John Kerry travels to Israel in bid to save Israeli-Palestinian conflict talks
(JNS.org) Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Israel in an effort to prevent the collapse of the U.S.-brokered Israel-Palestinian conflict negotiations.
After the fourth stage of Israel’s release of Palestinian terrorist prisoners was delayed Saturday, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday that if Israel does not release the 26 prisoners set to go free in that stage, the Palestinians will not discuss extending the negotiations beyond their initial April 29 deadline for a resolution.
“Secretary Kerry will land in Tel Aviv with possible meetings in Jerusalem and Ramallah over the next day,” the State Department said in a statement Monday.
A Palestinian Authority source told Israel Hayom that real progress has begun in U.S.-mediated talks on the fourth stage of the prisoner release, and that the 26 prisoners will likely be freed before the end of this week.
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Palestinian Authority textbooks rife with anti-Israel incitement, study shows
(JNS.org) A study that translated 150 new Palestinian Authority (PA) textbooks used by a U.N. educational body reveals widespread delegitimization of Israel and continued calls to use violence against Israeli Jews, Israel Hayom reported.
According to the study, conducted by the Near East Policy Research Center, the textbooks say Jews have no rights to Israel, including to Jewish holy sites, and are not considered legitimate residents of the country. The name “Israel” appears less than a handful of times on the textbooks’ maps and is usually replaced with Palestine, and areas inside pre-1967 Israel are described exclusively as Palestinian.
The Near East Policy Research Center sent a letter to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which runs 250 schools in Gaza and 100 in the West Bank, asking it to correct the deficiencies in the textbooks.
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Austria accepts ‘joint responsibility’ for Holocaust atrocities, president says
(JNS.org) Israeli President Shimon Peres attended a Holocaust memorial ceremony with Austrian President Heinz Fischer in Vienna’s Judenplatz town square on Sunday.
“Today, Austria accepts its joint responsibility with the Nazi criminals,” Fischer said, adding that Austria only relatively recently began the difficult-but-important process of acknowledging its role in the Holocaust and commemorating the country’s Jewish victims.
“I begin my visit to this country by bowing my head before this memorial, paying respect to the thousands of Austrian Jews sent to death camps from Vienna,” Peres said at the ceremony, Israel Hayom reported.
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IDF thwarts infiltration attempt at Israel-Syria border fence
(JNS.org) Israeli troops on the Israel-Syria border thwarted an infiltration attempt over the weekend, killing two gunmen believed to be trying to sabotage the border fence.
Soldiers manning an observation post on the Syrian border spotted two individuals whom they suspected of attempting to either sabotage the fence or place explosives in the area where a roadside bomb recently injured four Israel Defense Forces soldiers.
After being alerted by the observation post, soldiers on the ground engaged the two individuals, who turned out to be armed and were killed in the ensuing clash.
Commenting on the border incident during his cabinet meeting Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We will continue to respond to any attempt to harm Israel, and we will, as best we can, apply a proactive policy to stopping these attacks before they take place.”
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U.S. military chief Martin Dempsey visits Israel
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey arrived in Israel on Sunday afternoon for a three-day visit.
Dempsey was scheduled to meet with Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and other senior Israeli defense officials to discuss military cooperation between Israel and the U.S.
Ya’alon and Dempsey were also expected to discuss various regional issues, including the Syrian civil war, the Iranian nuclear threat, and the war on terror.
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