For seven days, not a single food truck has entered Gaza. Today, Israel cut off all electricity—shutting down the last sources of clean water. No food. No water. For two million people, half of them children. This isn’t war. It’s extermination....

sarah

@sahouraxo

 

For seven days, not a single food truck has entered Gaza. 

 

Today, Israel cut off all electricity—shutting down the last sources of clean water. 

 

No food. No water. For two million people, half of them children. This isn’t war. It’s extermination.

 

 Lest we forget. 

 

Israel has armed, treated, and coordinated with ISIS and Al-Qaeda rebels in Syria—for years. 

 

Even mainstream media reports confirm it. 

 

This is the truth they’re trying to bury today.

 

 

 Independent Lebanese geopolitical commentator. Follow Sarah on X x.com/sahouraxo and Instagram www.instagram.com/sahouraxo/pr...

 

I wear the traditional black and white scarf to celebrate my heritage. That’s enough to make you a target in the US today

".... Whipping up hatred against symbols of Palestinian identity has dangerous consequences. Last November three Palestinian college students in Burlington, Vermont were shot; it’s thought that they may have been targeted because they were wearing keffiyehs. Around the same time, a British-Indian man living in Brooklyn was attacked in a playground while with his 18-month-old, because he was wearing a keffiyeh. A woman called him a terrorist, threw her phone and a hot cup of coffee at him and said she hoped that “someone burns your child in an oven”.

Cowardly though it may be, the anti-Arab atmosphere in the US has made me afraid of wearing my own keffiyeh out of the house. Particularly, as I recently had a very unpleasant interaction when wearing my watermelon sweater (the same one Ben Affleck’s daughter was criticised for wearing). Still, being worried about getting harassed on the street is nothing compared with what people in Gaza and the West Bank are dealing with. Please don’t let hate-mongers try to distract you: it’s not keffiyehs or protesting university students that you should be outraged by, it’s children being starved to death." 

Protesters at University of Michigan in the US, this month. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

My Palestinian keffiyeh is a symbol of my identity. I should not be afraid to wear it in public

Arwa Mahdawi

 

I wear the traditional black and white scarf to celebrate my heritage. That’s enough to make you a target in the US today

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/14/palestinian-keffiyeh-symbol-of-my-identity-should-not-be-afraid-to-wear-it-public

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Mona Chalabi: Settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank – visualized... International attention is on Gaza, but attacks by Israelis who live on Palestinian land have been increasing

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Mona Chalabi

Mon 22 Apr 2024

While international attention has been turned toward Gaza, violence against Palestinians has increased in the West Bank too. Israeli settler attacks have become more frequent.

Settlers are Israeli citizens who live on Palestinian land. In most cases, this happens because Palestinians are prevented from accessing their land and are physically attacked by settlers. In a third of cases, Palestinian property is damaged by settlers. These findings come from a UN report published in September 2023 that showed a years-long rise in settler violence against Palestinians. Because of these numbers, the UN has noted that “settler-driven displacement did not start with Hamas’s deadly attack”.

“Settlers attacked us, destroying our homes, water tanks, solar panels and cars,” Abu Khaled, 43, told the UN after being displaced on 28 October. “I felt the presence of death so tangibly as if I saw it with my own eyes … I made the hardest decision in my life: to leave Zanuta and leave everything behind, as memories. I did this to protect my children.” Those who remain are not safe. “They prevent us from grazing our sheep,” Mohamad Abu Seif, 90, said. He has lived with his family in Ein Shibli, a herding community, for over 40 years. They remain vulnerable to threats and harassment by settlers.

The Israeli government routinely acknowledges these colonies as part of the Israeli state despite the fact that they are illegal under international law.

 READ MORE    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/22/israel-settlers-violence-against-palestine-west-bank 

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Article 49 of the fourth Geneva convention prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.

 "The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has found that “as a rule, the military prefers to remove Palestinians from their own farmland or pastureland rather than confront settlers”. This has also been the case in recent months, when Israeli forces have accompanied or supported settler attacks in almost half of all incidents, according to the UN. In over a third of the incidents reported since October, settlers threatened Palestinians with firearms, including by opening fire." 

"The thousands of Palestinians who have been forced from their homes have little recourse to justice. In four out of every five cases, Israeli police failed in the investigation of Israelis who harmed Palestinians and their property. This finding comes from Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group that has investigated the way Israeli law enforcement treats these settler attacks. It found that between 2005 and 2021, just 3% of ideologically motivated cases resulted in a conviction."

Pamela Olson's book (and blog) that aims to bring the realities in Palestine to the American mainstream

The date palms Deir al Balah used to be famous for, before Israel destroyed nearly all of them.

GAZA HOLIDAY

"....Israeli soldiers took over their home and occupied it in a way that paralleled the occupation as a whole. The top two floors were ‘Area C’ — completely off limits. The Bashirs were warned that if they ventured up the stairs, they would be shot. The kitchen and bathroom were ‘Area B,’ meaning Israeli soldiers had priority and the family had to ask permission to use them.

Only the living room on the first floor was ‘Area A,’ meaning they could enter and use it as they saw fit, though they couldn’t invite guests in without permission from the Israeli soldiers.

Mrs. Bashir told The Guardian, “Occupation is getting up in the morning to make tea and finding a soldier in your kitchen making coffee. Occupation is when I wanted to go to the toilet, a soldier had to go with me. I wasn’t allowed in my bedroom. I looked in on my way to the toilet one day and there was a soldier with no clothes on in my bed.”

It also meant that Israeli soldiers bulldozed the Bashirs’ greenhouses and fruit orchards, including 170 date palms, which had provided their relative wealth. It meant Mr. Bashir was regularly forced to strip to his underwear on his own doorstep before entering the house, often in front of his children...." ... READ MORE

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The UN will commemorate Nakba Day for the first time in 2023: Nakba Day acknowledges ongoing Israeli aggression and the Zionist destruction of Palestinian lives and peace in Palestine

& Nakba Day marks the official beginning of the ongoing Palestinian Refugee crisis as Israel continues to destroy Palestinian homes, displacing Palestinian men, women, and children, and denying Palestinian refugees the inalienable natural and legal right to return to original homes and lands.  Israel continues to usurp Palestinian land, rights & freedom...

Nakba Day is marked annually by Palestinians on May 15 to remember the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes and areas in 1948 after the founding of Israel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UN report spotlights 'staggering' Islamic State atrocities in Iraq... "The group, which is fighting in Iraq and Syria, has carried out a wide range of atrocities, including mass executions, abductions, rape and other forms of sexual and physical violence against women and children"

9,347 Iraqi civilians had died in the conflict. 

Another 17,386 had been injured. 

 As of last month, an estimated 1.8 million Iraqis have been displaced by the violence, according to the report.

"“The array of violations and abuses perpetrated by [Islamic State] and associated armed groups is staggering, and many of their acts may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.

Paulo Barrozo, a professor at Boston College and expert on international criminal law, said that what sets IS apart from other terrorist organizations is its sprawling territorial ambitions. While the Taliban’s brutal reign in Afghanistan was limited to a single country, IS has torn up international borders in its attempt to create an Islamic caliphate.

“They add a dimension of chaos and brutality to a region that’s already volatile and that’s in the best interest of no one,” he says. “The population there is hostage to their brutality.” "

UN report spotlights 'staggering' Islamic State atrocities in Iraq

"As the Monitor’s Dan Murphy wrote of IS in July, “murder is their answer to anyone who doesn’t share their twisted vision of their faith.” "

"The group, which is fighting in Iraq and Syria, has carried out a wide
range of atrocities, including mass executions, abductions, rape and
other forms of sexual and physical violence against women and children"

Killing of US envoy to Libya underscores threat of unchecked religious fanaticism

In this April 2011 file photo, US envoy Christopher Stevens (c.), speaks to Council member for Misrata Dr. Suleiman Fortia (r.) at the Tibesty Hotel Ben Curtis/AP/File

The US ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, and three diplomatic staff members were killed last night when Islamists attacked the American consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, the State Department confirmed today.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2012/0912/Killing-of-US-envoy-to-Libya-underscores-threat-of-unchecked-religious-fanaticism

In a video released by the State Department when Mr. Stevens was appointed ambassador to Libya after Qaddafi’s ouster, he said he “quickly grew to love this part of the world” when he spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley. In the video, which has Arabic subtitles, he said he looked forward to returning to Libya and hoped the US could partner with the newly independent country on issues like health care and education.

Tariq Alhomayed says it is political buffoonery for Arabs to allow Hamas and Hezbollah to thrive while the PA is on the brink of bankruptcy.

"This is both puzzling and depressing; what future do we want for our children and our region? Do we want Hamas, Hezbollah and others of their ilk, or do we want to consolidate the concept of the state that upholds human values, encourages knowledge and respects laws, all according to the principles of God’s religion and a homeland for all? "  Tariq Alhomayed

Tariq Alhomayed, Editor-in-Chief of Asharq Al-Awsat

Love, bankruptcy and buffoonery in our region

Tariq Alhomayed
Asharq Alawsat (Opinion)
September 10, 2012 - 12:00am
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=2&id=31011

The Iranian President told his Palestinian counterpart that he loves the Palestinians, prompting Abbas to reply: “For God’s sake, love us all”, i.e. not just Hamas. But it is hard for Ahmadinejad to do that, for Iran and its adherers will not be satisfied with the Palestinians until they are a game in their hands, like Hamas, Hezbollah and al-Assad.

It’s a shame that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has declared bankruptcy while Hamas - a party that does not suffer from financial hardship due to the Iranian support it receives - is preparing to create a new generation of diplomats from Gaza. This will only consecrate the Palestinian division that originally resulted from the Hamas coup. It is shameful that Abbas has announced the PA’s inability to provide salaries in the West Bank, while in Egypt it has been reported that Islamic terrorist groups in the Sinai have drone aircraft and advanced weaponry in order to carry out strikes on the Egyptian army. So how can terrorists be financed to strike Egyptian security, while we cannot find anyone to fund the PA, which is searching for a peaceful solution to the Palestinian cause! Likewise it is shameful that Abbas is begging for money while al-Assad gets all he wants from Iran and its adherers, in order to kill the Syrian people! Yes it is shameful that Abbas is declaring bankruptcy at a time when the symbols of destruction and division in our region are enjoying the funding and facilities of Tehran. As for some Arab regimes – and the Gaza government is one of these – who claim to be fighting Iran’s agent in Syria, they only want to destroy the authorities there to reinforce the power of the Muslim Brotherhood in our region. This is a contradiction that could only happen in our region, which is full of inconsistencies and political buffoonery. 

While we are on the subject of political buffoonery, let us consider the call from the Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti to his European counterparts, urging the need to hold a conference to counter the danger of populists, demagogues or deceivers - call them what you will, i.e. those who seek to mislead the public. Monti claimed that these figures are threatening the future of Europe and its unity by taking advantage of the current financial crisis. The Italian Prime Minister called on the Europeans to address these populist currents by saying that: “It is paradoxical and sad that in a phase in which one was hoping to complete the integration, instead there is forming a dangerous counter-phenomenon that aims at the disintegration”. This is the case with our own region today, unfortunately, where there is no louder voice than the populists and deceivers. How else can we explain Abbas’ cry that the PA is bankrupt, while Hamas and Hezbollah are not suffering from financial hardship with the support of Iran and some of the revolutionaries in our region? How else can we understand Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, defending al-Assad by saying that the alternatives to the tyrant of Damascus would be mere reactionists? Has Aoun forgotten that he was an ally of Saddam Hussein before al-Assad? Is there anything more reactionary than that? 

This is both puzzling and depressing; what future do we want for our children and our region? Do we want Hamas, Hezbollah and others of their ilk, or do we want to consolidate the concept of the state that upholds human values, encourages knowledge and respects laws, all according to the principles of God’s religion and a homeland for all? 

This is what we must always remember, but for the Palestinians to implore Ahmadinejad, saying “For God’s sake, love us all”, this is a pipe dream!

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http://www.americantaskforce.org/daily_news_article/2012/09/10/love_bankruptcy_and_buffoonery_our_region

What is Israel?

"Evidently the woman's DNA tipped the balance in her favor. In 2010 a local rabbi granted her a marriage license as a bona fide Jew."

"There is no civil marriage in Israel; the institution is controlled by a religious authority, the Rabbinate. According to halacha, ancient Jewish law, either the applicant's mother must be demonstrably Jewish (the blood connection) or else the applicant must have converted to Judaism in a verifiably Orthodox ceremony (the cultural test). If unable to satisfy the authorities, immigrants may get married outside the country, and the state will accept the union. Secular Israelis who resent the strictures go abroad by choice, nearby Cyprus often providing their version of the Las Vegas wedding.

Then the panel and the audience were asked to comment on a case study, a real one. An Eastern European woman who was a 12-year resident of Israel had documents affirming that her paternal grandfather was Jewish, but no proof of Jewishness on her mother's side save her own testimony. To bolster her claim for a marriage license, the woman went to a commercial gene-testing service and had her DNA analyzed, specifically her mitochondrial DNA. This part of the human genome is inherited strictly through the mother's line. She turned out to carry a genetic marker associated with Ashkenazi Jews, 1.5 million of whom carry it. Scientists had traced the marker to what they believe to be a founding lineage of the Jewish people in the Middle East. Should the religious authority take the biological evidence into account? Should the rabbi in charge give the woman a pass on the requirement for conversion?

The room crackled with people wishing to speak. The American geneticist Mary-Claire King, known for her research on heritable breast cancer, said that she hesitated to admit the mitochondrial marker as legal proof of ancestry. For one thing, she observed, not everyone carrying that marker was Jewish. It can be found in some Palestinians..."

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/defining-jews-defining-a-nation-can-genetics-save-israel/254428/

Defining Jews, Defining a Nation: Can Genetics Save Israel?

How studies of Jewish DNA could help answer a question that's at the heart of some of Israeli society's biggest problems: Who counts as a Jew?

Modern day zealots envision new Jewish Temple in Jerusalem

Jewish Orthodox men look on the Dome of the Rock in the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City. For many, the golden cupola of the Dome of the Rock is a symbol of Jerusalem. But for a growing number of Jewish zealots, the dream is to see a different skyline -- one dominated by the outline of a Third Jewish Temple. (AFP Photo/Khaled Desouki)

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http://news.yahoo.com/modern-day-zealots-envision-jewish-temple-jerusalem-150926777.html

By Jonah Mandel | AFP

"No singing. No dancing. No praying. No animals," reads the curiously worded sign greeting visitors heading up the rickety wooden ramp to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City.

For the non-Jewish visitor, it takes a few moments for the significance of the words to sink in.

But for Jews, who revere the site as the former location of the First and Second Temples, it is a bitter reminder of a harsh reality -- they are not allowed to worship at Judaism's holiest site.

Known to Jews as the Temple Mount, the plaza is referred to by Muslims as Al-Haram Al-Sharif and is considered the third holiest site in Islam.

Home to the Al-Aqsa mosque and the golden-topped Dome of the Rock, the plaza is one of the most sensitive places in the Middle East.

For many, the golden cupola of the Dome of the Rock which dominates the Jerusalem skyline is a symbol of this Middle Eastern city.

But for a growing number of Jewish zealots, the dream is to see a different skyline -- one dominated by the outline of a Third Jewish Temple.

For the Palestinians and the Muslim world, such a move would be viewed as no less than an act of war, and one which could trigger unforeseeable consequences.

In September 2000, a controversial visit to the compound by Israel's hawkish opposition leader Ariel Sharon sparked the five-year second intifada.

And any Israeli attempt to build or to dig in the area around the Al-Aqsa compound tends to spark a furious reaction from the Palestinians, who frequently accused the Jewish state of trying to undermine the sacred plaza.

Early on a bright winter morning, a handful of nondescript Israelis gather among the hoards of tourists waiting to be checked by police before going through the Mughrabi Gate, the only entrance which is open to non-Muslims.

"We are not here as tourists, but as Jews who are ascending to God's mountain," explains Assaf Fried, the group's burly leader.

For him, these weekly visits have one goal: to build the Third Temple....READ MORE

As ultra-Orthodox flex muscle, Israel feminists see a backsliding

Women who thought Israel's battle for gender equality was mostly won warn of a new assault from the fast-growing ultra-Orthodox, seeking to expand religious-based segregation into the public realm.

As ultra-Orthodox flex muscle, Israel feminists see a backsliding

Hussein Ibish: "Snap judgments don't explicate much about where we are, and illuminate even less about where we're going..."

"There is an intellectually and politically indefensible rush to recast the leading Arab Islamist parties as more moderate or pluralistic than they actually are. Almost all of them remain Muslim Brotherhood or Salafist groupings, not Arab equivalents of European Christian Democratic parties or even the Turkish AKP. If constitutional restraints on government powers are strong, as they must be in any democracy, eventually some Arab Islamist groups will probably move in that direction, but they have not yet.

While there's no reason to think Islamists are in the process of consolidating absolute power anywhere, it's simply foolish not to recognize that they remain in every meaningful sense radical and retain their totalitarian impulses. That they would like to broadly and severely restrict the rights of individuals, women and minorities in the name of religion is obvious. It's hard to see them developing such unrestrained power, but there is also no use in kidding oneself about their evident intentions." Hussein Ibish- Jumping to conclusions on the Arab Spring

Israel's Ultra-orthodox Haredi Jews gather at the gates of a local girls school, screaming abuse

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/31/bet-shemesh-haredi-jews-school

The battle of Bet Shemesh

Harriet Sherwood
guardian.co.uk, Monday 31 October 2011

At 8am, little girls carrying backpacks stuffed with books and lunchboxes greet each other with giggles and whispers as they wait for the security guard to unlock the school gates. All are dressed in compliance with the school's regulations: skirt to the knee or below; sleeves at least to the elbow.

The youngest are six, the oldest 12: the age of innocence. But this has not protected these children from becoming the focus of a cultural, religious and territorial struggle between Jews in the city of Bet Shemesh, which many say reflects a wider battle across the country as the ultra-orthodox, or Haredim, grow in number and influence.

Since the state-funded religious-nationalist school of Orot Girls opened in new premises in September, groups of extreme Haredi men regularly gather at the gates, screaming "whore" and "slut" at the girls and their mothers....READ MORE