Palestinians are hoping Prince William's Middle East trip will restore some balance to the Arab-Israeli equation after the the US government's embrace of Israeli positions at their expense.
The British royal's five-day visit, beginning in Jordan on Sunday, comes as the US prepares to announce a Middle East peace plan on terms favourable to Israel and unacceptable to the Palestinians.
Its chief architect, US President Donald Trump's adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, is already casting Palestinians in the role of rejectionists, telling Al Quds newspaper on Sunday that President Mahmoud Abbas may prove unable or unwilling to make peace.
Last month, the US infuriated the Palestinians by moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem - a blow to their aspirations for a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Mr Trump said the move took the issue of Jerusalem off the negotiating table.
But William, making the first official visit to the Holy Land by a member of the British royal family, is far from following Washington's lead. His itinerary released by Kensington Palace, refers to East Jerusalem as being part of the "Occupied Palestinian Territories". Moreover, the prince will not be meeting any representatives of the Israeli-run Jerusalem municipality, something Israel could have depicted as an endorsement of its illegal annexation of East Jerusalem.
"We look in a positive way to the aspect of how the prince is treating Jerusalem, this adds to the significance of the visit," said Ghassan Khatib, a former minister in the Palestinian government and currently vice president of Birzeit University. "He is coming and he is making a balanced gesture vis-a-vis Jerusalem at a time when the US is taking a biased position towards the conflict and especially Jerusalem."
In Mr Khatib's view, the visit is a chance for the UK to redress past injustices it inflicted on the Palestinians such as easing Jewish immigration under the Palestine mandate that lasted until 1948 and "siding with the Zionist movement against the Palestinians".
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Although the prince's role is being described by the palace as "non-political", every step he takes will be scrutinised for possible implications on where he stands regarding the more than a century-old conflict.
On Tuesday, he meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and on Wednesday with President Abbas in Ramallah. Israel will try to project itself as a vibrant, open, high-tech society, while the Palestinians will explain what it is like to live under occupation.
"We hope this visit will lead to a greater understanding of the Palestinian reality and the nature of the oppression of the occupation and the urgency of ending this extremely cruel and unjust situation," said PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi, who will be meeting the prince. "Basically, the aim is to reach out for greater understanding and more human, cultural and historic ties.
"We don't expect it to be political or politicised even if Israel tries to exploit it because the royal family's position has always been against the occupation and for the establishment of a just peace, and we are sure they will maintain this position."
Kensington Palace said that besides meeting Mr Abbas, the prince's programme in the occupied West Bank will include "events that focus on the issues facing refugee communities, opportunities to celebrate Palestinian culture, music and food and a chance to meet a number of young Palestinians." In Israel, his first stop will be the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum. He will also meet young activists involved in promoting Jewish-Arab coexistence in Jaffa and view a demonstration of high-tech innovation in Tel Aviv.
When he is in occupied East Jerusalem on Thursday, the prince will be briefed on the history and geography of the walled Old City from a vantage point on the Mount of Olives and that he will have a chance "to understand and pay respect to the religions and history of the region".
Israel captured East Jerusalem along with the rest of the West Bank during the 1967 war and then annexed it in contravention of international law. With the American embassy move, it hopes international opposition to the annexation is starting to crumble. So Britain's stance now takes on heightened importance for Palestinians.
"What the royal family and the UK are doing is just acknowledging a fact of legality and of rights," Ms Ashrawi said.
But Jerusalem's deputy mayor Dov Kalmanovich was critical of the prince for not scheduling a meeting with municipality representatives or the mayor, Nir Barkat, a supporter of Jewish settlement in Arab neighbourhoods of the city.
Mr Kalmanovich, from the hard right Jewish Home party, said he was "very surprised that a personage from the royal family comes and can't find the time to meet with representatives of the municipality. Such a meeting could take place in the east or west part of the city."
"We very much like the prince but he shouldn't slip on politics and it's a shame that with these things he will cause residents of Jerusalem not to appreciate him," he said.
Pari
Produced by: Clean Slate Films (Anushka Sharma, Karnesh Sharma) & KriArj Entertainment
Director: Prosit Roy
Starring: Anushka Sharma, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Ritabhari Chakraborty, Rajat Kapoor, Mansi Multani
Three stars
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
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Company profile
Company name: Suraasa
Started: 2018
Founders: Rishabh Khanna, Ankit Khanna and Sahil Makker
Based: India, UAE and the UK
Industry: EdTech
Initial investment: More than $200,000 in seed funding
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
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
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The Vines - In Miracle Land
Two stars
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
Upcoming games
SUNDAY
Brighton and Hove Albion v Southampton (5.30pm)
Leicester City v Everton (8pm)
MONDAY
Burnley v Newcastle United (midnight)
What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
Gulf Under 19s final
Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
MATCH INFO
Norwich 0
Watford 2 (Deulofeu 2', Gray 52')
Red card: Christian Kabasele (WatforD)
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Borussia Dortmund v Paderborn (11.30pm)
Saturday
Bayer Leverkusen v SC Freiburg (6.30pm)
Werder Bremen v Schalke (6.30pm)
Union Berlin v Borussia Monchengladbach (6.30pm)
Eintracht Frankfurt v Wolfsburg (6.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldof v Bayern Munich (6.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Cologne (9.30pm)
Sunday
Augsburg v Hertha Berlin (6.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Mainz (9pm)
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