Qatar foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari says keen for mediation to succeed in reaching a humanitarian truce. – X pic, November 21, 2023
Negotiations to free hostages seized in Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel are at their “closest point” to a deal and have reached the “final stage,” mediator Qatar said Tuesday.
“We are at the closest point we ever had been in reaching an agreement,” foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said, adding negotiations have reached a “critical and final stage.”
Qatar has helped broker talks aiming to free some of the 240 hostages in return for a temporary ceasefire, a mediation effort that has so far led to the release of four hostages.
“We are very optimistic, very hopeful,” Al-Ansari told a briefing.
“But we are also very keen for this mediation to succeed in reaching a humanitarian truce,” he said.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the October 7 attacks, which Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians.
Israel has launched a relentless retaliatory bombing campaign and ground offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza, killing more than 13,300 people, two thirds of them women or children, according to the territory’s health ministry.
The United States said Saturday it was still working to secure a deal between Israel and Hamas after the Washington Post reported there was a tentative agreement to free women and children hostages in exchange for a pause in fighting.
Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said all parties would halt combat operations for at least five days while some hostages were to be released in batches.
The White House quickly responded on Saturday evening with a message on X, formerly Twitter, to deny any major breakthrough.
“We have seen a lot of the leaks or the statements here and there but we would prefer to keep our statements until we have a final decision on the agreement,” Al-Ansari said.
Here is what we know:
Early Tuesday, Qatar-based Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a brief statement posted online: “We are close to reaching a deal on a truce.” Hamas and Islamic Jihad sources said details of the agreement would be announced officially by Qatar and other mediators. “We are at the closest point we ever had been in reaching an agreement,” Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said later Tuesday, adding negotiations were at a “critical and final stage.”
Two sources close to the tentative deal have said that between 50 and 100 civilian hostages would be released, but no military personnel.
In exchange, Israel would release from its prisons 300 Palestinians, among them women and children.
The transfer would span several days, with 10 hostages and 30 Palestinians prisoners released each day.
But the same sources said Israel had insisted that captive soldiers should also be released if they are related to a civilian abductee freed by the militants — despite Hamas objections.
“Qatar and Egypt are currently working with the US administration to resolve that issue,” the sources said, adding that only then would a date for a truce be announced.
According to the same sources, the deal includes a “complete cease-fire” on the ground for five days, with Israel allowed to fly sorties over northern Gaza for 18 hours a day.
The deal also provides for between 100 and 300 trucks of food and medical aid, as well as fuel, to enter Gaza, the sources said.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Tuesday his movement was nearing a truce agreement with Israel, according to a statement posted on Telegram.
"We are close to reaching a deal on a truce," Haniyeh said, according to the post.
Negotiators have been working to seal a deal to allow the release of around 240 mostly Israeli hostages seized on October 7, during the deadliest assault on Israel in its history.
Hamas fighters also killed around 1,200 people during their cross-border assault, most of them civilians.
According to the Hamas government in Gaza, the war has killed more than 13,300 people, thousands of them children.
Thousands of buildings, including hospitals, mosques, and churches, have also been damaged or destroyed in Israel’s relentless air and ground attacks on the besieged enclave.
An Israeli blockade has also cut Gaza off from fuel, electricity, and water supplies, and reduced aid deliveries to a small trickle.
The Israeli death toll is around 1,200, according to official figures.
Tel Aviv has so far rejected growing calls for a cease-fire until the release of hostages held by Hamas.
Intense negotiations mediated by Qatar, where Hamas has a political office and where Haniyeh is based, have been under way.
Qatar's prime minister said Sunday that a deal to free some of the hostages in return for a temporary ceasefire hinged on "minor" practical issues.
Pondok pesantren kini lebih bebas memilih bentuk pendidikan yang sesuai dengan karakter dan kebutuhan santrinya, tanpa harus mendirikan sekolah formal.
Dengan pengakuan pemerintah secara penuh kepada pesantren, maka apapun pendidikan yang dimilikinya akan dapat meluluskan santri yang siap kuliah atau masuk ke dunia kerja.
Hal ini terungkap dalam Sosialisasi UU No 18 Tahun 2019 tentang Pesantren di Pondok Pesantren Lirboyo, Kediri, Jawa Timur.
Sekretaris Majelis Masyayikh, KH. A. Muhyiddin Khotib mengatakan, saat ini pesantren tidak harus menyelenggarakan pendidikan formal secara penuh, namun dapat dilakukan dengan pendekatan pengajaran kitab.
"Secara legalitas saat ini sudah tidak ada masalah, karena aapun bentuk pendidikannya akan tetap direkognisi pemerintah, sehingga ijazahnya setara dengan pendidikan formal," kata Muhyiddin dikutip hari Selasa, 21/11/2023.
Muhyiddin menjelaskan, pesantren telah berkontribusi mencerdaskan bangsa mulai zaman penjajahan hingga masa reformasi sampai saat ini. Namun pada era Orde Baru pesantren tidak diakui dan dikeluarkan dari Sistem Pendidikan Nasional (Sisdiknas). Oleh karena itu lulusan pesantren tidak diakui ijazahnya, sehingga harus menempuh ujian persamaan apabila ingin kuliah atau melanjutkan ke jenjang formal.
Kondisi ini membuat banyak pesantren harus berkompromi dengan pemerintah, dengan cara mengubah pendidikannya menjadi formal berbentuk SD-SMA atau Madrasah Ibtidaiyah hingga Madrasah Aliyah. Pertaruhannya adalah metode pendidikan lama yang menjadi andalan pesantren, yaitu bandongan dan sorogan menjadi tidak terpakai. Kemudian pesantren beralih ke sekolah-sekolah formal yang mengikuti kurikulum pemerintah, sehingga kualitasnya turun.
Tetapi pada saat ini era penyeragaman sudah berakhir, dengan terbitnya UU No 18 Tahun 2019 tentang Pesantren. Pesantren diberi kebebasan mengatur pendidikannya sendiri tanpa harus mengikuti kurikulum Kemendikbud maupun Kemenag. Sekolahnya tidak harus formal, silabusnya bebas, sistem, jam masuk, dan aturannya juga bebas.
Maka dari itu pondok pesantren diminta menunjukkan kembali kualitas pendidikan pesantren yang dari dulu dikenal unggul dalam ilmu-ilmu agama.
“Kami merekomendasikan kurikulum pesantren tetap berbasis kitab,” kata Muhyiddin.
Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Britain's Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey visit the Jobcentre Plus to see the new support being provided in job centres by the doubling of work coaches, following the coronavirus...Acquire Licensing Rights
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was quoted as saying the government should "just let people die" during the COVID-19 pandemic rather than impose a second national lockdown, the inquiry into how Britain handled the crisis heard on Monday.
Patrick Vallance, who was the government's chief scientific adviser during COVID, made a note in his diary on Oct. 25, 2020, about a meeting involving then Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Sunak, who was finance minister.
The diary entry shown to the inquiry recorded how Dominic Cummings, Johnson's most senior adviser during the pandemic, had relayed to Vallance what he said he had heard at the meeting.
Vallance quoted Cummings in his diary as saying: "Rishi thinks just let people die and that's okay. This all feels like a complete lack of leadership."
A spokesman for Sunak said the prime minister would set out his position when he gives evidence to the inquiry "rather than respond to each one in piecemeal".
The inquiry is examining the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic that shut large sections of the economy and killed more than 220,000 people in Britain. It is due to run until the summer of 2026.
Senior government officials have repeatedly said the government was unprepared for the pandemic and a "toxic" and "macho" culture hampered the response to the health crisis.
The danger for Sunak is that evidence at the inquiry undermines his attempt to cast himself as a change to the chaotic leadership of Johnson even though he was one of the most senior ministers in that government.
Previous evidence has shown he was branded "Dr. Death" by one government scientific adviser over his "Eat Out to Help out" policy in the summer of 2020, which subsidised meals in pubs and restaurants but was criticised by health experts for spreading the virus.
Washington and London want Kiev to further expand its mobilization efforts, following the stalled summer counteroffensive, to supposedly demonstrate Russia’s “inability to prevail” in the Ukrainian conflict, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) claimed in a statement on Monday.
One of the suggestions backed by Western nations allegedly involves altering the draft age in Ukraine to allow Kiev to call teenagers and the elderly to arms.
The drastic measures are needed to substitute the heavy losses the Ukrainian troops have sustained during the largely unsuccessful summer offensive, the statement added. According to Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, Ukrainian forces lost more than 90,000 service members over the course of the operation between June and October alone.
“The American and British curators recommend that the Ukrainian … leadership lower the [minimum] draft age to 17 years and increase [the maximum one] to 70 years, as well as call more women to arms,” the SVR said in the Monday statement, citing “reliable data” it had obtained.
The statement came the same day that Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin arrived in Kiev on a surprise visit. Austin met the Ukrainian leadership, including President Vladimir Zelensky, and discussed Western military aid to Ukraine, while reiterating the “steadfast support” of the US and its allies. No remarks regarding the potential new draft policy were made public.
The SVR pointed to a Ukrainian bill proposing an increase in the draft age ceiling as an example of potential mobilization policy changes. The legislation mentioned by the Russian intelligence was introduced to the Ukrainian parliament in September and suggests allowing men older than 60 to join the army ranks on a voluntary basis. The elderly volunteers would have to be deemed fit for service by a military medical commission and have prior military experience, as well as be considered sufficiently qualified, the draft bill says.
Under the proposed amendments to the existing laws, men would be able to serve as privates up to the age of 65 and as military commanders up to the age of 70 if they met all criteria. The authors of the bill claimed that “many people [of that age] are willing to join the army ranks.”
In October, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Natalya Kalmykova said that “tens, hundreds of thousands of people” were dodging the draft in Ukraine. The Ukrainian media also reported in early November that as many as 8,000 Ukrainians were facing criminal charges for draft evasion.
Ukraine increasingly conscripting older men – mediaREAD MORE: Ukraine increasingly conscripting older men – media
Kiev is also increasingly relying on women to fill the army ranks, the SVR said in its Monday report, citing “Western estimates” suggesting that more than 40,000 women were serving in the country’s forces. Earlier, similar figures were mentioned by the Brussels Times, which said that the Ukrainian army had some 40,000 female service members, including 8,000 female officers. More than 5,000 Ukrainian women were taking part in combat operations on the frontlines, the media outlet said, citing Ukrainian general Sergey Naev.
The actions of Kiev show that it is “ready to continue to fight ‘till the last Ukrainian’ in the name of Western interests,” the SVR concluded, regarding the developments.
US Media Acknowledges True Situation in Special Op Zone
Russia will liberate about 20 percent of the current Ukrainian territory, approaching Kiev, Peter Van Buren, editor at The American Conservative, wrote on Monday.
More and more Western media outlets have acknowledged the true situation on the ground in the special operation zone, realizing the scale of Western propaganda, which has managed to cover it up for almost two years.
"Amidst a flood of propaganda, the story was always the same: Ukraine was pushing back the Russians with weapons provided by a broad range of agreeable NATO benefactors. Between Ukrainian jet fighter aces with improbable kill ratios to patriotic female sniper teams with improbable hair and makeup, Russia was losing," the journalist clarifies.
It is all the more surprising to see common sense coming from an article in a US media outlet which points out that the conflict itself could have been avoided had it not been for US meddling. Van Buren cites former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who outright stated the simple fact that: "The only people who could resolve the war over Ukraine are the Americans. During the peace talks in March 2022 in Istanbul, Ukrainians did not agree to peace because they were not allowed to. They had to coordinate everything they talked about with the Americans first. However, nothing eventually happened. My impression is that nothing could happen because everything was decided in Washington."
Now, after almost two years of bragging about the constant supply of "almighty" Western weapons to Ukraine, it is becoming a new trend among US and European journalists to talk about a stalemate in the conflict and peace negotiations.
It took only about two months for the NBC News to come from "Ukrainian counteroffensive is making 'tangible progress' against Russia, Blinken tells NBC News," to "U.S., European officials broach topic of peace negotiations with Ukraine, sources say," underscoring a significant change in public opinion on the crisis.
At the same time, the situation in Ukraine is getting worse, regardless of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's dreams. Time reports that the Kiev regime is drafting people over 40 years old, as the Ukrainian youth has already been "successfully" sacrificed for the NATO interests. Van Buren emphasizes the "manpower gap" as the main issue hindering Ukrainian success. The editor is both surprised that the Russian military has been destroying the "all-powerful" NATO equipment and unwilling to believe it, putting it down to the poor training of the Ukrainian soldiers.
"It didn’t hurt that Russia’s capability versus NATO equipment was surprisingly good, or perhaps the Ukrainians’ handling of sophisticated Western arms was surprisingly bad," the article says.
Unfortunately for the US government, as the Palestine-Israel conflict rages on, Americans have been losing interest in the Ukraine crisis, which has become "boring," Van Buren argues. Americans like simple pictures: the good guy vs the bad guy, just like in a comic book. The events should take place far away, as usual for the US, just so there is no danger for the spectator; however, footage should be top-notch, and the map should be easy to follow, as simple as possible, just like in American football, the article clarifies.
"Americans, both the people and their government, distracted by the greatest propaganda tools ever imagined (the media), seem capable of focusing on only one bright shiny object at a time. In the case of wars, a new bright shiny object must include two clear sides, one good and one pure evil, with one preferably an underdog, daily combat footage which can be obtained without too much danger, and a football game-like progression across a map that is easy to follow. It should not be boring," the newspaper clarified.
However, real military conflicts never fit all these criteria, and that's why "America has an old habit of wandering into a conflict and then losing interest," the article says. It sounds shocking and heinous that people suffering and dying in war across the globe are nothing more than pixels on screen for the US government. Having established a military presence all over the world, Washington indulges in promoting its hegemony by setting up proxy wars instead of encouraging development. However, as The American Conservative notes, the conflicts instigated by the US are "entertaining enough" only in the beginning, while the lives of people are nothing more but numbers in reports.
"Nevertheless, the fickle attention of America shifted to the Middle East just as things started to look more and more like static WWI trench warfare in Ukraine. It was a hard act to follow," the paper claims.
Van Buren acknowledges the destructive nature of US influence, stating yet another truth: Washington's proxies are destined to be destroyed in order to maintain the US hegemony.
"Our proxies seem to end up abandoned and hung out to die. As in Iraq and Afghanistan, never mind Vietnam before that, what was realized at the end could have most likely been achievable at pretty much anytime after the initial hurrahs passed away. It is sad that so many had to die to likely see it happen in 2023," the editor states.
