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

[Saif]

US almost ready with KSA rewards for Israel normalisation

The United States is nearly ready with a security package to offer Saudi Arabia if it normalises relations with Israel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday, as he seeks incentives for Israel to support a Palestinian state.

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US almost ready with KSA rewards for Israel normalisation
Says US Secretary of State Blinken

The United States is nearly ready with a security package to offer Saudi Arabia if it normalises relations with Israel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday, as he seeks incentives for Israel to support a Palestinian state.

Blinken was visiting the kingdom on his seventh trip to the region since Israel's October 7 offensive in Gaza.

President Joe Biden's administration, while supporting Israel, has sought moderation from its government by dangling the prospect of formal relations with Saudi Arabia -- a potential game-changer, because the Gulf state is guardian of Islam's two holiest sites.

As part of any deal, Riyadh is expected to insist on a path to statehood for the Palestinians as well as alliance-style security guarantees from Washington, which has repeatedly tried -- with limited success -- to shift its focus out of the Middle East.

"The work that Saudi Arabia, the United States have been doing together in terms of our own agreements, I think, is potentially very close to completion," Blinken said.

"But then in order to move forward with normalisation, two things will be required -- calm in Gaza and a credible pathway to a Palestinian state," he told a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh.​

 

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Five Israeli military units committed HR violations against Palestinians: US

The United States has concluded that five Israeli security force units committed serious human rights violations against Palestinians in the West Bank before the Hamas attack in October, the State Department said Monday.

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Five Israeli military units committed HR violations against Palestinians: US
Agence France-Presse. Washington, United States 30 April, 2024, 05:45


The United States has concluded that five Israeli security force units committed serious human rights violations against Palestinians in the West Bank before the Hamas attack in October, the State Department said Monday.

Israel has taken remedial measures with four of these units, making US sanctions less likely.

Consultations are under way with Israel over the fifth unit, State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.

He declined to identify the units, give details of the abuse, or say what measures the Israeli government had taken against them.

A US official speaking on condition of anonymity said the fifth unit is part of the army.

Press reports have identified a battalion called the Netzah Yehuda, composed mainly of ultra-Orthodox Jews, as being accused of abuses.

It is about 1,000-strong and since 2022 has been stationed in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

'After a careful process, we found five Israeli units responsible for individual incidents of gross violations of human rights,' Patel said.

All the incidents took place before the October 7 Hamas attack and were not in Gaza, he added.

'Four of these units have effectively remediated these violations, which is what we expect partners to do, and is consistent with what we expect all countries whom we have a secure relationship with,' said Patel.

Israel has provided 'additional information' about the fifth unit, he added.

US law bars the government from funding or arming foreign security forces against which there are credible allegations of human rights abuses.

The United States provides military aid to allies around the world, including Israel.

The Israeli army has been fighting the militant Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip for almost seven months and is trading fire almost every day with Hezbollah along the border with Lebanon. Both groups are backed by Iran.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted angrily to recent news reports that the United States might slap sanctions against a unit of the Israeli military because of human rights abuses, saying the army should not be punished with the country at war.

Patel said the United States is continuing its evaluation of the fifth army unit and has not decided whether to deny it US military assistance.

This case comes with the administration of President Joe Biden under pressure to demand accountability from Israel over how it is waging war against Hamas, with such a high civilian death toll.

In an election year, more people are calling for the United States to make its billions of dollars in annual military aid to Israel contingent on more concern for Palestinian civilians. Pro-Palestinian protests are also sweeping US college campuses.

Hamas' October attack in Israel resulted in the deaths of about 1,170 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,488 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.​

 

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Residents of northern Israel brace for possible all-out war with Hezbollah

Eli Harel was an Israeli soldier in his early thirties when he was sent into Lebanon in 2006 to battle fighters from the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah in a bloody, largely inconclusive month-long war. Now 50, Harel is ready to rejoin the army to fight the same group if shelling along Israel&rsquo

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Residents of northern Israel brace for possible all-out war with Hezbollah
REUTERS
Published :
Apr 30, 2024 19:34
Updated :
Apr 30, 2024 19:34

An Israeli soldier looks on at a scene, after it was reported that people were injured, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, near Arab al-Aramashe in northern Israel April 17, 2024. Photo : Reuters/Avi Ohayon/Files

Eli Harel was an Israeli soldier in his early thirties when he was sent into Lebanon in 2006 to battle fighters from the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah in a bloody, largely inconclusive month-long war.

Now 50, Harel is ready to rejoin the army to fight the same group if shelling along Israel's northern border turns into a full-blown war with Iran's most powerful regional proxy. This time Israeli forces would face some of the most challenging fighting conditions imaginable, he said.

"There are booby traps everywhere," he told Reuters. "People are popping up from tunnels. You have to be constantly on alert otherwise you will be dead."

Harel lives in Haifa, Israel's third biggest city, well within range of Hezbollah's weapons. Haifa's mayor recently urged residents to stockpile food and medicine because of the growing risk of all-out war.

Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in escalating daily cross-border strikes over the past six months - in parallel with the war in Gaza - and their increasing range and sophistication has spurred fears of a wider regional conflict.

Hezbollah has amassed a formidable arsenal since 2006.

Like Hamas, the militant Palestinian group battling Israel in Gaza, Hezbollah has a network of tunnels to move fighters and weapons around. Its fighters have also been training for more than a decade with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Hezbollah has so far restricted its attacks to a strip of northern Israel, seeking to draw Israeli forces away from Gaza. Israel has said it is ready to push Hezbollah back from the border, but it is unclear how.

EXILES IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY

Some 60,000 residents have had to leave their homes, in the first mass evacuation of northern Israel, and cannot safely return, prompting increased calls within Israel for firmer military action against Hezbollah. Across the border in Lebanon, some 90,000 people have also been displaced by Israeli strikes.

Eyal Hulata, a former Israeli national security adviser, said Israel should announce a date in the next few months when displaced Israeli civilians can return, effectively challenging Hezbollah to scale back its shelling or face all-out war.

"Israelis cannot be in exile in their own country. This cannot happen. It is the responsibility of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) to defend civilians. It is what we failed to do on Oct. 7," he said, referring to the Hamas attack on southern Israel that prompted the current war in Gaza

Hezbollah did not respond to a request for comment. The group's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in February that residents of northern Israel "will not return" to their homes.

The Israeli military said this month it had completed another step in preparing for possible war with Hezbollah that centred on logistics, including preparations for a "broad mobilisation" of reservists.

A conflict between Israel and Hezbollah would probably result in massive destruction in both countries. In the 2006 war, 1,200 people in Lebanon were killed and 158 in Israel.

Since October, more than 300 people have died in fighting in the border area, mainly Hezbollah fighters.

If war did break out, Israel would probably bomb targets in southern Lebanon before soldiers tried to push at least 10 kilometres across the border. Hezbollah would likely use its estimated arsenal of over 150,000 rockets to target Israeli cities. In 2006 the group fired about 4,000 missiles at Israel.

'IMMENSE' DAMAGE LIKELY

Assaf Orion, a retired Israeli brigadier general, told Reuters there was a growing likelihood of war erupting between Israel and Hezbollah, caused either by an unplanned escalation in clashes or by Israel losing patience with people being unable to return home.

Orion said the intensity of bombing in any war could be 10 times greater than in Gaza.

"The damage will be immense," he said. "Gaza will look like a walk in the park compared to that level of fighting."

Haifa, a port city built on the slope of a mountain from where it is possible to see the Lebanon border on a clear day, was targeted in 2006. Eight people were killed in the worst attack.

Nasrallah said in 2016 Hezbollah could hit ammonia storage tanks in Haifa, saying the result would be "like a nuclear bomb".

The mood in Haifa is a mixture of anxiety and fatalism.

Hundreds of evacuated Israelis have moved to the city and many said another war may be the only way to return home.

Assaf Hessed, 35, who lived in a kibbutz two kilometres from the border, said the military has until September to force Hezbollah back or residents will move elsewhere.

"We have to make a decision soon about where we live, we cannot go on like this much longer," he said.​

 

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The story of Gaza genocide survivor in Bangladesh

In this exclusive interview with The Daily Star, Kamel provides a painful firsthand account of 170 days of carnage.

www.thedailystar.net

The story of Gaza genocide survivor in Bangladesh

Kamel Abu Amsha, a 24-year-old Palestinian from Gaza, is currently pursuing his studies at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical College (BSMMC) in Faridpur. After five long years, he returned to his hometown in September 2023. Then he got stuck in one of the deadliest military campaigns in modern history. He is a survivor, and a direct victim of the ongoing genocide.

In this exclusive interview with The Daily Star, Kamel provides a devastating testimony of 170 days of carnage.



The written account of Kamel's story of survival, with painful details that he could not articulate in front of a camera, will be published on May 2, Thursday in Geopolitical Insights.​

 

[Saif]

US only hurts itself by trying to silence pro-Palestinian protesters

It is key to stopping Israel’s unjust war in Gaza

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US only hurts itself by trying to silence pro-Palestinian protesters
It remains key to stopping Israel's unjust war in Gaza

VISUAL: STAR

It is disappointing that more than 900 students have been arrested from a number of universities and colleges in the United States over the past two weeks, because they demanded justice for Palestinians. Protesting against Israel's unjust war in Gaza, these students have been demanding that their universities divest from companies and businesses that have links with Israel in any shape or form. They want their educational institutions—and essentially their country—to be separate from Israel's genocidal campaign against Palestinians, and we stand in solidarity with them.

Since the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel, the latter has been running a ruthless campaign in Gaza that has so far killed more than 34,000 people. Although the US, as usual, stood by Israel, its university students wanted no part in it. They have been holding rallies, sit-ins, hunger strikes and, most recently, encampments on their campuses in protest. Things escalated when, on April 18, police removed a pro-Palestinian encampment on the Columbia University campus, arresting over 100 demonstrators. Instead of getting subdued, the students pushed back, and similar demonstrations spread across the US.

Now university administrations and police are cracking down on protesters, with the accusations of anti-Semitism being thrown around to justify it. We fail to understand how a peaceful demonstration demanding justice for a persecuted population can be labelled anti-Semitic. In fact, what these protesters are being subjected to violates the principles of academic freedom and free speech, as the American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU) has pointed out.

The US government should pay heed to the demands of pro-Palestinian protesters. What we have seen so far is an extraordinary display of double standards and flouting of international and humanitarian laws in Gaza, and these students have been trying to bring critical focus on that. The US must re-evaluate its position regarding Israel and take a stance that is moral and in line with international humanitarian laws, not to mention its own stated policy on human rights. Protecting one nation's interests must not be detrimental to another nation's freedom and well-being.​