The US is seizing on a lull in terror attacks on Israel to send the State Department's ranking Mideast official to the region next week to assess chances of serious peacemaking between Israel and Palestinian leaders.
Announcement Friday of the trip by Assistant Secretary of State William Burns to Israel, Palestinian areas and Egypt was coupled with a positive US response to thousands of armed Palestinian police taking up positions in northern Gaza to deter attacks on Israel.
Simultaneously, violent Palestinian groups that have been conducting a guerrilla war against Israel promised to suspend their rocket fire.
There have been pauses in their assaults in the past, but with a new Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, taking over from Yasser Arafat and the administration envisioning opportunities for the Palestinians to get a state the latest pledge by Hamas could be an indication of a possible cease-fire.
Even so, Hamas, which the State Department has denounced as a terrorist organization, remains sworn to Israel's destruction.
Steps taken by Abbas, meanwhile, to tighten security are reason for encouragement, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
"We have always stressed how important it is for the Palestinians to organize themselves to end the violence, and we welcome steps that are being taken in that direction," he said.
Also, Boucher said the Bush administration was pleased with security coordination between Israel and Palestinians. He said again that Palestinian leaders must send a clear message that terror will not be tolerated.
Burns has already been in telephone contact several times with Abbas. And while his schedule was withheld by the State Department it appears obvious that Burns will meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders while also going to Egypt to see officials there.
At Senate hearings this week, Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice forecast a concerted and personal involvement in Mideast peacemaking.
Egypt has become more active, as well, and there are reports it will host a high-level meeting in Cairo between Palestinian and Hamas leaders in a move toward a cease-fire.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
Four contenders are squaring up to succeed Antonio Guterres as secretary-general of the UN, which faces unprecedented global instability, wars and its own crushing budget crisis. Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal’s Macky Sall are each to face grillings by 193 member states and non-governmental organizations for three hours today and tomorrow. It is only the second time the UN has held a public question-and-answer, a format created in 2016 to boost transparency. Ultimately the five permanent members of the UN’s top body, the Security Council, hold the power, wielding vetoes over who leads the
A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China’s technological leaps. The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21km race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, said a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race began. That was faster than the human world record holder, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race. The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward
RSS