US President Donald Trump on Thursday brushed off concerns that Israel might try to annex the occupied West Bank after the Israeli parliament backed a bill proposing the takeover.
“Don’t worry about the West Bank,” he told reporters at the White House. “Israel is not going to do anything with the West Bank … Israel is doing very well, they’re not going to do anything with it.”
Middle East countries were taking a renewed stand against Israel on Thursday after the Knesset vote and four people were killed in a bombing in Lebanon.
More than a dozen Islamic nations, including the UAE, condemned “in the strongest terms” the approval of two draft laws by the Knesset that would apply Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank. Top US officials visiting Israel also warned against an annexation.
Under American pressure, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – whose cabinet includes hardline Israeli nationalists – distanced himself from the bills proposed by the opposition. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the government was not backing the bills at “this stage”.
The group of mainly Islamic countries, including the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait, said the West Bank votes in Israel's parliament were a “blatant violation” of international treaties and UN resolutions. They said Israel has no sovereignty over occupied Palestinian land.
They welcomed Wednesday's advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice saying that Israel is obliged to meet the basic needs of people in Gaza. Judges added that Israel must support relief efforts by the UN, including the Palestinian refugee aid agency UNRWA.
US Vice President JD Vance, the most senior of the Americans visiting Israel this week, said Mr Trump would oppose an annexation of the West Bank. Asked about the vote, Mr Vance said: “If it was a political stunt, it is a very stupid one, and I personally take some insult to it.”
In Lebanon, two people were killed in an Israeli bombing attack on the Bekaa Valley, in which schools were damaged and pupils injured. Israel said it had struck a Hezbollah training compound and a missile plant.
Lebanon's leaders held talks with the senior US general stationed in the country, Joseph Clearfield. President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called for pressure on Israel to stop its regular attacks. Education Minister Rima Karami called the strikes a “barbaric assault” after they caused panic among schoolchildren.
The flare-ups were the latest sign of unresolved tension in the Middle East since Mr Trump's Gaza ceasefire deal took effect this month. Israeli settlers have been accused of violent attacks on Palestinians harvesting olives in the West Bank, while air strikes killed 44 people in Gaza at the weekend.
Mr Netanyahu also distanced himself from Wednesday's vote, saying it was intended “to sow discord” during Mr Vance's visit to Israel. “The two bills were sponsored by opposition members of the Knesset,” Mr Netanyahu's office said.
It said Mr Netanyahu's Likud party and coalition partners “did not vote for these bills”, except for one disgruntled Likud member who was recently fired from the chairmanship of a Knesset committee. “Without Likud support these bills are unlikely to go anywhere.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was arriving in Israel tonight, warned an annexation of the West Bank would threaten the Gaza peace deal. One of the Knesset bills would apply Israeli law to the area, a move tantamount to a grab of land that Palestinians see as part of their future state.
The vote was the first of four needed to pass the law. “The President has made clear that it is not something we can be supportive of right now,” Mr Rubio said as he boarded a plane to Israel.
Annexation moves are “threatening for the peace deal”, he added. “They're a democracy, they're going to have their votes and people are going to take these positions,” he said.
“But at this time, it's something that we … think might be counterproductive.”
Asked about increased violence by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, Mr Rubio said: “We're concerned about anything that threatens to destabilise what we've worked on.”
The US is the primary military and diplomatic supporter of Israel, and Mr Rubio, until recently, had steered clear of criticising annexation moves championed by Israel's far right.
Several Arab and Islamic states, which the US is courting to provide troops and money for a stabilisation force in Gaza, have warned that annexation of the West Bank would be a red line.
Some members of Mr Netanyahu's coalition have been calling for years for Israel to formally annex parts of the West Bank, territory to which the country claims biblical and historical ties.
The UN and most of the international community regard the territory as occupied. Israel argues that this cannot be the case in legal terms because it is on disputed lands.
The UN's highest court in 2024 said that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, and its settlements there are illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible.
Mr Netanyahu's government had been considering annexation as a response to a string of its western allies recognising a Palestinian state in September, but appeared to scrap the move after Mr Trump's objection.
Reacting to Wednesday's vote, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Israel has no sovereignty over the West Bank or Gaza.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirms that the occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, is a single geographical unit over which Israel has no sovereignty,” it said.
The Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule in some areas of the West Bank.
Hamas said the Israeli votes reflected “the ugly face of the colonial occupation”.
“We affirm that the occupation's frantic attempts to annex West Bank lands are invalid and illegitimate,” it said.
Mr Netanyahu has not been explicit about annexation since a past election pledge was scrapped in 2020 in favour of normalising ties with the UAE and Bahrain through the Abraham Accords.
The UAE, the most prominent Arab country to establish ties with Israel under the accords brokered by Mr Trump, has warned that annexation of the West Bank is a red line.
TO ALL THE BOYS: ALWAYS AND FOREVER
Directed by: Michael Fimognari
Starring: Lana Condor and Noah Centineo
Two stars
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20NOTHING%20PHONE%20(2a)
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8
Power: 503hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 685Nm at 2,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Price: from Dh850,000
On sale: now
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
The five pillars of Islam
If you go
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Seattle from Dh5,555 return, including taxes. Portland is a 260 km drive from Seattle and Emirates offers codeshare flights to Portland with its partner Alaska Airlines.
The car
Hertz (www.hertz.ae) offers compact car rental from about $300 per week, including taxes. Emirates Skywards members can earn points on their car hire through Hertz.
Parks and accommodation
For information on Crater Lake National Park, visit www.nps.gov/crla/index.htm . Because of the altitude, large parts of the park are closed in winter due to snow. While the park’s summer season is May 22-October 31, typically, the full loop of the Rim Drive is only possible from late July until the end of October. Entry costs $25 per car for a day. For accommodation, see www.travelcraterlake.com. For information on Umpqua Hot Springs, see www.fs.usda.gov and https://soakoregon.com/umpqua-hot-springs/. For Bend, see https://www.visitbend.com/.
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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.”
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
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.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
TRAINING FOR TOKYO
A typical week's training for Sebastian, who is competing at the ITU Abu Dhabi World Triathlon on March 8-9:
- Four swim sessions (14km)
- Three bike sessions (200km)
- Four run sessions (45km)
- Two strength and conditioning session (two hours)
- One session therapy session at DISC Dubai
- Two-three hours of stretching and self-maintenance of the body
ITU Abu Dhabi World Triathlon
For more information go to www.abudhabi.triathlon.org.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
Match info
Premier League
Manchester United 2 (Martial 30', Lingard 69')
Arsenal 2 (Mustafi 26', Rojo 68' OG)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
One in nine do not have enough to eat
Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.
One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.
The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations.
Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries.
It is currently estimated that one in nine people globally do not have enough to eat.
On any one day, the WFP estimates that it has 5,000 lorries, 20 ships and 70 aircraft on the move.
Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition. Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies.
$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal
Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.
School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.
“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.
“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
