Egypt: Finance Minister Highlights Boosting Cooperation Across Continents to Face COVID-19https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2233246/egypt-finance-minister-highlights-boosting-cooperation-across-continents-face
Egypt: Finance Minister Highlights Boosting Cooperation Across Continents to Face COVID-19
Egypt's Finance Minister Mohamed Maait (Reuters)
African continental cooperation must be enhanced to counter COVID-19’s consequences on African countries’ economies, and contain the negative impact of the crisis, announced Egypt’s Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait.
Maait was speaking during a videoconference held on Monday with the members of the Committee of 15 Ministers of Finance (F15) to discuss COVID-19’s repercussions.
The videoconference included: Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Vera Songwe, Commissioner for Economic Affairs of the African Union Victor Harrison, Commissioner for Social Affairs of the African Union Amira el-Fadil, and Director of the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention John Nkengasong.
The Finance Ministry issued a statement indicating that the meeting addressed the health, social, economic, and financial measures that member states have adopted to contain COVID-19.
The attendees also discussed the African strategy to contain and alleviate the economic impact of coronavirus and to take a united African stance in this regard at global gatherings, namely the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund scheduled to be held soon.
The meeting reviewed the required operational steps for activating resolutions issued by the African Union’s General Assembly Bureau to set an African fund for countering the pandemic’s harsh impacts.
The attendees agreed to convene periodically through teleconference to discuss anti-COVID-19 measures.
Meanwhile, Minister of Planning Hala al-Saeed announced that Egypt has developed several scenarios for how the crisis will pan out and others for the economy’s recovery when the virus spread has subsided.
The first scenario assumes that the crisis will end by June, while a second scenario assumes that the crisis will end by September. A final scenario predicts the crisis will come to an end at the end of this year.
Saeed believes Egypt will have positive growth rates in H2 of 2020, despite the negative outlook for other countries.
She pointed out that the issue of "globalization" will diminish and that countries will tend to follow a self-reliance policy, as imports have decreased. She pointed out that China is one of the first countries emerging from the crisis, and Beijing is expected to lead the economic growth.
HRW Warns of Imminent Threat to Displaced Iraqis in Sinjarhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5018071-hrw-warns-imminent-threat-displaced-iraqis-sinjar
HRW Warns of Imminent Threat to Displaced Iraqis in Sinjar
A view of the Chamishko refugee camp in Iraq, August 3, 2014. (Getty Images)
The Iraqi Migration Ministry rejected on Tuesday a Human Rights Watch report that warned against violating the rights of displaced residents from the Sinjar district if authorities plan the closure of camps in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region by next July 30.
Despite the liberation of the region from ISIS nine years ago, many Sinjar residents still live in displacement camps in Kurdistan or in diaspora countries.
On Tuesday, spokesperson of the Migration Ministry Ali Abbas Jahangir told Asharq Al-Awsat the HRW report “may be inaccurate” because the Iraqi government has linked its decision to close IDP camps in Kurdistan to three basic options that are based on international standards.
Three options
Listing the three options, Jahangir said the IDPs could either return to Sinjar, relocate to other cities under federal control, or remain in the Kurdistan Region but outside the camps.
There are 23 camps in Iraq, mostly located across Kurdistan. The camps currently host about 30,000 families or more than 150,000 people, including 25,000 families from Sinjar, according to the spokesperson.
Jahangir said the Ministry’s role is to implement the decisions of the Iraqi government, and therefore, is not concerned with ensuring services and infrastructure in the areas where the displaced people should return.
He added: “We have more than 22,000 families returning to Sinjar and we have more than 5,000 applications for return submitted.”
Jahangir said the Ministry announced a package of aid and incentives for returnees, including a one-time payment of 4 million Iraqi dinars (about $2,600) per family, social security benefits, and interest-free small business loans.
The HRW had warned on Monday that the planned closure of displaced people’s camps in Kurdistan by a July 30 deadline will imperil the rights of many camp residents from Sinjar.
Sinjar remains unsafe and lacks adequate social services to ensure the economic, social, and cultural rights of thousands of displaced people who may soon be forced to return, the organization said.
Security and political sources agree that Iraq has not been able to extend its full authority in Sinjar. They said the security of the province is still run by a group of official forces, in addition to Arab and Kurdish armed factions, including the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Voluntary return
Sarah Sanbar, Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “Many Sinjaris have been living in camps since 2014 and they deserve to be able to go home, but returns need to be safe and voluntary.”
She warned that given the lack of services, infrastructure, and safety in the district, the government risks making an already bad situation worse.
“Nobody wants to live in an IDP camp forever, but closing these camps when home isn’t safe is not a sustainable solution to displacement,” Sanbar said.
Although the HRW report noted the package of aid and incentives offered by the Iraqi government to encourage returnees, it found in a 2023 report that the main barriers to Sinjaris’ return were the government’s failure to provide compensation for the loss of their property and livelihoods, delayed reconstruction, an unstable security situation, and lack of justice and accountability for crimes and abuses against them.
UN-Sponsored International Peace Conference to Address Palestinian Cause in Bahrainhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5018066-un-sponsored-international-peace-conference-address-palestinian-cause-bahrain
UN-Sponsored International Peace Conference to Address Palestinian Cause in Bahrain
Arab foreign ministers met in Manama on Tuesday in preparation for the summit. (dpa)
The Permanent Representative of Palestine to the League of Arab States said that leaders at the Arab Summit in Bahrain on Thursday will call for an international peace conference to resolve the Palestinian cause, under the auspices of the United Nations.
Ambassador Muhannad Al-Aklouk revealed that the Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs confirmed, during his speech at the meeting of Arab foreign ministers, that the summit will adopt a set of Arab initiatives, including “holding an international peace conference to resolve the Palestinian issue, under the auspices of (the United Nations), on the territory of Bahrain.”
Al-Aklouk added that Palestine welcomes and supports the initiative, and considers it a response to the peace plan previously presented by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2018.
In press statements on the sidelines of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Manama, on Tuesday, the permanent representative of Palestine to the Arab League said that the conference aims to launch a serious political process with a specific time limit, leading to ending the occupation on the basis of international references for the peace process, including the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.
“The Bahrain summit is expected to adopt the term genocide to describe the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, which claimed thousands of lives and caused the destruction of infrastructure,” he remarked.
Al-Aklouk went on to say that other measures are expected to be announced during the summit, including “calling on the Security Council to adopt a resolution under Chapter Seven of the (United Nations) Charter to oblige Israel to commit to a ceasefire,” stressing that Chapter Seven “includes imposing sanctions if the decisions are not implemented.”
“The Arab Summit is scheduled to consider the invasion of the city of Rafah as an attack on Arab national security,” he stated, pointing to the threats to Egypt’s security.
Austin Reiterates US Commitment to Egypt’s, Middle East Securityhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5018061-austin-reiterates-us-commitment-egypt%E2%80%99s-middle-east-security
File photo: US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks during a meeting with Canadian Defense Minister William Blair at the Pentagon on May 13, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew ANGERER / AFP)
Austin Reiterates US Commitment to Egypt’s, Middle East Security
File photo: US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks during a meeting with Canadian Defense Minister William Blair at the Pentagon on May 13, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew ANGERER / AFP)
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin reiterated to his Egyptian counterpart the US commitment to the Middle East and Egyptian security in the face of regional threats.
A statement released by the US Department of Defense on Tuesday said that Austin “spoke with Egypt's Minister of Defense, General Mohamed Zaki, today to discuss regional challenges and our deep bilateral security cooperation".
“Secretary Austin reiterated US commitment to the Middle East and Egyptian security in the face of regional threats and expressed appreciation for Egypt's leadership in preventing the spread of the current conflict and in providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza", added the statement.
UNICEF: Failure to Open Gaza Border Crossings Will lead to 'Tragedy'https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5017901-unicef-failure-open-gaza-border-crossings-will-lead-tragedy
UNICEF: Failure to Open Gaza Border Crossings Will lead to 'Tragedy'
People gather at UNRWA school in Jabalia, Gaza Strip, on May 14, 2024 (AFP)
UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Adele Khodr said in a statement on Tuesday that Gaza border crossings must be swiftly opened, and humanitarian organizations allowed to safely move and provide critical life-saving assistance upon which all children in Gaza depend.
"Failure to do so will lead to a tragedy even greater than what we have already witnessed – an outcome we must urgently work to avoid," she stressed.
“After over seven months of conflict, with tens of thousands of lives lost and countless appeals for ceasefire, the violence persists. It is crucial that weapons go silent and children’s rights are respected. The children of Gaza, who have endured unimaginable horrors, deserve an immediate ceasefire and a chance for a peaceful future."
She also said that the escalation of hostilities in Rafah and throughout the Gaza Strip has deepened the suffering of hundreds of thousands of children, who have endured an unrelenting nightmare for the past 218 days.
"We cannot accept their plight being live streamed as collateral damage in a conflict they never chose."
“Last week, a long-feared military operation began in Rafah, displacing over 448,000 people to unsafe areas like Al-Mawasi and Deir al Balah. Meanwhile, heavy bombardment and ground operations have spread to northern Gaza, leaving a trail of destruction in areas such as Jabaliya refugee camp and Beit Lahia. At least 64,000 people there have been forced to flee their devastated homes."
Khodr affirmed that since the start of the most recent escalation, UNICEF has been facing increased challenges to transport any assistance into the Gaza Strip.
“I’m also very concerned about water infrastructure and access to clean water and sanitation across Gaza. In the north, vital wells have suffered great damage, while in Rafah at least eight facilities are down, impacting around 300,000 people, many of them children who will likely revert to contaminated water and become seriously ill. When water fails, children suffer the most"
Israel Army Says Civilian Killed In Rocket Fire From Lebanonhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5017891-israel-army-says-civilian-killed-rocket-fire-lebanon
Israel Army Says Civilian Killed In Rocket Fire From Lebanon
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the frontier - AP Photo
Israel's army said rockets fired from Lebanon on Tuesday killed a civilian and wounded five soldiers on the Israeli side of the border.
"On the northern border, a civilian was killed today from an anti-tank missile that hit Adamit," a kibbutz community on the border with Lebanon, army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised briefing.
The army said in a statement that "several anti-tank missile launches were identified from Lebanon", and that one soldier was moderately wounded and four others were lightly hurt, AFP reported.
According to media reports, the person killed was a man who had been visiting the village.
Hagari meanwhile said "during the day, we've attacked dozens of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon".
Israel and Hamas-ally Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily fire following the Palestinian group's October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked war in Gaza.
On Monday, Israel's army said missiles fired from Lebanon had wounded four Israeli soldiers.
UN Official Calls For Syria Support Ahead of Donor Conferencehttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5017881-un-official-calls-syria-support-ahead-donor-conference
UN Official Calls For Syria Support Ahead of Donor Conference
Children seen at Al-Hol camp - AAWSAT
A UN humanitarian official visiting northwest Syria on Tuesday urged the international community to fund crucial aid programs in the war-torn country ahead of an upcoming pledging conference in Brussels.
The Idlib region, Syria's last main bastion of armed opposition, hosts about three million people, many of whom are displaced from other parts of the country.
Existing financing "is clearly not enough to meet the needs of the most vulnerable people", said David Carden, UN deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, from Murin in Idlib province.
Aid groups have warned of donor fatigue after 13 years of war in Syria, with the international community now focused on conflicts elsewhere.
Syria's humanitarian response plan for 2024 requires more than $4 billion but is only six percent funded, Carden told AFP.
Insufficient resources are also impacting the UN's ability to truck aid across the border from Turkey and support those who need it in the county's northwest.
Ahead of the Brussels conference later this month, Carden said that "we need continued support for the Syria program".
We need to do everything we can to ensure that the people in Syria can get back on their feet and start reliving their lives," he said.
"After 13 years of conflict people are tired of handouts."
Janne Suvanto of the World Food Program, who was part of the delegation visiting Idlib, said "the food security situation in northwest Syria is very bad".
"There are over 600,000 people who are severely food insecure," he told AFP.
About 90 percent of Syrians live in poverty, according to the United Nations.
Civil war erupted in Syria after President Bashar al-Assad crushed peaceful anti-government protests in 2011.
The conflict has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions after spiralling into a devastating war involving foreign armies, militias and militants.
Egypt Strongly Condemns Israel’s Allegations about Rafah Crossinghttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5017516-egypt-strongly-condemns-israel%E2%80%99s-allegations-about-rafah-crossing
18 March 2023, Egypt, Cairo: Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry speaks during a press conference at Tahrir Palace. (dpa)
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Egypt Strongly Condemns Israel’s Allegations about Rafah Crossing
18 March 2023, Egypt, Cairo: Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry speaks during a press conference at Tahrir Palace. (dpa)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry strongly condemned on Tuesday Israel's attempt to blame Egypt for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Shoukry added in a statement that Israel's seizure of the Rafah border crossing from Gaza into Egypt as well as its military operations in the area were the main reasons for aid being unable to enter Gaza.
Shoukry stressed that his country "categorically rejects" Israel’s policy of "twisting facts and shirking responsibility".
"Israel alone is responsible for the humanitarian catastrophe the Palestinians are facing in Gaza," he stated.
"Israel must assume its legal responsibilities as an occupying power and allow the entry of aid through land crossings under its control," he demanded.
Earlier, Israel said it was up to Egypt to reopen the Rafah Crossing and allow humanitarian relief into the Gaza Strip.
"The key to preventing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza is now in the hands of our Egyptian friends," Israel's Foreign Affairs Minister Katz said in comments circulated to reporters.
Katz said he had spoken with his British and German counterparts about "the need to persuade Egypt to reopen the Rafah crossing", adding he would also speak with Italy's foreign minister later on Tuesday.
The Palestinian group Hamas, which has been running Gaza, will not "control the Rafah crossing", Katz said, citing security concerns over which Israel "will not compromise".
Egypt has consistently said the crossing has remained open from its side throughout the conflict that began between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7.
Cairo has been one of the mediators in stalled ceasefire talks, but its relationship with Israel has come under strain since Israeli forces seized the Rafah Crossing on May 7.
The United Nations and other international aid agencies said the closing of two crossings into southern Gaza - Rafah and Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom - had virtually cut the enclave off from outside aid.
The UN had already warned, prior to the closing of the two crossings, that Gaza is on the brink of famine.
Israel launched its current Gaza offensive following an attack on Oct. 7 by Hamas-led gunmen who rampaged through Israeli communities near the enclave, killing some 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The Palestinian death toll in the war has now surpassed 35,000, according to Gaza health officials.
Palestinians in Israel Demand Refugee Return on ‘Nakba’ Anniversaryhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5017496-palestinians-israel-demand-refugee-return-%E2%80%98nakba%E2%80%99-anniversary
People take part in a march in support of the Palestinian people ahead of the Nakba day at the Kasayir village, in Haifa, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP)
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Palestinians in Israel Demand Refugee Return on ‘Nakba’ Anniversary
People take part in a march in support of the Palestinian people ahead of the Nakba day at the Kasayir village, in Haifa, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP)
Thousands of flag-waving Palestinians marched in northern Israel on Tuesday to commemorate the flight and forced flight of Palestinians during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation, and to demand the right of refugees to return.
Many of the about 3,000 people also called for an end to the war in Gaza as they took part in the march near the city of Haifa marking the "Nakba", or "catastrophe", when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven out during the 1948 war that accompanied Israel's creation.
Many held up Palestinian flags and wore keffiyeh head scarves during the annual Return March, a rare Palestinian demonstration permitted to go ahead in Israel as the war in the Gaza Strip rages on.
Many clutched water bottles, and some pushed strollers, as they marched along a dirt path. One person held aloft half a watermelon, which became a Palestinian symbol after Israeli bans on the flag because of its red, green and black colors. Others called for Palestinians to be freed from Israeli occupation.
"This is part of our liberation," said Fidaa Shehadeh, coordinator of the Women Against Weapons Coalition and former member of the Lydd Municipality Council. "It's not only about ending the occupation but also about allowing all refugees the ability to return to the homeland."
Some 700,000 Palestinians left or were forced to flee their homes during the 1948 war. Shehadeh said her family was forcibly displaced from the coastal village of Majdal Asqalan, with some fleeing to the city of Lydd in what became Israel and others to Gaza. She considered herself an internally displaced person.
She said "refugees remain refugees" 76 years later.
Shehadeh said her uncles and aunts in Gaza, whom she said she was last able to visit in 2008 with Israeli approval, are now displaced again as they try to escape Israel's bombardment.
They do not know if or when they will be able to return to their homes, she said.
Shehadeh said she travels to the West Bank almost weekly to top up e-SIMs for her Gaza relatives so that they can remain in contact.
"Sometimes we wait for days to receive a 'good morning' message, that's how we know whoever sent it is still alive," she said.
Over 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza war, Gaza health officials say. Israel began its offensive in Gaza, which is governed by Hamas, after the Oct. 7 raid led by gunmen from the group in which 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 253 abducted, according to Israeli tallies.
Palestinians living in Israel hold Palestinian flags as they take part in the annual Return March to mark the 76th anniversary of the Nakba, the "catastrophe" of their mass dispossession in the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation, near Haifa, in northern Israel, May 14, 2024. (Reuters)
ARABS IN ISRAEL
Arabs make up about a fifth of Israel's population. They hold Israeli citizenship while many identify with Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
Every year, participants of the march, among them descendants of Palestinians who were internally displaced during the 1948 war, visit a different village that was destroyed or depopulated by Zionist militias.
Israel rejects the Palestinian right of return as a demographic threat to a country it describes as the nation-state of the Jewish people. It has said Palestinian refugees must settle in their host countries or in a future Palestinian state.
Kareem Ali, 12, held a sign reading "My grandparents lived in Kasayir" as he marched beside his father, Hamdan, referring to one of the villages being remembered this year. The family now resides in Shefa'amr in northern Israel.
For many years, Hamdan's father, a farmer, would pass by the depopulated village and pick figs from a tree that remained, Hamdan said.
"Our memory is our power," he said.
Some Arab citizens say they have experienced increased hostility during the Gaza war, with hundreds facing criminal proceedings, disciplinary hearings and expulsions from universities or jobs, Haifa-based rights group Adalah says.
Israeli police have said they are combating incitement to violence.
BADIL, a Bethlehem-based organization advocating for refugee rights, estimated that by the end of 2021 some 65% of 14 million Palestinians globally were forcibly displaced persons, including refugees and citizens of Israel who were internally displaced.
Some 5.9 million people are registered with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). Most people in Gaza are refugees.
Hundreds of Syrian Refugees Head Home as Anti-refugee Sentiment Surges in Lebanonhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5017346-hundreds-syrian-refugees-head-home-anti-refugee-sentiment-surges-lebanon
Syrian refugees gather as they prepare to leave the Arsal area, before their journey to their homes in Syria, at Arsal in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, 14 May 2024. (EPA)
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Hundreds of Syrian Refugees Head Home as Anti-refugee Sentiment Surges in Lebanon
Syrian refugees gather as they prepare to leave the Arsal area, before their journey to their homes in Syria, at Arsal in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, 14 May 2024. (EPA)
More than 300 Syrian refugees headed back home to Syria in a convoy on Tuesday, leaving two remote northeastern towns in crisis-stricken Lebanon where anti-refugee sentiment has been surging in recent months.
Lebanese officials have long urged the international community to either resettle the refugees in other countries or help them return to Syria. Over the past months, leading Lebanese political parties have become increasingly vocal, demanding that Syrian refugees go back.
A country of about 6 million people, Lebanon hosts nearly 780,000 registered Syrian refugees and hundreds of thousands who are unregistered — the world’s highest refugee population per capita.
In the northeastern town of Arsal, Syrian refugees piled their belongings onto the back of trucks and cars on Tuesday as Lebanese security officers collected their UN refugee agency cards and other paperwork before clearing them to leave.
As the trucks pulled away, the refugees waved to friends and relatives staying behind, heading to an uncertain future in Syria.
Ahmad al-Rifai, on his way to the Qalamoun Mountains after over a decade in Lebanon, said that whatever the situation was in Syria, “it’s better to live in a house than in a tent.”
Lebanese security forces this year stepped up deportations of Syrians, although nowhere near the level threatened two years ago when the Lebanese government announced a plan to deport some 15,000 Syrians every month, to what they dubbed “safe areas,” in cooperation with the government in Damascus.
Tuesday's convoy from the mountainous towns of Arsal and al-Qaa consisted of only 330 refugees who had signed up for repatriation, the first such “voluntary return” return organized by Lebanese security forces since late 2022.
“Nobody can not be happy to return to their home,” Ahmad Durro told The Associated Press while waiting in his truck. “I signed up a year ago to be in the convoy.”
But many other Syrians — especially young men facing compulsory military service or political opponents of the government of President Bashar Assad — say it's unsafe to return.
Others see no future in Syria, where in many parts the fighting may have died down, but an economic crisis has pulled millions into poverty.
An increasing number of refugees in Lebanon have taken to the sea in an attempt to reach Europe.
The UNHCR has said it only supports voluntary returns of Syrians based on informed consent. Yet, major human rights organizations remain skeptical of the voluntary nature of these returns amid anti-refugee hostility in Lebanon.
“Syrian refugees are, targeted by both geo sources and host communities. They are subjected to violence, insults and other degrading treatment," Amnesty International’s deputy Middle East and North Africa Regional Director Aya Majzoub told the AP, also decrying curfews and other restrictions imposed on refugees by a handful of Lebanese municipalities.
"So our assessment is that in these conditions, it is very difficult for refugees to make free and informed decisions about returning to Syria.”
A Syrian refugee woman sits inside a car, as she prepares to go back home to Syria as a part of a voluntary return, in the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP)
Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have documented cases of refugees detained and tortured by Syrian security agencies upon their return.
The UNHCR says nine out of 10 Syrian refugees in Lebanon live in extreme poverty and need humanitarian aid to survive. That aid has declined amid donor fatigue and as international attention shifted to other crises.
Many increasingly impoverished Lebanese have accused Syrian refugees of benefitting from the aid while beating Lebanese to jobs by accepting lower pay.
Lebanon’s ruling political parties and leadership claim that most Syrians living in the tiny Mediterranean country are economic migrants rather than refugees escaping the war at home, now in its 13th year. Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group, a top ally of Assad, has made such an allegation.
“They have dollars and they are sending those dollars to relatives in Syria,” Nasrallah said in a speech on Monday.
Lebanese security agents have in the past weeks raided shops and other businesses employing undocumented Syrian workers, and shut them down.
The European Union this month announced an aid package worth 1 billion euros — about $1.06 billion — of which about 200 million euros would go to security and border control, in an apparent bid to curb migration from Lebanon to Cyprus, Italy, and other parts of Europe.
While Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the aid, other officials described it as a bribe for tiny Lebanon to keep the refugees.
Parliament is to discuss the EU package on Wednesday, with lawmakers from the entire political spectrum expected to ramp up anti-refugee sentiment and call for more refugee returns and crackdowns.
Palestinian Truckers Fear for Safety After Aid Convoy for Gaza Wreckedhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5016936-palestinian-truckers-fear-safety-after-aid-convoy-gaza-wrecked
Egyptian Red Crescent members and volunteers gather next to a truck carrying humanitarian aid as it drives through the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt October 22, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer
Palestinian Truckers Fear for Safety After Aid Convoy for Gaza Wrecked
Egyptian Red Crescent members and volunteers gather next to a truck carrying humanitarian aid as it drives through the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt October 22, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer
Palestinian hauliers said on Tuesday they feared for the security of aid convoys to Gaza, a day after Israeli protesters wrecked trucks carrying humanitarian supplies bound for the enclave, which is facing a severe hunger crisis.
Footage circulated on social media showed at least one burning truck while other images showed trucks wrecked and stripped of their loads, which lay strewn over the road near Tarqumiya checkpoint outside Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
"Yesterday there was coordination for 70 trucks of aid to go the Gaza Strip," said Waseem Al-Jabari, Head of the Hebron Food Trade Association.
"While the trucks were uploaded with products at the crossing settlers attacked the trucks and they destroyed the products and set fire in trucks," he said, saying Israeli soldiers had stood by as the attack took place.
Monday's incident was claimed by a group calling itself Order 9, which said it had acted to stop supplies reaching Hamas and accusing the Israeli government of giving "gifts" to the group.
No comment was available from the Israeli military. The Israeli police said the incident, in which a number of people were arrested, was being investigated, Reuters reported.
The violent protest drew condemnation from Washington, which has urged Israel to step up deliveries of aid into Gaza to alleviate a growing humanitarian crisis in the enclave, seven months since the start of the war.
Palestinians and human rights groups have long accused the Israeli military and police of deliberately failing to intervene when settlers attack Palestinians in the West Bank.
Adel Amer, a member of the West Bank-based hauliers' union, said around 15 trucks had been damaged by Israeli protestors who beat some drivers and caused about $2 million worth of damage.
"The drivers are now refusing to take goods to Gaza because they're afraid," he said. "It's a disaster here because of the settlers."
Even when the military was present, the convoys were still at risk, he said. "The army says we cannot do anything to the settlers."
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