PALESTINE

Fri 16 Jun 2023 7:02 am - Jerusalem Time

Israel planning new settlement project on lands of Lifta, Deir Yassin

Jerusalem municipality approved a project to build the largest university campus in Israel for ultra-Orthodox women, after the ministries for higher education and settlements lent their support to the project.


According to the municipality, this project will extend the university campus of Jerusalem College of Technology, Machon Lev by an area of 13 dunams of the historic land of Lifta and Deir Yassin and will cost an estimated $120 million. 


Extremist Orthodox Jewish religious associations, from both inside and outside the country, have already donated some $70 million for the project. 


According to the occupation municipality, an “innovative academic space” will be built there, which will include five huge buildings for the College of Engineering, Life Sciences, Health and Administration, a conference building and a dormitory tower for female students. 


Excavation work at the site is expected to begin next week.

ARAB AND WORLD

Thu 15 Jun 2023 3:39 pm - Jerusalem Time

16 people were killed in the bombing by Turkish drones in northern Syria

At least 16 people, including a civilian, were killed in bombings carried out by Turkish drones on several points in northern Syria, most of which belonged to the Syrian Democratic Forces and local groups affiliated with them, according to what the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights counted on Thursday.


The shelling, which has been escalating since the beginning of the week, particularly affected the areas of Tal Rifaat and Manbij in Aleppo governorate, which are under the influence of the Kurdish forces, and which Ankara has repeatedly signaled its intention to launch a military attack towards.


According to the Observatory, the dead are distributed among four members of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, whose backbone are Kurdish fighters, as a result of targeting their military vehicle on a road in Al-Hasakah Governorate (northeast).


Six other members of the Manbij Military Council, which includes local fighters working under the umbrella of the Syrian Democratic Forces, were killed by shelling throughout the Manbij countryside. Four of them died, according to the Observatory, while they were working to treat two children who were also wounded by Turkish artillery shelling.


Also among the dead were five members of the regime forces, as a Turkish march bombed their point in Tal Rifaat.


A civilian working for the Kurdish Autonomous Administration was also killed in Manbij.


For its part, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced in a tweet on Thursday morning that its soldiers "continue to destroy the terrorists' dens" in Manbij and Tal Rifaat, noting that "16 terrorists have been neutralized," a designation it gives to Kurdish fighters in Syria.


The director of the Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP, Thursday, about "a significant escalation in the bombing by Turkish marches since the beginning of the week on the areas of Kurdish influence, which reached its peak on Wednesday," with the high death toll.


Last summer, Turkey intensified its bombardment by drones of targets in the areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, including points of the regime forces, which caused dozens of deaths.


The increase in the bombing rate at that time came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan failed at a summit with his Russian and Iranian counterparts on July 19 to obtain a green light to proceed with a military attack that he repeatedly threatened to launch against the areas of Manbij and Tal Rifaat.


The Kurdish units formed a spearhead against the Islamic State in Syria. However, Ankara, which previously launched three attacks in Syria, classifies it as a "terrorist" organization and considers it an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency against it on its soil for decades.


Ankara controls a wide border strip in Syria, 120 kilometers long. Erdogan has repeatedly announced that he seeks to establish a so-called "safe zone" 30 kilometers deep.

ARAB AND WORLD

Thu 15 Jun 2023 2:33 pm - Jerusalem Time

Syrian refugees prefer the hardship of living in Lebanon to returning to their country

Under the scorching sun in eastern Lebanon, Syrian refugee Ibrahim al-Karbo is busy with his children peeling garlic cloves to provide for a living, while he has lost hope of returning to his country despite the increasing campaign against refugees in Lebanon, the criticism of the host authorities, and the decline in international aid.


"My son told me that his hand had turned blue from the garlic...and I told him if it turned red, continue working. We want to eat bread," Karbou says, as the smell of garlic wafts through the camp in the town of Saadnayel in the Bekaa Valley.


Al-Karbo, 48, works with five of his six children, all of whom are under 12 years old, to separate garlic cloves from each other by squeezing them hard and then peeling them, which sometimes makes their little hands swell.


Work provides the family with about twenty dollars a week, while the aid they receive from the United Nations is only sufficient to cover basic needs, says Karbo.


Syrian refugees in Lebanon live in difficult conditions, especially since the start of the economic collapse that the country has been witnessing since the fall of 2019.


The economic crisis has increased the hostile rhetoric towards refugees who receive aid from international organizations, at a time when more than eighty percent of the Lebanese are below the poverty line.


After campaigns of arrest and deportation of refugees carried out by the security services during the current year, under the pretext of not obtaining the necessary legal documents, the caretaker government recently obstructed a program to distribute cash aid in dollars to refugees from the United Nations.


According to the authorities, Lebanon hosts more than two million Syrian refugees, while the number registered with the United Nations does not exceed 800,000.


The Lebanese authorities are exerting pressure on the international community and its organizations, calling for the return of the refugees to their country, after the battles stopped in large areas in Syria that have come under the control of the government forces.


"Supporting the future of Syria and the region" is the focus of an international donors' conference to be held by the European Union in Brussels, in light of an unprecedented funding shortage in response to the Syrian crisis inside and outside the country.

Karbou, who has a thick white beard that makes him look older, expresses his fear of returning to his hometown in light of the chaos and security concerns.


He says, "I wish one of the Lebanese would see the state of my house in Raqqa (...) Otherwise, why would I stay in a tent and not in my house? Why should my children not be educated? What compels us to this bitter life?"


And he adds, "I would rather die here in front of my children...than leave them," indicating fear for his fate in the event of his deportation to Syria, amid accusations by human rights organizations that the authorities have arrested a number of returnees from Lebanon.


About seven years ago, the man fled his city, where he worked in the field of construction, after the Islamic State took control of it and made it its most prominent stronghold in Syria until it was defeated in 2016 by the Syrian Democratic Forces, whose backbone is the Kurdish fighters and supported by the international coalition led by Washington.


Although the dream of return haunts many, many refugees today find themselves trapped between poor living conditions in Lebanon and the inability to return, after they lost their homes as a result of the battles and their livelihoods, in addition to the lack of services and basic infrastructure. A large number of young people also fear that they will be forced to join the compulsory military service in Syria.


The Syrian war, which has caused, since its outbreak in 2011, the death of more than half a million people and destroyed the economy and its capabilities, has prompted more than 5.5 million people to flee the country, while an almost equal number has been displaced within it.


Sadness and despair appear on the face of Souad, Karbo's sister, when she talks about her loss of hope in living a normal life. After fleeing years ago from the rule of the Islamic State, she lost her 12-year-old son this year in an agricultural tractor accident during the potato harvesting season.


"I feel that all doors are closed to us. My house in Syria was bombed. If I return, where do I live? On the street? A tent is better," she told AFP, adding, "I feel that it has become impossible to live a decent life."

While her five other children dropped out of school in order to work, she lamented, "fear accompanies me wherever I go (...) I despair of life. I am almost alive, my heart is dead, but I live for my children."


In a nearby camp in the town of Saadnayel, Ghufran al-Jassem (30 years old) expresses her concern about the future of her four children in Lebanon, after she refused to send them to school because she was unable to pay the transportation costs.


The mother, who fled with her family from Idlib Governorate in northwestern Syria, tells that two of her children suffer from heart failure.


And one of them, at the age of seven, needs a heart transplant, in an expensive operation that she cannot afford at all.


"I see my children dying in front of my eyes," she says, with tears in her eyes, in light of the fact that no one is sponsoring the treatment of her two sick children.


Like many refugees who complain about the financial and psychological pressure they suffer from in forgotten tents, Al-Jassem says, "We cannot return to Syria because my husband is required for reserve (in the army)."


And you ask, "How will I secure my children's sustenance" at that time?

PALESTINE

Thu 15 Jun 2023 2:17 pm - Jerusalem Time

Administrative prisoners are studying the occupation's response to their demands

The active institutions in the affairs of prisoners announced today, Thursday, that the administrative prisoners will study, during the coming hours, some of the responses they received from the Israeli prison administration regarding their demands. However, their current decision is to start an open hunger strike, starting next Sunday.


This came during a press conference held by the prisoners’ institutions and the national and Islamic forces in Ramallah, in the presence of Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Qadri Abu Bakr, the head of the Prisoners’ and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs Authority, Qaddoura Fares, the head of the Prisoners’ Club, and the head of the Higher Authority for the Follow-up of Prisoners’ and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs, Amin. Showman.


Abu Bakr said, "We await, during the next few hours, the decisive decision from the administrative prisoners regarding their open-ended hunger strike, which is scheduled for the eighteenth of this month."


He pointed out that the administrative prisoners demand that the administrative detention not be extended more than once or twice, in light of the fact that the Israeli military judiciary extends this detention several times in a row, as some prisoners have extended their administrative detention to 18 times in a row.


Abu Bakr added that the number of administrative prisoners is 1,083, which has doubled from what it was two years ago, indicating that the occupation courts issue daily rulings of administrative detention.


He pointed out that the so-called Israeli cabinet, the Cabinet, raised the issue of giving the extremist Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, the power to issue administrative detention orders, which are restricted to military officers, which threatens to greatly multiply the number if this proposition is implemented. .


Abu Bakr explained that the meeting held by representatives of administrative and convict prisoners with the occupation prison administration yesterday raised several issues, including the issue of administrative detention, the sick and the elderly, and the prisoner Walid Daqqa. Age and female prisoners, and the ban on making phone calls to the prisoner Daqqa with his family was lifted.


In turn, Fares said that the rapid rise in administrative detention is an indication that after a year the number of administrative prisoners will be equal to the number of convicted prisoners, and this is unprecedented in history.


He pointed out that in light of the extremist Israeli government, and the state of anxiety that the occupying state is experiencing from an explosion of conditions in all parts of Palestine, it is taking proactive measures to legitimize the policy of administrative detention, which is rejected by all international norms.


Fares continued: "The prisoners found that this measure must be addressed by going on a hunger strike, and they want to send a message that if the occupation authorities want to break the weapon of the open strike by killing the martyr Khader Adnan, this weapon the prisoners will continue to resort to in order to defend their rights." their dignity and themselves.


And he added, "With regard to the administrative prisoners, some understandings took place during the past hours regarding the Ramla prison hospital, and a session will be held tomorrow in order to defuse the tension that began in the prisons, in light of the fact that the sick prisoners wanted to go on an open hunger strike, but the emergency committee The Supreme Court intervened and opened a dialogue and formed a state of pressure, and this resulted in allowing sick prisoners to make phone calls to their families so far.


With regard to the prisoner Walid Daqqa, Fares pointed out that the request for his early release will be considered next Sunday, which will be considered by what is known as the “life imprisonment committee”, which usually rejects the request, especially since there has been a remedial amendment in the occupation law that prohibits the prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment From his release if his health condition reached the point of danger, however, there are efforts made by Egypt and Jordan to release Daqqa.


For his part, Abu Youssef said, "In the event that the administrative prisoners go on an open hunger strike, support activities will be organized in all regions to support them and show solidarity with them and their rights, and their file will be activated before international institutions, especially the International Criminal Court, which is reluctant to move the files submitted to it." regarding the Palestinian issue.


He called for broad popular participation in order to put pressure on the Israeli occupation to stop the crime of administrative detention, and to reject the occupation's policies that attempt to blackmail prisoners and their families with its racist decisions and laws.


For his part, Shoman stressed the need to move on various legal and diplomatic levels for the issue of prisoners, in light of this extremist government that practices all kinds of oppression and abuse against our people, especially the prisoners.


He stressed the importance of our people shouldering their responsibility in supporting the captive movement, by standing by their just cause.


The number of administrative detainees is 1,083, including three female prisoners and 19 children, out of a total of about 5,000 prisoners held in 23 prisons and detention and investigation centers.

PALESTINE

Thu 15 Jun 2023 1:45 pm - Jerusalem Time

Abu Marzouk warns of the plans of the occupation and its settlers to divide Al-Aqsa

Musa Abu Mazrouq, a member of the political bureau of the "Hamas" movement, warned against turning the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque into a daily routine in preparation for dividing it temporally and spatially, stressing that this calls for continued calls to make the journey and the bondage and retreat there during the first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah, including the revival of the Great Dawn Campaign. Tomorrow, Friday, to confront the plans of the occupation and herds of settlers.

Abu Marzouk indicated that the occupation and its settlers are making unremitting efforts to impose more field incidents in Al-Aqsa Mosque and occupied Jerusalem, including the occupation's targeting of Palestinian national and Islamic symbols, and their continued expulsion from Al-Aqsa Mosque.

He noted that this concentrated Israeli targeting of Al-Aqsa Mosque calls for action from the Arab and Islamic nation, at the official, popular, partisan and mass levels, saying: “What is happening is a blatant assault on the holiest of sanctities of the entire nation, and requires more restraining positions from it, and support for the Jerusalemites and those stationed within it.” With all capabilities and capabilities.

Abu Marzouk expressed his rejection of what the occupation is doing in terms of ending the construction work for the dome of the Judaizing Jewel of Israel Synagogue, which is located only hundreds of meters from Al-Aqsa Mosque, because of the serious dangers it poses to the future of its Arab and Islamic identity.

He also condemned the occupation's removal of the golden dome of the Ebad Al-Rahman Mosque in the town of Beit Safafa, in response to the settlers' complaints, as it resembles the Dome of the Rock, in addition to the danger of the occupation targeting schools in occupied Jerusalem, and the families of education in them.

He pointed out that the attacks and crimes taking place in occupied Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque coincide with the occupation forces’ storming of the city of Nablus and the town of “Ya’bad” in Jenin, and the resulting martyrdom and injuries among our Palestinian people.

Abu Mazrouq affirmed that our people continued to confront the occupation forces in all areas of the West Bank, through increasing cases of clashes with them, to put an end to the implementation of more aggressive policies of demolishing the homes of the families of the martyrs, as crimes of collective punishment, and as evidence of the great influence of the resistance on the occupation.

PALESTINE

Thu 15 Jun 2023 12:40 pm - Jerusalem Time

Large crowds mourn the body of the martyr Khalil Anis in Nablus

Today, Thursday, a large Palestinian woman buried the body of the martyr Khalil Anis (20 years old), in the city of Nablus, to his final resting place.


The funeral procession started in front of Rafidia Hospital, with the participation of a number of representatives of official and popular events, towards the Martyrs' Roundabout in the city center, before the body of the martyr Anis was transferred to Ain Beit al-Maa camp, where a final farewell look was given to him at his family's home.


The participants performed the funeral prayer for the martyr Anis, then his burial body was buried in the camp cemetery.


The martyr Anis succumbed to his injury by the live bullets of the occupation in the Al-Ras area during its storming of the city of Nablus at dawn today.

PALESTINE

Thu 15 Jun 2023 12:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

The Supreme Ifta Council prohibits participation in the occupation municipal elections in Jerusalem

The Supreme Fatwa Council in Palestine affirmed the fatwa issued by it regarding the prohibition of participation or candidacy in the elections of the occupation municipality in Jerusalem, justifying this as a clear and explicit violation of Sharia and the national consensus rejecting this participation, as the municipality is the first arm of the occupation authorities in implementing settlement and Judaization projects in the city, and narrowing ways Living and housing for the citizens.


During its session today, Thursday, headed by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories, Chairman of the Supreme Fatwa Council, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, the Council warned against Israeli plans to submit a draft law for the temporal and spatial division of Al-Aqsa Mosque, according to which the Al-Qibli Mosque area will be allocated to Muslims, and the area that starts from the courtyard of the Dome of the Rock to The northernmost of the Al-Aqsa squares for the Jews, and it constitutes about 70% of its area.


He said: The attempts of the occupation authorities to implement this step will cause massive anger, and will drag the entire region into a religious war whose results cannot be expected, calling on everyone who can reach the occupied city of Jerusalem and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque to travel to them in order to stand up to the plans of the aggressive Israeli occupation authorities. And its aggressions through which it violates the place of our Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him.


The council added that these projects and incursions are nothing but a continuation of the Judaization series that targets Jerusalem and its blessed mosque, to create a new reality on the ground, stressing the rejection of these planned and planned violations by the occupation authorities and their police, and that the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque was, is and will remain Islamic.


The Council warned of the policy of escalating restrictions on Palestinian prisoners, and of the murders that occur within the Palestinian community in the 48 territories.

PALESTINE

Thu 15 Jun 2023 10:42 am - Jerusalem Time

Abu Rudeineh: The occupation insists on dragging the region into escalation

The official spokesman for the presidency, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said that the occupation government insists on dragging the region into escalation and a cycle of violence through its continuous crimes against our Palestinian people, the latest of which was the storming of the city of Nablus, the martyrdom of a young man, the bombing of a citizen's house, and the injury of dozens.


Abu Rudeineh added, in a press statement to him, that the policy of collective punishment practiced by Israel, whether by demolishing homes, killing citizens, besieging Jenin, Nablus, and other Palestinian cities, or the unacceptable Israeli measures in Jerusalem, are war crimes according to international law, and Israel must be punished for it. And take serious policies to stop it before it's too late.


He stressed that the continuation of these Israeli crimes against our people, our land, and our sanctities, makes the region sink into a spiral of violence, and creates a state of chaos, which requires the international community to act immediately to stop them, provide protection for our people, and hold those responsible accountable and bring them to justice.


The presidential spokesman held the occupation government responsible for the dangerous and accelerating events on the ground that crossed all red lines, calling on the US administration to break its silence and oblige Israel to stop its daily crimes and violations against our people, and to implement the resolutions of international legitimacy and signed agreements.


Abu Rudeineh stressed that the crimes of the occupation and the policy of collective punishment will not undermine the resolve of our people, and that it will remain steadfast on its land and defend it until its hopes for liberation and the establishment of an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital are fulfilled.

PALESTINE

Thu 15 Jun 2023 10:40 am - Jerusalem Time

Postponing the "Negev Forum" again

The Hebrew channel Reshet Kan reported, on Thursday morning, that it had been decided to postpone the meeting of the Negev Forum, which was scheduled to be held at the end of this month in Morocco.


According to the channel, the postponement was decided due to Eid al-Adha, which will fall at the end of this month.


She indicated that it was postponed to next month.


This forum is known as the "Negev Forum" because its first summit was held last year for the first time in the Negev, southern occupied Palestine.


The Hebrew newspaper Haaretz recently quoted Israeli sources as saying that the foreign ministers of Israel, the United States, and several Arab countries, including Egypt and the UAE, will participate in the meeting hosted by Morocco.


According to the same sources at the time, the meeting was scheduled to take place early in the beginning of the year, but it was postponed due to security tensions in the Palestinian territories.


The meeting was held for the first time in March of last year in Sde Boker, in the Negev, at the initiative of the former Israeli Foreign Minister at the time, Yair Lapid, and it was decided at that time to hold it once a year in a different country.


According to the newspaper, one of the reasons for delaying its contract is the dispute between the United States and Morocco over its venue, after the latter demanded that it be held in Western Sahara, but Washington opposed and demanded that it be held in a politically non-controversial region.


In recent months, Israel, along with the United States, has sought to expand the circle of participants, and to add Muslim-majority African countries that do not currently maintain diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv, at a time when Arab countries participating in the forum demanded that he change his name so that his identity would not be identified so that he would be clearly Israeli.


OPINIONS

Thu 15 Jun 2023 10:32 am - Jerusalem Time

Palestinian responsibility

Gershon Baskin

Gershon Baskin

Opinion Writer

First, it is necessary to understand that there is no symmetry in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict between Israel and Palestine. Israel is the occupier. Palestine is occupied. Israel is strong and Palestine is weak. Israel acts unilaterally and does whatever it wants in complete disregard of international law. Palestine is unable to do anything against Israel because Israel enjoys almost complete immunity in the international community. In the victim struggle between the two sides, the winner is Palestine. I am writing this column by accepting the adage that we should not blame the victim. I don't blame the victim, but I also don't absolve the victim of their responsibility to change their situation.


Let's start with the easy part. elections. The vast majority of Palestinians want elections for a new leadership. The last elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council (Parliament) were held in 2006. The last elections for a Palestinian president were held in 2005. President Abbas can be the best president in the world, but no president should be in office for long. He certainly should not remain in office for a long time without a clear mandate from the people. As most Palestinians explain to me, the path to the reunification of Palestine, between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, passes through elections. There is an understanding, perhaps even a commitment, that whoever wins those elections is the winner. The Palestinians want an end to the internal division and they want new elected leaders. So, take to the streets and let your voices be heard throughout Palestine. Peace and awe inspire the masses who took to the streets with one slogan: elections!


The second call from me is more complicated and difficult. In the decades that have brought thousands of Israelis and Palestinians together for serious and in-depth discussions and negotiations, it is clear that the two sides relay their messages on different waves. Israelis talk about peace and recognition. They also talk about ending the conflict. Palestinians talk about ending the occupation, freedom, justice and independence. In the recent past, many Palestinian youth also spoke about equality. Many Israelis believe that negotiation and reaching agreements is the best way to reach their goal of peace. Many Palestinians simply want Israel out of their lives and end the occupation. The reality on the ground is that the occupation is becoming more entrenched, new settlements are being built, and old settlements are constantly expanding. The road infrastructure in the West Bank is changing dramatically and rapidly in a way that prevents the survival of a Palestinian state. This has always been the goal of the settlement movement. They may have already achieved this goal, and if not, it will happen soon.


Achieving their goals of achieving justice, independence and equality. They depended for many years on the Arab world. This did not happen. Our message is their hope that the international community will force Israel to end the Israeli occupation. Then the Soviet Union disappeared and the non-aligned countries had nothing but strength to pass empty declarations in the UN General Assembly. Then came the peace process, Madrid, the multilateral talks, Oslo, the bilateral negotiations, the agreements signed - but the house of cards collapsed. The Palestinians received huge sums of money from the United States and the European Union, and many countries provided donor aid, but in retrospect, it enabled Israel to continue a more comfortable occupation and gave the international community the sense that it was in fact helping to end the war. occupation and lead Palestine to freedom. But there was no real pressure on Israel to withdraw or even to stop building settlements. In addition, the Palestinian government has become increasingly corrupt - this is what the Palestinians themselves say.


A month after Sadat's historic visit, the vast majority of Israelis were ready to give up every grain of sand from the Sinai for the sake of peace. Many sandstorms have blown across the Sinai since then, and the Israeli-Egyptian peace is a far cry from the vision of peace that existed in the 1980s, but no Israeli even thinks of taking back the Sinai and giving up peace. The most important lesson from that past experience for the Palestinians must be that the address to speak to is in the neighborhood, in Israel, for the Israeli people. The international community will not come to the rescue - neither the United States, nor the European Union, nor Russia, nor China, nor the United Nations, nor the Arab countries. Yes, it is very likely that Israel will face new pressures as a result of its criminal behavior against the Palestinian people. But this pressure may take many years before it leads to a change in politics and public views in Israel. Yes, Israel has become an apartheid-like state, but before the international community develops an effective political current against Israel, it will be a very long time and the suffering of the Palestinians will certainly increase beyond anything that can be tolerated.


I will not tell the Palestinian people and their leaders what to do and what to say. I know what those Israelis who are genuinely interested in peace and an end to the occupation want and what they would like to hear from them. From time to time I have heard some Palestinians say without fear that, yes, we understand that the Jewish people are "bound to this land." I have heard some Palestinians make clear statements without any if, what, or but - the Holocaust was the greatest crime against humanity ever committed, and we understand the suffering of the Jewish people and their need for real security. I even heard some Palestinians criticizing the Palestinian curricula for teaching hatred against Israel and the Jews, and they called for textbooks to be reformed! This does not mean changing the Palestinian narrative, which is largely based on their suffering at the hands of Israel. But, they say, the curricula should also teach the Palestinian people's desire to live in peace as neighbors of Israel. If the vast majority of Palestinians believe and express these things, I think the Israeli response to them will be very strong and meaningful for our common future here.


Perhaps the next generation of Palestinian leaders, those we know and those we don't, can take some dramatic steps that will have a "Sadat effect" on the Israeli psyche and public opinion. Faisal al-Husayni believed that when he visited the Museum of Ghetto Fighters in Kibbutz Lohamai HaGetaut, there would be a moment of the "Sadat effect". It didn't happen. Rabin and Arafat's handshake was very strong for the Israeli public, but the majority of Israelis still had major reservations about Arafat's true intent - many of his messages were covered in double talk. Clarity of intentions and consequent actions is what is required. I know it is very difficult for occupiers to stand up and find the moral courage and fortitude to take such measures, but I am really afraid that without something along these lines our situation will be much worse than it already is.

OPINIONS

Thu 15 Jun 2023 10:32 am - Jerusalem Time

The final nail in the coffin of the "two-state solution"?

Antoine Shalhat

Antoine Shalhat

Opinion Writer

We should not get tired of repeating that, in the midst of everyone's preoccupation with the current Israeli government's plan to weaken the judiciary, and to dismantle what is known as checks and balances between the three branches of government, leading to near-absolute control of the executive authority over the other two branches, this government took a step described as, Even from an Israeli point of view, it is dramatic and would indicate Israel's current direction with regard to the file of occupation in the 1967 territories and the Palestinian cause in general.


The intent, as the author indicated in previous articles, is the approval of the Knesset General Assembly in late March, in the second and third readings, of an amendment stipulating the abolition of parts of the “Disengagement Law” of 2005, which allows Israeli settlers to be present in areas in the northern West Bank that have been It was evacuated 18 years ago, within the framework of that plan, which, at the time, included the evacuation of Gush Katif settlements in the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the northern West Bank.


This abolition was agreed upon through coalition agreements, and the direct aim of it was to basically legalize the status of religious school students in the outpost "Homesh", which was evacuated in 2005. This school was established within the framework of the settlers' determination to brandish a "metaphorical world" in Apparently, this indicates what they consider the futility of dismantling the settlements in the lands of 1967, so this approved legal amendment came to make it a realistic, non-temporary existence.


Over the short period since this amendment, it has more and more strengthened the assessment that the farthest goal is for the current government to drive a final nail into the coffin of what is known as the "two-state solution", by declaring that the dismantling of any settlement in the occupied territories, as it was in accordance with For the disengagement plan, never again.


This was confirmed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview he gave to Fox News a few days ago, when he was asked to comment on a statement by the US State Department that considered the issue of the "Homesh" outpost as a violation of commitments made by Israel in exchange for the administration of former President George Bush. He said: "This is tantamount to endorsing the ethnic cleansing of the Jews in their historical homeland." In 2016, Netanyahu described the possibility of evacuating Jewish settlers from the lands occupied since 1967 as "ethnic cleansing"!


Regarding the course of the disengagement plan, it was noted that, as a result of it, the Israeli right’s tendency towards appropriating the human rights discourse was strengthened in order to achieve several goals, most notably: ending the monopoly of any left-wing party on the issue of human rights in Israel; Improving the image of the occupying state. Right-wing organizations began resorting to claiming that forcibly evicting Jewish settlers from their homes is contrary to the human rights discourse. In recent years, opponents of the two-state solution have used human rights rhetoric against the evacuation of Jewish settlers from a specific area in order to establish a homogeneous Palestinian state on it.


In parallel with listing these facts, which we can consider new in the current period, there is a need to point out that Israel has been using settlements in the West Bank since the 1967 occupation to achieve the goal of curbing the establishment of a Palestinian state. It is a goal that stood behind all the settlement projects that were discussed, and not all of them went beyond the goal of dismembering the public space in the West Bank specifically, to make such a state as separate enclaves, with self-rule with limited powers and main resources, especially land and water.


In a new report by a human rights organization, an accurate description of the role distribution in this regard between the occupying state and the settlers was stated as follows: The state is the one who initiates, plans, and steals Palestinian land and undertakes construction and settlement tasks, and the settlers are taking several steps forward, in what appears to be contrary to the official plan and several laws. . Soon the state forgives and reconciles retroactively, and initiates new plans, and the settlers in turn steal more Palestinian land... And so on and so forth.

PALESTINE

Thu 15 Jun 2023 10:26 am - Jerusalem Time

Disclosure of the testimonies of two young men who were beaten and abused during their arrest

The Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs revealed the arrest certificates of young men who were subjected to beatings and abuse by the Israeli occupation forces during the arrest and investigation process.

After her visit, the commission's lawyer, Heba Igbaria, met the prisoner Khalil Muhammad Abu Ghazaleh (16 years old) from the town of Al-Tur, in the district of Jerusalem, where he said that he was arrested from his home at around five in the morning, after a number of police and intelligence men arrived and stormed his room while he was sleeping from his bed, and took him out. They left him directly from the house and did not allow him to change his clothes, then they took him to the interrogation rooms and kept him in the corridor for two hours, kneeling on his knees with his face against the wall and forbidden to move, then they brought him in for interrogation. He returned to complete the investigation, and the prisoner stayed in Al-Mascobiyeh for 7 days, and then he was transferred to Al-Damoon Prison, “the Cubs Section,” where he is still there.

Ighbariya also met the prisoner, Ibrahim Sultan Al-Zumar (15 years), from the Askar camp in the district of Nablus governorate, and the prisoner said that the occupation forces arrested him from inside a supermarket at midnight, and a large number of soldiers entered and arrested him, then they beat him upon arrest while he was handcuffed to the back. He was blindfolded in order to get him into the prisoners' truck. Inside the truck, the soldiers continued to assault him and beat him arbitrarily with their hands, feet, and the butts of their rifles. As a result, he suffered many wounds, bruises, and bruises. He also suffered a deep wound in his right foot. He also suffered a broken finger in his hand. They entered him directly for interrogation, and he asked the interrogator to give him first aid and treat him, and clean the wounds and blood, but the interrogator refused and instead of treating him, two soldiers entered him and assaulted and beat him, then tied his feet in addition to his hands and interrogated him for two hours while he was in pain and stained with his blood.

The prisoner continued that from the Hawara detainee he was transferred to the Detention and Interrogation Detention Center in Petah Tikva, and he arrived at dawn hours, then they put him in a solitary cell, and inside the cell he used the existing water bottle to wash the blood that filled his face and feet, and even in Petah Tikva they did not provide him with any treatment or first aid. And he remained in detention for 20 days, during these days he was given a few meals, and there were days when they did not bring him any meal and he remained hungry, but some of the food he got was wrapped in papers, Ibrahim used to take these papers and stick them to the place of his wounds.

OPINIONS

Thu 15 Jun 2023 10:07 am - Jerusalem Time

The importance of the President's visit to China

Jerusalem Hadith

Jerusalem Hadith

Opinion Writer

The visit that President Mahmoud Abbas is currently making to the People's Republic of China and his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, is considered one of the most important visits that President Abbas made to China, whether in terms of timing or in terms of its outputs and the circumstances the Palestinian issue is going through, and the attempts of the occupying power to resolve the conflict In its favour, it exploits the international circumstances and the protection of America and Western European countries for it, and preventing its punishment, which makes it persist and arrogant in its practices and violations against our people and its attempt to liquidate the Palestinian cause.


President Abbas is the first president to be invited to visit China and meet with Chinese President Ping this year, and in the wake of the elections that took place in China and the renewal of the Chinese president for a new presidency due to the achievements he made during his previous terms of progress for China in all fields, especially economic, military and other scientific fields. and technological.


China's invitation to President Abbas and his meeting with the Chinese President at this particular time means making the Palestinian issue a focus not only for talks between the two sides, but also making this issue alive despite all the assassination plots and attempts to end and resolve the conflict that the occupying state is carrying out.


China is a major supporter of the Palestinian cause at all political, diplomatic and economic levels, which our people will never forget, especially in the UN Security Council and the United Nations, where it stands by all special resolutions related to the Palestinian cause.


Not only that, but China affirms the right of our people to establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital on the borders of June 4, 1967 AD, and opposes Israeli practices and violations, especially the settlement crimes and herds of settlers.


More importantly, our people look forward to the People's State of China playing a role in ending the Palestinian division, which caused the decline of the Palestinian cause, and the occupation's exploitation of this division to pass its policies of liquidation and ethnic cleansing, falsifying history and facts, and replacing the real Palestinian narrative with a forged Israeli one that has nothing to do with truth and reality.


Just as China succeeded in restoring relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran to its former state, and dealt a strong blow to America and the occupying state, which tried to delude the Arab countries, especially the Gulf states, that their enemy is Iran and not the Israeli occupation, so that this scheme, which has no basis in truth, except to make the occupying state the dominant one, was exposed. on the area.


China, with its international weight and standing by our people, its cause and all its other issues, is qualified to play a mediating role to end the division, and this is what our people and many national forces hope for, to restore the national and geographical unity that was torn apart by the division and which seems to be on its way to secession, which requires Chinese mediation that It is respected not only by our people, but by all the peoples of the Arab nation, in addition to the Arab and Islamic regimes and parties.


Will China play this hoped-for role that our people will glorify forever and ever?

PALESTINE

Thu 15 Jun 2023 9:54 am - Jerusalem Time

The Israeli oppression forces stormed Nafha prison

On Thursday morning, the Israeli oppression forces stormed Section (3) in Nafha Prison.


According to the Captive Club, those forces launched extensive searches amid a state of tension.


He pointed out that 110 of the prisoners are in prison.


PALESTINE

Thu 15 Jun 2023 9:16 am - Jerusalem Time

The occupation continues the siege of Ya`bad and arrests 3 young men from separate areas

For the third day in a row, the Israeli occupation forces continued to blockade the town of Ya`bad in the Jenin district, coinciding with a campaign of raids and arrests in separate areas of the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.


The occupation forces impose strict measures against the residents of the town of Ya`bad, and they also storm the town from time to time, amid an intense deployment of their forces.


The occupation forces also stormed villages and towns in Jenin, including Al-Jadida, Siris, Mithlon, Sanour, Al-Jarba, Markah, and Arraba, amidst clashes in Mithlon and Zababdeh.


Those forces arrested the young man, Khaled Nairat, after raiding his family's home in the town of Mithlon.


In Tulkarm, Rouhi Salama was arrested after his house was raided in the town of Bala'a, east of Tulkarm.


In Qalqilya, the young man, Erbakan Tabsiyeh, was arrested after his house was raided.


The occupation forces stormed Aqabat Jaber camp in Jericho and raided many homes, amid clashes with young men.


Those forces raided many homes in separate neighborhoods of occupied Jerusalem.

PALESTINE

Thu 15 Jun 2023 9:03 am - Jerusalem Time

An Israeli delegation heads to Cairo because of Operation "Fedayeen Egypt"

The Israeli Arabic-language Makan Radio reported, Thursday morning, that an Israeli delegation will travel today to the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to present to officials in the country the conclusions of the military investigation conducted by the Israeli army command into the circumstances of the attack, which was carried out by Egyptian policeman Mohamed Salah.


According to the radio, the delegation will seek clarifications from the Egyptian side regarding the Egyptian policeman, Mohamed Salah, the perpetrator of the attack in which 3 Israeli soldiers were killed.


The radio said that the concerned authorities in Israel are interested in clarifying whether Salah was acting alone or if he carried out the attack on the grounds of religious extremism. as described.


The members of the delegation also want to inquire about the Egyptian policeman's knowledge of the special emergency gap in the security fence that extends along the borders, especially since the Israeli army units deployed in the place were not aware of its existence.


Al-Quds.com published exclusively translated details of the operation that was carried out, and you can view it via the following link, by clicking on the word here .

PALESTINE

Thu 15 Jun 2023 7:33 am - Jerusalem Time

Senior Likud leaders voted in the Israeli Knesset for the opposition

The Hebrew newspaper Haaretz reported, on Thursday, that senior officials from the right-wing Likud Party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, voted yesterday evening, Wednesday, with the Israeli opposition, to choose the representative of the Judges Committee.


According to the newspaper, at least 4 of the party’s senior members voted for Karen Al-Harrar from the There is a Future party led by Yair Lapid, to be the representative of the Judges Committee for the opposition parties, which constituted a political blow to Netanyahu and his government parties after they failed to choose a representative for them and believed that the opposition It will fail because it does not have a majority.


The newspaper considered that this is the most important decision by senior members of the Likud party, and as a clear message from within it of their rejection of the measures taken by Netanyahu, especially with regard to the laws of the so-called "judicial reforms."


According to opposition sources, Knesset members Ze'ev Elkin and Helly Tropper of the National Camp, along with Merav Ben-Ari of Yesh Atid, coordinated with at least five members of the government coalition, namely Likud, to vote in favor of Harrar's appointment.


A source familiar with the decision to support Harrar said: "The farce led by Netanyahu, and the results of the vote should not surprise anyone after today."


In recent days, senior Likud officials have expressed their disgust with the "coup" plan or what is known as "judicial reforms" and the damage it caused to the party's public support. Netanyahu to back off and distance himself from Levin's competition to pursue it."

PALESTINE

Thu 15 Jun 2023 7:20 am - Jerusalem Time

Under Israeli pressure, the location of a conference on attacks on Christians in Jerusalem was moved

The Hebrew newspaper Haaretz reported, on Thursday, that it was decided to move a conference on Israeli attacks against Christians that was scheduled to be held tomorrow, Friday, in the hall of the Tower of David Museum in occupied Jerusalem, to another place in the Old City, due to pressure exerted by the city’s municipality affiliated with the Israeli authorities, on the management of the place. .


The Hebrew newspaper quoted several sources as saying that the office of the mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion, threatened to dismiss the executive director of the museum if the conference was held there.


Lyon's office denied the reports and said there had been no threats.


The newspaper indicates that the conference will be held due to the increase in the number of attacks by settlers and Israeli police against Christians in Jerusalem, which included spitting, verbal abuse, physical violence, vandalism of graves and dissemination of hate messages.



PALESTINE

Thu 15 Jun 2023 7:08 am - Jerusalem Time

Netanyahu continues to prevent his ministers from visiting Washington

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to prevent his government ministers from going to Washington in order to hold official meetings with any of the American officials.


According to the Hebrew website Ynet, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will have to meet his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin, in the Belgian capital, Brussels, today, Thursday.


Netanyahu links the holding of meetings between his ministers and US officials to receiving an invitation from the White House to visit the United States, a long-awaited invitation since he became prime minister several months ago.


According to the Hebrew site, Gallant will discuss with Austin the Iranian threat, but it is not expected that he will focus on Israel's concerns about the nuclear agreement because Israel believes that the decision on this issue has already been taken in Washington, and therefore does not want to waste time during the meeting between the two ministers. On this issue, they are expected to talk about strengthening military cooperation and continuing joint exercises.


Gallant will also provide Austin with information about the growing Iranian interference in the region, including in Gaza and the West Bank, and the need to show American-Israeli power in order to send a message to the Iranians that both sides have a reliable military option, as well as the assertion of maintaining Israeli military superiority.


It is expected that Austin will ask Gallant to calm the situation in the Palestinian territories.

PALESTINE

Thu 15 Jun 2023 6:49 am - Jerusalem Time

Washington: It will discuss with Israel the issue of closing the investigation into the file of Al-Massan Al-Asaad

The official spokesman for the US State Department, Matthew Miller, confirmed last night that the United States will discuss with the Israeli authorities directly the issue of closing the investigation file regarding the circumstances of the martyrdom of the Palestinian American citizen Omar Asaad (79), who died after being detained by the Israeli occupation authorities in January. the second of 2022.

Miller said, in response to a question from Al-Quds.com correspondent, in his press conference, that Washington is seeking more information from the Israeli government after the Israeli army announced that no criminal charges would be brought against an officer and a soldier because of Asaad.

"What I will say is that, as we have stated previously on this case, we expected a thorough criminal investigation and full accountability," Miller said. "We have been clear that we are deeply concerned about the circumstances surrounding Omar al-Asaad's death and the need for such accountability."

“Israel itself has stated that the incident demonstrated a clear lapse of moral judgment and a failure to protect the sanctity of human life,” Miller added. “Since the tragic death of Mr. Al-Asaad, we have continued to discuss this disturbing incident with the Israeli government. We are aware of the outcome of the investigation and are currently seeking further information.” from the Israeli government on this matter.

Miller confirmed to our correspondent: "As I said, we are aware of this (about closing the investigation file) and we are seeking to obtain more information from the Israeli government, and we will talk to them directly about this matter."

At that time, the United States had expressed its concern about the Israeli army's report on the circumstances of his martyrdom.

Last December, a rights group called on the US State Department to cut funding to the notorious Israeli battalion by implementing the "Leahy Act," named after the Democratic Senator from Vermont, Patrick Leahy.

The call was made by Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN), which released a report on human rights violations and war crimes committed by the Israeli occupation army's Netzah Yehuda Brigade, a special unit of ultra-Orthodox Jewish soldiers.

The Leahy Act (or Leahy Amendments) are US human rights statutes that prohibit the State Department and the US Department of Defense from providing military assistance to units of foreign security forces that violate human rights with impunity. It is named after its main sponsor, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont).

In the process of implementing this law, US embassies, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and the appropriate regional office of the US State Department screen potential recipients of security assistance, and if a unit is found to be credibly implicated in a serious human rights violation, assistance is denied until action is taken. The government of the host country takes effective steps to bring responsible persons within the unit to justice. While the United States government does not publicly announce which foreign armed forces units have cut off assistance, press reports have indicated that the United States has legally cut off security forces and National Defense Forces units in Bangladesh, Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Nigeria, Turkey, Indonesia, Lebanon, and Saint Lucia of assistance due to Leahy's Law, but excluded Israel.

PALESTINE

Thu 15 Jun 2023 12:11 am - Jerusalem Time

One Palestinian killed, others injured in Israeli raid on Nablus

Nablus – One Palestinian was killed and others were injured by Israeli military gunfire in an overnight raid in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday. 


The martyr was identified as Khalil Yahya Al-Anees from Ein Beit al-Ma' refugee camp. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, Al-Anees who was killed sustained a wound to the head. 


Israeli forces had sealed off Al-Muraij Street in order to storm the house of Osama Al-Tawil, a Palestinian prisoner who is one of the leaders of Lions' Den militant group, in preparation for demolition. Israel claims he was connected with the killing of a soldier in the northern West Bank in February. 


Violent confrontations erupted after Israeli troops stormed the city, with some Palestinians firing weapons toward them. 


The occupation forces used live and rubber bullets, as well as gas and stun grenades, to crackdown on Palestinians who resisted the raid. 






PALESTINE

Wed 14 Jun 2023 10:23 pm - Jerusalem Time

We do not want to control the West Bank.. Al-Arouri: No truce in exchange for projects, and we are ready for elections

Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, said on Wednesday evening that what was published in the media about a truce proposed by Egypt to the Palestinian factions during the recent visit to Cairo, in exchange for projects and facilities, is unfounded news, and it is just rumors behind which hostile parties stand.


And Al-Arouri said in a televised interview on Al-Aqsa TV, which is affiliated with the "Hamas" movement, that the meetings in Egypt came within the framework of continuing consultations on the Palestinian issue and the region.


Al-Arouri added, "The talk about economic projects in Gaza in exchange for the armistice, we heard about it in the media, and perhaps hostile parties stand behind it. Hamas will not get out of the resistance equation in exchange for any economic or political projects, and Gaza will remain in the heart of active resistance."


He pointed out that the visit of the government delegation from Gaza to Cairo aims to discuss detailed government issues, and has nothing to do with rumors of a long truce.


He stated that the meeting with the leadership of the Islamic Jihad movement in Cairo was very important in terms of unifying the vision of the resistance and adjusting its rhythm to serve the interests of our people, stressing that the meeting was successful and achieved its goals, while we are in one trench. like he said.


Regarding the situation in the West Bank, the deputy head of the Hamas political bureau said that the allegations of plans for Hamas to control the West Bank are empty propaganda aimed at raising the pace of internal conflict in the service of the occupation, pointing out that no one can control the Palestinian people except through popular legitimacy. like he said.


He believed that the results of the West Bank university elections are important because of the importance of the active and aware youth category in the Palestinian national equation, which is a clear indication of the general attitudes of our people. like he said.


Al-Arouri called on the "Fatah" movement for a unified national strategy that includes all paths of political, popular and armed resistance.


Al-Arouri pointed out that "Hamas" talked with the "Fatah" movement about a national strategy that includes supporting the political effort with the world in return for supporting and covering the resistance in all its forms.


And he indicated that the "Hamas" movement agrees with the "Fatah" movement in diagnosing the seriousness of the Palestinian situation, and this requires leadership decisions commensurate with the seriousness of the stage, indicating that experience has proven that political action alone did not achieve any results, and an honest review requires building a new national strategy that constitutes the comprehensive resistance.


Al-Arouri emphasized that Hamas agrees with all factions on the comprehensive resistance strategy, including political action and resistance, pointing out that Abu Mazen places his veto on the path of assembling Palestinian institutions in building a unified national strategy.


He said, "Hamas accepts the word of our people in the ballot box, and accepts political partnership with others, and we do not impose our opinion on our people. The movement has great struggle and clear popular legitimacy."


He considered that the international circumstance and the composition of the Israeli government constituted a great opportunity to unify the Palestinian action in accordance with the unified national strategy.


He reaffirmed the readiness of the "Hamas" movement and its readiness to hold student elections in all universities of the Gaza Strip on the basis of the full proportional representation law, explaining that his movement sponsors an atmosphere of complete freedom in Gaza for the work of the Palestinian factions, including the "Fatah" movement. like he said.


Al-Arouri said: "The Fatah movement is practicing its political and organizational work with full freedom in the Gaza Strip."


He emphasized that "Hamas" contributed to building the military wings of the Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, referring to Hamas providing the Palestinian factions with weapons, sites and everything necessary to strengthen the resistance in the Strip.


Al-Arouri said, "Fatah youth in universities are resistance fighters, and we share with them the national concern in the West Bank."


He described "political arrest as patriotic shameful".


On the issue of prisoners, the deputy head of the Hamas political bureau said that if the administrative prisoners go on a hunger strike, their lives are in danger, and our people will unite in a battle behind them, stressing that the battle to defend the administrative prisoners will be a great national renaissance for our people.


Al-Arouri stressed that the case of the prisoner Walid Daqqa is a model that the occupation does not have an iota of morality and humanity. like he said.

PALESTINE

Wed 14 Jun 2023 9:52 pm - Jerusalem Time

The funeral of the martyr Ahmed Taha in Salfit

Large Palestinian crowds mourned, this evening, Wednesday, the body of the martyr Ahmed Yaqoub Taha (39 years old) to his final resting place in the town of Bidya, west of Salfit.


The funeral procession of the martyr's body departed from the old emergency center in Salfit with a military funeral, to his house, where the family gave the last farewell look, before it was transferred to the city's great mosque to perform prayers on it, and the burial took place in the town's cemetery.


Taha was shot dead by the Israeli occupation forces on the twenty-seventh of last April near the village of Haris, west of Salfit, and the occupation authorities kept his body in their refrigerators, before handing him over last Sunday.

PALESTINE

Wed 14 Jun 2023 9:40 pm - Jerusalem Time

China News Agency denies publishing any news related to the health of President Abbas

The Chinese News Agency (Xinhua) denied, on Wednesday, that it had published any information or news related to the health of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is on a visit to the Republic of China.

Imad Drimli, director of the agency's office in Palestine, confirmed in a press statement that the agency did not publish any news related to the health of President Abbas.

PALESTINE

Wed 14 Jun 2023 7:01 pm - Jerusalem Time

Election of an opposition Knesset member for the Judges Selection Committee

In a new political drama in the Israeli Knesset, opposition delegate Karen Elharar was elected this evening, Wednesday, to the Judges Selection Committee, after she received the support of 58 members.


This means that four of the deputies of the government coalition violated the factional discipline and voted in favor of it. As reported by the Arabic-speaking Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation.


According to the committee, only 15 Knesset members backed Likudian Tali Gottlieb, who did not heed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's demand and did not withdraw her candidacy.


Another vote is expected in a few weeks to elect the coalition's delegate to the committee.


The coalition called on the opposition to stop issuing ultimatums and creating pretexts to torpedo the negotiations. A statement issued by the heads of the coalition stated that it is very important to reach an immediate consensus on the plan for judicial changes.


PALESTINE

Wed 14 Jun 2023 6:49 pm - Jerusalem Time

Xi puts forward three-point proposal for settlement of Palestinian question

Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward a three-point proposal for the settlement of the Palestinian question during his talks with visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Beijing on Wednesday.


Xi stressed that the Palestinian question has remained unresolved for over half a century, causing great sufferings to the Palestinian people; justice must be done to Palestine as soon as possible.


First, the fundamental solution lies in the establishment of an independent state of Palestine that enjoys full sovereignty on the basis of the 1967 borders and with east Jerusalem as its capital, he said.


Second, Palestine's economic and livelihood needs should be met, and the international community needs to step up development assistance and humanitarian aid to Palestine, he said.


Third, it is important to keep to the right direction of peace talks. The historical status quo of the holy sites in Jerusalem should be respected, and excessive and provocative words and actions should be avoided. A large-scale, more authoritative and more influential international peace conference should be convened so as to create conditions for the resumption of peace talks and contribute tangible efforts to help Palestine and Israel live in peace, he said.


"China stands ready to play a positive role to assist Palestine in achieving internal reconciliation and promote peace talks," Xi said. 

ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 14 Jun 2023 5:02 pm - Jerusalem Time

Israeli arms exports reach record high, one quarter of sales to Arab states

Israeli defence exports hit an all-time high of $12.5 billion last year, with Arab countries that recently established ties accounting for nearly a quarter of purchase contracts, officials said Wednesday.


The defence ministry, which oversees and approves the exports of Israel's defence industries, said one quarter of deals were for drone systems, with "missiles, rockets and air defence systems" making up another 19 percent.


Ministry figures show total exports have doubled over the past nine years.


A breakdown of the regions to which the goods are exported showed a leap among Abraham Accords countries from $853 million (nine percent) in 2021 to $2.96 billion (24 percent) in 2022.


The US-brokered Abraham Accords from 2020 saw Israel normalise ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.


The defence ministry would not provide further details.


"Global instability increases the demand for Israeli air defence systems, drones, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and missiles, and we continually work to preserve our capabilities and strengthen them," defence ministry director general Eyal Zamir said in a statement.


The German parliament was set to approve a $4.3 billion deal later Wednesday to purchase Israel's Arrow 3 air defence system, as the country moves to bolster its defences following Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year.

PALESTINE

Wed 14 Jun 2023 4:24 pm - Jerusalem Time

China's President Xi calls for Palestine to receive full member status in UN

China's President Xi Jinping told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Beijing on Wednesday that "China supports Palestine to become a full member state of the United Nations," according to the official Chinese broadcaster CCTV.


He added that "the main way out for the Palestinian cause lies in the establishment of an independent Palestinian state."


Abbas is currently in Beijing for his fifth official visit to China, which will last until Friday.


The Chinese president told his Palestinian counterpart at a reception that China "is ready to strengthen coordination and cooperation with the Palestinian side, in the face of a century of global changes and new developments in the situation in the Middle East."


"Today, we will jointly announce the establishment of a strategic partnership between China and Palestine, which will mark an important milestone in the history of bilateral relations," Xi added.


Abbas will then hold talks with other senior Chinese leaders, including prime minister Li Qiang.


Beijing has sought to strengthen its foothold in the Middle East, which has caused alarm bells in Washington.


In April, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang informed his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts in separate phone calls of China's readiness to broker a peace agreement between the two sides.


Earlier on Wednesday, the Palestinian delegation and China signed cooperation agreements in Beijing on Wednesday during a meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.


The delegation accompanying President Abbas signed several agreements with the Chinese side, including a twinning agreement between Ramallah and Wuhan, an agreement to advance the teaching of Chinese language in Palestinian schools, a visa exemption for diplomatic passports, and a project for China to complete the paving of roads in Ramallah. 


There was also an agreement to establish technical delegations for the four projects.



PALESTINE

Wed 14 Jun 2023 4:00 pm - Jerusalem Time

Israeli special forces kidnap a liberated prisoner from Jenin camp

Today, Wednesday afternoon, a special force from the Israeli occupation army kidnapped a liberated prisoner from Jenin camp.


Witnesses told Al-Quds.com that an Israeli special force kidnapped the released prisoner, Mujahid Mahmoud Abu Khalifa, from Al-Anbar Street, which connects Haifa Street and Wadi Burqin.


The occupation claimed that he is an activist in the Hamas movement.

ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 14 Jun 2023 3:15 pm - Jerusalem Time

At least 59 people were killed when a migrant boat sank off the coast of Greece

At least 59 people died in a migrant boat capsize overnight Tuesday-Wednesday off the Peloponnese peninsula in southwestern Greece, according to the latest toll from the Coast Guard.


The boat, which was carrying "hundreds" of migrants, capsized 47 nautical miles from the Greek coast in international waters, according to a source in the Greek Ministry of Immigrants.


During the massive rescue operation that began early Wednesday morning, 104 people were rescued, including four who were taken to hospital in Kalamata, a town in the southern Peloponnese.


The Greek coast guard said that when the boat sank, none of the people on board, whose nationality has not been revealed, had a lifejacket.


A statement from Greek port authorities said the boat was first spotted on Tuesday afternoon from a Frontex plane, the European border control agency, but that the migrants on board "refused any help".


In addition to the port police patrol boats, a Greek Navy frigate, an Air Force plane and helicopter, and six boats sailing in the area participated in the rescue operation.


According to preliminary information, the boat carrying migrants from Libya to Italy has sailed.


On the European Union's external border in the Mediterranean, Greece is a regular corridor for many seeking to migrate to the EU from neighboring Turkey.


Many drownings occur in the Aegean Sea, while Greece is regularly accused by NGOs and the media of sending back migrants seeking asylum to the European Union.


Besides this route, migrants also try to pass directly to Italy by crossing the Mediterranean Sea south of the Peloponnese peninsula or Crete.