Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected a package of Israeli goodwill gestures designed to coax the Palestinian leader back to peace talks, where further Israeli concessions would be discussed. A Palestinian official told Xinhua that the Israeli confidence-building measures – which included the release of security prisoners and programs designed...

Yousef Rizqa, a key adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, evaluated last week ongoing efforts by U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry to bring the Palestinians back to the negotiating table with Israel. He’s not pleased: Dr. Yousef Rizqa, political adviser to Gaza prime minister, warned against “a new...

An Arabic-language story published this week in a pan-Arab newspaper blasted the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood for financially supporting the group despite the fragile Egyptian economy. Hamas officials responded, again lashing out against what the Iran-backed terror group describes as a smear campaign being conducted against it by Egyptian media outlets: Hamas movement strongly condemned...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government are prepared to make “painful” concessions in order to jumpstart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that Secretary of State John Kerry is in the region to promote, according to Science and Technology Minister Yaakov Peri. “Netanyahu knows there will be a painful evacuation of a number...

Conflicting reports regarding plans by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to visit the Gaza Strip are heightening uncertainty regarding the intentions of the Islamist premier. Turkish television announced overnight that Erdogan would travel to Gaza on July 5, a report that Erdogan’s press secretary promptly shot down. Erdogan has...

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has again clarified that – contrary to analysis in some corners of the foreign policy community, and despite expressions of optimism by some Western diplomats – his organization will not recognize Israel: Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday that Palestinians would not recognize Israel,...