AMMAN: A group of US citizens from Al-Bireh in Palestine have protested against US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Psagot, an Israeli settlement.
Former Al-Bireh mayor Abdel Jawwad Saleh was part of the protests, and told Arab News that the settlement “was built on citizens rightfully owned private property.”
The American-Palestinian group said in an open letter to Pompeo obtained by Arab News that they are the “legal property owners and titleholders of the land where the Israeli settlement of Psagot is built.”
The land was initially confiscated by the Israeli army for security purposes and later handed over to Israeli settlers.
Saleh, the 89-year old former mayor, lost seven dunums as part of Israeli settlement efforts. He directed harsh criticism at Pompeo, saying: “This is the land of our forefathers that your friends stole. You may drink the wine of this settlement but its grapes are the blood of Palestinians.”
The outgoing Trump-era official made an unprecedented and controversial visit to a Psagot winery that last year renamed one of their brands after Pompeo in a “show of gratitude.”
The American-Palestinian group said they “will not stop efforts to return our private property.” They also labeled Pompeo “a secretary of state not fit for office,” adding that they will pursue legal action and “hold him accountable for his actions that are facilitating the theft of private property of US citizens abroad.”
Anis F. Kassim, publisher of the Palestine Yearbook, told Arab News that Pompeo’s visit to Psagot is “an act of aggression against Palestinian rights.”
He said: “By endorsing the settlement structure and apartheid system that Israel is building in historical Palestine, the US is endorsing robbery of Palestinian land.”
Kassim called the US action “repugnant” to customary and conventional international law. “The Hague regulations and Geneva Conventions prohibit pillage by an occupying power,” he said.
In addition to the West Bank settlement visit, Pompeo plans to travel to the occupied Golan Heights that Israel annexed in 1981. In a deeply controversial move last year, the Trump administration formally recognized Israeli sovereignty over the occupied region.
Oraib Rantawi, director of the Amman-based Al-Quds Center for Political Studies, told Arab News that Pompeo’s visit is a “continuation of an attempt to normalize and legitimize settlements,” and could lead to the US “recognizing the annexation of larger settlements.”
Rantawi labeled the Trump administration’s visit as “part of gifts to the Israelis and their Zionist supporters in the US.”
Jordanian political activist Zaid Nabulsi said that the Golan Heights are “Syrian occupied and Syrian territory, regardless of what US officials say or do.”
Suhail Khalileh a settlement expert, said that the actions of any country that contravene international law and UNSC resolutions would normally be ignored.
“Khalifeh said that during the Biden era much of these actions will be referred.
“We feel that there is a huge campaign going on between the US and Palestine on the political progressive level as well as on the level of universities and municipalities.”
Ali Abunimah, one of the founders of the BDS movement, also commented on attempts by Pompeo to link the movement to antisemitism.
“This desperate tactic is a last gasp effort from a defeated administration to give Israel’s apartheid regime a parting gift. It will in no way affect the determination of Palestinians to campaign and struggle for their rights,” he told Arab News.
US-Palestine nationals denounce Pompeo visit
https://arab.news/yubuq
US-Palestine nationals denounce Pompeo visit
- Pompeo made a controversial visit to a Psagot winery that last year renamed one of their brands after him
- The American-Palestinian group said they “will not stop efforts to return our private property”
Israel says struck military sites in east, south Lebanon
Four missiles were fired in the Nabatiyeh area of southern Lebanon
JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said it struck military sites in east and south Lebanon on Thursday, in its latest attack despite a November ceasefire that ended a war against militant group Hezbollah.
“A short while ago, the IDF (military) struck a military site containing an underground terrorist infrastructure site in the Bekaa area in Lebanon, as well as a military site containing rocket launchers in southern Lebanon in which Hezbollah activity has been identified,” the military said in a statement.
Lebanese state media on Thursday reported Israeli strikes on the country’s south and east.
The state-run National News Agency said “enemy aircraft” struck “the eastern slopes of the mountain range within the town of Janta in the Bekaa,” as well as “the outskirts of the town of Taraya, west of Baalbek,” also in the east.
Four missiles were fired in the Nabatiyeh area of southern Lebanon, NNA said.
No casualties were immediately reported.
The November 27 truce largely halted more than a year of fighting between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of open war during which Israel sent in ground troops.
Hezbollah had said it was acting in support of Hamas militants fighting Israel in Gaza.
Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Lebanese territory since the truce agreement took effect.
Under the agreement, Israel had been expected to withdraw from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops at five locations it deems “strategic.”
The ceasefire also required Hezbollah to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Fight against disinformation to continue, says Turkish official
ANKARA: Following the decision to detain Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality officials and other suspects within the scope of a series of investigations conducted by the Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office, we note that some parties, especially leaders of the main opposition party, are making efforts to undermine the integrity of the investigations with political and ideological motives.
Among the political and ideological assessments made without familiarity with the content and details of the investigations that have begun, we are also witnessing irrational slanders against our president.
We will continue to stand firmly against such endeavors aimed at undermining the independence of our judiciary, which exercises its authority on behalf of the Turkish nation, as well as putting our president under suspicion, and will continue to protect the rights of our president against these ideological slander campaigns.
We emphasize our belief that all decisions of an impartial judiciary should be respected by all groups, and we would like to state that we will continue our fight against disinformation as the Communication Directorate in this process.
We ask our valued citizens to support this fight by dealing cautiously with unconfirmed and suspicious content and, as always, please rely on the statements of official institutions and authorities.
- Prof. Dr. Fahrettin Altun is Head of the Communications Directorate of the Republic of Turkiye.
Houthi militant media reports fresh US strikes on Yemen
- Four strikes hit Hodeida governorate on the Red Sea
- The Houthis have reported several rounds of US attacks since Saturday
SANAA: Fresh attacks hit two areas of militant-held Yemen, the Iran-backed Houthis’ Al-Masirah TV station reported on Thursday, blaming “US aggression.”
Four strikes hit Hodeida governorate on the Red Sea, and a further attack hit Saada in the north, the birthplace of the Houthi movement, Al-Masirah said.
The attacks came around the same time that Israel’s military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen for the second time in a day.
The Houthis have reported several rounds of US attacks since Saturday, when a heavy bombardment targeting senior figures killed 53 people, according to the militant group.
In return, the Houthis have repeatedly attacked a US aircraft carrier battle group and twice announced missile launches at Israeli targets.
The US attacks are aimed at stamping out months of strikes by the Houthis on Red Sea shipping during the Gaza war that have crippled the vital trade route.
Israel says it intercepts two missiles launched from Yemen
- There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the launch, but it comes after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis had threatened to escalate attacks in support of Palestinians
JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said it intercepted two missiles launched from Yemen on Thursday after US President Donald Trump threatened to punish Iran over its perceived support for Yemeni Houthi militants.
Warning sirens sounded in Jerusalem and the nearby Israeli-occupied West Bank after the second missile was fired later in the day, the military said, adding that it was intercepted before it entered Israeli territory.
The military said it also downed a missile launched from Yemen earlier in the day after sirens blared in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Israel’s national ambulance service Magen David Adom said it received no reports of casualties following both launches.
The Houthis, undeterred by waves of US strikes since Saturday, fired a ballistic missile toward Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, the group’s military spokesperson said in a televised statement earlier on Thursday.
The group has recently vowed to escalate attacks, including those targeting Israel, in response to the US campaign.
US strikes that began on Saturday over Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping amount to the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January. The US attacks have killed at least 50 people.
Yemen’s Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV reported at least four US strikes on the Al Mina district of the Red Sea city of Hodeidah on Thursday, an area which houses a major port and the headquarters of Houthi naval forces.
Al Masirah TV reported another strike on Al-Safra district of Saada which, according to Yemeni sources, houses weapons storage and training sites, and is considered one of the group’s most important and heavily fortified military strongholds.
Trump threatened on Monday to hold Iran accountable for any future Houthi attacks, warning of severe consequences. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the Houthis were independent and took their own strategic and operational decisions.
On Tuesday, the Houthis said they had fired a ballistic missile toward Israel and would expand their range of targets in that country in coming days in retaliation for renewed Israeli airstrikes in Gaza after weeks of relative calm.
The Houthis have carried out over 100 attacks on shipping since Israel’s war with Hamas began in late 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Gaza’s Palestinians.
The attacks have disrupted global commerce and prompted the US military to launch a costly campaign to intercept missiles.
The Houthis are part of what has been dubbed the “Axis of Resistance” — an anti-Israel and anti-Western alliance of regional militias including Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and armed groups in Iraq, all backed by Iran.
EU leaders deplore breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza
- The European Council deplores the breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza
BRUSSELS: EU leaders said on Thursday that they deplore the breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza and Hamas’ refusal to hand over remaining hostages.
“The European Council deplores the breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza, which has caused a large number of civilian casualties in recent air strikes. It deplores the refusal of Hamas to hand over the remaining hostages,” it said in a statement.
