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Bangladesh prepares to send Hajj pilgrims by sea after 40 years

Special Bangladesh prepares to send Hajj pilgrims by sea after 40 years
Bangladeshi pilgrims arrive at King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah, ahead of the Hajj pilgrimage in Makkah, on May 10, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 30 November 2024

Bangladesh prepares to send Hajj pilgrims by sea after 40 years

Bangladesh prepares to send Hajj pilgrims by sea after 40 years
  • Bangladesh has been struggling to meet its Hajj pilgrim quota due to high airfares
  • Travel by sea estimated to help decrease the cost of pilgrimage package by about $900

DHAKA: Bangladeshi authorities are preparing to resume sending Hajj pilgrims via the sea route, aiming to significantly reduce travel costs starting next year.

For the past few years, Bangladesh, one of the most populous Muslim-majority countries, has struggled to meet its Hajj quota, as fewer people have been able to afford the pilgrimage since international airfares surged after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The possibility of pilgrimage by sea was discussed during Bangladeshi Religious Affairs Adviser Khalid Hossain’s meeting with Saudi Hajj and Umrah Minister Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah in Jeddah last month.

Dhaka’s envoy to the Kingdom, Brig. Gen. S.M. Rakibullah, told Arab News on Thursday that the first session on the logistics was set to take place next week.

“We have received confirmation from (the) Saudi authority regarding the transportation of pilgrims by sea. A coordination meeting on this issue will be held in Jeddah on the 3rd of December,” he said.

Targeting to start sending pilgrims by sea already during next year’s Hajj season — which will take place between June 4 and June 9 — Bangladeshi authorities are planning to reduce the cost of pilgrimage packages.

The price of the current 2025 package is about $4,000.

“We will declare a new Hajj package for the pilgrims who are interested in taking the sea route,” Matiul Islam, additional secretary at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told Arab News.

“This new sea route will help us in fulfilling the Hajj quota ... Our assigned shipping company is working on sourcing the ship. If we get ship on time, there is no other problem at our end.”

Hajj travel by sea will take place for the first time in four decades.

“To the best of my knowledge, in 1984, Bangladeshi pilgrims traveled to the Kingdom by ship to perform the Hajj rituals for the last time,” Islam said.

Karnaphuli Ship Builders, the shipping company chosen by the Bangladeshi government to operate the route, expects that the new mode of transport will reduce the cost of the current pilgrimage package by more than 20 percent.

It plans to purchase a 32-story ship to carry pilgrims from the southern Bangladeshi port of Chottogram to Jeddah.

“The costs of the Hajj journey will be reduced by around $900,” said M.A. Rashid, the company’s managing director.

“We have already sourced a Caribbean cruise ... The ship will carry up to 3,000 pilgrims at a time. It will take eight days to reach from Chottogram Port to Jeddah.”

Last year, Ƶ granted Bangladesh a quota of 127,000 pilgrims, but because of high inflation and the cost of flights to the Middle East, only 85,000 were able to embark on the spiritual journey that is one of the five pillars of Islam.


Legislators questioning German emergency funding for PA salaries

Legislators questioning German emergency funding for PA salaries
Updated 30 sec ago

Legislators questioning German emergency funding for PA salaries

Legislators questioning German emergency funding for PA salaries
  • “The Authority is in an acute financial emergency,” a development ministry spokesperson told a regular government news conference on Friday, adding that the start of the school year had already been delayed for this reason

BERLIN: A €30 million ($35.24 million) one-time payment to the Palestinian Authority, which Germany had hoped to announce next week to coincide with European allies’ formal recognition of a Palestinian state, has been held up by skeptical legislators, Bild newspaper reported.
The payment is designed to ensure that salaries of teachers and healthcare workers can be paid at a time when Israel, which collects customs and import taxes on behalf of the Palestinian Authority that exercises limited self-rule in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is withholding funds. The PA says Israel has withheld around $3 billion.
The German emergency payment was agreed by Development Minister Reem Alabali Radovan during a Middle East trip earlier this month and is supported by both conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his Social Democrat deputy, Lars Klingbeil.
But Alexander Hoffmann, a conservative legislator, told Bild that members of his powerful parliamentary budget committee had concerns about the payment, which they must approve.
“We need more clarity,” he told Bild. “Humanitarian aid is important, but it has to be clear what projects are being funded ... Projects that endanger Israel’s security have to be clearly excluded.”
Officials said the money was likely still to be paid once legislators’ concerns had been addressed.
The German government says the funds are needed for salaries because of the dire economic situation in the Palestinian Authority area since the start of the Gaza war.
“The Authority is in an acute financial emergency,” a development ministry spokesperson told a regular government news conference on Friday, adding that the start of the school year had already been delayed for this reason.
“We must make sure the money doesn’t end up in the wrong hands,” said Juergen Hardt, a senior conservative and Foreign Affairs Committee Member. 
“But once that’s done, there are very good reasons for this aid.”
European countries, including Britain and France, are expected to announce at the UN General Assembly that they are recognizing a state of Palestine.
Germany is not expected to do so, and is a strong supporter of Israel out of a sense of historic obligation.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement of plans to militarily occupy Gaza, almost two years after the deadly Hamas incursion that sparked the conflict, has brought about a hardening of Berlin’s tone.
Merz said during a visit to Madrid on Thursday that Israel’s actions in Gaza were not proportionate to its stated goals and indicated German openness to backing EU sanctions against Israel.

 


Trump administration proposes selling nearly $6 billion in weapons to Israel

Trump administration proposes selling nearly $6 billion in weapons to Israel
Updated 14 min 19 sec ago

Trump administration proposes selling nearly $6 billion in weapons to Israel

Trump administration proposes selling nearly $6 billion in weapons to Israel
  • It includes one $3.8 billion sale for 30 AH-64 Apache helicopters
  • The packages would not be delivered for two to three years or longer

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has told Congress it plans to sell nearly $6 billion in weapons to Israel, a fresh surge of support for the US ally as it faces increasing isolation over its war in Gaza.
It includes one $3.8 billion sale for 30 AH-64 Apache helicopters, nearly doubling Israel’s current stocks, and a second $1.9 billion sale for 3,200 infantry assault vehicles for Israeli army, according to a US official and another person familiar with the proposal who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss plans that have not been made public.
The packages would not be delivered for two to three years or longer.
The huge sales come as US plans to broker an end to the nearly two-year war between Israel and Hamas have stalled and after Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, drew widespread condemnation among US allies in the Middle East.
The US has kept up its support despite growing international pressure on Israel and attempts from a growing number of US Senate Democrats to block the sale of offensive weapons to Israel.
The State Department declined to comment on the sales, which were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Israel has launched a new offensive, pressing forward with plans to take over Gaza City, as a professional organization of scholars studying genocide has said Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
The U.K, which last year said it was suspending exports of some weapons to Israel out of concerns they could be used to violate international humanitarian laws, recently barred Israeli government officials from attending the country’s biggest arms fair.
Turkiye also said it was closing its airspace to Israeli government planes and any cargo of arms for the Israeli military, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in a speech condemned Israeli attacks on Gaza as disproportionate.
Trump said Friday that he plans to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Washington next week, with plans to discuss the purchases of Boeing aircraft and a deal for F-16 fighter jets.
The Biden administration paused a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel over concerns about civilian casualties, but Trump lifted that hold when he took office in January.
The Trump administration has already approved about $12 billion in major military assistance to Israel this year. Most recently, the US in June approved a half-billion-dollar arms sale to Israel to resupply its military with bomb guidance kits for precision.


Family reunion joy for elderly British couple released in Afghanistan

Family reunion joy for elderly British couple released in Afghanistan
Updated 21 min 23 sec ago

Family reunion joy for elderly British couple released in Afghanistan

Family reunion joy for elderly British couple released in Afghanistan
  • The Qatari Embassy provided them with “critical support, including access to their doctor, delivery of medication and regular communication with their family,” the official said

DOHA: Barbie Reynolds, 76, and her husband Peter, 80, arrived in Qatar from Afghanistan into the arms of their daughter on Friday, after the British couple were freed from eight months in Taliban captivity.
Family members said they had been concerned for the health of the couple, who ran a charity in Afghanistan where they had lived for 18 years.
They were detained in February and freed after what an official with knowledge of the matter described as months of negotiations.

Sarah Entwistle, the daughter of British couple Peter and Barbie Reynolds, speaks to the press at the airport in Doha on September 19, 2025, ahead of the arrival of her parents after they were freed after several months of detention in Afghanistan. (AFP)

As they stepped off the plane in Doha, the couple waved to waiting relatives. 
Their daughter, Sarah Entwistle, ran toward her mother in tears, embracing her tightly.

This experience has reminded us of the power of diplomacy, empathy, and international cooperation.

Sarah Entwistle, The couple’s daughter

Before boarding the plane at Kabul airport, Barbie Reynolds said she and her husband would return “if we can,” adding that they were Afghan citizens.
Speaking to reporters before being reunited with her parents, Entwistle said the family was “forever grateful to the Qatari and British governments for standing with us during this difficult time.”
“Thank you for giving us our family back.”

Their son, Jonathan Reynolds, who is in the US, said the urgency of their release was critical: “Any longer would have been very detrimental to their health.”
The official with knowledge of the matter said the two were held separately throughout their detention. 
The Qatari Embassy provided them with “critical support, including access to their doctor, delivery of medication and regular communication with their family,” the official said.
Qatar has worked for the release of foreigners detained in Afghanistan, including helping to free at least three Americans this year.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry posted on X that the couple had violated Afghan laws. 
It said Afghanistan “does not view issues related to citizens from a political or transactional perspective.”
Richard Lindsay, Britain’s special envoy to Afghanistan, said it was “obviously up to the authorities here to determine why they were detained, but we are very grateful that at least, today is a very great humanitarian day, that they will be reunited with their family.”
British media have reported that the couple ran projects in schools, staying on with the permission of Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers after the group returned to power in 2021.
An American, Faye Hall, who was arrested with them, was released in March.

 


Macron views Palestinian state recognition as landmark peace step

Macron views Palestinian state recognition as landmark peace step
Updated 30 min 20 sec ago

Macron views Palestinian state recognition as landmark peace step

Macron views Palestinian state recognition as landmark peace step
  • More than 145 countries already recognize a Palestinian state, including more than a dozen in Europe

PARIS: A moment of truth: That’s how French President Emmanuel Macron sees the recognition of a Palestinian state by France and other Western nations, with the hope to make it a landmark step in his push for peace in the Middle East as the devastating war in Gaza continues.
Macron is to formally declare France’s recognition of a Palestinian state on Monday at a UN conference in New York, as the UN General Assembly starts.
“We have to recognize the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to have a state,” Macron said in an interview broadcast on Israeli television Channel 12. 
“If you don’t give a political perspective, in fact, you just put them in the hands of those who are just proposing a security approach, an aggressive approach.”
Macron argues the move is the only way to bring peace and stability to the region as it puts back on the table a two-state solution, in which a Palestinian state would be created alongside Israel in most or all of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem.
More than 145 countries already recognize a Palestinian state, including more than a dozen in Europe. The UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Malta, Belgium, and Luxembourg, among others, are expected to follow Macron’s lead in recognizing Palestinian statehood in the coming days.
The move aims to prompt “tangible, irreversible progress within a time frame that allows for a return to the two-state solution,” according to a top French diplomat. 
Macron announced his decision at the end of July, arguing there’s no time to wait. 
“The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved,” he wrote on social platform X.
On Friday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noe Barrot tied Macron’s diplomatic efforts to the arrest of a key Palestinian suspect in a 1982 terror attack in Paris, adding that the recognition of a Palestinian state “will allow us to seek extradition.”
President Macron welcomed the arrest in the occupied West Bank, calling it the result of “excellent cooperation” with the Palestinian Authority.
The suspect, Hicham Harb, 70, is accused of overseeing the militants who stormed the Jo Goldenberg restaurant on Rue des Rosiers on Aug. 9, 1982. 

 


Recognizing a Palestinian state ‘key’ for peace: Luxembourg PM

Luxembourg's Prime Minister Luc Frieden looks on during an interview with AFP in Luxembourg on September 18, 2025. (AFP)
Luxembourg's Prime Minister Luc Frieden looks on during an interview with AFP in Luxembourg on September 18, 2025. (AFP)
Updated 40 min 54 sec ago

Recognizing a Palestinian state ‘key’ for peace: Luxembourg PM

Luxembourg's Prime Minister Luc Frieden looks on during an interview with AFP in Luxembourg on September 18, 2025. (AFP)
  • UN votes to let Palestinian president address General Assembly by video after US visa denial

LUXEMBOURG: Recognizing a Palestinian state will help keep alive the peace process in the Middle East, Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Luc Frieden said as his country prepares to take the step next week.

Of the UN’s 193 member states, 147 already recognize a Palestinian state, but none of the Group of Seven major economies did so until now.
The Luxembourg Grand Duchy is among a raft of nations including Australia, Belgium, Canada, France and the UK that plan to join their ranks at a UN summit in New York on Sept. 22.
“I would like the Israeli and Palestinian peoples to keep hope alive that one day they will be able to live in peace,” Frieden said in an interview.
The recognition will be “a key moment in this process ... an important step in a long march toward peace and stability in the region,” said the 62-year-old center-right leader, who will be in New York to represent his country.
Last week, the General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a text supporting a future Palestinian state, albeit without Hamas.
“We will see on Monday what the Arab countries have to say. The fact that they condemn Hamas is new. Hamas must go and Arab countries must help us to achieve this,” Frieden said.
The US has also opposed recognition and denied US visas to the Palestinian delegation to the UN.
The UN General Assembly on Friday voted to allow President Mahmoud Abbas to address its annual meeting of world leaders by video. 
The motion passed by a vote of 145-5, with six abstentions.
“The state of Palestine may submit a pre-recorded statement of its president, which will be played in the General Assembly Hall,” said the resolution.
“Everything we do is not against the Israeli people but is intended to stop the atrocities we are seeing in Gaza,” said Frieden.
Luxembourg, one of the EU’s founding members, supports proposed EU sanctions against Israel including curbing trade ties, he added.
“If they don’t listen to us, unfortunately we will have to move toward sanctions,” he said of Netanyahu’s government.