A 3000-acre hilly expanse of parkland that is, improbably, part of East Jerusalem has long tantalized Israeli expansionists. Construction and development in the area, known as E1, would isolate Bethlehem and Ramallah, sealing them off from the remaining Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. This would at least threaten, if not destroy, any prospect of a…
The Union for Reform Judaism criticized Israel for its decision to build new settlement housing and the Palestinians for unilaterally seeking upgraded status at the United Nations. The newly adopted policy statement was adopted overwhelmingly on Sunday following a debate at the group’s board of trustees meeting in St. Petersburg, Fla. More than 200 board…
Immediately after the General Assembly voted to accord the Palestinian Authority observer status as a state within the 1967 borders, the rabbis and lay-leadership of congregation B’nai Jeshurun, a popular synagogue in Manhattan praised the U.N. and described its vote as “a great moment for us as citizens of the world.” When they made this…
The leaders of a prominent New York City synagogue sent out an email to congregants praising the U.N. vote that elevated the Palestinians to non-member state status. “The vote at the U.N. yesterday is a great moment for us as citizens of the world,” said the email, signed by the B’nai Jeshurun’s three rabbis, cantor,…
Joyous crowds welcomed President Mahmoud Abbas back to the West Bank on Sunday and celebrated the United Nations General Assembly’s de facto recognition of Palestinian statehood. “Abbas, onwards, we are with you until liberation,” flag-waving Palestinian well-wishers chanted at their president, returning from the assembly which voted 138 to nine with 41 absentions on Thursday…
How the United States treats the Palestinians’ new status as a non-member state at the United Nations depends on how Palestinians plan to use it – as cudgel or outstretched hand. Beneath the outcries of disappointment at the lopsided U.N. vote, both the United States and Israel showed signs of acquiescence to its inevitability. There…
“We lost Europe,” was the way one Foreign Ministry official put Thursday morning when Germany announced it would abstain on Palestinian non-member observer state status, rather than vote against it. Indeed, twelve European Union member states elected to abstain altogether — including the United Kingdom, Poland, and the Netherlands — while fourteen voted in favor,…
The cheering delegates clapping at the United Nations General Assembly hall, the Palestinian flag pulled out and waved and that unusual smile on the face of Mahmoud Abbas, provided the Palestinian Authority with its long awaited and ever so rare moment of victory. As the General Assembly approved on Thursday, with an overwhelming majority of…
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