Region

BETHLEHEM, Palestinian Territories — US President Joe Biden said during a trip to the occupied West Bank on Friday that Palestinians need to see a path towards statehood, even if hopes for a peace process with Israel remain bleak.

Biden’s visit to Bethlehem came ahead of a flight to Saudi Arabia, whose leaders on Friday changed aviation rules in an apparent gesture of openness towards Israel.

Riyadh paved the way for Israeli planes to use its airspace by announcing it was lifting restrictions on “all carriers”, a move welcomed by Biden as “historic”.

The president’s visit to the Saudi city of Jeddah will follow talks with Abbas, the latest high-level diplomatic meeting after those with the Israeli leadership on Thursday.

Biden reiterated his administration’s commitment to a two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying there “must be a political horizon that the Palestinian people can actually see”.

“I know that the goal of the two states seems so far away,” he said in Bethlehem, alongside Abbas.

The Palestinian president said he was “taking steps” to improve the bilateral relationship and aimed to see the US consulate to Palestinians reopen in Jerusalem, which was shuttered by Trump.

“The key to peace begins with recognising the state of Palestine,” Abbas said.

With Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations moribund since 2014, the US delegation has been focusing on economic measures.

Biden announced an additional $200 million for the UN agency serving Palestinian refugees, which saw funding cut by the previous US president Donald Trump.

During a visit earlier Friday to a hospital in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, Biden pledged a $100 million aid package for medical institutions in the area.

But he made clear on Thursday he had no plans to reverse the controversial move by Trump to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, which infuriated Palestinians who see its eastern sector as the seat of their future state.

The US delegation was to also announced plans to roll out infrastructure for 4G Internet across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by the end of next year, fulfilling a longstanding aspiration among Palestinians.

Slain Palestinian American reporter 

With Palestinians banned by Israel from political activity in Jerusalem, the US president travelled to Bethlehem to meet Abbas.

He was greeted by a billboard reading “Justice for Shireen”, a reference to the veteran Palestinian-American journalist shot dead in May while covering an Israeli army raid in the West Bank.

Shireen Abu Akleh’s family requested to meet Biden during his visit, but a senior administration official told reporters the president “is unable to do that”, and noted that the family had been invited to Washington.

“I think if President Biden [can] find an hour-and-a-half to go and attend a sport activity, he should have respected the family and give them 10 minutes to listen to them,” said Samer Sinijlawi, chairman of a Palestinian nonprofit, the Jerusalem Development Fund, after Biden on on Thursday attended a ceremony for Jewish athletes.

In Bethlehem, dozens of protesters gathered carrying pictures of Abu Akleh and signs against Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Speaking alongside Abbas, Biden said the US “will continue to insist on a full and transparent accounting of her death”.

Washington earlier this month concluded she was likely shot from an Israeli military position, but that there was no evidence of intent to kill.

Next stop, Jeddah 

The focal point of Jerusalem talks between Biden and Lapid was Iran’s nuclear programme and its support for Islamist groups such as Hamas, which rules Gaza.

Biden and Lapid signed a new security pact, in which Washington committed to using all its “national power” to ensure Tehran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.

Washington is currently trying to get the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers back on track, after Trump’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018 derailed it.

In a tweet on Friday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Biden’s trip to Israel was a “puppet show” that made his country “more determined” to protect its nuclear interests.

Following the visit to the West Bank, Biden will fly from Israel to Iran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh’s decision to scrap airspace restrictions was welcomed as “good news” by Lapid, who called it “only the first step”, as Israel presses for closer regional ties.

Saudi Arabia has long stressed its commitment to the decades-old Arab League position of not establishing official ties with Israel until the conflict with the Palestinians is resolved.

The US president is expected to meet Arab leaders from the Gulf Cooperation Council, who are gathering in the Saudi city of Jeddah, to discuss volatile oil prices.

KHARTOUM — At least 31 people have been killed in clashes this week between two tribes in Sudan's Blue Nile state bordering Ethiopia, the security services said on Saturday.

They added that another 39 people had been wounded and 16 shops torched during the violence, which erupted on Monday over a land dispute between the Berti and Hawsa tribes.

Clashes resumed close to the state capital Al Damazin on Saturday, witnesses said.

"We heard gun shots," resident Fatima Hamad told AFP from the city of Al Roseires across the river from Al Damazin, "and saw smoke rising" from the south.

Al Damazin resident Ahmed Youssef said that "dozens of families" crossed the bridge into the city to flee the unrest.

Soldiers were deployed and a night curfew was imposed on Saturday, a day after Blue Nile governor Ahmed Al Omda issued an order prohibiting any gatherings or marches for one month.

An urgent appeal for blood donations was launched by hospitals for the treatment of casualties from the unrest, according to medical sources.

The violence broke out after the Berti tribe rejected a Hawsa request to create a “civil authority to supervise access to land”, a prominent Hawsa member told AFP on condition of anonymity.

But a senior member of the Bertis said the tribe was responding to a “violation” of its lands by the Hawsas.

The Qissan region and Blue Nile state more generally have long seen unrest, with southern guerrillas a thorn in the side of Sudan’s former strongman president Omar Al Bashir, who was ousted by the army in 2019 following street pressure.

Experts say last year’s coup, led by army chief Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, created a security vacuum that has fostered a resurgence in tribal violence, in a country where deadly clashes regularly erupt over land, livestock, access to water and grazing.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — The US and Israel signed a new security pact on Thursday reinforcing their common front against Iran, as President Joe Biden pledged to use "all" American power to stop the Islamic republic from acquiring nuclear weapons.

The declaration was inked by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Biden, who was making his first trip to the Middle East as president.

It commits the United States to "never to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon", stating that it "is prepared to use all elements of its national power to ensure that outcome".

A landmark deal that imposed curbs on Iran's suspect nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief was torpedoed in 2018 by former US president Donald Trump. Efforts to revive the accord have been stalled since March.

Asked on Thursday how long the US was prepared to give those efforts, Biden said "we're not going to wait forever" for a response from the Islamic republic.

A day after Israeli officials presented Biden with their latest military hardware, the president said the two countries would cooperate on developing "high-energy laser weapon systems".

Israel, which has the Middle East's sole but undeclared nuclear arsenal, is staunchly opposed to the deal with Iran, which has always denied seeking the bomb.

Lapid warned "words" and "diplomacy" were not enough to thwart Iran's alleged nuclear ambitions.

"The only thing that will stop Iran is knowing that if they continue to develop their nuclear programme the free world will use force," he said.

Iran's ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi warned the US and its allies that his country "will not accept any crisis or insecurity in the region".

"Any mistake made in this region will be met with a harsh and regrettable response," Raisi said in televised remarks.

Saudi oil 

Biden touched down in Israel on Wednesday. He held talks with Israeli President Isaac Herzog later Thursday and was due to meet an old acquaintance, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

On Friday the US president will travel to the occupied West Bank to meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, before Air Force Once makes the first publicly acknowledged direct flight from Israel to Saudi Arabia.

Biden said the journey itself “represents important progress”, following Israel launching diplomatic ties in 2020 with Riyadh’s Gulf neighbours the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

“Israel’s integration in the region, Israel’s peace with its neighbours, these are essential goals,” Biden said.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will be a top priority for the president’s meetings with Arab leaders, with volatile oil prices due to be the focus of talks with Saudi officials in particular.

The president will seek to persuade Saudi Arabia to pump more oil in order to drive down prices, which have fuelled US inflation to the highest levels in decades.

‘Israel wants peace’ 

On Thursday, Biden reaffirmed Washington’s policy of pressing for “a two-state solution for two people, both of whom have deep and ancient roots in this land, living side by side in peace and security”.

But he made it clear he has no plans to reverse Trump’s controversial decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Lapid is serving as caretaker prime minister ahead of elections in November, Israel’s fifth vote in less than four years, and is therefore not expected to launch new talks with Palestinians.

“I haven’t changed my position,” the centrist politician said alongside Biden. “A two-state solution is a guarantee for a strong, democratic state of Israel, with the Jewish majority.”

A US official said the administration would announce during the visit “a significant funding package” for hospitals that serve Palestinians in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, which Palestinians claim as their future capital.

It will also announce measures towards providing 4G internet access in the West Bank and Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, the official said, addressing a persistent Palestinian frustration.

But long-term peace negotiations were not on this week’s agenda, the official said.

“We are not going to come in with a top down peace plan because we don’t believe that would be the best approach.”

TRIPOLI — A new chief took office at Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) on Thursday in place of veteran technocrat Mustafa Sanalla, prompting the United States to warn against any "armed confrontation" over the vital sector.

Oil is often at the heart of political rivalries in Libya, which has two governments, one in Tripoli led by Abdulhamid Dbeibah, appointed last year as part of a United Nations-backed peace process aimed to end more than a decade of violence in the North African country.

Dbeibah appointed former central banker Farhat Bengdara to replace Sanalla as NOC head, in a decree made public on Wednesday.

In a defiant video message, Sanalla told Dbeibah that "this institution belongs to the Libyan people, not to you or the Dbeibah family" adding that "the mandate of your government has expired".

On Thursday morning, Bengdara took up office.

"It's vitally important under the current conditions that Libya regains its oil and gas export capacity as quickly as possible," Bengdara told reporters in Tripoli.

"The oil sector has fallen prey to political struggles, but we will work to prevent political interference in the sector," he added.

The dispute comes three months into a blockade of key eastern oil facilities which has slashed Libya's output, even as global oil markets are rattled by the war in Ukraine.

That has put pressure on consumer nations’ governments including the US administration of President Joe Biden to persuade other producers to ramp up output.

Libya is sitting on Africa’s biggest proven crude reserves.

The US embassy said it was following the developments “with deep concern”, saying the NOC was “vital” to Libya’s “stability and prosperity”.

It also praised Sanalla, who has led the body since 2014 and has survived several attempts by Dbeibah’s oil minister Mohammed Aoun to oust him.

US Ambassador Richard Norland, who has been working on a mechanism to manage the highly disputed revenues from Libya’s crude sales, said the NOC had “remained politically independent and technically competent” under Sanalla.

“The reported replacement of the NOC board may be contested in court but must not become the subject of armed confrontation,” Norland added.

Unlike many other Libyan state bodies, the NOC has largely managed to remain neutral despite violence since the 2011 toppling of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a NATO-backed rebellion.

But control of oil production and revenues has often fuelled political tensions, which have ticked up in recent months after the country’s eastern-based parliament appointed a rival administration, led by former interior minister Fathi Bashagha, and backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.

Dbeibah has refused to cede power before elections, and Bashagha has so far failed to take office in Tripoli.

However, Dbeibah’s move to replace Sanalla with Bengdara, a Kadhafi-era central banker rumoured to have close links to Haftar and the United Arab Emirates, has triggered speculation of a deal with the military strongman that would allow Dbeibah to stay in power.

Bengdara insisted Thursday that he had been picked for the job “because I’m a non-partisan man and not linked to any one side, and because I can travel anywhere in Libya”.

But Sanalla, who has skillfully mediated disputes to keep Libya’s crude flowing and positioned himself as an interlocutor with foreign powers and oil firms, accused the UAE of involvement in his sacking.

War-battered Libya suffers chronic power outages and rising poverty. This has fuelled public anger that has piled pressure on political elites in both east and west.

TEL AVIV — US President Joe Biden on Wednesday kicked off a Middle East tour in Israel where both sides vowed to deepen Israel's integration in the region as they face their common foe Iran.

Biden, whose first regional tour since taking office will also take him to Saudi Arabia, pledged strong backing for Israel, which has forged ties with several Arab states in recent years and hopes to do so with Riyadh as well.

"We'll continue to advance Israel's integration into the region," Biden said after Air Force One touched down at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv to a red-carpet welcome.

Israel's caretaker prime minister Yair Lapid said that "we will discuss building a new security and economy architecture with the nations of the Middle East", following US-brokered accords in 2020 with the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco.

"And we will discuss the need to renew a strong global coalition that will stop the Iranian nuclear programme," he added, amid ongoing efforts by world powers to salvage Iran's frayed 2015 nuclear deal, which Israel opposes.

Biden's visit to Saudi Arabia on Friday will be the major focus of the tour, after he branded the oil-rich kingdom a "pariah" over the 2018 murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The trip is seen as part of efforts to stabilise oil markets rattled by the war in Ukraine, by reengaging with a long-time key US strategic ally and major energy supplier.

Air Force One will make a first direct flight from Israel to Saudi Arabia amid efforts to build ties between the Israel and the conservative Gulf kingdom, which does not recognise Israel’s existence.

Palestinian anger 

Moments after Biden landed, Israel’s military was to show him its new Iron Beam system, an anti-drone laser it claims is crucial to countering Iran’s fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles.

Israel insists it will do whatever is necessary to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and remains staunchly opposed to a restoration of the 2015 deal that gave Tehran sanctions relief.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi warned earlier Wednesday that if Biden’s goal on the trip was to bolster Israel’s security, he was destined to fail.

If US visits “to the countries of the region are to strengthen the position of the Zionist regime... their efforts will not create security for the Zionists in any way,” Raisi said, referring to Israel.

Biden, 79, will also meet Palestinian leaders angered by what they describe as Washington’s failure to curb Israeli aggression.

The persistent frustrations of Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy are nothing new for Biden, who first visited the region in 1973 after being elected to the Senate.

Palestinians claim Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem as their capital and, ahead of the visit, accused Biden of failing to make good on his pledge to restore the United States as an honest broker in the conflict.

Jerusalem to Bethlehem 

“We only hear empty words and no results,” said Jibril Rajoub, a leader of the secular Fateh movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Biden will meet Abbas in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem on Friday, but there is no expectation of bold announcements toward a fresh peace process.

Israel for now is again mired in political gridlock ahead of a November 1 parliamentary election, the fifth in less than four years.

Biden is scheduled to have a short meeting Thursday with Israel’s former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will try to reclaim power in the upcoming polls.

US-Palestinian ties have been strained by the May killing of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh while she was covering an Israeli army raid in the West Bank.

The United Nations has concluded the Palestinian-American journalist was killed by Israeli fire. Washington has agreed this was likely, but also said there was no evidence the killing was intentional.

Abu Akleh’s family has voiced outrage over the Biden administration’s “abject response” to her death, and the White House has not commented on their request to meet the president in Jerusalem.

Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken “has invited the family to the United States to be able to sit down and engage with him directly”. 

ISTANBUL — Turkey said it will host Russian and Ukrainian delegations with UN diplomats on Wednesday to discuss the resumption of stalled grain deliveries across the Black Sea.

The four-way meeting with Turkish officials comes as food prices soar around the world due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine is one of the world's biggest exporters of wheat and other grain.

But its shipments have been blocked by Russian warships and mines that Kyiv has laid across the Black Sea.

NATO member Turkey — on good terms with both Russia and Ukraine — has spearheaded efforts to resume the grain deliveries.

Turkish officials say they have 20 merchant ships waiting in the Black Sea that could be loaded quickly with Ukrainian grain.

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Tuesday that the meeting would involve the three countries' military delegations and team from the United Nations.

"Military delegations from the Turkish, Russian and Ukrainian defence ministries, and a delegation of the United Nations, will hold talks tomorrow in Istanbul on the safe shipment to international markets of grain waiting in Ukrainian ports," Akar said.

A Russian foreign ministry spokesman confirmed the meeting but also insisted that Moscow had a list of demands.

“Another round of expert consultations is planned for July 13 in Istanbul,” ministry spokesman PyotrIlyichev was quoted as saying by Russia’s Interfax news agency.

“Our understandable conditions include the possibility to control and search the ship to avoid the contraband of weapons, and Kyiv’s commitment not to stage provocations,” Ilyichev said.

The Russian spokesman added that the UN team would act as “observers” at the talks.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has tried to use his good relations with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Kyiv’s Western-backed leaders to thrust Ankara into the centre of negotiations about Ukraine.

Erdogan is due to meet Putin for the first time since Russia’s invasion when the two leaders are hosted by Iranian President EbrahimRaisi in Tehran next Tuesday.

The talks are officially due to focus on the situation in war-ravaged Syria.

But the Kremlin said Putin and Erdogan will also hold a separate meeting that is almost certain to focus heavily on Ukraine.

Snake Island 

Turkey has been sending defence delegations to both Moscow and Kyiv in a bid to break the deadlock over Ukraine’s grain.

A plan proposed by the United Nations would see the shipments start along specific corridors that avoid known locations of mines.

Ukraine has refused to de-mine the area out of fear that Russia might then stage an amphibious assault on cities such as the Black Sea port of Odessa.

Ukraine’s port authority said last week that Kyiv’s recapture of Snake Island in the Black Sea has allowed it to resume shipments into neighbouring Romania along the Danube River.

But those deliveries can only cover a small fraction of the 20 to 25 million tonnes of grain believed to be blocked in Ukraine.

The negotiations are complicated by mounting suspicions that Russia is stealing and exporting grain from farmers in Ukrainian regions now under its control.

Ukraine summoned Ankara’s ambassador to Kyiv after Turkey last week failed to seize a Russian-flag ship suspected of carrying confiscated grain.

The ship returned to a Russian port after spending nearly a week anchored off Turkey’s Black Sea coast.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said it was “deeply disappointed” with Turkey.