Israeli Sources Reveal Possible Netanyahu-Burhan Meeting in Uganda

Sudanese Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the military council, waves to his supporters upon his arrival in Omdurman district, west of Khartoum, Sudan, on June 29, 2019 (AP / Hussein Malla)
Sudanese Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the military council, waves to his supporters upon his arrival in Omdurman district, west of Khartoum, Sudan, on June 29, 2019 (AP / Hussein Malla)
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Israeli Sources Reveal Possible Netanyahu-Burhan Meeting in Uganda

Sudanese Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the military council, waves to his supporters upon his arrival in Omdurman district, west of Khartoum, Sudan, on June 29, 2019 (AP / Hussein Malla)
Sudanese Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the military council, waves to his supporters upon his arrival in Omdurman district, west of Khartoum, Sudan, on June 29, 2019 (AP / Hussein Malla)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sudan's Sovereignty Council chair General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan are likely to meet in Uganda soon, political sources in Tel Aviv said Thursday although a government spokesperson refused to confirm the news.

Television channel i24NEWS said the meeting would come as part of a normalization process between the two countries.

It added that the Sudanese-Israeli Friendship Association will be launched in the Sudanese capital Khartoum and that the event, where media will be invited for coverage, will set off a normalization process between the two states.

Khartoum is taking practical steps with Israel to establish diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv and reach a financial settlement with victims of terrorism.

Those steps are essential for the US administration to remove Sudan from a US list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Sudan is most likely to sign a normalization accord with Israel in the coming days, taking steps similar to that of UAE and Bahrain.

Meanwhile, former British prime minister Tony Blair said at The Jerusalem Post conference Thursday that peace between Israel and the Palestinians will come through Israel establishing relations with Arab states.

“The foundation of the approach in the region, that Israelis and Palestinians negotiate peace and then the rest of the region joins, is the diametric opposite of what should happen,” Blair said. “Actually, what you need to do is create peace between Israel and the Arab nations and include the Palestinian issue in that peace.”

US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft said on Wednesday that another country will recognize Israel “in the next day or two.”



Israel Demolishes Seven Palestinian Homes in East Jerusalem

A picture shows a view of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex (top L) across from the Arab town of Silwan on the hill with its al-Bustan neighborhood (C) in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
A picture shows a view of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex (top L) across from the Arab town of Silwan on the hill with its al-Bustan neighborhood (C) in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
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Israel Demolishes Seven Palestinian Homes in East Jerusalem

A picture shows a view of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex (top L) across from the Arab town of Silwan on the hill with its al-Bustan neighborhood (C) in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
A picture shows a view of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex (top L) across from the Arab town of Silwan on the hill with its al-Bustan neighborhood (C) in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on November 5, 2024. (AFP)

Municipal workers began demolishing seven homes in occupied east Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood on Tuesday, Palestinian residents and the municipality said, after an Israeli court called their construction illegal.

"This morning the Jerusalem Municipality, with a security escort from the Israel police, began its enforcement against illegal buildings in the Al-Bustan neighborhood in Silwan," Jerusalem's Israeli-controlled city hall said in a statement.

Activist Fakhri Abu Diab, one of those affected by the demolition, confirmed that "at least seven homes have been demolished, and the operation is ongoing".

He said that both houses and apartments were affected.

"They demolished my home, which I had renovated after it was previously demolished earlier this year, as well as my son's house, Haitham Ayed's family home, and four homes belonging to the Al-Ruwaidi family," Abu Diab told AFP.

He said around "40 people, including children, were affected by the demolitions in the neighborhood, leaving them homeless".

An AFP photographer saw at least four bulldozers operating on Tuesday at demolition sites in the neighborhood under tight Israeli police supervision.

In a statement, Jerusalem city hall pointed to court orders that call for the demolition of the buildings due to zoning laws that make them illegal.

However, Palestinian residents and activists accuse the municipality of concealing its true intentions.

"The buildings, like most of the buildings in the neighborhood, are located on an area that is a green designation, that is, an open public area and where there is no possibility for zoning," the municipality said, adding that the area would become a green zone instead.

Abu Diab said the true aim of the demolitions was "to reduce the percentage of Arabs and alter the demographic composition of Jerusalem in favor of (Israeli) settlers", connecting them to west Jerusalem.

Israel "is above international law, has escaped accountability, and is exploiting global focus on the wars in Gaza and Lebanon and the US elections", he said.

Israel occupied east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community.

Some 230,000 Israeli settlers live in east Jerusalem, according to the United Nations. Another 3,000 live in Palestinian neighborhoods within east Jerusalem's boundaries, according to Israeli rights organization Peace Now.