Lebanese Parliament Speaker Does Not Mourn Resigned Govt.

Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri gestures as he arrives to attend a meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon May 6, 2020. (Reuters)
Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri gestures as he arrives to attend a meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon May 6, 2020. (Reuters)
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Lebanese Parliament Speaker Does Not Mourn Resigned Govt.

Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri gestures as he arrives to attend a meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon May 6, 2020. (Reuters)
Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri gestures as he arrives to attend a meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon May 6, 2020. (Reuters)

The government of Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab did not have another choice but to resign, according to parliamentary sources that spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat.

The sources said that President Michel Aoun contacted Speaker Nabih Berri, with whom he discussed the latter’s call for a parliamentary session to hold the government accountable for its failure to deal with the tragedy that struck Beirut as a result of the devastating explosion.

According to the sources, Aoun urged Berri to postpone the session to a later date, because holding it would overthrow the government; but Berri insisted on his position. A number of his visitors quoted him as saying: “We will not feel sorry for its resignation, because it should bear responsibility, instead of washing its hands of its negligence and blaming the parliament.”

When Aoun was unable to convince Berri, he suggested that the session be held at the Grand Serail instead of the Baabda presidential palace, because he refused to be the first witness of the government’s resignation, the sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Diab announced his resignation during a cabinet session at the Grand Serial on Monday evening, without holding prior consultations to discuss the alternatives, which raised concerns over an extended caretaking period.

The parliamentary sources saw that the resigned premier has deliberately engaged in a dispute with Berri, without realizing the size of the political dangers involved. They said that Diab gave himself the authority to overstep the speaker and suggest the shortening of parliament’s term.

They also accused Diab of trying to ease the popular campaigns against him, by holding the parliament responsible for negligence over the massive explosion in the port of Beirut.

Berri affirmed that the direct responsibility lied with the government, which has to bear the impact of the destruction that devastated Beirut, the speaker’s visitors revealed.



Israeli Rights Group Accuses Prison Authority of Failing Palestinian Prisoners after Scabies Outbreak

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Rights Group Accuses Prison Authority of Failing Palestinian Prisoners after Scabies Outbreak

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)

An Israeli rights group said Monday that more than a quarter of all Palestinian prisoners currently held by Israel had contracted scabies since an outbreak was identified in May, and accused the prison authority of improper care and prevention.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said that more than 2,800 prisoners had caught the rash-like infection, with more than 1,700 still actively infected. The outbreak was seen in five different detention facilities, the group said. It was citing figures it said came from the Israel Prison Service.

The group said it filed a legal petition calling on the prison service “to eradicate the scabies epidemic,” accusing the authorities of failing “to implement widely recognized medical interventions necessary to contain the outbreak.”

It said that it halted the legal proceedings after it received a commitment from the prison service to address the outbreak. The prison service said the court had cancelled the petition because the prisons had shown they were dealing with the outbreak in a “systematic and thorough” way.

Nadav Davidovich, an Israeli public health expert who wrote a medical analysis for the group’s court proceedings, said the outbreak was a result of overcrowding in prisons and apparent neglect from prison authorities. He said such outbreaks could be prevented if prisoners were held “in more reasonable conditions.” If the first infections were treated as needed, such an outbreak could have been avoided, he said.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel also said that the Israel Prison Service had cited scabies as a reason for postponing lawyers' visits and court appearances for prisoners. It said those steps “violate prisoners’ rights and serve as punitive measures rather than public health responses.”

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the prisons, has boasted about hardening conditions to the bare minimum required by law.