L’ORIENT – LE JOUR (LEBANON): L’Arabie saoudite a précisé les contours de sa vision pour l’après-Gaza lors de la dernière visite du secrétaire d’État américain Antony Blinken à Riyad, a appris L’Orient-Le Jour auprès de deux sources diplomatiques arabes. Le royaume a remis au chef de la diplomatie américaine un projet résumant les étapes qui doivent conduire à la reconstruction de l’enclave et à la reconnaissance de l’État palestinien. Ce document résume la position de cinq pays arabes, l’Arabie saoudite, l’Égypte, les Émirats arabes unis, le Qatar et la Jordanie, mais également celle de l’Autorité palestinienne (AP). La feuille de route comprend quatre étapes. La première implique le retour de l’AP dans la bande de Gaza, en fournissant au gouvernement palestinien tous les moyens nécessaires pour mener à bien sa mission, et le début de la reconstruction de l’enclave. La deuxième étape concerne la situation en Cisjordanie. La feuille de route prévoit de faire passer les “zones B”, qui sont administrativement sous l’autorité palestinienne mais sous le contrôle sécuritaire et militaire d’Israël, en “zones A”, qui sont censées être entièrement sous l’administration et le gouvernement de Ramallah. La troisième étape comprend des négociations concernant les points non réglés : la question de Jérusalem, celle des colons, celle des réfugiés, celle de l’eau et celle de la délimitation des frontières entre les deux États. La quatrième étape implique la création d’un État palestinien reconnu internationalement comme un État indépendant et souverain.
AL-AHRAM (EGYPT): Egypt is working with partners on a long-term scheme for regional stability. “It does not matter if it is called a truce, a ceasefire or something else, as long as it gives the Palestinian people space to breathe, time for the Israelis and Palestinians to listen to mediators who are trying to put together a deal for a longer-term no-hostilities commitment, and humanitarian aid is allowed into Gaza,” said an informed Egyptian source. The source spoke before a high-level Egyptian security delegation was dispatched to Israel earlier this week, charged with convincing the Israelis to agree to some of Hamas — and other Palestinian factions’ — demands for a deal that would see Israeli hostages exchanged for Palestinians in Israeli prisons, access for more aid to Gaza and a multi-phase Israeli withdrawal from the centre and north of the Strip.
ARAB NEWS (SAUDI ARABIA): Gaza destruction on scale unseen since Second World War, will take decades to rebuild, UN says. Report by the UN Development Program highlights devastating effects of the conflict, which has set human development in the territory back by about 20 years. It warns that in addition to the thousands of lives already lost, and the many people injured or maimed for life, the risk of “future lost generations is real”.
LE MONDE (FRANCE): Comment Israël remodèle la bande de Gaza. Alors que la future gouvernance de l’enclave palestinienne est débattue au sein du gouvernement israélien, les forces armées ont systématiquement détruit, sur 1 kilomètre de large au moins, le bâti le long de la frontière et aménagent un corridor militarisé qui isole la ville de Gaza.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (USA): U.S. shuffles military assets in Middle East after Gulf pushback. Washington shifts some warplanes to Qatar to allay concerns among Gulf powers about riling Iran and its proxies. The Pentagon is shifting jet fighters, armed drones and other aircraft to Qatar, repositioning its forces to get around restrictions on conducting airstrikes from an air base long used by the U.S. in the United Arab Emirates. The U.A.E. informed the U.S. in February that it would no longer permit American warplanes and drones based at Al Dhafra air base in Abu Dhabi to carry out strikes in Yemen and Iraq. That has prompted U.S. commanders to send the additional aircraft to Al Udeid air base in Qatar, the small Persian Gulf monarchy that hasn’t imposed similar restrictions, U.S. officials said.
DAILY SABAH (TURKEY): Türkiye halted all trade activity with Israel as of Thursday over the country’s non-stop violence against Palestinians in Gaza, according to a statement made by the Trade Ministry. The two countries had a trade volume of $6.8 billion in 2023. Relations between Türkiye and Israel have been frosty for years. Trade ties between the two countries remained strong in the past but have plunged since the conflict began.
LES ECHOS (FRANCE): Benyamin Netanyahou est bien décidé à faire payer l’Autorité palestinienne de possibles mandats d’arrêt que pourrait émettre contre lui la Cour pénale internationale (CPI) pour crimes de guerre dans la bande de Gaza. Les responsables israéliens redoutent qu’une telle sanction soit annoncée dans les prochains jours et mènent une campagne féroce pour contrer un tel projet. Le Premier ministre a prévenu les Etats-Unis qu'il était prêt à provoquer “l’effondrement” de l’Autorité palestinienne en recourant à des “sanctions significatives”.
THE TIMES OF ISRAEL: Biden slams anti-Israel campus protests, says Mideast policies unchanged. US president says right to free speech must not come at expense of law and order, adds he won’t send National Guard to disperse encampments at universities
THE NEW YORK TIMES (USA): The protesters occupying Hamilton Hall on the campus of Columbia University seemed ready to stay awhile. Some of those arrested during the pro-Palestinian demonstration were outsiders, who appeared to be unaffiliated with the school, according to an analysis of Police Department data. Some of those arrested at City College were students who had built an encampment earlier in the week in a plaza on the school’s campus. But they also included people who had joined a protest outside the campus’s locked gates, on a public sidewalk. Many of the people on the police list who were arrested near City College appeared to be unaffiliated with the school.
RENMIN RIBAO (CHINA): Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay state visits to France, Serbia and Hungary from May 5 to 10. This will be the first visit to Europe by China’s head of state in nearly five years. Against the backdrop of intensifying global turbulence, the China-EU relationship holds strategic significance and global influence. It bears upon the pillars of world peace, stability, and prosperity. Xi’s upcoming visits to the three European countries will inject strong impetus into the development of the relations between China and the three countries and the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, and bring more stability and positive energy to the fast-changing world.
KOMMERSANT (RUSSIA): Председатель КНР Си Цзиньпин на этой неделе отправляется в европейское турне, в программу которого включены визиты во Францию, Венгрию и Сербию. Редкая зарубежная поездка китайского лидера призвана открыть Пекину новые перспективы в сотрудничестве с Западом после недавних провальных переговоров с госсекретарем США Энтони Блинкеном. Избегая прямой эскалации с Вашингтоном, Китай противостоит давлению США, делая ставку на прагматичные отношения с их союзниками и партнерами. В свою очередь, для Европы переговоры с председателем КНР станут тестом на готовность к стратегической автономии от США, к которой призвал президент Франции Эмманюэль Макрон.
GLOBAL TIMES (CHINA): The Chinese Embassy in the US slammed Washington’s latest sanctions against Chinese entities over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, saying that China firmly opposes the US imposing unilateral illegal sanctions on Chinese entities. The US on Wednesday issued a new package of sanctions on hundreds of companies and individuals, including more than a dozen Chinese entities, for “helping Moscow find workarounds to earlier penalties.” This is one of the most wide-ranging actions against Chinese companies so far in Washington’s sanctions targeting Russia. US aid to Ukraine and its fresh package of sanctions are the last frenzy as part of its failing Ukraine policy, Lü Xiang, a research fellow from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. The Biden administration just wants to put on show its tough stance on foreign policy by imposing illegal sanctions on foreign entities on Ukraine issue. However, this cannot save their already failing Ukraine policy, Lü added.
HINDUSTAN TIMES (INDIA): The Indian Army will be studying the military implications of China building a road in Shaksgam Valley as Beijing’s physical occupation could potentially threaten Indian defences in Siachen Glacier. The 5180 square kilometer of Indian territory in Shaksgam Valley was illegally ceded by Pakistan to China in 1963. While India last week lodged a strong protest against Chinese road construction in the Valley in Delhi as well as in Beijing, the road could be part of an alignment that links Karakoram Highway to Upper Shaksgam Valley, bordering the Siachen Glacier.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES (USA): The virus research group EcoHealth Alliance was engaged in dangerous experimental virus work in China that was funded by the federal government, according to a newly released report by a special House panel on the COVID-19 pandemic. “EcoHealth used taxpayer dollars to facilitate gain-of-function research on coronaviruses in Wuhan at the [Wuhan Institute of Virology], contrary to previous public statements, including those by [former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases] Dr. Anthony Fauci,” the report says.
IZVESTIA (RUSSIA): С одной стороны, Макрон вновь, как и семь лет назад, рискует переоценить свои силы и увлеченность союзников внутренними делами. На автоматическое признание французского лидерства в ЕС едва ли приходится рассчитывать: слишком часто Париж пытался создать вокруг себя “авангард желающих”, так и не добившись конкретных результатов. С другой стороны, остается всё та же проблема самодостаточности во внешнеполитическом курсе: автономная Европа не будет в строгом смысле слова таковой, если ее главный архитектор соглашается с приматом НАТО и коллективного западного видения происходящего в мире. Понимая под автономией не столько субъектность Евросоюза в мире, сколько способность защититься от внешних угроз, французский президент будет вынужден прийти к неутешительному для себя выводу, что от его инициатив мало что зависит до тех пор, пока для безопасности европейцев сохраняется решающее значение фактора США и НАТО.
THE GUARDIAN (GB): Weapons supplied by Britain to Ukraine can be used to strike inside Russia, David Cameron has said, as the UK foreign secretary promised £3bn a year “for as long as it is necessary” to help Kyiv. Cameron said: “Ukraine has the right to strike inside Russia because Russia is striking inside Ukraine … You can understand why Ukraine feels the need to defend itself.” The foreign secretary announced that the UK’s donation of military equipment would include precision-guided bombs, air defence missiles and equipment for 100 mobile air defence teams to shoot down Russia’s drones and missiles.
POLITICO (USA): Rishi Sunak is living through his most perilous hours as U.K. prime minister. With his Conservative Party lagging in the polls, disgruntled Tory rebels seeking to oust him as leader before this year’s general election have been waiting for their moment. It’s just arrived — but will they strike? Thursday’s local and regional elections across England and Wales have long been marked in rebel diaries as the moment Sunak would suffer heavy, real-world electoral losses, meaning Tory MPs might be panicked to take action. As the initial results came in Friday morning, it was clear Sunak had suffered a bad night.
VEDOMOSTI (RUSSIA): На выборах в Европарламент (ЕП), которые состоятся через месяц, с 6 по 9 июня, значительно увеличится количество мест, занимаемых крайне правыми силами. Об этом говорится в докладе, подготовленном аналитическим центром Европейского совета по международным отношениям (ECFR). Согласно исследованию, сразу в девяти государствах – Австрии, Бельгии, Чехии, Франции, Венгрии, Италии, Нидерландах, Польше и Словакии – праворадикальные и евроскептические партии займут первые места, а в Болгарии, Эстонии, Финляндии, Германии, Латвии, Португалии, Румынии, Испании и Швеции – вторые или третьи. Тенденция на увеличение фракции крайне правых популистов в ЕП может быть любопытной, но она мало на что повлияет. Кардинальных изменений для руководства ЕС от таких результатов выборов не будет.
THE MAINICHI SHIMBUN (JAPAN): Some 27% of respondents to a recent Mainichi Shimbun survey said they were in favor of revising Japan’s Constitution during Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s tenure, far less than the 52% against the move. Some 49% of respondents were in favor of amending the Constitution's war-renouncing Article 9, which stipulates Japan will never maintain land, sea and air forces, to clearly state the existence of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF), and 34% were against.
THE STRAITS TIMES (SINGAPORE): Malaysia, already a major player in the chip industry, is aiming high as it wants to move up the value chain into chip design and double its global market share of the overall semiconductor trade in five years, said a top government official. Such ambitions may well be propelled by a recently proposed plan for an IC design park in Puchong – touted to be the largest in South-east Asia – and also by the US-China chip rivalry in recent years, which has led multinational corporations to restructure supply chains and relocate operations to countries such as Malaysia, Vietnam and India, in a bid to reduce geopolitical risks.
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (HONG KONG, CHINA): Nuclear fusion reactors a step closer to being economically viable after scientific breakthrough. An “economically attractive” way to produce nuclear fusion energy using tokamak reactors could be a step closer, with a new operating method developed by scientists from China and the United States. The new system could help experimental fusion reactors around the world reach a plasma density high enough to meet commercial fusion goals.
THE WASHINGTON POST (USA): One of the most rapid sea level surges on Earth is besieging the American South, forcing a reckoning for coastal communities across eight U.S. states, a Washington Post analysis has found. At more than a dozen tide gauges spanning from Texas to North Carolina, sea levels are at least 6 inches higher than they were in 2010 — a change similar to what occurred over the previous five decades. The Gulf of Mexico has experienced twice the global average rate of sea level rise since 2010, a Post analysis of satellite data shows. Few other places on the planet have seen similar rates of increase, such as the North Sea near the United Kingdom.
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN (JAPAN): Japan’s push for coal leaves it isolated at G-7 climate talks. Japan managed to include vague wording that weakens the Group of Seven’s agreement to phase out coal-fired power plants, but Tokyo is becoming increasingly isolated in its efforts to continue using this energy source.