LONDON: Arab nations criticized Israel during a heated meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday that focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Representatives of several Arab states spoke out against the actions of Israeli forces against Palestinians, especially violence over the weekend in East Jerusalem and at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israel criticized the UNSC for ignoring the activities of Palestinian terror groups and the rising threat from Iran.

Tor Wennesland, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said 23 Palestinians — including three women and four children — were killed in clashes with Israeli forces, and 541 had been injured by police and settlers.

Twelve Israelis — including two women — and three foreign nationals had been killed by Palestinians, and 82 had been injured. 

Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s permanent observer to the UN, said Israel had “resorted to its favorite justification — security” for the violence carried out by its forces.

“It is the one-size-fits-all justification: Security to justify illegal occupation, security to justify forcible displacement, security to justify inhumane blockade, security to justify killing children on their way to school, security to justify bombing entire neighborhoods, security to justify attacking our people, our land and our holy sites,” he added.

“They labeled our worshippers ‘terrorists’ — the distortions are endless, offensive and dangerous.”

Gilad Erden, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, said Israel found itself in the midst of a “terror wave” of attacks.

He criticized the UNSC for failing to raise the issue of Iran, its activities in Lebanon and its nuclear program, which he labeled “a true threat to regional security.”

Hezbollah “has multiplied its arsenal in Lebanon tenfold,” he said, adding that it “represents only one tentacle of terror belonging to an even more menacing threat: Iran.

“Hezbollah is one of six terror proxy armies that Iran funds and arms, and Iran, as the world’s number-one state sponsor of terror, uses these armies to spread death and chaos across the region.”

Erden said: “As we speak, advanced Iranian centrifuges continue to spin. The ayatollahs’ regime is now mere weeks away from enriching enough uranium for a nuclear bomb. 

“How is it possible that the body tasked with global security does not dedicate the majority of this debate on the Middle East to the Iranian nuclear threat?”

He added: “Try to imagine what the Middle East will look like when Iran’s terror proxies can operate under a nuclear umbrella.

“How much bolder will the Houthis’ attacks on international trade routes and civilian infrastructure get once they have nuclear backing?”

Other nations, however, criticized Israel for its actions against the Palestinians in recent days. Algeria reminded the UNSC that the session came just days before the 74th anniversary of the dispossession of the Palestinian people when Israel was created in 1948, “a people whose only fault was the rejection of an occupation of its land, and calling for the right to self-determination.”

Jordan, Turkey, Morocco, Lebanon and the UAE also criticized Israel, calling on it to de-escalate the situation.

The UAE called the moment “a critical juncture” and condemned “the repeated incursions by Israeli forces into Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as the assault carried out by settlers in the courtyards of Al-Haram Al-Sharif.”

Richard Mills Jr., deputy US ambassador to the UN, warned that the situation in Gaza had also become desperate and required international assistance.

“In Gaza, the need for humanitarian relief, reconstruction and recovery remains acute,” he said. “We encourage all member states to provide concrete assistance, including financial contributions … to help meet the needs of ordinary Palestinians.”

LONDON: The UAE’s Hope space probe has challenged scientists’ understanding of Mars after discovering a new, intense form of aurora on the planet, The Independent reported on Friday.

The probe’s arrival on Mars in February 2021 coincided with a solar storm that scientists believe generated the aurora, previously thought an impossible phenomenon due to the planet’s lack of magnetic field.

The display consists of worm-like tendrils of ultra-violet light snaking halfway around Mars in the planet’s upper atmosphere.

“The sinuous discrete aurora was a shocking discovery that in many ways has us scratching our heads and going back to the drawing board,” said University of California, Berkeley planetary scientist Rob Lillis.

“We have ideas, but no solid explanation for why we are observing intense aurora of this shape and at planetary scales.”

LONDON: Children of a British man facing the death penalty in Iraq after being accused of trying to smuggle pottery out of the country have urged the UK government to intervene in his case.

Baghdad airport authorities detained 66-year-old Jim Fitton, who had been on his first visit to Iraq as part of an archaeology and geology tour, after recovering 12 shards of stone and broken pottery from his luggage.

Fitton’s children Joshua and Leila, and her husband Sam Tasker, who are pressing the UK to act, told the Daily Telegraph that their father’s guide said there would be “no issue” taking the shards.

They said: “Whilst on the tour, our father visited historical sites around Iraq, where his tour group found fragments of stones and shards of broken pottery in piles on the ground. These fragments were in the open, unguarded and with no signage warning against removal.

“Tour leaders also collected the shards as souvenirs at the site in Eridu. Tour members were told this would not be an issue, as the broken shards had no economic or historical value.”

But upon Fitton’s arrest, authorities sent the shards off to the National Museum of Iraq where an analysis determined that they were manmade objects more than 200 years old, deeming them artefacts of cultural significance and exposing him to the death penalty.

Tasker said it was “obvious there was no criminal intent.” The family believe Fitton’s trial may commence after Eid.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman told the Telegraph: “We are providing consular support to a British national in Iraq and are in contact with the local authorities.

“As we’re aware, the Embassy on the ground have been visiting once a week and they and the lawyer are satisfied he’s being humanely treated right, which is the first tick in the box.”

JERUSALEM: Fresh clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound injured 42 people on Friday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, following weeks of violence at the flashpoint site. The unrest came on the final Friday in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. None of the injuries were serious, the Red Crescent said, adding that 22 people had been taken to hospital. Israel’s police said forces entered the compound after “rioters” hurled stones and fireworks, including down toward the Western Wall, the sacred Jewish site below Al-Aqsa. The statement said officers used “riot dispersal means” to contain the unrest. Witnesses and AFP reporters said police fired tear gas and rubber bullets. Police said three people had been arrested, two for throwing stones and one for “inciting the mob.” “For the past hour, the site has been quiet and (Muslim) worshippers are safely entering (the compound)” police said. But tensions remain high at the site in the heart of Jerusalem’s old, walled city, part of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem. Over the past two weeks, nearly 300 Palestinians have been injured in clashes at the Al-Aqsa compound, Islam’s third-holiest site which is the most holy site for Jews, who call it the Temple Mount. Israel’s incursions into the site during Ramadan have raised global concern, but the Jewish state has insisted it was compelled to act against operatives from the Islamist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were seeking to spark widespread unrest across Jerusalem. In an apparent attempt to ease tensions, Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has stressed that the government was committed to the status quo at the compound, meaning an adherence to long-standing convention that only Muslims are allowed to pray there. Jews are allowed to visit the Temple Mount. Muslim leaders have, however, been angered by a recent uptick in such visits/ Some voiced fears that Israel was seeking to divide the compound and create a space where Jews may worship. Lapid told journalists that no such plan exists. The fresh unrest comes as the end of Ramadan early next week. Violence in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem has raised fears of another armed conflict similar to an 11-day war last year between Israel and the militant group Hamas, triggered by similar unrest at Al-Aqsa. Recent weeks have seen isolated rocket fire from Gaza toward Israel and Israeli reprisals, but no casualties reported on either side. The Al-Aqsa tensions have come against a backdrop of violence since March 22 in Israel and the occupied West Bank. Twelve Israelis, including an Arab-Israeli police officer, and two Ukrainians were killed in four separate attacks inside Israel. Two of the deadly attacks were carried out in the Tel Aviv area by Palestinians. A total of 26 Palestinians and three Israeli Arabs have died during the same period, among them perpetrators of attacks and those killed by Israeli security forces in West Bank operations.

JORDAN: Life returned to normal a few days before Ramadan when the Jordanian government eased the COVID-19 lockdown after nearly two years of restrictions.

To curb the spread of coronavirus — which took the lives of almost 14,000 Jordanians — the government imposed a lockdown that led to curfews and the closure of businesses, limiting the mobility of people.

People continue to wear masks as a precaution — however it is not mandatory to do so in open spaces. Stadiums, wedding halls, cafes, restaurants, Ramadan tents and iftar banquets are running at full capacity during iftar and sahoor.

Worshippers now stand shoulder-to-shoulder to offer prayers in mosques and churches.

“This is how mosques should be in Ramadan and this how we should pray, and anything other than that is abnormal,” said Abdulatif Al-Jarrah, comparing the Ramadan rituals of 2020 and 2021 with 2022.

As Ramadan 2020 coincided with the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Jordan completely closed mosques even for the five basic prayers, let alone Itikaf, where people go into seclusion to pray during the last 10 days of Ramadan.

With calls growing to ease some COVID-19 restrictions during Ramadan two years ago, the Jordanian authorities responded at the time by allowing people to walk and go for Fajr and Maghrib prayers in mosques for only 30 minutes.

“Ramadan in 2020 and 2021 was sad. I have never, ever experienced that sadness before, and not only because we were not allowed to pray at mosques but also because I was unable to invite my sons and daughters to iftar,” said 70-year-old Al-Jarrah.

Organizing big iftar feasts was not allowed in 2020 and 2021, and it remained almost impossible even after the easing some of the lockdown restrictions.

The easing of COVID-19 restrictions was not only a relief for worshippers but also for business owners, who are hopeful that this Ramadan and the summer season may bring some recovery for their hard-hit businesses.

Wedding venue owner Mohammad Bashaireh said that his business was closed for two years due to restrictions, incurring “big financial losses” that he hopes to make up for this summer season.

“I had to close my wedding venue for two years but at the same time I was paying the rent of the property, and I was unable to lay off my employees and had to pay them their salaries under the defense orders,” he told Arab News.

Under the sixth defense order, which has been in effect since April 2020, companies are unable to lay off employees but instead can lower their salaries according to rules outlined by Jordan’s Social Security Corporation.

“The decision to allow large gatherings and cancel the capacity limit has really brought back the spirit of Ramadan,” said Sufyan Dweiri, who organizes Ramadan tents in Irbid, some 80 km north of Amman.

“Ramadan is solidarity and bringing together people. This spirit was missing during the past two years,” Dweiri said.

Amer Badran, the owner of a cafe in Amman, also expressed relief about the removal of COVID-19 restrictions, expressing hopes that Ramadan and the summer season would help his business to recover.

“In addition to the positive economic impact, removing restrictions has brought back the spirit of Ramadan … People staying out until dawn at mosques, cafes, restaurants,” he said.

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s security forces have warned citizens and residents that there has been a rise in kidnappings in the country, with perpetrators seeking large sums of money for the safe return of their victims.

The General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces, or ISF, said that these gangs have been using social media to lure their victims, often through ads on TikTok, claiming they can help with emigration applications.

The gangs are mostly active in the Baalbek-Hermel area and on the Lebanese-Syrian border, but also operate deep in Syrian territory.

A security source told Arab News that between Jan. 1 and April 20, the security services in Lebanon recorded 53 cases of kidnapping in Lebanon.

A few days ago, the Lebanese army’s intelligence officers managed to liberate local businessman Akram Jomaa seven hours after he was kidnapped in the town of Lala in the western Bekaa.

The kidnappers had fled with him to the Baalbek-Hermel area in the northern part of Bekaa and tried to sell him to another gang.

They demanded that his family pay a ransom for his return, but he was eventually released between the towns of Dar Al-Waseah and Bouday, in the vicinity of Baalbek.

The army’s intelligence officers also managed to free Sadiq Roli, an Egyptian national working for the Al-Sabbah Media Corporation, after he had been detained by his kidnappers for about a month and a half.

On April 16, unidentified gunmen intercepted a car transporting Roli and crew members of a TV company filming a series in Baalbek, near the town of Brital on the Baalbek-Hermel road.

They fired at the car to stop, and kidnapped Roli, while the other passenger managed to escape. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of more than $1 million in exchange for his release but at midnight on Tuesday, Roli’s kidnappers released him in Baalbek.

Hassan Atoui, 32, was kidnapped by two Syrian men who sold him to a gang for LBP3 million ($1,975.50).

Atoui was kidnapped in early April in the town of Nabatiyeh, south of Lebanon, after returning home from working in an African country.

Atoui had communicated via social media with a travel agency based in the Hermel region, which had offered to process a visa to the US in exchange for a sum of money.

He agreed to meet the person who claimed he was running the agency, but was subsequently ambushed by unknown persons who took him to the Baalbek-Hermel area where they sold him to another gang. They also stole the money he had in his possession.

The new gang demanded his relatives pay a ransom of $25,000 in exchange for his release, and sent his family video footage of him being beaten up.

The family’s attorney, Ashraf Al-Moussawi, told Arab News: “The Baalbek-Hermel region is witnessing an unprecedented state of security chaos.”

“There are organized gangs that include fugitives and others that have been formed recently, and find it easy to earn money through kidnappings, in the absence of (security provided by the) state.”

“I have noticed that many gangs are now using women, mostly related to gang members, whom they train … to lure victims and blackmail them.”

“The security services know the members of these gangs by name … some of them have no previous arrest warrants against them, which means that they are new to the world of kidnapping and crime, but are making a lot of money through this.”

Despite the successful release of some victims, no kidnappers have yet been arrested, with the exception of three women suspected of being involved in Jomaa’s kidnapping.

The security source noted: “Some of these kidnapping schemes are clever, but what is most dangerous, is that these gangs gather a lot of information about their victims, and have many accomplices helping them in various regions.”

“The security services know the members of these gangs by name but cannot arrest them because they are hiding inside Syrian territory (from where they) are running their operations.”

The source said Roli was taken into Syrian territory, and Jomaa would have ended up there as well.

Meanwhile, the source said Lebanese citizen George Mufrej, who was the first person to be kidnapped by these gangs, while he was traveling on the road to Beirut airport, was transferred by his kidnappers to Syrian territory and is still missing.

The border areas in the Hermel region with Syria are not subject to state control, as illegal crossings for smuggling abound, along with those controlled by Hezbollah, which have multiplied since the war began in Syria.

The source said that the Lebanese security services have been placing pressure on the families of the kidnappers to force their sons to comply.

“We need to use the same methods they are using, perhaps it would help in freeing the kidnappees,” said the source.

“Roli and Jomaa have been released thanks to this method; we detained the mothers of the kidnappers, raided their homes, and forced the families to contact them and tell them to let the kidnappees go,” said the source.

“The kidnappers did not like the taste of their own medicine and have been threatening the army intelligence official in the area, Col. Mohammed Al-Amin,” he explained.

The source estimated the age of the kidnappers to range between 25 and 35 years of age.

“These people will one day have to come back from Syria to their homes in the Al-Sharwana neighborhood in Baalbek and Dar Al-Waseah. Some are from the Jaafar, Zeaiter, Mardi, and Saab families, and we will be waiting for them when they return.”

The source noted that they have cooperated with the Syrian army where necessary.

“We will tirelessly continue pressuring these gangs. This is the only way to get to them and curb their crimes,” said the source.

“We are doing the best we can with the available capabilities; stopping kidnappers is a priority but we have a million tasks … every day, and fighting terrorism is one of them.”