Round and round in circles we go. I would put new in apostrophes instead.
Egypt, Qatar to propose new ‘partial’ Gaza deal: Report
Israeli news outlet Haaretz is reporting that mediators Egypt and Qatar will soon present a “partial or phased” ceasefire deal based on an outline formerly presented by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and “partial understandings” reached during failed negotiations in July.
The report comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Saturday said Israel would agree to a ceasefire on the condition that all the captives are released at once, following reports of renewed pressure from the mediators.
In a statement, Netanyahu’s office said agreeing to a deal would come in line with Israel’s conditions to end the war, including “disarming of Hamas, the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip, Israeli control of the Gaza perimeter, and the installation of non-Hamas and non-Palestinian Authority governance that will live in peace with Israel”.
A senior official close to Netanyahu, briefed on the discussions, noted that Hamas is unlikely to accept the full conditions demanded by Israel, Haaretz reported, adding that he warned that the Israeli government’s stance risks endangering the lives of captives.
ICJ Judge Chooses Israel Over Law — And the Fallout Could Be Explosive
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/icj-vice-president-lord-counting-me-stand-side-israel
ICJ Vice-President Julia Sebutinde has declared that God demands she be on the side of Israel, but there's no room for bias in law.
When the vice-president of the world’s highest court starts moonlighting as a preacher of the apocalypse, something has gone badly wrong somewhere hasn’t it? Julia Sebutinde, vice-President of the International Court of Justice, draped in the robes of international law, has chosen instead to wrap herself in the Book of Revelation, declaring from her pulpit that “the Lord is counting on me to stand on the side of Israel.”
One might expect this kind of sermonising from a televangelist in Texas or a YouTube prophet with a PayPal link, but not from a judge entrusted with deciding whether a state is committing genocide. The ICJ is supposed to embody the cool detachment of law; Sebutinde instead offered the fervour of fevered prophecy.
In confusing her pulpit with her bench, her faith with the law, she has managed the rare trick of weakening the institution she serves while simultaneously handing Benjamin Netanyahu the soundbite of his dreams. For the Court, her words are dynamite; for Israel, they are manna from heaven. And for those who still cling to the idea that international law might restrain power, they are a brutal reminder of how easily justice can be compromised when belief eclipses duty.
The Court can take action here and it must, not just for the sake of Palestine, but for the sake of its own sanctity too.
The International Court of Justice has always been in something of a precarious position. It possesses no army, no police, no hard means of enforcement. Its power lies in its reputation as a neutral arbiter of disputes between states above all other courts and, above all, in its credibility as the world’s conscience when confronting the most serious crimes.
At no point since its founding has this credibility been tested more acutely than in the current proceedings against Israel. South Africa’s case, alleging that Israel’s war in Gaza amounts to genocide, something the court has already plausibly accepted, has now also thrust the Court into the centre of the fiercest moral and political struggle of our age. It is against this backdrop that Julia Sebutinde, the Ugandan jurist who currently serves as Vice-President of the ICJ, delivered remarks that may prove devastating not only to her own reputation but to the authority of the institution itself.
How Mainstream Media Propaganda Actually Works | Ash Sarkar meets Owen Jones
