Palestinian Christian youth in the town of Mi’ilya معليّا gathered to decorate the courtyard of Lady of the Annunciation Church with the Christmas tree and nativity scene, preparing for the Christmas season

Palestinian Christian youth in the town of Mi’ilya معليّا gathered to decorate the courtyard of Lady of the Annunciation Church with the Christmas tree and nativity scene, preparing for the Christmas season

 https://x.com/PalCatholic/status/1991989713377612258/photo/4

Mi’ilya is a Palestinian Christian village with a population of around 3,300. The vast majority (99.8%) are Melkite Greek Catholics.  https://x.com/PalCatholic/status/1936774588307767446/photo/1

 

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES & QUOTES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]   

Nadeen Ayoub: “There hasn't been another Miss Palestine since 2022 because of the genocide,” she says. “After Miss Earth, I was supposed go to Miss Universe. But I postponed it because I did not want to go when genocide was happening. I wanted to focus more on staying behind the scenes because the spotlight was supposed to be on the people in Palestine who are suffering, rather than me.”

Nadeen Ayoub is a Palestinian model who was appointed Miss Universe Palestine 2025. She represented Palestine at Miss Universe 2025, where she placed in the top 30. 

“There hasn't been another Miss Palestine since 2022 because of the genocide,” she says. “After Miss Earth, I was supposed go to Miss Universe. But I postponed it because I did not want to go when genocide was happening. I wanted to focus more on staying behind the scenes because the spotlight was supposed to be on the people in Palestine who are suffering, rather than me.”

Crowned Miss Palestine in 2022, Ayoub, 27, made history that year when she represented her country for the first time at the Miss Earth pageant, where she was one of the top five finalists. But she had to put her future plans as a title holder on hold after conflict broke out in Gaza in 2023.  

Nadeen Ayoub on representing Palestine at Miss Universe: 'We should never be silenced'

https://www.msn.com/en-ae/lifestyle/other/nadeen-ayoub-on-representing-palestine-at-miss-universe-we-should-never-be-silenced/ar-AA1KIqHs 

 AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES & QUOTES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]   

Israel needs to face accountability for our genocide. And so does the US. The international community allowed all of this to happen. We must not look away or move on

Accountability is essential – not for revenge, but because there’s no reckoning without responsibility.’ Photograph: Haseeb Alwazeer/Reuters

Yuli Novak

Yuli Novak is executive director of Breaking the Silence, which allows Israeli soldiers to talk about the occupied territories. She served as an officer in the Israeli air force from 2000 to 2005. 

Tue 18 Nov 2025 06.00 EST

Genocide is a process, not an event. When genocide happens, its roots, and the conditions that allowed it, often become visible only in retrospect. If those conditions remain unchanged and there is no accountability, there’s every reason to believe the violence will return, perhaps even worse, especially if it was never fully halted. This is exactly what we are seeing in the case of Gaza. Demanding accountability from Israeli leaders isn’t just about the past, it’s the only way to challenge a system designed to repeat such violence.

A strange kind of calm has settled over Israel in the weeks since the Gaza ceasefire was declared. The sirens stopped. The hostages who survived the 7 October attack and nearly two years in captivity came home. But this calm – which has not been extended to Gaza, where more than 200 civilians have been killed since the ceasefire supposedly went into effect is built around an unclear plan by Donald Trump that does not address the root causes of the violence, and is merely a mirage. Nothing has changed in the violent political system that Palestinians and Israelis live under. The machinery behind the violence remains intact. The logic of domination still rules.

For nearly two years, Israel waged a campaign in Gaza that meets the clearest definition of genocide: a systematic, often openly declared attempt to destroy a group of people, the Palestinians in Gaza, through killing, starvation, forced displacement, and the destruction of life-sustaining conditions. Genocide is not a metaphor here. It is the only term that fits.

Our organization, B’Tselem, published a report last July titled Our Genocide. We chose this name because we are not observers but part of this horrific story. Israeli and Palestinian researchers, investigators and fieldworkers worked together to document events in Gaza, the West Bank and within Israel. Our conclusion confirms what Palestinians and international experts have long said: this is genocide – a direct assault on a population aiming to destroy the group.

Palestinians in Gaza were bombed, then forcibly displaced, then deliberately starved. More than 68,000 people were killed, a third of them children and women. This number might be much higher, with tens of thousands more who are still missing. Hundreds of thousands were injured. Hospitals and journalists were systematically targeted. Children buried alive under rubble. Entire familial lines erased. Infrastructure demolished. Israeli officials openly stated the goal: to destroy Gaza and make it uninhabitable.... READ MORE   https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/18/israel-accountability-gaza-genocide

 AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES & QUOTES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]   

Resolution 2803 (2025) Adopted by the Security Council at its 10046th meeting, on 17 November 2025 & The full text of Trump's 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza 29 September 2025

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES & QUOTES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]   

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/full-text-us-resolution-gaza-approved-un-security-council 

Ambassadors and representatives to the United Nations meet at the UN Security Council on 17 November 2025 to vote on US President Donald Trump's 20-point plan for Gaza (Angela Weiss/AFP)

 

Resolution 2803 (2025)

Adopted by the Security Council at its 10046th meeting, on 17 November 2025

The Security Council,

Welcoming the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict of 29 September 2025 (“Comprehensive Plan”), and applauding the states that have signed, accepted, or endorsed it, and further welcoming the historic Trump Declaration for Enduring Peace and Prosperity of 13 October 2025 and the constructive role played by the United States of America, the State of Qatar, the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the Republic of Türkiye, in having facilitated the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip,

Determining that the situation in the Gaza Strip threatens the regional peace and the security of neighboring states and noting prior relevant Security Council resolutions relating to the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question,

1. Endorses the Comprehensive Plan, acknowledges the parties have accepted it, and calls on all parties to implement it in its entirety, including maintenance of the ceasefire, in good faith and without delay;

2. Welcomes the establishment of the Board of Peace (BoP) as a transitional administration with international legal personality that will set the framework, and coordinate funding, for the redevelopment of Gaza pursuant to the Comprehensive Plan, and in a manner consistent with relevant international legal principles, until such time as the Palestinian Authority (PA) has satisfactorily completed its reform program, as outlined in various proposals, including President Trump’s peace plan in 2020 and the Saudi-French Proposal, and can securely and effectively take back control of Gaza. After the PA reform program is faithfully carried out and Gaza redevelopment has advanced, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood. The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous coexistence;

3. Underscores the importance of the full resumption of humanitarian aid in cooperation with the BoP into the Gaza Strip in a manner consistent with relevant international legal principles and through cooperating organizations, including the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent, and ensuring such aid is used solely for peaceful uses and not diverted by armed groups;

4. Authorizes Member States participating in the BoP and the BoP to: (A) enter into such arrangements as may be necessary to achieve the objectives of the Comprehensive Plan, including those addressing privileges and immunities of personnel of the force established in paragraph 7 below; and (B) establish operational entities with, as necessary, international legal personality and transactional authorities for the performance of its functions, including: (1) the implementation of a transitional governance administration, including the supervising and supporting of a Palestinian technocratic, apolitical committee of competent Palestinians from the Strip, as championed by the Arab League, which shall be responsible for day-to-day operations of Gaza’s civil service and administration; (2) the reconstruction of Gaza and of economic recovery programs; (3) the coordination and supporting of and delivery of public services and humanitarian assistance in Gaza; (4) any measures to facilitate the movement of persons in and out of Gaza, in a manner consistent with the Comprehensive Plan; and (5) any such additional tasks as may be necessary to support and implement the Comprehensive Plan;

5. Understands that the operational entities referred to in paragraph 4 above will operate under the transitional authority and oversight of the BoP and are to be funded through voluntary contributions from donors and BoP funding vehicles and governments;

6. Calls upon the World Bank and other financial institutions to facilitate and provide financial resources to support the reconstruction and development of Gaza , including through the establishment of a dedicated trust fund for this purpose and governed by donors;

7. Authorizes Member States working with the BoP and the BoP to establish a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza to deploy under unified command acceptable to the BoP, with forces contributed by participating States, in close consultation and cooperation with the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Israel, and to use all necessary measures to carry out its mandate consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law. The ISF shall work with Israel and Egypt, without prejudice to their existing agreements, along with the newly trained and vetted Palestinian police force, to help secure border areas; stabilize the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding of the military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups; protect civilians, including humanitarian operations; train and provide support to the vetted Palestinian police forces; coordinate with relevant States to secure humanitarian corridors; and undertake such additional tasks as may be necessary in support of the Comprehensive Plan. As the ISF establishes control and stability, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will withdraw from the Gaza Strip based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization that will be agreed between the IDF, ISF, the guarantors, and the United States, save for a security perimeter presence that will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat. The ISF shall, (A) assist the BoP in monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire in Gaza, and enter into such arrangements as may be necessary to achieve the objectives of the Comprehensive Plan; and (B) operate under the strategic guidance of the BoP and will be funded through voluntary contributions from donors and BoP funding vehicles and governments;

8. Decides the BoP and international civil and security presences authorized by this resolution shall remain authorized until Dec. 31, 2027, subject to further action by the Council, and any further reauthorization of the ISF be in full cooperation and coordination with Egypt and Israel and other Member States continuing to work with the ISF;

9. Calls upon Member States and international organizations to work with the BoP to identify opportunities to contribute personnel, equipment, and financial resources to its operating entities and the ISF, to provide technical assistance to its operating entities and the ISF, and to give full recognition to its acts and documents;

10. Requests the BoP provide a written report on progress related to the above to the UN Security Council every six months;

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/full-text-us-resolution-gaza-approved-un-security-council 

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES & QUOTES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]   

 

The full text of Trump's 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/full-text-trumps-20-point-plan-end-war-gaza-0

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES & QUOTES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]   

  Published date: 29 September 2025

A camp for displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, on September 29, 2025. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

1. Gaza will be a deradicalised terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbours.

2. Gaza will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza, who have suffered more than enough. 

3. If both sides agree to this proposal, the war will immediately end. Israeli forces will withdraw to the agreed upon line to prepare for a hostage release. During this time, all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment, will be suspended, and battle lines will remain frozen until conditions are met for the complete staged withdrawal.

4. Within 72 hours of Israel publicly accepting this agreement, all hostages, alive and deceased, will be returned.

5. Once all hostages are released, Israel will release 250 life sentence prisoners plus 1,700 Gazans who were detained after October 7th 2023, including all women and children detained in that context. For every Israeli hostage whose remains are released, Israel will release the remains of 15 deceased Gazans.

6. Once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty. Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries.

7. Upon acceptance of this agreement, full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip. At a minimum, aid quantities will be consistent with what was included in the January 19, 2025, agreement regarding humanitarian aid, including rehabilitation of infrastructure (water, electricity, sewage), rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries, and entry of necessary equipment to remove rubble and open roads. 

8. Entry of distribution and aid in the Gaza Strip will proceed without interference from the two parties through the United Nations and its agencies, and the Red Crescent, in addition to other international institutions not associated in any manner with either party. Opening the Rafah crossing in both directions will be subject to the same mechanism implemented under the January 19, 2025, agreement.  

9. Gaza will be governed under the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza. This committee will be made up of qualified Palestinians and international experts, with oversight and supervision by a new international transitional body, the “Board of Peace,” which will be headed and chaired by President Donald J Trump, with other members and heads of State to be announced, including Former Prime Minister Tony Blair. This body will set the framework and handle the funding for the redevelopment of Gaza until such time as the Palestinian Authority has completed its reform program, as outlined in various proposals, including President Trump’s peace plan in 2020 and the Saudi-French proposal, and can securely and effectively take back control of Gaza. This body will call on best international standards to create modern and efficient governance that serves the people of Gaza and is conducive to attracting investment.

10. A Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energize Gaza will be created by convening a panel of experts who have helped birth some of the thriving modern miracle cities in the Middle East. Many thoughtful investment proposals and exciting development ideas have been crafted by well-meaning international groups, and will be considered to synthesize the security and governance frameworks to attract and facilitate these investments that will create jobs, opportunity, and hope for future Gaza.

11. A special economic zone will be established with preferred tariff and access rates to be negotiated with participating countries.

12. No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return. We will encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza. 

13. Hamas and other factions agree to not have any role in the governance of Gaza, directly, indirectly, or in any form. All military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, including tunnels and weapon production facilities, will be destroyed and not rebuilt. There will be a process of demilitarization of Gaza under the supervision of independent monitors, which will include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning, and supported by an internationally funded buy back and reintegration program all verified by the independent monitors. New Gaza will be fully committed to building a prosperous economy and to peaceful coexistence with their neighbors.

14. A guarantee will be provided by regional partners to ensure that Hamas, and the factions, comply with their obligations and that New Gaza poses no threat to its neighbors or its people.

15. The United States will work with Arab and international partners to develop a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) to immediately deploy in Gaza. The ISF will train and provide support to vetted Palestinian police forces in Gaza, and will consult with Jordan and Egypt who have extensive experience in this field. This force will be the long-term internal security solution. The ISF will work with Israel and Egypt to help secure border areas, along with newly trained Palestinian police forces. It is critical to prevent munitions from entering Gaza and to facilitate the rapid and secure flow of goods to rebuild and revitalize Gaza. A deconfliction mechanism will be agreed upon by the parties.

 16. Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza. As the ISF establishes control and stability, the [Israeli military] will withdraw based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization that will be agreed upon between the [Israeli military], ISF, the guarantors, and the Unites States, with the objective of a secure Gaza that no longer poses a threat to Israel, Egypt, or its citizens. Practically, the [Israeli military] will progressively hand over the Gaza territory it occupies to the ISF according to an agreement they will make with the transitional authority until they are withdrawn completely from Gaza, save for a security perimeter presence that will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat.

17. In the event Hamas delays or rejects this proposal, the above, including the scaled-up aid operation, will proceed in the terror-free areas handed over from the [Israeli military] to the ISF.

18. An interfaith dialogue process will be established based on the values of tolerance and peaceful co-existence to try and change mindsets and narratives of Palestinians and Israelis by emphasizing the benefits that can be derived from peace.

19. While Gaza re-development advances and when the PA reform program is faithfully carried out, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognize as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.

20. The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous co-existence.

  

The full text of Trump's 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/full-text-trumps-20-point-plan-end-war-gaza-0

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES & QUOTES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]   

‘They have total impunity’: West Bank settler violence surges after Gaza ceasefire UN logs 260 attacks in October alone, its highest monthly tally, as settlers attack farmers and burn olive trees

Vehicles belonging to Palestinian olive farmers were set on fire by Israelis in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah in October. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Violence has increased across the occupied West Bank as Palestinian farmers try to harvest their olive trees before the end of the season, in the face of a concerted campaign of harassment by groups of armed and aggressive Israeli settlers.

Dozens of new incidents have occurred in recent days across much of the occupied territory as settlers step up a broader effort to intimidate and harm Palestinian communities.

“It’s really bad at the moment. The settlers are operating with total impunity,” said Aviv Tatarsky, an Israeli activist who has worked in the West Bank for decades.

Early on Sunday, settlers vandalised cars on the outskirts of the town of Sinjil and “raided” farmland near the village of Mughayyir, according to local reports. On Saturday, a farmer was assaulted and his crops damaged by settlers in the town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus.

Attacks by settlers on the West Bank have increased since the US-brokered deal stopped the war in Gaza almost six weeks ago after two years of devastating conflict. The UN logged more than 260 attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties or damage to property in the West Bank in October alone – the highest monthly count since they began monitoring in 2006.

Records kept by the Palestinian Farmers’ Union (PFU) show incidents of violence against its members up fourfold, from three or four daily before the war in Gaza. The most recent attacks are “not random, but deliberate efforts to undermine Palestinian rural life”, the PFU said in a statement last month.

Last week, settlers were reported to have assaulted agricultural workers and olive pickers in the town of Beit Duqqu, near Jerusalem, prevented Palestinians from plowing their land in al-Farisiyah in the northern Jordan valley, burned olive trees belonging to local Palestinians outside two villages near the city of Qalqilya and attacked farmers near Aqraba.

Another attack by settlers targeted the village of Beit Lid, where a light industrial park was ransacked and 10 vehicles were torched. Four Palestinians were injured during the assault by dozens of masked settlers, who also attacked Israeli soldiers after they arrived to restore order.

In Beit Lid, Mahmoud Edeis said he wanted merely “to feel that my children are safe, that when I go to sleep I can say: ‘OK, there’s nothing [to worry about].

“But at any moment something could happen … This can’t go on. It can’t be that we keep living our whole lives in a state of fear and danger.”... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/18/west-bank-surge-settler-violence-israel-palestine

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES & QUOTES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]   

Mosab Abu Toha: "Today i turn 33. I was born in a refugee camp called al-Shati Camp, or Beach Camp, in Gaza City. This photo was taken in March 2022 on the beach of Beit Lahia, north Gaza. I lived in Beit Lahia, the city of Strawberries, from the age of 8 until I was forced out of Gaza. Beit Lahia was where I got married, where I became a father. It’s where I started writing. It’s where I started the Edward Said Public Library. Where I lived in Beit Lahia was never far from the sea. Everything felt close: the strawberry fields, the shoreline, and the schools where I once studied and later taught. Even Yaffa, the city from which my grandparents and great-grandparents were expelled in 1948, was not far, only forty-three miles away. Yet the cruelty of this world has made it impossible for me to return to, or even visit, the city of my family...."

Mosab Abu Toha 

dStorespno14971ttlmf7ml3gut30u42u19l3306889hh7c0af8t838792c3  ·

"Today i turn 33.

 

I was born in a refugee camp called al-Shati Camp, or Beach Camp, in Gaza City. This photo was taken in March 2022 on the beach of Beit Lahia, north Gaza. I lived in Beit Lahia, the city of Strawberries, from the age of 8 until I was forced out of Gaza. Beit Lahia was where I got married, where I became a father. It’s where I started writing. It’s where I started the Edward Said Public Library.

 

Where I lived in Beit Lahia was never far from the sea. Everything felt close: the strawberry fields, the shoreline, and the schools where I once studied and later taught. Even Yaffa, the city from which my grandparents and great-grandparents were expelled in 1948, was not far, only forty-three miles away. Yet the cruelty of this world has made it impossible for me to return to, or even visit, the city of my family.

 

That same cruelty has made death, the drones, F-16s, and bombes, closer to me, and to everyone in Gaza, than anything else on earth.

 

May Yaffa one day become the nearest of all cities. May the orange trees in my grandparents’ groves again cast their shade over our home, and bear the sweetest oranges once more.

 

(The book I was reading from was The Prophet. It’s currently under the rubble of our house in Beit Lahia)"

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=24823352540682268&set=a.107527082691490 

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES & QUOTES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]