29/07/2025

TUESDAY | JULY 29, 2025

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Push for two-state solution

Settlers attack West Bank Christian village

o 142 states recognise Palestine

and the other Arab. The following year, the state of Israel was proclaimed. For several decades, the vast majority of UN member states have supported the idea of a two-state solution, Israelis and Palestinians living side-by-side peacefully and securely. But after more than 21 months of war in Gaza, the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and Israeli officials declaring designs to annex occupied territory, it is feared a Palestinian state could be geographically impossible. The conference is a response to the crisis, with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and several dozen ministers from around the world expected to attend. It is coming at a moment when “the prospect of a Palestinian state has never been so threatened, or so necessary”, Barrot said. Beyond facilitating conditions for the recognition of a Palestinian

state, the meeting will have three other focusses: reform of the Palestinian Authority, disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from Palestinian public life, and normalisation of relations with Israel by Arab states that have not yet done so. No new normalisation deals are expected to be announced at the meeting, according to a French diplomatic source. But “for the first time, Arab countries will condemn Hamas and call for its disarmament”, Barrot said. The conference “offers a unique opportunity to transform international law and the international consensus into an achievable plan and to demonstrate resolve to end the occupation and conflict once and for all, for the benefit of all peoples,” said Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour. Israel and the United States will not take part in the meeting. – AFP

TEL AVIV: Israeli settlers attacked the Christian Palestinian village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank, torching cars and spray-painting threatening graffiti, the Palestinian Authority said yesterday. “Israeli colonial settlers launched a terror attack on Taybeh (Ramallah), setting fire to vehicles and spray painting threats in Hebrew on homes and property,” the Ramallah-based authority wrote on X. A Taybeh resident, speaking anonymously for safety reasons, said at least two vehicles were set on fire. They said one vehicle belonged to a journalist, while noting the damage appeared to target Palestinian property broadly. A photo shared by a Palestinian government agency on X showed graffiti on a Taybeh wall that read: “Al Mughayyir, you will regret”, referring to a nearby village that was also attacked by settlers earlier this year. The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack, calling it “settler terrorism”. Germany’s ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, also condemned it, writing on X: “These extremist settlers may claim that God gave them the land. But they are nothing but criminals abhorrent to any faith.” Taybeh and its surroundings have experienced several bouts of settler violence in recent months, including an arson attack at an ancient Byzantine church. The village – home to about 1,300 mostly Christian Palestinians, many holding US dual citizenship – is known for its brewery. – AFP

NEW YORK: France and Saudi Arabia are leading the charge to revive the moribund push for a two state solution between Israel and the Palestinians at a UN conference here. Days before the conference, co chaired by Riyadh and Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he would formally recognise the State of Palestine in September. The decision “will breathe new life into a conference that seemed destined to irrelevance”, said Richard Gowan, an analyst at the International Crisis Group. “Macron’s announcement changes the game. Other participants will be scrabbling to decide if they should also declare an intent to recognise Palestine.” In an interview with French weekly La Tribune Dimanche ,

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that other European countries will confirm “their intention to recognise the State of Palestine” during the conference, without detailing which ones. France is hoping that Britain will take this step, and more than 200 British MPs on Friday pushed British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to do so, but he reiterated that recognition of a Palestinian state “must be part of a wider plan”. According to an AFP database, at least 142 of the 193 UN member states, including France, now recognise the Palestinian state proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988. In 1947, a resolution of the UN General Assembly decided on the partition of Palestine, then under a British mandate, into two independent states – one Jewish

‘HUNGER MUST NEVER BE WEAPON OF WAR’ ADDIS ABABA: UN chief Antonio Guterres urged the international community yesterday to reject hunger as a weapon of war. UN agencies have been warning of life-threatening hunger in Gaza as aid supplies dried up, and international pressure has been building for a ceasefire to allow a massive relief operation. Israel’s government, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, furiously denies that it is using hunger as a weapon of war, and instead accuses the aid agencies of failing to pick up and distribute aid delivered to Gaza’s border crossing points. “Hunger fuels instability and undermines peace. We must never accept hunger as a weapon of war,” Guterres said. – AFP IRAN REJECTS TALKS ON DEFENCE TEHRAN: Iran said yesterday that its military capabilities were not up for negotiations, after France called for a “comprehensive deal” with Tehran that covers its missile programme and regional influence. “On matters related to defence capabilities, there will absolutely be no discussion,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei. Iran refers to all military activities, including its ballistic missile programme, as defensive. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told CBS News show Face The Nation that Western governments were seeking a “comprehensive agreement” with Iran. – AFP

BR I E F S

Humanitarian aid airdropped over Gaza on Sunday. – REUTERSPIC

Only 73 aid trucks allowed into Gaza

ISTANBUL: Local authorities in Gaza said on Sunday that only 73 aid trucks entered the besieged enclave in the last 24 hours, amid a deepening famine caused by Israel’s blockade. The government media office said in a statement that the humanitarian crisis has reached unprecedented levels, with at least 133 people, including 87 children, dying from hunger since the start of the Israeli genocidal war. Israel said yesterday that more than 120 truckloads of food aid were distributed by the UN and aid agencies in the Gaza Strip on the first

smaller quantities of aid. The Gaza media office said only 73 trucks have arrived, and many of those were looted or obstructed under Israeli surveillance. The media office said three airdrops were carried out over Gaza, but their total payload was equivalent to only two aid trucks. The drops landed in “red zones” – active combat areas marked on Israeli maps – where civilians cannot safely retrieve supplies, it added. “What is happening is a farce,” the office said, accusing the international community of complicity through “false promises”

day of a promised limited break in fighting. “Over 120 trucks were collected and distributed yesterday by the UN and international organisations,”said COGAT, an Israeli Defence Ministry body overseeing civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories. “An additional 180 trucks entered Gaza and are now awaiting collection and distribution, along with hundreds of others still queued for UN pickup,” COGAT said in a post on X. Separately, Israel, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have conducted parachute air drops of

and information” coming from major powers like the United States. It renewed its call for the unconditional reopening of border crossings and the immediate entry of food, water and infant formula. Palestinian authorities say that Gaza needs 600 aid trucks daily to meet the needs of the territory’s 2.4 million population. On Sunday, Israel announced plans for localised temporary pauses in fighting to allow aid deliveries through designated safe corridors after scores of Palestinians died of starvation. – Bernama/AFP “misleading