Source: Reuters
Security & Justice
Israel Army Says Hit Over 100 'Terror Targets' in Lebanon in Past Day
The Israeli military on Wednesday said it struck more than 100 "terror targets" in Lebanon over the past day and had "eliminated" two Hezbollah commanders at the weekend.
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Israeli Strikes Kill Four Lebanese Soldiers in Two Days, Army Reports
Israeli Strikes Kill Four Lebanese Soldiers in Two Days, Army Reports
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Opinion
Lebanon's Economy—Not Battlefield—May Have the Final Word
Time and again during this most recent war in Lebanon, we hear the phrase, “The battlefield has the final word”. It has become the sole and wholly unsatisfactory refrain of Hezbollah and the so-called 'Axis of Resistance'.
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Flying Above the Bombs, a Lebanese Airline Becomes an Unlikely National Hero
It used to be like almost any other national carrier, fielding gripes about flight delays, ticket prices and bad food.
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Sports
Alcaraz Beats Rublev to Open ATP Finals Account
Carlos Alcaraz opened his account at the ATP Finals on Wednesday with an entertaining 6-3, 7-6 (10/8) win over Andrey Rublev which boosted his hopes of reaching the semifinals.
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Ecuador's Angulo, 22, Dies a Month After Car Crash
Ecuador international Marco Angulo has died at the age of 22 just over a month after being seriously injured in a car crash, his club has announced.
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
Monday 30 August 2021 14:05:51
Israeli PM Plays Down Defence Chief's Talks with Palestinian Leader
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett sought on Monday to play down any notion of a move towards renewed peace negotiations with the Palestinians after the highest-level Israeli-Palestinian meeting in years.
Hours after Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met, the main Israeli media outlets quoted "a source close to the prime minister" as saying: "There is no diplomatic process with the Palestinians, nor will there be one."
The session, which was not announced in advance, covered only "routine issues", according to the source. Hussein Al Sheikh, a member of Abbas' Fatah Central Committee, said the talks included "all aspects" of Palestinian-Israeli relations.
Gantz, who heads a centrist party, and Abbas convened two days after Bennett, a far-right politician who opposes Palestinian statehood, met in Washington with U.S. President Joe Biden, who backs the idea.
A White House statement said Biden reiterated to Bennett his support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and "underscored the importance of steps to improve the lives of Palestinians".
Bennett did not mention Palestinians in public remarks at the White House that focused largely on arch-enemy Iran's nuclear programme.
Gantz has called in the past for resumption of a peace process with the Palestinians, who aspire to a state of their own in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel captured those territories in the 1967 Middle East war.
But any renewed movement on the issue could shake the foundations of Bennett's government of left-wing, rightist, centrist and Arab parties that in June ended Benjamin Netanyahu's 12-year run as prime minister.
In a sign of friction over Palestinian statehood from within the coalition, Mossi Raz, a legislator from the left-wing Meretz party, said dismissal of prospects for renewed peace talks by the Bennett source was "outrageous".
"A peace process is an Israeli interest," Raz wrote on Twitter.
A statement from Gantz's office made no mention of peacemaking, saying only that he and Abbas discussed the security and economic situation in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, an enclave run by Abbas's Hamas Islamist rivals.
The meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah marked the first time Israeli and Palestinian talks at such a senior level have been confirmed since peace U.S.-brokered peace negotiations collapsed in 2014.
The source quoted by Israeli media said Bennett had given Gantz the go-ahead to see Abbas.
