Saudi diplomat says Israel, more than PA, needs reform to become a partner for peace |
The Times of Israel is liveblogging Sunday’s events as they unfold.
A Palestinian allegedly attempted to ram soldiers with a vehicle in the West Bank town of Burqin this evening, the IDF says.
The military says that the soldiers, who were carrying out a raid in the town, returned fire at the vehicle, which fled.
“Security forces are working to locate the terrorist,” the army adds.
State prosecutors indict a 56-year-old man with aggravated murder and arson after he allegedly set his ex-wife’s car on fire with her in it last month, causing her life-threatening wounds to which she eventually succumbed.
Abdelhadi Mahamid, from Arara, is accused of waiting for his ex-wife Anan Jazmawi to finish her shift at the supermarket where she worked in Harish and ambushing her once she entered her car on November 10.
He doused both Jazmawi and the vehicle with gasoline and then set the car alight. She sustained severe burns covering about 98 percent of her body, and was taken to the hospital in critical condition, prosecutors say. She died on November 29 due to the burns and smoke inhalation.
The deceased and the defendant divorced after 14 years of marriage in October this year, after he spent nine months in prison for abusing and threatening her. He continued to threaten her while serving time via phone calls with their 9-year-old daughter, the youngest of three children.
According to prosecutors, the defendant told his daughter over a phone call to pass on a message to her mother: “Tell her that because she put me in jail, I’ll get out and kill her, and she’ll die because I sat in jail.”
Days after he was freed from prison the defendant came to Jazmawi’s home and asked to see their daughter. When his ex-wife refused to open her door and said the daughter was sleeping, he knocked loudly, yelled, cursed and threatened to mangle his ex-wife’s face. It was then that he decided to acquire gasoline and began plotting to kill Jazmawi by setting her on fire, prosecutors say.
Prosecutors charge Mahamid in the Haifa District Court with aggravated murder, arson and making threats, and request he remain in custody until the end of legal proceedings against him.
Hamas is ready to discuss “freezing or storing” its arsenal of weapons as part of its ceasefire with Israel, a senior official says, offering a possible formula to resolve one of the thorniest issues in the US-brokered agreement.
Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’s decision-making political bureau, speaks as the sides prepare to move into the second and more complicated phase of the agreement.
“We are open to have a comprehensive approach in order to avoid further escalations or in order to avoid any further clashes or explosions,” Naim tells The Associated Press in Qatar’s capital, Doha, where much of the group’s leadership is located.
Naim says Hamas retains its “right to resist,” but said the group is ready to lay down its arms as part of a process aimed at leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state. He gave few details on how this might work but suggested a long-term truce of five or 10 years for discussions to take place.
“This time has to be used seriously and in a comprehensive way,” he says, adding that Hamas is “very open minded” about what to do with its weapons.
“We can talk about freezing or storing or laying down, with the Palestinian guarantees, not to use it at all during this ceasefire time or truce,” he says.
It is not clear whether the offer would meet Israel’s demands for full disarmament.
Five Hapoel Tel Aviv soccer fans suspected of rioting before a match two months ago will remain in custody until Thursday this week, a Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court judge........