Activists, politicians and supporters of the Palestinian cause gather in Istanbul to discuss the Israeli Apartheid.
Use the links below to watch the conference!
Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1jZjcYFlHc&feature=emb_err_watch_on_yt
Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXveWkxuOBM
Part 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pydXuxvVMSw
Part 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRWYQaY5xMs
MEMO
A top Malaysian businesswoman has expressed high hopes from the Istanbul Finance Center, an upcoming project that will add to the growing dominance of Turkey’s commercial capital.
The project, expected to to be completed as of early 2022, will serve as a global hub for financial systems and non-banking financial methods including Islamic finance.
Farah Jaafar-Crossby, CEO of Malaysia’s Labuan International Business and Financial Center, told Anadolu Agency in an interview that the Istanbul center could be a role model for Islamic finance because it sits in the middle of Asia, Europe and the Middle East
“In this globalized world, people forget that cultural affinity is still important. Istanbul sits in the middle of the confluence and has always been a center, it is only natural that it will succeed,” she said.
Islamic finance has grown tremendously over the last 20-30 years but in the last five years, there was a slight reduction, she noted.
“Corporates are still raising capital by an Islamic method. But I think on the personal side, the adoption may not be as ideal as we want it to be,” she said.
She added that digitalization helps adoption of Islamic finance and personal demand will change.
Trade more
Touching on the global trade tensions, she said: “This whole East-West war allows us to stop idolizing the West.”
“It allows us to start doing business together, which we started 300-400 years ago, and the timing is perfect,” she added.
She also said that Asian countries can trade more with each other and understand each other better.
“Malaysia sits in an important role because it is one of the leading country within Asia,” she said.
She added: “We don’t need a global superpower, so called Western superpower. We do it ourselves.”
From: Anadolu Agency
ASEAN could add nearly as much to global output as the eurozone over the next five years, a HSBC report has suggested, as it called the region’s growth in importance “too big to ignore”.
“If policymakers enact the right reforms the region can lift its share of global GDP (gross domestic product) to as much as 5 per cent by 2030 in nominal USD terms and more than 8 per cent in PPP (purchasing power parity) terms,” HSBC Global Research said in its “Asean and the world” report published on Wednesday.
“In addition to the demographic boom, we believe Asean is set to see a surge in investment after years of neglect,” HSBC economists wrote in the report, noting that this has already come through a mix of public infrastructure spending, booming manufacturing foreign direct investment (FDI) commitments, China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Japanese infrastructure financing.
Asean, which is very open to FDI and trade, is also a driving force for global trade integration against a backdrop of growing protectionism, the economists noted, especially given it lies at the core of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
“A large share of the region’s success can be attributed to its general receptiveness to FDI inflows and ability to play a role in broader supply chains,” the report said.
By far, electronics is the region’s largest single industry, with almost every country here involved in regional supply chains, albeit in different capacities and to differing extents. HSBC economists said it could be argued that developments in the semiconductor sector have been a type of leading indicator for the broader trade diversion narrative.
One example is US semiconductor maker Micron’s apparent shift in production away from China to Southeast Asia in response to intellectual property protection concerns in the former, moving instead to carry out multiple capacity expansions in Singapore and Malaysia.
“Thanks to English-speaking workforces, familiar legal systems, and free trade within the region, we believe these countries will likely see continued growth in semiconductor activity, and with it, increasing global supply chain relevance,” the report said.
One challenge Asean would need to overcome is the extent of its regional integration, as “progress in services, investment and skilled labour flow liberalisation has been slow”, HSBC said.
In addition, if the pace of reforms is not quick enough, growth may disappoint, leading to a lack of employment opportunities that could result in political unrest and growing inequality.
“These risks notwithstanding, Asean’s influence is likely only to rise further given its strategic geopolitical location, its growing industries, and an unstoppable wave of new spenders coming from the region.
“Global corporations and investors will not fail to take note of the region, a boon for local asset markets. We estimate that Asean GDP as a whole should grow by close to 4.5 per cent per year out to 2030 in real terms – numbers that much of the world will envy,” the report said.
From: The Business Times
According to the 2019 Global Diplomacy Index, released by the Lowy Institute in Australia on Wednesday, China has 276 embassies, consulates and other missions globally, surpassing the US with 273 missions. France was third with 267.
Bonnie Bley, the index report’s lead researcher, said that while a country’s total did not equate to diplomatic influence, “diplomatic infrastructure is still important”.
“China’s newly held lead serves as a telling metric of national ambition and international priorities,” Bley said.
Beijing has 169 embassies or high commissions, while Washington has 168. However, China had 96 consulates while the US had 88, suggesting that Beijing’s diplomatic expansion was closely linked to its economic interests, she said.
Renmin University international relations professor Shi Yinhong said China had close and growing trade and investment ties with many developing countries, especially those taking part in the Belt and Road Initiative, increasing the need for consulates.
“One of the consulates’ main goals is to serve the citizens and businesses located in those countries,” Shi said.
Beijing has also expanded its reach at Taipei’s expense. Since 2016, when the index was first published, Taiwan’s total number of embassies fell from 22 to 15, the biggest drop among the 61 places ranked.
China opened five new embassies – in El Salvador, Burkina Faso, Gambia, São Tomé and Príncipe and the Dominican Republic – countries that severed official diplomatic ties with Taiwan. This directly contributed to China’s lead over the US, the report said.
Beijing’s diplomatic expansion also comes as the US, under the administration of President Donald Trump, is taking an “America first” approach to foreign policy.
Trump has sought to cut funding to the US State Department and the White House has not appointed US ambassadors for at least 17 countries, including Brazil and Egypt, according to the American Foreign Service Association.
“Even though the US has a strong diplomatic base but it is not so proactive any more. It has fewer consulates and fewer foreign service workers,” Shi said.
“For the long term, China is in a more advantageous position.”
But a country’s diplomatic ability and influence did not rest on the number of foreign service postings and the US still held more international diplomatic sway than China, he added.
Some of China’s biggest diplomatic missions include Islamabad in Pakistan, Washington and London.
From: TRT, SCMP
The Middle East remains turbulent, but the “one-sided policy” carried out by the United States only continues to worsen the crisis in the region, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong said on Wednesday, speaking at the Middle East Security Forum in Beijing.
“The United States, having tremendous influence in the Middle East, pursues a selfish and one-sided policy that benefits the strong at the expense of the weak, which remains the main factor in the difficult security situation seen in the region,” Chen said.
The official added that the current situation in the Middle East is the outcome of many different factors, including ethnic, religious and geopolitical differences.
“The situation in the Middle East today is far from peaceful. The tensions in the hotspots are increasing, while the political instability and the crisis continue to harm a number of countries in the region,” he said.
The minister emphasized that global peace would remain an illusion if conflicts in the Middle East continue.
The Middle East Security Forum is being held by the Chinese Institute of International Studies at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing from 27-28 November. Over 200 guests from more than 30 countries and international organizations, including China, Russia, the US, Turkey, Iran and the European Union are attending the forum.
From: The Nation
The U.S. Navy has sent warships on two occasions in recent days near islands claimed by Beijing in the disputed South China Sea, the military told The Japan Times on Friday.
The so-called freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) on Wednesday and Thursday came amid rising tensions between the two powers, and just days after China demanded the U.S. military “stop flexing muscles” in the strategic waterway.
On Wednesday, the littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords traveled within 12 nautical miles (22 km) of Mischief Reef in the Spratly chain, Cmdr. Reann Mommsen, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said. And on Thursday, the destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer challenged restrictions on innocent passage in the Paracel Islands, north of the Spratlys, Mommsen said.
The U.S. Navy has angered China by regularly conducting FONOPs by ships close to some of the islands China occupies, including man-made islets, in the waterway, asserting freedom of access to crucial international waterways.
Mommsen said the operations “are conducted peacefully and without bias for or against any particular country.”
“These missions are based in the rule of law and demonstrate our commitment to upholding the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all nations,” she added.
Beijing claims much of the South China Sea, though the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims in the waters, where the Chinese, U.S., Japanese and some Southeast Asian navies routinely operate.
Neither Japan nor the U.S. have claims in the waters, but both allies have routinely stated their commitment to a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”
The busy waterway is just one of several flash points in the U.S.-China relationship, which include an ongoing trade war, pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and support for Taiwan.
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper met Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe earlier this week for closed-door talks on the sidelines of a gathering of defense chiefs in Bangkok.
Wei urged Esper to “stop flexing muscles in the South China Sea and to not provoke and escalate tensions in the South China Sea,” a Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman said Monday.
Esper has accused Beijing of “increasingly resorting to coercion and intimidation to advance its strategic objectives” in the region.
Washington has lambasted Beijing for its moves in the waterway, including the construction of man-made islands — such as those in the Paracel chain and further south in the Spratlys — some of which are home to military-grade airfields and advanced weaponry.
The U.S. fears the outposts could be used to restrict free movement in the waterway, which includes vital sea lanes through which about $3 trillion in global trade passes each year.
Beijing says it has deployed the advanced weaponry to the islets for defensive purposes, but some experts say this is part of a concerted bid to cement de facto control of the waters.
In a defense white paper released for the first time in years last month, China highlighted a new emphasis on “combat readiness and military training in real combat conditions” and China’s new war-fighting capabilities in the Western Pacific and South China Sea.
Beijing, the white paper said, “has organized naval parades in the South China Sea” and “conducted a series of live force-on-force exercises” while its air force “has conducted combat patrols in the South China Sea and security patrols in the East China Sea, and operated in the West Pacific.”
From: Japan Times
A flurry of high-level diplomacy between China, Japan and South Korea has created a positive atmosphere for an easing of tensions in East Asia. Beijing is planning a summit in Chengdu next month, hoping differences between Tokyo and Seoul over wartime compensation and trade can be overcome to bring leaders together. That all have just agreed with 12 other Asian nations to sign a regional free-trade accord next year and are working on a pact of their own gives the process impetus. President Xi Jinping’s anticipated state visit to Japan next spring furthers the optimistic outlook.
This is what the region needs amid challenging economic times brought on by United States President Donald Trump’s trade war against China. Free-trade agreements and multilateralism are the best way to combat the falling growth figures and uncertainty. Recent summitry in Bangkok of the Association of South East Asian Nations and its partners were a chance for leaders to meet and pledge cooperation. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to be signed by 15 countries next year was the highlight and will complement the free-trade areas envisaged between China and Asean, and China and Japan and South Korea.
The meetings prove a willingness to stave off Trump’s protectionism and unilateralism. Collectively, they pledged to push for efforts that “will significantly contribute to an open, inclusive and rules-based international trading system and value chains”. There was added importance in the talks on the sidelines between Premier Li Keqiang and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and the Japanese leader with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. They were evidence of warming ties between Beijing and Tokyo and a desire by Tokyo and Seoul to improve fraught relations.
A free-trade deal between China and Japan, the world’s second- and third-biggest economies, and South Korea, the 12th largest, would send a powerful message to the US. Together, they could be a driver of regional and global economic growth. But while trade, investment, development and culture can bring them together, they also have to overcome distrust and resentment, the baggage of decades of conflict during the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. The trilateral summit, held on a rotating basis between the countries, but disrupted during times of historical and territorial conflict, is being sought by Beijing to give impetus to the negotiations. It could also help resolve the dispute between Tokyo and Seoul, which has affected Japanese exports to South Korea of hi-tech electronic components and tourism. Mending fences, working together and coordinating trade and development strategies would be highly beneficial for East Asia’s three economic giants. But it would also symbolise the importance of multilateralism.
From: SCMP
Malaysia is being practical with its efforts to address and resolve issues concerning the ummah via the Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019 next month.
This will be done through the involvement of only five countries, including Malaysia, to speak, debate and find resolutions to the problems faced by the Muslim world at the summit, said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today.
“The other four participating countries are Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia.
“We are keeping (the participating Muslim countries) small so that it is manageable.
“If it is too big, things will be unmanageable and be at odds with each other, preventing us from formulating solutions (to address issues plaguing the ummah).
“Perhaps in the future, we hope more Muslim countries will join us (in the summit),” he said at the soft launch of the event today.
He confirmed the attendance of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Hamad Al-Thani; Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan; and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to the KL Summit 2019.
Dr Mahathir said while Muslims in the past had contributed so much to Islamic civilisation, the ummah now were in a worrying state.
“We have to know why Islam is being described as a religion of terrorism and why is there Islamophobia. There must be reasons behind this.
“We can only know the reason by getting scholars, leaders and thinkers to give their viewpoints and hopefully, by being able to identify the problems, there will be proposals to overcome them.
“Perhaps we can take the first step to help Muslims to recover their past glory,” he added.
Dr Mahathir, who is also the chairman of the summit, said emphasis would be placed on seven major themes; development and sovereignty; integrity and good governance; culture and identity; justice and freedom; peace, security and defence, trade and investment and technology and Internet governance.
The summit will be held from Dec 18 to 21 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
With the theme “The Role of Development In Achieving National Sovereignty”, the summit will see the participation of 450 Muslim leaders, thinkers, intellectuals and scholars to discuss and provide their input on issues affecting the Muslim world.
It aims to revive Islamic civilisation, deliberate and find new and workable solutions for problems afflicting the Muslim world.
The summit also aims to contribute to the improvement of the state of affairs among Muslims and Muslim nations as well as to form a network between Islamic leaders, intellectuals, scholars and thinkers around the world.
On the issue of Palestine, Dr Mahathir said there must be focus to resolve the Palestinians’ plight which had plagued them for more than 70 years.
Focus, said the prime minister, must be coupled with strategy and planning.
Later, Dr Mahathir presented certificates of appointment to six media organisations, including foreign media.
The media partners of the KL Summit 2019 include Media Prima Bhd, AlJazeera and Astro.
From: NST
KAVI CHONGKITTAVORN
For three days from Nov 25-27 in the port city of Busan, South Korean President Moon Jae-in will have a rare opportunity that eluded his predecessors — to set in cast iron the future and shape of South Korean-Asean and Mekong riparian country relations amid the ever-changing regional and international environment.
Over the past two years, Mr Moon has demonstrated for all the Asean leaders to see that he is serious about pursuing “a reliable and trusting partnership” with the grouping in a holistic manner, bringing their peoples and prosperity together, underpinned by a peaceful environment.
This is a tall order for a middle-power country that used to focus only on the Korean Peninsula. Seoul is now trying to diversify its strategic objectives to involve the mainland and maritime Southeast Asian countries and India. Under Mr Moon’s New Southern Policy (NSP), South Korea aims to strengthen ties with the developing countries in the southern hemisphere that are considered the economic growth engine.
It is fair to say that Mr Moon’s personal conviction and persistence have already made a difference in Seoul’s overall approach to Asean. At the very least, he fulfilled his promise to visit all 10 Asean countries within 23 months of taking office. He also succeeded in highlighting South Korea’s unique characteristic as a non-hegemonic and non-aggressive nation in the region.
“Korea and Asean have a healthy relationship without any historical baggage,” said Ambassador Kim Young-sam, former secretary-general of the Asean-Korea Centre.
Under Mr Moon’s direction, all statistics related to Asean-South Korean ties are on an upward trend. For instance, the number of infrastructure projects invested in by South Korean companies in Asean is up, worth more than 11 billion last year, more than all of the Middle East’s projects put together. Approximately 11.7 million tourists from South Korea and Asean travelled to the other country last year.
In addition, South Korea ranked as Asean’s No.2 trading partner, reaching US$160 billion in direct investment. After the Busan summits, officials on both sides hope for a surge in tourism and trade. They view the continued popularity of the Korean Wave, Hallyu, such as K-pop, K-food, K-beauty as representing potent soft power.
That helps explain why one of the NSP’s objectives is to raise Asean’s status as a global player that is on par with other major powers — the US, China, Russia and Japan — even though at this juncture that goal is a bit far-fetched, as Asean is still a light-weight player. But within the next decade, the Asean community — with its large population of 655 million, over 100 million more than the EU — will become one of the world’s big five economies and subsequently a global player.
His predecessors were not lucky enough to witness the dramatic shift currently taking place in the region, which has prompted South Korea to take a different, proactive route. First and foremost, it was Mr Moon’s unwavering support of the Asean role in the peace process on the Korean Peninsula that strengthened the Asean-South Korea friendship, a far cry from their ties under previous South Korean administrations.
For decades, the perceived role of Asean on the Korean Peninsula was confined to the whip of Seoul policymakers, whoever it might be, seeking to criticise Pyongyang’s longstanding nuclearisation. Support for South Korea’s position on the peninsula and condemnation of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions was the only barometer of the Asean-South Korea friendship. At the time, any issue beyond North Korea was a non-starter.
Therefore, it was left to the South Korean private sector to pave the way and stay at the forefront, raising the bar of Asean-South Korea relations until it was among the top five dialogue partners of Asean. Gradually but steadily the Seoul government has taken the lead in Asean-South Korea ties with cooperation from the private sector and civil society organisations.
As a latecomer to the Asean Plus Three and Mekong circuit, South Korea is moving at full throttle to boost ties with Asean. In 2017, the Asean Cultural House, the only one of its kind in East Asia, was opened after three years of construction. In August 2018, Seoul set up the Presidential Committee on New Southern Policy and in May 2019, set up the Asean and Southeast Asian Bureau– aimed at institutionalising the NSP in the conduct of South Korea’s foreign policy.
South Korea’s Ambassador to Asean, Lim Sung-nam, was a former vice foreign minister, the most senior official to serve in this position in Jakarta. All these efforts are testimony to South Korea’s desire to ensure that this new policy toward Asean and India will remain intact in the future, regardless of a new government.
The NSP has outlined 16 policy tasks to achieve, based on the principles of people, peace and prosperity. These guidelines provide a panoramic view of South Korean foreign policy toward the region. There were 57 regional projects that could be implemented. In particular, Seoul would like to encourage Asean to take an active role in the Korean Peninsula, including the peace process, denuclearisation and integrating North Korea into regional affairs.
Undoubtedly, Asean members would be the most suitable to serve as a “sherpa” for Pyongyang as it climbs the “Everest” of economic reforms. Indeed Vietnam’s economic model is an ideal one, given the country’s unprecedented economic growth without political disruption.
During his visit to Vietnam for the second Trump-Kim summit in February, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un learned firsthand that economic reforms would not necessarily bring about regime change, as he had much feared. Instead, it has strengthened communist rule as Vietnam has expanded diplomatic ties with Western trading partners.
After the Busan summits, Asean-South Korea ties will have a clear pathway to move forward in terms of commitments — financial, personal and institutional. Under the current environment of global polarisation and disruption between superpowers, Asean and South Korea must work closely together to navigate the high tides without any prejudice.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author.
From Thailand Post
The growing importance of Asia in the world economy should not be a cause for worry, as Asia needs diverse partners and access to global markets to continue to prosper, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said.
Singapore’s world view is that there are opportunities around the world, which is why 16,000km and the Pacific Ocean are no impediment for cooperation with Mexico and the rest of Latin America, he added.
Speaking to 250 Mexican business leaders at a fireside chat here on Tuesday (Nov 19), Mr Lee was asked if the “Asian Century” would lead to an Eastern Bloc of countries, and how other countries would factor in this geopolitical shift of power.
The Asian Century refers to the projected 21st-century dominance of Asia in the world, the way the 20th century was seen as the American Century.
While the centre of gravity will continue to shift towards Asia, powered by the rise of China and India, Mr Lee said he does not see Asia becoming “the centre of the world”, as the region needs outside markets, cooperation, and technology in order to prosper.
“If it closes in on itself, and we just say ‘this is the Asian region, we are doing business with ourselves in Asia’, well you won’t starve, but I think you will miss out on many opportunities,” he said. “We will be the poorer for it, and so will be the world.”
Despite a recent surge in insularity, many countries still want to cooperate – not just bilaterally but in larger groupings – because they know cooperation is win-win, said Mr Lee. He cited the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) mega trade deal to which both Mexico and Singapore are party to, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that is poised to be signed in 2020.
The CPTPP is a free trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. Once fully implemented, the 11 countries will form a trading bloc representing 495 million consumers and 13.5 per cent of global GDP, valued at approximately US$13.5 trillion (S$18.3 trillion).
Covering a market of about 2 billion people and one-third of global gross domestic product, or less than US$30 trillion, RCEP will link 15 Asia-Pacific countries – Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – and create the world’s largest trading bloc.
In the absence of rules in the World Trade Organisation that would allow the world to move towards freer trade while accommodating more conservative countries, such willing groupings are the way forward, said Mr Lee.
“In your part of the world, you are doing the same: you have the Pacific Alliance with Columbia, Chile and Peru,” he said. “Singapore is negotiating a free trade agreement with the Pacific Alliance, and I hope we’ll be able to close it by the end of the year.”
On the United States-China rift, Mr Lee said the world’s two largest economies both need to make difficult adjustments as China grows in importance.
China needs to shift into its new position of influence and heft without over-pressing its advantage, and in a way that leaves space for other countries to manoeuvre, he said. There is also understandable pride that it has grown strong and has stood up, and that it will not allow itself to be trodden upon again, he added.
“At the same time, you have to remind yourself neither will we do unto others what, unfortunately, we have suffered, and that is not a very easy line for any leader to take,” said Mr Lee.
For the US, the difficulty is in learning to relinquish its position as the number one economy in the world, and to choose to develop the relationship constructively, such as with new rules that will enable China to fit into the global system.
“But if the response is a defensive one, that this growth of a new player is a threat to America and we must make sure that they never become number one, and we must always be number one, I think that can only lead to a very troubled relationship, and it is an effort which cannot succeed,” he said.
From: The Strait Times
Indonesia has emphasized its position on the Palestine-Israel conflict by rejecting the United States (US) statement on Monday, November 18, which backs Israel to establish its settlement in the occupied Palestine region, West Bank. “We could not accept this because it contradicts international law, as well as all the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC),” Retno Marsudi, Indonesia Foreign Affairs Minister, said in Jakarta, Tuesday.
Through a statement of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the US is considered to have broken its stance over the past 40 years which believed that the establishment of Israeli settlements in Palestine land was inconsistent with international law.
“The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements is not, per se, inconsistent with international law,” Pompeo told reporters at the State Department, Reuters reported.
Further responses are currently being prepared by Indonesia from its position as a non-permanent member of the UNSC. “We are now contemplating the next measure we will be taking later concerning these bleak Palestine issues,” Marsudi stated.
The Palestine-Israel conflict is getting worse nowadays, she added, since some negotiable aspects were impaired by some parties, such as Australia and Honduras recognizing West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“The issue of illegal settlements was stripped down, as well as other issues of Jerusalem and refugees. In the end, what else remains negotiable? This is what we are worried about,” Marsudi pointed out.
From: Antara news
The Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the reversal of the United States position on Israel’s settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory is an absurdity amounting to legalising land grabs by neighbours of the country.
Commenting on reports quoting Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who announced that the US President Donald Trump’s administration did not view Israeli settlements in West Bank illegal, Dr Mahathir said it was a blatant disregard of international laws and multiple United Nations resolutions.
“We are no longer safe. If a country wants to enter our country and build their settlements, that is legal. We cannot do anything,” he was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s office, today.
Dr Mahathir also expressed fears that the timing of the Trump’s administration announcement would further embolden the Israeli forces, which are now on a vicious killing spree on Gaza with reports citing children among the casualties.
“You announce that their illegal settlements are not illegal at a time when they are conducting these unjustified attacks on Gaza… Isn’t it like encouraging them to continue to murder the children and civilians, and that they will not be punished.
“Instead, they will be rewarded with setting up settlements on the land of the people they had killed and murdered,” the prime minister said.
The move by the Trump administration has drawn international outrage as the reversal departed from a State Department 1978 legal opinion that the settlements were inconsistent with international laws.
From: Agencies
