Signatures of Palestinian school students were presented to the British consulate in East Jerusalem [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

People in various parts of the world have staged protests on the centenary of Britain’s Balfour Declaration, which promised a homeland for the Jewish people and paved the way for the occupation of Palestine.

Thousands gathered in Ramallah, administrative capital of the occupied Palestinian territories, on Thursday to march to the British cultural centre, according to official Palestinian media.

A statement from the office of President Mahmoud Abbas called for an apology from Britain, recognition of Palestine and compensation for the Palestinian people in political, moral and material terms.

WATCH: Israeli PM Netanyahu visits UK to mark Balfour centenary (02:08)
“Here in Ramallah, for Palestinians, this declaration is seen very much as the moment a hundred years of disposition, displacement and occupation began,” Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from Ramallah, said.

Dozens of others gathered in a separate protest outside the British consulate in occupied East Jerusalem.

A hundred thousand signatures and hundreds of letters from Palestinian high school students were presented to the British consulate in occupied East Jerusalem, according to Sawsan Safadi, an official from the Palestinian Ministry of Education.

The letters expressed the students’ feelings about the legacy of the declaration.

Khadija Khalaf, a 17-year-old Palestinian high school student from East Jerusalem, was among the protesters who carried the letters.

“We came here holding signatures of 100,000 students from the schools of Palestine protesting against the Balfour promise,” Khalaf told Al Jazeera.

“After 100 years, we the Palestinians have not taken our rights. We hope that they hear our voices as children.”

Protesters shouted slogans such as “Down with the Brits” and “Justice, power, freedom: Our state is Palestinian”.

“In addition to admitting its mistake, it must assume responsibility for the damage that befell the Palestinians as a result of the Balfour Declaration and the policies that ensued,” Zakaria Odeh, a 64-year-old protester, told Al Jazeera.

Protest in Pretoria
In Pretoria, South Africa, hundreds gathered outside the Israeli embassy in a protest against the Israeli occupation of Palestine, organised by the Economic Freedom Fighters party (EFF).

Protesters, dressed in the characteristic red T-shirts of the EFF, held placards with slogans calling for an end to “Israeli ethnic cleansing of Palestinians” and a halt to attacks on the Gaza Strip, as they danced and sang outside the heavily guarded embassy.

“Away with apartheid Israel, away,” the crowd shouted.

Julius Malema, leader of the EFF, urged the crowd to look beyond their own context and to consider the plight of the Palestinians.

He also called for a one-state solution where Jews and Palestinians could live in peace.

Malema made an impassioned appeal to South Africans to stop working with Israel, even asking South Africans to stop travelling to the country in solidarity with Palestine.

“We asking all South Africans to stop doing business with Israel, to stop visiting Israel. We are returning the favour to the people of Palestine who stood with us,” Malema said to loud cheers.

“We call for the release of Marwan Barghouti, who is in sitting in Israeli jail, in quite the same way that Nelson Mandela was in jail for all those years,” Zaakirah Vadi, communications officer for the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, an anti-apartheid organisation, told the crowd.

Roads around the embassy were closed off, and police had closed the entrance to the building.

Many South Africans see the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the policies applied there as similar to apartheid, the institutionalised racial segregation and discrimination implemented by the white minority in their country until 1991.

In Ankara, the Turkish capital, dozens of members of the Anatolian Youth Association, a conservative organisation, marked the Balfour Declaration centenary with slogans and placards.

At Sakarya University in northwest Turkey, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, an aid group, led protesters in a rally.

Azad Essa and Ibrahim Husseini contributed to this report

Palestinian policemen loyal to Hamas stand guard as fuel tankers enter Gaza through Rafah border in June 2017 [File: Reuters]

by Linah Alsaafin, Al Jazeera

Hamas has handed over administrative control of five border crossings in Gaza to the Palestinian Authority.

Wednesday’s handover, the first in over a decade, is part of a deal agreed on in the latest round of Egypt-brokered reconciliation talks between Hamas and the PA-ruled Fatah political party in Cairo on October 12.

Fatah spokesperson Osama Qawasmeh told Al Jazeera that no conditions were set by Fatah or Hamas for the handover.

“The issue is simply a matter of restoring the status quo back under the Palestinian Authority’s control, as was the case before the 2007 split,” he said, referring to the political schism that ended with Hamas taking over the Gaza Strip after an attempted coup by US-backed Fatah strongman Mohammad Dahlan.

The PA will take administrative charge of the three cargo crossings including the Karam Abu Salem crossing on the Egyptian border, as well as the Rafah and Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossings – the latter which is controlled by Israel in the north of the Strip.

In a statement on Tuesday, the PA minister of civil affairs, Hussein al-Sheikh, said the national unity government is prepared to work closely with Egyptian authorities to prepare the Rafah border crossing for operation by November 15, as specified by the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access.

Rafah, the main border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip, has been largely closed to Gaza’s population of two million since Hamas took over.

The other crossing, Erez, is located in the north of the strip and is run by Israel.

The PA will also be in charge of the three cargo crossing points of Karni, Kerem Shalom (Karem Abu Salem) and Sufa.

‘Better quality of life’
Qawasmeh said that this handover would make the lives of Palestinians in Gaza “much easier”.

“This will no doubt help enable a huge part of people’s lives to travel outside the Gaza Strip for whatever reason such as seeking medical treatment, undertaking a scholarship in a university, and leisurely travel,” he said.

“The movement of products will be facilitated quicker and will make it easier for import and export trade,” he added.

Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesperson, echoed his counterpart.

“We hope that handing over control would lead to a better quality of life for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” he told Al Jazeera.

He stressed that handing over control was not a security issue, but rather a logistical one.

Governing the ‘mega-prison’
However, Alaa Tartir, the programme director of the Palestinian policy network Al-Shabaka, said that the transfer of administrative border control “does not necessarily translate into a meaningful national reconciliation and unity”.

“Assuming that the mere replacement of personnel at the borders and crossings will lift the siege on Gaza is a naive and dangerous assumption,” Tartir said.

“It is a test to examine the fragility or durability of the recent reconciliation agreement.”

“It is crucial to acknowledge that Israel, as an occupying power, will remain the de facto holder of power over borders and crossings,” he continued.

“This will only change when the Israeli occupation ends. The Hamas-Fatah infighting about who will ‘manage’ the borders and crossings is merely a fight about who will ‘govern’ the mega-prison.”

Since Hamas took over in 2007, Israel has imposed an air, naval and land blockade on the Gaza Strip, a stretch of land measuring 51km in length and 11km in width. Earlier this year, the PA added pressure on Hamas’ government by requesting Israel to cut off its electricity supply to Gaza.

A matter of protocol
Qawasmeh said that the closure of the border crossings was due to the absence of a “legitimate government” and that things are finally “going back to normal”.

He also said that the actual transfer of border control would not have much pomp and fanfare.

“The process of handing over control is just a matter of protocol,” Qawasmeh said. “The real case is the decision of Hamas – which up until now has been positive – to completely transfer all powers to the national unity government as was stipulated in the latest reconciliation agreement.”

The next round of reconciliation talks will take place in Cairo on November 21, where Qassem and Qawasmeh said the discussion would focus on logistics of administration and security of the Gaza Strip.

-Additional reporting by Farah Najjar

A Palestinian woman reacts at a hospital after her relative was killed near the border between Israel and central Gaza Strip [Mohammed Salem/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Palestinian armed groups have vowed to respond to Israel’s attack on a tunnel in a southern town of the Gaza Strip late on Monday that left at least seven people dead and nine others wounded.

“We will exercise our right to respond – this is our duty,” Daoud Shehab, a leader in the Islamic Jihad movement, told Al Jazeera, adding that it is the legitimate right of the resistance groups to respond.

Palestinian media said that the tunnel in Khan Younis had been hit by the Israeli air force.

“Reports said Israel fired five missiles at the tunnel that was being dug east of Khan Younis and which Israel claims was leading to its territory,” Palestinian news agency Wafa said.

Israeli officials said that the tunnel near the border wall, which was in the process of being built, was blown up after being monitored for some time.

The ministry of health in Gaza officially identified five of those killed as members of the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad and two others as members of Hamas’ Izz Eddine al-Qassam Brigades.

Hamas decried the attack as the “latest Zionist crime”.

“Resisting the occupation in all its forms is a natural right guaranteed for our people,” the movement said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Fatah, the West Bank-based political party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called for dialogue between Palestinians to discuss the best response to the Israeli bombardment.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed what he called “breakthrough technology” in dealing with tunnel threats.

He also held Hamas responsible for any attempt to harm the sovereignty of his country.

Since 2008, Israel has launched three offensives on the Gaza Strip.

The latest one took place in the summer of 2014 and resulted in the deaths of more than 2,200 Palestinians, including 500 children.

Sixty-six Israeli occupation soldiers and seven Israeli non-combatants were killed in the same period.

The Israeli blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip, in its current form, has been in place since June 2007.

Israel controls Gaza’s airspace and territorial waters, as well as two of the three border crossing points; the third is controlled by Egypt.

Iraq’s Kurds face a new security crisis after the defeat of ISIL [Ahmad al-Rubaye/Getty Images]

by Al Jazeera

Iraq’s prime minister has ordered a temporary halt to a military operation in the country’s north aimed at wresting back territory held by Kurdish security forces.

In a statement on Friday, Haider al-Abadi ordered government forces to suspend their operations for 24 hours to enable the deployment of other forces in coordination with Kurdish forces in the disputed areas and along the country’s borders.

The suspension of the movement of troops will allow a technical team from the two sides to jointly work for the deployment, al-Abadi said.

“This is aimed at preventing a showdown and bloodshed between people of the same country.”

Al-Abadi’s decision came a day after government forces and Kurdish forces clashed near the northern city of Mosul.

Last week, Iraqi forces retook the oil-rich region of Kirkuk, which had been held by the Kurds since the Iraqi army fled from advancing ISIL fighters in 2014.

The show of force came after the secession referendum of September 25, in which 92 percent of Kurds supported independence from Iraq, prompting tension between the two sides.

Ceasefire claim retracted
Earlier on Friday, the US-led coalition battling ISIL, (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIS), said Iraqi and Kurdish forces must focus on dialogue and reducing internal tensions in order to combat a larger enemy.

“We are encouraging dialogue. We’re trying to get the tensions down and to refocus our efforts on defeating ISIS,” Colonel Ryan Dillon, coalition spokesperson, told Rudaw, a news agency in the Iraqi Kurdish region, in a video interview.

“What we are encouraging is dialogue and trying to get the right people to the table.”

Dillon said in the interview that there was a “ceasefire” between Iraqi and Kurdish forces, but he later retracted those remarks, noting on Twitter that while both parties had been talking, it was “not an official ‘ceasefire'”.

The primary goal is to prevent the resurgence of ISIL, Dillon said.

“They thrive on instability and discord between groups, and we cannot let them resurface. We’ve got to cut the head off of that snake and prevent them from coming back,” he said.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made his remarks during the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh [File: Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday said Saudi Arabia will “return” to a “moderate Islam that is open to all religions” – comments likely to rile staunch conservatives in the Gulf kingdom.

The crown prince also announced Saudi Arabia will “eradicate promoters of extremist thoughts”, saying the country was not like this in the past.

“We are returning to what we were before – a country of moderate Islam that is open to all religions and to the world,” the 32-year-old heir to the throne said.

Bin Salman, also known as MBS, made the remarks during a Future Investment Initiative (FII) summit in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

FII is an international event at which Saudi Arabia seeks out investment into the kingdom from around the world.

During Tuesday’s event, Salman voiced his confidence in Saudi Arabia’s younger generation and its ability to adjust to a post-oil world, mentioning among other things the benefits of solar power.

Bin Salman’s remarks come a month after Saudi Arabia made a landmark decision to allow women to legally drive vehicles starting in June 2018, in a move that was criticised by some conservative voices on Saudi social media but welcomed by rights activists.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive.

MBS was appointed crown prince in June this year.

Despite pledges of reform, critics have highlighted the continuing crackdown on human rights activists and others challenging the status quo.

The blast also destroyed nearby homes and businesses [Feisal Omar/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

The death toll from Saturday’s truck bomb blast in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, has surged to at least 276 people, according to the country’s information minister.

Abdirahman Osman on Sunday said on Twitter that around 300 others were also wounded in the powerful explosion at a busy road junction, which flattened nearby homes and businesses and turned vehicles into burned wrecks.

He called the attack “barbaric” and said a number of countries, including Turkey, Ethiopia and Kenya, had already offered to provide medical assistance.

“We will observe three days of mourning for innocent victims, flags will be flown at half-mast. Time to unite and pray together. Terror won’t win,” Mohamed said in a statement posted on the presidency’s official Twitter account early on Sunday.

The president also urged residents to help those affected by the attack.

“I call on our citizens to come out, extend help, donate blood and comfort the bereaved. Let’s get through this together,” Mohamed said.

The blast, described by Mogadishu residents as the most powerful they had witnessed in years, also left dozens wounded.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Emergency services were overstretched and worked late into the night as they tried to rescue people who were trapped in the destroyed buildings.

The city’s mayor called on residents to donate blood as hospitals were running out of blood.

“I call on the Somali people to visit the city’s hospitals and donate blood. Please, come to the rescue of your brothers,” Thabit Abdi Mohammed, told reporters after donating blood at a local hospital.

The attack came 48 hours after both the defence minister and army chief of the country resigned from their posts without explanation.

Hamas leader Ismail Haneiya (R) meets Egyptian Intelligence Minister Khalid Fawzi at his office in Gaza City earlier this month [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Palestinian rival factions Hamas and Fatah have reached a deal over political reconciliation, Hamas leader and former prime minister Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement on Thursday, without providing further details.

Further information will be announced at a noon news conference (10GMT) in Cairo, where unity talks between the rival factions began on Tuesday.

“Fatah and Hamas reached an agreement at dawn today upon a generous Egyptian sponsorship,” Haniyeh said in a statement.

The Western-backed mainstream Fatah party lost control of Gaza to Hamas in fighting in 2007. But last month Hamas agreed to cede powers in Gaza to President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah-backed government in a deal mediated by Egypt.

The meetings in Cairo are centred around implementing the 2011 Cairo Agreement between the two political parties, in hopes of ending the 10-year political schism.

A party to the negotiations, who asked not to be identified, told AFP news agency the agreement would see forces of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, which is dominated by Fatah, take control of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

He added all Palestinian factions would begin wider negotiations on the formation of a national unity government in the coming two weeks.

Egypt has been eager to improve security in the Sinai Peninsula that borders Gaza, where fighters launched a long-running campaign of attacks.

Last month, Hamas agreed to cede civil power in Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, but the fate of its vast military wing remains a significant issue for the two sides.

An Egyptian source close to the talks said intelligence chief Khaled Fawzi had followed the discussions closely.

The 2011 agreement stipulated that legislative, presidential and national council elections should be conducted within one year of its signing. The deal would see both Hamas and Fatah form a Palestinian government to appoint the prime minister and ministerial positions.

Over the last few months, Hamas has been under heavy pressure from Abbas’ measures against Gaza, aimed at pressuring Hamas to relinquish control of the territory. Punitive measures included cutting the salaries of PA employees living in Gaza and requesting Israel to reduce the electricity supply to the territory.

The deal could temporarily ease Gaza’s dire humanitarian situation.

by Al Jazeera

The talks come a week after PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah visited Gaza to kick-start the process of transferring administrative responsibility from Hamas to the national consensus government [Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images]

Representatives from the Palestinian political parties of Hamas and Fatah are meeting on Tuesday for reconciliation talks in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

The talks come a week after Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah visited the Gaza Strip to kick-start the process of transferring administrative responsibility for the besieged territory from Hamas to the national consensus government.

The meetings in Cairo are centred around implementing the 2011 Cairo Agreement between the two political parties, in hopes of ending a 10-year political schism.

Leading the delegations are the deputy head of Hamas’s political office, Saleh al-Arouri, and a member of the Fatah Central Committee, Azzam al-Ahmad.

A member of Hamas in the occupied West Bank, Hassan Yousef, said that Israel blocked a delegation from travelling to Cairo through Jordan to participate in the talks.

Khalil al-Haya, a member of the Hamas delegation, said the mission would discuss forming a national unity government with the participation of all Palestinian political parties and preparing for legislative, presidential and national council elections.

Haya said the negotiations would focus on ending Palestinian division “to confront intransigence and the Israeli project”.

The 2011 agreement stipulated that legislative, presidential and national council elections should be conducted within one year of its signing. The deal would see both Hamas and Fatah form a Palestinian government to appoint the prime minister and ministerial positions.

Fatah spokesman Osama al-Qawasmeh told the official PA radio that the Egyptian-brokered talks would stretch for three days and would focus on enabling the national consensus government to exercise its political, security and economic functions in Gaza.

Other issues on the agenda include Gaza’s electricity crisis, the salaries of PA employees in the coastal enclave, security and the administration of border crossings.

Over the last few months, Hamas has been under heavy pressure from PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ measures against Gaza, aimed at pressuring Hamas to relinquish control of the territory. Punitive measures included cutting the salaries of PA employees living in Gaza and requesting Israel to reduce the electricity supply to the territory.

If the reconciliation efforts are successful, they could temporarily ease Gaza’s dire humanitarian situation.

Sticking points
Despite the latest Egyptian initiative to end the divide between the West Bank-based PA, led by Fatah, and the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, several potential obstacles could cause a national unity government to falter.

Hamas’ preferred method of armed resistance in facing Israel is among the main obstacles, analysts say.

Last week, Abbas called on Hamas to surrender its weapons. Speaking to Egyptian television, Abbas called for “one state, one regime, one law and one weapon”.

Hamas, on several occasions, has stressed that the issue of armed resistance is not up for discussion. “The resistance’s weapons are legal,” spokesperson Hazem Qassem told the local Maan News Agency. “They are here to protect Palestinians and free their lands [from Israeli occupation].”

Hamas has been Gaza’s de facto ruler since 2007, when the party defeated Abbas’ long-dominant Fatah party in parliamentary elections.

Hamas then pushed Fatah out of Gaza in a bloody conflict. Hamas and Fatah have ruled the Gaza Strip and the West Bank respectively ever since.

Hamas’ control over security and its nature as an armed resistance movement have constituted an obstacle for the PA, which cooperates with Israel on security-related matters as per the Oslo Accords.

Ibrahim Abrash, a political analyst and Gaza’s former culture minister, said some issues, such as Hamas’ recognition of Israel and the 1967 borders, “will take time to iron out … but the dire situation in Gaza cannot withhold waiting any longer”.

Abrash told Al Jazeera that, while he believes Fatah is serious about carrying out presidential elections, the fear is that Israel will get involved.

Abbas’ term expired in 2009, and presidential elections have not been held since.

“The last time Hamas joined elections in 2006, Israel carried out a campaign of arrests against Hamas parliamentarians. There needs to be some Arab and international guarantees that things would go smoothly,” said Abrash.

On the issue of armed resistance, Abrash said Israel would make it “very difficult” for the unity government to carry out its duties. “This would mean that the political system would be faulty, with some factions carrying weapons and others not. I think these issues will not be opened now, but in the end, this issue will explode if the root of it is not solved.”