Ramallah // Israel provoked yet more Palestinian anger yesterday by authorising 900 new settler homes in the West Bank.
The plans come a day after the approval of 1,200 more Jewish homes on occupied land and cast a further shadow on Palestinian peace talks that resume in Jerusalem tomorrow.
The homes approved yesterday will be built in East Jerusalem near the Palestinian village of Beit Jala, Israel's Channel 10 News reported last night. They were authorised as Israel published the names of 26 Palestinian prisoners to be released today as part of a US-brokered deal that led to the resumption of peace negotiations.
Israel will free 104 of the longest-held prisoners in four stages over the course of the talks, which have a nine-month deadline.
Israel's prison service posted the 26 names online yesterday to allow two days for possible court appeals.
Twenty-one in the group were convicted of killings, and others were involved in attempted murder or kidnapping.
Half the prisoners on the list had no given release date, meaning they were serving life sentences, and others would have been released in a few years without the special deal. Most have already served about 20 years, with the longest-held arrested in 1985.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have spent time in Israeli prisons on security charges since Israel's occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in 1967. They are jailed on charges ranging from throwing rocks to killing civilians in bombing and shooting attacks.
Most Palestinians view prisoners as heroes, regardless of their acts, and argue they made personal sacrifices in the struggle for independence.
Many Israelis view those involved in the killings as terrorists.
The Palestinians argued that the prisoners carried out their acts at a time of outright conflict, before Israel and the Palestinians struck their first interim peace agreement in 1994. They said Israel should have released the prisoners long ago, as part of previous peace talks.
Kadoura Fares, who heads a prisoners' advocacy group, said he was disappointed some of the longest-held among the 104 were not in the first group set for release.
The Palestinians want a state that includes the territories Israel captured in 1967.
The diplomatic paralysis of the past five years was largely because of disputes over the construction of Israeli settlements in areas the Palestinians want for a future state.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, dropped a settlement freeze as a condition for talks in exchange for Israeli agreement to release the Palestinians.
hnaylor@thenational.ae
* With Associated Press
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Teams
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shanwari, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Corey Anderson, Mark Chapman, Lockie Ferguson, Colin de Grandhomme, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Seth Rance, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Emergency phone numbers in the UAE
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111
Dubai Health Authority – 800342 – The number to book a free video or voice consultation with a doctor or connect to a local health centre
Emirates airline – 600555555
Etihad Airways – 600555666
Ambulance – 998
Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The biog
Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia
Favourite books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Good to be Great by Jim Collins
Favourite dish: Grilled fish
Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.
OPINIONS ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL
Should late investors consider cryptocurrencies?
Wealth managers recommend late investors to have a balanced portfolio that typically includes traditional assets such as cash, government and corporate bonds, equities, commodities and commercial property.
They do not usually recommend investing in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies due to the risk and volatility associated with them.
“It has produced eye-watering returns for some, whereas others have lost substantially as this has all depended purely on timing and when the buy-in was. If someone still has about 20 to 25 years until retirement, there isn’t any need to take such risks,” Rupert Connor of Abacus Financial Consultant says.
He adds that if a person is interested in owning a business or growing a property portfolio to increase their retirement income, this can be encouraged provided they keep in mind the overall risk profile of these assets.
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
Zayed Sustainability Prize
More from our neighbourhood series:
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
MATCH INFO
What: Brazil v South Korea
When: Tonight, 5.30pm
Where: Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score):
Manchester City (0) v Tottenham Hotspur (1), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
