NEW DELHI TIMES R.N.I. No 53449/91 DL-SW-1/4124/20-22 (Monday/Tuesday same week) (Published Every Monday) New Delhi Page 24 Rs. 7.00 16 - 22 November 2020 Vol - 30 No. 42 Email : [email protected] Founder : Dr. Govind Narain Srivastava ISSN -2349-1221 UAE embarks towards Hard work at an modern and secular Islam early age is the On November 7, the United Arab Emirates announced a major overhaul of the country’s Islamic personal laws which guarantee of your was unthinkable a decade ago. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has approved Federal Law-Decrees to amend the Personal secured future Status, Civil Transactions, Penal Code and Not everyone is born with things served to them Criminal Procedural laws. The Federal Law- on a silver platter with a golden spoon in their Decrees mean to further enhance the UAE legislative hands ready to take a bite into a magnificent environment, entrench the principles... meal cooked by the finest chefs a wealthy... By Dr. Ankit Srivastava Page 3 By Dr. Pramila Srivastava Page 24 By NDT Special Bureau Page 2 Are ghosts real? European leaders call for stringent Yet another Palestinian sorrow measures to address terrorism Any discussion about ghosts, spirits or anything spooky, On November 10, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz The sorrows that befell the Palestinian people continue always intrigues us. We have a tendency to learn about met French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee unabated as the world seems to have abandoned them something which we do not understand... Palace in Paris where they were joined... with the recent rapprochement between some Arab... By Sujay Dhawan Page 4 By Himanshu Sharma Page 5 By Tarek Fatah Page 2 For critical insights One Year* Five Year* Subscribe Rs. 350 Rs. 1500 To Subscribe E-Paper Whatsapp +91 9999 478 735 * Details on Page 21 1 twitter@NewDelhiTimes facebook.com/newdelhitimes www.NewDelhiTimes.com 2 16 - 22 November 2020 Opinion NEW DELHI TIMES US-Saudi relations on tenterhooks Saudis are concerned because Biden had pledged in his campaign to reassess the US ties with Riyadh the US ties with foreign countries one by ◆ By NDT Special Bureau one including Arab world but not much will @NewDelhiTimes change in the USA-Saudi relationship. The change in the US policies will be significant [email protected] and decisive that will be visible once Joe Biden takes charge but foremost priority will any countries across the world, especially be how to reduce the impact of COVID-19. M those having a good rapport with Trump, More pro-Iran and anti-Russia policies are were unsure about how to respond to Joe expected from the new government. Biden’s victory as the 46th President of the United States of America. Their predicament Arabs are on a path of rapid evolution and is compounded as Trump is still not conceding things are taking a positive shape there for defeat. There are plethora of cases running in common man. They handled COVID-19 the US courts challenging the validity of the very well. Benign Saudi leadership is needed result just declared. more accountability over the killing of full review of relations, re-evaluate defence in the Middle East as an island in the ocean Saudi Arabia took more than 24 hours to Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at Saudi ties and press for ending the Yemen conflict. of Islamic fundamentalism. finally congratulate Joe Biden on his election consulate in Istanbul and withdraw the US Trump applied “maximum pressure” Biden may find it difficult to translate victory over Trump. Saudi Crown Prince support for the Yemen war. While the entire through tough sanctions on Iran and Saudi anti-Saudi intent into actions as senate is Salman (MBS) cultivated a close personal tie international community criticised Riyadh Arabia enthusiastically backed such actions dominated by Republicans, and the USA with Trump, so could not accept latter’s defeat. over Khashoggi’s murder, role in Yemen’s war on its regional rival. The 2015 nuclear deal needs Saudi Arabia. With India, Israel and When other Arab states jostled to applaud and the detention of women activists, Trump (JCPOA) was negotiated during Biden’s France backing Saudis, America can ill- Biden, MBS remained silent. “The only thing stood solidly behind Prince MBS. Saudi term as Vice President in Barack Obama’s afford to ignore Saudis. Even Trump was worse than COVID-19 would be Biden-20,” Arabia being a major oil exporter and buyer administration. Biden has pledged a return not in favour of Saudi Arabia but changed wrote a Saudi Twitter handle, while many of the US arms and these points of friction to the JCPOA. after taking oath. The US Presidents change Saudi users ignored Biden’s win. between Biden and MBS could be dug up again to render the relations more complex. Some Saudis still hope that Biden will learn but not the policy. Saudi Arabia cannot do But on November 8, Saudi King Salman and from Obama’s mistakes and categorise Iran without the USA-the back bone of its policy. Crown Prince MBS congratulated Biden and Riyadh has nurtured strong historic ties as a common enemy. Emboldened Iran Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their with Washington so falling out is ruled out now threatens to attack Israel! “The US is America doesn’t buy oil any more, it sells win. King Salman praised the distinguished, at present but a sense of uncertainty has a country of institutions and there is a lot oil and its interests with Saudis are much historic and close relations between the two cropped up about how the future plays out of institutional work between Saudi Arabia beyond oil. And oil as a commodity has lost friendly countries and their people and looked for the Kingdom. The region is apprehensive and the United States.” So, Saudis will its bargaining power. Today’s oil market is to strengthen and develop ties at all levels. and preparing for the unfolding of the US- recalibrate their policies to deal effectively buyer’s market with demand where hard Saudi relations post-Biden’s victory. Biden’s with any US President. “Saudi-US relations cash makes difference. This is where China Saudis are concerned because Biden had discontent with Saudi domestic and foreign are deep, sustainable, and strategic and and India come into play. The US policies pledged in his campaign to reassess the policies could come out in the open when not prone to change because a President towards Saudi Arabia cannot be as harsh as US ties with Riyadh. He could demand his team and a hostile Congress carry out a changes.” Democrats are going to review predicted. Yet another Palestinian sorrow but who failed to see the larger picture and Israel — is further away than it has been at For the process to begin, let the Arab recognize, as Erakat did, that the future lies any time since the 1993 Oslo Accords.” and Islamic countries first acknowledge ◆ By Tarek Fatah in learning from our past mistakes and not that Israel is a legitimate Jewish State, Author & Columnist, Canada repeating them again and again hoping for a The question that remains unanswered is home to Jews many millennia before the @TarekFatah different outcome. this: Who will deliver a sovereign Palestine Arabs first invaded and occupied the [email protected] to the Palestinian people and when will this Jewish Temple Mount, where they built Erekat was born in Abu Dis, a village just happen? the Aqsa Mosque and later the Dome on he sorrows that befell the Palestinian east of Jerusalem and was only 12 years old the Rock. T people continue unabated as the world when he was detained by Israeli troops for The burden falls on the shoulders of Israel. seems to have abandoned them with the writing anti-occupation graffiti and posting Just as they tried to save Erekat, they owe Saeb Erekat, I hope, would agree. recent rapprochement between some Arab fliers and throwing stones. It was 1967 and a Palestinian state to the Palestinians of the countries and the Jewish State of Israel. Jordan had lost the West Bank to Israel after West Bank, no matter what its shape. the six-day war. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic For a start Israel will have to acknowledge it is in violation of international law by not only added to their isolation, but has Occupation did not deter the young Erekat continuing its occupation of the West Bank. taken away from them their most eloquent from seeking knowledge beyond the I am against this occupation not because I and articulate revolutionary, Saeb Erekat. ‘occupied’ territories. In 1972, Erekat moved am Muslim or a friend of the Palestinians, to San Francisco to attend college and later but because I am against the occupation of The man who was responsible for the Oslo San Francisco State University where he any land by a foreign country. Accord and its promise of two nations– received a BA in international relations and Palestine and Israel — living side-by-side in an MA in political science in 1979. He then Whether it is Morocco’s continued peace, died on Tuesday after falling victim headed to the U.K. where he completed to the coronavirus. occupation of Western Sahara, his PhD in peace and conflict studies at the Pakistan’s occupation of Balochistan, University of Bradford in England. It was poetic justice that the last hours of Sudan’s occupation of Darfur, Erekat were spent in an Israeli hospital, Indonesia’s now ended occupation cared by Jewish doctors who tried in vain By the time he returned to Jericho in the of East Timor or the refusal by four to save the man who was supposedly their Occupied West Bank, Saeb Erekat was Muslim countries — Turkey, Iraq, enemy.