India, China reach border patrolling agreement on disputed frontier
India, China reach border patrolling agreement on disputed frontier/node/2576138/world
India, China reach border patrolling agreement on disputed frontier
Indian army soldiers walk along a road near Zojila mountain pass that connects Srinagar to the union territory of Ladakh, bordering China on Feb. 28, 2021. (AFP)
New Delhi: India and China have reached a patrolling agreement along their disputed border in the Himalayas, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced on Monday, saying it can lead to disengagement and resolution of a conflict that began in 2020.
The latest development comes on the eve of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia for a meeting of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, where he could hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines.
India-China ties have been strained since 2020, following deadly clashes on their de facto Himalayan border known as the Line of Actual Control.
Both countries have since deployed thousands of troops to the area and downscaled engagements, while their officials have engaged in multiple talks aiming to resolve the standoff.
“I can share with you that over the last several weeks Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military negotiators have been in close contact with each other in a variety of forums,” Misri told a press conference in New Delhi.
“As a result of these discussions, agreement has been arrived at on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas, leading to disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020,” he added, without providing more details.
India and China have been unable to agree on their 3,500-km border since they fought a war in 1962.
India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi last met in July to try and resolve their border issues.
The specifics of the latest agreement are key to evaluating the most recent developments, said Manoj Kewalramani, a fellow in China studies and chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Studies Programme at the Takshashila Institution.
“If it covers all friction points and the wider boundary, then it is a positive step. Implementation, of course, will be the key. Let’s see how that plays out in the weeks and months ahead,” he told Arab News.
The announcement “clearly indicates” that a meeting between Modi and Xi is likely to take place this week, he added.
India’s Foreign Ministry has yet to confirm plans for bilateral talks on the sideline of BRICS and said it is still “looking into” Modi’s final agenda in Russia.
“They have not had a formal bilateral meeting since October 2019. Ties have worsened significantly since April-May 2020. It is important for both countries to have a broad-based and sustained dialogue process,” Kewalramani said.
“A meeting of the two leaders is important for that, (though) the fundamental nature of the relationship will remain competitive.”
Italy PM seeks to save Albanian migrant deal amid spat with judges
Rome has said that other European Union countries are interested in its flagship policy
12 Bangladesh and Egyptian migrants sent to Albania last week had to leave again after the judges’ ruling
Updated 16 sec ago
AFP
ROME: Italy’s hard-right government passed a new law Monday to overcome legal opposition to a migrant deal with Albania, as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni accused judges of political bias.
The decree, which was adopted at a cabinet meeting late Monday, enshrines in law the government’s definition of countries as “safe,” which would mean Rome can fast-track applications from asylum seekers from those countries.
The move follows a ruling by Italian judges on Friday against the detention of the first migrants sent for processing in Italian-run centers in Albania.
Rome has said that other European Union countries are interested in its flagship policy as a way of processing asylum requests in countries outside the bloc.
But 12 Bangladesh and Egyptian migrants sent to Albania last week had to leave again after the judges’ ruling and were taken to Italy.
The judges pointed to a recent European Court of Justice ruling which stipulates that EU states can only designate whole countries as safe, not parts. Some nations on Italy’s list include areas which are not considered safe.
As a general rule, EU law takes precedence over conflicting national laws.
Meloni on Friday slammed the ruling as “prejudiced” and said she had called the cabinet meeting “to approve laws to overcome this obstacle, because I don’t think it’s up to the judges to say which countries are safe, but the government.”
The cabinet decree would enter into force immediately, before being made law by parliament, where the government has a majority.
The law states that all parts of the designated countries are safe for all categories of people, disregarding caveats in the government’s current directives.
However, the government did exclude three countries — Cameroon, Colombia and Nigeria — from its previous list of 22 “safe” countries in order to conform with a recent ruling from the European Court of Justice. The list of countries will be updated annually.
Immigration lawyer Guido Savio told AFP the abrupt change would likely lead to new legal challenges.
Italy has long been on the front line of migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe and Meloni was elected in 2022 on a pledge to stop the boats.
Her coalition has previously clashed with judges over attempts to limit the work done by charity organizations who rescue migrants at sea.
The row escalated Sunday, with Meloni publishing excerpts on social media of a letter sent by one prosecutor to a group which includes judges.
In it, Marco Patarnello warned that Meloni is “stronger and much more dangerous” than former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who faced frequent legal woes and who repeatedly attacked the judiciary.
Right-wing politicians said the letter proved the legal bias against the government.
Critics pointed out however that Meloni did not post the rest of the text, in which Patarnello said “we must not engage in political opposition, but we must defend jurisdiction and the citizens’ right to an independent judge.”
Across the European Union, individual member states are responsible for drawing up their own “safe” country lists. However, the EU intends eventually to agree on a bloc-wide list, officials say.
Survey finds 87 percent of Arab Americans intend to vote in US election
Poll shows why election candidates would be well advised not take the Arab American vote for granted
Women’s engagement with the election process has increased significantly since 2016, when 32 percent did not vote
Updated 24 min 55 sec ago
Arab News
LONDON: A poll conducted for Arab News by YouGov reveals that 87 percent of Arab Americans intend to vote in next month’s presidential election.
Since 2016, Arab-American participation in presidential elections has grown steadily. Eight years ago, 67 percent of those surveyed turned out to vote, rising to 79 percent in 2020. This year, only 6 percent said they will not bother voting, with 7 percent still undecided.
The intention to vote on Nov. 5 is stronger among men (92 percent) than women (81 percent). However, women’s engagement with the presidential election process has increased significantly since 2016, when 32 percent did not vote.
Since 2016, Arab-American participation in presidential elections has grown steadily. (AFP)
This fell to 26 percent in 2020, and now only 11 percent said they will not vote next month, with 8 percent still undecided.
Older respondents are more likely to vote, with 90 percent of those over 55 years of age signaling their intention to do so, compared with 84 percent of 18-34-year-olds.
Most likely to head to the polls are those who live in the west and south (where 92 and 91 percent respectively intend to vote), people educated up to post-graduate level (97 percent), and those on an annual salary of $80,000 or more (94 percent).
Overall, 80 percent of those polled believe their vote matters. Seventy-four percent of Arab-American women believe their vote matters, compared with 86 percent of men.
Historically, many Arab Americans have felt that their vote did not count for much, “but that’s no longer the case at all because of where that constituency is,” Firas Maksad, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told the Arab News podcast “Frankly Speaking.”
Large Arab-American communities are found in “states like Michigan, that are going to be crucial, and even in Georgia (there is) a significant population and in Northern Virginia.
“So although the Arab-American community is relatively small — perhaps some 1 percent of the general American population — in elections so tightly contested as they are today, not only at the general national level but in the pivotal swing states like Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania, the margin here is 0.5 percent one way or the other, and that makes the Arab-American vote a crucial constituency to win.”
The poll shows that all candidates would be well advised not to take the Arab-American vote for granted — 84 percent say regardless of whether an election is looming, they keep up with political developments either most of the time (44 percent) or some of the time (40 percent).
Frankly Speaking: Does the Arab American vote matter?
Updated 7 min 50 sec ago
Arab News
DUBAI: As the US presidential election looms, a YouGov poll commissioned by Arab News has revealed a near-even split between former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris among Arab American voters. This result may surprise some, but according to a prominent Arab American analyst of Middle East affairs, it reflects the general sentiment among the US public, where key constituencies in swing states will determine the next occupant of the White House.
“Clearly, we see that the Arab American public generally reflects the same trend here as the American public because so many of these Arab Americans are not newly naturalized,” Firas Maksad, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said on the Arab News weekly current affairs show “Frankly Speaking.”
The YouGov survey results suggest that the Israeli war in Gaza and other events in the Middle East weigh strongly on the mind of the average Arab American voter. “But at the end of the day, it’s American Arab rather than Arab American,” Maksad said. “They have to vote based on bread-and-butter issues, the well-being of their families, the issues that impact them at home, rather than have an impact overseas. That’s not surprising.
“They are second, third, fourth-generation Arab Americans. Some of them came here in the mid-1800s. And so, they very much reflect the general sentiment in the American population.”
He added: “When asked point-blank about the significance of Gaza, most Arab Americans rank it as the top issue. However, that doesn’t seem to reflect in their overall choice. You would expect that not so many of them would be voting for President Trump, who was so clearly pro-Israel, who moved the American Embassy to Jerusalem and allowed Israel to annex the occupied Golan Heights,” Maksad said.
“There might be some tension between what Arab Americans say when asked what they think about Palestine, and the fact that they are also Americans who have their livelihood to worry about, the economy being chief among them, but also things like immigration. For so many women, also issues relating to their reproductive rights and abortion.”
Historically, the Arab vote has had little impact on the results of US elections. But is that still the case or has something changed? “That’s not the case,” Maksad said, “because of where they (Arab American voters) are, where that constituency is. States like Michigan that are going to be crucial, but even in Georgia, a significant population. Close to where I am in Washington, D.C. is Virginia, and there is a significant Arab population there in northern Virginia,” he said.
Indeed, elections that hinge on narrow margins make smaller constituencies like Arab Americans vital to either party’s success. Their impact in key states is magnified when considering the razor-thin victories in recent elections. The race in many states is so tight that “the margin is 0.5 percent one way or the other,” Maksad told Katie Jensen, host of “Frankly Speaking.”
He added: “So, that makes the Arab American vote a crucial one, a crucial constituency to win. We see that reflected in the positions of the various campaigns and the efforts to cater to, and to win over, that segment of the population.”
Firas Maksad unpacked the YouGov survey findings with ‘Frankly Speaking’ host Katie Jensen. (AN photo)
Maksad added that the “willingness and excitement” of Arab Americans to vote, “far exceeding” that of the general population, is a “sign of health that the Arab American community is engaged in the democratic process here in the US, particularly when there are concerns about discrimination and racism.”
Some 40 percent of Arab Americans who were surveyed by YouGov considered themselves Democrats while 28 percent were Republicans. Yet a slim majority was going to vote for Trump.
“The question has been out there as to whether some of this is a protest vote against the Biden-Harris ticket or team for their inability or lack of a political will to rein in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” Maksad said.
“But, again, what’s sort of puzzling about this is that if this is a protest vote, you wouldn’t necessarily vote for Trump because he is even more pro-Israeli for all the reasons that we’ve already discussed. You would go through a third party candidate like the Greens. So, I don’t know how much of that can be prescribed to what has unfolded in the Middle East.”
Maksad said that factors such as immigration and the economy need to be taken into account, too. “Immigration seemed to very interestingly rank very high on the minds of Arab Americans, which honestly, as an immigrant myself, I was not completely surprised by because those who immigrated here legally and went through the process, and paid the taxes, tend to feel pretty strongly about those who are cutting in line and not paying their fair share,” he said.
“So, illegal immigration here, which often plays in favor of Trump rather than Harris, could also be a factor.”
Looking ahead, Maksad said that a snapshot look at the latest US opinion polls suggested that the Trump campaign is gaining momentum. So, what would a Trump win mean for the Middle East?
“The sense, whether rightfully or wrongfully, is that President Trump is a much more forceful figure, particularly when it comes to the Middle East. Everybody here recalls the Abraham Accords (between Israel and several Arab countries), which many did not think were possible,” he said.
“There’s that sense then, this promise that President Trump has kept repeating that he will end those wars, whether it’s the war in Ukraine or the war in Gaza. We will have to see whether he will make good on that promise.
“Whether he will be able to bring Netanyahu to heel on issues that the US wants to … is an open question.”
Biden’s Israel policy has eroded support for Democrats among Arab Americans: Survey
Poll illustrates how attitudes have switched from the Democrats to the Republicans
Perception is that the Biden administration has failed to rein in Israel or hold it to account
Updated 26 min 29 sec ago
Arab News
LONDON: When Arab Americans go to the polls on Nov. 5 to cast their vote for the next US president, more of them intend to vote for Republican candidate Donald Trump than his Democratic rival Kamala Harris.
The finding is one of several surprising results from a poll conducted for Arab News by YouGov.
The Arab-American vote is virtually polarized. Asked which candidate they are most likely to vote for, 45 percent said Trump while 43 percent opted for Harris, although this gap could easily be narrowed — or made slightly wider — by the survey’s 5.93 percent margin of error.
“The fact that they’re so evenly split is surprising, particularly given what’s been happening in Gaza and now Lebanon,” Firas Maksad, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told the Arab News podcast “Frankly Speaking.”
He added: “You’d think that that would have an impact and would dampen the vote for somebody who is so staunchly pro-Israel like Donald Trump, but clearly that’s not the case.”
Instead, “the Arab-American public generally reflects the same trend here as the (general) American public. Many aren’t newly naturalized, they’re second, third and fourth-generation Arab Americans — some (families) came here in the mid-1800s, and so they very much reflect the general sentiment in the American population.”
What is highly significant, however, is what the finding reveals about how support for the Democrats has ebbed away over the course of the year-long war in Gaza, and the perception among Arab Americans that the Biden administration has failed to rein in Israel or hold it to account.
The slightly greater support for Trump than for Harris comes despite the fact that 40 percent of those polled describe themselves as Democrats, 28 percent as Republicans and 23 percent as independents.
This contradiction is amplified by the fact that 35 percent of respondents describe themselves as politically moderate, and 27 percent as liberal or very liberal. Only a third say they are conservative or very conservative.
The poll illustrates how many Arab Americans have switched their allegiance from the Democrats to the Republicans.
Thirty-seven percent of those polled voted for Trump in 2016, with 27 percent having backed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
By 2020, however, Arab-American support for Trump had drained away after a presidency that saw his administration formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, moving the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv, and preside over the Abraham Accords, which were widely seen as favoring Israel and marginalizing the Palestinians.
Joe Biden, credited in various exit polls as having won the Muslim vote, was the clear beneficiary in 2020.
This is reflected in the current YouGov poll, which found that in 2020, 43 percent of respondents backed Biden, with Trump’s share of the Arab-American vote down to 34 percent.
Support for the Democrats has ebbed away over the course of the year-long war in Gaza, and the perception among Arab Americans that the Biden administration has failed to rein in Israel or hold it to account. (AP)
Now, it seems, the tide has turned back in favor of the Republican ticket, a vote perhaps not so much for Trump — who has announced an intention to expand his notorious 2017 ban on Muslim travelers and said if elected he would bar Palestinian refugees from the US — but against Biden’s record in the Middle East over the past year of conflict.
In September, the Muslim mayor of Hamtramck, in the battleground state of Michigan and known as the only Muslim-majority city in the US, reportedly surprised many in the Arab-American community when he publicly endorsed Trump for president — a decision that the current YouGov poll shows to be no real surprise at all.
“President Trump and I may not agree on everything, but I know he is a man of principles,” Amer Ghalib wrote on Facebook.
Ghalib had met Trump at a town hall meeting in Flint, Michigan, at which the two discussed issues of concern to Arab Americans.
Michigan, with a large proportion of Arab-American voters, is one of several swing states that could decide the outcome on Nov. 5.
“The question is whether some of this is a protest vote against the Biden-Harris team for their inability, or lack of a political will, to rein in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” said Maksad.
“But what’s puzzling about this is that if this is a protest vote, you wouldn’t necessarily vote for Trump because he was even more pro-Israeli, so you’d go to a third-party candidate such as the Greens (Jill Stein).
“So I don’t know how much (of the support for Trump) can be ascribed to what has unfolded in the Middle East. One also has to think of all the other factors (such as) immigration and the economy.”
Overall, 47 percent of those polled believe a Trump presidency would be better for the US economy, against 41 percent for Harris.
Surprisingly, the YouGov survey found little support for Stein, a vocal critic of Israel’s military offensives in Gaza and Lebanon whose running mate is Butch Ware, a history professor at the University of California and a leading academic authority on Islam.
Despite the fact that Stein has spoken out frequently against Israel’s actions, a surprising 44 percent of Arab Americans said they do not know what her stance is toward the current Israeli government.
Only 9 percent say they are unaware of the two main candidates’ attitudes to the Israeli government.
“Traditionally, some Arab Americans would like a third-party candidate,” Joseph Haboush, a former non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute and Washington correspondent for Al Arabiya English, said on the Arab News-sponsored “Ray Hanania Radio Show.”
Haboush added: “But I think the chatter you hear about a third party is out of frustration. There were a lot of Arab Americans who thought a Democratic administration would be better, particularly those who care more about the Palestinian issue, and I think they’ve had a rude awakening.”
Only 4 percent said they will vote for Stein, although the survey reveals greater support for her among Arab-American voters in the Midwest (13 percent), reinforcing previous findings that her popularity among Muslims in key battleground states could significantly impact the two main candidates.
A survey carried out in late August by the Council on American-Islamic Relations found that in Michigan, a battleground Midwest state that is home to a large Arab-American community, 40 percent of Muslim voters back Stein, leaving Trump with 18 percent and Harris with 12 percent.
The CAIR survey also found significant support for Stein among Muslims in other key states, including Wisconsin (44 percent), Arizona (35 percent) and Pennsylvania (25 percent).
In the YouGov survey, Stein’s 13 percent Arab-American support in the Midwest comes chiefly at the expense of the two main candidates, costing Harris and Trump 7 percentage points apiece.
This could prove to be hugely significant. Stein stands no chance of winning the election, but in 2016, when she garnered only 1 percent of the vote, Democrats blamed her for taking crucial votes away from Clinton, costing her the presidency.
A third of Arab Americans support one-state solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Poll
Half of those surveyed support the long-proposed two-state solution, with one for Israelis and one for Palestinians
But 34 percent favor the creation of a single state in which Palestinians and Israelis would have equal rights
Updated 26 min 23 sec ago
Arab News
LONDON: One of the biggest surprises to emerge from a survey conducted for Arab News by YouGov is the extent of support among Arab Americans for a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Half of those surveyed support the long-proposed two-state solution, “one for Israelis and one for Palestinians with shared governance over the city of Jerusalem.”
But 34 percent favor the creation of a single state in which Palestinians and Israelis would have equal rights.
The one-state solution gains most support among the younger generation — 43 percent of those aged 18-34, against 23 percent among those aged 55 or older.
Surprisingly, 6 percent support no change to the current situation, “with one state for Israelis and no state for Palestinians,” while 9 percent do not know.
In May, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he no longer supports a two-state solution.
He told Time magazine: “There was a time when I thought two states could work. Now I think two states is going to be … much tougher to get.”
Four years ago, he said: “You had a lot of people that liked the idea. Today, you have far fewer people (who like it).”
But as yet, Trump has offered no alternative solution. According to the YouGov survey, his stance on the issue does not appear to have harmed his popularity among Arab Americans, who are as likely to vote for him as for his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris.
Nevertheless, Trump’s remarks are calculated to appeal directly to the influential pro-Israel lobby in the US.
His comments were welcomed by Israel’s extreme right, pro-settler Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who opposes Palestinian statehood.
“I congratulate … Donald Trump for his clear words and his return from his support for the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Smotrich tweeted.
“A Palestinian state would be a terrorist state that would endanger the existence of Israel and the international pressure to establish it is an injustice on a historical scale of the Western countries who are willing to endanger the only Jewish state due to internal political interests.”
Trump’s view about the two-state solution is directly opposed to that of Harris. During a televised debate with him on Sept. 10, Harris said she would work for a two-state solution “round the clock.”
She added: “We must have a two-state solution where we can rebuild Gaza, where the Palestinians have security, self-determination and the dignity they so rightly deserve.”
