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The regional workshop on the implementation of the law on regulating the right to access information concluded in Doha.It was organized by the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority (ACTA) in the State of Qatar, in cooperation with the Anti-Corruption Commission in the State of Palestine, which chaired the Fifth Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Arab Convention Against Corruption, with support from the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States.The three-day workshop brought together representatives from 15 Arab countries.The workshop concluded with a number of practical recommendations and proposals for joint Arab cooperation projects, aimed at enhancing the implementation of the law and supporting the development of a more integrated Arab framework in the areas of transparency and accountability.In her opening remarks, Director of the Control and Development Department of ACTA Amal Al Kuwari noted that organizing this event came in response to a recommendation from the seventh meeting of the Governmental Experts Committee of States Parties to the Arab Convention Against Corruption. She emphasized that it represents the result of fruitful cooperation between Qatar, Palestine, and the Arab League.Al Kuwari explained that the right to access information is no longer merely an administrative procedure, but a fundamental pillar of integrity and good governance, and an effective tool for building trust in public institutions and supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She noted that Qatar recognized the importance of this right early on, issuing Law No. (9) of 2022 regulating the right to access information, alongside awareness and training programs to support its implementation.The workshop aimed to exchange legislative and executive experiences in this field, review international principles and standards, and share best practices to develop national policies and strengthen the capacities of Arab countries. The Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Center in Qatar oversaw the training sessions throughout the workshop.

Luxembourg announced its intention to join the countries that will recognize the State of Palestine during the upcoming United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York next week. Arriving at an EU meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel confirmed earlier remarks made by Prime Minister Luc Frieden, who had told members of the Grand Duchy's Foreign Affairs Committee in a closed meeting that his government was committed to a two-state solution. Frieden said his government was convinced that the two-state formula offered the only path to lasting peace in the region. He acknowledged that such peace would not be achieved overnight but described recognition of Palestine as a step demonstrating that the solution remained possible. He added that for this reason Luxembourg intended to join the states recognizing Palestine at next week's conference on the two-state solution. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed Luxembourg's plan, calling it a courageous position consistent with international law and UN resolutions and part of broader efforts to advance calm and peace on the basis of two states. Several other countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Australia, and Canada, have recently announced similar intentions to recognize Palestine during the General Assembly session, following a proposal drafted by France and Saudi Arabia. Last Friday, the UN General Assembly voted by an overwhelming majority to adopt the New York Declaration, which lays out concrete, time-bound, and irreversible steps toward implementing a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians ahead of the next session scheduled for Sep. 22. Out of the UN's 193 member states, at least 149 already recognize the Palestinian state declared by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988.

The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini announced that in the past four days alone, Israel has struck 10 UNRWA buildings in Gaza City, including seven schools and two clinics currently serving as shelters for thousands of displaced people.Lazzarini added in a post on UNRWA's X platform account that no place and no one is safe in Gaza City and its north, where the intensity of airstrikes is increasing, forcing more Palestinians to flee into the unknown.Commenting on the situation in Gaza City, he said, "We were forced to suspend healthcare at Al-Shati refugee camp, the only health care available north of Wadi Gaza. Our vital water and sanitation services are now only at half capacity."The UN official continued, "In the past four days alone, 10 UNRWA buildings have been targeted in Gaza City," calling for an immediate ceasefire.Days ago, Israel began a campaign of gradual destruction of high-rise residential buildings in Gaza City, forcing more families into displacement under harsh and dire conditions. Meanwhile, human rights organizations warn that the goal is to forcibly displace residents southward, as part of a broader plan to displace them outside the Gaza Strip.

HE the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr Ahmed bin Hassan al-Hammadi met on Tuesday with ambassador of the State of Palestine to Qatar Fayez Majed Abu al-Rub. The meeting discussed co-operation relations between the two countries. (QNA)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday condemned the brutal Israeli aggression against the State of Qatar.In a statement, President Abbas said that the brutal Israeli aggression against the State of Qatar constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and an escalation that threatens regional security and stability, stressing the importance of an immediate halt to this escalation.He warned that a continuation of the escalation would have consequences not only for the region but for the entire world, emphasizing that the solution lies in a just and comprehensive peace for the Palestinian cause.

Saudi Arabia's Permanent Representative to the UN, ambassador Abdulaziz al-Wasil, presented an oral draft resolution during Saturday's session of the UN General Assembly on behalf of Saudi Arabia and France.The resolution pertained to the resumption of the High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution. It was adopted by consensus without a vote.Ambassador al-Wasil reaffirmed the shared commitment of Saudi Arabia and France to upholding international law and implementing relevant UN resolutions, highlighting that the key objectives of the conference include the protection of international legitimacy and taking practical steps toward achieving lasting peace in the Middle East region.On July 28, 2025, the aforementioned conference kicked off at the headquarters of the UN General Assembly in New York, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France.It primarily aimed to bring the occupation to an end and to support the establishment of a sovereign and independent Palestinian state.

Qatar welcomed the announcement by Belgium of its intention to recognise the State of Palestine during the United Nations General Assembly meetings this month. In a statement Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed that the step represents significant support for the legitimate rights of the brotherly Palestinian people and embodies the international community's consensus on the need to end the Israeli occupation and enable the Palestinian people to exercise self-determination and establish their independent state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.The ministry also considered this announcement a positive development consistent with international legitimacy and relevant Security Council resolutions, and contributing to enhancing the chances of achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the region. It reiterated Qatar's call for all countries that have not yet recognised the State of Palestine to take similar steps that reflect a commitment to international law and support the historical and inalienable rights of the brotherly Palestinian people on their land.

Fifteen Palestinians were martyred and others injured on Saturday in an Israeli occupation airstrike targeting displaced persons' tents in Al-Nasr and Al-Zaytoun neighborhoods in Gaza City.Local sources reported that Israeli occupation warplanes bombed tents for the displaced near the Youth and Sports Roundabout in Al-Nasr neighborhood, killing 11 people and injuring others. Four more people were martyred and others wounded in a separate strike on Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of the city.The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza announced yesterday that the death toll from the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, had risen to 63,025 martyrs, with 159,159 injured.

The United Nations expressed hope that the United States will lift its ban on Palestinian representatives attending the UN General Assembly session scheduled for next month.UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said during a press briefing that it is important for all member states and permanent observers to be represented in the Assembly's work, particularly as France and Saudi Arabia are preparing to host a meeting on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He added that the UN hopes the issue of visas for the Palestinian delegation will be resolved so they can participate.He noted that the matter will be discussed with the US State Department under the terms of the UN Headquarters Agreement, noting that the UN's position is that all diplomats and delegates entitled to attend should be able to travel freely to New York.These remarks came only hours after the US State Department announced the cancellation of visas for members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority officials, preventing them from entering the United States to attend the General Assembly.This decision comes despite the Headquarters Agreement between the UN and the United States, which states that US security agencies are not permitted to operate inside the UN compound in Manhattan and that UN members have the right to travel freely through the US to the UN headquarters.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) stated that intensified Israeli military operations in Gaza City will expose around one million people to new forced displacement.The agency added in a post on the X platform Friday, that any further escalation would exacerbate suffering and push more Palestinian civilians toward catastrophe, amid existing famine.It pointed out that the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip and evacuation orders are forcing entire families to leave their homes once again amid fear and destruction.Members of the UN Security Council, except the United States, called on Wednesday in a joint statement for an immediate, permanent, and unconditional ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, a significant increase in aid across the sector, and for Israel, the occupying power, to immediately and unconditionally lift all restrictions on the delivery of aid.They also called on Israel to immediately reverse its decision to take control of Gaza City.

Three Palestinians, including a woman and her child, were martyred on Thursday in Israeli occupation shelling of Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip and Al-Rimal neighborhood west of Gaza City.The Palestinian news agency (WAFA) said that a woman and her child were martyred when the Israeli occupation bombed a home in Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.Meanwhile, one civilian was martyred and others were injured when the occupation bombed a residential apartment near the Palestine Tower on Al-Shuhada Street in Al-Rimal neighborhood west of Gaza City, local sources said.Several injuries were reported as Israeli fighter jets struck a tent for displaced people in the Al-Shati refugee camp west of the city, at a time Israeli artillery fired shells toward Street 8 south of Gaza City, with no injuries reported.In Khan Younis, a Palestinian man was martyred following an Israeli airstrike in the city center. Meanwhile, a child was injured as Israeli forces bombed a displacement tent in Badr Camp in northern Al-Shati. Artillery also shelled a house belonging to a family in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.Since Oct. 7, 2023, the occupation has been committing genocide in Gaza, including killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, ignoring all international appeals and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt it.The genocide has left 62,819 martyred, 158,629 wounded, most of them children and women, more than 9,000 missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and a famine that has killed 303 Palestinians, including 117 children.

Israeli bulldozers uprooted hundreds of trees in the West Bank village of al-Mughayyir on Sunday in the presence of the Israeli military, according to AFP journalists who witnessed the scene.Most of the felled vegetation appeared to be olive trees, essential to the economy and culture of the West Bank, while olive groves have also long been a flashpoint for violent clashes between farmers and encroaching Israeli settlers.Abdelatif Mohammed Abu Aliya, a local farmer from the village near Ramallah, said he lost olive trees that were over 70 years old on about one hectare of land."They completely uprooted and levelled them under false pretences," he said, explaining he and other residents had already begun replanting the pulled-up trees.AFP photographers on the ground saw overturned soil, olive trees lying on the ground, and several bulldozers operating on the hills surrounding the village.One bulldozer had an Israeli flag, and Israeli military vehicles were parked nearby."The goal is control and forcing people to leave. This is just the beginning -- it will expand across the entire West Bank," said Ghassan Abu Aliya, who leads a local agricultural association.Residents said the bulldozing began on Thursday. A Palestinian NGO reported 14 people had been arrested in the village over the past three days.When asked about the incident, the Israeli army told AFP they were looking into the matter.On August 16, the Palestinian Authority reported that an 18-year-old man had been shot and killed by the Israeli army in the same village.Violence in the West Bank has escalated since the war in Gaza began following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.Since then, at least 971 Palestinians -- including both militants and civilians -- have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers in the West Bank, according to AFP figures based on Palestinian Authority data.The West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, is home to about three million Palestinians and 500,000 Israelis living in settlements that are considered illegal under international law.