Gantz in Washington Wednesday to Defend ‘Settlements,’ Israeli Measures in West Bank

Gantz and Blinken during a meeting in Jerusalem last March (Reuters)
Gantz and Blinken during a meeting in Jerusalem last March (Reuters)
TT

Gantz in Washington Wednesday to Defend ‘Settlements,’ Israeli Measures in West Bank

Gantz and Blinken during a meeting in Jerusalem last March (Reuters)
Gantz and Blinken during a meeting in Jerusalem last March (Reuters)

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced he will travel Wednesday to the United States, where he expects to meet with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin in Washington to tackle issues of interest for both countries.

Although his office did not give details of the nature of the meeting, a source in his ministry said Gantz will try to defend the Israeli government’s decision to build about 4,000 new housing units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

The source said that Washington had strongly criticized the settlement decision, as well as the recent Israeli operations in the West Bank and Jerusalem, particularly the assassination of Palestinian-US journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the brutal assault on her funeral processions.

Gantz will carry with him the results of the investigation conducted by an Israeli officer into the assassination.

Earlier this month, the Israeli Defense Minister had arranged to attend two Jewish events held in the US by his ministry, the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency, to raise funds for the Israeli army.

However, the assassination of Abu Akleh pushed Gantz to ask to meet US officials.

Last week, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called for an "immediate and credible investigation" into the circumstances of the killing of Abu Akleh.

Blinken announced that he spoke to Shireen's brother and expressed deep condolences for her loss, and deep respect for the work that she did as a journalist for many years.

US President Joe Biden has accepted an invitation to visit Israel in June and show support for Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett against the two men’s opponent, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Despite the announcement, the Biden administration had appealed several times to the Bennett government in recent weeks, warning against approving new settlement projects.

The US envoy to Israel, Thomas Naides, said he and other Biden administration officials have made it clear to Israeli officials several times in the last two weeks that the administration is opposed to the construction of new settlements and asked Israeli authorities not to move ahead with it.

Few days following Naides’ comments, the Israeli Civil Administration, a military body, said the Higher Planning Committee met last Thursday to give green light to the building of 3,988 new settler units.

Political sources in Tel Aviv expressed their fear of an angry US reaction to the Committee’s decision that would push the Biden administration to cancel or postpone the president’s visit to Israel.

Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post newspaper said that Bennett decided to take rightward steps to strengthen his Yamina party and prevent further defections from it.

It said Bennett will visit Elkana in Samaria on Tuesday, his first public visit to a West Bank settlement since becoming prime minister 11 months ago.



Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
TT

Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.