6,420 Palestinians in West Bank detained since October 7

Details

Written by northsouth

Category: MENA

Published: 01 February 2024

Hits: 631

RAMALLAH - Prisoners rights group Addameer has said that the majority of arrests have taken places in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, where 215 women, 400 children, 51 journalists and 3,000 who are detained under administrative detention (held without charge).

In addition, Addameer said that 7 Palestinian detainees died in prison.

The organistion said that the recent statistics excludes Gazan detainees, as Israeli authorities have blocked access to information regarding them.

“The total number of detainees in Israeli prisons stands at 8,800 including more than 3,290 administrative detainees,” Addameer said.

End the war and recognize Palestine, Security Council urged

Details

Written by northsouth

Category: MENA

Published: 31 January 2024

Hits: 646

THE UNITED NATIONS - Work harder to end the war in Gaza and recognize the State of Palestine were the messages once more from many countries on Wednesday, taking part in the two-day Security Council debate over the Middle East crisis.

More than 70 delegates voiced serious concerns about the ongoing humanitarian “catastrophe” as the conflict in Gaza approaches its fourth month.

Council members alongside the wider UN membership on Tuesday established the major theme of the debate: urging Israel to accept a two-State solution or risk a perpetual war which is an increasing threat global stability.

The Palestinian people’s right to build their own fully independent State must be “recognized by all”, and any refusal to accept the two-State solution by any party must be “firmly rejected”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at the outset of that meeting.

“The two-State solution is the only way to address the legitimate aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians,” he told the Council.

Some of Tuesday’s speakers called for the Council to overcome its veto-led impasse and stop the bloodshed and “humanitarian disaster” in Gaza.

The 15-member organ tasked with ensuring international peace and security must also hold Israel more accountable for an ongoing “genocide” against Palestinians, some speakers insisted.

Stop the genocide: OIC

Mauritania’s Ambassador Sidi Mohamed Laghaf, speaking on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), said the deliberate killing of civilians was indicative of the intent to commit genocide. Raising a range of concerns, he pointed to the mass destruction of civilian infrastructure such as hospitals and rejected any efforts to forcibly displace Palestinians, which in itself “amounts to a war crime”.

Israel’s denial of essential supplies is already exacerbating a humanitarian catastrophe, and a swift intervention is needed, he said. Indeed, the international community must immediately put an end of all these crimes and hold perpetrators accountable, including for the mass detention of Palestinians, in line with international humanitarian law.

“The Council must do more to enforce its own resolutions, prevent further crimes of aggressions and acts that amount to genocide and ensure Israeli respect for and compliance with international law,” he said, calling for action to end the war, provide international protection of Palestinians and ensure the creation of a humanitarian corridor.

The only way forward is through a two-State solution, he stated.

There is a need for ‘real diplomacy’: Brazil

Brazilian Ambassador Sérgio França Danese underlined the need “for real diplomacy and true political will” that enables effective multilateral action to end the conflict and forge a path to revive the two-State solution.

“Now, we are witnessing the cruellest war, one that seriously threatens the prospect of a peaceful co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians,” he said, calling for “an immediate ceasefire in Gaza before there is nothing left to be saved”.

What is urgently needed are the provisional measures requested by South Africa to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), with the aim of preventing the risk of genocide by requiring the immediate ceasefire, but that does not tackle the root causes of the conflict, he said.

Help end the war now: Iraq

Deputy Permanent Representative of Iraq, Abbas Kadhom Obaid Al-Fatlawi, said the siege and collective punishment of Palestinians continues, and the Council has failed to act, leading to a “humanitarian disaster”.

Israel has been ignoring calls for a ceasefire, even though UN Member States have adopted two resolutions at Emergency Special Sessions to stop the aggression.

The latest developments in the Occupied Palestinian Territory will have serious consequences in the region, he continued, warning that the conflict will spread beyond the borders if ongoing practices persist and the Council fails to shoulder its responsibilities.

“Expanding the conflict will not provide a solution,” he said. “The solution lies in the Security Council adopting a resolution to stop this war.”

Syria rejects bid to make ‘executioners into victims’

Recalling the devastation in Gaza, Syria’s Ambassador, Alhakam Dandy, said Israel is using prohibited weapons, including phosphorous, and is committing crimes against humanity and crimes of genocide.

Some countries are attempting to legitimize Israel’s actions, "making executioners into victims" in the name of self defence.

Israel must be held accountable, he said, calling on the Council to adopt effective and immediate measures to end Israeli attacks and to halt impunity.

Expressing support for South Africa’s related case at the ICJ, where provisional measures are expected to be made public this Friday, he said heinous violations also have been perpetrated against Syria.

Expanding settlements and the plunder of natural resources in the occupied Golan are part of hostile policies that, among other things, target residential areas in Damascus and other parts of Syria, he said.

Ending the war hinges on the two-State solution: Ireland

Condemning the 7 October attacks against Israel, Ireland’s Ambassador Fergal Mythen, reiterated a call for the release of hostages. At the same time, Israel must limit its action in Gaza, in line with international humanitarian laws requiring military operations to respect the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution, he said.

Ending the war hinges on a two-State solution, and Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of this vision is not acceptable, he continued.

Emphasizing that the Security Council has reaffirmed its commitment to the two-State solution in its relevant resolutions, he said “today, the achievement of this vision is more pressing than ever.”

Rejection of two-State solution by Israeli leadership 'unacceptable', says Guterres

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DEBATE

• Israel’s “clear and repeated rejection” of the two-State solution “is unacceptable”, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres opening the debate on Tuesday, adding that “this refusal, and the denial of the right to statehood to the Palestinian people, would indefinitely prolong a conflict that has become a major threat to global peace and security.”

• Council members roundly called for the two-State solution to be realized and for an end to the war, with many calling for an immediate ceasefire to end the suffering of Palestinians and allow the aid they urgently need to be delivered unhindered

• Many speakers from the wider UN membership echoed those calls

• “Stop this massacre,” said the Deputy Prime Minister of Jordan

• “We are running out of time. There are two choices: a spreading fire or a ceasefire,” said the Foreign Affairs Minister for the Observer State of Palestine

• Israel’s Ambassador said if the Council continues to provide necessary aid to Gaza, without considering the Iranian threat across the region, the world faces “a very dark future”

Famine in Gaza is being made ‘inevitable’ says UN rapporteur

Details

Written by northsouth

Category: MENA

Published: 29 January 2024

Hits: 601

Bethan McKernan

JERUSALEM - The Gaza Strip is facing “inevitable famine” because of the decision by western countries to pause funding for the UN’s agency for Palestinian affairs after Israeli accusations that 12 of the group’s employees took part in the Hamas attack on 7 October last year.

Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said on Sunday “famine was imminent” and now “inevitable”, in a comment following the news that the US and nine other countries were suspending additional funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).

“This collectively punishes over 2.2 million Palestinians,” he said.

According to the UN secretary-general,António Guterres, 12 UNRWA staff members were identified by Israel, nine of which had been fired, one killed and the identities of two more were being checked. A UN investigation has been launched.

Israel has not publicly shared the details of its allegations against the UNRWA employees, which according to the Axios website were provided by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and internal security service, the Shin Bet. The information “pointed to the active participation of UNRWA staffers along with the use of the agency’s vehicles and facilities”, it reported.

Related: UN chief urges donors to reconsider UNWRA funding withdrawal

An UNRWA employee in the region said staff lists in Gaza were cross-referenced against UN blacklists and shared with Israel, and that Israeli authorities had not raised significant objections before.

It was also unclear yet what reassurances from UNRWA would be required for donors to restart funding, they said.

About half of Gaza’s population was already heavily dependent on UNRWA assistance before the war, the organisation providing help so essential that in some areas it supplants state services inadequately run by Hamas. The organisation provides schooling, medical care, flour for local bakeries, and runs desalination plants to ensure Palestinians can get clean water.

Since 7 October, when the Palestinian militant group launched an unprecedented attack on Israeli territory, killing about 1,140 people, UNRWA’s schools have become shelters for those displaced amid the Israeli bombing campaign which has killed more than 26,400 people. The agency is also the main vector for aid distribution.

“This will be a catastrophic situation,” said Haneen Harara, a worker at a Dutch non-governmental organisation, sheltering in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah. Her family had already spent hours each day queuing and walking to find what little food and water was available, much of it provided by UNRWA, she said. “If UNRWA shuts down it will make the situation so much worse. Even before this news there were huge limits on the aid entering Gaza.”

While UNRWA staff are trained for emergency responses, the worst-case scenario planning for Gaza envisioned 150,000 displaced people in 50 shelters for a maximum duration of 50 days. The war, entering its fourth month, has displaced 85% of the population from their homes and left civilians facing acute shortages of food, water and medicine in cold and wet winter conditions.

The funding freeze drastically threatens the already meagre supply of aid reaching the besieged coastal territory. Humanitarian groups including the UN estimate that 500 lorries carrying aid are required daily to provide the minimum help required, but the number at the moment able to cross through Egyptian and Israeli checkpoints is often below 100.

Prior to the donor decision, UNRWA had already been forced to make new distribution plans for food to accommodate the thousands of people camped in their shelters and often just as many outside, also on the verge of starvation after being displaced multiple times.

UNRWA’s crisis has also overshadowed the historic interim ruling on Friday from the world’s top court that Israel must “take all measures within its power” to avoid civilian deaths in Gaza and enable the delivery of humanitarian aid in order to prevent “acts of genocide” in the strip.

Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur, said on X on Sunday: “The day after [the international court of justice] concluded that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza, some states decided to defund UNRWA for the alleged actions of a small number of employees. This collectively punishes +2.2 million Palestinians. Famine was imminent. Famine is now inevitable.”

The agency, established in 1949 after the creation of Israel, supports more than 5.6 million Palestinians in the occupied territories, including in Jerusalem, plus refugees and their descendants in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. It had already struggled to raise funding in recent years, an issue dramatically exacerbated by Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to cut US support, later restored by the Biden administration. In 2022, the US was the agency’s biggest donor, providing $340m.

A total of 152 UN employees have been killed in the war to date. Earlier this week, Hamas and Israel traded blame for an attack on an UNRWA building in Khan Younis being used as a shelter in which 13 people were killed.

It is widely believed in Gaza that anyone who crossed the fence into Israel on 7 October – whether or not they took part in the atrocities – has been put on an Israeli target list for assassination by drone or airstrike. Hundreds of Palestinians, among them petty criminals and civilians, also entered Israel along with Hamas in the chaos of that morning.

Muthanna al-Najjar, a journalist who went to Nir Oz kibbutz, filmed the abduction of the Bibas family and in the footage can be heard imploring the gunmen not to hurt them. His family home in Khan Younis was hit by an airstrike in October, and homes belonging to several other relatives were targeted during a single night in November; altogether he lost 23 family members in the attacks. The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Najjar said: “Even though I handled the situation humanely, preventing harm to the settlers [Israelis] during my work, Israel destroyed my house with a missile.”