Word: netanyahu
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...right-wing Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was sworn in on Tuesday, and its refusal to accept a two-state solution with the Palestinians has already set it on a collision course with the Obama Administration...
...Netanyahu's showdown with Washington may happen soon. Leader of the hawkish Likud Party, Netanyahu will meet with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell in Jerusalem on April 16. That meeting will be a dress rehearsal for the Prime Minister's trip to Washington in May for talks with President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who are pushing for the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza as a key to a wider peace in the region. (See pictures of heartbreak in the Middle East...
...swearing-in speech before the Knesset, Netanyahu appeared to soften his tough stance on the Palestinians, directing his words as much toward Washington as to Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority. Netanyahu, who leads a sprawling coalition of right-wing and religious parties that is tempered by the center-left Labor Party, vowed to improve economic, security and political ties with Israel's Arab neighbors. "We do not want to rule the Palestinians," he said. But nowhere in his speech did he mention the two-state solution championed by Washington. (See pictures of 60 years of Israel...
...Palestinians reacted to Netanyahu's swearing-in with deep pessimism. Senior advisers to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told TIME that after having failed to extract any concessions from former Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert, Abbas expects even less progress from Netanyahu on such key issues as a halt to the construction of illegal Jewish settlements and the removal of more than 550 army checkpoints in the West Bank, which are paralyzing the movement of Palestinians. These sources told TIME that Abbas - who not only confronts a new, hawkish Israeli government but also the loss of the Gaza Strip to Islamic...
...upside, with Barak as his ally, Netanyahu has a strong Defense Minister to stand up to the Iranian nuclear threat and to the Hamas militants ruling Gaza. Barak also says that while Netanyahu is against a two-state solution with the Palestinians, he has persuaded the Likud leader to make two key concessions that will please Washington: ending the building of illegal Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories and promising to abide by the U.S.-sponsored peace accords that Israel signed with the Palestinians. On Wednesday, with Barak's support in mind, Netanyahu toned down his usual hawkishness, telling Israeli...