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The UN General Assembly will vote on Friday whether to back the “New York Declaration,” a resolution which seeks to breathe new life into the two-state solution between Israel and Palestine — without the involvement of Hamas.Although Israel has criticized UN bodies for nearly two years over their failure to condemn Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, the declaration, presented by France and Saudi Arabia, leaves no ambiguity.Formally called the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, the text states “Hamas must free all hostages” and that the UN General Assembly condemns “the attacks committed by Hamas against civilians on the 7th of October.”It also calls for “collective action to end the war in Gaza, to achieve a just, peaceful and lasting settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the effective implementation of the Two-State solution.”The declaration, which was already endorsed by the Arab League and co-signed in July by 17 UN member states, including several Arab countries, also goes further than condemning Hamas, seeking to fully excise them from leadership in Gaza.”In the context of ending the war in Gaza, Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with international engagement and support, in line with the objective of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State,” the declaration states.The vote precedes an upcoming UN summit co-chaired by Riyadh and Paris on September 22 in New York, in which French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to formally recognize the Palestinian state.- ‘Shield’ against criticism -“The fact that the General Assembly is finally backing a text that condemns Hamas directly is significant,” even if “Israelis will say it is far too little, far too late,” Richard Gowan, UN Director at the International Crisis Group, told AFP.”Now at least states supporting the Palestinians can rebuff Israeli accusations that they implicitly condone Hamas,” he said, adding that it “offers a shield against Israeli criticism.” In addition to Macron, several other leaders have announced their intent to formally recognize the Palestinian state during the UN summit.The gestures are seen as a means of increasing pressure on Israel to end the war in Gaza, which was triggered by the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas.The New York Declaration includes discussion of a “deployment of a temporary international stabilization mission” to the battered region under the mandate of the UN Security Council, aiming to support the Palestinian civilian population and facilitate security responsibilities to the Palestinian Authority.Around three-quarters of the 193 UN member states recognize the Palestinian state proclaimed in 1988 by the exiled Palestinian leadership.However, after two years of war have ravaged the Gaza Strip, in addition to expanded Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the stated desire by Israeli officials to annex the territory, fears have been growing that the existence of an independent Palestinian state will soon become impossible.”We are going to fulfill our promise that there will be no Palestinian state,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Thursday.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, may be prevented from visiting New York for the UN summit after US authorities said they would deny him a visa.

Israeli referee Sapir Berman beamed as she recalled the moment her “dream came true” earlier this year, when she became the first transgender woman to officiate an international football match.”I always wanted to be a woman, and I always wanted to be a football referee — and then those two came together and fused into one dream that just exploded with joy,” the 31-year-old told AFP. “It’s an uplifting, powerful feeling — the feeling that I’m doing the right thing, that I’m choosing myself, that I’m showing the world it’s possible.”Since I was five, I remember wanting to be a woman, wanting to be a girl. And when I started playing football, I realised that the dream of being a woman and playing football didn’t go together,” she said.”So I decided to hide who I was and just keep playing football. I hid myself for almost 26 years.”Berman grew up in a football-loving family, playing as a defender for around 10 years from around the age of five.When she realised her professional ambitions were not working out, she joined the referees association and worked her way up to preside over men’s matches in the Israeli Premier League.But all the while, Berman felt she was hiding her innermost secret and was even frustrated during the initial stage of her hormone therapy.It was when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and Berman was plunged into lockdown that she began reflecting on the future.”I asked myself: ‘Is this what life will look like? Is this where it’s going?'” she said.”I decided to reveal myself.”Berman initially feared her career in football was over, but said her brother suggested she try to make it work.- ‘A lot of questions’ -England’s Lucy Clark became the first transgender woman in the world to referee a match in 2018, in the third tier of English women’s football, but has never officiated internationally. When Berman officiated the Women’s Under-17 Euro qualifier between Northern Ireland and Montenegro in Belfast in March, it was a first for European football, according to UEFA.Berman said the journey was not always easy, despite great support and professionalism from Israel’s referees association.”There were a lot of questions, and a lot of moments where they said: ‘We don’t know what to do.’ And I also didn’t know what to do, what it involved, what to expect, or how the process would go,” she said. Berman said that when she began hormone therapy as part of her transition, she initially felt resentful towards her body.”Outside the field, I felt amazing. On the field, I felt that I destroyed my career,” she said.She failed two fitness tests and was moved down a league, but with the help of a sports psychologist and “a lot of trial and error”, she made her comeback. Berman received her international badge earlier this year and dreams of refereeing a match in the Champions League, the European Championship or the World Cup.- ‘Different layers’ -Transgender participation has become a hot-button issue as different sports try to balance inclusivity with ensuring fair competition.Earlier this year, England’s Football Association announced that transgender women would no longer be allowed to play in women’s football.Berman said she trusted those in decision-making bodies and expected them to “find the way to integrate, to unite, to diversify”.”Human beings are made up of so many different layers, and you come and reject us for just one reason,” she said, explaining how an athlete’s performance could also be affected by mental, financial, geographical or familial factors. On the pitch, Berman said she has received positive reactions from both players and supporters.”The fans continued to curse me — only now, they did it in the feminine form,” she said, adding it “was a kind of stamp of approval — that they see me exactly as I am”.And on the street, young people have told her that her story has given them hope. “That fills me up. It gives me so much strength to keep going and doing what I do — because at the end of the day, I chose myself.”

Hamas accused the United States on Thursday of complicity in Israel’s deadly attack on its negotiators in Qatar, lambasting Israel for seeking to kill off Gaza truce talks as Doha buried the dead.Tuesday’s unprecedented Israeli strikes on a Gulf state sent shockwaves through a region long shielded from conflicts and halted already floundering Gaza talks.”This crime was… an assassination of the entire negotiation process and a deliberate targeting of the role of our mediating brothers in Qatar and Egypt,” Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said in a televised statement.In Doha, tight security surrounded the mosque where prayers were held as the Gulf state’s ruler joined mourners.One coffin bearing a Qatari flag and five others bearing Palestinian flags were brought into the mosque, live footage from Qatar television showed.Facing the coffins, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, prayed alongside dozens of mourners, some wearing traditional white robes, others wearing military uniform.The dead were buried in the Mesaimeer Cemetery after the funeral at Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque.Authorities beefed up security, with checkpoints on access roads to the mosque.Barhoum accused Washington of being “a full accomplice” in the Israeli attack.The UN Security Council on Thursday condemned the strikes on Doha, without naming Israel which carried them out.The Security Council “underscored the importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar”, said the statement, which required the agreement of all 15 council members, including Israel’s ally the United States.The White House said Trump did not agree with Israel’s decision to take military action.He said he was not notified in advance and when he heard, he asked his envoy Steve Witkoff to warn Qatar immediately — but the attack had already started.- Reassessing everything -Israel said it targeted Hamas leaders but the group said its top officials survived.Hamas said five of its members were killed — top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya’s son Hamam, his office director Jihad Labad and bodyguards Ahmad Mamlouk, Abdallah Abdelwahd and Mumen Hassoun.Qatari Lance Corporal Badr Saad Mohammed al-Humaidi al-Dosari was also killed.Barhoum said Hayya’s wife, his slain son’s wife and his grandchildren were wounded in the attack on the compound where he lived.In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said he could not confirm Hayya’s fate.The Hamas chief negotiator was not seen at the funeral, in the footage viewed by AFP. Pictures shared on Hamas’s Telegram channel showed Osama Hamdan — a senior figure in the movement — attending the burial of the movement’s dead, along with political bureau member Izzat al-Rishq.A post by the group said several Hamas members were present at the funeral. Sheikh Mohammed said the Israeli attack had killed any hope for Israeli hostages in Gaza, adding that Qatar was reevaluating “everything” surrounding its role as mediator in ceasefire talks.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Thursday that “there will be no Palestinian state”, despite preparations by several Western governments to recognise the State of Palestine at the United Nations later this month.”This place belongs to us,” he said, as he attended a signing ceremony for a major settlement project in the occupied West Bank that the United Nations has described as an “existential threat” to the viability of a Palestinian state. Doha has been a venue for several rounds of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel.The emirate allowed Hamas to set up a political office in Doha in 2012 with the blessing of the United States, which has sought to maintain a communication channel with the group.Sheikh Mohammed said he hoped for a collective regional response to the attack and that an Arab-Islamic summit would be held in Doha to decide on a course of action.The attack has drawn sharp condemnation and a show of solidarity from Gulf neighbours. The United Arab Emirates said “any aggression against a GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) member state constitutes an attack on the collective Gulf security framework”.

The Israeli military said it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen on Thursday, a day after Israeli forces carried out air strikes that Huthi rebels said killed 46 people and wounded more than 160.The Iran-backed Huthis have repeatedly launched missiles and drones at Israel since their Palestinian ally Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel sparked the Gaza war, although no one claimed responsibility for the latest attack.”Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted,” the Israeli military said on Telegram.The Huthi armed forces’ media operation in the rebel-held capital Sanaa was hit by Israel on Wednesday, along with a Huthi complex in Jawf province, the group said.The Huthis’ health ministry spokesman Anees Alasbahi posted on X that the death toll from those strikes on had risen to 46, from an earlier toll of 35.He said 165 people were wounded, adding that it was “not a final toll”.The earlier toll had included 28 dead and 113 wounded in Sanaa, and seven dead and 18 wounded in Jawf, which borders Saudi Arabia, Alasbahi said.Israel’s main ally, the United States, also piled more pressure on the Huthis on Thursday.The Treasury Department said it was imposing sanctions on 32 people or entities as well as four vessels in what it described as its largest single action against the Huthis.The targets of the sanctions included Chinese companies accused of selling precursor chemicals to help the Huthis with ballistic missile development or electronics used in drones, as well as a ship management company based in the United Arab Emirates.”We will continue applying maximum pressure against those who threaten the security of the United States and the region,” Treasury Department official John Hurley said in a statement.- High-profile assassinations -The latest violence came after the Huthis’ prime minister Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi, nine ministers and two cabinet officials were killed as they attended a government meeting in the Sanaa area last month.The killings were the most high-profile assassinations of Huthi officials during nearly two years of hostilities with Israel over the Gaza war.Huthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said journalists working for the September 26 and al-Yaman newspapers were among those killed at the “Moral Guidance Headquarters” in Sanaa on Wednesday.The Israeli military confirmed that the Huthi armed forces’ media arm was among its targets.The Huthis’ Al-Masirah television said the strikes in Jawf hit a Central Bank branch building in the city of Al-Hazm, wounding employees.The Huthis said they fought back with air defences, without giving details.On Sunday, a drone launched from Yemen struck Ramon airport in southern Israel, wounding one person.Since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023, the Huthis have launched repeated drone and missile attacks against Israel.In response, Israel has carried out rounds of retaliatory strikes in Yemen, mainly targeting infrastructure such as ports, power stations and the international airport in Sanaa.

Global stock markets rose on Thursday as US inflation data came in as anticipated, reinforcing the prospect of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut next week.Meanwhile, the European Central Bank held rates steady for a second consecutive meeting, as expected, and raised its forecasts for eurozone growth and inflation this year.US Labor Department data showed the …

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Thursday that there would be no Palestinian state, speaking at a signing ceremony for a major settlement project in the occupied West Bank.”We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state, this place belongs to us,” Netanyahu said at the event in Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement just east of Jerusalem.”We will safeguard our heritage, our land and our security… We are going to double the city’s population.” The event was streamed live by his office. Israel has long had ambitions to build on the roughly 12 square kilometre (five square mile) tract of land known as E1, but the plan had been stalled for years in the face of international opposition.The site sits between Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, near routes connecting the north and south of the Palestinian territory. Last month, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich backed plans to build around 3,400 homes on the ultra-sensitive parcel of land.His announcement drew condemnation, with UN chief Antonio Guterres saying the settlement would effectively cleave the West Bank in two and pose an “existential threat” to a contiguous Palestinian state.All of Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law, regardless of whether they have Israeli planning permission.Several Western governments, including Britain and France, have announced they intend to recognise the State of Palestine at the United Nations later this month.Britain has said it will take the step if Israel fails to agree to a ceasefire in the devastating Gaza war, triggered by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 2023 attack.Far-right Israeli ministers have in recent months openly called for Israel’s annexation of the territory.Israeli NGO Peace Now, which monitors settlement activity in the West Bank, said last week that infrastructure work in E1 could begin within a few months, and housing construction within about a year.It said the E1 plan was “deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution”.Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to around three million Palestinians, as well as about 500,000 Israeli settlers.