Saudi Arabia and France reaffirmed support for Palestinian statehood and called for Israel to withdraw from all Lebanese territory, according to a joint statement issued Monday at the end of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s state visit to France. The statement followed talks between bin Salman and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, where they also chaired the first meeting of the Saudi-French Strategic Partnership Council. The two leaders stressed a shared approach to regional stability based on state sovereignty, international law and political and diplomatic solutions to conflicts. On Palestine, Riyadh and Paris firmly rejected attempts to undermine the Palestinian people’s right to establish an independent state on the 1967 borders and called for an end to Israel’s settlement policy and violence by Israeli occupiers, saying they threaten the two-state solution. They also stressed the need to create conditions for a sustainable ceasefire in G...
After decades of urging the United States to attack Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally got his wish. But after six months of inconclusive hostilities, Israel may ultimately find itself in a worse position than it was before the war. The Islamic republic, which Netanyahu has long cast as an existential threat, has not only survived but appears emboldened. Underlying Netanyahu's dilemma have been the wild swings in the approach of US President Donald Trump, who joined Israel in launching the conflict in late February, but by April abruptly called a ceasefire and sought a negotiated settlement in the face of souring public opinion and soaring oil prices. "It's a colossal failure of Israeli strategy regarding Iran," said Danny Citrinowicz, a former top Israeli intelligence analyst on Iran who is now at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies. "Yes, we had operational achievements, but strategically we've failed....