Filed under: Ambassadors and other diplomats, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, Quartet
Posted on September 25th, 2011 by Marian Houk
Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has been saying that he is ready to return to negotiations — without preconditions — at any time. He suggested meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the UN, right after his speech yesterday. The Palestinians say that there has to be a complete stop to Israeli settlement activities on the [...]
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Filed under: Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, Quartet, UN Security Council, United Nations
Posted on August 12th, 2011 by Marian Houk
This is a story that gets little reaction, despite more news coming in from time to time. This time, it’s from a report, presumably in Hebrew, published in an Israeli military magazine. The right-wing Israeli website, Arutz Sheva, is reporting here, that the latest edition of the Bemachaneh (On the Base) military magazine says that [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Israel, Landmines, Palestine & Palestinians, Quartet, Syria, UN General Assembly, UN Security Council
Posted on July 17th, 2011 by Marian Houk
It was the European Union — and not just Russia, as earlier reported — that blocked a U.S. move in the last Quartet meeting (a dinner in Washington on 11 July) to back, and impose on Palestinians, a statement that would have endorsed two of Israel’s main recent demands (Palestinian acknowledgement of Israel as a [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, European Union, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, Quartet, Russia, United Nations
Posted on May 5th, 2011 by Marian Houk
According to a source in Ramallah on Wednesday evening, Israel has relented [under pressure, and temporarily] and is releasing tax revenues due to Palestinian Authority [PA]. This money is expected to be in bank today [Thursday], so that PA salaries can be paid this month. This is despite the Palestinian reconciliation deal that was finalized [...]
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Filed under: Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, Quartet
Posted on April 27th, 2011 by Marian Houk
This was a surprise. The announcement came at the end of the day, in the early evening. Reuters broke the story. Hamas and Fatah, meeting in Cairo, had reached agreement on reconciliation. Further details were not immediately available, and only a few pieces of information filtered out as evening became night, and later. With the [...]
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Filed under: Donors, Gaza, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, Quartet, USA
Posted on April 18th, 2011 by Marian Houk
A reliable source has indicated that Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister who is now the part-time Special Middle East Envoy of the Quartet, is moving his office out of the legendary American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem. Blair’s presence — and its overbearing security requirements — has contributed to ruining the American Colony [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians, Quartet
Posted on February 4th, 2011 by Marian Houk
In a move stunning in its timing and significance, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu announced on Friday afternoon – with the Quartet’s Tony Blair standing by his side – that he now thinks it’s time, finally, to develop Palestinian-allocated offshore natural gas deposits buried under the eastern Mediterranean in maritime space, defined by mutual agreement [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Cyprus, Egypt, Gaza, Israel, Law of the Sea Convention, Lebanon, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians, Quartet
Posted on December 17th, 2010 by Marian Houk
George Mitchell is still going through the motions. On his way back to the USA after a more-or-less useless visit to the region, he met yesterday in Brussels with Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s “Foreign Minister” (the exact title is High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy). Ashton is also Vice-President of the European [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Human Rights, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Negotiators and negotiations, Palestine & Palestinians, Quartet, USA
