“The visit is dangerous and violates international law and the United Nations resolutions,” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye said…reports Asian Lite News
Palestinian officials have slammed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s decision to visit Israeli settlement in the West Bank, calling the planned trip “a challenge to the international consensus”.
“The visit will be a challenge to the positions of all previous US administrations that emphasized the illegality of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories,” Xinhua news agency quoted Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh as saying in a statement on Friday.
Earlier in the day, Israeli media earlier reported that Pompeo would make an exceptional visit to a winery at Psagot settlement in the West Bank and the Golan Heights during a visit to Israel next week.
“The visit is dangerous and violates international law and the United Nations resolutions,” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye said.
Such a visit to a settlement built on lands belonging to Palestinian owners “represents the legitimization of settlements and a blow to international legitimacy”, Ishtaye added.
Israel occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem in 1967, and has since built dozens of settlements on the occupied territories, all regarded by the Palestinians as illegal.
In 2019, Pompeo announced that Washington no longer considered Israeli settlements built on the Palestinian territories as inconsistent with international law.
The Palestinians want to establish an independent state on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital by way of peace talks with the Jewish state.
The last round of peace negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis, sponsored by the US, broke down in 2014 because of their deep divisions on issues related to Israeli settlements and the Palestinian statehood.
The Palestinian Authority severed its diplomatic ties with the administration of US President Donald Trump after he declared Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017.
Photo taken on Sept. 29, 2020 shows a man walking by a house damaged during clashes in the Tartar district bordering the Nagorno-Karabakh region. (Photo by Tofik Babayev/Xinhua)
Putin also asked the centre to help state bodies of Azerbaijan and Armenia to restore civil infrastructure in Nagorno-Karabakh and create proper conditions for its people to live a normal life….reports Asian Lite News
Photo taken on Sept. 29, 2020 shows a man walking by a house damaged during clashes in the Tartar district bordering the Nagorno-Karabakh region. (Photo by Tofik Babayev/Xinhua)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed an order to set up an inter-departmental humanitarian response centre to resolve humanitarian issues and rebuild civil infrastructure in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
According to the order published by the Kremlin on Friday, the centre is tasked with facilitating the return of displaced people to their home in the conflict-ridden Nagorno-Karabakh, reports Xinhua news agency.
Putin also asked the centre to help state bodies of Azerbaijan and Armenia to restore civil infrastructure in Nagorno-Karabakh and create proper conditions for its people to live a normal life.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at loggerheads over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh since 1988. The latest round of armed conflict broke out in the region in September, causing heavy casualties and property losses.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Putin signed a joint statement on Monday, agreeing on a complete ceasefire in the region.
A man shows a house damaged during the new round of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Fuzuli district of Azerbaijan, Sept. 30, 2020. (Photo by Tofik Babayev/Xinhua/IANS)
As agreed, Russia will deploy a peacekeeping contingent consisting of 1,960 servicemen with small arms, 90 armoured personnel carriers, and 380 vehicles to the region.
This is the fourth ceasefire since last month.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday welcomed the new ceasefire, adding that he was “grateful to the Russian Federation for its effort is bringing about this agreement”.
Earlier, the three other ceasefires — two brokered by Russia (October 10, 17) and one by the US (October 26) — collapsed after Armenia and Azerbaijan traded accusations and attacks.
(160405) — NAGORNO-KARABAKH, April 5, 2016 (Xinhua) — Houses damaged in recent conflicts are seen in Azerbaijan’s Gapanli village bordering Nagorno-Karabakh region, on April 5, 2016.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani Defense Ministries both confirmed Tuesday that a ceasefire agreement in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region is currently being prepared. (Xinhua/Tofik Babayev)(dh)
A new round of armed conflict broke out on September 27 along the contact line of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but mostly governed by the Republic of Artsakh, a de facto independent state with an Armenian ethnic majority.
The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, April 2016 and in July this year.
Armenia and Azerbaijan went to war over the region in 1988-94, eventually declaring a ceasefire.
The ship will begin drilling in the first months of 2021, according to the Minister…reports Asian Lite News
Turkey’s drill ship Kanuni has set sail from Istanbul to the Black Sea to start its first mission, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez announced.
Kanuni will carry out drilling activities at the Sakarya Gas Field off the northern province of Zonguldak after having some maintenance at the Port of Filyos at the province, Xinhua news agency quoted Donmez said at a ceremony on Friday at Istanbul’s Haydarpasa Port before the vessel’s departure.
The ship will begin drilling in the first months of 2021, according to the Minister.
To be able to pass under the three bridges of the Bosphorus Strait, the ship towers had been dismantled at Haydarpasa Port.
Turkey’s Fatih drillship, which has recently discovered 405 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, is currently conducting drilling activities in the Turkali-1 well in the same gas field.
Friday’s development comes weeks after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkey had found more gas reserves in the Black Sea.
Meanwhile, the Turkish seismic survey vessel, the Oruc Reis, also sailed to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to resume its activities earlier last month.
The vessel has so far collected a total of 3,525 km seismic data in the Mediterranean Sea.
The developments come amid heightened tensions in the region as Greece has disputed Turkey’s rights to energy exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean, Hurriyet Daily News reported.
Ankara sent out drill ships to explore for energy on its continental shelf, asserting its rights in the region as well as those of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
European Union countries have been trying to mediate between Turkey and Greece over their conflicting demands.
Turkey says that Greece’s maritime territory claims in the region, based on small islands near the Turkish coast, are in defiance of the international law.
Greece and Turkey are both Nato members, but have a history of border disputes and competing claims over maritime rights.
Imran Khan said he has no second thoughts about recognizing Israel unless there is a just settlement, which satisfies Palestines… reports Hamza Ameer
Pak PM Imran Khan
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that his government is under pressure to recognize Israel, insisting that Islamabad would never establish relations with the “Zionists”.
Khan revealed this during an interview with a private television, where he stated that after the recognition of Israel by Arab countries including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, Islamabad is also being asked to recognize Israel, something that his government has rejected till now.
“I have no second thought about recognizing Israel unless there is a just settlement, which satisfies Palestines,” he said.
When asked to name the countries, which have insisted on Islamabad to recognize Israel, Khan refrained from pin pointing and opted to be silent on the question.
“There are things we cannot say. We have good relations with them,” he said.
Khan reiterated that founding father of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azad Muhammad Ali Jinnah had refused to recognize Israel, adding: “Islamabad would continue to follow in Jinnah’s footsteps vis-a-vis Palestine.”
Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayan, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan sign an agreement to set up diplomatic relations at the White House on September 15, 2020. United States President Donald Trump endorsed it. (Photo: White House/IANS)
Khan said Israel has a strong influence in the US, which he said is “another country pressurizing him to recognize Israel”.
“The pressure is because of Israel’s deep impact (influence) in the US. This influence was in fact extraordinary during the (US President Donald) Trump stint,” he said.
The recent recognition of Israel by the UAE and Bahrain has resulted in diplomatic economic relations with Tel Aviv, while many other Arab countries are also considering normalization of relations with Israel.
Pakistan being an externally economic dependent country, recognition of Israel and establishment of economic ties can be a major support for Islamabad.
However, Khan has said that Islamabad would regain its economic strength and stand on its own feet first, on its own.
Pakistan PM Imran Khan
Khan said US President-elect Jo Biden’s approach on the issue of Israel needs to be seen, stating that “Afghanistan is not the real issue, but Israel is”.
“Afghanistan is not the real issue. The real issue is Israel. It is to be seen how Biden deals with that. Whether he changes Trump’s policies about Israel or continues with them”.
“I am not sure about Biden’s policy on Israel, Iran and Kashmir but I am sure there will be no change in Washington’s Afghan policy. The Democrats too want to pull out of Afghanistan,” he added.
“We think that Iran is feeling the pressure of economic sanctions and if that leverage is used, it will be possible to get them to agree to do things they don’t want to do, namely to change their behaviour in the region, their missile programme and their nuclear programme.” said Abrams…reports Asian Lite News
It is a position cutting across party lines in the United States not to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal without changes, a senior American diplomat told Emirates News Agency, adding that addressing Tehran’s missile programme and regional behaviour in a new agreement will make a better deal.
Elliott Abrams, Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela at the US State Department, also said the UAE’s Iran policy based on “de-escalation and stability” in the region is a stand “for all of Iran’s neighbours that is what you seek, and that is what we seek.”
About a possible new agreement with Iran, Abrams said, “We think that Iran is feeling the pressure [of economic sanctions] and if that leverage is used, it will be possible to get them to agree to do things they don’t want to do, namely to change their behaviour in the region, their missile programme and their nuclear programme.”
However, the veteran diplomat added, “It would be tragic thing to discard all of this leverage without using it.”
Asked whether addressing Iran’s missile programme and regional behaviour in a new agreement will make a better deal, he answered, “Absolutely,” adding, “We believe in the Trump administration that one of the great shortcomings of the JCPOA is that it dealt with [only] one piece of Iran’s behaviour that had terrible long-run possibilities [the nuclear programme].”
“It [the nuclear deal] did not deal with what we face right now, which is an Iranian nuclear programme that is actually producing ballistic missiles, and we see them in the hands of the Houthi [militia in Yemen] who used them under Iranian guidance and instructions to hit Saudi Arabia. We see all of this a destabilising conduct throughout the region, right up to the Mediterranean,” Abrams continued.
“That has to be addressed before we can say that we have any kind of reliable agreement with Iran that will actually bring stability.”He added
As many commentators believe that President-elect Joe Biden would reconsider the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA, which was signed with the P5+1 – the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany in 2015, Abrams said, “I think that there is no desire on the part of the United States simply to return to the JCPOA without changes or modifications. I think that is a bipartisan position in the US.”
He pointed out that the JCPOA was concluded in 2015. “Even if you liked it in 2015, it really does not serve in 2021 and there will have to be changes, so I think it is not a one day matter. It’s a complicated and somewhat lengthy negotiation.”
Incumbent US President Donald Trump announced in 2018 his country’s withdrawal from the JCPOA, causing extreme controversy.
Meantime, The US government announced officially this week that it plans to sell F-35 fighter jets to the UAE, which has been a hot topic since the Abraham Accords saw light in August.
Asked about this step, Abrams said, “Well, the procedures take a while. The critical thing, of course, is firstly with the administration then the Congress. Once that happens it’s more or less non controversial.”
Regarding the time required for the transaction, he clarified, “It’s bureaucratic, let me put it that way. There is the manufacturing time. It’s not as if the F-35s are sitting in a hangar in the US and then as soon as the Congress approves it, they would fly out. Unfortunately, that is not the case.”
“I think this [delay] is bureaucratic. Process will roll out very smoothly as it has done in the past. Happily, we have a very good defence relationship between the US and the Emirates, and we’ve had many experiences where many administrations approving a sale, sending it to the Congress and getting it approved. We now have happily many American armaments here, helping defend the United Arab Emirates.”he added
Commenting on the illegal Iranian occupation of three Emirati islands since 1971, the American diplomat said the UAE government has been “extremely responsible in handling” the case.
“They [UAE government] offered either direct negotiations or take it to a neutral party like the International Court of Justice. This is a responsible way a country acts when it is faced with this kind of behaviour by another,”
“Unfortunately, thus far, the regime in Tehran has refused to engage in serious discussions. It’s something that every country in the world that seeks peace and stability in this region should condemn.” he added
Currently, there were 13.1 million people in need in Syria; 6.6 million internally displaced persons; and 2.98 million people in hard-to-reach and besieged areas, the UNHCR figures have revealed…reports Asian Lite News
The US State Department on Thursday dismissed as a distraction a Russian-backed conference in Damascus that called for the return of millions of Syrian refugees to the war-ravaged country. Arab News reports
Richard Albright, deputy assistant secretary at the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, said it is no more than a show that bears no relation to the grim reality of the situation in Syria.
Joel Rayburn, the US special envoy for Syria, said the conference was “just a dog and pony show meant to distract from the fact that the Russians and the Assad regime have not done what the international community has been pressing them to do, which is to end the war and move to a political solution under UN Security Council resolution 2254.”
During the joint briefing, Albright also accused Russia and the Syrian regime of using refugees as “political pawns” to lend legitimacy to the regime.
The conference was hoped to achieve positive results that could “alleviate the suffering of the Syrian refugees abroad and open the way for them to return to Syria and live a normal life”, according to the office.
According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), over 5.6 million people have fled Syria since 2011, seeking safety in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and beyond.
Currently, there were 13.1 million people in need in Syria; 6.6 million internally displaced persons; and 2.98 million people in hard-to-reach and besieged areas, the UNHCR figures have revealed.
Turkey hosts the largest number of registered Syrian refugees at 3.6 million.
Fanatical Sunni segments in Pakistan are now united to unleash terror on Shia community across the country. Massive rallies were organised at major cities including Karachi and Peshwar to target the Shia Muslims …. Writes Kaliph Anaz
Pak PM Imran Khan
Ethnic and religious minorities are on the receiving end in Imran Khan’s Naya Pakistan. In fact, the state of Pakistan is structured, historically, in a manner which makes life miserable for all minorities, whether they are from the Islamic fold or outside it. The Shias, the segment of Islam in which the Pakistan’s Father of the nation Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali belongs to, is the new target.
The plight of minorities under the Imran Khan regime is not destined to be any better. One of the first cabinet decisions taken by the Imran Khan government was to sack a famous economist from his advisory council just because he was an Ahmadi and extremist groups had raised a banner of revolt against him. Khan’s capitulation is not surprising, considering that successive governments have treated Ahmadis and other minorities as `slave` citizens. The condition of Hindus and Christians remain far worse.
The treatment of Shias, a prominent sect among Muslims, who number about 30 million, has been equally deplorable. Shias have been victims of targeted killings, attacks on religious places and discrimination in opportunities ever since the group challenged the military regime of despot Zia-ul Haq.
Pakistan is trying to project itself as a leader of Muslim Ummah across the world in the backdrop of rising Islamophobia, it treats its Shia population as enemy of Islam and persecuting the community. The Sunni sects are united in this issue with silent approval from the Army and its selected government. Hitherto unseen unity amongst the Sunni sects and political groups are indicating this fact. Demands that Shia be declared non-Muslims are increasing. They are using the Takfiri logic to persecute the 30 million plus Shias in Pakistan. The majority Sunni sects used Takfiri logic to declare Ahmadiya community as non-Muslims.
In fact, the Pakistani Constitution itself has rendered them second-class citizens, deprived of individual liberty and religious freedom. Encouraged by the state, various extremist elements and a large section of the society, have campaigned violently and otherwise against giving any religious freedom to Ahmadis. They have for long been discriminated politically, socially and economically, largely because the Sunni state has ensured their marginalisation not long after Independence.
Now they are turning against the Shia community. Reports are emerging on a daily basis about the atrocities rendered upon the Shiites.
Massive anti-Shia rallies were held in major cities including Karachi, Peshawar, Islamabad in September 2020. Over 30,000 people attended the Karachi rally. Banned groups such as Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), extremist groups like Tehreek-e-Labbaik, and leaders of banned groups addressed or shared the stage at these rallies and even encouraged followers to launch an attack on Shias.
On 4 September 2020, several Sunni organizations created a coalition demanding the arrest of Shias for blasphemy. Over 150 FIRs alleging blasphemy against Shias including prominent Shia leaders and Shia clerics were registered.
Shia Muslims in Karachi observing Muharram
The Sunni majority police force is also playing their role. A large number of Shia Ulema have also been detained by the police in the pretext of maintaining law and order. The police become a laughing stock in front of the international media when they filed a case against a three-year-old Shia child under 16 Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) for allegedly organising a majlis at his residence.
Pakistani media have reported that over 22,000 Shias have been killed since 1968 for their faith. Two Shiites have been gunned down in past month alone for religious reasons. Reportedly, a total, 33 people have been wounded, and seven others lost their lives in August 2020 in targeted attacks in Pakistan. Attacks take the form of bombings within districts with dense populations of Shia presence and armed shootings of individuals recognized as Shia Muslims.
On the 9th August, unidentified shooters targeted Syed Mukhtar Hussain Shah, 52, a caretaker of the Imambargah Chah Roshan Shah Malana, a congregation hall for Shia commemorations, as he returned home from the market. Shah lost his life at the hospital.
A day later, a bomb on a motorbike detonated in Chaman’s border city, resulting in the death of 6 and the injury of 20 others. Local law enforcement noted a high prevalence of extremist violence that target Shia communities in the province.
The city of Quetta is another location in Pakistan with a high volume of anti-Shia violence. On the 13th of August, anti-Shia instigators threw a grenade in a market place wounding and killing nine civilians. Among those killed was a child. There was also a case of brutal death of Qaiser Imran in Kohat, an attack on a procession in Okara, and the desecration of an Imambargah in the Lines Area.
In addition to direct violence, Shia Muslims in Pakistan face derogatory language and labeling. In Karachi, homes of Shia Muslims have been marked with words translating to “Shia Infidel.” Some in Pakistan have labeled the Coronavirus as “Shia Virus,” scapegoating the population for the countries pandemic.
Pakistan PM Imran Khan
During the recent anti-Shia Rally in Karachi, affiliates of Sipah-e-Sahaba and Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan waved flags and shout derogatory slurs against Shia Muslims, calling them “infidels” and damaging not only identified Shia property but also the city’s public infrastructures.
In July 2020, Punjab legislature passed a bill (Tahaffuz-e-Bunyad-e-Islam Bill) prohibiting printing and publication of objectionable material. This was largely seen as targeting Shia.
A columnist wrote recently in The Nation that “Jinnah, a Shia himself, would certainly be aghast to get word of how brutally have Shias been treated in this country. Target killing of Hazaras in Quetta – a city that is home to roughly 600,000 Hazara Shia Muslims – continue to surface every now and then to which the authorities often turn a blind eye.
Pakistan is today a state where a large section of the people, including Muslims, are treated as enemies, a sad state of affairs in a country which had boasted of being a sanctuary for believers of Islam.
Despite a dangerous spike in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, 1.38 million Jordanians went to the polls, producing a 29.9 percent turnout…reports Asian Lite News
Jordanians went to the polls on Tuesday to elect a new house of representatives and ended up bringing in 100 new members to the 130-strong 19th parliament since Jordan was established. Arab News reports
Despite a dangerous spike in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, 1.38 million Jordanians went to the polls, producing a 29.9 percent turnout. This was a big drop from the 2016 elections where the turnout rate was 36.8 percent.
The elections proved fatal to a variety of political and ideological groups. Left-wing and progressive lists, as well as all nationalists, lost in the elections. Eight of the 15 candidates from the Islamic Action Front lost seats. Of all the other 41 candidates belonging to parties, non were able to muster a single seat.
According to Amer Bani Amer, head of the Rased Al-Hayyat Center, which monitored the elections, only 30 members out of 130 won reelection. He said that it is difficult to ascertain if the low turnout in the elections and the absence of political parties means that Jordan has retracted in its pursuit of democratic reform.
Tehran, May. 27, 2020 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani addresses the opening session of Iran's new parliament in Tehran, Iran, on May 27, 2020. (Xinhua/Ahmad Halabisaz/IANS)
While the outgoing Trump has declared Iran an arch-foe and sought to isolate it globally, president-elect Biden has proposed to offer Iran a “credible path back to diplomacy.”…reports Asian Lite News
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani vowed Wednesday to take “any opportunity” to lift US sanctions against Tehran, following President Donald Trump’s defeat by Democratic election rival Joe Biden. Arab News reports
While the outgoing Trump has declared Iran an arch-foe and sought to isolate it globally, president-elect Biden has proposed to offer Iran a “credible path back to diplomacy.”
“Our aim is to lift the pressure of sanctions from the shoulders of our people,” Rouhani said in televised remarks during a weekly cabinet meeting. “Wherever this favorable opportunity arises we will act on our responsibilities. No one should miss any opportunity.”
“National security and national interests are not factional and partisan issues,” Rouhani added, after conservatives blasted his reformist and moderate coalition for its “over-excitement” for re-engagement with the Islamic republic’s nemesis.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to impose a “flood of sanctions” on Iran by January 20, 2021, after it recently recently targeted the Islamic Republic’s oil and financial sectors, a media report said.
The administration, in coordination with Israel and several Gulf states, is pushing for the new sanctions, informed Israeli sources told the Virginia-based Axios media outlet on Sunday.
According to the sources, US envoy for Iran Elliott Abrams arrived in Israel on Sunday and met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat to discuss the plan.
On Monday, Abrams will meet Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi to brief them on the proposal, the sources told Axios.
After Israel, the envoy is scheduled to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to discuss the sanctions plan.
The development comes several days after Abrams said at a closed briefing that the Trump administration wants to announce a new set of sanctions on Iran every week until January 20, when President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the new American President, another informed source told Axios.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to arrive in Israel on November 18.
Both sides stressed the importance of promoting economic and tourist sectors in their countries through the development of common services of security and safety for their respective communities….reports Asian Lite News
A virtual meeting was held on Wednesday via zoom between Lt. General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, and his Israeli counterpart Minister of Public Security, Amir Ohana, in order to step up cooperation between the two countries and activate the Abraham Accord.
In their conversation, Sheikh Saif and Ohana discussed common projects, technological innovation projects and programmes related to combating transnational crimes, as well as other development projects related to civil defence.
Both sides stressed the importance of promoting economic and tourist sectors in their countries through the development of common services of security and safety for their respective communities.
The two parties agreed on forming a joint team to work on the specifics of the projects and programmes in preparation for a future launch.
