DUBLIN: Ireland is certain to recognize Palestinian statehood by the end of May, the country’s Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said on Wednesday, without specifying a date.
“We will be recognizing the state of Palestine before the end of the month,” Martin, who is also Ireland’s deputy prime minister, told the Newstalk radio station.
In March the leaders of Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and Malta said in a joint statement that they stand ready to recognize Palestinian statehood.
Ireland has long said it has no objection in principle to officially recognizing the Palestinian state if it could help the peace process in the Middle East.
But Israel’s war against Hamas militants in Gaza has given the issue new impetus.
Last week, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Spain, Ireland and Slovenia planned to symbolically recognize a Palestinian state on May 21, with others potentially following suit.
But Martin on Wednesday shied away from pinpointing a date.
“The specific date is still fluid because we’re still in discussions with some countries in respect of a joint recognition of a Palestinian state,” he said.
“It will become clear in the next few days as to the specific date but it certainly will be before the end of this month.
“I will look forward to consultations today with some foreign ministers in respect of the final specific detail of this.”
Last month during a visit to Dublin by Spanish premier Pedro Sanchez, Irish prime minister Simon Harris said the countries would coordinate the move together.
“When we move forward, we would like to do so with as many others as possible to lend weight to the decision and to send the strongest message,” said Harris.
Harris’s office said Wednesday that he updated King Abdullah II of Jordan by telephone on Ireland’s plan for statehood recognition.
Harris “outlined Ireland and Spain’s ongoing efforts on Palestinian recognition and ongoing discussions with other like-minded countries,” a statement read.
“The King and the Taoiseach (prime minister) agreed that both Ireland and Jordan should stay in touch in the coming days,” it added.
The conflict in Gaza followed Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack against Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized about 250 hostages, 128 of whom Israel estimates remain in Gaza, including 36 the military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Ireland to recognize Palestinian statehood ‘this month’: FM Martin
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Ireland to recognize Palestinian statehood ‘this month’: FM Martin
- FM Micheal Martin: ‘We will be recognizing the state of Palestine before the end of the month’
- Martin: ‘The specific date is still fluid because we’re still in discussions with some countries in respect of a joint recognition of a Palestinian state’
Syria war monitor says 21 pro-Turkiye fighters killed near flashpoint northern town
- SDF said that ‘after thwarting the attacks, Manbij Military Council forces initiated a combing operation in the vicinity of the Tishreen Dam and the surrounding area’
- SDF leader Mazloum Abdi on Tuesday proposed a ‘demilitarised zone’ in Kobani
The fighting between Turkish-backed factions and US-backed Kurdish-led forces comes more than a week after Islamist-led rebels toppled Syria’s longtime strongman Bashar Assad.
“At least 21 members of pro-Turkiye factions were killed and others wounded by fire from the Manbij Military Council after pro-Turkiye factions attacked” a position at the Tishreen Dam, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the town of Manbij, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The United States said on Tuesday it had brokered an extension to a fragile ceasefire in Manbij and was seeking a broader understanding with Turkiye.
The Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources inside Syria, said Wednesday’s attack included “support from Turkish reconnaissance aircraft” and was followed by “heavy clashes with heavy and medium weapons.”
The monitor also reported unspecified casualties among the Manbij Military Council, which is affiliated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, as well as among SDF fighters.
The SDF said in a statement that its forces “successfully repelled” the pro-Turkiye fighters and that “after thwarting the attacks, Manbij Military Council forces initiated a combing operation in the vicinity of the Tishreen Dam and the surrounding area.”
Swathes of north and northeast Syria are controlled by a Kurdish administration whose de facto army, the SDF, spearheaded the fight that defeated Daesh group extremists in Syria in 2019.
Turkiye accuses the main component of the SDF, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), of being affiliated with Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants at home, whom both Washington and Ankara consider a “terrorist” group.
Ankara has staged multiple operations against the SDF since 2016, and Turkish-backed groups have captured several Kurdish-held towns in the north in recent weeks.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday that the Manbij truce, which had recently expired, had been “extended through the end of the week, and we will, obviously, look to see that ceasefire extended as far as possible into the future.”
The extension comes amid fears of an assault by Turkiye on the Kurdish-held border town of Kobani, also known as Ain Al-Arab, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Manbij.
SDF leader Mazloum Abdi on Tuesday proposed a “demilitarised zone” in Kobani.
The military chief of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the Islamist militant group that led the offensive that ousted Assad, said Tuesday that Kurdish-held areas of Syria would be integrated under the country’s new leadership.
While the Kurdish administration has extended a hand to the new authorities, the long-oppressed community fears it could lose hard-won gains it made during the war, including limited self-rule.
At least 20 die, five rescued as migrant boat sinks off Tunisia
- Boat sank off the coast of Sfax city, a major departure point especially for sub-Saharan African migrants
- Tunisia is grappling with an unprecedented migration crisis and has replaced Libya as the major departure point for Europe
TUNIS: Tunisia’s coast guard has recovered the bodies of 20 migrants after the boat they were in sank, on Wednesday, in the second migrant drowning tragedy within one week off the Tunisian coast.
Last Thursday, the Tunisian coast guard also recovered the bodies of nine migrants, while six others are still missing, after their boat sank while they were sailing toward Europe.
The coast guard, on Wednesday, rescued five others, from the latest tragedy, and search operations were underway for anyone still missing.
The boat sank off the coast of Sfax city, a major departure point especially for sub-Saharan African migrants.
Tunisia is grappling with an unprecedented migration crisis and has replaced Libya as the major departure point for both Tunisians and people from elsewhere in Africa, who are seeking a better life in Europe.
Harness momentum from Assad’s fall and Lebanon ceasefire to end war in Gaza, says UK envoy
- Ambassador James Kariuki also calls on Israel to halt illegal expansion of settlements on Palestinian lands
- Report from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says Israel’s actions in besieged northern Gaza is making life untenable for Palestinians there
NEW YORK CITY: The UK’s deputy permanent representative to the UN on Wednesday told members of the Security Council that the fall of longtime Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and November’s ceasefire agreement in Lebanon offer a moment of hope to the people of the region.
He called for the momentum generated by these developments to be harnessed and used to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, secure the release all Israeli hostages held by Hamas and other militant groups, and end the humanitarian crisis and the suffering of civilians in the battered enclave.
Ambassador James Kariuki was speaking during a meeting of the Security Council to discuss the latest report by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the implementation of the council’s Resolution 2234. Adopted in 2016, it demands that Israel cease all settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem, and calls for immediate steps to prevent violence against civilians, including acts of terror.
Kariuki called on Israeli authorities to halt the illegal expansion of settlements on Palestinian land and to hold violent settlers to account.
“Continued instability and settler violence in the West Bank should not be tolerated by Israel, and the culture of impunity must end,” he said. “This does nothing to bring about peace and security for Palestinians or Israelis.”
The secretary-general’s quarterly report, covering the period from September to December, states that the “relentless bombardment of Gaza by Israeli forces, the large number of civilian casualties, the blanket destruction of Palestinian neighborhoods, and the worsening humanitarian situation by the day are appalling.”
The Israel’s military operations in Northern Gaza, which has been under siege since early October, “are making the conditions of life untenable for the Palestinian population,” it adds.
Kariuki said northern Gaza must not be cut off from the south.
“The UK is clear: There must be no forcible transfer of Gazans from, or within, Gaza. There must be no reduction of the territory of the Gaza Strip,” he said.
“Israel’s expansion of military infrastructure and the destruction of civilian buildings and agricultural land across the Strip is unacceptable.”
In his report, Guterres condemned Israel’s use of “explosive weapons with wide-area effects in densely populated areas, that has caused massive casualties and damage to residential buildings, schools, hospitals, mosques and UN premises.”
He again denounced the terror attacks by Hamas that targeted Israeli towns on Oct. 7, 2023, and the taking of more than 250 hostages.
Kariuki echoed this condemnation and reiterated his country’s demand for “the immediate and unconditional release” of all hostages.
The envoy also described the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza as appalling. More than 45,000 Palestinians have died since the Oct. 7 attacks, and the past two months have been the worst for aid efforts since the conflict began, he said.
“The UN has reported a shocking increase in cases of acute malnutrition in children, and that Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees, per capita, in the world,” Kariuki added.
“The UK continues to urge Israel to do much more to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure and to abide by their international obligations. This includes facilitating rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian aid and basic services to the Palestinian people.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees plays a crucial role in delivering this life-saving aid, he said, and the UK has committed an additional $16.5 million of funding for the agency, raising its total contributions since April to $52 million.
Paramilitary shelling of besieged Darfur city kills 10
PORT SUDAN: Ten civilians were killed and 20 wounded in paramilitary shelling of North Darfur’s besieged capital El-Fasher which hit the city’s main hospital and other areas, activists said.
The attack left “10 civilians killed and 20 others injured ... as a result of recent shelling inside the city of El-Fasher and the Saudi Hospital,” said the local resistance committee, one of hundreds of volunteer groups that have been coordinating aid across Sudan during 20 months of fighting between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Sudanese doctor Mohamed Moussa has grown so accustomed to the constant sound of gunfire and shelling near his hospital that it no longer startles him. He continues attending to his patients.
“The bombing has numbed us,” the 30-year-old general practitioner said by phone from Al-Nao Hospital, one of the last functioning medical facilities in Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum.
Gunfire rattles in the distance, warplanes roar overhead and nearby shelling makes the ground tremble, more than a year and a half into a grinding war between rival Sudanese generals.
Embattled health workers “have no choice but to continue,” said Moussa.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been torn apart by a war between army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces.
Blinken to announce more funding for Sudan at UN on Thursday, official says
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will announce at the United Nations on Thursday additional funding for humanitarian assistance to Sudan and efforts to support civil society in the country, where a conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.
Deputy US Representative to the United Nations Ned Price told reporters on Wednesday that Blinken will make a number of announcements when he chairs on Thursday a UN Security Council meeting on Sudan, which will focus on humanitarian assistance and protection of civilians.
The announcements will include additional funding for humanitarian assistance, and efforts to support civil society and, ultimately, the transition back to democracy, Price said.
“Sudan, unfortunately, has risked becoming a forgotten conflict,” Price said.
“So part of the reason the secretary ... opted to convene a signature event on this very topic is to make sure it remains in the spotlight,” Price said.
Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in conflict for more than 18 months, triggering a profound humanitarian crisis in which more than 12 million people have been driven from their homes and UN agencies have struggled to deliver relief.
The war erupted in April 2023 amid a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule.
US-mediated talks in Geneva this year failed to achieve progress toward a ceasefire as the army refused to attend, but did secure promises from the warring parties to improve aid access.
Price said the United States would continue to work with allies for improved humanitarian access in Sudan and ultimately a cessation of hostilities before the end of President Joe Biden’s term next month.
“We are going to leave nothing on the field in our efforts to work with allies, with partners, with the Sudanese stakeholders themselves, on the issues that matter most — humanitarian access, the provision of humanitarian assistance, ultimately, the process by which we can work to get to a cessation of hostilities, which is most urgently needed,” he said.
