Palestine

By Mosab Shawer in Bethlehem, occupied Palestine
Published date: 25 December 2024 14:56 GMT

Jonathan Cook. Published date: 24 December 2024 12:29 GMT

Palestinian Christians call on western churches to ‘humanize’ the children of Gaza (Jane Barter | The Conversation, 2024-12-19)

https://theconversation.com/palestinian-christians-call-on-western-churches-to-humanize-the-children-of-gaza-244377
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“Palestinian Christian theologians maintain that western Christian neutrality equates to complicity”

“[Munther Isaac:]‘Regrettably, many western Christians across wide denominational and theological spectra adopt Zionist theologies and interpretations that justify war, making them complicit in Israel’s violence and oppression.’“

“Some other church leaders are speaking up. Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine whether genocide is taking place in Gaza.

“In August, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said ‘the State of Israel has been denying the Palestinian people dignity, freedom and hope,’ and called for an end to the occupation.

“These latter comments signal steps in the right direction, however church leaders must go beyond words toward action…”

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#SilenceIsComplicity

In each of the companies, an internal culture developed that was largely shaped by junior commanders and charismatic soldiers. Initially, the norms instigated atrocities.

"A new commander came to us. We went out with him on the first patrol at six in the morning. He stops. There's not a soul in the streets, just a little 4-year-old boy playing in the sand in his yard.

The commander suddenly starts running, grabs the boy, and breaks his arm at the elbow and his leg here. Stepped on his stomach three times and left.

We all stood there with our mouths open. Looking at him in shock ... I asked the commander: "What's your story?" He told me: These kids need to be killed from the day they are born. When a commander does that, it becomes legit."

"I have no problem with women. One threw a slipper at me, so I gave her a kick here (pointing to the groin), broke all this here. She can't have children today."

"X shot an Arab four times in the back and got away with a self-defense claim. Four bullets in the back from a distance of ten meters ... cold-blooded murder. We did things like that every day."

other items in this issue:
Defend students from state repression.
Join JVP as we orient for the fight to come.
What is Zionism?

December 18, 2024
from #TheWire
[online publication of #JewishVoiceForPeace #JVP in #USA]

European Islamophobia Report (#EIR 2023)

https://islamophobiareport.com/en/index.php/eir-2023/

"The report, authored by 33 scholars and experts, offers a comprehensive analysis of #Islamophobia’s state and development across 28 European countries in 2023. Since its inaugural edition in 2015, the EIR has become an indispensable resource for understanding Islamophobia’s impact on politics, media, employment, education, and justice."

Link to DL:
https://islamophobiareport.com/islamophobiareport-2023.pdf

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@islam #Europe

Israeli-American historian explains why he now believes Israel is committing genocide in Gaza | CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/19/Tv/video/amanpour-bartov-omer
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"Christiane Amanpour speaks with Omer Bartov, Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University, about how the Israeli army is operating in Gaza."

16 min. long interview. Worth watching.

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@israel
#OmerBartov #NameGenocideGenocide #StopGenocide

MP: UK activists are doing the gov't's work, stopping arms to Israel (2024-12-17)

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241217-mp-uk-activists-are-doing-the-govts-work-stopping-arms-to-israel/
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"British MP John McDonnell said yesterday in parliament that ‘It’s time to act now. All arms licences [to Israel] need to be closed down', adding that the UK government is failing by ‘supplying arms to a regime that’s killing children.’"

With a short clip, also on Youtube:
https://youtube.com/shorts/MLjF/_yOK-H4

Edited version of the speech:
https://labouroutlook.org/2024/12/19/end-all-arms-sales-to-israel-john-mcdonnell/

@[email protected] @[email protected] @israel
#StopArmingIsrael

On the decision by the Government of Sweden to stop funding UNRWA in 2025 | UNRWA (2024-12-20)

https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/decision-government-sweden-stop-funding-unrwa-2025
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"The decision by the Government of #Sweden to stop funding #UNRWA in 2025 is disappointing and comes at the worst time for Palestine Refugees.

"The decision is one day after the members of the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution in support of UNRWA. Sweden has been a reliable longstanding partner to UNRWA providing both political and financial support for decades.

"This is a sad day for Palestine Refugees and the multilateral system which Sweden has spearheaded..."

@[email protected] @[email protected]

Did you know the largest Palestine poster archive is hidden in a tiny cafe in Tokyo, Japan? (Ameer Al-Khatahtbeh | Substack, 2024-11-28)

https://substack.com/@ameer/note/c-79226640
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“It’s being safeguarded by an Indonesian Muslim man who is protecting the history. A lot of the posters come from the PLO office that once operated in #Tokyo from the 70s…”

@[email protected] @[email protected]

h/t @JapanProf
#PalestineHistory

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/23345024

Officials said the IDF was backing efforts to increase coordination and cooperation with the PA on the orders of the government rather than as its own initiative, despite statements from some government ministers who have urged the weakening of the PA.

The comment comes as PA security forces have been carrying out an operation against terror groups in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, including killing and detaining members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, seizing weapons, and neutralizing explosive devices.

“In 2024, Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza reached catastrophic proportions. Relentless aerial bombardments, ground invasions, and siege tactics deliberately targeted Palestinian civilians, leaving children to suffer the most,” DCIP’s report says.

The number of Palestinian children detained in Israeli prisons also reached a record high in 2024, the group said.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers and settlers killed one Palestinian child every four days this year, “an escalation made possible by decades of impunity,” the group said.

Israel’s violence included using children as human shields “systematically” this year, as DCIP has documented throughout the genocide.

This includes an incident in March in which Israeli tanks surrounded a group of Palestinian children waiting in line for aid in Gaza City. Soldiers stripped the children and tied them up, depriving them of food and water and forcing them for an entire day to walk in front of tanks and in front of buildings that the military wanted to enter, as DCIP found.

Israeli forces’ weaponization of starvation, meanwhile, has put children, especially newborns and children with disabilities, at heightened risk, with babies as young as two months old starving to death, the group said; in August, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor found that Israel killed 210 newborn babies a month on average in Gaza since the beginning of the genocide.

from #MiddleEastEye #MEE
By Kayra Sener
Published date: 29 November 2024 18:24 GMT

Consensus grows as US human rights organisation follows Amnesty in finding that Israel is committing genocide

By Katherine Hearst and Oscar Rickett. 19 December 2024 08:55 GMT

Gaza death trap: MSF report exposes Israel’s campaign of total destruction (Médecins Sans Frontières, 2024-12-19)

https://www.msf.org/msf-report-exposes-israel%E2%80%99s-campaign-total-destruction

Report as PDF ⬇️
https://www.msf.org/sites/default/files/2024-12/20241229/_REPORT/_Gaza%20Life%20in%20a%20death%20trap%20Report/_FINAL.pdf
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"Repeated Israeli military attacks on Palestinian civilians over the last 14 months, the dismantling of the health care system and other essential infrastructure, the suffocating siege, and the systematic denial of humanitarian assistance are destroying the conditions of life in Gaza, Palestine, according to a new Médecins Sans Frontières (#MSF) report... MSF is urgently calling on all parties, once again, for an immediate ceasefire to save lives and enable the flow of humanitarian aid. Israel must stop its targeted and indiscriminate attacks against civilians, and its allies must act without delay to protect the lives of Palestinians and uphold the rules of war."

@[email protected] @[email protected] @israel
#CeasefireNow

We speak with the husband and sister of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, the 26-year-old Turkish American activist killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank in September, who have criticized the Biden administration for failing to independently investigate her death. The recent University of Washington graduate was fatally shot in the head after taking part in a weekly protest against illegal Israeli settlements in the town of Beita, which she attended as an international observer. Witnesses say she was shot by an Israeli sniper after the demonstration had already dispersed. Members of Eygi’s family spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this week but left the meeting with little hope the U.S. would hold Israel accountable. “Accountability starts with an investigation by the U.S. of the killing of one of its own citizens by an ally,” says Eygi’s husband Hamid Ali. “The answer to the question of why my wife is not getting justice is because Israel enjoys this level of impunity throughout its existence that no other country, no other state in the world enjoys.”

"The UK is directly aiding and abetting these atrocities, providing Israel with material support at a time when the ICC has arrest warrants out for two of its leaders.”

Khem Rogaly, who is researching British military involvement in the war on Gaza, highlighted US military cargo and British spy plane flights from UK airbases in Cyprus, as well as the British-made components in Israel’s F-35 jets and British participation in the defence of Israel.

“This is not only about arms export licenses - but active collaboration, logistical support, supplies and supporting missions that have been ongoing for 14 months,” Rogaly said.

“This means Britain is not only failing in its third-party obligations under international law but are longstanding active participants in the crimes outlined today.”

And so the Palestinians from northern Gaza speaking in London - either in person or on video - were doing so in the knowledge that Israel was attacking them and their families with the help of Britain, even while the British government continues to call for a ceasefire.

Ca. 88 % of school buildings in the Gaza Strip directly hit or damaged

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Humanitarian Situation Update #247 | Gaza Strip | United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - occupied Palestinian territory (2024-12-17)

https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-situation-update-247-gaza-strip
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“According to a new assessment by the Education Cluster, which relies on satellite imagery collected on 1 December 2024, nearly 88 per cent of school buildings in the Gaza Strip (496 out of 564) have been directly hit or damaged and are currently estimated to require either full reconstruction or major rehabilitation work to be functional again. Fifty-five per cent of these schools (275) are government schools, a third (161) are UNRWA schools, and 12 per cent (57) are private schools. … Prior to the war, ‘direct hit’ or ‘damaged’ schools served about 542,959 students and had more than 20,320 teachers…”

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