Israeli army cranes on Sunday began removing a concrete barrier that shielded a Jewish neighborhood bordering the West Bank from gunfire — a sign that calm is taking hold in the Palestinian territory.
The Obama administration is optimistic that the Palestinian Authority will return to direct talks with Israel after nearly two years of shunning face-to-face negotiations.
Current news about Israel's interdiction of the Gaza flotilla centers on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's willingness to cooperate with a planned United Nations investigation. Leaving aside that the "international community" never calls for an equivalent investigation of endless Palestinian rocket attacks upon Israeli civilians from Gaza - Arab terror that made an Israeli blockade indispensable in the first place - the flotilla incident was merely the tip of a much larger iceberg. This far more critical and underlying danger is the impending creation of a Palestinian state.
AFGHANISTAN
Israel's prime minister issued a stern warning Sunday to Gaza's Hamas rulers after a weekend of rocket attacks from the Palestinian territory on Israeli communities.
Egypt said Wednesday it has received U.S. assurances that may help in restarting direct peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel.
The top security official in Hamas-ruled Gaza said Tuesday he is considering setting up a bigger military force, first with volunteers and eventually with conscripts as well.
The reports concerning the deterioration of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's health, which serve as the basis of the article "Egyptian leader's health on radar of U.S." (Page 1, Monday) are categorically false.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement insisted Tuesday that direct peace talks with Israel hinge on a complete halt to Jewish settlement building.
