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| Israel has dropped almost 75,000 bombs and shells on Gaza in 200 days, twenty times more than the US aimed at Iraq in six years of war. It’s not war. It’s genocide. |
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Israel has dropped almost 75,000 bombs and shells on Gaza in 200 days, twenty times more than the US aimed at Iraq in six years of war. It’s not war. It’s genocide.
UN NEWS 23 April 2024 Mass graves in Gaza show victims’ hands were tied, says UN rights office...200 days of horror... “Every 10 minutes a child is killed or wounded. They are protected under the laws of war, and yet they are ones who are disproportionately paying the ultimate price in this war,” said the High Commissioner.
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People gather outside the remains of Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest health facility. (file)
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Global perspective Human stories
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148876
Disturbing reports continue to emerge about mass graves in Gaza in which Palestinian victims were reportedly found stripped naked with their hands tied, prompting renewed concerns about possible war crimes amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday.
The development follows the recovery of hundreds of bodies “buried deep in the ground and covered with waste” over the weekend at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, central Gaza, and at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in the north. A total of 283 bodies were recovered at Nasser Hospital, of which 42 were identified.
“Among the deceased were allegedly older people, women and wounded, while others were found tied with their hands…tied and stripped of their clothes,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Al-Shifa discovery
Citing the local health authorities in Gaza, Ms. Shamdasani added that more bodies had been found at Al-Shifa Hospital.
The large health complex was the enclave’s main tertiary facility before war erupted on 7 October. It was the focus of an Israeli military incursion to root out Hamas militants allegedly operating inside which ended at the beginning of this month. After two weeks of intense clashes, UN humanitarians assessed the site and confirmed on 5 April that Al-Shifa was “an empty shell”, with most equipment reduced to ashes.
“Reports suggest that there were 30 Palestinian bodies buried in two graves in the courtyard of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City; one in front of the emergency building and the others in front of the dialysis building,” Ms. Shamdasani told journalists in Geneva.
The bodies of 12 Palestinians have now been identified from these locations at Al-Shifa, the OHCHR spokesperson continued, but identification has not yet been possible for the remaining individuals.
“There are reports that the hands of some of these bodies were also tied,” Ms. Shamdasani said, adding that there could be “many more” victims, “despite the claim by the Israeli Defense Forces to have killed 200 Palestinians during the Al-Shifa medical complex operation”.
200 days of horror
Some 200 days since intense Israeli bombardment began in response to Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel, UN human rights chief Volker Türk expressed his horror at the destruction of Nasser and Al-Shifa hospitals and the reported discovery of mass graves.
“The intentional killing of civilians, detainees and others who are hors de combat is a war crime,” Mr. Türk said in a call for independent investigations into the deaths.
Mounting toll
As of 22 April, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including 14,685 children and 9,670 women, the High Commissioner’s office said, citing the enclave’s health authorities. Another 77,084 have been injured, and over 7,000 others are assumed to be under the rubble.
“Every 10 minutes a child is killed or wounded.
They are protected under the laws of war, and yet they are ones who are
disproportionately paying the ultimate price in this war,” said the
High Commissioner.
Türk warning
The UN rights chief also reiterated his warning against a full-scale Israeli incursion of Rafah, where an estimated 1.2 million Gazans “have been forcibly cornered”.
“The world’s leaders stand united on the imperative of protecting the civilian population trapped in Rafah,” the High Commissioner said in a statement, which also condemned Israeli strikes against Rafah in recent days that mainly killed women and children.
This included an attack on an apartment building in the Tal Al Sultan area on 19 April which killed nine Palestinians “including six children and two women”, along with a strike on As Shabora Camp in Rafah a day later that reportedly left four dead, including a girl and a pregnant woman.
“The latest images of a premature child taken from the womb of her dying mother, of the adjacent two houses where 15 children and five women were killed, this is beyond warfare,” said Mr. Türk.
The High Commissioner decried the “unspeakable suffering” caused by months of warfare and appealed once again for “the resulting misery and destruction, starvation and disease and the risk of wider conflict” to end.
Mr. Türk also reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all remaining hostages taken from Israel and those held in arbitrary detention and the unfettered flow of humanitarian aid.
A
young girl is transferred from the Kamal Adwan hospital, in the far
north of Gaza to a hospital in the south of the enclave. (file)
Massive settler attacks in West Bank
Turning to the West Bank, the UN rights chief said that grave human rights violations had continued there “unabated”.
This was despite international condemnation of “massive settler attacks” between 12 and 14 April “that had been facilitated by the Israeli Security Forces (ISF)”.
Settler violence has been organized “with the support, protection, and participation of the ISF”, Mr. Türk insisted, before describing a 50-hour long operation into Nur Shams refugee camp and Tulkarem city starting on 18 April.
“The ISF deployed ground troops, bulldozers and drones and sealed the camp. Fourteen Palestinians were killed, three of them children,” the UN rights chief said, noting that 10 ISF members had been injured.
In a statement, Mr. Türk also highlighted reports that several Palestinians had been unlawfully killed in the Nur Shams operation “and that the ISF used unarmed Palestinians to shield their forces from attack and killed others in apparent extrajudicial executions”.
Dozens were reportedly detained and ill-treated while the ISF “inflicted unprecedented and apparently wanton destruction on the camp and its infrastructure”, the High Commissioner said.
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Colleges should not be using students' tuition money to invest in companies supporting Israel's war in Gaza... "I Am a Jewish Student at Columbia. Don’t Believe What You’re Being Told About ‘Campus Antisemitism’. Smears from the press and pro-Israel influencers are a dangerous distraction from real threats to our safety."
Student activists have been calling for universities to "divest from genocide".
Colleges should not be using students' tuition money to invest in companies supporting Israel's war in Gaza.
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| (Pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia’s campus stretched into their second week on Monday. Photo by Columbia University Apartheid Divest coalition). |
I Am a Jewish Student at Columbia. Don’t Believe What You’re Being Told About ‘Campus Antisemitism’
Smears from the press and pro-Israel influencers are a dangerous distraction from real threats to our safety.
“Reprehensible and dangerous.” “Terrorist sympathizers.” “It’s not 1938 Berlin. It’s 2024, Columbia University, NYC.”
The White House, Congressional Republicans, and cable news talking heads would have you believe that the Columbia University campus has devolved into a hotbed of antisemitic violence – but the reality on the ground is very different. As a Jewish student at Columbia, it depresses me that I have to correct the record and explain what the real risk to our safety looks like. I still can't quite believe how the events on campus over the past few days have been so cynically and hysterically misrepresented by the media and by our elected representatives.
Last week, the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition, representing more than 100 student organizations, including Jewish groups, organized the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, a peaceful campus protest in solidarity with Palestine. CUAD was reactivated after the university suspended Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace in the fall. On Wednesday morning, hundreds of students camped out on Columbia’s South Lawn. They vowed to stay put until the university divests from companies that profit from their ties to Israel. Protesters prayed, chanted, ate pizza, and condemned the university’s complicity in Israel’s attacks on Gaza. Though counter-protesters waved Israeli flags near the encampment, the campus remained largely calm from my vantage point.
Columbia responded by imposing a miniature police state. Just over a day after the encampment was formed, university President Minouche Shafik asked and authorized the New York Police Department to clear the lawn and load 108 students – including a number of Jewish students – onto Department of Corrections buses to be held at NYPD headquarters at 1 Police Plaza. One Jewish student told me that she and her fellow protesters were restrained in zip-tie handcuffs for eight hours and held in cells where they shared a toilet without privacy. The NYPD chief of patrol John Chell later told the Columbia Spectator that “the students that were arrested were peaceful, offered no resistance whatsoever, and were saying what they wanted to say in a peaceful manner.”
Since then, dozens of undergraduates have been locked out of their dorms without notice. Barnard College, an affiliate of Columbia, notably gave students just 15 minutes to retrieve their belongings after returning from lockup and finding themselves evicted. Suspended students cannot return to campus and are struggling to access food or medical care. Students who keep Shabbat, and do not use electronics on the Sabbath, were forced to rely on technology in order to secure food and emergency housing. This crackdown was the most violence inflicted on our student body in decades. I implore you, as our Jewish Voice for Peace chapter does, to consider whether arresting Jewish students keeps us and Columbia safe.
Smears from the press and pro-Israel influencers, who have levied charges of antisemitism and violence against Jewish students, are a dangerous distraction from real threats to our safety.... READ MORE https://zeteo.com/p/i-am-a-jewish-student-at-columbia[AS
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READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP
SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and
conversations) THAT EMPOWER
DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE &
PEACE... and hopefully
Palestine]
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Mosab Abu Toha: "If you want to learn about the truth about our lives, at least for the past 30 years, not only for the past 200 days as many want others to understand, read these poems..."
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| Palestinian Poet Mosab Abu Toha's book Things You May Find Hidden In My Ear |
If you want to learn about the truth about our lives, at least for the past 30 years, not only for the past 200 days as many want others to understand, read these poems. They were published in April 2022.
This is the only book that survived the mass killing and destruction with me.
Monday, April 22, 2024
A Dream of Palestine ... A children's book written by Wafa Shami illustrated by Christina Qahoush: Noor, a young school-aged girl, is curious to learn about what happened to her Palestinian grandmother (Teta) during the infamous 1948 Nakba (The Catastrophe) that befell the Palestinian people, and why her family was forced to leave their home in al-Quds (Jerusalem). Why were they pushed out of their homeland? Where did they go? And how did they become refugees?
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| A Dream of Palestine by illustrated by |
is also the author of
Easter in Ramallah
Olive Harvest in Palestine: A story of childhood memories
A is for Arab
When Za'atar Met Zeit
Wafa Shami
Wafa Shami was born and raised in Ramallah, Palestine.
She moved to the
U.S. to pursue higher education and graduated with a Master’s degree in
International Studies.
Since moving to the U.S. Wafa has maintained her
engagement in Middle Eastern issues as a volunteer.
After her son was
born she was inspired to write children’s storybooks based on her
childhood memories
Her stories, Easter in Ramallah, and Olive Harvest in
Palestine were published in the last few years.
Besides being busy
raising her son, Wafa who lives in California has a passion for cooking
and writes a food blog, in which she shares her family’s recipes.
Visit
her blog at www.palestineinadish.com and follow her on social media
@palestineinadish for delicious recipes.
Disinformation Warfare: Journalistic Cover for Israel’s Genocide- For decades, Israel has recognized the importance of information warfare in justifying the everyday violence of occupation, apartheid, and settler colonialism. Now they are using the same tactics in overdrive to justify and facilitate genocide. In just six months, Israeli forces have killed more than 33,000 Palestinians and left most of Gaza uninhabitable.
Disinformation Warfare: Journalistic Cover for Israel’s Genocide
By Al-Shabaka
For decades, Israel has recognized the importance of information warfare in justifying the everyday violence of occupation, apartheid, and settler colonialism. Now they are using the same tactics in overdrive to justify and facilitate genocide. In just six months, Israeli forces have killed more than 33,000 Palestinians and left most of Gaza uninhabitable. Meanwhile, Israel’s most powerful benefactors continue to largely ignore growing public calls for a ceasefire and accountability. This could not have been achieved without the complicity of western journalists across Europe and the US, who have manufactured consent for their governments’ unconditional support of Israel by uncritically parroting Israeli military disinformation and outright propaganda.
In our upcoming policy lab, Laila Al-Arian and Abir Kopty join host Tariq Kenney-Shawa to discuss the role journalists and the media are playing in shielding Israel from accountability, what journalists should be doing to effectively and accurately cover the genocide, and how the public can navigate the world of Israeli disinformation.
Laila Al-Arian is an award-winning journalist, filmmaker, and executive producer of the Al Jazeera English documentary series Fault Lines. She is also the co-author of "Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians."
Abir Kopty is an Al-Shabaka policy member, as well as a journalist and writer based in Berlin. She holds an MA in Political Communication from City University, London. Her political analysis appeared in MEE, TRT, The Nation and others. She has also hosted and produced podcasts with Sowt podcasting. Samir Kassir Award Nominee for opinion articles category.
Tariq Kenney-Shawa is Al-Shabaka's US Policy Fellow and co-host of Al-Shabaka's Policy Lab series. He holds a Masters degree in International Affairs from Columbia University. Tariq's research and writing have covered a range of topics, from the role of open-source intelligence in exposing Israel's war crimes to analysis of Palestinian liberation tactics.
About the Policy Lab Program: Al-Shabaka's Policy Lab Program is an online live-stream space where audiences can engage directly with expert analysts from our nearly 200-member network as they craft policies and strategies related to Palestine. The labs are free and open for public participation, inviting viewers to join in on policy discussions.
Note: This discussion will take place in English. Our policy labs are supported through the generosity of donors. They are free to attend, though we accept contributions on a sliding scale upon registration to help sustain the program.
Mona Chalabi: Settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank – visualized... International attention is on Gaza, but attacks by Israelis who live on Palestinian land have been increasing
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| SEE MORE |
While international attention has been turned toward Gaza, violence against Palestinians has increased in the West Bank too. Israeli settler attacks have become more frequent.
Settlers are Israeli citizens who live on Palestinian land. In most cases, this happens because Palestinians are prevented from accessing their land and are physically attacked by settlers. In a third of cases, Palestinian property is damaged by settlers. These findings come from a UN report published in September 2023 that showed a years-long rise in settler violence against Palestinians. Because of these numbers, the UN has noted that “settler-driven displacement did not start with Hamas’s deadly attack”.
“Settlers attacked us, destroying our homes, water tanks, solar panels and cars,” Abu Khaled, 43, told the UN after being displaced on 28 October. “I felt the presence of death so tangibly as if I saw it with my own eyes … I made the hardest decision in my life: to leave Zanuta and leave everything behind, as memories. I did this to protect my children.” Those who remain are not safe. “They prevent us from grazing our sheep,” Mohamad Abu Seif, 90, said. He has lived with his family in Ein Shibli, a herding community, for over 40 years. They remain vulnerable to threats and harassment by settlers.
The Israeli government routinely acknowledges these colonies as part of the Israeli state despite the fact that they are illegal under international law.[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]
Article 49 of the fourth Geneva convention prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
"The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has found that “as a rule, the military prefers to remove Palestinians from their own farmland or pastureland rather than confront settlers”. This has also been the case in recent months, when Israeli forces have accompanied or supported settler attacks in almost half of all incidents, according to the UN. In over a third of the incidents reported since October, settlers threatened Palestinians with firearms, including by opening fire."
"The thousands of Palestinians who have been forced from their homes have
little recourse to justice. In four out of every five cases, Israeli
police failed in the investigation of Israelis who harmed Palestinians
and their property. This finding comes from Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group that has investigated
the way Israeli law enforcement treats these settler attacks. It found
that between 2005 and 2021, just 3% of ideologically motivated cases
resulted in a conviction."
The Colonna report, which was commissioned by the UN in the wake of Israeli allegations, found that Unrwa had regularly supplied Israel with lists of its employees for vetting, and that “the Israeli government has not informed Unrwa of any concerns relating to any Unrwa staff based on these staff lists since 2011”.
Israel has yet to provide evidence of Unrwa staff terrorist links, Colonna report says
".... Israel led major donors in January to cut their funding to the agency, the main channel of humanitarian support not only to Palestinians in Gaza but to Palestinian refugee communities across the region.
The funding was cut despite the dire needs of 2.3 million people in Gaza, most of whom have been forced from their homes by the Israeli offensive since 7 October and have been struggling to find water, food, shelter or medical care.
Most of the donor nations have resumed their funding in recent weeks. UK ministers had said they would wait for the Colonna report to make a decision on resuming funding. US financial support of Unrwa has been permanently banned by Congress since the allegations were made...."
[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]
Israel has failed to provide evidence of Unrwa staff terrorist links: report
April 22 2024
An independent review led by former French Foreign Minister Cahterine Colonna said that Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence that staff at Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, are members of terrorist organisations such as Hamas.
The Guardian says the report found that Unrwa had had regularly supplies Israel with lists of its employees for vetting, and that "the Israeli government has not informed Unrwa of any concerns relating to any Unrwa staff based on these staff lists since 2011".
Israel's accusations against Unrwa have led to many major donor states suspending their funding of the agency at a time when Palestinians in Gaza are in dire need of aid.
Most of the major donors resumed funding in recent weeks, with the UK saying it would wait for the findings of the Colonna-led report to make a decision. US financial supporting for Unrwa, on the other hand, has been permanently banned by Congress.
Gaza death toll reaches 34,151
Falastine Saleh: By weaponising settlers, the Israeli government not only perpetuates violence, but also lays the groundwork for further domination, displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians
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| A Palestinian inspects the damage in the village of Mughayir near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on 13 April, 2024, after an attack by Israeli settlers on the village (AFP) |
Settler terrorism: Palestinians are becoming prisoners in their own homeland
22 April 2024 12:01 BST
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I can still feel the weight of that moment back in 2015, sitting in Beirut and sharing my concerns with a friend who works in journalism. I spoke of Israel’s extensive arming of settlers, and my deep worry that it would lead to a surge of violence and ethnic cleansing in the occupied West Bank.
My friend looked at me as though I was speaking from some distant, irrational place, and insisted that times had changed - that another Nakba was not within the realm of possibility.
Now, here we are, nine years later, and the very nightmare I feared is unfurling before our eyes.
The recent surge of settler terrorism and violence in the occupied West Bank is the inevitable culmination of years of policy decisions. Over the past decade, successive Israeli governments have unabashedly armed settlers, effectively equipping them to carry out their own brand of intimidation and aggression.... READ MORE https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-settlers-terrorism-palestinians-prisoners-homeland-becoming
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April is Arab American Heritage Month!✨ ... GOOD BOOKS!
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April is Arab American Heritage Month! |
Susan Muaddi Darraj
@bnunionsqnyc April is Arab American Heritage Month!
April is Arab American Heritage Month!We wanted to take a moment to spotlight some truly incredible books by some amazing Arab American authors.
𝙎𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚 by Margot Douaihy
𝘼𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 by Susan Abulhawa
𝘽𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙏𝙬𝙤 𝙆𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙙𝙤𝙢𝙨 by Suleika Jaouad
𝘼 𝙒𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙄𝙨 𝙉𝙤 𝙈𝙖𝙣 by Etaf Rum
𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙀𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙏𝙤𝙤 𝙈𝙪𝙘𝙝 by Zaina Arafat
𝙄𝙣 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙊𝙛 𝙈𝙚𝙣 by Hisham Matar
𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙊𝙛 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙚𝙖 by Eman Quotah
𝘽𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙄𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙚𝙖 by Susan Muaddi Darraj
𝘽𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙏𝙬𝙤 𝙈𝙤𝙤𝙣𝙨 by Aisha Abdel Gawad
𝙈𝙮 𝙁𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨 by Hisham Matar
𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙠 by Sarafina El-Badry Nance
𝙏𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙊𝙛 𝙏𝙚𝙖 by Hafsah Faizal
Which ones have you read? And which ones are you adding to your list?
Sunday, April 21, 2024
CSM In West Bank, wave of settler violence creating feel of a war zone
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Nasser Nasser/AP
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| RAMALLAH, West Bank; and AMMAN, Jordan
After years of scattered pinpoint attacks, Israeli settler violence this week enveloped the West Bank and struck larger communities.
From Nablus to Jericho to Bethlehem to the edge of Ramallah, deadly attacks by far-right settlers hit towns and villages, killing four Palestinians, wounding dozens, and grinding life in the West Bank to a halt.
The wave of violence, which followed the disappearance and death of a 14-year-old Israeli settler, a shepherd, comes as the Palestinian Authority warns it is struggling to keep the peace.... READ MORE https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2024/0419/israel-west-bank-settlers-palestinians-violence
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Why We Wrote This
A story focused onWith the world focused on Iran and Gaza, Israeli settlers are stepping up attacks against Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank. Feeling abandoned, many residents believe they should take matters into their own hands.
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