Rescuers say death toll from Israeli strike on north Gaza home rises to 23

RIYADH: Gulf Arab states on Friday welcomed President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that France would recognize the state of Palestine, and urged other countries to follow suit.

Other European Union members have recognized Palestine since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023 but France is the first member of the G7 group of major advanced economies to do so.

The Saudi foreign ministry said “the kingdom commends this historic decision, which reaffirms the international community’s consensus on the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and to establish their independent state.”

It called on other countries “that have not yet recognized the State of Palestine to take similar positive steps.”

Macron said on Thursday that France would formally recognize a Palestinian state during a United Nations meeting in September.

A ministerial-level meeting co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia to discuss a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is planned for later this month.

Qatar, a key mediator in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas on ending the Gaza war, also welcomed the French move.

Its foreign ministry said the move “constitutes significant support for the legitimate rights of the brotherly Palestinian people” and “contributes to advancing prospects for achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the region.”

The Kuwaiti foreign ministry said it “commended this significant step.”

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) — which also includes the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, both of which have ties with Israel — also praised the move.

The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates described the French announcement as a step in the right direction.

Ministry spokesperson Ambassador Dr. Sufian Qudah said the decision is essential to counter efforts aimed at denying the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and the establishment of a sovereign state on their national land.

HILLA: Hundreds of Iraqis protested Friday against severe water shortages exacerbated by the summer’s sweltering heat in the central province of Babylon, an AFP correspondent said.

Iraq, and its 46 million inhabitants, have been intensely impacted by the effects of climate change, experiencing rising temperatures, year-on-year droughts and reduced river flows.

Authorities also blame upstream dams built in neighboring Iran and Turkiye for dramatically lowering the flow of the once-mighty Tigris and Euphrates, which have irrigated Iraq for millennia.

In the village of Al-Majriyeh near the city of Hilla, more than 300 angry protesters urged the government to take action and solve the long-standing water issue, a day after the police dispersed a similar protest.

“We have been without water for 35 days and it has already been scarce for years,” protester Saadoun Al-Shammari, 66, said.

Another protester Kahtan Hussein, 35, said “it is our basic right, we don’t want anything more.”

“We don’t have any water and the pipes have gone dry.”

Iraq’s water resources ministry has said that “this year is one of the driest since 1933.”

It added that Iraq currently retains only eight percent of its water reserves capacity.

The ministry warned that the decline in water and the “lack of cooperation from upstream countries will worsen the crisis and threaten the country’s water security.”

In May, the ministry’s spokesperson Khaled Shamal told AFP that Iraq’s water reserves were at their lowest in 80 years after a dry rainy season.

In the southern province of Diwaniyah, where several villages have suffered for years from water shortages, residents have recently protested, urging the government to address the scarcity affecting both drinking supplies and agriculture.

Water shortages have forced many farmers in Iraq to abandon their lands, and authorities have drastically curbed farming activity to preserve drinking water supplies.