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PA to Present List of Demands to US Point Man for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh visits a Palestinian prisoner that Israeli authorities released following a hunger strike. (dpa)
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh visits a Palestinian prisoner that Israeli authorities released following a hunger strike. (dpa)
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PA to Present List of Demands to US Point Man for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh visits a Palestinian prisoner that Israeli authorities released following a hunger strike. (dpa)
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh visits a Palestinian prisoner that Israeli authorities released following a hunger strike. (dpa)

Palestinians will likely make several demands to the Biden administration’s point person for Israeli-Palestinian affairs, Hadi Amr, scheduled to visit the region to meet officials from both sides.

Amr’s stopover is unique in that it is the first visit by a senior US official since the formation of the new Israeli government and also comes as the Palestinian Authority is going through a deep domestic political crisis over the killing of political activist Nizar Banat by security forces.

The deputy assistant secretary of state for Israeli-Palestinian affairs is expected to meet senior officials from the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Prime Minister’s Office, and Ministry of Defense, according to a report by Hebrew news website “Walla! NEWS”.

Meanwhile, in Ramallah, Amr will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other government officials.

According to Israeli officials who spoke to Walla! NEWS, one reason for the trip is to allow Amr to meet new Israeli officials and discuss the new government’s policies on the West Bank and Gaza.

Specifically, he is expected to raise the reconstruction of Gaza and the new UN mechanism to transfer a Qatari grant to Gaza.

Israeli officials also expect him to raise the Israeli military’s demolitions of homes in the West Bank, a practice the Biden administration recently criticized.

In Ramallah, Amr will likely discuss the internal political crisis as well as chances for advancing peace.

According to a report prepared by the Israeli Channel 12, the Palestinian Authority has prepared a list of “confidential” demands that it plans to present to the Biden administration before resuming US-sponsored talks with Israel.

These demands will probably include reopening some Palestinian institutions in east Jerusalem, restoring the previous status quo at al-Aqsa Mosque, and enhancing the status of the PA’s envoys.

Stopping home evictions of Arab Jerusalemites and releasing the fourth batch of Palestinian prisoners, according to an old agreement with Israel that has not been completed yet, will presumably also figure high on the list of the PA’s demands.

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Arab World

Trump’s Board of Peace Planning Pilot ‘Humanitarian Zone’ in South Gaza, Says Official

Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 2, 2026, on the 1,000th day of war since the Hamas-led attack on Israel sparked the war in Gaza. (AP)
Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 2, 2026, on the 1,000th day of war since the Hamas-led attack on Israel sparked the war in Gaza. (AP)
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Trump’s Board of Peace Planning Pilot ‘Humanitarian Zone’ in South Gaza, Says Official

Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 2, 2026, on the 1,000th day of war since the Hamas-led attack on Israel sparked the war in Gaza. (AP)
Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 2, 2026, on the 1,000th day of war since the Hamas-led attack on Israel sparked the war in Gaza. (AP)

US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace is planning a pilot "humanitarian zone" in southern Gaza which would aim to accommodate tens of thousands of vetted Palestinian civilians, a board official told AFP.

The official said the zone could act as a "starting point" for the Palestinian technocratic committee meant to assume the day-to-day governance of Gaza's transitional phase out of war under Trump's 20-point plan.

The pilot zone, which the board is eyeing for Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, would be secured by multinational troops from the International Stabilization Force (ISF), a fledgling body which operates under the Board of Peace.

The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), the group of Palestinian technocrats established by the Board of Peace, would carry out screening and access control, supported by the ISF.

The concept of closed humanitarian zones, which has been discussed in various forms for several months, has raised serious reservations, with diplomats and NGO officials working in Gaza telling AFP on condition of anonymity that such a mechanism seems to them to be incompatible with international humanitarian law.

Movement in and out "will remain free for all unarmed civilians," the board official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Efforts to advance the US-backed ceasefire plan for Gaza have been stalled for months, with the NCAG stuck in Cairo and yet to actually enter the territory.

Since the truce between Israel and Hamas came into effect last October, Israeli forces have expanded their presence in Gaza, and now control more than 60 percent of the territory.

"There's one pilot project we're looking at particularly, that maybe you can get the NCAG a starting point, you can enable tens of thousands to come if they wish voluntarily to this area, and you start giving them a space where they exercise effective governance and they're the administration," the official said.

- 'Buffer' -

The official said the board was "looking at Rafah" as a location for the project but remained vague on its exact positioning. He said that no building work had begun.

Rafah, which sits at Gaza's southern edge, was effectively razed by Israeli bombing during the war and the area is now largely under Israeli military control.

The ISF would act as a "kind of buffer" separating the Palestinian population from the Israeli military, the official said.

"A screening mechanism will ensure that armed individuals and fighters cannot enter these safe humanitarian zones," he said.

"This function will not be performed by the Israeli military, which will have no contact with the civilian population and no role in separating these areas from the rest of Gaza," the official said.

The Board of Peace was formally established earlier this year as part of the US-backed ceasefire plan for Gaza endorsed by the UN Security Council.

It aims to facilitate a transition away from Hamas rule while supporting the restoration of civilian administration and basic services.

Diplomats and NGO officials working in Gaza say that grouping civilians into demarcated areas subject to access controls could amount to forced displacement of the population, restrict Palestinians' freedom of movement and undermine the principle of impartiality.

Arab World

Syria Says Damascus Blasts Killed One, Wounded 36

Syrian security personnel inspect a burned vehicles near the Four Seasons Hotel after two explosions rocked the area earlier while Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa was meeting French President Emmanuel Macron at the presidential palace, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP)
Syrian security personnel inspect a burned vehicles near the Four Seasons Hotel after two explosions rocked the area earlier while Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa was meeting French President Emmanuel Macron at the presidential palace, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP)
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Syria Says Damascus Blasts Killed One, Wounded 36

Syrian security personnel inspect a burned vehicles near the Four Seasons Hotel after two explosions rocked the area earlier while Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa was meeting French President Emmanuel Macron at the presidential palace, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP)
Syrian security personnel inspect a burned vehicles near the Four Seasons Hotel after two explosions rocked the area earlier while Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa was meeting French President Emmanuel Macron at the presidential palace, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP)

Syrian authorities said on Wednesday that the blasts that hit central Damascus during French President Emmanuel Macron's visit a day earlier killed one person and wounded dozens.

In a statement carried by state media, the Syrian health ministry said that "the final toll from the two explosions that occurred... near the Ministry of Tourism building in Damascus has reached one dead and 36 wounded".

The blasts near the hotel where Macron had spent the night came after his departure, and moments before Syrian state media announced his arrival at the presidential palace to meet with his Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Macron became the first head of state from the European Union to visit Syria since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in 2024.

Arab World

Syrian President Arrives in Ankara for Talks with Trump

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa during a joint press conference with the French president at the Presidential Palace in Damascus, Syria 07 July 2026. (EPA)
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa during a joint press conference with the French president at the Presidential Palace in Damascus, Syria 07 July 2026. (EPA)
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Syrian President Arrives in Ankara for Talks with Trump

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa during a joint press conference with the French president at the Presidential Palace in Damascus, Syria 07 July 2026. (EPA)
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa during a joint press conference with the French president at the Presidential Palace in Damascus, Syria 07 July 2026. (EPA)

Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in Ankara on Wednesday, where he was due to meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit.

The summit of the military alliance, which closes on Wednesday, has brought together 36 heads of state, as well as several representatives from Gulf countries.

Al-Sharaa was invited by Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Trump, who has flaunted his closeness to Erdogan, described his Syrian counterpart, who came to power after toppling president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, as "tough".

"Because of the president (Erdogan), we have a very good relationship with Syria's new leader," the US leader told reporters on Tuesday.

"He's done an amazing job in a year and a half, he's pulled the whole country together. And I have a very, very good relationship with him.

"Somebody said, well, he's pretty tough... I approved him along with the president (Erdogan) We were the two that really wanted him. And he's done a great job, he's pulled it together. Not an easy job."

Thirteen years of war have devastated Syria, which needs international support to rebuild and still faces numerous threats.

On Tuesday, 18 people were wounded in two bomb attacks in Damascus, near a hotel where visiting French President Emmanuel Macron was staying.

Sharaa visited Washington in November last year seeking financial support for Syria.

But last month he refused calls from Trump to intervene militarily in neighboring Lebanon against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, which is in open conflict with Israel.

"We are looking for economic channels between Lebanon and Syria, not military ones," he said in an interview last month.