Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank are the target of those campaigning for a peaceful resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Ahmad Gharabli / AFP
Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank are the target of those campaigning for a peaceful resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Ahmad Gharabli / AFP
Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank are the target of those campaigning for a peaceful resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Ahmad Gharabli / AFP
Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank are the target of those campaigning for a peaceful resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Ahmad Gharabli / AFP

Israeli defence minister plans to increase Jewish West Bank settlers to a million within decade


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Israel's defence minister yesterday said he planned to increase the number of Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank to a million within a decade, from about 400,000 at present.

Naftali Bennett, a hawk who draws much of his support from settlers, is leading his New Right party to elections in March.

He was speaking alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Ambassador David Friedman at a Jerusalem congress on Washington's November policy shift stating it no longer considers Israeli settlements illegal.

“Our aim is that within a decade a million Israeli citizens will live in Judea and Samaria,” Mr Bennett said, using the biblical term for the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Mr Friedman, a strong supporter of settlements, disputed the use of the term "occupied".

“We are not occupiers in our homeland, we are not occupiers in our own land, we are not like the Belgians in the Congo,” he said. Both men’s comments drew swift condemnation from the Palestinian Authority.

The PA foreign ministry described them as racist and “reflecting the Jewish colonial nature of the deal of the century” – a reference to US President Donald Trump’s so-far undisclosed peace plan.

The ministry said that Mr Friedman and Mr Bennett’s statements were “official confessions of their involvement in the crime of settlement and the confiscation of Palestinian land”.

On November 18, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States no longer considered Israeli settlements to be “inconsistent with international law”.

Previously, US policy was based, at least in theory, on a legal opinion issued by the State Department in 1978 which said that establishing settlements in Palestinian territories captured a decade earlier by Israel went against international law.

The Fourth Geneva Convention on the laws of war explicitly forbids moving civilians into occupied territories.

The about-turn brought stiff international and Palestinian criticism.

The United Nations and European Union said the decision would not change the reality that the settlements were illegal, while the Arab League condemned Washington's move.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, alongside more than three million Palestinians.

Israel seized control of the territories, seen as pivotal parts of any future Palestinian state, in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

Agence France-Presse

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Avengers 3: Infinity War: an American superhero film released in 2018 and based on the Marvel Comics story.  

Sholay: a 1975 Indian action-adventure film. It follows the adventures of two criminals hired by police to catch a vagabond. The film was panned on release but is now considered a classic.

Lucifer: is a 2019 Malayalam-language action film. It dives into the gritty world of Kerala’s politics and has become one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time.

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

Fighting with My Family

Director: Stephen Merchant 

Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Nick Frost, Lena Headey, Florence Pugh, Thomas Whilley, Tori Ellen Ross, Jack Lowden, Olivia Bernstone, Elroy Powell        

Four stars

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Results:

5pm: Handicap (PA) | Dh80,000 | 1,600 metres

Winner: Dasan Da, Saeed Al Mazrooei (jockey), Helal Al Alawi (trainer)

5.30pm: Maiden (PA) | Dh80,000 | 1,600m

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Winner: RB Inferno, Fabrice Veron, Ismail Mohammed

7.30pm: Handicap (TB) | Dh100,000 | 1,600m

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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs

Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12

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RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile

Started: 2016

Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel 

Based: Ramallah, Palestine

Sector: Technology, Security

# of staff: 13

Investment: $745,000

Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors

Electoral College Victory

Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate. 

 

Popular Vote Tally

The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.

While you're here

Various Artists 
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
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England v South Africa Test series:

First Test: at Lord's, England won by 211 runs

Second Test: at Trent Bridge, South Africa won by 340 runs

Third Test: at The Oval, July 27-31

Fourth Test: at Old Trafford, August 4-8

UAE tour of the Netherlands

UAE squad: Rohan Mustafa (captain), Shaiman Anwar, Ghulam Shabber, Mohammed Qasim, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Chirag Suri, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Mohammed Naveed, Amjad Javed, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
Fixtures:
Monday, 1st 50-over match
Wednesday, 2nd 50-over match
Thursday, 3rd 50-over match

The specs

Price, base / as tested Dh960,000
Engine 3.9L twin-turbo V8 
Transmission Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Power 661hp @8,000rpm
Torque 760Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.4L / 100k

Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

10.

South Korea

Warlight,
Michael Ondaatje, Knopf 

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Scorebox

Sharjah Wanderers 20-25 Dubai Tigers (After extra-time)

Wanderers

Tries Gormley, Penalty

Cons Flaherty

Pens Flaherty 2

Tigers

Tries O’Donnell, Gibbons, Kelly

Cons Caldwell 2

Pens Caldwell, Cross

The Lost Letters of William Woolf
Helen Cullen, Graydon House 

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