A leader of the Hamas movement said that talking about any deals to exchange prisoners without a comprehensive agreement on a ceasefire is completely unacceptable, and that there is consensus on it among the various levels of Hamas, stressing that the talk is about an Israeli proposal to release detainees in exchange for a long truce that will last for two months without a decision to cease-fire is unacceptable.

He explained that to begin any negotiations, they must start from the basis of a comprehensive ceasefire in its final stage, and not to resume fighting.

On the other hand, Egyptian sources familiar with Cairo’s movements related to the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip said that the Egyptian role currently focuses more on perceptions after the end of the war, and that the Qatari mediator has become, at the present moment, more concerned with the perceptions and proposals of the prisoner exchange deal and the broad lines for cease-fire.

The sources revealed, in exclusive conversations with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, that the discussions that took place with US administration officials and the leadership of the Hamas movement during the past few days witnessed agreement on the necessity of associating the ceasefire decision with the scene on the day following the war, indicating that there is great agreement. Between the Hamas leadership and Egyptian officials to establish clear frameworks and mechanisms for reconstruction.

The sources pointed out that Egypt considers the Gaza reconstruction file a major priority for it after the war stops, since a ceasefire without an agreement on how to rehabilitate and rebuild the Strip will be like a time bomb ready to explode at any time, considering that the mechanisms and conditions for reconstruction, following the previous rounds of war, It no longer fits the status quo.

The same sources revealed a new development related to the presence of the Hamas movement on the scene, after the end of the war, saying that in light of the conviction that has been generated throughout the current war in the impossibility of eradicating the movement from the Gaza Strip, it would not be unlikely for it to participate in any unity government that will be formed after ending the outstanding matters with the Gaza Strip. 

Source: Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed

At a time when the Israeli Ministry of Justice, the legal advisor to the government, and the Public Prosecution began taking rapid legislative measures to enact a new law related to the arrest and trial of thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip who were arrested on suspicion of participating in the Hamas attack on October 7, it was reported that judicial officials Israelis held consultations with a number of prosecutors and legal institutions in European countries regarding judicial prosecutions against members of the Palestinian movement. In parallel, Israeli fears have emerged of a counter-reaction by human rights institutions that also intend to prosecute Israeli leaders on charges of committing crimes against humanity during the war on Gaza.

Legal sources in Tel Aviv said that the High Court of Justice convening in The Hague to deliberate on South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel, accusing it of committing the crime of genocide, opened a counter-channel that could confuse Israeli efforts against Hamas members. Therefore, the Israeli Ministry of Justice decided to proceed slowly in its efforts and seek advice from Western experts. In this context, Ghali Behrav Meara, the legal advisor to the Israeli government, met with a number of senior judicial advisors and prosecutors in the United States, Germany, the Czech Republic, Portugal and Estonia, countries whose citizens were killed or captured by Hamas during an attack. October 7, as well as representatives of the embassies of Japan, Australia and Denmark, to hear their opinions on the matter. They were informed of the materials of the investigation that took place with the detained Hamas members and other participants in the attack. Video clips of the killing of Israeli and foreign civilians in that attack were shown to them. The Israelis asked their guests to help hold exceptional trials for these defendants, saying, “This is not only an internal Israeli issue, but should concern all human rights supporters in the world.”

The heads of foreign prosecutors met with members of the legal team that represented Israel before the International Court of Justice in The Hague to respond to South Africa’s lawsuit in which Israel was accused of committing genocide against the Gazans. They also met with officials in the Ministries of Security and Foreign Affairs and in the Israeli police, and listened to reports about the Israeli story. of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack and around the “Hamas” movement, and they participated in a tour of the towns of the “Gaza envelope.”

The European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said that Israel has a veto against the Palestinians' right to self-determination.

Borrell's statements came during a joint press conference with the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, and the European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Affairs, Oliver Varhelyi, after the EU-Egypt Association Council was held in Brussels.

Borrell pointed out that Egypt is one of the important actors in the Middle East, and cooperation with it will continue to increase.

Borrell pointed out that an agreement had been reached between the European Union and its allies in the Middle East on a “two-state solution,” which Israel announced that it opposes.

He pointed out that the United Nations has repeatedly recognized the right of the Palestinians to self-determination, and no party can deny or oppose that.

He stressed that Israel does not have the right to veto the right of the Palestinians to self-determination.

In press statements following the meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, Josep Borrell said that negotiations for a “two-state solution” in the Middle East will continue, whether Israel likes it or not.

He said, "If Israel does not want this solution, it will be difficult for it to find a place in the negotiations to build a solution. But this does not prevent other (actors) from doing so."

He added, "If the international community can prepare a solution together, propose it and agree on it, there will be a certain negotiating power."

Amnesty International reported today (Tuesday) that there are indicators warning of genocide in the Gaza Strip. Including the deaths of more than 25,000 people in Israeli attacks, according to the Arab World News Agency.

The organization said that among the indicators of genocide are “the deliberate deprivation of civilians in Gaza from humanitarian aid by Israel, and the adoption of racist and inhumane rhetoric against the Palestinians by some Israeli officials.”

It added on the “X” platform that among the indicators was what she described as “historic discrimination and oppression against Palestinians under the apartheid regime.”

Amnesty International stressed that there are no signs of an end to the collective human suffering, destruction and devastation in Gaza until the International Court of Justice issues a final ruling on the truth about the commission of genocide and other crimes under international law.

The organization stressed that “issuing an urgent order to implement temporary measures” is an important means of preventing further deaths, destruction and suffering of civilians and providing protection for them. It also helps warn other countries of the need not to contribute to committing crimes and grave violations.

By Michael Day

As the more powerful actor in a two-party conflict, the onus is on Israel to turn to compromise and political discourse

The deaths of 24 Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers in Gaza in a single day may pale in comparison to the vast total death toll of this three-month war. But it will add disproportionate pressure on Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu to compromise in a conflict in which he has been utterly deaf to calls for restraint or reason.

Many Israelis and moderate voices in Netanyahu’s war cabinet want to prioritise the release of hostages in Gaza over a sustained bombardment that appears more effective in causing humanitarian disaster than annihilating Hamas, the group responsible for the 7 October mass killings.

Netanyahu has been resisting calls for a ceasefire. Far-right ministers in his coalition oppose a deal to gain the hostages’ release from Gaza as it would require the release of all or many incarcerated Hamas members. And Netanyahu needs the extremists’ support for the coalition to survive. He is widely blamed by the Israeli public for the catastrophic security failings that allowed Hamas to attack with impunity on 7 October.

The press has been quick to remind Netanyahu of his comments to a Likud party meeting in 2019: “Anyone who wants to foil the establishment of a Palestinian state needs to support the strengthening of Hamas and the transfer of funds to Hamas.” We know how that ended.

Netanyahu would probably be comprehensively defeated in a general election. And out of power he would be more vulnerable to the prosecutors trying to nail him on corruption charges.

On all sides, pressures are growing on Netanyahu – from the US and its allies, from the Israeli public and from within his war cabinet. These will only increase if, as expected, a formal proposal delivered by the Egyptian government for the release of the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a long-term cease-fire emerges.

In an attempt to pre-empt this, the Israeli government has reportedly suggested a pause in its military offensive against Hamas for up to two months, in exchange for a phased release of the remaining 100-plus hostages in Gaza.

Without an end to the fighting, the Arab states will not begin to even discuss the Strip’s reconstruction. Arab leaders, under pressure from their own public, also need signs that Israel is prepared to change course from the past two decades and start to discuss a long-term political solution to its interminable conflict with the Palestinians.

A post-war peace settlement with the Palestinians – let alone a genuine attempt to allow them their own state – is probably the last thing on Netanyahu’s mind. Despite the chaos and horror, he appears more concerned with his own political survival, which perversely is guaranteed only for as long as the current conflict continues. 

On Sunday, the UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said it was “disappointing” that Netanyahu has announced he is not in favour of a Palestinian state. But in his very next breath Shapps underlined why neither he nor anyone should be surprised or disappointed by Netanyahu’s intransigence. “In fairness, he [Netanyahu] has said that all of his political career, as far as I can tell,” Shapps told Sky News. Shapps’ comments encapsulate Western cant and complacency towards the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The US makes periodic murmurings about the need for Palestinian statehood. But its one-sided role as protector and funder of Israel has undermined this (although even Washington’s patience must have limits). Biden is now under fire from Democrats for supporting Israel’s demolition of Gaza, which has killed over 1 per cent of the population and is effectively recruiting the next generation of antisemitic militants.

Reports suggest Netanyahu told Biden that he has not entirely ruled out the creation of a Palestinian state. But Netanyahu’s office then noted that any such development would revolve around a Palestinian state without full sovereignty – and therefore not a state at all.

It was the token nature of statehood offered in Clinton-era peace plans that saw them ultimately collapse in 2000. Almost a quarter of the century on, the status quo hasn’t changed. And Israel is relying on the same defence strategy of deterrence, surveillance and ruthless retaliation. But it failed spectacularly on 7 October, as Israeli security expert Uri Bar Joseph has noted in a thorough dismantling of Israel’s strategic failure.

“What’s missing is the political component, whose role would be to reduce our enemies’ motivation to go to war against us,” he says. “The only answer to the security problems in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is a peace agreement and the two-state solution.”

Israel needs to accept reality. As the more powerful actor in a two-party conflict, the onus is on it to turn to compromise and political discourse. But it can’t begin the long slog towards the light while the political considerations of Israel’s prime minister stand in the way.

The decades-long Israel-Palestinian conflict needs a political solution. But until Israel rids itself of Netanyahu, that conversation can’t even begin.

The Financial Times published a report prepared by James Shooter in which he questioned the importance of the call submitted by South Africa to the International Court of Justice against Israel. He said that the International Court of Justice heard legal arguments in important cases, but the case presented by South Africa was the most important because it accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.

A decision on the lawsuit, whose allegations Israel denies, will not be issued until years later. However, the court, with its 17 judges, will decide, in the coming days, whether it will accept the South African demand, which includes measures meant to limit the Israeli attack against Gaza.

  Even before the judges issued their decision, a country, which the writer says is democratic and supported by the West, was accused before the highest international crimes court, which led to global attention.

For Israel and its allies, the claim is baseless and arouses discontent.

For the Palestinians and their supporters, especially in the Global South, the situation is a test of the international system, which they see as always working against them.

“Few conflicts around the world have caused shocks like this,” says Dalia Scheindlin, a pollster in Tel Aviv. And all over the world, people have positions on it,” he said, so “I imagine that any decision from the court will ignite both parties, one way or another.”

In Israel, which the writer says was subjected to a Hamas attack on October 7, South Africa’s decision to bring it to court is incomprehensible and angering, especially since the 1948 Genocide Law, against which South Africa filed its lawsuit, appeared after the Nazi crimes against the Jews. During World War II.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a terrorist group committed the worst crime against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and one party is defending it, and in the name of the Holocaust? “What insolent bitterness.” He described the South African lawsuit as “a cry of hypocrisy that reaches the heavens.”

But the Palestinians see the situation in a different way: they hope that the international community will put pressure on Israel and stop its devastating attack on Israel, which has so far killed more than 25,000 Palestinians and displaced more than one million of the 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip. It is also an opportunity to hold Israel responsible for the oppression and oppression it has carried out against the Palestinians over the past 75 years. The Palestinian Ambassador to Britain, Hossam Zomlot, says: “This is the first serious international effort to end the horrific situation and demand accountability, after 75 years of denial of basic, equal rights for all people.” He said: “This is an important moment, and if the International Justice Organization adheres to its legal mandate and succeeds in its governance, it will succeed for itself and for the law-based international system.” If it fails, it will have failed itself, its mandate, and the entire international system based on law.”

In order to make a decision, the court's judges must decide whether Israel's actions are covered by the Genocide Charter and whether urgent measures are necessary to protect the rights of Palestinian citizens of Gaza, a lower threshold than that required to support the case presented by South Africa.

  If the court decided that the South African request was compatible with the provisions of the Genocide Charter, it might decide to approve all demands, from a ceasefire to preventing it from incitement to commit genocide or an act chosen by Israel. The decision will have a clear impact on the Gaza war.

  Legal analysts doubt the court’s decision is binding on Israel, as they say that Hamas is not covered by the case, and is still holding 130 hostages. The result may have been a compromise in terms of increasing humanitarian aid and opening the way for independent investigations.

Analysts say that if Israel decides to ignore the court's decision, any reprehensible decision will affect the way countries deal with Israel, such as not selling weapons to it, or preparing to impose sanctions on it.

Others believe that the decision will have an impact on other cases submitted to the Criminal Court, which deals with cases against individuals, not states. “The Genocide Charter is the Summit Charter, it is the crime of crimes,” says Sheila Bellan, an expert in international law and human rights. “So this is an explosive moment,” but there is a lot at stake, as there are many cases that have been paralyzed by the UN Security Council. States are willing to resort to the Court against other countries, and it carries opportunities and risks for the International Court of Justice, and may ultimately strengthen it and its influence, but there are also risks of dragging it into situations that expose it to accusation and politicization.

More US senators decided to sign an amendment that could impose conditions on military aid to Israel, amid growing demands for a ceasefire in Gaza, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu categorically rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state, according to what the British website Middle East Eye reported on Monday January 22, 2024.

Five Democratic members of the US Senate, Tina Smith, Raphael Warnock, Lavonza Butler, Tammy Baldwin, and Jon Ossoff, announced on Friday, January 19, that they would support an amendment presented by Senator Chris Van Hollen, requiring countries that receive US weapons to use them in a manner that... Complies with humanitarian law and US law.

With these five members, total support for the Van Hollen Amendment reaches 18 members, more than a third of the Democratic Caucus in the US Senate.

Van Hollen said, in an interview on Sunday, January 21: “Here is Prime Minister Netanyahu once again directly and publicly repelling the President of the United States.” He added: "It is time for a ceasefire. Biden must take a big and bold step. He must present the vision of a two-state solution."

A dispute has arisen between the Biden administration and Israel over the post-war plan in Gaza since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Strip, after the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation. These differences worsened after Netanyahu publicly opposed the Biden administration's call to take steps to create a Palestinian state.

But growing support for Van Hollen's bill shows how opposition to Netanyahu is causing Israel to lose allies within the Democratic Party.

The Van Hollen Amendment also requires the administration to report within 30 days if recipients of US weapons are using them in compliance with US terms of use, as well as US and international law.

Van Hollen also directed sharp criticism at Israel, due to what he says is its lack of cooperation with the administration to provide more humanitarian aid to Gaza and reduce civilian casualties.

But the amendment allows the president to issue a waiver not to pressure recipients of US weapons to cooperate in humanitarian aid if doing so is in the interest of US national security.

While the Middle East Eye website indicated that this amendment will also not apply to air defense systems, or “other systems that the President determines will be used for purely defensive purposes.”

By Lemur Malik

There is a lot of talk about voluntary migration. And about Israel's need to allow hundreds of thousands of Gazans to immigrate to other countries, and even give them and the countries ready to receive them incentives. This idea, which was previously limited to the “Jewish Power” party and appears in its political program, became so prevalent after October 7 that even representatives from the left were not afraid to present it as a realistic idea.

In an article written by Representative from the “There is a Future” Party, Ram Ben Barak, with the participation of Representative Danny Danon, he said that the countries of the world must help the people of Gaza to immigrate and settle again. He wrote, "This can be done through an international coordination system, the goal of which is to help the residents of Gaza. In order to facilitate the adaptation of Gazans, the international community will have to help them with an economic facilitation package, which will allow every Gazan family to begin the process of assimilation with ease and comfort."

They added in the article, “A smaller number could be a start, 10,000 Gazans in each country, which will greatly reduce the suffering of the Gazan community and improve the conditions of those who remain in the Strip. There are 193 countries in the world, according to voting in the United Nations, that strictly support the Palestinians, "It can be assumed that, in the majority, they will not oppose helping them. What is required is that a number of countries respond to these demands and accept the Gazans. This is not only a moral duty, but an opportunity for the countries of the world to mobilize and show their commitment to a workable solution that helps push the entire Middle East to stability."

It is true that Ben Barak later tried to clarify the difference between himself and the Knesset members from the right, indicating that he only wants to allow whoever wants to emigrate, unlike the right-wingers who are concerned about displacement. However, a review of the political program of the “Jewish Power” party reveals that its proposal is similar to the party’s proposal that is deeply rooted in the Israeli right, a proposal that was written before the elections and stems from an understanding of the future.

The idea of voluntary immigration and settling in other countries that is open to those who want a new and dignified life is not new, especially since Israel finds itself, time after time, in a state of danger from these residents. It is the most ethical solution for the residents of Israel, and also for the residents of Gaza who are concerned about a better life. And to be far from their neighbors from the Hamas movement, who were the cause of destruction, destruction and death.

The idea of immigration is not unique to Israel, and when we discover, time after time, that there is no other solution, we have to allow whoever wants to do it. Moreover, the lack of possibility of immigration is immoral. We cannot force any child to live in an “environment that sanctifies death,” and to be educated in schools that foster “anti-Semitism and hatred of Jews,” where rockets are fired “from the classrooms” into Israel.

I know that there are those who will try to distort my statements and present them as a call for displacement. This is not the case. I want to kill Israel's enemies, not displace them, and I certainly do not want to push them into voluntary emigration. Past experience indicates that displacing enemies does not help in eliminating “terrorism.” On the contrary, the enemy becomes stronger away from our eyes, and when he returns, he is stronger and more trained. I want to open the door for those who want to choose a life away from “terrorism,” who want to stay away from the bad life full of death and evil in Gaza, and who want to develop their lives in another country of their choice.

Against the backdrop of ongoing discussions regarding the “day after” the war in the Gaza Strip, the international community is concerned about the Israeli public’s opposition to the two-state solution, taking into account the bias of this public toward the right since the October 7 attack. But a new public opinion poll showed that the Israeli public could support a settlement that includes the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Meanwhile, the political echelon has assessed in recent weeks that the Israeli public is leaning towards the right in its positions, and it will be difficult for it to accept pressures for a political settlement. According to these estimates, the public is likely to see the negotiations on establishing a Palestinian state in Gaza as an achievement for Hamas. Among Netanyahu's circles, there are those who warned against calling the current war in historical consciousness the "Palestinian War of Independence."

  A foreign diplomat with intimate knowledge of international efforts to reach a viable regional solution after the war said that the public in Israel would oppose pushing forward such a solution, and added: “We have the impression that the Israeli public has lost confidence in the settlement with the Palestinians, and must be encouraged to see that there is hope.” "With such steps." In the opinion of this diplomat, the establishment of a Palestinian state can be linked to the normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel. He said: “Saudi Arabia has made clear that it will not move towards an agreement with Israel without making real progress with the Palestinians, but it did not demand the establishment of a Palestinian state first.” He explained: “The American president has a limited time to pay attention to this, and he needs a major political achievement in the Middle East in his campaign for the presidential elections. If it is possible to reach a settlement with Saudi Arabia in exchange for a serious Israeli willingness to discuss the establishment of a Palestinian state, then this will be considered an achievement.” .

However, despite estimates that the Israeli public is biased towards the right, an opinion poll of 500 people showed that this public could support the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state within the framework of a settlement that includes the return of all kidnapped persons and normalization with Saudi Arabia. According to the poll conducted by the “Medgham” Center for Research and Consultation, headed by Manu Geva, at the request of the “Geneva Initiative” [a movement founded on 12/1/2023 that supports a permanent Palestinian-Israeli agreement], 51.3% of the public in Israel supports an agreement supported by the United States. , returns the kidnapped people, within which a demilitarized Palestinian state is established in the West Bank and Gaza, and a normalization agreement is reached between Israel and Saudi Arabia, while 28.9% opposed the agreement, and 19.8% said that they had no opinion.

In response to the question: What situation do you prefer after 3 years in the Gaza Strip? 50.5% responded that they prefer not to have Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip, while 32% said that they prefer the presence of Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, and 17.5% have no opinion. The question was also raised: Did their relationship with the United States change after October 7, and how? 65% responded that the relationship with the United States since October 7 is good; 38.2% saw that it has not changed, and is still good; 26.3% said that the relationship became better after October 7, and 17.1% said that it became worse.

The Director General of the Geneva Initiative, Gadi Baltiansky, considered that the results of the poll clearly prove that the Israeli public is ready to accept a demilitarized Palestinian state in exchange for regional security and the return of all the kidnapped.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the third phase of the war on Gaza will take an additional half a year.

This came according to what was reported by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Authority (“Kan 11”), today, Tuesday, which indicated that Netanyahu had said this, during the “closed part” of the government session that was held this week, in which he pointed out that the Israeli army would need To half a year, to end the third phase of the war, which “has already begun in the northern Gaza Strip.”

Netanyahu told his ministers: “As we said previously, the air part would last three weeks, and so it was, and as we said, the second part of the broad maneuver would last three months, and so it was.”

Netanyahu added: “Thus we say that the third part of consolidating control, the cleansing, will continue for half a year.”

Israeli official: Negotiations on a prisoner exchange deal “are still ongoing”

In a related context, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported, citing an unnamed Israeli official, that negotiations on reaching a prisoner exchange deal “are still ongoing, and we have not received a negative response,” after the Associated Press reported in a report today, That Hamas has rejected the Israeli proposal to release the detainees, in exchange for a two-month ceasefire, and “allowing” senior Hamas leaders in Gaza to leave the Strip for other countries.

Earlier today, the American Associated Press quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that Hamas insists on its refusal to release more Israeli prisoners in Gaza, until Israel ends its ongoing war on Gaza for 109 days and withdraws its forces from the Strip.

The official said that Egypt and Qatar, which are playing a mediating role with American support between the Hamas movement and the Israeli occupation authorities, are working to develop a multi-stage proposal to try to bridge the gaps between the two sides. Note that the Israeli side refuses to discuss offers that include a commitment to stop the war on Gaza, which is required by Hamas.

Netanyahu had said, in a meeting held yesterday, Monday, with a group of representatives of the families of detainees in Gaza, that Israel had presented an initiative to the mediators, the details of which were not revealed, in an attempt to release the detainees, stressing that Israel refuses to discuss proposals that include a commitment to end the war on Gaza.

A senior European Union official publicly criticized Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz for disrupting a crucial meeting aimed at addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza by offering "irrelevant" infrastructure, according to The Daily Beast.

Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign affairs coordinator and one of the bloc's top officials, told reporters on Monday  that “Katz walked into the meeting with a proposal to build an artificial island off the coast of Gaza — clearly revealing his view that the high-stakes summit was neither the time nor the place to showcase  the "unrealistic infrastructure”

The senior EU official said in remarks on Monday: “We had the pleasure of watching two very interesting videos; this had little to do with what we were discussing. I think Minister (Katz) could have used his time better to worry about his country’s security and the rise of the death toll in the Middle East and the high death toll in Gaza.

According to Borrell, the presentation included two videos: one promoting the plan to create the artificial island — which is supposed to serve as a commercial center — and another initiative focusing on the railway infrastructure project connecting Gaza to the West Bank. The official said that both matters had absolutely nothing to do with the purpose of the meeting.

Katz, who took over as Israeli foreign minister earlier this month, had previously marketed the artificial island project in his previous position as transportation minister in 2017. His attempt to revive the concept appeared to have failed on Monday, according to a European diplomatic source who told Euronews that other EU ministers present at the meeting were “puzzled” by his suggestion. In turn, The Guardian newspaper quoted another source as saying: “The ministers ignored the matter and went ahead with what they were there to talk about. No one dealt with it.”

Previous reports suggested the proposal may be part of a broader plan to move Palestinians to the island, with an Israeli official saying the initiative could include housing for Gazans, according to The New York Times. A Guardian newspaper report also quoted sources who claimed that Katz suggested transferring Palestinians to the island, which raised concern. The Israeli Foreign Ministry denied the report, telling The Times of Israel that “there is no such plan.”

The summit came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial statements rejecting the concept of a Palestinian state, and doubling down on his intentions to continue the war.

But that did not prevent Borrell from clarifying the European Union's position on this issue:

“All member states have told [Katz], of course, that they believe that the solution to a comprehensive and lasting peace that guarantees Israel’s security comes through the establishment of a Palestinian state,” he said, adding, of course, “We will not do that and we will not accept anything less than a ceasefire.”

Today, Tuesday, the Israeli occupation authorities renewed the decision to seize tens of dunums in the Buqai’a Plain in the northern Jordan Valley.

The official responsible for the settlement file in Tubas Governorate, Moataz Bisharat, said that the occupation authorities renewed the order to seize approximately 91 dunums of citizens’ lands in the Buqi’a Plain in the northern Jordan Valley.

He added that the lands covered by the decision are located within the basins of Khallet al-Rikab, Ras al-Darina, Ras al-Madhabhar, and Jalama Makisima.

Twenty-four Israeli soldiers were killed in Israel's worst day of losses in Gaza, the military said on Tuesday, as its forces encircled southern Gaza's main city, trapping Palestinian residents trying to flee.

Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said 21 soldiers were killed when two buildings they had mined for demolition exploded after militants fired at a nearby tank. Earlier, three soldiers were reported killed in a separate attack in southern Gaza.

"Yesterday we experienced one of our most difficult days since the war erupted," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. "In the name of our heroes, for the sake of our lives, we will not stop fighting until absolute victory."

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had on Monday launched a major operation to seize remaining parts of Khan Younis, the main city in the south of the enclave, which is sheltering hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians.

"Over the past day, IDF troops carried out an extensive operation during which they encircled Khan Younis and deepened the operation in the area," the military said. "Ground troops engaged in close-quarters combat, directed strikes, and used intelligence to coordinate fire, resulting in the elimination of dozens of terrorists."

Israel tanks, advancing west across the crowded city towards Mediterranean, shut the last road out towards the coast on Tuesday, blocking the escape route for civilians trying to flee southwest towards the Egyptian border, residents said by phone.

"I am trying to leave for Rafah but the tanks are now very near to the coast and are firing toward the west," said Shaban, 45, an electrical engineer with four children. He said he still hoped to evacuate his family to the north.

At least 195 Palestinians were killed in the space of 24 hours, raising the documented toll to 25,490, according to Palestinian health officials, who say thousands more dead are feared lost in the rubble.

Palestinian officials said the advancing Israelis had blockaded hospitals, making it impossible to reach the dead and wounded.

At the European Hospital in Khan Younis, Ahed Masmah brought in five corpses, piled on a mattress on his donkey cart.

"I found them face-down in the street," he said. "I did a good thing and brought them in.”

Bodies were being buried in the grounds of Khan Younis's main Nasser hospital because it was unsafe to go out to the cemetery. Another hospital, Al-Khair, was stormed by Israeli troops who arrested staff, according to Palestinian officials.

Al-Amal Hospital, run by the Palestinian Red Crescent, was unreachable. The Red Crescent said a tank shell had hit its headquarters on the fourth floor, a civilian had been killed at the entrance and Israelis were firing from drones on anyone who moved nearby, making it impossible to dispatch ambulances.

Israel says Hamas fighters operate in and around hospitals, making them legitimate targets. Hospital staff and Hamas deny this.

'GRAVEYARD FOR THE OCCUPATION'

The Israeli losses announced on Tuesday were celebrated as a victory by Palestinians.

"The resistance said it is going to make Gaza a graveyard for the occupation, and this is what is happening,” said Abu Khaled, sheltering in a school in Deir al-Balah, one of the few areas yet to be stormed by Israeli forces. "The more they stay, the more we will suffer for sure - but the more they will suffer too."

Israelis spoke of the losses as a necessary sacrifice in a war against Hamas fighters who attacked Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing some 250 hostages, more than 100 still held in Gaza.

"You know, it’s our sons, it’s our brothers, it’s terrible - but we've got to do what we've got to do so that Oct. 7 doesn’t happen again," said Blina Rhodes on the street in Jerusalem. "You have to get rid of Hamas and make Gaza safe for us. Otherwise, we have no place to live."

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction and has controlled Gaza since 2007. Since Israel launched its ground assault in October, nearly all Gaza's 2.3 million people have lost their homes, most now penned into towns just north and south of Khan Younis.

Sami Abu Zuhri, head of the political office of Hamas in exile, said the Israeli losses were proof that the armed wing of Hamas was only getting stronger, and "the American and Israeli goal to get rid of Hamas or weaken it is not possible".

"We call on the American administration to stop this pointless policy and stop betting on the possibility of weakening or finishing Hamas," he said by phone from an undisclosed location.

Though the war still has overwhelming public support in Israel, discontent is emerging with Netanyahu's strategy - committed to the total annihilation of Hamas but with only vague discussion of what should follow and no talk since the end of November of a ceasefire to free hostages.

Since last week, Netanyahu has publicly vowed never to allow an independent Palestinian state, disavowing the decades-old bedrock of Middle East policy of Israel's main ally, Washington.

Relatives of hostages still held in Gaza have called for more effort to bring them home, even if that means reining in the war. Some burst into a parliamentary committee hearing on Monday.

Last week, a member of Netanyahu's war cabinet, former military chief-of-staff Gadi Eisenkot, whose own soldier son was killed in Gaza last month, said the campaign had yet to destroy Hamas and no military operation could free the hostages.

The conflict has been accompanied by unrest elsewhere in the Middle East where armed groups allied to Israel's arch-foe Iran operate, including Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, where the Iran-aligned Houthi movement has attacked ships in the Red Sea. The United States and Britain, which have retaliated against the Houthis this month, carried out more strikes overnight.

By Elise Lambert & Valentine Pasquesoone

Since 2022, two Jewish supremacist ministers have joined Benjamin Netanyahu's government. They campaign for a state governed by religion where the Palestinians would be absent. They intend to take advantage of the war in Gaza to achieve their objectives.

What might Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories look like after the war? At the beginning of January, two far-right ministers in the Israeli government sparked controversy by advocating the return of Jewish settlers to Gaza and the "emigration" of Palestinians. “We will help rehabilitate these refugees in other countries,” assured Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. “It is a correct, just, moral and humane solution,” added the person in charge of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir.

These statements have led to numerous condemnations around the world. According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (PDF document), "deportation or forcible transfer of population" is a crime against humanity.

Arriving in government at the end of 2022 thanks to a coalition between the right and the far right, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich are not their first anti-Palestinian outing. For years, these Jewish supremacists have campaigned for a state governed by their reading of religious texts, where the Palestinians and their territories would not exist. They embody a current, religious Zionism, which has gradually permeated Israeli institutions and politics after being in the minority at the beginning of the 20th century.

For the creation of a “Greater Israel” without Palestinians

Basically, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir are similar. The first, a 43-year-old Minister of Finance, was trained in a small yeshiva (Talmudic school) in the settlement of Beit El, near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. Beit El is a stronghold of the Hardal movement, which mixes nationalism and ultraorthodox thought, specifies Le Monde. Bezalel Smotrich is "a religious Zionist ideologue much more influenced by the rabbis than Ben Gvir. According to him, the 'Greater Israel' is a Jewish land, and its establishment will favor the coming of the messiah", explains for franceinfo Yoav Peled, political scientist at the Tel Aviv University.

At a very young age, Bezalel Smotrich fought against the dismantling of Jewish colonies in the Gaza Strip and then campaigned within Regavim, an organization opposed to Palestinian construction in the West Bank and in Israel. A lawyer, he was elected deputy to the Knesset in 2015. Father of seven children, he has increased his racist outings in recent years, for example deeming it necessary to separate Jewish and Arab patients in hospitals or even defining himself as a "homophobic fascist" , reports Le Monde. Bezalel Smotrich has previously said that Hamas was "an asset" for Israel because the Islamist group was preventing any peace process with the Palestinians. In March 2023, he went so far as to deny the very existence of Palestinians during a private visit to Paris.

Itamar Ben Gvir, 47, the Minister of National Security, is also a lawyer by training. Born in the suburbs of Jerusalem into a family of secular Iraqi Jews, he developed his anti-Arab ideology during the first intifada (1987-1993), within the Kahanist movement, summarizes La Croix. This movement, named after extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, was banned in 1994 for terrorism and racism.

Convicted several times for inciting hatred and provocative, Itamar Ben Gvir went after his appointment to the government on the Esplanade des Mosques, in East Jerusalem. A passage on the third holiest site of Islam which provoked the indignation of the international community. “Ben Gvir cares less about ideology than about Jewish power. He is not interested in the messiah, but in the possibility of allowing settlers to settle wherever they want,” underlines researcher Yoav Peled.

A resident of the colony of Kiryat Arba, stronghold of the radical and supremacist movement of "Youth of the Hills", Itamar Ben Gvir has long displayed the portrait of Baruch Goldstein in his living room. In 1994, this religious fanatic murdered 29 Muslim Palestinians who were praying at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, a holy site contested by Jews and Muslims. He has also never hidden his admiration for Ygal Amir, author of the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.

A minority ideology until the turning point of 1967

The religious Zionism in which these ministers are part is ancient, reports Philosophie Magazine. It dates back to the end of the 19th century, when theorist Theodor Herzl called for the establishment of a Jewish national home in Israel. At this time, Zionist ideology was not necessarily linked to religion, and rather infused into socialist and labor circles. “For the religious ultraorthodox, Zionism is even blasphemy, since they only believe in the establishment of a Jewish state after the arrival of the messiah,” explains to franceinfo Stéphanie Laithier, historian of Judaism at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes.

But Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, originally from Eastern Europe, helped to change the position of certain believers by calling for intervention in society to accelerate the coming of the messiah. The first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Palestine, he created the Merkaz Harav yeshiva. This Talmudic school will convince more and more Orthodox people to adhere to Zionism.

The Six Day War of 1967 marked another turning point for religious Zionism. The lightning victory of the Jewish state against its Arab neighbors, Syria, Egypt and Jordan, is seen by Rabbi Kook and his young students as "the indisputable sign of a divine plan to make the Earth whole Israel to the people of Israel,” explains Yoav Peled in an academic article.

Therefore, occupying Palestinian territories such as the West Bank and Gaza is for these young religious Zionists “a divine command”. The Goush Emounim organization was created in their wake in the 1970s. It promotes the creation of Jewish colonies in the occupied territories and its vision gradually permeates all of religious Zionism, underlines in a recent study Alain Dieckhoff, research director at CNRS.

This current benefits from “a form of wear and tear of initial socialist Zionism”, adds Stéphanie Laithier. “Religious Zionists will present themselves as those who will regenerate the original Zionism. They highlight the fact that by settling in these territories, they are fulfilling biblical prophecy and securing Israel.” The Labor camp is more divided on the question of the occupied territories. With the Israeli failure of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, “Labor lost its grip on the territorial and security aspects of the Zionist project,” writes Yoav Peled. The left was ousted from power in 1977, replaced for the first time by Likud.

The third force in the 2022 legislative elections

In recent years, religious Zionism has gained ground at the heart of Israeli power. Former Education Minister Naftali Bennett became, in 2021, the first head of the religious Zionist government. During the legislative elections of November 2022, the current represented by the “Religious Zionism” list becomes the third force in the country, obtaining 11% of the votes and 14 seats in the Knesset.

Benjamin Netanyahu is forced to form an alliance with his members to return to power. This result was “the most significant fact of the last elections”, points out the study by Alain Dieckhoff.

Bezalel Smotrich is appointed Minister of Finance and gains significant power over the civil administration, responsible, among other things, for planning Jewish settlements in the West Bank. At the head of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir aspires to use the police "to repress more harshly the Arab citizens of Israel (...), but also the Palestinians", according to Alain Dieckhoff.

This “political environment” encourages Jewish settler projects, in the opinion of the Israeli NGO Peace Now. The year 2023 was a record year, both in terms of settlement construction and violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. Religious Zionist influence has also been seen since the terrorist attacks of October 7. “Benyamin Netanyahu fears losing his government [by losing the support of religious Zionists] if he announces ways out of the current fighting,” analyzes Yoav Peled.

This political progression reflects a more marked presence in Israeli society. The community is experiencing "very significant demographic growth", because it is often made up of families "with many children", observes Stéphanie Laithier. It represents between 10% and 30% of the Israeli population, reports the New York Times.

Its influence also reaches the army and education. According to Yoav Peled, in 2019, religious Zionists made up half of the graduates in the combat sections of the IDF officer school. At the same time, the researcher notes "an increase in Jewish religious content in the secular school curriculum", as well as "a greater emphasis on the Jewish aspect of Israel's identity".

With the Hamas attacks in Israel and the stagnation of the conflict in Gaza, can this ideology gain further ground? “There is a before and after October 7,” explains Stéphanie Laithier. A significant part of the Israeli population remains opposed to religious Zionism, but with the Hamas attacks, "there is still the idea that an installation in the occupied territories would make Israel secure." For Yoav Peled, the war even “accelerates” the influence of religious Zionism within society. “Some people don’t see any other way to deal with this situation.”

The Israeli army reacted on Friday by ensuring that its prisoners were treated “in accordance with international law”.

Detentions “in generally horrible conditions”. “Thousands” of men have been arrested by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war against Hamas, the UN said on Friday, January 19, citing ill-treatment that could amount to the torture. In response, the Israeli military reiterated that "those detained [were] treated in accordance with international law."

Some "described being beaten, humiliated, subjected to ill-treatment and what could amount to torture", all in unknown locations and for periods ranging from 30 to 55 days, according to the representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Ajit Sunghay. “They reported being blindfolded for long periods, some for several days in a row,” the official said. “One man said he had access to a shower only once during his 55 days of detention. There are reports of men who were later released, but only in diapers,” he added.

The Israeli army told AFP that individuals suspected of being involved in terrorist activities were being arrested and questioned. “Individuals who do not participate in terrorist activities are released,” said this source, adding that it is often necessary “for suspected terrorists to hand over their clothes so that they can be searched and to ensure that "They are not hiding explosive vests or other weapons." Clothing is returned when possible, the army further specifies.

Today, Tuesday, settlers launched attacks on citizens and their property in the West Bank.

In Hebron, settlers damaged the tires of the vehicles of teachers of the Al-Tuwanah Mixed Basic School in Masafer Yatta, south of the city, and smashed their windows.

According to local sources, “Havat Maon” settlers, dressed as Israeli soldiers, damaged the tires of the school teachers’ vehicles with sharp tools and broke their windows with stones, while they were at the entrance to the village, which was closed by stones and earth mounds from the occupation forces.

In Jericho, colonists, protected by Israeli forces, carried out excavation and bulldozing work near the Al-Malihat Arab community on the Al-Marajat Road, northwest of the city.

It is noteworthy that in light of the war waged by the Israeli occupation on the Gaza Strip, human rights groups have documented an increase in settler-related violence and the forced displacement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza announced, on Tuesday, that the death toll from the Israeli war on the Strip had risen to 25,490 people and 63,354 injuries since October 7, 2023.

It added that on the 109th day of the war, “the Israeli occupation committed 22 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, claiming 195 dead and 354 injuries during the past 24 hours.”

The ministry added, "There are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them."

By Ahmad Samih Khalidi

 Attempts to excise the group and its leaders are unlikely to succeed and risk not only perpetuating the cycle of violence but spreading it wider

In late 1935, a small band of irregulars led by a Syrian-born Islamist cleric launched a guerrilla campaign against the British mandatory government that had the establishment of a Jewish “national home” in what was then predominantly Arab Palestine, as part of its purview. The campaign was swiftly suppressed by British forces, and its leader, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, was killed as were the majority of his men.

But Qassam’s readiness to take up arms and die in the service of the Palestinian cause made a deep and lasting impression on Palestinian society, and his “martyrdom” became a symbol of sacrifice that has continued to resonate throughout the past 90 years, eventually providing both inspiration and a name to Hamas’s armed wing in the late 1980s. The fact that Qassam failed was essentially irrelevant. More important was his embodiment of the spirit of dogged and selfless resistance to foreign domination despite the imbalance of power and the unlikely prospects of success. Qassam also set the Palestinian national movement down the path of “armed struggle” that was eventually adopted by Yasser Arafat’s “mainstream” Fatah movement from the late 1950s onwards but whose role has diminished since the 1993 Oslo accord with Israel.

The past 30 years have witnessed an accelerating competition between Hamas’s claim to embody national resistance to Israeli rule, and Fatah’s collapse into discord, corruption and collusion under the banner of the Palestinian Authority’s “security cooperation” with the Israeli occupation. This race culminated in Hamas’s 7 October assault that was designed as much to shock and terrorise Israel as it was to discredit Fatah/ Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority and consolidate Hamas’s position as the primary inheritor and embodiment of the Palestinian national movement and its liberationist cause.

Israel’s post 7/10 resort to massive force, dropping an unprecedented total of about 30,000 bombs by mid-December 2023 (equivalent to two Hiroshima-sized nuclear bombs), has so far failed to eradicate the military force established by Hamas amid the torrent of bloodshed, 25,000 Palestinian dead and the 62,000 wounded, and the mass displacement of 1.9 million Palestinian civilians in Gaza (85% of the population), easily exceeding the toll of the ethnic cleansing that accompanied Israel’s establishment in 1948.

The issue of how and when the war will end remains shrouded in the fog of Israel’s opaque intentions and the US’s increasingly desperate diplomatic manoeuvrings, hoping for a clear Israeli victory over Hamas, while fearing the worst consequences of a regional conflagration as evident from the slow spread of hostilities from Bab-el-Mandeb to Irbil. US hopes of leveraging the moment into a redesigned Middle East living in peace and harmony must not only contend with the sheer contagion of the current conflict but with the political capital needed, especially in an electoral year, to shift Israel away from its current semi-consensual refusal to countenance any substantial change in the status quo of occupation, settlement and domination.

Hamas’s brutal tactics have been washed out of Palestinian consciousness by the mass erasure of civilian lives

Meanwhile, as “day after” scenarios pile up, ranging from the utopian vision of a region speeding towards peace and stability thanks to an as yet invisible “pathway to Palestinian statehood” dreamed up by US secretary of state Antony Blinken, to Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant’s fantasy of an Arab/international consortium taking over the Gaza Strip on Israel’s behalf, to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s promise that there will no Palestinian state and that the war will continue at least into 2025: in all these, one thing is missing: Hamas’s likely survival and its potentially growing influence both despite and because of the enormous damage inflicted on the movement itself and the people of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas’s brutal tactics in its 7 October assault have been washed out of Palestinian political consciousness by the subsequent indiscriminate and mass erasure of Palestinian civilian lives, and the US/west’s complicity in supporting, arming and allowing this onslaught to continue under the guise of Israel’s right to self-defence with no evident expiry date attached. Rather than crush Hamas, its most likely effect will be to remythologise the notion of resistance and sow the seed for future iterations that may be inspired by Hamas but have no necessary connection to its history, ideology or organisational structure.

With Israeli leaders openly talking of pursuing the war against Hamas and its leaders across national boundaries, another potentially dangerous turn could take the form of Hamas’s transformation from a national-religious movement focused on the conflict in the land of Israel/Palestine into a more global movement ready to take the war to arenas that Hamas has hitherto avoided.

With regard to re-establishing a viable political authority in the Gaza Strip and reconstituting a Palestinian representative body that is capable of taking and sustaining decisions whether relating to a future political horizon with Israel or any legitimate governance and reconstruction process, the real issue is how to incorporate Hamas and its associated “spirit of resistance” into a new Palestinian authority, rather than how to quash or excise it. Within or associated with such an authority, Hamas could be part of the solution; outside, it would remain both a spoiler and an opposite pole of attraction.

Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have made it clear that they will seek to impose a strict and indefinite Israeli-determined security regime over the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future; in other words, to reinstitute what amounts to a long-term occupation. This, in turn, will not only keep the flame of Hamas alive and galvanise Hamas-inspired resistance but will ensure that Israel’s “right of self-defence” will only produce the very insecurity that Israel and its allies claim to be addressing. If the past 55 years of occupation have taught us anything, it is that this cannot be the path to a genuine and lasting peace. It took Israel and the US approximately 35 years to talk to what was then seen as the terrorist PLO, just as it took years for the ANC and IRA to be recognised as partners to a resolution. All those threatened or rightfully concerned about what may happen next, simply cannot afford the price of waiting that long.

The US administration affirmed its support for the Israeli approach to eliminating the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), reiterating its rejection of a comprehensive ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, and expressed its support for what it called “humanitarian breaks only.” "With the aim of extracting the prisoners and delivering aid to the region."

In a press conference held yesterday evening, Monday, in Washington, DC, the Strategic Communications Coordinator for the National Security Council in the White House, John Kirby, said in response to a question about the increase in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, “This is the military plan of the Israeli administration.”

He added, "The American administration supports the Israeli approach to eliminating Hamas, but also urges the need to protect Palestinian civilians." Given that Israel is fighting against Hamas, it has the right to defend itself.

For 109 days, the Israeli occupation army has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, which as of yesterday left: 25,295 killed and 63,000 injured, most of them children and women, according to the Palestinian authorities, and caused massive destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, according to the United Nations.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said that Israeli colonists committed 444 attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 7 October 2023.

OCHA said in its report that as 22 January 2024, it has "recorded 444 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians, resulting in Palestinian casualties (45 incidents), damage to Palestinian-owned property (344 incidents), or both casualties and damage to property (55 incidents). This reflects a daily average of four incidents. "One-third of the settler attacks against Palestinians after 7 October 2023 have involved firearms, including shootings and threats of shootings. 

In nearly half of all recorded incidents after 7 October, Israeli forces were either accompanying or reported to be supporting the attackers.

In 2023, 1,229 incidents involving Israeli settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem (with or without Israeli forces), resulted in Palestinian casualties, property damage or both. Some 913 of these incidents resulted in damage, 163 resulted in casualties and 153 resulted in both. 

This is the highest number of settler attacks against Palestinians in any given year since OCHA started recording incidents involving settlers in 2006.

A U.S.-based Palestinian rights organization prevailed when the Supreme Court refused to take up a lawsuit brought by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and several U.S. citizens who live in Israel.

Citing the speech and expressive activities of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), including its support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, the lawsuit argued that the group provided “material support” for terrorism.  The dismissal by the district court had been unanimously affirmed by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

This lawsuit is just one example of a long line of efforts to silence Palestinians for advocating for their freedom – in this case, by wielding the accusation of support for terrorism to discredit and dehumanize Palestinians for their advocacy, including their support for boycotts, said the Center for Constitutional Rights in a statement.

Multiple organizations with histories of seeking to silence Palestinian rights filed their briefs to have the Supreme Court of the United States endorse their suppression effort.

USCPR’s attorneys said today’s decision to let the lower court rulings stand is an important win for the movement and definitively sets the record straight. As the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals found, “[a]advocating and coordinating a boycott of Israel – ‘economically, academically [,] and diplomatically,’... – is not unlawful.”

In dismissing the suit in March 2021, the lower court said the arguments were, “to say the least, not persuasive.” Advocates say the suit is part of a broader effort to criminalize and silence the political activities of supporters of Palestinian rights, a threat that has only increased as Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza intensifies. “USCPR’s message is justice for all and an end to funding genocide. There’s no lawsuit in the world that can stop us from pushing our demands for human rights,” said Ahmad Abuznaid, Executive Director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. “We will remain focused on opposing Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people and pursuing justice and freedom for the Palestinian people.”

Headquartered in Jerusalem, the JNF is a quasi-state institution that acquires and administers land for the sole benefit of Jewish Israelis. The JNF’s lawsuit alleges that USCPR bears responsibility for “incendiary terror balloons and kites” sent from Gaza onto JNF land during the 2018 Great Return March.

At issue were USCPR’s fiscal sponsorship of the Boycott National Committee and expressions of support for the rights and demands of Palestinians participating in the Great Return March, when Palestinians protested to demand respect for their right to return to the villages from which Israeli settlers expelled them in 1948. These two activities, the lawsuit claimed, amount to a violation of the U.S. Antiterrorism Act, which prohibits “material support” for terrorism. “The JNF’s prolonged and egregious pursuit of a fishing expedition to silence and intimidate urgent advocacy for Palestinian rights has been definitively put to rest by the Supreme Court,” said Diala Shamas, a Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “The JNF’s accusations were baseless, as recognized by the district court, the court of appeals, and now confirmed by the Supreme Court. Now, as the government of Israel is carrying out an unfolding genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, it is more important than ever that activists be free to speak out without fear. This is an important victory, but USCPR shouldn’t have been subjected to these smears in the first place.”

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Israeli media reported details of what they said were the broad outlines of a possible exchange deal with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which was drafted in cooperation with the Israeli security services, Mossad chief David Barnea, and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar.

Under the weight of protests in the Israeli street demanding the release of those detained by Hamas, strengthening convictions of the Israeli failure to achieve the goals of the war on Gaza, and disagreements in the “war cabinet,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that he had presented broad outlines for a possible exchange deal, refusing to go into details.

According to these lines, 136 Israeli detainees will be released in 3 stages:

- Civilian detainees.

- Then the female soldiers and the bodies of dead detainees.

- Finally, the soldiers and men who serve in the Israeli army are regular and reserve, which is the condition that Hamas has insisted on from the beginning.

In return, Israel will release at every stage thousands of Palestinian prisoners, male and female, including veteran prisoners, the sick, the elderly, people with high sentences, and prisoners who the occupation says “have blood on their hands,” and the army will gradually withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

Allegations

Netanyahu claimed that there was no serious offer by Hamas for an exchange deal, and he appeared contradictory during his meeting with a delegation of the families of Israeli detainees held by the Palestinian resistance, as he stated that he rejected the movement’s demands to end the war and reach an agreement that he says also includes the release of “elite forces” militants from Hamas. Who were arrested by Israel for allegedly participating in the "Al-Aqsa Flood" battle.

Israel recently handed over to the Qatari and Egyptian mediators a new framework for a possible exchange deal that includes preparing for a two-month truce in exchange for the return of all those detained by Hamas in Gaza, according to two senior Israeli officials.

According to Barak Ravid, a political analyst on the Walla website, this proposal is the most important that Tel Aviv has put forward since the beginning of the war, in an attempt to bring about a breakthrough in the negotiations to release the detainees.

Although the proposal rejects Hamas's request to stop the war, it includes preparations for the longest ceasefire agreed to by Israel so far, according to Ravid.

The analyst quoted two senior Israeli officials as saying that the “war cabinet” agreed about 10 days ago on a “framework” that includes the principles of what Israel wants and does not want to implement within the framework of the detainee release deal.

Ravid says that the deal includes the release of all living detainees and the return of all bodies held by Hamas in several stages.

The first phase will include the release of Israeli women who are still in captivity, men over the age of 60, and detainees who are in serious health condition.

In the next stages, men under the age of 60, female soldiers, male soldiers, and guard team members will be released, and the bodies will be returned.

According to the same proposal, Israel and Hamas would agree in advance on the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released for each Israeli detainee in each of the categories, and then the names of the Palestinian prisoners to be released would be negotiated separately at each stage.

Cautious optimism

Ravid explained that the Israeli proposal includes preparations to begin redeploying army forces in the Gaza Strip, so that they gradually withdraw from large population centers, as well as allowing a “gradual and controlled” return of the Palestinian population to Gaza City and the northern Strip during the implementation of the agreement.

According to Ravid, the framework of the potential deal approved by the “War Cabinet” indicates that Israel will not agree to end the war after releasing the detainees and releasing all 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in its prisons.

He stressed that Israel is still waiting for Hamas’ response to the proposal, but the Israeli side expressed cautious optimism about the possibility of moving forward with negotiations on the basis of this proposal, and acknowledged that if the deal is implemented, the activity of the occupation army in the Gaza Strip two months after the truce will be significantly less in scope and intensity. .

In reading the implications of Israel's drafting of a proposal for a new exchange deal and what was reported about Hamas showing some kind of flexibility in negotiating the deal, Amos Harel, a military analyst for the Haaretz newspaper, believes that the gap in positions is still large, but there is a willingness on both sides to discuss the broad outlines of this deal.

Harel estimated that the United States, Qatar and Egypt are exerting pressure on both sides to enter into a process of negotiations that will lead to the conclusion of an exchange deal in stages, in the first stage of which some Israeli detainees will be released, and in the final stage the occupation army will withdraw from the Gaza Strip, and thus the end of the war will be declared.

Escalation and frustration

Harel added that it appears that no breakthrough has been achieved yet in the talks, but “for the first time in a long time there is a willingness from Israel and Hamas to discuss - and seriously - the broad lines of the deal, and it is expected that one of the channels of talks will resume this week in Cairo.”

The military analyst pointed out that Israel, in light of the widening circle of protests denouncing the government’s handling of the file of detainees held by Hamas, is seeking to move forward with another stage to release them in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners it holds in prisons, while agreeing to a two-week ceasefire.

He pointed out that the Egyptian mediators are seeking to reach a ceasefire for a period of 90 days, and to eventually move to a final stage of the agreement to end the war.

In this context, Harel points out that the families of the detainees have escalated their protests against the backdrop of frustration “with what appears to be the laxity of the political level regarding the deal.”

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed over the past 24 hours in Khan Younis as Israel expands its ground offensive there.

Latest updates

• The Israeli military fired artillery shells at the headquarters of the Palestine Red Crescent Society in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the organization said on Tuesday.
• Israeli media reported that Israel is offering Hamas a two-month truce in return for a phased release of Gaza captives.
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• On Monday, the United States Supreme Court decided not to take up a lawsuit brought by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) against the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), the Center for Constitutional Rights said. JNF had alleged that the USCPR was providing “material support” for “terrorism” for activities including the Boycott, Divestment, Sanction (BDS) movement and the 2018 Great March of Return in Gaza.
• 
  
• German shipping group Hapag-Lloyd announced on Monday that it will continue to reroute its vessels around the Cape of Good Hope in response to Houthi attacks on Red Sea vessels while also implementing land corridors through Saudi Arabia to minimize the impact on business.
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Human impact and fighting

• Israeli forces killed at least 65 people in attacks on Khan Younis on Monday, according to medical sources.
• The World Health Organization, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have said they are “deeply concerned” by reports of “intense shelling” in the vicinity of El Amal City Hospital in Khan Younis on Monday.
• 
  
• The Israeli Air Force said on Monday that it struck Hezbollah infrastructures and observation posts in the villages of Leida and Itarun in southern Lebanon.
• 
  
• On Monday, Hezbollah also said it fired rockets at a gathering of Israeli troops around the town of Even Menachem, achieving “direct hits”.
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• Israeli settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Tuesday under the protection of Israeli police, Wafa news agency reported.
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• Diplomacy
• France’s Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne will chair a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) ministerial meeting on Palestine at 2pm New York time (17:00 GMT) on Tuesday. The council’s 15 members have been unable to agree on a draft presidential statement before the meeting, according to the Security Council Report (SCR), which monitors the UNSC’s activities.
• 
  
• After visiting Egypt, senior adviser to US President Joe Biden, Brett McGurk, will be travelling to Qatar this week. He is expected to discuss Israel’s proposal for a two-month pause, according to Al Jazeera correspondent Stefanie Dekker.
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• Biden held a phone call with the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday. The two discussed the “Houthi attacks against merchant and naval vessels transiting the Red Sea”, according to the White House.
• 
  
• The US and the UK have been carrying out attacks on Houthi positions in Yemen. Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands supported the latest US-UK air strikes targeting Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen on Monday, reported Reuters news agency.
• Aljazeera

After many Lebanese officials voiced similar positions, Prime Minister Najib Mikati took things further than his colleagues and seemed less embarrassed about his embarrassing position. Besides implicitly acknowledging that Hezbollah is the actual negotiator at the table in which the situation in Lebanon and its future are being discussed, Mikati echoed the party’s theory about linking developments in Lebanon to developments in Gaza.

Fear of death and destruction, which is justified, was not the only reason that broad segments of the population met his rhetoric with indignation, nor was the fact that he ignored those segments and sidelined their opinions and sensitivities regarding a matter of life and death. In addition to both, there is a history of “linking” that has cost and continues to cost the Lebanese dearly.

Indeed, since the mid-1960s, Lebanon has been linked to Palestinian militancy, with the 1969 Cairo Agreement granting this link “legal” justification. Successive wars erupted as a result, culminating in the Israeli invasion of 1982.

After that, with Lebanon under the influence of the Syrian police state and with Hezbollah’s power growing, Hafez al-Assad came out with his famous theories about the shared destiny and path of "one people in two countries." Once again, disasters whose repercussions continue to reverberate, and whose consequences continue to add up, ensued. Mind you, Assad’s theories did nothing to help the Palestinians and their cause, however one interprets that cause; rather, these theories went hand in hand with policies that wreaked havoc on the Palestinians in Lebanon.

Today, with the “unity of arenas,” we are looking at one people in five or six countries that supposedly share the same path and destiny, but instead of being led by Damascus, this time, they are led by Tehran.

The most dangerous aspect of all of that might be this nihilistic - militia perspective that is being broadly promoted in some environments. This view makes light of doing away with states, borders, and national sovereignty, not to mention the interests and opinions of the population. It is an idea that can be partially traced back to an imperial consciousness that preceded the emergence of modern states.

At that time, for example, many “mujahideen” who did not recognize borders emerged, going from Syria to fight in Iraq or from Lebanon to fight in Syria or Palestine... It is obvious that this is no longer part of the global zeitgeist, just as the mood of the times is no longer favorable to the emergence of forces like the “International Brigades,” the 40,000 volunteers who fought in the Spanish civil war of the 1930s. Nowadays, a group like ISIS has been left to present the perfect image of pasting everything on everything else over a geographical area that “unified” western Iraq and eastern Syria.

One consequence of the times and its novelty is that religious, national, and ideological wars have become a thing of the past, and with them, so has the epic image of “nations,” “peoples,” or “masses” rising up as one in defense of a cause, be it just or unjust. The consolidation of states and societies has given rise to a clear distinction between transnational moral and humanitarian solidarity, like that of the people around the world expressing their solidarity with Gaza or with victimized groups like the women of Afghanistan, and political solidarity that goes as far as direct military intervention, which is now contingent on a particular country whose parties are drawn together by a life cycle and common interests.

Today, we see this distinction between degrees of engagement even among the Palestinians themselves, depending on their different circumstances. The West Bank, for example, with the exception of pockets here and there, did not take its solidarity so far as to announce a mass insurgency, to say nothing about the Arab population inside Israel. As for those searching for epics “between the Atlantic and the Gulf,” or in the vast “Muslim lands,” their disappointment with the times turns them back cursing their luck and carrying crushing frustrations.

On the other hand, there is good reason to be extremely skeptical about the meaning of solidarity with Gaza as it is expressed by today’s solidarity specialists. It does not take a genius to refute, based on knowledge and experience, the prevailing militant narrative about these new solidarity experts.

The Houthis’ social environment in Yemen had sided with Imam Al-Badr and against Nasserism and Arab nationalism in the Yemeni civil war of the 1960s, at a time when the slogan of liberating Palestine had been tied exclusively to Nasser. As for the Shiite parties in Iraq, their social environment launched attacks of retribution against the Palestinians in Iraq after 2003, because they considered them to be Saddamists and Baathists. Meanwhile, the environment of Lebanese Hezbollah crystallized politically through its clashes with Palestinian armed groups in the 1960s and 1970s, before it wiped out the Lebanese affiliated with those armed groups.

That is not to criticize or glorify those past choices, but to ask by what miracle that their descendants became “enamored of Palestine”? In all likelihood, they have fallen under the spell of Iran, not Palestine.

Using Gaza as a pretext, what they want is to turn their countries into militias and impose their control over their societies and central authorities. They want to turn their countries into part of Iran’s imperial domain, and of course to cast as a traitor anyone who does not buy into this hypocrisy in the name of Gaza, or who refuses to exchange his homeland and patriotism for Iran. In turn, the latter acts in solidarity through Arabs bodies, countries, and societies, and it avenges Gaza in Iraqi Kurdistan and Idlib, or on the border with Pakistan, while Gaza’s fate is left to God.

Alsharq Alawsat

The child, Yamen Muhammad Hasiti (17 years old), was killed yesterday evening, Monday, during confrontations with the Israeli occupation forces in the town of Arraba, south of Jenin.

Local sources reported that the confrontations broke out after the Israeli occupation forces stormed the town, amid heavy live bullets being fired at citizens, which led to the child Hasiti being injured in the stomach.

It added, quoting eyewitnesses, that Israeli soldiers left the child Hasiti bleeding on the ground and prevented the ambulance from reaching him. They fired bullets at it, and after they confirmed his death, they left the area.

By ZAHA HASSAN

Summary:  Too much is at stake: too many Palestinian and Israeli lives, too much U.S. credibility, and too high the risk of regional conflagration.

Last week, South Africa presented a well-argued case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN’s judicial arm, alleging Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Israel denies the charges and claims its actions in Gaza are self-defense. A state-to-state complaint about “the crime of crimes” should be a big deal to the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, particularly when it involves a close ally receiving around $4 billion per year in U.S. security assistance (and fast-tracked for more). Yet the response of U.S. officials has been milquetoast, dismissing the case as meritless and without any factual basis. At the same time, the White House has also asserted that it has made no legal assessment about Israel’s conduct in Gaza or how U.S. weapons may have been misused.

How can both things be true? Either the United States has information about whether Israel is acting within the constraints of international law, including the 1948 Genocide Convention, or it is completely in the dark. The United States cannot have it both ways. Too much is at stake: too many Palestinian and Israeli lives, too much U.S. credibility, and too high the risk of regional conflagration.

Of course, the Biden administration knows what is taking place inside Gaza. It knows because it has had surveillance drones flying above Gaza since October 7. It knows because U.S. intelligence analysts are likely following journalists who are risking their lives to report and the Palestinians in Gaza who are live-streaming via TikTok, Instagram, and Telegram. It knows which types of munitions Israel has been dropping, firing, and shooting into Gaza’s densely populated cities and refugee camps because it is Israel’s principal supplier, and it knows what kind of damage these munitions do when used in such areas.

Numerous reports and accounts from UN special rapporteurs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Program, Human Rights Watch, Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and others explain the impacts of Israel’s war inside Gaza. Their reports are all public, as are the statements of their representatives. These organizations also report that civilians and civilian infrastructure are being targeted, that the vast majority of those killed are women and children, that the bombing is indiscriminate and not in proportion to the threat posed, and that hundreds of thousands of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza are being forcibly displaced, starved, and deprived of water and medical treatment. They say that Palestinians are being killed in their homes and shelters, they are being killed when they try to flee, and they are being killed in the so-called safe zones that Israel has designated. They say 100,000 more Palestinians could die in the days and weeks to come if the bombing does not stop and a massive amount of humanitarian aid is not allowed in.

But knowing the facts on the ground is not the same as assessing them. And an assessment is needed in order to get to a legal conclusion that would require the United States to act to put in place a ceasefire. As a party to the Genocide Convention, the United States is required to “undertake to prevent and punish” the crime of genocide. That commitment becomes meaningless if the United States can simply look away when the party accused of international crimes is an ally or if the outcome of an assessment is inconvenient. As Biden has stated, preventing genocide is both a “moral duty and a matter of national and global importance.” That is why the White House has an atrocity prevention and response strategy and why the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act requires the State Department to monitor for such events around the world and prepare annual reports on what it is doing to prevent them. The act also requires foreign service officers to be trained to spot the early warning signs for such grave human rights violations and an all-of-government approach to prevent genocide from happening. 

The United States may want to maintain its certainty that Israel is not committing any grave human rights violations in Gaza by avoiding an assessment, but the ICJ case—which is supported by at least fifty countries, the Arab League, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation—may force its hand, even if a decision on the case’s merits takes years. South Africa’s request for provisional relief, which includes a call for an immediate ceasefire and entry of humanitarian aid, may be only days away. The burden of proof required for provisional relief —“plausibility” that a violation of the Genocide Convention has occurred—is less than what is required for a final ruling.

The ICJ will likely rule that the provisional relief burden has been met, because the Israeli acts in Gaza are so well-documented, as is the apparent genocidal intent of Israeli officials leading the war. The most egregious of these statements includes directives to military personnel about starving Gaza, expressions of support for “voluntary immigration” of Palestinians, and the use of biblical analogies in speeches to soldiers about the permissibility of killing all innocents in war.

For Palestinians, the “Day After” Starts With a Plan for Ending Israel’s Occupation

Time is running out for Palestinians in Gaza. But it is also running out for the Biden administration. South Africa is reportedly preparing to file a complaint against the United States for complicity in the commission of genocide. Attempts to quietly coax and cajole Israel into opening up one more crossing for humanitarian aid or to allow one more truckload of supplies in from Egypt will not make for a convincing argument at the ICJ.

The United States must make an assessment about Israel’s actions in Gaza and act accordingly. The Biden administration must lead a renewed effort at the UN Security Council for a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, and it must be willing to back up the resolution with the full measure of its resolve, including suspending military assistance to Israel. U.S. inaction would continue to jeopardize Palestinians’ lives, risk an outbreak of regional war, and carry the permanent stain associated with a possible ICJ finding that the United States was complicit in or failed to prevent genocide. The U.S. response to the ICJ cannot be that it never made an assessment.

Israel has given Hamas a proposal through Qatari and Egyptian mediators that includes up to two months of a pause in the fighting as part of a multi-phase deal, Axios reported on Monday.

The deal would include the release of all remaining hostages held in Gaza, the report added citing two Israeli officials.

EU foreign ministers on Monday pressed Israel for an eventual two-state solution with the Palestinians after the war in Gaza, at meetings with the top diplomats from the two sides and key Arab states in Brussels.

The surprise Hamas attack on October 7 on Israel and the subsequent devastating military response from Israel has plunged the Middle East into fresh turmoil and sparked fears of a broader conflict.

For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app. But while the bloodshed appears to have driven a long-term solution further out of sight, EU officials insist the time is now to talk about finally resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

The 27 EU ministers met first with Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz before they were due to sit down separately with the Palestinian Authority’s top diplomat, Riyad al-Maliki.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia were also holding talks with the European ministers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has drawn condemnation from the United Nations and defied key backer the United States by rejecting calls for a Palestinian state.

Israel’s assault on Gaza has left over 25,000 Palestinians dead, the vast majority women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Netanyahu has vowed “complete victory” over Hamas after the attacks by the militant movement’s fighters on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Hamas militants also seized about 250 hostages and Israel says around 132 remain in besieged Gaza.EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told Israel that “peace and stability cannot be built only by military means.” “Which are the other solutions they have in mind? To make all the Palestinians leave? To kill […] them?” Borrell said.

"The Only solution"

Katz ignored questions from journalists over a future two-state solution and said Israel was focused now on returning the hostages and ensuring its own security. 

The EU has struggled for a united stance on the conflict in Gaza as staunch backers of Israel such as Germany have rejected demands for an immediate ceasefire made by the likes of Spain and Ireland. But there is overall backing in the bloc for a two-state solution. “The two-state solution is the only solution, and even those who don’t want to know about it have not yet come up with any other alternative,” said German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock. 

Borrell circulated what he called a “comprehensive approach” towards finding peace involving the international community holding a conference that would come up with a plan to be put to both the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The paper said the international community should then eventually “set out the consequences they envisage to attach to engagement or non-engagement with the peace plan” by either side.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Israel’s “continuation of measures to undermine the two-state solution is dooming the future of the region to more conflicts and more war.” “The whole world is saying the only way out of this misery is the two-state solution. So, the party who’s standing against the rights of all peoples of the region, including Israelis, to have peace cannot just be left unaccountable,” he said. 

AFP

The Israeli army announced, on Tuesday, that 24 officers and soldiers were killed during the past 24 hours in the battles in the Gaza Strip, including 21 soldiers from the reserve forces who were killed in the bombing of two buildings in the Maghazi camp in the center of the Strip, which was described as the most violent day of combat since the start of the ground invasion on October 27. First past.

Al-Quds correspondent Dot said: “Yesterday morning, reserve soldiers from the 261st Brigade, who carry out security duties in the fence area in the south of the Gaza Strip, went on a mission to blow up buildings in the buffer zone near the fence. The soldiers entered a distance of about 600 meters from the fence in the Al-Maghazi camp area.” They were asked to destroy 10 buildings using mines, accompanied by engineering teams.”

Our correspondent said, "At the end of the operation, militants fired two RPG missiles. The first was fired at a tank, causing two wounded. A second RPG missile was fired at one of the buildings that already contained explosive materials ready to be detonated."

He added, "Both buildings collapsed and the site turned into complete destruction. The forces began rescue operations and many forces were sent to the scene to begin and rescue the victims from under the rubble."

He added, "In the first hours, there were also missing people who were not found among the rubble. The rescue operations continued for very long hours until the night. During the past few hours, the process of rescuing the victims was completed, there were no longer any missing people, and the event ended."

Since October 7, 2,665 Israeli soldiers have been wounded, according to Israeli army data, and of these, 1,207 were injured in the ground operation in Gaza.

President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign co-chairman portrayed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace in the Middle East and suggested he’s wrong to reject calls by the US and Arab countries for movement toward a Palestinian state.

“This wouldn’t be the first time that there is some tension between Prime Minister Netanyahu, his personal, political goals and aims, and the challenges of crafting a positive, peaceful path forward for the Israeli and Palestinian people,” Chris Coons, a US senator from Delaware who’s a close ally of Biden, said on CNN’s State of the Union.

For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

Coons’ comments also hint at tension between Biden and Netanyahu, who spoke on Friday for the first time in almost four weeks. A day earlier, Netanyahu dismissed US calls to position the Palestinian Authority for eventual control of postwar Gaza, saying an Israeli leader must be able to oppose even “the closest of friends.”Netanyahu’ comments vowing to maintain Israeli control over the West Bank and Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future after the war prompted a rebuke by the US State Department.

Netanyahu has a history of weakening the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and accepting Iranian-backed Hamas as rulers of Gaza, which had “tragic consequences when Hamas militants at-tacked Israel on October 7,” Coons said. That attack prompted an Israeli military assault on Gaza with the declared goal of wiping out Hamas, which the US and the European Union have designated a terror group.

Civilian casualties and suffering in Gaza have prompted outrage in Arab countries, increasingly sharp calls for Israeli restraint among US allies and divisions in the US that have played out in election-year politics, at elite universities and in the streets. At the same time, the Biden administration has backed Israel’s right to self-defense against Hamas.

“This is a moment where the Israeli public needs to choose what is the best path forward,” Coons said. “And I know it would be a significant step for them to accept that the creation of a Palestinian state is the right path forward.”

Biden’s call with Netanyahu wasn’t a direct response to his dismissal of Palestinian statehood, John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House, said Friday.

Biden “still believes in the promise in the possibility of a two-state solution,” which will require hard work and “a lot of leadership in the region,” Kirby said.

Hamas’s attack in southern Israel killed about 1,200 people. Israel’s counterstrikes have killed more than 25,000 people in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.