Settler attacks continue amid ‘timid’ Israeli government response

Settler attacks continue amid ‘timid’ Israeli government response
A Palestinian man smokes as he stands among vehicles torched in a rampage by settlers in Hawara, near the West Bank city of Nablus, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. (AP)
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Updated 01 March 2023
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Settler attacks continue amid ‘timid’ Israeli government response

Settler attacks continue amid ‘timid’ Israeli government response
  • One Palestinian was also killed in the violence following the killing of two Israelis by a suspected Palestinian gunman in the northern West Bank
  • On Tuesday, another motorist was shot to death in the same manner in the occupied West Bank

RAMALLAH: Settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank continued for the third day running, with Palestinian sources and human rights activists condemning the “complete silence” of Israel’s security forces and “timid” government response to the violence.
Israeli settlers went on a rampage on Monday, torching dozens of cars and homes in a Palestinian town. One Palestinian was also killed in the violence following the killing of two Israelis by a suspected Palestinian gunman in the northern West Bank.
On Tuesday, another motorist was shot to death in the same manner in the occupied West Bank. The victim held both US and Israeli citizenship.
So far this year, 62 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops and civilians. In the same period, 14 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks. Since the beginning of 2023, confrontations have escalated in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem.
On Monday, Hussein Al-Sheikh, chief of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, met with Hady Amr, US special envoy for Palestinian affairs, to discuss ways to protect Palestinians against settler and military attacks.
Al-Sheikh and Amr spoke about the brutal settler violence in Nablus, Hawara and other West Bank cities.
Amr visited Hawara on Tuesday in the aftermath of the attacks, hearing testimonies from residents. He was briefed on the damage and losses suffered by residents.
The US Embassy in Jerusalem said in a statement that Amr visited “the victims of the Hawara attack and expressed his deepest condolences, and condemned the indiscriminate, widespread and unacceptable acts of violence by settlers.”
According to the statement, Amr said that he is “very concerned about the escalation of violence in the West Bank. We want to see full accountability and prosecution through the law of those responsible for these heinous attacks, and compensation for those whose property has been lost or otherwise damaged.”
Al-Sheikh said on Twitter: “We discussed many regional and international issues, especially the brutal attacks against the Palestinian people, including killing and burning homes by the occupation and settlers, the latest of which was in Nablus, Hawara and the cities of the West Bank.”
He added that the meeting “is a continuation of a series of meetings between the Palestinian leadership and the US administration.”
Israeli authorities have yet to announce any arrest or prosecution related to the Hawara violence.
An anonymous high-ranking Palestinian official told Arab News: “What happened in Hawara is very terrible, and the ugliness of that event forced the US to use firmer and tougher language against Israel in an attempt to protect it from its madness that will bring destruction to the region.
“While the Israel army and settlers were taking turns to abuse the Palestinians, their roles became integrated during the burning of Hawara residents’ homes and vehicles.”
Palestinian political analyst Ghassan Khatib told Arab News that the Biden administration is approaching the Israeli government “with great caution.”
The shift in policy, he said, is “limited to speech and condemnations of Israel’s actions. Israel does not take verbal criticism seriously, so its effect is almost limited.”
Khatib added that the US should take punitive measures against Israel to end its destructive policies toward Palestinians.
Political analyst Majdi Halabi told Arab News: “Netanyahu’s condemnation of the Hawara arson incident came late and was timid.”
Palestinians in Israel are organizing a protest in solidarity with the victims of settler attacks.
Israeli forces, meanwhile, tightened their lockdown of Jericho city, with all primary and secondary entrances closed, and citizen movement restricted. Jericho residents said that on Monday evening, the Israeli army raided several homes in Aqabat Jabr camp, south of the city.
On Tuesday, the Israeli Jerusalem Municipality demolished a Palestinian home in Jabal Mukaber village on the outskirts of the city.
In another development, an ultra-nationalist ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tendered his resignation as a deputy minister in the new government.
Avi Maoz’s departure is the first crack in Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, which assumed office in late December after securing a parliamentary majority in elections the previous month.


Syria’s Assad steps out of diplomatic freeze with high-level China trip

Syria’s Assad steps out of diplomatic freeze with high-level China trip
Updated 33 min 14 sec ago
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Syria’s Assad steps out of diplomatic freeze with high-level China trip

Syria’s Assad steps out of diplomatic freeze with high-level China trip
  • Talks with Xi Jinping to focus on Syrian reconstruction
  • He will also attend opening ceremony of Asian Games

JEDDAH: Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday began his first visit to China since 2004 and his latest attempt to end more than a decade of diplomatic isolation under Western sanctions.

Assad arrived in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou aboard an Air China plane in heavy fog, which Chinese state media said “added to the atmosphere of mystery.” Assad last visited China in 2004 to meet then-President Hu Jintao. It was the first visit by a Syrian head of state to China since the countries established diplomatic ties in 1956.

China — like Syria’s main allies Russia and Iran — maintained those ties even as other countries isolated Assad over his brutal crackdown of anti-government demonstrations that erupted in 2011, leading to a civil war that has killed more than half a million people, displaced millions more, and battered Syria’s infrastructure and industry.

Assad will attend Saturday’s Asian Games opening ceremony before leading a delegation in meetings in several Chinese cities. 

He meets President Xi Jinping on Friday.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing on June 23, 2004. He was the first Syrian head of state to visit China since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1956. (AFP Photo/File)

Being seen with China’s president at a regional gathering adds further legitimacy to Assad’s campaign to return to the world stage. 

Syria joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2022 and was welcomed back into the Arab League in May.

Faced with a crippled economy and little to show so far from his efforts to rebuild ties with Arab states, Assad is keen for financial support. 

But any Chinese or other investment in Syria risks entangling an investor in US sanctions under the 2020 Caesar Act that can freeze assets of anyone dealing with Syria.

“In his third term, Xi Jinping is seeking to openly challenge the US, so I don’t think it’s a surprise that he is willing to … host a leader like Assad,” said Alfred Wu, an associate professor at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. 

“It will further marginalize China in the world, but he doesn’t care about that.”

The visit comes as China expands its engagement in the Middle East. 

This year Beijing brokered a deal restoring ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran. 

That detente was followed by Syria’s return to the Arab fold at a summit in Saudi Arabia in May, ending more than a decade of regional isolation.

Analysts expect Assad’s visit to China will focus, in part, on funds for reconstruction. 

“Assad intends for his trip to China to convey a sense of international legitimacy for his regime and paint a picture of looming Chinese support for reconstruction in Syria,” said Lina Khatib, director of the Middle East Institute at SOAS university in London.

Syria signed up to China’s vast Belt and Road trade and infrastructure initiative in January 2022.

Assad’s meeting with Xi “is expected to revolve around convincing China to aid Syria’s economic recovery,” said Haid Haid, of the Chatham House think tank in London. 

China pledged $2 billion in investments in Syria in 2017, but Haid said the funds had “yet to materialize.”

(With Agencies)


Mideast peace only possible when Palestinians get full rights: Abbas

Mideast peace only possible when Palestinians get full rights: Abbas
Updated 21 September 2023
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Mideast peace only possible when Palestinians get full rights: Abbas

Mideast peace only possible when Palestinians get full rights: Abbas
  • President urges states that have not yet recognized state of Palestine to do so immediately
  • Calls for peace conference that ‘may be last opportunity to salvage two-state solution’

LONDON: Those who think peace can prevail in the Middle East without the Palestinian people enjoying their full rights are mistaken, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, he said Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory “violates the principles of international law and legitimacy while it races against time to change the historical, geographical and demographic reality on the ground, aimed at perpetuating the occupation and entrenching apartheid.”
Abbas said his country remains hopeful that the UN will be “able to implement its resolution demanding an end to the Israeli occupation of our territory and realizing the independence of the fully sovereign state of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on the borders of June 4, 1967.”
He added that Israel continues to attack his people, and its “army and its racist, terrorist settlers continue to intimidate and kill our people, to destroy homes and property to just steal our money and resources.”
Abbas said Israel “continues to assault our Islamic and Christian sacred sites … especially the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, which international legitimacy has recognized as an exclusive place of worship for Muslims alone.”
He added that Israel is digging tunnels under and around the mosque, threatening its full or partial collapse, “which would lead to an explosion with untold consequences.”
He urged the international community to assume its responsibilities in preserving the historic and legal status of Jerusalem and its holy sites.
He also requested an international peace conference in which all countries concerned with achieving peace in the Middle East would participate.
“I ask your esteemed organization and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to call for and undertake the necessary arrangements to convene this peace conference, which may be the last opportunity to salvage the two-state solution and to prevent the situation from deteriorating more seriously, and threatening the security and stability of our region and the entire world,” Abbas said.
He also urged states that have not yet recognized the state of Palestine to do so immediately. “I call for the state of Palestine to be admitted to full membership in the United Nations,” he said.
“There are two states that the entire world is talking about: Israel and Palestine. But only Israel is recognized. Why not Palestine?
“I can neither understand nor accept that some states …are reluctant to recognize the state of Palestine, which the UN has accepted as an observer state.
“These same states confirm every day that they support the two-state solution. But they recognize only one of these states, namely Israel. Why?”
 


Morocco sets aside nearly $12 bn for quake recovery

Morocco sets aside nearly $12 bn for quake recovery
Updated 21 September 2023
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Morocco sets aside nearly $12 bn for quake recovery

Morocco sets aside nearly $12 bn for quake recovery
  • Fund to be used for reconstruction in places affected by the September 8 earthquake

RABAT: Quake-hit Morocco’s government announced on Wednesday a budget of more than $11 billion for reconstruction, rehousing and socio-economic development of areas hit by the deadly disaster.
The 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit Al-Haouz province south of Marrakech on September 8, killing nearly 3,000 people and injuring thousands more.
The government said in a statement it was setting aside 120 billion dirhams ($11.7 billion) to help 4.2 million inhabitants affected by the quake over a period of five years.
The funds would be used to “rehouse affected people, reconstruct homes and restore infrastructure,” said the statement published at the end of a meeting chaired by King Mohammed VI.
The earthquake razed thousands of homes in central Morocco, including the High Atlas mountain range, forcing families to sleep out in the open with winter around the corner.

 


 


Kuwait affirms countries’ right to maintain independence, territorial sanctity

Kuwait affirms countries’ right to maintain independence, territorial sanctity
Updated 21 September 2023
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Kuwait affirms countries’ right to maintain independence, territorial sanctity

Kuwait affirms countries’ right to maintain independence, territorial sanctity
  • Kuwait’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah emphasizes nonintervention in states’ internal affairs and the need for conflicts to be resolved peacefully
  • Al-Sabah delivers address on safeguarding global peace at UN Security Council session on margins of 78th UN General Assembly

NEW YORK: Kuwait’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah affirmed countries’ right to maintain sovereignty, independence and territorial sanctity in a speech during a UN Security Council session.
Addressing a session on safeguarding global peace on the margins of the 78th UN General Assembly, Al-Sabah emphasized nonintervention in states’ internal affairs, resolving conflicts peacefully and abstaining from the use of force, as well as people’s right to self-determination, and encouraging respect for human rights.
Kuwait News Agency reported on Thursday that the deputy foreign minister underlined the significance of the UN charter’s goals and principles, especially the “role in defending small countries.”
Al-Sabah said that due to a range of issues, the global order is facing its toughest test since the UN’s establishment in 1945.
“The international community has no choice other than uniting to face regional and international challenges.
“Kuwait renews its rejection of using force or resorting to threats in the relations among states,” KUNA reported Al-Sabah as saying.
Al-Sabah called for Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty to be respected.
“We call on the parties (of the Ukrainian conflict) to abide by the rule of the international law and the humanitarian law in respect of protecting civilians, facilitating safe and rapid delivery of humanitarian aid to those in need,” he told the UN session.
Al-Sabah also called for the Black Sea grain deal to be renewed.
 


Security alert as gunman fires at US Embassy in Lebanon

Security alert as gunman fires at US Embassy in Lebanon
Updated 47 min 38 sec ago
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Security alert as gunman fires at US Embassy in Lebanon

Security alert as gunman fires at US Embassy in Lebanon
  • Surveillance cameras showed a lone gunman dressed in black firing a Kalashnikov rifle before fleeing the scene on a motorcycle
  • Embassy spokesman Jake Nelson: There were no injuries and our facility is safe

BEIRUT: Lebanese security forces are investigating a late-night gun attack on the US Embassy in Beirut in which more than a dozen shots were fired.

The diplomatic mission said that no one was hurt in the incident late on Wednesday.

Surveillance cameras showed a lone gunman dressed in black firing a Kalashnikov rifle before fleeing the scene on a motorcycle.

Embassy spokesman Jake Nelson said: “There were no injuries and our facility is safe,” adding that the mission was in “close contact” with local law enforcement.

Lebanese military police marked at least five bullet holes in the wall next to the embassy entrance.

The military judiciary has taken over the investigation into the attack.

A judicial source told Arab News that the shooting was likely “a political message to the embassy rather than a security incident.”

The source said that a bag had been found near the embassy’s perimeter, but “its contents or possible connection to the incident remain undisclosed.”

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the heavily guarded compound.

The Lebanese army has beefed up security around the site.

An army checkpoint, hundreds of meters away, monitors anyone using the road.

Reformist MP Melhem Khalaf described the incident as “an extremely dangerous and unacceptable attack, reflecting both the fragility of the security situation on the one hand and an unprecedented audacity in conveying messages on the other, as if we have become a banana republic.”

Khalaf said: “In order to nip in the bud any conspiracy or any rogue security project that may target Lebanon, the judiciary and security services must act immediately to identify the perpetrators, arrest them, and impose the harshest penalties on them.”

The head of the Lebanese Kataeb Party, MP Samy Gemayel, said: “Checkpoints, identity checks and shots fired at embassies are scenes that the Lebanese people want to eliminate by building a respected state. Beware of the escalation of these incidents, as they will not be in anyone’s interest, especially those who instigate them.”

MP Ziad Hawat warned against “playing with fire at this critical and sensitive moment,” adding that “Lebanon can no longer tolerate the policy of serving as a mailbox and sending messages to serve foreign interests.”

Independent Beirut MP Fouad Makhzoumi said: “The US has always stood by Lebanon and its people, supported and backed it in all circumstances and during the most difficult ordeals it has faced.”

The attack and “other such suspicious practices, tarnish the true image of Lebanon and do not represent it in any way, jeopardizing its international relations,” he said.

Alfred Riachi, secretary-general of the Permanent Conference of Federalism, said: “The message of the de facto forces has reached the Army Commander, Gen. Joseph Aoun.”

The embassy attack comes amid rumors circulating in Beirut regarding US opposition to a French initiative to hold talks between rival Lebanese paries on the election of a president.

The divided Lebanese parliament, with Hezbollah supporters and Christian parties opposed to its candidate Suleiman Frangieh, has been unable to secure a quorum for any candidate.

The year-old presidential vacuum could now extend to key positions of power, including the army command, presidency of the Supreme Judicial Council, and governorship of the central bank, all of which are Christian positions.

In an address to mark International Day of Peace on Thursday, Joanna Wronecka, the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, warned that “the presidential vacuum, the political impasse, and a protracted socioeconomic and financial crisis were undermining the ability of state institutions to deliver, widening the gap of poverty and inequality, and imperiling the country’s stability.

“The deepening political polarization and intransigence is threatening Lebanon’s social cohesion and the sense of belonging among its people. Political leaders must act in the national interest, and seek real and practical solutions for a better future for their country,” she said.