Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Monday he expects Hamas to hand in its weapons after Palestinian elections this summer, but he stopped short of threatening to disarm the Islamic militants by force.
A Hamas official dismissed the call, saying Abbas should first disarm his own Fatah movement.
In violence Monday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian taxi driver after his vehicle ran over and killed an Israeli at a roadblock near the West Bank city of Hebron, rescue workers said. Israeli security officials said it appeared to be a deliberate attempt to hit the Israeli. Palestinians said the driver had no political ties, and the roadblock was not a permanent fixture, indicating that the hit and run was an accident.
Abbas has been under pressure from the US and Israel to rein in armed groups, as called for in the internationally backed "road map" peace plan. While repeatedly calling on militants to halt their attacks on Israel, Abbas has refused to take action against them, preferring instead to negotiate.
Hamas, the largest Palestinian opposition group, has said it will participate in legislative elections, which are set to take place on July 17. It would be the first time the group has sought a place in the Palestinian parliament.
During a news conference at his office in Gaza, Abbas welcomed the Hamas desire to join the political process. But he said Hamas, which has carried out dozens of suicide bombings against Israelis, would be expected to give up its militant activities after the vote.
"When a movement or militia is transformed into a political party, I would say that there will then be no need for them to possess weapons," Abbas told reporters.
Indonesia yesterday began enforcing its newly ratified penal code, replacing a Dutch-era criminal law that had governed the country for more than 80 years and marking a major shift in its legal landscape. Since proclaiming independence in 1945, the Southeast Asian country had continued to operate under a colonial framework widely criticized as outdated and misaligned with Indonesia’s social values. Efforts to revise the code stalled for decades as lawmakers debated how to balance human rights, religious norms and local traditions in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. The 345-page Indonesian Penal Code, known as the KUHP, was passed in 2022. It
US President Donald Trump on Friday said Washington was “locked and loaded” to respond if Iran killed protesters, prompting Tehran to warn that intervention would destabilize the region. Protesters and security forces on Thursday clashed in several Iranian cities, with six people reported killed, the first deaths since the unrest escalated. Shopkeepers in Tehran on Sunday last week went on strike over high prices and economic stagnation, actions that have since spread into a protest movement that has swept into other parts of the country. If Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
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