The Biden administration’s opposition to an investigation by the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor into alleged crimes in the Palestinian territories is being met with scorn and praise.
The US is being criticised for ignoring the plight of Palestinians and lauded for defending Israel.
The court’s departing chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, this week announced the opening of a full war crimes investigation into the activities of Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The investigation will cover events beginning in 2014.
“The decision to open an investigation followed a painstaking preliminary examination undertaken by my office that lasted close to five years,” Ms Bensouda said.
The decision follows another court ruling last month granting The Hague jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories, a decision that was rejected by the Biden administration.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a strongly worded statement in which he "firmly opposes" and "is deeply disappointed by this decision".
Mr Blinken regarded the court as lacking jurisdiction and the legal mandate for such an investigation, because Israel was not a member of the organisation.
He also said “the Palestinians do not qualify as a sovereign state and therefore are not qualified to obtain membership as a state in, participate as a state in, or delegate jurisdiction” to the court.
The Palestinians were granted non-member observer status in the UN General Assembly in 2012, which allowed them to join the court.
Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute where he directs the programme on Israeli-Palestinian Affairs, said Mr Blinken’s 402-word statement made no mention of the Israeli occupation.
“He makes it clear that the US opposes an ICC investigation on the grounds that Palestinians ‘do not qualify as a sovereign state’," Mr Elgindy said.
"But at the same time, there is also no mention of Israel’s occupation or its responsibilities under international humanitarian law.
“If it’s not a state and not under occupation, what is it?”
With the absence of a peace process, and “no path to either statehood or an end to the occupation”, Mr Elgindy fears that the message from the Biden administration is the continuation of the status quo as it undercuts its own support for a two-state solution.
“It suggests that not only does the US not recognise Palestinian statehood but it may now have an active interest in preventing [court investigations] in the future as well.”
Mr Blinken said that unilateral judicial actions “undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution".
Orde Kittrie, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, considered the court decision to be legally flawed and said the US objection was to be expected.
"Secretary Blinken's statement was not a surprise, as the prosecutor's decision is clearly politically driven, and stands contrary to international law and the ICC's legal mandate," Mr Kittrie, also a law professor at Arizona State University, told The National.
“Palestine’s status as a state for ICC purposes has been refuted by numerous submissions to the ICC, including by the Obama administration’s officials and by several European and other governments, including those of Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic and Germany.”
He said this was a strike against Ms Bensouda’s decision as she prepared to leave office in June.
Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Australia, Brazil and Uganda rejected the court's jurisdiction ruling last month.
Mr Kittrie also saw a strong consensus in Congress among Republicans and Democrats in opposing the move.
Last May, 330 members of Congress wrote to former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo echoing concern about the consequences of court war crimes investigations “for the United States and our ally, Israel".
But new members in Congress from the progressive wing, such as Palestinian-American Rashida Tlaib, have welcomed the court's decision.
“No one is above the law," Ms Tlaib tweeted on Wednesday.
"The ICC has the authority and duty to independently and impartially investigate and deliver justice to victims of human rights violations and war crimes in Palestine and Israel."
Mr Kittrie says the Biden administration has a strong preference for negotiating solutions and will not stop challenging the court when it comes to Israel.
“The ICC benefited greatly from the invaluable co-operation which it received from the US during the Obama administration,” he said.
This included positions on Libya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the US offering rewards for information leading to the arrest of others who had been indicted.
“Given the Biden administration's strong response and the strong bipartisan opposition to the ICC investigations of the US and Israel, such co-operation seems highly unlikely to resume as long as the ICC continues its investigations of the US and Israel,” Mr Kittrie said.
But the Biden stance was perceived as a double standard by others, given the emphasis that the new team is putting on human rights and rule of law in other places in the Middle East.
Mr Blinken’s comments came on the same day he said the new administration would “stand firm behind our commitments to human rights, democracy, the rule of law".
Elizabeth Tsurkov, a fellow at the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy, said his comments show that on the issue of the Israeli occupation, "the Biden administration is adopting the traditional US approach".
Ms Tsurkov described that as "an uncomfortable mix of complicity with Israel's abuses, through annual provisions of aid to the military occupying the West Bank and blockading Gaza, and rhetoric condemning these abuses".
“At the end of the day, while the Biden administration is willing to take a more forceful approach towards its ally, Saudi Arabia, when it comes to Israel, the prevailing approach is still standing by Israel and shielding it from efforts to bring Israeli perpetrators of war crimes to justice, she said.
For now, the fate of any investigation could rest with Ms Bensouda's successor upholding the decision, dropping the case or setting different standards for the investigation before indictments are issued.
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
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PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
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Changing visa rules
For decades the UAE has granted two and three year visas to foreign workers, tied to their current employer. Now that's changing.
Last year, the UAE cabinet also approved providing 10-year visas to foreigners with investments in the UAE of at least Dh10 million, if non-real estate assets account for at least 60 per cent of the total. Investors can bring their spouses and children into the country.
It also approved five-year residency to owners of UAE real estate worth at least 5 million dirhams.
The government also said that leading academics, medical doctors, scientists, engineers and star students would be eligible for similar long-term visas, without the need for financial investments in the country.
The first batch - 20 finalists for the Mohammed bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Distinction.- were awarded in January and more are expected to follow.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
The lowdown
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Hidden killer
Sepsis arises when the body tries to fight an infection but damages its own tissue and organs in the process.
The World Health Organisation estimates it affects about 30 million people each year and that about six million die.
Of those about three million are newborns and 1.2 are young children.
Patients with septic shock must often have limbs amputated if clots in their limbs prevent blood flow, causing the limbs to die.
Campaigners say the condition is often diagnosed far too late by medical professionals and that many patients wait too long to seek treatment, confusing the symptoms with flu.
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
