WASHINGTON: Under the best of circumstances, a Mideast peace deal is the Holy Grail of diplomacy, a goal that has eluded American presidents for generations.
With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set to visit Washington this coming week, the mix of politics, personalities and historical grievances that has stood in the way of Israeli-Palestinian peace is even more combustible than normal.
President Donald Trump’s point man for mediation, Jared Kushner, is in the middle of a political firestorm, his plan remains a mystery and the Palestinians aren’t even speaking to the White House. If that weren’t enough, Netanyahu and Trump are both distracted by mushrooming legal investigations at home.
It’s all contributing to an intensified pessimism in the US, Israel and the West Bank about prospects for a Trump-brokered initiative to succeed.
Kushner and a small team have spent the past year preparing a much-awaited blueprint for peace, but no details have emerged. Many in the region wonder whether the vaunted plan will ever come.
On the surface, Israel’s relationship with the White House has never been better, buoyed by the Jewish state’s thunderous support for Trump’s decision to relocate the US Embassy in Jerusalem and recognize the disputed city as Israel’s capital. The announcements only reinforced Palestinians impressions of Trump as biased against them.
“A mediator will have to mediate between two semi-equal parties. Otherwise it’s not a mediation process,” said Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to Washington, in a recent Associated Press interview. “You have to level the field and level your relationship between the two sides in order to be an honest mediator.”
The world may soon be able to judge for itself.
The Trump administration’s peace proposal is near completion, according to US officials, but faces an uncertain future as Kushner, the Trump son-in-law leading the effort, recently lost his top-secret security clearance. Former negotiators say Kushner’s downgraded status probably will severely impair his ability to do the job.
Beneath the veneer of US-Israeli unity, there is lingering disagreement and suspicion.
Israel is increasingly worried that Trump is backsliding on a pledge to “fix” or dismantle the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Israel also is concerned that behind Trump’s tough public stance toward Tehran is an acquiescence to Iran’s growing presence in Syria and influence in Lebanon — two Israeli neighbors.
“The Israelis now are undoubtedly sounding the alarm,” said Jonathan Schanzer, who researches Iran’s regional influence at the hawkish Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “The assets the Israelis see on the other side of the border to its north — they are not happy.”
Nevertheless, it’s in Netanyahu’s interest to keep such disputes out of the public eye, said David Makovsky, a former State Department official who worked on Mideast peace negotiations. The Israeli leader faces multiple investigations related to allegations of bribery and corruption.
“It’s important for him not to run afoul of Trump,” said Makovsky, now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “It’s necessary for him to show he’s not so engulfed by his own legal problems that he’s not functioning as a leader.”
Trump and Netanyahu are scheduled to meet Monday, in the middle of the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference, which brings thousands of pro-Israel officials, lawmakers, activists and academics to Washington.
Vice President Mike Pence, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and Trump’s envoy to Israel, David Friedman, will give speeches, and each is likely to hammer away at Iran.
Israel views Iran as an existential threat and Netanyahu has repeatedly implored Trump to “fix it or nix it” when it comes to the nuclear deal. That agreement, negotiated by the Obama administration and other world powers, rewarded Iran with billions of dollars in sanctions relief for curbing its nuclear program.
Critics, including Netanyahu and Trump, say Tehran got too much for too little. Among the remedies they’re advocating: removal of several of the deal’s clauses that allow Iran to gradually resume advanced nuclear work starting in 2024.
Trump has said he won’t renew US waivers for sanctions when they next expire on May 12 unless European countries agree to a new deal that would force them to punish Tehran if the Iranians resume advanced nuclear work. He wants tougher inspections and penalties for Iranian missile testing. He also wants Europe to punish Iran’s support for the anti-Israeli militant group Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government.
Israeli officials are most immediately concerned about Iran’s missile work. They want US and European commitments to punish Iran for work on medium-range missiles capable of hitting Israel and Iran’s Arab rivals. The Europeans have balked, citing UN restrictions that focus only on longer-range projectiles. US officials negotiating with Britain, France and Germany appear to agree with the Europeans, prompting the Israeli concern.
Trump’s Mideast peace aspirations aren’t any more certain. After winning praise in Israel for his Jerusalem proclamation, he made clear the Israelis would have to make concessions, too. He hasn’t said what those might be.
“You won one point, and you’ll give up some points later in the negotiation, if there’s ever a negotiation,” Trump said in January.
New headaches for Donald Trump’s Middle East hopes as Benjamin Netanyahu visits
New headaches for Donald Trump’s Middle East hopes as Benjamin Netanyahu visits
Even with Lebanon truce deal, Israel will operate against Hezbollah: Netanyahu
“The most important thing is not (the deal that) will be laid on paper,” Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament.
“We will be forced to ensure our security in the north (of Israel) and to systematically carry out operations against Hezbollah’s attacks... even after a ceasefire,” to keep the group from rebuilding, he said.
Netanyahu also said there was no evidence that Hezbollah would respect any ceasefire reached.
“We will not allow Hezbollah to return to the state it was in on October 6” 2023, the eve of the strike by its Palestinian ally Hamas into southern Israel, he said.
Hezbollah then began firing into northern Israel in support of Hamas, triggering exchanges with Israel that escalated into full-on war in late September this year.
Lebanon’s government has largely endorsed a US truce proposal to end the Israel-Hezbollah war and was preparing final comments before responding to Washington, a Lebanese official told AFP on Monday.
Israel insists that any truce deal must guarantee no further Hezbollah presence in the area bordering Israel.
US envoy has first meeting in Sudan with army chief
- Experts say both sides have stonewalled peace efforts as they vie to gain a decisive military advantage, which neither has managed to hold for long
PORT SUDAN, Sudan: A US special envoy on Monday made his first visit to Sudan for talks with the country’s army chief and de facto leader to discuss aid and how to stop the war.
Tom Perriello met Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan in the Red Sea city for what Burhan’s ruling Sovereignty Council called “long, comprehensive and frank” talks.
It said Burhan and Perriello discussed “the roadmap for how to stop the war and deliver humanitarian aid.”
The envoy’s visit came as Russia on Monday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate end to hostilities in Sudan.
Sudan’s war erupted in April 2023 between the regular army led by Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
It has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people and the displacement of 11 million, according to the United Nations.
The conflict has also resulted in what has been described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises in recent history.
A US State Department release said Perriello “engaged in frank dialogue with Sudanese officials.”
It said these centered “on the need to cease fighting, enable unhindered humanitarian access, including through localized pauses in the fighting to allow for the delivery of emergency relief supplies, and commit to a civilian government.”
Monday’s visit was the special envoy’s first to Port Sudan, the Red Sea city where government offices and the UN have relocated since fleeing the war-torn capital Khartoum.
It is also the first diplomatic overture in months, since Sudan’s military opted out of US-brokered negotiations in Switzerland.
Experts say both sides have stonewalled peace efforts as they vie to gain a decisive military advantage, which neither has managed to hold for long.
Perriello’s trip comes after repeated failed efforts at mediation.
The statement from Burhan’s office said Perriello expressed the “shared ambition for an end to the war to put a stop to the atrocities and violations we have witnessed recently.”
Writing on social media platform X, the US envoy welcomed “recent progress to expand humanitarian access.”
“As the largest aid donor to Sudan, we will work around the clock to ensure that food, water and medicine can reach people in all 18 states plus refugees,” Perriello posted.
Peace efforts, including by the United States, Saudi Arabia and the African Union, have only succeeded in marginally increasing access to humanitarian aid, which both the military and the RSF are accused of blocking.
International pressure has managed to secure government authorization for aid to be delivered through Adre, a key border crossing with Chad and the only access point to famine-stricken Darfur in western Sudan.
However, on Monday Burhan told Perriello his government rejects “the exploitation of the Adre crossing to deliver weapons to the rebels,” a reference to the RSF’s reported use of the border as a weapons supply route.
Monday’s Russian veto at the UN came with the Security Council largely paralyzed in its ability to deal with conflicts because of splits between permanent members, notably Russia and the United States.
Yemen’s Houthi militants linked to ship attacks in Red Sea and Gulf of Aden
- The ship’s captain saw a missile splashing in close proximity to the vessel twice, once in the Red Sea and the second time in the Gulf of Aden.
DUBAI: Suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi militants targeted a Panama-flagged bulk carrier traveling through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, though no damage or injuries were reported, authorities said Monday.
The attacks come as the the militant group continue their months long assault targeting shipping through a waterway that typically sees $1 trillion in goods pass through it a year over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon.
The bulk carrier Anadolu S first had been contacted over VHF radio by someone claiming to be authorities in Yemen, demanding the ship turn around, said the Joint Maritime Information Center, a multinational task force overseen by the US
“The vessel did not comply with the order and continued its transit,” the center said.
The ship’s captain later saw that “a missile splashed in close proximity to the vessel” as it traveled in the southern Red Sea near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting to the Gulf of Aden in the first attack late Sunday night, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said in an alert. The attack happened some 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Yemen port city of Mocha.
On Monday, another attack some 70 miles (112 kilometers) southeast of Aden in the Gulf of Aden similarly saw a missile splash down close to the vessel, the UKMTO said.
“The vessel and crew are safe and proceeding to its next port of call,” the UKMTO added.
The Houthis did not immediately claim the attacks. However, it can take the group hours or even days to acknowledge their assaults.
The Houthis have targeted more than 90 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October 2023. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign, which also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels as well.
The Houthis maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. The Joint Maritime Information Center said the Anadolu S had an “indirect association to Israel.” However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
The Houthis have shot down multiple American MQ-9 Reaper drones as well.
In their last attack on Nov. 11, two US Navy warships targeted with multiple drones and missiles as they were traveling through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but the attacks were not successful.
Nearly 100 food aid trucks violently looted in Gaza, UN agencies say
- This is one of the worst aid losses during 13 months of war in the besieged enclave
- 98 of 109 trucks in convoy were raided and some transporters were injured
GENEVA/CAIRO: Nearly 100 trucks carrying food for Palestinians were violently looted on Nov. 16 after entering Gaza in one of the worst aid losses during 13 months of war in the enclave, where hunger is deepening, two UN agencies told Reuters on Monday.
The convoy transporting food provided by UN agencies UNRWA and the World Food Programme was instructed by Israel to depart at short notice via an unfamiliar route from Kerem Shalom border crossing, said Louise Wateridge, UNRWA Senior Emergency Officer.
Ninety-eight of the 109 trucks in the convoy were raided and some of the transporters were injured during the incident, she said, without detailing who carried out the ambush.
“This ... highlights the severity of access challenges of bringing aid into southern and central Gaza,” she told Reuters.
“The urgency of the crisis cannot be overstated; without immediate intervention, severe food shortages are set to worsen, further endangering the lives of over two million people who depend on humanitarian aid to survive.”
The Hamas TV channel Al-Aqsa quoted Hamas interior ministry sources in Gaza as saying that over 20 gang members involved in looting aid trucks were killed during an operation carried out by Hamas security forces in coordination with tribal committees.
It said anyone caught aiding such looting would be treated with “an iron fist.”
A WFP spokesperson confirmed the looting and said that many routes in Gaza were currently impassable due to security issues.
An Israeli official said Israel had been working to address the humanitarian situation since the start of its war against Hamas, adding that the main problem with aid deliveries was UN distribution challenges.
A UN aid official said on Friday that access for aid to Gaza had reached a low point, with deliveries to parts of the Israeli-besieged north of the enclave all but impossible. Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza was triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel.
UNESCO ‘enhanced protection’ for 34 Lebanon heritage sites
- Baalbek and Tyre ‘will receive technical and financial assistance from UNESCO’
PARIS: Dozens of heritage sites in Lebanon were granted “provisional enhanced protection” by UNESCO on Monday, offering a higher level of legal shielding as fighting continues between Israel and Hezbollah militants.
The 34 cultural properties affected “now benefit from the highest level of immunity against attack and use for military purposes,” the United Nations cultural body said in a statement.
Several Israeli strikes in recent weeks on Baalbek in the east and Tyre in the south — both strongholds of Iran-backed Hezbollah — hit close to ancient Roman ruins designated as World Heritage sites.
UNESCO said the decision “helps send a signal to the entire international community of the urgent need to protect these sites.”
“Non-compliance with these clauses would constitute ‘serious violations’ of the 1954 Hague Convention and... potential grounds for prosecution,” it added.
Hezbollah and Israel have been at war since late September, when Israel broadened its focus from fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip to securing its northern border, even as the Gaza war plows on.
UNESCO’s move followed an appeal Sunday by hundreds of cultural professionals, including archaeologists and academics, to activate the enhanced protection.
Baalbek and Tyre “will receive technical and financial assistance from UNESCO to reinforce their legal protections, improve risk anticipation and management measures, and provide further training for site managers,” the body said.
