JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel was engaged in talks aimed at the demilitarization of southern Syria, implicitly acknowledging for the first time contacts with the new Syrian regime.
Following deadly sectarian violence in Syria last month, Netanyahu met with a Druze leader in Israel, reassuring him that his government was negotiating to safeguard the religious community in Syria.
“We are focusing on three things: Protecting the Druze community in the Sweida governorate, but not only there; creating a demilitarised zone stretching from the Golan Heights (passing) south of Damascus down to and including Sweida; and establishing a humanitarian corridor to allow the delivery of aid,” the premier said.
“These discussions are taking place right now, at this very moment,” he added, according to a video shared by his office.
Last week, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported that Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani had met an Israeli delegation led by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer in Paris on August 19.
Talks focused on de-escalation between the two countries and the situation in Druze-majority Sweida province after deadly sectarian clashes there last month, the news channel said
The French Foreign Ministry confirmed the meeting to AFP, saying it had been conducted “under US mediation” and that delegations from the two Middle Eastern neighbors had previously met on July 24 in the French capital.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since the overthrow of President Bashar Assad in December, and occupied much of a UN-patrolled demilitarised zone on the Syrian-held side of the armistice line between the two countries.
Damascus has confirmed holding indirect contacts with Israel with the intention of returning to the 1974 disengagement agreement that created the buffer zone.
In July, Israel bombed Syrian government forces in the capital and in Sweida province to force their withdrawal from the southern region amid a wave of sectarian violence.
On Wednesday night, Israeli forces conducted an airborne raid on a site near the Syrian capital after bombing it several times, SANA reported Thursday.
Israel did not confirm the raid, but Defense Minister Israel Katz said its forces operate “in all combat zones” to ensure the country’s security.
Israel says in talks ‘right now’ on south Syria demilitarization
https://arab.news/gewa6
Israel says in talks ‘right now’ on south Syria demilitarization
- Last week, Syrian news agency SANA reported that FM Asaad Al-Shaibani had met an Israeli delegation led by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer in Paris on Aug. 19
Israel blocks a Canadian delegation from visiting the occupied West Bank
- The Israeli statement said The Canadian-Muslim Vote receives the vast majority of its funding from Islamic Relief Canada, a subsidiary of Islamic Relief Worldwide that is listed as a terror entity by Israel
OTTAWA, Ontario: Israel on Tuesday blocked a private Canadian delegation that included six members of Parliament from entering the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli Embassy in Canada said the group was denied entry because of its links to Islamic Relief Worldwide, a nongovernmental organization that Israel lists as a terror group.
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said in a post on social media that Canada has expressed its “objections regarding the mistreatment of these Canadians.”
Ontario Member of Parliament Iqra Khalid, from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal party, said she was part of the delegation and was shoved several times by Israeli border officials.
She said she was pushed after trying to check on a member of the roughly 30-person delegation who was pulled aside for additional questioning after the group had been at the Allenby border crossing between Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Khalid said the border officials were able to see she was a lawmaker as they had taken her special passport, which looks different from a standard Canadian document.
The Israeli Embassy statement said Israel “will not allow the entry of organizations and individuals who are associated with designated terror entities.”
The delegation, sponsored by the group The Canadian-Muslim Vote, had planned to meet with displaced Palestinians in the West Bank, where the Israeli government recently approved the construction of 764 new homes in Jewish settlements.
The Israeli statement said The Canadian-Muslim Vote receives the vast majority of its funding from Islamic Relief Canada, a subsidiary of Islamic Relief Worldwide that is listed as a terror entity by Israel.
In Ottawa, the National Council of Canadian Muslims said the Israeli government’s refusal to allow Canadian parliamentarians into the country raises serious concerns about transparency and accountability.
British Columbia New Democrat Member of Parliament Jenny Kwan said the entire delegation had electronic travel authorizations to enter the West Bank but they were revoked “on the day of our arrival.”
In September, Canada joined several other countries in recognizing a Palestinian state, a significant shift in its policy and a move that came despite opposition from the United States. At the time, Canada said it hopes the recognition paves the way for peace based on two states living side by side.
