Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Palestinians have no hope of a two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel condemns the violence in Gaza
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said people can get “hung up” on peace negotiations with the Palestinians, saying he has opted for a different approach in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday.
Netanyahu said if peace were to be made with Saudi Arabia, it would pave the way for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Accords have done little to moderate the position of Israel on the Palestinians. When asked what concession Israel would grant Palestinian territories, Netanyahu responded: “Well, I’m certainly willing to have them have all the powers that they need to govern themselves. None of the powers that could threaten (us) meant that Israel should be in charge of the security of the country.
His comments come at a tense moment for Israel. The situation between Palestinians and Israelis is getting worse, with fears growing that it will spiral out of control. The worst day for the Palestinians in the West Bank was last Thursday and followed by a shooting near a synagogue on Friday, which Israel considers to be the most worst terror attacks in recent years.
There has not been much movement towards a two state solution by Netanyahu or the Palestinian leadership.
The Israeli Consultative Council on ‘Corrupt Practice’ by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the High Court of the Jude Judea-Latiny
He was forced to dismiss key ally Aryeh Deri from his ministerial posts after the High Court ruled that it was unreasonable to appoint the Shas party leader to positions in government due to his criminal convictions.
Tens of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated against Netanyahu and his government in the last few months.
Netanyahu had a meeting with the US Secretary of State on Monday during a visit that came at a time of growing tensions in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Despite being flawed, Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East that works.
He said that Israel and the United States were two strong democracies and that he was worried about plans to weaken the powers of Israel’s independent judiciary.
There are three separate cases in which Netanyahu is accused of corruption that have plagued him politically. He has described the trial as a witch hunt, and has denied all the charges against him.
An echo of the 1972 Yom Kippur War between Israel and its Arab neighbors: The most obdurate right-wing government in history
David A. Andelman is a writer and a contributor to CNN, winner of the Deadline Club Award twice, as well as a writer for the French Legion of Honor. He was a reporter for The New York Times and CBS News. His own views are reflected in this commentary. View more opinion at CNN.
It was the same trajectory as one made over forty years ago by a predecessor of Antony Blinken.
Starting in 1974, then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s “shuttle diplomacy” would bring an accord of sorts and a degree of stability to the region following the catastrophic and bloody Yom Kippur War between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
Today, 49 years later, there is still no Palestinian state, relations between Israelis and their Palestinian neighbors are as fraught as ever, blood runs in the streets of both places, and the most obdurate, certainly the most right-wing government in Israeli history has just taken power in Jerusalem.
The prime minister told CNN that his priority of cementing amicable arrangements with all Arab countries, as provided by the Abraham Accords, would eventually drive the Palestinians to the peace table.
By contrast, Abbas emerged from his meeting with Blinken and asserted, “the Israeli Government is responsible for what’s happening these days, because of its practices that undermine the two-state solution and violate the signed agreements, and because of the lack of international efforts to dismantle the occupation and the settlement regimes, and the failure to recognize the Palestinian state and its full membership in the United Nations.”
Indeed, it would seem that Netanyahu is determined to push on with initiatives that will inflame passions on both sides. The public security minister was convicted of inciting anti-Arab racism. While Aryeh Deri, leader of the ultra-Orthodox Sephardi party Shas, was forced to step down as interior minister by the nation’s high court, he is expected to return after Netanyahu’s ruling coalition pledged its support.
At the same time, the right-wing dominated Knesset awarded to Bezalel Smotrich – a religious-Zionist leader of the settler movement – supervision of the Jewish territories that Palestinians have long claimed for themselves.
Ten Palestinians were killed in an Israeli army raid on the Jenin refugee camp and a Palestinian attack on a Jerusalem synagogue left seven people dead.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Can Israel and the Palestinians make a breakthrough in the Middle East? An analysis of a CNN interview with Prince Farhan bin al-Saud
With such a tense atmosphere, it seems likely that some key Middle East nations will have little incentive to establish a working relationship with Israel that could lead to a lasting peace.
The focus needs to be on a pathway to resolving this conflict, according to Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Farhan bin al-Saud.
It’s unlikely to be a recipe for a quick diplomatic breakthrough. If the overarching purpose of the visit was to engage with the government of Netanyahu, without burning any new bridges, then the Secretary of State may have left in the nick of time.
The US has little alternative, then, to support it and do its best to hold up a mirror to its faults, praying it will do the right thing for all who live within its borders and abroad.
Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in today’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, CNN’s three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here.
The world watched as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the focus of the world this week after 48 hours of violence, following a very well timed flying visit from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Sitting down for an exclusive interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, he signaled clearly that it is extremely unlikely Israel and the Palestinians will make any measurable progress toward a long-term peace anytime soon.
“I’m certainly willing to have them have all the powers that they need to govern themselves, but none of the powers that can threaten us,” Netanyahu told Tapper in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
You can not divide the airspace between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. You have to cross it. It takes two minutes for an airplane to cross it. So what, one minute Israel controls it and the other minute the Palestinians? It is not workable.
I said, you are right. It gives them the ability to control their own lives, but we need to have security control, because that allows them to control their institutions and their economy.
It isn’t targeting family members. It’s targeting family members who were involved in the terror acts or supported it after the act was done … I think that disincentivizes the terrorists,” Netanyahu said.
The legislation to strip residency from the families of attackers is expected to face legal challenges, as has already been promised by HaMoked.
But with rising and concerning levels of violence from all sides, a far-right Israeli government in place under Netanyahu, and a Palestinian Authority led by an increasingly unpopular President Mahmoud Abbas, that may be an overly optimistic game plan.
A meeting with Abbas in the West Bank should lead to a reduction in tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. He warned against the legalization of Israeli settlements, the removal of Palestinians from their homes, the disruption of the holy site’s historic status, and of course the encouragement and acquiescence to violence.
Mumbai, New Zealand, – the wetest day of August 24: The A380 superjumbo was swamped with rain on Sunday
Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company (IHC) on Monday announced that it would invest 1.4 billion dirhams ($381 million) in India’s Adani Enterprises’ follow-on public offering . The investment comes after the Indian conglomerate’s market value plummeted around $70 billion following a damaging short seller report.
Background: Since the 2018 reimposition of US sanctions on Iran after Washington ditched Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, the Islamic Republic has been disconnected from the Belgium-based SWIFT financial messaging service, which is a key international banking access point. Similar limitations have been imposed on some Russian banks.
The turnout in Tunisia’s parliamentary runoff elections on Sunday, Reuters cited the country’s electoral commission as saying. President Kais Saied on Monday blamed the low turnout on hatred among voters of the parliament, calling it “an institution of absurdity and a state within the state.” His critics said the turnout was evidence of public disdain for his agenda and seizure of powers, and opposition parties called for his resignation.
There is a map from Flightradar24 which shows that the A380 superjumbo turned back more than 30% of the way to New Zealand after reaching west of Indonesia.
New Zealand’s biggest city has been swamped with rain. An estimated 240 millimeters of rainfall (9.8 inches) – equal to an entire summer’s worth of rain – fell on Auckland Friday, making it the city’s wettest day on record.
Travel was disrupted during the rain over the weekend. Several thousand people were trapped in the airport’s terminals Friday due to the flooding. Domestic flights resumed Saturday but the international terminal was not operational until Sunday.
The longest route of the airline resumed in December after a three-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. The flight takes between 16 and 17 hours and is among the world’s longest nonstop commercial routes.