West Bank settlements

TEL AVIV – Israel is set to significantly ease its regulations for gun licenses, a move that would see around 40,000 more Israelis acquire a firearm according to Public Security Ministry estimates. 

TEL AVIV – U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Tuesday urged the UN Security Council to issue a resolution condemning Hamas and designating the Gaza-based group as a terror organization.

TEL AVIV – President Donald Trump will not push for a settlement construction freeze as a prerequisite for peace talks, the new U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said on Wednesday.

Senior lawmakers voted unanimously Thursday to establish a new West Bank settlement for families evicted from the razed Amona outpost, the first new Jewish town in the territory since the 1993 Oslo Accords, amid intense negotiations with the US over settlement building.

The Trump administration reportedly demanded that Israel halt all construction in isolated West Bank settlements and put curbs on new building inside the major settlement blocs, under the terms of an agreement currently being negotiated with the Netanyahu government over settlement construction.

TEL AVIV – A senior delegation arrived in Washington Sunday to meet with officials from the Trump administration to discuss settlement activity and reportedly receive approval for construction in east Jerusalem.

TEL AVIV – President Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East held a three-hour meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday, his second meeting with the Israeli leader since arriving in the country this week.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday evening that talks with US President Donald Trump’s Mideast peace envoy, Jason Greenblatt, did not yield an agreement for a coordinated US-Israeli position on West Bank settlements, but described the meeting as “good” and “honest.”

TEL AVIV – The U.S. is in discussions with Israel about holding back on settlement activity, acting State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told MKs from his ruling Likud party on Monday that he still has not reached an agreement with US President Donald Trump regarding the construction of new homes in West Bank settlements.

WASHINGTON — President Trump and his advisers, venturing for the first time into the fraught world of Middle East peacemaking, are developing a strategy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that would enlist Arab nations like Saudi Arabia and Egypt to break years of deadlock.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday announced plans for the establishment of a new West Bank settlement to replace the illegal outpost of Amona, that is currently being evacuated and demolished as per a court order.

A former top official at Israel’s Foreign Ministry revealed an anecdote from the relationship between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former US President Barack Obama which demonstrates the depth of the antipathy between the two men, in a recent interview.

The new Trump administration will “discuss” and “have a conversation” with Israel regarding recently approved construction in West Bank settlements, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a briefing on Tuesday.

Israel will fight its next war “with full force,” Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Tuesday, adding that the Israeli army will not stop fighting the next conflict until its enemy surrenders completely.

Four U.N. Security Council members met on Friday to decide whether to vote on a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements after Egypt withdrew the measure under pressure from Israel and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

At the behest of the Palestinian Authority, Egypt on Thursday introduced a UN Security Council resolution demanding that Israel halt all settlement activity, meaning Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank.

TEL AVIV — At the behest of the Palestinian Authority, Egypt on Thursday introduced a UN Security Council resolution demanding that Israel halt all settlement activity, meaning Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The residents of Amona have approved a deal worked out after an all-night session with a government negotiator, with 45 voting to approve the arrangement, 25 opposed and two abstentions.

The Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called on the US administration to officially recognize the state of Palestine and support a UN resolution against Israeli settlements in the West Bank, in response to Israel’s preliminary approval Monday night of a bill that would legalize outposts.

Israel will carry out a court order to demolish the wildcat Jewish settlement of Amona in the West Bank by the end of the year, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Thursday.

The Jerusalem Post reports: The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday denied that it has postponed its effort to seek a UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to construction in the settlements. The PA said that it was going ahead

The Jerusalem Post reports: Peace Now went head-to-head with the Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday in a public dispute about statistics for the advancement of plans for new homes in West Bank settlements. In a rare move, the PMO published a

The Palestinians expect the international community to not only state clearly that Jewish settlements in the West Bank represent a major obstacle to peace but to actually do something about it, a top adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Breitbart Jerusalem in an interview.

JERUSALEM – The White House has not yet decided whether it will support a Palestinian initiative for a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank. On Friday, State Department spokesperson Mark Toner told reporters in Washington: “We understand

The Times of Israel reports: The European Union (EU) on Thursday blasted Israel’s land appropriation this week of 580 acres near the West Bank city of Jericho, saying it raises questions about Jerusalem’s commitment to the two-state solution. The United

The Jerusalem Post reports: The government must close West Bank roads to Palestinians after terrorist attacks, settlers said on Tuesday as they marched along Route 60 for two hours from the Karmei Tzur settlement to the Gush Etzion junction. If this

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are enjoying their first night out at the movies since political tensions led to the torching of cinemas in the enclave 20 years ago. Hollywood blockbusters have yet to return and Hamas Islamists, who now

Israel’s long-running struggle to balance modern standards with Jewish tradition has come to a head in the military, where new orders curtailing beards among soldiers have met protests from some rabbis. Many Orthodox Jewish men go unshaven, a religious observance

The Jerusalem Post reports: The Knesset approved legislation seeking to fight location-based discrimination in a preliminary reading Wednesday. The bill, proposed by MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli (Bayit Yehudi) states that customers who face location-based discrimination could sue businesses for up to NIS

Tel Aviv – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the UN Security Council to provide the Palestinians with international protection from Israel amid fears that the Israeli government’s policies “would lead to the entry of Daesh [the Islamic State] into

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday slammed Israel’s settlement activities as “provocative acts” that raise questions about the nation’s commitment to a two-state solution. The Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, areas Israel

The Jerusalem Post reports: Amid murmurings of a coalition crisis surrounding the evacuation of Jewish families and activists from two buildings purchased in Hebron, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at Sunday’s cabinet meeting that the people would be allowed back in

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he would allow Jewish settlers evicted by the Israeli army from two houses in the West Bank city of Hebron to return once proper permits were in place. Israeli settlements in occupied territory,

Israel plans to move into a large tract of agricultural land in the West Bank, Israel’s Army Radio said on Wednesday, a move that has angered Palestinians. The report said the land, covering 154 hectares (380 acres), was in the fertile