Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 2 November 2017
In key step, Hamas gives up control of Gaza border crossings

By FARES AKRAM agents were seen pulling Hamas seized control from onciliation deal, but many dover will lead to an easing
Associated Press away from the crossings the Fatah-led forces of issues remain unresolved. of the blockade.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip that facilitate the move- the Palestinian Authority in The sides are to meet in Israel, which considers
(AP) — The Islamic militant ment of cargo and people 2007. But after a decade of Cairo on Nov. 21 to con- Hamas a terrorist group,
group Hamas on Wednes- in and out of Gaza. an Israeli-Egyptian block- tinue talks on two of the and Egypt say the block-
day handed over control Representatives of the Fa- ade, Hamas’ new leader- thorniest issues, the fate of ade was needed to pre-
of Gaza’s border crossings tah-dominated Palestinian ship says the group is no 40,000 employees hired by vent the flow of weapons
with Israel and Egypt to the Authority quickly took up longer interested in govern- the Hamas government and militants in and out of
internationally recognized positions. ing Gaza. and control of Hamas’ vast Gaza.
Palestinian Authority, tak- “From now on, we have no The blockade has hit Ga- arsenal of rockets, mortars “We finished the first phase
ing the first tangible step relationship with crossings za’s economy hard, with and explosives. Hamas’ mil- of the reconciliation with
toward implementing a and our employees are over 40 percent unemploy- itary wing has said it will not excellence,” Hamas’ top
reconciliation deal with the not present inside them,” ment and chronic power give up its weapons. leader in Gaza, Ismail Hani-
rival Fatah movement. Mohammed Abu Zaid, the outages. Still, Wednesday’s hando- yeh, said during a seminar
After a decade of Hamas Hamas-appointed director Under Egyptian mediation, ver marked an important in Gaza City.
rule, the group’s security of crossing points, told re- the two rivals last month an- step forward. “We are going to (discuss)
forces and border control porters. nounced a preliminary rec- Officials hope that the han- big issues.”q
Century-old declaration hardens Israeli-Palestinian rift

By TIA GOLDENBERG retary Lord Arthur Balfour
Associated Press and addressed to Lord
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israelis Lionel Walter Rothschild, a
celebrate it. Palestinians British financier and Zion-
despise it. The Balfour Dec- ist leader, the declaration
laration, Britain’s promise to promised British assistance
Zionists to create a Jewish to create a Jewish home-
home in what is now Israel, land.
turns 100 this week, with “His Majesty’s government
events in Israel, the Pales- view with favor the estab-
tinian territories and Britain lishment in Palestine of a
drawing attention to the national home for the Jew-
now yellowing document ish people, and will use
tucked away in London’s their best endeavors to fa-
British Library. cilitate the achievement of
Historians still muse about this object,” the declara-
Britain’s motivations, and tion goes, continuing with
its commitment to the dec- a caveat: “It being clearly
laration waned in the de- understood that nothing
cades after it was issued. shall be done which may
Yet the 67 words penned prejudice the civil and reli-
by a British Cabinet minis- gious rights of existing non-
ter still resonate 100 years Jewish communities in Pal-
later, with both the Israelis Palestinians stand around an effigy of Arthur Balfour during a protest on the anniversary of the estine.”
Balfour Declaration in Bethlehem, West Bank, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. The Balfour Declaration,
and Palestinians seizing the Britain’s promise to Zionists to create a Jewish home in what is now Israel, turns 100 this week, with British motives for issuing the
anniversary to reinforce events in Israel, the Palestinian territories and Britain drawing attention to the now yellowing docu- declaration include imperi-
their narratives. ment tucked away in London’s British Library alist political calculations
Each side is marking the (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi) meant to secure a foot-
centenary in starkly differ- day because Zionists think ians and Arabs see it as the sult of discussions between hold in the Levant amid
ent ways, shining a light on that the Balfour Declara- foundation stone of their British Zionists seeking politi- the collapse of the Otto-
the chasm between Israel tion laid the foundation dispossession and misery,” cal recognition of their goal man Empire to the mes-
and the Palestinians that stone for modern Israel — said Jonathan Schneer, a of Jewish statehood and sianism of British politicians
some say was cleaved on and they’re right to think historian who authored a British politicians embroiled steeped in biblical history,
Nov. 2, 1917. that — and by the same book on the document. in the First World War. Writ- hoping to restore Jews to
“It’s so divisive even to- token non-Jewish Palestin- The declaration was the re- ten by British Foreign Sec- their ancestral home. q
Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Yemen kills 29 people

By AHMED Al-HAJ da, which borders Saudi And even if we don’t get against the Houthis began near Sanaa, which fell to
Associated Press Arabia, is a stronghold of revenge, our children will,” in March 2015. The coali- the Houthis in September
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A the Iran-backed rebels, he said.Al-Ezi said another tion aims to reinstate the 2014, but the Houthis say
suspected airstrike by the known as Houthis.Footage airstrike killed three people internationally recognized they are still holding onto
Saudi-led coalition fighting obtained by The Associat- Wednesday in a different government of Abed Rab- their positions. Hadi’s gov-
Shiite rebels in Yemen killed ed Press shows a bulldozer part of the vast province. bo Mansour Hadi.Hadi’s ernment is currently based
at least 29 people, includ- removing wreckage and The spokesman for the forces have been battling in the southern port city of
ing children, in the coun- debris from the site of the Saudi-led coalition did not the rebels over the past Aden.In the southwestern
try’s north, a Yemeni health airstrike.Ahmed Moham- immediately respond to a two days east of the rebel- city of Taiz, more than 80
official said Wednesday. med, an eyewitness, insist- request for comment. held capital, Sanaa, and people were killed on both
Abdellah al-Ezi, head of the ed there were no fighters International rights groups in areas close to the Saudi sides in fighting over the
health office of the north- in the hotel. “This is an act have accused the coalition border, leaving more than past two days, the officials
ern Saada province, said of aggression by the Ameri- of bombing civilian gather- 100 dead on both sides.Se- said, speaking on condi-
the airstrike struck a small cans, the Saudis, and the Zi- ings, markets, hospitals and curity officials from Hadi’s tion of anonymity because
hotel in a market, wound- onists, and by God’s will we residential areas across Ye- forces say their troops have they were not authorized to
ing 28 other people. Saa- will take revenge one day. men since its air campaign advanced in several areas speak to the media.q