CRY FREEDOM.net
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.
Click here for the
Iran 'Woman, Life, Freedom' section
Updated August 22, 2024
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SPECIAL
REPORTS PALESTINE
FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA - FREE PALESTINE
August
wk 4 -- August
wk3 P3 -- August
wk3 bis2 -- August
wk3bis -- Click here for an overview by week in 2024
Special reports: TRIBUTES TO MOTHERS AND CHILDREN
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July 12, 2024
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August 25 - 22, 2024 |
August 22 - 20, 2024 and more actual news |
Additional
stories of utmost interest: |
June 14, 2024 |
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May 23, 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.
Food for thought/question: What is not
spoken of
weighs the heaviest.
Or does it? Read the latest news below.
Gino d'Artali
Al Jazeera - August 25, 2024 - By Nils Adler and - Umut Uras
<<Israel's war on Gaza live: Dozen Palestinians killed amid ceasefire
talks
PIC
A young boy with a bandage around his head is comforted by an older man
Israel's military launched air raids across southern Lebanon and
Hezbollah carried out a large drone and rocket attack.
The escalation came as the Reuters news agency reported no sign of
progress in mediated talks for a ceasefire in Gaza. Citing a Palestinian
official, it said a Hamas delegation that was in the Egyptian capital,
Cairo, has departed the city.>>
Read more here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/8/25/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-bombards-gaza-on-eve-of-high-level-talks
Al Jazeera - August 24, 2024 - By Justin Salhani
<<Is the playing field level for Hamas, Israel in the ceasefire talks?
A delegation from the Palestinian group Hamas has landed in Cairo on
Saturday evening to "listen to the results of negotiations thus far"
between mediators - Egypt, Qatar and the United States - and Israel.
Observers are reluctant to call this a hopeful sign as conviction grows
that Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel are on the
verge of collapse.
Negotiations of some form or another have been ongoing practically since
October 7, the day Israel launched a war on Gaza that has killed more
than 40,000 people and destroyed most of the Strip - ostensibly in
retribution for a Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed 1,139 people
and took more than 200 captive.
An agreement had seemed close in May when the US said it had a draft
proposal approved by all parties and endorsed by the UN Security Council
on June 10.
Eleventh-hour failures
Hamas agreed to the proposal, emphasising that it wanted the Israeli
army out of Gaza, the return of people to their north Gaza homes that
they had been driven out of, international engagement to rebuild Gaza,
and the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Israeli
officials kept making statements indicating that the war on Gaza must
continue - and the Israeli army invaded Rafah. Yet the US maintained
that Israel had accepted the proposal and the stumbling block was Hamas,
which was holding up all progress.
With a ceasefire agreement seemingly in arm's reach, it disappeared.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained his rhetoric of
continuing to fight until <Hamas is completely defeated in Gaza>, a goal
long called out as unrealistic by parties on both sides. He eventually
also presented new demands: that Israel remain in the Philadelphi
Corridor abutting Egypt's Sinai, checkpoints be set up to <vet> people
trying to go back to their homes in north Gaza, and that full lists be
provided of all living captives Hamas intends to release. Senior Israeli
officials said Netanyahu's demands would sabotage the talks, and the
mediators refused to pass them on to Hamas. Egypt has refused Israel's
demand that it be allowed to remain in the Philadelpi Corridor, which
would violate the Camp David Accords between the two.
Blinken's rhetoric
The US proposal followed past drafts, sticking to a three-phase process
that would release all captives in Gaza in exchange for prisoners held
by Israel, achieving a <sustainable calm> to lead to a full ceasefire,
the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, the reconstruction of the
Strip, and the eventual opening of crossings. <We had a proposal that
[US President Biden] laid out in late May which was fairly detailed and
passed at the UN Security Council as a resolution [with] global
support,> Matt Duss, the executive vice president at the Center for
International Policy in Washington, DC, said. <Yet, we've seen various
rounds of new conditions added by Netanyahu who, despite Biden saying
Israel supports it, made it very clear that he didn't.> Netanyahu was
criticised by Israeli negotiators for undermining talks after a local
broadcaster reported comments he made about Israel not leaving the
Philadelphi or Netzarim Corridor - which the Israeli army created to
separate north and south Gaza - <under any circumstances>. US officials
have been in the region trying to work out sticking points in recent
days with a <bridging proposal> that reportedly includes withdrawal
plans. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, however, would not say if
the proposal includes the Israeli army fully withdrawing from Gaza as
earlier proposals mentioned. But he maintained his earlier assessment as
to who was holding things up. <In a very constructive meeting with Prime
Minister Netanyahu today, he confirmed to me that Israel supports the
bridging proposal,> Blinken said to reporters after a
two-and-a-half-hour meeting with Netanyahu on Monday. <The next
important step is for Hamas to say 'yes'.>
Blinken's claims were rejected by Hamas, who maintained that they wanted
to stick to the agreed-upon deal.
"The Israelis have retreated from issues included in Biden's proposal.
Netanyahu's talk about agreeing to an updated proposal indicates that
the US administration has failed to convince him to accept the previous
agreement," Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera on Monday. And
while Blinken has held firm in public that Netanyahu agrees to the deal,
Israeli media have reported things playing out differently behind the
scenes.
US backing Netanyahu 'for inexplicable reasons'
The Biden administration’s continued support for Netanyahu, despite his
reported obstinance, has left many analysts baffled. "We're in this
surreal situation where both Hamas and Israeli security officials are
saying Netanyahu is the one blocking Biden’s ceasefire proposal,"
Mohamad Bazzi, director of Near Eastern Studies at New York University,
told Al Jazeera. "We also see that Netanyahu publicly rejected key
elements of the ceasefire as Blinken has described the deal ... but at
same time both [US President Joseph] Biden and Blinken insist that
Netanyahu supports the current deal and Hamas is the stumbling block."
"So we end up with the US administration covering for Netanyahu for
inexplicable reasons."
While Israel's stated objective for the talks is retrieving captives
held in Gaza, Netanyahu's reported sabotage of talks has some
questioning if he is genuinely interested in a deal.
Some 109 captives remain in Gaza, according to Israeli government
estimates, and US officials believe half of them to still be alive.
Families who have loved ones missing in Gaza have been protesting
regularly and calling on their government to save the captives.
"There's a very strong argument that Netanyahu doesn't want a ceasefire
at this point," Bazzi said. "In many ways, why should he when the US
won't impose any cost on him for being the biggest obstacle to a
ceasefire?"
'Doomed'
Biden and his administration have criticised Netanyahu in the past. In
April, Biden said Netanyahu was making a mistake in his handling of the
war in Gaza. Then in early June, Biden suggested Netanyahu was
prolonging the war for personal and political gain. Despite the
criticisms, the Biden administration has refused to condition their
support of Netanyahu's government. "Biden has two very important levers,
the primary being the holding or conditioning of military aid and the
second is the political cover at the UN Security Council and other
international bodies... and he doesn't seem to use them.," Bazzi said.
The failure to hold Netanyahu and Israel to account has led to questions
over the US’s accountability over the destruction of Gaza. "Biden is
completely complicit in this war that wouldn't have been possible in the
first place, ... without full US support and cover," Gilbert Achcar,
professor of development studies and international relations at SOAS
University of London, said.
"These negotiations were doomed to fail from the start... it's basically
a waste of time," Achcar said. "The function is more for the Biden
administration to try to show that it is doing something. But I think
they know quite well that it’s leading nowhere because the gap between
what Netanyahu wants and what Hamas requests is too wide to be
overcome."
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/24/is-the-field-level-for-hamas-israel-in-the-ceasefire-talks
France 24 - August 24, 2024 - by NEWS WIRES
<<Police open terror probe after explosion near synagogue in southern
France
An explosion outside a synagogue in the southern French town of La
Grande-Motte on Saturday morning injured a policeman and damaged at
least two vehicles. Authorities are treating the blast as a potential
terror attack. Security around Jewish sites was tightened following the
early Saturday blast outside the Beth Yaacov synagogue in the seaside
resort of La Grande Motte, near the city of Montpellier. A fire was also
started at the entrance of the synagogue, but was quickly put out, with
two doors damaged, investigators said. President Emmanuel Macron called
the incident "an act of terror", adding on X that "the fight against
anti-Semitism is a daily fight". Two cars outside the synagogue burst
into flames after a gas canister likely exploded inside one of the
vehicles, police said. The blast wounded a police officer, police said,
without providing any other details.
La Grande Motte's mayor, Stephan Rossignol, said that CCTV had picked up
images of an individual setting fire to the cars. The potential suspect
seen in the footage was brandishing a Palestinian flag, a source close
to the probe added. Another source said that the man was carrying two
empty bottles and had a Palestinian flag draped around his waist as left
the scene on foot. One of the images also appeared to show him to be
armed, possibly with a 9mm pistol, the source added. The explosion comes
amid a heightened state of alert in France and other European countries
because of the war in Gaza.
'Anti-Semitic act'
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said France's national anti-terror
prosecutors had been tasked with probing the incident. <La Grande
Motte's synagogue was the target of an attack this morning,> Attal said
in a post on X. <An anti-Semitic act. Once again, our Jewish fellow
citizens are being targeted.> Earlier, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin
called the incident <an obviously criminal act>. He said <all means are
being deployed to find the perpetrator>. The police presence outside
Jewish sites in France would be increased following the explosion, the
minister added. Darmanin and Attal were to travel to the site of the
explosion later on Saturday. The blast occurred during Shabbat, the
Jewish day of rest that runs from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, with
many attending synagogue services. There was, however, no religious
service ongoing at the time of the incident, a police source said. A
rabbi and four other people were inside the synagogue at the time but
all were unharmed, investigators said. There was no immediate
information about the gravity of the police officer's injuries. The town
of La Grande Motte has about 8,500 permanent residents but the
population swells during the summer tourism season. Darmanin said this
month that the government had counted 887 anti-Semitic acts in France in
the first half of 2024, nearly three times as many as in the same period
in 2023. France is home to the biggest Jewish population outside Israel
and the United States, and also to the largest Muslim community in the
European Union. The Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in
France (CRIF) called the explosion <an attempt to kill Jews>. The use of
a gas canister <in a car at a time when worshippers are expected to
arrive at the synagogue is not simply a criminal act>, CRIF president
Yonathan Arfi told AFP. <This shows an intention to kill.>
(AFP)>>
Source incl. video:
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20240824-explosion-near-synagogue-in-southern-france-injures-police-officer
Al Jazeera - August 24, 2024
<<ICC prosecutor urges judges to rule on warrants for Israeli, Hamas
leaders
Karim Khan says the court has the power to issue the warrants against PM
Netanyahu and Hamas officials over Gaza war.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has
called on judges to "urgently" rule on his request for arrest warrants
for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others linked to the
war on Gaza. Prosecutor Karim Khan said that "any unjustified delay in
these proceedings detrimentally affects the rights of victims". Khan had
applied for arrest warrants against Israeli officials, including Defence
Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders in May for alleged
crimes committed during the Hamas-led October 7 attack on southern
Israel and Israel's subsequent war on Gaza. Khan stressed, in court
filings made public on Friday, that the ICC had jurisdiction over
Israeli nationals who commit atrocities in the occupied Palestinian
territory and asked the judges to dismiss legal challenges filed by
several governments and other parties.
He rejected claims by Israel that it is carrying out its own
investigations into alleged war crimes. ICC prosecutors have said there
are reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant, as well as
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, military chief Mohammed al-Masri and Hamas's
political leader Ismail Haniyeh, bear criminal responsibility for
alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Haniyeh was assassinated
in Iran in July. The court has since declined to comment on reports of
his death. Sinwar, Hamas's top official in Gaza who masterminded the
October 7 attacks, was subsequently named the group’s new leader. Israel
has said it killed al-Masri, known as Mohammed Deif, in an air raid in
southern Gaza in July, but there has been no confirmation from Hamas.
Israel and Palestinian leaders have dismissed allegations of war crimes,
and representatives for both sides have criticised Khan's decision to
seek warrants. Netanyahu called the prosecutor's accusations against him
a <disgrace>, and an attack on the Israeli military and all of Israel.
Hamas also denounced Khan's actions, saying the request to arrest its
leaders equated "the victim with the executioner". Israel is not a
member of the court, so even if the arrest warrants are issued,
Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution. But
the threat of arrest could make it difficult for the Israeli leaders to
travel abroad. It remains unclear when the judges will rule on Khan's
request for warrants.
Gaza's Ministry of Health said on Saturday that at least 40,334 people
have been killed and 93,356 wounded in Israel's war on the enclave. An
estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led
attacks on October 7 and more than 200 were taken captive.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/24/icc-prosecutor-urges-judges-to-rule-on-warrants-for-israeli-hamas-leaders
Le Monde - August 23, 2024 - By Laure Stephan (Amman, Beirut, special
correspondent)
<<From Nakba to present day, UNRWA archives hold the personal histories
of Palestinian refugees
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
digitizes administrative documents and aims to trace the family trees of
five generations of refugees. The Nuseirat camp in the Gaza Strip in the
early 1950s. Today, it is home to more than 40,000 registered
Palestinian refugees. In the Jordanian offices of the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
in Amman, a large room contains archives of family files. They include
registration cards issued by the first organizations to have helped the
displaced, such as the Red Cross; records dating from the census carried
out between 1950 and1951 by the UN agency that was just beginning its
mandate at the time; copies of birth and death certificates, property
deeds and identity papers from the days of the British Mandate for
Palestine. The room is not open to the public, however Le Monde was
granted access. Since its creation in 1949, UNRWA has used these
documents in its five operational areas (Gaza, West Bank, Syria, Jordan
and Lebanon) to determine who is a refugee and what services they can
access. Over the decades, however, these registers have taken on an
entirely different, historical value: they preserve the legacy of the
Nakba (Arabic for "catastrophe"), when more than 700,000 Palestinians
were expelled during the fighting that preceded and followed the
creation of the State of Israel in May 1948. They tell the story of five
generations, at the crossroads of history, of personal and collective
tragedies, such as the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), in which the
Palestinian fedayeen took part. The digitization of the Palestinian
refugees' historical documents began in the 2000s but was suspended due
to lack of funding. It has now been resumed, and UNRWA is working hard
to complete it by the end of the year. The documents that have already
been digitized are now stored in a registration information system.
Palestinian temporary workers in Amman are hard at work, sometimes
wearing gloves to handle yellowed papers before they are scanned and
filed on a computer. "It's like a national archive," said UNRWA employee
Rami Ibrahim. The UN agency has compiled its first figures on refugees
based on the 1950-1951 census. The files are packed with information on
the composition of the families, their village of origin, the
circumstances of their exodus and their living conditions in the host
countries.
'Written in black and white'
"Our database is the only one that exists on refugees: protecting these
archives also protects the refugees' rights," said Valeria Cetorelli,
the director of UNRWA's registration and eligibility department. Based
in Beirut, she travels regularly to Jordan to supervise the digitization
process and heads an ambitious project, which is to draw up the family
trees of the 6 million or so Palestinian refugees registered in the
Middle East today, which includes the families who were displaced in
1948 - those who are still alive and their descendants. This figure does
not include children born of a Palestinian mother and a non-Palestinian
father, as refugee status can only be handed down through the father.>>
Read more here:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/08/24/from-nakba-to-present-day-unrwa-archives-hold-the-personal-histories-of-palestinian-refugees_6720877_4.html
Al Jazeera - August 23, 2024 - Claire Provost Co-director of the
non-profit Institute for Journalism and Social Change
<<Under the radar, Ireland is helping illegal Israeli settlements do
business
If it is to maintain its reputation as a defender of Palestinian rights,
Ireland must urgently review its financial connections to illegal
settlements.
Ireland has been called the most pro-Palestinian country in Europe. So
this might surprise you: at the same time - largely under the radar - it
has been playing a pivotal role in connecting businesses in illegal
Israeli settlements with consumers around the world. Take the case of
Etsy, the popular platform for more <ethical> artisanal and vintage
shopping online. The company's business outside the Americas is handled
by its Irish subsidiary. This business includes hosting dozens of shops
that explicitly list illegal settlements as their locations (as
documented in a recent investigative report I worked on). Etsy has a big
Dublin office not far from Ireland's parliament, which has been
discussing a new bill to prohibit state investment in settlement
businesses. It is the latest but not the only example of such
contradictions. Airbnb has been challenged for years for listing
properties in settlements, also through its Dublin-based subsidiary.
What is going on here? Two Irish trends seem to be colliding with each
other. For decades, Ireland has worked to make itself a particularly
<attractive> base for expanding multinational companies. Meanwhile, it
has a long history of opposing occupation and it has been on the global
stage for supporting Palestinian rights and statehood. This is why
people of conscience around the world should keep an eye on the Emerald
Isle. It has an opportunity to help protect global consumers from
complicity in Israeli war crimes. There also seem to be some clear ways
in which the country could take action against settlement businesses,
including under anti-money laundering legislation.
Illegal Israeli settlements have been expanding amid Israel's war and
"plausible genocide" in Gaza. They have also been in the news for
increasing violence by some settlers against Palestinians who live
nearby. The United Nations human rights office said that the
establishment and expansion of these settlements amounts to a "war
crime". The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July 2024 also
confirmed that these settlements go against international law. It was
clear that all countries are obliged "not to render aid or assistance in
maintaining" this unlawful situation. Ireland, which additionally
officially recognised Palestine as a state earlier this year, is not a
country that you'd expect to be enabling illegal Israeli settlements.
But it has worked since the 1950s to become a hub for thousands of
multinational corporations - including those with connections to these
settlements like Etsy and Airbnb. Previously, while working on my book
Silent Coup: How Corporations Overthrew Democracy (with co-author Matt
Kennard), I went to Ireland to learn about how it set up what's
considered the first modern Special Economic Zone (SEZ), inspiring the
establishment of other corporate carve-outs around the world, including
in China. The United States government still praises Ireland's
particularly <pro-business government policies and regulators>. The
British bank HSBC calls it <a gateway to the European Union> and <a hub
for ... thousands of multinational businesses>. Meanwhile, Ireland is
considered <one of the world's most successful tax havens>. Recently, it
has abstained in votes for a historic UN global tax convention to close
loopholes that enable tax abuse. Etsy - which profits when shops list,
advertise and sell items via its platform – is one of the many
multinational companies that have found a home in Ireland. I was
surprised to find illegal Israeli settlements represented among the
locations of its shops, given the <ethical consumerism> niche that the
company seems to occupy online. It has a mission to <keep commerce
human>, and policies against the sale of things that are illegal or
<subject to complex legal regulations>. It closed Russian shops amid the
invasion of Ukraine. When asked about the settlement shops on its
platform, Etsy said: <We have shared this information internally with
the appropriate teams for review.> Connections to war crimes demand more
urgency and action than this. It is more evidence of why we cannot
<leave it to companies> - even <ethical> ones - to ensure that human
rights are upheld. We need strong and coherent state responses, too.
Ireland's "Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill" - if passed -
would prohibit Irish state investment in businesses that appear in the
UN's database of companies that are involved in the settlements.
However, there may be others (like Etsy) not yet included in that
database. State investment is also not the only area of Irish
responsibility here. In response to the findings of Etsy's connections
to the settlements, Dr Gearoid O Cuinn, an Irish human rights lawyer and
director of GLAN (Global Legal Action Network) said: "The Irish
government ought to take action to ensure that businesses operating in
Ireland are not contributing to Israel’s occupation of Palestine." Any
company that enables businesses in illegal settlements, he said,
"significantly risks violating not only international standards but also
Irish law, including anti-money laundering legislation".
Earlier this year, human rights groups including GLAN launched a
first-of-its-kind complaint arguing that the Criminal Assets Bureau
should seize any revenue generated for Ireland from illegal settlements
under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, Dutch
prosecutors are currently investigating a criminal complaint against
Booking.com, and its business with these illegal settlements. That
complaint, launched by other civil society groups including SOMO (the
Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations), argues that
Booking.com (based in the Netherlands) is in breach of Dutch anti-money
laundering legislation because proceeds from its business with the
illegal settlements are entering the Dutch financial system. Irish
officials should face similarly serious questions about whether and how
proceeds of business with illegal Israeli settlements are entering the
Irish financial system, against its anti-money laundering laws - and its
position on Palestinian rights. Beyond Etsy and Airbnb, there are likely
to be many other such Irish connections to the settlements. It does not
seem tenable for the country to continue enabling this business while
maintaining its global pro-Palestinian rights reputation. It must
choose.
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/2024/8/23/under-the-radar-ireland-is-helping-illegal-israeli-settlements-do-business
Al Jazeera - August 23, 2024 - by Alexander Kozul-Wright
<<Gaza war extends toll on Israel's economy
Heightened tensions between Israel and Iran could incur ‘significant
additional military spending' for Israel, further straining its
finances. Last week, Fitch Ratings downgraded Israel's credit score from
A+ to A. Fitch cited the continued war in Gaza and heightened
geopolitical risks as key drivers. The agency also kept Israel's outlook
as "negative", meaning a further downgrade is possible. After Hamas's
deadly attack on October 7, Israel’s stock market and currency
nosedived. Both have since bounced back. But concerns about the
country's economy persist. Earlier this year, Moody's and S&P also cut
their credit ratings for Israel.
So far, Israel's war on Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians
and decimated the economy in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
There are signs of a blowback in Israel, too, where consumption, trade
and investment have all been curtailed. Separately, Fitch warned that
heightened tensions between Israel and Iran could incur "significant
additional military spending" for Israel. The Bank of Israel has
estimated that war-related costs for 2023-2025 could amount to $55.6bn.
These funds will likely be secured through a combination of higher
borrowing and budget cuts. The upshot is that combat operations are
putting a strain on the economy. On Sunday, Israel’s Central Bureau of
Statistics estimated that output grew by 2.5 percent (at an annual rate)
in the first half of 2024, down from 4.5 percent in the same period last
year.
Slowing growth
Before the outbreak of the war, Israel's economy was forecast to grow by
3.5 percent last year. In the end, output expanded by just 2 percent. An
even sharper drop was avoided thanks to the country’s all-important tech
sector, which has been largely unaffected by fighting. Other parts of
the economy have taken a significant hit. In the final quarter of last
year and in the weeks after the war began, Israel's gross domestic
product (GDP) shrank by 20.7 percent (in annual terms). The slump was
driven by a 27 percent drop in private consumption, a drop in exports
and a slash in investment by businesses. Household expenditure snapped
back at the start of the year, but has since cooled. Israel also imposed
strict controls on the movement of Palestinian workers, forgoing up to
160,000 workers. To tackle those shortages, Israel has been running
recruitment drives in India and Sri Lanka with mixed results. But labour
markets remain undersupplied, particularly in the construction and
agriculture sectors. According to the business survey company CofaceBDI,
roughly 60,000 Israeli companies will close this year due to manpower
shortages, logistics disruptions and subdued business sentiment.
Investment plans have, in turn, been delayed. At the same time, tourist
arrivals continue to fall short of pre-October levels. Meanwhile, the
war has triggered a steep rise in government spending. According to
Elliot Garside, a Middle East analyst at Oxford Economics, there was a
93 percent increase in military expenditure in the last three months of
2023, compared to the same period in 2022.
"In 2024, monthly data suggests military expenditure will be around
double the previous year," Garside said. Much of that increase will be
used on reservist wages, artillery, and interceptors for Israel's Iron
Dome defence system. Garside told Al Jazeera these expenditures "have
mostly been financed by issuance of domestic debt". Israel has also
received some $14.5bn supplemental funding from the United States this
year, on top of the $3bn in annual aid that the US provides to the
country. Garside noted, "We are yet to see any major cutbacks to other
parts of the budget [like healthcare and education], although it is
likely that cuts will be made in the aftermath of the conflict." Absent
a full-scale regional war, Oxford Economics anticipates that Israel’s
economy will slow to 1.5 percent growth this year. Subdued growth and
elevated deficits will put further pressure on Israel's debt profile,
which will likely raise borrowing costs and soften investor confidence.
Bruised public finances
Fitch expects Israel to permanently increase military spending by 1.5
percent of GDP compared to prewar levels, with unavoidable consequences
for the public deficit. Last week's rating report noted that "debt
[will] remain above 70 percent of GDP in the medium-term". The report
emphasised that public finances have been hit, and that "we project a
deficit of 7.8 percent of GDP in 2024 [up from 4.1 percent last year]".
Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has publicly
disagreed, and expressed confidence that it will fall back to 6.6
percent this year. "The downgrade following the war and the geopolitical
risks it creates is natural," Smotrich said, according to media reports.
He added that a responsible budget will soon be passed, and that
Israel's ratings would rise "very quickly". For now, doubts remain about
the budget's timeline. There has been speculation that Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu is delaying his fiscal package, which may prove
domestically unpopular. Failure to pass a budget by March 31, 2025 would
automatically trigger snap elections. Earlier this week, Israel's
Central Bank chief - Amir Yaron - called on Netanyahu to speed up the
2025 state budget, as further delays risk stoking financial market
instability. For its part, Fitch believes that Israel will adopt a
combination of austerity measures and tax hikes. But in their August 12
report, Fitch analysts Cedric Julien Berry and Jose Mantero pointed out
that "political fractiousness, coalition politics, and military
imperatives could hinder [fiscal] consolidation". What's more, the
rating agency warned that "the conflict in Gaza could last well into
2025 and there are risks of it broadening to other fronts".
Regional conflict
On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Netanyahu had
accepted a <bridging proposal> designed to reach a ceasefire between
Israel and Hamas and diffuse growing tensions with Iran. The following
day, eight Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack on a crowded
market in Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza. Hamas has yet to agree to the
bridging proposal, calling it an attempt by the US to buy time "for
Israel to continue its genocide". Instead, the Palestinian group has
urged a return to a previous proposal announced by US President Joe
Biden, which has more guarantees that a ceasefire would bring about a
permanent end to the war. Netanyahu has insisted that the war will
continue until Hamas is totally destroyed, even if a deal is agreed.
Israeli officials, including Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, have
rubbished the idea of a total victory against Hamas.
A decades-old shadow war between Israel and Iran surfaced in April, when
Tehran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel in response to
the killing of two commanders from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC) in Damascus. Along its Lebanese border, Israel has traded
near-daily attacks with Hezbollah since last October. The armed group
began firing on Israel as a show of solidarity with Hamas. Both
organisations have close ties with Iran. More recently, the
assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah
military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut have sparked fears that the
conflict in Gaza could metastasise into a regional conflict. "The human
toll [of a wider war] could be significant. There would also be huge
economic costs," says Omer Moav, an Israeli economics professor at the
University of Warwick. "For Israel, a long war would come with high
costs and greater deficits," he said. In addition to undermining
Israel's debt profile, Moav said that prolonged fighting would incur
"other costs", like labour shortages and infrastructure damage, as well
as the possibility of international sanctions against Israel. "Israel is
currently ignoring the fact that economics may lead to greater
[societal] damage than war itself," said Moav. "The government is not
behaving responsibly. Does it want to avoid the costs of war, or does
continued conflict serve political interests?"
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/8/23/gaza-war-extends-toll-on-israels-economy
BBC - August 23, 2024
<<Gaza nurse says whole family, including quadruplets, killed in air
strike
Handout Woman standing with four children - all wearing colourful
clothing - standing in front of rainbow coloured cloth and behind a
table that is filled with party foodHandout
Hala Khattab and her six children were killed when an air strike
destroyed their family home in Deir al-Balah
A nurse in Gaza has told the BBC his wife and six children - including a
group of quadruplets - were killed in an attack in the central Gaza
strip.
"My entire family has been wiped out in an instant", says Ashraf El
Attar, "leaving me with nothing".
The nurse - who works at Gaza's European hospital - says his family home
in Deir-al-Balah was hit in the early hours of Sunday morning. He
survived with minor injuries.
Israel has not spoken about this specific attack, but has said its
forces were operating in the city. It says it only targets members of
armed groups.
Killed in the strike were Mr El Attar's wife - Hala Khattab, a teacher -
and their six children - a 15-year-old boy, a one-year-old girl, and
their four 10-year-old quadruplets.
Speaking to BBC Arabic's Gaza Today podcast, the nurse says that around
6am on the morning of the attack he was getting ready for work when he
"heard the alarm sound and suddenly lost consciousness".
When he came to, Mr El Attar says he was in "severe pain" and the house
"was in ruins".
All the outer walls of their apartment building were destroyed.
"I desperately called out for my children and my wife, but it was too
late.
"My six children, including four twins, and my wife were killed
instantly in the attack," he says.
The strike took them by surprise, Mr El Attar says. The night before,
the family had spent time "enjoying a soap opera together", trying to
"escape the harsh reality of war".
Ashraf El Attar sat down wearing turquoise hospital scrub top and with
his hands raised in the air in front of him. His right hand is heavily
bandaged and has his fingers and thumb poking out. His right eye is
covered in an eye patch
Mr El Attar says all his "dreams have been destroyed" in the attack
Mr El Attar's mother - and grandmother to his six children - says she
"cannot comprehend" why their home was hit.
"My son Ashraf works as a nurse at the European hospital, where he is
dedicated to helping patients.
"We had no connections with any organisations," she says.
The couple had an "incredibly challenging time" raising their children,
she says, in particular the quadruplets.
"The babies faced severe health issues in their early months and nearly
died.
"We provided oxygen cylinders at home, and one of them, Hammam,
underwent hernia surgery," she says.
Handout Four children lay in circle on grass with their thumbs raised
into the air. Some yellow stars, added via a camera filter, appear over
the top of the image.Handout
The couple's six children - a 15-year-old boy, a one-year-old girl, and
a group of 10-year-old quadruplets - were all killed
Mr El Attar says his wife - Hala - was "dedicated" to helping displaced
people.
She was working for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa),
he says, a UN agency that provides support for Palestinian refugees.
Now the nurse says he is forced to come to terms with the life they
could have had together.
"I worked tirelessly to support my family and watch my children grow up,
dreaming of giving them a better future - a big house, a car, and mobile
phones," he says.
But now "all those dreams have been destroyed".
"I demand justice for my family", he says, something he vows to pursue
through "any international court".
"Israel has committed a grave injustice. My entire family has been wiped
out in an instant, leaving me with nothing."
The Israel Defense Forces has not commented on this specific strike, but
has said it was operating in Deir al-Balah over the weekend.
In another statement on Monday, it said it had been operating in the
outskirts of Deir al-Balah "eliminating terrorists, destroying combat
compounds above and below ground".
It says it only targets members of armed groups, and blames civilian
deaths on Hamas - who it says places fighters, weapons, tunnels and
rockets in residential areas.
Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people in an attack on Israel on 7
October 2023, taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.
That attack triggered a massive Israeli military offensive against Gaza
and the current war, during which more than 40,170 people have been
killed in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health
ministry.>>
Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyn31g50e3o
Le Monde - August 22, 2024 - By Stephanie Maupas (The Hague
(Netherlands) correspondent)
<<International Criminal Court faces constant pressure over Gaza and
Israel
To prevent the issuing of arrest warrants against Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Israel, along with
several Western countries, has stepped up efforts to paralyze the Court.
The diplomatic reprisals against Norway, announced by Israel on August
8, are the latest in a series of moves to prevent the International
Criminal Court (ICC) from issuing arrest warrants against Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. On the
same day, Israel's foreign minister, Israel Katz, justified the decision
to revoke the diplomatic status of Norwegian staff working with the
Palestinian Authority by criticizing Norway for recognizing Palestine at
the end of May, and for joining the "baseless case against [Israel]
before the ICC." On May 20, the Court's prosecutor, Karim Khan, had
requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.
Three weeks later, in an unusual move, the United Kingdom applied to
intervene as amicus curiae ("friend of the court") to provide the judges
with expert advice. London argued that the Oslo Accords – signed in 1993
at the White House by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization –
did not allow Palestinians to ask the Court to investigate crimes
committed by Israelis, as they had done in 2018. This request had led to
the opening of an investigation in March 2021, then, this year, to
arrest warrants – which have still not been issued.
The judges then allowed the British to submit a 10-page brief, before
the new Labour government of former barrister and director of public
prosecutions Keir Starmer finally renounced it. If this was a maneuver
to gain time, it was successful: By accepting London's request, the ICC
judges allowed others to intervene. They received over 60 responses,
from professors of international law, lawyers, NGOs, think tanks, a US
senator, former NATO generals, UN experts and some 20 states. These
include Norway, which claims to have played a mediating role in the
negotiations leading up to the Oslo Accords, but is now facing
diplomatic reprisals from Israel.
Slowing down the procedure
The British initiative, which was discussed by the G7 in mid-June, is a
further attempt to prevent the issuance of arrest warrants against
Israeli officials. The Israeli prime minister himself has been active in
the campaign. In early July, during a telephone conversation with French
President Emmanuel Macron, Netanyahu asked Paris to become a "friend of
the court." France abstained, not because it disagreed, but because "it
could have led certain states to recognize Palestine in order to
circumvent the Oslo obstacle, and would therefore be risky," a
diplomatic source told Le Monde. At any rate, Paris welcomed the
slowdown in the procedure. At the beginning of June, Macron had given
assurances that the warrants would not be issued for a long time.>>
Read more here:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/08/22/international-criminal-court-faces-constant-pressure-over-gaza-and-israel_6719856_4.html
Le Monde - August 22, 2024
<<Biden presses Netanyahu on Gaza deal as talks stumble
The US and Israeli leaders spoke after US Secretary of State Anthony
Blinken ended a tour of the Middle East aimed at reaching an accord as
tensions rise in the region.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday, August 21, pushed Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal with Hamas as
talks on a truce faltered. The American and Israeli leaders spoke hours
after US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken ended a tour of the Middle
East aimed at reaching an accord as tensions rise in the region.
In a statement on X, Biden said he "made clear that we must bring the
ceasefire and hostage release deal to closure and discussed upcoming
talks in Cairo to remove any remaining obstacles."
He also updated Netanyahu on "US efforts to support Israel's defense
against threats from Iran and its proxy terrorist groups," after Tehran
threatened revenge for the assassination of a top Hamas leader in
Tehran. The White House said separately in a readout of the call that
the US president "stressed the urgency" of reaching a deal. Vice
President Kamala Harris, who replaced Biden as the Democratic
presidential nominee to face Republican Donald Trump in November's US
election, also took part in the call, it said.
The Axios news outlet said earlier that Biden was set to push Netanyahu
to be more flexible in the talks, which are being brokered by the United
States, Egypt and Qatar. It said the US leader would focus on a demand
for Israel to maintain control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the border
between Gaza and Egypt that Israeli forces seized from Hamas.
Tense relations
Israel says Hamas relies on tunnels to bring in weapons. Biden has
backed Israel since the October 7 Hamas attacks, supplying the country
with huge amounts of military aid for what Netanyahu says is the goal of
destroying the Palestinian militant group.
But relations have been tense between the US and Israeli leaders, with
Biden calling on Israel to reduce civilian casualties. The October 7
attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, most
of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) tally
based on Israeli official figures.
Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed 40,223 Palestinians in
Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does
not give details of civilian and militant deaths. The UN rights office
says most dead are women and children. Palestinian militants also seized
251 hostages, of whom 105 remain in Gaza including 34 the military says
are dead.
The Israeli military killed a senior Palestinian militant in Lebanon on
Wednesday, leading to accusations from the Fatah movement that Israel
was trying to ignite a regional war. The strike that killed Khalil
Maqdah, described by Fatah as "one of the leaders" of its armed wing in
Lebanon, came hours after Blinken's return to the US.
Read more Israel strikes Gaza school shelter killing over 90
Le Monde with AFP>>
Source:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/08/22/biden-presses-netanyahu-on-gaza-deal-as-talks-stumble_6719557_4.html
Al Jazeera - August 22, 2024 - by Ali Harb
<<'They want to erase us:' How DNC rejected demand for Palestinian
speaker
Critics say the decision excludes Palestinians from the 'big tent'
coalition Democrats say they are building.
Chicago, Illinois - Abbas Alawieh sat cross-legged on the ground outside
the Democratic National Convention in an almost meditative posture.
Stretched out on the concrete in front of him were signs that read "Not
another bomb" and "Arms embargo now", their four corners pinned down by
water bottles. The searing August sun glared against his forehead. But
Alawieh did not move, even as the concrete around him grew hot. He and
other delegates from the Uncommitted National Movement are staging a
sit-in to protest the Democrats' refusal to allow a Palestinian American
speaker on the convention's main stage at the United Center in Chicago,
Illinois. "This Palestinian speaker situation is a mistake on the
party's end, and I think that's why we’re seeing an outpouring of
support for the idea," he told Al Jazeera on Thursday. The Democratic
National Committee confirmed its decision on Wednesday evening, sparking
outrage from many progressives and Democratic-allied groups. For many
activists, turning down the request signalled an effort to silence
Palestinians and exclude them from the 'big tent' coalition that the
Democratic Party claims to be building. The move also highlighted the
uphill political battle that Palestinian rights advocates say they are
facing in their push to challenge the US's unconditional support for
Israel, as it wages a devastating war in Gaza. That conflict has been
looming over the Democratic convention, where the party has been
celebrating and promoting Vice President Kamala Harris's candidacy since
Monday. Palestinian rights advocates hold a news conference on the
sidelines of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, August 22,
2024
The 'uncommitted'
Approximately 30 'uncommitted' delegates earned a spot at the event in
Chicago after hundreds of thousands of people cast protest votes in the
Democratic primaries against President Joe Biden's staunch backing of
Israel's war in Gaza. The Uncommitted National Movement emerged out of
that protest movement. It wants Harris to back an immediate, permanent
ceasefire and impose an arms embargo on Israel. The call for a
Palestinian speaker at the convention was the simplest of their demands,
advocates explained. And it still got turned down. Nevertheless, Alawieh
said the movement's presence at the convention has succeeded in bringing
attention to the issue, as evidenced by the media frenzy around him on
Thursday.
"We are forcing a conversation about a critical issue: Palestinian human
rights," he told Al Jazeera. "We're forcing a conversation about a
critical issue that otherwise would not be discussed here, which is the
need for an arms embargo that saves lives and that delivers a lasting
ceasefire. That's what we're doing here, and that's what we're going to
continue doing long after here."
After more than 10 months of Israeli bombing in Gaza, the Palestinian
death toll has spiralled past 40,000 people, provoking fears of a
genocide.
Rights advocates have called for a meaningful shift in US policy towards
Israel, a country it has provided military and diplomatic support to.
After Biden stepped out of the presidential race in July, some activists
saw an opportunity as Harris took over as the Democratic nominee. The
vice president, after all, expressed sympathy for Palestinian suffering
and called for an end to the war. But advocates say they want to see
action, not mere rhetoric.
'They want to erase us'
In Chicago, the 'uncommitted' delegates have said that their aim is to
convince Harris that aligning with their "popular" demands would help
her win in November's presidential election, when she faces her
Republican rival Donald Trump. But rejecting a brief speech by a
representative of the Palestinian American community appears to have had
a profound effect on the delegates and their allies. At a news
conference earlier on Thursday, progressive political strategist Waleed
Shahid took deep breaths to keep his tears at bay as he recounted how
the request for a Palestinian speaker was turned down after two months
of making the demand. "We came here with the intention of mobilising our
communities for Vice President Harris to defeat Donald Trump," said
Shahid, whose black blazer covered a beige shirt that read, "Democratic
majority for Palestine". He added that the demand for a speaker was just
about including "Palestinian Americans as part of this party, just like
any other community". On Wednesday evening, the convention featured the
parents of an Israeli-American captive held in Gaza. "The platform of
the party says that our Democratic Party believes that Israelis and
Palestinians are equal," Shahid said. "What happened last night is not
in line with the value of the party." Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who
spoke virtually at the news conference, said the Democratic leadership
does not want to hear the voices of Palestinians calling for an end to
atrocities in Gaza. "They want to erase us," she said. "They want to
pretend that Palestinians and the voices that we have and the harm and
the hurt [don't] exist." Several speakers noted that the Chicago area is
home to one of the largest Palestinian communities in the country, but
Palestinians were still excluded from the main stage at the convention.
Lawmakers voice support for delegates
Additionally to Tlaib, several lawmakers have voiced solidarity with the
'uncommitted' delegates. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who
delivered a forceful endorsement of Harris on Monday, phoned Alawieh at
the sit-in on Wednesday evening to express her support. Congressman
Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia, who represents parts of Chicago, said many of the
40,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza were relatives of his constituents.
"As Chicago hosts the National Democratic Convention, we cannot ignore
the Chicagoland Palestinian community as one of the largest in the
country - and they, too, deserve to be reflected on the national stage,"
Garcia said in a statement. "It is crucial to recognize the humanity of
the Palestinian community tonight with the Palestinian speaker."
The United Auto Workers (UAW), one of the largest unions in the country,
also called for a Palestinian speaker at the convention. "If we want the
war in Gaza to end, we can't put our heads in the sand or ignore the
voices of the Palestinian Americans in the Democratic Party," the union
said in a social media post. The UAW is particularly strong in the swing
state of Michigan, home to the US car industry, which also happens to
have the largest concentration of Arabs in the country. Michigan state
Representative Alabas Farhat told Al Jazeera at the sit-in that
Democrats must listen to and acknowledge the pain of Palestinians and
Arab Americans. "There's a genocide going on, and this government is
playing an active role in enabling it in many ways," he said. "Here
today, the nominee for the Democratic Party is laying out a vision that
has to include us." He said his constituents are "frustrated" with the
political process, stressing that Harris has "work to do" to earn the
votes of people in the antiwar movement.
Civic engagement implications
Biden, a Democrat, has provided staunch support for Israel throughout
the war, leading some activists to question whether to work with the
Democratic Party. Hatem Abudayyeh, spokesperson for the Coalition to
March on the DNC, which has been organising protests around the
convention, said there was "no chance" that the Democratic Party would
let a Palestinian speaker address the convention. While he saluted the
'uncommitted' delegates' efforts, he argued that it is more important to
unite with other communities to "organise in the streets" and push for
social justice. "Clearly, the powers that be are not listening to us.
They don't care about what's going on with [us], and they’re not going
to stop the genocide unless we force them to," he told Al Jazeera at a
protest on Wednesday. Maya Berry, the executive director of the Arab
American Institute (AAI), which has been promoting civic engagement in
Arab communities for years, said the Democrats' decision to exclude
Palestinians from the convention stage sends the wrong message about
political participation. "Our theory of change is based on saying: If
you want something to happen, you must participate in the process," she
told Al Jazeera outside the United Center. "And the very people who are
participating in the process, who have devoted their lives to this
process, had to step outside from inside that convention to spend the
night here ... because democracy didn't work on Palestine. That can't be
the lesson," she added.
"This is political malpractice that is harming people's connection to
their democracy."
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/22/they-want-to-erase-us-how-dnc-rejected-demand-for-palestinian-speaker
Al Jazeera - August 22, 2024 - by Mat Nashed
<<What is Israel doing to Palestinians in Tulkarem?
Experts say Israel is conducting near-daily raids on the coastal city in
the occupied West Bank to uproot and scare its population.
The aftermath of an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank
Israel killed three Palestinians in a drone strike on Thursday in
Tulkarem, a city and refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. That was
during an Israeli raid - a near-daily occurrence in the West Bank - on
the Tulkarem refugee camp, during which Israeli troops clashed with
fighters from the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, according
to fighters in the city.
What happened during the raid?
News reports say Israeli soldiers were deployed on rooftops and sent
bulldozers into the camp to destroy large residential areas. Israel also
reportedly set fire to people's homes and prevented local relief workers
from putting the fires out. Experts say Israel's tactics during its
raids appear to be part of a broader doctrine to collectively punish the
population, ostensibly because pockets of armed resistance are fighting
back against Israel's ever-entrenching occupation.
Why is Israel attacking people in a refugee camp?
Israel claims that it is conducting <counter-terrorism> operations.
Are there 'terrorists' in the camps?
Activists and experts have previously told Al Jazeera that Israel is
playing up the threat of <terrorism> to justify the mass displacement of
Palestinians and the expansion of illegal settlements. Refugee camps
across the West Bank tend to harbour Palestinian fighters loosely
affiliated with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) or Fatah. The
fighters say they are protecting their camps and cities from Israeli
raids that aim to uproot civilians from their homes and lands.
But Israel says the raids are to arrest individuals only?
Shadi Abdullah, an activist documenting abuses by Israel in Tulkarem,
says Israeli troops use bulldozers to destroy homes and infrastructure
and they also intentionally cut off basic provisions to make life
difficult for the population. In addition, he said, Israeli security
forces cooperate with and support Israelis from illegal settlements in
attacking civilians. With Tulkarem lying between several settlements, he
said, "People are constantly scared of attacks from settlers and from
the occupation forces. In the end... whether there are resistance
fighters or not, they [Israel] want to take our land," Abdullah said.
Why Tulkarem?
Tulkarem has fertile agricultural land thanks to its abundance of
natural water, activists and rights groups say. But the illegal Israeli
settlements set up in recent years have forced Palestinian farmers and
inhabitants to rely on pricey tanker water and rainwater collection
systems because settlers have stolen land with water resources. Abdullah
said the population density in Tulkarem city and the refugee camp is
quite high due to the forced displacement of Palestinians from
surrounding areas. The destruction of residential areas in raids makes
the population density even higher as people move from devastated areas
into ones they hope will be safe.
Tulkarem raid
How does Israel carry out these raids?
Israel has in the past dispatched forces disguised as Palestinians to do
reconnaissance on a camp before approving a raid. Israeli troops will
then enter the camps with bulldozers to destroy schools, hospitals and
homes. These heavily armoured machines are often accompanied by drones
and helicopters for air cover. Drones, in particular, play a substantial
role in Israeli raids, as they did in the Thursday strike that killed
three Palestinians.
Earlier this month, Israeli forces used drones to kill 11 Palestinians
in Jenin, another West Bank city where armed resistance has emerged over
the last three years. Israel also used drones to target the Nur Shams
camp on July 3, killing four Palestinians. The use of such weapons, says
Abdullah, is part of a broader attempt to scare a younger generation of
Palestinians from partaking in armed resistance. He added that Israel
may also be attempting to push the inhabitants of the camps to blame
resistance fighters for the destruction. But, Abdullah says, that tactic
doesn't work. "There is no difference between the civilians and armed
fighters," he said. "We all participate in resistance, but we
participate in different ways. Civilians don't want fighters to stop
fighting. On the contrary, they just want the Israeli occupation to
end."
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/22/what-is-israel-doing-to-palestinians-in-tulkarem
Al Jazeera - August 22, 2024
<<Thousands flee as Israel orders evacuations in Gaza’s Deir el-Balah
Displaced Palestinians have been forced to move again, but say no place
is safe in the besieged enclave. Thousands of Palestinians have fled
parts of Deir el-Balah in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli military issued
new evacuation orders and its forces advanced deeper into the
overcrowded central city. The area was previously designated by Israel
as a so-called <humanitarian safe zone> for civilians, but the Israeli
army ordered residents, many of them displaced multiple times already,
to leave before a new military operation there. Israeli military
spokesman Avichay Adraee said certain neighbourhoods in Deir el-Balah
were now deemed a <dangerous combat zone>, calling on residents to move
westwards ahead of an imminent attack in the area. The warning has
forced thousands of civilians to flee on foot, carrying small bags and
some basic belongings such as blankets, bedding and a little food,
witnesses said. Last week, the United Nations agency for Palestinian
refugees (UNRWA) said that Israel has reduced the <safe zones> in Gaza
to just 11 percent of the territory, causing widespread panic and fear
among displaced people. According to Gaza's Government Media Office, two
million people in the enclave have been displaced by Israel's ongoing
offensive, which has killed at least 40,265 people and injured 93,144
since October. The continuing blockade of Gaza has led to severe
shortages of food, clean water and medicines, and the relentless
bombardments have left much of the territory in ruins.>>
Source incl. photo-gallery:
https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2024/8/22/thousands-flee-as-israel-orders-evacuations-in-gazas-deir-el-balah
Al Jazeera - August 22, 2024 - By Maram Humaid
<<'I've never felt so worthless': The pain of Deir el-Balah's
obliteration
Deir el-Balah, Gaza - Like a scene from an endless horror movie, new
orders for evacuations were issued on Wednesday morning for residential
areas in Deir el-Balah. "Every day brings a new catastrophe," we
despaired as we studied the latest Israeli map, its lines now looming
dangerously close to our home. The sounds of tanks grew louder, and the
crack of gunfire echoed nearer. A question has haunted us, and everyone
in Gaza, for more than 320 days of war. The question we ask the world
but never get an answer:
"Where should we go?"
A question echoing in the void as people steadied themselves again for
the eighth, ninth or 10th displacement.
"Where should we go?" "The question reverberates in our minds and
hearts, capturing all our anguish, loneliness, oppression and
helplessness.
I've never felt so worthless as a human being as I do these days. A
single Facebook post from an Israeli military spokesperson can upend our
lives in an instant.
A cruel game of squares
On Wednesday, I was putting the final touches on an article we were
preparing, balancing work with my children’s needs and the pressures of
displacement. Then came the news of the evacuations. We were all in
denial, wanting to believe it was just a rumour, but the reality
unfolded too quickly. People began fleeing through the streets under
fire and bombardment, scrambling to escape. The scene was repeating
itself, but this time it was the final stop: Deir el-Balah! This was the
same humanitarian area they once spoke of, now marked for evacuation.
It's a cruel game of squares.
Have you ever felt like a toy, being played with left and right, east
and west, pushed from one place to another - south to Khan Younis, out
of Rafah, back to Khan Younis, then to Nuseirat, only to be driven out
again? People are literally running through the streets like mad,
clutching what little they have left. They've lost their homes, loved
ones and livelihoods - and now they're on the verge of losing their
minds. We have nothing left; our hearts are broken, and our minds are
frayed.
Oh, Deir el-Balah, our last refuge, who can show people the way? As
Tariq bin Ziyad once said: "The enemy is before us, and the sea is
behind us."
Now, all that remains before us is the sea. Is there a ship? Who will
answer the desperate cries of those wandering the streets? People are
taking shelter wherever they can - streets, fields, rest stops, on the
beach. The earth is shrinking under our feet. We're being punished,
squeezed into a tiny bottleneck, bombarded and torn apart."
"Where should we go?"
"I'm losing my mind as I'm conducting interviews and taking notes, all
while searching for a place - any place - to go. Even a tent is no
longer an option. Crowds in the markets, crowding on the roads and
crowding of ideas. I feel like a spinning top, my concentration
shattered by the looming tragedy of another evacuation, no matter how
hard I try to resist the thought. I look around at the few possessions
I’ve managed to gather over the past 10 months: a stove, cups, plates,
pots, winter clothes, summer clothes, mattresses, blankets, batteries,
light bulbs, big bottles of drinking water, tubs to wash clothes in.
On my God, where will I take all this?
Zero hour
The saddest part is the fear of waiting for the zero hour. Zero hour
means fleeing with nothing but the clothes on our backs, leaving
everything behind. If I leave everything, there’s no way to replace it.
There are no markets, no supplies, no money to spare. I was frozen in
place, unable to move.
Oh, I have work to do, articles to write. I stare at my laptop, trying
to focus.
A friend calls, looking for a single room with a bathroom. Another is
looking for a tent. Someone else asks about the location of the armoured
vehicles east of Deir el-Balah. How can anyone write in this atmosphere?
It feels impossible. Minutes later, the news comes - Israeli forces are
advancing in al-Qarara west of Khan Younis, another supposed <safe
zone>, and people are fleeing again. What a terrible day. Some are
fleeing west, others fleeing east.
There's no end or beginning to this torment.
Nobody understands what’s happening. We're running and running
aimlessly, people screaming, suffering and dying while the world
watches. This is just the latest episode of The Last Station. My email
was showered with humanitarian and civil organizations' empty
statements, warning of an imminent invasion of Deir el-Balah. It's
reminiscent of what happened in Rafah months ago. Israel didn't heed any
warnings then and pushed everyone into Deir el-Balah. Now, it's pursuing
them at the last stop. In these moments, I fully grasp what we all feel
- every displaced person, every woman, man, elder and child. The fear,
the oppression, the confusion, the horror, the ugliness. All of it
awaits us at the last stop: Deir el-Balah.
And the world? It watches with curiosity, wondering what will happen
next.
How will Israel do it this time? Will the sea swallow us? Or will we be
sifted through the barriers or eliminated by air strikes?
To all the viewers:
Ladies and gentlemen, I assure you, the final scene is ready.
The last show, Deir el-Balah, is out soon to dazzle you with an
exclusive, exciting display of crimes, massacres and displacement.
Our blood, our children, our lives, our bodies, our remaining homes -
our last stand in Deir el-Balah - are on full display.
Prepare your shame and silent complicity, and watch!"
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/8/22/ive-never-felt-so-worthless-the-pain-of-deir-el-balahs-obliteration
Women's
Liberation Front 2019/cryfreedom.net 2024