Saudi Arabia reaffirms support for Palestinian refugees

November 11, 2016

United Nations, Nov 11: Saudi Arabia has reaffirmed its continued support for the Palestinian refugees and UNRWA, the UN body that looks after their welfare.

riyadh

The Kingdom's reassurance came during a speech delivered by its permanent representative at the United Nations, Abdullah Al-Muallimi, at an UNRWA committee meeting

“The Kingdom is honored to stand by the side of the Palestinian people stemming from its religious and humanitarian duty until the Palestinians achieve their legitimate right to live in freedom, dignity and have access to all their legitimate and inalienable rights. In this domain, the Kingdom highly appreciates the fundamental role of the UNRWA’s humanitarian care for more than 5 million Palestinians,” Al-Muallimi said.

He said Saudi Arabia continued to top the list of major donors to UNRWA, alongside the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom. This year, the Kingdom has contributed some $100 million.

The Kingdom has been an active member of the UNRWA Advisory Commission since 2005 and provides advice and assistance to the commissioner general in the scope of implementation of his mandate.

He said the Kingdom made a donation of $59 million through the Saudi Development Fund to UNRWA for the education, health and housing projects to be implemented in Gaza, the West Bank and Jordan.

The donation was made through three agreements signed in London on Feb. 4. The first agreement worth more than $40 million will go to support the ongoing projects in Gaza, including more than 600 houses for Palestinians who had their homes destroyed during the Israeli assault on Gaza, along with maintenance of three schools. The second agreement worth $8 million will go to finance the maintenance of nine UNRWA schools and 10 health centers in Jordan. While the third agreement worth more than $7 million will provide funding for rebuilding, equipping and furnishing of three health centers in the West Bank, said the ambassador.

Al-Muallimi said Saudi Arabia has donated $10 million through the Saudi Development Fund to build a larger base and supply depot in Rafah. This will serve as the main UNRWA warehouse for storing basic food and non-food items, and also to support the distribution operations through 12 distribution centers throughout the Gaza Strip, he added.

“This project is part of a comprehensive project signed between UNRWA and the Saudi Development Fund in May 2015 to rebuild and renovate residential units and supply warehouses, and to support the health and education sectors in the Gaza Strip with a total value estimated at $62 million. Construction of the supply depot is expected to be completed in 2017 and will be operational with a crew of about 200 people, including UNRWA staff members and persons who will work on job-creation issues.”

Saudi Arabia also contributed approximately $2 million to build a health center in Aqabat Jaber Camp located in the Jordan Valley to meet the necessary health needs of Palestinian refugees in the camp within a safe environment. This center was opened on Oct. 28, and will benefit more than 14,000 camp residents, said the ambassador.

He said: “We stress our full support for UNRWA’s humanitarian goals and to continue its work to alleviate the tragedy of the Palestinian people and reduce their suffering until the return of the displaced to their home country, and give them the necessary compensations for the extensive damage they suffered during the past decades in accordance with Resolution 194 of the General Assembly.”

“We therefore support the efforts to address the root causes of this crisis and stop the forced and chronic displacement of the refugees through ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory and the rest of the Arab lands, and that Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders, and makes progress toward implementing the two-state solution,” Al-Muallimi added.

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naren kotian
 - 
Friday, 11 Nov 2016

we support israel , long live israel ... temple mount jindabad ... hahaha....

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Arab News
March 21,2020

Jeddah, Mar 21: Saudi government ministers on Friday announced a war chest of more than SR120 billion ($32 billion) to fight the “unprecedented” health and economic challenges facing the country as a result of the killer coronavirus pandemic.

During a press conference in Riyadh, finance minister and acting minister of economy and planning, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, unveiled a SR70 billion stimulus package to support the private sector, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and businesses worst-hit by the virus outbreak.

And the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) has also sidelined SR50 billion to help the Kingdom’s banking sector, financial institutions and SMEs.

Al-Jadaan said the government had introduced tough measures to protect the country’s citizens while immediately putting in place a financial safety net. He added that the Kingdom was moving decisively to address the global COVID-19 disease crisis and cushion the financial and economic impact of the outbreak on the country.

The SR70 billion package of initiatives revealed by the minister will include exemptions and postponement of some government dues to help provide liquidity for private-sector companies.

Minister of Health Dr. Tawfig Al-Rabiah noted the raft of precautionary measures that had been introduced by the Kingdom in cooperation with the private sector and government agencies to combat the spread of the coronavirus, highlighting the important contribution of the data communication services sector.

He reassured the Saudi public that the Kingdom would continue to do whatever was required to tackle the crisis.

“This pandemic has a lot of challenges. It’s difficult to make presumptions at this moment as we’ve seen; many developed countries did not expect the rate of transmission of this virus.

“We see that the reality of the situation is different from what many expected. The virus is still being studied and though we know the means of transmission, it is transmitted at a very fast rate, having spread to many countries faster than expected.

“We see that many countries have not taken the strong precautionary measures from the beginning of the crisis which led to the vast spread of the virus in these countries,” Al-Rabiah said.

He pointed out that social distancing would help slow the spread.

Al-Jadaan said the Saudi government had the financial and economic capacity to deal with the situation. “We have large reserves and large investments, but we do not want to withdraw from the reserves more than what was already announced in the budget. We do not want to liquidate any of the government’s investments so we will borrow.

“We have approval from the government after the finance committee raised its recommendations to increase the proportion of the domestic product borrowing from 30 percent to 50 percent. We do not expect to exceed 50 percent from now until the end of 2022,” he added.

The government would use all the tools available to it to finance the private sector, especially SMEs, and ensure its ongoing stability.

The finance minister said that at this stage it was difficult to predict the economic impact of the pandemic on the private sector, but he emphasized that international coordination, most notably through G20 countries and health organizations, was ongoing.

On recorded cases of the COVID-19 disease in the Kingdom, Al-Rabiah said: “Many of the confirmed cases are without symptoms, this is due to the precautionary measures being considered.

“As soon as a case is confirmed, we contact and examine anyone who was in direct contact with the patient. This epidemiological investigation, is conducted on a large scale to investigate any case that was in contact with the patient.”

Al-Jadaan also announced the formation of a committee made up of the ministers of finance, economy and planning, commerce, and industry and mineral resources, along with the vice chairman of the board of the Saudi National Development Fund, and its governor.

The committee will be responsible for identifying and reviewing incentives, facilities, and other initiatives led by the fund.

Committees had also been established, said Al-Jadaan, to study the impact and repercussions of the coronavirus crisis on all sectors and regions, and look at ways of overcoming them through subsidies or stimulus packages.

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News Network
July 13,2020

Dubai, July 13: An explosion caused by a gas leak damaged a restaurant, and nearby shops at a residential building in Dubai on Monday morning. 

According to Brigadier Abdul Haleem Al Hashemi, Deputy Director of Al Qusais Police Station, the incident took place at 4am when the restaurant was closed.

No injuries were reported, but two nearby shops, a pharmacy, a salon and three cars were severely damaged.

"Dubai Police patrols were immediately dispatched to the scene and worked with Dubai Civil Defense to evacuate residents of the two-storey building as a precautionary measure," Brig Al Hashimi explained.

Preliminary investigations showed that the blast was caused by a gas leak, the officer said. The Crime Scene Department of the General Department of Forensics and Criminology in Dubai is studying the evidence collected from the site and will be preparing the final report on the accident.

Brig Al Hashimi urged restaurant owners to ensure that all safety and security systems at their outlets are in good condition. Regular maintenance checks should also be conducted on all pipes and gas regulators, especially during the summer season.

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News Network
May 10,2020

Dubai, May 10: Kuwait will enact a "total curfew" from 4pm (1300 GMT) on Sunday through to May 30 to help to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, the Information Ministry said on Twitter on Friday.

Further details of the curfew will be announced soon, it said.

Kuwait on April 20 expanded a nationwide curfew to 16 hours a day, from 4pm to 8am, and extended a suspension of work in the public sector, including government ministries, until May 31.

On Friday the Gulf state announced 641 new coronavirus cases and three deaths, bringing its total number of confirmed cases to 7,208, with 47 deaths.

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