Haley vows to defend Israel at UN

Nobody will be uprooted, settlers told

JERUSALEM, June 7, (Agencies): US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley hailed a “new day” for Israel at the global body Wednesday as she held talks with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem.

Speaking ahead of a meeting with President Reuven Rivlin, Haley vowed to defend Israel at the United Nations.

“I have never taken kindly to bullies, and the UN has bullied Israel for a very long time,” she said, according to Rivlin’s office. “We are not going to let that happen anymore.

“It is a new day for Israel in the United Nations,” she added.

Rivlin thanked Haley for her protection of Israel, saying it marked a “new era.”

“Israel is no longer alone at the UN. Israel is no longer the UN’s punching bag,” he said.

In an earlier meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also welcomed Haley’s tough stance, according to his office.

Changed

He said US President Donald Trump and Haley “have changed the discourse” at the UN.

“Thank you for all your help and standing up for Israel,” he added.

Trump came to power promising to lead the most pro-Israel US government in history, and Haley has been a stout defender of the country since her appointment.

On Tuesday in Geneva, Haley urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to reduce criticism of Israel and urged the body to throw out abusive regimes.

US concerns about the UN rights body predate Trump’s election, and Washington has long denounced an agenda item dedicated exclusively to criticising Israel.

It has also raised concerns about a nomination process that has seen authoritarian governments elected to one of the 47 rotating seats.

Israel is the only country with a dedicated rights council agenda item, known as Item 7.

Israel and its allies have denounced the council for allowing majorityMuslim states to spearhead resolutions

ond time that the radical Islamist party has been suspended from political activity at the request of the authorities. (AFP)

Syria refugees still stuck:

Dozens of at every session denouncing abuses against the Palestinians.

Referencing her speech, the first by an American UN ambassador to the Geneva-based council since its creation in 2006, Haley said on Wednesday she had put pressure on the body.

“Hopefully it will be a new day at the Human Rights Council when it comes to Israel,” she said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday told Israeli settlers marking 50 years since the Six-Day War he would keep building across the occupied West Bank and that no one would be “uprooted from his home”.

It was unclear if Netanyahu was suggesting no settlements would be dismantled in any peace deal with the Palestinians, which would mark a significant change and raise further doubts over future possibilities of a two-state solution. A spokesman for Netanyahu did not respond to a request for further explanation.

Netanyahu was speaking in parliament at a special session marking 50 years since the Six-Day War, when Israel’s occupation of the West Bank began, to an audience of lawmakers and invited settler leaders.

“Everyone has the right to live in his home and nobody will be uprooted from his home,” Netanyahu said.

Advised

His comments came as Israeli authorities also advanced plans for some 1,500 settlement homes in the West Bank, including units for the first new official settlement in some 25 years, the Peace Now NGO said.

A defence ministry committee advanced the plans and may do so for around 1,000 more on Wednesday, said the NGO that tracks settlement building in the Palestinian territory.

US President Donald Trump has called on Netanyahu to hold back on settlement building as he seeks ways to relaunch peace efforts with the Palestinians, but the Israeli leader also faces political pressure from the powerful settler movement. Netanyahu has said he still supports a two-state solution, but peace advocates allege his actions show otherwise.

Syrian refugees remained stranded in noman’s land between Morocco and Algeria on Tuesday, non-governmental groups said, despite an Algerian offer to help.

Algiers said last week it would take

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim delivers a speech during the AK Party’s group meeting at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) in Ankara on

June 6. (AFP)

Israeli soldiers opened fire at Palestinians who were throwing stones near the border fence in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing one man and wounding seven others, residents and hospital officials said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said dozens of Palestinians had gathered at the fence and were trying to damage it. Soldiers on the Israeli side of the border fired warning shots in the air after their calls to halt were ignored.

Residents in the enclave, run by Islamist Hamas group, said the protesters were throwing stones near the fence when the Israeli troops shot at them. Hospital officials in Gaza said a 25-year-old man was killed.

The Israeli spokeswoman said the military was looking into reports of a Palestinian fatality. At least 248 Palestinians and one Jordanian citizen have been killed since a wave of sporadic violence began in 2015 in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

Israel says at least 167 of those killed were carrying out stabbings, shootings or car-ramming attacks. Others died during clashes and protests.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas’s spokesman said Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to build across the occupied West Bank was a “challenge” to Donald Trump’s efforts to restart peace talks.

Netanyahu told Israeli settlers Tuesday he would keep building across the West Bank, while Israeli authorities also advanced plans for some 1,500 settlement homes in the Palestinian territory.

Building

The US president has called on Netanyahu to hold back on settlement building as he seeks ways to relaunch peace efforts with the Palestinians, but the Israeli leader also faces political pressure from the powerful settler movement.

Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Abbas, said in a statement that Netanyahu’s speech and the new building plans “represent a challenge to the American administration.”

in the refugees after the United Nations urged both sides to help the Syrians, who include a pregnant woman and have been stranded in the desert area since April 17.

“The Syrian refugee families are still blocked on the border between Algeria and Morocco. Authorities on both sides are passing each other the buck,” said Noureddine Benissad of the Algerian League of Human Rights.

Saida Benhabiles, the head of the Algerian Red Crescent, said a joint team from her organisation and the UN refugee agency have been waiting on the Algerian border since late Monday. (AFP)

Morocco defends crackdown:

Morocco’s interior minister on Tuesday in parliament defended a recent crackdown on a protest movement against corruption and employment in the northern Rif region.

“The state had no choice but to enforce the law,” Abdelouafi Laftit said, after more than a week of protests in the northern city of Al-Hoceima and dozens of arrests.

“The state is mobilised to respond to the social and economic demands of the people” in the port city in the neglected Rif region, the minister said.

Laftit said the government had launched development projects in the mainly ethnically Berber region to “respond to 90 percent of the demands of the population”. (AFP)