2023-10-24 Journeys to Gaza – with Mahmoud Darwish and Joe Sacco The well-known graphic novelist, Joe Sacco, published the book, Footnotes in Gaza in 2009. His earlier book, simply titled Palestine, was published in 1996. Sacco is well-known for his visual narratives of war-torn regions. His classic, Safe Area Gorazde, documents the horrors of the Bosnian war. As an aside, Sacco also published a book titled Kushinagar, documenting the realities of caste in the Kushinagar district of UP in India.
In Footnotes in Gaza, Sacco uses his journalistic incisiveness to try to uncover details of a massacre in the Rafah and Khan Yunis areas of Gaza by the Israeli army in 1956, during the Suez Crisis. The actual events, and especially the details, were forgotten over the years. Sacco used his skill as an investigative journalist to piece together a sort of a coherent account of that event. As he notes, such events are “like innumerable historical tragedies over the ages that barely rate footnote status in the broad sweep of history — even though . . . they often contain the seeds of the grief and anger that shape present-day events.” https://countercurrents.org/2023/10/journeys-to-gaza-with-mahmoud-darwish-and-joe-sacco/
2023-12-26 3 US service members hurt in Iraq attacks; US conducts retaliatory strikes The United States carried out retaliatory strikes on Christmas Day on three facilities “used by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups,” in Iran following a series of attacks that left three U.S. service members injured — one critically, according to a statement from Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin. Austin described American military retaliation as “necessary and proportionate strikes” that were intended to “disrupt and degrade capabilities of the Iran-aligned militia groups directly responsible.”
2024-08-22 IDF launches ‘extensive’ strikes against Hezbollah in 10 areas of southern Lebanon he IDF said Thursday that it carried out “extensive” airstrikes against Hezbollah terror group sites in southern Lebanon overnight, as the spiraling violence between the two sides showed no sign of losing momentum.
2024-08-21 Israel kills top Palestinian militant as Gaza truce talks stumble The Israeli military killed a senior Palestinian militant in Lebanon on Wednesday, leading to accusations from the Fatah movement that Israel was trying to ignite a regional war.
2024-08-17 How Israel Killed a Ghost BEIRUT—Fuad Shukr had eluded the U.S. for four decades, ever since a bombing killed 241 American servicemen in a Marine barracks in the Lebanese capital, which it says he helped plan. At the end of July, an Israeli airstrike found him on the seventh floor of a residential building not far away.
The militant was one of the U.S.-designated terrorist group Hezbollah’s founders and most senior operatives, a longtime trusted friend of the leader Hassan Nasrallah who played a key role in developing the missile arsenal that has made Hezbollah the world’s best-armed nonstate militia. For the past 10 months, he had commanded the group’s increasingly intense cross-border skirmishing with Israel.
Yet despite being one of the most important figures in Hezbollah’s history, he lived an almost invisible life, appearing only in small gatherings of the group’s trusted veterans. He emerged in public early this year to attend the funeral of a nephew killed fighting Israel—but only for a couple of minutes, an acquaintance said. Shukr was so secretive that Lebanese media outlets reporting on his death published photos of the wrong man. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/how-israel-killed-a-ghost/ar-AA1oZ0OT?
2024-08-13 Middle East Braces as Iran & Hezbollah Vow Retaliation for Israeli Assassinations Iran has rejected a call by France, Germany and the United Kingdom demanding it refrain from any retaliatory attacks over the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. Tensions also remain high on Israel’s northern border as Lebanon-based Hezbollah vows to respond to the Israeli assassination of its senior military commander Fuad Shukr. On Friday, Israel continued its assassination campaign by killing a Hamas commander in the Lebanese city of Sidon. “It’s a very, very tense time here in Beirut, and in Lebanon more generally,” says Karim Makdisi, a professor of international politics at the American University of Beirut. He says the cycle of escalation across the region has a clear cause, which is Israel’s war on Gaza backed by the United States, and that ending the violence there will bring calm elsewhere. “Get a ceasefire, everything stops.” Democracy Now! is an independent global news hourhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrzAkEUwils
2024-06-24 War Between Israel and Hezbollah Appears Increasingly Likely Then finally we assess the increasing chances that a war will soon break out between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and speak with Thanassis Cambanis, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation and Director of the Center for International Research and Policy. Until recently, he was worked as a journalist based in Lebanon and his books include A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah’s Legions and Their Endless War Against Israel, Once Upon a Revolution: An Egyptian Story, and most recently, Shia Power Comes of Age: The Transformation of Islamist Politics in Iraq, 2003-2023. https://www.backgroundbriefing.org/2024/06/25/background-briefing-june-25-2024/
2024-06-23 Hezbollah releases more drone footage of Israeli sites, claims attack on barracks Hezbollah claims to have waged an aerial assault on a military site near the border, killing and injuring Israeli soldiers. In a statement, the group said it targeted Israel’s Sahel Battalion in the Beit Hilal barracks, achieving a direct hit. There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military. The announcement came hours after Hezbollah released a new video purporting to display sensitive Israel sites along with their coordinates, as fears grow of an all-out war between the two sides.
The video is overlaid with a speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in which he says, “If war is imposed on Lebanon, the resistance will fight without restrictions or rules.” Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig reports from Rmaych in southern Lebanon. Sultan Barakat is a professor of public policy at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. He joins from York in the UK to discuss the latest updates. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tP6CM5puEY
2024-06-19 Are Israel and Hezbollah on the verge of a full-blown war? | Inside Story Tensions between the Israeli military and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah are at an all-time high. They’ve been engaged in low-level hostilities for more than eight months. The assassination of one of Hezbollah’s most senior commanders last week, however, saw an unprecedented response. US President Joe Biden sent a special envoy to the region, hoping to defuse tensions and prevent a wider conflict. But has it worked? And with no sign the Israeli military is close to ending its war on Gaza in the south, is it on the brink of opening up a second front in the north?
Presenter: Neave Barker Guests:
Nicholas Noe — Editor-in-Chief of the Beirut-based Mideastwire.com
Robert Geist Pinfold — Lecturer in Peace and Security at Durham University
2024-03-08 Israel’s Hezbollah problem could outlast its war in Gaza When Israel’s war on Hamas ends, its conflict with Iran-backed militias may rage on. Israeli officials are increasingly concerned with the constant artillery and rocket fire at the northern border with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants and have said they will fight to push the group back from bordering territory.
While the risk of all-out war is not imminent, the clash with Hezbollah is driving up the long-term stakes in the Middle East. Israel wants to eventually return its residents to the north, and it can’t do that with Iran-backed militants posing a constant threat near the border. Hezbollah is unlikely to agree to any hard concessions, setting up an impasse for diplomatic solutions — and fertile ground for military provocations.
2024-02-26 Gallant: Israel will increase strikes on Hezbollah even during potential Gaza truce Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would increase its strikes on Hezbollah in response to its daily attacks on northern Israel, including amid a potential temporary ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. “We are planning to increase the firepower against Hezbollah, which is unable to find replacements for the commanders we are eliminating,” Gallant said Sunday during a visit to the IDF Northern Command headquarters in Safed.
2024-01-09 Hezbollah launches drone attack on northern Israel Hezbollah says its forces hit a military command headquarters in the city of Safed in northern Israel. The armed group says the attacks are in response to the assassination of its senior members and Hamas’ second in command Saleh al-Arouri. We have correspondents on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border. Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodris in Tyre, in southern Lebanon and Laura Khan is standing by in Shlomi, in northern Israel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d9nUjfJvDY
2024-01-08 Israeli strike kills Hezbollah commander -sources Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander in a strike in south Lebanon on Monday, sources familiar with the group’s operations said, inflicting a heavy blow after three months of hostilities at the Lebanese-Israeli frontier. Zachary Goelman produced this report. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israeli-strike-kills-hezbollah-commander-sources/vi-AA1mEu2A?
2023-12-20 Israel strikes southern Lebanon; Hezbollah announces fatalities Israel has launched air strikes on several positions in southern Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah. The Lebanese armed group says six fighters were killed in the past 24 hours. Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr is in Southern Lebanon for the latest updates. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiJXscT-vWU
2023-12-20 Hezbollah pays growing price in Mideast conflict Hezbollah is paying a growing price in weeks of hostilities with Israel that have killed more than 100 of its fighters, but does not foresee all-out war even as the toll increases and the conflict grinds on, sources familiar with its thinking say. Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israel at the border since its Palestinian ally Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, igniting a conflict that has drawn in the heavily armed group and other Iran-aligned factions across the Middle East.
But the violence has largely been contained to areas at the border, shaped by what observers have called unwritten rules of engagement between adversaries that have long threatened each other with catastrophic damage in the event of war. Speaking at a funeral in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, Hezbollah official Sheikh Yousef Srour said the group had taken “an oath to support the Gaza front” to the end and to reduce the pressure on it “as much as possible”. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/hezbollah-pays-growing-price-in-mideast-conflict/ar-AA1lO2sf
2023-12-11 Displacement, Disease and Death Plague Gazans as Israel Continues Its Genocidal Assault Meanwhile, a U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon is warning the likelihood of a “wider conflict” is increasing amid escalating cross-border violence between Israel and Hezbollah.
The mass displacement and war on the besieged territory has led to a public health disaster. The U.N.’s World Food Programme warns half of Gaza’s population of over 2 million people is starving and that nine out of 10 people are not able to eat every day. As clean water becomes more scarce, diarrhea, skin infections, acute viral hepatitis, scabies and measles are multiplying. Earlier today, the World Health Organization passed a resolution calling for immediate humanitarian aid access and an end to fighting in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, usually busy streets and commercial areas are empty today in observance of a general strike for Gaza. Global actions are also taking place today, including marches and calls to refrain from buying anything. https://www.democracynow.org/2023/12/11/headlines/displacement_disease_and_death_plague_gazans_as_israel_continues_its_genocidal_assault
2023-12-09 Israeli strike kills son of Hezbollah’s Golan border terror chief – report The son of the head of Hezbollah’s terrorist operations near the Syrian-Israeli border was eliminated in an alleged Israeli drone strike in western Syria on Friday, according to Syrian reports. On Friday afternoon, Syrian media reported that four people were killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike targeting a vehicle in Madinat al-Baath in the Quneit.
A few hours later, Hezbollah announced that three of its members, Ali Idris Salman “Abbas,” Hussein Issam Taha “Abu Turab,” and Hassan Ali Daqduq “Jawad” were killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” although the announcement did not say where or in what circumstances.
The Syrian Capital Voice news site reported that the three were killed in the drone strike in western Syria alongside Muhammad Anas al-Tamer, one of the commanders of the Arab Nationalist Guard, a pan-Arab militia aligned with the Assad regime. Tamer was one of the founders of the Arab Nationalist Guard, but had since become a central part of Hezbollah’s Golan File (Unit 142), according to the Syrian Ain al-Sham news account.
A little less than a week ago, two members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in alleged Israeli airstrikes which targeted sites near Damascus early Saturday morning, according to the IRGC.
2023-11-04 AS’AD AbuKHALIL: Nasrallah & the Future of the War The Hezbollah leader all but made it clear that a larger war is inevitable but he did not want to be the one to announce it. Since the Lebanese economic collapse in 2019, Hezbollah has pursued political options focusing on solidifying Shiite political ranks. This is only understandable from the perspective of the party protecting itself from a Gulf-Israel plot to instigate a Shiite, intra-sectarian, civil war.
Thus it’s not easy to assess the speech with disregard to the political context in which it took place. Nasrallah was addressing many audiences: the party’s rank-and-file, the Lebanese scene, the Arab scene, and his enemies in the West and Israel.
Hezbollah is the first Arab political party, or even state if we add them to the mix, which devotes energy and resources to engage in psychological warfare against the Israelis. The PLO had no notion of that, and the speeches of its leaders (and of Arab leaders) were bombastic and emotional and did not rely on a base of military power and preparedness. https://consortiumnews.com/2023/11/04/asad-abukhalil-nasrallah-the-future-of-the-war/
2023-10-25 Craig Murray: The Chances of a Regional War Gaza has no defense from bombs and missiles, and there is no military reason why Israel cannot keep this up for months and simply rely upon aerial massacre. We are perhaps within a week of thirst, starvation and disease killing even more people per day than bombardment. The population of Gaza is simply defenseless. Only international intervention can stop Israel from doing whatever it wishes, and those countries which have influence with Israel are actively abetting and encouraging the genocide.
I do not see any salvation for Gaza coming from Hezbollah. If Hezbollah were to employ their vaunted missile strike capabilities, the moment to do it would be now when the Israeli armour is drawn up in massive parks outside Gaza, a perfect target even for longer range missiles of limited accuracy. Once dispersed into Gaza the armour would be far harder for Hezbollah to hit at range.
Hezbollah is even better equipped now to fight a defensive war in Lebanon than it was when it defeated the Israeli advance in 2006. But it is not configured or equipped to fight an aggressive ground war into Israel, which would be a disaster. It also has to worry about hostile militias at its rear. If Hezbollah can provoke an Israeli incursion into Southern Lebanon, that would enable it to inflict substantial casualties, but Israel is not going to do that in a way that detracts from its capabilities in Gaza. https://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/25/craig-murray-the-chances-of-a-regional-war/
2023-10-23 We Are Going To Wipe You Off The Face Of The Earth, Israeli Minister Threatens Iran Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat said on Sunday that the Israeli forces would “eliminate” Hezbollah and target Iran if the Palestinian militants open up a “northern front.” The Iranian diplomat later doubled down, warning the U.S. and Israel that, if they do not stop mistreating the Palestinians, “anything is possible at any moment and the region will go out of control.” Amir-Abdollahian added that further escalation would have “far-reaching repercussions.”
The IDF and Hezbollah have repeatedly exchanged fire since the fighting erupted between the Israeli forces and Hamas earlier this month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Sunday that Hezbollah would suffer “unprecedented destruction” if it officially joins the war against the Jewish state. The Israeli army made several large-scale incursions in Lebanon to fight the militants there in the past. The most recent invasion took place in 2006.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has warned that American forces in the Middle East face increased risk of being attacked as Iran and its allies in the region look to exploit the turmoil created by the Israel-Hamas war. Bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria have already been targeted in rocket and drone attacks in recent days, and the Pentagon is concerned about further escalation of the Israel crisis, Austin said on Sunday in an ABC News interview. “In fact, what we are seeing is the prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops and our people throughout the region, and because of that, we are going to do what is necessary to make sure that our troops are in a good position, they are protected, and that we have the ability to respond.”
The U.S. State Department ordered the departure of all non-emergency government staffers and their families from Iraq on Sunday. The department issued a similar order for its embassy in Baghdad and its consulate in Erbil on Friday, citing increased security threats.
The tiny Mediterranean country, Lebanon, is home to Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim political party with an armed wing of the same name. Israeli soldiers and militants have traded fire across the border since Israel’s war with the Palestinian group Hamas began, but the launches so far have targeted limited areas. Hezbollah has reported the deaths of 24 of its militants since Hamas’ bloody Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel. Hezbollah has vowed to escalate if Israel begins a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, which is likely, and Israel said it would aggressively retaliate. Israel sees Iran-backed Hezbollah as its most serious threat, estimating it has some 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel.https://countercurrents.org/2023/10/we-are-going-to-wipe-you-off-the-face-of-the-earth-israeli-minister-threatens-iran/
2023-10-08 ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 2: Israel declares war as casualties skyrocket Hezbollah launches limited strikes.
On Sunday morning, October 8, Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon fired rockets into northern occupied Palestine at three Israeli targets in the Shebaa Farms region, which is historically Lebanese land that has been occupied by Israel since 1967. The areas targeted by Hezbollah were “radar sites” such as Zebdine and Ruwaisat al-Alam.
The Islamic resistance organization put out a statement following the attack, proclaiming that it was “on the road to the liberation of what remains of occupied Lebanese soil,” and that an armed force in Hezbollah had carried out these attacks on the Israeli sites with “a large amount of artillery fire and guided missiles.”
The immediate cause of the strike was its coinciding with the surprise attack of the Gaza resistance a day earlier, which Hezbollah conducted in retaliation for Israel’s retribution against Palestinians in Gaza and its attacks on Al-Aqsa, and “in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance and their struggle,” as conveyed by a Hezbollah spokesperson.
Yet the Lebanese strike was also preceded by gradually mounting tensions on occupied Palestine’s northern border, namely between Hezbollah and the Israeli regime. The tensions expressed themselves in various incidents and inflammatory remarks from Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s threats of sending Lebanon “back to the Stone Age” after Hezbollah put up tents on the Israeli side of the border.
By approximately 11:50 a.m. local time,, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, Hashem Safi al-Din, put out a statement saying that “we are not remaining neutral in the battle that is being waged against the Israeli occupation.”
2024-06-25 What have Palestine activists in Germany been facing? | The Stream Public shaming in national newspapers, arbitrary arrests and even beatings by police – these are just a few of the consequences that those protesting for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza say they face in Germany. But why are German authorities so committed to stifling any criticism of Israeli actions, and what does it mean for democracy and human rights in the country?
2024-04-12 The video on Palestine that got Yanis Varoufakis BANNED from Germany Yanis Varoufakis was due to give a speech at the Palestine Congress in Berlin on Friday April 12, when German police burst into the venue to disband the event 1930s style. Judge for yourselves the kind of society Germany is becoming when its police bans the following words. You can also read it here: https://diem25.org/yanis-varoufakis-p… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JXXBhruGhc
2024-04-12 The Online Speech Given by Yanis Varoufakis After German Police Raid Palestine Congress “Friends, we are here because vengeance is a lazy form of grief. We are here to promote not vengeance but peace and coexistence across Israel-Palestine.”
Prominent Greek leftist Yanis Varoufakis on Friday condemned the German government’s complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocidal attack on Gaza as well as its domestic crackdown on pro-Palestinian advocacy in an online speech originally meant to be delivered before a conference that was raided by Berlin police earlier in the day.
Varoufakis—a former Greek finance minister who heads the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25)—was scheduled to address the Palestine Congress, which was slated to run through Sunday in the German capital. However, hundreds of police officers blockaded the event venue on Germaniastraße in Templehof before storming the building and demanding organizers cut the livestream and end the event. Several people including at least one Jewish participant were led away by police.
2024-04-12 Germany bars doctor who worked in Gaza, shuts down Palestinian conference A prominent British Palestinian doctor said he was “forcibly prevented” from entering Germany on Friday, with the Palestinian solidarity conference he was slated to speak at shut down by police who detained dozens of activists in the process.
Ghassan Abu Sitta, a reconstructive plastic surgeon who spent 43 days tending to the wounded in Gaza City last year, said that he was questioned for three hours at Berlin’s airport before being told he was not allowed to enter the country. He said he had also been informed he was not allowed to record any videos that could be shown in events in Germany this month.https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/germany-bars-doctor-who-worked-in-gaza-shuts-down-palestinian-conference/ar-BB1lxJCh?
2024-04-06 Lawyers Sue Germany in Bid to Block Arms Exports to Israel The Berlin-based Lawyers’ Collective on Friday sued the German government in an effort to stop weapons transfers to Israel, whose government and military are waging a genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany is the second-largest arms exporter to Israel, providing 30% of its imported weaponry from 2019-23. The top exporter, the United States, provided 69% of Israel’s imported armaments during that same period.
“As there is reason to believe that these weapons are being used to commit grave violations of international law, such as the crime of genocide and war crimes, the applicants are hereby demanding that the German government protect their right to life,” groups supporting the lawsuit—including the European Legal Support Center, Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, Law for Palestine, and Forensis—said in a statement. “The German government must stop its arms exports to Israel, as they are in violation of international law,” Ahmed Abed, an attorney in the case added. “The government cannot claim that it is not aware of this.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/germany-israel
2024-03-01 Nicaragua Hits Germany With ICJ Case for Aiding Israel in Gaza Genocide Nicaragua on Friday launched a case against Germany at the International Court of Justice, accusing the nation responsible for the deaths of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust of helping Israel commit genocide in the Gaza Strip over the past five months.
Germany has provided financial, military, and political support to Israel and halted contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East in response to unverified Israeli allegations that a dozen employees were involved in the Hamas-led attack that sparked the war on October 7.
Nicaragua’s application to the ICJ argues that Germany “has not only failed to fulfill its obligation to prevent the genocide committed and being committed against the Palestinian people… but has contributed to the commission of genocide in violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/icj-israel
2024-02-23 Lawsuit Accuses German Leaders of Complicity in Gaza Genocide “This lawsuit sends a clear message to German officials: You cannot continue to remain accomplices of such crime without consequences.” Lawyers in Germany representing Palestinian families announced Friday that they are suing senior German officials, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, for “aiding and abetting” Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The criminal complaint, filed Thursday with federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, accuses Scholz, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, and Economy Minister Robert Habeck of “complicity in the genocide in Gaza” by approving the export of approximately $350 million worth of military aid to Israel. https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-2667351559
2024-02-17 German Protests Are Being Manipulated To Focus on Mythic Anti-Semitism at Time of Growing Popular Anger Over Germany’s Support For Israel’s War on Gaza and U.S. Proxy War in Ukraine It is hard not to see the absurdity of demonstrating against anti-Semitism while both the U.S. and German governments are making a point of “standing with Israel” as Israel proceeds to murder the Palestinians.
2024-01-15 Why is Namibia furious at Germany’s ICJ intervention supporting Israel? | Inside Story Namibia has condemned Germany’s backing of Israel against genocide charges at the International Court of Justice. It says, given Germany’s colonial brutalities, it should not support Israel. So, what’s behind this furious diplomatic dispute – and why now? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmSJ0Li1jbU
2023-11-30 German cops go ballistic on pro-Palestine protestors. Fascism returns? Israel’s war on Gaza has unleashed a torrent of worldwide denunciation. Many western governments are cranking up repression of pro-Palestine activists in response. In Europe, Germany has set a grim bar in brutalizing protestors and violating their civil liberties. The Real News reports from Berlin’s largely Arab and Muslim Sonnenallee neighborhood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBm8haZOJY4
2023-10-25 In Germany, Historic Guilt Is Fueling Islamophobia, Anti-Immigrant Policies Germany, in recent weeks, has been one of the most vocal European nations in its support for Israel; and its response to pro-Palestine demonstrations across the country has been particularly harsh. As spontaneous and planned demonstrations pop up around Germany, police are quick to ban and disperse them—sometimes using violent tactics. Protests are diverse, but almost all share a call for the end to the bombing of Gaza and the mass displacement that has continued since Israel was formed in 1948. None of these have endorsed Hamas or supported anti-Semitic actions. Still, Germany has banned dozens of demonstrations so far, and continues to do so. https://progressive.org/latest/germany-historic-guilt-makowski-20231025/
2023-11-24 Israel-Hamas War: Douglas Murray Responds To Norman Finkelstein Calling Gaza a “Concentration Camp” Piers Morgan Uncensored is joined by Associate Editor of The Spectator and TalkTV contributor Douglas Murray to react to Dr. Norman Finkelstein’s interview with Piers Morgan after the pair discussed the conflict between Palestine and Israel. Douglas labels Norman a ‘psychopath’ and ‘sociopath’ for his take on the conflict and for calling Gaza a ‘concentration camp’ amongst other claims made by the controversial Jewish author. Douglas also attacks Norman for being a ‘holocaust denier’ and believes he should be ashamed of the words he used in his interview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8KNhzD1xDE&t=0s
2023-11-23 Piers Morgan vs Norman Finkelstein On Israel and Palestine | The Full Interview Piers Morgan Uncensored is joined by author and political scientist Dr Norman Finkelstein after being one of our most highly-requested guests to cover the Israel and Palestine conflict. In this interview, the controversial Jewish scholar answers whether he condemns the attacks by Hamas on October 7th, explains some of the historical mistreatment Palestine has suffered, the conditions of Gaza, an explanation and context for his seemingly inflammatory tweet in reaction to the October 7th attacks as well as some more nuance conversations about the intricacies of the conflict between Israel, Hamas and Palestine. He also tells Piers he saw he had ‘humanity’ when he watched him judge Susan Boyle on Britain’s Got Talent – before comparing the singer to the people of Gaza. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_Sh-ERypMA
2023-10-26 Debate: Is Israel’s War on Gaza Justified? I was invited onto the Tom Woods Show to debate the critically important topic of Israel’s ongoing military assault on the Gaza Strip with Alan Futerman, who argued in favor of the debate resolution that “Israel is justified in doing ‘whatever it takes’ to ‘completely destroy’ Hamas in Gaza”.
As Tom explains in his introduction, the quotation marks within that resolution indicate specific wording used in an article that Futerman coauthored with the renowned libertarian thinker Walter Block in a Wall Street Journal opinion article titled “The Moral Duty to Destroy Hamas”.
2023-10-17 Contra Shapiro: The Rights and Wrongs of Israel and Gaza Scott Horton joins us to discuss the horrific Hamas attacks on Israel, but alongside commentary that might upset Ben Shapiro. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajuyCix3rG4&t=3s
2016-09-16 The Libertarian Case for Palestine I present the libertarian case for Palestine in my debate with Rafi Farber on the Tom Woods show over the legitimacy of the establishment of Israel. Israel was founded on the basis of legitimate homesteading of land and reclamation of lost Jewish property from previous generations of Jews.” That was the resolution I argued against in my debate this week on the Tom Woods Show. Arguing in favor was Rafi Farber, one of the authors of the recent paper, “The Legal Status of the State of Israel: A Libertarian Approach”, published in the Indonesian Journal of International Law.
Rafi’s main argument is that when the “Jewish state” of Israel was established in 1948, the Jews were the rightful owners of the land of historic Palestine (today Israel and the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip) based on their occupancy of the land 2,000 years ago. I show that argument fails even on their own terms as presented in their paper. https://www.jeremyrhammond.com/2016/09/16/libertarian-case-palestine/?
2023-11-01 Gaza – Teach-in
Professor Angela David
Professor Ussama Makdisi
Professor Samera Esmier
Professor Harvey Dong
Professor Hatem Bazian
2023-11-01 Free Palestine March on Washington Lauren Steiner talks with Brian Becker, a founder and Executive Director of the ANSWER Coalition, an organization founded three days after 9/11 to prevent the Iraq War, and a founder and central organizer for the Party of Socialism and Liberation, and Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink: Women for Peace, which also started to prevent the Iraq War. We will discuss the Free Palestine March on Washington coming up on Saturday, November 4, the call for a ceasefire and how the US government is resisting it, the split in the American Jewish community, the repercussions with respect to a widening of the war and the rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia and whether there will ever be peace between Israel and Palestine. https://www.facebook.com/Lauren.Steiner.LA/videos/761249355762820
2023-10-16 The Israel-Gaza Conflict: A Discussion with SIA Professor Flynt Leverett A discussion of the Israel-Gaza conflict from Monday, October 16, 2023. An expert on the Middle East, Professor Flynt Leverett is part of the founding faculty at the Penn State School of International Affairs, and an affiliate faculty at Penn State Law in University Park and the Asian Studies Program.
From 1992 to 2003, Prof. Leverett had a distinguished career in the U.S. Government. He served nine years as senior Middle East analyst at the CIA. On the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, he earned a Superior Honor Award for his contributions to forming an international coalition against al-Qa’ida after the 9/11 attacks and to diplomatic efforts with Libya that led to the normalization of U.S.-Libyan relations after years of estrangement. In 2002, he went to the White House to serve as the National Security Council’s senior director for Middle East affairs; he left government service in 2003 because of disagreements over Middle East policy and the conduct of the war on terror. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi9NfFvgc-4
Invest Our Public Funds in Our Communities, NOT in Repression, War, or Genocide! Public funds should NOT be invested in companies that harm our communities by participating in, enabling, or profiting from:
We’re organizing for the long haul to end U.S. complicity. The movement for Palestinian liberation is making it clear to the sponsors of the Israeli government’s genocide that they cannot escape public outrage. We’re reminding our elected officials that they are accountable to the people, not to special interest groups, and we’re hitting President Biden where it hurts, making sure he knows his unquestioning support for the Israeli government could cost him the election. The facade is crumbling, and we’re not slowing down now. https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2024/02/29/were-organizing-for-the-long-haul-to-end-u-s-complicity/
Protect Justice Democrats Candidates Today 22 Democrats who take over $5.5 million from AIPAC voted with far-right extremists to censure Rashida Tlaib for speaking out in support of Palestine ‼️ Rashida is the only Palestinian member of Congress and she is bravely calling for a ceasefire and an end to the Israeli military’s genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestine. The attacks on Rashida are getting uglier by the day.
Justice Democrats has stood with Rashida since Day 1 and we continue to support her as she stands on the right side of history in the fight for human rights. Justice Democrats endorsed candidates are some of the only members of Congress protesting Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and demanding a ceasefire. These courageous progressive leaders are already facing a barrage of hateful attacks and it’s getting worse by the day. Justice Democrats is doing everything in our power to re-elect the Squad and keep human rights champions in Congress. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ads_ms_jd_fb_20231027_dd_ceasfire_oct2023?
Call on every member of Congress: Save Lives, Ceasefire Now – Win Without War. What’s happening in Gaza and Israel has been heart-wrenching, and the unfortunate reality is that the situation is likely to deteriorate further. The simple reality is that violence begets violence. Our voices, along with those of so many others across the country and world, calling for leaders to center humanity in their decision making are making an impact. While the Biden administration’s initial response to the crisis said very little about people in Gaza, we’ve seen a shift in recognizing their dignity and while this is the least we could hope for, it means we have an opening to push further. That’s why we’re asking you, even amidst so much pain and fear, to hold tight to — and work toward — a vision of peace. https://act.winwithoutwar.org/sign/congress-ceasefire/?
CA-10 FOR CEASEFIRE Last Tuesday, Oct. 31 a group of 40 constituents of all ages, faiths, and backgrounds showed up to Congressman DeSaulnier’s office to call for the Representative to support a ceasefire and to stop arming Israel. Last Friday, Nov. 3rd over 100 constituents met with Rep. DeSaulnier to urge the Congressman to support a ceasefire and to say NO to further aid for Israel’s war package.
THIS THURSDAY 11/9, we are trying to drive *as many calls and emails as possible* from D10 residents and concerned East Bay Residents to support these demands. We are acting in concert with a mass mobilization of supporters from across the nation calling their local representatives and walking out of work and school to SHUT IT DOWN 4 PALESTINE. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EwxSEMgbKUINkGLHt4WNrjjV9TEwkgS65_38Z2HByA8/edit
We’re witnessing an active genocide in Gaza. We need a ceasefire and a humanitarian corridor to allow in aid.
Reps. Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib are calling for just that. Tell your Member of Congress to cosponsor now.
Israel, which has one of the most powerful militaries in the world,¹ has reportedly killed more than 8,000 Palestinians in Gaza and is continuing to bomb Gaza while preparing for a ground invasion and forcing over one million Gazans in the north to move south under threat of death.²
Under blockade and siege for 16 years, the 2.2 million people of Gaza are captives – enduring without access to water, food, electricity, and fuel.
It is horrific that civilians, Palestinian and Israeli, have borne the brunt of the tragedy we are witnessing. If we do not act now, the events of the Israeli military in Gaza will compound that horror to unimaginable proportions. We need urgent action now to avoid more loss of precious human life. We must immediately de-escalate. And we must open a humanitarian corridor for aid and medical workers to save lives. That is why H.Res.786, the Ceasefire NOW resolution from Reps. Bush and Tlaib, is so critical.
2023-11-01 Free Palestine March on Washington I talk with Brian Becker, a founder and Executive Director of the ANSWER Coalition, an organization founded three days after 9/11 to prevent the Iraq War, and a founder and central organizer for the Party of Socialism and Liberation, and Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink: Women for Peace, which also started to prevent the Iraq War. We will discuss the Free Palestine March on Washington coming up on Saturday, November 4, the call for a ceasefire and how the US government is resisting it, the split in the American Jewish community, the repercussions with respect to a widening of the war and the rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia and whether there will ever be peace between Israel and Palestine.https://www.facebook.com/Lauren.Steiner.LA/videos/761249355762820
2023-10-28 Tell Senator Bernie Sanders: Ceasefire Now -Petition As American Jews and allies, many of us have looked to Bernie Sanders for years as the political leader who best embodies our values.
Right now, many of us are also grieving Israeli and Palestinian loved ones who have been murdered in recent weeks. Over 1400 Israelis and over 5700 Palestinians are already dead, with more Palestinians killed by bombs that rain on Gaza by the hour, and over 200 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. This genocidal violence cannot be allowed to escalate or continue.
2023-10-25 National March on Washington D.C. for Palestine on Saturday, November 4 Tens of thousands of people from every corner of the United States are converging for a truly massive National March on Washington D.C. for Palestine on Saturday, November 4 at 2:00 p.m. at Freedom Plaza. A broad and growing coalition of groups are organizing this action to stand with the people of Palestine in this moment of crisis. https://progressiveissuesblog.com/2023/10/25/national-march-on-washington-d-c-for-palestine-on-saturday-november-4/
2023-10-25 HELP PROTECT CIVILIANS AND EXPOSE WAR CRIMES -Amnesty International With the Israeli military offensive in Gaza and violence increasing in the West Bank and Israel, Amnesty’s crisis investigation teams are on the ground and our Crisis Evidence Lab is working as quickly as possible to verify evidence in real time in order to expose war crimes, protect civilians, and seek accountability for crimes committed. When entire families are killed by indiscriminate airstrikes, we must respond. When communities are intentionally cut off from food, fuel, water, and medical supplies, we must respond. When civilians are targeted, killed, and taken hostage, we must respond. https://ca.engagingnetworks.app/page/email?mid=fa5fccea5db040ecbd13130e3e598b2e
2023-10-19 Sign this petition to support a ceasefire in Gaza/Israel Conflict PDA Condemns Violence, Calls for a Ceasefire, Continues Working for Peace. Sign on the Ceasefire Now Resolution in Congress, Here.
We are all saddened and traumatized by the horrible events coming out of the current Israel/Hamas war. We unequivocally condemn the use of all violence, attacks, and bombings against both Israeli and Palestinian civilians. PDA is joining with our friends in Jewish Voice For Peace in calling for an immediate ceasefire. We need to stop the killing of innocent civilians. https://pdamerica.org/sign-this-petition-to-support-a-ceasefire-in-gaza-israel-conflict/
Tens of thousands of people from every corner of the United States are converging for a truly massive National March on Washington D.C. for Palestine on Saturday, November 4 at 2:00 p.m. at Freedom Plaza. A broad and growing coalition of groups are organizing this action to stand with the people of Palestine in this moment of crisis.
Transportation centers are being organized in cities and towns across the country. A growing coalition of organizations will be working around the clock to make sure that anyone who wants to attend the march is able to get there. Check back to this page for frequent updates with new bus and other transportation options.
Now is the time to stand with the besieged people of Palestine! Israel, with the full backing of the U.S. government, is carrying out an unprecedented massacre in Gaza. Thousands of Palestinians are being killed with bombs, bullets and missiles paid for by U.S. tax dollars. This is the latest bloody chapter in the colonial project of Israel, founded with the objective of dispossessing Palestinians from their land. The people of the world need to rise up in protest!
New York City — Bronx Buses depart at 8:30 a.m. sharp from the 149th St and Grand Concourse Buses return to New York City at the same pick-up location around 10:30pm Purchase a ticket here!
New York City — Jackson Heights Buses depart at 8:30 a.m. sharp from Diversity Plaza (74th St and 37th Rd) Buses return to New York City at the same pick-up location around 10:30pm Purchase a ticket here!
New York City — Brooklyn Buses depart at 8:30 a.m. sharp from Barclays Center (620 Atlantic Ave) Buses return to New York City at the same pick-up location around 10:30pm Purchase a ticket here!
New York City — Union Square Buses depart at 8:30 a.m. sharp from Union Square Buses return to New York City at the same pick-up location around 10:30pm Purchase a ticket here!
New York City — Astoria Buses depart at 8:30 a.m. sharp from Astoria Blvd N/W Stop (2330 Astoria Blvd S) Buses return to New York City at the same pick-up location around 10:30pm Purchase a ticket here!
New York City — Long Island Buses depart at 8:00 a.m. sharp from Roslyn LIRR Station at Expressway Plaza, Roslyn Heights, NY 11577 Buses return to New York City at the same pick-up location around 11:00pm Purchase a ticket here!
Philadelphia, PA Gather at 9:00 a.m. and leave at 9:30 a.m. from the Philadelphia Liberation Center (147 W Susquehanna Avenue) Buses depart D.C. at 6:00 p.m. Email contact@phillyliberationcenter.org for more information Purchase a ticket here!
Pittsburgh, PA Buses depart at 8:00 a.m. sharp from 125 West Station Square Dr. Buses return to Pittsburgh at 5:30 p.m. the same day Purchase a ticket here!
2023-10-10 Time to Free Palestine’s Nelson Mandela A prisoner exchange—which historical patterns suggest is likely—could, despite it all, reopen a path to peace. In 2011, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traded 1,027 Palestinian prisoners (280 of them serving life sentences) to obtain the release of a single Israeli soldier captured five years earlier. Israel now claims that Hamas holds 199 hostages. Meanwhile, an estimated 5,200 Palestinians languish in Israeli jails—and among them is one man who may hold the key to peace: Marwan Barghouti, considered by some to be Palestine’s Nelson Mandela.
Though Israeli authorities labeled Barghouti a “terrorist” after Israeli courts convicted him on five counts of murder, the idea of releasing him is far from a fringe position: Indeed, Alon Liel, formerly Israel’s most senior diplomat, has proposed just that. Deeming him “the ultimate leader of the Palestinian people,” Liel believes “he is the only one who can extricate us from the quagmire we are in.”
As Hebrew University professor Dmitry Shumsky has pointed out, it has long been the unannounced policy of Netanyahu to undermine the more moderate Palestinian Authority by bolstering Hamas, which shares his hatred of the two-state solution. As confirmed by a former Israeli Cabinet minister, Netanyahu actually propped up Hamas, approving the channeling of substantial funds from Qatar to the radical Islamist organization. Paradoxically, then, there has been a de facto alliance between the hard-line Netanyahu and Hamas, long irreconcilably opposed to the existence of Israel.
In this context, the popular and charismatic Barghouti has posed a unique threat to Israel and its persistent claim that it had no plausible interlocutor with whom to negotiate. The influential Israeli newspaper Haaretz captured the underlying dynamic well as far back as 2012, stating flatly in an editorial, “If Israel had wanted an agreement with the Palestinians it would have released him from prison by now. Barghouti is the most authentic leader Fatah has produced and he can lead his people to an agreement.” https://prospect.org/world/2023-10-20-barghouti-palestines-nelson-mandela/
Oslo Accords -Wikipedia The Oslo Accords are a pair of interim agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; and the Oslo II Accord, signed in Taba, Egypt, in 1995. They marked the start of the Oslo process, a peace process aimed at achieving a peace treaty based on Resolution 242 and Resolution 338 of the United Nations Security Council. The Oslo process began after secret negotiations in Oslo, Norway, resulting in both the recognition of Israel by the PLO and the recognition by Israel of the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people and as a partner in bilateral negotiations.
Among the notable outcomes of the Oslo Accords was the creation of the Palestinian National Authority, which was tasked with the responsibility of conducting limited Palestinian self-governance over parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; and the international acknowledgement of the PLO as Israel’s partner in permanent-status negotiations about any remaining issues revolving around the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Bilateral dialogue stems from questions related to the international border between Israel and a future Palestinian state: negotiations for this subject are centered around Israeli settlements, the status of Jerusalem, Israel’s maintenance of control over security following the establishment of Palestinian autonomy, and the Palestinian right of return. The Oslo Accords did not create a definite Palestinian state.
A large portion of the Palestinian population, including various Palestinian militant groups, staunchly opposed the Oslo Accords; Palestinian-American philosopher Edward Said described them as a “Palestinian Versailles”. The peace process was strained by the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre as well as by Hamas suicide bombings and attacks. Far-right Israelis also opposed the Oslo Accords, and Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by a right-wing Israeli extremist for signing them. The Oslo process ended after the failure of the Camp David Summit in 2000 and the outbreak of the Second Intifada. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo_Accords
Oslo Accords – History The Oslo Accords were a landmark moment in the pursuit of peace in the Middle East. Actually a set of two separate agreements signed by the government of Israel and the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)—the militant organization established in 1964 to create a Palestinian state in the region—the Oslo Accords were ratified in Washington, D.C., in 1993 (Oslo I) and in Taba, Egypt, in 1995 (Oslo II). While provisions drafted during the talks remain in effect today, the relationship between the two sides continues to be marred by conflict.
Although the Oslo Accords were noteworthy in that the PLO agreed to formally recognize the state of Israel and that Israel, in turn, allowed the Palestinians some form of limited self-governance in Gaza and the West Bank (the so-called Occupied Territories), they were originally seen only as a stepping-stone toward the ratification of a formal peace treaty between the two sides that would end decades of conflict.
The Oslo Diaries – Documentary 1100 days of secret talks told by the people who were there at the table. Featuring never-before-seen footage and exclusive interviews with key players – including the last on-camera conversation with former Israeli president Shimon Peres – the film recounts a geopolitical story, with a narrative voice that is personal and philosophical. The Oslo Diaries brings us a riveting account of 1100 days of secret talks as told by the people who were there at the table. The participants’ detailed and often emotional entries recount the political intrigue, fiery rhetoric, unlikely friendships, and overwhelming desire for peace that were the heart of the negotiations. Although politics ultimately doomed The Oslo Accords, the story’s end for the people of Israel and Palestine remains unwritten. https://www.journeyman.tv/film/7892
2024-06-12 It Doesn’t Take a Prophet to Know How Horrific a Trump Return Would Be I’ll admit to having felt a surge of hope when Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed the 1993 Oslo Accord. That long-ago agreement between then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chief Yasser Arafat began a lengthy, ultimately fruitless series of negotiations over the fate of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, areas seized by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. I remained hopeful, but I should have known better. Hanan Ashrawi (long one of my personal heroes) did know better.
Ashrawi immediately spotted a fundamental problem with those Accords, embodied in their first product, a letter of “mutual recognition” between the state of Israel and the PLO. “When I saw the letter, I was furious,” she told+972 Magazine in September 2023. Why? Because while the PLO formally recognized the state of Israel, and Israel, in turn, recognized the PLO as the official representative of the Palestinian people, the letter said nothing about the establishment of an actual Palestinian state. It did, however, allow the PLO’s leadership to return from exile, something they had long desired.
In truth, it took no Cassandra-like clairvoyance to see what would come of the Oslo agreements. Twenty years earlier, then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had made Israeli intentions perfectly clear, explaining his plans for the occupied territories this way: “We’ll make a pastrami sandwich of them. We’ll insert a strip of Jewish settlement in between the Palestinians and another strip of Jewish settlement right across the West Bank so that in 25 years’ time neither the U.N. nor the U.S., nobody will be able to tear it apart.”
Another major feature of Oslo was the creation of the Palestinian Authority, the entity empowered (and funded) by Israel to administer the occupied territories alongside the Israeli Defense Forces. When the PLO agreed to the formation of the Palestinian Authority in 1993, Ashrawi understood all too well that the new entity’s institutional survival, and (not incidentally) the jobs of its many employees would eventually come to depend on how well it served the occupation.
It’s not surprising then that, drawing on the insights of people like Ashrawi, some of us predicted a version of Israel’s endgame for Gaza back in 2005 when Ariel Sharon’s government announced its plan to “disengage” from that strip of land, granting to the Palestinian Authority the duty to run what has since come to be known as the world’s largest open-air prison. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/climate-gaza-trump-future
2023-10-23 Two Gaza Scenarios: Greater Israel vs. Oslo the bulk of the U.S. foreign policy establishment, the Democrats in particular. The Biden administration — well known to have little sympathy for Netanyahu, who in 2012 openly backed Mitt Romney for president against Barack Obama (and Biden, his vice president) — sticks to the prospect, created by the Oslo Accords, of a Palestinian rump state, providing an alibi to sideline the Palestinian cause and clear the way for the development of links and collaboration between Israel and the Arab states. This is why Biden told CBS on Oct. 15 that “it would be a big mistake” for Israel to occupy Gaza. The U.S. president did not mean that the invasion of the entire strip in order to eradicate Hamas would be a mistake.
The fact that the Oslo process stalled shortly after being launched with great pomp and circumstance in 1993 — which led to the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000, followed by Israel’s temporary reoccupation of those parts of the West Bank that it had evacuated in favor of the Palestinian Authority — does not seem to deter Washington and its allies from regarding it as the only feasible settlement. They probably believe that some sort of territorial swap like the one that was envisaged in the Trump-Kushner “peace plan” might eventually square the circle of reconciling the annexation of the West Bank areas where settlements have been proliferating with granting the Palestinians a fragmented “independent state” on 22% of their ancestral land west of the Jordan River. https://againstthecurrent.org/two-gaza-scenarios-greater-israel-vs-oslo/
2018-09-13 Palestine, Israel and the Oslo Accords: What you need to know They were heralded with a historic handshake on the lawn of the White House. Three of their signatories went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize. They were, many hoped, a first step towards agreeing a settlement that would secure a lasting regional peace and an independent Palestinian state.
But the Oslo Accords, the first of which was signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in Washington on 13 September 1993, are now remembered as a bid for peace that, while delivering some benefits, ultimately failed.
At the signing ceremony in Washington, US President Bill Clinton welcomed the agreements as “the dawn of a new era”, while Rabin declared it an “opportunity for peace”.
But the agreements angered many Palestinians and Israelis. Right-wing Israelis were opposed to making a deal with the PLO, which they regarded as a terrorist organisation. They feared too, that Israelis would lose their claim to land they regarded as a Biblical right. Palestinian reactions were also mixed. Although the accord was supported by Fatah – the largest faction of the PLO – Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) refused to recognise Israel, and believed the agreements would betray the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their lands inside Israel.
A Hamas statement described the agreement as “only another face in the occupation”. In response to the agreements, Edward Said, a prominent Palestinian intellectual, wrote that “Israel remains in occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. The primary consideration in the document is for Israel’s security, with none for the Palestinians’ security from Israel’s incursions”.
Talks continued between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators. Gradually they arrived at a series of related interim agreements. The second Oslo Accord, which was actually signed in Taba, Egypt, on 24 September 1995. The plan was that it would build upon the first and bring both sides even closer to negotiating a permanent settlement.
Most significantly, it divided the West Bank into areas that would be subject to economic and security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority: But the deal became bogged down, as each side accused the other of failing to implement key aspects of the agreements.
In February 1994, a massacre of 29 worshippers at the Ibrahimi Mosque – also known as the Cave of the Patriarchs – in Hebron, carried out by an Israeli settler, fuelled Palestinian anger.
But perhaps the most serious setback was the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, less than two months after he had signed the second accord, by Yigal Amir, a Jewish Israeli opposed to the deals. Shimon Peres became prime minister but then lost a subsequent election in June 1996 to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s current prime minister and an outspoken critic of the accords.
Further attempts to resume the process, including the Wye River Memorandum in 1998 and the Camp David Summit in 2000, ended without finalising a binding agreement. The Second Intifada erupted in September 2000, and resulted in the deaths of more than 3,000 Palestinians and almost 1,000 Israelis over a span of four-and-a-half years.
2023-11-15 Has the West Lost its Moral Legitimacy? With Shaykh Hasan Spiker ‘October 7th, the Terminal Hypocrisy of a Crumbling West, and the Dawning of a New Age for Muslims’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2WbVPXvpW0
2023-10-13 Israel’s Dwindling Moral High Ground Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, whose arrogance and blunders left Israel open to the Hamas massacre, is rapidly squandering a moment of global goodwill and moral high ground. A large majority of Israelis correctly blame Netanyahu for leaving the Gaza border defenseless by moving most of the Israeli army to defend illegal West Bank settlers who never should have been there in the first place.
A recent poll, published in The Jerusalem Post, finds that an astonishing 86 percent of respondents blame the Netanyahu government for allowing the massacre to happen, including 79 percent of the governing coalition supporters.
With his back to the wall, Netanyahu and his war Cabinet have vowed vengeance. “Every Hamas member is marked by death,” he declared Wednesday night, a threat he can’t possibly deliver on. Israel has already unleashed mass air strikes directed at Gaza residential neighborhoods based on the premise that Hamas leaders hide out there, leaving an incredible 300,000 Gazans homeless. These attacks have already killed more Gazan civilians than the number of Israelis killed in the initial Hamas massacre. They have also killed U.N. relief workers and local medical teams.
Netanyahu is on the verge of launching an invasion of northern Gaza to destroy Hamas as a fighting force. Israel’s military has told all civilians to evacuate northern Gaza, home to 1.1 million people, within 24 hours. It’s a dubious military proposition that is unlikely to produce the safe return of Israeli hostages. https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2023-10-13-israels-dwindling-moral-high-ground/
