"59 years of predatory occupation. 1,049 days of genocide. 7 governments. One statement. Zero sanctions. And it even misses the international law obligation: per the ICJ 2024 Advisory Opinion, it's the occupation itself -not just the E1 plans- that must end. So: Cut trade now. " Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt, Int'l Lawyer | Scholar | Former UN Official | Sen.Adviser"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Int'l Lawyer | Scholar | Former UN Official | Sen.Adviser @ARDD

@ar_renaissance #Ahimsa: non-violence toward all beings.

Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt

@FranceskAlbs

 

59 years of predatory occupation. 

1,049 days of genocide.  

7 governments. 

One statement. 

Zero sanctions. 

 

And it even misses the international law obligation: per the ICJ 2024 Advisory Opinion, it's the occupation itself -not just the E1 plans- that must end. 

 

 So: Cut trade now.

 

https://x.com/FranceskAlbs/status/2090714085272780852 

 

[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] 

  

UK Prime Minister

 

@10DowningStreet

 

Joint statement from the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway and Canada.

 

NPR: Israel seizes medieval castle as it expands major offensive in southern Lebanon... "Israel must know that its scorched earth policy, collective punishment and expropriation of villages and towns will not achieve security and stability but will instead deepen the divide with the Lebanese people"

Israeli troops patrol at the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon. Israel said Sunday it had captured the hilltop castle, which provides a commanding view of southern Lebanon and northern Israel. Israel has been rapidly expanding its offensive in Lebanon in recent days.

Courtesy of Israel Defense Forces

Jane Arraf  reported from Beirut and Greg Myre  reported from Tel Aviv.

May 31, 20269:33 AM ET

 

BEIRUT, LEBANON — Israeli forces have captured a medieval castle in southern Lebanon which dates back to the Crusader era and raised their flag on the strategic mountaintop, part of Israel's deepest military push into Lebanon in 26 years.

Video showed the Israeli flag fluttering from atop the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle while black smoke billowed from the nearby town of Arnoun. The rapidly expanding Israeli operation, including a swathe of destroyed villages, suggests Israeli forces are planning an extended presence in the region.

Israel previously held the castle during an 18-year-old long military occupation that ended in 2000. A quarter-century later the Israelis are still fighting Hezbollah, the militant group backed by Iran.

In recent days, Israel has rushed in ground troops and intensified air strikes — while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to "crush" Hezbollah — despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that is officially still in place.

The fighting threatens to complicate, or even undermine, the U.S.-Iran efforts to end the war in Iran. Iran says any agreement must also include an end to the conflict in Lebanon.

"Our brave soldiers have captured the Beaufort once again — and they will remain there as part of the security zone in Lebanon," Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the invasion.

Middle East conflict

Mirroring Gaza, Israel is destroying towns and villages in southern Lebanon

"Israel must know that its scorched earth policy, collective punishment and expropriation of villages and towns will not achieve security and stability but will instead deepen the divide with the Lebanese people," he said in an address to the nation Saturday.

Israeli attacks and demolitions have leveled entire villages in southern Lebanon and have now displaced more than 1.2 million people. The Lebanese ministry of public health says more than 3,300 people have been killed, about 20 percent of them women, children and first responders... READ MORE  https://www.npr.org/2026/05/31/g-s1-125056/israel-seizes-medieval-beaufort-castle-southern-lebanon

  [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]  

In the West Bank, Israel has demolished 1,000 Palestinian homes and killed at least 55 people since January 2025... Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, at least 986 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers.

Israeli army demolishes several Palestinian-owned buildings claiming that they were “unlicensed” in Hebron, West Bank on May 05, 2025. [Mamoun Wazwaz – Anadolu Agency]

June 28, 2025 

Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank have demolished more than 1,000 Palestinian homes and killed at least 55 people since January, according to two Palestinian media committees, Anadolu reports.

The destruction has focused on three northern West Bank refugee camps – Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams – where Israeli forces have carried out operations since Jan. 21.

In Jenin camp alone, more than 600 homes have been destroyed and many others left uninhabitable, the camp’s media committee said Saturday.

It described the assault as part of a 159-day military campaign marked by home burnings, road demolitions and the conversion of residential buildings into army outposts.

Since the start of the operations, 42 Palestinians have been killed in Jenin, with dozens more wounded or arrested and around 22,000 people forcibly displaced, according to the committee.

A separate statement from the Tulkarem media committee said Israeli bulldozers demolished 400 homes in Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps and partially damaged more than 2,500 others.

The committee said the army plans to demolish 106 more buildings, affecting more than 250 housing units.

At least 13 Palestinians, including a child and two women – one of them pregnant – have been killed in the two camps since the operations began, it added.

Over 25,000 residents have fled the camps amid what local groups describe as dire humanitarian conditions. Access to the camps remains blocked by Israeli forces, effectively turning them into “nearly lifeless zones,” the committee said.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, at least 986 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In July, the International Court of Justice ruled Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250628-israel-has-demolished-1000-palestinian-homes-in-west-bank-camps-since-january-media-committees/#disqus_thread 

[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

Deadly Israeli-US supply distribution scheme in Gaza must be dismantled and siege lifted : "With over 500 people killed and nearly 4,000 wounded while seeking food, this scheme is slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid and must be immediately dismantled…"

Crowds of people at the aid centre of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on the Coastal Road, in the Sudaniya area of northern Gaza City on 17June. Photograph: Habboub Ramez/ABACA/Shutterstock

The Israeli-US food distribution scheme in Gaza is 'slaughter masquerading as aid' - Médecins Sans Frontières

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has said that “the Israeli-US food distribution scheme in Gaza is slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid” as it called on the Israeli authorities to end its siege on the devastated territory.

Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds heading toward desperately needed food, killing hundreds of Palestinian people in recent weeks.

Israel wants the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – an Israeli-backed logistics group - to replace a system coordinated by the UN and international aid groups. Along with the US, it accuses Hamas of stealing aid, without offering evidence.

The UN and aid agencies have denied that there has been any significant theft of their supplies by Hamas.  

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/jun/27/israel-closes-crossing-aid-points-gaza-famine-middle-east-crisis-latest-updates-news?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-685e88c88f08ac61dea2f1fd#block-685e88c88f08ac61dea2f1fd

In a press release published on its website today, MSF wrote:

Deadly Israeli-US supply distribution scheme in Gaza must be dismantled and siege lifted

The Israeli-US food distribution scheme in Gaza, Palestine, launched one month ago, is degrading Palestinians by design, forcing them to choose between starvation or risking their lives for minimal supplies.

With over 500 people killed and nearly 4,000 wounded while seeking food, this scheme is slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid and must be immediately dismantled…

This disaster has been orchestrated by the Israeli-US proxy operating under the name Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The way supplies are distributed forces thousands of Palestinians, who have been starved by an over 100 day-long Israeli siege, to walk long distances to reach the four distribution sites and fight for scraps of food supplies.

These sites hinder women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, from accessing aid and people are killed and wounded in the chaotic process.... READ MORE https://www.msf.org/deadly-israeli-us-supply-distribution-scheme-gaza-must-be-dismantled

[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]

UN chief says US-backed Gaza aid operation is 'unsafe' and is 'killing people'

United Nations secretary general António Guterres said on Friday that a US-backed aid operation in Gaza is “inherently unsafe,” giving a blunt assessment: “It is killing people.”

He also said UN-led humanitarian efforts are being “strangled,” aid workers themselves are starving and Israel - as the occupying power - is required to agree to and facilitate aid deliveries into and throughout Palestine, Reuters reports.

“People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families. The search for food must never be a death sentence,” Guterres told reporters.   https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/jun/27/israel-closes-crossing-aid-points-gaza-famine-middle-east-crisis-latest-updates-news?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-685ebb278f080e77497127e3#block-685ebb278f080e77497127e3

"Now, with the genocide in Palestine, we’re faced with a reality in which tens of thousands of Americans are actively involved in war crimes. They are part of an army responsible for the murder of more than 20,000 children in Gaza, where the Economist estimates that Israeli soldiers have killed between 77,000 and 109,000 people, or 4-5% of the territory’s population in 2023."

‘We’re faced with a reality in which tens of thousands of Americans are actively involved in war crimes.’ Photograph: Mahmoud Issa/Reuters

Why do so many Americans join the Israeli military?

Ahmed Moor

 

Tens of thousands of Americans serve in the country’s ranks amid genocide, investing in and propagating occupation

In his 1971 novel The Day of the Jackal, Frederick Forsyth renders a rich plot to assassinate Charles de Gaulle, the French president. The conspirators are pied-noirs, the term used to describe Frenchmen born in Algeria during the colonial occupation there. They grieve De Gaulle’s exit from north Africa, which they regard as a betrayal. Unable to remain in the former colony, they return home – dejected and emasculated – and murderous. In many ways, the pied-noirs regard themselves as being more French than the French.

The novel derives some of its appeal from the fact that it’s rooted in history – revanchist Frenchmen made at least six attempts to assassinate De Gaulle in the 1960s. Yigal Amir, the Israeli settler who assassinated Yitzhak Rabin in 1994, reportedly devoured the book, and drew inspiration from it.

I began to reflect on the novel after reading about the recent Hamas-US prisoner deal. Edan Alexander, the American Israeli soldier who was held captive by Hamas for a year and a half, “grew up in New Jersey and moved to Israel after high school to join the military”, as reported by the New York Times. When I read that line I wondered what drove his radicalization – what leads an American teenager to travel to a foreign country to join an army whose primary occupation is apartheid?... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/29/americans-israeli-military

[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 West Bank is on lockdown. This means that the gates Israel spent the last ten years erecting at every village and town entrance are closed— effectively caging Palestinians in their own homes. For years Palestinians protested these practices, non violently, and yet nothing changed. The world still normalized Israel and told Palestinians “it’s not a big deal.” As Palestinians are caged in, Israel has also spent the past two years ensuring agricultural destruction. This means in the West Bank, people don’t have access to lands or farms. It means Palestinians must purchase food from Israel, and everything has become more expensive. Palestinian homes are being rampaged, ransacked, and turned to military bases. Israel has also mass destroyed and demolished thousands of Palestinian homes, and displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians in the last few years. Meanwhile, Israeli settlements are expanding deeper into Palestinian towns and cities, drying water sources, destroying lands, killing & maiming people. What is happening to Palestinians as a whole population is extermination." Mariam Barghouti

 Mariam Barghouti مريم البرغوثي

@MariamBarghouti

 

The only reason, Palestinians in the West Bank seem to be enduring is because there is GZ—a place where our people are being mass executed and so in comparison, the West Bank endures.  

 

However when not compared to a mass execution site, the West Bank is facing cruel and inhumane conditions. 

 

 The West Bank is on lockdown. This means that the gates Israel spent the last ten years erecting at every village and town entrance are closed— effectively caging Palestinians in their own homes.  

 

For years Palestinians protested these practices, non violently, and yet nothing changed. 

 

The world still normalized Israel and told Palestinians “it’s not a big deal.”  

 

As Palestinians are caged in, Israel has also spent the past two years ensuring agricultural destruction. 

 

This means in the West Bank, people don’t have access to lands or farms. 

 

It means Palestinians must purchase food from Israel, and everything has become more expensive. 

 

Palestinian homes are being rampaged, ransacked, and turned to military bases. 

 

Israel has also mass destroyed and demolished thousands of Palestinian homes, and displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians in the last few years. 

 

 Meanwhile, Israeli settlements are expanding deeper into Palestinian towns and cities, drying water sources, destroying lands, killing & maiming people. 

 

What is happening to Palestinians as a whole population is extermination. 

 

It is an unbinding of any structures of life to live as a collective people. 

 

 This is colonialism, it’s not just the mass slaughter. It is the fragmentation of people, the separation, the creating of a battlefield of survival so each focuses on surviving just one day. 

 

 It is the erasure of a collective population, and the annihilation of all capacity to live as a collective.

When Pope Francis stopped, touched the wall, and said a prayer, it was truly a monumental moment that made waves in world news. Pope Francis couldn’t help but notice the ugliness of this concrete structure at the heart of Bethlehem. This wall should make us all uncomfortable. To this discomfort, the Pope couldn’t help but react and reach out. By responding in this manner, the Pope touched more than the wall. He touched the ugliness of the occupation and war. He touched the depth of our suffering. With humility and weakness, he looked injustice in the eyes, and challenged it." The Other Side of the Wall by Pastor Munther Isaac

 

Pope Francis in Bethlehem, Palestine

Munther Isaac

tepdSnosro0hmt9u0g3f6fhmftg410a38fau1386ta3t7c3hc210h2g8c3a2

Palestinian, and Palestinian Christians in particular, have lost a dear friend today. Pope Francis was beloved in Palestine. He conveyed true compassion to Palestinians, most notably to those in Gaza during this genocide. His pastoral heart was evident in his insistence on calling the Christian community besieged in Gaza on a constant basis, even from his hospital.

Some years ago, Pope Francis visited Bethlehem. We all remember the iconic image of him praying at the Wall. This is what I wrote about this incident in my book “The Other Side of the Wall”.

When Pope Francis stopped, touched the wall, and said a prayer, it was truly a monumental moment that made waves in world news. Pope Francis couldn’t help but notice the ugliness of this concrete structure at the heart of Bethlehem. This wall should make us all uncomfortable. To this discomfort, the Pope couldn’t help but react and reach out. By responding in this manner, the Pope touched more than the wall. He touched the ugliness of the occupation and war. He touched the depth of our suffering. With humility and weakness, he looked injustice in the eyes, and challenged it.

What did he say in his prayer? The truth is, I don’t want to know. Some words are better left unspoken. The image of him standing next to the wall and praying will forever be engraved in our memories. For me, this image went everywhere. On my office wall, Facebook page, desktop wallpaper. For us as Palestinian Christians, this image was stored deep into our memory. And when this wall falls one day (not if, when), we might go back to this moment and this prayer as one of the key moments that led to its fall.

At the end of the day, the Pope left, and the occupation and the wall remained. But we were left with a renewed sense of hope—knowing that we are not forgotten. We were left with a mandate to continue lamenting the current situation, to fight against injustice . . . and to pray. (The Other Side of the Wall, pp. 182-183)

The Pope left our world today, and the occupation and the wall remained. Even worse, he left our world while a genocide continues to unfold. Back in November he wrote: “I am thinking above all of those who leave Gaza in the midst of the famine that has struck their Palestinian brothers and sisters given the difficulty of getting food and aid into their territory… According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide. It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”

Today I wonder: Will the millions who will mourn his death these coming days respect this wish of his? Will they care for Gazans and Palestinians the way he did?

May his soul rest in glory with his Savior. Humanity lost a special soul today.

"On Easter, the story of Jesus — born in Bethlehem, living under occupation, crucified by empire — echoes the Palestinian experience: a people who face oppression, loss, and injustice, yet refuse to be erased..."

The Nazarene (الناصري), oil on canvas, 1993 artist Sliman Mansour

 sliman.mansour

On Easter, the story of Jesus — born in Bethlehem, living under occupation, crucified by empire — echoes the Palestinian experience: a people who face oppression, loss, and injustice, yet refuse to be erased. Just as resurrection followed crucifixion, Palestinians hold onto hope, dignity, and resistance, believing that even from the darkest tombs, life and freedom will rise again.