Aboul Gheit Warns of ‘Religious War’ over Israel’s Annexation Plan

Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit (REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany)
Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit (REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany)
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Aboul Gheit Warns of ‘Religious War’ over Israel’s Annexation Plan

Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit (REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany)
Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit (REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany)

Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit warned on Thursday against the eruption of a “religious war” over Israeli attempts to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.

“Israel’s annexation of Palestinian lands constitutes a new brutal aggression on the Palestinian people and their sovereignty on their territories,” he stressed in a statement.

This would be a hostile move against Arab and Islamic nations and would undermine the chances for establishing peace in the region, Aboul Gheit said.

He added that this “dangerous development may lead to confrontation and religious wars that the international community shall not allow us to slip into.”

“The annexation plan is a blatant violation of international laws and the UN charter.”

Aboul Gheit pointed out that the whole world is responsible for defending Palestinian rights.

He urged the preservation of the international system that is based on respect for international law and on mutual respect between countries and peoples.

The Arab League called for maintaining Arab support for the Palestinian educational process and alleviating the suffering of Palestinian students.

This would allow future Palestinian generations to confront and challenge Israel to end its occupation and establish the Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

AL Assistant Secretary General for Palestine and the Occupied Arab Territories Saeed Abu Ali made these remarks during the virtual session of the Educational Programs Committee for Arab students in the occupied Arab territories.

Abu Ali affirmed that committee members are determined to continue supporting and following up the developments of the educational process in Palestine, especially in light of the extremely difficult circumstances that Palestine and the entire world are passing through due to the coronavirus outbreak.

He pointed to Israel’s policies to exploit the current circumstances and implement its colonial settlement plans by annexing large parts of the West Bank and the Jordan Valley.

Israel is preventing the implementation of measures, especially in Jerusalem and its environs, to confront the pandemic, he noted.

Abu Ali also highlighted Israel’s continued demolition, displacement, arrest, and targeting of educational and health facilities.



Hamas Names Four Israeli Female Soldier Hostages to Be Freed in Second Swap

 Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed houses, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed houses, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)
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Hamas Names Four Israeli Female Soldier Hostages to Be Freed in Second Swap

 Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed houses, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed houses, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)

Palestinian group Hamas announced the names on Friday of four Israeli women soldier hostages to be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in the second swap under the ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag would be released on Saturday, the group said.

The exchange, expected to begin on Saturday afternoon, follows the release on the ceasefire's first day last Sunday of three Israeli women and 90 Palestinian prisoners, the first such exchange for more than a year.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office confirmed that the list had been received from the mediators. Israel's response would be presented later, it said in a statement.

Israeli media reported that the list of hostages slated for release was not in line with the original agreement, but it was not immediately clear whether this would have any impact on the planned exchange.

In the six-week first phase of the Gaza ceasefire, Israel has agreed to release 50 Palestinian prisoners for every female soldier released, officials have said. That suggests that 200 Palestinian prisoners would be released in return for the four.

The Hamas prisoners media office said it expected to get the names of 200 Palestinians to be freed on Saturday in the coming hours. It said the list was expected to include 120 prisoners serving life sentences and 80 prisoners with other lengthy sentences.

Since the release of the first three women on Sunday and the recovery of the body of an Israeli soldier missing for a decade, Israel says 94 Israelis and foreigners remain held in Gaza.

The ceasefire agreement, worked out after months of on-off negotiations brokered by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States, halted the fighting for the first time since a truce that lasted just a week in Nov. 2023.

In the first phase, Hamas has agreed to release 33 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

In a subsequent phase, the two sides would negotiate the exchange of the remaining hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, which lies largely in ruins after 15 months of fighting and Israeli bombardment.

Israel launched the war following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, when fighters killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to health authorities there.

The release of the first three hostages last week brought an emotional response from Israelis. But the phased release has drawn protests from some Israelis who fear the deal will break down after women, children, elderly and ill hostages are freed in the first phase, condemning male hostages of military age whose fate is not to be resolved until later.

Others, including some in the government, feel the deal hands a victory to Hamas, which has reasserted its presence in Gaza despite vows of Israeli leaders to destroy it. Hardliners, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have demanded that Israel resume fighting at the end of the first phase.

Most of Hamas' top leadership and thousands of its fighters have been killed but the group's police have returned to the streets since the ceasefire.