Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 22-23/2024
You are invited to watch a film about the life of Blessed Brother Estephan Nehme, the Lebanese Maronite monk, on April 24, 25, 27
Hezbollah says ‘dozens’ of rockets fired at Israeli HQ
Qassam Resumes Attacks against Israel from Southern Lebanon
Iran-Backed Hezbollah Downs Israeli Drone in Southern Lebanon
Gantz says 'moment of truth' approaching on Lebanon front
Southern Front: Israeli Raid on a Hezb Official’s House in Srifa
Israel strikes Aishiyeh where Hezbollah downed drone
Latest Developments: Attacks Continue Between Hezbollah and Israel
Report: Mikati received new border solution proposal from Paris
Quintet Keen on Holding Presidential Election by June at the Latest
Report: Quintet to press Berri as Johnson proposes timeframe
Geagea says fighting 'battle' of Syrians return, another against Hezbollah
Bassil meets Safa as FPM-Hezbollah ties warm up
US journalist Terry Anderson once held captive in Lebanon dies at 76
Syrian Refugees: For the First Time, the EU Does not Link a Return to a Political Solution
European Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi visits Lebanon: Strengthening EU support amid regional tensions
Lebanon's Mikati meets EU Commissioner Várhelyi: Calls for policy shift on Syrian refugees
GCC stands firm: Support for stability in Lebanon
Beyond borders: How the northern front became Israel's greatest 'dilemma'
Change Alliance Bloc rejects postponement of municipal elections, set to boycott legislative session
Municipal Elections: Mawlawi Sets May 26 for Beirut, Bekaa, Baalbeck-Hermel
Unprecedented situation: Lebanon moves closer to IMF deal with BDL modernization

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 22-23/2024
Israeli military intelligence chief resigns over his role in failing to prevent Oct. 7 attack
Review of UNRWA Found Israel Did Not Express Concern about Staff
Israeli Strikes on Southern Gaza City of Rafah Kill 22, Mostly Children
2 Suspects Arrested after Car Attack in Jerusalem
Israeli protesters burn symbolic Passover table outside PM’s house
Israelis from border towns mark Passover away from home
10 key moments in the Israel-Hamas war
Bahrain’s crown prince discusses developments in Gaza with US secretary of state
First Iran group in nine years heads to Saudi Arabia for umrah pilgrimage
Armenia asks World Court to throw out Azerbaijan discrimination case
Iranian president lands in Pakistan for three-day visit to mend ties
Iran says nuclear weapons have no place in its nuclear doctrine
Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah denies saying it resumes attacks on US forces
Review of UN agency helping Palestinian refugees found Israel did not express concern about staff
'Best thing' is for everyone to stay 'puzzled' on last week's odd retaliation strike on Iran, Israeli president says
Hamas has ‘moved goal post’ on hostage talks, says State Dept
Macron Discusses Mideast Crisis with Egypt’s Sisi, Israel’s Netanyahu
Turkey's Erdogan in rare Iraq visit to discuss water, oil, security

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on April 22-23/2024
The Fantasy of Reviving Nuclear Energy/The New York Times/By Stephanie Cooke/April 22/2024
In the Company Weak Mighty Players/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 22/2024
Israel Embraced, Israel Encircled/Sam Menassa/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 22/2024
You think this situation is terrifying? Wait until Iran goes nuclear/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/April 23/2024
Palestinian cause must be freed from Iran-Israel trap/Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami/Arab News/April 23/2024
How Gaza conflict thrust Palestine statehood quest back to center stage/Alex Wihteman/Arab News/April 22, 2024
The ‘Fecal’ Jihad on Churches/Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/April 22/2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 22-23/2024
You are invited to watch a film about the life of Blessed Brother Estephan Nehme, the Lebanese Maronite monk, on April 24, 25, 27
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/128930/128930/
لشراء بطاقات الدخول اتصل بشربل باسيل على الرقم التالي 399-7931 (416

Hezbollah says ‘dozens’ of rockets fired at Israeli HQ
AFP/April 22, 2024
BEIRUT: Hamas ally Hezbollah said on Monday it had fired “dozens” of Katyusha rockets at an army headquarters in northern Israel in response to raids targeting villages in southern Lebanon. Since Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza, there have been near-daily cross-border exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Iran-backed Hezbollah. Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the village of Majdel Zoun near Lebanonís southern border on April 21, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. With Israel-Iran tensions at an all-time high, the Lebanese Shiite militant group has intensified its attacks on Israel military targets across the border. A Hezbollah statement said it had bombarded “the headquarters of the 3rd Infantry Brigade of the 91st Division at Ein Zeitim Base with dozens of Katyusha rockets.”This was in response to Israeli attacks on “southern villages and civilian homes,” most recently in Srifa, Odaisseh and Rab Tlatin. Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli strikes on the three villages on Monday. The Israeli military said “approximately 35 launches were identified crossing from Lebanon into the area of Ein Zeitim in northern Israel” and that no injuries were reported. It said “troops struck the sources of the launches.”Since October 7 at least 376 people have been killed in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also 70 civilians, according to an AFP tally. Israel says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed on its side of the border.

Qassam Resumes Attacks against Israel from Southern Lebanon
Asharq Al-Awsat/April 22/2024
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stressed on Sunday the military determination to return residents of northern Israel back to their homes and that it was preparing to carry out the task. Speaking during a tour near the Syrian border, he said his forces were raising their readiness to carry out offensive missions to prevent Iranian entrenchment in the region. In a post on the X platform, he added that he visited the Golan region to “assess the situation” on the border and operations against Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran. Moreover, he spoke of raising the preparedness of the army to carry out a “possible military operation that would allow the residents of the north to return home after a change in the security situation.”Meanwhile, the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement, entered the fray again on Sunday by firing over 20 grad rockets from southern Lebanon against Israel’s Shumira barracks. In a statement, the group said the attack was in “retaliation to the Zionist enemy’s massacres in Gaza.” The group had last carried out an operation against Israel from the South in February. Hours earlier, Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem vowed that the Iran-backed party “would retaliate if Israel attacks Lebanon.”In remarks to NBC News, he stressed that Hezbollah does not want another major war, but it will not allow the Israeli army to violate the unspoken “rules of engagement”. “We will not accept that the Israelis transgress the rules of engagement that are currently set in the south” of Lebanon, he said. “If the Israelis increase their attacks, we will increase our attacks as well.” Moreover, he said the fighting is now limited to the Lebanese-Palestinian border and it has its rules and limits. “The resistance is supporting Gaza and this support is serving its purpose,” Qassem added. “Therefore, we will continue to do so, and we will not wage a full-scale war unless the Israelis decide to get into war against us,” he said. “Then we are ready for the full confrontation.” Amid these threats, the Israeli army is forging ahead with its strategy of destroying homes and civilian infrastructure in Lebanese border regions. It has so far completely destroyed 1,500 and partially damaged 5,000 houses in the South. On the other hand, Hezbollah continues to target Israeli positions and houses Israeli settlements. David Azoulay, the mayor of the Metulla settlement, said Hezbollah has destroyed over 140 houses in Metulla alone since the eruption of the border clashes in October. Metulla, which lies adjacent to Lebanon’s towns of Khiam and Kfar Killa, has come under heavy attacks by Hezbollah in recent days targeting Israeli soldiers.

Iran-Backed Hezbollah Downs Israeli Drone in Southern Lebanon
Asharq Al-Awsat/April 22/2024
The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah said on Sunday it downed an Israeli drone that was on a combat mission in southern Lebanon. The drone that was brought down above the Al Aishiyeh area in southern Lebanon was "waging its attacks on our steadfast people," a statement said by the group said. Israeli forces and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire for over six months in parallel to the Gaza war, in the most serious hostilities since they fought a major war in 2006. Hezbollah said the drone was an Israeli Hermes 450, a multi-payload drone made by Elbit Systems, an Israel-based weapons manufacturer. The fighting has fueled concern about the risk of further escalation. At least 370 Lebanese, including more than 240 Hezbollah fighters and 68 civilians, have been killed in the fighting according to a Reuters tally. Eighteen Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed on the Israeli side of the border, according to Israeli tallies.

Gantz says 'moment of truth' approaching on Lebanon front
Naharnet/April 22/2024
Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz has reassured residents of northern Israel that the "moment of truth" is approaching in terms of how to proceed militarily against Hezbollah. "This is the operations front with the greatest and most urgent challenge, and this is how we must treat it," said Gantz. “I appeal from here to the evacuees, who will also celebrate Seder night outside their homes, and I promise: we see you. We recognize the enormous difficulty and your great courage. We will work to bring you home safely, even before the start of the school year" in September, Gantz added. Since Hamas' unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza, there have been near-daily cross-border exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah. The violence has killed at least 375 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but including 70 civilians. In northern Israel, 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed, according to the army. The fighting has also displaced tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the border and Israel has repeatedly warned that it might launch an operation against Hezbollah to secure its residents' return.

Southern Front: Israeli Raid on a Hezb Official’s House in Srifa
Jalaa MAREY/AFP/April 22/2024
The airstrikes between Hezbollah and Israel intensified on Monday night along the southern border. The Israeli army conducted a raid on a residence in Srifa, where two people were injured. Media reports suggested that the strike was aimed at the home of Hezbollah leader Ali Najdi. Hezbollah reportedly surrounded the targeted house, while the identities of those targeted remain undisclosed. Similarly, two airstrikes hit the areas of Odaisseh and Rab al-Thalathin in the Marjayoun district, with the latter being struck twice within the same day.
In response, Hezbollah launched “at least 30 rockets from southern Lebanon towards the Safed region,” as reported by Israeli media. Moreover, the Israeli army confirmed that “alarm sirens sounded in 14 Israeli towns and settlements, including the Ein Zeitim area of Safed in northern Israel, with no reported injuries.”Hezbollah later issued a statement claiming that its fighters “shelled the headquarters of the third infantry brigade of the 91st division at the Ein Zeitim base this afternoon with dozens of Katyusha rockets, in response to Israeli enemy attacks on villages and civilian homes in the south, most recently in Srifa, Odaisseh, and Rab al-Thalathin.”Hezbollah also targeted espionage facilities near the village of Wazzani, and a troop assembly at Samaka in the Kfarchouba hills. In the afternoon, Israeli media reported that “a suspicious aerial target was intercepted in Upper Galilee near the border with Lebanon.”

Israel strikes Aishiyeh where Hezbollah downed drone
Naharnet/April 22/2024
Israeli fighter jets struck a valley between the Jezzine district towns of al-Aishiyeh and al-Mahmoudiyeh, where an Israeli drone had been shot down overnight. Hezbollah meanwhile targeted groups of soldiers in the Hanita and Dhaira posts in northern Israel and surveillance equipment facing al-Wazzani.
Hezbollah had shot down on Sunday night a Hermes 450 drone in the airspace of al-Aishiyeh in south Lebanon and carried out Sunday seven other attacks on soldiers and surveillance equipment. Also on Sunday, Hamas's military wing said its militants in southern Lebanon fired 20 rockets at a northern Israeli military base, the latest in cross-border exchanges of fire that have usually involved Hamas ally Hezbollah. Since Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza, there have been near-daily cross-border exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah. The violence has killed at least 375 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but including 70 civilians, according to an AFP tally. In northern Israel, 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed, according to the army. The Israeli army announced on Sunday the death of a soldier wounded in a Hezbollah strike Wednesday near the Lebanese border. In recent days, Hezbollah has intensified its attacks against Israeli military positions, with tensions across the Middle East surging. On April 13, Iran, which supports both Hezbollah and Hamas, launched an unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel in retaliation for a deadly April 1 air strike which levelled its consulate in Damascus.

Latest Developments: Attacks Continue Between Hezbollah and Israel
This Is Beirut/April 22/2024
Israeli military aircraft attacked the Jabal Abou Rached area near Sarireh at dawn on Monday. The Israelis also carried out strikes against al-Mahmoudiyeh (Marjayoun). For its part, Hezbollah announced that it targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers near the Dhayra and Hanita sites with missiles in the morning.
An Israeli Air Force drone was shot down by a surface-to-air missile launched from Lebanon. This was asserted by Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee, who said that “the drone fell on Lebanese territory” and that “an investigation has been launched to determine the ins and outs of the incident.”In a statement, he added that “Israeli military aircraft attacked the site from which the missile was launched” and indicated that “the Air Force will continue to operate in Lebanese airspace.”Hezbollah claimed responsibility for this attack on Sunday evening, reporting that the Hermes 450 multiple-charge drone manufactured by Elbit Systems had been shot down over the village of Aaichiyeh (Jezzine caza). Throughout Sunday night, Hezbollah fighters exchanged missiles and artillery fire with the Israeli army, while Israeli aircraft carried out reconnaissance flights over the border region in the eastern sector of southern Lebanon.

Report: Mikati received new border solution proposal from Paris
Naharnet/April 22/2024
France has presented a new proposal regarding the border conflict with Israel to caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, al-Akhbar newspaper said monday. Mikati had met Friday in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron who told him that France would do "everything in its power" to stop violence spiralling between Lebanon and Israel. The daily said that the new proposal is a "reformulation" of a paper that Lebanon had received in February from Paris as part of its efforts to pacify the situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border. The February proposal involved Hezbollah withdrawing its forces 10 kilometers from the border with Israel, a Lebanese government official told The Associated Press. However, the new proposal included amendments to the February paper that "fully adopted the Israeli demands, igniting the suspicions of the Lebanese political forces," al-Akhbar said, adding that the amendments focus on the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 over three stages.Lebanon will respond to the new proposal within days, al-Akhbar said. Since October 8, Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily fire. At least 322 people have been killed on the Lebanese side since fighting erupted, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 56 civilians. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed according to the Israeli army. The fighting has also displaced tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the border and Israel has repeatedly warned that it might launch an operation against Hezbollah to secure its residents' return.

Quintet Keen on Holding Presidential Election by June at the Latest
Bassam Abou Zeid/This Is Beirut/April 22/2024
According to French sources, House Speaker Nabih Berri was supposed to visit Paris along with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to meet with President Emmanuel Macron. However, Berri failed to show up, prompting Macron to contact him to confirm that the invitation still stands, although no specific date has been set. This coincides with a heightened drive, spearheaded by France and supported within the Quintet Committee (US, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt) to achieve the long-stalled presidential election in Lebanon. The emphasis is to conclude this process by June at the latest, given the impending shift of attention to the US presidential elections from that date onward, which could diminish focus on Lebanon and other dossiers. France, and other member states of the Quintet, are deeply concerned about a potential broad Israeli strike against Lebanon in the summer if a president is not elected and a political agreement to secure stability along the southern border is not reached. During a phone call on Monday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, French President Emmanuel Macron “particularly stressed France’s efforts” in coordination with its international partners “to work for a de-escalation on the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon.” The ambassadors of the Quintet Committee are expected to relay their concern to Speaker Nabih Berri, whom they are expected to meet on Tuesday in the absence of the American Ambassador, Lisa Johnson, who is currently outside Lebanon. According to the French sources, the diplomatic dynamics of the ambassadors complements the efforts undertaken by French envoy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, concerning the Lebanese situation. These include his recent visit to Washington, where he was accompanied by former French Ambassador to Lebanon, Anne Grillo.
Members of the five-nation committee agreed that no envoy or delegate would act independently outside the committee’s framework. They also stipulated that all activities in Lebanon would be conducted solely through the ambassadors. Additionally, the committee members pledged to refrain from proposing or endorsing any names for the Lebanese presidency. Discussions on the matter would be limited to the ambassadors in Beirut, and any official statement on the presidency should be coordinated with them.

Report: Quintet to press Berri as Johnson proposes timeframe
Naharnet/April 22/2024
The five-nation group for Lebanon intends to pressure Speaker Nabih Berri in order to end the protracted presidential vacuum, a media report said. “This will materialize in the meeting that will be held in Ain el-Tineh between Berri and the committee’s members,” the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Monday. “The U.S. ambassador proposed to her quintet colleagues the idea of putting a timeframe for finalizing the presidential election, but they asked for waiting until the completion of the talks with the speaker on Tuesday,” the daily added. “After meeting with Berri, the quintet will meet anew with the National Moderation bloc and a number of ministers,” the newspaper said.

Geagea says fighting 'battle' of Syrians return, another against Hezbollah
Naharnet/April 22/2024
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has stressed that “the state will not be built as long as the defiance camp led by Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement is present.”“The proof is their attempt to torpedo the municipal and mayoral elections after they realized that the popular mood is no longer in their favor,” Geagea added, in an interview with the L'Orient-Le Jour newspaper. Turning to the issue of the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon in the wake of LF official Pascal Sleiman’s murder at the hands of a Syrian gang, the LF leader said: “The issue of the displaced Syrians in Lebanon is a demographic, economic and social issue, but before everything else it is existential, that’s why there will be no giving up (in seeking a solution) in order to prevent Lebanon’s collapse.” Asked about the attacks on Syrians by LF supporters following Sleiman’s murder, Geagea noted that the LF did not only issue a condemnation statement, but has also “punished the party members who were involved in these attacks which we reject and condemn.”“Security forces also intervened in this regard, which allowed us to turn this page, but we must also realize that when we face explosive stances we cannot ask people not to respond. In this regard, we must resolve the main problem: the heavy presence of Syrians in Lebanon,” the LF leader added. He also declared that the LF is “fighting various battles: the battle of Syrians’ repatriation and the battle of the confrontation against Hezbollah.”

Bassil meets Safa as FPM-Hezbollah ties warm up
Naharnet/April 22/2024
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil is continuing his “openness initiative” towards the Shiite Duo, a media report said. It seems that Bassil’s steps “are much bigger than the political-electoral alliance at the elections of the Beirut Order of Engineers and Architects, the repeated meetings between Bassil and Speaker Nabih Berri, and the resumption of meetings with Hezbollah,” ad-Diyar newspaper reported on Monday. In this regard, highly-informed political and partisan sources revealed to the daily that Bassil had met with a Hezbollah delegation led by Wafiq Safa around 20 days ago, “in the wake of the murder of Lebanese Forces official Pascal Sleiman and prior to the political and electoral juncture at the Order of Engineers, amid cold ties between the two sides.” “This meeting, in terms of its important timing and content, ends all speculation about a severed relation between the two sides and about the resistance’s loss of Christian and national support for its weapons,” ad-Diyar said. The sources added that “communication between Hezbollah and the FPM will be resumed to manage any dispute and improve the common denominators,” emphasizing “the importance of the messages that Bassil sent during his visit to Jezzine yesterday.”

US journalist Terry Anderson once held captive in Lebanon dies at 76
Associated Press/April 22/2024
Terry Anderson, the globe-trotting Associated Press correspondent who became one of America's longest-held hostages after he was snatched from a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, has died at 76.Anderson, who chronicled his abduction and torturous imprisonment by Islamic militants in his best-selling 1993 memoir "Den of Lions," died on Sunday at his home in Greenwood Lake, New York, said his daughter, Sulome Anderson. Anderson died of complications from recent heart surgery, his daughter said. "Terry was deeply committed to on-the-ground eyewitness reporting and demonstrated great bravery and resolve, both in his journalism and during his years held hostage. We are so appreciative of the sacrifices he and his family made as the result of his work," said Julie Pace, senior vice president and executive editor of the AP. "He never liked to be called a hero, but that's what everyone persisted in calling him," said Sulome Anderson. "I saw him a week ago and my partner asked him if he had anything on his bucket list, anything that he wanted to do. He said, 'I've lived so much and I've done so much. I'm content.'"After returning to the United States in 1991, Anderson led a peripatetic life, giving public speeches, teaching journalism at several prominent universities and, at various times, operating a blues bar, Cajun restaurant, horse ranch and gourmet restaurant. He also struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder, won millions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets after a federal court concluded that country played a role in his capture, then lost most of it to bad investments. He filed for bankruptcy in 2009. Upon retiring from the University of Florida in 2015, Anderson settled on a small horse farm in a quiet, rural section of northern Virginia he had discovered while camping with friends. "I live in the country and it's reasonably good weather and quiet out here and a nice place, so I'm doing all right," he said with a chuckle during a 2018 interview with The Associated Press. In 1985, Anderson became one of several Westerners abducted by members of the Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah during a time of war that had plunged Lebanon into chaos. After his release, he returned to a hero's welcome at AP's New York headquarters. Louis D. Boccardi, the president and chief executive officer of the AP at the time, recalled Sunday that Anderson's plight was never far from his AP colleagues' minds.
"The word 'hero' gets tossed around a lot but applying it to Terry Anderson just enhances it," Boccardi said. "His six-and-a-half-year ordeal as a hostage of terrorists was as unimaginable as it was real — chains, being transported from hiding place to hiding place strapped to the chassis of a truck, given often inedible food, cut off from the world he reported on with such skill and caring."As the AP's chief Middle East correspondent, Anderson had been reporting for several years on the rising violence gripping Lebanon as the country fought a war with Israel, while Iran funded militant groups trying to topple its government. On March 16, 1985, a day off, he had taken a break to play tennis with former AP photographer Don Mell and was dropping Mell off at his home when gun-toting kidnappers dragged him from his car.
He was likely targeted, he said, because he was one of the few Westerners still in Lebanon and because his role as a journalist aroused suspicion among members of Hezbollah. "Because in their terms, people who go around asking questions in awkward and dangerous places have to be spies," he told the Virginia newspaper The Review of Orange County in 2018. What followed was nearly seven years of brutality during which he was beaten, chained to a wall, threatened with death, often had guns held to his head and was kept in solitary confinement for long periods of time. Anderson was the longest held of several Western hostages Hezbollah abducted over the years, including Terry Waite, the former envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had arrived to try to negotiate Anderson's release.By Anderson's and other hostages' accounts, he was also their most hostile prisoner, constantly demanding better food and treatment, arguing religion and politics with his captors, and teaching other hostages sign language and where to hide messages so they could communicate privately. He managed to retain a quick wit and biting sense of humor during his long ordeal. On his last day in Beirut he called the leader of his kidnappers into his room to tell him he'd just heard an erroneous radio report saying he'd been freed and was in Syria. "I said, 'Mahmoud, listen to this, I'm not here. I'm gone, babes. I'm on my way to Damascus.' And we both laughed," he told Giovanna Dell'Orto, author of "AP Foreign Correspondents in Action: World War II to the Present." He learned later his release was delayed when a third party who his kidnappers planned to turn him over to left for a tryst with the party's mistress and they had to find someone else. Mell, who was in the car during the abduction, said Sunday that he and Anderson shared an uncommon bond."Our relationship was much broader and deeper, and more important and meaningful, than just that one incident," Mell said. Mell credited Anderson with launching his career in journalism, pushing for the young photographer to be hired by the AP full-time. After Anderson was released, their friendship deepened. They were each the best man at each other's wedding and were in frequent contact. Anderson's humor often hid the PTSD he acknowledged suffering for years afterward. "The AP got a couple of British experts in hostage decompression, clinical psychiatrists, to counsel my wife and myself and they were very useful," he said in 2018. "But one of the problems I had was I did not recognize sufficiently the damage that had been done. "So, when people ask me, you know, 'Are you over it?' Well, I don't know. No, not really. It's there. I don't think about it much these days, it's not central to my life. But it's there," he said.
Anderson said his faith as a Christian helped him let go of the anger. And something his wife later told him also helped him to move on: "If you keep the hatred you can't have the joy."At the time of his abduction, Anderson was engaged to be married and his future wife was six months pregnant with their daughter, Sulome. The couple married soon after his release but divorced a few years later, and although they remained on friendly terms Anderson and his daughter were estranged for years. "I love my dad very much. My dad has always loved me. I just didn't know that because he wasn't able to show it to me," Sulome Anderson told the AP in 2017. Father and daughter reconciled after the publication of her critically acclaimed 2017 book, "The Hostage's Daughter," in which she told of traveling to Lebanon to confront and eventually forgive one of her father's kidnappers.
"I think she did some extraordinary things, went on a very difficult personal journey, but also accomplished a pretty important piece of journalism doing it," Anderson said. "She's now a better journalist than I ever was."
Terry Alan Anderson was born Oct. 27, 1947. He spent his early childhood years in the small Lake Erie town of Vermilion, Ohio, where his father was a police officer.
After graduating from high school, he turned down a scholarship to the University of Michigan in favor of enlisting in the Marines, where he rose to the rank of staff sergeant while seeing combat during the Vietnam War. After returning home, he enrolled at Iowa State University where he graduated with a double major in journalism and political science and soon after went to work for the AP. He reported from Kentucky, Japan and South Africa before arriving in Lebanon in 1982, just as the country was descending into chaos. "Actually, it was the most fascinating job I've ever had in my life," he told The Review. "It was intense. War's going on — it was very dangerous in Beirut. Vicious civil war, and I lasted about three years before I got kidnapped." Anderson was married and divorced three times. In addition to his daughter, he is survived by another daughter, Gabrielle Anderson, from his first marriage; a sister, Judy Anderson; and a brother, Jack Anderson. "Though my father's life was marked by extreme suffering during his time as a hostage in captivity, he found a quiet, comfortable peace in recent years. I know he would choose to be remembered not by his very worst experience, but through his humanitarian work with the Vietnam Children's Fund, the Committee to Protect Journalists, homeless veterans and many other incredible causes," Sulome Anderson said in a statement Sunday. Memorial arrangements were pending, she said.

Syrian Refugees: For the First Time, the EU Does not Link a Return to a Political Solution
This Is Beirut/April 22/2024
For the first time in years, a European Union official has raised the possibility of a “safe, voluntary and dignified” return home for displaced Syrians who have settled in Lebanon since 2011 – when the war in that country started – without linking it to a political solution in Syria. The European policy regarding the return of Syrian refugees has always been conditioned by the stance that Syria was still “too dangerous for such a return to be envisioned.”The return of Syrians refugees was at center stage for European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi, who called for “facilitating the safe, voluntary, and dignified return of Syrian refugees in cooperation with Lebanese authorities, the UNHCR, and IOM.” “The European Council has made it very clear that, in close cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the conditions for the safe, voluntary and dignified return of displaced Syrians must be created, in close cooperation with the Lebanese authorities, so that they can begin to return from Lebanon to Syria,” said Várhelyi, after two meetings in Beirut with Speaker of the House of Representatives Nabih Berry, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdallah Bouhabib and Army Commander General Joseph Aoun, in the presence of Sandra De Waele, EU Ambassador to Lebanon. Mr. Várhelyi visited Beirut “following the meeting of the European Council on 17-18 April, where the European leaders recalled the European Union’s strong support for Lebanon and the Lebanese people in the difficult circumstances the country is experiencing domestically and due to regional tensions,” according to a statement issued by the Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon. “The Commissioner’s mission aimed to lay the groundwork for restarting dialogue and identify areas of reinforced cooperation,” it added. Speaking at a press conference held at the Grand Serail, Várhelyi emphasized the EU’s efforts “to stop irregular migration, strengthen border protection, and combat human trafficking and smuggling,” amidst the nation’s political, economic and social challenges. This change in position comes after Cyprus appealed on April 3 for vigorous action from the EU to curb the arrival of Syrian refugees by sea via Lebanon, saying the island’s reception capacity was at “breaking point.”
This appeal led to the visit of Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides to Lebanon, where he and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati agreed to “coordinate with the European Union (EU) to set up a framework agreement to halt migratory flows, provide aid to Lebanon and encourage displaced Syrians to return.”Christodoulides stated that he would revisit Lebanon with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on May 2 to announce an initiative for a larger financial package from the EU to deal with Lebanon’s refugee crisis.

European Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi visits Lebanon: Strengthening EU support amid regional tensions
LBCI/April 22/2024
European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi visited Lebanon on Monday, following the European Council's meeting on April 17-18. During the meeting, European leaders recognized the European Union's "strong support for Lebanon and the Lebanese people in the difficult circumstances the country is experiencing domestically and due to regional tensions," said a statement posted by the Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon's website. During his recent visit, Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi held meetings with Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdallah Bou Habib, and the Commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces Joseph Aoun. The Commissioner’s task aimed to "lay the groundwork for restarting dialogue and identify areas of reinforced cooperation," according to the statement.

Lebanon's Mikati meets EU Commissioner Várhelyi: Calls for policy shift on Syrian refugees
LBCI/April 22/2024
Lebanon's Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati received the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, on Monday afternoon at the Grand Serail. During the meeting, which was attended by various figures, the Prime Minister emphasized "the need for the European Union to change its policy regarding assisting Syrian refugees in Lebanon, with the assistance aimed at facilitating their return to their homeland." He also thanked "the European Union for including Lebanon on the agenda of its recent meeting and for approving a package of political and financial measures to support Lebanon, which will be announced soon." The Prime Minister stressed "the urgent need to support the Lebanese army and security institutions and to support developmental and investment projects in Lebanon in the fields of renewable energy, water, and sustainable development."
He said, "If Lebanon is well, then Europe will be well, so our interests are mutual."

GCC stands firm: Support for stability in Lebanon
LBCI/April 22/2024
The Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, announced that the council's position regarding Lebanon remains steadfast in supporting stability and internal peace. According to him, this stability is achieved by urging all political actors in Lebanon to work together to overcome sectarian and political divisions and focus on rebuilding and economic development. Albudaiwi emphasized, during his participation in the High-Level Forum on Regional Security and Cooperation between the Gulf Cooperation Council and the European Union, the strong support for efforts aimed at strengthening the Lebanese government and its national institutions. This support in turn contributes to realizing the aspirations of the Lebanese people for a decent life and a better future.

Beyond borders: How the northern front became Israel's greatest 'dilemma'
LBCI/April 22/2024
Two days before marking the 200th day of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, which is the longest and most complex conflict since Israel was founded, this is how the towns in northern Israel looked.On the northern front with Lebanon, the second front after Gaza, Israeli reports suggest that the scale of destruction caused by Hezbollah rockets and drones has exceeded six times that of the 2006 war.  Additionally, over 120,000 Israelis from the border area were displaced to hotels inland, with no prospect of their return. The destruction not only reached homes, infrastructure, educational institutions, and military camps but also extended to Israeli society, as incidents of domestic violence have sharply risen, and the divorce rate has increased due to anxiety and the repercussions of displacement. Israeli officials' statements regarding the northern front being the biggest dilemma come in the wake of reports indicating no imminent prospects of ensuring calm to this front. As for statements about the possibility of residents returning to settlements in the area by next September, they are far from reality not only due to the absence of any progress on the political front and the lack of consensus among the leadership on a military solution but also because the period required for rebuilding the north will take months, an issue provoking leaders of border towns with Lebanon. Amid the uncertainty regarding the situation in the north and the Gaza Strip, the resignation of the head of Israeli military intelligence, Aharon Haliva, came as an unusual step, leading some to speculate that it might mark the beginning of successive resignations. In turn, Haliva called for the formation of an investigative committee to hold all officials accountable for the failures of October 7th. Meanwhile, an Israeli report indicated that Tel Aviv is caught in a strategic "trap" that has made it confront Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank, Iran, and soon Turkey, which plans to send a flotilla of ships carrying aid to the sector. Israelis consider this step a provocation that may contribute to further escalation.

Change Alliance Bloc rejects postponement of municipal elections, set to boycott legislative session
LBCI/April 22/2024
In a statement on Monday, the "Change Alliance" bloc rejected the postponement of municipal elections for the third time. It reaffirmed its refusal to do any legislative effort in the absence of a president. "In line with this stance, the bloc announces its non-participation in the legislative session scheduled for Thursday, April 25, 2024," the statement affirmed. The "Change Alliance" bloc criticized the insistence of Lebanon's authority to "ignore constitutional and legal deadlines."The statement added: "There is no doubt about their intention to prevent municipal elections, perhaps knowing that the results will not be in their favor. This is clearly evident in the position of the Speaker of the Parliament, who [...] exceeded his powers."The bloc's members, which includes MPs Mark Daou, Michel Doueihy, and Waddah Sadek, said that when they questioned the government during the discussions about the 2024 budget and the absence of funding for municipal elections, the "answer was 'we forgot.' This is simply the mentality of those ruling today." "Therefore, the 'Change Alliance' bloc holds the caretaker government full responsibility for the postponement of municipal elections and demands to be conducted on time, considering the ongoing war in the border areas."The statement said: "This pushes us to reiterate once again that administrative decentralization is a principle enshrined in the constitution and must be implemented, which will alleviate the developmental burdens on the central government and allow municipalities to address their problems according to their different priorities."

Municipal Elections: Mawlawi Sets May 26 for Beirut, Bekaa, Baalbeck-Hermel
This Is Beirut/April 22/2024
Caretaker Minister of Interior Bassam Mawlawi set the date of May 26, 2024 for municipal elections in Beirut, Bekaa and Baalbeck-Hermel governorates, in a decree announced on Monday. The announcement comes ahead of a parliamentary session scheduled on Thursday, April 25 to decide on the fate of the elections, with the MPs divided between the pro-Hezbollah camp seeking postponement for yet another year, and the opposition who sees no reason for deferment. The decree also calls for the election of members of municipal councils, mayors and mayors’ councils. Mawlawi had already set May 19 as a date for municipal elections in North Lebanon and Akkar, and May 12 for Mount Lebanon.

Unprecedented situation: Lebanon moves closer to IMF deal with BDL modernization
LBCI/April 22/2024
Officials at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have characterized Lebanon's situation as unprecedented in the history of the fund. Two years have passed since the initial agreement was signed, yet no reform steps have led to a final deal. However, the IMF has initiated a positive gesture towards the Banque du Liban (BDL).Officials at the IMF informed the acting BDL governor Wassim Mansouri that they will fund what is known as a Safeguard Assessment process at the BDL. This process aims to develop and modernize the operations of the BDL by enhancing governance, accounting mechanisms, and risk management. This initiative seeks to strengthen oversight of commercial banks and allow a serious evaluation of their operations. The Safeguard Assessment ensures that the BDL is prepared to align with the final agreement with the IMF.Sources within BDL stated that this step is part of reaching a final agreement with the IMF. Undertaking this process now and completing it will position the BDL to manage monetary and banking policy according to the requirements of the final agreement from the moment it is signed. Additionally, a delegation from the IMF will visit Lebanon to monitor this step.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 22-23/2024
Israeli military intelligence chief resigns over his role in failing to prevent Oct. 7 attack
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)/April 22, 2024
The head of Israeli military intelligence resigned on Monday over the failures surrounding Hamas' unprecedented Oct. 7 attack, the military said, becoming the first senior figure to step down over his role in the deadliest assault in Israel's history. Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva's resignation could set the stage for more resignations among Israel's top security brass over Hamas' attack, when militants blasted through Israel's border defenses, rampaged through Israeli communities unchallenged for hours and killed 1,200 people, most civilians, while taking roughly 250 hostages into Gaza. That attack set off the war against Hamas in Gaza, now in its seventh month. “The intelligence directorate under my command did not live up to the task we were entrusted with. I carry that black day with me ever since, day after day, night after night. I will carry the horrible pain of the war with me forever,” Haliva wrote in his resignation letter, which was provided by the military. Haliva, as well as other military and security leaders, were widely expected to resign in response to the glaring failures that led up to Oct. 7 and the scale of its ferocity. But the timing of the resignations has been unclear because Israel is still fighting Hamas in Gaza and battling the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in the north. Tensions with Iran are also at a high following attacks between the two enemies. Some military experts have said resignations at a time when Israel is engaged on multiple fronts is irresponsible and could be interpreted as a sign of weakness. Shortly after the attack, Haliva had publicly said that he shouldered blame for not preventing the assault as the head of the military department responsible for providing the government and the military with intelligence warnings and daily alerts. While Haliva and others have accepted blame for failing to stop the attack, others have stopped short, most notably Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said he will answer tough questions about his role but has not outright acknowledged direct responsibility for allowing the attack to unfold. He has also not indicated that he will step down, although a growing protest movement is demanding elections be held soon. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid welcomed the resignation, saying it was “justified and dignified.” “It would be appropriate for Prime Minister Netanyahu to do the same,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. The Hamas attack, which came on a Jewish holiday, caught Israel and its vaunted security establishment entirely off guard. Israelis' sense of faith in their military — seen by most Jews as one of the country's most trustworthy institutions — was shattered in the face of Hamas' onslaught. The resignation could help restore some of that trust. The attack set off the devastating war that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the local health ministry. The ministry's count doesn't distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, but it says at least two-thirds of the dead are children and women. The fighting has devastated Gaza’s two largest cities, and driven 80% of the territory’s population to flee to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave. The war has sparked a humanitarian catastrophe that has drawn warnings of imminent famine. The attack also sent shock waves through the region. Beyond Hezbollah and Iran, tensions have rocked the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as well as cities and towns within Israel itself. On Monday, Israeli police said that a car had slammed into pedestrians in Jerusalem, wounding three lightly, and security camera video showed two men exiting the car with a rifle before the fleeing the scene. Police later said they arrested the two men.

Review of UNRWA Found Israel Did Not Express Concern about Staff
Asharq Al-Awsat/April 22/2024
An independent review of the neutrality of the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees found that Israel never expressed concern about anyone on the staff lists it has received annually since 2011. The review was carried out after Israel alleged that a dozen employees of the agency known as UNRWA had participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. In a wide-ranging 48-page report released Monday, the independent panel said UNRWA has “robust” procedures to uphold the UN principle of neutrality, but it cited serious gaps in implementation, including staff publicly expressing political views, textbooks with “problematic content” and staff unions disrupting operations. From 2017 to 2022, the report said the annual number of allegations of neutrality being breached at UNRWA ranged from 7 to 55. But between January 2022 and February 2024 UN investigators received 151 allegations, most related to social media posts “made public by external sources," it said. In a key section on the neutrality of staff, the panel, which was led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, said UNRWA shares lists of staff with host countries for its 32,000 staff, including about 13,000 in Gaza. But it said Israeli officials never expressed concern and informed panel members it did not consider the list “a screening or vetting process” but rather a procedure to register diplomats. The Israeli Foreign Ministry informed the panel that until March 2024 the staff lists did not include Palestinian identification numbers, the report said. Apparently based on those numbers, “Israel made public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organizations,” the panel said. “However, Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this.” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ordered the UN internal watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, to carry out a separate investigation into the Israeli allegations that 12 UNRWA staffers participated in the Oct. 7 attacks. That report is eagerly awaited. In its interim report on March 20, the panel noted UNRWA’s “significant number of mechanisms and procedures to ensure compliance with the humanitarian principles of neutrality,” but also identified “critical areas that need to be addressed.”

Israeli Strikes on Southern Gaza City of Rafah Kill 22, Mostly Children
Asharq Al Awsat/April 22, 2024
Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight killed 22 people, including 18 children, health officials said Sunday. Israel has carried out near-daily air raids on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's population of 2.3 million has sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. It has also vowed to expand its ground offensive to the city on the border with Egypt despite international calls for restraint, including from the US. The first Israeli strike in Rafah killed a man, his wife and their 3-year-old child, according to the nearby Kuwaiti Hospital, which received the bodies. The woman was pregnant and the doctors managed to save the baby, the hospital said. The second strike killed 17 children and two women, all from an extended family, according to hospital records. Mohammed al-Beheiri said his daughter, Rasha, and her six children, the youngest 18 months old, were among those killed. Her husband's second wife and their three children were still under the rubble, al-Beheiri said. The Israel-Hamas war has killed over 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, devastated Gaza's two largest cities and left a swath of destruction across the territory. Around 80% of the population have fled their homes to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave, which experts say is on the brink of famine.

2 Suspects Arrested after Car Attack in Jerusalem
Asharq Al Awsat/April 22, 2024
Israeli police said they have arrested two people after a car slammed into pedestrians in Jerusalem on Monday, lightly wounding three. Footage of the incident taken by a CCTV camera and aired by Israeli media showed a car plowing into three ultra-Orthodox Jews, sending at least two flying over the dashboard, The Associated Press said. Palestinians have carried out periodic attacks on Israeli cities and towns since the country’s war against Hamas began on Oct. 7. During that time, violence has surged in the West Bank. Also Monday, Palestinian civil defense in Gaza said it had found 210 bodies on the grounds of a Khan Younis hospital, and Israel's chief of military intelligence resigned over the failure to prevent the Oct. 7 attack, the first senior official to do so. The conflict, now in its seventh month, has sparked regional unrest pitting Israel and the US against Iran and allied militant groups across the Middle East. Israel and Iran traded fire directly this month, raising fears of all-out war. The war was sparked by the unprecedented Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which Hamas and other militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says Hamas is still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others. The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, at least two-thirds of them children and women. It has devastated Gaza’s two largest cities and left a swath of destruction. Around 80% of the territory’s population have fled to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave. The US House of Representatives approved a $26 billion aid package on Saturday that includes around $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza, which experts say is on the brink of famine, as well as billions for Israel. The US Senate could pass the package as soon as Tuesday, and President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.

Israeli protesters burn symbolic Passover table outside PM’s house
AFP/April 23, 2024
CAESAREA, Israel: Israeli protesters burnt a symbolic Passover table outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s house at the start of the Jewish holiday on Monday, accusing him of failing hostages in Gaza. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the gates leading to the house in the coastal town of Caesarea, calling for the release of hostages abducted by Palestinian militants on October 7 and criticizing Netanyahu’s leadership.Israeli officials say 129 captives remain in the Gaza Strip after the Hamas attack, including 34 whom the military says are dead. Their plight has cast a pall over this year’s Passover, also known in Hebrew as the “holiday of freedom.”Guy Ben Dror said he was protesting against “the worst prime minister in the history of Israel.” “He doesn’t want the hostages back because he doesn’t want the war to end or he’ll go to prison,” said the 54-year-old investment firm worker.
Passover commemorates the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. A ritual meal, known as a seder, takes place on the first evening, with participants sitting around a tray laden with symbolic food. Outside Netanyahu’s house, demonstrators, some of whom were relatives of hostages, set fire to a symbolic seder table after laying out empty places on another table to mark the hostage’s continued captivity. “We are here to share our feelings, our grief, our sorrow with the families of the kidnapped,” said demonstrator Yael Ben Porat. “I didn’t want to celebrate this holiday when we have so many of our people, our brothers and sisters kidnapped over there in Gaza,” the 62-year-old lawyer said. “All of us believe he is responsible for the horrible disaster of October 7,” she said, accusing Netanyahu of failures in negotiating their release. “This night is only bitter, no freedom,” she said.
In a post on X marking the start of Passover on Monday, Netanyahu insisted “our resolve remains unyielding to see all hostages back with their families.”“Tonight, we think of those who cannot join their families at the seder table. Their absence strengthens our resolve and reminds us of the urgency of our mission. We will not rest until each one is freed,” he said. “The days ahead will see increased military and diplomatic efforts to secure the freedom of our hostages,” he said.

Israelis from border towns mark Passover away from home
Agence France Presse/April 23, 2024
Jewish people mark on Monday the start of Passover, a celebration of freedom, and around many holiday tables in Israel chairs will stand empty for hostages still held captive in Gaza. The week-long Jewish festival, also known in Hebrew as the "holiday of freedom", celebrates the Israelites' liberation from Egyptian slavery, as told in the Bible. Passover is traditionally observed with a seder: a holiday feast when families eat symbolic foods and read the Haggadah. The more than millennium-old text recounts the Exodus and Jewish people's ties, and their yearning to return, to the Holy Land. For many this year, Passover will be stained by absence and anguish; particularly the relatives of the hostages, grieving families and more than 120,000 Israelis displaced from their homes in the north and south of the country because of the war in the Gaza Strip.
'How can we celebrate?'
Over the past few days, Israeli Jews have been making preparations for the holiday: fastidious house cleaning, burning leavened goods eschewed during Passover, and copious food shopping. But the holiday mood has been dampened by more than six months of war in Gaza, with many Israelis serving in the military away from home. Above all, the continuing captivity of 129 hostages abducted by Palestinian militants on October 7 has cast a pall over Passover. For many relatives of the captives, this Passover will not be joyous.
'Wander in the desert'
Many families will mark Passover away from home, driven out by fighting between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah that has turned northern and southern border communities into ghost towns. Around 60,000 Israelis from the north and almost an equal number from southern Israel remain internally displaced, according to official figures. Hotels still house more than 26,000 displaced, many of whom will hold seders there. Nisan Zeevi, an entrepreneur from Kfar Giladi kibbutz near the Lebanese border, said his family has been "uprooted from our homes" for more than half a year. Political leaders have given them no hint as to when they might return, he said. "We're not celebrating Passover in a normal way," Zeevi said. Like the biblical Israelites, he added, this year they will "wander in the desert".

10 key moments in the Israel-Hamas war
Agence France Presse/April 23, 2024
On October 7, Palestinian militants launched an attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government responded to the worst attack in the country's history with a devastating military campaign in the Gaza Strip, ruled by armed group Hamas, that has killed 34,151 people, mostly women and children, according to the Palestinian territory's health ministry. Following the resignation on Monday of Israel's military intelligence chief after taking responsibility for failures leading to the Hamas attack, AFP looks back at key moments in the nearly 200-day-long war.
Oct 7: Hamas attacks -
At dawn on October 7, at the end of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, hundreds of Hamas fighters infiltrate Israel from Gaza by land, sea and air. They kill civilians in the streets, in their homes and at a desert music festival, and attack troops in army bases.
They bring around 250 hostages back to Gaza, some of them now dead. Israel vows to destroy Hamas and begins bombing Gaza. More than six months later, on April 22, the army announces that military intelligence chief Major General Aharon Haliva has resigned, becoming the first top Israeli official to step down for failing to prevent the attack.
Oct 13: north Gaza exodus -
On October 13, Israel calls on civilians in northern Gaza to move south within 24 hours, declaring the north, which includes Gaza City, a war zone. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flee to the south of the Gaza Strip as entire districts in the north are razed to the ground.
Oct 27: tanks enter Gaza -
On October 27, Israeli tanks roll into Gaza at the start of a ground offensive.
The troops fight their way towards Gaza City.
Nov 15: hospital raid
On November 15, Israeli troops launch a night-time raid on Al-Shifa hospital, Gaza's biggest medical facility where bodies had been piling up after food, fuel and anaesthetics ran out. The raid causes an international outcry.
Israel claims Hamas is running a command centre below the hospital, which the armed group denies. In March, Israel again targets the hospital in an intensive two-week operation that leaves hundreds dead, according to Israel and Gaza's civil defence agency, and the complex in ruins.
Nov 24: truce and hostage swap
On November 24, a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas negotiated in talks mediated by Qatar goes into effect. Hamas releases 80 Israeli hostages over seven days in return for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Twenty-five other hostages, mainly Thai farm workers, are released outside of the deal. Israel allows more aid into Gaza during the pause but the humanitarian situation in the besieged territory remains dire. When the war resumes, Israel expands its actions into southern Gaza.
Jan 12: strikes on Houthis
On January 12, the United States and Britain launch air strikes on targets in rebel-held Yemen after weeks of attacks on Red Sea shipping by the Iran-backed Houthis, who say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
The strikes add to fears of a regional war.
Jan 26: call to prevent 'genocide'
In an interim ruling on January 26 in a case brought by South Africa, the International Court of Justice finds it "plausible" that Israel's acts could amount to "genocide" of Palestinians in Gaza. The world's top court orders Israel to do "everything" to prevent any acts of genocide but stops short of ordering a halt to the war.
Feb 29: deadly food stampede
On February 29, Israeli forces open fire on desperate residents of northern Gaza who rush towards a convoy of food aid trucks, saying they believed they "posed a threat".Gaza's health ministry says 115 people were shot dead and hundreds wounded in what it calls a "massacre". The Israeli military says most of the victims were trampled or run over by the trucks.
Apr 2: aid workers killed
On April 2, seven aid workers from the US charity World Central Kitchen, six of them foreigners, are killed in an Israeli strike when leaving a warehouse in Gaza. The killings of the humanitarians draws global condemnation, including from U.S. President Joe Biden. The Israeli military fires two officers over what it claims was a "tragic mistake" and Netanyahu sends envoys to new truce talks in Cairo.
Apr 13: Iran attacks Israel
In its first direct assault on Israel, Iran launches more than 300 drones and missiles at the country on April 13. The Israeli military says nearly all were intercepted. The unprecedented attack, in retaliation for a deadly April 1 strike on Iran's Damascus consulate, heightens fears of wider conflict. It follows months of violence across the region involving Iranian proxies and Hamas allies.

Bahrain’s crown prince discusses developments in Gaza with US secretary of state
ARAB NEWS/April 23, 2024
LONDON: Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad of Bahrain and the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, on Monday discussed the latest developments in Gaza, along with other regional and global issues of common interest. During their telephone conversation, the Prince “reviewed the strength of the Bahrain-US partnership, highlighting the importance of bolstering joint coordination to achieve common goals and interests,” the Bahrain News Agency reported. During their talks about the current situation in the Middle East, and in particular the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the crown prince reiterated Bahrain’s “firm stance toward the Palestinian cause and its unwavering commitment to reaching a peaceful, lasting and fair solution in support of Palestinians’ legitimate right to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”He also highlighted the important need to protect civilians and deescalate the violence in Gaza, which he said threatens regional security and stability. The US State Department said both officials “reinforced their shared commitment to preventing the spread of regional conflict,” and Blinken thanked Bahrain for its contributions to maritime security. They also discussed ways in which “cooperation under the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement continues to strengthen the strategic partnership” between their countries, spokesperson Matthew Miller added.

First Iran group in nine years heads to Saudi Arabia for umrah pilgrimage
DUBAI (Reuters)/April 22, 2024
The first group of Iranian pilgrims in nine years made its way to Saudi Arabia on Monday for the umrah, or minor pilgrimage, Iran's official news agency reported, as a result of improving ties between the two Middle Eastern powers. Iranian media had said in December that Saudi Arabia had lifted restrictions on Iranians wanting to perform umrah but flights were delayed until now due to what Tehran called "technical problems". In March 2023, China mediated an agreement under which Iran and Saudi Arabia restored full diplomatic relations that were cut since 2016 over Riyadh's execution of a Shi'ite Muslim cleric and the subsequent storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Before ties were restored, Iranians had only been able to perform the haj pilgrimage, a religious duty deemed compulsory for Muslims who aim to carry it out once in their lifetime. The haj must be performed at a certain time of the year, and which is subject to strict annual quotas. The umrah can be performed at any time and is not deemed compulsory for Muslims. Saudi Ambassador to Iran Abdullah bin Saud al-Anzi was present at Tehran's main airport during the farewell ceremony held for the 85 pilgrims.

Armenia asks World Court to throw out Azerbaijan discrimination case
THE HAGUE (Reuters)/April 22, 2024
Armenia asked the International Court of Justice to throw out a case brought by its neighbour Azerbaijan accusing it of anti-Azeri ethnic cleansing in violation of a U.N. anti-discrimination treaty. The move comes a week after Azerbaijan did the same thing, asking the ICJ, also known as the World Court, to dismiss a case brought against it by Armenia. A final ruling in both cases could be years away, and the court has no way to enforce its rulings. On Monday, Armenia's representative Yeghishe Kirakosyan told judges at the U.N.'s top court that Azerbaijan was relying on facts from before the entry into force of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) between the two states, which Armenia says was in September 1996. The case is part of the fallout from decades of confrontation between the South Caucasus neighbours - most explosively over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region in Azerbaijan. Armenia first filed a case at the ICJ in 2021, when it accused Azerbaijan of glorifying racism against Armenians, allowing hate speech against them and destroying Armenian cultural sites - all accusations that Baku denies. Azerbaijan then brought its own anti-discrimination case against Yerevan a week later. It alleged that Armenia had carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing from the early 1990s until 2020. Armenia denies those claims. Last week Azerbaijan asked the court to throw out Armenia's case, saying most of the complaints related to the armed conflicts over Nagorno-Karabakh and did not fall within the scope of the anti-discrimination treaty and did not give enough time to resolve the dispute through negotiations. The current hearings will cover only the legal objections to the jurisdiction of the ICJ and will not go into the merits of the discrimination claims.

Iranian president lands in Pakistan for three-day visit to mend ties
ISLAMABAD (Reuters)/April 22, 2024
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Islamabad on Monday on a three-day official visit, the foreign office said, amid tight security in the Pakistani capital. The visit, which Pakistan's foreign office said would run until Wednesday, comes as the two Muslim neighbours seek to mend ties after unprecedented tit-for-tat military strikes this year. "The Iranian president is accompanied by his spouse and a high-level delegation," Pakistan's foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that the group also included the foreign minister, other cabinet members and senior officials.
Raisi will meet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other officials, besides visiting the eastern city of Lahore and southern port city of Karachi, it added. Major highways in Islamabad were blocked as part of the security measures for Raisi's arrival, while the government declared a public holiday in Karachi. Raisi's visit is a key step towards normalising ties with Islamabad, but Iran's supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni, not the president, has the last say on state matters, such as nuclear policy. Tension is also high in the Middle East after Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel a week ago and central Iran in turn suffered what sources said was an Israeli attack on Friday. Pakistan and Iran have had a history of rocky relations despite a number of commercial pacts, with Islamabad being historically closer to Saudi Arabia and the United States. Their highest profile agreement is a stalled gas supply deal signed in 2010 to build a pipeline from Iran's South Fars gas field to Pakistan's southern provinces of Balochistan and Sindh. Despite Pakistan's dire need of gas, Islamabad has yet to begin construction of its part of the pipeline, citing fears over U.S. sanctions - a concern Tehran has rejected. Pakistan said it would seek waivers from the U.S., but Washington has said it does not support the project and warned of the risk of sanctions in doing business with Tehran. Faced with the possibility of contract breach penalties running into the billions of dollars, Islamabad recently gave the go-ahead for construction of an 80-km (50-mile) stretch of the pipeline.

Iran says nuclear weapons have no place in its nuclear doctrine
DUBAI (Reuters)/Mon, April 22, 2024
Nuclear weapons have no place in Iran's nuclear doctrine, the country's foreign ministry said on Monday, days after a Revolutionary Guards commander warned that Tehran might change its nuclear policy if pressured by Israeli threats. "Iran has repeatedly said its nuclear programme only serves peaceful purposes. Nuclear weapons have no place in our nuclear doctrine," ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said during a press conference in Tehran. Following a spike in tensions with Israel, the Guards commander in charge of nuclear security Ahmad Haghtalab said last week that Israeli threats could push Tehran to "review its nuclear doctrine and deviate from its previous considerations." Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last say on Tehran's nuclear programme, banned the development of nuclear weapons in a fatwa, or religious decree, in the early 2000s.

Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah denies saying it resumes attacks on US forces
BAGHDAD (Reuters)/April 22, 2024
Iraqi armed faction Kataib Hezbollah has denied issuing a statement saying it had resumed attacks on U.S. forces, a statement from the group issued on the Telegram messaging app said. The denial came hours after a post circulated on groups thought to be affiliated with the Iran-backed armed faction that declared a resumption in the attacks some three months after they were suspended. Kataib Hezbollah described that as "fabricated news". On Sunday at least five rockets were launched from Iraq's town of Zummar towards a U.S. military base in northeastern Syria, two Iraqi security sources and a U.S. official told Reuters. The attack against U.S. forces is the first since early February when Iranian-backed groups in Iraq stopped their attacks against U.S. troops.

Review of UN agency helping Palestinian refugees found Israel did not express concern about staff
UNITED NATIONS (AP)/Mon, April 22, 2024
An independent review of the neutrality of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees found that Israel never expressed concern about anyone on the staff lists it has received annually since 2011. The review was carried out after Israel alleged that a dozen employees of the agency known as UNRWA had participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. In a wide-ranging 48-page report released Monday, the independent panel said UNRWA has “robust” procedures to uphold the U.N. principle of neutrality, but it cited serious gaps in implementation, including staff publicly expressing political views, textbooks used in schools the agency runs with “problematic content” and staff unions disrupting operations. From 2017 to 2022, the report said the annual number of allegations of neutrality being breached at UNRWA ranged from seven to 55. But between January 2022 and February 2024, U.N. investigators received 151 allegations, most related to social media posts “made public by external sources," it said. In a key section on the neutrality of staff, the panel, which was led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, said UNRWA shares lists of staff with host countries for its 32,000 staff, including about 13,000 in Gaza. But it said Israeli officials never expressed concern and informed panel members it did not consider the list “a screening or vetting process” but rather a procedure to register diplomats. The Israeli Foreign Ministry informed the panel that until March 2024 the staff lists did not include Palestinian identification numbers, the report said. Apparently based on those numbers, “Israel made public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organizations,” the panel said. “However, Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this.”
Israel’s allegations led to the suspension of contributions to UNRWA by the United States and more than a dozen other countries. That amounted to a pause in funding worth about $450 million, according to Monday’s report, but a number of countries have resumed contributions. Israel's Foreign Ministry on Monday called on donor countries to avoid sending money to the organization. “The Colonna report ignores the severity of the problem, and offers cosmetic solutions that do not deal with the enormous scope of Hamas’ infiltration of UNRWA,” ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said. “This is not what a genuine and thorough review looks like. This is what an effort to avoid the problem and not address it head on looks like.” Colonna, speaking at the United Nations as the report was released, said the panel had been well received by Israelis while conducting its review and she urged the Israeli government not to discount it. “Of course you will find it is insufficient, but please take it on board. Whatever we recommend, if implemented, will bring good.”The report stresses the critical importance of UNRWA, calling it “irreplaceable and indispensable to Palestinians’ human and economic development” in the absence of a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and “pivotal in providing life-saving humanitarian aid and essential social services, particularly in health and education, to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank." U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric welcomed this commitment to UNRWA and said the report “lays out clear recommendations, which the secretary-general accepts.”UNRWA’s Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said last week he accepts all recommendations. As Israel has called for the breakup of the agency, Lazzarini told the U.N. Security Council that dismantling UNRWA would deepen Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and speed up the onset of famine. International experts have warned of imminent famine in northern Gaza and said half the territory’s 2.3 million people could be pushed to the brink of starvation if the Israeli-Hamas war intensifies. Separately, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also ordered the U.N. internal watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, to carry out an investigation into the Israeli allegations that 12 UNRWA staffers participated in the Oct. 7 attacks. That report is eagerly awaited. In its interim report on March 20, the panel noted UNRWA’s “significant number of mechanisms and procedures to ensure compliance with the humanitarian principles of neutrality” but also identified “critical areas that need to be addressed.”

'Best thing' is for everyone to stay 'puzzled' on last week's odd retaliation strike on Iran, Israeli president says
Jake Epstein,Paul Ronzheimer/Business Insider/April 22, 2024
Israel last week responded to Iran's unprecedented attack earlier this month with a one-off strike. Friday's strike raised questions about the limited nature of the attack and how it unfolded. Israel's president told Axel Springer media outlets that it's "best" for people to remain "puzzled." Israel's lone strike on an Iranian military base last week quickly raised questions about the scope of the damage and exactly how the attack was carried out, with competing narratives from Tehran. But Israeli President Isaac Herzog doesn't seem to mind the ambiguity. "I think the best thing would be for everybody to stay puzzled," Herzog said during an interview with Axel Springer media outlets on Sunday. "The only thing I can say," he added, "is that the last two weeks have exposed the real threat to world stability. It starts in Tehran and emanates throughout the region of the Middle East with proxies."
An Israeli aircraft reportedly used a long-range air-to-surface missile to strike an air-defense system at a military base near the central Iranian city of Isfahan early Friday morning local time. The area is also home to sites affiliated with Tehran's nuclear program, which the United Nations has since confirmed remain secure. Motorists drive their vehicles past a billboard depicting Iranian missiles in Tehran on April 20, 2024, a day after Iran's state media reported explosions in the central province of Isfahan. Motorists drive their vehicles past a billboard depicting Iranian missiles in Tehran on April 20, 2024, a day after Iran's state media reported explosions in the central province of Isfahan.
Israeli officials have not publicly claimed responsibility for the strike, while Tehran attempted to downplay the incident by denying the employment of a missile, but, per US officials cited in multiple reports, the strike was Israeli. Experts say the limited attack was likely Israel's way of sending a message that it could hit deep into Iran without further escalating an already risky situation. The strike came several days after Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, during which Tehran and its proxies fired more than 300 missiles and drones at the country. Nearly all the munitions were intercepted by Israeli and partner forces in the region, including the US military. Israeli officials vowed to retaliate in response to the barrage, despite many of its Western partners urging the country to exercise restraint, warning that any further escalation could risk a broader military confrontation with Iran and plunge the Middle East into even more violence. Herzog's comments on Sunday echoed similar remarks made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday, who told reporters at a briefing that Iran and its proxies are the "single biggest threat" to the security of Israel, America, and most countries in the Middle East.
"The attack that was launched by Iran was like an attack of declaring war," Herzog said in the interview. "However," the president continued, "we are responsible and we seek stability and peace. And I think part of the actions in world affairs — or in the chess game of world affairs — is also, in many times, to act in a responsible and restrained manner." Military equipment displayed at the Army Day ceremony in front of the President of  "That's what we have done throughout this crisis, without going into any further detail," he said. Iran's April 13 attack was itself a retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on an Iranian diplomatic facility in Syria on April 1. The bold strike killed several high-ranking military officials, including two generals in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Tehran promised a harsh response. The incidents of the past few weeks have dragged a decades-long shadow war between Israel and Iran into broad daylight. The two bitter foes had historically relied on covert assassinations, strikes in other countries, and proxy forces to trade blows instead of overt attacks on the enemy. These tit-for-tat attacks have also left the Middle East on edge as it continuously braced for a response — first from Iran and then from Israel. However, Tehran has signaled that it won't retaliate over the Isfahan strike after appearing to dissociate itself from the attack.

Hamas has ‘moved goal post’ on hostage talks, says State Dept
REUTERS/April 23, 2024
WASHINGTON: Palestinian militant group Hamas has “moved the goal post” and changed its demands in the hostage negotiations with Israel mediated by Egypt and Qatar, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday.
Speaking at a daily press briefing, Miller said the United States would continue to push for an agreement that would see hostages taken on Oct. 7 released and a pause in fighting in Gaza. Separately, Miller said the United States had received a report by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna into the UN aid agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, and is reviewing it.

Macron Discusses Mideast Crisis with Egypt’s Sisi, Israel’s Netanyahu
Asharq Al-Awsat/April 22/2024
French President Emmanuel Macron held phone calls on Monday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss ways of avoiding an escalation in the Middle East crisis, said France and Egypt. The French presidency said Macron, in his call with Netanyahu, had reaffirmed Paris's desire to avoid an escalation in the Middle East and to stand up to what it said were Iran's efforts to destabilize the region. The French presidency added that Macron had also reiterated to Netanyahu that France wanted an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza and said Paris was working to ease tensions arising from clashes on the border between Israel and Lebanon. In a separate statement, Egyptian presidential spokesperson Ahmed Fahmy said Macron had also discussed the Middle East crisis with the Egyptian leader and that both Macron and Sisi had agreed on the need to avoid further regional escalation.

Turkey's Erdogan in rare Iraq visit to discuss water, oil, security
Associated Press/April 22/2024
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Iraq on Monday for his first official visit in more than a decade as his country seeks greater cooperation from Baghdad in its fight against a Kurdish militant group that has a foothold in northern Iraq. Other issues also loom large between the two countries, including water supply issues and exports of oil and gas from northern Iraq to Turkey, which have been halted for more than a year. Erdogan's last visit to Iraq was in 2011, when he was Turkey's prime minister. Iraqi government spokesperson Bassem al-Awadi said in a statement that Erdogan's visit will be a "major starting point in Iraqi-Turkish relations" and will include the signing of a deal on a "joint approach to security challenges" and a "strategic agreement on the water file," among other issues. Erdogan has said his country plans to launch a major operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, a Kurdish separatist movement banned in Turkey and with operations in Iraq, during the summer, with the aim of "permanently" eradicating the threat it poses. Turkey has carried out numerous ground offensives against the group in northern Iraq in the past while Turkish jets frequently target suspected PKK targets in the region. Ankara now aims to create a 30- to 40-kilometer (19 to 25-mile) deep security corridor along the joint border with Iraq, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler told journalists last month.
The group, whose fight for an autonomous Kurdish state in southeast Turkey has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s, is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies. Baghdad has complained in the past that Turkish operations against the PKK violate its sovereignty, but appears to be coming closer to Ankara's stance. In March, after a meeting between the Iraqi and Turkish foreign ministers, Baghdad announced that the Iraqi National Security Council had issued a ban on the PKK, although it stopped short of designating it as a terrorist organization. The two countries issued a joint statement in which they said the group represents a "security threat to both Turkey and Iraq" and that its presence on Iraqi territory was a "violation of the Iraqi Constitution." Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told journalists during a visit to Washington last week that Iraq and Turkey have "true interests with one another and common projects." He noted that the PKK has long had a presence in northern Iraq, "but we are not allowing any armed group to be on Iraqi territory and using it as a launch pad for attacks."Ankara has argued that the presence of PKK bases poses a threat to the planned construction of a major trade route, the Iraq Development Road, that would connect the port of Grand Faw in Basra, southern Iraq, to Turkey and Europe through a network of rail lines and highways. Baghdad might take a similar approach to the PKK as it has taken to Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in northern Iraq. The presence of the Iranian dissidents had become a point of tension with Tehran, which periodically launched airstrikes on their bases in Iraq. Last summer, Iran and Iraq reached an agreement to disarm the dissident groups and relocate their members from military bases to displacement camps. Talks between Erdogan and Iraqi officials are also expected to focus on energy cooperation as well as the possible resumption of oil flow through a pipeline to Turkey. A pipeline running from the semiautonomous Kurdish region to Turkey has been shut down since March 2023, after an arbitration court ruling ordered Ankara to pay Iraq $1.5 billion for oil exports that bypassed the Iraqi central government. The sharing of oil and gas revenues has long been a contentious issue between Baghdad and Kurdish authorities in Irbil. Water rights are also likely to be a key issue on the table. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which provide most of Iraq's fresh water, originate in Turkey. In recent years, Iraqi officials have complained that dams installed by Turkey are reducing Iraq's water supply. Experts fear that climate change is likely to exacerbate existing water shortages in Iraq, with potentially devastating consequences. Mustafa Hassan, a resident of Baghdad said that he hopes that Erdogan's visit "will help to solve problems related to water, because Iraq is suffering from a water scarcity crisis, and this affects agriculture."

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 22-23/2024
The Fantasy of Reviving Nuclear Energy
The New York Times/By Stephanie Cooke/April 22/2024
World leaders are not unaware of the nuclear industry’s long history of failing to deliver on its promises, or of its weakening vital signs. Yet many continue to act as if a “nuclear renaissance” could be around the corner even though nuclear energy’s share of global electricity generation has fallen by almost half from its high of roughly 17 percent in 1996. In search of that revival, representatives from more than 30 countries gathered in Brussels in March at a nuclear summit hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Belgian government. Thirty-four nations, including the United States and China, agreed “to work to fully unlock the potential of nuclear energy,” including extending the lifetime of existing reactors, building new nuclear power plants and deploying advanced reactors.
Yet even as they did so, there was an acknowledgment of the difficulty of their undertaking. “Nuclear technology can play an important role in the clean energy transition,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, told summit attendees. But she added that “the reality today, in most markets, is a reality of a slow but steady decline in market share” for nuclear power. The numbers underscore that downturn. Solar and wind power together began outperforming nuclear power globally in 2021, and that trend continues as nuclear staggers along. Solar alone added more than 400 gigawatts of capacity worldwide last year, two-thirds more than the previous year. That’s more than the roughly 375 gigawatts of combined capacity of the world’s 415 nuclear reactors, which remained relatively unchanged last year. At the same time, investment in energy storage technology is rapidly accelerating. In 2023, BloombergNEF reported that investors for the first time put more money into stationary energy storage than they did into nuclear.
Still, the drumbeat for nuclear power has become pronounced. At the United Nations climate conference in Dubai in December, the Biden administration persuaded two dozen countries to pledge to triple their nuclear energy capacity by 2050. Those countries included allies of the United States with troubled nuclear programs, most notably France, Britain, Japan and South Korea, whose nuclear bureaucracies will be propped up by the declaration as well as the domestic nuclear industries they are trying to save.
“We are not making the argument to anybody that this is absolutely going to be a sweeping alternative to every other energy source,” John Kerry, the Biden administration climate envoy at the time, said. “But we know because the science and the reality of facts and evidence tell us that you can’t get to net zero 2050 without some nuclear.”
That view has gained traction with energy planners in Eastern Europe who see nuclear as a means of replacing coal, and several countries — including Canada, Sweden, Britain and France — are pushing to extend the operating lifetimes of existing nuclear plants or build new ones. Some see smaller or more “advanced” reactors as a means of providing electricity in remote areas or as a means of decarbonizing sectors such as heat, industry or transportation.
So far most of this remains in early stages, with only three nuclear reactors under construction in Western Europe, two in Britain and one in France, each more than a decade behind schedule. Of the approximately 54 other reactors under construction worldwide as of March, 23 are in China, seven are in India, and three are in Russia, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The total is less than a quarter of the 234 reactors under construction in the peak year of 1979, although 48 of those were later suspended or abandoned.
Even if you agree with Kerry’s argument, and many energy experts do not, pledging to triple nuclear capacity by 2050 is a little like promising to win the lottery. For the United States, it would mean adding an additional 200 gigawatts of nuclear operating capacity (almost double what the country has ever built) to the 100 gigawatts or so that now exists, generated by more than 90 commercial reactors that have been running an average of 42 years. Globally it would mean tripling the existing capacity built over the past 70 years in less than half that time in addition to replacing reactors that will shut down before 2050.
The Energy Department estimates the total cost of such an effort in the United States at roughly $700 billion. But David Schlissel, a director at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, has calculated that the two new reactors at the Vogtle plant in Georgia — the only new reactors built in the United States in a generation — on average, cost $21.2 million per megawatt in today’s dollars — which translates to $21.2 billion per gigawatt. Using that figure as a yardstick, the cost of building 200 gigawatts of new capacity would be far higher: at least $4 trillion, or $6 trillion if you count the additional cost of replacing existing reactors as they age out. There’s a certain inevitability about the US Energy Department’s latest push for more nuclear energy. The agency’s predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission, brought us Atoms for Peace under Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s in a bid to develop the “peaceful” side of the atom, hoping it would gain public acceptance of an expanding arsenal of nuclear weapons while supplying electricity “too cheap to meter.” There is already enough potential generation capacity in the United States seeking access to the grid to come close to achieving President Biden’s 2035 goal of a zero-carbon electricity sector, and 95 percent of it is solar, battery storage and wind. But these projects face a hugely constrained transmission system, regulatory and financial roadblocks and entrenched utility interests, enough to prevent many of them from ever providing electricity, according to a report released last year by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Even so, existing transmission capacity can be doubled by retrofitting transmission lines with advanced conductors, which would offer at least a partial way out of the gridlock for renewables, in addition to storage, localized distribution and improved management of supply and demand.
What’s missing are leaders willing to buck their own powerful nuclear bureaucracies and choose paths that are far cheaper, less dangerous and quicker to deploy. Without them we are doomed to more promises and wasteful spending by nuclear proponents who have repeatedly shown that they can talk but can’t deliver.

In the Company Weak Mighty Players
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 22/2024
The most dangerous thing about the blaze engulfing the Middle East is that the powerful players are also weak. They have the ability to launch and wage a war, but lack the ability to end it with a knockout blow or a viable settlement.
The extent of the crisis demonstrates that sedatives are useless. They have been tested before and only brought fiercer wars. The real solutions demand painful and unpopular decisions that the parties seem incapable of or reluctant to take. So, the region appears stuck in a dangerous trap and open conflict, regardless of how intense it is. The people of the Middle East are watching the painful developments unfold. The United States doesn’t need to demonstrate its might. Amid the collapses in the Middle East, Russia’s role appears limited and China is far away. No one is vying for America’s place in the driver’s seat. The US is a major force that should not be antagonized. It is a source of concern - to various degrees - for its allies and enemies alike. In wake of the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation, the US dispatched its fleet to the region to prevent the war from spilling over into the region and harming the security and economy of the world. It succeeded, but it could not stop the “accompanying wars” that erupted in the Red Sea and southern Lebanon. It also could not stop the drones launched by the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq or the “messages” delivered across the Golan.
As in the rest of the world, the American military machine cannot be ignored in the Middle East. It is alert on land, at sea and in the skies. It boasts an extraordinary ability to prevent and deter. The US may not have been able to prevent Tehran from retaliating to the painful Israeli attack on its consulate in Damascus, but it managed to prevent the Iranian rockets and drones from dealing a painful blow to Israel.
Iran itself understood the American message. It announced the timing of its attack and agreed that it would be a light one. The US could not prevent the Iranian attack on Israel or persuade the latter against responding. It did, however, make the Isfahan strike a limited one in scope, not in meaning. It prevented the two sides from dealing major blows, but did not succeed in preventing them from exchanging heated messages.
Russia’s Putin is preoccupied with its war in Ukraine. Its military presence in Syria did not guarantee the rise of a “Russian Syria” or neutralize the Syrian scene. China’s Xi Jinping has complex and long-term calculations. It has one eye set on the economy and the other on Taiwan. It is in no rush to duel with the US. So, the people of the Middle East have found themselves confronted with one large looming shadow: America. But the mighty US is also weak when it comes to the essence of the conflict in the Middle East. Whenever it approaches the issue of the Palestinian state, wars are launched at Congress given the Israeli lobby running deep in its institutions. Benjamin Netanyahu has never hesitated in defying previous American presidents. And he has not hesitated in defying the current one. He boasts that Israel is not an American state run by the White House and that the Israeli army, which always relies on its American arsenal, is not an American militia to whom Washington sets rules of engagement and red lines.
Iran is a large and powerful country in the region. It is experienced in “strategic patience” and infiltration. It has changed the features of some parts of the Middle East. It can mobilize four Arab maps that it has been running and deciding its choices for years. It can approach Israel from several fronts. Its small roaming armies can engage in long low intensity wars. But this strong Iran does not want to slip into a full-scale direct war with Israel from which the US would not remain on the sidelines. Harassing the US is a practice that has been adopted for decades, but waging a direct war with it is out of the question because its outcome is already a foregone conclusion.
The strong Iran is also weak. The maps it is controlling are turbulent and divided. It has no solution to the problems in these maps and does not have a model it can promote there. Moreover, the parallel wars that have preoccupied Israel are costly and have not altered the fate of Gaza.
Iran is also weak when it comes to a solution that guarantees the establishment of a Palestinian state that the West is hinging on its uncategorical recognition of Israel. The Iranian revolution cannot relinquish the most important card it has held since its victory: uprooting the cancerous tumor called Israel.
Israel is a powerful country that boasts a superior military arsenal. Its army has committed a massacre that is unprecedented in the post-World War II world. Its jets are running rampant across the skies of the Middle East. They chase proxies and bloody the Lebanese and Syrian maps. Iran came close to its nuclear facilities, so they flew close to its nuclear facilities in Isfahan. The West criticizes its atrocities, but cannot abandon Israel.
Israel too is weak. The piles of bodies in Gaza have deepened the world’s conviction of the need for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. America has been pumping weapons, ammunition and billions of dollars in its veins, but it is unable to decide the conflict in its favor. The Palestinians are being killed, but their cause refuses to die. Israel is evading the moment of truth, but it cannot keep running away forever. Hamas is strong. It dealt Israel an unprecedented blow on October 7. It reimposed the Palestinian cause on the world agenda. For months, Hamas has fought with extraordinary fierceness, but this led to Israel committing a new Nakba against the people of Gaza. Hamas is strong, but the price is high and the horizon is bleak. The hostages card is not enough and saving Rafah seems impossible. Moreover, the establishment of a Palestinian state hinges on the recognition of an Israeli state and providing more international guarantees to it. Yehya al-Sinwar did not launch the Al-Aqsa Flood to abandon the dream of eliminating Israel.
Hezbollah is strong. In wake of the Flood, it launched a war to harass Israel, but also stopped short of engaging in a full-scale conflict. It boasts an advanced arsenal that can harm Israel’s army, institutions and economy. But Hezbollah is also weak. Lebanon is divided, fragmented and broke. The majority of the Lebanese people do not want an open war with Israel. A beleaguered Lebanon cannot withstand large-scale destruction in Beirut similar to the devastation in Gaza.
There’s no point in awaiting Guterres. The keys lie in the strong/weak America that is deep in the long elections season. Can Blinken come up with the formula to douse the flames and pave the way for solutions? Can he weave a web where profits, losses and guarantees are distributed, and the limits of roles and arsenals in the region are drawn?

Israel Embraced, Israel Encircled
Sam Menassa/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 22/2024
The Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel, as well as the response of the US and its Western allies in defense of Israel on the night of the attack, have brought to light many revelations that go beyond the exceptional nature of the attack itself.
Firstly, they showed that the US and Western allies did not align with Israel for its protection alone, as had been the case previously. They also stood behind it because of their sense, if not fear, of the threat posed by the adversary it is facing this time, Iran and its proxies in the region.
The cloud that had been obscuring the West's vision of the multifaceted threats Iran poses beyond its nuclear program was removed: its role in destabilizing regional security and breaking the region's states apart, its interference in the affairs of the Gulf states to build a new regional security system centered around Iran, and regional states approving of its political and military influence. Added to these threats is its role in undermining global security, whether by supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine, threatening global shipping in the Red Sea, or expanding its influence in East Africa and Central Asia.
The Gaza war that erupted in October 2023 has highlighted Iran's direct role in regional developments. It demonstrated that the various parties and movements that form the so-called "resistance against Israel" are committed to serving Iran, not to the causes of their own countries and their liberation. Iran controls them, and their actions are shaped to further its agenda.
Secondly, they showed that the regional shadow war that has been raging for years, between Iran and its allies on the one hand, and Israel and the West (particularly the United States and its allies) has come out into the open. For years, Israel has been conducting strikes on Iran and its allies in Syria, as well as raids and assassinations in Iran itself. These attacks have persisted throughout the past six months of its ongoing military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. Nonetheless, the attack of April 1st stood out, as it targeted a diplomatic site, which is traditionally not a military target, a clear declaration of war that Iran could only respond to directly.
Thirdly, they showed that Iran is fully aware of the United States' deterrence capacities in the region and the genuine commitment of Western powers to Israel's security, which allowed the latter to avoid casualties and damage. The Iranian response to the attack on its consulate in Damascus was calculated, reserved, and contained. Those who have said that it had been intended to "save face" were not wrong.
The retaliation had been announced beforehand, depriving Iran of the element of surprise. The weapons used in the attack, despite its intensity, were interceptable because of how long it took for them to reach their targets. Iran doubtlessly possesses more lethal and powerful weapons than those it chose to utilize, but it refrained from using them to avoid igniting a broad war, which all sides, especially Iran and the United States, want to avoid. This desire to avoid sparking a regional war might also explain why Iran did not call on its local proxies to avenge it this time around.
Fourthly, the night of drones and the Gaza war have highlighted the gap between Iran's military and technological capabilities and Israel's cutting-edge technological capacities. Israel's multi-layered defense systems allowed it to intercept 99 percent of the drones and missiles that Iran had launched. Many of them were intercepted outside Israeli territory, over the skies over Jordan and Iraq, with the United States conducting most of the operations.
The fifth and most important revelation that came to light that night is that the United States recognizes that this ongoing war in the region is being waged by two fanatics that must both be deterred: Iran and the far-right Israeli government. While Washington and its Western allies have rallied together around protecting Israel, this military embrace will come at a political cost for the Israeli state. That much was obvious from the scale and nature of the Israeli response to Iran's retaliation for the attack on its consulate in Damascus, which was limited to airstrikes in Isfahan. More of these political costs will emerge in the Gaza war and the mini-war in South Lebanon.
Despite all of the arrogance that Israel has shown, the stage we are currently in makes it particularly difficult for Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government to go against or antagonize their allies. It is also becoming clear that the US president is taking a balanced approach. On the one hand, he wants to safeguard Israel's security, and on the other, he wants to prevent it from escalating against Iran.
Iran's retaliation to the attack on its consulate in Damascus and the subsequent Israeli airstrikes on Isfahan, will probably not give rise to a trajectory that leads to a full-scale war. A return to the status quo that had been in place prior to the consulate strike is likely, with negotiations regarding the situation in Gaza and South Lebanon likely to continue.
Although it was calculated, Iran's retaliation necessitated intervention from allies. It created the nucleus for a coalition that includes the US, Britain, France, and Jordan, while other Arab countries are not far from it. This emergence of this nucleus could potentially open the door to expanding this coalition, as other Arab countries could be added in the future if two Israeli impediments are resolved. The first is the immense and glaring mistakes Israel has committed throughout the Gaza war and its callous violence in the West Bank. The second is its lack of a political vision, as Israel has been focused solely on the security dimension of all matters tied to Palestine.
Today, the entire world, particularly the Arab region, stands at a crossroads. Global and regional balances are being reshaped by ongoing developments. The broader geopolitical landscape suggests that political and religious extremism are receding. The reasons for this are many: the West has realized that it had been a mistake to indulge political Islam, extremist Sunni groups have been severely weakened, the West has had to stand up to Russia-Putin and defend Ukraine, Europe has confronted populist right-wing movements, the Shiite fanaticism represented by Iran and its proxies has been contained, and Jewish extremism in Israel is being pushed back.
The success of the coalition's response to the Iranian attack on Israel on one hand, and Israel's encirclement by belligerents on the other, will inevitably reflect on the Arab world. It must be built upon to create an Arab initiative focused more on politics than security. This effort must encapsulate all the diplomatic movements we have seen over the past six months and push for a two-state solution while simultaneously fortifying regional security through strategic cooperation among partners. Most importantly, it must reflect the moderation that has been chosen by most Arab states, at the forefront of which are Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan. Without this coalition, Iran and the figures of tyranny and extremism will continue to sow unrest and conflict across the region, as well as create obstacles to peace, development, and cooperation.

You think this situation is terrifying? Wait until Iran goes nuclear
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/April 23/2024
While the tit-for-tat exchange between Israel and Iran has fundamentally altered strategic calculations about regional security, it is just starting to dawn on the world how much more dangerous the situation would be if both sides possessed nuclear weapons. Israel’s strike at Isfahan, in the vicinity of several nuclear facilities, was a warning shot, while Revolutionary Guards commander Ahmad Haqtalab threatened to attack Israeli nuclear sites if Iranian installations were targeted. Haqtalab warned of Iran’s readiness to revise its doctrine on developing its own nuclear weapons, fueling concerns that Tehran could embark on a final rush toward acquiring these capabilities. International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors report “frenzied activity” at Iran’s Fordow nuclear site, including newly installed equipment, enrichment of uranium with ever greater rapidity and expansion projects for doubling the plant’s output and scaling up of uranium production just a “flip of a switch” from weapons grade. Iran’s larger Natanz plant is also vigorously churning out highly enriched uranium. Iran is building additional infrastructure so deep into the Natanz mountainside that there are doubts that any kind of US or Israeli strike could touch nuclear activities there.
Experts warn that Iran requires just a few days to upgrade sufficient uranium for three bombs. Manufacture of a crude nuclear device would take about six months, while building a missile-delivered nuclear warhead may require a couple of years, assuming Tehran has not clandestinely developed these capabilities already. Documents stolen in a 2018 Israeli raid indicate years of extensive research into the full spectrum of capabilities necessary for engineering nuclear Armageddon. Iran’s top nuclear official, Mohammed Eslami, appeared to boast in January that Iran had arrived at military breakout threshold, crowing that “deterrence has been achieved.” IAEA director general Rafael Grossi condemned this “loose talk” about possessing nuclear weapons, while warning of a domino effect as other regional states raced to acquire their own nuclear capacities.There are numerous terrifying scenarios that could rapidly escalate into a nuclear exchange, leaving millions dead and the region destroyed
I recall participating in the 2009 Doha Debate, arguing against those making the case that Iran could be trusted not to build a nuclear bomb. Iran’s apologists, including supposed experts and academics, took the view that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had declared nuclear weapons to be un-Islamic, while asserting a God-given right to enrich uranium. I argued the case for a region wholly free of weapons of mass destruction, although I would go further in advocating comprehensive global nuclear disarmament. Since 2022, this existential threat has been further highlighted by the casual manner in which Russia has repeatedly expressed its readiness to resort to these horrific weapons whenever it came under pressure over Ukraine.
The mutual embrace between the likes of China, Iran, Russia and North Korea is growing ever tighter. Despite the latest batches of sanctions imposed on Tehran, we have arguably entered an era in which Western sanctions are broadly irrelevant. This large bloc of states, containing a sizable proportion of the planet’s population, is able to trade, finance itself, arm itself and secure its energy needs, while Western leaders impotently yell and decry from the sidelines, in a world in which the dollar no longer holds universal sway. The same processes have utterly paralyzed the global infrastructure for international law and conflict resolution established after the Second World War. So, does the regime in Tehran feel increasingly untouchable? Damn right it does. Over recent months, proxies such as Hezbollah have nervously pulled their punches to avoid disproportionate retaliation from a greatly superior Israeli fighting machine. But what about a scenario in which Hezbollah and other paramilitaries fired tens of thousands of missiles at Israeli population centers, while Tehran pointed its nukes at Tel Aviv and dared Israel to respond? Given that Israel already has its own nuclear arsenal, there are numerous terrifying scenarios that could rapidly escalate into a nuclear exchange, leaving millions dead and the region destroyed.
For many years, posturing world leaders declared that Iran would not be allowed to continue enriching uranium to 5 percent purity. Then it was 20 percent. Now the nuclear clock is ticking inexorably toward midnight. Will it be another North Korea, when rhetoric about not allowing Pyongyang to develop advanced military capacities was supplanted by language about learning to live with a nuclearized Korean Peninsula and hoping for the best?
Although Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal was deeply flawed, Donald Trump’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018 and the imposition of largely ineffective sanctions was disastrous, allowing Tehran to continue its progress toward a bomb. Biden administration officials have long since acknowledged that efforts to revive the 2015 deal are dead in the water, but their failure to consider other options has left a dangerous policy vacuum. Iran’s rejection of key elements of IAEA inspections means the watchdog may be incapable of detecting nuclear breakout. As one US official put it, the Iranians are “dancing right up to the edge.”The horrors of nuclear conflict are, by definition, unthinkable, meaning mediocre Western leaders have consistently refused to think seriously about these increasingly imminent threats or countenance strategic policies that could halt this menace.
Twenty years of nuclear negotiations produced precisely nothing, other than marginally delaying Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. The current escalatory regional situation is terrifying — but it is not a fraction as bad as it could be once the atomic ambitions of the ayatollahs are realized, while Israel’s blood-drunk leaders continue to push threat levels beyond boiling point, driving the planet inexorably closer to the real risk of nuclear apocalypse.
**Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

Palestinian cause must be freed from Iran-Israel trap
Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami/Arab News/April 23/2024
Iran’s recent military strike on Israel sparked much debate over its implications. While some argue that Iran achieved symbolic victories and potentially reshaped its relations with Israel and the US, others suggest that the primary focus should be on the impact of the attack on the Palestinian cause, particularly during this critical juncture. However, beyond the controversy, it appears that the missile and drone strikes had little utility and actually harmed the Palestinian plight.
The strikes, planned by Tehran, aimed to secure symbolic gains without provoking significant responses from Israel or the US. But the Palestinians were not factored into Iran’s strategic calculations. Consequently, the attack failed to serve the Palestinian cause. Furthermore, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu capitalized on the strikes to divert international attention away from the Palestinian issue. By leveraging the situation, he sought to evade pressure to cease the war in Gaza and to reposition himself both domestically and internationally.
The aftermath of the strikes has significantly complicated the situation for Palestinians. Prior to the Iranian attack, the Palestinian issue was firmly in the spotlight among international and regional powers. Netanyahu and his government were also under mounting internal pressure due to the security failures leading up to Oct. 7. Subsequently, they faced isolation and increasing American and Western pressure. This pressure escalated to the point where there were calls to replace Netanyahu and his hard-line allies with leaders who would be more inclined toward constructive approaches to political settlements and resolving the long-standing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
In addition, there was a regional insistence on Israel ending its military campaign in the Gaza Strip. And there were urgent appeals to alleviate the humanitarian crisis and provide essential aid to civilians. Most crucially, there was a concerted effort to pursue a fair resolution to the enduring Palestinian issue. Israel’s global image had suffered a severe blow, reaching its lowest ebb, while the legitimate rights of Palestinians garnered unprecedented support. The plight of Gaza had elicited widespread sympathy on an international scale.
Netanyahu capitalized on the Iranian strikes to divert international attention away from the Palestinian issue
The Iranian attack on Israel dramatically altered the dynamics surrounding the Palestinian conflict, granting Netanyahu his desired outcome. Israel, previously isolated both regionally and internationally, found itself at the center of a coalition rallying to defend its territory. Formerly marginalized Israeli leaders began receiving support from world leaders, transforming Israel’s international standing from accused to defender.
Israel wasted no time in leveraging the strikes to refurbish its image, portraying itself as a victim facing an existential threat in a hostile environment — a narrative it has cultivated for decades. The discord between Washington and Tel Aviv gave way to a profound understanding, which Netanyahu capitalized on to navigate the internal pressures that preceded the attack. With the successful repulsion of the Iranian strikes, Netanyahu gained the legitimacy to bolster his authority, empowering him to pursue hard-line policies toward the Palestinians and disregard international calls for negotiations to resolve the conflict.
The recent attack could have held significance for the Palestinians and their cause had Iran integrated it into its rhetoric of supporting and defending Palestine, especially at this critical juncture for the Palestinian issue. However, the strikes were executed without consideration for the challenges facing the Palestinian cause or the dire situation in Gaza. They also disregarded the presence of Iran’s allies in Gaza, which are actively engaged in the Palestinian resistance and are being targeted by Israel.
From Iran’s perspective, the strikes represented a victory, providing protection for its leaders in the face of Israeli aggression and restoring a sense of dignity. Additionally, they served to maintain Iran’s reputation and domestic credibility amid the ongoing conflict.
Iran’s recent actions not only deviated from its vocal support for Palestine, but also had a detrimental effect on the Palestinian cause, diverting global attention away from it at a crucial moment. This diversion hindered international efforts aimed at halting the ongoing conflict, alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and pressuring Israel to cease its military operations against civilians.
Israel wasted no time in leveraging the strikes to refurbish its image, portraying itself as a victim.
Instead of bolstering support for Palestinians, Iran’s attack provided Netanyahu and hard-line elements within his government the justification to disregard both internal and external pressures. This emboldened them to intensify military operations in Gaza, as evidenced by the subsequent developments on the ground. Additionally, it allowed them to consider implementing previously postponed aggressive plans, such as storming Rafah, potentially escalating the conflict further.
And by diverting international attention, Iran inadvertently facilitated Israel’s ability to prolong the conflict, allowing it to exploit the distraction to advance its military objectives while the world’s focus was elsewhere. This has prolonged the suffering of civilians and exacerbated the humanitarian crisis, which has been raging incessantly for more than six months.
In addition, while the international community is preoccupied with the Iranian strikes on Israel and Friday’s apparent Israeli counterattack, on the Ukrainian front, it has been reported that Russian troops have made advances at the expense of Ukrainian forces, which are suffering from arms depletion against the backdrop of the US Congress’ sluggishness in approving a new round of funding.
The danger lies in Israel’s potential exploitation of the opportunity provided by Iran, which could lead to the imposition of a new reality regarding the Palestinian issue. Netanyahu may seize upon the Iranian strikes to evade pressure and demands concerning the Palestinian problem, while the US might leverage them to advance its wider regional agenda. However, it is imperative that the international community and regional nations resist falling into this trap. They must not be swayed by the extremist policies of Iran and Israel, which could exploit regional escalation and polarization within competing security frameworks, potentially sparking a new cold war in the Middle East. Such actions could serve as a diversion from domestic political, economic and security failures.
The Palestinian cause should not be held hostage to the ambitions of Iran and Israel, nor should it be manipulated to strengthen their respective positions. It is crucial to restore regional and international momentum toward ending the conflict and achieving a just and comprehensive settlement for Palestine. Urgent efforts are needed to pressure Israel and its government to curb their extremist policies. A resolution to this issue is not only essential for the stability and security of the region, but also for fostering broader integration and cooperation initiatives.
*Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami is the founder and president of the International Institute for Iranian Studies (Rasanah). X: @mohalsulami

How Gaza conflict thrust Palestine statehood quest back to center stage
Alex Wihteman/Arab News/April 22, 2024
LONDON: Israel’s military operation in Gaza has raised questions about potential scenarios for postwar governance and security. The emerging consensus view — at least for now — seems to be the need for a two-state solution.
There are several barriers to the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, however. One immediate stumbling block is that the dream of Palestinian statehood rests on the fortunes of the incumbent administrations in Israel and the US. The normally close allies appeared more divided than ever since Washington’s abstention in a UN Security Council vote on March 25 resulted in the passing of a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire. Relations soured further after seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen were killed on April 1 in a series of Israeli airstrikes while distributing food in the Gaza Strip, leading to additional censure by Washington.
Even before these events, the US government had voiced open support for a Palestinian state. In his State of the Union address on March 8, US President Joe Biden made clear that “the only real solution is a two-state solution.”However, Biden faces a tight election slated for Nov. 5. If he loses to his Republican challenger, Donald Trump — who was an ardent supporter of Israel’s hard-right policies during his last presidency — a two-state outcome seems unlikely.
Indeed, chatter among Trump loyalists suggests the former president may be leaning toward support for the removal of Palestinians from Gaza once and for all, with the starkest indication coming from his son-in-law and former Middle East adviser Jared Kushner. Asked at the Harvard Kennedy School in March whether he expected Benjamin Netanyahu to block Gazans from returning in the event they were removed en masse, Kushner said: “Maybe,” before adding: “I am not sure there is much left of Gaza.”On March 5, Trump told Fox News that Israel had to “finish the problem” in Gaza. When asked about a two-state solution, Trump avoided the question, simply stating: “You had a horrible invasion that took place that would have never happened if I was president.”On April 18, 12 countries at the UN Security Council voted to back a resolution recommending full Palestinian membership. Only the US voted against, using its veto to block the resolution.
The draft resolution called for recommending to the General Assembly “that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations” in place of its current “non-member observer state” status, which it has held since 2012.
The majority of the UN’s 193 member states — 137, according to a Palestinian count — have recognized a Palestinian state. Regardless of the outcome of the draft resolution, the fate of Palestinian statehood also rests on the actions of the Israeli government and the views of a divided public. Polling data from the Pew Research Center suggest that dwindling support for a two-state outcome in Israel has been driven primarily by the country’s Arab population. In 2013, some 74 percent of Arab Israelis said that they believed an independent Israel and Palestine could coexist, with this number dropping to 64 percent in 2014 before plummeting to 41 percent in April last year.Conversely, belief in peaceful coexistence among Jewish Israelis has fluctuated between 46 and 37 percent over the past 10 years, dropping to 32 percent before the Oct. 7 attacks.
INNUMBERS
• 41% Arab Israelis who believe peaceful coexistence is possible, down from 74 percent in 2013.
• 32% Jewish Israelis who believe peaceful coexistence is possible, down from 46 percent in 2013.
Crucially, however, support for a single Israeli state has never been a majority view, with some 15 percent undecided, suggesting that the hesitancy in support for it is based on not knowing what such a system would look like in practice.
This assessment reflects that of Benjamin Case, postdoctoral research scholar at Arizona State University, who said that with the right framing, Israelis could come around to supporting a two-state solution.
“Public opinion shifts in response to horizons of political possibility,” Case told Arab News. “Israelis want the return of their loved ones who are held hostage, and they want guaranteed safety — and of course they want things that most people want, like healthy, prosperous lives. “If a real solution is offered that brings peace and security, I think most Israelis will eventually get behind it.”
Lawmakers in Washington, it seems, are trying to provide such a framing. On March 20, a group of 19 Democratic senators issued a public call for Biden to establish a “bold, public framework” for the realization of the two-state solution once the war in Gaza is over. Cognizant of the ongoing security concerns in Israel, the call suggested a model based on a “non-militarized Palestinian state.”
It called for the unification of both Gaza and the West Bank under the Palestinian flag, and said that this newly recognized country could be governed by a “revitalized and reformed Palestinian Authority.” Case said that while it is important to recognize Israeli security concerns in forging a Palestinian state, any model needed to pay particular attention to the rights of Palestinians. He stressed that Palestinian human rights “must come before the preferences of Israelis,” but said that meeting those needs with a Palestinian state was a “sensible solution for the extreme violence in Israel and Palestine. “A Palestinian state would likely deprive Hamas of its reason for existing,” he said. “Hamas grew out of conditions of prolonged occupation, and thrives on the conflict. “What popularity it has among Palestinians comes less from its governance and more because it represents resistance against occupation in a hopeless situation. If a path to a Palestinian state is realized, Hamas would have to reform significantly or would lose power.”
Mouin Rabbani, co-editor of the independent Jadaliyya ezine and a former analyst for International Crisis Group, is concerned that despite growing Western support for a two-state solution, the world appears no closer to achieving this goal.
“I don’t think a two-state settlement is now closer than previously,” Rabbani told Arab News. “The passage of time makes it increasingly difficult to achieve.
“A two-state settlement is a question of political will, not of artificial points-of-no-return. On this score, political will among Israel and its Western sponsors to end the 1967 occupation, without which there can be no two-state settlement, has been systematically non-existent.”Nonetheless, he said, “in view of recent developments,” it was pertinent to pose “related but no less important questions” on the desirability of a two-state outcome and its durability in light of what he described as “the genocidal, irrational apartheid regime that is Israel.”Regarding the positions of countries in the Arab world, he suggested there was “diminishing purchase” on the desire for peace with Israel. Contesting Rabbani’s position, Case believes Palestinian statehood is now closer to becoming reality than it was on Oct. 6, and that the “gross disproportionality” of Israel’s response to the Hamas terror attack had played its part in this.”“Ironically, had Israel shown restraint following the Oct. 7 attack, it may well have been the opposite,” he said.
“The brutality of the Hamas assault would likely have fostered unprecedented international sympathy for Israel, entrenching Israeli occupation policies.
“However, the Israeli military response, especially the shocking scale of civilian casualties in Gaza, as well as the genocidal remarks made by many Israeli officials toward Palestinians, have reversed the backfiring effect, raising international awareness about the injustices of the occupation and generating urgency to find a durable solution.”The two-state solution, a proposed framework for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was first proposed in 1947 under the UN Partition Plan for Palestine at the end of the British Mandate. However, successive bouts of conflict, which saw Israel expand its area of control, put paid to this initiative.
Then in 1993, the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization agreed on a plan to implement a two-state solution as part of the Oslo Accords, leading to the establishment of the Palestinian Authority. This Palestinian state would be based on the borders established after the 1967 war and would have East Jerusalem as its capital. However, this process again failed amid violent opposition from far-right Israelis and Palestinian militants. Since then, the growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, reciprocal attacks, the undermining of the Palestinian Authority, and ever harsher security controls imposed by Israel, have left the two-state solution all but unworkable in the eyes of many.
For others, it remains the only feasible option.

The ‘Fecal’ Jihad on Churches
Raymond Ibrahim/The Stream/April 22/2024
Although the topic of this article is disgusting, that is not reason enough to be ignorant of it. It is not enough for Muslims to continuously attack, vandalize, and set churches aflame throughout Western European regions that hold a sizeable Islamic presence. Another, rather sordid, tactic is apparently on the rise: Churches are now routinely being desecrated and smeared with human and animal excrement. g feces. Two weeks earlier, on March 15, two churches in Germany were defiled with excrement; in one of them, the feces was found near the altar.
A few days before that, vandals broke into and plundered a church in Italy, leaving human excrement on the floor. “The parish priest,” the report adds, “expressed his shock and disgust about this gesture of degradation and disrespect.” Also in Italy, two months earlier, excrement and urine were found mixed in the stoups (basins of holy water where worshippers dip their fingers before crossing themselves) at another church. Similar examples stretch back decades. In 2019, an especially irreverent one occurred: Invaders used human excrement to draw a cross on the Notre-Dame des Enfants Church in Nimes. In France, attacks on churches average two per day. The identities of the poo-perpetrators are often never discovered. Sometimes they are intentionally concealed, as in this case from Spain, where surveillance cameras captured a “youth” defecating inside a church and smearing his waste on a statue of Christ; the video was made public only after the culprit’s face was blurred out.
All that said, it is telling that the vast majority of cases are occurring in precisely those Western nations that hold large Muslim populations, like Germany (here, here, here, here); France (here, here, here, here); Italy (here, here, here), and so on, and so forth. Several churches, it’s worth noting, have been targeted on multiple occasions. Anrul Lourdu, the pastor of a German church that was for several months in a row smeared with dog feces. expressed his dismay:
We are speechless and meanwhile also powerless. It is simply undignified, unattractive and inhumane what is happening. We don’t know what to do any more.
In Italy, after feces were found smeared on the door handles of another church, Father Angelo Rivas expressed similar resignation:
It’s an escalation. First vandals urinating in the churchyard, eating and leaving dirt, only a week ago they soiled the door handles with dung, and now they have set the fire [to the church]. What should we do?
Rather than seeing justice done, catching the culprits can lead to more problems. Discussing how his cathedral in France was “daily” desecrated with feces and urine, one priest said, “Even when you catch them red-handed, they’re not afraid. It could almost become violent.”
It goes without saying that churches throughout the Muslim world have had similar experiences, further underscoring the identity of the fecal bandits plaguing European churches.
In one instance, after Muslims torched five churches in Kenya, they also “committed the heinous acts of scooping human feces onto the buildings.” In Tunisia, the most moderate Arab nation, fecal matter was smeared on the religious icons and walls of a church. During one Christmas Day in Indonesia, Muslim women and children threw plastic bags filled with dung and urine at Christians trying to celebrate their holy day. (Also in Indonesia — which is often presented as the world’s most “moderate” Muslim nation — a Muslim police officer violently smeared feces on a Christian man’s face, for supposedly “blaspheming” Muhammad.). One even finds this sordid tactic at work throughout history. In 1147 in Portugal, Muslims displayed “with much derision the symbol of the cross,” wrote a chronicler. “They spat upon it and wiped the feces from their posteriors with it.” Decades earlier in Jerusalem, Muslims “spat on [crucifixes] and did not even refrain from urinating on them in the sight of all” (Sword and Scimitar, pp.171, 145).
Such, in short, is the grotesque hatred and contempt some members of the “religion of peace” have for churches and those who worship in them.