Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he was committed to America buying and owning Gaza, but could allow parts of the land to be rebuilt by states in the Middle East.
While travelling on Air Force One to the Super Bowl in New Orleans, Mr Trump told reporters he wants to make sure that Hamas “doesn't move back” to control the enclave.
“There’s nothing to move back into,” he added. "The place is a demolition site. The remainder will be demolished. Everything’s demolished."
Mr Trump also said he was open to the possibility of allowing some Palestinian refugees into the US, but would consider such requests on a case-by-case basis.
Ezzat El Rashq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, condemned Mr Trump's comments, saying Palestinians will foil all displacement plans. The US President also said he was losing patience with the ceasefire deal after seeing video of the latest release of hostages by Hamas.
“They look like Holocaust survivors. They were in horrible condition. They were emaciated,” he said. “I don't know how much longer we can take that … at some point we're going to lose our patience."
Mr Trump said the Israeli hostages are in "really bad shape".
“I know we have a deal … they dribble in and keep dribbling in,” Mr Trump added.
Earlier on Sunday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Fox News that Mr Trump was to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and possibly Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Mr Trump is also to receive Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday, officials confirmed.
The President's plan to redevelop Gaza and remove more than two million Palestinians, made last week at a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, caused international outrage and angered the Arab world. It made it even more challenging for Saudi Arabia to contemplate establishing ties with Israel.
After his return from Washington and in an address to his cabinet, Mr Netanyahu on Sunday praised Mr Trump's proposals, calling it “revolutionary”.
“President Trump came with a completely different, much better vision for Israel – a revolutionary, creative approach that we are currently discussing,” he said.
Egypt and Jordan dismissed Mr Trump’s call to resettle 1.8 million Palestinians from Gaza and for the US to take ownership of the enclave, but he claims they would eventually accept it.
“President Trump is due to meet major, major Arab leaders, first and foremost the King of Jordan and the President of Egypt and I think also the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia as well,” Mr Herzog said about Mr Trump's recently unveiled proposal.
“These are partners that must be listened to, they must be discussed with. We have to honour their feelings as well and see how we build a plan that is sustainable for the future.”
In a strongly worded statement on Sunday, the Saudi Foreign Ministry accused Israel of “continuous crimes” and “ethnic cleansing” of the Palestinian people after comments made by Mr Netanyahu to an Israeli TV channel that “the Saudis can create a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia. They have a lot of land over there”.
In the same statement, Saudi Arabia rejected Mr Netanyahu's comment that the establishment of relations was “going to happen”, repeating its insistence there would be no ties without a Palestinian state.
In the UAE, Khalifa Al Marar, Minister of State, expressed his country's full solidarity with Saudi Arabia and said the kingdom's sovereignty is a “red line”.
more from Janine di Giovanni
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
INDIA V SOUTH AFRICA
First Test: October 2-6, at Visakhapatnam
Second Test: October 10-14, at Maharashtra
Third Test: October 19-23, at Ranchi
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
The drill
Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.
Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”
Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”
Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.”
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
The specs: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
Price, base: Dh1,731,672
Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 770hp @ 8,500rpm
Torque: 720Nm @ 6,750rpm
Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km
