Four countries discuss ‘tolerance in multiculturalism’ at UAE summit

Water taxis, known as abra, displaying the diversity of Dubai’s population, cross the Creek. (Reuters)
Updated 14 November 2019
Follow

Four countries discuss ‘tolerance in multiculturalism’ at UAE summit

  • Sheikha Lubna Al-Qasimi was appointed minister of tolerance in 2016, reinforcing the UAE’s commitment to eradicate ideological, cultural and religious bigotry in society
  • Speakers from Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Tatarstan, and Columbia discussed ways in which their respective countries are attempting to instill social and economic tolerance

DUBAI: With over 200 nationalities currently residing in the GCC, countries across the region are continuing to promote the values of tolerance and coexistence through various initiatives.

The UAE first introduced the post of minister of tolerance with the appointment of Sheikha Lubna Al-Qasimi in 2016, reinforcing its commitment to eradicate ideological, cultural and religious bigotry in society.

The second edition of the World Tolerance Summit, held in Dubai on November 13 and 14, saw a bigger number of countries participating, including Saudi Arabia.

Dr Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Fawzan, vice-chairman and secretary general of the King Abdulaziz Center for National Dialogue, reviewed the Kingdom’s tolerance initiatives, and described the summit as “an opportunity to bring about positive change.”

The summit’s second day included a session titled “Tolerance in Multiculturalism: Achieving the Social, Economic and Humane Benefits of a Tolerant World,” in which speakers from Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Tatarstan, and Columbia discussed ways in which their respective countries are attempting to instill social and economic tolerance.

Princess Lamia bint Majed Saud Al-Saud, secretary general and board member of Alwaleed Philanthropies in Saudi Arabia, touched on the importance of tolerance in humanitarian work.

“It is extremely important to be a tolerant and accepting person in order to be able to help others. Our organization works in 180 countries — and we do not have any discrimination when it comes to language, religion or color,” said Al-Saud.

She said the region’s diversity of nationalities is at the essence of the Arab society: “I think that tolerance is in our DNA. It is something we can trace back through our history and previous civilizations.”

Alwaleed Philanthropies promotes cultural understanding through various centers across the world. Some of the most active are those located in Harvard University and Edinburgh.

“Prince (Al-)Waleed realized there was a serious problem in the way people viewed Islam and Arab culture after 9/11 and decided to take a proactive approach to fix this through the centers, which work on restoring the image of Muslims,” said Al-Saud.

She added: “Tolerance starts with one’s self. You have two ears, so listen to others before you talk and keep an open mind.”

Also speaking at the summit, President Rustam Nurgaliyevich Minnikhanov of Tatarstan discussed the progress of tolerance in the republic’s various cities, which have a population of 4 million people from 173 nationalities.

The two main religions in Tatarstan are Islam and Orthodox Christianity, and the sovereign state went through a long period of conflict before religious groups found common ground.

“We have gone from 20 mosques in (Tatarstan) to more than 1,500, with some just 200 meters away from a church,” said Minnikhanov. “Today, we have stability in our cities, and we have created a council to adopt a system through which we can strengthen the values of tolerance and maintain the peaceful coexistence of religious parties.”

More than 20 million Muslims currently reside in Tatarstan, where new policies in healthcare, education and tourism are catering to the “halal lifestyle,” he added.

Similarly, Muferihat Kamil, Minister of Peace in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia said her country aims to move forward from a past based on prejudiced conflict.

“The reason behind building a ministry of peace in Ethiopia is the aspirations we have for our people in the existing situation in the country,” she said. “We aim to empower our people and build peace that will resonate with the rest of the region.”

Lucy Jeannette Bermudez Bermudez, president of the State Council of Colombia, discussed her country’s current transition between its government, residents and armed groups. “In order to promote tolerance and respect in the country, our concentration has been on the group known as FARC — the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia, which has now evolved into a political party,” said Bermudez.

The conflict between government and paramilitary groups, crime syndicates and FARC in Colombia began in the mid-1960s, and she stressed the need for the coexistence of different views, religions and race.

“We have different characteristics that we have to live with and even celebrate,” she added. “The advances we see in the UAE are something we look forward to establishing in my country. This model of government is one we should all follow.” 


Lebanon says two dead in Israel strike

Updated 6 sec ago
Follow

Lebanon says two dead in Israel strike

BEIRUT: An Israeli strike killed a Lebanese father and son Tuesday in a southern village, the Lebanese health ministry and state media said, the latest deaths despite a November ceasefire.
A second son was also wounded in the strike in Shebaa, the state-run National News Agency reported. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
“An Israeli enemy drone carried out a strike in the village of Shebaa, killing two people and wounding one,” a health ministry statement said.
Israel had warned on Friday that it would keep up its strikes on Hezbollah targets across Lebanon despite the condemnation expressed by the Lebanese government after a massive strike on south Beirut the previous night on the eve of the Eid Al-Adha holiday.
Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah said the strikes levelled nine residential blocks. The Israeli military said they targeted underground drone factories.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the strikes as a “a flagrant violation” of the November 27 ceasefire agreement, which was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah that culminated in two months of full-blown war.


Israel commits ‘extermination’ in Gaza by killing in schools, UN experts say

Updated 24 min 7 sec ago
Follow

Israel commits ‘extermination’ in Gaza by killing in schools, UN experts say

  • In its latest report, the commission said Israel had destroyed more than 90 percent of the school and university buildings and more than half of all religious and cultural sites in Gaza

VIENNA: UN experts said in a report on Tuesday that Israel committed the crime against humanity of “extermination” by killing civilians sheltering in schools and religious sites in Gaza, part of a “concerted campaign to obliterate Palestinian life.”

The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel was due to present the report to Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council on June 17.

“We are seeing more and more indications that Israel is carrying out a concerted campaign to obliterate Palestinian life in Gaza,” former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, who chairs the commission, said in a statement.

“Israel’s targeting of the educational, cultural and religious life of the Palestinian people will harm the present generations and generations to come, hindering their right to self-determination,” she added.

The commission examined attacks on educational facilities and religious and cultural sites to assess if international law was breached.

Israel disengaged from the Human Rights Council in February, alleging it was biased.

When the commission’s last report in March found Israel carried out “genocidal acts” against Palestinians by systematically destroying women’s health care facilities during the conflict in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the findings were biased and antisemitic.

In its latest report, the commission said Israel had destroyed more than 90 percent of the school and university buildings and more than half of all religious and cultural sites in Gaza.

“Israeli forces committed war crimes, including directing attacks against civilians and wilful killing, in their attacks on educational facilities ... In killing civilians sheltering in schools and religious sites, Israeli security forces committed the crime against humanity of extermination,” it said.

The war was triggered when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in Israel in a surprise attack in October 2023, and took 251 hostages back to the enclave, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel responded with a military campaign that has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

Harm done to the Palestinian education system was not confined to Gaza, the report found, citing increased Israeli military operations in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as well as harassment of students and settler attacks there.

“Israeli authorities have also targeted Israeli and Palestinian educational personnel and students inside Israel who expressed concern or solidarity with the civilian population in Gaza, resulting in their harassment, dismissal or suspension and in some cases humiliating arrests and detention,” it said.

“Israeli authorities have particularly targeted female educators and students, intending to deter women and girls from activism in public places,” the commission added.


Israel says activist Greta Thunberg leaving on flight to France

Updated 9 min 28 sec ago
Follow

Israel says activist Greta Thunberg leaving on flight to France

  • Israel says Greta Thunberg is being deported after Gaza-bound ship she was on was seized

PARIS: Israel on Tuesday said Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg was leaving the country on a flight to France, after she was detained along with other activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid boat and taken to a Tel Aviv airport for deportation.
“Greta Thunberg is departing Israel on a flight to France,” Israel’s foreign ministry said on its official X account, along with two photos of the activist on board a plane.

Five French activists aboard the boat for Gaza were set to face an Israeli judge, the French foreign minister said on Tuesday.
“Our consul was able to see the six French nationals arrested by the Israeli authorities last night,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X. “One of them has agreed to leave voluntarily and should return today. The other five will be subject to forced deportation proceedings.”


Israel strikes Hodeidah port, threatens naval, air blockade

Updated 30 min 1 sec ago
Follow

Israel strikes Hodeidah port, threatens naval, air blockade

DUBAI:  Israel’s navy said it struck Houthi targets in the Yemen Red Sea port of Hodeidah on Tuesday and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened the Iran-aligned Houthis with a naval and air blockade if attacks on Israel continue.
Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said Israel targeted the docks of Al Hodeidah port with two strikes. The Israeli army said in a statement that Israel’s navy struck Houthi targets, adding the port is used by the Houthis to transfer weapons.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The strikes come after the Israeli military on Monday urged the evacuation of the Houthi-controlled ports of Ras Isa, Hodeidah and Salif.
“We warned the Houthi terror organization that if they continue to fire toward Israel, they will face a powerful response and will be subjected to a naval and aerial blockade,” Katz said in a statement on X.
Since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, the Iran-aligned Houthis have fired at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade, in what it says are acts of solidarity with the Palestinians.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones fired toward Israel have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
Israel has severely weakened other allies of Iran in the region — Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The Tehran-backed Houthis and pro-Iranian armed groups in Iraq are still standing.


Trump must tell Netanyahu ‘enough is enough’: ex-Israeli PM

Updated 10 June 2025
Follow

Trump must tell Netanyahu ‘enough is enough’: ex-Israeli PM

  • US President Donald Trump should tell Israel’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu “enough is enough,” a former Israeli prime minister told AFP,

PARIS: US President Donald Trump should tell Israel’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu “enough is enough,” a former Israeli prime minister told AFP, denouncing the continuation of the war in Gaza as a “crime” and insisting a two-state solution is the only way to end the conflict.
Ehud Olmert, prime minister between 2006-2009, said in an interview in Paris that the United States has more influence on the Israeli government “than all the other powers put together” and that Trump can “make a difference.”
He said Netanyahu “failed completely” as a leader by not preventing the October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas that sparked the war.
He said while the international community accepted Israel’s right to self-defense after October 7, this changed when Netanyahu spurned chances to end the war in March and instead ramped up operations.
Netanyahu “has his personal interests which are prioritized over what may be the national interests,” Olmert charged.
Analysts say Netanyahu fears that if he halts the war, hard-line members of his coalition will walk out, collapsing the government and forcing elections he could lose.
“If there is a war which is not going to save hostages, which cannot really eradicate more of what they did already against Hamas and if, as a result of this, soldiers are getting killed, hostages maybe get killed and innocent Palestinians are killed, then to my mind this is a crime,” said Olmert.
“And this is something that should be condemned and not accepted,” he said.
Trump should summon Netanyahu to the White House Oval Office and facing cameras, tell the Israeli leader: “’Bibi: enough is enough’,” Olmert said, using the premier’s nickname.
“This is it. I hope he (Trump) will do it. There is nothing that cannot happen with Trump. I don’t know if this will happen. We have to hope and we have to encourage him,” said Olmert.
Despite occasional expressions of concern about the situation in Gaza, the US remains Israel’s key ally, using its veto at the UN Security Council and approving billions of dollars in arms sales.


Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Militants abducted 251 hostages, 54 of whom remain in Gaza, including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed 54,880 people, mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry, figures the United Nations deems reliable.
Along with former Palestinian foreign minister Nasser Al-Qidwa, Olmert is promoting a plan to end decades of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians to create a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.
Both sides would swap 4.4 percent of each other’s land to the other, according to the plan, with Israel receiving some West Bank territory occupied by Israeli settlers and a future Palestinian state territory that is currently part of Israel.
Ahead of a meeting this month in New York co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia on steps toward recognizing a Palestinian state, Olmert said that such a plan is “practical, is doable, is relevant, is valid and is real.”
Olmert spent over a year in prison from 2016-2017 after being convicted in corruption scandals that ended his political career and efforts to forge peace.
A longtime political rival of Netanyahu even though they both emerged from the same Likud right-wing party, he also faces an uphill struggle to convince Israeli society where support for a Palestinian state, let alone land swaps, is at a low ebb after October 7.
“It requires a leadership on both sides,” said Olmert. “We are trying to raise international awareness and the awareness of our own societies that this is not something lost but offers a future of hope.”
Al-Qidwa, who is due to promote the plan alongside Olmert at a conference organized by the Jean-Jaures Foundation think tank in Paris on Tuesday, told AFP the blueprint was the “only game in town and the only doable solution.”
But he said societies in Israel and the Palestinian territories still had to be convinced, partly due to the continuation of the war.
“The moment the war comes to an end we will see a different kind of thinking. We have to go forward with acceptance of the co-existence of the two sides.”
But he added there could be no hope of “serious progress with the current Israeli government and current Palestinian leadership” under the aging president Mahmud Abbas, in office now for two decades.
“You have to get rid of both. And that is going to happen,” he said, labelling the Palestinian leadership as “corrupt and inept.”