Supply Lines: Red Sea Update

According to the Bloomberg, Red Sea shipping diversions may last a few more months, and some people think they could go on even longer.

That’s among the takeaways from the CEO of Hapag-Lloyd, the world’s No. 5 container line, in an interview Thursday on Bloomberg TV. Rolf Habben Jansen was speaking as the Hamburg, Germany-based company announced 2023 earnings that showed a steep drop in revenue and profits from a year earlier.

Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea have disrupted supply chains since mid-December 2023, forcing carriers to change routes and redo schedules — adjustments that have helped absorb excess capacity.

As a result, they’re burning more fuel and taking longer to deliver, with some needing to purchase more containers given the extended routes. The added costs are getting past along to customers.

The longer routes around southern Africa initially boosted spot container rates but those are coming down, Jansen said. “The services are stabilizing, which also means that the market is getting calmer.”

He indicated, though, that there’s no telling when the Red Sea will be safe enough to transit again.

“We hope that we’re going to be able to go back through in a couple of months,” Jansen said. “But I know there are also people that think that it will last quite a while longer.”

In the medium term, excess capacity may return to weigh on freight rates. Hapag-Lloyd expects the market to remain difficult for carriers given the large number of ship deliveries this year, Jansen said in the company’s 2023 annual report.

Sharing that view was Zim Integrated Shipping CEO Eli Glickman, who spoke on a conference call on Wednesday. “Once the Red Sea crisis is resolved, we will likely revert to the supply-demand scenario that began to play out in ‘23, setting up a more challenging third and fourth quarter of 2024 for the industry, including us,” he said.

It’s not just the shipping companies facing a tough environment. World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told Bloomberg in an interview that “the risks are all on the downside.”

But corporate supply chains have gotten more resilient and flexible. Here’s a rundown of comments that a few big shippers and a major port operator have offered this week:

Samsonite CFO Reza Taleghani: “So if you think about things you read about in the news, shipping delays, Red Sea, et cetera, we are just fine. We have inventory exactly where we need it to be. All of our facilities, even if there is a week or two delays, not that big of a deal.”

Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden: “We have a little bit of headwind in freight in the first half because of the Red Sea situation, and as you know, if the freight companies have a chance to do something they increase prices. That should normalize and then the rest of everything that has to do with margin is going in the right direction.”

Williams-Sonoma CEO Laura Alber: “When a problem comes along, they’re real. The Red Sea disruption is pretty terrible. However, it is not costing us any more money. So far it is costing us about 10 days of delivery, give or take. And as I mentioned last time, we padded the deliveries to our customers once we heard about it, so we didn't disappoint them.”

DP World Group Chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem: “Despite the uncertain start to 2024 with the ongoing Red Sea crisis, our portfolio has continued to demonstrate resilience. The outlook remains uncertain due to the challenging geopolitical and economic environment.”

 

Netanyahu hurting Israel more than helping it

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is undermining the values on which Israel was founded and is harming the country with his handling of the Gaza war, US President Joe Biden charged during an interview he gave to MSNBC on Saturday.

“He has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas, but he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken.”

“He is hurting Israel more than helping Israel by making the rest of the world … it is contrary to what Israel stands for, and I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden said.

He spoke amid growing tensions between Israel and the United States over Israel’s conduct of its military campaign to destroy Hamas in Gaza, an operation which it supports in principle, but has otherwise opposed elements of its operation.

The United States has been concerned in particular by the high fatality count, with Hamas asserting that over 31,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war.

Israel has stated that over 11,000 of the fatalities have been combatants.

The US has also argued that Israel has not done enough to contain the humanitarian disaster that accompanied its military campaign, during which it has taken out roads, infrastructure, and the governance system, making it difficult to distribute and in some cases impossible to distribute aid.

Biden was careful to stress to MSNBC that irrespective of his thoughts on Netanyahu, he supported Israel, particularly concerning defensive weapons.

"I am never going to leave Israel,” Biden emphasized.

“The defense of Israel is still critical, so there is no red line where I am going to cut off all weapons so they do not have the Iron Dome to protect them,” Biden said.

Within that framework there are still red lines Israel should not cross, such as a military operation in Rafah, Biden said. He has stressed in the past that the US would only support such an operation if Israel presented a plan to protect the over 1.3 million Palestinians located in the area of that southern city, many of whom fled there to escape Israeli aerial bombings in the northern part of the enclave.

Israel builds road across width of Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has finished building a new road which runs across northern Gaza from east to west, reports Saudi Gazette.

The IDF told, they were attempting to gain an operational foothold, and facilitate the movement of troops and equipment. But some experts fear it will used as a barrier, preventing Palestinians from returning to their homes in the north. Others said it appeared to be part of an Israeli plan to remain in Gaza beyond the end of current hostilities.

In February, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled a post-war vision in which Israel would control security in Gaza indefinitely.

International leaders have previously warned Israel against permanently displacing Palestinians or reducing the size of Gaza.
The road runs across north Gaza, with central and southern areas lying below it. It starts at Gaza's border fence with Israel near the Nahal Oz kibbutz and finishes near the coast.

It also intersects with the Salah Al-Din and Al-Rashid roads, the two major arteries running through the territory.

Although there is a network of roads which connect east and west, the new IDF route is the only one which runs uninterrupted across Gaza.

Satellite imagery analysis by the BBC reveals that the IDF has built over 5km (3 miles) of new road sections to join up previously unconnected roads.

The initial section of the road in eastern Gaza near the Israeli border was established between late last October and early November. But most of the new sections were built during February and in early March.

The new route is wider than a typical road in Gaza, excluding Salah Al-Din.

Imagery analysis also shows that buildings along the route, which appear to be warehouses, were demolished from the end of December until late January. This includes one building several stories high.

The road spans an area which previously had fewer buildings and was less densely populated than other parts of Gaza. It also sits below a makeshift and winding route which the IDF had been using to move from east to west.

An Israeli TV channel reported on the route in February, saying it was code named "Highway 749". A reporter from Channel 14 traveled along parts of the route with the Israeli military.

In the video, road construction vehicles and diggers were seen preparing for the construction of new sections of the route.

Analysts at Janes, a defense intelligence company, said the type of unpaved road surface seen in the Channel 14 footage, was suitable for tracked armored vehicles.

The IDF did not go into this type of detail in its statement. "As part of the ground operation, the IDF uses an operational route of passage," it said.

Retired Brig. Gen. Jacob Nagel, former head of Israel's National Security Council and a former security adviser to Netanyahu, told BBC Arabic that the objective of the new route was to provide fast access for security forces when dealing with fresh threats.

"It will help Israel go in and out... because Israel is going to have total defense, security and responsibility for Gaza," he told BBC Arabic.

He described it as "A road that divides the northern part from the southern part".

"We don't want to wait until a threat is emerging," he added.

Maj. Gen. Yaakov Amidror, formerly of the IDF, had a similar view. The primary purpose of the new road was to facilitate logistical and military control in the region, he said.

Justin Crump, a former British Army officer who runs Sibylline, a risk intelligence company, said the new route was significant.

"It certainly looks like it's part of a longer-term strategy to have at least some form of security intervention and control in the Gaza Strip," said Crump.

"This area cuts off Gaza City from the south of the strip, making it an effective control line to monitor or limit movement, and has relatively open fields of fire."

Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the US-based Middle East Institute, also thinks the road is a long-term project.

"It appears that the Israeli military will remain in Gaza indefinitely," he told the BBC.

"By dividing Gaza in half, Israel will control not only what goes in and out of Gaza, but also movement within Gaza," said the analyst.

"This includes quite possibly preventing the 1.5 million displaced Palestinians in the south from returning to their homes in the north”.

US Veterans Demand Termination of Weapons Sales to Israel

 In a letter to the Inspector General of the US State Department, a national veterans’ organization has demanded the State Department terminate weapons shipments to Israel and called on the Inspector General to investigate alleged criminal acts by senior Biden administration officials in violation of US law, including ratified treaties, which are the supreme law of the land. 

Josh Paul, former State Department senior official who resigned over weapons shipments to Israel said, “The Secretary and all relevant officials under his purview should take this letter from Veterans for Peace (VFP) with the utmost seriousness. It is a stark reminder of the importance of abiding by the laws and policies that relate to arms transfers.” 

Mike Ferner, VFP National Director said, “Just as any good soldier can recognize when they are given an unlawful order, we believe some State Department staff are horrified at the orders they’re given and will decide to uphold the law, find the courage to speak out and demand an end to the carnage.

VFP enthusiastically supports Josh Paul for what he did and we believe the public does, too. The IDF has killed over 30,000 Palestinians and is utterly destroying Gaza. These actions amount to genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and VFP wants them investigated.” 

“Unless no one in the entire US State Department has seen the news in the last four months, they have to be aware of Israel’s illegal activity. But just in case, our letter to the Inspector General spells it out in chapter and verse. We believe the State Department – from the Secretary down to every staff person working on arms transfers to Israel – is in criminal violation of U.S. statutes regarding how U.S. weaponry can be used. There’s no ‘Israel exception’ that makes it okay for U.S. weapons to be used in genocide even if it’s labeled self-defense,” Ferner concluded. 

The letter from Veterans For Peace alleges violations by the US government and its officials of: 

• The Conventional Arms Transfer Policy, which prohibits US weapons transfers when it’s likely they will be used by Israel to commit genocide; crimes against humanity; and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, including attacks intentionally directed against civilian objects or civilians protected or other serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law, including serious acts of gender-based violence or serious acts of violence against children. Dozens of authoritative complaints and referrals made by hospital administrators in Gaza, as well as by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Palestine Authority, South Africa, Turkey, Medicins san Frontieres, UNRWA, UNICEF, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Norwegian Refugee Council and the World Food Program, have confirmed that there is an ongoing human rights and humanitarian disaster due to Israel’s cutoff of water and electricity, deliberate destruction of sewage infrastructure and delaying of aid shipments by Israeli forces. 

• The Foreign Assistance Act, which forbids the provision of assistance to a government which “engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.” 

• Arms Export Control Act, which says countries that receive US military aid can only use weapons for legitimate self-defense and internal security. Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza goes way beyond self-defense and internal security. 

• The US War Crimes Act, which forbids grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, including willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, and unlawful deportation or transfer, perpetrated by the Israeli Occupying Forces. 

• The Leahy Law, which prohibits the US Government from using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights. 

• The Genocide Convention Implementation Act, which was enacted to implement U.S. obligations under the Genocide Convention, provides for criminal penalties for individuals who commit or incite others to commit genocide. 

Human rights attorney, Terry Lodge, who drafted the VFP letter, pointed out what he called, “The State Department’s double standard to determine war criminality,” citing a December 6, 2023, determination by Secretary Blinken, “that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of Sudan had ‘committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.’ As horrible as the crimes of the RSF may be, they pale compared to what Israel is doing in Gaza.” 

Veterans For Peace has over 100 chapters in the US and since 1985 has exposed the true costs of war and militarism. Its goal is to abolish war as an instrument of national policy. 

 

 

Iran demands nuclear disarmament of Israel

Iran has sounded the alarm bell over Israel’s possession of deadly nuclear weapons, saying the regime’s conduct shows its nuclear arsenal poses a threat to not only Palestinians but people across the world. 

“The international community must take this threat seriously and make a decisive decision to confront the unprecedented threat posed by this occupying, apartheid, and discriminatory regime to global peace. This occupying regime has become so emboldened by the support of the United States and some Western countries that it shamelessly threatens both the oppressed people of Gaza and the countries of the region with nuclear weapons,” warned Iran’s Foreign Minister while addressing a high-level disarmament conference at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Israeli cabinet has suggested the use of nuclear weapons against Palestinians in Gaza multiple times during the past months.

That’s while since October 07, the regime has carpet-bombed the entirety of Gaza, leveling at least 70% of the strip’s infrastructure and buildings.

Its deadly military campaign has also left behind a vast carnage of over 30,000 Palestinian civilians, with the rest of the population now grappling with famine and disease. 

“The world must acknowledge that nuclear weapons in the hands of such a regime constitute the most serious and urgent threat to humanity. It is necessary to dismantle all the nuclear arsenals of this regime and subject all its nuclear installations to the inspections and mechanisms of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” Hossein Amir Abdollahian added. 

The top Iranian diplomat also criticized Washington’s untrammeled support for the regime, saying the US has been scuppering regional countries’ efforts aimed at making West Asia a nuclear-weapon-free zone. 

Israel is estimated to have at least 90 nuclear warheads, with fissile material stockpiles of over 200. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has never inspected any of the regime’s nuclear sites despite repeated calls from countries in West Asia.  

 

US duplicity and Arab cowardice facilitating genocide in Gaza

President Biden, looking somber, keeps urging Israel to avoid civilian deaths and to use targeted strikes on Hamas. Yet he keeps supplying Israel with 2,000 pound bunker buster bombs that are designed to kill indiscriminately and over a wide area. 

He reels against nuclear proliferation and vows to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Yet the United States will not even acknowledge the fact that Israel possesses over 200 nukes, let alone endorse a longstanding Arab and Iranian proposal to declare the region a nuclear-free zone, simply to facilitate Israel to threaten its neighbors of risk of a nuclear war. 

The United State says it wants an end to hostilities and civilian deaths, largely those of women and children in the Gaza war that is not a war because what we have is an army of well-equipped soldiers massacring defenseless women and children. Yet at the United Nations Security Council, the US has exercised vetoed three resolutions demanding an immediate ceasefire.

The world recognizes that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is illegal and the US says these settlements should not be expanded, yet it is overlooking proliferation of settlements.

Lately, at the International Court of Justice, the US rushed to Israel’s defense—urging the 15-judge panel not to call for Israel’s withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territory. The American State Department lawyer in support of Israel argued that the solution was not an Israeli withdrawal but that a sovereign Palestinian state living safely and securely alongside Israel would bring about lasting peace, repeating longstanding US platitudes that Netanyahu and two of his cabinet ministers have said will never be allowed by Israel.

The US espouses these words in public in support of a Palestinian state, yet does nothing to make it a reality. 

The US officials say that they have limited power over Netanyahu and Israel. Why doesn’t Biden announce: 1) US will no longer support Israeli intransigence at the United Nations, 2) US will suspend all financial and military aid to Israel (amounting to around US$300 billion over the years), and US will no longer sell arms to Israel?

Netanyahu will do as he is told. If Netanyahu does not do as told by the US and if Israel then loses US backing, Israelis would feel so naked and vulnerable that they would demand a change of government, it is that simple.

Regrettably, no US president dares taking such a stand because of the power of the Jewish lobby. It’s time for the US citizens to wake up and demand their government treat Israel as an ally but not as the 51st state.

It will not be wrong to say that the US foreign policy toward the Middle East is in large part subservient to Israeli demands and the Jewish lobby.

Palestinians have also received little or no effective backing from their Arab and Muslim brethren. Most Arab and Muslim countries have supported South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and others have voiced their anger at Israel’s attack on Gaza, but there is much more that they could do if they had a little courage and compassion in the face of the massacre of innocent civilians, largely women and children. 

If Arabs and Muslims want to force a change in the US policies and create a Palestinian state forthwith, they should: 1) recall their ambassadors to Washington (and to Tel Aviv for those having relations), 2) expel all US military personnel (bases) from their territories, 3) follow up with both primary and secondary economic sanctions on Israel, and 4) bring cases at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli leaders and American and European heads of state for complicity in Israeli war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Cognizant of the fact that Israel and the US are not members of the ICC, enforcement of the court verdicts is difficult, still a conviction would be a black mark that no one would want.

Some Arab countries would be wise to consider these steps sooner rather than later as they may face growing domestic demands for action, while may lead to unrest.

Courtesy: Tehran Times

 

Most Palestinians Support Hamas

Joe Biden, President, United States, declared on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, "The overwhelming majority of Palestinians are not Hamas." He elaborated, "I won't mince words. The overwhelming majority of Palestinians are not Hamas. And Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people. They're also suffering as a result of Hamas' terrorism. We need to be clear-eyed about that reality."

The Jerusalem Post writes in its editorial, “President Biden, though most Palestinians aren’t Hamas, as you claimed, a vast majority of them agree with almost any question regarding their basic ideology after October 07”.

Suppose most Palestinians, as well as most Israelis, are against a Two State Solution. In that case, you should probably speak to your advisors and ask them to think of a more practical solution - since on the ground, here in the Middle East, a two-state solution isn’t realistic if even an option.

Throughout the conflict, there has been significant debate both within Israel and internationally regarding the extent to which Hamas represents Palestinians in Gaza, the level of support for Hamas among Gazans, and the proportion of the death toll in Gaza comprising Hamas operatives.

The discussion about Gazan support for, and involvement with, Hamas has intensified recently, particularly with the looming yet uncertain ground operation expected in Rafah.

Following the president's statement, various public figures disagreed on social media. Among them, former Miss Iraq, now a human rights advocate and ally to Israel, Sarah Idan, countered with, "Tell that to the Palestinians in my inbox telling me Hamas are heroes and are freedom fighters…"

Though not all Palestinians are members of Hamas or even support it, most of them agree with its basic ideology. Several surveys, as well as monitoring of social media, found that Biden’s remarks are off.

According to a November 14 survey by the Arab World for Research and Development, most Palestinians supported the killing and kidnapping of Israelis on October 07, and just a tiny percentage supported a two-state solution.

The survey posed the question, how much do you support the military operation carried out by the Palestinian resistance led by Hamas on October 07?

The findings revealed substantial support among Palestinians for the attack.

In the West Bank, 83.1% expressed their support to varying degrees, while only 6.9% were strongly or somewhat opposed, and 8.4% remained neutral.

In the Gaza Strip, though support was slightly less unanimous, a majority of 63.6% still backed the attack, either strongly or to some extent. Another 14.4% were neutral, and opposition was slightly higher at 20.9%. Overall, 75% of respondents supported the October 07 attack in some capacity.

Regarding gender perspectives, the difference in support between Palestinian men and women was negligible, with 75.2% of men and 74.9% of women supporting the attack to some extent.

Only a minority, 0.9%, believed the attack aimed to halt the peace process, and 0.7% thought it was to prevent settlement. Additionally, 5.1% perceived the attack as benefiting Iran's interests.

When it came to the concept of a two-state solution, 74.7% favored a single Palestinian state "from the river to the sea," with higher support in the West Bank (77.7%) compared to Gaza (70.4%). Support for a two-state solution was 17.2%, with Gazans (22.7%) more favored than West Bank residents (13.3%). Only 5.4% backed a "one-state for two peoples" solution.

The perception of the conflict's nature varied, with only 18.6% viewing it as between Israel and Hamas. A majority, 63.6%, saw it as a conflict between Israel and the Palestinians at large, and 9.4% interpreted it as a conflict between the Western world and the Arab world.

Inquiries about the motive behind the October 07 operation revealed that 31.7% of West Bank respondents and 24.9% from Gaza identified "freeing Palestine" as the primary reason.

Additionally, 23.3% from the West Bank and 17.7% from Gaza pointed to "breaking the siege on the Gaza Strip" as the motive, while 35% overall cited "stopping the violations of Aqsa" as the reason, referring to issues surrounding the Al-Aqsa mosque's access.

 

Would Biden like to be remembered "an enabler of genocide by Israel"

There is a growing consensus that Joe Biden, President of United States needs to take back US policy from the Israel lobby and stop backing Israel’s extremist and utterly illegal policies. Israeli leaders have shown not the slightest compunction in killing tens of thousands of innocent civilians, displacing 2 million Gazans, and calling for ethnic cleansing.

The International Court of Justice has determined that Israel may well be committing genocide, and the ICJ could make a definitive determination of genocide in the next year or two. Biden would enter history as an enabler of genocide, yet he still has the chance to be the US president who prevented genocide.

Biden needs to take back US policy from the Israel lobby. The US should stop backing Israel’s extremist and utterly illegal policies. Nor should

The US should not spend any more funds on Israel unless and until Israel lives within international law, including the Genocide Convention, and 21st century ethics.

Biden should side with the UN Security Council in calling for an immediate ceasefire and indeed in calling for an immediate move to the two-state solution, including recognition of Palestine as the 194th UN member state, a move that is more than a decade overdue since Palestine requested UN membership in 2011.

The cabinet of Prime Minister Netanyahu is filled with religious extremists who believe that Israel’s brutality in Gaza is at God’s command. According to the Book of Joshua in the Hebrew Bible, dated by scholars to the 7th century BC, God promised the land to the Jewish people and instructed them to destroy the other nations living in the Promised Land.

This text is used by extreme nationalists in Israel today, including by many of the 700,000 or so Israeli settlers living in occupied Palestinian lands in violation of international law. Netanyahu pursues the religious ideology of 7th century BC in the 21st century.

Of course, the vast majority of the world today, including the vast majority of Americans, is certainly not in line with Israel’s religious zealots. The world is far more interested in the 1948 Genocide Convention than in the genocides supposedly ordained by God in the Book of Joshua.

They don’t accept the Biblical idea that Israel should kill or expel the people of Palestine from their own land.

The two-state solution is the declared policy of the world community, as enshrined by the UN Security Council, and of the US government.

President Joe Biden is therefore caught between the powerful Israel Lobby and the opinion of American voters and of the world community.

Given the power of the Israel lobby, and the sums it expends in campaign contributions, Biden is trying to have it both ways: supporting Israel but not endorsing Israel’s extremism.

Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken hope to entice the Arab countries into yet another open-ended peace process with the two-state solution as the distant goal that is never reached.

Israeli hardliners would of course block every step of the way. Biden knows all of this but wants the fig leaf of a peace process.

Biden also hoped until recently that Saudi Arabia could be lured into normalizing relations with Israel in return for F-35 fighter jets, access to nuclear technology, and a vague commitment to an eventual two-state solution... someday, somehow.

The Saudis will have none of it. They made this clear in a declaration on February 06, stating, The Kingdom calls for the lifting of the siege on the people in Gaza; the evacuation of civilian casualties; the commitment to international laws and norms and international humanitarian law, and for moving the peace process forward in accordance with the resolutions of the Security Council and the United Nations, and the Arab Peace Initiative, which aims to find a just and comprehensive solution and establish an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as capital.

Domestically, Biden confronts AIPAC (the innocuously named American Israel Public Affairs Committee), the lead organization of the Israel lobby. AIPAC’s long-running success is to turn millions of dollars of campaign contributions into billions of dollars of US aid to Israel, an amazingly high return.

Currently, AIPAC aims to turn around US$100 million of campaign funding for the November election into a US$16 billion supplemental aid package for Israel.

So far, Biden is going along with AIPAC, even as he loses younger voters. In an Economist/YouGov poll of January 21-23, 49% of those aged 19-29 held that Israel is committing a genocide against the Palestinian civilians. Only 22% said that in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, their sympathies are with Israel, versus 30% with Palestine, and the remaining 48% “about equal” or unsure. Only 21% agreed with increasing military aid to Israel. Israel has utterly alienated younger Americans.

While Biden has called for peace based on the two-state solution and a reduction of violence in Gaza, Netanyahu has brazenly brushed Biden aside, provoking Biden to call Netanyahu an asshole on several occasions.

Yet it is Netanyahu, not Biden, who still calls the shots in Washington. While Biden and Blinken wring their hands at Israel’s extreme violence, Netanyahu gets the US bombs and even Biden’s full backing for the US$16 billion with no US red lines.

To see the absurdity—and tragedy—of the situation, consider Blinken’s statement in Tel Aviv on February 07.

Rather than putting any limits on Israel’s violence, made possible by the US, Blinken declared that “it will be up to Israelis to decide what they want to do, when they want to do it, how they want to do it. No one’s going to make those decisions for them. All that we can do is to show what the possibilities are, what the options are, what the future could be, and compare it to the alternative. And the alternative right now looks like an endless cycle of violence and destruction and despair.”

Lately, the US used its veto power to kill the Algerian draft resolution in the UN Security Council calling for an immediate cease-fire, with US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield calling the effort to pass the measure "wishful" and "irresponsible."

Biden has put forward a weak alternative, calling for a ceasefire “as soon as practicable,” whatever that means. In practice, it would also surely mean that Israel would simply declare a cease-fire to be “impracticable.”

 

 

Lula equates genocide in Gaza to Holocaust

Israel has condemned Brazil's president after he accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, comparing its actions to the Holocaust. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Israel's military campaign was between a highly prepared army and women and children.

Israel accused Lula of trivializing the Holocaust and says it is fighting to destroy Hamas and return hostages taken by the militant group on October 07.

The main Jewish organization in Brazil also criticized Lula's comments.

Speaking from an African Union summit in Ethiopia, Lula said, "What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in other historical moments. In fact, it did exist when Hitler decided to kill the Jews”.

But he has since been vocally critical of Israel's retaliatory military campaign, which the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says has killed more than 28,800 people, mainly women and children.

His latest comments come after Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to press ahead with an offensive in Rafah - the southern-most Gazan city where some 1.5 million people have fled - in the face of increasing international pressure.

Netanyahu said Lula's remarks amounted to "Holocaust trivialization and an attempt to harm the Jewish people and the right of Israel to defend itself".

"The comparison between Israel to the Holocaust of the Nazis and Hitler is crossing a red line," he said in a statement.

Six million Jewish people were systematically murdered by Hitler's Nazi regime during the 1930s and 1940s.

Israel has summoned the Brazilian ambassador for a meeting on Monday.

The Brazilian Israelite Confederation said Lula's remarks were a perverse distortion of reality which offends the memory of Holocaust victims and their descendants".

Lula endorsed South Africa's case of genocide brought against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last year.

Judges at the ICJ ruled in January that South Africa's case against Israel could proceed.

The court instructed Israel to prevent its military from committing acts which might be considered genocidal, to prevent and punish incitement to genocide, and to enable humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza.

Brazil and South Africa are members of the BRICS group of countries - an alliance of some of the world's most important developing economies brought together to challenge wealthier Western nations.

On the ground in Gaza, the World Health Organization has said the territory's Nasser hospital has ceased to function following an Israeli raid. The IDF said its operation was precise and limited and accused Hamas of cynically using hospitals for terror.

Meanwhile, efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have been taking place in Cairo, though Qatar mediators said recent progress was not very promising.

 

Israel decides to invade Rafah in Ramadan

Israeli officials appear to have set a deadline to invade Rafah, the largest refugee camp in the coastal territory, during Ramadan, which begins on March 10.

Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli war Cabinet, delivered an ultimatum at a Sunday event with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, an umbrella group for the American Jewish community.

“The world must know — and Hamas leaders must know — that if by Ramadan the hostages are not home, then the fighting will continue, including in Rafah,” Gantz said at the event.

Israel has argued it must move into Rafah, which hosts more than a million Palestinians sheltering from the war, to ensure the complete military defeat of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

But the looming offensive is spurring major concerns from human rights groups and emergency responders on the ground, who warn that any invasion of Rafah could trigger a huge loss of civilian life and upend humanitarian efforts in the Gaza strip.

Rafah, which borders Egypt, is the only place where humanitarian aid is consistently entering Gaza, and Israeli military operations there could hinder what few basic necessities many Palestinian civilians have access to, including food, water and medical aid.

“Military operations in Rafah could lead to a slaughter in Gaza," said Martin Griffiths, the UN emergency relief coordinator, in a statement last week. “They could also leave an already fragile humanitarian operation at death’s door.”

To address those concerns, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered his military to draft a plan to evacuate civilians before the invasion. Israel’s main ally, the US, has backed a move into Rafah, but only if a plan is created to keep civilians safe.

With the Rafah operation imminent, Israel is facing pressure from the Biden administration to protect civilian lives with an evacuation plan.

Meanwhile, Arab neighbors are pushing Israel not to invade the refugee camp. Egyptian officials have reportedly threatened to shatter a decades-old peace treaty with Israel if troops move into Rafah, which could send Palestinians over the border into Egypt and possibly displace them permanently.

 

Seems no end to tyranny faced by Gazans

Now is the time for the United States, and in its wake the international community, to make a decision. Will the endless cycle of violence between Israel and the Palestinians continue, or are we going to try to put a stop to it? Will the United States continue to arm Israel and then bemoan the excessive use of these armaments, or is it finally prepared to take real steps, for the first time in its history, to change reality? And above all, will the cruelest Israeli attack on Gaza become the most pointless of all, or will the opportunity that came in its aftermath not be missed, for a change?

A Palestinian state may no longer be a viable solution because of the hundreds of thousands of settlers who ruined the chances for establishing one. But a world determined to find a solution must pose a clear choice for Israel: sanctions, or an end to the occupation; territories or weapons; settlements or international support; a democratic state or a Jewish one; apartheid, or an end to Zionism. When the world stands firm, posing these options in such a manner, Israel will have to decide. Now is the time to force Israel to make the most fateful decision of its life.

There is no point in appealing to Israel. The current government, and the one that is likely to replace it, does not and never will have the intention, courage or ability to generate change. When the prime minister responds to American talks about establishing a Palestinian state with words indicating that he “objects to coerced moves,” or that “an agreement will only be reached through negotiations,” all one can do is both laugh and cry.

Laugh, because over the years Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has done all he can to foil negotiations; cry, because Israel is the one employing coercion – the nature of its policy toward the Palestinians is coercion carried out in one big unilateral, violent, aggressive and arrogant move. All of a sudden, Israel is against acts of coercion? Irony hides its head in shame.

It is pointless to expect the current Israeli government to change its character. To expect a government led by Benny Gantz, Gadi Eisenkot or Yair Lapid to do so is also painfully futile. None of them believe in the existence of a Palestinian state that is equal in its sovereign status and rights to Israel.

The three of them together and each one separately will at most, on a really good day, agree to the establishment of a Bantustan on part of the land. A genuine solution will not be found here. It’s best to leave Israel to wallow in its refusal.

But the world cannot afford to let this opportunity pass. This is the world that will soon have to reconstruct, with its funds, the ruins of the Gaza Strip, until the next time Israel demolishes it.

It is the world whose stability is undermined as long as the occupation persists, and is further undermined every time Israel embarks on another war.

This is the world that agrees that the occupation is bad for it, but has never lifted a finger to bring it to an end. Now, an opportunity to do so has cropped up. Israel’s weakness and dependence following this war must be exploited, for Israel’s benefit as well.

Enough with words, enough with the futile rounds of talks held by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the barbed words uttered by President Joe Biden, they lead nowhere.

The last Zionist president, perhaps the last one to care about what is happening in the world, must take action. One could, as a prelude, learn something from the amazingly simple and true words of European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who said, “Well, if you believe that too many people are being killed, maybe you should provide less arms to Israel.”

However, the issue is not just ending the war, but mainly, what will happen when it’s over. If it depended on Israel, under any government, we would return to the warm bosom of apartheid and to living by the sword.

The world cannot accept this any longer and cannot leave the choice to Israel. Israel has spoken: No. The time has come for a Dayton Accords-like solution. It was a forced and imperfect agreement reached in Bosnia-Herzegovina that put an end to one of the cruelest wars, and in contrast to all predictions, it has held for 29 years. The agreement was imposed by coercion.

 Courtesy: Information Clearing House

 

Israel belongs to Palestinians living in Gaza

Many professing solidarity with Palestinians say they have nowhere to go. It’s not true. They do, somewhere they actually should go, their homes in what is now Israel. The majority of families of Palestinians in Gaza were forced there by Israel in 1948.

The great thread by Hanine Hassan, “Who told you that the 1.5 million displaced Palestinians sheltering in Rafah have nowhere left to go? My family, now in Rafah, has a home in Jaffa, from which we were expelled by a fascist German family. The majority of our people in Gaza have homes to go to, all over Palestine.”

Prof. John Quigley has noted, “They are entitled to repatriation under international law, including the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination which Israel has signed and ratified.”

There’s UN Resolution 194 dated December 11, 1948, “Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return…”

The extremely pro-Israel Harry Truman said if Israel continues to reject the basic principles set forth in that UN resolution, the US government will regretfully be forced to the conclusion that a revision of its attitude toward Israel has become unavoidable.

UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte reported on September 18, 1948, “It would be an offence against the principles of elemental justice if these innocent victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes, while Jewish immigrants flow into Palestine, and, indeed, at least offer the threat of permanent replacement of the Arab refugees, who have been rooted in the land for centuries.”

Bernadotte was shot six times the day before his report was to be issued. They shot his French assistant no less than 17 times. No one was ever brought to justice for killing the mediator.

The prospect of Palestinians going back to their homes continues to bring out the most murderous impulses in Israeli officials.

AntiWar.com reports, “Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir said on Sunday that Israeli forces should shoot Palestinian women and children in Gaza if they get too close to the Israeli border. … ‘We cannot have women and children getting close to the border… anyone who gets near must get a bullet, in his head,’ Ben-Gvir said during an argument with Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi about the IDF’s open fire policies, according to The Jerusalem Post.

“After his comments leaked to the press, Ben Gvir doubled down. In a post on X, the Israeli minister said he ‘does not stutter and does not intend to apologize. All those who endanger our citizens by getting near the border must be shot. This is what they do in any normal state.’”

Indeed, in 2018 the “Great March of Return” began, as Palestinians in Gaza tried to simply walk back to their homes. On August 31, 2023, The Palestine Chronicle reported: “Gaza to Resume Great March of Return Protests.”  Maureen Clare Murphy at the Electronic Intifada noted, Protests along the Gaza-Israel boundary resumed in August. Massive demonstrations dubbed the Great March of Return were held on a regular basis for nearly two years beginning in early 2018.

The protests were aimed at ending the Israeli siege on Gaza and allowing Palestinian refugees to exercise their right of return as enshrined in international law. Some two-third of Gaza’s population of more than two million people are refugees from lands just beyond the boundary fence.

More than 215 Palestinian civilians, including more than 40 children, were killed during those demonstrations, and thousands more wounded by live fire during those protests between March 2018 and December 2019.

A UN commission of inquiry found that Israel’s use of lethal force against protesters warrants criminal investigation and prosecution and may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Excessive use of force against Great March of Return protests is expected to be a major focus of the International Criminal Court’s Palestine investigation, should it move forward.

The recently slain Palestinian writer Refaat Alareer noted on October 08, 2023, “The very Israeli snipers that gunned down hundreds of Palestinian marchers in the Great Return March in 2018/19 were neutralized by Palestinian freedom fighters.”

In a recent piece in the New York Review of Books — “Gaza: Two Rights of Return — Most Palestinians in Gaza are now displaced at least twice over. They have a right to choose where to return” — Sari Bashi from Human Rights Watch writes as a Jewish woman married to a Palestinian man whose family was forced from their homes in 1948 and again during the current assault, “I’ll be relieved if my in-laws are merely allowed to return to northern Gaza and receive support to rebuild a house there.”

Courtesy: Information Clearing House

 

Billions for War, little for people without food

Following the passage of a US$95 billion foreign aid package that includes funding for Israel's relentless assault on Gaza, economists and policy experts this week are expressing alarm over the failure of the US Congress to ensure a federal program for low-income parents and their babies — a gap that could leave 2 million children and parents without sufficient food.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) has never turned away eligible families in its 50-year history, but analysts say that with Congress deadlocked over whether to fully fund the program, states may soon be forced to place up to 2 million families on waiting lists—jeopardizing access to this highly effective program during an important window for child development," the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said in December last year.

The program, which has been linked to a decrease in infant and maternal mortality in the past five decades, is currently being funded by a short-term continuing resolution (CR) that Congress passed in January to keep the government running until early March.

While lawmakers have not agreed on funding for WIC, which is estimated to cost US$6.3 billion in 2024 and faces a US$1 billion shortfall, the Senate on Tuesday did pass the US$95 billion foreign aid package, including US$14.1 billion for Israel.

Israel's bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 28,000 people since October, including more than 12,000 children.

The Senate's 70-29 bipartisan vote in favor of the package, wrot defense analyst William Hartung of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, "lays bare the skewed priorities of the federal government."

"Despite deep divisions, it is possible to get bipartisan support for a package that mostly involves funding weapons exports," Hartung wrote at Forbes on Wednesday.

"Don't expect any such emergency measure to address record levels of homelessness, or aid the 1 in 6 American children living in poverty, or accelerate investments in curbing the climate crisis. In the view of the administration and a majority of members of Congress, some emergencies count more than others."

At the Institute for Policy Studies, National Priorities Project director Lindsay Koshgarian pointed to WIC as a prime example of the kind of program the federal government should be prioritizing over military aid for Israel, which has garnered growing condemnation from US allies for its indiscriminate attacks on civilians.

"There's huge discrepancies in where the resources are going," Koshgarian told Al Jazeera on Wednesday. "It's an incredibly important program; there are many families that have depended on it. US$1 billion to make up the shortfall would be easy to come up with."

Last week, Democrats on the US House Education and Workforce Committee warned congressional leaders that they must ensure full funding for WIC, which "currently serves over half of all infants born in the country and continues to be a lifesaving nutrition intervention program that minimizes avoidable health and developmental issues for low-income, nutritionally at-risk women, infants, and children."

"To prevent any disruption to a program that is crucial to supporting new parents and young children, it is vital that WIC is fully funded and continues to align with projected participation and food costs," wrote the lawmakers.

The 19th reported last month that state WIC agencies are currently spending money "assuming the needed funds will eventually be appropriated."

"By early March," wrote journalist Amanda Becker, "the fiscal year will already be half over, so there will be a shorter window of time to make up any budget shortfall, potentially leading to more people being waitlisted en masse than if the shortfall was spread across a full fiscal year."

At Forbes, Hartung called on the federal government to "put less emphasis on war planning and military buildups and more on reassurance and dialogue designed to set clear rules of the road and avoid a conflict."

"If peace in the Middle East is truly a goal of this administration," he wrote, "a radical shift in priorities is urgently needed."

Courtesy: Common Dreams

The Corridor of Betrayal

On November 19, 2023 as the world was still struggling to take in the sheer brutality of Israel against Palestinians in Gaza, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei called on Islamic countries to cut ties with the regime for at least a “limited period of time” to help save Palestinian lives.

Before governments, people all over the world seemed to follow the advice in a bid to pressure Israel in any way they could. Store shelves in West Asia and beyond began to see an accumulation of Israeli products as citizens refused to spend their money to fund the genocide. Many not only avoided purchasing Israeli-produced goods but also boycotted brands associated with the regime, causing giant companies like Starbucks and MacDonald’s to suffer heavy revenue losses. 

Among Arab states, some felt obliged to act against Israeli onslaughts more than others. The biggest display of solidarity toward Palestinians was undoubtedly seen in Yemen. The impoverished country’s Ansarullah movement began to target Israeli ships in the azure depths of the Red Sea, choking off a lifeline extremely vital to Israel - the bustling port of Eliat. Yemen’s courageous stance in support of Gaza, however, did not come at a low price.

Israel’s biggest patrons, the United States and Britain, launched airstrikes against Yemeni positions saying they were acting to “protect” the interests of ordinary people. Western media outlets jumped out as stenographers, arguing that Ansarullah’s attacks in the Red Sea would eventually cause prices to surge in the West and hence needed to be dealt with. Nothing though was mentioned about the fact that only Israeli ships were getting targeted and that these attacks too would come to an end once the regime agreed not to kill Palestinians anymore. 

The Western aerial assaults on January 12, 2024 unleashed haunting echoes of years of unrelenting Saudi bombardments for Yemenis. People were reminded of a harrowing symphony that has left vast swathes of the country in ruins, and incited famine across the Arab nation. 

The people of Yemen, however, could not care less about the flashbacks they got that night.  “Honestly, I was ashamed that Palestinians in Gaza were getting bombed while I spent the night at my safe home. Now I feel less ashamed. I don’t care that we are getting attacked. All I want is to be able to help our brothers and sisters in Gaza,” said a man who had joined millions of demonstrators in Sana’a to express unyielding support for the Palestinians a day after the Western attacks.

Yemen continues to get pounded by American and British fighter jets today as it has refused to halt its operations against Israeli vessels. It hopes that by dealing economic blows to Israel, the regime would eventually have to stop its attacks on Gazans before it’s too late. 

Across the Muslim world though, Ayatollah Khamenei’s request seems to have fallen on deaf ears. After Turkey increased its shipments to the occupied territories, certain Arab countries rushed to Israel’s rescue, essentially squandering everything the Yemenis have been working for. 

Startling revelations surfaced on Israel’s Channel 13 in early February, revealing footage of how Israel bypasses Yemen’s blockade in the Red Sea with the help of three Arab countries: Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. It reported that hundreds of trucks of goods and fresh food were traveling from Saudi Arabia and Jordan and eventually reaching the port of Haifa in the occupied territories through Dubai. 

While the three Arab states have not yet rejected or confirmed the Israeli report, analysts believe their explanations would not make any difference anyway. 

“Most Arab states have not taken any steps to help the Palestinians. Even if they end up denying the corridor exists, people would still accuse them of inaction because they really haven’t done anything,” Ahmad Dastmalchian, Iran’s former envoy to Jordan and Lebanon, told the Tehran Times. 

The former diplomat believes that the Arab states harbor aspirations of reviving the two-state proposals in order to maintain or even enhance their relations with the Israeli regime once the war ends.

“Jordan has constraints in supporting the Palestinians due to its dependence on Washington. But Saudi Arabia and the UAE are making strategic mistakes here,” he explained adding that even if a Palestinian state ends up being formed, Palestinians will never accept to live alongside people who have stolen their lands and identity. 

“As long as Israel remains on occupied territories there will be resistance. So normalization with the regime is never going to work. Arabs should instead respect Palestinians’ right to self-determination and let them decide what they want to do with their ancestral lands”. 

Meanwhile, some figures in the Arab world have warned the states that passivity in the face of Israeli crimes will have far worse consequences for regional rulers than just disappointment. A renowned Egyptian journalist says the corridor amounts to Arab collusion in the Gaza genocide and could eventually send the public in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE into a furor with reverberating effects.  

“We are not asking these three countries to take the same valiant stance as the Yemenis and confront the US and British warships. But we do ask them to listen to their people who are seething over this feigned impotence,” Abdel Bari Atwan warned in an article.

 Courtesy: Tehran Times

 

Ethnic cleansing about to start in Rafah

Humanitarian groups are warning that any invasion of Rafah will severely threaten the last remaining safe zone in Gaza, where around 1.5 million Palestinians are huddled.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared his troops to prepare an evacuation plan for civilians in the city of Rafah, a major refugee camp called the last safe zone in Gaza.

Netanyahu said troops must fight against Palestinian militant group Hamas in the southern Gaza refugee camp, where the United Nations has warned more than 600,000 children are sheltering.

"It is impossible to achieve the goal of the war without eliminating Hamas," Netanyahu said, accusing the militant group of hiding battalions in Rafah.

Humanitarian groups warn that fleeing civilians have nowhere else to go and that Rafah is a major hub for humanitarian aid from Egypt that will be endangered by Israel moving in.

Avril Benoît, executive director of Doctors Without Borders USA, said the "needs are overwhelming" in Rafah.

"Israel’s declared ground offensive on Rafah would be catastrophic and must not proceed," Benoît said.

The Israeli push into Rafah also threatens to increase tensions between Israel and the US, which is trying to get Israel to reduce civilian casualties after the deaths of more than 27,000 people in Gaza.

President Biden offered his most critical remarks yet when he said Thursday night that Israel's offensive in Gaza is "over the top."

State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said the US would not support a push into Rafah.

“To conduct such an operation right now with no planning and little thought in an area where there is sheltering of a million people would be a disaster,” he told reporters.

 

Israel recognition, most Arabs say never

The comprehensive poll, which gauged sentiments across 16 Arab countries, underscores a growing resistance against normalization with Israel in the wake of the Israeli war on Gaza.

A significant shift has been seen in Arab public opinion on the recognition of Israel, according to a new survey conducted by the Arab Center Washington DC (ACW), in collaboration with The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS).

The comprehensive poll, which gauged sentiments across 16 Arab countries, underscores a growing resistance against normalization with Israel in the wake of the Israeli war on Gaza.

A striking 89% of respondents from the Arab world expressed opposition to the recognition of Israel, marking a discernible increase from previous polls. This figure not only represents a nearly unanimous stance against normalization but also indicates a 5% rise in opposition compared to the results from the 2022 survey, where 84% were against recognition.

The survey detailed notable country-specific shifts in public opinion, highlighting a dramatic change in perspective among nations that have historically taken steps toward normalizing relations with Israel.

In Saudi Arabia, opposition surged from 38% in 2022 to a remarkable 68% in the latest poll. Morocco saw an increase from 67% to 78% and Sudan from 72% to 81%, showcasing a significant hardening of attitudes across diverse Arab societies

These findings signal a profound and growing sentiment within the Arab world, reflecting deep-seated frustrations and disillusionment with the peace process and the broader implications of normalization agreements.

The ACW's report emphasizes that, despite diplomatic efforts and political maneuvers, the grassroots opposition to recognizing Israel remains robust and is, in fact, intensifying.

The heightened opposition is especially pronounced in countries that have formal peace agreements with Israel, such as Jordan, Egypt, and Morocco, as well as those like Sudan, which have recently begun normalizing political relations.

Despite governmental moves towards diplomacy, there appears to be a near-consensus among the populations of these nations against the recognition of Israel, underscoring a significant disconnect between official policy and public sentiment.

The ACW survey sheds light on the complex and evolving dynamics of Arab-Israeli relations, capturing a moment of significant transition in the Arab public's stance towards Israel and the peace process.

As the region grapples with the aftermath of the Gaza war and its broader geopolitical implications, the overwhelming opposition to Israel's recognition among the Arab public stands as a testament to the enduring and shared solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

 

Saudi Arabia: No Israel ties without recognition of independent Palestinian state

Saudi Arabia has clearly communicated to the United States that it will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without substantial progress on the Palestinian issue.

The Kingdom is demanding the recognition of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Additionally, it has called for an end to Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip and insists on the withdrawal of all Israeli occupation forces from the area as prerequisites for any future diplomatic engagement with Israel.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlights that Saudi Arabia's position on the Palestinian issue is steadfast, emphasizing the necessity for the Palestinian people to obtain their legitimate rights.

This stance is particularly relevant in light of ongoing discussions between Saudi Arabia and the US concerning the Arab-Israeli peace process, further underscored by recent comments from the spokesperson for the US National Security Council.

This declaration is a pivotal moment in Middle Eastern politics, signifying Saudi Arabia's firm commitment to the Palestinian cause and setting clear conditions for any normalization of relations with Israel.

The Kingdom underscored that resolving the Palestinian issue is central to achieving lasting peace and stability in the region.

Saudi Arabia has also reaffirmed its appeal to the international community, especially urging the permanent member states of the Security Council that have not yet recognized the Palestinian state, to promptly do so.

The Kingdom advocates for the swift recognition of the Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital, aiming to empower the Palestinian people to attain their legitimate rights and to ensure a comprehensive and just peace for all.

Hamas still hounds Israeli forces in Gaza

According to Reuters, Palestinian gunmen kept up attacks against Israeli forces on Sunday in the Gaza, weeks after they were overrun by troops and tanks, a sign that Hamas still maintains some control.

Nearly four months into the war, there was persistent fighting in Gaza City in the north of the densely populated enclave and in Khan Younis to the south.

At the weekly Israeli cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said 17 of Hamas' 24 combat battalions had been dismantled. The rest, he said, were mostly in the southern Gaza Strip, including Rafah, on the enclave's Egyptian border. "We'll take care of them, too," he said, according to a statement from his office.

The prospect of a push into Rafah has piled pressure on the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians who have fled their homes elsewhere and are sheltering there.

An Israeli official told Reuters that the military would coordinate with Egypt, and seek ways of evacuating most of the displaced people northward, ahead of any Rafah ground sweep.

After conducting partial pullouts from Gaza City in the past few weeks that enabled some residents to return and pick through the rubble, Israeli forces have been mounting incursions. Netanyahu described these on Sunday as "mopping-up operations".

US attacks targets in Iraq and Syria

Ever since we started posting these blogs in 2012, it has been highlighted that the United States initiates proxy wars, mainly to sell its arms. After the commencement of killing of Gazans by Israel, also supported by the Biden administration, the US hegemony in the Middle East seems to be ending, but the super power remains adamant at keeping its military complexes operating at full capacities.

It was anticipated that sooner than later the US, in the name of retaliations, would start attacking sites in Iraq and Syria, alleging that these belong to Iran-supported militants.

On February 01, we had posted a blog titled, “Are United States and Iran already at war?” Today, Reuters has reported that the US military launched airstrikes on Friday in Iraq and Syria against more than 85 targets, spanning seven locations, four in Syria and three in Iraq, in retaliation for last weekend's attack in Jordan that killed three US troops.

The strikes targeted the Quds Force - the foreign espionage and paramilitary arm of the IRGC that heavily influences its allied militia across the Middle East, from Lebanon to Iraq and Yemen to Syria.

US Lieutenant General Douglas Sims, the director of the Joint Staff, said the attacks appeared to be successful, triggering large secondary explosions as the bombs hit militant weaponry, though it was not clear if any militants were killed.

The strikes, which included the use of long-range B-1 bombers flown from the US, are the first in a multi-tiered response by President Joe Biden's administration, and more US military operations are expected in the coming days.

While the US strikes did not target sites inside Iran, they signal a further escalation of the conflict in the Middle East from Israel's more than three-month-old war with Hamas in Gaza.

The US military said in a statement that the strikes hit targets including command and control centers, rockets, missiles and drone storage facilities, as well as logistics and munition supply chain facilities.

Syrian state media said on Friday that an American aggression on sites in its desert areas and at the Syrian-Iraqi border resulted in a number of casualties and injuries.

The Iraqi military said the strikes were in the Iraqi border area and warned they could ignite instability in the region.

"These airstrikes constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, undermine the efforts of the Iraqi government, and pose a threat that could lead Iraq and the region into dire consequences," Iraqi military spokesman Yahya Rasool said in a statement.

The United States has assessed that the drone that killed the three soldiers and wounded more than 40 other people was made by Iran.

"Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing," Biden said in a statement. Earlier on Friday, Biden and Pentagon leaders had attended the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware as the remains of the three soldiers were returned.

Pentagon said it does not want war with Iran and does not believe Tehran wants war either, even as Republican pressure has increased on Biden to deal a blow directly.

The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Roger Wicker, criticized Biden for failing to impose a high enough cost on Iran, and taking too long to respond.

Before the retaliatory strikes on Friday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that Iran would not start a war but would respond strongly to anyone who tried to bully it.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the Biden administration had not communicated with Iran since the Jordan attack.

Baghdad and Washington, meanwhile, have agreed to set up a committee to start talks on the future of the US-led military coalition in Iraq, with the aim of setting a timetable for a phased withdrawal of troops and the end of the US-led coalition against Islamic State.

 

 

 

 

 

Gazans fear Israeli assault on last refuge

Israeli forces shelled the outskirts of the last refuge on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip on Friday, where the displaced, penned against the border fence in their hundreds of thousands, said they feared a new assault with nowhere left to flee.

More than half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents are now homeless and crammed into Rafah. Tens of thousands more have arrived in recent days, carrying belongings in their arms and pulling children on carts, since Israeli forces launched one of the biggest assaults of the war last week to capture adjacent Khan Younis, the main southern city.

If the Israeli tanks keep coming they will be left with two choices: stay and die or climb the walls into Egypt.

Most of Gaza's population are in Rafah. If the tanks storm in, it will be a massacre like never before during this war."

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said late on Thursday that troops would now turn to Rafah, which along with Deir al-Balah just north of Khan Younis is among the last remaining areas they have yet to storm in an almost four-month assault.

"We are achieving our missions in Khan Younis, and we will also reach Rafah and eliminate terror elements that threaten us," Gallant said in a statement.

As the only part of Gaza with access to the limited food and medical aid trickling across the border, Rafah and nearby parts of Khan Younis have become a warren of makeshift tents clinging to the winter mud. Wind and cold weather added to the misery, blowing tents down, flooding them and the ground between them.

"Rafah is a pressure cooker of despair, and we fear for what comes next," Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told a briefing in Geneva.

Israel says Hamas must be eradicated before it pulls its troops out of Gaza or frees detainees. Hamas says it will not sign any truce deal unless Israel agrees to pull out and end the war.