Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Analysis

Palestine and Lebanon’s leaders address UNGA ahead of Netanyahu’s arrival

A representation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Pro-Palestinian protesters rally against Israel's strikes in Gaza and Lebanon during demonstrations in New York City, on Sept. 26, 2024.

A representation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Pro-Palestinian protesters rally against Israel's strikes in Gaza and Lebanon during demonstrations in New York City, on Sept. 26, 2024.

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Make us preferred on Google
UNITED NATIONS – When Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority leader, addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, he began, “We will not leave. Palestine is our homeland. If anyone were to leave, it would be the occupier.” He called on the international community to stop sending weapons to Israel — which he accused of “launching wars of genocide” in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon — and instead implement sanctions.

Abbas then laid out a 12-point policy for what is needed “immediately and on day one after the war ends.” The plan included a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, an end to the “military aggression by settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” humanitarian aid, and the return of displaced peoples. He called for Palestine to be given full membership to the UN, and disparaged the US for being “the only member in the Security Council that voted against granting the state of Palestine full membership.”

Later that evening, Lebanon’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Abdallah Bouhabib called on Israel to adopt an immediate cease-fire and halt its strikes within Lebanese borders, noting that the cause of the current conflict was Israel's ongoing occupation. "The shortest path for the return [of displaced Israelis in the North]," he said, "is a comprehensive, immediate cease-fire as stipulated in the US-Franco declaration yesterday ... as part of a comprehensive framework accompanied by clear international guarantees, transparency, and a definitive end to land, sea, and air incursions and breaches of Lebanese sovereignty."

Both speeches came as the US, France, and several Arab nations tried to use the tail end of the UN General Assembly to broker a temporary Israel to agree to a cease-fire with Lebanon.

Meanwhile, protesters began marching outside the UN security perimeter on Thursday in anticipation of Friday's appearance at UNGA by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has instructed his military to keep fighting “with full force” in Lebanon. Netanyahu said on Thursday that "we will not stop until we achieve our goals, first and foremost returning the residents of the north safely to their homes."

More For You

How China, BRICS, and a new balance of power emerged from 9/11’s shadow
When the Pentagon and Twin Towers were struck on September 11, 2001, I was a US diplomat in Taiwan, focused on the globalization push coming from China’s impending accession to the WTO just three months later. My world changed dramatically that day, and 9/11 arguably set the world on a very different course that was felt by all of us, even if we [...]
The cascading consequences of 9/11 for America and the Middle East
“This will devastate America and the region!” I howled as I watched the second plane slam into the Twin Towers in New York from my distant Beirut living room. Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011, a decade after the September 11th attacks, and al-Qaeda’s core leadership was dismantled. But my fears were not misplaced. Bin Laden achieved something [...]
The last time America watched together
The summer of 2001 was a slow one for journalists. It marked my first few months in the business, and I have long referred to that time as “the summer of shark attacks and Chandra Levy.”Cable news had found its footing just a few years before, turbo-charged by the O.J. Simpson trial's round-the-clock drama, and it needed feeding. Shark attacks [...]
School items belonging to abducted students of Baptist Nursery and Primary School sit inside an empty classroom in Oyo State, Nigeria.

School items belonging to abducted students of Baptist Nursery and Primary School sit inside an empty classroom in Oyo State, Nigeria, June 2, 2026.

REUTERS/Sodiq Adelakun
The Nigerian economy is on a hot streak. New data published on Monday showed a 4.4% year-over-year expansion in the second quarter of 2026, up from 3.9% in the first. Oil production rose from 1.6 million to 1.7 million barrels per day, while fuel exports climbed amid higher prices and global demand fueled by the Iran war. But the non-oil economy, [...]