Arab League calls for UN peacekeeping mission in Palestinian territories

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Arab leaders called for an international peacekeeping mission in the occupied Palestinian territories as the Arab League summit came to a close in Bahrain.

The 22-member Arab League ratified and endorsed the Bahrain Declaration at the end of the 33rd annual summit, held in Manama.

The declaration called for the “deployment of United Nations international protection and peacekeeping forces in the occupied Palestinian territory until the two-state solution is implemented".

It did not clarify which countries the peacekeepers would be drawn from, or when the mission would be expected to begin. Israel occupies the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and has been fighting a war against Hamas in Gaza since October.

A Bahraini diplomat who worked closely on the declaration told The National that the Arab League was calling for UN peacekeepers to be sent to Palestine, rather than Arab troops "as called for by the western world".

"Such a deployment would be based on the mandate of the UN’s Department of Peace Operations, which oversees all aspects and deployment of the peacekeeping forces," the diplomat said.

In recent weeks, Arab leaders have resisted western pressure to agree to send troops into Gaza after the conflict ends.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs, said the country “refuses to be drawn into any plan aimed at providing cover for the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip".

Last month, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Arab states would not send troops to Gaza, and would not allow themselves to be tied to the “misery this war has created”.

Bahrain declaration

The final communique issued in Bahrain included a plan for joint Arab action for the coming year. It called for an international peace conference to revive the two-state solution and resolve the Palestinian-Israeli crisis.

It also emphasised that the UN Security Council has a responsibility to “take clear measures to implement the two-state solution", and set out a timetable for the political process and negotiations over a two-state solution, which will include a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Speaking after the final declaration, Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the body rejected any attempt to "forcibly displace the Palestinian people from Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem".

He called on all Palestinian groups to "unite under the umbrella of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation".

Mr Aboul Gheit described the talks in Bahrain as "a consequential Arab League summit ... and the first in a long time where there was unanimous Arab consensus at the highest level of leadership, where the draft communique was ratified without any disagreements".

Earlier on Thursday, Bahrain’s King Hamad said Manama was hosting the Arab League summit amid “painful and unprecedented” circumstances, saying the Palestinians have been denied their freedom and right to “define their future”.

Arab leaders from across the region attended the summit at Sakhir Palace, including Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Syria's President Bashar Al Assad and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also attended.

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary General of the Arab League, has praised the talks in Manama. Photo: Bahrain News Agency

Focus on Gaza

Alongside the Bahrain Declaration, the Arab League also announced a special communique regarding the latest developments in Gaza. It decried Israeli attacks on aid lorries.

It also condemned violence against humanitarian and international organisations and aid convoys in the enclave, including attacks by "Israeli extremists on Jordanian aid convoys, and the failure of the Israeli authorities to fulfil their legal responsibilities to provide protection for these convoys". The communique demanded "an immediate international investigation into these attacks".

We call on the international community to put aside political calculations and double standards in dealing with international crises and to carry out their assigned moral and legal responsibilities in confronting aggressive Israeli practices

The Arab League summit declaration

Arab leaders urged the international community to put aside "political calculations and double standards in dealing with international crises, and to carry out their assigned moral and legal responsibilities in confronting aggressive Israeli practices", which they described as a blatant breach of international law.

The Arab League also called on countries around the world to "hold accountable those responsible for the crimes committed against the Palestinian people since the beginning of the Israeli aggression" in Gaza.

The Bahrain Declaration also directs the foreign ministers of Arab states to urge their counterparts in the West to recognise a Palestinian state.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is received by Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, diplomatic affairs adviser to the King of Bahrain, in Manama. BNA

There was consensus at the summit to push for global support for a two-state solution. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who attended the summit, used his speech on Thursday to call on the international community to “immediately begin implementing the two-state solution”.

Mr Abbas rejected any efforts that would repeat “the tragedy of the Nakba” of 1948, when Palestinians were displaced from their homes following the creation of Israel, and accused the US of enabling “war crimes and genocide in Gaza".

The Palestinian leader also accused Hamas of providing "the pretext for Israel to attack and destroy the Gaza Strip” by carrying out its attack on October 7.

The final communique also covered the conflicts in Sudan, Yemen and Syria. Syrian President Bashar Al Assad attended the summit for the second year in a row, after his country returned to the fold after years of exile due to the civil war.

Classification of skills

A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.

A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.

The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.

German intelligence warnings

2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

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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.”