13 Aug 2020; MEMO: Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, rejected a bill on Wednesday which would prevent its members indicted on criminal charges from forming a government, the Times of Israel has reported. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces corruption and fraud charges, and opposition leader Yair Lapid traded insults after the discussion in the chamber.
13 Aug 2020; MEMO: Turkey yesterday accused Greece of “systematically closing Turkish minority schools” in the country’s Western Thrace region.
“Athens’ practice of temporary suspending minority schools in Western Thrace – a region where around 150,000 Muslim Turkish minority have resided for the past 25 years is a part of Greece’s assimilation and oppression efforts against Muslims,” Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hami Aksoy, said in a statement.
13 Aug 2020; MEMO: Palestine expects to become one of the first places to receive Russia’s coronavirus vaccine, Wafa news agency reported on Tuesday. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas thanked his Russian counterpart for the opportunity.
“We congratulate you,” Abbas told Vladimir Putin, “and through you we appreciate the efforts of the Russian scientists, laboratories and your government for being the leader of this unique scientific discovery.”
13 Aug 2020; MEMO: Several former and current ministers will be questioned by a Lebanese prosecutor over the explosion in Beirut’s port last week, Agence France Presse reports.
Questioning is set to start with the former Minister of Public works, Ghazi Al Aridi, who served in the position between 2009 and 2013, and will include several of his successors.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon’s parliament speaker called on Thursday for quickly forming a new government in the first legislative session since the catastrophic explosion that killed 172 people last week and pushed the cabinet to resign.
Security forces were heavily deployed in the capital Beirut, stopping protesters from reaching a conference centre where MPs convened. Many Lebanese are furious at a long entrenched political class they blame for the blast, accusing them of endemic corruption, mismanagement and negligence.
BEIRUT (AP) — In the southern Lebanese town of Haris, a newlywed couple is living in one of Safy Faqeeh’s apartments for free. He’s never met them before, and they aren’t on a honeymoon. Their apartment in Beirut was wrecked when last week’s massive explosion wreaked destruction across the capital.
Faqeeh is one of hundreds of Lebanese who have opened their homes to survivors of the Aug. 4 blast.
12 Aug 2020; MEMO: The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) has appealed to the UN to protect Palestinian refugees and support the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported yesterday.
The appeal included a call for the UN to afford “urgent and tangible” protection for Palestinian refugees in light of the coronavirus outbreak based on its mandate and in accordance with WHO standards.
12 Aug 2020; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces yesterday arrested 11 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, raided the house of Hamas leader Hassan Yousef and handed him a summons to the Israeli intelligence office, Quds Press reported.
According to an Israeli army statement, the Palestinians who were arrested were being interrogated over their participation in the popular resistance against illegal settlements.
12 Aug 2020; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday revealed that the United States prevented him from carrying out his plan to annex large swathes of the occupied West Bank, Israeli media reported.
12 Aug 2020; MEMO: For the first time in five months, Egyptian authorities yesterday opened the Rafah Crossing for Palestinian travellers from and the besieged Gaza Strip.
In a brief statement, the Palestinian Interior Ministry in Gaza said: “Egyptian authorities opened the crossing exceptionally after a five-month closure.”
On Monday, the Interior Ministry announced the names of the people who would be allowed to travel through the crossing, which is due to remain open for three days.
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