Participation in United Nations forums that refer to a "State of Palestine" does not constitute US recognition of Palestinian statehood, UN Ambassador Susan Rice said. "Any reference to the 'State of Palestine' in the United Nations, including the use of the term 'State of Palestine' on the placard in the Security Council or the use of the term 'State of Palestine' in the invitation to this meeting or other arrangements for participation in this meeting, do not reflect acquiescence that Palestine is a state," …More

One blogger thinks Americans should be wary of high-fiving the PLO. [Jerusalem Post] Jacob Stein, leader of the Conference of Presidents, dies. [Forward] The cultural power of stuffed pastrami on rye. [Jewish Week] Philanthropy and Israel have a two-way street. [Times of Israel] A British census shows a rise in Jewish identification. [JC] Five lessons of Hanukkah to unwrap. [Huffington Post] A Hanukkah gift guide for the grumpy relative in your life. [Jewcy] A look at history's first animated Festival …More

Republican US senators introduced the first efforts to penalize the Palestinians and the United Nations should the body affirm enhanced Palestinian status. Language proposed this week as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act would cut assistance to the Palestinians by 50 percent and US fees to the United Nations by the same amount should the effort by the Palestinians to gain recognition as a non-member observer state succeed in the General Assembly. It also would cut by 20 percent US aid to any …More

Two dozen Americans living in Israel have sued the US federal government for allegedly funding terrorist activity in Gaza and the West Bank. The suit, filed in Washington today, accuses the US of ignoring Congressional safeguards and transparency requirements in aid sent to the Palestinian Authority, which the group of 24 claims has been funneled to terrorist groups like Hamas, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Palestine Liberation Front. The …More

Israel has admitted to the killing of a top Palestinian aide, 24 years after the assassination. Abu Jihad was the right-hand man for Yasser Arafat and one of the founding members of the PLO. He was also believed to be responsible for a slew of attacks on the Israeli people in the 70’s and 80’s. Now, the Israeli military censor has allowed the publication of an interview with IDF commander Nahum Lev, who is credited with the killing that took place in 1988 in Tunisia. Lev died himself in 2000, and …More

France has filed an official murder inquiry into the death of late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. Earlier this summer, the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera news outlet released a documentary further looking into Arafat’s death. Swiss scientists purported in the film that polonium-210 was found on article’s of the Arab leader’s clothing at the time of death, including on his iconic keffiyeh. Following the documentary, Arafat’s widow Suha issued a complaint with French officials, asking for an …More

Germany cooperated with Palestinian terrorists in the wake of the ’72 Munich massacre, according to a news outlet. Der Spiegel, a German publication, reported that the nation’s authorities held secret talks with leaders from Black September after that same group kidnapped and killed 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic games. According to the report, Germany’s then Foreign Minister Walter Scheel met with several Black September members in the months after the attack, to “rebuild …More

The Ramallah municipality approved the construction of a mausoleum to honor the Palestinian terrorists who killed 11 Israelis in the 1975 attack on Tel Aviv's Savoy Hotel. The vote was reported last week by the PA daily newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida and translated into English by Palestinian Media Watch. The eight terrorists, members of the Palestine Liberation Organization, traveled by boat from Lebanon to Tel Aviv, where they took over the Savoy Hotel. Seven of the terrorists were killed during an Israeli …More

Iceland’s parliament passed a motion to recognize an independent Palestinian state with pre-1967 borders and the Palestine Liberation Organization as its legal authority. “Iceland is the first Western European country to take this step. I now have the formal authority to declare our recognition of Palestine," Foreign Minister Össur Skarphedinsson told Icelandic state broadcaster RUV. Iceland’s resolution came on the same day as the United Nations’ annual day of solidarity with the …More

A plan for settling thousands more Jews in East Jerusalem quietly cut through the final bureaucratic red tape impeding its construction this week. The proposed Givat Hamatos neighborhood will sever some of the last links between East Jerusalem and the West Bank, further endangering peace prospects between Palestine and Israel. Located over the 1967 green line, the Givat Hamatos project will include 2,610 new housing units that will complete an unofficial border of Jewish neighborhoods around part of East …More

Israel will release 550 members of Fatah as its second wave of freed prisoners in the Gilad Shalit agreement, according to an Egyptian diplomat’s discussions with AFP. Fatah is current Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ political party and the largest faction in the Palestine Liberation Organization. The second group of prisoners will be released in two months. The Egyptian diplomat told the news organization that Egypt had persuaded Israel to release "550 prisoners from Fatah who will be …More

The head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s mission in the US, Maen Areikat, held a breakfast with reporters on Tuesday to advance Palestine’s bid for statehood, to come before the UN next week. Remarks made during this Washington meeting appeared to indicate that the infant Palestinian state would require all Jewish residents to leave. When asked about the rights of the Jewish minority, Areikat responded, “I personally still believe, that as a first step we need to be totally …More