Secretary of State John Kerry’s announcement that Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are set to resume is running into immediate hurdles, with Palestinians issuing further demands before agreeing to return to the negotiating table. Kerry’s initiative also faces more systematic problems. Palestinian glorification of terrorism and Palestinian incitement, which has been explicitly...

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After months in which Israeli officials had been calling on their Palestinian counterparts to return to negotiations without preconditions – and had been rebuffed – Secretary of State John Kerry announced a breakthrough this afternoon. The language of the announcement – which did not set a date for talks to resume – seemed carefully...

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Reported progress on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process stalled this afternoon after Palestinians announced a delay in their response to a peace initiative being pushed by Secretary of State John Kerry. Reports of a meeting between Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and various Palestinian factions are not encouraging: Palestinian Authority...

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Israel undertook a number of steps to facilitate travel during this year’s Ramadan. Jerusalem expected an estimated one-million Palestinians to cross the country’s 1948 armistice lines from from the West Bank, a record and up from the 850,000 Palestinians who visited last year. Israel lifted a number of security restrictions,...

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Observers have long feared that financial mismanagement by Palestinian officials – a function of endemic corruption, and coupled with political illegitimacy – would prevent the emergence of a stable Palestinian economy. A functioning economy is considered a critical prerequisite in efforts to achieve a viable Palestinian state, lest that state...

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit the Jordanian capital on Wednesday in a bid to get Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and the Arab League on board for peace talks with Israel. Kerry was originally scheduled to visit Israel on this, his sixth trip to the region...

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to release 40 Palestinian prisoners convicted of terrorism against civilians, Israeli media reported Thursday quoting U.S. officials. The move – which would not be conditioned on any reciprocal Palestinian steps – is reportedly intended to convey Israel’s seriousness about returning to peace talks....

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A recent meeting in Ramallah between Israeli and Palestinian officials has been blasted by several Palestinian factions for promoting “normalization” between Israel and the Palestinians. Among those leveling the criticisms are members of the Fatah faction to which Western-backed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas belongs. The rhetoric of the rejection will likely...

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Middle East analysts have traditionally outlined at least four broad categories of internal structural problems plaguing efforts to establish and stabilize a viable Palestinian state. The Western-backed Palestinian Authority government (PA) which controls the West Bank lacks sovereignty over even the Palestinian-controlled territories that they explicitly reserve for a future...

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A majority of Palestinians believe that the Palestinian Authority should reject efforts by the Obama administration to “bring Palestinians and Israelis back to the negotiating table without any preconditions,” according to a poll published by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. The question wording accounts for concessions,...

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