On September 13, 1993, the eyes of the world were on the White House, where the Declaration of Principles, known as the Oslo Accords, was being signed. With all its imperfections, Oslo represented an opportunity to achieve the dream of peace. While the ceremony took place, the late Palestinian leader Faisal Husseini, known as the father of Jerusalem, raised the Palestinian flag at Orient House, the Palestine Liberation Organisation headquarters in East Jerusalem. The symbolism of the act was simple: East Jerusalem was the capital of the State of Palestine and without it, there would be no peace agreement.
On August 10, 2001, hundreds of Israeli commandoes and police officers stormed Orient House, stole its archives and lowered the Palestinian flag. The symbolism of this act was also simple: Israel was not interested in a peace agreement; rather, it would push for military action to defeat the Palestinian national movement and consolidate its illegal annexation of occupied territory. As well as Orient House, many Palestinian institutions were closed, including some older than the Israeli occupation, such as the Chamber of Commerce and the Higher Council of Tourism.
Israeli policies that fly in the face of basic requirements of peace are well-known and documented by the international community. But the culture of Israeli impunity is unprecedented and denotes the fact that several countries remain accomplices to systematic Israeli violations of Palestinian rights, including the right to self-determination.
This is not only about the illegal US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, in violation of United Nations Security Council resolution 478, but about the attitude taken by several other countries. We often see European and Latin American representatives to Israel posting pictures in East Jerusalem on social media, as if it is part of their mandate, and foreign visitors describing tours of the Old City as part of their “trips to Israel”.
Most recently, we have seen a process of normalisation whereby a few countries have irresponsibly opened offices and honorary consulates in Jerusalem, linked to their representations to Israel, whether cultural or economic.
When we refer to Israeli policies that flout the prospects of peace, in East Jerusalem this includes home demolitions, as seen in Sur Baher, and evictions, colonial settlement expansion, discriminatory planning policies, residency revocations and racist laws, such as one demanding "loyalty to Israel" from Palestinian Jerusalemites, all with one main goal by a fascist regime and our occupier: to keep a demographic balance of 70 per cent of Jewish majority over a 30 per cent Arab minority, in what Israel has unilaterally and illegally defined as "Greater Jerusalem".
Such policies could soon include further annexation of occupied territory with the green light given by the Trump administration. Annexed areas around occupied East Jerusalem could include the Jordan Valley in the illegal colonial settlement of Maale Adumim, the western Bethlehem area, known by the Israeli occupation as Gush Etzion, and the Givat Zeev colonial settlement north of Jerusalem.
An important part of this policy is the prosecution of any kind of Palestinian political representation in the city. In violation of the commitments made in Norway in the context of the peace process, known as the Peres-Holst letter, Israel has closed our institutions and prevented community work and development with the Palestinian population.
The international community - especially European countries, which base relations with the Palestinian government on conditions set by the Quartet Principles, including security co-ordination - often forget to make their relations with Israel conditional on the same principles. They include a full cessation of settlement activities and the reopening of Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem.
It is in this context that the Israeli persecution and harassment of the Palestinian population, Palestinian political representatives and ministers in Jerusalem has been normalised. As the governor of Jerusalem, the highest Palestinian authority in the city, I have been arrested eight times and prevented from entering what remains of the West Bank. While the world chooses to be silent about our fate, what about the opening of a tunnel by Israeli settlers under Palestinian homes in Silwan, inaugurated by the envoys of the Trump administration? Or the Israeli settlers, supported by their government, taking over Christian buildings in Jaffa Gate, effectively separating Armenian from Christian quarters and severely affecting several Christian events?
It is time to put an end to the old slogans about support for the two-state solution, a solution that is being buried deeper every day by Israeli actions and US support. Without East Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Palestine, there will be no Palestinian state, no two-state solution, and the result will be no peace.
Serious and decisive action - Israel's respect for international legitimacy, an end to its occupation of Palestinian territory and a full cessation of annexation of our city - are the only effective ways to end this ongoing conflict. Ending the occupation and annexation will prevent Israel’s strategy of apartheid, ethnic cleansing and the forcible transfer of the Palestinian people from becoming an irreversible reality.
Adnan Ghaith is the Palestinian governor of Jerusalem
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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Ultra processed foods
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
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.”
Ruwais timeline
1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established
1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants
1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed
1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.
1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex
2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea
2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd
2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens
2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies
2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export
2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.
2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery
2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital
2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13
Source: The National
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Jebel Ali Dragons 26 Bahrain 23
Dragons
Tries: Hayes, Richards, Cooper
Cons: Love
Pens: Love 3
Bahrain
Tries: Kenny, Crombie, Tantoh
Cons: Phillips
Pens: Phillips 2
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
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
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The specs: Audi e-tron
Price, base: From Dh325,000 (estimate)
Engine: Twin electric motors and 95kWh battery pack
Transmission: Single-speed auto
Power: 408hp
Torque: 664Nm
Range: 400 kilometres
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%3Cp%3EDungeons%20%26amp%3B%20Dragons%20began%20as%20an%20interactive%20game%20which%20would%20be%20set%20up%20on%20a%20table%20in%201974.%20One%20player%20takes%20on%20the%20role%20of%20dungeon%20master%2C%20who%20directs%20the%20game%2C%20while%20the%20other%20players%20each%20portray%20a%20character%2C%20determining%20its%20species%2C%20occupation%20and%20moral%20and%20ethical%20outlook.%20They%20can%20choose%20the%20character%E2%80%99s%20abilities%2C%20such%20as%20strength%2C%20constitution%2C%20dexterity%2C%20intelligence%2C%20wisdom%20and%20charisma.%20In%20layman%E2%80%99s%20terms%2C%20the%20winner%20is%20the%20one%20who%20amasses%20the%20highest%20score.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
