Jailed Palestinian leader Barghouti’s writings to be collected in new book

Writings and correspondence from jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti will be collected in a new book due out later this year, with his family expressing hope that it would give a new audience insight into his mindset.

“Unbroken: In Pursuit of Freedom for Palestine” will be published in November and feature “private letters to his family, letters to public figures, press interviews, public statements, important historical documents” and personal photos, according to publisher Penguin Random House’s Vintage division.

It will also include excerpts from his previous book, 2011’s “1000 Days in Solitary Confinement”, which was previously only available in Arabic, Vintage said.

Barghouti has been jailed by Israel since 2002. A senior leader in President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah group, Barghouti was a prominent figure in the first and second Intifadas, and was convicted by an Israeli court on five counts of murder in 2004, two years after he was jailed. He has denied the charges.

His imprisonment by Israel has been among the most high-profile, and his release has long been a key aim of several of the groups opposing Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

Indian writer Arundhati Roy pulls out of Berlin Film Festival over Gaza row

Indian writer Arundhati Roy says she was cancelling her planned participation in the Berlin Film Festival over comments from jury president Wim Wenders that the festival had to “stay out of politics”.

The Booker Prize-winning author said in a statement sent to AFP that she was “shocked and disgusted” by the celebrated German director’s response to a question on Gaza at a press conference on Thursday, adding: “With deep regret, I must say that I will not be attending the Berlinale.”

Tons of movies are full of propaganda, what do you mean "stay out of politics".

Palestine Action HUMILIATE Government In High Court

Dropping bombs on women and children is "self defence", opposing genocide is "terrorism"


Well at least not all the judges have been bought / replaced (yet)

UN says threats against its officials ‘unacceptable’

The UN says it rejects any threats made against Special Rapporteur Francesa Albanese.

Earlier this week, an online campaign targeted her using doctored video to manipulate comments she made during the Al Jazeera forum in Doha.

“UN officials across the board face increasingly personal attacks, whether online or in real life, and that remains a concern, and in that sense, we, of course, share the concern of the high commissioner’s office,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, said.

“People can disagree, people can criticise, but threats are unacceptable on any target.”

Albanese ‘must be protected’

UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese “must be protected” amid calls for her resignation from Czechia, France and Germany, Patrick Zahnd, president of the Lawyers for the Respect of International Law, tells Al Jazeera.

“She’s an independent expert elected by the Human Rights Council, and she has to be protected”, he said.

Instead, she is actually being sanctioned, he said. “We are in a situation where representatives of the special procedures of the human rights council are under attack and have been under attack for quite some time”.

He said this includes sanctions against judges at the International Criminal Court.

He said threats and intimidation against such figures have been commonplace in the past, but “what is very strange is that now the very European states and the US are using such pressure, intimidation and threats against such a person, who must be protected”.

Ben-Gvir visits Ofer prison as tear gas fired in cells housing Palestinians

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, visited the cells of Palestinian prisoners at Ofer Prison near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to Wafa.

It said video footage released by Israeli media showed assaults on prisoners with the use of gas and stun grenades, as well as the forced removal and mistreatment of prisoners in the prison yard.

Ben-Gvir, who is in charge of the Israeli prison system, is reported to have threatened prisoners before the month of Ramadan, as he boasted about the changes he has made to prison conditions since taking office and warned of potential executions.

In November, Ben-Gvir bragged about the harsh treatment of Palestinian prisoners in a video filmed next to bound prisoners lying blindfolded on the floor.

A few days later, Ben-Gvir was seen carrying sweets in Israel’s parliament as it advanced a bill that would allow the death penalty for “terrorists” and is seen as targeting Palestinians.

Israeli army chief visits Rafah

Eyal Zamir said on his visit that the Israeli army is ready to resume its attacks on Gaza if ordered to do so.

“We are not relinquishing the objectives of the war – the full demilitarization of the Gaza Strip and the disarmament of Hamas,” he said.

As reported by Israeli outlet Haaretz, the Israeli army released two separate statements about Zamir’s visit, one in English and one in Hebrew. In the English statement, it quoted him as saying soldiers “stand ready to act defensively as required”. The Hebrew statement, however, said the army is “prepared to act offensively as necessary”.

UN says Israel blocked several humanitarian missions in Gaza

The UN says Israeli authorities blocked several humanitarian missions in the Gaza Strip, including one aimed at reaching a wastewater treatment plant in Khan Younis, limiting aid to civilians in urgent need.

Citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said during a news conference that the UN teams “attempted to coordinate eight humanitarian missions, five of which were fully facilitated”.

“The three other missions, including one to reach a wastewater treatment plant in Khan Younis, were denied by the Israeli authorities,” he said.

“Four months since the ceasefire agreement came into effect, the humanitarian scale-up has saved countless lives and pushed back famine in Gaza.” However, he said, many Palestinians live in “extremely harsh conditions”, and the “humanitarian response faces significant obstacles”.

Diplomat overseeing Gaza says ‘violations of ceasefire’ threaten transitional governance

The top diplomat overseeing the US-brokered “ceasefire” deal in Gaza says that continued violations of the agreement pose major obstacles to the Palestinian committee expected to oversee postwar governance and reconstruction.

Nickolay Mladenov, who serves as high representative for Gaza for the US-established Board of Peace, spoke during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference. The international board, established by US President Donald Trump, is set to meet next week.

“We need to make sure that what is happening now with the violations of the ceasefire stops,” Mladenov said. “We’re only embarrassing the committee and ultimately making it ineffective.”

Mladenov didn’t lay out a specific timeline but said “all of this needs to move very fast”.

Unusual activities at Iranian nuclear sites; US warships collide in Caribbean

Satellite photos have captured movements at Iran’s nuclear facilities, including those that Donald Trump had claimed to have obliterated last year. This came after Trump seemingly hardened his stand on Iran following his meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu. Rifat Jawaid analyses this development alongside news of two US warships colliding in the Caribbean.