RAMALLAH // Like most West Bank Christians, Jumana Dabis, 23, applied early for her permit to enter Jerusalem for the Easter holidays.
During such holidays, Israel makes an exception to its normally stringent closure regime and issues permits, valid for 30 to 45 days, to Palestinian Christians in a way it does not do for Muslims during Islamic holidays.
But with Easter falling around the same time as the Jewish Passover holiday, Israel's permit policy becomes even more incongruous and Byzantine than usual.
Ms Dabis, a public relations officer with the Ramallah municipality, was denied a permit.
No reason was given.
It is perhaps one of the many small ironies of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that as Israeli Jews celebrate Passover - marking the Jewish people's delivery from slavery in Egypt - a full closure comes into force in the occupied West Bank, preventing even those few Palestinians who normally have permits to enter Jerusalem or Israel from doing so for a period of 10 days.
Even though Palestinians of the occupied territories have slowly got used to having their movement severely circumscribed, the Jewish holidays always add an extra dimension. Only those with emergency cases can seek medical treatment in Jerusalem's more advanced facilities.
Only those working with international organisations can continue their daily routines. And businesses, even more than usual, feel the consequences.
Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement are one of the main obstacles to Palestinian economic growth.
An economy that grew steadily from 1995 to 2000 has been in consistent decline since as a result of the tight closures Israel imposed after 2000, and every international organisation from the United Nations to the World Bank has identified an easing of such restrictions as essential for economic development.
Yet obstacles to movement in the West Bank today still number over 600, by a UN count, and movement to and from the West Bank is as difficult as it has ever been.
"When the whole economy is in disarray, more closure just adds more pressure," said Basem Khoury, head of the Palestinian Federation of Industries. "Israel is imposing a religious holiday on four million Palestinians who are not of the same religion."
Mr Khoury said most Palestinian businesses are affected by the extra closure, which, he calculated, adversely impacted their overall competitiveness as measured by output versus working days by about five per cent.
"Under the Paris Protocol, Israel insisted on keeping the Palestinian economy linked to the Israeli economy. But then it is not fair that Israel imposes its religious holidays on us as well," he said.
At heart, Mr Khoury said, the issue was political. Restrictions on movement, he said, had less to do with security, as Israel insists, and more to do with securing Israeli settlements in occupied territory.
"Unless we can move on the issue of settlements, it becomes impossible to do anything about the closure regime. And if we can't do anything about that, it is impossible to help the economy. This is a political decision." Political too would seem the decision favouring permits for Christians over Muslims for their respective holidays.
Ms Dabis is a case in point. Having failed to get a permit through the Palestinian Authority office in Ramallah that usually co-ordinates such matters with the Israeli military, she went in person to apply for a permit at the Israeli army's district co-ordinating office at Beit El just outside Ramallah.
After spending a day waiting in line she was eventually issued a 45-day permit that allows her unrestricted access to Jerusalem and Israel, though not Eilat in the south. Again no explanation was offered for this decision.
"Many times they just randomly deny permits," Ms Dabis said. "They never give reasons. If you ask, they say for security reasons, but they never elaborate and they never put anything in writing."
Ms Dabis said she was aware of the fact that she eventually received a permit because of her religion.
"It's very bad. I know Israel does this to try to create animosity between Muslims and Christians. Muslims are never issued permits unless for medical emergencies."
A discriminating system of permits is a tried-and-tested control mechanism, one that has been used by colonial regimes across the world.
"The coloniser's gains are clear," wrote Ran Hacohen, an Israel academic in a recent essay. "Divide-and-rule; destroying national coherence in favour of separate, conflicting local interests; making the colonised too busy with survival to oppose their oppression; and so on."
Ms Dabis said she thought it was not working, that Palestinians were aware and therefore vigilant at attempts to create rifts among them.
To Mr Khoury, however, the permit system has had a more debilitating effect.
"People have become used to it. What's another day or another week, with all these closures."
okarmi@thenational.ae
The Details
Article 15
Produced by: Carnival Cinemas, Zee Studios
Directed by: Anubhav Sinha
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Sayani Gupta, Zeeshan Ayyub
Our rating: 4/5
Boulder shooting victims
• Denny Strong, 20
• Neven Stanisic, 23
• Rikki Olds, 25
• Tralona Bartkowiak, 49
• Suzanne Fountain, 59
• Teri Leiker, 51
• Eric Talley, 51
• Kevin Mahoney, 61
• Lynn Murray, 62
• Jody Waters, 65
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.”
Juvenile arthritis
Along with doctors, families and teachers can help pick up cases of arthritis in children.
Most types of childhood arthritis are known as juvenile idiopathic arthritis. JIA causes pain and inflammation in one or more joints for at least six weeks.
Dr Betina Rogalski said "The younger the child the more difficult it into pick up the symptoms. If the child is small, it may just be a bit grumpy or pull its leg a way or not feel like walking,” she said.
According to The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases in US, the most common symptoms of juvenile arthritis are joint swelling, pain, and stiffness that doesn’t go away. Usually it affects the knees, hands, and feet, and it’s worse in the morning or after a nap.
Limping in the morning because of a stiff knee, excessive clumsiness, having a high fever and skin rash are other symptoms. Children may also have swelling in lymph nodes in the neck and other parts of the body.
Arthritis in children can cause eye inflammation and growth problems and can cause bones and joints to grow unevenly.
In the UK, about 15,000 children and young people are affected by arthritis.
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
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Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder MHEV
Power: 360bhp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh282,870
On sale: now
Key Points
- Protests against President Omar Al Bashir enter their sixth day
- Reports of President Bashir's resignation and arrests of senior government officials
WWE Super ShowDown results
Seth Rollins beat Baron Corbin to retain his WWE Universal title
Finn Balor defeated Andrade to stay WWE Intercontinental Championship
Shane McMahon defeated Roman Reigns
Lars Sullivan won by disqualification against Lucha House Party
Randy Orton beats Triple H
Braun Strowman beats Bobby Lashley
Kofi Kingston wins against Dolph Zigggler to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Mansoor Al Shehail won the 50-man Battle Royal
The Undertaker beat Goldberg
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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AIDA%20RETURNS
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