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CRY FREEDOM.net
formerly known as
Women's Liberation Front
MORE INSIGHT MORE LIFE
Welcome to cryfreedom.net,
formerly known as Womens
Liberation Front.
A website
that hopes to draw and keeps your attention for both the global 21th. century 3rd. feminist revolution as well
as especially for the Zan, Zendegi, Azadi uprising in Iran and the
struggles of our sisters in other parts of the Middle East. This online magazine
that started December 2019 will
be published every week. Thank you for your time and interest.
Gino d'Artali
indept investigative
journalist
radical feminist and women's rights activist
'WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM'
You are now at the section on what is happening in the rest of the Middle
east
(Updates
August 29, 2024)
Click here for the
Iran 'Woman, Life, Freedom' section Updated August 28, 2024
For the 'Women's Arab Spring 1.2' Revolt
news
click here
Updated August 28, 2024
CLICK HERE ON HOW TO READ
ALL ON THIS PAGE
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SPECIAL
REPORTS PALESTINE
FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA - FREE PALESTINE
August
wk4 P3 -- August
wk4 P2 -- August
wk 4 -- August
wk3 P3 -- August
wk3 bis2 -- August
wk3bis -- Click here for an overview by week in 2024
When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi
figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da
qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so
called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali.
Al Jazeera - August 29, 2024
<<WFP suspends staff movements in Gaza after Israeli forces attack its
team
UN food agency says it's the first time in the 10-month-long war that
one of its vehicles has been directly shot at near a checkpoint. Impacts
on a WFP bullet-proof windows are seen after the WFP said the vehicle
came under fire a few metres from an Israeli check point at the Wadi The
World Food Programme (WFP) has announced a pause in the movement of its
employees in the Gaza Strip "until further notice" after one of its
vehicles was hit by gunfire just metres from an Israeli-controlled
checkpoint. The incident took place on Tuesday night as the vehicle was
approaching the Wadi Gaza Bridge checkpoint. "None of the employees
onboard were physically harmed," the WFP said in a statement. UN
spokesman Stephane Dujarric blamed Israel for the attack, telling
reporters in New York that the <clearly marked" humanitarian vehicle was
"struck 10 times" by Israeli gunfire, including with bullets targeting
front windows. Five of the bullets were on the driver's side and some on
the windscreen. The team was returning from a mission to Karem Abu
Salem, known as Kerem Shalom to Israelis, with two WFP armoured vehicles
after escorting a convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian cargo on the
way to Gaza's central area. Dujarric said the convoy's movements had
been coordinated with the Israeli military and it had clearance to
approach. "This is the latest incident to underscore that systems in
place for coordination are not working," he said, adding that "we will
continue to work with the IDF to ensure that incidents like that do not
happen again". WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain described the attack
as "unacceptable" and said it was "the latest in a series of unnecessary
incidents that have endangered the lives" of her team members in Gaza.
"As last night's events show, the current deconfliction system is
failing and this cannot go on any longer," she added. The WFP called on
Israeli authorities and all parties to the conflict to ensure the safety
and security of all aid workers in Gaza. It added that while is not the
first security incident the WFP team has faced during the war, it is the
first time that one of its vehicle has been directly shot at near a
checkpoint, despite securing the necessary clearances, as per standard
protocol.>>
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/29/wfp-suspends-staff-movements-in-gaza-after-israeli-forces-attack-its-team
BBC - August 28, 2024 - By Robert Greenall
<<Namibia blocks ship over Israel war-crime concerns
Namibia's port of Walvis Bay is an important stop on global shipping
routes
A vessel suspected by the Namibian authorities to be carrying military
cargo intended for Israeli use in the ongoing war in Gaza has been
blocked from docking in the southern African country. Namibian Justice
Minister Yvonne Dausab told state media the ship was stopped because it
had "explosive material destined for Israel". The MV Kathrin, which set
off from Vietnam, had requested permission to dock in the port of Walvis
Bay - before sailing north, on a suspected route towards the
Mediterranean via the Strait of Gibraltar. Rights groups had warned that
Namibia could have been implicated in potential human rights violations
had it allowed the vessel to dock. It is not known why the ship wanted
to dock, but vessels on long journeys tend to stop for supplies, respite
or to offload or take on cargo. Last December, Namibia's neighbour and
ally South Africa launched an ongoing case at the International Court of
Justice (ICJ) alleging Israel is committing genocide against
Palestinians in Gaza. Israel rejects the allegation of genocide as
<baseless>. The conflict began after Hamas launched an unprecedented
assault on Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were
killed and 251 others were taken hostage. The Israeli military then
launched a campaign to destroy Hamas and more than 40,430 people have
been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run
health ministry. Walvis Bay is Namibia's largest commercial port,
receiving nearly 900 vessels and handling about eight million tonnes of
cargo per year, according to the Namibian Ports Authority (Namport). The
MV Kathrin, which was set to dock at Walvis Bay on Monday from Vietnam,
was stopped in accordance with Namibia's support for the Palestinian
people and the country's call for an end to the violence in Gaza, Ms
Dausab told the state-run New Era news website. Citing a police
investigation, Ms Dausab said the vessel was <indeed carrying explosive
material destined for Israel, and was therefore prohibited from entering
Namibian waters".
"Namibia complies with our obligation not to support or be complicit in
Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, as well as its
unlawful occupation of Palestine," she said. Namibian human rights
organisation the Economic and Social Justice Trust (ESJT) welcomed the
move.
"We are pleased that our government has decided to respect international
law and decided not to be complicit to genocide," ESJT's Herbert Jauch
told the BBC. Namport has not responded to the BBC for comment about the
MV Kathrin. Before Ms Dausab's statement it said it had not received
pre-clearance documentation for the ship. The agency however pledged to
ensure "effective safety and security of our territorial waters and
ports".
It also said it supported Namibia's "standing and position on
international relations and protocols". Namport said it had recently
allowed another vessel carrying "dangerous cargo" to pass through
Namibian waters, but not to dock.>>
Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20rgvqr37ro
Le Monde - August 28, 2024
<<US announces sanctions on Israeli settlers carrying out violence
against Palestinians
The US has imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank who
have been setting up roadblocks, forcing Palestinians to leave their
homes and attacking them. The United States on Wednesday announced new
sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank over violence against
Palestinians, urging its ally Israel to bring greater accountability.
The sanctions were announced on the same day that Israel launched a
wide-scale attack on the West Bank that it said killed nine Palestinian
fighters, despite warnings by President Joe Biden's administration
against expanding the war in Gaza. <Extremist settler violence in the
West Bank causes intense human suffering, harms Israel's security and
undermines the prospect for peace and stability in the region,> State
Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. <It is critical
that the government of Israel hold accountable any individuals and
entities responsible for violence against civilians in the West Bank,>
he said. The latest sanction targets included Hashomer Yosh, an Israeli
group that has supported the unauthorized settler outpost of Meitarim
Farm in the south Hebron Hills. Volunteers from the group earlier this
year fenced off a village whose 250 Palestinian residents had all been
forced to leave, the State Department said. Hashomer Yosh's website,
using the biblical name for the West Bank, says the group helps <various
farmers throughout Judea and Samaria, who bravely protect our lands and
stand strong in the face of economic difficulties and frequent
agricultural crime." The State Department also imposed sanctions against
Yitzhak Levi Filant, who was accused of leading armed settlers in
setting up roadblocks and patrols with a goal of attacking Palestinians.
Since Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in
Gaza, violence has flared in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory
occupied by Israel since 1967 and separated geographically from Gaza by
Israeli territory. At least 640 Palestinians have been killed in the
West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers since the start of the Gaza war,
according to an AFP count based on Palestinian official figures. The
United States has repeatedly voiced concern to Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu about settler violence and about the expansion of
settlements championed by far-right members of his government. US
sanctions generally bar targets from the US financial system, leading
Israeli banks to restrict dealings with sanctioned individuals for fear
of repercussions. But the Biden administration has held off on imposing
sanctions on government ministers leading the settlement policy.>>
Source:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/08/28/us-announces-sanctions-on-israeli-settlers-carrying-out-violence-against-palestinians_6722800_4.html
Al Jazeera - August 28, 2024
<<Israel's war on the West Bank
Continuing Israeli attack on locations across northern West Bank
highlights Israel’s treatment of the occupied territory. Israeli
military armoured vehicles including a bulldozer block a road during a
raid in the al-Faraa camp for Palestinian refugees. At least 10
Palestinians have been killed in a wide-ranging Israeli attack on the
northern occupied West Bank, focused on the governorates of Tulkarem,
Jenin and Tubas. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, four people
were killed by Israeli forces in the Fara’a refugee camp in Tubas, three
people in an Israeli drone attack on a vehicle in the village of Seir,
near the city of Jenin, and two were killed in Jenin itself. Another
Palestinian was later reported to have been shot and killed in the
village of Kafr Dan, west of Jenin, according to the Wafa news agency.
Jenin, with a population of about 39,000, is reported to have been
entirely sealed off by Israeli forces. The governor of Jenin, Kamal Abu
al-Rub, said that Israeli forces had cut off access to hospitals and
other medical facilities in Jenin, and Israeli media outlets reported
that Israeli soldiers had surrounded hospitals in Tulkarem and Tubas.
The Israeli military has described the assault, which began early on
Wednesday, as the largest in the West Bank in two decades, and has
released a joint statement with the Israeli police describing it as a
<counterterrorism operation> targeting Palestinian fighters.
Let's take a closer look.
How often do Israeli forces attack Palestinians in the occupied West
Bank?
Israeli assaults in the West Bank have occurred on an almost daily basis
since 2022, predating the current far-right Israeli government. They
target Palestinian cities, refugee camps and villages, and have killed
hundreds. Between Israeli military raids and attacks by Israeli
settlers, approximately 1,000 Palestinians have been killed since 2022
in the West Bank. The military raids stem from Israel's policy of
dealing with the West Bank, which it has illegally occupied since 1967,
through force rather than agreeing to the establishment of a Palestinian
state. The focus is usually on ensuring that Palestinian resistance
groups do not become strong enough to challenge Israel. Palestinian
armed groups in the West Bank have nothing like the firepower of those
in Gaza, and Israel has long worked to ensure that it remains that way,
including by cooperating on security matters with the Palestinian
Authority (PA), a practice that has made the PA unpopular among
Palestinians. Israelis living in illegal settlements regularly attack
Palestinians, particularly those living in villages and rural
communities, harassing them, as well as violently attacking them, and
sometimes forcing them to leave their land. Both Israeli military raids
and settler attacks have increased in their number and in the violence
used since October 7, and the beginning of Israel's war on Gaza.
How unprecedented is Wednesday's military operation?
This is clearly a big military operation, with Israel rolling hundreds
of soldiers, as well as fighter aircraft, drones and bulldozers, into
action in three West Bank governorates. The Israeli media, quoting
Israeli military sources, is expecting the attack to continue for
several days, meaning the death toll is expected to rise sharply,
particularly as the cities and villages being attacked are full of
Palestinian civilians. Israel itself is describing the assault as the
biggest of its kind in the West Bank since 2002, when the Palestinian
territory was in the middle of the second Intifada, or uprising.
At the time, Israel was criticised for the heavy-handed nature of its
response to an initial wave of non-violent demonstrations, civil
disobedience and stone-throwing.
By the end of the Intifada in 2005, Israel had killed 4,793
Palestinians. Israeli casualties are estimated at approximately 1,000.
How connected are Israel's assaults in the West Bank to the war on Gaza?
Israel has long painted its military operations in the occupied West
Bank and Gaza, as well as with Hezbollah in Lebanon, as battlegrounds
within the same conflict, against both the Palestinians and Israel's
primary regional geopolitical foe, Iran. Israel views groups like Hamas
and Hezbollah, as well as many other Palestinian movements, as Iranian
proxies. Writing on social media after the attack on the northern West
Bank began, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that Iran was
<working to establish an eastern terrorist front> against Israel in the
West Bank, by <financing and arming terrorists and smuggling advanced
weapons from Jordan>. But, as mentioned previously, Israel's large-scale
attacks on the West Bank predate October 7, with a particular increase
in the ferocity of Israeli attacks following the return of Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to power – backed by overtly
anti-Palestinian figures in key ministerial positions - at the very end
of 2022. The presence of helicopter gunships during attacks in the West
Bank also occurred before October 7, notably during a two-day raid on
the Jenin refugee camp in July 2023. At the time Israel said that it had
carried out 15 air raids using helicopter gunships and reconnaissance
drones.
What does Israel want from the West Bank?
While technically under the control of the Palestinian Authority in
Ramallah, much of the West Bank is policed and governed by Israel, and
Israeli forces have the ability to enter any part of the occupied
Palestinian territory. Israeli soldiers are stationed permanently
throughout the West Bank, and illegal Israeli settlements and roads
serving only Israelis crisscross the territory, leaving the prospect of
a Palestinian state distant. The International Court of Justice recently
declared Israel's continued presence in the occupied West Bank, as well
as occupied East Jerusalem, "unlawful". Israel often frames its
occupation of the West Bank as a necessity for security reasons, but
Netanyahu and other leading Israeli politicians have rejected a
two-state solution, openly called for an increase in illegal Israeli
settlements, and emphasised the centrality of the territory, which they
call <Judea and Samaria>, to Israel. Moreover, control of construction
and responsibility for policing in the West Bank is overseen by two of
Israel’s most controversial and pro-settler government ministers.
Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich has recently assumed overall
control over construction within the West Bank, while National Security
Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has responsibility for its policing. Both have
spoken in favour of further Israeli expansion within the Palestinian
territory and both have been repeatedly accused of supporting settler
violence against Palestinian citizens within the territory. Both
Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are settlers themselves. And now, with the attacks
in the West Bank continuing, Foreign Minister Katz has called for the
<temporary evacuation> of Palestinians from the West Bank - raising the
fear that Israel may be attempting to engineer the forced displacement
of Palestinians from the territory. According to Omar Baddar, a Middle
East political analyst, that is part of the wider Israeli strategy. "I
think the context of it is worth noting, which is the fact that Israel
has been intending to annex and ethnically cleanse huge parts of the
West Bank for a very, very long time," Baddar told Al Jazeera.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/28/israels-war-on-the-west-bank
Al Jazeera - August 28, 2024 - by Belen Fernandez Al Jazeera columnist
<<The US is Israel's accomplice, not a ceasefire mediator
Washington is purposefully dragging out negotiations to enable Israel's
pursuit of its genocidal goals. On July 21, 2006, nine days into the
34-day Israeli war on Lebanon that killed 1,200 people, United States
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice opined that <an immediate ceasefire
without political conditions does not make sense>. In response to a
journalist's question at a press briefing, the secretary declared that
she had <no interest in diplomacy for the sake of returning Lebanon and
Israel to the status quo ante>. In addition to manoeuvring to delay a
ceasefire, the US also expedited shipments of precision-guided bombs to
Israel to assist in the mass slaughter. Just two and a half years later,
Rice was back agitating against a too-quick ceasefire in the Gaza Strip,
where over the course of 22 days in December 2008 and January 2009
Israel massacred some 1,400 Palestinians. In this case, Rice claimed
that the US was <working toward a ceasefire that would not allow a
re-establishment of the status quo ante where Hamas can continue to
launch rockets out of Gaza>, Hamas's largely ineffectual rockets clearly
being a graver problem than the slaughter of 1,400 people. Fast forward
15 years to Israel's straight-up genocide in the Gaza Strip, which is
undoubtedly a more effective means of eradicating the <status quo ante>
- at least if we take <status quo ante> to mean Gaza and its
inhabitants. With official fatalities now exceeding 40,000 Palestinians
and predictions that the real death toll may in fact be many times
higher, an immediate ceasefire is the only non-genocidal option on the
table. And while US President Joe Biden has repeatedly stressed the
urgency of just such a ceasefire, it is a bit tricky to stop a war when
you have just approved an additional $20bn in weapons transfers to the
party that has officially killed nearly 17,000 Palestinian children
since October.
Indeed, current US qualifications to ostensibly mediate a ceasefire in
Gaza are rather dubious given that the country could easily be taken for
a de facto belligerent to the conflict. On Sunday, The New York Times
reported that, like Israel, the US has "poured vast resources into
trying to find" Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, and has not only "provided
ground-penetrating radar" to Israel but also tasked US spy agencies
"with intercepting Mr Sinwar's communications". The Times quotes White
House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on additional US
contributions to the obsessive search for Sinwar: "We've had people in
Israel sitting in the room with the Israelis working this problem set.
And obviously we have a lot of experience hunting high-value targets".
But again, simultaneously <hunting> the leader of the very organisation
one professes to be negotiating a ceasefire with does not exactly speak
to one’s credibility as a mediator. According to the Times article, US
officials believe that Sinwar's killing or capture would give Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu <a way to claim a significant military
victory and potentially make him more willing to end military operations
in Gaza> - a most convincing argument, no doubt, for extrajudicial
assassination. Not that Netanyahu is interested in ever really <ending>
anything, anyway, regardless of Sinwar's fate. The Israeli premier,
after all, is of the opinion that Israel reserves the right to resume
fighting Hamas notwithstanding any ceasefire agreement, which kind of
defeats the whole purpose. On Tuesday, the Times of Israel reported
that, although US officials persisted in insisting on <progress> in
ceasefire negotiations, Israel's Channel 12 news had learned that the
<thorny issues> had been set aside for the time being: <The network said
American mediators hope to reach agreements on other matters first, such
as Israel's ability to veto the release of some Palestinian security
prisoners and exile others.> The <thorny> stuff includes matters like
whether Israel should be allowed to keep occupying the entire length of
Gaza's border with Egypt after the war. This issue would be <left to the
very end of talks, according to the [Channel 12] report, which quoted
officials saying they don't believe Hamas chief Sinwar will budge on the
Gaza-Egypt border unless he feels the [Israeli military] is closing in
on him,> The Times of Israel reported. Per the diplomatic hallucinations
of White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, delaying
tactics in the interest of enabling the perpetual occupation of whatever
remains of the Gaza Strip are apparently indicative of <constructive>
talks. And in the meantime, of course, genocide proceeds apace, as the
Israeli military goes about inflicting unceasing terror and starvation
on the civilian population. Access to water and aid delivery has now
been restricted in the city of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, where the
United Nations has been forced to shut down operations once again in
order to abide by Israel's pathological evacuation orders. To be sure,
Israel's habit of commanding Palestinians to evacuate an area and then
bombing them when they comply is hardly <constructive>. The New York
Times dispatch on US assistance in the <hunt> for Sinwar quotes a senior
Israeli official on the <priceless> nature of US intelligence support.
But as the United States continues buying Israel time for the
obliteration of the status quo ante in Gaza along with all pretences to
human decency and morality, the world itself will pay the price.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not
necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.>>
Source:
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/8/28/the-us-is-israels-accomplice-not-a-ceasefire-mediator
Al Jazeera - August 28, 2024
<<At least 10 killed as Israel launches major raid on occupied West Bank
Israeli military deploys hundreds of soldiers, backed by jets and
drones, targeting three areas simultaneously. At least 10 Palestinians
have been killed after Israel launched a large-scale ground and air
attack on the northern part of the occupied West Bank, according to
health officials in the territory. The incursion, which began early on
Wednesday, involved hundreds of ground soldiers supported by fighter
aircraft, drones and bulldozers, targeting three areas simultaneously -
Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas - in the largest assault in two decades. The
director of the ambulance department at the Palestine Red Crescent
Society told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces killed four people in the
Far'a refugee camp in Tubas. The Red Crescent said its teams were having
trouble reaching the injured because Israeli forces were preventing
ambulances from entering the area. The Palestinian Health Ministry said
two people were killed in Jenin, while three others were slain when an
Israeli drone struck their vehicle in the nearby village of Seir.
Another Palestinian was later reported to have been shot and killed in
the village of Kafr Dan, west of Jenin, according to the Wafa news
agency.
Reporting from Nablus in the West Bank, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim said
that Israeli forces had described the operation in the north of the
occupied territory as the biggest of its kind since 2002. There are an
estimated 80,000 Palestinians in the areas where the military operations
are continuing.
The number of raids on the West Bank has "more than tripled" since the
outbreak of Israel’s war on Gaza in October, she said, adding that
locals across cities and towns confirmed to Al Jazeera that three
strikes took place in three different locations overnight. "In the past
few weeks, we've seen an intensification in the use of aerial strikes
against Palestine fighters ... the Israeli military claiming they are
combatting the use of IEDs [improvised explosive devices]," Ibrahim
said. Omar Baddar, a Middle East political analyst, said that the
incursion appeared to be part of a longer-term Israeli strategy to
"ethnically cleanse" the Palestinian territory. "I think the context of
it is worth noting, which is the fact that Israel has been intending to
annex and ethnically cleanse huge parts of the West Bank for a very,
very long time," Baddar told Al Jazeera. Israel's military described the
nine people killed as <armed terrorists who posed a threat to security
forces>. In a post on Telegram, it also claimed to have arrested more
<wanted suspects> in Jenin and Tulkarem, while confiscating explosives
<planted under roads> in the Far'a camp. Israeli Minister of Foreign
Affairs Israel Katz called for the army to evacuate Palestinians from
the West Bank, in a post on X. <We must deal with the threat in the West
Bank as we are doing in Gaza, including the temporary evacuation of
Palestinian residents and whatever other steps are required. This is a
war for everything and we must win it,> he wrote on Wednesday. Israeli
forces have been closing down roads leading to Jenin, Tulkarem and the
Far'a camp. According to residents at the Nur Shams camp, in Tulkarem,
they were given three hours to leave if they wanted to. "There's no
direct evacuation order, but this suggests a potential escalation,"
Ibrahim reported. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for the Palestinian
Authority (PA) presidency, said Israel's escalating war in the West Bank
in addition to the war in the Gaza Strip will lead to "dire and
dangerous" results. "Israel's objective number one is not Gaza, it is
the West Bank. This is the heart of what they say is the Biblical land,"
Hassan Barari, a professor of international affairs at Qatar University,
told Al Jazeera, adding that Israel aims to expel even more
Palestinians. But the Israeli military is likely to continue facing
fierce resistance from a new generation of hardened fighters that are
just as committed to protecting their homeland, without putting their
hopes in the PA, Barari added. Quoting Israeli military sources, Israeli
media reported that the army was expected to continue the raids for
several days. Baddar said: "I think that they [Israeli forces] saw an
opportunity given that the world is distracted by the horror that Israel
is unleashing on Gaza to kind of escalate in the West Bank." In Jenin,
the director of one of the city's hospitals was told the Israeli army
intended to raid the medical facility and ordered them to evacuate. The
hospital has 200 employees and 150 patients. Palestinian armed groups
said they were fighting Israeli forces in the Nur Shams and Jenin
refugee camps. The al-Quds Brigades said its "fighters targeted an enemy
infantry force with a highly explosive device in Nur Shams”.The Qassam
Brigades said it "detonated locally made and highly explosive devices in
Jenin against the invading military vehicles" and that its fighters were
"engaged in violent clashes with the occupation forces".
'Under threat'
Since Israel launched its war on Gaza, Israeli army raids have become a
nightly occurrence in towns and villages in the West Bank, with Israeli
soldiers and settlers killing at least 646 Palestinians, including 148
children, and injuring more than 5,400, Palestinian health officials
have said.
During this time, Israeli soldiers have arrested at least 10,200
Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the
Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs. The same groups report
that at least 3,432 Palestinians are being held in Israeli military
prisons without charge under "administrative detention".
At least 1,432 Palestinian homes, and other structures, have been
demolished, displacing 3,270 Palestinians, according to the United
Nations.
There has also been an uptick in violence by settlers - Israeli citizens
who live illegally on private Palestinian land in both the West Bank and
occupied East Jerusalem.
Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National
Initiative, called the Israeli operation "an act of war". The amount of
damage Israeli forces inflicted on the Palestinian territory's
infrastructure also indicates their goal to make it uninhabitable for
its citizens, Barghouti told Al Jazeera.
"They destroyed water pipelines, electricity lines, houses, schools -
what do they want? They want to create a situation where we cannot live
in our country and that is exactly what the settlers' plans are about."
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA and read more here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/28/at-least-7-killed-as-israel-launches-major-raid-on-occupied-west-bank
Al Jazeera - August 28, 2024
<<Israeli forces kill at least 10 Palestinians in occupied West Bank
raid
Violence by Israeli soldiers and settlers has intensified in the
occupied Palestinian territory as Israel's war on Gaza escalates.
Ten Palestinians killed in Israeli operation in West Bank
At least nine Palestinians have been killed in Israeli raids and strikes
in several towns in the north of the occupied West Bank. The Israeli
army is conducting one of its largest operations in the territory in
years. The casualties are mounting from the operation, which has
involved air raids and the use of military bulldozers to destroy
civilian infrastructure. Palestinian fighters have battled the military
incursion, which began in the early hours of Wednesday. The Israeli army
said it was carrying out an <operation to thwart terrorism in Jenin and
Tulkarem>, the raids coming two days after Israel said it carried out an
air strike on the West Bank that the Palestinian Authority and health
officials said killed five people. Wednesday's continuing operation was
focused on three refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas, with
hundreds of ground troops also deployed.
At least 646 Palestinians, including 148 children, have been killed by
Israeli soldiers and settlers in the occupied territory, according to
Palestinian health officials. This includes at least 128 Palestinians
killed by Israeli air attacks.>>
View photos here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2024/8/28/israeli-forces-kill-several-palestinians-in-occupied-west-bank-raid
Jinha - Womens News Agency - August 28 , 2024
<<Death toll in Gaza rises to 40,534
At least 40,534 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the
Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, the Gaza's health ministry said in a
statement on Wednesday.
News Center- Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have entered their 327th
day.
At least 40,534 Palestinians have been killed and 93,778 others injured
in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7,2023, the Gaza's
health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
At least 58 Palestinians were killed and 131 others injured in Israeli
attacks in the last 24 hours, the ministry added.>>
Source:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/death-toll-in-gaza-rises-to-40-534-35588?page=1
Poliovirus spreads
Jinha - Womens News Agency - August 28 , 2024
<<Poliovirus spreads in Gaza: Call for ceasefire to enable vaccination
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, on Tuesday
warned of the rapid spread of poliovirus in the Gaza Strip, stressing
the need for a ceasefire to allow children to be vaccinated against the
disease.
News Center- Death toll in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since
October 7,2023 has kept rising.
At least 40,476 Palestinians have been killed and 93,647 others injured
in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, the Gaza's
health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Call for ceasefire to enable vaccination
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, on Tuesday
warned of the rapid spread of poliovirus in the Gaza Strip, stressing
the need for a ceasefire to allow children to be vaccinated against the
disease. "The quick spread of polio threatens all children in Gaza,
already weakened by displacement, deprivation and malnourishment. I urge
an immediate 3-day humanitarian ceasefire to enable vaccination by WHO
(the World Health Organisation) and UNICEF (the UN's children fund) -
independent of wider negotiations. Our humanity demands it," Josep
Borrell said in a post on X.
On Sunday, UNICEF announced an urgent delivery of 1.2 million doses of
polio vaccine type 2 to the Gaza Strip and that it plans to vaccinate
more than 640,000 children under the age of 10.
Another journalist killed in Gaza
Photojournalist Mohammed Abd Rabbo was killed in an Israeli air attack
that hit his sister's home in the Nuseirat refugee camp earlier this
morning.>>
Source:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/poliovirus-spreads-in-gaza-call-for-ceasefire-to-enable-vaccination-35587
BBC - August 27, 2024 - By Robert Greenall
<<Israeli settlers are seizing Palestinian land under cover of war -
they hope permanently
In the Palestinian village of Battir, where ancient terraces are
irrigated by a natural spring, life carries on as it has for centuries.
Part of a Unesco World Heritage site, Battir is known for its olive
groves and vineyards. But now it is the latest flashpoint over
settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israel has approved a new Jewish
settlement here, taking away privately owned land for new settler houses
and new outposts have been set up without even Israeli authorisation.
"They are stealing our land to build their dreams on our catastrophe,"
says Ghassan Olyan, whose property is among that seized. Unesco says it
is concerned by the settlers' plans around Battir, but the village is
far from an isolated example. All settlements are seen as illegal under
international law, although Israel disagrees. "They are not caring about
the international law, or local law, and even God's law," Mr Olyan says.
Last week, Israel's domestic intelligence chief Ronen Bar wrote to
ministers warning that Jewish extremists in the West Bank were carrying
out acts of "terror" against Palestinians and causing "indescribable
damage" to the country. Since the start of the war in Gaza, there has
been an acceleration in settlement growth in the occupied West Bank.
Extremists in Israel's government boast that these changes will prevent
an independent Palestinian state from ever being created. There are
fears, too, that they seek to prolong the war in Gaza to suit their
goals.
Yonatan Mizrahi from Peace Now, an Israeli organisation that monitors
settlement growth, says Jewish extremists in the West Bank are
exacerbating an already tense and volatile situation, and making it
harder than ever to end the Israel-Palestinian conflict. He believes a
"mix of rage and fear" in Israeli society after the 7 October attacks,
in which 1,200 people were killed is driving settlers to seize more
land, with fewer people questioning them. A June survey by the Pew
Research Center suggested that 40% of Israelis believed settlements made
the country safer, up from 27% in 2013. Meanwhile, 35% of people polled
said that the settlements hurt Israel's security, down from 42%. Mr
Mizrahi worries that Jewish extremists in the West Bank are exacerbating
an already tense and volatile situation, making it harder than ever to
end the Israel-Palestinian conflict. "I think it's extremely dangerous,"
he says. "It's increasing the hate on both sides."
Since the outbreak of the war, settler violence against Palestinian
civilians in the West Bank has surged.
It had already been on the rise, but in the past 10 months the UN has
documented around 1,270 attacks, compared with 856 in all of 2022.
According to the Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem, during the
same period Israeli settler harassment has forced Palestinians out of at
least 18 villages in the West Bank, the Palestinian territory between
Israel and Jordan that was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East
war and has been occupied ever since.
Between 7 October and August 2024, 589 Palestinians were killed in the
West Bank - at least 570 by Israeli forces and at least 11 by settlers,
according to the UN. They include some said to have been planning
attacks as well as unarmed civilians. In the same period, Palestinians
killed five settlers and nine members of Israel's security forces.
This week, a Palestinian man aged 40 was reportedly shot dead after
settlers and Israeli soldiers entered Wadi al-Rahhel, near Bethlehem.
The Israeli military said stones had previously been thrown at an
Israeli vehicle nearby.
Last month, a 22-year-old Palestinian man was killed when dozens of
settlers rampaged through the village of Jit, prompting international
condemnation. Israeli security forces have made four arrests and have
described the incident as a "severe terror event".
But the track record in such cases is one of virtual impunity. Israeli
civil rights group Yesh Din found that, between 2005 and 2023, just 3%
of official investigations into settler violence ended in a conviction.
In the letter by Ronen Bar, which was leaked to Israeli media, the head
of Israel's Shin Bet security service said that radical settlers were
emboldened by light-handed law enforcement.
'Extremely dangerous'
Many settlements have the legal support of the Israeli government;
others, known as outposts, and often as simple as caravans and
corrugated iron sheds, are illegal even under Israeli law. But
extremists build them regardless in a bid to seize more land. In July,
when the UN's top court found for the first time that Israel's
occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was illegal, it
said the country should halt all settlement activity and withdraw as
soon as possible. Israel's Western allies have repeatedly described
settlements as an obstacle to peace. Israel rejected the finding,
saying: <The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land.> Now
there are fears that extremists are working to make settlements in the
West Bank irreversible. They have rapidly expanded their control over
the territory, with the support of the most far-right government in
Israel's history. These extremists are advancing annexation plans in the
West Bank and also openly call for settling Gaza once the war is over.
Settlers now serve at the heart of Israel's government, in key
ministries. At the very time that world leaders opposed to settlements
are voicing renewed enthusiasm for a two-state solution - a long-hoped
for peace plan that would create a separate Palestinian state - Israeli
religious nationalists, who believe all these lands rightfully belong to
Israel, are vowing to make the dream of an independent Palestinian state
impossible. Analysts think this is why some politicians are refusing to
accept any ceasefire deal. <The reason they don't want to end the
conflict or go into a hostage deal is because they believe that Israel
should keep on fighting until it can reach a point where it can stay
inside Gaza,> says Tal Schneider, political correspondent for The Times
of Israel. <They think for the long term their ideology is more
righteous,> she adds. <This is their own logic.> Israeli authorities,
meanwhile, have announced plans for five new settlements, including the
one in Battir, and declared a record area of land, at least 23 sq km,
for the state. This means Israel considers it Israeli land, regardless
of whether it is in the occupied Palestinian territories, or privately
owned by Palestinians, or both, and Palestinians are prevented from
using it. By changing facts on the ground, as the settlers describe it,
they hope to move enough Israelis on to the land and build enough on it
to make their presence irreversible. Their long-term hope is that Israel
formally annexes the land.
Read more here:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c624qr3mqrzo
BBC - August 27, 2024 - By Robert Greenall
<<Has Israel taken enough action to prevent alleged incitement to
genocide?
Up to 1.9 million people in Gaza - 90% of the Strip's population - are
internally displaced, according to the UN
<Burn Gaza now, nothing less!> When the deputy speaker of Israel's
parliament, the Knesset, posted this comment on X in November, the
platform blocked him and asked him to delete it. Nissim Vaturi did as
they asked, and his account has since been reactivated, but he did not
apologise. His comment is one of many controversial remarks that have
been made by some high-profile Israelis as the country's armed forces
carry out air strikes and ground operations in Gaza, in response to
Hamas's deadly attack on Israel on 7 October. On the day of the attacks,
he had posted: <Now we all have one common goal - erasing the Gaza Strip
from the face of the Earth.> That post, which is still visible on X, was
cited in South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court
of Justice (ICJ), in which South Africa alleges Israel is committing
genocide against the Palestinians, in the Gaza war. Israel has called
the case <wholly unfounded> and based on <biased and false claims>. As
part of an interim judgement in January, the ICJ ruled that Israel must
prevent public statements inciting genocide. Although the court does not
have the power to enforce this, Israel agreed to submit a report
detailing the action it had taken to investigate and prosecute possible
instances of incitement. The court confirmed that the report was
received in February, but has not made its contents public. Some legal
experts believe Israel is not doing enough to investigate potential
cases. <Israelis who incite genocide or use genocidal rhetoric are
immune from prosecution,> says Israeli human rights lawyer, Michael
Sfard. Proving incitement to genocide, which is a crime under
international and Israeli law, is difficult. Genocide is defined as acts
intended to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial
or religious group. But distinguishing between inciting genocide and
inciting violence or racism - and what could be considered free speech -
can be complex. The BBC has looked at several pronouncements made since
the ICJ's order to see if they could break the ruling and consulted
legal experts for their assessment. And although this judgement was
directed at Israel, we have also examined language used by some Hamas
officials who have made speeches about repeating their attack of 7
October. Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has backed
a policy of encouraging Gazans to emigrate voluntarily. A
pro-Palestinian human rights organisation made up of a network of
experts and researchers around the world who monitor the conflict, Law
for Palestine, has looked at cases where it believes Israeli officials
and other public figures have incited genocide. Its list includes some
statements by Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.Mr
Ben-Gvir has been advocating a policy to encourage Palestinians to leave
Gaza, saying Israelis should settle there. He leads an ultranationalist
party which is widely criticised for espousing racially discriminatory,
anti-Arab policies. He has previous convictions from an Israeli court -
which date from before he entered government - for inciting racism and
supporting terrorism. Two days after the ICJ ruling in January, he
advocated a policy to encourage Palestinians to leave Gaza and replace
them with Israeli settlers. He said that to avoid a repeat of Hamas's
attack on Israel <we need to return home and control the territory
[Gaza]... encouraging migration and giving the death penalty to
terrorists>, proposing that any emigration should be voluntary. <We
consider the calling to displacement of the Gaza population as part of
the ethnic cleansing that is ongoing in Gaza,> says Law for Palestine's
founder, Ihsan Adel. He believes those calls should be considered
incitement to genocide, and that genocide is happening - an accusation
Israel denies. Not everyone agrees with his assessment, though. <I'm
definitely not going to defend such statements, but they do not rise to
the level of genocide,> says Anne Herzberg, a legal adviser at NGO
Monitor, which reports on international NGO activity from a pro-Israel
perspective.
Neither Mr Ben-Gvir nor Mr Vaturi responded to BBC requests for comment.
The link between what politicians say and what Israeli soldiers say was
a core part of South Africa's case at the ICJ. In a YouTube video from
late 2023, a group of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers can be heard
chanting: <Occupy, expel and settle.> And soldiers have made other
videos since the ICJ ruling in January mocking and celebrating the
destruction of Gaza.
The IDF told us that it examines reports of videos online and that if a
criminal offence is suspected, the military police investigate and <in
some of the examined cases, it is concluded that the expression or
behaviour of the soldiers in the footage is inappropriate, and it is
handled accordingly>.
Israeli forces operating in the Gaza Strip in June 2024
The spotlight has also fallen on Israel's religious leaders. Rabbi
Eliyahu Mali attracted attention after he gave a talk in March at a
conference for Israel's Zionist yeshivas - Jewish religious schools with
a strong belief in the State of Israel. Rabbi Mali is the head of a
yeshiva that is part of a network that receives funding from Israel's
Ministry of Defence. Its students mix Torah study with military service.
He described the talk as being about the <treatment of the civilian
population in Gaza during the war>. A clip of it was shared online.
After citing a 12th Century Jewish scholar on holy wars, Rabbi Mali
said: <[And if so] the basic rule that we have when we are fighting a
mitzvah war, in this case Gaza, according to the scriptures, 'You shall
not let a soul remain alive,' the explanation is very clear - if you
don't kill them, they will kill you.> In Judaism, a mitzvah war is one
which includes defending Jewish life and sovereignty and is considered
obligatory as opposed to one of choice. We contacted Rabbi Mali and a
response, sent on his behalf, said that his words had been <grossly
misrepresented by excerpts being taken out of context>. It said that he
had set out what the position was in ancient times but that he had <made
it very clear that anyone following the Biblical commandment today would
be causing the army and the nation extreme harm> and that under national
law <it is forbidden to harm the civilian population from a child to an
old man>. We watched the full talk and on a few occasions he reminded
the audience of those points, including in the conclusion, and also
saying at the start: <You need to do exactly what the army orders say.>
However, during the talk, he specifically mentioned the people of Gaza
saying: <I think there is a difference between the civilian population
in other places and the civilian population in Gaza,> adding an
unsubstantiated claim that <95% to 98% are interested in our demise,
that's a majority, that's stupefying.> When an audience member asked
about babies he replied: <The same... The Torah is saying: 'You shall
not let a soul remain alive'... Today he's a baby, tomorrow he's a boy,
tomorrow he's a warrior.> In the talk, the rabbi also recounted what he
said to his son, who went to fight after the 7 October attacks. He said
he should <kill everything that moves>. He explained his position by
adding that his son's commander had told him the same thing and that he
instructed his son to <listen to the commander's orders>.
Later, he reiterated that he did not expect soldiers to do what was laid
out in the Torah. He said that if the laws of the state contradicted the
laws of the Torah, it was the state law that should be followed and <the
laws of the state only want to kill the terrorists and not the civilian
population>.
Eitay Mack, a lawyer from the Israeli group Tag Meir that campaigns
against racism and discrimination, says he has asked police to
investigate the rabbi on suspicion of incitement to commit genocide,
violence and terrorism. He says he is still waiting to hear if the
investigation he requested will be carried out.
Read more here incl. video:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cze5w2wd4x0o
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