Reports: Dr Hanan Ashrawi resigns from PLO committee


Member of PLO’s Executive Committee Hanan Ashrawi, 28 December 2018 [Wikipedia]

December 8, 2020 

Dr Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's (PLO) Executive Committee, has reportedly resigned.

She submitted her resignation to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas sometime in "the past few days", reports in Al-Araby Al-Jadeed and Al-Quds Al-Arabi reveal. Abbas has yet to respond.

According to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, her resignation is due to the PA resuming security coordination and other diplomatic relations with Israel after suspending the policy in May in protest of Tel Aviv's plans to annex some 30 per cent of the occupied West Bank including the Jordan Valley.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that Ashrawi "was angry with how the issue was handled."

Severing security and civil coordination with Israel earlier this year, Palestine said plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank would make a two-state solution impossible.

However, it resumed coordination activities with Israel last month, after it said the United States had assured it that Israel would respect existing agreements with the Palestinians.

READ: Abbas facilitates Israel's 'no preconditions' condition for negotiations

Appointed to the PLO's executive committee in 2007, 74-year-old Ashrawi is the PA's highest-ranking female politician.

In 1994, she founded the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights.

She has recently contracted coronavirus, but this is not believed to be linked to her resignation.

The sources added: "There are those who will promote that Ashrawi is no longer able to fulfill her duties because of her age and infection from two months ago, but this is not true."

Ashrawi is still yet to make an official statement on the matter

As Lebanon subsidy crunch looms, UN agencies warn of social catastrophe


A Lebanese flag flutters amid billowing smoke as firefighters (unseen) extinguish the remaining flames at the seaport of Beirut, on September 11, 2020

 [ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images]

December 7, 2020 at 8:50 pm

The removal of subsidies in Lebanon without guarantees to protect the vulnerable would amount to a social catastrophe, two UN agencies said on Monday, warning there is no parachute to soften the blow.

With Lebanon deep in financial crisis, the central bank has been subsidising basic goods by providing hard currency to importers at the old exchange rate of 1,500 Lebanese pounds to the dollar even as the currency fell by 80% from the peg.

Central bank governor Riad Salameh said last week the subsidies could be kept for only two more months, urging the state should come up with a plan.

Though Lebanon faces the gravest crisis since the 1975-90 civil war, policymaking has been crippled by old rivalries between fractious politicians. Saad al-Hariri was nominated to form a new government in October but one has yet to be agreed upon.

"The impact of removing price subsidies on the country's most vulnerable households will be tremendous and yet there is almost nothing in place to help soften the fall," the UNICEF'S Lebanon country representative and the ILO's regional director wrote in an op-ed.

"It is critical to realise that for Lebanon to fly off another cliff now, without first putting in place an inclusive system of social guarantees, would be to inflict a social catastrophe on the country's most vulnerable people, sacrificing their wellbeing, and that of the country as a whole, for many years to come," they wrote.




Lebanon is one long tale of disaster and crisis – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]

The universal way in which Lebanon has been subsidising basic goods including fuel, wheat, and medicine has been widely criticised, including by senior politicians from ruling parties, because it does not target those most in need.

A rough analysis shows up to 80% of the subsidies may actually be benefiting the wealthiest 50% with only 20% going to the poorer half, UNICEF Representative Yukie Mokuo and ILO Regional Director Ruba Jaradat wrote in their op-ed.

The caretaker government is due to meet Salameh on Monday to discuss the subsidies.

The World Bank has said poverty is likely to continue to worsen and engulf more than half the population by 2021.

New Israeli ambassador in Britain describes Nakba as 'Arab lie'

Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely in the West Bank on 3 November 2015 [MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images]

December 8, 2020

Israel's new Ambassador to the United Kingdom, 42-year-old Tzipi Hotovely has used her first speech during an event organised by the Board of Deputies of British Jews to describe the Nakba as "a very strong and very popular Arab lie." She added that the displacement of Palestinians since 1948, when Israel was created in their land, is "a made up story".

The far-right politician has a track record of making remarks about the Palestinians which are perceived to be racist and inflammatory. Her latest comments can be viewed on Twitter in a short video clip of the recent online meeting. It was uploaded by British Jews Against Occupation.

The organisation condemned the Board of Deputies' decision to host Hotovely. "We will never defeat racism while our communal organisations are giving it a platform," it told the Board. "Hotovely's views cannot be allowed to be normalised in our community with invites to celebratory events."

Hotovely's remarks have sparked outrage, not only because of their racism but also because an organisation recognised by the government as representative of mainstream Jewish thought in Britain provided a platform for such views.

British Jews Against Occupation has circulated a petition urging Jews in Britain to write to the Foreign Office to reject her accreditation. "Hotovely has demonstrated a complete disregard for international law throughout her political career, and has an appalling record of racist and inflammatory behaviour," it explains. "This includes inviting the far-right organisation Lehava to speak in the Knesset, supporting campaigns to prevent relationships between Jews and Arabs, and referring to Israeli human rights activists as 'war criminals'" and 'an enemy within'."

READ: It is time to make it official and brand Israel as an apartheid state

Senior Reform Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner also criticised Hotovely's record. "Her political views on Palestinians, annexation and religious pluralism clash with our core values," she told the Guardian. Labour peer Lord Jeremy Beecham told the Jewish Chronicle that, "The appointment of an ultra-right wing ambassador, while typical of the present government of Israel, will do nothing to win friends in the UK – or indeed any other reasonable country."

In June, when Hotovely's appointment was first announced, it looked as though her views were too extreme even for the Board of Deputies. According to the Jewish Chronicle, she launched an outspoken attack on the Board over its support for a Palestinian state in its 2019 Jewish Manifesto. She accused the 260-year-old body of failing to consult "Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, our ambassador, [or] any other political authority" ahead of the manifesto's release.

Despite the apparent disagreement, the Board has tended to support the views of the Israeli far-right in opposition to internationally accepted positions. A recent example was to put pressure on the British government to change the status of Jerusalem.

The Nakba describes the forced expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians by Zionist paramilitary groups from 1947 onwards. Around 600 Palestinian villages have since been wiped off the map in order to create a Jewish majority in Israel. Israeli historians have called this process "ethnic cleansing". Despite volumes of evidence, Nakba denial has been mainstreamed by far-right Zionist groups.

READ: Racism in Israel isn't going away, it's getting worse

PAPERTIGER 

ICC finds UK committed war crimes but won't prosecute

Building of the International Criminal Court, in Hague on 23 December 2019 [Wikipedia]

December 9, 2020 

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Wednesday said she was dropping a preliminary probe into alleged war crimes by British troops in Iraq, even though she found a reasonable basis to believe they committed atrocities, Reuters reports.

The probe never rose to the level of a full investigation and Fatou Bensouda's office concluded that British authorities had examined the allegations.

The ICC only intervenes when it finds that a state is unable or unwilling to take action against alleged atrocities.

In a final report, Bensouda wrote that her office had found a reasonable basis to believe that in 2003 British soldiers in Iraq carried out the war crime of willful killing or murder against at least seven Iraqi detainees. They also believed there were credible allegations of torture and rape.

"The preliminary examination has found that there is a reasonable basis to believe that various forms of abuse were committed by members of UK armed forces against Iraqi civilians in detention," it said.

However, the United Kingdom had taken genuine action to investigate the crimes itself, prosecutors found.

In June, British independent investigators looking into allegations of war crimes committed in Iraq told the BBC that of the thousands of complaints they had investigated all but one had been dismissed.

Despite this outcome, which Bensouda said deprived the victims of justice, the ICC prosecutor concluded that British authorities had not been unwilling to carry out investigations or prosecutions and closed the ICC probe.

The ICC has been under fire by Washington for opening a full-fledged investigation into war crimes allegedly committed by U.S. troops on the territory of ICC member Afghanistan. The government of President Donald Trump this year imposed sanctions on Bensouda because of the probe.

Last month, a report by Australian authorities said the country's special forces allegedly killed 39 unarmed prisoners and civilians in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016, leading other countries to re-examine the conduct of their troops.

Australia said 19 current and former soldiers would be referred for potential criminal prosecution.

Saudi Arabia accuses Loujain Al-Hathloul of collaborating with enemy states

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan said detained human rights activist Loujain Al-Hathloul is accused of "communicating with countries that are not friendly with the kingdom and passing classified information to them".

December 7, 2020 

Saudi activist Loujain Al-Hathloul was arrested by Saudi forces in 2018 [Prisoners of Conscience/Twitter]

December 7, 2020

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan said detained human rights activist Loujain Al-Hathloul is accused of "communicating with countries that are not friendly with the kingdom and passing classified information to them".

Speaking on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue conference, Bin Farhan told AFP that "it is up to the courts to decide (…) what the facts are".

However, the Saudi minister said the kingdom rejects international pressure when it comes to "internal issues that are related to our national security, and we will deal with them in an appropriate manner through our judicial system".

Al-Hathloul was arrested along with about a dozen other female activists in May 2018, just weeks before Saudi Arabia lifted a decades-old ban on female drivers. She went on a hunger strike in October for several weeks to protest against her prison conditions. A report realised earlier this month alleged that she was amongst a number of female activists that were being tortured and forced to carry out "sex acts" while in detention.

At the end of last month, authorities referred Al-Hathloul's case to a court specialised in terrorism, according to her family, which raised the possibility of a long prison sentence, despite international pressure for her release.

Human rights organisations have condemned authorities' treatment of Al-Hathloul, while hersister Lina explained that during her three years pre-trial detention no evidence had been presented to support the allegations against her.

"The accusations against Loujain do not mention any contact with unfriendly countries, (…) and they clearly indicate her contact with the European Union, Britain and the Netherlands. Does Saudi Arabia consider these countries an enemy?" she said, adding that the accusations also do not mention anything related to passing confidential information.

"They accuse her of talking about the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia in international conferences and with non-governmental organizations," she said, stressing that Loujain was not aware that the information is confidential.

READ: Trial of Saudi activist Loujain Al-Hathloul to resume

 

Beyond Borders: International map of Cuban medical cooperation

Publisher

MEMO Publishers

Published

September 2020

Language

English pages

ISBN

 978-1-907433-46-7

Download Now

“The sun has spots. The ungrateful speak only of the spots. The grateful speak of light” José Martí

Before the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, on 1 January 1959, there were 6,250 doctors on the island; about half of them left the country after that date. In addition, more than 63.2% of those were located in Havana, where public hospitals, clinics and private health centres were accessible only to those who had the resources to access them and could pay for these services. Medical assistance hardly arrived in the countryside and more isolated parts. Public health from the first years of the Revolution became a priority for the Cuban State, who - from the beginning - understood it as a right of the people. The government works to create the infrastructure necessary to offer everyone the services free of charge.

They began to fight diseases, allocating a budget of 22,670,965 pesos to finance the health of the population. These figures have been increasing over time. In 2019, 10,662,200,000 pesos were allocated, and in 2020, 12,740,000,000 ($530 million). This represents 28% of the total budget and, together with that destined to education, makes up more than 50% of it. Both spheres complement each other in the Cuban health system (Portal, 2019). This year’s budget will allow the provision of more than 200 million medical consultations. It will also serve to guarantee the medical 10 THE CUBAN DOCTORS IN CUBA AND THE WORLD services provided in hospitals and institutes, as well as primary health care. This financial coverage will provide 1.4 million hospital admissions and the necessary medications (Portal, 2019). It is also important to take into account the expenses associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, a health emergency that has shaken the world and from which Cuba has been exempt, and has become a champion in its combat and in many other countries.

UNGA: 153 countries called on Israel to 'renounce' nuclear weapons

December 10, 2020 

The United Nations building is seen in Manhattan on the first official day of the 75th United Nations General Assembly on 22 September 2020 in New York City. 

[Spencer Platt/Getty Images]

December 10, 2020 

In a vote held on Monday, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) called on Israel to "renounce possession of nuclear weapons," news agencies reported.

A resolution entitled "The Risk of Nuclear Proliferation in the Middle East" had 153 supporting votes against only six who did not support it, with 25 abstentions. The US, Israel's ally, was among the six countries that did not vote for the resolution.

The resolution was part of a large package of resolutions approved by the UNGA related to nuclear disarmament, globally and in the Middle East.

Based on the resolution, the UNGA asked Israel: "Not to develop, produce, test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons."

In addition, the UNGA called the Israeli occupation state: "To renounce possession of nuclear weapons and to place all its unsafeguarded nuclear facilities under full-scope agency safeguards as an important confidence-building measure among all states of the region and as a step towards enhancing peace and security."

Of the 193 members of the UN, 191 countries are parties of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Israel has never signed the treaty.

This resolution passed 152-6, with 24 abstentions last year.

On Monday, the UNGA also voted 174-2, with one abstention, on a resolution that called for a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East. Only Israel and the US opposed it, with Cameroon abstaining.

Egypt state-run newspaper threatens that EIPR founder may 'vanish'

Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights

Hossam Bahgat, founder and acting director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights

December 7, 2020 

An Egyptian state-run newspaper with ties to National Security has published a disturbing article about the founder and acting director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).

"It is not unlikely for Hossam to suddenly vanish," wrote former editor Khaled Imam. "His followers would claim he was forcibly disappeared or detained. But if he does suddenly disappear then most certainly, he will have joined a terror group abroad."




An Egyptian state-run newspaper with ties to National Security has published a disturbing article about the founder and acting director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights [@hossambahgat/Twitter]

The warning comes just days after three senior members of the EIPR were released following an international outcry.

They were arrested last month after meeting with Western diplomats to discuss human rights in Egypt.

Karim Ennarah, Gasser Abdel-Razek and Mohamed Basheer were kept in pretrial detention on charges of terrorism and spreading false news.

Abdel-Razek was singled out for particularly bad treatment and was being kept in solitary confinement. Their arrest drew wide condemnation from European and US politicians and even Hollywood celebrity Scarlett Johansson.

A panel of three senior judges in a terror court froze their personal assets, despite the decision to release them.

The EIPR documents systematic violations carried out by the Egyptian regime and in November released a report on the rising number of executions being carried out by the regime.

Patrick Zaki, a researcher with the EIPR who was arrested at Cairo Airport at the beginning of this year and tortured, remains in jail and was not mentioned during the court session.

In September the Egyptian Commission for Human Rights said 2,723 Egyptians had been forcibly disappeared in five years.

Forcibly disappeared Egyptians have been extrajudicially killed and also tortured. If they are forcibly disappeared, it gives them less access to legal rights to prove they were ill-treated whilst detained.

Egypt rights group head hopes prison release 

will help other prisoners


An Egyptian police officer enters the Tora prison in the Egyptian capital Cairo on 11 February 2020 [KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images]

December 6, 2020 at 12:16 pm

The head of a leading Egyptian human rights group who was held for two weeks on terrorism charges said on Saturday he hoped that the campaign to secure his release would help others still jailed on similar allegations, reported Reuters.

Activists saw the detention last month of Gasser Abdel Razek, executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), and two of the group's other staff, as the latest escalation of a broad crackdown on political dissent under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Egypt's foreign ministry had said EIPR was operating illegally, an accusation the group denies. There has been no official statement from public prosecutors since Abdel Razek's release, and officials could not be reached for comment.

The arrests, which came after EIPR hosted a briefing on human rights for 13 senior diplomats in Cairo on November 3, sparked rare public criticism from Western states and an international campaign on social media.

Abdel Razek said he was unclear why he had been held beyond the officially stated charges of belonging to a terrorist group, spreading false news and misusing social media – accusations made in the past against figures from across the political spectrum.

Read: US lawmakers call on Sisi to release EIPR leaders

Abdel Razek said it would be "business as usual" for EIPR.

"We're hitting the third decade of the 21st Century, human rights work will continue in Egypt and elsewhere," he said in an interview at his home in Cairo.

"I'm hoping that our speedy release would have some sort of effect on the hundreds of people that are going through the same situation."

While the total is unclear, rights groups say tens of thousands have been detained in a clampdown on political opposition since Sisi ousted the Muslim Brotherhood from power in 2013.

Sisi has said Egypt holds no political prisoners, that security is paramount and that the government is promoting human rights by working to provide basic needs such as jobs and housing. The president and his backers say the detentions over recent years are necessary to stabilise Egypt.

The three EIPR staff were freed on Thursday. Patrick Zaki, an EIPR researcher who was a graduate student in Italy before his arrest in February, remains in jail.

Abdel Razek said he had been very cold for the first few nights in solitary confinement in Cairo's Tora prison, but had not suffered any physical mistreatment.

"It's a great feeling to be around my kids, my wife and friends, but it's very painful to leave the people behind, so let's hope we can pressure to get them all out."

The Evangelical Association in Egypt has set up a school to "treat" homosexuality, reports the Egypt Independent.


Pastor Tony George, who works for the Evangelicals Association in Egypt and the Middle East, said that homosexuality has its roots in childhood trauma and that the school will help people on the path to change.

"Recovering from homosexuality is not impossible," he said.

In October, Human Rights Watch released a report to say that Egyptian police and security agency officers arbitrarily arrest LGBT people and keep them in inhumane conditions where they are tortured and subject to sexual violence.

In 2001, 52 men were arrested after police raided a Nile vessel called the Queen Boat.

The crackdown intensified in 2017 after the Lebanese pop band Mashrou Leila played a concert in Cairo and 56 were arrested after they raised the rainbow flag.

In June, one of these former political prisoners and the only woman who was arrested at the concert, Sarah Hegazi, committed suicide in Canada where she was living in exile.

Sarah was electrocuted in prison, forced to leave her job and eventually the country. She was accused of joining an illegal group and of promoting sexual deviancy and debauchery.

Following her release Sarah suffered severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

In November, a young man was arrested and detained, allegedly over his sexual orientation, after attending a police station to accompany a witness of the alleged drugging and rape of a woman at the Fairmont Hotel.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that Seif Badour was 14 and wasn't present when the rape happened, he simply wanted to accompany his female friend to the police station.

In total, three female witnesses to the gang rape were arrested and investigated for drug abuse, inciting debauchery and participating in an orgy.

They were smeared on pro-government websites who claimed they were part of a network of homosexuals in Egypt spreading AIDS.

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Gaza gets its first female taxi driver
Abu Jibba's taxi business targets only female passengers

December 6, 2020 

For Naela Abu Jibba, a mother of five who lives and works in the Gaza Strip, taking the road less travelled has become a way of life.

The 39-year-old has become the first woman taxi driver in the besieged Palestinian territory, according to Reuters.

"Some say this is a job for men, others say we [women] cause accidents, when the fact is, women are calmer and more careful drivers than men," she told Reuters. "I get lots of offensive [social media] comments, but the encouraging comments are far greater," she added.

Many of her female passengers, who must book her service in advance, feel calmer too being driven by her than by men.

"When a woman exits a hairdresser shop, going to a party dressed and wearing makeup she feels better riding with a woman," Abu Jibba said. Client Sousan Abu Ateila, 28, agreed: "We feel more comfortable."

Abu Jibba, who has a degree in community service, started her taxi business after failing to find work. Gaza's unemployment rate stands at 49 per cent, with hardship deepened by restrictions caused by the Israeli blockade imposed on the coastal enclave since 2007.

Wearing a headscarf and a COVID-19 mask, Abu Jibba drives an off-white Kia and wears a vest with her Al-Mukhtara (Chieftain) taxi service's livery. She hopes to expand her business once the pandemic, which has caused Gaza residents to cut down on their travel and social activities, ends.

The territory of two million people has reported more than 12,000 cases and 56 deaths.

"My dream is to have an Al-Mukhtara fleet," Abu Jibba said.