Day: 20 July 2023

Stopping settlement expansion and ending the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories is one integrated package for achieving peace and stability in the region, said a senior Palestinian official here today.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the Palestinian presidential spokesperson, said that, without changing the Israeli policy of expanding, annexing, and perpetuating the occupation, “the entire region will be at a dangerous historical and strategic crossroads.”

Abu Rudeineh made the remarks, in response to a statement issued by the office of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, denying that the Israeli government has decided to freeze settlement in the West Bank.

Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967 and established settlements on it, a move considered a violation of international law and a major source of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Yesterday, Israel Radio reported that Netanyahu pledged during a phone call with U.S. President, Joe Biden, to suspend settlement construction until the end of 2023. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office categorically denied this.

Source: Nam News Network (NNN)

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Riyad Al-Malki, called on today on Australia to recognize the State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital. During a meeting with the visiting Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, Milton Dick, at the Foreign Ministry’s headquarters in Ramallah, Al-Maliki discussed the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory in light of the ongoing attacks and human rights abuses against our people by the right-wing Israeli government and its racist members, including Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir. He emphasized that the absence of international accountability for Israel’s violations and crimes encourages it to continue its unilateral measures to annex the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, and to change the facts on the ground, undermining the prospects of a two-state solution with an independent, geographically contiguous Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Al-Malki expressed his astonishment at “the double international standards and the positions of some major countries that declare that Israel has the right to defend itself, even though it possesses equipment, weaponry, planes and tanks and uses them against the defenseless Palestinian people.” He stressed that the Palestinian leadership will continue to defend our people’s right to self-determination, freedom and independence by going to the international courts and organizations to hold Israel accountable for its ongoing crimes. In the meantime, Milton affirmed his country’s position in support of the two-state solution in accordance with international legitimacy and through negotiations. He commended the step taken by Australia’s Labor government that revoked its recognition of West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing the decision taken by the previous government. Milton also referred to the joint statement of the foreign ministers of Australia, Britain and Canada which declared settlement expansion an obstacle to achieving peace based on a two-state solution. He stressed his country’s commitment to provide developmental and medical support to the Palestinian people, especially support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA

The Ministry of Human Rights organized on Thursday in Sana’a a symposium titled “The American Veto and Hegemony… Catastrophic Repercussions of UN Security Council Resolutions on the Reality of Human Rights.”

At the opening of the symposium, the Minister of Human Rights, Ali Hussein al-Dailami, emphasized the importance of exposing American hegemony over decision-making, international position, and performance, as well as the resulting disasters and tragedies for the peoples of the earth, particularly the Third World.

Al-Dailami stated that Yemen deals responsibly with the decisions of the Security Council and its presidential statements but cautions about their goals, directions, and outcomes, which are marred by failure to fulfill the standards, principles, and purposes of the United Nations Charter.

“The Security Council resolutions often express political positions and do not adopt actual measures to maintain peace and protect international security,” he said.

The human rights minister underlined the need to review the human rights record of member states of the Security Council, indicating that the Security Council created a distance between its discretionary powers and the global human conscience entrusted to it, causing disasters and crimes against humanity.

He also noted the humanitarian necessity of reconsidering the structure, norms, and usefulness of the UN Security Council.

During the symposium, three working papers were presented. In the first paper, Dr. Muhammad Abdullah Al-Sowaidi dealt with the disastrous repercussions of UN Security Council resolutions on the reality of human rights in light of the American veto and hegemony.

In the second paper, the legal advisor and human rights activist, Abdulrahman Ali al-Zabib, discussed the consequences and results of the UN Security Council’s decisions to implement Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, while the political science professor Dr. Faiza Abdullah Al-Raymi reviewed in the third paper the contribution of the UN Security Council to expanding the space for impunity.

Source: Yemen News Agency

Al-Sabeen Maternity and Childhood Hospital in Sana’a, the capital, conducted 111 surgeries for disabled children and women during the past year and the first half of this year.

The director of the hospital, Dr. Magda Al-Khatib, stated in a statement to the Yemeni News Agency (Saba) that the surgeries were distributed in the installation of a device to suction fluids from the brain, hydrocephalus, lengthening of the tendons of the feet, and emergency operations to repair the hernia of the spine.

She indicated that the operations also included repairing the deformity of the feet, the crack in the palate bone, the removal of the rectum with the paralyzed part of the colon, cesarean deliveries, ectopic pregnancy, lifting the vaginal wall, umbilical hernia operations and other surgeries.

Dr. Al-Khatib emphasized that Al-Sabeen Hospital pays special attention to this segment and provides quality medical services, indicating that the segment of the disabled needs medical care, to alleviate their suffering in light of the current conditions as a result of the aggression and siege.

Source: Yemen News Agency

A demonstration against the crime of burning the Noble Qur’an took place today, Thursday evening, in the city of Adhamiya in the capital, Baghdad.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein instructed the permanent representation of Iraq in Jeddah to renew Iraq’s request to hold an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to study the recurrence of insulting the Holy Quran.

Spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Al-Sahhaf, said in a statement: The Minister of Foreign Affairs directed to send a memorandum to the Arab League on the developments of the incident of insulting the Holy Quran.

He stressed that the governmental measures regarding the incident of burning the Holy Qur’an come within the framework of respecting the monotheistic religions.

He explained that urgent diplomatic procedures began to withdraw our Embassy from Stockholm and activate the departure of the Swedish ambassador from Baghdad.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

The Culture and Arts Department of the Ministry of Culture discussed on Thursday the mechanism of developing the theatrical working and promoting it in a meeting with chairpersons of boards of directors, representatives of theater groups, and a representative of the Theater Affairs Center.

The meeting, held at the Ministry’s headquarters, comes within the framework of efforts to promote cultural work and the cultural economy and to discover talents, especially Qatari ones.

Director of the Culture and Arts Department at the Ministry of Culture Mariam Yassin Al Hammadi said that culture is an essential drive for development and the economy in itself, so it is necessary to invest in the cultural field in the private sector, where cultural work grows with the participation and adoption of a supportive cultural environment by everyone.

She stressed the need for participatory action by everyone by involving creators in various fields, indicating that culture should have the space and the supportive environment for its growth in all state institutions.

The Director of the Culture and Arts Department added that it is necessary to adopt culture as a lifestyle that reaches all segments of society to bring about positive effects, in addition to the importance of empowering the cultural sector by supporting small and medium projects, which contributes to the economic growth of national and local culture.

Source: Qatar News Agency

The Head of the Security Media Cell, Director of Relations and Information at the Ministry of Interior, Major General Saad Maan, and his companion, Colonel Mustafa, were involved in a traffic accident in Baghdad.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

Detachments of the Intelligence Agency in Diwaniyah arrested a suspect after he burned citizens’ vehicles and blew up their houses with hand grenades, the last of which was the attack on a government employee.

A statement by the Agency stated that the intelligence Agency’s detachments in Diwaniyah governorate received appeals through social media, demanding the arrest of an outlaw who caused a breach of the security of the governorate and assaulted citizens and public and private property.

He added that the accused confessed explicitly to many incidents, including blowing up citizens’ vehicles and assaulting their homes with hand grenades, the last of which was the assault on a government employee in the Postal Department. His statements were recorded and referred to the concerned authorities.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

The Shenzhou-16 crew members, who are currently on board China’s space station, will conduct their first extravehicular activities (EVAs) within the next few days, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced.

They have been in orbit for 51 days since they entered the space station combination on May 30, the CMSA said.

The crew has carried out a series of space science experiments in fields like life ecology and micro-gravity environment physics and completed the installation of the device for space-radiation biology exposure experiments on the Mengtian lab module as well as the gas cylinders of the space station electric propulsion system.

According to the CMSA, the radiation biology exposure experiment is significant for ensuring astronauts’ long-term healthy stay in orbit and promoting China’s crewed lunar landing plans.

With the installation of gas cylinders in the electric propulsion system in orbit, it is the first time using the “gas exchange” method to complete the replenishment of electric propellants for long-term orbit maintenance of the space station and make its operation more economical and efficient.

The manned spaceship Shenzhou-16 was launched last May 30 on a five-month mission, it is the second space mission of the Chinese manned space program this year, and the first manned mission after the Chinese space station entered the implementation and development phase.

Source: Qatar News Agency

The European Union Thursday warned of shortage of food around the world after Russiaآ’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

“If this grain is not only stopped but also destroyed, it means that there will be a shortage of food, of grain in the world,” EU High Representative Josep Borrell told reporters ahead of a formal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels today.

“But at this moment, and for the third night, Russia bombs and destroys all of the port infrastructure in Odesa and the storages of grain, more than 60,000 tons of grain has been burned,” he said.

Borrell said they will discuss the issue with Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro] Kuleba who will join the EU foreign ministers via video link.

Further, he said said the ministers will also discuss his plan to ensure the financial support for Ukraine in the next years, adding that it will be an important amount of money.

The 27-EU foreign ministers will also discuss relations with China and Turkey and hold a vide-conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Source: Kuwait News Agency

China successfully launched a Kuaizhou-1A carrier rocket to send four new satellites into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Thursday.

The four satellites, belonging to the Tianmu-1 meteorological constellation, have entered the planned orbit.

They will mainly be used to provide commercial meteorological data services.

It was the 21st flight mission using a Kuaizhou-1A commercial carrier rocket.

Source: Qatar News Agency