Pro-Hamas bloc wins student elections in Birzeit University despite Israeli threats


The Hamas-affiliated Wafa bloc won 28 out of 51 seats in Birzeit University's student elections, despite Israeli authorities threatening students engaged in pro-Hamas campaigning.

The New Arab Staff
19 May, 2022

Supporters of the Wafa celebrated across Birzeit's campus [Getty]

A pro-Hamas student bloc is celebrating their victory in student elections at Birzeit University, one of Palestine's most prominent academic institutions.

The Hamas-linked Wafa group won 28 out of 51 seats on the student council, the university announced on Wednesday. The Fatah-linked Yasser Arafat student party have 18 seats.

The landslide victory came despite Israeli efforts to intimidate students into boycotting Hamas by sending threatening text messages to families of students and arresting Hamas candidates on the eve of the elections.

“Soon the day will come in which our people as a whole will have their say,” said Hamas West Bank commander Saleh al-Arouri in a brief video from abroad following the victory.

Supporters of the Wafa celebrated across the campus and a congregational Islamic prayer to express gratitude for the victory was scheduled.

Ramallah-based Birzeit University was once known for its pro-Fatah student body, but in recent years has shown leanings toward Hamas as discontent for Palestinian Authority governance continues to rise in the occupied West Bank.

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The New Arab Staff

In 2015, Hamas won the Birzeit University council elections for the first time in eight years.

In the following elections in 2019, Fatah and Hamas tied for 23 seats.

Birzeit University is one the oldest and largest Palestinian universities in the West Bank, with around 14,500 registered students in 2020, according to university records.

It has long been an important centre for Palestinian activism, with a number of its students currently political prisoners in Israeli jails.

Around 70 students from Birzeit University are currently under Israeli arrest, a spokesperson told The New Arab.

Prisoners' rights group Addameer says that the arrests serve Israel's ultimate goal of cementing its illegal occupation of the West Bank and maintaining its apartheid regime against Palestinians.

Family of killed Palestinian activist Nizar Banat turn to international court for justice after suspects released

Nizar Banat was a vocal opponent of corruption within the Palestinian Authority

Qassam Muaddi
West Bank
19 May, 2022

Fourteen Palestinian security members are accused are been charged of killing Nizar Banat in Palestinian military courts [Qassam Muaddi/TNA]

The family of Palestinian activist Nizar Banat, beaten to death during his detention by Palestinian security forces, announced in Ramallah on Wednesday they are no longer pursuing a case through the Palestinian judiciary and instead turning to international courts for justice.

The family's spokesperson and Nizar Banat's brother, Ghassan Banat, told The New Arab that they no longer have faith in the Palestinian court system after learning the 14 suspects linked to the case were released from prison without a judicial order.

Banat was one of the most well-known critics of corruption within the Palestinian Authority and was killed during his arrest by security forces on 24 June 2021. A Palestinian legal medical report confirmed that Banat was beaten to death.

"We received proof that the Palestinian security members accused of Nizar's killing spent Eid Al-Fitr holidays at home with their families, despite the fact that they are detained for a serious criminal case," Banat pointed out.

"This does not mean that we are dropping the case, it means we are no longer attending the court hearings, and we are actively studying options to raise a case in international courts as Nizar's case is one of fundamental human rights, such as the right to dissidence and freedom of expression."

In December, a national commission was formed to find justice for Nizar Banat's death, composed of civil society figures and a member of the activist's family.

The commission's lawyer explained to Palestinian media on Wednesday that Banat's case is currently open in the Palestinian military judiciary, as the 14 suspects are members of security forces.

"We, as a legal team for the national commission for justice for Nizar Banat, are now preparing a case before the Palestinian civil judiciary," he said.

Omar Assaf, a member of Nizar Banat's national commission, told The New Arab that the current case in the military court was not raised by the family or commission.

"It was raised by the public prosecution and it seeks the public's right to justice, and thus, the case will remain open even if the family stops attending the hearings," he added.

"We, as a national commission, support Banat's family in their choice to seek justice in international courts and will support their efforts."

Nizar Banat was a renowned Palestinian political activist and commentator, and a well-known critic of the Palestinian Authority.

Banat's death sparked a wave of protests in the West Bank, which Palestinian security forces met with violence.

The security response and Banat's death were met with international criticism.

Iraq bids to control Kurdistan oil revenue with contract switch

Iraq's oil ministry will begin implementing a federal court ruling that deemed the legal foundations of the Kurdistan region's oil and gas sector unconstitutional

Baghdad’s persistent attempts to implement the ruling has the capacity to worsen already fraught tensions with Erbil [Getty]

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
20 May, 2022

Iraq has made a fresh attempt to control revenue from the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan by asking oil and gas firms operating there to sign new contracts with state-owned marketer SOMO rather than the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Oil minister Ihsan Ismael on May 7 said Iraq's oil ministry would start implementing a February federal court ruling that deemed the legal foundations of the Kurdistan region's oil and gas sector unconstitutional.

A letter seen by Reuters shows that the oil ministry appointed international law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton to approach some oil and gas firms operating in the Kurdistan region to "initiate discussions to bring their operations into line with applicable Iraqi law."

Implementing the court decision "will require changes to the contractual regime" for the companies, the letter added. Other firms received a letter directly from the oil minister, one source said.

The KRG has repeatedly rejected the federal court ruling.

The letters, which were sent on May 8, mark the first direct contact between the ministry and oil firms operating in the Kurdistan region. The move follows years of attempts by the federal government to bring KRG revenues under its control, including local court rulings and threats of international arbitration.

The implications of the latest move are not fully clear as more than seven months since elections in Iraq, the formation of a government is still underway.

An Iraqi oil ministry legal adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that a joint government committee, including representatives from the oil ministry including the minister, Iraq’s National Oil Company (Inoc) as well as the Federal Board of Supreme Audit (FBSA), will conduct a contractual review.

The aim is to eventually sign contracts with the central government and not the KRG, the adviser added.

Foreign oil firms present in the Kurdistan region including Genel Energy, Chevron and Gulf Keystone , and Cleary Gottlieb declined to comment, while Iraq’s oil ministry and oil and gas firm DNO did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The oil ministry has yet to receive responses from the companies concerned and could take further legal measures in the case of no response, one oil ministry official said, without elaborating.

Foreign oil firms are unlikely to engage with Baghdad directly without coordination with the KRG, one oil firm representative told Reuters.

Tensions flare up

Baghdad’s persistent attempts to implement the ruling has the capacity to worsen already fraught tensions with Erbil.

Iraq’s state-owned North Oil (NOC) claimed on Saturday that KRG forces took control of some oil wells in the disputed region of Kirkuk but the KRG denied the allegation, claiming it was designed to create chaos.

On May 12, Inoc published an analysis detailing how the KRG’s production-sharing contracts are financially worse for both the government and foreign oil firms than federal Iraq’s own technical service contracts.

Meanwhile, Iraq has struggled to attract major fresh investments into its federal energy industry since signing a flurry of post US-invasion deals over a decade ago.

The Iraqi government has cut oil output targets repeatedly as international oil companies that signed those initial deals leave due to poor returns.

Ismael on Monday said Iraq now plans to boost its crude production capacity from around 5 million barrels per day (bpd) to 6 million bpd of crude capacity by the end of 2027, a sharp downward revision from a previous target of 8 mln bpd by that year.

(Reuters)

Iraq aims to establish new oil company in Kurdistan region: ministry

Iraq aims to establish a new oil company in the northern Kurdish region, months after a federal court ruling deemed the legal foundations of the Kurdistan region's oil and gas sector unconstitutional


A February federal court ruling that declared the legal foundations of the Kurdistan region's oil and gas sector unconstitutional [Getty]

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
21 May, 2022

Iraq's federal government aims to establish a new oil company in the Kurdistan region, the oil ministry said on Saturday.

The aim of the new company will be to enter into new service contracts with oil firms currently operating there under the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), according to a statement.

Oil minister Ihsan Ismael said on May 7 that the ministry would start implementing a February federal court ruling that declared the legal foundations of the Kurdistan region's oil and gas sector unconstitutional.

Iraq then wrote to international oil firms operating in the semi-autonomous region requesting they sign new contracts with state-owned marketer SOMO rather than the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

The letters marked the first direct contact between the ministry and oil firms operating in the Kurdistan region. The move follows years of attempts by the federal government to bring KRG revenues under its control, including local court rulings and threats of international arbitration.

The oil ministry will pursue legal action against companies that continue to operate under "unlawful production sharing contract schemes" and that "do not engage in good faith negotiations to restructure their contracts," according to the statement.

(Reuters)

REACTIONARY QUISLING GOVERNMENT
Iraqi-Kurdish presidential candidate 'secretly visited Iran' to agree deal on 'US spy base': source


The KRG interior minister secretly visited Iran and agreed that Harir Airbase will be overseen by the Iraqi federal government, a well-informed source told The New Arab.

Reber Ahmed Halil, interior minister of Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, is a candidate for the presidency(Getty Images)

Dana Taib Menmy
20 May, 2022

The interior minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) secretly visited Iran this week and signed several security agreements with Tehran officials, a source close to Iraq's ruling elites told The New Arab.

Rebar Ahmed, the candidate of the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) for Iraq's presidency, spoke with Iranian officials on key security and border issues affecting Tehran, including the presence of a US airbase near Erbil, Iraqi-Kurdistan.

His visit comes as the Iraqi political process remains deadlocked with rival blocs unable to agree on a president or form a new government, following October's parliamentary elections that were challenged by pro-Tehran parties.

"Ahmed and Iranian officials have signed security deals on securing joint borders. Iranian officials warned that if the Iranian Kurdish political parties that are based in the Iraqi Kurdistan region launch attacks against Iranian forces from the Kurdistan region territories, then Iran will retaliate severely," the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The New Arab.

"The KRG and Iran also agreed that Harir Airbase, a military base near Erbil hosting the US and the coalition forces that was targeted in recent months, will be overseen by the Iraqi federal government and the airbase will only be used for duties that Baghdad demands from the coalition forces."

He also agreed that Harir would not be used as a base for US-led forces to spy on Iran via drones. Iran has also accused Iraqi-Kurdistan authorities of hosting Israeli entities.

"The KRG interior minister has denied that they have any relations with Israel or that Israeli companies were in Erbil, and promised Iran that they are ready to defuse all Iranian suspicions on a list of companies that [it believes acts] as spies for Israel," the source added.

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In March, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for launching a dozen ballistic missiles on a residential mansion in Erbil. Iran claimed the site was being used for Israeli drone attacks on Iranian targets in the western Kermanshah province.

Despite talk that Iran might support Ahmad's bid for the presidency, Tehran insisted that a member of the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) should be made president.

The president of Iraq is always reserved for Kurdish candidates.

Barham Salih, the incumbent Iraqi president, has been nominated by the PUK for a second term.

The New Arab has contacted Mahmoud Mohamed, the official spokesperson of the KDP, and Lawk Ghafuri, the head of the KRG foreign media relations, for comment but they were not immediately available.

The source also confirmed that Masoud Barzani, the leader of the KDP, has not visited Iran.

Ahmed Mullah Talal, a journalist and the former official spokesperson of the Iraqi government, on Tuesday said that Barzani had recently made a secret visit to Iran. Fadhil Mirani, the secretary of the KDP who was the guest of Mulla Talal's on UTV, denied the visit

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) representative in Tehran, Nazim Dabbagh, speaking to the Voice of America (VOA), also denied reports that Barzani secretly visited Iran.

IDF SNIPER
Shireen Abu Akleh: Video shows no gun battle before Israel killed journalist

The New Arab Staff
20 May, 2022

The shocked man videoing the scene right before Israel killed Shireen Abu Akleh said: 'There's the [Israeli] army. There's a sniper – he clocked me.'



New video documenting the moment of the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh

A newly surfaced video dispels Israeli claims veteran Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in an area where Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters were exchanging fire.

The footage, obtained by The New Arab, shows what the man videoing said were Israeli snipers positioned in a side street – right before Israeli forces shot the 51-year-old Al Jazeera reporter dead.

The incident took place as Abu Akleh covered an Israeli raid at Jenin refugee camp in the illegally occupied West Bank on 11 May.

"There's the [Israeli] army. There's a sniper – he clocked me," the shocked man videoing the scene said.

Another clip shows him saying: "The occupation forces are storming Jenin [refugee] camp," indicating Palestinians had always believed they were faced with Israeli soldiers.

The area where the video is being recorded from appeared to be free of any armed Palestinians but shows Abu Akleh and other journalists dressed in vests clearly identifying them as press.

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Analysis

Marc Owen Jones

No shots could be seen or heard before the snipers opened fired and there did not appear to be anything obscuring the marksmen's view.

A group of media workers had only made it a few metres down the street by the time the Israeli forces fired on them.

Others standing in an adjoining road scurried away as gunfire rang out.

As shots continued to be heard, the man recording the scene said: "Someone is hit. Shireen, Shireen," before repeatedly calling for an ambulance.

"They're civilians. They're journalists," another Palestinian man added.

A rescuer was eventually able to retrieve Abu Akleh amid pleas for someone to bring her to safety.

He was helped by other men to rush her to a waiting car.

It comes as the Israeli army on Thursday said it would not currently be opening a criminal probe of the journalist's killing, The Guardian reported.

The military said this was since she died in what it called an "active combat situation", however, an "operational inquiry" will examine what happened.

Featured image credit: Getty Images

Turkish police break up LGBTQ pride parade, arrest dozens

Turkish police broke up an LGBTQ pride parade at a public university and detained all of its participants, after President Erdogan banned events of the sort in 2015.

Riot police surrounded dozens of students who were waiving rainbow flags and calling for tolerance [Getty]

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
20 May, 2022

Police in Turkey broke up an LGBTQ pride parade at one the country’s top public universities and detained all of the participants Friday.

Riot police entered Bogazici University and surrounded dozens of students who were waiving rainbow flags and calling for tolerance. They arrested the students one by one and led them into police buses with their hands cuffed behind them.

A small group of students tried to resist arrest.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s conservative government has banned LGBTQ parades since 2015, citing security concerns, “public sensitivities” and other issues. Authorities have ordered other LGBTQ events stopped as well.

Bogazici University students and staff have protested the university's presidentially-appointed rectors since January 2021, demanding that academics who are elected by faculty members hold the position.

Tensions at the university heightened a month into the protests after a poster depicting the Islamic holy site Kaaba with LGBTQ flags appeared in a campus exhibition.

Turkey's interior minister called the students involved “LGBT deviants,” and two were arrested on charges of inciting hatred and insulting religious values.

Syria rejects Erdogan plan to return one million refugees

Syria rejected plans by Turkey to return one million Syrian refugees to a "safe zone" on the border, as President Erdogan faces rising public anger over the refugees' presence.

Erdogan said around 500,000 Syrians have returned to "safe zones" on the Turkey-Syria border since 2016 [Getty]

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
21 May, 2022

Syrian authorities on Friday rejected plans by Turkey to return one million Syrian refugees to a "safe zone" on the border, state media reported.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in early May said Ankara was aiming to encourage one million Syrian refugees to return to their country by building them housing and local infrastructure there.

Turkey is today home to more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees, who fled after a civil war broke out in 2011 in Turkey's southern neighbour.

Erdogan's "cheap statements" reveal his regime's "aggressive games against Syria and the unity of its land and people," the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on the official news agency SANA.

Erdogan is facing rising public anger over the refugees' presence and is wary of the issue dominating elections next year.

He said around 500,000 Syrians have returned to "safe zones" on the Turkey-Syria border since 2016.

These are controlled by Ankara-backed groups. The areas are designed to keep Syrians displaced by war from crossing into Turkish territory, and to allow it to send back others who already did.

"The government of the Syrian Arab Republic absolutely rejects such games," the ministry said, calling on countries not to finance the Turkish projects and to stop supporting Ankara.

"The main objective is colonialism... The so-called safe zone is in fact ethnic cleansing," the ministry said.

Ankara has periodically carried out military strikes on a Kurdish-administered zone in northeastern Syria, where groups it considers terrorists are based.

The conflict in Syria has killed nearly 500,000 people since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of peaceful demonstrations.

Tunisian president excludes parties from preparing new constitution

Tunisian President Kais Saied has excluded political parties from restructuring the political system, after consolidating his one-man rule as he seized executive power in the country last summer.

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
21 May, 2022

Saied's opponents accuse him of trying to consolidate one man rule [Getty]

Tunisian President Kais Saied named a law professor to head an advisory committee to draft a new constitution for a "new republic", the presidency said on Friday, excluding political parties from restructuring the political system.

Saied has consolidated his one-man rule since seizing executive power last summer and dissolving the parliament to rule by decree in moves his foes call a coup.

He has since said he will replace the democratic 2014 constitution with a new constitution via a referendum on July 25 and have new parliamentary elections in December.

The committee headed by law professor Sadok Belaid consists of deans of Law and Political Sciences. It must submit its report on June 20 to the president, the official gazette said.

In parallel, another committee was established, comprising six national organizations, including the powerful UGTT Labour Union, to submit proposals for reforms. This committee also does not include any political party.

In the first reaction to the president's appointment of an advisory body to prepare a new constitution and propose economic and political reforms, the UGTT said it rejects the proposals.

Saied's opponents accuse him of trying to consolidate one man rule and his actions have been criticized abroad too. He rejects the accusations and says he is not a dictator and wants to change Tunisia after "a decade of ruin".

Western countries have urged a dialogue in which unions, political parties and civil society participate to return Tunisia to a democratic path to help it financially as the country suffers its worst financial crisis.

Saied's consolidation of power has accelerated this year - he replaced the top judicial body and threatened to restrict civil society groups, giving the 64-year-old almost total control.

This month Saied also appointed a new election commission, seizing control of one of the last independent bodies in the North African country and casting doubt on electoral integrity.

(Reuters)

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners could go on hunger strike over Israel's indefinite detention orders


The Palestinian Prisoners' Club say that Israel has increased the number of administrative detention orders for detainees in recent months

Currently some 600 Palestinians are held without charges in Israeli jails 

[Qassam Muaddi/TNA]

Qassam Muaddi
West Bank
19 May, 2022

ِPalestinian detainees held in Israeli jails without charge could launch a collective hunger strike to demand an end to administrative detention orders, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club told The New Arab on Thursday.

Indefinite detention without charge, known as administrative detention, is used by Israel to jail hundreds of Palestinians without trial and no date set for their release. Renewal orders can keep them detained indefinitely.

Some 600 Palestinian administrative detainees have boycotted Israeli court hearings since January, demanding an end to the practice, and could soon launch a collective hunger strike.

"Israeli authorities have not responded to the detainees' move until now," Ayah Shreiteh, the spokesperson for the Prisoners’ Club, told The New Arab.

"The detainees' leadership communicated to us that they are planning a new series of escalating moves that go all the way up to a collective hunger strike. There will be other protest moves that will be announced at their moment but a collective hunger strike as an option is present."

Administrative detention relies on 'secret information' passed on from Israeli secret services to military courts who often issue renewal orders of up to six months.

"Since the court hearings boycott started, lawyers have stopped attending the hearings on behalf of the detainees," Sahar Francis, director of the Palestinian Addameer prisoner support association, told The New Arab.

"This means that the Israeli military judges meet with the secret services and decide the detention renewals alone, without due process," she pointed out.

"This situation makes a collective hunger strike a real option especially after several detainees underwent individual hunger strikes last year."

Although these detainees won their freedom, the system of administrative detention continues.

In 2021, seven Palestinian administrative detainees went on hunger strikes demanding their release. The longest-lasting hunger strike was taken up by Hisham Abu Hawash, who reached a deal with Israeli prison authorities for his release after 141 days without food.

Currently, two Palestinian administrative detainees are on individual hunger strikes.

Khalil Awawdeh, aged 40, is on his 78th day without food, and Raed Rayan, 27, entered his 42nd day of hunger strike.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, Israel has increased the number of administrative detention orders in recent months, with some 150 issued since April.

Currently, some 600 Palestinians are being held in administrative detention in Israeli jails, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club.