Historic summit
Israel hosts four Arab leaders, announcing "a new security architecture"
Leaders of four Arab nations linked arms with diplomats from Israel and the United States at a historic gathering this week to bolster economic ties and create a shared front against Iran and terror groups.
The Negev Summit, held in the southern desert town of Sde Boker, marked the first Arab-Israeli high-level gathering in Israel.
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Most Arab states for decades have been reluctant to recognize the Jewish state of Israel or telegraph legitimacy by traveling to meet officials there. This week’s groundbreaking summit centered around “a new regional architecture based on progress, technology, religious tolerance, security and intelligence cooperation.” The talks grew out of the 2020 Abraham Accords mediated by the Trump administration.
“We’ve not known each other, so it’s time for us to catch up,” said UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, speaking in English and making his first trip to Israel. At a joint press conference—that included top diplomats from Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco, UAE, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken—Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told reporters the summit would become a permanent forum.
Robert Nicholson, president of Philos Project, called the summit “unthinkable 18 months ago,” and said: “You see evidence of a growing divide that’s making its way across the region, not between Muslims and Jews, or Arabs and Israelis … but a divide between those who have a positive vision and want to live alongside those who are different, and those who want to destroy anyone who is different.”
Underscoring ongoing divides, five terror attacks hit Israeli targets over the last two weeks, including several claimed by Islamic State militants. A March 29 attack by a Palestinian gunman on an ultra-Orthodox community outside Tel Aviv killed five Israelis, including a Christian police officer who arrived to halt the gruesome shooting spree. Thousands, including Jews and Christians, turned out for the funeral of Amir Khoury, 32, who was a Galilean Christian from a town near Nazareth.
Ukraine: Russian President Vladimir Putin “massively misjudged” the Ukraine invasion, said British spy chief Jeremy Fleming in a Thursday speech he gave in Australia that’s worth your time.
Russia appeared to pull back from Kyiv and other cities as peace talks continue today. Yet overnight heavy Russian shelling hit Kharkiv, and Ukrainian forces went on high alert in Odessa with concern the strategic Black Sea port city could come under amphibious attack.
Franklin Graham is asking for a Holy Week ceasefire.
The number of Ukrainians who have fled their country passed 4 million, the largest and most rapid movement of refugees since World War II. I spoke this week with Eric Patterson of Religious Freedom Institute on the significance behind those numbers.
Here’s an updated list of aid groups working to help Ukrainians. It focuses on close-to-the-ground efforts, often using church networks, and supervised by those with long records in war zones. Leave a comment to suggest others.
You don’t want to miss the story of an 11-year-old who made the three-day journey from embattled Zaporizhzhia to Slovakia alone. His mother’s parting words: “I love you and I’ll see you soon. Don’t play games on your cellphone as it will drain the battery.”
China: Many patients have died at a large Shanghai elderly-care hospital battling a COVID-19 outbreak, orderlies reported to The Wall Street Journal, a sign that a new wave of infections is hitting Shanghai harder than authorities have disclosed.
With lockdown extended, General Motors maintains production in Shanghai by asking workers to sleep on factory floors.
Indonesia is the latest country forced to reject donated COVID-19 vaccines because they arrived too late to be effective. Officials say they had to dump 19 million doses because vaccines expired before they could be distributed.
Tanzania: A novel class of bed nets may halve the number of malaria infections in children, according to new research. Malaria remains one of the top killers of children in Africa, with 627,000 deaths reported in 2020.
South Sudan: President Salva Kiir said his government will declassify intelligence reports on how the country's long-running civil war began.
Malawi: How do you care for a returning missionary family?
When in … Malawi, try playing the national game of bao. This life-size bao (also bawo) board sits outside the 250-bed Nkhoma Mission Hospital, where my daughter Emily Belz has been posted.
At Globe Trot we celebrate the dignity of men, women, boys and girls. Made in the image of God, their works and presence in this life—whether art, science, health, politics, humanities or industry—become therefore important. This energizes our global engagement every day despite tribulation, famine, danger and sword. As an early American Puritan said, “The very wheelbarrow is to be with respect looked upon."