Israel-Palestinian Conflict

Israel reportedly carried out an airstrike Wednesday near the airport in the Syrian capital Damascus, according to Israel’s Channel 2 TV, which cited Syrian media reports.

US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed on Monday to expedite talks on a new 10-year American military aid package for Israel, in an effort to finish negotiations before the end of Obama’s term.

In their first meeting since the U.S. signed a nuclear accord with Iran over Israeli objections, President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they want to get talks back on track between Israelis and Palestinians toward a two-state solution.

Israel carried out an air strike in the Gaza Strip Sunday night in response to a rocket attack earlier in the day, targeting a Hamas installation.

U.S. officials said Thursday that President Barack Obama has made a “realistic assessment” that a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians is not possible during his final months in office.

In the latest effort to revive direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, New Zealand has drafted a UN resolution that reportedly calls for a freeze on Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and for Palestinians to abandon their bid to take legal action against Israel at the International Criminal Court.

It speaks volumes that Russia, rather than Israel, has been going public with details of a ‘hotline’ and joint air exercises they have launched to avoid an accidental clash in the skies over Syria.

While France is facing Israeli criticism for suggesting the deployment of international observers to the Temple Mount, WND has learned the Kingdom of Jordan is floating its own plan to consolidate power at the holy site, proposing non-uniformed Jordanian soldiers patrol the sensitive complex.

A prominent Jewish organization is condemning a “malicious” United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) resolution that would designate the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem as part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Jerusalem police began on Sunday to place portable concrete slabs between the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv in the capital’s southeast and the Arab neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, in a bid to stem a series of terrorist and Molotov cocktail attacks carried out in the area over the past weeks.

Israel is preparing for an outbreak of fresh violence on Friday, after another week of deadly attacks and clashes with Palestinians across the country and in the West Bank.

As Palestinians assailants continue to murder Jews across Israel, the Obama administration on Wednesday accused the Jewish state of committing acts of “terrorism,” drawing outrage from many observers.

Two separate attacks hit Jerusalem in a matter of minutes Tuesday morning, when two Arab men attempted to stab passengers on a bus before being shot and a car rammed into a group of people in the center of the capital.

Violence erupted for a 12th day in Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank Sunday with an Arab-Israeli stabbing four people near a bus stop in northern Israel, Reuters reported. Twenty-four Palestinians and four Israelis have died in the recent wave of attacks that could spiral into another intifada, or uprising.

Representatives of the Middle East Quartet will visit the region next week to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders and push forward with a renewed efforts to revive the stalled peace process.

A company drilling for oil on the Golan Heights claims to have found “significant amounts” in the plateau.