Shin Bet's New Chief Meets Palestinian President

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Wafa)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Wafa)
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Shin Bet's New Chief Meets Palestinian President

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Wafa)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Wafa)

Israel's new head of the Shin Bet Ronen Bar met last week with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, according to Hebrew media reports.

Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said that Abbas and Bar addressed a range of different issues, including the difficult economic and financial situation of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The two reportedly discussed security coordination in the West Bank and the possibility of reaching a long-term ceasefire between Israel and Gaza.

A senior Israeli official confirmed to the Israeli Army Radio that Bar's meeting with Abbas was in prior coordination at the political level, and with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

On Sunday, Bar and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel held talks in Egypt and discussed security issues, including the situation in the Gaza Strip.

Egypt aims to achieve a comprehensive truce in the region, and this is not the first time that Abbas has met with the head of Israel's Shin Bet.

The Egyptian official met with former chief Nadav Argaman several times over the previous years, even though contacts between the two sides were suspended.

Argaman had visited Abbas to discuss security reasons. They tackled sensitive issues. He once informed the president of a Hamas plan to spread chaos in the West Bank.

Argaman asked Abbas to prevent Hamas' participation in the elections and discussed issues relating to the security coordination, and the Authority's financial issues.

The meeting took place after Israeli calls urging the US administration to pressure Arab and European countries to provide financial aid to the Palestinian Authority amid a severe economic crisis.

Bar's meeting with Abbas is part of other meetings allowed by the new Israeli government. In late August, Abbas met with the Israeli Defense Minister and several other ministers.

Abbas sought to meet Bennett, but the latter did not respond to the invitation and said that he was not interested.



Sudan's RSF, Allied Groups to Sign Charter to Form Parallel Government, Two Signatories Say

Sudanese refugees wait their turn to get drinking water from a muddy pond in Gerbana, a village 22km from the Sudanese border, South Sudan, 13 February 2025 (issued on 15 February 2025), as water shortages and diseases resulting from contaminated water have become the community's main complaint. (EPA)
Sudanese refugees wait their turn to get drinking water from a muddy pond in Gerbana, a village 22km from the Sudanese border, South Sudan, 13 February 2025 (issued on 15 February 2025), as water shortages and diseases resulting from contaminated water have become the community's main complaint. (EPA)
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Sudan's RSF, Allied Groups to Sign Charter to Form Parallel Government, Two Signatories Say

Sudanese refugees wait their turn to get drinking water from a muddy pond in Gerbana, a village 22km from the Sudanese border, South Sudan, 13 February 2025 (issued on 15 February 2025), as water shortages and diseases resulting from contaminated water have become the community's main complaint. (EPA)
Sudanese refugees wait their turn to get drinking water from a muddy pond in Gerbana, a village 22km from the Sudanese border, South Sudan, 13 February 2025 (issued on 15 February 2025), as water shortages and diseases resulting from contaminated water have become the community's main complaint. (EPA)

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces will sign a charter with allied political and armed groups on Saturday evening to establish a "government of peace and unity" in territories it controls, signatories al-Hadi Idris and Ibrahim Mirghani told Reuters.

The RSF has seized most of the western Darfur region and swathes of the Kordofan region in an almost-two-year war, but is being pushed back from central Sudan by the Sudanese army, which has condemned the formation of a parallel government.

Such a government, which has already drawn an expression of concern from the United Nations, is not expected to receive widespread recognition. Those affiliated with the government say its formation will be announced from inside the country.

General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the paramilitary that has been accused of widespread abuses including genocide, was hit with sanctions by the United States earlier this year.

The war, which erupted after disagreements between the RSF and the army over their integration during a transition towards democracy, has devastated the country, driving half the population into hunger.

According to Idris, among the signatories to the charter and foundational constitution is powerful rebel leader Abdelaziz al-Hilu who controls vast swathes of territory and troops in South Kordofan state, and who has long demanded that Sudan embrace secularism.

Talks that began earlier this week were hosted in Kenya, drawing condemnation from Sudan and domestic criticism of President William Ruto for plunging the country into a diplomatic melee.