The Palestinian Times

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel and Hamas reacted cautiously on Wednesday to reports a deal to exchange hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip might be concluded by the end of this month. Sources on both sides told Reuters there were hopes that a deal, which would commence a process of exchange lasting some weeks, might be struck by the end of next week, when the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha begins. But they cautioned there was no certainty the complex bargain would be finalized. The U.S.-funded Arabic television channel Al-Hurra quoted unidentified sources as saying a German and ... Read Full Story

The Obama administration's rebuke of new Jewish settlements betrays growing frustration over the Arab-Israeli stalemate as the White House gropes for a way to revive peace negotiations, analysts said Wednesday. President Barack Obama's administration appears to have hit a brick wall 10 months after it took office with a high-profile push to restart talks that are part of his broader bid to improve ties the Arab and Muslim world. Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has again ignored US calls to halt settlements, as the Palestinian leadership, backed by its Arab allies, demand a halt as a condition for talks but appears weaker than ... Read Full Story

Font size: Sarah Lazare & Clare Bayard A Palestinian boy walks by a section of Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. (AP Photo) The word "Revenge" is scrawled in Hebrew on a Palestinian school in Hebron. The windows are covered with screens and the play yard obstructed with more screens tipped with barbed wire, to obstruct the stones regularly pelted down by Jewish settlers. The space between the school and the neighboring building is blocked off with large, wooden slabs, to ensure that Palestinian school children do not encroach into settler territory. Nearby checkpoints and cameras placed on rooftops serve ... Read Full Story

Israel approved the construction of hundreds of new housing units in annexed east Jerusalem on Tuesday, driving another stake into troubled US efforts to restart Middle East peace talks. The interior ministry said it approved the construction of 900 new units in Gilo, one of a dozen of Israeli settlements in mostly Arab east Jerusalem, adding that the project still faced review. Earlier, Israeli media reported that hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had refused a request from main ally Washington to halt construction in Gilo. It was not clear whether the request concerned the project approved on Tuesday. The approval is likely to further ... Read Full Story

The European Union rejected requests Tuesday that it support a Palestinian plan for gaining recognition as an independent state at the U.N. Security Council without Israeli consent. Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, told reporters "the conditions are not there as of yet" for such a move. "I would hope that we would be in a position to recognize a Palestinian state, but there has to be one first, so I think that is somewhat premature." The EU's foreign ministers on Tuesday were discussing ways to coordinate with the United States to get Palestinians and Israelis back to ... Read Full Story