Palestinians Reject Sheikh Jarrah Settlement Offer

Palestinian residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem attend a hearing at Israel's Supreme Court, Jerusalem, August 2, 2021. Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images
Palestinian residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem attend a hearing at Israel's Supreme Court, Jerusalem, August 2, 2021. Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images
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Palestinians Reject Sheikh Jarrah Settlement Offer

Palestinian residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem attend a hearing at Israel's Supreme Court, Jerusalem, August 2, 2021. Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images
Palestinian residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem attend a hearing at Israel's Supreme Court, Jerusalem, August 2, 2021. Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images

In East Jerusalem, leaders from the National and Civil Action Committee, the Supreme Islamic Council, and the Higher Follow-up Committee for Arabs in Israel collectively rejected a settlement project proposed by the Israeli Supreme Court regarding the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

The two committees and council stated that they would amass popular resistance and international support to stop settler violations in Sheikh Jarrah. They also said they would work against Israeli measures in Al-Aqsa Mosque.

On Friday, a spokesperson for these bodies said that the Israeli Supreme Court's proposal, which was submitted on October 4, entails injustice to Palestinians and does not meet the aspirations of the population or the national position.

The spokesperson stressed that the residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood are the original owners of their land and that there are no rights for settlement associations on this land.

Palestinian officials had held a meeting to discuss the latest developments in Sheikh Jarrah and al-Aqsa Mosque.

They discussed the comprehensive aggression against Al-Aqsa Mosque by the Israeli government and the Talmudic and Biblical societies.

More so, the officials reviewed the escalation of settlements throughout the city of Jerusalem, where thousands of settlement units are being built, the land is being confiscated, and homes are demolished.

According to the officials, Israeli authorities are striving to Judaize the city and change its geographical and demographic character.

Also, they jointly rejected Israeli measures and violations in al-Aqsa Mosque.

They called on the Jordanian government to take advantageous positions to confront Zionist projects and plans that looked to divide Al-Aqsa in time and space.

More so, they stressed that the Israeli government no longer cares about the Jordanian guardianship of Islamic and Christian holy sites, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque, and is undermining this guardianship and turning it into symbolic custody.



Hezbollah: Any Truce Must Swiftly End Fighting, Preserve Lebanese Sovereignty

A Lebanese army inspection team checks destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted one of their positions in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Sarafand on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A Lebanese army inspection team checks destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted one of their positions in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Sarafand on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
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Hezbollah: Any Truce Must Swiftly End Fighting, Preserve Lebanese Sovereignty

A Lebanese army inspection team checks destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted one of their positions in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Sarafand on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A Lebanese army inspection team checks destruction at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted one of their positions in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Sarafand on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

A Hezbollah official said on Wednesday that any US-brokered ceasefire deal between the group and Israel must end fighting swiftly and must preserve Lebanon's sovereignty, an apparent reference to Israel's stance that it will keep striking the Iran-backed group even with a truce in place.

Speaking to Hezbollah media, Mahmoud Qmati said that he was neither overly optimistic nor overly pessimistic about the prospects of a truce.

The US proposal could see Israeli ground forces leave Lebanon and Hezbollah militants withdraw away from the Israeli border. More Lebanese army troops and UN peacekeepers would be sent to a buffer zone in southern Lebanon as part of the deal.

But CNN has reported that an Israeli source familiar with the talks cast doubt on the likelihood of an imminent deal, noting that Hezbollah’s refusal to accept Israel’s demand for the right to strike the group in the event of a ceasefire violation could jeopardize the process. Without this clause, the source said, it was uncertain whether Israel’s prime minister could get cabinet approval for the agreement.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 in what it said was solidarity with the Palestinians. Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes, and all-out war erupted in September.

Israeli bombardment has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and wounded almost 15,000, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. It also displaced nearly 1.2 million, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population. On the Israeli side, 87 soldiers and 50 civilians have been killed by rockets, drones and missiles, and tens of thousands of Israelis have been evacuated from homes near the border.

Hezbollah said its chief Sheikh Naim Qassem would give a speech Wednesday, a day after cancelling a similar announcement.

A statement from the group announced the speech by Qassem would be "today," without specifying a time.