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Palestinian Official to Asharq Al-Awsat: European Recognitions a First Step towards Statehood

Warm applause from members of the Spanish government for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after he announced recognition of the State of Palestine (AFP)
Warm applause from members of the Spanish government for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after he announced recognition of the State of Palestine (AFP)
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Palestinian Official to Asharq Al-Awsat: European Recognitions a First Step towards Statehood

Warm applause from members of the Spanish government for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after he announced recognition of the State of Palestine (AFP)
Warm applause from members of the Spanish government for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after he announced recognition of the State of Palestine (AFP)

Leader in the Fatah movement, Mounir Al-Jaghoub, said that the strong Saudi pressure and Arab diplomacy in the past few months had a major role in influencing the three European countries, Spain, Norway, and Ireland, to recognize the Palestinian state.
Al-Jaghoub noted that several reasons led to this recognition, including the strong Saudi position regarding the establishment of the Palestinian state, Arab and Palestinian diplomacy, and the feeling of remorse in many countries that were unable to stop the Israeli crimes.
Norway, Spain, and Ireland announced the recognition of the State of Palestine, to come into effect on May 28, in a step that the Palestinians considered a strong support for the two-state solution.
The decisions came a few weeks after the meeting of the ministerial committee assigned by the joint extraordinary Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh, which was chaired by Saudi Arabia, and attended by foreign ministers of several countries, including the three European states.
The meeting discussed the recognition of the Palestinian state and the necessity to adopt a comprehensive approach towards a reliable and irreversible path to implementing the two-state solution in accordance with international law and agreed upon standards.
“Saudi Arabia has great political power. It has a pivotal and pressing role, and enjoys a strong economy,” the Palestinian official underlined.
The Palestinians widely welcomed the tripartite recognition of their state, describing it as a “historic moment,” but Israel pledged that the consequences would affect the Palestinians and the relevant countries.
Tel Aviv recalled its ambassadors to Ireland, Spain and Norway “to conduct emergency consultations,” and later rebuked the ambassadors of these countries to Israel. Israeli sources said that the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs is considering taking further diplomatic steps against Norway, Ireland and Spain, “including canceling the official visit to Israel and entry visas for diplomats.”
President Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor for international relations, Riyad al-Maliki, said that the recognition of the State of Palestine by Spain, Norway, and Ireland is a pressure card on the Security Council countries to deal responsibly and seriously with the Palestinian request to become a “permanent member” of the United Nations.
Meanwhile, as Portugal was expected to join the rest of the European countries, Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel said on Thursday that his country would maintain the position taken by the previous socialist government, which resigned last year, to be a mediator in the peace process while awaiting the right time to make this decision.
The Portuguese Foreign Ministry spokesman had stated that his country supports a two-state solution to the Middle East crisis, but does not consider the present time to be appropriate to issue this decision.

 

 

 

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Arab World

Water Rationing, Rubbish Pile-up Raise Disease Fears in Yemen’s Besieged Taiz

A woman and children wait to fill jerrycans with drinking water from a charity tank in the southwestern city of Taiz, Yemen, October 20, 2026. (Reuters)
A woman and children wait to fill jerrycans with drinking water from a charity tank in the southwestern city of Taiz, Yemen, October 20, 2026. (Reuters)
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Water Rationing, Rubbish Pile-up Raise Disease Fears in Yemen’s Besieged Taiz

A woman and children wait to fill jerrycans with drinking water from a charity tank in the southwestern city of Taiz, Yemen, October 20, 2026. (Reuters)
A woman and children wait to fill jerrycans with drinking water from a charity tank in the southwestern city of Taiz, Yemen, October 20, 2026. (Reuters)

Families have started rationing water in and around Yemen's Taiz city, where renewed fighting has disrupted fuel supplies and access to water systems serving 3 million people, aid groups and UN agencies said.

Meanwhile, mounting piles of rubbish along major roads are raising fears of disease outbreaks in the city, Yemen's third-largest.

Fighting between the legitimate government and the Iran-allied terrorist Houthi militia since September has cut key supply routes, including the Taiz-Aden corridor, worsening shortages of water, food and fuel in and around the city.

The lack of fuel is hampering the operation of water pumps and hospitals, while disruption to waste collection has left rubbish piled along roads of the city, a stronghold of anti-Houthi forces which is now under siege by the militants.

The Taiz governorate hosts nearly half of the ‌250,000 people displaced by ‌the latest escalation, aid groups said.

"The state of the rubbish in the ‌city ⁠is very wretched, ⁠and the build-up is terrible, like nothing before,” Taiz resident Abdelbari al-Qadi told Reuters.

Sanitation worker Ali Ahmed said authorities could no longer go to the main dumping site because of clashes, and they were forced to burn it in the streets.

People inspect damage at a house hit by a Houthi missile in the southwestern city of Taiz, Yemen October 21, 2026. (Reuters)

'EXTREMELY DANGEROUS SITUATION' FOR CHILDREN, SAYS RELIEF OFFICIAL

Families are rationing drinking water as diesel shortages hobble pumping stations and sanitation systems, said Akhil Iyer, UNICEF's representative in Yemen.

"I get the water with difficulty. We wait in queues from the morning until our turn comes,” Alaa Khalil told Reuters while people queued to fill jerry cans in Taiz, where most ⁠residents depend on trucked water.

Access to the Al-Dhubab aquifer, a major source of ‌trucked water for Taiz, has been restricted, while fuel disruptions have affected ‌pumps, creating a severe water crisis, said Wathiq Aghbari, director general of the Local Water and Sanitation Authority in the governorate.

Water ‌production in Taiz has fallen by about 50%, according to Save the Children.

“We find children in an ‌extremely dangerous situation where they are not able to have their basic needs satisfied. They are not able to access sufficient food and water and healthcare,” said Rishana Haniffa, Save the Children's country director for Yemen.

Aid groups are exploring other sources, including a shallow aquifer west of the city. The cost of a water truck has tripled from about 23,000 Yemeni rials ($14.80) before ‌the latest escalation to about 70,000 rials ($45), according to UNICEF.

CARE International says cash assistance is buying less food and water as prices rise.

“We feel the situation is ⁠really getting out of ⁠hand unless we able to negotiate access to have water tankers come in to the city,” said Iman Abdullahi, CARE Yemen country director.

A pile of garbage on a street in the southwestern city of Taiz, Yemen, October 19, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. (Reuters)

RUBBISH BUILD-UP 'WILL CAUSE DISEASES', SAYS HEALTH OFFICIAL

"The build-up of rubbish is very harmful and will cause diseases, whether respiratory or otherwise," said Abdulrahman al-Sabri, director of Taiz Governorate's Health Office, adding that dengue fever and cholera cases were spreading.

Cholera cases have tripled since early September from 221 to 683 this month, while hospitals face medicine shortages and 12 facilities have fuel supplies sufficient for only about four days, the World Health Organization said.

A doctor who asked not to be named for security reasons said some families could not reach healthcare facilities because of fighting around the city.

The Danish Refugee Council said the impact of deteriorating water and sanitation conditions could spread beyond Taiz city. It pointed to overstretched resources in crowded displacement sites across the governorates of Taiz, Lahj, Abyan and Aden.

The spread of disease could also worsen hunger in Taiz governorate, UNICEF said. It has identified 52,000 acutely malnourished children in Taiz so far this year. Road closures have halted UNICEF's deliveries of a therapeutic food for severely malnourished children in Taiz.

Arab World

Sudan’s Currency Tumbles to New Low as War Hammers Economy

People stand at a market in Omdurman, Sudan, September, 19, 2026. (Reuters)
People stand at a market in Omdurman, Sudan, September, 19, 2026. (Reuters)
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Sudan’s Currency Tumbles to New Low as War Hammers Economy

People stand at a market in Omdurman, Sudan, September, 19, 2026. (Reuters)
People stand at a market in Omdurman, Sudan, September, 19, 2026. (Reuters)

Sudan's currency ‌hit a new low of 10,000 Sudanese pounds to the dollar on Wednesday in parallel market trading, continuing a dramatic fall over recent months as wartime conditions take their toll on the economy.

The rapid 60% depreciation has heaped hardship on Sudanese still trying to regain their footing after devastating conflict and ‌forced displacement caused ‌by the war between ‌Sudanese ⁠armed forces and the ⁠paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, putting basic food items out of reach.

Sudan's official exchange rate remains stuck at 4,200 SDG to the dollar, a rate last seen on the parallel market ⁠in army-controlled areas in May.

A large ‌portion of ‌that fall has happened over the past month, ‌as the pound fell from a ‌previous low of 8,000, depreciating 20%. Prior to the start of the war in April 2023, the rate was about 600 ‌pounds to the dollar.

Currency traders cited import demands as a ⁠chief ⁠factor as the government increased the tightly controlled customs dollar, used to calculate duties, to more than 5,600 this week.

As the war continues Sudan has decreased production of key dollar earners while its chief export, gold, has increasingly been smuggled abroad. Meanwhile, the army-controlled government has said the war and reconstruction efforts require dollar-draining imports.

Arab World

France Says to Hold Conference for Lebanese Forces after Israeli Elections

French President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he speaks to members of the media on the day of the 9th Annual One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds (OPSWF) Summit, in Lusail, Qatar, 21 October 2026. EPA/BENOIT TESSIER
French President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he speaks to members of the media on the day of the 9th Annual One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds (OPSWF) Summit, in Lusail, Qatar, 21 October 2026. EPA/BENOIT TESSIER
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France Says to Hold Conference for Lebanese Forces after Israeli Elections

French President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he speaks to members of the media on the day of the 9th Annual One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds (OPSWF) Summit, in Lusail, Qatar, 21 October 2026. EPA/BENOIT TESSIER
French President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he speaks to members of the media on the day of the 9th Annual One Planet Sovereign Wealth Funds (OPSWF) Summit, in Lusail, Qatar, 21 October 2026. EPA/BENOIT TESSIER

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that this country will organise a conference to support the Lebanese armed forces after the Israeli elections this month, as truce talks between the two sides stall.

"We will also coordinate to carry out this work of support for the Lebanese armed forces and a conference will be set up in the coming weeks by France... I think it is useless to do it before the Israeli elections, but we will organise such a conference because it is unavoidable," he told reporters in Qatar.

Israel goes to the polls on October 27.

Lebanese authorities last year committed to disarming Hezbollah after months of cross-border hostilities culminated in a 2024 war between the group and Israel.

But Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war this year by attacking Israel, which responded with heavy strikes and a ground invasion.

In June, Lebanese and Israeli authorities signed a framework agreement which involves the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual Israeli withdrawal from territories it occupies, and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the area.

Hezbollah has rejected surrendering its weapons and the direct negotiations with Israel.