عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Erekat Says US Holds onto Talks Based on ‘Deal of the Century’

Israeli forces check the scene of an attack at an Israeli military checkpoint near the town of Abu Dis in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on June 23, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israeli forces check the scene of an attack at an Israeli military checkpoint near the town of Abu Dis in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on June 23, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
TT
TT

Erekat Says US Holds onto Talks Based on ‘Deal of the Century’

Israeli forces check the scene of an attack at an Israeli military checkpoint near the town of Abu Dis in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on June 23, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israeli forces check the scene of an attack at an Israeli military checkpoint near the town of Abu Dis in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on June 23, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) executive committee Saeb Erekat said the US has notified the other parties of the Quartet that the ‘Deal of the Century’ will be the foundation for any peace talks.

The US intends to say that now is the time to normalize ties between Arab states and Israel, and in case Palestine wishes to join the negotiations then that would be based on the vision of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Erekat added.

President Mahmoud Abbas said that the Palestinians were ready to go to negotiations mediated by the Quartet and with the participation of other countries, on the basis of the Arab Peace Initiative.

"We are ready to have our state with a limited number of weapons and a powerful police force to uphold law and order," the PA wrote in the letter sent to the Quartet - the United Nations, the US, European Union, and Russia.

It added that it would accept an international force such as NATO, mandated by the UN, to monitor compliance with any eventual peace treaty. The letter proposes "minor border changes that will have been mutually agreed, based on the borders of June 4, 1967."

Arab and European countries in addition to France Russia, China, and the UN have been working on bringing both parties back to negotiations, knowing that the Palestinians have one condition i.e. to suspend the annexation and to consider the Arab Peace Initiative a basis for any talks.

In a press conference, Erekat said that there is an agreement between Arab and non-Arab states that any upcoming talks would have the purpose of establishing a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967 and the Arab League resolutions.

Further, he commended the standpoint of Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa and his commitment to the Arab Peace Initiative.

During his meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, King Hamad “stressed the importance of intensifying efforts to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”

He said that includes a two-state solution for an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

RSF Attack a City under Military Control in Central Sudan, Opening a New Front

Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council, secure the area where Dagalo attends a military-backed tribe's rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan, on June 22, 2019. (AP)
Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council, secure the area where Dagalo attends a military-backed tribe's rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan, on June 22, 2019. (AP)
TT
TT

RSF Attack a City under Military Control in Central Sudan, Opening a New Front

Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council, secure the area where Dagalo attends a military-backed tribe's rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan, on June 22, 2019. (AP)
Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council, secure the area where Dagalo attends a military-backed tribe's rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan, on June 22, 2019. (AP)

Fighting continued to rage between Sudan’s military and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a city in a central province, officials said Sunday, opening yet another front in a fourteen-month war that has pushed the African country to the brink of famine.

The RSF began its offensive on the Sennar province earlier this week, attacking the village of Jebal Moya before moving to the city of Singa, the provincial capital, authorities said, where fresh battles have erupted.

On Saturday, the group claimed in a statement it had seized the military’s main facility, the 17th Infantry Division Headquarters in Singa. Local media also reported the RSF managed to breach the military’s defense.

However, Brig. Nabil Abdalla, a spokesperson for the Sudanese armed forces, said the military regained control of the facility, and that fighting was still underway Sunday morning.

Neither claim could be independently verified.

According to the UN’s International Organization for Migration, at least 327 households had to flee from Jebal Moya and Singa to safer areas.

“The situation remains tense and unpredictable,” it said in a statement.

The latest fighting in Sennar comes while almost all eyes are on al-Fasher, a major city in the sprawling region of Darfur that the RSF has besieged for months in an attempt to seize it from the military. Al-Fasher is the military's last stronghold in Darfur.

Sudan’s war began in April last year when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.

The devastating conflict has killed more than 14,000 people and wounded 33,000 others, according to the United Nations, but rights activists say the toll could be much higher.

It created the world’s largest displacement crisis with over 11 million people forced to flee their homes. International experts warned Thursday that that 755,000 people are facing famine in the coming months, and that 8.5 million people are facing extreme food shortages.

The conflict has been marked by widespread reports of rampant sexual violence and other atrocities — especially in Darfur, the site of a genocide in the early 2000s. Rights groups say the atrocities amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.