Worshippers stayed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound after the final Friday prayer of Ramadan to protest planned evictions in Sheikh Jarrah, where police also clashed with protesters ■ 17 Israeli officers were wounded during the clashes

At least 205 Palestinians and 17 police officers were wounded Friday as clashes erupted at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, in a serious escalation in tensions that have been building up in Jerusalem over the past weeks.

The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said some 205 people were wounded in clashes with police there and elsewhere in Jerusalem, including 88 who were hospitalized. The Palestinian Red has also set up a field hospital on the Mosque’s compound due to the large number of wounded protesters, most of them wounded in the face and eyes by rubber-coated bullets and shrapnel from stun grenades.

The clashes were the latest in a deadly day that saw Israeli forces shoot and kill two Palestinians after three men opened fire on an Israeli base in the occupied West Bank. Israeli police were standing by as tens of thousands packed in the mosque on the final Friday of Ramadan and many stayed on to protest in support of Palestinians facing eviction from homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers.

Some 70,000 worshippers attended the final Friday prayers of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa, the Islamic endowment that oversees the site said. Thousands protested afterwards, waving the green flags of the Islamic militant group Hamas and chanting pro-Hamas slogans before dispersing peacefully.

Tensions boiled over after the evening prayer, when hundreds of Palestinian worshippers began hurling stones and other objects at the Israeli forces, who responded with riot gear.

Israeli Police said in a statement overnight Friday that after the evening prayer disturbances have resumed as worshippers hurled stones at the forces. In response, police “forces have entered [the Temple Mount compound] to restore order while using riot-dispersal measures,” the police added. Moreover, during the clashes 17 police officers were wounded, half of them were evacuated to receive further medical attention in hospital.

Video footage shows worshippers throwing chairs, shoes and rocks toward the police and officers responding by opening fire.

Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to “play with fire.”

“This is a battle you can’t win,” he added. 

Ziyad al-Nakhalah, Secretary General of the Islamic Jihad movement, has warned Israel and said that it “should expect a response any moment now.”

Joint List Lawmaker Sami Abu Shehadeh, who arrived at Temple Mount for Saturday’s morning prayer, said that Prime Minister Netanyahu is responsible for the recent flare-up. “The Al-Aqsa Mosque is a red line that even Netanyahu cannot cross,” he added.

Sheikh Jarrah protest

Meanwhile, in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, dozens partook in the weekly demonstration against the eviction plans, which over the past weeks attract more crowds and attention.

Police said they dispersed the crowd after some of the protesters started hurling stones. Two demonstrators were detained, and two were wounded by stun grenades.Several Israeli lawmakers, all from the Arab-majority Joint List, also attended the protest. One of them, Ofer Cassif, said he was shoved by officers, who broke his glasses. Last month, Cassif was violently hit by police officers at a similar protest in Sheikh Jarrah.

With health restrictions mostly lifted following Israel’s swift COVID-19 vaccine campaign, worshippers packed tightly together as they knelt in prayer on the tree-lined hilltop plateau containing the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site.

But tensions in the city that resurfaced over the past weeks, which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Israel was responsible for, were front and center in the Friday sermon given by Sheikh Tayseer Abu Sunainah.

“Our people will remain steadfast and patient in their homes, in our blessed land,” Abu Sunainah said of the multiple Palestinian families in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah who could be evicted under a long-running legal case.

Israel’s Supreme Court will hold a hearing on the Sheikh Jarrah evictions on Monday.

Following prayers, thousands remained on the compound to protest against the evictions, with many waving Palestinian flags and chanting a refrain common during Jerusalem protests: “With our soul and blood, we will redeem you, Aqsa”.

On Friday evening, President Abbas reiterated his claim Israel bears responsibility for the escalation in Jerusalem and in a televised speech called for an urgency United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation.

Leaders and representatives of other Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, warned Israel of a response to the latest flare-up.

‘Playing with fire’

Sheikh Jarrah’s residents are overwhelmingly Palestinian, but the neighborhood also contains a site revered by religious Jews as the tomb of an ancient high priest, Shimon Hatzaddik.

The spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said the evictions, “if ordered and implemented, would violate Israel’s obligations under international law” on East Jerusalem territory it captured and occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

“We call on Israel to immediately halt all forced evictions, including those in Sheikh Jarrah, and to cease any activity that would further contribute to a coercive environment and lead to a risk of forcible transfer,” spokesman Rupert Colville said on Friday.

YEREVAN. – I believe [acting PM] Nikol Pashinyan has made an arrangement with [Azerbaijani president] Aliyev to return a few more captives and raise his popularity rating in the [snap parliamentary] elections [slated for June 20]. Tatul Petrosyan, former head of the General Department of Supervision of the Investigative Committee of Armenia, told this to a press conference Saturday.

According to him, the actions of the current Armenian regime are based on lies, and now they are trying to extend their power and carry out the orders of their “clients.”

As per Petrosyan, Pashinyan’s recent remarks show that he has psychological problems; he began to attribute labels—such as “traitor” and “capitulator”—to the second and third presidents of Armenia, although such assessments are addressed to him. “Speaking about the fact that Shushi [town] and Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)] were handed over [to the Azerbaijanis] a long time ago, Pashinyan seems to be forgetting his words about starting negotiations from scratch, which led to a deadlock and disaster. In conditions when many Armenians are still in Azerbaijani captivity, he speaks of unblocking communications and peaceful coexistence with the Turks. During his last visit to Armenia, [Russian FM] Lavrov confirmed that there was and there is no pressure or demand on the issue of unblocking; that is, it is Pashinyan’s free expression of will,” Petrosyan emphasized.

He added that the incumbent Armenian authorities managed to destroy almost the entire state system, except for the courts and the human rights defender.

YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—The Armenian government is continuing its efforts to gain direct control of three of the country’s leading state universities two weeks after President Armen Sarkissian blocked a relevant bill pushed by it through the parliament.

The bill passed by the National Assembly in late March would empower the government to appoint most members of the boards of trustees that elect university rectors and make other key decisions.

Yerevan State University (YSU) and the National Academy of Sciences strongly opposed these changes, saying that they would violate a clause in the Armenian constitution which entitles state-funded colleges to a high degree of autonomy.

Sarkissian likewise suggested that they are “contentious in terms of constitutionality” when he announced on April 22 his decision not to sign the bill into law. He also asked the Constitutional Court to rule on its conformity with the constitution.

Nevertheless, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government pressed ahead with the same changes through an executive order issued earlier this week.

The order stipulates that YSU, the Armenian State Pedagogical University and Gyumri State University will have new governing boards consisting of 20 members. Thirteen of them are to be appointed by the government and the Ministry of Education, while the seven others will be chosen by their faculties and students.

All four parties have been equally represented in the boards until now.

A senior Ministry of Education official defended on Friday the changes sought by the government, saying that they are needed to address a “management vacuum” within the universities. She claimed that their current boards have failed to properly perform their duties.

The official argued that the current YSU board is paralyzed and even unable to formally accept the resignation of the university’s acting rector.

Critics countered that the government itself engineered the paralysis by recalling its appointees from the board earlier this year.

Vahe Hovannisyan, an YSU professor, deplored the “abrupt” decision made by the government after Sarkissian’s appeal to the Constitutional Court. He warned that the three universities will be thrust into deeper turmoil if the court declares the controversial bill unconstitutional.
Hovannisian also said: “Taking the universities under control or changing their boards of trustees does not serve any development purpose.”

Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, also condemned the government’s executive order, pledging to challenge its legality in the Constitutional Court.

“I believe that this initiative by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports is disrespectful towards the president of the republic and the Constitutional Court,” he said on Thursday, adding that the problems cited by ministry officials are “artificial.”

“I have grounds to presume that the government caused a problem and is now trying to solve it at the expense of university autonomy,” said Tatoyan. “I believe this is unacceptable.”
Pashinyan and his associates, among them young scholars, pledged to give universities more freedom from the government right after they swept to power three years ago.

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian signed a decree on Saturday, posthumously granting the country’s highest honorary title of National Hero of Armenia to renowned Armenian commander, Artsakh liberation war hero Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan (Komandos).

As the press department at the President’s Office reported, the award was granted for the exceptional services of nationwide importance rendered to the Republic of Armenia in forming and developing the Armed Forces, as well as in ensuring the defense and security of the Fatherland. 

Political scientist Suren Sargsyan believes the international recognition of Artsakh should become the main task for the Armenian authorities. 

“The possible international recognition of Artsakh is the biggest fear of Ilham Aliyev, as the war launched by him could be perceived by his own people as a greater defeat than the one suffered during the first Artsakh war,” Sargsyan wrote on his Facebook page. Sargsyan went on, sayin: 

1. The recognition of Artsakh as a tool of international pressure on Aliyev can force him many things – from the return of the captives to returning to the negotiations table and making serious concessions, including in the issue of Hadrut.

2. Armenia is to make the first step. Its recognition, followed by the international recognition [of Artsakh] should become a sword of Damocles hanging over Aliyev’s head.

3. With the war Aliyev got the two principles of the conflict settlement out of the three. As he believes, he has restored what he called the territorial integrity, resorted to force and got even more than he could get through the threat of force.   

4. For more than 30 years, the Co-Chairs have used to insist that the three principles (the two mentioned  above and the people’s self-determination) are equal. That is to say, in the current situation, people’s right to self-determination is the one principle that has not been implemented.  

5. Every one accepts and states that the Artsakh issue is not solved, as one of the sides is not satisfied (See Biden’s letter to Aliyev and the recent statements of the MG CO-Chairs on the need for the final settlement of the conflict). If not today, then tomorrow Armenia may go to the realization of its scenario for the conflict settlement.”  

The political expert noted with regret that there has been no consistency about the Artsakh recognition in the inter-political discourse of Armenia and hopes political actors will consolidate over the issue during the pre-election period.

Armenia’s ex-president Robert Kocharyan will attend the rally scheduled on May 9 at Liberty square in Yerevan. “See you tomorrow,” Kocharyan wrote Saturday to his followers on his Facebook page. 

The rally will start at 16.00 Yerevan time and is the first public event organised by the newly-formed political alliance between the Reviving Armenia party and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF, Dashnaktsutyun). As announced earlier, ex-President Kocharyan is set to lead the bloc for the upcoming snap parliamentary elections. 

It is noted that Kocharyan will address the public during the rally. Before the rally, an even marking the launch of the political cooperation between the two political parties and the former president will take place. 

by PAUL ANTONOPOULOS

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that it “saddens him to see Egyptians in solidarity with Greek people.”

“You know our attitude towards the Egyptian people is very, very positive, that is, there is a historical relationship between the Egyptian people and the Turkish nation,” he said.

#Turkish President #Erdogan's zero-sum game in managing ties with #Egypt and #Greece at the same time.

Once he called Egyptian President Sisi as illegitimate, #Erdogan still refrains mentioning him in his speech while commenting on #Turkey's efforts to reset ties with Egypt. pic.twitter.com/yE7bJjMX2H

— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) May 7, 2021

“That is why we are in an effort to regain our historical union with the Egyptian people, not as hostile brothers, but as friends,” he continued.

“As I said before, it saddens us to see the Egyptian people forced to side with the Greek people,” Erdoğan said, adding: “It makes us sad to see that Egyptians are in solidarity with Greeks.”

Armed groups in Tripoli on Friday stormed a hotel where Libya’s new Presidency Council meets, the council’s spokeswoman said in a social media post, underscoring the continued risks to the unity government.

Unverified images on social media showed armed, uniformed men standing at the entrance to the Corinthia Hotel, but Presidency Council spokeswoman Najwa Wahiba said nobody from the council was in the building.

The groups have voiced anger at the Government of National Unity’s Foreign Minister, Najla el-Mangoush.

The Presidency Council, which functions as head of state, was chosen through a United Nations-facilitated process that selected a new Government of National Unity that took office in March, replacing rival administrations in east and west.

Unity Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibeh has worked to win support from Libya’s many rival factions, forming a large cabinet that included an array of ideological and regional figures.

However, both the Presidency Council and Government of National Unity have faced both internal criticisms and challenges to their authority.

In eastern Libya, commander Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA) still hold sway nearly a year after their 14-month offensive to seize the capital collapsed.

In Tripoli, the armed groups that pushed Haftar back from the capital with Turkish support still control the streets.

Foreign mercenaries remain entrenched on both sides of the heavily fortified front line, despite international calls for the warring sides to pull them from the country.

Last week, Foreign Minister Mangoush repeated the call for all foreign fighters to leave while standing next to visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Turkey says its military presence in Libya is different to that of other foreign forces because it was invited by the previous U.N.-recognised government and it will not withdraw until others do.

Before the hotel was stormed on Friday, an operations room for the Tripoli armed groups said on social media that it had met to discuss “irresponsible statements” by Mangoush and later called on the GNU to formally reject Haftar.

By Christine Douglass-Williams,

Jihadist regimes have long understood the benefits of indoctrinating children to wage jihad and glorify martyrdom. And so it is no surprise that under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the jihad ideology has spread into schools:

According to a recently released analysis of 28 Turkish textbooks, that country’s education system, which was once a model of secularism that taught evolution, cultural openness, tolerance toward minorities, and Kurdish as a minority language, has increasingly replaced those concepts with notions of jihad, martyrdom in battle, and a neo-Ottoman and pan-Turkist ethno-religious worldview in its curricula.

It gets worse:

recent curricula — in a NATO country that has long aspired to EU membership — include anti-American and anti-Armenian messages, display “sympathy for the motivations of ISIS and Al-Qaeda.”

Turkey should long ago have been expelled from NATO.

“This Time Turkish, Not Saudi, Schoolbooks Are Under Scrutiny,” by James M. Dorsey, Algemeiner, May 3, 2021:

According to a recently released analysis of 28 Turkish textbooks, that country’s education system, which was once a model of secularism that taught evolution, cultural openness, tolerance toward minorities, and Kurdish as a minority language, has increasingly replaced those concepts with notions of jihad, martyrdom in battle, and a neo-Ottoman and pan-Turkist ethno-religious worldview in its curricula.

The report, by the Israeli research group Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (Impact-se)…assert that recent curricula — in a NATO country that has long aspired to EU membership — include anti-American and anti-Armenian messages, display “sympathy for the motivations of ISIS and Al-Qaeda,” focus exclusively on Sunni Muslim teachings, and replace electives such as Kurdish with religious courses.

The textbooks promote concepts like “Turkish World Domination” and the Turkish or Ottoman “Ideal of the World Order,” the report said.

“Education is a prime pillar in [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan’s efforts to drape the country in the cloak of Sharia… The Ministry of Education has been pressuring citizens to conform to conservative Islamic practices in public schools,” commented Turkey scholar Soner Cagaptay in a forward to the study.

The study was released as Turkey was attempting to repair relations with Europe and Middle Eastern states, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Israel, that were bruised by Ankara’s aggressive assertiveness in Libya, Syria, the Caucasus, and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Erdogan spoke in a video conference to European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in advance of a European summit that was scheduled to discuss relations with Turkey.

The conference came a day after the EU shelved plans to blacklist senior executives of Turkey’s state-owned Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) in retaliation for Turkish drilling for natural gas in disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean.

The report is likely to add to skepticism about an 11-point human rights action plan recently unveiled by Erdogan that he said would bolster freedoms and legal protections.

Erdogan has undermined freedom of the press and the independence of the judiciary, and arrested thousands on often flimsy charges since he defeated a failed military coup in 2016. As a result, Turkey ranks today as one of the world’s foremost jailers of journalists.

Turkish police recently detained several officials of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), days after a top public prosecutor demanded the party’s dissolution for alleged links to Kurdish nationalist militants. Parliament also expelled an HDP deputy, undermining Erdogan’s effort to suggest that he is adhering to values projected by Europe and US President Joe Biden….