AMMAN: Hard-liners have emerged in the ascendant after a two-day special meeting in Ramallah of the Palestine Central Council (PCC).
The meeting was called to formulate the Palestinian response to the US decision last month to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Moderates who wanted a more measured response were outvoted by those who demanded an end to security cooperation with Israel in the occupied West Bank, although Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas still has some room for maneuver, analysts told Arab News.
“At the council I felt there was a clear vision for the future and a holistic approach toward a new strategy, but it is hard to determine how far these issues will be translated during the implementation phase,” said Asaad Abdel Rahman, a PCC member and also an independent member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s executive committee.
“As is often the case, the key will be in the implementation.”
Abbas’s fiery two-hour speech at the PCC meeting included demands for escalated action against Israel, but he did not specifically call for an end to security cooperation. However, after a heated closed session, the PCC did so — and also resolved to suspend recognition of the state of Israel.
The only concession Abbas was able to extract was that the two new policies should be implemented by the PLO’s executive committee, where he has a stronger grip than on the 80-member PCC.
The concession weakens the two resolutions, Abdel Rahman said. “There was no need to add that qualifier since all PCC decisions have to be implemented by the executive committee anyway, but in the end the leadership wanted a little bit of wiggle room during the implementation period.”
Palestinians both inside and outside Palestine have staged daily protests urging a total change in strategy, including an end to security coordination and revisiting mutual recognition of Israel and the PLO. In an online survey in the largest Palestinian daily, Al Quds, 92 percent supported the withdrawal of recognition of Israel and suspending security coordination.
Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad, Fatah spokesman for international affairs, reflected the views of many of the younger generation by calling on the leadership to make serious changes. He told Al-Monitor in Washington that the PCC should call for withdrawing recognition of Israel as a tangible way to show indignation at the US-Israel collusion.
Nasser Laham, a television commentator and editor of the independent online Ma’an News Agency, also wanted escalation. “Palestinians should end security coordination with the Israelis and Arab states should withdraw their ambassadors from Washington,” he wrote.
Nabil Amer, a Fatah leader and representative of the older PLO generation, said such action would be a mistake. “I don’t add my voice to the calls for escalation,” he said. “Any such escalation would be costly. We have boycotted meetings with the US, that was a good decision and that was enough.”
US Vice President Mike Pence begins a visit to Jordan, Israel and Egypt on Saturday. He has no plans to meet Palestinians, who have in any case declared a boycott of meetings over the US decision on Jerusalem.
The PLO and Israel exchanged letters agreeing on mutual recognition on the eve of signing the Oslo Accords at the White House in September 1993. The agreement gave Israel legitimacy, but the PLO did not benefit. Prisoners from PLO factions, including Fatah, remain in jail charged with membership of a terrorist organization. In March 2017, Israel also declared the Palestinian National Fund in Amman, essentially the PLO’s treasury, a terrorist organization.
Hard-liners win the day at Palestinian crisis meeting on Jerusalem
Hard-liners win the day at Palestinian crisis meeting on Jerusalem
Iraqi PM outlines vision for UK relations ahead of official visit
- Mohammed Al-Sudani will meet with King Charles, PM Keir Starmer
- Visit ‘reflects my government’s commitment to strengthening the strategic partnership’
LONDON: Iraq’s prime minister has called for bolstering economic, trade and security ties with the UK ahead of an official visit to the country.
Mohammed Al-Sudani will arrive in London on Jan. 13 and will meet with King Charles, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and senior British officials.
Writing in the Telegraph on Sunday, Al-Sudani said the visit “reflects my government’s commitment to strengthening the strategic partnership between Iraq and the UK.”
He warned that it comes amid “unprecedented and escalating events in the Middle East” that threaten the region and the wider world.
Al-Sudani wrote that regional and international solidarity will ensure that the “free will and aspirations of the Syrian people are respected.”
He praised the UK’s support for Iraq’s fight against Daesh, and said the bilateral relationship had significantly transformed in recent decades.
“Today, as our country achieves greater levels of security and stability, the time has come to transition to a new phase of sustainable economic partnership,” he added.
Al-Sudani will aim to attract British investment in Iraqi energy infrastructure during his visit. It is part of a larger plan to establish Iraq as an international trade hub.
“We will continue to encourage more British investments in oil and gas, as well as in renewable energy projects, recognizing the importance of diversifying energy sources and addressing environmental challenges in the long term,” he wrote.
Al-Sudani highlighted banking reform as another area of potential cooperation with the UK, whose financial institutions and expertise can “improve government services and enhance administrative efficiency.”
He added: “We are determined to channel investments into developing education and training to equip young Iraqis with the skills required to meet the demands of the next phase of development.”
Counterterrorism efforts involving the UK could protect both domestic and regional stability, Al-Sudani said, adding that Iraq could benefit from British military industries.
“My upcoming meetings in London carry a clear message: Iraq is committed to building partnerships based on shared interests and forward-looking vision,” he said.
“We seek a global partner with political and economic weight, and the UK is well-positioned to play this vital role as we embark on a new chapter of growth and reconstruction.”
The Iraqi delegation to the UK includes ministers, MPs, Basra’s governor and representatives from the private sector.
UAE sends 35 trucks in 3 convoys to deliver aid to Gaza
- The latest Emirati delivery of essential supplies includes medical equipment such as dialysis machines and ultrasound devices, plus food and shelter materials
- The UAE has dispatched 153 humanitarian convoys to Gaza since November 2023, with 2,391 trucks delivering more than 29,274 tonnes of aid
LONDON: Three convoys of trucks carrying aid from the UAE this week crossed into the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt.
A total of 35 trucks carried more than 248.9 tonnes of humanitarian supplies, including more than 100 tonnes of medical supplies, the Emirates News Agency reported.
The deliveries are part of an ongoing Emirati humanitarian campaign to help the Palestinian people during the war between Israel and Hamas. Since the launch of “Operation Chivalrous Knight 3” in November 2023, the UAE has sent 153 convoys into the Gaza Strip, with a total of 2,391 trucks delivering more than 29,274 tonnes of aid.
The essential supplies delivered by the latest convoys included medical equipment such as dialysis machines, ultrasound devices, resuscitation sets, wheelchairs and respiratory masks, the news agency added. Other items included food, tents and sacks of flour.
Fadel Al-Shamsi, a spokesperson for the Emirati aid operation, said care was taken to maintain the highest standards of safety and quality during the storage and transportation of the medical supplies to Gaza.
Palestinian president meets British FM in Ramallah
- Mahmoud Abbas briefed David Lammy on Israeli aggression in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
LONDON: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas received British Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Monday at the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters in Ramallah.
Abbas discussed with Lammy the need to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2735, which calls for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the coastal enclave.
He highlighted the UK’s backing for the efforts to gain international recognition of the State of Palestine and its full membership in the UN, as part of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He briefed Lammy on the latest Israeli aggressions in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, the WAFA news agency reported.
Lebanon president, US general discuss Hezbollah-Israel truce
- Kurilla and Aoun spoke about “the situation in the south and the stages of implementing the Israeli withdrawal from the south,” the presidency said
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s president and a top US general discussed on Monday the implementation of a fragile truce between Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel in the south of the country, the presidency said.
President Joseph Aoun and the head of US Central Command, General Michael Kurilla, met as a January 26 deadline to fully implement the terms of the ceasefire approached.
Kurilla and Aoun spoke about “the situation in the south and the stages of implementing the Israeli withdrawal from the south,” the presidency said.
Under the November 27 ceasefire accord, the Lebanese army has 60 days to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in the south of Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws.
At the same time, Hezbollah is required to pull its forces north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure it has in the country’s south.
A committee composed of Israeli, Lebanese, French and US delegates, alongside a representative from the UN peacekeeping force, has been tasked with monitoring the implementation of the deal.
Former army chief Aoun was elected head of state on Thursday by lawmakers — a vote that followed the weakening of Hamas in the war — ending a more than two-year deadlock during which the position was vacant.
Aoun and Kurilla also discussed “ways to activate cooperation between the Lebanese and American armies,” the presidency said.
The United States has been a key financial backer of the Lebanese armed forces, especially since the country’s economy collapsed in 2019.
Meanwhile, Israel carried out air strikes in east and south Lebanon on Sunday, with the Israeli military saying it struck Hezbollah targets including smuggling routes along the border with Syria.
Israeli strikes in south Lebanon on Friday killed five people, according to the Lebanese health ministry, with the Israeli military saying it targeted a Hezbollah weapons truck.
Angry hostage families harangue Israeli hard-liner Smotrich
- Smotrich described the deal taking shape as “a catastrophe” for Israel’s security
- He said Israel should keep up its campaign in Gaza until the complete surrender of Hamas
JERUSALEM: Angry members of some of the families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza harangued Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday over his opposition to a deal being negotiated in Qatar to halt the fighting and bring their relatives home.
Smotrich described the deal taking shape as “a catastrophe” for Israel’s security and said Israel should keep up its campaign in Gaza until the complete surrender of Hamas, the militant group that ran the enclave before the war.
Dozens of members of the hostage families, many carrying photographs of the missing, squeezed into a committee room in the Israeli parliament where a meeting of the finance committee was held to examine the 2025 budget.
Some furious, some crying and pleading, they attacked Smotrich in an emotionally charged encounter that lasted for more than an hour, accusing him of abandoning the 98 Israeli and foreign hostages still left in Gaza.
“These kidnapped people can be returned,” Ofir Angrest, whose brother Matan was taken hostage during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“The conditions are ripe, it’s time for a deal, the Prime Minister said it. How can you, the Minister of Finance, oppose the return of all these abductees?“
Smotrich, leader of one of the hard-line nationalist religious parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, has been among the loudest opponents of a deal which he described as a “surrender” to Hamas.
Qatar, which is brokering the talks alongside Egypt and the United States, said it had given a draft agreement to both Israel and Hamas following a “breakthrough” overnight.
Yechiel Yehud, whose daughter Arbel was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz and whose son Dolev was killed, reminded Smotrich that he had visited their home in the kibbutz.
“I know your heart is in the right place, but you are required to do more than that,” he said.
