Archives: Articles

Bethlehem/PNN /

In the scenic area of Al-Makhrour in Beit Jala, the story of Alice Qaisia unfolds as a testament to Palestinian resilience in the face of Israeli occupation.

For Alice, Al-Makhrour is more than just a piece of land; it is a living memory of her childhood, where she grew up among olive and fig trees. It is where she played, harvested fruit with her family, and lived deeply rooted moments intertwined with the land.

Alic’s family, who owned land and a restaurant in the area, has faced relentless efforts by the Israeli occupation to displace them. Her father started a small restaurant in Al-Makhrour, which eventually became a beloved destination for visitors.

However, the Israeli authorities, determined to thwart Palestinian success on their land, demolished the family’s restaurant and home four times under dubious pretexts. Yet, with unwavering resolve, the family rebuilt each time.

In 2017, a settlement company called Himonta, affiliated with the Jewish National Fund, claimed ownership of the land, alleging it had been theirs since 1969. Despite the occupation’s court finding no evidence to support these claims, Israeli authorities exploited a recent conflict to issue a military order forcibly seizing the land and barring Alis and her family from accessing it.

The challenges did not end there. Alisa and her mother were physically attacked by a settler disguised as a soldier, who attempted to strangle her in her car as she was recovering from surgery. “He accused me of assaulting him,” Alisa recounted, but she refused to remain a silent victim and pursued legal action against him.

أليسا قيسية والمخرور: حكاية صمود عائلة فلسطينية في وجه الاستيطان

“Al-Makhrour is not just land; it is our home, our memories, and our dignity. We hold onto it as firmly as the olive tree roots grip the earth,” Alisa says. For her and her family, the fight for Al-Makhrour is not just a legal battle but a fight for existence.

Today, Al-Makhrour represents more than the Qaisia family’s story; it is a symbol of Palestinian defiance against unchecked settler ambitions. With every demolition or assault, the family’s determination to protect their land grows stronger, ensuring that Al-Makhrour remains a testament to the enduring Palestinian connection to their homeland.

Al-Makhrour is a lush and fertile valley located to the west of Beit Jala, a town near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. Known for its olive groves, fig trees, and terraced agricultural fields, the area is celebrated for its natural beauty and rich historical significance. It has been a source of livelihood for generations of Palestinian families who cultivate the land and maintain its cultural heritage.

The area is also of significant ecological and environmental value, as it forms part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site within the cultural landscape of southern Jerusalem, Battir, and the Bethlehem region. This designation underscores its importance as an integral part of Palestinian heritage and identity.

Despite its historical and cultural importance, Al-Makhrour has been a constant target of Israeli settler expansion and land confiscation. Israeli authorities and settler organizations have repeatedly attempted to seize land in the area under the guise of legal claims, military orders, or zoning restrictions. These efforts are often accompanied by the demolition of Palestinian homes and agricultural structures, including water cisterns and retaining walls essential for traditional farming.

One of the primary settler groups involved in Al-Makhrour is Himonta, a subsidiary of the Jewish National Fund. Himonta has claimed ownership of significant portions of land in the area, despite the lack of substantial evidence to support these claims. In recent years, Israeli authorities have issued military orders to enforce these claims, effectively barring Palestinian landowners from accessing their properties.

In addition to land confiscation, Al-Makhrour faces frequent harassment from settlers, including physical attacks, vandalism, and intimidation of Palestinian residents and landowners. These actions are often aimed at pressuring Palestinians to abandon their lands, clearing the way for further settlement expansion.

Despite these challenges, Palestinian families like the Qaisi family remain steadfast in their efforts to protect Al-Makhrour. Their determination to rebuild what has been demolished and pursue legal avenues to reclaim their land embodies the broader Palestinian struggle against Israeli settlement expansion.

Al-Makhrour stands as a vivid example of the ongoing conflict over land and identity in Palestine. It highlights the resilience of Palestinian communities in the face of systematic attempts to erase their connection to their ancestral lands.

This story was produced as part of the Qarib program implemented by the French Media Development Agency (CFI) and funded by the French Development Agency (AFD).

30 November 2024

Source: english.pnn.ps

RAMALLAH, December 4, 2024 (WAFA) – A Palestinian detainee has died in Israeli custody, according to the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission (PAC) and the Palestine Prisoner’s Society (PPS).

They said in a joint press release that 45-year-old Mohammad Walid Hussein Ali, a resident of the Nur Shams refugee camp in the northern West Bank, died in Israeli detention.

Ali was a former prisoner who spent some 20 years in Israeli prisons and detention centers, and he was rearrested on 28 November 2024.

According to the latest figures from Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, there are currently 10,200 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centres, including 270 children and 94 female prisoners.

This number includes 3,443 Palestinians placed under “administrative detention”, which allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals ranging between three and six months based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.

The mass arrest of Palestinians is nothing new. According to a 2017 report by Addameer, over the past 50 years, more than 800,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned or detained by Israel, this figure is now believed to be closer to 1 million. This means that about 40% of Palestinian men and boys living under military occupation have been deprived of their freedom. Almost every Palestinian family has suffered the imprisonment of a loved one.

K.F.

4 December 2024

Source: english.wafa.ps

By Palestine Chronicle Staff

Among the signatories are Nobel laureates, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser, from Norway and Susumu Tonegawa from Japan.

More than 1,000 psychologists and neuroscientists from across the world have signed an open letter demanding that the Israeli government respect international humanitarian law and end the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.

The letter, which began circulating on December 3, also calls for “an immediate ceasefire in Israel, Palestine and Lebanon”.

Among the signatories are Nobel laureates, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser, from Norway and Susumu Tonegawa from Japan.

[https://twitter.com/A_Marie_sci/status/1863960173556961624]

Although the letter condemned the operation carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023, it stated there is an asymmetry of power.

“There is symmetry of humanity – and its propensities for despair, hatred and extremism – on each side of borders between Lebanon, Israel and Palestine,” the letter states. “But there is an asymmetry of power.”

“In the present case, the state of Israel is the stronger party, dominating the area and its people through illegal occupation, including control of movement, and access to electricity, water, agricultural land, and even to humanitarian aid”.

The letter called on the international community to put pressure on Israel to stop the war.

“We therefore call for decisive international pressure on Israel to stop the war, including stopping the provision of offensive arms to Israel and reassessment of economic partnerships and collaborations with institutions in occupied territories (which are illegal according to international law),” it said.

‘Respect Academic Freedoms’

The signatories called on “all human beings on this planet to non-violently and peacefully stand up with determination and condemn violence against all civilians, no matter their nationality, religion, ethnicity, political or cultural affiliation.”

They also called for international governments to pressure towards peace in Israel, Palestine and Lebanon, respect of international humanitarian law, and the end of occupation.

“And we demand that our institutions scrupulously respect academic freedoms and resolutely uphold freedom of expression in accordance with the law,” the letter stated.

Staggering Death Toll

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.

[https://twitter.com/PalestineChron/status/1864635685786784230]

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 44,580 Palestinians have, to date, been killed, and 105,739 wounded.

Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.

Millions Displaced

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

5 December 2024

Source: palestinechronicle.com

By Dr Marwan Asmar

At first France said it would adhere to the decision of the International Criminal Court and arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he landed in Paris because he is wanted as a war criminal.

This angered Netanyahu. In a private telephone call with President Emmanuel Macron, the two leaders had a terse conversation on the international legality of the ICC decision. Netanyahu questioned its validity in the strongest manner.

While this was going on, France was interested in reaching a ceasefire deal on Lebanon and Hezbollah. Israel started another battle on its northern borders come mid-September and was busily attacking south Lebanon up to Beirut’s south district, seen as a Hezbollah stronghold.

The French government soon started its diplomacy and started to push for a ceasefire. Thus the context became that if France waived the Netanyahu arrest and that of his ex-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, should they travel to France, a deal can be reached on Lebanon.

And thus a 60-day ceasefire was finally reached; this was a ceasefire that could be extended.

Meanwhile France needed to provide its pretext for “arresting/not arresting Netanyahu” if he landed in France. Excuses had to be made: Israel wasn’t privy to ICC decisions because it was not a signatory to the world body as well it was felt that that Netanyahu couldn’t be arrested because he was a sitting prime minister.

This meant that the whole issue was becoming very confusing. But the ICC decision was binding on all 124 of its members in the world that includes France which is bound to follow the decisions of the international court with no excuses!

This political diplomacy maybe water on a duck’s back because Netanyahu is still promising that he will go after Hezbollah soon and that means an Israeli war on Lebanon is likely to start again in the near future.

But is this likely as well, since the north of Israel is clearly devastated and neither the Israelis nor their army would prefer to see war re-starts again. For the time being however, its touch and go.

Dr Asmar blogs at crossfirearabia.com

30 November 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Dr Marwan Asmar

Over 190 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, 2023 for daring to report and utter the truth.

The Government Media Office in Gaza states the number of journalists killed in Gaza, as reported on 30 November, 2024, now stands at 191 after the death of Mamdouh Quneita in the Baptist-al-Ahli Arab Hospital.

Quneita was an editor of the Al-Aqsa satellite channel, the media office said which means that he also managed the television station as well as reporting.

“The Government Media Office condemns in the strongest terms the targeting, killing and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation. We hold it fully responsible for committing this heinous crime.”

[https://twitter.com/DayPal_official/status/1862910790895915294]

His name is trending on the social media for he was killed by an Israeli drone in the middle of Gaza City on Saturday afternoon in the courtyard of the Baptist Al Ahli hospital.

According to the Anadolu Agency, as of Nov 27, 190 journalists have been killed in Gaza from Israeli attacks since 7 October, 2023. This is the latest targetting by the Israeli army.

One blogger writes: Shame on mainstream medias and all western journalists who remain silent in the face of Palestinian journalists being killed in unprecedented numbers by the Israeli colonial and apartheid regime. @MariamBarghouti, @ReporterSol

Another said Israeli forces shot and killed Mamdouh Quneita with a direct bullet to the head while he was performing his journalistic duties near Al Mamadani (Baptist) hospital. He added that 191 journalists are bow killed by Israel in just 13 months. This should be met with outrage and consequences in the West.

[https://twitter.com/MariamBarghouti/status/1862885810837561560]

Quneita was killed at the same hospital that Israel bombed on 17 October, 2023 killing 400 people in one go and setting the precedent for what later became a targeted attack on the Palestinian health infrastructure— including the rape and execution of doctors, nurses, and their own children.

One writes that the killing of Palestinian journalists is more than that of the whole of WWI, WWII and Vietnam war combined yet the killing goes on the silence by the international community is maintained.

[https://twitter.com/ShaykhSulaiman/status/1862888231701811385]

Yet the shocks continue by shallow statements from such western politicians.

[https://twitter.com/ColinM48126070/status/1862846294685065511]

Over the past 14 months the Israeli army has killed photographers, editors, journalists, reporters across the media board in television, radio, newspapers and websites.

Dr Asmar is a journalist based in Amman anad is the editor of the www.crossfirearabia.com

1 Disember 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Quds News Network

New York (Quds News Network)- Tanya Haj Hassan, a paediatric intensive care doctor who addressed UN member states on the 2024 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on Tuesday, shared the harrowing realities faced by Palestinians in Gaza under Israel’s genocidal war.

“Palestinians don’t need our pity. They don’t need our praise. They need our meaningful and truthful solidarity,” she said.

Hassan conveyed witness accounts and stories from Palestinian healthcare workers, urging the world to listen to their experiences, move beyond pity and offer meaningful solidarity.

Hassan have worked in Gaza many times over the past decade, and most recently as part of an emergency medical team working in a hospital in Gaza’s middle area during the ongoing genocide.

As one of the few international observers allowed into Gaza, Hassan said, “Spend just 5 minutes in a hospital there and it will become painfully clear that Palestinians are being intentionally massacred, starved, and stripped of everything needed to sustain life.”

“Collectively, for the past 14 months, we have treated people subjected to civilian massacre after civilian massacre at the few remaining, partially-functioning, hospitals in Gaza.”

“Entire families have been eliminated, wiped off the civil registry. Our healthcare and humanitarian colleagues are being killed in record numbers.”

“We have treated countless children who lost their entire families, a phenomenon so frequent in Gaza that they have been given a specific name: Wounded Child No Surviving Family. We held the hands of children as they took their last breaths with no one but a stranger to comfort them. Those who recovered enough to leave hospital continued to face the obvious risk of death, be it through another bombing, starvation, dehydration, or disease.”

“History has clearly shown us that doctors cannot stop genocide. This is why it’s called the “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”. And why I am here today,” Hassan added.

Messages from Healthcare Workers in Gaza

Hassan asked some of her colleagues in Gaza if they had messages they wanted her to convey during her address to the UN.

“Tell them that we are tired.. We are without homes…on the street…Our loved ones are gone and we are all stories.” This was a message sent to her by an ER nurse.

An intensive care doctor, besieged in Gaza and separated from his family, told her, “Tell them everything you came and saw with your eyes.” “Tell them that I want to see my wife and son, because I really miss them.”

Saed, a nurse who was detained and tortured by Israeli forces, told Hassan, “We are being buried, every minute we are being buried, every minute we disappear, every minute we are abducted, we are experiencing things that the mind cannot even comprehend. We die and don’t find anyone to bury us. I am asking you to share my story, my whole story, with my name. I want the whole world to know that I am a human being. At the end I am not pen on a paper, I am not anonymous, I am a human being created by God.”

“Why aren’t Palestinians the ones speaking for our cause. Why are we not there and able to speak? The Palestinian people, the people in Gaza? Why not me, why not my neighbour, why not my colleague?”

Hassan added, “Our Palestinian colleagues are not here because the systems we currently exist in don’t recognize the value of Palestinian life.”

30 November 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Quds News Network

Gza (Quds News Network)- A civil vehicle belonging to World Central Kitchen (WCK) was targeted by an Israeli drone on Salah al-Din Street in the eastern part of southern Gaza’s Khan Younis city on Saturday morning, killing three WCK workers and two civilians.

Five civilians were killed, including three of the WCK workers without any prior warning.

One of the victims is the director of the charity kitchens here in the Gaza Strip. They are local Palestinians working for the WCK and they were targeted as they were trying to reach one of the places they were operating in.

Breaking | According to the latest toll, four civilians were reported killed, including two employees of World Central Kitchen, following an Israeli artillery shelling that targeted a vehicle northeast of Khan Yunis city, south of the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/PR428a6EQ3

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) November 30, 2024

In April, seven international aid workers of the WCK were targeted in Deir al-Balah while they were travelling in three vehicles belonging to the organisation, with clear WCK signage attached to the car.

The seven included three Britons, an Australian, a Polish national, a US-Canadian dual citizen and a Palestinian.

The killings have triggered calls for accountability from around the world, with many, including WCK founder Jose Andres, disputing Israel’s claim that the attack was a “mistake” and a case of “misidentification.” The bleak reality is that in the past few weeks there has been a surge in attacks on buildings considered to be warehouses for the aid organisation.

30 November 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

 

By Quds News Network

Gaza (Quds News Network)- An Israeli air strike killed at least 12 people when it targeted a vehicle and a group of citizens receiving flour in the Qizan al-Najjar area, south of Khan Younis city on Saturday, according to local sources.

[https://twitter.com/QudsNen/status/1862835894379532780]

Earlier, an Israeli air strike also targeted a World Central Kitchen (WCK) vehicle as it transported food supplies along Salah al-Din Street in Khan Younis.

The strike killed three workers from the international NGO without any prior warning.

One of the victims is the director of the charity kitchens here in the Gaza Strip. They are local Palestinians working for the WCK.

In April, seven international aid workers of the WCK were targeted in Deir al-Balah while they were travelling in three vehicles belonging to the organisation, with clear WCK signage attached to the car.

30 November 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Dr Ram Puniyani

RSS-BJP and its affiliates take every opportunity to deepen the demonization of religious minorities. Though there are legal provisions for punishing these Hate speeches mostly they go unpunished. Last decade as the communal party is in power the phenomenon has seen a dangerous downslide, which is leading to negative social perceptions about the religious minorities. As reflected in the community whatsapp groups and social attitudes; hating these minorities has become a sort of normal discourse among large sections of society. The increasing intensity of spewing hate is the root due to which negative social perceptions are constructed which in turn lead to severe blow to the concepts of fraternity and communal amity, one of the three legs of the tripod of Indian Constitution.

There are newer dog whistles, as such they are no more just dog whistles; these are more a call to action. They are built on the existing misconceptions and add on to the process of divisiveness. The perceptions like Mughal kings were outsiders and wrought injustices to Hindus, they were temple destroyers, they imposed Islam by force have rapidly been added on to slogans like, ‘Hum Do Hamare do, who Panch unke Pacchis’, (We [Hindus] are two, and they [Muslim] are twenty five), refugee camps housing Muslims were called ‘child production factories’. The new add on are ‘they can be recognized by their clothes, they are killers of our Holy mother- the Cow, they are luring our girls- women through love jihad. Now love jihad is followed by jihad series, the latest being land jihad and vote jihad.

In the wake of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Modi came out with Hate speeches by the dozen. As per Human Rights Watch, Modi had made 110 hate speeches in those elections. The report says, “Modi made Islamophobic remarks intended to undermine the political opposition, which he said promoted Muslim rights, and to foster fear among the majority Hindu community through disinformation.”

Another sample is equally horrifying. Referring to reservations to Muslims as “appeasement” by the Congress, he said, “This is a part of despicable attempts at Islamisation of India and pushing it towards divisions. When the UPA govt came to power, it made such attempts at that time too. BJP had carried out a massive agitation. So, be it Justice Verma committee report or the Sachar committee report, they were all attempts by Congress to loot the reservation of OBCs, SCs and STs” (The Times of India, 2024c).

The assembly elections in Jharkhand and Maharashtra saw the peak of this phenomenon yet again. In Jharkhand Himant Biswa Sarma of BJP focused on propaganda of Muslim infiltrators in the state. BJP issued a very demeaning advertisement, which showed a large Muslim family invading the Hindu household and taking it over. One knows Jharkhand has no international border, so who are these Muslims taking over a Hindu household. For a change Election commission got it pulled down but its source and already circulated video may be available at places. Another hate provoking propaganda was that Muslims marry Adivasis women and take over the Adivasi land. No data is needed to support this kite flying so far it serves the purpose of divisive politics. The slogan given was that the Muslim infiltrators were taking away your Roti, Beti, Mati (Livelihood, daughter, land) This statement was from the Prime Minister of the country!

The core slogan this time was from Yogi Aditya Nath. Batenge to Katenge… (If we are divided we will be butchered). He meant Hindu unity. Backing him up the father organization of BJP, RSSs’ Dattatray Hosabale made it clear that, “The important point is that when Hindus are united, it will be beneficial for all. Unity of Hindus is the Sangh’s lifetime pledge..,”.

Modifying a bit on Adityanath’s ‘Batenge to Katenge’ Mr. Modi Came up with ‘Ek hain to safe hain’ (If Hindus are united they will be safe) putting forward that the Hindu unity is foundation for keeping them safe from apparently the minorities, because of whom ‘Hindu Khatre mein hai’ (Hindu in Danger).

Maharashtra Chief Minister not only focused on land jihad and vote jihad, he went on to call the Bharat Jodo Yatra as the one which had participation of Urban Naxals and ultra left, apart from the other slogans.

The impact of this is shown not only on the polarization and thereby the voting pattern but also on social perceptions, as reflected in the thousands of whatsapp groups and drawing room chats of Hindu Households.

Christophe Jaffrelot, the outstanding scholar focusing on Hindu Nationalism’s rise in particular, quotes from a study conducted by CSDS from March 28 to April 2024 by scholars. The study tried to elicit the opinions of Hindus about how they see Muslims. In an immaculate study they solicited answers to questions like are Muslims not as trustworthy as anyone else, are they being appeased etc. The study shows the empirical presence of negative perceptions in society overall.

Scholars should also be able to help us how these negative sentiments are worsening over the years and decades. To cap it all, BJP and Modi are trying to say, as reflected in Modi’s speech, that they will not indulge in communal rhetoric. In interviews with journalists, when asked about anti-Muslim speeches during the campaign, Modi responded: “The day I start talking about Hindu-Muslim [in politics], I will be unfit for public life. “I will not do Hindu-Muslim”. That is my resolve.” The gross difference between what one says and what one’s actions is so apparent here! It is these perceptions among Hindus that leads to an atmosphere of hate in the country. The spiral of Hate is worsening by the day; it leads to ghettoisation on one hand and pushing the Muslims community towards ‘second class citizenship’ on the other.

How to combat this divisiveness? There is a need to inculcate among the people the alternative narrative which was the base of India’s freedom movement, the narrative which talks of the syncretic traditions of India, the narrative which led to unity of people of all religions to participate in freedom movement, the values of which are enshrined in our Constitution.

29 November 2024

Source: countercurrents.org