Middle East & North Africa

JERUSALEM, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Israel's parliament was dissolved on Tuesday night amid a political crisis between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival Benny Gantz, triggering the fourth elections in two years.

Israel's Knesset (parliament) was automatically dissolved after the government failed to approve the 2020 state budget by the deadline. Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin adjourned the last Knesset session and called lawmakers to "avoid incitement" during the upcoming campaigns.

The next elections are scheduled to take place on March 23. 

Jerusalem, Dec 23 (AP-PTI) Israel's divided government collapsed early Wednesday, triggering the country's fourth election in under two years and bringing an unprecedented threat to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's lengthy grip on power.

Netanyahu, who is used to labeling his opponents as weak leftists, finds himself confronted by a trio of disgruntled former aides who share his hard-line ideology, led by a popular lawmaker who recently broke away from the prime minister's Likud party.

22 Dec 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman are closing their borders and suspending commercial flights over fears about a new coronavirus strain, the three Gulf Arab states said.

Saudi Arabia shut its land and sea borders on Sunday and suspended international commercial flights for a renewable week although foreign flights already in the country can leave, the Interior Ministry said.

22 Dec 2020; MEMO: A group of 24 Members of the European Parliament (MEP) signed a petition launched by Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med) which called on Israel to lift its siege on Gaza and allow COVID-19 medical supplies.

22 Dec 2020; MEMO: Talks between Israel's Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) with Likud parties broke down yesterday evening after the former backtracked from agreements related to putting off passing the budget bill and avoiding a fourth election in two years, Israeli media reported.

22 Dec 2020; MEMO: The first direct commercial flight from Israel to Morocco took off from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport this morning  with outgoing US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner on board.

The El Al flight was decorated with Moroccan and Israeli flags and the word "peace" in Hebrew, Arabic and English, according to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation.

Israeli Chief of Staff for National Security Meir Ben Shabbat was also aboard the flight.

22 Dec 2020; MEMO: British Ambassador to Iraq Stephen Hickey on Sunday blamed an armed groups' evasion for scaring investors and causing instability in the country.

On his Twitter, he wrote: "The rocket attacks on diplomatic missions do not lead except to scaring Baghdad's residents, scaring investment urgently needed for the economy, and increasing fears."

21 Dec 2020; MEMO: The Speaker of the Parliament in Tunisia, and the head of Ennahda Movement, has pointed out that the normalisation agreement between Morocco and Israel is a violation of the Arab consensus. He insisted that Tunisia will not join the normalisation frenzy.

"Regarding Morocco," Rached Ghannouchi told Sputnik, "we were shocked by this step, which contradicted the Arab consensus as expressed by the Arab Peace Initiative."

RAMALLAH, Dec 22 (NNN-WAFA) – A Palestinian official warned that, the ongoing Israeli settlement activities in the Palestinian territories, would foil the choice of the two-state solution.

Walid Assaf, head of the National Committee to Resist the Wall and Settlements, said, “Israel would thwart the two-state solution and end the peace process by expanding settlements in the West Bank.”

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel sent envoys to Morocco on Tuesday to meet its king and hammer out an upgrade of ties that was forged by the White House in a parting foreign-policy push by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Led by National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, the delegates were accompanied to Rabat by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and architect of pan-Arab rapprochements with Israel.