You are here

  • Home
  • UAE, GCC welcome ICJ ruling on Israeli settlements in Palestine

UAE, GCC welcome ICJ ruling on Israeli settlements in Palestine

UAE, GCC welcome ICJ ruling on Israeli settlements in Palestine
A bulldozer operates at a construction site in Givat HaMatos, an Israeli settlement suburb of annexed east Jerusalem on December 7, 2023. (File/AFP)
Short Url

https://arab.news/nv7mc

Updated 20 July 2024
Arab News
Follow

UAE, GCC welcome ICJ ruling on Israeli settlements in Palestine

UAE, GCC welcome ICJ ruling on Israeli settlements in Palestine
  • ICJ had reinforced the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights under international law, Albudaiwi says
Updated 20 July 2024
Arab News
Follow

DUBAI: The UAE and the Gulf Cooperation Council have welcomed a ruling by the UN’s top court that Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory break international law.

The International Court of Justice issued the judgment, which is non-binding, on Friday.

The court ruled that “the transfer by Israel of settlers to the West Bank and Jerusalem as well as Israel’s maintenance of their presence, is contrary to article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.”

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country rejected all measures aimed at altering the historical and legal status of occupied Palestine.

The ministry condemned practices that contravene international resolutions, warning that such actions “threaten further escalation and instability in the region, and hinder efforts to achieve peace and stability.” It also emphasized the importance of supporting initiatives to advance the peace process in the Middle East as well as bringing an end to “Israel’s illegal practices that undermine an independent Palestinian state.”

GCC Secretary-General Jassem Mohamed Albudaiwi said that the ICJ had reinforced the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights under international law and UN resolutions to reclaim territories occupied by Israel. He asserted that the settlement activities and geographic changes imposed by Israeli forces are “illegitimate and lack regional or international recognition.”

Albudaiwi reiterated that the Occupied Territories remain “the inherent right of the Palestinian people” and reaffirmed the GCC’s steadfast support for the Palestinian cause, advocating for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The ICJ’s ruling comes against the backdrop of Israel’s devastating bombardment on Gaza, following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli settlements adjacent to the Palestinian enclave.

Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem in 1967, but Palestinians consider those areas to be an integral part of any future independent state.

The ruling was also welcomed by Saudi Arabia and the Muslim World League.


 

Topics: UAE GCC International Court of Justice (ICJ) Palestine

Related

Saudi Arabia, MWL welcome ICJ ruling on Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, MWL welcome ICJ ruling on Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories
Pakistan welcomes ICJ ruling on Israeli occupation of Palestine, calls on world to implement it
Pakistan
Pakistan welcomes ICJ ruling on Israeli occupation of Palestine, calls on world to implement it

Israel strikes south Beirut as Hezbollah says targeted south Israel

Israel strikes south Beirut as Hezbollah says targeted south Israel
Updated 16 sec ago
Follow

Israel strikes south Beirut as Hezbollah says targeted south Israel

Israel strikes south Beirut as Hezbollah says targeted south Israel
Updated 16 sec ago
Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported three raids “within the third round of strikes on the southern suburbs today“
AFPTV footage showed columns of smoke rising from the area, usually a densely populated residential district but now largely emptied

BEIRUT: Successive rounds of Israeli strikes hit Hezbollah’s southern Beirut stronghold Thursday after Israeli military evacuation warnings, while Hezbollah claimed a series of attacks including on a base near south Israel’s Ashdod, its deepest so far.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported three raids “within the third round of strikes on the southern suburbs today,” saying they hit the Haret Hreik and Hadath areas.
It had earlier reported two other rounds of three raids each on the southern suburbs, including a “very violent strike” on Haret Hreik and a raid on the Kafaat neighborhood that destroyed a building and damaged others nearby.
AFPTV footage showed columns of smoke rising from the area, usually a densely populated residential district but now largely emptied.
Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee on social media platform X issued several rounds of evacuation warnings for areas in the southern suburbs, saying the military would target Hezbollah “facilities and interests,” pinpointing six buildings.
The Israeli military in a statement said its air force carried out strikes on “Hezbollah command centers and terror infrastructure” in the southern suburbs, which it has hit repeatedly since September 23 when it escalated air raids against the Iran-backed group.
Hezbollah claimed a series of attacks on Israeli troops in south Lebanon and on military facilities across the border including a drone attack on the Haifa naval base, which it has repeatedly claimed strikes against.
The group also said its fighters “targeted... for the first time, the Hatzor air base” near the southern city of Ashdod, around 150 kilometers (90 miles) from Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, “with a missile salvo.”
Israeli first responders said a man was killed on Thursday after rocket fire from Lebanon hit the Galilee region in Israel’s north.
The renewed Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs came after two days of relative calm in Beirut and its suburbs while US envoy Amos Hochstein visited, seeking to broker an end to the almost two-month-long Israel-Hezbollah war.
Hochstein was to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, the premier’s office said.
The Israeli army also issued evacuation warnings for areas in and around the southern coastal city of Tyre, while the NNA reported Israeli strikes in south and east Lebanon.
Lebanon’s health ministry said on Wednesday that at least 3,558 people had been killed in the violence since October 2023.
Most of the deaths have been since September this year, when Israel began its massive bombing campaign and later sent ground forces in to Lebanon.
The Israeli military said Wednesday that three soldiers, including a 70-year-old, were killed in south Lebanon, bringing to 52 the number killed in Lebanon since the start of ground operations.

Libya’s Derna hosts theater festival year after flash flood

Libya’s Derna hosts theater festival year after flash flood
Updated 29 min 5 sec ago
AFP
Follow

Libya’s Derna hosts theater festival year after flash flood

Libya’s Derna hosts theater festival year after flash flood
  • Nizar Al-Aned, artistic director of the Derna Festival, said organizers had “insisted that the festival take place, even if the theater is still under construction” to rebuild it
  • Tunisian comedian Abir Smiti said it was her first time at the event
Updated 29 min 5 sec ago
AFP

DERNA, Libya: A year after a flash flood ripped through Derna and killed thousands of people, the coastal Libyan city is hosting a theater festival with a message of hope.
The city in the war-torn country’s east is still reeling from the flooding that destroyed historic buildings, including Libya’s oldest theater where the festival was held in previous years.
Nizar Al-Aned, artistic director of the Derna Festival, said organizers had “insisted that the festival take place, even if the theater is still under construction” to rebuild it.
Now, back after a pause due to the September 2023 floods, the festival’s sixth edition is being held this week under the slogan: “Derna is back, Derna is hope.”
With five theater troupes from Libya, and one each from neighboring Egypt and Tunisia, the event has drawn artists, comedians and visitors from across the Arab world.
Tunisian comedian Abir Smiti said it was her first time at the event.
“To me, Derna is a discovery,” she told AFP.
“When you just arrive, you can feel the pain, but at the same time there’s joy. You can feel how everyone has hope.”
Once home to about 120,000 inhabitants, the wall of water that swept through Derna last year killed nearly 4,000 people, left thousands missing and displaced more than 40,000 others, according to the United Nations.
It was the result of extreme rainfall from hurricane-strength Storm Daniel, which had caused two dams to burst inland from the city that lies some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) east of the capital Tripoli.
Libya is still grappling with the aftermath of the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled long-time dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
The chaos that ensued saw the rise of jihadist movements, with Derna coming under the control of Al-Qaeda and later the Daesh group before they were chased out by 2018.
The North African country remains split between two rival administrations.
The divisions have complicated the emergency response and reconstruction efforts.
Derna is under the eastern administration backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose son Belgacem Haftar has been the figurehead for reconstruction in the city.
At the theater festival, jury member Hanane Chouehidi told AFP that “despite the drama, the deaths and the destruction,” she was confident Derna could be rebuilt.
“Derna deserves to be beautiful, just as its residents deserve to be happy,” she said.

Topics: Libya Derna Derna Festival theatre

Related

A boy cleans merchandise inside a damaged grocery store affected by fatal floods, in Derna, Libya, September 28, 2023. (Reuters)
Middle-East
UN Libya envoy urges unified Derna flood response
Libya’s eastern government postpones Derna reconstruction conference
Middle-East
Libya’s eastern government postpones Derna reconstruction conference

Israeli foreign minister says ICC “lost all legitimacy” with Netanyahu, Gallant ruling

Israeli foreign minister says ICC “lost all legitimacy” with Netanyahu, Gallant ruling
Updated 16 min 36 sec ago
AP
Reuters
Follow

Israeli foreign minister says ICC “lost all legitimacy” with Netanyahu, Gallant ruling

Israeli foreign minister says ICC “lost all legitimacy” with Netanyahu, Gallant ruling
  • “A dark moment for the International Criminal Court,” Saar said on X
  • French foreign ministry’s spokesman Christophe Lemoine said their reaction will be in line with the court’s statutes
Updated 16 min 36 sec ago
AP Reuters

JERUSALEM: The International Criminal Court has “lost all legitimacy” after issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Thursday.
“A dark moment for the International Criminal Court,” Saar said on X, adding that it had issued “absurd orders without authority.”

Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s office rejected the ICC’s decision to issue arrest warrants against him and his former defense chief, describing them as “anti-Semitic.”
“Israel rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions leveled against it by ICC,” his office said in a statement, adding Israel won’t “give in to pressure” in the defense of its citizens. 

When asked during a news conference if France would arrest Netanyahu, the French foreign ministry’s spokesman Christophe Lemoine said their reaction will be in line with the court’s statutes, but declined to say whether France would arrest the leader if he came to the country.
“It’s a point that is legally complex so I’m not going to comment on it today,” he said.

Topics: Battlefield Lebanon International Criminal Court Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Related

Update International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant
Middle-East
International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant
US envoy to meet Israel’s Netanyahu on Thursday: spokesman
Middle-East
US envoy to meet Israel’s Netanyahu on Thursday: spokesman

Displaced by war, cancer patients in Lebanon struggle for survival

Displaced by war, cancer patients in Lebanon struggle for survival
Updated 21 November 2024
Reuters
Follow

Displaced by war, cancer patients in Lebanon struggle for survival

Displaced by war, cancer patients in Lebanon struggle for survival
Updated 21 November 2024
Reuters

BEIRUT: Lebanese small business owner Ahmad Fahess thought nothing could be more devastating than his cancer diagnosis until suddenly, while he was at work one day, Israeli airstrikes started targeting his town of Nabatieh in south Lebanon.
When he saw the tangled mess around him, he knew he had to grab his family and flee.
“We want to go back to our homes, to our work,” he said, breaking into tears as he received cancer treatment at the American University of Beirut’s Medical Center (AUBMC), his sister sitting next to his bed.
Israel launched a broad attack on southern Lebanon in September, almost a year after Iran-backed Hezbollah militants there stepped up their rocket fire on northern Israel as Israeli forces fought Hamas gunmen who had attacked Israel from Gaza.
Washington is trying to broker a ceasefire but Israel says it must be able to continue defending itself. It says Hezbollah uses civilians as human shields, something the militants deny.
A father of two teenagers who owned four welding shops in Nabatieh, Fahess is now not only unsure when he will be able to go home, but also how long he will be able to access treatment for the rare cancer, sarcoma, which affects the connective tissue in his left arm.
“I used to come three days to Beirut for treatment and go back home,” he said. “Now with the war, we were displaced, and the treatment struggle started.”
Thousands of cancer patients are among more than a million people who have fled their homes.
“It all happened very quickly. We were at work when the shelling started; we were surprised by it,” he said. He fled with his family to Antelias in Mount Lebanon with only $4,500 that quickly dwindled.
Fahess now depends on the hospital’s Cancer Support Fund, a charity initiative launched in 2018 to assist cancer patients and now also giving extra support to displaced individuals.
“The treatment is costly; if the hospital didn’t help me, I couldn’t have afforded it,” he said.
But he is worried about funding drying up. “If we have to pay and we’re back at our homes, it would be fine, but if we are still displaced, it’ll be impossible,” he said.
Lebanon’s health ministry said more than 2,500 displaced cancer patients have been forced to find new treatment centers, as at least eight hospitals in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs were out of action due to Israeli shelling.
Cancer was already expensive to treat under Lebanon’s health care system, which in recent years has been battered further by economic crisis.
It is now under severe strain, said Ali Taher, the director of the Naef K. Basile Cancer Institute at AUBMC, adding that treating displaced patients has brought new complications, including finding their missing medical records and doctors.
“It’s also difficult to get cancer screening ahead of time because it’s no longer a priority for people,” Taher said.
Ghazaleh Naddaf, 67, was displaced from the southern village of Debel. Now living with her brother in Beirut, the former pharmacist assistant lost her job and has been unable to afford her therapy for multiple myeloma for two months.
“I am skipping treatment and medication,” she said. “I used to come twice a week for treatment, paying over $1,000. I can’t afford it anymore,” adding that she also needs a bone marrow transplant costing $50,000, an expense far beyond her reach.
“It’s war, and there is no safety, and I still need to go through the treatment to get on with my life,” she said.
Hala Dahdah Abou Jaber, co-founder of the Cancer Support Fund, said displaced cancer patients have to choose between basic necessities and life-threatening therapies and many can no longer co-pay for their treatment.
“Cancer doesn’t wait. Cancer is not a disease that gives you time; it’s harsh,” she said.

Topics: Battlefield Lebanon

Iran president visits Sistan-Baluchistan after deadly attack

Iran president visits Sistan-Baluchistan after deadly attack
Updated 21 November 2024
AFP
Follow

Iran president visits Sistan-Baluchistan after deadly attack

Iran president visits Sistan-Baluchistan after deadly attack
Updated 21 November 2024
AFP

TEHRAN: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in the restive southeast of Iran on Thursday for a visit to Sistan-Baluchistan province, state media reported, nearly a month after one of the deadliest ever attacks in the region.
Sistan-Baluchistan, located some 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) from the capital Tehran, shares a long border with Pakistan and Afghanistan and has experienced recurring clashes between Iranian security forces and rebels from the Baluch minority, radical Sunni groups and drug traffickers.
On October 26, ten police officers were killed in what the authorities described as a “terrorist” attack.
Pezeshkian arrived at the airport in the regional capital Zahedan for a one-day visit during which he was set to meet the families of the dead police officers, state television reported.
Since the October 26 attack, Iranian forces have launched a vast counterterrorism operation in Sistan-Baluchistan that is ongoing, during which at least 26 militants have been killed and around fifty people arrested, according to the authorities.
The Sunni jihadist group Jaish Al-Adl — Army of Justice in Arabic — based in Pakistan and active in southeastern Iran, claimed responsibility for the attack in a message on Telegram.
The Iranian president is also scheduled to visit the Chabahar Free Trade-Industrial Zone, a major project aimed at developing southern Iran.
Chabahar Port, which bypasses the heavy traffic of the Strait of Hormuz, is aimed at attracting businesses from nearby Pakistan, India, the Gulf and China among others.
Chabahar, located on the edge of the Indian Ocean, was exempted by Washington from the economic sanctions it unilaterally reimposed after withdrawing from a landmark nuclear agreement.
Sistan-Baluchistan, one of the most impoverished provinces in the country, is home to a large number of the Baluch minority, an ethnic group spread between Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan which practices Sunni Islam in contrast to the country’s predominantly Shiite population.

Topics: Iran

Latest updates

International Maritime Organization welcomes Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative
International Maritime Organization welcomes Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative
Closing Bell: Saudi main index slips to close at 11,840
Closing Bell: Saudi main index slips to close at 11,840
International sustainability accreditation for Buraidah Oasis
International sustainability accreditation for Buraidah Oasis
At least 38 killed as gunmen open fire on vehicles carrying Shiites in northwest Pakistan
At least 38 killed as gunmen open fire on vehicles carrying Shiites in northwest Pakistan
Israel strikes south Beirut as Hezbollah says targeted south Israel
Israel strikes south Beirut as Hezbollah says targeted south Israel

Search form

Print Edition
Read pdf version Subscribe now
© 2024 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.