The Obama Administration has taken to parroting Arab criticism of routine construction in Jewish neighborhood that lie on the eastern side of Jerusalem.

The US State Department on Tuesday expressed “deep concern” over the Israeli government’s approval of plans to build 942 new apartment units in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo.

“We’re deeply concerned about the announcement of the approval for these units,” said State Department spokesman Mark Toner. “We believe that through good-faith direct negotiations the parties should mutually agree on an outcome that realizes the aspirations of both parties.”

Gilo is a neighborhood of tens of thousands of residents. Nearly every Israeli agrees that such neighborhoods will not be emptied of their Jewish residents and handed over to the Palestinians. The Palestinians insist that is precisely what must happen if a final status peace deal is to be signed. • ###

President Peres Says Israel Willing To Cede Golan to Syria

Never one to miss an opportunity to push his personal initiatives irrespective of positions taken by Israel's government, President Shimon Peres on Tuesday said Israel was ready to "change the situation in the Golan Heights."

In an interview with CNN during his visit to Washington, Peres said Israel has always desired peace with Damascus and that all former prime ministers have been willing to give up the former Syrian territory in exchange for a deal.

(President Shimon Peres)

However, the Syrian government must choose between peace with Israel and continuing to 'service Hizbullah and Iran," Peres said.

But Israel's current government has taken the position that the Golan Heights are not on the table.

During a tour of the Golan Heights in 2009 Prime Minister Netanyahu said, "We are here to state unequivocally: A Likud-led government will stay on the Golan Heights."

Peres is well-known for the secret diplomacy he undertook to lay the framework for the 1993 Oslo Accords.

Capitulation has traditionally led to Israeli deaths. In the five years following the Oslo agreement 279 Israelis were killed in 92 terror attacks - a number greater than the deaths in the fifteen years preceding the Accords.

That trend repeated itself after Ariel Sharon agreed to the United States' so-called Road Map for middle east peace. Between 2000 and 2007 more than 1,000 Israelis were killed in terrorist attacks.

Channel 10 reporter Nadav Eyal revealed a Wikileaks document indicating Peres secretly regards Olso as having been a 'mistake,' “Netanyahu commented that Shimon Peres had admitted to him that the Oslo process had been based on a mistaken economic premise, and as a result European and US assistance to the Palestinians had gone to create a bloated bureaucracy, with PA employees looking to the international community to meet their payroll.”

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Nile River in Egypt

JERUSALEM – The new Egyptian government has instructed its military to prepare for any eventuality regarding a crucial water dispute with neighboring Ethiopia, according to Egyptian security sources speaking to WND.

The dispute centers around the Nile River, which is used by both Ethiopia and Egypt for water resources.

Ethiopia is planning to construct a nearly $5 billion dam, called the Great Millennium Dam, along the Nile River about 25 miles from the Sudan border. The dam will section off a larger portion of the Nile than is used now by Ethiopia.

Egypt is adamantly opposed to the dam or any deal that would reduce its share of the Nile and give more access to other countries.

A 1929 colonial-era treaty gives Egypt majority rights to the Nile's waters. But six African countries have signed a petition, the Entebbe Agreement, calling for all Nile Basin countries to modify the old pact and re-allocate the shares of water from the Nile River.

Egyptian security sources say Cairo is appealing to the U.S. and European Union to oppose the proposed Ethiopian dam.

The sources said the Egyptian military believes Israel is encouraging Ethiopia to build the dam as a way to weaken the caretaker Egyptian government following the toppling of Hosni Mubarak’s regime. Mubarak was a stanch U.S. ally.

The sources further said the Egyptian military has been told to prepare for any eventuality regarding the situation.

While the Egyptian security sources said they hoped the confrontation did not escalate to a military level, one source told WND "the regime may be inching closer to a water war."

The dispute marks the latest militant stance by the new Egyptian regime amid fears in the country of the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood seeks to create an Islamic caliphate. Both Hamas and al-Qaida are Brotherhood offshoots.

On Monday, former International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who had previously announced his intentions to run for the presidency of Egypt, said "if Israel attacked Gaza we would declare war against the Zionist regime."

The same day, Egypt's foreign minister said Cairo is ready to re-establish diplomatic ties with Tehran after a break of more than 30 years, signaling a clear shift in Iran policy since the fall of Mubarak.

"The Egyptian and Iranian people deserve to have mutual relations reflecting their history and civilization," said Foreign Minister Nabil Elaraby after meeting with Iranian official Mugtabi Amani.

Days after Mubarak stepped aside, Egypt allowed the passage of two Iranian warships through the strategic Suez Canal for the first time since 1979.•