By JOSEPH KRAUSS, Associated Press

As the Gaza war rages on, France and Saudi Arabia are chairing a high-profile meeting at the United Nations on Monday aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with more nations expected to recognize a Palestinian state in defiance of Israel and the United States.

Related Articles

Letters: If Hamas cared about civilians at all it would release the hostages

Trump administration proposes selling nearly $6 billion in weapons to Israel

US once again vetoes Security Council resolution demanding immediate Gaza ceasefire, hostage release

An immigration judge ordered Mahmoud Khalil deported. What happens now?

EU lays out new tariffs and sanctions on Israel over war in Gaza

The meeting and expanded recognition of Palestinian statehood are expected to have little if any actual impact on the ground, where Israel is waging another major offensive in the Gaza Strip and expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The meeting is set to begin at 3 p.m. ET (1900 GMT), with several world leaders expected to speak. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to address the meeting by video after he and dozens of other senior Palestinian officials were denied U.S. visas to attend the conference.

The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Portugal recognized the state of Palestine on Sunday, and the Palestinians expect a total of 10 countries, including France, to do so in the coming days. Around three-fourths of the 193-member United Nations recognizes Palestine, but major Western nations had until recently declined to, saying one could only come about through negotiations with Israel.

Palestinians have welcomed the moves toward recognition, hoping they might someday lead to independence. “This is a beginning, or a glimmer of hope, for the Palestinian people,” Fawzi Nour al-Deen said Sunday as he held a bag on his head, joining thousands of people fleeing south from Gaza City. “We are a people who deserve to have a state.”

International community widely backs a Palestinian state

The creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war — is widely seen internationally as the only way to resolve the conflict, which began more than a century before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza nearly two years ago.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government opposed Palestinian statehood even before the war and now says such a move would reward Hamas, the group that still controls parts of Gaza. He has hinted Israel might take unilateral steps in response, including annexing parts of the West Bank, which would put a viable Palestinian state even further out of reach.

Netanyahu is under pressure from his far-right coalition to move ahead with annexation, but the United Arab Emirates — the driving force behind the 2020 Abraham Accords, in which the UAE and three other Arab states forged ties with Israel — has called it a “red line,” without saying how it could affect the two countries’ now close ties.

Netanyahu said he would decide on Israel’s response to the Palestinian statehood push after meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House next week, their fourth meeting since Trump returned to office. The Israeli leader is set to address world leaders at the U.N. on Friday.

The Trump administration is also opposed to growing recognition of a Palestinian state and blames it for the derailment of ceasefire talks with Hamas. Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, walked away from the talks in July, and earlier this month an Israeli strike targeted Hamas negotiators in Qatar, a key mediator.

The Palestinians are politically fragmented

Abbas’ internationally recognized Palestinian Authority is led by rivals of Hamas and administers parts of the West Bank. It recognizes Israel, cooperates with it on security matters, and is committed to a two-state solution. France and Saudi Arabia have advanced a phased plan in which a reformed Palestinian Authority would eventually govern the West Bank and Gaza with international assistance. It was overwhelmingly supported by the General Assembly on Sept. 12 by a vote of 142-10. Twelve members abstained.

Israel says the Palestinian Authority is not fully committed to peace and accuses it of incitement to militancy. Many Palestinians view the leadership in the West Bank as corrupt and increasingly autocratic.

Hamas, which won the last Palestinian national elections in 2006, has at times hinted it might accept a state on the 1967 lines but remains formally committed to a Palestinian state in all of the territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, including Israel.

Israelis and Palestinians held U.S.-brokered peace talks beginning in the early 1990s, but those efforts repeatedly stalled because of outbreaks of violence and Israel’s expansion of settlements aimed at cementing its control over the West Bank. There have been no substantive peace talks since Netanyahu returned to office in 2009.

Advocates of the two-state solution say that without a Palestinian state, Israel will have to decide between the status quo, in which millions of Palestinians live under military occupation without equal rights, or a binational state that might not have a Jewish majority.

By MARK KENNEDY, AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of Hollywood and Broadway stars — including Robert De Niro, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Selena Gomez, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep — are urging Americans “fight to defend and preserve our constitutionally protected rights” in the wake of Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension.

Related Articles

West Point is violating the First Amendment with a crackdown on professors, lawsuit says

Army identifies 4 soldiers killed in military helicopter crash in Washington state

Wall Street drifts around its record levels following a relentless rally

Gabrielle rapidly intensifies into a Category 3 hurricane in the Atlantic, is staying away from land

Man representing himself against charges of trying to kill Trump plans to call just 3 witnesses

More than 430 movie, TV and stage stars as well as comedians, directors and writers added their names to an open letter Monday from the American Civil Liberties Union that argues it is “a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.”

The move comes less than a week after ABC suspended Kimmel’s late-night talk show following comments he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. After a group of ABC-affiliated stations said they wouldn’t air “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The Walt Disney Co. pulled the show Wednesday just before air, prompting a firestorm of debate over free speech.

“Regardless of our political affiliation, or whether we engage in politics or not, we all love our country,” the letter says. “We also share the belief that our voices should never be silenced by those in power — because if it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us.”

The list of signatories includes newly crowned Emmy-winner Noah Wyle, Oscar-nominated Florence Pugh, comedian David Cross, Tony-winner Kelli O’Hara and veteran actor Molly Ringwald. Pedro Pascal, Billy Crystal, Nathan Lane, Kerry Washington and Kevin Bacon also signed.

“This is the moment to defend free speech across our nation. We encourage all Americans to join us, along with the ACLU, in the fight to defend and preserve our constitutionally protected rights,” the letter concludes.

By ILLIA NOVIKOV

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine swapped accusations of deadly drone strikes on civilian areas of their countries Monday as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy anticipated “a very intense week” of diplomacy at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, where the Security Council was due to discuss the more than three-year war.

Related Articles

UN human rights expert says Russia steps up repression to silence opposition to war in Ukraine

Putin says Russia will stick to nuclear arms limits for one more year after treaty with US expires

As the world convulses in war and contentiousness, its leaders convene at the UN to figure it out

North Korean leader recalls ‘good memories’ of Trump, urges US to drop denuclearization demands

Dominican Republic says it seized cocaine that was on speedboat destroyed by US Navy

Zelenskyy has tried to give momentum to a U.S.-led peace effort, offering a ceasefire and a summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moscow has taken issue with some of the proposals, however, and an end to the bloodshed appears no closer.

Additionally, international concerns have mounted recently that the fighting could spread beyond Ukraine’s borders as European countries rebuked Russia for what they said were provocations. The incidents have included Russian drones landing on Polish soil and Russian fighter aircraft entering Estonian airspace, which prompted an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting Monday.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna called the airspace intrusion a “dangerous escalation,” in comments to the Security Council, adding that “Russia’s dangerous behavior cannot be tolerated.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry denied any Estonian airspace violation by its planes. Russia’s deputy U.N. Ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy, dismissed the outcry, telling the Security Council it was part of an effort to “blame Russia for everything.”

The Security Council was to discuss the war in a scheduled session on Tuesday.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said on social media that Russia was testing NATO’s political and military response and aiming to reduce Western support for Ukraine by compelling countries to redirect resources toward the defense of alliance countries.

Calibrating how to respond to Russia was not easy, Rinkevics said Sunday. Russia was doing just enough not to cross a red line, but things could still spiral, he added.

Zelenskyy was due to attend the annual high-level gathering at the U.N. General Assembly, where he planned to recruit support for efforts to stop Russia’s invasion.

“The schedule already includes nearly two dozen meetings with leaders from different countries, from all parts of the world,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram late Sunday.

Zelenskyy said he also planned to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, whose drive for a peace deal after taking office in January has yielded no progress.

“It is vital that this week strengthen the world’s resolve for robust action — for without strength, peace will not prevail,” Zelenskyy said.

He said that over the past week Russia fired more than 1,500 strike drones, 1,280 glide bombs and 50 missiles of various types at Ukraine. More than 132,000 foreign components were found in those weapons from dozens of countries, he said.

Ukraine has campaigned for tighter sanctions on Russia.

Meanwhile, at least seven Russian aircraft bombarded the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia overnight, killing three people and wounding two others, according to regional administration head Ivan Fedorov.

The attack started around 4:20 a.m. and lasted about 40 minutes, Fedorov said. Residential buildings, shopping malls, a parking lot and “critical infrastructure” were targeted, he said.

“None of the sites had anything to do with military infrastructure,” Fedorov said.

The Ukrainian air force said it stopped 132 out of 141 strike and decoy drones launched by Russian forces overnight.

The map above shows the state of the battlefield in Ukraine’s Donetsk region as Russia intensifies its campaign to seize the eastern region. (AP Digital Embed)

Russia made similar claims. The Moscow-appointed head of Ukraine’s Russia-occupied Crimea peninsula, Sergei Aksyonov, said three people were killed and 16 others were wounded late Sunday by Ukrainian drones that struck the popular vacation resort of Foros.

The Russian Defense Ministry said there are no military facilities there.

In Russia’s Belgorod border region, three people were killed and another 10 were wounded by Ukrainian drone attacks on Sunday, according to the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov.

The Defense Ministry said 114 Ukrainian drones were downed early Monday over several Russian regions.

Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw and Jennifer Peltz at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is banning opinions by professors in the classroom and some books and courses in a crackdown that violates the First Amendment, a law professor at the military school said in a lawsuit Monday seeking class action status.

Tim Bakken filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court and named the school and its leaders as defendants. He said he wants to protect free speech and the right to academic freedom at an institution where he has flourished despite his public criticisms of the academy and the U.S. military.

Bakken also noted in the lawsuit that he has a contract with a publisher for a book that is critical of some aspects of West Point and doesn’t want to seek approval from the school’s leadership prior to its publication because “it is very likely such approval will be withheld.”

The lawsuit seeks class action status for West Point’s civilian faculty members, believed to be more than 100 individuals, and a court order to stop restrictions on free speech, along with unspecified damages and legal fees.

Bakken’s lawsuit said the school began to scrutinize faculty speech after a January executive order from President Donald Trump to “carefully review the leadership, curriculum and instructors of the United States Service Academies and other defense academic institutions.”

In February, the military academy at West Point issued a policy preventing faculty members from using the schools’ “affiliation or branding” in connection with any public comments or writings without the academy’s approval, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit said the policy was “to control, chill and suppress faculty speech.”

The lawsuit said the academy in the spring withdrew books from its library, removed words and phrases from faculty members’ syllabi, eliminated courses and majors and threatened or punished faculty members for teaching, speaking and writing without prior approval from the school.

Related Articles

What do the MCA test scores mean and how should parents interpret them?

Age isn’t everything when deciding if a child is ready to be home alone

Boys brought replica guns to St. Paul school, police say

Texas A&M president steps down but doesn’t say if controversial classroom video was a factor

Colleges face high stakes in responses to Republican outcry over staff comments on Charlie Kirk

During the summer, the academy removed information about faculty members’ published books, articles, essays and scholarship entries from all faculty members’ webpages on the school’s website, the lawsuit said. It also directed instructors not to express opinions in the classroom, it said.

“As a professor of law, Plaintiff’s inability to express opinions on the subject matter being taught is stifling and disruptive to the educational process,” the lawsuit said. It added that he no longer would be able to express to students whether a major or dissenting opinion is persuasive and why.

The military academy did not immediately return a request for comment.

Bakken, a civilian professor of law in the academy’s Department of Law and Philosophy for the last 25 years, is the longest-serving law professor in West Point’s history and has written extensively, including books, articles and essays, along with appearances on podcasts, radio and television, the lawsuit said.

According to the lawsuit, he traveled with U.S. soldiers to Kabul in 2007 during the war in Afghanistan and created the Department of Law at the National Military Academy of Afghanistan.

He seeks class action status for West Point’s faculty and a court order to stop restrictions on free speech.