A farewell to arms? Hamas considers its options
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Western Telegraph
17 minutes ago
- Western Telegraph
Israeli minister confronts long-imprisoned Palestinian leader face to face
Marwan Barghouti is serving five life sentences after being convicted of involvement in attacks at the height of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, in the early 2000s. Polls consistently show he is the most popular Palestinian leader. He has rarely been seen since his arrest more than two decades ago. It was unclear when the video was taken, but it shows national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, known for staging provocative encounters with Palestinians, telling Barghouti that he will 'not win'. 'Anyone who murders children, who murders women, we will wipe them out,' Mr Ben-Gvir said. Mr Ben-Gvir's spokesman confirmed the visit and the video's authenticity, but denied that the minister was threatening Barghouti. Barghouti, now in his mid-60s, was a senior leader in President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah movement during the intifada. Many Palestinians see him as a natural successor to the ageing and unpopular leader of the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israel considers him a terrorist and has shown no sign it would release him. Hamas has demanded his release in exchange for hostages taken in the October 7 2023 attack that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip. In a Facebook post, Barghouti's wife said she could not recognise her husband, who appeared frail in the video. Still, she said after watching the video, he remained connected to the Palestinian people. 'Perhaps a part of me does not want to acknowledge everything that your face and body shows, and what you and the prisoners have been through,' wrote Fadwa Al Barghouthi, who spells their last name differently in English. Israeli officials say they have reduced the conditions under which Palestinians are held to the bare minimum allowed under Israeli and international law. Many detainees released as part of a ceasefire in Gaza earlier this year appeared gaunt and ill, and some were taken for immediate medical treatment.
Economist
4 hours ago
- Economist
A farewell to arms? Hamas considers its options
Opinions of Hamas are shifting—among its international backers, in Gaza, even within its affiliates' ranks. If it opts to disarm, what would happen next? A new analysis suggests using a sense of risk to explain markets' movements might be focusing on the wrong emotion. And our final ' Archive 1945 ' instalment relives VJ day through The Economist 's coverage at the time.
Reuters
7 hours ago
- Reuters
The West Bank settlements at the heart of the Middle East conflict
Aug 14 (Reuters) - Israeli settlement building, a point of contention at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has come back into focus after Israel's far-right finance minister revived a plan that would divide the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem. An Israeli settlement is made up of housing units built for Jewish Israelis on land captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war, primarily in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The land is home to Palestinians who seek a future independent state. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's nationalist government has backed settlers, and building and settler incursions have ramped up since the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 triggered the Gaza war. Palestinians have accused heavily armed Israeli settlers of stealing their land and destroying their olive trees, a symbol of Palestinian identity. Palestinians say Israeli forces do not protect them from settler violence. The Israeli military says soldiers are often dispatched to deal with any trouble. Israel says it has historical and biblical ties to the area that it calls it Judea and Samaria, though most world powers consider all the settlements illegal. Numerous UN Security Council resolutions have called on Israel to halt all settlement activity, but Israel says settlements are critical to its strategic depth and security. In 2019, during U.S. President Donald Trump's first term, the U.S. dropped a long-held stance that deemed settlements illegal. President Joe Biden restored that stance in line with international consensus. In January, in his second term, Trump rescinded sanctions imposed by the former Biden administration on far-right Israeli settler groups and individuals accused of being involved in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. A 1993 agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), known as the Oslo Accords, was designed to pave the way for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip alongside Israel. The U.N. and most world powers say settlement building is eroding the viability of that two-state solution by fragmenting Palestinian territory. Israel's allies, including France, Britain and Canada, have said they may move to recognise Palestinian statehood in September. Israel has expanded and consolidated settlements in the West Bank as it continues its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to a UN report that was based on research between November 1, 2023 and October 31, 2024. About 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognised by most countries. Israel refuses to cede control of the West Bank, a position it says has been reinforced since the Hamas-led militant attack on its territory, launched from Gaza October 7, 2023. It says the future of the settlements should be resolved in peace negotiations.
