Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
A leading rabbi and author who advocates for co-existence in the occupied West Bank said he hoped the devastating war in Gaza could lead to "open borders" between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Rabbi Yakov Nagen is considered by many Israelis as one of the foremost religious figures attempting to promote greater understanding between Muslims and Jews but has taken on an even greater focus following the recent conflict.
The preacher is also the director of the Ohr Torah Interfaith Centre, which co-ordinates meetings between imams and rabbis in the West Bank.
Speaking at his home in Otniel, which is located in an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory, Rabbi Nagen told The National that he condemned vigilante violence by some settlers.
All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, and Otniel is south of the Palestinian city of Hebron.
“October 7 has challenged the openness of borders but we must find a way to return to a reality more open to borders and person-to-person interaction,” he said. “Peace is about building relationships and a future that is good for all of us.”
With the Palestinian West Bank population highly restricted in their movements by an 800km separation wall, the rabbi has called for the government to “empower and create” a Palestinian territory that would give “true freedom for the people living there”.
The two-state solution has gained momentum since the war in Gaza started, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is growing more tenacious in rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Mr Nagen suggested that the best way for peaceful coexistence was greater understanding and connection through "open borders".
“Hopefully after the traumas of October 7 are over, we will slowly find ways to have more and more open borders,” said the author of several books on Jewish philosophy.
About 490,000 settlers live among about three million Palestinians in the West Bank, in settlements that are considered illegal under international law.
The expansion of settlements has led to frequent clashes between settlers and Palestinians.
Otniel, the settlement of less than 1,000 residents, has seen 15 of its people killed in attacks in the last two decades.
“There isn't really a safe space anywhere in Israel,” the rabbi admitted.
Violence levels have risen since the Israeli war in Gaza following the October 7 attacks, especially from the settlers' side. UN figures show more than 450 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the Hamas attacks.
Earlier this month, France accused 28 extremist Israeli settlers of committing human rights abuses against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank and placed sanctions against them.
The announcement came after the UK said it was imposing sanctions on four Israeli settlers. The US had already announced punitive measures against one of them, as well as three others, on February 1 over what it called "intolerable" violence.
Mr Nagen condemned “vigilantism, vandalism and attacks against innocent Palestinians” that was “something I abhor, speak out against and condemn”.
He added however that those attacks should not “demonise the entire community”.
“Palestinians and the Israelis have so much in common in terms of our languages, and even right-wing Israelis will say Palestinians are our cousins because we have a shared religious story and a shared ethnicity,” he said.
But he warned there was a “disconnection” that “breeds fear, hatred and ultimately violence”.
He suggested that the Palestinian “Islamic identity is part of the hope of the future” and he had “profound respect” for Mansour Abbas, leader of the United Arab List party, whom he said he regularly exchanges messages with.
“He's a true hero and has been outspoken against Hamas and certainly has empathy.”
Basquiat in Abu Dhabi
One of Basquiat’s paintings, the vibrant Cabra (1981–82), now hangs in Louvre Abu Dhabi temporarily, on loan from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The latter museum is not open physically, but has assembled a collection and puts together a series of events called Talking Art, such as this discussion, moderated by writer Chaedria LaBouvier.
It's something of a Basquiat season in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Last week, The Radiant Child, a documentary on Basquiat was shown at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and tonight (April 18) the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is throwing the re-creation of a party tonight, of the legendary Canal Zone party thrown in 1979, which epitomised the collaborative scene of the time. It was at Canal Zone that Basquiat met prominent members of the art world and moved from unknown graffiti artist into someone in the spotlight.
“We’ve invited local resident arists, we’ll have spray cans at the ready,” says curator Maisa Al Qassemi of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi's Canal Zone Remix is at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Thursday April 18, from 8pm. Free entry to all. Basquiat's Cabra is on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi until October
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
SQUADS
India
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur
New Zealand
Kane Williamson (captain), Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wicketkeeper), Henry Nicholls, Ish Sodhi, George Worker, Glenn Phillips, Matt Henry, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Trent Boult
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.9-litre%20twin-turbo%20V6%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E8-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E536hp%20(including%20138hp%20e-motor)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E750Nm%20(including%20400Nm%20e-motor)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh1%2C380%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Enow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
