March 18 – March 24, 2024
Tag: gaza strip
As the humanitarian situation worsens in Gaza, and the Israeli government still threatens to launch an offensive on the town of Rafah, there is one piece of positive news: negotiations on a possible ceasefire are not stalled. And in recent hours, there are some good reasons to believe that the ceasefire could become a reality.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began in Gaza, Israel has imposed severe restrictions and economic sanctions on the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, further exacerbating the already dire living conditions of Palestinians there.
Rafah has become the new focus of Israel’s war. It is pressing to invade the city on the border with Egypt, where 1.4 million people — more than half of Gaza’s population — are now sheltering.
Egyptian football legend Mohamed Salah’s careful positioning on the Israeli war in Gaza sparked discussions from fans and non-fans alike. Is it about ideology or sponsorships? And should any of it matter when his job is to score goals not play politics?
The gap between the positions of the two parties revealed itself to be too wide Wednesday, though talks are continuing in Cairo. When will Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu no longer be able to justify leaving the hostages in Gaza, and the damage of Israel losing its own allies?
Children are Gaza’s most vulnerable. For those displaced families living in shelters, the cold weather, lack of food and spread of disease are among the most immediate threats. But children also face trauma, with virtually no resources
Israeli forces assassinated three Palestinian militants in a West Bank hospital. The operation, one of the boldest since Oct. 7, is part of Israel’s long history of covert assassinations in decades of Arab-Israeli conflict.
After suffering its heaviest losses in a single day, the Israeli army continues its hunt for Hamas leaders and troops in Khan Younis, an overcrowded refugee camp in southern Gaza. Even heavier Palestinian civilian casualties are feared, as the war appears to be reaching a moment of truth.
The Iranian-supported Houthi rebels in Yemen are now using the conflict in Gaza as a justification for widening its reach. But the direct clash with the U.S. and others in the Red Sea may take a nine-year-long war to a whole other level.
For almost two years, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the West has been trying to salvage its relationship with the countries of the so-called Global South, unconvinced by the sincerity of its discourse on international law.
The assassination of a top Hamas leader this week was a much needed victory for Israel’s intelligence apparatus, still reeling from the Oct. 7 attack. But even if other targets are hit, it does not amount to an actual battle plan against Hamas.
It’s early January and already, former U.S. President Donald Trump’s presence can be felt on every current geopolitical situation. With his return in the White House becoming less and less unlikely, leaders are already factoring in what a second Trump era would mean for the world.
Sooner or later, Hamas’ reign in Gaza will come to an end. What will happen then? An Israeli occupation? The handover of power to local stakeholders? There are clear parallels with Germany’s situation after World War II.
Israel has launched a massive campaign of retaliatory detentions in the occupied West Bank. The campaign aims not only to humiliate the detainees, but it has also targeted those who have been released and it has revealed widespread violations and Israel’s determination to punish “all” Palestinians.
Nuclear weapons are a constant fear simmering in the background of modern-day conflicts. With the potential for Iran to join the Israel-Hamas war, and a threatening Russia at war with Ukraine, there is a more urgent necessity of reestablishing communication channels and confidence-building measures among nuclear powers.
The Jenin refugee camp is rapidly spinning out of control, as the West Bank security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority dissolves. The Israeli military wants to make an example of this symbol of Palestinian resistance in the West Bank.
As Israel ramps up its attacks on Gaza, and support from the West continues, ordinary people in Turkey are falling into the trap of seeing the world as an inevitable showdown between East and West.
The West’s decision to pressure Israel over Gaza, and indulge Iran’s violent and troublesome regime, follows the U.S. Democrats’ line with the Middle East: just keep us out of your murderous affairs.
The Israeli government has declared it is opposed to any ceasefire with Hamas. But one of its key objectives — and the top priority for Israelis — is to recover hostages. And only the ceasefire can achieve that…
November 27 – December 3, 2023
Challenged back home, U.S. President Joe Biden has just published an op-ed in the Washington Post in which he outlines a future for the Palestinian territories that’s different from the one envisaged by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and threatens violent settlers in the West Bank with sanctions. But where are the teeth?
November 20 – November 26, 2023
Israel has reacted sharply to the French president’s criticism of the IDF continued bombing of civilians in Gaza. France is the first country to break with Western unanimity on Israel since October 7, which explains the virulence of the reaction.
In Qatar, Egypt, Paris or on the phone, negotiators are busy trying to secure the release of hostages, push for “humanitarian pauses”, and prepare for the political aftermath of the war. Meanwhile, the war rages on in Gaza.
November 13 – November 19, 2023
At the moment, a two-state solution to end the conflict between Israel and Palestine seems impossible. But should a miracle occur, there is one example that, although not perfect, could serve as a model to build a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural federation: the ethno-federal democracy of India.
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s mention of “indefinite” control of security in Gaza does not sit well with Washington. Biden has a growing number of reasons to start pushing back against Israel’s war and post-war aims.
Whom should we blame for the death and destruction in Gaza: terrorists, Israel or ‘warmongers’ beyond them, notably the Tehran regime that envisaged, decades ago, a regional war as the prelude to spreading its “Islamic revolution.”
November 6 – November 12, 2023
The kidnapping of more 200 Israelis by Hamas suggests that its patron, the Islamic Republic of Iran, is exporting its terrifying and lucrative methods at home to the rest of the Middle East.
Categories
Worldcrunch Magazine #56 — Escalation
October 30 – November 5, 2023
The French president expressed his solidarity with Israel while calling for a political solution for the Palestinians; but he also made a surprise proposal for an international coalition against Hamas, which faces several obstacles — but is also a way to “frame” the conflict so that the dormant two-state solution can return.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ comments on the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas, which he said “did not occur in a vacuum,” constitute an incomprehensible relativization of a barbaric mass murder. Shameful, but not surprising, writes Die Welt‘s editor-in-chief Jennifer Wilton.
Both Hamas and Israel should stop manipulating the language of faith and morals to justify extreme and indiscriminate violence, writes Islamic theologian Marwan Sarwar Gill. Religion (in good faith) ultimately offers a way out of conflict the bad faith has fueled.
The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has raised numerous issues under international law, including Israel’s unlawful siege of Gaza and Hamas being a non-state actor.
Residents of Gaza City and other northern localities are discovering that the occupation’s order to evacuate the north is not a guarantee of the lives, but a form of psychological warfare intended to displace them.
The American president succeeded in obtaining humanitarian corridors through Gaza, and supported Israel’s claims that it wasn’t responsible for bombing a Gaza hospital. But in the Arab world, he consolidated his image as Israel’s main supporter, and lost the political battle for public opinion.
There are very real risks that this conflict may expand and re-shape the entire region. Israel appears to have the means to win on the battlefield, but risks losing along the way the very principles of justice on which it was founded.