Desert tree planting sows discord within Israel’s coalition

Israeli police wrestle down a man during a Bedouin protest in the southern Israeli village of Sawe Al-Atrash in the Negev Desert. The demo was against a controversial afforestation project. (AFP)
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Updated 13 January 2022
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Desert tree planting sows discord within Israel’s coalition

  • Bedouin accuse Israeli courts of enabling expropriations as part of a campaign of disenfranchisement

SAWE AL-ATRASH, Israel: Government-sponsored tree planting in an Israeli desert has set off violent protests by Bedouin Arabs who see the forestation as discriminatory encroachment by the state, sowing discord within Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s ethnically mixed coalition.

Coming days before the Jewish arbor festival of Tu Bishvat, the drive to turn the sandy expanses of the southern Negev green hails back to Israel’s founding pioneer narratives.

But the nomadic Bedouin claim private ownership over nationalized land being zoned and accuse Israeli courts of enabling expropriations as part of a campaign of disenfranchisement that has kept many of their community in off-the-grid breeze-block encampments.

The diggers rolled this year despite an appeal by Mansour Abbas, a Bennett coalition partner from Israel’s Arab minority, for a deferral “while we work on a decent plan that would grant Bedouin citizens honorable lives and livelihoods.”

“A tree is not more important than a person,” he tweeted.

Authorities have said the flattening of the dunes and planting of trees is necessary for conservation and modernization.

At the Negev village of Sawe Al-Atrash, Bedouin scuffled with riot police on Wednesday after a night in which authorities said protesters blocked roads, stoned motorists and forced a train to halt by piling rocks on its tracks.

Mansour’s United Arab List party was boycotting parliamentary votes, a coalition spokesman said.

If sustained, that could deny Bennett his razor-thin majority and bolster the Jewish-nationalist opposition.

Asked how far UAL was willing to go, party lawmaker Iman Khatib Yassin said: “All the way.”

“We came into this partnership hoping to find partners who understand that Arab citizens of the country have a basic right and deserve basic rights on their lands,” she told Kan radio, while stopping short of any threat to quit the coalition.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, a centrist, urged a halt to the contested forestation.

Despite successive governments’ pledges of equitable Negev investment, “the Bedouin problem has been forsaken,” he said in a statement.

The religious-rightist Bennett did not comment. His ideologically kindred housing minister, Zev Elkin, saw no need to heed such calls. “These are state lands,” Elkin told 103 FM radio.

Some protesters on Tuesday evening hurled stones at vehicles on a highway near Beersheba, blocked the railway line and torched a vehicle. Police said two officers were wounded in the violence and local media reported at least 18 people arrested.

The government announced a compromise in which it would complete the day’s planting and launch negotiations on Thursday. Authorities withdrew heavy machinery from the area as the tensions appeared to ease.

The Bedouin are part of Israel’s Arab minority, which makes up some 20 percent of the country’s population.

They have citizenship, including the right to vote, but face discrimination. Arab citizens of Israel have close family ties to the Palestinians and largely identify with their cause.


Oman announces US-Houthi ceasefire deal

A US F/A-18 Super Hornet attack fighter jet takes off from the US Navy’s Nimitz-class USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier.
Updated 11 min 7 sec ago
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Oman announces US-Houthi ceasefire deal

  • “They said please don’t bomb us any more and we’re not going to attack your ships,” Trump said
  • There was no immediate response from the Houthis

WASHINGTON: The United States and Yemen’s Houthis have reached a ceasefire agreement, mediator Oman announced Tuesday, saying the deal would ensure “freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea where the militia has attacked shipping.
“Following recent discussions and contacts... with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides,” said Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi in a statement posted online, adding that “neither side will target the other... ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping” in the Red Sea.

Earlier on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said that the US will stop bombing the Houthis in Yemen after the Iran-aligned group agreed to stop interrupting important shipping lanes in the Middle East.
In an Oval Office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump announced the Houthis have said that they no longer want to fight but did not elaborate on the message.
“They said please don’t bomb us any more and we’re not going to attack your ships,” Trump said.
The Houthis have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea since Israel began its military offensive against Hamas in Gaza after the Palestinian militant group’s deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The US president said Washington will take the Houthis’ word that they would not be blowing up ships any longer.
Tensions have been high since the Gaza war began, but have risen further since a Houthi missile landed near Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday, prompting Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah port on Monday.
The Israeli military carried out an airstrike on Yemen’s main airport in Sanaa on Tuesday, its second attack in two days on the Houthis after a surge in tensions between the group and Israel.


The bodies of a Belgian mother and her son were recovered in southern Jordan after flash flooding

Updated 06 May 2025
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The bodies of a Belgian mother and her son were recovered in southern Jordan after flash flooding

  • The mother and children had been part of a group of 18 tourists
  • Fourteen tourists, all Czechs, were rescued on Sunday

AMMAN: Search and rescue teams recovered the bodies of a Belgian mother and her son on Monday in Jordan, police said a day after the woman and her three children were reported missing in flash flooding. The other two children were found alive.
Sunday’s flooding in southern Jordan also led to the evacuation of hundreds of tourists from the Petra archaeological site, the country’s main tourist attraction.


The mother and children had been part of a group of 18 tourists who had been on an adventure trip in Wadi Al-Nakhil when they were caught up in the flash flood, Ma’an district local governor Hassan Al-Jabour told state media broadcaster Al-Mamlaka TV.
Fourteen tourists, all Czechs, were rescued on Sunday. Rescue crews located two of the children alive late Sunday, Al-Jabour said. The search and rescue operation was suspended at about 2 a.m. because of the complicated weather conditions and terrain. The bodies of the woman and her son were found Monday morning after the search resumed, he said.
Further details about the family and the ages of the children weren’t immediately available.
Jordan often experiences flash flooding as heavy seasonal rains send torrents of water through dry desert valleys. At least three people died in 2021 when floodwaters swept away their car, while more than 30 people in the Dead Sea region and other parts of Jordan were killed in flash flooding in 2018.


UAE president stresses regional peace during meeting with Turkish foreign minister

Updated 06 May 2025
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UAE president stresses regional peace during meeting with Turkish foreign minister

  • Leaders examined the strategic relationship between Ankara and Abu Dhabi

LONDON: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan at the Qasr Al-Shati palace in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

They examined the strategic relationship between Ankara and Abu Dhabi, seeking ways to enhance it according to their mutual interests, the Emirates News Agency reported.

Sheikh Mohamed and Fidan discussed regional and international issues, highlighting developments in the Middle East. They stressed the necessity of fostering regional peace and stability in a way that benefits all nations.

The meeting was attended by several senior officials, including Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the deputy chairman of the Presidential Court for Special Affairs; Sheikh Mohamed bin Hamad bin Tahnoun Al-Nahyan, the adviser to the UAE president; Ali bin Hammad Al-Shamsi, the secretary-general of the Supreme Council for National Security; and Khalifa Shaheen Al-Marar, the minister of state.


Emir of Qatar discusses ties in phone call with India PM Modi

Updated 06 May 2025
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Emir of Qatar discusses ties in phone call with India PM Modi

  • The leaders shared perspectives on regional and international developments of mutual concern

LONDON: The Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani discussed ties with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a phone call on Tuesday.

The leaders discussed ways to strengthen the relationship between Doha and New Delhi. They also shared perspectives on regional and international developments of mutual concern, according to the Qatar News Agency.

Sheikh Tamim visited India last February to enhance bilateral collaboration between the two countries in areas such as trade, investment, energy, and finance.


UN urges probe into 'disturbing' video of abducted Libyan MP

Updated 06 May 2025
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UN urges probe into 'disturbing' video of abducted Libyan MP

  • UNSMIL said it was “alarmed” by Ibrahim el-Dirsi’s “enforced disappearance”
  • It described circulating images of his detention as “disturbing“

TRIPOLI: The UN mission in Libya on Tuesday called for an independent investigation into images of an abducted member of the country’s eastern-based parliament that showed signs of torture.
In a statement, UNSMIL said it was “alarmed” by Ibrahim el-Dirsi’s “enforced disappearance” and described circulating images of his detention as “disturbing.”
Dirsi, a member of the Libyan house of representatives, was kidnapped in May 2024 in Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city which he represents.
The North African country has been mired in unrest since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
It remains split between the UN-recognized Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli, and a rival eastern administration backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
On Monday, Libya’s Al-Ahrar TV aired photos and a video showing Dirsi, apparently in a prison cell, wearing only shorts and chained with a padlock around his neck.
UNSMIL said it had asked UN digital forensic experts to verify the footage’s authenticity.
Tripoli’s GNU described the conditions in the images as “degrading, shocking and inhumane.”
It criticized the “so-called General Command,” referring to Haftar’s forces, after the video appeared to show Dirsi pleading for forgiveness.
The pro-Haftar Al-Masar TV channel quoted lawmakers as saying the images were “fabricated” and “produced using artificial intelligence.”
The eastern-based interior ministry blamed “unidentified criminals affiliated with a gang,” saying the case was under “thorough investigation.”
UNSMIL also condemned “widespread and systemic abuses in detention facilities by law enforcement and security actors in Benghazi, Tripoli, Sabha, and other locations across Libya.”
It said “arbitrary detentions, abductions, torture, enforced disappearances and deaths in custody are serious human rights violations and may constitute international crimes that can be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court.”
“Libyan authorities must ensure these practices immediately cease and that perpetrators are brought to justice,” the statement added.
In 2019, Siham Sergewa, another representative in Benghazi, was abducted from her home shortly after criticizing Haftar on television. She remains missing.