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ISAB Inaugurates its First Session in Riyadh

Several food safety experts from Britain, Australia, Italy, Ireland, and Korea attended the meeting. (SPA)
Several food safety experts from Britain, Australia, Italy, Ireland, and Korea attended the meeting. (SPA)
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ISAB Inaugurates its First Session in Riyadh

Several food safety experts from Britain, Australia, Italy, Ireland, and Korea attended the meeting. (SPA)
Several food safety experts from Britain, Australia, Italy, Ireland, and Korea attended the meeting. (SPA)

CEO of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), Dr. Hisham bin Saad Al-Jadhey, inaugurated on Tuesday the first session of the International Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB) for Food Safety at SFDA's headquarters in Riyadh.

The event will run from February 13 to 15. Several food safety experts from Britain, Australia, Italy, Ireland, and Korea attended the session.

Al-Jadhey emphasized the importance of the council's role in discussing and providing scientific support and consultation, in addition to offering necessary recommendations that serve the major issues related to local and imported food safety.

The meeting also highlighted key achievements of the authority's third strategic plan, as well as the objectives and projects of its fourth strategic plan from 2023 to 2027, and its vision to be one of the leading international entities in all its specialties.

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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)

The United States on Thursday called on Israel to extend its cooperation with Palestinian banks for another year, to avoid blocking vital transactions in the occupied West Bank.

"I am glad that Israel has allowed its banks to continue cooperating with Palestinian banks, but I remain convinced that a one-year extension of the waiver to facilitate this cooperation is needed," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday, on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Rio de Janeiro.

In May, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to cut off a vital banking channel between Israel and the West Bank in response to three European countries recognizing the State of Palestine.

On June 30, however, Smotrich extended a waiver that allows cooperation between Israel's banking system and Palestinian banks in the occupied West Bank for four months, according to Israeli media, according to AFP.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the decision on the waiver was made at a cabinet meeting in a "move that saw Israel legalize several West Bank settlement outposts."

The waiver was due to expire at the end of June, and the extension permitted Israeli banks to process payments for salaries and services to the Palestinian Authority in shekels, averting a blow to a Palestinian economy already devastated by the war in Gaza.

The Israeli threat raised serious concerns in the United States, which said at the time it feared "a humanitarian crisis" if banking ties were cut.

According to Washington, these banking channels are key to nearly $8 billion of imports from Israel to the West Bank, including electricity, water, fuel and food.