BEIRUT: Waving Palestinian and Canadian flags, hundreds of Palestinian refugees gathered outside the Canadian Embassy in Beirut on Thursday requesting asylum in the North American country.
Many among the group lamented the deteriorating economic and living conditions in Lebanon, which is going through a severe economic crisis, and said they wanted a more dignified life.
There are tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees and their descendants in Lebanon. Most of them live in squalid camps with no access to public services, limited employment opportunities and no rights to ownership.
“We want to immigrate, we want to go to Canada for a better life. There is no work or money or anything here. I got a stroke and did open heart surgery, no one helped me,” said Haneya Mohammed, one of the protesters.
The periodic protests outside the embassy on the coastal highway north of Beirut began a few weeks ago, after a crackdown on undocumented foreign labor by Lebanese authorities, triggering protests inside some of the 12 camps spread across the country and in Beirut.
The protesters gathered Thursday also decried what they say is widespread corruption at the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA.
They held banners that read: “We want to live with dignity” and “We demand humanitarian asylum” in Arabic and English.
The UN Relief and Works Agency, known as UNRWA, is dealing with a budget crunch after an unprecedented loss of all funding from the United States, its largest donor.

KHARTOUM: Sudan’s new prime minister announced on Thursday the formation of the first government since the overthrow of Omar Hassan Al-Bashir in April.

The government was formed as part of a three-year power-sharing deal signed last month between the military and civilian parties and protest groups.

Abdalla Hamdok announced the names of 18 ministers in the new cabinet and said he would name two more later.

“(The new government) will start its work immediately in a harmonious and collective way,” Hamdok told a press conference in Khartoum on Thursday evening.

“Today, we start a new phase in our history,” he said.

The new government is an important step in transition away from nearly 30 years under Al-Bashir, when Sudan was afflicted by internal conflicts, international isolation and deep economic problems.

However, the months since Al-Bashir’s fall have been marked by tension between the powerful security forces and civilian groups that are pushing for democracy, reform and justice for those killed during crackdowns on protests.

The announcement of the cabinet had been held up by haggling over positions.

Most of the 18 ministers announced on Thursday were approved earlier in the week. They include Asmaa Abdallah, who becomes the country’s first female foreign minister, and Ibrahim Elbadawi, a former World Bank economist who will serve as finance minister.

Madani Abbas Madani, a leader of the civilian coalition that negotiated the transition deal with the military, will be minister of industry and trade.

General Jamal Omar, a member of the Transitional Military Council that took over from Al-Bashir, was appointed as defense minister.

RIYADH: False accusations and allegations made against the Arab coalition in a report written by UN experts on Yemen are a continuation of accusations made in a UN report from 2018, Col. Turki Al-Maliki said on Thursday.
The 2018 report was biased and lacking impartiality, Saudi Press Agency reported Al-Maliki as saying.
The coalition has previously drawn attention to issues relating to the methodology of the UN report and its over-dependence on information provided by unidentified third parties which lacked veracity, as well as allegations made in unverified reports by some non-governmental organizations.
Al-Maliki added that the report is based on allegations of international humanitarian law violations made against the coalition, and that these allegations are “completely baseless.”
He added that the coalition is “fully committed” to carrying out military operations in accordance with international laws. It is also committed to carrying out investigations into allegations of violations during military operations and prosecuting those found guilty of said violations.
In line with its obligations under international humanitarian law, the coalition also provides voluntary assistance to those affected by collateral damage, Al-Maliki added.
He said that the coalition continues to cooperate with all UN organisations concerned with the conflict in Yemen in order to achieve peace and stability in the country.

WASHINGTON: Jason Greenblatt, President Donald Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, plans to resign once the long-delayed US peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians that he has been working on is released, officials said on Thursday.
Greenblatt, who had intended to stay only two years when he began working at the White House in early 2017, is eager to return to his wife and six children who stayed behind at their home in New Jersey, the officials said.
Greenblatt and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, as well as the US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, have led the effort to develop a peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians and have spent the entire Trump presidency working on the project.
Described by Trump as the “deal of the century,” the Republican president’s plan to solve one of the world’s most intractable disputes has drawn deep skepticism from Palestinians.
Trump called Greenblatt “a loyal and great friend and fantastic lawyer” and said he would be leaving to pursue work in the private sector. “His dedication to Israel and to seeking peace between Israel and the Palestinians won’t be forgotten,” Trump said in a Twitter post.
So far, the White House has outlined a $50 billion redevelopment plan for the Palestinians and neighboring countries but have yet to release their proposals for resolving difficult political issues like the status of Jerusalem.
US officials said the political plan is now complete and will be made public when appropriate. Trump has said he will release it some time after Israel holds an election on Sept. 17 that will decide the fate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close Trump ally.
Whether Trump releases the plan immediately after the election or he waits until a governing coalition is formed, a process that could take weeks, remains unclear.
The Palestinian Authority has boycotted the US peace effort since late 2017 when Trump decided to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing decades of US policy.
The political details of the plan have remained under wraps, with Kushner refusing to say even whether it would offer Palestinians a state of their own.
Greenblatt will hand over much of his Middle East responsibilities to Kushner aide Avi Berkowitz. Brian Hook, the leader of the State Department’s Iran team, will take on an increased role, a senior administration official said.
Greenblatt, a former lawyer for Trump, said he was grateful to have been part of the team to draft “a vision for peace.”
“This vision has the potential to vastly improve the lives of millions of Israelis, Palestinians and others in the region,” he said in a statement.
Greenblatt has been a player in all of Trump’s moves aimed at bolstering support for Israel, such as the US recognition of both Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The developing peace plan, which Greenblatt and others have kept secret, is viewed skeptically among many in the Arab world because of expectations it will be a pro-Israel vision. The US team says the plan will require concessions from the Israelis.
Kushner, in a statement, said Greenblatt “has done a tremendous job leading the efforts to develop an economic and political vision for a long sought after peace in the Middle East.”
“His work has helped develop the relationships between Israel and its neighbors as he is trusted and respected by all of the leaders throughout the region. He is a close friend and partner and will continue to make a positive impact on the world,” he said.

CAIRO: Six suspected extremists were killed on Thursday in a shootout with police near the Bahariya oasis southwest of the Egyptian capital, the interior ministry said.
Police carried out a dawn raid against “terrorist elements” in a desert area near Bahariya, roughly 300 kilometers (190 miles) southwest of Cairo, the ministry said in a statement.
A shootout led to the death of six suspects, the ministry said, adding that a number of hunting rifles and four assault rifles were found at the site.
Militants have launched several attacks in the vast desert area west of the Nile.
In November 2018, a Daesh attack killed six Copts and an Anglican after they left the Saint Samuel monastery west of the Nile in Minya province.
Daesh carried out another attack nearby in May 2017, killing 29 Coptic pilgrims, many of them children.
Tourists have also been killed in attacks, but the violence has mostly targeted police and soldiers.
Hundreds of security personnel have died in an escalation of attacks since the military overthrow of president Muhammad Mursi in 2013.
The ouster was led by then-army-chief Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who became president following 2014 polls before securing an official 97 percent of the vote in elections last year.
In February 2018, the army launched a nationwide offensive against militants, focused mainly on North Sinai, where Daesh has a significant presence.