Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 28-29/2023
UN Resolution 1701: An urgent review of Lebanon's commitment amidst southern tensions
France and Saudi Arabia join efforts for Lebanon’s stability
Kataeb Party raises alarms over Hezbollah's continued presidential 'control'
Resurgence and resilience: Shebaa and Kfarchouba's ongoing struggle
Fadlallah meets Mikati: The government is committed to full compensation for Israeli attacks
Hezbollah politician hopes truce will continue
Hezbollah 'more inflexible', US and KSA want to 'focus on security'
In Israel's north, troops settle in for long standoff with Hezbollah
One house collapsed in on itself after being hit by an antitank missile.
Mikati is depending on the support of ‘ally nations’ to reestablish peace in Lebanon
Israeli Shell Hits Southern Lebanon Following Truce Extension
Lebanese media reports Israeli shell hit south Lebanon
Palestinian family in Lebanon grieves for dead Gaza relatives
Jumblatt discusses socio-economic conditions with Economy Ministry's Director General

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 28-29/2023
Israeli, U.S. spy chiefs meet Qatari PM to discuss 'building on' Gaza truce - source
Israel, Hamas Extend Truce but It Seems Only Matter of Time Before War Resumes
Hamas says it clashed with Israelis in Gaza after truce violation
Axios citing an Israeli official: Israel is ready to extend the truce for nine days if Hamas releases ten hostages every day
Hamdan says Israel only understands 'the language of force,' invites Elon Musk to Gaza
Israeli army: Hamas released ten Israelis and two foreign hostages
Blinken to return to Israel as US hopes further extension of Gaza truce
More People at Risk of Death from Disease Than Bombings in Gaza, Warns WHO
US Asking Israel to Avoid Civilian Displacements in Any South Gaza Offensive
UN Aid Chief Heads to Jordan for Talks to Open Second Crossing into Gaza
French warship hospital receives first Gaza wounded: minister
Israeli, Palestinian presidents to address COP28 climate talks
Erdogan Tells UN’s Guterres Israel Must Be Tried in Int’l Courts over Gaza Crimes
Jordan’s King Says Israeli Actions in Gaza and West Bank ‘Negate Human Values’
Iraq Court Sentences 4 ISIS Members to Death for Manufacturing Drones
Iraq Sees Risk of Regional Conflict if Gaza War Resumes
Israeli official says the country has reached a 'significant agreement' with Elon Musk to allow Starlink in Gaza, but only if approved by Israel
US warns Israel over next phase of military operation into southern Gaza
William Watson: What my petition about the Israel-Hamas war would say
Russia's fraught rupee oil trade is a warning for countries trying to abandon the dollar
Azerbaijan's Aliyev scolds Blinken over U.S. backing for Armenia
Pope Francis cancels trip to Dubai to participate in COP28
Iran inks deal with Russia for supply of Su-35 fighters, Mi-28 attack helicopters

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 28-29/2023
Should We Fund the 'Nazis' of the 21st Century?/Gordon G. Chang/Gatestone Institute/November 28, 2023
The Ultimate Reason for Muslim Hostility to the West Is Not Israel/Raymond Ibrahim/November 28, 2023
After The Gaza War/Nadim Koteich/Asharq Al Awsat/November 28/2023
When the War to Displace Gaza Revealed a Lot to Many/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/November 28/2023
The Other Face of the West/Maha Mohammed al-Sherif/Asharq Al Awsat/November 28/2023
US warns Israel over next phase of military operation into southern Gaza
Laura Kelly/The Hill./November 28, 2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 28-29/2023
UN Resolution 1701: An urgent review of Lebanon's commitment amidst southern tensions
LBCI/November 28/2023
In the aftermath of the developments in southern Lebanon following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the international community has once again emphasized the importance of Lebanon's adherence to UN Resolution 1701. Several international officials in Beirut have underlined this issue. It is set to be a focal point of discussions with French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian, who is scheduled to meet with official leaders starting Wednesday. Notably, Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has repeatedly reiterated Lebanon's commitment to the resolution. While Israel has repeatedly violated the resolution since 2006, both parties have witnessed significant breaches since October 7. The resolution, which called for an end to hostilities, stipulates the full respect by both parties for the Blue Line and the establishment of an area between the Blue Line and the Litani River free from any armed personnel or war materials except those belonging to the Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL. The resolution explicitly recalls two previous Security Council resolutions, 1559 and 1680, urging the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, ensuring no weapons or authority outside the scope of the Lebanese state. In the recent conflict, after Hezbollah deployed its weapons south of the Litani, the open involvement of the Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the same region was evident through missile launches toward Israel. Additionally, the presence of five armed Palestinian camps south of the Litani represents a violation of the UN resolution. Diplomatic sources revealed to LBCI questions that must be raised about UNIFIL's role after recent events and the possibility of adjusting its mandate in one way or another. However, this matter may be brought up when extending UNIFIL's mandate at the end of August. Despite significant setbacks, the UN Resolution 1701 has not been suspended or revoked altogether. Instead, it is expected to return to the heart of discussions in the upcoming hours.

France and Saudi Arabia join efforts for Lebanon’s stability
LBCI/November 28/2023
The French Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ludovic Pouille, revealed on X that there was a "fruitful meeting" in Riyadh between the French envoy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and the advisor within the General Secretariat of the Saudi Council of Ministers, Nizar Al-Aloula. Pouille emphasized that France and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are working together for the stability and security of Lebanon, ensuring the prompt conduct of the Lebanese presidential elections.

Kataeb Party raises alarms over Hezbollah's continued presidential 'control'
LBCI/November 28/2023
The political bureau of the Kataeb Party considers that Hezbollah exercises the utmost control over the state, confiscating its decisions in critical situations and exploiting the war to impose its military equations. It capitalizes on the power vacuum to dictate terms in selecting leaders for key and influential positions in political life. After its meeting chaired by the party's leader, MP Samy Gemayel, the political bureau sees the government, within this reality, as failing in its required role to protect the country, its constitution, and institutions.  The government submits to the rules imposed by Hezbollah and its allies in deciding to participate in wars, connecting what they call battlefields, and exposing Lebanon to unnecessary attacks, resulting in new losses in lives and properties for the Lebanese people. It points out that publicly compensating the Lebanese people from their private funds, without any official refusing to delegate the Lebanese people's matter to their state, is an unprecedented abandonment of the state's sovereignty. The political bureau emphasizes that it is more appropriate to compensate the families from the "South's fund" named after them. It warns against leaving Lebanon hostage to the ongoing vacuum in essential security positions, from General Security to Internal Security, and even risking the depletion of the army leadership amid an incomplete military council at this crucial time. It considers that the only legal solution is to postpone the dismissal of the army commander until the election of a president for the country. The political bureau affirms that the continued confiscation of the presidential position exposes Lebanon to future existential risks, given the evolving regional situation, requiring vigilant follow-up by a fully qualified state with constitutional legitimacy to lead the next phase. On the eve of the third French envoy's visit, the political bureau of the Kataeb Party calls on Hezbollah and its political team to abandon their presidential candidate. It urges engaging with the opposition to elect a consensual sovereign president who can fill all vacant positions and strengthen Lebanon's internal situation by regaining independent decision-making and implementing international resolutions, especially UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

Resurgence and resilience: Shebaa and Kfarchouba's ongoing struggle
LBCI/November 28/2023
Kfarchouba is one of the border areas that have been subjected to Israeli shelling from a location behind the Rweisat Al-Alam site, known as Zaoura in the Golan Heights. Amidst resilience, partial return, and anticipation, this is the situation of the people of Kfarchouba, whose streets and homes appear primarily empty. No white smoke is rising from their chimneys, indicating a broader return. Heading up to Shebaa, the scene there is similar. The movement of those who remained and those who returned is light. Most residents have yet to return, but the distributor of food supplies has returned to the shops of Shebaa, which now lack most food supplies. Shebaa and Kfarchouba are among the border areas whose residents are adversely affected due to their proximity to Israeli sites.

Fadlallah meets Mikati: The government is committed to full compensation for Israeli attacks
LBCI/November 28/2023
MP Hassan Fadlallah announced that Prime Minister Najib Mikati has pledged that the government will cover full compensation for property owners whose buildings were damaged by Israeli attacks on southern villages, especially those along the border. The compensation will be determined based on assessments by the Southern Council to evaluate the cost of these homes. Following a meeting with Mikati at the Government Palace, Fadlallah stated, "We have agreed that this matter is concluded for the Prime Minister, meaning securing the necessary funds for these demolished homes." He highlighted discussions with Mikati on the repercussions of Israeli attacks on southern villages, particularly along the border, and the resulting damages to properties, including homes, cars, crops, and specific institutions such as places of worship. "We reviewed this file from various perspectives regarding the responsibilities of the Lebanese state and the measures the government can take. While Hezbollah has begun compensating and conducted surveys in the southern region, it does not mean that the government is not concerned but is actively involved," Fadlallah explained. Acknowledging Mikati's significant responsiveness, Fadlallah stressed that "the affected people are our people, and the government is committed to providing the necessary compensation."Regarding restoration efforts, preliminary surveys indicate damage to around 1,500 homes from Naqoura to Shebaa, ranging from broken glass to severe structural damage. Mikati has also committed to compensating for the restoration efforts. Fadlallah noted that two additional files involve damaged or destroyed cars and productive crops, such as olive fields. These matters will be further addressed, and the government is committed to compensating car and crop owners. He concluded by mentioning the issue of allocations for the families of martyrs, stating that the necessary funds are available. The government will work on completing these matters, awaiting a list from the Southern Council with new pricing and specific mechanisms to ensure that rights reach their rightful owners.

Hezbollah politician hopes truce will continue
Reuters/November 28, 2023
BEIRUT: A senior Hezbollah politician said on Tuesday he hoped a truce would continue and his Iran-backed group had started paying compensation to people who had suffered losses during weeks of Israeli strikes in south Lebanon.
Following the start of the Hamas-Israel war on Oct. 7, Hezbollah and Israel have engaged in their worst hostilities since 2006, with Hezbollah attacking Israeli positions at the border and Israel launching air and artillery strikes. But the cross-border violence has ceased since Hamas — a Hezbollah ally — and Israel reached a temporary truce on Friday. “God willing, the truce will continue,” senior Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said after a meeting with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati. The violence at the Israel-Lebanese border has forced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the frontier to flee their homes. Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed around 100 people — 80 of them Hezbollah fighters. Hostilities spiralled following the Oct. 7 Hamas raid from the Gaza Strip into Israel, setting off a conflict that spread around the region. Citing a Hezbollah survey of damage done by Israeli attacks in Lebanon, Fadlallah said 37 residential buildings had been totally destroyed and 11 more completely burned. Another 1,500 homes across the south had suffered varying degrees of damage. Fadlallah said Mikati had agreed the government would pay compensation, including for destroyed cars and olive groves. This would be separate from compensation to be paid by Hezbollah, he added. “It is true that we, in Hezbollah, began paying compensation ... but this does not mean at all that the government is not concerned, indeed it is concerned, and (Mikati) was very responsive,” Fadlallah said. Hezbollah said it spent more than $300 million on compensation and reconstruction following the 2006 war, during which Israeli air strikes laid waste to swathes of the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut.

Hezbollah 'more inflexible', US and KSA want to 'focus on security'
Associated Press/November 28/2023
French Special Presidential Envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian is coming to Lebanon at a “totally inappropriate timing, seeing as he will not find any positive response, unlike the Qatari envoy,” the pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday. “The main party in the equation today, Hezbollah, does not intend to discuss the presidential file,” al-Akhbar added. “It is still focusing on what happened and will happen in Gaza, and betting on the possibility that Hezbollah might have changed its stance on the presidential file is a wrong bet, seeing as the party is now more adherent to its conditions and demands,” the daily said. “This is what the Qatari envoy has heard, before leaving without results, and this is what Le Drian will also hear,” al-Akhbar said. Saudi Arabia is meanwhile still insisting “not to get involved in any settlement” in Lebanon, the daily added, noting that Riyadh and Washington agree that “the focus should be on the security situation in Lebanon, starting by controlling any escalation on the southern front and then preserving the military institution’s situation by extending the term of incumbent commander General Joseph Aoun.”“The two capitals are dealing with the Lebanese file on the basis that the current situation does not allow for a presidential settlement nor a political exchange deal between the wrangling parties in Lebanon,” al-Akhbar added.

In Israel's north, troops settle in for long standoff with Hezbollah
Agence France Presse/November 28/2023
Already weeks into their deployment, Israeli soldiers in Israel's north are settling in for a long, tense standoff with Hezbollah across the border in Lebanon. Until a truce with Hamas went into effect in the Gaza Strip to the south on Friday, the Israel-Lebanon border saw near-daily exchanges of fire with the Iranian-backed group. "It was clear that we would be getting into something pretty intense, and the intensity has been going up," Yoshiahu, a 27-year-old captain, told AFP during a military-arranged tour of the army position. The reservist left his young son and engineering studies when he was called up to the frontline after Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel. The cross-border raid killed over 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities. Israel has responded with a military campaign it says aims to destroy Hamas, killing nearly 15,000 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to authorities there.
Yoshiahu said the troops on the border believe they "can't go home, because someone has to protect the people here"."What we are doing here is very important, and we will be here as long as we need, there is no question about it."
Ghost town
Over nearly two months, Yoshiahu has travelled much of the so-called Blue Line, the roughly 80-kilometer U.N.-drawn demarcation between Lebanon and Israel. The last war between Israel and Hezbollah, in 2006, saw intense rocket barrages, but exchanges of fire in the years since have been sporadic until after October 7.Hezbollah recently said they've targeted groups of soldiers gathered inside houses in northern Israel. They've also targeted infantry forces and Israeli posts and equipment. Israeli concerns are focused on incursions by armed militants and drones, which the military says has already happened. Almost all civilians living along the northern border have been evacuated by the army, and the Galilee kibbutz community of Menara -- one of the closest to the demarcation line -- now resembles a ghost town. Avocados rot at the feet of trees, and children's bikes lie abandoned on doorsteps.

One house collapsed in on itself after being hit by an antitank missile.
News Agencies/November 28/2023
The truce between Israel and Hamas has lessened fire exchanges in the north.
The Lebanese village of Houla, across the demarcation line from Menara, was eerily silent under a thick mist. But the "appearance of calm can always hide something", cautioned Rafowicz. "It doesn't mean that Hezbollah isn't there with men, with guns." Along the border, the soldiers who spoke to AFP repeated a common refrain: they did not want to initiate clashes with Hezbollah, but simply to "defend" Israel. "We failed on October 7," one officer who declined to be named told AFP. "We were naive and we were arrogant, and it's hard for me to say so -- I'm wearing this uniform... but let's not be mistaken, it won't happen again." According to an AFP tally, clashes between the Israeli army and Hezbollah have left at least 109 dead on the Lebanese side of the border, most of them combatants, but also three journalists. On the Israeli side, at least nine have died, six of them soldiers. The same army officer said the troops stationed there felt a responsibility to the few civilians who remained in the area. "They look us in the eyes," he said. "You can feel that they ask us: 'Will you protect us?'"

Mikati is depending on the support of ‘ally nations’ to reestablish peace in Lebanon
The Daily Star/November 28/2023
In a recent interview with al-Joumhouria newspaper, Lebanon’s Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati emphasized the country’s dependence on the support of allied nations to help reestablish tranquility in southern Lebanon. Mikati expressed his hope that these friendly countries would be successful in restoring peace along the southern border. In another interview with the Turkish national radio and television corporation TRT, Mikati denounced Israel’s harsh actions, highlighting the lack of international response to the violence in Gaza, particularly the killing of children, women, and the elderly.Mikati also mentioned that while Lebanon stands in solidarity with Palestine, his priority is to prevent Lebanon from becoming involved in the war. He stated Lebanon’s desire for peace and stressed that any violation of Lebanese territory would not be tolerated.

Israeli Shell Hits Southern Lebanon Following Truce Extension
Asharq Al-Awsat/November 28/2023
Lebanese media reported that an Israeli shell struck the outskirts of a town in south Lebanon on Tuesday, hours after a temporary truce between the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel was extended for two days. A spokesperson for the Israeli army said it was "currently not aware of such an incident". Lebanon's state-owned National News Agency and the Lebanese broadcaster al-Jadeed reported an Israeli shell had struck the outskirts of the town of Aita al-Shaab on Tuesday morning. Both outlets cited their correspondents as the source. Weeks of cross-border shelling between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah came to a halt on Friday when the Palestinian group Hamas - a Hezbollah ally - and Israel agreed the temporary truce in their conflict which erupted on Oct. 7. A spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon UNIFIL said it was looking into the reports.

Lebanese media reports Israeli shell hit south Lebanon
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters)/November 28, 2023
Lebanese media reported that an Israeli shell struck the outskirts of a town in south Lebanon on Tuesday, hours after a temporary truce between the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel was extended for two days. A spokesperson for the Israeli army said it was "currently not aware of such an incident". Lebanon's state-owned National News Agency and the Lebanese broadcaster al-Jadeed reported an Israeli shell had struck the outskirts of the town of Aita al-Shaab on Tuesday morning. Both outlets cited their correspondents as the source. Weeks of cross-border shelling between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah came to a halt on Friday when the Palestinian group Hamas - a Hezbollah ally - and Israel agreed the temporary truce in their conflict which erupted on Oct. 7. A spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon UNIFIL said it was looking into the reports.

Palestinian family in Lebanon grieves for dead Gaza relatives
Agence France Presse/November 28/2023
From Lebanon, Palestinian Fatima al-Ashwah has been praying for relatives in Gaza, but received grim news that Israeli bombing killed around 12 of them days before a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas. "They bombed their house," leaving some of them "in pieces," said Ashwah, drained by weeks of anguish and days of grief.She is among an estimated 250,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, most of them in poverty, according to the United Nations. When AFP first spoke with Ashwah, 61, earlier this month from southern Beirut's Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp, she had expressed grave fear for the safety of about 70 extended family members in the Gaza Strip whom she had visited in July. She was later told that Israeli bombardment had killed her cousin's daughter Sanaa Abu Zeid, 30, along with Abu Zeid's daughters aged 12, eight and six, and other relatives who were in the same building. "Around a dozen people were killed," she said. The Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, when fighters from Palestinian militant group Hamas broke through Gaza's militarized border and attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 240 hostage, according to Israeli authorities. It was the worst attack in the 75-year history of Israel which retaliated with air, artillery and naval bombardments alongside a ground offensive. Nearly 15,000 people, also mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza.
'Under the bombs' -
Abu Zeid and her family had taken refuge in a school in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. But they returned to their home in northern Gaza -- still standing, unlike those of some other family members -- because the children weren't coping at the shelter, Ashwah said. Abu Zeid's husband and their three other children survived because they had been wounded in bombing the day before, one losing a leg, and were in hospital when the house was hit, Ashwah said. "They buried them together in a mass grave," Ashwah said, with Abu Zeid's devastated mother unable to pay her final respects.
Ashwah showed photos and video taken before the bombing of smiling members of the family, including Abu Zeid's daughter Nour al-Moqayyed, aged six, dancing. Abu Zeid's husband and the surviving children fled back to Rafah "under the bombs" to reunite with Abu Zeid's mother, Ashwah said, and were staying in a garage. Beirut's Burj al-Barajneh camp and others like it in Lebanon were set up after what Palestinians call the Nakba, or "catastrophe", when more than 760,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes by the 1948 war over Israel's creation.
A fragile four-day truce between Hamas and Israel was extended Tuesday morning. Ashwah expressed hope that it would last, saying the family "can't take it anymore."
"We've seen wars, but like this? My God, not like this."

Jumblatt discusses socio-economic conditions with Economy Ministry's Director General
NNA/November 28/2023
Former Head of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, on Tuesday evening received at his Clemenceau residence, the Director-General of the Ministry of Economy and Trade, Mohammed Abou Haidar, with whom he discussed the country’s current economic and social conditions.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 28-29/2023
Israeli, U.S. spy chiefs meet Qatari PM to discuss 'building on' Gaza truce - source
DUBAI (Reuters)/November 28, 2023
The leaders of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israel's Mossad met Qatar's prime minister in Doha on Tuesday to build on the two-day extension of a truce between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, a source briefed on the visit said. The meeting was "to build on the progress of the extended humanitarian pause agreement and to initiate further discussions about the next phase of a potential deal," the source told Reuters. The outcome of the talks, which were also attended by Egyptian officials, was unclear, the source added. CIA Director William Burns was in Doha "for meetings on the Israel-Hamas conflict including discussions on hostages," a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity. The official did not elaborate. Burns, David Barnea, head of Israel's Mossad intelligence service and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani met one day after Qatar announced the two-day extension of an original four-day truce deal in Gaza that had been due to expire overnight. Qatar, where several political leaders of Hamas are based, has been leading negotiations between the Palestinian militant group and Israel. The truce has brought the first respite to the Gaza Strip in seven weeks during which Israel bombed the territory heavily in response to a violent rampage on Oct. 7 by Hamas gunmen who killed around 1,200 people and took 240 captives. Israel has sworn to annihilate Hamas, which rules Gaza. Health authorities in Gaza say Israel's bombardment of the tiny, densely populated territory has so far killed more than 15,000 people, around 40% of them children. Barnea and Burns were previously in Qatar to meet Sheikh Mohammed on Nov 9. During the first four days of the truce, Hamas fighters released 50 Israeli women and children who had been taken hostage. In return, Israel released 150 security detainees from its jails, all women and teenagers. As part of the two-day truce extension Hamas has agreed to release an additional 10 Israeli women and children each day. So far, there is no indication that Hamas is willing to release any Israeli men or military personnel among those taken captive.

Israel, Hamas Extend Truce but It Seems Only Matter of Time Before War Resumes
Asharq Al-Awsat/November 28/2023
A truce between Israel and Hamas entered its fifth day on Tuesday, with the militant group promising to release more hostages to delay the expected resumption of the war and Israel under growing pressure to spare Palestinian civilians when it renews its offensive. The sides agreed to extend their truce through Wednesday, with another two planned exchanges of militant-held hostages for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. But Israel has repeatedly vowed to resume the war with "full force" to destroy Hamas once it's clear that no more hostages will be freed under the current agreement's terms.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to visit the region later this week for the third time since the start of the war, and is expected to press for an extension of the truce and the release of more hostages. The Biden administration has told Israel it must avoid "significant further displacement" and mass casualties among Palestinian civilians if it resumes the offensive, and that it must operate with more precision in southern Gaza than it has in the north, according to US officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated his call for a long-term ceasefire and the release of all hostages, reflecting broad international support for a halt to the deadliest round of Israeli-Palestinian violence in decades. Hamas and other militants are still holding about 160 people, out of the 240 seized in their Oct. 7 assault into southern Israel that ignited the war. That's enough to potentially extend the truce for another two weeks under the existing framework brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the US, but Hamas is expected to make much higher demands for the release of captive soldiers. Israel has vowed to end Hamas' 16-year rule in Gaza and crush its military capabilities. That would almost certainly require expanding the ground offensive from northern Gaza — where entire residential areas have been pounded into rubble — to the south, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people have packed into overflowing United Nations shelters.
Israel blames the soaring casualty toll on Hamas, accusing the militants of using civilians as human shields while operating in dense, residential areas.
HOSTAGES AND PRISONERS RELEASED Monday’s release brought to 51 the number of Israelis freed under the initial four-day truce, along with 19 hostages of other nationalities. So far, 150 Palestinians have been released from Israeli prisons. Israel has said it would extend the ceasefire by one day for every 10 additional hostages released.
The Palestinian prisoners released so far have been mostly teenagers accused of throwing stones and firebombs during confrontations with Israeli forces. Some were convicted by Israeli courts of attempting to carry out deadly attacks. The prisoners are widely seen by Palestinians as heroes resisting occupation.
Most of the freed hostages appeared to be physically well, but an 84-year-old woman released Sunday was hospitalized in critical condition because she had not had access to her medication in captivity. They have mostly stayed out of the public eye, but details of their captivity have started to emerge.
In one of the first interviews with a freed hostage, 78-year-old Ruti Munder told Israel’s Channel 13 television that she was initially fed well in captivity but that conditions worsened as shortages took hold. She said she was kept in a "suffocating" room and slept on plastic chairs with a sheet for nearly 50 days.
Israel imposed a total siege on Gaza at the start of the war and had only allowed a trickle of humanitarian aid to enter prior to the ceasefire, leading to widespread shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel to power generators amid a territory-wide power blackout.
NORTHERN GAZA IN RUINS The ceasefire has allowed residents who remained in Gaza City and other parts of the north to venture out to survey the destruction and try to locate and bury relatives. Footage from northern Gaza, the focus of the Israeli ground offensive, shows nearly every building damaged or destroyed.
A UN-led aid consortium estimates that over 234,000 homes have been damaged across Gaza and 46,000 have been completely destroyed, amounting to around 60% of the housing stock in the territory, which is home to some 2.3 million Palestinians.
In the north, the destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure "severely compromises the ability to meet basic requirements to sustain life," it said. More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, roughly two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. More than 1,200 people have been killed on the Israeli side, mostly civilians killed in the initial attack. At least 77 soldiers have been killed in Israel’s ground offensive. Israel says it has killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence.
The toll on the Palestinian side is likely much higher, as the Health Ministry has only been able to sporadically update its count since Nov. 11, due to the breakdown of the health sector in the north. It also says thousands of people are missing and feared trapped or dead under the rubble.
FEARS FOR THE SOUTH Israel's bombardment and ground offensive have displaced more than 1.8 million people, nearly 80% of Gaza's population, with most having sought refuge in the south, according to the UN humanitarian affairs office. Israeli troops have barred people from returning to the north during the ceasefire. Hundreds of thousands of people have packed into UN-run schools and other facilities, with many forced to sleep on the streets outside because of overcrowding. It's unclear where they would go if Israel expands its ground operation, as Egypt has refused to accept refugees and Israel has sealed its border. The UN says the truce made it possible to scale up the delivery of food, water and medicine to the largest volume since the start of the war, and to bring in desperately needed fuel for homes, hospitals and water treatment plants. But the 160 to 200 trucks a day is still less than half what Gaza was importing before the fighting, even as humanitarian needs have soared. Four days into the truce, residents were still waiting for hours to buy gas and cooking fuel. Juliette Toma, a spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said people come to shelters asking for heavy clothes, mattresses and blankets, and that some are sleeping in damaged vehicles. "The needs are overwhelming," she told The Associated Press. "They lost everything, and they need everything."

Hamas says it clashed with Israelis in Gaza after truce violation
Naharnet/November 28/2023
Hamas said Tuesday that it clashed with Israeli forces after they violated the truce in northern Gaza, while noting that it is still committed to the temporary ceasefire.
“Due to a clear violation of the truce agreement by the enemy, a clash erupted in northern Gaza and our fighters dealt with the violation,” Hamas’ Ezzeddine al-Qassam Brigades said. “We are committed to the truce as long as the enemy commits to it and we call on the mediators to press the occupation to abide by all of the truce’s terms,” the Brigades added. An Israeli army spokesman meanwhile said that "three explosive devices were activated in two different incidents in the north of the Gaza Strip near the IDF (Israeli army) forces" and that "in one of the incidents, shots were also fired at the force.""As a result, several soldiers were slightly injured. The soldiers responded by firing at the sources of the gunfire. In both incidents, the IDF (Israeli army) forces stayed within the agreed ceasefire lines," the spokesman added.

Report: CIA head pushes big hostage deal in secret meeting with Mossad chief
Agence France Presse/November 28/2023
CIA Director William Burns arrived in Qatar on Tuesday for secret meetings with Israel’s spy chief and Qatar’s prime minister aimed at brokering an expansive deal between Israel and Hamas, three people familiar with the visit told the Washington Post.
“Burns is pushing for Hamas and Israel to broaden the focus of their ongoing hostage negotiations, thus far limited to women and children, to encompass the release of men and military personnel, too,” the U.S. newspaper reported. He is also seeking a longer multi-day pause in fighting while taking into account the Israeli demand that Hamas release at least 10 hostages for every day there is a break in the war, the sources added. A briefed source meanwhile told AFP that the US and Israeli intelligence chiefs have arrived in the Qatari capital to discuss the "next phase" of the deal between Hamas and Israel in Gaza. "The director of the CIA and the director of the Israeli National Intelligence Agency (Mossad) are in Doha to meet with the Qatari prime minister to build on the progress of the extended humanitarian pause agreement and to initiate further discussions about the next phase of a potential deal," the source told AFP, adding that Egyptian officials were also present. On Tuesday, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman said the mediator would use the extension to work towards a "sustainable truce" between Israel and Hamas. "Our main focus right now, and our hope, is to reach a sustainable truce that will lead to further negotiations and eventually to an end... to this war," Majed Al Ansari told reporters. "However, we are working with what we have. And what we have right now is the provision to the agreement that allows us to extend days as long as Hamas is able to guarantee the release of at least 10 hostages."Ansari confirmed the truce would continue with the release of 20 further hostages. "We are hopeful that in the next 48 hours we will be getting more information from Hamas regarding the rest of the hostages," he added. The spokesman said "minimal breaches" in recent days had not "harmed the essence of the agreement."Egyptian and Qatari officials meanwhile told the Wall Street Journal that the chief brokers of the Israel-Hamas captive exchange deal are pushing the two sides to prolong the cease-fire in Gaza through the end of the week and start talks on a permanent truce that would end the war altogether.
A long-term cease-fire would likely require Israel and Hamas to make hard-to-swallow concessions, such as trading Israeli soldiers for potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, the officials said. And it would require Israel to hold back on an offensive in southern Gaza intended to capture the strip and kill Hamas' top leadership, the officials said.
Israel and Hamas have agreed to a deal to extend the pause in fighting in Gaza by two days, Qatar announced. Under the deal, additional hostages would be released from the Gaza Strip each day in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Burns has emerged as the main U.S. negotiator in the hostage crisis, valued by President Joe Biden for his broad array of contacts across the Middle East and, in particular, within Israel’s Mossad intelligence service. “They listen to him and highly respect him,” said a person familiar with the negotiations. Burns, a veteran diplomat and former U.S. ambassador to Moscow, is often tapped by Biden to handle the administration’s most vexing challenges, from warning Russia not to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine to negotiating with the Taliban amid the U.S. evacuation crisis in Afghanistan. His role in the Israel-Gaza war is particularly prominent given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reliance on Mossad chief David Barnea. “Barnea is the key Israeli person for these negotiations,” said Natan Sachs, an Israel scholar at the Brookings Institution, a think tank. “He’s the one authorized to speak on behalf of the prime minister.”Qatar, a gas-rich peninsula in the Persian Gulf, has mediated talks between Israel and Hamas since the start of the conflict. U.S. officials are pushing for a longer string of days without fighting to release hostages and allow humanitarian aid into the enclave. Israeli officials have told counterparts the maximum number of extra days they are willing to allow is 10 before they seek to resume military operations, said people familiar with the matter. Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas, and officials are uncertain whether Israel can be persuaded to back off its 10-day limit amid the push to release as many hostages as possible. Netanyahu, speaking over the weekend, vowed to continue fighting after the current phase of hostage negotiations. “We will return with full force to achieve our goals: the elimination of Hamas; ensuring that Gaza does not return to what it was,” he said. The latest round of releases Monday brought the number of Israeli hostages freed to 51, including dual nationals, plus 18 foreign nationals from Thailand and the Philippines, while Israel has released 150 imprisoned Palestinian women and teenagers. The truce agreed to last week was the first pause in hostilities since the conflict began Oct. 7, when Hamas gunmen launched a surprise cross-border assault that allegedly killed 1,200 people and took more than 240 hostages. Israel responded with a massive bombing campaign and ground offensive that has killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, thousands of them children. Huge sections of the densely populated enclave have been leveled by Israeli bombs and artillery, and Israeli restrictions on food, fuel and drinking water have created a humanitarian catastrophe.

Axios citing an Israeli official: Israel is ready to extend the truce for nine days if Hamas releases ten hostages every day
LBCI/November 28/2023
Axios reported on Tuesday that Israel is prepared to prolong the current truce for an additional nine days, contingent on Hamas releasing ten hostages every day, according to an Israeli official.

Hamdan says Israel only understands 'the language of force,' invites Elon Musk to Gaza
LBCI/November 28/2023
If Israeli captives were not in the hands of the "resistance," then Israel would have never released Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails, Hamdan argued. Testimonies by released Palestinian prisoners show just how "barbaric … the occupation is", the official said. "If we didn't have Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, we would not have been forced to hold Israeli captives."Hamdan called on Arab leaders to implement resolutions agreed upon during the extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh, which took place earlier this month, to end the "Israeli aggression and siege on Gaza."He also called for an increase in the number of aid trucks that are being let into Gaza daily to address severe shortages of necessities in the south and the north. "We invite Elon Musk to visit the Gaza Strip, as he did Israel, to see the scale of the massacres and the crimes committed against our people," Hamdan added, following the billionaire's trip to Israel on Monday. He stated, "The Human Rights Watch report regarding the Baptist Hospital promotes the Israeli story, and we call for an international investigation committee."

Israeli army: Hamas released ten Israelis and two foreign hostages
LBCI/November 28/2023
The Israeli army said on Tuesday it had received word from the Red Cross that the captives on their way to Israel include 10 Israelis and two foreigners. The Red Cross says it has "successfully facilitated the release and transfer of 12 hostages held in Gaza."

Blinken to return to Israel as US hopes further extension of Gaza truce
Associated Press/November 28/2023
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return this week to the Middle East as the U.S. hopes to find a way to extend a cease-fire in Gaza and get more hostages released, the State Department said Monday. It will be his third trip to the region since Israel's war with Hamas began last month. Blinken will travel to Israel and the West Bank after attending Ukraine-focused meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels and Skopje, North Macedonia, where foreign ministers from NATO and the Organization for Peace and Security in Europe are gathering. Israel has agreed to pauses in its military operations in exchange for the gradual release of hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. The agreement had been due to expire Monday but was extended for an additional two days, meaning the extension will be expiring just as Blinken is arriving in Israel. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday the U.S. hopes to see the pause extended further, but it is dependent on Hamas continuing to release hostages. In Israel and the West Bank, Blinken will "discuss Israel's right to defend itself consistent with international humanitarian law, as well as continued efforts to secure the release of remaining hostages, protect civilian life during Israel's operations in Gaza, and accelerate humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. He said Blinken also will discuss the principles for a post-conflict Gaza, as well as the need to establish an independent Palestinian state and prevent the conflict from widening. In the occupied West Bank, Blinken is expected to see Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Blinken and other U.S. officials have said they believe the Palestinian Authority should play a significant role in governing post-conflict Gaza. From Israel and the West Bank, Blinken will travel to the United Arab Emirates for discussions with regional leaders who will be in Dubai to attend the COP28 climate summit. Blinken has been engaged in furious diplomacy to try to prevent the Gaza conflict from spreading, expand the provision of humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians in the territory, secure the release of hostages and arrange for foreigners and dual nationals to leave Gaza overland to Egypt.
On each of his prior two trips, Blinken has traveled to Israel and Jordan multiple times. Between the two trips, he also made stops in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE. Blinken will arrive in Israel having just participated in an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe foreign ministers meeting in Skopje. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said he plans to attend the OSCE meeting, possibly setting the stage for a U.S.-Russia confrontation there over Ukraine. In Brussels, Blinken will attend the two-day NATO gathering, which will include the first foreign minister-level meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, a body created by alliance leaders at their last summit to improve cooperation and coordination and help prepare Kyiv for eventual membership. "Allies will continue to support Ukraine's self-defense until Russia stops its war of aggression," said Jim O'Brien, the top U.S. diplomat for Europe. The NATO meeting will also address the tensions in the Western Balkans, where there are calls for NATO to increase its military presence in response to concerns that hostility between Serbia and Kosovo could escalate to outright conflict. Violence between the two has broken out twice in recent months, and Western countries fear that Russia could try to foment trouble in the Balkans to avert attention from the war in Ukraine. Last week, Albania's prime minister urged NATO to further boost its military forces in Kosovo and secure the country's borders with Serbia, warning that recent ethnic violence in Kosovo could potentially trigger a wider Balkan conflict. NATO has already strengthened its military presence in Kosovo — established after the 1999 bombing campaign against Serbia — with about 1,000 additional troops and heavier weaponry, bringing its deployment there to about 4,500 troops. Blinken will underscore U.S. and NATO support for democracy and stability in the region, including a commitment to back all countries' aspirations to join the European Union, O'Brien said. Serbia doesn't recognize Kosovo's formal declaration of independence in 2008. Both countries want to join the European Union, which is mediating a dialogue between the former foes. Brussels has warned both that refusal to compromise jeopardizes their chances of joining the bloc.The NATO ministers will also discuss plans for the alliance's 75th anniversary summit to be held in Washington in July 2024.

More People at Risk of Death from Disease Than Bombings in Gaza, Warns WHO
Asharq Al-Awsat/November 28/2023
More people could die from disease than from bombings in the Gaza Strip if its health system is not repaired, a World Health Organization spokesperson said on Tuesday. Gaza health authorities deemed reliable by the United Nations say more than 15,000 people have been confirmed killed in Israel's bombardment of Gaza, around 40% of them children, with many more dead feared to be lost under rubble. Israel has sworn to annihilate Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, after its gunmen burst across the fence and killed around 1,200 people and seized 240 captives on Oct. 7. "Eventually we will see more people dying from disease than we are even seeing from the bombardment if we are not able to put back (together) this health system," said the WHO's Margaret Harris at a UN briefing in Geneva. She repeated concerns about a rise in outbreaks of infectious diseases, particularly diarrheal diseases.
Citing a UN report on the living conditions of displaced residents in northern Gaza, she said: "(There are) no medicines, no vaccination activities, no access to safe water and hygiene and no food. We saw a very high number of cases of diarrhea among infants," she said. She described the collapse of Al Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza as a "tragedy" and voiced concern about the detention of some of its medical staff by Israeli forces during a WHO evacuation convoy. James Elder, a spokesperson from the UN Children's Agency in Gaza, told reporters by videolink that hospitals in Gaza were full of children with war wounds and gastroenteritis from drinking dirty water. "I met a lot of parents... They know exactly what their children need. They don't have access to safe water and it's crippling them," he said. He described seeing one child with part of his leg missing lying on the hospital floor for several hours, without receiving treatment for lack of medical staff.

US Asking Israel to Avoid Civilian Displacements in Any South Gaza Offensive
Asharq Al-Awsat/November 28/2023
The US is asking Israel to take greater care to protect civilians and limit damage to infrastructure if it launches an offensive in southern Gaza to avoid further displacements that would overwhelm humanitarian efforts, senior US officials said. The Israeli offensive in northern Gaza has proven devastating, with thousands of Palestinians killed and vast numbers of survivors left homeless and forced to flee south by a relentless bombing campaign and a lack of essentials such as food, power and water. As Israel begins to look toward south Gaza to continue battling Hamas militants after a pause in fighting to release hostages, US officials said they have been talking to the Israelis about taking greater care in the south, where there were now about 2 million people. The message has been delivered from President Joe Biden on down, the officials told reporters on a conference call. "We have reinforced this in very clear language with the government of Israel - very important that the conduct of the Israeli campaign when it moves to the south must be done in a way that is to a maximum extent not designed to produce significant further displacement of persons," one official said. "You cannot have the sort of scale of displacement that took place in the north, replicated in the south. It will be beyond disruptive, it will be beyond the capacity of any humanitarian support network," the official said, adding: "It can't happen." The official said the campaign needed to be "deconflicted" from power, water, humanitarian sites and hospitals in south and central Gaza, meaning avoid attacks on those types of infrastructure sites. He said the Israelis had been receptive to the notion "that a different type of campaign has to be conducted in the south." United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday described an extended truce between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas as "a glimpse of hope and humanity," but warned it was not enough time to meet the aid needs of the Gaza Strip. Mediator Qatar said on Monday the initial four-day truce had been extended by two days, continuing a pause in seven weeks of warfare that has killed thousands and laid waste to the Palestinian enclave. A second US official said Washington would like to see the humanitarian pause extended as long as possible. The official said the first of three relief aid flights conducted by the US military would land in northern Sinai on Tuesday carrying badly needed supplies for Gaza, with two more planned in coming days. The flights would bring medical items, food aid and winter items that would be delivered by the United Nations. The officials said aid deliveries to Gaza were currently running at about 240 truckloads a day, but this was nowhere near enough to meet needs. They said the effort would need to turn to commercial contracts to get deliveries up to 400 trucks a day and the US side had been discussing this with Israel. "To get that volume of assistance, inspection procedures will need to be increased and enhanced and you're going to need to resort to commercial contracting within Gaza to meet the trucks coming in from Egypt," the first official said. "We hope that after this pause concludes that can be phase two of the humanitarian program," he said.

UN Aid Chief Heads to Jordan for Talks to Open Second Crossing into Gaza
Asharq Al-Awsat/November 28/2023
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths will travel to the Jordanian capital Amman on Wednesday for talks on the possibility of opening the Kerem Shalom crossing to allow for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza from Israel. Located at the intersection of Israel, the Gaza Strip and Egypt, the Kerem Shalom crossing was used to carry more than 60% of the truckloads going into Gaza before the current conflict. Aid currently being allowed into Gaza comes through the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border, which was designed for pedestrian crossings and not trucks. "We have said from start we need more than one crossing," Griffiths told a briefing of member states at the United Nations in Geneva on Tuesday. "The opportunity to use Kerem Shalom should be explored, and that will be topic in Amman. It would hugely add scope (to the response)." A Western diplomat said there was no prospect of opening the Kerem Shalom crossing for the moment. The diplomat said that Israel does not want to open the crossing because their troops are located in the area. There was no immediate comment from Israel. Since a fragile truce came into force last week, some 200 trucks have carried aid into Gaza on a daily basis, but the amount of aid is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of its population. "We know that more humanitarian aid should be delivered in Gaza. We know how we could increase it, but there are constraints beyond our control," Griffiths said. "We know that the people of Gaza need much more from us."
Since the truce, the United Nations has scaled up the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and sent aid to some northern areas that had been largely cut off for weeks due to Israeli bombing. "We need to have reliable and scalable aid delivery mechanisms, that include all humanitarian partners - including NGOs," Griffiths said. "We are refining prioritization, advocating for more entry points and the resumption of (the) private sector."

French warship hospital receives first Gaza wounded: minister
AFP/November 29, 2023
PARIS: A French warship sent to Egypt to treat wounded from the Gaza Strip has received its first patients, a French minister said on Tuesday. The Dixmude arrived on Monday in the Egyptian town of El-Arish near the border with Gaza and on Tuesday received the patients, said Sebastien Lecornu, France’s army minister. The vessel is equipped with two operating blocs, 40 beds and 80 medical personnel, he said.

Israeli, Palestinian presidents to address COP28 climate talks
Agence France Presse/November 28/2023
Israeli President Isaac Herzog and his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas will both address the COP28 U.N. climate talks in Dubai this week, seven weeks into the Israel-Hamas war, officials said on Tuesday. Herzog and Abbas are both scheduled to make speeches lasting three minutes maximum on Friday. Abbas is expected to be in the room when Herzog is speaking, as he is scheduled to address the room only three speakers later. Abbas, head of the Fatah party that leads the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank, has only met Israeli officials on rare occasions. A six-day pause has brought relief to the conflict in Gaza, sparked when Palestinian Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials, in a major attack on October 7. Israel, vowing to destroy Hamas, then launched a relentless bombing campaign and ground offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza, killing almost 15,000 people, most of them women and children. More than 140 heads of state and government are due to address COP28 on Thursday and Friday, the start of nearly two weeks of talks to address the climate crisis, according to a U.N. list made available on Tuesday. Other notable speakers in the first two days include Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelensky, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Jordan's King Abdullah II, the emir of Qatar and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Britain's King Charles III is expected to speak at the COP28 opening on Thursday and on Saturday, Pope Francis will become the first pontiff to address an edition of the climate talks. Another group of leaders will take part in a second batch of speeches on December 9 and 10, before COP28 is scheduled to wrap up on December 12.

Erdogan Tells UN’s Guterres Israel Must Be Tried in Int’l Courts over Gaza Crimes
Asharq Al-Awsat/November 28/2023
Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday told United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Israel must be held accountable in international courts for the war crimes it committed in Gaza, the Turkish presidency said. In a phone call ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on Gaza planned for Wednesday, Erdogan told Guterres that "Israel continues to shamelessly trample on international law, laws of war, and international humanitarian law by looking in the eyes of the international community", his office said. Israel launched an air and ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza after the militant group carried out a deadly gun rampage in southern Israel last month, killing some 1,200 people and taking 240 others hostage. Israeli bombardment has killed more than 15,000 in Gaza, according to the enclave's health authorities. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, part of a so-called contact group of Muslim countries that has been holding talks with Western leaders over Gaza, will attend the meeting in New York on Wednesday, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday

Jordan’s King Says Israeli Actions in Gaza and West Bank ‘Negate Human Values’
Asharq Al-Awsat/November 28/2023
Jordan's King Abdullah said on Tuesday Israel's military campaigns in Gaza and army operations in the West Bank "negate human values and the right of life."In remarks carried on state media, the monarch who again called for an end to the war, said the Israeli siege on the enclave that prevented for weeks the entry of medicine, food and fuel and cut electricity supplies, amounted to war crimes. "These are war crimes.. we cannot stay silent," the monarch said.

Iraq Court Sentences 4 ISIS Members to Death for Manufacturing Drones
Asharq Al-Awsat/November 28/2023
Iraq's Central Criminal Court in Iraq issued four death sentences against ISIS terrorists on Monday for manufacturing drones and explosives to attack security forces. Iraq is seeking to limit the use of weapons on its territory with the spread of many armed factions, some of which targeted US bases after the eruption of the war in Gaza on October 7.The media center of the Supreme Judicial Council said that terrorists provided logistical support to ISIS to target the security forces.
Cooperation with International Criminal Court
Ahead of the convictions, Prime Minister Mohammad Shiaa al-Sudani met in Baghdad with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Ahmad Khan. According to a statement from Sudani's office, the Prime Minister called on the ICC to assist Iraq in identifying supporters of terrorism. The officials discussed cooperation mechanisms between the Iraqi government and the ICC to hold ISIS terrorists accountable in a way that helps bring justice to the thousands of victims who were killed by terrorism. Sudani stressed the need to support Iraq in prosecuting and holding the terrorists accountable for the loss of Iraqi lives and brutal massacres of civilians. "Iraq fought terrorism on behalf of the world, was able to defeat it, and made many sacrifices for that."For his part, Khan stressed the ICC's keenness to prosecute and bring to justice members of terrorist organizations in Iraq. He asserted that the Iraqis defeated the terrorist ISIS through their unity, cohesion, and determination to cleanse their land.
Harir Airport
Separately, the Kurdish Rudaw network reported on Sunday that a large explosion was heard at Harir Airport in Erbil, northern Iraq. It did not immediately provide further details. Iraqi armed factions have repeatedly targeted the base near Erbil Airport and another in western Iraq in response to the war in Gaza. Meanwhile, the Karkh Criminal Court in Baghdad sentenced two persons to life in prison for illegal drug trafficking. Under the complex litigation procedures in Iraq, these rulings are not final and can be appealed. Some cases can be put to a retrial because some convicts provide their statements under coercion or torture.

Iraq Sees Risk of Regional Conflict if Gaza War Resumes
Asharq Al-Awsat/November 28/2023
Iraq sees a risk of regional conflict if the current truce in Gaza is not turned into a permanent ceasefire, the Iraqi prime minister's foreign affairs adviser said, as mediators sought an extension of the temporary four-day Israel-Hamas truce. Israel's devastating bombardment of Gaza in response to Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel has drawn in Iran-aligned armed groups in the region including Lebanese Hezbollah and several Iraqi factions, who have mounted near-daily attacks on Israeli and US forces. But there have been no reports of attacks on US forces in Iraq or Syria since Israel and Hamas began a four-day truce last week that was set to expire on Monday, compared to over 70 in the weeks prior. Some of the main Iraqi armed factions behind the recent attacks, including Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada and Kataeb Hezbollah, have announced they will abide by the Gaza ceasefire but indicated they would resume attacks if it ends. They have also said in statements that they still seek the eventual ouster of US forces in Iraq. There are around 2,500 US troops on a mission the US says is to advise and assist Iraqi forces battling remnants of ISIS. "The entire region is on the verge of a devastating conflict that may include everyone, and the extent of its expansion or how to control and stop it is not known," said Farhad Alaadin, foreign affairs adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. "For this reason, we see any ceasefire in the conflict as beneficial and important at this stage for the people of Palestine and Gaza first and for all countries in the region, including Iraq," he told Reuters. European Union Ambassador to Iraq Thomas Seiler said in a social media post that he hopes Iraqi factions "continue with their cessation of attacks."Two sets of US strikes in Iraq last week killed 10 members of Kataeb Hezbollah, according to posts by the group on social media, a move condemned by the Iraqi government as escalatory and a violation of sovereignty. Kataeb Hezbollah is part of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a group of mostly Shiite armed groups formed to fight ISIS in 2014 that became an official security agency under the command of the prime minister. While technically part of the state, some of the PMF's most powerful Iran-backed factions often act outside the chain of command. Sudani has said attacks by armed groups on foreign forces in Iraq were unlawful and went against the country's national interest.

Israeli official says the country has reached a 'significant agreement' with Elon Musk to allow Starlink in Gaza, but only if approved by Israel
Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert/Business Insider/November 28, 2023
An Israeli official said Elon Musk agreed to terms to provide Starlink satellites over Gaza. Starlink can only operate over the Gaza Strip if Israel approves, the official said. The deal, unconfirmed by Musk, comes after he visited Israel amid accusations of antisemitism. Starlink can operate over Gaza, Israeli officials announced Monday, but only if the satellites have been approved by Israel. "Elon Musk, I congratulate you for reaching a principle understanding with the Ministry of Communications under my leadership," Israel's Minister of Communications, Shlomo Karhi, posted on X. "As a result of this significant agreement, Starlink satellite units can only be operated in Israel with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Communications, including the Gaza Strip." The deal, which remains unconfirmed by Musk or Starlink, would fulfill the billionaire's offer to provide internet to "internationally recognized aid organizations" in Gaza after Israel cut off communications and internet connectivity in the region as it bombarded the territory in response to the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas. Representatives for Starlink and Israel's Ministry of Communications did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Musk initially faced harsh criticism from Israel for his offer to provide internet connectivity over Gaza, with Karhi saying at the time that Hamas would use the connection for terrorist activities and that "Israel will use all means at its disposal to fight" the offer. The offer to provide Starlink over Gaza, as well as the backlash from Israel, was followed closely by fierce opposition to comments Musk made on X, which many said were antisemitic. Musk responded to a post on the platform that said Jewish people are pushing "hatred against whites" and criticized the political ideology of "western Jewish populations."Business Insider previously reported the post hinted at the "great replacement" conspiracy theory, which claims that nonwhite immigrants to Western countries are replacing the white population — an theory often invoked against liberal Jews who are pro-immigration. "You have said the actual truth," Musk replied to the post. However, after Musk visited Israel on Monday during a four-day pause in Israel's battle against Hamas, the Starlink deal — along with its contingencies based on Israeli approval of the devices — was announced by Israel. Musk has yet to make a statement on the announcement. It remains unclear exactly when Starlink services may become available in the region.

William Watson: What my petition about the Israel-Hamas war would say
William Watson/Financial Post/November 28, 2023
One reason I don’t sign petitions is that they almost never capture exactly what I’m thinking, which right now is this:
It’s not genocide, it’s Hamas-ide. Palestinians don’t get killed for being Palestinians, as Israelis did for being Israelis in “the unprovoked and dastardly attack” on Oct. 7 (to use FDR’s phrase about Dec. 7th 1941). They get hurt if they’re in the way of fighting between the Israeli Defence Force and Hamas. How well the IDF avoids civilians is hard to know. If you’re flying hundreds of sorties a day, as was the case during peak bombardment, how sure can you really be just who’s in the way? To reassure us, Israel would have to let us see the planning and execution of a good percentage of its operations. For obvious reasons, that’s not going to happen.
Releasing hostages does not make kidnappers nice guys. Especially kidnappers of grandmothers and infants and when the release is for tactical and strategic reasons, including ingratiation to the western media. Taking people hostage is better than murdering them in cold blood. Slightly. But the only reason the hostages weren’t murdered was that Hamas decided they were more useful alive. For now.
There is no moral equivalence. Actions taken in self-defence are justifiable, which obviously doesn’t mean all responses to an attack are justifiable. But trying to kill the killers and their commanders is, however long it may take.
There is mortal equivalence. When people see dead civilians, including babies, they’re not inclined to make fine judgments. In many places in the world Israel will get no credit for trying to minimize civilian casualties. Among its friends and allies it will. But as the toll mounts, which it must be doing, even if Hamas numbers can’t be trusted, the credit erodes.
Signing a petition should not be a firing offence. As it was for the director of the University of Alberta’s sexual assault centre. In my 40 years in a university it never was. My Post colleague Howard Levitt can tell us whether it’s legal. In my mind, whether legal or not it’s wrong. If the rule now is that you must not indicate your university affiliation when signing something stupid, noxious and/or false, fine, that’s easy enough to comply with. But such a rule will be news to most in the university community. (Whether universities should have sexual assault centres is another question. Sexual assault is a crime. It should be dealt with by the police and by the same health authorities that tend to all other assault victims’ needs.)
Free speech means we don’t police speech. Not even speech we find repellent. Especially speech we find repellent. We might control the volume at which speech takes place: No loudspeakers, please. But not the message. Beyond principles, there are practical considerations, if a crowd starts chanting something noxious, do we arrest, sanction, maybe even imprison, them all?
We do police incitement to violence. But that has always been interpreted narrowly, with imminence a deciding consideration. For instance, if a speaker tells a crowd “Let’s all march down Pennsylvania Avenue and take over Congress,” that should be an offence. So, too, if a crowd gathers outside a synagogue (or mosque) and chants about the need to kill Jews (or Muslims). But if a crowd in Montreal or Toronto shouts slogans some people understand to recommend greater violence in the Middle East, or, forget “understand,” that maybe even do recommend war explicitly, that fails the test of imminence. What’s chanted may be stupid, loathsome and contrary to “Canadian values” but suppressing it would be contrary to an even more important value. And again: arresting crowds is not easy policing.
Peace is not merely the absence of war. The attraction of a ceasefire is obvious: the killing stops, if only for a short time. It’s especially attractive to anyone losing a war. But what is the long-term effect of short-term respite from death and destruction? Still greater death and destruction in future? Even through the distorting filter of Western media’s distaste for Bibi Netanyahu it seems clear that Israeli public opinion shifted profoundly on Oct. 7. So did U.S. public opinion on Sept. 11 — though fissures soon reappeared in the unity. Maybe fissures will return in Israel, too. But for now there seems to be widespread determination not to tolerate perpetual threat from hostile neighbours. Again quoting FDR in 1941, “We will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.”
Canadians are libertarian about football. Why not everything else?
Americans might be stuck with a Biden-Trump rematch
Alberta should take a 'random' walk out of the CPP
Canada has its own interests. Canada is neither Israel nor Palestine. People tied closely to both places live here, with the proportions of each changing over the decades. But most Canadians are not closely tied to either place. We have obvious sympathies with liberal democracies, but it’s only natural that we see what’s going on through a different lens from either participant and that we find ourselves as moved by suffering on one side as the other. That’s neither surprising nor wrong.

Russia's fraught rupee oil trade is a warning for countries trying to abandon the dollar
Huileng Tan/Business Insider/November 28, 2023
Heavily sanctioned Russia is facing challenges from its dedollarization drive.It now trades less than 10% of its oil using the greenback and the euro.
But trading in alternative currencies like the Indian rupee and the Chinese yuan has its own issues. Heavily sanctioned Russia is one of the loudest critics of the US dollar-denominated global financial order actively trading in alternative currencies.
But even Russia, which has been actively skirting sanctions and using local currencies for trade to prop up its economy, hasn't found a really viable alternative currency for trade – highlighting the problems and risks of countries looking to abandon the greenback. Russia's oil trade best exemplifies the problems it has with alternative currency trade, as it accounts for about a quarter of Russia's budget. Before Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, most Russian oil went to Europe. Now, India and China have become the biggest buyers following sanctions imposed after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. The international oil trade is typically denominated in the dollar, but due to sanctions, less than 10% of Russia's daily oil trade is sold in the dollar and the euro, five traders told Reuters on Monday. To be able to buy Russian oil, India insisted on settling trades in the rupee earlier this year. That's because using US dollars could expose it to secondary sanctions, and it worries about acquiring rubles at a fair rate on the open market. However, Indian authorities have controls on the rupee and the currency is not fully convertible — which means it can't be easily changed into another currency. This poses a problem for Russia, which found itself stuck with lots of rubles in Indian banks earlier this year. India actually encourages the rupees to be spent in India itself. The problem for Russia is that there's not much it wants to buy from India. The currency issue is not just a problem with India — sources tell Reuters that it's affecting other top buyers in Africa, China, and Turkey too. To get around its rupee conundrum and reduce its currency risks, Russian officials and oil executives have instead been pushing Indian buyers to pay them in Chinese yuan. It's also subject to controls and is not fully convertible, but Russia imports a lot more from China, including cars, machinery and other goods. Yet the Indian government is increasingly uncomfortable with yuan trade, since there are currency conversion charges involved and geopolitical rivalry between Delhi and Beijing. Another currency Russia could use to trade with India is the United Arab Emirates dirham — but the UAE is increasing its oversight of Russian companies. Despite all the risks and complications that come with trading in alternatives to the US dollar, the Kremlin is not backing off its stance to move away from dollar trades. "Despite all the problems with the rupee, we nevertheless prefer trading in rupees and rubles and not in dollars. This already speaks to the fact that we have excluded the option of dollarization in our bilateral trade," said Sergey Ivanov, a senior Russian official told a forum on Monday, per the state news agency TASS.

Azerbaijan's Aliyev scolds Blinken over U.S. backing for Armenia
BAKU (Reuters)/November 28, 2023
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a call on Monday that recent American actions in support of Armenia had jeopardised U.S.-Azerbaijani ties, Baku said on Tuesday. The two countries had enjoyed relatively cordial relations until Azerbaijani forces recaptured the largely ethnic Armenian-populated breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in a lightning offensive in September. The United States provided diplomatic backing for Armenia, which had supported Karabakh's separatist authorities, and U.S. officials visited Yerevan in the days after the offensive. In a statement, Aliyev's office said Aliyev had told Blinken that "the latest statements and actions taken by the U.S. have seriously damaged Azerbaijan-U.S. relations". It said Baku had taken note of comments by Assistant Secretary of State James O'Brien during a congressional hearing that there was "no chance of business as usual" with Azerbaijan after the offensive in Karabakh. However, it added that Aliyev and Blinken had agreed, in the interest of normalising ties, that O'Brien would visit Baku, and Washington would lift a ban on senior Azerbaijani officials visiting the U.S. Baku's military victory in Karabakh prompted the exodus of almost all the territory's 120,000 ethnic Armenians. The United States and other Western countries have pledged aid to help Armenia cope with the influx. Armenia, a traditional ally of Russia, has in recent months distanced itself from Moscow and sought closer ties with the West.

Pope Francis cancels trip to Dubai to participate in COP28
AFP/November 28, 2023
Pope Francis has canceled his planned trip to Dubai to participate in the COP28 climate conference based on the advice of his doctors, according to a statement from the Vatican on Tuesday. The spokesperson for the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, stated, "Despite the overall improvement in the Pope's general clinical condition regarding his flu-like symptoms and respiratory inflammation, the doctors have advised the Pope not to undertake the planned trip to Dubai in the upcoming days."

Iran inks deal with Russia for supply of Su-35 fighters, Mi-28 attack helicopters
The New Voice of Ukraine/November 28, 2023
Iran has finalized an agreement with Russia to buy Su-35 fighter jets, Mi-28 attack helicopters, and Yak-130 jet trainers, Iran's Deputy Defense Minister Mahdi Farahi said on Nov. 28, the semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim has reported. In a conversation with the outlet, Farahi said that these three advanced military aircraft will be at Iran's disposal, and the relevant processes are "currently underway."Iran has the most powerful military helicopter fleet in the region and has already modernized its helicopter capabilities through several projects, the general said. Iran and Russia have also reportedly signed agreements to strengthen economic, trade, energy, and military cooperation. Tehran has not acquired any new fighter aircraft in recent years, with the exception of a few Russian MiG-29 fighters purchased back in the 1990s. The Iranian Air Force received its first Russian-made Yak-130 training aircraft in September. The Yak-130 is a subsonic combat trainer developed by the Yakovlev Design Bureau in cooperation with the Italian company Alenia Aermacchi and with the support of the Ukrainian company Motor Sich. The aircraft was developed to replace the L-39 trainer aircraft in the Russian Air Force. The Yak-130 is reported to provide Iranian military pilots with training in the operation of fourth- and fifth-generation fighters, such as the Su-57. Earlier, the United States accused Iran of supplying Mohajer-6 and other drones to Russia to wage war against Ukraine. According to media reports, in exchange for weapons, Russia supplies Iran with cyber weapons, Western weapons "captured on the battlefield," and helps develop its missile program. Russia is also engaged in the production of Iranian-designed kamikaze drones in the special economic zone in Alabuga, Tatarstan. Read also: US pressing Iran to stop selling drones to Russia – FT Iran transfers materials and technologies to Russia, and continues to supply Shahed suicide drones. Tehran officially denies this, but copious evidence indicates these denials are false. We’re bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 28-29/2023
Should We Fund the 'Nazis' of the 21st Century?
Gordon G. Chang/Gatestone Institute/November 28, 2023
The new index does not include Chinese and Hong Kong stocks, so to match the assets of the I Fund to the new index, the Thrift Board will have to sell Chinese and Hong Kong stocks and not buy them in the future.
Investors have noticed. More than three-quarters of the foreign cash invested in Chinese stocks in the first seven months of this year has already been withdrawn from China. In excess of $25 billion has exited the country.
Chinese stocks listed in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and New York have lost about $955 billion of market capitalization this year.... The plunge in the renminbi against the dollar this year has further eroded returns.
Chinese economic news has become downright scary, and, unfortunately for China, there is no such thing as a brave money manager.
China's companies for decades essentially had a free ride: As a practical matter, they did not have to meet U.S. disclosure requirements, which applied to companies from all other countries. This unjustified preferential treatment was reduced somewhat in August of last year when the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board surprisingly clinched an agreement with Chinese regulators to give the U.S. access in Hong Kong to the audit papers of Chinese companies.
So why should companies continue to get special access to American equity markets just because they come from China? Or why should they have any access at all?
The Chinese economy and financial markets are fragile. It is time to cut off all the blood supply to the Nazis of the 21st century.
They certainly cannot be happy in Beijing. An exceedingly technical administrative decision in Washington, D.C. will soon result in investors pulling tens of billions of dollars in investments from a cash-strapped China.
On November 14, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board changed the benchmark for the Thrift Savings Plan's International Stock Index Investment Fund, better known as the I Fund.
Previously, the I Fund tracked the MSCI Europe, Australasia and Far East Index. The Thrift Board decided on November 14th instead to track the MSCI All Country World ex USA ex China ex Hong Kong Investible Market Index.
The new index does not include Chinese and Hong Kong stocks, so to match the assets of the I Fund to the new index, the Thrift Board will have to sell Chinese and Hong Kong stocks and not buy them in the future.
The switch in indices of the Thrift Savings Plan, essentially the 401(k) plan for federal employees, will take place next year.
Sound unimportant?
The Thrift Board made one of the most consequential investment decisions of the year, and it will undoubtedly affect allocations of other investment managers, in America and perhaps elsewhere. In short, this move will be a blow to China's failing equity markets, delivered at the worst possible moment for Beijing.
Participants had invested $68 billion in the I Fund as of the end of last month.
The Thrift Board's decision is a "major victory" for those, such as Roger Robinson, who had been campaigning for years to get the Thrift Savings Plan, known as the TSP, to divest from China.
"The new MSCI ex China ex Hong Kong index employed for the I Fund sets a precedent for the exclusion of all Chinese companies," Robinson, the National Security Council's senior director for International Economic Affairs under President Reagan and now chairman of the Prague Security Studies Institute, told Gatestone. "This precedent should be adopted by other U.S. index providers and associated exchange-traded and other index funds."
"There remain hundreds, if not thousands, of Chinese enterprises littering the investment products of the TSP-sponsored Mutual Fund Window," he notes. "The TSP Act of 2023 would accomplish this urgent undertaking."
Wall Street for years has been in love with Chinese companies even though they had clearly earned failing grades across the board for, among other things, fiduciary responsibility, labor practices, and human rights. While prices were rising, the Street ignored concerns. Now, they are weighing heavily on investment managers.
We can see why. Chinese stocks have taken a hit this year. The widely followed CSI 300 Index, which tracks stocks listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, has dropped 8.6% since the last trading day of 2022. Chinese stocks listed in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and New York have lost about $955 billion of market capitalization this year. Stocks would have dropped even more were it not for sustained Chinese government intervention. The plunge in the renminbi against the dollar this year has further eroded returns.
Investors have noticed. More than three-quarters of the foreign cash invested in Chinese stocks in the first seven months of this year has already been withdrawn from China. In excess of $25 billion has exited the country.
Moreover, during the last quarter, foreign investors took out more money than they put in, the first such drop since statistics were first reported in 1998.
Chinese economic news has become downright scary, and, unfortunately for China, there is no such thing as a brave money manager. China's President Xi Jinping, therefore, came to San Francisco this month to reassure investors. On November 15, the day following the Thrift Board's historic decision, he delivered a speech to obsequious American executives but failed to address the concerns that triggered this year's outflow of cash. As a result of what the Wall Street Journal termed Xi's "tone deaf" remarks, investment managers are bound to follow the Thrift Board's decision and change their benchmarks as well.
There is another side to the investment coin: China's companies have been raising cash in America's public markets. The number of listings of Chinese companies in America increased ten times during the past two decades. As of January of this year, there were 252 Chinese companies, with a total market capitalization of $1.03 trillion, listed on the NYSE, Nasdaq, and NYSE American stock exchanges.
China's companies for decades essentially had a free ride: As a practical matter, they did not have to meet U.S. disclosure requirements, which applied to companies from all other countries. This unjustified preferential treatment was reduced somewhat in August of last year when the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board surprisingly clinched an agreement with Chinese regulators to give the U.S. access in Hong Kong to the audit papers of Chinese companies.
So why should companies continue to get special access to American equity markets just because they come from China?
Or why should they have any access at all? "If you understand that we are already in an economic war with China, it seems foolish to grant access to our markets," Kevin Freeman, host of BlazeTV's "Economic War Room," said to Gatestone. "Imagine funding the Nazi war machine in the late 1930s. Delisting military-related companies should be obvious. Under Communist Party dictates, any Chinese company can be made to serve military interests at any time."
The Chinese economy and financial markets are fragile. It is time to cut off all the blood supply to the Nazis of the 21st century. Gordon G. Chang is the author of The Coming Collapse of China, a Gatestone Institute distinguished senior fellow, and a member of its Advisory Board.
© 2023 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

The Ultimate Reason for Muslim Hostility to the West Is Not Israel
Raymond Ibrahim/November 28, 2023
As the war between Israel and Palestinians rages on, the eyes of many tiktokers were recently “opened” by a 21-year-old letter from Osama bin Laden, wherein he claimed that U.S. support for Israel was the primary reason why Muslims hated and terrorized America.
Tiktokers might be surprised to learn that this 2002 “Letter to Americans” is only one of many such communiques (some 100 pages of messages to Westerners are contained and analyzed in my 2007 The Al Qaeda Reader).
Moreover, this Ladenese theme never wavered. As late as 2009, for instance, after once again rehashing the claim that jihad against America wholly revolved around U.S. support for Israel, bin Laden concluded with the following musing: “You should ask yourselves whether your security, your blood, your sons, your money, your jobs, your homes, your economy, and your reputation are more dear to you than the security and economy of the Israelis.”
In that same communique, bin Laden, yet again, made it perfectly clear that should U.S. support for Israel cease, so too would Islamic terrorism cease: “Let me say that we have declared many times, over more than two and a half decades, that the reason for our conflict with you is your support for your Israeli allies, who are occupying our land of Palestine [emphasis added].”
While these observations and questions require an answer, some context is first needed. As clearly demonstrated by Islam’s doctrines and history — the former regularly manifesting themselves in the course of the latter — it is a historic fact that Islamic hostility for and aggression against non-Muslims transcends any and all temporal “grievances.” Islam, according to the classical — not “radical” — schools of jurisprudence, is obligated to subjugate the world.
This is why prudent non-Muslims have for centuries been finding the question of achieving permanent peace with the Islamic world a vexatious problem. Professor of law James Lorimer (1818-90) succinctly stated the problem over a century ago:
So long as Islam endures, the reconciliation of its adherents, even with Jews and Christians, and still more with the rest of mankind, must continue to be an insoluble problem. … For an indefinite future, however reluctantly, we must confine our political recognition to the professors of those religions which … preach the doctrine of “live and let live” (The Institutes of the Law of Nations, p. 124).
In other words, political recognition — with all the attendant negotiations and diplomacy that come with it — should be granted to all major religions/civilizations except Islam, which does not recognize the notion of “live and let live.”
Now while most Muslims may not go around invoking Islamic law’s dichotomized worldview that pits Islam against the rest of the world, bin Laden, the “man of grievances,” always did. For example, for all his talk of Israel being the heart of the problem, bin Laden exposed his true convictions in the following excerpt, which he directed to fellow Arabic-speaking Muslims not long after the 9/11 strikes:
Our talks with the infidel West and our conflict with them ultimately revolve around one issue — one that demands our total support, with power and determination, with one voice — and it is: Does Islam, or does it not, force people by the power of the sword to submit to its authority corporeally if not spiritually?
So much for bin Laden’s insistence that Israel is the “reason for our conflict with you.” Now we see that the conflict ultimately revolves around whether Islam is obligated to dominate the world by force. Well, is it? Bin Laden continues:
Yes. There are only three choices in Islam: [1] either willing submission [conversion]; [2] or payment of the jizya, through physical, though not spiritual, submission to the authority of Islam; [3] or the sword — for it is not right to let him [an infidel] live. The matter is summed up for every person alive: Either submit, or live under the suzerainty of Islam, or die. (The Al Qaeda Reader, p. 42)
This threefold choice, then — conversion, subjugation, or the sword — is the ultimate source of problems. All talk of jihad being a product of U.S. foreign policy is, therefore, false. When bin Laden asserted in his 2009 message that it is the “neocons” who “impose the wars upon you — not the mujahideen,” he lied. Islamic law, as he himself delineated, “imposed” war between Muslims and non-Muslims well over a millennium before the “neocons” — let alone the state of Israel — came into being.
Thus to all of bin Laden’s grievances and questions, there is but one counter-question — one that, in bin Laden’s own words, “demands our total support, with power and determination, with one voice” — and it is: Even if all grievances against Israel and America’s support for it were true, why come to us — your natural-born “infidel” enemies, according to your own worldview — looking for any concessions?
To better appreciate this position, consider the following analogy: Say your weaker neighbor has a border dispute with you. At the same time, however, you know for a fact that he sees you as his “eternal” enemy for nothing less than your beliefs/lifestyle, and nothing short of your total acquiescence to his beliefs/lifestyle will change that. Finally, you know that the day he grows sufficiently strong, he will undoubtedly attack you in order to make you live according to his beliefs/lifestyle.
Surely in this context, whether his border dispute with you is legitimate or not, making concessions to him while knowing his hostility for you will never subside — but rather become more emboldened and augmented with contempt — is sheer suicide. Yet this is precisely what happens whenever a non-Muslim entity makes concessions to jihadists.
In short, being hated and deemed the enemy for temporal grievances of a political nature must be viewed as peripheral to being hated for fundamental differences of an existential nature. When the latter, much more important issue is redressed, then — and only then — should the veracity of the former be open to debate or even consideration.

After The Gaza War
Nadim Koteich/Asharq Al Awsat/November 28/2023
Two ideas have reared their heads amid the Gaza war. On the Palestinian side, a multipronged idea, expressed by both Palestinians and those who support the Palestinian cause, has emerged. Its foundational premise is that there can be no resistance without sacrifice and that peace has gotten the Palestinians nothing.
On the Israeli side, a similar idea has been making headway. Every time Israel has withdrawn from Arab territory, the argument goes, the Arabs turned this territory into a base of operations from which to constantly launch attacks and acts of resistance.
In both cases, the idea of political settlement is rebuffed, leaving violence as the only horizon for resolving the ongoing conflict, whether it's Israeli or Palestinian violence. Both ideas also justify the scale of the death we are seeing, especially on the Palestinian side. In one instance, this is considered the price that must be paid for liberation, and in another, it is deemed collateral damage needed to “discipline” Palestinians and compel them, through iron and fire, to abandon their armed struggle.
These basic ideas reflect broader sentiments within Palestinian and Israeli society, as well as deep-rooted narratives that shape perceptions and actions on both sides of the conflict. They also leave us facing multifaceted, monumental challenges hindering sustainable peace.
Regarding the Palestinians, it should be said, with all due respect to the sacrifices of resistance throughout history, that the assumption that sacrifices alone can legitimize resistance and validate it is a dangerous oversimplification.
Equating the sacrifice of life with the effectiveness of resistance or its appeal as an option, or presenting sacrifice as an inevitable fate and arguing that there is no alternative for liberation, ignores the complex social and political contexts that characterize each individual case of occupation and resistance we have seen throughout history. The number of civilian casualties alone is not an argument for or against resistance. A prominent example was presented by the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who liberated Egyptian territory through negotiation and politics. His example, which is often overshadowed by the perceived inevitability of following models like that of Algeria and the tendency, in the discourse around the Arab-Israeli conflict, to take the loss of “a million martyrs” lightly.
Hiding behind victims’ corpses and the number of casualties is equivalent to using them as human shields or leaving civilians exposed in war. While Israel must be held accountable for the merciless collective punishment that it has subjected the Palestinians to, the Palestinian death toll should not prevent us from holding Hamas accountable for what it has dragged the Palestinians into through its actions on October 7th.
On the other hand, presenting peace alone as the alternative necessary for achieving stability and progress is also an oversimplification.
A naive idea has been circulating recently: the Palestinian Authority must accept that peace has gotten it nowhere. The fact that Palestinians in the West Bank are suffering, despite the politics and ideology of the ruling authority in the West Bank and its differences with the Jihadist groups in Gaza, is presented as evidence. This oversimplification, apart from betraying a superficial understanding of politics, is born of a nihilistic view of politics that contributes to undercutting any realistic means to reach a settlement.
While peace is a necessary foundation for stability and prosperity, so is effective, transparent, and noncorrupt governance that builds upon peace. Otherwise, peace is reduced to brittle and unproductive political rhetoric. Good governance, which is nowhere to be found in the experience of the Palestinian Authority, translates peace into practical benefits for ordinary people, such as economic stability, social justice, and human rights protection.
Palestinian corruption and governance failures have squandered much of the potential benefits that peace could have delivered, just as Hamas's authoritarian rule over Gaza squandered an opportunity to benefit from the fact that it had been completely liberated in 2005.
In Israel, we find that the right wing, which rejects the very idea of peace with the Palestinians and despises the two-state solution, continues to undermine the narrative of the peace process. While the withdrawals from Gaza and South Lebanon remind us that pulling out can turn the land into a platform for jihadist organizations and does not necessarily lead to peace, the successful agreements concluded with Egypt and Jordan attest to the importance and resilience of peace agreements.
In fact, the Israeli right’s line of reasoning, which implies repugnant pretexts, repudiated the argument of right rather than reinforcing it. The differences between the agreements with Egypt and Jordan and Israel’s political approach to dealing with the Palestinians demonstrate that comprehensive peace agreements that go beyond localized concessions and are complemented by social, economic, and political strategies, give rise to sustainable stability. Instead, the right, in its various forms, has chosen to try to outsmart the Palestinians and the very idea of peace itself, and it has done so in a manner that reduced the notion of peace to little more than mutual security commitments.
The Israeli right also bears responsibility for empowering Hamas as it sought to undercut the foundations of the Palestinian national project and weaken moderate Palestinian actors that were genuinely pursuing peace, regardless of their poor political performance and this or that occasion in which they lacked the historical courage needed to put aside nationalistic illusions and move forward with practical solutions.
The ideas emerging from the Gaza war shed light on our need for an accurate understanding of the conflict that accounts for the context and challenges of the Palestinian cause. The narratives arising on both sides amid the war could now further muddle the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and undercut the foundations and requisites of an agreement.
The need to draw sensible political conclusions from the current madness looms over us. It is a humanitarian duty that goes beyond the Palestinians and Israelis and their perceptions of one another.
This is a political, intellectual, and media workshop whose outcomes will determine the future of the Middle East as a whole.

When the War to Displace Gaza Revealed a Lot to Many
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/November 28/2023
These are four days of respite from the killing machine. However, between the optimism regarding an extension of this temporary pause and the pessimism in anticipation of a more cruel and more horrific round of bloodshed, negotiators are seeking to make progress and pretenders are making pretenses. Thus, if there are any tentative conclusions to be made, they include:
Firstly, despite their haughty attitudes, both Israel and Hamas have lost and won points. From the Israeli perspective, the "Israeli war machine" was caught off guard in various places by what happened on October 7. In what is perhaps an attempt to compensate for this, Israel has launched a vicious"war of rumors" aimed at "riling up" the public and inciting a war of displacement and extermination. However, these rumors were shown to be untrue locally and internationally.
Also, despite the effectiveness of Israel’s arms and the havoc it has wreaked on the innocent people of Gaza, Israel has so far been unable to achieve its "declared" political objectives, foremost of which is the destruction of Hamas, its leaders, doctrine, and affiliates.
As for the political calculations, opinion polls regularly conducted by the Israeli newspaper "Maariv" indicate approval of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been declining, while his direct rival Benny Gantz is becoming increasingly popular. The latest polls (conducted on November 15 and 16, with the results announced on the 24th) show that 52 percent of Israeli voters now want to see Gantz head the government, compared to only 27 percent who continue to support Netanyahu. In terms of control of the Knesset (the House of Representatives) and its 120 seats, the poll shows that if elections were held today, the ruling right-wing extremist coalition led by Netanyahu and his party (Likud) would only maintain 41 seats and that the opposition would win 79 seats.
While Gantz’s National Unity Party would independently secure 43 seats, Likud would not win more than 18. Moreover, according to the same Maariv poll, the party of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, one of the most extreme in Israel, would fail to reach the threshold needed to ensure parliamentary representation.
On the Palestinian side, a high cost has been paid for the moral and political setbacks suffered by Netanyahu and his ruling clique. While the people of Gaza bore the brunt of these costs, the Palestinians in the West Bank, especially in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nablus, were not left unscathed; armed Israeli settlers and occupation forces have killed hundreds.
More than 14,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, including about 5,000 children. A large share of its inhabitants have been displaced. Large parts of Gaza’s cities and refugee camps have been destroyed, and it has been split between north and south. All of these developments raise concern.
Moreover, what has unfolded since October 7th is much more than a reaction, and far more horrific than vengeance. Adding insult to injury, global expressions of solidarity with Israel, under the pretext of "its right to self-defense," have allowed Israeli lobbies in most Western countries to exploit the October 7th operation and push for a “transfer” (the mass displacement of Palestinians).
The efforts of these lobbyists resemble those we saw in 2003, when Iraq was invaded following the "September 11, 2001 attacks." At that time, President George W. Bush Jr.’s American administration was aware that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime had nothing to do with the attacks. However, members of the administration, particularly the neoconservative Likudniks, drew up a plan to invade and occupy Iraq because the plans were already prepared and ready - as one of them said - and because the claim that Iraq possessed nuclear weapons could be exploited to justify the occupation and regime change... which is exactly what happened.
As we all recall, the Iranian regime was the primary beneficiary of this occupation. Indeed, as soon as Baghdad fell into the hands of the American forces, Iraqi religious, political, and militia leaders exiled in Iran flocked back to the occupied Iraqi capital. It wasn't long before Paul Bremer, who headed the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, boasted of ending "centuries of Sunni rule" there.
In Gaza, the first thing Netanyahu told his audience after October 7th was that Israel's goal was to eliminate Hamas and “change the Middle East” (!). Once the Israeli military operation in Gaza began, right-wing ministers and politicians made statements threatening to displace the residents of the Gaza Strip to Egypt... and later distributing them to countries around the world. Others hinted at displacing West Bank residents and reviving the project for an "alternative homeland" in Jordan.
At the same time, Washington insisted on the need to limit the fighting to the Gaza Strip, claiming that there was no evidence of Iranian involvement in the Hamas attack. While Tehran was happy to merely voice its support, Lebanese Hezbollah launched attacks that respected the "rules of engagement" acceptable to Israel. Tehran's militias in Iraq and Yemen have "caused trouble" to reinforce Iran's rhetorical support and maintain the facade of a “Resistance' Axis.”
Yesterday, amid regional and international efforts to extend the truce, develop a formula for the future of the Gaza Strip, and decide who will be left “in charge” after Hamas is removed, leaders from "Hamas" as well as spokespersons for Tehran, including a Lebanese Hezbollah official, continued to promote the narrative of "victory." This official was quoted as saying: "Israel has fallen, and we are closer to dear victory than ever, thanks to the fighters; we know what is happening in Palestine, and the Israeli army has tried and failed to solve the conflict militarily."
Thus, between defining victories and waiting for deals... many have been exposed!

The Other Face of the West
Maha Mohammed al-Sherif/Asharq Al Awsat/November 28/2023
The Western world seems to have recently reached a rare moment of terrific lethargy by ignoring the tragedies and crimes of Israel’s war on Gaza. The war that Hamas ignited was met with an Israeli attack that crossed all red lines and targeted civilians and public facilities, including hospitals, schools, and homes. The West did not hesitate to justify the horrific toll as self-defense for an occupying state, which is inconsistent with international laws and conventions.
So how does an occupier have the right to defend itself? How can the European Union and Western countries that boast about European values, human rights and international law ignore the genocide against the defenseless Palestinian people?
What’s worse, when pictures of slaughtered children and women spread on social media, Western countries timidly criticized Israel. They did not ask it to stop the war, but only to use less destructive weapons!
We should not overlook the terrible price paid by the people in Gaza, where more than 14,500 civilians were killed, around 35,000 were wounded, and 7,000 are still missing under the rubble, in addition to the destruction of about 50,000 homes and dozens of hospitals and schools.
The release of 150 Palestinian prisoners, including women and children - despite its importance – will not heal the wounds of the people of Gaza for many years to come, as there are many obstacles facing the solution to the Palestinian issue.
The reason for this is primarily Israel and its policies over 75 years of occupation. The international will, with great influence from the West, is supporting Tel Aviv in obstructing the two-state solution. Moreover, respect for the United Nations and the existing rules-based international system has significantly weakened, amid increasing doubts about the usefulness of the Security Council, which goes out of service when it comes to taking any practical decision against Israel.
Many people felt deceived after Israel’s war on Gaza. This can be explained by the scandalous silence over the brutality, killing and extermination, by the Security Council and all international organizations, whose role is to regulate the relationship between countries, protect international peace and prevent wars.
We have seen how this truth has faded with the passage of time; how the sparkling image that the major powers portrayed in past years has waned after the painful facts that highlighted the distortions that occurred in the humanity of the world.
Throughout history, Israel has targeted the Palestinians without deterrence. For a long time, Israel has maintained its military operations against civilians, and the fierce repression generated an uprising to confront the wave of violence and killing.
In 2008, Israel intensified its offensive operations against the Gaza Strip. More than 1,300 lives were lost and more than 5,000 people were injured in these attacks within three weeks. For how long will Israel continue to target the Palestinians? How many times will we see the same scenes being repeated: killing, then truce, then a reconciliation conference between Israel and Hamas?
The failure of the international community and the Security Council had its effects, the conditions of oppression and tyranny worsened, and legislative systems no longer played their effective role.
The current world order, in its cycle of contradictions, has failed humanity. It has become necessary to review the transformations and their outcome, rebuild cooperation, and spread peace in the world instead of adopting mere slogans that are never implemented.
In general, Palestine must be governed by the Palestinian National Authority as a state based on a unified rank that includes all components of the Palestinian political community, under one leadership. It is the only way to establish a stable state.
This means that the Authority alone constitutes the entire political unit. The Western position is to negotiate with Abbas’ government about the future of the Strip, and with the Arabs about the future of Gaza. This will be a reflection of a state of authority, not a group, as part of the two-state solution.

US warns Israel over next phase of military operation into southern Gaza
Laura Kelly/The Hill./November 28, 2023
The Biden administration is issuing urgent warnings to Israel over the next phase of its military operation in Gaza, saying a campaign in the south of the strip must not be carried out to the same level of destruction as took place in the north of the territory. The administration is proposing that Israel agrees to “areas of deconfliction,” to include United Nations facilities and shelters that would not be subject to active military fighting, a senior administration official said in a call with reporters Monday night. “You cannot have the sort of scale of displacement that took place in the north, replicated in the south,” the official said, as part of a call discussing efforts to scale up humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The majority of the population of Gaza, more than 2 million people, are now concentrated in the center and south of the strip. The entire enclave is a mere 141 square miles. They were displaced by Israel’s assault against Hamas in the north — by air and a ground incursion — carried out in response to the group’s unprecedented terrorist attack against Israel on Oct. 7.
Pause in fighting has allowed in humanitarian aid
Hamas’s agreement last week to release hostages it kidnapped from Israel in exchange for a temporary ceasefire has allowed humanitarian groups to scale up assistance to address dire shortages of food, water and fuel.
Aid groups say that more than 1 million Palestinians in Gaza are displaced from their homes, and that massive overcrowding in temporary shelters risk spreading communicable diseases. Some estimate as many as 14,000 of people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war against Hamas, but those numbers have yet to be independently verified. President Biden has rejected calls to pressure Israel to halt its military operation against Hamas despite intense opposition from the international community and divisions within his own party. “To reiterate what you’ve already heard from the president, from other senior officials of the government, we want the objectives of this campaign, the elimination of Hamas as a governing, as a threatening force in Gaza and the threat to Israel, ended,” the official said. “But how the campaign is conducted, particularly in the south, is exceedingly important, because of the fragile situation with this very significant internal displacement already occurred on the ground.”Israeli government says it will finish campaign to annihilate Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is eliminated, saying that the U.S.-designated terrorist group is still intent on launching attacks against Israel like it did on Oct. 7, when militants massacred an estimated 1,200 people, the majority of them civilians, and took more than 240 people hostage. But world leaders, the United Nations, U.S. lawmakers, aid groups and advocates are alarmed that civilians caught in the crossfire are facing an even more daunting humanitarian catastrophe. “It is extremely important … that the conduct of the Israeli campaign when it moves to the south must be done, in a way, that is to a maximum extent, not designed to produce significant further displacement of persons,” the official said. “It will be beyond disruptive, it will be beyond the capacity of any humanitarian support network, however reinforced, however robust to be able to cope with. It can’t happen.”The administration is therefore pushing Israel to agree to areas of deconfliction, which it says are distinct from the “safe zones” that Israel encouraged Palestinian civilians to flee to while it carried out its military operation in the north. “What we are discussing is not the safe zone, the humanitarian zone, that almost a month ago was proposed by the Government of Israel,” the official said. “What we are talking about are practical arrangements on the ground, multiple arrangements, what you might call areas of deconfliction.”Continuing damage in northern Gaza complicated by conflicting claims
The administration’s guidance is unclear at the moment.
Israel accuses Hamas of conducting military operations out of civilian areas, hospitals and United Nations facilities like schools and medical centers. These facilities have in turn become targets of Israel’s military campaign, inflaming anger toward Israel’s attacks on Gaza. Hamas has denied using those areas as conflict centers. Israel has surrounded Gaza’s largest hospital, al-Shifa, and the Israel Defense Forces said it has exposed tunnel entrances surrounding the hospital that Hamas uses for military activities, that the hospital was used as a place to hide hostages and that the bodies of hostages were found in the area. Those allegations have not been independently vetted. Some outlets have reported that rockets fired from the Gaza Strip by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another terrorist group in the strip, are also believed to have caused damage to civilian sites during misfires. Human Rights Watch on Sunday published a report saying a misfired rocket from the Gaza Strip was likely behind the Oct. 17 explosion at al-Ahli hospital, which supports earlier assessments by Israeli and U.S. intelligence. The senior administration official on Monday said that it is pressing Israel to carry out its campaign in Gaza’s south extremely carefully, and prioritizing protection of civilian sites, such as electricity and water stations, humanitarian sites, hospitals and “other facilities including the many U.N. supported shelters located throughout south and central Gaza.”“What we are talking about are practical arrangements on the ground, multiple arrangements, what you might call areas of deconfliction,” the official said, “where based on the best judgment of people there, or people who may wish to come there, would not be subject to kinetic activity.”