French towns fly Palestinian flag despite government ban

Mayors across France have flown Palestinian flags in defiance of a government order to take them down before the country joins several other Western countries in recognising a Palestinian state.F

rance’s Interior Ministry said 21 town halls had raised the Palestinian flag despite Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who belongs to the right-wing Republicans party, telling municipal governments to observe “neutrality”.

Many more municipal governments were expected to join those who chose to hoist the flag.

The mayors were responding to a call by the leader of France’s Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, who condemned what he called Retailleau’s “insane indecency”, calling on the outgoing interior minister, who resigned this week, to step aside.


_{The Palestinian flag is flown from the Saint-Denis town hall in Paris}

There is no place for neutrality when it comes to genocide.

Parisians say more pressure needed beyond recognition of Palestine

Paris residents have spoken to Al Jazeera about France’s imminent recognition of Palestinian statehood and say further action is needed to halt Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

“It’s only words, and actions must follow,” one woman said, adding that economic sanctions are needed.

Another woman said she hopes the recognition would be a step towards alleviating the suffering of Palestinians. “For us, it’s a country that always existed,” she said. “We support Palestinians and hope this is a step towards a real physical state existing, and we hope the genocide ends and children and their families can eat again.”

Another woman said recognising Palestine was “useless as there is only rubble left”. “There is nothing left of Gaza,” she said. “You can recognise a state, but where will people be able to live?”

Protests across Italy in solidarity with Gaza

Thousands of protesters and strikers calling for solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza have taken to the streets across Italy.

In Milan, the country’s financial hub in the northeast, tension escalated when dozens of protesters dressed in black and armed with batons tried to smash the main entrance of the city’s central train station, throwing smoke bombs, bottles and stones at police officers, who responded with pepper spray.

<sub>People in Italy march during a nationwide strike called ‘Let’s Block Everything’ in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and calling for a halt to arms shipments to Israel


Protesters clash with anti-riot police as they try to enter Milano Centrale train station</sub>

Singapore to sanction Israeli settler leaders, supports Palestine statehood

Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, speaking in parliament, has chided those Israeli politicians who have spoken about annexing parts of the occupied West Bank or Gaza, the two Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

“We call on the Israeli government to cease settlement construction and expansion,” he said, citing the so-called E1 settlement project as fragmenting the West Bank. “We oppose ongoing attempts to create new facts on the ground which undermine the prospects for a two-state solution.”

More details on the sanctions would be released at a later date, he said.

Balakrishnan said it was a matter of when, not if, Singapore recognises a Palestinian state and that the nation is waiting for an “appropriate constellation” of factors, including a need for an effective Palestinian government that accepts Israel’s right to exist.

“Ultimately, to resolve this longstanding conflict in a comprehensive, just and durable manner, there needs to be a negotiated settlement which results in two states, one Israeli [and] one Palestinian, with their peoples living alongside each other in peace, security and dignity,” he said.

Scotland calls for more sanctions on Israel

Scottish First Minister John Swinney has urged the British government to go beyond its recognition of a Palestinian state by imposing sanctions and halting arms sales to Israel.

“This is a historic moment for the people of Palestine, which should have come long ago,” Swinney said while speaking at a ceremony outside the Palestinian Mission in London.

He added that while the UK’s decision was “welcome news”, it was “just the first step towards establishing the two-state solution”.

“I have been clear that the UK’s recognition of the State of Palestine should have been unconditional, but this decision goes some way towards acknowledging the UK’s solemn and historic responsibility towards all peoples of the region,” he said.

Swinney called on the UK government to withdraw from its trade deal with Israel, ban imports from settlements, end defence exports and all military cooperation, and impose sanctions on members of Israel’s security cabinet.

He also urged London to join South Africa’s genocide case at the International Court of Justice and facilitate the evacuation of injured children from Gaza for treatment in Scotland.

Recognition of Palestinian statehood ‘just the beginning’: UK MP

British independent MP Shockat Adam says that the UK’s recognition of Palestine’s statehood is “just the beginning” of a process to realising a viable Palestinian state.

“Hopefully it’s a turning point in history,” said Adam, who in October presented a bill in the British parliament calling for the recognition of a Palestinian state. “We must use this as a first step to achieve everything else” required, he said, from a peace process to agreed-upon borders.

He said that supporters of the Palestinian cause in the UK would not allow the British government to treat the recognition as a “tick-box exercise” but would maintain pressure on the government to push for further action required.

“My election in part was because … of what was happening in Gaza,” he said. “There are millions of people out there … and there are parliamentarians on both sides of the house … which will hold this government to account.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry threatens Gaza-bound aid flotilla

The time for peace has come: Macron

“We have gathered here because the time has come,” President Macron says at the UN.

“The time has come to free the hostages, the time has come to stop the war, massacres and the fleeing people.  “The time has come because there’s a pressing urgency everywhere. The time for peace has come."

“We are few moments away from no longer being able to seize peace. And that’s why we’ve gathered here.”

France recognises the State of Palestine

“This is the very reason today here, in this chamber, we must pave the way for peace,” Macron adds. “It falls on us, this responsibility, to do everything in our power to preserve the possibility of two-state solution.

“Today, I declare that France recognises the State of Palestine.”

Israel, USA envoys not present at the conference

As President Macron announced the recognition of the State of Palestine at a conference ahead of the UN General Assembly, envoys from the US and Israel were both missing from the event.

Saudi Arabia says Israel’s actions ‘threatens regional and international peace’

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud thanked President Macron and UN chief Antonio Guterres for their efforts towards achieving a two-state solution and “for recognising the state of Palestine”.

He said the conference, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, comes at a time when “the Israeli occupation authorities continue their aggression and their brutal crimes” against Palestinians in Gaza “and its violations in the West Bank and its repeated attacks on Arab and Muslim countries, with the most recent attack on Qatar”.

“These actions underline Israel’s insistence on continuing aggressive practices that threaten regional and international peace and stability and undermine efforts of peace in the region,” he said.

Faisal stressed that a two-state solution is “the only way to achieve just and lasting peace”. noting that the General Assembly’s New York Declaration had been adopted with 142 votes in favour, reflecting “the will of the international community to render justice to the Palestinian people”.

Max Blumenthal: Israel Racing to a FINAL SOLUTION in Gaza, Military Action Needed to Stop Israel

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Max Blumenthal, Editor in Chief of The Grayzone. He discusses the Democrats’ and the media’s sudden switch to acknowledging starvation in Gaza and the scale of the carnage, Israel’s race towards a final solution in Gaza to the shock of the Democrats, the New York Times’ apology over its reporting of the death of a child which effectively ceded ground to the Zionist lobby, the role of NATO nation journalists as stenographers for imperial power, why a military intervention is needed to stop the Gaza Holocaust, the hypocrisy of Samantha Power and the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ doctrine over Gaza, why the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is a Mossad, IDF and CIA cutout, Trump’s threats against Russia along the lines of the ‘Kellogg formula’, the sidelining of Tulsi Gabbard and the relegation of her role to just saving Donald Trump’s skin, the potential for another war between Israel and Iran, and much more.

There is No Anti-Semitism Crisis - How Zionists Constructed a Moral Panic

Global Anti-Semitism is not rising. This video shows that the 'Anti-Semitism crisis' is a propaganda narrative constructed by Zionist organisations to distract from & enable Israeli atrocities - and explains how the many people who fell for this narrative & spread it without ever questioning it need to do much better.

Hamas must surrender weapons to Palestinian Authority: Abbas

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is now speaking to the UN conference via videolink. Abbas is not in New York City for the UN General Assembly as the Trump administration revoked his visa.

PA President Abbas said Hamas will not have any role in the governance and told the group to surrender its weapons to the Palestinian Authority. He also said:

France presents new peace framework

As we reported earlier, France has recognised the state of Palestine.

In his speech at the UN, President Macron also outlined a framework that France is advancing in parallel.

This includes the creation of a “renewed Palestinian Authority” (PA), under which France would open an embassy, subject to factors such as reforms, a ceasefire and the release of all remaining captives held in Gaza.

An International Stabilisation Force (ISF) would assist in preparing the PA to take over governance in Gaza.

Macron also tied France’s cooperation with Israel on ending the war in Gaza, and said that he expected Arab countries to normalise ties with Israel after the creation of a Palestinian state.


One huge problem with all that, The PA has no credibility in the West Bank, let alone Gaza. The PA is seen as Israel's lap dog and falls far behind in polls, even against Hamas. 

Polls from last May

https://www.pcpsr.org/en/node/997

40% (compared to 43% seven months ago) believe that Hamas is the most deserving of representing and leading the Palestinian people today while 19% (compared to 19% seven months ago) believe that Fatah led by president Abbas is the most deserving. More than a third, (35%) compared to 32% seven months ago, believe both are unworthy of representation and leadership.

An overwhelming majority (69%) believes that the new Palestinian government appointed by President Mahmoud Abbas and formed in March will not succeed in carrying out reforms that the previous government headed by Mohammad Shtayyeh was unable to carry out. By contrast, 23% believe it will succeed in doing so. Seven months ago, 69% said the new government would not succeed in carrying out reforms.



Don't make the same mistakes again, not involving the Palestinian people in the plans...

But maybe that's the strategy, to set a 2-state solution up for failure like many times before...

Israel ‘must accept its share of responsibility’ for Gaza war: Australian PM

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the UN conference that Gaza is “in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe” and said Israel “must accept its share of responsibility”.

“Throughout this conflict, Australia has supported calls for a ceasefire because every innocent life matters. Every Israeli life. Every Palestinian life,” he said.

“Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed. Desperate people, including children, denied vital aid. Aid workers killed. Journalists killed trying to bring the truth out.”

Albanese also condemned Israel’s “continued illegal expansion of settlements… and an increase in settler violence” in the occupied West Bank as well as “threats to annex parts of Palestine, and permanently displace the Palestinian people”.

“Such conduct risks putting a two-state solution beyond reach,” he said. “That is where the current road leads. We must choose a different path. We must break this cycle of violence and build something better.”

Two-state solution a ‘security imperative’: Egypt

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly says the two-state solution is “not just a political choice or a moral obligation” but “a security imperative”. “The only path to a secure and stable Middle East is to guarantee the Palestinian people a right to freedom, dignity and independence,” he said.

Madbouly stressed that Egypt rejected any attempt to displace Palestinians or “liquidate their cause”.

He added that Egypt would host an international reconstruction conference, as soon as a ceasefire was in place, to mobilise funds and “ensure Palestinian people will remain in their land”.

Spain’s PM says no solution possible when Palestinians victim to genocide

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, says a two-state solution is not possible “when the population of one of those two states is the victim of a genocide”.

While he described recognising Palestinian statehood as a “crucial step forward”, he told the summit that ensuring the Palestinian people are able to remain within a Palestinian state is even more urgent than recognising statehood.

“The Palestinian people are being annihilated, [so] in the name of reason, in the name of international law and in the name of human dignity, we have to stop this slaughter,” said Sanchez, noting that “at this precise moment, bombs continue to fall indiscriminately on the civilian population in Gaza”.

He concluded his speech by calling for Palestine to become a “fully fledged member of the United Nations as soon as possible” and for countries to take “immediate… measures to halt the brutality and make peace”.

Recognition of Palestinian statehood disconnected from reality on the ground

Ines Abdel Razek, the executive director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, says the recognition of Palestinian statehood by Western countries was “long overdue” and comes at a time when it is increasingly disconnected from the reality on the ground.

Abdel Razek said the move will do little to “prevent Israel from destroying the very state that [governments have] recognised” unless they take meaningful measures to halt Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

The analyst added that the recognition was likely greenlit by Western leaders to “self-aggrandise” and decrease public pressure within civil societies, rather than trigger meaningful changes on the ground.

What’s happening in Gaza as world leaders meet at UN?

As world leaders are holding a meeting at the UN to discuss a possible two-state solution, Israeli attacks continue to pound the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army has deployed another battalion to Gaza City and is continuing a ground assault to seize the Strip’s largest urban centre.

At least seven people have been killed, and many are wounded, in the central Samer area. Two others were killed in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood, and one in a drone strike in the al-Sahaba area.

Israel has issued evacuation threats, telling people to move to the south.

An attack to the west of Gaza City has left several Palestinians wounded as they were preparing their belongings for a forced evacuation from the Shati refugee camp.

WHO says destruction of Gaza clinics will ‘cause more deaths’

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has condemned an Israeli strike on a health facility in Gaza City that he said reduced it “to rubble”.

“Today’s attack on a Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) primary health care centre in Gaza City turned it into rubble,” he said on X.

“Two health workers were reportedly injured. It was among Gaza City’s few functioning facilities, providing blood donation and testing services, trauma care, cancer medications and chronic disease treatment.”

He added that the strike “reportedly came just 30 minutes after a warning to evacuate”

Tedros warned that “the continued destruction of Gaza City’s health facilities will cause more deaths and further overwhelm already overcrowded hospitals in the south”, stressing that “attacks on health facilities must end” and “the senseless violence must stop”.

Israeli army carries out raid of al-Arroub camp in occupied West Bank

Fighting has broken out in al-Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron, after an Israeli raid.

The camp is located between Bethlehem and Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank, where an Israeli military watchtower stands immediately outside the camp.

Al-Arroub is one of the most frequently targeted camps in the occupied West Bank, with residents regularly subjected to arrests, tear gas, sound bombs and live ammunition, according to the UN.