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24/05/2023

WASHINGTON: Major international organizations issued an appeal Wednesday for urgent measures to deal with rising food insecurity in poor countries, including financing to support farmers and increase food supplies.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, and Western sanctions on Moscow, have sent energy and food prices soaring in recent weeks, while rising natural gas prices also have impacted fertilizer production, which in turn hurts farmers.

“It is critical to quickly provide support for food insecure countries in a coordinated manner,” the heads of the IMF, World Bank, World Trade Organization and UN World Food Program said in a joint statement.

Protests have erupted in some countries over high prices, and the statement said, “The increase in food prices and supply shocks can fuel social tensions in many of the affected countries, especially those that are already fragile or affected by conflict.”

The organizations called on the international community to provide financing for emergency food supplies, a safety net for poor families and farmers, and to increase agricultural production.

They also called for “open trade” that avoids export restrictions or “humanitarian food purchases.”

While the poor nations are most vulnerable to the crisis, middle income countries increasingly are at risk, the statement said.

“Surging fertilizer prices along with significant cuts in global supplies have important implications for food production in most countries, including major producers and exporters, who rely heavily on fertilizer imports,” they said.

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank President David Malpass, WTO head Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and WFP director David Beasley issued the statement before next week’s meeting of the IMF and World Bank.

The war in Ukraine came as the global economy was trying to right itself following the Covid-19 pandemic, while navigating supply chain snarls that created shortages and a surge in inflation.

New lockdowns in China have added further uncertainty to the recovery.

Ukraine is a key source of grain while Russia is a major producer of energy and fertilizer needed for agriculture.

Protesters in Peru have taken to the streets to demand government action, as did people in Sri Lanka, where the government on Tuesday announced it was defaulting on its $51 billion in foreign debt.

Poverty rose sharply during the pandemic, and the World Bank warns that for each one percentage point increase in food prices, 10 million people are thrown into extreme poverty worldwide.

“Sharply higher prices for staples and supply shortages are increasing pressure on households worldwide and pushing millions more into poverty,” the officials said.

“Increased fragility and conflict pose persistent harm to people around the globe.”

International agencies call for urgent aid to address food insecurity

Source: Viral Real Articles

WASHINGTON: Major international organizations issued an appeal Wednesday for urgent measures to deal with rising food insecurity in poo...

24/05/2023

BEIRUT: Saudi Arabia has expressed its support for the people of Lebanon and its desire to bolster ties between the two nations following the return of its envoy to Beirut.

Walid Bukhari, the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon, told Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Wednesday that “the Kingdom is keen on helping the Lebanese people during difficult circumstances and strengthening relations between the two countries.”

According to the president’s media office, the two men discussed bilateral relations and Bukhari told Aoun about “the mechanism of the Saudi-French joint fund aimed at providing humanitarian support and achieving stability and development in Lebanon.”

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Gulf states recalled their ambassadors from Lebanon in October in protest against insulting statements made by former Information Minister George Qordahi regarding the war in Yemen.

Bukhari last met Aoun in March 2021. That meeting took place after a failed attempt to form a government led by former Premier Saad Hariri and the exchange of accusations of disrupting the process between Hariri and Aoun.

Since returning to Beirut, Bukhari has held talks with religious authorities, current and former prime ministers and interior ministers, foreign diplomats and other politicians.

Kuwaiti Ambassador Abdul-Al Sulaiman Al-Qenaei has also returned to Beirut. He said after meeting Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday that “restoring diplomatic relations and the return of ambassadors indicate the success of the Kuwaiti initiative.”

He added that both Lebanon and the Gulf states had mutually agreed that their long history was above everything else and that “what happened is in the past and the return of ambassadors will lead to further rapprochement and cooperation that benefit the brotherly countries.”

Wednesday’s developments coincided with the 47th anniversary of the start of the civil war in Lebanon. Hariri tweeted: “The suffering of the Lebanese is repeated in different forms.”

Meanwhile, the joint parliamentary committees were unable to approve a draft Lebanese capital control law on Wednesday.

Ibrahim Kanaan, chair of the Finance and Budget Committee, said: “We are making amendments to the current draft.”

Politicians have failed to pass the law since 2019 when Lebanon descended into a financial crisis that has paralyzed its banking system and frozen depositors out of their US dollar accounts.

Formal capital controls are a policy recommendation of the International Monetary Fund, from which Lebanon hopes to secure an aid package.

Lawmaker Bilal Abdullah said the draft contained “defects and needs amendments.”

He told Arab News: “The conditions of the IMF are harsh … How will we face people if the flour and medicines are no longer subsidized? What is the point of competing for parliamentary seats in a bankrupt country?

“Some people are preventing any progress toward the country’s recovery plan. However, some are forgetting that the country is bankrupt, and we must not stop negotiations with the IMF.”

Pressure is mounting on last week’s preliminary agreement between an IMF team and Lebanese authorities to implement the fund’s conditions to prevent a complete financial collapse.

The Depositors Outcry Association protested in Beirut against the draft capital control law. Alaa Khorshid, its head, said: “We cannot accept the theft of our money followed by the enactment of a law to protect the thieves.”

In another development, the US Department of State’s report about human rights in Lebanon referred to reliable information about “serious political interference with the judiciary and judicial affairs and imposing severe restrictions on the freedom of expression and media, including violence, threats of violence, arrests, unjustified prosecutions against journalists, censorship and the existence of laws criminalizing defamation, severe restrictions on internet freedom and the forced return of refugees to a country where their lives or freedom are threatened.”

The report mentioned “the presence of serious high-level and widespread official corruption” and added that “government officials enjoyed a measure of impunity for human rights abuses, including evading or influencing judicial processes.”

The report also cited “unofficial detention facilities by the terrorist Hezbollah party and Palestinian militias.”

Saudi Arabia expresses support for humanitarian aid mechanism for Lebanon

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BEIRUT: Saudi Arabia has expressed its support for the people of Lebanon and its desire to bolster ties between the two nations followi...

23/05/2023

PARIS: Ukraine’s national tennis team say they are existing “in two different realities” as they prepare for a Billie Jean King Cup clash in the United States this weekend while war rages at home.

The Ukraine squad are in the South Carolina city of Asheville to tackle the record 18-time champions with a place in the finals at stake.

However, the brutal fighting 5,000 miles away in Europe remains in the forefront of their minds.

“It’s like living in two different realities,” said team captain and former WTA player Olga Savchuk.

“I can sit here and drink tea while my grandfather and aunt are in a bomb shelter.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is grinding toward the beginning of its third month and with Moscow’s military advance and negotiations largely stalled there seems no immediate end to the fighting.

Thousands have died while millions of people have fled the country.

“At first, we felt guilty because we were not there and now — and it sounds scary — you kinda get used to it, checking your family are OK and checking the news.”

Ukraine player, Katarina Zavatska said she is grateful that her mother and grandmother are safe and staying in her apartment in France where she trains.

However, her father, a five-year-old niece and a pregnant cousin are still in her home city of Lutsk in Ukraine’s north-west.

“It kills you, the worry,” said the 22-year-old. “But if I don’t do something, I feel like I am dying. So just playing tennis helps me feel OK.

“Day by day, on a tennis court is the only place where I can live my life.”

The court for the Friday-Saturday tie in Asheville will boast a ribbon in the blue and yellow colors of Ukraine painted on the court.

The United States Tennis Association and the International Tennis Federation have covered the costs of the Ukraine team’s stay.

Physios and masseurs have also been provided as Ukraine’s backroom staff were unable to make the trip.

“We have been made to feel very welcome here and we have received everything we wanted. There wasn’t even a question,” added Savchuk.

The war has cast a shadow elsewhere over this weekend’s qualifiers in the global women’s team tournament.

Defending champions Russia, who had automatically qualified for the final phase, have been expelled.

Belarus have already been kicked out so opponents Belgium were handed a walkover in their scheduled qualifier.

In the remaining ties, four-time champions Italy host three-time winners France.

The Czechs, with 11 titles — six of which have come in the last decade — welcome Great Britain.

Linda Fruhvirtova at just 16 is poised for a debut for the Czechs after the injury-enforced withdrawal of Katarina Siniakova.

Fruhvirtova made her mark in Miami recently where she went to third round, seeing off top-30 player Elize Mertens and former world number one Victoria Azarenka.

Kazakhstan face Germany, Canada welcome Latvia, Poland tackle Romania while five-time champions Spain travel to the Netherlands.

Spain are without injured former Wimbledon and French Open winner Garbine Muguruza and world number three Paula Badosa.

“The news of Garbine made me very sad,” admitted captain Anabel Medina Garrigues who played in the last Spanish team to win the tournament in 2003 when it was still known as the Fed Cup.

’Two different realities,’ says Ukraine tennis captain Savchuk

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PARIS: Ukraine’s national tennis team say they are existing “in two different realities” as they prepare for a Billie Jean King Cup cla...

23/05/2023

RIYADH: The US embassy in Yemen on Wednesday said it held talks with the new Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council to discuss ways to improve governance, security, and economic stability in the war-torn country.

Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi launched the council, which is headed by Rashad Al-Alimi, last week and transferred his powers to it on the final day of intra-Yemeni talks led by the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh.

Cathy Westley, the charge d’affaires at the embassy, said she had held a meeting with Al-Alimi on Tuesday.

“I welcomed the council’s commitment to the UN-brokered truce and to realizing the aspirations of all Yemenis for peace and prosperity,” Westley said in a tweet.

The eight-member body, which has the authority to manage the security, politics and military of the state, has been widely welcomed by regional and international countries and organizations.

Meanwhile, US envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking met with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah during his visit to the Gulf country on Wednesday, where he briefed the minister on the latest developments in Yemen and praised Kuwait’s firm stances on restoring security and safety throughout Yemen.

Sheikh Ahmed affirmed his country’s support for the efforts made to ensure a truce holds and to enter into a comprehensive political process, welcoming recent developments after the formation of the Presidential Leadership Council.

He stressed the importance of the US’ role, its efforts to end the Yemeni crisis, and its humanitarian and development assistance to the Yemeni people, and said his country would continue to support all efforts undertaken by Lenderking.

US officials meet with new Yemeni presidential council

Source: Viral Real Articles

RIYADH: The US embassy in Yemen on Wednesday said it held talks with the new Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council to discuss ways to ...

22/05/2023

PARIS: The last surviving suspected assailant in the deadly 2015 Paris attacks told a court Wednesday that he changed his mind about going through with the killings at the last moment.

“The objective I was given was to go to a cafe in the 18th” district in northern Paris, Salah Abdeslam told the special Paris court hearing the case.

“I’m going into the cafe, I’m ordering a drink, I’m looking at the people around me — and I said to myself: ‘No, I’m not going to do it’,” he added.

For the plaintiffs in the case, including the loved ones of victims of the November 2015 attacks that killed 130 people, this was testimony they had been waiting months to hear.

Abdeslam, 32, said he was told about plans for the attack in Paris on November 11, two days before they were carried out.

That happened at a meeting in Charleroi, in Belgium, with Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who is accused of having masterminded the attacks.

Until then, said Abdeslam, he thought he was going to be sent to Syria. Instead, he was told he had been chosen to carry out an attack using an explosive belt.

“It was a shock for me, but he ended up by convincing me,” he added.

“I ended up accepting and saying, ‘Okay, I’ll go ahead with it’.”

But at that meeting, he was given no details about the targets for the attack.

When he ultimately did not go through with the attack, he told the court how he took his car and drove around Paris at random until it broke down.

Then he got out and walked, he said, saying his memories of that period were “confused.”

Pressed by the president of the court Jean-Louis Peries, he said only that he knew what he had been supposed to do.

“My brother, he had a belt, a Kalashnikov, I know he’s going to open fire, I know he’s going to blow himself up, but I didn’t know the targets.”

The attackers killed 130 people in su***de bombings and shootings at the Stade de France stadium, the Bataclan concert hall and on street terraces of bars and restaurants on November 13, 2015, in France’s worst peacetime atrocity.

Abdeslam’s older brother Brahim opened fire on a cafe terrace before blowing himself up.

Earlier in court another defendant, Mohamed Abrini, said Abdeslam simply had not had the nerve to go through with the attack.

Abrini, who is accused of having provided weapons and logistical support to the attackers, said he had seen Abdeslam when he turned up at a safe house a day after the attacks.

“He was exhausted, tired, he looked pale,” said Abrini.

One of the organizers of the attacks had yelled at him for not having blown himself up.

“I think he told them that his belt hadn’t worked,” said Abrini.

Abdeslam told the court last month that in fact he had been lying about the malfunction.

After surviving the attack, Abdeslam fled to the Molenbeek district of Brussels where he grew up. He was captured in March 2016.

Alongside Abdeslam, co-defendants are answering charges ranging from providing logistical support to planning the attacks, as well as supplying weapons.

Paris attacks suspect says he changed his mind at last moment

Source: Viral Real Articles

PARIS: The last surviving suspected assailant in the deadly 2015 Paris attacks told a court Wednesday that he changed his mind about go...

22/05/2023

NEWCASTLE: Eddie Howe believes experienced Newcastle United duo Matt Ritchie and Federico Fernandez will have a big part to play between now and the end of the season.

The defensive duo are both likely to leave the Magpies in the summer, with Howe keen to upgrade in a number of key areas.

However, the head coach is of the belief both can still make an impact in the final seven games of the Premier League season, following their return to fitness.

Howe admits his “trust” of Ritchie, who he managed at former club AFC Bournemouth, was a key factor in keeping the as yet unused 32-year-old in his 25-man top flight group.

“He had quite a serious knee injury and recently came back and had minimal training time, so he was probably put on the bench before he was ready but, due to numbers, that opportunity was given to him,” said Howe.

“Now we’ve gone away and had an intense period of training with him, I think he’s in a much better place physically.

“He’s a player I trust, admire and really like. He’s got a big part to play on and off the pitch because he is a really big voice in the dressing room.”

Another player who is regarded as an influential voice in the Newcastle setup is former Argentina international Fernandez.

Up until the arrival of Kieran Trippier, Matt Targett and Dan Burn, Fernandez was looked upon by many as the club’s best defender.

However, injury and illness have severely limited his game time over the course of the last 12 months.

Now, at the age of 33, and with his contract coming to an end in June, ex-Napoli man Fernandez’s time on Tyneside looks to be coming to a close.

When asked whether the player will come into contention again this season, Howe said: “Yeah, he does. Again, he’s very similar to Matt, he’s a big voice, a leader of the group. Great character.

“I love Fede. Really level-headed guy, very intelligent and I think he knows what the group needs,” he said. “He’s had various injuries since I’ve been here and I wouldn’t say at this moment in time that he’s 100 percent fit but he’s building up his resilience.”

“He needs more training time. He is someone we can rely on when we need him and never let us down. He’s one of those great characters that every squad needs,” Howe added. “We’re delighted to have him.”

A more immediate injury concern for Howe is the well-being of Scottish winger Ryan Fraser.

The wideman was an early casualty of the 1-0 win over Wolves on Friday evening, and there are hopes his injury will not keep him out of the weekend clash with Leicester City at St James’ Park.

Howe, though, knows he has an able deputy in waiting, should Fraser be missing.

“It looks like a hamstring issue. I don’t know how serious it is. It was enough to bring him off the pitch, which was a real shame given the form he’s been in but I thought Miggy (Miguel Almiron) came on and did really well. I was pleased with his impact,” he said.

Howe hoping Newcastle defensive duo will return for season finale

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NEWCASTLE: Eddie Howe believes experienced Newcastle United duo Matt Ritchie and Federico Fernandez will have a big part to play betwee...

21/05/2023

AMMAN: Industrial companies in Jordaa have laid off staff to help cope with accumulated losses as a result of the global pandemic, despite government measures put in place to safeguard jobs, a World Bank report claims.

At the height of the coronavirus outbreak, the government introduced regulations to contain the virus and protect workers affected by nationwide lockdowns that have had a deep impact on the kingdom’s economy.

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 SSC also offers incentives to economic sectors classified as the hardest hit by the pandemic under a list that it periodically updates.

Under the regulations, the SSC pays up to 70 percent of employees’ salaries, with the remainder covered by the company. However, firms must have their employees covered under social security and also prove they have been badly affected by coronavirus measures.

Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh has said that the regulations helped protect at least 100,000 jobs in various sectors.

During a recent meeting with industrialists in the northeastern city of Mafraq, Khasawneh said that the defense orders have ensured business sustainability for affected sectors through a range of lending and incentives opportunities.

Khasawneh stopped short of giving an exact date for the lifting of the regulations, saying only that they will remain in place as a social protection tool.

Some sectors have demanded that they be exempted from the regulations, especially those related to laying off staff.

Arab News learned that international firms working in the kingdom have lodged petitions to the government, asking for permission to lay off employees.

Meanwhile, the World Bank recently said that a survey it carried out on a number of industrial firms in Jordan revealed that half had to lay off all their employees in order to cope with the “massive cash shock” experienced during the pandemic.

According to the bank, 94 percent of Jordan’s industrial companies claimed to have suffered from a liquidity crisis during the pandemic, while 64 percent said that they failed to pay their financial dues to the government and other parties.

The survey was conducted in December last year.

According to economists, lifting the defense orders would increase the unemployment rate, which reached 23.3 percent in 2021.

The government has allocated 20 million Jordanian dinars ($28.2 million) for the Social Security Corporation’s Estidama program, which targets sectors hit hardest by the pandemic.

The relief program, which was launched last year under a defense order, helps affected institutions pay the full wages of workers.

The Jordan national defense law came into force in mid-March 2020 following a royal decree. The law gives the prime minister wide powers to combat the COVID-19 outbreak in the kingdom.

Jordan jobs safeguards fail to stop companies laying off staff, World Bank claims

Source: Viral Real Articles

AMMAN: Industrial companies in Jordaa have laid off staff to help cope with accumulated losses as a result of the global pandemic, desp...

21/05/2023

MONACO: Novak Djokovic opened his clay-court season with a surprising loss to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday.

Davidovich Fokina stunned the top-ranked Serb 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1 in the second round to hand Djokovic another setback as he tries to move on from the controversy surrounding his refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

It makes for rare back-to-back losses for Djokovic, who had not played since being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships in February — his only previous tournament this year after he was barred from playing at the Australian Open.

Djokovic struggled from the start as the 46th-ranked Spaniard broke him early to pull ahead 4-1 before another break handed him the first set. Davidovich Fokina kept up the pressure and led 3-0 in the second before Djokovic clawed back. But the Serb continued to struggle on his serve and was broken three times in the decider.

“He was the better player,” Djokovic said. “I was hanging on the ropes the entire match.”

The Serb said he was too exhausted to put up a fight in the third set.

“I collapsed,” Djokovic said. “I just ran out of gas completely … If you can’t stay in the rally, not feeling your legs on the clay, it’s mission impossible.”

Djokovic had beaten Davidovich Fokina in straight sets twice last year, in Rome and at the Tokyo Olympics.

Djokovic could not defend his Australian Open title in January after he was deported from the country for not being vaccinated. He had to skip tournaments in Indian Wells, California, and Miami because he couldn’t travel to the United States for the same reason.

The authorities in France and Monaco lifted most COVID-19 restrictions last month, allowing people who aren’t vaccinated into the country and back into restaurants, sports arenas and other venues.

That means Djokovic will be able to play at the French Open, which remains his “big goal of the clay season.”

“I knew that it’s going to take some time for me to really feel my best on the clay,” Djokovic said. “I have to accept defeat and keep working … and hopefully build my form for Roland Garros.”

The French Open starts on May 22 in Paris.

Djokovic loses clay-court opener at Monte Carlo Masters

Source: Viral Real Articles

MONACO: Novak Djokovic opened his clay-court season with a surprising loss to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at the Monte Carlo Masters on...

21/05/2023

DUBAI: Publicis Groupe has appointed Tahaab Rais as its first regional chief strategy officer working across Publicis Groupe agencies in the Middle East and Turkey region.

Rais joins Publicis Groupe from FP7 McCann and McCann Worldgroup, where he served as regional strategy head and was on the global strategy executive committee, leading the company’s strategy, effectiveness and data practices. Before that, Rais served as regional strategy director at J. Walter Thompson Worldwide.

In his new role, Rais will be responsible for driving the group’s Power of One strategy, as well as leading integrated strategy across the group’s creative, digital, media and consultancy disciplines.

The Power of One approach consolidates all expertise within one holding group, forming teams across agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett, Publicis Worldwide, Digitas, MSL, Prodigious, Sapient, Epsilon and Publicis Media.

Rais will work in close collaboration with leadership teams across the agencies to drive long-term growth for clients.

Bassel Kakish, CEO of Publicis Groupe Middle East and Turkey, said: “Having successfully established the Power of One model in this region, now is the time to build and scale even more extraordinary solutions for global and regional brands, and Tahaab has the perfect creative, data and strategy credentials to do so.”

He added: “As our first regional chief strategy officer, he will bring our best talent together, across agencies and across the region.”

Rais said: “I’ve always respected Publicis Groupe’s interconnectedness, so the opportunity to build on the Power of One vision was too good to pass up,” adding that he hopes to play the role of a “connector.”

He said: “There are so many opportunities that can be unlocked by bringing people together across such diverse companies, disciplines and skill sets, and Publicis Groupe is the only network in the region with the scale and depth of resources to allow this.”

Rais is one of the most awarded creative effectiveness leaders in the world, consistently leading agencies to top 10 rankings in the Global Effective Index and WARC Effective 100. Outside of advertising, Rais is an acclaimed film director, songwriter, speaker and writer.

Publicis Groupe appoints Tahaab Rais as first chief strategy officer in the region

Source: Viral Real Articles

DUBAI: Publicis Groupe has appointed Tahaab Rais as its first regional chief strategy officer working across Publicis Groupe agencies i...

20/05/2023

RAMALLAH: Authorities in Jordan and Israel are considering setting up a joint regional stockpile for food and wheat reserves against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, according to Israeli media reports.

The KAN TV channel reported that King Abdullah of Jordan proposed the project during his meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Amman in late March. It is still in the early planning stages, the channel added, but Israel, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority could be part of it and any country suffering from food shortages would be able to draw from the stockpile.

However, some observers have warned that the Palestinian Territories might benefit little from such an arrangement because they do not have the proper infrastructure required for storing wheat flour.

Wheat flour reserves in the Occupied Territories could be exhausted within three weeks, according to the charity Oxfam, and the cost of the food staple has soared by nearly 25 percent as a result of the war in Ukraine.

“Palestinian households are being hit hard by rising global food prices and many are struggling to meet their basic needs,” said Shane Stevenson, Oxfam’s country director in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.

“The reliance on imports and the constraints forced upon them by Israel’s continuing military occupation, settler violence and land grabs are compounding the food crisis.”

The Palestinian Authority has to import 95 percent of its wheat but owns no food-storage infrastructure and so is forced to rely instead on the Palestinian private sector and Israeli facilities. Meanwhile, Israel imports half of its grain and cereals from Ukraine.

According to the World Food Program, the Ukraine crisis has resulted in increased prices for grain and other food items in the Palestinian Territories. It said that the cost of wheat flour has risen by 23.6 percent, corn oil by 26.3 percent, lentils by 17.6 percent, and table salt by 30 percent, all of which is having a significant effect on Palestinians’ purchasing power.

The organization said that most families in Gaza are buying food on credit and eating lower-quality food in smaller quantities. As prices have risen they have cut back on purchases of more expensive food such as fruit, meat and chicken, which are essential components of a healthy diet.

Food-insecure Arab countries rely heavily on Black Sea grain imported from Russia and Ukraine, who controlled 30 percent of global wheat exports in 2021, but with the two countries locked in conflict, concerns are growing. Read more here.

Meanwhile, an increase in feed prices of about 60 percent has added to the burden on Palestinian livestock breeders, who already face other challenges such as diseases affecting their animals, increasing attacks by settlers on Palestinian pastoral lands, and forced relocation due to Israeli annexation and expansion policies in the West Bank. Breeders have appealed to the Palestinian Authority to abolish the value-added tax on feed to offset rising prices.

Mazen Sinokrot, regional director of the Federation of Arab Food Industries, said that Palestine cannot rely on Israeli food reserves in times of crises.

Samir Hulileh, a Palestinian former deputy minister of economy, told Arab News: “The PA does not import wheat directly from Ukraine because the import is carried out in large quantities. Therefore, the import is carried out through Israel, which makes the price higher and gives major Israeli importers the ability to control the price.

“And since Palestine does not have ports or suitable storage warehouses for grain, establishing warehouses near the crossings with Israel was proposed to store wheat and all kinds of grain but the project has not been implemented so far.”

He added: “What is stated in the Oxfam report is correct, as wheat and flour that is available for Palestinians is what is there in the stores of Palestinian merchants. As long as there is a stock of grain in Israel, the Palestinians who import from Israel and depend on it will not suffer. But if Israel faced a problem importing wheat and grains, the PA will inevitably suffer.”

Hulileh expressed concern about the Jordanian-Israeli regional stockpile proposal because it refers to the Palestinian Authority as a subordinate to Israel rather than an independent entity. He said it should be a tripartite agreement, not a bilateral deal, because the needs of the Palestinian Authority sometimes differ from the requirements of Israel.

“We must be an independent party to any agreement and not an affiliated party,” he told Arab News.

He urged the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture to encourage Palestinian farmers to grow grain in Area C, which constitutes about 60 percent of the land in the West Bank, to meet at least part of the Palestinian demand at a reasonable price. He also suggested that the ministry buy crops from the farmers at a suitable price.

“The moment that Israel faces a crisis in importing wheat and grain, we will definitely face a crisis in the Palestinian territories,” Hulileh warned.

Oxfam has called on the international community to urgently adopt a joint, coordinated economic and diplomatic position that challenges Israel’s restrictive policies and allows Palestinians to invest in local food production and infrastructure development.

Abbas Melhem, the head of the Palestinian Farmers Union, said the livestock sector is being destroyed and needs support before it collapses entirely. The union has called on Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh to take urgent action to save the sector.

Palestinians wary of regional food and grain stockpile plan

Source: Viral Real Articles

RAMALLAH: Authorities in Jordan and Israel are considering setting up a joint regional stockpile for food and wheat reserves against the...

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