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The Gaza ceasefire talks were held up by “meaningless things” that meant it took more than a year to turn a framework for a truce into a deal between Israel and Hamas, mediator Qatar said on Tuesday.
Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman said his country felt sorry for the time wasted in negotiations. Qatari, Egyptian and US diplomats mediated the deal agreed last week to end more than a year of continued fighting in Gaza since a short-lived ceasefire in late 2023.
“Just calculating the days since the collapse of the first ceasefire that we brokered back in November 2023, it was 411 days of ups and downs,” Sheikh Mohammed said. “When we look at and reflect on what we have achieved in the last few days, we felt really sorry for all the time that we wasted in these negotiations.
“The framework that we agreed on in December [2023] is the one that's been realised a couple of days ago,” he said. “It means there was just a year of negotiating details, and honestly some meaningless things compared to the lives of the people that they have lost.”
Sheikh Mohammed, who is also Qatar's Foreign Minister, expressed hope in Davos that “calculations will be different” in the next stage of talks. “There is still a long way to go,” he said. “It won't be an easy negotiation but I hope it will not be as difficult as what we have been through.”
Hamas freed three Israeli hostages on Sunday as part of a 42-day first phase in which thousands of Palestinian detainees in Israel are also due for release. The second phase would involve the release of all remaining hostages and the third would see the UN, Qatar and Egypt oversee rebuilding efforts.
US President Donald Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden both claimed credit for getting the ceasefire deal over the line. Sheikh Mohammed said the final days of negotiations showed a “determination to find solutions” from Mr Trump's incoming foreign policy team.
He warned that the destruction in Gaza may be even worse than yet seen in the media as he predicted that “uglier images” will emerge. In satellite images “it’s something horrific when you look at it and you see this small strip that is very highly dense in population being destroyed to that level”, he said.
As Palestinians seek funds to rebuild “we cannot have an investment where we are investing in the reconstruction every time and something happens and it just gets destroyed and we do it again”, Sheikh Mohammed said. “There is now a huge requirement and huge pressure on all of us to look at sustainable solutions where we can sustain peace, where we can also give assurances and comfort to countries to understand that these investments will not go to waste.”
Washmen Profile
Date Started: May 2015
Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Laundry
Employees: 170
Funding: about $8m
Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures
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Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
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OPINIONS ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL
Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history
Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)
Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.
Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)
A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.
Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)
Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.
Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)
Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.
Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
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The 10 Questions
- Is there a God?
- How did it all begin?
- What is inside a black hole?
- Can we predict the future?
- Is time travel possible?
- Will we survive on Earth?
- Is there other intelligent life in the universe?
- Should we colonise space?
- Will artificial intelligence outsmart us?
- How do we shape the future?
