DOHA, QATAR: Israel’s military operation in Rafah has set truce negotiations with Hamas “backward,” mediator Qatar said on Tuesday, adding that talks have reached “almost a stalemate.”
“Especially in the past few weeks, we have seen some momentum building but unfortunately things didn’t move in the right direction and right now we are on a status of almost a stalemate,” Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani told the Qatar Economic Forum.
“Of course, what happened with Rafah has set us backward.”
Qatar, which has hosted Hamas’s political office in Doha since 2012, has been engaged — along with Egypt and the United States — in months of behind-the-scenes mediation between Israel and the Palestinian militant group.
Israel continued to fight Hamas in Rafah on Monday, despite US warnings against a full-scale assault on the south Gaza city that is crowded with displaced Palestinians.
“There is no clarity how to stop the war from the Israeli side. I don’t think that they are considering this as an option... even when we are talking about the deal and leading to a potential ceasefire,” Sheikh Mohammed said.
Israeli politicians were indicating “by their statements that they will remain there, they will continue the war. And there is no clarity on what Gaza will look like after this,” he added.
Israel’s Rafah attack set Hamas talks ‘backward’: Qatar PM tells forum
https://arab.news/czg3p
Israel’s Rafah attack set Hamas talks ‘backward’: Qatar PM tells forum
- Emir says Israel looks set to stay in Gaza waging war
US designates Yemen’s Houthis ‘foreign terrorist organization’
WASHINGTON: The US State Department on Tuesday said it was designating Yemen’s Houthi movement, known formally as Ansar Allah, as a “foreign terrorist organization,” after US President Donald Trump’s call for the move earlier this year.
More to follow...
Palestinian president welcomes Egyptian plan to rebuild Gaza
CAIRO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbad said on Tuesday he welcomed an Egyptian plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip and urged US President Donald Trump to support such a plan that would not involve displacing Palestinian residents of the enclave.
Speaking at an Arab League summit that aims to counter Trump’s “Gaza Riviera” plan, Abbas also said he was ready to hold presidential and parliamentary elections if circumstances allow, adding his Palestinian Authority was the only legitimate governing and military force in the Palestinian Territories.
Abbas said that he would issue a general amnesty for all those dismissed from the Fatah movement which rules the West Bank.
UN’s Guterres supports Arab-led efforts to mobilize support for Gaza’s reconstruction
- Speaking at the Cairo summit, Guterres also called for the resumption “without delay” of negotiations on continuing a ceasefire in Gaza
- He also expressed concern over an escalation of violence in the West Bank
CAIRO: United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday he supported an Arab-led initiative to mobilize support for reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.
Egypt presented a plan for reconstruction of the Palestinian enclave on Tuesday at an Arab League summit in Cairo. The plan, seen by Reuters, aims to counter US President Donald Trump’s proposal to build a Middle East “Riviera” in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking at the Cairo summit, Guterres also called for the resumption “without delay” of negotiations on continuing a ceasefire in Gaza, and he expressed concern over an escalation of violence in the West Bank.
Palestinian president meets Syrian counterpart for first time since Assad’s fall
- Mahmoud Abbas, Ahmad Al-Sharaa meet in Cairo on sidelines of emergency Arab summit
- Both leaders oppose Israeli policies that threaten to further encroach on their territory
LONDON: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has met the president of the Syrian Arab Republic for the first time since the change of power in Damascus last December.
Abbas and Ahmad Al-Sharaa met in Cairo on the sidelines of an emergency Arab summit that will focus on the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and oppose US President Donald Trump’s proposal to displace Palestinians in Gaza and “take over” the enclave.
Abbas and Al-Sharaa discussed the latest developments in the occupied West Bank and stressed that the Gaza Strip was an integral part of Palestine’s territory.
Abbas said that the priorities were to maintain the ceasefire in Gaza, provide aid, and for Israeli forces to withdraw from the enclave, according to the Palestine News Agency.
Both Abbas and Al-Sharaa are opposing Israeli policies that threaten to further encroach on their territory. The Israeli government’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank, the displacement of thousands of Palestinians from refugee camps, and its plans to annex part of the territory jeopardize the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state.
Following the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in December, Israeli forces have occupied parts of the southern Syrian region, including the strategically important summit of Mount Hermon, shattering a decades-long agreement.
Hussein Al-Sheikh, the secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and Diab Al-Louh, the Palestinian ambassador to Egypt, were also present at the meeting.
Sudan’s RSF signs ‘transitional constitution’: alliance member
- “The constitutional document was signed in Nairobi last night by all parties involved in the signing of the founding charter,” said Ahmed Tuqud Lisan
- The next step would be to form the government, which will “be announced inside Sudan“
NAIROBI: Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its allies have signed a constitution paving the way for the formation of a parallel government, a member of its coalition said Tuesday.
“The constitutional document was signed in Nairobi last night by all parties involved in the signing of the founding charter,” Ahmed Tuqud Lisan, a member of the preparatory committee of the Sudan Founding Alliance told AFP.
For nearly two years, the RSF and the regular army have been in a devastating war that has uprooted more than 12 million people and caused what the United Nations calls the world’s worst hunger and displacement crises.
Last week, the RSF and its alliance of political and military partners signed a charter vowing to establish a “government of peace and unity” in rebel-controlled areas of Sudan.
The “transitional constitution” signed on Monday documents the “tasks of the transitional period, the decentralized governing system and the structures of the executive authority,” Lisan said.
The next step would be to form the government, which will “be announced inside Sudan,” he added.
Kenya has been criticized for hosting the RSF and its allies, with Sudan’s army-aligned government recalling its ambassador in protest last month.
Sudan’s foreign ministry accused Kenyan President William Ruto of acting on “his commercial and personal interests with the militia’s regional sponsors.”
The RSF’s constitution, seen by AFP, was signed by 24 signatories including RSF deputy Abdel Rahim Dagalo.
The war between the RSF and the army has torn the country in two, with the army controlling the north and east, while the RSF holds nearly all of the western region of Darfur and swathes of the south.
