Regional Settlement Encourages Iraq PM to Rein in Factions

This handout photo taken and released by the Turkish presidential press service shows Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani giving a joint press conference with the Turkish president after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara on March 21, 2023. (Handout/ Turkish Presidential Press Service / AFP)
This handout photo taken and released by the Turkish presidential press service shows Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani giving a joint press conference with the Turkish president after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara on March 21, 2023. (Handout/ Turkish Presidential Press Service / AFP)
TT

Regional Settlement Encourages Iraq PM to Rein in Factions

This handout photo taken and released by the Turkish presidential press service shows Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani giving a joint press conference with the Turkish president after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara on March 21, 2023. (Handout/ Turkish Presidential Press Service / AFP)
This handout photo taken and released by the Turkish presidential press service shows Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani giving a joint press conference with the Turkish president after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara on March 21, 2023. (Handout/ Turkish Presidential Press Service / AFP)

The agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore diplomatic relations is expected to have an impact on Iraq and its various factions.

Political circles are waiting to see what that impact will be, while head of the Sadrist movement, cleric Moqtada al-Sadr awaits the right opportunity to declare that he is coming out of political retirement.

Iraqi sources said the settlement is encouraging Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to “tighten his relations with armed Shiite factions”.

Meanwhile, decision-makers in Baghdad, most notably the pro-Iran Coordination Framework, are adjusting with and seeking to benefit from the calm that has prevailed after the Saudi-Iran deal was announced earlier this month.

Sudani has received “regional encouragement” to contain the factions. This will probably lead to a change in balances of power among Shiite forces in Iraq, possibly even lead to new alliances in the next parliamentary elections, predicted the sources.

It remains to be seen whether Sadr has the cards that would allow him to rein in his rival, the Coordination Framework, which has become a force to reckon with in Iraqi politics.

Sources close to Sadr believe that the regional settlement will not have a long-term impact in Iraq. “The cleric is focusing his attention on reading the internal scene and waiting for his moment to act to create a new political factor in the coming phase,” they explained.

Amid the speculation, the ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria to Iraq met in Baghdad last week.

A trusted told Asharq Al-Awsat that media close to Tehran received “instructions to cease attacking Gulf countries and figures.”

It added that the instructions also called for avoiding escalation and fueling tensions over regional issues, such as the situation in Yemen.

Also last week, the Baghdad and Erbil governments reached an agreement over the payment of salaries of Kurdistan Region employees. Informed sources said the agreement was part of a deal “approved by the Coordination Formation and a positive consequence of the settlement between Saudi Arabia and Iran.”

Framework MPs said the agreement would pave the way for a political alliance at the expense of the Sadrist movement.

Other sources revealed that Erbil received “guarantees from regional powers to resolve its situation in Iraq and the region and to seize the opportunities created in wake of the deal between Riyadh and Tehran.”

A Shiite political source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Framework is prepared to “consolidate new rules for political life in Iraq and that the leaders of its parties believe the situation is very ripe to carry out what is necessary.”

However, he believed that Sadr “will not allow the Framework free reign away from his influence,” predicting that the cleric may soon return to political life.

Sadr had recently ordered prominent members of his movement against traveling abroad during the holy fasting month of Ramadan because they needed to be present at “very important meetings.”



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)
TT

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.