Abbas Calls for ‘International Peace Conference’ on Palestine

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (dpa)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (dpa)
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Abbas Calls for ‘International Peace Conference’ on Palestine

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (dpa)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (dpa)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has underscored on Sunday the need for convening an international peace conference that would ensure the Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories under international legitimacy resolutions and within a specified timeline.
During his meeting with the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland, Abbas stressed the urgency to enable the State of Palestine politically and economically to fulfill its responsibilities towards the Palestinian people in Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank.
He also stressed the importance of preventing the displacement of Palestinians and stopping all attacks by occupation forces and settlers, as well as the release of all Palestinian clearance funds.
The President further urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to step up international efforts to stop the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, to withdraw Israeli occupation forces from the entire Gaza Strip, and not to confiscate any inch of its land.
Abbas also demanded increasing humanitarian and relief aid in Gaza “amid the current harsh weather conditions there”.



UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli forces raided four of its schools in east Jerusalem, ordering their closure.

Israel has severed all ties with the agency, known as UNRWA, and bars it from operating in its territory. It says the agency allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, allegations denied by UN officials.

UNRWA said police entered a training center by force on Tuesday, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It said 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the Qalandiya Training Center.

It said police and city officials ordered the closure of three other schools in east Jerusalem, two of which proceeded with the school day.

Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said police did not enter the UN buildings and that Jerusalem municipal authorities carried out the closures. He said police were deployed to protect the city workers, using “riot dispersal” means in one case where a crowd threw stones at them outside a UN facility.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, said the raids were an “unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities,” and a “denial of the right to education for children and trainees.”