Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 20-21/2024
The World Council of the Cedars Revolution Presisent, Joe Baini: An open letter to save Lebanon!
France in efforts to reduce tension in the south of Lebanon
US says pressing Israel and Lebanon to halt escalation
Israel-Hezbollah border clashes: Latest developments
US delegation to discuss support for army during Beirut visit
Jumblat recommends commitment to Res. 1701, armistice agreement
Aoun tacitly criticizes Hezbollah's decision to activate southern front
Building collapse in Choueifat kills 4
Regional engagement: Quintet Committee ambassadors discuss 'next steps' for Lebanon
Agricultural sector in danger: Repercussions of Israeli attacks on Southern Lebanon's agriculture
UNIFIL incident: Indian Contingent vehicle overturns, three personnel injured, one critically
Residential building in Basta area evacuated after collapse warnings: Here are the details
Dialogue in London: Lebanese delegation addresses key issues, including Resolution 1701
Withdrawal and loans: Effects of exchange rate fluctuations between LBP 15,000 and 25,000
Part III – Hezbollah’s narrative on Al-Aqsa Flood: Tailored to appeal to specific Western sensibilities/David Daoud/ FDD's Long War Journal/February 20/2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 20-21/2024
Hamas chief in Cairo for Gaza truce talks
WHO transfers 32 patients out of besieged Gaza hospital
US for a 4th time blocks UN Security Council resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza
Netanyahu says Israel won’t ‘pay any price’ for release of Gaza hostages
Saudi Arabia expresses regret over US veto of UN Gaza ceasefire resolution
UK’s Prince William says ‘too many’ have been killed in Gaza conflict
Attacks on ships and US drones show Yemen’s Houthis can still fight despite US-led airstrikes
Jordanian king meets Algerian assembly president
Ankara, Cairo mend ties, signaling challenges for the Muslim Brotherhood
South Africa tells top UN court it's accusing Israel of apartheid
Associated PressWikiLeaks founder starts final UK legal battle to avoid extradition to US
As Ukraine war enters third year, Putin waits for Western support for Kyiv to wither
Zelensky says foreign aid delays making life 'very difficult' on front line
Hungary says ready to approve Sweden's NATO accession
WikiLeaks founder starts final UK legal battle to avoid extradition to US

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on February 20-21/2024
Turkey is a sanctuary for terrorism financing/Sinan Ciddi/Washington Examiner/February 20/2024
UNRWA donors should reconsider suspension of funds/Kerry Boyd Anderson/Arab News/February 20, 2024
More Than 365 million Christians Face Genocide/Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute./February 20, 2024
Gaza in the Minds of Israelis/Benny Morris/The Tablet/February 20/2024
Day 2 at ICJ hearing: Saudi Arabia condemns Israel’s actions in Palestinian Territories as ‘legally indefensible’/ARAB NEWS/February 20, 2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 20-21/2024
The World Council of the Cedars Revolution Presisent, Joe Baini: An open letter to save Lebanon!
February 20/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/127222/127222/
Too many cooks spoil the broth. Members of parliament who are unfortunately lost in a political world beyond their capacity to comprehend let alone participate. Organizations who swing their vocal and emotional support in accordance with their misled by fabricated knowledge or the lack of understanding of historical facts. Independent business men and woman who have created their own platform only to regurgitate that old phoenician practice of selling anything and everything including their souls for the sake of personal gain; and everyone knows about whom we are referring including those who claim to be supporters of the sovereignty of Lebanon and yet are sympathisers to the terror of Hezbollah’s control and destruction of their homeland.
The Lebanese world both in Lebanon and the Diaspora is aware of all publications about Lebanon’s affiliation and many affiliations of the different Lebanese entities throughout the world.
On every occasion on which we have issued a release or an article, we have advocated only for one beneficiary and that is the people of Lebanon.
we have most emphatically extended unqualified support for the call by his Eminence Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Al Rahi of Lebanon for Lebanon to become a Neutral Nation to be protected by the United Nations.
we abhor the acts of total war which massacre innocent children, destroy honourable families and devastate entire regions and nations for the sake of satisfying the whims of maniacal despots whose only objective is to demonstrate a dictatorial approach to life. We are reluctant to offer support to any side in the conflict, however, when we begin to read articles by supposed intelligent people who seek to pull Lebanon from one side to the other, and those same writers are changing support and/or affiliations for their own individual personal gain, then it’s time to raise the alarm and give credence to the real issues and objectives.
Notwithstanding our neutrality and commitment to Lebanon exclusively, we wish to remind everyone that not too Long ago, there was a massive aggressive movement politically and militarily by the Palestinian Liberation Organization to take control of our beloved Lebanon. Many thousands of people lost their lives in defence of the sovereignty and independence of Lebanon.
Dare we ask the question, who was the only country who came to aid and save Lebanon? Israel of course.
Every nation throughout the world knows now that Iran through its proxy Terrorist organization Hezbollah is well and truly on its way to totally bring Lebanon into its axis of evil and either be rid of the Christians from Lebanon or subject them to third rate citizens in their own country.
We advise all interested parties who claim loyalty to Lebanon to ensure that every article written and every statement made are directed exclusively to the protection of the Lebanon’s sovereignty and the independence and the glory of the people of Lebanon.
**The World Council of the Cedars Revolution
Representing the hopes and aspirations of many millions of Lebanese
in Lebanon and throughout the Diaspora
2200 Pennsylvania Ave.NW.4th Floor, Washington DC, USA 20037
Phone +1 (202) 506 9540, Fax +1 (202) 293 3083
www.cedarsrevolution.net cedarsrevolution@gmail.com

France in efforts to reduce tension in the south of Lebanon
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/February 20, 2024
BEIRUT: France took diplomatic action on Tuesday to ease tensions in southern Lebanon following an Israeli drone attack the previous day on two factories in Ghaziyeh, north of the Litani River. The French Ambassador to Lebanon Herve Magro said after meeting Abdullah Bou Habib, Lebanon’s caretaker foreign minister, that his country’s position “is clear and we are working to reduce the level of tension.” In response to a question about whether France was communicating with Iran-backed Hezbollah directly, the ambassador said: “We are talking to everyone and we hope to make progress.”Firefighters and civil defense were working into a second day to extinguish fires that had broken out at a site targeted by Israelis on Monday evening in the town of Ghaziyeh, which is about 60 km from the southern border and just south of Sidon. Oil and diesel leaking from tanks torn apart in the raid added to the problems at a generator factory that had been targeted. The Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture in Sidon and South Lebanon organized a field tour for journalists in the town of Ghaziyeh to inspect the site targeted by the Israeli airstrike, which had resulted in several Syrian workers and residents of the town being injured. Damage caused to the operating machines at the two factories was evident, while the generator factory had been completely destroyed and reduced to scrap metal. Its owner, Mohammed Khalifa, said: “The enemy’s claim that we have weapons depots (here) is nonsense.
“The factory contains parts for assembling electrical generators, in addition to a warehouse for machine oils. We have been working for 11 years, day and night, in full view of all the people who know the nature of our work.”Ahmed Saeed, director of the Al-Bahr Tile Manufacturing Company, which was also targeted, said: “(This) place is for the production of border stones, and there is nothing underground. The goal of the aggression is to cause harm to this factory, where dozens of families make a living.”Mohamed Saleh, president of the chamber, said: “Our presence in front of the electric generators and oil factory proves that the Israeli enemy’s accusations of it being a weapons depot for Hezbollah are false. “The enemy aims to destroy the economy and industry after destroying agriculture in the south. The agricultural lands and forests that were set on fire three months ago by Israel using phosphorus bombs now need 30 years to get purified and recultivated. Israel aims today to target all vital sectors to destroy our economy.”Dr. Hazem Khader Badie, the mayor of Sidon, described the raid as “a serious development, as we cannot consider that it targeted Sidon, which is far away from the border. “While human injuries are minor, damage is very serious for factory owners and investors working on promoting the whole country, namely the south, its economy and industry.”

 US says pressing Israel and Lebanon to halt escalation
Naharnet/February 20/2024
U.S. State Department Arabic-language spokesperson Samuel Werberg has stressed that Washington does not support an expansion of the war between Lebanon and Israel. In an interview on LBCI television, Werberg said the U.S. is pressing both sides to pacify the situation, halt the escalation and respect the U.N.-demarcated Blue Line. He also said that tens of thousands of displaced Israeli and Lebanese citizens should return to their homes on both sides of the border as soon as possible. Two Israeli airstrikes hit southern Lebanon Monday near the city of Sidon, wounding 14 people, in a major escalation of the confrontations between Israel and Hezbollah. Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7.
The latest uptick in violence has caused international alarm, with fears growing of another full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah like that in 2006. Since October, cross-border exchanges have killed at least 269 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 40 civilians.
On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.

Israel-Hezbollah border clashes: Latest developments
Naharnet/February 20/2024
Israeli warplanes targeted Tuesday the outskirts of Houla, Mays al-Jabal and Blida, a day after 14 people were wounded in strikes in Ghaziyeh, about 30 kilometers from the border. Later on Tuesday, Hezbollah targeted a group of soldiers in the Ramim barracks, while Israel bombed al-Hamames Hill, al-Wazzani, Dhayra, Shihin, Marwahin, the Haramoun Hill, and Aita al-Shaab. On Monday, Hezbollah claimed three attacks on Israeli positions, two of them in the occupied Shebaa Farms.The group, which says it is acting in support of Gaza, did not mention a drone that the Israeli army said was launched toward the Lower Galilee in northern Israel. Israel said is struck Ghazieh in response to the launch of the drone. The latest uptick in violence has caused international alarm, with fears growing of another full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah like that in 2006.
Since October, cross-border exchanges have killed at least 269 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 40 civilians, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.

US delegation to discuss support for army during Beirut visit
Naharnet/February 20/2024
A delegation from the U.S. Congress’ foreign affairs committee will arrive today, Tuesday in Beirut for talks with Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker PM Najib Mikati, Army chief Joseph Aoun and possibly caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, a media report said. “The visit is aimed at discussing the situations of the military institution and the aid it needs, and the delegation will submit a report to Congress for a decision to be taken as to assisting the army,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday. According to reports, Paris is preparing to host an army support conference on February 27 while Rome will organize a similar conference in early March.

Jumblat recommends commitment to Res. 1701, armistice agreement
Naharnet/February 20/2024
Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat sees that Lebanon has entered an "open war" with Israel. In a post published Monday on the X platform, Jumblat warned that the war with Israel might last for months or even more.
"After the repeated attacks on Lebanon by Israel, it seems that we have entered a long open war that may take months or more," Jumblat said, adding that he therefore recommends "as an observer", "containing the conflict, if possible," and solving the pending border problems. "I recommend... commitment to the (United Nations Security Council) Resolution 1701 and to the (1949) armistice agreement in order to avoid any descent into the unknown," Jumblat said.

Aoun tacitly criticizes Hezbollah's decision to activate southern front
Naharnet/February 20/2024
Former president and Free Patriotic Movement founder Michel Aoun has tacitly criticized Hezbollah for deciding to activate the southern front against Israel in support of the embattled Hamas in Gaza. “We do not have a defense treaty with Gaza and the side that can link fronts is the Arab League, but a part of the Lebanese people made a choice and the government is incapable of taking a stance,” Aoun said in an interview on OTV. “A victory would be for the entire country, not for a part of it,” he added. “Saying that taking part in the war was to prevent an Israeli attack on Lebanon is a mere opinion and engaging in the confrontation might increase the risk instead of fending it off,” Aoun went on to say. He also warned that “translating the developments of Gaza and the South into a presidential deal would be a move against sovereignty.”“The sacrifices of the martyrs would go in vain and it would be the biggest loss for Lebanon,” Aoun said. He added that the election of a president “should take place through successive sessions and a vote among the proposed candidates.” Defending the decision to block quorum for two years prior to his election as president in 2016, Aoun argued that the FPM and its allies resorted to this tactic “due to others’ rejection of the election of the legitimate representative (of Christians) according to elections’ results.”“I later reached an agreement with the parliamentary majority, whereas today there are divisions, and I would accept all formats and attempts to elect a president, but an understanding is difficult, exactly as the war’s solution, which is complicated,” the ex-president added. He warned that “the ultimate goal is to usurp the president’s powers,” decrying a “very dangerous coup against the Taif Accord and the Lebanese constitution.”“Of course caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati cannot carry out all the violations on his own; there is rather someone supporting him, or else he would have swiftly fallen,” Aoun added. “The government is illegitimate and replacing the president should enjoy unanimity as per the constitution,” the ex-president went on to say.

Building collapse in Choueifat kills 4
Associated Press/February 20/2024
A building collapsed in a southern suburb of Beirut late Monday, killing four people and injuring three others as rescuers searched for more people under the rubble, a paramedic official said. The building in the suburb of Choueifat crumbled after days of heavy rain. Local officials said the four-story building was not considered safe and the municipality had ordered it evacuated two years ago out of concerns its foundation was weak. Despite the order, the owner of the building rented apartments to Syrian families. Most of the people living in the building are Syrian citizens, according to Raja Zreik of the Islamic Health Society that was taking part in rescue operations. He said four people were killed. State-run National News Agency also reported two women, a man and a child were killed. Zreik told The Associated Press that two women and a boy were pulled out from under the rubble and rushed to a hospital. A member of the Lebanese Red Cross told the local Al-Jadeed TV at the scene that 17 people are still believed to be under the rubble. Lebanon hosts some 805,000 United Nations-registered Syrian refugees, but officials estimate the actual number is far higher: between 1.5 million and 2 million.

Regional engagement: Quintet Committee ambassadors discuss 'next steps' for Lebanon
LBCI/February 20/2024
The ambassadors of the Quintet Committee met today, Tuesday, to reaffirm their commitment to facilitating and supporting the election of a president. They reviewed the recent developments and talks that took place in Lebanon and the region. They also discussed the next steps that need to be taken.

Agricultural sector in danger: Repercussions of Israeli attacks on Southern Lebanon's agriculture
LBCI/February 20/2024
Since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation, Israel has adopted a scorched-earth policy in south Lebanon to achieve three objectives:
- xposing resistance elements targeting Israeli surveillance and monitoring devices from within forests and gardens.
-Keeping Hezbollah away from the border.
- Displacing residents of border villages after losing their livelihoods.
Israel has burned more than 2,000 dunams of forests and agricultural wealth using phosphorus and highly flammable bombs, targeting villages up to five kilometers from the border.As a result, Hezbollah fighters lost the forest cover for their operations, prompting the party to reconsider its military deployment tactics adjacent to the Blue Line. Most residents of the border villages have been displaced, losing their agricultural lands, not to mention the environmental damage. The agricultural season in the south has been severely affected. Farmers are hesitant to work in their southern fields, even the fertile ones, during the planting season due to fears of war expansion, which has moved from border villages to southern areas like Nabatieh and Ghaziyeh. This threatens future crops such as olives and grapes, which constitute 14% of Lebanon's production, and other southern fruits, accounting for 40% of the domestic output.
In Wazzani, covering about 15% of Lebanon's production with watermelons and yellow melons, the land has not been prepared for agriculture at all. Even vegetables usually planted in greenhouses, constituting 35% of Lebanon's production, have not been planted yet, leading to price hikes, expected to worsen during Ramadan. Israeli targeting extends beyond military objectives to environmental damage, affecting food security by reducing local agricultural production, including southern grains and wheat, constituting 18% of domestic output. The Agriculture Ministry and the government face a real crisis, needing agricultural plans to balance agricultural product supply and demand to ensure food security amid the near-complete evacuation of towns and villages, causing loss to their inhabitants.

UNIFIL incident: Indian Contingent vehicle overturns, three personnel injured, one critically
LBCI/February 20/2024
A vehicle belonging to the Indian Contingent operating in UNIFIL overturned in a traffic accident in Kfarchouba, which resulted in the injury of three personnel, with one of them in critical condition.

Residential building in Basta area evacuated after collapse warnings: Here are the details
LBCI/February 20/2024
On Tuesday evening, a residential building in the Basta area on Maamoun Street was evacuated due to warnings of its imminent collapse. In the details, Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud ordered the evacuation of the residential building. This decision was made pending the completion of technical inspections of the building to ensure the safety of residents and the public. Sources confirmed to LBCI that there are cracks in the first and second floors. They also revealed the presence of two non-compliant water tanks on the building's roof, posing a danger to it. The sources also indicated that the risk of the building's collapse is less than 40 percent, and a comprehensive examination of its condition will be conducted tomorrow, Wednesday.

Dialogue in London: Lebanese delegation addresses key issues, including Resolution 1701
LBCI/February 20/2024
The Lebanese parliamentary delegation visiting London, headed by MP Fouad Makhzoumi, left no pressing Lebanese topic unaddressed during discussions with officials from the Foreign Relations Committee and the Development Committee in the British Parliament. The discussions began with the necessity of implementing Resolution 1701 and the role of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Key topics included the importance of strengthening the Lebanese Army, the urgent need for electing a President, the imperative of Syrian refugee return, proposing camps in Syria or along the Lebanese-Syrian border, and the Beirut port explosion. British officials expressed keen interest in securing stability and tranquility in Lebanon. They were resolute in their support for the Lebanese Army and its role in implementing Resolution 1701. Additionally, they voiced support for the Lebanese perspective on the Syrian refugee issue. In the context of empowering Lebanon to tackle the financial crisis, mainly supporting the banking sector, Acting Banque du Liban (BDL) Governor Wassim Mansouri received assurance from British counterparts regarding free assistance for BDL and banks in cyber security.
There was also a positive assessment of Lebanese performance. Discussions also covered further cooperation to combat money laundering, thus enhancing the relationship between BDL and Lebanese banks with British correspondent banks.

Withdrawal and loans: Effects of exchange rate fluctuations between LBP 15,000 and 25,000
LBCI/February 20/2024
What is the difference between the dollar exchange rate of LBP 15,000 and 25,000 when individuals withdraw their trapped dollars from banks? Previously, banks allowed withdrawals of up to LBP 15 million per month at a rate of LBP 15,000 per dollar. This meant a reduction of 1,000 "Lollars" from the account balance each month, with the LBP 15 million being subject to a substantial loss or "haircut" of around 84% compared to the market exchange rate of LBP 89,500 per dollar. With banks raising the exchange rate to LBP 25,000, they maintain the same withdrawal limit, meaning individuals can still withdraw a maximum of LBP 15 million monthly. However, the value of the withdrawn amount will decrease from 1,000 "Lollars" to 600 "Lollars," which results in a reduced loss with a lower "haircut" by up to 72%. Regarding loans, individual loans in dollars, such as car loans or personal loans, if you could repay them to the bank at LBP 15,000 and not in dollars, it will now be required to repay them at the rate of LBP 25,000 per dollar.

Part III – Hezbollah’s narrative on Al-Aqsa Flood: Tailored to appeal to specific Western sensibilities
David Daoud/ FDD's Long War Journal/February 20/2024
Sanitizing the Resistance Axis and its Objectives
Fourth — Reminding the World who Hamas Is
It is a national liberation movement based on centrist and moderate Islamic thought that rejects extremism and believes in the values of truth, justice, and freedom.
It prohibits oppression and believes in freedom of religion, civilized human coexistence, and rejects the persecution of any person.
The war with the Zionist Project is not a war with the Jews because of their religion but with the Zionists because they are occupiers.
Resisting occupation by any means necessary, including armed resistance, is a lawful right guaranteed by all religious legal systems and confirmed by international laws.
Our Palestinian people is waging a battle of self-defense, and [defense] of lands and rights, in confrontation against an oppressive occupation which is the longest and most barbaric [of its kind].
The Occupation has no right to defend its occupation and crimes, instead it is the right of the Palestinian people to engage in resistance.
Analysis
This part of the narrative is meant to sanitize Hamas and its ideology, and make it particularly palatable to Western audiences who abhor systemically discriminatory systems, fear democracies, and – on some level – find antisemitism distasteful. But such a position is belied by their own words.
Even a cursory reading of Hamas’ Charter demonstrates its staunch anti-Judaism stance. It frames its struggle as being “against the Jews,” and calls “Israel, Jews, and Judaism” a “challenge to Islam and the Moslem people.” The group also says that it “aspires to the realization of Allah’s promise, no matter how long that should take, that ‘The Day of Judgment will not come until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O [Servant of God], there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him…” In other words, Hamas views it as part of its current mission to bring into effect one of the more distasteful elements of classical Islamic eschatology.
As for Hezbollah, its leadership routinely disparages Israel in terms reserved in classical Islam for Jews. Nasrallah, for example, routinely refers to Israelis as “killers of the prophets” – an accusation made by classical Islamic sources against the Jews. Hezbollah’s description of Israelis as inherently cowardly also stems from anti-Jewish stereotypes in classical Islamic sources.
Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, in her aforementioned book, devotes an entire chapter to demonstrating that Hezbollah abhors “Judaism as a religion, irrespective of its Zionist offshoot,” and that that “its strong aversion to Judaism is unrelated to its abomination of Zionism, and hence exists irrespective of the existence of Zionism,” but exists because, “according to Hizbu’llah…from time immemorial Jews have continuously demonstrated their quintissentially evil nature…”
In an Oct. 2002 speech, Nasrallah confirmed this understanding, and even expressed (33:53-34:32) what can only be described as Hezbollah’s genocidal aspirations towards Jews – based on the same hadith as the Hamas Charter. “In Islamic prophecies, and not just in Jewish prophecies, [Israel] must arise – and Jews gathered from all corners from the world to Occupied Palestine. Not so their false Messiah can rule the world. Instead, God Almighty wants to spare you pursuing them [lit. going to them] in all corners of the world – so they will congregate in one place…[and] the decisive and final battle will occur. And yes, history is ordered to flow in this direction.”
Fifth — What is Demanded? (Clockwise, then bottom 3 right to left)
Stopping the Israeli aggression now against the Gaza Strip
Working to punish the Israeli Occupation legally and seeking to make it pay prices for its crimes.
Supporting the Resistance against the Israeli Occupation by all means available.
Taking a serious and active position against double standards exercised by the forces supporting the Israeli occupation.
Rejecting any international or Israeli plans which seek to decide the future of the Gaza Strip in a manner that will align with the metrics of the Occupation.
Launching an global international movement to express solidarity with the Palestinian people
The Great Powers must stop giving cover to the Zionist Entity as if it is above the law.
Standing against attempts to exile the Palestinians of the Interior [i.e. Arab Israelis], displacing them, and committing a second Nakba.
Opening the crossings, bringing in aid, and all needs for housing and rebuilding
Continuing popular pressure — Arabic, Islamic, and international — to end the occupation, and activating anti-normalization campaigns and boycotts of companies supporting the occupation.
Analysis:
The purpose, as noted above, of these end-goals is to bring about a total ceasefire in Gaza to allow the Resistance Axis factions based there to survive, rebuild, and prepare to attack Israel again in the future. The other elements are intended to delegitimize Israeli self-defense now in the court of public opinion and concurrently legitimize violence against it and its citizens, while tying Israel’s hands and hampering its ability to break the ring of fire that the Resistance Axis hopes to continue building around it.
*David Daoud is Senior Fellow at at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies where he focuses on Israel, Hezbollah, and Lebanon affairs.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 20-21/2024
Hamas chief in Cairo for Gaza truce talks
Agence France Presse/February 20, 2024
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh arrived in Cairo Tuesday for talks with Egyptian officials, the militant group said, days after mediators said prospects for a new truce with Israel had dimmed. The Qatar-based head of Hamas's political bureau will "hold discussions with Egyptian officials on the political situation and the situation in the field", a statement said. The delegation will also discuss "efforts to stop the aggression, provide relief to citizens and achieve the goals of our Palestinian people," it added. Despite a flurry of meetings with both Israeli and Hamas negotiators last week, Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators made no headway in their efforts to pause more than four months of relentless fighting. "The pattern in the last few days is not really very promising," Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. In a statement on Saturday, Haniyeh renewed Hamas's demands, even though some of them have been dismissed as "delusional" by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The demands include a ceasefire, an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an end to Israel's blockade of the territory and safe shelter for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to its unprecedented October 7 attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures. Its retaliatory offensive has killed 29,195 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

WHO transfers 32 patients out of besieged Gaza hospital
Agence France Presse/February 20, 2024
The World Health Organization said Tuesday it had transferred 32 patients out of the besieged Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza but feared for the patients and medics still inside. WHO staff said conditions around the hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis were "indescribable". Israeli troops entered the Nasser hospital on Thursday, following days of fighting around the complex. After being denied access on Friday and Saturday, the WHO said it led two life-saving missions to transfer 32 critical patients, including two children, from Nasser Medical Complex on Sunday and Monday. The missions also provided small supplies of essential medicines and food for remaining patients and staff. The transferred patients were moved to other hospitals and to field hospitals in the Gaza Strip. "The dismantling and degradation of the Nasser Medical Complex is a massive blow to Gaza's health system," the WHO said in a statement.
"Nasser Hospital has no electricity or running water, and medical waste and garbage are creating a breeding ground for disease," the UN health agency said.
"WHO staff said the destruction around the hospital was 'indescribable'. The area was surrounded by burnt and destroyed buildings, heavy layers of debris, with no stretch of intact road."It said an estimated 130 sick and injured patients and at least 15 doctors and nurses remain in the hospital. The intensive care unit was no longer functioning and WHO staff transferred the only remaining ICU patient to a different part of the complex where others are receiving basic care. "WHO fears for the safety and well-being of the patients and health workers remaining in the hospital and warns that further disruption to life-saving care for the sick and injured would lead to more deaths," it said. The war started when Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed at least 29,195 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest count by the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
For weeks, Israel has concentrated its military operations in Khan Younis.

US for a 4th time blocks UN Security Council resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza
EPHREM KOSSAIFY/February 20, 2024
NEW YORK CITY: For the fourth time since the start of the war in Gaza, the US on Tuesday vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in the embattled territory.
It said such a resolution would interfere with ongoing, “sensitive” negotiations, led by Washington, that are attempting to broker an end to the hostilities. Thirteen of the 15 council members voted in favor of the resolution, which was drafted by Algeria. The UK abstained. “This resolution is a stance against the advocates of murder and hatred,” Algeria’s ambassador to the UN, Amar Bendjama, told the council prior to the vote.“A vote in favor of this draft resolution is support to the Palestinians’ right to life. Conversely, voting against it implies an endorsement of the brutal violence and collective punishment inflicted upon them. “Today, every Palestinian is a target of death, extermination and genocide. How many innocent lives must be sacrificed before the council deems it necessary to call for a ceasefire?”More than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israeli forces began their bombardment in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. About 70,000 have been injured, and thousands of bodies are thought to be still buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings.After the vote, Bendjama vowed that he will continue to knock on the door of the Security Council demanding an end to the bloodshed in Gaza. “We will never tire and we will never stop,” he added. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US permanent representative to the UN, described Tuesday’s vote as “irresponsible.”She signaled on Saturday that Washington would block the draft resolution over concerns it could jeopardize ongoing negotiations to broker a pause in the fighting and the release of the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas and other groups in the Gaza Strip. “Any action this council takes right now should help not hinder these sensitive and ongoing negotiations,” she said before the vote, warning that the Algerian resolution would only hamper those talks. “Demanding an immediate, unconditional ceasefire without an agreement requiring Hamas to release the hostages will not bring about a durable peace. Instead, it could extend the fighting between Hamas and Israel.”
In addition to the call for an immediate ceasefire, the Arab-backed draft resolution did also demand the immediate release of all hostages. It also rejected the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians, called for the unrestricted flow of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, and reiterated council demands that both Israel and Hamas “scrupulously comply” with the rules of international law, especially in relation to the protection of civilians. It also condemned “all acts of terrorism,” without explicitly naming either side. In a surprise move on Sunday night, the US tabled its own alternative draft resolution on Gaza that also called for a “ceasefire” but referred to it as a temporary one to be implemented “as soon as practicable” and “based on the formula of all hostages being released.”The US draft, a copy of which Arab News obtained, also underscored the demand that Israel should not proceed with a military offensive against the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, on the grounds that such an attack “would result in further harm to civilians and their further displacement, including potentially into neighboring countries, which would have serious implications for regional peace and security.”
Rafah has become the last refuge for more than a million Palestinians forced to flee fighting in other parts of Gaza. Discussions of the US draft resolution, which diplomatic sources said has not been officially presented to Security Council members, have yet to take place and there is no timetable as yet for any vote on it. However, the sources said that based on media reports, the text of the resolution appears to be too wordy, and they have concerns about the wording of the ceasefire call, especially the reference to it being a temporary measure to be implemented “as soon as practicable,” without specifying who will decide when this might be. This suggests the US will leave it up to Israel to decide when a ceasefire declaration is appropriate, they said. Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, described the failure to adopt the Algerian resolution as “yet another dark chapter in the history of the UN Security Council, again written by the US delegation.”He accused the Americans of providing cover for Israel to carry out “inhumane plans against Gaza, specifically to expel the Palestinians from the strip and to completely cleanse the strip and quite literally transform it into an uninhabitable territory.”The magnitude of the violence unleashed in Gaza “has surpassed any conflict humankind has encountered following the Second World War. Public opinion will no longer forgive UN inaction,” he added. China’s envoy, Zhang Jun, also expressed disappointment about the outcome of the vote. He said the US veto sends the wrong message and pushes the situation in Gaza in a dangerous direction. “The continued passive avoidance of an immediate ceasefire is nothing different from giving a green light to the continued slaughter,” he said.
While ceasefire resolutions are being vetoed in the Security Council, Zhang said, the spillover from the conflict continues to destabilize the entire Middle East region, increasing the risk of a wider war. “Only by extinguishing the flames of war in Gaza can we prevent fires of hell from engulfing the entire region,” he added. “The council must act quickly to stop this carnage in the Middle East.”Slovenia’s Samuel Zbogar, who voted in favor of the resolution, called for an end to the killing of civilians in Gaza. “The suffering that Palestinians are enduring is beyond anything a human being should be subjected to,” he said.

Netanyahu says Israel won’t ‘pay any price’ for release of Gaza hostages
REUTERS/February 20, 2024
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday that Israel would not pay any price for the return of hostages still held in Gaza amid ongoing negotiations to secure their release.
Asked about the 134 hostages who remain in Gaza, Smotrich told Kan Radio that their return was “very important” but that they could not be released “at any cost.”He said the way to free them was by ramping up the military pressure on Gaza and defeating Hamas, the armed group that governs the blockaded strip.His remarks drew rebukes from opposition leader Yair Lapid and minister Benny Gantz and angered some families of hostages who have been trying to up the pressure on the government to strike a deal. But shortly after the radio interview Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office published a statement echoing Smotrich’s position. “There is a lot of pressure on Israel from home and abroad to stop the war before we achieve all of our goals, including a deal to release the hostages at any cost,” Netanyahu said. “We are not willing to pay any price, certainly not the delusional cost that Hamas demands of us, which would mean defeat for the state of Israel.” The remarks came as the United States plans to send its Middle East envoy to the region for continued talks between the US, Egypt, Israel and Qatar that seek to broker a ceasefire and the release of hostages.
Israel said 1,200 people were killed and 253 more were abducted into Gaza during the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on its towns. Since then, Israel’s air, ground and sea offensive has killed nearly 29,000 Palestinians with thousands more trapped under the rubble, according to Palestinian authorities, and laid much of the blockaded enclave to waste. The most significant release of hostages has so far happened during the only, week-long negotiated pause in the war in November, when Hamas freed 110 Israelis and foreigners it had captured.

Saudi Arabia expresses regret over US veto of UN Gaza ceasefire resolution
ARAB NEWS/February 20, 2024
RIYADH: The Saudi Foreign Ministry has expressed the Kingdom’s regret over the US veto of a UN Security Council resolution proposing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the Saudi Press Agency has reported. Thirteen council members voted in favor of the Algerian-drafted text, while Britain abstained. It was the third such US veto since the start of the current fighting, which broke out after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. The ministry in a statement stressed the urgent need for reform within the UNSC, highlighting the necessity for the council to fulfill its duties in upholding global peace and security and ensure the consistent application of international law without double standards. Saudi Arabia has also raised concern over the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza, exacerbated by the escalation of Israel’s military aggression. The Kingdom has emphasized that this undermines efforts aimed at fostering dialogue and achieving a peaceful resolution to the Palestinian cause, as outlined in applicable international resolutions.

UK’s Prince William says ‘too many’ have been killed in Gaza conflict
AFP/February 20, 2024
LONDON: Britain’s Prince William called for an end to the fighting in Gaza, where he said too many people had been killed in the conflict. Political interventions by members of the royal family are unusual, but William, the 41-year-old heir to the throne is due to carry out a number of engagements to recognize the human suffering caused by the conflict in the Middle East on Tuesday. His office has also said he will draw attention to the global rise in antisemitism. “I remain deeply concerned about the terrible human cost of the conflict in the Middle East since the Hamas terrorist attack on 7 October. Too many have been killed,” William said.“I, like so many others, want to see an end to the fighting as soon as possible. There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza. It’s critical that aid gets in and the hostages are released.” The Prince of Wales, who in 2018 became the first senior British royal to make an official visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories, will next week attend a synagogue to hear from young people who are involved in tackling hatred and antisemitism as part of his engagement schedule. The war in Gaza started last October when Hamas fighters burst into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 253 hostages, in what William’s father, King Charles, had called “barbaric acts of terrorism.” Since then the Israeli military response has resulted in the deaths of more than 29,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Attacks on ships and US drones show Yemen’s Houthis can still fight despite US-led airstrikes
AP/February 21, 2024
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Despite a month of US-led airstrikes, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels remain capable of launching significant attacks. This week, they seriously damaged a ship in a crucial strait and apparently downed an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars.
The continued assaults by the Houthis on shipping through the crucial Red Sea corridor — the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — against the backdrop of Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip underscore the challenges in trying to stop the guerrilla-style attacks they have used to hold onto Yemen’s capital and much of the war-ravaged country’s north since 2014. The campaign has boosted the rebels’ standing in the Arab world, despite their human rights abuses in a yearslong stalemated war with several of America’s allies in the region. Analysts warn that the longer the Houthis’ attacks go on, the greater the risk that disruptions to international shipping will begin to weigh on the global economy. On Monday, both the Houthis and Western officials acknowledged one of the most serious attacks on shipping launched by the rebels. The Houthis targeted the Belize-flagged bulk carrier Rubymar with two anti-ship ballistic missiles, and one struck the vessel, the US military’s Central Command said. The Rubymar, which reported problems with its propulsion in November, apparently became inoperable, forcing her crew to abandon the vessel.
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed on Monday night that the Rubymar sank. However, satellite images from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Associated Press showed the Rubymar still afloat at 2 p.m. local time Tuesday just north of the Bab el-Mandeb. A large oil slick trailed the vessel. The Rubymar attack marked one of a few direct, serious hits by the Houthi rebels on shipping. In late January, another direct hit set a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker ablaze for hours. Meanwhile, the Houthis early Tuesday released footage of what they described as a surface-to-air missile bringing down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone off the coast of Hodeida, a Yemeni port city they hold on the Red Sea. The footage included a video of men dragging pieces of debris from the water onto a beach. Images of the debris, which included writing in English and what seemed to be electrical equipment, appeared to correspond to known pieces of the Reaper, usually used in attack missions and surveillance flights. A US defense official acknowledged Tuesday an MQ-9 “crashed off the coast of Yemen,” without elaborating.
In November, the Pentagon acknowledged the loss of an MQ-9, also shot down by the rebels over the Red Sea.
Since the Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the US military has lost at least four drones to shootdowns by the rebels — in 2017, 2019 and this year. Meanwhile, the Houthis claimed an attack on the Sea Champion, a Greek-flagged, US-owned bulk carrier bound for Aden, Yemen, carrying grain from Argentina. The rebels separately claimed an attack on the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Navis Fortuna, a ship that had been broadcasting its destination as Italy with an “all Chinese” crew to avoid being targeted. Private security firm Ambrey reported that the vessel sustained minor damage in a drone attack. The US shot down 10 bomb-carrying Houthi drones, as well as a cruise missile heading toward the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Laboon over the last day, Central Command said Tuesday. The US military also conducted strikes targeting a Houthi surface-to-air missile launcher and a drone prior to its launch. The Houthis acknowledged the drone attacks and claimed other assaults not immediately acknowledged by the West. Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters over Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. They have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for trade among Asia, the Mideast and Europe. Those vessels have included at least one with cargo for Iran, the Houthis’ main benefactor. The European Union has launched its own campaign to protect shipping, with member France saying on Tuesday that it shot down two Houthi drones overnight in the Red Sea. So far, no US sailor or pilot has been wounded by the Houthis since America launched its airstrikes targeting the rebels in January. However, the US continues to lose drones worth tens of millions of dollars and fire million-dollar cruise missiles to counter the Houthis, who are using far cheaper weapons that experts believe largely have been supplied by Iran. Based on US military statements, American and allied forces have destroyed at least 73 missiles of different types before they were launched, as well as 17 drones, 13 bomb-laden drone boats and one underwater explosive drone over their monthlong campaign, according to an AP tally. Those figures don’t include the initial Jan. 11 joint US-UK strikes that began the campaign. The American military also has shot down dozens of missiles and drones already airborne since November.
The Houthis haven’t offered much information regarding their losses, though they’ve acknowledged at least 22 of their fighters have been killed in the American-led strikes. Insurgent forces including the Houthis and allied tribes in Yemen number around 20,000 fighters, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. They can operate in small units away from military bases, making targeting them more difficult. The Houthis may view the costs as balanced by their sudden fame within an Arab world enraged by the killing of women and civilians by Israel in Gaza.
In the past, others — including the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden — have used the Palestinians’ plight to justify their “actions and garner support,” wrote Fatima Abo Alasrar, a scholar at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.
“It legitimizes the Houthis’ actions in the eyes of those who sympathize with the Palestinian cause, distracts from the more immediate issues associated with the Yemen conflict and the failures of Houthi governance, and potentially broadens the base of their support beyond Yemen’s borders,” Alasrar added.
If the Houthi attacks continue, it could force the US to intensify and widen its counterattacks across an already volatile Mideast. “Without a ceasefire in Gaza, the Houthis could be tempted to further escalate against US interests in the Red Sea and in the region,” wrote Eleonora Ardemagni, a fellow at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies. For Washington, “deterrence options” are getting narrower, she added.

Jordanian king meets Algerian assembly president
ARAB NEWS/February 20, 2024
AMMAN: Jordan’s King Abdullah on Tuesday met Ibrahim Boughali, president of Algeria’s People’s National Assembly, in Amman, Jordan News Agency reported. The meeting underscored the longstanding historical ties between the two countries, with King Abdullah expressing a desire to bolster cooperation in various sectors, particularly at the legislative level. The Jordanian monarch voiced his country’s backing for Algeria’s role as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, emphasizing support for Arab initiatives, notably the Palestinian issue, and efforts to uphold global peace and security. Additionally, King Abdullah praised Algeria’s endeavors to facilitate a ceasefire in Gaza and its provision of humanitarian assistance to the region. He also stressed the urgency of intensifying efforts to implement an immediate ceasefire, safeguard civilians and guarantee the delivery of humanitarian aid. Boughali later met Abdullah Ensour, acting president of the Jordanian Senate, to discuss cooperation and regional developments. The meeting touched on the significance of fostering Jordan-Algeria relations, highlighting King Abdullah’s visit to Algiers in 2022 as a crucial step in strengthening ties. Ensour also commended Algeria for its advocacy for the Palestinian cause, its diplomatic efforts within the African Union, and its role in the recent African summit declaration in Addis Ababa, which called for a ceasefire in Gaza and compliance with the International Court of Justice’s decisions.
During the meeting, Ensour also demanded an independent international investigation into Israeli violations of international humanitarian law.

Ankara, Cairo mend ties, signaling challenges for the Muslim Brotherhood
MENEKSE TOKYAY/February 20, 2024
ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo on Feb. 14 as part of a major state visit intended to boost the gradual normalization between the two countries that started in 2021, with plans for El-Sisi to visit Turkiye in April.
In the aftermath of the visit, it emerged that Turkish authorities revoked the citizenship request of reported Muslim Brotherhood Secretary-General Mahmoud Hussein Ahmed Hassan, drawing speculation on the motives behind the decision.
Erdogan’s visit signaled a shift in Turkiye’s stance toward the Muslim Brotherhood, a pivotal factor in thawing tensions between the two nations. Al-Arabiya reported Hussein has offloaded his property in Istanbul, engaging in discussions with Muslim Brotherhood officials on potential courses of action, including a resolution with Turkish authorities or seeking an alternative place of residence. Turkiye has undertaken measures over the past two years to address Egypt’s demands for crackdowns on exiled Muslim Brotherhood members and the closure of Istanbul-based media outlets critical of the Egyptian government. Consequently, prominent Muslim Brotherhood figures, media personalities, and academics have begun leaving Turkiye, while Egyptian dissidents face social media restrictions imposed by Turkish authorities. In 2022, the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Egyptian satellite TV channel, Mekameleen TV, relocated its operations from Turkiye, underscoring shifts in regional dynamics. Last year marked a significant milestone as Egypt and Turkiye appointed ambassadors to each other’s capitals for the first time in a decade. The Feb. 14 Cairo meeting, along with El-Sisi’s planned visit to Turkiye in April, are a further signal of the desire for diplomatic normality. Soner Cagaptay, senior fellow at The Washington Institute, told Arab News: “The reconciliation with Egypt represents the final and most challenging aspect of Turkiye’s ongoing efforts to reset relations with Middle Eastern powers. For nearly a decade, Turkish relations with countries in the Middle East were strained primarily due to Ankara’s unilateral support for the Muslim Brotherhood starting in 2011. While Turkiye gradually repaired ties with other nations, Egypt remained the last hurdle, as President El-Sisi has insisted on concrete steps from Turkiye to crack down on exiled Muslim Brotherhood members residing within its borders.”
Despite recent warm exchanges aimed at repairing ties, experts stress the importance of addressing the Libyan conflict before genuine cooperation can be achieved, as two countries have frequently found themselves at odds in their support for rival governments in the North African country.
“As an additional, yet unspoken aspect of the reconciliation process, negotiations between Ankara and Cairo have also touched upon a potential power-sharing agreement for Libya, seeking a common understanding of the Libyan conflict. Egypt views the eastern part of the North African country as within its sphere of influence,” Cagaptay said. Ankara recently began to talk to various actors in Libya rather than limiting itself to the Government of National Accord, one of the two rival governments that emerged in the war-torn country. On Saturday Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held consultations with his Italian counterpart, Antonio Tajani, on the situation in Libya on the sidelines of the 16th Munich Security Conference, coinciding with the diplomatic efforts between Ankara and Cairo. Fidan also met Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah in Tripoli two weeks ago before separate meetings with Mohammed Al-Manfi, head of the Libyan Presidential Council, the council’s deputy head, Abdullah Al-Lafi, and Mohammed Muftah Takala, president of Libya’s High Council of State. “Turkiye’s treatment of the Muslim Brotherhood elements is part of its rapprochement process with Egypt, determined by both internal and external motivations,” Pinar Akpinar, assistant professor at the Department of International Affairs and Gulf Studies Program at Qatar University, told Arab News. “The primary internal motivation is the anticipated elections, which are overshadowed by the severe economic crisis Turkiye faces. The resignation of the latest chief of the central bank, Hafize Gaye Erkan, only nine months after resuming her duties, has further eroded trust among the people and investors in the Turkish economy,” she added. According to Akpinar, as an important regional power and Turkiye’s largest trade partner in Africa, rapprochement with Egypt allows Erdogan to present a success story before the elections, both politically and economically. “Erdogan is sending a message that he is strengthening his alliance with the West, evident in Turkiye’s support for Sweden’s NATO membership, rapprochement with Egypt, and distancing from anti-Western elements in the region,” she said. “It should also be noted that, for the first time, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin refrains from supporting Erdogan in elections and has postponed his planned visit to Turkiye, expected to take place last week. As such, Erdogan is leaning towards and seeking support from Turkiye’s traditional allies for this election and his rapprochement with Sisi as a strong Western ally of recent years, is part of this narrative.”In the meantime, Fidan said an agreement had been finalized to provide drones to Egypt earlier this month.

South Africa tells top UN court it's accusing Israel of apartheid
Associated Press/February 20, 2024
South Africa argued at the United Nations' top court on Tuesday that Israel is responsible for apartheid against the Palestinians and that Israel's occupation of land sought for a Palestinian state is "inherently and fundamentally illegal." Israel rejects such claims. The South African representatives were speaking on the second day of hearings at the International Court of Justice into a request by the General Assembly for a non-binding advisory opinion on the legality of Israel's policies in the occupied territories. "South Africa bears a special obligation, both to its own people and the international community, to ensure that wherever the egregious and offensive practices of apartheid occur, these must be called out for what they are and brought to an immediate end," the country's ambassador to the Netherlands, Vusimuzi Madonsela, told the panel of 15 international judges.
Israel rejects accusations of apartheid and usually dismisses U.N. bodies and international tribunals as unfair and biased against it. Israel is not making a statement during the hearings, which are taking place against the backdrop of the war in Gaza that has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Israel sent a written submission last year in which it argued that the questions put to the court are prejudiced and "fail to recognize Israel's right and duty to protect its citizens," address Israeli security concerns or acknowledge past agreements with the Palestinians to negotiate "the permanent status of the territory, security arrangements, settlements, and borders." Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three areas for an independent state. Israel considers the West Bank to be disputed territory and says its future should be decided in negotiations. Israel has also built settlements across the West Bank, many of which resemble fully developed suburbs and small towns. The settlements are home to more than 500,000 Jewish settlers, while around 3 million Palestinians live in the territory. Israel annexed east Jerusalem and considers the entire city to be its capital. The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements to be illegal. Israel's annexation of east Jerusalem, home to the city's most sensitive holy sites, is not internationally recognized. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Monday that Israel does not recognize the legitimacy of the discussions at the International Court of Justice. He called the case "part of the Palestinian attempt to dictate the results of the political agreement without negotiations."
South African representative Pieter Andreas Stemmet told the court on Tuesday that the settlements have extended the "temporary nature of the occupation into a permanent situation in violation of the Palestinian right to self-determination."
South Africa's legal arguments echoed those made a day earlier by Palestinian representatives as six days of hearings opened before the Netherlands-based court. After the Palestinians opened hearings, a total of 51 nations and three international organizations are scheduled to address the court, which will likely take months to issue its advisory opinion. The Palestinians argue that Israel's open-ended military occupation has violated the prohibition on territorial conquest and the Palestinians' right to self-determination, and has imposed a system of racial discrimination and apartheid. "This occupation is annexation and supremacist in nature," Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said Tuesday. He called on the court to uphold the Palestinian right to self-determination and declare "that the Israeli occupation is illegal and must end immediately, totally and unconditionally."
South Africa has a long history of support for the Palestinians. Its governing party, the African National Congress, has long compared Israel's policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to "homelands" before ending in 1994.
That led to South Africa launching a separate case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide in its assault on Gaza that followed the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel. At hearings in January, Israel strongly rejected the allegation. Israeli legal advisor Tal Becker said that the country is fighting a "war it did not start and did not want."A final ruling in that case is likely years away, but the court has issued a preliminary order that Israel do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in its campaign in Gaza.

Associated PressWikiLeaks founder starts final UK legal battle to avoid extradition to US
Associated Press/February 20/2024
Julian Assange's lawyers began their final U.K. legal challenge Tuesday to stop the WikiLeaks founder from being sent to the United States to face spying charges, arguing that his actions had exposed serious criminal actions by U.S. authorities that were "of obvious and important public interest."Assange himself was not in court. Judge Victoria Sharp said he was granted permission to come from Belmarsh Prison but had chosen not to attend. Assange's lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, said he was unwell. The 52-year-old has been fighting extradition for more than a decade, including seven years in self-exile in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and the last five years in a high-security prison. Dozens of supporters holding "Free Julian Assange" signs and chanting "there is only one decision – no extradition" held a noisy protest outside the High Court in London, where Assange's attorneys will ask two High Court judges to grant a new appeal hearing, his last legal roll of the dice in Britain. "He is being prosecuted for engaging in ordinary journalistic practice of obtaining and publishing classified information, information that is both true and of obvious and important public interest," Fitzgerald said in court. In written submissions, the lawyer said that "Julian Assange and Wikileaks were responsible for the exposure of criminality on the part of the U.S. government on an unprecedented scale."Fitzgerald also said there is a "real risk he will suffer a flagrant denial of justice" if sent to the U.S. If the judges rule against Assange, he can ask the European Court of Human Rights to block his extradition — though supporters worry he could be put on a plane to the U.S. before that happens. Supporters plan to demonstrate outside the neo-Gothic court building on both days and march to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Downing Street office at the end of the hearing. Judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson could deliver a verdict at the end of the two-day hearing on Wednesday, but they're more likely to take several weeks to consider their decision. "This hearing marks the beginning of the end of the extradition case, as any grounds rejected by these judges cannot be further appealed in the U.K. – bringing Assange dangerously close to extradition," the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders said. Assange, an Australian citizen, has been indicted on 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse over his website's publication of classified U.S. documents. U.S. prosecutors say he helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk. To his supporters, Assange is a secrecy-busting journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan and is entitled to First Amendment protections. They argue that the prosecution is politically motivated and he won't get a fair trial in the U.S. His wife Stella Assange — a lawyer whom he married in prison in 2022 — says his health has deteriorated during years of confinement.
"His health is in decline, mentally and physically. His life is at risk every single day he stays in prison, and if he's extradited, he will die," she told reporters last week.
Assange's legal troubles began in 2010, when he was arrested in London at the request of Sweden, which wanted to question him about allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two women. In 2012, Assange jumped bail and sought refuge inside the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he was beyond the reach of U.K. and Swedish authorities — but was also effectively a prisoner in the tiny diplomatic mission. The relationship between Assange and his hosts eventually soured, and he was evicted from the embassy in April 2019. British police immediately arrested him for breaching bail in 2012. He has been held in London's Belmarsh Prison throughout his extradition battle. Sweden dropped the sex crimes investigations in November 2019 because so much time had elapsed. Assange's lawyers say he could face up to 175 years in prison if convicted, though American authorities have said the sentence is likely to be much shorter than that. A U.K. district court judge rejected the U.S. extradition request in 2021 on the grounds that Assange was likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions. Higher courts overturned that decision after getting assurances from the U.S. about his treatment. The British government signed an extradition order in June 2022. Meanwhile, the Australian parliament last week called for Assange to be allowed to return to his homeland. "Regardless of where people stand, this thing cannot just go on and on and on indefinitely," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
Despite a month of U.S.-led airstrikes, Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels remain capable of launching significant attacks — just this week, they seriously damaged a ship in a crucial strait and apparently downed an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars. The continued assaults by the Houthis on shipping through the crucial Red Sea corridor — the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — against the backdrop of Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip underscore the challenges in trying to stop the guerrilla-style attacks that have seen them hold onto Yemen's capital and much of the war-ravaged country's north since 2014. Meanwhile, the campaign has boosted the rebels' standing in the Arab world, despite their own human rights abuses in a yearslong stalemated war with several of America's allies in the region. And the longer their attacks go on, analysts warn the greater the risk that disruptions to international shipping will begin to weigh down on the global economy. On Monday, both the Houthis and Western officials acknowledged one of the most-serious attacks on shipping launched by the rebels. The Houthis targeted the Belize-flagged bulk carrier Rubymar with two anti-ship ballistic missiles, one of which struck the vessel, the U.S. military's Central Command said. The Rubymar, which already had reported problems with its propulsion back in November, apparently became inoperable, forcing her crew to abandon the vessel.
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed on Monday night that the Rubymar sank, though there was no immediate independent confirmation of that. But even if it was still afloat, the attack marked one of only a few direct, serious hits by the Houthi rebels on shipping. In late January, another direct hit by the Houthis set a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker ablaze for hours. Meanwhile, the Houthis early on Tuesday released footage of what they described as a surface-to-air missile bringing down a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone off the coast of Hodeida, a Yemeni port city held by the Houthis on the Red Sea. The footage also included video of men dragging pieces of debris from the water onto a beach.
Images of the debris, which included writing in English and what appeared to be electrical equipment, appeared to correspond to known pieces of the Reaper, which can be used in both attack missions and surveillance flights. Central Command and the U.S. Air Force's Mideast arm have not responded to questions from The Associated Press over the apparent downing. In November, the Pentagon acknowledged the loss of an MQ-9, also shot down by the rebels over the Red Sea. Since Yemen's Houthi rebels seized the country's north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the U.S. military has lost at least four drones to shootdowns by the rebels — in 2017, 2019 and this year. Meanwhile, the Houthis also claimed an attack on the Sea Champion, a Greek-flagged, U.S.-owned bulk carrier bound for Aden, Yemen, carrying grain from Argentina. The Houthis separately claimed an attack on the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Navis Fortuna as well, a ship that had been broadcasting its destination as Italy with an "all Chinese" crew to avoid being targeted. Private security firm Ambrey reported that the vessel sustained minor damage in a drone attack
Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters over Israel's war targeting Hamas in the Gaza Strip. They have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for trade among Asia, the Mideast and Europe. Those vessels have included at least one with cargo for Iran, its main benefactor.
So far, no U.S. sailor or pilot has been wounded by the Houthis since America launched its series of airstrikes targeting the rebels back in January. However, the U.S. continues to lose drones worth tens of millions of dollars and fire off million-dollar cruise missiles to counter the Houthis, who are using far-cheaper weapons that experts believe largely have been supplied by Iran to wage an asymmetrical battle on the seas. Based off U.S. military's statements, American and allied forces have destroyed at least 73 missiles of different types before they were launched, as well as 17 drones, 13 bomb-laden drone boats and one underwater explosive drone over their monthlong campaign, according to an AP tally. Those figures don't include the initial Jan. 11 joint U.S.-U.K. strikes that began the campaign. The American military also has shot down dozens of missiles and drones already airborne as well since November. The Houthis themselves haven't offered much information regarding their own losses, though they've acknowledged at least 22 of their fighters have been killed in the American-led strikes. Insurgent forces including the Houthis and allied tribes in Yemen number around 20,000 fighters, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. They can operate in small units away from military bases, making targeting them more difficult than a traditional military force. For the Houthis, they may view the costs as balanced by their sudden fame within an Arab world enraged by the killing of women and civilians by Israel in the Gaza Strip amid its war on Hamas. In the past, others — including the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden — have used the Palestinians' plight to justify their "actions and garner support," wrote Fatima Abo Alasrar, a scholar at the Washington-based Middle East Institute. "It legitimizes the Houthis' actions in the eyes of those who sympathize with the Palestinian cause, distracts from the more immediate issues associated with the Yemen conflict and the failures of Houthi governance, and potentially broadens the base of their support beyond Yemen's borders," Alasrar added. But if the Houthi attacks continue, it could force the U.S. to intensify and widen its counterattacks across an already-volatile Mideast. "Without a cease-fire in Gaza, the Houthis could be tempted to further escalate against U.S. interests in the Red Sea and in the region," wrote Eleonora Ardemagni, a fellow at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies.For Washington, "deterrence options" are getting narrower, she added.

As Ukraine war enters third year, Putin waits for Western support for Kyiv to wither
Associated Press/February 20/2024
When the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, some analysts predicted it might take as few as three days for Russian forces to capture the capital of Kyiv. With the war now entering its third year, Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to be trying to turn that initial failure to his advantage — by biding his time and waiting for Western support for Ukraine to wither while Moscow maintains its steady military pressure along the front line. Putin's longer timeline still has its downside, with the conflict taking a heavy toll on Russia by draining its economic and military resources and fueling social tensions even as the death of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny serves as a chilling reminder of the Kremlin's ruthless crackdown on dissent. Putin has repeatedly signaled a desire to negotiate an end to the fighting but warned that Russia will hold onto its gains. Earlier this month, he used an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to urge the United States to push its "satellite" Ukraine into peace talks, declaring that "sooner or later, we will come to an agreement."Some recent developments have fed the Kremlin's optimism.
Aid for Ukraine remains stuck in the U.S. Congress while NATO allies have struggled to fill the gap following Ukraine's underperforming counteroffensive last summer. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's decision to dismiss his popular military chief, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, disappointed many in the country and worried its Western allies. And Donald Trump, who has repeatedly claimed that he would negotiate a quick deal to end the war if elected, recently spooked NATO by saying he could allow Russia to expand its aggression in Europe if alliance members fail to increase their defense spending. Tatiana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center said a possible Trump return to the White House would serve Putin's goals. "He sees Trump as a figure likely to wreak destruction and believes the consequences of a second Trump presidency would be to weaken the West and deprive Ukraine of the support it needs," Stanovaya said in a commentary. As the Kremlin watches for more signs of crumbling Western support for Ukraine, Russian forces captured the eastern stronghold of Avdiivka over the weekend after a fierce battle in which Ukrainian forces reported an increasingly desperate shortage of munitions. The seizure set the stage for a potential Russian push deeper into Ukraine-held territory. "While no large-scale offensive is currently taking place, Russian units are tasked with conducting smaller tactical attacks that at minimum inflict steady losses on Ukraine and allow Russian forces to seize and hold positions," said Jack Watling and Nick Reynolds of the Royal United Services Institute. "In this way, the Russians are maintaining a consistent pressure on a number of points."
Amid the fierce battles in the east, Russia also has sought to cripple Ukraine's defense industries with a steady series of strikes. It has used long-range cruise and ballistic missiles as well as Iranian-made Shahed drones to saturate and overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses that are experiencing a growing shortage of munitions. "In terms of Russian industry's capacity to support ongoing operations, Russia has significantly mobilized its defense industry, increasing shifts and expanding production lines at existing facilities as well as bringing previously mothballed plants back online," Watling and Reynolds said. "This has led to significant increases in production output."They also note that Russian arms industries continue to depend on Western-supplied components, arguing that tighter enforcement of sanctions could disrupt this. Some Moscow analysts acknowledge, however, that the Russian military is facing multiple challenges.
Retired Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, the former chief of the military's General Staff, admitted that Ukrainian air defenses has effectively barred Russian warplanes from Ukrainian airspace and often make it risky for them to operate even over Russian-controlled territory. Baluyevsky said in a recent article that Western-supplied artillery are superior to Russian systems. Western officials and analysts note that while the 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) front line has remained largely static with neither side making significant gains, Ukrainian forces have launched bold missile and drone attacks deep behind the line of contact, raising the costs for the Kremlin and challenging Putin's attempts to pretend that life in Russia is largely unaffected by the war. Ukraine has launched audacious attacks on oil terminals and refineries deep inside Russia, as well as its naval and air assets in the Black Sea region, in a painful blow to Moscow's military capability.
That includes the sinking of two Russian amphibious assault ships and a missile boat along with strikes on air bases in Crimea that knocked out radar facilities and destroyed warplanes. Last month, Ukrainian troops downed a Russian early warning and control aircraft over the Sea of Azov and badly damaged a flying command post — some of Moscow's most precious intelligence assets.
Western officials praised the efficiency of Ukrainian attacks, noting Kyiv has smartly used its limited resources to rout far more numerous Russian forces and destroy about 20% of the Black Sea Fleet, effectively ending Moscow's maritime dominance there. The U.K. Ministry of Defense said in a recent intelligence update that Ukraine's successes forced the Russian navy to sharply limit operations in the western Black Sea, allowing Kyiv to expand its agricultural exports despite Moscow's withdrawal from a deal brokered by Turkey and the U.N. that guaranteed safe shipment of Ukrainian grain.
Putin, who is all but certain to win another six-year term in the March 15-17 presidential election, has sought to consolidate public support by casting the conflict as a fight against the expansionist West that has armed Ukraine in a bid to weaken Russia. Even though he claims the public overwhelmingly supports what the Kremlin calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine, new cracks have emerged in the country's tightly controlled political system. Thousands of Russians lined up in freezing temperatures in many cities to sign petitions supporting the candidacy of Boris Nadezhdin, a liberal politician who made ending the war his chief campaign pledge. While Nadezhdin was eventually barred from the ballot by election officials who tossed out many signatures as invalid, the massive show of opposition sympathies clearly embarrassed the Kremlin. In another sign of anti-war sentiments, wives of some soldiers recruited during a hasty and widely unpopular partial mobilization in fall 2022 demanded their discharge from service. But Putin has continued to project total control: Police arrested hundreds simply for laying flowers in tribute to Navalny, whose death dealt a devastating blow to the already fractured opposition.
Adding to the Kremlin's problems, protesters clashed with police in the province of Bashkortostan last month following the conviction and sentencing of a local activist. The protest, driven by tensions between indigenous Bashkir people and ethnic Russians, raised the specter of new cultural and nationalist divisions.
Last summer, Putin faced perhaps the most serious challenge in his nearly quarter-century rule when mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin ordered his private military company to march on Moscow to oust top military leaders. The brief mutiny ended with a deal envisioning the mercenaries moving to Russian ally Belarus, and Prigozhin died in a suspicious plane crash two months later that was widely seen as the Kremlin's revenge. His death shored up Putin's authority and cemented loyalty among the elite, but the episode showed the fragility of Kremlin power.
Despite challenges, Russia's vast economic and military potential gives Putin the ability for a protracted war. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says the conflict has taken longer than expected because of Western intervention. "The special military operation may last for somewhat longer, but this can't change the course of things," he said. Mark Galeotti, head of the Mayak Intelligence consultancy, said in a recent podcast that "there is no obvious resistance to Putin" because of "a strongly established and pervasive police state there to protect him."
"So on the one level, we shouldn't anticipate that predictable levels of pressure are likely to bring this regime down at any particular point," Galeotti said. "But on the other hand, we also have to acknowledge that its capacity to respond to crises, to the unexpected, has been strikingly diminished."

Zelensky says foreign aid delays making life 'very difficult' on front line
Associated Press/February 20/2024
Delays in weapons deliveries from Western allies to Ukraine are opening a door for Russian battlefield advances, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says, making the fight "very difficult" along parts of the front line where the Kremlin's forces captured a strategic city last weekend ahead of the war's two-year anniversary. Zelensky and other officials have often expressed frustration at the slowness of promised aid deliveries, especially since signs of war fatigue have emerged. European countries are struggling to find enough stocks to send to Kyiv, and U.S. help worth $60 billion is stalled over political differences. That appears to be playing into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Even so, more help is heading Ukraine's way, as Sweden announced Tuesday its biggest aid package so far and Canada said it was expediting the delivery of more than 800 drones. Zelensky, in his daily video address late Monday, said Russia has built up troops at some points along the 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) front line, apparently aiming to pounce on any perceived defensive weaknesses. "They (the Russians) are taking advantage of delays in aid to Ukraine," he said after visiting the command post in the area of Kupiansk, in the northeastern Kharkiv region, on Monday. He said Ukrainian troops keenly felt a shortage of artillery, air defense systems and long-range weapons.Ukrainian forces withdrew from the strategic eastern city of Avdiivka at the weekend, where they had battled a fierce Russian assault for four months despite being heavily outnumbered and outgunned. But Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said that while the situation on the battlefield is hard, especially due to a lack of ammunition, the situation on the eastern front is not catastrophic. "We fight and will continue to fight," he told news outlet Ukrainska Pravda. "We have only one request to our partners: to help with weapons, with ammunition, and with air defense."He claimed that Russia racked up heavy losses of troops and equipment in the fight for bombed-out Avdiivka. His claim could not be independently verified. Zelensky said talks with foreign partners are focusing on how to "resume and extend" support. Sweden, which is poised to join NATO, said Tuesday it will donate military aid to Ukraine worth 7.1 billion kronor ($681 million). That includes 30 boats, some of which are fast and powerful military assault craft, and underwater weapons.
The deal also includes artillery ammunition, Leopard tanks, shoulder-borne anti-aircraft defense systems, anti-tank missiles, grenade launchers, hand grenades and medical transport vehicles, as well as underwater drones and diving equipment.
"By supporting Ukraine, we are also investing in our own security," Defense Minister Pål Jonson told a news conference in Stockholm. "If Russia were to win this terrible war, we would have significantly greater security problems than we have today." The Canadian government said Monday it will dispatch more than 800 drones to Ukraine starting as early as this spring. They are part of a previously announced 500 million Canadian dollars ($370 million) in military help for Ukraine. Ukraine last year received $42.5 billion from foreign partners, of which $11.6 billion was in non-repayable grant aid, Ukraine's Ministry of Finance said Tuesday. The grant assistance was provided by the U.S., Japan, Norway, Germany, Spain, Finland, Switzerland, Ireland, Belgium, and Iceland, it said. The U.S. provided the biggest amount of non-repayable grant aid, with $11 billion.
Long-term concessional financing amounted to $30.9 billion, which included loans from the European Union ($19.5 billion), the International Monetary Fund ($4.5 billion), Japan ($3.4 billion), Canada ($1.8 billion), the U.K. ($1 billion), the World Bank ($660 million) and Spain ($50 million). Meanwhile, Ukraine shot down all 23 Shahed drones that Russia launched on Monday night over various regions of the country, the country's air force said. Air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said Russian aircraft activity had dropped off after Ukraine recently shot down a number of enemy warplanes. The air force commander, Mykola Oleschuk, said on Monday that his troops destroyed Su-34 and Su-35 bomber jets. Over the weekend he said that other Russian jets were shot down.

Hungary says ready to approve Sweden's NATO accession
Associated Press/February 20/2024
A vote in Hungary's parliament on ratifying Sweden's bid to join NATO could come as early as Monday, according to a senior member of the country's governing Fidesz party. It would bring an end to more than 18 months of delays by the nationalist government that have frustrated Hungary's allies. In a letter on Tuesday to the speaker of the parliament, the head of the Fidesz caucus, Máté Kocsis, requested that a vote be scheduled for the opening day of the spring session, which begins on Monday. Kocsis wrote that Fidesz, which has repeatedly blocked a vote on the matter, will opt to support Sweden's bid to join the trans-Atlantic military alliance. Hungary is the only one of NATO's 31 existing members not to have ratified Sweden's bid. The Hungarian government faces mounting pressure to act after delaying the move for more than 1 1/2-year since admitting a new country to the military alliance requires unanimous approval. On Sunday, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators visited Hungary and announced they would submit a joint resolution to Congress condemning alleged democratic backsliding in the country and urging Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to move forward on approving Sweden's accession as soon as possible. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said in Budapest on Sunday that members of the Hungarian government and Fidesz had refused to meet with the delegation — something he called "strange and concerning" — but said that the onus was on the long-serving leader to push for a vote. "We are wise enough about politics here to know that if Prime Minister Orbán wants this to happen, then the parliament can move forward," he said. Orbán has faced isolation over his obstruction of key decisions by his international allies, including putting up roadblocks to EU funding for cash-strapped Ukraine. But in a state of the nation speech in Budapest on Saturday, Orbán indicated that Hungary's legislature might soon relent. "It's good news that our dispute with Sweden is nearing a conclusion," he said. "We are moving towards ratifying Sweden's accession to NATO at the beginning of the spring session of Parliament."
Reacting to the news of the vote, Sweden's Defense Minister, Pål Jonson said in Stockholm that Sweden "naturally welcome this." "It is of course very welcome," Jonson said.

WikiLeaks founder starts final UK legal battle to avoid extradition to US
Associated Press/February 20/2024
Julian Assange's lawyers began their final U.K. legal challenge Tuesday to stop the WikiLeaks founder from being sent to the United States to face spying charges, arguing that his actions had exposed serious criminal actions by U.S. authorities that were "of obvious and important public interest."Assange himself was not in court. Judge Victoria Sharp said he was granted permission to come from Belmarsh Prison but had chosen not to attend. Assange's lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, said he was unwell. The 52-year-old has been fighting extradition for more than a decade, including seven years in self-exile in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and the last five years in a high-security prison. Dozens of supporters holding "Free Julian Assange" signs and chanting "there is only one decision – no extradition" held a noisy protest outside the High Court in London, where Assange's attorneys will ask two High Court judges to grant a new appeal hearing, his last legal roll of the dice in Britain. "He is being prosecuted for engaging in ordinary journalistic practice of obtaining and publishing classified information, information that is both true and of obvious and important public interest," Fitzgerald said in court. In written submissions, the lawyer said that "Julian Assange and Wikileaks were responsible for the exposure of criminality on the part of the U.S. government on an unprecedented scale."Fitzgerald also said there is a "real risk he will suffer a flagrant denial of justice" if sent to the U.S. If the judges rule against Assange, he can ask the European Court of Human Rights to block his extradition — though supporters worry he could be put on a plane to the U.S. before that happens. Supporters plan to demonstrate outside the neo-Gothic court building on both days and march to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Downing Street office at the end of the hearing. Judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson could deliver a verdict at the end of the two-day hearing on Wednesday, but they're more likely to take several weeks to consider their decision. "This hearing marks the beginning of the end of the extradition case, as any grounds rejected by these judges cannot be further appealed in the U.K. – bringing Assange dangerously close to extradition," the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders said. Assange, an Australian citizen, has been indicted on 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse over his website's publication of classified U.S. documents. U.S. prosecutors say he helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk. To his supporters, Assange is a secrecy-busting journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan and is entitled to First Amendment protections. They argue that the prosecution is politically motivated and he won't get a fair trial in the U.S. His wife Stella Assange — a lawyer whom he married in prison in 2022 — says his health has deteriorated during years of confinement.
"His health is in decline, mentally and physically. His life is at risk every single day he stays in prison, and if he's extradited, he will die," she told reporters last week.
Assange's legal troubles began in 2010, when he was arrested in London at the request of Sweden, which wanted to question him about allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two women. In 2012, Assange jumped bail and sought refuge inside the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he was beyond the reach of U.K. and Swedish authorities — but was also effectively a prisoner in the tiny diplomatic mission. The relationship between Assange and his hosts eventually soured, and he was evicted from the embassy in April 2019. British police immediately arrested him for breaching bail in 2012. He has been held in London's Belmarsh Prison throughout his extradition battle. Sweden dropped the sex crimes investigations in November 2019 because so much time had elapsed. Assange's lawyers say he could face up to 175 years in prison if convicted, though American authorities have said the sentence is likely to be much shorter than that. A U.K. district court judge rejected the U.S. extradition request in 2021 on the grounds that Assange was likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions. Higher courts overturned that decision after getting assurances from the U.S. about his treatment. The British government signed an extradition order in June 2022. Meanwhile, the Australian parliament last week called for Assange to be allowed to return to his homeland. "Regardless of where people stand, this thing cannot just go on and on and on indefinitely," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 20-21/2024
Turkey is a sanctuary for terrorism financing
Sinan Ciddi/Washington Examiner/February 20/2024
Since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks against Israel, much of the international focus on Turkey has centered on its patronage of Hamas. Along with Qatar and Iran, Turkey provides the terrorist entity with safe harbor and material support. What is less widely acknowledged and reported is Ankara’s emerging support of the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, a capable terrorist entity that threatens civilian shipping routes in the Red Sea, as well as militarily engaging and killing U.S. service members.
With an emerging track record of active support for purveyors of terrorism, Turkey merits being placed on the list of “terrorist sanctuary” countries monitored by the State Department. Instead, what we see is a persistent and desperate attempt by the Biden administration to explore ways in which we can reward Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and pursue avenues to “reset” the U.S.-Turkish bilateral relationship.
On Dec. 28, the U.S. Treasury Department designated Turkish company Al Aman Cargo for financing arms transactions to Houthi rebels on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force. In the same designation, Treasury officials also sanctioned a number of currency exchange houses located in Turkey and Yemen for their role in transferring millions of dollars to the Guard’s Quds Force.
Al Aman was established in Turkey in 2014, following Erdogan’s decision to terminate all investigations in Turkey centered on rooting out persons and entities working on behalf of the Guard. This was no mere decision to cease an investigation. Worse: Erdogan hunted down the team of law enforcement and prosecutorial teams that were conducting the Guard hunt in what can only be described as a bold effort to allow Turkey to become a permissive environment for the fundraising and weapons procurement activities for the Guard.
None of this is surprising, as Erdogan’s championing of Hamas is not limited to verbal praise of the terrorist group, which he has referred to as a group of “mujahadeen” (freedom fighters). Turkey is reputedly one of the hubs, if not the major one, from which Hamas in Gaza has been able to procure approximately $1 billion of its annual operating revenue, which it uses to finance its terrorism operations. Close to $750 million is alleged to come from friendly governments, including Iran.
What’s fascinating is that Turkey’s financial system is turning a blind eye to the millions of dollars being trafficked through its banking system, currency, and crypto exchange networks and construction companies’ building ventures. Kuveyt Turk bank is a mainstream financial institution in Turkey that is presently being sued in the United States “for aiding and abetting Hamas’s terrorist activity.” The Turkish government is one of the largest shareholders.
Trend GYO, a Turkish construction conglomerate estimated to be worth $500 million, was designated in 2022 for “generat[ing] revenue for the terrorist group through the management of an international investment portfolio.” It has gone about this by attracting investment from persons sympathetic to Hamas’s cause, who invest in legitimate construction projects, the proceeds of which are then transferred to pro-Hamas “charities,” ultimately finding their way to Hamas’s accounts in Gaza. It is no exaggeration to reach the obvious conclusion that many Turkish banks not only turn a blind eye to terrorism financing but actively facilitate it, with no intervention from the Turkish government.
While the Treasury Department’s actions to designate terrorist entities are crucial, sanctions alone are not sufficient to hold the Turkish government to account. We need a concerted government approach. While the Treasury highlights Turkey’s egregious behavior in support of terrorism financing on a frequent basis, the State Department dangles carrots in an attempt to reward Erdogan.
Recently, Turkey finally (after 18 months!) ratified Sweden’s bid to join NATO. This resulted in the Biden administration greenlighting the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. It was followed by Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland saying to her Turkish counterparts that if Ankara divested itself of a batch of Russian S-400 missiles it purchased in 2019, then “the U.S. would be delighted to welcome Turkey back into the F-35 family.”
There is one enduring reason why multiple U.S. administrations continue to embrace Erdogan no matter what he does, including supporting major terrorist causes: It is based on the U.S.’s pathological fear of “losing Turkey” like it lost Iran in 1979. This is a mistake, and a better way to look at our relationship with Ankara is to ask: What is left to lose?
*Sinan Ciddi is a nonresident senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow him on X @SinanCiddi.

UNRWA donors should reconsider suspension of funds
Kerry Boyd Anderson/Arab News/February 20, 2024
At a time of desperate need in Gaza, key donors have suspended funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency in response to allegations from Israel. Donors should take such accusations seriously but should also remember that the Israeli government has its own reasons for wanting to undermine UNRWA.
In January, Israel presented allegations that 12 UNRWA employees participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack against Israel. In response, at least 16 countries — including some major donors, such as the US, Germany, Sweden and Japan — suspended funding to the UN agency. The EU, another major donor, is considering suspending funds. Some of those donors are waiting on the outcome of investigations into the allegations before potentially restoring funding. If funding is not restored, UNRWA officials warn that the lack of funds could start having a severe impact on the agency’s ability to deliver services by late February. There is likely some truth in the Israeli allegations. With 13,000 employees in the Gaza Strip, it is unsurprising that a few individuals would, in some way, be involved in the attack. Nonetheless, any participation of UNRWA employees in such a brutal attack is appalling and such allegations must certainly be investigated. UNRWA immediately fired the 10 accused employees, with two having died, even without receiving evidence from Israel. While acknowledging that Israel’s allegations are serious and worth investigating, UN member states must also keep in mind that Israeli intelligence can be unreliable. So far, there is little publicly available evidence to support the allegations. Most media outlets have been unable to verify the claims, although The Washington Post reported some evidence that one of the accused individuals was involved in the attack.
On Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant publicly identified the original 12 individuals and added that more than 30 UNRWA employees were involved in the attack and that 12 percent of the agency’s workers in Gaza are affiliated with Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. These are grave allegations and UNRWA donors should require that Israel provide solid evidence for these and other claims.
For all UN agencies, maintaining independence and a professional commitment to their mission is essential. It must demand high standards for behavior and professionalism. Any involvement by UNRWA staff in an attack on Israeli civilians would clearly violate those standards. Also, the UN is a large institution, with many partners, and, realistically, problems will arise. For example, there have been horrific cases of UN peacekeepers sexually abusing women and children. There have been multiple corruption scandals. In such cases, the UN must act to ensure accountability and terminate employment or relationships with workers and partners that fail to uphold UN values. However, that does not mean totally shutting down an entire UN agency or mission, especially when millions of desperate people rely on the organization’s services.
When assessing the allegations against UNRWA, it also is crucial to remember that Israel has long sought to dismantle the agency and end its mission. The agency’s mere existence is a thorn in the side of many right-wing Israelis and governments, including the current leadership.
UNRWA is specifically devoted to caring for Palestinians who lost their homes and livelihoods during the 1948 war and the descendants of those refugees. Those refugees’ existence is a constant reminder that the idea that Palestine, before Israel’s establishment, was “a land without a people for a people without a land” was never true. The continuing existence of Palestinian refugees in neighboring countries keeps alive the idea of a right of return, which the state of Israel adamantly opposes. The ongoing existence of Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip and West Bank helps to sustain hopes for a Palestinian state — an idea that the current Israeli government rejects.
UNRWA symbolizes and sustains those communities and all that they represent. That is the real reason why many Israeli leaders have long tried to undermine UNRWA and why leaders such as Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say that its mission must end.
While acknowledging that the allegations are serious, states must also keep in mind that Israeli intelligence can be unreliable.
Donor countries are right to express concern about the allegations and demand independent investigations; indeed, there are two official investigations underway. However, donor countries were wrong to immediately suspend funding to some of the world’s most desperate people on the basis of questionable evidence from a source that is motivated to damage UNRWA.
They should restore funding immediately while making clear that future support will depend on the outcome of the investigations and subsequent action. However, even if some of the allegations prove true, that is not a reason to completely dismantle UNRWA and end its mission, just as past UN scandals were not reasons to halt crucial UN services. As the war in Gaza once again demonstrates, the plight of Palestinian refugees has not been resolved and UNRWA remains an important agency with a legitimate mission. The vast majority of the more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, who are trying to survive a terrible crisis, depend on UNRWA and no other organization can come close to matching this agency’s capacity for delivering aid in the Strip. Donors that suspended funds should immediately reconsider whether halting the flow of humanitarian services to desperate people on the basis of biased accusations was a good move.
*Kerry Boyd Anderson is a professional analyst of international security issues and Middle East political and business risk. X: @KBAresearch

More Than 365 million Christians Face Genocide
Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute./February 20, 2024
Except for North Korea, where the persecution is caused by "dictatorial paranoia" and "communist and post-communist oppression," the main religion of all other countries and groups on the list is Islam.
"While some relief aid is available, this is mostly distributed through local Muslim groups and mosques, which are alleged to be discriminating against anyone not considered a devout Muslim." — Open Doors, Yemen.
"More believers are killed for their faith in Nigeria each year, than everywhere else in the world combined." — Open Doors, Nigeria.
"For Christians who convert from Islam, not even the veneer of tolerance is present." — Open Doors, Iran.
"When the Taliban came to power, they did so with pledges to recognize more freedoms than in the past. But that hasn't happened—if an Afghan's Christian faith is discovered, it can be a death sentence, or they can be detained and tortured into giving information about fellow believers." — Open Doors, Afghanistan.
"Of 34.5 million displaced people across Sub-Saharan Africa, around 16.2 million are Christians." — Open Doors, Sub-Saharan Africa.
Many of these incidents remain unreported by the mainstream media. And until the mainstream media, governments and international organizations start openly addressing the ideological and theological motives of the perpetrators, this worldwide, genocide-level persecution of Christians will likely increase.
More than 365 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith, according to the Open Doors World Watch List 2024. "More believers are killed for their faith in Nigeria each year, than everywhere else in the world combined," according to Open Doors. Pictured: The Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) building in Mangu, Nigeria, photographed on February 2, 2024, after it was torched by Islamic terrorists. (Photo by Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images) (Image source: iStock)
More than 365 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith, according to the Open Doors World Watch List 2024.
The top ten countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution are North Korea, Somalia, Libya, Eritrea, Yemen, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Iran, and Afghanistan.
Except for North Korea, where the persecution is caused by "dictatorial paranoia" and "communist and post-communist oppression," the main religion of all other countries and groups on the list is Islam. According to Open Doors:
"Being discovered to be a Christian in North Korea is effectively a death sentence. Either believers will be deported to labour camps as political criminals, where they face a life of hard labor which few survive, or they are killed on the spot. The same fate awaits family members. There are believed to be tens of thousands of Christians held in labor camps across the country.
"It's impossible for Christians to live freely in North Korea. Meeting for worship is almost impossible and must be done in utmost secrecy, and at grave risk. In May 2023, five members of a family were arrested as they gathered for prayer and Bible study. Christian literature was also confiscated."
Somalia, where Christians face extreme persecution, has been going through a civil war since 1991. As Freedom House reports:
"Somalia has struggled to reestablish a functioning state since the collapse of an authoritarian regime in 1991. Limited, indirect elections brought a federal government to power in 2012... The government's territorial control is also contested by a separatist government in Somaliland and by the Shabaab, an Islamist militant group. No direct national elections have been held to date, and political affairs remain dominated by clan divisions. Amid ongoing insecurity, human rights abuses by both state and nonstate actors occur regularly."
According to Open Doors, Christians in the country are affected the worst:
"The dangers of being a Christian in Somalia are extreme. Most, if not all, are converts from Muslim backgrounds, making them a high-value target for al-Shabab, a militant group that has repeatedly expressed its desire to eradicate Christians from the country. If discovered, believers could be killed on the spot...
"No area is safe for Christians in Somalia. However, the most dangerous places are the areas under the control of al-Shabab, particularly in the south and southwest."
Libya ranks third:
"Converts from Islam face the most intense and violent pressure from their family and community. They risk house arrest, attack, abduction, sexual violence and murder. It is incredibly dangerous for converts to meet together to worship, and church life is almost non-existent.
"Even Christians who aren't Libyan or converts are at risk. Christians from other parts of Africa are targeted by extremist groups. Christians have been kidnapped and, in a few high-profile incidents, brutally murdered. Christians from Sub-Saharan Africa, many of whom come to Libya as displaced people trying to get to Europe, face additional risk. Because of their lack of official status, they can be kidnapped and trafficked, and extremist groups target these believers as well."
In Eritrea, known as the "North Korea of Africa" due to its intense authoritarian government, "all Christians face intense scrutiny from the government, risking arrest and indefinite detention". According to Freedom House:
"Eritrea is a militarized authoritarian state that has not held a national election since independence from Ethiopia in 1993. The People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), headed by President Isaias Afwerki, is the sole political party. Arbitrary detention is commonplace, and citizens are required to perform national service, often for their entire working lives. The government shut down all independent media in 2001."
Yemen, which ranks fifth in the list, "has no functioning central government with full control over its territory," notes the Freedom House.
"Yemen... has been devastated by a civil war involving regional powers since 2015. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and their allies intervened that year to support the government of President Abd Rabbu Mansur Hadi against Ansar Allah (Supporters of God), also known as the Houthis—an armed rebel movement that is rooted in the Zaidi Shiite community, which forms a large minority concentrated in northwestern Yemen."
Christians across Yemen continue to face extreme persecution:
"Most believers are Yemeni and come from Muslim backgrounds. As conversion from Islam is forbidden by Islamic and state law, Christians must keep their faith secret, or risk severe repercussions from their families, the authorities or radical Islamic groups. This can include divorce, loss of custody of children, arrest, interrogation and even death.
"The humanitarian crisis caused by Yemen's 10-year civil war has also exacerbated the pressure on believers. While some relief aid is available, this is mostly distributed through local Muslim groups and mosques, which are alleged to be discriminating against anyone not considered a devout Muslim.
"Christians across Yemen face dangers for their faith. Even in comparatively liberal areas, such as large cities, displaying a Christian symbol can have serious consequences.
"Pressure is particularly strong on converts living in the northern areas controlled by Houthis (an armed rebel movement). These areas are more heavily policed and, given the poverty that people live in, spying is commonly used to court favor with the local authorities, who are relied upon for aid. The Houthi's internal security forces even operate an intelligence unit that roots out apostates.
"Christians in southern rural areas are also particularly at risk due to the aggressive expansion of al-Qaeda in the region."
Home to some of the world's largest Muslim and Christian populations, Nigeria has a Christian population of over 100 million, who are subject to extreme persecution and genocide in the country. According to Open Doors:
"Christians in Nigeria, particularly in the Muslim-majority north, continue to live under immense pressure and to be terrorized with devastating impunity by Islamic militants and armed 'bandits.' More believers are killed for their faith in Nigeria each year, than everywhere else in the world combined. The attacks are often brutal in nature and can involve destruction of properties, abductions for ransom, sexual violence and death. Believers are stripped of their livelihoods and driven from their homes, leaving a trail of trauma and grief.
"Violence by Islamic extremist groups such as Fulani militants, Boko Haram and ISWAP (Islamic State in West African Province) increased during the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari, putting Nigeria at the epicenter of targeted violence against the church. The government's failure to protect Christians and punish perpetrators has only strengthened the militants' influence...
"The persecution of believers is most common in the northern Shariah states, where the small pockets of Christian communities in rural areas are particularly vulnerable to violent attacks. However, attacks are increasingly spreading southward, to where the majority of Nigeria's Christians live."
In December of 2022, the organization "Genocide Watch" issued a "Nigeria Genocide Emergency Alert":
"Nigeria is currently undergoing one of the deadliest genocides in the world. More people die in Nigeria every month than in Ukraine. The UNDP estimates that terrorists have killed over 350,000 people in Nigeria since 2009. 300,000 were children. Boko Haram, ISWAP, and Fulani jihadists have also forcibly displaced over 2.9 million Nigerians. The genocidal massacres have mainly targeted Christians."
In Pakistan, abductions, forced conversions and forced marriages with Muslim men, false blasphemy accusations, and discrimination are among the forms of persecution faced by Christians.
"The devastating attack on the Christian community in Jaranwala in August 2023 was a sobering reminder of the hostile environment facing many believers in Pakistan. The attack on more than 20 churches and almost 100 homes was in response to allegations that two believers had desecrated the Quran.
"Pakistan's notorious blasphemy laws are often used to target minority groups, but Christians are disproportionately affected. Indeed, roughly a quarter of all blasphemy accusations target Christians, who only make up 1.8% of the population.
"Believers are targeted in other ways, too, both overtly and subtly. The number of Christian girls (and those from other minority religions) abducted, abused and forcefully converted to Islam (frequently backed by lower courts) is growing, while churches that engage in outreach are particularly prone to opposition. All Christians suffer from institutionalized discrimination, and occupations that are deemed low, dirty and degrading, such as working as a sewer cleaner or on a brick kiln, are reserved for Christians by the authorities. Many are referred to as 'chura', a derogatory term meaning 'filthy'."
In Sudan, which ranks number eight in the Open Doors list, a risk of genocide is looming following the civil war, which erupted in April 2023. The ongoing war in Sudan has killed more than 10,000 people and displaced nearly six million from their homes.
On November 23, 2023, a group of 70 international law experts published an open letter warning about the risk of genocide in Darfur, Sudan, writing:
"The risk of imminent genocidal mass killing is now approaching a point of no return as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group in conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), is on the verge of taking over the entire Darfur region after capturing four of its five states.
"In recent months, international observers have documented the RSF's campaign of widespread and systematic attacks against civilians and deliberate targeting of non-Arab ethnic groups for mass killing, enslavement, sexual violence, and torture."
In the war-stricken country, Christians are among the most vulnerable. Open Doors reports:
"More than 165 churches have closed and others have been destroyed. Churches have also reported human rights violations such as rape, kidnap and looting.
"There are long-term concerns that the conflict will give Islamic extremists a renewed foothold in the country, undoing the reforms made by the transitional civilian government which gave more freedom to Christians, including abolishing the apostasy law and removing Islam as the state religion.
"More immediately, those who convert to Christianity from Muslim backgrounds continue to face huge dangers. Some will even refrain from telling their children about Jesus, for fear they may inadvertently disclose their parents' faith to the local community."
In the Islamic Republic of Iran, particularly Muslim converts to Christianity are targeted for persecution:
"In Iran, if you're part of a traditional Christian community, for instance, Armenian or Assyrian Christian, your faith is likely tolerated. But you will also be treated as a second-class citizen. In addition, you are not allowed to worship or read the Bible in Farsi, Iran's language, or have any contact with Christians who have converted from Islam. If you're caught supporting converts, you may be sent to prison.
"For Christians who convert from Islam, not even the veneer of tolerance is present. Conversion from Islam to Christianity is illegal in Iran, and anyone caught as a convert can be arrested and imprisoned. The government views conversion as an attempt by the West to undermine Islam and the Islamic government of Iran. This means that anyone who is discovered to be a member of a house church can be charged with a crime against national security, which can lead to long prison sentences. Anyone arrested or detained can be tortured and abused while in jail. Some Christians are released and monitored—and know a second arrest would mean a long prison sentence.
"Christian converts who left Islam can also face pressure from their families and communities. Converts can lose their inheritance, unmarried Christians can be forced into marriage to a Muslim, and married believers may be forced to divorce or face losing their children."
Since the Biden administration abandoned the Afghan people to the Taliban in 2021, the persecution of Christians has been consistently rising in Afghanistan:
"When the Taliban came to power, they did so with pledges to recognize more freedoms than in the past. But that hasn't happened—if an Afghan's Christian faith is discovered, it can be a death sentence, or they can be detained and tortured into giving information about fellow believers. The surrounding society and family structure has no room for religious freedom, and the government upholds this rigid stance. This means Christians—almost all of whom are converts from Islam—must keep their faith secret, or they may simply disappear.
"Thousands of Afghan refugees live in countries bordering Afghanistan, often in poor conditions in camps for displaced people, and many Christians are among them."
The Open Doors report emphasizes the intense violence in Sub-Saharan Africa:
"Amid lawlessness, jihadist groups like al-Qaeda and Boko Haram have thrived. Weak governments fail to stop them. And militants attack Christian communities and churches with impunity.
"Most Christians murdered for their faith in 2023 were killed in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria accounted for nine out of 10 religiously-motivated murders. Christians were also killed in Congo (DRC), Burkina Faso, Cameroon and the Central African Republic (CAR).
"Many more Christians have also been forced from their homes. Of 34.5 million displaced people across Sub-Saharan Africa, around 16.2 million are Christians."
Meanwhile, the persecution of Christians in another Sub-Saharan country, Ethiopia, is ongoing. The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) reported in September 2023:
"In Ethiopia, the Amhara people, who are primarily an Orthodox Christian community, have been subjected to violent and systematic persecution for decades. Now, their situation just worsened, and the government has declared a state of emergency.
"The Amhara people have been subjected to persecution and systematic massacres since as early as 1991. Various groups, including the Tigray People's Liberation Front, the Oromo Liberation Army, and the currently leading Prosperity Party, have been accused of these crimes. The prevailing anti-Amhara sentiment is closely tied to an aversion to the Orthodox faith, as most of the Amhara people are Orthodox Christians.
"The human rights violations range from forced displacement and mass arrests to systematic massacres and ethnic cleansings. For instance, on June 18, 2022, the Amhara community in Wollega within the Oromia region of Ethiopia was brutally slaughtered in what is now called the Gimbi massacre. The victim count is between 400–500 people. The modus operandi involved extreme cruelty, including the burning alive of individuals and the mutilation of pregnant women."
According to the ECLJ:
"Our written statement to the U.N. contains more explicit details about the violence perpetrated and shows the religious motivation of the persecution, coupled with obvious racism. Government forces abstained from intervening, citing logistical constraints, thereby raising questions about their complicity or negligence."
The ECLJ report states:
"A distressing series of massacres—ranging from the Burayu massacre in 2018, the Shashemene massacre in 2019, to multiple incidents in 2020 and 2021 including the Mai Kadra, Metekel, Ataye, Chenna, Kombolcha, and Kobo massacres—bear testament to this ongoing crisis."
In August 2023, the ECLJ sent an urgent letter to the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu about the persecution in Ethiopia:
"The incident reports are profoundly disturbing. The nature of these acts covers a wide range of atrocities, from the disemboweling of pregnant women to the cannibalistic consumption of those killed. Such acts go beyond mere expressions of discontent or political dissent; they indicate a deeply rooted hatred that has been manipulated and mobilized to justify heinous crimes. This level of animus is fueled by a combination of historical grievances, political manipulation, social conditioning, and widespread hate speech which together create a toxic environment ripe for the perpetration of mass violence."
According to the Open Doors, one in seven Christians are persecuted worldwide and 1 in 5 Christians are persecuted in Africa. In 2023, thousands of Christians were murdered or detained for their faith, and thousands of churches and Christian properties were attacked. But many of these incidents remain unreported by the mainstream media.
Until the mainstream media, governments and international organizations start openly addressing the ideological and theological motives of the perpetrators, this worldwide, genocide-level persecution of Christians will likely increase.
*Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20389/christians-face-genocide

Gaza in the Minds of Israelis
Benny Morris/The Tablet/February 20/2024
A new collection of essays, published just before October 7th, captures the complexity of the current war
On April 29, 1956, Ro’i Rothberg, the security officer of Nahal Oz—one of the kibbutzim attacked by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023—was gunned down by Palestinian ambushers who had infiltrated Israel from the Gaza Strip. During the previous weeks, Rothberg had routinely chased off infiltrators who had come to reap the sorghum crop from the kibbutz’s fields. The ambush was the payback.
The following day the IDF chief of general staff, Moshe Dayan, delivered a memorable eulogy at the graveside. He said:
Yesterday, at dawn, Ro’i was murdered … Let us not, today, cast blame on the murderers. What can we say against their terrible hatred of us? For eight years now, they have sat in the refugee camps of Gaza, and have watched how, before their very eyes, we have turned their lands and villages, where they and their forefathers previously dwelled, into our home … How did we shut our eyes, and refuse to look squarely at our fate and see, in all its brutality, the destiny of our generation? Can we forget that this group of youngsters [i.e., Ro’i’s fellow kibbutzniks], sitting in Nahal-Oz, carries on its shoulders the heavy gates of Gaza? Beyond the furrow of the border surges a sea of hatred and revenge; revenge that looks towards the day when the calm will blunt our alertness … We are a generation of settlement [dor hitnahalut] and without the steel helmet and the gun’s muzzle we will not be able to plant a tree and build a house. Let us not fear to look squarely at the hatred that consumes and fills the lives of hundreds [of thousands] of Arabs who live around us … [We must be] ready and armed, tough and harsh—or else the sword shall fall from our hands and our lives will be cut short.
A few months after Rothberg’s murder, the Gaza Strip—along with the Sinai Peninsula—was conquered in the Sinai-Suez War of October-November 1956 by the IDF, led by Moshe Dayan.
In May 1948, during Israel’s War of Independence (or, in Arab parlance, the “Nakba,” meaning the catastrophe), Egypt had occupied the Gaza Strip, which was until then part of British Mandate-ruled Palestine. The Egyptians held onto it until November 1956 when it fell to the IDF. After four months of Israeli rule, the Strip returned once more to Egyptian control and remained Egyptian, with no thought of it becoming a self-governed territory, until it was conquered again by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Over the decades, the Strip has periodically been the springboard of attacks on Israel and the target of Israeli retaliation. Israel formally pulled out of the Strip in 2005, leaving it in the hands of the homegrown Islamist movement Hamas, which since then has periodically attacked Israeli settlements and troops with rockets, missiles, and mortars. This campaign culminated in the surprise Oct. 7 Hamas assault on southern Israel. The current IDF counteroffensive against Hamas is shaping up to be the third Israeli conquest and occupation of the Gaza Strip.
By the end of the 1948 war, some 700,000 Arabs had been uprooted from their homes in what had become the State of Israel, and thus they became refugees. Close to 200,000 of them ended up in the Gaza Strip. Most, like Ahmad Yassin, the founder of Hamas, originated in the nearby villages around the Strip that eventually became part of Israel. Today the Strip has a population of some 2.2-2.3 million, three-quarters of whom are descendants of the 1948 refugees, and a quarter of whom are the descendants of the area’s pre-1948 population.
How did we shut our eyes, and refuse to look squarely at our fate and see, in all its brutality, the destiny of our generation?
In 2010 Israeli artist Tamir Zadok produced a nine-minute mockumentary called “The Gaza Canal” (te’alat ‘aza). Mixing maps, news and video clips, photographs, satellite imagery, and “interviews” with experts, the mockumentary depicted how in 2002 an Israeli American political-geographic project physically severed the Gaza Strip from Israel and Egypt by cutting a deep, 61-kilometer trench or canal along Gaza’s borders with Israel and Egypt. The operation eventually triggered an earthquake which, while devastating Gaza’s cities, effectively deepened the fissure and set the Strip adrift in the Mediterranean. A border that had been a battlefield for more than five decades, was transformed into an island of parks, smiling girls, high tech enterprises and joyous sun-tanned tourists.
Thus Yitzhak Rabin’s famous 1992 fantasy wish—“for my part, Gaza can sink in the sea” (which he immediately rolled back by adding “[unfortunately] it is not possible”)—was now magically transformed by Zadok into an ideal resolution of the Gaza problem beneficial to all: a battlefield transmogrified into a resort-cum-pleasure dome for local Arabs and international clientele. In the mockumentary the narrator declares: Don’t say “it can’t be done”—in Hebrew i efshar. But i efshar in Hebrew can also mean “island (i) [is] possible (efshar)”—“an island of commerce, industry … a green island … an ecological island … a symbol of health … change … an island of perfection.”
Sadly, Zadok’s utopia, like all utopias, was a fantasy and remains unrealized.
Gaza also figured large, metaphorically, in the rhetoric of the Palestinian national movement. Yasser Arafat, the head of the Palestinian national movement from the 1960s until his death in 2004, famously declared that those who doubt that the Palestinian aspiration for statehood will ever be realized “should go drink from the waters of Gaza’s sea.”
Now a new academic work, Gaza: Place and Image in the Israeli Landscape (Gama Publishers, 2023), edited by Omri Ben Yehuda and Dotan Halevy, which appeared in Israel just before the Oct. 7 assault, looks at the role of Gaza in the Israeli imagination more fully. An anthology of essays by Israelis and Arabs, it deals as much with metaphor and rhetorical devices as it does with history. In it, Amira Hass, a daughter of two Holocaust survivors and longtime columnist in Haaretz, devotes a long essay to Gaza’s refugee population. Hass knows her subject intimately—she lived in the Strip from 1993 to 1997 (and currently lives in the Arab town of Al-Bira in the West Bank). Her essay, “Both on the Fringes and at the Center: Gaza as the Palestinian Microcosm,” begins: “Whoever has not tasted Gaza’s local Sheikh Ajlin grapes has never tasted [good] grapes. Juicy, mildly sweet, soft on the palate.” But many of the Sheikh Ajlin vineyards “have been uprooted over the past twenty years in the [successive] offensives of destruction and revenge carried out by the IDF [in response to Palestinian rocketing and terrorism].”
Gaza, Hass points out, used to export wine in Byzantine times, when the Strip, with Gaza City at its center, was a crossroads of empires and peoples, where goods and ideas were liberally exchanged. “The historical accident generated by Israel”—Hass presumably means in 1948, 1967, and the virtual siege of Hamas-ruled Gaza since 2005—turned Gaza into an isolated enclave. “The abomination [sha’aruriya] lies in Israel’s success in imprisoning the Strip’s two million inhabitants … and compressing them into a corner, transforming [the Strip] into a huge concentration of beggars [mikbatz ‘anak shel mekabtzei nedavot]
During the first decades of the post-1967 Israeli occupation, Gazans were relatively free to visit Israel (and the West Bank) and work in Israeli settlements, including in the border-hugging kibbutzim. But this freedom disappeared in the early 2000s as rocketing, terrorism, and counterterrorism became daily fare along the border.
As Hass points out, the isolation of Gaza over the decades has shaped a distinct identity and esprit de corps that today separates its inhabitants physically and psychologically from their cousins in Israel (the Israeli Arab minority) and also from Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. No doubt the Gazan experience since the start of the IDF counteroffensive that began on Oct. 8—with most of the population turning into internal refugees inside the Strip’s devastated buildings and infrastructure—can only have deepened this separate and distinct identity. “Gaza became a mini-Palestine,” writes Hass of the years before Oct. 7, and it is no wonder that the leadership of the Palestinian armed factions—(the “resistance,” in Palestinian parlance) largely emerged from Gaza’s refugee camps.
Since 2005, as Dotan Halevy, one of the anthology’s editors puts it in the introduction, a generation has grown up in Gaza “that knows nothing of Israel” (and in Israel, a generation that “knows nothing of Gaza”). Unfortunately, that generation of Israelis is now getting to know Gaza too well. During the Oct. 7 assault, hundreds or even thousands of the Strip’s civilians streamed into southern Israel. They plundered and, alongside the Hamas fighters, murdered and raped—while their faces shone with profound joy.
In one of her contributions to the anthology, Sama Hassan, a Gazan writer and journalist voicing the anguish of Gazans, writes: “My friends in this enfeebled and tired and stubborn and proud land, Gaza is like a woman struggling with her drunk husband. He wakes up sober and clear-headed in the morning, but his disheveled hair and bloated eyes are a constant reminder that he will return to the bottle and to unleash mayhem when night falls.”
One of the volume’s most striking essays is “Daddy Works in Gaza,” by Yuval ‘Arab ‘Ivri, the son of Nissim ‘Arab ‘Ivri, an Israeli administrator who worked in Gaza between 1973 and 1983 during the second Israeli occupation. Yuval teaches in the Near East and Jewish Studies Department at Brandeis University. Nissim was in charge of employment in the Strip and Sinai. Looking through the family photo albums, the son, who was 9 when Nissim abandoned the home and family, notes that his father looks like his Arab colleagues and clients—dark-skinned with a prominent black moustache and an un-Israeli suit. The family apartment was bedecked with a collection of swords Nissim had acquired in Gaza. Nissim was at one with his Arab work environment—he was a native Arabic speaker, born in Basra, Iraq, in 1938.
Many of Israel’s post-1967 occupation officials, in Gaza as in the West Bank, were of Middle Eastern origin, hired because of their fluency in the language and culture of the occupied. “His Arabness [‘arviyuto] had changed from a hump [hatoteret] that needed to be hidden and erased to an ‘expertise’ or ‘merchandise’ that opened up new vocational opportunities [and an avenue to] social mobility,” writes the son.
But, at the same time, the new job did not provide internal tranquility. “My father’s sense of shame from his Arabness, which was dominant during my childhood and youth, was, over time, replaced by another type of shame, of an almost opposite [order] … a sense of embarrassment because of his work in the civil [meaning military] administration in Gaza and from his involvement in the service of the Israeli occupation.” Yuval notes that the upper echelons of the Israeli occupation bureaucracy in the Palestinian territories were manned by Ashkenazi Jews.
His work seemingly allowed Nissim to reconnect with the language of his childhood, with his roots. But Yuval notes that the Arabic used by the Israeli administrators who helped oversee Gaza’s occupation was not the Arabic spoken in Iraq’s streets but a hybrid Arabic-Hebrew construct, studded with words pertinent to an occupation—an Arabic of “permits, and prohibitions,” of “regulations and guidelines,” a language that had passed through a mechanism of Israeli “securitization” (bit’honizatziya).
In a throwaway line, Yuval reveals that one of his uncles, David (‘Arab) ‘Ivri, was among the founders of Kibbutz Be’eri, another of the kibbutzim ravaged by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Uri Cohen, who teaches Hebrew and Italian literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in his essay “Gaza Has Come: The White City and the Twin City,” argues that Gaza is “the ghost of the country, of Palestine.” By which he means that Gaza is in effect a mirror image of “little Israel, a crowded and closed entity of refugees. Israel and Gaza contain each other like Babushka dolls: a narrow strip [of land], unconscionably crowded, with tightly shut borders, with hostile neighbors, whose name carries [the weight of] the past.”
In his essay “The Refugee as an Enemy,” Omri Ben Yehuda, the anthology’s co-editor, notes that Gaza’s refugees are not “run-of-the-mill refugees … who seek shelter but flatly demand [the territory of] Israel itself, [that is] those who were dispossessed from [Israel] desire to inherit [or dispossess] those who dispossessed them.” This highlights the left-liberal Israelis’ abiding dilemma: The Palestinian national movement’s unwillingness to reach a two-state compromise, and its ultimate goal of possessing all of Palestine for itself, mirrors the right-wing Israelis’ desire to possess, unshared, the whole Land of Israel.
*Benny Morris is an Israeli historian and the author, most recently, of Sidney Reilly: Master Spy (Yale 2022).

Day 2 at ICJ hearing: Saudi Arabia condemns Israel’s actions in Palestinian Territories as ‘legally indefensible’
ARAB NEWS/February 20, 2024
THE HAGUE: South Africa on Tuesday urged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to issue a non-binding legal opinion that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal, arguing it would help efforts to reach a settlement.
Representatives of South Africa opened the second day of hearings at the ICJ, also known as the World Court, in the Hague. The hearing follows a request by the UN General Assembly for an advisory, or non-binding, opinion on the occupation in 2022. More than 50 states will present arguments until Feb. 26. Alongside the South African legal team, representatives from Algeria, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, and Belgium also presented preliminary arguments. This is said to be the largest case at the ICJ and at least three international organizations are also slated to address the judges at the UN's top court until next week. A nonbinding legal opinion is anticipated following months of judge deliberations. On Monday, Palestinian representatives articulated their stance on the legal repercussions of Israel's occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip. They asserted that the occupation is illegal and must cease immediately, unconditionally, and entirely. Israel has abstained from attending the hearings but submitted a five-page written statement expressing concerns that an advisory opinion would hinder attempts to resolve the conflict, citing prejudiced questions posed by the UN General Assembly.
Read a summary of Tuesday's arguments below:
2:50 p.m. (GMT) Bolivia condemns Israel's discriminatory actions
Roberto Calzadilla Sarmiento, Bolivia's ambassador in the Netherlands, condemned Israel's discriminatory actions in the Palestinian Territories.
Sarmiento unequivocally denounced Israel's ongoing occupation of the Palestinian Territories as a clear violation of international law, the envoy said.  Sarmiento accused Israel of implementing discriminatory measures with colonial intent, aimed at dispossessing the Palestinian population and altering the demographic landscape of Jerusalem. These actions, Sarmiento argues, deny Palestinians their rights and violate international norms. Sarmiento emphasized that Israel's actions carry consequences and obligations for all states and the United Nations. The perpetuation of Palestinian disenfranchisement, Sarmiento asserted, is a breach of Israel's international obligations. Sarmiento condemned Israel's continuous denial of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination over a span of 75 years. Such deprivation, Sarmiento argued, represents a clear violation of international norms and human rights principles.
Sarmiento highlighted Israel's deliberate efforts to annex Palestinian territory, including the transfer of Israeli settlers and the construction of settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. These actions, Sarmiento contends, aim to solidify Israeli control through colonization, confinement, and the fragmentation of Palestinian territories.
2:40 p.m. (GMT) Belize's legal expert asserts Gaza Strip remains occupied despite withdrawal
Advocate Ben Juratowitch has reinforced the argument that the Gaza Strip remains under Israeli occupation despite the withdrawal of Israeli forces and settlers in 2005.
According to Juratowitch, Israel's occupation of Gaza predates and persists beyond specific dates like October 7. He asserts that Gaza has been under Israeli occupation since 1967, and this status remains unchanged.
Occupation, Juratowitch explains, does not solely hinge on the physical presence of troops. Even in the absence of Israeli troops, the capacity for Israel to exert control over Gaza and deploy forces if necessary constitutes continued occupation.
Contrary to claims of withdrawal, Israel's recent actions in Gaza represent a continuation and intensification of its long-term control, including violence and incursions into the territory.
Juratowitch argues that Israel's occupation of Gaza is neither necessary nor proportional. Given the peace treaties signed with Jordan and Egypt, maintaining a military presence in Gaza or the West Bank is deemed unnecessary.
He also stated that Israel's use of force in Gaza, particularly in response to the October 7 attack, is deemed disproportionate and unjustified.
2:30 p.m. (GMT) Belize's stance on apartheid and its impact on self-determination
Professor Philippa Webb of King’s College London critiqued Israel's apartheid policies and their impact on Palestinian self-determination.
Highlighting apartheid as a grave violation of human rights, Professor Webb emphasized its correlation with Israel's infringement upon Palestinian self-determination. She argued that the systematic racial oppression and discrimination inherent in apartheid regimes prevent the realization of genuine self-determination for affected populations.
Examining the tangible effects of Israel's discriminatory practices, Professor Webb pointed to the separation wall, permit restrictions, checkpoints, and segregated roads in the West Bank. These measures, she argued, fragment Palestinian communities and intensify their isolation from Israeli Jews.
Turning to Gaza, Professor Webb condemned the prolonged siege and blockade, which have confined millions of Palestinians to ever-shrinking territories, resulting in widespread poverty and desperation. She described Gaza as a symbol of extreme oppression and suffering, exacerbated by Israel's policies.
Professor Webb highlighted Israel's extensive detention of Palestinians since 1967, including tens of thousands of children, as further evidence of its human rights abuses.
2:15 p.m. (GMT) Belize representative urges end to Israeli impunity
Belize representative Assad Shoman emphasized at the ICJ that "Palestine must be free," underscoring the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and independence, which has been consistently denied.
Shoman condemned Israel's manipulation of negotiations to obstruct Palestinian rights, calling for an end to Israel's impunity for violating international law.
He highlighted the urgency of addressing these violations to prevent further humanitarian crises.
12:35 p.m. (GMT) Belgium's legal expert condemns Israel's settlement policy as violation of international law
Belgium's legal expert, Vaios Koutroulis, has denounced Israel's settlement policy, highlighting its aim to create permanent demographic changes in Palestinian territories.
Koutroulis emphasized that Israel's settlement policy violates fundamental principles of international law, including the prohibition of acquiring territory by force and the right to self-determination.
He pointed out that the establishment of settlements leads to the creation of two separate systems, one for settlers and another for Palestinians, which exacerbates inequalities.
Belgium condemned violence against Palestinians and urged Israel to end settlement activities, restore expropriated property, and bring perpetrators of violence to justice.
Koutroulis called on third states to refrain from recognizing the legality of the situation, withhold support, and collaborate to end violations of international law.
12:10 p.m. (GMT) Bangladesh argues Israel cannot use self-defense as a justification for its actions
Riaz Hamidullah, representing Bangladesh, emphasized that the principle of self-defense cannot justify prolonged occupation, addressing the ongoing situation in the Palestinian territories.
Israel's occupation contradicts three fundamental pillars of international law: the right to self-determination, the prohibition of acquiring territory by force, and the prohibition of racial discrimination and apartheid.
In adherence to international law, any occupation must be temporary, and territorial acquisition is illegal. Israel's extended occupation, coupled with territorial expansion, constitutes a violation of international law.
Hamidullah underscored that the right to self-defense cannot excuse breaches of international law, including the right to self-determination. Israel's denial of Palestinian self-determination has led to widespread condemnation and hinders prospects for peace.
He called for Israel to cease all actions hindering Palestinian self-determination, including discriminatory legislation and military presence, and to provide reparations for damages incurred.
Hamidullah urged all states to ensure the cessation of any legal barriers to self-determination and to refrain from recognizing or supporting Israel's illegal acts. Cooperation among states is essential to compel Israel to comply with international law.He also urged the UN Security Council to consider further action to end the occupation and stressed the urgency of dismantling the apartheid system in place.
11:15 a.m. (GMT) Netherlands affirms Palestinians right to self-determination
René Lefeber, representing the Netherlands at the ICJ, affirmed the court's jurisdiction and emphasized the universal right to self-determination as outlined in the UN Charter.
He highlighted how prolonged occupation undermines this principle and noted the conditions for the legitimacy of occupying foreign territory.
Lefeber concluded that an occupation failing to meet these criteria risks violating the prohibition against the use of force.
Occupying powers are prohibited from transferring populations in the territories they occupy, constituting a war crime under the Rome Statute, Lefeber said.
Once an occupation begins, the occupying power must protect civilians, he added.
Serious breaches of international norms should be addressed at the UN, and if necessary, states must cooperate to end unlawful situations, refraining from recognizing or supporting such breaches, Lefeber concluded for the Netherlands.
10:45 a.m. (GMT) Saudi Arabia condemns Israel's actions in Palestinian Territories as legally indefensible
Ziad Al-Atiyah, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the Netherlands, has strongly criticized Israel for its actions in the occupied Palestinian territories, stating that they are legally indefensible.
Al-Atiyah emphasized the importance of holding Israel accountable for ignoring international law, particularly regarding its treatment of civilians in Gaza and its continued impunity.
Saudi Arabia expressed deep concern over the killing of civilians and rejected Israel's argument of self-defense, stating that depriving Palestinians of basic means of survival is unjustifiable.
Al-Atiyah accused Israel of dehumanizing Palestinians and committing genocide against them, calling for the international community to take action.
Regarding the jurisdiction of the court, Al-Atiyah asserted that the arguments against its jurisdiction lack merit, urging the court to issue an opinion on the matter.
Israel's ongoing disregard for ceasefire calls and provisional measures, as well as its expansion of illegal settlements and expulsion of Palestinians from their homes, were condemned by Saudi Arabia.
The Kingdom highlighted Israel's violations of international obligations, including ignoring UN resolutions condemning its conduct and preventing Palestinians from exercising their right to self-defense.
Israel's intentions to maintain and expand illegal settlements, as evidenced by its 2018 Basic Law declaring Jerusalem as its capital, were also criticized for undermining Palestinian self-determination.
10:15 a.m. (GMT) Algeria advocates against prolonged occupation of Palestinian Territories
Algeria's legal representative, Ahmed Laraba, took the floor at the ICJ to present his country's stance on the enduring occupation of Palestinian territories. In his address, Laraba highlighted the intricacies surrounding the concept of prolonged occupation, shedding light on its legal foundations and historical context.
Referencing Article 42 of The Hague Convention of 1907, Laraba underscored the undisputed basis of the notion of occupation, as acknowledged by the court in a previous opinion. He emphasized the temporary nature of the occupation, originally conceived to manage post-conflict situations and facilitate peace agreements.
Laraba pointed out the discrepancy between the intended temporary regime and the reality of a prolonged occupation, noting that the drafters of the time did not foresee a peaceful coexistence between the occupier and the occupied. This incongruity underscores the complexities and challenges inherent in addressing the prolonged occupation of Palestinian territories.
Algeria's intervention at the ICJ serves to advocate for a comprehensive understanding of the legal, historical, and humanitarian dimensions of the occupation issue. Laraba's arguments contribute to the ongoing discourse surrounding the quest for justice and resolution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
9:40 a.m. (GMT) South Africa shifts focus to Palestinian right to self-determination
Pieter Andreas Stemmet, Acting Chief State Law Adviser at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, announced South Africa's commitment to advocating for the Palestinian people's right to self-determination.
Stemmet emphasized that the UN has repeatedly recognized the inalienable right of Palestinians to self-determination. He condemned Israel's expansion of settlement activity, stating that it violates Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a signatory.
In addressing concerns about potential apartheid in Israel, Stemmet referenced the Namibia vs. South Africa case, where the court ruled that race-based exceptions and limitations constitute a denial of fundamental rights and violate the principles of the UN Charter.
Stemmet underscored the well-documented extent of Israel's violations and reiterated that the prohibition of apartheid applies universally, including to Israel.
Drawing parallels to South Africa's illegal presence in Namibia, Stemmet called for attention to the legal consequences of Israel's ongoing occupation of Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.
9:15 a.m. (GMT) South Africa urges for an end to Israel's violations
South Africa's Ambassador to The Netherlands Vusimuzi Madonsela urged for an end to Israel's violations against Palestinian territories, emphasizing the critical importance of this advisory opinion for Palestinians.
Madonsela highlighted the prolonged occupation, spanning over 50 years, conducted in defiance of international law with little international intervention.
He questioned when Israel's impunity for rights violations and breaches of international norms would cease, particularly amidst ongoing attacks on Gaza and Israel's disregard for legal orders, indicating its belief in unrestricted actions against Palestinians.
* With Reuters