A number of Palestinian civilians have been martyred, and others wounded, due to the relentless bombing by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza and Rafah. The aggression has escalated, with no signs of slowing down, as the war enters its 216th day.
"My children! My children! They bombed my children! Help my children!"
The recent attacks have resulted in the deaths of 13 Palestinians in the Al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City, as warplanes targeted a group of citizens near Al-Ibki Mosque. Additionally, a house belonging to the Radhi family in the new camp of Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, was also bombed, leading to more casualties.
Heavy Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling in Azzaytoon neighborhood in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/LkDVjqUU7p
In Rafah, a young man lost his life due to Israeli artillery shelling in the eastern part of the city. The municipality building and various other sites were also targeted by military aircraft, causing widespread destruction.
As people run to try to seek some kind of safety, nowhere is safe in Rafah as the bombings continue. pic.twitter.com/Hn074q4vUf
The ongoing aggression has forced families to flee their homes in Rafah, seeking safety from the relentless bombing. The toll on innocent civilians continues to rise, with reports of injuries from bombings in other areas such as Al-Fokhari, east of Khan Yunis.
BREAKING | Displaced families from Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City, Northern Gaza, flee as IOF military tanks advance and violent artillery shelling continues pic.twitter.com/xJaZfubm0S
According to the government media office in Gaza, the Israeli occupation forces have committed over 3,000 massacres during the 215 days of war on Gaza, resulting in thousands of martyrs and missing persons. The toll includes a number of child casualties, with more than 15,000 children losing their lives in the ongoing genocide.
A child has suffered extreme burns all over their body after their home was bombed in Rafah. pic.twitter.com/A2MrcpSSAS
Amid an ongoing onslaught against the Gaza Strip by apartheid Israel, the Palestinian national football team was a Cinderella story at this year’s AFC Asian Cup, reaching the knockout stages, eventually falling only to hosts and eventual winners hosted in Qatar. But while the challenge on the football field was hard enough, the Palestinian football team has to deal with a unique challenge that no other national squad faces: that of an unrelenting attack on it from Israel. This attack has included jailing, torturing, shooting and killing top players, bombing Palestinian infrastructure, and restricting the movement of players in and out of the country.
This has led to a growing global movement calling for Israel to be banned from international sporting competitions as part of a wider campaign to implement Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). South Africa-based group Red Card Israel, for example, told MintPress that:
“The action of suspending Israel from international sport creates a symbolic support against the unlawful occupation of Israel in the Palestinian territories and shows solidarity for the Palestinian people living under the apartheid regime.”
CUTTING DOWN THE TALLEST FLOWERS
Palestine started with one simple goal in the Asian Cup: to put a smile on people’s faces back home, giving them hope by representing them on an international stage. In that, they succeeded, becoming the toast of the tournament, playing attractive, positive football, including a 3-0 win over Hong Kong, China. Yet they did so despite generations of players shot, killed or permanently disabled by Israeli warplanes and snipers.
For example, in January 2014, cousins Jawhar Nasser Jawhar, 19, and Adam Abd al-Raouf Halabiya, 17 – young stars about to be called to the national team – were traveling home from a training session near Ramallah. They were ambushed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), who shot al-Raouf in the legs. Jawhar rushed to his aid, only to be peppered with bullets himself, including seven in his left foot, three in his right, and one in the hand. An attack dog was unleashed on them, and soldiers subsequently broke al-Raouf’s leg for good measure, suggesting they knew who the pair were. Their careers were over in a flash, and their destiny was stripped away. Now 29 and 27, respectively, Jawhar and al-Raouf would have been in their prime for the 2024 tournament.
While the pair survived partly thanks to medical treatment in Jordan, many of their peers were less fortunate. Tarek al-Quto, a promising midfielder, was killed by the IDF in 2004. Five years later, during Operation Cast Lead, Israel killed three more top players: Ayman Alkurd, Shadi Sbakhe and Wajeh Moshtaha. Also in 2009, 18-year-old phenomenon Saji Darwish was struck down by an Israeli sniper near Ramallah.
Palestinian amputees, many deliberately shot in the legs by Israeli troops, play a soccer match while using their crutches in Gaza, Aug. 16, 2023. Adel Hana | AP
“Arrests, torture and killings of Palestinian footballers became a regular headline in Palestine,” noted Palestinian writer Ramzy Baroud. One of the most infamous examples of this was Mahmoud Sarsak, who was arrested and held for three years without trial or visits from his family.
Protesting his treatment, Sarsak – a Palestinian international star – went on a hunger strike for three months. In the process, he almost died and lost nearly half his usual body weight. His case became a cause célèbre around the footballing world, with supporter clubs and even footballing legends like Eric Cantona, Michel Platini and Lilian Thuram calling for his release. The international pressure caused Israel to relent and free Sarsak, but the permanent health issues he suffered meant his career was over.
Sarsak’s case is far from the most extreme, however. Zakaria Issa, one of the country’s top strikers, was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2003. After being diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2011, he was released but died four months later.
Sameh Maraaba, meanwhile, has enjoyed a fruitful career, playing 40 times for Palestine in international competitions. He would no doubt have achieved more, however, if he had not been arrested at a border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank and accused by Israel of being an associate of Hamas. Maraaba was detained for seven months, during which he missed many crucial qualifying games for the 215 AFC Asian Cup and the 2014 Asian Games.
And on the same day in 2012, Israeli forces arrested Muhammad Nimr – a promising 23-year-old forward from the Amari refugee camp who had managed to forge a career in Europe – and Omar Abu Roïs, the goalkeeper for the Palestinian national football team. Their arrests spurred more calls for Israel to be barred from international sporting competitions.
Speaking with MintPress News, a spokesperson for Red Card Israel explained that suspending Israel from sporting events would illustrate that “the violation of human rights results in exclusions on an international level and that it cannot continue to blatantly disregard international law while still enjoying the privilege of international participation in sport.”
But even if they have not spent time in prison, the occupation has touched every footballer negatively. Palestinian athletes have to live, train and perform under immense psychological pressure. Mahmoud Wadi, for instance, revealed that he had to live with the constant threat of death during Israeli occupation. “I would go to bed at night and stare at the ceiling expecting it to come crashing down on my head at any moment,” he said of living through Operation Protective Edge. “Many players that I played against or with while in Gaza have died,” he added.
Wadi’s woes did not stop there. A day before Palestine’s first Asian Cup game against Iran in January, he was informed that his cousin had been killed in the Israeli attack.
BLOCKING PALESTINE FROM COMPETING
Wadi is one of the few Gazans to play for Palestine in recent years. The Israeli government has imposed a medieval-style siege on the densely populated strip. It strictly controls the amount of food and basic goods entering and exiting, making elite sport extremely difficult. Gazan football has suffered, with many top players (including Wadi) leaving for Egypt.
But life for a footballer in the West Bank can also be fraught with difficulties. Israel, which controls so much about life in Palestine, regularly denies exit visas to all domestically-based Palestinian footballers, leading to the country having to forfeit games and drop out of tournaments. Palestine was scheduled to play a crucial World Cup 2010 qualifying match against Singapore, but Israeli officials blocked the team from leaving the country. Despite protests, the footballing authorities elected not to reschedule the match but penalize Palestine, leading to their exit from the tournament. In May 2008, the team was barred from leaving the country to play at the AFC Challenge Cup. Three years later, two national team players were refused reentry into the West Bank after a match against Thailand. It is, in part, these sorts of arbitrary travel restrictions that have led selectors to look to the diaspora Palestinian population for players.
The constant Israeli military attacks have also taken a toll on the footballing infrastructure. In 2009, Israel destroyed the Rafah National Stadium in Gaza. And no football is being played at Yarmouk Stadium in Gaza City because Israel has turned the structure into an open-air prison camp. Images showing dozens of Palestinians – some as young as nine years old – stripped and paraded around at gunpoint went viral on social media in December, sparking global outrage.
All of this has meant that Palestine regularly has to play its “home” games in other countries. The team had to pull out of the Merdeka Tournament in Malaysia due to the Israeli onslaught, and Palestine is scheduled to play all of its upcoming home matches for the 2026 World Cup qualification tournament in Kuwait.
SHOULD ISRAEL BE BANNED?
In contrast, aside from some vocal opposition from opposing fans at games, Israel and its national football team have faced almost no negative repercussions. This is partially due to the position of the sport’s governing body, FIFA, which has consistently refused to act upon requests to hold Israel to account. In January, the Palestinian Football Association released a formal request calling on FIFA to ban Israel from sporting competitions over blatant human rights violations like the ones cataloged here.
It is not as if FIFA has not taken action before. In the 1990s, it banned Yugoslavia from competing at the 1994 World Cup amid a war in the Balkans. And in 2022, the organization indefinitely suspended Russia from international competitions because it invaded Ukraine. Yet these states were carrying out actions that Western powers – above all, the U.S. – opposed. In contrast, aggressive actions or human rights violations by Western powers never result in FIFA bans – a fact suggesting where the real power in the organization lies.
Indeed, it appears that opposing Israeli attacks is more likely to result in negative consequences than carrying them out. A number of professional footballers in Europe have been fired for making public comments criticizing Israel or supporting Palestine. Indonesia, slated to host the FIFA 2023 Under-20 World Cup, was stripped of that honor after uncertainty over whether it would allow the Israeli team to compete. (Indonesia does not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel).
As such, in football, as with politics, any actor proposing or carrying out a principled, non-violent boycott of Israel is likely to face consequences from authorities. Thirty-seven U.S. states currently have anti-BDS laws on their books, despite the fact that nearly three-quarters of Americans oppose such legislation.
Seen in South Africa. Photo | Red Card Israel
Despite the opposition from football’s governing body, a growing grassroots global movement is emerging, demanding sporting authorities take action to oppose genocide. That this is being led by South Africa is significant.
That so much of the Palestine solidarity movement emanates from South Africa is significant. Until the 1990s, South Africa was dominated by a human rights-abusing apartheid regime. But mounting international pressure turned the country into a pariah state and forced South Africa to change its ways.
Throughout the period, though, the white supremacist government maintained support from both the Israeli and American governments. Today, South Africa is leading a team at the International Court of Justice charging Israel with the crime of genocide. Red Card Israel explained that they see the victory in South Africa as a blueprint to follow, telling MintPress that:
“The intention behind the boycott of Israel in football (and other sports) is to further the intention of gaining equality for Palestinians on all international and political fronts. South Africa is best placed to bear testament to how sports, academic and cultural boycotts add pressure on illegitimate governments to crumble under the weight of unjust systemic oppression. It worked for South Africa, so there’s no reason why it won’t work in the case of Israel.”
As we have just seen at the Asian Cup, sport has the potential to unite people, both nationally and internationally. Football fans around the world have shown their solidarity with Palestine, and many are now organizing to make the dream of an end to apartheid a reality. It is clear, however, that football’s authorities will not welcome this movement. So, to achieve victory, organizers must show as much courage and determination as the Palestinian team did on the pitch this January.
The death and destruction caused in Gaza is almost beyond comprehension. Over 25,000 people have died at the hands of the Israeli air and ground assault, and virtually the entire population of the densely populated strip has been forced to flee their homes.
Few governments have been willing to put up meaningful resistance to Israeli aggression. One exception is Yemen, whose de-facto government Ansar Allah (often referred to as the Houthis) has engaged in a blockade of the Red Sea in an attempt to halt the onslaught.
In response, the U.S. is leading a Western alliance of nations to break the blockade and support the genocide. Yet joining the “MintCast” today is a guest who claims that, for all the destruction, Israel’s war in Gaza is failing. Greg Stoker is a former U.S. Army Special Operations member who left the military and became a committed anti-imperialist. Greg producescontent analyzing Western imperialism and the current wars in the Middle East, and his videos explaining the situation regularly go viral, attracting an audience of millions of people.
Today, he sat down with “MintCast” host Mnar Adley to discuss Israel, Yemen and the U.S. role in the chaos. He explained how the IDF is losing the ground war based upon a number of factors, errors and assumptions it made, including an overreliance on air superiority and bombing, the assumption that collective punishment would be an effective deterrent, a shocking lack of training for Israeli ground forces, perilously little infantry cover for Israeli armor making their tanks sitting ducks, and an inability to set realistic goals and targets in the war.
While the Israelis might have all the technology, money and Western backing, they are fighting a close-quarters ground war with a guerilla foe – a sort of war they are woefully unsuited for. With no aircraft or even vehicles of any note, Hamas’ focus is hand-to-hand fighting and hit-and-run skirmishes. Once they hit the Israelis, they can immediately disappear into a myriad of tunnels or bombed-out ruins, making them extremely difficult to pin down. The IDF has been unable to deal Hamas a serious blow despite confidently predicting that it would destroy the group altogether by the end of the fighting.
Meanwhile, the United States continues to escalate its attacks against Yemen. President Biden is the fourth consecutive president to bomb the country. It remains to be seen whether the U.S. will make the same mistakes the IDF has been making, but the threat of a new global conflict is on the horizon, even though the White House refuses to describe what it is currently doing as a “war.”
The Sabra and Shatila massacre was no accident. Nor should it have come as a surprise to anyone. It had to have been well planned in advance and demanded a great deal of cooperation between the forces involved.
The logistics had to have been worked out first. Closure of the camps, providing supplies and ammunition for the murderers, plans where to dig the mass graves for thousands of bodies, trucks and bulldozers needed to carry the bodies and dig the graves, the flares to light up the skies at night had to be coordinated with the military so that the murders are not interrupted by darkness. Manpower had to be allocated, and the political consequences needed to be considered.
This list is not exhaustive, but it gives us an idea of the careful planning that likely took place and, in turn, required time. It also shows that a very large number of people had to be in on this plan, yet it was never revealed.
The Israeli invasion of Lebanon began in June of 1982, and in no time, the Israeli forces were on the outskirts of Beirut. This means there were more than three months to coordinate between the forces to plan the massacre.
I was still in the midst of my mandatory military service at the time. I was home on leave that day, and I recall being called to return to the base. My role was completely non-combative. I taught first aid to medics in a base near Tel Aviv, and I found it strange that I was called in on a Saturday night.
The official day of the beginning of the invasion was Sunday, June 6, but I recall being called to return on Saturday night. You could tell just by driving along the highways between Jerusalem, where I lived, to the base where I served and which was located just south of Tel-Aviv, that something was going on. I remember seeing tanks being sent north and thinking that was never a good sign.
IT WAS INEVITABLE
By 1982, Israel had been responsible for countless atrocities in which Palestinian men, women, children, the elderly, medical workers, journalists, writers, poets, clergy and political leaders were massacred or assassinated in their beds. So how was this massacre not foreseen, especially when all the signs were there?
The timeline of the buildup to the massacre in the Sabra and Shatila camps was presented in an Aljazeera report from 2022. In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon. While the declared objective was to defend the Galilee from attacks from southern Lebanon, its aim was to destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Bodies of victims lie in the grounds of Sabra Refugee Camp near Beirut, Sep. 18, 1982. Photo | AP
The PLO withdrew from Lebanon by September 1, 1982. Assurances were provided by the United States and a multi-national force that the remaining Palestinian refugees and civilians would be protected. Once again, the world stood idle as Israel slaughtered Palestinians and Lebanese.
Then, the leadership of the PLO and the Palestinian fighting forces were given no choice but to leave Lebanon and sail to Tunis. The assurances by the United States regarding the safety of the Palestinians who remained without any protection were useless, unenforceable and disingenuous.
Two weeks after the PLO leadership and fighters departed, the Israeli military closed off the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. It provided cover for the Phalange, a right-wing Lebanese militia who were allies of Israel, allowing them to carry out the mass killings. Israeli commanders on the ground saw what was happening; they saw mass graves being dug, and they notified the chain of command all the way to the Minister of Defense, Ariel Sharon. Sharon was, of course, in on the planning and said that Israel should not trouble itself by intervening when “Arabs kill Arabs.”
A LICENSE TO KILL
The agreement under which the PLO left Lebanon was published in the New York Times on August 21, 1982. It is a pretty straightforward document. The clause dealing with guarantees for the safety of Palestinian civilians being left behind should have raised a red flag. It reads as follows:
Law-abiding Palestinian noncombatants left behind in Beirut, including the families of those who have departed, will be subject to Lebanese laws and regulations. The Governments of Lebanon (GOL) and the United States (US) will provide appropriate guarantees of safety in the following ways:
∗ The Lebanese Government will provide its guarantees on the basis of having secured assurances from armed groups with which it has been in touch.
∗ The United States will provide its guarantees on the basis of assurances received from the Government of Israel (GOI) and from the leadership of certain Lebanese groups with which it has been in touch.
The body of a victim lies in the ground of Sabra Camp two days after the Israeli-led massacre on Sep. 18, 1982. Photo | AP
In other words, the safety of the Palestinians in Lebanon was guaranteed by two governments, the Lebanese and the American. The guarantees were based on assurances given by parties that these governments do not control. The Lebanese government had no control over the armed groups within the country, and the United States government had no control over Israel. This, in effect, means that the guarantees were not given by the parties who were the most likely to attack the Palestinians – Israel and the armed groups within Lebanon – and so they were not bound by the agreement.
I asked my friend journalist Charles Glass, who has written extensively about Lebanon, about the Sabra and Shatila massacre. This was his response:
A Palestinian friend of mine, who grew up in Ain el Helwe refugee camp near Sidon, told me that summer that the Christian militias would begin massacres as soon as the commandos left. He said they were cowards who would kill people once their protection was gone. I saw it happen in Tel el Zaatar camp in 1976 when Arafat pulled the commandos out. Many such precedents. The Sabra-Shatila massacre was anything but a surprise.”
In 1982, the Palestinians in Lebanon were left with no one to defend them or even guarantee their safety. Just as they are today, just as they have been since 1948, Palestinians are left alone and unable to protect themselves while Israel is given a license to kill.
here is a story about the Roman Emperor Nero, according to which he set Rome on fire just so that he could see the flames. The story may or may not be true, but when Palestine is in flames, history will remember who lit the match.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime minister of Israel, will be remembered as the reckless politician who gave Itamar Ben-Gvir the green light to set a fire that will consume Palestine and cause death and destruction, the scale of which has never been seen before.
Thanks to Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir has attained authority and command over every Israeli agency that deals with the Palestinian people. Now it looks like Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir are about to see exactly what happens when you push Palestinians into a corner. The only question that remains to be answered is how Ben-Gvir, who is now at the helm of Israel’s entire internal defense apparatus, will deal with what could be the largest Palestinian uprising to date.
Known to be a coward, a madman and an opportunistic racist thug, Ben-Gvir has never in his life managed, much less commanded, so much as a small shop. A piece in the New Yorker describes him as an activist, recruiter, and even a role model for the hate-filled racist movement he was eventually destined to lead.
PALESTINIAN PRISONERS – A TINDERBOX
One issue that touches the heart of every Palestinian is the fate of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners suffering in Israeli jails. Israel has twenty-six facilities it uses to interrogate, detain and incarcerate Palestinians.
A map created by Addameer, a Palestinian focused on prisoner support and human rights, lists them all, shows their locations and reveals other details obtained over the years by the organization.
As Minister of National Security, Ben-Gvir has total control over the agency that governs Palestinian prisons, giving him control over even the most minute aspect of the lives of people he regularly refers to as terrorists but, in fact, are legitimate political prisoners.
Intending to demonstrate the iron fist with which he treats “terrorists” under his jurisdiction, Ben-Gvir recently announced the closure of bakeries that supply bread to Palestinian prisoners. He followed that announcement with a proclamation that prisoners would be allowed only four minutes to shower moving forward, after which Israeli authorities would shut the water off.
Palestinian prisoners did not delay in their response to Ben-Gvir. In a letter published in Hebrew, the prisoners declared a “revolt” against Ben-Gvir, which, if past occurrences are any indication, could ignite the entirety of Palestine.
The prisoners’ letter, addressed to Israeli journalist Elior Levi, was written by the leadership of the Palestinian Prisoners movement. In it, they announce the beginning of a revolt in response to the harsh measures taken by Ben-Gvir. They also announced an all-out hunger strike at the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Ben-Gvir’s cruelty, the letter says, will not only lead to a revolt within prison walls but also threatens to ignite all of Palestine. As history has taught, this is no empty threat but an actual warning. Ramadan is around the corner, and it is a time when tensions between Palestanians and Israelis are already very high, particularly around Jerusalem.
Ben-Gvir’s crackdown also extends to Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem, pushing the embattled city’s Palestinian leadership to declare a general strike and campaign of civil disobedience. The results are roads being blocked with burning tires, the Jerusalem police raiding neighborhoods, arresting Palestinians and sometimes demolishing their family members’ homes and other structures.
RAMADAN AND PASSOVER
The Muslim Holy month of Ramadan, which is based on the lunar calendar and therefore beings at varying times every year, is expected to begin around March 22 and last until April 21. The Jewish Passover holiday, also based upon the lunar calendar, takes place this year from April 5 to April 13, in other words, right in the middle of Ramadan. Under normal circumstances, this is of little consequence, but in Palestine, it is an explosion waiting to happen.
During Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims where prayer and worship are central, Israeli authorities ease some restrictions on Palestinians wishing to travel to Jerusalem to pray at Al-Aqsa, the second holiest site for Muslims. Millions of Palestinians brave checkpoints and more to pray at Al-Aqsa during Ramadan, particularly on Fridays. But in the last few years, even before Ben-Gvir took power, tensions have risen as Jewish extremists, defended by heavily armed Israeli forces, have entered the Holy Sanctuary and Al-Aqsa, sometime defiling the holy site and almost always leading to clashes with Palestanians intent on defending their sacred place.
An Israeli policeman stands by as medics rescue a man wounded by Israeli forces during Ramadan clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, May 10, 2021. Mahmoud Illean | AP
During the Jewish holidays, those same Israeli authorities impose a near-total lockdown on Palestinians. The ghettos of the West Bank are locked, and checkpoints are closed.
During this most sensitive time, when a major Jewish holiday falls at the same time as a major Muslim one, one would hope for a leader with intellect who is sensible and, perhaps more importantly, sensitive to the needs of all parties. Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is in charge of these complicated and potentially explosive arrangements, is definitely not that person. Yet, Netanyahu has placed him in charge.
So what are the odds that the palace will be set on fire to an extent which has yet to be seen? Very high. Take the prisoner issue, throw in Jerusalem, a checkpoint closure, and add the Jewish holidays and Ramadan altogether. Now put a racist madman who gets excited by the sight of Palestinian blood in charge of all of this, and what would you expect?
ANOTHER INTIFADA
For years, people have wondered whether another Intifada will break out. And indeed, an ongoing low-level uprising has been occurring this entire time. However, considering the abovementioned elements, a massive, all-out uprising can be expected soon.
People of conscience worldwide need to get ready to throw their support behind the Palestinian people in unprecedented ways. It is not enough to march and demonstrate anymore. People need to push their local and national governments, the press, and the business community to support the Palestinian struggle actively.
This volatile situation is just waiting to explode, so there is no reason to wait. We would do well to urgently demand guarantees for the safety and security of the Palestinian people. We must demonstrate to the communities in which we live and operate that a scenario in which Palestinian lives have no value cannot go on. Israel – and any governments supporting it or companies doing business with it – must be held accountable.
The international community must sanction Israel and hold it to account for every hair that falls from the head of a Palestinian child. The time is now because Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir delight at the prospect of seeing Palestine in flames.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah pointed out on Thursday that the West has returned to the police of proxy wars, as is the case in Ukraine while focusing at the same time on exerting economic pressures and imposing sanctions.
On the 30th anniversary of the launch of the Consultative Center for Studies and Documentation, Sayyed Nasrallah said, “The third version of the American project in the region is based on tightening the blockade and economic sanctions,” stressing that “an economic vision must not be built on wrong political calculations, including an assumption that there will be a settlement in the region.”
Sayyed Nasrallah indicated that “there will be no settlement in the region, and the economic vision must be based on the fact that there is no stability in light of the ongoing struggle with the Israeli enemy.”
Regarding the resources within the Mediterranean Sea, the Lebanese leader said there is no doubt that the Mediterranean has enormous resources that the world sees as a top priority. “Inevitably and definitely, there is oil on the land according to studies,” and what stopped all previous attempts to extract them is politics.
Sayyed Nasrallah highlighted that Lebanese expatriates are exposed to danger and US aggression by placing businessmen and senior merchants on “terrorist lists on unjust charges,” stressing that “we need a political authority and a courageous state capable of taking stances, is defiant, and takes courageous decisions.”
The Hezbollah Secretary-General considered that “the overwhelming concern battering Lebanon is economic, financial, and monetary,” calling on everyone to assume responsibility and save the economic and financial situation.
The Resistance leader said there is no doubt that the economic situation is difficult in Lebanon, stressing that this is the case across the globe as many countries around the world suffer from stifling economic crises.
The Secretary-General considered that “it is not permissible to remain in a floundering state,” stressing the importance of developing a vision for the economic situation on the basis of which plans and programs will be drawn up.
Sayyed Nasrallah explained that the reasons for the current poor economic situation in Lebanon are “political quotas in projects, sanctions, pressures, blockade, and the consequences of internal wars and reconstruction, as well as wars and Israeli aggressions and regional events, especially the file of the refugees and displaced, which greatly burdens Lebanon.”
Sayyed Nasrallah clarified that “the blockade means preventing aid and donations to Lebanon, preventing loans, and preventing the state from accepting donations, as happened with the Russian and Iranian donations or accepting the opening of investments” as offered by China and Russia.
“The United States does not want a strong state in the region, but rather, it wants its people to keep running after a loaf of bread,” he pointed out, continuing, “I invite you to examine the economic situation in Egypt, the first country to sign a peace agreement with “Israel”, is Lebanon more important to America than it?”
Sayyed Nasrallah further stressed that “the next 6 years are crucial, and if we continue in the same way, the country is going to collapse” if it already hasn’t.
Lebanon “wants a brave president who is willing to sacrifice and does not care about American threats if they do so,” and there are candidates who embody these characteristics, the Resistance leader noted, adding that “we are looking for a brave president of the republic, and we are looking for a government and officials of this kind.”
Sayyed Nasrallah concluded that “the forces that call themselves sovereign know the extent of the American meddling, yet they remain silent because sovereignty is an empty slogan to them.”
One wonders how long we have to wait in 2023 before a new intifada begins, orchestrated entirely by the Israeli government’s dirty work.
Is there anything quite so vomit-inducing than Israel’s new government with Benjamin Netanyahu at its helm? Barely days in office and he’s already frothing at the mouth like a sick dog looking at its next meal, in this case the Gaza Strip. One wonders how long we have to wait in 2023 before a new intifada begins, orchestrated entirely by the Israeli government’s dirty work, which in 2020, broke records with almost 1000 Palestinian homes stolen at gunpoint from humble Palestinians.
Years of neglect by the West, in particular the EU which can’t even make statements condemning Israel’s atrocities have culminated in human rights abominations on a scale once thought unimaginable. Also the Ukraine war. But now Netanyahu gleans in his new role as champion thief and warlord who will almost certainly reign supreme and enamour his political legacy in 2023 by bombing the Gaza strip this year. You could put money on it.
His latest announcement that his new far-right government will impose “sanctions” on senior Palestinian officials, after he slammed a UN decision to refer Israel’s handiwork to the International Criminal Court as “despicable”, adding that Israel is “not bound” by the UN vote.
The planned Israel sanctions are a response to the UN approval of a resolution requesting the International Court of Justice to evaluate Israel’s “annexation” policies and the “legal status of the occupation.”
VIP cars, which Netanyahu will ban, gives senior PA officials easy access to Israeli cities, easy passage at Israeli checkpoints, as well as travel through Ben Gurion Airport.
Wives, children and bodyguards of the PA officials, who hold the Israeli VIP cards, are able to pass through Israeli checkpoints without inspection and travel to Jerusalem through the gates of Separation Wall.
A decision on the package of sanctions against the Palestinians is expected to be taken by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister, Yoav Galant, and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in coordination with others, Israeli sources reported.
This move is an act of defiance against accountability from the UN and ICC where Western governments have failed to even bat an eyelid. For a few brief days in December, the Palestinians could dream of justice.
If the UN and ICC are serious, Israel’s impunity towards its wholesale looting of Palestinian property, not to mention its brutal treatment of Palestinians themselves, could be curtailed in 2023 as international law might be catching up with the apartheid state.
On December 30th, the UN General Assembly voted to seek the opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legality of Israel’s policies in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Assembly voted 87-26 in favour of the move, with 53 abstentions. Western nations were divided over support for the resolution, but there was virtually unanimous support from the Islamic world, even from Arab states that have normalised relations with Israel, as well as from Russia and China.
Are we reaching a point where countries beyond what we call The West are drawing a line in the sand for Israel’s government? Possibly, given that even Arab countries which signed up to the Abraham Accords backed the decision to take Israel to The Hague. Unfortunately, this unified stance against the Netanyahu government won’t mean so much as its leaders immerse themselves with so much blinded dogma about Palestine and their daily genocide that it is more likely that Netanyahu will throw the lever and start a war again in Gaza just so as to throw up a dust screen for the media to miss the wholesale theft of property which surely will continue. If the UN and ICC are really serious, they will create a legal process though for Palestinians to get their land and houses back through a compensation scheme, rather than just make “tough love” statements condemning Israel. The silence from the EU, in particular the European Parliament, is deafening. How is it that since 2014 — the last time an EU official tried to introduce a labelling scheme for goods made in the occupied territories — that the EU has become mute when it comes to Israel’s own war crimes against Palestinians? Did the Morocco-Qatar bribery ring also extend to white-washing Israel’s human rights atrocities?
Why a highly professional and ‘unsolved’ bombing attack in Al-Quds has triggered Israeli security forces and settlers alike.
On the morning of 23 November, occupied Jerusalem woke up to the sound of a double explosion in the western part of the city. The operation, the first of its kind since 2016, killed two Jewish settlers and injured about 47 others.
Israel’s security establishment immediately imposed strict restrictions on media outlets, preventing any details of the operation from being published, and accused resistance factions Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) of carrying out the brazen attack.
At the same time, the hacker group Moses’ Staff (Assa Musa), believed to be of Iranian origin, published footage of the bombing attack in Jerusalem on its Telegram channel. The hackers claimed to have infiltrated the surveillance cameras belonging to a major Israeli security organization.
The hacker group "Moses Staff" released footage of the moment one of the IEDs was detonated remotely in Jerusalem.
Along with the video, there was a Hebrew inscription that said “for a long time we had control over all your activities – step by step, moment by moment.” The video showed the exact moment of the explosion near Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station. Moses Staff also claims that it “formatted the hard drive of the camera.”
An upgrade in tactics
According to subsequent Israeli news reports, the perpetrators placed one of the two explosive devices on an electric bike that was parked at a bus station, while the second was placed on a motorcycle. The time difference between the two explosions was a few minutes.
It was later revealed that the two bombs, which contained a large amount of shrapnel and nails, were detonated remotely by a cell phone after the perpetrators left the scene of the operation.
For the Israeli army, this operation is of great concern, not only in terms of the number of deaths and injuries, but also because of the sophistication of tactics adopted by its perpetrators.
The operation would have required discreet reconnaissance, manufacture of small, highly effective bombs, and entry into and exit from the most secure and controlled areas in the occupied territories without any mishaps.
In recognition of these increasingly advanced military tactics, former Israeli police official Aryeh Amnit described the new resistance cells in the West Bank as “a more organized, educated, and professional generation.”
The Israelis also fear that their failure to arrest those responsible, after nearly three weeks of pursuit, will lead to further well-planned and highly-targeted resistance operations.
Revisiting the Second Intifada
Since the early 1990s, following First Intifada tactics that included both suicide bombings and targeted use of explosive devices, these kinds of missions have been the most effective form of armed struggle. The first of these operations was in 1993, carried out by Anwar Aziz of the PIJ.
Bombing operations reached their peak during the Second (or Al-Aqsa) Intifada, between 2001 and 2002, during which 88 missions were carried out, causing the death and injury of hundreds of Israelis.
This led to the Israeli army launching Operation Defensive Wall, which aimed at destroying the infrastructure of the resistance factions, and building an illegal separation wall around the cities of the West Bank – allegedly to prevent the infiltration of Palestinian fighters into the cities of the occupied territories, but also extending the occupation’s annexation of what remained of historic Palestine.
This far-reaching and oppressive Israeli operation initially appeared to yield results: between late 2005 and 2015, only 15 bombings took place, and between 2016 and 2022, the resistance was unable to carry out more than two bombings. It appeared that the Israelis had managed to completely eliminate the organized resistance cells that could carry out this type of sensitive operation.
Unsettling the Settlers
Yet November’s Jerusalem operation raises fresh security concerns for Israel’s occupation agenda in the West Bank, specifically in regard to the sudden advancement of Palestinian methods and tools of warfare.
The Hebrew Wala website claims that Jewish settlers in Palestinian territories have submitted more than 100 police reports about the presence of “suspicious objects” since the Jerusalem bombings. This means, according to Ahmed Al-Madhoun, a researcher on Israeli affairs, that “the operation succeeded in shaking the settlers’ confidence in their army’s ability to provide them with security.”
Madhoun told The Cradle: “With no information about the identity of the perpetrators, the occupation army has launched random arrest operations in East Jerusalem, to cover its impotence in front of a new generation of settlers facing a security threat that it had not seen before.”
According to the Hebrew broadcaster Kan, the perpetrators were residents of areas on the outskirts of Jerusalem, while Israel’s Yamam special force claimed it had managed to arrest one of them. It later became clear that none of these detainees had anything to do with the Jerusalem attack.
A source in East Jerusalem informed The Cradle that the behavior of the Israeli army confirms the validity of the announcement made by the hacker group, Moses’ Staff about compromising Israel’s surveillance equipment.
The source indicated that in normal circumstances, Israel’s military investigators review surveillance camera footage, identify the suspects, and then launch a “hot pursuit” to arrest the perpetrators.
But that didn’t happen this time. After security and forensic officials failed to discover any biological evidence left by the perpetrators – like fingerprints or other physical traces – at the scene of the operation, they resorted to carrying out random arrests of Palestinian civilians.
A new ‘professional’ resistance
Jerusalem-based political analyst Majd Ahmed explains that the behavior of the perpetrators indicates a high level of professionalism.
“After the operation, the occupation authorities imposed a publication ban, and false news was spread about the arrest of one of the attackers, to push the real perpetrators to make a mistake that would expose their identity, such as hiding or trying to travel.”
But those responsible for the attack seem to be living their normal lives. These subtle details confirm that there is superior planning behind resistance ops, and the hypothesis of cooperation between these cells at home and their allies abroad is likely.
This hypothesis is what Israel’s Minister of Internal Security Omer Bar-Lev hinted at immediately after the bombing in Jerusalem, when he said “the attack was complex, suggesting that it was the result of an organized infrastructure.”
Recurring Israeli ‘nightmare’
Hebrew newspaper Israel Hayom warned that the Jerusalem operation opens the door to a wave of bombardments similar to those that took place in 2001 and 2002. It further claimed the existence of “an explosives factory capable of producing explosive belts that can be used in commando operations, as happened in the Al-Aqsa (Second) Intifada.”
Political analyst Ayman al-Rafati believes that the Jerusalem operation – highly professional despite overwhelming Israeli security obstacles – confirms that the West Bank resistance has reached an advanced stage of capacity-building.
“We can expect more such operations in the coming months, especially since the resistance cells succeeded in reading the Israeli security mind, and were able to step ahead of it, and put themselves away from security oversight,” he told The Cradle.
Rafati also contends that the resistance’s ability to access Israel’s geographic depth raises this threat to an all-time high. Operations can now move from the West Bank cities that represent Israel’s backyard, to “Israel’s bedroom”itself, which has become “the biggest nightmare for the Israeli security establishment.
Seven young men from the Gaza Strip died on 23 October when their boat sank off the Tunisian coast. Among dozens of other refugees attempting to reach Europe, these Palestinian names were added to a list of more than 110 victims who have died in similar circumstances since 2007.
In early November, another boat sank in the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece, however, the fate of the 10 young men from Gaza who were on board the boat remains unknown. In the same month, it was reported by Wafa news agency that five Palestinians were rescued from a migrant boat wreck, also in the Aegean.
The exodus of Palestinians from Gaza – or their displacement through living conditions that make survival difficult – dates back to the end of the 1960s, with Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip. After the Israeli “withdrawal” in 2005, followed by the internal conflict between Fatah and Hamas in 2007, and then latter’s control of the Strip, the desire for Palestinians to immigrate only increased, especially among Gaza’s youth.
‘Abnormal lives’
According to a survey published in September by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza, nine out of ten young people said they believed they were living abnormal lives. Of the respondents, 40 percent between the ages of 18 and 29 said that they do not hope to find a job within the next 15 years. The ICRC also contextualized their plight in light of Israel’s on-going economic and political blockade of Gaza:
“Fifteen years of restrictions imposed by Israel on the movement of goods and People in and out of Gaza have significantly contributed to a steady deterioration in the economic and humanitarian situation in Gaza. This has limited access to essential services, jobs and opportunities outside of the occupied Palestinian territory.”
In a survey conducted by Al-Aqsa University, 51 percent of young people in Gaza said they would like to emigrate. During the preparation of this report, 26 young people out of 30 expressed the desire to migrate, including 15 of them who confirmed that they are seriously working on it.
Although there is no official data on the number of people who have emigrated from the densely-populated Gaza Strip since 2007, unofficial figures indicate that about 100,000 people have left Gaza during the past 15 years.
Human rights researcher Abdullah Sharshara attributes these numbers to “the psychological impact left by 15 years of Israeli control over the details of life in Gaza.”
“Israel has created expelling living conditions for the population,” Sharshara told The Cradle. “It launched destructive wars, imposed a suffocating blockade, destroyed infrastructure, bombed the power plant, and increased poverty rates among the population, which led to a collective feeling that Gaza is no longer a safe place to build a happy future,” he explained.
Israel’s motives behind Gazan migration
All of the integral components of Palestinian society – be it the resistance factions or the civil and official institutions – agree that the emigration of Palestinian youth ultimately serves Israeli interests, especially if it leads to a brain drain and the younger generation’s disengagement from Palestinian national concerns.
In an article published by the Regional Thinking Forum website in early March 2021, Israeli researcher Omri Sheffer Raviv revealed that successive Israeli governments since 1969 have worked to encourage the emigration of young people from Gaza.
Raviv argued that Israel’s goal in the late 1960s was to try to empty the Strip of a large mass of its population, with the aim of bringing it under the authority of Tel Aviv with the least amount of burden. However, after the Israeli “withdrawal” from Gaza in 2005, the Occupation state lost its ability to directly control the flow of migration, so its focus shifted to creating “expelling living conditions” for the Palestinian population, such as the blockade, successive crises, and seasonal wars.
Israel has launched four devastating wars against Gaza in 2009, 2012, 2014, and 2021, in addition to more than 20 battles between those wars, in which around 4,300 Palestinians were killed and tens of thousands injured.
Raviv also revealed that in 2019, Israel, in coordination with some European countries, worked to facilitate the emigration of the residents of the Gaza Strip, and even to officially organize emigration trips.
Tel Aviv also expressed its willingness to build an airport in the southern Negev region, adjacent to Gaza, in order to transport Palestinians to new lives overseas. This approach has not been denied by any Israeli officials. Rather, former Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked promoted it for years, going so far as to criticize her government and army for denying Gazans the ability to leave the Strip.
A new Nakba
Researcher in Israeli affairs, Ismail Muhammad, believes that the policies adopted by the Occupation state through the blockade, legal restrictions, repeated wars, manufacturing electricity and water crises, and the systematic destruction of the Palestinian economy, have entrenched in the collective mind of the new generations that there is no aspired future in their country. This in turn pushes them to search for individual salvation.
If the goal in the 1960s was to reduce the population mass in order to contain the Gaza Strip and dissolve it geographically within Israel’s borders, then the goal after the 2005 “withdrawal” turned to viewing Gaza as an independent entity, which would be a part of future negotiations for a final Palestinian solution – possibly an alternative to their occupied homeland.
Muhammad told The Cradle that by encouraging immigration, Israel seeks to achieve “the displacement of competencies and scientific capabilities in order to prevent the resistance from benefiting from them, in addition to disrupting the wheel of development, so that Gaza remains dependent on the Occupation state in the industrial, medical and agricultural fields.”
He further points out that the number of doctors with rare specializations who emigrated from Gaza exceeded 600 until last year, in addition to thousands of engineers, teachers, and other professionals.
According to Muhammad, the second Israeli goal is to foster an entire generation who oppose the resistance.
“The focus here is on a young generation living a life full of unresolvable crises. This leads to emptying Gaza of its human reservoir, which is its capital in its extended confrontation with the occupation.”
Death boats to Europe
Although the path of illegal immigration to Europe via “death boats” is fraught with dangers, this does not diminish the determination of dozens of families and young people to embark on such a misadventure.
Ahmed, who is in his twenties, says:
“I graduated from Al-Aqsa University ten years ago in English literature. I was first in my batch. I never wanted to migrate, nor did I plan to. Like any young man, I want to work and secure my future, but all roads in Gaza are closed. Life inside Gaza prison is more difficult than anywhere else. I am looking for any way to leave, and I do not rule out death boats, because here we are living in a state of death.”
However, death by drowning is not the only danger facing migrants. The 12 young men who drowned in a boat off the Tunisian coast at the end of last October had been kidnapped by a local Libyan militia that demanded a ransom for their release.
“The kidnappers demanded $10,000 for their release. We told them that if we had that kind of money, they wouldn’t have emigrated. In the end we paid $500 for each of the boys,” Muhammad al-Shaer, Haidar’s brother, who was among the 12 young casualties, revealed to The Cradle.
Palestinians hold a passport that allows them to enter 37 countries without prior visas. However, none of these countries offers them any privileges such as a monthly salary, health insurance, or citizenship.
The root cause of the migrant crisis
Therefore, young Palestinians try to risk traveling to Europe through two main, danger-fraught routes: The first, which is most common, is to travel to Turkey, crossing the Aegean Sea to Greece, and the second, is to travel to Egypt, then onto Libya, and from there to Italy’s shores. Both routes are dangerous and accompanied with a high-level of risk.
Despite the recurrence of drowning incidents and the increase in the number of victims, neither local Gaza authorities, nor Palestinian resistance factions, nor their civil society institutions have made any notable effort to limit this phenomenon. Yet as has been shown, the crux and main cause of the issue lies with the ethnic-cleansing policies of the Israeli government.
Children of my Gaza refugee camp were rarely afraid of monsters but of Israeli soldiers. This is all that we talked about before going to bed. Unlike imaginary monsters in the closet or under the bed, Israeli soldiers are real, and they could show up any minute – at the door, on the roof or, as was often the case, right in the middle of the house.
The recent tragic death of a 7-year-old, Rayan Suliman, a Palestinian boy from the village of Tuqu near Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, stirred up so many memories. The little boy with olive skin, innocent face and bright eyes fell on the ground while being chased by Israeli soldiers, who accused him and his peers of throwing stones. He fell unconscious, blood poured out of his mouth and, despite efforts to revive him, he ceased to breathe.
This was the abrupt and tragic end of Rayan’s life. All the things that could have been, all the experiences that he could have lived, and all the love that he could have imparted or received, all ended suddenly, as the boy lay face down on the pavement of a dusty road, in a poor village, without ever experiencing a single moment of being truly free, or even safe.
Seven year old Rayan Suleiman died of a heart attack after being chased down by armed Israeli soldiers. Credit | Wafa
Adults often project their understanding of the world on children. We want to believe that Palestinian children are warriors against oppression, injustice and military occupation. Though Palestinian children develop political consciousness at a very young age, quite often their action of protesting against the Israeli military, chanting against invading soldiers or even throwing stones are not compelled by politics, but by something else entirely: their fear of monsters.
This connection came to mind when I read the details of the harrowing experience that Rayan and many of the village children endure daily.
Tuqu is a Palestinian village that, once upon a time, existed in an uncontested landscape. In 1957, the illegal Jewish settlement of Tekoa was established on stolen Palestinian land. The nightmare had begun.
Israeli restrictions on Palestinian communities in that area increased, along with land annexation, travel restrictions and deepening apartheid. Several residents, mostly children from the village, were injured or killed by Israeli soldiers during repeated protests: the villagers wanted to have their life and freedom back; the soldiers wanted to ensure the continued oppression of Tuqu in the name of safeguarding the security of Tekoa. In 2017, a 17-year-old Palestinian boy, Hassan Mohammad al-Amour, was shot and killed during a protest; in 2019, another, Osama Hajahjeh, was seriously wounded.
The children of Tuqu had much to fear, and their fears were all well-founded. A daily journey to school, taken by Rayan and many of his peers, accentuated these fears. To get to school, the kids had to cross Israeli military barbed wire, often manned by heavily armed Israeli soldiers.
Sometimes, kids attempted to avoid the barbed wire so as to avoid the terrifying encounter. The soldiers anticipated this. “We tried to walk through the olive field next to the path, instead, but the soldiers hide in the trees there and grab us,” a 10-year-old boy from Tuqu, Mohammed Sabah, was quoted in an article by Sheren Khalel, published years ago.
The nightmare has been ongoing for years. Rayan experienced that terrorizing journey for over a year, of soldiers waiting behind barbed wires, mysterious creatures hiding behind trees, hands grabbing little bodies, children screaming for their parents, beseeching God and running in all directions.
Following Rayan’s death on September 29, the US State Department, the British government and the European Union demanded an investigation, as if the reason why the little boy succumbing to his paralyzing fears was a mystery, as if the horror of Israeli military occupation and violence was not an everyday reality.
Rayan’s story, though tragic beyond words, is not unique but a repeat of other stories experienced by countless Palestinian children.
When Ahmad Manasra was run over by an Israeli settler’s car, and his cousin, Hassan, was killed in 2015, Israeli media and apologists fanned the flames of propaganda, claiming that Manasra, 13 at the time, was a representation of something bigger. Israel claimed that Manasra was shot for attempting to stab an Israeli guard, and that such action reflected deep-seated Palestinian hatred for Israeli Jews, another convenient proof of the indoctrination of Palestinian children by their supposedly violent culture. Despite his injuries and young age, Manasra was tried in 2016, and was sentenced to twelve years in prison.
Manasra comes from the Palestinian town of Beit Hanina, near Jerusalem. His story is, in many ways, similar to that of Rayan: a Palestinian town, an illegal Jewish settlement, soldiers, armed settlers, ethnic cleansing, land theft and real monsters, everywhere. None of this mattered to the Israeli court or to mainstream, corporate media. They turned a 13-year-old boy into a monster, instead, and used his image as a poster child of Palestinian terrorism taught at a very young age.
The truth is, Palestinian children throw stones at Israeli soldiers, neither because of their supposedly inherent hatred of Israelis, nor as purely political acts. They do so because it is their only way of facing their own fears and coming to terms with their daily humiliation.
Just before Rayan managed to escape the crowd of Israeli soldiers and was chased to his death, an exchange took place between his father and the soldiers. Rayan’s father told the Associated Press the soldiers had threatened that, if Rayan was not handed over, they would return at night to arrest him along with his older brothers, aged 8 and 10. For a Palestinian child, a nightly raid by Israeli soldiers is the most terrifying prospect. Rayan’s young heart could not bear the thought. He fell unconscious.
Doctors at the nearby Palestinian hospital of Beit Jala had a convincing medical explanation of why Rayan has died. A pediatric specialist spoke about increased stress levels, caused by “excess adrenaline secretion” and increased heartbeats, leading to a cardiac arrest. For Rayan, his brothers and many Palestinian children, the culprit is something else: the monsters who return at night and terrify the sleeping children.
Chances are, Rayan’s older brothers will be back in the streets of Tuqu, stones and slingshots in hand, ready to face their fears of monsters, even if they pay the price with their own lives.
The arrest of a prominent Palestinian activist, Musab Shtayyeh, and another Palestinian activist, by Palestinian Authority police on September 20 was not the first time that the notorious PA’s Preventive Security Service (PSS) has arrested a Palestinian who is wanted by Israel.
PSS is largely linked to the routine arrests and torture of anti-Israeli occupation activists. Several Palestinians have died in the past as a result of PSS violence, the latest being Nizar Banat who was tortured to death on June 24, 2021. The killing of Banat ignited a popular revolt against the PA throughout Palestine.
For years, various Palestinian and international human rights groups have criticized the PA’s violent practices against dissenting Palestinian voices, quite often within the same human rights reports critical of the Israeli military occupation of Palestine. The Hamas government in Gaza, too, has its fair share of blame.
In its January 2022 World Report, Human Rights Watch said that “the Palestinian Authority (PA) manages affairs in parts of the West Bank, where it systematically arrests arbitrarily and tortures dissidents.” This was neither the first nor the last time that a human rights group made such an accusation.
The link between Israeli and Palestinian violence targeting political dissidents and activists is equally clear to most Palestinians.
Some Palestinians may have believed, at one point, that the PA’s role is to serve as a transition between their national liberation project and full independence and sovereignty on the ground. Nearly thirty years after the formation of the PA, such a notion has proved to be wishful thinking. Not only did the PA fail at achieving the coveted Palestinian State, but it has morphed into a massively corrupt apparatus whose existence largely serves a small class of Palestinian politicians and business people – and, in the case of Palestine, it is always the same group.
PA corruption and subsequent violence aside, what continues to irk most Palestinians is that the PA, with time, became another manifestation of the Israeli occupation, curtailing Palestinian freedom of expression and carrying out arrests on behalf of the Israeli army. Sadly, many of those arrested by the Israeli military in the West Bank have experienced arrest by PA goons, too.
Scenes of violent riots in the city of Nablus following Shtayyeh’s arrest were reminiscent of the riots against Israeli occupation forces in the northern West Bank city or elsewhere in occupied Palestine. Unlike previous confrontations between Palestinians and PA police – for example, following the killing of Banat – this time, the violence was widespread, and involved protesters from all Palestinian political groups, including the ruling Fatah faction.
Perhaps unaware of the massive collective psychological shift that took place in Palestine in recent years, the PA government was desperate to contain the violence.
Subsequently, a committee that represents united Palestinian factions in Nablus declared on September 21 that it has reached a ‘truce’ with PA security forces in the city. The committee, which includes prominent Palestinian figures, told the Associated Press and other media that the agreement restricts any future arrests of Palestinians in Nablus to the condition that the individual must be implicated in breaking Palestinian, not Israeli, law. That provision alone implies a tacit admission by the PA that the arrest of Shtayyeh and Ameed Tbaileh was motivated by an Israeli, not a Palestinian agenda.
But why would the PA quickly concede to pressure coming from the Palestinian street?
The answer lies in the changing political mood in Palestine.
First, it must be stated that resentment of the PA has been brewing for years. One opinion poll after another has indicated the low regard that most Palestinians have of their leadership, of PA President Mahmoud Abbas and particularly of the ‘security coordination’ with Israel.
Second, the torture and death of political dissident Banat, last year, has erased whatever patience Palestinians had towards their leadership, demonstrating to them that the PA is not an ally but a threat.
Third, the Unity Intifada of May 2021 has emboldened many segments of Palestinian society throughout occupied Palestine. For the first time in years, Palestinians have felt united around a single slogan and are no longer hostage to the geography of politics and factions. A new generation of young Palestinians has advanced the conversation beyond Abbas, the PA and their endless and ineffectual political rhetoric.
Fourth, armed struggle in the West Bank has been growing so rapidly that the Israeli army Chief of Staff, Aviv Kochavi, claimed on September 6 that, since March, around 1,500 Palestinians have been arrested in the West Bank and that, allegedly, hundreds of attacks against the Israeli military have been thwarted.
In fact, evidence of an armed Intifada is growing in the Jenin and Nablus regions. What is particularly interesting, and alarming, from the Israeli and PA viewpoint, about the nature of the budding armed struggle phenomenon, is that it is largely led by the military wing of the ruling Fatah party, in direct cooperation with Hamas and other Islamic and national military wings.
For example, on August 9, the Israeli army assassinated Ibrahim al-Nabulsi, a prominent Fatah military commander, along with two others. Not only, did the PA do little to stop the Israeli military machine from conducting more such assassinations, six weeks later, it arrested Shtayyeh, a close comrade of Nabulsi.
Interestingly, Shtayyeh is not a member of Fatah, but a commander within the Hamas military wing, Al-Qassam. Though Fatah and Hamas are meant to be intense political rivals, their political tussle seems to be of no relevance to military groups in the West Bank.
Unfortunately, more violence is likely to follow, for several reasons: Israel’s determination to crush any armed Intifada in the West Bank before it is widespread across the occupied territories, the looming leadership transition within the PA due to Abbas’s old age, and the growing unity among Palestinians around the issue of resistance.
While the Israeli response to all of this can easily be gleaned from its legacy of violence, the PA’s future course of action will likely determine its relationship with Israel and its western supporters, on the one hand, and with the Palestinian people, on the other. Which side will the PA choose?
BEIT HANINA, OCCUPIED JERUSALEM – The United States House of Representatives submission to Israel and Zionism is both pathetic and enraging. This total submission to the will and interests of the Zionist movement and the State of Israel does not serve the interests of the American people, and only goes to support a state that has been recognized as a racist, violent apartheid regime. As one Palestinian said to me recently, U.S. foreign aid for Israel goes towards my oppression and the killing of my people.
Nowhere is Congress’ blind support for Israel more heinous, more horrifying and more outrageous than the lack of support for the bill proposed by Representative Betty McCollum and known as, “Defending The Human Rights Of Palestinian Children And Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act”, or HR 2590.
When I asked the now defeated Representative Andy Levin about this issue, he said to me that, “no Jewish member of congress will sign the bill,” and when I asked why, he said that it was “anti-Israel.” His response was indicative of the problem. Knowing how Israel treats children makes it imperative to sign any bill that is, as he put it, “anti-Israel.” Why he feels that Jewish members of congress should express loyalty to Israel at all, and on this issue in particular, is another question, and one that needs to be explored. Many Jewish people in America resent the fact that they are somehow expected to be loyal and even held accountable for the actions of a country that wrongly declares itself to be the “Jewish State.”
TWO MOTHERS
Anyone who has been to Palestine and has taken the time to speak to Palestinian parents knows what they must endure when Israeli authorities take away their children. There is no law, no court, no human rights organization in the world that can protect Palestinian children from Israel. What these parents know and are unable to understand is the fact that the United States can protect their children, but elects not to do so.
Mourners pray over the bodies of six Palestinians, including children, killed by Israeli airstrikes in Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza, Aug. 6, 2022. Abdel Kareem Hana | AP
Just a few days prior to writing these words, I had met with two Palestinian mothers on two separate occasions. One in the village of Nabi Saleh, and the other in Beit Hanina, Jerusalem. No parent with a beating heart can listen to their stories and refrain from crying. No person with a conscience can sit idly by as Israel tortures both children and parents on an ongoing basis and not want to raise their voice.
NABI SALEH
More has been written and said about the village of Nabi Saleh than one would expect for such a small place. Tucked in one of the most beautiful sports in Palestine, Nabi Saleh has about five hundred residents, all part of the Tamimi clan, one of the largest clans in Palestine. However, as they say, it’s not the size of the person, or in this case the village, in the fight, but the size of the fight in the person. Well, never has this been more true than in the case of Nabi Saleh. It is a small village with the heart and a fighting spirit larger than one hundred villages put together.
Probably the most famous fighter in Nabi Saleh is Ahed Tamimi, the daughter of my friends Bassem and Nariman whose home is like a second home to me. Bassem and Nariman have known their share of sorrow and pain with their own experiences and those of their children being taken by the occupying enemy. However, this particular story is about their cousins Osama and Hamada, as it was told to me by their mother Manal Tamimi.
All Palestinians know that interrogation by the Israeli authorities means torture. In this particular case, both the older sons of Manal and Bilal were taken at the same time. Osama was 19 years old and Hamada was about 17. Their interrogation lasted over three weeks, during which Osama had to be taken to the hospital twice. “We were not able to visit him in the hospital, nor did they tell us why he was taken to the hospital,” Manal told me. When the enemy occupier takes your children, you assume the worst.
Ahed Tamimi is brought to a courtroom inside the Ofer military prison near occupied Jerusalem, Jan. 15, 2018. Mahmoud Illean | AP
“I used to sleep in their beds at night just to feel close to them. One night in Osama’s bed and one in Hamada’s,” Manal said. Knowing your child is being tortured, exposed to the elements, being treated so severely that he has to be taken to the hospital and having no ability to be there with him is more than any parent should have to endure. “The sensitivity to extreme light and loud noises remained with Hamada even after he was released,” she added.
Hamada, who is the younger of the two, spent twenty-two months in an Israeli prison. Osama was held for about a year. Manal and Bilal had to pay thousands of dollars, as all parents of Palestinian children have to do, before the authorities released them.
AHMAD MANASRA
I ran into Ahmad Manasra’s lawyer, Khaled Zbarka, in El-Lyd. We were there at a vigil commemorating the murder of Musa Hassuna at the hands of settlers in May 2021. I was introduced to Khaled by El-Lyd city councilwoman Fida Shehade. She suggested that I meet with Khaled and Amhad Manasra’s parents in Jerusalem, where they reside. As things turned out, Khaled was not available, and I went to meet Ahmad’s parents without him.
The story of Ahmad Manasra is well documented, and the latest development is that on August 16 the Israeli court in Bi’r Saba held a hearing regarding his extended isolation in solitary confinement. “He sits there in that cell with nothing but the four walls surrounding him,” his father, Abu-Ahmed, said to me over and over again. The Israeli court rejected the request to end isolation and the recommendation by several mental health experts and international human rights organizations to release him to a mental health care facility where he could receive the urgent care he requires.
Ahmad was badly injured when he was arrested. He had been beaten, run over, and suffered from bleeding and internal injuries. This was seven years ago: he was thirteen years old at the time. His mother thought he was dead at first. Only after a day was she told that he was still alive. Ahmad was handcuffed to a bed at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. His parents were still not permitted to see him. One can hardly imagine the pain of a parent whose child is in hospital but is not allowed to comfort them.
When he was released from the hospital, he was sent to an institution for young offenders. Only after two months of horrifying experiences there were his parents permitted to see their child.
“We were told our boy was involved in a terror attack!” His mother, Umm Ahmad, told me, still in shock by the absurd notion that her sweet, sensitive son could be accused of something like that. His cousin, fifteen, who was also there, was shot on the scene by bystanders. “At thirteen they accused him of terrorism,” Abu Ahmad said over and over. “Thirteen years old a terrorist? Who can accuse a child or terrorism?”
Visits are limited to forty-five minutes once a month. “When he is in the hospital, which often happens for Ahmad, they are not permitted to see him. “He was moved between prisons about ten times,” Abu Ahmad said. I mentioned that this is a violation of international law. His reply was, “Ahmad’s entire case is a violation of international laws. Imagine that: at the age of thirteen, he was interrogated without the presence of a parent or a lawyer.” When the parents plan a visit, very often they receive a message two days before they leave. “They will notify us that he was moved and so the visit is postponed and we cannot see him for another month,” Abu Ahmad told me.
PRESSURE
The text of the bill to defend Palestinian children can be found here, and the list of co-sponsors, here. Anyone who is eligible to vote in the upcoming midterm election needs to demand that their candidate commit to adding their name to this bill. No consideration should come before the well being of a child.
We regret we failed to protect you. This was part of a statement issued by United Nations human rights experts on July 14, urging the Israeli government to release Palestinian prisoner Ahmad Manasra. Only 14 years old at the time of his arrest and torture by Israeli forces, Manasra is now 20 years old. His case is a representation of Israel’s overall inhumane treatment of Palestinian children.
The experts’ statement was forceful and heartfelt. It accused Israel of depriving young Manasra “of his childhood, family environment, protection and all the rights he should have been guaranteed as a child.” It referred to the case as ‘haunting’, considering Manasra’s “deteriorating mental conditions”. The statement went further, declaring that “this case … is a stain on all of us as part of the international human rights community”.
Condemning Israel for its ill-treatment of Palestinian children, whether those under siege in war-stricken Gaza, or under military occupation and apartheid in the rest of the occupied territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, is commonplace.
Yet, somehow, Israel was still spared a spot on the unflattering list, issued annually by the United Nations Secretary-General, naming and shaming governments and groups that commit grave violations against children and minors anywhere in the world.
Oddly, the report does recognize Israel’s horrific record of violating children’s rights in Palestine. It details some of these violations, which UN workers have directly verified. This includes “2,934 grave violations against 1,208 Palestinian children” in the year 2021 alone. However, the report equates between Israel’s record, one of the most dismal in the world, and that of Palestinians, namely the fact that 9 Israeli children were impacted by Palestinian violence in that whole year.
Though the deliberate harming of a single child is regrettable regardless of the circumstances or the perpetrator, it is mind-boggling that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres found it appropriate to equate the systematic violations carried out by the Israeli military as a matter of course and the 9 Israeli minors harmed by Palestinian armed groups, whether intentionally or not.
To deal with the obvious discrepancy between Palestinian and Israeli child victims, the UN report lumped together all categories to distract from the identity of the perpetrator, thus lessening the focus on the Israeli crimes. For example, the report states that a total of 88 children were killed throughout Palestine, of whom 69 were killed in Gaza and 17 in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. However, the report breaks down these murders in such a way that conflates Palestinian and Israeli children as if purposely trying to confuse the reader. When read carefully, one discovers that all of these killings were carried out by Israeli forces, except for two.
More, the report uses the same logic to break down the number of children maimed in the conflict, though of the 1,128 maimed children, only 7 were Israelis. Of the remainder, 661 were maimed in Gaza and 464 in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The report goes on to blame “armed Palestinian groups” for some of the Palestinian casualties, who were allegedly injured as a result of “accidents involving children who were near to military training exercises”. Assuming that this is the case, accidents of this nature cannot be considered “grave violations” as they are, by the UN’s own definition, accidental.
The confusing breakdown of these numbers, however, was itself not accidental, as it allowed Guterres the space to declare that “should the situation repeat itself in 2022, without meaningful improvement, Israel should be listed.”
Worse, Guterres’ report went further to reassure the Israelis that they are on the right track by stating that “so far this year, we have not witnessed a similar number of violations”, as if to suggest that the right-wing Israeli government of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid has purposely changed its policies regarding the targeting of Palestinian children. Of course, there is no evidence of this whatsoever.
On June 27, Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP) reported that Israel “had been intensifying its aggression” against children in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the beginning of 2022. DCIP confirmed that as many as 15 Palestinian children were killed by Israeli forces in the first six months of 2022, almost the same number killed in the same regions throughout the entirety of the previous year. This number includes 5 children in the occupied city of Jenin alone. Israel even targeted journalists who attempted to report on these violations, including Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed on May 11, and Ali Samoudi, who was shot in the back on the very same day.
Much more can be said, of course, about the besiegement of hundreds of thousands of children in the Gaza Strip, known as the ‘world’s largest open-air prison’, and many more in the occupied West Bank. The lack of basic human rights, including life-saving medicine and, in the case of Gaza, clean water, hardly suggests any measurable improvement in Israel’s track record as far as Palestinian children’s rights are concerned.
If you think that the UN report is a step in the right direction, think again. 2014 was one of the most tragic years for Palestinian children where, according to a previous UN report, 557 children were killed and 4,249 were injured, the vast majority of whom were targeted during the Israeli war on Gaza. Human Rights Watch stated that the number of killed Palestinians “was the third-highest in the world that year”. Still, Israel was not blacklisted on the UN ‘List of Shame’. The clear message here is that Israel may target Palestinian children as it pleases, as there will be no legal, political or moral accountability for its actions.
This is not what Palestinians are expecting from the United Nations, an organization that supposedly exists to end armed conflicts and bring about peace and security for all. For now, the message emanating from the world’s largest international institution to Manasra and the rest of Palestine’s children will remain unchanged: “We regret we failed to protect you.”
When Ahed Tamimi tried to defend herself and her home from an armed Israeli officer she became an international heroine. Images of her were plastered everywhere and she was named a “Lioness.” As she candidly admits in her soon to be published memoir (co-written with Dena Takruri) she did not want, nor did she seek this fame. She just wanted to go to school and play soccer.
What Ahed’s story demonstrates is that we have forsaken the Palestinian people. Even Palestinian children are left alone to defend themselves with their bare hands against a vicious occupation force that sends soldiers and officers who are armed to the teeth to attack Palestinians in their homes and are never held accountable for their crimes.
WHO DEFENDS PALESTINIANS?
The answer is no one. When Palestinians risk their lives as they do regularly in their heroic efforts to stay alive and resist oppression, there is no one that stands between them and the Israeli war machine. Ahed Tamimi was recently targeted again. However, the bullet intended for her hit her cousin, who was standing next to her. The soldiers actually called her by name.
Then we saw the same thing in the case of Shireen Abu Akleh, a well-known and respected journalist. Shireen was assassinated in broad daylight. There was no accountability at all, from the shooters to the decision makers who gave the orders. We have come to learn that when Palestinians are targeted we can expect no arrests or serious investigation.
Noted activist Issa Amro is another example. He is thankfully still alive, but there is no certainty that he will be tomorrow. In the city of Hebron where Issa lives and works, soldiers and settlers surround him as he stands in the front line trying to free himself, his city and indeed his country from their brutality. The Old City of Hebron is perhaps one of the most dangerous places to be a Palestinian. Issa is well known for his commitment and dedication to resistance, albeit a dedicatedly unarmed resistance. The soldiers and the settlers recognize him and he is in constant danger.
Issa has been detained, arrested, beaten and dragged to military court enough times to fill the pages of a thick memoir. A new escalation in his persecution seems to have begun in the summer of 2022. In a matter of weeks, his house has been raided several times and he was detained and harassed by soldiers who handcuffed and blindfolded him, keeping him like that for hours.
DEFENDING THE DEFENDERS
People often use the term “for no reason,” when speaking about their unjust harassment, detention, arrest and killing by Israeli forces. However, this term is misleading. In the case of Issa Amro, as in the case of Shireen Abu Akleh, Ahed Tamimi and countless others, there is an excellent reason. The motive for the killing of Shireen and the constant brutal assault on people like Issa is that they have a voice that is heard around the world. Israel is terrified and when an armed bully is scared, it reacts with violence.
Another aspect of Issa Amro’s case is that he was designated a “human rights defender” by the United Nations in 2010. The U.S. State Department followed suit in 2011, as did the European Union in 2013. A 2016 Amnesty International report entitled “Israeli Government Must Cease Intimidation of Human Rights Defenders, Protect Them From Attacks,” lists Issa and several others as human rights defenders and details the ways in which the Israeli government regularly harasses them. Since the report came out, six years have passed and nothing is being done to see to it that these defenders are protected. The question that needs to be answered without delay is, who defends the defenders when they are attacked brutally and with impunity by Israel?
EVERY BULLET HAS A NAME
How far back do we need to go in order to demonstrate how Israel gets away with murder? From its very founding moment, Israeli forces have been murdering Palestinians with impunity. Raids on homes and arrests and detention of political activists have been part of the daily life of Palestinians from the very beginning of the Apartheid regime in 1948.
Israel targets people and then executes its plan whether it is to detain, arrest, or otherwise harass them. In some cases, their targets are shot and killed. When they kill a well-known Palestinian, we hear about it, talk about it and then move on until we hear of another name. Each one of these Palestinians had a bullet with their name on it and it was just a question of time until that bullet found its mark. Unless the supply of bullets to Israel is brought to an end, the killing of Palestinians will continue uninterrupted.
International organizations that claim to stand for the rights of the oppressed need to have their feet on the ground. Like soldiers, they must have people there to stand in the midst so that Palestinians are protected. With all due respect, the designation of a human rights defender may help but it does not guarantee the lives or even the safety of those who carry it. Any organization, governmental or non-governmental that claims to have the interests of the oppressed on its agenda needs to stand in front of Israeli soldiers as they harass and endanger the lives of Palestinians.
NOT ALL SOLDIERS WEAR A UNIFORM
Indeed, some soldiers wear suits. In capitals around the world, representatives of the state of Israel walk around in suits. But they are no less violent and racist than the soldiers in uniform in Hebron or the settlers in El-Lyd or the Yoav unit of the Israeli police that operate in the Naqab. They are all equally dedicated to the destruction of Palestine and to the preservation at all costs of the Apartheid regime.
The soldiers in suits walk through the halls of governments, the offices of big corporations, and the headquarters of NGOs to ensure that the Apartheid regime’s interests are protected. So far the evidence shows that their work is rewarded and their interests are protected.
What is also clear is that the lives of Palestinians, be they unarmed activists or fighters, be they children, women, men, or the elderly, are only worth the price of the bullet that carries their name. And while we will talk and write about the next Palestinian who is killed for a few days, their children will remain orphans for life.
They were shooting directly at the journalists: New evidence suggests Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in targeted attack by Israeli forces”. Thus read a CNN headline on May 26, 2022, for an article describing what may have been a “targeted killing,” – that is, assassination – of Al Jazeera journalist Shirleen Abu Akleh, a 51-year-old highly esteemed Palestinian-American journalist who had covered Israeli repression of the Palestinian population for about 25 years before she was killed.
With this killing and its aftermath, one knows that it is all hands on deck for an Israeli government cognitive campaign in the perpetual cognitive war Israel wages against the world, as will be explained below.
According to the CNN article, Abu Akleh was killed by a bullet to the head at around 6:30 a.m. on May 11, while standing with a group of journalists near the entrance of Jenin refugee camp as they covered an Israeli raid. “We stood in front of the Israeli military vehicles for about five to ten minutes before we made moves to ensure they saw us. And this is a habit of ours as journalists; we move as a group and we stand in front of them so they know we are journalists, and then we start moving,” a Palestinian reporter, Shatha Hanaysha, told CNN, describing their cautious approach toward the Israeli army convoy before the gunfire began.
Video recordings of the surrounding area showed the killing shots could have come only from the Israeli soldiers in specially designed “sniper” vehicles that were in direct line-of-fire positions to Abu Akleh that morning. Eyewitnesses told CNN that they “believed Israeli forces on the same street fired deliberately on the reporters in a targeted attack. All of the journalists were wearing protective blue vests that identified them as members of the news media.”
“LAWFUL TARGETS” IN A “COGNITIVE WAR”
The “blue vests” might have been what ensured the journalists would be targeted by Israeli forces, if Israeli forces see journalists as “lawful targets” in the war they continue to wage against the Palestinians, in what is in fact a continuation of the 1967 War. That is, an unrelenting military occupation in violation of international law, which constitutes a continuation of the “war.” And the evidence shows Israeli military/intel forces do see journalists as “lawful targets,” as part of the “Cognitive War” they wage against the Palestinians, but more particularly against the global population in an attempt to legitimize their military oppression of the Palestinians in their ongoing effort of “population expulsion” of the Palestinians from Palestinian territory. As Benjamin Netanyahu’s father, Benzion, proclaimed shortly before he died, this is the objective of Israel Zionists like him.
In fact, while Abu Akleh was the only journalist killed that day by Israeli forces, she wasn’t the only Palestinian journalist shot. A group of four Palestinian reporters was fired upon as well, with one also injured in the gunfire. That was not because Israeli forces had an obstructed view; footage showed a direct line of sight between the reporters and the Israeli convoy. That only one of the four was hit, besides Abu Akleh, is probably taken by military superiors as a sign that their marksmanship must be improved.
A firearms expert told CNN: “The relatively tight grouping of the rounds indicate Shireen was intentionally targeted with aimed shots and not the victim of random or stray fire.”
But an indication of how the Israeli military sees journalists, other than “reliable” Israeli press, was revealed on the day of the shooting by an Israeli military spokesperson, Ran Kochav. Kochav told Army Radio that Abu Akleh had been “filming and working for a media outlet amidst armed Palestinians. They’re armed with cameras, if you’ll permit me to say so.” And if they are “armed,” they are “lawful targets” in “war.”
In fact, the killing of journalists has been openly called for in the “flagship publication” of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, The Journal of International Security Affairs, by retired U.S. Army Officer Ralph Peters. The odious 2009 article – potentially a war crime in itself – stated: “Although it seems unthinkable now, future wars may require censorship, news blackouts, and, ultimately, military attacks on the partisan media.”
THE POWER OF “COGNITIVE WARFARE”
The Israeli military said it was conducting an investigation into the killing of Abu Akleh, and added, “assertions regarding the source of the fire that killed Ms. Abu Akleh must be carefully made and backed by hard evidence. This is what the IDF is striving to achieve.” In fact, obfuscating that is what the IDF and its Cognitive Warfare component must be seen as “striving to achieve” – at least if Israeli Cognitive War theorists, one of whom is quoted at length below, are to be believed.
Leaving it to those few journalists who report honestly to provide more facts on this assassination – as Abu Akleh would have, giving motive to Israeli forces to particularly target her with lethal fire – “Cognitive Warfare” should be explained further.
The best source for understanding the concept is Israel’s own doctrinal statements about the “cognitive domain” of warfare. A clue to that was presented when an Israeli lawyer filed a lawsuit alleging that “Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs [is] carrying out a global propaganda campaign on behalf of the Israeli government that violates human rights and is acting without authority to do so… Attorney Schachar Ben Meir’s petition demands that the High Court of Justice order a halt to the activities carried out by the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, headed by Gilad Erdan.”
The substance of the claim was that the Israeli government had approved the payment of NIS 128 million ($38 million) to a private organization called Kela-Shlomo to carry out “mass consciousness activities” within the framework of what the Ministry of Strategic Affairs calls “extra-governmental discourse.” That is, publication of government propaganda on social networks and newspapers often carried out through private businesses and non-profit organizations operating in Israel and abroad.
But to determine the correct “messages” to promote or counter requires “surveilling citizens and conducting illegal operations intended to influence and manipulate public opinion.” That is what constitutes “mass consciousness activities” – a fascist type of governmental activity if there ever was one, but “updated” to utilize “private contractors” to conduct operations, in addition to governmental military/intel assets. This explains the proliferation of “private Israeli intelligence/influence” firms.
THE MUSINGS OF A COGNITIVE WARFARE THEORIST
The current Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Nachman Shai, who in the past was a spokesperson for the Israeli military, explained and promoted the higher level to which cognitive warfare has been taken from its origins as mere “propaganda” or “hasbara,” in his book “Hearts and Minds: Israel and the Battle for Public Opinion.”
He explained that, in the expected 21st-century wars of Israel and the United States, the “principal effort will be the battle for consciousness.” He explained further:
[There] are various terms to describe the battle for consciousness. In Britain, it is called the fight for hearts and minds. The U.S. military uses the expressions psychological warfare, perception management, influence management, and information operation. The idea speaks about consciousness: the strategy of limited conflict is to win a decision of consciousness in the society with the help of military means. The battle is for the society’s consciousness and for national resilience.”
Furthermore, according to Shai: “Consciousness is not a natural and inherent concept but rather a structured process, continually shaped by interested parties and by those who wield wealth and power.” How this is done in its current terminology is described in a publication of the Israeli “Institute for National Security Studies” entitled: “The Cognitive Campaign: Strategic and Intelligence Perspectives.” Its Preface states:
It is important to distinguish between cognition and the cognitive campaign. Cognition is the set of insights that an individual or individuals have regarding the surrounding reality and the way they want to shape it, derived from the set of the values and beliefs through which they examine and interpret their environment and work to confront its inherent challenges, and even to change it. In contrast, the cognitive campaign involves the actions and tools that entities that are part of a certain campaign framework use to influence the cognition of target audiences or to prevent influence on them. The purpose of the cognitive campaign is to cause target audiences to adopt the perception of reality held by the side wielding the effort, so that it can more easily advance the strategic and/or operational objectives that it sees as critical. The cognitive campaign can be negative, that is, prevent the development of undesirable cognitive states, or positive, with an attempt to produce the desired cognition.
That the “cognitive campaign can be negative, that is, prevent the development of undesirable cognitive states,” is why Julian Assange has been imprisoned for years now, with no likelihood he will ever be freed by the U.S. government and why Edward Snowden was forced to take refuge in a foreign country to avoid the same fate. The U.S. must silence them and other dissidents, lest an “undesirable cognitive state” develops in the U.S. population – as one eventually developed over the Vietnam War, and eventually forced the U.S. out of Vietnam.
Thus it is reasonable to believe that is why Israel has targeted so many journalists over the last couple of decades – as has the U.S. It would be foolish and/or naïve not to believe that when retired military officers openly call for “targeted killings” of journalists, that they aren’t already being targeted!
MAKING OUR OWN REALITY
When Karl Rove was alleged to have said how the United States is now “an empire, we make our own reality,” he was not just making a hubristic statement. Rather, it can be seen as an indication that he was aware of how powerful a “cognitive campaign” is. In fact, such campaigns were always how the CIA conducted post-World War II coups, and it can be speculated that “cognitive campaigns” were introduced into U.S. political campaigns by Arthur Finkelstein and his “Six-Party Theory” in the 1972 Nixon campaign, down to the 2016 Trump campaign, based upon cognitive warfare principles drawn from CIA coups and the Israeli military occupation.
The cognitive campaign is not new, and it is an inseparable aspect of every strategic and military conflict. In recent years, this struggle has played a much more important role than in past conflicts; at times it takes place without a direct military context and is not even led by military bodies. The cognitive campaign is a continuous campaign; thus, its prominence is greater in the period between wars (as a part of the “campaign between wars).”
In fact, as these authors know, there is no such thing as “between wars” in Israel or the United States, with both countries in “Perpetual War” regardless of the level of aggressive kinetic war they are waging at any given moment.
Carl von Clausewitz wrote in “On War” that two different motives make men fight one another: hostile feelings and hostile intentions. Inciting those “feelings” is done by both Israel and the U.S. continuously, by multifarious networks to “condition” their populations with “hostile feelings and hostile intentions.” As has been done in the U.S. to incite hatred of Russia, China, Iran, et al., so that a war with either one, or all, can explode at any moment. Israel does the same against Iran and the Palestinians. Mission Accomplished!
Israeli reconnaissance planes target with two missiles the vicinity of a ground control point in the Malakah area in the Zeitoun neighborhood.
Fireballs and smoke rise from the site in central Gaza following the Israeli airstrikes.
Al Mayadeen correspondent reported Saturday about new explosions heard in eastern Gaza and the eastern cemetery area as sirens were triggered in the Gaza envelope settlements of Askalan.
Our correspondent reported that Israeli reconnaissance planes targeted with two missiles the vicinity of a ground control point in the Malakah area in the Zeitoun neighborhood, east of Gaza, adding that Israeli bombing targeted Resistance sites in the central governorate of the Gaza Strip.
JERUSALEM – It is sometimes easier to see things from a distance, especially when talking about Palestine, where tragedies follow each other with unbelievable speed. There is no time to recover from one tragedy before two or three more occur, all initiated by Israel with its all-powerful military and then justified or buried by various branches of Zionist groups around the world.
The Dance of Flags, sometimes called the Flags March, takes place in Jerusalem each year around the beginning of June. In 2022 it was preceded by the targeted killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the assault on her funeral procession, followed by the killing of several more young Palestinians. The decision to carry out the ethnic cleansing of Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills took place around the same time, yet not a moment of thought is given to the fact that there is a war going on.
The March of Flags in Jerusalem was an act of war. Israeli assaults on Jenin are an act of war. The displacement of the residents of Masafer Yatta is an act of war. And this is counting only the events that took place in the last few weeks.
THE FLAGS MARCH
Anyone who has witnessed the Dance of Flags firsthand in Jerusalem can attest to the fact that this is, without a doubt, a parade of terror. The thousands of young Israelis get excited for the moment when they enter the Old City of Jerusalem through the Damascus Gate so that they can pound on the doors of Palestinian businesses and terrorize the Palestinians who reside in the Old City.
Each year the organizers of this racist hate parade go through the formality of negotiating with the Jerusalem police regarding the specific route of the march. Every year the police and other government agencies charged with security say that the request to enter the Old City via Damascus Gate is a dangerous idea. And every year the March proceeds as planned through Damascus Gate. Being the masters of the land and wielding a great deal of political power, the organizers of the Dance of Flags always get their way.
DAMASCUS GATE
In Arabic, the Damascus Gate is called Bab el-Amoud, or the Gate of the Pillar. Apparently, in early times there was a large pillar in front of the gate on the inside. Generally, one can tell a great deal about a city just by paying attention to its gates. For example, when entering the Old City via Jaffa Gate and going down into the souk, one sees shops catering to tourists; and, in fact, most tourists and Israelis enter through there. It is considered a more “friendly” part of the Old City. The shops carry all sorts of Judaica, yarmulkes, menorahs and even IDF t-shirts.
When entering from Damascus Gate, one sees fewer tourists. Mostly Palestinians walk through it and the shops sell things that people actually need for their daily lives. Vegetables, bread, sweets, clothes and shoes. The shops that do carry items for tourists carry mostly kaffiyas and items like t-shirts that emphasize Palestine and show the Palestinian colors. The non-Palestinians walking the street down from Damascus Gate are usually hardcore Israeli settlers, who have taken over some of the homes along the road, and soldiers.
Palestanians defend against Jewish youth partaking in the Flags March, May 29, 2022. Ariel Schalit | AP
TAKING OVER
It is a straight shot walking from Damascus Gate to the al-Aqsa Mosque, and to the Western Wall – or the Kotel – plaza. The plaza used to be the Mughrabi neighborhood of the Old City. Palestinians live and have businesses in that part of the city, but settlers are targeting and taking homes there at an alarming rate. The homes that have already been taken by settlers are clearly marked and easy to spot. First, a heavy door with a bolt is placed at the front of the home. You don’t see the Palestinian homes with doors like that. An intercom is put in place and very often an armed security guard stands regularly by the door.
A large Israeli flag is displayed on the building, usually hanging from the second story balcony. It is very often that these apartments are right above shops that are still owned and operated by Palestinian merchants who suffer greatly from the settlers’ presence. As one shopkeeper whose store I frequent often said to me once, “Ma fi awsakh minhum” – no one is worse than them.
AN ACT OF WAR
According to the “Law Insider” website, an act of war is defined as follows:
Act of war (whether declared or undeclared), invasion, armed conflict or act of foreign enemy, blockade, embargo, revolution, riot, insurrection, civil commotion, act of terrorism or sabotage.
The Flags March held in Jerusalem each year falls under these definitions. It is an invasion of the Old City by a mob large enough to be a small army; it is a riot; it is civil commotion, and it is an act of terrorism that involves sabotage. Even though those who participate in this hate parade are civilians, there is always a heavy military presence that accompanies them. It was reported that in 2022 some three thousand officers were deployed in Jerusalem for the purpose of this march. That represents nearly the entire Jerusalem police force.
Israeli police snatch a flag from an elderly woman amid the Flags Day march in the Old City, May 29, 2022. Mahmoud Illean | AP
Not to be mistaken with traffic police, or cops on a beat looking for criminals, the police force that is deployed in East Jerusalem is of a different kind. This is a militarized police force and the officers are referred to as “fighters,” not officers. They look like soldiers, the arms that they carry are like those of soldiers, but their mandate is to attack Palestinian civilians, something they do with cruelty and brutality.
Zionists always blame Palestinians who respond to Israeli acts of war with acts of armed resistance against civilians. They call it terrorism. There is no question that it is terrible when civilians are killed and injured. The problem is that throughout the entire war Israel has waged against Palestinians it has been targeting civilians. There is no Palestinian military – there never was such a thing – and Israel has consistently, and with planning, targeted and killed Palestinian civilians going as far back as one can remember.
Perhaps it is time to step back and instead of viewing each act of violence perpetrated by Israel separately, instead view them all together as individual acts of a larger war – a war waged against a nation that has never possessed an army.
يُقال إنّ في السياسة لا توجد معادلات ثابتة، وإنّ المعادلات السياسية تتبدّل وفق المعادلات الميدانيّة، وكلّ تلك المعادلات ترتبط بالمشهد السياسي على مستوى المنطقة والإقليم والعالم.
في التحليل السياسي نجد بأنّ العالم انتقل من مرحلة القطب الواحد إلى مرحلة تعدّد الأقطاب، وهناك محوران رئيسيان حالياً على الساحة الدولية.
قد تشتبك الملفات السياسية والميدانية وتزداد تعقيداً وفق التطورات الأخيرة، وهنا نؤكد أنّ هناك تطوّراً لافتاً في عدد من الملفات أبرزها الملف النووي الإيراني واللافت فيه أن تعود الوكالة الدولية بتقاريرها الفنية حول البرنامج النووي الإيراني إلى نقطة البداية في الوقت الذي اعتقد الكثير من المتابعين والمراقبين خلال الأشهر الماضية أنّ الاتفاق النووي قد حُسم أمره، وأنّ التوقيع هو مسألة ساعات فقط بعد سلسلة من الاجتماعات واللقاءات التي عُقدت بين إيران والدول الأوروبية وبمشاركة الإدارة الأميركية من خلف الجدران.
بشكل مفاجئ تمّ تجميد الملف النووي الإيراني كما تجمّدت الكثير من الملفات في المنطقة، في وقت استمرّ فيه كيان الاحتلال «الإسرائيلي» بتنفيذ عدة عمليات اغتيال منها ما تمّ تنفيذه داخل طهران، بالإضافة الى الاستعداد ضمن مناورات جوية وغيرها تحاكي واقع تنفيذ ضربة عسكرية للجمهورية الإسلامية الإيرانية.
لا نريد هنا أن نتحدث كثيراً عن الملفات الأخرى لا إنْ كان ما له علاقة باللقاءات والاجتماعات الإيرانية السعودية والتي خفت وتيرتها مؤخراً. ولا على صعيد العدوان على اليمن والهدنة الكاذبة التي لم تغيّر من معاناة أهل اليمن شيئاً، وصولاً الى الواقع الميداني السياسي على الساحة السورية والذي برزت فيه محاولة تحريك المنطقة الجنوبية والمنطقة الشمالية إضافة إلى تسخين المنطقة الشرقية بهدف خلط الأوراق على الساحة السورية في ظلّ الواقع السياسي الجديد المرتبط بالملف الروسي ـ الأوكراني.
لكن ما يمكن ان نقوله هنا انطلاقاً من بعض المعطيات، هل ستبقى سياسة تراكم القوة هي العامل الأساس في خلق التوازن في المنطقة؟ او انّ الاعتماد على قاعدة جديدة ردعية تعطي رسائل يكون مفعولها فورياً ومؤثراً أكثر؟ أعتقد أنه من المهمّ في مكان ما أن تتبدّل هذه القاعدة وان تتغيّر قواعد الاشتباك إنْ كان هذا الاشتباك مع الأميركي مباشرة او حتى مع كيان الاحتلال وما بينهما من دول هي أدوات للسياسات الأميركية في المنطقة، قاعدة تراكم القوّة يمكن ان تتعرّض في لحظة ما لنكسة أو هجوم يُفقد المحور هذه المعادلة بينما معادلة الإشغال غير المباشر وحتى المباشر في بعض المرات تصبح الأهمّ في فرض الكثير من هذه المتغيّرات والمعادلات، وحتى لا تبقى سياسة امتصاص الصدمات تحت قاعدة تراكم القوّة يجب ان يكون هناك في المرحلة المقبلة وليست بالبعيدة العمل باستراتيجية علنية يفهم من خلالها العدو أنّ هناك معادلة جديدة سيتمّ اعتمادها والعمل بها وعليك أن تستعدّ وتترقّب…
تلتزم إسرائيل الرسمية بصمت لافت إزاء وصول حفّارة التنقيب عن النفط والغاز إلى حقل «كاريش»، فيما تترك لإعلامها ومراسليه إدارة معركة التصريحات والمواقف و«اختبار الإرادات والنيات»، عبر تقارير محدودة وموجّهة. لم ترد من تل أبيب، حتى الآن، مواقف وتعليقات رسمية ذات شأن، فيما تترك إدارة المسألة البحرية مع لبنان، بما يشمل نية الحفر في «كاريش»، لتقارير مراسلي الشؤون العسكرية والأمنية والاقتصادية، ولكن تحت إدارة وإشراف واضحين من الرقابة العسكرية وبتوجيه من المؤسسة العسكرية. ووفقاً لما صدر في اليومين الأخيرين، يمكن ملاحظة الآتي:
أولاً، تُدار خطة الحفر في كاريش بتأنٍّ وحذر وعدم الانجرار إلى التعليق الرسمي، عسكرياً وسياسياً، بما يحقّق الأهداف، ويحول دون استفزاز الطرف الآخر أو كشف النيات الحقيقية له. وهذا يستدعي، في المقابل، تأنّياً وحذراً في إطلاق المواقف وتقدير أفعال العدو. فالمواقف والتعليقات الواردة من لبنان، بما فيها إشارات الفعل واللافعل والتأييد واللاتأييد للمقاومة والتشبّث بالحق الغازي والنفطي، كلها ستكون جزءاً لا يتجزّأ من أي قرار تتخذه إسرائيل إزاء الاعتداء على الحق اللبناني.
ثانياً، من الواضح تماماً قرار المستويين السياسي والعسكري بترك الأضواء للإعلام العبري هذه الفترة لينشر ويعلق ويقدّر المواقف والمآلات. وهذه سياسة مدروسة جداً ويرجح بقوة أنها مقرّرة بما يلزم كل المستويات الإسرائيلية. فأي موقف رسمي، سياسي أو عسكري، يصدر مباشرة عن أي مسؤول في تل أبيب، وتحديداً من الصف الأول، سيكون مُحرِجاً جداً للكيان العبري. كما تفتح هذه السياسة نافذة التراجع في حال قدّرت القيادات المعنية وجود أضرار يحاول العدو تجنّبها.
ثالثاً، تتحدث التقارير الإسرائيلية، على قلّتها حتى الآن، عن أن عمليات الحفر ومن ثم استخراج الغاز من «كاريش»، هي عمل طبيعي ولا يرتبط بأي نزاع قانوني أو غير قانوني مع لبنان. بل تشير التقارير العبرية، بنوع من الاستغراب، إلى أن «هناك في لبنان» من يتحدث عن مكان متنازع عليه رغم أن «هذا المقطع الشمالي خارج أي تنازع». وكان لافتاً ما ورد في تقرير مراسل الشؤون العسكرية في القناة 12 بأن «الجزء الشمالي لحقل كاريش يلامس الحدود البحرية للبنان»، وهي ملامسة وليست خرقاً. والأهم في التقرير هو التأكيد على وجود اتفاق مسبق مع لبنان يخرج «كاريش» من دائرة التنازع، إذ جاء في التقرير أن «هناك توافقاً حول الموضوع جرى التوصل إليه عبر اللجنة المشتركة التي يرأسها المبعوث (الأميركي) الخاص للطاقة في الشرق الأوسط عاموس هوكشتين». في موازاة ذلك، تحرص التقارير العبرية على إظهار «اضطرار» إسرائيل لاستخراج الغاز من حقل «كاريش» تحديداً، بوصفه حاجة استراتيجية لا يمكن لتل أبيب أن تتجاوزها. وفق التعبير العبري فإن «منصة كاريش تشكل مرفقاً اقتصادياً أساسياً ومن المتوقع أن يزود الاقتصاد الإسرائيلي بالغاز الطبيعي الذي يُستهلك في إسرائيل نفسها لسد حاجاتها الخاصة» وليس مخصصاً للتجارة، وصولاً إلى الإشارة إلى ضرر قد يصيب قطاعات استراتيجية أخرى، «وقد يؤدي الضرر الذي يلحق بالمنصة إلى صعوبات حقيقية في أداء الاقتصاد الإسرائيلي، إلى حد الإضرار بإمدادات الكهرباء المنتظمة للإسرائيليين».
رابعاً، إلى جانب «البراءة والوداعة والحاجة الاقتصادية والحرص على التفاهم المسبق»، تلمح التقارير الإسرائيلية إلى وجود إجراءات وتدابير عسكرية تخدم أمن حقل «كاريش» وما فيه من معدات ومنشآت، يتولاها سلاح البحر في جيش العدو. ووفقاً للتقارير العبرية، «بدأ سلاح البحرية عملية أمنية واسعة حول منصة الحفر والإنتاج التي وصلت صباح اليوم (أمس) إلى وجهتها على بعد تسعين كيلومتراً قبالة الساحل الإسرائيلي، عند النقطة الأقرب إلى شواطئ لبنان»، مشيرة إلى أن البحرية الإسرائيلية ستنهي في الأسابيع المقبلة ترتيباتها وإجراءاتها، لتبدأ عمليات الحفر، ومن ثم استخراج الغاز». مع الإشارة إلى أن «لغة تهديد» تضمّنها الحديث عن نشاط البحرية الإسرائيلية مثل التذكير، بعد أكثر من عام على اعتدائها الأخير على قطاع غزة (معركة سيف القدس)، بأن الدفاعات الجوية أسقطت طائرة مسيّرة لحركة حماس أُطلقت من غزة كانت موجّهة لاستهداف حقول غاز في المتوسط».
تعمل إسرائيل وفق استراتيجية مدروسة لتكون قادرة على فرملة نفسها وفقاً لردّ الفعل المقابل
تقرير القناة 12 العبرية كان عنوانه سؤال: «منصة الغاز التي قد تشعل مواجهة مع حزب الله؟». هنا يجب إعادة صياغة السؤال حول مآل «المواجهة التي تسبّبت بها إسرائيل، انطلاقاً من حقل كاريش؟» وقد يكون السؤال الثاني، أكثر دقّة وموضوعية.
The Israeli Supreme Court has decided that the Palestinian region of Masafer Yatta, located in the southern hills of Hebron, is to be entirely appropriated by the Israeli military and that a population of over 1,000 Palestinians is to be expelled.
The Israeli Court decision, on May 4, was hardly shocking. Israel’s military occupation does not only consist of soldiers with guns but elaborate political, military, economic and legal structures, dedicated to the expansion of the illegal Jewish settlements and the slow – and sometimes not-so-slow – the expulsion of the Palestinians.
When Palestinians state that the Nakba, or Catastrophe – which led to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 and the establishment of the state of Israel on its ruins – is a continuous, unfinished project, they mean exactly that. The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from East Jerusalem and the endless torment of Palestinian Bedouins in the Naqab and, now in Masafer Yatta, are all testaments to this reality.
However, Masafer Yatta is particularly unique. In the case of occupied East Jerusalem, for example, Israel has made a fallacious, ahistorical claim that Jerusalem is the eternal and undivided capital of the Jewish people. It combined its unsubstantiated narrative with military action on the ground, followed by a systematic process that aimed at increasing the Jewish population and ejecting the original native inhabitants of the city. Such notions as ‘Greater Jerusalem’ and legal and political structures, like that of the Jerusalem Master Plan 2000, have all contributed towards turning the once absolute Palestinian majority in Jerusalem into a shrinking minority.
With the Naqab, Israel’s similar objectives were put into motion as early as 1948, and again in 1951. This process of ethnically cleansing the natives remains in effect to this day.
Though Masafer Yatta is part of the same colonial designs, its uniqueness stems from the fact that it is situated in Area C of the occupied West Bank.
In July 2020, Israel purportedly decided to postpone its plans to annex nearly 40% of the West Bank, perhaps fearing a Palestinian rebellion and unwanted international condemnation. However, the plan continued in practice.
Moreover, a wholesome annexation of West Bank regions would mean that Israel would become responsible for the welfare of entire Palestinian communities. As a settler-colonial state, Israel wants the land, but not the people. In Tel Aviv’s calculation, annexation without the expulsion of the population could lead to a demographic nightmare; thus, Israel needs to reinvent its annexation plan.
Though Israel has supposedly delayed the de jure annexation, it continued with a de facto form of annexation, one that has generated little international media attention.
The Israeli Court’s decision regarding Masafer Yatta, which is already being carried out with the expulsion of the Najjar family on May 11, is an important step toward the annexation of Area C. If Israel can evict the residents of twelve villages, with a population of over 1,000 Palestinians, unhindered, more such expulsions are anticipated, not only south of Hebron, but throughout the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Palestinian villagers of Masafer Yatta and their legal representation know very well that no real ‘justice’ can be obtained from the Israeli court system. They continue to fight the legal war, anyway, in the hope that a combination of factors, including solidarity in Palestine and pressure from the outside, can ultimately succeed in compelling Israel to delay its planned destruction and Judaization of the whole region.
However, it seems that Palestinian efforts, which have been underway since 1997, are failing. The Israeli Supreme Court decision is predicated on the erroneous and utterly bizarre notion that the Palestinians of that area could not demonstrate that they belonged there prior to 1980 when the Israeli government decided to turn the area into ‘Firing Zone 918’.
Sadly, the Palestinian defense was partly based on documents from the Jordanian era and official United Nations records that reported on Israeli attacks on several Masafer Yatta villages in 1966. The Jordanian government, which administered the West Bank until 1967, compensated some of the residents for the loss of their ‘stone houses’ – not tents – animals and other properties that were destroyed by the Israeli military. Palestinians tried to use this evidence to show that they have existed, not as nomadic people but as rooted communities. This was unconvincing to the Israeli court, which favored the military’s argument over the rights of the native population.
Israeli firing zones occupy nearly 18 percent of the total size of the West Bank. It is one of several ploys used by the Israeli government to lay a legal claim on Palestinian land and to, eventually, years later, claim legal ownership as well. Many of these firing zones exist in Area C, and are being used as one of the Israeli methods aimed at officially appropriating Palestinian land with the support of the Israeli courts.
Now that the Israeli military has managed to acquire Masafer Yatta – a region spanning 32 to 56 sq km – based on completely flimsy excuses, it will become much easier in ensuring the ethnic cleansing of many similar communities in various parts of occupied Palestine.
While discussions and media coverage of Israel’s annexation scheme in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley have largely subsided, Israel is now preparing for a gradual annexation scheme. Instead of annexing 40% of the West Bank all at once, Israel is now annexing smaller tracts of land and regions, like Masafer Yatta, separately. Tel Aviv will eventually connect all these annexed areas through Jewish-only bypass roads to larger Jewish settlement infrastructures in the West Bank.
Not only does this alternative strategy allow Israel to avoid international criticism, it will also permit Israel to eventually annex Palestinian land while incrementally expelling Palestinians, helping Tel Aviv prevent demographic imbalances before they occur.
What is happening in Masafer Yatta is not only the largest ethnic cleansing scheme to be carried out by Israel since 1967, but the move should be considered the first step in a much larger scheme of illegal land appropriation, ethnic cleansing and official mass annexation.
Israel must not succeed in Masafer Yatta, because if it does, its original, mass annexation scheme will become a reality in no time.
UPROOTED PALESTINIANS: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM 