QALANDIYA, Palestine // In a pale-walled room two single beds are neatly draped in bright pink bedspreads covered with the image of Fulla — the Arab world’s Barbie doll. Teddy bears and a pink play pushchair sit in one corner.
In a neatly arranged cupboard sits a printout of a near straight-A school report card, alongside a diary filled with teenage entries.
The bedroom belongs to 14-year-old Palestinian, Hadeel Wajih Awwad — the same room where she would often sleep next to her cousin, 16-year-old Norhan Awwad. The girls were more like sisters.
The innocence of the room seems a long way from the surveillance video footage showing the cousins threatening passers-by with a pair of scissors in central Jerusalem.
What followed was a shocking depiction of the hopelessness and anger of young Palestinians born into an Israeli occupation and the brutality of a security force long accused of using excessive violence.
The girls run towards a man in the street near the busy Mehane Yehuda marketplace as he points a gun at them. A police officer rushes in as a bystander flattens Norhan with a chair leaving her still on the ground. The policeman then shoots Hadeel several times, killing her, before firing two shots into Norhan’s chest.
Moments earlier, one of the girls had lightly stabbed a Palestinian man, in his 70s, mistaking him for an Israeli. He was treated for a light arm injury and released from hospital on Monday night.
Norhan was treated at the scene and taken to hospital in Jerusalem where she remains. Her family have not been updated on her condition.
“What is killing me on the inside — confusing me — is how could a young girl commit a crime. She was murdered, she wasn’t doing anything. Why did they have to kill her,” said Hadeel’s mother Maliha Awwad from the family home at the Qalandiya refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank.
As the scene unfolded in Jerusalem, the girls’ families thought they were safely at school.
“She woke up around 6.45am as usual and made breakfast and left the house, it was a normal day,” said Maliha of her daughter.
Hadeel’s aunt, Menal 42, even blames the school for not notifying their family earlier about the girls’ absence.
“I don’t know how they got to Jerusalem, I was told Qalandiya was closed,” she said, referring to the main check point through which Palestinians in the West Bank must pass to reach the city.
Menal shows The National Hadeel’s diary, she flicks through the pages and pauses at a picture of a young man.
Hadeel had cut out the picture of her brother Mahmud Awwad, 22, from a martyr’s poster. He was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper near Qalandiya during clashes between protesters and security forces.
He died after five months in hospital on November 28, 2013 — nearly two years ago to the day. This date is circled and repeated in Hadeel’s diary.
The family have pursued legal recourse for his death in Israeli courts but to no avail.
The shooting of the Awwad girls comes after nearly eight weeks of violence between Israelis and Palestinians in which more than 90 Palestinians have been killed along with 15 Israelis. More than half of the Palestinian fatalities were accused of carrying out attacks, mostly acting alone and at random, armed with knives. Many others were killed by live fire during protests.
“The video of the Awwad cousins shows an execution of girls carrying scissors that could have been easily neutralised by Israel’s security apparatus, which is armed to the teeth,” said Husam Zomlot, Ambassador at large for Palestine.
“The cold-blooded murder of mostly children and teens can’t be explained from a security perspective or basic rules of engagement.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas alongside a raft of human right organisations has accused Israel of carrying out “extrajudicial killings” of Palestinians.
He said the current wave of attacks was the “inevitable result of diminishing hopes, the continued strangulation” and lack of sense of security felt by our people.
At the end of October Israel’s Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein clarified the rules of engagement of Israeli forces, which are prohibited from firing at a suspected assailant unless an immediate danger to human life cannot be prevented and that any use of fire is proportional to the threat.
A UN report this month called for “independent, thorough, prompt and impartial investigations into all suspected cases of extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary executions and to prove compensation to the victims and their families”.
“Cases of excessive use of force by Israeli forces against Palestinians, including some which appear to amount to summary executions, continue to be reported and some have been captured on video,” said Christof Heyns, the UN’s special rapporteur on extrajudicial killing.
The family of the Awwad cousins refute allegations they carried out an attack with scissors.
Hadeel’s older brother Abed Al Hamid Awwad, 31, said his sister did not carry out an attack, but had gone shopping in Jerusalem.
He remembers her as an aspiring doctor, the youngest child, and as a result “a bit spoilt”.
“If this video isn’t clear that this is murder execution-style, then either we are crazy, or the video is lying,” said Norhan’s father Ibrahim.
He said he did not know anything about the condition of his daughter. He had been forbidden from visiting the hospital and speaking to his daughter. Hadeel’s body has not been released by Israel.
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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
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
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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
MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Croatia v Hungary, Thursday, 10.45pm, UAE
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
BACK%20TO%20ALEXANDRIA
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETamer%20Ruggli%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENadine%20Labaki%2C%20Fanny%20Ardant%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Expert input
If you had all the money in the world, what’s the one sneaker you would buy or create?
“There are a few shoes that have ‘grail’ status for me. But the one I have always wanted is the Nike x Patta x Parra Air Max 1 - Cherrywood. To get a pair in my size brand new is would cost me between Dh8,000 and Dh 10,000.” Jack Brett
“If I had all the money, I would approach Nike and ask them to do my own Air Force 1, that’s one of my dreams.” Yaseen Benchouche
“There’s nothing out there yet that I’d pay an insane amount for, but I’d love to create my own shoe with Tinker Hatfield and Jordan.” Joshua Cox
“I think I’d buy a defunct footwear brand; I’d like the challenge of reinterpreting a brand’s history and changing options.” Kris Balerite
“I’d stir up a creative collaboration with designers Martin Margiela of the mixed patchwork sneakers, and Yohji Yamamoto.” Hussain Moloobhoy
“If I had all the money in the world, I’d live somewhere where I’d never have to wear shoes again.” Raj Malhotra
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.”
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
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
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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
Directed by: Shaka King
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons
Four stars
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
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
