Israel-Hamas war tests Beijing’s aspirations

The war erupting between the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel poses a complex test for China's aspirations to become a key diplomatic player in the Middle East as Beijing was looking to broker new peace talks.

Earlier this year, China had pledged to help facilitate negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Chinese state media trumpeted the possibility of a settlement based on a three-part proposal by Chinese President Xi Jinping. But the outbreak of severe violence may have shattered those hopes for the foreseeable future, while creating new challenges for China.

"This is like a tightrope walk that they have to perform," said Moritz Rudolf, a China scholar and fellow at Yale Law School's Paul Tsai China Center. "They have an economic interest in the stability of the region and they also have increased their political role."

After Hamas launched a deadly surprise attack on Saturday - firing thousands of rockets, sending fighters into Israeli communities and taking hostages back to Gaza - countries in Asia and around the world quickly condemned the killing of civilians. The death toll in Israel has surpassed 900, while nearly 700 have been killed on the Palestinian side amid a wave of retaliatory airstrikes on Gaza, according to local officials.

Unlike the United States, India, Japan and others, which have come out forcefully in support of Israel, the Chinese government has maintained a neutral position.

Beijing's official response to the Hamas attack on Saturday called for an immediate cease-fire and repeated its support for a two-state solution with an independent State of Palestine as a way out of the conflict. It did not condemn Hamas.

On Sunday, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, Zhan Jun, said China was worried about escalation.

"What's important is to prevent further escalation of the situation and casualties of civilians," Zhang told reporters before an emergency closed-door security meeting. "We condemn all attacks against civilians," he stressed.

President Xi has yet to make any public statement.

Historically, China has had close diplomatic ties with Palestinian leaders. The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, this year made his fifth official visit to China in his nearly two decades in office. But in recent years, China has also deepened relations with Israel, investing in infrastructure and the country's vibrant technology sector.

Beijing's muted initial reaction to the violence did not go unnoticed.

On Sunday, Yuval Waks, a senior official at the Israeli Embassy in Beijing, said his country expected a stronger response from the world's second-largest economy.

"When people are being murdered, slaughtered in the streets, this is not the time to call for a two-state solution," Waks told reporters. "We believe that China as a superpower in this world ... should have taken a stronger stand."

But Beijing appears more comfortable playing a mediator role. In March, China brokered discussions between bitter rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, enabling a diplomatic rapprochement. Analysts saw this as a challenge to US influence in the region.

In June, China outlined its vision for brokering peace between Israel and the Palestinians. But in doing so, it stuck its neck into a delicate situation that has vexed the US and other powers for decades.

Even though Israel and the Palestinians signed the Oslo Accords in September 1993, agreeing on a road map to peace, unsuccessful negotiations for a two-state solution have perpetuated tensions and violence. Talks have stalled since 2014, and the prospect of a deal appears to have become even more remote under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition government and Hamas' sudden offensive.

Some observers argue that Beijing's silence on Hamas casts doubt on its ability to realize its ambitions in the region.

"China is still not willing to call Hamas out directly, and instead has tried to refer to them as combatants using language as ambiguous as possible, because it doesn't want to be seen as betraying its developing world friends - especially when that friend is engaged in hostilities against a leading US ally, namely Israel," said Wen-Ti Sung, a political scientist focusing on China at Australian National University.

Indeed, the conflict could further complicate China's already tense relations with Washington.

Xi on Monday met with US Senate leader Chuck Schumer, who was visiting with a bipartisan congressional delegation. Schumer expressed disappointment with China's lack of sympathy for Israel. "I urge you and the Chinese people to stand with the Israeli people and condemn the cowardly and vicious attacks," Schumer said to Xi.

After Schumer's visit, China's foreign ministry stressed that it condemns all violence and attacks on civilians and that the most urgent task now is to reach a ceasefire and restore peace. The US senator, writing on Xi, claimed credit: "I pointedly asked that they strengthen their statement. They did."

The same day, however, the Chinese state mouthpiece Global Times published an article criticizing American support for Israel, arguing it will only fan the conflict. "Israel already outweighs Palestine in terms of military might; if the US wants peace, it should take actions to calm down the situation, instead of giving one-sided support to Israel," Tian Wenlin, a research fellow at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, was quoted as saying.

The story suggested that the pressure from Schumer is part of a US attempt to morally abduct China.

For now, Yale's Rudolf said that China will likely take a more risk-averse approach that advocates for humanity and civilians, without positioning itself on either side.

"The key thing is for China, they don't want to get sucked into this conflict," he said. "At some point, when great powers are to meet and to talk about this situation, China just wants to have a seat at the table, and the difference now is that they're taking it more seriously."

Courtesy: Nikki Asia

 

Saudi Crown Prince affirms unwavering support for Palestinian legitimate rights

In a series of diplomatic discussions, Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman reaffirmed Saudi Arabia's unwavering support for the Palestinian people's legitimate rights during a phone call with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday.

The leaders engaged in a comprehensive dialogue, addressing the military escalation in Gaza and its adjacent areas. They expressed deep concern over the deteriorating situation, recognizing the threat it poses to civilian lives and regional security and stability.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman underscored the Kingdom's proactive efforts to collaborate with international and regional stakeholders, aiming to bring a swift end to the ongoing escalation and prevent its further proliferation in the region.

He emphasized the significance of upholding international humanitarian law and refraining from targeting civilians.

Moreover, the Crown Prince reiterated Saudi Arabia's commitment to standing by the Palestinian people in their pursuit of legitimate rights, advocating for a dignified life, the realization of hopes and aspirations, and the achievement of a just and lasting peace.

President Mahmoud Abbas expressed heartfelt gratitude to the Kingdom's leadership, acknowledging its steadfast stance and dedicated efforts in supporting the Palestinian people and their just cause.

In a separate conversation, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan delved into the escalating situation in Gaza, reiterating concerns about its impact on civilian lives and regional stability.

Additionally, in talks with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt, the leaders concurred on the imperative to intensify both international and regional efforts to halt the escalation in Gaza and its surroundings, emphasizing the need to prevent its expansion in the broader region.

 

United States moves warships closer to Israel

According to Saudi Gazette, the United States has announced it is moving an aircraft carrier, ships and jets to the eastern Mediterranean and will also give Israel additional equipment and ammunition.

This follows the Hamas attack on southern Israel, which President Biden called an unprecedented and appalling assault.

The US was also working to verify reports its citizens were among those killed and taken captive, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Israel says more than 700 people have been killed and 100 kidnapped.

In Gaza, more than 400 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes, according to Palestinian officials.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, a missile cruiser and four missile destroyers were heading to the region. US fighter jets would also be sent.

Further military aid to Israel would be sent in the coming days, the White House said, adding that the US was working to ensure that Israel's enemies would not try to seek advantage from the situation.

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi has expressed support for the Hamas attack, saying Israel needed to be held to account for endangering the region.

Hamas has said assistance from Iran helped it carry out its attack, which involved rockets, drones and militants on paragliders and saw hundreds of fighters break through Israeli border fortifications around the Gaza Strip.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US had not seen evidence of direct Iranian involvement, but that Iran had been helping the Gaza-based group for years.

"Hamas wouldn't be Hamas without the support that it's gotten over many years from Iran. We haven't yet seen direct evidence that Iran was behind this particular attack or involved. But the support over many years is clear," he told US TV.

At a UN Security Council meeting, Iran denied involvement in the attack on Israel, Reuters reported.

Blinken also said officials were looking at reports that US citizens had been caught up in the attack.

"We've got reports that several Americans are among the dead. We're working very actively to verify those reports," he told US TV on Sunday. Other countries including the UK, France, Ukraine and Thailand have also reported deaths.

He told ABC that "this is a massive terrorist attack that is gunning down Israeli civilians in their towns, in their homes, and as we've seen so graphically, literally dragging people across the border with Gaza.

Israel's ambassador to the US, Michael Herzog, told CBS News that he understood Americans were among the soldiers and civilians abducted in southern Israel but did not have details.

The US sends billions of dollars of military aid to Israel, a close ally, each year. Since World War II, Israel has been the largest overall recipient of US foreign aid.

The UN Security Council is due to meet in New York shortly to discuss the violence in Israel and Gaza.

Riyadh concerned about Tehran's response to normalizing ties with Israel

An ex-Iranian envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said that Saudi Arabia was worried about Iran’s response to the establishment of relations between Riyadh and the Israeli regime.

In a recent interview with Jamaran news outlet on Saturday, Sabah Zanganeh noted, “Saudi Arabia agreed to restore ties with Iran to be able to pursue the normalization of relations with Israel is not a precise analysis.”

“Such an analysis would be an exaggeration,” he added. “Saudi Arabia is, has been and will be worried about Iran’s reaction. The other countries which have pursued the same policy are still concerned about Iran’s stance, too,” he averred.

Additionally, the ex-envoy addressed Riyadh’s attitude on Washington as saying, “Saudi Arabia seeks to gain concessions from the United States; namely, it seeks the privilege of atomic energy enrichment from the US.”

He stated that the Saudis were making an effort to obtain concessions in order to justify their choice. 

“The Saudis want Israel’s cutting-edge technologies as well as a trade and oil transit line to the Mediterranean,” he said.

The former Iranian OIC ambassador remarked that the improvement in ties between the two countries has left the Saudis without any excuses to gain more concessions and justify forming an alliance with Israel.”

“Israel, for its part, lost an element which it used to provoke Arab countries to adopt harsh stances against Iran,” he added. 

In a meeting with a group of foreign guests attending a Muslim unity conference in Tehran lately, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Iran aims to further strengthen relations with Saudi Arabia with the purpose of blocking normalization with the Zionist regime of Israel.

He continued, “Today, we are witnessing the resumption of Iran-Saudi relations, our intention is to have deep and extensive relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia with an eye on the interests of the Islamic world and with the aim of disappointing the enemy and blocking the way to normalize relations.”

Back in September, Iran’s new ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alireza Enayati, said that Tehran views Saudi Arabia as a strategic partner in the West Asia region. 

In remarks to the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, Enayati said, “We consider the Kingdom a strategic partner of great importance within the framework of the good neighborliness policy pursued by the current government.”

Enayati told the Saudi paper that he intended to dedicate his efforts in the upcoming period to enhance and foster relations between Tehran and Riyadh.

He emphasized that both sides are strongly determined and sincerely willing to develop these relations, expressing optimism about a promising future.

The ambassador pointed out that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi had instructed him to do his utmost to strengthen brotherly and friendly relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

 

United States pays US$43 million to Iran

Iran has received US$43 million in damages from the United States under a case of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal.

The amount of money was placed into the country’s bank account in The Hague, the Netherlands, according to the Center for International Legal Affairs of the Legal Vice Presidency of the Iranian President on Sunday.

The case involves Iranian properties that had not been transferred to Iran after the conclusion of the Algiers Declarations.

“The Iran-United States Claims Tribunal issued Award No. 604 in favor of Iran and ruled that the US government must compensate for the damage it caused to the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” read the statement.

It went on to add, “Following repeated and persistent follow-ups by the Center for International Legal Affairs of the Legal Vice Presidency of the Iranian President to secure Iran’s rights based on the verdict, the amount of US$43 million has been deposited by the US government into the account of the Islamic Republic of Iran at a Dutch bank in The Hague in damages and its interest.”

The move comes as the United States has suffered a string of legal setbacks in international courts against the Islamic Republic.

Luxembourg released US$1.7 billion of Iran’s frozen assets following a ruling issued by the European country's Supreme Court, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) reported on Saturday.

As reported, with the legal actions and follow-ups of the CBI, at the current stage, the legal obstacles to access US$1.7 billion assets of this bank in Luxembourg have been removed and this fund is now available to the Central Bank of Iran.

Back in September, the administration of the US President Joe Biden had given foreign banks a general waiver that allowed them to move US$6 billion of frozen Iranian assets from South Korea to Qatar without worrying about Washington’s sanctions.

With the waiver, banks in Europe, West Asia, and Asia could convert blocked Iranian funds in South Korea into cash that can be transferred to Qatar’s central bank and used by Tehran to buy non-sanctioned commodities without breaking US sanctions.

 

Afghan earthquakes kill more than 2,000

More than 2,000 people were killed in earthquakes in Afghanistan and more than 9,000 injured, the Taliban administration said on Sunday, in the deadliest tremors to rock the quake-prone mountainous country in years.

The Saturday quakes in the west of the country hit 35 km (20 miles) northwest of the city of Herat, with one of 6.3 magnitude, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

They were among the world's deadliest quakes in a year when tremors in Turkey and Syria killed an estimated 50,000 in February this year

Janan Sayeeq, spokesman for the Ministry of Disasters, said 2,053 people were killed, 9,240 injured and 1,320 houses damaged or destroyed. The death toll spiked from 500 reported earlier on Sunday by the Red Crescent.

Ten rescue teams were in the area, which borders Iran, Sayeeq told a press conference.

More than 200 dead had been brought to various hospitals, said a Herat health department official who identified himself as Dr Danish, adding most of them were women and children.

Bodies had been taken to several places - military bases, hospitals, Danish said.

Beds were set up outside the main hospital in Herat to receive a flood of victims, photos on social media showed.

Food, drinking water, medicine, clothes and tents were urgently needed for rescue and relief, Suhail Shaheen, the head of the Taliban political office in Qatar, said in a message to the media.

The mediaeval minarets of Herat sustained some damage, photographs on social media showed, with cracks visible and tiles fallen off.

Hemmed in by mountains, Afghanistan has a history of strong earthquakes, many in the rugged Hindu Kush region bordering Pakistan.

Death tolls often rise when information comes in from more remote parts of a country where decades of war have left infrastructure in a shambles, and relief and rescue operations difficult to organize.

Afghanistan's healthcare system, reliant almost entirely on foreign aid, has faced crippling cuts in the two years since the Taliban took over and much international assistance, which had formed the backbone of the economy, was halted.

Diplomats and aid officials say concerns over Taliban restrictions on women and competing global humanitarian crises are causing donors to pull back on financial support.

The Islamist government has ordered most Afghan female aid staff not to work, although with exemptions in health and education.

In August, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross said it was likely to end its financial support for 25 Afghan hospitals because of funding constraints. It was not immediately clear if the Herat hospital was on that list.

The quakes triggered panic in Herat, resident Naseema said.

"People left their houses, we all are on the streets," she wrote in a text message to Reuters on Saturday, adding that the city was feeling aftershocks.

There are a total of 202 public health facilities in Herat province, one of which is the major regional hospital where 500 casualties had been taken, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a report on Sunday.

A vast majority of the facilities are smaller basic health centres and logistical challenges were hindering operations, particularly in remote areas, the WHO said.

"While search and rescue operations remain ongoing, casualties in these areas have not yet been fully identified," it said.

 

 

 

 

 

Hamas attack shocks Israel, what next?

Fifty years on from the Yom Kippur War, which began with a surprise attack on Israel by Egypt and Syria, Palestinian militants have launched a major assault. This too was unexpected, on another Jewish holiday.

Tensions had recently risen in the Gaza Strip, but the conventional wisdom was that neither Hamas, the Islamist group which governs there, nor Israel wanted an escalation.

Instead, Hamas had been planning a sophisticated, coordinated operation. Early morning, as an intense barrage of rockets was launched with some reaching as far away as Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Palestinian fighters entered southern Israel by sea, land and air.

They have held Israeli towns and army posts under siege for hours, killed many people and taken away an unknown number of Israeli civilians and soldiers to hold as hostages in Gaza.

The awful drama has played out live on social and mainstream media.

Thousands of Israelis who had been out for an overnight rave in fields close to Gaza rapidly found themselves under fire.

After her partner had driven to find her, Gili Yoskovich told the BBC how she had hidden from the heavily armed fighters among trees. "They were going tree by tree and shooting everywhere. From two sides and I saw people were dying all around."

"I said, 'OK, I'm going to die, it's OK, just breathe, just close your eyes', because there was shooting everywhere. It was very, very close to me."

Israel HaYom newspaper quoted Ella, a resident of Kibbutz Be'eri, speaking of her fears for her father who had gone to a safe room after sirens went off to warn of incoming rocket fire.

"He wrote to me that the terrorists are in the shelter, I see his picture on Telegram from inside Gaza. I still hear bursts of gunfire," she said.

Many Israelis have expressed shock that the Israeli security forces did not come more quickly to help them.

Meanwhile, footage shared on Hamas channels showed that soldiers in Israeli army posts and in a tank that had been captured or killed.

There were initial pictures of celebrations in Gaza where snatched Israeli military vehicles were driven through the streets.

"I am happy with what Hamas has done so far, taking revenge for Israeli actions at al-Aqsa," a young man in Gaza City told the BBC, referring to the recent rise in Jewish visitors to the compound in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem during the high holidays.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam and is also the holiest place for Jews, known as Temple Mount.

Still, the man who was leaving his apartment after warnings that the Israeli military was set to hit nearby, expressed fear for what would happen next.

"We're worried, already my family lost our shop when the Shorouk Tower was hit by Israel in the war of 2021," he said. "The action Hamas has taken this time is far bigger, so there will be an even bigger Israeli response."

Palestinian hospitals have already been overwhelmed by casualties from the Israeli air strikes which have caused wide destruction.

The Gaza Strip — a tiny coastal enclave which is home to some 2.3 million Palestinians — was taken over by Hamas in 2007, a year after it won parliamentary elections. Israel and Egypt then tightened their blockade of the territory.

It remains impoverished with unemployment at around 50%.

After the serious conflict between Israel and Hamas in 2021, indirect talks mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the UN helped secure thousands of permits for Gazans to work in Israel and relax other restrictions in return for relative quiet.

Last month, when hundreds of Palestinians began to join protests by the perimeter fence in the strip in a reminder of the mass demonstrations which began five years ago, it was assumed that this was with the nod from Hamas and was meant to squeeze more concessions from Israel and aid money from Qatar.

The small rallies now seem like a red herring. Some speculate whether they were in fact a chance to survey the fence ahead of the infiltration.

With this latest operation, Hamas seems keen to burnish its credentials once again as a militant organization. Its charter remains committed to the destruction of Israel.

Speaking at the start of the offensive, the shadowy Hamas militant commander, Mohammed Deif called on Palestinians and other Arabs to join the action to "sweep away the Israeli occupation".

A big question now is whether Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem or elsewhere in the region will heed his call.

Israel undoubtedly sees the potential for a war that could open up on multiple fronts.

A worst-case scenario is that it could draw in the powerful Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military has ordered a massive reinforcement of troops. As well as its intense air raids on Gaza, it has indicated that it is planning a ground operation there.

The capture of Israeli soldiers and civilians, who Palestinian militants will hope to use as human shields or bargaining chips, are a serious complication.

"We are currently busy regaining control of the area, striking broadly and especially taking care of the area around the Gaza Strip," said the IDF spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari. "We will do a very sharp and thorough review."

While a full review may be some way off, there is no doubt that Israel's intelligence and security establishment will be asking itself how it did not see this action coming and how it did not manage to prevent its huge consequences.

Courtesy: Saudi Gazette