PA Calls for Sanctions Mechanism if Israel Annexes West Bank

Palestinians rally against Israel's annexation plans in the occupied West Bank village of Bardala on June 27. (AFP)
Palestinians rally against Israel's annexation plans in the occupied West Bank village of Bardala on June 27. (AFP)
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PA Calls for Sanctions Mechanism if Israel Annexes West Bank

Palestinians rally against Israel's annexation plans in the occupied West Bank village of Bardala on June 27. (AFP)
Palestinians rally against Israel's annexation plans in the occupied West Bank village of Bardala on June 27. (AFP)

The international community is demanded to adopt a sanctions, boycott and isolation mechanism against Israel, in order to protect peace, security and stability, announced Palestinian Foreign Minister, Riyad al-Maliki.

Speaking at the ninth session of the Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) via video conference, Maliki said that Israel must realize that its violation of international law will not go on without practical responses.

The session was co-chaired by Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councilor Wang Yi, and attended by foreign ministers of Arab League member states.

Maliki accused Israel of exploiting the world's preoccupation with the coronavirus pandemic to announce its "racist colonial plans" to seize more Palestinian land by force and annex them to so-called "Israeli sovereignty."

He described it as a "flagrant violation" of the international law, international resolutions, the United Nations Charter and agreements that regulate international relations and those concerning the Palestinian cause and Arab-Israeli conflict.

He also accused the current US administration of supporting illegal Israeli annexation plans.

The FM said the important issue today is preventing the annexation and ending the occupation. He questioned whether the international political and legal stances are enough to deter Israel from implementing its plans to annex over 30 percent of the Palestinian territory occupied in 1967.

The Palestinian Authority is calling for a United Nations General Assembly session to announce the formation of an international coalition against the annexation and holding Israel accountable.

The Palestinians are trying to form a unified Arab and international position, including setting up a practical mechanism to impose sanctions if Israel goes ahead with the annexation, and threatening to review treaties signed with Tel Aviv.

The current Palestinian pressure does not eliminate the resumption of negotiations, and Maliki said the Palestinian leadership and its people are committed to a just and comprehensive peace.

He stressed the leadership’s willingness to return to negotiations on the foundations established by international legitimacy within a multilateral framework, according to an international conference called in the event the annexation was canceled. He said it aims for a peace agreement that ends Israeli occupation.



Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
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Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.