Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
A Hamas delegation will arrive in Egypt on Monday to deliver its response to truce proposals that include an initial three-week pause in fighting that would see the release of 20 hostages held by the group since Israel's war in Gaza began more than six months ago, The National has learnt.
Sources familiar with continuing contacts over the proposals told The National that the three-man Hamas delegation will be led by Khalil Al Haya, deputy and confidante of the group's Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar.
The delegation will be meeting top officials from Egypt's intelligence agency, they said.
The proposed 21-day pause was designed to build trust between Hamas and Israel and, barring unforeseen developments, would be followed by a 10-week ceasefire, according to the sources.
During the longer truce, they explained, Israel and Hamas would enact a larger prisoner and hostage swap and allow the return home to central and northern Gaza of at least 300,000 displaced Palestinians who have taken refuge in the southern part of the enclave.
The displaced people would undergo security screening by Israel before they are allowed back, said the sources.
The 20 captives Hamas would release during the three-week truce, according to the proposals, would be made up of women, minors and ailing hostages, as well as five female Israeli soldiers Hamas is thought to be holding, said the sources.
They would be released in exchange for a yet-to-be-specified number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
Hamas is thought to be holding a total of 130 hostages, of whom about 30 are believed to have died in captivity, mostly in Israeli bombardment or from the lack of life-saving medications.
Previous proposals to end the war included a six-week ceasefire and the initial release of 40 hostages, but the sources said Hamas has made it clear in recent contacts with mediators from Qatar and Egypt that a shorter truce means it would release half that number in the first stage of the deal.
On Saturday, Hamas said it was reviewing the new proposals as Egypt, which borders both Israel and Gaza, appears to have stepped up efforts to broker a deal to stave off a ground Israeli offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah on the Egyptian border.
More than one million Palestinians are known to have taken refuge in Rafah, many of whom are living in makeshift tent camps. Some of the tents are in full view of the border fence separating the Egyptian and Palestinian halves of the city.
Egypt fears that a ground Israeli offensive on Rafah will leave the displaced there with no choice but to storm the border to find safety in its vast and sparsely populated Sinai Peninsula, something it says would undermine its national security.
Hamas has been insisting it would not accept a deal to end the fighting unless it provided for a permanent ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, unconditional return of the displaced to their homes and free and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid into the coastal enclave.
Israel has dismissed these conditions as delusional and says it will continue fighting until it frees the remaining 130 hostages Hamas continues to hold and annihilates the militant group that has ruled Gaza since 2007.
The sources said the new proposals are unlikely to meet the approval of Hamas, but they could provide the basis for a revival of negotiations to end the war that stalled earlier in April, with both Israel and Hamas accusing the other of not being serious about reaching a deal.
A high-level Egyptian delegation wrapped up a visit to Israel on Friday when it discussed a “new vision” for a prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, according to an Egyptian official quoted by the Associated Press.
The mediators are working on a compromise that will answer most of both parties’ main demands, which could pave the way to continued negotiations with the goal of a larger deal to end the war, the official told the AP.
The Egyptian delegation's talks in Israel followed a visit to Cairo on Wednesday by an Israeli delegation from Israel's spy agency Mossad and its domestic counterpart, Shin Bet, according to the sources.
They said Israel remained steadfast in its position not to fully withdraw from Gaza, insisting it must maintain buffer zones in areas abutting Israel in Gaza's northern and eastern flanks. It's also adamant not to allow fighting-age men from returning home to northern and central Gaza.
Israel is also balking at the number and identity of Palestinian prisoners that Hamas wants freed in exchange for the hostages, said the sources. It is also rejecting a Hamas demand to move its forces away from Gaza's two main highways to areas bordering Israel during the initial ceasefire.
The news website Axios, meanwhile, reported that Israel has indicated to mediators a willingness to discuss the "restoration of sustainable calm" in Gaza after all the hostages are released.
It is the first time since the war began that Israeli leaders have suggested they are open to discussing an end to the war, said Axios, whose report quoted two Israeli officials.
As the war drags on and casualties mount, there has been growing international pressure for Hamas and Israel to reach a ceasefire and avert a possible Israeli attack on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million people have sought refuge after fleeing fighting elsewhere in the territory.
Hamas sparked the Gaza war with an attack on southern Israel on October 7 that killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Hamas also took some 250 people as hostages, of whom about a 100 were released during a week-long truce in late November.
Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the United States have since then been trying, without success, to broker a ceasefire.
Hamas’s October attack has drawn a devastating response from Israel, which launched a relentless air and ground campaign that has to date killed more than 34,000 Palestinians and injured twice as many. It has also displaced most of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents and razed large swathes of built-up areas throughout the coastal territory.
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Cultural fiesta
What: The Al Burda Festival
When: November 14 (from 10am)
Where: Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi
The Al Burda Festival is a celebration of Islamic art and culture, featuring talks, performances and exhibitions. Organised by the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, this one-day event opens with a session on the future of Islamic art. With this in mind, it is followed by a number of workshops and “masterclass” sessions in everything from calligraphy and typography to geometry and the origins of Islamic design. There will also be discussions on subjects including ‘Who is the Audience for Islamic Art?’ and ‘New Markets for Islamic Design.’ A live performance from Kuwaiti guitarist Yousif Yaseen should be one of the highlights of the day.
The UAE squad for the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games
The jiu-jitsu men’s team: Faisal Al Ketbi, Zayed Al Kaabi, Yahia Al Hammadi, Taleb Al Kirbi, Obaid Al Nuaimi, Omar Al Fadhli, Zayed Al Mansoori, Saeed Al Mazroui, Ibrahim Al Hosani, Mohammed Al Qubaisi, Salem Al Suwaidi, Khalfan Belhol, Saood Al Hammadi.
Women’s team: Mouza Al Shamsi, Wadeema Al Yafei, Reem Al Hashmi, Mahra Al Hanaei, Bashayer Al Matrooshi, Hessa Thani, Salwa Al Ali.
EA Sports FC 24
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Pieces of Her
Stars: Toni Collette, Bella Heathcote, David Wenham, Omari Hardwick
Director: Minkie Spiro
Rating:2/5
