RAMALLAH // Israeli authorities have given preliminary approval for construction of 200 new homes in east Jerusalem — a move that could ratchet up already-heightened tensions in the holy city.
Amnon Arbel, the deputy head of planning in the Jerusalem municipality, said a planning committee approved the project Wednesday in the Ramot area.
Mr Arbel said the project needs to clear other hurdles and construction is years away.
The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as their capital, and the international community opposes Israeli construction in the area.
An attack against a mosque in a West Bank village on Wednesday ignited a fire that destroyed its first floor, an assault the village's mayor blamed on Jewish settlers. The attack came against the background of competing claims to a holy site in Jerusalem's Old City.
The fire broke out before dawn in the village of Mughayer, north of Ramallah, said Mayor Faraj Al Naasan. He said efforts of residents and Palestinian fire services to quell the blaze succeeded only in saving the building’s second floor.
The mayor said he had no doubt that Jewish settlers were responsible, citing a previous settler attack against another mosque in the village two years ago and frequent settler attacks against vehicles and olive groves there.
“Only Jewish settlers would do this,” Mr Al Naasan said.
In a related incident, Israeli police said a Molotov cocktail was thrown at an ancient synagogue in the Israeli-Arab town of Shfaram on Tuesday night, causing light damage.
The attacks came as Israeli-Palestinian tensions are soaring, mostly against the background of competing claims to a holy site in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Visits by Jewish worshippers to the site — known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary — have raised concerns among Muslims that Israel is secretly trying to take over the site. This in turn has fanned strife in a region already on edge following the collapse of US-led peace talks, Israel’s bloody war last summer in the Gaza Strip, and new Israeli settlement construction plans in east Jerusalem.
The tensions at the shrines have frequently boiled over into violent demonstrations, though Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel has no plans to change the status quo at the Jerusalem holy sites.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Netanyahu traded accusations on Tuesday over the tensions, with Mr Abbas saying that frequent visits to the site by Jewish worshippers are fuelling clashes and accused Israel of leading the region toward a “religious war.” The Israeli leader said Mr Abbas was making matters worse and inflaming tempers.
Mr Abbas’ adviser Nabil Abu Rdeneh said Mr Abbas was scheduled to meet US secretary of state John Kerry in the Jordanian capital of Amman on Thursday, and would emphasise his concerns about alleged Israeli attempts to change the status quo at the Jerusalem holy site.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police were deployed later Wednesday near the entrance to Mughayer but that “disturbances in the area” were preventing them from opening an investigation.
Mr Rosenfeld did not elaborate on the extent of the disturbances but attacks such as the one in Mughayer frequently ignite violent protests.
Also Wednesday, the Israeli human right organisation Yesh Din published data on what it described as failure by the Israeli police in the West Bank to seriously investigate Palestinian complaints of Israeli attacks against Palestinians and their property.
The organisation said that of the 1,045 cases opened by the police on such attacks between 2005 and 2014, only 7.4 per cent had produced indictments of Israeli civilians. The police were not immediately available to comment on the report.
Meanwhile, an Israeli border policeman was arrested in connection with the death of a Palestinian demonstrator near Ramallah in May, Mr Rosenfeld said. Israeli security forces said they used only rubber bullets to disperse the protesters, but Israeli media have reported that the border policeman may have used live fire during the incident.
Meanwhile, jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghuti has been placed in solitary confinement after publishing a letter calling for a return to “armed resistance” against Israel, a Palestinian NGO said on Wednesday.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said in a statement that Mr Barghuti had been placed in solitary as a “punishment” for a letter published on Tuesday on the 10th anniversary of the death of veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
A spokesman for Israel Prisons Service confirmed Mr Barghuti had been placed in solitary but said it was because he had given interviews to the press.
* Associated Press, Agence France-Presse
World Cup warm up matches
May 24 Pakistan v Afghanistan, Bristol; Sri Lanka v South Africa, Cardiff
May 25 England v Australia, Southampton; India v New Zealand, The Oval
May 26 South Africa v West Indies, Bristol; Pakistan v Bangladesh, Cardiff
May 27 Australia v Sri Lanka, Southampton; England v Afghanistan, The Oval
May 28 West Indies v New Zealand, Bristol; Bangladesh v India, Cardiff
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
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.”
Duterte Harry: Fire and Fury in the Philippines
Jonathan Miller, Scribe Publications
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Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
The%20specs
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Scoreline
Germany 2
Werner 9', Sane 19'
Netherlands 2
Promes 85', Van Dijk 90'
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
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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 banned).
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.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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