Killing of West Bank toddler condemned as ‘state terrorism’

An Israeli soldier shoots rubber bullets at Palestinians in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. (Reuters/File Photo)
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Updated 05 June 2023
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Killing of West Bank toddler condemned as ‘state terrorism’

  • Mohammed Al-Tamimi was shot in the head near his village of Nebi Saleh
  • The Israeli military has opened an investigation into the incident

RAMALLAH: Two-year-old Palestinian boy Mohammed Al-Tamimi, who was shot by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank last Thursday, died of his wounds, health officials said on Monday.

The toddler was shot in the head in the village of Nabi Saleh, northwest of Ramallah.

Basem Naim, the head of the political department of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, described the killing of Al-Tamimi as state terrorism.

Mustafa Al-Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative Party, said that the killing of Al-Tamimi is an example of hundreds of crimes committed by the Israel Defense Forces against hundreds of Palestinian children.

He said Israeli violence must be deterred by sanctions and boycotts and and called for the soldiers and officers who committed the crimes to stand trial.

The shooting was the latest bloodshed in a surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Also on Monday, the Palestinians commemorated the 56th anniversary of the June 1967 Naksa when Israel seized the remaining Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula in a six-day war.

Nineteen years earlier, in 1948, the state of Israel came into being in a violent process. 

On the 56th anniversary of the Naksa, Palestinian experts reiterated their beliefs that the two-state solution is not possible anymore and that only a one-state solution is the future.

Nasser Al-Kidwa, the former representative of Palestine to the UN, told Arab News that the Palestinians had failed to achieve their national goals.

“We are far from achieving our national goals and have failed at all levels,” he said.

Ahmed Majdalani, minister of social development in the Palestinian Authority, disagreed with Al-Kidwa.

Majdalani told Arab News that the “resistance, sacrifices, and steadfastness of the Palestinian people had thwarted the Israeli occupation project to impose the Israeli vision on the Palestinian people, achieve the dream of Greater Israel, and achieve demographic change in the West Bank,” pointing out that Israel was forced to withdraw from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

He claimed that the Palestinian struggle had made a series of achievements since the setback in 1967.

He pointed to recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians, establishment of the Palestinian Authority on Palestinian lands, and 147 countries in the world recognizing Palestine as an observer state at the UN.

Ghassan al-Khatib, a Palestinian political analyst, told Arab News that Israel had not managed to swallow the West Bank 56 years after the setback, “and we have not succeeded in ending the occupation.”

Al-Khatib said that the Israeli goals were not achieved because the Palestinians had clung to their land and many did not migrate.

But Al-Khatib believes that the Palestinians are far from achieving their goal of establishing an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“Our goal is to prevent the success of the Zionist project in the rest of the Palestinian territories, to fight against the apartheid project, and to call for one state instead of the two-state solution, which is no longer possible to achieve,” he said.

“Despite the absence of allies and supporters for the Palestinians, they succeeded in preventing the Israelis from achieving their strategic goals in the West Bank.”

Ahmed Ghuneim, a prominent leader in the Fatah movement, told Arab News that Israel has not achieved any decisive military victory since 1967.

“As Palestinians, 56 years after the setback, we did not win, but we were not defeated because there are still about 7 million Palestinians living on the Palestinian lands, which thwarted the Zionist project’s claim that Palestine is a land without a people for a people without a land,” Ghuneim told Arab News.

He pointed out that the Palestinians did not leave despite 56 years of racist laws and ethnic cleansing by Israel, but that did not mean that the Palestinians had not suffered the consequences of the setback or continue to pay the price for it.

“Israel wants to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians by enacting racist laws to achieve what it did not seek to resolve militarily,” he told Arab News.


Turkish police detain 10 accused of Daesh links, minister says

Turkish police stand guard in Ankara, Turkiye. (AP)
Updated 17 sec ago
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Turkish police detain 10 accused of Daesh links, minister says

  • Under judicial control rulings, the suspects may leave police detention but they have certain conditions and oversights imposed on them

ANKARA: Turkish police detained 10 people believed to be linked to Daesh and have arrested five of them, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Friday.
Yerlikaya said Turkiye’s MIT intelligence agency, police, and counter-terrorism squads carried out an operation in the western coastal city of Izmir after intelligence showed the suspects had hidden supplies in the city.
The authorities discovered explosive gels, materials used to make explosives, as well as weapons and ammunition hidden in the mountainous region of Izmir’s Bornova district, Yerlikaya added.
“As a result of the operation, 10 suspects were detained. Of these, five were arrested and judicial control rulings were made for five others,” the minister said on social media platform X.
Under judicial control rulings, the suspects may leave police detention but they have certain conditions and oversights imposed on them.
Footage from the operation, shared by Yerlikaya on X, showed several police cars in a mountainous area, with police searching inside of a small cave for the hidden materials. It also showed authorities searching a house and detaining the suspects. Reuters could not independently verify the footage.
Daesh has conducted numerous attacks across Turkiye, including on a nightclub in Istanbul on Jan. 1, 2017, in which 39 people were killed. Turkish police have carried out several operations targeting the militants.

 

 


US embassy in Lebanon ‘not intimidated’ by shots fired toward it — ambassador

Updated 22 September 2023
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US embassy in Lebanon ‘not intimidated’ by shots fired toward it — ambassador

  • “We know that authorities are investigating this incident, whereby a gunman fired shots toward the US embassy the other night,” US ambassador Dorothy Shea said
  • “Please know that we at the US embassy are not intimidated by this incident”

BEIRUT: US ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea on Friday said the embassy was “not intimidated” by a gunman’s shots toward its entrance earlier this week and that Lebanese authorities were investigating the incident.
Late Wednesday, shots were fired near the US embassy north of Beirut. Embassy spokesperson Jake Nelson said no one had been hurt and normal business operations were ongoing.
“We know that authorities are investigating this incident, whereby a gunman fired shots toward the US embassy the other night,” US ambassador Dorothy Shea said on Friday after meeting Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati.
“Please know that we at the US embassy are not intimidated by this incident, and our security protocols are very strong and our partnerships are ironclad,” she said.
Mikati also condemned what he described as an “attack on the American embassy.” There was no claim of responsibility for the gunfire and authorities have not provided details on the investigation.
The highly secured US embassy lies north of Beirut in the town of Awkar. Security incidents around it are rare. The embassy moved there from Beirut following a suicide attack in 1983 which killed more than 60 people.


Mideast ‘on cusp of historic peace’: Israeli PM

Updated 22 September 2023
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Mideast ‘on cusp of historic peace’: Israeli PM

  • Israel, Saudi Arabia close to ‘dramatic breakthrough’ that would ‘transform’ region
  • Netanyahu: ‘Such a peace will go a long way to ending the Arab-Israeli conflict’

NEW YORK: The Middle East is “on the cusp of a historic peace,” Israel’s prime minister said on Friday, referring to US-brokered efforts to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia.
Addressing the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, Benjamin Netanyahu said he believes Israel and Saudi Arabia are close to a “dramatic breakthrough” that would not only secure peace between the two states but “transform” the entire region and create “a new Middle East.”
He added: “Such a peace will go a long way to ending the Arab-Israeli conflict, and will encourage other Arab states to normalize their relations with Israel while also enhancing the prospects of peace with the Palestinians.”
Should an agreement be finalized, it would build on the Abraham Accords, signed in 2020 between Israel on one hand and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan on the other.
Speaking two days after meeting US President Joe Biden in New York, Netanyahu said he felt that the Biden administration could secure a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia in the same way that the Trump administration had facilitated the Abraham Accords.
“The Abraham Accords were a pivot of history and today we see the blessings, with trade and investment with our new peace partners booming as our nations cooperate in commerce, energy, water and agriculture, climate and many other fields,” Netanyahu added.
“In the G20 conference, President Biden, (Indian) Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, and European and Arab leaders announced plans for a visionary corridor that will stretch across the Arabian Peninsula and into Israel.
“It will connect India to Europe with maritime, railroads, energy pipelines, fiber optic cables. This corridor will bypass maritime checkpoints, or choke points rather, and dramatically lower the cost of goods, communication and energy for over 2 billion people.”
However, he warned that the progress made in recent years could be undone by a “fly in the ointment,” saying Iran continues to spend significant amounts on its military and has made efforts to extend its influence worldwide.
“Iran’s aggression is largely met by indifference in the international community, and despite Western powers pledging that they’d snap back sanctions if Iran violated the nuclear deal, that hasn’t been the case,” he added.
“Iran is violating the deal, but the sanctions intended to stop its nuclear ambitions haven’t been re-imposed.
“This policy must change, the sanctions must be snapped back, and above all, Iran must face a credible nuclear threat.”


Libya’s flood-hit Derna to host reconstruction conference: authorities

Updated 22 September 2023
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Libya’s flood-hit Derna to host reconstruction conference: authorities

  • The government invites the international community to participate in the conference planned for October 10 in Derna
  • The conference is being held in “response to the demands of residents of the stricken city of Derna and other towns that suffered damage”

BENGHAZI, Libya: Libya’s eastern-based administration said on Friday that it would host an international conference next month in the flood-hit port city of Derna to aid reconstruction efforts.
A tsunami-sized flash flood broke through two aging dams upstream from Derna after a hurricane-strength storm lashed the area on September 10, razing entire neighborhoods and sweeping thousands of people into the sea.
“The government invites the international community to participate in the conference planned for October 10 in Derna to present modern, rapid projects for the reconstruction of the city,” the administration said in a statement.
It said the conference was being held in “response to the demands of residents of the stricken city of Derna and other towns that suffered damage” during the flooding.
Wracked by divisions since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed veteran dictator Muammar Qaddafi, Libya has for years been ruled by two administrations vying for power.
A UN-backed, internationally recognized administration in the capital Tripoli is run by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, while a rival administration in the east is backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
The official death toll from the flood stands at more than 3,300 — but the eventual count is expected to be far higher, with international aid groups giving estimates of up to 10,000 people missing.
The International Organization for Migration on Thursday said more than 43,000 people have been displaced by the flood.


Debris and dead bodies clutter flood-hit Libyan port

Updated 22 September 2023
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Debris and dead bodies clutter flood-hit Libyan port

  • Tugboat captain Ali Al-Mismari, 60, recalled the night of September 10 when torrential rains caused by Storm Daniel battered the eastern Libyan city
  • Captain Mohamed Chalibta, head of the port authority’s crisis management committee, said the search was concentrated on “objects that had sunk in the port”

DERNA, Libya: Libya’s devastating flood has transformed Derna from a busy port welcoming fishing boats and ships loaded with goods and passengers into a dump brimming with rubble, car wrecks and dead bodies.
Tugboat captain Ali Al-Mismari, 60, recalled the night of September 10 when torrential rains caused by Storm Daniel battered the eastern Libyan city, bursting two dams and wiping out entire neighborhoods.
At first, Mismari told AFP, he wanted to take his boat, the “Irasa,” out of the harbor to avoid putting the crew at risk and to avoid damage to the vessel.
But in the chaos of the storm, with water levels rapidly rising, he was unable to see the seawalls surrounding the port and navigate a safe exit.
“There was nothing (to do) but pray,” he said.
When day broke, the scale of the devastation became clear.
Mismari said he saw “massive trucks, car tires, people, houses, entire palm trees... heaters, washing machines, refrigerators” had all been washed into the harbor by the flash flood.
The official death toll from the disaster stands at more than 3,300 — but the eventual count is expected to be far higher, with international aid groups giving estimates of up to 10,000 people missing.
Since the tsunami-sized flood lashed Derna, port workers, fishermen and passers-by have largely abandoned the seafront, and only a handful of vessels, the Irasa included, were still there.
The tugboat was enlisted along with local and foreign teams to clear the bottom of the harbor.
The walkways surrounding the port are now paved with items retrieved by divers.
Captain Mohamed Chalibta, head of the port authority’s crisis management committee, said the search was concentrated on “objects that had sunk in the port,” including cars with people still thought to be inside.
An Emirati team, equipped with boats and jet skis, scoured one part of the harbor.
But the water was dark brown, filled with mud brought by the flood, and there was virtually “zero visibility,” according to one of the divers.
The Emirati search mission chief, Col. Ali Abdullah Al-Naqbi, was giving directions to his team, stressing the need to take full precautions.
Two by two, scuba divers secured with safety ropes descended from their yellow boat.
One emerged from the muddy water after a short while, and said: “We tied (a rope) to a car. We can’t see anything.”
Another diver meanwhile found a second car.
Back on their boat, other team members helped the divers remove foliage that had become stuck on them and sprinkled fresh water on their faces.
The Emirati team, in coordination with Libyan authorities, called in a crane that pulled one of the mangled wrecks out the water.
As it was being removed, mud, water and what appeared to be human remains spilled out of the vehicle.
Lowered onto the dock, Libyan men in white coats, gloves and face masks took over to check the vehicle for bodies, but on this occasion they found none.
Officials expect the process of clearing the port to take a long time.
Rescuers are also searching the sea beyond the harbor, with maritime experts saying many bodies may have been carried eastward by the current.
Hafez Obeid, head of the Libyan forensic team, said the salinity of the water helps to preserve bodies, making the identification process easier than for corpses found on land.
Aboard the Irasa, captain Mismari said “private fishing boats were the first to rush to the rescue” on the night of the disaster.
Next to him, technician Taoufik Akrouch, 61, recalled that “the water level rose above the dock by about one and a half meters (five feet).”
The Irasa began tilting violently and the crew started its engines before cutting mooring lines.
At dawn, they heard a cry for help.
They found a survivor — a naked woman floating inside a refrigerator, according to two crew members.
They said she asked them: “Where is my sister?“
Another survivor rescued by Mismari’s team, an Egyptian, could not say how he got to the harbor.
“He had been sleeping, and then found himself there,” Mismari said. “Maybe he had been unconscious.”