Palestine

RAMALLAH, Jan 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas announced dates for the first Palestinian elections in more than 15 years, setting legislative polls for May 22 and a July 31 presidential vote.

Abbas’s Fatah party, which controls the Palestinian Authority based in the occupied West Bank, and the Hamas Islamists, who hold power in Gaza, have for years expressed interest in taking Palestinians back to the polls.

A long-standing rivalry between the two main Palestinian factions was seen as a leading factor in stalling progress towards a new vote.

RAMALLAH, Jan 15 (NNN-WAFA) — The Israeli military court of Ofer, west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, has remanded Palestinian resistance icon and protester Saeed Arma, 52, for an additional 30 days in prison, according to the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission.

The Commission stated in a statement that the court served an indictment against Arma, which included throwing stones at the Israeli occupation soldiers and settlers.

HEBRON, Jan 13 (NNN-WAFA) – Israeli forces Wednesday morning shot and injured a Palestinian man following an alleged attempted stabbing in the Old City of Hebron, according to security sources.

They confirmed that Israeli forces opened fire at the young man outside the Hebron’s flashpoint Ibrahimi Mosque, wounding him purportedly for attempting to stab a soldier.

Israeli media claimed the alleged attacker, 22, was hit and moderately wounded in the leg.

RAMALLAH, Jan 12 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestine’s Minister of Health Mai Alkaila announced Monday that the Ministry of Health has approved the Russian coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, for emergency use, making Palestine the first country in the Middle East to register the vaccine.

RAMALLAH, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Central Elections Commission (PCEC) on Sunday started technical meetings over preparations for the first Palestinian general elections after a 15-year hiatus.

Hana Nasser, chairman of PCEC, convened an online meeting with the Comission's members in the Gaza Strip to discuss the latest developments of the planned legislative and presidential elections, according to a statement issued by PCEC.

GAZA, Jan 5 (NNN-WAFA) – A senior Hamas official said, Hamas agreed to hold general elections in the Palestinian territories, after four countries have guaranteed the success of the elections.

The guarantees were given by Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Russia, said Taher al-Nono, an aide to Hamas chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in a press statement

Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, earlier said, he received a letter from Haniyeh, on ending the dispute between Hamas and Abbas’ Fatah.

GAZA, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian health official said on Saturday that the first shipment of the vaccine to combat coronavirus is expected to arrive in the Gaza Strip by March.

Director of the European Gaza Hospital, Yousef al-Akkad, said in a press statement sent to Xinhua that "according to what the World Health Organization (WHO) informed us, the vaccine is expected to arrive in the besieged Gaza Strip maximum by March."

GAZA, Dec 27 (NNN-WAFA) – The Islamic Hamas Movement condemned yesterday, Israeli aerial attacks, damaging a children’s hospital in Gaza city.

Hazem Qassem, the spokesman of the Islamic movement that rules the besieged coastal enclave, said, the Israeli attack on Gaza “is a barbaric aggression.”

“The airstrikes and bombings terrified civilians, and the shrapnel of the missiles hit a children’s hospital and a rehabilitation centre for disabled people.”

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Bethlehem on Thursday ushered in Christmas Eve with a stream of joyous marching bands and the triumphant arrival of the top Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land, but few people were there to greet them as the coronavirus pandemic and a strict lockdown dampened celebrations in the traditional birthplace of Jesus.

Similar subdued scenes were repeated across the world as the festive family gatherings and packed prayers that typically mark the holiday were scaled back or canceled altogether.

RAMALLAH, Dec 22 (NNN-WAFA) – A Palestinian official warned that, the ongoing Israeli settlement activities in the Palestinian territories, would foil the choice of the two-state solution.

Walid Assaf, head of the National Committee to Resist the Wall and Settlements, said, “Israel would thwart the two-state solution and end the peace process by expanding settlements in the West Bank.”