Disarmament of Palestinian camps in Lebanon likely to be postponed

The disarmament of Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps is likely to be delayed beyond a mid-June deadline, a Palestinian source told The National.

An official within the Fatah movement in Lebanon said the plan will not be put into effect until after a Palestinian delegation headed by Azaam Al Ahmad returns to Beirut to meet representatives of all Palestinian factions.

“The discussion [of disarmament] has been postponed until after Azaam Al Ahmad arrives in Lebanon,” the source said, adding that Mr Al Ahmad was not expected until “after June 15”.

He is the deputy head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), second to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who devised the agreement with Lebanese leaders.

“When Azaam al Ahmad was here, he was supposed to also meet with the coalition which includes Hamas, but their leaders were traveling,” the source said.

He declined to provide an exact date.

Mid-June was given as a start date for the beginning of the disarmament process for Palestinian factions in Lebanon. Lebanese political sources and officials within the Fatah movement, the dominant political party within the PLO, had said the disarmament would begin with Beirut camps Shatila, Burj Al Barajneh, and Mar Elias.

Hamas in Lebanon has dismissed the disarmament plan agreed upon by Mr Abbas and Lebanese leaders as “unilateral”, saying they had been left out of the agreement between Palestinian officials and Lebanese leaders. The disarmament plan represents only Hamas's main opponent, the Palestinian Authority, the movement has said.

Hamas also said it was never formally informed of a decision to disarm the camps, insisting on a dialogue of representatives from all Palestinian factions – including a coalition of factions that includes Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and other Islamist groups not under the authority of the PLO.

The disarmament decision has also stirred controversy within Palestinian factions in Lebanon that also hold membership in the PLO, which contains representatives of a diverse array of Palestinian factions with varying ideologies.

On Friday, a statement by the Lebanese branch of the Popular Struggle Front, a PLO member, was critical of the unilateral nature of the disarmament decision, saying the agreement was never presented to all Palestinian factions in Lebanon.

“It would have been more appropriate for the owner of the vision and ideas to present them” to representatives of the joint factions in Lebanon, said Tamer Aziz Abu Al Abed, a representative of the Struggle Front.

He added that the plan had not achieved a majority of Palestinian confidence or approval in Lebanon.

“We hope in the coming days to put all the papers up for discussion with the presidential delegation coming to Lebanon,” he said.

The issue of disarming Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps, which are not under Lebanese state control, has long been contentious. Groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, dedicated to armed resistance against Israel and allied with Hezbollah, have frequently used Lebanon as a base to launch rockets at Israel.

Disarming the camps comes under a broader initiative by Lebanese leaders to limit and disarm non-state forces. But the memory of Lebanon's 1975–1990 civil war – during which Palestinian militias were among the main participants, alongside a series of Lebanese factions and international proxies – still lingers for many Palestinians, who view weapons as essential for self-defence.

Weaponry also holds deep symbolic value for Palestinians in Lebanon, many of whom were expelled from their land in 1948 during the Nakba, which marked the creation of what is now Israel. For them, arms represent not only protection but a continuing struggle to return to their homeland.

Lebanon hosts about 222,000 Palestinian refugees, many of whom live in the 12 overcrowded camps, according to the UN agency UNRWA.

Most are direct refugees or descendants of Palestinians who were expelled from their land during a violent mass removal that led to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. They face a variety of legal restrictions in Lebanon, including on employment.

ENGLAND TEAM

England (15-1)
George Furbank; Jonny May, Manu Tuilagi, Owen Farrell (capt), Elliot Daly; George Ford, Ben Youngs; Tom Curry, Sam Underhill, Courtney Lawes; Charlie Ewels, Maro Itoje; Kyle Sinckler, Jamie George, Joe Marler
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ellis Genge, Will Stuart, George Kruis, Lewis Ludlam, Willi Heinz, Ollie Devoto, Jonathan Joseph

Results

3pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,400m, Winner: Lancienegaboulevard, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Fawzi Nass (trainer).

3.35pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Turf) 1,600m, Winner: Al Mukhtar Star, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.

4.10pm: Handicap Dh165,000 (D) 2,000m, Winner: Gundogdu, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.

4.45pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (T) 1,200m, Winner: Speedy Move, Sean Kirrane, Satish Seemar.

5.20pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Moqarrar, Dane O’Neill, Erwan Charpy.

5.55pm: Handicap Dh175,000 (T) 1,800m, Winner: Dolman, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.

Dubai Bling season three

Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed

Rating: 1/5

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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi

From: Dara

To: Team@

Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT

Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East

Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.

Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.

I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.

This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.

It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.

Uber on,

Dara

Tips for used car buyers

Choose cars with GCC specifications
Get a service history for cars less than five years old
Don’t go cheap on the inspection
Check for oil leaks
Do a Google search on the standard problems for your car model
Do your due diligence. Get a transfer of ownership done at an official RTA centre
Check the vehicle’s condition. You don’t want to buy a car that’s a good deal but ends up costing you Dh10,000 in repairs every month
Validate warranty and service contracts with the relevant agency and and make sure they are valid when ownership is transferred
If you are planning to sell the car soon, buy one with a good resale value. The two most popular cars in the UAE are black or white in colour and other colours are harder to sell

Tarek Kabrit, chief executive of Seez, and Imad Hammad, chief executive and co-founder of CarSwitch.com

UAE currency

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Company Profile

Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million

Tamkeen's offering

Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
Option 2: 50% across three years
Option 3: 30% across five years

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft Toronto
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows
Release Date: April 10

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