KHAN YUNIS: Palestinians have reacted to Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital with street protests, but one couple have come up with an idea of their own, in the naming of their triplets.
Nidal and Islam Al-Saiqli from Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip decided to name the three children Jerusalem, Capital and Palestine.
Palestinians also see the disputed city as their capital and Trump’s December 6 recognition broke with decades of international policy that the issue should be resolved through negotiations.
The three babies — boys Jerusalem and Palestine, and girl Capital — were born in December, two weeks after the Trump decision.
“Thank God, I had triplets so we were able to name them in response to Trump’s decision,” said mother Islam, 25.
“There is no value to the Trump decision. Jerusalem is our eternal capital,” her husband Nidal, 30, said
To illustrate the names, the couple arrange the three tiny sleeping children on a bed with their birth certificates on their stomachs.
Trump insisted his decision did not pre-judge future negotiations, but the Palestinians cut ties with his administration in anger at the move.
Widespread street protests have broken out in the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel seized Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it, in moves never recognized by the international community.
Palestinian triplets named in anti-Trump Jerusalem protest
Palestinian triplets named in anti-Trump Jerusalem protest
Morocco’s energy ministry puts gas pipeline project on hold
- The country’s natural gas demand is expected to rise to 8 billion cubic meters in 2027 from around 1 bcm currently, according to ministry estimates
RABAT: Morocco’s energy ministry said on Monday it has paused a tender launched last month for a gas pipeline project, without giving details on the reasons for the suspension.
The tender sought bids to build a pipeline linking a future gas terminal at the Nador West Med port on the Mediterranean to an existing pipeline that allows Morocco to import LNG through Spanish terminals and supply two power plants.
It also covered a section that would connect the existing pipeline to industrial zones on the Atlantic in Mohammedia and Kenitra.
“Due to new parameters and assumptions related to this project... the ministry of energy transition and sustainable development is postponing the receipt of applications and the opening of bids received as of today,” the ministry said in a statement.
Morocco is looking to expand its use of natural gas to diversify away from coal as it also accelerates its renewable energy plan, which aims for renewables to account for 52 percent of installed capacity by 2030, up from 45 percent now.
The country’s natural gas demand is expected to rise to 8 billion cubic meters in 2027 from around 1 bcm currently, according to ministry estimates.
