ARAB AND WORLD

Sat 29 Apr 2023 4:44 pm - Jerusalem Time

Iranian President visits Syria

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi plans to visit Syria, a senior Iranian official confirmed today (Saturday).


During Raisi's visit to Syria, the victory of the Iranian-led resistance front over the United States in West Asia will be celebrated following "a tense period of geopolitical change," tweeted Mohammad Jamshidi, deputy chief of staff for political affairs to the Iranian president.


According to a previous report by the Syrian newspaper Al-Watan, Raisi will pay a two-day visit to Damascus on Wednesday. This is the first official visit to Syria by an Iranian president since 2010.


Raisi is expected to hold talks with his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, on ways to enhance bilateral strategic cooperation, especially in the field of economy.

PALESTINE

Sat 29 Apr 2023 3:09 pm - Jerusalem Time

National Bureau: The occupation continues its policy of annexation

The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements affirmed that the occupation is continuing its policy of annexation and perpetuating the apartheid system, taking advantage of the opportunities arising from regional and international conditions.


In this context, he referred to the agreement between the Israeli Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, and the Minister of Transport, Miri Regev, to allocate billions of shekels in order to develop roads and infrastructure for settlements in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, and include them in the general budget, as the Israeli government allocated about (4 billion) Shekels for this purpose within the general budget, in addition to the 160 million shekels that were included in the budget of the Ministry of Transportation, provided that these budgets are allocated to infrastructure projects and road development for settlements in the occupied West Bank.


These amounts mean that 25.69% of the budget allocated for "implementing the strategic plan" for building roads in Israel has been allocated and allocated for infrastructure projects and settlement roads in the West Bank, which means that about 4 billion shekels are allocated out of the 13.687 billion shekels allocated for infrastructure projects in Israel. .


The allocated budgets include allocating half a billion shekels to expand the settlement road from the junction of the "Ariel" settlement to the "Taffouh" settlement in the Salfit governorate. It was also decided to allocate 150 million shekels to develop the road network near the "Alfi Menashe" settlement, south of Qalqilya, and to allocate a budget of 200 million shekels to build a bypass road for the hotel town, while a budget of 366 million shekels will be allocated to modernize and widen the road leading to the "Beit El" settlement. A budget of 136 million shekels will be allocated to widen the road leading to the "Beit El" settlement, and a budget of 2 billion shekels will be allocated to develop and expand settlement Road No. 60. According to the understandings, an amount of 156 million shekels was also allocated for the development of an intersection and main roads near Al-Isawiya for the benefit of the settlers, and 80 million for the expansion of the eastern bypass road in Jerusalem, which serves the settlements in the Jerusalem area until Bethlehem and Hebron, in addition to allocating a budget of 300 million shekels for the construction of a settlement road linking a settlement. Majron in the Qalandia crossing area.


At the same time, the occupation authorities, next month, will start digging the Ring Road, east of Jerusalem, which the occupation calls the "fabric of life road" or "the road to sovereignty" because it paves the way for the annexation of the "Ma'ale Adumim" settlement to Jerusalem and paves the way for the implementation of the settlement plan (E1). . The excavation works come as a prelude to paving the street, which aims to completely close the northern entrance to the town of Al-Eizariya, and divert movement towards the north of the town towards Jabal Al-Baba and the town of Al-Zaeem, to link the southern West Bank area with the Jordan Valley area and the city of Jericho on the eastern side of the West Bank. The street aims to allow Palestinians to move from the south to the north without the need to travel on the roads designated for settlers in these areas. The paving of the road will create an apartheid road system between Israelis and Palestinians, and the road is of great importance for the annexation of the Ma'ale Adumim bloc to Israel and for advancing the E1 construction plan. The establishment of a separate road network for Israelis and Palestinians will enable the security establishment to cancel the Al-Za’im checkpoint, located at the eastern entrance to Jerusalem, and move it near the east of the settlement (Kfar Adumim). Jerusalem. As for the goal of preventing the Palestinians from entering the Ma'ale Adumim bloc, it would facilitate the annexation of the lands to Israel more easily in the future. This was the essence of the position of the Mayor of Ma'ale Adumim, who spoke frankly and without diplomatic language about the real goals of the road plan, without taking into account the petition submitted to the Supreme Court by the residents of Al-Eizariya, Abu Dis, Al-Sawahra and others.


These bypass roads are considered one of the occupation tools used in implementing the policy of imposing facts on the ground and shaping the geography of the West Bank. The National Bureau had referred in previous reports to the most important and dangerous of these bypass roads, such as the Hawara bypass road (Za’tara junction), the Arroub bypass road, the Qalandia tunnel, the western Laban bypass road, the Prophet Elias bypass road, the eastern ring road, the road 60 bypass, the eastern Gush Etzion road - the Dead Sea, and others.


Within a series of successive settlement plans, which would consolidate Israeli control over more lands in East Jerusalem, and control its separation from the West Bank in all directions, the Israeli District Committee pushed plans to build 2,969 settlement units in the settlements of French Hill, "Pisgat Ze'ev" and Givat Shaked, and decided to accept all documents of the amended plan and approved each plan for filing for public review and objections. The so-called amended plan confiscates thousands of dunums of Jerusalemites' lands in the center, south, and east of the city, and it threatens the population centers present in the targeted areas. The District Planning Committee in Jerusalem also scheduled a discussion session on the objections to the Wadi Al-Jouz Business Center plan (Silicon Valley) on May 2, which is an advanced step towards its final approval, noting that the local planning committee rejected the objections and recommended approval of the plan on March 29.

At the same time, the Moshe Lion Municipality, in cooperation with the Shikon Vibinoy company, published a new plan to expand the building rights in the plots of land located within the "Givat Hamatos" settlement built on the lands of Beit Safafa in East Jerusalem. The new plan expands the building rights on these lands from 300 to 1,500 settlement units, which means severing the Palestinian geographical contiguity permanently between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the south, and preventing the linking of the Palestinian Beit Safafa to a future Palestinian state. The "Givat Hamatos" plan was approved a decade ago, as the settlement contains 2,610 settlement units. Tenders were published for the construction of 1,200 settlement units from the aforementioned units three years ago, but today, extensive works are underway on the ground in order to extend the infrastructure in order to prepare the ground for future Jewish construction in the settlement. The “Shikun Vibinoy” company obtained expanded building percentages in the aforementioned settlement.


In parallel, the local committee in the (western) Jerusalem municipality discussed, last week, the district committee's intention to prepare a new plan also on the lands of Beit Safafa. The scope of the plan is 400 housing units, to expand the Givat Shaked settlement at the expense of the lands of Sharafat and Beit Safafa.


The occupation authorities also decided recently to deposit a plan to build 135 new settlement units in the "Ma'alot Al-Dafna" settlement in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem. According to the occupation decision, the plan is located on the light railway axes of the approved (green) line and the planned line (light blue), with an area of 2110 square meters. An existing 5-story building with 26 units will be demolished, and instead a new 12-story building with 135 settlement units, a synagogue, an underground parking lot for the building's residents and commerce, and a path that connects to the neighborhood's existing lane system and connects to the railroad will be constructed instead.


Also in the context, the occupation municipality approved, through the local committee for planning and building, the so-called plan to preserve the ancient ancient castle of Al-Qasr, south of the old town, which it calls (Eyal), and to reveal it to the settlers, restore it, and build a settlement complex on both sides of it. The plan is located in the complex between Hebron Bethlehem Street, south of the Old City, and the Begin Heritage Complex to the east - near the archaeological strip, the Scottish Church, and the Bible Hill. The planned area is about 513 dunums. The heads of churches and Christian denominations in the Holy Land have warned of the escalation of the extreme right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu, settlements in Jerusalem and the occupied Palestinian territories, targeting the property of Christians in Jerusalem and making life worse in the birthplace of Christianity, stressing that the Christian community is under increasing attack, targeting clergy and assaulting property. Religious activities are accelerating and daring under the government of extremists and racists.


All this is happening in and around Jerusalem. As for the rest of the West Bank regions and governorates, the settlement monster continues to advance. In this regard, the so-called "Custodian of Absentees' Property" has transferred nearly half a million dunums of land in the occupied West Bank to the Settlement Division of the Zionist Organization in order to promote settlement and seize more Palestinian lands in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem. Last week, the Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem considered a petition submitted by the Israeli left-wing "Peace Now" movement, in which it demanded that the "Settlement Division" be compelled to publish in advance its decisions regarding land allocations in the West Bank for settlements and settler farms. And the “Absentee Property” law passed by the Israeli Knesset in 1950, which allows the occupation authorities to confiscate the property of Palestinian refugees who left their land and property during the Nakba of 1948, even if they were absent from it for a few hours and moved to a nearby village. This racist law constitutes an essential tool for controlling the property of Palestinian refugees and the Islamic endowment, and preventing the return of these to their lands and property that they left before, during or after the 1948 war, and allows the seizure of thousands of homes, real estate and millions of acres. This settlement division controls nearly half a million dunums of lands suitable for settlement and agriculture in the West Bank, which are allocated to settlements and outposts, as was the case in the outposts of "Amona" Migron, Mitzpe Karmim, and Givat "Holbana" located within the "Beit El" settlement. Where private land has been allocated to settlers on private Palestinian land.

PALESTINE

Sat 29 Apr 2023 3:06 pm - Jerusalem Time

Ministry of Foreign Affairs: 46 Palestinians arrived in Jeddah, most of them from Gaza

The Political Adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Ambassador Ahmed Al-Deek, announced, on Saturday afternoon, the arrival of 46 Palestinians to Jeddah on board Saudi ships, the majority of whom will head to the Gaza Strip towards their families and loved ones.


In a press statement distributed by the ministry, Al-Deek thanked the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for this sincere fraternal stance towards the suffering of the Palestinian people and in these difficult circumstances in particular, as a continuous expression of the depth of historical and sincere relations between the two brotherly countries. like he said.

PALESTINE

Sat 29 Apr 2023 3:00 pm - Jerusalem Time

Ben Gvir tends to use administrative detention to fight crime inside the occupied territories

The extremist Israeli minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, tends to use the policy of administrative detention, claiming that he is trying to fight crime inside the occupied territories.


According to the Hebrew website Ynet, Ben Gvir instructed the Israeli police chief, Kobi Shabtai, to consider the use of this tool in a measured, limited and decisive manner, in an attempt to prevent the continuation of crimes among Arabs and Jews. As the site mentioned.


According to the Hebrew website, Ben Gvir held a session last Thursday with Shabtai related to this case, and asked the latter to prepare intelligence materials in order to prepare for that, and to contact the prosecution to request their approval of these arrests as soon as possible.


The site indicated that Ben Gvir had previously opposed the policy of administrative detention against Jews, especially settlers in the West Bank, under the pretext that it was undemocratic.


An official in the Israeli police said that the Office of the Judicial Adviser to the government will be contacted in order to examine the legality of this step, while a legal source told the Hebrew-language website that Ben Gvir's proposal is not legally feasible, unless it works to change the current law in force.

ARAB AND WORLD

Sat 29 Apr 2023 2:01 pm - Jerusalem Time

Poland confiscates the building of a Russian high school and Moscow denounces it

Poland on Saturday confiscated the building of a Russian secondary school in Warsaw, the Polish Foreign Ministry said.


"This building will henceforth belong to the Warsaw municipality," ministry spokesman Lukasz Jasina told AFP by telephone.


Russia denounced the "illegal act" by the Polish authorities, after confiscating the building of a Russian school in Warsaw, and vowed to respond to it.


"This is an illegal act, the storming of a diplomatic site," said the Russian ambassador to Warsaw, Sergei Andreev, in a video clip published by the Russian state news agency, RIA Novosti. He warned that Russia would respond based on the "principle of reciprocity."

ECONOMY

Sat 29 Apr 2023 1:41 pm - Jerusalem Time

The collapse of the shares of the First Republic bank on Wall Street, in the absence of a rescue plan

The share price of the American First Republic bank hit a new low on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, while rumors multiplied about a strategy or plan to save it that has not yet been realized.


At the end of the Friday session, the share price of the bank, which was the fourteenth largest among the largest US banks by assets size in 2022, fell by 43 percent on Wall Street and reached $ 3.51 after it suspended its trading several times during the session due to large fluctuations.


Thus, the value of the bank is estimated at $654 million, while it was $20 billion at the beginning of the year and more than $40 billion at its peak in November 2021.


He founded First Bank in 1985 and is headquartered in San Francisco, primarily with branches in California and East Coast cities, and serving wealthy clients.


But his fate seems unclear after his failure with two other banks in March. The three banks share a focus on specific customers and/or a specific geographic area.


Authorities and other financial institutions sought to spare "First Republic" the fate of Silicon Valley Bank and "Signature Bank" bankruptcy after sudden huge withdrawals to customers.


The Wall Street Journal, quoting sources close to the file, reported that the US Deposit Insurance Agency (FDIC) may acquire the bank and then sell its assets to another institution. Other interested institutions include JPMorgan Chase and BNC Financial Services.


The bank confirmed on Monday evening that a number of its clients had withdrawn deposits worth more than $100 billion in the first quarter of this year.


He relied on thirty billion dollars that other banks put in his accounts, but that was not enough in the eyes of investors, who caused a drop in the share price on Tuesday and Wednesday, before stopping Thursday.

PALESTINE

Sat 29 Apr 2023 1:13 pm - Jerusalem Time

Large crowds funeral the body of the boy in the morning in Bethlehem

On Saturday, Palestinian masses mourned the body of the martyr Mustafa Sabah (16 years old), who was killed yesterday evening during clashes with the Israeli occupation forces in the town of Tuqu', southeast of Bethlehem.


The funeral procession started in front of Beit Jala Governmental Hospital, passing through Al-Quds Street - Hebron, and from there via Al-Mahd Street, to the home of the martyr's father in Tuqu', where his body was given a last farewell look, and then the mourners performed the funeral prayer for him, before he was buried in Town cemetery.


The mourners chanted angry slogans condemning the crimes of the Israeli occupation.

ARAB AND WORLD

Sat 29 Apr 2023 1:00 pm - Jerusalem Time

Erdogan appears in person in Istanbul after his ill health

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared for the first time after his illness in person, Saturday, in Istanbul, according to pictures broadcast by television stations.


Erdogan, 69, who was infected with an intestinal virus according to his surroundings, spoke for four days via video link, raising questions about his health two weeks before the presidential elections on May 14.

PALESTINE

Sat 29 Apr 2023 12:05 pm - Jerusalem Time

Settlers attack two brothers east of Ramallah and steal their vehicle

On Saturday, settlers beat two brothers from the town of Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah, and stole their private vehicle.


Local sources reported that settlers severely beat Basil Abu Harzan and his brother Wael while they were plowing their land in the "Al-Shurafa" area, east of the town, causing them bruises, before stealing their private vehicle.


She pointed out that the settlers fired bullets in the air in order to intimidate those present in the place.

ARAB AND WORLD

Sat 29 Apr 2023 12:02 pm - Jerusalem Time

Fire in an oil depot in Sevastopol after a drone attack in Crimea

A major fire broke out Saturday at an oil depot in Sevastopol, the main port of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, which is currently under Russian control, after a drone attack, local authorities said.


Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razugayev wrote on Telegram, "A fire broke out in an oil depot in Kazachiya Bay (...). According to preliminary information, it was caused by a drone attack," stressing that "there were no casualties."


He added that 60 firefighters were dispatched to the scene to fight the fire that broke out in an area of about 1,000 square metres, and it is not expected to be controlled before evening falls.


"The situation is under control," Razugayev confirmed on Telegram, explaining that "civilian infrastructure is not threatened."


The state-run RIA Novosti news agency quoted him as telling reporters that a total of four oil tanks were damaged in the attack and "burned".


Since the start of the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022, Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, has been a frequent target of attacks by air and sea drones.


In mid-April, the authorities on the peninsula announced the cancellation of the celebrations of the first and ninth of May (the official date of the end of World War II in Russia), citing "security problems".

Sat 29 Apr 2023 10:36 am - Jerusalem Time

An American teenager saves a school bus from a traffic accident after its driver lost consciousness

A 13-year-old American student managed to stop a school bus carrying dozens of students after its driver lost consciousness.


The incident occurred on Wednesday in Northern Michigan, when a teenager named Dillon Reeves got up from his seat and took control of the steering wheel of the bus after noticing that the driver had passed out.


The student was able to stop the car in the middle of the road using the hand brake, according to Robert Levernois, the official in charge of public schools in the region.


The bus was carrying about 70 students from Louis E. Carter Middle School in Warren when the driver lost consciousness, according to a video released by authorities.


In the video, the students can be heard screaming as Reeves takes control of the bus and shouts for someone to call 911.


"Warren is very proud of our hero, seventh grader Dillon Reeves," Jonathan Lafferty, a Warren official, wrote in a Facebook post.


"The teenager took action when his school bus driver had a medical emergency, stopped the bus and prevented an accident that would have been tragic," he added.

Sat 29 Apr 2023 10:33 am - Jerusalem Time

An unpublished novel by Gabriel García Márquez is released in 2024

An unpublished novel by Gabriel García Márquez will be released on the market in 2024 to mark the tenth anniversary of the death of the Colombian novelist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982, according to what the publishing house "Random House" announced.


The publishing house indicated in a statement that the new book by the author of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and “Love in the Time of Cholera” will be available “in 2024 in the markets of various Spanish-speaking countries except for Mexico” and “its publication will certainly constitute the most important literary event for the year 2024.”


The narration titled "We Meet in August" represents the fruit of the writer's "last efforts" to continue writing despite the difficulties, according to what the statement quoted from his sons Rodrigo and Gonzalo García Barca.


Writer and journalist Gabriel García Márquez, born on March 6, 1927 in the city of Aracataca, in northern Colombia, has a large number of short stories and novels.


The Cervantes Institute indicates that Marquez is the most translated Spanish novelist whose work has been translated since the beginning of the twenty-first century, ahead of the Chilean Isabel Allende, the Argentine Jorge Luis Borges, and the Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa, who also won the Nobel Prize.

Sat 29 Apr 2023 10:31 am - Jerusalem Time

Biden is the target of jokes at the White House Correspondents' Dinner

Politicians and the media across Washington are preparing for an annual short break on Saturday night, at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in which President Joe Biden is likely to be the subject of sardonic jokes and respond to them himself.


The allure of the traditional evening, which will be held as usual in the spacious reception hall of the Hilton Hotel in Washington, has somewhat faded in recent years between former President Donald Trump's boycott of it and the epidemic.


But this year the event looks attractive again. "Tickets are completely sold out," said Tamara Keith, president of the White House Press Association, a correspondent for public broadcaster "NPR".


It's the post-Covid period, she told The Hill newspaper. Last year, people were hesitant about spending an evening in a large hall of 2,600 people, and this year they are rushing to get a ticket.


Vice President Kamala Harris will join President Joe Biden (80 years old), who announced Tuesday that he is a candidate for re-election in 2024. The presence of the president and vice president at the ceremony revives a tradition that was not applied during the era of former President Donald Trump.


Hollywood personalities, politicians of all persuasions, and journalists from all American media will also participate in the gala dinner.


As every year, a superstar from the entertainment world will take the stage, this year the Daily Show comedian Roy Wood Jr.


According to tradition, the evening commemorates the First Amendment to the US Constitution in defense of freedom of the press. In practice, jokes are especially made.


And if tradition continues Saturday, the jokes will target the president, as well as reporters working on the White House coverage — two popular targets, according to poll results that are unsatisfactory for both Democrats and the press.
Joe Biden can also speak up for himself and tell his own jokes.


Indeed, the 80-year-old president prepared to ridicule himself about his age on Friday.
Referring to a speech a former president gave 65 years ago, he said, "I wasn't there." "Whatever the press says," he added.

OPINIONS

Sat 29 Apr 2023 10:28 am - Jerusalem Time

The decline of Israel's image internationally and the continuation of its various violations

Many countries have begun to realize that Israel is an occupying state and a continuous violation of Palestinian national rights, even within the United States, which is the biggest and strongest supporter. In a poll conducted by the University of Maryland, it became clear that the view of Israel as a democratic state continues to decline in American public opinion, and 31% of those surveyed said that Israel is apartheid.


In Belgium, the city of Liège decided to sever all ties with the occupation because of its continuous violations of the rights of the Palestinian people. In Norway, the capital, Oslo, decided to ban importing goods or accepting services from Israeli companies, as they constitute a flagrant violation of international law.


This is part of the change in world public opinion towards the occupying power, and in addition to the external opinion, the internal situation in Israel is getting worse, with divisions and demonstrations against the prime minister, and disagreements over some proposals that clearly concern the internal judiciary.


However, the Israeli actions are still widening, as the violations continue to many places and lands, and not only the occupation government does this, but the settlers also do not stop their attacks and incursions into the holy religious sites. Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron and performed provocative dances inside one of his rooms.


The Human Rights Organization in Israel, B'Tselem, notes that since 2006, the occupying power has demolished about 5,338 buildings in the West Bank and 1,925 in East Jerusalem, which led to the displacement of hundreds of families and increased the suffering of young children in particular.
Finally, it must be noted that US President Joe Biden, despite the opposition public opinion inside his country, says that the United States is proud of its relations with Israel, which, as he claims, has led to the creation of a more peaceful and prosperous Middle East. The occupation creates a more tense Middle East and room for wars and bloodshed, and the coming days will show this reality despite the abnormal calm in the region at this stage.

OPINIONS

Sat 29 Apr 2023 10:27 am - Jerusalem Time

There are those who want to hinder the movement of history

Marwan Emile Tobasi

Marwan Emile Tobasi

Opinion Writer

Despite the crisis of receding American hegemony, which is now entrenched by its policies by threatening countries that may lead to further escalation in international relations and increase international instability and security, there are those who want to preserve the concepts of colonialism and impede international transformations and the movement of history. That is why it was not surprising, a few days ago, the statements of Ursla van der Leyen, President of the European Commission, nor the statement of the US Congress on the "75th anniversary of the establishment of Israel," although some may have been surprised.


A statement and statements characterized by the continued presence of the colonial mentality despite the end of its historical era long ago, and by denying the facts of history and even of political geography, ... a statement that ignored even the mention of our Palestinian people or the reference to what remains of the principle of the two-state solution. Between abstention and opposition from progressive members of the Democratic Party only, on the "75th" anniversary of the establishment of the colonial occupation state. They have thus expressed the truth of their historical political positions, their interests, and the thought they believe in, without caring that this claim of independence has represented the Nakba of our Palestinian people, that full-fledged crime of ethnic cleansing and settlement, for which the world has not held its perpetrators accountable until today, ... positions that only serve The sustainability of the settlement occupation on the ground, and the continuation of crisis management policies without political solutions to the root of the conflict represented by the settler occupation and apartheid.


This is clearly expressed by the official West based on the determinants of what they call common values with the Israeli occupation state and the importance of its geopolitical position to their ambitions, as well as support for the continuation of the guilt complex of the "Holocaust" that accompanies Europeans and the obsession of fear of the Zionist movement or their involvement in it for various reasons.


In addition, what is going on these days are attempts to persuade the Secretary-General of the United Nations to adopt the practical definitions that he presented in recent years, specifically in 2016, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), composed of 31 countries led by the United States, so that criticism of Israel according to these definitions has been linked to anti-Semitism. And that was after the establishment of this coalition in 1998, as these practical definitions clearly indicate that any targeting of Israel or “the claim that the existence of the State of Israel is a racist endeavor can in and of itself be racist and anti-Semitic.” And that "the application of double standards by claiming that Israel is responsible for behavior unexpected from any other democratic country" is also anti-Semitic, and that questioning the validity of their account of the Holocaust crimes or not agreeing that it is a monopoly on what some Jews were subjected to during it at the hands of the Nazis, is an approach Anti-Semitic.


This, if approved by Secretary-General Guterres, despite multiple protests from international humanitarian and human rights organizations and their claims not to adopt it, will result in the event that the United Nations agrees to support the practical definitions of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, to encourage a number of governments and states to restrict legitimate criticism of government policies. The Israeli occupation, and suffocates the increasing calls to end the apartheid regime imposed by Israel on our Palestinian people, as well as calls for boycott. Which will lead to committing more crimes, and this is what is being prepared for through the early settlement plan that the occupation government calls for, and to perpetuate fallacies related to the possibility of combining the concepts of democracy, the Jewishness of the state, democracy, and the persecution of another people on the one hand, and on the other hand, strengthening the concepts of the official West with equality Victim executioner and unilateral procedures.


The claims of Zionism, whose ideology is not limited to the Jews, of anti-Semitism are not only based on showing the Jews as a victim of history, but also in order to ensure the colonial priority of the "rights of the oppressed Jews" in a homeland at the expense of our right to self-determination, we the Palestinian people.


The General Assembly of the United Nations had placed Zionism on the level of equality with racism in 1975, regardless of what happened later to cancel this important UN resolution in 1991 as a result of the political changes in the international system at that time and the uniqueness of America in a unipolar world system after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which we hope will change. again according to the course of the continuous movement of history.


The definitions of this international coalition that are consistent with the Zionist vision came in complete contradiction with democratic values and freedom of expression, and they violate all civil liberties as well as the principles of the emergence of the European Union itself. This became clearer a few years ago, when the Knesset passed a law defining Israel as the state of "the Jewish people scattered throughout the world," in return for depriving our Palestinian people of their right to self-determination.


Never in modern political history have we witnessed such attempts to falsify the facts and facts of history and distort the meaning of words that the official West participates in promoting to serve the intentions of an occupying and colonial power.


As the adoption of practical definitions of the concept of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and anti-Semitism gives the Israelis absolute legal immunity to continue their violations of our rights and of international and humanitarian law, as this definition completely ignored all United Nations resolutions and the United Nations Charter, as well as the principles of freedom of expression, which is what The racists Trump and Kushner previously worked to push for its formulation and submission to the aforementioned international coalition during their presence in the US administration, just as it was later and during the era of Biden, who is proud of his Zionism, that it was approved by the US administration in November of last year 2022 by the US State Department in an official statement. This administration and its predecessors, which did not provide anything actual regarding the implementation of the two-state solution or the settlement ban, and will only do to preserve the sustainability of the fait accompli and the continued protection of the occupying state, even in international forums, regardless of marginal differences with any of the Israeli governments, as is the case today for the determinants of the strategic and ideological relations between them. . Which will make the one apartheid state a fait accompli from the perspective of alternatives to other solutions, the first of which is the two-state solution and the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on all the territories occupied in 67, including Jerusalem.


The paradox today is that the European far-right and those who call themselves neo-Nazis take a position in support of the Zionist movement and affirm absolute support for the occupying state to repel accusations of racism, apartheid and religious supremacy, despite all the division and disagreements that are taking place between the components of the Jewish settlement community today and the stability and clarity of the occupying state as an apartheid regime and the fall of marketing itself as a democracy. This may explain the old cooperation between the Zionists and the Nazis, which was established in 1933 through the "Haavara" agreement between them, to facilitate the immigration of German Jews and European settlers to the land of Palestine. That conspiracy that contributed to achieving this by exploiting the Zionist movement of hatred between the Aryan and Semitic races. And the hatred of the Germans for the Jews in the context of the title of its theory about anti-Semitism and the constant tendency to falsify the facts of history and obliterate the facts.


Despite what is going on now in their diverse Jewish communities of origin in the colonial occupation state, and for the first time in their history, voices have come out of them saying that the government of the fascist religious right is illegitimate and dropping taboos or postulates about which it was forbidden to talk about in the history of their Zionist movement about “sacred values”, it is now turning sharply between them . However, the sharp division that occurred through various forms of protest and chaos does not reflect fundamental differences from the positions of the political right, and even the extremists, regarding the issue of our Palestinian people, their rights, and the issue of occupation, which existed through all their governments, a number of which were considered "Zionist left" from the Labor Party and before. It has formed the axis of the Zionist consensus so far in antagonizing the rights of our people by various means, but they are differences that may have an impact on their internal conditions only.


What is required of our friends around the world and those who defend the facts of history and the rights of our people and human and democratic values and principles is to prevent the adoption of what was stated in the document of practical definitions of the International Alliance for the Remembrance of the Holocaust, if it was in the United Nations and in European parliaments as resolutions and laws, as well as exposing and condemning the statements of the President of the Commission of During the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, which came at a time when Europe itself was suffering from a state of political instability and unprecedented economic inflation due to its subordination to the policies of the United States.


The most important thing is that what is required of us today as Palestinians is not to bury our heads in the sand, but rather to confront those official American and Western European statements and statements that are based on the Zionist narrative and distort the facts of history. Considering it acceptable or useful for the path of our national liberation or for the relations of solidarity that bind the European peoples and even with progressive American and Jewish parties with the causes of our people.


As well as the need to benefit from the international majority in the General Assembly in order to re-consider the decision to equate Zionism with racism, especially after exposing Israeli policies and Zionist ideology based on substitution, racism and supremacy, and building on the decline of the influence of the United States, especially in the Middle East, in the face of what is happening in terms of changes that led to the failure of its projects that worked on attempts to achieve it.

OPINIONS

Sat 29 Apr 2023 10:25 am - Jerusalem Time

Gaza hope and pain

Hamada Pharaohs

Hamada Pharaohs

Opinion Writer

The quarrelsome journalist Omar Kallab brought us together with many, even dozens of Jordanian professional, political, partisan, notables, and businessmen, on a special family occasion, but it went beyond that to be like a political meeting, an electoral activity, a referendum on a phenomenon, an examination of bias towards a position, Despite my political, partisan and electoral experiences, I envied my colleague for three aspects that brought together companionship and the collective party:


First: Omar Kallab’s ability to collect, and to select qualitatively pluralistically: national, regional, regional, class, from cities, rural areas, deserts, and camps.


Second: The response of this diversity of attendees to his invitation.


Third: His choice of Sheikh Talal Al-Madhi, a member of the Jordanian Senate, to be a speaker in front of the gathering, on a social and family occasion, to transform it with logic, with the axiom of the capable, broad-minded, deep-rooted Jordanian, Palestinian and Arab affiliation, without pretension or affectation, turning it into a political event that caught everyone’s attention, as if he united them despite the differences. that separate them.


What drew more attention was when the speaker, Talal al-Madi, exposed the national self to the Gaza Strip, the people of Gaza, and the families of Gaza, which aroused bias, respect, and appreciation.


Gaza, with its sacrifices, initiatives, and superiority, restored to the Palestinian people its national identity, which had been squandered since 1948, and restored to the Palestinian people its status and the respect of the Arab peoples, and even the world, with its sacrifices, steadfastness, and presence. occupation in 2005.


Gaza, created for the Palestinian people its unified representative institution: the Palestine Liberation Organization, and made it the leadership and the only legitimate representative, despite the diversity of policies and positions, and despite the geographical and spatial ruptures in its places of residence.


Gaza, which gave birth to the great leaders: Yasser Arafat, Khalil Al-Wazir, Salah Khalaf, Ahmed Yassin, Guevara Gaza, Abdullah Al-Hourani, Haidar Abdel-Shafi, Rashad Al-Shawa, and may God prolong his life, Freih Abu Madin “Abu Mustafa”, these and others are the makers of Gaza’s status and its national presence With distinction, she excels in representing the Palestinian people, for from it began the journey of struggle and restoration of rights, and from it began the decline and departure of the colony.


Gaza is now a symbol of pain, retreat, and decline, and it will remain the address. What Ibn al-Jordan, Talal al-Madhi, said about Gaza deserves appreciation in order for it to remain in the position it deserves and to regain it.

OPINIONS

Sat 29 Apr 2023 10:24 am - Jerusalem Time

75 years of the Nakba .. Facts for history and politics

Dr.. Nagy Sadeq Sharab

Dr.. Nagy Sadeq Sharab

Opinion Writer

The Nakba, with its meaning of calamity, catastrophe, uprooting, expulsion, displacement, continuous occupation of land and people, the destruction of 418 Palestinian villages and the displacement of more than a million people from their homes, villages and cities to live in diaspora and eternal camps deprived of their humanity. And the massacres that claimed the lives of thousands of those who were safe in their homes.. The Nakba sums up the entire Palestinian cause with all its components and dimensions, and sums up in one word the absence of international and human justice. After this long time, it bears the meaning of continuity without any political solutions looming on the political horizon, and burying the two-state solution with the establishment of the Palestinian state, and this means that the Nakba entered a phase of unknown time. And the continuation of the Nakba in the concepts of settlement, Judaization, continuous occupation, violence, apartheid, siege, four wars on Gaza, and the dispersion of fifteen million who make up the number of the Palestinian people between inside Israel and the occupied lands, camps and diaspora distributed among all countries of the world in search of human rights and humanity. The real Nakba began before May 16, 1948, the day Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of the State of Israel. And to be embodied in the Balfour Declaration of 1917, under which Britain granted the colonial power a homeland for the Jews in Palestine and dealt with the indigenous people as a minority with few rights, and to translate this promise with the British Mandate in which Palestine was intentionally placed in order for Britain to implement the Balfour Declaration by opening the doors of Palestine to Jewish immigration and facilitating the transfer of The lands, especially the lands of the Islamic endowments of the Ottoman Empire, and the arming of the Zionist militias. And up to the official day of the Nakba, with the issuance of the UN resolution on October 26, 1947, to divide Palestine and announce the establishment of Israel as a state on approximately 55 percent of the area of Palestine, noting that they constituted at that time only a population minority that did not exceed six percent. The Nakba continues with the 1948 war and Israel's occupation of twenty-five percent of Palestine, which is allocated to the Arab state, and its occupation is completed with the 1967 war to occupy all Palestinian lands. Even under the authority, Israel considers all of Palestine as one land from its security perspective and deals with the Palestinians without rights and as mere groups that came to Israel. It rejects peace and a Palestinian state.


The Nakba carries many facts that we must restore for significance and consideration. The first historical fact is that the Palestinian issue is a national liberation issue, like all national liberation issues, and its inevitable law is full independence and liberation, whether the occupation is long or short, and what confirms this historical fact is that the struggle and resistance of the Palestinian people did not stop since the first day of immigration policies in the twenties of the last century. Palestine witnessed major donations and revolutions, the most important of which was the 1936 revolution, which stopped due to Arab interventions at the time. This resistance and revolution continues to this day with the announcement of two intifadas and the harbingers of a third intifada taking place in the Palestinian territories today, and four wars fought by the people against the occupation and with the presence of more than five thousand prisoners and detainees. The second historical fact is that the Palestinian cause and its origins are the product of the colonial alliance and the Zionist movement and the solution of the Jewish problem at the expense of the Palestinian people. The Zionist movement would not have been able to achieve its goals without this colonial alliance. The irony is that this alliance stipulated by the First Zionist Congress is still a cornerstone of Israel's survival in its alliance with the United States. The third historical fact is that the historical arguments and narratives propagated by Israel derive their strength from the fact that Israel is a state of force and a state of war, and with coverage and bias from the Western media, which always takes the Zionist point of view and portrays the struggle of the Palestinian people as terrorism and violence. And that what Israel is doing in self-defense. In fact, the conflict is a struggle between the power of legitimacy and the legitimacy of power. As the world triumphs over force, legitimacy and international justice are absent from the Palestinian people.


The Nakba has its Palestinian aspects, considering the Palestinians are the people of the Nakba and those who suffer from it until today, and here are many aspects and manifestations between positive and negative, and we need another article. I will suffice here that Israel has failed to overcome the reality of the Palestinian people, the reality of the refugee problem, the reality of Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem and its religious status, and there are negative aspects represented in the division and the decline in the role of the PLO, and the Arabs scrambling towards normalization and peace with Israel. It remains that there are positive transformations that require a comprehensive Palestinian national vision, most notably that this year's celebration will be held in the heart of the United Nations General Assembly for the first time. This is an affirmation of the strength of international legitimacy, the growing sympathy for the cause and the Palestinian people even within the United States, and the rising voices critical of Israel.


What we are seeing today of a real crisis facing Israel reveals the true image of religious Zionism and its racist nationalism. These positive aspects require a comprehensive Palestinian vision and approach based on continuing to make Palestine a just cause of national liberation, activating international responsibility, and presenting an approach to peace based on the principle of rights and combating discrimination and ethnic hatred. Palestine is one with its land and one with its people within the framework of one state and one citizenship. And time will remain, no matter how long the catastrophe lasts, working for the benefit of the Palestinian people and their cause.
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OPINIONS

Sat 29 Apr 2023 10:21 am - Jerusalem Time

The series of fragmentation of the nation and the fall

Bakr Abu Bakr

Bakr Abu Bakr

Opinion Writer

When the resurrection of the Arab world took place in what has been called spring since the year 2011, many of the sons of the Arab and Islamic nation were optimistic about the possibility of achieving the transition of regimes from a state of tyranny, oppression, or democratic backwardness to an oasis of democracy.


The optimism was great, especially since people are always right, and the masses as a whole cannot be wrong. Hardly a few days had passed before the snow melted and the meadow became clear.


Ideological organizations rode on the backs of revolutions or popular protests, so they tilted the boat towards narrow partisan demands that saw in their demands that they represent the people or the nation, so they deviated from the spring, which turned into autumn and then into a harsh winter.


From Tunisia to Egypt, even if they were able to come out with the least losses as a result of the subsequent public awareness of the theft of the revolutions, what happened in Libya, Syria and others, for example, was the major disaster that befell the Arab world, and this country was not spared from fragmentation, dispersion and strife until today.


Islamic extremism organizations, with clear support and training from the American colonial mentality, were able to wreak havoc in almost all the countries of the nation, thus realizing this mentality's great dream of continuing to fragment and fragment the nation more than it is.


The series of apparent colonial fragmentation began since ancient times, and let us return it here since the Treaty of London in 1840 and the response of Muhammad Ali Pasha, ruler of Egypt, to expansion. Then, in what was the frantic English colonial search to overthrow the nation’s entity and impede any unity. And this was achieved for the colonizer in what was false promises to the Arabs, and the truth was clear through the division through the Sykes-Picot agreements of 1916 and San Remo in 1920 and what mixed them with the Balfour Declaration and the subsequent occupation of Palestine.


In light of the eastern and western worlds, and despite the intensification of conflicts, some Arab leaders allied with the Americans against the Russian invasion of Afghanistan since 1979, so the "Mujahideen" and the Islamists appeared walking and fighting side by side with the Americans, and their Arab supporters, as if they were one front against infidelity!


The Russians left Afghanistan in 1989, and America did not, but settled. America needed an enemy to fight after the communist collapse, so it was the extremist Islamic organizations, or what they called “Islamic terrorism,” forgetting their intercontinental terrorism, which did not end with the killing of Bin Laden in 2011 or Al-Zawahiri in 2022, and in between, America had wreaked havoc on the Arab world, or what they call the Middle East. Corruption through the Arab Spring turning into a piece of debris, and we do not skip attempts to destroy the Palestinian cause in contrast to Israeli-American imperialism, the latest of which was the project for the independence of the Palestinian state with the “slap of the century” that was thwarted by the Palestinians and the free people of the nation.


The colonial penetration and fragmentation of the region and the nation took place in five stages from the year 1840 to the year 1920 until the catastrophe of the nation in 1947-1948 AD, and the subsequent comprehensive national battles that ended in “Camp David” in 1979, then the alliance with the Americans who achieved the required Arab coup by leaving the Palestinian cause nothing. Little by little, it was at the bottom of the list of Arab priorities, until this was confirmed by the first destruction of Iraq, then the second, and the subsequent Madrid conference in 1991 AD, and then Oslo. So singling out the Palestinians was a prelude to more dissections in the body of the nation.


The nation's countries escaped further fragmentation temporarily, and ensured the continuation of its regimes in light of suspicious alliances with the Americans, and support for currents, groups, or leaders who were delusional about protecting the Americans until the eastern camp fell. America ruled the world exclusively - until recently, China and Russia emerged.


America oppressed the entire world, east and west, with unequal wars, so there is no way out for its brute force, and in the Arab world it found the greatest misguidance by entering the theater of more fragmentation and division under the perforated and false umbrellas of human rights, terrorist organizations, or deadly weapons through the bombing of Iraq, then the occupation of Iraq in 2003 AD . Where the claims end with the occupation and it appears that there are no terrorist organizations as great as the American terrorism itself, and there are no deadly weapons greater than the Western, Israeli and American weapons. As for the slogan "Human Rights", there is nothing wrong with it. You have blatant examples of what happened in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, and in Palestine the examples from the Israeli ally are innumerable.


Today we are entering the sixth stage in fragmenting the fragmented and fragmenting the fragmented, what was previously attributed to Bernard Lewis, who hates Arabs and Muslims - and in implementation of the Western colonial tool, led by America and its ally in the region - when Lewis said, "The Arabs and Muslims are corrupt, corrupt, chaotic people who cannot be prepared." ... Therefore, the proper solution to deal with them is to re-occupy and colonize them and destroy their religious culture... It is necessary to re-divide the Arab and Islamic countries into clan and sectarian units"!


He followed in the footsteps of Brzezinski, the US National Security Adviser, who said in 1980 that the Sykes-Picot border must be corrected. Then the American presidents' desire for continued hegemony over the region, which is swimming in a lake of oil and wealth.


The sixth stage continued the fragmentation required to achieve more Western hegemony and took a new form.


The conflict was clearly defined between the West and the nation first from the 18th and 19th centuries onwards, then turned into Western polarizations in exchange for corresponding Eastern polarizations, then to inciting regimes against peoples, then the struggle of regimes against each other, then the struggle of the regime and the masses, up to the struggle of regimes against extremist organizations.


A new form of Western conflict plagued by its hateful racism, and the illusion of its technical and moral superiority! And by fierce fighting to establish its hegemony and tyranny over the civilizations and nations of the world, it has taken today in our country its tribal, clan, or partisan-factional dimension within every country. And the accompanying fragmentation of Arab mosques, or Arab national security, or the cultural values that unite our region for more than a thousand and 500 years at least, and raising the importance of Qatari high schools, then regional, then partisan or tribal-tribal even in exchange for the national state itself. What we clearly see today is the fragmentation and destruction taking place in Sudan today in the war of the two brothers and the two arch-allies, or the two arch-friends, Al-Burhan and Hamidati, the Israeli and American allies in the region.


The series of fragmentation of the land, peoples, cultural values, and inclusive concepts does not mean that the nation is a surrendered body subject to plans and waiting for the knife to reach its neck while it is stagnant. It does not mean that the nation, despite the apparent weakness of its leaders and many of its changing values, will be captive to colonial or racist malevolent diagnoses.


The series of Western fragmentation of our region does not mean that the world is fixed and revolves around the West as the axis and the rest revolves in its orbit or is from the periphery, for here are the eastern nations announcing their resurrection in China, Russia, and others, so are we following in their footsteps! And we have a lot of assets.


The nation has a gold mine in its people who possess the tools of thought, science, culture, technology, and distinguished civilizational entrenchment, and they are the ones who have the time today to take control of matters with awareness, democracy, will of action, message and long and persistent struggle, so that the makers of the coming future will achieve their comprehensive civilizational thought that makes the nation today or tomorrow better A nation brought out to people on the path of freedom, democracy and progress.

OPINIONS

Sat 29 Apr 2023 10:19 am - Jerusalem Time

Scanning the map

Joe Biden, the president of the largest country in the world, or rather the president of the world, threatened to wipe North Korea (about 30 million people) off the map with nuclear weapons, without hearing a single word from his "civilized" allies in Europe and "uncivilized" in the rest of the world, criticizing him. on this barbaric statement, or to demand that he withdraw it, apologize for it, or repudiate it. As it is well known, America does not joke about such an issue, as it had already done so in its neighbor Korea before dividing it into two Koreas, when it struck two Japanese cities with atomic bombs and exterminated their inhabitants, animals and plants.


The threat of wiping it off the map or off the map, we have been hearing it in recent years in more than one place in this world (the map), whether with nuclear power or otherwise. A few days ago, we heard a Russian official threatening to wipe Ukraine off the map (Europe) if it joined NATO, and it is the one that Its population is nearly fifty million, and over the course of the Islamic revolution in Iran nearly five decades ago, we hear threats to Israel to wipe it off the map, noting that Iran does not possess nuclear weapons, and its jurist ruler Khamenei has stated that the use of such weapons is forbidden by Sharia. Israel, in turn, possesses this weapon only three years after its establishment. It practically denies the existence of the Palestinian people, and is a prelude to its annihilation and wiping it off the map. This was repeated recently by one of its ministers (Bezalel Smotrich) from a Parisian platform, that the Palestinian people are just an illusion. It was invented in the land of Israel in the last hundred years. In the midst of this statement, the town of Hawara was burned. The strange thing is that his "Christian" words were met with applause several times.


After nearly thirty years of America’s monopoly in controlling the world, its capabilities, wealth, money, people, markets, and even its geography, as happened with Trump, who granted Jerusalem and with it the Golan Heights to Israel, and the economic sanctions imposed on what equals half the world, it is obvious that we begin to hear brutal, fascist, terrifying terms. of this kind; Scanning the map. There are countries that contribute to wiping themselves off the map, as a result of underdevelopment, as with Afghanistan, which closes schools and abolishes any presence of women outside the home, or as a result of self-warfare in the ranks of the military, as is happening today in Sudan, or direct conspiracy, as with ancient Lebanon, which is mired in its daily living crises. He cannot elect a president even though a year has passed since his parliamentary elections. Or even Palestine, which has two governments and is still occupied.

OPINIONS

Sat 29 Apr 2023 10:17 am - Jerusalem Time

The charade of Biden's Zionist anger at Netanyahu

Faisal Abu Khadra

Faisal Abu Khadra

Opinion Writer

Member of the National Council
It is a charade par excellence, like the wife’s anger at her husband, and I wish his anger was due to the actions of Netanyahu and his gang, as not a day goes by without killing, land theft, or storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which belongs to all Muslims. Rather, his anger is for fear of the collapse of the Zionist entity, which is inevitable That it collapses one day, because the land of Palestine is only for the Palestinians, and the Zionists who occupy the Palestinian land are only transients, like all those who occupied this blessed land.


They say he raised the yellow card, but can he just open the consulate in East Jerusalem and reopen the PLO office in Washington?


Is it possible for him to change one article of the proposed Israeli judiciary? Of course he cannot, because keeping the laws as they are constitutes harm to Netanyahu and not only to increase the pressure on our honorable prisoners imprisoned in the prisons of the occupier. Did he cancel one deal of American arms for the occupier?


When it was said that Biden raised the yellow card, the thug Ben Gavier replied that Israel is not a star on the American flag.


Biden knows very well that he cannot divorce the occupier, because their marriage is stronger than the Catholic marriage. This new play between America and the occupier is only a whirlwind in a teacup.


Now, America's position is very weak, just as the occupier is much weaker. If the Ukrainian war ends, from which America and Europe are bankrupt, and Europe begins to beg China to get it out of this dilemma, we find that the world is no longer governed only by America, and this is what the Arab Gulf states have noticed. And the liar Netanyahu's belief that the Gulf states will abandon the support of the Palestinian people is a sample of ignorance, and thanks to the Arabs who were printed to know the mentality of Masonic Zionism.


Today, America is different from before. The first reason is the war that Biden is leading against the skulls of the poor Ukrainian people, who are led by the Zionist Zelinsky.


Now Saudi Arabia and behind it OPEC reduced oil production, and of course the Zionist Biden did not like this, but Saudi Arabia is working in its interest on the issue of energy, just as the occupier did not like restoring diplomatic relations between it and neighboring Iran on all the conditions requested by Saudi Arabia. We pray that Yemen will return to its true owners.


The Palestinian people are looking forward to the unity of the Arab decision after Syria returned to the Arab embrace, and to support Syria with money and weapons so that the Golan can be returned to its owners, and the Arab cordon will return with its economic and security power, a force to be reckoned with.


Zionism has been exposed for what it is, as stated by John Kerry, US Secretary of State under Obama, who said very clearly that if Israel abandons the two-state solution, it will be an apartheid state.


And now the Zionist Biden is fighting on several fronts, with weapons against Russia, and there is no doubt that America has gone bankrupt, along with Europe, and its war against Russia is via Ukraine, and it found its goal in the Zionist Zelensky, as the Ukrainian people are fighting on behalf of the US army after the shameful defeat of this army in Afghanistan.


If America wanted to boycott any country or just resented or disliked the actions of a country in the world, the rest of the European countries would rush to support racist America, but today the situation is different and every country is working for the benefit of its people.


Contrary to what I wrote, something unbelievable appeared to us, which is what is happening in Sudan to its good people, and the war that broke out between its generals, and the biggest loser is its good people from its army, which is supposed to be the protector of this people, and the worst is the American request from Israel to mediate between the parties to the conflict.


It remains only for us Palestinians to unite militarily and politically, then these leaders will find unlimited support from the Arab countries. God is the helper.

Sat 29 Apr 2023 9:29 am - Jerusalem Time

Emirati Sultan Al Neyadi becomes the first Arab astronaut to walk in space

Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi left the International Space Station on Friday, becoming the first Arab citizen to walk in space, in an event the United Arab Emirates described as "historic".


Al Neyadi (41 years old) is the fourth astronaut from an Arab country and the second from the Emirates to participate in a space mission, but he is the first Arab astronaut to leave the International Space Station for about six hours and thirty minutes.


The Mohammed bin Rashid UAE Space Center stated on its website that Al Neyadi, wearing a space suit bearing the UAE flag, carried out "the first ever spacewalk by an Arab astronaut," noting that this event constitutes a "new historic achievement."


Al-Neyadi tweeted that his mission, along with American Stephen Bowen, is to "prepare for the installation of solar panels."


Al-Neyadi, nicknamed the "Sultan of Space", is also the first Arab to embark on a long space mission, and he left for the International Space Station in early March on a "Falcon 9" rocket from the "SpaceX" company.


The rich Gulf state entered the race in the field of space exploration in 2019, with the dispatch of Hazzaa Al Mansouri to the International Space Station on a mission that took eight days, but Al Mansouri did not walk in space at that time.


In 1985, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sent the first Arab and Muslim astronaut into space to participate in a space flight launched from the United States.


On Wednesday, a lunar explorer built by the Emirates was lost during one of the missions to the moon.


And in the year 2021, the Emirates sent an orbital probe to Mars. If the small vehicle weighing ten kilograms called "Rashid" had succeeded in landing, it would have carried out the first Arab mission on the moon.


And soon, the UAE Prime Minister, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ordered the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center to start work on a second rover called "Rashid 2".

SPORT

Sat 29 Apr 2023 9:11 am - Jerusalem Time

CAF Champions League: Penalties carry Wydad to the semi-finals

Moroccan Wydad Athletic Club will continue its campaign to defend its title as a champion of the African Champions League football competition, after it overcame the Tanzanian Simba hurdle 4-3 with a penalty shootout after the original time ended 1-0 for the Casablanca team on Friday at the “Mohamed V” stadium in Casablanca, in the quarter-final second leg. Final.


Simba had won the first leg with the same result in Dar es Salaam.


Wydad al-Ummah condemns his qualification to his Senegalese scorer Pauly Sambo, who scored the only goal of the match, and to goalkeeper Youssef Mutei, who saved two penalty kicks, which qualified the title holder.


Wydad reached the semi-finals for the fifth consecutive season, where it set a date in the golden square with the winner from the confrontation between Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa and Al-Shabab Athletic Belouizdad of Algeria, and Sundowns had won the first leg 4-1 in Algeria.


The Moroccan team showed its intentions to remedy its loss in the first leg early, as it exerted great pressure on the Tanzanian team's goal, especially after regaining its Senegalese goal-scorer, Pauli Sambo, supported by Jalal Al-Daoudi, Ayman Al-Hassouni, Saif Al-Din Bohra, international midfielder Yahya Gebran and international full-back Yahya Atiyatallah, in addition to Support of his broad fans.


On the other hand, the Brazilian coach of Simba, Roberto Oliveira Gonçalves, relied on intensifying his elements in the midfield, relying on quick counters and shooting from afar, led by top scorer Jean Palecki, who had the only injury in the first leg, and Zambian Clatus Shama and Denis Kebo.


Ayman Al-Hassouni tried to catch the first goal, but his powerful shot passed over the goal (13). Al-Hassouni passed a through ball to Sambo, but the Tanzanian goalkeeper Ali Juma saved the ball into a corner kick (15).


The pressure of “Wydad Al-Umma” resulted in opening the scoring when Atiyatullah sent a cross that was not pushed back by defender Shumare Kabomby, so Sambo grabbed it with a powerful header, deceiving goalkeeper Goma, and it settled into his own net (25).


This is Sambo's fourth goal in the competition (not counting the first round).


Hisham Bousfian passed a cross, which Senegalese Sambo turned into the goal, and the Tanzanian goalkeeper pushed it away with the tips of his stamps to a corner (33).


Balicki almost hit the net of Moroccan goalkeeper Youssef Motea Barassia, who passed by the goal after a corner kick (38). Atiyatullah hit a curved ball, which was caught by goalkeeper Juma (43).


The landowners continued to dominate in the second half of the match, and the Chadian referee, Al-Hadaji, canceled a goal scored by Ayman Al-Hassouni for offside (52).


Coach Garrido threw all his attacking cards, as he pushed the duo Mohamed Onajem and midfielder Abdullah Haymoud, hoping to settle the result, but the Tanzanian defense held firm, preventing reaching the Goma goal.


The Spaniard also involved striker Zuhair Al-Muradi in the last minutes without any change in the result despite the favorable points, most notably by Ayman Al-Hassouni, as he turned the ball with his head towards the goal, but Simba's defense saved the situation (86). The two teams resorted to penalty kicks, as Wydad Yahya Gebran, Ayoub Al-Amoud, Amin Abu Al-Fath and Abdullah Haymoud scored, while Simba Erasto Nyonyi, Saidy Ntibazunkisa and Zambian Moses Phiri scored, while Shumari Kabumbi and Zambian Clatus Shama missed.

SPORT

Sat 29 Apr 2023 9:08 am - Jerusalem Time

German Championship: Dortmund stumbles and opens the door to the lead for Bayern

Borussia Dortmund opened the door to the top of the “Bundesliga” for its rivals, Bayern Munich, by stumbling with its host Bochum 1-1 on Friday, in the opening of the thirtieth stage of the German Football League.


Bochum advanced through Frenchman Anthony Lucia in the fifth minute of the match, before Dortmund equalized two minutes later, with a goal by Karim Adeyemi (7).


With this tie, Dortmund raised its tally to 61 points in first place, two points behind Bayern Munich II, who now has the opportunity to regain the lead if it manages to beat its guest Hertha Berlin on Sunday.


Thus, 11 years after its last crowning in the German Football League, Borussia Dortmund may miss the opportunity to end the stark dominance of Bayern Munich, who won the title in the last ten seasons.


On the other hand, Bochum raised its score to 28 points in the fifteenth place.

SPORT

Sat 29 Apr 2023 9:07 am - Jerusalem Time

Saudi Championship: Ronaldo scores as Al-Nasr returns to the winning streak

Al-Nasr regained its winning tone after three matches, after its great victory over its guest, Al-Raed, 4-0, on Friday, at the Park Stadium in Riyadh, at the end of the twenty-fourth round of the Saudi Football League.


The Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo (4), Abdul Rahman Gharib (55), Muhammad Maran (90), and Abdul Majeed Al-Salihim (90 + 4) took turns recording the victory quartet.


Al-Nasr raised its score to 56 points in second place, while Al-Raed remained on its previous score of 26 points in eleventh place.
Only three minutes had passed since the start of the first half until victory took precedence, when Ronaldo followed a cross with his head to the left of Romanian goalkeeper Silvio Long (4).


And from a coordinated attack in the second half, Al-Nasr strengthened its lead with a second goal when Gharib received a ball inside the penalty area, after which he passed the defender and played it strong inside the goal (55).


Al-Nasr added a third goal when the substitute, Maran, received a cross, which he played powerfully into the goal (90). And in the calculated time instead of the lost, the victory deepened the difference when Al-Salihim kicked off a ball from the depths and played it “Take and Haat” with the Uzbek Masharipov before sending it powerfully into the left scissors of goalkeeper Long (90 + 4).


On the other hand, Al-Khaleej scored 3 valuable points in the journey to escape from relegation, by defeating its host Al-Fayhaa 3-0.


Al-Khaleej advanced with Albanian Sokol Tsekaleshi's goal from a penalty kick (23), and Portuguese Fabio Martinez added the second goal with a shot (54), and Gabonese Andre Boko third with a header (67).


The Gulf increased its score to 20 points in the penultimate fifteenth place, while Al-Fayhaa remained at 25 points in the twelfth place.


Al-Ettifaq defeated its guest Damak with two clean goals scored by Nigerian striker Youssef Nyakati in the two minutes (89 and 90 + 1).
With this victory, Al-Ettifaq raised its balance to 30 points in eighth place, while Dhamak's balance froze at 29 points in ninth place.
On the other hand, Al-Wehda snatched a valuable point after imposing a 1-1 draw on its host Al-Fateh.


Al-Fateh advanced in the first half by Spain's Christian Tello (13), and Al-Wahda equalized in the second half through Moroccan Faisal Fajr (63 from a penalty kick).


With this tie, Al-Fateh raised its score to 39 points in fifth place, while Al-Wehda raised its score to 23 points in thirteenth place.

SPORT

Sat 29 Apr 2023 9:05 am - Jerusalem Time

Qatar Championship: Al-Sadd beat Al-Rayyan and a precious victory for Qatar at the expense of Al-Gharafa

Al-Sadd strengthened its third position in the Qatari Football League after overcoming Al-Rayyan 2-0 on Friday, in the twentieth stage, which witnessed a valuable victory for Qatar over Al-Gharafa with a clean goal, to preserve all its chances in the competition for fourth place.


Al-Sadd raised its tally to 41 points, narrowing the difference with Al-Arabi II to two points, and with leaders Al-Duhail to four points, leaving behind very few hopes of competing for the title it held in the past two editions.


The wounds of Al-Rayyan, who suffered the eleventh loss, deepened, contenting themselves with a point from the last four matches, to freeze its balance at point 17 in the ninth place temporarily, one point behind the eleventh and penultimate place, which leads to the relegation playoff to the ranks of second-division clubs.


Al-Sadd dominated the course of the first half, wasting a torrent of easy opportunities in front of Al-Rayyan's goal, so he waited until the 70th minute to open the score through former Qatari national team player Rodrigo Tabata, who took advantage of Akram Afif's pass and turned it into the net (70).


Al-Rayyan pressed in the last third of the hour, and Ivory Coast's Johan Boley missed two opportunities in front of the goal, before his teammates completed the match incompletely after defender Mohamed Ayyash was sent off with a second yellow card (80). 90+6).


On the other hand, Qatar ignited the competition for fourth place after achieving a valuable victory over Al-Gharafa 1-0, raising its tally to 32 points in fifth place and lagging behind Al-Gharafa, who temporarily retained its fourth position, on goal difference, amid a threat from Al-Wakrah, which has thirty points, and faces Al-Arabi on Saturday.


The team of Moroccan coach Youssef Sifri started the match perfectly, imposing its control over the course, and scoring the only goal through the Iraqi Bashar Resen, who reached the Moroccan Badr Bannoun’s long pass to bypass the defender and hit the ball beautifully in the far corner (22).


In a third match, Al-Markhiya achieved its second successive victory over Al-Shamal within a week, 3-1, after winning a postponed match 2-1, to raise its score to 24 points, consolidating its seventh position in the standings table.


The Moroccan coach Hisham Jedran's team officially guaranteed staying in the first division for another season, after moving away from the accounts of the late positions, while the North's balance was frozen at point 17 in the tenth place temporarily, and it threatened to fall back to the penultimate position leading to the relegation supplement.


Despite Al Shamal's possession of the ball, Al Markhiya was the most effective offensive player.


Algerian Ayoub Ezzi won a penalty kick after a mistake committed by Dutchman Luke Landry, and Moroccan Idris Fotouhi successfully executed the kick in the last minute of the first half (45).


Guinean Jose Correa added the second goal to Al-Markhiya in stoppage time, taking advantage of Ali Al-Marri's cross (45 + 3), before Al-Shamal narrowed the difference through Al-Markhiya player Eid Balghith by mistake (67).


However, Fotohi killed the match with the third goal after a header from substitute Ali Al-Mohannadi's cross (83).
The twentieth round ends on Saturday with three confrontations, where Umm Salal will meet with Al Duhail, Al Arabi with Al Wakrah, and Al Ahly with Al Sailiya.

SPORT

Sat 29 Apr 2023 9:02 am - Jerusalem Time

The Table Federation launches the sports season on the next 19



The Palestinian Table Tennis Federation, headed by Mohamed Salah Al-Dalou, decided to launch the new sports season 2023-2024, on the nineteenth of next May, by launching the first national championship, for the Premier League clubs – the Lights League, as the Federation’s Competitions Committee decided to organize it in a league manner. from one turn.

The Board of Directors of the Game Association held its meeting at the headquarters of the Olympic Committee in Gaza, headed by Muhammad Salah al-Dalu, President of the Central Table Federation, and the two members of the Federation, Adeeb Abu Ghazal, Chairman of the Competitions Committee, Yasser Eslim, and Imad Al-Jaal, Secretary General, and the Vice President from the West Bank, Radwan Al-Sharif, joined the meeting via phone. They discussed organizing central tournaments, in addition to holding a central meeting for the federation.


Tournament schedule

The remaining tournaments have been scheduled for this season, and they are as follows: The launch of the second division championship on the ninth of next May, while the 16th of next June will witness the launch of the tournament for age groups for groups under 11-13-15 years. The Football Federation also discussed organizing training camps for the age groups through coordination and arrangement with the International and Asian Federations.

Abu Ghazal, Chairman of the Competitions Committee, called on clubs to prepare early for the upcoming tournaments, especially in the Premier League, and to arrange their ranks and players, to improve the technical aspect of the tournament, and to present distinguished levels during the competitions.


The launch of the second super championship

The Palestinian Association for Veteran Athletes, under the auspices of Mr. Abdel Salam Haniyeh, Assistant Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, and in cooperation with the Gaza Sports Club, is preparing to launch the Super Championship, which will be held for the second year in a row for the veterans, for the champion and runner-up of the Ramadan tournament in the governorates of Gaza and the North, and the central and southern governorates. And that will be next Monday, at the beginning of next May 1/5/2023, which coincides with International Labor Day, on the grassy field of the Gaza Sports Club in the Al-Sudaniyya area.

Ziyad Abu Samra, head of the committee supervising the tournament, said that the first match will start at 5:00 pm and will bring together Gaza Sports Club with its youth counterpart in Rafah, and will be followed by the second match, which will bring together the youth of Jabalia with the veterans of Khan Yunis, pointing out that the tournament is for the age group of 40 years and above, and each team is allowed to participate two players. 37 years old, not registered on the federation’s club lists.

Abu Samra called on all the old players and stars of the beautiful time to attend this sports festival from all the governorates of the sector, indicating that the association will honor ten sports personalities, headed by the great athlete Issa Karsoo’, Khamis Abu Halima, and Naeem Al Swerki. The first tournament for the veterans of the governorates of Gaza and the North was crowned with the title of the Gaza Sports Veterans and came as the runner-up for the Jabalia youth veterans, with the participation of 13 teams from Gaza and the North clubs.

The veterans of Khan Younis were crowned champions, and Ansar Al-Zaeem were crowned runners-up in the Al-Wafa’a Championship for the people of Al-Wafaa for the veterans of the central and southern governorates, with the participation of ten teams from the central and southern clubs.


New boss in friendship

Al-Sadaqa Club – one of the Premier League clubs – announced that it had reached an agreement with a new coach to join the team’s technical staff led by coach Mahmoud Awad, at a time when it had completed strengthening its ranks by contracting with two players in preparation for the 2023-2024 season competitions, which is scheduled to start in a month. next July.

The club stated that it had agreed with coach Mahmoud Ahmed Al-Masharawi, an expert in physical fitness and physical preparation to work in the technical staff, as he would take over the task of physical preparation, which would reflect positively on the team, stressing the club’s tendency to focus on the physical aspect, stressing that Al-Masharawi would undertake the physical rehabilitation of the players in addition to His participation in helping injured players to recover from the effects of the injury and avoid its recurrence.


Hassanein leaves the services

On the other hand, the Rafah Services Club - the Premier League champion agreed to the departure of one of the most prominent stars of the team, the player Sharaf Hassanein, and gave him his dismissal book, based on the desire of the player, who asked for an opportunity to participate in the next season, especially since he did not get to participate in the real above. field.

It is noteworthy that Hassanein rose to the first team in the Rafah Services Club in the 2016-2017 season, accompanied by a distinguished group of players, including Anas Al-Shakhrit, Emad Fahjan, Sami Qadan and other players, as Mahmoud Al-Muzayen, the coach of the team, decided to rely on them after the departure of Saeed Al-Sabakhi from the ranks of Al-Akhdar.

It is worth noting that Hassanein appeared with Gaza Sports Club on loan two seasons ago, and contributed to the team’s return to the Premier League before his return, and he did not participate clearly, but he was crowned with the team with three Premier League titles in addition to the 2019 Bottom Cup title.

This, and Rafah services player Ataya Jarbou decided to leave him after obtaining the dismissal paper with the conclusion of the last football season and his leadership of the team to obtain the Premier League title for the seventh time in its history.


A third player leaves Rafah youth

The board of directors of the Rafah Youth Club approved, during its weekly session, the departure of its player, Mohammed Al-Nems, at his request. The council confirmed that the player Al-Nems will be given a letter of dismissal, after agreeing on all financial details with him, indicating that he will not stand in his way, and wishes him success. Al-Nems is the third player to whom the club, the league champion for the penultimate edition, agrees to his departure, after Ibrahim Al-Natil previously left the ranks of the Palestinian Al-Ahly club, and approved Balata Club’s request to borrow goalkeeper Abdullah Shaqfa. This, and the Rafah Youth Club seeks to compete again for tournaments, especially the league. Al-Mumtaz, which he lost this season in favor of his neighbor and rival, Khadamat Rafah, where he had previously signed with the player Imad Al-Samaana, while the team regained the player Saeed Al-Sabakhi and Nasser Abu Qarsheen. The Board of Directors is considering many loaning a group of its players to different clubs, especially for the three goalkeepers (Abdullah Abu Gaza, Basil Al-Sabahin, and Abdul-Bari Badwan).


Approval of the transfer of Shaqfa

The Rafah Youth Club, along with the Balata Center Club in Nablus, agreed to include one of its most prominent stars, to strengthen the team’s ranks in preparation for the next season, which is goalkeeper Abdullah Shaqfa. Kun will give him the door to return to the national team again after he was called up in the 2021 Arab Cup that was held in Qatar.


Funding projects worth one million dollars

Abdel Salam Haniyeh, Assistant Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, blessed after receiving approval to finance 4 projects worth one million dollars, under the supervision of the United Nations Development Program and joint cooperation with the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports. Haniyeh praised the support provided by the German government through the German Development Bank KFW, and the efforts of the United Nations Development Program in supporting Palestinian sports. He also thanked the efforts of clubs that took the initiative to present projects to develop their facilities to serve athletes, with the support of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports. It is noteworthy that the projects that received funding are: the construction of a covered hall for Al-Nasr Al-Arabi Club, a gymnasium for the Khan Yunis Club, a multi-purpose hall for Al-Zawaida Club, a multi-purpose hall, and an auditorium for the Deir Al-Balah Union Club.

PALESTINE

Sat 29 Apr 2023 8:37 am - Jerusalem Time

A young man was killed in a shooting crime inside the occupied

A young man was killed, and another was wounded, at dawn on Saturday, as a result of gunfire inside the occupied territories.


According to the Hebrew website Ynet, the dead man was Mahdi Hariri (19 years old), from Umm al-Fahm, and another person who was accompanying him from the town of Barta'a was wounded, and his condition was described as moderate.


The site indicated that the Israeli police opened an investigation into the incident that took place on 6 Eyal Street.

PALESTINE

Sat 29 Apr 2023 8:24 am - Jerusalem Time

Force-feeding.. The occupation's method of torturing striking prisoners!

The Israeli occupation authorities do not stop torturing prisoners, through systematic policies, even when they are on hunger strike.


Force-feeding is one of the methods used by the occupation to force the prisoners on hunger strike to eat or receive nutrients. This is done by using various methods, including inserting feeding tubes into the stomach of the hunger-striking prisoner through the nose and injecting foodstuffs through them forcefully into the stomach, which is a dangerous method that previously caused the death of several prisoners, or by introducing foodstuffs and liquids by injection into the bloodstream (veins). , Blood vessels).


Forced feeding.. abuse of the captive


The Israeli occupation considers force-feeding as a means of torturing and abusing the hunger-striking prisoner. The head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, Qaddoura Fares, confirmed in an interview with Al-Quds.com, pointing out that the Israeli Knesset passed a force-feeding law against the striking prisoner in 2015, but Israel did not find any Who enforces that law yet.


On July 30, 2015, the Knesset ratified the Force-Feeding of Prisoners Law, in the second and third readings, by a majority of 46 votes against 40 votes. "Their lives were in danger."


According to Fares, the Israeli Medical Association has threatened to dismiss any doctor who implements it because it harms the reputation of doctors globally. They consider force-feeding a process of abuse and torture of the prisoner, but if a nurse or policeman is found carrying it out, then this means going towards killing the prisoner.


Killer nutrition!


Since the eighties of the last century, Israel has stopped the method of force-feeding with its cruel and deadly concept of "inserting food with a plastic tube into the stomach", after the martyrdom of four striking prisoners who were forcibly fed, according to what the head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, Qadura Fares, confirmed.


The four captive martyrs who died after being force-fed are: Abdul Qadir Abu al-Fahm, who died as a martyr on 11/5/1970, Rasem Halawa, who died as a martyr on 7/20/1980, and Ali al-Jaafari, who died as a martyr on 7/24/1980. and Ishaq Maragheh, who was martyred in 1983 after 3 years of being force-fed.


Force-feeding is done in two ways, the first is by forcibly inserting a plastic tube into the prisoner's stomach, and the second method is force-feeding through blood.


Feeding with a plastic tube through the stomach is fatal and dangerous, as it is inserted into the nostril, then pushed through the esophagus, until it reaches the stomach. Then the nutrients are injected into the stomach, a method in which four prisoners were martyred.


Force feeding through blood!


What Israel practices by forcibly feeding the striking prisoners in recent times, through blood through intravenous catheters by force; The tube is attached to a vein, and then nutrient fluids, glucose, salts or nutrients are pumped directly into the bloodstream.


The head of the Commission for Detainees and Ex-Prisoners Affairs, Major General Qadri Abu Bakr, told Al-Quds.com: “Israel practices feeding by example when it wants by giving the prisoner an intravenous needle, unlike the previous method of feeding the prisoner through the nose into the stomach because it is dangerous and leads to the death of the prisoner, so Israel resorted to feeding.” through the vein.


Abu Bakr stresses that force-feeding through blood takes place against the will of the prisoner, by giving him supplements and vitamins, especially prisoners who are at risk and fall into a coma.


For his part, the leader of the Islamic Jihad movement, the released prisoner Maher al-Akhras, who went on a hunger strike for 104 days, told Al-Quds.com: “The occupation authorities cannot forcefully feed a prisoner through an IV while he is conscious, unless he is out of consciousness.” Only awareness.


Al-Akhras continues, "During the days of my strike, they tried to feed me by inserting food into the mouth, as well as by trying to give me nutrients intravenously, but I prevented them and refused, because force might put the prisoner in a state of danger."


Al-Akhras refers to numerous attempts by the Israeli occupation authorities to deceive him, to force him to end his strike, but he was vigilant and failed to do so, noting that feeding the prisoner through food aid means prolonging the life of the strike and keeping him alive without responding to his demands.

ARAB AND WORLD

Sat 29 Apr 2023 8:17 am - Jerusalem Time

3 Syrians were injured in Israeli raids on Homs

3 Syrian civilians were injured, after midnight, as a result of Israeli raids targeting several targets in the city of Homs, central Syria.


According to an official Syrian military source, the bombing was carried out from the direction of northern Lebanon, targeting some points in the vicinity of the city of Homs, and the air defense media intercepted the missiles and shot down some of them.


He pointed out that material damage was caused to a gas station that caught fire, and a number of tanks and trucks were burned.

PALESTINE

Sat 29 Apr 2023 8:13 am - Jerusalem Time

The occupation arrests two young men from Ramallah and Nablus

On Saturday, the Israeli occupation forces arrested two young men from Silwad in Ramallah, and another from Nablus.


The occupation forces raided the house of the young Mahdi Ayyad, searched it and wreaked havoc before arresting him and taking him for interrogation, and confiscating his private vehicle.


The young man, Mustafa Mabrouka, was arrested by a special force while he was in Surra village, west of Nablus.