Why the peace process matters

March 23, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

The Israeli-Palestinian peace process is too important to let political gamesmanship derail it.

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Texas Senator Ted Cruz plans to announce today that he will run for president, becoming the first high-profile Republican to enter the 2016 contest. Cruz has hinted openly for months about his intentions to seek the GOP nomination, and his plan to jump into the race formally was confirmed by a strategist for the first-term Republican senator. While Cruz is the first Republican to declare his candidacy, he is sure to be followed by several big names in the GOP, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and two Senate colleagues, Kentucky's Rand Paul and Florida's Marco Rubio.

During a three-day visit to Cambodia, Michelle Obama urged Cambodian students to finish their education and speak up to demand greater freedoms and more equality. The first lady just finished a landmark visit to a Southeast Asian country that has been ruled by an authoritarian strongman for decades. The U.S. first lady's comments on Saturday did not explicitly criticize Cambodia's human rights record or its government under Prime Minister Hun Sen. But she sent a pointed message, and one that she delivered seated beside Hun Sen's wife, Bun Rany.

Benjamin Netanyahu's allies acknowledged on Sunday that his election-eve disavowal of a Palestinian state had caused a rift with the White House, but blamed U.S. President Barack Obama's unprecedented criticism on a misunderstanding. The Israeli prime minister pledged on the eve of his re-election victory last week that there would never be a Palestinian state while he is prime minister. Since winning re-election, Netanyahu has tried to row back, arguing that he was not rejecting Palestinian statehood in principle, but responding to a reality in which the Palestinian Authority has a political pact with the Islamist group Hamas, under which statehood would be unacceptable.

Syrian insurgents captured several government airmen after their helicopter crashed in a rebel-held area of northwestern Syria on Sunday, activists said. The aircraft experienced a technical malfunction and made an emergency crash-landing. Syria's state news agency confirmed that a helicopter had crashed in Idlib after a mechanical problem and said the authorities were looking for the crew. Activists said said opposition fighters, including from the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, had taken four crew members prisoner. Another airman survived the crash but was reportedly killed by his captors, and the fate of a suspected sixth airman is unknown.

Having the leader of Iran's elite Quds Force direct Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State group is complicating the U.S. mission against terrorism and contributing to destabilization in Iraq, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency said Sunday. The comments by CIA Director John Brennan on "Fox News Sunday" are among the strongest yet voiced by American officials about the involvement of shadowy Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in the war against the extremist group. Brennan described Soleimani as being "very aggressive and active" as he advises Shiite militias battling the extremists, most recently in the ongoing offensive targeting Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown. Brennan said he "wouldn't consider Iran an ally right now inside Iraq."

Stephen King says Maine Gov. Paul LePage should "man up and apologize" after claiming the author has moved away and doesn't pay income taxes in Maine. While arguing for eliminating Maine's income tax, LePage said during his radio address this week that states without an income tax, like Florida, have lured away Maine residents, including King. King spends winters in Florida but said that he and his wife paid about $1.4 million in Maine state taxes in 2013 and likely paid about the same for 2014.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

To send a comment to the Editor, email editor@csmonitor.com.

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

To send a comment to the Editor, email editor@csmonitor.com.

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