" US President Donald Trump said Friday that he would accept a 20-year suspension of Iran’s nuclear program if Tehran gave a “real” commitment, apparently walking back his previous demands that Iran permanently halt its program and his pledge to ensure Iran can never attain nuclear weapons.
Asked by a reporter on Air Force One as he departed China following his two-day summit with President Xi Jinping whether a 20-year suspension would be sufficient, Trump responded, “Twenty years is enough, but the level of guarantee from them, it’s got to be a real 20 years.”
In the past, Trump has demanded that Iran agree to forever cease enrichment, and commit to never seeking nuclear weapons, claiming that he didn’t want to pass the problem off to a future president.
While Trump gave no further details on what the suspension would entail, the 20-year commitment appears to mirror the much-maligned “sunset clause” in the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that would have allowed Tehran to enrich unlimited amounts of uranium once the deal elapsed.
Trump had pulled the US out of that agreement, calling the sunset clause “totally unacceptable” and saying that it would spark a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
However, Trump on Friday also said his patience with Iran was running out and that he had agreed in talks with Xi that Tehran could not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and must reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons, but it has enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities.
Washington and Tehran announced a ceasefire last month but have been struggling to thrash out a lasting peace pact. Talks mediated by Pakistan have been suspended since Iran and the US each rejected the other’s latest proposals last week.
Israel, which launched the military campaign against Iran jointly with the US six weeks ago, is not represented at the talks. Host Pakistan has no diplomatic ties with Israel and does not recognize its sovereignty.
The ceasefire declared by Trump in April came with core declared goals of the war unfulfilled, including ensuring that Iran does not attain nuclear weapons, destroying its missile program, and creating the conditions for the Iranian public to overthrow the regime...."
https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-says-hes-ok-with-iran-suspending-nuke-program-for-20-years-if-theres-a-real-commitment/
"An armed Israeli settler is filmed standing over a bound and blindfolded Palestinian man in the outskirts of the central West Bank village of Bayt Iksa.
Palestinian media identifies the man as a farmer who was trying to reach his land.
A separate clip shows IDF soldiers arriving at the scene after the bound man is dragged by the settler onto a nearby road.
Palestinians say they have been left defenseless as Israeli authorities arm extremist settlers who use their weapons to terrorize them, rather than for actual self-defense.
The army does not immediately respond to a request for comment."
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/armed-settler-filmed-with-blindfolded-bound-palestinian-alongside-cooperating-troops/
"The lawyers of a Palestinian Gazan man have made a formal submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor demanding that 14 Hamas leaders be investigated for crimes committed against the Palestinian people.
To date, the ICC has not charged even one Hamas leader with any crimes committed against their own civilians. This is despite the fact that the ICC has charged leaders of Hamas and Israel with crimes committed against each other’s populations during the Gaza war.
This submission, therefore, marks the first such filing by a Palestinian against Hamas.
One of the two American attorneys, Elliot Malin, revealed this exclusively to The Jerusalem Post on Friday. Malin was joined by Eli Rosenbaum, a former senior US Justice Department war crimes prosecutor, and French attorney Sarah Scialom.
The 40-page article demands that 14 named Hamas leaders be investigated for crimes committed against the Palestinian people, with an eye toward the issuance of warrants for their arrest. The client is a Palestinian civilian from Gaza who lost his wife, children, and other family members in the war in Gaza.
The submission demonstrates that if Hamas had not committed these war crimes and other crimes against the Palestinian people, the client’s family and countless other Palestinians would be alive today.
The crimes detailed in the submission include: the war crime of utilizing the presence of civilians or other protected persons as human shields; the war crime of attacking civilians; the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects; the war crime of willfully causing great suffering; the war crime of destruction and appropriation of property; the war crime of excessive incidental death, injury, or damage; the war crime of attack protected objects; the war crime of committing outrages upon personal dignity; the war crime of using, conscripting or enlisting children; the war crime of sentencing or execution without due process.
The submission also includes the crime against humanity of murder, the crime against humanity of extermination, the crime against humanity of torture, and the crime against humanity of persecution.
The lengthy submission to the OTP documents that the best known of Hamas's premeditated crimes, the use of Palestinian civilians as human shields and indeed human sacrifices, was the war crime that was principally responsible for the high death toll and extensive destruction experienced in Gaza.
This crime is in direct violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
The Hamas leaders identified in the submission are Izz al-Din al-Haddad, Khaled Mashaal, Mahmoud al-Zahar, Mohammed Odeh, Muhannad Rajab, Khalil al-Hayya, Mousa Abu Marzook, Ghazi Hamad, Izzat al-Rishq, Fathi Hamad, Nizar Awadallah, Husam Badran, Zaher Jabarin, and Basem Naim.
'Palestinian people deserve justice'
“The Palestinian people, including our client, deserve justice for the atrocities committed against them by Hamas, with the full backing of Iran’s leaders," said Malin.
"To this day, the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) has not investigated, let alone sought warrants for, crimes cynically committed by Hamas and its accomplices against Palestinians during the war."
"Pursuing such justice goes to the heart of the mission of the OTP and the International Criminal Court, which it serves. Failing this mission means failing to deliver equal access to justice for those whom the Court has ruled fall under its jurisdiction."
Malin said that, if the Prosecutor and International Criminal Court refuse to seek justice for Palestinians who have been victimized by Hamas, the Court "must ask OTP why the Gazan victims of Hamas inhumanity are being denied full justice.”
"Had Hamas’ fighters instead fought in compliance with longstanding international law rather than by hiding behind and underneath Gazan civilian men, women, and children, the civilian death toll would undoubtedly have been only a fraction of what it was,” Rosenbaum said.
“The credibility of international criminal justice rests on its ability to deliver swift accountability for crimes of this magnitude,” said Scialom.
“OTP’s continuing failure to pursue justice on behalf of Hamas’s deceased and displaced Palestinian victims in Gaza helps incentivize the repeated commission of such crimes as an effective geopolitical strategy, and it keeps the victimized Gazan community in the dark about essential facts of their victimization."
Scialom said she is honored to represent the Palestinian client, whose family "tragically suffered enormous losses during the Gaza war."
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-896327
"The United Arab Emirates attempted to persuade neighboring Gulf States, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to coordinate a military response to Iran's missile, rocket, and drone attacks during the recent war, with Abu Dhabi's leadership feeling frustrated when neighbors refused, people familiar with the matter said to Bloomberg on Friday.
UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ) held several phone calls with other leaders, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, shortly after Israel and the US began striking Iran on February 28, the sources said.
MBZ was convinced of the need to coordinate a retaliatory response to deter Iran, according to the sources.
While he began working with the Trump administration and Jerusalem, MBZ's neighbors told him that it was not their war to join. This worsened the already-strained relations between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, a source told the outlet.
Further, the Trump administration was aware of the UAE's proposal and attempted to push Saudi Arabia and Qatar to join, a person familiar with the matter said. MBZ attempted to convince Gulf Cooperation Council members by stating that the GCC was founded in 1981 due to threats posed by Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
These details offer a possible explanation for why the UAE appears to be angry at its neighbors, culminating in a withdrawal from OPEC and OPEC+ in late April, as well as growing ties with Israel, the report noted.
Despite lacking support from the Gulf states, the UAE has carried out limited attacks against Iran, including in both March and April, people familiar with the matter were cited as saying. The UAE was the most heavily targeted country during the war. Tehran fired almost 3,000 drones and hundreds of missiles towards the Emirates before a truce was agreed.
Last week, Iran hit the UAE's key oil port of Fujairah, near the Strait of Hormuz.
Despite MBZ's plan, Saudi Arabia struck Iran on its own in March without coordinating with the UAE.
The Saudis then changed course and helped facilitate Pakistan's attempts at mediation between the US and Iran, the sources said.
Emirati and Saudi government spokespeople did not respond to Bloomberg's requests for comment.
Qatar also considered striking Iran after the Islamic regime hit the world's largest liquefied natural gas plant, Ras Laffan, in March, a Gulf official told the outlet.
However, Doha decided against the move, instead positioning itself to play a role in de-escalation.
Bahrain and Kuwait, which are usually closely aligned with Riyadh in defense and foreign affairs, sought to avoid any escalation of conflict.
The last GCC member state, Oman, was likely never believed to be likely to join given its closer ties with Iran, people with knowledge of the situation told Bloomberg.
Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman also did not respond to Bloomberg's requests for comment."
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-896319
"Those looking to understand Israel’s new security doctrine – one born out of the horrors of October 7 – need look no further than El-Khiam, a Shia town in southern Lebanon, just 6 kilometers from Israel’s border.
Once a town of nearly 30,000 people, it is now a pile of rubble – heaps of twisted metal, steel rods, and massive broken concrete slabs where homes and businesses once stood.
Why? Because this was not just a pastoral town surrounded by vineyards and olive trees, but a Hezbollah stronghold, with arms caches stored in people’s homes and Hezbollah command and control centers buried in tunnels beneath the floors of civilian structures, such as an innocent-looking clothing store with a teddy bear hanging on its wall.
El-Khiam was also deeply symbolic.
Once the site of a notorious prison used by the South Lebanon Army, it was overtaken by Hezbollah after Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000 and turned into a symbol of Hezbollah’s “liberation” of Lebanon...."
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-896271
"
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called Thursday to abolish the distinction between Palestinian- and Israeli-controlled areas of the West Bank, arguing that “the Land of Israel is ours in its entirety.”
The comments came amid fresh reports of settler violence against Palestinians, a near-daily occurrence in the West Bank, and as a Palestinian teen was shot dead by the IDF, which said he had been throwing stones at Israeli motorists.
Smotrich, who also serves as minister in the Defense Ministry with responsibility for West Bank settlements, spoke at a Jerusalem Day event at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva, a flagship institution of the Religious Zionist movement in Jerusalem. He shared a snippet of his remarks in a post on X on Friday
“It’s time to permanently erase the lines dividing Areas A, B and C,” Smotrich proclaimed at the event, referring to the division of civil and security control of the West Bank between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
“Only thus will we prevent the next massacre” in central Israel, Smotrich wrote in the caption. “We’ll keep on practically killing the idea of a Palestinian state and establishment of a terrorist capital in our heartland.”
Under the 1995 Oslo II Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, the West Bank is divided into Area A, under full Palestinian control, Area B, under Israeli security control and Palestinian civilian control, and Area C, under full Israeli control...."
https://www.timesofisrael.com/smotrich-its-time-to-end-division-of-west-bank-it-belongs-to-israel-in-its-entirety/
