Middle East is being reshaped and what will emerge is unclear, UN chief tells Security Council

Middle East is being reshaped and what will emerge is unclear, UN chief tells Security Council
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses members of the Security Council about the Middle East situation, including the Palestinian Question at UN Headquarters in New York City, US, January 20, 2025. (Reuters)
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Updated 20 January 2025
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Middle East is being reshaped and what will emerge is unclear, UN chief tells Security Council

Middle East is being reshaped and what will emerge is unclear, UN chief tells Security Council
  • Antonio Guterres presents detailed vision for immediate action needed in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria to build on ceasefires, relieve suffering and embrace political processes
  • He urges Israel to end its presence in Lebanon, warns any attempt to annex West Bank would violate international law, and calls for inexorable path toward a 2-state solution

NEW YORK CITY: The Middle East is undergoing a “profound transformation” marked by both uncertainty and potential, the UN secretary-general told a high-level meeting of the Security Council on Monday. 

Antonio Guterres praised Egypt, Qatar and the US for their efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage-release agreement between Hamas and Israel. The deal reached last week came into effect on Sunday, when the first phase of hostage releases by both sides took place and the number of trucks entering Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid to the starving population began to ramp up.

Guterres urged all parties to honor their commitments, fully implement the agreement, and ensure it leads to the release of all hostages and a permanent ceasefire in the territory.

He called for the wider effects of the deal to include an assurance that all UN agencies are able to perform their duties “without hindrance,” including the Relief and Works Agency, the largest aid agency for Palestinians, which is under threat from an imminent Knesset ban on operating in Israel.

“The UN must have rapid, safe and unimpeded access through all available channels and crossings to deliver food, water, medicine, fuel, shelter, and materials to repair infrastructure across Gaza, including the north,” said Guterres.

The UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, said that after 15 months of “relentless war, the humanitarian needs in Gaza are staggering and there is no time to lose.”

UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Monday that the entire population of Gaza, more than 2 million people, depends on aid basics to survive.

“Children account for about half of the Strip’s population, with many surviving on just one meal a day,” he added. “Our partners working on children’s welfare say the provision of food, water and medical supplies are being prioritized.”

The World Health Organization has a 60-day plan to increase bed capacity at some hospitals in northern and southern Gaza, Haq said, and to send in additional health workers from abroad to staff them. He noted that about 30,000 people in the territory sustained life-changing injuries during the conflict and need specialized care.

Enabling a surge in the amount of desperately needed relief supplies entering the territory requires that visas and permits for humanitarian workers be granted quickly, and that steps are taken to ensure safe conditions and conducive operating environments are in place, Guterres told members of the Security Council.

This includes the provision of necessary technical and protective gear, coordination between all parties and UN operatives on the ground, and the restoration of public order and safety to prevent the looting of humanitarian aid, he added. Commercial supplies must also be allowed to enter Gaza to help meet the “overwhelming needs of the population.”

Guterres also called for medical evacuations for those who need to travel for treatment, and urged UN member states to take in patients from Gaza.

In addition, people returning to homes they were forced to abandon during the war must be able to do so safely, he said.

“Explosive ordnance must be removed. The recovery of human remains must be conducted with dignity and respect,” Guterres added, and the international media must be allowed into Gaza to report “on this crucial story.”

He highlighted the need for intensifying collective efforts to establish effective governance and security arrangements in Gaza that will ultimately enable the enclave and the West Bank to reunify, as he underscored the Palestinian Authority’s desire to assume its role there.

In the West Bank itself, Guterres said the situation was growing worse, with clashes, airstrikes, the relentless expansion of illegal settlements, and demolitions of Palestinian properties. This is causing deep concern about an “existential threat” to the integrity and continuity of the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank, he added.

“Israeli administrative changes over the past two years have streamlined and accelerated the settlement-approval process,” Guterres said.

“As a result, control over many aspects of planning and daily life in Area C of the West Bank has been transferred to Israeli civilian authorities.”

Israeli officials now openly speak about their desire to annex the West Bank in the near future, but Guterres warned that “any such annexation would constitute a most serious violation of international law.”

Greater stability in the Middle East requires “irreversible action” that moves toward a two-state solution “with Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace and security, in line with international law, relevant UN resolutions and previous agreements, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states,” he said.

Guterres had just returned from a solidarity visit to Lebanon, where he said a “new dawn is rising” for the country, with hopes for the establishment of a state that will be able to represent all Lebanese people and guarantee their security.

While there he visited southern Lebanon, where peacekeepers from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon are stationed on the demarcation line between the country and Israel. He saluted the peacekeepers for their efforts and thanked the countries that contribute troops.

Although the ceasefire with Israel there is fragile, “it is holding,” said Guterres, and the UN peacekeepers are making “vital efforts to nurture this process” in cooperation with the Lebanese army.

He stressed that the Israeli presence in southern Lebanon needs to end, as stipulated in the recent ceasefire agreement, and that the Lebanese Armed Forces must be present in all parts of the country.

“Resolution 1701 is clear: The area between the Blue Line and the Litani River must be free of all armed personnel, assets and weapons, other than those of the government of Lebanon and UNIFIL,” he said, referring to a resolution adopted by the Security Council in 2006 with the aim of resolving the conflict that year between Israel and Hezbollah.

Regarding the situation in neighboring Syria, Guterres said a country that has been “a crossroads of civilizations” now stands at “a crossroads of history.”

He added: “Following the fall of the brutal previous regime, and years of bloodshed, there is a possibility of promise for the people of Syria.”

However, he warned that “we cannot let the flame of hope turn into an inferno of chaos,” as he called for “much more significant work in addressing sanctions and designations,” given the country’s “urgent economic needs.”

He also underscored the fact that an inclusive political transition would be “the most effective means to ensure that Syria receives more support.”


Hamas ready for talks with Trump administration, Hamas official tells RIA

Mousa Abu Marzouk, senior Hamas Politburo member. (Wikipedia)
Mousa Abu Marzouk, senior Hamas Politburo member. (Wikipedia)
Updated 05 February 2025
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Hamas ready for talks with Trump administration, Hamas official tells RIA

Mousa Abu Marzouk, senior Hamas Politburo member. (Wikipedia)
  • Trump vowed on Tuesday that the US would take over the war-shattered Gaza Strip after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere and develop it economically, a move that would shatter decades of US policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

GAZA CITY: The Palestinian Hamas movement is ready to establish contact and hold talks with the administration of US President Donald Trump, Russia’s RIA state news agency cited a senior Hamas official as saying in remarks published early on Wednesday.
“We are ready for contact and talks with the Trump administration,” RIA cited senior Hamas Politburo member Mousa Abu Marzouk as saying.
“In the past, we did not object to contacts with the administration of (former US President Joe) Biden, Trump or any other US administration, and we are open to talks with all international parties.”
It was not clear when RIA interviewed Marzouk, who was visiting Moscow on Monday for talks with the Russian foreign ministry.
Trump vowed on Tuesday that the US would take over the war-shattered Gaza Strip after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere and develop it economically, a move that would shatter decades of US policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Marzouk told RIA that talks with the US have become a kind of necessity for Hamas, considering that Washington is a key player in the Middle East.
“That is why we welcomed the talks with the Americans and have no objection to this issue,” he added.

 


Iraq’s top court suspends new legislation that activists say undermines women’s rights

Iraq’s top court suspends new legislation that activists say undermines women’s rights
Updated 05 February 2025
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Iraq’s top court suspends new legislation that activists say undermines women’s rights

Iraq’s top court suspends new legislation that activists say undermines women’s rights
  • Women’s rights advocates argue that the changes undermine previous reforms that created a unified family law and established safeguards for women
  • Proponents of the amendments, which were advocated by primarily conservative Shiite lawmakers, defend them as a means to align the law with Islamic principles and reduce Western influence on Iraqi culture

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s top court suspended implementation Tuesday of three controversial bills passed last month by the country’s parliament, including a measure that activists said undermines women’s rights.
A number of members of parliament filed a complaint alleging that the voting process was illegal because all three bills — each supported by different blocs — were voted on last month together rather than each one being voted on separately. The Federal Supreme Court issued an order, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, to suspend their implementation until the case is adjudicated.
The measures include an amendment to the country’s personal status law to give Islamic courts increased authority over family matters, including marriage, divorce and inheritance.
Women’s rights advocates argue that the changes undermine previous reforms that created a unified family law and established safeguards for women. Proponents of the amendments, which were advocated by primarily conservative Shiite lawmakers, defend them as a means to align the law with Islamic principles and reduce Western influence on Iraqi culture.
Earlier versions of the measure were seen as potentially opening the door to child marriage since some interpretations of Islamic law allow the marriage of girls in their early teens — or as young as 9. The final version passed by the parliament states that both parties must be “adults,” without specifying the age of adulthood.
The second bill was for a general amnesty law seen as benefiting Sunni detainees. Some fear it could allow the release of people involved in public corruption and embezzlement as well as militants who committed war crimes.
The third bill aimed to return lands confiscated from the Kurds under the rule of Saddam Hussein. It is opposed by some Arab groups, saying it could lead to the displacement of Arab residents.

 


Leaders ‘should respect’ wishes of Palestinians to stay in Gaza: Palestinian UN envoy

Leaders ‘should respect’ wishes of Palestinians to stay in Gaza: Palestinian UN envoy
Updated 05 February 2025
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Leaders ‘should respect’ wishes of Palestinians to stay in Gaza: Palestinian UN envoy

Leaders ‘should respect’ wishes of Palestinians to stay in Gaza: Palestinian UN envoy
  • For those who want to send them to a happy, nice place, let them go back to their original homes inside Israel, there are nice places there, and they will be happy to return to these places”

UNITED NATIONS, United States: World leaders and people should respect Palestinians’ desire to remain in Gaza, the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations said Tuesday, after US President Donald Trump said he believed people from the territory should be resettled elsewhere “permanently.”
“Our homeland is our homeland, if part of it is destroyed, the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian people selected the choice to return to it,” said Riyad Mansour. “And I think that leaders and people should respect the wishes of the Palestinian people.”
On Tuesday, Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, with the US leader saying he believed Palestinians should leave Gaza after an Israeli offensive that has devastated the territory and left most of it reduced to rubble.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Trump said he wanted a solution that saw “a beautiful area to resettle people permanently in nice homes where they can be happy.”
At the United Nations, Mansour did not name Trump but appeared to reject the US president’s proposal.
“Our country and our home is” the Gaza Strip, “it’s part of Palestine,” he said. “We have no home. For those who want to send them to a happy, nice place, let them go back to their original homes inside Israel, there are nice places there, and they will be happy to return to these places.”
The war in Gaza erupted after Palestinian armed group Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory response has killed at least 47,518 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures as reliable.
The UN says more than 1.9 million people — or 90 percent of Gaza’s population — have been displaced by Israel’s offensive, with the bombing campaign having leveled most structures in the territory, including schools, hospitals and basic civil infrastructure.
The start of a ceasefire deal, which included the release of hostages held by Hamas and prisoners held by Israel, on January 19 saw Palestinians rejoice, with many returning to homes that no longer stood.
“In two days, in a span of a few hours, 400,000 Palestinians walking returned to the northern part of the Gaza Strip,” said UN envoy Mansour.
“I think that we should be respecting the selections and the wishes of the Palestinian people, and the Palestinian people at the end will make the determination, their determination.”
 

 


Netanyahu hails Trump as ‘greatest friend Israel has ever had’

Netanyahu hails Trump as ‘greatest friend Israel has ever had’
Updated 05 February 2025
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Netanyahu hails Trump as ‘greatest friend Israel has ever had’

Netanyahu hails Trump as ‘greatest friend Israel has ever had’
  • The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations: “Our homeland is our homeland, if part of it is destroyed, the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian people selected the choice to return to it”

WASHINGTON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Donald Trump as the “greatest friend Israel has ever had,” following a meeting between the two leaders at the White House.
“I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again: you are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House,” Netanyahu told reporters after the meeting in Washington. “And that’s why the people of Israel have such enormous respect for you.”
 

 


Trump won’t rule out deploying US troops to support rebuilding Gaza, sees ‘long-term’ US ownership

Trump won’t rule out deploying US troops to support rebuilding Gaza, sees ‘long-term’ US ownership
Updated 05 February 2025
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Trump won’t rule out deploying US troops to support rebuilding Gaza, sees ‘long-term’ US ownership

Trump won’t rule out deploying US troops to support rebuilding Gaza, sees ‘long-term’ US ownership

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the war-torn territory and proposed the US take “ownership” in redeveloping the area.
Trump’s brazen proposal appears certain to roil the next stage of talks meant to extend the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and secure the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
The provocative comments came as talks are ramping up this week with the promise of surging humanitarian aid and reconstruction supplies to help the people of Gaza recover after more than 15 months of devastating conflict. Now Trump wants to push roughly 1.8 million people to leave the land they have called home and claim it for the US, perhaps with American troops.
Trump outlined his thinking as he held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, where the two leaders also discussed the fragile ceasefire and hostage deal in the Israeli-Hamas conflict and shared concerns about Iran.
“I don’t think people should be going back,” Trump said. “You can’t live in Gaza right now. I think we need another location. I think it should be a location that’s going to make people happy.”
Trump said the US would take ownership of the Gaza Strip and redevelop it after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere and turn the territory into “the Riviera of the Middle East” in which the “world’s people”— including Palestinians — would live. He offered no detail about what authority the US would use to take the land and develop it.
“We’ll make sure that it’s done world class,” Trump said. “It’ll be wonderful for the people — Palestinians, Palestinians mostly, we’re talking about.”
Egypt, Jordan and other US allies in the Mideast have cautioned Trump that relocating Palestinians from Gaza would threaten Mideast stability, risk expanding the conflict and undermine a decades-long push by the US and allies for a two-state solution.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry issued a sharply worded reaction to Trump, noting their long call for an independent Palestinian state was a “firm, steadfast and unwavering position.” Saudi Arabia has been in negotiations with the US over a deal to diplomatically recognize Israel in exchange for a security pact and other terms.
“The duty of the international community today is to work to alleviate the severe human suffering endured by the Palestinian people, who will remain committed to their land and will not budge from it,” the Saudi statement said.
Still, Trump insists the Palestinians “have no alternative” but to leave the “big pile of rubble” that is Gaza. He spoke out as his top aides stressed that a three-to-five-year timeline for reconstruction of the war-torn territory, as laid out in a temporary truce agreement, is not viable.
Last week, both Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah II dismissed Trump’s calls to resettle Gazans.
But Trump said he believes Egypt and Jordan — as well as other countries, which he did not name — will ultimately agree to take in Palestinians.
“You look over the decades, it’s all death in Gaza,” Trump said. “This has been happening for years. It’s all death. If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza.”
Trump also said he isn’t ruling out deploying US troops to support reconstruction of Gaza. He envisions “long-term” US ownership of a redevelopment of the territory.
“We’ll do what is necessary,” Trump said about the possibility of deploying American troops to fill any security vacuum.
The president’s proposal was greeted with alarm by Democrats and a measure of skepticism by his Republican allies.
“He’s completely lost it,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut “He wants a US invasion of Gaza, which would cost thousands of American lives and set the Middle East on fire for 20 years? It’s sick.”
“We’ll see what our Arab friends say about that,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and a Trump ally. “And I think most South Carolinians are probably not excited about sending Americans to take over Gaza. I think that might be problematic, but I’ll keep an open mind.”
The White House’s focus on the future of Gaza comes as the nascent truce between Israel and Hamas hangs in the balance.
Netanyahu is facing competing pressure from his right-wing coalition to end a temporary truce against Hamas militants in Gaza and from war-weary Israelis who want the remaining hostages home and for the 15-month conflict to end.
Trump may be betting he can persuade Egypt and Jordan to come around to accept displaced Palestinians because of the significant aid that the US provides Cairo and Amman. Hard-line right-wing members of Netanyahu’s government have embraced the call to move displaced Palestinians out of Gaza.
“To me, it is unfair to explain to Palestinians that they might be back in five years,” Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, told reporters. “That’s just preposterous.”
Trump also signaled that he may be reconsidering an independent Palestinian state as part of a broader two-state solution to the decades-long Israel-Palestinian conflict.
“Well, a lot of plans change with time,” he told reporters when asked if he was still committed to a plan like the one he laid out in 2020 that called for a Palestinian state. “A lot of death has occurred since I left and now came back.”
Netanyahu’s arrival in Washington for the first foreign leader visit of Trump’s second term coincides with the prime minister’s popular support sagging.
The prime minister is in the middle of weekslong testimony in an ongoing corruption trial that centers on allegations he exchanged favors with media moguls and wealthy associates. He has decried the accusations and said he is the victim of a “witch hunt.”
Being seen with Trump, who is popular in Israel, could help distract the public from the trial and boost Netanyahu’s standing.
“We have the right leader of Israel who’s done a great job,” Trump said of Netanyahu.
Netanyahu praised Trump’s leadership in getting the hostage and ceasefire deal. The prime minister also spoke glowingly of Trump thinking outside the box.
“You say things others refuse to say. And after the jaws drop, people scratch their heads and they say, ‘You know he’s right.’“
It’s Netanyahu’s first travel outside Israel since the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for him, his former defense minister and Hamas’ slain military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza. The US does not recognize the ICC’s authority over its citizens or territory.
Netanyahu met with White House national security adviser Mike Waltz and Witkoff on Monday to begin the daunting work of brokering the next phase of a ceasefire agreement.
The Israeli leader said he would send a delegation to Qatar to continue indirect talks with Hamas that are being mediated by the Gulf Arab country, the first confirmation that those negotiations would continue. Netanyahu also said he would convene his security Cabinet to discuss Israel’s demands for the next phase of the ceasefire when he returns to Israel at the end of the week.
Witkoff, meanwhile, said he plans to meet with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Florida on Thursday to discuss the next phase in the ceasefire. Qatar and Egypt have served as key intermediaries with Hamas throughout the conflict.
Netanyahu is under intense pressure from hard-right members of his governing coalition to abandon the ceasefire and resume fighting in Gaza to eliminate Hamas. Bezalel Smotrich, one of Netanyahu’s key partners, vows to topple the government if the war isn’t relaunched, a step that could lead to early elections.
Hamas, which has reasserted control over Gaza since the ceasefire began last month, has said it will not release hostages in the second phase without an end to the war and Israeli forces’ full withdrawal. Netanyahu, meanwhile, maintains that Israel is committed to victory over Hamas and the return of all hostages captured in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war.