Israeli airstrikes on Saturday leveled three schools run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City, displacing thousands of civilians who had been sheltering there from months of bombardment

Smoke rises from three schools belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and several apartment buildings, where displaced Palestinians had taken refuge, after being targeted by Israeli forces in the al-Shati Refugee Camp in the western Gaza Strip on September 13, 2025. [Khames Alrefi – Anadolu Agency]

Thousands displaced as Israel targets UNRWA schools sheltering civilians in Gaza City

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250913-thousands-displaced-as-israel-targets-unrwa-schools-sheltering-civilians-in-gaza-city/

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]

September 13, 2025

Israeli airstrikes on Saturday leveled three schools run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City, displacing thousands of civilians who had been sheltering there from months of bombardment, Anadolu reports.

Witnesses told Anadolu that the army carried out heavy strikes on the Sit Sura, Al-Alya and Shaheiber schools in Gaza’s Beach refugee camp, where thousands of displaced people had sought refuge after fleeing earlier attacks.

They said the military had issued phone warnings for evacuation but gave families little time to collect belongings before the bombardment began. Residents described scenes of panic as people rushed into the streets under fire, leaving behind food, mattresses and documents.

The raids also struck a multi-story apartment block in the al-Firouz Towers area of western Gaza’s al-Nasr neighborhood and a home on al-Sinaa Street in the south of the city.

Earlier Saturday, Israeli planes dropped leaflets ordering residents of Gaza City to head south toward Khan Younis and Rafah, where more than 800,000 people are already crammed into makeshift shelters with little food, water or medical care. Palestinians have largely refused the evacuation orders, fearing permanent displacement.

READ: 7 more Palestinians including 2 children die of malnutrition in Gaza, taking toll to 420

The government media Office in Gaza said 1.3 million people remain in the city despite intense bombardment, most of them pushed into its western districts that have come under concentrated attacks since Friday.

Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said Israel’s actions amounted to “a death sentence on Gaza City,” adding that residents face the choice of “leaving their homes or dying under bombardment.”

The bombardment comes as part of Israel’s latest ground offensive, dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots 2,” launched Sept. 3 to fully occupy Gaza City. The plan has faced criticism inside Israel over fears it could jeopardize the lives of soldiers and captives held in the enclave.

Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza had already surpassed 700 days, with Israel having killed over 64,700 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.

Let's repeat this again: Even wars have rules- Civilians, Schools, Hospitals, Healthcare workers,Civilian infrastructure, [& JOURNALISTS] are Not A Target

 United Nations Geneva

@UNGeneva

Let's repeat this again: Even wars have rules. 

 

Civilians are #NotATarget. 

Schools are #NotATarget. 

Hospitals are #NotATarget. 

Healthcare workers are #NotATarget. 

Civilian infrastructure is #NotATarget.

 

& Journalists are #NotATarget

 

 Working for peace, rights and wellbeing since 1945. https://linktr.ee/ungeneva 

Geneva, Switzerland   ungeneva.org     Born October 24, 1945

 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]

Children in Gaza have been killed while sleeping, sheltering in schools, or queuing for water... “Israel has killed a classroom full of children every single day.” UNRWA Sam Rose tells BBC Radio 4.

Graphic by @‌TRTWorld

UNRWA

@UNRWA

“Israel has killed a classroom full of children every single day.” UNRWA Sam Rose tells BBC Radio 4. 

 

Children in #Gaza have been killed while sleeping, sheltering in schools, or queuing for water.

Israel cuts power, water to UN agency for Palestinian refugees... The United Nations has reiterated UNRWA’s commitment to neutrality and rejected Israel’s ban, emphasizing the agency’s vital role in delivering humanitarian aid.

A view of the UNRWA building in East Jerusalem on October 30, 2024. [Saeed Qaq – Anadolu Agency]

Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen announced Tuesday that electricity and water had been cut off to the offices of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), in a move intended to halt the agency’s operations inside Israel, Anadolu reports.

Under the slogan “Turning off the lights at UNRWA!” Cohen wrote on X that “the law to disconnect electricity and water from UNRWA offices, which will lead to the cessation of the organization’s activities in Israel, has been published.”

Cohen claimed that the UN agency has served as “an operational arm of Hamas,” alleging that it acts as “a breeding ground for incitement and murder and has no right to exist.”

Israel officially implemented a ban on UNRWA activities at the end of January. The agency was forced to vacate its main office in occupied East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, and Israeli authorities later ordered the closure of six UNRWA-run schools in the city.

READ: ‘Engineered’ malnutrition: UN agency chief warns about deepening child hunger crisis in Gaza

On Oct. 28, 2024, the Israeli Knesset passed two final laws barring UNRWA from operating in Israel, revoking its privileges and immunities, and prohibiting any formal contact with the agency.

Israel has alleged that the agency employees participated in the Hamas attack in late 2023, an accusation the agency has firmly denied. The UN has reiterated UNRWA’s commitment to neutrality and rejected Israel’s ban, emphasizing the agency’s vital role in delivering humanitarian aid.

As the Israeli war in Gaza intensified, Palestinians have become increasingly dependent on UNRWA, the largest international humanitarian organization serving the population.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 58,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages and disease.

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.

READ: Israeli lawmaker shows off keys to locked UNRWA Headquarters in Jerusalem in Knesset session

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250715-israel-cuts-power-water-to-un-agency-for-palestinian-refugees/ 

[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]

Red line after red line has been crossed in Gaza [by Israel]. Schools bombed [by Israel]. Children killed [by Israel]. Aid centres turned into killing grounds [by Israel].... STOP SUPPORTING WAR CRIMES Red Line for Palestine

Oxfam

@oxfamgb

 

Red line after red line has been crossed in Gaza. Schools bombed. 

 

Children killed. 

 

Aid centres turned into killing grounds. 

 

More than half of Britons oppose Israel's merciless war. 

 

So we’re drawing a red line - and we won’t stop until the atrocities end. SHARE. #RedLineForGaza

Israel’s war on Palestinian political life in Jerusalem- by Daoud Kuttab: If Israel truly seeks peace and coexistence, it must begin by recognizing the rights of Palestinians to exist, organize and thrive. That includes respect for international law, the protection of educational and religious institutions, and allowing Palestinians the freedom to engage in normal political and civil life. The international community, in particular Israel’s allies, must also take note: Silence in the face of these violations is complicity. As Israel continues to claim the mantle of democracy, its actions in East Jerusalem tell another story, one of exclusion, repression and systematic erasure.

 "Israeli authorities are redrawing the city not only physically, but socially and spiritually."

Daoud Kuttab

While the world is focused on global economic issues and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Israel’s recent harsh policies in East Jerusalem mark an alarming new chapter in a long-standing campaign to eliminate any form of organized Palestinian political or civic presence in the city.

Under the pretext of security, Israel has persistently targeted and dismantled institutions that serve as pillars of Palestinian society, be they unions, schools, cultural centers or political offices.

In the latest examples of this, Israeli authorities this week presented orders to shut down six UN-run schools by May 8, and ordered the immediate closure of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions.

This pattern is not new. For years, and especially since the signing in 1993 of the Palestinian-Israeli Declaration of Principles, also referred to as the Oslo Accords, Israel has worked to dismantle Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem. They began with closing the historic Orient House, the Chamber of Commerce, the Arab Higher Council for Tourism, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, and the Palestinian Center for Social Research.

Such actions reveal an apartheid reality. Despite claiming East Jerusalem as part of its “unified capital,” Israel continues to act in ways that starkly contradict its self-declared identity as a democratic state. By criminalizing Palestinian civic engagement and political expression, it exposes the discriminatory foundations and strategy of Jewish supremacy in areas under Israeli civilian, as well as military, control.... READ MORE   https://www.arabnews.com/node/2596753

 [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]

Please, let Golden Rule thinking and the rule of fair and just laws guide US all towards a better way forward.

 $$$

Dear America (letter I just sent to my elected leaders),

We want there to be a happy ending.

BUT private greed generating escalating job losses & cuts to schools, libraries and National Parks undermines happy for a whole lot of hard working good people and their children who deserve better than being wage slaves for the Billionaires Club.

Privatizing the Post Office so that American wage slaves sending Christmas cards can help create another privileged Billionaire Jet Setter who joins The Club by paying less than a living wage to many of their workers is just wrong.

Taxpayers' money should be bolstering crucial services including the Social Security system and Medicare. 

Furthermore State Sponsored Violence sends the message that Violence works: Funding weapons of war with taxpayers' hard earned money is counterproductive and only leads to escalating violence worldwide. 

Public funds should be for the public good.

Big Business and Government hiding the true cost of electronic anything shifts both pollution and a punitive burden onto the individual citizen in multiple ways. For instance precious farm land is gobbled up by data servers.  The individual citizen has to pay for online services, and the batteries & electricity necessary to be online. Meanwhile AI as well as Hackers, Doxers, & Scammers glean as much private data they can grab, abusing personal information for nefarious purposes.

Please, let Golden Rule thinking and the rule of fair and just laws guide US all towards a better way forward.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

NOTES

No War Please 

Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac  2025 book tour USA 'Christ In The Rubble' ... Now more than ever, we need to talk about the American Church's role in what is happening in your country and ours, as we all are waking up to terrible news day after day.

"The Holocaust did not start with gas chambers. This hatred gradually developed from words, stereotypes, and prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanisation and escalatin violence" Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau

From USS Liberty to Rachel Corrie: Israel’s Attacks on U.S. You Probably Didn’t Know About - Israel’s violent history with US citizens reveals a shocking pattern of attacks and impunity.

"I have always believed that my duty is not only to liberate myself from the oppressor, but also to liberate my oppressors from their hatred and fear." ... I Am a Political Prisoner. A letter dictated by Mahmoud Khalil over the phone from ICE detention in Louisiana. Mahmoud Khalil March 18, 2025

State sponsored violence is not the way to convince vulnerable people to veer away from arming religious tyranny and terrorism.

Hate crimes are escalating here in America with people primed by to think, say and do horrible things...

Slavery, Segregation and Forced Displacement are wrong. Wrong then and wrong now

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."   https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

Gaza Must Be Rebuilt by Palestinians, for Palestinians: Palestinians returning after the ceasefire confront the destruction of their homes and the horror of President Trump’s proposal to turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East” by committing ethnic cleansing. Essay by Mosab Abu Toha February 12, 2025 in The New Yorker

"Who said Gazans are worried about dying? There are many people around the world who worry about dying, including some Americans who don’t have health insurance or who live in areas that are at risk of wildfires. But our worry is not about dying. Palestinians are worried about being killed by Israeli soldiers, settlers, bombs, and bullets. How do you stop people from being killed? Not by removing the people who have been shot and bombed—but by stopping the people who are doing the shooting and bombing.

Since the start of the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, in late January, more than a hundred Palestinians have been killed and many more wounded."  Mosab Abu Toha

A man in Jabalia sells bread under the remnants of his bakery, which was destroyed during an Israeli attack.Photograph by Abdel Kareem Hana / AP

When I first heard that President Donald Trump was making comments about the future of Gaza, I was in New York City, at a special screening celebrating the new season of my friend Mo Amer’s Netflix show, “Mo.” Then another friend texted me: “Hideous Trump press conference in which he says America will take over Gaza. We’ll talk tomorrow.” I was shocked. But whom would the United States take Gaza from? Israeli forces levelled entire neighborhoods and then withdrew. My friend Ahmad, from Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza, told me that people have returned to their neighborhoods not to resume their old lives but “to live over the rubble of their houses.” But even the rubble in Gaza has meaning to us. It is where our loved ones lived and died. When the time comes, we are the only people who will be removing what must be removed, only to reuse it to rebuild... READ MORE https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/gaza-must-be-rebuilt-by-palestinians-for-palestinians
 

 [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]

2018 UNWRA spokesman Sami Mshasha "There are [Israeli] think tanks, researchers and specialists whose aim is to undermine the agency," he told Middle East Eye.

Palestinian children fly kites at a school belonging to UNRWA in Gaza City on 12 March 2018 as a protest against US aid cuts (AFP)

 

2018 UNWRA spokesman Sami Mshasha "There are [Israeli] think tanks, researchers and specialists whose aim is to undermine the agency," he told Middle East Eye.

“At times they try to question the neutrality of the agency and its staff. At others they attack the curricula taught at the agency’s schools, especially in the Palestinian territories, claiming that it contains material promoting incitement, hate and discrimination, which is not correct.”... READ MORE  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-unrwa-schools-united-nations

2019 Palestinian children fear for their future as Israel moves to shut schools

Read More »

 

Human Rights

2020 EXCLUSIVE: Israel stops granting visas to UN human rights workers

 

Occupation

2019 Israeli draft law seeks to ban UNRWA in East Jerusalem

 

Poet Mosab Abu Toha's January 22, 2025 Statement on the destruction of the Edward Said Public Library in Gaza

Mosab Abu Toha: This is what I worked in the past seven years to build for my people with the help of friends in Gaza and outside.

Mosab Abu Toha

@MosabAbuToha

Statement on the destruction of the Edward Said Public Library in Gaza January 22, 2025   

 

My name is Mosab Abu Toha and I’m a Palestinian poet and writer from Gaza. 

 

Today [this] morning with a heavy heart I received the news of the destruction of the Edward Said Public Library in Beit Lahia, north Gaza. 

 

The news and pictures came through just three days after Gazans were allowed to return to north Gaza. 

 

Starting 2016, I started collecting books from around the world to build Gaza’s first English language library. With the endorsement and support of authors and intellectuals around the world, I raised the needed funds to open the library in the summer of 2017. 

 

It took me around eight weeks to receive each box of books that friends and supporters were sending from the United States and Europe. 

 

A few people were sending a selection of books from their own home libraries, and I was planning to name certain shelves in the library in Gaza after them. 

 

In September 2019, a second branch was opened in Gaza City. News of the horrible damage done to the branch was relayed to me a few months ago.

 

All the dreams that I and friends in Gaza and abroad were drawing for our children have been burnt by Israel’s genocidal campaign to erase Gaza and everything that breathes of life and love. 

 

The destruction of the Edward Said Public Library is just one war crime committed against Gaza and Gazans in the past 15 months. 

 

The obliteration of Gaza’s universities, schools, cultural centers as well as religious sites must be condemned. 

 

Moreover, the world of culture and literature must respond to this atrocity by publicly it and by boycotting Israeli cultural institutions and anyone coming from that part. I demand that the American Library Association (ALA) issue a statement condemning the destruction of the Edward Said Public Library in Gaza and boycott Israeli libraries and cultural institution. 

 

In January 2020, and as part of the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, I delivered a presentation about the struggle libraries in Palestine face, and I told the story of the Edward Said Public Library. I also urge American libraries and authors, some of whose books were on the shelves of the library, to stand in solidarity with the libraries in Gaza and to express their commitment for a protected cultural life in Palestine. 

 

In December 2023, Do’a Al-Masri, the librarian at the Gaza City branch of the library, was killed in an air strike with her mother and siblings in Tuffah neighborhood. 

 

Lastly, I’m committed to rebuilding the library, its two branches, and even expand the project to build one in Rafah and another in Khan Younis. 

 

My only two concerns now are whether I can get books into Gaza and also whether I will find children who are convinced that this is safe and important to visit the library, especially after all the trauma and losses each of us experienced.   

 

Mosab Abu Toha, Author and founder of the Edward Said public Library-Occupied Palestine

 

 

Edward Said Public Library established in Gaza 2019

Edward Said Public Library today 2025- destroyed by Israel

 

*Edward Said 1935-2003 was a Palestinian American Professor of Literature at Columbia University who was born in Jerusalem, Palestine in 1935 to a Palestinian Christian family. Said's father served in the United States Army during World War I. 

 

Besides having been a public intellectual & academic, Edward Said was an accomplished pianist.

Unrwa may be forced to stop saving lives in Gaza. Will the world let that happen? Outrage over Israel’s attempt to dismantle our UN agency has largely petered out. The stakes are very high now Opinion piece by Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General

"Meanwhile, Hamas accuses Unrwa’s leadership of colluding with the Israeli occupation and opposes the agency’s efforts to promote human rights and gender equality. Far from being a party to the conflict, Unrwa is a casualty of this war." Philippe Lazzarini

UNRWA teams providing polio vaccines in an UNRWA school in Khan Younis, Gaza southern area, October 2024. © 2024 UNRWA Photo

Unrwa may be forced to stop saving lives in Gaza. Will the world let that happen?

Outrage over Israel’s attempt to dismantle our UN agency has largely petered out. The stakes are very high now

Opinion piece by Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General 

20 December 2024

---

The UN agency entrusted with the protection and welfare of Palestine refugees for three-quarters of a century, Unrwa, which I lead, was always meant to be temporary. The conclusion of its mandate was foreseen at its establishment. The choice before us today is whether to jettison a decades-long investment in human development and human rights by chaotically dismantling the agency overnight, or pursue an orderly political process in which Unrwa continues to provide millions of Palestine refugees with education and healthcare until empowered Palestinian institutions take over these services.

The agency may be forced to halt its work in the occupied Palestinian territory next month if legislation passed by the Israeli parliament is implemented. The laws would cripple the humanitarian response in Gaza and deprive millions of Palestine refugees of essential services in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. They would also eliminate a vocal witness to the countless horrors and injustices Palestinians have endured for decades.

The government of Israel’s brazen effort to thwart the will of the international community – expressed through multiple UN resolutions – and single-handedly dismantle a UN agency has been met with public condemnation and outrage that has largely petered out into political inertia. The dearth of political courage and principled leadership when it matters most does not bode well for our multilateral system.

What is at stake? For Palestine refugees, it is their very lives and future. The impact of barring access to education, healthcare and other social services will be devastating and multigenerational. Complicity in this endeavour erodes not only our humanity but also the legitimacy of our multilateral system. The near total absence of political, economic or legal penalties for flagrant violations of the Geneva conventions, utter disregard for the resolutions of the security council and the general assembly, and open defiance of the rulings of the international court of justice is making a mockery of the rules-based international order.

The war on Gaza and Palestinians is coupled with an extraordinary assault on those who speak or act in defence of human rights, international law and the victims of a barbaric war. Humanitarian workers with decades of service to war-affected populations are suddenly labelled as terrorists or terrorist sympathisers. Critics of Israeli government policies and actions are intimidated and harassed. Inflammatory propaganda sponsored by the Israeli foreign ministry is now splashed on billboards in prime locations in the US and Europe, complemented by Google ads promoting websites replete with disinformation. These are well funded efforts to distract from the brutality of an unlawful occupation and the international crimes being committed with total impunity under our watch.

The government of Israel and its affiliates justify actions against Unrwa by claiming that the agency is infiltrated by Hamas, even though all allegations for which any evidence has been offered have been thoroughly investigated. Meanwhile, Hamas accuses Unrwa’s leadership of colluding with the Israeli occupation and opposes the agency’s efforts to promote human rights and gender equality. Far from being a party to the conflict, Unrwa is a casualty of this war.

The objective of efforts to malign and eventually dismantle Unrwa is simple – to eliminate the refugee status of Palestinians and shift, unilaterally, the long-established parameters for a political solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. The blind pursuit of this goal has overlooked the fact that the refugee status of Palestinians is not tied to Unrwa and is enshrined in a general assembly resolution that predates the creation of the agency.

Today, the international community is at a crossroads. In one direction lies a world where we have reneged on our commitment to provide a political answer to the question of Palestine. It is a dystopian world, where Israel, as the occupying power, is solely responsible for the population in the occupied Palestinian territory, possibly subcontracting the occupation to private actors who are even less answerable to the international community.

In another direction lies a world where the guardrails of the rules-based order hold firm and the Palestinian question is resolved by political means. This is the path currently being pursued by the global alliance for the implementation of the two-state solution, led by Saudi Arabia, the EU and the Arab League. This effort, which revives the Arab peace initiative, aims to lay down an irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution, and to build the capacity of a Palestinian administration that will govern a future state of Palestine, including Gaza.

This is the path Unrwa was created to support. Pending the establishment of a Palestinian state, the agency will be critical for ensuring that children in Gaza are not condemned to live in the rubble, without education and without hope. No other entity except a functioning state can provide education to hundreds of thousands of girls and boys, and primary healthcare for millions of Palestinians. Within the framework of a political solution, Unrwa can progressively conclude its mandate, with its teachers, doctors and nurses becoming the workforce of empowered Palestinian institutions.

We still have a window of opportunity to avert a cataclysmic future where firepower and propaganda construct the global order, determining where and when human rights and the rule of law apply, if at all. The tools and institutions needed to defend and reinforce our multilateral system and the rules-based order exist and are adequate – we need only find the political courage to use them.

---

This opinion piece was first published in the Guardian newspaper on 20 December 2024

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/20/unrwa-stop-saving-lives-gaza-israel-un-agency?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/notes/unrwa-may-be-forced-stop-saving-lives-gaza-will-world-let-happen

 [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]