Arab Parliament denounces Israel for constructing watchtower on Al-Aqsa’s western wall
Arab Parliament said that the Israeli occupation aims to change the historical, political, demographic, and legal reality of the occupied city of Jerusalem
Parliament called for urgent international intervention to end Israeli violations at Islam’s third holiest site and to take all measures to stop the ethnic cleansing
Updated 29 February 2024
Gobran Mohamed
CAIRO: The Cairo-based Arab Parliament has condemned the construction of a watchtower on the western wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the installation of surveillance cameras on it by Israeli authorities.
It held Israel accountable for the consequences of such practices, saying it “exceeded all limits of provoking Muslims around the world and expanding the circle of ongoing aggression against the Palestinian people.”
It added that the “occupation’s measures are invalid, illegitimate, illegal, and a blatant violation of international law and UN and UNESCO resolutions, in light of the genocidal war and ethnic cleansing” in Gaza.
The organization said that the “Israeli occupation aims to change the historical, political, demographic, and legal reality of the occupied city of Jerusalem and its sanctities and to erase the Palestinian Arab identity.”
The Arab Parliament called for urgent international intervention to end Israeli violations at Islam’s third holiest site and to take all measures to stop the “ethnic cleansing to which the Palestinian people are subjected.”
On Sunday, Israeli forces installed surveillance cameras on the watchtower they built on the western wall of the mosque, according to the Palestinian WAFA news agency.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned the move and denounced the Israeli forces’ daily incursions into the mosque compound and Israeli attempts to “change the historical, political, demographic, and legal reality of Jerusalem.”
NGOs, civil society groups urge EU to end trade with Israeli settlements
Bloc is violating ICJ ruling by allowing goods to enter European market, letter warns
Human Rights Watch: EU should ‘live up to its obligations under international law’
Updated 04 February 2025
Arab News
LONDON: More than 160 NGOs, civil society groups and trade unions have urged the EU to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories.
The appeal came in a letter addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
She was urged to take action to ensure that Europe complies with international law by ending its support for Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise.
It comes amid renewed international attention on the Palestinian question in the wake of the Gaza ceasefire.
Palestinians “continue suffering” in the enclave despite the “fragile” ceasefire, while in the West Bank Israeli authorities have “expanded their illegal settlements and intensified their repression of Palestinians,” Human Rights Watch said.
EU member states have repeatedly condemned Israeli settlements through unanimous voting. Two rounds of targeted sanctions against Israeli settlers were also launched by the bloc.
Last July, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s occupation is illegal, and called for the dismantling of settlements.
States have an obligation to prevent trade “that assists in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” the court said.
Existing EU policies breach this obligation, groups said in the letter, warning that goods exported from Israeli settlements are not excluded from entering the European market.
HRW said: “Amid sharp divisions, the EU has been unable to adopt measures that respond to Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide in Gaza.
“But the bloc should at least be coherent with its own statements, and live up to its obligations under international law, by banning trade and business with settlements, which are inexorably linked to egregious rights abuses.”
Syria’s Sharaa to discuss defense pact with Turkiye’s Erdogan, sources say
Updated 04 February 2025
Reuters
AMMAN/BEIRUT/DAMASCUS: Syria’s transitional President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan are expected to discuss a joint defense pact in Ankara on Tuesday, including establishing Turkish air bases in central Syria and training for Syria’s new army, four sources familiar with the matter said.
NATO member Turkiye has long backed Syria’s armed and political opposition to ousted leader Bashar Assad, who was toppled in late December in a lightning offensive spearheaded by Sharaa’s forces.
Ankara is positioning itself to play a major role in the new Syria, filling a vacuum left by Assad’s main regional backer Iran, in an expansion of Turkish sway that could spark rivalry with Gulf Arab states and put Israel on edge.
The sources — a Syrian security official, two Damascus-based foreign security sources and a senior regional intelligence official — spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media about the meeting.
This is the first time that elements of any strategic defense arrangement by Syria’s new leaders, including details of additional Turkish bases, have come to light.
The pact could see Turkiye establish new air bases in Syria, use Syrian airspace for military purposes, and take a lead role in training troops in Syria’s new army, the sources said.
Syria’s new leadership has dissolved the army and its various rebel factions, and is working on integrating them into a new military command.
The sources said the deal was not expected to be finalized on Tuesday.
TURKISH AIR BASES IN SYRIA
The regional intelligence official, the Syrian security official and one of the Damascus-based foreign security sources said the talks would include setting up two Turkish bases in Syria’s vast central desert region, known as the Badiyah.
An official in Syria’s presidency told Reuters that Sharaa would discuss Turkiye’s “training of the new Syrian army, as well as new areas of deployment and cooperation” with Erdogan, without specifying the deployment locations.
The Turkish presidency and Syrian defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the issue.
The Turkish presidency’s communications director Fahrettin Altun said on Monday that Erdogan and Sharaa would discuss the latest developments in Syria and possible joint measures to rebuild Syria’s economy and achieve stability and security.
A Turkish defense ministry official familiar with the talks between both defense ministries told Reuters he did not have information on Turkish bases in Syria and training for Syrian troops as part of a possible defense pact.
TURKEY’S AIR DEFENSE ROLE
The senior regional intelligence official, the Syrian security official and one of the Damascus-based foreign security sources said the bases under discussion would allow Turkiye to defend Syria’s air space in case of any future attacks.
Assad’s other main backer — Russia — is also in talks with the new Damascus administration about the fate of its two military bases in Syria, a naval base in Tartous and an air base near the port city of Latakia, the Kremlin said on Monday.
In an interview in January, Syria’s defense minister Murhaf Abu Qasra told Reuters the country’s new leaders would seek to build strong ties in the region, “and that through these ties, we will be able to build our military force well.”
If these ties lead to a partnership “on arming, training, air defense or other issues — we would welcome it,” Abu Qasra said, without mentioning Turkiye.
The regional intelligence official said the possible air base locations were the Palmyra military airport and the Syrian army’s T4 base, both in the province of Homs.
MESSAGE TO KURDISH FIGHTERS
The official said Ankara was keen to set up bases there as a message to Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria, known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Ankara views them as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and is deemed a terrorist group by both Turkiye and the US
Turkiye has threatened a military offensive against the YPG, but has held off as talks are underway to address the fate of the Kurdish forces.
The Turkish defense ministry official told Reuters that Turkish and Syrian military delegations exchanged views last week on “what can be done in defense and security matters, especially in the joint fight against terrorist organizations that pose a threat to both Syria and Turkiye.”
“Our meetings will continue within the framework of the needs that will occur in coming period,” the official added.
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler said in December that Turkiye was “ready to provide the necessary support if the new (Syrian) administration requested it.
Ankara may discuss and reevaluate the issue of Turkiye’s military presence in Syria with the new Syrian administration “when necessary conditions arise,” Guler said at the time.
Israeli military says troops shoot dead gunman in West Bank
Updated 04 February 2025
AFP
JERUSALEM: The Israeli army said Tuesday that its troops had killed a gunman who critically wounded two soldiers when he opened fire at a military post in the occupied West Bank.
“A terrorist fired at soldiers at a military post in Tayasir. The soldiers exchanged fire with the terrorist and killed him,” the military said in a statement.
Israeli emergency services said six people were treated at the scene and evacuated to hospitals for treatment.
Israeli army radio reported that two of the soldiers were in critical condition.
Israeli forces have been engaged in what the army says is “an operation to thwart terrorism” in the northern area of the West Bank, primarily in the area of Jenin, long a hotbed of militancy.
On Sunday, the army said that it had killed at least 50 “militants” since it launched an operation on January 21, while the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah said Israeli forces have killed 70 people in the territory since the start of the year.
The operation has also seen troops levelling buildings in a refugee camp adjacent to Jenin.
The offensive has drawn sharp condemnation from the Palestinian Authority, which called Israel’s actions “ethnic cleansing.”
Violence has surged across the West Bank since war began in Gaza with the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 884 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the war, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
At least 30 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military raids in the territory over the same period, according to official Israeli figures.
Israel preparing to send team to Doha to discuss ceasefire
Talks on a second phase, paving the way to a possible end to the war, are due to begin on Tuesday
Updated 04 February 2025
Reuters
JERUSALEM: Israel is preparing to send a high-level delegation to the Qatari capital Doha to discuss continued implementation of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Tuesday.
Under the terms of the original deal that sealed a 42-day truce and an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, talks on a second phase, paving the way to a possible end to the war, are due to begin on Tuesday.
From urban bars to country weddings, Moroccan folk singers break barriers and keep traditions alive
Those who come to hear them sing say cheikha can serve as a community’s truth-tellers, singing about often unspoken dynamics related to marriage, agriculture or, historically, colonial resistance
Morocco’s music scene is increasingly embracing Middle Eastern pop and rap by North African artists from throughout the diaspora
Updated 04 February 2025
AP
SIDI YAHYA ZAER, Morocco: Mbarka Moullablad’s family frowned when she first told them she planned to make a living as a cheikha, singing about love, pain, and societal change to the melodies of her ancestors under the stage name “Thouria.”
Women like her are the stewards of one of Morocco’s most cherished oral traditions: a form of folk singing known as aita, which means a “cry” or “lament” in Arabic. From smoky bars and cabarets in Morocco’s largest cities to the gatherings in the country’s rural regions, they croon at weddings, festivals and private events and pub nights, hypnotizing audiences both humble and wealthy.
Girls dance during a traditional performance known as Aita, in Tamesna, south of the capital Rabat, Morocco, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
But despite aita’s position in Moroccan culture, the genre’s popularity does not always translate into acceptance for those who perform it. Cheikha are often stigmatized, eroticized, and pushed to society’s margins. That was once a fear for Moullablad, but she says her community in Sidi Yahya Zaer, a farming town on Morocco’s Atlantic plains, has mostly accepted her.
“My family did not agree at first and I used to suffer from society’s judgment, but now everything is good,” Moullablad said on the sidelines of a recent performance south of Morocco’s capital, Rabat. “I do it in order to earn money for my children.”
Cheikha folk singer Mbarka "Thouria" Moullablad applies makeup as she prepares for a traditional performance known as Aita, in Sidi Yahya Zaer, south of the capital Rabat, Morocco, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
A form of sung poetry, aita has long explored themes of societal triumphs, ironies, and unspoken struggles, including those related to relationships and economic hardship. Cheikha don heavy stage makeup, silk caftans, and golden takchita belts as they sing about their community’s agonies and triumphs. They sway their hips to amplify emotion, dancing seductively or cheerfully depending on the context.
When Moullablad performs, men and women lean in as her voice softens, captivated as she climbs octaves into a full-throated howl. The beads wrapped around her sister Fatiha’s belly shake as she dances. The band leader, another singer, backs her with his own poetry while a drummer keeps the beat, a guitarist strums, and a violinist drags his bow in sync.
A music band prepares for a traditional performance known as Aita, in Sidi Yahya Zaer, south of the capital Rabat, Morocco, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
Those who come to hear them sing say cheikha can serve as a community’s truth-tellers, singing about often unspoken dynamics related to marriage, agriculture or, historically, colonial resistance. Moullablad sings in Moroccan Arabic, embodying traditions specific to her community. But cheikha across the North African Kingdom also perform in the indigenous Amazigh language, adapting the music and lyrics to reflect their region.
The art form has inspired contemporary acts like the electro-infused “Aita, Mon Amour” and Kabareh Cheikhats, a troupe of male actors who pay homage, dress and sing in the tune of Morocco’s most celebrated 20th century women folk singers. It is also the subject of Morocco’s submission for this year’s Academy Awards, “Everybody Loves Touda,” which follows a single mother who leaves her town in the Atlas Mountains to pursue her dream of singing in bars, cabarets, and hotels in Casablanca.
Moroccan tea is distributed during a traditional performance known as Aita, in Tamesna, south of the capital Rabat, Morocco, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
“I was always amazed by their strength and the power that they have toward people when they open their mouths. Whether they are modern or conservative people, they all stand up and get into a kind of trance like gospel,” Nabil Ayouch, the film’s director, said in an interview when the film premiered at the Marrakech Film Festival last year.
Morocco’s music scene is increasingly embracing Middle Eastern pop and rap by North African artists from throughout the diaspora. And rural communities are shrinking amid the country’s rapid development and urbanization. But though the future of aita may seem uncertain, its musicians and listeners remain confident that it will endure.
“Aita will not die because it is renewed by young people. Aita will remain in all times and is loved by old people and young people as well. It is developed and improved, but they preserve its origins,” said Rachid Kadari, a Cheikh who also sings aita.
