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When Donald Trump presented his 2020 plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it included the Israeli annexation of swathes of the occupied West Bank, a controversial aspiration that has been revived by his reelection.In his previous stint as prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu pushed for partial annexation of the West Bank, but he relented in 2020 under international pressure and following a deal to normalise relations with the United Arab Emirates.With Trump returning to the White House, pro-annexation Israelis are hoping to rekindle the idea.Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler in the Palestinian territory, said recently that 2025 would be “the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria”, referring to the biblical name that Israel uses for the West Bank.The territory was part of the British colony of Mandatory Palestine, from which Israel was carved during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, with Jordanian forces taking control of the West Bank during the same conflict.Israel conquered the territory from Amman in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and has occupied it ever since.Today, many Jews in Israel consider the West Bank part of their historical homeland and reject the idea of a Palestinian state in the territory, with hundreds of thousands having settled in the territory.Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem and its 200,000 Jewish residents, the West Bank is home to around 490,000 Israelis in settlements considered illegal under international law.Around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank.- ‘Make a decision’ -Israel Ganz, head of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organisation for the municipal councils of West Bank settlements, insisted the status quo could not continue.”The State of Israel must make a decision,” he said.Without sovereignty, he added, “no one is responsible for infrastructure, roads, water and electricity.””We will do everything in our power to apply Israeli sovereignty, at least over Area C,” he said, referring to territory under sole Israeli administration that covers 60 percent of the West Bank, including the vast majority of Israeli settlements.Even before taking office, Trump and his incoming administration have made a number of moves that have raised the hopes of pro-annexation Israelis.The president-elect nominated the pro-settlement Baptist minister Mike Huckabee to be his ambassador to Israel. His nominee for secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said this would be “the most pro-Israel administration in American history” and that it would lift US sanctions on settlers.Eugene Kontorovich of the conservative think thank Misgav Institute pointed out that the Middle East was a very different place to what it was during Trump’s first term.The war against Hamas in Gaza, Israel’s hammering of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the fall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, all allies of Israel’s arch-foe Iran, have transformed the region.”October 7 showed the entire world the danger of leaving these (Palestinian) territories’ status in limbo,” Kontorovich said, referring to Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel 15 months ago that sparked the Gaza war.He said “the war has really turned a large part of the Israeli population away from a two-state solution”.The two-state solution, which would create an independent Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank, has been the basis of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations going back decades.- ‘Nightmare scenario’ -Even before Trump won November’s US presidential election, NGOs were denouncing what they called a de facto annexation, pointing to a spike in land grabs and an overhaul of the bureaucratic and administrative structures Israel uses to manage the West Bank.An outright, de jure annexation would be another matter, however.Israel cannot expropriate private West Bank land at the moment, but “once annexed, Israeli law would allow it. That’s a major change”, said Aviv Tatarsky, from the Israeli anti-settlement organisation Ir Amim. He said that in the event that Israel annexes Area C, Palestinians there would likely not be granted residence permits and the accompanying rights. The permits, which Palestinians in east Jerusalem received, allow people freedom of movement within Israel and the right to use Israeli courts. West Bank Palestinians can resort to the supreme court, but not lower ones.  Tatarsky said that for Palestinians across the West Bank, annexation would constitute “a nightmare scenario”.Over 90 percent of them live in areas A and B, under full or partial control of the Palestinian Authority.But, Tatarsky pointed out, “their daily needs and routine are indissociable from Area C,” the only contiguous portion of the West Bank, where most agricultural lands are and which breaks up areas A and B into hundreds of territorial islets.

Lebanon’s new president said on Saturday that Israel must withdraw from his country’s south by the January 26 deadline set to fully implement an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire agreed last year.His remarks follow a speech by Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem who accused Israel of hundreds of ceasefire violations, warning it against testing “our patience” and calling on the Lebanese state to be “firm” in its response.President Joseph Aoun told visiting United Nations chief Antonio Guterres that it was necessary for “Israeli forces to withdraw from occupied territories in the south within the deadline set by the agreement reached on November 27″.”Israel’s continued violations on land and in the air… blowing up homes and destroying border villages, completely contradicts what was stated in the ceasefire agreement,” a statement from Aoun’s office added.Under the November 27 ceasefire deal, which ended two months of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese army has 60 days to deploy alongside peacekeepers from the UNIFIL mission in south Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws.At the same time, Hezbollah is required to pull its forces north of the Litani River, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure it has in the south.- ‘Occupation’ -Earlier on Saturday, Qassem had called “on the Lebanese state to be firm in confronting violations, now numbering more than hundreds. This cannot continue”.”We have been patient with the violations to give a chance to the Lebanese state responsible for this agreement, along with the international sponsors, but I call on you not to test our patience,” he said in a televised speech.Qassem’s speech came as Guterres met top Lebanese officials including prime minister-designate Nawaf Salam and Aoun — the former army chief who has vowed that the state would have “a monopoly” on bearing weapons.Analysts say Hezbollah’s weakening in the war with Israel allowed Lebanon’s deeply divided political class to elect Aoun and to back him in naming Salam, who was presiding judge at the International Criminal Court, as prime minister.But Qassem insisted Hezbollah and ally Amal’s backing “is what led to the election of the president by consensus”, after around two years of deadlock.”No one can exploit the results of the aggression in domestic politics,” he warned. “No one can exclude us from effective and influential political participation in the country.”After his meeting with Aoun on Saturday, Guterres expressed hope that Lebanon could open “a new chapter of peace”. On Friday, Guterres had called for Israel to end its military operations and “occupation” in the south.He also said UN peacekeepers had found more than 100 weapons caches belonging “to Hezbollah or other armed groups”.French President Emmanuel Macron was also in Lebanon on Friday and said there must be “accelerated” implementation of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire.

A ceasefire in the Gaza war will begin Sunday morning at 0630 GMT, mediator Qatar said on Saturday after Israel’s cabinet voted to approve the truce and hostage-prisoner release deal.The exact time of the ceasefire’s start had been unclear, though Israel had said no Palestinian prisoners held by Israel would be freed before late Sunday afternoon.Qatar and the United States, which mediated the deal along with Egypt, had announced it on Wednesday and said it would take effect Sunday.Following that announcement, Israeli bombardment of the territory killed at least 113 people, Gaza’s civil defence rescue agency said on Friday, after Israel’s military reported hitting about 50 targets in 24 hours.On Saturday, AFP photos showed Palestinians in the southern city of Khan Yunis mourning four members of a family killed in another Israeli strike.Explosions were heard over Jerusalem Saturday morning after warning sirens blared and the military said a projectile had been launched from Yemen, whose Iran-backed rebels say they support the Palestinians.”As coordinated by the parties to the agreement and the mediators, the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will begin at 8:30 am on Sunday, January 19, local time in Gaza,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said on X.”We advise the inhabitants to take precaution, exercise the utmost caution, and wait for directions from official sources.”In more than 15 months of war between Hamas Palestinian militants and Israel, there has been only one previous truce, for one week, in November 2023. That deal also saw the release of hostages held by the militants in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.”The government has approved the hostage return plan,” the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Saturday after the cabinet held its vote. Netanyahu’s office said the deal “supports achieving the objectives of the war”.Israel’s justice ministry said 737 Palestinian prisoners and detainees will be freed as part of the first phase of the deal — none before 4:00 pm local time (1400 GMT) on Sunday. – Trump -Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, announcing the agreement on Wednesday, said an initial 42-day ceasefire would see 33 hostages released by militants in Gaza.The truce is to take effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration for a second term as United States president. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has completed preparations “to assume full responsibility in Gaza” after the war.Israel has no definitive stance on post-war governance beyond rejecting any role for both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. Outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Gaza should be under PA control.Even before the truce begins, displaced Gazans were preparing to return home.”I will go to kiss my land,” said Nasr al-Gharabli, who fled his home in Gaza City for a camp further south. “If I die on my land, it would be better than being here as a displaced person.”In Israel, there was joy but also anguish over the remaining hostages taken in the Hamas attack.Kfir Bibas, whose second birthday falls on Saturday, is the youngest captive.Hamas said in November 2023 that Kfir, his four-year-old brother Ariel and their mother Shiri had died in an air strike, but with the Israeli military yet to confirm their deaths, many are clinging to hope.Israel’s cabinet endorsement of the deal came despite eight ministers voting against it, including far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.Hamas’s armed wing warned that continued Israeli strikes risked the lives of hostages and could turn their “freedom… into a tragedy”.Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war and resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,876 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.- Aid-starved -Mediators had worked for months to reach a deal but the efforts were fruitless until Trump’s inauguration neared.Brett McGurk, the pointman for outgoing President Joe Biden, was joined in the region by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff in an unusual pairing to finalise the agreement, US officials said.On Friday, Qatar’s Sheikh Mohammed said: “We seek a full implementation of the first phase, and for the second phase to be the final.”We are waiting for the Security Council to issue a binding resolution to implement the agreement.”Israeli authorities assume the 33 captives to be released in the first phase are alive, but Hamas has yet to confirm that.Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences”, the Qatari prime minister said.An Israeli military official said reception points had been established at Kerem Shalom, Erez and Reim, where hostages would be joined by doctors and mental health specialists before being “transported via helicopter or vehicle” to hospitals in Israel.Israel “is then expected to release the first group of Palestinian prisoners, including several with high sentences”, a source said on condition of anonymity.During talks on Friday, negotiators agreed to form a joint operations room in Cairo to “ensure effective coordination” and compliance with the truce terms, Egyptian state-linked media reported.Biden said the second phase could bring a “permanent end to the war”.In aid-starved Gaza, humanitarian workers caution a monumental task lies ahead.On Friday, British lawmakers warned that Israeli legislation banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, threatens the truce deal. The ban on the main aid agency in Gaza is to take effect by the end of January.burs-it/jsa

As a law that could get TikTok banned in the United States is poised to go into effect, here is a look at the rise of the video-sharing social media platform.- Genesis -In 2016, Beijing-based ByteDance launched Douyin, an app for sharing short videos, in the Chinese market.ByteDance released TikTok for the international market the …

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Israel’s cabinet voted to approve a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal on Saturday, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, ending days of uncertainty about whether the truce would go into effect this weekend.  The ceasefire, set to begin Sunday, would halt fighting and bombardment in Gaza’s deadliest-ever war.It would also enable the release of hostages held in the territory since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.”The government has approved the hostage return plan”, Netanyahu’s office said early Saturday morning after the cabinet held its vote. Israel’s justice ministry has said 737 prisoners and detainees will be freed as part of the first phase of the deal — none before 4:00 pm local time (1400 GMT) on Sunday. Israeli strikes have killed dozens since the ceasefire deal was announced, with the military saying Thursday it had hit about 50 targets across Gaza over the previous 24 hours.The truce is to take effect on the eve of the inauguration of Donald Trump, who claimed credit for working with outgoing US President Joe Biden’s team to seal the deal.  It was earlier approved by Israel’s security cabinet, with Netanyahu’s office saying it “supports achieving the objectives of the war”.Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said the Palestinian Authority has completed preparations “to assume full responsibility in Gaza” after the war.Even before the truce begins, displaced Gazans were preparing to return home.”I will go to kiss my land,” said Nasr al-Gharabli, who fled his home in Gaza City for a camp further south. “If I die on my land, it would be better than being here as a displaced person.”In Israel, there was joy but also anguish over the remaining hostages taken in the Hamas attack.Kfir Bibas, whose second birthday falls on Saturday, is the youngest hostage.Hamas said in November 2023 that Kfir, his four-year-old brother Ariel and their mother Shiri had died in an air strike, but with the Israeli military yet to confirm their deaths, many are clinging to hope.”I think of them, these two little redheads, and I get shivers,” said 70-year-old Osnat Nyska, whose grandchildren attended nursery with the Bibas brothers.- ‘Confident’ -Two far-right ministers had voiced opposition to the deal, with one threatening to quit the cabinet, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said before the vote he believed the ceasefire would proceed.”I am confident, and I fully expect that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday,” he said.Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israel pounded several areas of the territory, killing more than 100 people and wounding hundreds more since the deal was announced on Wednesday.Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, warned that Israeli strikes were risking the lives of hostages and could turn their “freedom… into a tragedy”.The October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,876 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.- Trump and Biden -The ceasefire agreement followed intensified efforts by mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt after months of fruitless negotiations.In the days of talks, Biden pointman Brett McGurk was joined in the region by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff in an unusual pairing to get the deal over the line, US officials said.”If we weren’t involved… the deal would’ve never happened,” Trump said in an interview Thursday.Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, announcing the agreement on Wednesday, said an initial 42-day ceasefire would see 33 hostages released.On Friday, he said: “We seek a full implementation of the first phase, and for the second phase to be the final.”We are waiting for the Security Council to issue a binding resolution to implement the agreement.”The Israeli authorities assume the 33 are alive, but Hamas has yet to confirm that.Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences”, the Qatari prime minister said.Two sources close to Hamas told AFP three Israeli women soldiers would be the first to be released on Sunday evening.The women may, in fact, be civilians, as the militant group refers to all Israelis of military age who have undergone mandatory military service as soldiers.An Israeli military official said reception points had been established at Kerem Shalom, Erez and Reim, where hostages would be joined by doctors and mental health specialists before being “transported via helicopter or vehicle” to hospitals in Israel.Israel “is then expected to release the first group of Palestinian prisoners, including several with high sentences”, a source said on condition of anonymity.During talks on Friday, negotiators agreed to form a joint operations room in Cairo to “ensure effective coordination” and compliance with the truce terms, Egyptian state-linked media reported.French President Emmanuel Macron said French-Israeli citizens Ofer Kalderon and Ohad Yahalomi were among hostages due to be freed in the first phase.Biden said the second phase could bring a “permanent end to the war”.In aid-starved Gaza, where nearly all of its 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once, humanitarian workers worry about the monumental task ahead.”Everything has been destroyed, children are on the streets, you can’t pinpoint just one priority,” Doctors Without Borders coordinator Amande Bazerolle told AFP.burs-tym/cwl

“I almost, like, don’t know how to define myself without TikTok,” content creator Ayman Chaudhary sighed, reflecting the consternation of millions over US authorities’ scheduled banning Sunday of the hugely popular app.After months of legal tussles, the US Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law that would ban the video-sharing platform — used by 170 …

‘More sad than shocked’: TikTok users brace for ban Read More »