LONDON: The CIA could not find any evidence to support Israel’s claim that six prominent Palestinian rights groups were “terrorist organizations,” intelligence sources told The Guardian.
Last October, the Israeli government labeled the following groups as terror-related: Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International — Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, and the Union of Palestinian Women Committees.
Israel claimed that these outfits were fronts for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a left-wing Palestinian political party that has a paramilitary wing.
Two sources told The Guardian that Israel shared intelligence with American partners about the decision to designate the groups as terror-related, but in its own assessments, the CIA did not find any evidence supporting the Israeli position.
The CIA report “doesn’t say that the groups are guilty of anything,” one source, who has knowledge of the CIA assessment, told The Guardian.
The second source confirmed that the assessment was classified to high levels of security protection.
The US has not publicly criticized Israel’s assessment, but Washington’s security apparatus has not listed any of the six groups as terror outfits. No other Western intelligence organizations have shared Israel’s assessment.
Omar Shakir, Israel/Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, told The Guardian that “the US should very clearly call on the Israeli government to reverse these designations, and to allow these organizations to continue their vital work.”
He added: “The reality here is that the US has for too long turned a blind eye, and in some cases even green lighted, quite serious Israeli government abuse.
“The position toward the Palestinian human rights organizations highlights a much larger failing in US government policy on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, and puts the US squarely out of touch with the consensus in the human rights movement.”
The lack of support from foreign governments on its designation has not prevented Israel from continuing to target the six groups.
On Thursday, the Israeli military raided the West Bank offices of all of the designated outfits. Soldiers took property from the charities and sealed off office doors.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price confirmed after the raids that Washington had assessed Israel’s evidence for the designations.
“What happened last year is the Israeli government designated these organizations,” he said. “We have not followed through with any designations, nor have we changed our approach to these organizations.”
Price did not answer questions from The Guardian about the CIA’s assessments on the Israeli decision. The CIA also did not respond to the newspaper’s questions.
Comments from the two sources come after nine EU countries issued a joint statement last month on the designation, saying: “No substantial information was received from Israel that would justify reviewing our policy toward the six Palestinian NGOs.”
Also last month, 22 Democrats in the US Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Avril Haines, director of national intelligence, urging Washington to stand up to Israel over the report.
They said: “A reported lack of evidence to support this decision raises concerns that it may be a deeply repressive measure, designed to criminalize and silence prominent and essential Palestinian human rights organizations.”
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian warned on Saturday that Lebanon has become a failed state.
“We are rapidly moving toward no state at all, and the Arabs and the world will soon start ignoring Lebanon’s existence because of political mismanagement at all levels,” he said.
“We need to elect a new president and the MPs are responsible for electing him or creating a presidential vacuum.”
Derian had invited Sunni MPs for a meeting at Dar Al-Fatwa to discuss possible candidates.
All but three of 27 Sunni MPs from different political currents attended the meeting, including one MP affiliated with Hezbollah, in addition to reformist and independent MPs.
Two reformist MPs, Ibrahim Mneimneh and Halima Al-Qaaqour, and independent MP Osama Saad did not attend.
A source in Dar Al-Fatwa said that the meeting was aimed at uniting the Sunni bloc in parliament to allow it to have a meaningful say in the presidential elections.
The bloc also aims stop any attempts to tamper with the Taif Agreement and undermine its provisions regarding Lebanon’s constitution, the source said.
The meeting focused on efforts to preserve national unity, and respect constitutional deadlines on the election of a new president and the formation of a government capable of implementing financial, monetary and legislative reforms, including an economic recovery plan.
During the meeting, Derian said that the survival of nations and states depends on the effectiveness of their constitutional institutions.
The president is the protector of the constitution, and the Christian president in Lebanon is a symbol of coexistence on which the Lebanese system is based, he said.
Arabs “recognize and appreciate the Lebanese experience” because the Lebanese president is the only Christian president in the Arab world, Derian added.
He urged MPs to encourage respect for the president’s position, and help him assume his role at home and abroad.
Derian also said the new president must preserve the principles of the Taif Agreement, the constitution, coexistence, and Lebanon’s national, Arab and international legitimacy.
If these matters are neglected, Lebanon will be unable to maintain order, stability and its national entity, he added.
Derian highlighted the need to put an end to made-up sectarian, divisive clashes over powers and return to the constitutional principle of separating powers but maintaining cooperation between them.
He called for the election of a president characterized by the personal and political qualities of a public businessman who would be ethically responsible for the mission with which he is tasked.
The new president must have wisdom, national responsibility and integrity, as well as the ability to be inclusive of all Lebanese, and to use his powers to help the country out of this crisis and prevent it from reaching total collapse, he said.
Derian reiterated: “Either we elect a president with these qualities, or we see the regime and the state fall before our eyes.”
He also appealed for respect for the prime minister and help for the PM-designate with his mission.
“This is a joint responsibility that rests with everyone. We are looking forward to forming a government as soon as possible, perhaps in the next few days,” said Derain, adding that Lebanon needed a government with full powers — and not a caretaker government — in these harsh and difficult circumstances.
Derian said Lebanon can survive only if consensus is reached. There is no salvation without unity, away from tension, sectarian strife and incitement, he added.
Lebanon needed a president “who is not part of the problem or the cause of it.”
In a statement issued after the meeting, those present stressed the principles advocated by Dar Al-Fatwa, especially in terms of committing to the Taif Agreement, Lebanon’s Arab identity and national unity.
They also condemned the abuses that had harmed and were still harming the foundations of national reconciliation and coexistence.
The Sunni MPs stressed the need to end Lebanon’s suffering under mismanagement and rampant corruption.
“Saving Lebanon requires recognizing the mistakes that were made, holding the perpetrators accountable, whoever they are, and sincerely cooperating with the different Lebanese and Arab parties and the international community to restore Lebanon’s identity and stature,” they said.
The Sunni MPs said that they will work with fellow MPs to elect a new president on the specified constitutional date.
They said that the new president “needs to abide by the constitution and be loyal to the people of Lebanon and their interests.”
The statement added that Lebanon’s enemy was and still is the Israeli army, which continued to occupy parts of the Lebanese territories.
It called for the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions that stipulate the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories and the recognition of Jerusalem as an occupied city.
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s banks will reopen on Monday, the banking association said, after five days of closure following a wave of holdups in the country by depositors seeking access to their frozen savings. The association said in a statement on Sunday that the decision to reopen “was taken after consideration of the current difficult security conditions and the need to maintain the safety of customers and employees alike, in the absence of adequate protection by the state.” It added each bank would determine its own channels for banking operations with commercial and educational institutions, and the health care sector among others. A top Lebanese banker on Friday criticized politicians for failing to enact a capital control law, saying this was the way to avoid bank raids by savers demanding funds from frozen accounts and to stop banks’ “discretionary practices.” The holdups reflect savers’ desperation three years after Lebanon’s financial system collapsed due to decades of state corruption and waste, and unsustainable financial policies. The government has agreed neither a financial recovery plan nor enacted reforms deemed vital to get Lebanon out of the crisis. While the government says it is committed to reforms, the International Monetary Fund says progress remains very slow.
NEW YORK: The United Arab Emirates on Saturday urged Iran to return to the Gulf state the three islands it had been illegally occupying for the past five decades. In an address before the General Debate of the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York City, Reem Al Hashimy, UAE's Minister of State for International Cooperation, said Iran's occupation of the three islands was a violation of her country's sovereignty. "... we renew our demand for an end to Iran's occupation of the three UAE islands: Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa – the UAE’s sovereignty over which is proven by history and international law," Hashimy said. Iran seized the three islands in November 1971 shortly after British forces were pulled out. The islands are all located in the Strait of Hormuz between the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. "Despite the UAE’s sincere calls to peacefully resolve this conflict over the past five decades, we stress here that Iran has not responded. We will never relent in voicing our claim to these islands either through direct negotiations or through the International Court of Justice, as is our legitimate right," Hashimy said. Iran has been accused by its Arab neighbors and members and the West of seeking to destabilize the region by funding and arming its proxy militias, including the Hezbollah of Lebanon, the Houthis of Yemen, and other militants in the Palestinian territories and in Iraq.
On Sunday, the UAE’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan met with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
During the meeting, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed called for strengthening international cooperation to achieve stability and peace in the region and achieve the aspirations of people, according to a statement on the Emirates News Agency (WAM). Both officials discussed bilateral relations and ways to enhance cooperation between the two countries to achieve their common interests. They also exchanged views on regional and international developments and reviewed several issues on the agenda of the General Assembly.
NABLUS: Israeli troops killed a Palestinian militant in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, Palestinian sources said, with Israel’s army saying soldiers fired on “armed suspects” during a routine patrol. The army said that “hits were identified” after soldiers fired toward “armed suspects driving in a vehicle and a motorcycle” near Nablus in the northern West Bank, an area that has seen near daily violence in recent months. The Palestinian health ministry named the man killed as Saed Al-Koni. A loose coalition of fighters called “The Lions Den” that has recently emerged in Nablus claimed Koni as one of their members. Among the members of this group was teenager Ibrahim Al-Nabulsi, who has become a folk hero on social media since his killing by Israeli forces in August. Pendants of Al-Nabulsi are on sale in the markets of Nablus Old City. Koni’s death was the second in the Nablus area in the past two days. On Saturday, a Palestinian driver was killed by Israeli troops after what the army called an “attempted ramming attack,” but which Palestinians said was a traffic accident. The army said soldiers and police opened fire on a vehicle after the driver “attempted to run them over” during a patrol outside Nablus. The Palestinian foreign ministry described Muhammad Ali Hussein Awad, 36, as a “defenseless Palestinian” who was not “posing any danger.” “The Israeli police deliberately shot Awad, with the aim of killing him, after his vehicle collided with a police vehicle in a traffic accident,” the ministry said. Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six Day War of 1967. Israeli forces have faced criticism over their frequent use of lethal force in response to perceived threats. Israel is on high alert ahead of the Jewish high holiday season which begins on Sunday evening with Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year. Since March, Israel has launched hundreds of raids in the northern West Bank, including Nablus and nearby Jenin, in pursuit of individuals it accuses of involvement in deadly attacks targeting Israelis. The raids have sparked clashes that have killed dozens of Palestinians.