United Nations, Arab League Agree to Activate Cooperation

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit (L) meets with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in Cairo on February 16, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / MOHAMED EL-SHAHED
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit (L) meets with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in Cairo on February 16, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / MOHAMED EL-SHAHED
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United Nations, Arab League Agree to Activate Cooperation

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit (L) meets with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in Cairo on February 16, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / MOHAMED EL-SHAHED
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit (L) meets with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in Cairo on February 16, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / MOHAMED EL-SHAHED

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit and UN chief Antonio Guterres have agreed to activate the cooperation agreement signed between the two organizations last year.

Aboul Gheit met Guterres at the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Cairo-based organization’s spokesman Mahmoud Afifi said.

Afifi added that the agreement comes in the framework of seeking to strengthen UN-Arab League cooperation in several areas, such as preventing and settling disputes, combating terrorism, preserving, building and making peace, protection of human rights and assisting refugees and those displaced.

The officials also discussed developments in a number of important international and regional issues, especially those related to the Palestinian issue and the crises in Syria, Libya, Yemen and the situation in Iraq.

Aboul Gheit and Guterres agreed that the coming period demands more efforts to be exerted by the international community in order to pressure Israel to respect resolutions issued under international legitimacy and return to the negotiating table with the Palestinians.

International efforts need to be exerted to push for a political settlements for crises in Syria, Libya and Yemen, especially in light of the rising phenomenon of terrorism and extremism, and the effects and implications of humanitarian cases worldwide.

Aboul Gheit stressed that the Arab League seeks to re-engage strongly in dealing with the crises experienced by some Arab countries, while welcoming the positive role that the United Nations can play in dealing with them.



Gazans Shed Tears of Joy, Disbelief at News of Ceasefire Deal

Palestinians react to news of a ceasefire agreement with Israel, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 15 January 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians react to news of a ceasefire agreement with Israel, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 15 January 2025. (EPA)
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Gazans Shed Tears of Joy, Disbelief at News of Ceasefire Deal

Palestinians react to news of a ceasefire agreement with Israel, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 15 January 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians react to news of a ceasefire agreement with Israel, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 15 January 2025. (EPA)

Palestinians burst into celebration across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday at news of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, with some shedding tears of joy and others whistling and clapping and chanting "God is greatest".

"I am happy, yes, I am crying, but those are tears of joy," said Ghada, a mother of five displaced from her home in Gaza City during the 15-month-old conflict.

"We are being reborn, with every hour of delay Israel conducted a new massacre, I hope it is all getting over now," she told Reuters via a chat app from a shelter in Deir al-Balah town in central Gaza.

Youths beat tambourines, blew horns and danced in the street in Khan Younis in the southern part of the enclave minutes after hearing news of the agreement struck in the Qatari capital Doha. The deal outlines a six-week initial ceasefire phase and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

The accord also provides for the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian detainees held by Israel, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters.

For some, delight was mingled with sorrow.

Ahmed Dahman, 25, said the first thing he would do when the deal goes into effect is to recover the body of his father, who was killed in an airstrike on the family's house last year, and "give him a proper burial."

'A DAY OF HAPPINESS AND SADNESS'

"I feel a mixture of happiness because lives are being saved and blood is being stopped," said Dahman, who like Ghada was displaced from Gaza City and lives in Deir al-Balah.

"But I am also worried about the post-war shock of what we will see in the streets, our destroyed homes, my father whose body is still under the rubble."

His mother, Bushra, said that while the ceasefire wouldn't bring her husband back, "at least it may save other lives."

"I will cry, like never before. This brutal war didn't give us time to cry," said the tearful mother, speaking to Reuters by a chat app.

Iman Al-Qouqa, who lives with her family in a nearby tent, was still in disbelief.

"This is a day of happiness, and sadness, a shock and joy, but certainly it is a day we all must cry and cry long because of what we all lost. We did not lose friends, relatives, and homes only, we lost our city, Israel sent us back in history because of its brutal war," she told Reuters.

"It is time the world comes back into Gaza, focuses on Gaza, and rebuilds it," said Qouqa.

Israeli troops invaded Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen broke through security barriers and burst into Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting more than 250 foreign and Israeli hostages. Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 people, according to Gaza health ministry figures, and left the coastal enclave a wasteland, with many thousands living in makeshift shelters.