International Red Line Protest for Palestine marches through Aberystwyth
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BreakingNews.ie
a minute ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Starmer to raise Gaza ceasefire and UK steel tariffs in Trump meeting
Keir Starmer is expected to raise the prospect of reviving ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas and the future of tariffs on British steel as he meets Donald Trump in Scotland. The British Prime Minister will travel to Ayrshire, where the US president is staying at his Turnberry golf resort, for wide-ranging discussions on trade and the Middle East as international alarm grows over starvation in Gaza. Advertisement The two leaders have built a rapport on the world stage despite their differing political backgrounds, with Mr Trump praising Starmer for doing a 'very good job' in office ahead of their talks on Monday. But humanitarian conditions in Gaza and uncertainty over US import taxes on key British goods in America threaten to complicate their bilateral meeting. The US president has been playing golf at his Turnberry resort in Scotland (PA) Peace talks in the Middle East came to a standstill last week after Washington and Israel recalled negotiating teams from Qatar, with White House special envoy Steve Witkoff blaming Hamas for a 'lack of desire' to reach an agreement. Since then, Israel has promised military pauses in three populated areas of Gaza to allow designated UN convoys of aid to reach desperate Palestinians. Advertisement But the UK, which is joining efforts to airdrop aid into the enclave and evacuate children in need of medical assistance, has said that access to supplies must be 'urgently' widened. In his talks with Mr Trump, Starmer will 'welcome the President's administration working with partners in Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza', Number 10 said. 'He will discuss further with him what more can be done to secure the ceasefire urgently, bring an end to the unspeakable suffering and starvation in Gaza and free the hostages who have been held so cruelly for so long.' The leaders will also talk 'one-on-one about advancing implementation of the landmark Economic Prosperity Deal so that Brits and Americans can benefit from boosted trade links between their two countries', it said. Advertisement The agreement signed at the G7 summit last month slashed trade barriers on goods from both countries. But tariffs for the steel industry, which is of key economic importance to the UK, were left to stand at 25 per cent rather than falling to zero as originally agreed. Concerns had previously been raised that the sector could face a levy of up to 50 per cent – the US's global rate – unless a further agreement was made by July 9th, when Mr Trump said he would start implementing import taxes on America's trading partners. But that deadline has been and gone without any concrete update on the status of UK steel. Advertisement Downing Street said that both sides are working 'at pace' to 'go further to deliver benefits to working people on both sides of the Atlantic' and to give UK industry 'the security it needs'. The two leaders are also expected to discuss the war in Ukraine, which Number 10 said would include 'applying pressure' on Vladimir Putin to end the invasion, before travelling on together for a private engagement in Aberdeen. It comes after Mr Trump announced he had agreed 'the biggest deal ever made' between the US and the European Union after meeting Ursula von der Leyen for high-stakes talks at Turnberry on Sunday. After a day playing golf, the US leader met the President of the EU Commission to hammer out the broad terms of an agreement that will subject the bloc to 15 per cent tariffs on most of its goods entering America. Advertisement This is lower than a 30 per cent levy previously threatened by the US president. The agreement will include 'zero for zero' tariffs on a number of products including aircraft, some agricultural goods and certain chemicals, as well as EU purchases of US energy worth 750 billion dollars (€638 billion) over three years. Speaking to journalists on Sunday about his meeting with, Mr Trump said: 'We're meeting about a lot of things. We have our trade deal and it's been a great deal. 'It's good for us. It's good for them and good for us. I think the UK is very happy, they've been trying for 12 years to get it and they got it, and it's a great trade deal for both, works out very well. 'We'll be discussing that. I think we're going to be discussing a lot about Israel. 'They're very much involved in terms of wanting something to happen. 'He's doing a very good job, by the way.' Mr Trump's private trip to the UK comes ahead of a planned state visit in September.
Telegraph
11 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Macron forgets that Hamas does not want peace
The palpable sense of relief following the announcement that Israel has established humanitarian corridors to facilitate the flow of aid to Gaza will be short-lived so long as Hamas terrorists do everything in their power to block efforts to implement a lasting ceasefire. Amidst the welter of controversy surrounding the Gaza crisis, one central fact seems to have been completely overlooked in the rush to blame the miserable plight of Palestinian civilians on Israel. It was Hamas, not Israel, that was ultimately responsible for the collapse of the Trump administration's latest efforts to arrange a lasting ceasefire in the enclave. It is hopefully a point US President Donald Trump makes abundantly clear to Sir Keir Starmer when the two leaders meet in Scotland. Downing Street says Starmer will use the meeting to press Trump to do more to end the war in Gaza, a move that is no doubt prompted by the mounting pressure the Prime Minister is under from naive and ill-informed Labour backbenchers to recognise a Palestinian state. Hopefully, the American president will provide Starmer with a reality check on the challenges facing anyone seeking to bring peace to Gaza, the most prominent being the absolute insistence of Hamas's terrorist leadership that it must remain in control of the enclave for any lasting cessation of hostilities to occur. Allowing Hamas to retain any vestige of influence in Gaza is, understandably, anathema to Israel after the horrors it suffered during the October 7 attacks in 2023, which resulted in the cold-blooded massacre of 1,200 people – including women and children – at the hands of deranged Islamist fanatics. No sane government in the world would allow such an organisation to remain intact after the trauma its citizens have suffered. It is for this reason that, since the start of the conflict, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to waver from his insistence that, for there to be lasting peace in Gaza, Hamas's terrorist infrastructure – including the political leaders who helped to mastermind the October 7 attacks – must be completely eradicated from the enclave before any serious consideration can be given to peace. Netanyahu has stuck to this bottom line through numerous iterations of US-sponsored ceasefire talks, starting with the Biden administration and continuing through to the current attempts by Trump to end hostilities and free the remaining Israeli hostages still held captive by Hamas terrorists. At the same time Hamas has been equally insistent in demanding the right to remain in Gaza, claiming that it represents the enclave's legitimate government, even though it clings to power by torturing and murdering any Palestinians who are brave or foolhardy enough to voice their opposition to the terrorist organisation's brutal regime. The Trump administration's deepening frustration with the negotiating tactics of Hamas, together with its backers in Qatar and Iran, was clearly evident in comments made by Steve Witkoff, Trump's Special Envoy to the Middle East, after he withdrew from last week's ceasefire talks in Qatar claiming that they had collapsed because Hamas was behaving in a 'selfish way.' 'While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith. We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza,' Witkoff said in a statement issued when he abandoned the talks. For the fundamental truth of the Gaza tragedy, one that the legions of anti-Israel protesters across the globe wilfully ignore, is that Hamas does not want peace. The architects of this Islamist death cult seek martyrdom, and now that it has run out of fighters to sacrifice in its increasingly futile war against Israel's superior military might, Hamas is using Palestinian civilians effectively as human shields in its quest to survive the conflict. It has done this by trying to seize control of vital aid supplies and establishing a black market whereby only known Hamas sympathisers are provided with the basic necessities for life. As for the rest, they are left to starve, thereby providing the UN's sprawling network of aid agencies, which have an undistinguished history of collaborating with Hamas, with the ammunition they need to accuse Israel of genocide. In such circumstances it is almost obscene that prominent Western leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron should seek to salve their conscience by making grandstanding declarations about their intention to recognise a Palestinian state, even though a significant proportion of this supposed entity happens to be run by Islamist fanatics. Trump, by contrast, has a far more realistic take on Hamas's mindset, one it is hoped the president will share forcefully with Starmer if our prime minister is to be prevented from following Macron's morally bankrupt gesture. As Trump commented after the collapse of the latest Doha ceasefire talks, 'Hamas didn't really want to make a deal. I think they want to die, and it's very, very bad.'
Glasgow Times
31 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Mike Dailly: UK must recognise Palestine as a state
60,000 are dead in Gaza, with 144,500 Palestinians injured since October 2023. According to DWB, Gazans risk being shot as they look for food. It's against this humanitarian crisis that France will become the first G7 country to recognise Palestine as a state. Last week, President Emmanuel Macron advised the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas that he would announce formal recognition at the United Nation's (UN) General Assembly in September. Such recognition may be largely symbolic but it adds diplomatic pressure for UN membership and statehood. Palestine has been seeking full UN membership since 2011 but has been blocked by the United States (US). Last April, a resolution for UN membership for Palestine was vetoed by the US. The 15-member Security Council had 12 votes in favour, two abstentions and one vote against. A state has certain defining features under international law, including a permanent population, a determinate territory, "effective" government and the capacity to enter into relations with other states. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz described the move by France as "a disgrace and a surrender to terrorism". He said Israel would not permit the establishment of a "Palestinian entity that would harm our security, endanger our existence". US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the US "strongly rejects" Macron's plan because it was a "reckless decision" that "only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace." At the same time as Macron's announcement, ceasefire talks were halted as the US and Israel withdrew their negotiating teams from Qatar. In contrast, France and Saudi Arabia are hosting an international conference at the UN in New York - today and tomorrow - seeking peaceful solutions and renewed efforts for a 'two-state solution'. The US has opted out of attendance. A two-state solution would see an independent Palestinian state established alongside the state of Israel, giving both peoples their own territory. Palestinians want an independent state in the occupied West Bank, annexed east Jerusalem and Gaza, land that have been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes Palestinian statehood and says it would reward militants after the 7 October attacks by Hamas in 2023. President Macron said, "France will seek to make a decisive contribution to peace in the Middle East and will mobilise all of its international partners who wish to take part". While the US continues to insist it supports a two-state solution and peace in the Middle East, in reality, it appears to be a key driver of stalemate in the region. The need for food, water and medicine in Gaza is now beyond an emergency. Jordan and the UAE have a proposal, supported by the UK, to drop aid into Gaza, but aid agencies say this will do little to mitigate the hunger of Gazans as the crisis is now beyond critical. Pressure is on Prime Minister Starmer to follow President Macron and for the UK to recognise Palestine as a state. Around 221 MPs have signed a motion urging him to do so. Let's hope he does so this week.
