US announces sanctions against Israeli settlers

The United States has announced sanctions against three more Israeli settlers and, for the first time, two farming outposts, as part of new measures by Washington and London to stop the violent displacement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Fares Samamreh may not carry a gun, but he has a global superpower defending him. He's still losing the fight.

A Palestinian sheep farmer on the sun-tinged slopes of the South Hebron Hills in the occupied West Bank, his battle with his neighbor, an Israeli settler called Yinon Levy, has drawn both the US and the UK into the dispute.

"Yinon Levy came here three years ago and started bothering me," Fares said, his head wrapped in a piece of white cotton, his eyes narrowed in a permanent squint against the sun.

"Before the war [in Gaza] it was the usual thing; they would come with drones. But a few days after October 07, it became serious. They all had guns. They started coming to us day and night. I have little kids, some of them are four and five years old."

Fares said Yinon was one of a group of local Israeli settlers who would regularly come to harass his sheep with their dogs and weapons, and even, he says, to assault his family.

"They destroyed water tanks, closed down roads, they fire at the sheep," he said. "He told my wife if we didn't leave here, we'd all be killed."

He said when his wife then swore at him, Yinon Levy hit her with the butt of his gun.

Soon afterward, Fares and his family left their village of Zanuta. Activists say it's one of four communities around the settler's farm that have been abandoned by their residents.

Yinon has denied acting violently toward Palestinians in the area -- and said he didn't own a gun until very recently.

But he's the subject of sanctions from both the US and the UK.

The road to Yinon's farm is straight out of a children's picture-book; a narrow path that winds back and forth up a steep hill, slopes and valleys dropping away to the horizon on either side.

At the top, a spacious bungalow stands next to a large shed, full of bleating sheep smothering the strains of pop music from a radio.

"We're safeguarding these lands to ensure they remain under Jewish ownership," Yinon said. "When there is a Jewish presence, then there is no Arab presence. We keep a watchful eye on the land, ensuring that no unauthorized construction takes place."

Most countries deem the settlements, which are built on land captured by Israel in 1967 in the Middle East War, to be illegal under international law, although Israel disagrees. The settler outposts are also illegal under Israeli law.

The UK said that Yinon and another man had "used physical aggression, threatened families at gunpoint, and destroyed property as part of a targeted and calculated effort to displace Palestinian communities".

Yinon denied the allegations, and said that the Israeli government was on his side.

"I'm not worried," he told the BBC. "This is not against me personally - it's against those who obstruct the creation of a Palestinian state. There's no legal process against me [in Israel]. Here, everything is fine."

Both the UK and the US say there is a threshold of evidence that must be met - but neither have made that evidence public and declined to share it with the BBC.

We sent Yinon a video appearing to show him on Palestinian land, approaching activists with a snarling dog. He said it was misleading, and that he was defending his flock.

We sent him another video apparently showing him entering another Palestinian village with a gun last October. He declined to comment.

The sanctions came after a surge in violence in the West Bank, following the October 07 Hamas attacks and Israel's war in Gaza.

The UN says violence by Israeli settlers included physical attacks and death threats, and that the number of Palestinians displaced from their homes last year doubled to 1,539 - with more than 80% of them leaving after October 07.

The UK has said Israel is failing to act, and has described "an environment of near total impunity for settler extremists in the West Bank".

Yinon said that he had received support from Israeli politicians.

"Many called and encouraged us," he said. "Everyone said that when the bad people are against you, you must be doing something right."

One of the politicians who publicly backed Yinon in the wake of the sanctions was Zvi Sukkot of the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party - a settler himself.

He said that settler violence was a "marginal phenomenon" and that those like Levy were the victims of conspiracies.

"When we have a functioning judicial system in Israel, we don't want our allies to say, 'we'll do the job for you'," he said.

"If there was evidence against Yinon Levy, he would be in Israeli prison. Who is Britain to come and say, 'we are smarter than Israeli intelligence'?"

The Israeli police commander responsible for investigating complaints in the West Bank told Sukkot's parliamentary committee this week that half the complaints filed about settler violence there were false, and that they originated from "radical left-wing organizations in Tel Aviv".

Against this backdrop, sanctions on a handful of individual settlers have not shifted Israeli policies in the West Bank, but they are having a financial impact.

Yinon's Israeli bank account was frozen last month.

Some of those currently under US and UK sanctions have used crowdfunding to finance projects for their area - including one for a synagogue and educational centre at another hilltop outpost called Moshe's Farm.

Its owner, Moshe Sharvit, was sanctioned along with Yinon Levy last month.

On Thursday the US expanded sanctions to cover several new targets, including the farm itself - putting this kind of funding at risk.

These sanctions may be more symbolic than substantial, but they signal American displeasure - both to Israel's leaders, and to the parts of President Biden's Democratic base who have been dismayed by images of the war in Gaza, in an election year.

The chairman of the local Yesha (settlers) Council, Shlomo Ne'eman, called it "a disgusting phenomenon" and said the West Bank was being used as a scapegoat.

"I think more than anything, what drives the response of the UK [and] the US is the fear of one settler attack that goes 'out of control'," said Yehuda Shaul, founder of the Ofek Centre, a think tank which campaigns to end Israel's occupation.

"The West Bank [then] erupts like a volcano. And we have another front, as if Gaza is not enough, and the road to regional war is almost unstoppable then."

Two sheep farmers in the occupied West Bank - one backed by a superpower, the other by the Israeli state. If the lifestyle here is simple, the politics are complicated.

From Yinon's hilltop farm, you can clearly see the ruins of Zanuta perched on the next hill, with the home Fares Samamreh left months ago.

Many of the houses are ravaged - roofs and furniture taken by their owners into exile; walls smashed by settlers to prevent them returning, activists say.

The deserted village is slowly being taken over by vast banks of wild mallow.

On a post near the entrance, a large Star of David has been scrawled in blue paint.

Settlers here point to attacks by Palestinians, and say they are scared. But it's Palestinians who are leaving.

West Bank the next target of Israel

Having nothing to claim a victory six weeks on, the Israelis are now being forced to move towards the south, in particular, the city of Khan Younis to try their luck there.

The regime has already forced Gazans to move from the north to the south. The Israeli military is now trying to squeeze them, if it can, into an even tighter area, closer to the Mediterranean coast.

This will create all types of problems in particular on a humanitarian scale, which is already at an extremely dire level. 

It will be a much more complicated battle for the Israeli ground forces if they try and go into the now even more densely populated areas of Khan Younis.

The regime is already paving the way for this ground offensive in the south by pounding the area from the air at the expense of innocent lives to make space for the ground forces to move in. 

The Israeli war on Gaza was primarily motivated by anger at a huge intelligence and military failure following the retaliatory al-Aqsa Storm operation by Hamas on October 07. 

There was indeed an immediate political imperative by the regime to do something and get on with it, rather than developing clear military objectives. 

After weeks of indiscriminate bombing campaigns against Palestinian civilians, the Israeli ground forces tried to invade the northern Gaza Strip. 

But the ground offensives in the north of Gaza have made no success, with Israeli commentators admitting so in talks with the regime’s media. 

After the ground offensives began in the north, the Israeli military's stated aims were to seize Gaza City, destroy Hamas, and free the hostages. 

The armed wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have prevented the Israeli military from achieving any of its stated objectives. 

In terms of trying to achieve the goals the occupation allegedly set out, which is to eliminate the Palestinian resistance group, but also free the hostages held in the captivity of Hamas, the Israeli military has failed miserably to do either of those two things after six weeks of unprecedented air raids and ground invasion. 

In particular, the notion that Hamas can be destroyed and the war cabinet of the Israeli prime minister has put that objective as the primary goal of its war on Gaza has proven to be wishful thinking.

The Palestinian resistance is as strong as it was on the first day of the war on Gaza some six weeks ago. 

The effectiveness of the Palestinian resistance in blowing up Israeli tanks, targeting the mobilization of its troops, luring Israeli forces into booby-trapped explosive buildings and firing missiles at Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

After six weeks of the war on Gaza it is evident that Hamas and other resistance factions remain powerfully strong. 

It has been a total failure for the Israeli occupation, which will go down in the history books for the stubbornness of Prime Minister Netanyahu as a war criminal. 

The only achievement thus far for the Israeli military has been the storming of the Al-Shifa hospital complex. A desperate attempt to find a Hamas military base that both Israeli political and military leaders alleged the group had been using as a command center. 

Yet it proved to be another huge intelligence failure, despite days of thoroughly inspecting every part of the hospital. 

As of Saturday, Israeli ground forces were still operating in the medical center with Palestinian health officials in Gaza saying that many patients, medical staff, and displaced people have now left the site. This is while medical centers must be protected under the rules of war. 

News outlets indicate that the Israeli military has ordered a mass evacuation of the entire hospital despite thousands of disabled and very sick patients unable to do so without dying. 

The hospital’s director, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, told AFP that Israeli troops had instructed him to ensure the evacuation of patients, wounded, the displaced and medical staff, and that they should move on foot towards the seafront".

It is another instance of war crime that the West has once again failed to hold the Zionist regime responsible for. 

The only achievement by the Israeli military is killing Palestinian civilians on a mass scale as well as killing its own hostages due to its indiscriminate bombing campaign that has leveled large parts of the Gaza Strip. 

This is nothing to be proud of and yet governments in the West, with the United States and the United Kingdom in particular, are not only complicit in the Israeli war crimes but continue to support the regime. This support for the Zionist regime is continuing despite the mass weekly demonstrations in the Western world protesting brutality against the Palestinians.

The Gaza Strip is a very tiny coastal sliver and is the most densely populated region in the world. It has been described by international rights organizations as the world's largest open-air prison. 

Six Palestinians were killed on Saturday after an Israeli airstrike on a house in Deir al Balah in the southern Gaza Strip, health officials said.

About 26 Palestinians, mostly children, were also killed in Israeli strikes on Khan Younis in southern Gaza early Saturday morning, the Palestinian news agency WAFA said. 

In what has been labeled as the "second phase" of the Israeli war on Gaza, experts believe it is difficult to imagine that the Israeli ground forces backed by the United States’ air power will be able to crush the resistance without killing thousands of more women and children. 

It is quite clear that Palestinian civilians are about to face another fresh bombardment after leaving the northern Gaza Strip to escape the indiscriminate Israeli bombing campaign. 

What is also clear is that children are already bearing the brunt of this increased bombing campaign in the southern Gaza Strip. 

Yet an Israeli military spokesperson has ordered Palestinians to continue going to southern Gaza. He said those in the areas of Jabayla, al-Daraj al-Tuffah and al-Shuja'iya should leave immediately along the Salah ad-Deen Highway - which runs the length of the fully blockaded Gaza Strip.

This is despite the increased bombardment in southern Gaza, where the Israeli ground forces are about to invade on top of the attacks in the north.

It is pure cowardice by the Israeli regime.

Its military is not taking on members of the Palestinian resistance man to man. Rather, the Israeli military has taken its anger out on Palestinian civilians. 

But where should traumatized Palestinian families in southern Gaza head to now? 

Their only viable option is the sea.

This is exactly what academics would describe as an Israeli genocide in Gaza.
 

 

Need to stop violence by West Bank settlers

The Israeli government is supportive of these attacks and does nothing to stop this violence.

With international focus on the horrors of Israel's assault on Gaza, 30 Israeli human rights and anti-occupation organizations on Sunday aimed to draw attention to a surge in settler violence against Palestinians in the illegally occupied West Bank.

The coalition of groups—including B'Tselem, Breaking the Silence, and the Israeli arms of Amnesty International and Physicians for Human Rights—released a joint statement calling on the international community to act urgently to stop the state-backed wave of settler violence which has led, and is leading to, the forcible transfer of Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

In retaliation for a Hamas-led attack earlier this month—in which over 1,400 Israelis were killed and around 200 others were taken hostage —Israel has waged what some legal scholars are calling a genocidal  war, killing more than 8,000 people in Gaza.

"Settlers have been exploiting the lack of public attention to the West Bank, as well as the general atmosphere of rage against Palestinians, to escalate their campaign of violent attacks in an attempt to forcibly transfer Palestinian communities," the coalition noted.

"During this period, no fewer than 13 herding communities have been displaced. Many more are in danger of being forced to flee in the coming days if immediate action is not taken."

"Palestinian farmers are particularly vulnerable at this time, during the annual olive harvest season, because if they are unable to pick their olives they will lose a year's income," the groups explained.

"Lately Bilal Muhammed Saleh from the village of As-Sawiya south of Nablus was murdered while tending to his olive trees. He was the seventh Palestinian to have been killed by settlers since the current war began."

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Saturday that 111 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed since October 07.

Jewish settlers have recently tried to scare Palestinians into fleeing the West Bank by displaying dolls covered in blood or a substance meant to mimic it and distributing leaflets with messages like "Run to Jordan before we kill our enemies and expel you from our Holy Land, promised to us by God."

The coalition said Sunday, “Unfortunately the Israeli government is supportive of these attacks and does nothing to stop this violence. On the contrary: government ministers and other officials are backing the violence and in many cases the military is present or even participates in the violence, including in incidents where settlers have killed Palestinians."

Over the past three weeks, Israeli forces fatal violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has included raids and an airstrike on a mosque in the densely populated Jenin refugee camp.

"Moreover, since the war has begun there has been a growing number of incidents in which violent settlers have been documented attacking nearby Palestinian communities while wearing military uniform and using government-issued weapons," the coalition continued. "With grave concern and with a clear understanding of the political landscape, we recognize that the only way to stop this forcible transfer in the West Bank is a clear, strong, and direct intervention by the international community."

In response to the statement, Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), said on social media that the "world must act."

Meanwhile, in Gaza, Israeli forces have moved to a second stage of the war with ground operations, despite global demands for a cease-fire—though notably not from the US government, which provides Israel with billions of dollars in annual military support.

"Israel's major ground offensive in Gaza, following weeks of bombardment that have reduced large parts of neighborhoods to rubble, raises grave concerns for the safety of all civilians caught in the fighting," HRW executive director Tirana Hassan said in a statement Sunday. "Thousands of children and other civilians have already been killed."

"Palestinian armed groups are continuing to indiscriminately launch rockets at Israeli communities," she added. "All civilians, including the many who cannot or do not want to leave their homes in northern Gaza, retain their protections under the laws of war against deliberate, indiscriminate, or disproportionate attacks."

Over objections from Israel and the United States, the U.N. General Assembly on Friday adopted a nonbinding resolution demanding that "all parties immediately and fully comply with their obligations under international law," and calling for "an immediate, durable, and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities."

Israel multifaceted failure

The Israeli lack of preparedness for, and weak initial response to, the Hamas attack on October 07 encompassed four key failures.

First, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy for dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict crumbled. While never officially articulated, Netanyahu’s approach since 2009 had involved sidelining the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) and allowing the strengthening of Hamas in Gaza, within certain limits.

This approach enabled Netanyahu to avoid meaningful negotiations with the PA, which might have led to the establishment of a Palestinian state, a prospect he opposes. The ascent of Hamas in Gaza aided Netanyahu in his effort to fragment the Palestinian national movement. It also allowed him to claim he could not negotiate with a significant part of the Palestinian national movement, due to its extremist Islamist rejectionist stance. The combined effect was that Netanyahu did not face significant international pressure to resume talks with the Palestinians. Moreover, the state of affairs limited international efforts (in particular by the European Union and the United States) to advance Palestinian unification. Due to Hamas’ nature, such efforts were deemed too sensitive.

The prime minister’s policy went largely unchallenged for over a decade, in part because it wasn’t fully disclosed. Ongoing clashes with Hamas every few years signaled deep hostility between the parties; although behind closed doors, Netanyahu admitted that the status quo, including Qatari funding to Hamas, serves his policies. In a 2019 Likud faction meeting, the prime minister said that if one opposes a Palestinian state, he should favor the (Israeli approved) Qatari transfer of funds to Hamas in Gaza because maintaining the wedge between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza would prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Shifting political conditions in Israel — such as the decline of the Israeli left, which had been advocating for a two-state solution — further helped the prime minister. Finally, Netanyahu’s increasingly populist leadership style led to the removal of strong figures who might have dissented in both his party and the cabinet.

The second pillar of the October 07 debacle was the intelligence failure. Israeli security agencies, especially the Directorate of Military Intelligence (AMAN) and the Israeli Security Agency (SHABAK, also widely known as Shin Bet), acknowledged their shortcomings. SHABAK’s head, Ronen Bar, took responsibility on October 16, followed a day later by Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliwa of AMAN. The intelligence failure was systemic. At a strategic level, Israel misunderstood Hamas’ goals, with some in the security establishment wrongly believing that the necessity for quasi-sovereignty in Gaza would make the organization more pragmatic and potentially alter its ideology. The 2017 policy paper released by Hamas was viewed by some in Israel and abroad as a potential sign of change. Hamas’ choice not to engage Israel during its two last major armed clashes with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza were regarded by many in Israel as further proof of Hamas’ pragmatic approach. Additionally, Israel’s security agencies failed to anticipate the attack pattern and its timing. The bitter taste of failure in Israel is especially pronounced, considering that the country’s intelligence agencies have enjoyed ample resources and demonstrated their effectiveness in near and distant arenas for decades. As in previous Israeli and international intelligence failures, it seems that Israel had some information, but its intelligence agencies did not piece it together and issue a warning.

The third aspect of the failure pertained to the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) operational preparedness. It appears that the organization lacked clear plans for how to handle such a widespread attack. Israel was caught off guard by the large and brutal assaults on civilian communities, or the massive rave party that took place near the border. Another surprise was Hamas’ influence campaign accompanying the attacks, which included the extensive use of cameras by the attackers, documenting their actions, which members of the international human rights community have already begun to identify as war crimes. Others in the international community, such as US President Joe Biden, compared Hamas’ actions to the brutality displayed by ISIS. Israel was further taken aback by some of the tactical military aspects of the attack, including the dismantling of sensors, assaults on Israeli command-and-control posts, and the easy breach of the barrier constructed on the Israel-Gaza border.

The fourth failure involved the state’s weak response to the crisis, at least in the initial phase. Many Israelis were deeply disappointed by the military’s inability to come to the aid of the 1,000 civilians who were murdered, the thousands wounded, and the approximately 220 abducted to Gaza. In some cases, military forces were only able to retake control more than 24 hours after the attack began. This general sense of ineptitude was accompanied by an underwhelming leadership response, including in providing information and reassuring the public as the crisis unfolded, facilitating the absorption of internally displaced people, or offering financial support and social services. The prime minister, normally a brilliant speaker, did not effectively engage with the public and — to date — has yet to take any responsibility for what transpired on his watch.

 

Israel not equipped to handle Iranian funded explosives

According to The Jerusalem Post, Israeli military commandos warned on Sunday morning that the IDF's armored vehicles are not equipped to deal with terror attacks carried out using improvised explosive devices (IED), which are thought to be funded and supplied to the West Bank by Iran.

Following recent use of IEDs in attacks, most notably in a blast near Joseph's Tomb where an IDF officer and three soldiers were wounded last week, the commandos warned that it is clear to all of us where this is going. "It will only get worse."

The commandos lamented the lack of armored vehicles available for operations in the West Bank. "Everybody has seen the explosive terror labs uncovered in the Jenin operation.

"On one hand, we're talking about an increased amount of explosives, a situation which urges caution. On the other, there is an issue with the availability of armored jeeps, this is felt on our way to our targets and by the targets."

IDF denies reports

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit rejected the claims on Sunday, stressing that there is no shortage of armored vehicles.

"The vehicles are under continued maintenance in order to ensure their operational capacity remains at a high level."

The IDF also hit back at accusations that Israeli forces secured Joseph's Tomb by foot last week due to this perceived lack of vehicles, writing that the claim is incorrect.

The Israeli forces were wounded when an explosive device struck their armored vehicle.

Israel Experiencing Worst Terrorism

In recent weeks, political and security officials have been putting out impressive statistics about hundreds or thousands of thwarted terror attacks, arrests, seized illegal weapons, and seized terror funds.

These statistics may look very impressive, and no matter what, they show that the security establishment is working overtime and doing its utmost to protect Israel. The problem is, these statistics do not occur in a vacuum; there are others.

Four terror attacks took place between Wednesday and Thursday, two of them in central areas that cannot be categorized into being limited to the West Bank.

In eight months of this year, it has become the bloodiest one since the Second Intifada nearly 20 years ago.

A question arises, why has terror gotten so out of control? Some of the apparent reasons may be:

It may be true that the terrorists want to kill Jews, but the spike in terror and the increase in lone wolf attacks and attacks by some Palestinians with worker’s permits – people who are not usually involved in terror – shows that there are bigger tensions than normal.

Another question is why there has been no diplomatic progress with the Palestinians for so long? Is it because many enemies of Israel view it as weaker and more distracted than usual by internal tensions over the judicial overhaul? Because the Palestinian Authority stopped trying to actively rein in terror?

Is it because the government has steadfastly refused to undertake a robust Operation Defensive Shield-style operation as in 2002? True, on July 3-4, the IDF undertook a massive operation in Jenin which improved things there some, but has not followed that with similar operations in other problem areas. Or because Iran is leaning in hard to incite a wider amount of the Palestinian population to terror?

Some mix of these longer-term reasons is likely true. There are also some near-term reasons.

Hezbollah has gotten away with keeping an outpost in Israeli territory in the disputed Mount Dov area now for several months. It has also numerous times violated Israel’s border in low-grade ways without paying much of a price.

There are reports that Hamas may consider a similar strategy in the South. In addition to being perpetually committed to Israel’s destruction, the terror group may be especially upset lately by a cut in its funds from Qatar.

In 2014, a mix of the Shin Bet and portions of IDF intelligence warned that allowing Hamas to languish too much economically could lead to an unexpected and unnecessary war – which it did.

Since then the defense establishment has been louder about making sure Hamas never drops below a certain economic level.

Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s direction, is said to be one of the key authors of the arrangement in which Qatar brings cash to Hamas to keep it afloat, without letting it save much for new weapons.

None of the defense establishment would publicly address the current situation with Qatar funding.

It is feared that Hamas may start building its own tents near the Israeli border fence and re-engage its 2018 strategy of marching on the fence with a mix of unarmed and armed Palestinians.

It does not threaten Israel in an existential way, and after the IDF slammed Islamic Jihad to the mat in May, Hamas is likely not looking for a big war, but will instead create more instability for Israel.

Increased terror from the West Bank where Hamas has plausible deniability and where Israel finds it hard to punish anyone aside from the specific terror cell involved is another clear way to pressure Israel into some additional concessions and to stay on the map as leading the resistance.

The only good news is that even as Israel has balked at bigger solutions, it has struck back hard to restore some semblance of stability when terror has spiked beyond certain boundaries.

If the latest wave of terror returns to general awful 2022-23 levels and falls from the current incredibly awful levels on its own, the IDF may just do more of the same. But if terror stays at this pace for the coming days and weeks, the IDF is likely to do a Jenin 2 to get it under control.

 

Expression of solidarity with Jenin

In various parts of the world, pro-Palestine activists have organized vigils to protest against Israel's recent invasion of the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

These demonstrations took place in Rome, Italy; Sydney, Australia; Barcelona, Spain; and New York City, United States. The activists stood in solidarity with Jenin and expressed their opposition to the invasion.

Israel's extensive and all encompassing aggression on the city of Jenin commenced on the morning of Monday, July 3, and persisted for 48 hours.

The assault resulted in unprecedented destruction in Jenin, the captivity of 120 Palestinians, and the tragic killing of 12 individuals, with over 140 others sustaining injuries. The resistance forces also achieved a significant feat by obliterating numerous military vehicles belonging to the Zionist regime. 

According to reports from the regime itself, an Israeli soldier lost his life during the operation, while at least five quadcopters were downed by the resistance forces.

Israel's recent attack on Jenin and its subsequent destruction of the city's infrastructure has garnered widespread condemnation from various corners of the world. 

The global community has expressed its outrage both online and through public opinion. 

Anniken Huitfeldt, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, stood in solidarity with the people of Jenin and vehemently denounced violence against civilians. 

In a tweet following her conversation with Palestinian counterpart Riyad Malki, Huitfeldt stated, "In a call today with my Palestinian counterpart Dr. Riyad Malki, I expressed Norway's solidarity with the people of Jenin. I condemned the high level of violence and all attacks against civilians. Any military measure must comply with international law. The cycle of violence must end."

Despite the Zionist regime's anger over the condemnation by the Norwegian foreign minister, the global response to Israel's crimes has been widespread.

Irish MP Frances Black emphasized the urgent need to acknowledge the destruction caused by Israel, with complicity from the international community, including Ireland. Black questioned when the government would finally take action.

Moreover, thousands of Jordanians rallied in Amman to show their support for Palestinians in Jenin. 

In Bangladesh, pro-Palestine advocates also protested against Israel's brutal attack on the Jenin refugee camp. Additionally, players from Club Deportivo Palestino wore armbands as a symbol of sympathy for the Palestinian victims of the recent Israeli offensive in Jenin.

 

Israeli troops and drones hit West Bank

Israeli forces hit the city of Jenin with drone strikes on Monday in one of the biggest West Bank operations in 20 years, killing at least eight Palestinians and involving hundreds of troops in sporadic gun battles that continued into the evening, reports Reuters.

Gunfire and explosions were heard throughout the day as clashes continued between Israeli troops and fighters from the Jenin Brigades, a unit made up of militant groups based in the city's crowded refugee camp.

"What is going on in the refugee camp is real war," said Palestinian ambulance driver Khaled Alahmad. "There were strikes from the sky targeting the camp, every time we drive in, around five to seven ambulances and we come back full of injured."

At times during the morning, at least six drones could be seen circling over the city and the adjoining camp, a densely packed area housing around 14,000 refugees in less than half a square kilometre.

The camp has been at the heart of an escalation of violence across the West Bank that has triggered mounting alarm from Washington to the Arab world, without so far opening the way to a resumption of political negotiations that have been stalled for almost a decade.

For more than a year, army raids in cities such as Jenin have become routine, while there have been a series of deadly attacks by Palestinians against Israelis and rampages by Jewish settler mobs against Palestinian villages.

The Israeli military said its forces struck a building that served as a command centre for fighters from the Jenin Brigades with what it called precise drone strikes using small payloads. It described the operation as an extensive counter-terrorism effort aimed at destroying infrastructure and disrupting militants from using the refugee camp as a base.

As the operation proceeded, Israeli armoured bulldozers ploughed up roads in the camp to dig up concealed improvised explosive devices, cutting water and electricity supplies, the Jenin municipality said as residents described soldiers breaking through the walls to pass from house to house.

"Nothing is safe in the camp. They dug up the roads with bulldozers. Why? What did the camp do?" said Hussein Zeidan, 67, as he recovered from his wounds in hospital.

In Washington, the State Department said it was closely tracking the situation in Jenin. A State Department spokesperson said it was imperative that all possible precautions be taken to prevent the loss of civilian lives.

An Israeli military spokesman said the operation would last as long as needed and suggested forces could remain for an extended period. "It could take hours, but it could also take days. We are focused on our goals," he said.

Until June 21, when it carried out a strike near Jenin, the Israeli military had not used drone strikes in the West Bank since 2006. But the growing scale of the violence and the pressure on ground forces meant such tactics may continue, a military spokesman said.

"We're really stretched," a spokesman told journalists. "It's because of the scale. And again, from our perception, this will minimize friction," he said, adding that the strikes were based on "precise intelligence".

Monday's operation, involving a force described as brigade-size - suggesting around 1,000-2,000 troops - was intended to help break the safe haven mindset of the camp, which has become a hornets nest, the spokesman said.

Its apparent scale underlined the importance of the Jenin camp in violence that has further exposed the impotence of the Palestinian Authority to impose its writ over towns in the West Bank, where it holds nominal governance powers.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he was suspending contacts with Israel and called for international protection for our people. UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland said he was talking with all parties to de-escalate and ensure humanitarian access.

Hundreds of fighters from militant groups including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah are based in the camp, which was set up 70 years ago to house refugees in the aftermath of the 1948 war that accompanied the creation of Israel. The fighters have an array of weapons and a growing arsenal of explosive devices.

The Israeli military, which regularly accuses militant groups of basing fighters in civilian areas, said troops seized an improvised rocket launcher and hit a weapons production and explosives storage facility with hundreds of devices ready to be used as well as radios and other equipment.

It said it had also found weapons in a mosque where fighters had barricaded themselves inside in an underground section.

It was unclear whether the incursion would trigger a wider response from Palestinian factions, drawing in militant groups in the Gaza Strip, the coastal enclave controlled by militant Islamist group Hamas.

Saleh Al-Arouri, accused by Israel of leading the Hamas military wing in the West Bank, told Aqsa TV that fighters in Jenin should try to capture Israeli soldiers.

"Our fighters will rise from everywhere, and you will never know where the new fighter will come from," he said.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said his forces were closely monitoring the conduct of our enemies, with the defence establishment ready for all scenarios.

Following the last major raid in Jenin in June, Palestinian gunmen killed four Israelis near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. That led to a rampage by mobs of settlers in Palestinian villages and towns.

Israel captured the West Bank, which the Palestinians see as the core of a future independent state, in the 1967 Middle East war. Following decades of conflict, peace talks that had been brokered by the United States have been frozen since 2014.

 

West Bank rockets from lone wolf, not Hamas

The rockets fired by a Palestinian in the Jenin area of the West Bank on Monday and which failed to fly beyond the launch area were launched by a lone wolf and not by Hamas, The Jerusalem Post has reported.

This confirmed finding comes despite Hamas' claims that it was linked to the incident and despite the fact that the IDF has not yet revealed who launched the rocket.

Further, the Post understands that the IDF does not regard the launching of the two rockets (both which lacked any explosive materials and flew less than 100 meters from the launch site) as a major new threat of its own. 

Rather, the IDF believes its past and ongoing actions to eliminate Palestinian Islamic Jihad officials who were trying to build more sustained and systematic rocket firing capabilities on Israel have been and will continue to be successful.

West Bank rocket launches were a TikTok incident, not a serious threat

In addition, the IDF views the incident as being primarily a TikTok incident, or an exercise in public relations not all that different from the dummy rocket that the IDF recently found.

The IDF is even disappointed in the media depiction of the rocket launches as a serious threat, as this depiction may have achieved other terror groups' broad goals of creating fear and instability among the general population.

In contrast, the IDF is extremely concerned by the recent succession of Hamas and other terror organizations shooting attacks in places like Eli, Hermesh and against the Dee family.

The IDF absolutely views these incidents as a dangerous escalation which could get out of hand.

After all of these IDF perspectives, the fact is that in 2005 terror groups succeeded in firing multiple rockets from the West Bank and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) director Ronen Bar warned of the threat as a serious one in recent months.

 

Palestinian attacked by Israeli settlers

Dozens of Palestinian villagers were attacked by Israeli settlers overnight in the wake of the killing of four settlers in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, a Palestinian official who monitors settler violence told CNN Wednesday.

At least 37 villagers were injured by live or rubber-coated bullets, stones, or tear gas according to the official, Ghassan Douglas.

He said 147 vehicles were damaged with stones or set on fire, including an ambulance, and 23 houses and 16 shops were damaged, and crops set on fire in fields.

The violence was reminiscent of settler attacks in and around the village of Huwara in February in response to the killing of two Israeli settler brothers in the village.

February’s violence was so severe that the commander of Israeli forces in the West Bank called it a “pogrom,” evoking historic memories of ethnic violence targeting Jews.

The attacks overnight on Tuesday took place over a wide area of the northern West Bank, from Turmus’ayya east of Ramallah to Deir Sharaf west of Nablus, he said. The area is about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north from Jerusalem.

Different Israeli officials sent different messages in the wake of Tuesday’s shooting of the settlers which included two teenagers, a man in his 20s and a man in his 60s.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari urged people not to take the law into their own hands.

But far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, speaking at the scene of the killings near Eli, called on settlers to arm themselves to avoid becoming sitting ducks for Palestinian attacks.

Israel's military called the settler attack on this Palestinian town a 'pogrom.' Videos show soldiers did little to stop it

The IDF, which boosted its troop numbers in the area in the wake of the February attacks, did not immediately respond to CNN request for comment on the overnight violence.

On Monday, an Israeli raid in Jenin, one of the tensest cities in the occupied West Bank, erupted into a massive firefight that left at least seven Palestinians dead and dozens wounded.

The following day, two Palestinian gunmen shot dead four Israelis near the settlement of Eli in the West Bank. Both gunmen were subsequently killed by Israeli forces.

Hamas, the Palestinian militant movement, claimed the two gunmen as members. It said the attack was “a natural response” to the Israeli raid on Jenin a day earlier. 

Israeli troops kill five Palestinians in West Bank

Israeli commandos backed by helicopter gunships killed five Palestinians including a teenager and wounded as many as 66 others as a raid in the West Bank led to an hours-long gun battle with armed fighters, the military and health officials said.

Seven Israeli personnel were wounded after troops came under fire during an operation in the flashpoint town of Jenin to arrest two Palestinians suspected in attacks, the military said. At least two of the Palestinians killed in the fighting belonged to the armed Islamic Jihad group.

With US-sponsored peacemaking stalled for almost a decade, Jenin and other areas of the northern West Bank have been a focus of months of stepped-up sweeps by Israel amid a spate of Palestinian street rampages in its cities.

As troops faced heavy fire and a rain of explosive devices from gunmen in the town, the army was forced to mount an extraction mission to pull out a number of its vehicles blocked in the fighting.

"So that's why you saw also our forces in a very problematic area and we had to bring in a helicopter," an army spokesman told reporters.

Video obtained by Reuters showed an explosion enveloping an armored troop transport as shots ring out. Other clips showed a military helicopter launching a missile and releasing flares.

A military spokesperson said an Apache helicopter fired on an open area in order to drive back gunmen as casualties were extricated from the troop transport.

"We're aware Palestinians are hit, quite a big number. We'll know more about it in the next few hours," the spokesman said. "It will take a few hours. It's going to be pretty harsh."

There was no immediate confirmation the helicopter also released flares - an apparent precaution against launches of shoulder-fired missiles at it.

An official from the Fatah party said fighters from the nearby cities of Nablus and Tulkarem had arrived in Jenin to support the local fighters.

"We tell this occupation that all their operations are a failure, our people will win, and the dialogue between us will only be the battlefield," Atta Abu Rmeileh said.

The unusual use of helicopter gunships in the operation underlined the severity of the fighting in Jenin, where armed militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad have long had a strong presence in the adjoining refugee camp.

An Islamic Jihad official said the use of aircraft will push our fighters to use tools that will surprise the enemy.

However, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would employ whatever means it thought necessary.

"There are no compromises in the fight against terrorism; we will continue to take an offensive approach. We will use all the means at our disposal," he said on Twitter.

The Palestinian health ministry said the dead included a 15 year old. Islamic Jihad claimed two of them as members. Another 66 Palestinians were wounded, the ministry said.

Another such group, Hamas, said its fighters also took part in the clashes. At least one Palestinian was detained during Monday's raid, witnesses in Jenin said.

 

 

UN agency for Palestine refugees on verge of financial collapse

The United Nations has appealed for sustainable funding for its agency that supports Palestine refugees, UNRWA, which is on the brink of financial collapse.

Chronic underfunding over the past decade, and resultant severe austerity measures, mean UNRWA is already operating with a US$75 million shortfall, putting its lifesaving programs across the Middle East at risk.

“As I address you today, I do not have the funds to keep our schools, health centers and other services running as of September,” Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told a pledging conference at UN Headquarters in New York.

UNRWA was established in 1949 as a temporary agency to provide aid to Palestinians following mass displacement from land that became Israel, making it one of the first UN humanitarian operations.

Today, nearly six million people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, depend on its services, which are almost entirely funded by voluntary contributions. Nearly a third of registered Palestine refugees live in camps.

UNRWA is seeking US$1.6 billion for its operations this year. Lazzararini said an additional US$75 million is urgently needed to provide food for over a million people in Gaza. Another US$30 million is required to maintain cash and food assistance to 600,000 people in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged the international community to ensure the agency is fully funded.

Despite its essential role, “we allow UNRWA to remain trapped in financial limbo,” he said in remarks delivered by his Chef de Cabinet, Courtenay Rattray.

The UN chief was also deeply concerned that some of the largest and most reliable donors have indicated that they might be reducing their support.

“Let’s be clear: UNRWA is on the verge of financial collapse. The consequences of further budget cuts would be catastrophic,” he warned.

More than a half a million young Palestinians are enrolled in UNRWA schools, two of whom made impassioned pleas at the pledging conference.

Ahmad Abu Daqqa attends a boys’ school in the Gaza Strip, where a blockade has been in place for more than 15 years.

“We, the students of the Gaza Strip, seek hope amidst despair,” he said, conveying a message from his peers.

“We only find it in education and learning, despite the numerous difficulties and obstacles we face, like living in a conflict and war zone.”

UNRWA students are proud of their education, heritage and culture, added Leen Sharqawi, 15, who attends a girls’ school in Jordan. They also have big dreams.

“We are not just Palestine refugees,” she said. “We are children who dream of becoming global citizens and who want to help the world become a better place. Good education is what will allow us to do this.” 

Quds Day being observed under radically changed conditions

Today, Quds Day is being observed around the globe with mass anti-Israel protests. The founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khomeini, initiated the day of solidarity with Palestine on the last Friday of Ramadan. 

Israel is witnessing growing resistance against its colonialism, most significantly over the past year, from the occupied West Bank. 

Gone are the days when Israeli troops enjoyed the freedom to raid West Bank towns and villages to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians residing there. 

Today, newly formed armed resistance factions by the West Bank youth have changed the equation and are taking the battle to Israel's occupation troops.

They are conducting armed retaliatory operations against the regime's occupation including at its many military checkpoints scattered across the West Bank. Those retaliatory operations have struck the heart of the occupied territories, Tel Aviv.

They are also refusing to surrender to the regime's almost daily pre-dawn invasion of Palestinian towns and villages. Instead, these youths are confronting Special Forces in armed clashes, battles that usually last several hours. 

Their refusal to surrender explains the high Palestinian death toll. Israeli forces have murdered around 100 Palestinians so far this year.

It's no wonder Israel plans to set up a "National Guard" (described as a settler militia) to handle the West Bank resistance. 

That's how Israeli media described a photo published on April 9, 2023 of a meeting between the Secretary General of Lebanon's Hezbollah Sayyad Hassan Nasrallah and Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas political bureau. 

The two leaders met in Beirut to discuss the readiness of the axis of resistance and to further expand their cooperation in light of Israel's terrorism these days at al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The meeting between Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Hamas movement in the besieged Gaza Strip to expand and improve cooperation will be seen as a major concern among the security apparatus of the Zionist entity.

The salvo of missiles fired from Palestinian refugee camps in Southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip in response to Israel’s desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque (Islam’s third holiest site) indicated one key element.

The regime responded by striking farmland in Lebanon and airstrikes in the Gaza Strip for one night. In both attacks it was careful not to kill anybody as it cannot afford a wider conflict with the Palestinian resistance.

It also cannot embark on a war with Hezbollah as it knows very well the powerful resistance movement has weapons that can strike deep inside all occupied territories, including precision missiles that can hit very sensitive sites, including Israel’s Dimona nuclear weapons plant.

The same can be said about the Gaza Strip. Israel cannot afford a conflict with the Palestinian resistance in the blockaded coastal enclave as the resistance has missiles in its hands that can hit vital Israeli infrastructure and humiliate the regime.

With the power of the resistance in Lebanon and Gaza significantly growing, Israel can’t even wage a war to divert attention from the crisis the entity is witnessing from within.

There have been mass protests by Israelis against their new coalition’s plans to overhaul the regime’s so-called judicial system.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets and clashed with forces in protest against the proposed measures by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-orthodox and fascist cabinet.

Such is the extent of the fighting within Israel and warnings by the regime’s President and other officials of a civil war, Netanyahu’s cabinet was forced to postpone the plans for a month.

But as the English say, he is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

If Netanyahu drops his overhaul plans, he could end up in prison for corruption charges as well as members of his fragile coalition withdrawing, which would mean an end to his majority in the Israeli Knesset.

That would result in fifth election in less than five years. There has never been so much internal division within Israel’s 75 years of occupation of Palestine. Nevertheless, Netanyahu needs to keep his cabinet at any cost. This explains the vicious storming into al-Aqsa Mosque and committing terror on innocent worshipers in a desperate bid to appease the settlers.

If there is anything that brings a smile on the settler’s faces, it is footage of the occupation troops mercilessly attacking women and men inside al-Aqsa Mosque. But again, this comes with its ramifications that Israel will face in the near future.

So much is the division over Netanyahu’s overhaul plans of the judiciary that even segments in nearly all of the regime’s military armed forces and units withdrew from crucial training, which Israeli military officials, in turn, said poses a direct threat to the existence of the occupation.

In another major setback for Israel, its staunchest supporter, the United States has lost its clout in West Asia as witnessed by the recent detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia as well as the steady restoration of ties between Syria and the Arab world. 

In a sign of how developments are quickly changing in West Asia, a Saudi delegation travelled to the Yemeni capital Sana’a for talks with the head of the popular Ansarullah revolution, not the other way round.

This was not the case two decades ago, when Washington had major influence on the region. That influence is now shifting to the countries in West Asia itself. 

Alongside that, such is the fascist language being publicly broadcast by the minister in Netanyahu’s cabinet, that it has forced the US to end its decades long protocol of inviting a new Israel’s Prime Minister to the White House within two or three months.

Netanyahu, who assumed power again in January is still waiting for an invitation to hold talks with President Joe Biden. And he may have to wait longer.

On March 28, when Biden stressed he is not going to invite the Israeli prime minister to Washington “in the near term”, Netanyahu publicly hit back at the US President, underscoring the tense relationship between the current White House and the Israeli occupation.

However, it all goes back to the indigenous people of the land.

On Sunday Syrian President Bashar al-Assad pointed out that the Palestinian nation’s perseverance has pushed the occupying regime to the brink of collapse.

Israel has never been in a fragile state (pardon the pun) as it is now, facing so many crises from within and from the developments in the region as well as the international community as it continues to pursue its extremely racist agenda. 

 

Israel: Zionist regime faces highest resistance in West Bank

In Israel, the extremist ruling regime, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, faces its biggest resistance in the occupied West Bank in two decades. It simply can't put an end to the resistance of newly formed factions by Palestinian youth despite the almost daily military raids on cities, towns, villages, and refugee camps.

The record number of Palestinians Israel murdered last year looks like it will rise sharply this year with the death toll approaching almost 50 already in 2023. 

On Monday, the newly formed Palestinian Lions' Den resistance group said that its forces set up an elaborate ambush for Israeli troops who had entered Nablus to detain militants.

The group said that its forces used explosive devices as well as gunfire against the Israeli soldiers, who were eliminated. 

In a brief media statement, it then forecast that the cowardly Israeli occupation army would deny that soldiers had been killed. Instead, it will say that the deaths occurred in traffic accidents, on the mountains or as a result of illness.

"There were no Israeli casualties," reported Reuters, "but Israeli troops killed a 21-year-old Palestinian during an arrest raid in the occupied West Bank that triggered clashes with gunmen on Monday."

This is while reports have emerged that the Jenin Battalion have used, for the first time, drones in pursuing the occupation soldiers, in what would be a major development.

The use of drones is said to have taken place as violent clashes broke out once again between the resistance factions and the Israeli military, after special Israeli forces stormed the Jenin refugee camp, where they were confronted by the Palestinian resistance.

In a statement, the Jenin Battalion confirmed that the occupation forces targeted it with heavy ammunition and explosive devices, resulting in direct hits.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that two civilians have sustained serious injuries as an outcome of the latest aggression.

The major Israeli raids and long-term military operations in the West Bank have failed to stop the Palestinian resistance. 

At the end of January 2023, the al-Quds Brigades published footage of the Jenin Brigade detonating an explosive device as a truck drove by carrying Special Forces of the occupation army.

Other scenes were shown of the battalion's fighters shooting down a drone that was being used for surveillance by the occupation army.

As the regime kills more civilians, retaliatory operations are also leaving the Israeli Special Forces as well as its settlers dying in rising numbers.

The daily Israeli raids and sieges of Palestinian refugee camps, towns and villages are not bringing the desired results that the regime wants.

It has, therefore, resorted to the other more common option that it has used over the decades of ethnic cleansing with the construction of settlements. 

The new Israeli cabinet has granted authorization to legitimize nine settler outposts in the occupied West Bank while also announcing the mass-construction of new settler units within established settlements as revenge for the Palestinian resistance's lethal operations against the Zionist troops and settlers. 

Over the years, Zionist settlers have constructed and expanded scores of settler outposts themselves. Many are later authorized as legal by the Israeli cabinet. The nine that have been authorized are the first by Netanyahu’s new far-right cabinet.

Illegal settlements to be legalized:

1. Avigil

2. Bet Hogla

3. Givat Harel / Haroeh

4. Givat Arnon

5. Mitzpe Yehuda

6. Malachei Hashalom

7. Ashael

8. Sde Boaz

9. Shaharit

 

A statement from Netanyahu's office also said a planning committee would convene in the coming days to approve new settler units. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said these would number 10,000.

The international community considers the settlements illegal for stealing the native land of Palestinians. According to the Peace Now watchdog group, since capturing the West Bank in 1967, Israel has established at least 132 settlements.

While statements by extremist ministers in Netanyahu's cabinet deemed the settlement push as a response to recent Palestinian retaliatory operation, they had actually agreed on such plans before their coalition was sworn in on December 29, 2022.

While welcoming the Netanyahu cabinet’s announcement, West Bank settler leader Yossi Dagan urged a total removal of curbs on construction, to enable construction in full swing.

The number of settlers squatting in the occupied West Bank has hit half a million for the first time.  

Israel demolishes Palestinian homes to make way for the expansion of its settlements or the construction of new ones, which effectively means the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their indigenous land.

The latest announcement by Netanyahu’s office has been met with demands by the United Nations for Israel for be held accountable for “domicide”.

In late 2022, the Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, called for domicide - defined as the massive, arbitrary destruction of civilian housing in violent conflict - to be recognized as a crime under international law.

The UN Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights says the international community must take action to stop systematic and deliberate housing demolition and sealing, arbitrary displacement, and forced evictions of Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank, UN experts said.

In January 2023 alone, Israel reportedly demolished 132 Palestinian structures across 38 communities in the West Bank, including 34 residential and 15 donor-funded structures. This figure represents a 135% increase, compared to the same period in 2022, and includes five punitive demolitions.

The United Nations Human Rights Office says, “The systematic demolition of Palestinian homes, erection of illegal Israeli settlements and systematic denial of building permits for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank amounts to domicide.”

"Direct attacks on the Palestinian people's homes, schools, livelihoods and water sources are nothing but Israel's attempts to curtail the Palestinians' right to self-determination and to threaten their very existence," the United Nations experts said in a statement.

They reiterated concern over the situation in Masafer Yatta, where over 1,100 Palestinian residents are at imminent risk of forced eviction, arbitrary displacement and demolitions of their homes, livelihood, water and sanitation structures.

In November 2022, Israeli authorities demolished a donor-funded school in Isfey al Fauqa. Four other schools in the area are under demolition orders.

“Direct attacks on the Palestinians’ homes, schools, livelihoods and water sources are nothing but Israel’s attempts to curtail the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and to threaten their very existence,” the experts said.

“Israel’s tactics of forcibly displacing and evicting the Palestinian population appear to have no limits. In occupied East Jerusalem, tens of Palestinian families also face imminent risks of forced evictions and displacement, due to discriminatory zoning and planning regimes that favor Israeli settlement expansion – the act that is illegal under international law and amounts to a war crime.”

The experts also expressed alarm at the regime’s endorsement and escalated practice of punitive evictions and demolitions, and other punitive measures applied to alleged perpetrators of attacks and their family members, such as revoking identity documents, citizenship and residency rights and social security benefits.

On January 29, Israeli authorities announced measures to immediately seal off family homes of those suspected of carrying out the attacks on 27 and 28 January in occupied [al-Quds] Jerusalem, including the attack in the Neve Yacoub settlement on 27 January which killed at least seven Israelis. Two families of the alleged attackers were forcibly evicted from their homes, and more than 40 people, including family members, were reportedly arrested in relation to the retaliatory operations.

"The sealing of family homes of suspected offenders and the subsequent demolition of their homes is in fundamental disrespect of international human rights norms and the rule of law. Such acts amount to collective punishment which is strictly prohibited under international law,” the experts said.

They statement added, “We regret that impunity prevails, in particular for human rights violations and potential war crimes committed by the occupying power. It is high time for international adjudication bodies to determine the nature of the Israeli occupation and seek justice and accountability for all crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territory.”

Washington has voiced its regular strong opposition to the expansion of Israeli statements. But as usual, the statements are lame attempts to try and show that the US upholds international law.

The US has never taken any punitive action against Israel, which is its number one proxy in West Asia. The White House has defended the occupation regime even when its war crimes are condemned by UN agencies. 

 

World powers oppose Israeli settlement authorization

Foreign ministers of four European countries and Canada joined Washington on Tuesday in opposing a decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to authorize nine Jewish settler outposts in the occupied West Bank.

The foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States issued a joint statement voicing concern over the plans announced by Israel on Sunday.

"We strongly oppose unilateral actions which will only serve to exacerbate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and undermine efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution," they said.

Later, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said Ottawa also strongly opposed the expansion of settlements and added that such unilateral actions jeopardize efforts to achieve comprehensive, just and lasting peace.

On Sunday, Israel granted retroactive authorization to nine settler outposts in the West Bank and announced mass construction of new homes in established settlements, prompting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to say he was deeply troubled.

Israel's foreign ministry had no immediate comment but Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, from the hardliner religious nationalist bloc in Netanyahu's government, said he wanted to go further.

"This is our mission. This is our doctrine," Ben-Gvir said. "Nine settlements are nice but it's still not enough. We want much more," he said in a video message.

Most world powers view as illegal the settlements Israel has built on land it captured in a 1967 war with Arab powers.

Israel disputes that and cites biblical, historical and political links to the West Bank, as well as security interests.

Since the 1967 war, it has established 132 settlements on land Palestinians see as the core of a future state, according to the Peace Now watchdog group.

Besides the authorized settlements, groups of settlers have built scores of outposts without government permission. Some have been razed by police, others authorized retroactively. The nine granted approval on Sunday is the first for this Netanyahu government.

Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Palestinian official, welcomed the joint statement but added, "We demand that words be turned to deeds."

With tensions in the West Bank already high, the move has alarmed world powers which fear an even greater escalation of violence. Israeli forces have conducted near daily raids in the West Bank, pursuing a crackdown begun last year in the wake of a spate of deadly Palestinian attacks.

This year more than 40 Palestinians, including both militant fighters and civilians, have been killed by Israeli forces. At the same time, 10 people have been killed in Israel in two attacks by Palestinians.

 

Americans Seeking Establishing Greater Israel

According to a report there are growing signs that support Israel has morphed into a religious extremist position. The far-right American voters within the Texas Republican Party have approved a platform that will make it illegal to create a Palestinian State in territories controlled by the apartheid state.

The platform, approved by 5,100 delegates in Houston, supports the "prohibition of a Palestinian State within the historical borders of Israel, as it would jeopardize Israel's security and it would force Israel to give up land that God gave to the Jewish people as referenced in Genesis."

Going beyond all previous anti-Palestinian positions ever adopted by an American party, the GOP platform approved the creation of what is often referred to as "Greater Israel," which will see Israel expand ethno-nationalist Jewish domination to every inch of Historic Palestine.

After decades of ethnic cleansing, artificial re-drawing of borders and population control based on who is and is not Jewish, Israel has managed to wrestle total control of the territory from the West of River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea. Currently, as many as 12 million people reside in Historic Palestine, but full rights are granted by the occupation state to Jews only.

The remaining six million non-Jews are subjected to various forms of racial discrimination, depending on their place of residence. While non-Jews are denied full equality with Jews wherever they live, the 1.8 million Palestinian citizens of Israel, for example, have more rights than Palestinians in every other zone of Israeli control.

Though they face various forms of racial discrimination, Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem are granted relatively better status than Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, where the native population has been caged into an "open air prison".

Also, a racist policy enshrined in Israeli law denies some six million Palestinian refugees the right to return to the territory from which they were expelled only a few decades ago. The same law, however, permits every Jew across the world to "return" and settle in any part of Palestine, despite not having any direct connection to the land, other than Biblical claims mentioned in the Genesis.

Such practices, including the racial fragmentation of Palestine into zones of control where half the population enjoys full rights of citizenship denied to the non-Jewish half, every major human rights group has labelled Israel an apartheid state.

As of 2019, 138 of the 193 UN member states have recognized the State of Palestine. Moreover, every UN member, including the US and European countries, are ostensibly committed to the creation of a fully sovereign Palestinian State.

Nevertheless, every major Israeli party explicitly rejects the international consensus and now have found strong support for their radical position from the Texas Republican party in foreclosing any chance of a Palestinian State from ever being established.

Though party platforms do not necessarily translate into government policy, critics cite the former US President Donald Trump and the support enjoyed by Israel amongst powerful Evangelical Christians as well as fringe elements in US society, to argue that the most extreme and rejectionist views about the apartheid state have become normalized in US politics.

Amongst the other policies adopted by the pro-Israel Texas constituency is a proposal to hold a referendum on seceding from the US; a rejection of Joe Biden's presidency; calls for the repeal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which guaranteed Black voters representation.

 

United States condemns killing of journalist during Israeli military raid

The United States government on Wednesday condemned the killing of a journalist during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank and called for an immediate and thorough investigation to determine who is accountable. 

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the death of Shireen Abu Akleh represented “an affront to media freedom everywhere.”

White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre echoed Price’s comments, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that the administration strongly condemns the killing of the journalist. Jean-Pierre did not say whether President Joe Biden planned to call Abu Akleh’s family.   

Abu Akleh was shot and killed while covering an Israeli military raid in Jenin, a city administered by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

Israel has launched an investigation into Abu Akleh’s death and called for participation of the Palestinian Authority, which has refused. The Palestinian health ministry blamed the Israeli military for the journalist’s death.

Israeli Army Chief Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi said that the army could not yet determine whether Abu Akleh was hit by Israeli or Palestinian gunfire. The Associated Press reported, walking back an earlier statement from Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that the journalist’s death likely came from gunfire from armed Palestinians. 

The Israeli Defense Forces said it was conducting counter terrorism operations in the West Bank city when tens of Palestinian gunmen fired at and hurled explosive devices toward the soldiers and soldiers responded with gunfire. There were no injuries among Israeli forces, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Abu Akleh, 51, was a veteran Middle East journalist who reported for Al Jazeera’s Arabic language channel. She was reportedly shot in the head.

Al Jazeera reported that another one of their journalists, Ali al-Samoudi, was wounded by a bullet in the back at the scene and is in stable condition.

Al-Samoudi told Al Jazeera that there were no Palestinian fighters present when the journalists were shot. 

“We were going to film the Israeli army operation and suddenly they shot us without asking us to leave or stop filming,” al-Samoudi told the Qatari-based news outlet. 

“The first bullet hit me and the second bullet hit Shireen … there was no Palestinian military resistance at all at the scene.”

Abu Akleh’s death comes amid an escalation in Israeli counterterrorism operations in response to a series of attacks made by Palestinians, with at least 18 Israelis and 30 Palestinians killed in recent weeks.