Israel Concerned Over Palestinian Security Bodies Training in Russia

Fatah movement Central Committee Secretary-General Jibril Rajoub, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, attends by video conference a meeting with deputy head of the movement's political bureau Saleh al-Arouri (unseen) discussing Israel's plan to annex parts of the West Bank, on July 2, 2020. (Abbas Momani/AFP)
Fatah movement Central Committee Secretary-General Jibril Rajoub, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, attends by video conference a meeting with deputy head of the movement's political bureau Saleh al-Arouri (unseen) discussing Israel's plan to annex parts of the West Bank, on July 2, 2020. (Abbas Momani/AFP)
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Israel Concerned Over Palestinian Security Bodies Training in Russia

Fatah movement Central Committee Secretary-General Jibril Rajoub, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, attends by video conference a meeting with deputy head of the movement's political bureau Saleh al-Arouri (unseen) discussing Israel's plan to annex parts of the West Bank, on July 2, 2020. (Abbas Momani/AFP)
Fatah movement Central Committee Secretary-General Jibril Rajoub, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, attends by video conference a meeting with deputy head of the movement's political bureau Saleh al-Arouri (unseen) discussing Israel's plan to annex parts of the West Bank, on July 2, 2020. (Abbas Momani/AFP)

Israel fears the quality training Palestinian forces have been receiving in Russia, a report made by Channel 12 revealed.

Since 2007, which marks the severance of Fatah-Hamas ties, Palestinians have been studying at remarkable military Russian academies. Recently, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed students who returned from a battle command and fighting training in Moscow.

Fatah movement Central Committee Secretary-General Jibril Rajoub said in a joint online conference held with deputy head of the movement's political bureau Saleh al-Arouri that the two Palestinian rival groups agreed to unify their positions against Israeli annexation plan.

Furthermore, secretive talks occurred between both parties to reach a unified strategy against annexation. This was approved by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and head of Hamas political bureau Ismail Haniyeh.

According to Times of Israel, “The joint declaration by the two main Palestinian factions raised the specter of a return to the Palestinian terror waves of the Second Intifada, when attackers linked to both Fatah and Hamas carried out numerous deadly suicide bombings and other attacks targeting Israeli civilians and soldiers.”

“The dangers for Fatah in collaborating with Hamas are clear, with the two movements having cultivated growing animosity since 2007,” it added.

Bringing Hamas leader al-Arouri on stage, literally and figuratively, gave Rajoub’s bitter criticisms of Israel’s annexation plans — and his vows to resist them, which he has issued several times in the recent past — a sharper edge: Al-Arouri has a USD5 million US State Department bounty on his head for orchestrating multiple acts of terrorism, the website added.

“Many Fatah members might consider a detente with Hamas to be out of the question, a deal with the devil. But Abbas and the leader of Fatah, may be grasping for the popular legitimacy he has long lacked by closing ranks with the terror group,” it said.

Hamas likely hopes the declaration of unity — and the promised anti-occupation coordination to come — will lead to fewer restrictions on its West Bank operations, Neri Zilber, a Tel Aviv-based analyst and an adjunct fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said.

He added that Hamas has been banned from operating in the West Bank for years, with both Israeli and Palestinian security forces regularly cracking down on its activities and arresting its members.

“Yet, Abbas has already suspended security cooperation with Israel. If Fatah is indeed now willing to coordinate with Hamas, it may turn a blind eye to the terror group’s violence, or even actively encourage it,” Zilber stated.

According to Rajoub, Fatah will try and mobilize West Bank Hamas cadres to participate in mass demonstrations. But if the coordination announced Thursday means giving Hamas cadres a freer hand to organize in the West Bank, terror activities against Israelis could resume in and from the area.



Qatar Gives Israel, Hamas Final Draft of Gaza Truce Deal after Midnight Talks ‘Breakthrough’, Official Says

 This picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows a smoke plume rising from explosions above destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip on January 13, 2025 amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
This picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows a smoke plume rising from explosions above destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip on January 13, 2025 amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Qatar Gives Israel, Hamas Final Draft of Gaza Truce Deal after Midnight Talks ‘Breakthrough’, Official Says

 This picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows a smoke plume rising from explosions above destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip on January 13, 2025 amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
This picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows a smoke plume rising from explosions above destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip on January 13, 2025 amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Mediator Qatar gave Israel and Hamas a final draft of a deal to end the war in Gaza on Monday, after a midnight "breakthrough" in talks attended by US President-elect Donald Trump's envoy, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters.

The official said the text for a ceasefire and the release of hostages was hammered out at talks in Doha which included the chiefs of Israel's Mossad and Shin Bet spy agencies and Qatar's prime minister as well Steve Witkoff, who will become US envoy when Trump takes office next week. Officials from the outgoing US administration are also thought to have participated.

"The next 24 hours will be pivotal to reaching the deal," the official said.

Israel’s Kan radio, citing an Israeli official, reported on Monday that Israeli and Hamas delegations in Qatar had received a draft and that the Israeli delegation had briefed Israel’s leaders. Israel, Hamas and the foreign ministry of Qatar did not respond to requests for confirmation or comment.

Officials on both sides, while stopping short of confirming that a final draft had been reached, described progress at the talks.

A senior Israeli official said a deal could be sealed within a few days if Hamas replies to a proposal. A Palestinian official close to the talks said information from Doha was "very promising", adding: "Gaps were being narrowed and there is a big push toward an agreement if all goes well to the end."

The United States, Qatar and Egypt have worked for more than a year on talks to end the war in Gaza, so far fruitlessly.

‘HELL TO PAY’

Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration is now widely seen in the region as a de facto deadline. The president-elect has said there would be "hell to pay" unless hostages held by Hamas are freed before he takes office, while outgoing President Joe Biden has also pushed hard for a deal before he leaves.

The official said talks went until the early hours of Monday, with Witkoff pushing the Israeli delegation in Doha and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani pushing Hamas officials to finalize an agreement.

The head of Egypt's general intelligence agency Hassan Mahmoud Rashad was also in the Qatari capital as part of the talks, the official said.

Trump envoy Witkoff has travelled to Qatar and Israel several times since late November. He was in Doha on Friday and travelled to Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday before returning to Doha.

Biden also spoke on Sunday by phone with Netanyahu, stressing "the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and return of the hostages with a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by a stoppage in the fighting under the deal," the White House said.

Israel launched its assault in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave laid to waste and gripped by a humanitarian crisis, and most of its population displaced.

Both sides have agreed for months broadly on the principle of halting the fighting in return for the release of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian detainees held by Israel. However, Hamas has insisted that the deal must lead to a permanent end to the war and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel has said it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a hardline nationalist who has opposed previous attempts to reach a deal, denounced the latest proposals as a "surrender" and a "catastrophe for the national security of the state of Israel".