Crime spree in Lebanon prompts debate over Syria repatriations

JERUSALEM: More than 50 freed Israeli hostages urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fully implement the Gaza ceasefire deal and secure the release of those still held in the Palestinian territory.
“We who have experienced the inferno know that a return to war is life-threatening for those still left behind,” a group of 56 freed hostages said in a letter posted on the social media platform Instagram on Friday evening.
“Implement the agreement in full, in one single maneuver.”
Among those to sign the letter was Yarden Bibas, whose wife and two young sons died while held captive in Gaza.
Their plea came as Hamas released a video showing Israeli hostage Matan Angrest alive, footage that his family said had left them “shaken.”
In the footage, Angrest, who turned 22 in November, also calls on the Israeli authorities to implement the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire ended on March 1 after six weeks of relative calm that included exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, though hostilities have not resumed.
While Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase until mid-April, Hamas has insisted on a transition to the second phase, which should lead to a permanent end to the war.
Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the 2023 attack on Israel, 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has said are dead.
On Saturday, a high-level Hamas delegation is expected to hold talks with Egyptian officials over the second phase of the ceasefire, two senior Hamas officials told AFP the day before.
“The delegation will meet with Egyptian officials on Saturday to discuss the latest developments, assess progress in implementing the ceasefire agreement and address matters related to launching the second phase of the deal,” one official told AFP.
During its talks with Egyptian mediators, the Hamas delegation will demand that Israel “implement the agreement, begin negotiations for the second phase and open the border crossings to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip,” he said.
The Palestinian militant group wants a “comprehensive agreement that ensures a permanent and complete ceasefire,” the other official said.
He said Hamas’s demands for the second phase include a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an end to the blockade, the reconstruction of the territory and financial support based on the decisions of this week’s Arab summit in Cairo.
He also said that Hamas was ready to “negotiate a prisoner exchange to release all Israeli prisoners including those with American citizenship.”

JEDDAH: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Friday endorsed an Arab League counter-proposal to US President Donald Trump’s controversial plan to take over Gaza and displace its residents, two ministers have said.

The decision by the 57-member grouping came at an emergency meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, three days after the Arab League ratified the plan at a summit in Cairo.

The Egyptian-crafted alternative to Trump’s widely condemned takeover proposes to rebuild the Gaza Strip under the future administration of the Palestinian Authority.

“The emergency ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation adopted the Egyptian plan, which has now become an Arab-Islamic plan,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said, in comments echoed by his Sudanese counterpart.
“It is certainly a very positive thing,” Abdelatty said.

Trump triggered global outrage by suggesting the US “take over” Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” while forcing its Palestinian inhabitants to relocate to Egypt or Jordan.

Cameroonian Foreign Minister Lejeune Mbella, chairman of the Council of Foreign Ministers, said the meeting was called in light of “new developments in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, including calls for the displacement of Palestinians.”    

He urged the full implementation of the agreement with a view to reaching a final solution to the conflict via a “concerted and multilateral approach.”

Mbella stressed, however, that “this approach can only be applicable and relevant within the framework of the two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side within internationally recognized borders, thus ensuring comprehensive peace in the Middle East.” 

Mamadou Tangara, the foreign minister of Gambia — the current Chair of the Islamic Summit —  slammed plans to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip as “provocative, brutal and inhumane,” and also uncalled for considering that positive steps are being looked into to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict following the recently reached ceasefire agreement. 

“Now is the time for the international community to exert more concerted efforts to establish a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire that will lead to the full withdrawal of Israel from the occupied Palestinian territories, reiterating that the two-state solution is a prerequisite for stability and peace in the Middle East,” he said. 

Tangara expressed deep concern over the recent passage of laws by the Israeli parliament banning the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which is in complete contravention of the UN Charter and international law.

OIC Secretary General Hissein Ibrahim Taha affirmed his support for the reconstruction plan for the Gaza Strip, while adhering to the right of the Palestinian people to remain in their land.

He called for more concerted efforts “to achieve a sustainable ceasefire, the complete withdrawal of the occupation forces, the delivery of humanitarian aid, helping the displaced to return to their homes, enabling the Palestinian government to assume its duties, preserving the unity of the Palestinian territory.”

Gaza trust fund

At Tuesday’s summit in Cairo, leaders of the Arab League also announced a trust fund to pay for Gaza’s reconstruction and urged the international community to back it.

“The next step is for the plan to become an international plan through adoption by the European Union and international parties such as Japan, Russia, China and others,” Abdelatty said.

“This is what we will seek and we have contact with all parties, including the American party.”

However, the counter-proposal does not outline a role for Hamas, which controls Gaza, and was rejected by both the United States and Israel.

The plan “does not meet the expectations” of Washington, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters on Thursday.

Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff gave a more positive reaction, calling it a “good-faith first step from the Egyptians.”

Rabha Seif Allam, of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, said Egypt was seeking “broad support” for its proposal.

“This is an attempt to build a broad coalition that refuses the displacement” of Palestinians from Gaza, she said.

Trump’s plan has already united Arab countries in opposition, with Saudi Arabia also hosting Arab leaders two weeks ago to discuss alternatives.

During Friday's meeting, the OIC also readmitted Syria, which was suspended in 2012 early in the civil war under Bashar Assad, following the long-time ruler’s toppling in December.

“This decision represents an important step toward Syria’s return to the regional and international communities as a free and just state,” a Syrian foreign ministry statement said.

(With AFP & SPA)