JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Human Rights Watch on Monday accused Israel of "abusive arrests" of Palestinian children as young as 11 and of using threats to force them to sign confessions.

Israeli authorities failed to inform parents of their children's arrest or whereabouts, the New York-based watchdog added, drawing on accounts of several children detained during intense unrest in east Jerusalem and the West Bank late last year.

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A conference on religious tourism organized by the United Nations World Tourism Organization began Monday in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

It is the first time UNWTO has chosen Palestine to host the two-day international conference, this year titled "Fostering sustainable socio-economic development for host communities."

A Palestinian Bedouin girl drinks from a water tank outside her family’s tent near the West Bank town of Tubas in the Jordan Valley on 6 May. Besieged Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley have called on the international community to immediately intervene to halt Israeli military exercises in the area.

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

PLO Executive Committee
Department of Culture and Information

May 14, 2015

On 23^rd April 2015, H.E. Dr. Rami Hamdallah, Prime Minister of the State of Palestine, had a meeting with H.E. Mr. Truong Tan Sang, State President of Vietnam, on the sidelines of the 2015 Asian African Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia.

At the meeting, President Sang reaffirmed Viet Nam's long standing friendship with Palestine and support for the struggle of the Palestinian people for their fundamental national rights. He also acclaimed the establishment of a joint Committee to promote bilateral cooperation activities in various fields including politic, economic and commercial areas.