Rapprochement with Pakistan not on cards: Israel
Working towards formalising relations with Muslim country but it's not Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, Israeli minister says
ReutersDecember 23, 2020
PHOTO: FILE
JERUSALEM:
Israel is working towards formalising relations with a fifth Muslim country during US President Donald Trump's term, which ends next month, but the country is not Saudi Arabia or Pakistan, an Israeli government minister told Ynet TV on Wednesday.
The White House has brokered rapprochements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco this year. Israeli Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis was asked if a fifth country could sign up before Trump steps down on Jan 20.
“We are working in that direction. There will be an American announcement about another country that is going public with the normalisation of relations with Israel and, in essence, with the infrastructure for an accord – a peace accord,” he replied.
Akunis declined to name the country but said there were two main candidates. “One is in the Gulf… Saudi Arabia is not. The other candidate, further to the east, is a Muslim country that is not small but is not Pakistan,” Akunis said.
What a sick posting.
Criminal Israelis :-
The Israeli army yesterday destroyed a natural reserve and uprooted at least 10,000 trees in a military campaign in the northern West Bank in a move that Palestinians termed a...
www.middleeastmonitor.com
Israel destroys nature reserve, uproots 10,000 trees
January 28, 2021 at 5:22 pm | Published in:
Israel,
Middle East,
News,
Palestine
Palestinian man shows trees after they were destroyed by Israeli forces in Tubas, West Bank, January 27, 2021. [Nedal Eshtayah - Anadolu Agency]
January 28, 2021 at 5:22 pm
The Israeli army yesterday destroyed a natural reserve and uprooted at least 10,000 trees in a military campaign in the northern West Bank in a move that Palestinians termed a "crime".
Moataz Bisharat, who is responsible for monitoring Israeli settlement activity in the Jordan Valley, told Anadolu Agency that the occupation army pushed military vehicles and dozens of soldiers into the Ainun area in Tubas city in the morning and destroyed a nature reserve built on an area of about 400 dunums (98 acres).
Israeli forces intervene in Palestinians after trees were destroyed by Israeli forces in Tubas, West Bank, January 27, 2021. [Nedal Eshtayah – Anadolu Agency]
The occupation army "chopped down and destroyed about 10,000 forest trees and about 300 olive trees," he said.
Trees were planted in the nature reserve eight years ago as part of the Greening Palestine project supervised by the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture and funded by the Venezuelan consulate in Palestine.
Bisharat stressed that the occupation alleged that the destruction of the reserve came as it was classed as a military zone even though it was not more than 300 metres away from residential areas and it served as an "outlet" for residents.
In a statement, the Palestine Liberation Organisation's Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission said Israel "has formed a special unit whose mission is to wage war on the Jordan Valley."
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"A security apparatus has been formed to oversee construction and agriculture in Area C and it has undertaken to wipe out the Palestinian presence," the statement read.
The commission described the incident as "a crime and a campaign of eliminating trees, buildings, livestock and sources of income."
What is happening, it added, is "part of a war waged by a terrorist state [Israel] that is burning green areas."
The Palestinian commission called for "international protection for the Palestinian presence in Area C," calling on the international community to stop discrimination in dealing with the crimes of the Israeli occupation.