Latest news with #MahmoudAbbas
Iraqi News
20 hours ago
- Sport
- Iraqi News
Iraqi youth & junior Taekwondo teams win 12 medals at Al-Faris Championship in Jordan
Amman ( – The Iraqi national youth and junior Taekwondo teams won an impressive 12 medals at the Al-Faris Championship held in Amman, Jordan, on Thursday. The total haul included six gold and six silver medals, a result of a 'distinguished performance' where the players demonstrated 'high technical levels,' according to a statement from the Iraqi Olympic Committee. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Iraqi Taekwondo Federation, stated that this success is part of a special preparation program for the upcoming Asian Championship in Malaysia, which will be held from July 23rd to 29th. The team's preparations included a 24-day training camp in Erbil, followed by the camp in Jordan ahead of the Al-Faris Championship. Abbas confirmed that the team is scheduled to depart for Malaysia this coming Sunday. The strong performance in Jordan is seen as a crucial step in raising the players' technical and physical readiness for the anticipated Asian tournament.
News18
a day ago
- Politics
- News18
India's Voice Is Strategic, Not Silent
To say India has 'lost its voice,' as some critics argue, is to misunderstand what that voice sounds like today. In moments of war, outrage is easy. Diplomacy is not. And in the shadow of the Gaza crisis, with bombs falling, civilians dying, and global opinion fracturing, the urge to take a moral stand can feel overwhelming, especially for a democracy like India, long seen as a voice for the voiceless. But to say India has 'lost its voice," as some critics argue, is to misunderstand what that voice sounds like today. It's not the voice of X (previously Twitter) diplomacy. It's not always loud. But it is deliberate, strategic, and deeply shaped by history. India was one of the earliest champions of the Palestinian cause. In 1974, it became the first non-Arab country to officially recognise the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). By 1988, it had recognised the State of Palestine. This was not just foreign policy, it was an extension of India's own story: a nation born from anti-colonial struggle, standing in solidarity with others seeking the same. And while the headlines may focus on India's growing defence partnership with Israel, its support for Palestinian civilians has been steady and substantial. Since the conflict began, India has sent nearly 70 metric tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza, including 16.5 metric tonnes of life-saving medical supplies delivered in two separate tranches. This aid went directly to United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) and the Palestinian Ministry of Health. That's not all. In 2024 alone, India disbursed $5 million to UNRWA, matching its contribution from the previous year. These funds support education, healthcare, and emergency services for Palestinian refugees, many of whom have nowhere else to turn. India's diplomatic engagements also underscore its commitment to the Palestinian cause. In September 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the Summit of the Future in New York, expressing deep concern over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and reaffirming India's steadfast support for the Palestinian people India's policy is rooted in a clear position: firm support for a negotiated two-state solution. Since the Hamas–Israel war erupted in October 2023, the UN General Assembly has voted 13 times on resolutions related to Palestine. India voted for 10 of them. It abstained on just three. That's not indifference, it's discernment. India isn't choosing sides. It's choosing balance. In 1992, as the Cold War order gave way to new alliances and economic pragmatism, India established full diplomatic ties with Israel. India wasn't walking away from Palestine. It was stepping into a multipolar world, where relationships needed to reflect not just ideology, but national interest, security, and innovation. Israel offered what India urgently needed: advanced defence technology, agricultural innovation, counter-terror expertise. And for Israel, India became a key democratic partner in the Global South, vast, stable, and increasingly influential. Today, the relationship is multifaceted. Israel supplies India with drones, radar systems, and missile technology. Intelligence cooperation runs deep. For a country facing cross-border terrorism, complex insurgencies, and a volatile neighbourhood, this partnership is neither optional nor ideological, it is essential. India lives with the daily reality of terrorism. Its foreign policy can't be built on ideals alone, it must function in a world of asymmetric threats, complex alliances, and 1.4 billion people watching. And yet, India has not abandoned the Palestinian cause. India continues to support a two-state solution. It sends humanitarian aid to Gaza. It engages with both Israeli and Palestinian leadership. This is not fence-sitting. It's calibration. And it's exactly what a rising power is supposed to do. It has consistently called for restraint, civilian protection, and de-escalation. India's commitment to peace remains unchanged. What's evolved is its approach: quieter influence, strategic action, and diplomacy that prioritises outcomes over optics. And then there's Iran. India's ties with Tehran run deep. Strategically, Iran gives India access to Afghanistan and Central Asia through the Chabahar Port. Economically, Iran has long been a vital source of energy. India's engagement with Iran remains active and strategic, anchored by the Chabahar Port, a project critical to New Delhi's regional connectivity and geopolitical balancing. In May 2024, India and Iran signed a 10-year agreement granting India Ports Global Ltd. (IPGL) the rights to operate the Shahid Beheshti terminal. India committed $120 million in direct investment and extended a $250 million credit line to upgrade infrastructure. Jointly managed by IPGL (a JV between Jawaharlal Nehru and Kandla Port Trusts) and Iran's Aria Banader, Chabahar offers India a crucial alternative trade route to Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Russia bypassing Pakistan and countering China's influence through Gwadar Port and the Belt and Road Initiative. As tensions between Iran and Israel escalate, India is closely monitoring risks to both Chabahar and the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a multimodal trade network linking India to Eurasia via Iran. These tensions are not abstract for India, they are tied to real infrastructure, energy flows, and diplomatic alignments. And they sharpened dramatically after October 7, when Hamas launched a brutal attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. India responded immediately and unequivocally: it condemned Hamas's actions as terrorism. But condemnation did not mean abandonment. India's support for Palestinian self-determination, anchored in decades of principled diplomacy remains intact. To some, that duality may look like fence-sitting. In truth, it's strategic autonomy: a deliberate choice in a volatile world. This is not appeasement. It's agency. India has always believed in peace but not performatively. It acts. Quietly. It evacuated its citizens from Israel and Iran during the height of tensions. It sent aid to Gaza. And it remains one of the few countries that can still speak to all sides, Israel, Palestine, Iran, the United States, the Gulf. That, too, is power. The world is not binary. India knows this better than most. To expect India to echo talking points is to ignore the reality of a multipolar world. India doesn't follow anymore. It positions. Predictably, much of the moral outrage over India's foreign policy comes not from the global South or West, but from India's own opposition benches, especially the Congress Party, which now seems more committed to performative critique than constructive diplomacy. Whether it was the Balakot airstrikes, the abrogation of Article 370, or India's engagement with Israel, Congress's pattern has remained consistent: question first, assess later. From surgical strikes to border skirmishes, Congress's instinct has been reflexive doubt, especially when national interest clashes with its preferred narrative. At best, it's ideological rigidity. At worst, it's political self-sabotage. Either way, it does not align with India's 21st-century realities. After the October 7 Hamas attacks, India unequivocally condemned terrorism. Congress chose to frame this as a deviation from India's principled foreign policy, overlooking the fact that condemning terrorism and supporting Palestinian rights are not mutually exclusive. This tendency to politicise foreign policy choices, often in the face of cross-party consensus, undermines both credibility and coherence. Moreover, by portraying strategic partnerships as ideological compromises, the party risks disconnecting from the lived realities of a rising India, one that must engage with a multipolar world on its own terms. Foreign policy isn't theatre. It's triage. India today is balancing multiple priorities, deepening ties with Israel, managing energy dependencies with Iran, building strategic infrastructure in Chabahar, and remaining a voice for de-escalation in West Asia. That balancing act is fragile. It cannot afford to be derailed by outdated moral binaries or domestic political point-scoring. top videos View all In a world that's fracturing into camps, India is refusing to be boxed in. It is doing what serious nations do, preserving space to speak to all sides. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18's views. About the Author Natasha Jha Bhaskar Natasha Jha Bhaskar is Executive Director at Newland Global Group, Australia's leading corporate advisory firm focused on strengthening India-Australia trade and investment ties. She is also the UN Women More tags : israel-gaza war Israel-Iran tensions Narendra Modi view comments Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: June 23, 2025, 11:55 IST News opinion Opinion | India's Voice Is Strategic, Not Silent Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Arab News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Palestinian president says Hamas must hand over weapons in Gaza
LONDON: The Palestinian Authority's President Mahmoud Abbas reaffirmed that Hamas will not take part in governing the coastal enclave of the post-war Gaza Strip during a meeting with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in Amman. Abbas said Hamas must surrender its weapons to the PA and participate in political actions aligned with the principles of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Neither Hamas nor Islamic Jihad is part of the PLO, and both groups have long rejected calls to join what Palestinians consider their sole political representative since the 1960s. Abbas said that Hamas must recognize that in the Palestinian territories, there should be 'one system, one law, and one legitimate weapon,' during his meeting on Sunday evening with Blair, who served as the special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East from 2007 to 2015. Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 after armed clashes with PA forces, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 700 Palestinians, according to an official tally. Since then, it has engaged in several conflicts with Israel, the most recent being the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, which resulted in the deaths and abduction of several hundred people and prompted an ongoing Israeli war on Gaza, which has killed over 58,000 Palestinians. Abbas called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and the flow of humanitarian aid. He stressed the need for a two-state solution and the importance of the French-Saudi-sponsored conference, scheduled for the end of July in New York, to gain support for establishing a Palestinian state.
Middle East Eye
4 days ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Mahmoud Abbas says Hamas will not rule post-war Gaza during meeting with Tony Blair
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters on Sunday that Hamas will not rule Gaza after Israel ends its 21-month-long war on the besieged enclave. During a meeting with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in the Jordanian capital, Amman, Abbas also said Hamas must hand over its weapons to the PA and "engage in political work under a unified legal system - one authority, one law, and one legitimate weapon". Abbas, 89, and his administration are deeply unpopular among ordinary Palestinians due to allegations of corruption and their close ties with Israel. Since the start of the year, PA security forces have intensified a crackdown on armed groups in the occupied West Bank, killing dozens of fighters opposed to Israel. Earlier this year, in a development first reported by Middle East Eye, Abbas visited Lebanon, where he agreed to a framework under which Palestinian factions would disarm. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Palestinian groups have argued that bearing arms is essential due to threats posed by Israel and continued political marginalisation. At Sunday's meeting with Blair, Abbas said the only viable solution after the war was for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, with the PA assuming full responsibility of the territory - supported by Arab countries and the international community. He also called for an international conference to be held in New York to implement a two-state solution based on the Arab Peace Initiative. In March, Arab states endorsed a 91-page proposal for the future of Gaza, with a $53bn budget for reconstruction over a five-year period. The initiative, led by Egypt, was presented as an alternative to a plan to forcibly expel Palestinians from Gaza proposed by US President Donald Trump. Cairo's plan states that for the first six months, the territory would be run by a non-partisan technocratic committee, overseen by the PA. Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, has reiterated in recent months that it is not interested in being part of any administrative structure in post-war Gaza. Tony Blair Institute mired in controversy The Palestinian president's meeting with the former UK premier comes just days after the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) was linked to a project widely condemned for proposing the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. The vision, outlined in a slide deck titled "The Great Trust", was created by a group of Israeli businessmen with support from consultants at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). BCG's plan assumed that at least 25 percent of Palestinians would leave "voluntarily", with most never returning. While it remains unclear whether Palestinians would have any choice in the matter, the proposal has been widely condemned as ethnic cleansing of Gaza's population. The project aimed to transform the enclave, which has been reduced to rubble by Israeli bombardment, into a lucrative investment hub. Central to the proposal were blockchain-based trade schemes, special economic zones with low taxes, and artificial islands modelled after Dubai's coastline. Although TBI insists it neither endorsed nor authored the slide deck, two of its staff members participated in discussions related to the initiative.
Roya News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Roya News
Abbas says Hamas won't govern Gaza once ceasefire begins
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that Hamas will not be allowed to govern the Gaza Strip in the post-war period, stressing that the group must disarm and commit to the political program of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). 'Hamas must hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority and engage in political work under a unified legal system, one authority, one law, and one legitimate weapon,' Abbas said during a meeting with former British Prime Minister and ex-Quartet envoy Tony Blair in Amman, Jordan. The remarks come amid ongoing diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, with Abbas reiterating the need for an immediate halt to hostilities, the release of all captives and detainees, and the unhindered entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave. President Abbas emphasized that the only viable solution is a full 'Israeli' withdrawal from Gaza and the empowerment of the Palestinian state to assume full responsibilities in the territory with strong Arab and international support. He also called for an end to all unilateral 'Israeli' actions, including settlement expansion, annexation attempts, and repeated assaults on Islamic and Christian holy sites. Abbas renewed his call for a serious political process based on international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative, advocating for the convening of an international peace conference in New York to implement the two-state solution. At the conclusion of the meeting, the two sides agreed to continue coordination and engagement with relevant parties to end the war and promote regional peace and stability.
