UN, in blow to US, heightens the status of Palestine
UNITED NATIONS — More than 130 countries voted Thursday to upgrade Palestine to a nonmember observer state of the United Nations, a triumph for Palestinian diplomacy and a sharp rebuke to the United States and Israel.
Campaigns brace to sue for votes in crucial states
CLEVELAND — Thousands of lawyers from both presidential campaigns will enter polling places Tuesday in a kind of Spy vs. Spy with one central goal: tracking their opponents and, if need be, initiating legal action.
Israeli leader visits Jordan to discuss Palestinian issue
JERUSALEM — King Abdullah II of Jordan played host Monday to Shimon Peres, the president of Israel, in an effort to make progress on the stubborn Palestinian question at a time of regional diplomatic uncertainty and fragmentation.
Three colleagues rebuke Gaza report author’s essay
JERUSALEM — Three members of the United Nations panel that investigated Israel’s Gaza war two years ago rejected on Thursday an essay written by the fourth, the former chairman Richard Goldstone, in which he retracted the panel’s key conclusions, especially that Israel had deliberately made civilians targets.
Jordan’s King meets with Muslim Brotherhood, fights corruption
AMMAN, Jordan — King Abdullah II, struggling to stave off growing public discontent, widened his political outreach Thursday and met with the Muslim Brotherhood for the first time in nearly a decade. He also asserted in a statement that he would fight corruption and foster a broad national dialogue.
Netanyahu’s new offer to Palestinians fuels debate
JERUSALEM — An offer Monday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to freeze West Bank Jewish settlements in exchange for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state — instantly rejected by the Palestinians — was the latest complex maneuver engendering debate about his intentions.
U.S. presses Israelis on<br />renewal of settlement freeze
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is trying to cajole the Israeli government into a 60-day renewal of the freeze on Jewish settlement building by offering it security guarantees, ranging from military hardware to support for a long-term Israeli presence in the strategically sensitive Jordan Valley, according to lawmakers and other officials briefed on the proposals.
Calls for shift on Gaza policy; building a private sector
GAZA — Three years after Israel and Egypt imposed an embargo on this tormented Palestinian strip, shutting down its economy, a consensus has emerged that the attempt to weaken the governing party, Hamas, and drive it from power has failed.
New Israeli tack needed on Gaza, U.S. officials say
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration considers Israel’s blockade of Gaza to be untenable and plans to press for another approach to ensure Israel’s security while allowing more supplies into the impoverished Palestinian area, senior American officials said Wednesday.
Palestinians See Threat to Group If Leader Resigns
The collapse of the Palestinian Authority, Israel’s negotiating partner, was raised as a possibility on Monday, as several aides to its president, Mahmoud Abbas, said that he intended to resign and forecast that others would follow.
Hamas Says It Has Grounded Its Rockets to Israel
The leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas said Monday that its fighters had stopped firing rockets at Israel for now. He also reached out in a limited way to the Obama administration and others in the West, saying the movement was seeking a state only in the areas Israel won in 1967.
Palestinians Stop Paying Israeli Hospitals for Patients
Scores of Palestinian patients being treated in Israeli hospitals, a rare bright spot of coexistence here, are being sent home because the Palestinian Authority has stopped paying for their treatment, partly in anger over the war in Gaza.
A West Bank Ruin, Reborn as a Peace Beacon
Pessimism is a steady companion these days for advocates of Middle East peace. A lame-duck Israeli government is negotiating with a weak Palestinian leadership in the twilight of an unpopular U.S. administration. Few forecast success.
Gaza Mother and Children Killed in Israeli Operation
A Palestinian mother and her four young children were killed in northern Gaza on Monday during an Israeli operation against militants there, and a dispute quickly arose over exactly how they had died.