Skip to main content

Israeli occupier attacks threaten historic Christian presence in West Bank town

In Taybeh, one of the few Palestinian communities with a Christian majority in the occupied West Bank, fears are growing that Israeli occupier attacks on farmland and property could push more families to emigrate, threatening the town’s demographic character and historic Christian presence. Local officials and clergy warned of the impact of rising violence by Israeli occupiers, which has coincided with worsening living and economic conditions in the town. Taybeh, east of Ramallah, is one of the few Palestinian towns in the West Bank that still has a Christian majority, according to church and local accounts. Residents say the town’s Christian roots go back thousands of years. Residents say the attacks have deepened fears in the town, even as they stress their determination to remain on their land. Also Read: Pakistan raises red flag over illegal settlements in West Bank, calls for Israel accountability In recent years, Israeli occupiers have established several ill...
Post a Comment

US bars Mahmoud Abbas from attending UN summit in New York

The United States said on Friday it would not allow Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to travel to New York next month for a United Nations gathering of world leaders, where several US allies are set to recognize Palestine as a state. A State Department official said Abbas and about 80 other Palestinians would be affected by the decision to deny and revoke visas from members of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. Abbas had planned to attend the annual high-level UN General Assembly in Manhattan. He was also set to attend a summit there, where Britain, France, Australia and Canada have pledged to formally recognize a Palestinian state. Read More: Israel intensifies military push into Gaza Abbas' office said it was astonished by the visa decision and said it violated the UN "headquarters agreement". Under a 1947 UN "headquarters agreement", the U.S. is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the U.N. in New York. However, Washington has said it can deny visas for security, extremism and foreign policy reasons. "We call on the US administration to reverse this decision, which contradicts international law, specifically the Headquarters Agreement between the United Nations and the United States, which prohibits preventing any delegation from access," he told Reuters. Several European foreign ministers arriving at a European Union meeting in Copenhagen on Saturday criticised the US decision. A UN General Assembly "cannot be subject to any restrictions on access," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris said the EU should protest the decision "in the strongest possible terms". Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a statement on Saturday that he had spoken with Abbas to express Madrid's support and he called the visa decision "unjust". "Palestine has the right to make its voice heard at the United Nations and in all international forums," he said on X. The State Department justified its decision by reiterating longstanding U.S. and Israeli allegations that the PA and PLO had failed to repudiate extremism while pushing for "unilateral recognition" of a Palestinian state. Palestinian officials reject such allegations and say decades of US-mediated talks have failed to end Israeli occupation and secure an independent state of Palestine. "(It) is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace," the department said. The State Department said the Palestinian Authority's mission to the U.N., comprising officials who are permanently based there, would not be included in the restrictions. Also Read: Pakistan urges UNSC action on Gaza Recognition UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the UN would discuss the visa issue with the State Department. In 1988, the US refused to issue a visa to PLO leader Yasser Arafat. The UN General Assembly held a meeting that year in Geneva instead of New York so he could address it. The State Department said it demands that the PA and PLO "consistently repudiate terrorism," including the deadly October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war. In June, Abbas wrote a letter to France's president in which he condemned the Hamas attack and called on hostages taken by the militant group to be released. Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar welcomed the State Department's decision. Israel and the US are upset with several Western allies who have pledged to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN next month. Those pledges reflect frustration with Israel's assault in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of people and set off a starvation crisis. It also reflects anger with Israeli settlement building in the West Bank, viewed as the heartland of a potential Palestinian state. At least 147 of the 193 UN member states already recognize a Palestinian state. The Palestinians have observer status at the UN, the same as the Holy See (Vatican). The Palestinians have long sought a state in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The US says a Palestinian state can only be established through direct negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians.

from Latest World News, International News | Breaking World News https://ift.tt/pTvLYi1
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

At least 32 miners dead after bridge fails at cobalt site in southeast DR Congo

A bridge collapsed at a cobalt mine in southeast Democratic Republic of Congo killing at least 32 wildcat miners, a regional government official said Sunday. The bridge came down Saturday onto a flooded zone at the mine in Lualaba province, Roy Kaumba Mayonde, the provincial interior minister, told reporters. He said 32 bodies had been recovered and more were being searched for. The DRC produces more than 70 percent of the world supply of cobalt, which is essential for batteries used in electric cars, many laptop computers and mobile phones. More than 200,000 people are estimated to be working in giant illegal cobalt mines in the giant central African country. Local authorities said the bridge collapsed at the Kalando mine, about 42 kilometres (26 miles) southeast of the Lualaba provincial capital, Kolwezi. "Despite a formal ban on access to the site because of the heavy rain and the risk of a landslide, wildcat miners forced their way into the quarry," said Mayonde. He said ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Indian devotees splurge on jets, gold idols as Hindu temple opens

The private jet parking lots at airports near the Indian city of Ayodhya are full and the shops have run out of gold-plated idols, as wealthy devotees prepare for the invite-only opening ceremony of one of Hinduism's holiest temples. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani are among the 8,000 or so attendees at Monday's inauguration event for the Ram Temple, which devotees believe is built on the birthplace of Lord Ram, a sacred Hindu deity. The construction of the temple, which began after the Supreme Court awarded the site to Hindus in 2019 more than two decades after a Hindu mob razed a mosque there, triggering deadly riots, fulfils a key campaign promise of Modi and his Hindu nationalist party. Read BJP-promised temple transforms Ayodhya: Muslims, locals feel neglected The opening ceremony, organised by the trust that built the temple, comes months before a national election which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is widely expected to w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Indian opposition supporters detained ahead of protest at Modi's home

Police in the Indian capital detained dozens of opposition supporters on Tuesday as they attempted to march to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence to protest against last week's arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal, a key opposition leader whose Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has governed the national capital territory for a decade, was arrested by the financial crime-fighting agency on corruption charges relating to the city's liquor policy, weeks before India begins voting in general elections on April 19. He was remanded to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate until March 28, with the lawyer for the agency arguing he was the "kingpin" in the case and needed to be interrogated. Kejriwal's party, all of whose main leaders are now imprisoned in connection with the case, says he has been "falsely arrested" in a "fabricated case". The federal government and Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) deny political interfere...
Post a Comment
Read more