Netanyahu expedites plan for new homes in East Jerusalem
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday that Israel would fast-track planning for more 1,060 new apartments in populous Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, a move that appears calibrated to appeal to the maximum number of Israelis while causing the minimum damage to Israel internationally, according to Israeli analysts.
British Parliament recognizes Palestinian state
LONDON — Against a backdrop of growing impatience across Europe with Israeli policy, Britain’s Parliament overwhelmingly passed a nonbinding resolution Monday night to give diplomatic recognition to a Palestinian state. The vote was a symbolic but potent indication of how public opinion has shifted since the breakdown of American-sponsored peace negotiations and the conflict in Gaza this summer.
Palestinian factions agree to resolve differences, leaders say
JERUSALEM — Leaders of rival Palestinian factions said Thursday that they had agreed to resolve their differences and allow the Palestinian Authority to return to the Gaza Strip so reconstruction could begin there next month.
Deal reached on Gaza reconstruction
JERUSALEM — President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority said Thursday night that he had reached an agreement with Israel and the United Nations to allow imports of reconstruction materials into the Gaza Strip, apparently bypassing Hamas to fulfill a key tenet of the cease-fire agreement that halted hostilities on Aug. 26.
As new cease-fire holds, dazed Gazans get to work
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Ismail Haniya, the Gaza-based political leader of Hamas, both declared a decisive victory on Wednesday as residents on both sides of the border grappled with the death and destruction wrought in a 50-day battle that ended in a limited cease-fire agreement the night before.
Dual setbacks for Obama on a strategic Asian tour
TOKYO — President Barack Obama encountered setbacks to two of his most cherished foreign-policy projects Thursday, as he failed to advance a trade deal that undergirds his strategic pivot to Asia and the Middle East peace process suffered a potentially irreparable breakdown.
Israel agrees to allow building materials into Gaza
JERUSALEM — Under pressure from the United Nations amid a mounting economic and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, Israel has agreed to restart the transfer of construction materials to Gaza on Tuesday after an eight-week hiatus.
Netanyahu prepares to accept new government coalition
JERUSALEM — After six weeks of struggle, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared close Thursday night to finalizing a new governing coalition that may make significant changes on domestic issues like religious pluralism but is likely to be paralyzed on the Middle East peace process.
Prisoner X linked to Dubai assassination in new report
JERUSALEM — The Australian-Israeli man recently identified as Prisoner X — found dead in 2010 in a maximum-security prison cell — may have been involved in the assassination of a Hamas leader that year, an episode that was among the most embarrassing in the history of Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad.
Bold response by Hamas tests Arab alliances
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Instead of the wedding drums that typically provide the evening soundtrack in this forlorn coastal strip, the black, still air was pierced by gunshots Thursday, as citizens fired celebratory rounds after the ruling Hamas faction announced that one of its rockets had hit an Israeli aircraft.
Nuclear report on Iran puts Israel in a box
JERUSALEM — For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday offered findings validating his long-standing position that while economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation may have hurt Iran, they have failed to slow Tehran’s nuclear program. If anything, the program is speeding up.
After attacks, Israeli schools confront hate
JERUSALEM — Tamer Jbarah, a 17-year-old Palestinian student who speaks accentless Hebrew after years in a bilingual school that is about half Jewish, said he was not at all surprised when a mob of Jewish teenagers beat an Arab teenager unconscious this month while hundreds watched and did nothing to help.