Word: settlements
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...Germany to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel on the last leg of his European jaunt. Though Merkel has always been careful to avoid pressuring Israel in public on the issue, German officials have said the Chancellor will remind Netanyahu during their meeting on Thursday of Berlin's position that all settlement activity in the West Bank be halted and that a final peace agreement be based on a two-state solution. (See pictures of life under Hamas in Gaza...
...that Jerusalem be the seat of the Palestinian state, calling the city "Israel's undivided capital." But having ignored most other demands forwarded by Palestinian authorities in their peace proposal, Netanyahu now finds himself under pressure from Western nations to give in to almost universal calls outside Israel that settlement on the West Bank be halted. (See pictures of Israel...
...face-saving manner of climbing down," says Yossi Mekelberg, an associate fellow at the British think tank Chatham House and program director of international relations at Regents College in London. "That climbdown requires that small, careful steps be taken at a consistent pace. Today we're talking about settlement freezes, which is nothing compared to questions like Jerusalem, border placement or the fate of refugees. But you have to start somewhere." (Read "The Six Issues That Divide Bibi from Barack...
...long-term effects of the agreement on the Swiss banking industry, however, are difficult to predict, experts say. "The settlement is a success for Switzerland and its financial center because it takes away a lot of pressure," says Teodoro Cocca, a former professor of wealth and asset management at the Swiss Finance Institute in Zurich. "But what is disturbing is that it contains elements of a 'fishing expedition,' and potentially other Swiss banks that have U.S. clients could be put under similar pressure." (See the top 10 tax dodgers...
...Whether or not this happens, the landmark settlement may be a turning point for the Swiss banking sector, which can no longer depend on the promise of secrecy to draw in clients, says Stéphane Garelli, a professor of world competitiveness at the Institute of Management Development in Lausanne. "There is no doubt that this is the beginning for Swiss banks, because they now have to rely more on the professionalism and services than on some specificity of Swiss law, such as the banking secrecy," he says. "Now it is time to turn the page and to focus...