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Egypt Opens Rafah Crossing For Palestinians Wounded in Israeli Attacks

A relative stands by Palestinian girl Suzy Eshkuntana, 6, as she lies in bed at a hospital after being pulled from the rubble of a building amidst Israeli air strikes, in Gaza City on May 16, 2021. (Reuters)
A relative stands by Palestinian girl Suzy Eshkuntana, 6, as she lies in bed at a hospital after being pulled from the rubble of a building amidst Israeli air strikes, in Gaza City on May 16, 2021. (Reuters)
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Egypt Opens Rafah Crossing For Palestinians Wounded in Israeli Attacks

A relative stands by Palestinian girl Suzy Eshkuntana, 6, as she lies in bed at a hospital after being pulled from the rubble of a building amidst Israeli air strikes, in Gaza City on May 16, 2021. (Reuters)
A relative stands by Palestinian girl Suzy Eshkuntana, 6, as she lies in bed at a hospital after being pulled from the rubble of a building amidst Israeli air strikes, in Gaza City on May 16, 2021. (Reuters)

Egypt on Sunday exceptionally opened the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip in solidary with the Palestinian people to receive injured from the Gaza Strip.

A number of hospitals in North Sinai and Ismailia started gearing up and raising alert levels to receive and treat minor wounded Gazans while critical cases will be sent to other hospitals in Cairo.

The Egyptian Red Crescent said on Sunday that its teams were ready to receive the injured at any time, assuring that they are working around the clock.

The Rafah terminal is the only crossing point between Egypt and Gaza. The violent Israeli aggression on the Strip from May 7 to 16 has left 209 dead people, including 55 children and 33 women, in addition to 5,687 wounded persons.

Palestinian Ambassador in Cairo Diab Al-Louh announced that four teams were prepared to receive the wounded Palestinians at the North Sinai and Ismailia hospitals. He said Palestinian authorities were cooperating with the Egyptian Health Ministry and relevant authorities in this regard.

For his part, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Sunday that "concessions must be made in order to achieve peace".

Addressing the UN Security Council's virtual session on the crisis, Shoukry reiterated Cairo's call for an "immediate ceasefire" and urged the Security Council to "live up to its responsibility entrusted to it by the international community to solve the current crisis.”

Last Saturday, Shoukry received a phone call from his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Qureshi and the two sides reviewed ways to support efforts to reach a permanent and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on the principles of international legitimacy, on top of it is the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

According to Reuters, even before Sunday's reopening, Egypt had been picking up people wounded in Israeli bombardments at the crossing.

Egypt has so far sent 16 ambulances to pick up casualties, most of whom had suffered serious injuries that required immediate surgical procedures, medical sources said.

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Arab World

Will Lebanon Finally Elect a President after a 2-year Vacuum?

A ballot box is displayed inside the parliament building, a day ahead of Lebanon's parliament's attempt to elect a new head of state in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A ballot box is displayed inside the parliament building, a day ahead of Lebanon's parliament's attempt to elect a new head of state in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Will Lebanon Finally Elect a President after a 2-year Vacuum?

A ballot box is displayed inside the parliament building, a day ahead of Lebanon's parliament's attempt to elect a new head of state in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A ballot box is displayed inside the parliament building, a day ahead of Lebanon's parliament's attempt to elect a new head of state in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Lebanon's parliament is set to convene Thursday to attempt to elect a head of state for the 13th time during a presidential vacuum that's lasted over two years. This time, analysts said, they might succeed.
The session comes weeks after a tenuous ceasefire agreement halted a 14-month conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and as Lebanon's leaders seek international assistance for reconstruction, The Associated Press said.
The primary contenders for the presidency include the Lebanese army's commander, Joseph Aoun, who is widely seen as the preferred candidate of the United States and Saudi Arabia. The candidate previously supported by Hezbollah, Suleiman Franjieh, on Wednesday announced he was pulling out of the race and endorsed Aoun.
The Lebanese military has a key role in sustaining the ceasefire, as its forces are tasked with ensuring that Hezbollah pulls its fighters and weapons out of southern Lebanon.
Here's why the vacuum has dragged on for so long and what to expect Thursday:
Why has it taken so long to elect a president? Lebanon's fractious sectarian power-sharing system is prone to deadlock, both for political and procedural reasons. The small, crisis-battered Mediterranean country has been through several extended presidential vacancies, with the longest lasting nearly 2 1/2 years between May 2014 and October 2016. It ended when former President Michel Aoun was elected.
Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement party was at the time the main Christian ally of the Shiite political party and Hezbollah, although their alliance has since fractured.
After Aoun's term ended in October 2022, Hezbollah backed Franjieh, leader of the Marada Movement, a political party with a strong influence in northern Lebanon. Frangieh also had close ties with former Syrian president Bashar Assad.
While Joseph Aoun — no relation to the former president — never officially announced his candidacy, he was widely understood to be the main rival to Franjieh. Meanwhile, political factions opposed to Hezbollah put forward a series of candidates.
The last presidential vote in parliament in June 2023 broke down after the bloc led by Hezbollah withdrew following the first round of voting, where Franjieh came in behind the opposition candidate, Jihad Azour. The withdrawal broke the quorum in the 128-member house.
Michael Young, a senior editor at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said the current election “has taken a long time simply because parliament, reflecting the reality of the country, is very divided, and actually did not respect the constitutional provisions to hold electoral session open until a president was elected.”
The situation was exacerbated because parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, used parliamentary rules “more as an instrument of blockage than an instrument of consensus,” lifting sessions whenever he “did not want a majority to develop around the candidacies he did not support,” Young said.
Imad Salamey, a political science professor at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, noted that “Lebanon’s dependence on foreign support means external agreements often determine presidential outcomes.”
During the current impasse, a five-member committee consisting of the United States, France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar has held a series of meetings aimed at negotiating an end to the presidential vacuum.
Who are the main contenders? — Army commander Joseph Aoun, 60, is widely seen as the frontrunner to become Lebanon’s next president, particularly since Franjieh's withdrawal.
Aoun was appointed to the current post in March 2017 and had been set to retire in January 2024, but his term was extended twice during the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Aoun, who has kept a low profile and avoided media appearances, never formally announced his candidacy but is widely seen as the preferred candidate of the United States, which provides significant financial support to the Lebanese army.
Lebanon’s constitution technically bars a sitting army chief from becoming president. The ban has been waived before, but it means that Aoun faces additional procedural hurdles.
Under normal circumstances, a presidential candidate in Lebanon can be elected by a two-thirds majority in the first round of voting or by a simple majority in the second round if there is no winner in the first round. But because of the constitutional issues surrounding his election, Aoun would need a two-thirds majority even in the second round.
— Jihad Azour, who has been backed by factions opposed to Hezbollah, is a prominent economist who has served as the director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund since 2017. As finance minister from 2005 to 2008, he led some reforms including modernizing the tax and customs systems.
— Elias al-Baysari is the acting head of Lebanon's General Security agency, which is responsible for border control and historically seen as close to Hezbollah. His career in national security began in 1986 when he joined the Lebanese army. His early roles included key positions within Beirut’s port security and the army’s intelligence division. In 2005, al-Baysari joined General Security. He also holds a doctorate in law.
What are the chances a president will be elected Thursday? The withdrawal of Franjieh likely means “the deal is done” and Aoun will likely be elected, Young said.
The dynamics have changed since the last failed parliamentary vote.
“Hezbollah is in a weaker position due to escalating tensions with Israel, challenges in Syria and domestic discontent,” Salamey said. “It now needs the protection of a functioning state to rebuild and attract international aid.”
According to Young, “Lebanon today is effectively under some sort of foreign trusteeship.”
Lebanon needs American support to “contain Israeli actions” and ensure that Israel withdraws its forces from southern Lebanon as stipulated in the ceasefire, he said, while Saudi Arabia is “the key to Gulf funding for Lebanon’s reconstruction, particularly of Shiite areas. Iran does not have the means to rebuild what was destroyed by Israel in the recent conflict.”