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Meet Fahad Toonsi, Secretary-General of the Saudi Secretariat for the G20

Dr. Fahad bin Abdullah Toonsi.
Dr. Fahad bin Abdullah Toonsi.
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Meet Fahad Toonsi, Secretary-General of the Saudi Secretariat for the G20

Dr. Fahad bin Abdullah Toonsi.
Dr. Fahad bin Abdullah Toonsi.

Dr. Fahad bin Abdullah Toonsi was chosen as secretary-general of the Saudi Secretariat for the G20 for his prestigious career in the Royal Court.

Coming from a background in economy, management and engineering, he has been tasked with organizing the G20 in Saudi Arabia, the world’s premier economic event that brings together the leaders of the globe’s top economies.

Toonsi has been an adviser at the Royal Court since December 2018. His appointment as secretary-general did not come out of the blue, but it is based on his experience in overseeing the implementation of various initiatives and programs that are part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

In 2011, he graduated with a bachelor’s in production engineering and mechanical systems design from the College of Engineering at King Abdul Aziz University. He then earned a master’s degree in international business management from London’s prestigious King’s College. He obtained a doctorate in financial economics and corporate governance from the same university in 2008.

Toonsi has presented several researches and studies on global governance. One tackled global governance in wake of the 2011 financial crisis and another in 2010 covered the application of governance systems in companies operating in the Middle East and North Africa. Toonsi has participated in numerous seminars and scientific conferences, including one on governance solutions held in the United States in 2014.

Toonsi has been the secretary-general of the Strategic Management Office of Vision 2030 and the secretary-general of the boards of directors for megaprojects which have been launched by the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund: Qiddiya, Neom, AMAALA and the Red Sea Project.

From 2013 to 2015, Toonsi worked at the Saudi Crown Prince’s diwan as an advisor on governance in tackling affairs at councils and committees. He has been active in contributing to the development of projects chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, the MiSK Foundation and Ministry of Defense.

Toonsi’s work has not been limited to Saudi Arabia, but he has been involved as manager on international corporate governance projects in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Toonsi was the first to reveal Crown Prince Mohammed’s idea to develop a logo for Saudi Arabia’s presidency of the G20.

In February, he revealed that the general secretariat of the G20 had approached various global companies for the design and many proposals were rejected. He said that he then met with the Crown Prince to discuss what feature really represents Saudi Arabia and the idea to host a local competition in Saudi Arabia to come up with the design was born.

Ultimately, a design presented by Saudi Mohammed al-Hawas won and is now the G20 2020 logo. The logo features the al-Sadu, or an embroidery form common in the Arabian Peninsula.

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World

Russia Denies US Accusation it Violated Chemical Weapons Ban in Ukraine 

A handout picture made available by the Odesa Regional State Administration Oleh Kiper Telegram channel shows the storage site of the "Nova Poshta" postal service following a missile strike in Odesa, Ukraine, 29 April 2024. (EPA/Odesa Regional State Administration handout)
A handout picture made available by the Odesa Regional State Administration Oleh Kiper Telegram channel shows the storage site of the "Nova Poshta" postal service following a missile strike in Odesa, Ukraine, 29 April 2024. (EPA/Odesa Regional State Administration handout)
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Russia Denies US Accusation it Violated Chemical Weapons Ban in Ukraine 

A handout picture made available by the Odesa Regional State Administration Oleh Kiper Telegram channel shows the storage site of the "Nova Poshta" postal service following a missile strike in Odesa, Ukraine, 29 April 2024. (EPA/Odesa Regional State Administration handout)
A handout picture made available by the Odesa Regional State Administration Oleh Kiper Telegram channel shows the storage site of the "Nova Poshta" postal service following a missile strike in Odesa, Ukraine, 29 April 2024. (EPA/Odesa Regional State Administration handout)

Russia on Thursday denied a US accusation that its forces in Ukraine had violated an international ban on chemical weapons by using substances including a prohibited choking agent.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow remained bound by its obligations under the treaty that bans chemical weapons.

The United States on Wednesday accused Russia of violating it by deploying the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and using riot control agents "as a method of warfare" in Ukraine.

"As always, such announcements are absolutely unfounded and are not supported by anything. Russia has been and remains committed to its obligations under international law in this area," Peskov said.

Sports

Tottenham Manager Postecoglou Jokes He’s Moving to Sweden for a Life without VAR 

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou looks on during his teams 3-2 loss against Arsenal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur against Arsenal FC in London, Britain, 28 April 2024. (EPA)
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou looks on during his teams 3-2 loss against Arsenal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur against Arsenal FC in London, Britain, 28 April 2024. (EPA)
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Tottenham Manager Postecoglou Jokes He’s Moving to Sweden for a Life without VAR 

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou looks on during his teams 3-2 loss against Arsenal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur against Arsenal FC in London, Britain, 28 April 2024. (EPA)
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou looks on during his teams 3-2 loss against Arsenal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur against Arsenal FC in London, Britain, 28 April 2024. (EPA)

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou joked Wednesday that he would move to Sweden because of its refusal to adopt VAR technology.

Most soccer leagues around the world use video assistant referees to determine offsides and other key calls. But Sweden is an outlier as the only one of Europe’s top-30 ranked leagues in holding out.

“Yeah, I’m moving there,” Postecoglou said. “I don’t have a job, I’m just moving there.”

VAR calls continue to be a contentious issue and despite Postecoglou’s concerns, his Tottenham team benefited from a major error earlier this season when Liverpool erroneously had a goal ruled out in a 2-1 loss to the Londoners.

The referees’ governing body in England quickly introduced changes to VAR after reviewing the errors that led to Luis Diaz having a goal disallowed, despite replays clearly showing he was onside.

But Postecoglou believes more reform is needed.

“I’d change a hell of a lot on it, but again I’ve said before that I think it’s changed the game materially, which I don’t think was the intention when it was brought in,” he said ahead of Spurs’ game against Chelsea in the Premier League on Thursday.

Arab World

EU Announces 1 Billion Euros in Aid for Lebanon amid a Surge in Irregular Migration

In this Monday, April 23, 2018 photo, Syrian refugee children play outside their family tents at a Syrian refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
In this Monday, April 23, 2018 photo, Syrian refugee children play outside their family tents at a Syrian refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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EU Announces 1 Billion Euros in Aid for Lebanon amid a Surge in Irregular Migration

In this Monday, April 23, 2018 photo, Syrian refugee children play outside their family tents at a Syrian refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
In this Monday, April 23, 2018 photo, Syrian refugee children play outside their family tents at a Syrian refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

The European Union announced on Thursday an aid package for Lebanon of 1 billion euros — about $1.06 billion — that will mostly go to strengthening border control to halt the flow of asylum seekers and migrants from the small, crisis-wracked country across the Mediterranean Sea to Cyprus and Italy.
The deal follows other recent deals by the EU to provide funds to countries such as Egypt, Tunisia and Mauritania to fortify their borders. It comes against a backdrop of increasing hostility toward Syrian refugees in Lebanon and a major surge in irregular migration of Syrian refugees from Lebanon to Cyprus.
European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the aid, which will be distributed between this year and 2027, during a visit to Beirut alongside Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.
Von der Leyen said the EU will also be “exploring how to work on a more structured approach to voluntary return to Syria in close cooperation with” the UN refugee agency, or UNHCR, and called for more international support for humanitarian and early recovery projects in Syria.
Europe will also continue to maintain “legal pathways” for resettlement of refugees in Europe, she said.
Lebanon's Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati praised the aid package, saying that "Lebanon’s security is security for European countries and vice versa.”
“Any blowup related to the issue of displaced persons will not be limited to Lebanon but will extend to Europe to become a regional and international crisis,” he said.
Lebanon, which has been in the throes of a severe financial crisis since 2019, hosts nearly 785,000 registered Syrian refugees and hundreds of thousands more who are unregistered, the highest population of refugees per capita in the world.
Lebanese political officials have been calling for years for the international community to either resettle the refugees in other countries or assist in returning them to Syria — voluntarily or not. Lebanese security forces have stepped up deportations of Syrians over the past year.
Tensions around the presence of refugees have further flared since an official with the Christian nationalist Lebanese Forces party, Pascal Suleiman, was killed last month in what military officials said was a botched carjacking by a Syrian gang. The incident prompted outbreaks of anti-Syrian violence by vigilante groups.
Meanwhile, Cypriot authorities have been complaining that their country has been overwhelmed by a wave of irregular migration of Syrian asylum seekers, many of them coming on boats from Lebanon.
The Lebanon office of the UNHCR said it had verified 59 “actual or attempted” departures by boats carrying a total of 3,191 passengers from Lebanon between January and mid-April, compared to three documented boat movements carrying 54 passengers in the same period last year.
Usually, few boats attempt the crossing in the winter, when the passage becomes more dangerous. In total, UNHCR recorded 65 boat departures carrying 3,927 passengers in all of 2023.
Cyprus has taken increasingly aggressive tactics to halt the flow of migrants. Last month, it suspended processing of Syrian asylum applications, and human rights groups accused the Cypriot coast guard of forcibly pushing back five boats carrying about 500 asylum seekers coming from Lebanon.
Christodoulides hailed Thursday's visit as a “historic day” and praised the EU decision, calling for European officials to go farther and declare some areas of Syria safe for return.
“The current situation is not sustainable for Lebanon. It is not sustainable for Cyprus, it is not sustainable for the European Union,” he said.
The new funding announcement comes ahead of the annual fundraising conference for the Syrian crisis in Brussels later this month. After 13 years of civil war in Syria, donor fatigue has set in while the world’s attention is occupied by the humanitarian fallout of more recent conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

Sports

F1 Champion Senna Remembered on Imola Track 30 Years After His Death During San Marino GP 

People lay flowers at the grave of Brazilian F1 driver Ayrton Senna in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on May 1, 2024, during the 30th anniversary of his death. (AFP)
People lay flowers at the grave of Brazilian F1 driver Ayrton Senna in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on May 1, 2024, during the 30th anniversary of his death. (AFP)
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F1 Champion Senna Remembered on Imola Track 30 Years After His Death During San Marino GP 

People lay flowers at the grave of Brazilian F1 driver Ayrton Senna in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on May 1, 2024, during the 30th anniversary of his death. (AFP)
People lay flowers at the grave of Brazilian F1 driver Ayrton Senna in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on May 1, 2024, during the 30th anniversary of his death. (AFP)

The 30th anniversary of three-time F1 champion Ayrton Senna’s death was commemorated Wednesday with a memorial on the Imola track where he crashed during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali was joined Wednesday by hundreds of fans, politicians from Brazil and Italy, plus a representative from Austria to also recall fellow Formula One driver Roland Ratzenberger, who died a day earlier during qualifying.

At 2:17 p.m. (1217 GMT), a minute of silence was held and flowers laid down at the Tamburello curve to observe the exact time and place that the 34-year-old Senna crashed into a concrete wall at about 300 kph (185 mph).

Then flowers were also laid down at the Villeneuve corner only slightly further down the track where the 33-year-old Ratzenberger crashed.

Senna, the Brazilian driver who won F1 titles in 1988, 1990 and 1991, was leading the race in Imola when he crashed.

Ratzenberger was an F1 rookie from Austria.

“They are part of sports history and history in general for what they represented,” Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said.

The attention around Senna’s death brought about safety improvements at the Imola track and throughout F1, resulting in shorter straights, more room around dangerous turns and less powerful engines.

Sports

Fiery Rublev Keeps a Cool Head to Move on in Madrid 

Tennis - Madrid Open - Park Manzanares, Madrid, Spain - May 1, 2024 Russia's Andrey Rublev celebrates winning his quarter final match against Spain's Carlos Alcaraz. (Reuters)
Tennis - Madrid Open - Park Manzanares, Madrid, Spain - May 1, 2024 Russia's Andrey Rublev celebrates winning his quarter final match against Spain's Carlos Alcaraz. (Reuters)
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Fiery Rublev Keeps a Cool Head to Move on in Madrid 

Tennis - Madrid Open - Park Manzanares, Madrid, Spain - May 1, 2024 Russia's Andrey Rublev celebrates winning his quarter final match against Spain's Carlos Alcaraz. (Reuters)
Tennis - Madrid Open - Park Manzanares, Madrid, Spain - May 1, 2024 Russia's Andrey Rublev celebrates winning his quarter final match against Spain's Carlos Alcaraz. (Reuters)

Andrey Rublev surprised himself by managing to stay calm during an intense battle with Carlos Alcaraz in the Madrid quarter-finals on Wednesday and the fiery Russian said his work on the mental side of the game was starting to pay off.

Rublev, who fought back from a set down to beat world number three Alcaraz 4-6 6-3 6-2, has struggled to keep his temper under control at times on tour.

The 26-year-old was defaulted in the Dubai Championships in March after a Russian-speaking official said he uttered an obscenity while screaming at a line judge, an accusation that the player denied.

In another match against Alcaraz in the ATP Finals last year, Rublev drew gasps from the Turin crown by repeatedly smashing his racket into his leg before wiping blood off his knee during a changeover.

He destroyed another racket after his shock defeat by Brandon Nakashima in Barcelona last month and had heated arguments with the chair umpire in Madrid last weekend, but the seventh seed said he was making efforts to address the issue.

"I can't believe I was able to stay calm throughout the match," Rublev told Sky Sports after downing defending champion Alcaraz. "I didn't say a word. Even I'm impressed by that."

Coming into Madrid on a four-match losing streak after early defeats in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Barcelona, Rublev looked back to his best against Alcaraz.

He said he had been working hard at staying cool in the heat of battle.

"I want to believe that I've been working on this because if not then I'm stupid," he added.

"After so many years, to not improve on this would mean that something is wrong with my head."

Rublev faces American Taylor Fritz in the semi-finals as he targets a second Masters title heading into the French Open that begins on May 26.

Sports

Bundesliga Pressure off Dortmund After Win over PSG 

Dortmund players celebrate with their supporters after winning the UEFA Champions League semi final, 1st leg match between Borussia Dortmund and Paris St Germain in Dortmund, Germany, 01 May 2024. (EPA)
Dortmund players celebrate with their supporters after winning the UEFA Champions League semi final, 1st leg match between Borussia Dortmund and Paris St Germain in Dortmund, Germany, 01 May 2024. (EPA)
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Bundesliga Pressure off Dortmund After Win over PSG 

Dortmund players celebrate with their supporters after winning the UEFA Champions League semi final, 1st leg match between Borussia Dortmund and Paris St Germain in Dortmund, Germany, 01 May 2024. (EPA)
Dortmund players celebrate with their supporters after winning the UEFA Champions League semi final, 1st leg match between Borussia Dortmund and Paris St Germain in Dortmund, Germany, 01 May 2024. (EPA)

The storm clouds that had been gathering for weeks over Borussia Dortmund lifted suddenly following their 1-0 Champions League semi-final first-leg win over Paris St Germain on Wednesday, with a spot in next season's top European club competition in the bag.

Coach Edin Terzic and his team had faced mounting criticism for weeks for their erratic domestic form, but they can now breathe a sigh of relief. They will go into next week's return leg with a slim advantage but equally importantly having earned Germany a fifth place in the competition for next season.

With three league games left to play, Dortmund are fifth, five behind fourth-placed RB Leipzig and 12 ahead of Eintracht Frankfurt in sixth, ensuring they are the beneficiaries of the additional spot.

Their domestic form this season has not matched their European success and with only one win in their last four Bundesliga matches, they looked set to miss out on next season's Champions League, especially after last week's 4-1 demolition by Leipzig.

They sensationally lost last season's league title on the final matchday.

But the atmosphere at the Signal Iduna Park on Saturday will be anything but subdued when they host Augsburg, with the prospect of a Champions League final and a spot in next season's competition enough to put a smile on every Dortmund fan's face.

"We covered up a miserable Bundesliga season with a good Champions League campaign," said Dortmund defender and Wednesday's man-of-the-match Mats Hummels.

"We are not shutting our eyes to this Bundesliga season but obviously we now want to go to Wembley."

The Champions League final in London could be a repeat of the 2013 edition when Dortmund lost to Bayern Munich in an all-German clash. The Bavarians on Tuesday drew 2-2 against Real Madrid in Munich in their first leg.

Bayern, who saw their 11-year league reign come to an end when Bayer Leverkusen secured the title last month, are in second place but also preoccupied with an ongoing search for a successor to coach Thomas Tuchel, who will leave at the end of the season.

They face in-form VfB Stuttgart, who are third five points behind, and in high spirits after securing their Champions League participation for next season following Dortmund's win that earned the fifth spot.

"Our VfB will play on European football's biggest stage next season," said club chairman Alexander Wehrle. "Qualifying for this event which promises magical European Cup nights for all fans is the result of excellent work from all involved."

Entertainment

Prince William and Kate Release Photo of Daughter Charlotte to Mark Ninth Birthday

Undated handout photo issued on May 1, 2023 by Kensington Palace of Princess Charlotte, taken in Windsor this weekend by her mother, The Princess of Wales, ahead of her eighth birthday on May 2, 2023. The Princess Of Wales/AP
Undated handout photo issued on May 1, 2023 by Kensington Palace of Princess Charlotte, taken in Windsor this weekend by her mother, The Princess of Wales, ahead of her eighth birthday on May 2, 2023. The Princess Of Wales/AP
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Prince William and Kate Release Photo of Daughter Charlotte to Mark Ninth Birthday

Undated handout photo issued on May 1, 2023 by Kensington Palace of Princess Charlotte, taken in Windsor this weekend by her mother, The Princess of Wales, ahead of her eighth birthday on May 2, 2023. The Princess Of Wales/AP
Undated handout photo issued on May 1, 2023 by Kensington Palace of Princess Charlotte, taken in Windsor this weekend by her mother, The Princess of Wales, ahead of her eighth birthday on May 2, 2023. The Princess Of Wales/AP

Prince William and his wife Kate released a picture of their daughter Charlotte to mark the princess's ninth birthday on Thursday.
In the photograph taken in the last few days by her mother, the Princess of Wales, Charlotte, the couple's second child, was pictured smiling happily in the garden of their home in Windsor, said Reuters.
"Happy 9th Birthday, Princess Charlotte!" a message on the couple's X account said. "Thank you for all of the kind messages today."
It has become tradition for Kensington Palace to release pictures taken by Kate, a keen amateur photographer, to mark birthdays and other family occasions.
However, a picture issued this year on Mother's Day in March was withdrawn by a number of news organizations, including Reuters, because it had been edited, something for which Kate later apologized.
That occurred shortly before the princess revealed she was having preventive chemotherapy after tests carried out in the wake of major abdominal surgery she underwent in January revealed that cancer had been present.
Heir to the throne William resumed official duties last month, but Kate will only return to the public spotlight when her medical team say she is well enough to do so.
King Charles returned to public-facing engagements this week for the first time since he was diagnosed with cancer in February.

World

South Korea Raises Diplomatic Alert Levels Citing North Korea Threats 

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches a football game while visiting Kim Il Sung Military University on the occasion of the 92nd founding anniversary of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army, in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 25, 2024, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches a football game while visiting Kim Il Sung Military University on the occasion of the 92nd founding anniversary of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army, in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 25, 2024, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters)
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South Korea Raises Diplomatic Alert Levels Citing North Korea Threats 

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches a football game while visiting Kim Il Sung Military University on the occasion of the 92nd founding anniversary of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army, in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 25, 2024, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches a football game while visiting Kim Il Sung Military University on the occasion of the 92nd founding anniversary of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army, in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 25, 2024, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters)

South Korea's foreign ministry on Thursday raised the terrorism alert level for five diplomatic offices in the region citing intelligence that North Korea may attempt to harm its officials.

The five locations include Seoul's embassies in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, as well as consulates in Vladivostok, Russia, and Shenyang, China, the ministry said in a statement.

The terrorism alert level was raised from Attention to Alert, the second highest among South Korea's four classifications, which indicates the chances of an attack are strong, the foreign ministry said.

Separately, South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it had a "number of indications that North Korea is preparing to carry out terrorist attacks against our diplomatic officers and citizens," but did not elaborate on the nature of the threats.

Pyongyang has dispatched agents to those countries to tighten surveillance of the South Korean missions, the NIS said.

The North Korean embassy in London did not respond to repeated phone calls for requests for comment.

The North's government-controlled media has criticized allegations of terrorism against it as US-led efforts to discredit opponents of Washington.

The foreign ministry statement also said South Korea's National Counter Terrorism Center held a meeting on Thursday to discuss measures to protect the diplomatic offices and officials who work there.

During the Cold War, North Korea was accused of carrying out several attacks on civilian targets, including bombings at a Seoul airport and a South Korean airliner in the 1980s.

The United States placed North Korea back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism in 2017, citing the killing of Kim Jong Nam, the older half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which was carried out with VX nerve agent at an airport in Malaysia.

World

Israeli Govt Gets New May 16 Deadline in Ultra-Orthodox Conscription Feud 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel on Oct. 28, 2023. (AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel on Oct. 28, 2023. (AP)
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Israeli Govt Gets New May 16 Deadline in Ultra-Orthodox Conscription Feud 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel on Oct. 28, 2023. (AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel on Oct. 28, 2023. (AP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured another reprieve in a long-running Israeli dispute over exemptions of ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service, with the Supreme Court on Thursday deferring the deadline for a new conscription plan to May 16.

The court, hearing appeals that described the decades-old waiver as discriminatory, had given March 31 as the original deadline. That was extended to April 30 at the request of the government, which argued it was busy waging the Gaza war, and which last week asked for a further deferral.

Netanyahu's coalition includes two ultra-Orthodox parties that regard the exemptions as key to keeping their constituents in religious seminaries and away from a melting-pot military that might test their conservative values.

The latest extension is shorter than that requested by the government, but may still spare Netanyahu a public reckoning over the combustible issue ahead of Israel's day of commemoration for fallen soldiers on May 13.

The holiday is expected to be especially fraught this year, amid an open-ended war in Gaza and knock-on fighting on other fronts that have exacted the worst Israeli casualties - mostly among teenaged draftees and reservists - in decades.

The ultra-Orthodox make up 13% of Israel's 10 million population, a figure expected to reach 19% by 2035 due to their high birth rates. Economists argue that the conscription waiver keeps some of the community unnecessarily out of the workforce, spelling a growing welfare burden for middle-class taxpayers.

Israel's 21% Arab minority are also mostly exempted from the draft, under which men and women are generally called up at age 18, with men serving 32 months and women 24 months.

Arab World

Palestinian Security Force Kills Gunman in West Bank 

Palestinian security forces and gunmen have exchanged gunfire several times in the last year, but deaths are rare. (Reuters file photo)
Palestinian security forces and gunmen have exchanged gunfire several times in the last year, but deaths are rare. (Reuters file photo)
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Palestinian Security Force Kills Gunman in West Bank 

Palestinian security forces and gunmen have exchanged gunfire several times in the last year, but deaths are rare. (Reuters file photo)
Palestinian security forces and gunmen have exchanged gunfire several times in the last year, but deaths are rare. (Reuters file photo)

Palestinian security officers killed a gunman in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, a rare intra-Palestinian clash whose circumstances were disputed and which the fighter's faction described as an Israeli-style "assassination".

Palestinian Authority security services spokesperson Talak Dweikat said a force sent to patrol Tulkarm overnight came under fire and shot back, hitting the gunman. He died from his wounds in hospital.

Videos circulated online, and which Reuters was not immediately able to confirm, showed a car being hit by gunfire.

A local armed group, the Tulkarm and Nour Shams Camp Brigades, claimed the dead man, Ahmed Abu al-Foul, as its member with affiliation to the militant group Islamic Jihad.

Al-Foul was "treacherously ... targeted in his car" without provocation, the brigades said in a statement. "This crime is just like any assassination by Israeli special forces."

President Mahmoud Abbas' PA wields limited self-rule in the West Bank, and sometimes coordinates security with Israel.

Parts of the territory have drifted into chaos and poverty, with the PA and Israel trading blame, especially since ties have been further strained by Israel's offensive in Gaza.

Hamas, an Islamic Jihad ally which rules the Gaza Strip and has chafed at Abbas' strategy of seeking diplomatic accommodation with Israel, denounced "the attacks by the PA’s security forces on our people and our resistance fighters".

Palestinian security forces and gunmen have exchanged gunfire several times in the last year, but deaths are rare.