JERUSALEM // Israel tightened its grip on Palestinian communities on Sunday after several cities banned Arab labourers from working in schools and security forces started barricading a Palestinian neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem.
The moves are part of an Israeli security crackdown after violence in recent weeks has killed 42 Palestinians and seven Israelis.
Last night a Palestinian was killed and another injured in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba after they allegedly opened fire in the city’s central bus station injuring at least five Israelis, Israeli police said.
In East Jerusalem, the five metre-high concrete slabs were lowered into place between the Palestinian neighbourhood of Jebel Mukaber and the Jewish area of Armon Hanatziv.
Authorities have blocked roads and placed checkpoints at the entrance to Jabal Mukaber and other Palestinian neighbourhoods. Other security measures include ID checks and requiring some Palestinian residents to lift their shirts and roll up pant legs as they exit their neighbourhoods to prove they are not carrying knives. Soldiers have been deployed in Jerusalem and cities across Israel.
Palestinians said the roadblocks are collective punishment and ineffective in deterring attackers since those with bad intentions would try to reach Jewish neighbourhoods through dirt roads anyway.
Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the barrier was meant to protect the Jewish neighbourhood from rocks and firebombs. Israel claims several of the Palestinians who have carried out attacks against Israelis have come from Jebel Mukaber.
Meanwhile, at least four Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv, have temporarily banned Palestinian labourers from working in their schools.
A party representing Israel’s Palestinian minority called the municipalities’ edicts “racist”.
“Under cover of anxiety, dangerous measures of racist exclusion are being advanced,” said Dov Khenin, a legislator from the Joint Arab List, the largest Palestinian party in Israel.
Israel’s Interior Ministry, which oversees the municipalities, said it appealed to “all mayors to continue to act with respect and equality towards all their workers, irrespective of religion, ethnicity or gender”. It did not ask them to repeal the restrictions.
Citing security concerns, Tel Aviv and the nearby cities of Rehovot and Hod Hasharon avoided using the word “Arab” in announcing on their websites and emails to residents that maintenance workers and cleaners – many of whom are Palestinians – would not be allowed into schools.
Another city, Modiin-Maccabim-Reut, midway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, said “minority members” — a term Jews in Israel often use for Palestinian citizens who make up 20 per cent of the population of eight million — would be banned from working in its schools.
Spokesmen for Tel Aviv and Rehovot said Jews as well as Palestinians would be covered by the temporary ban.
But Doron Milberg, director-general of the municipality of Rehovot acknowledged that Palestinians would be most affected by the decision because “those who work in construction ... are the minorities”.
The recent violence has in part been triggered by Palestinians’ anger over what they see as increased Jewish encroachment on Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque compound.
“We are preserving the status quo, we will continue to do so,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday to his cabinet, referring to the site that is also revered by Jews as the location of two destroyed biblical temples.
Mr Netanyahu is to meet US Secretary of State John Kerry in Germany in the coming week as part of an effort by Washington to restore calm. Mr Kerry also plans to hold talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Palestinian dead have included protesters shot by Israeli forces during demonstrationsand alleged knife attackers.
Two of the alleged assailants in attacks on Israelis over the past two weeks were Palestinian with Israeli citizenship. The others were Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
On Saturday, Israel shot dead four Palestinians they accused of trying to attack Israelis.
*Agencies
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
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
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.”
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
UAE%20medallists%20at%20Asian%20Games%202023
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Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Results
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-2 Group 1 (PA) US$75,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner: Ziyadd, Richard Mullen (jockey), Jean de Roualle (trainer).
7.05pm: Al Rashidiya Group 2 (TB) $250,000 (Turf) 1,800m
Winner: Barney Roy, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
7.40pm: Meydan Cup Listed Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 2,810m
Winner: Secret Advisor, Tadhg O’Shea, Charlie Appleby.
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Plata O Plomo, Carlos Lopez, Susanne Berneklint.
8.50pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: Salute The Soldier, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.
9.25pm: Al Shindagha Sprint Group 3 (TB) $200,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Gladiator King, Mickael Barzalona, Satish Seemar.
