Kat Lonsdorf
Appearances
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-25-2025 8PM EST
Empire's Kat Lonsdorf has more. The detainees are being sent to different places, depending on where they're from and the severity of their crimes, according to Israel. Around half were released to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Association. But anyone serving a life sentence for murder or other serious crimes is being exiled to Arab countries.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-25-2025 8PM EST
Among those deported was 70-year-old Mohamed Al-Tous, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, sentenced to life in 1985 for carrying out attacks against Israel. NPR spoke to his son Thayer by phone. I cannot describe my happiness that he is free, he said. But there is also sadness that he can't be with us. Fa'ir said it was unclear to which country his father would be sent.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-25-2025 8PM EST
Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv. And you're listening to NPR News from Washington.
The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 34: The Passover Instituted (2025)
Good morning, Michelle.
The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 34: The Passover Instituted (2025)
Yeah, Trump and Netanyahu have a lot to discuss, some of which is left over from Trump's first term. Things like the Abraham Accords and the normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia. Also, how to deal with Iran. That's Israel's big enemy, but also a country that Trump has focused on a lot, too. But more immediately, there's Gaza.
The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 34: The Passover Instituted (2025)
Just in the last week or so, Trump has been adamant about the very controversial idea of relocating Palestinians in Gaza out to neighboring Egypt or Jordan, he says, in order to allow for rebuilding. Both Egypt and Jordan have rejected that idea. Palestinians in Gaza also don't want that.
The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 34: The Passover Instituted (2025)
And then there's the ceasefire deal, which is now in the middle of the first six-week phase, but talks of the next phase are supposed to start today. So they will most certainly be discussing that as well. What can you tell us about this next phase of the deal? What do we know? Yeah, details are still being hammered out. That's what the talks starting today are for.
The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 34: The Passover Instituted (2025)
The talks will look a lot like they have in the past with the U.S., Qatar and Egypt acting as mediators between Hamas and Israel. We know that the second phase is crucial to ending the war. President Biden, who helped create the framework for this deal, did outline some of it in the second phase. Male Israeli soldiers who are being held hostage in Gaza will be released.
The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 34: The Passover Instituted (2025)
We haven't seen that so far. In exchange, more Palestinian prisoners and detainees are expected to be released. And the remaining Israeli forces in Gaza will withdraw, which will lead to a permanent ceasefire.
The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 34: The Passover Instituted (2025)
Yeah, Netanyahu is meeting with U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff today in Washington. Witkoff has been instrumental in getting this agreement implemented, and he and Netanyahu are expected to talk about phase two. Witkoff's been talking with other countries ahead of today's talks. He spoke with Egyptian negotiators yesterday, for example.
The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 34: The Passover Instituted (2025)
What we don't know is what demands each side might make that could derail the deal. For example, Netanyahu has a lot of pressure from key far-right members in his government to demand the elimination of Hamas in Gaza. Hamas still appears to control Gaza very much so, even after more than a year of intense fighting with Israel attempting to eliminate the militant group.
The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 34: The Passover Instituted (2025)
Netanyahu is in a really tricky political situation here, where those far right members have threatened to leave his government and collapse his coalition if he doesn't secure this as part of the deal. On the other hand, President Trump has been fairly clear about wanting the deal to go forward and continuing the ceasefire.
The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Day 34: The Passover Instituted (2025)
So there are some areas of potential disagreement, and it's something we're going to be keeping a close eye on. That is NPR's Kat Lonsdorf in Tel Aviv. Kat, thank you. Thank you.
Up First from NPR
New ICE Policies, Hegseth Claims, West Bank Attacks
Yeah, so this is a place where Palestinians have lived for many generations. It's not tents like you might think of when you hear refugee camp. It's basically a city where lots of Palestinian families and kids live with houses and schools. You know, Janine has also long been a militant stronghold. Attacks that have killed Israelis have been launched from there.
Up First from NPR
New ICE Policies, Hegseth Claims, West Bank Attacks
Right now, it's hard to get information on what's happening on the ground there because it's essentially become a closed military zone in the past few days. We do know that an airstrike, an Israeli airstrike there killed at least 10 Palestinians and wounded many more, according to Palestinian health officials.
Up First from NPR
New ICE Policies, Hegseth Claims, West Bank Attacks
Israel says this is a counterterrorism operation aimed at strengthening security in the West Bank. Palestinian forces have also clashed with these fighters. And there also have been Israeli military operations there in the past. I went into the Janine refugee camp after the last major one in the fall, and that operation lasted weeks and was very, very destructive.
Up First from NPR
New ICE Policies, Hegseth Claims, West Bank Attacks
Yeah, so President Biden put those sanctions in place to try to de-escalate violent Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. Those attacks have increased dramatically since the war in Gaza began. There have been some attacks on Israeli settlers, too. Even just this weekend, there were Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian villages. They burnt cars and other property.
Up First from NPR
New ICE Policies, Hegseth Claims, West Bank Attacks
Settler groups said that this was timed to coincide with the release of Palestinian detainees and prisoners in accordance with the Gaza ceasefire deal. President Trump now canceling those sanctions on Israeli settlers, you know, certainly coming after what happened this weekend, really doesn't discourage that kind of violence.
Up First from NPR
New ICE Policies, Hegseth Claims, West Bank Attacks
It's made life throughout the West Bank difficult, even in the areas not directly affected. The West Bank consists of a series of checkpoints and designated roads for Palestinians, and most of those have been closed by the Israeli military, making travel throughout the area really hard.
Up First from NPR
New ICE Policies, Hegseth Claims, West Bank Attacks
And on top of that, many Palestinians in the West Bank worry that Israelis' military focus is shifting over to them now that there's a ceasefire in Gaza. I talked to 53-year-old Walid Amira in Ramallah about this the day the ceasefire in Gaza went into effect. He told me, of course the war is coming here.
Up First from NPR
New ICE Policies, Hegseth Claims, West Bank Attacks
The Israeli government wants to prove something to their people, and the West Bank will become the place where they can prove it, he said.
Up First from NPR
New ICE Policies, Hegseth Claims, West Bank Attacks
Yeah, I mean, several of President Trump's appointees, you know, are very pro-Israel. Mike Huckabee, who will be the next U.S. ambassador in Jerusalem, has visited Israel several times and argued that the West Bank belongs to Israel. Elise Stefanik, who is set to be the next U.N. ambassador, said in her confirmation hearing yesterday that Israel has a right to the West Bank as well.
Up First from NPR
New ICE Policies, Hegseth Claims, West Bank Attacks
So if Israel does make moves to annex the West Bank, it seems likely the U.S. administration will give them the green light to do so.