Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi on Saturday called on U.S. President Barack Obama to be proactive in ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his forthcoming term.
"We hope that the new American administration adopts a policy of conflict resolution rather than conflict management," Arabi said during a visit with Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr to the West Bank headquarters of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
Full StoryThe Gaza branch of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party said on Friday it will mark its anniversary in the Hamas-ruled enclave after an accord between the two factions.
"We have agreed with (Hamas) prime minister Ismail Haniya that Fatah will celebrate its 48th anniversary on January 1 at the site of the Saraya" complex where its security forces were based, Fatah official Yehiye Rabba said.
Full StoryPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned Thursday that he would disband his Palestinian Authority if there was no Israeli movement toward renewing peace talks after Israel's elections on January 22.
Abbas, in an interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz, said that if such a situation arose he would hand full responsibility for the occupied West Bank to the Israeli government.
Full StoryIsrael will be "held accountable" for its settlement building, a senior Palestinian official said Thursday after Israel pushed forward plans for more than 5,000 new settler homes.
"The settlers and the government of Israel should know they will be held accountable," Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for president Mahmoud Abbas, told Agence France Presse shortly after Israel reportedly okayed initial plans for a new settlement city in the southern West Bank.
Full StoryIsrael's plans for new settler homes are accelerating Palestinian moves to appeal to the Hague court over Jewish settlement policy, a senior official told AFP on Wednesday.
"The intensification of settlement activity and all the Israeli actions, from killings to arrests, are pushing us to accelerate our recourse to the International Criminal Court," said Palestinian negotiator Mohammed Shtayyeh.
Full StoryPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the international community to help Palestinian refugees fleeing fighting in camps in Syria to enter the West Bank and Gaza.
"Mahmoud Abbas, president of the state of Palestine, requested Wednesday that U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the international community enable our people in Syria to enter Palestinian territory," a statement carried on the official WAFA news agency said.
Full StoryPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appealed on Sunday for an immediate halt to firing on Palestinian refugee camps in Syria, after air strikes on the Yarmuk camp in Damascus killed at least eight civilians.
The Islamist Hamas movement also condemned the attacks, calling them a "crime."
Full StoryQatar called Sunday at an Arab League ministerial meeting for a rethink of an Arab offer of normal ties with Israel in return for its pullout from occupied land and branded the international Quartet a failure.
"It is logical after 10 years to objectively reconsider the peace process, including the Arab initiative," said Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani, the country's prime minister.
Full StoryHamas leader in exile Khaled Meshaal made his first visit to Gaza on Friday, kissing the ground and saying he hoped he would one day die a "martyr" in the Palestinian territory.
After his seven-vehicle convoy swept across the border from Egypt, Meshaal got out and kissed Palestinian soil before embracing Gaza's Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya.
Full StoryJordan's King Abdullah II flew in to the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday for the first visit by a top foreign leader since the Palestinians gained upgraded United Nations status.
The monarch arrived by military helicopter from Jordan, landing at the presidential headquarters known as the Muqataa, where he was greeted by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and other senior officials.
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