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Hamas leaders are likely to be emboldened to carry on fighting by French and British proposals to recognize a Palestinian state in a break with Trump.. Frustrated by the deadlocked peace negotiations between Israel and Hamas, and seeing the chances of a two-state solution slipping away, several European countries led by the United Kingdom and France have now promised to recognize an independent Palestinian state to reaffirm their commitment to a permanent settlement. However, far from encouraging a ceasefire in the conflict that has raged in the Gaza Strip for nearly two years, European efforts will only encourage Hamas to...

The world’s Arab countries for the first time have joined unanimously in the call for Hamas to lay down its weapons, release all hostages and end its rule of the Gaza Strip, conditions that they said could help the establishment of a Palestinian state. The surprise declaration, endorsed on Tuesday by the 22 member nations of the Arab League, also condemned Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, which set off the devastating war in Gaza. The statement came at a United Nations conference in New York on a two-state solution to end the decades-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. “In...

In an effort to end the fighting in Gaza, the Arab League issued a declaration at a United Nations conference on reviving the two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, condemning the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and calling on the terrorists to release all hostages it is holding, disarm, and end its rule of Gaza. It's an amazing document. Unfortunately, it's also a non-starter. The document calls for a two-state solution, which is something that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly and firmly rejected.More problematically, the plan also calls for a "right of return" for...

Saudi Arabia will not pursue normalization with Israel absent the creation of a Palestinian state, the kingdom’s top diplomat said on Monday, according to Bloomberg. Speaking at a joint press conference with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot at the United Nations, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan declared that normalization “can only come through the establishment of a Palestinian state.” “That position remains the same, and it is based on a strong conviction that only through the establishment of a Palestinian state and only through addressing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination can we have sustainable...

The Trump administration says it boycotted a United Nations conference promoting the two-state solution on Monday, calling the event a “publicity stunt” and an “insult.” “This week, the U.N. will serve as host to an unproductive and ill-timed conference on the two-state solution in New York City,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement. “This is a publicity stunt that comes in the middle of delicate diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.” Bruce said the conference will “prolong the war, embolden Hamas, and reward its obstruction and undermine real-world efforts to achieve peace.” Instead of participating, Bruce said...

The Zohran Mamdani campaign has some of the earmarks of a foreign influence operation. ...‘Jews for Zohran’ (and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice) turns out to be as Jewish as a Sri Lankan Marxist billionaire at war with America (and Israel).

Al-Qaeda "Recruits Bulgarian Students" 2003-12-17 Bulgarians pursuing religious studies at Jordan universities are being lured into al-Qaeda's terrorism network, Bulgarian 24 Chasa daily said Wednesday. According to the article's author, the information came from some Istanbul journalists who were familiar with a special services report on worldwide-spread terrorism. In 1999, Afghan radical groups prepared a plan for recruiting religious studies scholars from Jordan universities, the newspaper claims. Al-Qaeda is also eyeing youths from Romania, Bosnia, Macedonia and the province of Kosovo, the article says. Those who develop the perfect skills for enticing new al-Qaeda followers themselves, travel back to their...

King Abdullah II called for a global fight against terrorism yesterday as Jordan acknowledged for the first time that al Qaeda in Iraq used foreign suicide bombers to attack Amman hotels, killing 57.

President Sissi said to float idea during meetings with other Arab leaders, though he has publicly rebuffed suggestions his country could take in any Palestinian refugees.Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has informed other Arab leaders that he is willing to temporarily relocate half a million residents from Gaza to northern Sinai in a designated city as part of the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, according to a Friday report.According to the report in the Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper, Sissi made his willingness known during meetings held by Arab leaders in recent weeks in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. There was no confirmation of...

On the face of it, Trump’s plan for the US to occupy Gaza is not remotely feasible, but that could all be part of the president’s scheme. US President Donald Trump dropped a bombshell on Tuesday when he announced that the United States will take over the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future. With his declaration, the president has once again thrown a diplomatic grenade into the Middle East conversation – not a particularly quiet region at the best of times and one beset by 15 months of war. The proposal – one that envisions the US developing Gaza, creating...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will become the first world leader to visit the White House on Tuesday when he holds meetings with President Donald Trump. A senior administration official confirmed the trip, but stressed that it was a 'working meeting' without the ceremony of an 'official visit.' DailyMail.com understands that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is also due to visit in February, along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is also expected soon. Netanyahu's place at the top of the list lays down a marker for Trump's priorities in office, as he eyes the next step in a...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Israel must withdraw its forces from Syria or it will cause “unfavorable outcomes for everyone.” “The aggressive actions of the forces attacking Syrian territory, Israel, in particular, must come to an end as soon as possible,” he said during a meeting of his party in Ankara. “Everyone should take their hands off Syria and we, along with our Syrian brothers, will crush the heads of Islamic State, the YPG and other terrorist organizations in a short time.”

On December 6, 2024, Senator Tom Cotton (Republican of Arkansas) introduced a bill in the Senate to replace “West Bank” in all federal documents with “Judea and Samaria,” noting, “The Jewish people’s legal and historic rights to Judea and Samaria go back thousands of years. The US should stop using the politically charged term West Bank to refer to the biblical heartland of Israel.” His bill matches a House bill introduced earlier this year by Representatives Claudia Tenney, Randy Weber, and Anthony D’Esposito. Yes, they are the Jewish names but also the world’s. In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly...

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Sunday repeatedly blamed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the Islamist threat--from Iran to Pakistan. It all comes back to the Palestinian issue and Jerusalem, he said several times in an interview on NBC-TV's Meet the Press program. His host, David Gregory, did not ask the Jordanian King the obvious questions: Assuming Israel were to return the disputed West Bank territories, including East Jerusalem, which Jordan lost when it attacked Israel in the Six-Day War of June 1967, to Jordan or to a new Palestinian state, would that stop the Taliban and Al Qaeda from continuing their...

It is welcome news that Sweden’s Aid Minister, Benjamin Dousa, has said that Sweden will no longer fund UNRWA, apparently satisfied with Israel’s evidence that it has been a HAMAS front. The Arabs there need not worry, though, because Sweden is going to increase the amount of its aid, only using other agencies. Lucky for them. However, Israel could help itself by going further and attacking the very idea that the recipients of UNRWA largesse are “Palestinian refugees” entitled to such aid when there are virtually no refugees among them. And in any case, there is nothing Palestinian about them....

Israeli Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli called for the internartional coomunity to grant and recognize the independence of Kurdistan as Kurdish regions in northern Syria face attacks from Turkey and Turkish-backed rebel groups. "Kurdistan must be granted independence, while Erdoğan should be expelled from NATO and left to crown himself as the caliph of an Islamic state, ruling alongside his friends in ISIS and Al-Qaeda," Chikli wrote on X. Chikli's comments were made in response to an interview given by a Kurdish journalist in Syria with Israel's Kan News channel. .....

The FBI in Boston announced Monday that two Iranian men are under arrest, following accusations of export violations and providing material support to Iran.Boston FBI announce arrest of two Iranians in connection with fatal drone strike | 3:20WCVB Channel 5 Boston | 293K subscribers | 5,772 views | December 16, 2024

World Man identifying himself as American Travis Timmerman found in Syria after being freed from prison By Haley Ott Updated on: December 12, 2024 / 9:31 AM EST / CBS News A man identifying himself as an American from Missouri, Travis Timmerman, was found Thursday in Syria after he said he was freed from a prison earlier in the week, when longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad was forced from power by a shock rebel offensive. Timmerman told CBS News senior foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer that he had been trying to make his own way out of the country after walking out...

Israel’s Army Radio reported Thursday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began preparing plans for Israel to attack Iran’s nuclear sites after destroying nearly 90% of Syria’s air defense capabilities, which had formerly protected Iran. Army Radio military correspondent Doron Kadosh reported on air that Israel had destroyed 86% of Syria’s surface-to-air missile capability, among 500 other sites that the IDF had targeted since the fall of the Assad regime Sunday. Kadosh elaborated, in a post on X, that Israel had used 1800 munitions in the attack on Syrian weapons — munitions that had been intended for other purposes, but...

• Syrian rebels are speeding toward the major city of Homs, where residents are fleeing ahead of potential clashes between the rebels and regime forces. • The rebels seized Hama to the north on Thursday, the second major city taken from President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in just over a week of fighting. • A new uprising has also emerged in the southern Daraa province, with rebels there claiming to have taken a major military base and announcing that their “destination is Damascus.” • Russia’s embassy in Syria has urged its citizens to leave the country, citing “the difficult military and...