The Weekly Lift - May 18, 2023

This week's selection of headlines and articles*:

International Relations: In First, Palestinian Displacement Commemorated at United Nations

The New York Times (US) reports that "the United Nations for the first time on Monday officially commemorated the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the war surrounding the creation of Israel 75 years ago, drawing a sharp response from the Israeli ambassador to the world body.

The event — marking the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” by Palestinians — was attended by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas; many member states from Asia, Africa, Central and South America and the Middle East; and representatives of the African Union and the Arab League, who delivered speeches. The United States and Britain did not attend.

“This resolution represents a recognition by your organizations of the ongoing historic injustice that fell on the Palestinian people in 1948 and before that date, and that continues after,” Mr. Abbas said. He added that it was also a rebuttal “for the first time by you of the Israeli Zionist narrative that denies this Nakba.”

The event was the latest arena for a decades-long narrative battle between Israelis and Palestinians. To Israelis, the creation of their state was a heroic moment for a long-persecuted people that deserves celebration. But to Palestinians, it was a moment of profound national trauma.

The United Nations General Assembly, composed of 193 member states, has often been sympathetic to Palestinians. Its commemoration on Monday came at a tense period in Israel, Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where violence has surged this year. While Palestinians celebrated the U.N. action as validation, the Israelis saw it as an attack on their state.

Mr. Abbas called for the suspension of Israel’s membership from the United Nations, saying that the Jewish state never “fulfilled nor respected its obligations and commitments” as a prerequisite to its membership, and had violated resolutions.

Mr. Abbas received a standing ovation and two rounds of long applause after his speech, which lasted over an hour. Chants of “free Palestine” and “end the occupation now” were shouted from the audience.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, condemned the event as “shameful” and called for countries to boycott it?in a letter?he sent to diplomats on Sunday.

“Attending this despicable event means destroying any chance of peace by adopting the Palestinian narrative calling the establishment of the state of Israel a disaster,” Mr. Erdan said in a video statement.

The event was organized by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, a body made up of 25 member states that was created in 1975 by a General Assembly mandate to promote the rights of Palestinians and support peace. Members include India, Turkey, South Africa, Venezuela and Malta.

Member states of the U.N. General Assembly voted in November to approve a resolution calling for the commemoration. It will continue on Monday evening with another event at the General Assembly hall with an “immersive experience” of the Nakba with live music, photographs, videos and testimonials.

“The Nakba and the suffering of generations of Palestinians is a story rarely taught in history books, too often eluded and forgotten,” said the chairman of the committee, Cheikh Niang, Senegal’s ambassador to the United Nations. “Today the resilience of Palestinians through history, but particularly since 1948, must be recognized.”

Around 700,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled their homes in 1947 and 1948 during the wars surrounding Israel’s establishment as a state. Most live as refugees in camps in neighboring nations, and their right to return home is a major issue in any two-state solution. Many of the villages they left behind were taken over by Israelis or destroyed.

The events are the subject of a long-running dispute. Palestinians see them as an act of ethnic cleansing instigated by Israeli militias, which killed hundreds of Palestinians in addition to driving thousands from their homes.

But to Israelis, the conflict was a war of survival against invading Arab armies and hostile local militants who committed atrocities and who rejected a U.N. plan to divide the land between Jews and Arabs.

For many Israelis, the Palestinian exodus was largely voluntary, encouraged by Arab leaders, and was accompanied by the persecution and expulsion of Jews from their homes in Palestine and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Violence in Gaza and the occupied West Bank has risen recently. On Saturday, Israel and the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad agreed to a cease-fire that ended five days of fighting that left 35 people dead.

The two-hour commemoration in a packed General Assembly hall began with a video by Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian-American journalist from Al-Jazeera who was fatally shot by an Israeli soldier last May. The report showed scenes of Israeli violence against Palestinians.

The New York Arabic Orchestra, directed by the four-time Grammy Award-winning musician Eugene Friesen, performed. And the master of ceremonies, Maher Nasser, a senior U.N. official and Palestinian refugee, said the goal of the event was to convey “a history of endurance, remembrance and holding on to beautiful traditions.”

The event did not appear to prompt a widespread reaction from Palestinians in Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank, but some Palestinian rights groups noted the significance of the U.N. commemoration.

The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights, a?rights group based in Gaza, called it “a unique and unprecedented step” and said that it should be “translated into enabling the Palestinian people to exercise their right to independence and return.”

Hani Akkad, a Palestinian political analyst,?wrote?in al-Quds newspaper that the event confirms “the justice of the Palestinian cause and the legality of the Palestinian national struggle,” and is a reminder that the world has not forgotten the Nakba “no matter how much the occupying state tried to portray itself as a victim.”

Separately from the U.N. event, thousands of Palestinians across Gaza, Israel and the West Bank held rallies and protests to commemorate the Nakba.

In?Ramallah, in the West Bank, hundreds gathered outside the Yasir Arafat Mausoleum, where the former Palestinian president is buried. They waved Palestinian flags in a rally attended by Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.

At Tel Aviv University in Israel, dozens of students stood at the campus entrance and held Palestinian flags".

International Relations: China, Ever So Tentatively, Signals Willingness To Talk To U.S. Again

The Washington Post (US) reports that "high-level meetings this week between U.S. and Chinese officials suggest Beijing may be open to restarting dialogue, analysts say, after rebuffing American overtures for months after an alleged Chinese spy balloon was found hovering over the United States.

President Biden?has been offering for months?to talk to his Chinese counterpart, but Xi Jinping has not reciprocated. So this week’s sudden flurry of meetings marks a change from Beijing in particular.

In previously unannounced talks on Wednesday and Thursday, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, spoke for more than eight hours in Vienna. They had “candid, substantive, and constructive discussions” on key issues including the U.S.-China bilateral relationship, according to a readout from the White House.

In Beijing, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met with U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns for what the latter described as an “open and detailed discussion on the bilateral trade relationship.” On Monday Burns and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met and spoke about the necessity of “stabilizing” Sino-U. S. relations.

The flurry of activity, the most senior level talks in months, comes as China continues a charm offensive in Europe and leverages recent diplomatic wins, from the?brokering of Saudi-Iran?ties to?Beijing’s growing partnership with Russia,?to present itself as a credible global leader.

“In a moment when they are actively wooing the Europeans and trying to convince them to strike out a path that’s independent of the United States in the way they deal with China, it’s in their interest to project an image of responsibly managing the competition,” said Amanda Hsiao, senior China analyst at the Crisis Group think tank.

Qin was in Berlin, Paris and Oslo this week for talks. China’s special representative for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, a senior diplomat who previously served as ambassador to Moscow, will travel to Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia starting Monday, according to an announcement by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday.

There were glimmers of hope at the end of last year, after?Biden met Xiin Bali in November, that the relationship between the world’s two largest economies might be improving.

But that all came to a halt when U.S. authorities in February detected a high-altitude Chinese balloon equipped with surveillance capabilities floating over the United States. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, due to visit Beijing to build on the Biden-Xi meeting, canceled his trip and most channels for working-level dialogue were frozen.

Since then China has cold-shouldered Washington while trying to burnish its image as an alternative global leader able to?mediate international crises like Ukraine. After releasing a peace plan largely in line with Moscow’s stance, Xi spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by phone in April.

At the same time, China has struggled under U.S. curbs on technology exports and watched as U.S. officials continue to engage its rival, Taiwan, and expand U.S.?military access in the Indo-Pacific.

“One theory is that the Chinese concluded that their interests are being harmed by shutting down all dialogue with the U.S., while the U.S. says it’s willing to talk,” said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Indo-Pacific program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

In China, the renewed diplomatic activity has been framed as a win for China’s tactics in dealing with Washington. “In this latest round, China’s cold treatment has really put the U.S. on the back foot and made them anxious,” one popular commentator, who publishes under the name Niutanqin, wrote in an?article?on Friday.

The Taihe Institute, a think tank in Beijing, observed that the various U.S. overtures showed how China’s “new countermeasures?were already influencing U.S. policies toward China.” As the furor over the balloon incident has died down, the two sides have more room to restart talks.

“To communicate or resume dialogue after that incident would have telegraphed the wrong message. It would have made them look weak,” said Hsiao. “There had to be a period of time when they played it cool. With these meetings, there’s sort of a maneuvering back to some form of dialogue right now. They’re creeping back toward that.”

The recent meetings may pave the way toward a more high-level visit to China by a U.S. official. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo have expressed interest in visiting China, while U.S. climate envoy John F. Kerry said last week that he had been invited to visit China in the “near term.”

On Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin described the meeting in Vienna between Sullivan and Wang Yi as “candid” and “constructive.” He said that both sides agreed to “continue to make good use of this strategic communication channel.”

Still, expectations are low that such dialogue on an irregular basis will change the fundamentals of competition between the two countries. “It’s the highest level meeting between U.S. and Chinese officials in a very long time,” said Moritz Rudolf, a research scholar at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center, referring to the meeting in Vienna. “It’s not a game changer, but it’s a good sign in a terrible bilateral relationship right now.”

Society: Guns, Grenades And Rocket Launchers Among 13,500 Weapons Surrendered After Mass Shootings In Serbia

El Pais (Spain) reports that "authorities in Serbia on Sunday displayed stacks of guns and cartons of hand grenades from the thousands of weapons, including anti-tank rocket launchers, that they said people handed over since back-to-back mass shootings?stunned the Balkan nation.

The government declared a one-month amnesty period for citizens to surrender unregistered weapons as part of a crackdown on guns following the?two shootings in two days?this month that left 17 people dead, many of them children.

Populist President Aleksandar Vucic, whose government has?faced public pressure?in the wake of the separate shootings at a Belgrade school and in two villages, accompanied top police officials to view the assortment of arms arrayed near the town of Smederevo, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the capital.

Officials said residents had turned over about 13,500 items since the amnesty opened on May 8. Photos from the scene showed lines of rifles, automatic weapons and pistols stacked neatly on the floor in a warehouse along with wooden boxes filled with hand grenades.

Serbia has tens of thousands of weapons brought in from the battlefields of the 1990′s wars in the Balkans. Similar weapons amnesties were held in the past with only limited success.

Vucic said that approximately half of the arms collected since last week had been held illegally, while the other half were registered weapons that citizens nonetheless decided to part with. The relinquished weapons will go to Serbian arms and ammunition factories for potential use by the country’s armed forces, the president said.

Authorities have said that people caught with illegal weapons once the amnesty period ends could face prison sentences of up to 15 years, if they are convicted.“After June 8, the state will respond with repressive measures and punishments will be very strict,” Vucic said of the post-amnesty period. “What does anyone need an automatic weapon for? Or all these guns?”

Serbia is estimated to be among the top countries in Europe in registered weapons per capita, and many more are held illegally. Authorities launched the gun crackdown after?a 13-year-old boy on May 3 took his father’s gun and opened fire on his fellow-students?in an elementary school in central Belgrade. A day later, a 20-year-old man used an automatic weapon to shoot randomly in a rural area south of Belgrade.

Other anti-gun measures announced by Vucic include stricter control of gun owners and shooting ranges. Police officials said gun owners must have a coded safe in which to store their registered weapons and that any guns not kept properly would be confiscated.

Officials plan to order inspections of registered addresses “to check whether there exist conditions for safekeeping,” anti-crime department officer Bojana Otovic Pjanovic said on Serbian state TV network RTS. “If not, the guns will be taken away and punishment will be rigorous.”

Police said that during some of the past collection efforts, people threw their weapons away in garbage containers or left them unattended instead of bringing them to police stations.

Experts believe tens of thousands of illegal weapons have remained unlicensed and out of reach of authorities. Police official Otovic Pjanovic insisted that after recent shootings “citizens became aware of the risks of keeping guns at home.”

The two mass shooting left 17 people dead and 21 wounded, stunning the nation and triggering calls for changes in the country that has been through decades of turmoil and crises. Tens of thousands of people have rallied in two protest marches in Belgrade since the shootings, demanding resignations of government ministers and a ban on television stations that promote violent content and host war criminals and crime figures.

Vucic on Sunday rejected opposition calls for the resignation of Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic, who was also present at Sunday’s weapons display. But the president suggested that the government might resign and that he will announce an early election at a rally he has planned for May 26 in Belgrade.

“We have no intention of replacing (interior minister) Gasic, who is doing a great job,” said Vucic. “What have police done wrong?” Opposition politicians have accused authorities of fueling violence and hate speech against critics, spreading propaganda on mainstream media and imposing autocratic rule in all institutions under Vucic, which they say stokes divisions in society.

On Friday, protesters in Belgrade blocked a key bridge and motorway in the capital to press their demands. Protests also have been held in other Serbian cities and towns, in an outpouring of grief and anger over the shootings and the populist authorities. Vucic described the bridge blockade as harassment, while he and other officials and media under his control sought to downplay the numbers of protesters."

Global Development: Morocco Unveils First Moroccan Car Brand, Hydrogen Vehicle?Prototype

Morocco News (Morocco) reports that "Neo Motors CEO Nassim Belkhayat and NamX President Faouzi Annajah presented a model of the first Moroccan car brand and a hydrogen-powered vehicle prototype to King Mohammed VI during a ceremony on Monday at the Royal Palace in Rabat.

The projects, developed by Moroccan entrepreneurs, are a significant milestone for the country and will strengthen the “Made In Morocco” label and establish the country as a competitive hub for automotive production.

During the presentation, the King examined the model from the “Neo Motors” car, a company owned by Moroccan capital, as well as the prototype of the hydrogen vehicle created by?NamX, called the Hydrogen Utility Vehicle (HUV).?

Neo Motors is currently in the process of opening an industrial complex in Ain Aouda, located in the Rabat-Sale-Kenitra Region. The plan is dedicated to manufacturing vehicles for both the local market and for export.?The plant is projected to have an annual production capacity of 27,000 units. It was constructed under a budget of MAD 156 million ($15 million) and is expected to create 580 jobs.

In February 2023, the National Agency for Road Safety granted final?approval?for Neo Motors’ first vehicle. The company launched pre-production, with the plant’s inauguration scheduled for June 2023.

As for NamX's hydrogen-powered vehicle, the car was designed in collaboration with Italian design office and coachbuilder Pininfarina. The interior design of the vehicle is Moroccan. The HUV model will be equipped with a central hydrogen tank, complemented by six removable capsules to deliver a high driving range and facilitate quick hydrogen refueling in a few minutes.

On the sidelines of the ceremony, King Mohammed VI honored Nassim Belkhayat and Annajah?with the Wissam Al Kafaa Al Fikria Award. Faouzi Annajah is a Morocco-French businessman who co-created the world’s first car?partially?powered by a patented removable hydrogen tank system.

NamX’s patented technology consists of a fixed hydrogen tank and six removable capsules.?Set to be released in 2025, NamX responds to the rising demand for hydrogen and hybrid cars amid an increasingly prevailing shift towards clean energy sources and decarbonization worldwide.?

As for Nassim Belkhayat, the Moroccan entrepreneur created Neo Motors, the first 100% Moroccan car company, in 2018.

Morocco is currently the largest car manufacturer in Africa. Over the first three months of 2023, exports from Morocco’s automotive industry reached X (MAD 33.9 billion), marking an?impressive?44% year-on-year increase.?

While the automotive sector continues to exceed growth expectations, the country is working to transition to electric car manufacturing to maintain its strong manufacturing position in the global transition to a greener economy.

In September 2022, the country unveiled an ambitious industrial plan aiming to scale up electric car production capacity within two years. Under the plan, the country’s electric car production is set to reach 100,000 units annually in the span of two to three years, double the current production input.

The?ambitious production?target is achievable in light of the current industrial capabilities without factoring in the possibility of attracting foreign investment in the future. Morocco’s ambition to emerge as a hub for electric car production is further consolidated by the country’s significant capacity in the field of green hydrogen production.

Studies are increasingly pointing to the country’s potential in the production of green hydrogen. Green hydrogen is currently considered the best green replacement for oil. As the world transitions to a greener economy, demand for green hydrogen is expected to grow at an exponential rate.

A January report from the European Conservatives indicated that Europe is already planning substantial investment budgets into green hydrogen and solar panels in Morocco, Egypt, and southern Africa.

According to the report, the European Investment Bank estimates the value of Africa’s green hydrogen production capacity at a 1 trillion-euro investment. The continent is expected to reach an annual green hydrogen production capacity of 50 million tonnes by 2035 at a highly competitive price of or below $2 per kilogram".

Human Rights: Kansas City Declares Itself An LGBTQ+ Sanctuary, Defying State On Care For Trans Youth

The Los Angeles Times (US) reports that "officials in Missouri’s largest city have approved a resolution to declare it a sanctuary for people seeking or providing gender-affirming care, defying state lawmakers who voted a day earlier?to ban such care for minors?and restrict it for some adults.

Democratic Mayor Quinton Lucas praised the City Council’s 12-1 vote Thursday, saying Kansas City is committed to being a “welcoming, inclusive and safe place for everyone, including our transgender and LGBTQ+ community.”

Kansas City’s new sanctuary status?sets it apart as a Democratic-leaning city?in a state with a Republican governor and GOP-controlled Legislature. Similar actions have been taken in cities that oppose state actions to restrict rights for transgender people, such as in Austin, Texas.

Gov. Mike Parson is expected to sign into law the ban on gender-affirming care,?joining at least 16 other states?that have enacted laws restricting or banning such care for minors. The resolution also comes as a judge considers a proposed emergency rule from Republican state Atty. Gen. Andrew Bailey that would require adults and children to undergo more than a year of therapy and fulfill other requirements before they could receive gender-affirming treatment.

A committee signed off Wednesday on the resolution, which says the city will not prosecute or fine any person or organization that seeks, provides, receives or helps someone to receive gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers, hormones or surgery.

It also says that if the state passes a law or resolution that imposes criminal or civil punishments, fines or professional sanctions in such cases, personnel in Missouri’s largest city will make enforcing those requirements “their lowest priority.”

Republican state lawmakers across the U.S. who have attacked gender-affirming care as part of a larger effort to curtail LGBTQ+ rights have argued that they’re protecting children from decisions they may later regret. But gender-affirming care for minors has been available in the U.S. for more than a decade and is?endorsed by major medical associations.

“This is an important first step in Kansas City’s commitment to trans and nonbinary people,” Merrique Jenson, founder of Transformations KC, said in a statement after the vote. “I look forward to trans leaders and Kansas City working together to address the health disparities in our communities and ways we can have sustainable funding & programming reaching all trans people.”

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