[🇧🇩] Israel and Hamas war in Gaza-----Can Bangladesh be a peace broker?

[Saif]

Gaza belongs to its people

US "taking over" Gaza is an outrageous idea

www.thedailystar.net

Gaza belongs to its people
US "taking over" Gaza is an outrageous idea

VISUAL: STAR

The US may no longer be the beacon of hope it once was, but there are still things expected from the country as a global power. Chief among them is a responsibility to uphold basic human rights and international law. This expectation has been tested time and again, but rarely as starkly as it is now, with Donald Trump's alarming plan for Gaza. On Tuesday evening, at a joint news conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the US president proposed "long-term ownership" of Gaza by the United States. This came after he repeatedly called in recent days for the war-ravaged territory's 1.2 million residents to be resettled. While officials later tried to walk back the takeover proposal amid fierce criticism, saying any displacement of Gazans would be temporary, Trump on Thursday restated his vision, suggesting his determination to go ahead with it.

For decades, US foreign policy—despite its inconsistencies—has at least paid lip service to a two-state solution for the peaceful coexistence of Israel and Palestine. Trump's approach obliterates that pretence. If implemented, it would not only mean "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza—as the UN chief has rightly called it—but also set an extremely dangerous precedent where stronger powers might feel emboldened to resolve territorial disputes through mass expulsions.

This should send shivers down the spine of anyone who values justice and human rights. For decades, US foreign policy—despite its inconsistencies—has at least paid lip service to a two-state solution for the peaceful coexistence of Israel and Palestine. Trump's approach obliterates that pretence. If implemented, it would not only mean "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza—as the UN chief has rightly called it—but also set an extremely dangerous precedent where stronger powers might feel emboldened to resolve territorial disputes through mass expulsions. It is also deeply insulting for the Gazans after the genocide and devastation they endured at the hands of Israel over the last 15 months. Suggesting that those still alive should be uprooted, cast aside, and scattered across unwilling nations is outrageous, to say the least.

Naturally, Palestinians and Arab states where Trump and Netanyahu want Gazans to be resettled have rejected the proposal. Similarly, the world must also stand firm against this effort to make the suffering of Gazans permanent by robbing them of their homeland. Reportedly, emboldened by Trump, Israel has already instructed its military to formulate a plan for their "voluntary" departures. In other words, a permanent displacement may already be in motion even though they have only recently begun to return to the rubble they once called home following a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. All nations must come forward to prevent this modern-day holocaust.​

 

[Saif]

Israel strikes Hamas weapons facility in Syria

The Israeli military said it carried out an air strike on Saturday targeting a weapons depot used by Palestinian militant group Hamas in southern Syria.

www.newagebd.net

Israel strikes Hamas weapons facility in Syria
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem, Undefined 08 February, 2025, 22:42

The Israeli military said it carried out an air strike on Saturday targeting a weapons depot used by Palestinian militant group Hamas in southern Syria.

Israeli ‘fighter jets conducted an intelligence-based strike on a weapons storage facility belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation in the area of Deir Ali in southern Syria’, the military said in a statement.

The army said it would ‘continue to dismantle Hamas’ capabilities on all of its fronts and will operate against all attempts by terrorist organisations to entrench themselves and build up their forces.’

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since its civil war broke out in 2011, mainly on Iranian-linked targets.

Israeli troops also entered the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights.​

 

[Saif]

Gazans tell Trump they will rebuild their own restaurants and hotels

Palestinians in Gaza say they are determined to rebuild their own seafront restaurants and hotels, dismissing US President Donald Trump's vision of creating a "Riviera of the Middle East" emptied of its population and under US control. Before Israel's 15-month offensive left buildings across Gaza

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Gazans tell Trump they will rebuild their own restaurants and hotels
REUTERS
Published :
Feb 08, 2025 18:14
Updated :
Feb 08, 2025 18:14

Palestinians in Gaza say they are determined to rebuild their own seafront restaurants and hotels, dismissing US President Donald Trump's vision of creating a "Riviera of the Middle East" emptied of its population and under US control.

Before Israel's 15-month offensive left buildings across Gaza in ruins, the densely inhabited Palestinian territory had developed a local tourism scene on its Mediterranean shore despite a long blockade.

"There is nothing that cannot be repaired," said Gaza resident Assad Abu Haseira, pledging to start serving food from the restaurant he owns even before it is rebuilt.

"Trump says he wants to change the restaurants, and he wants to change Gaza and wants to create a new history for Gaza. We remain Arab and the history of Arabs will not be replaced with the history of foreigners."

Other Palestinians share his defiance. Mohammed Abu Haseira, another restaurant owner, said his eatery would become operational again "and much better than before".

"Trump has come up with a decision that he wants to establish restaurants, but the restaurants are here and the hotels are here. Why did you destroy them to establish other ones?" he said.

Gaza was once a popular destination for Israeli tourists and even after the takeover of the territory by the Islamist movement Hamas in 2007, beachside restaurants and cafes lined its seafront.

Trump's vision of a Gaza Strip cleared of its Palestinian inhabitants and redeveloped into an international resort revived an idea previously floated by his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

It triggered condemnation from around the world, with critics saying it would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing and illegal under international law. Gazans were also quick to denounce the scheme, vowing never to leave the ruins of their homes.

For Palestinians, such talk recalls the "Nakba" or catastrophe after the 1948 war around the creation of the state of Israel, when 700,000 fled or were forced from their homes.​

 

[Saif]

Palestinian state in Saudi territory?

Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries yesterday condemned remarks by Israel’s PM who appeared to suggest in an interview that a Palestinian state could be established on Saudi territory.

www.thedailystar.net

Palestinian state in Saudi territory?
Arab nations slam Netanyahu’s ‘racist’ remark

Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries yesterday condemned remarks by Israel's PM who appeared to suggest in an interview that a Palestinian state could be established on Saudi territory.

Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks, which some Israeli media characterised as a joke, came with the region already on edge after US President Donald Trump proposed taking over the territory and displacing Gazans abroad.

Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit said on Sunday that the thinking behind Netanyahu's remarks "is unacceptable and reflects a complete detachment from reality", adding that such ideas "are nothing more than mere fantasies or illusions".

The Saudi foreign ministry stressed its "categorical rejection to such statements that aim to divert attention from the continuous crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian brothers in Gaza".

A ministry statement welcomed "the condemnation, disapproval and total rejection announced by the brotherly countries towards what Benjamin Netanyahu stated regarding the displacement of the Palestinian people".

In a television interview on Thursday, right-wing Israeli journalist Yaakov Bardugo was discussing with Netanyahu the prospect of diplomatic normalisation with Saudi Arabia when he appeared to misspeak, attributing to Riyadh the stance that there would be "no progress without a Saudi state".

"Palestinian state?" Netanyahu corrected him.

"Unless you want the Palestinian state to be in Saudi Arabia," the Israeli premier quipped. "They (the Saudis) have plenty of territory."

Netanyahu went on to describe the talks leading up to the so-called Abraham Accords, in which several Arab countries normalised ties with Israel, concluding: "I think we should allow this process to take its course."

In another interview with Fox News aired late Saturday as the premier was wrapping up a visit to Washington, Netanyahu defended Trump's proposal, which has sparked concern and condemnation across the Middle East and the world.

"I think that President Trump's proposal is the first fresh idea in years, and it has the potential to change everything in Gaza," Netanyahu said, adding that it represents a "correct approach" to the future of the Palestinian territory.

"All Trump is saying, 'I want to open the gate and give them an option to relocate temporarily while we rebuild the place physically'," Netanyahu said.

Trump "never said he wants American troops to do the job. Guess what? We'll do the job," Netanyahu declared.

Israel seized the Gaza Strip in 1967 and maintained a military presence in the territory until 2005, when it pulled out settlers and its troops.

But the suggestion of a state for Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank prompted an outpouring of regional condemnation, including from Qatar, Egypt and the Palestinian foreign ministry, which described the remarks as "racist".

Jordan's foreign ministry condemned them as "inflammatory and a clear violation of international law", stressing that the Palestinians have the "right to establish an independent, sovereign state" alongside Israel.

The foreign ministry of the UAE denounced Netanyahu's comments as "reprehensible and provocative" in a statement, calling them "a blatant violation of international law and the United Nations charter".

For Palestinians, any attempt to force them out of Gaza would evoke dark memories of what the Arab world calls the "Nakba" or catastrophe -- the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel's creation in 1948.

In its statement, Saudi said "this extremist, occupying mentality does not understand what the Palestinian land means" to Palestinians. Such a mindset, it added, "does not think that the Palestinian people deserve to live in the first place, as it has completely destroyed the Gaza Strip" and killed tens of thousands "without the slightest human feeling or moral responsibility".​

 

[Saif]

Palestinians back on key Gaza road

A long line of cars, tuk-tuks, small lorries and carts stretched along Gaza’s Salaheddin Road on Sunday after Israel withdrew its forces from a strategic area bisecting the territory...

www.newagebd.net

Palestinians back on key Gaza road
Agence France-Presse . Gaza City 10 February, 2025, 00:46

Displaced Palestinians inspect the damage to their home in Gaza City’s southern al Zeitoun neighbourhood on Sunday. | AFP photo

A long line of cars, tuk-tuks, small lorries and carts stretched along Gaza’s Salaheddin Road on Sunday after Israel withdrew its forces from a strategic area bisecting the territory.

The traffic crawled slowly along the road, where mounds of earth had been piled high by now-departed Israeli bulldozers, into the eastern part of the Netzarim Corridor, which separates the northern Gaza Strip from its south.

After more than 15 months of war, a fragile truce with Hamas that went into effect last month saw Israeli forces limiting their presence in the Gaza Strip.

The Netzarim Corridor and Salaheddin Road reopened fully on Sunday, enabled by the Israeli withdrawal following the completion of a fifth hostage-prisoner exchange the day before as part of the truce deal.

Among the vehicles wending their way along the dusty dirt road were lorries piled high with household belongings, blankets, carpets and furniture.

Finally able to move around the area, many Palestinians returned to their homes to find them destroyed in the fighting.

‘What we saw was a catastrophe, horrific destruction. The (Israeli) occupation destroyed all the homes, shops, farms, mosques, universities and the courthouse,’ said Osama Abu Kamil, a resident of Al-Maghraqa just north of Netzarim.

The 57-year-old said he had been displaced by the war for more than a year, living in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Now back to the north, Abu Kamil said he ‘will set up a tent for me and my family next to the rubble of our house. We have no choice.’

He said that as displaced Gazans in makeshift shelters, they had ‘lived through severe suffering’.

‘Life in Gaza is worse than hell.’

The war, sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel in October 2023, saw the Israeli military relentlessly bombarding Gaza, leaving much of the already impoverished territory in ruins.

More than 48,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, and over 90 per cent of Palestinians there have been displaced at least once, according to the United Nations.

The violence has largely halted, but the population has been left drained and traumatised by the violence.

Mahmoud al-Sarhi, a resident of Zeitun neighbourhood near the Netzarim Corridor, said that Sunday was ‘the first time I saw our destroyed house’.

‘Arriving at the Netzarim Corridor meant death — until this morning,’ said the 44-year-old.

While the Israeli forces have left, Sarhi said he still did not feel safe.

‘The entire area is in ruins. I cannot live here. Israeli tanks can invade at any time. The area is unfit for normal living. It is very dangerous.’

The scale of the destruction was visible on Al-Shuhada Street, which also crosses the Netzarim Corridor, with dozens of houses and some university buildings reduced to rubble.

In some places, the road itself had been damaged in the fighting, with large craters visible.

Workers had begun repairing some of the road.

Mohamed Ali, 20, travelling from Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, said conditions on the roads were ‘difficult because of the amount of destruction and bombing’.

‘God willing, the road will be better again,’ he said.​