Word: timing
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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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...
...jobs. In addition, the group has created an affordable mortgage facility, which will help more than 10,000 families purchase homes. Aspen's U.S.-Palestinian Partnership is also helping create a venture-capital fund run by Israeli and Palestinian investors to finance technology start-ups. (Watch TIME's video "TV Comedy Eases Palestinian Tensions...
...civilians killed in the attack. On Wednesday, a lawyer representing victims' families held talks with Defense Ministry officials in Berlin aimed at hammering out a compensation deal. "This isn't just about dishing out a few dollars," Karim Popal, a Bremen-based lawyer representing 80 relatives of victims, tells TIME. "We want to set up a special fund and provide long-term help for the women and children who lost their families' breadwinners in the air strike...
...This will not be the first time the German government has paid compensation to relatives of civilians killed in Afghanistan. In 2008, the German army handed $20,000 to the family of an Afghan woman and two children who were shot dead by a German soldier at a checkpoint. But given the scale of September's air strike in Kunduz - widely considered the most deadly air raid involving German forces in Germany's post-war history - the payout to victims' relatives is bound to be much bigger. The Defense Ministry spokesman dismisses German media reports of a $4.5 million payout...
...controversy comes at an awkward time, with Germany under increasing pressure to contribute more troops to the NATO mission in Afghanistan. Despite doubts over the German mission in Afghanistan, on Dec. 3, the Bundestag voted to extend the mandate by another year, until 2010. There are now about 4,300 German soldiers in Afghanistan - most are based in the north of the country - and Germany is the third biggest troop contributor after the U.S. and Britain. But the U.S. is looking for a bigger commitment. "More German troops would be very welcome," Richard Holbrooke, President Obama's special envoy...