US Sen. Graham HAS annouced what EVERYBODY KNOWS…….
Hamas is NOT leaving Gaza…..
Oh?
And President Trump’s threat’s against Hamas is NOT doing a DAMN THING….
Hegseth sending in the Troop’s??????
I DO NOT THINK SO…..
Mean while?
Israel is trying a land grab in the West Bank….
US Sen. Graham….
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that Hamas is “absolutely not” ready to disarm, raising concern that the U.S. and Israel are not doing enough to advance the ceasefire deal agreed to in October.
In a Sunday morning interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press,” Graham said “you can’t have a stabilizing force in Gaza until Hamas is disarmed,” urging President Donald Trump to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about disarmament.
“What did I learn on this trip? That Hamas is not disarming. They’re rearming. Hamas is not abandoning power. They’re consolidating power,” he said, speaking from Tel Aviv following a meeting with Netanyahu. “That’s what the military intelligence people in Israel tell me. That’s what the IDF told me. That’s what our own people told me.”
Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of a multi-step peace deal in October that saw Hamas agree to release Israeli hostages in exchange for a ceasefire that has largely held despite bursts of hostilities between the two parties in the Gaza Strip. The second phase of the plan, which called for Hamas to turn control of Gaza over to an international “Board of Peace” overseen by the U.S. and Arab allies, has not yet materialized, with Hamas’ refusal to disarm stymying further progress.
Trump has threatened to disarm Hamas “quickly, and perhaps violently” if the group does not choose to give up its arms voluntarily, without saying how he might accomplish that.
Graham suggested the U.S. and Israel “put Hamas on a time clock” and threaten to “unleash Israel on them” if the militant group does not agree to turn over its weapons and commit to not rearming.
“The one thing I want people to understand from this program today is that there is no pathway forward to peace as long as Hamas has their arms and they intend to stay in power,” Graham said. “They’re doing both. They intend to stay in power. They’re not disarming. And I think it’s going to come down to Israel to do that unless there’s a changing event on the ground.”….
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The West Bank….
Israel has approved a proposal for 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank as the government pushes ahead with a construction binge in the territory that poses a further threat to the possibility of a Palestinian state.
It brings the total number of new settlements over the past few years to 69, a new record, according to the far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who has pushed a settlement expansion agenda in the West Bank. The latest include two that were previously evacuated during a 2005 disengagement plan.
The approval by the security cabinet increases the number of settlements in the West Bank by nearly 50% during the current government’s tenure. In 2022, there were 141 settlements across the West Bank. After the latest approval there are 210, according to Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group.
Settlements are considered illegal under international law.
The approval comes as the US pushes Israel and Hamas to move ahead with the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire, which took effect on 10 October. The US-brokered plan calls for a possible “pathway” to a Palestinian state, something the settlements are aimed at preventing….
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Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza – areas claimed by the Palestinians for a future state – in the 1967 war. It has settled more than 500,000 Jews in the West Bank, in addition to more than 200,000 in contested East Jerusalem.
Israel’s government is dominated by far-right proponents of the settler movement, including Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the security minister.
Settler expansion has been compounded by a surge of attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank in recent months. During October’s olive harvest, settlers across the territory launched an average of eight attacks each day, the most since the UN humanitarian office began collecting data in 2006. The attacks continued in November, with the UN recording at least 136 more by 24 November….
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