Middle East & North Africa

21 April 2022; MEMO: The Arab League called on Israel on Thursday to end Jewish prayers inside the compound of Islam's third holiest shrine in East Jerusalem, warning it was a flagrant affront to Muslim feelings that could trigger wider conflict, Reuters reports.

They said, while Israel was restricting the right of worship of Muslims in Jerusalem's Old City, ultra-nationalist Jews under police protection were being allowed at the height of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

21 April 2022; MEMO: A collection of ancient Iranian artefacts have been returned to the country's National Museum after a 40-year search and a longstanding legal dispute.

Dating back almost 3,000 years, 51 decorated glazed bricks were made by the Mannean kingdom between the 10th-7th century BCE, which was based in today's north-western Iran.

Their discovery and repatriation "is a series of incredible adventures," Youssef Hassanzadeh, an archaeologist with the museum, told AFP.

21 April 2022; MEMO: Iran will not give up on its plans to avenge the 2020 US assassination of Quds Force Commander, Qassem Soleimani, despite "regular offers" from Washington to lift sanctions and provide other concessions in return, a top official said on Thursday, and Reuters reports.

Over the last year, Iran and the United States have had indirect talks in Vienna to revive a 2015 nuclear deal that was abandoned by Washington in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump and, subsequently, violated by Tehran.

21 April 2022; MEMO: Some NATO members want the war in Ukraine to continue for Russia to get weaker, Turkiye's Foreign Minister said Wednesday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

According to the report, Turkiye's Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said Turkiye did not think that the Russia-Ukraine war would last that long after the peace talks in Istanbul.

21 April 2022; MEMO: The West Bank and Gaza Strip crossings will be closed during the final days of the Jewish Passover holiday, according to the Israeli military.

The closures are standard practice during the Jewish holidays, in what the military claim is a preventative measure.

CAIRO, Apr 21 (NNN-MENA) – Egypt signed yesterday, two major commercial agreements, to boost the country’s production of green ammonia, in the Ain Sokhna region of Suez province, east of the capital Cairo, as the country aspires to upgrade its environment-friendly industry.

The Egyptian cabinet said in a statement that, the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), worth three billion U.S. dollars, with a consortium of EDF Renewables and ZeroWaste for the production of 350,000 tonnes of ammonia annually.

GAZA, Apr 21 (NNN-WAFA) – Israeli fighter jets last night bombarded a military facility belonging to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) military, in central Gaza, in response to a rocket from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel.

Hamas security officials said that, the facility was severely damaged, but no injuries were reported. It was the second Israeli airstrike on Hamas military facilities in Gaza in less than two days, due to rocket attacks on Israel.

AMMAN, April 21 (Reuters) - The Arab League called on Israel on Thursday to end Jewish prayers inside the compound of Islam's third holiest shrine in East Jerusalem, warning it was a flagrant affront to Muslim feelings that could trigger wider conflict.

They said while Israel was restricting the right of worship of Muslims in Jerusalem's Old City, ultra-nationalist Jews under police protection were being allowed at the height of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan to enter the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

Jerusalem, Apr 21 (AP) Palestinian militants fired several rockets into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip early on Thursday and Israeli aircraft hit militant targets in Gaza, part of an escalation that was eerily similar to the run-up to last year's Israel-Gaza war.

The cross-border strikes came against the backdrop of Israeli-Palestinian tensions that have been boiling in Jerusalem.

20 April 2022; MEMO: The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday called for international action to end "barbaric" Israeli attacks against Palestinian worshippers as tension continues to flare up in occupied East Jerusalem, Anadolu News Agency reports.