Just International

Fighting Israel’s War in Jenin: Can the Palestinian Authority Be Saved?

By Ramzy Baroud

The latest news from the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) so-called “Protecting the Homeland” operation in the Jenin refugee camp paints a grim picture. Nine Palestinian lives have been claimed in this ongoing crackdown which began on December 5, including a young journalist, Shaza Al-Sabbagh.

The assault, as reported by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, has, expectedly, received a stamp of approval from the Israeli occupation army, which seems content with the PA’s performance. Meanwhile, Israel’s Channel 14 confirmed that Israel has issued a clear deadline to the PA to finish the task—effectively eradicating what remains of resistance in Jenin, in the name of ending lawlessness and apprehending outlaws.

It is an irony that has become all too familiar: the Palestinian entity that was supposed to represent the will of the people and lead them toward freedom has become complicit in crushing resistance in one of the most marginalized and impoverished areas of the West Bank, all while serving the interests of Israel. This is the heart of the Palestinian paradox in the West Bank.

For years, the PA has demanded unflinching obedience from the Palestinian people in the name of preparing Palestine for sovereignty and statehood. Yet, as the years have passed, this pledge has slipped further and further away. In its place, the PA has become complicit in the expansion of Israel’s territorial control and the erosion of Palestinian rights. This might be a difficult conclusion to digest, but the killing of innocent Palestinians in Jenin at the hands of Palestinian security forces, while Israel and its settlers are cracking down on Palestinians elsewhere in the West Bank, should be all the proof needed to support the above claim.

Moreover, the PA’s strategy of appeasing Israel through ‘security coordination’ has done little to hinder Israel’s systematic land grab and the continued construction of illegal settlements. To the contrary, such ‘coordination’ has emboldened Israel and its unruly settlers.

What is perhaps more damning is the fact that the PA has often become an active participant in the Israeli oppression of Palestinians, as is the case in Jenin today. In its role as an enforcer of Israeli policies, the PA has become a tool of the Israeli occupation, tasked with quelling political dissent and silencing critics.

The latest operation in Jenin is a clear manifestation of how Israel uses the PA to carry out its dirty work. The Jenin refugee camp, an area of less than half a square kilometer, has always been a symbol of Palestinian resistance. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israel has raided Jenin 80 times in the last year alone, killing over 220 Palestinians and wounding hundreds more. Yet, Jenin remained unbowed. To now see the PA working in concert with the Israeli army to break the will of Jenin’s 23,000 inhabitants is a deeply painful reality for most Palestinians.

What complicates this crisis even further is the silence of many Palestinian intellectuals, both in the West Bank and the diaspora, who have failed to confront the PA with the same vigor with which they criticize the Israeli occupation. But why have so many prominent voices, intellectuals, and political analysts remained mute on the issue of the PA’s betrayal of the Palestinian struggle?

The answer lies in a complex mixture of fear, political pragmatism and historical inertia. For decades, the PA has maintained a stranglehold on the political landscape of Palestinian life. It controls the levers of power, and anyone who dares to challenge its authority risks being silenced—through arrests, imprisonment, or even torture. Palestinian intellectuals, particularly those in the West Bank, are all too aware of this reality.

Additionally, there is a deep sense of paralysis within the Palestinian intellectual community in the occupied West Bank, in part due to their leadership’s failure to confront Israel over the ongoing genocide in Gaza. But there is more to this ongoing paralysis.

For years, the PA has framed itself as the ‘sole legitimate representative’ of the Palestinian people. Many intellectuals who would normally criticize Israel’s occupation are unwilling to take on the PA for fear of further fragmenting the Palestinians. There is a deep-seated belief among some that a public confrontation with the PA would lead to greater disunity, which could play into Israel’s hands.

But this political pragmatism comes at a heavy cost. While many Palestinian intellectuals hesitate to criticize the PA, they are forced into a position of complicity with its actions. The PA’s betrayal of the Palestinian cause is no longer a matter of debate—it is a fact. Yet, by failing to confront this betrayal head-on, intellectuals and activists alike risk forfeiting their moral credibility.

In the face of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and unprecedentedly violent crackdowns on Palestinians in the West Bank, the betrayal of the PA has been laid bare for all to see. The PA’s willingness to assist in the subjugation of Palestinians in the West Bank, while pretending to represent them, has exposed the institution like never before.

But can the PA itself be saved? The answer may not even matter. What matters is whether the Palestinian people, in their collective will and resistance, can liberate themselves from Israel’s settler colonialism and the moral corruption of their self-proclaimed leadership. The events of the coming weeks and months will be decisive.

Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle.

2 January 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

USA spent over $22 billion in military aid for Israel since October 7, 2023

By Quds News Network

Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- Since October 7, 2023, the United States has spent over $22 billion in military aid for Israel. This includes assaults on Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports that the US supplied 69% of Israel’s arms from 2019 to 2023. This share rose to 78% by the end of that period.

In December 2023, the US delivered over 10,000 tons of weapons worth $2.4 billion to Israel. By August 2024, this number increased to 50,000 tons, transported via hundreds of planes and ships.

The US has provided advanced military equipment to Israel. This includes Iron Dome missiles, precision-guided bombs, CH-53 helicopters, AH-64 Apache helicopters, 155mm artillery shells, bunker-busting munitions, and armored vehicles.

Since 1946, US military and economic aid to Israel has totaled over $310 billion, adjusted for inflation. A 10-year, $38 billion military aid deal signed in 2016 remains active, allocating $3.8 billion annually. Emergency packages in 2024 added billions more, including $14.1 billion approved in February and a $2.5 billion arms shipment in March.

US weapons used mainly against civilians have drawn condemnation. Critics point to limited Congressional oversight and ongoing scrutiny over the impact on Palestinians in Gaza.

Lawsuit against US State Department Over Military Aid

In December 2023, a group of Palestinians filed a lawsuit against the US State Department. The lawsuit accuses the department of bypassing US human rights laws to fund Israeli military units accused of committing atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank.

Filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, the lawsuit states that Secretary of State Antony Blinken ignored the Leahy Law. This law prohibits US military aid to units committing gross human rights violations without accountability.

One plaintiff, a teacher from Gaza, was displaced seven times during the genocide. He lost 20 family members in the genocide.

The lawsuit criticizes the US for supporting Israel amid escalating human rights abuses since the genocide began in October 2023.

Senate to Vote on Arms Sale Restrictions

The US Senate is set to vote on legislation to block specific arms sales to Israel. Senator Bernie Sanders, along with Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley and Peter Welch, introduced resolutions to prevent the sale of 120mm mortar shells and Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs).

Another resolution, supported by Senator Brian Schatz, seeks to halt tank shell sales. JDAMs, manufactured by Boeing, convert unguided bombs into GPS-guided weapons.

Despite these efforts, bipartisan support for Israel makes it unlikely the resolutions will pass. Advocates argue that Israel has obstructed aid shipments desperately needed by Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Criticism of US military aid to Israel continues to grow as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens.

2 January 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

A plebiscite under UN supervision is the only solution for Kashmir: Dr. Imtiaz Khan

By Nabi Fai

Professor (Dr.) Imtiaz Khan, Kashmiri American scholar said that “On January 5, 1949, the United Nations passed a resolution regarding the Kashmir conflict, which became a significant milestone in the ongoing dispute between India and Pakistan over the region of Jammu and Kashmir. The UN called for a plebiscite (a vote by the people) to determine the future of Jammu and Kashmir. The plebiscite was to be conducted under the auspices of the United NationsThe resolution was never implemented, and events and its aftermath have had a lasting impact on the political and diplomatic discourse surrounding the Kashmir dispute. The region surrounded by three nuclear powers, remains the most militarized zone in the world.  The potential of nuclear   conflagration that could engulf almost half of the world population remain reasonably high.

Dr. Khan added that the question that begs attention is “how long can the world and especially UN continue to exhibit criminal negligence towards this protracted issue that threatens the world peace?”. India continues to unleash tyrannical measures on the people of Kashmir and there is feeling that their sufferings go unnoticed around the world. We fervently appeal to world in general and UN in particular that it should be conveyed to Indian government that their atrocities, oppressive measures and total disregard for international guarantees cannot be further tolerated. It should be impressed upon them that the only choice before them is to come to negotiating table with Pakistan and genuine leadership of Kashmiri people so that acceptable solution to this longstanding problem is found. Is should be unequivocally stated that farcical elections conducted in the region cannot dupe international community.  A plebiscite under UN supervision is the only solution. Anything short of that will be injustice to people of Kashmir and non-resolution of the issue can prove to be unmitigated disaster for the region.

Dr. Ghulam N. Mir, President, World Kashmir Awareness Forum and Chairman, Kashmiri Diaspora Coalition said that peace in Jammu and Kashmir and along with it in entire South Asia will remain illusive and a distant dream as long as India refuses to accept its culpability in its mischievous role in defying the implementation of multiple UNSC -mandated resolutions for plebiscite.

Dr. Mir added that Kashmir is a historical entity just as India is despite its size and military might. Kashmiris have given more sacrifices for its relative size than Indians have. We have had the misfortune of being in a bad neighborhood since 1947 when India invaded it. Whenever the UN stops being a mere paper tiger and let be pushed around by bullies like India it can exert its power help Kashmir to exercise its right to a free and fair referendum. The world is going to change, and hegemons are going to have to see the writing on the wall. Kashmiris may be the last nation to end occupation and settler-colonialism. But the day will surely. Come

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Chairman, World Forum for Peace & Justice said that part III of the resolution of  13 August 1948, adopted by the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) stipulates: “The Government of India and the Government of Pakistan reaffirm their wish that the future status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir shall be determined in accordance with the will of the people and to that end, upon acceptance of the truce agreement, both Governments agree to enter into consultations with the Commission to determine fair and equitable conditions whereby such free expression will be assured. And the January 5, 1949, resolution adopted by the UNCIP clearly mandated that all authorities within the State of Jammu and Kashmir collaborate with the Plebiscite Administrator to guarantee the basic conditions for free and informed voting by the people of Kashmir, including protection of fundamental political rights of expression and association”

Dr. Fai added that the denial of self-determination has brought death, destruction, and devastation to the people of Kashmir. Today, Kashmir is at the brink of genocide (Genocide Watch) and Kashmir has become the hell for the people of Kashmir as reported by the New York Times.

Therefore, Dr. Fai suggested the grave situation in Kashmir demands that it could be brought to the attention of the Security Council. Whether this could be done successfully depends on the attitude and policies of the permanent members, but they should be left in no doubt that any failure to resolve the problem could lead to serious disorders throughout the South Asian Subcontinent and possibly to yet another war between India and Pakistan, with incalculable consequences for the whole world, since both states now have nuclear capabilities.

Sardar Zarif Khan, Advisor to the President of Azad Kashmir said that the Kashmir issue is simply this: the people of a large territory which is not part of any existing sovereign state were assured by the entire international community represented by the United Nations that they would be enabled to decide their future by a free vote.  Until now, this assurance has not been honored.

 Sardar Shoaib Irshad, General Secretary, Kashmir American Welfare Association (KAWA) said that the people of Kashmir trust that Mr. Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations will bring its influence to bear on both India and Pakistan to initiate peace process with which the United Nations as well as the people of Jammu and Kashmir will be associated so as to ensure that settlement arrived at will be based on the principle of justice.

Sardar Zubair Khan, leader of KAWA appealed to Antonio Gutters, the Secretary General of the United Nations to appoint a special envoy on Kashmir who could assess the situation in Jammu & Kashmir as well as in Azad Kashmir and report back to the Security Council about its findings.

Washington, D.C. January 5, 2025

Dr. Fai is also the Secretary General, World Kashmir Awareness Forum.

He can be reached at: WhatsApp: 1-202-607-6435   or.  gnfai2003@yahoo.com

www.Kashmirawarenss.org

Bohe Nirontoro Ononto Anondodhara – (“The Shower of Eternal Bliss Forever”)

By Zeenat Khan

A tribute to Kobiguru Rabindranath Tagore.

The translation of the song from the Geetabitan

Rabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941)

Parjaay: Puja (324)

Upa-parjaay: Aanondo

Taal: Jhaptaal

Raag: Lachhasaar-Bilabal

Anga: Dhrupad

Written on: Autumn 1897

Swarabitan: 22

Notation by: Kangalicharan Sen

বহে নিরন্তর অনন্ত আনন্দধারা 

বাজে অসীম নভোমাঝে অনাদি রব,

জাগে অগণ্য রবিচন্দ্রতারা 

একক অখণ্ড ব্রহ্মাণ্ডরাজ্যে

পরম-এক সেই রাজরাজেন্দ্র রাজে।

বিস্মিত নিমেষহত বিশ্ব চরণে বিনত,

লক্ষশত ভক্তচিত বাক্যহারা 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“The Shower of Eternal Bliss Forever”

Ceaseless flows the limitless, eternal bliss.

Sings the eternal voice in the infinite sky,

Awakening countless suns, moons, and stars.

In the realm of the unique, undivided universe

Rules the King of Kings, Lord of the Lords.

The world, amazed, bows at your feet, Oh Lord,

Devotees, in millions, at a loss for words.

Video:

Bahe Nirantar | Subinoy Roy | Legends Best Of Tagore Songs | Rabindrasangeet Collection

“As we close out this year, let us remember that even amidst challenges, the human spirit is resilient, and hope remains a beacon guiding us towards a brighter future. Together, we can overcome adversity, build bridges of understanding, and work towards a world where compassion, unity, and sustainability thrive. May the new year bring renewed optimism, courage to face the unknown, and the unwavering belief that we can create a better tomorrow for all. Let’s embrace the possibilities that lie ahead and step into the New Year with hearts full of hope.”

May the New Year Bring Brighter Days!

Zeenat Khan writes from Maryland, USA

31 December 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

Don’t Deify Jimmy Carter

By Chris Hedges

Jimmy Carter may have done good works out of office, but in power he fomented a series of domestic and foreign policy disasters.

Jimmy Carter, out of office, had the courage to call out the “abominable oppression and persecution” and “strict segregation” of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza in his 2006 book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” He dedicated himself to monitoring elections, including his controversial defense of the 2006 election of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, and championed human rights around the globe. He lambasted the American political process as an “oligarchy” in which “unlimited political bribery” created “a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors.”

But Carter’s years as an ex-president should not mask his dogged service to the empire, penchant for fomenting disastrous proxy wars, betrayal of the Palestinians, embrace of punishing neoliberal policies and his subservience to big business when he was in office.

Carter played a significant role in dismantling New Deal legislation with the deregulation of major industries including airlines, banking, trucking, telecommunications, natural gas and railways. He appointed Paul Volcker to the Federal Reserve, who, in an effort to combat inflation, drove up interest rates and pushed the U.S. into the deepest recession since the Great Depression, a move that saw the start of punishing austerity cuts. Carter is the godfather of the pillage known as neoliberalism, a pillage fellow Democrat Bill Clinton would turbo charge.

Carter fell under the disastrous influence of his Svengali-like national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, a Polish exile, who rejected the Nixon-Kissinger reliance on détente with the Soviet Union. Brzezinski’s life’s mission, one that meant he saw the world in black and white, was to confront and destroy the Soviet Union along with any government or movement he deemed to be under communist influence or sympathetic to it.

Carter, under Brzezinski’s influence, walked away from the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks treaty (SALT II) with the Soviet Union, which sought to curb nuclear weapons deployment. He increased military spending. He sent military aid to the Indonesian New Order government during the Indonesian invasion and occupation of East Timor, which many have characterized as a genocide. He supported, along with the apartheid state of South Africa, the murderous counter revolutionary group, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), led by Jonas Savimbi. He provided aid to the brutal Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. He supported the Khmer Rouge.

He instructed the Central Intelligence Agency to back opposition groups and political parties to bring down the Sandinista government in Nicaragua once it took power in 1979, leading under the Reagan administration to the formation of the Contras and a bloody and senseless U.S.-backed insurgency. He provided military aid to the dictatorship in El Salvador, ignoring an appeal from Archbishop Oscar Romero — later assassinated — to cease U.S. arms shipments.

He poisoned U.S. relations with Iran by backing the repressive regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi until the last minute and then allowing the deposed Shah to seek medical treatment in New York, triggering the occupation of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and a 444-day hostage crisis. Carter’s belligerence — he froze Iranian assets, stopped importing oil from Iran and expelled 183 Iranian diplomats from the U.S. — played into Ayatollah Khomeini’s demonization of the U.S. and calls for Islamic rule. He obliterated the credibility of Iran’s secular opposition.

Carter gave Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, although he ruled under martial law, billions in military aid. He armed the Mujahideen in Afghanistan after the Soviet intervention in 1979, a decision that cost the U.S. $3 billion, saw the deaths of 1.5 million Afghans and led to the creation of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The blowback from this Carter policy alone is catastrophic.

He backed the South Korean military in 1980 when it laid siege to the city of Gwangju, where protestors had formed a militia, which led to the massacre of some 2,000 people.

Finally, he sold out the Palestinians when he negotiated a separate peace deal, known as the Camp David Accords, in 1979 between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. The agreement excluded the Palestine Liberation Organization from the talks. Israel never, as promised to Carter, attempted to resolve the Palestine question with Jordan and Egypt’s involvement. It never permitted Palestinian self-government in the West Bank and Gaza within five years. It did not end Israeli settlements — a refusal that led Carter to later claim Begin had lied to him. But since there was no mechanism in the agreement for enforcement, and since Carter was unwilling to defy the Israel lobby to impose sanctions on Israel, the Palestinians found themselves, once again, powerless and abandoned.

Carter, to his credit, did appoint the civil rights activist Patricia Derian as his Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, leading to the blocking of loans and reduction in military aid to the military junta in Argentina during the Dirty War, restrictions the Reagan administration removed. Derian’s commitment to human rights was genuine. She supported Philippines leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr. and the South Korean dissident and former president Kim Dae-jung. Carter allowed her to anger a few of our most repressive allies. But his human rights policy was primarily designed to back democratic dissidents and worker movements in Central and Eastern Europe, especially Poland, in an effort to weaken the Soviet Union.

Carter had a decency most politicians lack, but his moral crusades, which came once he was out of power, seem like a form of penance. His record as president is bloody and dismal, although not as bloody and dismal as the presidents who followed. That’s the best we can say of him.

Chris Hedges, who graduated from seminary at Harvard Divinity School, worked for nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times, National Public Radio and other news organizations in Latin America, the Middle East and the Balkans.

31 December 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

Calls Grow for the Release of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya

By Quds News Network

Gaza (Quds News Network)- Calls have grown for the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, after he was abducted by Israeli forces during a raid on the area’s last remaining medical facility.

Kamal Adwan Under Israeli Attack

On Friday morning, the hospital was stormed by Israeli forces, following nearly three months of a suffocating blockade and constant air strikes on its departments and their vicinity.

The bombing caused several departments to catch fire, killing and wounding Palestinian medical workers and patients, according to Munir al-Bursh, director general of the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.

All remaining medical staff, patients and their relatives were taken out of the hospital at gunpoint, forced to strip down to their underwear and transferred to an unknown location.

At the time of the raid, there were 350 people in the hospital, including 180 medical workers and 75 wounded people, according to the Gaza-based Government Media Office.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said dozens of doctors were taken to detention centres for interrogation.

On Saturday, it confirmed that Abu Safiya had been arrested. Israeli forces violently beat him before his arrest, Bursh told Al Jazeera.

Reports have confirmed that Abu Sagiya is now being held in the notorious Sde Teiman detention facility.

Over the past three months, Abu Safiya, a paediatrician, has published dozens of videos and sent out pleas to the international community to act against the Israeli attacks on Kamal Adwan Hospital.

He repeatedly warned that the lives of patients and medical staff were in danger amid constant Israeli bombings and a siege preventing the entry of aid and food.

In late October, Abu Safiya’s son died as a result of an earlier Israeli raid on the hospital, according to health officials.

A month later, he was wounded in an Israeli air strike on the hospital complex.

Growing Calls

Fears are growing for Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s safety, as he may face the same fate as Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, an orthopedic surgeon who continued treating the wounded amid Israeli airstrikes. Al-Bursh was abducted by Israeli forces on December 19, 2023, and taken to Sde Teiman, where he was likely raped, tortured, and murdered while in custody.

[https://twitter.com/RyanRozbiani/status/1873360823864730011]

The last picture of Abu Safiya, widely shared on social media, showed him walking towards an Israeli tank near the Kamal Adwan Hospital.

[https://twitter.com/Portes_Thomas/status/1873103274414621041]

MedGlobal said Abu Safiya’s “arrest is not only unjust — it is a violation of international humanitarian law, which upholds the protection of medical personnel in conflict zones. MedGlobal urgently calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Abu [Safiya].”

[https://twitter.com/MedGlobalOrg/status/1872986035753250885]

Agnes Callamard, the secretary-general of Amnesty International, said Abu Safiya is considered a human rights defender by Front Line Defenders, an Irish-based organisation that works to protect people who are “at risk for their peaceful and legitimate human rights work”.

[https://twitter.com/AgnesCallamard/status/1873131005021962263]

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also demanded the “immediate release” of the Kamal Adwan Hospital director, calling to stop attacks on hospitals.

[https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1873595575167283556]

UN’s Palestine expert Francesca Albanese said “all of us must do all we can to save” him.

[https://twitter.com/FranceskAlbs/status/1873508452951343597]

[https://twitter.com/ClaudiaWebbe/status/1873135601735877053]

[https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn/status/1873336113437589913]

31 December 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

Even If a Deal Is Reached, Israel Will Resume Fighting to Achieve ‘War Goals’:Netanyahu

By Quds News Network

Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has clarified that the occupation state will resume the genocide in Gaza even if a deal is reached with Hamas, reported Yedioth Ahronoth. A senior political source stated that any agreement will not mark the end of the war, as Israel remains committed to ‘achieving all its objectives’.

The comments were justified by claims from senior Israeli security officials about the lack of a post-war governance plan for Gaza. These officials said that without an alternative to Hamas, the situation could revert to the conditions prior to October 7.

Netanyahu emphasizes that Israel’s primary goal is to eliminate Hamas entirely. “Even if a deal is reached, Israel will return to fighting to complete the war’s objectives,” the political source confirmed. The source added that the issue of the so-called “the day after” Gaza is being discussed in appropriate forums and that Netanyahu’s policy ensures no presence of Hamas or the Palestinian Authority in Gaza’s civil governance.

“Thanks to the prime minister’s determined strategy, Israel has achieved significant victories, safeguarded its security, and will meet all war objectives,” the source said.

Meanwhile, Israeli Army Radio quoted sources saying that while negotiations for a prisoner exchange deal are not frozen, there have been no new developments. The sources revealed that the Israeli army continues to exert military pressure on Hamas’, a term that Israel usually uses to describe its brutal attacks on civilians, despite the failure of this strategy in recent months.

Hamas leader Osama Hamdan stated that the movement has shown maximum flexibility in negotiations but maintains conditions. These include ending the aggression, a complete Israeli withdrawal, unrestricted aid delivery, and reconstruction.

In an interview with Al-Aqsa TV, Hamdan stated that Israel is reneging on agreements at every stage of the talks. He said Israel insists on two non-negotiable points: refusing a full withdrawal from Gaza and continuing its military aggression.

Hamdan also dismissed Israeli claims of destroying Hamas’s capabilities. He said the resistance remains strong and continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience. “The scenes broadcast by the resistance show only a fraction of the heroism displayed by the Palestinian people,” he added.

Prisoner exchange negotiations, mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, have repeatedly stalled. This is due to Netanyahu’s insistence on controlling the Philadelphi Route along the Gaza-Egypt border, Rafah crossing, and blocking the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza. Israel demands thorough inspections of returnees via the Nitzarim area in central Gaza.

Hamas, however, stands firm on its demand for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a full cessation of the war before accepting any deal.

Israel currently holds over 10,300 Palestinian detainees, while Hamas estimates that around 100 Israeli prisoners remain in Gaza. Hamas also says that dozens of Israeli prisoners have been killed in indiscriminate Israeli airstrikes.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has launched an ongoing genocide in Gaza, supported by the United States. Over 153,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured, most of them women and children. More than 11,000 are still missing, amidst unprecedented destruction and a worsening humanitarian disaster.

31 December 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

How to Understand the Change of Government in Syria

By Vijay Prashad

The fall of Damascus and rise of HTS signal a dangerous shift in Syria, deepening regional instability, and isolation for Palestine. From Israel to Africa’s Sahel region, what comes next?

19 Dec 2024 – One of the most stunning events of the past few months has been the fall of Damascus. This fall had initially been expected over a decade ago, when rebel armies funded by Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United States crowded around the edges of Syria and threatened then President Bashar al-Assad’s government. These armies, backed by rich and powerful countries, were comprised of a range of actors, including:

  1. swaths of people who were angered by the economic distress caused by the opening up of the economy and the subsequent devastation of small manufacturing businesses, which were suffering in the face of the emerging might of Turkish manufacturing;

  2. the peasantry in the north, frustrated by the government’s lack of a proper response to the long drought that forced them into the northern cities of Aleppo and Idlib;

  3. sectors of the secular petty bourgeoisie discontent with the failure of the Damascus Spring of 2000–01, which had initially promised political reforms stemming from the muntadayāt (forum discussions) held across the country;

  4. a deeply aggrieved Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, formed out of the pious petty bourgeoisie, which had been crushed in 1982 and re-emerged after being inspired by the role the Brotherhood played in the 2010–11 protests in Tunisia and Egypt;

  5. eager Islamist forces that had been trained by al-Qaeda in Iraq and wanted to fly the black flag of jihadism from the highest parapets in Damascus.

Despite the failure of these factions of the Syrian opposition in 2011, it was many of these same forces that succeeded in overthrowing Assad’s government on 7 December 2024.

Just over a decade ago, Assad’s government remained in power largely because of support from Iran and Russia, but also because of the involvement – to a lesser extent – of neighbouring Iraq and Hezbollah (Lebanon). Assad did not have the stomach for the contest. He became president in 2000 after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who took office through a military coup in 1971. Bashar al-Assad had a privileged upbringing and studied to be an ophthalmologist in the United Kingdom. When the rebel armies neared Damascus in December of this year, Assad fled to Moscow with his family, claiming that he wanted to retire from politics and resume his career as an ophthalmologist. He did not make a statement to his people telling them to be brave or that his forces would fight another day. There were no comforting words. He left quietly in the same way he appeared, his country abandoned. A few days later, on Telegram, al-Assad released a text but was timid.

After being defeated by Syrian, Iranian, and Russian forces in 2014, the Syrian rebels regrouped in the city of Idlib, not far from Turkey’s border with Syria. That is where the main opposition force broke with al-Qaeda in 2016, took over the local councils, and shaped itself as the only leader of the anti-Assad campaign. This group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (Organisation for the Liberation of the Levant, or HTS), is now in charge in Damascus.

Originating directly from al-Qaeda in Iraq, HTS has not been able to shed those roots and remains a deeply sectarian body with ambitions to eventually turn Syria into a caliphate. Since his time in Iraq and northern Syria, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani developed a reputation of great brutality toward the large number of minority groups in Syria (specifically Alawites, Armenians, Kurds, Shi’ites), who he regarded as apostates. Al-Jolani is well-aware of his reputation, but he has remarkably altered the way he presents himself. He has shed the trappings of his al-Qaeda days; he trimmed his beard, dresses in a nondescript khaki uniform, and learned to talk to the media in measured tones. In an exclusive interview with CNN released just as his forces took Damascus, al-Jolani recalled past murderous acts committed in his name merely as youthful indiscretions. It was as if he had been trained by a public relations company. No longer the al-Qaeda madman, al-Jolani is now being presented as a Syrian democrat.

On 12 December, I spoke to two friends from minority communities in different parts of Syria. Both said that they fear for their lives. They understand that though there will be a period of jubilation and calm, they will eventually face severe attacks and have already begun hearing reports of small-scale attacks against Alawites and Shia families in their network. Another friend reminded me that there was calm in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government in 2003; several weeks later, the insurgency began. Could such an insurgency of former government forces take place in Syria after they have recomposed from their state’s hasty fall? It is impossible to know what the social fabric of the new Syria will be like given the character of the people who have taken power. This will be especially true if even a fraction of those seven million Syrians who were displaced during the war return home and seek revenge for what they will surely see as the mistreatment that forced them overseas. No war of this kind ends with peace. There are many scores yet to settle.

Without detracting attention from the Syrian people and their well-being, we must also understand what this change of government means for the region and the world. Let us take the implications sequentially, starting with Israel and ending with the Sahel region in Africa.

  1. Israel. Taking advantage of the decade-long civil war in Syria, Israel has bombed Syrian military bases on a regular basis to degrade both the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies (notably, Iran and Hezbollah). Over the past year, during its escalation of the genocide against Palestinians, Israel has also increased its bombing of any military facility it believes is being used to resupply Iran and Hezbollah. Israel then invaded Lebanon to weaken Hezbollah, which it achieved by assassinating Hezbollah’s long-time leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and by invading southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah was rooted. As if coordinated, Israel provided air support to HTS as it moved out of Idlib, bombing Syrian military facilities and army posts to demoralise the SAA. When HTS took Damascus, Israel strengthened its Division 210 in the Occupied Golan Heights (seized in 1973) and then invaded the United Nations buffer zone (set up in 1974). Israeli tanks proceeded outside the buffer zone and came very close to Damascus. HTS did not contest this occupation of Syria at any point.
  2. Turkey. The Turkish government provided military and political support to the 2011 rebellion from its inception and hosted the exiled Syrian Muslim Brotherhood government in Istanbul. In 2020, when the SAA moved against the rebels in Idlib, Turkey invaded Syria to force an agreement that the city would not be harmed. Turkey also enabled the military training of most of the fighters who proceeded down highway M5 to Damascus and provided military equipment to the armies to battle the Kurds in the north and the SAA in the south. It was through Turkey that various Central Asian Islamists joined the HTS fight, including Uyghurs from China. When Turkey invaded Syria twice over the past decade, it held Syrian territory that it claimed was its historical land. This territory will not return to Syria under the HTS government.
  3. Lebanon and Iraq. After the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government in 2003, Iran built a land bridge to supply its allies in both Lebanon (Hezbollah) and Syria. With the change of government in Syria, resupplying Hezbollah will become difficult. Both Lebanon and Iraq will now border a country ruled by a former al-Qaeda affiliate. While it is not immediately clear what this means for the region, it is likely that there will be an emboldened al-Qaeda presence that wants to undermine the role of the Shia in these countries.
  4. Palestine. The implications for the genocide in Palestine and for the struggle for Palestinian liberation are extraordinary. Given Israel’s role in undermining Assad’s military on behalf of HTS, it is unlikely that al-Jolani will contest Israel’s occupation of Palestine or allow Iran to resupply Hezbollah or Hamas. Despite his name, which comes from the Golan, it is inconceivable that al-Jolani will fight to regain the Golan Heights for Syria. Israel’s ‘buffers’ in Lebanon and Syria add to the regional complacency with its actions achieved by events such as its peace treaties with Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994). No neighbour of Israel will pose a threat to it at this time. The Palestinian struggle is already experiencing great isolation from these developments. Resistance will continue, but there will be no neighbour to provide access to the means for resistance.
  5. The Sahel. Since the United States and Israel are basically one country when it comes to geopolitics, Israel’s victory is a victory for the United States. The change of government in Syria has not only weakened Iran in the short term but has also weakened Russia (a long-term strategic goal of the United States), which previously used Syrian airports to refuel its supply planes en route to various African countries. It is no longer possible for Russia to use these bases, and it remains unclear where Russian military aircraft will be able to refuel for journeys into the region, notably to countries in the Sahel. This will provide the United States with an opportunity to push the countries that border the Sahel, such as Nigeria and Benin, to launch operations against the governments of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. This will require a close watch.

In July 1958, several poets organised a festival in Akka (occupied Palestine ’48). One of the participating poets, David Semah, wrote ‘Akhi Tawfiq’ (My Brother Tawfiq), dedicated to the Palestinian communist poet Tawfiq Zayyad who was in an Israeli prison at the time of the festival. Semah’s poem grounds us in the sensibility that is so sorely needed in our times:

If they sow skulls in its dirt
Our harvest will be hope and light.

Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, editor and journalist. He is a writing fellow and chief correspondent at Globetrotter.

30 December 2024

Source: transcend.org

Science and Religion

By Albert Einstein

This text is from an address at Princeton Theological Seminary on 19 May 1939.

It presents with extreme clarity what are the different realms of religion (values) and science (facts) and also their connections. This cross-fertilization becomes problematic only when each realm wants to impose itself on the other or when a religion with an anthropomorphized God is meant to be behind any happening. This would eliminate personal responsibility and would install the priests of that religion as those more capable of deciding between truth and falsehood and so to guide the actions of everybody. The result would be to deprive religion of any value and to limit science in its search for truth.

During the last century, and part of the one before, it was widely held that there was an unreconcilable conflict between knowledge and belief. The opinion prevailed among advanced minds that it was time that belief should be replaced increasingly by knowledge; belief that did not itself rest on knowledge was superstition, and as such had to be opposed. According to this conception, the sole function of education was to open the way to thinking and knowing, and the school, as the outstanding organ for the people’s education, must serve that end exclusively.

One will probably find but rarely, if at all, the rationalistic standpoint expressed in such crass form; for any sensible man would see at once how one-sided is such a statement of the position. But it is just as well to state a thesis starkly and nakedly if one wants to clear up one’s mind as to its nature.

It is true that convictions can best be supported with experience and clear thinking. On this point one must agree unreservedly with the extreme rationalist. The weak point of his conception is, however, this, that those convictions which are necessary and determinant for our conduct and judgments cannot be found solely along this solid scientific way.

For the scientific method can teach us nothing else beyond how facts are related to, and conditioned by, each other. The aspiration toward such objective knowledge belongs to the highest of which man is capable, and you will certainly not suspect me of wishing to belittle the achievements and the heroic efforts of man in this sphere. Yet it is equally clear that knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be. One, can have the clearest and most complete knowledge of is, and yet not be able to deduct from that what should be the goal of our human aspirations.  Objective knowledge provide us with powerful instruments for the achievements of certain ends, but the ultimate goal itself and the longing to reach it must come from another source. And it is hardly necessary to argue for the view that our existence and our activity acquire meaning only by the setting up of such a goal and of corresponding values. The knowledge of truth as such is wonderful, but it is so little capable of acting as a guide that it cannot prove even the justification and the value of the aspiration toward that very knowledge of truth. Here we face, therefore, the limits of the purely rational conception of our existence.

But it must not be assumed that intelligent thinking can play no part in the formation of the goal and of ethical judgements. When someone realizes that for the achievement of an end certain means would be useful, the means itself becomes thereby an end. Intelligence makes clear to us the interrelation of means and ends. But mere thinking cannot give us a sense of the ultimate and fundamental ends. To make clear these fundamental ends and valuations, and to set them fast in the emotional life of the individual, seems to me precisely the most important function which religion has to perform in the social life of man. And if one asks whence derives the authority of such fundamental ends, since they cannot be stated and justified merely by reason, one can only answer: they exist in a healthy society as powerful traditions, which act upon the conduct and aspirations and judgments of the individuals; they are there, that is, as something living, without its being necessary to find justification for their existence. They come into being not through demonstration but through revelation, through the medium of powerful personalities. One must not attempt to justify them, but rather to sense their nature simply and clearly.

The highest principles for our aspirations and judgments are given to us in the Jewish-Christian religious tradition. It is a very high goal which, with our weak powers, we can reach only very inadequately, but which gives a sure foundation to our aspirations and valuations. If one were to take that goal out of its religious form and look merely at its purely human side, one might state it perhaps thus: free and responsible development of the individual, so that he may place his powers freely and gladly in the service of all mankind.

There is no room in this for the divinization of a nation, of a class, let alone of an individual. Are we not all children of one father, as it is said in religious language? Indeed, even the divinization of humanity, as an abstract totality, would be not in the spirit of that ideal. It is only to the individual that a soul is given. And the high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule, or to impose himself in any other way.

If one looks at the substance rather than at the form, then one can take these words as expressing also the fundamental democratic position. The true democrat can worship his nation as little as can the man who is religious, in our sense of the term.

What, then, in all this, is the function of education and the school? They should help the young person to grow up such a spirit that these fundamental principles should be to him as the air which he breathes. Teaching alone cannot do that.

If one holds these high principles clearly before one’s eyes, and compares them with the life and spirit of our times, then it appears glaringly that civilized mankind finds itself at present in grave danger. In the totalitarian states it is the rulers themselves who strive actually to destroy that spirit of humanity. In less threatened parts it is nationalism and intolerance, as well as the oppression of the individuals by economic means, which threaten to choke these most precious traditions.

A realization of how great is the danger is spreading, however, among thinking people, and there is much search for means with which to meet the danger – means in the field of national and international politics, of legislation, or organization in general. Such efforts are, no doubt, greatly needed. Yet the ancients knew something which we seem to have forgotten. All means prove but a blunt instrument, if they have not behind them a living spirit. But if the longing for the achievement of the goal is powerfully alive within us, then shall we not lack the strength to find the means for reaching the goal and for translating it into deeds.

II

It would not be difficult to come to an agreement as to what we understand by science. Science is the century old endeavour to bring together by means of systematic thought the perceptible phenomena of this world into a through going an association as possible. To put if boldly, it is the attempt at the posterior reconstruction of existence by the process of conceptualization. But when asking myself what religion is I cannot think of the answer so easily. And even after finding an answer which may satisfy me at this particular moment, I still remain convinced that I can never under any circumstances bring together, even to a slight extent, the thoughts of all those who have given this question serious consideration.

At first, then, instead of asking what religion is I should prefer to ask what characterizes the aspirations of a person who gives me the impression of being religious: a person who is religiously enlightened appears to me to be one who has, to the best of his ability, liberated himself from the fetters of’ his selfish desires and ‘is preoccupied with thoughts, feelings, and aspirations, to which he clings because of their superpersonal value. It seems to me that what is important is the force of this superpersonal content and the depth of the conviction concerning its overpowering meaningfulness, regardless of whether any attempt is made to unite this content with a divine Being, for otherwise it would not be possible to count Buddha and Spinoza as religious personalities. Accordingly, a religious person is devout in the sense that he has no doubt of the significance and loftiness of those superpersonal objects and goals which neither require nor are capable of rational foundation. They exist with the same necessity and matter-of-factness as he himself. In this sense religion is the age-old endeavor of mankind, to become clearly and completely conscious of these values and goals and constantly to strengthen and extend their effect. If one conceives of religion and science according to these definitions then a conflict between them appears impossible. For science can only ascertain what is but not what should be, and outside of its domain value judgments of all kinds remain necessary. Religion, on the other hand, deals only with evaluations of human thought and action: it cannot justifiably speak of facts and relationships between facts. According to this interpretation the well-known conflicts between religion and science in the past must be ascribed to a misapprehension of the situation which has been described.

For example, a conflict arises when a religious community insists on the absolute truthfulness of all statements recorded in the Bible. This means an intervention on the part of religion into the sphere of science; this is where the struggle of the Church against the doctrines of Galileo and Darwin belongs. On the other hand, representatives of science have often made an attempt to arrive at fundamental judgments with respect to values and ends on the basis of scientific method, and in this way have set themselves in opposition to religion. These conflicts have all sprung from fatal errors.

Now, even though the realms of religion and science in themselves are clearly marked off from each other, nevertheless there exist between the two strong reciprocal relationships and dependencies. Though religion may be that which determines the goal, it has, nevertheless, learned from science, in the broadest sense, what means will contribute to the attainment of the goals it has set up. But science can only be created by those who are thoroughly imbued with the aspiration toward truth and understanding. This source of feeling, however, springs from the sphere of religion. To this there also belongs the faith in the possibility that the regulations valid for the world of existence are rational, that is, comprehensible to reason. I cannot conceive of a genuine scientist without that profound faith. The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

Though I have asserted above that in truth a legitimate conflict between religion and science cannot exist, I must nevertheless qualify this assertion once again on an essential point, with reference to the actual content of historical religions. This qualification has to do with the concept of God. During the youthful period of mankind’s spiritual evolution human fantasy created gods in man’s own image, who, by the operations of their will were supposed to determine, or at any rate to influence, the phenomenal world. Man sought to alter the disposition of these gods in his own favor by means of magic and prayer. The idea of God in the religions taught at present is a sublimation of that old concept of the gods. Its anthropomorphic character is shown, for instance, by the fact that men appeal to the Divine Being in prayers and plead for the fulfillment of their wishes.

Nobody, certainly, will deny that the idea of the existence of an omnipotent, just, and omnibeneficent personal God is able to accord man solace, help, and guidance; also, by virtue of its simplicity it is accessible to the most undeveloped mind. But, on the other hand, there are decisive weaknesses attached to this idea in itself, which have been painfully felt since the beginning of history. That is, if this being is omnipotent, then every occurrence, including every human action, every human thought, and every human feeling and aspiration is also His work; how is it possible to think of holding men responsible for their deeds and thoughts before such an almighty Being? In giving out punishment and rewards He would to a certain extent be passing judgment on Himself. How can this be combined with the goodness and righteousness ascribed to Him?

The main source of the present-day conflicts between the spheres of religion and of science lies in this concept of a personal God. It is the aim of science to establish general rules which determine the reciprocal connection of objects and events in time and space. For these rules, or laws of nature, absolutely general validity is required – not proven. It is mainly a program, and faith in the possibility of its accomplishment in principle is only founded on partial successes. But hardly anyone could be found who would deny these partial successes and ascribe them to human self-deception. The fact that on the basis of such laws we are able to predict the temporal behavior of phenomena in certain domains with great precision and certainty is deeply embedded in the consciousness of the modern man, even though he may have grasped very little of the contents of those laws. He need only consider that planetary courses within the solar system may be calculated in advance with great exactitude on the basis of a limited number of simple laws. In a similar way, though not with the same precision, it is possible to calculate in advance the mode of operation of an electric motor, a transmission system, or of a wireless apparatus, even when dealing with a novel development.

To be sure, when the number of factors coming into play in a phenomenological complex is too large, scientific method in most cases fails us. One need only think of the weather, in which case prediction even for a few days ahead is impossible. Nevertheless no one doubts that we are confronted with a causal connection whose causal components are in the main known to us. Occurrences in this domain are beyond the reach of exact prediction because of the variety of factors in operation, not because of any lack of order in nature.

We have penetrated far less deeply into the regularities obtaining within the realm of living things, but deeply enough nevertheless to sense at least the rule of fixed necessity. One need only think of the systematic order in heredity, and in the effect of poisons, as for instance alcohol, on the behavior of organic beings. What is still lacking here is a grasp of connections of profound generality, but not a knowledge of order in itself.

The more a man is imbued with the ordered regularity of all events the firmer becomes his conviction that there is no room left by the side of this ordered regularity for causes of a different nature. For him neither the rule of human nor the rule of divine will exists as an independent cause of natural events. To be sure, the doctrine of a personal God interfering with natural events could never be refuted in the real sense, by science, for this doctrine can always take refuge in those domains in which scientific knowledge has not yet been able to set foot.

But I am persuaded that such behavior on the part of the representatives of religion would not only be unworthy but also fatal. For a doctrine which is able to maintain itself not in clear light but only in the dark, will of necessity lose its effect on mankind, with incalculable harm to human progress. In their struggle for the ethical good, teachers of religion must have the stature to give up the doctrine of a personal God, that is, give up that source of fear and hope which in the past placed such vast power in the hands of priests. In their labors they will have to avail themselves of those forces which are capable of cultivating the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in humanity itself. This is, to be sure, a more difficult but an incomparably more worthy task. After religious teachers accomplish the refining process indicated they will surely recognize with joy that true religion has been ennobled and made more profound by scientific knowledge.

If it is one of the goals of religion to liberate mankind as far as possible from the bondage of egocentric cravings, desires, and fears, scientific reasoning can aid religion in yet another sense. Although it is true that it is the goal of science to discover rules which permit the association and foretelling of facts, this is not its only aim. It also seeks to reduce the connections discovered to the smallest possible number of mutually independent conceptual elements. It is in this striving after the rational unification of the manifold that it encounters its greatest successes, even though it is precisely this attempt which causes it to run the greatest risk of falling a prey to illusions. But whoever has undergone the intense experience of successful advances made in this domain is moved by profound reverence for the rationality made manifest in existence. By way of the understanding he achieves a far-reaching emancipation from the shackles of personal hopes and desires, and thereby attains that humble attitude of mind toward the grandeur of reason incarnate in existence, and which, in its profoundest depths, is inaccessible to man. This attitude, however, appears to me to be religious, in the highest sense of the word. And so it seems to me that science not only purifies the religious impulse of the dross of its anthropomorphism but also contributes to a religious spiritualization of our understanding of life.

The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge. In this sense I believe that the priest must become a teacher if he wishes to do justice to his lofty educational mission.

30 December 2024

Source: transcend.org

The End of Organized Humanity

1 Dec 2024

Noam Chomsky, at a video conference in 2023, offers his truth-telling to the center of our global self-terminating culture. While his wisdom and courage have been consistent through his lifetime, it is heartbreaking to see how little of that wisdom humanity has taken in.

Video:

The End of Organized Humanity Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, logician, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes described as “the father of modern linguistics,” Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy, and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He has spent more than half a century at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he is Institute Professor Emeritus, and is the author of over 100 books on topics such as linguistics, war, politics, mass media, US foreign policy, social issues, Latin American and European history, and more. His latest books are Failed States, The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy and Hegemony or Survival, both in the American Empire Project series at Metropolitan Books. noamchomsky@​email.arizona.edu

30 December 2024

Source: transcend.org