Pope Francis touches the wall that separates Israel from the West Bank on his way to celebrate a mass in Manger Square in Bethlehem, May 25, 2014. (Nour Shamaly/POOL/Flash90)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Perhaps the most lasting image from Pope Francis’ trip to Israel and the West Bank will be the pontiff praying, eyes closed, with his head against a wall. It wasn’t the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Judaism’s holiest site and a necessary stop for visiting dignitaries. It… Read more »
A U.S. Army transport plane flies over the pyramids in Egypt in 1943. (Keystone/Getty Images) WASHINGTON (JTA) — On the outskirts of Cairo, on a blistering hot afternoon in May 1942, British Army chaplain Rabbi Louis Rabinowitz ordered the driver of his military transport truck to pull over for a group of uniformed women who were hitchhiking. “We want to go as far as… Read more »
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas meets with European Parliament President Martin Schulz in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Feb. 10, 2014. (Issam Rimawi/Flash 90) (JTA) — When Israeli police found thousands of contraband cell phones in the car of senior Palestinian Authority official Rawhi Fattouh, he was promptly removed from office — for about two months. A consultant to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Fattouh was reinstated in May 2008 after his driver, a… Read more »
A Palestinian man walks front of a mural calling for the return of Palestinian refugees on May 14, 2011 in Rafah in southern Gaza during a gathering to mark the 63rd anniversary of what Palestinians call the Nakba, or the "catastrophe" of Israel's founding. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash 90) JERUSALEM (JTA) — The State of Israel is celebrating its 66th birthday. For Israelis, Jews around the world and all supporters of Israel, this is a joyous occasion. By and large, even Israelis who are critical of some of their country’s policies nevertheless celebrate its remarkable accomplishments and contributions… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The best move for the Obama administration on the Middle East peace front may be to take a few steps back. That’s what some observers are advising in the wake of the collapse of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The Palestinian unity talks mean that President Obama and U.S.… Read more »
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas meets with journalists in Ramallah on April 22, 2014, a day before his Fatah faction signed a reconciliation agreement with the militant group Hamas. (Palestinian Press Office via Getty Images) JERUSALEM (JTA) — Nine months of negotiations were supposed to propel Israelis and Palestinians into a future of peace. Instead, the collapse of talks is threatening to make the future look much like the past. Israel’s decision last week to suspend negotiations — a day after the signing of… Read more »
Head of the Hamas government Ismail Haniyeh (right) and senior Fatah official Azzam Al-Ahmed (left) raise their hands together at a news conference that announced a reconciliation agreement between the rival Palestinian factions in Gaza City on April 23, 2014. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90) Past attempts by the Islamist terrorist group Hamas and the secular Fatah movement to jointly rule the Palestinian territories have failed. After the latest pledge by the rival factions to unite, opinions vary on what the accord will mean for the Palestinians, for Israel, and for the future of… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A pox on both your houses, but when you want a cure, we’re still here. That’s the message the Obama administration is sending Israel and the Palestinians amid the deepening crisis in peace efforts. “What we haven’t seen is, frankly, the kind of political will to… Read more »
The first fuel is loaded at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power pant on Aug. 21, 2010. (Iran International Photo Agency via Getty Images) WASHINGTON (JTA) — The world powers holding a new round of nuclear talks with Iran starting next week are divided by another issue of geopolitical importance: the crisis in Ukraine. Tensions between Russia and the West are mounting over the Russian military takeover of the Crimean Peninsula, with the… Read more »
Martin Indyk, the U.S. special envoy for Ben Gurion International Airport on Jan. 5, 2014. (Matty Stern/U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv/Flash90) WASHINGTON (JTA) — As the Obama administration prepares to unveil a framework plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Jewish groups have responded by laying low. In contrast to the noisy Iran sanctions contretemps between the administration and much of the pro-Israel community, the leading centrist Jewish groups… Read more »
The first fuel is loaded at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant on Aug. 21, 2010. (Iran International Photo Agency via Getty Images) WASHINGTON (JTA) — A loose coalition of advocacy groups and policy experts, including a pair of dovish Jewish organizations, have been coordinating messaging in support of the Obama administration’s Iran strategy. The coalition was convened by the Ploughshares Fund, which advocates for a nuclear-free world. Coalition participants — J… Read more »
Sen. Robert Menendez WASHINGTON (JTA) — In previous AIPAC vs. White House dustups, the pro-Israel lobbying group’s strategy was to speak softly and let Congress carry the big stick. But in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s face-off with the Obama administration over new Iran sanctions, congressional support may not be so… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — More than half the United States Senate has signed on to a bill that would intensify sanctions against Iran. But in a sign of the so-far successful effort by the White House to keep the bill from reaching a veto-busting 67 supporters, only 16 Democrats are… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry holding a joint news conference in Jerusalem, Dec. 5, 2013. (Kobi Gideon/GPO/FLASH90) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Amid simmering tensions over Iran policy, the Obama and Netanyahu governments appear to have quietly forged common ground in recent weeks on Israeli-Palestinian talks, with the United States accepting that a possible “framework” agreement might not address every outstanding issue in the negotiations. Such an agreement,… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — When it comes to the deal between Iran and major powers, Israel and the pro-Israel community are retreating from a strategy of confrontation and working instead to influence the contours of a final agreement. In a conference call last week, Howard Kohr, the American Israel Public… Read more »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — There’s the six-month interim deal on Iran’s nuclear program that trades some sanctions relief for a freeze on Iran’s nuclear program. And then there’s the interim before the interim begins. Little noticed in the wake of the historic pact reached last month by Iran and the… Read more »
President Obama makes a statement announcing an interim agreement on Iran's nuclear program at the White House on Nov. 23, 2013. (T.J. Kirkpatrick-Pool/Getty Images) TEL AVIV (JTA) — For the first time in a decade, the United States and a coalition of world powers have reached an agreement with Iran to curb the country’s nuclear program. The deal requires Iran to limit its nuclear enrichment and freeze most of its centrifuges for six… Read more »
Former Saudi ambassador Prince Turki bin Faisal al Saud confers with Israeli strategic affairs analyst Yossi Alpher at the National Iranian American Council conference in Washington, Oct. 15, 2013. (NIAC) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hoping the enemy of one’s enemy truly does become a friend. In recent years, Netanyahu has said the enmity for Iran shared by Israel and the Arab states could become a spur to regional reconciliation. Last week, in a speech… Read more »
Syrian refugees in the Jordanian city of Mafraq collect supplies funded by IsraAid, an Israeli humanitarian aid organization, and distributed through a local Jordanian NGO. MAFRAQ, Jordan (JTA) — The purple plastic sacks fill two rooms in the otherwise sparsely furnished headquarters of a Jordanian NGO, awaiting distribution to Syrian refugees already lined up on the sidewalk. They contain an array of staple dry goods — lentils, pasta, powdered milk, tea — as well… Read more »
U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman testifies during the hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Oct. 14, 2011. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Is the U.S. government shutdown undermining the sanctions that helped bring Iran to Geneva this week for talks aimed at ending the standoff over its nuclear program? Top administration officials have been emphatically making the case that it is. Wendy Sherman, the third-ranked official at the… Read more »
