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Mahmoud Abbas Mahmoud Abbas Palestine Liberation Organization Israel-Palestine 20030311  
  Mahmoud Abbas Palestinian Authority Israel-Palestine 20030420  

Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran-backed Palestinian terror groups said to leave Syria under pressure from Sharaa
2025-05-24
[IsraelTimes] Flight of pro-Assad factions comes amid Trump’s demand that the new regime crack down on Palestinian terrorism as a condition for sanctions relief

Leaders of Iran-backed Paleostinian terror groups in Syria close to former president Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
 have left the country under pressure from the regime of Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the ouster of the Iran-backed strongman in December, Paleostinian sources said Friday.

The armed factions’ flight comes amid a White House demand that Sharaa crack down on Paleostinian terror groups as a condition for the removal of Washington’s sanctions on Damascus. There have also been unconfirmed reports that Syria’s new regime has held indirect talks with Israel on potential normalization between the two countries, despite Israeli leaders’ deep suspicion of Sharaa due to his jihadi past.

The crackdown did not appear to affect the Syrian presence of Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
-based Hamas
..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
, which is also backed by Iran, nor that of Fatah, the secularist faction that dominates the West Bank-based Paleostinian Authority.

The leader of one Iran-backed Paleostinian group, who left Syria after Assad’s overthrow, said on condition of anonymity that "most of the Paleostinian factional leadership that received support from Tehran has left Damascus" to countries including Leb
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel...
. Another faction leader still in Damascus confirmed the development.

The first faction leader said "the factions have fully handed over weapons in their headquarters or with their cadres" to the authorities, who also received "lists of names of faction members possessing individual weapons" and demanded that those arms be handed over.

A third Paleostinian faction source in Damascus said that after Assad’s overthrow, "we gathered our members’ weapons ourselves and handed them over, but we have kept individual light weapons for protection... with the [authorities’] authorization."

In Yarmouk, a Paleostinian refugee camp in the Damascus suburbs that was devastated during Syria’s civil war, factional banners usually displayed at the entrance were gone and party buildings were closed and unguarded, AFP photographers said. Factional premises elsewhere in Damascus also appeared closed.

Many Paleostinians fled to Syria in 1948 following the creation of Israel, and from the mid-1960s Syria began hosting the leadership of armed Paleostinian factions. Iran-backed Paleostinian groups enjoyed considerable freedom of movement under Assad.

Washington, which designates some of the factions as terrorist organizations, last week announced it was lifting sanctions on Syria. The White House had earlier said the new Syrian regime would have to comply with demands, including suppressing terrorism and preventing "Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and its proxies from exploiting Syrian territory."

According to the White House, during a meeting in Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
 last week, US President Donald Trump
...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party...
 gave Sharaa a list of demands that included deporting "Paleostinian terrorists."

The Iran-backed Paleostinian factions in Syria, along with other terror groups from Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
, are part of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance®, which is openly committed to Israel’s destruction. Some Axis members fought alongside Assad’s forces when civil war erupted in Syria in 2011.

In neighboring Lebanon, a government official told AFP that the disarmament of Paleostinian camps, where factions usually handle security, would begin next month based on an accord with visiting Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
, who also met with Sharaa in Damascus last month.

’UNWELCOME’
The Iran-backed Paleostinian groups in Syria "did not receive any official request from the authorities to leave Syrian territory" but instead faced restrictions, the first faction leader told AFP.

Some factions "were de facto prohibited from operating," or their members were arrested, he said, adding that the new authorities have seized property from "private homes, offices, vehicles and military training camps in the Damascus countryside and other provinces."

Syrian authorities did not immediately provide a comment to AFP when asked about the matter.

Earlier this month, officials from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine-General Command (PFLP-GC) said Syrian authorities briefly detained factional chief Talal Naji.

In April, Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
 said Syrian official Khaled Khaled and organizing committee member Yasser al-Zafri were tossed into the calaboose "without explanation." A source from the group told AFP on Friday that they were still detained.

The second Paleostinian faction leader, from a group that has remained in Damascus with limited representation, said there was "no cooperation between most of the Paleostinian factions and the new Syrian administration."

"The response to our contact is mostly cold or delayed. We feel like unwelcome guests, though they don’t say that clearly," he added, also requesting anonymity.

A Hamas official in Gaza told AFP that it had "channels of communication with our brothers in Syria."

Hamas has minimal representation in Syria, having left the country after the civil war there began. Hamas’s ties with the Assad regime had deteriorated amid the terror group’s support for opposition demands.

Yarmouk camp resident Marwan Mnawar, a retiree, said that "nobody knows what happened to the factional leadership," adding that "people just want to live, they are exhausted" by the conflict and factional infighting.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Report: Hamas and Islamist leaders to leave Lebanon for Qatar and Turkey
2025-05-23
[NAHARNET] Wednesday's talks between President Joseph Aoun and Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
 led to a ''roadmap for addressing the crisis of Paleostinian camps in Leb
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
 on all levels, especially as to the issue of chaos, arms proliferation and the transformation of some camps into havens for outlaws,'' al-Binaa newspaper reported on Thursday.

Amid reports that the Hamas
..always the voice of sweet reason...
 Movement has ''expressed readiness for cooperation,'' the daily said ''leaders from Hamas and fundamentalist organizations will leave Lebanon within 15 days, likely to Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
 and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
Aoun and Abbas met in Baabda on Wednesday and backed placing all weapons under Lebanese state control, as they discussed efforts to disarm gangs in Paleostinian refugee camps.

A joint statement from the Lebanese presidency said the two leaders shared the "belief that the era of weapons outside Lebanese state control has ended" and backed the principle that arms should be held exclusively by the state.

Abbas' three-day trip is his first to Lebanon since 2017.

The country hosts about 222,000 Paleostinian refugees, according to the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
 agency UNRWA, many living in overcrowded camps beyond state control.

A Lebanese government source said Abbas' visit aimed to set up a mechanism to remove weapons from the camps. The source requested anonymity as they were not allowed to brief the media.

The statement said the two sides agreed "to form a joint Lebanese-Paleostinian committee to follow up on the situation of Paleostinian camps in Lebanon and work on improving the living conditions of refugees, while respecting Lebanese illusory sovereignty and committing to Lebanese laws."

By longstanding convention, the Lebanese Army stays out of the Paleostinian camps, where Abbas' Fatah, its rival Hamas and other gangs handle security.

Hamas claimed attacks on Israel from Lebanon during more than a year of hostilities involving its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. The festivities, sparked by the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
 war, largely subsided after a truce in November.

"The monopoly of weapons should be in the hands of the state," Aoun said in an interview with Egyptian channel ON TV on Sunday.

The army, he added, had dismantled six Paleostinian military training camps -- three in Bekaa, one south of Beirut and two in the north -- and seized weapons.

Under the November ceasefire agreement, the army has also been dismantling bad boy group Hezbollah's infrastructure in the country's south.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Geagea says govt must set timeframe for disarming Palestinian camps
2025-05-23
[NAHARNET] The government must set a timeframe not exceeding a few weeks to collect Paleostinian arms inside and outside camps and become in charge of security, Lebanese Forces
A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
 Samir Geagea
....Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005....
 said Thursday as Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
 visited Leb
...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
Abbas and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun agreed that Paleostinian factions won't use Lebanon as a launchpad for any attacks against Israel, and to remove weapons that aren't under the authority of the Lebanese state.

Geagea praised Abbas saying he has always worked towards maintaining "healthy Lebanese-Paleostinian ties".

"Abbas' statements have refuted every excuse the Axis of Resistance® was hiding behind in order to continue carrying illegal weapons," Geagea said, adding that time has come for Lebanese people to have a real state with monopoly on weapons.

A joint statement by Aoun and Abbas said that both sides have agreed that weapons should only be with the Lebanese state, and the existence of "weapons outside the control of the Lebanese state has ended."
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Palestinian official says Lebanon camps to keep light weapons
2025-05-21
[NAHARNET] The issue of Paleostinian arms in Leb
...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
 might be the ''last'' topic on the agenda of Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
 during his visit to Lebanon this week, a Beirut-based Paleostinian official said on Tuesday.

''This topic is new and is not the priority for the Lebanese and Paleostinians,'' Haitham Zuaiter, a member of the Paleostinian central and national councils, told al-Jadeed television.

''There is no proposal for removing Paleostinian arms in Lebanon,'' Zuaiter said, reminding that the national dialogue sessions chaired by Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri

...perennial Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
 had called for ''removing Paleostinian arms outside the camps and controlling them inside the camps'' and that ''President Joseph Aoun has called for the removal of heavy-caliber arms.''

''We support bringing Paleostinian arms under control inside the Paleostinian camps within the framework of serious discussions and a drastic solution,'' Zuaiter went on to say.

He added: ''Honestly we cannot talk about the issue of Paleostinian arms without resolving the Paleostinian issue in the Lebanese arena in a comprehensive way.''

Warning that Israel might target Paleostinian camps in Lebanon the same it has targeted refugee camps in the Paleostinian territories, Zuaiter said Abbas will tell Lebanese officials that ''the Lebanese Army should not enter the Paleostinian camps by force.''

''Paleostinian security forces are in charge of security inside the camps and would coordinate with Lebanese authorities,'' the Paleostinian officials added, noting that ''arms must be under the authority of the Lebanese state.''

''What's needed is to prevent a repetition of the (1982) Sabra and Shatila massacre and had there been light weapons (in the hands of the Paleostinians at the time), this massacre would not have happened,'' Zuaiter added.
Related:
Mahmoud Abbas: 2025-05-20 Aoun says exchanging messages with Hezbollah, disarmament can't be done hastily
Mahmoud Abbas: 2025-05-20 Report: Decision to disarm Palestinian camps taken, Abbas' visit decisive
Mahmoud Abbas: 2025-05-13 Al Jazeera says Palestinian Authority has allowed it to resume work in West Bank
Related:
Nabih Knobby Berri 05/17/2025 Ortagus to visit Beirut in a week, says occupation doesn't justify Hezbollah arms
Nabih Knobby Berri 05/05/2025 Berri reportedly warns that ''residents'' may act to liberate 5 points — Naharnet
Nabih Knobby Berri 04/27/2025 Why has Hezbollah escalated its rhetoric on arms?

Related:
Joseph Aoun 05/20/2025 Report: Hezbollah quietly ceding posts north of Litani to army
Joseph Aoun 05/20/2025 Aoun says exchanging messages with Hezbollah, disarmament can't be done hastily
Joseph Aoun 05/17/2025 Ortagus to visit Beirut in a week, says occupation doesn't justify Hezbollah arms

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Aoun says exchanging messages with Hezbollah, disarmament can't be done hastily
2025-05-20
[NAHARNET] President Joseph Aoun has said diplomatic contacts are ongoing especially with the U.S. to pressure Israel to stop its attacks on Leb
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
, adding that Deputy U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Morgan Ortagus will visit Lebanon soon.

In an interview late Sunday with Egyptian digital television channel ON E, Aoun said the Israeli occupation of five Lebanese hills is preventing the Lebanese army from deploying on the border. "We are in constant contact with the U.S. to urge it to pressure Israel," he said, explaining that Lebanon is seeking a truce deal and not a normalization of ties with Israel.

"We have asked for indirect negotiations to demarcate the land border the same way we did with the maritime border" with Israel, Aoun told the Egyptian channel.

As for his dialogue with Hezbollah over the handover of its weapons, Aoun said he and Hezbollah are exchanging messages but that the group's security situation does not allow it to have meetings. "Hezbollah represents a segment of the Lebanese population and has the right to participate in the politics but not to keep its arms."

Aoun said that addressing the Hezbollah's disarmament should not be done too hastily, adding that Lebanon has good relations with Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
but does not accept any foreign intervention. "If the U.S.-Iranian negotiations reach a conclusion, it will affect the region and Lebanon," he said.

Aoun will also discuss this week with Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
 the disarmament of Paleostinian camps.

By long-standing convention, Lebanon's army stays out of the Paleostinian camps -- where Abbas's Fatah movement, bad boy group Hamas
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
 and other gangs are present -- and leaves the factions to handle security.

Last month, the army said it had arrested several Lebanese and Paleostinians in connection with rocket attacks towards Israel.

Abbas last visited the country in 2017 and will arrive in Lebanon on May 21
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Report: Decision to disarm Palestinian camps taken, Abbas' visit decisive
2025-05-20
[NAHARNET] A decision to disarm the Paleostinian refugee camps in Leb
...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?...
 has been taken and Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
' visit to Beirut on Wednesday will be ''decisive in this regard in terms of devising the plans and executive mechanisms,'' Lebanese sources informed on the Paleostinian file said.

''Lebanese officials prefer that the plans be Paleostinian and shared with the Lebanese side, with Lebanon pushing for the disarmament process to be among the Paleostinian themselves and led by the Fatah Movement,'' the sources told ad-Diyar newspaper.

''The Hamas
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
 Movement for its part has sent positive signals on its readiness to hand over weapons if there is a major Lebanese-Paleostinian decision in this regard, as eyes remain fixed on the hardline organizations inside the camps and whether they will cooperate or the matter will require surgical measures carried out by Fatah and its allies,'' the sources added.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Al Jazeera says Palestinian Authority has allowed it to resume work in West Bank
2025-05-13
[IsraelTimes] Qatari network was banned by PA from broadcasting in the territory following ‘misinformation’ and ‘incitement’ in its coverage of Ramallah’s crackdown on terror groups

Al Jazeera’s Ramallah bureau chief said Monday that the news channel can resume working in the West Bank, after Paleostinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas'>the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
 lifted a ban that had been in place since January.

"Paleostinian President Mahmoud Abbas has decided to lift the ban on the Al Jazeera network and allow its crews to resume work in the Paleostinian territories starting tomorrow morning," Waleed Omari said, in a statement to the Israeli-Paleostinian Foreign Press Association.

A Paleostinian official confirmed the removal of the ban to AFP, but the PA did not issue a formal announcement.

The Paleostinian Authority in January ordered the temporary suspension of Al Jazeera broadcasts across the West Bank, against the backdrop of the Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
i network’s critical coverage of Ramallah’s crackdown on terror groups in the territory.

The PA accused the network of "misinformation, incitement, sedition and interference in Paleostinian internal affairs."

In late December, Al Jazeera had condemned what it said was an "incitement campaign" by PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party against the network in some areas of the West Bank.

"This campaign follows the network’s coverage of festivities between Paleostinian security forces and resistance fighters in Jenin," Al Jazeera said in a statement at the time, lionizing the anti-PA fighters, many of whom were affiliated with the Hamas
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
 and Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
 terror groups.

The Qatari broadcaster has close ties with Hamas and has long been accused of having a distinct anti-Israel slant.

The network is already banned from broadcasting from Israel, amid a long-running feud with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which has only worsened during the ongoing war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
. Israeli officials have long complained about Al Jazeera’s coverage, which they say is heavily influenced by Hamas and endangers IDF troops in Gaza.

A court, reviewing the temporary ban, determined that there was a "close connection" between Al Jazeera and Hamas, that some Al Jazeera news hounds in Gaza had turned themselves into "assistants and partners" with Hamas, and that some of them had even carried out terror attacks.
Related:
Al Jazeera 05/12/2025 Report: Body of US journalist Austin Tice, missing since 2012, found in Syria
Al Jazeera 05/12/2025 'Secret Codes': Israelis are looking for sheikh lovers in the army and secret services
Al Jazeera 05/11/2025 Ex-hostage Omer Shem Tov says he refused captors’ demand to fell building on IDF troops

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Reports: Aoun may attend KSA talks with Trump, Bin Salman, Abbas and Sharaa
2025-05-13
[NAHARNET] President Joseph Aoun may attend a meeting in Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
 with U.S. President Donald Trump
...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried....
, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, Syrian interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa and Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
, media reports said. ''President Aoun will attend the summit based on Saudi Arabia's request and the insistence of Prince Mohammad bin Salman,'' the reports said.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
PA has stopped paying over 1,600 prisoners as part of reform — sources
2025-05-12
[IsraelTimes] Two Palestinian sources familiar with issues concerning Palestinian security prisoners tell the Times of Israel that the Palestinian Authority has, as of this month, stopped paying the salaries of 1,612 prisoners held in Israeli prisons.

The move comes as the PA is implementing its new welfare system, which will offer stipends to Palestinians strictly based on financial need and will not account for the length of one’s prison sentence, as was the case in the previous scheme.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas signed a decree in February cancelling legislation that codified the old so-called “pay-to-slay” system, but it has taken time to come into effect, and some prisoners have continued receiving stipends based on the old policy until now.

Last month, The Times of Israel revealed that the PA invited the US to certify that the new system is in place starting June 1.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon and Syria's moves to centralize power lead to crackdowns on Palestinian factions
2025-05-11
[AnNahar] Leb
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
 and Syria are cracking down on Paleostinian factions that for decades have had an armed presence in both countries and which on some occasions were used to plan and launch attacks against Israel.

The crackdown comes as Syria's new rulers under Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
 are pursuing officials of the former government under Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
, including those in the ousted president's web of security agencies. Syria's most prominent Paleostinian factions were key allies of the Assad dynasty in both war and peace time and closely cooperated on security matters.

It also comes after Iran's main regional ally, Lebanon's Hezbollah, was weakened after over a year of war with Israel and as Lebanon's new government vows to monopolize all arms under the government, including Hezbollah and Paleostinian factions in Lebanon.

On Wednesday, Syria's President Ahmad al-Sharaa said his government is holding indirect talks with Israel through mediators, who he did not name. He said the aim of the indirect negotiations is to ease tensions after intense Israeli Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s on Syria.

A crackdown on hardline Paleostinian factions, including the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
, which took part with Hamas
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
 in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, is likely to be welcomed by Israel.

A Syrian government official declined to comment on the matter.

A Paleostinian official who had been in Damascus for more than 40 years, and who recently left the country, said Paleostinian factions in Syria were forced to hand over their weapons and the Paleostinian embassy will be the only side that Syria's new authorities will deal with. The Paleostinian groups would only be limited to social and charitable activities, the official added, who spoke on condition of anonymity fearing for their safety.

Paleostinian factions for decades have lived in refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria and have been involved militarily both locally and regionally. They closely aligned themselves with the Assads and later with Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose powerful military arsenal grew over the past few decades. Over time, many of the leaders of groups like Hamas and the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad were based in those countries.

However,
a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all...
 the regional developments of late 2024 that went against Iran's favor in the Levant began to take shape in recent weeks among the Paleostinian factions in Lebanon and Syria.

"No weapons will be allowed in the (Paleostinian refugee) camps. The Syrian state will protect citizens whether they are Paleostinians or Syrians," said Syrian political analyst Ahmad al-Hamada, whose view points reflect those of the government. "It is not allowed for Paleostinian factions that were arms for Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and the Assad regime to keep their weapons."

When asked whether the state will prevent any attacks against Israel, al-Hamada said Syria will not allow its territories to be used as a launch pad against any neighbor.

Syrian authorities in Damascus this week detained two bigwigs of the Iran-backed Paleostinian Islamic Jihad group and briefly detained and questioned the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine-General Command, FLP-GC, that since its founding had been a key ally of Assad.

Another Paleostinian official with one of the factions that had been based in Syria said the developments caught them by surprise, and that regardless of who runs the country they are keen to have good relations with Syria's new rulers and maintain the country's stability.

"We hope that this wouldn't have happened. But we don't have a say in this," the official said, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are still based in the country. "We are simply guests here."

The government in Lebanon, which is trying to expand its army's influence in the south near Israel, has also been reclaiming dozens of informal border crossings with Syria, which were key arteries for Iran and its allies to transport weapons and fighters over the years. Many of those crossings were held by PFLP-GC forces of Evil who have given some of those positions up to the Lebanese Army after Assad's downfall.

Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
, who Paleostinian factions in Syria oppose, visited Damascus last month for the first time in more than a decade and he is scheduled to visit Lebanon on May 21.

After Israel intensified its airstrikes on Lebanon in response to Hamas allegedly firing rockets from southern Lebanon in late March, the Lebanese government for the first time called out the Paleostinian group and arrested nearly 10 suspects involved in the operation. Hamas was pressured by the military to turn in three of their forces of Evil from different refugee camps.

Ahmad Abdul-Hadi, a Hamas representative in Lebanon, was also summoned by the head of one of the country's top security agencies over the incident and was formally told that Hamas should stop its military activities.

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun, who is backed by the United States and Arab countries rather than Hezbollah and Iran, has said armed factions should not be allowed to "shake up national security and stability." His statement has set a new tone after decades of tolerating the presence of armed Paleostinian groups in refugee camps which have led to armed conflict in the crowded ghettos.

"I think we're in unprecedented times, politically speaking," said Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. "The (Lebanese) army is acting out of a political will, with its former chief now the president. There is a strong political thrust behind the army."

A Lebanese government official familiar with the initiative said that Hamas was told to hand over wanted forces of Evil and end all its military activity in the country. He added that there is also a plan to gradually give up Hamas' weapons, which coincides with the visit to Lebanon of Abbas, leader of the rival Fatah group.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Putin: Gaza is experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe in the full sense of the word
2025-05-11
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Gaza Strip is experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe in the full sense of the word, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on May 10.
Tell Hamas to open their overstuffed warehouses full of stolen humanitarian supplies. That’ll take care of the problem.
At a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Kremlin, the head of the Russian state stated that Moscow is concerned about the situation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone, is monitoring its development and is providing assistance to the Palestinian people.

"We are following with concern and empathy the tragic events in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone, which have claimed the lives of more than 51,000 people.
So the Hamas official claims. No way of knowing if it’s true, but repeated analysis shows they definitely lie about how many of that number are fighters versus civilians.
Tensions are also growing on the West Bank. The Gaza Strip is experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe in the full sense of the word," Putin said.

The President also noted that the situation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone continues to deteriorate, and a sustainable settlement of the conflict is only possible on the basis of the two-state principle. Putin suggested that Abbas discuss possible additional steps by Russia that would contribute to de-escalation of the conflict.

Abbas, in turn, thanked Putin for his political support for Palestine and the supply of humanitarian aid. He stressed that he is categorically against US President Donald Trump's idea of ​​resettling Palestinians from Gaza as a "way" to resolve the conflict.
They’re in no way related to the Arab population in the West Bank, so he doesn’t care that they have minimal food, no power, clean water, or sanitation, and no roofs over their heads. Though to be fair, only the food and roofs are new — the problems with power, water, and sanitation go back for years.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, Putin previously noted that peace in the Middle East cannot be restored as long as historical injustice against Palestine persists.

The President pointed out that the key condition for peace in the region is the implementation of the two-state formula (Israeli and Palestinian), previously approved by the UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.
But rejected by Israel so long as the PLO or Hamas are the counterparties, so the UN’s opinion simply does not matter. Come back in a generation or two, and we’ll see if their attitude has improved.
The President also stated that Russia will do everything possible to resolve the grave and long-standing Middle East crisis.
That’s nice.
Earlier in May, Gaza Health Ministry Director General Munir al-Barash noted that the critical food shortage and lack of access to clean drinking water among residents of the sector allowed the UN to officially recognize the enclave as a famine zone.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
‘Thousands’ demand end to Gaza war, two-state solution at Jerusalem ‘peace summit’
2025-05-10
[IsraelTimes] Second conference of its kind since Oct. 7 draws broader ideological mix amid rising despair over hostages’ fate; ex-PM Olmert attends event, which Macron and Abbas address remotely.
Drawing from not only the far left this time, but also the occasional center left politician looking for a few additional voters. Oddly enough, all of the article’s photos are cropped too narrowly to allow estimation of the size of the audience seated in the auditorium, but we are intended to assume that at least 2,000 attended... which is not impressive. At least while seated in velvet stadium seats they won’t be rioting in the streets and attacking the soldiers and police on duty, like they usually do.
Israel’s beleaguered peace camp gathered for a two-day convention in Jerusalem from Thursday to Friday, uniting around the shared goals of a hostages-for-ceasefire deal and negotiated end to the Israel-Paleostinian conflict.

The gathering came to a head Friday morning as thousands of peaceniks packed an auditorium in the city’s International Convention Center to hear speeches from politicians, bereaved families and left-wing activists.

Organized by a broad coalition of left-wing and shared society groups, the "People’s Peace Summit" was the second conference of its kind held since the Hamas
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
-led October 7 onslaught.

This year’s event attracted a broader swath of participants than its forerunner in Tel Aviv last summer. Amid rising despair over the hostages’ fate as Israel enters its 19th month of war, some center-leaning opposition figures took to the stage alongside seasoned members of the Israeli left.

Politicians of international renown also partook in the conference, with French President Emmanuel Macron expressing his support for the gathering in a pre-recorded address, as well as Paleostinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas'>the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
Macron lauded the conference as a "signal of hope in a time marked by pain."

He went on to call the two-state solution the "only possibility for peace and security for all," noting that La Belle France in June will co-chair a conference to this end alongside Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
A two-state arrangement, he added, must be based on three prerequisites — the release of hostages, disarmament of Hamas and reform of the Paleostinian Authority.

Abbas, who spoke not long after Macron, also called for a two-state solution with East Jerusalem as the capital of a prospective Paleostinian state.

The aging PA leader’s former negotiating partner, former prime minister Ehud Olmert, sat in the auditorium’s front row, and later addressed a smaller panel at the heels of the main speaker lineup.

Olmert touted a new plan that he and former PA foreign affairs minister Nasser al-Kidwa had drawn up for a two-state solution.

The ex-premier called for an interim security force to ensure that Hamas does not return to power, and a new administration linked to the Paleostinian Authority that can rebuild Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
 without any involvement of the terror group.

"We must pull out from Gaza," Olmert said during the panel. "Gaza is Paleostinian and not Israeli. It needs to be part of a Paleostinian state."

’PEACE THE BEST GUARANTOR OF SECURITY’
The wider ideological spread of this year’s conference meant that some speakers met opposition from the crowd, as did National Unity MK Alon Schuster.

"I believe that the first job of the State of Israel is to protect the security of its citizens in any place, at any time," said Schuster. "At the same time, we must strengthen the political, economic and moral basis for our existence in the Middle East by signing peace agreements... Peace is the best guarantor of security."

When mentioning his party chairman Benny Gantz, Schuster was met by a wave of boos from the crowd.

"I am diverging from the written remarks to beg you, pursuers of peace, do not omit [anyone] from the peace and democracy camp, even those who don’t agree with everything you say," the politician urged.

As he walked off stage, some called on him to invoke a two-state solution, which he neglected to explicitly mention in his speech.

While this year’s confab featured a few new faces, many of the keynote speakers remained the same, such as Labor MKs Gilad Kariv and Naama Lazimi, who ascended to the stage as a pair. Taking turns talking, the two denounced not just the ongoing war but the government’s "de facto annexation" in the West Bank.

"Under the auspices of this war, the annexation machine in the West Bank is grinding on at a dizzying and violent mostly peaceful pace," said Kariv.

Hadash-Ta’al chairman Ayman Odeh, who was also at last year’s event, gave an impassioned speech to loud applause from the audience. He began with an anecdote about a mother and her three children who are chased down by a pack of hungry wolves.

"Out of despair and her survival instinct, the mother throws her eldest son — maybe the wolves will be satisfied with him — but their hunger only intensifies. She throws her second son, then the third, and in the end when she alone remains, the wolves devour her," Odeh recounted. "This is is exactly how fascism
fasces -- thin reeds, each flimsy in itself but unbreakable when bound into a bundle. Its distinguishing philosophical feature is the Corporate State. The word is nowadays thrown around by all sorts of people who have no idea what they're talking about...
 works. It pursues the opposition, and the opposition, frightened, rushes to sacrifice us all."

Odeh likened the panicked mother to the anti-Netanyahu opposition, which he claimed gave up on peace with the Paleostinians, and soon after, on partnership with Arab Israeli leadership.

"I want to put before you a crucial proposition — the historic role of Arab citizens. Without us, it is possible to build a dictatorship, but without us, it is impossible to build a democracy," he said.

"Even during this excruciating and bloody war, Jews and Arabs — you all — continued to have faith in each other and believed that only together we can win," he continued, invoking the well-known wartime slogan.
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