TODAY IN HISTORY
August 17, 1717: Prince Eugene of Savoy’s Habsburg army successfully concludes its month-long siege of Belgrade. The garrison finally surrendered after the Habsburg forces drove off a last-ditch Ottoman attempt to relieve the besieged city. Belgrade became a Habsburg city in the Treaty of Passarowitz the following year, but the Habsburgs were forced to give the city back to the Ottomans in the 1739 Treaty of Belgrade.
August 17, 1945: Rebel leaders Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta issue a proclamation declaring Indonesia’s independence from the Netherlands. The proclamation kicked off the 1945-1949 Indonesian Revolution, and this date is annually commemorated as Indonesian Independence Day.
MIDDLE EAST
ISRAEL-PALESTINE
US envoy Jared Kushner met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to try to get the latter’s support for the “Board of Peace’s” Hamas disarmament plan. After what I’m sure was an intense and passionate discussion they agreed to compromise by doing what Netanyahu wants. In other words, the Israeli military (IDF) can continue to act as though the Gaza ceasefire doesn’t apply to it (although Donald Trump is suggesting that it should stop its near-daily attacks) and there will be no IDF withdrawal from the territory until after Hamas has verifiably disarmed. Hamas leaders and the board agreed last month to a staged process whereby Hamas’s gradual disarmament would be accompanied by a gradual IDF pullout. This is definitely not that, though I have no doubt that Kushner and company will try to blame Hamas for violating its commitments regardless.
