Latest news with #MiddleEastPeaceProcess
Irish Times
01-08-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Recognition of a Palestinian state has become a punishment for Israel, says its former prime minister
In declaring that they intend to recognise a Palestinian state , Britain , France and Canada have moved closer to a step that Palestinians have sought for decades. But their announcements leave unanswered a crucial question: in the gritty context of today's conflict – with Israel waging war in a shattered Gaza Strip , threatening to annex the occupied West Bank and administering East Jerusalem as part of its own capital – what is left of Palestine to recognise? They also upend the sequence of the now-moribund Middle East peace process, in which detailed talks between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) were intended to be followed by international recognition of whatever Palestinian state emerged from those discussions. Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said the gesture by Israel's western allies of recognising Palestine had taken on a different meaning. READ MORE What was intended to be a reward for Palestinians – a celebration for successfully ending more than eight decades of conflict – had in 2025 become a punishment for Israel . Ehud Olmert was the last Israeli prime minister to truly address the complexities of a two-state solution. Photograph: Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images It was a reflection of 'the real desperation of losing trust', said Olmert, whose premiership between 2006 and 2009 was the last time an Israeli leader seriously tussled with the complexities of a two-state solution. To Olmert, it is as if they are saying to his successor, prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu: 'You didn't listen to us, to anything we are trying to do – so what else do we have but to use this, something you are so opposed to.' Olmert said the promised recognitions amount to a threat to dismantle the legacy of Israel's longest-serving premier, who has spent his nearly two decades in power blocking a Palestinian state from taking shape. Netanyahu's governments have expanded settlements, taken more land into Israeli state control and demonised the internationally accepted Palestinian Authority (PA) as supporters of terrorism akin to Hamas, the militant group that wrested Gaza from the PA in 2007. Netanyahu has lambasted the British and French proposals as a reward for Hamas, which triggered the current war with its cross-border attacks on southern Israel on October 7th, 2023. Now Netanyahu, who refuses to take responsibility for the scale of civilian suffering that Israel has wrought on Gaza, faces the prospect of four out of five permanent UN Security Council members recognising the state of Palestine. China and Russia have already done so. This would deepen Israel's diplomatic isolation as it fights accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, the UN's highest court, and as the premier himself faces charges of war crimes at the International Criminal Court. The pledges by three G7 nations to recognise a Palestinian state ahead of the UN General Assembly in September all come with conditions. Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority president, speaks during the United Nations General Assembly in New York last year. Photograph: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images UK prime minister Keir Starmer's hinge on Netanyahu ending the crisis in Gaza, while Canada is demanding that the PA, run by the ageing and unpopular president Mahmoud Abbas, enacts serious reforms and hold its first elections in nearly two decades. The announcements have been met with deep hostility from Netanyahu's far-right coalition, which is propped up by parties seeking to annex the West Bank. The last time Netanyahu – reluctantly – engaged with the peace process was in 2014, under great pressure from the Obama administration. The process of recognising a Palestinian state would also run up against the limits of international law: the 1933 Montevideo Convention sets out minimum criteria for a state, which include a permanent population, defined borders and a government. Two-year-old Yazan Abu Foul, held by his mother Naima, is suffering from severe malnutrition as a result of Israel's campaign in Gaza. Photograph: Haitham Imad That is one reason that Canadian prime minister Mark Carney has insisted that the PA – a semi-autonomous body set up by the Oslo Accords in the 1990s – commit to reforms that would restore a measure of democratic legitimacy to Abbas's government, said a Canadian diplomat briefed on the matter. Palestinian statehood also faces practical difficulties as formidable today as it did in 1988, when PLO chair Yasser Arafat first set out a formal claim to a Palestinian nation that mingled the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish with the prose of UN resolutions. He created a government in exile, based in Algiers. Most crucially, Israel controls all the borders and occupies the land on which any Palestinian state could be built. World powers have largely supported Palestinians governing an area that roughly aligns with the 1967 armistice line, which includes the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip – territories wrested from Jordan and Egypt by Israel. Israel's defence minister Israel Katz, whose government in May announced plans to build 22 new West Bank settlements , has said of the push for recognition: 'They will recognise a Palestinian state on paper – and we will build the Jewish-Israeli state on the ground.' Yet even if western recognition would bring little change in the territory, Palestinians say it would buoy morale and add weight to the beleaguered PLO's claim to statehood. Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu with US president Donald Trump at the White House. Photograph: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times 'It would still be very useful because it confirms the right of self-determination for the Palestinian people, which Israel is trying to eliminate,' said Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and regular interlocutor with western diplomats. 'The issue of recognition is a political matter – admitting into law what these countries always speak about, the two-state solution.' Palestinian delegations to the UK, France or Canada would also become fully fledged embassies, getting diplomatic rights and immunities, and able to sign treaties as a state. 'States have allies, allies have responsibilities,' said a Palestinian diplomat based in the UK. 'Until then, all we have as Palestinians are friends.' These recognitions would undermine Israel's traditional argument that it is not alone in opposing unilateral Palestinian statehood, said Victor Kattan, who has served as a legal adviser to the Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department in Ramallah. Some 147 countries already recognise a Palestinian state, but the addition of the UK, France and Canada would represent a significant shift on the part of powerful western states traditionally seen as Israel's unflinching allies. That shift is especially resonant on the part of the UK, the colonial power that administered Mandate Palestine after the first World War, issuing the Balfour Declaration that paved the way for a Jewish state to take shape on Palestinian land and fuelling a conflict that rages decades later. 'The Israelis had always had a strong 'moral minority' argument, that so long as some of the major western states . . . still don't recognise Palestine, there will always be a question mark over its claims to statehood and sovereignty,' said Kattan, who now teaches international law at the University of Nottingham. Protesters hold a banner showing starving Palestinian children during a rally in solidarity with the Palestinian people, at Sana'a University in Yemen. Photograph: Yahya Arhab/EPA 'But now that that's crumbling – it looks like nearly everybody is going to recognise Palestine, except for the United States – it greatly strengthens Palestinian claims to statehood.' The moves by the UK, France and Canada have infuriated the White House, with US president Donald Trump saying they pose a threat to trade talks with Canada. The US's long-standing policy has been to resist attempts by supporters of Palestine to assume some of the markers of statehood. On Thursday, the state department imposed sanctions on the PLO, for among other things 'taking actions to internationalise its conflict with Israel such as through the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice'. Other diplomatic efforts to upgrade Palestinian claims to statehood are also under way, said western diplomats based in Jerusalem, including an attempt to upgrade the fledgling state of Palestine's UN 'observer status' to full membership. The US has twice vetoed those attempts, most recently in April 2024. One of the diplomats said: 'They will undoubtedly veto again – but this time, they will be running against a large wave of international opinion, not just a technical vote that is ignored as a matter of course.' – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025 International recognition of Palestinian statehood
Al Etihad
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Etihad
Egypt expresses its readiness to host international conference on early recovery, reconstruction in Gaza
29 June 2025 15:37 CAIRO (WAM)Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emigration and Expatriates Badr Abdelatty on Sunday emphasised the urgent need to end the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian a meeting with Christophe Bigot, the EU Special Representative (EUSR) for the Middle East Peace Process, Abdelatty reiterated Egypt's rejection of the displacement of Palestinians from their reviewed Egypt's efforts, in cooperation with Qatar and the US, to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, exchange hostages and prisoners, and ensure the entry of humanitarian aid into the pointed to the gravity of the current situation in the Gaza Strip, in light of the humanitarian catastrophe there and Israel's continued obstruction of humanitarian aid expressed Egypt's readiness to host an international conference on early recovery and reconstruction in Gaza as soon as a ceasefire agreement is top Egyptian diplomat highlighted the dangerous developments in the West Bank, warning of the serious implications of continued Israeli military operations in West Bank cities and stressed the necessity of stopping the repeated and blatant attacks by Israeli settlers against the said that he is looking forward to hosting the international conference on the peaceful settlement of the Palestinian issue, and the implementation of the two-state solution, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia. He emphasised the importance of expanding international recognition of Palestine, and establishing a Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 borders with East Jerusalem (Al Quds) as its capital, considering it the only way to achieve sustainable peace, security, and stability in the region.
See - Sada Elbalad
29-06-2025
- Politics
- See - Sada Elbalad
Egypt's FM, EU Envoy Discuss Gaza Ceasefire, West Bank Violence, Peace Prospects
By Ahmad El-Assasy Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Migration, Dr. Badr Abdel Aaty, held talks on Sunday, June 29, with Christophe Bigot, the European Union's Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process, to discuss urgent developments in Gaza and the broader Palestinian territories. According to Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ambassador Tamim Khallaf, the meeting focused on Egypt's diplomatic efforts, in coordination with Qatar and the United States, to broker a ceasefire in Gaza, facilitate the exchange of hostages and detainees, and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave. Minister Abdel Aaty highlighted the grave humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and criticized Israel's ongoing obstruction of aid access. He reiterated Egypt's firm rejection of any forced displacement of Palestinians and emphasized Cairo's readiness to host a conference on early recovery and reconstruction in Gaza, once a ceasefire agreement is reached. The minister also raised alarm over the escalating violence in the occupied West Bank, warning of the dangers posed by continued Israeli military operations in Palestinian towns and villages, and condemned the frequent and brutal settler attacks on Palestinian civilians. Abdel Aaty reaffirmed Egypt's support for the international conference on the peaceful settlement of the Palestinian issue, which is being jointly proposed by France and Saudi Arabia. He underscored the urgent need to accelerate international recognition of the State of Palestine, based on the June 4, 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, viewing it as the only path toward lasting peace, security, and stability in the region. read more Gold prices rise, 21 Karat at EGP 3685 NATO's Role in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict US Expresses 'Strong Opposition' to New Turkish Military Operation in Syria Shoukry Meets Director-General of FAO Lavrov: confrontation bet. nuclear powers must be avoided News Iran Summons French Ambassador over Foreign Minister Remarks News Aboul Gheit Condemns Israeli Escalation in West Bank News Greek PM: Athens Plays Key Role in Improving Energy Security in Region News One Person Injured in Explosion at Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid News China Launches Largest Ever Aircraft Carrier Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Videos & Features Tragedy Overshadows MC Alger Championship Celebration: One Fan Dead, 11 Injured After Stadium Fall Lifestyle Get to Know 2025 Eid Al Adha Prayer Times in Egypt Business Fear & Greed Index Plummets to Lowest Level Ever Recorded amid Global Trade War Arts & Culture Zahi Hawass: Claims of Columns Beneath the Pyramid of Khafre Are Lies News Flights suspended at Port Sudan Airport after Drone Attacks Videos & Features Video: Trending Lifestyle TikToker Valeria Márquez Shot Dead during Live Stream News Shell Unveils Cost-Cutting, LNG Growth Plan Technology 50-Year Soviet Spacecraft 'Kosmos 482' Crashes into Indian Ocean
Otago Daily Times
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
US criticises allies as NZ bans top Israeli ministers
The United States has denounced sanctions by Britain and allies - including New Zealand - against Israeli far-right ministers, saying they should focus instead on the Palestinian armed group Hamas. New Zealand has banned two extremist Israeli politicians from travelling to the country because of comments about the war in Gaza that Foreign Minister Winston Peters says "actively undermine peace and security". It joined Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and Norway in imposing the sanctions on Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Peters said they were targeted towards two individuals, rather than the Israeli government. "Our action today is not against the Israeli people, who suffered immeasurably on October 7 [2023] and who have continued to suffer through Hamas' ongoing refusal to release all hostages. Nor is it designed to sanction the wider Israeli government." The ministers were "using their leadership positions to actively undermine peace and security and remove prospects for a two-state solution", Peters said. "Ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have severely and deliberately undermined that by personally advocating for the annexation of Palestinian land and the expansion of illegal settlements, while inciting violence and forced displacement." The sanctions were consistent with New Zealand's approach to other foreign policy issues, he said. "New Zealand has also targeted travel bans on politicians and military leaders advocating violence or undermining democracy in other countries in the past, including Russia, Belarus and Myanmar." New Zealand has been a long-standing supporter of a two-state solution, Peters said, which the international community was also overwhelmingly in favour of. "New Zealand's consistent and historic position has been that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are a violation of international law. Settlements and associated violence undermine the prospects for a viable two-state solution. "The crisis in Gaza has made returning to a meaningful political process all the more urgent. New Zealand will continue to advocate for an end to the current conflict and an urgent restart of the Middle East Peace Process." Israel's foreign minister Gideon Saar said the move was "outrageous" and the government would hold a special meeting early next week to decide how to respond to the "unacceptable decision". His comments were made while attending the inauguration of a new Israeli settlement on Palestinian land. Peters is in Europe for the sixth Pacific-France Summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in Nice. 'Extremely unhelpful' Tammy Bruce, a spokeswoman for the US State Department, said it finds the sanctions "extremely unhelpful. It will do nothing to get us closer to a ceasefire in Gaza." Britain, Canada, Norway, New Zealand and Australia "should focus on the real culprit, which is Hamas", she said of the sanctions. "We remain concerned about any step that would further isolate Israel from the international community." The two ministers faced repeated criticism but no formal sanctions under former US president Joe Biden. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has vowed unstinting support for Israel. "If our allies want to help, they should focus on supporting Special Envoy [Steve] Witkoff's negotiations and backing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation when it comes to food and aid," Bruce said. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed aid in coordination with the Israeli military - an effort criticised by the United Nations and longstanding aid groups which say it violates humanitarian principles. 'You have to take actions' University of Otago international relations professor Robert Patman told RNZ's Morning Report programme today it was a "calibrated fulfilment of the promise to follow up actions if Israel did not desist" from expanding its military operations in Palestinian territory. "In May, the UK and France and Canada had demanded that Israel stop expanding its military operations in Gaza and allow emergency aid, humanitarian aid into Gaza. "It should be recalled that in early March, Israel, unilaterally cut off all humanitarian aid to Gaza and something like more than a million Palestinians now face starvation. And so this statement was made in May by those three countries, two of whom are members of the Five Eyes." New Zealand is also a member of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, as are the United States and Australia. Patman also noted that the International Court of Justice last year said Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory - not just in Gaza, but also the West Bank - was illegal. New Zealand supported that recommendation. "New Zealand's position has been… that there must be a two-state solution to the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Now the problem is that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his ministers adamantly opposed the two-state solution." The growing condemnation around the world of Israel's response to the 7 October atrocities was a result of the United States' "lack of will to try to make Israel comply with international law", Patman suggested. "I think the other liberal democracies are now beginning to react to that because they realise that Netanyahu, the Netanyahu government, has no intention of having a two-state solution. "Iin fact, it seems to be in the process of weaponising food distribution in Gaza… They set up, with the United States, something called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which seems to be part of a strategy to gradually evict Palestinians from Gaza. "Netanyahu's government doesn't make any bones about this. He wants to extend control over Gaza and… annex the West Bank [which] would completely rule out a two-state solution." Rather than just symbolic, Patman said European nations' sanctioning of Israeli ministers could have a real impact. "About 34 percent of Israel's trade is with members of the European Union, and if this stance taken by these five countries is replicated elsewhere and spreads, not just to these two ministers but to the Netanyahu government, then we could be looking at a different situation. "Verbal appeals to Israel to comply with international law have not worked. So, you know, if you believe in a two-state solution, then you have to take actions to try to bring it about." - Additional reporting by Reuters
Otago Daily Times
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
New Zealand sanctions top Israeli ministers
New Zealand has banned two extremist Israeli politicians from travelling to the country because of comments about the war in Gaza that Foreign Minister Winston Peters says "actively undermine peace and security". New Zealand joins Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and Norway in imposing the sanctions on Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Peters said they were targeted towards two individuals, rather than the Israeli government. "Our action today is not against the Israeli people, who suffered immeasurably on October 7 [2023] and who have continued to suffer through Hamas' ongoing refusal to release all hostages. Nor is it designed to sanction the wider Israeli government." The ministers were "using their leadership positions to actively undermine peace and security and remove prospects for a two-state solution", Peters said. "Ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have severely and deliberately undermined that by personally advocating for the annexation of Palestinian land and the expansion of illegal settlements, while inciting violence and forced displacement." The sanctions were consistent with New Zealand's approach to other foreign policy issues, he said. "New Zealand has also targeted travel bans on politicians and military leaders advocating violence or undermining democracy in other countries in the past, including Russia, Belarus and Myanmar." New Zealand has been a long-standing supporter of a two-state solution, Peters said, which the international community was also overwhelmingly in favour of. "New Zealand's consistent and historic position has been that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are a violation of international law. Settlements and associated violence undermine the prospects for a viable two-state solution. "The crisis in Gaza has made returning to a meaningful political process all the more urgent. New Zealand will continue to advocate for an end to the current conflict and an urgent restart of the Middle East Peace Process." Israel's foreign minister Gideon Saar said the move was "outrageous" and the government would hold a special meeting early next week to decide how to respond to the "unacceptable decision". His comments were made while attending the inauguration of a new Israeli settlement on Palestinian land. Peters is in Europe for the sixth Pacific-France Summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in Nice. 'You have to take actions' University of Otago international relations professor Robert Patman told RNZ's Morning Report programme today it was a "calibrated fulfilment of the promise to follow up actions if Israel did not desist" from expanding its military operations in Palestinian territory. "In May, the UK and France and Canada had demanded that Israel stop expanding its military operations in Gaza and allow emergency aid, humanitarian aid into Gaza. "It should be recalled that in early March, Israel, unilaterally cut off all humanitarian aid to Gaza and something like more than a million Palestinians now face starvation. And so this statement was made in May by those three countries, two of whom are members of the Five Eyes." New Zealand is also a member of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, as are the United States and Australia. Patman also noted that the International Court of Justice last year said Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory - not just in Gaza, but also the West Bank - was illegal. New Zealand supported that recommendation. "New Zealand's position has been… that there must be a two-state solution to the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Now the problem is that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his ministers adamantly opposed the two-state solution." The growing condemnation around the world of Israel's response to the 7 October atrocities was a result of the United States' "lack of will to try to make Israel comply with international law", Patman suggested. "I think the other liberal democracies are now beginning to react to that because they realise that Netanyahu, the Netanyahu government, has no intention of having a two-state solution. "Iin fact, it seems to be in the process of weaponising food distribution in Gaza… They set up, with the United States, something called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which seems to be part of a strategy to gradually evict Palestinians from Gaza. "Netanyahu's government doesn't make any bones about this. He wants to extend control over Gaza and… annex the West Bank [which] would completely rule out a two-state solution." Rather than just symbolic, Patman said European nations' sanctioning of Israeli ministers could have a real impact. "About 34 percent of Israel's trade is with members of the European Union, and if this stance taken by these five countries is replicated elsewhere and spreads, not just to these two ministers but to the Netanyahu government, then we could be looking at a different situation. "Verbal appeals to Israel to comply with international law have not worked. So, you know, if you believe in a two-state solution, then you have to take actions to try to bring it about." - Additional reporting by Reuters
