GCC chief reiterates ‘firm and absolute’ support for Palestine
Jassem Mohamed Albudaiwi was speaking at an Arab Parliament plenary session in Cairo
Updated 13 July 2024
Arab News
LONDON: The Gulf Cooperation Council remains “firm and absolute” in its support of the Palestinian people, its secretary-general said on Saturday.
Jassem Mohamed Albudaiwi, who was speaking at an Arab Parliament plenary session in Cairo, said the GCC fully backs the Palestinians’ struggle to attain a state and their “legitimate rights.”
Albudaiwi also praised the role of the Arab Parliament and its efforts to promote collective action, especially while the Arab world was facing “immense and painful challenges,” foremost among them the Palestine cause, which, he added would “always remain the central and primary Arab priority,” the Saudi Press Agency reported.
This had been consistently reflected in the “clear and unwavering positions adopted by the GCC since its establishment,” he said.
“The tragic situation under which the Palestinian people are suffering, represented in the continuing crimes and violations by the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza Strip and other Palestinian territories, is a deep wound in the heart of every Arab and Muslim,” he continued, adding that Israel’s actions were not only a violation of human rights and international laws, but also a “blatant challenge to all human values and principles.”
The GCC has repeatedly called on the international community to adopt effective measures to ensure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. It has also called for a de-escalation of violence against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including Jerusalem and the holy Islamic sites, and a stop to settlement activities and land confiscation.
Albudaiwi reiterated the GCC’s call for the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative and “all relevant international resolutions.”
He said cooperation between the GCC, the Arab Parliament and other Arab institutions stemmed from a belief that “unity and solidarity among Arab states is the optimal path to achieve security, stability, and prosperity for the region.”
Israeli finance minister asks attorney general to submit request to courts to halt strike
The call for a one-day general strike by Arnon Bar-David, whose Histadrut union represents hundreds of thousands of workers, was backed by Israel’s main manufacturers and entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector
Updated 35 sec ago
Reuters
JERUSALEM: Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has asked the country’s attorney general to submit an urgent request to courts to block a planned nationwide strike on Monday that aims to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to bring back Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
In his letter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Smotrich argued that a strike had no legal basis since it aimed to improperly influence significant policy decisions of politicians on issues related to state security.
He also said that a broad strike — which would shut the country including outgoing flights — has significant economic consequences which would cause unnecessary economic damage in wartime.
The call for a one-day general strike by Arnon Bar-David, whose Histadrut union represents hundreds of thousands of workers, was backed by Israel’s main manufacturers and entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector. The stoppage would begin at 6 a.m. (0300 GMT).
There was no immediate response from Baharav-Miara.
Thousands of Turks protest controversial law to remove stray dogs
A report released by the Safe Streets and Defense of the Right to Life Association, an organization campaigning for the removal of all stray dogs from the streets, says that 65 people have died in street dog attacks since 2022
Updated 24 min 6 sec ago
AP
ISTANBUL: Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Istanbul on Sunday to protest recent legislation that critics say is leading to the killing of stray dogs across Turkiye.
Last month, legislators approved the new law aimed at removing millions of stray dogs from Turkish streets citing safety concerns. Animal-lovers fear it will lead to widespread culling or dogs ending up in disease-ridden and overcrowded shelters.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the law was necessary to deal with the country’s “stray dog problem.”
Sunday’s protesters called for the law to be repealed, brandishing posters reading ‘shelters are death camps’ and ‘withdraw the bloody law.’
“We want this law to be withdrawn immediately,” protester Hasan Kizilyatak, 64, told The Associated Press. “They (stray dogs) are living beings, just like us. We are here because we are against them being annihilated.”
Ayten Arslan, 55, who said she supports Erdogan, also showed up to protest.
“Just like we stood beside our president on July 15 (2016) when there was a coup attempt, we are here for the stray animals,” she told the AP. “I say as an AK Party supporter, this law, is a bloody law.”
The main opposition Republican People’s Party moved to repeal the law in the Constitutional Court less than two weeks after it passed.
The government estimates that around 4 million stray dogs roam Turkiye’s streets and rural areas. Although most are harmless, several people, including children, have been attacked.
A report released by the Safe Streets and Defense of the Right to Life Association, an organization campaigning for the removal of all stray dogs from the streets, says that 65 people have died in street dog attacks since 2022.
The new legislation requires municipalities to collect stray dogs and house them in shelters to be vaccinated, neutered and spayed before making them available for adoption. Dogs that are in pain, terminally ill or pose a health risk to humans will be euthanized. The initial draft bill included cats, but that article was changed after a public outcry.
However, many question where cash-strapped municipalities would find the money to build the necessary extra shelters required.
Animal rights activists worry that some municipalities might kill dogs on the pretext that they are ill rather than allocate resources to shelter them.
Videos showing dead cats and dogs buried in ditches have been circulating on social media recently. Animal rights activists say the animals were indiscriminately killed after the passage of the law.
Iraq has regained some semblance of stability in recent years, despite sporadic violence and political turmoil
Updated 33 min 19 sec ago
AFP
BAGHDAD: Iraq will impose a two-day curfew in November for the country’s first census in 27 years, the authorities announced on Sunday.
The “curfew will be imposed in all provinces of Iraq on November 20 and 21 to conduct a population census,” Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani said in a statement.
Ravaged by decades of conflict and violence, Iraq has postponed a census several times, most notably in 2010 because of tensions between communities over disputed territories.
The last general census was held in 1997 in 15 Iraqi provinces — excluding the three northern provinces that made up the autonomous Kurdistan Region.
Iraq has regained some semblance of stability in recent years, despite sporadic violence and political turmoil.
Current estimates put today’s population at around 43 million.
The authorities have partnered with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for the upcoming census.
The initiative “plays a crucial role in equipping Iraq with accurate demographic information, facilitating effective policymaking, and promoting inclusive growth,” the agency has said.
In the past, Iraq held a census every 10 years. A count could not be organized in 2007, when the country was embroiled in sectarian violence.
A Libyan human trafficker sanctioned by the UN has been killed in Tripoli, officials say
Amid the chaos, the oil-rich country has emerged as a major conduit for people from Africa
Updated 02 September 2024
AP
CAIRO: One of Libya’s most wanted human traffickers was killed Sunday in the capital, Tripoli, Libyan officials said, fueling tension in the western part of the North African country.
Abdel-Rahman Milad, who commanded a coast guard unit in the western town of Zawiya and was sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council, was shot dead by unknown assailants, the officials said.
The circumstances of his death were not immediately known, and no group claimed responsibility for his killing.
Libyan media outlets reported that he was shot while he was in his vehicle in the Sayyad area, in the western part of Tripoli. Footage circulated online showed a white Toyota Land Cruiser for Milad with bullet marks on its side.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity for their safety. There was no comment from the Tripoli-based government of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.
Moammar Dhawi, a militia leader in western Libya, mourned Milad’s death. In a statement, posted on Facebook, he called for an investigation to bring the perpetrators to account.
Libya has been plagued by corruption and turmoil since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. The county has since then split between two administrations, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments.
Amid the chaos, the oil-rich country has emerged as a major conduit for people from Africa and the Middle East fleeing wars and poverty and hoping to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
In June 2018, the Security Council imposed sanctions on Milad and five other leaders of criminal networks allegedly engaged in trafficking migrants and others from Libya. At the time, Milad was described as the head of a coast guard unit in Zawiya “that is consistently linked with violence against migrants and other human smugglers” from rival gangs.
UN experts monitoring sanctions claimed Milad and other coast guard members “are directly involved in the sinking of migrant boats using firearms.”
Milad had denied any links to human smuggling and said traffickers wear uniforms similar to those of his men. He was jailed for about six months between October 2020 and April 2021 on human trafficking and fuel smuggling charges.
Waiting game continues for Lebanon residents as fear of Hezbollah-Israel war persists
Residents of country’s south cautiously resume routines as border tension eases slightly
Confrontation may have paused, but likelihood of a conflict in the future remains high
Updated 02 September 2024
NAJIA HOUSSARI
BEIRUT: After weeks of tension, residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs as well as towns and villages in south Lebanon have resumed semi-normal routines, yet they remain cautious, keeping evacuation kits at their doorsteps.
Since Hezbollah’s retaliation for the killing of a senior military commander and close associate of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, residents feared that Israel might exploit the situation to launch a devastating assault on the Iran-backed Shiite Lebanese group.
Lebanese men watch at a cafe in Beirut's southern suburbs on August 25, 2024, as Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah announces on television that his group's attack on Israel targeted the Glilot base near Tel Aviv during an exchange of strikes with Israel that threatened to erupt into a full-scale war. (AFP)
Hezbollah’s muted response, coupled with Israeli indications that it did not want a full-scale war, has brought some relief to residents of south Lebanon. Yet many of them consider the reprieve merely temporary and the risk of a future conflict as high, in the absence of an agreement to calm the border front with Israel and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah and Israel each claimed victory on Aug. 25, when the former lobbed hundreds of missiles and drones at the latter to avenge the elimination of Fuad Shukr on July 30.
Hezbollah launched its assault in two stages — first with 340 rockets aimed at Israeli intelligence and military bases, then with drones targeting the Glilot base near Tel Aviv. Israel claimed it pre-emptively thwarted the attacks, destroying 90 percent of the Hezbollah rockets in the process.
The short confrontation on that day was regarded as mutually satisfactory, allowing a return to “business as usual” and rules of engagement in place since Oct. 8, 2023.
“From the start, Hezbollah has declared it doesn’t want war, but it is ready to confront any Israeli aggression,” a source close to Hezbollah told Arab News, adding that the group’s aim is to protect Lebanese civilians.
Analysts and experts have a somewhat different opinion. Some believe that a strong American military presence in the region played a role in deterring further escalation. The UN Security Council’s unanimous vote to extend UNIFIL’s mandate by another year was viewed by politicians, including caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, as a sign that Lebanon’s stability is an international priority.
Lebanon has been in a state of financial meltdown that started in October 2019. The crisis, believed to be the world’s worst since the mid-19th century, has created dire living conditions for its population.
In this photo taken on July 27, 2022, long lines form outside a bakery in north Lebanon's port city of Tripoli as a years-long economic crisis depleted state coffers. (AFP)
To make matters worse, political divisions have prevented the election of a new president and the adoption of economic reforms needed for Lebanon to qualify for international loans. Analysts say the last thing the country can afford now is a bigger war.
Yet questions linger. Can Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, prevent future conflicts, despite the limitations that have become evident over the past 11 months?
“The southern front has returned to traditional patterns of confrontation,” Ali Fadlallah, a Lebanese expert in international relations, told Arab News. “Israel’s claim of pre-empting Hezbollah’s attack was false. Hezbollah’s drones reached their targets. Israel’s quick declaration of the end of its military operation suggested that Hezbollah’s response had acted as a deterrent.”
Nevertheless, he acknowledges that cross-border tensions are high, although they have eased slightly. “I expect this situation to continue until the US elections in November,” he said.
Israeli soldiers evacuate an injured man following a cross-border attack by Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon on September 1, 2024. (REUTERS)
Israel has solid reasons to avoid a full-scale war with Hezbollah, at least for now. Its soldiers have been fighting on two fronts since the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, without being able to destroy the Palestinian militant group and secure the release of scores of Israelis still held captive in Gaza.
Since Oct. 8, the Israeli military has also failed to push Hezbollah fighters at least 10 to 12 kilometers from its border to allow the safe return of 80,000 displaced people to northern Israel.
Against this backdrop, Israel’s demand for a ceasefire, rather than a cessation of hostilities as called for in Resolution 1701, is seen as reflecting a continuing view of southern Lebanon as an active front.
Citing repeated Israeli breaches of Lebanon’s airspace and sovereignty, as well as territorial disputes along the border claimed by Lebanon, Fadlallah said Resolution 1701 was flawed from the beginning since UNIFIL forces were stationed only on Lebanese soil.
Still, he said, “despite its flaws, 1701 remains the most accepted framework for maintaining stability.”
Resolution 1701 led to UNIFIL peacekeepers being deployed in southern Lebanon to monitor a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel. Yet provisions of the resolution remain unfulfilled, including full Lebanese sovereignty over border areas.
INNUMBERS
• 130-plus civilians killed in Lebanon since Hezbollah joined fight with Israel on Oct. 8, 2023.
• 110,000 Lebanese displaced from border villages by Hezbollah-Israel fighting.
• More than 90 percent of Syrian and Palestinian refugees in Lebanon live below the poverty line.
Robert Wood, the US ambassador to the UN, recently highlighted what he called continued efforts by Hezbollah to undermine the resolution, threatening both UNIFIL’s mandate and regional security.
“Resolution 1701 is the best hope for stability amid Hezbollah’s war of attrition,” Mohieddin Houshaimi, an international law expert, told Arab News.
Disconnected from Lebanese state institutions, Hezbollah’s unilateral decisions have not protected the country from Israeli aggression or civilian displacement, he said
UNIFIL peacekeepers man a position near Khiam in southern Lebanon on August 23, 2024, as Israel and Hezbollah continue to exchange fire. (AFP)
At least 130 civilians have been killed in Lebanon since Hezbollah joined the fight with Israel as a “support front” on Oct. 8. According to Imran Riza, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, more than 110,000 people have been displaced from the border villages and a further 150,000 remain within 10 kilometers of the UN-patrolled “Blue Line” in areas of south Lebanon.
Houshaimi warned of a dead-end situation, with unregulated engagement and Hezbollah undermining state authority. “Resolution 1701 remains key to any solution, and the recent decision to extend UNIFIL’s mandate took on unusual importance due to the escalating situation,” he said.
Despite widespread breaches by Hezbollah and Israel, he believes Resolution 1701 still holds value even though it has failed to earn the full respect of either side
Opinion
This section contains relevant reference points, placed in (Opinion field)
Fares Souaid, a political analyst and former Lebanese MP, believes Hezbollah chief Nasrallah’s speech after Shukr’s elimination by Israel clarified a few things.
“Hezbollah proved that Israel cannot win a war without US support, just as Hezbollah and Hamas need Iran. With US-Iran indirect communication ongoing, we might see a temporary truce,” he said.
Souaid also pointed to Nasrallah’s announcement that Hezbollah had moved its arsenal north of the Litani River before Shukr’s killing, saying that it offered Israel a kind of security assurance.
Under the circumstances, Souaid believes a full-blown war is not imminent. Instead, he sees instead indirect negotiations between the US and Iran as a driving force in future developments
A portrait of slain Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr is displayed during a demonstration in the Lebanese coastal city of Sidonon August 2, 2024, to denounce his killing during an Israeli airstrike. (AFP)
Nevertheless, late on Friday the Israeli air force reportedly struck military structures and launchers allegedly belonging to Hezbollah in the Tayr Harfa area of south Lebanon. Warplanes also launched strikes at Maryamine and Yaroun in southern Lebanon while Hezbollah fired about 40 rockets into Israel that landed in the Upper Galilee.
“War could break out at any time,” said MP Bilal Abdullah of Lebanon’s Democratic Gathering political bloc, adding that the killings of Shukr in Beirut and Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran were a hint that Israel might take more unilateral actions to reshape the region’s geopolitical landscape.
Abdullah said the unresolved Palestinian issue has been a source of instability since 1948. “The failure to grant Palestinians their natural rights fuels instability,” he said
Iranians take part in a funeral procession for late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, on August 1, 2024, ahead of his burial in Qatar. (AFP)
Despite an overall decrease in tensions along the southern border, Lebanon faces two stark possibilities: either reaching a significant agreement with international powers, or the postponement of an inevitable war, as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has suggested.
Meanwhile, residents of border towns affected daily by Israeli shelling and airstrikes remain on edge, fearing further escalation. Recently, images circulated of trucks carrying goods from the southern border town of Mays Al-Jabal to safer areas, prompting worries about future displacement.
Some say these departures amount to a permanent move by local residents out of a war-prone area, but Hezbollah has rejected this theory. Activists of the group called the evacuation “a step to minimize losses” rather than an abandonment of border towns.
Whatever the truth, intense Western-led diplomatic efforts continue with a view to reduce tensions and avoid deadly miscalculations.
