Wide Arab Participation Expected at Algeria Summit

Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Ambassador Hossam Zaki meets with Algerian officials on Thursday. (Algerian foreign ministry)
Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Ambassador Hossam Zaki meets with Algerian officials on Thursday. (Algerian foreign ministry)
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Wide Arab Participation Expected at Algeria Summit

Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Ambassador Hossam Zaki meets with Algerian officials on Thursday. (Algerian foreign ministry)
Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Ambassador Hossam Zaki meets with Algerian officials on Thursday. (Algerian foreign ministry)

Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Ambassador Hossam Zaki said he discussed with Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad Ramtane Lamamra the logistic arrangements and agenda of the upcoming League summit in Algeria.

In an interview with Algeria Press Service, Zaki said he expects wide participation by Arab leaders at the summit, which is scheduled for November.

He added that he discussed with Lamamra all issues related to the summit.

Everyone is aware that the meeting of Arab leaders at this time is very significant, he stressed, noting that the Arab League hasn’t met in person since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zaki hoped that the summit would achieve at least some of the hopes and aspirations of Arab peoples in issues related to stability, peace and security.

Moreover, he noted that the summit will be held as Algeria marks the anniversary of its revolution against French colonization.

“The Algerians and their Arab brothers will celebrate the occasion together,” Zaki said.

Addressing the Palestinian-Arab “reunion”, which is the slogan of the summit, he remarked that the event will act as a real starting point for more effective Arab work.

The current situation in the Arab world demands that greater efforts be exerted to achieve the reunion, he went on to say.

The Algerian leadership is very keen on this issue, he stressed.

On the division between Palestinian factions, Zaki said this is an “issue that pains us as Arabs.”

Algeria has taken its upon itself to host dialogue between Palestinians ahead of the summit.

A date has not been set yet for the talks.

Zaki stressed that efforts between Arab countries to achieve rapprochement between Palestinians has not ceased and “we hope Algerian efforts will help the years-long division.”



Israeli Security Minister Enters Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound ‘In Prayer’ for Gaza Hostages

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, in Jerusalem's Old City, December 26, 2024. (Itamar Ben-Gvir's spokesperson/Handout via Reuters)
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, in Jerusalem's Old City, December 26, 2024. (Itamar Ben-Gvir's spokesperson/Handout via Reuters)
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Israeli Security Minister Enters Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound ‘In Prayer’ for Gaza Hostages

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, in Jerusalem's Old City, December 26, 2024. (Itamar Ben-Gvir's spokesperson/Handout via Reuters)
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, in Jerusalem's Old City, December 26, 2024. (Itamar Ben-Gvir's spokesperson/Handout via Reuters)

Israel's ultranationalist security minister ascended to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Thursday for what he said was a "prayer" for hostages in Gaza, freshly challenging rules over one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East.

Israel's official position accepts decades-old rules restricting non-Muslim prayer at the compound, Islam's third holiest site and known as Temple Mount to Jews, who revere it as the site of two ancient temples.

Under a delicate decades-old "status quo" arrangement with Muslim authorities, the Al-Aqsa compound is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation and, under rules dating back decades, Jews can visit but may not pray there.

In a post on X, hardline Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said: "I ascended today to our holy place, in prayer for the welfare of our soldiers, to swiftly return all the hostages and total victory with God's help."

The post included a picture of Ben-Gvir walking in the compound, situated on an elevated plaza in Jerusalem's walled Old City, but no images or video of him praying.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office immediately released a statement restating the official Israeli position.

Palestinian group Hamas took about 250 hostages in its Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli tallies. In the ensuing war in Gaza, Israeli forces have killed over 45,300 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave.

Suggestions from Israeli ultranationalists that Israel would alter rules about religious observance at the Al-Aqsa compound have sparked violence with Palestinians in the past.

In August, Ben-Gvir repeated a call for Jews to be allowed to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, drawing sharp criticism, and he has visited the mosque compound in the past.

Ben-Gvir, head of one of two religious-nationalist parties in Netanyahu's coalition, has a long record of making inflammatory statements appreciated by his own supporters, but conflicting with the government's official line.

Israeli police in the past have prevented ministers from ascending to the compound on the grounds that it endangers national security. Ben-Gvir's ministerial file gives him oversight over Israel's national police force.