13/09/2025

SATURDAY | SEPT 13, 2025

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New York Declaration up for vote

the Palestinian civilian population and facilitate security responsibilities to the Palestinian Authority. Around three-quarters of the 193 UN member states recognise the Palestinian state proclaimed in 1988 by the exiled Palestinian leadership. However, after two years of war have ravaged the Gaza Strip, in addition to expanded Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the stated desire by Israeli officials to annex the territory, fears have been growing that the existence of an independent Palestinian state will soon become impossible. “We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Thursday. – AFP UAE summons Israeli ambassador DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates summoned the Israeli ambassador yesterday over Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar, Israeli broadcaster KAN reported, in another sign of strain between the two countries with close economic and defence ties. Even before Tuesday’s strike on the Qatari capital Doha, relations between Abu Dhabi and Israel’s far-right government had been uneasy over a planned Israeli annexation of the West Bank, which the UAE said would constitute a “red line”. Israel’s attempt to kill Hamas political leaders prompted international condemnation, but on Wednesday an unrepentant Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin warned Qatar to either expel Hamas officials or “bring them to justice, because if you don’t, we will”. The UAE, the most prominent Arab country to normalise ties with Israel in 30 years, condemned Netanyahu’s remarks as “hostile”, as its President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan toured Gulf Arab countries aimed at coordinating positions on the Israeli attack. There was no immediate comment from the UAE and Israeli foreign ministries on the KAN report. The Doha attack was especially sensitive because Qatar has been hosting and mediating negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire in the Gaza war. – Reuters

International Crisis Group. “Now at least states supporting the Palestinians can rebuff Israeli accusations that they implicitly condone Hamas,” he said, adding that it “offers a shield against Israeli criticism”. In addition to Macron, several other leaders have announced their intent to formally recognise the Palestinian state during the UN summit. The gestures are seen as a means of increasing pressure on Israel to end the war in Gaza. The New York Declaration includes discussion of a “deployment of a temporary international stabilisation mission” to the battered region under the mandate of the UN Security Council, aiming to support

o Move to excise Hamas from Gaza

“In the context of ending the war in Gaza, Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with international engagement and support, in line with the objective of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State,” the declaration states. The vote precedes an upcoming UN summit co-chaired by Riyadh and Paris on Sept 22 in New York, in which French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to formally recognise the Palestinian state. “The fact that the General Assembly is finally backing a text that condemns Hamas directly is significant,” even if “Israelis will say it is far too little, far too late,” said Richard Gowan, UN director at the

Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, the text states “Hamas must free all hostages” and that the UN General Assembly condemns “the attacks committed by Hamas against civilians on the 7th of October.” It also calls for “collective action to end the war in Gaza, to achieve a just, peaceful and lasting settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the effective implementation of the Two-State solution.” The declaration, which was already endorsed by the Arab League and co-signed in July by 17 UN member states, including several Arab countries, also goes further than condemning Hamas, seeking to fully excise them from leadership in Gaza.

NEW YORK: The UN General Assembly will vote on whether to back the “New York Declaration”, a resolution which seeks to breathe new life into the two-state solution between Israel and Palestine – without the involvement of Hamas. Although Israel has criticised UN bodies for nearly two years over their failure to condemn the attack on Oct 7, 2023, the declaration, presented by France and Saudi Arabia, leaves no ambiguity. Formally called the New York Declaration on the Peaceful NEW YORK: The UN Security Council on Thursday condemned strikes on Qatar earlier this week and called for de-escalation, without naming Israel which carried out the attack. The Security Council “underscored the statement, which required the agreement of all 15 council members, including Israel’s ally the United States. Council members also “underlined their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar”. On Tuesday, Israel launched an unprecedented strike on Qatar’s capital Doha targeting Hamas leaders. The group said its top officials survived, while five of its members were left dead and a Qatari security force member was also killed. The Security Council statement called Doha “the territory of a key mediator” for peace talks between Israel and Hamas, alongside Egypt and the United States. “Council members underscored that releasing the hostages, including those killed by Hamas, and ending the war and suffering in Gaza must remain our top priority,” the statement continued. Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani (pic) , who travelled to New York for the emergency meeting, welcomed the council’s statement of support and importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar”, said the

UN Security Council condemns strikes

reiterated his country’s commitment to acting as a mediator in the conflict. “We will continue our humanitarian and diplomatic role

without any hesitation, to stop the bloodshed,” Al-Thani said, a day after suggesting a reassessment of his country’s mediation role. “At the same time, we will not condone any attack on our sovereignty. We will reserve the right to respond through tools guaranteed by international law,” he said, calling Israel’s leaders

“bloodthirsty extremists”. The Security Council has been largely paralysed on the Gaza offensive due to repeated vetoes by the United States and other member states. But President Donald Trump, despite his support of Israel, said he was “not thrilled” with the attack on Tuesday in Doha, which targeted a residential complex hosting Hamas officials in the core of the city. At a Security Council meeting on the strikes later on Thursday, acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea told the body: “Unilateral bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation working very hard and bravely taking risks alongside the United States to broker peace, does not advance Israel’s or America’s goals.” “That said, it is inappropriate for any member to use this to question Israel’s commitment to bringing their hostages home,” Shea continued.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, comforts a mourner at a funeral for those killed in Doha. – QATAR TV/REUTERS TV VIA REUTERSPIC

Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo expressed concern that the strikes represented an “alarming escalation”. “The Israeli attack on Doha potentially opens a new and perilous chapter in this devastating conflict, seriously threatening regional peace and stability,” she said. – AFP

“Eliminating Hamas, which has profited off of the misery of those living in Gaza, is a worthy goal,” she said, calling the strikes “unfortunate” but adding that “President Trump believes it could serve as an opportunity for peace.” UN Under-Secretary General for

Russian booksellers face legal minefield ST PETERSBURG: In a bookstore in the Russian city of St Petersburg, employees are painstakingly cutting out labels, placing them on the covers of books and sealing the volumes in clear plastic wrapping. wording that could potentially apply to books, although books by “agents” are not banned outright. Many well-known writers,

at St Petersburg bookstore Vo Ves Golos (At the Top of My Voice), the legal situation is fraught with “unpredictable traps”. “It turns out that we now have to keep track not only of laws concerning printed materials. We have to track, as it were, all the laws in the cultural sphere, and some concerning trade. And all this has got terribly complicated,” she said. Neshcheret said the store, which has five employees, devotes three to four shifts per month to the labelling and wrapping of “foreign agent” books to make sure they are clearly identified to customers. – Reuters

including novelist Dmitry Glukhovsky, have been placed on Russia’s foreign agent list, which includes hundreds of individuals and entities accused by the authorities of conducting subversive activity with support from abroad. The designation predates the war in Ukraine and has been widely applied to activists, politicians, journalists, NGOs and others who have fallen foul of authorities. For Elena Neshcheret, a manager

The wording on each slip of paper reads: “This material (information) has been produced by a foreign agent or concerns the activity of a foreign agent.” Under a law that came into force on Sept 1, people who have been designated by Russia as foreign agents are banned from educational activity or producing “information products for minors” – a broad

A bookstore employee wraps a book in St Petersburg. – REUTERSPIC