Day: July 20, 2024

Ramallah- Ma'an- The Palestinian National Initiative Movement condemned on Saturday "the brutal Israeli attack on Yemeni civilian facilities, which left a number of civilian martyrs and wounded and caused massive destruction to civilian facilities." Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary-General of the Initiative Movement, said in a statement received by Ma'an: "The reckless Israeli attack expresses the extent of the Israeli government's hatred for the Yemeni people's solidarity with the Palestinian people and against the war of genocide waged by the occupation government on the Gaza Strip." Barghouti added, "With its barbaric war, Israel is dragging the entire region into a comprehensive regional explosion." He stressed that "the aggression on Yemen will only increase the valiant Yemeni people's solidarity and support for the just struggle of the Palestinian people for freedom," stressing that the decisions of the International Court of Justice are the best evidence that Israel is acting as a rogue entity outsi de international laws. Source: Maan News Agency

Ramallah - Ma'an - Safaa Barghouti, the daughter of prisoner Abdullah Barghouti, confirmed on Saturday that her father was severely beaten in the Israeli Shata prison and suffered several fractures in his rib cage, according to what was reported by Palestinian media. It is noteworthy that Israel considers the release of Abdullah Barghouti, the leader of the Qassam Brigades who is sentenced to 67 life sentences, in any potential prisoner deal, to be tantamount to the release of 'another Sinwar.' Abdullah Barghouti is the prisoner about whom the officer in charge of his file in the military court in Bethlehem said that if Israel was forced to leave the Palestinian territories for any reason, it would take him with it. He is considered one of the most dangerous Palestinian resistance fighters against the Israeli occupation; he revived the Qassam Brigades in 2000 after the assassination of its leader Yahya Ayyash in 1996. The reason for his sentence of 67 life sentences and 5,200 years in prison is that he was accused of carrying out 7 suicide operations in which 67 Israelis were killed and more than 500 others were injured. Abdullah Barghouti spent more than 20 years in Israeli prisons, as he was arrested by special forces in the city of Al-Bireh in the occupied West Bank on March 5, 2003. Source: Maan News Agency

The Governor of Maysan, Habib Al-Fartusi, visited today, Saturday, Al-Sheeb border crossing to review the preparations for the Arbaeen visit. Al-Fartusi discussed the preparations for the Arbaeen visit and maintenance work for the facilities that will be used as headquarters for officers and ranks of the Passports and Residence Directorate, and the need to complete them as quickly as possible. The governor directed the Maysan Electricity Distribution Directorate to extend a low-pressure line to serve the processions that will be present at the outlet, and the Maysan Water Directorate to extend a 500-meter water line to provide water for visitors and Husseini processions. Source: National Iraqi News Agency

Ramallah - Ma'an - The Meteorological Department expected the weather today, Saturday, to be hot to very hot, with a slight rise in temperatures to become 4 degrees Celsius higher than average, and the winds will be westerly to northwesterly, light to moderate in speed, sometimes active, and the sea will be light to medium in wave height. In the evening and night hours: The weather is pleasant in the mountainous areas and relatively warm in the rest of the regions. The winds are northwesterly, light to moderate in speed, sometimes active, and the sea is light to medium in wave height. Tomorrow, Sunday: The weather will be hot to very hot, with another slight rise in temperatures to become about 5 degrees Celsius above average. The winds will be westerly to northwesterly, light to moderate in speed, sometimes active, and the sea will be light to medium in wave height. As for Monday: The weather will be hot to very hot, and there will be no change in temperatures, which will remain about 5 degrees Celsius ab ove average. The winds will be westerly to northwesterly, light to moderate in speed, sometimes active, and the sea will be light to medium in wave height. Next Tuesday: The weather will be hot to very hot, with a slight drop in temperatures, remaining 4 degrees Celsius above average. The winds will be westerly to northwesterly, light to moderate in speed, sometimes active, and the sea will be light to medium in wave height. The Meteorological Department warned citizens of the danger of exposure to direct sunlight for long periods, especially during peak hours, and the danger of starting fires in areas with a lot of dry grass and trees. Source: Maan News Agency

Nineveh Governorate Police announced that a bus carrying tourists from the city of Mosul, the center of Nineveh Governorate, overturned in the city of Dohuk in the Kurdistan Region. A source in the Nineveh Police told the National Iraqi News Agency (NINA) that, 'The bus was carrying tourists from the city of Mosul and overturned in Gli Shiraneh area in the city of Dohuk.' He pointed out that "the accident caused the injury of 10 tourists, including women and children," pointing out that "four of them suffered very serious injuries, as they are still under the supervision of medical personnel after they were transferred to hospitals to receive treatment." Source: National Iraqi News Agency

Bethlehem - Hassan Abdel Jawad - In a Palestinian musical demonstration par excellence, the Palestine Youth Orchestra, led by violinist Lamar Jalil Elias, took to the stage of the Amman Academy, in an orchestral singing performance in the Jordanian capital's airspace, with the participation of the Edward Said Institute of Music and Aman choirs. Pieces and songs presented by 120 musicians from the young Palestinian generation from different countries of the diaspora, in the world, addressed peace to "all the sad eyes" in the Gaza Strip, and inflamed the feelings of the audience through pieces and songs performed by the Palestine Youth Orchestra, which brought them together in the evening of "Gaza, Sacrifice and Heroism" in the Jordanian capital and its space. Palestinian violinist Lamar Elias, 24, who lives in Toulouse, France, conducted the orchestra, which played pieces by Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Samuel Barber, and selections from the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish and composed by Marcel Khalife. The musicians wore black clothes and wore the black and white Palestinian keffiyeh, while the audience stood and applauded for a long time for the songs 'Peace to Gaza' by the poet Fouad Sarouji and 'Maryam Gaza' by the poet Ibrahim Nasrallah. The lyrics of the song "Peace to Gaza" say: "Peace to all the sad eyes whose tears overflow with strength and pride, peace to a proud and stubborn people who bury a martyr every day. As for the lyrics of the song "Maryam Gaza", they include: "My God, take everything and leave us close to our sea here, my God, take everything and leave us close to the graves of our loved ones here... My God, be our wall, we will not flee from our death when night falls." 'All the pieces chosen for this show deal with resilience and resistance, including Western classical melodies and pieces,' said conductor Lamar Elias. "We are all hurt by what is happening, and we cannot live a normal life. What is happening in Palestine, and in Gaza in particular, must affect every human being. There is a massac re and ethnic cleansing of an entire people," added Lamar, who lives in Bethlehem and lives in France, and holds a master's degree in music from the French city of Toulouse. She pointed out that "music moves peoples and revolutions", and that for the Palestinians it is "one of the ways of resistance", and a type of culture, and that the occupation is trying in any way to erase Palestinian culture, and we want to keep Palestinian culture and identity alive. Lamar dreams that her band will one day play in Jerusalem, but she expects that the occupation will not accept 'in any way' allowing this 'for a Palestinian orchestra that carries the Palestinian cultural identity.' "We cannot remain silent," said Suhail Khoury, director general of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music and founder of the band. "The whole world is silent (about what is happening in Gaza) and we must act. There are people who are acting in universities and people who are acting with music. We must reach the same goal, which is to stop the massacre, stop the war and bring the people back. Music is important and it expresses their situation." The band included one member from the Gaza Strip, trumpet player Raslan Ashour (23 years old), who is studying medicine in Egypt. "Playing with this band reduces my suffering and allows me, through this small musical instrument that I carry, to express the feelings of anger, pain and sadness inside me," said Ashour, whose home in Tel al-Hawa, Gaza, was bombed. The Palestine Youth Orchestra, which has previously performed in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Bahrain and Lebanon, has been a voice for what is happening in Palestine since its founding 20 years ago, and today it expresses what is happening in Gaza. Source: Maan News Agency

Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani visited, today, Saturday, the industrial complex of the Military Industrialization Authority south of Baghdad, and opened a group of laboratories and factories in the field of military industries. The Media Office of the Prime Minister stated, in a statement: 'Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani reviewed the executive work of the project to produce medium equipment, oils, and electric cars at the Military Industrialization Authority, and opened a laboratory for the rehabilitation and maintenance of distribution and power transformers/first phase, and qualitative inspection laboratories and fields shooting for the light ordnance production line in the Military Industrialization Complex. It added: 'The Prime Minister launched the executive work on the light ammunition capsule factory project, affiliated with the General Military Industries Company, and the executive work on the military and civilian boat production factory project in the Military Industrialization A uthority's industrial complex.' It continued: 'Al-Sudani also opened the factory of ferroalloys and colored metals in the General Military Industries Company,' the two factories for the production of light equipment and mortar bombs in the industrial complex of the Military Industrialization Authority. Source: National Iraqi News Agency

Gaza - Ma'an - Doctors Without Borders said on Saturday that "all our colleagues in the Gaza Strip are directly affected by violence and displacement." 'All of our colleagues in the Gaza Strip are directly affected by the violence and displacement,' the organization's medical team leader, Javed Abdel Moneim, wrote in a post on MSF's X account. Describing the situation in Gaza, Abdel Moneim said that one of our fellow doctors in the emergency room told me that he 'just heard that his house was destroyed (by Israeli bombing), and that his daughter and nephew are here somewhere.' "We later learned that his nephew had been killed," he added. Source: Maan News Agency

Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani launched the executive work on the capsule factory project for light ammunition, affiliated with the General Military Industries Company. Al-Sudani launched also the executive work on the military and civilian boat production factory project in the Military Industrialization Authority industrial complex. Prime Minister opened also the factory of ferroalloys and colored metals at the General Military Industries Company. Source: National Iraqi News Agency

Gaza - Ma'an - On Saturday evening, two citizens were killed and four children were injured as a result of the Israeli occupation's shelling of the city of Rafah and the Al-Bureij refugee camp. An Israeli drone targeted the Araba area north of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip, killing two citizens and wounding others. In the same context, eyewitnesses indicated that four children were injured after a drone targeted them while they were on the roof of their house in Al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip. The occupation forces have continued their aggression on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, which resulted in the martyrdom of 38,919 citizens, most of whom were women and children, and the injury of 89,622 others, while thousands of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them. Source: Maan News Agency