Middle East & North Africa

19 Aug 2020; MEMO: Former US envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, said yesterday that Israel’s annexation plans were suspended, not cancelled, Israeli media reported.

“I think it’s important to look at the word that was chosen by the three parties and the official statement, which is the word ‘suspend’,” Greenblatt was reported by Israeli newspaper the Jerusalem Post as saying.

19 Aug 2020; MEMO: Some 37 Kuwaiti MPs yesterday called on their government to affirm its position against normalising relations with Israel.

In a statement, the MPs expressed their “unyielding and firm support for the Palestinian people,” recalling parliament’s “steady and consistent position against normalisation [with Israel] in all its forms “.

The statement continued: “The Kuwaiti people from all sects will not accept their government’s unwillingness to stand for the cause of Arabs and early Muslim.”

19 Aug 2020; MEMO: Israeli prison services sent Sheikh Raed Salah to solitary confinement in Ashkelon Prison, Palestinian sources in Israel told Quds Press yesterday.

Reporting lawyers who spoke with Israeli prison officials, Quds Press said that Salah was moved from Al Jalama Prison to solitary confinement in Ashkelon Prison.

His defence lawyers said they expected him to be put in solitary.

18 Aug 2020; MEMO: Algeria will allow its private sector to set up banks as well as air and sea transport companies for goods and passengers to reduce spending, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said on Tuesday.

The move is part of wider reforms by the OPEC member to cope with financial problems caused by a sharp fall in energy export revenues, the main source of state funding for the North African country.

NICOSIA, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus and Greece have agreed on joint action at the upcoming EU meetings to deal with Turkish activities in the eastern Mediterranean, which they consider to encroach on their rights, foreign ministers of the two countries said after talks here on Tuesday.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias paid a one-day visit to Cyprus during which he met with President Nicos Anastasiades and had talks at the Cypriot Foreign Ministry.

18 Aug 2020; MEMO: Saad Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, said Tuesday that his family has accepted the verdict of a UN tribunal on the assassination of his father, reports Anadolu Agency.

Hariri also demanded justice and asked for a fair trial of the offenders in a statement on his social media account.

18 Aug 2020; MEMO: Lebanese President Michel Aoun said Tuesday that a verdict by a UN tribunal into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri met the desire of Lebanese people to reveal names behind the crime, reports Anadolu Agency.

Aoun said in a statement by the presidency that Hariri’s assassination threatened the stability and peace in Lebanon and a national figure, who had the support of the people and had a national project, was targeted in the attack.

18 Aug 2020; MEMO: Israeli soldiers have demolished a Palestinian residential building that was under construction, located in Jabal Al-Mukabber in the as-Sal’a neighbourhood, because it allegedly lacked the necessary construction permit, reports Wafa news agency.

Palestinians are rarely granted building permits by Israel, especially in occupied East Jerusalem.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Secret talks and quiet ties: That’s what paved the way for last week’s deal between the United Arab Emirates and Israel to normalize relations.

Touted by President Donald Trump as a major Mideast breakthrough, the agreement was in fact the culmination of more than a decade of quiet links rooted in frenzied opposition to Iran that predated Trump and even Barack Obama, as well as Trump’s avowed goal to undo his predecessor’s Mideast legacy.

RIYADH, Aug 18 (APP): Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa met Deputy Minister of Defence Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Matters of mutual interest including bilateral defence, security cooperation and regional security were discussed, said Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release.
The COAS was on his official visit to KSA.