MUST-READS

• Saudi experts on urban heritage give lectures in Paris

  Experts on urban heritage from Saudi Arabia are giving a series of lectures on the topic at the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization offices in Paris. Organized by the Saudi Heritage Commission, the program of four lectures explores some of the initiatives developed by the organization and the wider strategies on urban heritage in the Kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The first lecture delved into material and intangible methods for preserving urban heritage, while the second looked at the development of traditional architecture in Al-Ahsa.

• Commentary: Religious tolerance is at the core of the Gulf’s strategic thinking

  It has become fashionable for many modern secularists to demonise religion as being a major barrier to peace. When they learn someone is devout, it often wrongly conjures up images of extreme confessional intolerance, such as the Spanish Inquisition torturing suspected heretics based on flimsy evidence. It is perhaps not a surprise, then, that the significant role religion plays in daily life in Gulf countries – including the political and legal systems – occasionally draws antipathy and hysterically negative media coverage in the West.

• U.S. military completes temporary pier off Gaza; deliveries to start within days

  The U.S. Army has completed a temporary pier on a Gazan beach; trucks should begin hauling away the first 500 tons of aid for civilians within days, with thousands more tons in the pipeline, Pentagon officials said Thursday.

• San Remo: The Middle East’s Most Important Treaty You Never Heard Of

  A year and half after the end of World War I, the victorious Allied Powers convened at a villa in northern Italy to decide the fate of the defeated Ottoman Empire and redraw the map of the Middle East, which had been part of that empire. The result of this conference was The Treaty of San Remo which was signed on April 24, 1920.

• Opinion: The Gaza Crisis Pushes Washington and Riyadh Closer

  Riyadh wants to conclude defense agreements and to advance regional peacemaking, but when it comes to Netanyahu’s government, it has no peace partner. On the contrary, Saudi Arabia must contend with an Israeli leader who has promised to launch an offensive into Rafah, creating the potential for a regional explosion that Iran will exploit. Can Saudi leaders secure and justify some kind of defense agreement with the United States without signaling that they have not turned their back on the Palestinians?

• Zain invests $427mn to expand 5G, digital services in Saudi Arabia

  Saudi telco Zain KSA announced plans to invest a total of SAR1.6 billion ($427 million) to expand its 5G network and digital services ecosystem in Saudi Arabia, local press reported. The operator said it will expand its current 5G network coverage to 122 cities across the country.

• The Future of EV Charging: Spotlight on the UAE and Saudi Arabia

  KSA has also made several high-profile investments through its sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (“PIF”). In 2023, PIF and Saudi Electricity Company established a 75%/25% owned joint venture, the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Company (“EVIQ”). EVIQ intends to install 5,000+ fast chargers by 2030 in over 1,000 locations across KSA. It also aims to promote private sector participation in the development of this network and support the localisation of research, development, and manufacturing of technologically advanced materials.

• Calls for change mount as Saudi lady doctor dies in car crash post her 24-hour shift
  The Saudi medical community has mourned the loss of Dr. Aziza Fatani, a dedicated neonatal intensive care doctor who died in a car accident after completing a 24-hour shift at a hospital in Jeddah.
  The incident, which occurred last Sunday, has sparked widespread calls for reform in hospital work schedules.

• Satellite images show Gazans forced to cram into Al-Mawasi tent city

  Once a tiny fishing village, Al-Mawasi — a Heathrow airport-sized patch of coastal land on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast — is now the fetid, thirsty and disease-filled refuge of tens of thousands of Palestinians. As Israel pounds Rafah in the south of the enclave and re-engages with Hamas in the north, more people from around Gaza are streaming towards Al-Mawasi, hoping the bombing will not follow them. A densely packed tent city has spilled on to the sewage-tainted beach close to the border with Egypt.

• The Unpunished: How Extremists Took Over Israel

  Such violence over the decades in places like Khirbet Zanuta is well documented. But protecting the people who carry out that violence is the dark secret of Israeli justice. The long arc of harassment, assault and murder of Palestinians by Jewish settlers is twinned with a shadow history, one of silence, avoidance and abetment by Israeli officials.

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