Last weekend a cacophony reverberated through Ramallah, the Palestinian seat of government in the West Bank, as protesters outside the newly fortified walls of his headquarters called on drivers opposed to talking to Israel to hoot.
Mitchell, the Obama administration's special envoy to the Middle East, made the remarks after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority's seat of government in the West Bank.
The remains of 79 Palestinians were delivered to the seat of the Palestinian government in Ramallah, West Bank, where Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas presided over an official military ceremony.
But the full extent of the calamity this government has inflicted on the West Bank and, especially, the Gaza Strip is nonetheless astonishing.
The appointment of Mr. Hamdallah means Palestinians are unlikely to head to elections any time soon, keeping Mr. Abbas in power as head of the Palestinian Authority, the Western-backed government that has a measure of self-rule over Palestinians in the West Bank.
Advocates of the fence accuse the government of deliberate foot-dragging because of opposition to the barrier among the Jewish settlers in the West Bank and their supporters.
If such a government decides to expand the building of West Bank settlements and procrastinate -- if not block completely -- any progress on the peace process, it will potentially lead to the isolation of Israel in the international community and to growing tensions with Israel's main ally, the United States.
And far from contemplating dismantling some Jewish settlements, his government is busy expanding some of those on the West Bank.
Mr Netanyahu, who was appointed caretaker foreign minister last week after the Labour Party quit the coalition government, has repeated his call for the forcible deportation of Mr Arafat from the West Bank.
Recently the Israeli government announced plans to build thousands of homes for Jewish settlers in an area of the West Bank known as E1.
Other questions focused on Sir Philip Green's review of government efficiency, the abolition of the Health Protection Agency, and the settlement freeze in the West Bank.
Jerusalem (CNN) -- The Israeli government asked the country's high court Friday for a delay in the scheduled demolition of an unauthorized West Bank settlement outpost.
The appointment of a new Palestinian government, which took office in mid-May in Ramallah, the West Bank's administrative capital, had already set back hopes of unity.
The request comes just days after the Israeli government said it had decided to legalize the status of three other settlements that were built in the West Bank during the 1990s.
The Elysian Valley section was able to open without restrictions because of government cooperation, infrastructure improvement and public safety measures, said Councilman Ed Reyes, whose district includes the west bank of the river.
That government is being sworn in today in the West Bank city of Ramala, and that's where NPR's Linda Gradstein is this morning.
NPR's Linda Gradstein in the West Bank city of Ramala, where a government headed by the militant Hamas movement is being sworn in today.
Mr Netanyahu roundly blames the Palestinians for their supposed intransigence, an analysis not shared by American or European mediators and monitors, who castigate Israel's government for refusing to freeze the building or expanding of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the main bit of a future Palestinian state.
ECONOMIST: Worried Israel: Encircled by enemies again? | The
The Palestinians resisted this because they had good reason to suspect that Israel's then government was interested less in reaching a final agreement than in keeping the bulk of the West Bank under Israel's permanent control.
Since demographics made annexing the West Bank unfeasible for Israel, some form of Palestinian self-government always seemed an inevitability.
Jerusalem (CNN) -- The Israeli government said Tuesday that it has decided to legalize the status of three settlement posts that were built in the West Bank during the 1990's.
On the government side, too, there are vague thoughts of combining the referendum on the Golan with the promised one on the West Bank.
Applicants for a government job, such as a post as a teacher, must get a certificate of good conduct in the West Bank from local security officials and in Gaza from the local mosque.
ECONOMIST: Democracy is flagging in both the Palestinian territories
Also Thursday, the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to withdraw from 10 percent of the West Bank, a much larger area than expected, if Arafat's self-rule government quietly accepted construction of the Jewish housing development.
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