Starmer, Macron agree on need for new deterrent against boat crossings, UK says
'The leaders agreed tackling the threat of irregular migration and small boat crossings is a shared priority that requires shared solutions,' a British readout of a meeting between the two in London said.
'The two leaders agreed on the need to go further and make progress on new and innovative solutions, including a new deterrent to break the business model of these gangs.'
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Leaders
3 hours ago
- Leaders
UN Two-State Solution Conference Rescheduled for Late July
The UN conference on Palestinian Statehood and implementing the two-state solution has been set for July 28-29, 2025, the AFP reported citing diplomatic sources. The conference, which Saudi Arabia and France will jointly chair, was originally scheduled in mid-June but postponed against the backdrop of the Iran-Israel conflict. It aims to chart a roadmap for a Palestinian State while guaranteeing Israel's security, in a bid to resolve the decades-old conflict. New Date The International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution will take place on July 28-29, 2025, at the UN headquarters in New York, under the joint chairmanship of Saudi Arabia and France. The conference was originally set for June 17-20, and expected the attendance of heads of states and governments. The diplomatic sources who spoke to AFP could not provide details on any changes to the conference's agenda or level of attending representatives. Conference Postponement On June 13, Israel launched a military operation against Iran and the two countries engaged in military assaults for 12 days amid fears of an all-out regional war. As a result, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, announced the postponement of the UN conference for the two-state solution for 'logistical and security reasons.' However, Macron stressed that this delay did not 'call into question our determination to move forward with the implementation of the two-state solution.' Mobilizing Support for Two-State Solution Saudi Arabia and France have called for the international conference to advance peace and implement the two-state solution, in a bid to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In December 2024, the French President announced during a visit to Saudi Arabia, that he and the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, would co-chair a conference in June 2025 focused on establishing a Palestinian state. In April, Macron unveiled that France plans to recognize Palestine in June. 'Our goal is to chair this conference with Saudi Arabia in June. We aim to finalize reciprocal recognition by several countries,' the French President said following his visit to Egypt. The international conference for the two-state solution is a bid to 'trigger a series of other recognitions,' according to Macron. It aims to encourage more states to recognize the State of Palestine. Currently, around 150 countries officially recognize Palestine, which holds a non-member observer status at the UN General Assembly since November 2012. Owing to intense diplomatic efforts, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, more countries are recognizing Palestine, including most recently Spain, Norway and Ireland. France's Stance on Palestine Macron is expected to announce France's recognition of the State of Palestine during the conference. During a recent visit to the UK, Macron stressed his support for the two-state solution and urged for an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, according to the Independent. Addressing the UK parliament, the French President said: 'We are aware that the political way out is crucial, and I believe in the future of the two-state solution as a basis for regional security architecture, which will enable Israel to live in peace and security alongside its neighbors.' Moreover, Macron urged for a joint recognition by France and Britain of a Palestinian State, calling the move 'the only path to peace' in the region. Speaking at a joint press conference with the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, in London, Macron emphasized the need for ramping up efforts to advance the two-state solution to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, according to Arab News. 'I believe in the future of the two-state solution, and in the need to unify our voices in Paris, London and beyond to recognize the State of Palestine and launch this political dynamic that alone can lead to a horizon of peace,' he said. UK Considers Recognition The British Prime Minister stressed the UK's commitment to a 'just political settlement of the Palestinian issue,' highlighting the importance of international support for the Palestinian people and the need for stability in the region. In a joint declaration, the leaders of the UK and France reaffirmed their commitment to pushing for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and recognizing Palestine. 'We reaffirm our commitment to recognizing a Palestinian state, as a contribution to a peace process. We will work together to support its development and the realization of a Two-State Solution,' they said. The UK has been considering the official recognition of a Palestinian State, holding talks with Saudi Arabia and France on this matter. The British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, said that he wanted to see 'change on the ground,' referring to a ceasefire in Gaza, according to the Independent. Lammy said he 'would prefer it was part of the process' and that he believed 'our French colleagues are also waiting to see if there is, in fact, a ceasefire in the next few days' to initiate a process and that the British government remained 'completely committed' to recognition. US Opposes Conference The recognition of Palestine by France and the UK – two permanent UN Security Council Members – will add weight to the list of states recognizing Palestine. It will also be the first by G7 member states. However, the US has tried to discourage governments from attending the conference. On June 10, the Trump administration sent a cable to countries warning them of 'diplomatic consequences' if they take 'anti-Israel actions,' Reuters reported at the time. 'We are urging governments not to participate in the conference, which we view as counterproductive to ongoing, lifesaving efforts to end the war in Gaza and free hostages,' the cable said. 'The US opposes any steps that would unilaterally recognize a conjectural Palestinian state, which adds significant legal and political obstacles to the eventual resolution of the conflict and could coerce Israel during a war, thereby supporting its enemies,' it added. Short link : Post Views: 59
Al Arabiya
7 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Anti-migrant venom finds fuel in Northern Ireland sectarian divide
An effigy of life jacket-wearing migrants and their boat burned atop a huge bonfire in Northern Ireland, a potent example of how the province's deep sectarian divide has fanned and mixed with anti-immigrant hatred. Researchers pointed to fundamental shifts in the power once wielded by pro-UK Protestant loyalists, who have in recent years echoed some of the right-wing stances heard elsewhere in Europe. The migrant effigy had been hoisted atop a stories-tall stack of wooden pallets, one of hundreds of pyres lit each year in the run-up to July 12, a historically Protestant celebration. But many Catholics see the fires and accompanying parades, which celebrate Protestant king William of Orange's victory over his Catholic rival in 1690, as a provocation that sometimes triggers violence. Despite an outcry over the migrant effigy -- which bore a sign saying 'Veterans before refugees' -- organizers were defiant and hundreds watched the pyre burn on Thursday in the village of Moygashel. 'Wherever we have to place a bonfire, we will,' said a man identified as a 'community representative' in a video published to social media by Turning Point UK, a group that promotes right-wing causes. 'Whatever we choose to put atop the bonfire, we will. Nobody, but nobody will dictate otherwise,' he added, facing away from the camera but toward the pyre also topped with an Irish flag. The bonfire went up in flames roughly a month after anti-immigrant attacks and unrest broke out just an hour's drive away in Ballymena and other towns, while rioters struck immigrant areas in Belfast in August 2024. In both instances the violence took place in loyalist areas, which experts said was not a coincidence. Loyalists ran Northern Ireland until the 1970s, said Dominic Bryan, an anthropology professor at Queen's University Belfast, noting the situation has changed dramatically since. A 2021 census found that Catholics for the first time outnumbered Protestants in Northern Ireland -- 45.7 percent to 43.48 percent of the province's 1.9 million people. 'People from a working class loyalist position have seen themselves lose power and lose space and lose people and they have become effectively a minority,' he added. To deal with their change in fortunes, they have adopted anti-immigrant arguments to a degree, Bryan noted. Loyalists have 'become more of a minority position and in some ways that has made some of their demonstrations feel even the more extreme,' he said. 'Far more dangerous' Since 2000 -- just a few years after the 1998 Good Friday accords ended most of the Troubles violence -- the province's foreign-born population has increased significantly, census figures showed. The figure hovered well below two percent in the late 1990s, but by 2021 had climbed to 6.5 percent, which is still far less than the 16 percent average for the United Kingdom. Lurking in the background are the loyalist groups who battled Republican fighters over decades of bloody sectarian conflict during the so-called Troubles. Daniel Holder, director of human right group Committee on the Administration of Justice, said some of the groups are still intact, despite the peace process. 'There is a notable difference in the Northern Ireland context that makes things far more dangerous,' he added. 'That notable difference relates to the clear involvement of elements of loyalist paramilitary organizations and their members within racist acts of violence and intimidation in their areas of control.' Northern Ireland's police service said during the Ballymena riots that there was no evidence loyalist paramilitaries were directly involved in the violence. Leaders from across the political spectrum condemned what police termed 'racist thuggery', and the anti-immigrant effigy drew a rebuke from the unionist DUP political party though others from loyalist territory defended it. In the loyalist Shankill area of Belfast, people were prepping bonfires on Friday ahead of Orangemen's Day and some had come from out of town to attend. Lewis McGee, a 32-year-old Scot, said he quite agreed with the burning of the migrant effigy, yet it was the future of the province that was top of his mind. 'It's a fantastic time to be alive, Northern Ireland's future will still be British, Protestant, Orange, loyalist and it always will be,' he added.
Arab News
18 hours ago
- Arab News
What We Are Reading Today: The West: The History of an Idea
Author: Georgios Varouxakis How did 'the West' come to be used as a collective self-designation signaling political and cultural commonality? When did 'Westerners' begin to refer to themselves in this way? Was the idea handed down from the ancient Greeks, or coined by 19th-century imperialists? Neither, writes Georgios Varouxakis in 'The West,' his ambitious and fascinating genealogy of the idea. 'The West' was not used by Plato, Cicero, Locke, Mill, or other canonized figures of what we today call the Western tradition. It was not first wielded by empire-builders. It gradually emerged as of the 1820s and was then, Varouxakis shows, decisively promoted in the 1840s by the French philosopher Auguste Comte (whose political project, incidentally, was passionately anti-imperialist). The need for the use of the term 'the West' emerged to avoid the confusing or unwanted consequences of the use of 'Europe.' The two overlapped, but were not identical, with the West used to differentiate from certain 'others' within Europe as well as to include the Americas.
