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Keep up nuclear pressure on Iran: Netanyahu

Agence France-PresseJune 16, 2013 06:48
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday the world should keep up pressure on Iran to rein in its nuclear programme and avoid thinking the election of a moderate president will bring change. "The international community should not fall into wishful thinking and be tempted to ease pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear programme," Netanyahu said at the start a meeting of his cabinet. "Iran will be judged on its actions," he said a day after Hassan Rowhani, a moderate cleric and former top nuclear negotiator, was declared the winner of Iran's presidential election.

Israeli diplomats fight against their declining status

Agence France-PresseJune 12, 2013 13:41
Underpaid and increasingly deprived of power and influence over the Jewish state's foreign policy, Israeli diplomats are desperately trying to make their voices heard. About 200 foreign ministry staff demonstrated on Tuesday in Jerusalem, demanding a rise in salaries which have been frozen for years. But they were also demanding a restoration of the ministry's former lustre. "Diplomats in many countries are no longer able to make their salaries stretch to the end of the month," Yair Frommer, head of the employees' union, told AFP.

Israel PM red-faced at recall of peace talks statement

Agence France-PresseJune 12, 2013 10:31
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced Wednesday to recall an official statement on the peace process which appeared to admit Israel's settlement building was unhelpful in reaching an agreement with the Palestinians. The reference was made in a joint Israeli-Polish declaration which was to have been read out following a meeting in Warsaw between Netanyahu and his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk later on Wednesday.

Kerry postpones Mideast visit amid Syria talks

Agence France-PresseJune 10, 2013 18:30
US Secretary of State John Kerry postponed a trip to Israel and Palestinian territories this week to attend White House talks on Syria amid growing calls for America to arm the opposition. The news came as Kerry's efforts to rekindle the Middle East peace talks appear to have bogged down, and as a flow of Hezbollah fighters into Syria is helping the regime win a string of victories against the rebels.

Israel signals readiness to limit settlement building for peace

June 10, 2013 16:33
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted on Monday that Israel was ready to confine Jewish settlement expansion to the blocs of occupied territory it wants to keep under any peace deal with the Palestinians, in a nod to U.S. efforts to revive stalled negotiations.

Kerry talks peace, settlements with Netanyahu, Abbas

Agence France-PresseMay 31, 2013 18:15
Top US diplomat John Kerry spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas about settlements and the Mideast peace process, the State Department said Friday. The calls -- Thursday with Netanyahu and Friday with Abbas -- come on the heels of a State Department warning directed at Israel that continued settlement activity in east Jerusalem was "counterproductive" to efforts to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians.

Israel says wants to avoid escalation with Syria

Agence France-PresseMay 30, 2013 10:31
Israel does not want to provoke a military "escalation" with Syria but will not allow it to transfer strategic arms to groups like Lebanon's Hezbollah, a cabinet minister said on Thursday. "There is no need to provoke an escalation, there is no need to heat up the border with Syria, that was not our objective and it will never be," Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom told public radio. Asked about Moscow's plans to supply S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, Shalom said they would only become a problem if they fell into the wrong hands.

Israel 'will know what to do' over Russia missiles

Agence France-PresseMay 28, 2013 09:16
Israel "will know what to do" if Russia delivers anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, its defence minister said Tuesday, in an apparent allusion to another air strike on the war-torn neighbouring country. "The deliveries have not taken place, and I hope they do not. But if, by misfortune, they arrive in Syria, we will know what to do," Moshe Yaalon said. His comments came after Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said providing the missiles to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad would be a "stabilising factor" aimed at deterring any foreign intervention in Syria.

Peace debate exposes deep rifts in Israeli government

May 21, 2013 12:16
By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's coalition government presented a divided front on Palestinian statehood on Tuesday as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prepared a new mission to revive long-defunct peace talks. Appearing before a parliamentary committee, Israeli chief peace negotiator Tzipi Livni outlined a vision she said she shared with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of an end to the decades-old conflict with the Palestinians.

Kerry to meet Livni, Judeh in Rome on Wednesday

May 15, 2013 12:33
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who has special responsibility for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, in Rome on Wednesday, the U.S. State Department said on Monday. Kerry will also meet Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh in Rome. The meetings are part of Kerry's effort to find a way to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, which fell apart in 2010 in a dispute over Israel's construction of Jewish settlements on West Bank land the Palestinians want for a state.
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