PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:19 pm - Jerusalem Time

The occupation demolishes a house under construction and sweeps away citizens' lands, east of Yatta

Hebron - "Jerusalem" dot com - Today, Monday, Israeli military vehicles bulldozed citizens' lands east of Yatta, south of Hebron, in favor of settlement expansion.


According to local sources, these Israeli vehicles bulldozed lands belonging to the Abu Zahra family, and began digging operations in the Al-Ain Al-Bayda area, with the aim of establishing a new settlement outpost.


The sources pointed out that these excavations and bulldozers are close to the citizens' residence in the Jawaya area, and the occupation seeks, through these provocative actions, to seize the land and prevent its owners from accessing it.


The Israeli occupation bulldozers also demolished an under-construction house in Umm Lasfa area, east of Yatta.


Local sources reported that the house belongs to Mohammed Hassan Daoud, and its area is 150 square meters, under the pretext of building without a permit, at a time when the occupation does not grant building permits in the area with the aim of settlement expansion at the expense of citizens’ lands.

PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:19 pm - Jerusalem Time

The Fatah Revolutionary Council will be held next Wednesday

Ramallah - "Jerusalem" dot com - The Revolutionary Council of the Fatah movement will convene next Wednesday to discuss many of the movement's internal and external files on the Palestinian arena.


Majed Al-Fityani, Secretary of the Council, said in statements to the "Voice of Palestine" radio station, that there are many issues that will be discussed at the level of the Palestinian national situation, and Al-Fatah in particular.


He pointed out that the meeting comes as a continuation of the permanent consultative sessions of the Revolutionary Council to follow up on various files.


He pointed out that there might be a full new session of the Fatah Revolutionary Council early next month.

ECONOMY

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:19 pm - Jerusalem Time

Gazprom announces the start of pre-commissioning tests at the Kovikta field

Moscow - (AFP) - The Russian giant Gazprom announced on Tuesday that it had given the go-ahead to conduct tests at the site of the Kovykta gas field in Siberia, which is supposed to increase in the coming months the Russian gas export capacity to China in light of the war in Ukraine.


"(This is) an important step in the implementation of the Spiria power project and the establishment of new gas production centers in the east of the country," said the company's president, Alexei Miller, in a press statement.


Miller described the Kovkyta gas field as a "vital resource base" for "development of gas supplies to Russia's eastern regions" as well as for "export", particularly to China and South Korea.


The start of tests from the gas field near Lake Baikal in Siberia is a prerequisite for the gas to be transported to the Power of Siberia 1 gas pipeline that since the end of 2019 connects the Qiandina field (in Yakutia) with northeastern China.


The announcement comes at a time when Russian gas shipments to Europe have fallen sharply in recent months on the back of the geopolitical crisis stemming from the war in Ukraine.


In the statement, Miller said that the connection of the Kovikta field to Power of Siberia 1, expected in the next few months, "will give a boost ... and increase the supply of foreign consumers." It is supposed to allow a significant increase in shipments of Russian gas to China in the coming years.


In mid-September, Russian Deputy Prime Minister in charge of energy Alexander Novak indicated that Gazprom would increase its shipments to 20 billion cubic meters of gas each year, mainly by drawing on the reserves of the Kovikta field.


In 2025, when it reaches its maximum capacity, the Siberia Power Line 1 will produce about 61 billion cubic meters annually, more than Nord Stream, which can transport 55 billion cubic meters but has been closed since the beginning of September in Europe and had leaks at the end of September September, its circumstances were not clear.


Russia also plans to build Force Siberia 2 from 2024 to supply China via Mongolia, another sign that Russia's energy strategy has already turned east.

ECONOMY

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:19 pm - Jerusalem Time

Cairo Amman Bank supports the Palestine Kickboxing Team

Ramallah - "Al-Quds" dot com - Cairo Amman Bank provided support to the Palestinian kickboxing team, to participate in the Kickboxing World Cup held in Istanbul from the twelfth to the eighteenth of this month, and the number of the team's players is thirty athletes.


The support of the Palestinian national team by Cairo Amman Bank comes within the framework of supporting Palestinian youth and sports, and out of social responsibility, which is one of the bank's most important values.


It is noteworthy that Cairo Amman Bank pays special attention to the youth category, as it launched the GO Youth Program, which is a bank account targeting the age group of young people from 22 to 30 years old that includes a number of banking services and benefits that meet their needs and are compatible with the requirements and lifestyle.

PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:19 pm - Jerusalem Time

During a festival to commemorate Abu Ali Mustafa.. Mezher calls for a comprehensive national review

Gaza - "Jerusalem" dot com - Jamil Mezher, Deputy Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, called today, Tuesday, for a comprehensive and necessary national review of the entire Palestinian situation, to get rid of the chronic crises, and unify energies in facing the challenges plaguing the cause.


In his speech during a national conference to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the assassination of the former Secretary-General of the Popular Front , Abu Ali Mustafa , who was assassinated by the occupation army at the beginning of the second Al-Aqsa Intifada, Mezher praised the virtues of the martyr and his role in national unity, struggle, and others.


Mezher referred to the continuation of the occupation in its aggressive, Judaization, settlement and other policies, and its attempt to reduce the conflict in humanitarian and economic crises, and its attempts to tear the Palestinian situation into territoriality, and erase the achievements of the battle of "Saif al-Quds", praising the spirit of resistance among the Palestinian people and their refusal to surrender, achieving resistance to biases and accumulating strength, And thwarting the occupation's plans by isolating itself in Gaza, Jenin or Nablus alone.


Mezher recounted many points that he considered challenges and part of the chronic crises facing the Palestinian cause, which were represented in the inability of the political forces to translate the struggle and field unity, the inability to confront breaking the siege, the tools of financial and political blackmail and donor funds, and the need not to acquiesce or make any concessions in return for the continuation of American and international support, in addition to the inability of the ruling authorities in Gaza and the West Bank to provide the requirements of steadfastness, and everyone's failure to find a unified body of struggle throughout Palestine after the battle of "Saif al-Quds".


The Deputy Secretary-General of the Popular Front stressed the need to develop paths of struggle at all levels, by preserving the resistance and its unity, and developing the work of the joint operations room into a unified national resistance front, which defines the tactics of the resistance, and the commitment to liberating the prisoners and that there are no red lines for this goal. And not to be silent in front of any attempts to harm the rights of martyrs and prisoners, and to strengthen work for comprehensive national unity on the basis of a struggle program to confront the occupation and abandon the disastrous Oslo agreement, and to work to form an elected Palestinian National Council, and to confront all attempts to dismantle the Liberation Organization, and to restore consideration for its national charter, and affirm It is the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, its protection and the prevention of exclusivity in it.


Mezher called on the responsible authorities in Gaza and the West Bank to strengthen the steadfastness of citizens, in light of the wrong policies that undermine their steadfastness, calling for setting up a real social program that preserves the rights of citizens, especially marginalized groups, and for there to be social justice.


Mezher touched on the campaign of arrest and prosecution of the Front's cadres, stressing that it will not weaken it, but rather make it stronger.

OPINIONS

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

Post-election Israel, we have reached the verge of a dangerous slide

Written by: Jawad Boulos
I am writing this article in conjunction with the results of the official Israeli elections; The general picture revealed by the ballot boxes is clear and confirms that we will face in the near future the completion of the formation of a new political style of government different from what we faced since the establishment of Israel until the days of the previous government.
I know that many members of my Arab community will object to this characterization, because they equate the policies of previous Israeli governments, from the time of David Ben-Gurion until the era of the Yair Lapid government, towards Arab citizens, and what the government of Netanyahu, Smotrich Ben-Gvir, and their allies from the Zionist and religious parties will do. All successive governments of Israel have treated the country's Arab citizens with systematic and blatant racism, and sometimes with bloody repression. In some heated confrontation stations, Arab victims have fallen, such as what happened in the Land Day confrontations in 1976 and the "October"-October 2000 confrontations, and in many individual attacks.
Of course, it is difficult to convince many segments of Arab society that there are serious differences between the racist regime whose lame "democracy" leaders, after their failure to displace our fathers during the Nakba, recognized the need to treat Arab citizens with incomplete equality, while they were practicing their racist policies against us in various ways and pretexts, and between The "Kamil-Fascist" regime will inevitably deal with and act with us according to concepts that require us, the "vandalists" according to their dictionary, to indoctrinate us, the "saboteurs" according to their dictionary, the abstracts of their "comodian" convictions, to the effect that they are "the owners of this house and the masters of this land", and they will not accept with them in this space a partner or an inmate. .
All the leaders of the Arab parties and our basic leadership institutions, the Supreme Committee for the Follow-up of Arab Citizens Affairs and the Qatari Committee for Presidents, along with most of the civil society institutions, have failed to resolve the differences between the two cases and to mobilize and organize the citizens in preparation for facing the moment of decisiveness, as was demonstrated by everyone’s positions towards them before and during the electoral battle.
I chose to write again about the dangers of what the election results led to, and deliberately avoided, at least at this stage, from addressing its repercussions and analyzing its disturbing results. Many will start drawing their pens and flooding us with these analyzes, and there is no need for more, and I am convinced that there is no point in any criticism of those who hold positions and how they practiced them before and on election day, and because what concerns me today is how we will face what this result will lead to on the day after the establishment of the expected Netanyahu government.
Some may bet that the next government, no matter how religious and extreme right-wing nationalism it is, will not dare to do what its predecessors did not dare. I do not know where they come from with this conviction, especially after we heard the promises of dozens of deputies, from most of the prospective coalition parties, to their constituents and their pledges to implement their fascist stances towards the Palestinians in general and towards us, the Arab citizens, in particular; We also heard them openly declaring their plans to complete the elements of the provisions of their authority over all state facilities and enable them, as government and ministers, to embody their "nationalist" beliefs to confirm the supremacy of the Jewish people and their dominion over the land of Israel and the "gentiles" who inhabit it, without contest and as promised by their Lord.
The "National Law" will be just a prop for what they are planning, from which they will launch a complete takeover of the Israeli Supreme Court, by changing the law for electing its judges and authorizing the government to appoint them, or at least, by ensuring a government majority in the appointments committee; They will also initiate a direct enactment of a law that empowers the Knesset to overturn the decisions of the Supreme Court, when this court intervenes and annuls a law that is not in line with the principles of democracy, equality, and others. Thus stated two days ago, Likud Knesset member Miki Zohar, when asked about his first activity in the next government, and added that on the first day they will pass a law that "forbids Arabs in Israel to raise the Palestinian flag and revoke the citizenship of every citizen who raises it." It will not suffice for an article to list what they intend to implement after receiving the government; Representative Miri Regev, for example, will start cleaning the ministries from the class of professional employees, the technocrats, because these employees often obstruct the implementation of government decisions and must be eliminated. While Smotrich announced that if he became Minister of the Army, he would push his regular units into the streets of mixed cities, so that those forces would ensure order and security there. On the other hand, his colleague in the list, Itamar Ben Gvir, who is claiming the internal security portfolio, stated that he would immediately start changing the shooting instructions, "You will not, after today, throw stones and rocks at police officers without our permission to shoot. We will grant personal immunity to every policeman, and in every event." And an accident that takes place on a national background will give soldiers and police freedom of action." I will not dwell on how they think about the Arabs/terrorists and their representatives in the Knesset. The idea of our displacement/transfer is no longer just a Zionist obsession, as it was in the old years, but has become a completed plan waiting for a favorable opportunity to implement it under the next government.
It is clear that the elements of the upcoming regime are working to develop an integrated system of tools to manage governance and to establish it in accordance with its concepts and objectives, and to pursue and punish all “enemies of the state and the system,” starting with the general public and passing through university students and employees, and even doctors, lawyers and university lecturers. There are those who will monitor everyone's daily behavior and their visual, Facebook, and other activities; What Netanyahu's governments practiced previously will appear as preliminary exercises for ethnic persecution that will affect all segments of our society without discrimination and reckoning.
A few days ago, news websites quoted Ben Brak, the head of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee in the Knesset, representative of the Yesh Atid party, as saying that he is convinced that "the return of the opposition leader (meaning Netanyahu) to power with the "religious Zionism" party will be the beginning of the end, as this is a dangerous alliance. "; After emphasizing the existence of the difference between the two cases, he added, stressing that "Hitler came to power in a democratic way. Building democracy takes place over the years, but it is easy to destroy it." Despite his emphasis on the existence of a difference, his words sparked a storm inside Israel at all levels. Is there a lesson for us in this statement?
I regret that conflicts and quarrels between leaders and activists within the Arab parties are still raging; This is instead of them reviewing the consequences of the defeat that has been achieved, which is a defeat even if some consider it a victory, and informing us of what each “current” of them will do in the face of the imminent danger of fascism. I do not believe, as I wrote in the past, that they have a clear vision that can be transformed into an effective and effective plan of action, and that their slogans go beyond partisan identities only.
I know that instilling hope in people's hearts is the first prelude to their steadfastness and steadfastness, and of course I agree with that. However, hope, no matter how much we cover it with sincere emotions, will not be sufficient to repel the fascist herds whose battalions are preparing to invent a pretext and pounce on our positions. Mixed cities, as they declared, may be the first bastions to be attacked in the near future, and if that happens, the people of the cities will confront them and, of course, will defend "home and honor" valiantly. However, it will not harm the leaders if they remember today what the "dice player" said and think about the soldiers who will pay a price with their lives without knowing who was defeated and who won.

OPINIONS

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

Targeting by the colony and monopolization by the Ramallah and Gaza authorities

بقلم:حمادة فراعنة

حينما اغتالوا غدراً وجريمة الشهداء إبراهيم النابلسي وتامر الكيلاني وعدي التميمي والعشرات من أمثالهم وبسالتهم واستعدادهم العالي للتضحية، لم ينالوا من هذه الذوات رفيعة المستوى نضالاً وتضحية وأفعالاً فقط، حيث لم يقتصر هدف المستعمرة وأجهزتها وجيشها وأدواتها، على عملية القتل والتصفية الجسدية لهؤلاء واقرانهم، بل خططوا ونفذوا مستهدفين معنويات الشعب الفلسطيني، ولكل من راهن على بسالة هؤلاء الشباب ودورهم في صناعة المستقبل الفلسطيني.


أهداف القتل والتصفية تستهدف حماية المشروع الاستعماري التوسعي الإسرائيلي من التراجع والهزيمة، و الخشية من انتشار الخيار الكفاحي لهؤلاء البواسل الشابة، وتحولهم إلى ظاهرة شعبية لا تتوقف عند عرين الأسود وكتيبتي نابلس وجنين لتكون كتائب لرام الله وطولكرم والخليل، ولكل مدينة وقرية وحارة فلسطينية كتيبتها وأفعالها ضد الاحتلال، وهذا ما يُفسر قوة الاندفاع الإسرائيلي وشراسته، مستغلين وموظفين تفوقهم في الانقضاض بالقذائف وكثافة النيران وتدمير كل من يقف في مواجهتهم، غير مراعين لأي تعارضات مدنية أمامهم، المهم الوصول إلى هدفهم في الإبادة والتخريب وإزالة معطيات الرفض الفلسطيني والمقاومة.


لقد نجحت المستعمرة في احتلال كامل خارطة فلسطين، ولكنها فشلت في طرد كل الشعب الفلسطيني وتشريده عن أرض وطنه، وتدلل المعطيات الإحصائية أن نصف الشعب الفلسطيني باقٍ، صامد على كامل أرضه، ونصفه الآخر مشرد خارج فلسطين، لكل منهما برنامجه ودوره، وتكامل طرفي المعادلة الفلسطينية، في مسار النضال ومسيرته نحو الحرية والاستقلال للجزء الصامد الباقي، ونحو كسب الأشقاء والأصدقاء من العرب والمسلمين والمسيحيين للنصف المشرد ، يعمل من أجل اقرار حق العودة لأراضيهم ومدنهم وقراهم وبيوتهم التي تشردوا عنها، والعمل على استعادتها من الاجانب المستعمرين الذين وضعوا تسلطهم وإقامتهم فيها وعليها.


سخونة المواجهة وحدة التصادم بين الفلسطينيين والإسرائيليين، وتعاظم التضحيات من قبل شعب الجبارين، يعود إلى حجم التناقض بين المشروعين: المشروع الوطني الديمقراطي الفلسطيني في مواجهة المشروع الاستعماري التوسعي الإسرائيلي.


وقوة المواجهة بين الفلسطينيين والإسرائيليين واستمراريتها تعود إلى قوة النيران والحقد والعنصرية الإسرائيلية في مواجهة قوة الإرادة الفلسطينية وتطلعاتها نحو الكرامة والحرية، وانعكاس ذلك على يوميات وتفاصيل المعركة المحتدمة في نابلس وجنين وامتداداتها لباقي المواقع والأحياء على امتداد فلسطين بوتائر مختلفة.


طرفا السلطة الفلسطينية: سلطة رام الله أسيرة لاتفاقات التنسيق الأمني مع تل أبيب، وسلطة غزة أسيرة لاتفاقات التهدئة الأمنية مع تل أبيب، وهذا ما يُفسر غياب أفعال الطرفين، باستثناء الحكي وما أكثره، وبيانات الشجب وحدته، والاستنكار المربع وتعدديته.


دققوا بالاستفراد الإسرائيلي، استفردوا بالجهاد الإسلامي في شهر آب في غزة واغتالوا أبرز قياداتها، واستفردوا بمخيم جنين أولاً، وها هي نابلس ثانياً مستهدفين عرين الأسود وكتائب جنين وكتائب نابلس، تاركين سلطتي رام الله وغزة تستأثر بما لديهما من سلطة منفردة تستمد استمرارها في رام الله وغزة بموافقة الاحتلال ورضاه، وهنا تكمن المشكلة والضعف والصمت غير الخجول.


OPINIONS

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

When the wombs of our mothers become enemies of Israel

Written by: Jawad Boulos

We will wake up, in four days, to a new reality in Israel; Where it will become clear to us, the Arab citizens, that the majority of Jewish citizens continue to drift towards a blind religious state mixed with a fascist right-wing ideology that will not accept the presence of the “Arab” among its backs as it was accepted by state institutions and rulers over the past decades; Justified racism and the suppression of programmed Arab citizens, as permitted by the laws of "democracy" of the Jewish state, will no longer be suitable rules for coexistence in Israel, which has morphed into a savage and dangerous entity.


It is unfortunate that the electoral campaigns end as they began; Fierce battles between "sister" camps armed and charged with poisoned ammunition that will leave their traces among us after the battle is over, and soldiers chanting outdated slogans that neglected to confront incendiary issues and dealt with our miserable reality with provocative lightness and misleading that mocks people's minds. Those who criticized and boycotted the party of the single leader, the star, cheered and cheered for the party of the single star leader.


The average citizen may be excused if he is carried away by the promises of the lightning of the deceitful preachers, or if they were deceived by their mirages, and if it were not for him, "they would not have continued walking in the desert." Simple people, or those we once called hard workers, are kind and believe the prophecies and songs of the rain, and rejoice in the groaning of the Lord when it runs through their tired veins, and do not groan when they listen to the harshness of the flute as it sings the “reeds” of their ancestors, which were covered by the dust of time.


These toilers, I suppose, did not hear the statement of the head of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Soroka Hospital, in the city of Beersheba, in front of a crowd of Jewish academics, as he expresses his astonishment that the governments of Israel do not face one of the most important dangers within them, which is the Arab-born woman; On the one hand, this is what the “professor” declared in a home seminar held in the presence of Minister Ayelet Shaked in “Omer” in the Negev: “We understand that reproduction will defeat us, that is, the Arab womb. On the other hand, we encourage this by paying them national insurance benefits for their children. ".


His Excellency called on the Minister to combat this dangerous phenomenon by examining the possibility of the Arab family paying a fine for the birth of the fifth son and the next!


I know that many of us will underestimate this event; It is not the first of its kind, nor is it the most dangerous in terms of its immediate impact. But I disagree with them and do not agree with them. We cannot detach this abhorrent and provocative scene from the entirety of what is happening in the streets and squares of the state, nor from the series of barbaric, almost daily attacks carried out by the unruly right-wing bastards; This is in addition to the fact that the speaker in this intervention is an influential academic and a physician who heads an important surgical unit that treats dozens of Arab patients, and a large number of Arab doctors and staff work with him in the hospital.


The Arab Doctors Association in the Negev denounced Sahar's racist statements, and demanded his dismissal. However, the director of the hospital contented himself with issuing a statement stating that: "The statement of one of the department heads in the hospital, which was made on a special occasion, does not represent Soroka Hospital or its workers. The administration made this clear to the department director, and he apologized for his position." Unfortunately, we did not read in their statement any clear apology for what was said, nor a denial of the "enemy Arab wombs" theory.


The Arab elites, from their privileged academic and operational positions, did not see the seriousness of Professor Sahar's statement, nor did they address how the hospital administration and other relevant state institutions could handle it. These segments have maintained their silence, which they have been addicted to for many years, as their silence for years contributed to the persistence of the fascist momentum on the one hand, and to the strengthening of feelings of despair among citizens and the flight of regiments to the margins; Either religiosity and dependence on God’s will, or “unification” and divorce from politics and its troubles, on the other hand.


I expected that the leaders of the parties would use this incident to arouse the zeal of the people, especially the zeal of Arab and Jewish academics alike; Although some of them issued statements of denunciation and protest, we saw how most of them adhered to their propaganda campaigns programmed and prepared by their media advisors, and these, as we know, work in commerce, not politics. So let's imagine for a moment that this professor will become the next Minister of Health in a government whose ministers all believe in the same and more dangerous! Then, how will Arab women secure the wounds of those who consider their wombs a threat to the future of Israel and its Jewish people? Or who will protect the staff of doctors, lecturers, engineers, Arab teachers and others from their sure revenge and their declared plot?


In short, the question we repeat, who will protect us from these people and how? Citizenship, they wanted to deprive us of it, and we made it lame, will that suffice? Or the justice of their judiciary, which will stand at the head of judges practicing settlement thought and housing? Or maybe it is the fear of our Arab brothers who will open the doors of their universities to our thinkers, academics and students and put the budgets of their graduate studies centers at the disposal of our researchers and scholars?


I asked these questions to those who call for a boycott of the elections, and I do not mean individuals among them, and I did not read an explicit response that went beyond the door of wishing and praying, or the threshold of traditional militant slogans that are said without practical balance.


We live in the midst of a racist and religiously extremist society, whose fascist leaders rush to power, and we must thwart them. Participation in elections is an important means for this effort, which is of course better than belittling, gambling, outbidding, and adventures that, no matter how well they are practiced, will inevitably lead us to hell.


I will vote, as I always vote, in favor of the "Democratic Front" list, and its ally today, the "Arab Movement for Change", and I call on people to vote for this list, as it is a tried and true title for the joint, realistic, Arab-Jewish struggle, and to stand up to the occupation, racists and fascists; And whoever does not want it, let him vote for those who will stand in the face of fascism and occupation. Confronting you with a unified struggle front is our first task after the election battle. Voting remains, in all cases, for Zionist right-wing parties, of course, forbidden.

SPORT

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

African Confederation Cup: Future and Pyramids to the group stage, and Nahdet Berkane loses the title

(AFP) - Egypt's Future and Pyramids qualified for the group stage of the Confederation of African Football Cup competition, while Moroccan club Nahdet Berkane lost its title by drawing negatively with its guest Al Ittihad Monastiri on Wednesday in the second leg of the second round.
In the first match, Future booked its card by defeating its Angolan guest, Primero do Augusto, 3-2, by penalty kicks, after the end of normal time, with a positive draw 1-1, at Al-Salam Stadium, in the second leg of the second round.
Future, who is participating in continental competitions for the first time in his history, was on his way to leaving empty-handed when he fell behind with a goal by Dago Chambamba since the 45th minute, but his defender Omar Kamal Abdel Wahed saved him in stoppage time by equalizing (90 + 2).
The guests played with ten players since the 84th minute, after Milano Dala was sent off.
The two teams tied with the same result last week, so they resorted to penalty kicks to determine the qualifier for the group stage.
Future owes qualification to his goalkeeper Mahmoud Abdel-Rahim “Gensh”, who saved three penalty shootouts.
In the second, Akram Pyramids and Fada Nigelek from Niger scored three clean goals, which were scored by Moroccan Walid Al Karti (24), Abdullah Al Saeed (48) and Fagri Lakai from South Africa (56), compensating for his 0-1 loss in the first leg.
Pyramids is participating in the competition for the fourth season in a row, noting that it reached the final of the 2019-2020 edition and lost the title to Nahdet Berkane of Morocco.
And in the third, Nahdet Berkane failed to compensate for its 0-1 loss in the first leg, and left the competition that won its titles in 2020 and 2022.
His compatriot hit the Royal Army hard and crushed its guest, Djoliba, with a clean four.
The first leg ended in a goalless draw.
The Libyan Al-Akhdar also qualified by defeating its guest Plateau United of Nigeria 3-0, benefiting from its goal outside the rules in the first leg when it lost 1-4, and the Algerian Capital Union by defeating Cape Town, South Africa, with a single goal scored by Islam Al-Marili in the last minute (0-0 in the first leg).
On the other hand, Al-Ahly Tripoli of Libya, Sfaxien and Club Africain of Tunisia were eliminated from the second round.
Al-Ahly Tripoli lost to its host, Marumo Gallants, South Africa, 0-3, after it settled for a difficult 1-0 victory in the first leg.
Sfaxien fell into a goalless tie trap in front of its guest Kara of Togo after it had lost 1-2 outside its bases in the first leg, while Club Africain lost to its guest Young Africans of Tanzania with a single goal scored by Burkanabe Stefan Aziz Ki (79), after returning with a goalless draw in the first leg in Dar es Salaam.
Al-Nasr Al-Libya also came out with a 1-1 draw with its guest, Rivers United, Nigeria, after losing 0-5 in the first leg.

OPINIONS

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

The Israeli Elections: A Turning Point or Stalling in the Same Place?

Written by: Hani Al-Masry
Although falling into the game of betting on one camp over another in Israel is completely lost, as it frustrates the potential for advancing the Palestinian factor, which is the only factor that can produce the desired effect, and suggests the ability to influence depending on a temporary fleeting moment resulting from the difference of the right over Netanyahu’s personality. And in light of the receding differences between the parties, and the dominance of extremist trends and elements that work to liquidate the Palestinian cause in various forms; It is necessary to follow the Israeli elections; Because everything that happens in Israel, positively or negatively, affects Palestine, and vice versa.

There are multiple Palestinian and Arab opinions in this matter (elections), as they are in various matters. There are those who prefer that Israel be ruled by an extremist, racist government, to bury, as some believe, the illusions of reviving the so-called "peace process" and the option of negotiations to reach a "two-state solution", which is a muddle. Dreams, the peace process is dead, and bones cannot be revived while they are rotten, and some prefer them; Because he is betting that Israel's fascism and extremism will turn the world or democratic, liberal and progressive countries and parties against it. This is a point of view that ignores the terrible suffering resulting from the policies and actions of such an extremist government on the Palestinians and the region as a whole, and that the world is preoccupied with other crises, especially in the West, towards the right and the spread of fascist and extremist tendencies, and tolerates fascist groups, just as it tolerated fascist groups in Ukraine.

Palestinian and Arab circles also prefer a right-center-left government, such as the current government of Yair Lapid, as it is less extreme, ignoring that the right-wing parties participating in it have the right of veto, which eliminates any possibility of a real differentiation between the government and a right-wing government, in addition to the fundamental differences, if any, between this government. The Netanyahu government is not concerned with the Palestinian cause and how to deal with the Palestinians. The difference here is limited to the form when Lapid sweetly talks about the "two-state solution" to sow dust in the eyes, without presenting a plan, but rather does everything that would eliminate any possibility of the establishment of a Palestinian state, and perhaps the aggressive escalation in all its forms in the West Bank and against In recent months, the Gaza Strip appears to be a government that has outperformed the right-wing government in terms of its practical practices.

A government headed by Netanyahu or headed by Lapid are two sides of the same coin.

In conclusion, the two sides are two sides of the same coin, and this phrase has become more applicable than ever to the formation of a right-wing government headed by Netanyahu, or a mixed one headed by Gantz or Lapid.

Despite the foregoing, the Israeli elections may be a turning point for the worse if Benjamin Netanyahu is able to form a government, with the participation of the extreme right parties, especially the religious Zionist party. Polls form the government alone, just as the other camp cannot form the government alone.

And if surprises do not occur in the last moments, which are possible in light of the fact that the Netanyahu camp needs only one or two seats, and the Lapid Gantz camp needs 4-5 seats, then the crisis that Israel has been going through for about 4 years will continue, and in this case it could Lapid's government will continue as a caretaker government until the sixth elections are held next spring.

Before moving on to dealing with the impact of forming a government headed by Netanyahu, it is necessary to address the sub-scenarios that could occur, such as the Gantz-Netanyahu alliance to form the government alternately; Where Gantz will be its president for the first two years, and then Netanyahu for the next two years. This is a possible scenario, and Gantz himself referred to it, and of course he is his favorite, and perhaps such a government is preferred by Netanyahu now under the Democratic Biden administration, because it does not put him at the mercy of Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich and does not expose him to international criticism.

There is another sub-scenario, based on the possibility of a rebellion within the Likud against Netanyahu, as he is the obstacle to the formation of a purely right-wing government. Because Netanyahu's resignation comes with an agreement regarding the mitigation of the charges against him, which would prevent him from serving a prison sentence. Within this scenario, a pure right-wing government could easily be formed. In all the polls, there is an overwhelming majority for the right-wing parties (two-thirds of the seats are right), and what prevents them from agreeing to form the government is one main point, which is the disagreement over Netanyahu's personality. This scenario has a low probability, and what prevents it from being realized is the absence of bold leadership figures in the Likud who are able to challenge Netanyahu, in light of the latter’s tightening of his grip on the party in its internal elections that took place two months ago, and undermining the influence of his competitors, in addition to the Likud’s fear that removing Netanyahu will lead to To the decline in the weight of the Likud and the possibility of its cracking into two or more parties.

What is the danger of forming a government headed by Netanyahu and with the participation of religious right-wing parties?

The danger of this government is that the extremist "religious Zionism" party will be a main partner in it, and polls give it from 11 to 15 seats, and thus it will be the third party after "Likud" and "There is a Future", and this will leave fingerprints that add more extremism to the steps of the right. and the Likud in particular; Where the displacement of Palestinians from within the lands of 48 to the West Bank and from the West Bank to the outside will be on the table, and the Israeli citizenship will be withdrawn from Arabs on a large scale, and the shooting and aggression against the Palestinians in all its forms will be more than before, including the continuation of the Judaization of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa at greater and faster rates, and imposing Israeli laws on the West Bank, leading to the annexation of parts of it.

What could make such extreme scenarios more or less likely are the following:

First: That the Republicans in the United States obtain, or not obtain, a majority in Congress, during the midterm elections that will be held in a few days, and this, if it happens, will turn US President Biden into a lame duck; Because the presence of a Democratic president in the White House constrains the Israeli government, even if he is a Zionist as Biden himself knows, to the point of saying recently: "If Israel does not exist, then it must be found."

Things will get worse if Donald Trump or a candidate similar to him succeeds in the elections that will be held after two years, and this possibility is strong and cannot be underestimated, and this will open the door to more extreme scenarios.

Second: That the Palestinian situation remain in a state of weakness, division and disorientation, and this opens the appetite of extremists for more extremism; Where the people are currently rising to defend themselves, their land, and their rights without leadership, vision, or new alternative strategies that have reached a dead end, or start to rise and regain the initiative, and then they will curb extremist plans.

Third: If the Arab situation remains as it is, it will encourage Israel to more extremism with more fragmentation, and the spread of the policies of Arab normalization and subordination to Israel without an Arab project capable of advancing the Arabs and taking them the place that the Arab peoples deserve in this world, which is being tossed by waves, storms, and changes. Especially after the Ukrainian war and its possible consequences so far.

Fourth: The course, consequences and possible scenarios of the Ukrainian war will severely affect the Palestinians, the region and the world, and will it head towards a settlement, or will it continue at its current rates more or less, or will it turn into a world war? Will a new crisis and war with Taiwan emerge, especially after the renewal of current Chinese President Xi Jinping in the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, which will open the door for him to win a third term in the Chinese elections next year? And who will emerge victorious in the ongoing global war or that may break out, and who will be defeated, or will the outcome be balanced without a winner or loser? Will it accelerate or not accelerate the emergence of a new world, and how it will be: bipolar, multipolar, or another unpredictable type? done since now?

The rise of the Palestinian worker is the decisive factor

Activating the Palestinian role within a new vision, new strategies, and one leadership is the most important and decisive factor that can influence the policy of any Israeli government, regardless of whether it is ruled by the right, the left, or a mixture of the right, the center, and the left. This requires the Palestinians to activate their role in reviving the national project, and arranging their home, and rebuilding the institutions of the national umbrella institution (the Liberation Organization) on the basis of a comprehensive vision and a new leadership that reviews past experiences and draws lessons and lessons from them; Where new strategies are adopted, and wrong and losing bets are stopped, whether on reviving the so-called "peace process" and the Israeli and American changes, or on the Arab, regional and international changes. The wager must first be on the people, who have always proven that they are ready to continue their liberation path, and on the justice and moral supremacy of the cause. After that, the Arab and international factors can be activated and mobilized, and the power supporting the Palestinian cause and the struggle of the Palestinians to achieve their goals and rights can be relied upon.

If the new glorious phenomena such as the Resistance Brigades, especially the Jenin Brigade and the "Black's Den", were able to bring about a kind of popular revival and confuse the occupation, which are individual local phenomena with little organization without leadership, no central idea, and no national political, programmatic and organizational incubator, Under an inappropriate Arab or international circumstance, what can be achieved by a single leadership crystal that forms a unified national leadership for the resistance, defines national goals and appropriate forms of resistance at each stage, takes into account the special circumstances of each grouping, and subjects the resistance to one strategy, one leadership, and a determined will On confrontation until victory?

PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

Updated with pictures || Rocket fire.. Israeli raids on resistance sites in Gaza

Gaza - "Jerusalem" dot com - Israeli warplanes launched at dawn and this morning, Saturday, air raids on two sites of the resistance in the Gaza Strip .


Al-Quds correspondent in Gaza reported that warplanes bombed with four missiles the Nusseirat Martyrs site in the center of the Strip, which caused a fire to break out inside, which was immediately brought under control.




Previously, other planes had bombed the "Al-Bahriya / Al-Baydar" site, southwest of Gaza City, with about 8 missiles, which caused large explosions.


According to the Israeli army, the latest bombardment of Nuseirat came in response to the firing of two missiles towards the western Negev, at dawn, and the firing of counter-machine gun fire, moments after the previous bombardment on the other site, which was bombed in response to the firing of two missiles towards Ashkelon in the early hours of the morning.


The Israeli army claimed that it attacked an underground structure of Hamas in the two aforementioned sites, claiming that there were workshops for manufacturing weapons and raw materials used in the production of missiles.



3 settlers were terrified when two rockets were fired at Ashkelon at about one o'clock in the morning, Occupied Palestinian time, one of which was intercepted and the other fell in an open area, according to the occupation's declaration.

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

A herd of runaway cows grabs the media spotlight in Quebec

Montreal - (AFP) - A herd of about 20 cows has become the daily star of news broadcasts on Canadian television stations, as these fleeing animals from their farm cause chaos wherever they are in the province of Quebec, and no one has yet succeeded in seizing them ... not even shepherds Cows who hired them.


The beginning of the story of the "great escape" dates back to the summer, when the cows discovered a gap in the fence of the farm located in St. Neighboring Sevier.


The cows used to spend the day in this forest and leave it at night to graze in the fields of corn and soybeans, causing damage to part of the crops.


Marie-Andre Cadoret, who works for the municipality, said, "The animals hide during the day in the woods, but as soon as evening comes, they come out and approach the buildings, tear sacks, and try to eat the crops...".


And these cows have benefited greatly so far from the confusion of the authorities regarding determining the responsibility for handling the situation, and the authority that the matter falls within its powers.


Given that the herd is made up of small cows that have not been domesticated for a long time and therefore returned semi-wild, the municipality decided to seek the help of cowboys.


"We were able to regroup the herd of cows , but things went wrong when we came across a large field of corn that had not yet been threshed and we lost the animals in the corn," explained Rodeo director Sylvain Bourgeois, who took over the operation.


Media coverage of the case in recent days has prompted the Quebec Ministry of Agriculture to intervene to address this "complex and unprecedented situation". A new plan is expected to be implemented to attract cows with fodder to be able to catch them.


The cow owner hopes that his animals will respond, especially since the snow and frost season is just around the corner.

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

Rediscovery of an 'extraordinary' pre-Columbian mural in Peru

Lima (AFP) - The rediscovery of a pre-Columbian fresco in northern Peru showing mythical scenes is of "extraordinary value" because of its state of preservation, according to the archaeologist who found it, while his counterparts only knew of the site. Pictures taken in the early 20th century.


Sam Ghavami, who spent four years searching for the mural, which he says dates back a thousand years, told AFP, "It is rare to find murals of this kind among the pre-Columbian ruins."


The Swiss archaeologist found the mural in October among the remnants of the ancient "Huaca Pintada" mortuary temple in Elemo, a village located in the Lambayeque region (north).


"What this painting is made of is unique in the history of pre-Columbian mural art in Peru," Ghavami added.


The date of the mural was confirmed by black and white photographs taken in 1916 by the German Hans Heinrich Brüning, one of the most important ethnologists residing in Peru during that era.


"We don't know why Bruning didn't publish the photos, so we had to wait until 1978 when an American researcher named Richard Schedel found them during a visit to the Hamburg Museum in Germany," said a doctoral student in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Friborg in Switzerland.


"Since then, archaeologists have realized the existence of Huaca Pintada, but no one has returned to the site to search on the grounds that nothing will be found," he added.


Part of the mural, which is about 30 meters long, features blue, brown, red, yellow, black, white and lucuma (mustard yellow).


The painting shows a procession of fighters walking towards a bird-like deity.


"The painting seems to be inspired by the idea of a religious hierarchy based on the worship of ancestors and its close relationship with the forces of nature," Ghavami said, noting that the mural constitutes "an expressive image of the political and religious system of the ancient inhabitants of the region."


The mural's value lies in the combination of the styles of two pre-Columbian cultures, the Sican civilization, which inhabited the northern coast of Peru between 900 and 1350, and the Moche civilization, which predominated between 100 and 850.

PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

Israeli health records more than 2,000 cases of coronavirus

Today, Sunday, the Israeli Ministry of Health announced that 2,071 cases of coronavirus had been recorded during the last day, after 7,895 laboratory tests were conducted.

According to the ministry, 321 patients are in serious condition, including 79 on ventilators.

She noted that 11,356 Israelis have died since the virus began spreading years ago.

OPINIONS

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

The new entity government challenges and pitfalls

Written by: Rasem Obeidat
The fifth early elections in the entity’s state ended in less than four years with the victory of the right, the extreme right, and the religious fascist forces in these elections. And the unknown, or stubborn facts and reality.

It became clear that after the first political coup that took place in the state of Israel in 1977, when the Likud came to power under the leadership of Menachem Begin, as an alternative to the Labor Party that founded this state, that this party is on its way to decline and decline, as it won four seats and was on The brink of collapse, and what is known as the Israeli left and the center-left continued since that period to decline in favor of the forces of the right, starting to disintegrate, fragment and go towards extinction, so that we witness in the year 1996 the wide shifts in the Zionist society towards the right and extremism..but those shifts did not move the Zionist society towards Zionism Religious, and remained on the sidelines of the Zionist project, but after that, and especially during the period in which Netanyahu took control of the reins of government in the entity state from 2009-2021, the displacement of the Zionist society, which became witnessing more racism and extremism, accelerated towards religious Zionism, and in order to transfer this Zionism Religious affairs from the margins of the Zionist project to its heart... and this will have its effects and repercussions on the form of the entity, and the nature and essence of the conflict with it.

In our Arab world, we are accustomed to the fact that there are those who call themselves claiming political realism from the countries of the collapsed Arab official system, and with them parties in the Palestinian Authority. It means more repression, abuse, and policies of expulsion, displacement, uprooting, and ethnic cleansing against our Palestinian people, accompanied by the intensification of settlement and annexation of large parts of the West Bank. Therefore, the slogan raised when the fourth early elections of the entity state took place was preventing Netanyahu from returning to power, and he mobilized for that the official Arab system The collapse, the leadership of the authority, and many Arab parties that ran in those elections, including the United Arab List, the Arab List for Change, and the Democratic Front for Peace.

Today, with the success of Netanyahu and the alliance of religious Zionism, we hear the same presto in a stronger and stronger way, in an exercise and “adaptation” of the Arab mind, that this religious right and fascism will penetrate the Palestinian blood, and they will practice expulsion, displacement, uprooting, ethnic displacement and the enactment of racist laws, as if the existing government or The previous governments of the entity state are "doves of peace", and what we are witnessing of the crimes committed by the current government of "peace doves", we are convinced that the difference between all these governments, and whatever their political party coalitions and components, are governments hostile to our Palestinian people and their legitimate rights, and they agree in content but Different in output and form, there are no political and national rights for the Palestinian people, and there is no Palestinian state between the river and the sea, and the solution is self-rule or expanded municipality within what is known as economic peace.

Therefore, the difference between Netanyahu's rule, which extended for 12 consecutive years, and the departing Lapid-Gantz government, is only in terms of the extent of aggression, "invasion" and "brutality", the limited options and the narrow margins for maneuver.

Yes, Netanyahu came to power in a country that is suffering from a deep political crisis, and the society’s immunity to the entity-state is declining. The internal situation of the entity-state is in a state of instability, where mafias, organized crime, corruption, and the laxity of the judiciary rule, and any government that is not strong and unstable will find itself incapable of confronting this. Challenges, as well as a crisis of options facing the new Netanyahu government with religious fascism. Netanyahu, who continued throughout his rule threatening to launch wars, is unable to wage any war. He realizes that he will not win in it. Likewise, he is unable to proceed with a political project that he is unable to afford. It will cost him the collapse and fall of his government.

Netanyahu will face challenges in the formation and composition of a government in which he shares, religious Zionist forces that have become the third bloc in the state of the entity, and are able to impose their conditions on Netanyahu, and I believe that Netanyahu, in order to face the demands of these extremist religious groups, may resort to a broad right-wing government that includes It is part of the national camp, Gantz's party is "Blue and White" because handing him over to Ben Gvir or Smotrich to take over sovereign ministries, both the security and internal security portfolios, or one of them, is a recipe for internal and external wars. Internally, the security and military institutions will reject that, and externally, America and Western Europe, in In the shadow of the raging war with Russia, China and Iran, they will refuse that.

And on the assumption that Netanyahu succeeded in resolving this dilemma in any way, we realize that the supporters of this religious fascism among the settler thugs will intensify their attacks on our Palestinian people in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Palestinian interior, and thus the arenas will unite again, and the clash, confrontations and apparent resistance will become the tyrant of the relationship Between our people and the occupier, in the street, the market, the university, the restaurant, the café, on the roads...etc.

The expansion of the bloodstain, the increase in the state of "savagery" and "invasion" by those groups against our Palestinian people, expulsion, displacement, uprooting, ethnic cleansing, escalating settlement, and aggression against Al-Aqsa to impose sanctity and Jewish life in it, and to perpetuate the temporal and spatial divisions. Any political effort to prevent being drawn in will fail. To a war with the Gaza Strip or the Lebanese Hezbollah, because the masses and the Palestinian resistance forces will respond to these crimes and will escalate their resistance actions in partnership with the Palestinian interior -48-.

The outbreak of a major confrontation with the Gaza Strip or on more than one front. I do not think that this confrontation will be, as was the battle of the "Saif al-Quds" in May 2021. Zionist extremism, racism and fascism will be matched by the expansion of the scope and level of resistance operations in the occupied Palestinian territories in 1967, but it will be This battle is the beginning of the dying state of the entity, and the inability to bear the burdens of waging a new war, as well as the inability for many decades to announce a negotiated political project, in which the Palestinian leaders wasted a lot of time, under the illusion of the existence of such a political project, so that the mountain would produce a “fly” and not a mouse.

The returning Netanyahu, and with him the racist fascism, are two signs of the beginning and imminent collapse of the Zionist project on the land of Palestine. The rise of McCarthyism and ISIS racist fascism is nothing but a recipe for an entity's explosion.

[email protected]

ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

France's rapprochement with Algeria depends on geopolitical fluctuations

Paris - (AFP) - France aspires to establish a "renewed partnership" with Algeria after 60 years of painful relations, but it must take into account the geopolitical turmoil ravaging the western Mediterranean and the Algerian-Moroccan tensions, according to experts.


French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said Monday that the two countries had "progress" towards a "renewed, long-term partnership" after a two-day visit to Algeria.


"France has a strong desire to find an ally" and not just a "partner" in the largest country in Africa, which has the largest army in the Maghreb, said Dalia Ghanem, an analyst at the Institute for Security Studies in the European Union.


"While it has always enjoyed a special relationship with the Maghreb region, we see today Europe's influence in the Maghreb declining in favor of other parties such as Turkey and China..." she told AFP.


Former Admiral Pascal Osor, Director General of the Mediterranean Foundation for Strategic Studies, said, "If you are in the position of (Algerian) President Abdelmadjid Tebboune or his chief of staff, the world is witnessing rapid fluctuations and we do not really know where it is heading, but this matter creates chaos and violence."


"We are surrounded by fire, and we do not know which direction the wind will go, if it will push us or not. In any case, this is very worrying," he said, citing the generalized weakness of Western influence and the expansion of jihadists in the Sahel region at the gates of Algeria.


Pascal Osor said that in this context, "the psychological problem with France becomes secondary" for the Algerian leaders and heirs of a regime born of the bloody war of independence (1954-1962). He added that as to whether that would induce them to go beyond it to look at "common interests" with the former colonial power, only time would tell.


"It's a vacuum" between an old regime and a new one that has yet to be defined, said Raffaella del Sarto, professor of Middle East affairs at the School of Advanced International Studies for Europe at Johns Hopkins University. "It's very difficult to make predictions about the Middle East and North Africa at the moment because the dynamics are changing," she added.


"In the past few months, Algeria has regained its position as a major player in the western Mediterranean," said Rafaela Del Sarto. And she explained, "Several international or European parties are seeking to get close to them," such as Italy, which diversified its gas supplies thanks to an agreement concluded in July.


The European Commissioner for Energy, Cadre Simson, called on Tuesday for a "long-term strategic partnership" with Algeria, one of the "most reliable" gas suppliers in Europe, which it used to compensate for the decline in Russian supplies after the invasion of Ukraine.


Former Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya believes that "the common denominator today for all member states of the European Union is the need to consolidate Algeria's relations with the European Union."


"First, because in a moment of geopolitical upheaval, we must ensure stability in the immediate vicinity," she told AFP.


However, the open crisis between Algeria and Morocco, who have been fighting for decades over the status of Western Sahara and severed their diplomatic relations in 2021, complicates the equation.


Dalia Ghanem declared, "The issue of Western Sahara remains a thorn in the side of the European Union, the African Union, and the Arab Maghreb in particular, because it is a file that affects the future of 85 million Maghreb."


But she "believes that France does not wish to threaten its privileged relationship with Morocco" by supporting the Algerian position.


At the end of September, the researcher and delegate general of the Abd al-Rahim Bouabid Foundation warned the Moroccan Research Center for Democracy that "the Moroccans will never accept France's efforts in one way or another to appease Algeria in the Western Sahara issue."


He stressed that "Morocco's territorial integrity will not be considered simply, implicitly or explicitly, as a criterion for the relationship between France and Algeria."


Among the challenges facing the Algerian leaders, Pascal Ausur cites the "Israeli-Moroccan alliance which is a big blow to Algeria" because its military numerical superiority could be met with a "qualitative escalation".

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

Life imprisonment for a Florida school shooter

Fort Lauderdale (AFP) - A US jury on Thursday rejected the death penalty for Nicholas Cruz, the shooter who killed 17 people at his former high school in Florida, opting instead for life in prison without the possibility of parole.


The jury deliberated all day Wednesday and briefly Thursday before deciding to sentence Cruz, 24, to life in prison for the February 2018 shooting and death of 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.


The death penalty should be recommended unanimously by the panel, in which case at least one or more members of the 12-member panel considered that the penalty was not justified because of mitigating circumstances.


As the verdict was read, Cruz stared blankly at the defense table, while many of the victims' relatives who attended the hearing shook their heads in disbelief.


Cruz had pleaded guilty to the crime he carried out on Valentine's Day last year, and prosecutors said during the three-month sentencing hearings that the appropriate punishment is the death penalty.


Cruz's lawyer, Melissa McNeil, had called on the jury to show clemency to a young man, whom she described as "mentally ill, psychologically ill and a broken person."

PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

Two young men were wounded.. Settlers attacked citizens' vehicles and homes in separate areas of the West Bank

Governorates - "Jerusalem" dot com - A group of settlers attacked, on Tuesday evening, under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces, citizens' vehicles in separate areas of the West Bank .

Local sources reported that settlers threw stones at citizens' vehicles at the northern entrance to Al-Bireh, which damaged a number of them. The occupation forces and settlers closed the military checkpoint, preventing citizens from crossing it in both directions.


In the same context, a young man was wounded by a stone in the head when settlers attacked his vehicle near Al-Laban Al-Sharqiya village, south of Nablus.


According to local sources, dozens of settlers attacked citizens' vehicles on the Nablus-Ramallah road, causing great damage to a number of vehicles.


In addition, a young man was wounded in the head when settlers attacked his vehicle near the town of Hawara, south of Nablus, in addition to their attack on the house of Bilal Yusef Dmaidi in the town, which damaged the windows of the house.


In the northern Jordan Valley, a group of settlers smashed citizens' vehicles with stones and closed the street at the Al-Maleh junction.


In the context, a group of settlers threw stones at citizens' vehicles at the Ein Ayoub roundabout, northwest of Ramallah, which damaged a number of them.


In Tulkarm, settlers closed the eastern and western entrances to the village of Shufa, and prevented vehicles and citizens from passing, at a time when settler gangs gathered in the area.


In addition, a large force of the occupation army closed the entrance to the town of Beit Lid, east of Tulkarm, and prevented the passage of vehicles.

ECONOMY

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

"Jawwal Pay" and Bank of Jordan sign a cooperation agreement in the field of electronic payment

Ramallah - "Jerusalem" dot com - The National Electronic Payment Company "Jawwal Pay" and the Bank of Jordan signed a cooperation agreement to provide electronic payment services to the bank, according to which citizens will be able to pay government fees through electronic payment methods with ease and speed. . ‏


The agreement was signed by the CEO of “Jawwal Pay” Ibrahim Khammash, and Acting Regional Director of Bank of Jordan in Palestine Raed Al-Masri, in the presence of the company’s strategic accounts manager Abdul Razzaq Al-Shalabi, commercial director Jamal Al-Khalili, compliance manager Fadi Obaid, and a number of managers. Bank regional management


Khammash pointed out that cooperation between the various economic sectors would raise the level of services provided to the Palestinian citizen, stressing that this agreement is a prelude to greater cooperation between the Bank of Jordan and the National Electronic Payment Company in the near future.


Khammash said that in the next stage, electronic payment services will be provided to Bank of Jordan customers to enable them to benefit from digital financial services quickly and easily, as part of its digital approach to facilitate financial services to citizens, and in line with the global development in this sector, expressing his pride. With the efforts made by Bank of Jordan to serve its customers with a new system that keeps pace with the global technological development


In turn, Al-Masri stressed that the signing of this important agreement comes within the strategic directions of Bank of Jordan in the field of digital transformation, by providing a set of distinguished electronic services to its customers, with the aim of completing their banking transactions easily, quickly and safely without the need to reach the bank's branches, praising the partnership with the company. The National Electronic Payment "Jawwal Pay", which constitutes a qualitative addition to enhancing the services provided by the bank and providing an opportunity for the bank's customers to pay their obligations electronically, thus saving them effort and time.


He pointed out that the bank owns a group of electronic channels that provide customers with various banking services without the need to visit bank branches, including: ATMs, credit cards, internet banking, Bank of Jordan application, and other innovative and distinctive services and solutions.


It is worth noting that the national electronic payment company "Jawwal Pay" provides a group of digital financial services that meet the aspirations of the new trend towards digitization and suit the growing requirements of society.


It is also mentioned that Bank of Jordan is one of the first banks to be present in the Palestinian market, and it provides its services to all categories of individual, corporate and institutional customers, through its branches and offices spread in Ramallah, Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Gaza, Ram, Al-Eizariya, Tulkarem, and Bethlehem. Jerusalem, and through its various electronic channels around the clock

ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

Eight bodies were recovered off the Tunisian coast, believed to be illegal immigrants

TUNIS - (Xinhua) - Units of the Tunisian Naval Guard today (Monday) recovered 8 bodies off the coast of the southeastern city of Zarzis, believed to be those of illegal immigrants whose boat sank at sea while trying to sneak into the Italian coast.


The official Tunisian News Agency said that a number of Tunisian fishermen found these bodies during the search for 18 missing persons who had sailed in an illegal immigration operation from the coasts of the city of Zarzis towards the Italian coasts during the night between 21 and 22 last September.


The agency quoted the head of the Al-Bahar Development Association, Shams El-Din Bourassin, as saying that the bodies that were found, "the features of their owners could not be identified because of their erosion."


The search operations began on September 25, with the participation of army and guard units, after the families of those missing announced that they had lost contact with them, according to the agency.


Over the past few months, illegal immigration operations have escalated from the Tunisian coast , which extends over 1,300 kilometers, towards the Italian coast, with the participation of Tunisians and other African nationalities.


Hardly a day passes without the Tunisian authorities announcing the thwarting of such attempts and saving many dreamers of emigration from death by drowning at sea while trying to reach the Italian island of Lampedusa.


The island of Lampedusa, which dreamers of immigration usually choose as the first stop on their cruise, is the closest point to the Tunisian shores, only about 80 kilometers away.

ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

"Rain Air" cancels about 10 flights in Spain after the resumption of the strike of the air crews

Barcelona - (AFP) - "RainAir" canceled about 10 flights to and from Spain on Monday, and 111 other flights were delayed on the first day of a new strike for air crews in the country, which is scheduled to continue until January 2023.


Eight low-cost Irish flights were canceled as of 13:00 (1100 GMT) due to take off or land at Barcelona airport, according to the trade union union, which organized the strike in cooperation with the independent union of aircrews.


"Unfortunately, there is a (compulsory) minimum service of 80% imposed by the Ministry of Transport," said Pau Ibarzabal, a spokesman for the Confederation of Trade Unions, considering that this measure is "unclassified" and "weakens the employees' right to strike."


The Irish airline, which operates more than 650 flights with Spain, believes that this outage has "had a very limited impact", according to a statement published Monday.


Ryanair employees in Spain started the strike on June 24 and then extended it until July 28 to demand better working conditions and the signing of a collective agreement.


After the unions considered that the dispute had reached a dead end, they organized wider strikes that start on Monday and continue until January 7, 2023, at a rate of four days a week (from Monday to Thursday).
Ryanair, the only global airline that does not have a collective agreement in Spain according to the unions, recently reached an agreement with the CCOO (workers' committees) union, which is a minority within the cabin crew.
But the agreement was rejected by the Confederation of Trade Unions and the Independent Aircrews' Union, which deemed it insufficient and demanded, in addition, that 11 strikers who were laid off last month be rehired.

SPORT

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

Khadamat Al-Buraij holds the league shield with one hand by crossing his rival, Khadamat Al-Maghazi


Gaza - Ahmed Al-Masharawi - Khadamat Al-Bureij Club is close to winning the championship of the Gaza Strip Basketball League for the Premier League, for the season 2022-2023, sponsored by Jawwal, by defeating its traditional rival, Khadamat Al-Maghazi, with a score of 85-61, at the hall of the late behind the wheel in Khadamat Al-Bureij Club. In the presence of a large crowd that did not stop cheering throughout the match. The two big clubs will meet next Monday evening, August 15th, in the return match against Abu Youssef Al-Najjar.


The match was strong and exciting, and the two teams were keen to win in the first leg, relying on the rapid offensive rebound, closing the defensive area and following the three-pointers from outside the area. Rahal, and Al-Maghazi scored 9 points through Musa Abu Ghazal 7 points, and a brace for Ryan Rayan, to end with Al-Bureij leading 25-9.


In the second quarter, Al-Bureij maintained its lead, and Abu Rahal scored 5 points, including a hat-trick, and 4 points by Muhammad Mahdi, Rami Al-Jammal and Eid Al-Shaer, and two points by Ahmed Mahdi, and Al-Maghazi Musa Abu Ghazal scored 6 points, including a hat-trick, and 5 points by Khalil Mahdi, and two points by Muhammad Abu Ghazal. And Musa Musa, to end the tower 16-19.


Al-Bureij succeeded in settling the third quarter through three throws, scoring 6 shots by Thaer Issa and Ramy Al-Jamal, and a throw for Ibrahim Abu Rahal and Taha Jabr. Al-Maghazi, through Ryan Rayan, reduced 13 points by penetrating the Al-Bureij basket and shooting well from inside the area, and 6 points through Muhammad Abu. Ghazal scored 4 points, and a point through Musa Abu Ghazal and Musa Musa, to end with the score 26-19.

In the last quarter, Al-Maghazi returned to the atmosphere of the match, and Rayan scored 11 points, 4 points for Musa, and 2 points for Musa Abu Ghazal, and from Al-Bureij Thaer 7 points, including a hat-trick, a double for Eid Al-Shaer, and a double for Abu Rahal, to advance 17-15, but Al-Bureij wins with the total score 85-61.

It is noteworthy that the next match in which Al-Bureij needs to repeat its victory and crown the title, or Al-Maghazi postpones the decision for a third decisive match.

Referee: Dooley Basil Kron, Dooley Saeed Diazadeh, Tamer Qeshta, Jad Agha Recorder, Mohamed Al-Aloul Mikati, Mohamed Skaik Mikati 24 seconds.

OPINIONS

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

Internationalization strategy is not an alternative

Written by: Hani Al-Masry


There is no dispute that Benjamin Netanyahu's sixth government, which he has begun to form, will be the worst government in the history of Israel, and it will be a government that seeks to escalate aggression in all its forms against the Palestinians and in the region. It also aims at annexation, Judaization, displacement, expansion of settler colonialism, and prejudice to the status of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and it targets Palestinians in their various places of residence. The disagreement between analysts and experts is not over this assessment, but to what extent will it be extremist? Will the Palestinians, the Arabs and the world, and the United States in particular, allow it to implement its programme? Not for the blackening of the eyes of the Palestinians, but rather for fear of the consequences of this extremism on security, stability and peace in the region and the world. Israeli fascist extremism will call for a Palestinian, Arab and international response.

It is good news that the Republican candidates, especially supporters of Donald Trump, did not succeed in achieving their goal of a “red wave” and obtaining a majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate. As the Democratic Party retained the majority in the Senate, while the Republicans advanced in the House of Representatives by 8 seats so far; This will leave Biden's hand somewhat free, and he will tie the hands of the Kahanist Israeli government, whose hands will be free in the event that the Republican Party wins, and the extent of extremism that the Netanyahu government will implement will be affected by the response or objection of the US administration.

The question is: To what extent will Netanyahu let his foolish fascist ministers loose, or tighten their reins by stripping basic powers from the ministries they will receive, and will Bezalel Smotrich be the Minister of War and Itamar Ben Gvir the Minister of Internal Security? In this case, it will adopt policies and implement the maximum exceptional measures in its extremism. In any case, many of them will be members of the cabinet. Political and religious extremism is not limited to the religious Zionist party, but rather affects most of the members and ministers of the coalition that will rule.


Fascist policies affect all Palestinians

These policies and procedures are not limited to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and not only against Palestinian "terrorist" resistance fighters, but will affect all Palestinians, including those who have obtained Israeli citizenship. As it is planned to deport many of them with the rest of their brothers voluntarily before they are forcibly deported when a suitable opportunity becomes available for that, and those who remain must be slaves and loyal to the Jewish state, including the authority that the new government will not be concerned with its support and survival to the same extent as the current government that weakened it while speaking Rather, it will continue to weaken it, and there are ministers in it who will demand the dissolution of the civil administration affiliated with the Ministry of War in order to facilitate the annexation of the West Bank to Israel. Therefore, they prefer the collapse of the authority and the appointment of representative offices of the occupation representing local authorities separate from each other in Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah... etc.; Because the existence of one authority embodies one national identity, and this keeps the issue of establishing a Palestinian state in mind, and makes it possible to bring it up again, and they want to bury it once and for all.

The collapse of power and chaos... a possible scenario

Based on the foregoing, the scenario of chaos and the collapse of power became more likely after the fascists became ministers, and it does not provide a guaranteed opportunity for the escalation of comprehensive resistance against the occupation. Rather, turning a dangerous challenge into an opportunity depends first on the Palestinians’ response to providing the requirements of steadfastness and resistance, and the continuation and strengthening of the popular presence. The Palestinian on the land of Palestine, and to desist from inaction, surrender, extremism, and adventurism, and this will not succeed unless the reality of the drawn Israeli plans is realized, whose title is to move faster in liquidating the Palestinian issue from its various dimensions, and that it cannot be defeated if the Palestinian situation remains as it is, and it can Defeat it if there is awareness, plan and the necessary will.

We do not exaggerate when we say that among the most important reasons for the rise of the extreme political and religious right in Israel are the following:

First: The Palestinian situation is in a state of weakness, division and disorientation. As the Palestinian issue and how to deal with it is no longer a major issue on the agenda of the Israelis. What encouraged the extremists to continue their extremism, and gave credibility to their approach that relies on force and imposing facts on the ground, and rejects settlement with the Palestinians, even if it was among the Israeli “no’s” that were the subject of an Israeli consensus in the past, and it was replaced by a new consensus that only groups and individuals do not deviate from. in Central Stream in Israel.

Second: There is a wave of official Arab normalization with Israel that has reached the point of allying with it. What achieved Netanyahu's statement about the priority of peace with the Arabs without resolving the Palestinian issue first, or within what was stated in the Arab peace initiative that proposes a complete withdrawal in return for full normalization; Where he used normalization as a card of pressure on the Palestinians to force them to accept the "Israeli peace" that would be implemented without negotiations, by continuing and intensifying the creation of the occupation and racist realities that make the Israeli solution the only proposed and feasible solution.

It is not possible to confront these existential dangers and drop the scheme of annexation and liquidation of the issue by continuing with the same policies adopted before the formation of the Israeli government, as what works before it will not work after it, even though the approved official Palestinian policies did not preserve even the bad status quo, nor did they prevent the continuous deterioration, It did not prevent the progress of realizing the Israeli plan aimed at establishing "Greater Israel".



Full membership is not a substitute

The demand for full membership of the State of Palestine in the United Nations, and the political and legal prosecution of Israel in the United Nations and its agencies and institutions, including the International Court of Justice and the Criminal Court, cannot be considered the Palestinian alternative.

Despite the importance of these tools, they are just branches and tools of the required strategy, as they do not have the possibility of implementation, and they cannot bypass the American veto that stands in the way of international recognition of the Palestinian state, and they are not and should not be the core of the Palestinian strategy, which must be based on the starting point that fascist extremism The Israeli provides an opportunity to re-consider the inclusive Palestinian national project, which unites the land, the cause, and the land, and proceeds from the historical narrative, and takes into account the circumstances and characteristics that characterize the different groups of people.

The national project has been lost in the corridors of illusions about the possibility of reaching a settlement through negotiations, concessions and proof of merit, the unilateral military resistance strategy that does not have a tangible program, and the misconception that the Palestinian political system can be effective in providing security, peace and stability in the region, and will be rewarded with a state for This role, rather, this strategy not only failed to reach an agreement that includes the embodiment of independence and a sovereign state over the West Bank and Gaza Strip, or even parts of them, but rather it was unable to maintain the very bad situation and prevent it from deteriorating and becoming constantly worse, after Finishing off the so-called "two-state solution", progress is being made on the path of negating any framework for the Palestinian identity, albeit through an autonomous authority that is completely dependent on Israeli sovereignty. This was the program of the so-called Israeli "center" and "left", which has largely collapsed, and even a section of the secular right. As for the religious and nationalist extremist right, the winner and the candidate to increase its influence, it does not want any expression of any Palestinian identity, but rather wants a greater implementation of the basic Zionist movement’s maxim of establishing “Greater Israel” and “a people without a land for a land without a people” and the slogan “the largest area of land and the least number Of the population".

Internationalization is not the basis of the Palestinian strategy, but rather a part of it

The international strategy, which is the strategy of the official leadership, and which was used as a tactic to pressure a return to negotiations to achieve the so-called "two-state solution" does not lead to the achievement of Palestinian goals, including ending the occupation and embodying the state, and the evidence, as the Palestinian president said more than once, is that More than 900 resolutions issued by the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Human Rights Council, including the advisory opinion issued by the High Court of Justice regarding the apartheid wall, have not been implemented, and not one of them has been implemented. They are important political, legal and moral achievements, in addition to the important resolution that was issued recently. Regarding obtaining a new advisory opinion regarding the occupation.

That is, the international strategy is not the basis of the Palestinian strategy, but rather a branch that can serve it, which in essence aims to mobilize the entire people in a unified, representative national framework, and to use all forms of resistance and struggle in all its forms, to change the facts on the ground; In order to change the balance of power, in order to allow the imposition of the realization of Palestinian rights, within the equation of achieving the maximum possible at every stage, on the path to achieving the full goals, by relying primarily on the Palestinians first, the Arabs second, and the free people in the whole world third, and benefiting from the ongoing transformations that Israel is moving towards It worries and intimidates large circles around the world, including large Jewish circles inside and outside Israel. The fascists want to overturn even Jewish democracy, secularism and liberalism, and establish a religious state whose reference is Jewish law, as they see it, just like ISIS and worse. Therefore, one of the goals of the new Israeli government is to eliminate the Israeli Supreme Court of Justice, by restricting it and making it subject to the laws approved by the Knesset, whose majority is from the right and the extremists.

Palestinian unity is the gateway

In order for the plans of the new government to be thwarted and the balance of power to change, division must be ended and unity restored by activating and developing the Algerian initiative, filling its shortcomings, and linking it to the Egyptian initiative, and with Arab cover. To reach a sustainable solution based on the principle of a comprehensive package, and its pillars are implemented in parallel and simultaneously; Where the political program is agreed upon first, and a government of national unity is formed, which prepares for presidential and legislative elections and is committed to Palestinian national rights, and is armed with international law and United Nations resolutions that respond to Palestinian rights, and at the same time a transitional leadership framework is formed that leads the PLO for a maximum period of one year, and is Its primary task is to form a new national council in accordance with the organization's statute, through elections whenever possible, and through consensus and appointment within objective and national criteria whenever elections are not possible.

We must, from the outset, bear in mind that the fascist government will not accept free and fair Palestinian elections, respect their results, and strengthen and unite the Palestinians, unless it finds itself forced, and this makes the issue of holding elections a tool of the struggle against the occupation, and not the fruit of an agreement with the occupation, as happened. previously; The function of the first elections in 1996 was to grant popular legitimacy to the Oslo Accords and the authority that emanated from it, while the function of the elections in 2005 and 2006 was to include factions opposing the Oslo Accords and resistance to the occupation, and to renew the legitimacy of the post-Yasser Arafat authority.

At that time, the field’s calculations did not fit the calculations of Al-Baydar, with the success of the Change and Reform bloc affiliated with Hamas by the majority, and this matter will not be allowed to repeat unless the Palestinians accept the crumbs offered to them, or a new Palestinian situation arises capable of imposing holding elections, and this needs accumulated struggle It absorbs the lessons of previous struggles, and leads to a massive Palestinian popular revival that does not happen with the push of a button and quickly, but rather requires a comprehensive vision, new strategies, a unified leadership, and a will ready for confrontation and paying the price.



Fascist government is a danger that can be turned into an opportunity

The formation of a fascist government in Israel is an imminent and existential danger, and it should not be exaggerated or minimized, but it can be turned into an opportunity if the Palestinians first demand the isolation and boycott of the new government, seek to include the “religious Zionism” party on the list of terrorism, and stop the obligations arising from the Oslo Accords. and what they must do. This is on the table and provides the official leadership, and President Mahmoud Abbas in particular, with an opportunity that may be, or is most likely, the last, as there is not enough life left that allows for new opportunities to end his life with a great national achievement, which is restoring unity, by making all necessary efforts and paying the price for ending the division, just as In his speech at the festival commemorating the assassination of leader Yasser Arafat, he said about new steps, and after meeting Azzam Al-Ahmad and Musa Abu Marzouk in Beirut the day before yesterday, will he do it? Will this time be a serious attempt to end the division, and not like the previous ones?

For this to happen, it needs cooperation from Hamas based on its willingness to give up its unilateral control over the Gaza Strip, in return for its full partnership in the authority that must be changed to meet Palestinian needs, and in the organization whose institutions must be rebuilt to include the various colors of the political and social spectrum.

Answer: No, if we take the political practice so far, the president and the interest groups of division here and there have become prisoners of what his hands and hands have made, but he may do it, and in all cases political and popular pressure is required in order for unity to be achieved before it is too late, and God knows best.

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

China completes first in-orbit tests of space fuel cells

BEIJING -- (Xinhua) -- The space fuel cell payload aboard the Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft has completed in-orbit tests, the first time China has conducted such tests, according to the China Academy of Space Technology.


Wan Zheng'an, chief designer of Beijing Spacecraft Manufacturing Co., Ltd., the developer of the system under the China Academy of Space Technology, said that the tests have initially verified the integrity of the system's properties under conditions such as vacuum, low temperature and microgravity, providing important data. And theoretical support for the development and important research technology of space fuel cell power system.


Wan said the tests aim to provide support for the application of space fuel cell power systems in the country's future major projects, including manned lunar exploration and deep space exploration.


Tianzhou-5 was launched on November 12 from the Wenchang spacecraft launch site in south China's Hainan Island Province.

ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

Biden calls Lapid and congratulates him on reaching an agreement with Lebanon on the maritime borders

Ramallah - "Jerusalem" dot com - US President Joe Biden called, on Tuesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid , congratulating him on reaching an agreement on the demarcation of the maritime borders with Lebanon, which will guarantee the security of "Israel on the northern borders, and strengthen the Israeli and Lebanese economies."


Biden said to Lapid - as mentioned by the latter's office - "I made history," stressing his commitment to the security of "Israel" and regional stability.


Lapid thanked Biden for his leadership and for the American mediation in the negotiations with Lebanon, expressing his special appreciation to the American mediator, Amos Hochstein, for his tireless and effective work. According to a statement by Lapid's office in Arabic.

ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

17 parliamentarians were arrested in Washington during a demonstration to defend the right to abortion

Washington, (AFP) - The US Congressional Police announced that they had arrested 17 parliamentarians, including the rising leftist representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, on Tuesday in front of the Capitol building, because of their refusal to obey her orders during their participation in a demonstration in defense of the right to abortion.


"We have arrested 35 people in total," the Capitol Police said in a tweet, including "17 members of Congress."


She explained that she had ordered the demonstrators to clear the street between the Capitol building and the Supreme Court, but some of them refused to comply with her orders, and after she issued three warnings to them, she arrested them.


For her part, Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar said in a tweet on Twitter that the Capitol Police stopped her during her participation in "civil disobedience."


Omar, who, along with Ocasio-Cortez, is considered a symbol of the left wing of the Democratic Party, added, "I will do everything in my power to sound the alarm about the assault on our reproductive rights."


A video clip posted by Ocasio-Cortez on her Twitter account showed a policeman escorting her out of the road separating the Congress and Supreme Court buildings.


According to the Axios news website, the 17 parliamentarians who were arrested are all Democratic representatives, and most of them are women.


At the end of June, the Supreme Court overturned the historic ruling it issued in 1973, in which it considered that women's right to abortion is enshrined in the United States Constitution, in a decision that returned the United States to the situation that was in force before 1973 when every state was free to allow abortion or to ban it.


In 1973, at the end of its consideration of the Roe v. Wade case, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that set a judicial precedent, as it guaranteed the right of a woman to voluntarily terminate her pregnancy as long as her fetus is unable to survive outside her womb, that is, until about 22 weeks from the start of pregnancy. .


However, the highest judicial body in the United States overturned this decision, and therefore the right to abortion is no longer enshrined in the federal constitution, but rather varies from state to state.


The balance of power within the Supreme Court changed radically during the reign of former President Donald Trump, who appointed three of its nine judges, and chose all of them from conservatives, so that the majority of two-thirds became conservatives (six to three).

SPORT

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

Italian Championship: The Udinese-Atalanta confrontation ends in favor of the leaders, Napoli, alone

(AFP) - The upcoming confrontation between Udinese and its guest Atalanta ended in favor of Napoli, with a 2-2 draw in a meeting during which the guests advanced with two clean goals, Sunday, in the ninth stage of the Italian Football League , which allowed the southern team to take the lead by defeating its host Cremonese 4. -1.


Atalanta seemed on its way to its sixth victory in the last seven stages and the seventh this season without any defeat, after advancing with two clean goals, which would have allowed it to temporarily lead by three points from Naples.


But Udinese, who played the match on the back of five consecutive victories, came back from afar and saved a point to avoid a second defeat for the season, after it received an opening 2-4 against Milan, the defending champion, on August 13.


Atalanta finished the first half ahead with a goal from the Nigerian-English Ademola Lookman after a pass from Colombian Luis Muriel (36), before the latter added the second goal from a penalty kick that he snatched himself from Destiny Odoji (56).


Spaniard Gerard Deulofeu narrowed the difference to the landowner in the 67th minute with a free kick, then Argentine Nehuen Perez succeeded in snatching a tie with a header after a corner kick (78), giving his team its twentieth point in third place, on goal difference against Milan, the defending champion, while Atalanta temporarily topped before To give it up after Napoli's away win over Cremonese.


"It's a very important point for us," Peres told the "Dazon" broadcasting network. "It is very important to collect points at home. The match became different after we were two goals behind, but we played well."


Atalanta will face very intense tests from now until the league stops due to the Qatar World Cup, which starts on the 20th of next month, as it faces Lazio (stage 11), Napoli (stage 13) and Inter (the last 15th stage before the league stopped on November 13). .


Atalanta coach Jean-Piero Gasperini, who was celebrating his 300th match with La Dia, said that his team should be "happy with this result, even though it was achieved at a time when the match was in our hands by advancing with two deserved goals."


He continued, "The free kick scored by Deulofeu was a big boost for Udinese, and we were unable to maintain our level despite the changes we made."


In Cremona, Napoli continued its wonderful season by achieving, for the first time in its history, eight consecutive victories in all competitions, including three in the Champions League, and the last of which was in the middle of the week away from home, with a sweeping result over Dutch Ajax 6-1, by defeating the injured Cremonese 4-1.


The result does not reflect the course of the match, as coach Luciano Spalletti's team waited the last quarter of an hour to advance and stoppage time to finally decide the result.


The southern team started the match well, after taking the lead in the 26th minute from a penalty kick executed by Matteo Politano, which was grabbed by the brilliant Georgian newcomer, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.


The result remained the same until the end of the first half, but Cremonese started the second by equalizing through the Nigerian-Belgian Cyril Desire (47), then withstood his guest until the 76th minute before bowing in front of the header of Argentine substitute Giovanni Simeone, who received the ball from Portuguese Mario Roy.


Diego Simeone's son, Spanish coach Atletico Madrid, raised his score to four goals in nine matches he played with the southern team since he came to him this summer from Verona, including only one as a starter.


Simeone touched on his life in Naples to the "Dazon" network, saying, "I feel a bit like one of them. I'm a bit Argentinian and a bit Italian," adding, "What matters in football is the quality you present at the time you play. There are a lot of times when I didn't play." A lot of minutes and I did well, times I played a lot of minutes without doing anything."


And when the match was taking its last breath, Naples finally won with a third goal for the other Mexican substitute, Hirving Losano, after another pass from Kfaratskhelia (3 + 90), before the other Uruguayan substitute, Matias Oliveira, added the fourth with a header after a corner kick (5 + 90).


Argentine Paulo Dybala continued his brilliance with his new team, Roma, by scoring his fifth goal in the Capital Club shirt, contributing to compensating for his fall Thursday at home in the “Europa League” against Spanish Real Betis 1-2 by defeating 2-1, but the joy was not complete because he left. injured.
And after opening the scoring early through Englishman Chris Smalling (6), Roma found himself at the same distance from his guest after Brazilian Gabriel Streveza equalized (39), despite the numerical shortage in his team as a result of the expulsion of Dane Morten Helmand (23).
But Dybala returned the team of Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho to the front at the beginning of the second half (48) before he was injured after executing the penalty kick.
With his sixth victory, Roma raised its tally to 19 points, temporarily in fifth place, at the expense of its neighbor Lazio, who will visit Fiorentina on Monday.

ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

The Iranian judiciary confirms that director Panahi must serve a six-year prison sentence

Tehran - (AFP) - The Iranian judiciary confirmed on Tuesday that the opposition director, Jaafar Panahi, who was arrested last week, must serve a six-year prison sentence that was imposed on him more than a decade ago.


"Panahi was sentenced in 2010 to six years in prison (...) and accordingly he was admitted to the detention center (prison) in Evin (Tehran) to serve this sentence," Judicial Authority spokesman Masoud Staishi said in a press conference.


On July 11, Iranian media reported Panahi's arrest, making him the third director to announce his detention within days, after Muhammad Rasoulaf and Mustafa Al-Ahmad.


The "Mehr" agency stated at the time that Panahi was arrested "while he was attending the Public Prosecution office in Tehran to follow up on the file of another director, Muhammad Rasoul Af."


Panahi, 62, is considered one of the most prominent names in contemporary Iranian cinema, and he won international awards, the most important of which was the Golden Bear Award for Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival in 2015 for “Tehran Taxi” and the best screenplay at the Cannes Festival 2018 for “Three Faces”.


The arrest of Panahi, who had previously been sentenced to prison and officially banned from preparing cinematic works in his country, came after the disclosure on Friday of the arrest of directors Muhammad Rasoul Af and Mustafa Al-Ahmad on charges of “disrupting public order” in Iran.


Panahi was known for his opposition to the authorities in his country. He was arrested in 2010 and later convicted of “propaganda against the political system” of the Islamic Republic. He was sentenced to six years in prison and banned from directing or writing films for many years, or from traveling and speaking to the media, following his support for the protest movements that followed the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadi. Ahmadinejad in 2009.


The official media revealed the arrest of Rasoul Af and Al Ahmad on charges of "disrupting public order" after they supported protest movements in Iranian regions against the background of the collapse of a building in the southwest of the country in May, in an accident that killed 43 people.


The collapse of the "Metropole" building, which was under construction in Abadan, Khuzestan Province, caused a disaster that is considered one of the worst in the Islamic Republic during the past years, followed by movements in several cities in solidarity with the families of the victims, protesting against corruption and incompetence, and demanding accountability for those responsible for the accident.


A group of Iranian filmmakers led by Rasoul Af published an open letter in late May calling on the security forces to "lay down their arms" in the face of anger at "corruption, theft, incompetence and oppression".


Likewise, Rasoul Af and Panahi were among the signatories in the same month of an open book criticizing the arrest of a number of their colleagues by the Iranian authorities at that time.


The administrations of international film festivals, such as Venice, Berlin and Cannes, called for the release of Panahi and his colleagues, while France expressed "concern" about the arrest of a number of directors in the Islamic Republic.

PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

Disclosure of details of the health condition of three injured prisoners from Jericho

Ramallah - "Jerusalem" dot com - The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs revealed, on Wednesday evening, through the visit of its lawyer, Karim Ajwa, details of the health status of three injured prisoners and detainees who are in "Hadassah Hospital" to receive treatment, after the occupation forces fired live bullets at them. the moment of their arrest.


Among these cases is the case of detainee Qusai Farah (21 years old) from Jericho Governorate, where he is in the surgery department and his health condition is stable, but he still needs health care, noting that he was shot by the Israeli army in the left side of the flank.


And about the case of the prisoner Hassan Awadat (20 years) from Aqabat Jabr camp in Jericho, who is in the intensive care unit, and who was shot in his shoulders and feet. During which he put platinum, according to the captive.


It is worth mentioning that tomorrow a detention extension session will be held for detainee Awadat at the "Ofer Military Court" without his presence due to his health condition.


As for the case of prisoner Alaa Awadat, he is in Hadassah Hospital - Ein Karem, in the intensive care unit, under anesthesia and breathing machines.


It should be noted that a hearing to extend his detention will be held tomorrow at the military court in Ofer, where the session will be held without his presence due to his health condition.

ECONOMY

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:17 pm - Jerusalem Time

Al-Osaily: We are working on the completion of two laws to encourage investment and e-commerce

Ramallah - "Jerusalem" dot com - Minister of National Economy Khaled Al-Osaily said today, Tuesday, that work is underway to complete a new law to encourage investment, an e-commerce law , a strategy for small and medium enterprises, and new programs to integrate home-based entrepreneurs into the economy.


This came during his participation in the dialogue between the public and private sectors on facilitating the access of small and medium enterprises to financing, which is organized in the context of the European Union and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development program on investment “The Palestinian Investment Platform” and the working group concerned with financing small and medium enterprises, in cooperation with Ministry of National Economy and the Palestinian Monetary Authority.


During the dialogue sessions, the meeting discussed policy options to improve the enabling environment for small and medium-sized companies to access financing in Palestine, and to identify a set of priority policy measures through dialogue between the public and private sectors.


Al-Osaily pointed out the tendency to study making some amendments to the law of the registry of security rights in movable funds, with the aim of providing and increasing opportunities for small, medium and micro companies to obtain the financing necessary for their growth.


He considered that financial inclusion is a fundamental pillar towards achieving comprehensive and sustainable growth, especially since expanding the financing base and empowering all segments of society would improve living conditions, reduce poverty, and make them less vulnerable to financial shocks.


Osaily reviewed the Ministry's efforts to create a legislative framework and provide a business environment that stimulates creativity and innovation, and is supportive of small, medium and micro enterprises, including the adoption of a unified definition of small, medium and micro enterprises, and the approval of the first Palestinian corporate law.


He stressed the endeavors to shift towards a green and digital economy in line with global developments and developments, the implementation of many programs and initiatives aimed at integrating home-based entrepreneurs into the formal economy, and allocating more encouraging programs and projects to integrate women into the economic process.


He stressed the real dialogue and partnership between the public and private sectors and the joint efforts that are being made to develop and improve the national economy, pointing to the efforts exerted to complete the tender for the construction of wheat silos in Palestine.


Minister Al-Osaily noted the importance of finding alternative solutions for financial inclusion for small, medium and micro enterprises, within the framework of digital transformation and diversification of financial services and products to achieve more financial inclusion, provide consumers with broader choices and address customer needs through technology-based innovation.