Qatar Emir Tells Kushner Two-State Solution Needed to End Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Author: Published: September 3, 2020

by Reuters and Algemeiner Staff

Qatar’s ruler, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, meets with White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 2, 2020. Photo: Qatar News Agency / Handout via Reuters.

Qatar’s ruler, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, told White House senior adviser Jared Kushner on Wednesday that Doha supported a two-state solution, with East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state, to end the conflict with Israel, his cabinet said.

Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, is in Qatar after a US-brokered accord last month for the United Arab Emirates and Israel to normalize ties.

Kushner hopes another Arab country will normalize ties within months. He visited the UAE this week with an Israeli delegation for normalization talks before also traveling to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Sheikh Tamim told Kushner Qatar remained committed to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, in which Arab nations offered Israel normalized ties in return for a statehood deal with the Palestinians and a full Israeli withdrawal from territories captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Iran nuclear deal members agree on preserving landmark pact

Author: Published: September 3, 2020

Iran and representatives of China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom met in Vienna as Washington presses on with its bid to restore sanctions on Tehran.

al-monitor EU representative Helga Schmid (L) of Germany and Iranian representative Abbas Araghchi attend a meeting of the Joint Commission on Iran’s nuclear program (JCPOA) in Vienna, Austria, on Dec. 6, 2019. Both also attended the JCPOA meeting held in Vienna on Sept. 1, 2020. Photo by JOE KLAMAR/AFP via Getty Images.
Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

TOPICS COVERED

Sanctions

Iran-US tensions

Iran Deal

Sep 1, 2020

The remaining signatories to the Iran nuclear deal met in Vienna today in an attempt to keep alive the landmark accord they reached with Tehran in 2015.

Officials from China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and Iran attended the European Union-chaired meeting in Austria, which came as the United States forges ahead with its controversial plan to restore international sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Senior EU official Helga Schmid, who chaired the meeting, tweeted after it wrapped up that “participants are united in resolve to preserve the #IranDeal and find a way to ensure full implementation of the agreement despite current challenges.”

The Donald Trump administration accuses Iran of failing to comply with the same nuclear deal the United States withdrew from as part of Washington’s “maximum pressure” campaign in 2018. Last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo initiated the process of reimposing international sanctions on Iran, which was rejected by nearly all of the 15-member United Nations Security Council.

Critics say the United States lacks the legal authority to reinstate sanctions, given that it walked away from the 2015 deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s representative in Vienna, tweeted after the meeting that the JCPOA’s joint commission reaffirmed today that the United States is no longer a participant to the nuclear deal, which makes its attempt to snap back sanctions “null and void.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN watchdog tasked with monitoring Iran’s compliance under the nuclear accord, said in June that Iran had enriched uranium at almost eight times what is allowed under the agreement. Tehran, which insists its nuclear program is used for peaceful purposes only, says Washington’s exit from the deal and reimposition of sanctions means that Iran no longer obligated by the enrichment limits.

In a breakthrough for the other parties to the nuclear pact, Iran agreed last week to grant inspectors from the IAEA access to two suspected nuclear sites following a meeting among the agency’s director general and key Iranian officials.

https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/09/iran-deal-vienna-eu-snapback-sanctions-nuclear-iaea-un.html

Israeli jets strike airport near Homs — Syrian media

Author: Published: September 3, 2020

Official state outlet says IDF targeted airbase in country’s central region; no casualties reported

By TOI STAFFToday, 11:38 pm  0

 

A Syrian surface-to-air missile explodes in the sky over southern Syria on August 31, 2020. (SANA)

Illustrative: A Syrian surface-to-air missile explodes in the sky over southern Syria on August 31, 2020. (SANA)

The Israeli military launched a number of missiles at targets near the central Syrian city of Homs late Wednesday night, according to Syrian state media reports.

The official SANA news outlet said that IDF jets fired on the T-4 Syrian military airbase, the largest in the country, from positions near the Syrian-Iraqi border to the east.

“Our air defenses responded and intercepted most of the rockets,” the report said, adding that there were no casualties.

The Israel Defense Forces did not comment on the reported strikes, in accordance with its policy.

The reported strikes come two days after Israel was said to have launched missiles at targets in Syria’s south, killing at least three people.

That appeared to be the first reported Israeli airstrike on targets in Syria since a July 20 attack, in which a Hezbollah fighter was killed, prompting the Lebanese terror group to vow revenge for his death and sparking as yet unresolved tensions.

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011. It has targeted government troops, allied Iranian forces, and fighters from the Lebanese Shiite terror group, Hezbollah.

It rarely confirms details of its operations in Syria, but says Iran’s presence in support of President Bashar Assad and Hezbollah is a threat and that it will continue its strikes.

Following the July 20 strike in which a Hezbollah fighter was killed, the Israeli military went on high alert along the Lebanese border, bracing for an attack by the group. According to the IDF, the terror group has attempted to exact its revenge against Israeli troops a number of times in the ensuing weeks, including with a failed sniper attack last Tuesday night.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Sunday that his group would kill an Israeli soldier in retaliation for the death of its operative in Syria the month before in order to establish “deterrence” against Israel.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-jets-strike-airport-near-homs-syrian-media/

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