Mahmud Abbas

Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas backed Israel’s right to self defense Thursday while calling for a ceasefire between the Jewish state and the Gaza Strip’s Islamist rulers Hamas.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday rallied against antisemitism, saying it “haunts our present time”, during a visit to Jerusalem to commemorate Holocaust victims.

JERUSALEM – Brazil’s president-elect Jair Bolsonaro has told an Israeli newspaper he intends to defy the Palestinians and most of the world by moving his country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas went to hospital on Tuesday to undergo “minor surgery” on his ear, official media reported.

BRUSSELS – Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas will seek EU support in Brussels on Monday amid bitter acrimony with the United States, but he looks unlikely to get much the in way of concrete commitments.

WASHINGTON — The White House is examining possible aid cuts to the Palestinian Authority, a senior administration official said Thursday, days after US President Donald Trump threatened to slash funding over Ramallah’s refusal to work with Washington on peace talks.

Israeli police on Sunday arrested a Palestinian carrying an explosive device as he approached a military court in the West Bank, security officials said.

American Jewish leaders said Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sounded the “death knell” of peace efforts with Israel when he completely denied the Jewish connection to Jerusalem in comments he made following the American announcement recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The Palestinian president’s office warned Friday of the potential destructive effects of any move denying their claim to east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Palestinian movement Hamas again refused to disarm on Monday ahead of a key reconciliation deadline, instead threatening to carry out attacks against Israel in the West Bank.

Palestinian leaders hoped a recently signed reconciliation agreement would lead to Egypt reopening its border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, but those hopes seem to have been dashed.

RAFAH – Hamas handed over control of the Gaza Strip’s borders with Egypt and Israel to the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday in the first key test of a landmark Palestinian reconciliation accord agreed last month.

JERUSALEM – A top aide to US President Donald Trump said Thursday that an emerging Palestinian unity government must recognise Israel and disarm Hamas, Washington’s first detailed response to a landmark reconciliation deal signed last week.

Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah will travel to the Gaza Strip on October 2 as part of renewed reconciliation efforts with Hamas, which runs the enclave, his government said Monday.

A Palestinian court agreed on Sunday to release a prominent activist on bail after his arrest on September 4 following his criticism of president Mahmud Abbas’s administration, his lawyer said.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier sought to move past a diplomatic dispute between his country and Israel while visiting Sunday, saying ties were strong enough to endure “turbulence”.

A museum dedicated to Yasser Arafat, including the room where the Palestinian leader spent much of his final years, will open on Wednesday ahead of the anniversary of his death.

The Palestinian high court on Monday ordered municipal elections to be held only in the West Bank and not in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, though a new date for the suspended polls was not set.

When he came to power, he appeared to imply it was one of his priorities. In reality, US President Barack Obama has made less headway than many of his peers trying to achieve Mideast peace.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing,” days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a similar allegation.

A spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Thursday dismissed a claim by researchers that he worked as a Soviet agent in Damascus in the 1980s, calling it a smear intended to derail a Russian peace initiative.

A Palestinian plan to sue Britain over a 1917 declaration backing a Jewish homeland in Palestine could help rally supporters, but has little chance of success, legal analysts say.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas Friday (July 22) to offer condolences on the death of his brother.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas called on the UN Security Council on Wednesday to reject a key report by the diplomatic Quartet that condemned both Israeli settlement building and Palestinian incitement to violence.

Egypt will use its influence as chair of the UN Security Council in May to defend the interests of the Palestinian people, the presidency said on Monday.

GAZA CITY (AFP) – The militant Palestinian Hamas movement accused its rival Fatah on Wednesday of organising a military cell to “breach security and stability” in the Gaza Strip.

JERUSALEM (AFP) –  Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog said Wednesday that no peace deal was possible for now and his country must begin unilaterally separating from the Palestinians “as much as possible” to restore security. Herzog made the comments while laying

Israel restricted access Monday into and out of the Palestinian political capital of Ramallah on the occupied West Bank after a checkpoint shooting that wounded soldiers, stepping up its response to attacks. It was the first time such a step