Arabic press review: Europe 'pressures' Palestinians to hold elections

Europe 'pressures' Palestinians to hold elections

An official Palestinian source revealed that the decision to hold Palestinian elections came following international and regional pressure on the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas movement, Arabi21 reported.

The source, who asked for his name not to be disclosed, indicated that the European Union had officially asked PA President Mahmoud Abbas to hold Palestinian elections, and revealed that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had sent a message to Abbas and urged him to hold elections in accordance with Palestinian frameworks.

The same source revealed that "an Arab country (which he did not name) played the role of mediator between the European Union and Hamas movement to pressure Hamas to offer concessions to expedite the elections".

Last Wednesday, Abbas received the written response of Hamas to agree on participation in the general elections.

UAE weapons delivered to Haftar in Libya

Egyptian sources told the Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed newspaper that a new shipment of arms from the United Arab Emirates has been delivered to the forces led by retired Libyan General Khalifa Haftar.

The arms arrived from the western Egyptian border, accompanied by a number of Emirati and Egyptian military personnel, on 10 November, according to the London-based newspaper. 

The sources added that Egyptian military cargo planes loaded with Emirati weapons landed at the Ar-Rajma military base on that day.

The shipment contained night-vision devices, artillery ammunition, anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft missiles and air-to-surface missiles, as well as drones, said the newspaper.

Following the delivery of the weapons, a number of members of the UAE military arrived in the Libyan territory to supervise the use of drones.