Ahmed Majdalani: Palestinian-Israeli File Not a Priority for US Administration

A Palestinian boy stands next to his father at their house, which was destroyed by Israeli air strikes during recent Israel-Gaza fighting, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, May 22, 2023. (Reuters)
A Palestinian boy stands next to his father at their house, which was destroyed by Israeli air strikes during recent Israel-Gaza fighting, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, May 22, 2023. (Reuters)
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Ahmed Majdalani: Palestinian-Israeli File Not a Priority for US Administration

A Palestinian boy stands next to his father at their house, which was destroyed by Israeli air strikes during recent Israel-Gaza fighting, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, May 22, 2023. (Reuters)
A Palestinian boy stands next to his father at their house, which was destroyed by Israeli air strikes during recent Israel-Gaza fighting, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, May 22, 2023. (Reuters)

Member of the PLO Executive Committee Ahmed Majdalani criticized on Tuesday the American administration, saying it was not serious about resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict

“The US administration has neither the desire nor the will to pressure the government of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu, to implement the agreements reached at Aqaba and Sharm el-Sheikh,” he said.

Political and security officials from the Palestinian Authority (PA), Egypt, Jordan, Israel and the United States met at Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh in March and again in Aqaba, Jordan, in February to discuss the tensions between Palestinians and Israelis.

“We had hoped that the meetings would make the US and mediating parties to assume their responsibility to force Israel to cease its unilateral measures,” he told the Arab World News Agency.

Majdalani added: “This was the right time for Washington to put pressure on Netanyahu in light of his disagreement with the US administration over common issues. However, the US administration has not done so.”

The Palestinian official explained that currently, Washington has other priorities than the Middle East. He said the US administration is busy confronting China and Russia to preserve the unipolar world it leads. “The US does not see the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as a threat to its interests and national security,” Majdalani remarked.

The official said Israel made a number of commitments at the Egypt and Jordan meetings, but it continues to shirk its obligations, even the economic ones.

At the Aqaba meeting, Israel committed to transfer millions of dollars in tax revenues it has withheld from the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority.

However, Majdalani said Israeli authorities failed to pay the amount accumulated in the past 10 years, estimated at 800 million shekels.

He stressed that the PA is serious about reviewing its relationship with Israel as an occupying power. “In wake of President (Palestinian Mahmoud) Abbas' recent speech at the United Nations, we are working on developing some practical steps to start a new plan of action,” Majdalani said.



Israeli Settlers Accused of Killing 117 Sheep in West Bank Attack

Palestinians checks wounded sheep after settlers attack a Bedouin community in the Jordan valley, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, July 18, 2025. REUTERS/Ali Sawafta
Palestinians checks wounded sheep after settlers attack a Bedouin community in the Jordan valley, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, July 18, 2025. REUTERS/Ali Sawafta
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Israeli Settlers Accused of Killing 117 Sheep in West Bank Attack

Palestinians checks wounded sheep after settlers attack a Bedouin community in the Jordan valley, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, July 18, 2025. REUTERS/Ali Sawafta
Palestinians checks wounded sheep after settlers attack a Bedouin community in the Jordan valley, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, July 18, 2025. REUTERS/Ali Sawafta

Palestinian Bedouins accused Israeli settlers on Friday of killing 117 sheep in an overnight attack and stealing hundreds of others in an apparent effort to chase farmers off their land in the occupied West Bank.

The incident comes amid what the United Nations described this week as intensifying attacks by Jewish settlers and security forces against Palestinians in the West Bank and record mass displacements, according to Reuters.

The Israeli army did not respond to a request for comment about the mass slaughter of the animals belonging to the Arab al-Kaabaneh Bedouin community, in the Jordan Valley.

Veterinarians were called in to treat a handful of sheep which had survived the knife and gun attack, some of the animals shaking uncontrollably and in apparent shock.

Salem Salman Mujahed, a resident of Arab al-Kaabaneh, said multiple groups of settlers working in coordination had orchestrated the assault, and accused the army of standing by.

"(Settlers) came near the houses. I asked them what are you doing here then we started fighting with each other," he said. "The army detained me, and they handcuffed me."

He said other groups of settlers then attacked the sheep, which are vital to his community's survival.

Palestinian Minister Moayad Shaaban condemned the incident, calling it part of a broader strategy to displace Palestinians from the region.

"These sheep and animals were slaughtered and shot at," he told Reuters. "They are using these tools to terrify these people to leave these areas, which have been inhabited for dozens of years."

MOVING AWAY

The attack prompted at least one family to begin relocating.

Bedouin Tareq Kaabaneh said he could no longer withstand what he called settler intimidation.

"They were armed, they steal donkeys and sheep. In the night they come here and start shooting toward us," Kaabaneh said.

"I am moving now from here, I want to protect my kids and my sheep, my livelihood ... yesterday I was safe, but I don't know what will happen to me tomorrow," he added.

The United Nations reported this week that mass displacements in the West Bank had reached levels unprecedented since Israel first took military control of the territory nearly six decades ago.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva also said there had been 757 settler attacks on Palestinians or their properties since January - a 13% increase from the same period last year.

At least 964 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023. Over the same period, 53 Israelis have been killed in attacks by Palestinians or in armed clashes.

The US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee demanded this week a full investigation into the killing of a Palestinian American who was beaten to death by settlers in the West Bank on July 11, describing it as a "criminal and terrorist act".

The United Nations' highest court said last year that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, was illegal and should end as soon as possible.

Israel disputes this, citing security needs as well as historical and biblical ties to the land, which it captured in the 1967 Middle East war. The West Bank is among the territories Palestinians seek for an independent state.