The Latest: Netanyahu back in Israel, consults with military

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Latest on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (all times local):

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has returned home from Washington, heading straight into military consultations after a night of heavy fire as Israeli aircraft bombed Gaza targets and the strip's militants fired rockets into Israel.

Schools in southern Israel were cancelled following the violence that erupted just two weeks ahead of Israeli elections. The region is quiet but tense on Tuesday, a day after a surprise rocket fired from Gaza slammed into a house in central Israel, wounding seven.

Netanyahu faces the difficult task of delivering a tough blow to Hamas while avoiding protracted fighting that could work against him on election day.

Officials at a Palestinian university in the West Bank say undercover Israeli forces have raided the campus and arrested three students.

Lubna Abdelhadi, a spokeswoman for the Bir Zeit University, says the armed commandos, disguised as locals, entered the campus early on Tuesday and grabbed the students, believed to be Hamas activists, while they were sleeping.

The students were apparently hiding on campus to try and avoid arrest. The raid happened as Israel and Gaza's Hamas militants traded fire overnight after a rocket attack from Gaza struck a home in central Israel early on Monday.

Israeli forces had previously raided the university in 2017 and ransacked the student council, confiscating materials used by political groups.

The Israeli military said it arrested nine Palestinian suspects in routine overnight West Bank raids, but would not specify further.

A tense quiet has taken hold after a night of heavy fire as Israeli aircraft bombed targets across the Gaza Strip and Gaza militants fired rockets into Israel.

School in southern Israel was cancelled on Tuesday following the violence that erupted just two weeks ahead of Israeli elections.

The cross-border fighting was triggered by a surprise rocket fired early Monday from Gaza that slammed into a house in central Israel and wounded seven people. Gaza's Hamas rulers announced later in the day that Egyptian mediators had brokered a cease-fire but the firing continued.

The attack prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cut short a visit to Washington and return home. He promised a tough response, setting the stage for perhaps the most serious conflict since a 50-day war in 2014. </s> JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned a speech by US Secretary of State John Kerry on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Wednesday (Dec 28) as biased against Israel and more focused on settlements than Palestinian violence.

Speaking from his office following Kerry's speech in Washington, Netanyahu said the outgoing secretary of state paid only "lip service" to Palestinian violence against Israelis.

"What he did was he spent most of his speech blaming Israel for the lack of peace," Netanyahu said.

He added later that "Israelis do not need to be lectured about the importance of peace by foreign leaders".

In an earlier statement from Netanyahu's office, the premier said "like the Security Council resolution that Secretary Kerry advanced in the UN, his speech tonight was skewed against Israel".

"For over an hour, Kerry obsessively dealt with settlements and barely touched upon the root of the conflict - Palestinian opposition to a Jewish state in any boundaries."

Kerry's speech included sharp criticism of Israeli settlement building and came after last week's UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to such activity.

The United States abstained at the Security Council, allowing the resolution to pass 14-0.

The United States and others say continued settlement building is steadily eating away at the possibility of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Netanyahu has accused US President Barack Obama's administration of being behind the resolution, which it denies, and vowed not to abide by it.

Netanyahu said on Wednesday it "reflects a radical shift in US policy towards the Palestinians on final status issues, those issues that we always agreed, the US and Israel, have to be negotiated directly face to face without pre-conditions". </s> FILE -- In this Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016 file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. Israel is stepping up its attacks on the Obama administration, saying it has proof from Arab sources that the U.S. actively helped craft a U.N. resolution that declared Israeli settlements illegal. A spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel has "ironclad information" that the White House helped draft the language of the resolution. Citing Arab sources, he says the White House "pushed hard" for its passage. (Dan Balilty/Pool photo via AP, File)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday ordered a temporary suspension of relations with the 12 United Nations Security Council members who voted in favor of a resolution which says Israel's settlements in the West Bank "had no legal validity."

Netanyahu personally met with and scolded 10 of the ambassadors from the dozen countries who voted for the resolution that says the settlement constituted "a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the vision of two States living side-by-side in peace and security."

Netanyahu says he will not have a working relationship with the governments of the countries – Angola, Britain, China, Egypt, France, Japan, New Zealand, Senegal, Spain, Ukraine, Uruguay and Russia.

The United States is not on that list because they abstained from voting on the resolution. Israeli officials say they have proof from Arab sources that the United States helped to craft the resolution they abstained from voting for.

Here’s what other media outlets are saying about the development.

JERUSALEM (AP) – “Israel is stepping up its attacks on the Obama administration, saying it has proof from Arab sources that the U.S. actively helped craft a U.N. resolution that declared Israeli settlements illegal.

David Keyes, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, says Israel has "ironclad information" that the White House helped draft the language of the resolution. Citing Arab sources, he said Tuesday that the White House "pushed hard" for its passage.”

Israel braces for more tensions with US as Kerry plans major speech

“Israel is bracing for yet another potential clash with the Obama administration in the final weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, as Secretary of State John Kerry prepares to follow up last week’s anti-settlement U.N. censure with a major address on the U.S. vision for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Times of Israel and Israel’s Channel 2 report that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is concerned about an Obama administration bid to have the Security Council endorse principles for a Palestinian state, and is reaching out to allies in the U.S. Congress and the incoming Trump administration to try and deter further action against Israel.”

“In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said Israel was limiting its "work contacts with the 10 relevant embassies here, as well as travels of officials from Israel to those countries ... until otherwise decided." (Two other countries were added to the list after this story was posted)

These countries were Britain, France, Russia, China, Japan, Ukraine, Angola, Egypt, Uruguay and Spain, said Nahshon.

The Palestinians claim the West Bank along with east Jerusalem — home to holy sites sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians — as parts of their future state. Israel says settlement activities in the territories, which were captured by Israel in the 1967 war, should be agreed upon in future peace talks.”

“The Jerusalem municipality, undeterred by a U.N. anti-settlement resolution, is due to consider on Wednesday requests for construction permits for hundreds of new homes for Israelis in areas that Israel captured in 1967 and annexed to the city.

Israel is still fuming over the resolution approved last Friday by the United Nations Security Council that demands an end to settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israel has also described as “shameful” the decision of its long-standing ally the United States to abstain in the vote rather than wield its veto. The Obama administration is a strong opponent of the settlements.”

Israel urges Jews to leave France as Benjamin Netanyahu continues to lash out after UN vote

“Israel’s defense minister has urged Jews to leave France and move to the Jewish state as the Israeli government continued to lash out at the international community in the wake of a UN resolution criticizing its settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Four days after the US allowed the UN Security Council to censure Israeli settlement building, Israel’s government is on a heated rhetorical campaign against the 12 countries that voted against it.”

“Israel on Tuesday intensified its criticism of the Obama administration for allowing the United Nations to pass a resolution condemning Israeli settlements, and vowed to press ahead with new construction in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians hope to make the capital of an independent state.

David Keyes, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel has “ironclad information” that the White House helped draft the resolution, the Associated Press reported. The Obama administration denied the allegation.” </s> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned home from Washington on Tuesday, heading straight into military consultations after a night of heavy fire as Israeli aircraft bombed Gaza targets and the strip’s militants fired rockets into Israel.

Schools in southern Israel were cancelled following the violence that threatened to escalate into a major conflict just two weeks before the Israeli elections. The fighting subsided by the morning, though the situation remained tense.

The military massed forces on the Gaza border and imposed restrictions on civilian public gatherings after dozens of rockets were fired toward communities in the area, including one that struck a house in the town of Sderot.

Overnight, the Israeli air force pounded militant sites of Gaza’s Hamas rulers and the smaller Islamic Jihad group. The targets included a multistory building in Gaza City that Israel said had served as a Hamas military intelligence headquarters and the office of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Gaza’s Health Ministry said seven Palestinians were wounded in the airstrikes. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington (all times local):

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (neh-ten-YAH'-hoo) is asking President Donald Trump for permission to share Israeli wine with White House staff.

And the Israeli leader is joking that he hopes "they don't open an investigation" as a result. Back home, Netanyahu is facing a pending indictment on corruption charges.

And Trump has been the subject of numerous investigations, but is claiming vindication following the release of a summary of special counsel Robert Mueller's report.

Netanyahu made the offer after Trump signed a proclamation recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Netanyahu says he brought Trump a case "of the finest wine from the Golan." But he says Trump, who doesn't drink alcohol, is "not a great wine drinker," and that he wanted to give the wine to Trump's staff instead.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (neh-ten-YAH'-hoo) says Israel is "responding forcefully" to a morning rocket attack in central part of the Jewish state.

Israel's military says it's started striking Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip after a rocket hit a house north Tel Aviv and wounded seven people.

Netanyahu spoke during a meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump, who later signed an official proclamation formally recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Netanyahu calls the rocket attack "wanton aggression" and says "Israel will not tolerate this. I will not tolerate it."

The prime minister says he plans to return to Israel after the meeting with Trump.

President Donald Trump has signed a proclamation recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

The document reverses more than a half-century of U.S. policy as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (neh-ten-YAH'-hoo) visited the White House.

Trump had previewed the move in a tweet last week that it was time for the U.S. to take the step after 52 years of Israeli control of the strategic highlands on the border with Syria.

Netanyahu has pressed for such recognition for months. Trump's action gives him a political boost just weeks before what's expected to be a close Israeli election.

Israel captured the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war but its sovereignty over the territory is not recognized by the international community.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (neh-ten-YAH'-hoo) says he's cutting short his visit to Washington after a Gaza rocket attack on Israel.

Netanyahu describes Monday morning's rocket launch that struck a home in central Israel as a "criminal attack" and he's pledging to strike back hard. He says he'll return to Israel to handle the crisis shortly after his meeting with President Donald Trump.

An Israeli rescue service says the rocket from the Gaza Strip wounded seven people.

Netanyahu arrived in Washington on Sunday for what was to have been a three-day visit. He was going to speak at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's policy conference and was to be hosted at a White House dinner. </s> France is hosting an international conference aimed at strengthening a global commitment to a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both principal parties are skipping the event, however.

Some 70 nations, including members of the Middle East Quartet (the US, Russia, the EU, and the UN), other permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, Britain, and France), and leading Arab and European nations are attending the all-day conference in the French capital. The event was called last year by France as an initiative to reinvigorate the peace process.

However, neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority will be attending the conference, despite having been invited. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the meeting “futile,” complaining that the Europeans and the Palestinians had “rigged” it against Israeli interests.

The Palestinian Authority’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, called Israel’s position regrettable. However, despite initial expectations, he didn’t arrive in Paris on Sunday either, with Reuters sources indicating that the decision to cancel his visit had come from the French government. Abbas will reportedly meet with French President Francois Hollande sometime later, possibly in a matter of weeks.

The conference is focusing on three key areas, including helping the Palestinian economy, strengthening its civil society, and assisting in building the future Palestinian state, according to the French Foreign Ministry. The ultimate goal is not to impose a solution on Israel or the PA, but rather help them to reengage in direct negotiations, Paris explained.

“There is no time to waste,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told delegates at the opening ceremony, adding “we are not sheltered from an explosion of violence.”

The conference comes at a moment of increased tensions in the Middle East. Israel was outraged when the US abstained from vetoing a UN Security Council resolution that calls for halting the construction of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Consecutive right-wing governments under Netanyahu have brushed aside criticisms of the settlement building and continued to take more land from the Palestinians. The PA sees this practice as an obstacle to direct talks.

The passage of the resolution, and a subsequent speech that US Secretary of State John Kerry gave on his vision for a solution of the decades-old crisis, have underscored years of strained relations between Israel and the Obama administration.

President-elect Donald Trump, who is to be sworn in less than a week after the Paris conference, has indicated that his administration will be more supportive of Israeli interests. He has also indicated that he will move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, practically enshrining it as an exclusively Israeli capital. The suggestion has been strongly rejected by the Palestinians.

READ MORE: Senate bill proposes cutting funding to UN over Israeli settlement resolution



The gathering in the French capital is seen by many as a message to Trump not to undermine the proposed two-state solution, which would see Jerusalem as the capital of both states.

A draft communique sent to media outlets ahead of the conference also calls on Israel and the PA to disavow officials in their governments who reject the two-state solution. </s> OCCUPIED AL-QUDS: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday dismissed as "futile" an international conference in Paris seeking to revive the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

"The conference convening today in Paris is a futile conference," he told ministers at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting in Occupied al-Quds.

"It was coordinated between the French and the Palestinians with the aim of imposing upon Israel conditions that are incompatible with our national needs," he said.

Netanyahu´s government has bitterly opposed the conference, saying only direct talks with the Palestinians can end the long-running conflict.

The Palestinians have welcomed the multilateral approach, saying years of negotiations with the Israelis have not ended the occupation of the West Bank.

The conference is being held without either the Israelis or the Palestinians, but Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will meet French President Francois Hollande in the coming weeks to be briefed on the outcome, French diplomats said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault formally opened the assembly of foreign ministers and representatives from around 70 countries and international organisations.

"We are here to reiterate strongly that the two-state solution is the only one possible," Ayrault said.

The conference comes just five days before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed unstinting support for Israel.

Israel fears measures discussed at the conference could be taken to the UN Security Council before Trump takes office.

In a break with previous administrations, Trump has pledged to recognise Jerusalem as Israel´s capital and relocate the US embassy there from Tel Aviv.

Abbas warned on Saturday that such a move could "bury the hopes for a two-state solution".

The city´s status is one of the thorniest issues in the conflict, which is why foreign embassies are currently based in Tel Aviv.

The Palestinians regard Israeli-annexed east Occupied al-Quds as the capital of their future state, while Israel proclaims the entire city as its capital.

Hard-line Israeli lawmakers, including some from Netanyahu´s Likud party, have said Trump´s win represents an opportunity to quash the chance of Palestinians obtaining an independent state.

Netanyahu, who says he still supports a two-state solution, appeared in his comments on Sunday to be looking forward to the impending change in the White House.

"This conference is among the last spasms of yesterday´s world," he said. "Tomorrow will look different and tomorrow is very close."

Netanyahu slams ‘futile’ Paris peace conference was posted in World of TheNews International - https://www.thenews.com.pk on January 16, 2017 and was last updated on January 16, 2017. This news story is related to Print/179483-Netanyahu-slams-futile-Paris-peace-conference/ - breaking news, latest news, pakistan ne. Permanent link to the news story "Netanyahu slams ‘futile’ Paris peace conference" is https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/179483-Netanyahu-slams-futile-Paris-peace-conference. </s> JERUSALEM - US President Donald Trump's adviser Jared Kushner on Sunday questioned the ability and willingness of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to make concessions for a peace agreement with Israel.

Kushner's remarks, made in a rare interview with Palestinian newspaper Al Quds, came as he and special envoy Jason Greenblatt were in the region to advance efforts to renew the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

The US duo have not met with Palestinian officials, who froze all contact with US officials following the Trump administration's December recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

"President Abbas says that he is committed to peace and I have no reason not to believe him," Kusnher said. "However, I do question how much President Abbas has the ability to, or is willing to, lean into

"He has his talking points which have not changed in the last 25 years. There has been no peace deal achieved in that time," Kushner said.

"To make a deal both sides will have to take a leap and meet somewhere between their stated positions. I am not sure President Abbas has the ability to do that."

Kushner and Greenblatt met on Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss "advancing the diplomatic process, developments in the region and the security and humanitarian situations in Gaza", according to the premier's office.

They held a second meeting Saturday night "to continue their discussions," the White House said.

The visit comes after a flare-up of hostilities between Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Israel pounded Hamas targets in response to a barrage of rockets and mortar shells, while troops have killed over 130 Palestinians taking part in clashes on the fringes of demonstrations.

Speaking at his Sunday cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the US officials "fully supported our position and actions to ensure the security of Israel and its civilians around Gaza".

The Palestinians have been infuriated by Trump's policies and see east Jerusalem as their future capital, insisting the status of the disputed city is an issue to be negotiated between them and the Israelis.

Senior Palestinian official and chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday that Kushner's interview showed "there's nothing of substance" coming from the Trump Administration.

"Kushner represents a policy of dictation rather than negotiations. It is the Trump Administration that has walked away from the negotiations, from international law and UN resolutions," Erekat said.

Trump has called peace between Israel and the Palestinians the "ultimate deal" and has tasked Kushner with formulating a plan to that end.

Kushner - who has also visit Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia on the trip - told Al Quds they were "almost done" preparing the plan, which could be presented without Palestinian consent

"If President Abbas is willing to come back to the table, we are ready to engage; if he is not, we will likely air the plan publicly," he said. </s> Israel temporarily suspended its working ties with the embassies of the 12 UN Security Council members after Friday’s resolution citing the country’s settlement on West Bank “illegal.”

CNN reports say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for Israel’s foreign ministry to temporarily limit working ties with the members who voted in favour of Friday’s resolution. These countries are Britain, France, Russia, China, Japan, Ukraine, Angola, Egypt, Uruguay, Spain, Senegal and New Zealand.

The passage of Security Council resolution 2334 declared that Israel’s settlements in the West Bank “had no legal validity, constituting a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the vision of two States living side-by-side in peace and security.”

The suspension of working ties with the embassies of the 12 nations entails the following:

One, Netanyahu will not meet with the foreign ministers of those countries and their ambassadors will not be received at Israel’s foreign ministry.

Second, travel by Israeli ministers to those countries will also be limited and other dignitary visits.

However, Israeli officials said the report was “simply untrue” and that “we’re talking about temporarily limiting our work with embassies and regarding dignitary visits.”

What About the United States

The United States, a Security Council member, abstained on the resolution, but did not use its veto to block it. But Prime Minister Netanyahu was not happy about that.

He told his Cabinet on Sunday, “From the information that we have, we have no doubt that the Obama Administration initiated it, stood behind it, co-ordinated on the wording and demanded that it be passed.”

Israel captured East Jerusalem along with the West Bank and Gaza in the Six-Day War in 1967, but annexed the city as its united capital in a move not recognized by the international community. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future State.

Many nations, including the United States, consider the settlements that Israel has built-in what it calls “occupied land” as illegal.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been stalled since late September last year following Israel’s refusal to extend a 10-month freeze on settlement activity. That decision prompted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to withdraw from direct talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discusses the conflict with Gaza with the United Nations Special Coordinator to the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, who has been preparing humanitarian projects for Gaza.