Middle East & North Africa

23 March 2022; MEMO: The European Union has been withholding millions of euros in annual aid for the Palestinian Authority (PA) since 2020 after claiming school textbooks are anti-Semitic.

Since then, the European Commission has been conducting internal discussions on whether to condition its assistance to the PA on reforms to Palestinian textbooks.

The EU, the PA's largest single donor, helps pay the salaries of civil servants and fund numerous development projects and programmes.

23 March 2022; MEMO: The Moroccan armed forces are conducting joint manoeuvres with their French counterparts in the east of the country near the border with Algeria, the General Staff of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces said in a statement on Monday.

The Moroccan-French joint air-land exercise dubbed "Chergui 2022" has been taking place from 1-25 March in the Errachidia region in the east of the country.

23 March 2022; MEMO: Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and de facto ruler of the UAE, Mohammed Bin Zayed held a two-day summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

A statement issued by Bennett's office said: "The leaders discussed the ties between the three countries in the context of recent developments in the world and the region, and the ways to strengthen them on all levels."

TEHRAN, Mar 22 (NNN-TASNIM) – Iran’s nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, said yesterday that, Iran will never abandon its “peaceful” nuclear activities in the country.

Iran also pledged to “work diligently, to advance value-creating (nuclear) programmes” for Iranians, the chief of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI), was quoted as saying.

Speaking on the occasion of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, Eslami said, AEOI has made a comprehensive plan, to apply new nuclear technologies, to improving health, agricultural, industrial and environmental services.

TEHRAN, Mar 22 (NNN-TASNIM) – Iran’s nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, said yesterday that, Iran will never abandon its “peaceful” nuclear activities in the country.

Iran also pledged to “work diligently, to advance value-creating (nuclear) programmes” for Iranians, the chief of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI), was quoted as saying.

Speaking on the occasion of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, Eslami said, AEOI has made a comprehensive plan, to apply new nuclear technologies, to improving health, agricultural, industrial and environmental services.

DUBAI, Mar 22 (NNN-WAM) – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Germany, signed agreements on hydrogen research and development, during the visit of the German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Robert Habeck, the UAE state news agency announced yesterday.

The agreements were signed between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and German energy companies, Hydrogenious and Uniper.

AMMAN, Mar 22 (NNN-PETRA) – The unemployment rate in Jordan rose by 0.1 percent to 23.3 percent, in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared with the third quarter of the same year.

The male unemployment rate is 21.4 percent, and the rate for women is 30.7 percent, the state-run news agency reported, citing the report revealed by the Jordanian Department of Statistics.

Moreover, the unemployment rate among university degree holders has risen to 27.2 percent, said the report.

JERUSALEM, March 22 (Reuters) - An Arab assailant killed at least four people in Israel's southern city of Beersheba on Tuesday in the deadliest such attack in years, before he was fatally shot by a passer-by, police said.

Police identified the attacker as an Arab citizen of Israel, a former high school teacher who had been imprisoned over alleged links to Islamic State.

BEIRUT, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Tuesday urged the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to intervene in Israel's violations of the country's airspace.

The prime minister's remarks came during his meeting at the Grand Serail with Aroldo Lazaro Saenz, head of UNIFIL, a day after the peacekeeping mission marked the 44th anniversary of its establishment, the Council of Ministers said in a statement.

22 March 2022; MEMO: The Gaza Strip's underground water supply is facing a massive crisis from rising salinity levels and pollution, Anadolu has reported. The problem has arisen largely from overuse.

"There is a continuous, high rate fall in the underground water level in most areas of the Gaza Strip," Mazen Al-Banna from the Water and Environmental Quality Authority told reporters ahead of World Water Day. The day is marked on 22 March and is an opportunity to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater sources.