US Says Will Continue to Support a Civilian Government in Sudan

Sudanese army touring a Khartoum neighborhood (AFP)
Sudanese army touring a Khartoum neighborhood (AFP)
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US Says Will Continue to Support a Civilian Government in Sudan

Sudanese army touring a Khartoum neighborhood (AFP)
Sudanese army touring a Khartoum neighborhood (AFP)

The United States affirmed its support of the Sudanese people's demand for a civilian government and the resumption of Sudan's disrupted democratic transition.

Washington warned that the ongoing fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) threatened the people of Sudan with the prospect of a protracted conflict and widespread suffering.

The US Embassy in Khartoum issued a statement asserting that Washington will continue to hold the belligerent parties accountable for their unconscionable violence and blatant disregard for the will of the Sudanese people.

The statement added that every day hostilities continue, the parties hinder the delivery of humanitarian assistance to those who need it most, destroy key infrastructure, and deny the aspirations of the Sudanese people for freedom, peace, and justice.

Meanwhile, violent clashes erupted in Khartoum as people commemorated the fourth anniversary of the forceful dispersal of the sit-in on June 3, 2019, during which the army general command killed hundreds and injured thousands of others.

It marks the second day in a row of clashes with heavy weapons, after the collapse of the Jeddah cease-fire agreement signed by the two warring parties, with Saudi-US mediation, amid the deterioration of the humanitarian situation and the increasing number of displaced people.

Clashes renewed in the old Omdurman and south of Khartoum, and explosions were heard in the cities and around vital and strategic locations.

 

 

 

Residents of Khartoum reported that the army's warplanes had bombed areas in the south of Khartoum, and the RSF units responded using ground anti-aircraft missiles.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, the Sudanese Red Crescent announced the burial of 180 unidentified persons after the bodies piled up in the streets and people's inability to go out to bury them.

 

 



Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)

Israel’s new defense minister said Friday that he would stop issuing warrants to arrest West Bank settlers or hold them without charge or trial — a largely symbolic move that rights groups said risks emboldening settler violence in the Israeli-occupied territory.

Israel Katz called the arrest warrants “severe” and said issuing them was “inappropriate” as Palestinian militant attacks on settlers in the territory grow more frequent. He said settlers could be “brought to justice” in other ways.

The move protects Israeli settlers from being held in “administrative detention,” a shadowy form of incarceration where people are held without charge or trial.

Settlers are rarely arrested in the West Bank, where settler violence against Palestinians has spiraled since the outbreak of the war Oct. 7.

Katz’s decision was celebrated by far-right coalition allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. National Security Minister and settler firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir applauded Katz and called the move a “correction of many years of mistreatment” and “justice for those who love the land.”

Since Oct. 7, 2023, violence toward Palestinians by Israeli settlers has soared to new heights, displacing at least 19 entire Palestinian communities, according to Israeli rights group Peace Now. In that time, attacks by Palestinian militants on settlers and within Israel have also grown more common.

An increasing number of Palestinians have been placed in administrative detention. Israel holds 3,443 administrative detainees in prison, according to data from the Israeli Prison Service, reported by rights group Hamoked. That figure stood around 1,200 just before the start of the war. The vast majority of them are Palestinian, with only a handful at any given time Israeli Jews, said Jessica Montell, the director of Hamoked.

“All of these detentions without charge or trial are illegitimate, but to declare that this measure will only be used against Palestinians...is to explicitly entrench another form of ethnic discrimination,” said Montell.