Israel uproots 400 olive trees in occupied West Bank as harvest season approaches... The trees are hundreds of years old- uprooting them not only destroys the trees, but also affects the livelihoods of Palestinian families that depend on them.

 September 24, 2026

Israeli forces uproot 400 olive trees belonging to Palestinians and destroy 31 dunams of land with heavy machinery in the town of Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah, in the West Bank, Palestine on September 24, 2026. [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or 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 here, there- and everywhere]

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20260924-israel-uproots-400-olive-trees-in-occupied-west-bank-as-harvest-season-approaches/ 

 ... Since the beginning of 2026 through Sept. 22, Israel has issued 51 orders to remove trees and vegetation in the occupied West Bank, targeting 2,093 dunams of land, according to data from the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.

The uprooting operation comes as the olive harvest season approaches. Olive trees are a major source of income for thousands of Palestinian families. Bulldozing and uprooting operations cause losses to farmers and threaten their ability to access and cultivate their land.

Afrah Qadura, 65, from Beit Rima, told Anadolu Agency that residents learned of the military order two days ago and saw a map at the municipality building showing the areas targeted for the removal of olive trees.

He said landowners were given 12 hours to remove trees before the Israeli army would implement the order. “How can we remove trees planted by our fathers and uproot them with our own hands?” he asked rhetorically.

Qadura said the olive trees had been planted over decades, beginning in the late 1960s and continuing through the 1970s and 1980s, as well as trees planted in the 1990s.

He said some of the trees uprooted Thursday had become highly productive for years, adding that olive trees are a primary source of livelihood for residents.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are preparing for the olive harvest season, which usually begins in October.

Thousands of Palestinians rely on olive trees and their crops as a source of income, alongside their connection to the land and agricultural heritage passed down through generations.

“We are proud of those trees like our children,” said Qadura, noting the years he and his father spent cultivating the land, caring for the trees and watering them.

He added that he used to bring water from a well to water the saplings and follow their growth during the years. “My father worked hard planting the trees, and we also worked hard caring for them.”

He said his family continued to tend, clean and care for the trees until they became part of their lives. Losing them in this way was, for him, like losing one of his children.

Qadura said uprooting the trees would not force his family to abandon their land, stressing that he and his family intend to replant the trees uprooted by the Israeli army.

“We will continue planting trees like my father did, and our children will continue after us,” he said, citing his family’s connection to the land and its cultivation across generations.

Abdul Rahman al-Rimawi, mayor of Bani Zeid al-Gharbia, which includes Beit Rima and other towns, told Anadolu Agency that everybody was surprised Thursday when Israeli army bulldozers began uprooting mature olive trees in the town in an area of 31 dunams.

Rimawi said the trees “are hundreds of years old,” and that uprooting them not only destroys the trees, but also affects the livelihoods of Palestinian families that depend on them.

​​​​​​​He said the operation comes as the olive harvest season approaches, describing it as part of “arbitrary Israeli practices against people, trees and stones.”

Rimawi said the residents of Beit Rima “are not isolated from this people” and what Palestinians are subjected to in terms of harassment, killings, displacement and the uprooting of olive trees.

He implored international institutions and relevant parties to work to halt the decision to uproot the trees, noting that there is ongoing communication with the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission to that end.

Rimawi said Israeli authorities had not, according to him, explained the grounds for implementing the decision, and that what is happening represents “Israeli practices against all members of the Palestinian people” in the occupied West Bank.

 WATCH: Gaza and the dystopian future of AI-powered war | Palestine This Week

Israeli authorities granted only 66 building permits to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank over an 11-year period, while illegal settlers were given 22,000 permits, an Israeli newspaper reported Sunday, Anadolu reports.

 Middle East Monitor

@MiddleEastMnt

 

Israeli authorities granted only 66 building permits to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank over an 11-year period, while illegal settlers were given 22,000 permits, an Israeli newspaper reported Sunday, Anadolu reports. 

 

According to Haaretz daily, only 66 building permits were issued to Palestinians between 2009 and 2020, while 22,000 permits were granted to illegal Israeli settlers during the same period. 

 

“As most of the West Bank is off-limits to Palestinian development, residents are forced to build without permits,” the paper commented. 

 

It cited widespread demolitions carried out by the Israeli authorities since January in the Taawun neighborhood, south of Nablus in the northern West Bank. 

 

The neighborhood is located in Area C and “did not receive building permits from the Israeli authorities, despite being far from any settlement or access road,” said the daily. 

 

Al-Taawun, it added, is “just one example of the accelerating pace of demolitions across the West Bank.” 

 

 In January alone, the Israeli army demolished a total of 24 Palestinian buildings in Area C due to the lack of building permits. 

 

 Haaretz, citing the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said at least 2,461 Palestinian buildings were demolished over the past two years due to the lack of building permits, up from 4,984 structures over the previous nine years. 

 

As a result, around 3,500 people lost their homes during that two-year period, it added. 

 

OCHA did not specify whether the demolitions took place exclusively in Area C or across the West Bank as a whole. 

 

According to Haaretz, the demolition campaign over the past two years has coincided with the displacement of around 80 Palestinian communities due to the rapid expansion of illegal settler farms and outposts. 

 

The 1995 Oslo II Accord divided the West Bank into three administrative areas: Area A under full Palestinian control; Area B under Palestinian civil administration and Israeli security control; and Area C under full Israeli civil and security control, which covers about 61 percent of the West Bank. https://middleeastmonitor.com/20260222-pales

 AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or 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 movement restrictions imposed by these checkpoints and gates severely disrupt the access of nearly 90,000 people to their lands, healthcare, education, and livelihoods." Between olive groves and gates: A Palestinian’s struggle for land and livelihood September 27, 2025 by Fareed Taamallah

Group of Palestinian children in Bureyc Camp raise the Palestinian flag over the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli strikes following announcements of recognition of the State of Palestine by Canada, Australia, the UK, and Portugal, on September 22, 2025, in Gaza City, Gaza. [Moiz Salhi – Anadolu Agency]

As a Palestinian living in Ramallah, with ancestral roots in the village of Qira in the Salfit Governorate, life has long been intertwined with the land. For generations, my family has cultivated olive trees in Qira, a tradition that sustains both livelihoods and cultural heritage. Yet this year, the olive harvest faces unprecedented threats—not only from seasonal droughts or pests, but also from the systemic obstacles imposed by the Israeli occupation.

Each time I want to visit my hometown — to see my family, to walk the streets where I grew up, or to tend to my olive groves — I am confronted by gates and checkpoints. What used to be a 30-minute drive can now take hours, or be impossible. Like thousands of other Palestinians, I feel my life narrowing, not by chance but by design.

Checkpoints and gates: Tools of dispossession

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), up until 2024 the Israeli occupation has established a total of 849 checkpoints across the occupied West Bank, with gates blocking roads constituting a third of these obstacles. The number has dramatically increased in 2025. Approximately 1,000 military gates and checkpoints massively fragment the West Bank, which covers an area of no more than 5,000 square kilometers, meaning there is a gate or checkpoint every five kilometers. For Palestinians, these statistics are not abstract. Each gate is a choke point in our daily lives.

Gates mean more than inconvenience, they mean economic collapse, and deprivation of basic services and cutting social life. Villages once connected to markets now see their shops shuttered, their youth unemployed. When access roads are blocked, workers cannot reach cities or Israel for employment. Farmers cannot reach groves or sell their produce.

In Salfit governorate, where Qira is located, the situation is particularly dire. The movement restrictions imposed by these checkpoints and gates severely disrupt the access of nearly 90,000 people to their lands, healthcare, education, and livelihoods. Gates have severed rural communities from Salfit city, where hospitals, administrative offices, and markets are located. The entrance to my hometown has been closed for months due to locked gates, forcing residents to take long, unpaved, and rough roads to reach the village.

Perhaps worst of all, gates break families apart. Weddings, funerals, and daily visits that once required a short drive now become logistical nightmares or impossible journeys. The feeling of unpredictability — never knowing if a road will be open or closed — has seeped into the fabric of Palestinian life, a constant reminder of powerlessness.

Settler violence: A growing threat

The challenges posed by checkpoints and gates are compounded by the escalating violence from Israeli settlers. These incidents include physical assaults, threats, and the destruction of olive trees.

OCHA documented over 200 settler-related incidents during the 2024 harvest season, in which more than 1,600 olive trees were vandalised, burned, or cut. Tools and harvests were stolen; farmers were assaulted.

Between January and March 2025, settler violence increased by an estimated 30 per cent compared to the same period in 2024. This surge in aggression is often carried out with impunity, as Israeli security forces frequently fail to intervene or even provide protection to Palestinian communities under attack.

My village has witnessed numerous settler crimes, the most recent of which occurred last March when a number of settlers sneaked in under the cover of darkness, attacked a house on the outskirts of the village, and set fire to a farmer’s vehicle. The occupation authorities did not bring any settlers to justice and the incident was recorded—as usual—as an unknown person.

The olive season is approaching, and it is unclear to me and my family – like many Palestinians – whether we will be able to reach our olive groves.

The olive grove: A symbol of resilience

For Palestinians, olive season is part of our heritage, identity, and resilience. The harvest season is a time of family gatherings and collective labour, a ritual passed down for generations. These trees have witnessed centuries of history, bearing witness to our ancestors’ toil and perseverance.

The olive tree, a symbol of Palestinian identity and resilience, has become a target in the broader strategy of displacement and dispossession. A report issued by the Palestinian Land Research Center revealed that the Israeli army and settlers uprooted more than 59,000 trees and confiscated approximatel 50,000 dunams of land in the occupied West Bank during 2024.

The numbers are staggering: between 1967 and 2011, over 800,000 trees were uprooted. From 2010 to 2023, another 278,000 were destroyed. Each tree takes years to grow; each uprooted grove... READ MORE  https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250927-between-olive-groves-and-gates-a-palestinians-struggle-for-land-and-livelihood/

 AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or 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]   

680,000 DEAD... Based on all the data collected, the death toll in Gaza is at least 680,000 and 380,000 are infants under five years of age...

middleeastmonitor.com

 "...  The Tel Aviv offices of Haaretz, described by The Jewish Chronicle as  a ‘left wing’ news outlet critical of the Israeli government, have been attacked, and two of its journalists assaulted by Israeli police. Under a 2024 Israeli law, the Qatar-based news agency Al Jazeera (which still reports from Gaza and the West Bank), has been banned from Israel because of its critical attacks on the government and judiciary. In Gaza itself, as of 8 June 2025, according to the International Federation of Journalists, 170 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed since October 2023, with many others injured or missing.

The net result of all this is a series of consequences: First, apart from some brave reportage from Al Jazeera and a small number of independent journalists, and insights gained ftom Gazans themselves via social media, there is restricted opportunity for a wholesale international assessment of how the IDF conducts its military operations in Gaza. Second, threats and intimidation of anti-Israel reporting have resulted in growing self-censorship among Israeli and other journalists. Put simply, they fear Israeli retaliation. Third, increasing restrictions on the press in Israel mean that the public is denied vital information on the conflict, which contributes, in part, to the skewed public view of the conflict, often ignoring the bloodletting and destruction of Gaza, and celebrating the heroism of the IDF forces. According to one poll conducted by Penn State University researchers in May of this year, the vast majority of 1,005 respondents surveyed across Israel supported the forced removal (ethnic cleansing) of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Over 65 per cent believed in a modern-day incarnation of Amalek, with most supporting the biblical command to ‘erase Amalek’"

Skewering History: The Odious Politics of Counting Gaza’s Dead

https://arena.org.au/politics-of-counting-gazas-dead/ 

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or 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]

Washington imposes sanctions on 3 Palestinian human rights groups this week, last week the United States announced it would not grant visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and 80 other Palestinian Authority officials to attend the United Nations General Assembly next month , where France and several other countries plan to recognise the State of Palestine.

 

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or 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.middleeastmonitor.com/20250905-washington-imposes-sanctions-on-3-palestinian-human-rights-groups/

 Washington on Thursday imposed sanctions on three Palestinian human rights organisations, according to the US Treasury Department’s website.

The United States listed the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights (Al Mezan), both based in Gaza, along with Al-Haq–Law in the Service of Mankind, which is based in Ramallah.

The Treasury Department said the sanctions were linked to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

According to the official wording published on the department’s website, “The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is issuing International Criminal Court-related General License 10, “Authorizing the Wind Down of Transactions Involving Certain Persons Blocked on September 4, 2025.”

Naming the three Palestinian organisations, the department’s website said, “Additionally, OFAC has updated its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.”

On 29 August, the United States announced it would not grant visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and 80 other Palestinian Authority officials to attend the United Nations General Assembly next month, where France and several other countries plan to recognise the State of Palestine.

READ: US support to Israel limits EU leverage to halt war in Gaza: EU foreign policy chief

.... The Israeli army launched a brutal military offensive on Gaza since late 2023, killing more than 63,700 Palestinians. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave...   https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250903-us-support-to-israel-limits-eu-leverage-to-halt-war-in-gaza-eu-foreign-policy-chief/

“Let’s make sport apartheid and genocide free. One ball, one kick at the time,” Francesca Albanese - UN rapporteur calls on European football body to expel Israel to make sport ‘genocide free’

Middle East Monitor

@MiddleEastMnt

The UN special rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories called on the European football governing body (UEFA) on Sunday to expel Israel from competitions over its war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, Anadolu reports. 

 “Let’s make sport apartheid and genocide free. One ball, one kick at the time,” Francesca Albanese said on her X account. 

Albanese’s call came following UEFA’s farewell to a former Palestinian player, Suleiman al-Obeid, whom it called the “Palestinian Pelé.” 

Obaid was killed on Wednesday, when the Israeli army opened fire on civilians waiting for aid delivery near a distribution point in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Football Association. 

“Time to expel its killers from competitions, @UEFA,” the UN rapporteur said. 

 Obaid, 41, born in Gaza and a father of five, is seen as one of the brightest stars in Palestinian football history. He played 24 official matches for the national team and scored two goals. 

More than 800 athletes have been killed in Gaza since the start of Israel’s offensive on Oct. 7, 2023, as the sports community continues to suffer under bombardment, famine, and the collapse of infrastructure, according to Palestinian officials. 

Israel has been facing mounting outrage over its deadly war on Gaza, where more than 61,400 people have been killed since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave and brought it to the verge of famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250810-un-rapporteur-calls-on-european-football-body-to-expel-israel-to-make-sport-genocide-free/

 AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or 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]

Urgent appeal: The catastrophic situation in Gaza, a people starving to death amid global silence... OPEN THE GATES!

Palestinians, including children, who are struggling to access food due to Israel’s blockade and ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip, wait in line to receive hot meals distributed by the charity organization in Gaza City, Gaza on July 16, 2025. [Ahmed Jihad Ibrahim Al-arini – Anadolu Agency]

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250719-urgent-appeal-the-catastrophic-situation-in-gaza-a-people-starving-to-death-amid-global-silence/

  [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or 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]

• 

  by Fatima Skaik

While the world speaks of human rights, food security, and global peace, an entire population is left to face death by starvation, thirst, and disease without any real intervention to save them. Gaza—that small strip of land under siege for years—is now enduring the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the modern era. Hunger is no longer just a word heard in news reports; it has become a daily reality crushing thousands of families. Children, pregnant women, the sick, the elderly… all are at risk of slow death due to the suffocating blockade, severe food shortages, and astronomically inflated prices. This is not an exaggeration but a testimony from the heart of the disaster.

Real hunger: When a bite of food becomes a dream

“We are literally dying of hunger”—this phrase is not mere drama but the bitter truth lived by every resident of Gaza today. Markets are empty, prices have multiplied tenfold, and even if someone has money, there is simply nothing left to buy.

• The food crisis: A kilo of flour that once cost 5 shekels now sells for 200 shekels (approximately $65)—if it can even be found! Rice, sugar, oil, milk, medicine… all are either unavailable or sold at outrageous prices. Families are forced to reduce their meals to one per day, often relying on bread mixed with grass or scraps of food from any source.
• Children and women: The first victims: UN reports warn that 90% of Gaza’s children suffer from acute malnutrition. Pregnant and nursing women cannot find enough to feed themselves—how can they nourish their babies? Hospitals report repeated miscarriages due to starvation, and children dying from dehydration or extreme weakness.

Collapse of security: When hunger turns into crime

With food security shattered, societal security collapses. Hunger drives people to despair, and despair breeds dangerous behavior.

• Surge in theft: Theft is no longer a condemned crime but a “means of survival.” Children steal bread from one another, families loot shops after closing hours, and even humanitarian aid is stolen before reaching those in need.
• Women’s safety at risk: “As a girl, I’m afraid to walk the streets alone without a man beside me”—this testimony reflects the extent of the deterioration. Fear of physical assault or robbery has become a daily obsession, especially with gangs exploiting the chaos.

READ: Without punitive measures, the EU rewards Israeli colonialism, genocide and violence

The siege and the world’s conscience; where is humanity?

The disaster in Gaza is not natural—it is man-made. The 17-year blockade, restrictions on food and medicine, the deliberate destruction of infrastructure… all are systematic policies to break the will of a people.

• Arab and world powers: A suspicious silence: While Gaza starves, the world watches. International organizations settle for issuing “concerned” reports, and Arab nations drown in their own conflicts. Even humanitarian aid is blocked or delayed under political pretexts.
• Media misrepresentation: Some media outlets portray the crisis as a “natural economic hardship,” ignoring that its root cause is the deliberate siege and blockade.

A cry for help; do not let Gaza die

This is not the time for words alone—but for action. Every passing minute brings Gaza closer to the abyss.

• Urgent demands:
  1. Permanently open crossings and allow unrestricted entry of food and medicine.
  2. Global and grassroots pressure on governments to break the siege.
  3. Immediate humanitarian safety nets to distribute food to the most vulnerable families.
  4. Hold accountable all those responsible for this suffering as war criminals.
• A message to humanity’s conscience: If the world knows how to donate to stray cats and dogs, how can it stay silent as innocent children die? How can anyone sleep while a person in Gaza perishes for lack of a loaf of bread?

Conclusion

Gaza reminds the world every day that humanity is on trial. This is not a political issue—it is a matter of conscience. History will record whether our generation witnessed genocide in silence or stood against it. Choose to be on the right side.

Israel rushes to ‘depopulate’ northern Gaza before possible ceasefire: The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) estimates that 85% of Gaza’s area is now considered either an Israeli military zone or under evacuation orders, or both.

A view of destruction in Gaza after Israeli attack as Israeli army’s military mobility and offensive continue near the border line of the Gaza Strip on June 29, 2025 in Israel. [Tsafrir Abayov – Anadolu Agency]

  [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or 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.middleeastmonitor.com/20250706-israel-rushes-to-depopulate-northern-gaza-before-possible-ceasefire-report/

Israel is racing against time to “depopulate” northern Gaza ahead of a possible ceasefire agreement, a Palestinian source said on Sunday, Anadolu reports.

Israel is “trying to take advantage of the few remaining days before any anticipated truce to expand the scope of destruction and annihilate cities,” a source close to Palestinian factions told Anadolu.

“Israel seeks to destroy what remains of life-sustaining infrastructure in northern Gaza, eliminating any chance for Palestinians to return in the future.”

In May, the Israeli army launched Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which included the full evacuation of Palestinians from combat zones in northern Gaza.

The plan targets confining the Palestinians to three narrow coastal areas: western Gaza City, west of the central governorate, and west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

According to an Anadolu reporter, these three areas are largely isolated from one another, and Palestinians face Israeli bombing or gunfire when moving between them.

According to Palestinian estimates, the areas where displaced Palestinians are now crammed do not exceed 15% of the total area of the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s public broadcaster KAN said that Operation Gideon’s Chariots is likely to continue for several months and includes “the complete evacuation of Gaza’s residents from all combat zones to areas in southern Gaza.”

Forced evacuation

The Israeli army escalated its attacks across Gaza over the past week, in a move aimed at preventing the return of Palestinians to their areas in northern Gaza.

On June 30, the Israeli army bombed four schools housing displaced families in northern Gaza, in what Palestinians call deliberate attempts to displace them from the north of the enclave.

According to Palestinian sources, the repeated attacks on shelters have shrunk the habitable space, forcing Palestinians to pitch tents along the coastal strip, in a step aligned with Israeli plans to push the population to open areas lacking the bare minimum of living conditions.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) estimates that 85% of Gaza’s area is now considered either an Israeli military zone or under evacuation orders, or both.

Massive destruction

Palestinian residents report 20–30 powerful explosions daily caused by the demolition of their homes, particularly in northern and eastern Gaza.

The Palestinian source shared a video by a contractor working with the Israeli army that showed massive destruction in Tel al-Zaatar and Sheikh Zayed City in northern Gaza.

“Israel is intensifying its military campaign in Gaza to achieve multiple goals: securing field gains by tightening control over planned buffer zones, strengthening its negotiating position through military pressure, and pursuing long-term strategic objectives such as displacing the population and shaping post-war arrangements,” the source said.

On Wednesday, Israel’s Maariv newspaper, citing security sources, said that the army “is serious about expanding its operations in Gaza and is deploying full forces to achieve a decisive victory within days or weeks.”

Israeli Channel 12 also reported on Thursday that the army was preparing “to complete its control over Gaza, using five maneuvering divisions,” calling it “a massive operation not seen in over a year.”

It reported that the army seeks to encircle Gaza City, the central refugee camps, and the al-Mawasi area, where most displaced Palestinians have relocated.

The escalation comes as Israel is set to resume indirect talks with Hamas to reach a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.

Despite international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has pursued a genocidal war on Gaza, killing more than 57,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children, since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

Thirty Jewish organisations have issued a powerful joint statement defending Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian Territories, denouncing what they describe as coordinated attempts to undermine her mandate through false accusations of anti-Semitism.

UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese gestures while delivering opening remarks at a Public hearing in Portuguese Parliament regarding Palestinian Territories situation, followed by speeches by MPs from the PS, Bloco de Esquerda, PCP, Livre and PAN, on October 03, 2024, in Lisbon, Portugal. [Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images]

Jewish groups rally behind UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine amid anti-Semitism accusations

November 8, 2024

Thirty Jewish organisations have issued a powerful joint statement defending Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian Territories, denouncing what they describe as coordinated attempts to undermine her mandate through false accusations of anti-Semitism.

The unprecedented show of support comes as Albanese faces what the organisations describe as “relentless attack from politically motivated organisations” in what appears to be a systematic campaign to discredit her work documenting human rights conditions in the Israeli Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The groups specifically singled out organisations such as UN Watch, which they say “have been waging toxic smear campaigns to silence her and to harm her human rights mandate”. According to the statement, these organisations’ primary objective is “shielding the Israeli government from international criticism and legal accountability”.

Of particular concern to the Jewish organisations is the weaponisation of anti-Semitism allegations against the UN Rapporteur, especially by Western governments. “We reject such allegations, which are unfounded and recklessly incite against Ms. Albanese, at the risk of endangering her personal safety,” the statement declared, highlighting the potential dangerous consequences of such accusations.

The groups expressed alarm at what they view as a broader and deeply troubling pattern of instrumentalising anti-Semitism for political purposes, particularly through the highly controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism. They strongly condemned “the escalating instrumentalisation of anti-Semitism in this regard, specifically through the highly controversial IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, which is also being weaponized against Ms. Albanese and the United Nations more broadly”.

The organisations, identifying themselves as “Jews committed to justice, equality and universal human rights”, reserved particularly strong criticism for Western governments’ positions, especially those of the US and Germany. The statement “strongly condemned the shameful diplomatic and military support that many Western governments, in particular the United States and Germany, have offered to Israel’s ongoing campaign of mass killings of Palestinian civilians and its barbaric destruction of all foundations of Palestinian life in Gaza”.

In a pointed critique of the current situation, the groups argued that the conflation of Israel’s actions with Jewish identity poses a genuine threat to Jewish communities worldwide.... READ MORE   https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241108-jewish-groups-rally-behind-un-special-rapporteur-on-palestine-amid-anti-semitism-accusations/

   [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]