The Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, has announced his government's determination to unilaterally proclaim the independent state of Palestine by early 2011, a move that seems more like a dream that will be hard to achieve on the ground, wrote Fayez Rashid in the Qatari daily Al Sharq.
What is important here is the announcement of the establishment of an independent state, but how will this translate in terms of geography, economy, politics and effective authority over the territory?
The Palestinians lived a similar experience in 1988, when the Palestinian National Council proclaimed the creation of the Palestinian state in Algeria. Yet, nothing has changed on the ground.
The Oslo Agreements gave the Palestinians an authority, but it is limited to the daily life issues of the population in the occupied territories. Instead of moving towards a state as promised by the Oslo sponsors, this authority, with initially limited prerogatives, is shrinking by the day.
More than 130 countries have recognised the existence of Palestine and have established bilateral diplomatic ties with the Palestinian Authority since its creation. However, if the planned proclamation of the independent state by Fayyad's government does not rely on the resistance and on historic and geographic facts, it will remain but a dream and a mirage.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation - Nato - is acting like a neighbourhood bully, but on an international level, wrote Reda Mohammed Lari in an opinion piece run by the Saudi Arabian daily Al Riyadh.
It did so in Serbia and imposed the will of the United States. In Afghanistan, Nato forces conducted a raid against two fuel tankers and killed 90 people, including 40 civilians. The victims were gathered around the trucks to pump free fuel after the two tankers were hijacked by Taliban fighters in the province of Kunduz.
International forces in Afghanistan have been repeatedly accused during recent months of conducting arbitrary strikes that caused the deaths of many civilians.
Strangely enough, Nato has practically ceased to have any role at all since the collapse of the Soviet Union back in 1991, which put an end to the division of the world into two blocs - a western one led by the US and an eastern one led by the USSR. The Warsaw alliance disappeared, but Nato remained and even expanded and transformed itself with no legal basis into an international deterrence force at the hands of the US.
The United Nations has ordered an expanded investigation into the raids that claimed civilian lives in Afghanistan and announced the dispatch of a mission that will look into the circumstances of the incident.
Khaled Mishaal, who is a Palestinian leader and a head of state in the Gaza Strip, has only one concern and a single mission: to be ever-ready to defend Iran, wrote Saleh al Qallab in the Kuwaiti Arabic newspaper Al Jarida.
According to the columnist, the Hamas leader has become an advocate of the Islamic Republic to the detriment of the Palestinian people's cause.
During a press conference with the Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa, he did not seem to have a single thought about the Palestinian issue and instead jumped to comments on how the US current moves in the region are only an attempt to form a coalition against Iran.
If he did not consider defending Iran a priority, he would have normally in a press meeting like this, urged the US to exert more pressure on Israel to stop all forms of settlements and to respond to international demands. The issue that should be discussed with the US is not Iran, which has multiple channels to talk to the Americans, and no Palestinian leader should have any other concerns but the Palestinian cause, especially in this highly critical period.
Mishaal seems to ignore that Iranians now have a new slogan: "If there is only one lantern, it is better to have it at home than in the mosque." In other words, Iranian money should go to the Iranian poor, rather than to Hamas or the Palestinians.
The Algerian president, Abdelaziz Boutefleka, was scheduled to visit Paris immediately after the Libyan leader, Muammar Qaddafi, and before the Algerian presidential election, but the visit has since been repeatedly postponed, wrote Abdelhamid Benhamla in the Algerian newspaper Al Khabar. The trip was called off because of "deep and central differences" between the two countries.
Diplomats in both capitals are trying to minimise the impact of these differences, but the reality is that they have become the prevailing aspect of the relations between France and Algeria. Periods of concord have become circumstantial, commensurate to the importance of economic and commercial opportunities that arise.
Issues of conflict are multiple and the demand by Algiers for an official French apology for crimes committed during the war of liberation is only one of them. In this regard, Paris believes that the French president Nicolas Sarkozy's statements in Algiers and Constantine during his last state visit should have relieved the tension between the two parties.
For Algiers, the demand remains legitimate and of paramount importance.
* Digest compiled by Mohamed Naji
mnaji@thenational.ae
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
Mazen Abukhater, principal and actuary at global consultancy Mercer, Middle East, says the company’s Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index - which benchmarks 34 pension schemes across the globe to assess their adequacy, sustainability and integrity - included Saudi Arabia for the first time this year to offer a glimpse into the region.
The index highlighted fundamental issues for all 34 countries, such as a rapid ageing population and a low growth / low interest environment putting pressure on expected returns. It also highlighted the increasing popularity around the world of defined contribution schemes.
“Average life expectancy has been increasing by about three years every 10 years. Someone born in 1947 is expected to live until 85 whereas someone born in 2007 is expected to live to 103,” Mr Abukhater told the Mena Pensions Conference.
“Are our systems equipped to handle these kind of life expectancies in the future? If so many people retire at 60, they are going to be in retirement for 43 years – so we need to adapt our retirement age to our changing life expectancy.”
Saudi Arabia came in the middle of Mercer’s ranking with a score of 58.9. The report said the country's index could be raised by improving the minimum level of support for the poorest aged individuals and increasing the labour force participation rate at older ages as life expectancies rise.
Mr Abukhater said the challenges of an ageing population, increased life expectancy and some individuals relying solely on their government for financial support in their retirement years will put the system under strain.
“To relieve that pressure, governments need to consider whether it is time to switch to a defined contribution scheme so that individuals can supplement their own future with the help of government support,” he said.
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
More on Quran memorisation:
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
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Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
If you go…
Emirates launched a new daily service to Mexico City this week, flying via Barcelona from Dh3,995.
Emirati citizens are among 67 nationalities who do not require a visa to Mexico. Entry is granted on arrival for stays of up to 180 days.
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What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
Keane on …
Liverpool’s Uefa Champions League bid: “They’re great. With the attacking force they have, for me, they’re certainly one of the favourites. You look at the teams left in it - they’re capable of scoring against anybody at any given time. Defensively they’ve been good, so I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t go on and win it.”
Mohamed Salah’s debut campaign at Anfield: “Unbelievable. He’s been phenomenal. You can name the front three, but for him on a personal level, he’s been unreal. He’s been great to watch and hopefully he can continue now until the end of the season - which I’m sure he will, because he’s been in fine form. He’s been incredible this season.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s instant impact at former club LA Galaxy: “Brilliant. It’s been a great start for him and for the club. They were crying out for another big name there. They were lacking that, for the prestige of LA Galaxy. And now they have one of the finest stars. I hope they can go win something this year.”
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
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SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now