JERUSALEM: US President Donald Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next week to discuss his long-awaited plans for Middle East peace, the White House said.
The Palestinians, who immediately condemned the move, were not invited to the Tuesday meeting.
Vice President Mike Pence first announced the invitation to right-wing Netanyahu and his main election rival, Benny Gantz, head of the centrist Blue and White party during a visit to Jerusalem to mark 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz.
Speaking at the new US embassy in Jerusalem, Pence said Trump “asked me to extend an invitation to Prime Minister Netanyahu to come to the White House next week to discuss regional issues, as well as the prospect of peace here in the Holy Land.”
The White House said the meeting would be an “opportunity to discuss our shared regional and national security interests,” hailing the “strong” partnership between Israel and the United Sates.
Netanyahu welcomed the invitation, saying Trump “is seeking to give Israel the peace and security it deserves.”
“With such friends in the White House ... we should get as broad a consensus as possible around the efforts to achieve security and peace for the state of Israel,” he said.
Trump, whose team has long been working on the outlines of a secretive peace plan, has repeatedly boasted that he is the most pro-Israeli US president in history.
Trump tweeted later that he looked forward to the talks but that “reports about details and timing of our closely-held peace plan are purely speculative.”
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, whose administration is boycotting Trump, immediately rejected the US move.
“This step only reaffirms our absolute rejection of what the US administration has done so far, particularly the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,” Abbas’s spokesman said in a statement.
Abbas cut off all ties with the US in December 2017 after Trump broke with decades of international consensus and recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The Palestinians see the eastern part of the city as the capital of their future state and world powers have long agreed that Jerusalem’s fate should be settled via negotiations.
Trump came to power in 2017 promising to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, which he labelled the “ultimate deal.”
But he has since taken a series of decisions that outraged the Palestinians, including cutting hundreds of millions in aid and declaring that the US no longer considered Israel’s West Bank settlements illegal.
His plan for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is believed to revolve around encouraging massive economic investment.
After many postponements, the peace initiative was expected in the autumn.
But it was delayed after September elections in Israel proved inconclusive, and it was not expected to be released until after the March 2 elections.
Israeli media discussed what they said were leaked outlines of the deal Thursday, saying the US had acquiesced to many key Israeli demands.
Pence was speaking shortly after visiting the Western Wall, the holiest place in Jerusalem at which Jews can pray, alongside Netanyahu and Gantz.
The Washington meeting comes little more than a month before new Israeli elections, with polls showing Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud and Gantz’s centrist Blue and White party neck-and-neck.
The meeting on Tuesday coincides with an expected session in the Israeli parliament to discuss Netanyahu’s potential immunity from prosecution over a series of corruption charges.
Israeli media speculated that Trump had chosen to announce the event in support of Netanyahu’s election bid — the third in a year.
Husam Zomlot, former head of the Palestinian mission in the US, told AFP that Trump hosting two Israeli leaders and no Palestinians showed the meeting was about influencing domestic Israeli politics, rather than a genuine attempt at peace.
“This is confirmation of their policy from the beginning — it is all about and for Israel.”
Palestinian Authority reiterates rejection of US peace initiative
https://arab.news/6jeya
Palestinian Authority reiterates rejection of US peace initiative
- The Palestinians immediately condemned the move
- Trump's plan for ending the conflict is believed to revolve around encouraging massive economic investment
UK campaigners file emergency injunction over F-35 exports to Israel
- Move follows ICC issuing of warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant
- ‘UK is now arming suspected war criminals,’ says Global Legal Action Network lawyer
LONDON: Campaigners in the UK seeking to block the sale of F-35 parts to Israel are applying for an emergency high court injunction after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The government has until Friday to file a defense against the campaigners from Global Legal Action Network and Al-Haq.
It is “unconscionable” that British manufacturers of F-35 parts continue to sell weapons systems that are used to kill Palestinians in Gaza, campaigners said.
On Nov. 18 at a high court hearing, the government admitted that potential damage to the UK-US relationship played a role in the continuation of exports.
In earlier hearings, ministers, some of whom have admitted that Israel is in breach of international law, were asked about the rationale for continuing exports.
The court was set to hear the case again in January next year.
Government ministers have said that F-35 parts enter a general export pool and that it is impossible to determine the destination of each part.
The Labour government reversed a decision by the former Conservative government to allow some arms export licenses to Israel to remain in place, finding a risk that the exports could be used to breach international humanitarian law.
GLAN lawyer Charlotte Andrews-Briscoe said: “It is unconscionable that the UK continues to allow British-made components for F-35s to be used in Israel’s extermination campaign against Palestinians.
“As of Thursday, the UK is now arming suspected war criminals who have been indicted by the world’s preeminent criminal court.
“For 13 months, GLAN and Al-Haq have argued that weapons sales to Israel are unlawful. When will it be enough? Does the UK government have any red lines?”
The emergency injunction follows the ICC’s issuing of arrest warrants for Netanyahu; former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant; and Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.
The Israeli leader condemned the court’s decision as “antisemitic.”
GLAN and Al-Haq’s injunction is a sign of the impact caused by the ICC warrants.
Al-Haq spokesperson Zainah El-Haroun said: “The latest arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant for the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity add to the insurmountable evidence that British weapons, particularly F-35 components, are being used to commit international crimes, including genocide.”
Militia detains 300 migrants in the desert in Libya’s effort to contain sea crossings
- The group in a post on Facebook condemned smuggling and human trafficking and said its patrols would continue efforts to block smuggling routes
- The apprehensions come as Libya remains a primary point of departure for men, women and children from the Middle East and Africa aiming to reach Europe
TRIPOLI: Libyan military officials said Monday they apprehended hundreds of migrants traversing the country’s vast desert hoping to ultimately cross the Mediterranean Sea in pursuit of a better life in Europe.
The 444 Brigade, a powerful militia group that operates under the auspices of the Libyan army, said in a statement that its patrolling commanders detained more than 300 migrants and referred them to authorities.
The group in a post on Facebook condemned smuggling and human trafficking and said its patrols would continue efforts to block smuggling routes. It posted satellite images of the desert and pictures of what appeared to be migrants sitting in rows in front of armed and masked militants.
The apprehensions come as Libya remains a primary point of departure for men, women and children from the Middle East and Africa aiming to reach Europe. Many are escaping war or poverty and many employ smugglers to help them negotiate treacherous deserts and sea routes. Roughly 38,000 people have arrived in Italy and Malta from Libya this year, according to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency.
The overcrowded boats used by migrants and smugglers are known to routinely capsize and a key priority for European leaders has been to encourage North African countries to prevent migrants from reaching the sea. But unlike in Morocco and Tunisia — where tens of thousands of migrants also attempt to pass through en route to the southern shores of Europe — fighting between rival governments in Libya has added additional challenges to migration management partnerships.
Migrant apprehensions are rarely reported in Libya, though the country’s state news service LANA reported more than 2,000 arrests in July.
The oil-rich country plunged into turmoil after a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi. Since then, the country has been divided between dueling governments in the east and west, each backed by militias and foreign powers. Human traffickers have for years benefited from the political chaos.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk in July said migrants in the country had been subjected to torture, forced labor and starvation while being detained.
Major food aid ‘scale-up’ underway to famine-hit Sudan, WFP says
- “In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month,” said WFP Sudan spokesperson Leni Kinzli
- The WFP fleet will be clearly labelled in the hope that access will be facilitated
GENEVA: More than 700 trucks are on their way to famine-stricken areas of Sudan as part of a major scale-up after clearance came through from the Sudanese government, a World Food Programme spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in conflict since April 2023 that has caused acute hunger and disease across the country. Both sides are accused of impeding aid deliveries, the RSF by looting and the army by bureaucratic delays.
“In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month,” WFP Sudan spokesperson Leni Kinzli told a press briefing in Geneva.
“We’ve received around 700 clearances from the government in Sudan, from the Humanitarian Aid Commission, to start to move and transport assistance to some of these hard-to-reach areas,” she added, saying the start of the dry season was another factor enabling the scale-up.
The WFP fleet will be clearly labelled in the hope that access will be facilitated, she said.
Some of the food is intended for 14 areas of the country that face famine or are at risk of famine, including Zamzam camp in the Darfur region.
The first food arrived there on Friday prompting cheers from crowds of people who had resorted to eating crushed peanut shells normally fed to animals, Kinzli said.
A second convoy for the camp is currently about 300 km (186 miles) away, she said.
On Monday, the head of Sudan’s sovereign council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, said he would allow the airports in El Obeid, Kadugli, and Damazine — army-controlled areas isolated by the fighting — to serve as humanitarian hubs for UN agencies to facilitate deliveries.
Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs
- Israeli strikes smashed more of Beirut’s southern suburbs, with the Israeli military saying one barrage of strikes had hit 20 targets in 120 seconds
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT: Israeli war planes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs with a wave of airstrikes on Tuesday just before Israel’s cabinet met to discuss a ceasefire deal with its Hezbollah foes.
A senior Israeli official and Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib appeared optimistic a deal could be reached, clearing the way for an end to a conflict that has killed thousands of people since it was ignited by the Gaza war last year.
Despite the possibility of an imminent diplomatic breakthrough, hostilities raged on Tuesday.
Israeli strikes smashed more of Beirut’s densely-populated southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, with the Israeli military saying one barrage of strikes had hit 20 targets in the city in just 120 seconds. Israel had issued its biggest evacuation warning yet, telling civilians to leave 20 locations.
Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the air force was conducting a “widespread attack” on Hezbollah targets across the city.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah has kept up rocket fire into Israel.
The UN rights chief voiced concern about the escalation of bloodshed in Lebanon and his office said nearly 100 people had been reported killed by Israeli airstrikes in recent days, including women, children and medics.
Israel’s security cabinet under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to start meeting at 1400 GMT for up to three hours to discuss the ceasefire deal, which a senior Israeli official said was likely to be approved.
Germany says Lebanon ceasefire ‘within reach’
FIUGGI, Italy: Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Tuesday that an agreement on a proposed ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon was “within reach.”
“A ceasefire and steps toward a political solution along the lines of UN Resolution 1701 are within reach thanks to direct US and French mediation,” Baerbock told reporters on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Italy.
