Word: bankes
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Israelis sometimes lament that, as former Deputy Prime Minister Abba Eban once said, the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. This time it may be the Israelis who are letting a precious opportunity pass: the West Bank Palestinian leaders President Mahmoud Abbas and, especially, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad are the best partners for peace in Israel's history. Abbas and Fayyad have been astonishingly successful at fulfilling the road-map obligations to reform their security forces, resulting in a near cessation of violence in or from the West Bank. Indeed, the most notable occurrence in the past...
...years would convince the world, including the Israelis, that the entity should be granted statehood. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed a similar approach. He wants to provide both sides with security by building the Palestinian economy, and he has lifted some of the checkpoints in the West Bank...
Given the impasse in Israeli-Palestinian talks, the U.S. has various options. It could table its own comprehensive peace plan. It could change its focus to brokering a deal between Israel and Syria. Or it could vastly reinvigorate the effort to build up Palestinian institutions on the West Bank as part of a step-by-step progression toward peace. Working with special envoy Tony Blair and the private sector, the U.S. could again help build economic institutions, learning and job centers, industrial free-trade zones and youth programs. It would not require a lot of money; it could be done...
...return of Palestinian refugees and sovereignty over Jerusalem - could be saved until later. So, too, could the question of Gaza, whose citizens would then be presented with the stark choice of continuing to support Hamas or embracing the peace and prosperity enjoyed by their brethren in the West Bank. And President Obama could take a large step toward fulfilling the hopes he raised in his Cairo speech...
...Getting out of it won't be easy. Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, which sets interest rates for the euro zone's 16 countries, urged the country on Monday, Dec. 7, to take "courageous" steps to tackle the crisis. Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou, part of the socialist government that won power in the country last October, duly pledged to do "whatever is required" to shore up the country's finances. Key to the recovery plan: slashing Greece's budget deficit next year from 12.7% - more than four times the level allowed under E.U. rules...