Live updates: follow the latest news on Joe Biden's Middle East visit
US President Joe Biden announced on Friday a number of financial initiatives to support the Palestinian people.
The aid package is estimated at $316 million and is on top of the more than half a billion dollars the US has provided to the Palestinian people since the Biden Administration restored the much-needed funding.
During his visit to the Augusta Victoria Hospital in occupied East Jerusalem, the president announced that the US intends to provide a new multi-year US contribution of up to $100m for the East Jerusalem Hospital Network to ease financial burdens that has seen the facility turn away new patients.
"These hospitals are the backbone of the Palestinian healthcare system, people turn to you in their moment of need,” he said during remarks at the hospital.
He praised the role of nurses in caring for patients and shared his own experiences of how nurses helped him and his sons when receiving critical care. He told the medical professionals in the room that he feels nurses are underappreciated.
The hospital specialises in cancer care but due to a lack of funding has been struggling to provide vital lifesaving interventions.
"When I got elected president one of my goals was to change cancer as we know it so that it is no longer viewed by so many people as a death sentence but as a disease that can be either cured or lived with," he said.
“It's my prayer that the United States will both help relieve the hospital's burden of debt and support target infrastructure upgrades and key reforms in patient care to ensure long term financial stability.”
He also welcomed the recent $25 million donation from the UAE and called on other nations around the region and world to step up with their own contributions.
"Palestinians and Israelis deserve equal measure of freedom, security, prosperity and dignity, and access to healthcare when you need it is essential to living a life of dignity for all of us,” he said.
“The US will continue to work with the Palestinian leadership, the Israeli officials and all international partners to ensure the East Jerusalem Hospital Network remains sustainable, remains available and is able to provide high quality of care that the Palestinian people deserve.
"Thank you for taking care of all the patients whose lives you made better," he concluded.
Mr Biden said he will seek to revive US ties in a meeting with the Palestinian Authority’s President Mahmoud Abbas later on Friday.
Another $201m will go to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, a programme that the US stopped funding under former president Donald Trump, the White House said.
"These new funds bring the total United States assistance to UNRWA during the Biden Administration to more than $618 million," the White House said.
"The United States is committed to supporting UNRWA to provide the most effective and efficient assistance possible and to continue to improve its operations and delivery."
Mr Trump cut off most US government ties with the Palestinian Authority after a series of disputes, including the Palestinian criticism of his decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and the rejection of his administration’s proposed Middle East peace plan.
Mr Biden will also announce technological co-operation between Israeli and Palestinian teams working to build a 4G cellular network in Palestinian territories by the end of 2023.
And in response to rising food insecurity for Palestinians after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the president will announce that the US is providing $15m in additional humanitarian assistance for vulnerable Palestinians.
After visiting the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Friday, Mr Biden will travel to Saudi Arabia.
There, he’s scheduled to meet King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The advice provided in our columns does not constitute legal advice and is provided for information only. Readers are encouraged to seek independent legal advice.
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Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
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Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
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- 2nd ODI, Friday, April 12
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Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse
