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Forums - Politics Discussion - Israel-Hamas war, Gaza genocide

SvennoJ on 22 May 2024
US going after Egypt now, first the blame for the negotiations failing, now putting it on Egypt to get aid in. It's the IDF that's blocking the Rafah crossing...

Blinken urges Egypt to ensure aid is flowing into Gaza

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged Egypt to do everything it can to make sure humanitarian aid is flowing into Gaza.

Blinken told a hearing in the House of Representatives that fighting near the Rafah crossing, which Israel seized earlier this month, had made the environment for providing assistance challenging.

“So we need to find a way to make sure that the assistance that would go through Rafah can get through safely, but we do strongly urge our Egyptian partners to do everything that they can on their end of things to make sure that assistance is flowing,” Blinken said.

Aid could still get through, Blinken said, an apparent reference to the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing near Rafah that Israel says is open.

Egyptian security sources say Cairo opposes Israel’s presence at the Rafah crossing and wants it to withdraw.

Yes tell your IDF buddies to get out of Rafah.


Aid is not getting through at Kerem Shalom... Blinken stop lying for once.

Israel dumping goods at crossing with Gaza: Rights group

Gisha, an Israeli human rights organisation, accuses Israeli authorities of dumping goods on the Israeli side of the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing with Gaza. Those goods cannot be accessed without their approval.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) is the Israeli military unit responsible for ensuring that goods enter the besieged Gaza Strip.

Israel has been “mocking international organisations that can’t reach the goods because of lack of coordination during a humanitarian catastrophe”, Tania Hary, Gisha’s executive director, charged.


Egypt warns it may withdraw as mediator over ‘attempts to doubt’ its role

Speaking on the state-affiliated Al-Qahera News TV, the head of Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) Diaa Rashwan condemned what he described as efforts by some parties to blame Egyptian mediators for delays in any breakthrough in ceasefire talks.

Such allegations, Rashwan said, will only further complicate the situation. He accused those making the claims of doing so to avoid making decisive decisions in the negotiations. The statements come after Qatari mediators faced similar criticism of their role, which they firmly rejected.

The Egyptian statement came in response to a CNN report in which three anonymous sources said Egypt’s intelligence officials had quietly changed the terms in a possible deal sent to Hamas for review.

The sources said the terms presented to Hamas were different than what the US and Qatar were aware of and what Israel had agreed to. The round of negotiations eventually broke down after the changes were discovered, according to CNN.

 



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SvennoJ on 22 May 2024

Poland says it supports two-state solution

“We will support the efforts of the High Representative of the European Union and other countries that believe that some long-term, stable solution is needed,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said.

“And we believe that such a stable, long-term solution would be the existence of two states.”

EU’s Borrell says will push for ‘common’ position on two-state solution

The bloc’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell urged its 27 members to reach a shared position after Spain, Ireland, and Norway announced they would recognise Palestinian statehood.

“Within the framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, I will relentlessly work with all Member States to promote a common EU position based on a 2-state solution,” Borrell wrote on X.

A veiled attempt at getting Spain, Ireland and Norway back in line?

Sweden, Iceland, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria already recognize Palestine.

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, do not recognize Palestine (and have not announced plans yet)

So it's 12 out of 27 so far in the EU member countries.


SvennoJ on 22 May 2024

Update on US universities and Israel divestment negotiations with protesting students

  • Columbia University did not agree to divest from Israel, but Union Theological Seminary, a private, ecumenical school which shares a graduate studies programme with the university, did. On May 9, its board of trustees voted to divest from all companies profiting off the war in Gaza.
  • Brown University, another Ivy League school, agreed to hold a vote on divestment in October 2024, following protester meetings with the administrators. Despite the fact that students had to remove their encampment, the Brown Divest Coalition said that the journey for justice continues.
  • At Northwestern, student organisers and the school agreed to curb protest activity in return for the re-establishment of an advisory committee on university investments and other commitments.
  • Following a weeklong student encampment, Evergreen State College in Washington State agreed to create a task force, which will “address divestment from companies that profit from gross human rights violations and/or the occupation of Palestinian territories”.
  • After a two-week student and faculty encampment, San Francisco Student University committed to improve its public disclosure of its investments and said it would add “a human rights-based investment strategy, including divesting from direct investments in weapons manufacturers and limiting other such indirect investments”.
  • Wesleyan University agreed to a process to divest from certain industries related to the military-industrial complex and/or the conflict in Palestine-Israel, in response to a three-week student encampment.


UCLA police chief reassigned after pro-Palestine encampment violence

School administrators cited security shortcomings for the action against the California public university’s police chief John Thomas, according to the Los Angeles Times. He had faced criticism after a pro-Palestine encampment on the campus was attacked by what the university described as a “group of instigators”.

It took at least three hours for police to respond to the violence at the encampment, which came as similar camps were set up in solidarity with Gaza at universities across the US.

The newspaper reported, citing three sources, that Thomas had failed to submit a written safety contingency plan for various scenarios related to the encampment.

US universities have a police chief on duty?



SvennoJ on 22 May 2024

Israeli army announces deaths of three soldiers

In a statement, the army said that the soldiers’ ranks were major, captain and sergeant.

It also said that two soldiers were “seriously injured”, one of them in an “operational accident” on Israel’s northern border.

Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, all currently in daily combat engagements with Israeli forces, routinely claim attacks that they say kill Israeli army soldiers, sometimes multiple times per day. The Israeli army, however, announces only few deaths from among its ranks.

It would make sense regular soldiers get killed as well, or Hamas etc are very good at targeting those in command.

At least seven Palestinians killed in Israeli attack on Gaza City

Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that an Israeli army drone raid on a group of people in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City has killed at least seven and wounded more than 20 others.

The people were gathered in front of a gas station, Wafa says, before they were fired on from the air. Children are among the dead.

Doctor recounts being displaced from al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia

In video obtained by Al Jazeera, a doctor recalls being displaced from the al-Awda Hospital in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, which Israeli troops besieged four days ago.

“We were inside the hospital and did not think about leaving it and leaving the wounded and sick, but we were surprised four days ago that the Israeli army surrounded the hospital and prevented movement to and from it, and we congregated inside the corridors of the hospital to preserve the lives of patients,” one unidentified doctor said in the footage.

“The Israeli army forced us today at three o’clock in the afternoon to leave the hospital, and a number of patients and two doctors, including the director of the hospital, and some assistants remained. But all medical staff, men and women, were asked by the Israeli army to flee to areas west of Gaza City,” he added.

“We are now looking to save the medical staff who continued to stay in the hospital and have not left since last October 7.”




Sixteen-year-old Palestinian shot during Jenin raids has died

The director of Jenin Hospital has confirmed the death, after the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) had said earlier today that the teenager had been shot multiple times during Israeli raids in the refugee camp.

According to a statement from the Gaza Health Ministry, his name was Mahmoud Fares Qarini.

Israeli forces kill 11 Palestinians in two-day raid on West Bank

The death toll from the Israeli raid on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin has risen to 11, the Palestinian health ministry says.

Among those killed are four children, two 15-year olds and a two 16-year olds. Israeli forces, the ministry added, wounded at lest 25 during the raid that began on Tuesday morning.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa and medical charity Doctors Without Borders reported surgeon Usaeed Jabareen, from the Jenin government hospital, was among those killed.

A schoolteacher and a student are also among the dead, Wafa said, quoting hospital director Wissam Bakr.

Israeli forces have killed 517 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since October 7, the ministry said.



SvennoJ on 22 May 2024

ICC move ignores Israeli crimes against detainees: Palestinian rights group

Addameer says that while the decision made by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to hold Israeli officials accountable for alleged war crimes in Gaza marks a significant step, it still lacks substantial efforts to achieve comprehensive justice for all Palestinians, including prisoners.

“Despite the importance of this decision, the prosecutor completely neglected the crimes committed against Palestinian prisoners. He did not address at all the violations committed against Palestinian prisoners for many years, which have significantly escalated after October 7,” the rights group said in a statement.

Addameer said for decades, it has extensively documented crimes committed against Palestinian detainees, “all of which fall under the crimes listed by the prosecutor such as starvation, willfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health, or cruel treatment, and especially persecution as a crime against humanity”.

It also documented an increase in the acts of torture and mistreatment of Palestinian detainees since the beginning of the war, including being subjected to beatings multiple times a day, sometimes until loss of consciousness, forced to stay in stress positions, threatened, including with death, sexual violence, or threats on their families, and regularly strip-searched.

The group has also “recently documented outrages upon personal dignity against Palestinian detainees, in particular humiliating and degrading treatments against detainees from Gaza, forcing them to bark, to curse themselves, and guards scooping food with their hands before giving it to prisoners”.

‘Israeli leaders will never even recognise Palestinian humanity’: CAIR

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) welcomed the recognition of the state of Palestine by Norway, Ireland and Spain, and called on the US government to stop blocking its full UN membership.

“The full entry of the state of Palestine into the community of nations is long overdue and should not be subject to the veto of our government or that of the far-right, openly racist and genocidal Israeli government,” said Nihad Awad, CAIR’s national executive director.

“All major Israeli leaders have made it very clear that they will never willingly accept a Palestinian state, or even recognise Palestinian humanity. It is now time for all nations, including our own, to recognise the state of Palestine.”

Federal laws that would penalise international bodies for recognising Palestine must be rejected and repealed, CAIR added.


Canada’s Green Party welcomes ICC prosector move

The party has said that the Canadian government’s response to the International Criminal Court prosecutor filing applications for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Gallant, and three Hamas officials, “falls woefully short of the steady defence of international rule of law and justice Canadians expect our country to espouse as a founding member of the ICC”.

“The government must at once stop playing into the false narrative of moral equivalence. In front of the law, everyone is and must remain equal. The parties are not measured against one another but against the law,” the party said in a statement.

“From now on, it is crucial that the government refrains from declarations and actions that might negatively interfere with the work of the ICC and ICJ and commits itself publicly to respecting and enforcing their decisions, whichever they may be.”

https://x.com/j_pedneault/status/1793359212556189706

They'll get my vote next election. Not that it will do much with our crap electoral system, yet I can't vote for the major sitting parties anymore. All crap.

 



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SvennoJ on 22 May 2024

More recognition of Palestine state could strengthen Netanyahu

Laura Blumenfeld, a Middle East analyst at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC, says the decision by Norway, Ireland, and Spain was “diplomatically bold but emotionally tone deaf and unproductive”.

“For Israelis it will increase paranoia, reinforcing Netanyahu’s argument that Israelis stand alone,” said Blumenfeld. “For Palestinians, it falsely raises expectations without defining a pathway toward realising legitimate national dreams.”

For Alon Liel, a former director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry and a critic of Netanyahu’s government, the recognition of Palestine by individual countries is less important than the broader context, including cases against Israel and its leaders at the international tribunals in The Hague.

“If it’s part of a wider move that’s triggering momentum and part of the ICC, ICJ moves, sanctions on settlers and so on, there’s a chance that Israel will notice that the world exists,” said Liel.

No, this is tone deaf. Norway, Ireland and Spain did not retract their recognition of the state of Israel. This is not against Israel, this is pro Palestine. When will these people learn that there is more than A xor B. A 2 state solution, which is what Norway, Ireland and Spain are advocating for is A and B. Just as the ICC seeks arrests warrants for both Hamas and the Israeli government.

Isrealis need to learn that Palestinians are people as well, with human rights, just like Israelis. Israelis only stand alone in sustaining (well not quite alone with the US and most of western Europe still backing) the occupation, apartheid and ongoing genocide in Gaza.

It's the US that gets further and further isolated in upholding their green light for Israel to do whatever it wants to Palestinians.


Colombia to open embassy in Ramallah: Minister

Speaking to reporters, Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo says the Latin American country’s President Gustavo Petro has ordered the opening of an embassy in Ramallah. The move comes weeks after Petro, Colombia’s first leftist leader, cut diplomatic ties with Israel over the war in Gaza.

“President Petro has given the order that we open the Colombian embassy in Ramallah, the representation of Colombia in Ramallah, that is the next step we are going to take,” Murillo said.

Petro has heavily criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and requested to join South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice.

Slovenia to decide if it will recognise Palestinian statehood: Diplomat

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Slovenia’s ambassador to the UN, Samuel Zbogar, may soon join other European countries in formally recognising a Palestinian state.

He said the country’s foreign minister has travelled “very extensively” in the Middle East, and the government will finalise its internal discussions by June 13.

“We want to create a momentum which was created this morning by three countries. [We] want to continue that momentum and in that way to help stabilise the situation on the ground, as well as creating momentum for a two-state solution, which is now somehow on the shelf,” he told Al Jazeera from UN headquarters in New York.

That would make it 13 out of 27 EU members to recognize Palestine.



SvennoJ on 22 May 2024

Aid deliveries still suspended in Rafah as disease spikes

In its daily report, the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says cases of diarrhoea, respiratory infections and jaundice syndrome surged in the wake of Israel’s attacks on Rafah in the south of Gaza.

Since May 6, 800,000 people have been displaced from the city, according to the agency, with another 100,000 displaced from the north of Gaza. Meanwhile, a suspension of aid deliveries in Rafah announced on Tuesday continues.

In northern Gaza, Kamal Adwan Hospital remains non-functional and al-Awda Hospital is under siege, it said.


All patients and staff reportedly evacuate from Kamal Adwan Hospital: WHO

WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus has said the hospital in the northern town of Beit Lahiya is “no longer functioning”.

The update comes after Israeli forces launched artillery attacks on the facility and a missile struck the hospital’s emergency department.

“Access to health care across Gaza is further shrinking. Many hospitals lack fuel and medicines due to the continued closure of the Rafah crossing,” Tedros wrote on X.

Israeli forces move deeper into the heart of Rafah

Israeli forces are advancing and now sit on the edge of a crowded district in the heart of the city of Rafah, residents in the city in southern Gaza say.

The Reuters news agency reports that Israeli tanks have taken up new positions further west along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, and now sit on the edge of Yibna neighbourhood at the centre of Rafah, but are yet to enter the district.

Palestinian residents say Israeli forces fired into Yibna overnight and also fired on fishing boats, causing some to catch fire. The advance comes after one of the most intense nights of bombardment yet by the Israeli military on Rafah.

“There has been no stopping of Israeli fire all night, from drones, helicopters, warplanes, and tanks,” one Rafah resident, asking for his name to be withheld, told Reuters.

The Israeli military says it is attacking the city, which was one of the last refuges for more than a million Palestinian civilians in Gaza, to root out the last battalions of Hamas fighters it says are sheltering there. The assault has been widely condemned by the international community and humanitarian groups.


A Palestinian man and his children sit in a destroyed room following the targeting of a residential building by an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza, on May 22

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 22 May 2024

SvennoJ on 23 May 2024

Palestinians ‘living among rubble’ after fleeing Israeli ground invasion of Rafah: UN

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has reported that people displaced by the Israeli military order to clear Rafah are now living in dire conditions in nearby Khan Younis.

Of the more than 800,000 people who heeded the Israeli military order on May 6 to leave Rafah, almost 150,000 have registered for UNRWA assistance in Khan Younis in the past 10 days and there has been a 36 percent increase in those requiring shelter at UN facilities in the area.

Those in need of help are “families living among rubble in damaged schools, lacking tents, essential services and vital supplies”, UNRWA said.


Palestinians walk by houses destroyed by Israeli strikes on Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 22


Israeli forces kill 16 Palestinians in attack on mosque in Gaza City

Witnesses are saying that Israeli forces bombed the Fatima al-Zahra Mosque in northern Gaza City a short while ago, killing at least 16 people and wounding many more. Most of the victims were displaced women and children taking shelter at the mosque, which also houses a Quran school, the witnesses said. The victims included at least 10 children.

The Israeli raid also caused severe damage to the mosque and surrounding buildings on al-Sahaba Street in the Daraj neighbourhood.

We are also following a separate Israeli attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza that killed at least eight Palestinians.


One Palestinian killed in Israeli shelling of Rafah

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting heavy shelling on Rafah as Israeli troops advance further into the heart of the southern city.

Gaza’s civil defence teams said at least one Palestinian has been killed in the attacks so far.


WHO chief makes ‘urgent’ appeal as Israeli forces storm Gaza’s al-Awda Hospital

WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus has “urgently” called for the protection of patients, staff and civilians as Israeli forces have “invaded” the al-Awda Hospital, which has been under siege from Israel’s troops and tanks since Sunday.

In a post on social media, Tedros said 140 medical staff, patients and their civilian companions were inside the hospital when it was raided by Israeli soldiers earlier today. Troops ordered everyone to leave except 12 members of staff, including the hospital director, 14 patients and eight companions.

Tedros appealed for those ordered to remain behind by Israeli forces to be protected and allowed to leave safely.

“WHO urgently calls for the protection of patients, companions and health workers inside the hospital and safe passage for their evacuation,” he said.

Earlier, the WHO chief said the Kamal Adwan Hospital, also in northern Gaza’s Jabalia area, was “no longer functioning” after all patients and staff were evacuated following multiple Israeli missile strikes on the facility on Wednesday.



SvennoJ on 23 May 2024

Video shows Israeli forces interrogate, abuse stripped Palestinian men in Jenin

Video clips of Israel’s ongoing military raid in the occupied West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp show an Israeli soldier kicking one of several Palestinian detainees who are being forced to kneel on a road at night wearing only their underwear.

The footage, verified by Al Jazeera, also shows Israeli soldiers shining bright lights onto the men’s faces as they appear to interrogate them.

The Israeli raid in Jenin, which began on Tuesday morning, has killed at least 11 Palestinians, including four children.

Israeli forces open fire at Al Jazeera crew in Jenin

Israeli soldiers have fired live rounds at an Al Jazeera crew near a hotel in Jenin as one of our correspondents was preparing to go live. One hotel staff member was wounded.

The Israeli soldiers surrounded the hotel and withdrew after bulldozing the main entrance and security room.

Israeli raids continue across the occupied West Bank

Local media is reporting several Israeli raids at locations across the occupied West Bank tonight.

  • The eastern area of ​​the city of Nablus
  • The Aqbat Jabr refugee camp, south of Jericho
  • The village of Husan, west of Bethlehem
  • The village of Kafr Ain in Ramallah district
  • The al-Marj area of the city of Qalqilya

Earlier we reported that an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp continues, with video showing a soldier kicking one of several Palestinian detainees, who are being forced to kneel on the street wearing only their underwear.

At least 11 Palestinians, including four children, have been killed during the days-long raid on Jenin, which started on Tuesday morning.



SvennoJ on 23 May 2024

EU official says member states unanimous on ‘need for a Palestinian state’

Sven Koopmans, the EU’s special representative for the Middle East peace process, has said that while member states of the European Union “may have different positions on recognition” of Palestinian statehood, “we have unanimity on the need for a Palestinian state”.

The EU representative’s comments to the Reuters news agency followed after EU members Spain and Ireland – along with Norway – said they would recognise an independent Palestinian state.

Koopmans also said representatives from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will join a regular meeting of EU foreign ministers next week to try and forge a common path on ending the war in Gaza.

“Nobody alone is sufficient. But if we work together, and we are working on doing something concretely together, maybe we’re just about sufficient, at least to get things started,” he said.

‘I hope that all countries in the world recognise Palestine’

Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank say they feel encouraged by the wave of support from European countries to recognise an independent Palestinian state.


Anger seethes in Israel over Ireland, Spain, Norway’s recognition of Palestinian state

Israel is furious at this latest development. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that it is giving in to terrorism, a reward, and that it will not bring any peace to Israel.

He also said that “this evil”, in reference to Hamas, must not be given a country as it will try to repeat the October 7 massacre.

Norway said that it took this step because of the current government and the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, refusing to speak to anyone on the Palestinian side. Also, under his nose, allowing for the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Earlier, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant reversed a 2005 disengagement law, which meant that Israel had to prevent Israeli settlers from returning back to some of those settlements in the occupied West Bank.

He allowed that today, meaning they could return. But, within hours, the Israeli central command chief [Yehuda Fox] cancelled that order and said that settlers wouldn’t be able to return.

All of this is happening as the occupation of the West Bank continues. As the war continues in Gaza. And as the families of those that have been abducted and taken captive in Gaza continue their protest against the Israeli government.


Israelis demand Netanyahu strike ‘deal now’ to get captives back