JERUSALEM: Israel says it has banned a Palestinian fighter turned peace activist from attending the Jerusalem premier of a documentary in which she appears.
The Shin Bet security agency said that Shifa Al-Qudsi was barred from entering Israel from the West Bank for “security reasons.”
In 2002, Al-Qudsi was preparing to carry out a suicide bombing when Israeli troops arrested her. She spent six years in prison, and after her release, got involved with “Combatants for Peace” — a group that seeks to end violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
Al-Qudsi is one of the activists featured in the documentary “Disturbing the Peace,” which premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival Thursday.
Al-Qudsi said she didn't understand the decision. “Since I got out of prison, I have been calling for peace,” she said.
Separately, Israeli police have arrested three Jewish minors suspected of having torched a car in an Arab village in retaliation for a Palestinian attack last month, officials said Thursday.
The Shin Bet internal security agency said the youths were detained after a June 10 attack in the village of Yafia near the northern Israeli city of Nazareth.
“Three Jewish minors have been arrested for having set on fire a vehicle in the village of Yafia... and for having sprayed graffiti calling for vengeance after the attack on the Sarona in Tel Aviv,” it said in a statement.
On June 8, two Palestinians shot dead four Israelis at the Sarona Market, a popular Tel Aviv nightspot.
Israeli security officials have said the pair had drawn their inspiration from Daesh.
Shin Bet said the minors “were preparing an attack in response to attacks carried out recently by Palestinians. But after the Tel Aviv attack, they decided to act”.
Two of the suspects are residents of northern Israel while the third is from a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, said Shin Bet.
They are expected to be indicted in the coming days, it added.
Israel blocks Palestinian peace activist from film fest
Israel blocks Palestinian peace activist from film fest
US and Iran slide towards conflict as military buildup eclipses nuclear talks
- Washington building up one of its biggest military deployments in the region since the invasion of Iraq in 2003
- Iran is expected to submit a written proposal in the coming days, a US official says
Iran and the United States are sliding rapidly towards military conflict as hopes fade for a diplomatic solution to their standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program, officials on both sides and diplomats across the Gulf and Europe say.
Iran’s Gulf neighbors and its enemy Israel now consider a conflict to be more likely than a settlement, these sources say, with Washington building up one of its biggest military deployments in the region since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Israel’s government believes Tehran and Washington are at an impasse and is making preparations for possible joint military action with the United States, though no decision has been made yet on whether to carry out such an operation, said a source familiar with the planning.
It would be the second time the US and Israel have attacked Iran in less than a year, following US and Israeli airstrikes against military and nuclear facilities last June.
Regional officials say oil-producing Gulf countries are preparing for a possible military confrontation that they fear could spin out of control and destabilize the Middle East.
Two Israeli officials told Reuters they believe the gaps between Washington and Tehran are unbridgeable and that the chances of a near‑term military escalation are high.
Some regional officials say Tehran is dangerously miscalculating by holding out for concessions, with US President Donald Trump boxed in by his own military buildup - unable to scale it back without losing face if there is no firm commitment from Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions.
“Both sides are sticking to their guns,” said Alan Eyre, a former US diplomat and Iran specialist, adding that nothing meaningful can emerge “unless the US and Iran walk back from their red lines - which I don’t think they will.”
“What Trump can’t do is assemble all this military, and then come back with a ‘so‑so’ deal and pull out the military. I think he thinks he’ll lose face,” he said. “If he attacks, it’s going to get ugly quickly.”
Two rounds of Iran-US talks have stalled on core issues, from uranium enrichment to missiles and sanctions relief.
When Omani mediators delivered an envelope from the US side containing missile‑related proposals, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi refused even to open it and returned it, a source familiar with the talks said.
After talks in Geneva on Tuesday, Araghchi said the sides had agreed on “guiding principles,” but the White House said there was still distance between them.
Iran is expected to submit a written proposal in the coming days, a US official said, and Araghchi said on Friday he expected to have a draft counterproposal ready within days.
But Trump, who has sent aircraft carriers, warships and jets to the Middle East, warned Iran on Thursday it must make a deal over its nuclear program or “really bad things” will happen.
He appeared to set a deadline of 10 to 15 days, drawing a threat from Tehran to retaliate against US bases in the region if attacked. The rising tensions have pushed up oil prices.
US officials say Trump has yet to make up his mind about using military force although he acknowledged on Friday that he could order a limited strike to try to force Iran into a deal.
“I guess I can say I am considering that,” he told reporters.
The possible timing of an attack is unclear. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 28 to discuss Iran. A senior US official said it would be mid-March before all US forces were in place.
