UNITED NATIONS: The United States blocked a draft United Nations Security Council statement on Wednesday that would have expressed regret at Israel’s decision to eject a foreign observer force from the flashpoint Palestinian city of Hebron, diplomats said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week he would not renew the mandate of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH), accusing the observers of unspecified anti-Israel activity.
Norway, which has headed the multi-country observer mission for the past 22 years, said: “The one-sided Israeli decision can mean that the implementation of an important part of the Oslo accords is discontinued.”
The 15-member UN Security Council discussed Israel’s decision behind closed doors on Wednesday at the request of Kuwait and Indonesia, which also drafted the statement. Such a statement has to be agreed by consensus.
UN diplomats said the United States did not believe a council statement on the issue was appropriate.
The draft statement, seen by Reuters, would have also recognized the importance of the TIPH and its “efforts to foster calm in a highly sensitive area and fragile situation on the ground, which risks further deteriorating.” The United States has long accused the United Nations of anti-Israel bias and shields its ally from Security Council action.
Hebron, a Palestinian city of 200,000 people, is home to a community of about 1,000 Israeli settlers who are guarded by a large Israeli military presence.
The TIPH was set up after a Jewish settler killed 29 Palestinians at a Hebron shrine holy to both Muslims and Jews in 1994. The city has also seen stabbing and shooting attacks against settlers and Israeli soldiers by Palestinians. Since Israel partially withdrew from Hebron in 1998 under interim peace deals with the self-rule Palestinian Authority, the TIPH has monitored “breaches of the agreements (and) violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law,” the force’s website says.
Peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians collapsed in 2014. Most world powers consider Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, territory captured by Israel in a 1967 war, to be illegal. Israel disputes that, citing biblical, historical and political ties to the land.
US blocks UN statement on Hebron monitors ejected by Israel
US blocks UN statement on Hebron monitors ejected by Israel
- UN Security Council discussed Israel’s decision behind closed doors on Wednesday at the request of Kuwait and Indonesia
- Hebron, a Palestinian city of 200,000 people, is home to a community of 1,000 Israeli settlers guarded by a large Israeli military presence
Libya holds funeral for military officials killed in plane crash
- Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah praises Gen. Mohammed Ali Ahmad Al-Haddad for organizing the military
TRIPOLI: Libya on Saturday held a military funeral for the military chief of western Libya and four of his officers who died in a plane crash in Turkiye.
The bodies arrived at Tripoli International Airport in caskets draped with Libyan flags and were carried in a funeral procession with soldiers holding their photographs.
The private jet with Gen. Mohammed Ali Ahmad Al-Haddad, four other military officers, and three crew members crashed on Tuesday after taking off from Ankara, Turkiye’s capital, killing everyone on board. Libyan officials said a technical malfunction on the plane caused the crash, but the investigation is still ongoing in coordination with Turkiye.
Libya plunged into chaos after the country’s 2011 uprising toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi. The country split, with rival administrations in the east and west.
Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah’s government governs the country from Tripoli, and Prime Minister Ossama Hammad’s administration governs the east.
Dbeibah praised Al-Haddad during a funeral speech for organizing the military “despite overwhelming darkness and outlaw groups.”
Al-Haddad played a crucial role in the ongoing, UN-brokered efforts to unify Libya’s military, which has split, much like Libya’s institutions.
“Our martyrs weren’t just military leaders but also statesmen who were wise and disciplined and carried responsibility and believed that the national Libyan army is the country’s shield and ... that building institutions is the real path toward a stable and secure Libya,” Dbeibah said.
The burial will take place on Sunday in Misrata, about 200 km east of Tripoli, officials said.
The crash took place as the delegation was returning to Tripoli from Ankara, where it was holding defense talks aimed at boosting military cooperation.
A funeral ceremony was also held at Murted airfield base near Ankara, attended by the Turkish military chief and the defense minister.
Military chief Gen. Selcuk Bayraktaroglu also accompanied the bodies on the plane to Libya, Turkish public broadcaster TRT reported.
Two French crew members of a Falcon 50 jet died in the crash, a French diplomatic source said.
The source did not identify the French crew members but said the French Foreign Ministry was in contact with their families and providing them with assistance.
The Dassault Falcon 50 is a French-made long-range business jet.
The one that went down was chartered by a Malta-based private company, Harmony Jets, which, according to its website, performs maintenance in Lyon, France.
Harmony Jets declined to give information about the nationalities or identities of the crew on its plane.
Airport Haber, a Turkish site specialized in aeronautical news, said the pilot and copilot were both French and cited a Greek newspaper report that a Greek cabin attendant had joined the company two months ago.
France’s BEA, which handles civil aviation investigations, said on X that it was participating in the probe into the crash launched by Turkiye.
Turkiye’s transport minister, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, said the flight recorders would be analyzed in a “neutral” country.
Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said contact had been made with Germany to carry out that.
