Under bombardment, Lebanon’s expectant mothers fear for their unborn babies

RAMALLAH: President Mahmoud Abbas faced criticism from allies and foes alike on Tuesday over a decree overhauling payments to families of Palestinians killed or jailed by Israel, a move to satisfy a US demand that will likely deepen his unpopularity.
Palestinian Authority leader Abbas, 89, issued the decree on Monday overturning the system, long condemned by critics as rewarding attacks on Israel but viewed among Palestinians as a vital source of welfare for detainees’ families.
The sudden announcement seems aimed at removing a potential source of tension with US President Donald Trump and an attempt to preserve the PA’s role as Washington bolsters its pro-Israeli approach to the conflict, Palestinian analysts said.
“The goal is to try to open a good page with Trump at a time when Trump has completely turned his back on the Palestinians by calling for displacement” of Palestinians from Gaza, said Hani Al-Masri, a Palestinian political analyst in Ramallah.
Scrapping the system of salary-type payments, dubbed “pay for slay” by critics — a label rejected by Palestinians — has been a major demand of successive US administrations. Abbas had long resisted pressure to halt the program.
The PA will instead provide support to families of prisoners via a social welfare network, according to need rather than their length of imprisonment. Qadura Fares, the Palestinian official responsible for prisoner affairs, said between 35,000 and 40,000 families would be affected.
Fares, a member of Abbas’ Fatah Movement, told a news conference “a fireball” had been thrown in Abbas’ lap, underlining the huge sensitivities of ending a system introduced under the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the 1990s.
Hamas condemns move
Beneficiaries have included families in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and Palestinians living in Lebanon, Syria and elsewhere — as well as those considered for release under the phased Gaza war ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Israel’s foreign ministry dismissed the change as a ruse, saying payments would continue through other channels.
Masri said the public reaction would depend on how the move was implemented, saying that if payments to prisoners were totally scrapped, “it will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”
“This decision weakens the legitimacy and popularity of the president, which is already weak,” he added.
Palestinian opinion polls consistently show Abbas to be unpopular among Palestinians.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas condemned the decree saying it amounted to abandoning the cause “of the prisoners, the wounded, and the families of the martyrs” at a “critical juncture in the history of our Palestinian cause.”
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, established under interim peace accords with Israel three decades ago, exercises limited self rule over patches of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The salaries and services it provides helped keep Abbas and his Fatah faction politically relevant in the face of expanding Israeli settlements and the political challenge posed by Hamas, which seized Gaza from Abbas’ control in 2007.
The decision comes as the PA faces mounting financial pressure from a slowdown in aid, a squeeze on a system of tax revenue transfers by Israel and a slump in contributions from Palestinians who have been shut out of the Israeli labor market by the war in Gaza.
Israel has been deducting the payments made by the authority from taxes collected on its behalf from goods that cross its territory to Palestinian areas.
The PA has appealed for more aid from Arab and European states to make up for the shortfall of billions of shekels but has so far struggled to make headway.

DUBAI: Gulf Cooperation Council countries are taking substantial steps to diversify their economies based on a model of the economy of ideas, the World Governments Summit was told on Tuesday.

Multiple schemes and visions have been launched within the GCC, reflecting the region’s commitment to long-term economic diversification beyond the energy sector, economic ministers from the bloc said.

At the World Governments Summit 2025 annual meeting in Dubai, Saudi Economy Minister Faisal Alibrahim said that collaboration is essential among GCC member states and should not be seen as a weakness, but an opportunity.

“Economies such as logistics, healthcare and the new health tech, there’s agriculture, there’s agricultural tech, financial stocks and funds globally,” he added.

“It is important to recognize that GCC countries share common opportunities and challenges, so collaboration is key on both the regional and global levels. Integration should not be seen as a compromise, but a potential big opportunity on integration, on infrastructure and logistics policies,” said Albrahim.

Bahrain’s minister of finance and national economy, Salman Al-Khalifa, said: “Diversification means the need to reinvest, reinvent and lower our dependence on oil, nurture emerging sectors, but also to build new economic fields.”

Economic diversification has made the GCC resilient and boosted economic development, he added, highlighting that Saudi Arabia has made huge strides in that regard.

“Non-oil sectors made up 83 percent of Bahrain’s gross domestic product, and Bahrain is already investing in the future economy of human capital, technology and building a strong infrastructure for that, such as the first worldwide Data Sovereignty Law,” Al-Khalifa said.

“We are seeing great progress in non-oil sectors in the GCC; non-oil sectors now makes up 50 percent of the economy,” he added.

In the UAE, non-oil sectors now make up 74 percent of the economy and in Saudi Arabia, the figure stands at 70 percent, Al-Khalifa said.

The speakers highlighted the GCC’s falling reliance on oil and gas revenues by investing in renewable energy, technology and knowledge-based industries.

Discussions highlighted the need for sustainable economic policies that balance development with the preservation of natural resources for future generations.

GCC Secretary-General Jasem Al-Budaiwi said that the economy was a topic of discussion for everyone but the world was looking to the GCC for guidance.

“The world discovered a truth: We (the GCC) are, in fact, an economic entity. We are credible, we follow up on our word and as the GCC the world is listening to what we say, and following what we do,” he said.

Human capital is at the core of developing a sustainable economy in the GCC, Al-Khalifa said.

“First is the human capital. There is a need to make sure that the human capital we have in the GCC region is the finest human capital in global standards,” he added.

“The GCC has the most developed infrastructure, from the data center to telecom and cloud internet, and regulations are well suited for the economic transition from industrialized economies to an economy of ideas.

“There are many other examples, whether it is in fintech, whether it’s in logistics, whether it’s in technology, where governments can make a difference by exhausting the right set of regulations. So, those are the three things that we need to make sure that we’re always focused,” Al-Khalifa said.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that deepening regional economic integration and pooling resources together makes the GCC more powerful and creates healthy competition in the region.

“Trade among GCC countries grew rapidly; good exports tripled in the last decade to $70 million,” she added.