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Netanyahu, Biden meet for tense Gaza ceasefire talks

President Joe Biden, right, talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 25, 2024. (AP)
President Joe Biden, right, talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 25, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 25 July 2024
AFP
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Netanyahu, Biden meet for tense Gaza ceasefire talks

Netanyahu, Biden meet for tense Gaza ceasefire talks
  • Relations between Biden, Netanyahu strained over Israel’s conduct in war sparked by Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks
  • Israeli PM to meet Republican contender Donald Trump on Friday in Florida
Updated 25 July 2024
AFP
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WASHINGTON DC: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he was ready to work with Joe Biden for the rest of his presidency, as the two leaders met for the first time at the White House for talks on a Gaza ceasefire.
“I want to thank you for the 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the state of Israel,” Netanyahu said after they shook hands in the historic setting of the Oval Office.
“And I look forward to discussing with you today and working with you in the months ahead.”
Biden stunned the world Sunday when he announced that he was bowing out of the US presidential election, with Vice President Kamala Harris now set to be the Democratic Party’s candidate.
Netanyahu will also meet Harris separately at the White House, in a reflection of the new political reality that will see Biden as a lame duck president for his remaining six months in office.
The Harris meeting comes amid speculation that if she wins in November it could herald a tougher approach on Israel’s war in Gaza.
Relations between Biden and Netanyahu are tense over Israel’s conduct in the war sparked by Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks, but the US president has continued strong military and political support.
They have met just three times during his presidency, once in September last year in New York, and then when Biden traveled to Israel after the attacks and hugged Netanyahu on the airport tarmac at Tel Aviv.
The meetings come after Netanyahu vowed “total victory” against Hamas in a fiery speech Wednesday to the US Congress.
Biden and Netanyahu will later meet the families of US hostages held in Gaza.
The White House was surrounded by metal barriers and a heavy police presence, after rowdy protests broke out near the Capitol following Netanyahu’s speech.
Harris on Thursday condemned the “despicable” and “unpatriotic” burning of an American flag by protesters, after attempts by Donald Trump’s Republicans to paint Democrats as pro-Hamas.
In a primetime speech explaining his decision on Sunday to bow out of the US presidential election, Biden made clear that resolving the conflict would remain a top priority.
“I’m going to keep working to end the war on Gaza, bring home all the hostages to bring peace and security to the Middle East and end this war,” the US president said.
A senior US administration official said Wednesday that negotiations on a Gaza deal were in the “closing stages” and that Biden would try to close some “final gaps” with Netanyahu.
Harris has previously been more outspoken about Israel’s conduct of the war, prompting speculation she will shift her policy as presidential nominee.
The US official said there was “no daylight between the president and vice president,” who will meet Netanyahu at 4:30 p.m. (2030 GMT).
Netanyahu will meet Republican contender Donald Trump on Friday at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
The ex-president on Thursday morning urged Israel to quickly “finish up” its war in Gaza, warning its global image was being tarnished.
Biden has offered Israel steadfast support since October 7.
But the US president has been increasingly critical of Israel over the Palestinian death toll in its offensive in Gaza, and criticized restrictions on the amount of aid getting through to the territory, much of which has been reduced to rubble.
The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Out of 251 people taken hostage that day, 111 are still being held inside the Gaza Strip, including 39 who the military says are dead.
More than 39,100 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to data provided by the health ministry of Hamas-run Gaza, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.
According to the Israeli military 327 soldiers have been killed in the Gaza military campaign since the start of the ground offensive on October 27.

Topics: War on Gaza Israel Palestine US Gaza Hamas Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu US President Joe Biden

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West Bank ‘plane chalet’ helps aviation dreams scale newer heights

A guest house built in the shape of an aeroplane in the town of Qaffin, occupied West Bank. (AFP)
A guest house built in the shape of an aeroplane in the town of Qaffin, occupied West Bank. (AFP)
Updated 7 sec ago
AFP
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West Bank ‘plane chalet’ helps aviation dreams scale newer heights

A guest house built in the shape of an aeroplane in the town of Qaffin, occupied West Bank. (AFP)
  • Red and white concrete ‘plane’ has become a local landmark
  • ‘So many kids want to come,’ said 27-year-old Harsha, who built the guest house in the hills of the northern West Bank. However, the price tag, between $300 and $600 per night, is out of reach for most Palestinians, particularly as unemployment soars due
Updated 7 sec ago
AFP

QAFFIN, West Bank: A guest house in the shape of a plane would stand out anywhere in the world, but in the occupied West Bank, devoid of airports, Minwer Harsha’s creation helps aviation dreams take flight.

“So many kids want to come,” said 27-year-old Harsha, who built the guest house in the hills of the northern West Bank, within view of the separation barrier between Israel and the Palestinian territory.
“And that’s the goal: Since we don’t have planes or airports, people come here instead,” he said.
Harsha said he designed the concrete plane himself, with a master bedroom in the cockpit and a children’s bedroom in the tail.
The price tag, between 1,000 and 2,000 shekels (about $300-$600) per night, is out of reach for most Palestinians, particularly as unemployment soars due to the war in Gaza.
He has nonetheless been pleased with the reactions to his chalet, having initially faced skepticism.
“I wanted to bring something unique, something new to the area and to Palestine,” Harsha said of the unit, which opened a month ago.
Since its launch, his red and white concrete plane has become a local landmark, featuring in local media and on social networks.
Harsha said he originally wanted to place a Palestinian flag on his chalet and call it the “Palestinian Queen,” but avoided such signs out of caution.
The guest house is located in the West Bank’s Area C, which covers more than 60 percent of the territory and is under full Israeli control.
“I just made it look like a plane. I avoided politics entirely because of the hardships our people are going through,” he said.
“We’re a people who are constantly losing things — our land, our rights, our lives.”
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and frequently demolishes homes it says are built without permission in the mostly rural Area C.
Though no airport currently services the Palestinian territories, both the West Bank and Gaza once had their own terminals, in East Jerusalem and the southern Gaza city of Rafah, respectively.
Both were closed during the Second Intifada, the Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s, and what remains of East Jerusalem’s airport is now isolated from the rest of the West Bank by Israel’s separation barrier.
Despite difficulties and threats of demolition, Harsha believes that Palestinians can find freedom and fulfilment in projects like his.
“I encourage everyone who has land to work on it and invest in it — with creativity and ambition,” he said, flanked by his two brothers who helped him build the unit.
Harsha himself has more plans for his land.
“After this airplane, we’ll build a ship next year,” he said.
“It will be something unique and beautiful,” he said, pointing out that while many West Bank Palestinians have seen planes flying overhead, a large number of people from the landlocked territory have never seen a real ship at all.

 

Topics: War on Gaza Palestine Gaza USA West Bank

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Sudan PM vows to rebuild Khartoum on first visit to war-torn capital

Sudan PM vows to rebuild Khartoum on first visit to war-torn capital
Updated 47 min 23 sec ago
AFP
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Sudan PM vows to rebuild Khartoum on first visit to war-torn capital

Sudan PM vows to rebuild Khartoum on first visit to war-torn capital
  • “Khartoum will return as a proud national capital,” Idris said
  • Idris on Saturday visited the army headquarters and the city’s airport, two national symbols
Updated 47 min 23 sec ago
AFP

KHARTOUM: Sudan’s Prime Minister Kamil Idris on Saturday pledged to rebuild Khartoum on his first visit to the capital, ravaged by more than two years of war, since assuming office in May.

Touring the city’s destroyed airport, bridges and water stations, the new premier outlined mass repair projects in anticipation of the return of at least some of the millions who have fled the violence.

“Khartoum will return as a proud national capital,” Idris said, according to Sudan’s state news agency.

The war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began in the heart of the capital in April 2023, quickly tearing the city apart.

Tens of thousands are estimated to have been killed in the once-bustling capital which 3.5 million people have fled, according to the United Nations.

According to Khartoum state’s media office, Idris on Saturday visited the army headquarters and the city’s airport, two national symbols whose recapture along with the presidential palace earlier this year cemented the army’s victory in the capital.

But reconstruction is expected to be a herculean feat, with the government putting the cost at $700 billion nationwide, around half of which in Khartoum alone.

The army-aligned government, which moved to Port Sudan on the Red Sea early in the war and still operates from there, has begun to plan the return of ministries to Khartoum even as fighting rages on in other parts of the country.

Authorities have begun operations in the capital to properly bury corpses, clear thousands of unexploded ordnances and resume bureaucratic services.

On a visit to Sudan’s largest oil refinery, the Al-Jaili plant just north of Khartoum, Idris promised that “national institutions will come back even better than they were before.”

The refinery — now a blackened husk — was recaptured in January, but the facility which once processed 100,000 barrels a day will take years and at least $1.3 billion to rebuild, officials told AFP.

Idris is a career diplomat and former UN official who was appointed in May by army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, Sudan’s de facto leader, to form an administration dubbed a “government of hope.”

The war has created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises, with nearly 25 million
people suffering dire food insecurity and over 10 million internally displaced across the country.

A further four million people have fled across borders.

In Sudan’s southern Kordofan and western Darfur regions, the fighting shows no signs of abating, with the paramilitaries accused of killing hundreds in recent days in attempts to capture territory.

Topics: Sudan Unrest Kamil Idris Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Khartoum

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Druze Sheikh Akl in Lebanon calls for Arab and Turkish sponsorship to reassure Syrian people

Druze Sheikh Akl in Lebanon calls for Arab and Turkish sponsorship to reassure Syrian people
Updated 55 min 57 sec ago
NAJIA HOUSSARI
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Druze Sheikh Akl in Lebanon calls for Arab and Turkish sponsorship to reassure Syrian people

Druze Sheikh Akl in Lebanon calls for Arab and Turkish sponsorship to reassure Syrian people
  • Former prime ministers emphasize with Jumblatt the role of the Syrian state in promoting national unity
Updated 55 min 57 sec ago
NAJIA HOUSSARI

BEIRUT: Former Lebanese prime ministers Najib Mikati, Fouad Siniora, and Tammam Salam announced during their meeting on Saturday with former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt at his home in Beirut their support for the steps and positions taken by the Syrian state to “heal the national rift in Syria,” against the backdrop of escalating events in Sweida between the Druze and the Bedouins.

The Sunni former prime ministers emphasized “the need to prioritize dialogue, openness, and tolerance among our Syrian brothers in order to nip sedition in the bud, and to do everything possible to strengthen internal national unity among all Syrian citizens on the basis of citizenship and justice for all.”

The attendees praised Jumblatt’s stance on the ongoing events. They denounced “Israel’s interference and aggression against Syria, stressing that this interference in Syria’s internal affairs is unacceptable and condemned. It aims to fragment and divide the Syrian people, and to incite and turn certain forces and parties against each other, under the pretext of protecting our true Arab Druze brothers from the Bani Ma’rouf in Jabal Al-Arab, who believe that what Israel is doing is the implementation of a malicious, exposed, and unacceptable plan to perpetuate its occupation of the Syrian Golan.”

The statement issued by the attendees called for “the need to initiate an immediate ceasefire and affirm full commitment by all parties to it, to free the kidnapped, lift the siege, and restore public services. They also called for efforts to establish communication, understanding, and tolerance among all Syrian citizens to prevent strife and stop the bloodshed. This should then lead to constructive dialogue among them, based on the unity of the Syrian identity, the principles of citizenship, the unity of the Syrian homeland, the sovereignty of a single, capable, and just state, and the integrity of all Syrian territory.”

The attendees stressed “the necessity of an impartial investigation committee to hold accountable those who instigated the sedition and those who carried out and perpetrated the killings and attacks against peaceful civilians, regardless of their affiliation.”

Lebanese Army Commander General Rodolphe Heikal visited the Sheikh of the Druze community, Sheikh Sami Abi Al-Muna. (Supplied)

They also denounced “attempts to exploit the dangerous events in Syria to spread tension and sedition to Lebanon,” affirming that the Lebanese Army and state security agencies will stand guard against these malicious and despicable attempts.

Lebanese Army Commander General Rodolphe Heikal visited the Sheikh of the Druze community, Sheikh Sami Abi Al-Muna, on Saturday evening, accompanied by Chief of Staff Major General Hassan Odeh. Discussions focused on “ways to contain the repercussions of the events in Syria on the Lebanese scene and preserve internal security stability,” according to a statement issued by the attendees.

Abi Al-Muna called on everyone in Sweida “to unite under the umbrella of the state.” He said: “However, this places the responsibility on the Syrian state to reassure its people and instill confidence among the people, so that citizens will surrender their weapons and commands to it. This is a difficult task, but not impossible, and Arab and Turkish sponsorship is essential.”

Arab tribes in Lebanon have also taken action to prevent any repercussions from the events in Sweida. A delegation from the Arab Zreikat tribes visited Sheikh Abi Al-Muna and affirmed their “solidarity with the Druze community and their condemnation of the painful events in Sweida Governorate.”

Sheikh Abi Al-Muna described what is happening in Jabal Al-Arab as “something alien to our customs and traditions, and we are trying to calm our youth so that things do not slide into an absurd confrontation in Lebanon and undermine coexistence.”
Sheikh Kamel Al-Daher, on behalf of the tribal delegation, stressed the need to “quell the strife in the face of those who throw words and money at it, and for the Syrian state, headed by Sharaa, to stop the bloodshed, address the issue, and establish reconciliation, as is our tradition.”

Representatives of the Progressive Socialist Party, the largest party under which most of Lebanon’s Druze are united, met this morning with representatives of the Arab tribes in the Bekaa and agreed that “Lebanon should not be a crossing point for any tensions.”

Topics: Fall of Assad Syria Lebanon Druze

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US envoy praises Jordan’s role in ceasefire efforts in Syria’s Sweida region after meeting FM

US envoy praises Jordan’s role in ceasefire efforts in Syria’s Sweida region after meeting FM
Updated 19 July 2025
Arab News
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US envoy praises Jordan’s role in ceasefire efforts in Syria’s Sweida region after meeting FM

US envoy praises Jordan’s role in ceasefire efforts in Syria’s Sweida region after meeting FM
  • Barrack met with Jordan’s Ayman Safadi and Syrian FM Al-Shaibani
Updated 19 July 2025
Arab News

AMMAN: Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi met on Saturday with US ambassador to Turkiye and Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack and his Syrian counterpart Asaad Al-Shaibani to discuss recent developments in Syria, the Jordan News Agency reported.

Their discussions had a particular focus on consolidating the fragile ceasefire in the southern Sweida governorate, JNA added.

The talks also addressed the importance of enforcing the ceasefire to safeguard Syria’s unity, protect civilians and uphold the rule of law, amid concerns over instability and violence in the region.

Safadi reiterated Jordan’s full support for Syria’s security, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and stressed that peace in Syria remained a cornerstone of broader regional stability.

He also expressed appreciation for Washington’s diplomatic role, saying: “The United States plays a key role in bringing about a ceasefire and in protecting Syria’s security and stability and the safety of its people.”

Safadi underscored the strength of the partnership and cooperation between Amman and Washington on Syria-related issues.

The foreign minister went on to condemn repeated Israeli strikes on Syrian territory, denouncing them as “a blatant violation of international law and a breach of Syria’s sovereignty, which threatens its security, stability, unity, and the safety of its people.”

For his part, Barrack praised Jordan’s leadership in regional affairs.

“Grateful for the partnership of FM Ayman Safadi today as we operationalize the ceasefire in Suwayda,” he wrote on X following the meeting.

“The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan plays a critical leadership role in the region, and we are making positive steps to support a unified, stable Syria at peace with its neighbors, including our Jordanian allies,” he added.

The meeting comes amid a renewed diplomatic push to de-escalate tensions in Syria’s south, where tribal, political and external dynamics continue to shape the fragile post-Assad regime landscape.

Topics: Fall of Assad Syria sweida Druze Jordan US Tom Barrack

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US envoy urges accountability for church attack in West Bank village

US envoy urges accountability for church attack in West Bank village
Updated 19 July 2025
AFP
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US envoy urges accountability for church attack in West Bank village

US envoy urges accountability for church attack in West Bank village
  • Huckabee said his trip to Taybeh aimed to “express solidarity with the people who just want to live their lives in peace”
  • “It’s unacceptable to commit an act of sacrilege by desecrating a place that is supposed to be a place of worship“
Updated 19 July 2025
AFP

TAYBEH, Palestinian Territories: The US ambassador to Israel on Saturday visited a Christian village in the occupied West Bank and urged accountability for an attack on an ancient church, which residents have blamed on Israeli settlers.

In early July, the village of Taybeh was hit by an arson attack in the area of the ruins of the Byzantine-era Church of Saint George, which dates back to the fifth century.

Residents blamed settlers for the assault, which comes as violence soars in the West Bank and last week saw an American-Palestinian man killed near Ramallah.

Ambassador Mike Huckabee, an evangelical Christian and staunch advocate for Israel, said his trip to Taybeh aimed to “express solidarity with the people who just want to live their lives in peace, to be able to go to their own land, to be able to go to their place of worship.”

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a mosque, a church, a synagogue,” he told journalists.

“It’s unacceptable to commit an act of sacrilege by desecrating a place that is supposed to be a place of worship.”

“We will certainly insist that those who carry out acts of terror and violence in Taybeh or anywhere be found, be prosecuted, not just reprimanded. That’s not enough,” he said.

“People need to pay a price for doing something that destroys that which belongs not just to other people, but that which belongs to God.”

In the villages and communities around Taybeh, Palestinian authorities reported that settlers had killed three people and damaged or destroyed multiple water sources in the past two weeks alone.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and violence has surged in the territory since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 triggered the Gaza war.

Since then, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 957 Palestinians, including many militants, in the West Bank, according to health ministry figures.

Over the same period, at least 36 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to official figures.

Huckabee, who has for years been an outspoken supporter of Jewish settlement in the Palestinian territories, on Tuesday demanded an aggressive investigation and consequences after settlers beat to death a Palestinian-American in the West Bank.

It was a sign of rare public pressure against US ally Israel by President Donald Trump’s administration.

Topics: West Bank Israel Mike Huckabee

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