The new president speaks of a new page in the history of Lebanon and ‘respect for the Constitution’. An appointment welcomed by the international community, including by Tel Aviv and Tehran. A military man to file away the disastrous war between Hezbollah and Israel and the 26 months of institutional vacuum.
The latest case concerns Umm al-Hiran, razed to the ground to build Dror, a new Jewish Orthodox town. Some of the land was offered at ridiculously low prices to members of Garin Torani's Zionist religious group. Peace Now warns that with the Netanyahu-Smotrich-Ben Gvir government, authorisations for new homes in the settlements are breaking new records every week.
Since the beginning of the conflict, at least 16,000 workers have come from India to replace the blockades in the West Bank and the Strip. Influx destined to increase thanks to targeted campaigns. In the north, farmers from Thailand are returning, among the migrants who have paid the most in terms of victims and kidnappings. From 165,000 to only 15,000 Palestinians working in Israel.
A climate of relative stability in preparation for the Lebanese Parliament's election of a new head of state on 9 January. A framework that remains fragile, given Hezbollah's determination to reorganise its forces, Iranian influence and the IDF troops still present. Elements that undermine institutions, border security and economic recovery.
The provincial of the Franciscans custodians of the Holy Sites speaks with AsiaNews about the festivities once again without pilgrims, whose return is ‘linked to the end of the conflict’. The focus is on events in neighbouring Syria, amid ‘suspended’ or ‘moderately positive’ judgements. The Custody ‘increasingly international’ with ‘about sixty’ countries present. The ‘debt’ of Western Christians with their brothers in the Holy Land.
In his greetings to the Roman Curia, the pontiff spoke again about what is happening in Gaza, where Patriarch Pizzaballa was prevented from making a Christmas visit. For Christmas Francis urges the members of the Curia to nurture humility and speak well and not ill of others, like God who does not bless “from above, but in the flesh.”
