Israeli-Palestinian peace talks

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, right, meets with then-Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog in Ramallah on August 18, 2015. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser/File)

July 11, 2021, 10:20 pm

PA’s Abbas calls to congratulate Israel’s new president

Isaac Herzog says he hopes to assist in peace efforts; Palestinian leader underlines need for ‘practical steps on the ground’

By Amy Spiro and Aaron Boxerman

Orient House in East Jerusalem, October 14, 2007 (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

July 11, 2021, 4:47 pm

Palestinians said drafting list of demands if limited peace talks resume

PA said seeking resumption of operations in East Jerusalem, ending settlement expansion, restricting police activity on Temple Mount, permission to build international airport

By TOI staff

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, center, gestures to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, right, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, left, at a meeting at a hotel in Jerusalem, on February 19, 2007. (Flash90)

June 25, 2021, 5:52 am

‘Abbas never said no’ to 2008 peace deal, says former PM Olmert

Leader who offered Palestinians a state claims that behind closed doors, PA president ‘regrets that he didn’t sign’; adds that Hamas military threat doesn’t worry him

By Lazar Berman

Then-US secretary of state John Kerry is seen at the State Department to mark the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, on July 29, 2013. (AP/Charles Dharapak)

June 21, 2021, 8:08 pm

US denies asking PA to assemble negotiating team for peace talks

Senior State Department official says premise of recent Israeli report on matter untrue; DC has been adamant that time isn’t right for high level talks on final status issues

By Jacob Magid

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, right, meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed, Pool)

June 15, 2021, 6:25 pm

Palestinians said to assemble new peace negotiating team at initiative of US

Report says the Biden administration began effort to revive talks before Israel’s new government was sworn in; PA said set to demand expansion of its authority in West Bank

By TOI staff

Israeli soldiers check a Palestinian woman as she wait to cross the Qalandiya checkpoint between the West Bank city of Ramallah and Jerusalem, to attend the second Friday prayers in the al-Aqsa mosque during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Friday, April 23, 2021. A limited number of Palestinian residents who carry both a travel permit and a vaccination document, are allowed to cross into Israel to attend the prayers at al-Aqsa mosque, due to the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

April 27, 2021, 2:05 pm

Human Rights Watch lodges ‘apartheid’ accusation at Israel, which dismisses it

Rights group alleges Israel acts ‘to maintain the domination of Jewish Israelis over Palestinians’ in Israel, West Bank, Gaza; Israel: Preposterous, false claims, by biased group

By AP and TOI staff

View of the Israeli settlement of Ariel, in the West Bank on July 2, 2020. (Sraya Diamant/Flash90)

March 24, 2021, 4:14 pm

Mideast Quartet urges ‘meaningful’ dialogue to reach two-state solution

Convening online, envoys from US, Russia, EU and UN express concern over potential ‘unilateral actions,’ in apparent reference to Israeli settlement expansion

By AFP

Palestinians wave national flags during a protest against normalization of ties between the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain with Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, September 15, 2020. (Majdi Mohammed/AP)

March 23, 2021, 10:30 am

Top Abbas advisers urge Palestinian statehood with ‘soft’ sovereignty

Hussein Agha and Ahmad Samih Khalidi, seasoned negotiators with Israel, propose Jordan and Egypt taking on security roles, and Saudi normalization if settlement expansion ends

By Stuart Winer

From left to right, EU Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace Process Susanna Terstal, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and UN special coordinator for the Middle East Tor Wennesland pose for a group photo prior to their meeting in Paris, March 11, 2021. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP)

March 11, 2021, 8:00 pm

European, Arab diplomats attempt to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts

Officials say potential ‘small steps’ toward peace may come after Jerusalem and Ramallah hold elections

By AP

Hady Amr, now US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs, speaks at the Brookings Institute, where he was a fellow, on December 3, 2018. (Screen capture/YouTube)

February 22, 2021, 3:49 am

As Biden puts Mideast on backburner, US point-man on conflict seeks small gains

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Hady Amr starts job gunning for improvements to Palestinian economy and renewing bilateral ties, but is not giving up on two-state solution

By Jacob Magid

US Vice President Kamala Harris looks on as President Joe Biden signs a series of executive orders in the State Dining Room of the White House, January 26, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

January 29, 2021, 4:05 pm

Biden breaks from predecessors by taking it slow on Israeli-Palestinian peace

Like Trump, Obama, Bush and Clinton, US president says ultimate goal is 2-state solution; unlike them, he’s not interested in launching a high-stakes initiative to get there

By Jacob Magid

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech during a meeting of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Dec. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

January 29, 2021, 8:48 am

Under new US leadership, UN chief sees ‘hope’ for Mideast peace progress

Without mentioning Trump explicitly, Guterres says that previously ‘we were completely locked down in a situation in which there was no progress visible’

By Agencies and TOI staff

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas speaks to the media after a meeting on the divisive migrant issue in Paris, France, July 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

January 27, 2021, 8:47 pm

German FM insists nuclear deal is best way to confront Iran’s ‘reckless’ acts

Speaking to INSS conference, Heiko Maas says Tehran’s missiles, proxies must also be addressed; calls for end to settlement construction

By Lazar Berman

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, right, welcomes Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas in Moscow, on January 20, 2012. (AP Photo/ Mikhail Metzel)

January 26, 2021, 9:43 pm

Russia backs Palestinian proposal for Mideast peace conference

Speaking to UN Security Council, Foreign Minister Lavrov suggests ministerial-level multinational summit in the spring or summer

By AFP

Then US President Bill Clinton, center, looks on as Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, left, and PLO leader Yasser Arafat shake hands in the East Room of the White House after signing the Middle East accord in Washington on September 28, 1995. (AP Photo/Doug Mills, File)

January 22, 2021, 2:50 pm

Documentary highlights the ‘Human Factor’ in Israel-Palestinian peace talks

New film takes intimate look at efforts to broker agreement through the personal experiences of US officials who mediated the negotiations

By Jocelyn Noveck