Middle East & North Africa

29 March 2022; MEMO: Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz has put off a planned official visit to India, his office announced on Monday. The reason cited was the recent killing of two Israeli Border Police officers in the Negev.

However, Israeli media attributed the postponement of Gant's visit to New Delhi to disputes with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

29 March 2022; MEMO: The State of Qatar has opened a hospital specialising in the fitting of prosthetic limbs in the besieged Gaza Strip, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed has reported. The Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics was inaugurated yesterday in a ceremony attended by the Qatari Ambassador to Palestine, Mohammed Al-Emadi.

29 March 2022; MEMO: Israel's Ambassador to Bahrain, Eitan Na'eh, revealed on Monday that a military attaché will be assigned to the embassy in Manama soon, Akka news website has reported. The office of the Israeli military attaché, Na'eh said, will be in the Headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain's capital.

"The date has not been set," he added, "but a full staff will be there, in addition to extra officials who will join the embassy."

29 March 2022; MEMO: The leader of Citizens against the Coup, Habib Bouajila, announced on Sunday that the Tunisian authorities have intervened to prevent the movement from holding a meeting in Hammamet in the north east of the country.

28 March 2022; MEMO: Lebanese Central Bank Governor, Riad Salameh, is a suspect in a case the European Union's criminal justice agency said, on Monday, had led to the freezing of some 120 million Euros ($132 million) of Lebanese assets, prosecutors in Germany said, and Reuters reports.

29 March 2022; MEMO: The United States is concerned about the democratic path in Tunisia, a senior US official announced yesterday. The US Under Secretary of State for civilian security, democracy and human rights, Uzra Zeya, called on the Tunisian authorities to respect freedom of expression and halt the military trials of civilians.

29 March 2022; MEMO: Yemen's Houthi movement called on Monday for the coalition led by Saudi Arabia not to miss the truce opportunity proposed on Saturday, Al Jazeera has reported.

SANAA, Mar 28 (NNN-YPA) – Yemen’s Houthi militia, announced last night that, they are ready to swap 823 prisoners of the Saudi-led coalition forces for 1,400 Houthi militants.

The prisoner exchange agreement was reached on Mar 21, under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), Abdulkadir al-Murtada, head of the Houthi prisoner committee, was quoted by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV as saying.

RAMALLAH, Mar 28 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, yesterday told visiting U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken that, the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories must end through a political solution.

During a meeting with Blinken in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Abbas stressed the need to resolve all permanent status issues, including the refugee issue, and the release of all prisoners, under the auspices of the International Quartet and under international resolutions.

SDE BOKER, Israel, March 28 (Reuters) - The top diplomats of the United States and four Arab countries convened in Israel on Monday in a display of unity against Iran but also used the rare summit to press their host to revive long-stalled peacemaking with the Palestinians.

Concluding two days of discussions at a desert retreat where its founding father David Ben-Gurion is buried, Israel said the event would be repeated and expanded as it builds up commercial and security ties with like-minded Sunni Arab states.