New York, 11 Sha’ban 1434/19 June 2013 (MINA) – The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) released the number of people who have been forcibly displaced by war and other crises worldwide has risen to its highest level for almost two decades, hitting 45.2 million.

     Annual figures released by UNHCR on Wednesday showed that 1.1 million fled across international borders in 2012, while a further 6.5 million were displaced within their own homelands.

     "This means one in each 4.1 seconds. So each time you blink, another person is forced to flee," Antonio Guterres, the UN high commissioner for refugees, told reporters.

     The total figure of 45.2 million included 28.8 million internally displaced people, 15.4 million border-crossing refugees, and 937,000 asylum seekers, Aljazeera quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

    "War is the main reason for this very high number of refugees and people internally displaced. Fifty-five percent of them correspond to the well-known situations of Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, and Syria," Guterres said.

      Overall, the Afghan conflict continued to produce the most refugees, a position that it has held for 32 years. Worldwide, one refugee in four is Afghan.

      Guterres also cited conflicts in Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic as producing large numbers of displaced people and refugees.

     Due to the raft of crises, he said, the total number of refugees and internally displaced had risen to a level unseen since 1994, a year marked by the Rwandan genocide and bloodshed in former Yugoslavia.

'Multiplication of conflicts'

     While last year saw 2.1 million internally-displaced people and 526,000 refugees return home, as well as the resettlement of 886,000 in rich nations, fresh crises drove the global total higher.

    "New refugees, new internally displaced, unfortunately represent much more than those able to find an answer to their plight," said Guterres, lamenting the international community's limited capacity to prevent conflicts and to find timely solutions to existing ones.

     "We witness a multiplication of new conflicts, and it seems that old conflicts never die," he said.

    Guterres pointed out that the number of people who had fled the spiralling violence in Syria had soared from 650,000 at the end of 2012 to around 1.6 million now, surpassing last year's total from all conflicts.

     The UNHCR has warned that Syrian refugee numbers could hit 3.5 million by the end of this year, while there are also fears that the number currently displaced within the country, 4.25 million, will also climb.

      Syrian refugees have flooded into neighbouring Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq, stretching those nations' ability to cope.

     Guterres urged the international community to help shoulder the load, although he said UNHCR-brokered resettlement programmes for Syrians in rich countries were not yet on the cards.

Pakistan top host nation

      With the economic crisis having sharpened the asylum debate in developed nations, Guterres said it was important to keep some perspective.

     "Who is supporting refugees in the world? Essentially, developing countries," he said, stressing that 87 percent of the world's refugees were protected by developing countries, up from 70 percent a decade ago.

      "So when we see discussion sometimes that exist about refugees in many developed countries, I think it's good to remind public opinion in those countries that refugees are not people fleeing from poor countries into rich countries in search of a better life," he added.

      Pakistan remained the world's top host nation in 2012, with 1.6 million refugees mostly from Afghanistan, followed by Iran, with 868,200, and Germany, with 589,700. (T/P09/E1).

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

     Bethlehem, 10 Sya’ban 1434/19 June 2013  (MINA) – Israel intends to appropriate land in Bethlehem to expand the Jerusalem municipal boundaries, a Palestinian NGO revealed Tuesday.

     The Grand Jerusalem plan would see the confiscation of 22.500 dunhams (5.55 acres), Jad Ishaq, the executive manager of the Applied Research Institute, according to Ma'an news agency report quoted by Mi'raj News Agency (MINA).

     The land is being seized under Israel's Absentee Property Law, which converts land to the State of Israel if the original owner is deemed absent from the land.

     West Bank land is particularly vulnerable to appropriation under this law, as though residents remain on their land, not having a Jerusalem ID card places their status as "absent."

     The land or property is then placed under the purview of Israel's Custodian of Absentee Property, which Ishaq notes is in contravention of international law.

     Israel's Supreme Court approved the confiscation in September. The lands were placed under the Jerusalem 2020 plan in 2005, earmarked as "green" for Israeli development.

     Ishaq says the plan will turn the area into a "human warehouse," forcing residents into more confined spaces.

      The goal, he said, is further isolate Jerusalem from Bethlehem and create an expansive "settlement band" around the Holy City.

      ARIJ called on the Palestinian Authority to pressure the international community and the European Union into action against the plan.

      "Tell the world how dangerous this scheme is; it is the biggest land robbery," Ishaq said.

      The areas where the land will be taken are Khirbet al-Mazmouriya, Khilet al-Ribway, Wad Saleh, Wad Luqa, Jabal Skhour, Wad Al-Jamal, Jroun al-Humus, Cremisan and all the land built on the nearby Gilo settlement.

      Bethlehem Governor Abdul Fattah Hamayel said the plan was a "clear step beyond all international law and rights," and accused Israel's judiciary of bias to "legalize what is best for them [Israelis] and cover up the crimes against Palestinians."

      The revelation follows remarks made by Israeli MK Naftali Bennett who said the idea of Palestinian state had reached a "dead end," and that the state of Palestine never existed.

      The PLO and international community has repeatedly called on Israel to halt its settlement expansion campaign to give both sides the opportunity to revive long-stalled negotiations.

      PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said Monday that recent statements by Israeli officials showed clearly that "Israel officially rejects the two-state solution based on the pre-1967 borders."

      "This is clearly part and parcel of an Israeli plan to foil any possibility to establish a Palestinian state. They plan to annex Jerusalem and change the status quo in the city in addition to plans to annex the Jordan valley and other vast areas of the occupied Palestinian state," the PLO official said in a statement.

       Israel occupied and annexed East Jerusalem in 1967, a move not recognized by the international community. Settlement building on occupied land and population transfer is considered a violation of international law. (T/P012/E1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)

      Ankara, 10 Sha’ban 1434/19 Juni 2013 (MINA) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Mashal in the Turkish capital, Ankara on Tuesday (18/6).

        The behind-closed-doors meeting was held at Erdogan's official residence, which attended by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Anadolu Agency reported as monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

         Officials in both the Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Ministry refrained from commenting on the Hamas leaders visit to Ankara.

     An Erdogan aide said the talks with Hamas chiefs talk about Palestinian reconciliation. The aide requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record, online media The Province reports.

        Tuesday's talks will focus on reconciling the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, but may also include Erdogan's plans to visit Gaza.

         Erdogan, who faces major demonstrations against his rule at home, has said he plans to visit Gaza despite U.S. pleas that he delay the trip.

           Shortly after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu phoned Erdogan in March to apologize for operational errors that might have caused loss of life in the event of the Mavi Marmara ship, Erdogan announced he would visit Gaza in April.

        The planned visit, which annoyed the US because it seemed to undermine the Palestinian Authority, was then pushed off until after Erdogan’s mid-May visit to Washington.

           No new date has yet been announced, although Erdogan has said he intends to go through with the visit despite American objections. (T/P09/P03)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)