Arab leaders in united front on Palestine, fight against terror

(Picture by Bandar al Jaloud)
Updated 30 March 2017
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Arab leaders in united front on Palestine, fight against terror

THE DEAD SEA, Jordan: Arab leaders on Wednesday showed consensus on a two-state solution to the Palestinian issue, as well as the need to fight terrorism by all possible means. 

Gathered for the Arab Summit, heads of state urged moves to overcome divisions on regional crises including the devastating wars in Syria and Yemen. 

Terror threat

In his address to the summit of the 22-member Arab League, King Salman said terrorism is the biggest threat facing the Arab world, adding that efforts must be exerted to counter the epidemic. He added that intervention in Arab affairs represents a stark violation of international law, the sovereignty of countries, and good neighborliness. 

The king said Yemen’s unity and security must be preserved. He said the Yemeni crisis must be addressed in accordance with the GCC Initiative, UN Security Council Resolution 2216 and the outcomes of the Yemeni dialogue. He called for facilitating humanitarian assistance to the Yemeni people. 

King Salman underlined the importance of ensuring security and stability in Libya. He called on Libyan rivals to resort to reason in ending violence and countering terrorism, and reaching a political settlement to end the crisis that has been ravaging the country. 

He also expressed support for a political settlement to the bloody six-year conflict in Syria based on UN Security Council resolutions, adding that the Syrian people had been subjected to “killing and displacement.” 

Call to join ranks

Jordan’s King Abdallah suggested that failing to rally efforts and join ranks would leave the region open to outside influence.

In his speech Abdallah underlined the threat of terrorism and extremism, which has set out to tarnish the image of Islam and hijack young Arabs’ future. “It is therefore our duty to protect them from distortions to their religion and ideological beliefs, since terrorism poses a greater threat to Arabs and Muslims, who make up the majority of its victims,” he said.

Arab leaders said the international community must act immediately to end the suffering and injustice toward the Palestinian people, and curb the Israeli arrogance and its rejection of all international and Arab calls to embark on peace negotiations on the basis of the relevant UN resolutions and Arab Peace Initiative.

King Abdallah pointed to “Israel’s continued settlement expansion and its work to undermine chances for peace.”

He added: “There can be no peace, no stability in the region without a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian cause, the core issue of the Middle East, based on the two-state solution.”

Israel must end occupation

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said if Israel wants to be a genuine peace partner it must end its occupation of the Palestinian lands and end its intimidation of the Palestinian people, warning that Israel is trying to change the political conflict to a religious one. 

“Since 2009, the Israeli government has been undermining the two-state solution by expediting the settlement construction and the confiscation of Palestinian lands, changing the living conditions of the Palestinians into an apartheid system,” said Abbas, adding that the Israelis continue to implement their plans to change the demographic status of Jerusalem, which shows their disrespect toward the historic status of the holy city. 

“The two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 lines is the only path to make peace. We reject any attempt by the Israelis to amend the Arab Peace Initiative,” he said.

Abbas called on the Arab leaders to support the Palestinian request for the UK to stop all plans to celebrate the Balfour declaration, which was made 100 years ago. He asked the UK government to apologize for this historic mistake, which caused the Palestinian catastrophe.

Iranian plot against Yemen

Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi called for Arab leaders’ support in the face of the Iranian plot against his country. He said Iran has been, and is still supporting Houthi militias to destabilize Yemeni security and undermine its unity.

“Iran is using the Houthi militias as a toll to implement their expansionist plans in the region. They have taken the country into a dark path of violence and sabotaged its stability and destroyed its economy,” Hadi said, adding that the Yemeni crisis has affected all citizens, and hit living conditions. 

“There will be no peace unless the Houthis comply with the UN Resolution 2216 and the regional efforts on the basis of the GCC initiative and the outcomes of our national dialogue... to end the crisis in Yemen and surrender their arms to the legitimate government,” he said. 

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said the summit is being held in the wake of serious challenges facing the Arab world, topped by terrorism and the foreign intervention in Arab affairs due to the absence of a leading and effective Arab role. 

“Terrorism has become an international phenomenon, which needs to be countered by all nations. Some political powers have taken advantage of the unprecedented circumstances overwhelming our region and started implementing their agendas under different pretexts,” he said. 

Libya seeks help

The head of Libya’s UN-backed government called for a dialogue between political rivals in the North African country to reach a political settlement to the country’s crisis.

Fayez Serraj told the summit “everyone knows that no party can achieve a military solution.”

Libya descended into chaos with its 2011 civil war. In recent months, rival power centers have been sliding closer to open conflict, with breakaway militias backed by western Libyan factions seizing oil terminals from the east’s strongman general, whose forces have vowed to take them back. Serraj renewed a call to the Arab League to oversee a unified force tasked with the protection of oil terminals.

 

Israel says 8 hostages due for release in first phase of truce are dead

Updated 18 sec ago
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Israel says 8 hostages due for release in first phase of truce are dead

JERUSALEM: Eight of the hostages due for release in the first phase of a truce deal between Israel and Hamas are dead, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said Monday.
“The families have been informed of the situation of their relatives,” Mencer told reporters, without providing the names of the deceased.
That means that of the 26 hostages yet to be freed under the first phase of the agreement, only 18 are still alive.
The truce deal, announced earlier in January after months of fruitless negotiations, took effect on January 19, bringing to a halt more than 15 months of war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.
Under the first phase of the agreement, 33 hostages held by militants in Gaza are to be released in exchange for more than 1,900 Palestinians held by Israel.
Seven Israeli women have been released since the start of the truce, as have 290 Palestinian prisoners.

Bahraini king, crown prince meet Italian PM in Manama

Updated 27 January 2025
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Bahraini king, crown prince meet Italian PM in Manama

  • King Hamad welcomed Giorgia Meloni at Al-Gudaibiya Palace
  • They discussed bilateral relations, ways to boost cooperation

LONDON: Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa received Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Manama on Monday.

The Italian premier embarked on an official visit to the Middle East this week, meeting the Saudi leadership in AlUla on Sunday before heading to the Bahraini capital.

King Hamad welcomed Meloni at Al-Gudaibiya Palace in the presence of Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, the crown prince and prime minister.

They discussed bilateral relations and ways to boost cooperation in economics, trade and investment, according to the official Bahrain News Agency.

The king commended Italy’s efforts to promote peace and highlighted the importance of dialogue and diplomatic solutions to address regional as well as global issues, the BNA added.

Meloni expressed her gratitude for King Hamad’s warm hospitality and his efforts to strengthen historical relations between Rome and Manama.

King Hamad hosted a luncheon in honor of the Italian prime minister and her delegation.


Palestinians say two killed in Israeli West Bank strike

Palestinians drive their vehicles past the carcass of a car that was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Nur Shams refugee camp
Updated 27 January 2025
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Palestinians say two killed in Israeli West Bank strike

  • Official Palestinian news agency Wafa identified the two killed as Ramez Damiri and Ihab Abu Atwi, both residents of the Nur Shams refugee camp

TULKAREM: The Palestinian health ministry said Monday two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem, an attack confirmed by the Israeli military.
The Ramallah-based ministry said in a statement that two dead and three injured arrived at Tulkarem’s Governmental Hospital “following the occupation’s targeting of a vehicle in Nur Shams refugee camp,” adjacent to the city of Tulkarem.
The Israeli army confirmed the strike, and said in a statement that “in a joint operation by the Israeli army and the Shin Bet (internal security agency), an air force aircraft launched an attack shortly ago in the Tulkarem area.”
Official Palestinian news agency Wafa identified the two killed as Ramez Damiri and Ihab Abu Atwi, both residents of the Nur Shams refugee camp.
The health ministry also announced the death of a young man killed Sunday night by Israeli forces in Qalandiya refugee camp, north of Jerusalem.
The ministry reported one dead and two injured “by (Israeli) bullets near Qalandiya camp.”
Wafa news agency identified the man killed as Adam Sab Laban, shot by Israeli forces who were stationed at a military tower by the Qalandiya checkpoint into Jerusalem, and who “opened fire at a group of citizens.”
Violence has soared throughout the West Bank since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7, 2023.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 861 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the health ministry.
At least 29 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military raids in the territory over the same period, according to Israeli official figures.


Lebanon says Israeli fire kills one as residents try to go home

A wounded man who was reportedly shot by Israeli soldiers while attempting to reach southern Lebanon.
Updated 27 January 2025
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Lebanon says Israeli fire kills one as residents try to go home

  • The bloodshed came hours after the extension of a deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw from south Lebanon under a November ceasefire deal

BURJ AL-MULUK: Lebanon’s heath ministry said Israeli fire killed one person Monday and wounded seven others in the south, in a second day of violence as residents tried again to return to border villages.
The bloodshed, which one analyst said was unlikely to re-spark war, came hours after the extension of a deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw from south Lebanon under a November ceasefire deal.
The ministry said Israeli fire killed 24 returnees on Sunday.
“Israeli enemy attacks as citizens attempt to return to their towns that are still occupied have led... to one dead and seven wounded,” the health ministry said Monday in a statement.
It reported one dead and two wounded in the border town of Adaysseh, with others wounded in Bani Hayyan, including a child, as well as in Yarun and Hula.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said earlier Monday that Lebanon had agreed to an extension of the ceasefire deal between Hezbollah and Israel until February 18, after the Israeli military missed Sunday’s deadline to withdraw.
In south Lebanon, residents accompanied by the army were again trying to return to their villages, official media and AFP correspondents reported.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem is scheduled to deliver a televised address at 6:30 p.m. (1630 GMT).
In the village of Burj Al-Muluk, an AFP photographer saw dozens of men, women and children gathering in the morning behind a dirt barrier, some holding yellow Hezbollah flags, hoping to reach the border town of Kfar Kila, where the Israeli military is still deployed.
In the city of Bint Jbeil, an access point for many border villages, Hezbollah supporters were distributing sweets, water and images of former chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike in September.
Others handed out stickers celebrating the “victory from God” as women held pictures of slain Hezbollah fighters.
“They think they are scaring us with their bullets, but we lived under the bombing and bullets don’t scare us,” said Mona Bazzi in Bint Jbeil.
The official National News Agency (NNA) said that Lebanese “army reinforcements” had arrived near the border town of Mais Al-Jabal, where people had started to gather at “the entrance of the town” in preparation for entering alongside the military.
It said the Israeli army had “opened fire in the direction of the Lebanese army” near the town, without reporting casualties there.
“We waited in a long line for hours, but couldn’t enter,” said Mohammed Choukeir, 33, from Mais Al-Jabal, adding that Israeli troops “were opening fire from time to time on civilians gathered at the entrance of the town.”
In nearby Hula, where the health ministry reported two wounded, the NNA said residents entered “after the deployment of the army in several neighborhoods.”
Under the ceasefire deal that took effect on November 27, the Lebanese military was to deploy in the south alongside United Nations peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period, which ended on Sunday.
Hezbollah was also to pull back its forces north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border.
Both sides have traded blame for delays in implementing the deal, which came after more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, including two months of all-out war.
Lebanon’s army said Sunday that it had entered several border areas including Dhayra, Maroun Al-Ras and Aita Al-Shaab.
An AFP photographer in Aita Al-Shaab on Monday saw widespread destruction, with newly returned families among the ruins of their homes, as bulldozers worked to open roads and rescue teams searched for any bodies leftover from the conflict.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee on Monday called again for south Lebanon residents to “wait” before returning.
Hilal Khashan, professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, said he did not expect a return to major violence.
“Hezbollah no longer wants any further confrontation with Israel, its goal is to protect its achievements in Lebanon,” he told AFP.
The health ministry said Monday that Israeli fire killed 24 people who were trying to return to their villages the previous day, updating an earlier toll of 22 dead.
The Israeli military had said soldiers “fired warning shots to remove threats” where “suspects were identified approaching the troops.”
The Lebanese army said Sunday it would “continue to accompany residents” returning to the south and “protect them from Israeli attacks.”


19 arrested after Turkiye hotel inferno disaster

Updated 27 January 2025
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19 arrested after Turkiye hotel inferno disaster

ANKARA: Turkish authorities have arrested 19 people as part of an investigation into a fire at a ski resort hotel that killed 78 people, Anadolu state news agency reported Monday.
Those detained include a deputy mayor for the town responsible for the Kartalkaya resort, a deputy fire chief and the head of another establishment belonging to the hotel owner, the agency said.
The investigation into the January 21 disaster has focused on the hotel management and the actions of the emergency services and authorities in the town of Bolu.
On Friday, the owner of the Grand Karta hotel, his son-in-law, the hotel’s chief electrician and its head chef were arrested.
Survivors and experts have highlighted the absence of fire alarms and sprinklers, working smoke detectors and proper fire escape routes at the 12-story building that overlooked the ski slopes.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has said 238 people were staying in the Grand Karta hotel when the inferno tore through the building in the middle of the night.