Palestinian Unity Declaration, and Other Headlines of the Day

Welcome to the Daily News Brief, CFR’s flagship morning newsletter summarizing the top global news and analysis of the day. Today’s edition was written by Catherine Osborn and edited by Clara Fong, with support from Diana Roy.

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Top of the Agenda

Leaders of Palestinian Factions Sign Unity Declaration in Beijing 

The leaders of Palestinian factions including Fatah and Hamas signed a joint statement calling for the establishment of a Palestinian unity government in Beijing today. Historic divisions among the groups and the failure of previous reconciliation efforts have led experts to cast doubt on the feasibility of such a government. Previous mediation talks brokered by China ended without a joint declaration. Today’s statement said that a unity government would oversee the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as well as work toward holding elections. Israel’s foreign minister criticized the deal, saying “Hamas’s rule will be crushed.” Washington has called for a revitalized Palestinian Authority to govern postwar Gaza. 

The declaration in Beijing comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington this week, where he is due to address the U.S. Congress and meet with senior officials, including President Joe Biden. Netanyahu’s office said today that a deal could be near on a hostage release in Israel’s war with Hamas. (WaPo, Times of Israel, Reuters)

ANALYSIS

“For many Palestinians, without concrete steps to make that plan a reality, the gathering in the Chinese capital was little more than a performance—and one they had seen before,” the New York Times’s Adam Rasgon and Alexandra Stevenson write. “The statement does not address a key sticking point: security control over Gaza.”

“Israel shares the goal with Arab capitals, the United States, and other countries that Hamas should not be able to return to power, impose a stranglehold over Gaza, and export terrorism,” the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Dana Stroul writes for Foreign Affairs. “To coordinate postwar activities and demonstrate to local communities that there is a credible alternative to Hamas, an internationally empowered and resourced entity should be positioned to immediately take action and prioritize civilian engagement.”

This Expert Brief by CFR Senior Fellow Steven A. Cook previewed Netanyahu’s visit to Washington.

Pacific Rim

Thai Official: Country Will Move Toward Regulating Marijuana for Medical Use

Today’s announcement by the country’s deputy prime minister suggests the country will move further away from decriminalization. Thailand was one of the first countries in Asia to decriminalize marijuana in 2022, though it later signaled a potential reversal of that policy. The government will discuss a draft bill that would regulate the industry. (Straits Times, Bloomberg)

Taiwan: Taiwan began its annual war games yesterday in which it simulates how its forces would repeal a potential Chinese invasion. The drills include stepped-up nighttime operations for the first time, though some exercises have been partially reduced due to an approaching typhoon. (Reuters, CNA)

This article by CFR expert David Sacks spells out why China would struggle to invade Taiwan.  

South And Central Asia

India to Apply for Permit to Mine Pacific Deep Sea Minerals

New Delhi hopes to mine for critical minerals in the Pacific Ocean, the top scientist at the country’s Ministry of Earth Sciences said. India would likely take some three to four years before it is technically ready for such mining, analysts told Reuters. China, Russia, and some Pacific Islands have obtained some such mining licenses; countries are negotiating an international code for deep sea mining at a meeting in Jamaica this week. (Reuters)

Myanmar: The head of the country’s military junta assumed acting presidential duties while the president is on medical leave, the information ministry said. The move comes more than a week before the junta decides on whether to extend emergency rule in the country, which is still engulfed in civil war. (Bloomberg)

Middle East and North Africa

Talks Over Future of U.S.-Iraq Military Relations Begin in Washington

The talks that began yesterday are part of a review of the future of the some 2,500 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq. Iran-backed groups in Iraq have pushed for the exit of U.S. forces from the country amid tensions over the war in Gaza. (Al-Monitor)

Sub-Saharan Africa

Dozens of WTO Countries Back Reelection Bid of Nigeria’s Okonjo-Iweala

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s term as director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is due to end in 2025, but fifty-eight of the organization’s 164 member countries backed a proposal for her to expedite her run for a second four-year term. Okonjo-Iweala took the proposal seriously and was “favorably inclined,” the WTO said in a statement yesterday. It did not elaborate on her reasoning, but Bloomberg reports that the potential election of Donald Trump as U.S. president could pose a risk to her reelection, since his administration did not support her previous candidacy. (Bloomberg)

Somalia: Al-Shabaab militants attempted to storm three army bases yesterday and were repelled by state security forces. Somalia’s army said more than 130 militants were killed and eighty others were wounded, while al-Shabaab said it killed over seventy members of the security forces. Those figures could not be immediately independently verified. (The National, VOA)

Europe

Russia Gives Six-and-a-Half Year Jail Sentence to Russian-American Journalist

A Russian court sentenced Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), on charges of spreading false information about the Russian army, Russian state media reported yesterday. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said she was being targeted for “speaking the truth and her principled reporting” and called for her immediate release. (CNN)

Brussels: The European Union (EU) plans to move an August meeting from Budapest to Brussels in protest of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s deviating positions from EU policy, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell Fontelles said yesterday. Orbán has carried out meetings in China, Russia, and Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in recent weeks. (Bloomberg) 

Americas

U.S. Announces $60 Million in New Aid to Haiti

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced the additional humanitarian aid on a visit to Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, yesterday. Washington will also provide a Kenya-led multinational security mission with mine-resistant vehicles as they help Haitian police try to contain surging gang violence, she said. (AP) 

This Backgrounder by Rocio Cara Labrador and CFR’s Diana Roy explores Haiti’s troubled path to development.

U.S./Mexico: The director of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) mission in Mexico called on Mexico to provide guarantees that private firms will have access to electricity and water in order to boost semiconductor manufacturing in the country. A report by USAID and the United States-Mexico Foundation for Science foresees Mexico growing its chip packaging, assembly, and testing capacities in the near term if the country invests between $2 and $5 million per firm to start. (Bloomberg)

Campaign 2024

Harris Officially Launches Campaign to Seek Democratic Nomination

Vice President Kamala Harris launched her campaign in a Delaware speech yesterday where she pledged to carry forward the legacy of President Biden, hailing that he “has stood up for democracy at home and he has stood up for democracy abroad.” Senior officials from Biden’s campaign staff will have leading roles in her campaign. Democratic officials continued to endorse Harris yesterday, including former House Speaker and Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). (ABC, FT)

For The Water’s Edge blog, CFR expert James M. Lindsay gives a rundown on Harris’s background and foreign policy positions.