In Oman, an ancient mediation method gets a makeover

Omani men have breakfast prior to holding a traditional local council meeting known as the “Sabla” in the small village of Ghala, near Muscat. (AFP)
Updated 15 January 2018
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In Oman, an ancient mediation method gets a makeover

GHALA, Oman: Omani Mahmoud bin Yousef Temtemi found himself in a pastoral predicament this autumn — his neighbor’s flock of sheep had overrun his farm and gobbled up his crops, threatening his income.
Rather than make a scene or turn to the police, Temtemi chose to raise his complaint in Omani tradition: through the local “sabla,” or council.
Dressed in a robe and embroidered cap, Temtemi took his place on a sunny Friday morning at his neighborhood sabla in the village of Ghala — held outdoors on a patch of sidewalk.
“The farm is our livelihood,” Temtemi told an AFP correspondent attending the meeting. “I told myself I would lodge a complaint at the sabla, where the owner of the sheep would be present.”
In Ghala, just outside the capital Muscat, the sheikh humbly brings breakfast for meetings of the council. The youngest serves coffee.
The fellowship broke the ice for the mediation Temtemi sought. Acknowledging a problem needed to be solved, the men filed over to the meeting hall — a sparse room with little more than benches built into the walls.
The elders listened to the farmer’s story, discussed, then decided on compensation from the sheep owner.
“He will pay 150 riyals ($390) and keep an eye on his sheep,” said a satisfied Temtemi.
Oman’s sabla is a unique form of consensus building that many see as central to the Gulf nation’s traditions, and which some want to see adapted to the age of the smartphone.
“This council is where the old and young come to learn. The youth learn manners from their elders,” grey-bearded Sayeed bin Khalfan Nabhani said in Ghala.
Nabhani said the history of the sabla goes back “ages,” but some 40 years ago — after Sultan Qaboos took power in Oman — it was granted a degree of government recognition.
“From the early 1970s, you had the governor and judge sitting at the council, along with witnesses and people of the villages — plus the person with the problem,” said Nabhani.
A solution is often found before the judge is called to get involved, he said.
In far-flung areas, the sabla remains central to life, but even there it is changing, with women for example reserving the hall for their own meetings.
Hilal Al-Siyabi, an Omani community activist, believes the sabla can — and should — keep up with the times.
In the lush Muscat suburb of Saael, a new kind of sabla is under construction.
A shell of a building stood off the main road, a mountain range in the background.
Siyabi’s voice echoed as he pointed to where LCD screens would be installed and computers set up for a future Internet cafe.
“We are leveraging on the concept of sabla to do something much better — something which is beneficial to today’s community,” he said.
This center would embrace the whole family, he explained, with a special emphasis on the young.
Siyabi said an exploratory meeting three years earlier was packed with curious residents — notably women.
“Young women,” he said. “They were excited to have such a center. They said, ‘We are not working but we are going to sell our precious gold to contribute to something like this.’“
Siyabi said the government has fully supported the initiative, which seeks to build on tradition in a changing world and keep conflict resolution local.
He sees the sabla evolving from its role as a mediation authority to a town hall-style forum and community center.
For Muscat-based public policy analyst Ahmed Al-Mukhaini, the sabla is a “microcosm” of the Omani state: discreet and tribal.
“You don’t hang out your dirty linen,” Mukhaini said, adding it was no surprise the government supports the continuation of the sabla.
Under Sultan Qaboos, Oman has not replaced the sabla — now a “benign form of assembly,” the analyst said, but institutionalized it, with modern forms of government continuing to function in the same patriarchical and hierarchical way.
“In Oman they spend a lot of time on consensus building, versus majority-based decisions,” Mukhaini said.
Authorities in Muscat continue to recognize tribal chiefs as official representatives, registered with the interior ministry.
Each tribe’s “rasheed,” or interlocutor, functions as a conduit to the government, often feeling out sentiment on domestic policy changes, such as recent health care privatization proposals.
“I’m not aware of any other country where tribal leaders are on a payroll or where the system of sheikhdom is controlled by the government,” Mukhaini said.
Even the modern Shoura council, Oman’s only elected body, is dominated by tribal heavyweights — not the technocrats and intellectuals found in the council of state appointed by the sultan.
“The system that remains until now keeps tabs on public opinion or resentment,” said the analyst.
When Qaboos overthrew his father in a bloodless coup in 1970, the British-educated ruler reached out to the tribes in an early radio address, reassuring tribal leaders and promising to institutionalize their role.
The sabla is so important to Omani culture that it will even decide who will succeed the 77-year-old sultan when he dies.
“Basic law gives the appointment of the next sultan to the royal family sabla,” Mukhaini said.
If the cousins of Qaboos — he has no brothers or heir apparent — fail to choose a successor within a matter of days, Mukhaini said it will fall to the defense council, chief justice and Shoura council to reach a consensus, this time on behalf of the nation.


Palestinian official says Israeli forces killed West Bank teen with US citizenship

Updated 5 sec ago
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Palestinian official says Israeli forces killed West Bank teen with US citizenship

  • Settler violence in the West Bank, including incursions into occupied territory and raids on Bedouin villages and encampments, has intensified since the Gaza war began in October 2023

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: A Palestinian official told AFP that Israeli forces shot dead a teenager holding US citizenship in the occupied West Bank Sunday, while the Israeli military said it had killed a “terrorist” who threw rocks at cars.
Omar Muhammad Saadeh Rabee, a 14-year-old “who was killed in Turmus Ayya, held US citizenship,” the town’s mayor, Lafi Shalabi, told AFP.
The Israeli military said that during “counter-terrorism activity” in Turmus Ayya, “soldiers identified three terrorists who hurled rocks toward the highway, thus endangering civilians driving.”
“The soldiers opened fire toward the terrorists who were endangering civilians, eliminating one terrorist and hitting two additional terrorists,” a military statement added.
The Palestinian health ministry said one person was in critical condition and another suffered minor injuries in the same incident.
Shalabi said one of the wounded also had US citizenship. And Turmus Ayya, northest of the main West Bank city of Ramallah, is known for having many dual US-Palestinian citizens.
The Palestine Red Crescent said its teams had taken the body of the deceased boy to a hospital. It also reported the injuries of two boys shot in the lower abdomen and thigh respectively, during “clashes” in Turmus Ayya.
One of the two, 14-year-old Abdul Rahman Shehadeh, told AFP he was shot by a soldier while collecting fruit near the town.
The second, who was shot in the abdomen, was identified as 14-year-old Ayoub Asaad by his father Ahed Asaad. He confirmed that the boy had a US passport.
Ahed Assad said that an ambulance that took his wounded son to hospital was stopped by soldiers.
“We were stopped at a military checkpoint at the village entrance, and a soldier told me that he was the one who shot the three boys,” he told AFP.
The Palestinian Authority’s foreign affairs ministry denounced the Israeli forces’ “use of live fire against three children.”
“Israel’s continued impunity as an illegal occupying power encourages it to commit further crimes,” it added.
Violence has soared in the West Bank since the Gaza war started on October 7, 2023.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 918 Palestinians, including militants, in the West Bank since then, according to Palestinian health ministry figures.
Palestinian attacks and clashes during military raids have killed at least 33 Israelis, including soldiers, over the same period, according to official figures.
Israel has occupied the West Bank, home to about three million Palestinians, since 1967.
 

 


Hamas fires rockets at Israeli cities, Israel issues evacuation orders in Gaza

Updated 11 min 29 sec ago
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Hamas fires rockets at Israeli cities, Israel issues evacuation orders in Gaza

  • Israel’s Channel 12 television said at least 12 lightly injured people have been treated as a result of the rocket firing from Gaza, quoting officials at the Bazilai Hospital in Ashkelon

JERUSALEM/CAIRO: Palestinian militant group Hamas said it fired a barrage of rockets at cities in Israel’s south on Sunday in response to Israeli “massacres” of civilians in Gaza.
Israel’s military said about 10 projectiles were fired, but most were successfully intercepted. Israel’s Channel 12 reported a direct hit in the southern city of Ashkelon.
Israeli emergency services said they were treating one person for shrapnel injuries, and teams were en route to locations of fallen rockets. Smashed car windows and debris lay strewn on a city street, videos disseminated by Israeli emergency services showed.
Meanwhile, Gaza local health authorities said Israeli military strikes killed at least 39 people across the Gaza Strip on Sunday.
Shortly after the rocket firing, the Israeli military posted on X a new evacuation order, instructing residents of several districts in Deir Al-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip to leave their areas, citing earlier rocket firing.
“This is a final warning before the attack,” the military warning statement said.
Later, it said it struck the rocket launcher from which projectiles were launched earlier from the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on a flight to Washington for a meeting with US President Donald Trump, was briefed on the rocket attack by his Defense Minister, Israel Katz.
A statement issued by his office said Netanyahu instructed that a “vigorous” response be carried out and approved the continuation of intensive activity by the Israeli military against Hamas.
Israel’s Channel 12 television said at least 12 lightly injured people have been treated as a result of the rocket firing from Gaza, quoting officials at the Bazilai Hospital in Ashkelon.
The first phase of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into force on January 19 after 15 months of war and involved a halt to fighting, the release of some of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, and the freeing of some Palestinian prisoners.
However, Israel said on March 19 that its forces resumed ground operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip. Both parties blamed one another for a stalemate in the ceasefire talks.
More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli offensive in Gaza, Palestinian officials say. Israel began its offensive after thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

 


Syria’s president to visit Turkiye and UAE next week

Updated 45 min 53 sec ago
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Syria’s president to visit Turkiye and UAE next week

  • Sharaa and other members of the new Syrian leadership have been working to strengthen ties with both Arab and Western leaders following the fall of Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive in December, led by Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham

BEIRUT: Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa will make his first visit to the United Arab Emirates and is also scheduled to visit Turkiye next week, the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday, as he continues to garner support for the new administration.
Sharaa, who previously visited Turkiye in February, will make the UAE his second Gulf destination after traveling to
Saudi Arabia that same month on his first foreign trip since assuming the presidency in January.
He and other members of the new Syrian leadership have been working to strengthen ties with both Arab and Western leaders following the fall of Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive in December, led by Sharaa’s Sunni Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham.
Sharaa and his officials have also called for a full lifting of sanctions on Syria.
Syria is in desperate need of sanctions relief to kick start an economy collapsed by nearly 14 years of war, during which the United States, the UK and Europe placed tough sanctions on people, businesses and whole sectors of Syria’s economy in a bid to squeeze now-ousted leader Assad.

 


Moroccans protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza and take aim at Trump

Updated 55 min 58 sec ago
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Moroccans protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza and take aim at Trump

  • Moroccan authorities tolerate most protests, but have arrested some activists who have rallied in front of businesses or foreign embassies or implicated the monarchy in their complaints
  • More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed as part of Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants

RABAT, Morocco: Tens of thousands of Moroccans on Sunday protested Israel’s latest offensive in Gaza, putting fury toward US President Donald Trump near the center of their grievances.
In the largest protest Morocco has seen in months, demonstrators denounced Israel, the United States and their own government. Some stepped on Israeli flags, held banners showing slain Hamas leaders and waved posters juxtaposing Trump alongside displaced Palestinians fleeing their homes.
Organizers condemned Israel’s ongoing military operation in Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed since Israel renewed air and ground strikes last month, aimed at pressuring Hamas to release remaining hostages.

Women lift a banner during a national march in support of Palestinians and against Morocco's normalisation of ties with Israel, in the capital Rabat on April 6, 2025. (AFP)

Such protests have erupted across the Middle East and North Africa, where leaders typically worry about demonstrations undermining domestic stability. Pro-Palestinian rallies were also staged this weekend in the capitals of Tunisia and Yemen as well as in Morocco’s most populous city Casablanca.
In countries that have historically aligned with the US, anti-Trump backlash has emerged as a theme. Demonstrators in Rabat on Sunday condemned his proposal to displace millions of Palestinians to make way for the redevelopment of Gaza. as well as the US efforts to pursue pro-Palestinian activists.
Still, many Moroccans said they saw Trump’s policies as mostly consistent with his predecessor, Joe Biden’s.
“(Trump) has made the war worse,” said Mohammed Toussi, who traveled from Casablanca with his family to protest.
“Biden hid some things but Trump has shown it all,” he added, likening their positions but not their messaging.
Protesters, Toussi said, remain angry about Morocco’s 2020 decision to normalize ties with Israel.
Abdelhak El Arabi, an adviser to Morocco’s former Islamist prime minister, said the reasons Moroccans were protesting had grown throughout the war. He predicted popular anger would continue until the war ends.
“It’s not a war, Gaza is getting erased from the earth,” the 62-year-old Tamesna resident said.
Demonstrations have included a range of groups, including the Islamist association al Adl Wal Ihsan. Moroccan authorities tolerate most protests, but have arrested some activists who have rallied in front of businesses or foreign embassies or implicated the monarchy in their complaints.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Most have since been released in ceasefire agreements and other deals. More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed as part of Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants. The war has left most of Gaza in ruins, and at its height displaced around 90 percent of the population.

 


Sudan activists sound alarm on ‘catastrophic’ situation in besieged Darfur city

Updated 06 April 2025
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Sudan activists sound alarm on ‘catastrophic’ situation in besieged Darfur city

  • According to UN estimates, around two million people face extreme food insecurity in North Darfur state, with 320,000 already suffering famine conditions

KHARTOUM: Civilians trapped in Sudan’s El-Fasher city are facing “catastrophic” conditions, activists warned on Sunday, with their situation rapidly deteriorating amid a months-long paramilitary siege.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have taken most of the vast Darfur region in their war against the regular army since April 2023, but El-Fasher in North Darfur remains the only regional state capital the RSF has not conquered.
A local advocacy group, the Darfur General Coordination of Camps for the Displaced and Refugees, said in a statement that residents “bear the brunt of artillery shelling” and live “with the sounds of aircraft and their terrifying and deadly missiles, in addition to the daily suffering of hunger, disease and drought.”
Life in El-Fasher and other areas of Darfur “has come to a complete standstill,” the group said, with no food at markets and a “complete halt” in humanitarian aid.
There was a sharp rise in prices of basic commodities and “a severe shortage in cash,” it added, warning of an “unprecedented and catastrophic deterioration” in already dire conditions in and around El-Fasher.
The RSF-aligned armed group Sudan Liberation Army called on Saturday for civilians in El-Fasher and the nearby displacement camps of Abu Shouk and Zamzan to leave, warning of an “escalation of military operations.”
Another RSF ally, the Gathering of Sudan Liberation Forces, said it was ready to “provide safe corridors” for residents to leave and head to “liberated areas” under paramilitary control.
In late March, the RSF announced its fighters had seized Al-Malha, which lies at the foot of a mountainous region 200 kilometers (124 miles) northeast of El-Fasher.
Al-Malha is one of the northernmost towns in the vast desert region between Sudan and Libya, where the RSF’s critical resupply lines have come under increasing attack in recent months by army-allied groups.
The war has created what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst hunger and displacement crises. More than 12 million people have been uprooted, tens of thousands killed and a UN-backed assessment declared famine in parts of the country.
According to UN estimates, around two million people face extreme food insecurity in North Darfur state, with 320,000 already suffering famine conditions.
Zamzam is one of three displacement camps around El-Fasher hit by famine, which a UN-backed assessment says is expected to spread to five more areas including the state capital itself by May.