Palestinian forces urged to unite against Netanyahu regime

Palestinian forces urged to unite against Netanyahu regime
Israeli security forces take position as Palestinians wave national flags during a protest east of Nablus against the establishment of Israeli outposts, on December 2, 2022. (AFP/File)
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Updated 29 December 2022

Palestinian forces urged to unite against Netanyahu regime

Palestinian forces urged to unite against Netanyahu regime
  • Concern grows over ability of govt of President Mahmoud Abbas, 87, to face growing threats

RAMALLAH: A senior Palestinian political leader has called for a united struggle against the incoming government in Israel, labelling it racist and extremist, and warning that its declared goal is to “deepen and consolidate an apartheid regime.”

Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative Movement, urged all Palestinian forces to join together in an immediate bid to boycott and isolate the new Israeli leadership.

His comments came after Israel’s hawkish veteran Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in as prime minister on Thursday, returning for a sixth term 18 months after having been ousted from power.

The Israeli parliament voted to approve his government and elected former minister Amir Ohana as the Knesset’s speaker.

Barghouti pointed to Netanyahu’s earlier statements that all the land of Palestine belongs to the Jews only and that the right to self-determination is reserved for them.

The new government will deepen and consolidate the apartheid regime against Palestinians living in Israel and the occupied territories by insisting on implementing the law of the Jewish state, he said.

Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are growing increasingly fearful over policies that the Israeli leadership may adopt in the coming weeks.

Annexing lands in the West Bank, changing the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque, and weakening the Palestinian Authority through military or financial measures are areas of particular concern.

While the PA is preparing to deal with the changing political landscape, many Palestinians fear its tactics and methods will fail to thwart the Netanyahu’s government.

Concerns are growing that the Fatah movement, the largest Palestinian party, is preoccupied with internal disputes over who will succeed 87-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas.

At the same time, the PA has no ability to pressure Israel other than by threatening to end security coordination.

Israel no longer takes the Palestinian president’s threats seriously, some say.

On Dec. 27, Abbas announced that he will lead a national committee including Palestinian diplomatic and legal experts in an international campaign against the new Israeli government.

Shawan Jabarin, director of Al-Haq Foundation for Human Rights, told Arab News that the Israeli leadership’s “extremist religious and ideological dimension” is likely to transform the conflict with Palestinians from a political dispute into a bloody religious rivalry.

“This is a very dangerous transformation,” he said.

However, Jabarin believes that Palestinians now have an opportunity to “expose the true face of the Israeli occupation to the world and embarrass Israel.”

He said that the composition of the Israeli leadership “will constitute an embarrassment to both the EU and the US, as it will harm them to take practical steps against the policy and approach of this government.”

A Hamas source in Gaza, who declined to be named, told Arab News that the movement considers all Israeli governments harmful. But the new government is worse than its predecessors.

The existence of such a government would justify military action by Hamas against Israel, which would be popularly accepted and understood by regional countries, the source said.

Mukhaimer Abu Saada, a professor of political science at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, said that Palestinians have an understandable fear of the Netanyahu government annexing the West Bank and confiscating the lands of Palestinian citizens in Israel.

He voiced fears that the government will try to perpetuate the separation of the West Bank from the Gaza Strip.

“I do not think Israel will succeed in separating Gaza from the escalation in Al-Aqsa Mosque and the West Bank,” Abu Saada told Arab News.

Speaking after he was sworn in as Israel’s leader, Netanyahu presented the primary lines of the government’s policy and said: “The new government is starting today amid the 75th year of Israel’s independence.  

“In the next four years, we will work so that Israel will be a world power in the centennial year of our independence.  To do this, we must perform three major tasks. The first is to thwart Iran’s efforts to obtain nuclear weapons.”

He added: “The second task is to develop the country’s infrastructure, including developing a bullet train. The third task is to continue to expand the circle of peace with Arab countries to end the Israeli-Arab conflict.”

Outgoing prime minister Yair Lapid left the Knesset without shaking hands with Netanyahu, who updated the profile on his official Twitter account to “prime minister.”

In a signed letter to Netanyahu, more than 100 retired Israeli ambassadors and foreign ministry officials voiced concerns about the incoming government.

The former diplomats, including former ambassadors to France, India and Turkiye, expressed “profound concern at the serious damage to Israel’s foreign relations, its international standing and its core interests abroad emanating from the policy of the incoming government.”

The letter also pointed to “statements made by potential senior office-holders in the government and the Knesset,” reports of policy changes in the West Bank, and “some possible extreme and discriminatory laws” as points of concern.

Netanyahu returns as prime minister with the support of several far-right figures once consigned to the fringes of Israeli politics.

Itamar Ben Gvir, once convicted of incitement to racism and terrorism, will take on a newly expanded role as national security minister, overseeing police operations in Israel, as well as some police activity in the occupied West Bank.

Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism party, has been named minister of finance and also given the power to appoint the head of an Israeli military unit that handles border crossings and permits for Palestinians.

During his campaign, Smotrich proposed drastic legal reforms that were seen by many critics as an attempt to undermine judicial independence.

“The recent developments will likely bring about strongly negative international reaction, serious harm to Israel’s strategic relations first and foremost with the US, (and) possible damage to the Abraham Accords,” the former diplomats added in their letter.


Arab League calls on international community to end Israel’s crimes against Palestinian children

Arab League calls on international community to end Israel’s crimes against Palestinian children
Updated 28 May 2023

Arab League calls on international community to end Israel’s crimes against Palestinian children

Arab League calls on international community to end Israel’s crimes against Palestinian children
  • Ghazaleh emphasized the importance of upholding national laws and international conventions to ensure the protection of children from violence

DOHA: The Arab League has called on the international community to intervene to end Israel’s violations against Palestinian children and ensure the protection of their rights and safety.

Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Haifa Abu Ghazaleh’s remarks came during her statement at the virtual regional conference on preventing severe crimes against children in armed conflicts, which was co-hosted by Qatar.

She emphasized the significance of the conference topic, citing conflicts and humanitarian crises throughout the Arab world that have had a devastating impact on children. She noted the steps countries in the region have taken to address this issue, citing the 18th meeting of the Arab League Committee on Violence against Children and the implementation of its recommendations.

The secretary-general said that in order to prevent further violations against Palestinian children and promote justice, the international community must hold the perpetrators of these crimes accountable for their actions and ensure that they are prosecuted.

Abu Ghazaleh emphasized the importance of upholding national laws and international conventions to ensure the protection of children from violence.
 


Sultan of Oman sets off on official visit to Iran

Sultan of Oman sets off on official visit to Iran
Updated 28 May 2023

Sultan of Oman sets off on official visit to Iran

Sultan of Oman sets off on official visit to Iran

MUSCAT: The Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq al-Muazzam traveled on Sunday to Iran for a two-day official visit, during which he will meet with President Ibrahim Raisi.

This visit comes following the invitation from the Iranian president to affirm the strength of the close relations between the Sultanate of Oman and the Islamic Republic of Iran, state news agency ONA reported. 

 


UK ex-FM: Support for Iraq invasion ‘one of my deepest regrets’

Former UK Foreign Minister David Miliband has described his support for Iraq War as “one of the deepest regrets” of his career.
Former UK Foreign Minister David Miliband has described his support for Iraq War as “one of the deepest regrets” of his career.
Updated 28 May 2023

UK ex-FM: Support for Iraq invasion ‘one of my deepest regrets’

Former UK Foreign Minister David Miliband has described his support for Iraq War as “one of the deepest regrets” of his career.
  • David Miliband: ‘I voted for the war. There’s no question in my mind about quite how serious a mistake that was’
  • ‘Ukraine has enormous poverty and crimes against its own population, but what about Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Palestine?’

LONDON: Former UK Foreign Minister David Miliband has described his support for the Iraq War as “one of the deepest regrets” of his political career, The Observer reported on Sunday.

Speaking at the Hay literature festival in Wales, Miliband said the war had resulted in “real damage” to the West’s moral integrity and claims of promoting international order and justice.

He added that the invasion of Iraq may also undermine anti-Russian stances in the West over allegations of hypocrisy.

“I voted for the war; I supported the government’s position. There’s no question in my mind about quite how serious a mistake that was,” said Miliband, who is now CEO of the International Rescue Committee.

He urged audience members to consider the words of Kenyan President William Ruto, who has encouraged greater attention to be given to other parts of the world, including Palestine and Afghanistan.

Miliband said: “Yes, Ukraine has enormous poverty and crimes against its own population, but what about Ethiopia, what about Afghanistan, what about Palestine?

“And I think that’s what we have to take very, very seriously if we want to understand what’s the role of the West, never mind the UK, in global politics.”

He described the Iraq War as a “strategic mistake,” partly due to the “global lesson that it allowed to be taught.”

Though the Iraq invasion “does not excuse what happened subsequently in Ukraine,” Miliband conceded that potential Western hypocrisy is a “very, very serious point.”

He added: “Ukraine has united the West, but it’s divided the West and wider parts of the world. Forty or 50 countries have refused to join any condemnation (of Russia), not because they support the invasion of Ukraine, but they feel that the West has been guilty of hypocrisy and weakness in dealing with global problems over the last 30 years.”


Turkiye polls close with Erdogan favorite to extend 20-year rule

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine Erdogan vote at a polling station.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine Erdogan vote at a polling station.
Updated 28 May 2023

Turkiye polls close with Erdogan favorite to extend 20-year rule

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine Erdogan vote at a polling station.
  • Erdogan defied critics and doubters by emerging with a comfortable lead against his secular challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the first round on May 14

ISTANBUL: Turkish polling stations closed Sunday in a historic runoff election that could extend President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s two decades of dominant but divisive Islamic style of rule until 2028.
The NATO member’s longest-serving leader defied critics and doubters by emerging with a comfortable lead against his secular challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the first round on May 14.
Kilicdaroglu cobbled together a powerful coalition that grouped Erdogan’s disenchanted former allies with secular nationalists and religious conservatives.
Opposition supporters viewed it as a do-or-die chance to save Turkiye from being turned into an autocracy by a man whose consolidation of power rivals that of Ottoman sultans.
“I invite all my citizens to cast their ballot in order to get rid of this authoritarian regime and bring true freedom and democracy to this country,” Kilicdaroglu said after casting his ballot in Turkiye’s first presidential runoff.
Erdogan’s almost five-point first-round lead came in the face of one of the world’s worst cost-of-living crises — and with almost every opinion poll predicting his defeat.
The 69-year-old looked tired but at ease as he voted with his wife Emine in a conservative district of Istanbul.
“I ask my citizens to turn out and vote without complacency,” Erdogan said.
Emir Bilgin heeded the Turkish leader’s call.
“I’m going to vote for Erdogan. There’s no one else like him,” the 24-year-old said from a working-class Istanbul neighborhood where the young future president grew up playing street football.
Kilicdaroglu re-emerged a transformed man after the first round.
The former civil servant’s message of social unity and freedoms gave way to desk-thumping speeches about the need to immediately expel migrants and fight terrorism.
His right-wing turn was targeted at nationalists who emerged as the big winners of the parallel parliamentary elections.
The 74-year-old had always adhered to the firm nationalist principles of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk — a revered military commander who formed Turkiye and Kilicdaroglu’s secular CHP party.
But these had played a secondary role to his promotion of socially liberal values practiced by younger voters and big-city residents.
Analysts question whether Kilicdaroglu’s gamble will work.
His informal alliance with a pro-Kurdish party that Erdogan portrays as the political wing of banned militants left him exposed to charges of working with “terrorists.”
And Kilicdaroglu’s courtship of Turkiye’s hard right was hampered by the endorsement Erdogan received from an ultra-nationalist who finished third two weeks ago.
Some opposition supporters sounded defeated after emerging from the polls.
“Today is not like the last time. I was more excited then,” Bayram Ali Yuce said in one of Istanbul’s heavily anti-Erdogan neighborhoods.
“The outcome seems more obvious now. But I still voted.”Erdogan is lionized by poorer and more rural swathes of Turkiye’s fractured society because of his promotion of religious freedoms and modernization of once-dilapidated cities in the Anatolian heartland.
“It was important for me to keep what was gained over the past 20 years in Turkiye,” company director Mehmet Emin Ayaz told AFP in Ankara.
“Turkiye isn’t what it was in the old days. There is a new Turkiye today,” the 64-year-old said.
But Erdogan has caused growing consternation across the Western world because of his crackdowns on dissent and pursuit of a muscular foreign policy.
He launched military incursions into Syria that infuriated European powers and put Turkish soldiers on the opposite side of Kurdish forces supported by the United States.
His personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin has also survived the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine.
Turkiye’s troubled economy is benefiting from a crucial deferment of payment on Russian energy imports that helped Erdogan spend lavishly on campaign pledges this year.
Erdogan also delayed Finland’s membership of NATO and is still refusing to let Sweden join the US-led defense bloc.
Turkiye’s unraveling economy will pose the most immediate test for whoever wins the vote.
Erdogan went through a series of central bankers to find one who would enact his wish to slash interest rates at all costs in 2021 — flouting conventional economics in the belief that lower rates can cure chronically high inflation.
Turkiye’s currency soon entered freefall and the annual inflation rate touched 85 percent last year.
Erdogan has promised to continue these policies and rejected predictions of economic peril from analysts.
Turkiye burned through tens of billions of dollars trying to support the lira from politically sensitive falls ahead of the vote.
Many analysts say Turkiye must now hike interest rates or abandon its attempts to support the lira.
“The day of reckoning for Turkiye’s economy and financial markets may now just be around the corner,” analysts at Capital Economics warned.


Miseries pile up for West Bank refugees as UNRWA workers’ strike continues

Miseries pile up for West Bank refugees as UNRWA workers’ strike continues
Updated 28 May 2023

Miseries pile up for West Bank refugees as UNRWA workers’ strike continues

Miseries pile up for West Bank refugees as UNRWA workers’ strike continues
  • Environmental and health disaster feared as piles of garbage accumulate on streets
  • The UNRWA administration requires urgent intervention to resolve the dispute with the staff and restore life to normal in the camps

RAMALLAH: Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank face a summer littered with waste due to an ongoing strike, sparking fears about disease outbreaks.

Piles of garbage have accumulated as more than 3,600 UN Relief and Work Agency workers have been on strike since Feb. 20.

Camp residents, who number about 960,000, continue to complain about their dire living conditions, which has also affected healthcare provision and impacted the education of 50,000 students.

The UNRWA claims that it does not have enough funds to raise the salaries of its workers and meet their demands.

The lack of garbage collection, combined with the halting of healthcare services, could lead to an environmental and health disaster with summer approaching, locals fear.

Youssef Baraka, from the Jalazoun refugee camp near Ramallah, told Arab News: “The refugee always pays the bill ... and we live in difficult conditions due to the continuation of the strike.

“Our children are without education, and our patients are without treatment.”

He said that individual efforts were being made to help patients with treatment and provide medical supplies, and that residents were trying to rid camps of garbage themselves where possible.

Taysir Nasrallah, from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, in the northern West Bank, told Arab News that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had set up a committee to meet with the UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini to find a quick solution to the crisis.

“The UNRWA administration requires urgent intervention to resolve the dispute with the staff and restore life to normal in the camps,” he told Arab News.

The UNRWA was set up in 1949 by the UN General Assembly to assist and protect Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Walid Masharqa, from the Jenin camp, said rubbish was piling up and sewage was seeping into the streets, while many basic medicines for chronic diseases are not currently available to residents.

“What is the fault of the Palestinian refugee, in the existence of wars and other humanitarian disasters in the world, for UNRWA to spoof its services to the Palestinian refugees?” Masharqa said to Arab News.

The Palestinian Authority is not allowed to provide services to refugees in the camps, he added.

Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the UNRWA in the Middle East, told Arab News that talks were continuing with the PA and the Palestine Liberation Organization to solve the strike problem.

Abu Hasna expects all parties to reach a solution soon.

He said that the UNRWA had approved an allowance of $268 for 300 of its employees in East Jerusalem due to its high prices, and employees in the West Bank were demanding the same.

But he said the UNRWA budget was unable bear the additional cost, as its funds have an annual deficit of $70 million.

Abu Hasna referred to the tremendous Saudi support for UNRWA, as it funded it for over 10 years with $1 billion, built entire cities and neighbourhoods and dozens of schools in the Gaza Strip, and saved UNRWA several times from collapse.

“King Salman personally established support for UNRWA since he was the governor of the Riyadh region and president of the Association for the Support of the Palestinian People, and the position of Saudi Arabia in strong support for UNRWA is considered a motivating factor for other countries to support UNRWA,” Abu Hasna told Arab News.