Briefly

ISRAEL

Rally against West Bank annexation plan

Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday night against the government's plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank. Demonstrators gathered under the banner "No to annexation, no to occupation, yes to peace and democracy" in a rally organized by left-wing NGOs and political parties. US President Donald Trump's controversial Middle East plan, unveiled early this year, gives Israel the green light to annex Jewish settlements and other strategic territory in the West Bank. As part of a recent agreement to form a coalition government with Benny Gantz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set July 1 as the date to begin advancing his annexation plan.

PALESTINE

Senior Islamic Jihad leader declared dead

Former Palestinian Islamic Jihad Secretary General Ramadan Shalah was declared dead by his group on Saturday. Shalah, a key figure in the political scene, died aged 62 after suffering from an incurable disease, said his group in a statement. Shalah, born in Gaza in 1958, was one of the founders of the Islamic Jihad group. He lived in Lebanon and had strong ties with Syria. He was the leader of the group from 1995 to 2018. Soon after he was appointed as the group's secretary general, Shalah was declared by the United States as "a specially designated terrorist".

IRAN

Flight data recorders useless, says Teheran

The flight data recorders of a Ukrainian plane mistakenly downed near Teheran airport will be of "no help" in any investigation, but Iran is ready to transfer them abroad, IRNA news agency reported on Saturday. Flight 752, a Ukraine International Airlines jetliner, was struck by a missile and crashed shortly after taking off from Teheran airport on Jan 8. "Even though the investigation is nearly complete and the contents of the boxes will be of no help for the investigation, we are ready to give them to a third country or to a (foreign) company", said Mohsen Baharvand, deputy foreign affairs minister.

Agencies - Xinhua