Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 01-02/2024
An Israeli raid kills 5 Hezbollah members
Israeli strike in Syria kills Iran Guard, and Two Hezbollah Jihadists
A leader in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and 2 Hezbollah members were killed in the Baniyas raid
Sadness and anxiety prevail in the south due to the impact of the convoy of martyrs... and Hezbollah responds with a “Falak” and attack aircraft.
International Day of the Wheelchair: Highlighting mobility challenges and accessibility issues in Lebanon
Hezbollah says downed Israeli drone overnight
Berri stresses support for Palestine amid regional struggles
Mikati: Hochstein to visit Lebanon soon, truce would trigger land border talks
Hezbollah's drone warfare: A challenge for Israel
International Day of the Wheelchair: Highlighting mobility challenges and accessibility issues in Lebanon
Kanaan from Bkerke raises alarm on stamp mafia, pushes for swift government action
UNIFIL troops briefly detained by 'locals' in Hay al-Sellom
Mikati meets Quintet ambassadors at the Grand Serail
Gen. Aoun heads to Italy to attend army support meeting
Bou Habib says Lebanon to respond to Paris' 'good ideas' next week
Al Jazeera: Bou Habib coordinates with Hezbollah amid rising tensions with Israel
The Lebanese Hezbollah has become a criminal Entity in Kuwait..Joining the organization and cooperating with it is a “crime punishable by law.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 01-02/2024
Hamas armed wing says seven hostages killed in Gaza
Deaths at aid delivery site in Gaza draw condemnation
EU clears 50-mn-euro payment to UNRWA
WHO says Gaza health system in Gaza 'more than on its knees'
The EU says it will send funds to Gaza's main aid provider after the UN agency agrees to an audit
Calls for probe, ceasefire follow Israeli gunfire near aid convoy
Hamas, other Palestinian groups stress 'unity' at Moscow talks
Media leaders express support for journalists in Gaza
Humanitarian crisis: Why have most countries opted to deliver airlifted aid?
Biden announces US airdrops of humanitarian assistance into Gaza
Netanyahu says he will pave way to end exemption for ultra-Orthodox from military service
Iran votes in its first parliament election since 2022 protests as questions over turnout loom
Iran hard-liners set to tighten grip in election amid voter apathy
Grammy-winning Iranian singer, awarded over Mahsa Amini protest anthem, sentenced to prison
Putin foe Alexei Navalny is buried in Moscow as thousands attend under heavy police presence
Election in UK likely this year, here's what to know
European Commission will proceed to paying EUR 50 million to UNRWA and increase emergency support to Palestinians by EUR 68 million in 2024
Islamic State attack kills one Iraqi soldier north of Baghdad

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on March 01-02/2024
Palestinians' Musical Chairs: Replacing One Mohammed with Another Mohammed/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute./March 01, 2024
Accelerating the region’s transformation of its agrifood systems/QU DONGYU/Arab News/March 01, 2024
‘When Christendom Had Muscle’/Raymond Ibrahim/American Reformer:/March 01/2024
Gaza and the shameless vacuum of Western morality/Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/March 01, 2024
Turkiye, Gulf states’ converging interests in Horn of Africa/Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/March 01, 2024
Starvation: Israel’s criminal weapon of war/Daoud Kuttab/Arab News/March 01, 2024
Question: “Can a Christian lose salvation?”/GotQuestions.org/March 01/2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 01-02/2024
An Israeli raid kills 5 Hezbollah members
Agencies/02 March 2024
The Israeli army announced the killing of a number of Hezbollah members, in a bombing on the Ramia area in southern Lebanon, and also published the first pictures of the strike. The Israeli army said: “We bombed, with aircraft and artillery, infrastructure and two military buildings belonging to Hezbollah in the town of Ramia.” A number of members were spotted leaving a military building, and a plane attacked and killed them shortly after. Sky News Arabia, citing Hezbollah sources, indicated that 5 party members were killed in the Israeli strike. The Israeli strike came a day after a similar strike, carried out on the home of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard advisor, in the Baniyas area in Syria. On Friday, Iranian media reported that Reza Zarei, an advisor to the Revolutionary Guard, was killed by Israeli bombing on Baniyas, western Syria. The Syrian Observatory reported that three Iranian leaders were targeted in the coastal area of Baniyas, northwestern Syria. According to the Observatory, the Baniyas strike targeted a house used by Iranian militias, while local sources indicated that three violent explosions were heard, causing a state of panic among the population as a result of their violent sounds.

Israeli strike in Syria kills Iran Guard, and Two Hezbollah Jihadists
Agence France Presse/March 01, 2024
An Israeli strike in Syria on Friday killed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard and two other people, reports said, in the third consecutive day of Israeli attacks on Syria. Three violent explosions shook the centre of Banias, on Syria's Mediterranean coast, during the dawn strike on a villa that sheltered "a group affiliated with Iran", said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor. A building was destroyed, killing the Iranian and two other non-Syrians who were with him, said the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria. Iran's official news agency IRNA later said Reza Zarei, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' navy, had been "killed at dawn today by the usurping Zionist regime". The government-controlled city of Banias is home to an oil refinery with Iranian tankers docking at its port. On Thursday, Israel killed a Hezbollah fighter in a strike on Syria, close to the Lebanese border, the Observatory said, hours after similar attacks. Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on targets in Syria since civil war broke out in 2011. The strikes have mainly targeted Iran-backed forces including militants from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement as well as Syrian army positions. Iran is a key political, military and financial backer of the Assad government, and has sent military advisers and volunteers to bolster its forces.Tehran says it has deployed forces in Syria at the invitation of Damascus, but only as advisers. The strikes have increased since Israel's war with Palestinian militant group Hamas began on October 7. Israel rarely comments on individual strikes but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in Syria. Iran backs Assad's government and Hezbollah, which supports Hamas. Syria's war has claimed the lives of more than half a million people and displaced millions since it broke out in March 2011 with Damascus's brutal repression of anti-government protests.

A leader in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and 2  Hezbollah members were killed in the Baniyas raid
Nedda Al Watan/March 02, 2024
Yesterday, three people were killed, including a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, as a result of an Israeli raid targeting the city of Baniyas on the Syrian coast, according to what the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The Observatory said: “Three violent explosions sounded at dawn, resulting from an Israeli airstrike targeting a villa” on the outskirts of Baniyas on the Syrian coast. The Observatory added: “It was confirmed that a leader of Iranian nationality and two other people who were with him of non-Syrian nationality were killed.” Iranian media later reported that the two people who were killed, along with the Iranian leader, belonged to Hezbollah. This targeting “is the first of its kind in Baniyas in three years,” according to the Observatory. The official Iranian News Agency (IRNA) in Tehran confirmed later on Friday the killing of a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Reza Zarei, “one of the guards of the 1st District of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy, who was martyred at dawn today at the hands of the usurping Zionist regime.” From Baniyas to the south, the Israeli army announced last night that it had attacked “infrastructure and two buildings belonging to Hezbollah” in Ramia in the western sector, and the raid led to casualties among the party’s ranks. He said: “A number of people were spotted leaving a military building, and a plane attacked them and killed them shortly after.”

Sadness and anxiety prevail in the south due to the impact of the convoy of martyrs... and Hezbollah responds with a “Falak” and attack aircraft.
Hussein Saad/Janoubia/March 02, 2024
New martyrs in the sad south, fell this evening in Ramia, homes were destroyed, and the level of pessimism rose, in light of the blockage of the horizon of prisoner exchange negotiations and agreement on a humanitarian truce, coinciding with the massacres against civilians in Gaza, and the acts of destruction in the Lebanese border towns and villages, which raise the level of The number of displaced people increases their suffering. In a parallel context, a number of southern towns bid farewell to their martyrs who fell yesterday and the day before, in Kafra, where they mourned the spouses Hussein Ali Ibrahim Hamdan and Manar Abadi, wrapped in the Lebanese flag, amid an atmosphere of sadness that pervaded the town. In which the martyr Mahmoud Hammoud also fell, in an Israeli raid, on the Lebanese-Syrian border yesterday morning, while Hezbollah and the town of Dabal mourned the two martyrs who fell in a raid on Blida, namely Abdullah Asal and Ali Jumaa. In the wake of these funerals, enemy warplanes continued to launch devastating raids on a number of towns, including Ramia, in the Bint Jbeil district, where Israeli planes raided a house in the town, close to the border, and the raid resulted in the fall of a number of martyrs. Inside this house, the operations to remove the rubble continued for many hours, during which the civil defense teams, the Al-Resala Association, and the Health Authority were able to recover the bodies of martyrs who fell as a result of the raid, and the martyrs were known among them, Muhammad Ali Ghabris, from Tairdaba, Mustafa Salman, from Majdal Zoun, Ali Shalhoub, From Qana, and Ali Qasim Wahbi from Mahrouna. Within the framework of the work and support operations for Gaza, Hezbollah carried out a series of attacks against Israeli occupation sites, and according to statements issued by the party, it bombed with a missile, opening positions at the Khirbet Maar base, and attacked the Ma’yan Baruch settlement, with a attack aircraft, and bombed Al-Manara sites. , Ruwaisat Al-Alam, Al-Baghdadi, Ramim, and the party previously announced that it shot down an Israeli helicopter, over the Al-Azziyah area, south of the city of Tyre.

International Day of the Wheelchair: Highlighting mobility challenges and accessibility issues in Lebanon
LBCI/March 01/2024
The wheelchair, a tool designed to assist people with mobility challenges, began with the simple idea of a chair on wheels and evolved with technology to become more accessible and flexible. This enables people using wheelchairs to integrate more into society, and opening many paths. Can you imagine how difficult their lives were before? We visited Sesobel, where they are celebrating this holiday for the first time, to learn more about it and its purpose. The International Day of the Wheelchair is a celebration that may be unfamiliar to some, so let's delve into its significance and purpose. The concept of the International Day of the Wheelchair was initiated by a British wheelchair user who aimed to highlight its importance and positive impact on his life. However, here in Lebanon, we encounter a challenge. The cost of these chairs can be prohibitive for some. According to Salma Assi, the head of the Medical Equipment & Device Importers Syndicate, prices range from $100 to $2000. Beyond the cost issue, Lebanon lacks specific pathways that allow wheelchairs to access all locations. While many institutions provide these pathways, numerous public places and institutions must also be equipped with such facilities. Even if they exist, who is responsible for enforcing the law? These pathways often become blocked rather than serving as accessible routes.

Hezbollah says downed Israeli drone overnight
Naharnet/March 01/2024
Hezbollah said Friday it has downed an Israeli drone overnight in southern Lebanon and targeted Friday a military post and a group of Israeli soldiers in northern Israel. The group said it has downed the drone over the al-Azziyeh valley in the Tyre district, in support of Gaza and its resistance, and targeted the al-Baghdadi post and a group of soldiers in the Ramim barracks in northern Israel. Israeli warplanes and drones meanwhile targeted Aita al-Shaab, Jabal Blat and the outskirts of Ramia and Marwahin. Israeli warplanes had raided overnight al-Labbouneh and a valley between Ramia, Beit Leef and Aita al-Shaab. As the Gaza war raged, Hezbollah and the Israeli army have traded almost daily fire. On the Lebanese side, at least 280 people have been killed, mostly Hezbollah fighters and their allies, along with 44 civilians, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, the army says 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, while tens of thousands of residents on both sides have been displaced.

Berri stresses support for Palestine amid regional struggles
LBCI/March 01/2024
Nabih Berri affirms Lebanon's support for Palestine amid regional challenges.
During a meeting with the Secretary-General of the General Union of Arab Writers and the President of the General Union of Writers in Egypt, Dr. Alaa Abdelhadi, along with a delegation, Nabih Berri, the Speaker of the Parliament, emphasized that Lebanon pays a high price for its stance with Palestine, considering it as "our destiny."Berri stated, "It must be emphasized that what is happening in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Jerusalem, and the potential fall of these Arab territories, God forbid, will not only be a fall for Palestine, but it will also be a fall for Arab national security, and it is a fall for humanity as a whole."The delegation briefed the Speaker of the Parliament on the Union's work programs and its role in preserving Arab identity, stressing the importance of establishing an Arab cultural front to confront the risks and challenges facing the nation, foremost among them the situation in the Gaza Strip.Abdelhadi presented Berri with an honorary shield for his efforts, and several literary publications by participating writers and poets in the delegation were also presented to him. Additionally, Berri received the former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, Dr. Mohammad Baasiri.

Mikati: Hochstein to visit Lebanon soon, truce would trigger land border talks
Naharnet/March 01/2024
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said that U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein will visit Lebanon soon, amid fears of an all-out war between Lebanon and Israel as tensions escalated between the two archfoes in recent weeks.
Hochstein was last in Beirut in January in a diplomatic effort to prevent a bigger conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Mikati told Reuters, in comments published Thursday, that he is certain that Hezbollah would cease fire if Israel did the same, and that a truce in Gaza would trigger mediated land border negotiations between Lebanon and Israel. As Israel and Hamas inch toward a new deal, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said there would be no let-up in Israeli action against Hezbollah even if a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal were secured, while Hezbollah said it would abide by any Gaza truce.

Hezbollah's drone warfare: A challenge for Israel
LBCI/March 01/2024
In light of Israel's air force superiority, Hezbollah had to develop an alternative weapon, and thus emerged what became known as the "drone war." In this war, two prominent challenges stood out: the precision assassination of Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in an apartment deep in the suburb and, in return, Hezbollah's breach of the Meron base bypassing the Iron Dome system. For Israel, facing Hamas' drones in the south and Hezbollah's drones in the north necessitated a technological response. As it flies toward its target, each drone uses a GPS system to determine its location. However, in a bid to disrupt Hamas' signals for its drones internally and to hinder Hezbollah's drone signals from the north, Israel has jammed the GPS system in its airspace. Concurrently, Israel has developed its technology, known as GPS Dome 2, to guide its drones. On the military front, Israel's focus also turns toward Hezbollah. Israel is wary of Hezbollah's aerial capabilities, possessing 2,000 combat, surveillance, and suicide drones used by the party for the first time, according to Israeli reports. While Hezbollah manufactures some of these drones in Lebanon, the majority are Iranian-made, capable of replacing warplanes, according to Israeli website Alma. Despite their small size, their advantage lies in their ability to carry 20 kilograms of explosives and reach speeds of up to 20 kilometers per hour. What is most concerning for Israel is Hezbollah's ability to launch dozens of drones simultaneously due to their small size and low cost, allowing the party to produce large quantities, according to Tal Amber, an Israeli expert at the American Institute "Fisher." At that point, it would be difficult for Israeli defense systems to counter this attack, especially given the challenge of detecting these drones. In response to this situation, Israel began developing new defensive systems last month, testing the "Spider" system capable of dealing with drones, ballistic missiles, and precision-guided munitions.

International Day of the Wheelchair: Highlighting mobility challenges and accessibility issues in Lebanon
LBCI/March 01/2024
The wheelchair, a tool designed to assist people with mobility challenges, began with the simple idea of a chair on wheels and evolved with technology to become more accessible and flexible. This enables people using wheelchairs to integrate more into society, and opening many paths.
Can you imagine how difficult their lives were before? We visited Sesobel, where they are celebrating this holiday for the first time, to learn more about it and its purpose.The International Day of the Wheelchair is a celebration that may be unfamiliar to some, so let's delve into its significance and purpose. The concept of the International Day of the Wheelchair was initiated by a British wheelchair user who aimed to highlight its importance and positive impact on his life. However, here in Lebanon, we encounter a challenge. The cost of these chairs can be prohibitive for some. According to Salma Assi, the head of the Medical Equipment & Device Importers Syndicate, prices range from $100 to $2000. Beyond the cost issue, Lebanon lacks specific pathways that allow wheelchairs to access all locations. While many institutions provide these pathways, numerous public places and institutions must also be equipped with such facilities. Even if they exist, who is responsible for enforcing the law? These pathways often become blocked rather than serving as accessible routes.

Kanaan from Bkerke raises alarm on stamp mafia, pushes for swift government action
NNA/March 01/2024
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, on Friday met with MP Ibrahim Kanaan at the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerke for 40 minutes, followed by a meeting at the patriarchal residence. In the wake of the meeting Kanaan said that the focus of his session with the Patriarch was “responsibility”. “Either we have a state that genuinely and seriously assumes responsibility, or we merely have stances, displays, and folklore, starting with the primary file, which is war. The Lebanese people unite in rejecting war, and there are international atmospheres that help prevent war. What practical measures are being taken? What is the actual path to implement Resolution 1701 to protect our people in the south and Lebanon, in parallel with rejecting the massacres occurring in Gaza, and in full solidarity with the Palestinian people suffering from Israeli violations? However, there is also the interest of the nation and the decision that the state must make, with everyone's solidarity, and here lies the responsibility,” Kanaan said.  "The second focus was the financial and social file, and the outcry we hear from people about the black market. His Beatitude asked me about this issue. Village mayors may resort to strikes within days because the official stamp that the state is supposed to print and distribute is missing, and official financial stamps are distributed in the black market at exorbitant prices, right in front of government ministries and centers, without any action being taken. Is this how responsibility should be? Shouldn't providing stamps legally to alleviate people's suffering, or suspending their use until they are legally provided, be considered? This outcry from Lebanese village mayors and citizens is not the responsibility of the legislator but of the government and the relevant ministers. We are ready to collaborate with them to alleviate citizens' suffering, but the situation cannot be left as it is, without initiatives or superficial initiatives and passing the buck,” Kanaan explained. Regarding the presidential file, the lawmaker stated, "It is known that procrastination extends and includes all ports, including local authorities if a president is not elected. What are we waiting for? Initiatives? While welcoming all initiatives, it is essential to get to the heart of the matter, and any dialogue must start from the constitution, which determines the method of electing a president. After a year and a half of vacancy, it is our duty to determine and decide our options in Parliament. No one should shut the door on any initiative, and Bkerke welcomes all initiatives, but time should not be wasted, going from week to week amidst the erosion and deterioration evident in all financial, social, economic, and political files and at the level of state institutions.”Kanaan concluded by saying, "This is my cry from Bkerke, which I share with many citizens, foremost among them His Beatitude the Patriarch." Responding to a question about who protects the stamp mafia, Kanaan said, "Allowing this mafia to continue is what sustains it. I have filed complaints before the judiciary, and it is its duty to determine responsibilities and hold people accountable. It is the government's duty to provide official stamps, so why go to the mafia instead of the legitimate market? This is where the investigation must begin."

UNIFIL troops briefly detained by 'locals' in Hay al-Sellom
Naharnet/March 01/2024
A UNIFIL vehicle lost its way and ended up in the Beirut southern suburb of Hay al-Sellom on Thursday evening, which sparked an altercation with locals and a brief detention of the peacekeepers, media reports said. The UNIFIL peacekeepers were eventually handed over to the Lebanese Army according to al-Mayadeen television. Other reports said the vehicle was intercepted by Hezbollah members, who “seized devices and cameras” that were with the troops. “The UNIFIL members were handed over to Hezbollah’s security committee, which interrogated them, especially amid the presence of doubts that there were taking footage with the cameras,” the unconfirmed reports said. Kandice Ardiel, UNIFIL's Deputy Spokesperson, meanwhile confirmed to LBCI television that on Thursday night, "a peacekeeping vehicle on a routine logistical movement to Beirut ended up on an unplanned route."
Ardiel revealed that the vehicle was stopped, adding that the peacekeepers were detained by local individuals. Fortunately, they were later released, she said. "We emphasize that, in addition to freedom of movement inside UNIFIL's area of operations, peacekeepers have the freedom and authorization from the Lebanese Government to move throughout Lebanon for administrative and logistical reasons," UNIFIL's Deputy Spokesperson affirmed. She also stressed that "this freedom of movement is essential to the implementation of Resolution 1701."Similar incidents have frequently happened in south Lebanon in recent years, but this is the first time such an incident takes place near the capital.

Mikati meets Quintet ambassadors at the Grand Serail
Naharnet/March 01/2024
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met Friday with the ambassadors of the five-nation group at the Grand Serail. Egyptian Ambassador Alaa Moussa, U.S. ambassador Lisa Johnson, French Ambassador Herve Magro, Saudi Ambassador Walid al-Bukhari, and Qatari Ambassador Sheikh Saud bin Abdul Rahman Al-Thani discussed the Lebanese presidential impasse with Mikati. Egypt's Ambassador Moussa said after the meeting that the Quintet's ambassadors are unified and willing to help the Lebanese end their presidential crisis but that the group does not discuss or suggest names. "The name of the president must come from within Lebanon, not from the Quintet," Moussa said. He added that the presidential election must be separated from the war on Gaza, as cross-border clashes on the Lebanese-Israeli border escalated in recent days. Crisis-hit Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Aoun's term ended in October last year, with neither of the two main blocs -- Hezbollah and its opponents -- having the majority required to elect one. The international community and the five-nation group have long urged Lebanese leaders to end months of political wrangling and stem the financial meltdown.
Since October 8, the day after the Israeli war on Gaza erupted, Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, has exchanged near-daily fire with the Israeli army, stoking fears of an all-out war.

Gen. Aoun heads to Italy to attend army support meeting
Naharnet/March 01/2024
Army Commander General Joseph Aoun on Friday traveled to Italy at an invitation from his Italian counterpart Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the army said. Aoun will take part in “a meeting organized by Italian authorities to discuss means to support the military institution in the face of the current extraordinary circumstances,” an army statement said. The commanders of the armies of Spain, Germany, Britain and France will also take part in the meeting.

Bou Habib says Lebanon to respond to Paris' 'good ideas' next week
Naharnet/March 01, 2024
Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib on Friday said that Lebanon wants a “complete solution” for the border conflict with Israel. “Hezbollah and the Houthis have announced that they will halt attacks if Israel stops the war on Gaza,” Bou Habib noted in an interview with al-Jazeera television. “The French have proposed good ideas that we are studying and will respond to next week,” Bou Habib added.
“What Israel cares for is the return of residents to the areas from which they fled in the north,” the minister pointed out. He added: “We want peace on the border, but we are prepared for war should it be imposed on us.”“Any Israeli attack on our territory will not be a walk in the park and will lead to a regional war,” Bou Habib warned. “Foreign envoys conveyed to us Israel’s threat and our response was that they should withdraw from our land,” he added. Hezbollah and the Israeli army have traded almost daily fire since the eruption of the Gaza war. On the Lebanese side, at least 280 people have been killed, mostly Hezbollah fighters and their allies, along with 44 civilians. On the Israeli side, the army says 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, while tens of thousands of residents on both sides have been displaced.

Al Jazeera: Bou Habib coordinates with Hezbollah amid rising tensions with Israel
LBCI/March 01, 2024
Abdallah Bou Habib, the Foreign Minister in the caretaker government, affirmed that the government is consulting with Hezbollah regarding the prevailing tensions in the south. Bou Habib told Al Jazeera, "Consultation is binding and does not imply a final decision."He clarified that international delegates conveyed Israel's threats, but Lebanon's response was the withdrawal from Lebanese territories. He emphasized that any Israeli attack on Lebanese territory would not be a picnic and would lead to a regional war. He called for peace on the borders and indicated Lebanon's readiness for war if imposed. He said, "What matters to Israel is the return of residents to the areas they evacuated in the north."Bou Habib pointed out that the French presented good ideas that were being studied by the Lebanese side, with a response expected next week. He called for a comprehensive solution with Israel regarding the border issue.

The Lebanese Hezbollah has become a criminal Entity in Kuwait
Joining the organization and cooperating with it is a “crime punishable by law.”
Kuwait: Mirza Al-Khuwailidi / Asharq Al-Awsat / March 2, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/127535/127535/
The Kuwaiti Court of Cassation, the highest judicial authority in the country, decided its position on the classification of the Lebanese “Hezbollah”, considering that this group is “banned and criminal according to the law,” and it is “an armed organization that plans to demolish the basic systems in Kuwait to form the greater Iranian republic,” and that the party “An organization that believes in the Iranian revolution and its principles and seeks to spread them in Kuwait.” This position removes confusion regarding the legal status of this Lebanese organization, since those accused of spying with it have repeatedly defended Kuwait not classifying Hezbollah as a prohibited “terrorist entity.”
The position of the Court of Cassation came in the merits of the ruling convicting 3 Kuwaiti citizens on charges of spying with the Lebanese Hezbollah, where the court ruled to cancel their acquittal, but decided to refrain from pronouncing punishment, while requiring them to “be of good conduct and conduct,” which is a legal expression that indicates that it is conditional on their not being involved. Again in a similar case.
However, the court explained that joining the Hezbollah group and cooperating with it is considered a “crime punishable by law.” The case in which the three Kuwaitis and a Lebanese woman are being tried goes back to accusations made by the State Security Service regarding the defendants’ involvement in financing parties affiliated with the Hezbollah organization and sending money and donations to them. The case was heard in the Court of Appeal in late 2023, where an acquittal was issued for 3 defendants, because the court I noticed that it is not enough for a conviction to be merely supported or purely inclination and sympathy. Rather, significant evidence is required to prove affiliation with the party.
However, after the appeals submitted against the appeal ruling, the case was presented again to the Court of Cassation, where yesterday (Thursday) it ruled in a final ruling headed by Counselor Abdullah Al-Jassem, canceling the acquittal of a Lebanese and two Kuwaiti citizens on the charge of collaborating with “Hezbollah,” and again ruled to convict them, while refraining from exonerating them. Declare punishment and force them to behave well. But what was included in the cassation ruling is remarkable, and it established new principles regarding the classification of the Lebanese “Hezbollah” in Kuwait, where supporting and financing “Hezbollah” was criminalized, as the court considered sending financial donations to Lebanon to support “Hezbollah” a crime punishable by law.
The other matter is that the court classified “Hezbollah” as an armed organization hostile to Kuwait. The court confirmed that “Hezbollah” “plans to demolish the basic systems in Kuwait to form the greater Iranian republic, and it is prohibited and criminalized by law.”
The court also considered that Hezbollah is an organization that seeks to spread the principles related to the Iranian revolution, an arm of Iran in Islamic and Arab countries, and an armed organization that relies on violence and force.
The court rejected the defendants’ defense that there is no law in Kuwait that criminalizes joining Hezbollah, confirming the existence of laws criminalizing support for terrorist organizations. The court explained in the merits of the ruling: “The point is in banning any group established in contravention of Article 30 of Law No. 31 of 1971 amending some The provisions of the Penal Code No. 16 of 1960 and considering them as illegal groups are based on the purpose they aim for and the means they take to achieve their goal.”
She also explained that “the organization called (Hezbollah) that the three defendants joined is an armed organization that works in the interest of the Republic of Iran, believes in the Iranian Revolution and its principles, and its purpose is to spread it in the State of Kuwait and all Islamic countries, which is based, in essence, on the idea of demolishing the basic systems in those countries.” Through illegal means and by force attacking the existing social and economic system in order to control it and form the Greater Iranian Republic.”
What applies to the Lebanese Hezbollah also applies to another organization called “Saraya al-Ashtar,” which is an organization that announced itself in Bahrain after the events of 2012. One of the three Kuwaiti defendants was affiliated with this organization, and he also pleaded not to classify it as a terrorist organization, and the court said. In the merits of the ruling, “it has been proven from investigations that the group called (Saraya al-Ashtar), which the first accused joined, follows the same approach.”
She said: “The two organizations’ means of achieving their goals is to call for the use of force, violence, and illegal means of breaking the law to achieve their goal, with the knowledge of the defendants who joined them.”
The court added: “What the incident officer testified to, in addition to the other evidence mentioned above, confirms all the elements of the crime of the three defendants joining a group prohibited by force of law, and using force and violence as means to achieve their goals, and therefore the defendants are aware that this crime does not exist against them.” The failure to issue a law criminalizing joining the group called (Hezbollah) or the group called (Saraya al-Ashtar) and not banning these two organizations is not valid for the court to propose.”
Dealing with Lebanese Hezbollah is the government’s prerogative
Kuwaiti jurist Dr. Muhammad Al-Faily told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The court has the right to exercise its diligence in deriving its conclusions from the facts, given that the criminal ruling is based on conviction, and the Kuwaiti criminal law criminalizes joining parties that call for the demolition of the social and economic system in Kuwait by force.”He added: “The Lebanese Hezbollah is not a party to this story, as it is a party licensed in a foreign country that operates according to its laws and in its territory, but the court says that the group operating in Kuwait under the name Hezbollah is a group/party calling for the demolition of the social system in Kuwait by force.” Regarding the impact of this ruling on dealing with the party in Lebanon, Al-Faili said: “Reading the ruling in connection with the Lebanese Hezbollah is a political reading, and deciding the method of dealing with the Lebanese Hezbollah is the government’s prerogative. Because, according to the constitution, it is the one that manages the state’s foreign relations file.”

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 01-02/2024
Hamas armed wing says seven hostages killed in Gaza
CAIRO (Reuters)/March 1, 2024
Seven hostages who have been held in Gaza were killed as a result of the Israeli military's bombardment of the enclave, Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson for Hamas' armed wing al-Qassam brigades said on Friday. It was not immediately clear when the seven died. The Al-Qassam brigades confirmed that the number of hostages killed due to Israel's military operations in Gaza has now exceeded 70 captives, Abu Ubaida added in a statement on Telegram. Israel's military campaign follows Hamas militants' killing of 1,200 people in southern Israel and the abduction of at least 250 on Oct. 7, according to Israeli tallies. Israel has responded with a military assault on the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. During a week-long truce in late November, Hamas freed more than 100 Israeli and foreign hostages in exchange for Israel releasing about 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Deaths at aid delivery site in Gaza draw condemnation
Agence France Presse
Israeli troops in the northern Gaza Strip opened fire on Palestinians scrambling for food aid on Thursday, in a chaotic incident that the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said killed more than 100 people. There were conflicting reports about how the pre-dawn incident unfolded. The Israeli military said a "stampede" occurred when thousands of Gazans surrounded a convoy of 38 aid trucks, leading to dozens of deaths and injuries, including some people being run over. An Israeli source said troops had opened fire on the crowd, believing it "posed a threat". The Gaza health ministry condemned the "massacre" in Gaza City, saying 112 people were killed and more than 750 wounded. Reactions to the deaths have poured in from around the world.
U.S. 'pressing for answers' -
U.S. President Joe Biden said the incident would complicate delicate ceasefire negotiations in the almost five-month-old war, with the White House calling the deaths "tremendously alarming". State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States was "urgently seeking additional information on exactly what took place". Washington will be monitoring an upcoming investigation closely and "pressing for answers", he said.
France says fire 'unjustifiable' -
France's foreign ministry said "the fire by Israeli soldiers against civilians trying to access food is unjustifiable". The "tragic event" came as an "increasing and unbearable number of Palestinian civilians" were suffering from hunger and disease, it added, saying Israel must abide by international law and protect aid deliveries to civilians. Writing on the social media platform X that Palestinian "civilians have been targeted by Israeli soldiers", French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his "strongest condemnation" of the killings.
Turkey condemns 'crime against humanity' - Turkey accused Israel of committing "another crime against humanity" and condemning Gazans to "famine" as civilians scavenge for dwindling supplies of food.
"The fact that Israel... this time targets innocent civilians in a queue for humanitarian aid, is evidence that (Israel) aims consciously and collectively to destroy the Palestinian people", the Turkish foreign ministry said.
Colombia scraps Israel arms purchases -
Colombia's President Gustavo Petro denounced what he called a "genocide" of the Palestinian people and suspended purchases of weapons from Israel, a key supplier of his country's security forces. "Asking for food, more than 100 Palestinians were killed by (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu. This is called genocide and recalls the Holocaust," Petro wrote on X.
"The world must block Netanyahu."
Spain condemns 'unacceptable' incident -
"The unacceptable nature of what happened in Gaza, with dozens of Palestinian civilians dead as they were waiting for food, underlines the urgency of a ceasefire," Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares wrote on X.
Italy demands 'immediate ceasefire' -
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza and urged Israel to protect the Palestinian population after the "tragic deaths".
"We strongly urge Israel to protect the people in Gaza and to rigorously ascertain facts and responsibilities," he said on X. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her "deep dismay and concern" over the violence.
U.N. condemnation
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the incident and was "appalled by the tragic human toll of the conflict", his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. "The desperate civilians in Gaza need urgent help, including those in the besieged north where the United Nations has not been able to deliver aid in more than a week," Dujarric said.
EU decries 'carnage' -
European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell denounced the deaths as "totally unacceptable". "I am horrified by news of yet another carnage among civilians in Gaza desperate for humanitarian aid," he said on X.
Qatar denounces 'heinous massacre' -
Qatar's foreign ministry condemned "in the strongest terms the heinous massacre committed by the Israeli occupation", calling for "urgent international action" to halt the fighting in Gaza. It went on to warn that Israel's "disregard for Palestinian lives... will ultimately undermine international efforts aimed at implementing the two-state solution, and thus pave the way for the expansion of the cycle of violence in the region".
Saudi calls for ceasefire -
Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry condemned the deaths and reiterated "the need to reach an immediate ceasefire". It also renewed its "demands to the international community to take a firm position to oblige Israel to respect international humanitarian law, immediately open safe humanitarian corridors, allow the evacuation of the injured, and enable the delivery of relief aid".
China shocked, condemns deaths -
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Chinese Mao Ning said China was shocked by the incident and strongly condemned the killing of Palestinians during an aid delivery.
"China urges the relevant parties, especially Israel, to cease fire and end the fighting immediately, earnestly protect civilians' safety, ensure that humanitarian aid can enter, and avoid an even more serious humanitarian disaster," Mao said.
Australia 'horrified' -
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said her country was "horrified by today's catastrophe in Gaza and the ongoing humanitarian crisis that has led to it".
"These events underscore why for months Australia has been calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza," she said. "I have instructed my department to express Australia's views directly to the Israeli ambassador."

EU clears 50-mn-euro payment to UNRWA
Agence France Presse/March 01/2024
The European Commission announced Friday it was clearing a 50-million-euro ($54 million) payment to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, which was under review following Israeli claims its staff participated in Hamas's October 7 attack. Commission spokesman Eric Mamer told reporters the funds would be released "early next week" after UNRWA agreed to a "series of conditions" including an EU-led audit, with a further 32 million euros to follow later. The Commission also decided Friday to allocate an additional 68-million-euro to support the Palestinian population across the region to be implemented through international partners like the Red Cross and the Red Crescent. "The Commission will proceed to paying 50-million-euro of the UNRWA envelope next week," the European Commission said, adding that UNRWA has indicated that it stands ready to ensure that a review of its staff is carried out to confirm they did not participate in the October 7 attacks and that further controls are put in place to mitigate such risks in the future. "UNRWA has agreed to the launch of an audit of the Agency to be conducted by EU appointed external experts. This audit will review the control systems to prevent the possible involvement of its staff and assets in terrorist activities," the Commission said in a statement. "On this basis, and following the exchange of letters with UNRWA confirming its commitments, the Commission will proceed disburse a first tranche of 50-million-euro out of the 82-million-euro foreseen for UNRWA for 2024," the statement said. The Commission said that it will allocate an additional 68-million-euro for in 2024, as it "remains fully committed to addressing the humanitarian plight of the Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza but also more widely in the region.""We stand by the Palestinian people in Gaza and elsewhere in the region. Innocent Palestinians should not have to pay the price for the crimes of terrorist group Hamas. They face terrible conditions putting their lives at risk because of lack of access to sufficient food and other basic needs. That is why we are reinforcing our support to them this year by a further 68-million-euro,” the Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

WHO says Gaza health system in Gaza 'more than on its knees'
GENEVA (Reuters)/March 1, 2024
People in the Gaza Strip are risking their lives to find food, water and other supplies such is the level of hunger and despair amid the unrelenting Israeli assault, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. "The system in Gaza is on its knees, it's more than on its knees," WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told reporters in Geneva. "All the lifelines in Gaza have more or less been cut."Lindmeier said this had created a "desperate situation", as seen on Thursday, when more than 100 people seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza were killed. Gaza health authorities said Israeli forces shot dead the Palestinians as they waited for an aid delivery. Israel blamed the deaths on crowds that surrounded the aid trucks, saying victims had been trampled or run over. "People are so desperate for food, for fresh water, for any supplies that they risk their lives in getting any food, any supplies to support their children, to support themselves," Lindmeier said. While aid is reaching southern parts of the Gaza Strip, it is too slow to avert a hunger crisis even there. Aid barely makes it to northern areas that are further from the main border crossing and only accessible through more active battle fronts. "The food supplies have been cut off deliberately. Let's not forget that," Lindmeier said. Israel has said the failure to get enough aid into Gaza to meet humanitarian needs is due to U.N. distribution failures. A senior U.N. aid official told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that one quarter of the population of Gaza is one step away from famine and widespread famine could be "almost inevitable" without action.

The EU says it will send funds to Gaza's main aid provider after the UN agency agrees to an audit
BRUSSELS (AP/March 1, 2024
The European Union said Friday that it will pay 50 million euros ($54 million) to the main provider of aid in Gaza next week after the cash-strapped U.N. agency agreed to allow EU-appointed experts to audit the way it screens staff to identify extremists. The UNRWA agency is reeling from allegations that 12 of its 13,000 Gaza staff members participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel. The agency fired the employees, but more than a dozen countries suspended funding worth about $450 million, almost half its budget for 2024. The Israel-Hamas war has driven 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes, and U.N. officials say a quarter of the population is starving. The agency is the main supplier of food, water and shelter, but it is also on the brink of financial collapse. The European Commission had been due to disburse 82 million euros ($89 million) to UNRWA on Feb. 29, but wanted the agency to accept its terms for an audit. The EU's powerful executive branch is the third biggest donor to UNRWA after the United States and Germany. The commission said the agency has now “indicated that it stands ready to ensure that a review of its staff is carried out to confirm they did not participate in the attacks and that further controls are put in place to mitigate such risks in the future.” The commission said the funds will be dispatched next week once UNRWA has confirmed in writing that it accepts the EU's conditions. Two further tranches worth 16 million euros ($17.3 million) each will be given to UNRWA as it complies with their agreement. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini welcomed the EU’s announcement and said that the commitment to provide money next week “comes at a critical time.”
“The full disbursement of the EU contribution is key to the agency’s ability to maintain its operations in a very volatile area,” he tweeted. Israel has long accused UNRWA of tolerating or even collaborating with Hamas activities in or around U.N. facilities, but no one — in Israel or abroad — has offered an alternative for delivering aid to Gaza’s besieged population. UNRWA took the unusual step of immediately firing its staffers based on Israel’s allegations against them, but with no hard evidence being provided. Each year, UNRWA gives a list of its staff to the Israeli authorities for vetting, and the agency said it has received no complaints. Two U.N. investigations into Israel’s allegations against the agency are already underway. Even as the commission was negotiating the terms of its audit, Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarčič told EU lawmakers this week that “we have not received any evidence supporting the allegations by Israel that UNWRA’s staff were involved in the terrible events on 7 October.”“To our knowledge, none of the donors — other donors — have received any evidence,” he added. Belgian Development Minister Caroline Gennez, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, tweeted on Friday that UNRWA “is the only organization that can structurally get humanitarian aid to Palestinians. Defunding would mean a death sentence for tens of thousands.”The funding dispute comes a day after witnesses said that Israeli troops had fired on a crowd of Palestinians racing to pull food off an aid convoy in Gaza City. More than 100 people were killed in the chaos. The death toll since October stands at more than 30,000, according to health officials. The Hamas attack into Israel that ignited the war killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the militants seized around 250 hostages. Hamas and other militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of about 30 more, after releasing most other captives during a November cease-fire.

Calls for probe, ceasefire follow Israeli gunfire near aid convoy
AFP/March 01, 2024
GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: World leaders on Friday called for an investigation and a ceasefire nearly five months into the Gaza war, a day after dozens of desperate Palestinians were killed rushing an aid convoy. Israeli troops opened fire as Palestinian civilians scrambled for food aid during a chaotic incident Thursday which the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry said killed more than 100 people in Gaza City. The deaths came after a World Food Programme official had warned: “If nothing changes, a famine is imminent in northern Gaza.”The Israeli military said a “stampede” occurred when thousands of Gazans surrounded the convoy of 38 aid trucks, leading to dozens of deaths and injuries, including some who were run over. An Israeli source acknowledged troops had opened fire on the crowd, believing it “posed a threat.”Gaza’s health ministry called it a “massacre” and said 112 people were killed and more than 750 others wounded. The fatalities helped push the total number of Palestinian war dead in Gaza to 30,228 mostly women and children, according to the ministry’s latest toll. Overnight Thursday-Friday 83 people were killed in strikes, the ministry said.
The war began on October 7 with an unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show. Israel’s military says 242 soldiers have died in Gaza since ground operations began in late October. “The Israeli army must fully investigate how the mass panic and shooting could have happened,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on social media platform X. Her French counterpart Stephane Sejourne said: “there will have to be an independent probe to determine what happened,” and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani urged Israel “to protect the people in Gaza and to rigorously ascertain facts and responsibilities.” European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, also writing on X, said “every effort must be made to investigate what happened and ensure transparency.”
The head of Libya’s Presidential Council, Mohamed el-Manfi, appealed for “an urgent investigation” by the United Nations Security Council into the “unprecedented crime.” US President Joe Biden — whose country provides billions of dollars in military aid to Israel — said Washington was checking “two competing versions” of the incident. Aerial footage of the incident made clear “just how desperate the situation on the ground is,” a US State Department spokesman said. Washington was pushing Israel to allow in more aid, he said.
The Gaza City aid incident came with talks progressing toward a ceasefire, but would now complicate those efforts, Biden said. The White House later said it had asked Israel to probe the “tremendously alarming” deaths. Deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton said the event “needs to be thoroughly investigated.”
Qatar’s foreign ministry condemned “in the strongest terms the heinous massacre committed by the Israeli occupation” and called for “urgent international action” to halt the fighting in Gaza. Further afield, in South America, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced the suspension of arms purchases from Israel after the “genocide” in Gaza City. While the situation is particularly acute in Gaza’s north, Gazans are struggling for food, water and medical care throughout the territory including in far-south Rafah where around 1.4 million people have sought refuge from fighting elsewhere.
Israel is threatening to send in troops against Hamas fighters in Rafah.
Information conflicted on what exactly unfolded in Gaza City.
A witness, declining to be named for safety reasons, said the violence began when thousands of people rushed toward aid trucks, leading soldiers to open fire when “people came too close” to tanks.Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the military had fired “a few warning shots” to try to disperse a “mob” that had “ambushed” the aid trucks. “Thousands of Gazans” swarmed the trucks, “violently pushing and even trampling other Gazans to death, looting the humanitarian supplies,” he said. When the crowd got too big, he said the convoy tried to retreat and “the unfortunate incident resulted in dozens of Gazans killed and injured.” Aerial images released by the Israeli army showed what it said were scores of people surrounding aid trucks in the city. Ali Awad Ashqir, who said he had gone to get some food for his starving family, told AFP he had been waiting for two hours when trucks began to arrive.
“The moment they arrived, the occupation army fired artillery shells and guns,” he said. Hagari denied Israeli forces carried out any shelling or strikes at the time. Looting of aid trucks has previously occurred in northern Gaza, where residents have taken to eating animal fodder and even leaves to stave off starvation. The chief of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said no UN agency had been involved in Thursday’s aid delivery, and called the incident “another day from hell.”Among its war aims, Israel says it is fighting to bring home 130 hostages captured by militants on October 7 who remain in Gaza, including 31 presumed dead. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under increasing pressure over the captives. On Friday relatives and supporters of the hostages rallied outside the US embassy branch in Tel Aviv in a call for help to secure their release. At another protest in the city on Thursday night, Alon Lee Green, 36, said things were at a crossroads. “It’s either we are going into an eternal war that will never stop,” he said, “or we’re going to a diplomatic agreement, an Israeli-Palestinian peace.”

Hamas, other Palestinian groups stress 'unity' at Moscow talks
Agence France Presse/March 01/2024
Palestinian factions including rivals Hamas and Fatah said on Friday they would pursue "unity of action" in confronting Israel after representatives met at Russia-hosted talks. The meeting in Moscow on Thursday brought together Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and other Palestinian groups for talks on the war in Gaza and an eventual post-war period. It came on the heels of the resignation of the Palestinian Authority government, which is led by Fatah and based in the occupied West Bank. Outgoing prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called for intra-Palestinian consensus as he announced the resignation, and some analysts said the development could pave the way for a government of technocrats that could operate in the West Bank and Hamas-run Gaza after the war. Arab and Western leaders have been pushing for reforms to the Palestinian Authority as they discuss possible reconstruction efforts. A statement on Friday by the Palestinian factions represented in Moscow said there would be an "upcoming dialogue" to bring them under the banner of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Thursday's "constructive" talks saw agreement on points including the need for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the creation of a Palestinian state, the statement said. While Hamas and Islamic Jihad are considered "terrorist" entities by Western powers, the PLO is internationally recognised as representing Palestinians in the Palestinian territories and diaspora. Discussions in recent years about integrating Hamas into the PLO have ended in failure. In recent years, Moscow has strived to maintain good relations with all actors in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including Fatah and Hamas. Russia's relations with Israel have become strained amid Moscow's criticism of Israeli actions in Gaza and rejection of a Palestinian state. The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. At least 30,228 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel's retaliatory military offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Media leaders express support for journalists in Gaza
Associated Press/March 01/2024
Three dozen leaders at news organizations around the world have signed a letter expressing solidarity with journalists in Gaza, calling for their safety and freedom to report in the war zone. The letter, released Thursday, was spearheaded by the Committee to Protect Journalists, which said at least 89 journalists and media workers have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, the vast majority of them Palestinians. Leaders at The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, New Yorker, CNN, NBC News and ABC News have signed on. International signatories include the BBC, Der Spiegel in Germany, Agence France-Presse, Daily Maverick in South Africa, Nawaiwaqt Group in Pakistan and The Asahi Shimbun in Japan. More organizations are welcome to participate, said Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists. "We felt that it was important that we show that the international journalism community stands in solidarity with our Palestinian colleagues," Ginsberg said. The letter says that journalists are civilians and that Israeli authorities must protect them as noncombatants in accordance with international law. Anyone violating this should be held accountable, it said. "Attacks on journalists are also attacks on truth," the letter said. "We commit to championing the safety of journalists in Gaza, which is fundamental for the protection of press freedom everywhere."Israel is only mentioned once in the letter. While CPJ has advocated for more access for journalists in Gaza, the letter steered clear of that subject because it was important to focus on solidarity, Ginsberg said. She would not comment on whether any news organization contacted chose not to participate.

Humanitarian crisis: Why have most countries opted to deliver airlifted aid?
LBCI/March 01/2024
After five months of Israeli aggression on Gaza, the situation in the territory has reached a critical point. According to the United Nations, nearly a quarter of Gaza's population is now on the brink of famine, with humanitarian aid entering the region dropping by 50% in February compared to the previous month.
To alleviate the suffering of Gaza's residents, Jordan, along with other Arab and foreign countries, resorted to conducting airlift operations to deliver aid to Gaza. These aid packages include essential relief supplies and food items.
Will these airborne deliveries adequately meet the needs of Gaza's population? While aid deliveries have primarily focused on the southern regions of Gaza, where many Palestinians have sought refuge due to the destruction and Israeli siege, recent operations have targeted the northern areas, which have also been severely affected by the crisis. How are these operations conducted, especially amid reports of potential US involvement in future aid drops? Critics have raised concerns about the indiscriminate method of these aid deliveries, with reports suggesting that much of the aid ends up in the sea and fails to reach those most in need. Why have most countries opted to deliver airlifted aid? Several countries have opted for airlift operations due to Israeli obstacles to land-based aid deliveries, using this as leverage against Hamas. Israel also favors this method as it ensures that aid deliveries do not contain weapons intended for Hamas, further complicating the situation in the region.

Biden announces US airdrops of humanitarian assistance into Gaza
Jennifer Hansler and Kevin Liptak, CNN/March 1, 2024
The United States will begin air dropping food aid to the people of Gaza, President Joe Biden announced Friday, as the humanitarian crisis deepens and Israel continues to resist opening additional land crossings to allow more assistance into the war-torn strip. Speaking in the Oval Office, Biden said the US would be “pulling out every stop” to get additional aid into Gaza, which has been under heavy bombardment by Israel since the October 7 Hamas terror attacks. “Aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough,” the US president said, noting that “hundreds of trucks” should be entering the enclave.
Biden said the US is “going to insist that Israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more people the help they need, no excuses.”He also noted the efforts to broker a deal to free the hostages and secure an “immediate ceasefire” that would allow additional aid in. The US military is working to carry out the airdrops in the coming days, a US official told CNN. The announcement of the US airdrops is an acknowledgment of the dire situation in Gaza, where more than a hundred people were killed Thursday where Israeli troops opened fire as people waited for a food convoy in the north.
Aid trucks tried to escape the area, accidentally ramming others and causing further deaths and injuries, the eyewitnesses added to CNN. The airdrops will provide some relief to those on the ground. However, their use is highly unlikely to bring about a sustainable solution for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as each drop can only bring in a fraction of the amount of aid that could be transported into the enclave by trucks. Instead, their use underscores the devastating impact of the Israeli government’s ongoing refusal to open more land crossings for the critically needed aid. The US’ calls for the Netanyahu government to open more crossings in the north have thus far failed. In the south, the number of trucks entering the war-torn strip trickled to just 85 per day last week. Biden made the announcement as his administration faces sharp domestic criticism for its handling of the conflict – criticism that has had political consequences for the president during an election year.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby described airdrops as “a supplement to, not a replacement for, moving things in by ground.”State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Thursday that air drops “would help immediately.”“But the real solution here to this is to try to get – or to get, I should say – an agreement that would dramatically increase the flow of assistance in and help with the distribution problems and help with the problem that civilians face of being able to move safely to get to aid when it actually does make it in,” Miller said at a department briefing. Earlier this week, Jordan, Egypt, the UAE, Qatar and France airdropped relief aid on various areas in the Gaza Strip in a sign of how desperate the situation has become. Palestinians run along a street as humanitarian aid from Jordan is airdropped in Gaza .There are discussions with Israel and other stakeholders about a potential maritime corridor for humanitarian aid into Gaza, Kirby confirmed Friday. However, numerous logistical challenges would need to be addressed for the corridor to actually be operational, a US official told CNN. Senior US officials have repeatedly pressed Israeli officials in face-to-face meetings on the urgent need to open additional crossings. “This is a matter of life and death,” said USAID Administrator Samantha Power, who met on Wednesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Power announced $53 million in additional humanitarian aid during her travels in the region this week. US officials have also held ongoing conversations with Israeli officials about the need to ensure the safety of humanitarian aid workers once they enter Gaza. “The aid workers who on the ground in Gaza are risking their lives to get food to people in desperate, desperate need, those aid workers have to be protected. They have to know they can do their jobs without being shot at and killed,” Power said on Tuesday. Convoys have come under attack within the enclave, both “by desperate mobs” and “by criminal elements,” US envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues David Satterfield said last month. Israeli forces targeted members of the Hamas-run police force that travels with the UN aid convoys in an effort to protect them from looting, which has led the police to stop protecting the convoys, Satterfield said. “With the departure of police escorts, it has been virtually impossible for the UN or anyone else – Jordan, the UAE, any other implementer – to safely move assistance in Gaza because of criminal gangs,” he said.

Netanyahu says he will pave way to end exemption for ultra-Orthodox from military service
REUTERS/March 01, 2024
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday his government would find a way to end exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews from Israeli military service in the face of political pressures that threaten his narrow coalition’s future. “We will determine goals for conscripting ultra-Orthodox people to the IDF and national civil service,” Netanyahu said at a press conference, referring to the Israel Defense Forces. “We will also determine the ways to implement those goals.”Israel’s Supreme Court in 2018 voided a law waiving the draft for ultra-Orthodox men, citing a need for the burden of military service to be shared across Israeli society. Parliament failed to come up with a new arrangement, and a government-issued stay on mandatory conscription of ultra-Orthodox expires in March. Ultra-Orthodox parties have helped Netanyahu hold a narrow parliamentary majority alongside far-right nationalist parties but in past governments have made draft exemption a condition for remaining in the coalition. Netanyahu appeared to be responding to a pledge made by his defense minister to veto a law that would allow the continuation of exemptions unless the government reached an agreement paving a path for ultra-Orthodox enlistment. “We recognize and support those who dedicate their life to studying Jewish holy scripture but, with that, without physical existence there is no spiritual existence,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday. The exemptions granted to ultra-Orthodox Jews have been a longstanding source of friction with more secular citizens now stoked by the country’s costly mobilization for the Gaza war. The ultra-Orthodox claim the right to study in seminaries instead of serving in uniform for the standard three years. Some say their pious lifestyles would clash with military mores, while others voice ideological opposition to the liberal state. Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up 13 percent of Israel’s population, a figure expected to reach 19 percent by 2035 due to their high birth rates. Economists argue that the draft exemption keeps some of them unnecessarily in seminaries and out of the workforce.

Iran votes in its first parliament election since 2022 protests as questions over turnout loom
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)/March 01, 2024
Iran on Friday held the country's first parliamentary election since the mass 2022 protests over mandatory hijab laws after the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, with questions looming over just how many people will turn out at the polls. Iranian officials and even Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have urged the public to cast ballots, but polling stations in the country's capital, Tehran, appeared to see few voters. Authorities have largely barred politicians calling for any change within the country's theocracy, known broadly as reformists, from running in the election — leaving mostly only a broad slate of conservative or hard-line figures. Iran's economy continues to stagnate under Western sanctions over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program and the country's arming of militia proxies in the Middle East and Russia in its war on Ukraine. Some of the voters acknowledged the challenges facing the Islamic Republic. “There are many problems; too many problems," said one voter, who just gave her last name, Sajjad. "We are sad, we are sorrowful and we voice our criticism as much as we can. God willing, those responsible (will) start thinking about us, and probably many of them do care.”Khamenei, 84, cast one of the first votes in an election that also will see new members elected to the country's Assembly of Experts. The panel of clerics, who serve an eight-year term, is mandated to select a new supreme leader if Khamenei steps down or dies, underscoring the panel's increased importance, given Khamenei's age.
Khamenei voted before a crowd of journalists in Tehran, his left hand slightly shaking as he took his ballot from his right, paralyzed since a 1981 bombing. State television showed one woman nearby weeping as she filmed Khamenei with her mobile phone. He urged people to vote as soon as possible in the election, saying that both Iran's friends and enemies were watching the turnout. “Pay attention to this, make friends happy and disappoint the evil-wishers,” he said in brief remarks by the ballot boxes. Khamenei's protégé, hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, repeated that call and urged the public to make "a glorious day for the Iranian nation.”Some 15,000 candidates are vying for a seat in the 290-member parliament, formally known as the Islamic Consultative Assembly. Out of them, only 116 are considered as relatively moderate or pro-reform candidates. Those demanding radical changes are banned or didn't bother to register given widespread disqualifications by authorities. Parliament terms run for four years, and five seats are reserved for Iran’s religious minorities.
Under the law, the parliament has oversight over the executive branch, votes on treaties and handles other issues. In practice, absolute power in Iran rests with its supreme leader. Hard-liners have controlled the parliament for the past two decades — with chants of “Death to America” often heard from the floor.
Under Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a former Revolutionary Guard general who supported a violent crackdown on Iranian university students in 1999, the legislature pushed forward a bill in 2020 that greatly curtailed Tehran’s cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. That followed then-President Donald Trump’s unilateral withdrawal of America from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018 — an act that sparked years of tensions in the Middle East and saw Iran enrich enough uranium at record-breaking purity to have enough fuel for “several” nuclear weapons if it chose. More recently, the parliament has focused on issues surrounding Iran’s mandatory head covering, or hijab, for women after the 2022 death of 22-year-old Amini in police custody, which sparked nationwide protests.
The protests quickly escalated into calls to overthrow Iran’s clerical rulers. A subsequent security crackdown killed over 500 people, with more than 22,000 detained. Calls for an election boycott have spread in recent weeks, including from imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, a women’s right activist, who called them a “sham.”The boycott calls have put the government under renewed pressure — since its 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran’s theocracy has based its legitimacy in part on turnout in elections.
The state-owned polling center ISPA hadn't put out election data prior to the vote until Thursday, something highly unusual as their figures typically get released much earlier. Its polling, based on a survey of 5,121 voting-age people, predicted a turnout of 23.5% in the capital, Tehran, and 38.5% nationally. It said the margin of error in the poll was 2%. Iranian state television showed crowded polling stations but elsewhere, there appeared to be few voters braving the freezing temperatures in Tehran. In one place, a young woman without a hijab and her mother, wearing one, entered teh polling station together. There was no comment from officials or police on hand. “I accompanied my mother who wanted to vote just to remind authorities about last year’s crackdown," said the daughter, who gave her first name, Zohreh. Her mother voted for a relative moderate running in their district, while Zohreh declined to cast a ballot, she said. Meanwhile, a heavy security presence could be seen across the capital, with ordinary and anti-riot police officers visible in main squares and junctions. Some 200,000 security forces have been deployed across the country as over 59,000 polling stations opened. Another 1 million people reportedly are running the election, home to some 85 million people. Estimates put the voting-age population at 61 million. Polling places will be open until 6 p.m. local time (1430 GMT), though Iran typically extends voting at the last minute. Initial election results are expected as early as Saturday.

Iran hard-liners set to tighten grip in election amid voter apathy
REUTERS/March 01, 2024
DUBAI: Iranians voted for a new parliament on Friday in an election seen as a test of the clerical establishment’s legitimacy at a time of growing frustration over economic woes and restrictions on political and social freedoms.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has called voting a religious duty, was the first to cast his vote in Iran. “Vote as soon as possible ... today the eyes of Iran’s friends and ill-wishers are on the results. Make friends happy and disappoint enemies,” Khamenei said on state television. The election is the first formal measure of public opinion after anti-government protests in 2022-23 spiralled into some of the worst political turmoil since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran’s rulers need a high turnout to repair their legitimacy, badly damaged by the unrest. But official surveys suggest only about 41 percent of eligible Iranians will vote. Turnout hit a record low of 42.5 percent in the 2020 parliamentary election, while about 62 percent of voters participated in 2016. State TV, portraying a general enthusiastic mood with live coverage from across Iran interspersed with patriotic songs, aired footage of people braving snow to vote in some towns and villages. Several people told state TV that they were voting “to make the supreme leader happy.” Over 15,000 candidates were running for the 290-seat parliament. Partial results may appear on Saturday. Activists and opposition groups were distributing the hashtags #VOTENoVote and #ElectionCircus widely on the social media platform X, arguing that a high turnout would legitimize the Islamic Republic. Officials said the participation was “good,” state media reported, but witnesses said most polling centers in Tehran and several other cities were lightly attended. A two-hour extension of voting announced by state TV was followed shortly by another two-hour extension — taking the close of voting to 18.30 GMT — to allow late-comers to cast ballots. “I am not voting for a regime that has restricted my social freedoms. Voting is meaningless,” said teacher Reza, 35, in the northern city of Sari. Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, a women’s rights advocate, has called the election a “sham.”
ECONOMIC CRISIS AND CRACKDOWN ON UNREST IN FOCUS
The parliament, dominated for over two decades by political hard-liners within the religious Islamic Republic, has negligible impact on foreign policy or a nuclear program that Iran says is peaceful but the West says is aimed at making nuclear arms — issues determined by Khamenei. With heavyweight moderates and conservatives staying out and reformists calling the election unfree and unfair, the contest is essentially among hard-liners and low-key conservatives who proclaim loyalty to Islamic revolutionary ideals. Pro-reform Iranians have painful memories of the handling of nationwide unrest sparked by the death in custody of a young Iranian-Kurdish woman in 2022, which was quelled by a violent crackdown involving mass detentions and even executions.
Economic hardships pose another challenge.
Many analysts say large numbers of Iranians no longer think the ruling clerics capable of solving an economic crisis caused by a mix of mismanagement, corruption and US sanctions — reimposed since 2018 when Washington ditched Tehran’s nuclear pact with six world powers. Efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear pact have failed. The election comes at a time of huge tension in the Middle East, as Israel fights the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, and other groups backed by Tehran attacking ships in the Red Sea and Israeli and US targets in the region.
Khamenei has accused Iran’s “enemies” — a term he normally uses for the United States and Israel — of trying to create despair among Iranian voters. The parliamentary election is twinned with a vote for the 88-seat Assembly of Experts, an influential body that has the task of choosing the 84-year-old Khamenei’s successor.

Grammy-winning Iranian singer, awarded over Mahsa Amini protest anthem, sentenced to prison
AP/March 01, 2024
DUBAI: An Iranian singer who won a Grammy presented by US first lady Jill Biden has been sentenced to more than three years in prison over his anthem supporting the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini. Shervin Hajjipour posted on Instagram on Friday, the same day that Iran held its parliamentary election, what appeared to be part of the judgment against him. It said Hajjipour received a three-year, eight-month sentence on charges of “propaganda against the system” and “encouraging people to protest.” The court issued its sentence in part because it found he hadn’t properly expressed regret over publishing the song. It also imposed a two-year travel ban and ordered him to create a song about “US crimes,” as well as make posts about those crimes online. Hajjipour thanked his lawyers and his agent for their support. “I will not mention the name of the judge and the prosecutor so that they don’t get insulted and threatened, because insults and threats are not in the religion of humanity,” he wrote. “Finally, one day we will understand each other. Until then.” Hajjipour already had served some prison time, but was out on bail pending the court’s decision. It was unclear if he had already reported to serve his sentence.
Iranian state-run media, focused on the election Friday, didn’t note Hajjipour’s sentence. Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York didn’t respond to a request for comment. Hajjipour’s song “Baraye,” or “For” in English, begins with: “For dancing in the streets,” “for the fear we feel when we kiss.” The lyrics list reasons that young Iranians posted online for why they had protested against Iran’s ruling theocracy after Amini’s death in September 2022, allegedly for not wearing her mandated headscarf to the liking of security forces. The protests quickly escalated into calls to overthrow Iran’s clerical rulers. A subsequent security crackdown killed more than 500 people, with more than 22,000 detained. Jill Biden awarded Hajjipour the Grammy’s new song for social change special merit award during the ceremony last year. “This song became the anthem of the Mahsa Amini protests, a powerful and poetic call for freedom and women’s rights,” Biden said at the ceremony. “Shervin was arrested, but this song continues to resonate around the world with its powerful theme: Women, life, freedom.” Hajjipour’s sentencing comes as other activists, journalists and artists have faced arrest, imprisonment and harassment since the demonstrations. Among those imprisoned is Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi. The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran condemned Hajjipour’s sentencing Friday, and demanded Iran immediately release him from the sentence. “This blatant violation of Shervin’s rights to free speech and expression is a grave injustice and a clear affront to human rights principles,” the center said. “His imprisonment serves as a chilling reminder of the ongoing repression faced by artists, activists and dissenting voices in Iran.”

Putin foe Alexei Navalny is buried in Moscow as thousands attend under heavy police presence
News Agencies/March 01/2024
Under a heavy police presence, thousands of people bade farewell Friday to opposition leader Alexei Navalny at his funeral in Moscow after his still-unexplained death two weeks ago in an Arctic penal colony.
Navalny was buried at a cemetery in the snowy southeastern outskirts of the capital after a short Russian Orthodox ceremony, with vast crowds waiting outside the church and then streaming to the fresh grave of President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critic with flowers and anti-government chants.
Although riot police set up barricades at both the church and cemetery, no detentions were reported. Navalny's widow, Yulia, who was not seen at the funeral, thanked him for “26 years of absolute happiness."
“I don't know how to live without you, but I will try to do it in a way that you up there are proud of me and happy for me,” she wrote on Instagram.
The service followed a battle with authorities over the release of his body. His team said several Moscow churches refused to hold the funeral for the man who crusaded against official corruption and organized massive protests. Many Western leaders blamed the death on the Russian leader, an accusation the Kremlin angrily rejected. Navalny’s team eventually got permission from the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God Soothe My Sorrows, which was surrounded by crowd-control barriers.
As his coffin was removed from the hearse and taken inside the church, the crowd waiting outside broke into respectful applause and then chanted: “Navalny! Navalny!” Some also shouted, “You weren’t afraid, neither are we!” and later “No to war!” “Russia without Putin!” and “Russia will be free!”
Western diplomats, including U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy, were among those who attended, along with presidential hopefuls Boris Nadezhdin and Yekaterina Duntsova. Both wanted to run against Putin in the upcoming presidential elections and opposed his war in Ukraine; neither was allowed on the ballot.
Images from inside the church showed an open casket with Navalny’s body covered with red and white flowers, and his parents, Lyudmila and Anatoly, sitting beside it. Navalny's closest associates live outside Russia and made comments in a livestream of the funeral on his YouTube channel, their voices occasionally cracking with emotion. “Those people who follow what is happening, it is of course obvious to them that this man is a hero of our country, whom we will not forget," said Nadezhda Ivanova of Kaliningrad, who was outside the church with other supporters. “What was done to him is incredibly difficult to accept and get through it." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged those gathering in Moscow and other places not to break the law, saying any “unauthorized (mass) gatherings” are violations. After the short church service, thousands marched to the nearby Borisovskoye Cemetery, where the police were also out in force. With the casket open, Navalny’s mother and father stroked and kissed his head. A large crowd gathered at the cemetery's gates, chanting: “Let us in to say goodbye!” The coffin was then lowered into the ground. In keeping with his irreverent sense of humor, music from the “The Terminator 2" was played, a movie his allies said he considered “the best in the world.” Mourners streamed by his open grave, tossing handfuls of soil onto the coffin as a large crowd waited at the cemetery's entrance. As dusk fell, workers shoveled dirt into the grave while Lyudmila Navalnaya watched. A mound of flowers, funeral wreaths, candles and a portrait of Navalny sat nearby. She had spent eight days trying to get authorities to release her son's body following his Feb. 16 death at Penal Colony No. 3 in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenets region about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow.
Even on Friday, the morgue where the body was being held delayed its release, according to Ivan Zhdanov, Navalny's close ally and director of his Anti-Corruption Foundation. Authorities originally said they couldn't turn over the body because they needed to conduct post-mortem tests. Navalnaya made a video appeal to Putin to release it so she could bury her son with dignity.
Russian authorities still haven’t announced the cause of death for Navalny, who was 47. His team cited paperwork Lyudmila Navalnaya saw that listed “natural causes.”At least one funeral director said he had been “forbidden” to work with Navalny’s supporters, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on social media. They also struggled to find a hearse. “Unknown people are calling up people and threatening them not to take Alexei’s body anywhere,” Yarmysh said Thursday. Navalny had been jailed since January 2021, when he returned to Moscow to face certain arrest after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin. His Foundation for Fighting Corruption and his regional offices were designated as “extremist organizations” by the Russian government that same year. Yulia Navalnaya accused Putin and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin of trying to block a public funeral. “We don’t want any special treatment — just to give people the opportunity to say farewell to Alexei in a normal way,” she wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Moscow authorities refused permission for a separate memorial event for Navalny and slain opposition leader Boris Nemtsov on Friday, citing COVID-19 restrictions, according to former presidential hopeful Duntsova. Nemtsov, a 55-year-old former deputy prime minister, was shot to death as he walked on a bridge adjacent to the Kremlin on the night of Feb. 27, 2015. Yarmysh also urged Navalny's supporters around the world to lay flowers in his honor Friday.“Everyone who knew Alexei says what a cheerful, courageous and honest person he was,” Yarmysh said Thursday. “But the greater truth is that even if you never met Alexei, you knew what he was like, too. You shared his investigations, you went to rallies with him, you read his posts from prison. His example showed many people what to do when even when things were scary and difficult.”

Election in UK likely this year, here's what to know
News Agencies/March 01/2024
The United Kingdom is poised to hold its first election in five years in a country battered by a cost-of-living crisis, fallout from the Israel-Hamas conflict and deep divisions over how to deal with migrants and asylum seekers crossing the English Channel from Europe on small inflatable boats. Here is a look at the upcoming election and the biggest issues at stake.
When is the election in the United Kingdom?
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak can call an election at any time up to Dec. 17, with the election taking place 25 working days later. That means the last possible date for the election is Jan. 28, 2025. The timing of the election will be determined by Sunak's calculation of what date will be most advantageous for the Conservatives. The most likely time for the election is in the autumn, according to the Institute for Government, a London-based think tank. But one can't be sure.
How does voting work in the United Kingdom?
People throughout the United Kingdom will choose all 650 members of the House of Commons for a term of up to five years. The party that commands a majority in the Commons, either alone or in coalition, will form the next government and its leader will be prime minister. That means the results will determine the political direction of the government, which has been led by the center-right Conservatives for the past 14 years. Opinion polls suggest that Labour is currently in the strongest position.
Who is running in the United Kingdom?
Sunak, a former Treasury chief who has been prime minister since October of 2022, is expected to lead his party into the election. His primary opponent will be Keir Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions in England and leader of the Labour Party since April 2020. But there are other parties, some of which have strong regional support and could be crucial to forming a coalition government if no one wins an overall majority. The Scottish National Party, which campaigns for Scottish independence; Liberal Democrats; and Democratic Unionist Party, which seeks to maintain ties between Britain and Northern Ireland, are currently the three largest parties in Parliament after the Conservatives and Labour. Some observers suggest the new Reform Party, formed by Tory rebels, may siphon votes from the Conservatives.
What are the big issues at stake in the United Kingdom?
The economy: Britain has struggled with high inflation and slow economic growth, which have combined to make most people feel poorer. The Conservatives succeeded in meeting their goal of halving inflation, which peaked at 11.1% in October 2022, but the economy slipped into a technical recession in the last six months of 2023, raising questions about the government's economic policies. Immigration: Thousands of asylum seekers and economic migrants have crossed the English Channel in flimsy inflatable boats in recent years, raising concerns the government has lost control of Britain's borders. The Conservatives' signature policy for stopping the boats is a plan t o deport some of these migrants to Rwanda. Critics say the plan violates international law, is inhumane, and will do nothing to stop people fleeing war, unrest and famine. Health care: Britain's National Health Service, which provides free health care to everyone, is plagued with long waiting lists for everything from dental care to cancer treatment. Newspapers are filled with stories about seriously ill patients forced to wait hours for an ambulance, then longer still for a hospital bed. The environment: Sunak has backtracked on a series of environmental commitments, pushing back the deadline for ending the sale of gasoline- and diesel-powered passenger vehicles and authorizing new oil drilling in the North Sea. Critics say these are the wrong policies at a time the world is trying to combat climate change.

European Commission will proceed to paying EUR 50 million to UNRWA and increase emergency support to Palestinians by EUR 68 million in 2024
NNA/March 01/2024
Today, the Commission has decided to allocate an additional EUR 68 million to support the Palestinian population across the region to be implemented through international partners like the Red Cross and the Red Crescent. This comes in addition to the foreseen EUR 82 million of aid to be implemented through UNRWA in 2024, bringing the total to EUR 150 million. The Commission will proceed to paying EUR 50 million of the UNRWA envelope next week. Furthermore, the Commission has allocated EUR 125 million of humanitarian aid for Palestinians for 2024. The Commission is contracting the first EUR 16 million today. As set out on 29 January, the Commission has assessed its funding decision for UNRWA in light of the very serious allegations made on 24 January that implicate several UNRWA staff in the heinous 7 October attacks. It took account of the action taken by the UN and the commitments the Commission required from UNRWA. The Commission welcomes the UN's Office for Internal Oversight Services investigation to shed light into the serious allegations against UNRWA staff. Furthermore, it commends the UN for creating an independent Review Group led by Catherine Colonna to assess whether the Agency is doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality and respond to allegations of serious breaches. Following exchanges with the Commission, UNRWA has also indicated that it stands ready to ensure that a review of its staff is carried out to confirm they did not participate in the attacks and that further controls are put in place to mitigate such risks in the future. UNRWA has agreed to the launch of an audit of the Agency to be conducted by EU appointed external experts. This audit will review the control systems to prevent the possible involvement of its staff and assets in terrorist activities. Finally, UNRWA agrees to the strengthening of its department of internal investigations and the governance surrounding it. UNRWA and the Commission have today confirmed their understanding on these points. On this basis, and following the exchange of letters with UNRWA confirming its commitments, the Commission will proceed disburse a first tranche of EUR 50 million out of the EUR 82 million foreseen for UNRWA for 2024. The second and third tranches of EUR 16 million will be released in line with the implementation of this agreement. Beyond its support to UNRWA, the Commission remains fully committed to addressing the humanitarian plight of the Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza but also more widely in the region. For this purpose, it will allocate an additional EUR 68 million for in 2024. President von der Leyen said: "We stand by the Palestinian people in Gaza and elsewhere in the region. Innocent Palestinians should not have to pay the price for the crimes of terrorist group Hamas. They face terrible conditions putting their lives at risk because of lack of access to sufficient food and other basic needs. That is why we are reinforcing our support to them this year by a further EUR 68 million.” -- European Commission

Islamic State attack kills one Iraqi soldier north of Baghdad
BAGHDAD (Reuters)/Fri, March 1, 2024
A roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army patrol north of Baghdad on Friday, killing one soldier and wounding four others, the defence ministry said in a statement. The attack took place in the town of Tarmiya, 25 km (15 miles) north of Baghdad, the ministry said. Islamic State formally claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it killed one soldier and wounded nine others, the group said in a statement. Iraq’s Defence Minister Thabit al-Abbasi reached the area where the attack took place and ordered an investigation, the ministry's statement said. Despite the defeat of the Islamic State militant group in 2017, remnants of the group switched to hit-and-run attacks against government forces in different parts of Iraq.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 01-02/2024
Palestinians' Musical Chairs: Replacing One Mohammed with Another Mohammed
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute./March 01, 2024
The assumption that a new Palestinian government headed by Mustafa (or any other figure selected by Abbas) would be different than the one headed by Shtayyeh is deadly mistaken. The cabinet shake-up is an insignificant cosmetic change.
If the Shtayyeh government was already working on a plan to revamp the Palestinian Authority (as the US administration is demanding), why is he being asked to be replaced with another Abbas loyalist? Is the new government headed by Mustafa going to come up with a different plan for reforming the PA? This just shows that Abbas's real objective is to play the Americans for fools by creating the impression that the new prime minister will be different than his predecessor.
Abbas is well aware that it is safer for him to live under Israeli security control than under the rule of Hamas, whose members killed dozens of his supporters during the 2007 Hamas coup against the Palestinian Authority.
Besides, Abbas knows that assuming control of the Gaza Strip in the post-war era would mean taking upon himself the almost impossible task of rebuilding the Gaza Strip and preventing Hamas and other terror groups from reasserting their power.
So, to appease the US administration, Abbas is once again playing the musical chairs game of the prime ministers. Abbas wants the Americans to believe that he is serious about revitalizing the Palestinian Authority and rebuilding the Gaza Strip. Abbas is hoping that his latest musical chair ploy will incentivize the international community to continue pouring millions of dollars into the coffers of the PA leadership.
To appease the US administration, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas is once again playing the musical chairs game with PA prime ministers. Abbas wants the Americans to believe that he is serious about revitalizing the PA and rebuilding the Gaza Strip. Abbas is hoping that his latest ploy will incentivize the international community to continue pouring millions of dollars into the coffers of the PA leadership.
On February 26, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh announced his resignation, paving the way for the formation of a new Palestinian government. The resignation came in response to pressure from the US administration on the Palestinian leadership to "revitalize" the Palestinian Authority (PA) so that it could assume control over the Gaza Strip after Hamas is removed from power.
Shtayyeh, who was appointed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas in 2019, is a veteran member of the ruling Fatah faction. The government he headed consisted of ministers affiliated with a number of political factions, as well as others known as independent technocrats.
Abbas is reportedly considering replacing the outgoing prime minister with Mohammed Mustafa, a senior PLO official who previously served as PA deputy prime minister and minister of economy. Mustafa, in addition, also served for many years as economic advisor to the PA president.
Both Shtayyeh and Mustafa have long been closely associated with the Palestinian Authority president. They have both held senior jobs in various PA political and economic institutions, as well as Fatah and the PLO.
As far as most Palestinians are concerned, there is no real difference between the two Mohammeds: Shtayyeh and Mustafa. They both belong to the same PA leadership that has been governing the Palestinians since the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO more than three decades ago.
By replacing one loyalist with another, Abbas is again playing musical chairs in an effort to appease the US administration and persuade it that he is serious about revamping the Palestinian Authority.
The assumption that a new Palestinian government headed by Mustafa (or any other figure selected by Abbas) would be different than the one headed by Shtayyeh is deadly mistaken. The cabinet shake-up is an insignificant cosmetic change.
The Palestinians do not need cosmetic changes in governance. Instead, they need new leaders who care about the interests of the people in addition to their own interests. Such potential leaders do exist, but they have no role to play because Abbas and his cronies in the West Bank have long been blocking the emergence of such leaders, whom they see as a threat to their authority. The same applies to the Iran-backed Hamas terror group that has for many years cracked down on political activists, journalists, and human rights advocates in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians need a serious and comprehensive plan for political, economic, and administrative reforms in all the institutions of the Palestinian Authority. At the end of January, to that end, the Shtayyeh government unveiled a new plan for "judicial, administrative, security and financial reforms." Just a month later, he and his entire cabinet submitted their resignations to Abbas. This means that the plan is unlikely to materialize.
If the Shtayyeh government was already working on a plan to revamp the Palestinian Authority (as the US administration is demanding), why is he being asked to be replaced with another Abbas loyalist? Is the new government headed by Mustafa going to come up with a different plan for reforming the PA? This just shows that Abbas's real objective is to play the Americans for fools by creating the impression that the new prime minister will be different than his predecessor.
Crucially, Palestinians need to get rid of all the incompetent and corrupt leaders and officials – whether from Fatah or Hamas – who have failed to bring them democracy, freedom of speech, the rule of law, good governance, or a decent economy.
As long as Abbas is the one who has the power to appoint and fire the prime minister and set the policy of the cabinet, it is unrealistic to expect real change when a new government is formed. If appointed, Mustafa, like his predecessors, will be a puppet in the hands of his master, Abbas.
The last three cabinets that served under Abbas were also described as "technocratic" and independent. One was headed by Salam Fayyad, a former World Bank official and minister of finance.
Fayyad was not affiliated with any Palestinian political faction. He headed an electoral list called Third Way, which won only two seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council election in 2006. Fayyad's "problem" was that he never spent a day in an Israeli prison and did not carry out an attack against Israel. In the world of the Palestinians, it is more important if one graduates from an Israeli prison than from the University of Texas in Austin.
Fayyad may have been a reformist, but that is not how one gains popularity among Palestinians. Instead, Palestinians prefer someone who was part of the Palestinian "resistance" against Israel. That is why senior Fatah operative Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences in Israeli prison for his role in a number of deadly armed attacks against Israelis two decades ago, is the Palestinians' favorite candidate to succeed Abbas, according to Palestinian public opinion polls.
The two prime ministers who came after Fayyad – Rami Hamdallah and Shtayyeh – were also selected by the Palestinian Authority president. Hamdallah and Shtayyeh were known to be even more loyal to Abbas than Fayyad, who moved to the US a few years ago after reportedly falling out with the PA president. Despite their loyalty, Hamdallah and Shtayyeh were eventually forced by Abbas to step down.
No Palestinian Authority prime minister can make comprehensive changes in the political and economic structure of the PA without the backing of Abbas and his inner circle. For now, it is clear that neither Abbas nor the handful of officials in his close circle is interested in bringing about substantial changes to the PA. That is because they are comfortable with the status quo, whereby they are the sole rulers and decision-makers, while the prime minister and the government are stooges in their hands.
The 88-year-old Abbas, who is in the 19th year of a four-year term in office, has until now proven that he cares more about his own survival than good governance. He will get rid of any prime minister or senior official who dares to challenge him or speak out against his autocratic rule. That is why he turned against Fayyad a decade ago and drove him away -- not only from the position of prime minister, but into exile abroad. That is also why Abbas was quick to expel senior and veteran Fatah officials Mohammed Dahlan and Nasser al-Qidwa for criticizing him and the Palestinian leadership in public.
Abbas may be publicly stating that he is ready and wants to return to the Gaza Strip, from where he and his Palestinian Authority were expelled by Hamas in 2007. Those who believe that Abbas really wants to go back to the Gaza Strip are living under an illusion. Abbas had many chances to return to the Gaza Strip over the past 15 years, but he preferred to stay in the comfort of his home and office in Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinians in the West Bank. No one prevented Abbas from heading to the Gaza Strip.
Abbas is well aware that it is safer for him to live under Israeli security control than under the rule of Hamas, whose members killed dozens of his supporters during the 2007 Hamas coup against the Palestinian Authority.
Besides, Abbas knows that assuming control of the Gaza Strip in the post-war era would mean taking upon himself the almost impossible task of rebuilding the Gaza Strip and preventing Hamas and other terror groups from reasserting their power.
So, to appease the US administration, Abbas is once again playing the musical chairs game of the prime ministers. Abbas wants the Americans to believe that he is serious about revitalizing the Palestinian Authority and rebuilding the Gaza Strip. Abbas is hoping that his latest musical chair ploy will incentivize the international community to continue pouring millions of dollars into the coffers of the PA leadership.
*Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
© 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.

Accelerating the region’s transformation of its agrifood systems
QU DONGYU/Arab News/March 01, 2024
The world is facing a major challenge in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 2, which seeks to eliminate hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030. This is particularly true in the Near East and North Africa region, which in recent years has experienced a worrisome surge in food insecurity.
This dire development can be attributed to a multitude of factors, with the impact of conflicts, the climate crisis and other calamities being the most prominent. The recent crises in Gaza, Sudan and Yemen, coupled with prolonged pressures in other countries such as Syria and Iraq, are of great concern and immediate action is necessary to overcome these challenges and safeguard food supply chains to ensure food security for all. For that, we need to accelerate the transformation of agrifood systems to make them more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable. This will be one of the main issues under discussion at the 37th session of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Regional Ministerial Conference for the Near East in Amman, Jordan, on March 4 and 5. During this biennial governing body meeting, ministers will gather to assess the situation in the region’s agrifood systems and create a plan of action going forward, as well as to identify key priorities for the FAO’s program of work in the region. The challenges faced by agrifood systems across the Near East and North Africa, and beyond, are enormous
At the FAO, we have realigned and refocused our efforts toward supporting members in accelerating the transformation needed. We have adopted agile operating strategies, offered tailored and timely data and analytical support, enhanced our engagement with governments, the private sector, civil society, academia and international financial institutions and have established transformative partnerships with all key players. The reformed and restructured FAO is now better equipped, fit for purpose and already working toward this transformation.
Ownership and leadership by FAO members, and collective efforts by all development partners and stakeholders, are crucial. Shared vision, foresight, responsibilities and implementation arrangements are needed to achieve our goals. I would like to emphasize the significance of collaborations and partnerships, especially in the Near East and North Africa.
The challenges faced by agrifood systems across the region, and beyond, are enormous and constantly increasing. With a growing population and dwindling agricultural resources, we must strive to improve productivity and efficiency as much as possible. We must produce more with less. To this end, we need to leverage the potential of cooperation, trade, investment and the utilization of innovation and technology within the region and with other regions. The priority should be to establish food corridors, which ought to harness the potential of production, regional value chains, intraregional trade, storage and reserve systems. We need to safeguard supply chains and trade to ensure food availability, accessibility and affordability for all. The region also faces severe water scarcity and climate shocks. As a result, we must prioritize the adaptation to climate change, as well as mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Agrifood systems are solutions based on science and data. We should recognize and acknowledge the efforts made by Egypt and the UAE to encourage collective action and pathways during the COP27 and COP28 climate summits and for advancing the agenda of agrifood systems and food security, as well as the food-water-energy nexus.
Currently, more than half of the region’s population cannot afford a healthy diet, which is a serious concern
In support of this process, the FAO initiated a process at COP27 that culminated at COP28 with the launch of a “Global Roadmap for Achieving SDG2 without breaching the 1.5 C threshold.” This aims to make the case that accelerated climate actions can transform agrifood systems and help to achieve good, nutritious food for all for today and tomorrow. At the FAO, members have endorsed a “Strategic Framework for 2022-2031” based on the aspiration of the “Four Betters:” better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind. This comprehensive framework provides us with an opportunity to take a wide-ranging look at our agrifood systems, identify areas that need improvement and take appropriate actions.
Members benefit from the FAO’s technical expertise, assistance and support through its headquarters, as well as regional, subregional and country offices, to ensure effective implementation in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs. My focus is on strengthening the FAO’s country offices to maximize their impact on the ground and support the work of members at the country level.
In support of our Strategic Framework, we have in place a number of flagship initiatives to support transformation, including the FAO Hand-in-Hand Initiative that supports the implementation of nationally led, ambitious programs to accelerate agrifood systems’ transformations by eradicating poverty (SDG1), ending hunger and malnutrition (SDG2) and reducing inequalities (SDG10). There is also the One Country One Priority Product initiative that supports countries in the development of more sustainable food value chains for special agricultural products and improved rural livelihoods.
Proactive measures designed to tackle the challenges of agriculture and food security play a crucial role here. This is not only important from a social and economic point of view but also for maintaining peace and stability. In recent times, this region has experienced social and political unrest caused by a lack of food security. The consequences of such developments should be enough to prioritize addressing this challenge and prevent potential future surges. Currently, more than half of the region’s population cannot afford a healthy diet, which is a serious concern. Governments should work toward improving access to affordable, healthy diets for their population. The FAO will continue to support these national efforts, including by acting as a professional platform for dialogue and knowledge exchange.
I would like to emphasize the significance of transformation that is not only efficient and effective, but also inclusive. We must tackle both structural and societal gaps and inequalities. To achieve this, we must focus on rural development, empowering women, mobilizing youth as key players in agrifood systems, promoting agricultural entrepreneurs and local knowledge, and involving communities and groups in marginalized situations. Farmers must be at the center of our work.
It is time to mobilize all efforts to transform agrifood systems. Let us prioritize resources to ensure food security and better nutrition for all, with no one left behind. The FAO is committed to this noble pursuit.
**Qu Dongyu is Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

‘When Christendom Had Muscle’
Raymond Ibrahim/American Reformer:/March 01/2024
The following review, “When Christendom Had Muscle,” was written by Terry Grant for American Reformer:
Western Christians have forgotten the meaning of the word persecution. They have also forgotten that once upon a time Christians, when they had the power, prestige and wealth to put a stop to persecution, resisted persecution with violent, military force. Raymond Ibrahim is on a quest to remind us of both of these forgotten truths.
In his book Defenders of the West, Ibrahim continues the work he started in his previous book, Sword and Scimitar. In Sword and Scimitar, Ibrahim chose to focus on events, specifically on battles that shaped the Crusades and the conflict that he believes must be continuous between Muslims and Christians. In Defenders of the West, he has chosen to go a different route by focusing on the men themselves. Each chapter is a succinct biography of one of the heroes of the Crusades.
After a very good forward by Victor Davis Hanson (whom Ibrahim studied under), Ibrahim gets into his introduction to set the stage for his work. His introduction takes a militant stance right away and sets out to right the wrong of intentionally misrepresenting the Crusades, Crusaders and their Islamic counterparts. Ibrahim has already established himself as a historical and contemporary expert on Islam. In Defenders, he lays out the true historical account of the misdeeds of the Muslims of the era in order to clarify the stakes and motivations of the Crusaders. He also has a secondary goal of clarifying actual Islamic beliefs about how non-Muslims are to be treated according to their writings. The misunderstandings of the modern media regarding Islamic doctrine are so ubiquitous that even some self-professing Muslims believe they are a “religion of peace,” clearly in opposition to their history and teachings.
Ibrahim has a strong desire to get a complete picture of each man he is highlighting in his book and so he considers sources both friendly to and opposed to each subject. This pays dividends later on when seemingly outlandish historical claims are made about the appearance, piety or fighting prowess of one of the Crusaders, only to then have those hyperbolic claims be confirmed begrudgingly by their enemies in private communiques or official records.
The Great Men
Ibrahim’s work is like a medieval, Christian version of Plutarch’s Lives. A book in which Plutarch set out to strengthen the Roman ethos by linking the heroes of Rome to a heroic Greek counterpart. Americans understand this in a way because of the hackneyed trope in politics of appealing to the founders. Sometimes this is warranted and accurate and sometimes it is absolutely false. A reversal of this is to accuse enemies of being “nazis” or “literally hitlooor.” These things are nearly universal in the way they are regarded. Most Americans give at least lip service to agreeing with the Founders or regarding Hitler as a villain. To connect a cause with them is to have instant ethos. This is the way many of the Romans viewed their Greek predecessors. Plutarch set out to write the definitive biographies of these men and show why Romans were equal to and surpassed their exploits.
Ibrahim doesn’t seek to pair each Crusader to another or to a predecessor in such a direct way. But many comparisons are easy to make within the book among the men he has chosen to write about and in some cases their Islamic adversaries. They are able to be grouped by region and temporal proximity for the useful purpose of comparing and contrasting and offering a wide range of personalities and physical types. If Ibrahim set out to present the men in the book as figures worthy of imitation, he has succeeded brilliantly. If he did not set out with that goal in mind, then these larger-than-life figures have overshadowed whatever other goals he had. Unlike the Romans who appealed to the greatness of their civilizational forebears the Hellenists, when the Crusaders walked the Earth, they considered all the great men of their day to have already bowed the knee to the Cross of Christ. They were of one Kingdom. They sought to imitate biblical warrior kings, pious ancestors, and Christ Himself.
After telling my 5-year-old son a few anecdotes about Richard the Lionheart, he laid siege to our sofa and started ordering his stuffed animals to convert to Christianity. (Ongoing discussions of Soteriology are clearly necessary.) It is very difficult for a man to read this book and not find himself inspired by the men within. He wants to have a Crusader birthday party. He found a snapping turtle shell near the creek and was hoping I could make him a shield out of it with a lion on it.
Ibrahim knows that the study of the lives of great men is recalling a former way of studying history that has been neglected. Classically trained and educated people are generally more aware of the historiography of the individual because of exposure to older historical works (like Plutarch) which are focused on people’s lives, not merely a series of events. A dry history of mere events can be interesting enough if you find the period compelling, but there is a reason why our best stories have characters in them. To enter history, you must do so through the life of a character who lived it. In that way, even boring periods of history have proved quite captivating to readers.
Surveying the Field
Each chapter, except the introduction and the conclusion, covers a specific Crusader. Ibrahim chooses to highlight Crusaders from each of the major fronts of war with Islam in the Middle Ages and they are presented in chronological order, some overlap each other. The Holy Land in the war with the Saracens and Egyptians, Spain and the war with the Moroccan Moors, and the Balkans in the war with the Ottoman Empire. The crusaders featured are Godfrey of Boullion (French/Frankish), Rodrigo “El Cid” de Vivar (Spanish), Richard the Lionheart (English), Ferdinand III (Spanish), Louis IX (French), John Hunyadi (Hungarian), George “Skanderbeg” Castrioti (Albanian), and Vlad Dracula (Yes, that one. Romanian).
The chapters have a formula that does not get old even though it is routine. First, the situation is explained. In virtually all cases, Muslims have achieved the upper hand politically and are using their power to extort Christians, enslave them, steal their children and murder them. This is a dark part of each chapter. The atrocities committed by the Muslims against their Christian subjects are nearly too heinous to mention. Mass murder, enslavement, brainwashing, forced conversion and forced circumcision, mass pedophilic rape, routine covenant breaking, destruction of churches and holy sites, and forcing captives to fight against their own people. This is an important chronology to understand. The Christian Crusaders always set out to recapture Christian lands and put a stop to the abuse and persecution of other Christians, or to actively defend lands under threat of Muslim invasion. The Crusaders did not invade Muslim lands unprovoked.
As an aside here, this realization is probably a revolution to some people on its own. All of us, even friends of mine who were homeschooled by based parents and myself (private Christian school educated), believe that, at best, the Crusades were a conventional land war meant to expand the control of Islam or the Roman Church. They believe that the Pope dispatched troops to the Holy Lands to expand his personal influence and if the Christians didn’t go then they got excommunicated or deposed. While there is no doubt some questionable doctrines being bandied about at this time in history, such as indulgences for Crusaders, that is not the reality. The Pope requested Christian kings to help in response to outrages beyond count. In some situations the kings ignored him. The Pope’s requests served as a way to explain the opinion of the Roman Church about the rectitude of a military intervention. This gave the kings a clear warrant from scripture to go on the offensive to save their brethren under bondage.
After setting the stage of the conflict by explaining the Muslim position, the progress of the Crusaders is narrated with all the ups and downs attendant to their respective campaigns. An explanation of the new status quo they achieved as a result of their action and finally a recounting of their deaths and the immediate aftermath. It is also important to note that, in many cases, significant time is devoted to elaborating on the personal piety of each man. Some more than others because, it would seem, some were more pious than others. Some seemed to have fewer relevant sources expounding on their piety. It seems certain that many Crusaders would have had beliefs outside what many American Reformer readers would consider orthodox. They would have considered themselves subject to the Pope and the church of Rome and thus a version of what we now call “Catholic.” Though the Roman church has seen its dogma develop in the intervening time. It is noteworthy that either Ibrahim has omitted references to Mary or the veneration of other saints which modern Catholics emphasize so strongly, or the Crusaders did not mention them as much as modern Roman Catholics might be expected to (The Spaniards being the most noticeable exception with their veneration of James). In contrast, they seem to heavily emphasize Jesus Christ, alone, and consider themselves His subjects and warriors for His glory mentioning Him often and appealing to Him as a victorious king.
Not every story has a happy ending and the book is a true emotional roller coaster. From the fiery rage of reading about the abuses against our medieval brothers, to the joyous highs of rescues and victorious charges against all odds, to the dismal depression of a Crusader king failing in his quest to liberate his captured subjects and friends. Ibrahim’s skill as a writer is significant. It is not a common history tome that can elicit true emotion from me. More than once in this read I teared up, but I never cried because crying is for the weak and the Crusaders would make fun of me if they knew…unless it’s from seeing Jerusalem for the first time after walking from France through blood and ash-covered battlefields.

Gaza and the shameless vacuum of Western morality
Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib/Arab News/March 01, 2024
I rarely write angry pieces. However, as I see and read about the carnage on Thursday, when Israeli troops turned their guns on starving Palestinians and 112 died, and I see the world’s hypocrisy, I have nothing to offer but my rage and disgust at the shameless loss of Western morality.
Israel called these victims “a mob” — starving women and children, reduced to “a mob.” Initially the Israelis did not even recognize the massacre. Then, as the appalling truth became evident, they were forced to admit that they had indeed opened fire — while simultaneously gaslighting the victims, as they usually do. The victims were shot because they “posed a threat.” It was nearly 12 hours before they admitted the obvious, while of course absolving themselves of any responsibility.
If this did not sufficiently disgust you, what came next must surely have done — the hypocritical reaction of the West, particularly the US. Joe Biden, president of the land of the free and the shining beacon of Western civility, could not even bring himself to issue a condemnation. All he said was that the “incident” would complicate the Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks. Palestinians are now beyond dehumanized — they are no more than a currency.
Actually, I did once hear an Israeli official calling Palestinians a “currency.” We know Palestinians don’t matter to them, and we Arabs don’t matter to them. But how can they face their own people? How can they convince them? What do they tell them? No matter how they try to whitewash the facts, it is all obvious. There is satellite imagery, testimonials by people present at the massacre. It is very clear. Yet Biden does not even dare to call it a massacre. If Syria, Iran or Russia did the same, what would have been the reaction? Would there be the slightest hesitation in calling it a massacre, or carnage? But the barbaric loss of 112 Palestinian lives is nothing but an “incident” that will complicate or delay the hostage deal.
While the US is so concerned about those poor Israelis who have been trapped for months in Gaza, no one talks about the Palestinian women and children festering in Israeli prisons; or the thousands jailed without either charge or conviction; or the women raped in Israeli prisons; or the children jailed for years for throwing a stone. This is because when you are a Palestinian you are no longer a woman or a child, not even a human being, just a currency — and in the eyes of Israel, a cheap one at that.
Western politicians lie to the Palestinians, they lie to us Arabs, and they lie to their own people
The West’s mainstream media reporting has been timid. CBS, for example, said Israel was “accused of opening fire.” Seriously? Accused, as if this were not established fact? The Reuters headline was: “More than 100 killed while seeking aid.” Killed how? And by whom? Are we asked to believe they shot themselves?
The media does not even report the facts, always qualified by “according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health,” just to sow doubt in people’s minds. Even Biden expressed doubt about the number of deaths on Thursday, although the Gaza ministry has a track record that is far more credible than that of the Israeli army. US media even reported as fact claims by the notoriously unreliable ZAKA Jewish burial charity, which spread online lies about the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. The BBC continues to attribute the figure of 30,000 Palestinian dead in Gaza to Hamas. They appear not to have noticed that, according to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Israel has killed 25,000 Palestinian women and children in Gaza since the war began. Israel itself also claims to have killed more then 8,000 Hamas fighters. Do the math, guys.
Western politicians lie to the Palestinians, they lie to us Arabs, and they lie to their own people, who no longer believe them. The anger is spreading. In the UK, the maverick politician George Galloway beat all the major parties to win a by-election in the north of England on Tuesday, with a campaign focused entirely on Gaza. Americans are upset. Their tax money is going to fund genocide, and in the name of civility: how ironic. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East trying to defend itself against those “barbaric terrorists.” Biden his and ilk can dehumanize Palestinians, but can they convince their own people? We saw the uncommitted vote in the Michigan presidential election primary. It tells you that people have had enough hypocrisy.
Last week, the young US airman Aaron Bushnell self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington. The shameless media tried to portray him as unstable, a lost soul. The Washington Post said he had an anarchist past. Have they no decency? His friend said Aaron was not contemplating suicide but wanted to use his life as a message for justice. US media reporting, and its official position, go beyond disrespecting Gazans and Palestinians; they are disrespecting their own citizens, who stand with Palestinians, who stand with justice —supposedly a concept engrained in Western principles. How cynical is that? They preach to the world about great Western values, but they are the first to trash them. They preach equality among humans but what we see is the veneration of inequality.
As I said at the start, I rarely write angry pieces. But sometimes there is simply no alternative.
• Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib is a specialist in US-Arab relations with a focus on lobbying. She is co-founder of the Research Center for Cooperation and Peace Building, a Lebanese nongovernmental organization focused on Track II.

Turkiye, Gulf states’ converging interests in Horn of Africa
Sinem Cengiz/Arab News/March 01, 2024
Turkiye last week signed a 10-year defense and economic cooperation agreement with Somalia, which aims to help defend the latter’s long coastline and also rebuild the naval forces of the fragile Horn of Africa nation. The agreement took a great deal of attention, as it came amid growing tensions in this region due to Ethiopia’s controversial maritime deal with Somaliland, which is a territory on the coast of the Gulf of Aden that declared its independence in 1991 but is still recognized internationally as part of Somalia.
Somalia received an outpouring of support for its stance against the Ethiopia-Somaliland deal. Turkiye and the Gulf Cooperation Council states were among several regional nations that backed Somalia, stressing the importance of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Over the past decade, GCC states have shown significant engagement and investment in the Horn of Africa area, with the Red Sea regaining its prominence as a geostrategic focal point, attracting competing global and regional actors aiming to extend their influence.
In Somalia, the Gulf states are key players jockeying for influence. During the Gulf diplomatic crisis that began in 2017, the Horn of Africa was an area of rivalry for the GCC states and Turkiye. However, after the reconciliation that kicked off in early 2021, they focused less on assertive policies that could harm their reconciliation path and instead adopted policies aimed at preserving the stability and security of the Horn of Africa and could contribute to enhancing their interests.
Over the past decade, GCC states have shown significant engagement and investment in the Horn of Africa area
Any tension that could pose a threat to the stability and security of this region is now considered a collective threat by both Turkiye and the Gulf states. The dynamics within and between African states are closely intertwined with the Turkish-Gulf normalization trend and it is evident that both the GCC states and Ankara will try to use their leverage to solve the disputes through dialogue.
When mentioning the Gulf states, it is significant to underline that it is the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia that have played a pivotal role and have the leverage in the region, particularly in Somalia. Following the Ethiopia-Somaliland deal, Riyadh affirmed its stance on the unity of Somalia and the country’s sovereignty over its entire territory.
Even before the Somaliland dispute erupted, Saudi Arabia was angling for a closer relationship with Somalia, having appointed its first ambassador to the country in three decades in 2021. Last year, the two countries inked a security cooperation agreement. Somalia has also been participating in summits held in Riyadh, such as the Saudi-African Summit and the joint Arab-Islamic extraordinary summit, with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud aiming to cultivate close personal ties with the Saudi leadership. Somalia has made it clear several times that it hopes Saudi engagement will go much further, including deeper into the security sphere.
The UAE is another actor in the Horn of Africa that has ties with all competing parties. Prior to 2021, Turkiye and the UAE engaged in a bitter rivalry in the wider Red Sea area that was driven by their different visions for the region’s future. But when Turkish-Emirati relations started to improve, the two states had common stances on some tensions, such as the war in Tigray, in which they supported the Ethiopian government.
Without having a solution to the root cause of the insecurity in Somalia, it is tough to achieve their goals
From a commercial and security perspective, the UAE gives special importance to Somalia, where it manages two key ports — Berbera and Bosaso — and has close ties with the presidency. The UAE and Somalia signed a security agreement in early 2023 that improved bilateral ties.
Last month, a Mogadishu attack killed four Emirati soldiers and one Bahraini officer tasked with training the Somali army. It was claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab militant group, which had previously also attacked the Turkish mission in Mogadishu. Al-Shabab described the UAE as an “enemy” for its backing of the Somali government in battling the armed group. Notably, this was not the first time Al-Shabab had targeted Emiratis. In 2015, it attempted to kill Emirati diplomats in the Somali capital.
Amid the tensions in the region, the Somali president has visited the GCC states. In the last few months, he has visited Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait. Qatar is another Gulf state that has affirmed its commitment to supporting Somali military officers in the fight against Al-Shabab.
Last month’s attack made it clear for the Gulf states and Turkiye that, without having a solution to the root cause of the insecurity in Somalia, it is tough to achieve their goals. Securing Somalia fits into the GCC and Turkiye’s wider concerns about security in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea.
It is noteworthy that Somali piracy has recently resumed after a gap of several years amid the attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea. Thus, the new Turkiye-Somalia deal affirms Ankara’s position as a major player in Somalia, where it has a large military base that trains thousands of Somali security personnel. This base is the backbone of Somali efforts to tackle Al-Shabab.
However, within this context, there remains considerable uncertainty regarding the Ethiopia-Somaliland deal and the defense cooperation agreement between Turkiye and Somalia. While Gulf states had serious concerns over the former, they seem to be comfortable — although not publicly supportive — with the new Turkish-Somali agreement, or at least Turkiye’s security provider role that could also serve the GCC’s interests in the long term.
• Sinem Cengiz is a Turkish political analyst who specializes in Turkiye’s relations with the Middle East. X: @SinemCngz

Starvation: Israel’s criminal weapon of war
Daoud Kuttab/Arab News/March 01, 2024
The international community has been calling on Israel for months now to end its weaponization of starvation against the civilian population of Gaza. Israel’s publicly stated hope is that by inflicting suffering on the Palestinian people they can extract a better negotiated deal with Hamas.
But such Israeli action is a war crime — the full enormity of which became clear on Thursday, when Israeli troops opened fire on starving Palestinians scrambling for food from an aid truck convoy just outside Gaza City, and more than 100 of them were killed.
International humanitarian law and the laws of war make it abundantly clear that the starvation of civilians as a weapon of warfare is prohibited. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court states clearly that intentionally starving civilians by “depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies” is a war crime. Criminal intent does not require the attacker’s admission, but can also be inferred from the totality of the circumstances of the military campaign. In the case of Gaza, both intent and action have been documented. From day one of the Israeli war, its defense minister said publicly that no food, water, or electricity would be allowed into the enclave.
“Israel’s continuing blockade of Gaza, as well as its more than 16-year closure, amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population, a war crime. As the occupying power in Gaza, under the Fourth Geneva Convention Israel must ensure that the civilian population gets food and medical supplies,” Human Rights Watch said in December. The situation by the end of February had become much worse.
Not only have the Israelis denied entry of food and other humanitarian aid into the northern parts of Gaza, where there is a border with Israel, they have also done so from the southern border with Egypt. Israel has bombed trucks from Egypt, compelling the Egyptians to accept Israeli control of when and how anything is allowed to cross into Gaza. As a result, every truck carrying food supplies has to first go all the way to the Israeli border point, where it is checked. After this time-consuming check, the trucks, accompanied by Israel, are allowed into Gaza via the Rafah crossing.
Humanitarian aid workers speak of the need for hundreds of food trucks to enter Gaza every day to meet the needs of the starving population. The absence of food has become so extreme that a 3kg bag of wheat is being sold for $100, which almost no family in Gaza can afford.
The Israeli effort to use starvation as a weapon has turned starving Palestinians into dead Palestinians
The situation in the south of Gaza became even more dire as the Israeli military moved from north, to center, to south. They occupied Gaza City, then Khan Younis, while encouraging Palestinians to move south to Rafah, where up to 1.5 million people are now trapped. They cannot return north without risking their lives, and the Egyptians will not allow anyone to cross into Sinai for fear that Israel would never allow them to go back —ethnic cleansing, yet another war crime. The meager number of food trucks that finally make it to Rafah are naturally overwhelmed by the starving population.
Instead of allowing the normal entry of sufficient food supplies into Gaza, the Israeli effort to use starvation as a weapon has turned starving Palestinians into dead Palestinians. While the situation in south Gaza is dire, the starvation level in the north is even worse. Israel is refusing to allow wheat trucks into the north because of a handful of radical Jewish Israeli protesters. Had they been Palestinians they would of course have been instantly shot dead. But since they are fellow Israelis, the army, happy to keep the humanitarian pressure on, has done little to allow the trucks of wheat, which Israel promised their US allies would be delivered to north Gaza, ever to arrive.
The dire situation in north Gaza has led the Royal Jordanian Air Force to organize daily air drops, even though occupying armies are obliged by international law to provide all the humanitarian needs of people under their direct military control.
Israel’s belated response to Thursday’s massacre was to claim that they opened fire only on people who “posed a threat,” and that most of the dead were trampled in a chaotic stampede for food. But as enlightened Israelis such as the journalist Gideon Levy have repeatedly observed, Israel is unique in claiming victimhood while painting the real victims as responsible for their own deaths. “I don’t remember one occupation where the occupier presented himself as the victim,” he said.
The World Court, Israel’s strongest allies including the US, in fact the entire world is calling on Israel to stop using starvation as a weapon of war. The time has come for the world to begin imposing sanctions on Israel. Any country that supplies weapons to Israel is complicit in its war crimes and the genocide of the Palestinian people.
• Daoud Kuttab is an award-winning Palestinian journalist and a director of Community Media Network. X: @daoudkuttab

Question: “Can a Christian lose salvation?”
GotQuestions.org/March 01/2024
Answer: First, the term Christian must be defined. A “Christian” is not a person who has said a prayer or walked down an aisle or been raised in a Christian family. While each of these things can be a part of the Christian experience, they are not what makes a Christian. A Christian is a person who has fully trusted in Jesus Christ as the only Savior and therefore possesses the Holy Spirit (John 3:16; Acts 16:31; Ephesians 2:8–9).
So, with this definition in mind, can a Christian lose salvation? It’s a crucially important question. Perhaps the best way to answer it is to examine what the Bible says occurs at salvation and to study what losing salvation would entail:
A Christian is a new creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NKJV). A Christian is not simply an “improved” version of a person; a Christian is an entirely new creature. He is “in Christ.” For a Christian to lose salvation, the new creation would have to be destroyed.
A Christian is redeemed. “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18–19). The word redeemed refers to a purchase being made, a price being paid. We were purchased at the cost of Christ’s death. For a Christian to lose salvation, God Himself would have to revoke His purchase of the individual for whom He paid with the precious blood of Christ.
A Christian is justified. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). To justify is to declare righteous. All those who receive Jesus as Savior are “declared righteous” by God. For a Christian to lose salvation, God would have to go back on His Word and “un-declare” what He had previously declared. Those absolved of guilt would have to be tried again and found guilty. God would have to reverse the sentence handed down from the divine bench.
A Christian is promised eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Eternal life is the promise of spending forever in heaven with God. God promises that if you believe, you will have eternal life. For a Christian to lose salvation, eternal life would have to be redefined. The Christian is promised to live forever. Does eternal not mean “eternal”?
A Christian is marked by God and sealed by the Spirit. “You also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13–14). At the moment of faith, the new Christian is marked and sealed with the Spirit, who was promised to act as a deposit to guarantee the heavenly inheritance. The end result is that God’s glory is praised. For a Christian to lose salvation, God would have to erase the mark, withdraw the Spirit, cancel the deposit, break His promise, revoke the guarantee, keep the inheritance, forego the praise, and lessen His glory.
A Christian is guaranteed glorification. “Those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). According to Romans 5:1, justification is ours at the moment of faith. According to Romans 8:30, glorification comes with justification. All those whom God justifies are promised to be glorified. This promise will be fulfilled when Christians receive their perfect resurrection bodies in heaven. If a Christian can lose salvation, then Romans 8:30 is in error, because God could not guarantee glorification for all those whom He predestines, calls, and justifies.
A Christian cannot lose salvation. Most, if not all, of what the Bible says happens to us when we receive Christ would be invalidated if salvation could be lost. Salvation is the gift of God, and God’s gifts are “irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). A Christian cannot be un-newly created. The redeemed cannot be unpurchased. Eternal life cannot be temporary. God cannot renege on His Word. Scripture says that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2).
Two common objections to the belief that a Christian cannot lose salvation concern these experiential issues: 1) What about Christians who live in a sinful, unrepentant lifestyle? 2) What about Christians who reject the faith and deny Christ? The problem with these objections is the assumption that everyone who calls himself a “Christian” has actually been born again. The Bible declares that a true Christian will not live a state of continual, unrepentant sin (1 John 3:6). The Bible also says that anyone who departs the faith is demonstrating that he was never truly a Christian (1 John 2:19). He may have been religious, he may have put on a good show, but he was never born again by the power of God. “By their fruit you will recognize them” (Matthew 7:16). The redeemed of God belong “to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God” (Romans 7:4).
Nothing can separate a child of God from the Father’s love (Romans 8:38–39). Nothing can remove a Christian from God’s hand (John 10:28–29). God guarantees eternal life and maintains the salvation He has given us. The Good Shepherd searches for the lost sheep, and, “when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home” (Luke 15:5–6). The lamb is found, and the Shepherd gladly bears the burden; our Lord takes full responsibility for bringing the lost one safely home.
Jude 1:24–25 further emphasizes the goodness and faithfulness of our Savior: To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”