Category World News

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his ultranationalist government have been vocal critics of US President Donald Trump’s assertion that the country can’t annex the occupied West Bank.

Trump made the surprise remarks in a press conference on Thursday ahead of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Friday US address to the UN General Assembly.

“I won’t permit Israel to annex the West Bank,” I said. Nope. I won’t permit. Trump remarked, “It won’t happen.”

Trump refused to say whether he had spoken with Netanyahu about his plans to stop any Israeli annexation attempts.

“Yes, but I won’t allow it,” the woman said. I don’t want Israel to annex the West Bank, regardless of whether I spoke with him or not. There has been enough already. Okay, it’s time to stop now. the president of the US stated.

Analysts questioned whether the notoriously capricious US leader would change his mind because Trump did not specify what steps he would take to stop the occupied West Bank from being annexed.

Mouin Rabbani, an analyst and non-resident fellow at the Qatar-based Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, described Trump’s statement as a “positive” development in an interview with Al Jazeera, but he questioned whether he would actually follow through.

One must tread carefully when valuing Trump’s words, Rabbani said.

So the question is now: Will he take steps to prevent Israel from annexing the West Bank, and if so, what will he do in response? Will a different conversation that he has possibly change his mind?

Trump’s comments could put his administration in conflict with Netanyahu’s far-right government, which has made the annexation of the West Bank and Gaza a formal political goal.

A non-binding motion in the Knesset calling for the annexation of the West Bank was approved by Israeli lawmakers in July, with a 71-to-13 vote.

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister and far-right leader, who lives in an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank and works for the Israeli-occupied Palestinian Authority oversees the operation of illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian territory, first introduced the proposal.

In addition to threatening to overthrow the government if an agreement is reached, Smotrich and other far-right members of Netanyahu’s ruling coalition have voiced unwavering opposition to efforts to reach a resolution ending Israel’s war on Gaza.

In order to allow the construction of thousands of homes in a contentious illegal settlement that divides the occupied West Bank, Smotrich unveiled a plan ahead of Australia, France, Britain, Canada, Portugal, and other nations’ moves to recognize Palestinian statehood.

When completed, the massive settlement expansion on occupied land “finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize,” he said in August.

“Anyone in the world who attempts to recognize a Palestinian state today will receive a response from us on the ground,” he continued.

Since 1967, Israeli settlements have expanded into Palestinian territory and carved up the landscape thanks to a network of roads and other infrastructure run by the Israeli military and government.

In July 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israeli settlements in the West Bank must be stopped and Palestinian land must be reclaimed.

The Israeli government has a significant influence on US foreign policy in the Middle East, and its ongoing campaign in Gaza, the West Bank, and parts of Lebanon and Syria is heavily dependent on US financial, military, and intelligence support.

Any change in US policy could cause an uprising in Israel, particularly among the far-right organizations that make up Netanyahu’s coalition government.

Trump briefly referred to Gaza on Thursday, and he referred to the situation as “really bad, very bad.”

Trump only provided the phrase “very, really good talks” with leaders of Arab states and Netanyahu, despite suggesting a peace deal might occur “soon.”

Not just for Gaza and the occupied West Bank, but for the entire region, UNRWA is “irreplaceable” and “indispensable.”

At the UN General Assembly on Thursday, several top diplomats pleaded for political and financial backing for the organization.

At a meeting held on the sidelines of the summit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that UNRWA is a “force for stability in the most unstable region of the world.”

Any chance of peace and stability in the area depends on UNRWA. I ask that you give your full support for its work.

Since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the agency’s role has been under scrutiny.

UNRWA became one of the main aid distributors in the area as bombing campaigns and a ground invasion caused the Palestinians to flee thousands of them.

The UN organization is now in a major financial crisis, with a budget deficit of $200 million, as a result of the United States’ decision to stop funding.

Ayman Safadi, the foreign minister of Jordan on Thursday, issued a warning that “UNRWA is collapsing.”

“I don’t need to argue UNRWA,” I said. Gaza’s children are suffering because of that, Safadi said.

“UNRWA is argued by the mothers who are watching their children fade before their eyes.” UNRWA is argued by the 600,000 or more students in Gaza who haven’t attended school in two years.

Millions of Palestinians in occupied Palestinian territory and the Middle East receive cash, medical care, education, humanitarian aid, and other services from the UN.

The organization was established in 1949 to provide for the needs of the tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees who had been ethnically expelled from their cities prior to the establishment of the state of Israel.

UNRWA has since been providing assistance to Palestinian refugees who have fled their homes and their kin, who remain stateless refugees.

UNRWA has been under the purview of successive Israeli governments for years, with some claiming to be affiliated with armed groups and distributing anti-Semitic materials.

However, some claim that UNRWA’s efforts to demonize Palestinian refugees who want to return to their homes in contemporary Israel.

Pressure on UNRWA increased following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Israel falsely claimed that UNRWA employees were involved in the attack despite lacking any conclusive proof.

Consequently, several nations halted the organization’s funding. The US has not, despite the fact that many people have since restored UNRWA’s aid.

At the meeting on Thursday, Safadi explained that UNRWA had been the subject of a “political assassination campaign” well before October 2023, aimed to snag international support for the organization.

He also paid tribute to UNRWA staff members’ sacrifices, who have killed hundreds since Israel’s occupation of Gaza began.

“UnRWA persists, though. The Jordanian diplomat remarked, “It perseveres.”

“UNRWA staff members leave Gaza and attempt to assist those who are buried there.” We must save because of this. We believe UNRWA to be indispensable in this regard. Its position is unchangeable.

Brazil’s Foreign Minister, Mauro Vieira, for his part, decried the efforts to discredit UNRWA.

He claimed that the Israeli government’s “unsettling pattern of obstructing and violence” includes legal restrictions on UNRWA operations and the closure of UNRWA offices and facilities in East Jerusalem.

Equally alarming are UNRWA’s attempts to delegitimize it through defamation, defamation, and legal harassment, as well as initiatives aimed at replacing it with other humanitarian organizations in Gaza through militarization of aid distribution.

Israel has recently passed laws that forbid contact with the organization and ban the organization from entering the country.

That has also hindered UNRWA’s operations in the occupied East Jerusalem, which has been annexed by Israel.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced that Spain will give UNRWA 10 million euros ($11.66 million), increasing the amount that Madrid has contributed to the organization since the start of the conflict to about 60 million euros ($70 million).

The agency needs to be supported financially, according to Albares, and the needs are great.

He further advised nations that oppose UNRWA activities to press for the establishment of a Palestinian state that would care for its own citizens and fulfill its obligations.

Despite the dire state of things in Gaza right now, UNRWA’s Philippe Lazzarini claimed the organization is still active in the area.

At the 80th UN General Assembly, Uganda’s transitional prime minister Kamil Idris claimed that 12 million people have been displaced and killed by the civil war in Sudan. He urged the lifting of the ban on “political” chemical weapons, called for the release of foreign mercenaries, and called for the end of El-Fasher’s siege.

Palestinians are ready for peace, according to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who wished Israel would ratify the resolution. His video address defended Gaza’s undermining of the “extremist Israeli government” and defended its rule of Israel.