Human Rights

16 Nov 2020; MEMO: Israeli settlement watchdog organisation, Peace Now, reported yesterday that new Israeli settlement construction aims to split occupied East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank.

Peace Now revealed that the Israeli Ministry of Housing and Israel Land Authority yesterday began accepting bids for 1,257 housing units to be built in the settlement of Givat HaMatos.

16 Nov 2020; MEMO: A member of the Economic and Investment Committee in the Iraqi Parliament, Mahmoud Al-Zajrawi, said he believes the country's financial crisis is "fabricated" in an effort to force Baghdad to normalise relations with Israel.

16 Nov 2020; MEMO: UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, yesterday expressed his concerns about Israel accepting bids for building new settlement units between Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

In a statement, Mladenov said: "I am very concerned by the decision of the Israeli authorities yesterday to open the bidding process for the construction of Givat Hamatos."

16 Nov 2020; MEMO: Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir slammed Germany over its ban on arms sales to the kingdom due to its involvement in the war in Yemen, DPA reported yesterday.

"The idea that weapon sales were stopped to Saudi Arabia because of the Yemen war I think is illogical," the minister said, pointing out: "We think it's wrong because we think the war in Yemen is a legitimate war. It's a war that we were forced into it."

16 Nov 2020; MEMO: Hamas yesterday slammed the UAE after it received an Israeli settlement chief along with settlers and businessmen.

In a statement, the movement said: "Receiving the head of the settlement council in the West Bank by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and signing economic deals with him represents actual support for settlement activity in the occupied West Bank."

Bahraich, Nov 16 (PTI) A 23-year-old man was beaten to death allegedly by a group of people in Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich district for urinating in the open, police said on Monday.

JERUSALEM (AP) — A settlement watchdog group said Sunday Israel is moving ahead with new construction of hundreds of homes in a strategic east Jerusalem settlement that threatens to cut off parts of the city claimed by Palestinians from the West Bank.

The group, Peace Now, said the Israel Land Authority announced on its website Sunday that it had opened up tenders for more than 1,200 new homes in the key settlement of Givat Hamatos in east Jerusalem.

Srinagar, Nov 14 (PTI) The moderate Hurriyat Conference on Saturday said India and Pakistan should hold talks to resolve the Kashmir issue and to stop the "senseless bloodshed" of people along the Line of Control (LoC).

In a statement, the Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led amalgam expressed grief and dismay at the escalation along the LoC in which several lives were lost on Friday.

14 Nov 2020; MEMO: Outgoing US Envoy to Syria James Jeffrey has praised Donald Trump's approach in the country and has admitted to lying about the number of US troops in Syria.

In an interview with Defense One, Jeffrey confessed: "We were always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership how many troops we had there."

14 Nov 2020; MEMO: The Palestinian Authority (PA)'s Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, Fatah and Hamas agreed on Friday that the planned visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank would be too "dangerous".

Reported by Wafa news agency, Shtayyeh believes that the planned visit aims to "legitimise the settlements" and create "a dangerous precedent that violates international law."