English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For February 26/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be
Luke 12/13-21:”Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 25-26/2025
Text & Video: Exposing Hezbollah’s Lies and Mythical Victories: Neither Did It Liberate the South in 2000, Nor Did It Win the 2006 War/Elias Bejjani / February 25, 2025
It Is the Duty of Respected Arab and Lebanese Media to Spare the Public from the Nonsense of Faisal Abdul Sater and Qassem Kassir/Elias Bejjani/ February 24/2025
Video Link for a Must watch Interview with Writer and Director Youssef Yaacoub ElKhoury on Beirut Times YouTube
Key Highlights from the Interview with Writer and Director Youssef Yaacoub ElKhoury on Beirut Times
Two killed in Israeli strike on eastern Lebanon: state media
Israel spy chief says pager bombs ‘turned the tables’ on Hezbollah
Salam presents Ministerial Statement, outlines government’s reform and sovereignty commitments
We want a state that can protect its people, Lebanese PM tells parliament
Hezbollah Backs New Lebanese Government Ahead of Confidence Vote
Israel’s Spy Chief Gives Details about Exploding Pager Operation against Hezbollah
Hezbollah and the Path Forward After Nasrallah/Hassan Al Mustafa/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 25/2025
Parliament debates govt. statement ahead of vote of confidence
Bassil says Salam 'does not deserve confidence'
Iran reportedly on 'high alert' amid fears of attack on nuclear sites
Bassil offers condolences in Dahieh after missing Nasrallah's funeral
Aoun says his agenda is not a 'political agenda'
Who are the 35 Hezbollah commanders killed in Israel war?
EU launches 20th edition of Samir Kassir Award
Hezbollah's Safieddine laid to rest in south Lebanon hometown

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 25-26/2025
New Syria leader says plans to set up transitional justice committee
Israeli warplanes strike south of Damascus, security sources and TV say
Syria Calls for Israel’s Withdrawal from Its Lands, National Dialogue Closing Statement Says
Rubio, Iraqi PM discuss 'Iran's malign influence' in region
Hamas members suspected of plotting attacks go on trial in Germany
Israel, Hamas agree on new exchange, leaving fragile ceasefire intact
UN agency chief says ‘wouldn’t be involved in any’ Gaza displacement
‘Dad, you’re home’: Israeli hostage who died in Gaza laid to rest
Saudi Arabia welcomes holding of Syrian national dialogue conference
Kremlin hails 'balanced' US position on Ukraine after UN vote
Top Russian diplomat Lavrov arrives in Tehran for talks
Former Iraqi PM returns to Baghdad despite security threats
Ukraine has agreed on terms of minerals deal with US: senior official
Trump blocked from imposing sweeping federal funding freeze
Egypt rejects proposals to displace Palestinians

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on February 25-26/2025
The Trump Revolution in the Middle East Has Just Begun/Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/February 25, 2025
Who ‘owns’ the Palestine discourse?/Dr. Ramzy Baroud/Arab News/February 25, 2025
What Germany’s election means for the Western left/Bartosz M. Rydlinski/Arab News/February 25, 2025
Netanyahu eyes West Bank as he oscillates on Gaza/Osama Al-Sharif/Arab News/February 25, 2025

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 25-26/2025
Elias Bejjani/Text & Video: Exposing Hezbollah’s Lies and Mythical Victories: Neither Did It Liberate the South in 2000, Nor Did It Win the 2006 War
Elias Bejjani / February 25, 2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/02/140565/
Hezbollah’s leaders, members, officials, and religious figures falsely claim to be the most honorable, intelligent, pure, and devout people. Yet, they have never been ashamed of their absolute, public, and brazen subservience to Iran’s rulers and the doctrine of the Supreme Leader (Iranian Guardianship of the Jurist/Velayat-e faqih). In this doctrine, there is no allegiance to Lebanon as a state, its constitution, or its borders—just as is the case with the followers of this religious ideology in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. Their only and absolute loyalty is to Iran.
In reality, they live in a delusional state, feeding on fantasies, hallucinations, and daydreams, completely detached from the reality of military and scientific capabilities—whether their own or those possessed by Israel, the United States, and the Western nations they label as "the Great Satan" (America), "the Little Satan" (Israel), and "infidels" (any country not under their control). This hostile culture of betrayal, division, and slander has never ceased since Iran and Hafez al-Assad’s regime established Hezbollah in 1982. During Syria’s occupation of Lebanon, Hezbollah was handed control over Shiite-populated areas through force and terror. One of the bloodiest milestones was the battle of Iqlim al-Tuffah in March 1988, where Hezbollah eradicated the Amal Movement’s military presence, killing more than 1,200 fighters, and leaving thousands wounded and maimed, thus ending Amal’s military existence and subjugating it entirely to Hezbollah’s Iranian agenda. Hassan Nasrallah, Hashem Safieddine, Naim Qassem, Nabil Qaouq, Mohammad Raad, Hussein Mousawi, and the rest of the leaders of this misguided faction—both the living and the dead—deluded themselves into believing that their Persian empire project was within reach. Yet, this illusion is collapsing under relentless blows, their leaders are being eliminated, their strongholds are being destroyed, and their so-called "supportive environment"—which is in fact a hostage population—is turning against them.
Hezbollah, its members—whether civilian, military, or clerical—do not belong to Lebanon, to Arab identity, or to any nation. They are entirely detached from reality and from all that is humane. They have built castles of illusions, locked themselves inside, hearing only their own voices and seeing only their own reflections. To them, anyone different is nonexistent, and in their extremist ideology, the blood of Lebanese, Syrians, and Arabs is permissible.
With every crime, explosion, assassination, and defeat, their arrogance and impudence only increase. They are indifferent to the suffering of others, taking sadistic pleasure in it, celebrating tragedies by distributing sweets. They have taken their own sect hostage, turning its youth into cannon fodder for Iran’s reckless wars in Syria, Yemen, and beyond. They believe they can humiliate and subjugate the Lebanese people, forgetting that Lebanon, a civilization over 7,000 years old, has crushed, expelled, and humiliated all invaders and outlaws like them. The last of these was Assad’s army, which was disgracefully expelled in 2005. Hezbollah is practically finished at the hands of Israel, backed by Arab and Western powers. It will not rise again. The unprecedented human and economic losses it has inflicted on Lebanon’s Shiite community guarantee that, once the Lebanese state regains its sovereignty, the people will turn against Hezbollah and reject it.
For this reason, all those involved in public affairs—especially in the Lebanese Diaspora—must understand that any Lebanese, whether expatriate or resident, who supports or collaborates with Hezbollah under any pretext is an enemy of Lebanon, its sovereignty, identity, and independence.
The Myth of "Liberating" the South and "Victory" in the 2006 War
The terrorist-Jihadist Hezbollah that claims to be a resistance and liberation movement has never been either of the two, but merely a military Iranian proxy. The narrative of the "liberation of the south" in 2000 is nothing but a colossal lie, as Israel withdrew from Lebanon by an internal decision, after its presence became costly and futile, and Hezbollah did not play a decisive role in that. As for the 2006 war, the results were catastrophic for Lebanon, where more than 1,200 Lebanese were killed, infrastructure was destroyed, and the Shiite environment was completely devastated. Hezbollah did not achieve any victory, but all of Lebanon emerged defeated and destroyed... and the, the catastrophic, the disastrous, and the complete defeat of its foolish  recent war against Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza, has led to its end and to the entire world standing behind the necessity of implementing international resolutions related to Lebanon 1559, 1680, and 1701, which stipulate its disarmament, the dismantling of its military institutions, and the extension of Lebanese state authority by its own forces over all Lebanese territories, and confining the decision of war and peace to the Lebanese state alone.
Based on well-documented Lebanese, Arab, Israeli, and international facts, Hezbollah neither liberated the South nor won the 2006 war. It is certainly not a resistance movement nor an opposition force. It is, in fact, Lebanon’s foremost enemy, as well as that of all Arabs. It must be dealt with accordingly, along with all its allies—politicians, parties, officials, and clerics. Any other approach is sheer foolishness and self-deception. 
In conclusion, Hezbollah has destroyed Lebanon, impoverished its people, displaced them, and turned the country into an arms depot and a launch pad for Iran’s futile wars.
Lebanon can only be saved by dismantling Hezbollah, disarming it, arresting its leaders, and holding them accountable for the devastation they have inflicted on the nation.

It Is the Duty of Respected Arab and Lebanese Media to Spare the Public from the Nonsense of Faisal Abdul Sater and Qassem Kassir
Elias Bejjani/ February 24/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/02/140530/
In the interest of truth, integrity, and journalistic standards, it is the duty of every respected Arab and Lebanese media outlet to refuse to host Faisal Abdul Sater and Qassem Kassir. This duo serves as one of Hezbollah’s most deceitful and repugnant propaganda tools—spreading lies, distortions, and outright hostility toward Lebanon and its sovereignty. Their rhetoric is not only shameful but an insult to the intelligence of any audience. No credible media platform should grant them space to spew their fabrications and promote Hezbollah’s destructive agenda.

Video Link for a Must watch Interview with Writer and Director Youssef Yaacoub ElKhoury on Beirut Times YouTube
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/02/140607/
Key Highlights from the Interview with Writer and Director Youssef Yaacoub ElKhoury on Beirut Times
(Transcribed, Summarized, and Translated into English by Elias Bejjani with Complete Freedom)
February 25, 2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/02/140607/
*Israel Will Rebuild the South, and Hezbollah Is More of an Enemy to Me Than Israel... During the Nasrallah Funeral, We Witnessed a 'Dead Man,Naim Qassem Eulogizeto Another Dead Man.
*I do not consider anyone a martyr who opposes my country, my cedar, and fights for a cause unrelated to his own people and homeland. Such a person does not deserve the title of "martyr."
*Is there a greater disgrace than the destruction of the South? Hezbollah has brought shame upon all of Lebanon!
*Imagine the catastrophic future consequences of erecting a "shrine" near the airport vicinity!
*If I had the authority, I would never have allowed funeral ceremonies on the airport road, nor would I have permitted Nasrallah to be buried anywhere near it.
*Closing Beirut airport for Nasrallah’s funeral was a disgraceful humiliation!
*From the very beginning, had the people not been brainwashed and the politicians not been cowards, Hezbollah and its destructive Iranian-terrorist project would never have existed.
*Hezbollah’s so-called strength against the U.S. and Israel is absolute zero—it does not exist!
*One of the most disgraceful images in Lebanese media on the day of Nasrallah’s burial was female news anchors wearing black on television screens!
*Parliamentarily, the Shiite duo may "represent" the Shiites, but in reality, this is far from the truth!
*Nasrallah’s funeral was nothing but a spectacle, and Naim Qassem addressed the mourners from his underground hiding spot to fabricate an aura around himself.
*I loudly call for the prosecution of all Hezbollah leaders and an outright ban on the organization!
*This Shiite duo has destroyed Lebanon twice, displaced its people, hijacked the state, and obliterated national coexistence!
*Hezbollah will never change—its weapons exist solely to impose its Iranian ideology by force. There is no possibility of "Lebanonizing" it!
Naim Qassem’s speech at Nasrallah’s funeral was riddled with contradictions—saying one thing while meaning its opposite!
*Israel knows exactly where Naim Qassem is and can reach him at any time. His continued presence in hiding is merely an attempt to fabricate a false sense of invincibility.
*Israel humiliated both Lebanon and Hezbollah by allowing its aircraft to fly over the mourners’ heads during the theatrical funeral of Nasrallah!
*Sleiman Frangieh is a man of loyalty, unlike the other deceitful and opportunistic politicians.
*Gebran Bassil holds no real significance anymore—his presence or absence at the theatrical Nasrallah funeral was irrelevant!
*It is astonishing that some people still advocate for the so-called "Lebanonization" of Hezbollah when it is entirely submerged in Iran’s ideology!
*Hezbollah has left nothing intact in Lebanon—it has destroyed everything!
*The deceptive maneuvering of the new ruling class is terrifying—it mirrors the tactics of Siniora and Jumblatt regarding Resolution 1701 in year 2006.
The difference between the Taif Accord and Resolution 1701 regarding weapons is that Taif mandates their "handover," while 1701 calls for their "removal."
*The only viable defense strategy for Lebanon is an armistice or a peace agreement with Israel!
*My proposal: Peace in exchange for reconstruction—Israel is already establishing NGOs to rebuild the South!
*The liars who preach about the Taif Accord should answer one question: Who failed to implement it?
*The Taif Accord is a constitution with three competing heads—it is unworkable!
*May God forgive those who betrayed Kamel El-Assaad… The Kataeb Party was responsible for bringing in Hussein Husseini!
*The Sunnis cling to the Taif Accord because it grants them privileges over others, not because it serves Lebanon’s salvation. Meanwhile, I cannot comprehend why the Maronite Dr. Faris Said remains so devoted to it and to Arabism!
*The Taif Accord was ultimately sold in Doha—what Lebanon truly needs is a presidential system!
*The President must regain the power to dissolve Parliament and be the one to appoint the Prime Minister!
*The Taif Accord, with its three-headed structure, can never produce a just government—real democracy is what Lebanon needs, with clear parliamentary winners and losers!
*No constitution in the world dictates a citizen’s identity the way Lebanon’s does, forcing everyone to adopt an "Arab" identity!
*The Lebanese political class is drowning in hypocrisy!
*Israel will never allow Hezbollah to claim victory as it did in 2006!
*A ban must be imposed on all parties that oppose Lebanon’s sovereignty and refuse to adhere to its identity and constitution!

Two killed in Israeli strike on eastern Lebanon: state media
AFP/February 25, 2025
BEIRUT: Lebanese state media said that an Israeli air strike on Tuesday killed at least two people in the country’s east, where the military said it targeted Hezbollah militants. “An enemy drone carried out an air strike on the town of Shaara... near the eastern Lebanon mountain range, killing two people and wounding two” others, said the state-run National News Agency. Israel’s said that it “struck Hezbollah terrorists” who “were identified operating within a Hezbollah production and storage facility for strategic weapons.”Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel fought a war last year that ended in a late November ceasefire, which has largely held despite mutual accusations of violations. The Israeli military statement said that the activity in the site targeted on Tuesday “constitutes a blatant violation of the ceasefire understandings.”Hezbollah was left weakened by a year of hostilities, including the two months of all-out war, in which its leadership was decimated. Under the November 27 truce agreement, Israeli forces were to withdraw from southern Lebanon while Hezbollah was to remove its military infrastructure from the area. Troops remain in five points deemed “strategic” by the Israeli military.

Israel spy chief says pager bombs ‘turned the tables’ on Hezbollah
AFP/February 25, 2025
JERUSALEM: In a rare acknowledgement of the agency’s covert operations, Israel’s spy chief declared on Tuesday that last year’s “pager operation” against Hezbollah “turned the tables” on the Lebanese militant group in its war with Israel. “This operation marked a turning point in the north, during which we turned the tables on our enemies,” said David Barnea, head of Mossad, speaking at a conference in Tel Aviv. “A direct line can be drawn from the pager operation to the elimination of (Hassan) Nasrallah and the ceasefire agreement. Hezbollah suffered a devastating blow that shattered the organization’s spirit,” he added, referring to Israel’s assassination of the Hezbollah leader. On September 17 and 18, an Israeli operation detonated hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah. Lebanese authorities reported that the attack killed 39 people and wounded thousands.The bombs detonated all across Lebanon, including in shops and homes, and were called a violation of international law by the United Nation’s human rights chief Volker Turk. Just days later, on September 27, Israel assassinated Nasrallah in a massive air strike on southern Beirut, which was swiftly followed by an Israeli ground offensive against Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon. By late November, Israel and Hezbollah reached a ceasefire agreement, bringing more than a year of hostilities to an end. However, Israel continues to hold five “strategic military positions” along the border inside Lebanese territory.
In a rare disclosure of Mossad’s tactics, Barnea provided new details of the pager operation. Saying his agency had “devised an unconventional method to strike,” Barnea revealed that the groundwork for the operation began in 2022, with the first shipment of 500 pagers reaching Lebanon weeks before Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. “When the operation was finally launched, ten times that number of beepers were detonated than we had in the start of the war and twice the amount of radios,” he stated, adding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally approved the mission. “The day thousands of pagers exploded in the hands of Hezbollah operatives will be remembered as the moment that changed the course of the war,” Barnea declared. “It was a day when deception in warfare proved more powerful than brute force.”In a symbolic gesture earlier this month, Netanyahu presented US President Donald Trump with a golden pager, commemorating the operation’s impact on Hezbollah.

Salam presents Ministerial Statement, outlines government’s reform and sovereignty commitments
NNA/February 25, 2025
Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, on Tuesday presented the ministerial statement before Parliament, reaffirming the government’s commitment to protecting Lebanese freedoms, security, and fundamental rights. Salam emphasized that the government would strive to live up to its name as the "Reform and Rescue Government", with its primary objective being the establishment of the rule of law, institutional reform, and the reinforcement of national sovereignty. Salam highlighted the need for reconstruction following the recent aggression on Lebanon, pledging to mobilize support and allocate funding through a dedicated reconstruction fund.The PM also reiterated the government’s commitment to taking all necessary measures to liberate Lebanese territories from Israeli occupation and to uphold state sovereignty using only national institutions. Addressing governance and political reforms, Salam underscored the importance of neutrality in state policy and transparency in election organization and results. He affirmed that municipal, local, and parliamentary elections would be held on time, while also advocating for a modernized and digitally advanced public sector.  "We want a state that holds the exclusive authority over war and peace decisions, a state loyal to the constitution and national accord, ensuring the implementation of remaining unfulfilled provisions," Salam stated. The PM further pledged that government appointments would be based on merit and competence, while judicial, administrative, and financial institutions would be reformed to meet the highest international standards of justice and accountability. On the economic front, Salam announced plans to negotiate a new program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and address Lebanon’s public debt and financial distress. He also stressed the urgency of judicial appointments to advance the Beirut Port explosion investigation and promised efforts to digitize court systems, streamline citizen access to legal services, and enforce the law on forcibly disappeared persons. Additionally, the PM reaffirmed the government’s commitment to pursuing the case of missing Imam Moussa al-Sadr, investigating political assassinations, and addressing the plight of Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails. Regarding financial stability, Salam assured that depositors' funds remain a priority and that measures would be taken in accordance with the highest international standards to safeguard their rights.
The PM also outlined infrastructure and social welfare initiatives, including plans to develop Lebanon’s transportation sector, upgrade Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport and Beirut Port, and operationalize Qlayaat Airport. The government, he said, is committed to establishing a comprehensive social protection system and ensuring the return of displaced persons. On the Palestinian issue, Salam firmly rejected the permanent resettlement of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, reiterating their right to return to their homeland. The prime minister concluded by affirming the government’s commitment to strict enforcement of laws governing maritime and riverfront properties and vowed to continue efforts to resume oil and gas exploration.

We want a state that can protect its people, Lebanese PM tells parliament
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/February 25, 2025
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told the country’s parliament on Tuesday that his government “seeks a state that fully assumes responsibility for the country’s security and defends its borders and frontiers.”He emphasized the need for a state that “deters aggressors, protects its citizens, fortifies independence, and mobilizes the Arab community and other nations to safeguard Lebanon.”Salam reaffirmed the government’s “commitment to its obligations, particularly regarding the complete implementation of Resolution 1701, without any omissions or selective adherence.”The prime minister said: “The government is committed, under the National Accord Document ratified in Taif, to take all necessary measures to liberate all Lebanese territories from the Israeli occupation and assert the state’s sovereignty over all its territories, exclusively through its forces, and deploy the army in the internationally recognized Lebanese border areas.”At the same time, he underscored “Lebanon’s right to self-defense in the event of any aggression, following the UN charter, and to implement the provisions outlined in the presidential oath regarding the state’s responsibility to monopolize the use of force.”
Salam continued: “We want a state that has the power to decide war and peace, a state whose army has a defensive combat doctrine that protects the people and fights any war in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.”The prime minister highlighted “the need to rebuild what the Israeli enemy destroyed,” pledging “to mobilize support and allocate funding through a dedicated, transparent reconstruction fund that demonstrates the state’s support for the people, ensuring they feel included and not discriminated against.”
He emphasized that “defending Lebanon requires a national security strategy on the military, diplomatic and economic levels.”Salam said: “The government must empower the legitimate armed forces by increasing their numbers, equipping and training them, and improving their conditions, which strengthens their capabilities to confront any aggression, secure the borders to the south, north, east and sea, prevent smuggling, and combat terrorism.
“We want a state that upholds the constitution and the National Reconciliation Accord we endorsed in the Taif Agreement. This commitment requires the implementation of the remaining provisions of this accord that have yet to be carried out.”Salam said: “The rise of the state necessitates a foreign policy that neutralizes Lebanon from the conflict of axes, which contributes to restoring its international and Arab status, and secures the support of our brotherly and friendly capitals and Arab and international organizations.”He stressed that “Lebanon must not be used as a platform to attack our brotherly Arab countries and friendly nations.”Regarding Lebanese-Syrian relations, Salam said Lebanon “has an opportunity to initiate a serious dialogue with the Syrian Arab Republic. “This dialogue aims to ensure the sovereignty and independence of both nations, regulate and demarcate their borders, and prevent interference in each other’s internal affairs.
“It also aims to address the issue of Syrian refugees, whose continued presence could have existential consequences for Lebanon unless they return to their homeland.”Salam also expressed Lebanon’s opposition to “the localization and displacement of Palestinians. “We reiterate their right to return to their homes per Resolution 194 and to establish an independent state on their land as outlined in the Arab Peace Initiative adopted at the Beirut Arab League Summit in 2002,” he said. Salam underlined the Lebanese state’s right “to exercise full authority over its territory, including Palestinian refugee camps, while ensuring the protection of the dignity and human rights of Palestinian refugees residing in Lebanon.”He stated his commitment “to pursuing a sound policy aimed at increasing revenues, maintaining solvency margin and thus, ensuring financial stability."This, he said, requires tax collection and reform, customs reform, as well as “combatting waste, illegal economy and smuggling.”Salam announced that his government intends to negotiate a new program with the International Monetary Fund to address financial defaults and public debt. “The government is committed to boosting the economy, which will involve restructuring the banking sector to stimulate economic growth. Our primary care will be directed toward deposits, and we will develop an integrated plan following the highest international standards to preserve the depositors’ rights,” he said. Salam expressed hope that parliament would pass the necessary legislation to support these goals. More than 75 MPs requested the opportunity to comment on the ministerial statement, based on which Salam’s government is expected to obtain a vote of confidence. In the first session, Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc announced through its head, Mohammed Raad, its agreement to give the government a vote of confidence.Free Patriotic Movement MP Gebran Bassil, formerly allied with Hezbollah, announced that he would not give the government his vote of confidence despite agreeing with its statement “regarding Resolution 1701, the liberation of the land, the state’s exclusive rights to arms, and the authority to decide on war and peace.”In a clear stance, he called for “disarming Palestinian camps,” stressing that “there is no justification for the continued presence of any Syrian refugee in Lebanon.”

Hezbollah Backs New Lebanese Government Ahead of Confidence Vote
Asharq Al-Awsat/February 25/2025
Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc on Tuesday gave its support to Lebanon's new government, which in a ministerial statement ahead of a confidence vote vowed a state monopoly on arms and the country's neutrality. "We give our confidence to the government," said Mohammed Raad, the head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, expressing hope the new administration would "succeed in opening the doors to real rescue for the country", AFP reported. "We are keen on cooperating to the greatest extent to preserve national sovereignty and its stability and achieve reforms and take the state forward," Raad told a two-day parliamentary session that began on Tuesday and will culminate in a vote of confidence in the new government. The ministerial statement, an outline of the new government's work plan that was read out by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, vowed to extend "state sovereignty across all its territories exclusively with its own forces". It also committed to deploy the army "in internationally recognized Lebanese border areas", and emphasized the need to work to implement a commitment by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on "the state's duty in monopolising the bearing of weapons" and "deciding on war and peace".
The ministerial statement noted the need to take "all the necessary steps to liberate all Lebanese territories from Israeli occupation".Israel has maintained its troops in five "strategic" points along the shared border despite the ceasefire deal requiring its forces to withdraw completely. Raad said the aim of the latest war was "to finish with Hezbollah... and end its resistance presence" against Israel, adding, "That attempt failed". The new government has pledged to create a fund for rebuilding damaged and destroyed areas and is hoping for foreign assistance with the reconstruction effort, with the country mired in a five-year economic crisis. The ministerial statement also pledged to adopt a "foreign policy that works to make Lebanon neutral from axis conflicts" and ensure "Lebanon is not used as a platform for attacking" Arab and friendly countries.

Israel’s Spy Chief Gives Details about Exploding Pager Operation against Hezbollah
Asharq Al-Awsat/February 25/2025
The head of Israel's Mossad foreign intelligence agency on Tuesday called the exploding pagers and walkie talkies operation against Hezbollah members in Lebanon and Syria a “turning point of the war,” which gave Israel momentum to deal a heavy blow to Hezbollah. The devices used by hundreds of Hezbollah members exploded almost simultaneously in two waves on Sept. 17 and 18. The attack killed at least 12 people — including two young children — and wounded thousands more.Mossad chief David Barnea spoke while accepting an award for the operation from a Tel Aviv think tank, the Institute for National Security Studies. Barnea said the first 500 pagers outfitted with explosives arrived in Lebanon just a few weeks before the war in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, but that officials involved in the operation decided to wait to detonate them until more pagers had arrived and were in use. He said the operation involving the walkie talkies with explosives started more than a decade ago, while the pager operation began in 2022.

Hezbollah and the Path Forward After Nasrallah
Hassan Al Mustafa/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 25/2025
Hezbollah held a mass funeral for its former Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, and his successor, Hashem Safi al-Din, in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on February 23.A measured reading of the scene would be of use. It should be approached with a cold political mind and without sentiment or prejudice that reinforces preconceptions. Such occasions are not mere mass rallies. They are a dividing line between two phases that signals a transition from one modus operandi to another, imposed by military and political developments following the October 7 Al-Aqsa Flood operation, the Israeli war on Lebanon, and the structural shifts within the so-called Axis of Resistance. It is clear that Hezbollah supporters sought to reaffirm their commitment to their allegiances through mass attendance of Nasrallah and Safi al-Din’s funerals at Camille Chamoun Sports City and spaces around it, sending a message that Israel’s painful military blows have not broken the party. While this message inspires fear in some circles, Hezbollah’s supporters needed to send it. It is necessary for healing their deep wounds and moving on from the pain of loss to a stage of reflection and contemplation about the future. It also raises a pressing question: What is to be done after Nasrallah?There is likely no definitive, comprehensive answer to this difficult question at this point. That is inevitable, as the void left by the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah will be easy for his successor, Naim Qassem, to fill. Moreover, the loss is compounded by that of other prominent figures like Hashem Safi al-Din, Nabil Qaouq, Fouad Shukr, Ibrahim Aqil, and Mohammad Hussein Sarour, as well as those who had been killed before them, like Imad Mughniyeh and Mustafa Badreddine- key political and security leaders who formed the nucleus of the party. Consequently, reconstructing a new framework for decision-making and strategic thinking will not be easy, despite the new Secretary-General Naim Qassem’s announcement that the party has managed to regroup and appoint new leaders on all fronts.
Another complicating factor that makes the question of Hezbollah’s future after Hassan Nasrallah even more difficult is the volatility of Lebanon’s political landscape, which remains in a state of limbo. A dense fog of uncertainty looms: Israel continues to Lebanese territory and violates Lebanon’s sovereignty on a daily basis. Moreover, a cross-sectarian national consensus has yet to emerge, as some of the political rhetoric in the country remains extreme or exclusionary. That is, the political and social environment is not conducive to the kind of serious and frank introspection within Hezbollah’s ranks that could pave the way for a political transition.
Lebanon now has a new president, Joseph Aoun, and a government led by Nawaf Salam. Both men have pledged to focus on reconstruction, support Lebanese sovereignty, and push back against Israel’s violations. However, this "new era" does not have the military capabilities needed to counter Israeli violations directly; accordingly, it prefers diplomacy, seeking to resolve this issue through the United Nations and the Security Council- a reasonable course of action. “Parties,” like individuals, can be consumed by indecision, fear, anxiety, suspicions, and uncertainty. If these sentiments continue to paralyze Hezbollah, it will struggle to embark on the kind of real reformation needed in the post-Nasrallah era. A gradual approach should be taken to this shift, as a sudden and radical shift is not only far-fetched but also dangerous. It risks backfiring and allowing the "hawks" to dominate instead of empowering the "realists" to lead the transition we await.Is this transition possible? History suggests it is both inevitable and necessary. Resisting this process would not serve Hezbollah’s interests, and it could lead to a clash with not only the Lebanese government but also with a substantial segment of its own support base, which has grown weary of war and been exhausted by the endless funerals of its sons and families! On February 24, Asharq Al-Awsat published a column by Abdulrahman Al-Rashed titled “Hezbollah’s Funeral.” In it, he notes the early signs of a shift in the party’s approach to politics. He suggests that Hezbollah could reduce its activity in other countries while adopting a more pragmatic stance on Lebanese domestic issues. He also speculates that Lebanon’s gradual movement away from Iran’s orbit could fall into the frame of potential negotiations between Tehran and Washington, alongside broader regional matters and Iran’s nuclear program.
Domestically, Rashed notes that Hezbollah seems to be adapting to change. He points out that Secretary-General Naim Qassem has said that the party would confront Israel and push it out of the country through diplomatic efforts led by the state. Qassem also acknowledged a policy shift when he affirmed Hezbollah’s commitment to operating within the confines of the Taif Agreement. The indications that Rashed highlights, signal the beginning of a transformation. This process will neither be swift nor easy; it will be cumulative and happen over time and under close scrutiny. If fully realized, it could contribute to reinforcing Lebanon’s stability, security, and development, allowing all Lebanese, without exception, to take part in reconstruction and play a role in the establishment of a modern, stable state.

Parliament debates govt. statement ahead of vote of confidence
Associated Press/February 25, 2025
Parliament on Tuesday started debating the new government's policy statement, with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam voicing commitment to extending the state's sovereignty across Lebanon, stressing that only the country’s armed forces should defend the nation in case of war. Hezbollah has kept its weapons over the past decades saying it is necessary to defend Lebanon against Israel. But many in Lebanon have been calling on the group to disarm, and such calls intensified during and after the latest war that stopped when a U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect on Nov. 27.
Salam was picked to form a new government last month after the devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah, which killed over 4,000 people and caused widespread destruction. Salam said Tuesday that the government asserts that Lebanon has the right to defend itself in case of “aggression” and only the state has the right to have weapons. He also said that the government takes measures to liberate land occupied by Israel “through its forces only.”“We want the state to tell us how it will face Israel’s ambitions, seeing as Lebanon has committed to the agreement while Israel has not,” Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab, who is a member of a bloc comprising ex-Free Patriotic Movement members, said. Bou Saab also called all parties for a “real dialogue” involving the issues of abolishing political sectarianism and amending the current electoral law.
MP Paula Yacoubian of the Change bloc for her part said that Sunday's funeral of slain Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was "a referendum that stressed refusing occupation, but it was not for supporting Iranian hegemony over Lebanon."
"President Joseph Aoun’s remarks that 'Lebanon has grown tired of the wars of others on its land' reflected the stance of the majority of the Lebanese people and urged seeking neutrality, so that Lebanon moves from the era of axes to the era of prosperity," Yacoubian added. The head of Hezbollah's bloc MP Mohammad Raad meanwhile thanked Iran for "what it has offered and what it will keep offering to Lebanon and its people and its support for its causes, despite all the unjust accusations against it.""The government must revoke the decision to ban the landing of Iranian flights, to avoid the threat of submission, which contradicts with national sovereignty, and to prevent harm against the interest of a large segment of the Lebanese," he added.
He also said that Hezbollah is still "evaluating" the latest war with Israel, adding that Israel's refusal to fully withdraw from Lebanon "requires a firm stance that translates the statement issued by the three presidents (Joseph Aoun, Nabih Berri and Nawaf Salam)."He added that Hezbollah's MPs will grant their votes of confidence to the government "out of respect for the principle of participation."In a post on the X platform, MP Nadim Gemayel described Raad's speech as "the rhetoric of the statelet in the face of the state.""We will grant confidence to this government because it is not captive to a 'blocking one third,'" MP Sethrida Geagea of the Lebanese Forces said. She also called for "building a serious and capable state that only contains legitimate weapons" and that takes its decisions independently and "not according to the game of axes." MP Michel Mouawad meanwhile said: "I don't understand how Hezbollah agreed to hand over its weapons south of the Litani River and wants to keep them north of the Litani River.""We don't want to destroy our country, but rather to build it hand-in-hand and the first challenge is sovereignty while the second challenge is reform," Mouawad added. Raad hit back at Mouawad, saying: "He must show modesty and we're ready for dialogue, but not in this showoff fashion."

Bassil says Salam 'does not deserve confidence'
Naharnet/February 25, 2025
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Tuesday declared “positive opposition” to Nawaf Salam’s government, hoping it will not turn into “a fierce and comprehensive opposition.”“We will show you how opposition can be positive, constructive, purposeful and smart, not spiteful, arbitrary, demagogic, populist and destructive, like some did with us,” Bassil added, in a speech in parliament during the debate of the government’s policy statement. “Mr. Prime Minister Salam, we granted you our confidence when we voted for you, and had it not been for it, you would not have become a premier today. Today we remove this confidence from you, because you have not deserved it,” Bassil added, accusing Salam of unfair representation of Christians in his government. Separately, Bassil warned Lebanon’s new authorities against taking the country, “whether by mistake or due to foreign encouragement,” to a “civil war,” in an apparent reference to the approach that should be adopted towards Hezbollah, its arms and its supporters. “Hezbollah made a major strategic mistake in its ‘war of assistance.’ Hezbollah lost the Gaza support war and the "unity of arenas," and we lost with it the equation of deterring Israel. Hezbollah lost national legitimacy by resisting Israel alone, so the word resistance was omitted from the ministerial statement, but Lebanon did not lose the legitimacy of ‘resisting’ the occupation, nor did Hezbollah lose its popular legitimacy,” Bassil said. “We fully agree with what was stated in the ministerial statement regarding 1701, ‘liberating all land,’ ‘monopoly on carrying weapons,’ ‘decision on war and peace,’ and the defense strategy,” he added. Lauding the new energy minister’s “objective approach” towards the energy sector, Bassil promised that the FPM will not obstruct his work and lamented that rival parties had allegedly impeded the work of the energy ministers that the FPM had named in the past. The current energy minister, Joe Saddi, is close to the Lebanese Forces, a fierce opponent of the FPM.

Iran reportedly on 'high alert' amid fears of attack on nuclear sites
Associated Press/Agence France Presse/February 25, 2025
Iran has put its defense systems around its nuclear sites on high alert amid fears of an attack by Israel and the U.S., The Telegraph British newspaper said Tuesday. The daily said that, according to two high-level government sources, Iran has been on high alert and that several additional air defense system launchers have been deployed. Earlier this month, Iran revealed a new ballistic missile that it said was capable of travelling 1,700 kilometers. Iran's missiles, including this newest design, are capable of reaching its arch-foe Israel, which it targeted twice last year as the Gaza war spilled over. "The development of defense capabilities and space technologies... aims to ensure that no country dares to attack Iranian territory," President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a televised address. U.S. intelligence agencies have recently warned both the Biden and Trump administrations that Israel will likely attempt to strike facilities key to Iran’s nuclear program this year, the CNN said two weeks ago. "I would like a deal done with Iran on non-nuclear. I would prefer that to bombing the hell out of it," U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview with the New York Post. Iran fired a wave of missiles and drones at Israel in April after two Iranian generals were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike in Syria on an Iranian diplomatic post. The missiles and drones caused minimum damage, and Israel — under pressure from Western countries to show restraint — responded with a limited strike it didn’t openly claim. Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on the evening of Oct. 1, sending Israelis scrambling into bomb shelters but causing only minimal damage and a few injuries, in retaliation for attacks in recent months that killed leaders of Hezbollah, Hamas and the Iranian military. In retaliation, Israel pounded Iran with a series of airstrikes and said it targeted missile manufacturing facilities, surface-to-air missile sites and additional Iranian aerial capabilities.
Associated Press/Agence France Presse

Bassil offers condolences in Dahieh after missing Nasrallah's funeral
Naharnet/February 25, 2025
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Tuesday visited Beirut’s southern suburbs to offer condolences to Hezbollah over the death of slain leaders Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Sayyed Hashem Safieddine. A Hezbollah official had criticized Bassil for not attending Nasrallah’s massive funeral in Beirut on Sunday, although the FPM was represented by six of its MPs. “He should have been among the first attendees,” Hezbollah politburo member Ghaleb Abou Zeinab said. “I’m speaking in personal capacity. I was surprised that he was not present at the funeral, seeing as I know what Sayyed Hassan had done as part of the relation with the FPM and for its sake. I might understand the matter as political calculations, but not at the personal level,” Abou Zeinab added. FPM official Michel Abou Najem hot back at Abou Zeinab, saying Bassil was present at the funeral “through the parliamentary delegation that represented (former) President General Michel Aoun and the FPM’s chief.”“He was there through his statement, national stances and loyalty, but where were those who should have been loyal, during the national and political junctures that you know and that we know?” Abou Najem added. A Hezbollah delegation had visited Bassil and handed him an invitation to the funeral. Speaker Nabih Berri and Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh were the only senior political leaders at the event. U.S. Republican Representative Joe Wilson had criticized Lebanese politicians who would attend the funeral. "Any Lebanese politician who attends the funeral of the murderous terrorist Hasan Nasrallah is standing with the Iranian Regime," Wilson said on X.

Aoun says his agenda is not a 'political agenda'
Naharnet/February 25, 2025
President Joseph Aoun on Tuesday stressed that “Lebanon’s rise is a collective responsibility.” “Lebanon is determined to rebuild bridges of confidence with the Arab world, Lebanese expats and all countries in the world,” Aoun said. “Our agenda is not a political agenda, but rather an agenda for building the state, reform and combating corruption, and the judiciary and security will be at the core of our interests and work, so that we manage to shift Lebanon to a new era,” the president added.

Who are the 35 Hezbollah commanders killed in Israel war?
Associated Press/February 25, 2025
Hezbollah published Tuesday the names and faces of 35 of its commanders killed "on the road to Jerusalem," in addition to former leaders Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Sayyed Hashem Safieddine. The 35 Hezbollah leaders killed in the 13 months war with Israel are: Ali Karaki, Fouad Shokor, Ibrahim Aqil, Suheil al-Husseini, Nabil Qaouq, Hussein Hazimeh, Abed el-Amir Siblini, Ali Ayyoub, Taleb Abdallah, Mohammad Nasser, Wissam Taweel, Mohammad Qassir, Abbas Salameh, Ahmad Wehbe, Ibrahim Qobaissi, Hussein Ismail, Ali Bahsoun, Mohammad Skafi, Ibrahim Jezzini, Hassan Ezzeddine, Mohammad Mahmoud, Hassan Reda, Samir Deeb, Mohammad Srour, Ali Gharib, Mostafa Shehadeh, Khodor Atwi, Mahmoud Shahine, Hussein Makki, Fouad Khanafer, Mohammad Nabulsi, Mohammad Ismail, Abbas Sharafeddine, Eid Nashar, Mohammad Khaireddine. The killing of high-ranking commanders and officials from Hezbollah left Lebanon and much of the Mideast in shock as Israeli officials celebrated major military and intelligence breakthroughs. Nasrallah was killed in a series of airstrikes that leveled several buildings in southern Beirut. Others were lesser-known in the outside world, but still key to Hezbollah’s operations.
Hassan Nasrallah
Since 1992, Nasrallah had led the group through several wars with Israel, and oversaw the party’s transformation into a powerful player in Lebanon. Hezbollah entered Lebanon’s political arena while also taking part in regional conflicts that made it the most powerful paramilitary force. After Syria’s uprising in 2011 spiraled into civil war, Hezbollah played a pivotal role in keeping Syrian President Bashar Assad in power. Under Nasrallah, Hezbollah also helped develop the capabilities of fellow Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq and Yemen.
Nasrallah is a divisive figure in Lebanon, with his supporters hailing him for ending Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000, and his opponents decrying him for the group’s weapons stockpile and making unilateral decisions that they say serves an agenda for Tehran and allies.
Nabil Qaouq
Qaouk, who was killed in an airstrike in September, was the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Central Council. He joined the militant group in its early days in the 1980s. Qaouq also served as Hezbollah’s military commander in south Lebanon from 1995 until 2010. He made several media appearances and gave speeches to supporters, including in funerals for killed Hezbollah militants. He had been seen as a potential successor to Nasrallah.
Ibrahim Aqil
Aqil was a top commander and led Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Forces, which Israel has been trying to push further away from its border with Lebanon. He was also a member of its highest military body, the Jihad Council, and for years had been on the United States’ wanted list. The U.S. State Department says Aqil was part of the group that carried out the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and orchestrated the taking of German and American hostages.
Ahmad Wehbe
Wehbe was a commander of the Radwan Forces and played a crucial role in developing the group since its formation almost two decades ago. He was killed alongside Aqil in an airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs that struck and leveled a building.
Ali Karaki
Karaki led Hezbollah’s southern front, playing a key role in the ongoing conflict. The U.S. described him as a significant figure in the militant group’s leadership. Little is known about Karaki, who was killed alongside Nasrallah.
Mohammad Srour
Srour was the head of Hezbollah’s drone unit, which was used for the first time in the latest conflict with Israel. Under his leadership, Hezbollah launched exploding and reconnaissance drones deep into Israel, penetrating its defense systems which had mostly focused on the group’s rockets and missiles.
Ibrahim Qobaissi
Qobaissi led Hezbollah’s missile unit. The Israeli military says Qobaissi planned the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli soldiers at the northern border in 2000, whose bodies were returned in a prisoner swap with Hezbollah four years later.
Other senior commanders killed in action
Even in the months before the escalation of the war with Hezbollah in September, Israel’s military had targeted top commanders, most notably Fouad Shokor in late July, hours before an explosion in Iran widely blamed on Israel killed the leader of the Palestinian Hamas militant group Ismail Haniyeh. The U.S. accuses Fouad Shokor of orchestrating the 1983 bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American servicemen.
Leaders of key units in the south, Wissam Taweel, Taleb Abdallah, and Mohammad Nasser, who over several decades became instrumental members of Hezbollah’s military activity were all assassinated.
Who is left?
Nasrallah’s second-in-command and new leader Naim Qassem is the most senior member of the organization. Qassem has been Hezbollah’s deputy leader since 1991, and is among its founding members. Qassem is the only top official of the militant group who has conducted interviews with local and international media in the ongoing conflict. He appears to be involved in various aspects of the militant group, both in top political and security matters, but also in matters related to Hezbollah’s theocratic and charity initiatives in Lebanon. Talal Hamieh and Abou Ali Reda are the two remaining top commanders from Hezbollah who are alive and apparently on the Israeli military’s crosshairs. Head of Hezbollah's Liaison and Coordination Unit Wafiq Safa, who was targeted in October in Israeli airstrikes on buildings in Beirut, appeared unscathed this February in an interview with pro-Hezbollah TV channel al-Mayadeen.

EU launches 20th edition of Samir Kassir Award
Naharnet/February 25, 2025
The European Union and Samir Kassir Foundation launched Tuesday the 20th edition of the Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press.
The award, which has been granted by the European Union since 2006, honors the Lebanese journalist and writer Samir Kassir, who was assassinated in 2005. The competition for the award has attracted since its creation more than 3,600 candidates from the Middle East, the Gulf and North Africa and 55 journalists have won the award so far. "Twenty years later, the Samir Kassir Award remains as relevant as ever. For freedom of the press is not merely a principle. It is a fundamental right in any democracy. Without a free press, the next 20 years could see even more violence, oppression and misinformation, not only in the region, but also in Europe and other corners of the world," said the Ambassador of the European Union to Lebanon Sandra De Waele. Acting President of the Samir Kassir Foundation, Malek Mrowa, added: "The 20th edition of the Samir Kassir Award seeks to recognize and celebrate the bravery of journalists whose words and stories defy all weapons and continue to shine a light in the darkest corners. It will be granted amid pains that reached their peak during the past year, and new hopes drawn by radical, developing changes."
The Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press is open to professional journalists from North Africa, the Middle East, and the Gulf. The deadline for sending in contributions is 1 April 2025. Three awards will be granted for the best:
- Opinion Article
- Investigative Article
- Audiovisual News Report
The contributions must be centered on one or more of the following topics: rule of law, human rights, good governance, fight against corruption, freedom of expression, democratic development, and citizen participation. The winner of each of the three categories will receive a prize of €10,000.
The jury will be composed of seven voting members from Arab and European media and one observer representing the European Union. The names of the winners will be communicated during the prize-awarding ceremony, which will take place on 3 June 2025 in Beirut, one day after the 20th anniversary of Samir Kassir’s assassination.
The contest regulations, application forms, rules, and conditions are available on the Award’s website: www.samirkassiraward.org
Registration closes on 1 April 2025.
For more information: coordination@prixsamirkassir.org

Hezbollah's Safieddine laid to rest in south Lebanon hometown
Associated Press/February 25, 2025
The late leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah group who was killed in an Israeli airstrike days after he took the post was laid to rest in his southern hometown Monday, a day after his cousin and predecessor was buried in Beirut. Hashem Safieddine, who was about 60, was killed in early October in a series of Israeli airstrikes in a southern suburb of Beirut at the height of the Israel-Hezbollah war. He was killed days after his cousin and predecessor Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Israeli airstrikes south of Beirut. Following Nasrallah's death on Sept. 27, Safieddine was secretly named Hezbollah's secretary-general but was killed just days later. The two men were buried at a secret location as they were both killed during the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war and their bodies exhumed for their funerals and reburial. Thousands of people marched behind Safieddine's coffin that was draped with Hezbollah's yellow flag in the southern village of Deir Qanoun An-Nahr while his black turban was placed on top. On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people attended the funeral of Nasrallah and Safieddine in Beirut in a show of strength by the Iran-backed group that suffered major losses during its war with Israel. Four Israeli warplanes flew at low altitude twice during the funeral in Beirut on Sunday, once when the coffins were brought into the stadium, where the funeral was held, and a second time when Hezbollah's current leader Naim Qassem was giving a speech. Nasrallah was buried in a Beirut suburb Sunday evening, while Safieddine's body was taken to his hometown in south Lebanon for Monday's funeral. Nasrallah and Safieddine were founding members of Hezbollah and enjoyed wide influence among Iran-backed Yemeni, Iraqi and Palestinian groups. A familiar face in Lebanon, Safieddine was a member of Hezbollah's decision-making Shura Council and its Jihad Council, which acts as its military command. He also headed its Executive Council, which runs schools and social programs. Safieddine was close to Iran. His son, Rida, is married to Zeinab Soleimani, the daughter of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran's elite Quds Force, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq in 2020. Safieddine's brother, Abdallah, is Hezbollah's point man in Tehran, a crucial role in the organization given that Iran is its main backer, providing it with weapons and money. During the Israel-Hezbollah war that broke out a day after the Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel killed some of Hezbollah's top political and military chiefs. The war, that left more than 4,000 dead in Lebanon and dozens in Israel, ended on Nov. 27 when a U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect. Last week, Israel withdrew its troops from much of south Lebanon but kept five posts inside the country in what the Lebanese government considers a violation of the ceasefire. As part of the deal, Hezbollah should now have an armed presence along the border with Israel.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 25-26/2025
New Syria leader says plans to set up transitional justice committee
AFP/February 25, 2025
DAMASCUS: Syria’s new interim president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, said he plans to establish a transitional justice committee, in a speech Tuesday after the opening of a national dialogue conference. Sharaa, whose Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham toppled longtime president Bashar Assad in December, also emphasized the unity of Syria and the state’s “monopoly” on weapons. The national dialogue conference, held in the presidential palace in Damascus, marks the start of a crucial phase for the country’s future governance after a devastating civil war. “Over the past two months, we have worked on pursuing those who committed crimes against Syrians,” Sharaa told the gathering. “We will work on forming a transitional justice body to restore people’s rights, ensure justice, and, God willing, bring criminals to justice. “The unity of arms and their monopoly by the state is not a luxury but a duty and an obligation,” the interim leader said. “Syria is indivisible; it is a complete whole, and its strength lies in its unity.”Hundreds of people were seen arriving for the conference in footage published by the official SANA news agency, before discussions got underway.

Israeli warplanes strike south of Damascus, security sources and TV say
Reuters/February 26, 2025
DAMASCUS: Israeli warplanes hit a town south of Syria’s capital as well as the southern province of Daraa late on Tuesday, residents, security sources and local broadcaster Syria TV said. Israeli strikes struck the town of Kisweh approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Damascus, a Syrian security source and Syria TV said. The security source said a military site was targeted, without providing further details. Additional Israeli air raids hit a town in the southern province of Daraa, a resident and Syria TV said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Residents of Damascus and Reuters reporters in the city heard the sound of airplanes flying several low passes over the capital and a series of blasts. The bombardment came hours after Syria condemned Israel’s incursion into the country’s south and demanded it withdraw, according to the closing statement of a national summit. Israel moved forces into a UN-monitored demilitarized zone within Syria after rebels led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), a former Al Qaeda affiliate, toppled former President Bashar Assad in December. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel will not tolerate the presence of HTS in southern Syria, nor any other forces affiliated with the country’s new rulers, and demanded the territory be demilitarized.

Syria Calls for Israel’s Withdrawal from Its Lands, National Dialogue Closing Statement Says
Asharq Al-Awsat/February 25/2025
Syria condemned on Tuesday Israel's incursion into its territories and called for Israel to withdraw, according to the closing statement of a national dialogue summit organized by Syria's new rulers to outline the country's political roadmap.
Israel moved forces into a UN-monitored demilitarized zone within Syria after rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former Al-Qaeda affiliate, toppled former President Bashar al-Assad in December. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel won't allow Syria’s new army or HTS to "enter the area south of Damascus." He said that Israel aimed to "protect" Syria's Druze who live in southern Syria and in Israel’s Golan Heights. After Assad's fall, Israeli forces moved into territory in southern Syria adjacent to the Israel-occupied Golan Heights and have made clear they plan to stay indefinitely. Syria's new rulers haven't directly responded to Netanyahu's warning, but interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa told the Damascus conference that Syria must "firmly confront anyone who wants to tamper with our security and unity." Interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said that Syria's new authorities "will not accept any violation of our sovereignty or the independence of our national decisions." He also touted the government's efforts to rebuild diplomatic ties with Arab and Western countries, and push for lifting sanctions.Also on Tuesday, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the Druze heartland of Sweida and the southern city of Daraa to protest against Netanyahu's comments. Nour Alameddine, a university student, displayed a sign: "Syria is not for sale, Syria is united." "Sweida is part of Syria. We do not want it to be under Israeli occupation," she said
Constitutional declaration
The Damascus gathering was meant to come up with nonbinding recommendations on the country's interim rules before drafting a new constitution and forming a new government. In the closing session Tuesday, conference organizing committee member Huda Attassi gave a statement announcing the recommendations reached in the discussions. The statement called for the country’s leaders to "expedite the announcement of a temporary constitutional declaration" to address the transitional phase while a new constitution is being drafted and for "accelerating the formation of the interim legislative council" to fill the role of a parliament until new elections take place. Al-Sharaa had previously said that it could take up to four years to hold elections. Syria's new leaders also face the challenge of transforming former opposition factions into a single national army they say should control all of the country's territory. Some armed groups — mainly the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which holds sway in northeastern Syria — have refused to disarm and dissolve their units. SDF figures weren't invited to the conference, although the organizers said the Kurdish community would be represented.A group of mostly Kurdish political parties said in a statement on Tuesday that the conference did "not reflect the reality of the Syrian components" and warned that it would be "meaningless, worthless and ineffective and will not contribute to finding real solutions to the crisis that the country is suffering from."

Rubio, Iraqi PM discuss 'Iran's malign influence' in region
Asharq Al-Awsat/February 25/2025
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Tuesday and discussed Iranian influence in the region, the need for Iraqi energy independence, and US commercial investment, a State Department statement said. "The two sides agreed on the need for Iraq to become energy independent, quickly resume the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, and adhere to the terms of contracts for US companies operating in Iraq to attract additional investment," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement. The two sides also "discussed limiting Iran's malign influence and continuing efforts to prevent the resurgence of ISIS and destabilization of the broader region," she added.

Hamas members suspected of plotting attacks go on trial in Germany
Reuters/February 25, 2025
FRANKFURT: Four Hamas members suspected of plotting attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe went on trial in Berlin on Tuesday, in what prosecutors described as the first court case against militants of the group in Germany. The Hamas members were detained in late 2023 on suspicion of planning attacks, German prosecutors said at the time. “For the first time in Germany, suspects are facing charges of having participated as members of the foreign terrorist organization Hamas,” prosecutor Jochen Weingarten told Reuters. He added the defendants were accused of seeking to locate a secret weapons depot in Poland for possible attacks, while receiving orders from the deputy commander of the Qassam Brigades in Lebanon. According to previous statements by prosecutors, the defendants are also accused of operating other weapons caches in Europe.

Israel, Hamas agree on new exchange, leaving fragile ceasefire intact
AP/February 26, 2025
JERUSALEM: Israeli and Hamas officials said Tuesday they have reached an agreement to exchange the bodies of dead hostages for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, keeping their fragile ceasefire intact for at least a few more days. Israel has delayed the release of 600 Palestinian prisoners since Saturday to protest what it says is the cruel treatment of hostages during their release by Hamas. The militant group has said the delay is a “serious violation” of their ceasefire and that talks on a second phase are not possible until they are freed. The deadlock had threatened to collapse the ceasefire when the current six-week first phase of the deal expires this weekend. But late Tuesday, Hamas said an agreement had been reached to resolve the dispute during a visit to Cairo by a delegation headed by Khalil Al-Hayya, a top political official in the group.The breakthrough appeared to clear the way for the return of the bodies of four more dead hostages and hundreds of additional prisoners scheduled to be released under the ceasefire. The prisoners previously slated for release “will be released simultaneously with the bodies of the Israeli prisoners who were agreed to be handed over,” along with the release of a new set of Palestinian prisoners, the Hamas statement said. An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, confirmed an agreement to bring home the bodies in the coming days. He gave no further details.
But Israeli media reports said the exchange could take place as soon as Wednesday. The Ynet news site said the Israeli bodies would be handed over to Egyptian authorities without any public ceremony. Hamas has released hostages, and the bodies of four dead hostages, in large public ceremonies during which the Israelis were paraded and forced to wave to large crowds. Israel, along with the Red Cross and UN officials, have said the ceremonies were humiliating to the hostages, and Israel last weekend delayed the scheduled prisoner release in protest.
The latest agreement would complete both sides’ obligations of the first phase of the ceasefire — during which Hamas is returning 33 hostages — including eight bodies — in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. It also could clear the way for an expected visit by the White House’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, to the region. Witkoff, who is expected in the region in the coming days, has said he wants the sides to move into negotiations on the second phase, during which all remaining hostages held by Hamas are to be released and an end to the war is to be negotiated. The Phase 2 talks were supposed to begin weeks ago, but never did. The ceasefire, brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar, ended 15 months of heavy fighting that erupted after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed some 1,200 people in Israel and took about 250 people hostage. Israel’s military offensive has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials, displaced an estimated 90 percent of Gaza’s population and decimated the territory’s infrastructure and health system. The Hamas-run Health Ministry does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths, but it says that over half of the dead have been women and children.

UN agency chief says ‘wouldn’t be involved in any’ Gaza displacement
AFP/February 26, 2025
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: The International Organization for Migration will not be part of “any kind of forced” evacuation of Palestinians out of Gaza, the director of the UN agency, Amy Pope, told AFP on Tuesday.Any such displacement would be a “red line” for governments in the region, said Pope, after US President Donald Trump proposed taking over the war-battered Gaza Strip and removing its more than two million Palestinian inhabitants.“We made a commitment to the communities that we serve that we wouldn’t be involved in any kind of forced movement of population or evacuation of people,” said Pope, who is American. Trump’s proposal to rebuild Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East” while its residents are displaced prompted widespread criticism when it was first presented in early February. “As we’re seeing right now, (the displacement of Palestinians) has been a red line for both the government of Jordan and Egypt,” Pope said of the two countries Trump has said could take in Gazans. “We’re a humanitarian actor,” she added. “So we... certainly don’t engage in activities that would be red lines for key member states.”Faced with strong opposition in the Middle East and beyond, Trump said in an interview on Friday he was “not forcing” his plan.Pope, in a visit to Gaza last week, said she saw that “things are just very much destroyed.”“You... see buildings that have been completely destroyed, you see rubble” and burnt cars, she told AFP. “I saw people on the side of the road in the shadow of crumbled buildings, around fires, trying to stay warm.”Gaza’s civil defense agency said earlier on Tuesday that six newborn babies died in a cold snap which has gripped the territory over the past week. More than 15 months of war, triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, have left much of Gaza in ruins and most of its population displaced.UN estimates put the cost of reconstruction at more than $53 billion.A fragile ceasefire in effect since January 19 has allowed an increase in humanitarian aid into Gaza, though Hamas has accused Israel of blocking the entry of some essential supplies.

‘Dad, you’re home’: Israeli hostage who died in Gaza laid to rest
AFP/February 25, 2025
More recently, Lifshitz, an Arabic speaker, had been actively involved for years with Road to Recovery, an organization which helps Palestinians receive medical treatment in Israel
NIR ‘OZ, Israel: Hundreds of people gathered on Tuesday at a small cemetery in a southern Israeli community to bid a final farewell to Oded Lifshitz, a kibbutz founder who died in captivity in Gaza. Palestinian militant group Hamas returned Lifshitz’s body to Israel last week, part of an ongoing truce deal that has halted the Gaza war — triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack in which the veteran journalist was abducted from his home. “Dad, now you’re home,” said his son Arnon Lifshitz at the cemetery in Nir Oz. Among the attendees at the funeral were lawmakers, activists, European diplomats and Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who asked for “forgiveness that the State of Israel did not protect you, your family and your kibbutz.” “In the face of such inhuman cruelty, you were left to stand alone,” said the president.
Lifshitz, then aged 83, was taken hostage from his home on the kibbutz during Hamas’s 2023 attack. His wife, Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, was also seized but released by Hamas after 18 days. Israeli officials said Oded Lifshitz was murdered by his captors from militant group Islamic Jihad, which has fought alongside Hamas in Gaza. In addition to Lifshitz, the bodies of three other Nir Oz residents taken hostage and killed in captivity — Shiri Bibas and her two young sons — were returned last week.
The three members of the Bibas family will be buried on Wednesday. At Lifshitz’s funeral, Hen Avigdori, whose wife and daughter were taken hostage from a neighboring kibbutz and released in the war’s first truce in November 2023, said that “it should have ended differently, he should be here with us.”To Avigdori, seeing the row of graves “of people who were murdered here on October 7, and those who are waiting for their loved ones to be returned, is a difficult feeling.”“This kibbutz has become a symbol of the neglect.”Lifshitz had a long career with the now defunct, left-leaning newspaper Al Hamishmar, and was a long-time defender of Palestinian rights.
In 1972, he defended Bedouins who were expelled from the Sinai Peninsula by occupying Israeli authorities. A decade later, during the Lebanese civil war and Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, he was one of the first journalists to report on the Sabra and Shatila massacres in which Israeli-backed Christian militias killed between 800 and 2,000 Palestinians in Beirut refugee camps. More recently, Lifshitz, an Arabic speaker, had been actively involved for years with Road to Recovery, an organization which helps Palestinians receive medical treatment in Israel. Shlomo Margalit, also one of the founders of Nir Oz and a friend of Lifshitz, said that “Oded was a man of peace.”“All his life, he worked for the well-being of our neighbors.”Yocheved Lifshitz said that in their 67 years together, she and Oded “fought... for social justice and peace.”“Unfortunately, we received a terrible blow from those we had helped on the other side.”Hamas and its militant allies took 251 people hostage during their October 2023 attack. Of those, 62 are still being held hostages in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead. Bibas and her two sons, Kfir and Ariel, had become symbols of the ordeal suffered by the Israeli hostages. Ariel was aged four at the time of the attack, while Kfir was the youngest hostage, just nine months old. At the cemetery, one of Lifshitz’s grandsons Dekel Lifshitz told AFP that the cactus garden his late grandfather had cultivated on the kibbutz was a sign of his “determination.”“It takes years to succeed in growing a garden like this, and it reminds me that he was always active.”

Saudi Arabia welcomes holding of Syrian national dialogue conference
Arab News/February 25, 2025
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia welcomed the national dialogue conference that took place in Syria on Tuesday, the Kingdom’s Foreign Ministry said. The ministry said it hoped the gathering at the presidential palace in Damascus would contribute to achieving the aspirations of the Syrian people and strengthen their national unity. It affirmed Saudi Arabia’s support for efforts to build Syrian state institutions and achieve stability and prosperity for its citizens, reiterating the Kingdom’s position in support of Syria’s security, stability, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity. Syrians agreed on Tuesday to form a committee to draft a constitution that enshrines justice, freedom, and equality for all, according to a closing statement.

Kremlin hails 'balanced' US position on Ukraine after UN vote
Agence France Presse/February 25, 2025
The Kremlin on Tuesday praised Washington's "balanced position" after the U.S. voted with Russia at the United Nations to avoid condemnation of Moscow's campaign against Ukraine. "The U.S. is taking a much more balanced position which is really aimed at trying to resolve the Ukraine conflict. We welcome this," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Top Russian diplomat Lavrov arrives in Tehran for talks
Agence France Presse/February 25, 2025
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Tehran Tuesday for talks with senior officials, Iranian media reported. Lavrov is to meet his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, the ISNA news agency reported. The Russian foreign ministry said the talks would cover "Russian-Iranian relations" as well as "a number of current international issues."

Former Iraqi PM returns to Baghdad despite security threats
AFP/February 25, 2025
BAGHDAD: Former Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, known for promoting the rule of law, returned to Baghdad Tuesday for the first time in more than two years despite ongoing security threats. In 2021, he survived an assassination attempt in which two armed drones targeted his residence in Baghdad’s Green Zone area. The attack came at a time of tensions sparked by the refusal of Iran-backed militias to accept parliamentary election results. Al-Kadhimi left Iraq after his term as prime minister ended in 2022 and has been living in London and the United Arab Emirates. The former prime minister did not immediately make any public statements upon his return.Three officials with his office who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly said security threats against the former prime minister were still present. They said he had returned at the invitation of current Iraqi political leaders who hoped he could use his connections to help them confront a worsening economic crisis that threatens the country’s stability. Al-Kadhimi has good relations with the United States and Saudi Arabia. Iraq is currently looking to strengthen ties with both countries. He was Iraq’s former intelligence chief before becoming prime minister in 2020 following mass anti-government protests that toppled the previous cabinet. Iraq is also set to hold parliamentary elections later this year, raising the possibility that Al-Kadhimi might be preparing to attempt a political come-back.

Ukraine has agreed on terms of minerals deal with US: senior official
AFP/February 25, 2025
KYIV: Ukraine has agreed on the terms of a minerals deal with the United States and could sign it as early as Friday on a trip to Washington by President Volodymyr Zelensky, a senior Ukrainian official said. US President Donald Trump had demanded that Ukraine give access to its rare earth minerals to compensate for the billions of dollars worth of wartime aid it received under Joe Biden. The deal would see the United States jointly develop Ukraine’s mineral wealth, with revenues going to a newly created fund that would be “joint for Ukraine and America,” a senior Ukrainian source told AFP on condition of anonymity. “Now government officials are working on the details... As of now, we are considering a visit to Washington for Friday to sign the agreement,” the source added. Ukraine had asked for security guarantees from the US as part of any agreement. The source said the draft of the deal includes a reference to “security,” but does not explicitly set out the United States’s role. “There is a general clause that says America will invest in a stable and prosperous sovereign Ukraine, that it works for a lasting peace, and that America supports efforts to guarantee security.”The source also said Washington had cut clauses that would have been unfavorable to Ukraine, including that it provide “$500 billion” worth of resources.

Trump blocked from imposing sweeping federal funding freeze
Reuters/February 26, 2025
A US judge on Tuesday extended an order blocking President Donald Trump’s administration from instituting a sweeping freeze on trillions of dollars in federal funding by pausing grants, loans and other financial support. US District Judge Loren AliKhan in Washington wrote that while some funds had become unfrozen since she first temporarily blocked the administration’s spending pause, there remained a risk the administration might again try to shut off funding. The judge, an appointee of Democratic former President Joe Biden, said for those reasons she agreed with groups representing nonprofits and small business that a preliminary injunction was necessary blocking a further funding freeze. “The injunctive relief that defendants fought so hard to deny is the only thing in this case holding potentially catastrophic harm at bay,” she wrote. Those groups sued after the White House’s Office of Management and Budget on January 27 issued a memo directing federal agencies to temporarily pause spending on federal financial assistance programs. That memo said the freeze was necessary while the administration reviewed grants and loans to ensure they are aligned with Trump’s executive orders, including ones ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs and directing a pause on spending on projects seeking to combat climate change. OMB later withdrew that memo after it became the subject of two lawsuits, one before AliKhan and another before a judge in Rhode Island by Democratic state attorneys general. But the plaintiffs argued the memo’s withdrawal did not mean the end of the policy itself. They pointed to a social media post on X by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shortly after the memo was withdawn saying: “This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo.”

Egypt rejects proposals to displace Palestinians
Reuters/February 25, 2025
CAIRO: Egypt rejects proposals to displace the Palestinian people in order to not “liquidate” the Palestinian cause and to avoid threatening the national security of countries in the region, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump has angered the Arab world with a plan to permanently displace the population of more than 2 million Palestinians from Gaza, assert US control over the territory and turn it into an international beach resort.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on February 25-26/2025
The Trump Revolution in the Middle East Has Just Begun
Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute/February 25, 2025
Most Democrats in the US seem to have forgotten the absolute horror of the attack of October 7, 2023. They seem not to understand why most Israelis think that there is no way to coexist with a Gaza Strip in the hands of terrorists thirsty for Jewish blood. These Democrats appear not to see that relocating Gaza Arabs elsewhere has nothing to do with "ethnic cleansing." Trump did not propose to eliminate the Arabs, but to relocate them to safer places. These Democrats also appear to ignore that ethnic cleansing is precisely what is at the heart of the intentions of the members of Hamas, an organization with explicitly genocidal goals.
The leaders of the main European countries talk about the "two-state solution" while knowing perfectly well that the only outcome Hamas wants is a one-state solution: the destruction of Israel, not a state alongside Israel... Europe's leaders ignore countless polls showing that the residents of the Gaza Strip, as well as those, in the territories mismanaged by the Palestinian Authority, celebrate the October 7 massacre and want above all else Israel's destruction. That, in fact, seems to be the actual goal of everyone who disagrees with Trump.
A Palestinian state would indeed be -- as the Palestinians have openly stated -- a launching pad from which to keep trying to destroy Israel.
[I]n reality, Arab leaders do not like the Palestinians any more than the Israelis do, but it is considered impolite to say so. The positions of at least several leaders of the Arab world might become flexible.
Trump, however, possibly in a hurry to solve the Iran-Hamas-Israel War, should not under any circumstances "go wobbly".
Qatar is reportedly trying to come up with a potentially duplicitous "peace plan" to allow its treasured client and Muslim Brotherhood associate, Hamas, to remain in power in Gaza so it can attack Israel again.
No one bothers to explain how the Gazans can continue to live in an area studded with unexploded ordnance, where 70% of the buildings are destroyed, and which Trump has rightly defined as a "demolition site," while leaving nearly two million people to reside there and hundreds of armed terrorists in tunnels.
No one admits that massive population displacements have successfully taken place in the past. Millions of Germans were moved from territories conquered by Germany after 1945, with no protests voiced.... Jews who lived in the Gaza Strip were expelled in 2005 by decision of the Israeli government to give the Palestinians there a chance to create a peaceful "Singapore on the Mediterranean."
What American Democrats and European leaders should be committed to is preventing Hamas, a terrorist organization, from remaining in power. Netanyahu explains: "[Y]ou can't talk about peace, neither with Hamas or in the Middle East, if this, you know, toxic murderous organization is left standing, any more that you could make peace in Europe after World War II, if the Nazi regime was left standing and the Nazi army was left standing."
American Democrats and European leaders still grant legitimacy to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and say that they would like to entrust it with the management of Gaza after the war. They apparently do not want to see that the PA is a corrupt entity that rewards terrorism and supports the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. They appear to want Gaza to remain a terrorist entity able to attack Israel again and again. Interesting.
"The non-terrorists in Gaza move to a place where they can live in peace and dignity. The US and others then rebuild Gaza and recover their costs through the commercialization of 25 miles of what will become pristine beachfront, now open to the world... [P]eace prevails with no American boots on the ground nor expense to the American taxpayer. Hard to quarrel with this if you believe in peace, prosperity and human dignity." — David M. Friedman, former US Ambassador to Israel, X, February 6, 2025.
Trump appears determined to profoundly change the Middle East. It is to be hoped at that he will not allow himself to be discouraged, misled or have his impressive visions diminished.
If Trump successfully manages to overcome the pressures and obstacles placed in front of him, what he is setting in motion today can magnificently transform the Middle East.
US President Donald Trump appears determined to profoundly change the Middle East. It is to be hoped at that he will not allow himself to be discouraged, misled or have his impressive visions diminished.
February 4, 2025, the White House, Washington, DC. President Donald J. Trump is at a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump says that Hamas must be eliminated, and that "the US will take over the Gaza Strip", dismantle "all of the dangerous unexploded bombs", "get rid of the destroyed buildings" and "create an economic development". He adds that Gaza's Arabs should go to other countries and "be able to live in comfort and peace".
Netanyahu seems happy and moved. Trump, he says, is "the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House" and details every act Trump did to help Israel during his first term.
Many journalists in the room appear surprised and shocked by what Trump said; some seem angry. Negative reactions were on the way.
"This is an insane proposal" said Chris Van Halen, (D-Maryland) who added that Trump wants "ethnic cleansing".
Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona), said Trump's plan was "absolutely dumb, stupid and illegal".
Tina Smith (D-Minnesota), said that Trump is "completely ignoring the sovereignty and the self determination of the Palestinian people."
Almost all elected officials in the Democratic Party lashed out at what Trump had proposed. Only Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman said that while Trump's ideas were "provocative," they were "part of the conversation."
Most Democrats in the US seem to have forgotten the absolute horror of the attack of October 7, 2023. They seem not to understand why most Israelis think that there is no way to coexist with a Gaza Strip in the hands of terrorists thirsty for Jewish blood. These Democrats appear not to see that relocating Gaza Arabs elsewhere has nothing to do with "ethnic cleansing." Trump did not propose to eliminate the Arabs, but to relocate them to safer places. These Democrats also appear to ignore that ethnic cleansing is precisely what is at the heart of the intentions of the members of Hamas, an organization with explicitly genocidal goals. Many Democrats talk about the "sovereignty and self-determination of the Palestinian people" -- not that Hamas exercises a ferocious dictatorship over Gaza and allows no sovereignty or self-determination to a population it massively fanaticizes and relentlessly incites to hatred and mass murder.
Reactions in Europe were pretty much the same.
"The future of Gaza lies in a future Palestinian state..." a spokeswoman from the French foreign ministry announced. "Any forced displacement of the population in Gaza would be unacceptable." She added that Trump plan "would not only be a serious violation of international law, but also a major hindrance to the two-state solution."
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Palestinians "must be allowed home" in Gaza. "They must be allowed to rebuild, and we should be with them in that rebuild on the way to a two-state solution."
"It is clear," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said, "that Gaza – along with the West Bank and East Jerusalem – belongs to the Palestinians. They form the starting point for a future state of Palestine."
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, less critical, nevertheless said that she does not believe Trump has a "defined plan".
The leaders of the main European countries talk about the "two-state solution" while knowing perfectly well that the only outcome Hamas wants is a one-state solution: the destruction of Israel, not a state alongside Israel. The Palestinian Authority has refused many Israeli peace proposals, even ones dangerous for Israel's security. Europe's leaders ignore countless polls showing that the residents of the Gaza Strip, as well as those, in the territories mismanaged by the Palestinian Authority, celebrate the October 7 massacre and want above all else Israel's destruction. That, in fact, seems to be the actual goal of everyone who disagrees with Trump.
The majority of Israelis – regrettably, to many others -- are not suicidal. They see that a "Palestinian state" would be a terrorist trampoline for relentless attacks on Israel. The Israeli government voted overwhelmingly to reject a Palestinian state, at any price, as "an 'existential danger' to Israel."
A Palestinian state would indeed be -- as the Palestinians have openly stated (such as here, here and here) -- a launching pad from which to keep trying to destroy Israel.
By now, everyone should know that in 2005, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon forcibly expelled every last Jew from Gaza, which became a de facto autonomous territory – and a "failed experiment". It could have become a Singapore or a Dubai on the Mediterranean. Several American Jews paid $14 million to preserve the Israelis' greenhouses to give the Palestinians a running start. Within days, every greenhouse was stripped and its parts stolen.
A year later, in January 2006, in a vote held at the insistence of US President George H.W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Palestinians elected Hamas into power, and Gaza quickly became a terrorist hellhole.
Europe's leaders are fully aware that Gaza's Arabs cannot live in rubble, with virtually no electricity, sewage or running water but with massive amounts of unexploded ordnance. Europe's leaders are also fully aware that Hamas is a "government" that not only shoots its own people trying to flee or trying to take humanitarian aid intended for them, but that deliberately places civilians to be killed in crossfire so people will blame Israel, and not the rulers of Gaza, for all many "civilian deaths."
To Gaza's rulers, Hamas, the suffering of their citizens clearly does not matter: "We are called a nation of martyrs, and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs," announced senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad. To Hamas, apparently, their citizens are just useful tools with which to vilify Israel; why should they deprive themselves of such a perfect ploy?
Gazans could enjoy far better lives just about anywhere else. Many want to leave and those who could, already did. Claims that Gaza's Arabs do not want to leave appear unfounded. British journalist Jake Wallis Simons, a frequent visitor to the Gaza Strip, says that many of the Arabs there want to leave if given the opportunity – and many already have. A poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, showed that 44% of Gaza Arabs aged 18 to 29 would like to emigrate, and that nearly a third (31%) of all Gaza Arabs have the same aspirations.
The leaders of the larger Arab world -- who mostly seem happy to have the Palestinians as far away from them as possible –- quickly rejected Trump's plan from the start. While Arab leaders outwardly support the "Palestinian cause", they seem to want nothing to do with the Palestinians. Arab leaders unsurprisingly see the Palestinians as a dangerous population that has brought devastation to every country that has tried to help them.
These Arab leaders have a point. The Palestinians have repaid with unmitigated horror everyone who ever offered to take them in – from attempting to overthrow Jordan's King Hussein in 1970, or, after fleeing Jordan, by starting a war in Lebanon. Kuwait expelled 400,000 Palestinians for supporting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1991, rather than Kuwait. Paying lip service to Palestinians at arm's length, however, deflects attention away from their own often questionable regimes while conveniently posing as solidarity for their "brethren".
Most Arab rulers have no intention of officially changing that position. Many Arab leaders have also, for decades, indoctrinated their own people to support the "Palestinian cause" – it was cost-free and sounded grand. After poisoning their own populations with Jew-hate for decades, they might now find it awkward to appear disloyal to the ummah, the Muslim nation. They might prefer a stance along the lines of, as the saying goes, "That is not my suitcase, that is Gaza's suitcase."
If, however, they think that Trump's plan has a low chance of success, they might want to think again.
Even though Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah II have so far refused to accept Gaza's Arabs, the United States might have ways to help them reconsider.
Egypt finds itself in a difficult economic situation. Total interruption of American financial aid could lead to major unrest in the country. Jordan's situation is equally precarious; it also needs American help.
When Abdullah came to Washington on February 11, Trump told him that he would not budge on his plan. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty went to Washington and received the same answer from Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Words of refusal will probably continue to come from Arab leaders -- presumably for political expediency; in reality, Arab leaders do not like the Palestinians any more than the Israelis do, but it is considered impolite to say so. The positions of at least several leaders of the Arab world might become flexible.
The situation in the Middle East today is quite different from what it was in October 2023. The actions taken by Israel over the past 17 months have been astonishingly effective. Hezbollah in Lebanon is decimated. The Assad regime in Syria has fallen. While it may be too soon to know whether the new regime in Damascus will actually renounce terrorism -- many observers are not holding their breath -- Syria is now under the patronage of Turkey, and no longer hosting Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The mullahs' regime in Iran has been seriously weakened. At present, it might longer have the means to wage another proxy war against Israel -- only the imminent promise of its own nuclear weapons program. The Israel Air Force destroyed almost all of Iran's anti-aircraft defense systems, leaving the country vulnerable to attack.
Trump has discussed with Netanyahu "how Hamas can be eliminated". Rubio has agreed. Hamas's "elimination" may not be violent if its members agree to lay down their weapons and depart (unlikely). If Hamas interrupts its hostage release, however, matters might be quite different. While deferring the final decision to Netanyahu, Trump made it clear, that he would "let all hell break out."
Trump said on February 4:
"Today, I also took action to restore a maximum pressure policy on the Iranian regime, and we will once again enforce the most aggressive possible sanctions, drive Iranian oil exports to zero and diminish the regime's capacity to fund terror throughout the region and throughout the world."
He did not speak of military intervention against Iran, but emphasized that the mullahs "cannot have a nuclear weapon," and that if the Iranian leaders nevertheless tried to have nuclear weapons, it would be "very unfortunate for them" -- implying that the US would support military action against Iran's nuclear installations. Trump added that he had "once again designated the Houthis as a terrorist organization. They're trying to destroy world shipping lanes. And that's not going to happen." Trump, however, possibly in a hurry to solve the Iran-Hamas-Israel War, should not under any circumstances "go wobbly". He made it clear to leaders of Arab countries during his first term that the best interest of the Arab world was to stop financing terrorism and come to an agreement with Israel, and that the alternative would be a sharp slide towards violence and decline.
Statements that Gaza's Arabs are attached to their land are fallacious, except under the laws of the Ottoman Empire, which has been defunct for more than a century. Hamas propaganda has been telling its people for decades that their land is the land of Israel, which will be theirs if only persist in their jihad (holy war) to exterminate Israel's Jews. Almost all Gaza Arabs hold UN refugee cards – which mean they are supposed to be living there temporarily. Few Gazan Arabs can believe they actually have extensive historical roots there. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has instructed the IDF to draft a plan enabling Arabs to leave Gaza for other countries. He stated that the plan includes several exit options: land crossings, departures by sea and air. European leaders have offered no alternative solution. Qatar is reportedly trying to come up with a potentially duplicitous "peace plan" to allow its treasured client and Muslim Brotherhood associate, Hamas, to remain in power in Gaza so it can attack Israel again. Qatar and seven other Arab states are reportedly trying to work out a plan to present in Cairo on March 4, at an emergency summit of Arab League countries, but what is known about this plan shows that it is above all an attempt to save the dying "Palestinian cause".No one bothers to explain how the Gazans can continue to live in an area studded with unexploded ordnance, where 70% of the buildings are destroyed, and which Trump has rightly defined as a "demolition site," while leaving nearly two million people to reside there and hundreds of armed terrorists in tunnels.
No one explains why "creating an economic development" cannot take shape in the present conditions.
No one admits that massive population displacements have successfully taken place in the past. Millions of Germans were moved from territories conquered by Germany after 1945, with no protests voiced. Nazi Germany had started a genocidal war and been defeated. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were forced out of Arab countries during and after the creation of the State of Israel. Jews who lived in the Gaza Strip before 1948 were expelled by the Egyptian army in 1948-49, and Jews who lived in the Gaza Strip were expelled in 2005 by decision of the Israeli government to give the Palestinians there a chance to create a peaceful "Singapore on the Mediterranean."Instead, as noted, the Palestinians used the billions of dollars given to them by gullible donors -- who never laid down conditions or demanded an accounting – to build 350 miles of terror tunnels, a city under a city. A significant portion of Gaza's Arab population has been complicit in Hamas's atrocious crimes. Hamas has carried out genocidal actions, waged a war and been defeated. If one starts a war then loses it, usually there are consequences.
The journalist Lee Smith wrote:
"Gazans, not just the enlisted members of the Hamas brigades, waged an exterminationist campaign against Israel, and they lost. At virtually any other time in history, save the last 75 years, they would be lucky to lose only territory and not have their legend and language permanently deleted from the book of the living."American Democrats and European leaders cannot possibly say that the UN should repair the situation. The UN and UNRWA have been complicit in the ongoing campaign against Israel, a "secret" that is no longer hidden. Many of UNRWA's employees were members of Hamas. UNRWA facilities were used by Hamas to hide weapons, hold hostages, and serve as torture sites. Even though Trump eliminated funding to UNRWA, and it has been banned from operating on Israeli territory, it apparently is functioning anyhow.
What American Democrats and European leaders should be committed to is preventing Hamas, a terrorist organization, from remaining in power. Netanyahu explains: "[Y]ou can't talk about peace, neither with Hamas or in the Middle East, if this, you know, toxic murderous organization is left standing, any more that you could make peace in Europe after World War II, if the Nazi regime was left standing and the Nazi army was left standing."American Democrats and European leaders still grant legitimacy to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and say that they would like to entrust it with the management of Gaza after the war. They apparently do not want to see that the PA is a corrupt entity that rewards terrorism and supports the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. They appear to want Gaza to remain a terrorist entity able to attack Israel again and again. Interesting.
Trump sees that all attempts to bring peace to the Middle East have failed. Trump said:
"[E]verybody feels that continuing the same process that's gone on forever, over and over again, and then it starts, and then the killing starts, and all of the other problems start, and you end up in the same place. And we don't want to see that happen."It was Trump's vision for the Middle East -- initiated by his son in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner -- that brought about the Abraham Accords, signed in 2020. The Accords were the greatest step forward for peace in the Middle East in seven decades. Trump's newest vision to revive the Gaza Strip as an "economic development area" -– also initiated by Kushner – but under US leadership -- wrote former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman on X, is "a very good plan":
"Israel completes the war, achieving total victory against Hamas. The non-terrorists in Gaza move to a place where they can live in peace and dignity. The US and others then rebuild Gaza and recover their costs through the commercialization of 25 miles of what will become pristine beachfront, now open to the world. "Israel wins, Hamas loses, peace prevails with no American boots on the ground nor expense to the American taxpayer. "Hard to quarrel with this if you believe in peace, prosperity and human dignity.""President Trump came with a completely different, much better vision for Israel," Netanyahu said on February 10, "a revolutionary, creative approach... He is very determined to implement it." Trump appears determined to profoundly change the Middle East. It is to be hoped at that he will not allow himself to be discouraged, misled or have his impressive visions diminished.
The Trump revolution in the Middle East is just beginning. If Trump successfully manages to overcome the pressures and obstacles placed in front of him, what he is setting in motion today can magnificently transform the Middle East.
*Dr. Guy Millière, a professor at the University of Paris, is the author of 27 books on France and Europe.
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Who ‘owns’ the Palestine discourse?
Dr. Ramzy Baroud/Arab News/February 25, 2025
We have long argued that the Israeli war and genocide in Gaza must catalyze a change in the overall political discourse on Israel and Palestine, particularly regarding the need to free Palestine from the confines of victimhood. This shift is necessary to create a space where the Palestinian people are seen as central to their own struggle. It is unfortunate that centering a nation in a conversation about its own freedom from colonialism and military occupation requires years of advocacy. But this is the reality Palestinians face — often due to circumstances far beyond their control.
As outrageous as US President Donald Trump’s comments about taking over Gaza were, they were a crude interpretation of an existing culture that viewed Palestinians as marginal actors in their own story. While previous US administrations and their Western allies did not use such blatant language as Trump, they did treat Palestinians as irrelevant to how the West perceived the “solution” to the “conflict” — language that rarely adhered to international and humanitarian laws.
For many Palestinian intellectuals, the fight for justice has been waged on two fronts: one to challenge global misconceptions about Palestine and the Palestinian people, and the other to reclaim the narrative altogether.
Recently, I have argued that reclaiming the narrative by centering Palestinian voices is not enough. Many of these supposedly “authentic” Palestinians do not represent the collective aspirations of the Palestinian people.
This argument responds to the Western exposition of certain types of Palestinians whose narratives do not directly challenge Western complicity in the Israeli occupation and war. These voices often focus on highlighting the victimization component of the “conflict,” often indicating that “both sides” should be equally supported — or blamed. This is why it was refreshing to talk with the iconic Norwegian emergency medicine doctor Mads Gilbert, who is fighting to decolonize the concept of solidarity in medicine — and, by extension, Western solidarity as a whole. Gilbert has spent much of his career working in Gaza, as well as among Palestinian doctors and communities in the West Bank and Lebanon. Since the start of the latest war, he has remained one of the most tireless voices in exposing the Israeli genocide in the Strip.
Our conversation touched on many subjects, including a term he coined: “evidence-based solidarity.” This concept applies evidence-based practice in medicine to all aspects of solidarity, both within and beyond Palestine. It means that solidarity becomes more meaningful when it is supported by the kind of information that guarantees the support does more good than harm.
A good example was his explanation of the field hospital as a strategy to cope with humanmade crises, such as the genocide in Gaza. Our discussion elaborated on an article written by Gilbert and his colleagues that was published this month in the medical journal BMC, entitled “Realizing Health Justice in Palestine: Beyond Humanitarian Voices.”The article was a critical response to another piece, published last May by Karl Blanchet and others, entitled “Rebuilding the Health Sector in Gaza: Alternative Humanitarian Voices.” Gilbert found the original article reductionist for failing to recognize that the crisis in Gaza was “entirely manufactured” and for overlooking the centrality of “Palestinian perspectives.”This conversation may seem rhetorical until it is placed within its practical context. In Gilbert’s view, field hospitals, which could be seen as the ultimate act of solidarity, often deplete local resources and exacerbate the challenges facing Palestinian healthcare. He pointed out how the establishment of these temporary foreign-run facilities can contribute to a “brain drain,” while simultaneously exhausting the local healthcare system by creating parallel structures that, despite being well funded, do not integrate with the native system.
According to Gilbert, these efforts divert critical resources away from the urgent task of rebuilding and restoring Palestinian hospitals and providing fair wages for the dedicated healthcare workers — doctors, nurses, paramedics and midwives — who are integral to the local medical infrastructure.
It must be frustrating for Palestinian medics, hundreds of whom have been killed in the Israeli genocide on Gaza, to watch others have a conversation about helping Gaza without acknowledging the vital role of the Palestinian Ministry of Health and local hospitals and clinics. They fail to recognize the unmatched experience — let alone the resilience — of the Gaza medical community, which has proven to be one of the most durable and resourceful anywhere in the world.
The West insists on seeing the Palestinian as an outsider — either to be removed from Gaza altogether or treated as a person with no relevant input.
This is a manifestation of a much larger issue: the West, whether as “evil-doers” or “good-doers,” insists on seeing the Palestinian as an outsider — either to be removed from Gaza altogether or treated as a person with no relevant input, no worthy experience and no agency.
Many often engage in this thinking, while assuming they are helping the Palestinians. But this genocide should serve as a watershed moment for these conversations to escape the academic realm and enter the public sphere, where the centrality of the truly representative Palestinian experience becomes the litmus test for any outside proposals, plans, solutions or even solidarity. As for the last of these, decolonizing solidarity is now an urgent task. There is no time to waste when the very existence of Palestinians in their historic land is at stake.
*Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and author. He is editor of The Palestine Chronicle and nonresident senior research fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappe, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out.” X: @RamzyBaroud

What Germany’s election means for the Western left
Bartosz M. Rydlinski/Arab News/February 25, 2025
Germany’s Social Democrats are one of the West’s oldest political parties, with a legacy of advocating parliamentary democracy, opposing Nazism and leading the modernization of postwar Germany. In addition to the many notable labor, economic and human rights reforms that the party has implemented over the years, former Social Democratic Party leader and West German Chancellor Willy Brandt’s “Ostpolitik” in the 1970s laid the groundwork for Germany’s reunification in 1990. But today’s party is a shadow of its former self: it won only 16.4 percent of the vote in Sunday’s federal election, putting it behind both the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union and the far-right Alternative for Germany. It is worth considering how this defeat came about and what it means for the future of Western social democratic forces. Support for the SPD began to fall toward the end of the 2000s. In the 2005 and 2009 federal elections, the party received 34.2 percent and 23 percent of the vote, respectively — a drastic decline from the 1998 federal election, when it won nearly 41 percent.
This drop-off can be largely attributed to the “Agenda 2010” and “Hartz” reforms that Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder introduced in the early 2000s. Schroeder’s neoliberal project, which sought to revive a stagnant German economy by deregulating the labor market and reducing welfare benefits, put the SPD at odds with its working-class base, organized in powerful trade unions. It also led the charismatic finance minister and former party leader Oskar Lafontaine to defect to a left-wing alliance, taking the SPD’s socialist faction with him.
Despite this exodus of voters, the SPD could rest on its laurels as the junior coalition partner to the CDU/CSU — its main competitor — under Angela Merkel. When Merkel retired in 2021, the SPD won that year’s election with a quarter of German votes. But party leader and Chancellor Olaf Scholz had to form a “traffic-light coalition” (so named for the parties’ colors) with the Greens and the liberal, market-oriented Free Democrats. This led his government to pursue conflicting goals, such as advancing social justice and lowering taxes; constructing social housing and boosting support for entrepreneurs; and combating climate change and protecting Germany’s automotive industry. Such a wide-ranging agenda did little to win back the trust of workers, especially with fear of globalization on the rise.
In the lead-up to Sunday’s election, neither Scholz nor his party seemed to gauge German voters’ primary concerns accurately. According to one survey, 37 percent of Germans consider immigration to be the most important problem facing the country — an issue on which the SPD has been ambivalent and indecisive. The party tacitly supported Merkel’s “open-door policy” in 2015, when Germany accepted more than 1 million asylum seekers from Syria, Afghanistan and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa. And yet, Scholz has advocated deporting “serious criminals” to Syria and Afghanistan following terror attacks. Instead of winning over voters, this muddled approach to migration and security has bolstered the anti-immigration AfD.
The second most important issue for voters, according to the recent survey, is the economy, with 34 percent of respondents agreeing that it should be the government’s top priority. As an article about Scholz in Der Spiegel recently pointed out, the German economy contracted for the second consecutive year in 2024, the number of unemployed people is rising, industry is cutting jobs and consumer confidence has tanked. The fact that this occurred on Scholz’s watch undermined his image as a successful economic steward, burnished during Merkel’s term. This resulted in a devastating loss of working-class support for the SPD. According to Infratest dimap’s exit poll, the AfD won 38 percent of workers’ votes, compared to just 12 percent for the SPD. The SPD’s electoral disaster is reminiscent of the Democrats’ defeat in the 2024 US presidential election.
Scholz fell short in other areas, too. The much-heralded turning point (“Zeitenwende”) in foreign policy and national security after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has not materialized. Germany barely meets NATO’s 2 percent defense spending target and has not honored its commitments to Ukraine. As Benjamin Tallis concluded in his German Council on Foreign Relations report titled “The End of the Zeitenwende,” Scholz’s project has been a failure. The SPD’s electoral disaster is reminiscent of the Democrats’ defeat in the 2024 US presidential election. Both parties failed to formulate an effective response to migration concerns, win over working-class voters and adopt major progressive economic reforms. Instead, they chose to emphasize cultural liberalism, which appealed to the winners of globalization — people who do not fear for their future.
But fear of being left behind economically and socially proved to be potent fuel for both Donald Trump and the AfD. So long as social democrats fail to address this fear, the far right will continue to exploit it. If center-left parties want to regain their relevance, they must confront and analyze their electoral failures and declining support while finding new ways to make inroads with workers and shield them from the effects of deindustrialization, automation and artificial intelligence.
**Bartosz M. Rydlinski is an assistant professor of political science at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw. Copyright: Project Syndicate

Netanyahu eyes West Bank as he oscillates on Gaza
Osama Al-Sharif/Arab News/February 25, 2025
The scenes of Israeli tanks screeching through the gutted streets of the Jenin refugee camp late on Sunday said it all. This was a camp that was home to between 15,000 and 20,000 Palestinian refugees. By the admission of Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, this and other camps are now virtually empty. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been forced to leave the three West Bank camps of Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams in the northern West Bank. He declared that none would be allowed to return and that the Israeli army would stay there for almost a year.
By sending armor into the deserted camps, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to send multiple messages: that his far-right coalition partners can do whatever they want in the West Bank, that the Palestinian Authority can do nothing to stop them, and that annexation is only a step away.
With all eyes on Gaza and the fate of the ceasefire deal with Hamas — now in doubt as Netanyahu has presented new conditions that are almost impossible to accept — the Israeli government is moving ahead with plans to create new realities on the ground in the West Bank.
The deployment of tanks in the territory, for the first time since the 2000 Second Intifada, is a gross violation of the Oslo Accords and of security arrangements with the PA. Israel’s military campaign in the northern West Bank has been ongoing for weeks. So far, it has killed more than 30 Palestinians, destroyed tens of houses and uprooted the entire infrastructure in the three targeted camps. Those 40,000 displaced Palestinians will not be allowed to return to their homes now or in the near future. For Israel, the destruction of refugee camps is now a central theme of its goal to bury the two-state solution forever. Using Gaza-like destructive methods has become the mainstream policy of the Netanyahu government in the West Bank.
Netanyahu was never happy with accepting the Gaza ceasefire plan. He is using all excuses to derail the agreement and restart the war, even if this means ending any chance of the Israeli captives being returned alive or dead. His goal is to resume the war and delay any investigation into what happened on Oct. 7, 2023. His motives are personal and defy the fact that a majority of Israelis want the second phase of the ceasefire deal to go ahead, even if that means ending the war.
But what about the West Bank? Under pressure from his ultranationalist partners in the ruling coalition, Netanyahu has caved in to demands by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to give the army a free hand in crushing the Palestinians and preparing the ground for the annexation of most of the occupied territory.
There was no need to dispatch tanks into an empty Jenin refugee camp. But the image was needed. The extremists in Israel wanted to use that image as they concoct plans to annex the majority of the occupied lands.
In their view, the Trump administration is on the cusp of recognizing such annexation. For them, Oslo is dead and so is the two-state solution. In the past few weeks, the Israeli government has adopted measures to strangle the PA economically. With the fall of the PA, now that the Trump administration has cut off aid to the security forces, Israel can move in to extend its authority over all of Areas A, B and C, thus rendering all agreements under the Oslo Accord void and irrelevant.
The deployment of tanks in the territory is a gross violation of the Oslo Accords and of security arrangements with the PA
Netanyahu knows that Israel will not have its way in Gaza. Donald Trump seems to have withdrawn his outrageous proposal to take over the Strip. Arab leaders will meet early next month to adopt a proposal that responds to that of the US president. Essentially, the Arab proposal will underline two fundamental truths: no forced displacement and a combined effort to rebuild Gaza. While the counterproposal will send a message, the details will present considerable challenges. Who will end up ruling Gaza? What happens to Hamas leaders and fighters? And where will the money come from?
For now, Netanyahu is not bothered by such details. He wants to escalate the situation by threatening to resume the war on Gaza. That remains a distant option for all, including the Trump administration. The onus is now on the Arabs to come up with a realistic scenario that ends the war, removes Hamas from the present formula and ensures that a plan exists to begin the reconstruction efforts.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu sees an opportunity to use the Gaza dilemma to extend Israeli law over the West Bank. If the Trump administration goes along, then an international and an Arab outcry is to be expected. The Israeli move will be recognized as illegal. How such a move will disrupt the current geopolitical structure remains to be seen. It will be rejected by Arab countries and the majority of the international community. It will derail Trump’s plans to expand the membership of the Abraham Accords. It will test the durability of the peace treaties signed between Egypt and Jordan, on the one hand, and Israel on the other. But more importantly, it will leave the Palestinians with nothing. That is a recipe for regional disaster. Annexation of the West Bank will trigger a domino effect that Israel cannot control. The question is how Tel Aviv will deal with the more than 3 million Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank. Forced displacement will be opposed vociferously by Jordan — the only country Palestinians in the West Bank can go to. Israel’s far right is playing with fire and risking peace with both Jordan and Egypt. To believe that sending tanks into an empty Palestinian camp will change the geopolitical realities on the ground is not only naive but dangerously stupid. After the destruction of more than 90 percent of Gaza, most Palestinians still refuse to leave. The West Bank will be no different.
Netanyahu’s new Middle East sees no future for the Palestinians. This is both wrong and callous. The reality is that Israel will never be accommodated into this region if it thinks it can sacrifice the rights of the Palestinians. Netanyahu and his far-right partners will do their utmost to push Palestinians to the brink, but they can never seal the deal. In the coming days and weeks, we should brace ourselves for draconian measures to be implemented by Israel on the West Bank Palestinians. But no matter what Israel does, it will never succeed in ending the Palestinians’ resilience and the struggle to reclaim their rights.
• Osama Al-Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman. X: @plato010