Israeli forces detain veteran Palestinian journalist in occupied West Bank raid
He was detained overnight in the village of Al Duha, near Bethlehem, in a raid that caused damage to his house, the agency added. Mr Laham is editor-in-chief of Ma'an and also manages the West Bank operation of Lebanon's Al Mayadeen channel.
He is expected to appear in front of a military court on Thursday, the Wafa news agency reported.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Monday that soldiers "apprehended a wanted individual in Bethlehem. The wanted individual was transferred to the Israel police for further processing".
Mr Laham's detention is the latest episode in Israel's crackdown on journalists in the occupied West Bank, which has accelerated since the start of the Gaza war in 2023.
The death of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by an Israeli soldier during a raid in Jenin in 2022 sparked widespread condemnation of Israel's actions in Palestine, as well as calls for journalists to be protected.
Al Quds newspaper reporter Ali Al Samoudi, who has also worked for international outlets including CNN and Reuters, remains in detention after being held by the Israeli military during a raid in the West Bank city. His family and legal team say he is not being given sufficient medication to manage severe health conditions. Israel's military said he was 'identified with the Islamic Jihad' militant group.
Fifty-five Palestinian journalists are being held in Israeli prisons, 49 of whom have been detained since the Gaza war began, Wafa said.
Israel banned Qatari outlet Al Jazeera from operating in the country last year, saying its broadcasts endangered national security. The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, banned the network in January, but the measure was lifted by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in May.
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Middle East Eye
8 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Emily Thornberry: Starmer has 'a golden opportunity' to sway Trump on Gaza
Keir Starmer should encourage Donald Trump to 'quietly walk away' from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) during their meeting next week, Foreign Affairs Committee chair Emily Thornberry told Middle East Eye. 'We can't have any more children starving to death, anybody else shot to death simply queuing up for aid. It's just completely and totally unacceptable,' Thornberry said on Thursday. 'Donald Trump has shown in the past, when he appreciates the human cost of what's going on, he can turn on a penny and go, 'This won't do. It must stop.'' Thornberry's comments come with the release of the Foreign Affairs Committee's report on its inquiry into the Israel-Palestine conflict. The 72-page report calls, among other recommendations, for the urgent dismantling of GHF, the controversial US and Israeli-backed organisation, with over 100 aid organisations warning this week of the spread of mass starvation in Gaza under its tenure. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters 'We have a golden opportunity to say to Donald Trump, 'Look, whatever kind of goodwill there was behind doing this, it's not working. And actually, it's not working because you can't have four aid points instead of 400'," Thornberry said. ''We have to have something which is under the auspices of the United Nations and actually there was a lot more skill in handing out aid than people really thought . . . frankly, the other system just doesn't work. Let's quietly walk away from it'.' The report also recommends that the UK government take immediate steps to "prepare a comprehensive ban" on goods imported from Israeli settlements and recognise the state of Palestine "while there is still a state to recognise". 'To be honest, nobody else is going to stop Netanyahu apart from President Trump' - Emily Thornberry, MP and Foreign Affairs committee chair Starmer and Trump's scheduled talks fall on the same day as the start of a UN conference in which France had earlier suggested it might recognise the state of Palestine. But late on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that his country would recognise a Palestinian state in September at the UN General Assembly. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has repeatedly said that the UK wants to recognise Palestine as part of a pathway towards a two-state solution, but at time when recognition would be most conducive to securing a peace process. Thornberry said, whether next week or in September, she would like to see the UK recognise Palestine with France. Even if the move may be 'only symbolic' in some ways, it is an important first step to getting the UK 'back into the ring and saying, 'Right. Let's play our part'," Thornberry said. 'It has a power because they were the countries behind Sykes-Picot, the secret agreement that carved up the Middle East in the first place." Palestinian recognition would underline to the Israeli people 'just how isolated Netanyahu has made Israel' and would align the UK with Arab countries in a powerful way, she said. 'I think working together, there being a united, international voice that says, 'This is the only alternative that we know about',' Thornberry said. She said she doesn't think Trump and his advisors have thoroughly considered what recognising Palestine could accomplish and, again, suggested the UK use diplomacy to encourage a shift which she believes will restore the hope that will be neccessary to rebuild Gaza. 'We can do that heavy lifting and then give to Donald Trump a peace, wrapped up in a pink bow, and say to him, 'We now need you because we can't do it by ourselves. We need the man who has more strength than 10 presidents',' she said. 'To be honest, nobody else is going to stop Netanyahu apart from President Trump.' 'We really need to be much stronger' The committee's report noted that the UK has halted trade talks with Israel which it says it expects will continue until an internationally-recognised peace settlement has been agreed. However, it said there should be "a different approach" towards Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and that the government should prepare and apply a comprehensive ban on the import of goods from the settlements. "We should not be trading with the settlements, and we should be sanctioning companies that are involved in building settlements and facilitating the settlements," Thornberry told MEE. "The settlements are built on the land that we expect to be able to be used by a Palestinian state, so it's not only illegal. It's undermining peace, and we really need to be much stronger than we have been before now." Children in Gaza die as David Lammy says UK is 'happy to do more' to help Read More » The committee also urges the government to support a medical evacuation of critically injured children to the UK, including "the provision of safe transport and the efficient handling of travel permits and entry visas". Until now, the UK has only taken in two Palestinian children for medical treatment in Britain. The two girls, who arrived in April, had already been evacuated from Gaza to Egypt before they came to the UK for care that is fully funded by charitable donations. Unlike EU countries and the US, the UK requires potential medical evacuees from Gaza to obtain visas with biometrics, with the closest visa processing centres in Egypt and Jordan. Doctors and aid workers say this has complicated the process of bringing wounded and suffering children directly from Gaza to the UK for help, and have recently asked the government to help bring a group of 20 to 40 children directly from Gaza. Thornberry said her first trip of many to Israel and Palestine was in the late 1970s when she recalled her half-sisters receiving presents on Gaza Beach from a Father Christmas who arrived on the back of a camel. "Everytime I've gone, it's gotten worse, and it breaks my heart. And, of course, when it comes to this current conflict, it's really frustrating and distressing to see what's happening and to see just long periods where nothing seems to happen apart from more and more people dying," she said. "The temptation to just look away and go, 'This is just too hard, let's do something else', is a real one . . . But now, in all the distress and destruction and the death, maybe this is the time when people will finally take this seriously and do something about it."
Middle East Eye
10 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Why Trump is trying to put his seal on an Armenia-Azerbaijan peace deal
The US is using "magic" to bring Armenia and Azerbaijan together for a peace deal, US President Donald Trump says. As the two historic foes appear to inch closer to an agreement, the Trump administration is conjuring diplomacy in the South Caucasus - fairly uncharted waters for the US. In May, Trump's billionaire Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said that Armenia and Azerbaijan could both join the Abraham Accords - the normalisation agreement that Israel signed with Bahrain, the UAE and Morocco in 2020 - after a deal between the two. Trump considers the accords a signature part of his foreign policy. Then, in July, Trump's other good friend and billionaire envoy, Tom Barrack, said the US was ready to sign a 100-year lease on a strategic transit corridor on Armenia's border with Iran. Baku wants to use the sliver of land, referred to as the Zangezur Corridor by Turkey and Azerbaijan, to connect with its exclave, called Nakhchivan, and eventually Turkey, where Barrack is also the US ambassador. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Trump's bid to put his stamp on a peace agreement through economic deals and the Abraham Accords comes as the South Caucasus is in flux. Trump, Turkey and a diplomatic win Russia, the region's historic great power, is tied down on the battlefields of Ukraine. Its prestige as a security guarantor was undermined in 2023 when Azerbaijan wrested back control of Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia in a lightning offensive. Christian Armenia had long relied on Russia for support against Turkic Azerbaijan. To the south, Iran - which has deepened its ties with Armenia and is wary of Israel's security links to Baku - is trying to regroup after a blistering 12-day conflict with Israel. Tehran's ability to project power abroad was clipped by Israel's takedown of its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon and the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria late last year. 'The status quo benefits Iran a lot. Right now it is the only connector between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan' - Alen Shadunts, American University of Armenia With Russia distracted in Ukraine and Iran on the back foot, Turkey's power in the region is growing. The US itself is signalling that it can work with Turkey as the predominant external power in Syria. Barrack's role in the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace talks, experts say, is further evidence that Washington sees Ankara as a new regional power in the South Caucasus. "Trump doesn't have a stake in either Armenia or Azerbaijan. But he sees that a deal is possible. A win," George Meneshian, an Athens-based expert on the Middle East and Caucasus, told Middle East Eye. The US's foray into the region is led by Barack, who has been well received in Ankara. That has fueled concerns that Trump sees the region as an extension of Turkey's neighbourhood, Meneshian added. "The US is already giving Turkey its own zone of influence in Syria. That is clear. The same is happening in the South Caucasus," he said. The goodwill was visible on Tuesday when Trump shared a social media post of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev thanking him for his "aspiration" to end the dispute with Armenia. Aliyev praised Trump's "fundamental values, including family values" that he said mirror Azerbaijan's. From Syria and Gaza to Ukraine and the Caucasus The idea of the US leasing the corridor is in keeping with the Trump administration giving primacy to economic dealmaking, including with US control over physical assets, in conflict zones. It has had mixed results. Earlier this year, Trump said the US would take over the Gaza Strip, evict Palestinians and turn it into the Middle East's "Riviera". That proposal was widely slammed as calling for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Israel continues to invoke the "Trump plan" to insist on the forced displacement of Palestinians. The US backed off after resistance from its Arab allies. 'Trump doesn't care about the European Union. In the Caucasus, that is especially obvious' - George Meneshian, Caucasus expert Trump's penchant for business deals in countries where sectarian and regional tensions are rife has been better received by Turkey and Gulf states in Syria, where he has pushed through the speedy lifting of sanctions. The Zangezur Corridor idea seems to fall closer to the minerals deal Trump signed with Ukraine in April. That agreement set up a joint fund to monetise Ukraine's mineral wealth. Earlier this year, Trump also said EU states would purchase air-defence systems from the US on Ukraine's behalf. Azerbaijan, a major gas exporter, flaunts the sort of energy riches that Trump prizes, but Armenia is poor. The South Caucasus's value to the US is that the region is crisscrossed by trade routes, including the Middle Corridor that aims to link Asia and Europe, bypassing both Russia and Iran. Peter Frankopan, an expert on trade routes at the University of Oxford, told MEE that having a third party operate the corridor "is not a bad idea in principle", but faces obstacles. "First, the US proposal is that it is a commercial endeavour – which means it needs to be run for profit. So an operator needs to be clear and certain that it can make a return on investments," he said. In January, Armenia replaced Russian troops at its southern border crossing to Iran with its own forces. Moscow continued to oversee the crossing after the collapse of the Soviet Union. "Russia is likely to react badly to any US presence [in the corridor], whether commercial or notionally benign," Frankopan, the author of Silk Roads, added. A US presence would also unnerve Iran. 'If the border opens, Iran loses' The Islamic Republic of Iran and Armenia enjoy good ties. Iran's parliament allocates three seats for members of its Armenian minority. Earlier this year, the two conducted joint military drills. Both countries are wary of Turkey and Azerbaijan's growing power in the region. "The status quo benefits Iran a lot," Alen Shadunts, an Iran specialist at the American University of Armenia, told MEE. "Iran right now is the only connector between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan." With no direct land link now, Azerbaijani trucks have to pass through Iran to reach the exclave. Azerbaijan also relies on Iran to help supply electricity to Nakchivan. That has been a source of leverage for Iran to use against Azerbaijan since the end of the Cold War. "If the border opens, Iran is going to lose," Shadunts said. "There are suspicions of an Israeli presence in Azerbaijan already. If an American company comes in and leases the corridor, Iran may see that as encirclement." Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian (R) shaking hands with Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (L) during a meeting in Tehran on 30 July 2024 (ARMENIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP) Iran has also received a $1.4bn loan from Russia to complete a rail link for the International North-South Transport Corridor that will run from Russia through Azerbaijan to Iran's coast. The route is intended to cut travel time between India and Russia. Trade between the two hit $68bn in 2024 - more than four times the amount it stood at before western sanctions were slapped on Russia in response to the Ukraine war. Azerbaijan already has deep security ties with Israel. Baku has been hosting talks between Syria and Israel. The city is so swarming with Israeli spies that Iranian officials have accidentally bumped into them at the same restaurant, MEE has reported. Armenia also has diplomatic relations with Israel. But Steve Witkoff said in May that the US was looking to bring both countries into the Abraham Accords. Regional analysts say that could mean more economic ties. "Armenia is interested in connectivity with Israel. Any regional project could be a lifeline for resource-poor Armenia," Shadunts said. Will the US manage the Zangezur Corridor? Barrack's offer to lease the Zangezur Corridor faced backlash in Armenia. Experts say the idea for a 100-year lease that Barrack floated in public would go against Armenia's constitution. Armenian President Nikol Pashinyan is already under pressure from an escalating feud with Armenia's Catholic Apostolic Church and faces resentment from pro-Russian voters who are wary of the country's tilt to the US. 'The US proposal is a commercial endeavour – which means it needs to be run for profit' Peter Frankopan, author Silk Roads Pashinyan's bid to reach a peace deal with Azerbaijan, with an eye towards normalising with Armenia's bigger neighbour, Turkey, has been met with wariness. Resentment and anger over Ottoman atrocities against Armenian Christians in the final years of WWI, which many historians label a genocide, still feel warm to the touch. Armenia is still reeling from its 2023 military loss to Azerbaijan, and is worried its neighbour harbours territorial designs on its southern Syunik province, where the corridor sits. For its part, Azerbaijan does not want the corridor to be controlled strictly by Armenia. "They're arguing over 32 kilometres of road, but this is no joke. It's been going on for a decade – 32 kilometres of road," Barrack said earlier this month in a press briefing. "So what happens is America comes in and says, 'Okay, we'll take it over. Give us the 32 kilometres of road on a hundred-year lease, and you can all share it'." Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at a military parade, 8 November 2023 (AFP) Pashinyan confirmed in July that the US gave "proposals" to manage the corridor. The idea has been around for years, Olesya Vartanyan, a conflict analyst in the South Caucasus, told MEE: "Before the Americans, the Europeans were floating this." She said it drew inspiration from projects in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan's northern neighbour. More than a decade ago, Switzerland mediated a US-backed deal that saw corridors established through two breakaway Georgian regions controlled by Russia to enable trade. European powers floated a corridor deal based on that model to Armenia and Azerbaijan. "People in the region were waiting for Trump to come in. There is an interest to engage with the administration. It's not like they have a well-crafted plan, but the Americans are willing to adjust." Barrack's comments caught many US diplomats off guard, one former US official briefed by colleagues told MEE. "This is very top-down. Barrack is a one-man show. He has a relationship with Erdogan and Trump. He feels that is all he needs," the official said. The Trump administration's language, as well as those involved in the diplomacy efforts, seem to suggest that this US government sees the South Caucasus as closer to the Arab Middle East than Europe. "Trump doesn't care about the European Union. In the Caucasus, that is especially obvious," Meneshian told MEE. 'Turkey is in the middle of all of it, just like Azerbaijan and Armenia' Tom Barrack, US envoy and Ambassador to Turkey Meneshian said the focus on the Abraham Accords "says something" about the true balance of power on the ground. In 2023, the UAE emerged as the largest source of Foreign Direct Investment in Armenia. The Emirates state-owned renewable energy company Masdar is working on construction of Armenia's largest solar energy plant. It already has a plant in Azerbaijan. Latching onto that trade would help Witkoff package a deal to Trump with his seal on it. But the US does face real economic competition. Last week, Armenia applied to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Chinese-led regional security and trade club. "It's dealing and trading with everybody," Barrack said. "Where East meets West with the Bosphorus and Dardanelles; with the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Spice Road – everything comes through there. "Turkey is in the middle of all of it, just like Azerbaijan and Armenia."
Middle East Eye
10 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
US grilled over Gaza famine fears as it withdraws from ceasefire talks
The US on Thursday said it was pulling its negotiators from Gaza ceasefire talks, even as US officials were grilled by reporters over what experts say is a famine taking hold in the besieged enclave. US envoy Steve Witkoff blamed Hamas for the collapse in talks and said negotiators would leave Doha, Qatar. The Gulf state, along with Egypt, has been mediating between Hamas, the US and Israel. "We have decided to bring our team home from Doha for consultations after the latest response from Hamas, which clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza," Witkoff said in a post on X. "We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home.' The pullback comes as the Gaza Strip descends deeper into hunger as a result of a blockade that Israel has imposed on Gaza. This week, 28 western countries, including traditional supporters of Israel like Poland, the UK and Italy condemned Israel's chokehold of food entering the enclave. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters "We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food," they said. With basic food items vanishing from markets and families enduring days without enough to survive, scenes of people collapsing from hunger and sheer exhaustion have become increasingly common across Gaza's streets. Eyewitnesses have recounted the gruesome scenes to Middle East Eye reporters in Gaza. The same day Witkoff pulled out of talks, the State Department was grilled by reporters over what aid experts say is an impending famine. The questions were unusually pointed in response to the spokesperson blaming Hamas for the lack of food entering Gaza and calling on other aid groups to coordinate with the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. US contractor recounts gruesome details of Gaza aid delivery Read More » The US and Israeli backed GHF was designed to bypass the UN's infrastructure for aid delivery and distribution in Gaza. Former US mercenaries who worked at the sites say starving Palestinians have been shot at and attacked trying to get meager amounts of aid. When State Department Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott called on entities to cooperate with GHF, one reporter responded: "They are volunteering but they can't get past the border." A Financial Times reporter asked Pigott: "We all acknowledge obviously that Israel controls Gaza's borders completely and it is limiting food to the population because Hamas has not agreed to its terms... to be clear, is the US government okay with Israel allowing children and adult civilians to starve so long as Hamas and the UN refuse to play by Israel's rules?" "I reject the premise of that question," Pigott responded. Talks The ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel have ebbed and flowed for weeks. The two sides reached an agreement on a three-phase deal in January. Israel tore up the deal in March before talks on a permanent end to the war were scheduled to take place and unilaterally resumed attacking the Gaza Strip. Although the Trump administration has clashed with Israel on several files - including striking an independent ceasefire with the Houthis in Yemen and condemning Israeli strikes on Syria - it has continued to blame Hamas for the collapse of the Gaza ceasefire and failure to reach a new deal. The proposal the two sides have been working on largely echoes the previous deal that Israel withdrew from in March. It would see captives held in Gaza released in the first 60 days in exchange for a halt in fighting, more aid entering the enclave and Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails. Roughly 20 living captives are believed to remain in Gaza, mostly military-age men. Hamas has insisted that any agreement should lead to a permanent end to the war after the captives are freed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected making that commitment. Hamas responds to ceasefire draft, demands changes to Israeli army's position in Gaza Read More » MEE reported earlier this month that the talks remain deadlocked over at least two key details. The first is the extent of the proposed Israeli redeployment from the Gaza Strip during the 60-day truce. The second is the method of aid distribution. Israeli negotiators insist that GHF remain one of the main distributors of food in Gaza, despite widespread international condemnation. Hamas fears GHF, which is linked to Israel and guarded by US mercenaries, would replace the UN. Israel also wants to keep its soldiers in Rafah and create a "buffer zone" up to three kilometres deep along Gaza's eastern and northern boundary with Israel, sources tell MEE. The "buffer zone" would cover several Palestinian towns and residential areas, blocking hundreds of thousands of displaced people from returning home. If Israel remains in Rafah, it would control the border crossing to Egypt. Israeli officials have said they want to create a so-called "humanitarian city" there, a proposal that has drawn international criticism, with some describing it as resembling a concentration camp. Some observers believed the two sides had a better chance of reaching a deal this time because Israel's parliament is starting a month-long recess next week. Netanyahu's coalition partners have threatened to collapse his government if he ends the war.
