Palestinian activists in Belgium are seeking the cancellation of the status of the Brussels municipality of Ixelles and the city of Antwerp as “twin cities” of the Israeli city of Megiddo.
Brussels commune suspends twinning with Israeli Megiddo
Belgian citizen Malika Hamri, the initiator of the initiative, told media that protests have been taking place in front of the Ixelles municipality since June, demanding an end to the sister city relationship established in 2012 between the municipality and Megiddo.
Hamri, originally from Morocco, said that since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7 last year, they have organised various actions in support of the Palestinians. It was during that time that an agreement to create a sister city between Ixelles – one of Brussels’ most popular communes known for its universities, cultural centres and fashion shops – and Megiddo, home to a prison notorious for torturing and abusing Palestinians, caught their attention.
She said they launched a campaign on Change.org called “Ending of the twinning between Megiddo in Israel and the municipality of Ixelles” and collected more than 1,300 signatures.
Hamri said that in the early days of their protest in front of the municipality building, the Ixel municipality decided to suspend relations with Megiddo. According to her, this was not enough for them and they wanted a complete boycott, so they continued their protest.
Hamri also added that students protesting at universities in Brussels also supported this initiative, and that last week the police wanted to stop their demonstration in front of the municipality, but they continued their silent protest, which they organised without the use of microphones or music. She added:
Sept. 26 is an important date. We will organise our 14th protest, but it will also be a day of consultation. We did request and they did put this issue on the council’s agenda to have an open discussion about which party will support the continuation and which one will end it so citizens can know exactly what the stance is of any political party.
Hezbollah destroyed an Israeli explosives factory
Hezbollah announced that its fighters bombed an explosives factory in the Zichron neighbourhood, firing a salvo of Fadi 3 rockets.
The Islamic Resistance also shelled the settlement of “Kiryat Motzkin” with a barrage of Fadi 1 rockets.
US, allies call for “immediate” ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah
The US, France and other allies on Wednesday jointly called for an “immediate” 21-day ceasefire for talks in the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that has killed more than 600 people in Lebanon in recent days.
A joint statement on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York said the recent fighting was “intolerable and poses an unacceptable risk of wider regional escalation.” The statement said:
We call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy. We call on all parties, including the governments of Israel and Lebanon, to endorse the temporary ceasefire immediately.
The Israeli and Lebanese governments, as well as Hezbollah, did not immediately respond, but senior US officials said all parties were aware of the call for a ceasefire. Earlier, Israeli and Lebanese officials reiterated their support for the UN resolution that ended the 2006 war between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group.
The US hopes the new agreement could lead to long-term stability on the border between Israel and Lebanon. Months of firefights between Israel and Hezbollah have displaced tens of thousands of people, and escalating attacks over the past week have renewed fears of a wider war in the Middle East.
US officials said Hezbollah would not sign a ceasefire agreement but believed the Lebanese government would coordinate its agreement with the group. They said they expect Israel to “welcome” the proposal and possibly formally accept it when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the General Assembly on Friday.
US hopes for release of Gaza hostages
While the agreement covers only the Israel-Lebanon border, US officials have said they want to use the three-week pause in fighting to restart stalled ceasefire and hostage release talks between Israel and Hamas after nearly a year of war in Gaza.
Countries calling for an end to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah include the US, Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Work on the proposal moved quickly this week, with President Joe Biden’s national security team, led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, meeting with world leaders in New York and lobbying other countries to support the plan, according to US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential diplomatic conversations.
Blinken first discussed the proposal with France’s foreign minister on Monday and then expanded on it at a dinner with the foreign ministers of all the Group of Seven industrialised democracies.
During a meeting on Wednesday morning with the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council member states, Blinken approached Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan to ask for their approval and received it. Blinken and White House senior adviser Amos Hochstein then met with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who signed the deal.
According to a US official, Sullivan, Hochstein and senior adviser Brett McGurk also spoke with Israeli officials about the proposal. McGurk and Hochstein have been the White House’s main interlocutors in dealing with Israel and Lebanon since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that launched the Gaza war.
Officials said the deal crystallised by late Wednesday afternoon during a conversation on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly between Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron. Blinken expects to meet Netanyahu’s top strategic adviser in New York on Thursday before the PM arrives.
Netanyahu says military will keep fighting with “full force” in Lebanon
Israel’s PM appeared to play down hopes of a quick truce with Hezbollah after the US and its allies called for an “immediate” 21-day ceasefire to “provide space for diplomacy.”
In a statement released on Thursday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed to New York to attend the UN General Assembly, his office said only a proposal was on the table and that he had not yet responded to it. The statement also denied that any instruction had been given to ease the fighting on the northern border with Lebanon.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz earlier said the country would continue fighting “with all its strength until victory and the safe return of the people of the north to their homes.”
Hezbollah has also not yet responded to the proposal for a pause in fighting, although Lebanon’s interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati has welcomed it.
