Epstein Secrets

0719574 the appeal of internationalizing the conflict mean there are few political incentives for flexibility toward Israel. Divisions between the Fatah and Hamas factions complicate matters: Their recent agreement is paper-thin and highlights that, for now, Palestinians are focused more on immediat

o the most vigorous surge of diplomacy between Israelis and Palestinians in years. Netanyahu hoped the meetings would divert Abbas from petitioning the United Nations for membership, according to a source in Netanyahu's inner circle, EFTA00719578 a move Israel feared would lead to its isolation. When Abbas press

Muwafi had also been Egypt's main interlocutor with the Palestinians. He had been working in recent months to broker a unity pact between Hamas and Fatah. Muwafi understood that Egypt had much more leverage over Hamas after the extremist group had been forced to flee its base in Syria; working with t

e used to build settlements. When Baker was secretary of state, the United States convinced Arab nations to sit face to face with the Israelis, got the United Nations to repeal the resolution that equated Zionism with racism, and facilitated the emigration of Jewish emigres from the Soviet Union, all by focusing

l rights are not fulfilled. [Asharq Al-Awsat] You talk about the one-state solution; do you consider it possible to apply? [Quray] This has been a Fatah project since 1967, a secular democratic state in which the Muslim, the Christian, and the Jew coexist. This originally is a Fatah option, but it w

the ranks of the still largely secular protest movement, whose unifying goal is the ouster of the regime led by President Bashar al-Assad. But if the United Nations' peace plan fails to end the government's bloody crackdown and promises of Western and Arab help for the rebel Free Syrian Army do not materialize

Egypt, Qatar and Turkey reportedly played a key role in convincing Hamas to reconcile with its historical rival EFTA_R1_01992704 EFTA02681489 6 Fatah and end armed resistance against Israel. Hartwell writes that Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, in a meeting on November 24 in Cairo with Palestinian pre

an expert who also advices the presidency in Tehran. He pointed out that Iran believes Assad could still survive the current crisis, providing that the United Nations or the West do not intervene militarily. "The Assad regime has learned a valuable lesson from (the late deposed Libya leader) Moammar Ghaddafi, and

ep its 290 water and sewage facilities running. The Hamas government refuses to buy alternative fuels, because taxes on these would go to the rival Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority. As a result, pumping stations ceased operation in November, and many streets in southern Gaza City are now inunda

t of Damascus; and the town of Moadamiyeh, about eight miles southwest of the capital. A relief working group has been coordinated by Valerie Amos, the United Nations' emergency relief coordinator. The raw materials for peace negotiations are there. But as always in the tragic Syrian conflict, the forces of secta

new EFTA00662862 Palestinian state's precise borders but the kind of state it would be — a terrorist regime like Hamas, an aging kleptocracy like Fatah or a truly representative Palestinian government. Until the third alternative becomes possible, Israel cannot safely settle with a "Palestine" that

s hours of energy a year. So we just got a new Hoover Dam — for free — in Arlington, Va. A gas embargo by Putin would also reinforce the message of the United Nations' latest climate report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which warned with greater confidence than ever that human- created carbon em

the UN vote on November 29th that granted them non-member observer state status at the UN. The decision came two days after the 48th anniversary of Fatah, a major political party and the largest faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). This anniversary was celebrated by an unusual r

the government and the UGTT has started investigating the violence that took place in Mohamed Ali square on December 4th. EFTA00668482 Syria: As the United Nation's estimate of the official death toll reached 60,000, Bashar Al Assad proposed a peace initiative on January 6th comprising a national reconciliation

The Islamic Jihad is more willing to confront Israel militarily, whereas Hamas, repositioning itself in internal Palestinian politics following the Fatah-Hamas unity government agreement and the closing of the Hamas Damascus office, has much to lose in a military confrontation with Israel. Syria: The

evelopment came after more than one month of disunity among Council members during which the violence and death toll in Syria (estimated at 8,000 by the United Nations) had increased. Syrians are facing continued repression by the Assad Government and a stalled economy that has been hit hard by sanctions, a drought

yed, they may succeed by the end of June. The plan is for that new government to rule for six months and then hold elections, but neither Hamas nor Fatah wants to subject itself to the unpredictability of the polls. For Abbas, elections might end his years of happy globe-trotting. He claims that ret

whom he can turn. Mideast advisor Dennis Ross has left; Jeffrey Feltman, assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, departed for a post at the United Nations; and Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns will in all likelihood leave when a new secretary of state is appointed or a few months later. In Januar

operation between Israel and the PA, which has led to an unprecedented calm after several years of bloody violence. Israel's reaction to the Hamas-Fatah pact has been to hunker down, hoping that the unity government will collapse under the weight of the parties' differences. Yet paralysis carries it

or Palestinian refugees based on Resolution 194, which the General Assembly passed in 1948. Palestine would be negotiating from the position of one United Nations member whose territory is militarily occupied by another, however, and not as a vanquished people ready to accept whatever terms are put in front o