{"id":162830,"date":"2022-02-06T09:55:48","date_gmt":"2022-02-06T01:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=162830"},"modified":"2022-02-06T09:55:48","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T01:55:48","slug":"au-summit-palestinian-pm-urges-african-union-to-withdraw-israels-observer-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=162830","title":{"rendered":"AU Summit: Palestinian PM urges African Union to withdraw Israel&#8217;s observer status"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.bssnews.net\/assets\/news_photos\/2022\/02\/05\/image-42707-1644055682.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>ADDIS ABABA, Feb 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh urged the African Union to withdraw Israel&#8217;s observer status as heads of state from the 55-member body met for a two-day summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Israel should never be rewarded for its violation and for the apartheid regime it does impose on the Palestinian people,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The relationship with Israel is a rare point of contention for a body that values consensus and is expected to dominate the Addis Ababa summit this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The dispute erupted last July when Moussa Faki Mahamat, chair of the African Union Commission, accepted Israel&#8217;s accreditation to the bloc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Powerful AU member states, notably South Africa, protested the decision, saying they had not been properly consulted and that the move contradicted numerous AU statements &#8212; including from Faki himself &#8212; supporting the Palestinian Territories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier Saturday Faki said the AU&#8217;s commitment to the Palestinian push for independence was &#8220;unchanging and can only continue to go stronger&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He defended his decision however, saying it could be &#8220;an instrument in the service of peace&#8221; and called for &#8220;a serene debate&#8221; on the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The summit could also see a vote on whether to back or reject Faki&#8217;s decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The accreditation handed Israeli diplomats a victory they had been chasing for nearly two decades, with the foreign ministry describing its previous exclusion as an &#8220;anomaly&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Israel was previously accredited at the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), but lost that status when the body was disbanded and replaced by the AU in 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Israeli government attributed the snub to the Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, who held major sway at the AU until his death in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Seventy-two countries, regional blocs and organisations are already accredited, including North Korea, the European Union and UNAIDS, according to the AU&#8217;s website. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ADDIS ABABA, Feb 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh urged the African Union to withdraw Israel&#8217;s observer status as heads of state from the 55-member body met for a two-day summit. &#8220;Israel should never be rewarded for its violation and for the apartheid regime it does impose on the Palestinian people,&#8221; he said. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":162831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213,217],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162830"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=162830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/162831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=162830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=162830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=162830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}