Direct Talks to Resume Today

President Obama on Wednesday met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas to restart direct negotiations, The Jerusalem Post reported. Obama stated his goal of establishing two states-a Jewish state of Israel living next to a Palestinian state. Netanyahu and Abbas will meet today at the State Department. This is the first time that Abbas has agreed to hold talks with Netanyahu since the Israeli prime minister came into office in March 2009. The negotiations come despite two Palestinian terrorist attacks in the West Bank in the past two days. Four Israelis have been killed and two others were seriously injured. Obama condemned the attacks as "heinous crimes" and said, "The United States is going to be unwavering in its support of Israel's security and we are going to push back against these kinds of terrorist activities."

Palestinian Terrorists Kill 4 Israeli Civilians

Four Israeli civilians were shot and killed outside of Hebron on Tuesday by Palestinian terrorists, The Jerusalem Post reported. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. One of the victims was a pregnant woman. According to eyewitness reports, the terrorists succeeded in hitting the passengers in their initial fire but then approached the car and shot the occupants at close range. "When we arrived on the scene, all four doors of the car were open and four bodies were strewn on the road," Magen David Adom paramedic Guy Ronen said. "We saw that the vital organs had been struck by a very large number of bullets, and that there was no chance of saving their lives," he added. The incident comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas are set to resume direct talks for the first time in 18 months.

Israel-PA Direct Talks to Resume on Thursday

Direct talks without preconditions between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) are scheduled to resume on Thursday in Washington, D.C. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has been calling for direct talks for more than a year, but PA President Mahmoud Abbas had rejected his overtures. Abbas finally accepted a U.S. invitation two weeks ago. However, now the PA is threatening to pull out of direct talks if its demands are not met. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she expects that the direct talks without preconditions would begin this week, and that they would continue over the course of a year, which she said would be enough time for an agreement to be reached.

Hizballah, Syria to Cooperate Against Israel

The Iranian-backed terrorist group Hizballah has reportedly agreed to cooperate with Syria on any future military conflicts with Israel, The Jerusalem Post reported. Hizballah and Syria reportedly now have joint headquarters from which they can coordinate any operations pooling resources and information, to be jointly commanded by officers from the two groups. These operations would include air, land and sea. Plans reportedly include strategies for attacks on Israel as well as defense of Lebanon in the event of an Israeli attack. Lebanese Prime Minister Sa'ad Hariri met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus early on Monday, to discuss Syrian-Lebanese ties and to consolidate "coordination between the two countries in all fields," Syria's state-run news agency SANA reported Monday. The State Department consistently lists Syria as one of the world's leading state sponsors of international terrorism. 

U.S. Ambassador: Iran-Backed Groups Caused Quarter of U.S. Casualties in Iraq

The new U.S. ambassador to Iraq on Thursday said he believed groups backed by Iran were responsible for a quarter of U.S. casualties in the Iraq war, Reuters reported. More than 4,400 U.S. soldiers have been killed since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Most of the fighting has been against Shia militia groups that the U.S. military has long said were armed, funded and trained by Iran. "My own estimate, based just upon a gut feeling, is that up to a quarter of the American casualties and some of the more horrific incidents in which Americans were kidnapped ... can be traced without doubt to these Iranian groups," Ambassador James Jeffrey said.