An agreement has been reached for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to meet in Washington with US President George W. Bush next month, the White House announced Friday.
Bush and Sharon will discuss "the war on terror and the search for Israeli-Palestinian peace" when they meet April 14 at the White House, said Bush spokesman Scott McClellan.
The long-expected meeting comes two days after Bush is to welcome Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at his Texas ranch. Though McClellan did not provide a date, Bush also will meet with Jordan's King Abdullah next month as part of a series of consultations with key Middle East leaders.
Next week, a trio of US emissaries is expected to make its third trip to the region to talk with Israeli and Palestinian officials on Israel's plan to disengage from the Gaza Strip. Sharon has proposed dismantling nearly all Israeli settlements in Gaza and some in the West Bank.
After some initial hesitation, the administration has warmed to the idea of Israel relinquishing control of Gaza and moving the 7,500 Israeli Jews who live in the predominantly Palestinian area.
But questions remain, including administration concerns about whether such a unilateral move by Israel is consistent with the US-backed "road map" peace plan and whether it enhances -- or disrupts -- the prospects for a negotiated settlement between Israelis and Palestinians. As well, the land Israel may be ready to relinquish in Gaza and on the West Bank is unlikely to meet Arab expectations, which include part of Jerusalem as well as all the territory they lost in war with Israel in 1967.
A team of Bush administration officials, made up of Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, National Security Council Deputy Director Stephen Hadley and the council's Mideast specialist, Elliot Abrams, have traveled to the region twice in recent months.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
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North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
At a calligraphy class in Hanoi, Hoang Thi Thanh Huyen slides her brush across the page to form the letters and tonal marks of Vietnam’s unique modern script, in part a legacy of French colonial rule. The history of romanized Vietnamese, or Quoc Ngu, links the arrival of the first Christian missionaries, colonization by the French and the rise to power of the Communist Party of Vietnam. It is now reflected in the country’s “bamboo diplomacy” approach of seeking strength through flexibility, or looking to stay on good terms with the world’s major powers. A month after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) visited,
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