The delegation included representatives from the EU, as well as such countries as Germany, Italy, France and Spain..reports Asian Lite News
A group of diplomats from European countries paid a visit to the West Bank village Beita as conflicts and violence between local Palestinians and Israeli forces continued in the area.
“The European Union (EU) and like-minded countries visited Beita village in response to rising levels of settlers’ violence and the building of an illegal Israeli outpost on top of Mount Sabih, resulting in regular clashes and casualties,” said an official statement.
The delegation included representatives from the EU, as well as such countries as Germany, Italy, France and Spain, Xinhua news agency reported citing the statement as saying.
It added that the diplomats held talks with local residents about the region’s development during the trip.
The Israeli outpost near Beita, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, has witnessed regular clashes between the Palestinians, Israeli settlers and Israeli soldiers, leaving at least six Palestinians dead and hundreds of others wounded by Israeli forces’ attacks since May.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the total number of Israeli settlers’ attacks across the West Bank in 2021 has increased by 46 per cent compared to the same period in 2020.
Hezbollah fired rockets
In a major escalation, Lebanon’s Hezbollah fired a rockets into Israel which resulted in retaliatory shelling on Friday.
According to media report, a flare-up along the border this week has seen Israel carry out its first air strikes on Lebanese territory in seven years and Hezbollah claim a direct rocket attack on Israeli territory for the first time since 2019.
But following Friday’s exchange Israel said it did “not wish to escalate to a full war” after the United Nations peacekeeping force in the border region, UNIFIL, warned of “a very dangerous situation,” and called on parties to “cease fire and maintain calm”, according to an AFP report.
According to Hezbollah, dozens of rockets were fired at open ground near Israeli positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms border district in response to Israeli air strikes on south Lebanon Thursday.
The statement referred to the killing of a 41-year-old Palestinian near the village of Beita in northern West Bank on Tuesday…reports Asian Lite News
Palestine has condemned the killing of two people, including a child, by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
“It condemns the endless Israeli crimes against the Palestinians in the West Bank without posing any danger to the soldiers,” Xinhua news agency quoted the statement issued on Thursday as saying.
The statement referred to the killing of a 41-year-old Palestinian near the village of Beita in northern West Bank on Tuesday, and the killing of an 11-year-old boy near the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday.
The statement called on the UN Security Council to take necessary measures to compel Israel to comply with international law and international humanitarian law immediately, as well as to provide international protection for the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza.
It also called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to “immediately launch its investigations into the violations and crimes of the (Israeli) occupation against the Palestinian people”.
On Monday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye said in a statement that in recent days, the attacks of the Israeli soldiers and settlers on the Palestinians in the West Bank have increased.
Hayek replaces Eitan Na’eh, who had been the acting envoy….reports Asian Lite News
Israel has appointed its first ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) following the signing of a normalisation deal last year, the Foreign Ministry here said.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement issued on Sunday that he has chosen Amir Hayek, an economist and former director of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Employment, to take the job, reports Xinhua news agency.
“Haik has rich experience and knowledge in the fields of economics and tourism,” Lapid said, adding that he is “the right man to establish the bridge between Israel and the UAE”.
Hayek replaces Eitan Na’eh, who had been the acting envoy.
The appointment came after Israel opened its embassy in Abu Dhabi in June and the UAE opened its embassy in Tel Aviv in July.
Mohamed Al Khaja, UAE Ambassador to Israel, officially inaugurated the UAE Embassy in Tel Aviv in the presence of Isaac Herzog, President of the State of Israel, and Mariam Almheiri, Minister of State for Food and Water Security.
The Consulate General of Israel in Dubai and Israeli Embassy in Abu Dhabi were inaugurated by Yair Lapid, Foreign Minister of Israel, in the first-ever visit by an Israeli minister to the UAE.
Israel and the UAE signed the US-brokered normalisation deal in September 2020.
The report did not provide more details about the conversation on Thursday….reports Asian Lite News
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held a phone conversation with Israeli Minister of Public Security Omer Barlev to discuss peace and security issues in the region, an official media report said.
The report did not provide more details about the conversation on Thursday.
Barlev later tweeted that he hopes to open lines of communication with Palestinian counterparts in the interest of peace and security for the two peoples, reports Xinhua news agency.
“That friendly conversation is the first of its kind between an Israeli internal security minister and the president of the Palestinian Authority,” the Minister said.
On Monday, Palestine’s official WAFA news reported that Abbas received phone calls from his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog and Defence Minister Benny Gantz.
Herzog congratulated Abbas on the occasion of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Gantz wrote on Twitter that he spoke with Abbas to express “well wishes on the occasion of Eid al-Adha” and “discussed the need to advance steps of trust-building between us”.
The Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have stalled since April 2014 due to their deeply-rooted disputes over the settlements, security and borders.
Palestine had welcomed a decision by the UN Human Rights Council to form an independent international commission to investigate Israeli violations.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Thursday that the Council’s decision “reflects the international community’s persistence to implement international law and protect Palestinian human rights.”
“Forming the commission came in implementation of Palestine’s decision in the Council during its special session number 30,” the statement said.
The Ministry added that the commission will look into Israeli violations of humanitarian and international human rights law in the Palestinian territories since April 13.
On Thursday, Nazhat Shameem Khan, president of the Human Rights Council, announced the appointment of Navi Pillay, Miloon Kothari and Chris Sidoti as the three members of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Pillay, a South African, who was the former chief of the Council, will serve as the chair of the new three-person commission, which was also tasked with investigating “all underlying root cause of recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict”, Khan added.
In response, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said the move “completely ignores the 4,300 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israeli citizens in May”.
In April, tensions escalated in East Jerusalem and then spread to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in May following an Israeli court’s verdict to evict families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in the city.
On May 10, Israel waged a large-scale aerial offensive on the Gaza Strip after militants led by the Islamic Hamas movement, launched a barrage of rockets at Israel.
The offensive ended after 11 days of fighting when Egypt brokered a ceasefire deal between the two sides.
More than 250 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed, with widespread destruction of buildings and infrastructure in Gaza.
Abbas stressed the importance of accelerating the process of reconstruction in the Gaza Strip and maintaining support for the Palestinians….report Asian Lite News
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau in the West Bank city of Ramallah, urging the international community to exert pressure on Israel to stop assaults on the Palestinians.
During the meeting on Monday, Abbas said there has to be a political horizon that gives hope to the Palestinian people to end the Israeli occupation and establish an independent Palestinian state, Xinhua news agency reported.
Abbas stressed the importance of accelerating the process of reconstruction in the Gaza Strip and maintaining support for the Palestinians.
The President briefed Garneau on the efforts made by all concerned parties to stabilise the ceasefire with Israel in all Palestinian territories and resume the stalled peace process under the international resolutions.
According to local media, Abbas expressed the Palestinian people’s appreciation of Canada’s support to the Palestinian refugees and the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
Saying the state of Palestine is committed to democracy and the jurisdiction of law, Abbas added that as soon as Israel agrees on the holding of the Palestinian elections in East Jerusalem, he will call for holding them in Palestine.
For his part, Garneau said Canada opposes Israel’s decision to evict Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem and rejects the expansion of Israeli settlement which violates international law.
He reassured Abbas that Canada is committed to achieving peace based on the principle of the two-state solution and restore stability in the region.
Jordan king holds talks with Abbas ahead of Biden summit.Pic credits @RHCJO
The Jordan king will be the first Arab leader to meet at the White House with President Joe Biden and his team….reports Asian Lite News
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held talks with King Abdullah before the Jordanian monarch’s key visit to Washington.
The king will be the first Arab leader to meet at the White House with President Joe Biden and his team.
Two Jordanian army helicopters flew to Ramallah to transport Abbas and his team to the talks.
After a one-on-one meeting in the presence of Crown Prince Hussein, Jordanian and Palestinian teams joined their leaders.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Malki, senior Fatah official Hussein Sheikh, Palestinian intelligence service chief Majed Faraj, and senior diplomatic adviser Majdi Khalidi attended the meeting.
On the Jordanian side, Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh, Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, General Intelligence Director Ahmad Hosni and other officials were present, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Jordan king holds talks with Abbas ahead of Biden summit.Pic credits @RHCJO
Jordan’s Petra news agency said the king reiterated Jordan’s support for Palestinians “to obtain their just and legitimate rights in establishing their independent, sovereign and viable state, on the June 4, 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
King Abdullah stressed the need to translate the cease-fire agreement in Gaza into a permanent truce in order to pave the way for Palestinian rights, Petra said.
Abbas highlighted Jordan’s critical role in defending the rights of Palestinians in international circles.
Samir Habashneh, a former Jordanian interior minister, told Arab News that the Biden administration has yet to decide on its approach to the Palestinian conflict.
“For sure, it is different from the Trump administration’s direction and for sure it is in support of the two-state solution, but it hasn’t yet identified the alternative,” he said.
Jordan king holds talks with Abbas ahead of Biden summit.Pic credits @RHCJO
Habashneh, a leading member of a reform committee set up by King Abdullah, said that in a recent meeting the monarch stressed the importance of support for the two-state solution.
“The king’s strong opposition to the Trump plan played a major role in its defeat, but we need to work out the mechanism for how to move forward,” he said.
Habashneh said that he hopes Jordan can influence a Palestinian reconciliation.
“If I can whisper in the ears of our Palestinian brethren, it would be to move fast in the reconciliation process in order to block Israeli efforts to avoid dealing with the Palestinian leadership.”
Hazem Kawasmi, a Jerusalem-based political activist, told Arab News that the situation is quickly deteriorating and there is a need to “find ways to put out all these fires.”
Jordan king holds talks with Abbas ahead of Biden summit.Pic credits @RHCJO
He said: “Things in Jerusalem, and especially in Silwan, with tens of homes slated for destruction, are worrying as is the internal Palestinian protests in light of the death of Nizar Banat and the attacks on peaceful Palestinian protesters by the Palestinian security.”
The family of Banat, a prominent critic of the Palestinian Authority, who died in detention on June 24, said that security forces broke into his house in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron and hit him repeatedly with a metal rod before arresting him.
Oraib Rantawi, director of Al-Quds Center for Political Affairs, told Arab News that the Biden administration is stepping up its coordination with Jordan and Egypt, while “Trump and his people gave preference to the Gulf countries, and disregarded Jordan and Egypt.”
Jordan king holds talks with Abbas ahead of Biden summit
Rantawi said: “I expect that the internal situation is worrying Jordan, and Abbas will most certainly receive friendly advice from King Abdullah on the need to address internal issues that have weakened Abbas and his administration.”
Lamis Andoni, a longtime observer of Jordanian-Palestinian relations, told Arab News: “What is happening in Jerusalem, and its effects on the region and the future, will be an important topic discussed between them.”
Trump’s policies were a major problem for both Jordan and Palestine, she added.
“The policies of the previous US administration gave legitimacy to Israel to increase its expansion into Palestinian lands,” Andoni said.
She said that the Jordan visit is intended to strengthen Abbas’ standing amid growing protests and criticism directed at the Palestinian leader, she said.
“The agreements to normalise relations recently signed by Israel with some Arab countries are an illusion that will not succeed,” said Abbas…reports Asian Lite News
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has slammed the normalisation agreements that some Arab countries have reached with Israel in recent times.
“The agreements to normalise relations recently signed by Israel with some Arab countries are an illusion that will not succeed,” Abbas said in an online address on Tuesday.
The President added that peace and security “will only be achieved” at the end of the Israeli occupation, reports Xinhua news agency.
Abbas also said that peace with Israel can only be achieved by “the recognition of the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights, mainly the rights of freedom, independence, and establishing a Palestinian state”.
“We agreed to sign painful historic peace agreements, recognized the state of Israel under the UN Resolutions 242 and 338, and signed the Oslo accords in 1993,” he said, adding that the Jewish state has violated these agreements.
UAE, Israel ink key pact on economic, trade cooperation
In September last year, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed separate normalisation agreements with Israel.
Later, Morocco and Sudan followed in their footsteps.
Palestine has also called for imposing international sanctions against Israel to stop its policies against the Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it supports an Amnesty International report issued on June 24 saying Israeli security forces committed violations against the Palestinians.
“Israel doesn’t care about reports issued by credible international organizations like Amnesty International, which considers Israeli practices the most heinous forms of racial discrimination against the Palestinians,” the Ministry statement said.
Pic credits Twitter@IsraelMFA
The statement also slammed the US and the European Union for not exerting serious pressure on the Israeli government to stop its practices against the Palestinians.
On June 24, the Amnesty International report said that Israeli police carried out “a catalogue of violations against Palestinians across Israel and occupied East Jerusalem”.
The report said the violations included “unlawful force against peaceful protesters, sweeping mass arrest and subjecting detainees to torture and other ill-treatment”.
There has been no immediate response from Israeli police to the Amnesty International report.
India’s comments come in the backdrop of recent escalations in the conflict between Israel and Palestine after a series of missile strikes from the Israel Defence Forces…reports Asian Lite News
India on Thursday backed the establishment of an ‘independent, viable, and democratic State of Palestine’ and called for an end to the decades-long conflict in the Middle-East. At a session of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), India called for the resumption of peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine and said that there is no alternative to a “two-state solution” for ensuring enduring peace in the region.
“India is committed to the establishment of an independent, viable, democratic State of Palestine. There is no alternative to a two-state solution for ensuring meaningful and enduring peace,” said the secretary (west) of India’s ministry of external affairs Vikas Swarup at the UNSC session. He further said that any attempt to unilaterally change the status-quo that undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution should also be avoided.
India’s comments come in the backdrop of recent escalations in the conflict between Israel and Palestine after a series of missile strikes from the Israel Defence Forces earmarked civilian settlements in the Gaza Strip, violating a ceasefire arrangement on June 16 that was in place since May 21.
Rockets fired by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas from Gaza City towards Israel. (Photo Mohammed Talatene_dpa_IANS)
At the UNSC session, India’s MEA secretary said, “After a period of brief calm, tensions are rising again in Gaza. The launch of incendiary balloons from Gaza targeting civilians in Israel and the retaliatory strikes into Gaza threatens to restart the cycle of violence, which caused immense suffering and resulted in deaths recently.”
“Recent developments in Palestine are of concern. They can restart the cycle of violence, resulting in immense suffering and deaths. We urge both Israeli and Palestinian authorities to honour the ceasefire arrangement. There’s a need for immediate resumption of the Middle East Peace Process and direct negotiations between Israel and Palestine. India supports all diplomatic efforts, including by the Quartet, to strengthen the collective commitment of the international community for a peace process,” he added.
India’s representative to the UN said that the need of the hour is to provide immediate humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian civilian population, particularly in Gaza. All Palestinian parties should work with the authority to ensure the well-being of civilians affected by conflict and deliver required assistance to the people, India said.
“We call for reinforced cooperation between the Israeli and Palestinian authorities in the area of humanitarian aid delivery, including food and medicine, and movement of patients in and out of Gaza,” added Swarup.
Israel and Hamas concluded 11 days of fighting during which hundreds of rockets were launched from both Israel and Palestine sides. According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, 253 Palestinians were killed during the fighting, including 66 children, while 13 Israelis, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier, were killed.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed concern over the most recent round of violence…reports Asian Lite News
.United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the full respect of the ceasefire agreed between Israel and the Islamic Hamas movement which brought an end to the 11-day bloodshed in Gaza Strip late last month.
Responding to a question about the Secretary-General’s reaction to Tuesday’s escalating violence, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for Guterres, said at a regular press briefing on Wednesday that the UN chief “expresses concern over the most recent round of violence”, reports Xinhua news agency.
Haq added that Guterres “would like to see the cessation of hostilities be maintained and solidified in order to give space for the relevant parties to work out arrangements to stabilize the situation”.
The Israeli army said on Wednesday that it had carried out the first airstrike in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire which came into effect on May 21.
Thick smoke rises above buildings in Gaza City, following several Israeli airstrikes. (Photo Mohammed Talatene_dpa_IANS)
In the overnight attack, Israeli war jets struck military compounds belonging to Hamas in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, the military said in a statement.
The statement accused Hamas of being responsible “for all events transpiring in the Gaza Strip” and warned that the group “will bear the consequences for its actions”.
“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is prepared for any scenario, including a resumption of hostilities, in the face of continuing terror activities from the Gaza Strip,” the statement read.
Hundreds of Israeli ultra-nationalists marched on Tuesday in East Jerusalem, waving Israeli flags.
Some of them chanted “Death to Arabs” and other anti-Arab slurs.
Militants in Gaza responded to the march by launching “arson balloons” that caused at least 13 fires in southern Israel.
Jaishankar with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi and Palestinian counterpart Dr Riyad al-Maliki (Source @DrSJaishankar))
This comes after India had abstained on a resolution at UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) last month to set up a Commission of Inquiry on human rights violation in occupied Palestinian territory…reports Asian Lite News
After concluding his three-day visit to Kenya, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met with his Jordanian and Palestinian counterparts at the Doha airport on Tuesday.
Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar said he visited Jordan’s Ayman Safadi and Palestine’s Dr Riyad al-Maliki in Doha, saying that it is “never a dull day on travel”.
“Never a dull day on travel. Meeting my Jordanian and Palestinian counterparts @AymanHsafadi & Dr Riyad al-Maliki at Doha airport,” he tweeted.
This comes after India had abstained on a resolution at UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) last month to set up a Commission of Inquiry on human rights violation in occupied Palestinian territory including East Jerusalem and in Israel, following 11 days of deadly fighting between Israel and Palestine.
“India abstains on resolution at UNHRC to set up Commission of Inquiry (on human rights violation in occupied Palestinian Territory incl East Jerusalem & in Israel). With 24 members voting in favour & 9 against, resolution is adopted,” tweeted Indian envoy to United Nations (Geneva), Indra Mani Pandey tweeted.
India’s decision to abstain at the UNHRC during the resolution to probe the Gaza conflict is not new and the country has abstained on previous occasions too, said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) earlier this month.
Responding to a media query, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that the Foreign Minister of the Palestinian National Authority had written letters to foreign ministers of countries who abstained at the UNHRC resolution.
“Palestine has written to all the countries who abstained. We have abstained on previous occasions too, it’s not new and explains our position,” he said.
The fighting between Israel and Hamas began on May 10, after Gaza militants fired barrages of rockets at Israel in protest to the Israeli measures in East Jerusalem. A tit-for-tat trade of fire broke out, where Israeli fighter jets carried out hundreds of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian Health Ministery claimed that at least 277 Palestinian residents died in the latest conflict escalation with Israel. While on the other hand, around 12 Israeli have lost their lives.
Meanwhile, Jaishankar recently concluded a three-day visit in Kenya, where he held discussions on bilateral cooperation with his Kenyan counterpart Raychelle Omamo and President Uhuru Kenyatta. (ANI)
