PA Threatens Legal Action against US Ambassador to Israel

Rubble from a demolished building is seen in the Silwan neighborhood near Jerusalem. (Wafa)
Rubble from a demolished building is seen in the Silwan neighborhood near Jerusalem. (Wafa)
TT
20

PA Threatens Legal Action against US Ambassador to Israel

Rubble from a demolished building is seen in the Silwan neighborhood near Jerusalem. (Wafa)
Rubble from a demolished building is seen in the Silwan neighborhood near Jerusalem. (Wafa)

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is threatening to sue outgoing US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman in international courts for recognizing the City of David settlement project in the city of Jerusalem.

Known as the Silwan neighborhood, the area has been witnessing massive political and settler efforts to Judaize it. It has been called City of David in a blatant effort to rid it of its Palestinian residents, who remain undeterred. The neighborhood has consequently witnessed almost daily clashes between locals and settlers.

In a statement on Tuesday, the PA’s foreign ministry said that all of East Jerusalem is Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, and “it is the eternal capital of the State of Palestine despite Friedman and his outgoing administration, which has deviated from every legal, diplomatic or ethical norm.”

It considered that “Friedman's bigoted statements are a flagrant violation of international legitimacy and its resolutions, and international law and diplomatic traditions.”

The Ministry affirmed that it will take responsibility to follow up on this matter with legal experts and the concerned authorities to discuss the possibility of holding Friedman accountable before international and specialized courts.

At a ceremony Monday, Friedman and Paul Packer, Chairman of the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, dedicated a plaque to honor the City of David.

“I’ve often wondered, what monuments inspired our Founding Fathers?” Friedman asked during the ceremony.

“When the drafters of the Declaration of Independence proclaimed that our Creator had endowed each and every American with certain unalienable rights, what monuments inspired them? I suggest that those monuments are located right here, in the ancient City of Jerusalem,” he added.

Friedman’s observation and recognition were rejected by the PA as “illegal, invalid … and reflects Friedman’s intentions and the dark ideology he tries to attach not only to his country, but to the American constitution and principles, and to employ them for the benefit of the Israeli narrative in Jerusalem.”

Friedman was the first sitting US Ambassador to tour the City of David and has since then visited with numerous senior US officials.



Iraq's Kurdish Oil Exports Restart is Not Imminent

An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP
An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP
TT
20

Iraq's Kurdish Oil Exports Restart is Not Imminent

An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP
An oil field in Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Kurdistan government media/AFP

A restart of Iraq's Kurdish oil exports is not imminent, sources close to the matter said on Friday, despite Iraq's federal government saying on Thursday that shipments would resume immediately.

Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government have been in negotiations since February to end a stand-off that has halted flows from the north of the country to Türkiye's port of Ceyhan. The KRG was producing about 435,000 barrels per day (bpd) before the pipeline closure in March 2023, Reuters reported.

On Thursday the federal government said that Iraqi Kurdistan would resume oil exports immediately through the pipeline to Türkiye's despite drone attacks that have shut down half of the region's output.

But on Friday a source at APIKUR, a group of oil companies working in Kurdistan, said that a restart depended on the receipt of written agreements. Another at KAR Group, which operates the pipeline, said that no preparations had been made for a restart.

Baghdad and the companies have not yet agreed how to restart the exports, a KRG government source said, while a source at Türkiye's Ceyhan said there was also no preparation at the terminal for a restart of flows.

On Thursday, a statement from KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said the government had approved a joint understanding with the federal government and it was awaiting financial details.

Similar agreements in the past failed to secure a resumption in exports and it remains unclear if this deal will succeed.

Oil companies working in Kurdistan have previously demanded that their production-sharing contracts should remain unchanged and their debts of nearly $1 billion be settled under any agreement.

Oilfields in Iraqi Kurdistan have been attacked by drones this week, with officials pointing to Iran-backed militias as the likely source of the attacks, although no group has claimed responsibility.

They are the first such attacks on oilfields in the region and coincide with the first attacks in seven months on shipping in the Red Sea by Iran-aligned Houthi militants in Yemen.

On Thursday a strike hit an oilfield operated by Norway's DNO in Tawke, the region's counter-terrorism service said.

It was the week's second strike on a site operated by DNO, which operates the Tawke and Peshkabour oilfields in the Zakho area that borders Türkiye.

No casualties have been reported, but oil output in the region has been cut by between 140,000 bpd and 150,000 bpd, two energy officials said.