"There is no substitute for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and any unilateral attempts outside that framework will unravel the existing agreements between us and could entail unilateral steps by Israel," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a high level gathering of Israeli and American policy makers at the Saban Forum in Jerusalem on Sunday night.
Netanyahu's statement came a day after chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat announced that th…
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Posted on November 15, 2009 at 11:09pm — Comments
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama focused excusively on Iran when they met in Washington Monday, and so did Netanyahu and French president Nicolas Sarkozy when they met in Paris on Wednesday. Iran also was the subject for the meeting between defense minster Ehud Barak and US defense secretary Robert Gates Monday, DebkaFile reports.
DEBKAfile's Washington sources report that…
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Posted on November 13, 2009 at 11:56am — Comments
Ben Smith of Politico reports:
A source at the White House for the president's meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reports that Obama ended the event with a modest proposal for the domestic politics of both men.
At the meeting's conclusion, the two leaders walked out to the adjoining room where the Israeli and American delegatio…
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Posted on November 11, 2009 at 8:30pm —
Senior Israel officials on Wednesday adamantly rejected media speculation about tension between Jerusalem and Washington. "The reception [of Netanyahu in the White House] was cordial and friendly in many aspects, and even included rolling-up sleeves and cracking open beer bottles when necessary, in line with the tradition of coordination between senior Israeli and US officials," National Security Adviser Uzi Arad told Israel Radio from Paris, the latest stop on PM Benjamin…
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Posted on November 11, 2009 at 8:00pm — Comments
Although Monday night's talks between Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama remain shrouded in secrecy, the Israeli prime minister broadly hinted that the "importance of the visit will become clear in the future." He discounted reports of tension with the American President: "Reports about a bad atmosphere are garbage," he said. "To put it mildly, they are grossly inaccurate and don't reflect the truth." On the contrary, Netanyahu insisted, the atmosphere "was very open and v…
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Posted on November 11, 2009 at 9:00am — Comments