WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged on Friday to encourage more Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel as he hosted a virtual meeting with Israeli and Arab counterparts to mark the first anniversary of a set of landmark diplomatic agreements.
The event — held with Blinken’s counterparts from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco — was the Biden administration’s highest-profile embrace of the Abraham Accords, which were widely seen as a diplomatic success for Republican former President Donald Trump.
Democratic President Joe Biden has backed the deals since taking office in January, and senior aides have said they want more Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel after decades of enmity. But the administration until now had been cool to the idea of commemorating the anniversary of the accords.
On Friday, however, Blinken hailed their diplomatic and economic benefits, saying: “This administration will continue to build on the successful efforts of the last administration to keep normalization marching forward.”
He said the Biden administration would help foster Israel’s growing ties with the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco — as well as Sudan, which also reached a breakthrough with Israel last year – and would work to deepen Israel’s relationships with Egypt and Jordan, which have long-standing peace deals.
And Blinken said Washington would encourage more countries to follow their lead. “We want to widen the circle of peaceful diplomacy,” he said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid agreed, saying: “This Abraham Accords club is open to new members as well.”
The leaders of Israel, the UAE and Bahrain signed the accords at the White House last September. Israel and Sudan announced in the following month that they would normalize relations, and Morocco established diplomatic ties with Israel in December, after Biden defeated Trump in the US election.
Palestinian officials said they felt betrayed by their Arab brethren for reaching deals with Israel without first demanding progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state.
Some critics said Trump had promoted Arab rapprochement with Israel while ignoring Palestinian aspirations for statehood.
But Blinken, who has sought to repair ties with the Palestinians badly damaged under Trump, said: “We all must build on these relationships and growing normalization to make tangible improvements in the lives of Palestinians, and to make progress toward the long-standing goal of advancing negotiated peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”
Blinken says US to help foster Israel’s ties with Arab states
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Blinken says US to help foster Israel’s ties with Arab states
- Blinken said Washington would work to deepen Israel's long-standing relationship with Egypt and Jordan
- He said the US will encourage other countries to normalise ties with Israel
Israel kills member of Palestinian security forces
- The Palestinian security services identified Rabaiya as a first lieutenant in its Preventive Security force, saying he was killed while “performing his national duty”
JERUSALEM: Israeli forces killed a member of the Palestinian security services in the occupied West Bank whom they accused of being a militant. Tearful Palestinians on Sunday meanwhile laid to rest six people killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip the day before, including a teenager.
Israel’s paramilitary Border Police said they carried out an operation in the West Bank village of Meithaloun to arrest Hassan Rabaiya, describing him as a wanted militant.
They said he was killed in a shootout while trying to escape, and that the troops found a shotgun, weapons parts and around $26,000 in cash inside his home.
Meithaloun is near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, an epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian violence in recent years.
The Palestinian security services identified Rabaiya as a first lieutenant in its Preventive Security force, saying he was killed while “performing his national duty.”
The Palestinian Authority has been waging a rare crackdown on militants in Jenin in recent weeks, angering many Palestinians.
The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority exercises limited autonomy in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and cooperates with Israel on security matters. But Israel has long accused it of inciting violence and turning a blind eye to militants.
Meanwhile, Palestinians in Gaza held funeral prayers outside a hospital after six people were killed in two Israeli strikes the night before.
The mother and grandmother of the 15-year-old who was killed peeled back the white funeral shroud and kissed his cheeks as they sobbed. A few dozen people then gathered for prayers outside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central town of Deir Al-Balah.
Hezbollah leader Nasrallah was killed last year inside war operations room, aide says
- Nasrallah “used to lead the battle and war from this location,” Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa told news conference near the site where Nasrallah was killed
BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike last year while inside the group’s war operations room, according to new details Sunday disclosed by a senior Hezbollah official.
A series of Israeli airstrikes flattened several buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sept. 27, 2024, killing Nasrallah. The Lebanese Health Ministry said six people died. According to news reports, Nasrallah and other senior officials were meeting underground.
The assassination of Nasrallah, who had led Hezbollah for 32 years, turned months of low-level strikes between Israel and the militants into all-out war that battered much of southern and eastern Lebanon for two months until a US-brokered ceasefire took effect Nov. 27.
“His Eminence (Hassan Nasrallah) used to lead the battle and war from this location,” top Hezbollah security official Wafiq Safa told a news conference Sunday near the site where Nasrallah was killed. He said Nasrallah died in the war operations room. He did not offer other details.
Lebanese media had reported that Safa was a target of Israeli airstrikes in central Beirut before the ceasefire but appeared unscathed.
During the first phase of the ceasefire, Hezbollah is supposed to move its fighters, weapons and infrastructure away from southern Lebanon north of the Litani River, while Israeli troops that invaded southern Lebanon need to withdraw all within 60 days. Lebanese army soldiers are to deploy in large numbers and alongside United Nations peacekeepers be the sole armed presence in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon and Hezbollah have been critical of ongoing Israeli strikes and overflights across the country and for only withdrawing from two of dozens of Lebanese villages it controls. Israel says that the Lebanese military has not done its share in dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure.
Hezbollah’s current leader Naim Kassem in a televised address Saturday warned that its fighters could strike Israel if its troops don’t leave the south by the end of the month.
Meanwhile, Israel’s defense minister Israel Katz echoed similar sentiments should Hezbollah’s militants not head north of the Litani River and their infrastructure remain intact.
“If this condition is not met, there will be no agreement, and Israel will be forced to act on its own to ensure the safe return of the residents of (Israel’s) north to their homes,” he said.
Safa said that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who negotiated the ceasefire deal with Washington, told Hezbollah that the government will meet with US envoy Amos Hochstein soon. “And in light of what happens, then there will be a position,” said Safa.
Hochstein had led the shuttle diplomacy efforts to reach the fragile truce.
Syria monitor reports blasts at arms depots near Damascus
- Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said the blasts in Kisweh, south of the Syrian capital, may be the result of an Israeli air strike
BEIRUT: A Syria war monitor said explosions on Sunday rocked an area near Damascus housing weapons depots used by the toppled government of Bashar Assad.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said the blasts in Kisweh, south of the Syrian capital, may be the result of an Israeli air strike.
The Israeli military, which has struck many military sites in Syria in recent weeks, told AFP in Jerusalem it did not attack the site.
The Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources in Syria, said that “loud blasts resonated in the wider capital area.”
The explosions occurred “at ammunition depots of the former regime forces... near the town of Kisweh,” sending a thick cloud of smoke billowing over the site, the Observatory said.
Israel, which rarely comments on its actions in neighboring Syria, has carried out hundreds of air strikes on military sites since Islamist-led forces ousted president Assad and seized Damascus last month.
Israel has said it was seeking to prevent weapons from falling into hostile hands.
Most recently, the Observatory said Israeli war planes hit sites of the now defunct Syrian army in the Aleppo area on Friday.
In late December, the Observatory said 11 people died in an explosion at an arms storage facility in the Adra area north Damascus, adding that it was possibly the result of an Israeli strike. Israel denied any involvement.
Israel releases Jordanian doctor detained during relief mission to Gaza
- Jordan engaged in ‘intensive’ diplomatic efforts to secure release of Abdullah Balawi
- Balawi said his mission as a doctor is to relieve those who need help
LONDON: Israeli authorities released Abdullah Balawi, 38, a Jordanian doctor who had been detained in December while attempting to cross into the Gaza Strip to take part in a medical relief mission.
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign and Expatriates Affairs Sufian Al-Qudah said that Jordan engaged in “intensive” diplomatic efforts via the kingdom’s embassy in Tel Aviv to secure the release of Balawi on Sunday, according to the Petra agency.
Israeli authorities arrested Balawi on Dec. 19 at Allenby crossing, also known as Sheikh Hussein Bridge, which borders Jordan with the Occupied West Bank.
He was returned through diplomatic channels at the Sheikh Hussein Bridge on Sunday, with Jordanian Embassy staff present, Petra added.
Balawi told Al-Mamlaka TV after his release that his mission as a doctor is to relieve those who need help. His family could not contact him for 11 days during his detention in Israel.
Al-Qudah said that Amman closely monitored Balawi’s detention and contacted his family.
Since October 2023, Jordan has launched several medical, airlift and aid relief missions to assist Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Some of these missions have been supervised personally by King Abdullah in response to Israeli military operations that have damaged multiple hospitals in Gaza and resulted in almost 45,000 deaths.
Israel helps former soldier leave Brazil over investigation into alleged war crimes in Gaza
- The Hind Rajab Foundation filed a complaint of alleged war crimes based on video footage, geolocation data and photographs
- Israel adamantly rejects the international allegations, saying its forces in Gaza are acting in accordance with international law
JERUSALEM: Israel has helped a former soldier leave Brazil after legal action was initiated against him by a group accusing Israelis of war crimes in the Gaza Strip based in part on soldiers’ social media posts.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday said it had helped the former soldier safely leave Brazil on a commercial flight after what it described as “anti-Israel elements” sought an investigation last week. It warned Israelis against posting on social media about their military service.
The Hind Rajab Foundation, named for a 5-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza, said Brazilian authorities had launched an investigation into the soldier after it filed a complaint based on video footage, geolocation data and photographs showing him taking part in the demolition of civilian homes.
The foundation described the move as a “pivotal step toward accountability for crimes committed in Gaza” during nearly 15 months of war.
There was no immediate comment from Brazilian authorities. Brazilian media reported Saturday that the investigation was ordered by an on-call federal judge in Brazil’s Federal District. The decision was issued on Dec. 30 but first reported over the weekend.
Israel has faced heavy international criticism over its war against Hamas in Gaza, with the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister. The International Court of Justice is separately investigating genocide allegations.
The Brazil case raised the prospect that rank-and-file Israeli troops could also face prosecution while traveling abroad.
Israel adamantly rejects the international allegations, saying its forces in Gaza are acting in accordance with international law and that any violations are punished within its judicial systems. It blames Hamas for civilian deaths, saying the militant group conceals tunnels and other infrastructure in residential buildings, necessitating their demolition.
Throughout the war, Israeli soldiers have posted numerous videos from Gaza that appear to show them rummaging through homes and blowing up or burning residential buildings. In some, they chant racist slogans or boast about destroying the Palestinian territory.
The military has pledged to take disciplinary action in what it says are a handful of isolated cases.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 45,800 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health officials. They say women and children make up over half the dead but do not distinguish between civilians and militants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Israeli airstrikes on Sunday killed five people in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza and four in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to health workers. Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 88 people had been killed in the past 24 hours.
The war has caused widespread destruction in Gaza and displaced around 90 percent of the population of 2.3 million people, with many forced to flee multiple times.
Israeli forces kill Palestinian security member
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed a member of the Palestinian security services, calling him a wanted militant.
Israel’s paramilitary Border Police said Sunday they carried out an operation in Meithaloun village overnight to arrest Hassan Rabaiya. They said he was killed in a shootout while trying to escape.
Israeli authorities released helmet-cam footage that showed the police shooting the suspect and blowing up what police said was an explosives lab in his home.
The Palestinian security services identified Rabaiya as a first lieutenant in its Preventive Security force, saying he was killed while “performing his national duty.”
Meithaloun is near the West Bank city of Jenin, an epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian violence in recent years. The Palestinian Authority has been waging a rare crackdown on militants in Jenin, angering many Palestinians.
The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority exercises limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank and cooperates with Israel on security matters. But Israel has long accused it of inciting violence and turning a blind eye to militants, while Palestinian critics view it as a corrupt and ineffective body that aids the occupation.
The West Bank has seen a surge of violence during the war in Gaza. Israel captured both Gaza and the West Bank, as well as east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want all three territories for their future state.
Israel warns that ceasefire in Lebanon is at risk
Israel’s defense minister warned Sunday that the truce that ended more than a year of fighting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah is at risk.
Israel Katz said the agreement requires Hezbollah to withdraw to the north of the Litani River and Lebanese troops to eliminate militant infrastructure in the buffer zone — “something that hasn’t happened yet.”
“If this condition is not met, there will be no agreement, and Israel will be forced to act on its own to ensure the safe return of the residents of (Israel’s) north to their homes,” he said.
Both sides have accused the other of violating the ceasefire agreement. Israel has withdrawn from just two of the dozens of towns it holds in southern Lebanon. And it has continued striking what it calls Hezbollah targets, accusing the militant group of attempting to launch rockets and move weapons before they can be confiscated and destroyed.
The deal struck on Nov. 27 required Hezbollah to immediately lay down its arms in southern Lebanon. It gave Israel 60 days to withdraw its forces and hand over control to the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers.
Hezbollah, severely degraded after Israeli strikes, has threatened to resume fighting if Israel does not fully withdraw its forces by the 60-day deadline.
