Middle East & North Africa

11 April 2022; MEMO: Algeria intends to increase its natural gas exports to Italy by 50 per cent as part of a new deal expected to be signed today, Bloomberg reported.

According to the agency, the agreement is "non-public" and stipulates that "Algeria will increase its exports to Italy by 9 to 10 billion cubic meters per year by the end of 2022."

Italy received about 21 billion cubic meters of gas from Algeria in 2021, compared to about 29 billion cubic meters from Russia.

12 April 2022; MEMO: The head of the Joint List in the Israeli parliament urged all Arab citizens of Israel serving in Israel's occupation forces to quit, slamming their service as "humiliating" and a "disgrace".

"It's a disgrace that a young Arab or the parents of a young Arab would agree to enlist and serve in the security forces, which are actually forces of the occupation," said Knesset member Ayman Odeh in a video filmed at occupied East Jerusalem's Damascus Gate.

11 April 2022; MEMO: The Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI), owned by the Kingdom's sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund (PIF), has signed a preliminary agreement with the world's largest aerospace company, Boeing, to enter a joint venture to expand the Saudi aviation sector.

11 April 2022; MEMO: Kuwait has raised the official selling prices (OSPs) for two crude grades it sells to Asia in May to record levels, a price document reviewed by Reuters showed today.

The producer has set May Kuwait Export Crude (KEC) price at $9.30 a barrel above the average of Oman/Dubai quotes, up $4.50 from the previous month.

It also raised the May Kuwait Super Light Crude (KSLC) OSP to $9.65 a barrel above Oman/Dubai quotes, up $3.70.

12 April 2022; MEMO: Iran yesterday questioned the United States' will to reaching an agreement to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement, citing unresolved differences; after a year of talks.

"We really don't know if we'll get a deal or not, because the United States hasn't shown the necessary will to reach an agreement," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

"What remains are the decisions of Washington," he added.

"If we reach a good agreement, we will of course go to Vienna tomorrow," he said.

12 April 2022; MEMO: Israeli occupation authorities yesterday transferred Jerusalemite legislator, Ahmed Atoun, to administrative detention for a period of four months, Quds Press reported.

12 April 2022; MEMO: The Palestinian government and local authorities concerned with prisoners' affairs have rejected the Israeli High Court's ruling that the Palestinian Authority can be held liable for attacks on Israeli targets as it pays stipends to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and the families of those killed during attacks on Israelis.

11 April 2022; MEMO: The Palestinian government, on Monday, rejected an Israeli judicial decision to allow a deduction from Palestinian taxes in compensation to Israelis affected by attacks, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Speaking at a weekly Cabinet meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, termed the Israeli decision as "illegal" and "illegitimate".

12 April 2022; MEMO: The Palestinian Authority has called for the international community "to impose sanctions" on the apartheid state of Israel in a bid to stop its crimes against the people of occupied Palestine, Al-Watan Voice has reported.

12 April 2022; MEMO: Egyptian economic expert Ayman Hadhoud, who worked with the Reform and Development Party, has passed away after having been forcibly disappeared in February, Middle East Observer reported.