New Israel FM says Palestinian state not ‘realistic’/node/2578918/middle-east
New Israel FM says Palestinian state not ‘realistic’
Update
Israel’s new Foreign Minister Gideon Saar speaks during a hand over ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem on November 10, 2024. (AFP)
New Israel FM says Palestinian state not ‘realistic’
“I don’t think this position is realistic today and we must be realistic,” the newly appointed minister said
A Palestinian state would be “a Hamas state,” Saar added
Updated 11 November 2024
AFP
JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Monday rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state as a “realistic” goal, after Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas reiterated his commitment to a “sovereign” country.
“I don’t think this position is realistic today and we must be realistic,” the newly appointed minister said in response to a question about the creation of a Palestinian state in exchange for a normalization of ties between Israel and Arab countries.
The normalization drive was a part of the 2020 Abraham Accords overseen by Donald Trump, and the process could resume after the president-elect returns to the White House in January.
A Palestinian state would be “a Hamas state,” Saar added of the Palestinian militant group in Gaza with which Israel has been at war for more than a year.
Abbas, in comments carried by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, said Sunday that “security and stability” could only be achieved with the establishment of “sovereignty and independence on the land of the Palestinian state.”
The Palestinian Authority leader was speaking ahead of the 20th anniversary Monday of the death of iconic Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Abbas also reaffirmed his push for “peace, and we will continue to work to achieve it.”
As Saar spoke in Jerusalem, Arab and Muslim leaders gathered in Saudi Arabia for a summit addressing the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, where Israel is also fighting Hamas ally Hezbollah.
A draft resolution at the summit stressed “firm support” for “national rights” for the Palestinian people, “foremost among which is their right to freedom and to an independent, sovereign state.”
The war in Gaza erupted with Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 last year, which resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed more than 43,603 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran, began firing on Israel after the October 7 attack.
The regular cross-border exchanges escalated in late September when Israel intensified its air strikes and later sent ground troops into southern Lebanon.
Syria’s new central bank chief vows to boost bank independence post Assad
Central bank is preparing draft law to boost independence, review of FX, gold reserves is under way
Governor says wants avoid printing money due to inflation impact
Updated 27 sec ago
Reuters
DAMASCUS: Syria’s new central bank governor, Maysaa Sabreen, said she wants to boost the institution’s independence over monetary policy decisions, in what would be a sea change from the heavy control exerted under the Assad regime. Sabreen, previously the Central Bank of Syria’s number two, took over in a caretaker role from former governor Mohammed Issam Hazime late last year. She is a rare example of a former top state employee promoted after Syria’s new Islamic rulers’ lightning offensive led to President Bashar Assad’s fall on Dec. 8. “The bank is working on preparing draft amendments to the bank’s law to enhance its independence, including allowing it more freedom to make decisions regarding monetary policy,” she told Reuters in her first media interview since taking office. The changes would need the approval of Syria’s new governing authority, though the process is at this stage unclear. Sabreen gave no indication of timing. Economists view central bank independence as critical to achieve long-term macroeconomic and financial sector stability. While the Central Bank of Syria has always been, on paper, an independent institution, under Assad’s regime the bank’s policy decisions were de facto determined by the government. Syria’s central bank, Sabreen added, was also looking at ways to expand Islamic banking further to bring in Syrians who avoided using traditional banking services. “This may include giving banks that provide traditional services the option to open Islamic banking branches,” Sabreen, who has served for 20 years at the bank, told Reuters from her office in bustling central Damascus. Islamic banking complies with sharia, or Islamic law, and bans charging interest as well as investing in prohibited businesses such as trading in alcohol, pork, arms, pornography or gambling. Islamic banking is already well established in the predominantly Muslim nation. Limited access to international and domestic financing meant the Assad government used the central bank to finance its deficit, stoking inflation. Sabreen said she is keen for all that to change. “The bank wants to avoid having to print Syrian pounds because this would have an impact on inflation rates,” she said. Asked about the size of Syria’s current foreign exchange and gold reserves, Sabreen declined to provide details, saying a balance sheet review was still underway. Four people familiar with the situation told Reuters in December that the central bank had nearly 26 tons of gold in its vaults, worth around $2.2 billion, some $200 million in foreign currency and a large quantity of Syrian pounds. The Central Bank of Syria and several former governors are under US sanctions imposed after former Assad’s violent suppression of protests in 2011 that spiralled into a 13-year civil war. Sabreen said the central bank has enough money in its coffers to pay salaries for civil servants even after a 400 percent raise promised by the new administration. She did not elaborate. Reuters reported that Qatar would help finance the boost in public sector wages, a process made possible by a US sanctions waiver from Jan. 6 that allows transactions with Syrian governing institutions. Inflation challenge Analysts say stabilising the currency and tackling inflation will be Sabreen’s key tasks — as well as putting the financial sector back on a sound footing. The Syrian currency’s value has tumbled from around 50 pounds per US dollar in late 2011 to just over 13,000 pounds per dollar on Monday, according to LSEG and central bank data. The World Bank in a report in spring 2024 estimated that annual inflation jumped nearly 100 percent year-on-year last year. The central bank is also looking to restructure state-owned banks and to introduce regulations for money exchange and transfer shops that have become a key source of hard currency, said Sabreen, who most recently oversaw the banking sector. Assad’s government heavily restricted the use of foreign currency, with many Syrians scared of even uttering the word “dollar.” The new administration of de facto leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa abolished such restrictions and now locals wave wads of banknotes on streets and hawk cash from the backs of cars, including one parked outside the central bank’s entrance. To help stabilize the country and improve basic services, the US last week allowed sanctions exemptions for humanitarian aid, the energy sector and sending remittances to Syria, although it reiterated the central bank itself remained subject to sanctions. Sabreen said allowing personal transfers from Syrians abroad was a positive step and hoped sanctions would be fully lifted so banks could link back up to the global financial system.
Final draft of Gaza truce deal presented to sides after ‘breakthrough’, official says
Biden says ceasefire and hostage deal he had championed was on “the brink” of coming to fruition
Another round of talks is planned in Doha on Tuesday morning to finalize remaining details of deal
Updated 14 January 2025
Reuters
DOHA/CAIRO: Mediators gave Israel and Hamas a final draft of a deal on Monday to end the war in Gaza, an official briefed on the negotiations said, after a midnight “breakthrough” in talks attended by envoys of both outgoing US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump.
Biden said a ceasefire and hostage release deal he had championed was on “the brink” of coming to fruition and Hamas said it was keen on reaching an agreement.
“The deal ... would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started,” Biden said in a speech to highlight his foreign policy achievements.
The official briefed on the talks, who did not want to be otherwise identified, said the text for a ceasefire and release of hostages was presented by Qatar to both sides at talks in Doha, which included the chiefs of Israel’s Mossad and Shin Bet spy agencies and Qatar’s prime minister.
Another round of talks is planned in Doha on Tuesday morning to finalize remaining details, with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Biden’s envoy Brett McGurk expected to attend, as they had on Monday, the official said.
An Israeli official said negotiations were in advanced stages for the release of up to 33 hostages as part of the deal. The Hamas delegation in Doha issued a statement after a meeting with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani saying talks were progressing well.
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters the negotiations were at a “pivotal” point, with gaps between two sides slowly getting removed. “I think there is a good chance we can close this ... the parties are right on the cusp of being able to close this deal,” he said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the sides were “closer than we’ve ever been” to a deal, and the ball was in Hamas’ court.
“We are very hopeful that we get it over the finish line, finally after all this time,” he told MSNBC, adding that the proposed deal was based on a framework Biden put out in May.
Blinken said negotiators wanted to make sure Trump would continue to back the deal on the table so Witkoff’s participation has been “critical.”
Israel’s Kan radio, citing an Israeli official, reported on Monday that the Israeli delegation had briefed Israel’s leaders. Israel, Hamas and the foreign ministry of Qatar did not respond to requests for confirmation or comment.
Officials on both sides, while stopping short of confirming that a final draft had been reached, reported progress.
“The negotiation over some core issues made progress and we are working to conclude what remains soon,” a Hamas official told Reuters.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters: “There is progress, it looks much better than previously. I want to thank our American friends for the huge efforts they are investing to secure a hostage deal.”
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have worked for more than a year on talks to end the war in Gaza.
In Cairo, an Egyptian security official told Reuters the draft sent to the two warring sides did not comprise the final agreement but “aims to resolve outstanding issues that had hindered previous negotiations.”
Sullivan said Biden would soon speak with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi about the negotiations.
Hell to pay
Israel’s Channel 12 said Israeli government institutions had been told to prepare for the intake of weak and sick hostages.
The warring sides have agreed for months broadly on the principle of halting the fighting in return for the release of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian detainees held by Israel. But Hamas has always insisted a deal must lead to a permanent end to the war and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel has said it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled.
Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration is now widely seen as a de facto deadline. Trump has said there would be “hell to pay” unless hostages held by Hamas are freed before he takes office, while Biden has also pushed hard for a deal before he leaves.
The official who first disclosed the draft said talks went until the early hours of Monday, with Witkoff pushing the Israeli delegation in the Qatari capital Doha and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani pushing Hamas officials to finalize an agreement.
The head of Egypt’s general intelligence agency Hassan Mahmoud Rashad was also in Doha as part of the talks. Rashad left Doha on Monday but a source familiar with the talks said an intelligence delegation stayed behind to play an active role.
Trump envoy Witkoff has traveled to Qatar and Israel several times since late November. He was in Doha on Friday and traveled to Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday before returning to Doha.
Biden also spoke on Sunday by phone with Netanyahu, stressing “the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and return of the hostages with a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by a stoppage in the fighting under the deal,” the White House said.
Israel launched its assault in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave laid to waste and most of its population displaced.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and his Religious Zionism party, a hard-line nationalist party which has opposed previous attempts at a deal, said all its members would oppose a deal that didn’t achieve Hamas’ “destruction” and the latest proposal endangered Israel’s national security.
Bloodshed continued in Gaza on Monday. Residents reported a series of explosions in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip that targeted homes and roads. Palestinian health officials said at least 40 Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded in Israeli military strikes in the Gaza Strip on Monday.
The Israeli military said five soldiers had been killed in fighting in northern Gaza, bringing to nine the number of its troops killed since Saturday.
A missile fired by Houthi rebels targets central Israel as airstrikes hit displaced area in Gaza
No injuries from the missile or falling debris, but some people suffered injuries when running to shelters
Updated 14 January 2025
AP
JERUSALEM: A missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted central Israel early Tuesday, causing sirens to blare and people to flee into bomb shelters. Several Israeli strikes also hit the Gaza Strip overnight and early on Tuesday, as Israel and Hamas appear to be inching closer to a phased ceasefire agreement
The Israeli military said it made several attempts to intercept a missile launched from Yemen and “the missile was likely intercepted.” The Magen David Adom emergency service in Israel said 11 people injured while running to shelters.
Israel’s military also said an earlier missile was intercepted before it entered Israeli territory.
Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who have held Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014, have launched direct attacks on Israel and some 100 commercial ships as part of their campaign over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The rebels did not immediately acknowledge the attack, though it can take hours or even days for them to claim an assault.
In central Gaza, at least six people — two women and their four children aged between 1 month and 9 years old — were killed by Israeli strikes that hit an area in Deir al Balah where displaced people live in tents. One woman — the mother of two of the boys killed — was pregnant. The other woman was killed together with her daughter and son.
The information was confirmed by Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al Balah, which received the bodies.
Some Israeli soldiers refuse to keep fighting in Gaza
Seven soldiers who’ve refused to continue fighting in Gaza spoke with AP, describing how Palestinians were indiscriminately killed and houses destroyed
Ishai Menuchin, spokesperson for Yesh Gvul, a movement for soldiers refusing to serve, said he works with more than 80 soldiers who have refused to fight and that there are hundreds more who feel similarly but remain silent
Updated 14 January 2025
AP
JERUSALEM: Yotam Vilk says the image of Israeli soldiers killing an unarmed Palestinian teenager in the Gaza Strip is seared in his mind.
An officer in the armored corps, Vilk said the instructions were to shoot any unauthorized person who entered an Israeli-controlled buffer zone in Gaza. He saw at least 12 people killed, he said, but it is the shooting of the teen that he can’t shake.
“He died as part of a bigger story. As part of the policy of staying there and not seeing Palestinians as people,” Vilk, 28, told The Associated Press.
Vilk is among a growing number of Israeli soldiers speaking out against the 15-month conflict and refusing to serve anymore, saying they saw or did things that crossed ethical lines. While the movement is small — some 200 soldiers signed a letter saying they’d stop fighting if the government didn’t secure a ceasefire — soldiers say it’s the tip of the iceberg and they want others to come forward.
Destroyed buildings inside the Gaza Strip are seen from southern Israel, on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP)
Their refusal comes at a time of mounting pressure on Israel and Hamas to wind down the fighting. Ceasefire talks are underway, and both President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump have called for a deal by the Jan. 20 inauguration.
Seven soldiers who’ve refused to continue fighting in Gaza spoke with AP, describing how Palestinians were indiscriminately killed and houses destroyed. Several said they were ordered to burn or demolish homes that posed no threat, and they saw soldiers loot and vandalize residences.
Soldiers are required to steer clear of politics, and they rarely speak out against the army. After Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel quickly united behind the war launched against the militant group. Divisions here have grown as the war progresses, but most criticism has focused on the mounting number of soldiers killed and the failure to bring home hostages, not actions in Gaza.
Yuval Green, center, and Yotam Vilk, left, take part in a panel discussion for soldiers refusing to serve in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP)
International rights groups have accused Israel of war crimes and genocide in Gaza. The International Court of Justice is investigating genocide allegations filed by South Africa. The International Criminal Court is seeking the arrests of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.
Israel adamantly rejects genocide allegations and says it takes extraordinary measures to minimize civilian harm in Gaza. The army says it never intentionally targets civilians, and investigates and punishes cases of suspected wrongdoing. But rights groups have long said the army does a poor job of investigating itself.
The army told AP it condemns the refusal to serve and takes any call for refusal seriously, with each case examined individually. Soldiers can go to jail for refusing to serve, but none who signed the letter has been detained, according to those who organized the signatures.
Soldiers’ reactions in Gaza.
Yotam Vilk, who served in an armored unit in the Gaza Strip and is now one of a growing number of Israeli soldiers speaking out against the 15-month conflict, poses for a portrait in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP)
When Vilk entered Gaza in November 2023, he said, he thought the initial use of force might bring both sides to the table. But as the war dragged on, he said he saw the value of human life disintegrate.
On the day the Palestinian teenager was killed last August, he said, Israeli troops shouted at him to stop and fired warning shots at his feet, but he kept moving. He said others were also killed walking into the buffer zone — the Netzarim Corridor, a road dividing northern and southern Gaza.
Vilk acknowledged it was hard to determine whether people were armed, but said he believes soldiers acted too quickly.
Israeli soldiers stand by a truck packed with bound and blindfolded Palestinian detainees in Gaza, on Dec. 8, 2023. (AP)
In the end, he said, Hamas is to blame for some deaths in the buffer zone — he described one Palestinian detained by his unit who said Hamas paid people $25 to walk into the corridor to gauge the army’s reaction.
Some soldiers told AP it took time to digest what they saw in Gaza. Others said they became so enraged they decided they’d stop serving almost immediately.
Yuval Green, a 27-year-old medic, described abandoning his post last January after spending nearly two months in Gaza, unable to live with what he’d seen.
He said soldiers desecrated homes, using black markers meant for medical emergencies to scribble graffiti, and looted homes, looking for prayer beads to collect as souvenirs.
The final straw, he said, was his commander ordering troops to burn down a house, saying he didn’t want Hamas to be able to use it. Green said he sat in a military vehicle, choking on fumes amid the smell of burning plastic. He found the fire vindictive — he said he saw no reason to take more from Palestinians than they’d already lost. He left his unit before their mission was complete.
Green said that as much as he loathed what he witnessed, “the cruelty was at least in part provoked by the havoc wreaked by Hamas on Oct. 7, which people can forget.”
He said he wants his actions in refusing to serve to help break the vicious cycle of violence on all sides.
The soldiers’ refusal as an act of protest
Soldiers for the Hostages — the group behind the letter troops signed — is trying to garner momentum, holding an event this month in Tel Aviv and gathering more signatures. A panel of soldiers spoke about what they’d seen in Gaza. Organizers distributed poster-size stickers with a Martin Luther King Jr. quote: “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
Max Kresch, an organizer, said soldiers can use their positions to create change. “We need to use our voice to speak up in the face of injustice, even if that is unpopular,” he said.
But some who fought and lost colleagues call the movement a slap in the face. More than 830 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the war, according to the army.
“They are harming our ability to defend ourselves,” said Gilad Segal, a 42-year-old paratrooper who spent two months in Gaza at the end of 2023. He said everything the army did was necessary, including the flattening of houses used as Hamas hideouts. It’s not a soldier’s place to agree or disagree with the government, he argued.
Ishai Menuchin, spokesperson for Yesh Gvul, a movement for soldiers refusing to serve, said he works with more than 80 soldiers who have refused to fight and that there are hundreds more who feel similarly but remain silent.
Effects on soldiers
Some of the soldiers who spoke to AP said they feel conflicted and regretful, and they’re talking to friends and relatives about what they saw to process it.
Many soldiers suffer from “moral injury,” said Tuly Flint, a trauma therapy specialist who’s counseled hundreds of them during the war. It’s a response when people see or do something that goes against their beliefs, he said, and it can result in a lack of sleep, flashbacks and feelings of unworthiness. Talking about it and trying to spark change can help, Flint said.
One former infantry soldier told AP about his feelings of guilt — he said he saw about 15 buildings burned down unnecessarily during a two-week stint in late 2023. He said that if he could do it all over again, he wouldn’t have fought.
“I didn’t light the match, but I stood guard outside the house. I participated in war crimes,” said the soldier, speaking on condition of anonymity over fears of retaliation. “I’m so sorry for what we’ve done.”
Macron says new Lebanon PM represents ‘hope for change’
Lebanon has been managed by a caretaker government for the past two years, and Salam’s backers hope he can reduce the militant group Hezbollah’s domination of Lebanese politics and strengthen the central government
Updated 14 January 2025
AFP
PARIS: France on Monday hailed the appointment of Nawaf Salam as Lebanon’s new prime minister, saying he had the will to help the war-scarred country emerge from its deep economic crisis.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun picked Salam, the presiding judge at the International Court of Justice, as prime minister.
“A hope for change is rising,” France’s President Emmanuel Macron said on X, wishing him “success in forming a government in the service of all Lebanese people.”
A majority of Lebanese lawmakers endorsed Salam to form a government for a country whose economy has been battered by the conflicts engulfing its neighbors.
Lebanon has been managed by a caretaker government for the past two years, and Salam’s backers hope he can reduce the militant group Hezbollah’s domination of Lebanese politics and strengthen the central government.
Macron’s office said Salam was “recognized for his integrity and his skills.”
He “has already expressed in the past his desire to lead the reforms that the Lebanese and the international community expect to put Lebanon back on the path to restoring its sovereignty and the reforms necessary for the economic recovery of the country.”
Macron’s office said he hoped Salam’s government could be both “strong” and “represent all the diversity of the Lebanese people.”
The agreement on a new prime minister “opens extremely promising prospects” to overcome Lebanon’s financial crisis, it said.
“It is about rebuilding trust and we are in a framework that will allow us to reassure international donors, carry out the expected reforms and build a financing framework,” the French presidency said.
Macron is expected to visit Lebanon shortly to show his support for the new leadership.
He has recently also spoken to Nabih Berri, the speaker of the Lebanese parliament, to Najib Mikati, the outgoing prime minister, and to Walid Jumblatt, the leader of the Druze community.
