US Ties Israeli Judicial Overhaul with Settlements in Palestinian Territories

Palestinians confront Israeli forces during a protest against a new settlement near Ramallah on March 10. (Reuters)
Palestinians confront Israeli forces during a protest against a new settlement near Ramallah on March 10. (Reuters)
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US Ties Israeli Judicial Overhaul with Settlements in Palestinian Territories

Palestinians confront Israeli forces during a protest against a new settlement near Ramallah on March 10. (Reuters)
Palestinians confront Israeli forces during a protest against a new settlement near Ramallah on March 10. (Reuters)

The US administration of US President Joe Biden welcomed the decision of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to delay action on the judicial overhaul.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the Israeli decision is the best path for Israel and all its citizens to find this compromise.

In recent weeks, Netanyahu's conservative government has attempted to push through reforms to the judiciary that would effectively allow the government to choose judges of the country's top court.

After coming under much street pressure and international criticism, the PM decided to halt the reform and called for compromise talks with the center-left opposition.

A spokesman for the US State Department, Vedant Patel, said the move was "an opportunity to create additional time and space for compromise," adding, "we continue to strongly urge Israeli leaders to find a compromise as soon as possible."

Patel noted that "democratic societies are strengthened by checks and balances, and fundamental changes to a democratic system should be pursued with the broadest base of popular support."

In response to the accusations that Washington somehow funded the protests against Netanyahu's government, the spokesman asserted that these claims are "completely and demonstrably false."

"The Movement of Quality Government is an NGO, and it received a modest grant from the State Department initiated during the previous administration."

He explained that the latest disbursal of funds came in September of 2022, before the most recent Israeli elections, indicating that "the department supports a wide range of programming by civil society actors around the world on strengthening awareness for human rights and democratic values."

The cautious statements reflect the Biden administration's aim to maintain communication with Netanyahu amid efforts by US officials to calm the tensions and violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

CIA Director William Burns recently warned that a third intifada could break out.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich are pushing hard to approve the judicial overhaul and maintain settlements in the Palestinian territories.

Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted that some measures make it "hard or maybe futile" for the United States to mediate between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Blinken said: "I can say that both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority want us to be involved and engaged in helping and supporting and working with them to try to get to this period of calm."

He added: "At some point if either or both sides are not doing what we believe is necessary to get there, it will be hard or maybe futile for us to do that."

The right-wing Israeli government recently introduced legislation that would pave the way for the re-establishment of settlements in the occupied West Bank nearly 20 years after their disbandment.

A group of 92 US lawmakers sent a letter to Biden urging him to clarify that the US opposes any Israeli attempts to annex lands in the West Bank.

"Stripping the judiciary of its check on the governing coalition would empower far-right lawmakers seeking to entrench settlement of the West Bank and advance a pro-annexation agenda, undermining the prospects for a two-state solution and threatening Israel's existence as a Jewish and democratic state," the lawmakers wrote.



US, Arab Mediators Make Some Progress in Gaza Peace Talks, No Deal Yet

Palestinians inspect damaged residential buildings where two Israeli hostages were reportedly held before being rescued during an operation by Israeli security forces in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 12, 2024. (AP)
Palestinians inspect damaged residential buildings where two Israeli hostages were reportedly held before being rescued during an operation by Israeli security forces in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 12, 2024. (AP)
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US, Arab Mediators Make Some Progress in Gaza Peace Talks, No Deal Yet

Palestinians inspect damaged residential buildings where two Israeli hostages were reportedly held before being rescued during an operation by Israeli security forces in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 12, 2024. (AP)
Palestinians inspect damaged residential buildings where two Israeli hostages were reportedly held before being rescued during an operation by Israeli security forces in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 12, 2024. (AP)

US and Arab mediators have made some progress in their efforts to reach a ceasefire accord between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but not enough to seal a deal, Palestinian sources close to the talks said on Thursday.
As talks continued in Qatar, the Israeli military carried out strikes across the enclave, killing at least 17 people, Palestinian medics said.
Qatar, the US and Egypt are making a major push to reach a deal to halt fighting in the 15-month conflict and free remaining hostages held by the Hamas group before President Joe Biden leaves office.
President-elect Donald Trump has warned there will be "hell to pay", if the hostages are not released by his inauguration on Jan. 20.
On Thursday, a Palestinian official close to the mediation effort said the absence of a deal so far did not mean the talks were going nowhere and said this was the most serious attempt so far to reach an accord.
"There are extensive negotiations, mediators and negotiators are talking about every word and every detail. There is a breakthrough when it comes to narrowing old existing gaps but there is no deal yet," he told Reuters, without giving further details.
On Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Ministry Director General Eden Bar-Tal said Israel was fully committed to reaching an agreement to return its hostages from Gaza but faces obstruction from Hamas.
The two sides have been at an impasse for a year over two key issues. Hamas has said it will only free its remaining hostages if Israel agrees to end the war and withdraw all its troops from Gaza. Israel says it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled and all hostages are free.
SEVERE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
On Thursday, the death toll from Israel's military strikes included eight Palestinians killed in a house in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, where Israeli forces have operated for more than three months. Nine others, including a father and his three children, died in two separate airstrikes on two houses in central Gaza Strip, health officials said.
There was no Israeli military comment on the two incidents.
More than 46,000 people have been killed in the Gaza war, according to Palestinian health officials. Much of the enclave has been laid waste and most of the territory's 2.1 million people have been displaced multiple times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say.
Israel denies hindering humanitarian relief to Gaza and says it has facilitated the distribution of hundreds of truckloads of food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment to warehouses and shelters over the past week.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. On Wednesday, the Israeli military said troops had recovered the body of Israeli Bedouin hostage Youssef Al-Ziyadna, along with evidence that was still being examined suggesting his son Hamza, taken on the same day, may also be dead.
"We will continue to make every effort to return all of our hostages, the living and the deceased," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.