08 Apr 2019 - NPWJ News Digest on Middle East and North Africa Democracy

Articles

Israel's election: Five things to know
BBC, 08 Apr 2019

Israelis head to the polls on Tuesday for a general election in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is fighting for his political survival.
Here are five things to know about the contest, and what to expect.

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EU's Mogherini calls for humanitarian truce in Libya
Reuters, 08 Apr 2019

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, called on Monday for a truce in Libya and a return to political negotiations as fighting intensified between rival factions.
Mogherini, who chaired a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, said Europe’s message should be for “a full implementation of the humanitarian truce ... and to avoid any further military action and escalation and a return to the political track”.

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Netanyahu vows to annex Jewish settlements in occupied West Bank
The Guardian, 07 Apr 2019

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has pledged to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories if he wins his country’s election on Tuesday, a dramatic last-minute rallying call to his nationalist base.
In interviews with domestic media ahead of the polls, Netanyahu repeated his promise and said he would prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state by “controlling the entire area”.

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Libya: Haftar's 'ultimate goal' and the fear of a full-blown war
Aljazeera, 06 Apr 2019

Forces loyal to Libya's renegade General Khalifa Haftar are marching in the capital, Tripoli, igniting fears of renewed war in the chaos-wracked country.
The assault by Haftar's self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA) raised fears of a full-blown battle in Tripoli, the seat of a United Nations-backed government that is protected by an array of militias holding sway over the city's economy and institutions.
Following Haftar's move on Thursday, the Tripoli-allied militias mobilised for "war" by deploying troops and moving weapons from the coastal towns of Misrata and Zawiya to areas around the capital.

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US citizens among those arrested in new Saudi Arabia crackdown
DW, 05 Apr 2019

Saudi Arabia arrested eight people this week in a bid to silence supporters of detained women's rights activists, human rights groups announced on Friday. Two of those detained hold both US and Saudi passports.
The arrests come as 11 women stand trial after being arrested for campaigning for the right to driveand an end to the kingdom's system of mandatory male guardianship. The arrest and ongoing detention of the women has drawn Western condemnation.
Several of the women being held by authorities claim that they have been the victims of torture and sexual assault.

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