by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Events, Muslim World, Social Round-up
Rabat : The United Nations committee on the exercise of inalienable rights of the Palestinian People chose Morocco as the host for the 5th international conference on the Palestinian question, Morocco World News reported.
The upcoming conference will be held on May 17 and 18 in Rabat, and members will convene to discuss the future of Palestine in light of the United States’ unilateral decision to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The new embassy is also set to open in May, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of Israel declaring independence.
Speaking in New York recently, Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour said, “obviously, nothing will back down the US Administration, and everything seems to be in place for this announcement to take effect.”
The decision of US President Donald Trump sparked international outcry and condemnation across the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. Global leaders, including Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, voiced their concern that this decision jeopardized the long-term peace negations between Palestine and Israel.
In a December 5th letter to Trump, Morocco’s king expressed his “deep concern” over the current US administration’s decision, which contravenes the UN Security Council resolution 2334 (2017).
The King’s sentiments were reiterated this week by Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita during a visit to Jerusalem on March 27.
After praying at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, Bourita reportedly said that “the prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a strong message of support for the Palestinian cause.”
For his part, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas recently thanked Morocco’s monarch for his “unwavering support,” in a meeting with Bourita.
This visit was part of an official invitation from Abbas, to hold meetings and review the Palestinian question.
—SM/UNA-OIC
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Doha : Qatar has announced a $50 million donation to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), officials said.
The government communications office and Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the donation came during the extraordinary ministerial meeting of UNRWA held in Rome, Italy in the presence of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Xinhua reported.
Subsequently, Qatar also announced that it has continued to finance projects implemented by the UNRWA, especially in the education and health sectors.
In February, Qatar announced the distribution of 9 million dollars of emergency aid of medicines, medical supplies, foodstuff, and fuel to operate hospital generators in the Gaza Strip.
Qatar is facing a nine-month boycott by its Gulf allies, which accused Qatar of supporting extremist political movements in the Middle East, including Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Hamas.
Qatar has categorically denied the allegations.
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Jerusalem : Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah urged the Islamic movement Hamas on Saturday to allow the empowerment of the national unity government in the Gaza Strip as a necessity for attaining internal reconciliation.
Hamdallah said in a statement that President Mahmoud Abbas and the government were ready to shoulder all necessary responsibilities toward the Gaza Strip as the government has been enabled to take over powers there, Xinhua reported.
He made the remarks during an event in Anbata, near Nablus in northern West Bank.
Up to 20,000 employees from Hamas have been enlisted in the 2018 budget, he said, and an approach is underway to resolve all stalled issues that are hindering smooth handover processes of the administrative jurisdictions from Hamas to the Palestinian National Authority.
The prime minister called on the Islamic group to enable the government to collect tax related fees, impose full control on the crossings and allow the domestic police to enforce public order in the coastal enclave.
Meanwhile, Hamas movement said it had handed over all the governments departments to the Palestinian government following the agreement reached on Oct. 20, 2017 in Cairo, Egypt.
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Washington : US President Donald Trump has declined to give a timeline for releasing Washington’s plan for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, saying that neither party was committed to the process, the media reported.
“We are going to see what goes on,” Trump told the Israel Hayom daily in an interview released on Sunday.
“Right now, I would say the Palestinians are not looking to make peace, they are not looking to make peace. And I am not necessarily sure that Israel is looking to make peace… So we are just going to have to see what happens,” he said.
The US’ role as a broker in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has come under fire following the Trump administration’s decision in December to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, upending seven decades of US foreign policy, CNN reported.
Top Palestinian officials condemned the move, saying it disqualified the US from playing the role of arbiter. The UN voted overwhelmingly to condemn the decision.
The Israeli daily was also asked about his comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos that “Jerusalem is off the table” in terms of negotiations.
In his reply, he seemed to qualify his earlier remarks, reports CNN.
“I wanted to make it clear that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel,” he told the newspaper.
“As for specific boundaries, I would support what both sides agreed to.
“I think both sides will have to make hard compromises to reach a peace agreement,” Trump added.
Asked about the issue of settlements, the US President called them “something that very much complicates and always have complicated making peace”.
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Ramallah : Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday laid a wreath at the mausoleum of Yaser Arafat, the Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and the first President of the Palestinian Authority, soon after arriving here.
The mausoleum complex consists of Arafat’s burial chamber, a prayer pavilion and landscaped gardens — all situated in a 6,550 sq. m. site.
Palestine Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah received Modi as the latter alighted from a chopper that brought him to Ramallah from Amman, Jordan. This is the first ever prime ministerial visit from India to Palestine.
Modi will hold talks with Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas following which a number of agreements are going to be signed.
This will be the fourth meeting between Modi and Abbas after those on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in 2015, at the Paris climate summit later that year and at the Palestinian President’s visit to India last year.
The visit will reaffirm India’s foreign policy position that its relationship with one country is independent of its ties with a third country and will de-hyphenate Israel and Palestine after Modi’s standalone visit to Israel in July last year.
Palestine is the first leg of Modi’s three-nation tour of West Asia that will also see him going to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman.
—IANS
