An international conference secured commitments of US$242 million on Tuesday for projects to strengthen the Palestinian police and judicial systems, sending what Germany’s foreign minister described as a “clear signal of support” for the building of a Palestinian state.
The money will go to projects including police training, building a forensic lab and prisons, installing communications networks, and building and running courthouses.
Organizers sought commitments of US$190 million going into the meeting, which brought together officials including Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Arab League Secretary-General Amre Moussa.
“The result, I must say, is that a clear signal of support for the building of a Palestinian state was sent from here today,” said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the conference host.
Officials stressed that improving the civilian security infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority — which controls only the West Bank after last year’s takeover of Gaza by the Islamic militant Hamas — was essential to creating a Palestinian state.
“It is not enough to determine the borders of a future Palestinian state,” Livni said as the conference opened. “When handing over the keys to the Palestinians, we must know that our neighbor is not a failed state or a terror state but a partner in peace.”
International Middle East envoy Tony Blair said upgrading security was essential regardless of whether progress is made toward a hoped-for Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the end of the year, which would lead to the setting up of a Palestinian state.
“It matters to Palestinians that there is a proper authority for law and order but also ... it is easier, if there is that security capacity, for us then to put pressure for the [Israeli] occupation and the weight of it progressively to be lifted,” Blair said at a news conference.
Fayyad welcomed “a strong expression of support” for a Palestinian state.”
But he also said Israel must comply with international demands for a freeze in building Jewish settlements and change its “security behavior.”
He pointed to an Israeli raid on Tuesday in Nablus as “an example of the kind of activity that has to stop and stop immediately and promptly if, in fact, we are going to succeed in the provision of security to our people.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of