GAZA/WEST BANK: The prospect of Benjamin Netanyahu returning to power at the head of one of the most right-wing coalitions in Israeli history has prompted concern among Palestinians who said they feared it was a prelude to further escalation of conflict with Israel.
Netanyahu’s comeback in Tuesday’s election is set against the backdrop of the deadliest spell of violence in years between Israel and the Palestinians, whose hopes of statehood appear as distant as ever with Middle East peacemaking in the doldrums.
More than 100 Palestinians from the Israeli-occupied West Bank have been killed by Israeli forces this year while a string of fatal street attacks by Palestinians has killed 20 people in Israel and Israeli settlements.
Palestinian officials in the West Bank and Gaza Strip said the ultra-nationalist complexion of Netanyahu’s likely alliance, including the firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir, who once advocated expelling Palestinians, prompted concern over further tension.
“No doubt the result of such a coalition will increase the hostile attitude toward the Palestinian people and make occupation measures more extreme,” Bassam Salhe, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Reuters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The Palestinian group Hamas, which has fought several wars with Israel over the last decade, predicted the results meant more potential violence.
“It is clear that the Israelis are leaning toward more extremism, which also means aggression against our people would increase,” Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem told Reuters.
“Netanyahu-led governments that launched several wars against our Palestinian people, and the presence of the most extreme figures in a coalition means that we are going to face more of the Zionist terrorism,” he said.
“NO PEACE“
Netanyahu has long opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has built his career around trying to negotiate peace with Israel, did not mention the election in a speech to an Arab summit on Wednesday.
But he aired his previously stated view that Israel was “systematically destroying the two-state solution,” a reference to settlement expansion on territory the Palestinians seek for their state.
Negotiations stalled in 2014.
While negotiations have been at a standstill, Abbas has met Defense Minister Benny Gantz to calm tensions and coordinate security measures, and welcomed Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s call in September for a two-state solution.
Reham Owda, a political analyst in Gaza, said the peace process and the Palestinian Authority, in particular, may be the prime loser of a Netanyahu comeback, given his “personal enmity with ... Abbas and his opposition to the two-state solution.”
“With Netanyahu, the slogan will be, no peace, no two-state solution, more settlement and the focus will be on Iran,” she told Reuters.
In the latest West Bank violence, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian man on Wednesday after a suspected car-ramming attack at a checkpoint that left a soldier severely injured, Palestinian and Israeli officials said.
Many Palestinians, including refugees in Jordan and Lebanon, said they saw no difference between Netanyahu and other Israeli politicians when it comes to their policies toward the Palestinians.
“Certainly the situation is going to move from bad to worse. He will continue from where his predecessor left,” said Khaled Shriteh, 29, a Ramallah taxi driver. “For us, the right and left parties are the same, both are our enemies,” said Jamal Mansour, a Palestinian refugee in Bourj Al-Barajneh camp in Beirut.
Violence also flared in Gaza in August. At least 49 people including 17 children were killed in 56 hours of fighting that started with what Israel described as preemptive air strikes against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, which fired hundreds of missiles into Israel during the flare-up.
“The Palestinian people will get nothing from this government except war, destruction, killing, bloodshed, house demolition, razing of land and the building of more settlements at the expense of the Palestinian people,” said Youssef Khattab, a TV director in Gaza.
Palestinians fear Israeli election result could mean more violence
https://arab.news/p7r88
Palestinians fear Israeli election result could mean more violence
- Palestinian officials in the West Bank and Gaza Strip said the ultra-nationalist complexion of Netanyahu's likely alliance prompted concern over further tension
- Hamas predicted the results meant more potential violence
International conference in Korea concludes with aim to spread Arabic language
RIYADH: The international conference, Challenges and Prospects of Teaching Arabic Language and Literature, concluded on Friday in the South Korean capital, Seoul.
Held over two days at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, the event was organized by the King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language in cooperation with the Korean Association of Arabic Language and Literature and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Wosheemi, secretary-general of the King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language, emphasized the center’s commitment to strengthening its strategy and objectives in promoting the Arabic language worldwide.
He highlighted the center’s ongoing efforts to enhance Arabic language education in Korea by implementing courses, publishing books, and organizing lectures.
Al-Wosheemi expressed the center’s aspirations for the international conference to serve as a platform for reaching global audiences, establishing communication channels, and drawing upon diverse global experiences in teaching Arabic as a second language. He further emphasized the center’s dedication to unifying scientific references internally and externally in the Arabic language and its sciences.
Dr. Jong Wha Lee, president of the Korean Association for Arabic Language and Literature, provided a historical overview of the Arabic language in Korea, mentioning the establishment of several departments, the oldest dating back to 1965.
He also discussed the rapidly evolving language education landscape with the advent of artificial intelligence. He intends to develop a plan for revitalizing Arabic language instruction through collaboration with organizations in Arab countries, he said, as well as exchanges among Arabic language specialists to explore various approaches to ensuring effective teaching methodologies.
The conference’s sessions addressed six key themes: Modern methodologies in teaching Arabic as a second language; preparing teaching materials for Arabic as a second language; measurement and evaluation in the context of teaching Arabic as a second language; means and techniques for teaching Arabic as a second language; the current state of Arabic language teaching in Korea; and language planning for teaching Arabic and other languages in Korea.
Downside risks for Pakistan remain exceptionally high — IMF
- Lender says while government has indicated intention to continue reforms, political uncertainty remains significant
- Policy slippages and lower external financing could undermine path to debt sustainability, put pressure on exchange rate
KARACHI: Downside risks for the Pakistani economy remain exceptionally high, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday in its staff report on the country, ahead of talks with the fund on a longer term program.
An International Monetary Fund mission is expected to visit Pakistan this month to discuss a new program, ahead of Islamabad beginning its annual budget-making process for the next financial year.
“Downside risks remain exceptionally high. While the new government has indicated its intention to continue the SBA’s policies, political uncertainty remains significant,” said the fund in its staff report following the second and final review under the standby arrangement (SBA).
The fund added that political complexities and high cost of living could weigh on policy, adding that policy slippages, together with lower external financing, could undermine the narrow path to debt sustainability and place pressure on the exchange rate.
The IMF also said higher commodity prices and disruptions to shipping, or tighter global financial conditions, would also adversely affect external stability for the cash-strapped nation.
The fund stressed the need for timely post-program external financing disbursements.
Pakistan last month completed a short-term $3 billion program, which helped stave off sovereign default, but the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has stressed the need for a fresh, longer term program.
Pakistan narrowly averted default last summer, and its $350 billion economy has stabilized after the completion of the last IMF program, with inflation coming down to around 17 percent in April from a record high 38 percent last May.
It is still dealing with a high fiscal shortfall and while it has controlled its external account deficit through import control mechanisms, it has come at the expense of stagnating growth, which is expected to be around 2 percent this year compared to negative growth last year.
Pakistan is expected to seek at least $6 billion and request additional financing from the Fund under the Resilience and Sustainability Trust.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah says fires rockets at Israel after deadly strike
- Hezbollah fighters fired “a salvo of Katyusha rockets” at Israel’s north
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it fired Katyusha rockets at Israel on Friday in retaliation for strikes, which state media said killed two people in the south of the country.
Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily cross-border fire following the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked war in Gaza.
Hezbollah fighters fired “a salvo of Katyusha rockets” at Israel’s north “in response to the Israeli enemy’s attacks on... civilians, most recently in Tayr Harfa,” the group said in a statement.
In a separate statement, the group also claimed a rocket salvo on an army base in northern Israel, later saying its fighters launched a second attack with “dozens of Katyusha rockets” at troops who were assessing the damage at the base.
Earlier Friday, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said a first responder from a rescue group affiliated with a Hezbollah-allied movement and a telecoms technician were killed “as a result of the Israeli aggression on Tayr Harfa.”
The rescuer belonged to the Risala Scout association, affiliated to Shiite Amal movement, while the technician worked for Power Tec, which undertakes maintenance work for private mobile service provider Touch.
The technician and colleagues from Ogero telecom provider were carrying out “maintenance on the transmission poles,” the NNA said, adding they had sought permission from the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, or UNIFIL.
The Risala Scout association, which operates in south Lebanon, said the rescuer was killed when his team went to a location that had come under Israeli bombardment.
“The second strike came quickly, and one of the young men was martyred,” a source from the association told AFP.
A source within Touch said the strike hit a team that had been doing maintenance work in Tayr Haifa.
“We lost communications with them because the station was hit,” the source told AFP, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
“There were people from our team and from another company that does maintenance work for us, and there were also paramedics,” the source added.
At least 402 people have been killed in Lebanon in seven months of cross-border violence, mostly militants but also including 79 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
Israel says 14 soldiers and nine civilians have been killed on its side of the border. Three of the soldiers were killed this week, one of them on Wednesday.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides.
China dominates table tennis doubles at Saudi Smash
- Chinese players continued to show their pedigree in Jeddah
JEDDAH: Chinese table tennis players maintained their domination of the Saudi Smash event in Jeddah by sweeping the men’s and women’s doubles titles on Friday.
In the men’s doubles, Wang Chuqin and Ma Long were victorious as they defeated the Japanese pair of Shunsuke Togami and Hiroto Shinozuka (11-6, 11-5, 11-9).
In the women’s doubles final, Wang Manyu and Chen Meng went back to back as a winning doubles combination on the WTT Grand Smash stage by closing out a marvelous 3-0 victory over Jeon Jihee and Shin Yubin on the penultimate day at Saudi Smash 2024 (11-6, 11-6, 12-10).
Singapore Smash 2024 champions Wang and Chen traveled to Jeddah as the pair to beat, carrying the biggest possible targets on their backs as the No.1 seeds, but came through the challenging playing field unscathed.
“We don’t always get to play together, but winning the title at an important event like this Smash helps us to build confidence and chemistry,” Chen said.
It was an extra special victory for Wang as it meant she picked up her fourth consecutive women’s doubles title at a WTT Grand Smash event — an extraordinary run in the discipline.
“Today we performed well. We also had clear and smooth preparation, and execution of our techniques and tactics. I’m very happy about this win with Chen Meng,” she said.
Saudi’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi storms into the lead of Tabuk Toyota Rally
- Al-Mogheera and Al-Tuwaijri top motorcycle and quad standings after stage one
TABUK: Saudi pilot Yazeed Al-Rajhi and German co-driver Timo Gottschalk took a commanding 4 minute and 21 second lead in the Tabuk Toyota Rally on Friday.
The Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux crew led the opening 245 km selective section, a scenic and demanding route through the Zaita desert, from start to finish.
“No issues, no problems, all is good,” said Al-Rajhi afterwards.
The pair’s team-mates, Dania Akeel and Stephane Duple, also had a strong run that left the two Ultimate P class cars at the top of the leader board.
“It was spectacular and a lot of fun, amazing views and a really nice race,” Akeel said.
“The first 85 km were open and fast and the remainder were more technical between the rocks and the mountains and canyons. We took care to pass without any surprises. I love this car a lot and I feel more confident every kilometer.”
Saleh Al-Saif was the best of the rest with Qatari co-driver Nasser Al-Kuwari. The Saudi moved into a comfortable category lead over fourth-placed Can-Am driver Abdullah Al-Haydan.
“The stage is different to last year. A lot of new terrain and tracks. It was a little bit tricky and rocky and we had a puncture at the beginning,” Al-Saif said.
“About 10 km before the end, we had another puncture and decided not to change it. My aim is to be second in the championship.”
MX Ride Dubai’s Mohammed Al-Balooshi claimed the stage win in the motorcycle category on his Husqvarna with a time of 3 hours, 7 minutes and 42 seconds.
But the Emirati still trails local rider Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera by 1 minute 50 seconds in the overall standings after the Saudi won the Prologue stage.
“Today, it was a very long stage and quite busy. I am really happy. I picked the strategy to start 10th and I knew if everything went right, I would win,” Al-Balooshi said.
“I didn’t expect to catch everybody at 60km. Then I led to the finish. That’s why I’m here to improve my navigation. I am really happy with that overall and I am happy to be able to compete in the championship.
“I have won in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman but I don’t have a Saudi title. This would make my list complete. I did win something in KSA in 2009 but it would be special to win this title.”
Hamdan Al-Ali and Kuwait’s Abdullah Al-Shatti were classified third and fourth, with Ahmed Al-Jaber rounding out the top five.
