First Russia-US Talks Conclude in Saudi Arabia

Talks between Russia and the US on improving ties as well as the Ukraine war – the first such talks in years – concluded after 4 1/2 hours, Russian state media reported Tuesday.

Speaking at a press briefing on the sidelines of the meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh, which was broadcast live on Russian television, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said the negotiations were productive, with Moscow and Washington agreeing to consider each other’s interests.

However, the date for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump has yet to be determined, and it is unlikely to take place next week, Ushakov said.

“The delegations of Russia and the United States held a serious discussion on all key issues,” he stated.

The two sides also agreed to form working groups on the Ukraine issue. While the number of members and specific participants have yet to be decided, both parties aim to establish contacts quickly, he added.

Talks between Russia and the United States aimed at mending relations, addressing the conflict in Ukraine, and preparing a meeting between the Russian and US presidents marked the first meeting between diplomats of the two countries since the Ukraine war began on Feb. 24, 2022, nearly three years ago according to Anadolu.

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Why is Halevi Visiting Washington Weeks Before He Steps Down?

Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi is set to travel to Washington on Sunday for talks with US military officials, the army said.

A military statement said Halevi will meet with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Commander of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), and other senior officials to discuss key strategic and operational issues.

Halevi “will take the opportunity to express his gratitude to his counterparts for their support, commitment, and personal ties,” the statement said.

The three-day visit comes a few weeks before Halevi steps down.

Last month, the army chief of staff said he would resign as of March 6.

The visit comes as a ceasefire agreement took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, halting Israel’s genocidal war, which has killed more than 48,200 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave according to Anadolu.

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Trump, Gaza and The New Political Ploy


Dr Sami Al-Arian

The infamous 19th-century imperialist and racial supremacist, Cecil Rhodes, once remarked: “It is our duty to seize every opportunity to acquire more territory and we should keep this one idea steadily before our eyes that more territory simply means more of the Anglo-Saxon race.” He then added: “Just fancy those parts that are at present inhabited by the most despicable specimens of human beings, what an alteration there would be if they were brought under Anglo-Saxon influence.”

More than a century later, US President Donald Trump expressed similar attitudes during his meeting on Feb. 4, with the Israeli prime minister and indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, when he said: “We will take over the Gaza Strip, will own it long-term and will redevelop it … I do see a long-term ownership position.” In a settler-colonialist spirit, Trump callously continued, “I don’t think people should be going back to Gaza. I think that Gaza is not a place for people to be living.” He neglected to mention, of course, the exception for Jewish settlers in prime real estate along the Gaza beach. He then added, “They’re living in hell,” without any hint of irony, considering the 15-month US-sponsored genocide, supported by funds, bombs, and diplomatic protection.

Strategic agenda and regional dynamics

There were many items on the agenda between Trump and Netanyahu, including Iran’s nuclear program, the future of Gaza and the West Bank, and normalization with Saudi Arabia.

To be sure, Trump was not an unknown quantity. In his first term, he demonstrated total hostility towards the Palestinians and embraced the most radical positions espoused by extremist Zionists. These included recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocating the US Embassy there, the annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights (occupied by Israel since 1967), the closure of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) office in Washington, DC, ending all humanitarian aid to the Palestinians through the UN refugee agency (UNRWA) or US agencies, and integrating Israel within US Central Command (CENTCOM), the US military command responsible for a region stretching from Egypt to Afghanistan.

Furthermore, throughout his presidency Trump completely disregarded the so-called two-state solution — a long-touted US goal — in favor of Netanyahu’s approach of normalizing relations with Washington’s Arab client regimes while pursuing an aggressive settlement expansion policy intended to establish a de facto Greater Israel. In effect, it appears that “Trump 2.0” is trying, in his own way, to fulfill his promises of securing a greater Israel for his right-wing Zionist donors [1], benefactors [2] and appointees [3]. The proposal to forcefully remove over 2 million Palestinians from Gaza does not appear serious or achievable, since the Palestinians will never cooperate in their own displacement, nor would neighboring countries be willing to support a dangerous plan that would destabilize the region. In the past, Trump proposed similar hyperbolic ideas that failed to materialize, including his calls [4] for constructing a Riviera on the beaches of North Korea.

Netanyahu came to the White House with several objectives in mind. He sought Trump’s support to continue his war of extermination in Gaza after freeing many Israeli captives at the end of the first stage of the ceasefire deal. His political allies pressured him to resume the war in order to achieve his elusive objective of dislodging Hamas and eradicating the resistance — an aim he has not accomplished during the 15-month onslaught. It would appear that Trump wants to achieve this goal using political means through his outrageous proposal rather than through military pressure. If that is the case, this would be Trump’s way of handing Netanyahu the fig leaf he needs to silence his hard right critics and conclude the second stage of the ceasefire deal.

On Iran, Trump has doubled down on his policy of applying extreme pressure through economic sanctions in order to get the Iranians to negotiate a deal on their nuclear program. In return, the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has called [5] for “maximum wisdom” to be applied to relations between Washington and Tehran, instead of the “maximum pressure” policy Trump has espoused. Since these are the early stages of diplomatic maneuverings, it’s very doubtful that Netanyahu received a green light from Trump to use military strikes against Iran in the near term.

On the West Bank, the Zionist regime has been escalating its aggressive settlement policy as well as its unprecedented attacks on several Palestinian cities, particularly against refugee camps in Jenin, Nablus, Tobas and Tulkarem.

Towards a Saudi-Israeli accord and its fallout

In the past, Trump and many of his administration officials, such as the new US ambassador to the Zionist regime, Mike Huckabee, have endorsed the expansion of Israeli settlements and the calls for annexing large parts of the West Bank. But backing such a policy now will certainly impede the central piece of Trump’s main objective in the region, which is to conclude a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia. To negotiate a deal with the Saudis, Trump must rein in Netanyahu and his extremist allies by promising them what they desire most: a Gaza free not only of Hamas’ rule but also of Palestinians, as well as the annexation of a large part of the West Bank, in exchange for a normalization deal with the Saudis and possibly beyond.

The Israelis certainly know that they will not get the Palestinians to leave voluntarily when they could not compel them to do that through their genocidal war. They recognize that they cannot unilaterally annex parts of the West Bank before the normalization deal with the Saudis is concluded. They also know that Trump has a very long agenda, both domestically and internationally, particularly with regard to the Ukraine war and China, and will not allow a devastating war with Iran to disrupt his agenda. Once the fog of the visit clears, it will become apparent that Trump’s primary policy in the Middle East is to cement a Saudi-Israeli agreement, one that cannot be finalized without putting a hold on other contentious issues such as a military escalation with Iran, West Bank annexation, or the resumption of the Gaza genocide. But that does not mean that the Zionist regime and its supporters within the Trump administration will not push hard to achieve all their objectives in Gaza, the West Bank and against Iran. Regardless, the Palestinians and their supporters worldwide must be vigilant to resist and defeat all their nefarious plans, particularly in Gaza, the West Bank, as well as any plans to integrate a genocidal regime in the region.

People across the Middle East have witnessed the true colors of the Zionist regime. Achieving a normalization deal with the Saudis or any other party would require nothing less than the total erasure of their collective memory. It would appear that the main lesson of the Oct. 7 attacks has not been learned. They took place at a time when regional and international actors had all but buried the Palestinian cause and ignored the plight of the Palestinians in pursuit of their own interests. Not only will none of the policies advanced by Trump address these issues, but they will exacerbate them. And thus, like his forgotten deal of the century, these policies are doomed to fail.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/25/us/politics/miriam-adelson-trump-israel.html

[2] https://www.thejc.com/news/usa/from-jared-kushner-to-miriam-adelson-meet-the-jewish-figures-in-trumps-inner-circle-sllz2ky1

[3] https://www.palestinechronicle.com/from-stefanik-to-hucabee-donald-trumps-cabinet-is-a-pro-israel-swamp/

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-iTikGb-CY

[5] https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2025/02/06/irans-foreign-minister-calls-for-maximum-wisdom-in-response-to-trumps-maximum-pressure-tehran-policy/

Dr Sami Al Arian is public affairs professor and the director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs at Sabahattin Zaim University in Istanbul.

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China Scoffs at Trump’s Gaza ‘Take Over’ Plan

China on Wednesday rebuffed US President Donald Trump’s plans to over “take over” Gaza, saying it opposes forced displacement of Palestinians to neighboring countries, state media reported.

Beijing “has always believed that ‘the Palestinians governing Palestine’ is the fundamental principle for postwar governance in Gaza,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters.

“We oppose the forced displacement and relocation of the population in Gaza,” Lin stressed, rejecting Trump’s controversial plans to take over the Palestinian besieged enclave.

The statement from Beijing came after Trump announced a plan for the US to “take over” the Gaza Strip and “develop it after relocating Palestinians to neighboring countries.”

Trump made the remarks in a joint news conference in Washington with visiting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” he said. “We’re going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it’ll be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of.”

Trump gave no details on how the US would carry out the resettlement plan.

China’s Foreign Ministry, in contrast, said it hopes “all relevant parties will take the ceasefire in Gaza and post-war governance as an opportunity to push the Palestinian issue back onto the correct track of political resolution based on the ‘two-state solution,’ in order to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East,” according to Anadolu.

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US Protestors Slam Trump For Hosting a ‘War Criminal’

Pro-Palestinian groups gathered Tuesday outside the White House in Washington, DC to protest Israel’s war crimes in the Gaza Strip and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with US President Donald Trump.

The demonstration came as Trump hosted Netanyahu in the Oval Office for talks.

Netanyahu’s visit to the US capital comes as a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas continues to hold in Gaza, where more than 47,500 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023.

Waving Palestinian flags, the protestors chanted “Free, free Palestine” and “Stop hosting a war criminal.”

They also held signs saying “Prime Minister of Genocide,” “Netanyahu is a War Criminal” and “Israel Kills.

The protesters also called for the arrest of Netanyahu, who is facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Netanyahu ‘should be at The Hague’

Matthew Watterman, who protested Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump, told Anadolu that the US has backed 15 months of Israeli genocide in Gaza and decades of Israeli occupation and war crimes against the Palestinian people.

“We believe that Netanyahu coming here, to our city to ask for yet more of our tax money to be used to commit atrocities against the Palestinian people is something that has to be protested, has to be resisted,” he said.

Watterman said Americans do not want their tax dollars used to “commit atrocities.”

“We don’t want our taxes used for genocide. We don’t want them used for occupation. We don’t want them used for colonization,” he added.

Another protester, Dolia C., said Netanyahu is a “war criminal.”

“He shouldn’t really be here. He should be at The Hague,” she told Anadolu.

Palestinians deserve their rights, freedom and their land back, she stressed.

Trump should stop ‘this brutal occupation’

Yitzchok Deutsch, a rabbi, said it is “ridiculous” for “a war criminal” to claim that he is representing the Jewish religion.

“This is totally false. We are standing now after 15 months of a terrible genocide, unimaginable genocide, broadcasted live on TV and social media,” Deutsch told Anadolu.

Netanyahu is using religion to justify “all these crimes,” he added.

“We are here with a message to President Trump: If you would like to be the president of peace in the world, you should stop this movement of Zionism, stop this brutal occupation which has been taking place for over 76 years,” Deutsch said.

Trump said Monday that he cannot guarantee that the ceasefire in Gaza will hold and told reporters in the Oval Office that he has “no assurances” that the truce will remain in force.

“I’ve seen people brutalized. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it. No, I have no guarantees that the peace is going to hold,” he said.

Before meeting with Netanyahu, Trump reiterated his suggestion of moving Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip, saying “I don’t think people should be going back to Gaza.”

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