https://arab.news/8wh6s
RAMALLAH: The Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem, working with the Shikon Vibinoy company, has published plans for a settlement expansion that would result in the appropriation of more Palestinian land.
Under the proposal, the number of housing units in the Givat Hamatos settlement, built on land in the Palestinian town of Beit Safafa, would increase from 300 to 1,500. Beit Safafa is mostly located in East Jerusalem, with some of its northern territory in West Jerusalem.
The settlement expansion would permanently destroy Palestinian geographical contiguity between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem, analysts said, and prevent Beit Safafa being part of a future Palestinian state.
“Israel solves the social and real estate problems in West Jerusalem by expanding settlements in the east of the city,” said Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher with Ir Amim, a nonprofit organization founded in 2004 with the mission of making Jerusalem a more equitable and sustainable city for its Israeli and Palestinian residents.
“The expansion of building rights in Givat Hamatos is in complete contradiction of the Jerusalem municipality’s plans for Palestinians in the east of the city.
“When it comes to Israelis, the municipality allows construction work on large scales, especially in areas outside the Green Line, as it always finds a way to ignore planning considerations and previous decisions issued by the planning committee. On the other hand, any plan that the Palestinians push for adoption is refused under various excuses.”
Settlement affairs expert Khalil Tafakji told Arab News that when Barack Obama was US president, this particular settlement project was paused as a result of pressure from Germany, because it would have seized parts of land belonging to the Lutheran Church.
He said settlement activity in Jerusalem “remains a priority for all Israeli parties, whether right wing, left wing or any other, because Israel considers it the indivisible capital” that will not be shared with Palestinians.
For a time, approved settlement projects in East Jerusalem were not implemented because of international pressure, Tafakji said, but “the Israeli government is taking advantage of the (current) global conditions to implement them” now.
Israeli settlement projects in Jerusalem are not limited to building more housing units, they also include new infrastructure, such as the American Street in the Palestinian town of Sur Baher, east of Jerusalem, and tunnels in the Beit Jala area. There is also a proposal is to construct 1,600 settlement units in Kiryat Shlomo as part of the Greater Jerusalem Plan 2050.
At the same time authorities are working to build more settlement units in Jerusalem for Israelis, they are demolishing the homes of Palestinians in the east of the city under various pretexts and will not grant them permits to build new houses, in what analysts have described as an attempt to change the demographic nature of the city.
Palestinians consider East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state. According to Tafakji, 350,000 Palestinians currently live there, compared with 230,000 settlers, in an area of Jerusalem “equivalent to 1.2 percent of the size of the West Bank.”
He added: “However, the Israeli government seeks to link the settlements surrounding Jerusalem, such as Gush Etzion and Ma’ale Adumim, to Jerusalem through a series of tunnels, to increase its area. The idea is to make it equivalent to 10 percent of the size of the West Bank, in line with the Greater Jerusalem Plan.”
The tunnels and bridges Israeli authorities are building are designed to make it easier for settlers living in the West Bank and working in Jerusalem to move easily between home and work.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it condemns all forms of Israeli colonial settlement activity in Palestinian territories, whether it involves building thousands of houses, as in Jerusalem, allocating millions of dollars to build roads, or the seizure of Palestinian land, as in Qalqilya governorate and other places.
The ministry also denounced escalations in attacks by settlers on Palestinians, their land, livestock, properties, homes and shops throughout the occupied West Bank.
It said it considers settlement expansion to be deliberate Israeli sabotage of any chance to establish a Palestinian state, in defiance of international protests and resolutions that have condemned such activity and have demanded it immediately be halted.
“It is also a systematic destruction of the chances of survival and steadfastness of successive Palestinian generations in their homeland, Palestine, and open war on our people and their rights,” the ministry added.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, the day before Eid Al-Fitr, the Israeli army arrested 17 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including a journalist, during raids in a number of areas during which they used live ammunition, stun grenades and tear gas.
BERLIN: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned on Friday against Tunisia backtracking on the fundamentals of its democracy, after the arrest of opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi this week.
Baerbock told reporters that Berlin viewed Ghannouchi’s arrest “with the greatest concern” and cautioned that the “democratic achievements in Tunisia since 2011 must not be lost.”
Ghannouchi, 81, a former speaker of parliament, was arrested on Monday after remarks warning that eradicating different viewpoints such as the left or political Islam, from which his party originated, might lead to a “civil war.”
The main opposition alliance, the National Salvation Front (FSN), of which his Ennahdha party is a member, said he had been held on suspicion of “plotting against state security.”
Tunisia is heavily indebted and facing high inflation and unemployment, leading some of its citizens to try fleeing to Europe.
Since early February, authorities in the North African country have arrested more than 20 political opponents and personalities.
The Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party held the most seats in Tunisia’s parliament before President Kais Saied dissolved the chamber in July 2021 in a power grab allowing him to rule by decree.
Saied, 65, claims those detained were “terrorists” involved in a “conspiracy against state security.”
Opponents have dubbed his actions a “coup” and a return to autocratic rule in the only democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring uprisings in the region more than a decade ago.
Tunisia has been negotiating for several months with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan worth nearly $2 billion, but discussions appear to have stalled.
Baerbock acknowledged the country was “confronted with a difficult economic and social situation” and said the European Union did not want to “leave the Tunisian people alone” to grapple with it.
She said it was “imperative” that the Tunisian government do its part to ensure a successful end to talks with the IMF.
BEIRUT/PARIS: French prosecutors have told Lebanon’s central bank governor Riad Salameh they plan to press preliminary fraud and money laundering charges against him, partly based on allegedly forged bank statements used to conceal his wealth, according to French court documents seen by Reuters.
The accusation of using fake account statements, which had not previously been reported, is contained in documents sent to Salameh by French judicial authorities ahead of a planned hearing in France on May 16.
During that hearing, French prosecutors intend to press the preliminary charges and formally name him a suspect.
Salameh declined to comment on his alleged use of fake documents. He has repeatedly denied accusations of fraud and money laundering, saying he is being made a scapegoat for Lebanon’s financial crisis that erupted in 2019.
A lawyer for Salameh said earlier this month that his client had not yet decided if he would travel to France to attend the May 16 hearing.
As part of a joint investigation with counterparts in Lebanon and at least four other European countries, French prosecutors suspect Salameh, 72, colluded with his brother Raja to divert more than $300 million in public funds, some of which was used to buy properties across Europe.
Riad and Raja Salameh have denied diverting public funds.
French and other European investigators, who questioned Salameh in Beirut last month, suspect the bulk of the governor’s fortune stems from the public funds he allegedly diverted.
As part of his response to accusations, Salameh sent French prosecutors a 65-page memo supplied by Marwan Kheireddine, the chairman of Lebanon’s AM Bank.
The document seen by Reuters contains series of bank statements which, according to one of Salameh’s lawyers, show how the governor’s savings rose from $15 million in 1993 to more than $150 million by 2019 “as he capitalized interests.”
But according to the French court documents seen by Reuters, French investigators have reached the conclusion the bank statements were fake.
Salameh “used fake records of bank accounts at AM Bank… provided by Marwan Kheireddine, to justify in a deceitful manner the origin of his properties or revenues,” French prosecutors say in the court documents.
Kheireddine’s lawyer, Thierry Marembert, said his client denied wrongdoing.
Following Salameh’s questioning in Beirut, French prosecutors wrote that “Riad Salameh is not able to justify the different loans and investments that allowed him to increase his wealth by more than 250 million euros (at a minimum) during this period,” according to the French court documents.
Salameh has said his fortune came from the sound management of savings he amassed during his career as an investment banker.
Kheireddine was questioned in France earlier this month on suspicion of participation in a criminal association and aggravated money laundering. The banker was told not to leave the country and his passport was confiscated.
BEIRUT: Lebanon has deported dozens of Syrians back to the war-torn country they fled from as anti-Syrian sentiment grows amid a dire economic crisis, security officials and a humanitarian source said Friday.
One of the Syrians deported was an army defector, a relative said, warning that “his life is in danger.”
“The army has deported more than 50 Syrians from Lebanon in the past two weeks,” an army official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the press.
Another security official said dozens of Syrians had been expelled.
They said Lebanon’s army intelligence unit had been cracking down on undocumented Syrians, arresting them and handing them to border guards, who then expelled them from Lebanon.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians fled to neighboring Lebanon after the country’s civil war began in 2011 with the brutal suppression of anti-regime protests.
Authorities say Lebanon hosts around two million Syrian refugees, while nearly 830,000 are registered with the United Nations.
Lebanese authorities have long pushed for Syrian refugees to return, and have made several repatriation efforts they describe as voluntary, but which rights groups say are forced.
Rights groups say some refugees have faced persecution, and reject the idea that refugee returns to Syria are safe.
“The army’s detention centers are full,” and other security agencies have refused to take in the arrested refugees, the army official said, commenting on the move.
“So the army had to take this measure and place them outside Lebanese borders,” he added.
The security and army officials said that Lebanese authorities did not coordinate the effort with Damascus, adding that some of the expelled refugees had returned to Lebanon with the help of smugglers who charged them $100 per person.
A humanitarian source told AFP they had noticed increased army intelligence raids on Syrian communities in Beirut and the Mount Lebanon area since the beginning of April.
Approximately 450 Syrians had been arrested and at least 66 confirmed deported, they said.
“So far in 2023, at least five raids have taken place,” said the source, requesting anonymity as they were not allowed to speak to the media.
Since the Damascus regime regained control of most of Syria, some host countries have sought to expel refugees, citing a relative end to hostilities.
Lebanon has been mired since 2019 in an economic crisis that the World Bank said was one of the worst in modern history.
KHARTOUM: Sudan’s warring forces clashed again in the nation’s capital early Friday, with bombing and shelling reported in several areas of Khartoum, as they ignored appeals by world powers for an end-of-Ramadan cease-fire.
Both UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called separately for a cease-fire of “at least” three days to mark Eid Al-Fitr in the mostly Muslim country, as explosions and gunfire resounded in the capital Khartoum for the sixth straight night.
“On the night of Eid Al-Fitr, several areas of Khartoum were bombed and are still exposed to shelling and clashes between the armed forces and the RSF,” the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said in a statement.
“We call on all citizens to exercise caution, stay home, close doors and windows and lie down. We also call on these forces to be responsible and immediately stop fighting to protect innocent lives.”
The capital has borne the brunt of some of the fiercest fighting, with most of its five million people sheltering at home without electricity, food or water.
Residents have struggled to sleep for nearly a week and been jolted awake by “the roaring sound of fighter jets and air strikes,” said Nazek Abdalla, a 38-year-old in southern Khartoum.
“We locked our doors and windows, hoping no stray bullets would hit our building, Abdalla added. “We wish the fighting would stop during Eid festivities. We know it will not happen though.”
Blinken “condemned the indiscriminate fighting” in separate conversations with both Burhan and Daglo, his spokesperson said in a Friday statement.
“He urged both military leaders to implement and uphold a nationwide cease-fire and sustain it through at least the end of Eid Al-Fitr, Sunday, April 23,” the statement said.
As battles raged Friday, Burhan appeared on television for the first time since hostilities began, to deliver an Eid address as in previous years.
Sitting behind a desk, dressed in military uniform and backgrounded by two Sudanese flags, he made no mention of a truce.
“For Eid this year, our country is bleeding: destruction, desolation and the sound of bullets have taken precedence over joy,” he said.
“We hope that we will come out of this ordeal more united… a single army, a single people… toward a civilian power.”
After two cease-fires failed to take hold in two days, gunfire continued Thursday night, with columns of black smoke rising from buildings around Khartoum International Airport and the army headquarters.
While many sheltered at home, others were venturing out despite the risks “to protect themselves and their families,” said architect Tagreed Abdin.
Beyond Khartoum, witnesses reported loud explosions in the city of Obeid, in the central state of North Kordofan.
“It reeks of death in some parts of town,” said one witness in Obeid.
The World Health Organization said Friday that 413 people have died and almost 3,551 more had been wounded in the fighting.
The fighting has taken a heavy toll on civilians, with the UN children’s agency UNICEF saying “at least nine children have reportedly been killed.”The World Food Programme (WFP) warned that the violence could plunge millions more into hunger in a country where 15 million people — one-third of the population — already face food insecurity.
It has suspended its Sudan operations after the killing of three WFP workers on Saturday.
Burhan and Daglo’s bitter dispute centered on the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army, a key condition for a final deal aimed at restoring Sudan’s democratic transition.
Around Khartoum and elsewhere, RSF fighters in armored vehicles and pickups mounted with machine guns have taken over the streets.
Many have mounted checkpoints to search cars carrying civilians trying to escape the worst battle zones to safer areas in Khartoum and beyond.
Civilians are becoming increasingly desperate — by Tuesday, thousands had fled the capital, with many reporting streets strewn with corpses.
Medics have warned of a catastrophe, especially in Khartoum, where many hospitals were reportedly caught in the crossfire.
Up to 70 percent of the hospitals in Khartoum and neighboring states have been rendered “out of service” by the fighting, the doctors’ union said.
It has warned the death toll is likely to be far higher than stated, with many wounded unable to reach hospitals.
Several countries’ evacuation plans have been put on hold, with the US Defense Department announcing Thursday that it was deploying forces “nearby in the region” with hopes of “securing and potentially facilitating the departure of US Embassy personnel from Sudan.”
The Sudanese army said 177 Egyptian soldiers were evacuated from the northern city of Meroe to Egypt, which confirmed their arrival. The RSF said later that it handed over another 27 Egyptian soldiers to the Sudanese Red Cross, and Cairo confirmed their arrival at Egypt’s Khartoum embassy.
The United Arab Emirates said it had “led” the mediation for the Egyptians held by the RSF.
Burhan and Daglo toppled autocratic president Omar Al-Bashir together in April 2019 following massive protests against three decades of iron-fisted rule.
In October 2021, they again worked together to oust the civilian government installed after Bashir’s downfall, derailing an internationally backed transition to democracy.
CHICAGO: Former Congressman Marie Newman, one of the most pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian members of Congress, lost re-election last year in part because of her criticism of Israel’s government but also because she fought to protect health care needs and opposed the growing influence of corporate PAC on elections.
Newman was elected to Congress in November 2020, but served only one term representing the 3rd Illinois Congressional District, which a New York Times analysis listed as having one of the largest concentrations of Palestinian and Arab voters.
In an interview with Arab News, Newman said that “some leaders” of the Democratic Party establishment targeted her in redistricting, forcing her to face-off with a more senior congressional incumbent, Sean Casten, in the newly drawn 6th District, which diluted Palestinian, Arab and Muslim voter support.
“The district changed dramatically. Over 60 percent of the district was taken away from me, meaning that we were left with 40 percent . . . there was the typical Illinois politics shenanigans that always go on but you can’t cry in your beer about it. You have to live with that. And I think it was that I was outspoken on a few topics, and these are topics the party establishment does not like in general, in the nation,” Newman said, noting that 20 to 25 percent of the former 3rd District was Arab, Muslim and South Asian.
“I was very, very outspoken on no corporate PAC money, and no corporate money and no corporate influence, and that made the party establishment very angry. I was also very outspoken on Medicare for all. The reason we don’t have Medicare for all is that our politicians accept money from health care and pharma, and all things attached to those topics. Another area I was very outspoken on was humanitarian rights, among those in my district. There was a preponderance of folks who felt very strongly. And I might add it wasn’t just Palestinian, Arab and Muslim Americans and South Asian Americans who felt strongly on that topic.”
During her single two-year term in office, Newman introduced many bills supporting the Palestinian and Arab American community and co-sponsored several that were critical of Israel’s government.
Newman co-led the fight with Wisconsin Congressman Mark Pocan to put a spotlight on Israel’s home demolitions and evictions of Palestinians from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in May 2021, which was signed by nearly 30 members of Congress.
Newman also supported blocking additional US funding for the “Iron Dome,” criticized Israel’s targeting of Palestinian children during raids and military operations, and endorsed the recognition of the word “Nakba,” which commemorates the UN decision to separate Palestine into a two-state checkerboard rather than as one democratic state for Christians, Muslims and Jews.
As a consequence, Newman was often attacked by pro-Israel activists, rightwing members of Congress and even members of the Democratic Party as being “antisemitic” because she challenged Israel’s government policies.
“It was never that I was antisemitic or that I was putting down Jewish folks or Israeli citizens. I was critical of the Israeli government and I was very clear on that,” Newman told Arab News.
“But the problem is that there were folks that didn’t like me because I was not fond of corporatized politicians and corporatized elections. I was very strong on Medicare for all and other matters of economic equity. There are many issues in that basket, student debt relief and the like.”
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Newman said that she is proud of her stand on Palestinian, Arab and Muslim rights, and her criticism of Israel’s government. “And then on humanitarian rights, I was very strong in speaking out. Let’s be clear about what is really happening on the ground, what the Israeli government is doing. The problem they had with me, they being the established and the corporatized Democrats, I have a Jewish husband. I have Jewish kids. They couldn’t call me antisemitic. That was a problem for them.”
Newman said that when she was accused, falsely, of being antisemitic, “They would walk away with their tails between their legs. I just wasn’t having that and it was not going to happen. That has stopped many people and they don’t do that as much as they did.”
She said that her position in support of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim rights was critical in the opposition she faced that caused her to lose re-election in the June 28, 2022 Democratic Primary to two-term Democrat incumbent Sean Casten.
“I do think a strong piece of it was that I was speaking out for Arabs, Muslims and South Asian Americans in a very strong way,” Newman said.
“They (her critics) did not enjoy a lot of my positions on that front and I do think that made them angry and there were a lot of issues they did not like.”
Newman added, “The first time I started to speak out on corporate money and the conditions in Palestine and Israel, I remember I got several phone calls not just from donors, from other electeds . . . It was warnings, threats.”
Palestinian-American Shadin Maali, who served as Newman’s former chief of district affairs for the 3rd Congressional District, said that Newman was an “active voice” in speaking out on humanitarian rights for all people, including Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims, in America.
“Congresswoman Newman reached out in a way to our community that no other elected leader had in the past to understand our issues and to fairly represent the district on all issues, especially human rights within our borders and abroad while she was in Congress,” said Shadin, who is now senior director for growth and operations for EmgageUSA, a coalition of organizations representing Muslim issues.
“The 3rd Congressional District has the largest Palestinian constituency in the country before it was divided. She was the first to reach out in a very positive way to the community and attend all of the events.”
Being a woman made her vulnerable in American politics, she said, adding, “I am just going to say it very clearly, that white men over 50 with a lot of money always win. They always do.”
But Newman emphasized that she could not stand by and watch the “meanness and hatefulness coming out of the Israeli government,” adding, “I don’t believe the Israeli people are that way at all. I don’t believe the Jewish people are that way at all. For me, I think we would all be wise to understand that our reputation is at risk when we don’t pay attention to humanitarian rights.”
Under redistricting, the former 3rd Congressional District was divided among five congressional districts, diluting the political cohesiveness of the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim community.
Parts of the former 3rd Congressional District are now represented by Congressman Bill Foster, Casten, Congressman Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Congresswoman Lauren Underwood and Congressman Danny Davis.
In April, 2023 Newman was appointed chief executive officer of Little City Foundation, a social services organization serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Little City serves more than 900 people through its residential facilities, day programs and at-home assistance in northern Illinois.