Yemen’s Al-Alimi Reiterates Demand for Int’l Designation of Houthis as Terrorist

Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi meets with European officials in Riyadh on Tuesday. (Saba)
Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi meets with European officials in Riyadh on Tuesday. (Saba)
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Yemen’s Al-Alimi Reiterates Demand for Int’l Designation of Houthis as Terrorist

Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi meets with European officials in Riyadh on Tuesday. (Saba)
Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi meets with European officials in Riyadh on Tuesday. (Saba)

Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi reiterated on Tuesday his country’s demands for the international community to designate the Iran-backed Houthi militias as terrorist.

Al-Alimi received in Riyadh a delegation of the European Parliament headed by the Chair of the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, David McAllister.

He urged the delegation to take action by designating the Houthis as terrorist in view of its egregious practices and violations of international law that “have even surpassed the crimes committed by Al-Qaeda and ISIS terror groups and their allies in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.”

“We call on the EU to support the Leadership Council and the legitimate government in achieving reforms and alleviating the suffering of Yemeni citizens,” he said, according to the Yemeni news agency, Saba.

Al-Alimi and the delegation discussed the latest developments in Yemen and European efforts required to establish peace and stability, and fulfill the aspirations of the Yemeni people to restore state institutions and end the terrorist Houthi coup.

He expressed his gratitude to Europe’s support of the legitimate government and humanitarian efforts in easing the suffering of the people.

He stressed the importance of doubling international pressure on the terrorist Houthi militias, and supporting the reforms led by the Presidential Leadership Council and the government as an ideal option to bring peace and reduce the catastrophic repercussions of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

For its part, the EU delegation underscored its support for all efforts aimed at establishing peace and stability and alleviating human suffering in Yemen. It highlighted the importance of intense international pressure to revive the political process in the country.

On Monday, Alimi told Al Arabiya television that the legitimate government and the Leadership Council were dedicated to upholding the UN-brokered ceasefire, which ended in October, and other peace initiatives to end the war, despite constant Houthi breaches that left hundreds of government military personnel dead or injured.

The Houthis continue to refuse to extend the ceasefire and open roads in Taiz, he added.

“Today, the Houthis are continuing their war in Yemen proving to the Yemeni people first and then to the international community that they are not seeking peace,” Al-Alimi stated, accusing the militias of collaborating with terror groups, including ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

Moreover, he revealed that the relationship between the Houthis and Iran dates back to 1983, not 2000, when the Iranian government gave its backing to an armed group commanded by Badreddine al-Houthi, the father of the Houthi movement’s leader.

“The Iranian project in Yemen coincided with the emergence of Hezbollah in Lebanon,” Al-Alimi said.

He also accused the Houthis of freeing militants, including some Al-Qaeda operatives jailed for their involvement in the 2000 attack on the USS Cole destroyer, arming them, and then sending them to liberated areas to launch attacks against government troops.

He therefore praised the decision of the National Defense Council, which in October labeled the Houthis a terrorist group after they attacked oil terminals in the southern provinces of Hadramout and Shabwa.



Report Says Israeli Settlers Used Grazing to Grab Swathes of West Bank Land

20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)
20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)
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Report Says Israeli Settlers Used Grazing to Grab Swathes of West Bank Land

20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)
20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)

A report by Israeli settlement watchdogs says settlers have used grazing to seize control of 14 percent of the occupied West Bank through the establishment of shepherding outposts in recent years.

In their report, "The Bad Samaritan", Israeli NGOs Peace Now and Kerem Navot said that in the past three years, 70 percent of all land seized by settlers was "taken under the guise of grazing activities".

Settlers in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, use herding to establish a presence on agricultural lands used by Palestinian communities and gradually deny them access to these areas, according to the report.

To force Palestinians out, settlers resort to harassment, intimidation and violence, "with the backing of the Israeli government and military", the watchdogs said.

"Israeli authorities make living conditions very difficult, but settler violence is really the main trigger why people leave lately -- they have nothing to protect themselves", said Allegra Pacheco, director of the West Bank Protection Consortium, a group of international NGOs.

"People get very worried about their families and their safety", and have no recourse when settlers start occupying their lands, she told AFP.

Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to around 490,000 Israelis living in settlements and outposts considered illegal under international law.

Around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank.

On Friday, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that "Israeli settlers injured 23 Palestinians in one week, mainly in Bedouin and herding communities".

That same week, between March 11 and 17, "two Palestinian families were displaced, and at least two houses, eight vehicles and 180 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings were vandalized" in incidents involving settlers.

More than 60 entire Palestinian shepherding communities throughout the West Bank have been expelled using such methods since 2022, the report added.

These communities are overwhelmingly in the West Bank's Area C, which under the Oslo Accords signed in the 1990s falls under full Israeli control.

In recent months, several Israeli far-right politicians including some in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government have suggested taking advantage of the friendly US administration under President Donald Trump to annex part or all of the West Bank in 2025.

"The systematic and violent displacement of Palestinians from hundreds of thousands of dunam of land in recent years has undoubtedly laid the groundwork to facilitate such ambitions", the new report said of annexation, using a traditional measure of land area equivalent to 1,000 square meters.