Category: Politics

ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates has welcomed the announcement of the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, to reach an agreement between the Yemeni parties to work on a roadmap to support the peace process, expressing hope that it will be achieved and signed soon.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) commended the efforts of the UN and its special envoy, as well as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman, in their pursuit to find a sustainable political solution, to the Yemeni crisis to enhance peace and stability in Yemen and the region.

The Ministry emphasised the UAE’s support of all regional and international efforts in finding a political solution in Yemen that achieves the aspirations of the Yemeni people for security, development, and stability.

Furthermore, the Ministry reaffirmed the UAE’s commitment to stand by the Yemeni people and support their legitimate aspirations for development and prosperity as part of its effo
rts to support the interests of the region’s people.
Source: Emirates News Agency

Pope Francis today called for an end to the Israeli military operations in Gaza that killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, mainly children, and for a solution to the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

“I plead for an end to the military operations with their appalling harvest of innocent civilian victims, and call for a solution to the desperate humanitarian situation by an opening to the provision of humanitarian aid,” the Pope told the thousands who gathered in Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican to hear his Christmas message.

He called for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “through sincere and persevering dialogue between the parties, sustained by strong political will and the support of the international community.”

In his Christmas Eve message the day before, Pope Francis also called for peace in the Holy Land.

“Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him
from finding room in the world,” he said.

Christmas was canceled in Bethlehem in solidarity with the people in the Gaza Strip who have been suffering under relentless Israeli bombardment for 80 straight days that killed 20,258 civilians and wounded 53,688 others, more than 70 percent of them were children and women, as well as the destruction of more than 80 percent of the homes.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA

Caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transportation, Ali Hamiyeh, will hold a press conference tomorrow, Tuesday, at 11:00 in the afternoon, on Pier No. 1 in the port of Tripoli.
Source: National News Agency – Lebanon

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

“Among the believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah. Some of them have fulfilled their vow by death (in battle), and some are still waiting; but they have never changed (their determination) in the least.”

With utmost pride and honor, the Islamic Resistance announces the martyrdom of Wissam Khalil Hammoud, known as Alaa, from the town of Markaba in southern Lebanon, who attained martyrdom on the path to liberating Al-Quds [Jerusalem].
Source: National News Agency – Lebanon

JEDDAH: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has welcomed the UN Security Council Resolution No. 2720, which calls for urgent steps to be taken to allow immediate, expanded, safe, and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid and to create the necessary conditions for a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza.

In a press statement today, the OIC considered the resolution an important step that requires immediate implementation.

The OIC also called on the international community, especially the UN Security Council, to force Israel, the occupying power, to comply immediately and fully with the provisions of this resolution, ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid, protect civilians and workers in the media, medical and humanitarian fields, and stop the plan for the forced displacement of the Palestinian people.

The OIC also renewed its call to end this brutal Israeli military aggression and the crimes of destruction, displacement, and genocide perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinian
people throughout the Palestinian territories, especially in the Gaza Strip.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA

In an issued statement this afternoon, the head of the ‘Dignity Movement”, MP Faisal Karami, denounced the burning of a Christmas tree in the courtyard of one of Tripoli’s churches, considering it “not permissible” to address the incident as an improvised act outside the context of evil that is linked to Zionist scenarios, stressing that Tripoli has always been targeted at this level.

He added: “Tripoli, the city of coexistence, has a history that speaks for itself, and its present is fortified by national unity that will not be touched by sinful hands.”
Source: National News Agency – Lebanon

JEDDAH: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has welcomed the UN Security Council Resolution No. 2720, which calls for urgent steps to be taken to allow immediate, expanded, safe, and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid and to create the necessary conditions for a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza.

In a press statement today, the OIC considered the resolution an important step that requires immediate implementation.

The OIC also called on the international community, especially the UN Security Council, to force Israel, the occupying power, to comply immediately and fully with the provisions of this resolution, ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid, protect civilians and workers in the media, medical and humanitarian fields, and stop the plan for the forced displacement of the Palestinian people.

The OIC also renewed its call to end this brutal Israeli military aggression and the crimes of destruction, displacement, and genocide perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinian
people throughout the Palestinian territories, especially in the Gaza Strip.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA

Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, presided this morning over Sunday Mass in the Church of Our Lady in Bkirki, during which he delivered a sermon on the birth of Jesus Christ, “the Savior of the world and the Redeemer of mankind…’

“How great is man in the eyes of the Lord,” the Patriarch said, adding, “This day calls on us all to preserve our dignity as God wants it and to preserve the dignity and sanctity of every human being. No one has the right to tamper with the dignity of any person, nor to attack his life and its sanctity, for Christ redeemed him with his blood on the cross. On this basis, the Church strongly condemns any aggression against humans, including murder, torture, injustice, oppression, and arbitrariness.”

Al-Rahi went on, “In the context of the extension of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip to southern Lebanon, in contravention of Security Council Resolution 1701, and the occurrence of Lebanese casualties, the demolition of homes, the destruc
tion of orchards and forests, and the displacement of our people there, we reiterate the necessity of Lebanon returning to its positive stand of active neutrality in its message, as a land of convergence and dialogue, as a player with a role in resolving conflicts through peaceful means, and as a defender through diplomatic means of stolen rights in any Arab country, at the forefront of which are the rights of the Palestinian people to return to their land and establish their special state.”

He continued, “Lebanon’s neutrality is not something new or innovative, but rather it is at the core of the country’s identity. It dates back to the year 1860, the time of the Mutasarrifiyah, and to two months before the declaration of the State of Greater Lebanon, specifically on July 10, 1920, when the Board of Directors of the Mutasarrifiyah declared it politically neutral, in that it does not engage in fighting and is isolated from any military intervention…Later, Lebanon’s neutrality was enshrined in the National
Charter (1943) so that Lebanon would enjoy complete independence from Western and Arab countries, with no guardianship, no protection, no privilege, and no extraordinary position for any country…”

“Since then, neutrality or neutralization has appeared in all ministerial statements,” al-Rahi added, noting that “Lebanon’s neutrality also finds its roots in the Charter of the League of Arab States in 1945 and all its preparatory work and the interventions of the Lebanese.”

He explained that the consensus reached back then was that “Lebanon should be a supportive state and not a confrontational state,’ and that “Lebanon should be an element of solidarity among the Arabs and not a factor of fueling Arab conflicts nor to deviate from Arab solidarity in favor of strategies that do not serve common Arab interests.”

The Patriarch concluded his sermon by praying for all parties in Lebanon, politicians in particular, to be committed to building a bright history for the country in its spiritual, political, and socia
l values and aspects.
Source: National News Agency – Lebanon