South Sudan says no talks with Israel to resettle Palestinians from Gaza
On Tuesday, the Associated Press, citing six people with knowledge of the matter, reported that Israel was holding discussions with Juba to resettle Palestinians from Gaza in the East African nation.
"These claims are baseless and do not reflect the official position or policy of the Government of the Republic of South Sudan," South Sudan's foreign affairs ministry said in a statement.
Israel's military has pounded Gaza City in recent days prior to its planned takeover of the shattered enclave which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday reiterated a view - also enthusiastically floated by U.S. President Donald Trump - that Palestinians should simply leave Gaza.
Many world leaders are horrified at the idea of displacing the Gaza population, which Palestinians say would be like another "Nakba" (catastrophe) when hundreds of thousands fled or were forced out during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.
In March, Somalia and its breakaway region of Somaliland also denied receiving any proposal from the United States or Israel to resettle Palestinians from Gaza, with Mogadishu saying it categorically rejected any such move.
South Sudan's Foreign Minister Monday Semaya Kumba visited Israel last month and met with Netanyahu, according to the foreign ministry in Juba.
Last month South Sudan's government confirmed that eight migrants deported to the African nation by the Trump administration were currently in the care of the authorities in Juba after they lost a legal battle to halt their transfer.
Since achieving independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan has spent nearly half its life at war and is currently in the grip of a political crisis, after President Salva Kiir's government ordered the arrest of Vice President Riek Machar in March.
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Reuters
15 minutes ago
- Reuters
Israel's Smotrich launches settlement plan to 'bury' idea of Palestinian state
MAALE ADUMIM, West Bank/TEL AVIV Aug 14, (Reuters) - Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced work would start on a long-delayed settlement that would divide the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, a move his office said would "bury" the idea of a Palestinian state. The Palestinian government, allies and campaign groups condemned the scheme, calling it illegal and saying the fragmentation of territory would rip up peace plans for the region. Standing at the site of the planned settlement in Maale Adumim on Thursday, Smotrich, a settler himself, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump had agreed to the revival of the E1 development, though there was no immediate confirmation from either. 'Whoever in the world is trying to recognise a Palestinian state today will receive our answer on the ground. Not with documents nor with decisions or statements, but with facts. Facts of houses, facts of neighbourhoods," Smotrich said. Israel froze construction plans at Maale Adumim in 2012, and again after a revival in 2020, because of objections from the U.S., European allies and other powers who considered the project a threat to any future peace deal with the Palestinians. Restarting the project could further isolate Israel, which has watched some of its Western allies condemn its military offensive in Gaza and announce they may recognise a Palestinian state. Palestinians fear the settlement building in the West Bank - which has sharply intensified since the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that led to the Gaza war - will rob them of any chance to build a state of their own in the area. In a statement headlined "Burying the idea of a Palestinian state," Smotrich's spokesperson said the minister had approved the plan to build 3,401 houses for Israeli settlers between an existing settlement in the West Bank and Jerusalem. In Maale Adumim, Smotrich told Reuters the plan would go into effect on Wednesday. Breaking the Silence, an Israeli rights group established by former Israeli soldiers, said what it called a land grab "will not only further fragment the Palestinian territory, but will further entrench apartheid". Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the Palestinian president's spokesperson, called on the United States to pressure Israel to stop settlement building. "The EU rejects any territorial change that is not part of a political agreement between involved parties. So annexation of territory is illegal under international law," European Commission spokesperson Anitta Hipper said. Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said the move by Smotrich, an ultra-nationalist in the ruling right-wing coalition who has long advocated for Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, showed that Israel "seeks to appropriate land owned by Palestinians in order to prevent a two-state solution". Peace Now, which tracks settlement activity in the West Bank, said there were still steps needed before construction. But if all went through, infrastructure work could begin within a few months, and house building in about a year. 'The E1 plan is deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution. We are standing at the edge of an abyss, and the government is driving us forward at full speed," Peace Now said in a statement. Consecutive Israeli governments have initiated, approved, planned and funded settlements, according to Israeli rights group Yesh Din. Some settlers moved to the West Bank for religious or ideological reasons, while others were drawn by lower housing costs and government incentives. They include American and European dual-citizens. Palestinians were already demoralised by the Israeli military campaign which has killed more than 61,000 people in Gaza, according to local health authorities, and fear Israel will ultimately push them out of that territory. About 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in a move not recognised by most countries but has not formally extended sovereignty over the West Bank. The UN and most world powers say settlement expansion has eroded the viability of a two-state solution by fragmenting Palestinian territory. The two-state plan envisages a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, existing side by side with Israel. Israel cites historical and biblical ties to the area and says the settlements provide strategic depth and security. Most of the global community considers all settlements illegal under international law. Israel rejects this interpretation, saying the West Bank is "disputed" rather than "occupied" territory. Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand imposed sanctions in June on Smotrich and another far-right minister who advocates for settlement expansion, accusing both of them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Glasgow Times
34 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Israel announces West Bank settlement that ‘could imperil Palestinian state'
Palestinians and rights groups worry the move will scuttle plans for a future Palestinian state by effectively cutting the West Bank into two separate parts. The announcement comes as many countries, including Australia France, and Canada said they would recognise a Palestinian state in September. 'This reality finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognise and no one to recognise,' said finance minister Bezalel Smotrich during a ceremony on Thursday. 'Anyone in the world who tries today to recognise a Palestinian state — will receive an answer from us on the ground.' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not yet publicly commented on the plan, but he has touted it in the past. Development in E1, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, has been under consideration for more than two decades, but was frozen due to US pressure during previous administrations. On Thursday, Mr Smotrich praised President Donald Trump and US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee as 'true friends of Israel as we have never had before'. The E1 plan is expected to receive final approval August 20, capping off 20 years of bureaucratic wrangling. The planning committee on August 6 rejected all of the petitions to stop the construction filed by rights groups and activists. Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks to journalists during a press conference about a new settlement construction in the Israel-occupied West Bank (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP) While some bureaucratic steps remain, if the process moves quickly, infrastructure work could begin in the next few months and construction of homes could start in around a year. The approval is a 'colonial, expansionist, and racist move', Ahmed al Deek, the political adviser to the minister of Palestinian Foreign Affairs, told The Associated Press on Thursday. 'It falls within the framework of the extremist Israeli government's plans to undermine any possibility of establishing a Palestinian state on the ground, to fragment the West Bank, and to separate its southern part from the centre and the north,' Mr al Deek said. Rights groups also swiftly condemned the plan. Peace Now called it 'deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution' which is 'guaranteeing many more years of bloodshed'. The announcement comes as the Palestinian Authority and Arab countries condemned Mr Netanyahu's statement in an interview on Tuesday that he was 'very' attached to the vision of a 'Greater Israel'. He did not elaborate, but supporters of the idea believe that Israel should control not only the occupied West Bank but parts of Arab countries. Israel's plans to expand settlements are part of an increasingly difficult reality for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as the world's attention focuses on Gaza. An area near Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP) There have been marked increases in settler attacks against Palestinians, evictions from Palestinian towns and checkpoints that choke freedom of movement. There also have been several Palestinian attacks on Israelis during the course of the war. More than 700,000 Israelis now live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by the Palestinians for a future state. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in these areas to be illegal and obstacles to peace. Israel's government is dominated by religious and ultranationalist politicians with close ties to the settlement movement. Mr Smotrich, previously a firebrand settler leader, has been granted cabinet-level authority over settlement policies and vowed to double the settler population in the West Bank. Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians claim all three territories for a future independent state. Israel has annexed east Jerusalem and claims it as part of its capital, which is not internationally recognised. It says the West Bank is disputed territory whose fate should be determined through negotiations, while Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
India wants US ties based on mutual respect, says its arms purchases are on course
NEW DELHI, Aug 14 (Reuters) - India said on Thursday that it hoped relations with the United States would move forward based on mutual respect and shared interests, seeking to temper worries that ties were headed downhill in the aftermath of high tariffs imposed by Washington. A U.S. defence policy team will be in New Delhi this month for talks with Indian officials and its arms purchases from the U.S. are on course despite the strain in ties, the Indian foreign ministry said. A new friendship built between the two countries has hit a rough patch after President Donald Trump raised tariffs on Indian goods to 50% last week from an earlier 25% saying it was a penalty for India's continued imports of Russian oil. New Delhi has accused the U.S. of double standards in singling it out for Russian oil imports and called the tariffs unfair, unjustified and unreasonable. At the same time, it has also indicated that the warming of ties that began at the turn of the century covers a wide range of areas and should not be seen only through the prism of trade, although it hopes that trade talks will continue and result in a deal. "This partnership has weathered several transitions and we hope that the relationship will continue to move forward based on mutual respect and shared interests," Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a regular media briefing. Purchases of military equipment from Washington were on course, Jaiswal said, adding that a U.S. defence policy team was expected in Delhi this month. Reuters reported last week that India has put on hold its plans to procure new U.S. weapons and aircraft and that a planned trip to Washington by the Indian defence minister had been cancelled. The Indian government subsequently said reports of a pause in the talks were wrong.
