https://arab.news/6wpev
BERLIN: German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul criticized Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip at a press conference with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar in Berlin on Thursday, again calling for more humanitarian aid to be allowed into the enclave.
Wadephul also decried the Israeli government’s announcement that it would allow 22 more settlements in the West Bank.
Germany would continue to deliver weapons to Israel, he added, saying the country needed to defend itself.
NICOSIA: The European Commission will propose setting up a regional firefighting hub based in Cyprus that could also assist Middle East countries in battling major wildfires, the head of the bloc’s executive arm said Wednesday.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in her annual address to the European Parliament that it was necessary to “give ourselves the tools” to combat wildfires made worse by climate change as summers become “hotter, harsher and more dangerous.”
“This summer, we all saw the pictures of Europe’s forests and villages on fire,” Von der Leyen said. “More than a million hectares were burned. ... The scale of the damage is enormous. And we know it is not a one-off.”
The announcement comes as reports have suggested that climate change worsened wildfires in southern Europe this summer, with the likelihood of similar wildfire outbreaks rising sharply.
Von der Leyen did not provide specifics on how the Cyprus-based hub will operate or what resources it will have.
Cypriot officials proposed setting up such a hub on the Mediterranean island nation as early as 2022, with additional firefighting aircraft that could quickly respond to wildfires, particularly in Mideast countries such as Lebanon, Jordan and Israel.
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides hailed the announcement on social media as “hugely important” for the region. His government spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis said the creation of such a hub would bolster the EU’s operational capabilities along its southern axis and also benefit the bloc’s Mideast neighbors.
In July, Cyprus suffered one of its worst wildfires in recent memory that killed two elderly people trying to flee the fast-moving flames in their car. Hundreds of homes were destroyed and more than 40 square miles of land in the southern foothills of the Troodos mountain range were scorched.
A few weeks before the wildfire’s outbreak, Cyprus’ Environment Minister Maria Panayiotou said the country was in the process of bolstering its fleet of firefighting aircraft. She said tenders were out for three fixed-wing aircraft with a water-carrying capacity of 3,000 liters (800 gallons), each in line with EU guidelines, as part of a five-year plan for the island nation to build a state-owned fleet with 10 such planes.
As in previous years, Jordan, Israel, Egypt and Lebanon dispatched helicopters and other fixed-wing aircraft to help Cypriot authorities put out July’s wildfire. Cyprus — the closest EU member country to the Middle East — often reciprocates when it receives calls for help.
BERLIN: The German government said Wednesday that Moscow was “testing” Ukraine’s allies after Russian drones violated Polish airspace in what it called a “very serious” incident.
Government spokesman Sebastian Hille told reporters the incident “once again shows the threat that we face” and how much Germany and other NATO countries “are being tested by Russia.”
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius meanwhile told the German parliament the drones were “clearly set on this course” and “did not have to fly this route to reach Ukraine.”
“There is absolutely no reason to believe that this was a course correction error or anything of the sort,” Pistorius said.
Poland was gathering its NATO allies for urgent talks Wednesday after the Russian drones flew into its airspace in an overnight attack on Ukraine.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk denounced the “large-scale provocation,” saying Poland had identified 19 violations of its airspace and shot down at least three drones.
Tusk said he had invoked NATO’s Article 4 under which a member can call urgent talks when it feels its “territorial integrity, political independence or security” are at risk — only the eighth time the measure has ever been used.
Pistorius said the drone incursion was an example of “what we have been talking about regularly for at least two years, namely that we are under constant threat from provocations by Russian forces.”
These threats could be seen “in the Baltic airspace, in the Baltic Sea... but also in Central Europe through hybrid attacks or through such (drone) flights,” he said.
Germany is cooperating with Poland in the form of consultations under Article 4, Pistorius added.
“We support this approach, which we consider to be correct,” he said.
NEW DELHI: The US and India have resumed trade talks, the two countries’ leaders announced on social media on Wednesday, an unexpected move after Donald Trump’s administration imposed 50 percent tariffs on Indian goods.
Since the beginning of his global trade war earlier this year, the US president has been promising a trade deal with India. Last month, however, he doubled the total duty on Indian exports, citing New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil.
The tariffs — the highest in Asia and among the greatest ever imposed on a major trading partner by any American administration — have caused a rift in India-US ties. New Delhi’s Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran estimated they could reduce India’s gross domestic product by half a percent this year alone.
After weeks of tensions, in which India was seen recalibrating its relations with China after a years-long standoff, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to X on Wednesday morning to say that US and Indian teams were again engaged in talks.
“India and the US are close friends and natural partners,” he said.
“I am confident that our trade negotiations will pave the way for unlocking the limitless potential of the India-US partnership.”
Modi’s post was in response to Trump’s announcement on Truth Social that he was looking forward to speaking to his “good friend, Prime Minister Modi” in the coming weeks.
“I am pleased to announce that India, and the United States of America, are continuing negotiations to address the Trade Barriers between our two Nations,” he said. “I feel certain that there will be no difficulty in coming to a successful conclusion.”
In April, the Trump administration said it was imposing a 25 percent reciprocal tariff on Indian goods to rectify trade imbalances. Though a new deal was expected in July it was not approved by Trump, leading to a breakdown in talks.
In early August, the White House said India’s oil imports were helping fund Russia’s war in Ukraine and doubled the tariffs to 50 percent.
The new turn in negotiations comes after Modi’s recent visit to China, where he met with President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s leaders’ summit on Aug. 31.
The trip marked a thaw in relations between the Asian giants, which had been locked in a years-long standoff over their disputed Himalayan border.
The meeting with Xi has been seen as part of efforts to recalibrate India’s foreign policy, which over the past few years was strongly US-oriented.
Manoj Kewalramani, chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Research Program and a China studies fellow at the Takshashila Institution, said he expected engagements with Beijing to continue as part of a “process of defining a new equilibrium,” along with India’s participation in the SCO and BRICS — a grouping that includes Brazil, Russia, and China, and which is the most powerful geopolitical forum outside of the Western world.
“Delhi’s approach to Beijing is predominantly a function of India’s development, security and broader global interests,” he told Arab News.
“Expect this process to continue regardless of a deal with the US. Likewise, expect India to remain engaged with the SCO and BRICS. These are important platforms that further India’s multi-alignment policy.”
STRASBOURG, France: The European Commission president said Wednesday she would seek sanctions and a partial trade suspension against Israel over the war in Gaza, an announcement that marked a sharp turnaround for Ursula von der Leyen, a longtime supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The 27-nation EU is deeply divided in its approach to Israel and the Palestinians, and it’s unclear whether a majority will be found to endorse the sanctions and trade measures.
Von der Leyen added that the commission “will set up a Palestine donor group next month,” part of which will focus on Gaza’s future reconstruction. She said the events in Gaza and the suffering of children and families “has shaken the conscience of the world.”
The Gaza Health Ministry says 126 Palestinians, including 26 children, have died of causes related to malnutrition since international experts announced famine in Gaza City on Aug. 22.
“Man-made famine can never be a weapon of war. For the sake of the children, for the sake of humanity. This must stop,” Von der Leyen said Wednesday, to applause in the European Parliament at its meeting in Strasbourg, France.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a social media post, said Von der Leyen had succumbed to pressures that undermine Israel-Europe relations. He said her actions will embolden Hamas.
Warning Gaza City residents to evacuate
Von der Leyen’s comments followed Israel’s military warning on Tuesday to Gaza City residents to evacuate ahead of its plans to take control of what it portrays as Hamas’ last remaining stronghold and where hundreds of thousands of people remain under conditions of famine.
An estimated 1 million Palestinians — around half of Gaza’s overall population — live in the area of north Gaza around Gaza City, according to the Israeli military and the United Nations. Many are exhausted from moving multiple times and unsure if traveling south will be safer.
The warnings directed at Gaza City — the first calling for its full evacuation — came before an Israeli strike on Tuesday targeting Hamas’ leaders in Qatar, where negotiations over ending the war in Gaza appeared to be at a standstill.
The strike on the territory of a U.S. ally drew widespread condemnation from countries in the Mideast and beyond. It also marked a dramatic escalation in the region and risked upending talks aimed at ending the war and freeing hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
Hamas claims its senior leadership survived the strike.
EU Commission plans to freeze Israel support
Von der Leyen also said she plans to freeze support to Israel given by the European Union’s executive branch, which would not require the approval of the 27 member countries.
It was not immediately clear how much financial support the executive branch, known as the European Commission, provides to Israel and what it is used for.
“We will put our bilateral support to Israel on hold. We will stop all payments in these areas, without affecting our work with Israeli civil society or Yad Vashem,” the Holocaust memorial, von der Leyen told EU lawmakers.
The commission also gives support to the Palestinian Authority.
DUSSELDORF: A Syrian man was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for killing three people in an Islamist-motivated knife attack at a summer festival in the German city of Solingen last year.
The court in Duesseldorf said Issa Al Hasan, who was 27 at the start of his trial in May, was a member of the Daesh group and had acted out of “treacherous and base motives.”
