Latest news with #PalestinianDelegation
Asharq Al-Awsat
a day ago
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Hamas Sources: Gaza Ceasefire Talks Ongoing Despite Israeli Obstacles
Despite accusations from Hamas that Israel is deliberately placing hurdles in the way of indirect negotiations in Doha aimed at securing a two-month ceasefire, sources within the movement confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that there are ongoing consultations. Hamas sources said Israel continues to obstruct progress in the Qatar-hosted negotiations, which have been underway for over a week with only limited breakthroughs. 'Each time there is partial progress on some provisions, the Israeli delegation delays discussions on other points and refuses to engage until it receives fresh instructions from officials in Tel Aviv,' the sources explained. Palestinian negotiators believe this approach is designed to buy time and apply pressure on the Palestinian factions' team, while ultimately blaming them for any failure of the talks, which are dragging on due to Israel's contradictory positions. Humanitarian Aid a Major Sticking Point The most significant obstacle, according to Hamas, remains Israel's refusal to commit to a comprehensive withdrawal plan, as well as its insistence on maintaining the current aid delivery mechanism, which Hamas describes as a 'death trap' for civilians in Gaza. The sources said Israel has agreed in principle to allow aid into areas it withdraws from through international organizations. However, the Palestinian delegation is demanding that assistance be delivered under the humanitarian protocol negotiated in January. This protocol is broader than Israel's proposals and includes not only food and medical supplies, but also construction materials, equipment to repair hospitals and schools, and goods for the private sector to sell in local markets. Israel has informed mediators that it reached an understanding with the European Union to allow 500 trucks per day into Gaza, which the Palestinian negotiators welcomed. Still, they insisted on clear guarantees that the deliveries would follow the January protocol without manipulation. Maps and Withdrawal Timelines Maps of military positions remain another major sticking point. The Hamas delegation is demanding that any Israeli withdrawal be based on the maps set out in the previous ceasefire agreement and implemented gradually according to a clear timetable. That January agreement had allowed Israeli forces to remain temporarily in buffer zones around Gaza, ranging from 500 to 1,000 meters wide. The Palestinian side is adamant that troops must not remain inside Gaza itself and that the withdrawal must lead to a complete pullout in a second phase of the agreement. According to the sources, the negotiators want precise language in each clause to prevent Israel from delaying or avoiding implementation, as has occurred in past agreements. Waiting for US Pressure Negotiations have not broken down, and the Hamas delegation believes American pressure will be critical to moving Israel off its current positions. On Sunday evening, US President Donald Trump expressed hope that the ceasefire discussions would yield concrete results within days. Later that night, a senior Hamas delegation met with Islamic Jihad leaders to coordinate positions and underscore that any deal must fulfill Palestinian aspirations, above all, ending the war, securing a full Israeli withdrawal, reopening crossings, and launching reconstruction. Flexibility on the Morag Corridor Meanwhile, Israel's Security Cabinet convened Sunday evening to review the possibility of a prisoner swap. According to Channel 12, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ministers he was interested in reaching an agreement on the hostages, even as Hamas continues to reject Israel's terms. He warned that fighting could resume after any temporary ceasefire if Hamas does not accept Israel's conditions for ending the war. Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Netanyahu, once firmly opposed to any pullback from the Morag Corridor. a strategic strip that bisects Rafah and separates it from Khan Younis - is now willing to show some flexibility. Israeli control of the 12-kilometer corridor would allow it to further fragment Gaza and expand its security buffer zones.
CTV News
7 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Envoy says Canada is coming closer to recognizing Palestinian statehood
Ambassador Mona Abuamara, chief representative of the Palestinian General Delegation, is shown at her office in Ottawa on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang OTTAWA — The Palestinian ambassador to Canada says she feels Ottawa is on the brink of officially recognizing statehood for her people, as she also takes note of tougher language from Canada on Israel's actions in Gaza. 'Accountability means everything to the Palestinian people. That's all we are looking for,' said Mona Abuamara, who is at the end of her four-year term as the chief representative of the Palestinian General Delegation to Canada. 'Canada could have done better and must do better.' Abuamara said Canada's approach to the situation in the Palestinian territories in recent years has amounted to supporting Israel 'without budging' while funding small projects such as police training and development work. 'Basically, (it was to) be managed under that occupation,' she said. 'But what we were looking for from Canada is to help us get rid of that occupation instead, so we could make our own money.' For decades, Canada has backed the creation of a Palestinian country to exist in peace alongside a secure Israel. In May 2024, Ottawa said it no longer believes that recognizing Palestinian statehood can only happen after a peace negotiation. Around that time, Ottawa said it was assessing what conditions need to be in place, in order to proceed with formal recognition. In an interview with The Canadian Press, Abuamara said Canada is now edging even closer toward that formal recognition. She cited a June 10 consultation event Canada co-hosted with Qatar and Mexico at the United Nations headquarters on how to peacefully resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict and advance a two-state solution. The event was supposed to be part of a UN conference organized by France and Saudi Arabia; participating countries were expected to either recognize Palestine as a state or agree on steps toward doing so. The organizers postponed the conference when a war started between Israel and Iran, and no new date has been set. Abuamara said Canada had 'a lot of conversations' with France and others about moving Ottawa closer to recognizing Palestinian statehood when the UN conference eventually takes place. 'We've been very close, before the (April federal) election, to the recognition,' she said. The Canadian Press has asked the federal cabinet for comment but has not received a response. Israel has pushed back firmly on calls for Palestinian statehood, saying the territories have divided leadership and Hamas and Fatah both run corrupt governments that refuse to hold elections and have supported terrorists. Abuamara said recognizing Palestinian statehood would 'set in stone for Canadians the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination.' Her work changed drastically on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, resulting in the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Hamas and its affiliates killed 1,200 people in Israel, including soldiers, and took 251 people hostage; they still hold roughly 50. The attack prompted Israel to bombard Gaza. Hamas officials say Israeli military actions, including strikes on hospitals and refugee camps, have since killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, including militants. The Israel-Gaza conflict has triggered tense protests on Canadian streets and a spike in hate crimes targeting Jews. Muslim and Arab Canadians, meanwhile, report being afraid to express criticism of Israel's military campaign because of the possible backlash. The war also has bolstered calls for recognition of a Palestinian state. Spain, Ireland and Norway formally recognized a Palestinian state last year, citing Israeli officials' talk of annexing Palestinian territories. Abuamara's role is to speak for Palestinians across the Middle East, although she was appointed by a government that only has control of the West Bank, not the Gaza Strip. She said her posting in Canada left her dismayed by the shortage of Palestinian voices in the media and on academic panels. She said she struggled to get direct meetings with Canadian government officials. But she noted that Prime Minister Mark Carney has been using stronger language to criticize Israeli policies and actions than did his predecessor, Justin Trudeau. 'We've seen stronger, clearer statements since the Carney government took office,' she said. 'There is less two sides-ism, less not naming the perpetrator of the crime.' She also cited comments Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand made in May describing Israel's military campaign as 'aggression caused against the Palestinian and the Gazan people in Palestine.' In those comments, the minister took the unconventional step of citing 'Palestine' instead of the Palestinian territories. Anand also said that by restricting humanitarian aid in Gaza, Israel was 'using food as a political tool.' Israeli officials took issue with Anand's use of the word 'aggression' to describe a military campaign to neutralize the threat of Hamas. Abuamara said it was refreshing to see Canada call out violence toward civilians in the Middle East as it often does for Ukrainians attacked by Russia. 'Canada needs to just stand by international law,' she said. 'It's not about Palestine. It's about the international rules-based order, about human rights, about values and principles.' Canada has been pushing Israel for more accountability on a number of incidents in Gaza, including in May after Israeli soldiers in the West Bank fired shots in the vicinity of Canadian and other diplomats during a humanitarian assessment of the Jenin refugee camp. Canada summoned Israel's ambassador following that event and is still awaiting the results of an investigation into what happened. Abuamara said the lack of accountability for that incident illustrates how Palestinians feel when they level accusations against Israeli soldiers. 'It's just exactly what we want the Canadian government and the Canadian people to know — this is what we have been living for decades. Israel is never wrong,' she said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 9, 2025. Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
The National
13-06-2025
- Politics
- The National
'Kennedy must fall': CIA releases Sirhan Sirhan diary pages and RFK assassination files
Previously classified documents related to the 1968 murder of presidential hopeful Robert F Kennedy and his Palestinian Christian assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, have been released by the CIA. One of the files details an emergency meeting of the Palestine Arab Delegation in the Arab League offices of New York's Chrysler building following the killing of Mr Kennedy. Sirhan, a Palestinian who emigrated from Jordan to the US, shot and killed Mr Kennedy on June 6, 1968, after he won the California Democratic presidential primary. Several investigations by the Los Angeles police and FBI indicated speeches given by Mr Kennedy on the campaign trail in support of Israel prompted Sirhan's motivation. 'Kennedy must fall … Kennedy must fall' reads one of the diary entries written by Sirhan, released in the latest document dump. Another document, an intelligence report circulated in the CIA, shows that the Palestinian Arab Delegation was closely monitored by the intelligence agency after Sirhan was taken into custody. At an emergency meeting of the group held during the assassin's trial, Issa Nakhleh, a former senior adviser to the UN Palestinian Delegation, described Sirhan as an 'Arab guerrilla' whose murder of Mr Kennedy was 'motivated by political events'. 'Nakhleh informed the group that one of his aims in briefing the group was to enlist their support for a trip to the Middle East which he planned to make in order to collect funds to aid Sirhan's defence,' reads the document. The source for those particular meeting notes appears to be an informant, described by the CIA as a 'Middle East national with a leftist political orientation who has good contacts at the UN'. It also alleges that Mr Nakhleh had in the past been accused of being a 'loose handler' of funds – that he had previously raised money for various causes, but that the funds later 'found a way into his pockets'. Another released document shows that both the CIA and FBI were particularly concerned with how the Soviet Union was portraying Sirhan. 'Soviet media have displayed predictable sensitivity to the fact that the suspect is an Arab immigrant,' reads one of the reports, which also examined how a Soviet journalist's opinion piece critiqued the US reaction to Sirhan. 'Izvestiya Kondrashov accused the US press of 'playing on the Arab origin of the assassin' and on evidence of his 'anti-Israeli attitudes' in order to shift the blame from the American way of life, 'the real guilty party in the tragedy.'' A report compiled before the assassination, titled 'The Arab Nationalists Movement', was also circulated in the CIA shortly after Mr Kennedy was killed, while investigators were trying to learn about Sirhan's motives. 'In Jordan recently, a new Arab Nationalists Movement commando group has been organised to carry out raids within Israel,' the report reads. In April of 1969, a jury found Sirhan guilty of assassinating Mr Kennedy. Despite a preponderance of evidence, conspiracy theories have thrived for decades, with some suggesting Sirhan's innocence. In a previous interview with The National, author Mel Ayton, widely considered to be one of the foremost experts on Sirhan and the assassination, said that all of those theories fall apart under even the most basic examination. Any documents that remain classified, he explained, are classified for security reasons. 'It wasn't about covering anything up, it was about protecting sources, police sources and potential informants – that's what it all comes down to,' he said. Sirhan's many attempts to be paroled have so far been unsuccessful. He was briefly granted parole by the California parole board in 2021, only to have the decision vetoed by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who said the assassination was one of the most notorious crimes in US history. For the 17th time since being incarcerated in 1969, Sirhan was again denied a parole request in 2023. He will be eligible again in 2027. The prisoner, 81, has periodically made contradictory comments about his role in the assassination. During some interviews, he claims not to remember the events, while in others, he seems to express remorse.
The National
12-06-2025
- Politics
- The National
'RFK must fall': CIA releases Sirhan Sirhan diary pages and Kennedy assassination files
Previously classified documents related to the 1968 murder of presidential hopeful Robert F Kennedy and his Palestinian Christian assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, have been released by the CIA. One of the files details an emergency meeting of the Palestine Arab Delegation in the Arab League offices of New York's Chrysler building following the killing of Mr Kennedy. Sirhan, a Palestinian who emigrated from Jordan to the US, shot and killed Mr Kennedy on June 6, 1968, after he won the California Democratic presidential primary. Several investigations by the Los Angeles police and FBI indicated speeches given by Mr Kennedy on the campaign trail in support of Israel prompted Sirhan's motivation. 'Kennedy must fall … Kennedy must fall' reads one of the diary entries written by Sirhan, released in the latest document dump. Another document, an intelligence report circulated in the CIA, shows that the Palestinian Arab Delegation was closely monitored by the intelligence agency after Sirhan was taken into custody. At an emergency meeting of the group held during the assassin's trial, Issa Nakhleh, a former senior adviser to the UN Palestinian Delegation, described Sirhan as an 'Arab guerrilla' whose murder of Mr Kennedy was 'motivated by political events'. 'Nakhleh informed the group that one of his aims in briefing the group was to enlist their support for a trip to the Middle East which he planned to make in order to collect funds to aid Sirhan's defence,' reads the document. The source for those particular meeting notes appears to be an informant, described by the CIA as a 'Middle East national with a leftist political orientation who has good contacts at the UN'. It also alleges that Mr Nakhleh had in the past been accused of being a 'loose handler' of funds – that he had previously raised money for various causes, but that the funds later 'found a way into his pockets'. Another released document shows that both the CIA and FBI were particularly concerned with how the Soviet Union was portraying Sirhan. 'Soviet media have displayed predictable sensitivity to the fact that the suspect is an Arab immigrant,' reads one of the reports, which also examined how a Soviet journalist's opinion piece critiqued the US reaction to Sirhan. 'Izvestiya Kondrashov accused the US press of 'playing on the Arab origin of the assassin' and on evidence of his 'anti-Israeli attitudes' in order to shift the blame from the American way of life, 'the real guilty party in the tragedy.'' A report compiled before the assassination, titled 'The Arab Nationalists Movement', was also circulated in the CIA shortly after Mr Kennedy was killed, while investigators were trying to learn about Sirhan's motives. 'In Jordan recently, a new Arab Nationalists Movement commando group has been organised to carry out raids within Israel,' the report reads. In April of 1969, a jury found Sirhan guilty of assassinating Mr Kennedy. Despite a preponderance of evidence, conspiracy theories have thrived for decades, with some suggesting Sirhan's innocence. In a previous interview with The National, author Mel Ayton, widely considered to be one of the foremost experts on Sirhan and the assassination, said that all of those theories fall apart under even the most basic examination. Any documents that remain classified, he explained, are classified for security reasons. 'It wasn't about covering anything up, it was about protecting sources, police sources and potential informants – that's what it all comes down to,' he said. Sirhan's many attempts to be paroled have so far been unsuccessful. He was briefly granted parole by the California parole board in 2021, only to have the decision vetoed by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who said the assassination was one of the most notorious crimes in US history. For the 17th time since being incarcerated in 1969, Sirhan was again denied a parole request in 2023. He will be eligible again in 2027. The prisoner, 81, has periodically made contradictory comments about his role in the assassination. During some interviews, he claims not to remember the events, while in others, he seems to express remorse.
