Denmark Sets Rules on Israeli Products

JERUSALEM — Israel’s prime minister said Monday that his new government was extending its hand in peace to the Palestinians, declaring that he is ready to make a “historic compromise” if they return to the negotiating table with good will. Laying out the agenda for his new term, Benjamin Netanyahu said he hopes to rejuvenate peace efforts, which remained frozen throughout Netanyahu’s just-completed four-year term.

Israel's Transportation Ministry has set up a number of bus lines for Palestinian passengers traveling between the West Bank and central Israel, YNet News reports.

Whenever I’ve spoken to visitors to the US who are concerned about the settlement situation in the vicinity of Jerusalem, the subject of hypothetical bloc E-1 always features prominently. You see maps like the one I’ve posted below:

Jon Chait recommends Gadi Taub’s trenchant critique of the Netanyahu-Lieberman-Barak administration’s approach:

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Saturday urged Palestinians to boycott products from Jewish settlements in the West Bank, but said this did not apply to items made elsewhere in Israel."It is not necessary, under any circumstances, for us to consume goods originating from settlements that were established on our territory," he said in Ramallah, where he met members of the movement that organised the boycott."We are very happy that our young people... went voluntarily to empty Palestinian homes of products from the settlements," Abbas added.

The United States suspended its demand for Israel to renew a freeze on Jewish settlement building in the West Bank, throwing Palestinian-Israeli peace talks into deeper disarray.President Barack Obama presided over the relaunch of direct negotiations in Washington in September, only to see them bog down within weeks when an Israeli settlement moratorium expired and the Palestinians refused to come back to the table.