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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)
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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.

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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah

Cyprus stands ready to help eliminate Syria’s remaining chemical weapons stockpiles and to support a search for people whose fate remains unknown after more than a decade of war, the top Cypriot diplomat said Saturday.

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said Cyprus’ offer is grounded on its own past experience both with helping rid Syria of chemical weapons 11 years ago and its own ongoing, decades-old search for hundreds of people who disappeared amid fighting between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s and a 1974 Turkish invasion, The AP reported.

Cyprus in 2013 hosted the support base of a mission jointly run by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to remove and dispose of Syria's chemical weapons.

“As a neighboring country located just 65 miles from Syria, Cyprus has a vested interest in Syria’s future. Developments there will directly impact Cyprus, particularly in terms of potential new migratory flows and the risks of terrorism and extremism,” Kombos told The AP in written replies to questions.

Kombos said there are “profound concerns” among his counterparts across the region over Syria’s future security, especially regarding a possible resurgence of extremist groups like ISIS in a fragmented and polarized society.

“This is particularly critical in light of potential social and demographic engineering disguised as “security” arrangements, which could further destabilize the country,” Kombos said.

The diplomat also pointed to the recent proliferation of narcotics production like the stimulant Captagon that is interconnected with smuggling networks involved in people and arms trafficking.

Kombos said ongoing attacks against Syria’s Kurds must stop immediately, given the role that Kurdish forces have played in combating extremist forces like the ISIS group in the past decade.

Saleh Muslim, a member of the Kurdish Presidential Council, said in an interview that the Kurds primarily seek “equality” enshrined in rights accorded to all in any democracy.

He said a future form of governance could accord autonomy to the Kurds under some kind of federal structure.

“But the important thing is to have democratic rights for all the Syrians and including the Kurdish people,” he said.

Muslim warned that the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, near Syria’s border with Türkiye, is in “very big danger” of falling into the hands of Turkish-backed forces, and accused Türkiye of trying to occupy it.

Kombos said the international community needs to ensure that the influence Türkiye is trying to exert in Syria is “not going to create an even worse situation than there already is.”

“Whatever the future landscape in Syria, it will have a direct and far-reaching impact on the region, the European Union and the broader international community,” Kombos said.