Israel blocks Ramallah meeting with Arab ministers
Israel will not allow a planned meeting in the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, to go ahead, an Israeli official says, after media reported that Arab ministers planning to attend had been stopped from coming.
The delegation included ministers from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Palestinian Authority officials said. The ministers would require Israeli consent to travel to the West Bank from Jordan.
An Israeli official told Reuters news agency the ministers intended to take part in “a provocative meeting” to discuss promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“Such a state would undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the land of Israel,” the official said. “Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security.”
A Palestinian Authority official said that the issue of whether the meeting in Ramallah would be able to go ahead was under discussion.
‘Quiet part being said out loud’ about Israel’s settlement enterprise
Political analyst Ori Goldberg says the Israeli government’s new settlement announcement is a “big deal” that shows how brazen it has become in annexing land. Yet paradoxically, he calls it a “desperate move” driven by settlers who sense their political influence is fragile.
“Settlers are quite aware of the fact that come the next election cycle … their position inside and outside of Israel will not allow them to do this as easily,” Goldberg told Al Jazeera.
Establishing more settlements is “the only way for the settlers who are holding on to significant political power to make a statement”.
One of the leading figures in the pro-settler movement, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, understands this dynamic well and is intent on aggressively promoting settlement expansion, says Goldberg.
“Smotrich has absolutely no political livelihood if he is not able to say this as loudly and as clearly as he can,” he said. “He knows this is the only moment he can push this initiative forward and get some kind of national support.”
“The main difference following the almost two-year war in Gaza, is that all the quiet parts are spoken out loud,” he added.
‘Blatant violation’: Arab ministers forced to cancel Ramallah visit over Israeli curbs
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry says a planned visit to Ramallah by an Arab ministerial delegation has been called off today due to Israeli obstruction.
In a statement, the ministry said the delegation – including ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – was forced to cancel after Israel denied access through the airspace over the occupied West Bank, which it controls.
The delegation condemned the move as a “blatant violation” that “reflects the arrogance of the Israeli government” and its “disregard for international law”, according to the statement.
Israel’s barring of Arab delegation ‘dangerous escalation’: Palestinian VP
Hussein al-Sheikh, the vice president of Palestine, calls the decision to bar a Middle Eastern ministerial delegation from visiting the occupied West Bank a move “that reflects arrogant, provocative, and unprecedented behaviour”.
“We are examining, along with our Arab brothers, how to respond to this decision,” he said on X.
