by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi (R) shakes hands with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita during a meeting on Jerusalem in Amman, Jordan, on Jan. 6, 2018.
Amman : King Abdullah II of Jordan on Saturday called for intensified Arab efforts to support the Palestinians following a decision by US President Donald Trump recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
At a meeting with several Arab foreign ministers, the king said there was a need for more efforts to support the rights of the Palestinians in preserving their legal and historic rights in Jerusalem and in creating their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, reports Xihua.
The Jordanian leader said the issue of Jerusalem should be settled through negotiations and as part of a lasting peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis based on the two-state solution, the international resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.
He underlined the need for supporting the Jerusalemites and protecting the Arabic identity of the city as well as the holy Islamic and Christian sites.
Jordan, he said, will continue to safeguard the holy sites in the city.
Discussions also covered best means to face the consequences of the US decision that violates international resolutions.
In a press conference following a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Amman, Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi reiterated the Arabs’ rejection of the US decision.
Rejecting any Israeli unilateral measures, he said the Arabs will push for a global recognition of Palestine.
The minister added that the Arabs will exert more efforts to curb any further recognitions of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, adding that there will be no peace and security in the region without creating an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Washington : US President Donald Trump has raised the prospect of cutting off aid to the Palestinian territories unless its leaders agree to resume negotiations to broker a peace deal with Israel, the media reported.
“We pay the Palestinians hundred of millions of dollars a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don’t even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with Israel,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday.
“We have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table, but Israel, for that, would have had to pay more. But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”
Trump’s tweets came nearly a month after he became the first sitting US President to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, drawing Palestinians into the streets in protest and causing Palestinian leaders to reject the US’s decades-old role as the central negotiator in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks,reports CNN.
He also said he would move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv, where all other nations have their consulates.
The decision was overwhelmingly condemned at the UN, where 128 countries voted against Trump’s fulfilment of a campaign promise.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas claimed that Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem, which both Israelis and Palestinians claim as their capital, discredited the US as an honest broker in the peace process.
While Trump administration officials have said they expected a “cooling off period” with the Palestinians, Trump’s tweets on Tuesday signaled that the President has grown frustrated with Palestinians’ refusal to partake in a US-led peace process in the wake of his Jerusalem decision, CNN reported.
The tweets also came after the White House confirmed that the US plans to withhold some of its aid to Pakistan to pressure the country into better counterterrorism cooperation with the US.
The US had spent $616 million on aid to the Palestinian territories in 2016, according to the US Agency for International Development, which includes humanitarian assistance, private sector debt payments and infrastructure development assistance.
Jerusalem is one of the world’s most contested sites. Israel claims the whole of the city as its capital.
The Palestinians want East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, to be the capital of a future Palestinian state.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Saud Mohammed Al-Sati
New Delhi : Saudi Ambassador to India Saud Mohammed Al-Sati on Wednesday said that the Palestine issue should be resolved through the Arab Peace Initiative espoused by his country.
“The Arab countries have clearly expressed their interest in reaching a peaceful solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on international legitimacy, the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative that was proposed by Saudi Arabia more than 15 years ago, and was subsequently adopted by the Arab Summit held in Beirut in 2002 as well as by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation,” Al-Sati said in a speech at an event to mark International Day of Solidarity with the Palestine People organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) at the Sapru House here.
“This peace plan, as you know, received wide support from the international community,” he stated.
The Arab Peace Initiative, proposed by Saudi Arabia, calls for normalising relations between the Arab region and Israel, in exchange for a full withdrawal by Israel from the occupied territories (including East Jerusalem) and a “just settlement” of the Palestinian refugee problem based on UN Resolution 194.
“We believe that the Arab Peace Initiative provides a solid basis for resolving the conflict, and that it has all the elements for a final settlement that can achieve lasting, comprehensive and just peace in the Middle East,” Al-Sati said.
“As Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia Adel Al-Jubeir said at UN General Assembly on September 23, 2017, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the most protracted in the region’s history and had led to a great deal of human suffering. Nothing could justify the continuation of this conflict, particularly when there was wide-spread agreement over the two-state solution. International determination was needed to make that solution a reality.”
The Ambassador called upon Israel to “stop its continuous defiance of the will of the international community by building the apartheid wall and illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories in a clear violation of all relevant UN resolutions”.
“The Israeli authorities must also halt their attempts to Judaize Al-Quds city (the Arabic name for Jerusalem), obliterate its Arab identity, and change its demographic character and the historical status of Al-Aqsa mosque.”
On Tuesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also reiterated India’s support for the Palestinian cause.
In 1977, the UN General Assembly called for the annual observance of November 29 as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. On that day, in 1947, the Assembly adopted the resolution on the partition of Palestine.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, Muslim World, Women Entrepreneur
US Consulate General Michael Hankey
Jerusalem : The US Consulate General in Jerusalem launched on Tuesday the eighth annual Women’s Microenterprise Bazaar in support of Palestinian female business owners from all over Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem, WAFA reported citing a consulate statement.
The Tuesday evening’s inauguration and fashion presentation showcased the Palestinian-designed styles and handmade products available for sale.
The Microenterprise Bazaar is an important part of the US Consulate General’s efforts to advance the American-Palestinian entrepreneurship and small business development opportunities supporting the economic empowerment of Palestinian women, said the statement.
Under the Consulate General’s sponsorship, the women entrepreneurs received training in social media engagement, marketing, product development, and customer relations.
“Supporting women’s achievement benefits all of society and all of the economy, and that’s why we at the U.S. Consulate General remain focused on that important goal,” US Deputy Consul General Michael Hankey said in his opening remarks.
The bazaar is open to the public on Wednesday and Thursday at the Ambassador Hotel in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem. It brings together Palestinian women artists, merchants, designers, and manufacturers of goods that include traditional embroidery, hand-made soap, jewelry, foodstuffs, ceramics, candles, and more.
—AB/OIC-UNA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Ramallah : UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov met Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah here on Monday and discussed with him the implementation of the intra-Palestinian reconciliation agreement signed in Cairo, Egypt, on October 12.
In particular, the agreement provides for the return of the crossings of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority by November 1.
“The timely and effective implementation of this provision and concrete steps to alleviate the humanitarian crisis will be critical for effectively empowering the Palestinian government in Gaza,” said Mladenov after his meeting with Hamdallah.
“The agreement is also an important step toward achieving the goal of Palestinian unity under a single, democratic and legitimate Palestinian national authority,” added Mladenov.
He also noted that the UN will continue to work with the Palestinian leadership, Egypt and the region in support of the process, highlighting its importance for reaching a negotiated two-state solution and sustainable peace.
Following the signing of the Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation deal between Fatah and Hamas movements last week, UN Secretary General António Guterres congratulated Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the agreement and emphasized the need to urgently address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza Strip, particularly with regard to the electricity crisis, and improved access to and from the territory.
—AB/OIC-UNA
