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Squeezed out in Gaza, PA’s Abbas embraces Israeli peace activists in Ramallah
(JTA) — RAMALLAH, West Bank — As a teacher at a school in the Galilee in northern Israel, peace activist Shoshana Lavan says students often told her during the war, “Don’t talk to me about peace.”
But just hours after a ceasefire agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas, she was beaming with hope. “I feel like I can turn around and tell them, ‘I told you so,’” she said with a smile.
At that moment, she sat in the glistening white marble dining hall of al-Muqata’a, the presidential palace for the Palestinian Authority.
A self-described idealist who made aliyah six years ago from England in part to do anti-occupation work, Lavan and her husband, Baruch Velleman, joined about 50 other Jewish and Arab peace activists who took a bus from across the Green Line to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the heart of Ramallah. With the two groups originally planning to meet to call for the end of the war, upon the ceasefire announcement, they went further in calling for both sides to build on the initial agreement to end Israel’s military occupation and create long-lasting solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“I welcome today’s agreement, the cessation of hostilities, and the release of the hostages,” Abbas said at the meeting, commending the delegation for “strengthen[ing] hope for peace.”
“Hope begins today, and now we must ensure that we continue to implement peace,” he said. “Every Israeli who believes in peace is our brother.”
The activists, as part of the “It’s Time” Coalition representing 60 Israeli peace and reconciliation organizations, called the unusual gathering among Israeli peace activists and the Palestinian president “historic” and “symbolically significant.”
But the meeting came after Abbas and the P.A. were largely squeezed out of discussions on the future of Gaza by both the Israeli and American governments. The ceasefire deal, brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump without involvement by the P.A., came just weeks after Abbas was denied a visa by the United States to visit New York for this year’s U.N. General Assembly, where several European countries officially recognized an independent Palestinian state for the first time.
For years, the current Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has targeted Abbas’ PA government due to its track record of paying stipends to Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including those convicted of committing violent acts to Israeli citizens, as well as for textbooks used in Palestinian classrooms allegedly glorifying violence and extremist views.
Abbas changed those policies earlier this year amid the European countries’ statehood shift. But the changes did not appease Netanyahu or his governing partners, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has several times withdrawn tax revenue earmarked for the Palestinian Authority government, which has limited self-autonomy in parts of the West Bank.
The unprecedented meeting between Israeli activists and leaders of the PA served for the participants as a bridge for discussion and reconciliation, with Mika Almog, the content director for It’s Time, calling the encounter “what things ought to be like.”
“It feels like what should be our normal existence,” said Almog. “It feels like we should be talking to one another and solving our problems and hearing one another and sharing a meal, as we did here.”
For some including Velleman, a longtime peace activist over many decades, the gathering at Al-Muqata’a encapsulated years of efforts to bring together disparate Israeli activist groups under one umbrella — an effort that finally congealed as the devastating war in Gaza raged, the Israeli hostages languished in Hamas tunnels, and thousands protested outside the Israeli Knesset and at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv for months.
Now, the ceasefire deal left some of the attendees trying to put the pieces together of what it all meant.
“However much we hate Trump, maybe we needed Trump in order to do what he’s done now,” wondered Velleman aloud at the dining table. “Only somebody with a massive ego, who’s crazy and knows how to lie totally and bully. Sometimes to beat a bully, you need a bigger bully.”
During the meeting, the peace activists and the Palestinian president, spurned and antagonized by political forces that brokered the deal, expressed a deep appreciation for one another. Activists shook Abbas’ hand, and one offered him a hug. Abbas conveyed his sympathies to Yonatan Zeigen, the son of the activist Vivan Silver who was killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, and after Israeli activist Lea Shkeydel spoke on the Jewish value of saving lives, Abbas cited a line from the Quran: “Whoever saves a life, it will be as if they saved all of humanity.”
One speaker shared with Abbas a petition signed by over 10,000 Israelis to recognize a Palestinian state, and the delegation presented to the Palestinian president an invitation to the group’s People’s Peace Summit, scheduled for May.
“We want to work together in cooperation for hundreds of years to come,” Abbas told the delegation.
Amid the generally ebullient atmosphere, some speakers reflected on how the preceding two years had transformed them. Zeigen looked back at “a time I felt helpless to shape political reality around me.”
“That changed on Oct. 7 when this fantasy of ignoring occupation could no longer continue,” he said. Zeigen called for not only ending the war and releasing the hostages, but to end Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank.
With “It’s Time” representing a broad spectrum of anti-war groups, some attendees privately expressed pessimism of what came next, including Roy Talmon, a member of an Israeli activist group called Looking at the Occupation in the Eye that provides protective presence to Palestinian communities in Area C, the 60% of the West Bank under Israeli civil and military law, while documenting alleged Israeli settler attacks. Such attacks have surged in recent years as, their critics say, settlers have been emboldened by Israel’s right wing government.
“Of course, I welcome the signing of the agreement to stop the genocide in Gaza and the release of the hostages and prisoners,” said Talmon. “However, the lack of involvement of the Palestinian Authority is disturbing and the situation in the West Bank is also very fragile.”
Talmon fears that after the hostages are returned, fighting in Gaza may resume, or violence in the West Bank will escalate.
“As a society, we have a very long way to go, and right now there doesn’t seem to be a willingness to start it,” he said. “And that’s without saying a word about the crimes committed in Gaza, in which most Israeli society is complicit.”
In spite of the wider marginalization these two groups now face — progressive Israeli activists, demonized by the ascendent Israeli right; and the beleaguered PA, long unpopular among Palestinians in the West Bank and now cut out of negotiations by Netanyahu and Trump — the participants celebrated the gathering as a special occasion to lay the groundwork for outreach beyond the Green Line, despite the several tables empty in the back of the room.
Lavan says she hopes the ceasefire agreement will build towards a lasting peace, connecting the pivotal moment with past struggles.
“One day the Irish were blowing up my city in Birmingham, where I was born,” said Lavan, “and the next day we were celebrating in the streets because there was peace, just like that.”
In fact, it took 24 years after the Birmingham pub bombings for the Good Friday agreement to be signed in 1998.
The activists are hoping for a shorter timeline in their neighborhood. Less than 24 hours after the ceasefire was announced, they were already discussing what comes next in their efforts to bring about a lasting peace in the Middle East.
“Now, our work really starts,” declared Velleman.
The post Squeezed out in Gaza, PA’s Abbas embraces Israeli peace activists in Ramallah appeared first on The Forward.
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Rights Groups Say at Least 16 Dead in Iran During Week of Protests
People walk past closed shops following protests over a plunge in the currency’s value, in the Tehran Grand Bazaar in Tehran, Iran, December 30, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
At least 16 people have been killed during a week of unrest in Iran, rights groups said on Sunday, as protests over soaring inflation spread across the country, sparking violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces.
Deaths and arrests have been reported through the week both by state media and rights groups, though the figures differ. Reuters has not been able to independently verify the numbers.
The protests are the biggest in three years. Senior figures have struck a softer tone than in some previous bouts of unrest, at a moment of vulnerability for the Islamic Republic with the economy in tatters and international pressure building.
SUPREME LEADER SAYS IRAN WILL NOT YIELD TO ENEMY
President Masoud Pezeshkian told the Interior Ministry to take a “kind and responsible” approach toward protesters, according to remarks published by state media, saying “society cannot be convinced or calmed by forceful approaches.”
That language is the most conciliatory yet adopted by Iranian authorities, who have this week acknowledged economic pain and promised dialogue even as security forces cracked down on public dissent in the streets.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to come to the protesters’ aid if they face violence, saying on Friday “we are locked and loaded and ready to go,” without specifying what actions he was considering.
That warning prompted threats of retaliation against US forces in the region from senior Iranian officials. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran “will not yield to the enemy.”
Kurdish rights group Hengaw reported that at least 17 people had been killed since the start of the protests. HRANA, a network of rights activists, said at least 16 people had been killed and 582 arrested.
Iran’s police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan told state media that security forces had been targeting protest leaders for arrest over the previous two days, saying “a big number of leaders on the virtual space have been detained.”
Police said 40 people had been arrested in the capital Tehran alone over what they called “fake posts” on protests aimed at disturbing public opinion.
The most intense clashes have been reported in western parts of Iran but there have also been protests and clashes between demonstrators and police in Tehran, in central areas, and in the southern Baluchistan province.
Late on Saturday, the governor of Qom, the conservative centre of Iran’s Shi’ite Muslim clerical establishment, said two people had been killed there in unrest, adding that one of them had died when an explosive device he made blew up prematurely.
HRANA and the state-affiliated Tasnim news agency reported that authorities had detained the administrator of online accounts urging protests.
CURRENCY LOST AROUND HALF ITS VALUE
Protests began a week ago among bazaar traders and shopkeepers before spreading to university students and then provincial cities, where some protesters have been chanting against Iran’s clerical rulers.
Iran has faced inflation above 36 percent since the start of its year in March and the rial currency has lost around half its value against the dollar, causing hardship for many people.
International sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program have been reimposed, the government has struggled to provide water and electricity across the country through the year, and global financial bodies predict a recession in 2026.
Khamenei said on Saturday that although authorities would talk to protesters, “rioters should be put in their place.”
Speaking on Sunday, Vice President Mohammadreza Aref said the government acknowledged the country faced shortcomings while warning that some people were seeking to exploit the protests.
“We expect the youth not to fall into the trap of the enemies,” Aref said in comments carried by state media.
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Antisemitic Graffiti Painted on the Facade of Canada Synagogue
Antisemitic graffiti on a synagogue in Winnipeg, Canada. Photo: CIJA, via i24.
i24 News – The Winnipeg police in central Canada have opened a hate crime investigation after the discovery of swastikas and antisemitic messages spray-painted on the exterior of the Shaarey Zedek synagogue, one of the city’s main Jewish congregations. The graffiti is believed to have been done during the night from Saturday to Sunday.
The acts of vandalism were discovered early in the morning. Several hateful symbols were visible on exterior parts of the building. No injuries were reported. Officers went to the scene to assess the damage and secure the premises. The police are currently reviewing surveillance footage from the area and are asking anyone with information to come forward.
The incident has drawn strong condemnation from national and local Jewish organizations. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) denounced these acts, stressing that the desecration of Jewish institutions with Nazi symbols requires a firm response from municipal and police authorities.
The Jewish Federation of Winnipeg has also condemned what it calls “pure hatred,” warning that the repeated targeting of Jewish institutions poses a serious threat to the community’s safety. It has once again encouraged citizens to promptly report any hate-related incident to enable investigators to gather the necessary evidence.
These graffiti have appeared in a context of rising antisemitic incidents across the country. Community organizations note that synagogues, schools, and Jewish centers are increasingly being targeted, particularly during times of international tension, even when they have no direct connection to those events.
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Oil Prices Likely to Move Higher on Venezuelan Turmoil, Ample Supply to Cap Gains
FILE PHOTO: The Guinea-flagged oil tanker MT Bandra, which is under sanctions, is partially seen alongside another vessel at El Palito terminal, near Puerto Cabello, Venezuela December 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Juan Carlos Hernandez/File Photo
Oil prices are likely to move higher when benchmark futures resume trading later on Sunday on concern that supply may be disrupted after the United States snatched Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from Caracas at the weekend and President Donald Trump said Washington would take control of the oil-producing nation.
There is plentiful oil supply in global markets, meaning any further disruption to Venezuela’s exports would have little immediate impact on prices, analysts said.
The US strike on Venezuela to extract the country’s president inflicted no damage on the country’s oil production and refining industry, two sources with knowledge of operations at state oil company PDVSA said at the weekend.
Since Trump imposed a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuelan waters and seized two cargoes last month, exports have fallen and have been completely paralysed since January 1.
That has left millions of barrels stuck on loaded tankers in Venezuelan waters and led to millions more barrels going into Venezuelan oil storage.
The OPEC member’s exports fell to around 500,000 barrels per day in December, around half of what they were in November. Most of the December exports took place before the embargo. Since then, only exports from Chevron of around 100,000 bpd have continued to leave Venezuela. The global oil major has US authorization to produce and export from Venezuela despite sanctions.
The embargo prompted PDVSA to begin cutting oil output, three sources close to the decision said on Sunday, because Venezuela is running out of storage capacity for the oil that it cannot export. PDVSA has asked some of the joint ventures that are operating in the country to cut back production, the sources said. They would need to shut down oilfields or well clusters.
Trump said on Saturday that the oil embargo on Venezuelan exports remained in full effect. If the US government loosens the embargo and allows more Venezuelan crude exports to the US Gulf, there are refiners there that previously processed the country’s oil.
The weekend’s events were unlikely to materially alter global oil markets or the global economy given the US strikes avoided Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, said Neil Shearing, group chief economist at Capital Economics.
“In any case, any short-term disruption to Venezuelan output can easily be offset by increased production elsewhere. And any medium-term recovery in Venezuelan supply would be dwarfed by shifts among the major producers,” he said in a note.
Trump also threatened on Friday to intervene in a crackdown on protests in Iran, another OPEC producer, ratcheting up geopolitical tensions. Trump on Friday said “we are locked and loaded and ready to go,” without specifying what actions he was considering against Tehran, which has seen a week of unrest as protests over soaring inflation spread across the country.
“Prices may see modest upside on heightened geopolitical tensions and disruption risks linked to Venezuela and Iran, but ample global supply should continue to cap those risks for now,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodities research at Saxo Bank.
On Sunday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies agreed to maintain steady oil output in the first quarter, OPEC+ said in a statement. Both Venezuela and Iran are members of OPEC. Several other members of OPEC+ are also embroiled in conflict and political crises.
The producer group has put increases in production on pause for the first quarter after raising output targets by around 2.9 million barrels per day from April to December 2025, equal to almost 3% of world oil demand.
Brent and US crude futures settled lower on Friday, the first day of trading of 2026, as investors weighed oversupply concerns against geopolitical risks. Both contracts closed 2025 with their biggest annual loss since 2020 marked by wars, higher tariffs, increased OPEC+ output and sanctions on Russia, Iran and Venezuela.
VENEZUELA
“The political transition in Venezuela adds another major layer of uncertainty, with elevated risks of civil unrest and near-term supply disruptions,” said Jorge Leon, head of geopolitical analysis at consultancy Rystad Energy and a former OPEC official.
“In an environment this fragile, OPEC+ is choosing caution, preserving flexibility rather than introducing new uncertainty into an already volatile market.”
Trump said on Saturday that the US would control the country until it could make an orderly transition, but an interim government led by vice president and oil minister Delcy Rodriguez remains in control of the country’s institutions, including state energy company PDVSA, with the blessing of Venezuela’s top court.
A top Venezuelan official said on Sunday that the country’s government would stay unified behind Maduro amid deep uncertainty about what is next for the Latin American country.
Trump said that American oil companies were prepared to reenter Venezuela and invest billions of dollars to restore production there.
Venezuela is unlikely to see any meaningful boost to crude output for years even if US oil majors do invest the billions of dollars in the country that Trump has promised, analysts said.
“We continue to caution market observers that it will be a long road back for the country, given its decades-long decline under the Chávez and Maduro regimes, as well as the fact that the US regime change track record is not one of unambiguous success,” Helima Croft, RBC Capital’s head of commodities research, said in a note.