Middle East & North Africa

13 Feb 2023; MEMO: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the situation in Jerusalem affects the whole world, adding that there is a pressing need to stay away from unilateral and provocative actions.

In a speech to in Arab League's session in support of Jerusalem, Guterres stressed that the United Nations' position is clear and that the status of Jerusalem cannot be changed through unilateral measures, including Israeli settlement activities.

ADIYAMAN, Turkey (AP) — Thousands who survived the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria a week ago are pondering what comes next. While many have been evacuated from the devastated region, others are staying by wrecked homes and as the search for missing loved ones continues.

Rescuers found a woman alive 174 hours after the first quake struck, but reports of rescues were coming less often as the time since the quake reaches the limits of the human body’s ability to survive without water, especially in freezing temperatures.

13 Feb 2023; MEMO: On Sunday ten trucks carrying relief materials, food and tents entered northwest Syria almost a week after a devastating earthquake brought entire apartment blocks to the ground and killed at least 33,000 people here and in southern Turkiye.

For the first four days the road leading to the only crossing through which humanitarian aid enters this region, Bab Al-Hawa, was destroyed by the quake and nothing could get through.

13 Feb 2023; MEMO: Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday told the Arab League that he is going to ask the UN to grant Palestine full membership, and call on international courts and organisations to protect Palestinians, Wafa news agency reported.

This came during a conference on Jerusalem held in Cairo and attended by several Arab leaders, including Egypt's Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Jordan's King Abdullah II.

12 Feb 2023; MEMO: Palestinian artist, Abrar Sabbah, who received appreciation for her drawing against the provocative cartoon of the French Charlie Hebdo magazine mocking the earthquake disaster in Turkiye, stated she wanted to convey a message of support for Turkiye.

French magazine, Charlie Hebdo, has sparked outrage with a cartoon it published mocking Turkiye after two deadly earthquakes hit the country on Monday.

JERUSALEM, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Three Palestinians were injured on Sunday by Israeli forces during an arrest raid in the northern West Bank, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.

According to a statement released by the Israeli police, the troops were carrying out an operation in the city of Jenin and arrested Jibril Zubeidi, an "operative" with the Tanzim, a militant faction of the Palestinian Fatah movement.

CAIRO (AP) — Dozens of leaders and senior officials from Arab and Islamic countries warned on Sunday Israeli actions in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank could worsen regional turmoil, as violence surges between Israel and the Palestinians.

The meeting in Cairo was hosted by the Arab League and attended by President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas along with many foreign ministers and senior officials.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the street in several cities across the country Saturday, protesting judicial overhaul plans by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

Critics say measures introduced by the new hard-line government would weaken the Supreme Court, limit judicial oversight and grant more power to politicians. Protesters say that would undermine democracy.

ANTAKYA, Turkey (AP) — When war broke out in Ukraine, Aydin Sisman’s relatives there fled to the ancient city of Antakya, in a southeastern corner of Turkey that borders Syria.

They may have escaped one disaster, but another found them in their new home.

They were staying with Sisman’s Ukrainian mother-in-law when their building collapsed last Monday as a 7.8 magnitude earthquake leveled much of Antakya and ravaged the region in what some in Turkey are calling the disaster of the century.

ANTAKYA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish justice officials targeted more than 130 people allegedly involved in shoddy and illegal construction methods as rescuers extricated more survivors, including a pregnant woman and two small children, six days after a pair of earthquakes collapsed thousands of buildings.

The death toll from the 7.8 magnitude and 7.5 magnitude quakes that hit southeastern Turkey and northern Syria nine hours apart on Feb. 6 rose to 33,179 on Sunday and was certain to keep increasing as search teams locate more bodies in the rubble.