A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Myanmar to Peru
Continue reading...Category Archives: Palestinian Territories
Palestinians return to devastated homes as UN calls for Gaza dialogue
World leaders welcome ceasefire but Hamas and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu remain belligerent
Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians in Gaza have begun returning to their homes to inspect the devastation from 11 days of Israeli airstrikes in its war with Hamas.
Gaza City, on the Mediterranean coast, had been warped by the intense attacks, with gaping holes in the skyline from where high-rise buildings had collapsed, their remains sprawling into the street. Cars mounted pavements to avoid craters.
Continue reading...Palestinians and Israeli police clash at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque hours after Gaza truce – video
Israeli police fired stun grenades towards Palestinians who threw rocks and petrol bombs at officers outside Jerusalem's flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque on Friday, hours after Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire in Gaza. Police raids at the mosque and clashes with Palestinians during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan had led in part to the war between Israel and Hamas
Continue reading...‘A radical change’: America’s new generation of pro-Palestinian voices
Progressive coalition could be become counterweight to pro-Israeli traditions of Democratic party
It just so happened that Joe Biden was due to visit Detroit, home to the biggest Arab American community in the country, at the height of the latest upsurge in Israeli-Palestinian violence.
The sight of the presidential motorcade on Tuesday passing through a protest bedecked with Palestinian flags – and of Biden himself in heated discussion with Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian woman to be elected to Congress, on the Detroit airport tarmac – vividly illustrated the rapid shifts underway in US politics.
Continue reading...The two-state solution has no chance. But an Israeli-Palestinian confederation does | Meron Rapoport
Although they are two peoples with distinct national identities, Jews and Palestinians are inextricably geographically intertwined
“Peace for peace.” That’s how Benjamin Netanyahu described the Abraham Accords, the peace deals that Israel signed with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in September. No more “land for peace”, the paradigm that once governed diplomacy with the Palestinians.
From Netanyahu’s perspective, these deals were proof that he was right the whole time in claiming that the way to regional peace isn’t through the Palestinians. The US and Europe lost interest in the “Palestinian question” some time ago, and so did the Arab world, much of which decided it would rather align with Israel than support the Palestinians, who seemed more isolated and fragmented than ever. It’s no wonder so many people believed that Israel had won, and the Palestinian national struggle was over.
Continue reading...Palestinians greet ceasefire with celebrations on the streets of Gaza – video
Palestinians poured on to the streets after Israel and Palestinian militants agreed to a ceasefire. The truce comes after an 11-day conflict that killed more than 230 people in Gaza and 12 in Israel. Cars packed the streets of Gaza, with flags waving from the windows while mosque loudspeakers hailed a 'victory'
- Israel approves Gaza ceasefire to halt 11-day conflict
- Israel-Gaza conflict: world leaders hail ceasefire after 11 days of attacks
Israel-Gaza conflict: world leaders hail ceasefire after 11 days of attacks
Joe Biden hails ‘genuine opportunity to make progress’ as Palestinians in Gaza celebrate in the streets
World leaders have hailed a ceasefire that took hold in the early hours of Friday morning, and vowed to help rebuild Gaza after an Israeli bombing campaign that killed more than 230 people and Palestinian rocket attacks that killed 12 in Israel.
The United Nations secretary general urged Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers to observe the ceasefire and called on global leaders to develop a reconstruction package “that supports the Palestinian people and strengthens their institutions”.
Continue reading...Biden hails Gaza ceasefire as a ‘genuine opportunity to make progress’ – video
US president, Joe Biden, hailed a ceasefire reached between Israel and Palestinian militants, pledging humanitarian aid to Gaza. Speaking from the White House, Biden said the US would also replenish Israel's Iron Dome missile-defence system. Biden said he was in contact with the Israeli prime ministe,r Benjamin Netanyahu, during the 11 days of violence as well as Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. 'I believe the Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely, and enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity, and democracy. My administration will continue our quiet, relentless diplomacy towards that end,' he said
- Israel approves Gaza ceasefire to halt 11-day conflict
- Biden speaks on the Israel-Gaza ceasefire saying it will begin in less than two hours - live
Gaza: Israel security cabinet ‘to vote on unilateral ceasefire’ – reports
US White House says it believes Israel is in a position to wind down operations
Israel’s security cabinet has met amid reports that the government was considering halting its bombardment of Gaza, as international pressure to end the bloodshed gathered momentum.
The country’s public broadcaster, Kan, reported that the cabinet, headed by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, would vote on a proposed “unilateral ceasefire” to go into effect within 24 hours. Israeli officials did not immediately confirm the report.
Continue reading...Both sides in Israel-Gaza conflict lay groundwork for victory narratives
Analysis: flare-up regarded by some as example of domestic politics driving violent escalation
As a ceasefire begins between Israel and Palestinian fighters in Gaza, the longtime foes are poised to turn their attention away from military action and on to constructing competing narratives of victory.
Already, the groundwork is being laid. Unnamed Israeli defence officials are being quoted in local media as saying they are satisfied with the damage inflicted. And a militant source in Gaza said: “For us, the battle achieved its goals.”
Continue reading...Pelosi condemns Republicans for opposing January 6 commission: ‘They’re afraid of the truth’ – live
- Biden speaks to Netanyahu about Gaza conflict
- McConnell announces opposition to Capitol attack commission bill
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The House voted 252-175 to establish a commission investigating the 6 January attack on the US Capitol. Among those who voted in favor of establishing the commission were 35 Republicans.
John Katko, the Republican ranking member of the House homeland security committee helped write the bill to establish the commission, had urged his fellow Republicans to support the proposal.
Republicans in Congress are rebelling against the mask requirement on the House chamber, which remains in place due to Covid-19 safety concerns from Democrats, who hold the majority.
During votes on Tuesday, several Republican lawmakers refused to wear masks as they stood in the chamber and encouraged other members to join them.
Continue reading...US calls on Israel to ‘de-escalate’ Gaza violence in push for ceasefire
Joe Biden takes tougher line in phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu, but Israel and Hamas deny truce is imminent
Joe Biden has told Benjamin Netanyahu that he expects “a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire” between Israel and militants in Gaza, in a notable toughening of the US president’s language on the conflict.
The White House said that in a phone call on Wednesday, “the two leaders had a detailed discussion on the state of events in Gaza, Israel’s progress in degrading the capabilities of Hamas and other terrorist elements, and ongoing diplomatic efforts by regional governments and the United States.”
Continue reading...‘Bearing the brunt’: the suffering of children in the Gaza-Israel conflict – photo essay
Children in their early teens have lived through four wars, with the fear, loss and trauma that brings
Her hair is matted with rubble dust. Bare feet poke out from pink tracksuit bottoms. Blood from a head wound streaks over her eye and down her face.
But Suzy Eshkuntana is alive, pulled out of the rubble of her family’s home seven hours after it was hit in an Israeli airstrike in the middle of the night. Her four siblings and her mother were killed.
Continue reading...Israel-Palestine crisis explained: why has the violence escalated again? – video
The Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent Oliver Holmes examines the series of combustible events that coincided to trigger the worst violence in Israel and Gaza since 2014
- Israel-Gaza conflict: 200 Palestinians killed in a week, say officials
- Who’s to blame for reigniting the Israel-Palestine conflict? | Simon Tisdall
Clashes in Jerusalem and West Bank amid protests and strikes
Palestinian man killed and more than 70 wounded as hundreds hurl stones at Israeli checkpoint
Serious clashes erupted in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank on Tuesday as Palestinians took part in a day of protests and strikes over Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
A Palestinian man was killed and more than 70 wounded, including 16 by live fire, in clashes with Israeli troops on the outskirts of Ramallah, according to the Palestinian Authority health ministry. Two Israeli soldiers were injured.
Continue reading...Israeli police use cannon and teargas during clashes in Jerusalem and West Bank – video
Serious clashes erupted in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank on Tuesday as Palestinians took part in a day of protests and strikes over Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. In Jerusalem, police deployed water cannon in the neighbourhood Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families are facing eviction from homes they have lived in since the 1950s.
Continue reading...‘Every day there is bombing’: Israel airstrikes hitting affluent heart of Gaza
Areas that have escaped worst of bombing in previous conflicts are bearing brunt this time around
For the residents of the central neighbourhoods of Gaza City the last nine days have been unusually brutal.
The affluent heart of Gaza’s Palestinian society, in past conflicts areas like Tal al-Hawa and al-Rimal have been less heavily hit by the periodic wars between Israel and Hamas that have shaken the coastal strip since 2008.
Continue reading...Biden expresses support for Israel-Gaza ceasefire as pressure on US rises
Israel carries out fresh wave of pre-dawn airstrikes US president stops short of demanding halt to hostilities
Joe Biden has issued a statement for the first time expressing support for a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza’s militant rulers, Hamas, after a phone conversation with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
However, the US president stopped short of calling for an immediate halt to the eight days of Israeli airstrikes and Hamas rocket barrages that have killed more than 200 people, the vast majority of them Palestinian.
Continue reading...Israel unleashes wave of airstrikes on Gaza as Biden issues statement supporting ceasefire – video
The Israeli military has launched another heavy wave of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, saying it destroyed militants' tunnels and the homes of nine Hamas commanders. Early on Tuesday morning, three massive blasts shook Gaza City. Confirmation is being sought as to what caused the explosions. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, signalled Israel’s bombardment would continue despite mounting global pressure to stop the bloodshed. After a phone conversation with Netanyahu on Monday afternoon, the US president, Joe Biden, issued a statement expressing support for a ceasefire, but did not say it should be immediate. In the last week, at least 200 Palestinians, including 59 children, have been killed in the attacks by Israel
- Israel-Gaza conflict: 200 Palestinians killed in a week, say officials
- Arab states split for first time on refusal to condemn Israel over Gaza
A Jewish case for Palestinian refugee return
As fraught and imperfect as efforts at historical justice can be, consider what happens when they do not occur. The crimes of the past, when left unaddressed, do not remain in the past
Last Saturday was Nakba Day, which commemorates the 700,000 Palestinians who were expelled by Israel – or who fled in fear – during the country’s founding in 1948. The commemoration had special resonance this year, since it was Israel’s impending expulsion of six Palestinian families from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah that helped trigger the violent struggle currently engulfing Israel-Palestine. For many Palestinians, that imminent expulsion was evidence that the Nakba has still not come to an end.
Every year, commemorating the Nakba represents a kind of mental struggle to remember the past and sustain the hope that it can be overcome – by ensuring that Palestinian refugees and their descendants can return home. In my own community, by contrast, Jewish leaders in Israel and the diaspora demand that Palestinians forget the past and move on. In 2011, Israel’s parliament passed a law that could deny government funds to any institution that commemorates the Nakba. Israeli teachers who mention it in their classes have been reprimanded by Israel’s Ministry of Education. Last year, two Israeli writers, Adi Schwartz and Einat Wilf, published an influential book, The War of Return, which criticised the Palestinian desire for refugee return as emblematic of a “backward-facing mode” and an “inability to reconcile with the past”.
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