Arab Economic Ministers Stress Continued Support For Palestinians

Lebanese President Michel Aoun talks during the Arab Economic and Social Development summit meeting in Beirut, Lebanon January 20, 2019. REUTERS/Aziz Taher
Lebanese President Michel Aoun talks during the Arab Economic and Social Development summit meeting in Beirut, Lebanon January 20, 2019. REUTERS/Aziz Taher
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Arab Economic Ministers Stress Continued Support For Palestinians

Lebanese President Michel Aoun talks during the Arab Economic and Social Development summit meeting in Beirut, Lebanon January 20, 2019. REUTERS/Aziz Taher
Lebanese President Michel Aoun talks during the Arab Economic and Social Development summit meeting in Beirut, Lebanon January 20, 2019. REUTERS/Aziz Taher

Arab Ministers of Economy and Trade stressed the need to continue providing the necessary support to the Palestinian economy in order to strengthen the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in the face of the Israeli occupation.

The Arab Economic and Social Council concluded its 104th regular session on Thursday, under the current chairmanship of the Palestinian Minister of National Economy, Khaled Al-Assaily, in the presence of Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

The ministers called on Arab councils and organizations to increase support to Palestine and direct part of their programs for the implementation of relief and development projects that would mitigate the effects of the Israeli aggression and help the Palestinians overcome their financial crisis.

They also urged the General Secretariat to resume technical support programs for the least developed countries, including the State of Palestine, asking it to work closely with the Arab and International Labor Organizations and funding institutions to arrange for an international donor conference in the first half of 2020, with the aim of supporting the Employment and Social Protection Fund to alleviate poverty and unemployment rates in Palestine, which have reached unprecedented levels.

The Arab Economy ministers encouraged the Arab private sector to invest in Palestine, and condemned the Israeli exploitation of the Palestinian national resources, “which are an inherited right of the Palestinian people.”

In this regard, they called for the adoption of the necessary measures, in cooperation with the competent western and international institutions and the concerned Palestinian authorities to hold the occupation state accountable for the theft and exploitation of these resources.



Syrian Opposition March Through the Capital in a Show of Force

A drone view of a military parade held by Khaled Brigade, a part of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), after Syria's Bashar al-Assad was ousted, in Damascus, Syria, December 27, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Hassano
A drone view of a military parade held by Khaled Brigade, a part of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), after Syria's Bashar al-Assad was ousted, in Damascus, Syria, December 27, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Hassano
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Syrian Opposition March Through the Capital in a Show of Force

A drone view of a military parade held by Khaled Brigade, a part of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), after Syria's Bashar al-Assad was ousted, in Damascus, Syria, December 27, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Hassano
A drone view of a military parade held by Khaled Brigade, a part of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), after Syria's Bashar al-Assad was ousted, in Damascus, Syria, December 27, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Hassano

Hundreds of members of the main opposition group that overthrew former President Bashar Assad from power marched through the streets of the capital in a show of force.
The fighters with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, gathered at the Abbasiyeen square on Friday afternoon before driving vehicles mounted with heavy machine guns through different neighborhoods of Damascus.
The show of force by HTS came days after members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect protested in different parts of the country, leading to exchanges of fire in some areas.
Until Assad’s fall earlier this month, Alawites held senior positions in the military and security agencies in Syria. HTS fighters are Sunni Muslims who are the majority sect in the country.