Palestinian PM Calls for Opening Israel's 1948 Archive

Palestinians seen during clashes with Israeli forces near Kafr Qaddoum in the West Bank on Friday, December 10, 2021. (AFP)
Palestinians seen during clashes with Israeli forces near Kafr Qaddoum in the West Bank on Friday, December 10, 2021. (AFP)
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Palestinian PM Calls for Opening Israel's 1948 Archive

Palestinians seen during clashes with Israeli forces near Kafr Qaddoum in the West Bank on Friday, December 10, 2021. (AFP)
Palestinians seen during clashes with Israeli forces near Kafr Qaddoum in the West Bank on Friday, December 10, 2021. (AFP)

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called for international intervention to halt Israeli settler terrorism against the Palestinian civilian population in the occupied territories.

Speaking at a weekly cabinet session on Monday, Shtayyeh said the government has sent letters to the United Nations and international human rights organizations, urging them to intervene to stop the acts of organized terrorism committed by Israeli settlers, protected by soldiers, and ensure protection for the Palestinian population.

He cited increased attacks in the Nablus-district villages of Burqa, Qaryout and Sebastia.

The premier held Israel fully responsible for this escalation and condemned its widespread and systematic shoot-to-kill policy targeting Palestinian civilians.

He called for disclosing the Israeli archives to an international commission of inquiry “to look into the massacres committed against our people in 1948 and the years that followed, the destruction of more than 480 towns and villages and the displacement of more than 900,000 Palestinians, who are still refugees.”

The investigation conducted earlier this month by some journalists, who took a look at the Israeli archives about the massacres, is the tip of the iceberg, Shtayyeh said.

Palestine’s oral and written history shows the extent of the massacres that were committed, he added, noting that thousands of survivors are still alive and can testify before an international commission.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper had published new testimonies and documents about unknown massacres committed during the 1948 Palestinian Nakba.

Its report was based on the letters of soldiers, unpublished contemporary memoirs, minutes of political party meetings and other historical records, which confirm that Israeli leaders were aware of the bloody events that took place during the occupation of Arab villages.

Separately, Shtayyeh said the government had concluded the resumed economic dialogue with the United States that was halted in 2016.

During the Palestinian-American dialogue that took place via videoconference, the Palestinian Authority said the political solution is the only way to end the conflict with Israel, underlining the importance of implementing international laws and resolutions.

The PA further stressed the need to protect the two-state solution, which Israel is systematically destroying through its colonial settlement programs.



Sudan’s Paramilitaries Seize a Key Area along with the Border with Libya and Egypt

A Sudanese army soldier walks toward a truck-mounted gun left behind by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Salha, south of Omdurman, a day after recapturing it from the RSF, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
A Sudanese army soldier walks toward a truck-mounted gun left behind by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Salha, south of Omdurman, a day after recapturing it from the RSF, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
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Sudan’s Paramilitaries Seize a Key Area along with the Border with Libya and Egypt

A Sudanese army soldier walks toward a truck-mounted gun left behind by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Salha, south of Omdurman, a day after recapturing it from the RSF, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
A Sudanese army soldier walks toward a truck-mounted gun left behind by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Salha, south of Omdurman, a day after recapturing it from the RSF, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)

Sudanese paramilitaries at war with the country’s military for over two years claimed to have seized a strategic area along the border with neighboring Libya and Egypt.

The Rapid Support Forces said in a statement Wednesday that they captured the triangular zone, fortifying their presence along Sudan’ s already volatile border with chaos-stricken Libya, The Associated Press said.

The RSF’s announcement came hours after the military said it had evacuated the area as part of “its defensive arrangements to repel aggression” by the paramilitaries.

On Tuesday the military accused the forces of powerful Libyan commander Khalifa Hafter of supporting the RSF’s attack on the area, in a “blatant aggression against Sudan, its land, and its people.”

Hafter’s forces, which control eastern and southern Libya, rejected the claim, saying in a statement that the Sudanese accusations were “a blatant attempt to export the Sudanese internal crisis and create a virtual external enemy.”

The attack on the border area was the latest twist in Sudan’s civil war which erupted in April 2023 when tensions between the Sudanese army and RSF exploded with street battles in the capital, Khartoum that quickly spread across the country.

The war has killed at least 24,000 people, though the number is likely far higher. It has driven about 13 million people from their homes, including 4 million who crossed into neighboring countries. It created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and parts of the country have been pushed into famine.

The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in Darfur, according to the U.N. and international rights groups.