PALESTINE

Wed 26 Apr 2023 6:51 pm - Jerusalem Time

The family of the prisoner Walid Daqqa: There has been no news about his health condition

The family of the prisoner, Walid Daqqa, confirmed this evening, Wednesday, that there has been no new news about Walid's health condition, despite the seriousness of his health condition.


In a statement, the Daqqa family called on all official or popular authorities to investigate accuracy in publishing and fully adhere to what the family officially issues, whether with regard to Walid's health or legal status.


The prisoner, Daqqa, suffers from cancer that spreads to several parts of his body, and he is currently in the "Israeli Barzlai" hospital. He also recently suffered from severe infections, as a result of which he underwent surgery on 4/12/2023.


The deterioration of the prisoner Daqqa’s health condition came to the crime of medical negligence that he was subjected to and still is in recent years.


PALESTINE

Wed 26 Apr 2023 6:32 pm - Jerusalem Time

Saudi Arabia releases the son of a detained Hamas leader

On Wednesday, the Saudi authorities released Hani al-Khudari, the son of the representative of the "Hamas" movement in the Kingdom, Muhammad al-Khudari, who was also released months ago.


Al-Khudari was deported to Jordan, as was the case with his father, who was released last October.


During the past months, the Saudi authorities released many Palestinian and Jordanian detainees in what was known by their families as the case of "supporting the resistance."


The release of Al-Khudari's son came days after the visit of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas political bureau, and a delegation from his movement's leadership to the Kingdom, on a two-day visit to perform Umrah.

PALESTINE

Wed 26 Apr 2023 5:21 pm - Jerusalem Time

Updated: Settler attacks in the West Bank

Today, Wednesday, settlers attacked a number of citizens and their property in separate areas of the West Bank.


In Bethlehem, the settlers uprooted about 100 vine seedlings from the lands of "Al-Sha`f" in the Ain Al-Qasis area, adjacent to the "Sidi Boaz" settlement, which is perched on the citizens' lands to the west of the town. They belong to Hassan Ismail Jadallah Sobeih.


It is noteworthy that settlers have recently escalated their attacks on citizens' lands in the town of Al-Khader, which consisted of uprooting hundreds of trees and olive and vine saplings, closing agricultural roads, and preventing land owners from accessing them.


In the northern Jordan Valley, hundreds of settlers stormed the monastery springs area and chased the shepherds.


According to local sources, a group of armed settlers pursued the shepherds in the Sakot area and threatened them with death if they continued to graze their livestock in the area, and gathered at the springs of Khirbet al-Deir, at the invitation of the so-called "Settlement Council."


Over the past two days, settlers had established a cowshed in the area, amid fears that it would be the nucleus of a pastoral outpost.


It is noteworthy that, during the past two years, the settlers escalated their confiscation of the remaining springs and water sources for the Palestinians in the northern Jordan Valley, establishing parks in their vicinity, and preventing citizens from exploiting them. Many pastoral outposts are spread in the area, according to which settlers have seized thousands of dunums of these lands.

ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 26 Apr 2023 3:44 pm - Jerusalem Time

Russian Defense announces the killing of more than 300 Ukrainian soldiers

Today, Wednesday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the Russian forces killed about 300 Ukrainian soldiers and mercenaries, and destroyed a British-made L-118 howitzer.


Defense Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a briefing: "During the past 24 hours, the enemy's losses on this axis amounted to up to 300 Ukrainian soldiers and mercenaries, two infantry fighting vehicles, four armored fighting vehicles, seven vehicles, and two D-howitzers." 20 and MSTA-B, and the self-propelled "Acacia" cannon, in addition to the British-made "L118" howitzer.


He referred to the destruction of an ammunition depot of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near the town of Fimka in the Donetsk People's Republic.


ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 26 Apr 2023 3:07 pm - Jerusalem Time

Poll: 44% of Democratic Party members consider Israel an "apartheid state"

A new University of Maryland "Critical Issues" poll shows that support for Israel continues to decline among Democratic voters.


According to the poll, which was organized between March 27 and April 5, 1,203 American voters across the United States were asked about their opinions about the country. According to the newspaper, the first question is, "You may have been following recent developments in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza." “Which of the following do you think comes closest to describing the way you see Israel”, the answers narrowed down to four available answer options: Is Israel a “vibrant democracy”; or a "democracy imperfect", or a "state with restricted rights for minorities", or a "state with an apartheid-like segregation".


Fifty-six percent of respondents answered that they did not know, but among those who did have an opinion, only 22% said Israel was a "vibrant democracy," 31% said it was an "imperfect democracy," and 16% said it was "a country with restricted rights for minorities." , and 31% said “It is an apartheid-like country.”


When a political party splits, the poll reveals a stark partisan divide on the issue. Forty-one percent of Republicans said Israel was a "vibrant democracy," while only 20% said it was "an apartheid-style country." 44% of Democrats said it was "an apartheid country", while 34% said it was an imperfect democracy.


The timing of the poll came at the height of Israel's unprecedented and ongoing protests against judicial reform proposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and which - according to all experts - threatened to significantly weaken the judiciary, grabbing headlines in the US. These protests also coincided with the escalation of violence by the Israeli occupation authorities in the occupied Palestinian territories.


And although the protests largely ignored Israeli military rule over millions of Palestinians in the Palestinian territories (and the blockade applied) to the Gaza Strip, "they drew attention to threats to democracy even within the borders of pre-1967 Israel," according to a University of Maryland survey in collaboration with The “Ipsos Institute” in Washington, which was supervised by Professor Shibley Telhami (of Palestinian origin) and his colleague Stella Rose, which was published on the website of the “Brookings Institute” in Washington on Tuesday, April 25, 2023.


"It is difficult to know if these protests have any impact on the way Americans view Israel, and if they do, in what direction?" Whereas these protests have drawn attention to the authoritarian ambitions of the right-wing (Israeli) government It may also have highlighted the existence of a free environment, at least for hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens, to freely protest and reject the government's plans.


Telhami and his colleagues ask, "Do Americans view Israel as a vibrant democracy, or as much less than that?" And he answers by saying: “To find out the answer, we sent some questions in the Critical Problems Survey of the University of Maryland with the Ipsos organization, as the survey was conducted (on this content) from March 27 to April 5, 2023, surveying 1203 participants by the Probabilistic Knowledge Panel from Who by Ipsos (margin of error 3.2%).


The researcher points out that “Among Democrats, the story was strikingly different: the largest number of those who expressed an opinion, 44%, said it was a “segregated country like apartheid South Africa,” followed by 34% who said it was a “democracy imperfect” that Remarkable because the use of the term "apartheid" in mainstream discourse in America, though increasingly heard of, remains largely uncommon and even taboo in many circles.



Clearly, public attitudes toward Israel are changing. The term "apartheid" seems to have become a popular term among many Americans, especially Democrats, and even the BDS movement, which has faced significant obstacles in the American mainstream, seems to have a lot of support among Democrats who have spoken out.


PALESTINE

Wed 26 Apr 2023 3:03 pm - Jerusalem Time

Mushtaha: The prisoners will be amazed at the way they are freed

Rouhi Mushtaha, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said today, Wednesday, that the prisoners will be surprised by the method of their release.


And Mushtaha stated in his statements during his visit to an exhibition containing pictures of prisoners in the occupation prisons in Gaza City, that this amazing method will be in the event that the prisoners are not released by the known methods, as he described it.


He stressed that "Hamas" will not tire and will not tire until it works to liberate them.


And Mushtaha is a freed prisoner who was released in the Shalit deal in 2011, and he is one of the figures close to the Qassam leadership.

PALESTINE

Wed 26 Apr 2023 2:35 pm - Jerusalem Time

Thousands participate in the 26th return march in the lands of the displaced village of Lajoun

Thousands of Palestinians from the 1948 lands participated in the 26th return march held this year in the lands of the depopulated village of Lajoun.


The participants in the march raised Palestinian flags and banners bearing the names of the displaced Palestinian villages and the captive Walid Daqqa, son of the western city of Baqa, in addition to shouting slogans calling for freedom and the right of return.


The march started near the main Wadi Ara Street, reaching the depth of the displaced village of Lajoun.


In conjunction with the return march, Palestinian organizations and movements, along with a number of displaced Palestinians from their villages who remained in the lands of 1948, organized marches and events in several displaced villages in the country.


A number of the people of the displaced villages in the Galilee region visited their villages from which they were expelled in the year of the Nakba 1948, including Hittin, Meyar, Al-Damoon, and Al-Ghabisiyya.


In the context, the Association for the Defense of the Rights of the Displaced, in coordination with the Higher Follow-up Committee for the Arab Masses, the People's Committee, and popular circles in Umm al-Fahm announced the program of the 26th return march.

OPINIONS

Wed 26 Apr 2023 2:34 pm - Jerusalem Time

I hate division... and how shameless the divided are

Dr.. Majdi Jamil Shaqura, a Palestinian writer

Dr.. Majdi Jamil Shaqura, a Palestinian writer

Opinion Writer


(1)

What can we do as Palestinians to end the hateful division, which has turned all the elements of our lives into a collection of endless nightmares? The answer is short; Nothing, after about (17) years after its occurrence, we are closer to devoting it to separation, and we are farther from regaining our unity that we lost in (a moment of indiscretion), and what we thought on the day of its occurrence was just a summer cloud that passed in the sky of the homeland, has become more like the fate written on the foreheads And the eyes must see it.


(2)

We are "not an exception," as the poet of humanity, Mahmoud Darwish, described us on the day our sword fell on our sword, and today we add that we are "an exception to the exception itself." Divisions occurred in various countries, and the blood of citizens was shed by the hands of citizens, but this situation did not last long, and he soon realized Reasonable people believe that this should not be the end, and they chose to sit at one table, and decided at a defining moment to turn this page in the history of their country, so partnership took place, and then the joint struggle, freedom, then prosperity and prosperity, except in my country, as politicians entered us into this tunnel Then they closed the door on us, and behind it they placed rocks that would prevent them from being moved by the aspirations and wills of the overwhelmed peoples.


(3)

All attempts by the “popular will” to end the division of shame failed. The charge is ready (agenda), the club is ready (restoring order), the statement is ready (a rogue faction), and the charge is ready (violating legitimacy). Over these years, thousands of scenes were shown on screens to break up sit-ins. Feminism, youth, students, workers, etc., all of them called for turning the page on the division, and all of them returned to the homes bloody or were taken to detention centers, and when you see the amount of hatred carried by those who own the gun and the club, and his extreme anger while striking the protesters for the continuation of this disastrous situation, we know at that time the meaning The real phrase (blood over blood is bridges).


(4)

The greatest duty of Palestinian patriotism was once represented in keeping the Palestinian on the land of his homeland, immersing him in it, and steadfastness and steadfastness in its riches. Competencies are a method, displacing young people is a strategy, and supplying European countries with doctors, engineers, programmers, intellectuals, academics, and technology specialists is a daily work program. Wadi, and the masses of citizens who hasten to comment with the word (Mubarak) on the social media platforms of a young man who finally obtained residency in Belgium in another valley!!!


(5)

We do not know of all the flags of the world except the national flag of countries and peoples, except in occupied Palestine, as the world was perplexed as it watched the strange mixture of the colors of the partisan flags, which exceeded the colors of the spectrum in their multiplicity, and ended with the generations forgetting the flag of their homeland, and contenting themselves with the flag of the partisans, who are in the path of Raising their flag, they are ready to trample on the flag of the nation and on the heads of the citizens, as the colored cloth has become more important than the rule of law, the constitution, the slogans of the nation, and all its institutions, while the world watches in silence and alertness the experience of this people, whom political books in the last century described as a legend. And the miracle, which today, through the actions of the parties, their guns, and the clubs of their soldiers, has become a laughing stock, with which the privileged carried out their plans, and slept full of eyelids, after they turned the division of humiliation and humiliation in Palestine into a way of life..

Wed 26 Apr 2023 2:27 pm - Jerusalem Time

Donald Trump accused of raping a journalist

Donald Trump was accused in a civil court in New York on Tuesday of raping a journalist in the mid-nineties of the last century, but his lawyer strongly denied this and accused the former columnist of greed for money and the pursuit of fame.


After more than 25 years of facts, nine jurors, six men and three women, who were chosen Tuesday before a federal court in Manhattan, will try to reveal this case, which is represented by the existence of two completely contradictory narratives.


In an indication of the sensitivity of the trial, which is supposed to last between five to ten days, Judge Louis Kaplan confirmed that the jurors' identities would not be revealed to avoid any pressure.


And since 2019, E. Jean Carroll and her lawyers have confirmed that the former President of the United States "touched and raped" her after he lured her into a fitting room at Bergdorf Goodman's store in New York, at a date she does not remember precisely, but in "spring 1996."


"As soon as they entered (the cabin), everything changed. Suddenly it wasn't fun," Sean Crowley of Carroll's lawyers said at the start of the hearing.


"Trump's build is almost twice as strong as her (journalism's) build," said the lawyer.


She explained that the columnist kept silent for 20 years, fearing her reputation would be ruined by a powerful man. But after the #MeToo movement, the journalist who was writing for Elle magazine in the United States decided to speak out in a book published in 2019.
Two female friends of the journalist, who had confided to them what happened shortly after the incidents, will give their testimony.


Donald Trump's attorney, Joe Tacopina, criticized what he considered "contempt for the judiciary". "She is taking advantage of the system for money, for political reasons and for her prestige," he told Carol, 79, who was staring at him.


But, realizing that the personality of Donald Trump, who was absent from the opening hearing of the trial and will likely miss the following sessions, may cause a refusal in New York, Tacubina made sure to tell the jury: “You can hate Donald Trump (...) but not here in court".


The jury will have to determine the amount of damages that can be awarded to the writer.


The 76-year-old former president (2017-2021) is seeking a second term in November 2024, but he faces mounting lawsuits.


And in early April, in an unprecedented event for a former US president, Trump was formally charged in New York with 34 accounting and tax fraud related to payments to cover up confusing cases before the 2016 presidential election, including a sexual relationship with porn actress Stormy Daniels that he denied.


In 2019, Carroll first filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump because he described her accusations as a "complete lie", stressing that she was not his "type (of women)".


His lawyer said he enjoys immunity as head of state.


But in November 2022, a law went into effect in New York State (the “Adult Survivors Act”) that allows victims of sexual assault within a year to re-launch civil legal proceedings, even if the facts are criminally obsolete.


So E Jean Carroll filed a new civil complaint for "defamation" but also "assault".


Judge Lewis Kaplan noted that Donald Trump has not been criminally charged with rape, but that "assault" could be "unwarranted touching without the consent of the person concerned."


During a statement during the proceedings, Donald Trump reiterated his line of defense: "I will say it with the utmost respect: first, she's not my type, and second, it never happened."


But in front of the photo in which he appeared with E. Jane Carroll at a reception years before the facts, Trump confused his accuser with his ex-wife, actress Marla Maples, whom he married from 1993 to 1999.


The Republican billionaire has been accused of sexual assault by other women on several occasions in the past, which he has always denied.

PALESTINE

Wed 26 Apr 2023 2:17 pm - Jerusalem Time

Damage to an Israeli warplane that collided with a bird

An Israeli army warplane landed, Wednesday noon, at a military air base, after it sustained minor damage after it collided with a bird while it was flying in a military parade.


According to the Hebrew website Ynet, the F-15 plane landed at Nevatim Air Base in Beersheba, and suffered minor damage due to the collision in the skies of southern occupied Palestine.


The plane was participating in an air squadron in a festive parade of the so-called "establishment of the occupying state" (the Palestinian Nakba).

PALESTINE

Wed 26 Apr 2023 2:07 pm - Jerusalem Time

Bin Ghafir storms the Ibrahimi Mosque and the endowments denounce it

Today, Wednesday, the Minister of National Security in the extremist occupation government, Itamar Ben Gvir, stormed the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.


And local sources reported that the storming of Ben Gvir comes as part of a series of continuous incursions by the occupation and its settlers into the Haram since yesterday, Tuesday, as the settlers performed Talmudic dances inside it, to celebrate the so-called "Independence Day."


The Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs, Sheikh Hatem Al-Bakri, denounced this incursion, considering it a flagrant violation of the holy places and places of worship.


Al-Bakri warned that the occupation, and through the continuous Judaization operations, including broadcasting pictures of settlers dancing inside and outside it with comfort and reassurance, is working to displace Palestinian citizens from the places that it wants to control in Old Hebron in particular, according to a systematic plan implemented by the occupation government with the settlers.


He explained that the occupation forces, by exchanging roles with the settlers, allowed them to raise the flag of the occupying state and the menorah and launch firecrackers and fireworks on the roof of the sanctuary and in its outer squares, and this falls within the framework of imposing their complete domination over the Ibrahimi Mosque and its surroundings, with the aim of converting it into a Jewish synagogue.


He pointed out that what the occupation is doing is a flagrant violation of the sanctity of the Ibrahimi Mosque and a special endowment property for Muslims that no one else has the right to practice worship in, and this requires serious work to stop it and limit it completely and with all force by flocking to the sanctuary.


Al-Bakri called on international institutions concerned with human rights and the follow-up of religious places to work to stop the hand of this occupation, which has become tampering with our land and sanctities without oversight, especially under this racist right-wing government.


He also called for the need to place ambassadors, consuls and all humanitarian associations operating in Palestine and the world in the manner of what is happening inside the Ibrahimi Mosque and its surroundings in terms of flagrant violations and attacks by force of arms.

ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 26 Apr 2023 1:24 pm - Jerusalem Time

Erdogan cancels his activities scheduled for Wednesday due to illness

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he would cancel his campaign activities scheduled for Wednesday, after suffering from stomach flu, less than a month before the presidential elections in Turkey.


"Today (Wednesday) I will rest at home on the advice of our doctors," Erdogan, 69, wrote on his official Twitter account.


On Tuesday, Erdogan cut off a live television interview before returning to apologize, speaking of his stomach flu.


The Turkish leader is campaigning tirelessly in an effort ahead of presidential and legislative elections on May 14, the results of which seem inconclusive.


Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party have dominated Turkish politics for 20 years. But the current election campaign is one of the biggest challenges for the outgoing president, as opinion polls show that the competition will be intense between him and Kemal Kilicdaroglu.


Erdogan was scheduled to end the evening with a direct joint interview with Ulke and Kanal 7. He started his television appearance after a delay of more than 90 minutes, and then cut it off after ten minutes when he was asked a question.


Erdogan returned 15 minutes later and apologized, saying he had fallen ill.


He explained, "Yesterday and today there was a lot of work. Because of that, I got stomach flu. For a moment, I wondered if I canceled the meeting, would it be misunderstood. But we had made a promise. I ask your forgiveness and your audience."


Erdogan's face looked tired and his eyes watered as he spoke. The Turkish leader then answered a few more questions before the meeting ended.

PALESTINE

Wed 26 Apr 2023 1:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

"Christian Islam" warns of a plan to convert Bab al-Rahma chapel into a Jewish synagogue

The Islamic Christian Organization for the Support of Jerusalem and the Holy Sites warned of a rolling scheme that the occupation authorities are seeking through the Minister of Extremist Security Itamar Ben Gvir to achieve, which is to control the Bab al-Rahma chapel, and turn it into a Jewish synagogue that serves as a desired foothold for the spatial division of Al-Aqsa Mosque, in light of the repeated attacks on it.


In a statement issued today, Wednesday, the Commission confirmed that all indications confirm the targeting of the eastern part of Al-Aqsa Mosque within the division plan, which is the area extending from Bab Al-Rahma Chapel in the north to Al-Marwani Chapel in the south, where the occupation police imposed a siege on this area and allocated it for paths for settlers. during their storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque.


She added that targeting the Bab al-Rahma chapel comes as a continuation of the plan to Judaize the Bab al-Rahma cemetery, which is connected to the chapel from the outer eastern side, which the occupation plans to turn into biblical gardens and allow settlers to perform Talmudic rituals in it.


The authority warned the occupation authorities of the dangers of implementing this plan, and the resulting unprecedented explosion of conditions on the ground.

PALESTINE

Wed 26 Apr 2023 12:59 pm - Jerusalem Time

"Gate of Mercy" is part of Al-Aqsa.. Shtayyeh: The current academic year will continue until the end of the prescribed curriculum

Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh confirmed, today, Wednesday, that the current academic year will continue until the end of the prescribed curriculum in all schools, and that the “Tawjihi” general secondary exam will remain on its scheduled date without any change, and all elements of its success will be provided as in every year.


And Shtayyeh indicated, at the beginning of his government’s weekly session, that the Ministry of Education has done everything that can be done, and lessons will be drawn from what happened in the educational process over the past two months, with the aim of protecting the most important component of the future of our children and our national ammunition, which is education, which is for us a survival strategy. And that playing broadcasts is tampering with the future of our children, just as dragging teachers into the unknown is something that cannot be overlooked. like he said.


He added, "The issues that began as a demand turned into another path that wanted to drag us into chaos, and we dealt with matters on this basis, and from this standpoint."


He praised the commitment of teachers and students and the return to the educational process, expressing his thanks to them and the presidency, to the owners of the initiatives presented, and to all the parties that participated in this.


Shtayyeh said: "We have preserved the dignity of the teacher and his gains, and we will continue to do so, and if the scheme of chaos has been broken, we do not want the teacher to be broken, and only dialogue, rationality and national foundations are the pillars of reaching a solution to any problem in our abnormal circumstances under occupation, and if this is not possible, then the law is sovereign." Rulings, this was a crisis with its most complex inputs, goals, and characters, and we dealt with it with all wisdom and deliberation, with the effort of my fellow ministers and the wisdom and guidance of the president.


On the measures of the occupation, the Prime Minister affirmed that "the Bab al-Rahma chapel is an integral part of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and no one else has a right to it, and the destruction of its contents and the confiscation of some of the chapel's contents is a condemnable matter committed by the occupation forces. The incursions of the Al-Aqsa Mosque must be stopped completely and not only The holy month of Ramadan, as well as stopping attacks on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the rest of the churches.


Shtayyeh called for lifting the siege on the city of Jericho and stopping the incursions into Aqabat Jabr camp, expressing his condemnation of the killing of the young man, Suleiman Ayesh, by the occupation forces in the camp.


He thanked the friendly and brotherly countries that cooperated with Palestine and helped and facilitated the evacuation of our Palestinian nationals and students from Sudan, especially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Egypt and Jordan.


He said, "We are following through the state's civil and security agencies and our embassies in Sudan's neighboring countries to complete the evacuation process until it is completed, and we wish brotherly Sudan peace and security and that the spirit of dialogue will prevail over the language of guns."


He indicated that the cabinet will discuss the legislative and development plan, infrastructure projects, and a system for medical errors.

PALESTINE

Wed 26 Apr 2023 12:57 pm - Jerusalem Time

Activities in the occupied interior to commemorate the Nakba

Palestinian bodies and movements, along with a number of displaced Palestinians from their villages, who remained in the territories, organized 48 marches and events in several displaced villages in the occupied interior, today, Wednesday.


A number of the people of the displaced villages in the Galilee region, in the north of the country, visited their villages from which they were expelled in the year of the Nakba 1948, including Hittin, Mayar, Al-Damoon and Al-Ghabisiyya.


The 26th return march for this year took place in the lands of the depopulated village of Lajoun, near Haifa, with the participation of thousands of residents of the interior, under the slogan "Their Independence Day, Our Nakba Day," as reported by Arab48.




ECONOMY

Wed 26 Apr 2023 12:44 pm - Jerusalem Time

"Statistics": the decrease in the value of the trade deficit by 41% during last February

A survey of the Central Statistical Organization, the results of which were distributed today, Wednesday, showed a decrease in the value of the deficit in the trade balance, which represents the difference between exports and imports, by 41% during the month of February, compared to the previous month, while it increased by 7% compared to February of the same year. In 2022, the deficit amounted to $497.2 million.


The "Statistics" stated that exports recorded a decrease during the observed month by 11% compared to the previous month, while it increased by 10% compared to the corresponding month of the year 2022, and its value amounted to 136.2 million US dollars.

He pointed out that exports to Israel decreased during the month of February by 10%, compared to the previous month, and exports to Israel accounted for 87% of the total value of exports for the month of February of 2023. Exports to the rest of the world also decreased by 18% compared to the previous month. the previous.


Imports decreased by 14% compared to January, while it increased by 7% compared to February 2022, with a value of $633.4 million.


Imports from Israel decreased last February by 13% compared to the previous month, and imports from Israel accounted for 60% of the total value of imports for February of 2023. Imports from the rest of the world also decreased by 15%.

PALESTINE

Wed 26 Apr 2023 12:43 pm - Jerusalem Time

The Economy: Efforts to Address Israel's Attempts to False Property Rights

Today, Wednesday, the Ministry of National Economy said that efforts are being made to confront the continuous Israeli attempts to steal the components of the Palestinian national identity, and distort the geographical indications to mislead the international community.


In a press release today, Wednesday, on the occasion of World Intellectual Property Rights Day, which falls on April 26 of each year, the Ministry of Economy stated that efforts are continuing to modernize and develop the legal environment regulating intellectual property rights, and to enhance its leadership in various fields.


She referred to the implementation of an awareness campaign highlighting the importance of preserving property rights by publishing on the official Ministry platforms, Facebook and Twitter, MEN Palestine.


The State of Palestine participates in this day, by implementing a series of community events that remind of the value of intellectual property in society at the economic and cultural level, reviewing the reality of intellectual property in Palestine and the services it provides, and highlighting Palestinian inventors and inventors registered with the Ministry of Economy.


The Director General of the General Department of Intellectual Property at the Ministry of Economy, Rajaa Khuwaylid, said that there has been an increase in the demand of women in recent years to register some of their own trademarks, industrial designs, and excellence in patents, as the Ministry provides all facilities to register their creativity, innovation, and distinction.


She stressed the participation of Palestine's experience in creativity and excellence with the world, and communication through minds in addressing the challenges facing the world, as we have productive Palestinian minds capable of placing Palestine on the map of creativity and global excellence.


Khuwelid considered updating the legislative environment for industrial property laws to be at the heart of her strategic goals for this year, to align these legislations with supporting creativity, Palestinian entrepreneurs and innovators in general, and women in particular, especially in patent registration.


She explained that the number of registered trademarks until the end of last year reached about 42,000 trademarks, while the number of patents officially registered with the Ministry reached 195 patents in the fields of health, agriculture, environment, information technology, and others.


She noted that work is underway to develop and improve intellectual property services, as many electronic services have been launched, and electronic publishing is being done through WIPO Publish, where all submitted applications are published on the website.


She referred to the efforts made to raise awareness of various categories of the private sector, small projects, universities and incubators, and gender in the field of intellectual property rights, in addition to addressing many problems related to trademarks and disputes.


It is noteworthy that the World Intellectual Property Organization took the organization’s celebrations this year to accelerate innovation and creativity among women under the slogan: Women and Intellectual Property: by highlighting the enormous creative potential, will and attitudes of female inventors, creators and entrepreneurs all over the world and their pioneering work, which plays a significant role in the pace of development and the economy.

PALESTINE

Wed 26 Apr 2023 12:25 pm - Jerusalem Time

Abu Rudeineh: The Israeli government is looking for ways to detonate the situation

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for the Palestinian Presidency, said today, Wednesday, that the extremist Israeli government is looking for ways to detonate the situation in the region, blaming it for the dangerous policies it leads that aim to destroy any regional or international effort made to provide stability and prevent the situation from deteriorating.


In a press statement, Abu Rudeineh indicated that extremist settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque and raised the occupation flag in its courtyards, and the occupation police repeatedly stormed Bab Al-Rahma chapel and sabotaged the electricity installations inside it.


Abu Rudeina said: The Israeli occupation authorities are dragging the region into the square of violence, escalation, tension and instability, through its insistence on continuing the policy of collective punishment, killing and attacks on the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, in addition to stressing that our people will not allow the occupation authorities to harm or tamper with the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, even The repeated attacks on the Bab al-Rahma chapel in Al-Aqsa Mosque are playing with fire, as the chapel is an integral part of Al-Aqsa Mosque.


And he considered that the siege imposed on Palestinian cities, in addition to the continued storming of cities, villages and camps, is tantamount to collective punishment for our Palestinian people, stressing that this policy will not bring security and stability to anyone, but rather will push matters to further escalation and tension.


Abu Rudeineh called on the American administration to intervene immediately to stop these dangerous practices, and to put pressure on Israel to stop all its unilateral measures. To continue terrorizing settlers against our people with murder and theft, under the protection of the occupation army.

PALESTINE

Wed 26 Apr 2023 12:20 pm - Jerusalem Time

For violating the Palestinian right: the Belgian city of Liège cuts ties with the occupation

The municipality of the Belgian city of Liège decided to sever its relations with the Israeli occupation state, and all its public and private institutions, due to its repeated violations of the rights of the Palestinian people.


The municipality, which has had a twin relationship with the city of Ramallah since 2014, voted yesterday on a decision to stop dealing with Israel and all its institutions, and to refuse to deal with any institution that deals with settlements or plays any role in perpetuating the occupation.


The decision, which won the majority of the members of the municipal council and was submitted by the Belgian Labor Party group, and was supported by the Belgian Socialist Party group, the Green Party, and the representative of the “Vega” movement, in accordance with Belgian laws and the laws of the European Union, due to the violations of all obligations towards the human rights system. European human beings, and violating the rules of international law and the decisions taken, especially Resolution (242), issued in 1967, which rejects the seizure of lands by force, and calls for withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as based on Security Council Resolution No. (2334), which considers the establishment of settlements Israel is contrary to the rules of international law, and threatens the principle of establishing a Palestinian state, within the framework of a just and lasting peace.


The resolution confirms the support of the Palestinian people who suffer from the Israeli military occupation, from the apartheid regime and from settlements, and affirms its support for the boycott movement (BDS).


The resolution demands that Israel stop all its settlement activities, including in the city of East Jerusalem, and rejects all attempts to change the reality before the occupation that began on June 4, 1967.


The Department of Expatriate Affairs in the PLO welcomed the decision of the Municipality of Liège to sever its relations with the institutions of the occupying state, considering it an affirmation of the extent of rejecting the policies of apartheid, and the escalation of the occupation's crimes against our people, their land and their sanctities.


She praised the efforts of the Palestinian community and its movement in Belgium with the Belgian institutions and parties in organizing protests and events condemning the crimes of the occupation and its racist policies towards our people.

Wed 26 Apr 2023 11:39 am - Jerusalem Time

Erdogan interrupts an interview due to illness

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cut off a live television interview on Tuesday before returning to apologize for having stomach flu.


The 69-year-old leader delivered three election speeches on Tuesday ahead of the presidential and legislative elections on May 14, the results of which appear inconclusive.


Erdogan was scheduled to end the evening with a direct joint interview with Ulke and Kanal 7. He started his television appearance after a delay of more than 90 minutes, and then cut it off after ten minutes when he was asked a question.


Erdogan returned 15 minutes later and apologized, saying he had fallen ill.


He explained, "Yesterday and today there was a lot of work. Because of that, I got stomach flu. For a moment, I wondered if I canceled the meeting, would it be misunderstood. But we had made a promise. I ask your forgiveness and your audience."


Erdogan's face looked tired and his eyes watered as he spoke. The Turkish leader then answered a few more questions before the meeting ended.
Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party have dominated Turkish politics for 20 years. But the current election campaign is one of the biggest challenges for the outgoing president, as opinion polls show that the competition will be intense between him and Kemal Kilicdaroglu.


"My best wishes to Mr. Erdogan," Kilicdaroglu wrote on Twitter moments after the meeting was broadcast.

Wed 26 Apr 2023 11:35 am - Jerusalem Time

Saudi Arabia participates in the Youth Forum of the Economic and Social Council in New York City

The Kingdom participates in the Youth Forum of the Economic and Social Council 2023, which will be held from 25 to 27 April 2023 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The forum is held under the slogan "Accelerating recovery from Covid-19 and fully implementing the 2030 Agenda with and for young people", as the forum seeks in its session this year to enable the next generation to communicate directly with the member states of the United Nations.

The Kingdom's delegation participating in the forum is headed by Othman Al-Muammar, Advisor at the Ministry of Economy and Planning. The delegation also includes representatives from Salam for Civilization Communication, Amec Foster Wheeler Energy and its engineering companies.

The forum highlights the important role that youth can play in advancing economic, social and environmental transformation. The agenda of the Economic and Social Council Youth Forum 2023 reviews the progress made in achieving the sustainable development goals, which cover areas such as: access to water and energy, In addition to the need to build more resilient societies.

OPINIONS

Wed 26 Apr 2023 11:32 am - Jerusalem Time

Where is the world from the occupation’s attacks on the holy religious places?!

Israel does not stop carrying out repeated attacks not only against the land and people, but also against religious sanctities. The occupation soldiers attacked and destroyed the contents of the Gate of Mercy in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, just as they attacked worshipers in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and obstructed the religious traditions recognized by the whole world. The settlers continued their incursions into Al-Aqsa and religious rites in its vicinity, and the occupation forces cut off the evening call to prayer on the Temple Mount.


The occupation municipality in Jerusalem, through the so-called Local Committee for Planning and Building, had approved a plan to restore Al-Qasr Castle, south of Old Jerusalem, which includes building a hotel and a hundred settlement units. ».


Two martyrs fell in Jerusalem and Aqabat Jabr camp in Jericho governorate, and raids and arrest campaigns did not stop, as usual, in many areas.


It is clear that the occupation persists and continues its attacks without any regard for laws and humanitarian concepts, but all of this will not defeat the determination of our people and their adherence to their rights, land and future..and the future is definitely ours.


Security Council meetings are merely repetitions of positions without any results.


Yesterday, the UN Security Council held several meetings to discuss the Palestinian issue and the attacks of the occupation. A number of delegates, including Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki, delivered speeches in this session. The vast majority of the statements were in support of our rights and against the occupation and with the demand to stop its practices and attacks.


There is no doubt that delivering our message to world public opinion is an important and necessary issue, but it must be acknowledged and emphasized that the United Nations held dozens of sessions and adopted hundreds of resolutions, but nothing changed and the occupation remained active and aggressive.


What is required is effective field positions for the countries that verbally support us to actually practice them. The occupation only understands the language of force in all its political, economic and military forms.


In this context, we affirm our appreciation and respect for all countries that supported us politically in the Security Council, and we hope that they will turn their words into influential actions..!!

OPINIONS

Wed 26 Apr 2023 11:20 am - Jerusalem Time

Ireland, Palestine and "Good Friday"

Awad Abdel-Fattah

Awad Abdel-Fattah

Opinion Writer

This month, the Irish marked the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which ended more than three decades of violence and conflict in Northern Ireland, stemming from British colonial colonialism. It is a conflict that stretches back five centuries of British settler colonization of the island. The former presidents of the two imperialist states, American and British, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, who sponsored the agreement at the time after Britain failed to defeat the Irish revolution, attended the anniversary celebration.

And since the heroic Irish liberation revolutionary experience against brutal British colonialism occupies a special place in our hearts and minds as Palestinians, and in the hearts and minds of the free people of the world of course, which forced Britain to withdraw from most Irish lands in 1922, and prompted it to agree to sign the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 , and the disintegration of the colonial racist regime in the northern region; I have tried to follow the heated debate taking place in Irish society and among political forces, through newspapers and social media, about this agreement and its future prospects. My follow-up comes as part of the general Palestinian interest in the struggle of the Irish people, especially since this people, and specifically its progressive political forces, is still morally committed to the principle of joint solidarity. Indeed, this liberation experience, which is still ongoing, is a source of inspiration for all the free people of the world.

This experience, like the South African experience, was linked to the Palestinian experience, given that they all constitute liberation experiences from colonial colonialism and an apartheid regime led by the British colonial empire across the globe. We, the Palestinians, followed the movements of the peoples and their revolutionary forces in these two countries in particular. Since the sixties of the last century, the Palestine Liberation Organization has been associated with political, ideological, and struggle relations with the revolutionary movement in each of the two countries.

It was remarkable that the last decade of the last century witnessed the signing of three agreements that sought to end colonialism and apartheid, in Palestine, South Africa and Ireland, with a difference of a few years. South Africa was politically liberated in 1994 from the apartheid regime, although it is still suffering under an economic apartheid regime, and the profound economic and social problems it generated. In Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998, which led to the establishment of a democratic, participatory political system, that is, the citizens' state, as an alternative to the closed Protestant system, which was persecuting the Catholic national minority under British domination. As for Palestine, it preceded the other two countries, as the Oslo Accords were signed in September 1993, which enshrined the Zionist colonial project.

It can be seen that the period of negotiations that took place between the influential leadership of the PLO and Israel in the early 1990s was short compared to the long years that negotiations took between the Irish and South African leaderships with their enemies. While the two agreements won through a general referendum, in Ireland and South Africa, the support of the majority of the two peoples due to the achievements they have made, and opened the way for the continuation of work and struggle in order to achieve the full goals; The Oslo Accords constituted, and still are, a real catastrophe for the Palestinian people, as it officially closed the door to resistance. The Palestinian leadership was hasty and lacking in insight, and it thought of self-salvation more than it thought of the survival of its people, in return for giving up most of the homeland, and retreating from the most important Palestinian constants, especially the issue of refugees and their right to return. From a colonial colonial regime, and that the struggle against it, which the people of Palestine waged for a hundred years, is a moral and legitimate struggle, not terrorism.

This is in contrast to the behavior of the leadership of the Irish revolutionary movement, with its political and military wings, "Sinn Féin" and the "Republican Army", which did not condemn the military struggle, but rather imposed in the agreement a clause stipulating the right of the Irish people, whether in the Free Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland, to Continue the political struggle to restore the unity of the island and liberate the northern part of the British Crown, by holding a referendum in appropriate circumstances.

Of course, like any experience of any people, any final or interim agreement with the enemy does not gain consensus, and there remains opposition from small radical groups, whether from the camp of the enemy or the camp of the revolution. There were those who opposed the agreement from day one, as hard-line Marxist and leftist groups. And because of the recent intensification of the government crisis in Northern Ireland against the backdrop of Britain's exit from the European Union, and for internal reasons such as the lack of a referendum yet, the debate and debate is intensifying between those who want to rush it and those who prefer it to take place through the widest special approval of the federalists, who advocate staying in framework of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, in order to avoid sectarian and national tensions from escalating again.

However, the prevailing opinion says that the agreement, despite the crisis afflicting the Irish government, constituted and still is a historic achievement that moved Ireland from one stage to another, contained sectarian violence, and replaced violence with political struggle. Many observers believe that demographic change, i.e. the emergence of a new generation that tends to vote on a political rather than a sectarian basis, as well as an increase in the political power of political forces with unionist orientations, will bring about the promised change, especially since the "Sinn Féin" party has achieved impressive electoral achievements. In the elections that took place in 2020 and in 2022, Sinn Féin in the Republic of Southern Ireland ranked first, and in Northern Ireland it became the second force.

Returning to the performance of the Palestinian leadership in the negotiations that ended with the Oslo Accords, we can witness the huge difference, and how this leadership gave up everything, contented with a shackled dependent authority, in a small part of the land occupied in 1967, so that its leadership no longer possesses the will nor the courage. in freedom from his chains.

Not only that, the Oslo Authority accepted an entity in a small part of Palestine, but it continues to exclude Palestine from the sea to the river in its official and media discourse, while the Irish revolutionary leadership continues to adhere to the liberation of the whole country, through its media, cultural and educational platforms, in parliament, and in negotiations. This was entrenched in people's awareness, as a prelude to the decisive battle that has been taking place for a quarter of a century, with soft, influential and powerful means, and in anticipation of the referendum that will reap the results, perhaps after years or a decade. Even today, Ireland is considered the most supportive European country for the Palestinian right and for the national struggle waged by the people of Palestine. Indeed, the rhetoric of the leaders of the Irish revolutionary forces is more solid and principled towards Israel than the rhetoric of the Oslo leadership.

However, in the face of the Oslo catastrophe, over which three decades have passed, during which the settler-colonial project and the apartheid regime have become entrenched, Palestine is witnessing at the popular level, especially in the last decade, a national revival, which is manifested in actual resistance in its various forms, and a national awareness that restores awareness of a single Palestine, transcending fragmentation and obliteration. Thus, this Palestinian popular revival meets the path of the Irish revolutionary experience, which is proceeding despite the great difficulties and challenges towards the final goal.


About "Arab 48"

OPINIONS

Wed 26 Apr 2023 11:18 am - Jerusalem Time

Gradual transition to a new world

The United States is still the most influential political, military, economic, and security power in the Arab world, primarily through its strategic relations with the Israeli colony, secondly with the Arab Gulf countries, and thirdly with Iraq, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, and others.


But the United States will not remain outside history, outside the exception, nor will it remain the only pole capable of the political scene at the international and regional levels in our Arab region, and this is what CIA Director William Burns expressed as saying: “The United States will remain on the table, but it will not remain on the table.” Head of the table as it is," and as it has been since the end of the Cold War in 1990.
There has not been a political coup in the world, or a global war in which and during which the United States was defeated, but its role and influence in our region is declining for two reasons:


The first is the decision of President Biden’s administration to change its priorities towards Southeast Asia and others, because the interests of the United States in the Arab world are no longer a priority for several reasons:


1- Oil is no longer the most important strategic commodity with alternatives: gas, oil shale and solar energy.
2- The colony is no longer the subject of dangerous targeting by any Arab party: the Palestinian division, the weakness of the Arab countries surrounding Palestine, especially Syria and Iraq, and the prevailing state of normalization, made Tel Aviv the one to take the offensive initiative against others, and it is not disturbed by any external concern, and this does not make The presence of the United States is important in our region.


3- The continued openness of the Arab market to American goods, and Washington has nothing to fear, although other markets are more important and vital than the Arab market for American products.


4- The dollar is still the prevailing currency used by the first oil producers, and American banks are still the site of attraction for Gulf savings.


As for the second reason, the premises of which point to a gradual decline of American influence, no matter how slow it may seem, in the Arab world, it is represented by a group of political and economic factors, which emerged as shocking in the success of Chinese mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran and the restoration of relations between them, preceded by a set of economic deals that were reached between each From Qatar, the Emirates and China, it indicates a fundamental change in Gulf marketing options towards the Chinese market and other aspects.


Saudi Arabia rejected the United States' request to increase oil production, but instead of responding to the American request, it did the opposite, as it decided to reduce production in coordination with the "OPEC Plus" group.


The UAE also concluded a deal to supply liquefied natural gas with China, calculated for the first time in the Chinese currency, the "yuan" and not in US dollars.


Just as Qatar reached a deal to sell liquefied natural gas with China at a value of $60 billion for a period of 27 years.


These prominent and important economic facts made the US president consider that China is the opponent and the first enemy of American interests in the world, which indicates a state of gradual transformation of the birth of several poles that control the global political and economic scene, and the loss of the United States of the state of distinction and exclusivity in the management of international politics.

OPINIONS

Wed 26 Apr 2023 11:08 am - Jerusalem Time

Is there a third Palestinian intifada?

Dr. Naji Sadeq Shurab

Dr. Naji Sadeq Shurab

Opinion Writer

Historically, revolutions, uprisings, and mass uprisings are characteristic of the history of the Palestinian people, starting with the attempts of the Zionist movement to occupy Palestine with the support of the British Mandate Authority in the 1920s, and the characteristic continues today to end the occupation despite the agreements signed with Israel. Possibilities and warnings increase from a third intifada that will not be the same as its predecessors. Rather, its repercussions may extend to the entire region, and create a state of restoring the Arab popular dimension in support of the Palestinian cause. The possibilities of this uprising increase with the success of Netanyahu and his party in the last fifth elections and the formation of the most right-wing, extremist and extremist Israeli government in the history of Israel, as it is a government that includes the religious Zionist force and the Haredi parties, and the leaders of the extreme right assume for the first time ministries that control settlement and finance. All indicators point in the direction of this uprising, and perhaps it is useful to recall first the first uprising in 1987, which resulted in the Oslo Accords. And the second intifada in September 2000 in the aftermath of Sharon and his soldiers storming the courtyards of Al-Aqsa, and the failure of the tripartite Camp David meetings between President Arafat and Barak under the auspices of US President Clinton. Perhaps its direct cause is the political impasse and the failure of the Oslo Accords to achieve their goal of establishing a Palestinian state. And increasing the pace of settlement, and we do not go far if we say that the price was the life of the president himself through a comprehensive military attack and the siege of the province. The question again here is whether this scenario will be repeated today with greater indications of the outbreak of the Intifada. The question is also what in the event of the outbreak of a third intifada, i.e. the scenarios, repercussions and results? Starting with what are the most prominent and reasons for the outbreak of this uprising, as we indicated the formation of the first Israeli government with a fascist leadership that believes in settlement, incitement and hatred against the Arabs and calls for the storming of Al-Aqsa and the legalization of all settlements and the rejection of any presence of any Palestinian state, but rather believes in the alternative homeland in Jordan. In addition, it is not possible to ignore the long period of time and its accumulations since the second intifada in terms of settlement, Judaization, confiscation of Palestinian lands, mismanagement at the level of the Palestinian performance of the authority, and the attempt to link the authority and security coordination. This is aided by the closeness and cohesion between the Palestinian people and the military presence of the Israeli army and settlers. What drives the intifada is the difficult economic and living conditions, the high rates of unemployment and poverty, and the inability of the Palestinian Authority to meet the basic needs of the citizens. The other side of the political division between Fatah and Hamas cannot be ignored, motivated by activity in the West Bank, as in Jenin, the military presence of the Qassam movement, the Jihad movement, and the emergence of the Lions' Den movement. And the increase in the number of martyrs every day. These indicators cannot be ignored and skipped over, as a basic feature of the Palestinian personality is the rejection of the occupation, which will remain the main reason for the outbreak of the third intifada.



What confirms going towards this scenario are the statements and analyzes that come out of Israel itself and warn of the deterioration of the situation in the West Bank. Major General Reserve Tamir Heyman, the former head of Israeli military intelligence, warned that there are clear indications of the outbreak of a third Palestinian intifada, and that the Palestinian arena is getting more heated than he imagined. The majority of the public. As the responsible for Palestinian affairs in the Israel Hayom newspaper says, the armed arrest campaigns that were in the past are no longer so today, as things have become complicated and many of the arrests in the north of the West Bank have become more dangerous, and the resistance fighters have been described as new wanted persons who have become more dangerous because they are armed. And it is difficult to break them. As for Avi Zakharov, an analyst of Palestinian affairs in Yedioth Ahronoth, he says that the occupation army has begun to clash with another type of resistance, who are distinguished by being more daring, seeking confrontation, and refusing to surrender. He described them as the third generation, not interested in exposing their personalities on communication platforms, and how the personality of Ibrahim Al-Nabulsi became an icon for everyone. And the spread of operations from Jenin to Nablus and Silwad, Bramallah, may get out of control and lead to major operations. It indicates the weakness of the authority and the truth, as it says the authority's unwillingness in direct confrontation.



In conclusion, the third intifada has its precursors and constituents, and no one is talking about excluding this option, and the question remains about the form and scenarios of this intifada and its possible repercussions and results. .
[email protected]

OPINIONS

Wed 26 Apr 2023 11:06 am - Jerusalem Time

Liberation of Palestine and the regional role

Hayyan Jaber

Hayyan Jaber

Opinion Writer

Most of the Palestinian political documents issued in the period following the Nakba of 1948 refer to the centrality of the regional role in liberating the land and people of Palestine. A large part of the regional political documents, both official and partisan, express the same idea, based on two dimensions. The first is related to the role of the Zionist occupation in the region. While the second expresses the status of Palestine and its cause in the conscience and priorities of the peoples of the region.


However, despite the abundance of evidence for this organic connection, the Palestinian national liberation movement, especially Fatah, tended at the end of the sixties and the beginning of the seventies, to adopt the slogan “Oh, our unity”, to denote the negativity of the official regional role on the Palestinian national liberation movement, and the multiplicity of Manifestations of opportunistic regional interventions, which led to the escalation of tensions and shocks between the components of the liberation movement, as a reflection of the struggle of regional powers over their interests not related to the Palestinian cause, including the exploitation of the Palestinian card as a popular marketing card.


On a related level, the Zionist occupation applied the principle of "separating arenas" regionally and Palestinianly from its early beginnings, as it was embodied politically in the approach of unilateral negotiation, through which the occupation sought individual normalization with each regional country separately, from the Egyptian file to the Palestinian, Jordanian, Syrian and Lebanese. Down to the UAE, Bahraini, Moroccan, Sudanese, Saudi and other files.

This principle was also embodied in security and militarily by dividing the Palestinian geography into separate entities and isolated from each other on the ground and legally, according to the laws of occupation, of course, and away from the provisions of international law, each of which has its own life and colonial specificity, as the occupation used in each of them seemingly dissimilar and essentially identical tools. It works to subjugate it in various ways, including the 48 areas, Jerusalem, the Negev, the West Bank, and Gaza, as well as separating the regional arenas, security and military, from each other, and from the Palestinian arenas, such as the Lebanese, Syrian, Jordanian, and Egyptian arenas.


The goal of the occupation, through this principle, is to reduce the risks of confrontation with the peoples and the Palestinian and regional liberation forces. What limits the dispersion of the Zionist occupation forces first, and raises the effectiveness of the Zionist attacks on these isolated areas secondly, and of course limits the material and human losses of the occupation thirdly.


In contrast to this Zionist strategy, the principle of "unity of arenas" was proposed at the Palestinian and regional levels, with the aim of thwarting the Zionist plans first, and based on the comprehensiveness of the liberation project for all Palestinians inside and outside Palestine second, and with the aim of increasing the effectiveness of the Palestinian struggle third. Despite the almost absolute consensus on the principle of "unity of squares" at the Palestinian and regional levels, the rounds of clashes with the occupation did not witness many models embodying it, as a result of many subjective and objective obstacles, as its application was limited to a few cases that are easy to enumerate, of which the Gaza Strip had the largest share in recent times. Through the haste of the effective resistance factions, specifically the Islamic Jihad and Hamas movements, to intervene militarily in support of Jerusalem often, just as the Zionist attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque had the largest share in inciting all Palestinians to struggle as one body with one liberating goal, as happened in the 2021 uprising, and finally as It happened when 30 missiles were launched from Lebanese territory.

Obstacles to the implementation of the Palestinian principle of "unity of arenas" are due to a number of factors, the most important of which is the decline in the power of the factions and their popular influence first. Secondly, the subjugation of the factions to the accounts of international and regional financing. Thirdly, the struggle for factional hegemony in the Palestinian arena, especially between Fatah and Hamas, of which division is one of its most important manifestations. Fourth, as a result of the methodology of the Palestinian forces, which intensify their efforts and pour most of their capabilities into a specific geographical area, with the aim of building a base to protect and entrench themselves in it, as happened historically in Jordan and Lebanon, and as is happening today in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This led to a decline in the role of the Palestinian political body in struggle, while preserving some of its official political role.


An important part of the external objective obstacles is due to the nature of the stage that prevailed since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and led to the dominance of a semi-unilateral vision in the world, represented by the American vision, which besieged liberation movements, and classified the majority of the liberation struggle within selective terrorist lists, governed by the interests of the United States and the regimes. globally dominant, rather than international law, human custom and moral logic. The nature of the opportunistic regional regimes also impedes the application of this principle, as the majority of the region's regimes, historically and currently, have turned the Palestinian issue into a tool of targeted pressure, serving the interests of the regimes themselves, regardless of the issue of Palestine and the rights of the peoples of the region, as the act of struggle and talk about Palestine and the demand for human rights became The legitimate peoples of the region are just a bargaining chip and nothing more, which the regimes use to extract international and regional legitimacy, or to bargain over other political and economic files that only reflect the interests of the regimes.

From all of this, we find that the success of the principle of "unity of squares" requires many subjective and objective conditions that are not available today, in light of the decline of the Palestinian factions, and the weakness of their social support first, and as a result of the factional interests prevailing over their national theory second, and due to the opportunism of regional regimes and the secondaryness of liberal issues in their calculations. Third. From all of this, the writer believes that the multiplicity of arenas of engagement in the current stage depends on the vitality and will of the people of Palestine first, and the peoples of the region second, while the role of the regional regime will be limited to exploiting the principle of "unity of arenas" as a momentary tactical card, which it uses when it wants and ignores it most of the time, although Despite its qualitative impact on the course of the Palestinian liberation struggle and on the orientations and calculations of the Zionist occupation. Unfortunately, this principle is not a major component of the strategy of the entire regional system, including Iran. This is what the Palestinians must beware of, so as not to fall into the trap that we fell into at an earlier stage, especially from the Nakba in 1948 until the Naksa in 1967, and to a lesser extent until The exit of the Palestinian fedayeen from Beirut in 1982, despite the importance of the regional dimension to the success of the principle of “unity of arenas” in relieving pressure on the Gaza Strip, and its ability to control the effectiveness of the struggle and movements of the Palestinians in the diaspora, as well as its control over the effectiveness of the peoples of the region. However, turning it into a tactical card of interest will not serve the liberation project, even if it achieves some immediate gains. Rather, its use as a momentary tactical card from the regional system may lead to international and regional consensus, at the expense of the cause and the Palestinian people, as happened previously.


About "The New Arab"

OPINIONS

Wed 26 Apr 2023 11:04 am - Jerusalem Time

The most important day of the year

On Monday, April 24, for the 18th year, a joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial day ceremony was held in which more than 10,000 people participated in Tel Aviv, including 200 Palestinian families with over hundreds of thousands online from Israel, Palestine and the world at large.


The event is co-sponsored by the Bereaved Families Forum, the Parents Circle and Fighters for Peace. These are two joint Israeli-Palestinian organizations representing those who have paid the highest price in this conflict. This will be the 17th time I've attended the party. I only missed the first one, simply because I didn't know about it. Attendance and participation by Israelis and Palestinians has increased from a few dozen people to hundreds of thousands (including those who participate online). In my opinion, this is the most important and most urgent national celebration of the year in Israel and Palestine. This is perhaps the only event of the year that is equally difficult and important for Israelis and Palestinians. This is also a ceremony that brings out very strong emotional reactions - both in support of its presence and in opposition to it.


The opposition includes those (on both sides) who falsely claim that the participants commemorate the death of terrorists. It is true that Israeli soldiers killed in wars and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are commemorated in ceremonies. Their stories are told by their parents, brothers, or sons and daughters. It is also true that for many Palestinians who oppose this ceremony, they consider those Israeli soldiers killed by Palestinian terrorists sent to kill them. Many Israelis believe that every Palestinian killed by Israelis, soldiers or civilians, were "terrorists" and that their death was justified, because they also believe that the Israeli army is the most moral army in the world. In our reality, we also know that many innocent Israelis and Palestinians have fallen victim to this conflict.


Those who support this joint Day of Remembrance ceremony must believe that we are all victims of this conflict in many ways and that the best way to reach its end is to acknowledge the pain we all suffer as this conflict continues. The price paid for the death of a loved one in this conflict is very high and if we do not do everything in our power to end this conflict, we are guilty of crimes against our humanity. We Israelis and Palestinians all know personally too many people who have been killed in this conflict. We all buried our loved ones, friends and colleagues. Some of us personally know people who have been killed on the other side of the conflict as well. Some of us have attended funerals and condolence visits to the families of loved ones killed on the other side. The pain is the same on both sides. The longing and the memories are the same for an Israeli mother and a Palestinian mother. The pains of fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and grandparents do not differ in religion or nationality. Some talk about the dead, describing them as heroes or martyrs, does not hide the real pain felt by the television when it is turned off. Parents on both sides enter the bedrooms of their dead children with the same longing and pain. Suffering is suffering no matter which side of the conflict you come from.


In this joint ceremony, families tell their stories. They talk about the person they buried and the circumstances of their death. The stories are told in both Hebrew and Arabic, and the common audience of Israelis and Palestinians is touched by the humanity shown by those who have the courage to face the enemy on the other side and connect with tenderness. Their message is: enough! We don't want more killing. We don't want to bury more of our loved ones.

OPINIONS

Wed 26 Apr 2023 11:03 am - Jerusalem Time

From the memories of Algeria: With Mujahid Abdel Hamid Mehri

In the middle of 2004, I came to Algeria from the United States after the suffering of the Muslim community intensified due to the tragic events of September 11.


This visit to Algeria was not the first time for me, as there was another visit that preceded it on the sidelines of a special official mission that I had in Libya, and I found it - at that time - an opportunity to see my brother Khaled (Izz al-Din), whom I had not met since he was a child, where he was arrested He was arrested by the Israeli occupation army in 1986, but he managed to escape from prison in 1987 with a number of his brothers in the Islamic Jihad Movement.


During that short visit to Algeria, I also met Sheikh Mahfouz Nahnah. The head of the Society for Peace Movement, who took me with him to lunch at the table of Minister Dr. Abdelkader Samari, where we got to know each other, and we talked about the conditions of Algeria and Palestine.


When the pressures intensified on our Muslim community in America, I considered leaving until the atmosphere of hostility towards Muslims subsided. Therefore, Algeria was one of the options for asylum if we had no means, and it was not possible for us to reside in any other place.


actually; Algeria welcomed us, and I did not find it difficult to reside there, and my brother Khaled, who was working in a privileged position there, helped me in this matter.


For me, Algeria was the country that we went out as children cheering for its independence in many demonstrations during the early sixties, and the names of many revolutionaries were known to us, such as: Ahmed Ben Bella, Jamila Bouhired, Sheikh Ibrahimi...etc. To our hearts.. When I arrived in the Algerian capital in June 2004, I stayed in the “Bir Mourad Rais” neighborhood, where I quickly became acquainted with a number of Islamic personalities there, who opened the way for me to present a series of lessons and lectures on Palestine in many Algerian cities and states. Especially about the uprising and its heroic leaders like Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.


Several months after my arrival in the Algerian capital, she opened an office for me in the “Al-Madania” neighborhood. It is one of the neighborhoods that was a stronghold of the Algerian revolution, and I started my activities that ranged from lectures, meetings and political writings in some Algerian newspapers, such as Al-Bilad newspaper.


During my stay in Algiers, which lasted for nearly two years, I had the opportunity to get to know and meet many well-known preacher, political and literary figures, and I was keen to communicate with a number of the leaders of the active movements in the Islamic scene there, and I published several books and articles about them, such as: Sheikh Mahfouz Nahnah, Sheikh Abu Jarah Sultani, Sheikh Abdullah Jaballah, and Sheikh Muhammad Bouslimani.


Mr. Abdul Hamid Mehri was; The Secretary-General of the Liberation Front and the former minister, one of those national figures whom I liked to meet and dialogue with, Sheikh Saeed Morsi; One of the leaders of the Islamic Action in Algeria, by arranging a session for us with him, as he was living in the "Haidara" area.


I sat next to him, exchanging parties to talk about Algeria and Palestine, and he had a lot to say in the context of advice and the conclusions of his struggle experience.. On my part, I expressed to him the extent to which we as Palestinians were affected by the struggles of the Algerian people and the steadfastness of its people and their high sacrifices, and that this jihadist march of the Algerian people is for us On the land of Palestine there is a "revolutionary icon" that we are proud of, and it is the supreme example of people's sacrifices in resisting the usurping colonial powers, and the lesson that all peoples living in a state of occupation have learned from, which is: The life of occupation, no matter how long it is, will end, if there is a will for liberation and independence. .. The Israeli occupation of Palestine is a situation similar to what was the French colonialism in Algeria, which lasted for more than one hundred and thirty years, and just as the struggling Algerian people succeeded, through their glorious revolution, in getting rid of that colonial situation, we in Palestine have resolved to proceed In the footsteps of Algeria until victory and independence.


Si Mahri was listening to me and then commenting and presenting his encyclopedic vision and conclusions about the Algerian revolution in its armed struggle and negotiating experience.


actually; Algeria was one of the most important stations of struggle from which the Palestinian revolution learned, and was able to establish distinguished relations with its leadership. any other Arab country.
As a Palestinian intellectual, I was familiar with Algeria's experience in combating French colonialism, and admired the struggles of its people. What I had previously read during my time there about the history of Algeria served me in the discussion, as I did not leave a book about this country without making it one of my library's holdings, and he was the best sitter for me all along. period of my stay there.


I sat in the house of Si Mahri, this political and patriotic giant, whose features showed traces of grace, prestige and history; Because he was a former minister and one of the men of the glorious revolution, and the meeting and dialogue between us lasted about two hours, and he had some blame on the Palestinian leadership, which went to Oslo and did not try to communicate with the Algerian leadership and benefit from its negotiating experience with France, and therefore it made many serious mistakes, As it was lured into the trap and the meager agreement was signed in Washington in 1993.


Si Mahri is considered one of the most important political and national figures who played a major role before, during and after the Algerian revolution, and in the post-independence period. Man of National Reconciliation", due to the effective role he played in revitalizing national reconciliation initiatives in the face of the insistence of the existing authority - at the time - to adopt the option of a "security solution". The Society of Sant'Egidio, which led to the signing of the "Contract of Rome" or the National Contract.


Si Mahri remained a fighter, thinker, and leader who was respected and appreciated by his comrades and opponents alike, as everyone called him several qualities that can be summarized in two: objectivity in analysis, and courage in stance, and he was elected in 2000 as president of the Arab National Conference.


After the outbreak of the Arab Spring revolutions, Si Mahri wrote a letter to President Bouteflika in February 2011 about the country's political situation and the need to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of independence in light of deep political reforms leading to the establishment of a second republic. His ideas and initiatives have always been respected and accepted by the Algerian people and authorities.


His stances (may God have mercy on him) were characterized by courage, daring, and steadfastness on principles. He was a supporter of democratic transformation in his country without compromise, and he was a firm supporter of the full Palestinian right without concession. About his life, and its liberation was a hope he had throughout his life, even at the time of the Algerian liberation revolution, and we have always listened to him as he put his extensive revolutionary experiences, including negotiating skills, to the drawing of Palestinian leaders.


Si Mahri continued to struggle for the peaceful change of power in his country, and to call for circulation over it until the end of his days, through the lectures and forums in which he participated, and he died (may God have mercy on him) on January 30, 2012, when Algeria left to bid him farewell.. May God have mercy on him Wide mercy and dwell him in his spacious gardens.

OPINIONS

Wed 26 Apr 2023 11:01 am - Jerusalem Time

Jericho line.. the container.. Wadi al-Nar... and vice versa.

There are words as soon as they touch the ears of the Palestinian, until his body shudders from the torment he endured.. and he will suffer if he needs to travel a few kilometers from his work center in the "temporary capital" Ramallah, where the factions are, to the south of the West Bank. Through the container and the valley of fire, or from the Jericho border crossings.


The "Container" checkpoint is located in the middle of the distance between the north and center of the West Bank and its south, and it has a military post. On the opposite sidewalk, you often see young Palestinians who are ordered to kneel on their knees, with their hands above their heads, without anyone knowing why? And for how long? In front of them, the soldiers of the Defense Army or the Border Guard, whose leadership devolved to the Minister, "Al-Dhahira" Bin Ghfir, are watching, laughing and joking, happy with the scene, which often ends with a sentence of two words .. "God bless you" or the word "Sa'a".


There are days when young men are not ordered to get on their knees, but when the officers and soldiers of the checkpoint decide to search a car or several cars, you will find yourself in a line of cars that is several kilometers long, carrying thousands of people of different ages, and in waiting for an unknown length, it is not surprising that a patient dies Or a child is born, and if a taxi or private car driver is forced to alert the checkpoint men by sounding the “car horn” so that everyone will be punished for disturbing the soldiers. The waiting time doubles, and the queue of cars lengthens for additional kilometers. The horn is a form of protest - this is how the soldiers consider it -! This does not happen every day, but when there is no search or removal of young men to perform the duty of kneeling with their faces to the wall, the ritual of changing the guard takes place. What leads to paralysis in traffic, back and forth, begins with a signal from the soldier's hand and ends with the word "Sa'a", so that the souls of drivers and passengers feel relieved, just by hearing the magic word that equals a sigh of relief.


And if the travelers’ fortune is good, that is, at a time when there is no inspection, and there is no change of guards, which makes them expect a smooth passage until they are surprised, and this is what happens after the “container” leaves the travelers to the rest of the country, as well as before it reaches the arrivals, with a crowd that is worse, more painful and longer than any other torture. Familiar crowds, when the settlement of "Ma'aleh Adumim" participates in the state's celebrations and Haredi parties, and according to the calendar, there is no month without celebration, and in order for the celebrants not to be disturbed by the clamor of the "terrorist" Palestinian travelers, the roads are closed, and the crossing of the town of Abu Dis, which Trump appointed as the capital of Palestine, becomes We need a kilometer-long queue of cars, and a time when each meter takes half an hour to cut through, but when thousands converge to pray at Al-Aqsa every Friday and Eid, then there is nothing wrong with that!


Let us assume that the container checkpoint is tired of abusing the passers-by and gives itself a leave to rest for a while. There are checkpoints that have a magical ability to make the other line of Palestinians suffocate before and after the container. It is closed, and with the first minute of the barrier’s presence and for an unknown time, it becomes completely paralyzed, and the only lung of the bank to breathe, along with the second lung “Jordan” suffers deathly suffocation. At the mouth of the container, the soldiers at the checkpoint exercise their hobby of watching thousands of cars and tens of thousands of passengers. The soldiers feel comfortable because their "colleague" at the Jericho checkpoint has done the duty and more.


“Container” is the most tragic word repeated by the Palestinians, who must be cut off in order to move from the north and center of the West Bank to the south of it. Some of them travel daily from the temporary capital in which they work, and some of them sleep in their cars due to fatigue and boredom, the cold of winter and the heat of summer, and the phenomenon that has no solution. It is that in this kind of torture, there is no way for the detainee to leave in the car to anywhere, and there is no way for the drivers to return from whence they came!


This is not all in terms of the agony of moving from one place to another. Generations in Gaza do not know anything about what is happening behind Erez and Rafah, and in the northern West Bank, the people of Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarm and others do not know what is going on behind Hawara. In the whole country, all people live as if They are inside a steel container without doors or windows, similar to Ghassan Kanafani's tank, but this time the size of a country and people, a tank of six thousand square kilometers, and millions of detainees inhabited.


Was the one who named the valley of fire before and after the container predicting or by mere coincidence? In any case, the name is appropriate.


Does the world know about all this or even some of it? Let us ask our politicians who are mired in their own agendas, and if there is room left, let us ask the dozens of our embassies spread all over the world!! Titled "For the cause"!!!

ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 26 Apr 2023 10:17 am - Jerusalem Time

A ship carrying 1,687 civilian evacuees from Sudan arrives in Saudi Arabia

On Wednesday, an evacuation ship carrying 1,687 civilians from more than 50 countries who fled violence in Sudan arrived in Jeddah, according to the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the largest rescue operation of its kind carried out by the Kingdom so far.


The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, "This morning (Wednesday) 13 Saudi citizens arrived in Jeddah, and the number of nationals of brotherly and friendly countries who were evacuated reached about 1,674 people" from 56 countries, noting that they were transported "through one of the ships belonging to the Kingdom."


Battles broke out in Sudan on April 15 between the army led by Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Lieutenant General Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hamidati, who was an ally of al-Burhan and deputy commander of the army before they became rivals.


The battles killed at least 459 people and injured more than four thousand, according to the United Nations, and put the health care system under enormous pressure to deal with an increasing number of victims. Many are currently facing severe shortages of water, food, medicine, and fuel, in addition to the lack of electricity and the Internet.


A US-brokered ceasefire in Sudan entered its second day, but remains fragile amid eyewitness reports of more air strikes.


Saudi Arabia has previously organized evacuations by sea and air. On Saturday, Saudi Arabia announced the completion of the first evacuation of civilians from Sudan to Jeddah on board a ship that included more than 150 people, including foreign diplomats and officials.


On Monday, a military plane transported about 30 South Koreans to an air base in Jeddah, and a ship evacuated about 200 people of 14 nationalities from the city of Butsudan to a naval base in Jeddah.


In addition to the 13 Saudis, the evacuation process on Wednesday included civilians from countries in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, North America and Central America, according to the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.


The ministry stated, "This brings the total of those who have been evacuated from Sudan since the start of the evacuations to about 2,148 people (114 Saudi citizens, 2,034 people belonging to 62 nationalities)."