Prime Minister Ehud Olmert

The news that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was in Australia and was welcomed by the honorable members of our parliament came as somewhat of a shock. It is one thing to have allowed a man charged with corruption and suspected of war crimes into Australia at all; it is another thing that he was listed as a distinguished guest in Hansard -- the official record of parliamentary proceedings -- and received a resounding "hear, hear...  

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has okayed the construction of 25 new housing units in the West Bank settlement of Keidar despite international calls to the contrary. During a phone conversation with Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday, Netanyahu instructed Barak to stop preventing the construction of the new units in the West Bank, claiming the units do not fall under the cabinet's decision to halt settlement construction...  

Syria is now willing to negotiate without preconditions, having retracted its earlier insistence that talks could not begin unless Israel first agreed to withdraw from the entire Golan Heights, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset ...  

Jerusalem ---- November 5..... The following news story was communicated by the Israel Cabinet Secretariat to the Israel News Agency . At the weekly Israel Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made the following remarks ...  

The possibility of Israel surrendering the Golan Heights to Syria got a 'significant boost' on Monday when Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that he has been told by French President Sarkozy that Netanyahu and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad can talk to the same Islamist Turkish mediator (separately, of course) about Israel surrendering all of the Golan to Syria without Israel agreeing before  

Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak has found himself in hot water amid revelations that the former premier had hired a Filipina maid without a work permit.Barak and his wife Nili had for several months employed a Filipina cleaner who did not have a work permit and did not undergo the required security checks by the Shin Bet domestic security agency, public radio reported.In a statement, Barak's office said that the woman was "an occasional...  

JPost reports on Tuesday (as if it's big news) that Israel has a 'policy' of denying foreign officials entry into Gaza from Israel's crossing points. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government has an undeclared, but de facto policy, of not letting senior political figures, such as foreign ministers, enter the Gaza Strip from Israel, The Jerusalem Post has learned.According to government  

* Greg Sheridan, Foreign editor * From: The Australian EHUD Olmert is a giant of contemporary Middle East politics. As Israel's prime minister he made war - twice - in Lebanon in 2006, and in the Gaza Strip earlier this year. He's also tried to make peace, offering the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, the most extensive concessions any Israeli leader has ever brought to the table in the search for a settlement Now Olmert's out of office...  

'Iran Can Now Produce Nuclear Bomb' Binyamin Netanyahu Israel's most challenging strategic problem is the Iranian nuclear program, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told members of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Monday, during which he also painted a...read more  

The possibility of a resumption of negotiations between Israel and Syria got a significant boost Monday when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that French Prime Minister Nicholas Sarkozy had told him that "the Syrians are willing to remove any ...  

Israel's prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and defense minister Ehud Barak intimate that a 10-month freeze on West Bank settlement construction is the price Israel is important to Israel's broader interest, such as Washington's nod for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. DEBKAfile reports that ordinary Israelis do not buy this argument. And in the light of the Palestinian refusal to talk peace, they accuse Netanyahu of breaking his promise...  

JERUSALEM, Dec 6, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday his 10-month freeze on new Jewish settlements shows Israel wants peace with Palestinians. Speaking Sunday at his weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said ...  

Dec. 7, 2009JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POSTIsrael is prepared for immediate negotiations with Syria, without preconditions, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said during a meeting of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday.The prime minister told the committee he had recently informed French President Nicolas Sarkozy that Israel was interested in direct negotiations with Damascus, and would prefer that France take a...  

Because the Obama administration is keen to restart negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered a ten-month freeze on West Bank settlements. Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas has responded by demanding more -- as a pre-condition, before he will talk. Just a guess: Netanyahu is not surprised. Nor should anyone else be. It doesn’t require Donald Trump to know that the...  

In meeting with four West Bank council heads, Defense Minister Ehud Barak stresses that 'settlement blocs are inseparable part of Israel in all future negotiations with Palestinians'. Vows council heads can continue to authorize infrastructure construction, small changes