Category World News

Israel’s announcement that it will illegally build thousands of homes in a highly controversial development in the occupied West Bank – in a move Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich boasted “buries the idea of a Palestinian state” – has drawn widespread international condemnation.

Smotrich announced Thursday that he was pushing ahead with long-frozen plans for the  E1 area settlement project that would connect occupied East Jerusalem with the existing illegal Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, located several kilometres to the east.

The planned settlement, which was shelved for years amid opposition from the United States and European allies, would comprise more than 3,400 homes for Israeli settlers on Palestinian-owned land that experts say is vital for any future territorially contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank.

Smotrich said the development was being revived as a response to plans by other countries to recognise a Palestinian state.

But the response from the rest of the world has been scathing, with governments describing the move as a blatant violation of international law that would fuel regional instability and leave the possibility of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict in tatters. Here’s an overview of the reactions so far.

Palestine

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the E1 development, in combination with the war in Gaza and escalating settler violence, would only lead to further escalation, tension and instability.

He said he held the US responsible for halting Israel’s expansionist actions, and noted that the settlement announcement came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had spoken of his vision for a “Greater Israel”.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement, called for international intervention to halt the settlement plans.

It considered the E1 settlement “a continuation of the occupation’s plans to undermine the opportunity to establish the Palestinian state on its homeland, weaken its geographical and demographic unity, entrench the division of the West Bank into isolated areas surrounded by a sea of settlements, and facilitate the completion of their annexation”.

Qatar

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs slammed the move, saying it “reaffirms Qatar’s unequivocal rejection of the Israeli occupation’s policies aimed at expanding settlements and forcibly displacing Palestinian people, measures intended to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state”.

Statement | Qatar Condemns Israeli Finance Minister’s Approval of Settlement Plans Separating East Jerusalem from the Occupied West Bank#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/5BRIC3didA

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry condemned the settlement plans “in the strongest possible terms”, saying they were a violation of international law and a serious threat to the possibility of a two-state solution.

In a statement, it called on the international community to “assume its legal and moral responsibilities, protect the Palestinian people, and fulfil their legitimate rights, including recognition of the Palestinian state”.

Jordan

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry condemned the move in the “strongest terms”. The ministry’s spokesman Sufyan Qudah affirmed his country’s “absolute rejection and condemnation of this settlement plan and the illegal Israeli measures that constitute a blatant violation of international law and international Security Council resolutions”.

Qudah warned against the continued expansionist policy of the Israeli government in the occupied West Bank, which the ministry said “encourages the perpetuation of cycles of violence and conflict in the region”.

Turkiye

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the settlement plan “disregards international law and United Nations resolutions” and “targets the territorial integrity of the State of Palestine, the basis for a two-state solution, and hopes for lasting peace”.

It reaffirmed Turkiye’s support for an independent Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

United Kingdom

British Foreign Minister David Lammy said the plan must be stopped.

“The UK strongly opposes the Israeli government’s E1 settlement plans, which would divide a future Palestinian state in two and mark a flagrant breach of international law,” he said in an emailed statement to the Reuters news agency.

The situation in Gaza is appalling and the Israeli government’s actions are further jeopardising the two-state solution.
@AnitaAnandMP, @jnbarrot and I discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire, release of all hostages, a flood of aid and a plan to deliver lasting peace.

Germany

The German government, a strong supporter of Israel, urged Israel to “stop settlement construction” and said it “strongly rejects” the plan for the new development

“The settlement construction violates international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” a spokesperson for the Foreign Office in Berlin said.

“It complicates a negotiated two-state solution and an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, as demanded by the International Court of Justice,” he added.

Spain

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares called the expansion plan “a new violation of international law”.

“It undermines the viability of the two-state solution, the only path to peace,” he said in a social media post.

United Nations

The United Nations urged Israel to reverse its decision. “It would put an end to prospects of a two-state solution,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters.

“Settlements go against international law … [and] further entrench the occupation.”

European Union

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas also slammed the plan as a “breach of international law” that would further undermine a two-state solution.

“If implemented, settlement construction in this area will permanently cut the geographical and territorial contiguity between occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank and sever the connection between the northern and southern West Bank,” said Kallas.

“The EU urges Israel to desist from taking this decision forward, noting its far-reaching implications and the need to consider action to protect the viability of the two-state solution.”

She called on Israel to halt its settlement construction altogether, saying its settlement policy, combined with ongoing settler violence and military operations, were “fuelling an already tense situation on the ground and further eroding any possibility for peace”.

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also denounced the plans, saying the Israeli occupation and settlement expansion were illegal under international law, United Nations resolutions, and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, and must end immediately.

The intergovernmental organisation urged the international community to take responsibility, hold Israel accountable, and impose sanctions in line with international law and relevant UN resolutions.

Israeli human rights group

Israeli advocacy group Peace Now warned that the move was “guaranteeing many more years of bloodshed”.

“The E1 plan is deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution,” it said in a statement.

“There is a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to the terrible war in Gaza – the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel – and it will ultimately come.”

United States

Israel’s key ally, the United States, had no immediate words of criticism for the proposal. Asked about the settlement development, a spokesperson for the US State Department said Washington was focused on ending the war in Gaza and ensuring Hamas will never govern that territory again.

United States President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday in a bid to try and end Russia’s three-year assault on Ukraine.

In the run-up to the meeting, Trump said that he believes Putin is ready to agree to a ceasefire. But his suggestion that Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could “divvy things up” has alarmed observers in Kyiv.

For their part, remarks from top Russian officials suggest that Moscow has tried to water down discussions about the war by linking them with other bilateral issues, particularly restoring economic ties with the US.

On Thursday, Putin sat down with top officials at the Kremlin to discuss the Alaska meeting. He said that he believed the US was making “sincere efforts to stop the fighting, end the crisis and reach agreements of interest to all parties involved in this conflict”.

Earlier on Thursday, Yuri Ushakov, one of Putin’s top foreign policy aides, told reporters about Russia’s preparations for the talks. He said it was “obvious to everyone that the central topic will be the settlement of the Ukraine crisis”.

“An exchange of views is expected on the further development of bilateral cooperation, including in the trade and economic sphere,” he said, pointing out that: “I would like to note that this cooperation has a huge and, unfortunately, untapped potential.”

Ushakov also announced that in addition to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s delegation in Alaska would also include the country’s finance minister, Anton Siluanov, and Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s envoy on foreign investment and economic cooperation.

The inclusion of Siluanov and Dmitriev is another sign that the Kremlin hoped to discuss economic matters at the summit.

What does Russia-US trade look like?

In 2021, before Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine, total trade between Russia and the US amounted to $36.1bn. This included $6.4bn in US exports to Russia, and $29.7bn in US imports from Russia – amounting to a US trade deficit of $23.3bn.

For context, Russia was America’s 30th largest trade partner in 2021. Since then, after numerous rounds of American sanctions, trade between Russia and the US has fallen roughly 90 percent.

Incidentally, Russia’s overall trade balance – leaving the US – declined significantly following its decision to invade Ukraine. From 2022 to 2023, its international balance of payments fell by a whopping 70 percent, to just $86.3bn.

But back in 2021, Russia’s trade surplus with the US was concentrated almost exclusively in commodities. Oil, minerals and base metals like iron and steel made up roughly 75 percent of Russia’s exports. Meanwhile, US exports to Russia were concentrated in manufactured goods.

Were Russian exports to the US vital?

The short answer is no.

By the time Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the US – whose energy sector was transformed by hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling in the early 2000s – was already the world’s largest oil producer, at 11.9 million barrels of oil per day.

One area where Russia did hold limited significance was in certain types of energy products. Russia supplied certain grades of crude oil – notably Urals – as well as refined products like vacuum gas oil (VGO), residual fuel oil and naphtha.

Russian VGO was especially important for making gasoline and diesel products in US refineries, which lacked enough domestic feedstock with the optimal chemical and physical properties.

Elsewhere, the US continues to import limited quantities of uranium hexafluoride, a chemical important in uranium processing, from Russia. Some US utility companies still have supply contracts with Russia, which accounted for about one-third of America’s enriched uranium needs when war broke out.

As with energy products, however, American firms exposed to Russian uranium supplies have readjusted their supply chains in response to sanctions. What’s more, US companies like X-energy and Orano have invested heavily in domestic production in recent years.

Does Russia have any other leverage?

In the wake of sanctions after February 2022, most Russian commodity shipments were rerouted from Western countries to China at discounted prices, including for energy products and uranium.

Indeed, trade between China and Russia has grown in parallel with sanctions on Russia. A common border, shared geopolitical perspectives and joint opposition to the US have deepened bilateral relations.

Russia-China trade saw annual growth of nearly 30 percent in both 2022 and 2023, when it hit $240.1bn, according to the Centre for European Policy Analysis. In 2024, Russia climbed to 7th place among China’s trading partners, up from 13th place in 2020.

During that time, China has supplied Russia with more high-end products – like advanced electronics and industrial machinery – while Moscow has solidified its position as a top supplier of oil and gas to Beijing.

What’s more, the two countries conduct regular naval exercises and strategic bomber patrols together. The US has consistently expressed concerns over joint military drills and views the China-Russia alignment as a threat to its global leadership role.

Putin will be aware of these dynamics heading into Friday’s meeting.

What else could Putin offer Trump?

In March, Putin’s investment envoy – Kirill Dmitriev – claimed that Russia and the US had started talks on rare earth metals projects in Russia, and that some American companies had already expressed an interest in them.

“Rare earth metals are an important area for cooperation, and, of course, we have begun discussions on various rare earth metals and (other) projects in Russia,” Dmitriev told the Izvestia newspaper.

China’s almost total global control over the production of critical minerals – used in everything from defence equipment to consumer electronics – has focused Washington’s attention on developing its own supplies.

The US Geological Survey estimates Russia’s reserves of rare earth metals at 3.8 million tonnes, but Moscow has far higher estimates.

According to the Natural Resources Ministry, Russia has reserves of 15 rare earth metals totalling 28.7 million tonnes, as of January 2023.

But even accounting for the margin of error hanging over Russia’s potential rare earth supplies, it would still only account for a tiny fraction of global stockpiles.

As such, the US has been pursuing minerals-for-security deals with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ukraine in recent months, in an effort to wrestle control of the global supply chain away from China.

It may try and do the same with Russia.

What does Russia want from these meetings?

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Western countries have imposed 21,692 sanctions on Russia, mostly against individuals.

Key sanctions on Moscow include import bans on Russian oil, a price cap on Russian fuel, and the freezing of Russian central bank assets held in European financial institutions.

But on July 14, Trump threatened to impose so-called secondary sanctions, that if carried out, would mark a notable shift.

Since then, he has targeted India – the second biggest buyer of Russian oil – by doubling a 25 percent tariff on its goods to 50 percent, as a penalty for that trade with Moscow. So far, Trump has not imposed similar secondary tariffs on China, the largest consumer of Russian oil.

But he has suggested that Beijing could face such tariffs in the future, as the US tries to pressure countries to stop buying Russian crude, and thereby corner Putin into accepting a ceasefire.

Members of Trump’s administration have also indicated that if the Trump-Putin talks in Alaska don’t go well, the tariffs on India could be increased further.

Meanwhile, lawmakers from both US political parties are pushing for a bill – the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025 – that would also target countries buying Russian oil and gas.

The bill would give Trump the authority to impose 500 percent tariffs on any country that helps Russia. US senators are reportedly waiting on Trump’s OK to move the bill forward.

Palestinian officials have condemned Israeli threats against imprisoned leader Marwan Barghouti, as an ”unprecedented provocation.” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was filmed making the comments after what was described as “a raid” on Barghouti’s prison cell.

US President Donald Trump is meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, but the White House is signalling that major agreements are unlikely. Trump gives the talks a 25 percent chance of failure, while European Union leaders and the Ukranian leader worry he could concede too much.

Rescuers scoured debris in a remote village in Indian-administered Kashmir searching for missing residents on Friday after devastating flash floods triggered by the previous day’s torrential downpour killed at least 60 people, according to officials.

Teams of disaster management officials, police and soldiers, aided by local villagers, combed through the devastated Himalayan village of Chositi on Friday.

Rescue operations paused overnight after successfully evacuating at least 300 people on Thursday following a powerful cloudburst that triggered devastating floods and landslides. Officials reported that many missing persons were likely swept away by floodwaters. Additional rescue teams were en route to bolster relief efforts.

At least 50 severely injured individuals received treatment in local hospitals after being rescued from a stream filled with mud and debris. Disaster management official Mohammed Irshad warned that the number of missing people could rise.

Meteorologists have predicted more heavy rainfall and flooding for the region.

Chositi, a remote village in Kashmir’s Kishtwar district, serves as the last vehicle-accessible point for an annual Hindu pilgrimage to a mountainous shrine situated at 3,000 metres (9,500 feet) elevation, approximately 8 kilometres (5 miles) from the village.

The pilgrimage, which began July 25 and was scheduled to continue until September 5, has been suspended.

The floods destroyed the main community kitchen established for pilgrims, along with dozens of vehicles and motorcycles. More than 200 pilgrims were in the kitchen when the flood struck, which also damaged or washed away numerous homes clustered in the foothills.

Images and videos shared on social media reveal extensive destruction, with household belongings scattered among damaged vehicles and homes throughout the village. Authorities have constructed makeshift bridges to help stranded pilgrims cross muddy water channels.

Cloudbursts – sudden, intense downpours over small areas – have become increasingly frequent in India’s Himalayan regions, which are vulnerable to flash floods and landslides. These events can cause devastating flooding and landslides, affecting thousands in mountainous areas.

Experts attribute the increased frequency of cloudbursts partly to climate change, while noting that unplanned development in mountain regions has amplified the resulting damage.