Relations between the new Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian Authority reached a low point on Sunday after Israel imposed travel restrictions on four senior officials from Ramallah, including Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al Maliki.
Mr Al Maliki's travel permit was taken by Israeli soldiers as he entered the occupied West Bank from Jordan.
The Israeli army said this was in accordance with a government decision. But on Sunday Mr Netanyahu said the restriction on Mr Al Maliki's movement was in response to the Palestinian Authority's decision to call for a UN resolution on the illegality of Israel's occupation of the West Bank.
Mr Netanyahu called the proposed resolution an “extremist anti-Israeli resolution”.
The UN General Assembly, responding to an appeal by the Palestinians, on December 30 asked the ICJ for an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories.
Mr Al Maliki's travel document was confiscated by Israel in 2021 after a similar appeal to the ICJ.
“The foreign minister will continue his job and his diplomatic activities with or without the card,” Ahmed Al Deek, an aide to Mr Al Maliki, told Reuters.
Israel also revoked entry permits for three senior officials from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's party after they visited a Palestinian recently released after spending 40 years in an Israeli prison.
Mahmud Al Alul, Azzam Al Ahmad and Rawhi Fattouh visited Karim Younis in his home village of Ara in northern Israel following his release on Thursday after serving his sentence for killing an Israeli soldier.
“The three men took advantage of their status and entered Israel this morning [Saturday] to travel to the home of the terrorist Karim Younis,” the office of Defence Minister Yoav Galant said.
Mr Galant ordered that their Israeli entry permits be revoked in response, it added.
The move follows a decision on Friday by Mr Netanyahu's security cabinet to withhold from the Palestinian Authority millions of dollars in revenue that Israel collects on its behalf, and to impose a moratorium on Palestinian construction projects in most of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Mr Netanyahu's office said the decision was in response to the UN General Assembly's ICJ referral.
According to the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, the Israeli security cabinet ordered the allocation of approximately 139 million shekels (nearly $39 million) of PA funds to “Israeli victims of terrorism”.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry accused Israel of taking “vindictive measures” against Palestinians over the UN move.
“States must ensure that Israel ceases its sanctions against the Palestinian people and submit to the rules-based international order or be prepared to receive the treatment owed to pariah states,” the ministry said in a statement carried by Wafa.
Mr Netanyahu took office late last month at the head of a coalition with far-right and Jewish ultra-Orthodox parties that is regarded as the most right-wing in Israeli history.
On Saturday evening, thousands of Israelis took to the streets in the city of Tel Aviv to protest against the government's plans to overhaul the judicial system.
The protest was led by left-wing and Arab members of the Israeli parliament who say that proposed plans by the new cabinet will hinder the judicial system and widen social divisions.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin on Wednesday unveiled the government’s long-promised reform of the judicial system that aims to weaken the country’s Supreme Court.
Critics accused the government of declaring war on the legal system, saying the plan would upend Israel’s system of checks and balances, and undermine its democratic institutions by giving absolute power to the new governing coalition.
“We are really afraid that our country is going to lose [our] democracy and we are going to a dictatorship just for reasons of one person [who] wants to get rid of his law trial,” said Danny Simon, 77, a protester from Yavne, south of Tel Aviv. He was referring to Mr Netanyahu, who was indicted on corruption charges in 2021, allegations that he has denied.
Protesters also called for peace and coexistence between Jewish and Arab residents of the country.
“We are here to say loud and clear that all of us, Arabs and Jews and different various communities inside of Israel, demand peace, equality and justice,” said Rula Daood of Standing Together, a grassroots movement of Arabs and Jews.
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Honeymoonish
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Poacher
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Quick%20facts
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SHADOWS%20AND%20LIGHT%3A%20THE%20EXTRAORDINARY%20LIFE%20OF%20JAMES%20MCBEY
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Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
57%20Seconds
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What is Reform?
Reform is a right-wing, populist party led by Nigel Farage, a former MEP who won a seat in the House of Commons last year at his eighth attempt and a prominent figure in the campaign for the UK to leave the European Union.
It was founded in 2018 and originally called the Brexit Party.
Many of its members previously belonged to UKIP or the mainstream Conservatives.
After Brexit took place, the party focused on the reformation of British democracy.
Former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson became its first MP after defecting in March 2024.
The party gained support from Elon Musk, and had hoped the tech billionaire would make a £100m donation. However, Mr Musk changed his mind and called for Mr Farage to step down as leader in a row involving the US tycoon's support for far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson who is in prison for contempt of court.
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
