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U.S. House Approves Jewish Chaplains Memorial

05/24/2011

(JTA) -- The U.S. House of Representatives voted to authorize the construction of a memorial for fallen Jewish chaplains in Arlington National Cemetery.

The bill was approved Monday night and now moves to the Senate.

At AIPAC, Effort to Shift Focus Back to Agenda: Iran, Foreign Aid, Capitol Hill Relationships

05/24/2011 | Ron Kampeas | JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Let’s get past this U.S.-Israel relationship thing, so we can get on with important stuff, like the U.S.-Israel relationship.

That seemed to be the message this week at the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. With 10,000 people and both the U.S. and Israeli leaders in attendance – plus 67 U.S. senators and 286 members of the U.S. House of Representatives at the gala dinner on Monday night – this AIPAC parley was the biggest and in many ways the most impressive ever.

Netanyahu to Congress: No Compromise on Jerusalem, Refugees or Jordan River Presence

05/24/2011 | Uriel Heilman | JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that any peace deal with the Palestinians must grant Israel a military presence along the Jordan River, exclude repatriation of Palestinian refugees to Israel and leave Jerusalem as Israel’s united capital.

However, the Israeli leader said in his address to a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday, some Jewish settlements in the West Bank would fall outside Israel’s borders in a final peace deal.

Hamas Response to Obama Speech: Still Won’t Recognize Israel

05/23/2011

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Hamas condemned President Obama's AIPAC speech, saying it will not recognize Israel despite the United States president's demand.

The Obama administration is "not a friend to the people of the region," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told the Ma'an Palestinian news service.

AIPAC Likes Obama’s Clarification On ‘67 Lines

05/23/2011 | Ron Kampeas | JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The American Israel Public Affairs Committee said it "appreciated" President Obama's clarification that he did not expect Israel to return to its 1967 lines.

"In particular, we appreciate his statement that the U.S. does not expect Israel to withdraw to the boundaries that existed between Israel and Jordan in 1967 before the Six-Day War," the pro-Israel lobby said in a statement released after Obama delivered a speech Sunday to its annual policy conference.

Obama to AIPAC: Israelis, Palestinians Should Negotiate a New Border

05/22/2011

WASHINGTON (JTA) – President Obama said his call for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations based on the pre-1967 lines did not mean the future state of Palestine would have those exact borders.