Back in 2009, just three months after he became Israel's prime minister for the second time, Benjamin Netanyahu delivered what many called "an historic address." In it, Netanyahu described his "vision" of peace between Israelis and Palestinians:

There are two free peoples living side by side in this small land, with good neighborly relations and mutual respect, each with its flag, anthem and government, with neither one threatening its neighbor's security and existence.

The speech was deemed remarkable because it contained Netanyahu's first-ever call for the establishment of a Palestinian state, a statement he had resisted throughout his long and winding political career.

Nearly six years and three Gaza wars later, and with his political legacy on the ropes, Netanyahu issued a major retraction on Monday evening: “I think that anyone who is going to establish a Palestinian state today and evacuate lands, is giving attack grounds to the radical Islam against the state of Israel,” hesaid in a radio interview.

The reversal came as his political fortunes flounder—Netanyahu's Likud Party is trailing in Israel's (notoriously fickle) polls, leaving many to believe he might be unseated in Tuesday's elections. Badly needing to siphon off votes from Israel's right-leaning parties, Netanyahu's change in course is the latest moment of panic in a campaign he was never meant to lose. On Sunday, Netanyahu raised the specter that his party might not emerge with enough seats to secure the premiership. In doing so, Netanyahu sank his long-standing air of invincibility in a country where a majority of citizens have had trouble imagining anyone else as their prime minister.

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"One of Netanyahu’s greatest electoral assets—borne out in those relentless polls showing him to be voters’ preferred prime minister—is that he had created a palpable sense of inevitability about his rule," David Horovitz argues over at The Times of Israel. We'll find whether that is still true on Tuesday. But given his election-eve reversal, it seems Netanyahu may not even believe it anymore.

This article was originally published athttp://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/03/Benjamin-Netanyahu-Rejects-Two-State-Solution-Palestine-Israel-Before-Election/387919/?UTM_SOURCE=yahoo

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Violence in Pakistan after church bombings

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police fired tear gas on Monday after Christian protesters clashed with police in the eastern city of Lahore, a day after Taliban suicide bombers killed 17 people in suicide attacks on two churches in the city.

Sunday's twin bombings struck in quick succession in the Christian neighborhood of Youhanabad during morning services. The bombers detonated their suicide vests outside the two churches, about 600 meters (650 yards) apart. At least 70 people were wounded in the attacks, the latest assault on religious minorities in this increasingly fractured country.

After the attacks, angry Christian mobs blocked the highway, ransacked bus terminals and burned two people to death who they suspected of being involved in the bombings. Christian demonstrators also blocked roads Monday in the eastern cities of Faisalabad, Sargodha and Gujranwala.

In Lahore, they blocked a major highway that runs near the two targeted churches and forced public transport services to shut down. They later pelted the police with stones and smashed police cars and other vehicles, according to Rana Sanaullah, an official with the ruling PML-N party. He said officers were trying to calm down the situation.

Lahore's Police Deputy Inspector General Haider Ashraf told reporters that his men were "showing restraint" but had to fire tear gas canisters when the situation deteriorated. The city Commissioner Abdullah Sumbal Khan said Pakistani paramilitary troops had been called in to restore order.

A least one protester died after being hit by a car, Ashraf said. Local television stations aired footage showing the car speeding away from the scene after hitting several protesters. Ashraf put the total death toll from Sunday's bombings at 17, after two of wounded later died in the hospital.

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Pakistani Christians shout slogans during an anti-Taliban protest in Karachi on March 15, 2015, foll …

Christian schools remained closed as prayer services and funerals for the bombing victims took place, said Shipping and Ports Minister Kamran Michael, a prominent Christian community leader.

Also Monday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan denounced the church attacks as an "inhuman act of terrorism" and said it reflected the militants' "frustration" in the face of a stepped-up military operation against them. Last June, Pakistan launched a major operation to rout militants from their strongholds.

"We have shrunk the space for them to operate," Khan said Monday.

Life in Pakistan is increasingly dangerous for religious minorities. They have been targeted by extremist Sunni Muslim militants and are also discriminated against in the wider society, where they are often limited to menial jobs like garbage collection.

Much of the country is already on edge after years of militant violence, including an attack on a Peshawar school in December that killed 150 people — mostly students.

The Pakistani Taliban group, which claimed responsibility for the church attacks, has been waging an insurgency for over a decade, seeking to overthrow the government and install their own brand of fundamentalist Islamic rule. Thousands of Pakistanis have been killed in the attacks.

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Associated Press writers Ishtiaq Mahsud in Tank, Pakistan and Zarar Khan and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Police fired tear gas on protesters a day after Taliban suicide bombers killed 17 people in attacks on two churches in Lahore.
Angry mobs

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Egyptian Court Seeks Death Penalty for Brotherhood Leader and 13 Others: Sources

Cairo (AFP) - Egyptian courts on Monday condemned to death Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and 21 other members of the banned movement in two separate cases over incitement to violence.

State news agency MENA said that Badie, 71, and 13 top Brotherhood members were found guilty of "plotting attacks aimed at sowing chaos" in Egypt in 2013.

They were accused of setting up an "operations room" to prepare attacks against the state in the weeks after the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

In November that year the Brotherhood was declared a "terrorist organisation" as part of a brutal crackdown by the authorities against his supporters that left hundreds dead.

Thousands have also been jailed, often in speedy mass trials that have sparked an international outcry over the fairness of such proceedings, with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressing his alarm.

MENA said among Badie's co-defendants sentenced to death were the Brotherhood's former spokesman Mahmud Ghazlan, former provincial governors and other senior members of the outlawed group.

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Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie stands behind bars during his trial in the capital …

Defence lawyer Ahmad Helmi branded the verdicts as "farcical", in a telephone interview with AFP.

He said the verdicts were handed down even though the defence had not finished its closing arguments concerning five of the defendants.

MENA said the court had referred its verdict to Al-Azhar, the country's top Sunni Muslim authority, for an advisory opinion in accordance with Egyptian law before ratifying the death sentences.

Al-Azhar's opinion is not binding with the court having the final say in the case, and could choose to commute the sentence which can later be challenged in an appeals court.

A total of 51 suspects, including the 14 sentenced to death Monday, are being tried in the case, 31 of whom are behind bars.

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Mohamed Badie, Egypt's Muslim brotherhood leader, giving a press conference in Cairo, on March 3 …

The Cairo court said it would announce the final verdict in the case on April 11.

Meanwhile a court in the northern city of Mansura also sentenced to death eight Brotherhood members accused of setting up a "terror cell" and murdering opponents of the Islamist organisation, MENA said.

Their verdicts were also referred to Al-Azhar, said the agency, adding that the court would give a final verdict in that case on June 22.

Badie has already been sentenced to four life terms in separate trials and was condemned to death for incitement to violence but that sentence was overturned and he is now facing a retrial.

Since the overthrow of Morsi the authorities have launched a brutal crackdown against his supporters, including leaders from his Muslim Brotherhood, leaving hundreds dead and thousands jailed after often speedy mass trials.

Morsi himself is facing several trials on charges that are punishable by death.

On March 7, Egypt carried out the first execution to a man involved in violent clashes two days after Morsi's ouster.

The interior ministry said Mahmud Ramadan had thrown children from the roof of a building in the port city of Alexandria during violent clashes organised by the Brotherhood.

Hundreds of priests, school girls and other protesters staged a peaceful rally Monday in the Indian city of Kolkata to support an elderly nun who was gang-raped at her convent school.

Nuns dressed in white habits joined other women of all backgrounds and ages, including girls still in their uniforms, to express their sorrow over the attack and anger over incessant levels of sexual assault in India.

Holding placards and banners that read "This world belongs to women" and "We want rape-free India", the crowd gathered quietly in a park in the centre of the eastern city as speakers took to a makeshift stage nearby to condemn the "unacceptable" attack.

"We are not violent, we are not witches. And we will launch a big protest if attacks on Christian minorities continue," Kolkata businesswoman Hari Joseph Marien told AFP.

Bank manager Partha Tripathi said she was prompted to join the protest because the crime was one "against humanity," adding: "It seems that even animals (behave) better."

Later in the evening, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee faced hundreds of angry protesters in Ranaghat, 70 kilometres (45 miles) from Kolkata, where she had gone to meet the nun who is recovering in hospital.

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Indian demonstrators hold candles as they take part in a vigil and silent protest against the allege …

The woman, aged in her 70s, needed surgery from injuries suffered during the attack.

The protesters, who were chanting slogans demanding justice and arrest of the alleged rapists, blocked Banerjee's car from leaving the hospital.

The chaos continued for over half an hour before the minister assured the protesters of immediate police action.

- 'Shocked and appalled' -

The nun, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was attacked after the robbers ransacked the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Ranaghat and stole cash and other items.

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Students from the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Ranaghat, 70 kilometres north of Kolkata, protest aft …

A holy scripture was also torn and a statue of Jesus was broken.

Police said Monday 10 men have been detained for questioning but no arrests have been made, even though the faces of four of the robbers were captured on CCTV footage.

The assault on the nun is the latest in a string of high-profile rapes in India and comes after a spate of attacks on churches that prompted Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promise a crackdown on religious violence.

Priests and other Christian leaders have blamed those attacks on religious hardliners, who are said to have become emboldened since Modi swept to power at general elections last May.

Modi had been heavily criticised for not speaking out earlier against religious violence and has also faced flak for remaining silent about a spate of mass "re-conversions" of Christians and Muslims to Hinduism.

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Indian Christians and social activists take part in a peace-rally and protest against the rape of a …

Archbishop of Kolkata Thomas D'Souza stressed the morning rally was not against any political party, as fear and dismay mount in India's Christian community, which has been deeply upset over the recent attacks on churches.

D'Souza estimated that a couple of thousand people took part in the rally at which prayers were held and candles lit alongside a statue of Mother Teresa, a missionary who worked tirelessly in the slums of Kolkata.

"We have assurances from the government that the miscreants will be arrested, but not much headway has been made in this regard," he said of the rape.

The incident adds to a grim record of sexual assaults in India and comes during a raging debate over the banning of a documentary about a December 2012 gang-rape in New Delhi that sparked national and international outrage.

"I am shocked and appalled that something like this could happen," 20-year-old American Brianna Miller, who is studying in Kolkata, said at the rally.

Modi in February pledged a crackdown on religious violence and freedom of worship for all faiths in the wake of the vandalism and arson attacks on churches.

Around 80 percent of India's 1.2 billion population is Hindu, but it is also home to large numbers of Muslims, Christians and Buddhists.

His government again came under criticism on Monday, with opposition lawmakers raising the nun's rape in the national parliament.

"Our PM has been saying again and again that he will ensure there is no attack on minorities. What is the sanctity of such assurances then?" asked D. Raja, a member of the Communist Party of India.

Associated Press Videos
Suspect Arrested in Shootings of Ferguson Police

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A man accused of shooting two officers last week in Ferguson was not targeting police or aiming at demonstrators at a late-night protest, his attorney said Monday as he countered an earlier police description of the crime.

Defense attorney Jerryl Christmas also suggested that St. Louis County police may have used excessive force when arresting the suspect, Jeffrey Williams, saying his client had bruises on his back, shoulders and face and a knot on his head.

Police spokesman Brian Schellman called the lawyer's allegations "completely false," adding that Williams was seen by a nurse when booked into the county jail, standard procedure for all incoming inmates.

"The nurse released Williams as fit for confinement," he said.

Williams is accused of shooting the two officers Thursday outside Ferguson's police station, which has been the scene of protests since last summer's fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

Williams, 20, appeared in court Monday morning, one day after his arrest on charges of felony assault, armed criminal action and a weapons offense. His case was continued until March 31. Christmas did not appear at the brief hearing and said he first spoke with his client late Monday afternoon.

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This photo provided by the St. Louis County Police Department on Sunday, March 15, 2015 shows Jeffre …

"This wasn't any type of ambush shooting," Christmas said in an interview with the AP, countering an earlier description by St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar of the March 12 shooting outside Ferguson police headquarters. "Those officers were shot accidentally."

Williams also told investigators he was not targeting law enforcement and had been aiming instead at someone with whom he had a dispute, authorities said. But that assertion was met with skepticism by St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch.

"We're not sure we completely buy that part of it," the prosecutor said Sunday.

Christmas said he wasn't aware of any details regarding a possible dispute that could have preceded the shooting.

But Ferguson activist Derrick Robinson said Sunday that Williams told him during a jail visit that he had been robbed earlier on the day of the shooting and returned to the protest zone to retaliate. On Monday, Robinson referred inquiries to Christmas.

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St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch conducts a news conference as Sunday, March 15, 2015, i …

The shooting happened as a demonstration began to break up. The protest followed the resignation of city Police Chief Tom Jackson in the wake of a Justice Department report that found widespread racial bias in the city's police practices.

Christmas said his client was not a regular participant in demonstrations outside the police station, echoing statements by protest leaders who said they did not recognize Williams as one of their own.

"That little strip has become the hang-out spot," Christmas said, noting that the area has attracted people besides demonstrators.

Williams is jailed on $300,000 bond. Christmas said his client is unemployed and expecting a child with his girlfriend.

On Monday, no one answered the door of the north St Louis County home Williams listed as his address on court records, and several neighbors said they did not know him. The home is about 5 miles northeast of the Ferguson Police Department.

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Pro-police demonstrators protest outside the Ferguson Police Department Sunday, March 15, 2015, in F …

According to 2014 county court records, Williams lived in the nearby community of Jennings, which borders Ferguson. No one answered the door there either.

Online state court records show a man by the name of Jeffrey Williams at the address police provided Sunday was charged in 2013 with receiving stolen property and fraudulent use of a credit/debit device.

Belmar had said the two officers easily could have been killed. A 41-year-old St. Louis County officer was shot in the right shoulder, the bullet exiting through his back. A 32-year-old officer from Webster Groves was wearing a riot helmet with the face shield up. He was shot in the right cheek, just below the eye, and the bullet lodged behind his ear.

The officers were released from the hospital hours after the attack.

The Ferguson Police Department has been a national focal point since Brown, who was black and unarmed, was killed by police officer Darren Wilson, who is white. A grand jury declined to indict Wilson in November, and Wilson was cleared of civil rights charges by a Justice Department report released March 4. Wilson resigned in November.

A separate Justice Department report found widespread racial bias in the city's policing and in a municipal court system driven by profit extracted from mostly black and low-income residents.

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Associated Press writers Jim Salter in St. Louis and Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri, contributed to this report.