Top EU nations lament Palestinian decision to postpone vote
Reuters |
Published: 04.30.21 , 19:33
France, Germany, Italy and Spain said on Friday they were disappointed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas s decision to postpone parliamentary elections scheduled for May and urged him to set a new date quickly. We call upon the Palestinian Authority to put forward a new electoral calendar as soon as possible, the four major European Union countries said in a joint statement. We call on Israel to facilitate the holding of such elections across all of the Palestinian territory, including in East Jerusalem, on the basis of past agreements, they added.
Biden, Abbas and world leaders commiserate as Israel suffers worst civilian tragedy
U.S. president calls Netanyahu to offer American assistance, Palestinian leader pens letter to Rivlin as country reels from stampede that killed at least 45 people at Lag BaOmer celebration; UK, UAE, Russian and Indian leaders also express condolences
Ynet |
Published: 04.30.21 , 20:17
World leaders offered their condolences to the State of Israel on Friday after at least 45 people were killed in a stampede at Lag BaOmer celebration overnight, the country s worst-ever civilian tragedy.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to offer his condolences.
Palestinians blame Israel as parliamentary, presidential elections delayed
By Rami Ayyub, Ali Sawafta and Nidal al-Mughrabi
Reuters
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday postponed planned elections amid a dispute over voting in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem and divisions in his Fatah party.
Abbas announced the postponement of parliamentary elections due on May 22, and a senior Palestine Liberation Organization official later confirmed that it extended to the presidential ballot planned for July 31.
The 85-year-old president blamed Israel for uncertainty about whether it would allow the Palestinian election to proceed in Jerusalem as well as in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Credit: The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 30 2021 (IPS) - When the UN’s Beirut-based Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), released a landmark 2017 report on “apartheid” in Israel, the United Nations disassociated itself with the study and left it to die unceremoniously and unsung.
According to a March 2017 report in Foreign Policy Journal, both the Israeli and the Trump administrations put “enormous pressure on UN Secretary-General António Guterres to withdraw the report”.
But the head of the ESCWA, Rima Khalaf, refused to withdraw it and resigned from her UN position in protest. Later, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced he will award Khalaf the Palestine Medal of the Highest Honor for her “courage and support” for the Palestinian people.