by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World

Busloads of settlers arriving at the village of al-Lubban al-Sharqiya
Ramallah : Palestinian residents of Al-Lubban al-Sharqiya, north of Ramallah, have expressed concern that Israeli settlers are plotting to build a new settlement on their land after watching settlers arrive today in hordes at their village.
Sources at the village told Palestinian news agency WAFA that several Israeli buses arrived at the southern entrance to the village and stopped at a dirt road the Israeli military had previously prevented the village from paving it and dropped off dozens of settlers in that area.
They expressed fear that the settlers, who walked around the open rich fields of the village as if they were inspecting it for their future schemes, are planning to build a settlement on their land.
The sources said this area of the village has been targeted by the occupation authority and the settlers for a while and that at one point in the past settlers set up tents on top of a hill in that area before the village residents confronted them, kicked them out and burnt the tents.
—AB/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World

Mohammad Javad Zarif
Tehran : Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the Islamic republic will maintain supports for Palestine’s “resistance” groups, official IRNA news agency reported.
“Iran will support the Palestinian resistance groups against Zionist (Israeli) regime’s occupation and aggression,” Zarif was quoted as saying by IRNA on Sunday.
Zarif made the remarks in a meeting with the Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement Ziad al-Nakhala, in the Lebanese capital Beirut, Xinhua news agency reported.
Ziad thanked Iran for its support for the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian nation.
The two sides, discussed the latest developments in the “occupied” lands of Palestine.
Zarif arrived in Beirut on Sunday to hold talks with senior Lebanese officials on the boost of ties.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Jerusalem : The European Union made a new contribution of €2.37 million to support Palestinian farmers and agro-businesses in the West Bank.
The contribution was channeled through the Palestinian Authority’s program “Assistance to Agriculture in the West Bank (AAWB)”, the EU said in a statement published Thursday by Palestinian news agency WAFA.
A total of 241 Palestinian farmers and agro-businesses affected by the Israeli occupation in the West Bank will benefit from this new contribution. This support will help the farmers relaunch, repair or replace damaged businesses through different activities including the acquisition of agricultural supplies, rehabilitation of land and other small infrastructure works.
This contribution also brings the total beneficiaries of the program up-to-date to 365 farmers, according to the EU statement.
”The agricultural production is a crucial sector of the Palestinian economy. The support to the agricultural sector is essential to build a future Palestinian State with a viable economy. In this context, the EU contributes to programs run by the Palestinian Authority to support agro-businesses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” said EU Representative Ralph Tarraf.
The overall financial envelope of AAWB program amounts to €7 million. It is expected to serve about 450 eligible beneficiaries in the West Bank with a focus on Area C. The program is managed by the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture and the Palestinian Agriculture Disaster Risk Reduction and Insurance Fund. The payments are made by the PA’s Ministry of Finance and Planning through a network of local banks in the West Bank.
—AB/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Moscow : Russia will not attend the Warsaw Conference on the Middle East, to be organized by the United States and Poland on February 13-14, as the event agenda failed to cover all problems of the region, particularly the Palestinian cause.
“We perceive with concern the continued US attempts to impose its unilateral geopolitical interests through initiatives presented as the opinion of the entire international community,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Following a thorough analysis of the provisional agenda and program of this conference provided by the organizers, Russia has decided not to attend,” it said.
The ministry complained that the Warsaw conference will not cover basic problems in the Middle East, particularly the Arab-Israeli conflict and its core element, the Palestinian issue. It added that the meeting has been arranged “hastily and behind closed doors,” without due regard for the opinions of influential states in the region and beyond.
Also in the statement, Russia underlined the need to find compromise solutions to problems with the help of the United Nations and based on international law instead of promoting unilateral approaches.
—AB/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
By Qais Abu Samra,
Ramallah: The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Sunday condemned an Israeli plan to build 20,000 new settlement homes in a major settlement east of Jerusalem.
“The settlement project aims at separating East Jerusalem from its surroundings,” the ministry said in a statement.
It said the settlement building “shuts the door to any plan to achieve peace on the basis of the two-state solution and thwarts any efforts to launch a real peace process”.
Earlier on Sunday, Israeli daily Yisrael Hayom (Israel Today) reported that the Ministry of Construction and Housing and the municipality of Ma’aleh Adumim signed an agreement to build some 20,000 housing units in the settlement.
The project will be implemented once it is approved by the Israeli government, the newspaper said.
Settlement construction has been a major obstacle to the already stalled peace process between Palestinians and Israelis.
According to Palestinian figures, more than 700,000 Jewish settlers now live on 196 settlements (built with Israeli government approval) and more than 200 settler outposts (built without its approval) across the occupied West Bank.
International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as “occupied territories” and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity on the land to be illegal.
—AA