Egypt’s el-Sisi says Cairo will not allow any threat to Somalia
El-Sisi’s comments come amid dispute between Somalia and Ethiopia over the latter’s deal with Somaliland. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has said Cairo stands shoulder to shoulder with Somalia and has slammed Ethiopia’s agreement with Somaliland to obtain access to the sea and establish a marine force base. “Egypt will not allow anyone to threaten Somalia or affect its security,” el-Sisi said, speaking at a news conference with visiting Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. “Do not try Egypt, or try to threaten its brothers especially if they ask it to intervene,” he said. Somaliland, a region strategically located by the Gulf of Aden, broke away from Somalia in 1991 as the country collapsed into a civil conflict. The region has maintained its own government despite a lack of international recognition. On January 1, in a memorandum, Ethiopia said it would consider recognising Somaliland’s independence in return for the port access. It would lease 20km (12 miles) of coastland around the port of Berbera, on the Gulf of Aden, for 50 years for military and commercial purposes. Ethiopia’s current main port for maritime exports is in the neighbouring country of Djibouti. Sheikh Mohamud, the president of Somalia, rejected the deal as a violation of international law and said: “We will not stand idly by and watch our sovereignty being compromised.” He arrived in Egypt over the weekend to rally support for his government. Besides meeting President el-Sisi, he met with Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Al-Azhar Mosque’s Grand Imam, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb. “My message to Ethiopia is that … trying to seize a piece of land to control it is something no one will agree to,” el-Sisi said, noting cooperation on development was a better strategy. On Sunday, Ethiopia rejected criticism from Egypt over the deal, saying it was merely a commercial agreement aimed at securing access to the sea and not an attempt to annex land. “It isn’t annexation or assumption of sovereignty over the territory of any state,” Redwan Hussien, national security adviser to the prime minister of Ethiopia, said in a post on X. Ethiopia’s commitment for peace and security in Somalia has been demonstrated through the blood and sweat of its precious sons and daughters. Ethiopia & Somalia are not just neighbors who share a border but they are fraternal nations sharing a common language, culture & people. — Redwan Hussien (@RedwanHussien) January 21, 2024 Relations between Egypt and Ethiopia have been tense for years over a major dam Ethiopia has built on the Blue Nile. For over a decade — along with Sudan — the countries have been trying to reach a negotiated agreement on the filling and operation of the $4bn Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The latest round of talks last month ended without a deal and Cairo and Addis Ababa traded blame for the failure. Negotiators have said key questions remain about how much water Ethiopia will release downstream if a multiyear drought occurs, and how the countries will resolve any future disputes. [embedded content] Adblock test (Why?)
Ron DeSantis drops out of US presidential race, endorses Trump
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has suspended his Republican US presidential campaign just before the New Hampshire primary and endorsed Donald Trump, ending a White House bid that failed to meet expectations that he would emerge as a serious challenger to the former president. “It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” he said in a video posted on X on Sunday. New Hampshire’s primary, the first in the United States, comes on Tuesday. DeSantis derided former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, long his closest rival for second place in the primary race, saying Republicans “can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.” DeSantis entered the 2024 presidential contest with major advantages in his quest to take on Trump, and early primary polls suggested he was in a strong position to do just that. He and his allies amassed a political fortune well in excess of $100m and he boasted a significant legislative record on issues important to many conservatives like abortion and the teaching of race and gender issues in schools. Such advantages did not survive the reality of presidential politics in 2024. From a high-profile announcement that was plagued by technical glitches to constant upheavals to his staff and campaign strategy, DeSantis struggled to find his footing in the primary. He lost the Iowa caucuses – which he had vowed to win – by 30 percentage points to Trump. And now, DeSantis’s political future is in question after he suspended his presidential bid following just one voting contest. The 45-year-old is term-limited as Florida’s governor. DeSantis was widely expected to be a serious challenger to Trump. Acknowledging the threat, Trump went after the Florida governor viciously in the months leading up to DeSantis’s announcement of his candidacy in May, and continued to pound him on the campaign trail, on social media and in paid advertising in the months that followed. Yet many of DeSantis’s problems may have been his own doing. Fuelled by his dominant Florida re-election in 2022, DeSantis sidestepped tradition by announcing his presidential campaign on X, in a conversation on the social media site with CEO Elon Musk. The site failed repeatedly during the conversation, making it all but impossible to hear his opening remarks as a presidential candidate. In the subsequent weeks and months, DeSantis struggled to connect with voters on a personal level. He irked some New Hampshire Republican officials in his campaign’s inaugural visit to the state by declining to take questions from voters, as is tradition in New Hampshire. And later, uncomfortable interactions with voters in other states were caught on camera as well. More serious financial challenges emerged over the summer. By the end of July, DeSantis had laid off nearly 40 employees in a move designed to cut roughly one-third of his campaign payroll. The cuts came shortly after public filings revealed that he was burning through his substantial campaign coffers at an unsustainable rate. Some people looking for a Trump alternative backed Haley, the former diplomat and South Carolina governor who gained popularity among many Republican donors, independent voters and the so-called Never Trump crowd. DeSantis and Haley frequently attacked each other in debates and in advertising, often more directly than they went after Trump. As internal financial concerns mounted, DeSantis turned aggressively to an allied super PAC to handle basic campaign functions such as organising campaign events, advertising and an expansive door-knocking operation. Federal law does not allow campaigns to coordinate directly with super PACs. In December, a non-partisan government watchdog group filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, citing reporting by The Associated Press and others, alleging that the degree of coordination and communication between DeSantis’s campaign and the Never Back Down super PAC crossed a legal line. DeSantis denied any wrongdoing and called the complaint “a farce”. Still, the steady stream of negative developments leading up to the opening primary contests undermined the confidence of DeSantis’s donor network, which was supposed to be a major strength, and would-be supporters at the ballot box. As his polling numbers stagnated, DeSantis and his allies pulled back on their multistate strategy and focused virtually all of his resources on Iowa’s opening caucuses. After leaving the 2024 presidential contest, DeSantis now refocuses his attention on the rest of his second and final term as Florida’s governor, which ends in January 2027. Adblock test (Why?)
Reporter’s Notebook: Covering an anti-war protest in Israel
It’s a crisp sunny Saturday morning as our crew prepares the car for the drive from Jerusalem to Haifa to cover an anti-war rally. Spirits are high as I place my camera equipment in the boot of the car. Then we discuss footwear. Stefanie, our correspondent, has chosen to wear comfortable white trainers, expecting the likelihood of violence to be low. However, Luke, whom we’ve hired to provide security, and I have plumped for sturdy boots in case things get heated. This is the first anti-war protest to take place in Israel since it began its war on Gaza following the Hamas attacks of October 7. Since, it hasn’t been easy for the anti-war voice to make itself heard. The organisers of this rally, Hadash, a left-wing socialist party that supports a two-state solution, were initially banned from gathering and had to take their request to the Supreme Court. A protester shouts into a megaphone at the anti-war rally [Alasdair Brenard/Al Jazeera] For us, even finding the protest location proves difficult. As we near the square in Haifa, our GPS begins sending us in circles. We finally park at a mosque where a local explains that the Israeli army has scrambled the GPS signal in northern Israel due to security concerns. The authorities were likely keen to let the protest go ahead on a Saturday when there’s no public transport, which would make it more difficult for people to reach the square. As we make our way to the square, we pass a large contingent of police in blue uniforms as well as what looks like border guards in dark green. They seem to be having a last-minute pep talk before the protest. No doubt they have concerns as to what might be about to happen. They are armed with rifles and pistols, and they have utility vehicles, the notorious “skunk water truck” and officers on horseback. I’m starting to feel vindicated by my choice of footwear. About 500 people showed up at the rally on Saturday [Alasdair Brenard/Al Jazeera] Around midday, we’re waiting for the rally to start. Police create a ring of steel around the area, erecting metal barricades and blocking the nearby road with trucks. They’ve also placed an armed spotter on a roof overlooking the square. A local photographer explains to me that the police are not happy the protest is going ahead, that the anti-war message is not one they are ready to hear. “They’re going to provoke violence from the demonstrators to prove that it shouldn’t have gone ahead,” he warns me solemnly. Our guard is now up. We start to survey the arriving protesters for signs of trouble or possible counter-protesters that may have been planted to try and whip up confrontations. Luke spots a man reaching into his inner jacket pocket in a very suspicious manner. The man glances around and pulls out… a packet of cigarettes. False alarm, but you can’t be too careful. More people start to show up – about 500, many of them young – and some aren’t wearing shoes. I can’t help but feel that the police may have overestimated the danger posed by this particular group of protesters. They’re banging drums, shouting slogans through loudspeakers and giving speeches on the importance of reconciliation and the failure of war to bring lasting security. Protesters wave flags and beat drums [Alasdair Brenard/Al Jazeera] It’s refreshing to hear an alternative message in Israel and to see Israelis and Palestinian Israelis standing together in hope for a peaceful future. One of the speakers, Maoz Inon, whose parents were killed by Hamas fighters during Hamas’s attacks on October 7, speaks of forgiveness: “My father cultivated the land. He grew wheat and he also brought me up to believe in a good future. “My message to the world is don’t choose a side, Israeli or Palestine, but please choose humanity.” [embedded content] Meanwhile, police are becoming increasingly twitchy. They swoop in on the crowd and pluck a man from it, then lead him away to a nearby vehicle as the protesters, police and press surge back and forth in the confusion. Fortunately, the situation doesn’t escalate and things soon calm down. But there are other events. At one point, while I’m filming Stefanie talking to the camera, a Palestinian-Israeli man and his teenage daughter approach us. He apologises for interrupting us before telling us he’d been shoved in the back by a police officer while watching the rally. He’s upset and frustrated, and feels targeted for simply showing up at the rally. Near the end of the protest, the police make another move. This time, the source of their ire is a paper mâché fighter plane with cardboard bombs dangling beneath. It’s a brief battle before the model plane is snatched away. Despite the plane incident, the protesters remain upbeat. When the rally finishes and people begin to file off in different directions, Stefanie stays a little longer to talk with Maoz. Meanwhile, a counter-protester films him and then tries to start arguments with the people that remain. For now, those protesting here today are in the minority. According to recent polls, the majority of Israelis still support the war in Gaza. Adblock test (Why?)
Wounded Palestinians treated on French warship off Egyptian shore
The Dixmude, a French helicopter carrier, has been docked in the Egyptian port of El Arish, 50 km (30 miles) west of the Gaza Strip, since November. The vessel is equipped with wards, operating theatres and 70 medical staff. Nearly 120 injured people have been hospitalised on board, while hundreds more have been seen for outpatient consultations, including follow-ups on injuries and psychiatric issues, said Captain Alexandre Blonce, calling it an “unprecedented mission”. Israeli forces launched all-out war to eliminate Hamas, the Palestinian group that governs Gaza, after its fighters carried out a surprise attack on southern Israel. At least 1,139 people were killed in the October 7 attack, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on Israeli statistics, and some 240 others were seized as hostages and taken back to the enclave. More than 25,000 people have been killed in the Israeli assault on Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian authorities. Palestinians in Gaza have struggled to get medical care at home as tens of thousands have been wounded, with most of Gaza’s 36 hospitals no longer functioning, and those remaining operating at far over capacity, the World Health Organization says. Israel has targeted the largest remaining hospitals, saying Hamas fighters are operating there, something Hamas denies. Those lucky enough to cross into Egypt, like 16-year-old Ahmed Abu Daqqa, who was injured on November 1, faced long waits for medical care. Doctors in Gaza “took out the shrapnel and put in two rods, but a month later they discovered more shrapnel in my knee. They told me they’ll handle it later because there were too many surgeries,” he said on board the Dixmude. Abu Daqqa said he tried many times to get a transfer” before finally crossing into Egypt. He was then able to undergo further surgery where the rods and shrapnel were removed and a resulting infection dealt with. He also received physical therapy. Abu Daqqa and others on board the French ship were awaiting further transfers to hospitals in Egypt or abroad. Italy sent a similar floating hospital to the Egyptian coast in December. Adblock test (Why?)
How relevant is the Non-Aligned Movement?
As the organisation meets in Uganda, how big a role can its 120 member countries play on the global stage? The Non-Aligned Movement was established almost 70 years ago during the Cold War era of bilateralism – far removed from the world we see now. As the organisation meets in Uganda, how big a role can its 120 members play on the global stage? And how much influence do they have in creating a more multilateral system? Presenter: Nastasya Tay Guests: Nicholas Sengoba – The Daily Monitor newspaper columnist Endy Bayuni – Former editor, The Jakarta Post newspaper Dima Al-Khatib – Director, United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation Adblock test (Why?)
Week in pictures: From protests in Israel to fashion in Paris
[unable to retrieve full-text content] A photo roundup of some of last week’s events, including a rhino relocation project in Kenya.
Where is the ‘never again’ for Gaza?
Last week, we passed the 100th-day mark of Israel’s latest episode of aggression against the people of Gaza. It was a depressing milestone to consider. A hundred days of Palestinians being mercilessly exterminated in all kinds of brutal ways: Israeli bombs ripping them apart, Israeli bullets piercing their skulls, and the Israeli-imposed siege starving them or killing them through otherwise treatable infections. A hundred days in which the countries that said “never again” almost 80 years ago did nothing to stop our extermination. A hundred days in which we pleaded, humanitarian organisations pleaded, the United Nations pleaded and people in the streets across the world pleaded, but we were all ignored. Perhaps we should not be surprised at the silence. After all, Israel’s brutal and illegal occupation was allowed to go on for decades till it beat all records and became longest-lasting in modern history. Throughout this time, the Israeli occupying state, its governments and army have controlled virtually every aspect of Palestinian life: political, economic, social and – you may not believe it but – love life, too. Israel has been telling us what we can eat, what we can drink, what we can buy, where we can go, where we can travel, where we can live, where we can garden, where we can graze our cattle, where we can fish, where we can go to school, where we can get health services (if at all), and yes, who we can fall in love, get married to and settle with. Israel has even tried to tell us who we are as a nation. It has told Palestinians that they are Arab, Muslim, Christian, Druze or Circassian, but not Palestinian. It has done everything and anything to break up the Palestinian social fabric. Israel has also persistently sown divisions between political forces in Palestine; in the past 15 years, it has made sure that any mediation seeking a unity government between the two biggest Palestinian parties, Hamas and Fatah, has failed. Political disunity has caused immense damage to the Palestinian community, ultimately leading to conflict and weakness from within. Israel has also made sure that we remain poor and vulnerable not only through continuous dispossession – land theft, expulsions, and home demolitions – but also through economic dependence. It has purposefully kept the Palestinian economy on the brink of collapse, suffocating economic activity and private business. This has resulted in high unemployment rates and forced many Palestinians to work for the occupiers – sometimes even in illegal Jewish settlements literally built on their stolen land. Israel has also consistently undermined Palestinian agriculture – traditionally one of the strongest economic sectors in Palestine. Restricted access to land and water resources has led to a dramatic reduction of Palestinian agricultural output, fundamentally disrupting traditional livelihoods. In Gaza, the economic devastation has been even worse, courtesy of the 17-year-long blockade imposed by Israel. It severely restricted imports and exports, effectively killing most trade with the outside world and wrecking the manufacturing and agricultural sectors. Israel even counted the calories of foods it was allowing into Gaza to ensure we barely have enough to survive. When we have resisted – peacefully or otherwise – the Israeli occupation has shown no mercy. It has killed, maimed, imprisoned, tortured and collectively punished. In the ongoing aggression against the Gaza Strip, this drive to decimate the Palestinian people has taken on genocidal proportions. In 100 days, in the killing fields of Gaza, Israel managed to slaughter at least 31,000 Palestinians – 23,000 who have been officially counted and at least 8,000 who could not be because their bodies are still under the rubble with no one to take them out. The rest of us, who have survived, have faced the deadly combination of fear, hunger and thirst under Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment and total siege. Over the past 100 days, the Israeli occupation has denied the entry of food, water, and medicine to the Gaza Strip. Not only that, but Israeli air strikes have targeted every source of life. From water wells and water treatment plants to bakeries, farms, electricity generators, and solar panels, Israel has systematically targeted any means of relief for the people of Gaza. It is important to note that the aid that comes into the Gaza Strip right now cannot cover the needs of even a small proportion of the population. People have become so desperate due to hunger and thirst that aid trucks that come in are sometimes attacked and ransacked. These goods are then sold in the streets for three to five times the regular price and thus never reach the most vulnerable who desperately need them. This is, of course, one of the intended outcomes of the siege. Another one was outlined by Member of the Knesset Tali Gottlieb in October. “Without hunger and thirst among Gazan population, we will not be able to recruit collaborators, we will not be able to recruit intelligence, we will not be able to bribe people, with food, drink, medicine, in order to obtain intelligence,” she said, demonstrating just how emboldened Israeli officials have become in displaying their genocidal goals in public and how secure they feel in their impunity ensured by the backing of the United States. To aid the process of “obtaining intelligence”, the Israeli occupation forces have regularly dropped leaflets from the sky, offering Palestinians food, medicine and safety in exchange for “cooperation”. But there is another even more sinister goal that Israel is pursuing. The unpredictability and harshness of daily life in Gaza are producing a sense of helplessness and despair. Many Palestinians, especially children, suffer from depression, anxiety, and stress disorders; many had not healed from traumas from past agressions before this one started. Israel wants not only to break and destroy our bodies; it wants to break and destroy our minds and souls. If we dig a little into history, we will find that these brutal tactics have been used before. The ancestors of part of the Israeli
Israel approves plan to transfer Gaza tax funds to Norway
Palestinian Authority official Hussein al-Sheikh says ‘any deductions from our financial rights’ would be rejected. Taxes collected by Israel and bound for Gaza will be held in Norway, instead of being sent to the Palestinian Authority (PA), which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to a plan approved by Israeli officials. “The frozen funds will not be transferred to the Palestinian Authority, but will remain in the hands of a third country,” said a statement released on Sunday by the Israeli prime minister’s office. “The money or its consideration will not be transferred under any circumstances, except with the approval of the Minister of Finance of Israel, not even through a third party,” it said. In line with a deal reached in the 1990s, Israel collects tax on behalf of the Palestinians and makes monthly transfers to the PA pending the approval of the Ministry of Finance. While the PA was ousted from the strip in 2007, many of its public sector employees in the enclave kept their jobs and continued to be paid with transferred tax revenues. But nearly a month after the October 7 attack – when Hamas fighters launched an unprecedented assault into southern Israel killing at least 1,139 people, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on Israeli statistics, and taking about 240 captives – Israeli authorities decided to withhold funds earmarked for the Gaza Strip. In response to the money deduction, the PA refused to accept a partial transfer of money. “Any deductions from our financial rights or any conditions imposed by Israel that prevent the PA from paying our people in the Gaza Strip are rejected by us,” said senior PA official Hussein al-Sheikh on X. “We call on the international community to stop this behavior based on piracy and stealing the money of the Palestinian people and force Israel to transfer all of our money,” he added. Nour Odeh, a political analyst based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said Israel was using its leverage over the tax revenues to “punish” and “weaken” the PA. “It’s a way for Israel to assert how much control it has on everything, including the PA’s ability to function. It’s not clear if the PA would be willing to accept conditions, because it would be humiliating to walk back its pledge to not take the revenues with the deduction of Gaza’s share of it,” she told Al Jazeera. “[WIthholding the revenues] will have a huge impact because those employed by the PA won’t receive their salaries at a time when many are starving due to Israel’s siege and war – people need that money to survive.” Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was the only member of the government to oppose the plan to send the funds to Norway. Ben-Gvir said the plan does not guarantee that the money won’t be transferred to Gaza. “Last week they started moving flour trucks and now they are making a decision that does not guarantee that the money will not reach the Nazis from Gaza,” the far-right leader said on X, adding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “constantly” moving “the red line”. The issue has been a source of friction within the Israeli war cabinet, with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant calling for the funds to be distributed to maintain stability in the occupied West Bank. Violence there has spiked since the start of the war amid nearly daily raids and mass arrest campaigns in cities and villages by Israeli forces. Since then, at least 319 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers, according to UN figures, and more than 6,000 have been arrested, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society advocacy group. Adblock test (Why?)
Palestinian industries falter as Israel bombs Gaza, locks down West Bank
Bethlehem, occupied West Bank – As the occupied West Bank roils with near-daily Israeli raids, settler attacks and killings of Palestinians, an overlooked impact of the violence is starting to take its toll. The past few months, Muhanad Nairoukh, manager of one of the three biggest aluminium factories in the occupied West Bank, tells Al Jazeera, have been the worst for production and profits in a long time. Life in the occupied West Bank is becoming more dangerous and complicated for the people living there, and alongside that, industry has crawled to a near halt as a result of Israeli actions, making it impossible to have “business as usual”. Losses across Palestinian industry Nairoukh manages more than 30 employees who keep the company his father founded in 1993 running. He has found himself having to cut costs recently as the company operates at 40 percent capacity, and production has been reduced by 60 percent. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) estimated at the end of December that the overall economic losses in Palestine, since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, reached around $1.5bn during the initial months of the war, equivalent to approximately $25m per day, excluding direct losses in properties and assets. Head of Purchasing Mohamed Nairoukh is worried about what the liquidity crunch will mean for the company [Ahmed Jibran/Al Jazeera] The Israeli checkpoints, which at best hold up shipments and at worse refuse to let them through, have increased the cost of internal transportation and shipping between Palestinian cities and overseas. Conversely, importing raw materials has become a logistical nightmare, significantly inflating production costs at a time when demand is plummeting due to the war. Nairoukh added that the checkpoints also affect the ability of workers to get to work on time, with truck drivers having to reroute their shipments, which exposes them to danger in addition to the time it wastes. Importing raw materials, as Nairoukh does from countries including China, Italy, Spain and Turkey, has been complicated by the closure of ports at the beginning of the war, leading to delays that resulted in inflated costs. A shipment from China, he said, used to cost $1,650 before the war but skyrocketed to $7,600 afterwards, a 360 percent increase – the kind of rise in costs that he is not sure he will be able to absorb for much longer, especially as delays mean cancelled orders and contracts. Samir Hazboun, secretary-general of the Federation of Palestinian Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, told Al Jazeera that both extractive and transformative industries in Palestine are in trouble. [embedded content] He added that other factors, such as the fluctuating exchange rates for industries that import raw materials, also play a big role. No sales, no profits, bouncing cheques Nairoukh and other business owners who service the construction sector, as he does, have found their sales plummeting as construction has come to a near-standstill. As fewer and fewer public and private sector employees receive their salaries and Palestinians who used to work in Israel are barred from crossing the checkpoints, there is less money for even individuals to complete construction projects. While October to May is usually the construction high season, this year it was a season of significant loss instead. Collecting money owed on older orders is also becoming more complicated as cheques bounce because the people who wrote them a few months ago now have empty bank accounts. In just one day, Nairoukh reveals, he had about 67,000 shekels ($18,000) worth of cheques bounce. He is not likely to try to go after these individuals either, he says, as it is not possible to expect them to pay off such amounts when the situation is so dire for all Palestinians. But losing out on this potential income burdens his company financially even more. Muhanad Nairoukh speaks to a worker on the factory floor [Ahmed Jibran/Al Jazeera] Hazboun predicts that, if these conditions continue, there will be numerous economic collapses. For example, he says, only 30 to 35 of Bethlehem’s 130 stone and raw material factories are operational. Worrying about the employees Nairoukh has felt this pinch in all aspects of his life as the father of two has had to postpone maintenance and renovation projects for the family home and may find himself reducing household expenses if the war persists. He has kept his employees on and continued paying them, but he acknowledges that this may not be possible for much longer if the war persists, at which point layoffs may be necessary. His employees also worry about their livelihoods. They consider themselves lucky to still have jobs but know full well that the situation is very precarious. Rakan Ibrahim Abu Al-Hur, who lives near Bethlehem, considers himself lucky to still have his job cutting and processing aluminium rolls. Responsible for supporting his parents and five siblings, he really hopes the situation improves soon. He tells Al Jazeera how difficult it is now to commute back and forth from his village of ash-Shawawra to Bethlehem for work. The checkpoint at the city’s entrance is frequently closed or the inspection lines are long and slow, delaying everyone who is trying to get through. “I hope this all ends soon because if the war doesn’t stop, everything will collapse and I’ll lose my job,” Rakan says sadly. The raw material inputs the factory needs are harder and harder to come by [Ahmed Jibran/Al Jazeera] Adblock test (Why?)
Training the brain in hyper-competitive South Korea
Meet the sport therapists and ‘brain trainers’ who cultivate grit and resilience in a hyper-competitive South Korea. With 27 gold medals, South Korea has dominated archery at the Olympics for three decades. In a sport that requires significant mental strength and focus, sport psychologists play a key role in keeping the country’s archers on target. Beyond the shooting range, competitiveness is fostered in Korean society from a young age in a school system known for its rigidity. Whether it’s in the classroom or on the sports field, South Koreans strive to be the best on the global stage. Mindset meets the sports psychologists and “brain trainers” pushing South Koreans to be number one. Adblock test (Why?)