Chelsea owner Abramovich donated $100 million to ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem

 Bank documents indicate that companies associated with or controlled by the Israeli-Russian billionaire businessman Roman Abramovich have contributed nearly 350 million shekels ($102 million) to the Elad organization, which works to strengthen the Jewish presence in East Jerusalem and ethnically cleanse the city. The disclosure links the Russian-born oligarch to four companies that are registered in the British Virgin Islands and over which up to now, it was not known who was behind them.

The documents, which were submitted to Congress as part of an investigation of alleged Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential elections in the United States, were leaked to the BuzzFeed website, which shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Through that organization, they were shared with 400 journalists from 108 media outlets worldwide. This writer (Uri Blau) and the Shomrim Center for Media and Democracy are the Israeli members of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Although Elad itself and the donations that were transferred to it were not mentioned at all in the documents, efforts to track those involved led to the Israeli nonprofit. In recent years, Elad, which is also known as the Ir David Foundation, has branded itself as dealing primarily with education and tourism and less with increasing the Jewish presence in East Jerusalem.

Fatah and Hamas agree on holding elections

 Secretary-General of the Central Committee of Fatah Movement, Jibril Rajoub, said today that Fatah and Hamas, the two main factions in Palestine, have reached a consensus on holding the elections based on the system of proportional representation.

"We have conducted an intensive national strategic dialogue at the Palestinian Consulate in Istanbul, and we reached a clear vision of the mechanisms for building national partnership through proportional representation elections, starting with the Legislative Council elections, then the presidential elections, and finally the National Council," Rajoub told official Palestine TV. 

The Fatah Secretary General said voting will be held wherever possible, while in areas where holding an election is not possible, the factions will have to reach a consensus on the mechanism of representation.

He added, "We are waiting for the invitation of President Mahmoud Abbas to the secretary-generals of the Palestinian factions to endorse the principle and confirm the mechanisms, starting with the issuance of the presidential decree and until the final stage."Rajoub said the secretary-generals of the Palestinian factions will be required to meet in a week to agree on the mechanisms to continue the process of building the national partnership, based on the statehood project and the popular resistance to confront the "deal of the century", the Israeli annexation plan and the normalization wave."Building national unity is a strategic goal of the agreement, and is our path to elections. The democratic process is the only way to build our political system," he stressed.

After normalisation UAE and Bahrain with Israel Palestine turns down to preside over Arab League

 Palestine has decided to relinquish its right to preside over the Council of the Arab League at its current session in reaction to the decision of some Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel, said Foreign Minister Riyad Malki.“The State of Palestine has decided to relinquish and forsake its right to preside over the Arab League Council because it is not an honor for it to watch the rush of the Arabs toward normalization (of relations with Israel) while it serves as the chair (of the Arab League),” said Malki, slamming the Arab countries that have signed normalization agreements with Israel in Washington on September 15, in reference mainly to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain.“Since the decision to rush after (normalization) was taken in Washington, it does not serve any purpose to exert any more effort to sway (the Arabs) against normalization particularly since they are not the decision-makers, regretfully,” he said at a press conference.

Malki stressed that Palestine will not withdraw from the Arab League, explaining that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has been a member of the League since 1976, because withdrawal “will create a vacuum and can generate different scenarios that we do not need at this sensitive stage.”He stressed however that there are Arab states that are firm in their position against normalization with the occupation, expressing hope that they will hold on to this position and remain committed to the decisions of the Arab League and the Arab Peace Initiative.

Malki said he does not want the name of Palestine to be linked through its presidency over the Council to this grim period, pointing out that the UAE and the Bahraini decision to normalize relations with Israel represents a turning point in joint Arab action, and the Arab League, whose long legacy in supporting the Palestinian cause, is facing a dilemma in this regard.He said that there are some influential Arab countries that have refused to condemn the departure from the Arab Peace Initiative and have dropped a resolution condemning normalization. (One of the countries was Egypt, AbuP.)

"Unfortunately, the General Secretariat of the Arab League took a decision to overlook the UAE normalization and has failed to issue a resolution condemning the normalization of relations with Israel during the last meeting of the League, which was a regular meeting held at the level of foreign ministers, headed by Palestine, on September 9," said Malki.

Sudan makes female genital mutilation unlawful

Khartoum (Wikipedia)

The transitional government of Sudan has ecided to make female genital mutilation a criminal offense. The amendment to the Criminal Law Article 141 was endorsed by both the Sovereign and Ministerial Councils on 22 April. All amendments proposed by National Council for Child Welfare (NCCW) in line with UNICEF vision to promote child rights were also endorsed.
This measure came after years of persistent advocacy by all stake holders; the NCCW, women and child advocates, donors including UK aid and the Swedish government, UN agencies, and international and national organizations.