Greater unification of Gulf states in focus

Source: Arab News (read full story)

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Abdulatif Al-Zayani, GCC secretary general said: “The initiative to move from a GCC bloc to a Gulf Union will be discussed in detail by GCC foreign ministers.”
Gulf States are already tied through unified policies, militarily, politically and economically under the mandate of the GCC Charter.
Al-Zayani said, “Unification is meant to empower GCC bloc countries and empower members to come to the aid of one another in times of threat,” he said.

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Bahrain policeman formally charged over death of protesting Shia teen

Source: Gulf Times (read full story)

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The public prosecution “accused the policeman who opened fire on one of the attackers of premeditated murder,” said official, Nawaf Hamza, on Wednesday night, according to BNA state news agency.
He said the accused was released but has been banned from travel. His name and nationality have not been revealed.
But the public prosecution issued a later statement saying the charge against the policeman was “preliminary”, pending an investigation which so far shows the killing was “likely a case of self-defence.”

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Syria must not distract us from central issue of Palestine: Qatar’s emir

Source: Gulf Times (read full story)

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our preoccupation with issues of the Arab Spring, especially the heroic Syrian people’s demands, should not distract us from the Arab central cause of Palestine. Israel is currently intensifying its settlement activities and accelerating the pace of Judaising Jerusalem and imposing restrictions on the Palestinians, in flagrant and blatant defiance of the Arab peoples and the international community.
In this regard, we in the non-aligned movement should support the Palestinian people by all moral and material means to achieve their right to self-determination and an independent state, with Jerusalem as its capital, put an end to the crimes committed daily by Israel against these people, end the unjust siege of the Gaza Strip, and other practices which are deemed a flagrant breach of international and humanitarian principles and laws and a blatant violation of international human law and the Geneva Conventions.

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