Muslim countries seek Chinese help in resolving Gaza conflict

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan announced that China will be the first destination for the Islamic Ministerial Committee’s mission to exert international pressure aimed at bringing an end to the conflict in Gaza.

Addressing reporters during the Manama Dialogue 2023, Prince Faisal revealed that ministers designated by Arab and Islamic leaders, following the recent summit in Riyadh, will embark on their journey to Beijing on Monday.

The Saudi foreign minister emphasized that following their visit to China, the committee will visit several capitals to convey a resounding message emphasizing the urgency of an immediate ceasefire and facilitating the entry of relief and humanitarian aid into Gaza.

“We must strive to swiftly resolve this crisis and put an end to the war being waged against Gaza,” stated Prince Faisal.

The extraordinary joint Arab-Islamic Summit issued a resolution tasking the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Palestine to initiate immediate international action on behalf of all member states of the OIC and the Arab League.

The goal is to formulate an international initiative to halt the war in Gaza and push for a genuine and serious political process, leading to permanent and comprehensive peace in accordance with established international references.

On the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue 2023, the Saudi Foreign Minister met with Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

During their meeting, they discussed the developments in Gaza and its surroundings. Prince Faisal reiterated Saudi Arabia’s rejection of the ongoing military escalation and violations by Israeli occupation forces against civilians.

He underscored the importance of halting the escalation and preventing the forced displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

Prince Faisal emphasized the urgency of establishing humanitarian corridors to assist children, women, and civilians in Gaza.

Additionally, he called on the international community to condemn the blatant violations of international humanitarian law committed by Israeli forces against the people in Gaza.

Furthermore, Prince Faisal met with the UK’s Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy, where they discussed the evolving military escalation in the Gaza Strip.

Both parties emphasized the importance of an immediate ceasefire and allowing humanitarian organizations to deliver urgent aid to Gaza.

The Saudi foreign minister reiterated the significance of the international community playing an active role in putting an end to the military escalation and preventing the forced displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

 

A new cold war the world is getting used to

According to Shawn Donnan of Bloomberg, the relationship between the United States and China is the most important and arguably most fraught in the world today. The meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping near San Francisco was unequivocally the most important event in the global economy this week.

The summit did what was intended by both sides. It put a floor under the relationship and re-established lines of communication. The danger of tensions spiraling out of control seems less today than they did a week ago.

It was hard to be in San Francisco digesting the geopolitical theater and not come to the conclusion that this is what a 21st century Cold War looks like.

Jude Blanchette, a longtime China watcher based in Washington, was prescient when he said ahead of this week’s meeting that managing a geopolitical rivalry isn’t sexy. It’s full of small but important steps that never really resolve the fundamental differences. And that’s what we got.

The two leaders agreed to resume communications between their militaries and to work together to stem the flow from China to the US of precursors and pill presses that are fueling America’s fentanyl crisis. There were agreements before and during the summit to work together to address the climate crisis and mull the consequences of artificial intelligence.

The fundamental differences between the two nations won’t go away. One is a democracy, the other a single-party Communist state. One has a market economy, the other an increasingly state-directed one. They are both in a competition that many on either side see as existential.

Xi deployed a smile rarely seen at home and sought to charm US business leaders who gave him a standing ovation. He pledged to send pandas that China had recalled just weeks before.

Biden rolled out a picture of a young Xi in front of the Golden Gate Bridge and sought to make him comfortable. But he also couldn’t resist doubling down and calling Xi a dictator again after he had left, laying it out as a plain factual label rather than a potential slight.

How this all plays out in 2024 with presidential elections coming in Taiwan in January and the US in November isn’t yet scripted.

Economics matter if it is power you want. Biden went into the meeting with the wind at his back as one US official put it thanks to an economy that has recovered better than its peers from the pandemic shock. And Xi was clearly on a charm offensive given the foreign investment he needs to turn around a slowing Chinese economy.

That could change in the months to come. There are signs the US economy is slowing. Consumers are still grumpy about inflation and more recently the higher interest rates deployed to rein it in.

Both sides have their own weaknesses, in other words. Xi has an economy undergoing a structural slowdown based in large part on demographics. Biden has an economy which many Americans still aren’t convinced works for them.

Historians will get to decide in the years to come whether this week’s meeting marked a turning point. But, regardless of whether they decide history turned or not, they very likely will agree we are living through a cold war that we’re all just getting used to.

 

Israeli narrative on Al-Shifa Hospital

"Israel needs to offer the outside world more than a few rifles and other armaments to justify its attacks on Gaza's hospitals and ill and injured civilians," said Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.

A human rights monitor in Geneva on Friday called on the United Nations to help get to the bottom of Israel's claim that its bombing and raid of Gaza's largest medical complex this week was necessary to stop Hamas from running a vast military compound beneath it—an allegation that more than two days after the attack began, has been backed up only by images Israel released of a small cache of weapons.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said the time has come for an independent international investigation into "Israel's absurd narrative" about Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, and noted that administrators at the facility are also demanding a probe that includes a United Nations inspection.

Israel did extensive damage to al-Shifa's cardiac care department, surgical ward, and a pharmaceutical warehouse when it began bombing the hospital at dawn on Wednesday in just one of more than 245 attacks on medical facilities in Gaza since October 07. Israeli officials said they expected to find "the beating heart" of Hamas' military operations in the hospital.

After searching basement areas and several health departments as well as conducting a "violent interrogation campaign" targeting displaced people and medical personnel, Euro-Med said, Israel has so far produced only a video showing a small number of weapons.

"The absence of any neutral international party's involvement in the Israeli military raids and searches of al-Shifa Medical Complex and other hospitals in the strip raises widespread doubts about the Israeli narrative," said Euro-Med. "Israel needs to offer the outside world more than a few rifles and other armaments to justify its attacks on Gaza's hospitals and ill and injured civilians."

Separately, the BBC aired a segment on Friday in which the network noted the Israel Defense Forces first released a seven-minute video displaying the weapons it found—a video that appeared to be edited despite IDF claims that it was filmed in a single shot with no edits, and that raised several other questions.

"This IDF video was posted, then deleted, then reposted, this time without a section referring to an Israeli soldier who'd been held hostage," reported the BBC.

Reporters from the network arrived at Al-Shifa a few hours after the IDF released the original video, and were shown a different selection of weapons than those that appeared in the military's video.

"What we see in this IDF video doesn't equate Israel's description of an operational command center for Hamas,” the BBC reported.

The footage, released late at night after long hours of searches and fruitless inspections, said Euro-Med, raises a lot of questions, especially since no gunman has been arrested and no evidence has been found to back the previous claims about the presence of tunnels beneath the hospital.

The IDF has also claimed that Hamas knew we were coming" and had likely made off with or hidden traces of their presence at Al-Shifa, The New York Times reported.

Israel's narrative about al-Shifa has also drawn scrutiny from Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, who said that even if the hospital were being used as a command center for Hamas, protecting patients is paramount.

"Even if health facilities are used for military purposes, the principles of distinction, precaution, and proportionality always apply," Tedros said.

The director of Al-Shifa, Muhammed Abu Salmiya, told Al Jazeera Friday that staff are still trying to save as many of the 7,000 patients and refugees in the hospital as they can amid Israel's ongoing siege, but they lost all those who were in the intensive care unit following the attack on Wednesday.

"We are left with nothing—no power, no food, no water," said Abu Salmiya. "With every passing minute, we are losing a life. Overnight, we lost 22 persons."

The Biden administration, which has continued supporting Israel's bombardment of Gaza as the death toll has grown to at least 11,470 in less than six weeks, said this week it believed the IDF's claims about Al-Shifa, with President Joe Biden saying it was a fact that Hamas has their headquarters, their military hidden under a hospital.

A day after the bombing, as observers awaited evidence of an extensive command center beneath the hospital, US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller appeared less confident in Israel's narrative, telling reporters that the White House never said there were command posts in every hospital in Gaza.

"We don't want to see hospitals struck from the air," said Miller. "We understand that Hamas continues to use hospitals in places where they embed their fighters."

After the BBC reported on the IDF's changing video documentation of its findings, Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft called Israel's propaganda supporting its onslaught in Gaza increasingly clownish.

"Only Joe Biden seems to believe it," said Parsi.

Journalist Jeremy Scahill pointed out that Israel itself is known to have built an underground operating room and tunnels under the hospital in 1983.

"This is not a secret," Scahill wrote on social media, noting that Israel has claimed Hamas expanded the tunnels in recent years.

Allegations of a Hamas command center, supported by the US, said Scahill, "should be backed up by clear evidence, not a Geraldo Rivera/Al Capone's vault-style video presentation featuring an English-speaking IDF soldier."

"No matter what is or is not found, there is no justification for the repeated attacks against civilian hospitals—in fact Al-Shifa is the largest hospital treating the most vulnerable people in Gaza, including NICU babies," he added.

"The mere existence of tunnels, originally built by Israel, does not prove the specific allegations made by the US or Israel. The standard for such evidence should be very, very high."

Pakistan Stock Exchange benchmark index posts 3.02%WoW increase

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) sustained its positive momentum and surged to record highs. The benchmark index closed at record high of 57,397 points on Thursday before posting a slight correction to close at 57,063 points on Friday, posting an impressive 3.02%WoW increase.

During the week investors remained focus on the IMF review, concluding with a successful staff-level agreement, paving way for a US$700 million inflow post-IMF Board approval.

A major but negative development was the government’s decision to impose a 40% tax on banks' windfall income, meeting IMF demands and to agree on further revision in the gas prices in January 2924.

There was a noteworthy increase in remittances, surging to US$2.21 billion. In addition, international oil prices experienced a considerable ease, attributed to increased US strategic reserves and reduced demand from China.

Market participation witnessed a substantial improvement, taking average daily trading volume to 687 million shares, registering a 26%WoW increase from earlier week's average of 544 million shares.

Notably, Thursday saw participation cross one million share mark for the first time in last 28 months.

On the currency front, the rupee appreciated marginally by 0.19%WoW against the greenback, closing at PKR286.5/US$ on Friday.

Other notable news of the week included: 1) MSCI keeping Pakistan’s Frontier Market Index unchanged, 2) Debt/ liabilities soaring to PKR78 trillion, 3) Bank deposits rising 18%YoY on high rates and currency crackdown, 4) Car sales plunging by 24%MoM in October, 5) UAE firms expressing intent to invest US$25 billion in real estate sector.

Close-end Mutual Funds, Synthetic & Rayon, and Woollen were amongst the top performing sectors. Vanaspati & Allied Industries, Commercial Banks, and Textile Weaving were amongst the laggards.

Major net selling was recorded by Banks with a net sell of US$9.14 million. Foreigners remained bullish with a net buy of US$8.22 million.

Top performing scrips during the week were: HGFA , PAEL, RMPL, IBFL, and PKGP, while top laggards included: BIPL, BAFL, CNERGY, PABC, and MEBL.

Despite the benchmark index reaching record highs, the market remains at attractive valuations.

Analysts maintain their positive outlook on the market owing to favorable economic developments like improving inflation and expected monetary easing in the current fiscal year.

While the market is flourishing, Analysts strongly advise market participants to avoid potential pitfalls and instead concentrate on companies with robust fundamentals.

Furthermore, companies with healthy dividend yields can be a prudent strategy for navigating inflation safely.

 

 

Germany on wrong side of history again

For a state visit, Friday's visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Germany is remarkably low key. He was scheduled to meet German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and then have dinner with the chancellor, Olaf Scholz.

Apart from the intense security in the centre of the capital — the same level as precautions taken for US presidential visits — the German government hopes Erdogan's visit will pass with little notice. That's because this event couldn't come at the worst time for Germany.

Relations between President Erdogan and successive German governments have been difficult for years, with spats between Berlin and Ankara regularly breaking out. When German government spokespeople mention the phrase difficult partner you know they're talking about President Erdogan.

The Hamas atrocities in Israel on October 07, and Israel's subsequent retaliation in Gaza, have left Germany and Turkey on opposite sides of the conflict. Over the past month the Turkish president has become increasingly strident in his criticism of Israel.

He has refused to condemn the killings and hostage-taking by Hamas, referring to the group as liberators. Hamas is classed as a terrorist organization by Western allies, including Germany.

He has also appeared to call into question the Jewish state's existence by saying that Israel's own fascism undermined its legitimacy.

Jewish leaders in Germany have accused Erdogan of fuelling antisemitism with such comments and there have been calls for the German government to cancel the Turkish president's visit.

For Germany, historical Nazi guilt for the Holocaust means that support for the state of Israel is non-negotiable and a key cornerstone of Berlin's foreign policy. When asked in a news conference earlier this week about President Erdogan's comments Chancellor Scholz called them absurd.

Both Olaf Scholz and former Chancellor Angela Merkel have repeatedly called Israel's security Germany's Staatsräson, or reason of state, a vague term German leaders use to express the idea of unwavering German support for Israel.

But as Israeli attacks on Gaza intensify, and the death toll rises, that principle is coming under strain.

After the initial shock of the Hamas attacks, German mainstream media is increasingly also portraying the humanitarian suffering in Gaza, leading to a growing unease about Israel's actions.

On German streets outrage at Israel's actions is growing and pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been held most weekends since October 07. Germany has large Arab diaspora communities with links to, or sympathy for, people in Gaza. Support for Palestinians is also traditionally a totemic issue for some German left-wing groups.

There are fears that any comments about the conflict by President Erdogan during his visit could inflame tensions. But Germany and Turkey need each other. Germany is an important trade partner for Turkey. It also is home to the world's largest Turkish diaspora community and is an electoral battleground for President Erdogan. He is popular with some German-Turks.

Around three million people of Turkish heritage live in Germany, with half of them still able to vote. In May a majority of Turkish voters in Germany who took part in the election put their cross by Erdogan.

Berlin, meanwhile, needs Turkish help to control migration from the Middle East. Chancellor Scholz is hoping to revive a refugee pact with Turkey to send back asylum seekers and wants more Turkish support for the West in Russia's war in Ukraine.

Behind closed doors on Friday those issues were to be discussed. But the German government would be more nervous about what President Erdogan might say in public.

It was in May, after Erdogan's re-election as Turkish president, that Chancellor Scholz issued the invitation to Berlin. He probably now wishes he hadn't.

 

United States needs war in Gaza

A summit by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) resulted in a blanket condemnation of Israel, but lacked substantive solutions. The summit was sabotaged by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco, who recently normalized relations with Israel. These countries block significant actions due to extensive US influence and future geopolitical calculations, causing disappointment among the international Muslim community.

After all, the Arab street – even while repressed in their home nations – has pulsed with protests expressing ferocious rage against Israel’s wholesale massacre of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Arab leaders were forced to take some sort of action beyond suspending a few ambassadorships with Israel, and called for a special Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit to discuss the ongoing Israeli war against Palestinian children.

Representatives of 57 Muslim states convened in Riyadh on 11 November to deliver a serious, practical blow against genocidal practitioners and enablers. But in the end, nothing was offered, not even solace.

The OIC’s final statement will always be enshrined in the Gilded Palace of Cowardice. Highlights of the tawdry rhetorical show: we oppose Israel’s self-defense; we condemn the attack on Gaza; we ask (who?) not to sell weapons to Israel; we request the kangaroo ICC to investigate war crimes; we request a UN resolution condemning Israel.

For the record, that’s the best 57 Muslim-majority countries could drum up in response to this 21st-century genocide. History, even if written by victors, tends to be unforgiving towards cowards.

The Top Four Cowards, in this instance, are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco – the latter three having normalized relations with Israel under a heavy US hand in 2020. These are the ones that consistently blocked serious measures from being adopted at the OIC summit, such as the Algerian draft proposal for an oil ban on Israel, plus banning the use of Arab airspace to deliver weapons to the occupation state.

Egypt and Jordan – longtime Arab vassals – were also non-committal, as well as Sudan, which is in the middle of a civil war. Turkiye, under Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan, once again showed it is all talk and no action; a neo-Ottoman parody of the Texan “all hat, no cattle.”

Oil prices drop 5% on economic concerns

Crude oil prices dropped around 5% on Thursday to their lowest in four months, as investors worried about global oil demand following weak data from the United States and Asia.

Brent futures slipped to US$77.42 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) to US$72.90. Both Brent and WTI earlier traded at their lowest since July 07 this year.

Both WTI and Brent's front-month contracts also traded below later-dated contracts, a structure known as contango.

"The mood is negative, the charts are negative," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group. "It's going to take something to change that mood, and until then people will ride it down until they realize it's overdone."

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased to a three-month high last week, suggesting that labor market conditions continued to ease.

The report came after other data that showed US retail sales fell for the first time in seven months in October as motor vehicle purchases and spending on hobbies dropped. This pointed to slowing demand at the start of the fourth quarter that further strengthened expectations the Federal Reserve is done hiking interest rates.

OPEC and the International Energy Agency (IEA) have both predicted supply tightness in the fourth quarter, but US data on Wednesday showed inventories were abundant.

Meanwhile, an expected slowdown in Chinese oil refinery throughput also gave investors pause. Runs eased in October from the previous month's highs as industrial fuel demand weakened and refining margins narrowed.

Still, Chinese economic activity rallied in October as industrial output increased at a faster pace and retail sales growth beat expectations

"The current price drop is taking place amid a seemingly auspicious backdrop, which suggests that investors simply do not buy into the 'Q4 stock draw' narrative; something that is not backed up by the recent weekly EIA reports either," said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM.

As the Israel-Hamas conflict appeared to be escalating in Gaza, US officials on Wednesday said they would enforce oil sanctions against Iran, which has long been a backer of Hamas.