UN Renews Support to Political Process to Resolve Western Sahara Dispute

 Morocco’s Permanent representative to the UN Omar Hilale. (United Nations)
Morocco’s Permanent representative to the UN Omar Hilale. (United Nations)
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UN Renews Support to Political Process to Resolve Western Sahara Dispute

 Morocco’s Permanent representative to the UN Omar Hilale. (United Nations)
Morocco’s Permanent representative to the UN Omar Hilale. (United Nations)

The United Nations Special Political and Decolonization Committee, known as the Fourth Committee, adopted on Friday a resolution reiterating its support to the political process under the exclusive UN auspices to resolve the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara.

The resolution calls on all parties to cooperate fully with the UN Secretary-General and his personal envoy to achieve a “just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution” to the Moroccan Sahara issue.

It didn’t mention the referendum mentioned in previous resolutions adopted by the Security Council over the past two decades.

The UN General Assembly also welcomed this resolution.

The text supports the Security Council resolutions issued since 2007, which have enshrined the pre-eminence of the autonomy initiative presented by Morocco.

The executive body and the international community welcomed the initiative as a serious and credible initiative for the final settlement of this regional dispute within the framework of the kingdom’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The text also supports the recommendations of resolutions 2440, 2468, 2494 and 2548, enshrined in resolution 2602, adopted on October 29, 2021, which determine the parameters of the solution to the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara, namely a political solution that is realistic, pragmatic, sustainable and based on compromise.

These Security Council resolutions also commend the measures and initiatives taken by Morocco to promote and protect human rights in its southern provinces, and the role played by the National Human Rights Council Commissions in Laayoune and Dakhla, as well as Morocco's interaction with the mechanisms of the UN Human Rights Council.

They also reiterate the request of the UN executive body to register and census the populations of the Tindouf camps, and demand the deployment of the necessary efforts to this end.



Israeli Security Service Says 60 Hamas Members Arrested in West Bank

An Israeli military vehicle uses a laser, on the day of an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle uses a laser, on the day of an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israeli Security Service Says 60 Hamas Members Arrested in West Bank

An Israeli military vehicle uses a laser, on the day of an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
An Israeli military vehicle uses a laser, on the day of an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)

Israel's security service said Sunday it had broken up a network of Hamas militants in the occupied West Bank suspected of planning attacks, arresting 60 of the group's members.

The Shin Bet internal security agency said in a statement that "a significant, complex, and large-scale Hamas infrastructure was exposed" in the West Bank town of Hebron, AFP reported.

It said it broke up 10 militant cells that "operated to carry out attacks in various formats in the immediate time frame".

Hamas leaders "worked to recruit, arm, and train additional Hamas operatives from the area to carry out shooting and bombing attacks against Israeli targets", according to the statement.

Shin Bet said the three-month joint operation with the military and police was its biggest investigation in the West Bank "in the past decade".

It said terrorism charges were being filed against the suspects.