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

[Saif]

Israel’s Trojan Horse

PIERS allow things to come in. They allow things to go out. And Israel, which has no intention of halting its murderous siege of Gaza...

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Israel’s Trojan Horse
Chris Hedges | Published: 00:00, Mar 21,2024

Israel’s Trojan Horse. — by Mr Fish

PIERS allow things to come in. They allow things to go out. And Israel, which has no intention of halting its murderous siege of Gaza, including its policy of enforced starvation, appears to have found a solution to its problem of where to expel the 2.3 million Palestinians.

If the Arab world will not take them, as secretary of state Antony Blinken proposed during his first round of visits after October 7, the Palestinians will be cast adrift on ships. It worked in Beirut in 1982 when some eight and a half thousand Palestine Liberation Organisation members were sent by sea to Tunisia and another two and a half thousand ended up in other Arab states. Israel expects that the same forced deportation by sea will work in Gaza.

Israel, for this reason, supports the ‘temporary pier’ the Biden administration is building, to ostensibly deliver food and aid to Gaza — food and aid whose ‘distribution’ will be overseen by the Israeli military.

‘You need drivers that don’t exist, trucks that don’t exist feeding into a distribution system that doesn’t exist,’ Jeremy Konyndyk, a former senior aid official in the Biden administration, and now president of the Refugees International aid advocacy group told The Guardian.

This ‘maritime corridor’ is Israel’s Trojan Horse, a subterfuge to expel Palestinians. The small shipments of seaborne aid, like the food packets that have been air dropped, will not alleviate the looming famine. They are not meant to.

Five Palestinians were killed and several others injured when a parachute carrying aid failed and crashed onto a crowd of people near Gaza City’s Shati refugee camp.

‘Dropping aid in this way is flashy propaganda rather than a humanitarian service,’ the media office of the local government in Gaza said. ‘We previously warned it poses a threat to the lives of citizens in the Gaza Strip, and this is what happened today when the parcels fell on the citizens’ heads.’

If the US or Israel were serious about alleviating the humanitarian crisis, the thousands of trucks with food and aid currently at the southern border of Gaza would be allowed to enter any of its multiple crossings. They are not. The ‘temporary pier,’ like the air drops, is ghoulish theater, a way to mask Washington’s complicity in the genocide.

Israeli media reported the building of the pier was due to pressure by the United Arab Emirates, which threatened Israel with ending a land corridor trade route it administers in collusion with Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to bypass Yemen’s naval blockade.

The Jerusalem Post reported it was prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who proposed the construction of the ‘temporary pier’ to the Biden administration.

Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant, who has called Palestinians ‘human animals’ and advocated a total siege of Gaza, including cutting off electricity, food, water and fuel, lauded the plan, saying ‘it is designed to bring aid directly to the residents and thus continue the collapse of Hamas’s rule in Gaza.’

‘Why would Israel, the engineer of the Gaza famine, endorse the idea of establishing a maritime corridor for aid to address a crisis it initiated and is now worsening?’ writes Tamara Nassar in an article titled ‘What’s the Real Purpose of Biden’s Gaza Port?’ in The Electronic Intifada. ‘This might appear paradoxical if one were to assume that the primary aim of the maritime corridor is to deliver aid.’

When Israel offers a gift to the Palestinians you can be sure it is a poison apple. That Israel got the Biden administration to construct the pier is one more example of the inverted relationship between Washington and Jerusalem, where the Israel lobby has bought off elected officials in the two ruling parties.

Oxfam in a March 15 report accuses Israel of actively hindering aid operations in Gaza in defiance of the orders by the International Court of Justice. It notes that 1.7 million Palestinians, some 75 per cent of the Gaza population, are facing famine and two-thirds of the hospitals and over 80 per cent of all health clinics in Gaza are no longer operable. The majority of people, the report reads, ‘have no access to clean drinking water’ and ‘sanitation services are not functioning.’

The report reads: ‘The conditions we have observed in Gaza are beyond catastrophic, and we have not only seen failure by Israeli authorities to meet their responsibility to facilitate and support international aid efforts, but in fact seen active steps being taken to hinder and undermine such aid efforts. Israel’s control of Gaza continues to be characterised by deliberate restrictive actions that have led to a severe and systemic dysfunctionality in the delivery of aid. Humanitarian organisations operational in Gaza are reporting a worsening situation since the International Court of Justice imposed provisional measures in light of the plausible risk of genocide, with intensified Israeli barriers, restrictions and attacks against humanitarian personnel. Israel has maintained a ‘convenient illusion of a response’ in Gaza to serve its claim that it is allowing aid in and conducting the war in line with international laws.’

Oxfam says Israel employs ‘a dysfunctional and undersized inspection system that keeps aid snarled up, subjected to onerous, repetitive and unpredictable bureaucratic procedures that are contributing to trucks being stranded in giant queues for 20 days on average.’ Israel, Oxfam explains, rejects ‘items of aid as having ‘dual (military) use,’ banning vital fuel and generators entirely along with other items essential for a meaningful humanitarian response such as protective gear and communications kit.’ Rejected aid, ‘must go through a complex ‘pre-approval’ system or end up being held in limbo at the Al Arish warehouse in Egypt.’ Israel has also ‘cracked down on humanitarian missions, largely sealing off northern Gaza, and restricting international humanitarian workers’ access not only into Gaza, but Israel and the West Bank including East Jerusalem too.’

Israel has allowed 15,413 trucks into Gaza during the past 157 days of war. Oxfam estimates that the population of Gaza needs five times that number. Israel allowed 2,874 trucks in February, a 44 per cent reduction from the previous month. Before October 7, 500 aid trucks entered Gaza daily.

Israeli soldiers have also killed scores of Palestinians attempting to receive aid from trucks in more than two dozen incidents. These attacks include the killing of at least 21 Palestinians, and the wounding of 150, on March 14, when Israeli forces fired on thousands of people in Gaza City. The same area had been targeted by Israeli soldiers hours earlier.

‘Israel’s assault has caught Gaza’s own aid workers and international agencies’ partners inside a ‘practically uninhabitable’ environment of mass displacement and deprivation, where 75 per cent of solid waste is now being dumped in random sites, 97 per cent of groundwater made unfit for human use, and the Israeli state using starvation as a weapon of war,’ Oxfam says.

There is no place in Gaza, Oxfam notes, that is safe ‘amid the forcible and often multiple displacements of almost the entire population, which makes the principled distribution of aid unviable, including agencies’ ability to help repair vital public services at scale.’

Oxfam blasts Israel for its ‘disproportionate’ and ‘indiscriminate’ attacks on ‘civilian and humanitarian assets’ as well as ‘solar, water, power and sanitation plants, UN premises, hospitals, roads, and aid convoys and warehouses, even when these assets are supposedly ‘deconflicted’ after their coordinates have been shared for protection.’

The health ministry in Gaza said Monday that at least 31,726 people have been killed since the Israeli assault began five months ago. The death toll includes at least 81 deaths in the previous 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 73,792 people have been wounded in Gaza since October 7. Thousands more are missing, many buried under the rubble.

None of these Israeli tactics will be altered with the building of a ‘temporary pier.’ In fact, given the pending ground assault on Rafah, where 1.2 million displaced Palestinians are crowded in tent cities or camped out in the open air, Israel’s tactics will only get worse.

Israel, by design, is creating a humanitarian crisis of such catastrophic proportions, with thousands of Palestinians killed by bombs, shells, missiles, bullets, starvation and infectious diseases, that the only option will be death or deportation. The pier is where the last act in this gruesome genocidal campaign will be played out as Palestinians are herded by Israeli soldiers onto ships.

How appropriate that the Biden administration, without whom this genocide could not be carried out, will facilitate it.

ScheerPost.com, March 17. Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for 15 years for the New York Times.
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[Saif]

Conflicts of interest and Palestinian crisis

DOES the United States have a conflict of interest in the Palestinian crisis? Or is the concept irrelevant to this global conflict? Although...

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Conflicts of interest and Palestinian crisis
Obaidul Hamid | Published: 00:00, Mar 23,2024

A Palestinian boy rides a donkey on the rubble of destroyed houses in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip on March 21 amidst ongoing battles between Israel and Hamas. — Agence France-Presse/Mohammed Abed

DOES the United States have a conflict of interest in the Palestinian crisis? Or is the concept irrelevant to this global conflict? Although my knowledge of world politics and diplomacy is modest, I believe that the US declaration of its conflict of interests may show a way out of the long political and humanitarian crisis in Palestine.

Conflicts of interest are barriers to the fair and rule-based delivery of public services and operations. Organisations address such impediments as a high priority to ensure that their missions and objectives are not affected by these hidden phenomena.

I have some familiarity with conflicts of interest in academia. For example, a couple of my family members are also affiliated with the institution where I work. Every semester, I have to complete a conflict-of-interest form. This is part of the management process, which seeks to ensure that my decisions or actions do not have a direct bearing on my family members at the institution.

Organisations invest in employee awareness and literacy around conflicts of interest. At my workplace, I undertake mandatory training so I have a clear understanding of different kinds of conflicts of interest and what I should do as an employee in a given situation. Such interests would go against my integrity in performing my role. Effective management of conflicts of interest also helps the institution maintain its integrity and public trust.

One specific site of potential conflicts of interest in academic life is research and publication. Every time I submit an article to a journal for publication or am invited to review an article, I have to answer questions related to potential conflicts of interest. Such interests can be related to the funding of research, authorship attribution, and peer review processes. Publishers aim to maintain the integrity of knowledge production by managing conflicts of interest that may be presented by knowledge workers.

If conflicts of interest are taken so seriously in the academic world, they should be taken many times more seriously by entities that directly impact people and their lives. This simple logic has prompted the questioning at the beginning of the present article.

The current spate of violence against Palestinians has unfolded in real time and geography in Gaza for the past six months. It has thus far killed thousands of Palestinians, including children and women, and injured many more. This brutal killing mission is largely remote-controlled from outside the region. The actions of the Western nations in general and the US in particular are direct inputs into the genocidal output. Therefore, asking the question of conflicts of interest between the West in general and the US in particular may be imperative.

But how is a conflict of interest credibly defined?

Essentially, it refers to clashes of interests or stakes that can’t be reconciled. At the individual level, this is a situation where an employee’s vested interest in something may render them unqualified to make fair and unbiased decisions about certain critical matters. The characterisation of conflicts of interest in Investopedia is pertinent here:

‘A conflict of interest occurs when a person’s or entity’s vested interests raise the question of whether their actions, judgement, and/or decision-making can be unbiased’.

In relation to the Palestinian crisis, we can consider the US as the ‘entity’ and take into account its actions, judgements, and decisions, such as exercising its veto power in the UN Security Council, providing billions of dollars of (military) aid to Israel, equipping this apartheid nation with sophisticated arms and weapons, standing beside Israel under all circumstances, being the chief guarantor of Israel’s security, condemning Palestinians for every stone thrown into the other side of the fence, and never seriously asking Israel to stop its apartheid policy, colonial expansion and territorial control, and mass killings. These US actions point to deep and enduring relationships between Israel and the US at all levels — economic, political, religious, social, strategic, and others. Often, we hear Israeli authorities asserting that Palestinians (read Muslims) are common enemies of Judeo-Christian values.

This may suggest that Israel represents the West in a non-Western part of the world. This transplanted state is an extended arm of the West in the heart of the Arab world. It’s a satellite state that was illegally and wrongfully installed by the West to maintain its surveillance of the region and sustain its geopolitical interests.

Such abiding and unfailing relationships between the US and Israel explain why the former uses its veto power in the UN Security Council to unjustly favour the latter. In any other organisation, a member with such conflicts of interest would not be allowed to take part in voting. For example, I would have to withdraw from a recruitment committee in my workplace if a friend or relative of mine were to be interviewed by that committee for a job.

Predictably, the withdrawal of the US from UNSC voting would have made a significant difference in managing the crisis in the Middle East.

Surprisingly, despite its glaring interests at all conceivable levels, the US also presents itself as a peacebroker between Israel and Palestine. This peace-negotiating role is ridiculous because the US is not a neutral player in the crisis. It is unqualified to make fair and acceptable brokering between the two parties. Its repeated vetoing in support of Israel is the clearest evidence of its disqualification.

The fact of the matter is that the US is unlikely to advance any solution to the Palestinian crisis. The end of this crisis may mean the end of many other crises in the world. A crisis-reduced world will not serve US interests because it won’t be able to sell weapons. Moreover, a stable and peaceful world will compromise US power and hegemony.

The Palestinian crisis will probably drag on so long as the US is its main arbiter. There are sufficient grounds to indicate that all its ways and strategies of trying to solve the problem are actually ways of keeping it unresolved. Therefore, as far as the suffering of Palestinians is concerned, the US is part of the problem, not the solution.

This brings us to the crux of the argument in this essay: that giving peace a chance in Palestine demands that the US declare its conflicts of interest in the region. Such a declaration may be one critical step in the right direction to end the Palestinian crisis.

Obaidul Hamid is an associate professor at the University of Queensland in Australia. He researches language, education, and society in the developing world.
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[Saif]

UNSC for the first time demands Gaza ceasefire

US abstained from voting; resolution calls for an immediate truce marking Ramadan to lead to a 'lasting, sustainable ceasefire'

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UNSC for the first time demands Gaza ceasefire​

US abstained from voting; resolution calls for an immediate truce marking Ramadan to lead to a 'lasting, sustainable ceasefire'

Photo: Reuters

After more than five months of war, the UN Security Council for the first time today demanded an immediate ceasefire after the United States, Israel's ally which vetoed previous drafts, abstained.

Drawing unusual applause in the often staid Security Council, all 14 other members voted in favour of the resolution which "demands an immediate ceasefire" for the ongoing Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

The resolution calls for the truce to lead to a "lasting, sustainable ceasefire" and demands that Hamas and other militants free hostages seized on October 7.

Russia at the last minute objected to the removal of the word "permanent" ceasefire and called a vote, which failed to gain passage.

The successful resolution was drafted in part by Algeria, the Arab bloc's current member of the Security Council, with a diverse array of countries including Slovenia and Switzerland.

The United States has vetoed previous bids for a ceasefire but has shown growing frustration with Israel, including its stated plans to expand its military operation to the packed southern city of Rafah.

A change in tone toward its Middle Eastern ally was seen Friday, when the United States put forward a resolution to recognize "the imperative" of an "immediate and sustained ceasefire."

But that text was blocked by Russia and China, which along with Arab states criticized it for stopping short of explicitly demanding Israel halt its campaign in Gaza.

The United States has repeatedly blocked ceasefire resolutions as it attempts to walk a line between supporting Israel with military aid and voicing frustration with leader Benjamin Netanyahu as the civilian death toll in the Gaza Strip mounts.

Unlike Friday's text, the call for a ceasefire in the new resolution is not directly linked to ongoing talks, led by Qatar with support from the United States and Egypt, to halt fighting in return for Hamas releasing hostages.

Israel has criticized the Security Council for previous resolutions that have not specifically condemned Hamas.

Since October 7, Israel's military campaign has killed more than 32,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

The Security Council has been divided over the Israel-Hamas war since October 7, only approving two of eight resolutions, which both mainly dealt with humanitarian aid.

And those resolutions seem to have had little effect on the ground, where UN personnel say Israel continues to block aid convoys as experts warn of looming famine.​

 

[Saif]

A long-overdue call for Gaza truce, but will Israel listen?

UNSC must find a way to urgently enforce it

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A long-overdue call for Gaza truce, but will Israel listen?​

UNSC must find a way to urgently enforce it

VISUAL: STAR

It is a real travesty that it took the UN Security Council more than five months to find a unified voice on the need for ending Israel's unjust war in Gaza, after the United States, its closest ally, abstained from vetoing a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, in a shift from its previous position of blindly supporting Israel's unrelenting assault on Palestinians. But now that a resolution has finally been passed, it is extremely important that it is implemented without any delay. The number of Palestinians killed by Israel has already exceeded 32,000, with the majority of them being women and children. Gaza is already the "most intense starvation catastrophe of recent decades", with human rights organisations warning of an impending famine unless Israel's aggression stops and aid is immediately allowed to enter the strip.

Israel, of course, has maintained a below-starvation-level food policy for Gaza for years now, allowing below-bare-minimum necessities to enter the Palestinian territory. Moreover, in recent times, it has approved some of the biggest settlement projects—forcibly removing Palestinians from the small sliver of lands they have left, demolishing their homes, and building new ones for Jewish settlers—in violation of UN resolutions. On the same day that the UNSC passed the ceasefire resolution, a report by a UN special rapporteur was leaked to the public revealing that Israeli actions in Gaza "qualify" as genocide on at least three grounds. A case against Israel's genocide is already underway at the International Court of Justice.

But despite calls from all over the world for a ceasefire and an end to such horrific atrocities, Israel has remained adamant in its position, emboldened by the unconditional support—diplomatic, financial and military—it has been receiving from Western countries. Given these realities, the UNSC ceasefire resolution is quite significant for the Palestinians. The fact that it has happened highlights a slight change of position from the one country that has most protected Israel from any consequence so far. However, given Israel's attitude, it might be too early to be hopeful about a true ceasefire. As if to validate such suspicions, Israeli air strikes killed at least 70 people in north and south Gaza early Tuesday, soon after the UNSC's truce call.

Another issue of concern is that the ceasefire that has been called for is a temporary one. It is high time the UNSC and all its members recognised the gravity of the atrocities being inflicted against the Palestinians. They must take steps to enforce a permanent ceasefire as well as withdrawal of all Israeli forces from all Palestinian lands.​

 

[Saif]

UNSC must act upon its call for Gaza truce

Israel’s continued attacks on Gaza a failure of world leaders

www.thedailystar.net

UNSC must act upon its call for Gaza truce​

Israel’s continued attacks on Gaza a failure of world leaders

VISUAL: STAR

Israel's audacity in carrying on with its genocide in Gaza, even after the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, is mostly a result of the unstinted support it has received from its Western allies, especially the US, until that point. According to media reports, 66 people were killed in Israeli attacks in the 24 hours till Wednesday morning. On Tuesday, not long after the UNSC's resolution was passed, Israeli air strikes killed at least 70 people in north and south Gaza.

So, despite the recent developments on the international forum, neither the UN, nor the Security Council, nor the states that enabled Israel can disassociate themselves from the deaths of more than 32,000 Palestinians in the nearly six months of this war or the burden of decades of systematic oppression in Palestine. The burden of enforcing their call for truce, therefore, also falls upon them.​

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The extent of Israel's crimes can be understood from the report of a top UN expert who recently stated that there are "reasonable grounds" to believe the country is committing genocide in Gaza. Mere disclosure or acknowledgement is not enough anymore, however. We need meaningful interventions. There is a lot that the UNSC can do about it, should it wish to. The International Court of Justice (ICJ)—where a case on Gaza genocide is underway—also has responsibilities in this regard. Although Israel is yet to fully heed its order to admit emergency aid, forcing it to again issue a similar ruling, the court should take note of the latest report and act upon it in the genocide trial.

World leaders can no longer sit idly by while civilian deaths, fabricated starvation, and systematic persecution of a helpless community continue to take place. With the UN's voice finally fully aligned with the cries of humanity, we expect the UNSC to act upon its resolution to enforce the ceasefire, and ensure that humanitarian aid properly reaches all in the besieged strip.​

 

[Saif]

Netanyahu agrees to Gaza ceasefire talks

The Israeli PM agrees to send delegations to Egypt and Qatar, where negotiators have been trying to secure the release of Israeli hostages as part of a possible Gaza ceasefire deal

www.thedailystar.net

Netanyahu agrees to Gaza ceasefire talks​

Humanitarian aid falls through the sky towards the Gaza Strip after being dropped from an aircraft, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, as seen from Israel, March 29, 2024. Photo:Reuters/Amir Cohen

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved Friday new talks on a Gaza ceasefire, a day after the world's top court ordered Israel to ensure urgent humanitarian aid reaches people in the Palestinian territory.

But despite a binding United Nations Security Council resolution this week demanding an "immediate ceasefire", fighting continued Friday, including around hospitals.

Regional fallout from the conflict also flared, with Israel saying it killed a Hezbollah rocket commander in Lebanon, and several Hezbollah fighters killed in Syria strikes that a war monitor blamed on Israel.

Netanyahu's office said new talks on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release will take place in Doha and Cairo "in the coming days... with guidelines for moving forward in the negotiations", days after they appeared stalled.

In its order, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague said: "Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine, but... famine is setting in."

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, posted on X that the ruling was "a stark reminder that the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is man made + worsening".

The court had ruled in January that Israel must facilitate "urgently needed" humanitarian aid to Gaza and prevent genocidal acts, but Israel rejected the case brought by South Africa.

The latest binding ICJ ruling, which has little means of enforcement, came as Israel's military said Friday it was continuing operations in Al-Shifa Hospital, the territory's largest, for a 12th day.

Throughout the coastal territory, dozens of people were killed overnight, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said.

Among the dead were 12 people killed in a home in the southern city of Rafah, which has been regularly bombed ahead of a mooted Israeli ground operation there.

Men worked under the light of mobile phones to free people trapped under debris after an air strike, AFPTV images showed.

The ICJ ordered Israel to "take all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay" the supply "of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance".
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'IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE'​

The war began with Hamas's October 7 attack that resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign to destroy Hamas has killed at least 32,623 people, mostly women and children, Gaza's health ministry says.

Large parts of the territory have been reduced to rubble, and most of Gaza's population are now sheltering in Rafah.

On Monday the UN Security Council demanded an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza, the release of hostages held by militants, and "ensuring humanitarian access".

A mourner carries the body of a Palestinian child killed in an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 29, 2024. Photo: Reuters/Ahmed Zakot

Member states are obliged to abide by such resolutions, but the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity said nothing has changed on the ground.

Aid groups say only a fraction of the supplies required have been allowed in since October, when Israel placed Gaza under near-total siege.

Israel has blamed shortages on the Palestinian side, namely a lack of capacity to distribute aid, with humanitarians saying not enough trucks are allowed in to make deliveries.

With limited ground access, several nations have staged airdrops, and a sea corridor from Cyprus has delivered its first food aid.
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HEAVY DAMAGE​

The UN says Gaza's health system is collapsing "due to ongoing hostilities and access constraints".

Israel's military accuses Hamas and the Islamic Jihad of hiding inside medical facilities, using patients, staff and displaced people for cover -- charges the militants have denied.

On Friday the army said it was "continuing precise operation activities in Shifa Hospital" where it began a raid early last week.

Troops first raided Al-Shifa in November, before Israel in January announced it had "completed the dismantling" of Hamas's command structure in northern Gaza. Palestinian militants and commanders had since returned to Al-Shifa, the army said.

Netanyahu has said troops "are holding the northern Gaza Strip" and also the southern city of Khan Yunis, amid heavy fighting.

"We have bisected the Strip and we are preparing to enter Rafah," he said Thursday.

Netanyahu is under domestic pressure over his failure to bring home all of the hostages seized by militants on October 7. Israel says about 130 captives remain in Gaza, including 34 presumed dead.

About 200 militants have been killed during the latest Al-Shifa operation, the military said.

Near Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis, troops carried out "targeted raids on terrorist infrastructure", killing dozens in combat backed by air support, the army said Thursday.

Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles have massed around another Khan Yunis health facility, the Nasser Hospital, the Gaza health ministry said.

An analysis of satellite images shows heavily damaged areas around the Nasser and Al-Amal hospitals.
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DEADLIEST TOLL​

Since the Gaza war began, Israel has increased its strikes in Syria, targeting army positions and Iran-backed forces including Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, a key Hamas ally.

A Britain-based war monitor said Israeli air strikes Friday in north Syria killed at least 42 people, six from Hezbollah and 36 Syrian soldiers.

And Israel's military said it killed Ali Abdel Hassan Naim, deputy commander of Hezbollah's rocket unit, in an air strike in south Lebanon Friday.

US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators have tried to secure a truce in Gaza, but those talks had appeared deadlocked more than halfway through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Tensions have risen between Netanyahu and Washington, which provides billions of dollars in military aid but has grown increasingly vocal about the war's impact on civilians.

Washington has also raised the issue of Gaza's post-war rule. It has suggested a future role for the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

On Thursday, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas approved the new government of prime minister Mohammed Mustafa, who said his cabinet will work on "visions to reunify the institutions, including assuming responsibility for Gaza".

Hamas forcibly took Gaza from Abbas's government in 2007.

Netanyahu says Israel must have "security responsibility" in Gaza, and has rejected calls for a Palestinian state.​

 

[Saif]

Palestine’s struggle for self-rule

THE world is consumed, pained, and angered by Israel’s uninterrupted bombing and killing of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank with an open genocidal...

www.newagebd.net

Palestine's struggle for self-rule
by Humayun Kabir | Published: 00:00, Mar 31,2024

THE world is consumed, pained, and angered by Israel's uninterrupted bombing and killing of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank with an open genocidal intent that has entered its sixth month as a reaction to the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. There is no sign that it is likely to end soon. On the face of it, it seems the result was a tactical success by Hamas that produced considerable Israeli civilian and military casualties and 200 plus hostages but clearly left Hamas without any clear political or strategic gains. There was an explanation about the timing of the Hamas attack, but only a conjecture, so to speak. Just about the time, under the U.S. auspices, Israel and Saudi Arabia were about to announce a peace treaty between them that Hamas thought it had to interrupt for a bigger politically strategic interest. The fact that that objective was achieved is on record. How plausible this explanation is, however, is anyone's guess. With this background in mind, I am providing, as a background to the crisis in Gaza, a chronological history of Palestine's struggle for self-rule and the advent of Israel as a homeland for the Jews, which eventually led to the creation of the State of Israel.

Scholars believe the name 'Palestine' is derived from the name of the people — the Philistines — who occupied part of the region in the 12th century. Throughout history, the land of Palestine has been a melting pot of civilisations, religions, and cultures. From ancient biblical times to the more recent British mandate era, this region has been under numerous conquerors, migrations, and religious movements, all leaving their indelible mark on the land and its people. In this regard, I would like to refer my readers, who are interested in learning about the ancient history of the land, to Nur Masalha's magnum opus, 'Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History' (Zed Books LTD,2018) for comprehensive knowledge on Palestine.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict goes back nearly a century, when Britain, during World War I, pledged to establish a 'national home' for the displaced and scattered Jewish people in the State of Palestine under the Balfour Declaration. Before that, British troops took control of the territory from the Ottoman empire at the end of October 1917. This declaration was a letter from British foreign secretary Arthus Balfour to Lionel Walter Rothschild, a Jewish leader, in which he expressed the British government's support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. This declaration resulted in a significant upheaval in the lives of Palestinians. The Nazi holocaust, which engulfed millions of Jews in Europe, proved anew to the Europeans the urgency of the establishment of a Jewish state, which would aim to solve the problem of Jewish homelessness by opening the gates to all Jews, thus accommodating the Jewish people to equality of nations. The Zionist aim of establishing a 'Jewish state' in Palestine became a reality. History concluded that this pledge was one of the main reasons for the ethnic cleansing, known as 'Naqba', of Palestine in 1948. It was seen as a thinly veiled form of colonialism and occupation. And to everyone's surprise, the power was given to the Jews, who, at the time, constituted only 9 per cent of the population. Thereafter, using immigration process, the British enhanced the Jewish population from 9 per cent to 27 per cent between 1922 and 1935. Though the Balfour Declaration included the caveat that 'nothing shall be done that may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine', the British mandate was set up in a way to equip Jews with the tools to establish self-rule, at the expense of the Palestinian Arabs.

In the debate over the unique imposition of a foreign government-led declaration, consensus was built around the following aspects that explained the reasons behind the controversial policy:

1) Control over Palestine was a strategic imperial interest to keep Egypt and the Suez Canal within Britain's sphere of influence.

2) Britain ensured that the Zionist policy would rally support among Jews in the USA and Russia.


3) Intense Zionist lobbying between the Zionist community in Britain and the British government, and


4) Jews were being persecuted in Europe, and the British government was sympathetic to their suffering.

In November 1919, when the press and media reopened in the Arab region, Herbert Samuel, a Jewish Cabinet Minister, said in a speech in London: Our country is Arab, Palestine is Arab, and Palestine must remain Arab.' However, what followed thereafter was a story full of repressions and revolts. The Arabs revolted in 1936 that lasted until 1939, during which they boycotted Jewish products and withheld tax payments to protest British colonialism and ever-growing Jewish immigration. The British resorted to punitive home demolitions, which the Israelis have perpetuated until now. Britain brought in 30,000 troops in Palestine, bombed villages by air, demolishing homes, and resorted to the summary killing of people. The second phase of the revolt began in 1937, led by the Palestinian peasants. The British and the Jews collaborated and formed armed groups named Special Night Squads. By secretly importing arms and setting up weapons factories, a huge paramilitary force was created and deployed. This eventually became the Israeli Army. By 1939, 5,000 Palestinians were killed, nearly 20,000 injured, and 5600 imprisoned.

In 1947, the United Nations proposed (Resolution 181) the partition of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab States, with Jerusalem as an internationally administered city. The Jewish community accepted the plan, but the Arabs rejected it, leading to the outbreak of civil war. The rejection was due to an allocation of 46 per cent of the land to Palestinians and 54 per cent to the Jews, who were a minority. The event triggered the first Arab-Israeli War, involving neighbouring Arab countries, that resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs. The war and the Palestinian Nakba of 1948 led to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homeland and the creation of the State of Israel in May 1948. Overnight, one million Palestinian refugees became exiles in neighbouring Arab countries; over 500 towns and villages were depopulated and destroyed; remaining Palestinians came under Israeli military rule; and worst of all, the Absentee Property Act in 1950, under which land belonging to Palestinian refugees became Israel State property. Next, Israel passed the Law of Return, giving every Jew the right to settle in Israel or Palestine. The West Bank and Gaza Strip went under Jordanian and Egyptian rule.

The six-day war between Israel and its Arab neighbours that followed (June 5–10, 1967) was not about one particular concern or dispute. Small military strikes by Palestinian guerrillas to repel a possible military strike by Israel flared up a full-scale war involving Egypt and Syria, in which Jordan joined as well. Israel's decisive victory included the capture of the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Old City of Jerusalem, and Golan Heights; the status of these territories subsequently became a major point of contention in the Arab-Israeli conflict. On June 7, the United Nations Security Council called for a cease-fire, which was immediately accepted by Israel, followed by Jordan and Egypt. After Syria lost Golan Heights to Israel on June 9, Syria too accepted the cease-fire call. The six-day war marked the start of a new phase in the conflict since it created hundreds of thousands of refugees and brought one million Palestinians into the occupied territories under Israeli rule. Months after that war, in November, the United Nations passed Resolution 242, which called for Israel's withdrawal from the territories it had captured in the war in exchange for lasting peace. That resolution became the basis for diplomatic efforts, led by the U.S., between Israel and its neighbours, including the Camp David Accords with Egypt and the push for a two-state solution with Palestine.

Throughout this period, the Palestinians had been dispersed among several countries and were lacking an organised central leadership to confront the Israelis as a unified resistance entity. In 1964, at an Arab Summit meeting in Cairo, the PLO was created as a political force to combat Israeli power. In 1968, under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, the PLO formed its military wing, the Palestine Liberation Army, but it had limited influence on PLO policy and activities. The six-day war seriously discredited the Arab neighbours in terms of advancing the Palestinian cause for self-determination. The PLO drew international attention to its cause with high-profile military attacks and hijackings. The PLO was a generally secular organisation modelled on other left-wing guerrilla movements of the time, although most of its followers and supporters were Muslim. There were, however, Islamist groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, who avoided armed conflicts and were dedicated to working for a more religious society. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Israel began to publicly suppress the rise of the Islamist movement in Gaza. But it also saw the groups undermining the PLO support base, allowing it to operate freely and build its support base. For example, Israel approved the creation of the Islamic University of Gaza, which became the source of support for Hamas, which by then became a political entity in Gaza.

Israel, meanwhile, was treating the Palestinians under its control as largely quiescent, even as it went on expanding illegal Jewish settlements in Gaza and the West Bank and expropriating Arab lands. Palestinians were used as a source of cheap manual labour inside Israel. That situation was, however, shattered in 1987 as young Palestinians rose up, causing the famous Intifada. The intifada was considered a success, helping to solidify their identity independently of neighbouring Arab states and forcing Israel into negotiations. And above all, it forced Yasser Arafat to compromise and accept a two-state solution.

As the intifada wound down in 1993, the Oslo peace process started with secret talks between Israel and the PLO. The Oslo Accord established the Palestinian National Authority, granting limited self-governance over patches of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Some prominent Palestinians regarded the accord as a form of surrender, while Israelis opposed giving up illegal and forced settlements or territory. Two Israeli leaders who opposed Oslo as a form of surrender were Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu. Both blamed prime minister Robin for accepting the Oslo terms, and soon thereafter, Rabin was assassinated in an open public event. Rabin's widow blamed these two men for her husband's killing by an ultranationalist Israeli in 1995.

Soon thereafter, the second Intifada took place after the failed attempt by US president Bill Clinton at Camp David when he tried to broker a final deal there in 2000. The uprising witnessed widespread suicide bombings by Hamas guerrillas and Israeli retaliations. When the uprising ended in 2005, more than 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis were killed.

A notable aspect of the post-2005 situation was prime minister Sharon's decision to 'disengage' from the Palestinians beginning that year with the closing of Israeli settlements in Gaza and parts of the northern West Bank. It is still unknown how much further Sharon would have gone with this policy, as he had suffered a stroke and went into a coma thereafter.

What became the status of Gaza after that? Israel claimed it was no longer occupied. The United Nations disagreed with the Israeli position because of Israel's continued control of airspace, territorial waters, and access to the territory militarily. Israel also blocked the enclave since Hamas came to power in 2006, in an election defeating the Fatah Party. Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Assembly elections in part because of a backlash against the corruption and political stagnation of the ruling Fatah party. Israel began arresting Hamas members of the parliament and imposed sanctions against Gaza. Also, the US and the EU, among others, did not acknowledge Hamas' electoral victory, as the party was considered a terrorist organisation by the western governments. Between 2006 and 2011, a series of failed talks and deadly confrontations between Hamas and Fatah eventually culminated in an agreement to reconcile. In 2014, Fatah and Hamas entered a unity government.

After a wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians in 2015, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas announced that Palestinians would no longer be bound by the territorial divisions created by the Oslo Accords. From 2018 onwards, more fighting erupted between Israeli forces and Hamas military forces. Fatah, meanwhile, became more dependent on US support, both financially and militarily, to confront Hamas. Through 2021, Hamas and Israel had several rounds of confrontations, with Israel resorting to aerial bombardment of civilian areas. Eventually, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire, with both claiming victory.

The most far-right and religious government in Israel's history, led by Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party and comprising two ultra-Orthodox parties and three far-right parties, was inaugurated in late December 2022. This government prioritised the expansion and development of more Israeli settlements, by force, in Palestinian areas in the occupied West Bank. On October 7, 2023, the Hamas surprise attack took the Israeli people and government by total surprise. Israel declared a full-scale attack on Gaza, first by aerial bombardment followed by a ground invasion, aiming to eliminate Hamas, as an entity. So far, as the fighting continues, Hamas has claimed a death toll of 32,000+ civilians, including 14,00 children. The US, UK, European Union, and others actively provided lethal ammunition to Israel, amounting to billions of US dollars.

The displacement of millions of Palestinians presents a dilemma for Egypt and Jordan, which have absorbed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the past decades and are now resisting accepting more during the current war. They fear, based on past experiences, that Gazans, many of whom were already displaced from elsewhere in Israel, will not be allowed to return once they leave. Egypt also fears that Hamas fighters could enter Egypt and trigger a new war in the Sinai area by launching attacks on Israel and destabilising the authoritarian regime of autocrat president El-Sisi by supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. Over 1.7 million Gazans, displaced from their homes, have nowhere to go and face starvation and deceases, leading to death.

As of now, hectic efforts are underway at the United Nations Security Council to get a ceasefire resolution adopted to help stop the unilateral killings of Palestinian civilians.

With a full-blown war going on between Israel and Hamas, it is hard to imagine a new dawn of peace. The body count in Gaza is rising daily. It is a cycle of violence that threatens to paralyse the moral and political imaginations of both parties alike, deepening the impression that accommodation will remain forever out of reach. Ehud Barak, the former prime minister of Israel, said in an interview with Time: The right way is to look to the two-state solution, not because of justice to the Palestinians, which is not the highest priority on my priorities, but because we have a compelling imperative to disengage from the Palestinians to protect our own security, our own future, our own destiny.'

One last point on the ongoing war: there is no doubt the Americans will stand with Israel longer, but certainly not for infinity. What options will Israel look for when that becomes a reality? And what about Netanyahu's future? He knows and understands history very well, and he knows that nobody survives a major war. He remembers what happened to Golda Meyer, Menachem Begin and later Ehud Olmert, all of whom were removed from the government after a war.

Humayun Kabir (kabirruhi@gmail.com) is a former United Nations official in New York.​

 

[Vikings]

As if Israel would care about Bangladesh.

China would be a better peace broker between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

All are just BAL chest beating, hence no need to pay attention!

Israel is America itself in the middle East , hence I don't see any easy solution here!