DISPLAY UNTIL 2/28/2025
in G
As th face Gaza app winter
dihd e harsh challenge of fa ed oaches, displac pr staying milies warrm and nourished.
DON GEFOR N’T .GAZA ET e a las Mak ane d ting impa er win this ct donate .nter
Forecasting Trump’s Middle East Policies
Sprusansky
Daily Life and Shattered Dreams in Gaza—Young Writers Share Their Stories—Eight Views —Reem Sleem, Dima Shamaly, Faress Arafat, Aya Hattab, Esraa Abo Qamar, Shahd Alnaami, Asem Al Jerjawi, Waseem B. Ayesh
American-Financed Israeli Aggression Turned the Lives of Lebanon’s People into a Hell on Earth —Lama Abou Kharroub
No More “Deals”: What Palestinians Want and Will Fight to Achieve Ramzy Baroud 32 This Year, Arab American Political Power Came to the Fore—Rami G. Khouri
International Law Between Empire and Liberation —Chris Carpenter
Saving the United Nations from the U.S. —Ian Williams
52 Israel’s Audacious and Foolish Attempt to Remake the Middle East—Dale Sprusansky
55 Youth Activism in the UK: A Rising Force for Palestinian Rights Diana Safieh
58 Netanyahu’s Framing of the Amsterdam Violence: A Disinformation Campaign—Ahmad Halima
60 Films From Palestine’s Past Show the Future Must Provide for Equal Co-existence—Catherine Baker
62 Telling Stories Through Palestinian Eyes: Band Pushes Back Against Mainstream Narratives Candice
68 As Syria Heats Up, Türkiye Finds Itself in the Spotlight—Özge Genç
Will the Arab League Survive the Gaza Genocide? —Mustafa Fetouri
79 The Thorn and the Carnation: What It Tells Us About Yahya Sinwar—Author, Revolutionary Leader, Martyr—Ida Audeh
ON THE COVER: Israeli warplanes carried out at least 27 air strikes targeting civilian and religious sites in Lebanon on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. One targeted the vicinity of Our Lady of Salvation Church near Saint George Hospital in the Hadath area of Beirut’s southern suburb. Another struck a 12-story residential building and caused extensive damage near the Mar Mikhayel Church in the Chiyah neighborhood of southern Beirut. An Israeli drone strike also targeted a home near St. George’s Church in the town of Jdeideh, igniting a fire and causing damage to the church and nearby structures. (PHOTO BY STR/XINHUA VIA GETTY IMAGES)
No State Has an Inherent “Right to Exist,” Not Even Israel, Moncef Khane, www.aljazeera.com OV-37
Palestinians in Gaza Are Forced to Make Life-or-Death Decisions Following Israeli Evacuation Orders. There Is No Right Choice., Tareq S. Hajjaj, mondoweiss.net OV-39
Israel’s UNRWA Ban Is a Spectacular Own Goal, Christopher Gunness, www.aljazeera.com OV-40
Biden (Maybe) Wants Israel To Stop Using U.S. Bulldozers For Ethnic Cleansing, Belén Fernández, www.aljazeera.com OV-41
Muslim Charities Face Discrimination as Palestinians Are Desperate for Aid, Thor Benson, www.aljazeera.com OV-42
Foreign Airlines Threaten Complete Flight Suspension to Israel Without Law Change Over War Risks, Hadar Kane, Haaretz OV-44
Compiled by Janet McMahon
Israel and the U.S. Are Interfering in Lebanese Politics to Oust Hezbollah—Here’s Why It Won’t Work, Qassam Muaddi, mondoweiss.net OV-44
How a Small Lebanese Town Became a Haven From Israel’s War, Mat Nashed, www.aljazeera.com OV-46
Is Israel Expanding Territorial Control Toward Syria?, Stavroula Pabst, www.responsiblestatecraft.org OV-47
Gitmo Continues to Haunt, Andrew P. Napolitano, www.consortiumnews.com OV-49
“Most Oppressed Muslim Woman In the World” Now Denied Religious Solace, Clive Stafford Smith and Omar Suleiman, www.aljazeera.com OV-50
Pakistan: Slow Motion Train Wreck, Eric S. Margolis, www.ericmargolis.com OV-51
Over the past year, we have witnessed Israeli soldiers commit countless acts of depravity and proudly post their crimes on social media. Unsurprisingly, mainstream coverage has omitted evidence of Israel destroying houses, degrading detainees and desecrating the dead. The Washington Post finally investigated this reality in its visual forensic, “Revenge, fire and destruction: A year of Israeli soldiers’ videos from Gaza,” published on Dec. 3.
Although the Post frames systemic atrocities in the most tepid terms possible (“some soldiers have engaged in battlefield excesses”), the videos and eyewitness accounts speak for themselves. The piece shows videos of Israeli soldiers gleefully obliterating civilian infrastructure and describes them “posing for pictures with undergarments stolen from Palestinian women” and “mockingly advertis[ing] a family business near what appear to be Palestinian’s corpses.”
Despite this, the Post’s editorial board recently criticized the International Criminal Court’s decision to prosecute Israeli leaders for war crimes (see p. 34)!
Maybe the Post should pay attention to this heart-wrenching report from Drop Site News’ correspondent in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza. Hossam Shabat tells of a “death march” of Palestinian civilians: Leaving much of their scant belongings behind, civilians were forced to walk for an hour and a half, along Salah al-Din road—the main thoroughfare running through the enclave— before being forced to pass through an Israeli checkpoint. Witnesses describe tearstreaked children covered in dust running panicked in the streets as warplanes and drones roared overhead. Some pleaded for water but Israeli soldiers refused to give them anything and instead poured water on the ground in front of them to taunt them, according to witnesses. At the checkpoint, Israeli troops separated the men and detained them as their families screamed in desperation. Witnesses described children clinging to Israeli tanks in a desperate attempt to stay with their fathers. After the checkpoint, families were forced to walk for hours more,
Palestinians, forcibly displaced by Israeli sol‐diers from Beit Lahia, arrive in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Dec. 4, 2024, after enduring a “death march.”
through the day, making their way a harrowing 10 kilometers [over 6 miles] south to Gaza City. Some of the wounded fell on the road with no hope of getting treatment.
Amid this sea of crimes, Donald Trump is set to return to the White House. He campaigned on ending wars, but his selections for key positions in government—not to mention his track record—indicate his administration will be zealously pro-Israel and show no regard for Palestinian lives (see p. 8). Trump is also likely to attack the free speech rights of Americans, especially if the Senate passes a House-approved bill permitting the Treasury Department to— without due process—strip organizations of their non-profit status if they are deemed to be supporters of terrorism. We have no doubt that non-profits (including our own) will be declared terrorist supporters merely for defending Palestinian rights, just as we are already smeared as anti-Semites for our work. We encourage all readers to call their Senators to make sure this bill does not pass.
Trump is also likely to target for deportation foreign nationals with U.S. student visas due to their advocacy. Antiwar.com reported in early December on a disturbing bipartisan alliance to carry out this plan: “The American branch of the global Betar Zionist movement is using facial recognition technology with artificial intelligence to identify foreign students who have attended pro-Palestine protests in hopes that President-elect Donald Trump will deport them when he comes into office....[the] organization has been working with members of Congress, including Senators Ted Cruz (RTX) and John Fetterman (D-PA), to ensure protesters are rounded up.” Meanwhile, under the current Biden administration, local police, including an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force member, raided the Springfield, VA home of two George Mason University students on Nov. 7 due to their activism for Palestine. It seems matters are about to go from very bad to much worse.
It has been a busy year at our office. The Washington Report has compiled extensive reports showing how much money each member of Congress receives from pro-Israel political action committees (PACs) and how this money impacts their votes. We have published dozens of firsthand accounts from Gaza, revealing to Americans the stark reality of genocide. We have shipped copies of the magazine across the country to local events and rallies, helping more people learn about the issue. We have expanded the magazine by giving all subscribers free access to our vital “Other Voices” supplement. Our videos exposing the Israel lobby have received millions of views. We have hired extra staff to meet our bookstore’s growing relevance. Construction on our expanded bookstore has made major progress and we anticipate opening in early 2025. All this extra work comes with the practical reality of increased expenses. We need an increase in donations to keep our work going at its current scale. We know we can count on the support of you, our Angels, to...
Make a Difference Today!
Executive Editor: DELINDA C. HANLEY
Managing Editor: DALE SPRUSANSKY
Senior Editor: IDA AUDEH
Other Voices Editor: JANET McMAHON
Middle East Books and More Director: TALA ALOUL
Middle East Books and More Director: JACK MCGRATH
Finance & Admin. Dir.: CHARLES R. CARTER
Art Director: RALPH UWE SCHERER
Founding Publisher: ANDREW I. KILLGORE (1919-2016)
Founding Exec. Editor: RICHARD H. CURTISS (1927-2013)
Board of Directors: HENRIETTA FANNER
JANET McMAHON
JANE KILLGORE
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (ISSN 87554917) is published 7 times a year, monthly except Jan./Feb., March/April, June/July, Aug./Sept. and Nov./Dec. combined, at 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707. Tel. (202) 939-6050. Subscription prices (United States and possessions): one year, $29; two years, $55; three years, $75. For Canadian and Mexican subscriptions, $35 per year; for other foreign subscriptions, $70 per year. Periodicals, postage paid at Washington, DC and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, P.O. Box 292380, Kettering, OH 45429. Published by the American Educational Trust (AET), a nonprofit foundation incorporated in Washington, DC by retired U.S. foreign service officers to provide the American public with balanced and accurate information concerning U.S. relations with Middle Eastern states. AET’s Foreign Policy Committee has included former U.S. ambassadors, government officials, and members of Congress, including the late Democratic Sen. J. William Fulbright and Republican Sen. Charles Percy, both former chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Members of AET’s Board of Directors and advisory committees receive no fees for their services. The new Board of Advisers includes: Anisa Mehdi, John Gareeb, Dr. Najat Khelil Arafat, William Lightfoot, George W. Aldridge and Susan Abulhawa. The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs does not take partisan domestic political positions. As a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, it endorses U.N. Security Council Resolution 242’s land-for-peace formula, supported by nine successive U.S. presidents. In general, it supports Middle East solutions which it judges to be consistent with the charter of the United Nations and traditional American support for human rights, self-determination, and fair play. Material from the Washington Report may be reprinted without charge with attribution to Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Bylined material must also be attributed to the author. This release does not apply to photographs, cartoons or reprints from other publications.
Indexed by ProQuest, Gale, Ebsco Information Services, InfoTrac, LexisNexis, Public Affairs Information Service, Index to Jewish Periodicals, Ethnic News Watch, Periodica Islamica.
CONTACT INFORMATION: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
Editorial Office and Bookstore: 1902 18th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009-9062 Phone: (202) 939-6050 • (800) 368-5788
E-mail: wrmea@wrmea.org • bookstore@wrmea.org circulation@wrmea.org advertising@wrmea.org • donations@wrmea.org
Web sites: http://www.wrmea.org http://www.middleeastbooks.com
Subscriptions, sample copies and donations: P.O. Box 292380, Kettering, OH 45429
Phone: (800) 607-4410
Printed in the USA
Virtually every time Israel attacks Gaza it blames the civilian casualties on alleged Hamas “human shielding.” This Zionist propaganda powerfully influences world opinion regarding the war in Gaza and the broader conflict, shifting blame from the alien, colonial Zionist aggressor to the indigenous Palestinians who are simply defending their homeland.
Through its long-term, ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, Zionist Israel has concentrated its victims in smaller and smaller areas—especially Gaza—making it one of the most densely populated places on earth. Its civilians and militants are in such close proximity because the Zionist entity has forced them to be. Thus, there’s virtually no place from which Gaza’s militants can resist other than from the proximity of its civilians. There’s a world of difference between this and human shielding, which involves intentionally positioning civilians between one’s forces and the enemy. These realities also make a mockery of Israel’s ceaseless efforts to portray Palestinian civilian casualties as “proportional” to its military objectives. Israel has no legitimate military objectives in Gaza or anywhere else. Its core agenda to ethnically cleanse and annex virtually all of Palestine is the prime source of all the death and destruction, and Israel’s framing of desperate Palestinian resistance as “human shielding” is the height of Orwellian doublespeak.
Gregory DeSylva, Rhinebeck, NY
If Mike Huckabee, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as U.S. ambassador to Israel, is genuine about the welfare and safety of all hostages—not only about the Israelis— he should call for a ceasefire and hostage
swap deal. Just for the record, before Oct. 7 Israel held 5,200 Palestinian hostages for years without charges or trial. Now Israel is holding at least 9,000 hostages.
Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights chief Volker Turk stated recently that there is a staggering number of men, women, children, doctors, journalists and human rights defenders detained by Israel since Oct. 7, most of them without charge or trial. They are held in deplorable conditions, along with reports of ill-treatment, torture and violations of due process guarantees. These revelations raise serious concerns regarding the arbitrariness and the fundamentally punitive nature of such arrests by Israel. Huckabee would benefit immensely from reading the testimonies gathered by Turk’s office and other entities. They indicate a range of appalling acts, such as waterboarding and the release of dogs on detainees, amongst other acts, in flagrant violation of international human rights law. Consuming such information would be wiser than trying to appease the pro-Israel lobby before his confirmation hearing.
Both my late father and my late younger brother were held hostage for 18 months by the Israeli forces in 1948 and 1982, respectively. They were not combatants. They were innocent bystanders and were taken for no crime committed, only for being Palestinian.
My late father was detained when he went from Lebanon back to his village in Palestine to look for his mother and older brother right after the Nakba because they were separated.
My younger brother was visiting our mother in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon shortly before the 1982 Israeli invasion and subsequent occupation of Lebanon when the Israelis took every male Palestinian of fighting age hostage. Luckily, he was released after 18 months
of captivity through an exchange. Had the PLO not captured nine Israeli soldiers during the occupation of Lebanon, my brother would have remained in the Israeli concentration camp in south Lebanon for God knows how long.
There is nothing that makes the families of hostages (be they Palestinian or Israelis) happier than seeing their loved ones freed and back home.
Mahmoud El-Yousseph, via e-mail
It is despicable and illogical that billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer money is spent on weapons which are sent to Israel to commit war crimes, including genocide. This is only possible because of massive bribes paid to U.S. politicians of both parties by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other Israel supporting organizations. AIPAC, of course, should be declared a foreign agent, which, of course, it is. The average American knows all of this is wrong but doesn’t know what to do about it and is blocked off from learning more by a complicit corporate media.
Bill Lightfoot, Vienna, VA
For the first time in its history, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has finally indicted a pair of Western-backed leaders. It is a pity it took 44,000 Palestinian deaths to inspire such action. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have been charged with the crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, targeting civilians and persecution.
Presumably for the sake of balance, the ICC also charged Hamas leader Mohammed Deif with a slew of crimes. The Israel military has stated that Deif was killed in July, so his prosecution is doubtful. That does not lessen the horror of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, although I contend it was hardly unprovoked given the past seven decades of Israeli state and settler
Send your letters to the editor to the Washington Report, 1902 18th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009 or e-mail <letters@wrmea.org>.
violence. Aside from the killing of Israeli civilians, occupied Palestinians are legally permitted to use violence to resist occupation; this is not terrorism.
Canada, the UK and a number of European states have expressed their willingness to arrest Netanyahu if he visits, although that is unlikely, given his proven political skills. Still, his unease may provide some comfort to his many victims.
Netanyahu is predictably claiming the ICC is anti-Semitic, his standard ploy to deflect legitimate criticism of his brutal conduct. Fortunately, this man does not really speak for all Jews; he is merely a brutal narcissist willing to spend the lives of Israeli soldiers, civilians and any Palestinian for his own survival. His actions are an affront to the humane values of Judaism.
Morgan Duchesney, Ottawa, ON
What do the American homeless and Israeli “settlement” squatters have in common? You would think nothing. However, the Israeli “outposts,” which are toeholds for more established illegal “settlements,” utilize the tactic of moving in on a place and sitting on it, like the homeless do. But unlike homeless people, the Israelis are protected by soldiers and are armed with their own U.S.-provided weapons and ammunition. There is no permission given—they just take the land. It’s understood and encouraged by Israeli authorities to be acceptable behavior. The homeless in America, on the other hand, gravitate to areas where they can pause, rest and attempt to survive, hopefully, but not always, in peace. The homeless, like refugees, naturally tend to be seen as an unwelcome disturbance, an unwanted intrusion into the estab-
lished routine of a neighborhood. Israeli “outpost-settlers” push and shove and attack their Palestinian neighbors violently, trying to drive them out of their homes and the areas they just pushed and shoved their way into, because “God gave them the land.” It’s understood to be acceptable. The Israeli authorities look the other way and America’s government pats them on the back. The American homeless people can’t claim that God gave them prime city locations and that they are the only rightful residents, so they can’t establish themselves permanently wherever they want—the city has authority to move them on. It’s understood not to be okay to just take land. The U.N. has the authority to say “no” to Israeli squatters, and does, but only the U.S. government might have the power to stop them and move them on. But the U.S. chooses, or is forced, to remain silent.
Should we wonder that there is trouble in the Middle East and at home with no signs of it abating? Dual standards, ignoring misbehavior and turning blind eyes when it comes to Israel are not helpful for anyone or for any lasting peace.
Ken Green, Cooper Landing, AK ■
By Dale Sprusansky
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP’S remarks on the 2024 campaign trail and his subsequent selection of nominees to fill key government positions offer keen insight into how he intends to approach the Middle East. However, an assessment of his prior tenure in office likely provides the best guidance as to how he will govern. Trump is often portrayed as an unpredictable recluse prone to say or do anything, but he carried out a relatively consistent Middle East policy during his first term. There’s good reason to believe he will not stray far from this previously established template. The following key tenets defined his first-term policies:
1) Ardent support for Israel. Trump moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Syrian Golan Heights, legitimized Israeli settlements in the occupied Pales-
tinian West Bank and facilitated the normalization of relations between Israel and several Arab states. He also recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, a move that helped Israel legitimize its claim to various territories it illegally occupies. While U.S. presidents have constantly supported Israel for decades, Trump, at the urging of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and in accord with the desires of his Christian Zionist base and megadonors such as the Adelson family, went above and beyond to appease Israel.
2) A sanctions-first Iran policy. In 2018, Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and initiated a “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign against Iran. As a result, international inspectors lost access to Iranian nuclear sites, Iran began ramping up its nuclear program and major powers such as China and Russia (both signees of the nuclear deal) lost interest in helping the West contain Iran’s nuclear program. Trump’s Iran policy was
widely understood to be inextricably tied to his pro-Israel policy, as it helped Israel define Iran as the existential regional threat and ensure the country remained economically hampered.
3) Little concern for human rights and support for strongmen. Trump gutted U.S. support for UNRWA, the U.N.’s critical humanitarian aid agency for Palestinians. His administration sanctioned top International Criminal Court (ICC) officials for opening probes into potential U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan and potential Israeli war crimes in Palestine. He prioritized military relations with countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia over human rights concerns, most notably in the case of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He signed major arms sales deals with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, despite their war crimes in Yemen. While prior administrations gave superficial lip service to the ideals of democracy and human rights in the region, Trump abrogated any such pretenses from U.S. policy.
4) Willingness to use military force coupled with an aversion to getting bogged down in wars. Trump did not practice restraint during his first term. His Jan. 3, 2020, assassination of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani at Baghdad’s airport was an act of extreme escalation that could have easily led to a broader conflict with Iran had Tehran decided to respond in a proportional manner. In April 2018, Trump also bombed several Syrian military sites in response to reports the country carried out a poison gas attack against its citizens. He was not shy about continuing—and largely completing— President Barack Obama’s war against ISIS. He also significantly expanded the use of armed drones in countries such as Yemen and Syria while loosening accountability and disclosure mechanisms. At the same time, Trump began negotiations with the Taliban to rapidly remove all U.S. troops from Afghanistan. He also pledged to sharply reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria but never achieved more than a moderate reduction in military
personnel in the two countries. Altogether, Trump did move toward ending inherited wars and did not start any new U.S. wars, but he also did not shy away from using military force.
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu enjoyed a strong and mutually beneficial relationship during Trump’s first term. Shortly after losing the 2020 election, Trump lashed out at Netanyahu for acknowledging President Joe Biden’s victory. “I liked Bibi. I still like Bibi,” Trump said at the time, “but I also like loyalty...Bibi could have stayed quiet. He has made a terrible mistake.” Trump also took the opportunity to criticize Netanyahu’s commitment to peace. “I don’t think Bibi ever wanted to make peace,” he said, adding that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was “terrific…couldn’t have been nicer” and “wanted to make a deal more than Netanyahu.” It’s unlikely Trump’s displeasure with Netanyahu will spill over into Trump’s second term, as both are likely to again see one another as useful to their own agendas.
President-elect Trump offered a wide range of comments on Israel, Palestine and Iran on the campaign trail. As one expects with Trump, the comments were not always clear or cohesive. This could be chalked up to Trump’s extemporaneous style of speaking or to his fondness for hyperbole. Regardless, there were some common threads through his campaign remarks: the idea that he would end wars quickly, a willingness to talk to all sides of conflicts and (somewhat nuanced) statements of support for Israeli militarism.
Perhaps Trump’s boldest claim regarding the region is that he would have prevented Hamas’ invasion of southern Israel. “The Oct. 7 attack would never have happened if I was president,” he said at an Oct. 7 memorial event in 2024. Of course, one
could easily argue that the Trump administration’s policies helped set the stage for Oct. 7 by emboldening Israel’s sense of impunity and sidelining Palestinians through the Abraham Accords.
Trump has also claimed he will bring wars to an end. It’s not clear how he plans to accomplish this goal without drastically deviating from the policies of his first administration. Even if ceasefires are reached, the underlying conditions that caused the regional explosion of violence will remain if the U.S. continues to arm Israel and protect it diplomatically. Trump has given no indication he will deviate from this policy. At best, it appears Trump could benefit from regional actors viewing it as in their own interests to temporarily cease hostilities after more than a year of horrific violence. Trump could then take credit for “peace” and hope the inevitable resumption of large-scale violence does not occur under his watch.
That being said, The Times of Israel reported in Oct. 2024 that Trump told Netanyahu he wants the Gaza war concluded by the time he is inaugurated in January. It’s unclear how Trump defines “concluded,” and it’s likely he would deem a West Bank-style Israeli military occupation of Gaza as being acceptable. It’s also probable that Netanyahu will balk at ending Israel’s assault on Gaza.
However, Israel may be hoping the shaky Nov. 2024 ceasefire with Lebanon will placate Trump. According to a Washington Post report several weeks before the deal was reached, Israel was “rushing to advance a ceasefire deal in Lebanon… with the aim of delivering an early foreign policy win to the president-elect.” Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), Trump’s incoming national security adviser, was quick to claim the ceasefire as a win. “Everyone is coming to the table because of President Trump,” he said on X. “His resounding victory sent a clear message to the rest of the world that chaos won’t be tolerated.” However, it’s unclear the truce will hold, as Israel violated the ceasefire agreement 100 times in less than a week, according
to the United Nations’ peacekeeping force in Lebanon.
Trump did make multiple statements on the campaign trail urging Israel to finish its military assault on Gaza. In April 2024, he told conservative broadcaster Hugh Hewitt that Israel should “get it [the war] over with and get back to peace and stop killing people….They’ve got to finish what they started, and they’ve got to finish it fast.” In August 2024, Trump told Israel to “get your victory and get it over with. It has to stop, the killing has to stop.” Such remarks are likely more reflective of Trump’s own aversion to long drawn-out wars than humanitarian concerns, as he has expressed little to no concern regarding Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians. And in his interview with Hewitt, Trump warned that Israel was “losing the PR war,” showing that safeguarding Israel’s reputation is chief among his concerns.
Aside from these remarks, Trump has made a plethora of statements cheerleading Israeli violence. In his same August remarks, Trump said, “I will give Israel the support that it needs to win.” He also criticized the Biden administration for “[tying] Israel’s hand behind its back, demanding an immediate ceasefire.” In Oct. 2024, Trump reportedly told Netanyahu, “Do what you have to do,” and subsequently told the press that the Israeli leader is “doing a good job.” Later in the month he praised Netanyahu at a campaign rally for bypassing Biden’s (facile) efforts at de-escalation. “Bibi didn’t listen to him [Biden] and I’ll tell you what, they’re in a much stronger position now than they were three months ago,” Trump said.
Trump made a particularly concerning bellicose statement in Dec. 2024. Posting on Truth Social, he demanded that all Israeli hostages be released by the time he assumes office or “there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity. Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE
HOSTAGES NOW!” He appears to be either threatening U.S. military force or posturing himself to take credit for any Gaza ceasefire deal.
Aside from the immediate issue of a ceasefire, in May 2024 Trump told TIME magazine that he doubts the viability of the two-state solution. “I’m not sure a two-state solution anymore is gonna work,” Trump said. “There was a time when I thought two states could work. Now I think two states is going to be very, very tough.” This is a deviation from standard U.S. policy, which has long expressed support for two states while permitting Israel to create “facts on the ground” that undermine this stated goal. Members of the Israeli government, including Netanyahu, have stated for years their opposition to two states.
Trump’s comments could be seen as an acknowledgment of the consequences of decades of unfettered settlement growth. However, some fear these remarks mean Trump will permit Israel to annex Palestinian land. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir both indicated this is their plan following Trump’s Nov. 5 victory. “With God’s help…Israel will work with the new administration of President Trump and the international community to apply Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said on Nov. 11. Ben-Gvir told the Knesset that now is “the time for sovereignty, the time for total victory.” Annexation would likely be supported by Mike Huckabee, Trump’s nominee to serve as ambassador to Israel, who believes “there’s no such thing as a Palestinian” and “no such thing as a settlement.” It’s entirely possible that Trump will oversee and authorize the “final solution” to Israel’s “Palestine problem.”
However, Israel’s Ynet News quoted sources inside the Republican Party in late November as saying that Trump opposes annexation on the grounds that it would damage Israel’s image and jeopardize the possibility of expanding the Abraham Accords to Saudi Arabia. It is reasonable to assume Trump will prioritize a Saudi-Israel
deal; however, it remains hard to envision his administration penalizing Israel for moving toward annexation over his objections. If Trump is serious about peace, he will have to, for the first time in his political career, get tough with Israel.
Altogether, Trump has shown clear and consistent support for Israel’s right to do nearly whatever it wishes to Palestinians. He has never mentioned humanitarian concerns and has pledged to defund and target individuals (such as student activists) or organizations (such as the ICC and U.S. non-profits) that advocate for Palestine. His comments about pushing Israel to finish its assault must be weighed in conjunction with his vociferous support for Israel, his ardently pro-Israel cabinet and ambassadorial appointments, reports that Jared Kushner will again serve as a senior adviser on the Middle East, and the Zionist nature of the Republican-controlled Congress. There’s always the possibility that something triggers Trump to take a more even-handed approach toward Israel, but to bank on that possibility would be in contravention of an abundance of evidence pointing to his pro-Israel bona fides
There is some space for guarded optimism regarding Trump’s Iran policy. His 2024 campaign remarks showed flexibility and openness on the matter, especially compared to his prior administration’s simplistic and rigid sanctions-first policy.
In August 2024, he told the press that his administration would seek a positive relationship with Tehran. “I’m not looking to be bad to Iran, we’re going to be friendly, I hope, with Iran,” he said. “But they can’t have a nuclear weapon.” In Sept. 2024 Trump told The Economic Club of New York that he was concerned an over-emphasis on sanctions was causing Iran to back away from talks. “I use sanctions very powerfully against countries that deserve it and then I take them off,” he said. “Because, look, you’re losing Iran…I want to use sanctions as little as possible.” Later
that month he reiterated the importance of dialogue with Iran. “We have to make a deal, because the consequences are impossible,” he told reporters. In Oct. 2024, he told podcaster Patrick Bet-David that he was disinterested in regime change in Iran. “We can’t get totally involved in all that. We can’t run ourselves, let’s face it,” he said. “I would like to see Iran be very successful,” he added. “The only thing is, they can’t have a nuclear weapon.” The nuclear red line should be easy enough to avoid, as Tehran maintains it is not pursuing the bomb and U.S. intelligence officials have stated as recently as Oct. 2024 that they believe Iran has not decided to build a nuclear weapon.
Trump himself didn’t take many shots at Iran on the campaign trail, though his press team made frequent cookie cutter references to the Islamic Republic being a sponsor of terror. Trump did respond harshly to reports that Iran was attempting to assassinate him. “If I were president, I’d
inform the threatening country, in this case Iran, that if you do anything to harm this person, we’re going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens,” he said at a campaign event in September. Trump made another inflammatory remark at an Oct. 2024 campaign rally when he urged Israel to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, saying, “hit the nuclear first and worry about the rest later.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Trump’s nominee to be secretary of state, has a long history of supporting aggression against Iran, as does Waltz, his national security adviser pick. Proposed U.N. ambassador Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) also supports a hawkish sanctions-first approach toward Iran, though she did voice opposition to the prospect of war with the country in 2020. Former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s selection to serve as director of national intelligence, is perhaps the strongest advocate for restraint within Trump’s inner circle and opposed his as-
(Advertisement)
sassination of Soleimani. All these nominees, however, strongly support Israel and are likely inclined to follow the country’s lead when it comes to Iran.
Lebanese American businessman Massad Boulos, Tiffany Trump’s father-inlaw and Trump’s selection as senior adviser on Middle Eastern affairs, is perhaps the most intriguing of the president-elect’s picks. Boulos is reported to have amicable ties with multiple groups in Lebanon, including people close to Hezbollah. Less assuring is the selection of real estate investor and pro-Israel donor Steve Witkoff as Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East. Witkoff has no known foreign policy experience.
Elon Musk, who has been closely advising Trump, reportedly met with Iran’s U.N. ambassador in New York shortly after the election to discuss how to improve relations. Iranian officials described the meeting as “positive” and “good news” to the New York Times. When he as-
sumed office in July 2024, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he was open to renewed negotiations with the U.S. After Trump’s election, senior Iranian diplomat Javad Zarif, who was instrumental in negotiating the 2015 nuclear deal, posted on Musk’s X, “Let’s hope the incoming administration…will stand against war as pledged, and will heed the clear lesson given by the American electorate to end wars and prevent new ones.” It remains to be seen if Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is willing to authorize talks, particularly given Trump’s history of violating the prior nuclear deal, not to mention Iran’s active involvement in resisting Israel’s U.S.-funded violence across the region.
Perhaps concerned that Trump appears to be rethinking his old Iran policy, Netanyahu assured reporters after the election that he and Trump “see eye-to-eye on the Iranian threat in all its components.” Israel’s Energy Minister Eli Cohen seems
to be banking on Trump continuing his firstterm policies, telling Reuters, “We certainly hope and believe that the Trump administration’s policy will continue.” He also (correctly) noted that Trump’s cabinet appointments “certainly support determined action against Iran.”
It would be naïve to believe that Trump is committed to peace with Iran. Yet, it’s not inconceivable he is considering a new direction. Deal-making is in Trump’s veins, and it’s not unreasonable to believe he’d like to make headlines by opening a diplomatic channel with Iran. Additionally, Trump’s Arab Gulf allies have noticeably warmed relations with Iran since he was last in office. It’s possible these Arab leaders will push Trump and Kushner (who has an especially close relationship with leaders in Saudi Arabia and the UAE) to enact a less hostile approach toward Iran. Of course, Israel would certainly be the biggest obstacle, as it is likely to retain the ear of
(Advertisement)
Trump and the affection of his advisers and has shown it is more than willing to forcefully stymie any move toward rapprochement
Trump certainly likes to talk a big game, loves to make his stamp on history and is willing to think outside the parameters of the Washington, DC status quo. When it comes to the Middle East, the ultimate questions are whether Trump will truly be able to buck traditional thinking and whether his own ideas are any better—or even worse—than those of seasoned politicians. Given the desperate circumstances, it’s perhaps natural to place outsized hope on Trump’s statements about ending wars, beginning a new page with Iran and winding down U.S. military involvement in the region. However, given his appointments, track record and the state of the region, it’s hard to foresee him being a force for useful change. ■
recovered my copy
By Reem Sleem
ON THE FIRST DAY of January, around 6 p.m., I sat in the ruins of my home, surrounded by the remnants of walls that rose around me like shattered bones. The air was filled with the smell of dust and charred wood. The sky above was veiled in smoke. But in my lap, I held something precious. My fingers traced the cracked cover
Reem Sleem is an English literature student and a story writer from Gaza. She is training with We Are Not Numbers (WANN), a project to amplify the voices of young Palestinian writers.
of an old, tattered copy of One Thousand and One Nights. I had found it beneath the rubble, an unexpected discovery as I searched for anything salvageable among the ruins.
The war came like a nightmare—sudden and merciless. It took everything. It took my grandmother. She was killed when our neighbor’s house was bombed. The force of the explosion destroyed the upper part of our home, where my grandmother was living. My father was silenced by shock, rarely speaking. My mother prayed to God to protect our family. Even in her grief, she tried to take care of what was left of our shattered lives. At night, my younger brothers and I slept in her arms as if she were our only refuge.
Deir al-Balah was a city of broken buildings and broken hearts. Yet in my hands, I held on to a reminder of strength—a power rooted in stories. I had always loved stories and tales. I once had
a small desk where I stacked my many books. My grandmother used to tell me stories before bedtime when I was a child, often recounting the legends from this very book. It had been years since I last heard these stories, and now, holding the fragile pages in my hands, it felt as though I had found a piece of her once again.
On that cold January night, I retreated to the small room in the basement. This was where I lived—the only part of the house that remained intact after the destruction. By the faint light of a candle, I began to read. I turned the pages carefully, my eyes scanning the familiar, flowing words of Scheherazade, the queen who spun stories to stave off death. As the tales of jinn, sultans and distant lands unfolded, I was transported from the rubble of Gaza to a world of wonder and magic. The streets outside echoed with the distant sounds of airstrikes, but in my mind I walked through enchanted palaces, crossed deserts with caravans and met characters from a thousand stories.
The following evening my young cousins and other children from the neighborhood gathered in our basement to escape the violence outside. They had nowhere else to go; their homes were destroyed, and their families torn apart. They sought refuge with us.
“Do you want to hear a story?” I asked softly, despite the fear pulsing inside me. The children nodded eagerly, their wide eyes reflecting the weak glow of the candle. They had nothing else to hold onto—no schools, no toys, no certainty that tomorrow would be better than today.
I opened the book and began reading aloud.
“It is said, O fortunate king, of wise opinion….”
The pages were yellowed and worn, their corners frayed, but they were a lifeline for me. I told them about Scheherazade, the clever and brave queen who saved her life by telling stories night after night. As I read, the children were captivated, their faces lit up by the soft candlelight. The basement, with its cracked walls and crumbling floor, became our stage. The air, heavy with fear, lightened as the children were carried on the wings of my words. They traveled together through the tales of Aladdin and his magical lamp, Sinbad the Sailor and his incredible adventures. Stories of daring escapes, enchanted lands and the triumph of wit over cruelty resonated with something in their hearts.
Every night, I would gather the children and read stories by candlelight. A hush would fall over the room, and the sound of war outside would fade away. Together we traveled through worlds where peace still existed. For a brief moment, we felt we were no longer in Gaza. It was a fleeting sense of escape, the comfort of getting lost in a story.
For me, reading One Thousand and One Nights was more than a distraction. In a world where everything had been taken from us, the stories were a gift, a temporary escape from the harsh reality surrounding us. This book became a way to offer the children something more than mere survival. Scheherazade told stories to save her life; I was reading the same stories to connect with my past and save my soul. I was reading them to offer the children a glimmer of hope and to challenge the darkness that had settled over their lives.
A few years ago, I used to go to Al-Khidr Library in Deir al-Balah. It belonged to the NAWA Association for Culture and Arts. Part of its recreational activities included storytelling sessions. The staff would tell us tales in the “Story Room.” We would be engrossed, feeling as though we had entered another world. Here I was, trying to do the same in my home, trying to defy the shelling.
Day after day, gathered together in the basement, the children would wait for me to open the book and transport them to another world. On some nights, the sounds of war were so loud, so close. It took all my strength to keep reading, to keep my voice steady as the ground shook beneath me. Each night was another battle for survival, not just against the missiles and bombs, but against the despair that threatened to consume us all.
And every night, I clung to the words on the pages, just as Scheherazade had clung to her stories. It was as if, by reading, I was warding off the death that loomed over me, just as the queen had delayed her execution with each tale.
One evening, after I finished the story “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” I closed the book and looked around at the children. Their eyes were wide with wonder, their expressions soft despite the hardship they had endured.
One of the little ones, a 12-year-old boy named Youssef Siam, reached out to gently touch the book’s cover, as if it were something sacred.
“Will we hear more tomorrow?” he asked, his voice quiet but filled with hope.
I smiled and promised, “Yes, we’ll continue tomorrow.” I had no idea what tomorrow would bring. In Gaza, every day was a gamble between life and death. The war outside was growing worse. The tanks were drawing closer, and the threat of death was ever-present. Yet I clung to my promise of another story. As long as I had this book, as long as I could read, I could offer them something beyond destruction, something no bomb could take away.
The night was quiet for a moment, the sky a black, torn canvas, and as the children went to sleep in another basement room, I sat alone. Tomorrow, I will read again. I will keep reading until the day I can tell stories in peace.
Stories in Gaza are not just an escape; they are a form of resistance, a way to keep our humanity alive in the face of overwhelming hardship. In Gaza we have all become like Scheherazade, fighting to survive, to stay alive, using storytelling to hold onto thepieces of ourselves. ■
By Dima Shamaly
“A CRISIS...A REAL CRISIS...if we’re not buried under the rubble, we’re gonna die from starvation...”
That’s what my friend, Rawan, said during a voice call back in January. She was in the north and I was in the middle area, but we both shared the same struggle: we couldn’t find anything to eat except flour and bread.
When the war began, Israel closed the borders and essentials
like food and water became scarce. Only a few trucks per day were allowed to enter the Gaza Strip, causing a severe scarcity of vital supplies. In compliance with the ongoing directives of the Israel Occupation Forces, Gaza City’s factories shut down and agricultural activities ended. The war also separated Gaza City from the southern and central regions. As a consequence, displaced individuals had no choice but to rely on the supplies remaining in the shops in the central area, with no clear plan for future provisions. The absence of proper oversight and a functional administrative government meant we were waiting for the unknown, knowing that what was coming would not be adequate.
A few months after the war began, an official announcement from the World Health Organization declared that the Gaza Strip, particularly the northern region, had plunged into a severe humanitarian crisis, leading to famine. Extreme scarcity of food supplies led to astronomical price hikes. The sole item available in the markets of Gaza City and the central governorates was flour, which was being sold at exorbitant prices. In Gaza City, the cost of a bag of flour soared from 30-40 shekels ($7.86-$10.40) to 1,000 shekels ($260); in the central governorates, it reached 500 shekels ($130). Extreme shortages, combined with families’ economic hardships, meant restricted access to nourishing food and resources, worsening the problem of childhood malnutrition in the area.
After witnessing the heartbreaking sight of malnourished children everywhere, I decided to join the nutrition’s team in the International Medical Corps and UNICEF. I started my journey as a nutrition counselor in the field and evaluated numerous children in camps and shelters. After assessing them using the method referred to as MUAC (measuring mid upper arm circumference),
we discovered that most of them had moderate acute malnutrition, with a significant number of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
One of the children who hadn’t been diagnosed before and probably hadn’t gotten any of the supplemental food died from severe acute malnutrition at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in July. Seeing his frail, skeletal body–his face pale yellow, and his eyes wide open–split my soul. I couldn’t bear to look at him, I couldn’t accept the fact that these innocent kids were dying through no fault of their own. They were losing their lives because they didn’t receive the basics they needed to survive.
The fieldwork was exhausting at some point, but there were moments when my workmates and I felt like we were the safety net for all those undernourished children in the Strip. I once had a conversation with a mother of a child we were checking on. She shared with me the reasons behind her child’s moderate acute malnutrition, attributing it solely to their family’s economic struggles. With tears welling up in her eyes, she said, “What can I say to you…We are poor, my daughter. My husband is jobless, we’ve even sold our clothes to buy food for our children, but it’s never enough...it’s never enough, my daughter.”
Dima Shamaly is an artist, activist and global citizen from Gaza City. She is passionate about gender equality, human rights and environ‐mental sustainability. She is training with We Are Not Numbers (WANN), a project to amplify the voices of young Palestinian writers.
As I listened to her, my heart was overwhelmed with emotions. The collapsing economy and soaring unemployment rate in a region under prolonged Israeli bombardment has left families hungry and desperate. Even those who are employed don’t receive their full salaries, due to the financial crisis in the Strip. Many of those families face severe famine. Imagine the hardship of a family of seven enduring prolonged periods without food. Then multiply that by the struggle of thousands of families in similar dire circumstances.
I faced a whole new level of emotion when I diagnosed my own little brother, Omar, with severe acute malnutrition. Omar couldn’t consume any of the malnutrition treatment foods like ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) or any supplemental nutritional food due to his celiac disease, which restricts him from taking supplements except for vitamin syrups. Supplemental foods and RUTF contain gluten, which harms the intestines of individuals with celiac disease.
For months, I found great fulfillment in aiding children in need, but when it came to Omar, I always felt so helpless.
In August, we began expanding our work to include pregnant and lactating women. Working with women was one of the most rewarding, yet most challenging, experiences I have ever had. I strongly believe that the most vulnerable individuals here in Gaza are women. They need field campaigns, since it is hard for them
to access outpatient therapeutic programs or medical services due to the ongoing bombing of all hospitals and clinics in Gaza, the constant evacuation orders and the horror they face in every corner of the Strip. While conducting awareness workshops in some shelters, it became evident how crucial this information was for these women. They longed for the support and guidance that my workmates and I provided to them, since they were not able to access healthcare centers or hospitals, and since the medical care is almost nonexistent.
Helping organizations like UNICEF or the International Medical Corps that are dedicated to treating, reducing and preventing malnutrition among children and women is the top priority in times like these. Supporting vulnerable individuals is a responsibility I take to heart. It is my hope that the global community recognizes the importance of this work. Assisting the people in Gaza, even with the smallest gestures, is incredibly meaningful. Even the smallest actions can make a significant impact on those bravely facing adversity, night and day.
Israel-induced famine in the Gaza Strip is a cruel strategy imposed on the people of Gaza. Israel seems to be using this tactic to make the population feel hopeless and miserable; vulnerable groups like children, pregnant women and breastfeeding moth-
ers suffer the most from famine and malnutrition. Offering support during times of great challenges is a form of meaningful resistance. ■
THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM in Gaza has completely collapsed, with most of the essential hospitals, ambulance stations and ambulances completely destroyed. More than 95,000 people have been injured and remain in need of urgent medical care. In addition to those with immediate injuries, there are also patients with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, who require ongoing care. How can these patients receive the follow-up care they so desperately need?
Hospitals are overwhelmed with the constant flood of new casualties. Yet many unsung heroes and international organizations
Faress Arafat graduated from the Islamic University of Gaza with a bachelor’s degree in nursing in October 2023. After living in a tent with his family and working in a medical facility in a camp in Rafah, he evacuated to Cairo. He is training with We Are Not Numbers (WANN), a project to amplify the voices of young Palestinian writers.
have stepped in to meet the needs and help provide some oxygen in a situation that is suffocating so many.
Teams of doctors, nurses and volunteers are moving amidst the tents of displaced people in the refugee camps. They check on the injured, monitor their wounds, ensure they follow their treatments, and even try to help them choose appropriate foods from the meager supplies available. Everyone involved is doing whatever they can to ease the suffering and provide some breathing room for those desperately in need.
Each of these medical workers has their own story and their own fears. They are all fighting for their own personal survival while helping others. Each is doing heroic work.
As a nurse, Rima’s primary responsibility is visiting the tents of displaced and injured people, to monitor their wounds and to ensure they are taking their medications to prevent any life-threatening complications.
The harsh conditions of the camps lead to many wound infections, and recovery times are excruciatingly prolonged. Patients often require strong antibiotics that are no longer available, leaving Rima feeling powerless. Nevertheless, she continues her work with whatever limited resources she can find.
I speak to Rima almost every day, hoping to ease the immense pressure she’s under. I understand well from my own experiences that working in a war zone is not only physically dangerous but also emotionally exhausting. I often wonder what scares people the most about this job.
Rima tells me that every morning she heads to work under the constant hum of warplanes and nearby bombings. She also fears the diseases she comes into contact with and which are rampant in the camps, such as lice and hepatitis. These are spreading due to the lack of even basic hygiene supplies.
On top of these dangers, she constantly worries about her own family. Every day, she leaves home not knowing if her family will still be there when she returns. How can someone go out to save lives, while fearing they might lose the very people who give mean-
ing to their own life? In this war, loss happens faster and is more constant than anyone can imagine. It’s as if we are living without oxygen, without a chance to catch our breath.
Rima describes what she sees in the tents, the nature of the injuries, and the condition of the people, which she sums up in one word: “catastrophic.”
When I ask her about someone who impacted her deeply, she tells me a story about a woman, the wife of a patient she was treating—a story she referred to as one of false hope.
The woman always smiled and stayed by her husband’s side as Rima treated his injured foot. This woman would talk about her hopes of returning home, seeing her children complete their education and cooking meals for her family once the war ended.
One day when Rima visited them, the woman complained of chest pain. She thought it was just stress or fear. Rima suggested she get a breast exam to rule out anything serious. The test revealed that the woman had advanced breast cancer.
The woman’s spirit shattered, her smile faded, her face lost its glow, and she began to lose weight rapidly. This was just one of the hundreds of heartbreaking stories Rima has witnessed.
But Rima has moments of light as well. Seeing a patient recover under her care or bringing a smile to a patient’s face gives her the strength to keep going. Rima describes these moments as gentle hugging of her heart.
Rima and the other medical teams working to care for the injured face immense challenges. The lack of medicine and supplies often reduce the quality of care they can provide, forcing them to find creative solutions or to invent new ways of treating their patients. When they can’t find sterilizing materials, they use organic materials such as table vinegar to sterilize wounds. As the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention.”
Healthcare workers in Gaza feel fear and exhaustion. Sometimes they cry or scream in frustration, but none of this stops them from continuing their vital work. These medical teams manage to endure intense physical and psychological pressure. Their mission is deeply humanitarian and their determination to continue despite the pressure comes very much from the heart. ■
By Aya Hattab
SOMAIA SWAIRKY is a lovely young woman with beautiful features and an innocent expression. She is 20 years old and is studying mental health at Al-Quds Open University in Gaza City. She aspires to become a psychologist.
Aya Hattab graduated from Al‐Azhar University in Gaza, majoring in translation. She is passionate about writing, especially short stories. She is training with We Are Not Numbers (WANN), a project to amplify the voices of young Palestinian writers.
Somaia comes from a loving, harmonious family that lived in a sixth-floor apartment in Al-Nasser, Gaza City. Her family, including her parents, two brothers and a sister, mean the world to her. Before the war, she enjoyed her life, attending university, spending time with friends and finding contentment in her daily routine.
When the war in Gaza started, Somaia’s family, like many others, chose to stay in their home. The war brought massive hardship, especially in their neighborhood, which is particularly perilous. They eventually had to move away from their home to safer areas nearby as the danger grew closer. Most of the time, they heard the sounds of indiscriminate bombing. When Israeli occupation tanks neared the Al-Nasser area, they had to evacuate the house for a month to avoid the threat of death.
On Nov. 23, 2023, a four-day humanitarian truce was agreed upon, allowing Somaia and her family to return home. They brought essential supplies and experienced moments of peace together. The truce was extended and they were relieved.
On Dec. 2, just a day after the truce ended, a quadcopter opened fire at their building and then surrounded them. The family heard a series of explosions and tried to evacuate the building, but they quickly realized they were completely trapped. In desperation, they descended to the fourth floor.
That night, they returned home to the sixth floor to rest, feeling a sense of calm despite the noise of tanks passing by. Somaia slept beside her mother, brothers and sister near their front door,
because they believed it to be the safest spot in their home, while her father, who had the flu, slept away from them in the living room. At 11:30 pm, the Israelis launched a missile at the house without any warning.
Somaia woke up in darkness, confused and unable to see. She called out to her mother, struggled to rise, then reached for her 5year-old brother Mohammed. He was barely alive, and she held him close, weeping. Mohammed passed away that night.
She screamed for help, but no one could reach them. Tragically, she lost her 14-year-old sister Tala, who had aspired to be a pharmacist, and her 19-year-old brother Sa’ad, who was in his first year at university and passionate about photography. Her father fell from the sixth floor to the first, while she and her mother were left injured on the sixth floor.
Around 6 a.m., people came to help. They picked up Somaia’s father. However, as they reached the sixth floor, another Israeli quadcopter started firing heavily. They placed Somaia on a mattress; her leg was almost severed from the knee, and the other leg had shrapnel embedded in it. The rescuers assured Somaia that an ambulance would be sent for her, but she later discovered that the Israelis had bombed the ambulance that had tried to reach her.
Somaia and her mother remained in their destroyed apartment and wished for death. Silence enveloped them as each became immersed in their own pain, they endured the agony in shared solitude.
After seven days without water or food, Somaia called out to her mother. There was no answer. When Somaia realized her mother was dead, her screams of despair filled the air, tears flowing down her face.
She knew the day but not the hour of her mother’s martyrdom. Later that night, Israeli aircraft returned and bombed the building with three more missiles landing in the gap created by the first. Somaia, on the right side of the building, witnessed it all. No longer afraid and completely numb, she longed for death to reunite her with her family.
She was thirsty and prayed for rain. Miraculously, it did in fact rain, and soon it rained so much that the mattress she was lying on was soaked. She squeezed the mattress into her cupped hand to slake her thirst.
She had been awake for nearly 12 days without understanding why. All she craved was sleep, so she resolved to summon her strength and return to the mattress that she had left the day before. She was weary of sitting on the stones left behind by destruction. Her right leg hung awkwardly from the knee. Her other leg was still bleeding. She tied it with a sock, and although it continued to bleed, the flow was less severe.
After five more days, Somaia was thirsty again and began screaming for water. There were tanks under the building. An Israeli soldier emerged and asked through a microphone, “Who screams for water?” Terrified, she didn’t answer. Instead, she grabbed a nearby bottle of medicine, unsure of what it was, but desperate for anything to quench her thirst.
She felt the presence of death everywhere; it could be lurking behind the window or at the doorstep. For all this time, she had
been alone near her mother’s dead body, without food or water. Yet, by some miracle, she remained alive.
The tanks withdrew 21 days after the siege. Neighbors came to her rescue, and as they began to carry her away, the Israeli quadcopter started firing. Somaia told the rescuers to leave her, but they refused, saying there was no way they could abandon her after everything she had endured. Once the quadcopter had left, the neighbors managed to carry her on a mattress, but it was very difficult to get past the destroyed stairs. She finally made it out and went to the hospital, where she was reunited with her injured father.
Both received treatment. Somaia underwent six surgical procedures on both legs. This included the placement of an external platinum implant on the right foot, followed by an internal platinum fixation on the thigh and leg. She also had cosmetic surgery on the left foot to enhance its aesthetic appearance.
All this I learned from Somaia, who recounted her three-week ordeal with remarkable composure. When she finished, I asked her, “Does life still have meaning?” She told me that she didn’t feel the importance of life after losing her family, that the loss of her family left a great darkness. ■
By Esraa Abo Qamar
IN GAZA, THE OLIVE HARVEST is so much more than just a season. For me, it’s always been a time when life slows down, my family comes together, our traditions are renewed, and hearts find a little peace, even in the midst of conflict.
What does the harvest mean now, after a full year of war raging all around us?
This morning, I woke up to the scent of fall, a gentle, warm day filled with light rays of sunshine. My grandma was making us a Palestinian breakfast—crispy falafel and smooth hummus. She loves us, we love her and we love her food. We sat together, my parents, grandma and aunt having our breakfast and sipping warm black tea, chatting and laughing softly. The buzzing sound of Israeli drones wasn’t as loud as usual, so we were enjoying a calm start to our day. Despite the horrors of the past year, there are brief and treasured interludes of peace.
Suddenly, the quiet was interrupted by the clamor of the loud footsteps of my brother, Hassan, running up the stairs. His excitement echoed through the house, filling the air with his pure and contagious joy. He burst into the room, his face glowing, presenting us with a cluster of freshly picked olives. “Mom! Grandma! Look what I’ve got! They’re from our olive tree in the backyard!” he said proudly.
So much has changed in the last year. Before our lives in central Gaza were blown apart by Israeli bombs, we would pack our bags each year and visit my grandma in Rafah for days at a time. Uncles, aunts and cousins, we all gathered to celebrate the season. My grandma would wake us up early, promising that once we had finished picking the olives, we would be rewarded with her delicious homemade zaatar pastries for breakfast. With so many olive trees in the grove, we had to forego breakfast and
Esraa Abo Qamar is a first‐year student at the Islamic University of Gaza, where she’s majoring in English literature. This year, 2024, was supposed to be her first step in a long educational journey full of pas‐sion. She loves reading, and recently has found herself writing to help contend with negative feelings in the wake of the attacks on Gaza.
get an early start. As the sun rose over the olive groves, our entire family—young and old—gathered to pick the olives, exchanging stories and laughter under the ancient trees.
Hassan’s excitement reminded us that November, the harvest season, was almost here. We hadn’t even noticed. After a full year under attack, we had stopped counting the days or even considering the date. Why would we when all our days are so repetitive? Each day, we wake up knowing that we have to face the same challenges, the dire and ever-worsening routine of searching for water and some food, always accompanied by relentless bombardment and the fear of losing our loved ones. It’s been a whole year since I’ve met my friends; like everyone, I am terrified of stepping outside my house, knowing that in an instant my life could be taken by an Israeli bomb. Maybe even worse, I could lose a limb or be separated from my family.
Our energy is being drained by days filled with fear, leaving us too tired to notice the change in seasons or enjoy anything, even the things we used to love the most. Simple pleasures are now painful reminders: each month I used to enjoy posting an image of the full moon on my Instagram account. Now the full moon has only become a hurtful reminder that another month has passed and we are still stuck in the same cycle of pain. But we are “adapting” somehow, not because we want to, but because we have to. It’s been a whole year with no purpose except survival. If living under constant bombardment, death and destruction is “adapting,” then we are expert adapters.
My grandmother’s olive grove is now gone, destroyed by insane Israeli violence. The olive harvest has taken on a new meaning and our beloved season is overshadowed by the harsh realities of war, reminding us of constant loss and fear. Last November, the olive season was gloomy. People were unable to celebrate. It was barely a month into the assault on Gaza, and families even then were displaced and forced to separate. By then, so many people had lost their houses; their groves were either damaged or unreachable. Groves became dangerous places, with many occupied by Israeli soldiers. Many Palestinians have now lost their loved ones, their homes and their precious olive groves. The Israeli troops demolished my grandma’s neighborhood and her house has been severely damaged; her beautiful olive groves are now in ruin.
The Israeli military doesn’t just target innocent people by dropping bombs. Our land and therefore our livelihood and our future have also been under attack. In what has been called “ecocide,” Israeli occupation forces have used bulldozers, airstrikes and white phosphorous bombs to kill our trees…and to try to destroy our bonds to the land, our culture and each other. Before the war, more than 40 percent of Gaza’s land was used for agriculture and we grew most of the food we ate—strawberries, citrus fruit, dates, cucumbers, eggplant and, of course, watermelon. When we speak of deep connections to the land, it is because so many of us have
earned our living and fed our families by growing food—in our backyard, in the alley between our houses, or on a small farm. In early July, an article in Al Jazeera reported that more than 60 percent of farmland has been flattened. Day after day, we survive on canned food. We understand that this is not an accident or byproduct of war. This is the intent…to rob us of a means to support ourselves, to deprive us of life itself.
Hassan’s excitement and delight pulls us into the present and reminds us that even in the middle of our suffering and exhaustion, our lives have moments of beauty and deep meaning. Some olive trees remain, and with their ancient roots, we are still connected to our family’s history, our people’s history and our land. Each year, despite our ongoing struggles, the olive trees bloom and bear fruit, and harvest season arrives like a breath of life to remind us of our deep and abiding attachment to our homeland. The harvest is more than just a time to collect olives; like the olive trees themselves, it is an enduring tradition for Palestinians, one that connects families and communities to cherished customs and to our collective past, present and future. Many of our precious olive trees are hundreds of years old and have survived fire, drought and, like all of Gaza itself, many wars. Like the olive
trees, we stand tall despite the hardships. No matter how much the occupation destroys, we will remain in Gaza and so will the olive trees.
Although the small olive tree in our backyard doesn’t bear many fruits, my grandmother insisted that we celebrate together as usual. And Hassan’s infectious enthusiasm, as he presented the newly ripened olives, provided inspiration. We gathered together—my grandma, aunts, cousins and the rest of us—and made our way to the backyard. We spread a blanket on the ground, ready to catch the olives we picked, and brought out the ladder. My young cousins, excited and eager to start, immediately began arguing over who should climb first. I laughed and pulled out my phone to record the playful chaos. Hassan soon put on some Palestinian songs, and as the music filled the air, we all joined in, singing and celebrating yet another harvest season.
Amidst our laughter and songs, we heard loud voices nearby. Curious, we glanced over the balcony to see our neighbors, who were also busy harvesting their trees. It was as if, in that moment, the world faded away, and happiness was all around us, letting us forget the harshness of war, if only for a few precious moments. ■
By Shahd Alnaami
Dear Jumana,
My beloved friend, you could never imagine what my days are like without you. How could you imagine the depth of my longing, the endless ache that follows me wherever I go? I miss your gentle kiss. I miss your warm touch. Please, come back to me. I would bring you all the apples and carrots you love, just to have you by my side again. I live in the hope—no, in the dream—that we will meet again one day.
Yours, Bashar.
BASHAR IYAD ALKRUNZ, 20 YEARS OLD, is a student of Press and Media at Al Azhar University. He is an athlete; he loves swimming, playing football and riding horses. When Bashar was 7, he joined Al-Faris Palestinian Club to train with horses. Horses were not just animals to him; they were companions, and working with them gave him a way to channel his energy and love. He spent countless hours grooming, feeding and training them, finding the unspoken trust they shared, each session a wordless conversation bridging two worlds. After Israel’s 2014 war on Gaza, Bashar moved to Al Aseel Club, which was closer to his home. The club bought a young mare, only 2 years old. She was wild, unpredictable and almost impossible to handle. Bashar named her Jumana, and she became his responsibility, his friend, and in many ways, his source of strength.
Their bond was unique, and she quickly became attached to him. Bashar discovered that Jumana craved apples and carrots, so every morning he would go to the club, carrying her favorite treats. She recognized him from afar, as soon as she heard his voice or smelled his cologne. She would neigh, filled with excitement. When she saw him, she would greet him by nodding her head and “kissing” him. Bashar would then feed her apples and carrots, watching her happily munch away before they began their training session.
After a year, the club closed, unable to succeed because of other nearby clubs. Bashar returned to Al-Faris Palestinian Club; he couldn’t imagine leaving Jumana behind, knowing how special she was and how much potential she had. He suggested bringing Jumana to the club. The manager, aware of Bashar’s talent and connection with the horse, trusted him, and Jumana was brought to the club. The reunion between Bashar and Jumana was powerful. It was not just a horse and rider relationship anymore; it was something far deeper, something that had grown over the years. Bashar and Jumana spent their days together, and they won every competition they entered. In 2015, when Bashar was 11 years old, they won first place in a special competition. As such a bonded pair, these strong results were even more thrilling. Over
these years, Bashar grew up with Jumana, and so did his love for her.
Although he rode other horses—Frankel, Alexandro, Asef, Noor, Albatool and Everest—Jumana remained irreplaceable. She was stunning, with her glossy brown coat and long, straight mane. She was strong and graceful, and their bond ran deeper than any Bashar had even with his family.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Bashar brought Jumana her favorite treat, apples and carrots, hugging her without knowing it would be their last embrace for a long time. As the situation in Gaza worsened, orders came to evacuate to the south, and Bashar couldn’t say a proper goodbye to Jumana. He couldn’t take her with him, as she belonged to the club, and so, heartbroken, he left Gaza City, leaving his soul behind with her.
When he reached Al-Bureij camp in the south, Bashar began his desperate search for Jumana. He hoped that someone, a trainer or a friend, might have taken her south as well. By January 2024, Bashar had moved to Rafah, still searching. Whenever he saw a brown mare, he would run, hoping it was Jumana. He even refused to ride on any carts, as he didn’t want to feel like he was betraying her, choosing instead to walk on foot for hours. With every passing month, he began to lose hope. Apples and carrots, once his favorite offerings, now reminded him of Jumana’s absence. He promised himself that if he found her, he would somehow get those treats to her. But he lost hope and started to despise apples and carrots as well.
In May, after losing nine friends to Israel’s incessant bombardment, Bashar went to visit an old friend in Al-Zawaida. On his way back, something caught his eye—a mare pulling a cart. Exhausted by months of disappointment, he didn’t even go to check. But then, she neighed.
It was Jumana.
If she hadn’t recognized him, Bashar would have missed her. She was weak, dirty and covered in wounds. Bashar rushed to her, and she gave him her signature kiss. He hugged her tightly, not as a lost child would, but with the full weight of a man reunited with a beloved part of his soul. His tears fell quietly, as though months of sorrow had found a fragile moment of relief. Jumana’s eyes reflected her own sorrow.
Bashar asked the man driving the cart about her. Receiving no response, Bashar explained that Jumana belonged to the club, but the man, claiming he had found her ownerless, refused to let her go. Bashar didn’t argue—after all, Jumana wasn’t his to take; she had belonged to the club, and the club’s owner had been martyred. With a heavy heart, Bashar said goodbye to Jumana, knowing it would likely be the last time.
I met Bashar during a podcast training, and it was there he told us about Jumana, his beloved horse. As he spoke, his voice trembled, and I saw tears well up in his eyes. Seven months after he saw her for the last time, and despite all the suffering he has experienced since, her memory still fills his thoughts and heart. ■
By Asem Al Jerjawi
WITH EACH ISRAELI assault on Gaza, the number of dead and injured Palestinians is given, even if only an approximate count is possible. Less attention is given to the thousands of widows who must care for their children alone and during the precarity of living in a genocide zone.
“Happiness completely vanished when I lost my husband,” my 26-year-old cousin, Areej Al-Faran, recalled as she wept.
Driving a taxi was the only work Abdullah Al-Faran, 28, could find since Israel’s devastating assault began in October. Abdullah was driving his taxi on Dec. 2, 2023.
The immediate family had moved for safety from their home and were sheltering in Areej’s family home in the Shawa area. That morning, before going to his family’s home in Shujaiyya to retrieve some personal items, Abdullah asked Areej if she needed anything from the house. He gazed at his three children before walking out the front door. “Take good care of them,” he said to Areej. “I will get a few things from the house and come right back.” He bought some chocolates nearby, a special treat he planned to give his children upon his return, and drove off.
An hour later, an explosion shook the area. Areej was terrified. When she couldn’t reach her husband on the phone, she hoped it was due to an unreliable phone signal. She went outside and saw people running through the streets crying; several had been injured by shrapnel. Areej asked a woman where the explosion had happened. The woman told her that Abu Al-Azam Street had been destroyed by an aerial attack. Abu Al-Azam Street was
where her husband’s family lived, where he was born and grew up, the home her husband was going to.
The Gaza Ministry of Health reported that an estimated 250 Palestinians were killed in the strike.
Areej’s Uncle Mohammed went to the house to search for Abdullah’s remains. He found the three-story building completely destroyed. Dismembered bodies and severed limbs were scattered throughout the wreckage.
In the strike that killed Abdullah, Areej also lost most of her in-laws. There was no rescue equipment available to retrieve them from the rubble of their home. To date the Al-Faran family has not been recovered and buried.
With the loss of her husband, Areej, a homemaker, became the only provider for their three children: Naya, 5; Maher, 4; and Watan, 2. With extremely inflated prices for all essentials and no income, Areej and her children have to rely on UNRWA assistance to survive, like most widowed mothers in Gaza today.
And she must find a way to respond to her children’s questions about when their father will return home. They ask about him and
reflect on the happy times when they lived together. This makes it hard for Areej to stay resilient. The burden of sorrow and concern weighs on her constantly.
Areej’s sister attempts to console her, but Areej would rather be left alone. Her sister tells me, “She just wants to cry. She’s always afraid, especially if someone brings up Abdullah.”
The challenge of securing food when Israel is using starvation as a method of warfare, coupled with soaring prices and lack of income to meet her family’s needs, is unbearable. Areej tries to enroll her children in organizations that can meet their essential needs. To date, she has been unable to find assistance for food, and like so many widows she is in desperate need.
On April 16, 2024, United Nations Women reported that more than 3,000 women in Gaza had been widowed since October 2023. The majority face enormous challenges, because often their own families and in-laws have also been killed. They must provide financially for their children, and care for them while managing their own grief, insecurity and displacement.
“What deeply saddens me,” Areej says, “is when my children ask about their father and question why he is no longer with us.”
Because Israeli attacks on Gaza are ongoing, it is not possible to arrive at verifiable numbers for orphans. An article published in Le Monde in July 2024 cited Palestinian civil society estimates of 15,000–25,000 Gazan children who have lost one or both parents. The same article cited a February UNICEF report that at least 17,000 children had been separated from their parents due to the parent’s death, illness or detention.
Since her father’s death, Naya has been having nightmares. She constantly wets her bed. Upon hearing an explosion, Naya
clings to her mother and asks, “Are we going to die as baba did, Mama?” Areej has not been able to explain Abdullah’s death to her youngest children. She says that Maher often tells her, “When Daddy comes back, tell him to get this for me,” or “Tell Daddy I want that.”
Most children suffer psychological traumas due to the constant bombardment, the sight of death and injuries all around them, food shortages and starvation. The psychological impact of the conflict on Palestinian children is immense, and includes bedwetting, nightmares, severe anxiety, despair, increased hostility and irritability, chronic sadness and traumatic stress. Areej told the Washington Report that, after her husband’s death, her children started bedwetting, screaming and becoming more terrified during bombings. They also wake up several times during the night.
Established in December 1949 to provide humanitarian security to Palestinians, UNRWA, which widows like Areej rely on, will soon be forced to stop operating because of an Israeli law that was passed at the end of October to ban the agency. The legislation is set to come into effect 90 days after it was passed. This will have dire consequences for Palestinian widows and orphans, who rely on UNRWA for essential humanitarian services including food and education. ■
By Waseem B. Ayesh
I HAVE BEEN MARRIED since 2018 and have a wonderful wife and a 4-year-old son named Adam. We used to have a happy life in our home in northern Gaza, and I had a good job providing digital marketing services to businesses. I worked with major companies across various industries and countries—including Germany (Alugha GmbH), Spain (Niche Perfumes), Türkiye (Larista Properties), the UAE (Aqarati), and Saudi Arabia (Missaan Fintech, Drive7)—creating and launching advertising campaigns on various social media platforms, creating digital content for social media, writing video scripts, and providing search engine optimization analysis and other related services.
But since Oct. 7, 2023, we have been displaced nine times so far: to Nuseirat, Rafah, Khan Younis, to several areas in Deir alBalah, and currently to the small village of Al-Zawayda. Because I could not get steady internet access and electricity or concentrate on my work, I lost my job 15 days after the war started.
I applied for many new jobs, which was hard to do during the displacements. For example, I once did an interview in the middle of the street. A person sold internet access from a simple street stall by providing login credentials for two hours at a time; I had to stand near his shop to make use of the internet access.
Unfortunately, the speed was slow because the vendor overloaded his network with too many users at the same time. He did not have a chair or desk, so I carried my laptop into the street to get the best connection and did the interview standing up and speaking in English. You can imagine how passersby looked at me while I was standing with my headphones in my ears and speaking a foreign language.
Without reliable internet or electricity in Gaza, and amid multiple displacements, Waseem Ayesh (r) lost his job as a digital marketer. This Palestinian entrepreneur reinvented himself and set up a tent to print documents for clients—with help from his son Adam (l).
Eventually I was able to get a contract with a company, and I worked with them for four months, but then my contract was terminated because I was unable to stay online continuously with my colleagues from other spots of the world. The lack of electricity meant that I could not run my laptop during work hours. There is currently only one source of electricity in Gaza, which is solar panels, and if the sun sets or it’s a cloudy day, you will not get electricity at all; when your laptop runs out of power, you must wait until the sun reappears.
As a result of my living and working conditions, I had to think of another source of income.
My younger brother, Ahmed, had purchased a printer to print pages from his digital school textbooks so he could have more time to study them when his laptop was not powered; he printed textbook pages for my four other brothers and my two sisters, too. We all used the printer to make extra copies of our ID papers, as well.
Later, during a period when the Rafah crossing was open, my brother paid $5,000 to an Egyptian “travel agency” to allow him to cross from Gaza to Egypt through the Rafah border, and he left his printer with me. I thought about making use of this printer to offer printing services to people. I would be the only one offering printing services in a relatively large geographic area, and this encouraged me to start the project.
What an idea it turned out to be! I didn’t expect the demand for this service to be so high. I built a simple tent out of some wood and fabric and placed the tent on the sidewalk; fortunately, the printer doesn’t consume much electricity. I powered both the printer
and my laptop with a battery that I charge daily from a neighbor who has a solar power system and charges 10 shekels ($2.74). He also charges 1 shekel (27 cents) to recharge a phone.
Soon, people began coming to me to print their documents, such as IDs and birth certificates. Many people need paper copies of these records to register with UNRWA or other organizations for assistance in their new displacement location. Some camp managers have also used my services to print Excel sheets of camp registrants, for aid distribution purposes.
School and university students come to print their e-books because, like my brothers and sisters, they don’t have adequate electricity to power their laptops long enough to read through their digital books. Also, some customers request other services such as data entry and graphic design. For example, one day, I was buying from a restaurant that was still operating and I saw that the restaurant employee was writing the customers’ orders on pieces of paper, so I suggested to the restaurant owner that I design the menu and design tickets for the customers’ carryout orders. He agreed and asked for a sample at first and we agreed to print more later. I often hire my brothers for these tasks as I am busy dealing with the customers.
Customers pay in cash for our services. Those who live here know that this is a major issue, due to the closure of banks and destruction or closure of ATMs across the Gaza Strip. People often have to get cash from merchants, who charge a 30 percent fee. Sometimes because of the cash liquidity problems, customers want to pay by bank transfer, but this payment method is really troublesome.
Another challenge I face is keeping supplied with paper and ink cartridges. I buy these supplies from computer stores, which still have supplies in their warehouses, although the prices are now very high. I price-compare on Facebook to find the most affordable products.
Currently, I work four to five hours a day, and I have to postpone any work until the next day if I haven’t completed the required tasks before my battery runs out. Meanwhile the demand for my services keeps increasing, so now I’m pursuing a plan to purchase my own simple solar power system, which would allow me to work for six to eight hours a day and provide my services more effectively.
Having my own energy source would also enable my brother, who works beside me sewing clothes, to run his sewing machine for more hours. With more power I could hire another employee to work with me on the data entry, design and other tasks we can offer. This would allow us to expand our capacity and better meet the growing demand for our services.
My dear son Adam loves toy cars and watching cartoons like Mr. Bean, but nowadays these forms of entertainment are not available to him. So instead, he hangs out around my business tent while I work. He helps me with simple tasks like handing me paper or cables to transfer files from the mobile to the laptop.
So, this is the life of a digital marketer-turned-entrepreneur. In Gaza, the war doesn’t just destroy buildings, it tries to break souls. But here’s the truth they don’t tell you: we don’t just survive; we rise from the ashes with ink-stained hands and dreams they can never erase. ■
SINCE ISRAEL’S WAR against Lebanon began in October 2024, Lebanon has witnessed the largest displacement movement in its history. More than half a million Lebanese left the country entirely within a 50-day span. Lebanon’s Ministry of Information reported on Nov. 12, 2024, that more than 1.2 million people (44,680 families, about 23 percent of the population) had been forced to flee internally to shelters. The highest displacement rates were recorded in Mount Lebanon and Beirut.
As many as 1,158 officially designated centers opened to accommodate the displaced, and most of these centers had reached their maximum capacity before a tenuous ceasefire was announced on Nov. 26, and hundreds of thousands Lebanese civilians began trying to return to their homes. Although the ceasefire called on all parties to hold their fire, Israel continued to conduct near-daily assaults in Lebanon.
Repeated displacement became a main feature of the crisis. The strain of daily evacuations and residential bombings led
By Lama Abou Kharroub
some to avoid buildings entirely and to take to the streets. Hassan Harake was one of many people in Martyrs’ Square who spent the night there. He told the Washington Report that he returned to his home in Al-Dahye in the southern suburbs of Beirut only during the day.
Noor Badawi, a Syrian refugee in Lebanon, described living on the sidewalk with her three daughters. She was first displaced from the southern suburbs of Beirut to the streets along Beirut’s waterfront corniche; when she thought it was safe, she returned to her home in the southern suburbs. When airstrikes began to escalate, she left once again to Martyrs’ Square, where she remained.
She laid down a mattress and took refuge on a sidewalk, but the building owners claimed they were starting renovations and asked her to leave. She then moved across the street with her daughters. Badawi described to the Washington Report what life on the street looks like: “At night, I can’t sleep because of the constant movement and noise of the cars. I’m always afraid that
any sound might signal danger. But more than anything, I’m constantly worried about my daughters’ safety,” she said. During the day, she struggled to secure food, medicine and other things she needs; when it rained, she had to find another place to shelter. She returned to her home in the southern suburbs periodically to bathe and wash clothes, and she used the shops to access restrooms and charge her phone.
Asked to describe her life, she said it was “extremely harsh, ugly, and difficult, full of humiliation and suffering.”
Unlike Badawi and the hundreds who are homeless, Hussein lived in a friend’s house. He was forced to leave his home in the southern suburbs on Sept. 24, when Israeli bombardment intensified. When he spoke to the Washington Report, he had been displaced for more than a month, and during that time his neighborhood had been nearly wiped out. Over the past 50 days, Hussein had moved seven times. The overcrowding made finding shelter even more challenging. He summarized: “There is no stability or safety anywhere.” He kept a few belongings and clothes in a bag that could be easily grabbed when he needed to move quickly. He described this situation as stressful and anxiety-inducing; he struggled to cope with the rapid unfolding of events.
“Being forced to depend on others is difficult,” Hussein said. “When you have a house, you never truly understand its value until you lose it. There’s this dichotomy—on one hand, I recognize the privilege that at least I’m not living on the street, but on the other, I still endure the hardship of being displaced and constantly moving.”
On Oct. 10, Lebanon’s caretaker Minister of Education and Higher Education, Abbas al-Halabi, decided to close schools in areas near the southern border. The ministry then initiated an educational emergency plan to ensure that
education could continue in a safe and accessible way. The minister urged students to register in schools in the areas they had relocated to. This was not always feasible, because many had been converted into shelters for internally displaced persons and others had been badly damaged by Israeli shelling. Online education was not feasible because of internet interruptions. As a result, hundreds of children are out of school.
At least 166,000 people lost their jobs due to Israel’s war on Lebanon, particularly from the villages in the south, Nabatiyya, Baalbek and Hermel, and the southern suburbs of Beirut. This resulted in a loss of $168 million in annual income, according to a World Bank press release dated Nov. 14, 2024.
Badawi lost her job at the dairy factory in the southern suburbs, and she now has no income.
Tia Al-Amin, an organizer with an initiative to assist displaced families, told the Washington Report that through the initiative, they reached out to 400 families, all of which had lost their homes and jobs. “The person who could barely provide for his family when he had a job is now unable to do so; people can’t feed their children.” In addition, the abnormal overcrowding makes it even harder to find work opportunities.
The war on Lebanon led to the destruction and damage of 99,209 housing units, representing more than 8 percent of the housing stock in the targeted areas. The total damage is estimated at $2.8 billion, according to a Nov. 2024 World Bank interim report.
Al-Amin believes that Israel’s approach in Lebanon was a continuation of the strategy in Gaza. She says she feels guilty “about the genocide [in Gaza] we failed to stop.”
In addition to the killing of nearly 4,000 people and the destruction of entire villages, Israel worked to create internal divisions among communities, in keeping with its longstanding policy toward Lebanon. She noted that some families were afraid to stay in the same place, worried that staying together might make them a target for extermination.
People in Lebanon see clear evidence of U.S. complicity in Israel’s attacks on Lebanon. Al-Amin told the Washington Report: “It is ironic that we are waiting for aid from the U.S. and other Western countries, the same entities that fund those who kill us every day.”
She described U.S. policy as manipulative, due to the “ceasefire negotiations” which continued while the U.S. administration armed Israel and provided military aid, without which it could not continue its aggression in Lebanon (or Gaza, for that matter). “Every two days the American minister of external affairs visited us, even while their funding to Israel continued. This contradiction is very clear. No matter who is in the U.S. administration, nothing will change on the ground.”
Hussein agreed: “We cannot deny that all of this is because of American backing for Israel. The weapons, this facade they show about democracy and human rights, when in reality they are killing us. Theoretically, it’s good the Democrats lost, because they were supporting the genocide for an entire year, but at the end of the day, they are all the same.”
Al-Amin and many others living in Lebanon believe that this war was a global war against Lebanon and Palestine. Therefore, the responsibility to stop Israeli atrocities lies with everyone. She wants the people of the world to declare a comprehensive strike to pressure their governments to intervene decisively to stop Israel. She says: “It is unacceptable that the world continues as usual while our lives have been destroyed and halted because of global complicity with Israel. This is the world’s war against us.” ■
By Ramzy Baroud
A
MAJOR PROBLEM in U.S. thinking about the Middle East is the utter rejection of the notion that Palestinian rights are fundamental, or at least relevant, to the coveted peace and stability.
Long before President Donald Trump’s first “Deal of the Century” was officially revealed on Jan. 28, 2020, successive U.S. administrations attempted to “stabilize” the Middle East at the expense of Palestinians.
Earlier plans, or deals, rested on the premise of total marginalization of the Palestinian people and their cause. They included the Rogers Plan of 1969 and Rogers Plan II in the early 1970s, which culminated in the Camp David Accords later that same decade.
When all had failed to subdue Palestinians, Israel and the U.S. began investing in an alternative Palestinian leadership that
Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. His latest book, co‐edited with Ilan Pappé, Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out, is available from Middle East Books and More. Dr. Baroud is a non‐resident senior research fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is <www.ramzybaroud.net>.
would be compliant with Israeli will, often in exchange for money and a minimal share of power. The outcome was the Oslo Accords in 1993, which initially segmented Palestinians politically, yielding competing classes, but eventually failing to defeat the Palestinian quest for freedom.
Numerous other initiatives and plans, mostly by the U.S. and other Western entities, tried to conclude the Palestinian struggle in favor of Israel without having to deal with the inconveniences of pressuring Israel to respect international law. They all failed.
Trump’s so-called “Deal of the Century” was another failed attempt. It was situated in previously thwarted Israeli plans centered around Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s so-called “economic peace” in 2009. For Israel, the new “deal” represented a complete Israeli victory: ending Israel’s regional isolation, amassing wealth, making the Israeli military occupation permanent, avoiding any accountability under international law, and thus permanently defeating Palestinians.
The ongoing Israeli war and genocide in Gaza, the destabilization of the whole region and the ongoing Palestinian steadfastness and resistance are the final proof that there can never be real peace in the Middle East without justice for Palestinians and other victims of Israeli brutality. No number of future U.S.- Western deals and initiatives can ever alter this fact.
The same inference applies to those operating at a less official capacity, but still committed to the same perusal of creative “solutions” to the so-called “conflict.” Such notions may suggest that the lack of solutions reflects the lack of imagination or resolve or the dearth of legal texts that make a just end to the “conflict” impossible.
However, a solution is readily available. Indeed, the solution to military occupation, apartheid and genocide is ending military
occupation, dismantling the racist apartheid regime and holding Israeli war criminals accountable for their extermination of Palestinians.
Not only do we have a host of international and humanitarian laws and court orders to guide us through the process of holding Israel accountable, but more than the needed critical mass of international consensus that should make this “solution” possible. The main obstacle is the stubborn and unconditional U.S. support of Israel, which has allowed it to flout international law and consensus for decades. International law regarding Palestine is not an outdated resolution, but a robust and growing legal discourse that refuses to entertain any Israeli or U.S. interpretation of the war crimes, including the crime of genocide underway in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories. Last February, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) began holding hearings that allowed representatives of over 50 countries to articulate their political, legal and moral stances on the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
While the acting legal adviser at the U.S. State Department argued that the 15judge panel at the Hague should not call for Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied West Bank, China’s Foreign Ministry’s legal adviser, Ma Xinmin, contended that Palestinian “use of force to resist oppression is an inalienable right.” Later in July, the ICJ issued a landmark ruling that the Israeli occupation in all of its expressions is illegal under international law and that such illegality includes the occupation of East Jerusalem, all Israeli Jewish settlements, annexation attempts, theft of natural resources, and so on.
In September 2024, international consensus again followed, as the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution demanding that Israel end “its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” within 12 months. This is but a footnote in the massive body of international law regarding the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Yet more is constantly being added to the already clear discourse, including the latest arrest warrants by the International Criminal
(Advertisement)
$60 - provides one month’s sustenance for one child
$720 - provides one year’s sustenance for one child
Alalusi Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization
Court (ICC) of top Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu.
With such clarity in applicable and relevant law, why then should Palestinians, Arabs and the international community entertain or engage in any new deals, plans and solutions that operate outside the realm of international law and standards?
The issue is obviously not the lack of a roadmap to a just peace, but the lack of interest or will, namely on the part of the U.S. and a few of its Western allies. It is their relentless backing of Israel and financing of its war machine that makes a just solution in Palestine unattainable, at least for now.
As far as Palestinians are concerned, there can only be one acceptable “deal,” a deal that is predicated on the full implementation of international law, including the Palestinian people’s right of return and right to self-determination.
Continued U.S.-Israeli attempts at circumventing this fact will never impede Palestinians from carrying on with their struggle for freedom. ■
–Iraq –Jordan –Lebanon
–Türkiye —Afghanistan
Alalusi Foundation Orphans Project 1975 National Ave., Hayward CA 94545 (510) 887-2374 info@alalusifoundation.org Alalusifoundation.org
Zelle: (510) 715-9226 — Alalusi Foundation
By Rami G Khouri
ONE OF THE MAJOR political developments in the United States that has gotten little attention in the wake of the Democrats’ astounding loss in the November 5 elections is the success of Arab American political organizing.
A new generation of political activists has emerged that has earned representation in unprecedented numbers and impact for the 3.5-million-strong Arab American community in elected and appointed political offices. It also put Arab Americans on the electoral map for the first time by launching the Uncommitted movement during the Democratic primaries and making a foreign policy issue—Israel’s genocide in Gaza—a national moral issue.
The Democratic Party underestimated the power of this new generation and the intensity of citizen anger, which cost it dearly in the election.
What happened in the Arab American community is a vintage all-American tale. They, like other communities, started their pur-
suit of political impact as a low-profile immigrant group who became dynamic citizens after political developments threatened their wellbeing and motivated them to take action.
Arab American mobilization traces its beginnings to small-scale participation in Jesse Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns for the Democratic Party. Jackson was the first serious presidential candidate to include Arab Americans as Democratic Party convention delegates, part of his Rainbow Coalition of “the white, the Hispanic, the Black, the Arab, the Jew, the woman, the Native American, the small farmer, the businessperson, the environmentalist, the peace activist, the young, the old, the lesbian, the gay and the disabled [who] make up the American quilt.”
His campaign gave momentum to voter registration drives within the Arab American community, which continued in the following three decades. By 2020, nearly 90 percent of Arab Americans were registered to vote. By 2024, the Arab American voter block—in its expansive coalition with other groups—had grown large enough to impact outcomes in critical swing states, especially Michigan and Pennsylvania.
The attacks of 9/11 and the subsequent backlash motivated Arab Americans even more to engage in meaningful politics. Many members of the community refused to live in fear, trying to avoid the intimidation and smears that had long kept their parents and grandparents subdued and quiescent politically.
As Omar Kurdi, founder of Arab Americans of Cleveland, told me, “We were no longer silent because we saw the dangers to us of being quiet and politically inactive. We refused to live in fear of politics. Since then, we have been proud, confident, and active in public. We no longer accept crumbs, but want our share of the pie, and we understand now how we can work for that.”
As a result, over the past two decades, Arab Americans have entered the public sphere and politics at all levels: from local, city
and county positions to state and federal ones.
Elected officials say they succeeded because their constituents knew and trusted them. Candidates who won state and national congressional seats— like Rashida Tlaib in Michigan— inspired hundreds of younger Arab Americans to enter the political fray.
Successful experiences in city politics educated newcomers on how they could impact decisionmaking, improve their own lives, and serve the entire community. They mastered locally the basics of politics, one Ohio activist told me, “like lobbying, bringing pressure, protesting, educating the public, achieving consensus and creating coalitions based on shared values, problems and goals.”
An election official assists voters before they turn in their ballots for the U.S. presidential and congres ‐sional elections at Dearborn High School in Dearborn, MI, on Nov. 5, 2024. Dearborn, home to one of the largest Arab American populations in the U.S., had a powerful influence on the outcome of elections as frustrations over U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza became a humanitarian concern for voters.
All of this momentum, built up over the years, coalesced into the Uncommitted movement in 2024. As the Biden administration unconditionally supported Israel to carry out genocidal violence in Palestine and Lebanon, Arab American activists moved to use their newfound leverage as voters in electoral politics.
They joined like-minded social justice activists from other groups that mainstream political parties had long taken for granted—including Muslim Americans, Blacks, Hispanics, youth, progressive Jews, churches and unions—and sent a strong message during the primaries that they would not support Biden’s re-election bid unless he changed his position on Gaza.
The campaign hoped that tens of thousands of voters in the primaries would send the Democrats a big message by voting “uncommitted,” but in fact, hundreds of thousands of Democrats did so across half a dozen critical states. These numbers were enough to send 30 Uncommitted delegates to the Democratic National Convention in August, where they could lobby their colleagues to shape the party’s national platform.
One activist involved in the process told me they convinced 320 of the other 5,000 delegates to support their demand for a party commitment to a Gaza ceasefire and arms embargo on Israel—not enough to change the party position, but enough to prove that working from inside the political system over time could move things in a better direction.
Intergenerational support and motivation were big factors in the success of the Uncommitted movement. Arab American Institute executive director Maya Berry, who has been involved in such activities for three decades, told me that Arab Americans were always in political positions, but in small numbers, so they had little impact. However, they learned how the system works and provided valuable insights when the time came this year to act. She mentioned Abbas Alawieh as an example, who co-chairs the Uncommitted National Movement and worked as a congressional staffer for many years.
The Uncommitted movement’s precise contribution to the Democratic Party’s defeat is hotly debated right now. One activist told me the movement “placed Arab Americans at the center of Democratic Party politics, led the progressives,
helped Harris lose in swing states and nationally brought attention to Gaza, divestment and moral issues in ways we had never been able to do previously.”
All this occurs in uncharted territory, with no clarity if Arab Americans can influence both the Democratic and Republican parties who might now compete for their vote.
One Arab American activist in his 30s added, “We are liberated from the Democrats who took us for granted, and we Arab Americans are now a swing vote officially.”
Other activists I spoke to thought the election experience could set the stage for a larger movement to counter the proIsrael lobby AIPAC, though that would require conquering the next hurdle of establishing political action committees (PACs) and raising substantial funds.
That is a future possibility. For now, it is important to recognize that a nationallevel Arab American political effort has been born from the fires and devastation of the U.S.-Israeli genocide in Palestine and Lebanon. Whether it can improve the wellbeing of Arab Americans and all Americans will be revealed in the years ahead.■
ON NOV. 21, 2024, the International Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrest—for war crimes and crimes against humanity—of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. As the court lacks its own enforcement arm, the warrants oblige all state parties to the Rome Statute, 124 countries in all, to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant should either enter their territory. The announcement came on the heels of increasing legal challenges to Israel’s crimes in Gaza and elsewhere, including the recent ICJ ruling that the occupation is illegal and South Africa’s ongoing case against Israel for genocide in Gaza.
Such legal developments certainly serve a powerful symbolic function and mark the increasing isolation of Israel over a year into its genocidal war on the Palestinian people. But set against Israel’s continuing atrocities in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon—all enabled by the seemingly unshakable support of the United States— these cases only seem to underscore the limitations of international law. If its powers lie only in the realm of statements and unenforceable warrants, then what, after all, is the law worth?
By Chris Carpenter
For decades, the question of Palestine has exposed both the ongoing appeal and the seeming impotence of international law. Many observers have noted that appeals to international law have long been a rhetorical cornerstone of the Palestinian struggle. It isn’t hard to see why: Israel is a state founded and sustained on the flagrant violation of the law’s most basic principles. Yet amid every air-tight case against Israel’s colonization of Palestine, this colonization has continued and intensified unabated. Though the law clearly retains its appeal, its evident failure to deliver any measure of material justice has left many wondering what, if any, purpose it serves.
The clear limitations of international law in colonial settings are more than mere lapses or shortcomings in an otherwise universal system. Rather, they are structural features reflecting the system’s imperial origins. As it developed in a world dominated by European imperial powers, international law in general and the laws of war in particular were hardly meant to apply equally to all. European jurists used discourses of race and “civilization,” serving to naturalize imperial hierarchies, to justify colonial exceptions to the norms of “civilized” conduct. Such exceptions were not limited to theoretical writings: they arose from and undergirded the brutalities of colonial conquest. This racialized civilizational hierarchy prescribed one set of laws governing conduct among Europeans while endorsing overwhelming, even genocidal violence against colonized populations as “just and lawful.” This hierarchy was more a feature than an inconsistency—it allowed for “civilized” interaction between imperial powers, while facilitating the conquest, policing, and rule of those deemed inferior.
If international law developed as a handmaiden of European colonialism, it was not fated to remain so. The twentieth century witnessed an extraordinary and partially successful effort on the part of colonized peoples to transform the law into a tool of liberation. As scholar Noura Erakat notes in her book Justice for Some, law has no fixed, predetermined meaning. It acquires meaning as it is used by various actors,
and its outcomes are a product of contestation and power. And as African, Asian and other liberation movements and states seized their place on the international stage in the mid twentieth century, they sought to wrest international law and institutions from imperial hands, transcending the system’s own origins. As decolonized nations came to constitute the majority of the U.N. General Assembly, this endeavor produced new legal efforts against colonialism and apartheid from South Africa to Palestine and beyond. Yet the work of decolonizing international law remains unfinished, and with the global balance of power still in the hands of the Global North, it remains an uphill struggle. Still, in light of this history, international law is better seen not as a fully coherent system suffering from occasional failures, but a battlefield between, and a tool in service of, colonial and anticolonial projects.
The U.S. response to the ICC’s warrants demonstrates all the fury of an imperial power seeing its own tools of domination turned against it. The prospect of a genuinely universal international law has sent American leaders scrambling to shore up a two-tiered, imperial mode of “justice.” President Joe Biden’s brief statement, rejecting the warrants and any “equivalence” between Israel and Hamas, can only be seen in light of a colonial double-standard. The placement of Hamas in a qualitatively different category, in spite of the far greater destruction wrought by Israel, is nothing less than a call to judge the colonizer and the colonized on separate, unequal scales.
The Washington Post’s editorial board was no less blatant, insisting in a Nov. 24 editorial that the ICC is only fit to judge criminals in “Russia, Sudan and Myanmar.” The paper argued that Israel (in spite of its consistent refusal to hold its own war criminals to account), can investigate and judge itself. Justice here is of course beside the point— the goal is to protect an imperial international law, one that functions as a tool of American hegemony.
Today, the very concept of international law is in crisis. Caught between its imperial history and its universalist possibilities, and powerless to put a stop to one of the great-
A view of the vehicle carrying aid workers of the U.S.‐based international aid organization World Central Kitchen (WCK) targeted by an Israeli attack on
est atrocities of our era (let alone the longstanding colonial order that gave rise to it), the institutions and language of the law ring frighteningly hollow. The United States, as a self-appointed guardian of international order, appears increasingly unable to manage the system’s own contradictions, while its lingering imperial power prevents the law from achieving its own stated goals. Is international law then merely a tool of the powerful, to be discarded when it no longer serves their interests? Not quite. As the history of anticolonial movements
demonstrates, law can be a powerful tool in rallying support for liberation and exposing the hypocrisy of empire. But law cannot do these things on its own. Without a broader movement, a complete effort to wield the law in service of a liberated world, justice will remain a dead letter. International law cannot and will not deliver such justice automatically or on its own; it is a meaningful tool, but only as one aspect of a broader political project. Only a clear vision of liberation can guide the law toward such an end. ■
By Ian Williams
(L‐r) Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R‐MN), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R‐NY), and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R‐LA) call on the Senate to take up the Israel Security Assistance Support Act during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on May 16, 2024, in Washington, DC. In response to President Joe Biden's pause in shipment of some weapons to deter Israel from launching a full‐scale ground operation in the Gaza city of Rafah, the legislation would freeze the budgets for the U.S. Defense Secretary, Secretary of State and National Security Council if the weapons are not delivered.
MEDIEVAL MAPS always showed Jerusalem as the center of the world. Theology apart, they were in a sense, anticipating Palestine’s position at the center of gravity in the United Nations universe. Without prejudice to Kashmir, Myanmar, Western Sahara and the Congo, for example, no other issue poses such knotty problems to the world community and rule of law, since it encapsulates a core issue: Does international law have meaning or relevance?
U.S. officials have threatened the International Criminal Court (ICC) with sanctions, countenanced action against its officials and looked on with a mild moue of distress as the Israeli Occupation Forces shoot U.N. officials and U.S. citizens engaged in relief work while the White House draws innumerable lines in the sand for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that he promptly erases with tanks, bulldozers and gunships. “Self-defense” just does not cut the mustard any more for apologists, not least with the latest master stroke of the ICC announcing Myanmar indictments. Can U.S. pontificators masticate a sandwich that has
U.N. correspondent Ian Williams is the author of U.N.told: The Real Story of the United Nations in Peace and War (available from Middle East Books and More).
Vladimir Putin on one side and Gen. Min Aung Hlaing on the other—with Netanyahu as the filling?
During the Balkan Wars, many young State Department professionals struck the board and cried “no more!” at the shameless double standards. The Clintonian response was simply to avoid all use of the word genocide to avoid any legal obligations by the U.S.
The current generation appears either to be opportunistically complaisant in the face of Netanyahu’s genocide, or worse, true believers in Israel and its claimed right to self-defense. In his last days as president, Barack Obama let through a conscienceeasing resolution against Israel: there is little or no chance of any such significant gesture from the Biden administration in its dying days.
In contrast, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have just forfeited their chances of power with their shameless abasement to indicted war criminal Netanyahu—who had spent his term as Israeli prime minister campaigning against their re-election.
Observers often wonder whether the U.N. could survive without the United States. We have been here before. Time to reverse the query—how can the U.N. survive in any meaningful way with the U.S. as a malignant metastasizing tumor at its core?
In the end the Devil is in the details. In the past, despite repeated purges of U.S. foreign policy personnel, the State Department retained a residual legalism as officials have tried to reconcile the passing politically motivated whims of officials to stay within the law. John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. cut the Gordian knot—he simply asserted that international law did not apply unless the U.S. said so, thus avoiding confusion. In his crusade against the ICC, Bolton’s initiative to punish member states that failed to explicitly offer preemptive amnesty to Amer-
Continued on page 54
BY MONCEF KHANE
The quote, “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth,” attributed to Adolf Hitler’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, encapsulates what modern psychology has proven: that repetitive statements can overpower our critical thinking to the point of accepting falsehoods as self-evident truths. In other words, brainwashing works.
The notion that “Israel has the right to exist” is a case in point. It is a statement so often asserted by mainly Western leaders and media that it appears to be correct. And if it is a “right,” it must be rooted in law.
Thus, when French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly stated during an Oct. 15 cabinet meeting that “Mr. Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a U.N. decision” in reference to the 1947 United Nations General Assembly’s Resolution 181(II), he suggested that Israel’s existence stems from an international legal act, which, therefore, confers on it legitimacy—the so-called “right to exist.” This often-shared misconception is a distortion of historical and legal realities.
To begin, the idea of a state’s inherent “right to exist” is fallacious. Conceptually or legally, no such natural or legal right exists—for Israel or any
Compiled by Janet McMahon
other state—as the establishment of nation-states is not rooted in international law. Nation-states are the outcome of, ultimately, a proclamation by those purporting to represent the newly formed state.
Once declared, the new state and its government may (or may not) be formally recognized by other states and
28
No State Has an Inherent “Right to Exist,” Not Even Israel, Moncef Khane, www.aljazeera.com OV-37
Palestinians in Gaza Are Forced to Make Life-or-Death Decisions Following Israeli Evacuation Orders. There Is No Right Choice., Tareq S. Hajjaj, mondoweiss.net OV-39
Israel’s UNRWA Ban Is a Spectacular Own Goal, Christopher Gunness, www.aljazeera.com OV-40
Biden (Maybe) Wants Israel To Stop Using U.S. Bulldozers For Ethnic Cleansing, Belén Fernández, www.aljazeera.com OV-41
Muslim Charities Face Discrimination as Palestinians Are Desperate for Aid, Thor Benson, www.aljazeera.com OV-42
Foreign Airlines Threaten Complete Flight Suspension to Israel Without Law Change Over War Risks, Hadar Kane, Haaretz OV-44
governments. The new state thus exists because of a political fact and not a legal act—that is, not because it has a “right” to exist.
Whereas the “constitutive” legal theory deems a state to exist only if it is recognized by other states, the “declaratory” theory deems a state to exist even in the absence of diplomatic
Israel and the U.S. Are Interfering in Lebanese Politics to Oust Hezbollah— Here’s Why It Won’t Work, Qassam Muaddi, mondoweiss.net OV-44
How a Small Lebanese Town Became a Haven From Israel’s War, Mat Nashed, www.aljazeera.com OV-46
Is Israel Expanding Territorial Control Toward Syria?, Stavroula Pabst, www.responsiblestatecraft.org OV-47
Gitmo Continues to Haunt, Andrew P. Napolitano, www.consortiumnews.com OV-49
“Most Oppressed Muslim Woman In the World” Now Denied Religious Solace, Clive Stafford Smith and Omar Suleiman, www.aljazeera.com OV-50
Pakistan: Slow Motion Train Wreck, Eric S. Margolis, www.ericmargolis.com OV-51
recognition. In practice, however, wide diplomatic recognition remains necessary for a proclaimed state to be able to function as a full-fledged legal and political entity, although the exceptional case of Taiwan appears to contradict this postulate.
In this sense, U.N. Resolution 181(II), “Future Government of Palestine,” did not create the State of Israel. Instead, it proposed a plan to partition British-occupied Palestine into three entities: a “Jewish State,” an “Arab State,” and Jerusalem under a special international regime.
Ahead of the vote, the United States exerted intense pressure on some developing countries as well as France to vote in favor of the resolution. But remarkably, the U.S. itself was also threatened, as President Harry Truman recalled in his memoirs: “I do not think I ever had as much pressure and propaganda aimed at the White House as I had in this instance. The persistence of a few of the extreme Zionist leaders— actuated by political motives and engaging in political threats—disturbed and annoyed me.”
After delaying the vote by a few days to secure the necessary support, the General Assembly adopted the resolution by a narrow margin of two votes on Nov. 29, 1947. The U.N. Partition Plan for Palestine, which it introduced, was never endorsed by the Security Council, and thus never became binding under international law. But even if it had, the Security Council—just like the General Assembly—could not have created Israel because neither has the juridical competence under the U.N. Charter to “create” a state.
Six months after the vote on the Partition Plan, the State of Israel was proclaimed by David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency for Palestine. This political act was the culmination of pre- and post-World War II Jewish migration to Palestine and the ethnic cleansing and a violent land grab campaign by Zionist militias, including the Haganah, the Stern Gang (Lehi) and the Irgun, which Albert Einstein called in a 1948 letter a “terrorist, right-
wing, chauvinist organization.” They all acted in tandem to implement Plan Dalet, which was conceived by the Jewish Agency for Palestine and which Israeli historian Ilan Pappé calls a “blueprint for ethnic cleansing.”
The Partition Plan was rejected by the five Arab states that were members of the U.N. at the time, and other governments, primarily because it was deemed to violate the inalienable rights of Palestinians (of all faiths) to self-determination under Article 55 of the U.N. Charter.
Legally, this view holds true today because the right of self-determination of colonial peoples is a peremptory
norm of customary international law accepted by the international community as a fundamental legal tenet from which no derogation is permitted. It is a foundational legal norm stipulated in Article 1 of the Charter, which defines the objectives of the United Nations.
On the eve of the vote, Iraq’s foreign minister, Fadhel al-Jamali, a signatory of the Charter, declared before the General Assembly: “Partition imposed against the will of the majority of the people will jeopardize peace and harmony in the Middle East. Not only the uprising of the Arabs of Palestine is to be expected, but the masses in the Arab world cannot be restrained. The ArabJewish relationship in the Arab world will greatly deteriorate. There are more Jews in the Arab world outside of Palestine than there are in Palestine.…In short, whoever thinks that the partition of Palestine will settle the problem of Palestine is mistaken. Partition will create a dozen new problems dangerous to peace and international relations. It is much better to let Palestine alone than to attempt to enforce a solution which will bear bitter fruit.”
Al-Jamali’s words were prescient. Although Israel wasn’t established by the U.N. as Macron believes, the international community is still reeling from a historical injustice done to Palestinians of all faiths, including Jewish Palestinians. Before and after the Holocaust, Zionists had promised European and North American Jewish settlers a safe haven in Palestine, but that promise proved empty.
Since its establishment, the State of Israel has been hypermilitarized and in a constant state of warfare. It will have no prospects for peace unless and until its occupation of Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese territory ends, its borders are delineated and its quest for a biblical “Greater Israel” be formally abandoned. Repeating propaganda does not nullify international law, according to which no state has an inherent “right” to exist, but peoples have an inalienable right to self-determination. An occupying power has no inherent right of self-defense against the people it subju-
gates, but the people under occupation have an inherent right of self-defense against their occupiers, as the International Court of Justice has ruled.
The powers that could make a difference, chief among them the U.S., seem incapable or unwilling to right a historical wrong and look at these tenets of international law clear-eyed.
Even in the face of an ongoing genocide that they enable, both militarily and diplomatically, they are incapable or unwilling to remove their political blinders and even listen to their own public opinions. Worse, they now prefer to risk a regional conflagration and even a nuclear strike by a genocidal Israeli regime. Hoping it will never come to that is not a cogent strategy.
Moncef Khane is a former official of the United Nations with a career spanning over 30 years in human rights, political affairs, peacekeeping and special political missions, the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council, and in the Executive Office of SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan. This article was first posted at <www.aljazeera.com>, Nov. 5, 2024. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. Copyright © 2024 Al Jazeera Media Network. Reprinted with permission.
BY TAREQ S. HAJJAJ
On Saturday, Nov. 23, the Israeli army sent evacuation orders to Al-Shujai’yya and Al-Zaytoon neighborhoods, east of Gaza City, two
of the most populated areas in Gaza City.
Abdulrahman Eliwa, 11, ran in a hurry and shook toward his mother, Dina, 28, a mother of five kids. He was holding the phone and answered a call from the Israeli army ordering them to leave to the south. His mother screamed after understanding the message. This was not the first time she had received a message like this. Dina and her family had been displaced several times during the Israeli invasion of Gaza, but she knew that, to this point, that attack following each warning had been more brutal than the last.
“I can’t risk staying with my kids, who scream with every bomb and hardly sleep, and I do not have anywhere to go,” Dina told Mondoweiss. “The Israelis keep killing people and pushing them to leave; they want our land and will kill us if we stay without a second thought.”
After three days of the warnings, the Israeli army had still not yet invaded the area. This is not uncommon. It happens every time Israel sends an evacuation warning to a location; only the army will choose the moment to start its attack. In the meantime, families need to decide what to do.
Dina returned to her house in the Zaytoon neighborhood after three days. Some other families returned as well, but they lived in fear. They returned because they could not bear their displaced conditions under the rain and cold, knowing that their homes were just a few kilometers away. But of course, it is not an easy decision to stay as well. Based on the previous Israeli invasions, those who stayed knew they might be forced to leave under Israeli fire. And even if they weren’t, they would face challenging conditions to survive from the Israeli siege of the north, which is preventing food and water from entering the area, to detention and death once Israel begins targeting everything that moves on the ground.
Given this, many people followed the army’s orders and left the Shujai’yya and Zaytoon neighborhoods.
They fled to a nearby school, but like many times before, the Israeli military soon made that supposed safe space its next target.
On Tuesday, Nov. 26, the Israeli army bombed the Al-Hurriya School in the Zaytoon area. Fourteen of the people who were killed arrived in local hospitals, and at least four more were not found; in other words, their bodies were completely destroyed.
Inside the Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza City the spokesman for the Civil Defense, Mahmoud Basal, stands surrounded by bodies and limbs gathered on pieces of cloth and sheets. In a video obtained by Mondoweiss, Basal described the scene of the attack. “The Israeli occupation continues its bombing operations until this moment, and this massacre in the Al-Hurriya School, which houses thousands of displaced people, is being targeted. What this raid left behind is several martyrs, some of whom arrived beheaded and others who, unfortunately, are difficult to identify,” he explained.
“There are a number of martyrs whose fate is unknown until this moment, and they cannot be identified because their bodies are completely torn apart.”
He confirmed that the initial toll is 14 martyrs, some of whom arrived at the Arab Baptist Hospital, and there are still a number in the school under the rubble. He says that rescue crews are having difficulty accessing the area due to the danger of unexploded ordnance.
Basal also commented on Israel’s practice of targeting shelters, displacement camps and schools. “This is the policy that the Israeli occupation has been following since the beginning of the war until this moment,” he said.
Inside the hospital, the families of the victims, all of whom were displaced and in the school, were gathering. One after the other, women cannot suppress their sobs and screams of pain and grief over the loss of their loved ones.
In the middle of the hospital, family members wander here and there looking for their loved ones amid piles of
bodies and limbs on the ground, hoping to recognize them.
A woman sitting in front of the bodies screams and says, “I am the mother of a martyr and the sister of a martyr. I lost more than half of my family in the bombing and displacement. They are killing us openly and in front of the world. How long will this death continue in front of the whole world? All we can say is to ask our Lord to take revenge on us from Israel and America and everyone who thinks they have a conscience and does not stop these massacres against us.
“We left our homes to them when they threatened to kill us if we stayed, and we came to the schools to save our lives. They bombed the schools on us. What do they want? What do we do, and where do we go? We have no choice, and the army is killing us without mercy and does not hesitate to kill hundreds of civilians at once.”
The woman, who did not share her name, looks at the bodies. Behind them are women comforting her and comforting each other, collectively crying while the woman recalls what she saw in the school.
“Those we saw and talked to every day, we saw them after the massacre cut into pieces, limbs and parts and without heads. Our children see these scenes every day. We live with them every moment and imagine that what happened to the martyrs might happen to us. What is our fault for living such a life?”
Tareq S. Hajjaj is the Mondoweiss Gaza correspondent, and a member of the Palestinian Writers Union. He has reported for Elbadi, Middle East Eye and Al Monitor. Follow him on Twitter at @Tareqshajjaj. This article was first posted at <https://mondoweiss.net>, Nov. 29, 2024. Copyright© 2024 Mondoweiss. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
BY CHRISTOPHER GUNNESS
It has been almost a month since the Israeli Knesset voted to bar UNRWA from operating in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory of Gaza and the West Bank. The Israeli authorities have moved forward with its implementation, despite widespread condemnation from the international community and some of Israel’s allies.
The United Nations itself has denounced the move, saying it will have “devastating consequences” as it is the main agency delivering aid to Gaza. While the UNRWA ban will undoubtedly amplify the suffering of Palestinians, it is also a spectacular own goal for Israel.
That is because it will elevate the two and a half million Palestine refugees in Gaza and the West Bank to a new level of international protection under the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), whose preferred solution for protracted refugee situations is voluntary repatriation: the right of return.
This is precisely the opposite of what the Knesset in general, and Israel’s farright cabinet in particular, were hoping to achieve when they set out to destroy UNRWA. Intoxicated with their own power and high on their perceived military victory in Gaza, they were laboring under the misinformed delusion that if they stopped UNRWA from operating, the refugees it serves could be removed from the peace process; their history, identity, rights and historical claims air-brushed out of the discourse.
But Israel is about to learn that 6.8 million people—the number registered with UNRWA—cannot be vaporized so easily, despite political support in Washington and Israeli military might.
Under Article 1D of the 1951 Refugee Convention, once these refugees stop receiving services from UNRWA, they become legally entitled to protection under the Convention, as well as the protection extended by UNHCR. The second sentence of the article makes this explicit. “When such protection or assistance has ceased for any reason, without the position of such persons being definitively settled in accordance
with the relevant resolutions adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, these persons shall ipso facto be entitled to the benefits of this Convention.”
In other words, if the Knesset legislation is implemented and UNRWA is prevented from delivering services, Palestinian refugees—in the absence of a just and lasting solution, which is further away than ever—will then fall under the Refugee Convention and the mandate of UNHCR.
This is confirmed in guidelines issued by UNHCR in 2017, paragraph 29 of which emphasizes that “when it is established that UNRWA’s protection or assistance has ceased […] the Palestinian refugee is automatically or ‘ipso facto’ entitled to the benefits of the 1951 Convention.”
Not only is this the case for Palestinian refugees today, future generations who register with UNRWA in the absence of a resolution of their refugee status will also fall under the higher global protection mandate offered by the Refugee Convention. Crucially, under UNHCR guidelines, refugees are registered through the male and female lines. UNRWA restricts this to the male line only, so under UNHCR the number of Palestine refugees will likely grow more rapidly than it does under UNRWA.
In the meantime, UNRWA, to the best of its abilities, will continue to update its refugee registration records. Heroically, the agency removed thousands of hard copies of key registration documents dating back to 1948 from its Gaza headquarters during the current fighting, and also from the West Bank to Amman. Thanks to the dedication of UNRWA staff, the agency’s registration database is now fully digitized and stored in safe cyberspaces around the world.
The preservation of this backbone of refugee culture and identity will be a source of collective comfort to a scattered people, facing what the U.N. rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, describes as “colonial erasure.” Not least because it is now impossible for Israel
to destroy this precious database, which will assume a pivotal significance if refugees decide to claim their right of return, restitution and compensation from Israel, to which they are entitled under international law as affirmed by U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.
Even if this isn’t feasible immediately, UNRWA’s now fully digitized database is keeping an ongoing account.
Looking to the future, it is an abrogation of humanitarian leadership to say, as the U.N. secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, has done, that absent UNRWA it falls exclusively to the occupying power, Israel, to deliver services to Palestinian refugees.
This is particularly egregious at a time when that power is engaged in what the International Court of Justice views as a plausible genocide and its prime minister and defense minister face arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and war crimes, including using starvation as a weapon of war, persecution and other inhumane acts.
It is particularly sad to see Mr. Guterres invoking the responsibilities of the occupying power given that, before he became secretary-general, he served for 10 years as the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Refugees and would be fully aware of the protections enshrined under Article 1D of the 1951 Convention.
Moreover, it would be helpful to see some robust public advocacy on this issue from the U.N.’s current High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, who prior to this post served as UNRWA’s deputy commissioner-general and then commissioner-general. Mr. Grandi’s stalwart commitment to the cause of Palestine refugees is a matter of public record.
At this crucial moment, the senior U.N. leadership must robustly reassure Palestinians, for whom the U.N. holds historic responsibility, that their rights will be protected and that they will have equal status in terms of their right
of return, along with tens of millions across the world, many of whom are also intergenerational refugees.
With UNRWA under existential threat and the refugees it serves facing “colonial erasure,” I call on the U.N. General Assembly, which is responsible for UNRWA’s mandate, to refer the issue to the Security Council as a matter of urgency.
I also exhort Mr. Guterres to exercise his powers under Article 99 of the U.N. Charter and demand that the Security Council acts to protect UNRWA and stand by its mandated responsibility to maintain international peace and security.
If Israel succeeds in doing away with UNRWA, this would undoubtedly be a painful loss for the Palestinians. But it will not erase the Palestinian refugee issue. The end of UNRWA will actually open an even stronger chapter for the Palestinian right of return, as their protection moves from a relatively small regional U.N. entity to a global organization that has long championed the right of return in “protracted refugee situations.”
Christopher Gunness is the director of the Myanmar Accountability Project. He previously served as spokesperson for the U.N. peace-keeping force in the Balkans and the chief spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. This article was first posted at <www.aljazeera.com>, Nov. 26, 2024. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. Copyright © 2024 Al Jazeera Media Network. Reprinted with permission.
BY BELÉN FERNÁNDEZ
On Sunday, Israeli media reported a freeze in certain bulldozer shipments from the United States to Israel. The prominent English-language website Ynet News, for example, went with the sensational headline: “D9 bulldozer shipment stalled by U.S. embargo, leaving Israeli soldiers exposed.” To be sure, there is nothing more tragic than “exposed” soldiers belonging to a genocidal army.
According to the article, 134 bulldozers “ordered and paid for” by the Israeli military are currently “awaiting export approval from the U.S. State Department” but their shipment has been stymied by internal U.S. opposition and an apparent decision by President Joe Biden’s administration to freeze deliveries “for several months.” The D9 model is manufactured by the U.S. firm Caterpillar Inc.
Some observers have taken this move to mean that the Bidenites are registering their displeasure with the Israeli war crime of ethnic cleansing. But if you’re going to be against ethnic cleansing, why not go all the way and be against genocide too?
Indeed, a shortage of new bulldozers will have precisely zero bearing on Israel’s ability to continue waging genocide in Gaza, where officially more than 43,000 Palestinians have been slaughtered over the past 13 months but the real death toll is undoubtedly many times higher.
Ynet noted that the machines are used “primarily for flattening structures in the Gaza Strip” but they are “also needed” in southern Lebanon, where Israel’s latest terrorist operations have also killed thousands. The Israeli army’s existing arsenal of D9 dozers is reportedly in need of maintenance, hence the replacement order—the moratorium on delivery of which “will likely delay another significant operation by [Israel’s military] that remains incomplete: establishing a one-kilometer-wide [0.6mile-wide] buffer zone between the Gaza Strip [and Israel] involving the leveling of hundreds of Palestinian buildings and agricultural lands.”
Not only is there the troubling issue of the “exposed” soldiers, then; there is also the annoying interruption to Israel’s scorched-earth plan.
In addition to “leveling” civilian infrastructure and wiping out agriculture, bulldozers have served other handy purposes in Gaza. There was that time in September, for instance, that the Palestinian Center for Human Rights documented the shooting by Israeli soldiers of 17-year-old Majed Fida Abu Zina, a resident of Gaza’s Far’a refugee camp, who was “left to bleed for approximately an hour and a half,” after which the Israeli army “brought in a bulldozer and began desecrating the boy’s body, tearing open his abdomen and exposing his internal organs before dragging and throwing him on al-Far’a hill.”
Incidentally, Israel’s bulldozing of human beings has not been restricted to Palestinians. In 2003, 23-year-old American peace activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a 36-ton Caterpillar bulldozer driven by an Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, where she was protesting against Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes. Call it Caterpillateral damage.
And Rafah, as it so happens, was central to the story the last time the Biden administration made noises about suspending shipments of lethal materials to Israel. In May, Biden announced he would no longer be supplying offensive weapons to the Israeli army in the event of an all-out assault on the southern Gaza city, reasoning that “civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs.”
Well, yeah—that’s how genocide works. And suspending a couple of bomb shipments here and there ultimately does absolutely nothing to put a dent in mass killings. Ditto for denying the Israelis their D9 dozer replacements. These extremely isolated cases of moratoria on weapons transfers impact Israeli military behavior even less, given that they are accompanied by a continuous flood of billions upon billions of dollars in U.S. military aid to Israel and other free-flowing weaponry.
Recall that in April, just weeks before
Biden issued his warning re: Rafah, the U.S. Congress OK’d no less than $26 billion in supplemental wartime aid to Israel—which was authorized on top of all of the billions of dollars Israel already receives annually from its trusty American partner in crime.
And as Al Jazeera reported in August, the Biden administration had just “approved sending $20 billion worth of arms to Israel, even as the U.S. publicly calls for restraint in the war on Gaza.”
Of course, the mixed messaging is fully exploited by Israel’s psychopathic government, headed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, which invokes every perceived slight by the fundamentally obsequious U.S. as alleged evidence that even Israel’s best friends are somehow now anti-Israel.
As per the Ynet dispatch, the temporary freeze in D9 bulldozer shipments is simply another case of Israel getting the “cold shoulder…from Washington”—a state of affairs that “could pose a risk to [Israeli] soldiers” in both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
And yet the “cold shoulder” has not and will not prevent Israel from literally and metaphorically bulldozing Gaza to death while raining made-in-the-USA apocalyptic destruction from the sky.
Forget the Israeli soldiers left “exposed” by the reported U.S. freeze on bulldozer shipments. The population of Gaza is fully exposed to genocide—and international opposition to this most sinister reality is being bulldozed as we speak.
Belén Fernández is the author of Exile: Rejecting America and Finding the World (OR Books, 2019), Martyrs Never Die: Travels through South Lebanon (Warscapes, 2016), and The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work (Verso, 2011). She is a contributing editor at Jacobin Magazine, and has written for The New York Times, the London Review of Books blog, Current Affairs and Middle East Eye, among numerous other publications. This article was first posted at <www.aljazeera.com>, Nov. 12, 2024. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. Copyright © 2024 Al Jazeera Media Network. Reprinted with permission.
BY THOR BENSON
As the people of Gaza face famine and the continued bombing of their homes by Israel, numerous Muslim charities and organizations are desperately trying to help keep Palestinians alive and help those in need.
However, many of these organizations have found over the past year that the banks they rely upon to help get this aid to the people of Gaza do not want to work with charities that are run by Muslims—especially if they are focused on Gaza. This has become referred to as “Muslim while banking.”
“We used to joke when we started our company that we had 99 problems and payments wasn’t one of them, and that quickly changed,” says Amany Killawi, co-founder of LaunchGood, a crowdfunding platform for Muslims. “I do feel there’s additional scrutiny on Muslim organizations.”
LaunchGood is one of many organizations that are trying to help people from Gaza who have found their payment accounts closed for no discernible reason over the past year. Killawi says she thinks these banks are afraid of receiving bad publicity for working with Muslim organizations while the highly contentious debate over the future of Israel and Palestine goes on.
“You have two problems in our space: Most banks are very risk-averse. They don’t want to support humanitarian work, even though it is all registered charities in good standing that have gone through vetting,” Killawi says. “The other issue you have is that
there’s been a politicization of humanitarian aid.”
Killawi says pro-Israel actors will write “hit pieces” in the media about various Muslim organizations that are sending aid to Gaza, and this can cause banks to not want to work with them even if they’ve ultimately done nothing wrong. These charities are sometimes wrongly accused of aiding armed groups, and those in the financial sector may not bother to investigate such claims.
“I don’t think it’s conflict with U.S. law, because everything is legal. There’s nothing that violates their terms of use. My sense is that it’s adverse media,” Killawi says. “…Israel-Palestine is a touchy subject, to say the least. You have your average analyst out of New York who’s maybe never met a Muslim or worked with [a Muslim] organization see that and decide to pull out.”
LaunchGood has not only experienced account closures related to financial services but other services as well. Killawi says Wise, which helps LaunchGood pay contractors, has kicked it off the platform. Cledara, a subscription service that helps LaunchGood keep track of its software, also unexpectedly closed its account.
Cledara did not respond to a request for comment.
Wise told Al Jazeera that it provides its services to customers “regardless of their personal characteristics, including their religious identity” and that they are “also subject to strict rules governing how we handle existing customer accounts.”
“For legal and privacy obligations, we’re unable to provide details on individual cases, but we never take the decision to deactivate an account lightly, and this is always the result of a thorough review by our team,” a spokesperson said.
“Sometimes we are victims of our own success. A charity or platform or NGO will do really well, and once your account reaches a certain level, it may be reviewed,” Killawi says. “You
might be assigned a new account manager. That’s my suspicion, because we’ve continued to grow. We actually don’t know. How does someone at the bank come across LaunchGood and decide, ‘We don’t want anything to do with this’? Is there a file on us somewhere?”
Ilhan Omar, a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, was part of a group of lawmakers who requested information in February from major banks regarding why Muslim Americans are being discriminated against. They said these account closures can have “devastating impacts on consumers.”
“The practice of ‘de-risking’ by financial institutions has had a disproportionate impact on Muslim and immigrant-owned businesses, cutting off access to essential banking services,” Omar told Al Jazeera. “This discriminatory behavior is unacceptable.”
What is clear is that these account closures are not isolated incidents but part of a larger trend. Youssef Chouhoud, an assistant professor of political science at Christopher Newport University and a fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, says banks have been closing the accounts of Muslim-run nonprofit organizations at a “suspiciously high rate” for years.
Things have only gotten worse as the conflict in Gaza has escalated and several humanitarian organizations in the U.S. and Europe that are trying to provide food to residents of Gaza have had their bank accounts closed and transactions frozen since the start of the current conflict, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing at least 30 incidents from Oct. 7 through late May.
“American Muslims are significantly more likely than the general public to report challenges while banking, whether it be at the point of opening an account, completing a
transaction or maintaining an account in good standing,” Chouhoud says. “Around one in four Muslims in our survey reported such obstacles when dealing with financial institutions, which is twice the rate among the general public.” The survey was conducted before the start of the war in Gaza.
Chouhoud says this problem is “concerning on its face,” and it appears to represent widespread discriminatory practices. He says Muslim business owners and nonprofit executives are roughly twice as likely to be told by banking institutions that an international transaction they attempted was restricted, they are sending or receiving money from an “unknown person,” or that a “keyword in their transaction” was flagged.
“As we note in our report, it is rather remarkable that one in three Muslims aged 30 to 49 has experienced difficulties when dealing with financial institutions. This statistic is especially alarming as this is the age cohort that is most likely to start businesses and purchase homes, but they are being prevented from fully participating in the American economy,” Chouhoud says.
Someone who is quite familiar with the practice of banks closing people’s accounts as part of this “de-risking” practice is Anas Altikriti. He is a British Iraqi who is the CEO and founder of The Cordoba Foundation. Altikriti had been a member of HSBC for 29 years when his account and the accounts of his immediate family were abruptly closed in 2014. The bank notified him that there was no opportunity to appeal this decision and not to inquire about it.
“This was out of the blue. There was no issue. There was no problem,” Altikriti tells Al Jazeera.
Altikriti learned through the help of Radio 4 journalist Peter Oborne that The Cordoba Foundation had inexplicably been labeled a terrorist organization by a risk analysis company called World-Check, which led to the account closures.
“I was dumbfounded. I said this is beyond belief,” Altikriti says. “Since then, I’ve had 18 accounts closed. It’s become sort of a merry-go-round. You realize that without a bank account, in this day and age, you simply cannot operate. You can’t get on a bus. You can’t do the very simplest of things.”
Solving this problem won’t be easy, and it’s unclear how the election of President-elect Donald Trump will affect the landscape, considering he is a major supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and has promised to deport all immigrants who support Hamas and expel students who are “anti-Semitic.”
That said, Chouhoud and others in the Muslim community remain determined to increase awareness of this problem and do what they can to address it.
“The letter that Sen. Elizabeth Warren and her colleagues in Congress wrote to the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase and Citibank was certainly encouraging. There have also been a number of good faith meetings with officials in the White House tasked with rectifying the differential treatment Muslims, Black Americans and recent immigrants face when banking,” Chouhoud says. “The outcome of this year’s election—not just for president, but in the House and Senate—will have a tremendous impact on how far these nascent efforts for more equitable treatment will go.”
Citibank and JPMorgan Chase both declined a request for comment.
Killawi says LaunchGood is working to become its own payment processor with a company called PayGood, and it’s trying to spread the word about problems with “banking while Muslim.” It hopes these efforts will help reverse the trend of Muslims being unable to maintain access to financial institutions.
This article was first posted at <www.al jazeera.com>, Nov. 29, 2024. Copyright © 2024 Al Jazeera Media Network. Reprinted with permission.
BY HADAR KANE
Fifteen foreign airlines are threatening to halt flights to Israel unless a law mandating compensation for cancelled flights is amended, arguing that the current security situation makes operations too risky and costly.
The airlines have formally requested amendments to the 2012 Aviation Services Law in a position paper submitted to the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee.
Major carriers, including Delta Air Lines, British Airways, Iberia, EasyJet and Wizz Air are reportedly behind the demand.
Their attorney, Shirly Katzir, told the committee’s legal adviser that without changes to the law, foreign airlines would face heavy financial risks, leaving them little incentive to resume flights to Israel under current conditions.
Since the Gaza war began, foreign airlines have regularly canceled flights to Israel with minimal warning, sometimes suspending operations for brief or extended periods.
Currently, about 30 airlines are not flying to Israel, including some major carriers. For instance, Air France has suspended flights through Nov. 12, Lufthansa through Nov. 30 and LOT Polish Airlines until Nov. 27.
Meanwhile, American Airlines has extended its suspension until September 2025, while British Airways, Ryanair, Delta Air Lines and EasyJet do not plan to resume Israeli flights before March 2025.
Under Israel’s Aviation Services Law, airlines must compensate passengers for cancellations made less than 14 days before departure, with payments reaching 1,100-1,500 shekels (some $260-$400) per passenger.
However, airlines are claiming force majeure due to wartime conditions. In recent cases, Israeli courts have not consistently ruled in airlines’ favor; in August 2024, the Tel Aviv Small Claims Court ordered Air Canada to pay 30,000 shekels to a family that was stranded for six days.
A temporary order limits passenger compensation for cancellations during wartime but limits it to between Oct. 8 and Nov. 30, 2023.
The airlines wrote, “We believe that the amendments...do not provide an adequate response to the need for dealing with the implications of the current state of emergency on the aviation industry in Israel.”
The companies emphasized that temporary legislation is urgently needed to encourage foreign carriers to resume flights to Israel during the war, adding that the proposed changes are essential for making a return to operations feasible.
This article was first published by Haaretz, Nov. 5, 2024. Copyright © 2024 Haaretz. Reprinted with permission.
BY QASSAM MUADDI
In his first speech as secretary-general, the new leader of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, said that the U.S.
ambassador to Lebanon had been meeting leaders of Lebanese political parties opposed to Hezbollah. According to Qassem, the ambassador was trying to convince them that Hezbollah’s collapse in the face of Israel’s offensive was imminent, urging the Lebanese parties to oppose Hezbollah.
“You will never see our defeat,” Qassem said, addressing the ambassador, Lisa A. Johnson, directly and ignoring the Lebanese parties in question.
Two weeks earlier, a group of antiHezbollah parties gathered in the town of Maarab in Mount Lebanon, the headquarters of the Lebanese Forces— a far-right Christian party headed by its chairman, Samir Geagea. The parties in attendance issued a joint statement that indirectly blamed Iran for pushing Lebanon into a war it had no stake in, hijacking the decision of peace and war in Lebanon, and recruiting Lebanese citizens and using them as soldiers and “human shields.” The latter phrase was a veiled reference to Hezbollah, its social support base, and the people of southern Lebanon in general. The parties in Maarab also called for the election of a new president to the country.
Heading the meeting was Samir Geagea, a Maronite Christian known for his brutal suppression of Palestinian and Lebanese adversaries, including Christian rivals, during the Lebanese Civil War that took place between 1975 and 1989. He is also known for his collaboration with Israeli occupation forces in Lebanon after 1982 and for having spent 12 years in a Syrian prison on charges of collaboration with Israel.
Geagea has also been openly voicing his will to run for president of Lebanon, which under the Lebanese constitution must be held by a Christian Maronite. The president’s chair has been vacant for two years now, as the opposing political forces have failed to agree on a candidate. The president in Lebanon is elected by the parliament and thus needs a degree of consensus between represented parties, which has been absent since the latest president, Michel Aoun, finished his term in October 2022.
Aoun was an ally of Hezbollah and represented an important trend of Christian support for the resistance group in Lebanese politics since 2008. During his presidency, Hezbollah’s adversaries in Lebanon, like Geagea, continued to accuse the resistance group of taking over the state, especially during the height of the Syrian civil war, in which Hezbollah was actively involved in defending the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. After Aoun’s presidency, several political parties were unwilling to accept a president who would be close to Hezbollah and its allies. This presidential vacancy has extended to the current day.
When Israel began its offensive on Lebanon with the exploding pager and electronics attacks in mid-September, some Lebanese politicians seemed to have sensed that the influential role of Hezbollah in Lebanese politics was approaching its end. Calls to elect a new president increased, as the U.S. envoy, Amos Hochstein, brought his plan for a cease-fire.
Hochstein’s proposal included the retreat of Hezbollah’s fighting units north of the Litani River, essentially clearing Hezbollah’s stronghold in the south, and deploying more Lebanese army forces along the provisional border between Israel and Lebanon.
Hochstein’s plan, however, included another component—he called for electing a new president for Lebanon, even considering it a priority before a cease-fire with Israel.
The president in Lebanon is also the commander-in-chief of the army, which is why many army chiefs of staff were elected to the presidency in the past. Historically, the president’s relationship with the army’s command influenced the role played by the armed forces, and this relationship has been especially crucial in the case of Hezbollah.
In the last years of Hezbollah’s guerrilla campaign against the Israeli occupa-
tion of southern Lebanon, between 1998 and 2000, the Lebanese army played a role in covering safe routes for Hezbollah’s fighters in and out of the occupied area and in holding key positions. This support by the army to Hezbollah’s resistance was the result of the direction and influence of the country’s president, Emile Lahoud, who had served as chief of staff of the army a few years earlier and refused to obey orders to clash with and disarm Hezbollah’s fighters.
The position of the Lebanese president, his influence on the army’s performance, and his relationship with the resistance have always been at the heart of Israeli and U.S. attempts to intervene in Lebanese politics. It is not the first time that the U.S. and Israel have pressured for the election of a new Lebanese president as it is under Israeli attack. The presidency ploy is a worn U.S. tool for attempting to change Lebanon’s political landscape and to make it more Israel-friendly.
When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and occupied its capital, Beirut, after the withdrawal of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Lebanese parliament met to elect a new president—quite literally, under the watchful eye of Israeli tanks. The parliament building was non-functional, and the Lebanese representatives had to meet with an incomplete quorum in the building of the military school to elect Bashir Gemayel as president.
Gemayel was the leader of the farright anti-Palestinian Phalange party, or Kataeb. The Phalangists had helped Israel plan the invasion of Lebanon and fought on Israel’s side in the 1982 war. Gemayel had traveled to Israel several times to meet with Israeli leaders and committed to signing a peace treaty with Israel as soon as he became president.
Gemayel was the strongman of the anti-Palestinian Lebanese right, and he was the only leader with enough support and force to carry out Israel’s strategy in Lebanon. His assassination 22 days after his election and before he was sworn in was one of the most devastating blows to Israel’s plans to bring
Lebanon under Israeli influence. In revenge for Gemayel’s death, the Phalangist militias entered the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla in the periphery of Beirut under Israeli cover. There, they committed the now infamous Sabra and Shatilla Massacre, slaughtering between 2,000 and 3,500 Palestinian refugees.
Following the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1989, the parties who had fought against each other entered into a power-sharing arrangement. Meanwhile, the nascent Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah—which started as an offshoot of the Shi’i Amal militia during an episode of violence called the War of the Camps— increased its popularity and political influence. This influence grew exponentially after Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese south, which marked the first victory of an Arab resistance force against Israeli occupation. By the beginning of the 2000s, Hezbollah had become a political party that ran for elections, secured parliamentary representation, and forged alliances with other Lebanese forces. Political divisions in Lebanon began to appear once again on both sides of the question of the resistance, often assimilated by its antagonists to Syrian, and later Iranian, influence in the region.
The identity of Lebanon’s president became a central issue again, especially after the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon, during which Emile Lahoud’s presidency provided strong political support for Hezbollah. Lahoud finished his term the following year amid strong political division. The state of fragmentation in Lebanese politics was so endemic that the president’s chair remained vacant for an entire year. The crisis was partially resolved with the election of the army’s chief of staff, Michael Suleiman, in 2008, who remained neutral.
Forty-two years after the first election of a Lebanese president at the behest of Israel, not much has changed. Lebanon is again under attack, and the resistance continues to be a central point of
division over the future of the country and its position in the broader region. Although Hezbollah insists that its resistance is tied to the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza, both Israel and the U.S. continue to look for ways to neutralize Lebanon through internal divisions and political disagreements.
As Israeli army officials begin to voice their demands to end the war—a war that is hitting a wall in the villages and mountains of southern Lebanon—it seems that Hezbollah’s adversaries continue to bet on Israel’s military capacity to bring about a “day after Hezbollah.” Perhaps more confidently than Israel itself.
Qassam Muaddi is the Palestine staff writer for Mondoweiss. Follow him on Twitter/X at @QassaMMuaddi. This article was first posted at <https://mondoweiss.net>, Nov. 12, 2024. Copyright© 2024 Mondoweiss. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
BY MAT NASHED
Bar Elias, Lebanon—When Israel began carpet-bombing Lebanon in late September, Shifa struggled to console her three young children.
Her eldest, 12-year-old Raneem, was so frightened she couldn’t eat or sleep. She sobbed throughout the night as Israeli warplanes and drones thundered and buzzed over their home, Shifa said, huddled in her black abaya.
Sitting on a plastic chair, she spoke to Al Jazeera with Raneem next to her, while her two other children played behind them.
Leaning forward, Shifa recounted that, on Sept. 25, Israel bombed the building across from their house in Ali el-Nahri, a village in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, about 35 km. (25 miles) from
the capital, Beirut.
The blast shattered the glass in Shifa’s apartment and blew the doors off their hinges.
Her family survived, but her neighbors and relatives weren’t as lucky.
“We knew the martyrs: We lost my uncle and his family, our neighbors and the children of my siblings,” Shifa, 40, told Al Jazeera.
“We all wanted to check [if anyone we knew survived] from our neighbors and relatives, but [my husband] and I decided to take the children and flee right away,” she told Al Jazeera.
Shifa, her husband Bilal, and their three children arrived at Bar Elias “by coincidence” after passing through several villages.
According to Shifa, they simply followed hundreds of displaced people who were fleeing in the direction of the Bekaa Valley’s largest Sunni Muslim town.
There, they found shelters opening and inhabitants donating personal belongings to newcomers.
The generosity wasn’t surprising, Bar Elias has a history of welcoming refugees.
According to the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 31,000 to 45,000 Syrian refugees have settled in Bar Elias after fleeing the civil war in their country, which erupted in 2011 after the Syrian government repressed a popular uprising.
In contrast, the town’s Lebanese population is between 60,000 to 70,000.
Now, thousands of people from Lebanon’s Shi’i heartlands—regions where the Hezbollah group draws most of its support—have found safety and support in Bar Elias.
Despite a cease-fire that came into effect on Wednesday morning, tens— even hundreds—of thousands of civilians may not be able to return home due to the deliberate destruction of their villages and way of life.
This means Bar Elias may be a new home for months—or years—until the displaced can return to their lands and rebuild their lives.
Shifa’s family settled in the al-Amin private school, which was converted into a shelter shortly after Israel escalated its war on Lebanon.
“Helping people is our ethical, humanitarian and religious duty,” head teacher Bilal Mohamad Araji told Al Jazeera in his office.
Bar Elias, he said, is hosting about 5,850 newly displaced people, a figure he got from the local municipality. Of this number, about 190 are sheltering at his school.
Shifa and her family say they are comfortable here and treated well.
Ali,* a short bald man with grey stubble, is also sheltering in al-Amin and speaks highly about how welcoming people in Bar Elias and at the al-Amin school are.
The 65-year-old first fled with his wife from the southern governorate of Nabatieh in September.
He told Al Jazeera he used to have a big house and a steady job as a car salesman.
But when the war escalated, he sought refuge with his aunt, who lived in a nearby village. He, his wife and his aunt’s family all fled again three days later.
“I heard [from neighbors] that two or three days after we fled, my aunt’s house was bombed,” he said.
The extended family first headed to Chtoura, a transport hub in the Bekaa Valley, hoping to find help. There, Ali heard Bar Elias was accepting displaced families.
Other villages were less welcoming, out of fear of being attacked by Israel for “hosting a Hezbollah operative,” a justification Israel has used after bombing homes all over Lebanon.
Araji doesn’t understand the panic. “The danger is everywhere, not just in Bar Elias. [Israel] is our enemy. Who knows [where] they will invade or hit next? Nobody knows,” he told Al Jazeera.
While Bar Elias has generously opened its arms to those in need, it does not
have the resources to tend to everyone indefinitely.
The lack of support from the government—which is reeling from an acute economic crisis—and aid groups leads to petty disputes between displaced families, according to Zeinab Dirani, a local aid worker with Female, a grassroots feminist organization in Lebanon.
She added that some displaced families are more socially insulated than others, leading to friction and fights.
“Those who used to live in the south [may be] different from those [who came] from the north. There are differences in the way they may handle family issues…and some don’t allow their children to meet and see new people,” explained Dirani.
Many displaced families are now celebrating news of a cease-fire and the potential end to the war on their country, said Araji.
He told Al Jazeera that a few families have already left his school to return to their villages, and he expects more to leave in the coming days.
“Thank God, people here are so happy right now,” he said.
“Everyone will now be able to return to their homes, God willing.”
*Ali’s name was changed due to a request for anonymity.
This article was first posted at <www.al jazeera.com>, Nov. 27, 2024. Copyright © 2024 Al Jazeera Media Network. Reprinted with permission.
BY STAVROULA PABST
Beyond Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, Israel now appears to have set its sights as well on the festering conflict with Syria, constructing developments in a critical buffer
zone between the two countries in violation of a previous cease-fire agreement and sparking fears of further conflict escalation in the region.
Last week, the Associated Press published aerial footage of Israel building along the Alpha Line, which delineates a demilitarized zone or area of separation between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Images taken on Nov. 5 by Planet Labs PBC for AP showed about 4.6 miles of construction by Israeli forces along the line.
“In recent months, [the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force] UNDOF has observed some construction activity being carried out by the IDF along the cease-fire line,” a U.N. peacekeeping spokesperson told RS. “The IDF construction of ditches and berms appears to prevent movements across the ceasefire line of individuals from the area of separation. UNDOF has observed that, during the construction, in some instances IDF personnel and Israeli excavators and other construction equipment, and the construction work encroach into the area of separation.”
Such construction efforts, which the AP footage suggests is ongoing, were previously mentioned by Geir O. Pedersen, special envoy of the secretarygeneral for Syria, to the U.N. Security Council late last month.
Israel, which presented a 71-page report alleging Syrian violations of the Alpha Line to the U.N. Security Council in June, says its construction efforts are necessary for defense. As the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN, such developments are intended “to establish a barrier on Israeli territory exclusively in order to thwart a possible terrorist invasion and protect the security of Israel’s borders.”
But fears persist that these developments could threaten a decades-long cease-fire agreement that has been key to maintaining relative peace between Israel and Syria, which have formally been at war since 1948. To uphold this cease-fire, UNDOF has patrolled the demilitarized zone since 1974.
“Violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement have occurred where
engineering works have encroached into the AoS [Area of Separation, or demilitarized zone],” UNDOF said in a Nov. 12 statement, according to AP. “There have been several violations by [Israel] in the form of their presence in the AoS because of these activities.”
Such “severe [Israeli] violations” around the demilitarized zone, UNDOF claimed, “have the potential to increase tensions in the area.”
A U.N. spokesperson also stressed to RS that “UNDOF protests all violations of the Disengagement Agreement.”
Territorial disputes between Syria and Israel remain a contentious subject. A 1981 U.N. Security Council resolution deemed Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights territory—which Israel seized from Syria during the 1967 ArabIsraeli war and annexed in 1981—“null and void and without international legal effect.”
In contrast, and sparking controversy among Syrians and myriad governments alike, the Trump administration recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights in 2019, a decision subsequently upheld by the Biden administration.
And now, developments in the Alpha Line area suggest that Israel intends to expand its territorial control.
“It is essential to see [ongoing Israeli developments near the Alpha Line] in the wider context of Israel’s constant attacks on targets in Syrian territory, especially since Oct. 7, 2023, and its determination to take full advantage of the Syrian state’s weakness to advance the Netanyahu government’s Greater Israel agenda,” Giorgio Cafiero, the CEO of Gulf State Analytics, a Washington-based geopolitical risk consultancy, told RS.
“What Israel is doing is consolidating its hold over the occupied Golan Heights,” according to Josh Landis, a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute who chairs the Middle East Studies Department at the University of Oklahoma. In an interview with RS, he noted that there are about 25,000 Israeli settlers currently in the Golan Heights. “Over the last several years, there’s been a big effort to grow the set-
tlements and increase by 5,000…the number of settlers in the [Golan Heights]....And so, Israel is expanding.”
The Alpha Line-area construction follows many Israeli incursions and assaults across the region since Hamas launched its deadly attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. This includes extended IDF airstrikes and ground operations in the Gaza Strip, which have killed over 43,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, to date. In addition to restricting Palestinians’ movements there, the IDF has also increased the number and scale of its attacks and raids on Palestinian towns and refugee camps in the West Bank, which several Israeli cabinet members have recently urged the government to fully annex.
Asserting itself over the border between Gaza and Egypt as well, the IDF took over the Rafah crossing last May, destroyed its departure hall, and established a military presence along the socalled Philadelphi Corridor that runs along the border. Israel insists these actions were designed to prevent weapons smuggling. For its part, Egypt, which has strongly objected to these operations and denied that any smuggling from its side of the border has taken place, has charged that Israel is using the issue to obstruct cease-fire negotiations.
Zooming out, Israel has increasingly attacked neighboring Lebanon as part of its war against Hezbollah, which has been engaging in its own rocket and missile attacks against northern Israel since Oct. 7.
Israel’s recent attacks in Lebanon include strikes on humanitarian zones, residential areas, villages, and pager bombings in September that killed 12 and wounded 2,800. Expanding ground operations, Israel is currently sending troops further into southern Lebanon in an intensifying military campaign to rout Hezbollah that has decimated villages close to the border. Israeli forces have also hit Lebanese Army facilities, and targeted U.N.
peacekeepers and their bases in Lebanon, injuring U.N. staff and attacking U.N.-maintained watchtowers, fences and other structures.
Although it has received little media coverage, Israel has also been striking Syria at an increased rate since Oct. 7. On Nov. 14, for example, Israeli aircraft bombed residential buildings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, killing 15. On Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes killed upwards of 36 people in the Syrian city of Palmyra, according to Syrian state media.
Israel’s latest actions across the Alpha Line are taking place as Syria, itself recovering from over a decade of war, has taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing growing Israeli operations in Lebanon.
“Israel has been bombing Syria at least three times a week since October, so the cease-fire [between the two countries] is already threatened by this constant military activity,” Landis told RS.
Reporting to the U.N. Security Council last month, Pedersen stressed that the recent escalation could have dire consequences: “I want to issue a clear warning: regional spillover into Syria is alarming and could get much worse, with serious implications for Syria and international peace and security.”
Altogether, Israeli incursions of all kinds and against multiple targets risk greater escalation across the region. This is all made possible with continued U.S. assistance.
“This is a moment when [Netanyahu] is in the driver’s seat because the Biden administration has demonstrated it’s willing to back Israel in almost any military adventure in the region,” noted Landis, “whether it’s an invasion of Lebanon or taking the Golan Heights, or endless war in Gaza.”
Stavroula Pabst is a reporter for Responsible Statecraft. This article was first posted at <www.responsiblestatecraft.org>, Nov. 22, 2024. The views expressed by authors on Responsible Statecraft do not necessarily reflect those of the Quincy Institute or its associates. Copyright© 2024 Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Reprinted with permission.
BY ANDREW P. NAPOLITANO
Here’s a pop quiz: When can an Army colonel overrule the secretary of defense?
It happened last week for probably the first time in modern history. The short answer is: Even in the military, the secretary of defense cannot change the rules and procedures for criminal prosecutions and tell military judges how to try cases.
Here is the backstory.
For years, the feds told us that Osama bin Laden was the 9/11 mastermind. Then, after they murdered bin Laden in his home in Pakistan in 2011, they decided that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was the real mastermind and they would try him in a military court and seek the death penalty. After all, he deliberately set in motion calculated events that resulted in the murders of nearly 3,000 Americans.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when we learned that a plea agreement had been entered into by way of a signed contract between the retired general in the Pentagon who is supervising all Gitmo prosecutions, the Gitmo defendants and defense counsel, and the Gitmo military prosecutors.
The agreement provides that in return for a guilty plea, Mohammed and others will serve life terms at Gitmo, rather than be exposed at trial to the death penalty or serving their sentences at America’s hellhole in Florence, Colorado. The guilty plea is to include public and detailed recitations of guilt.
So far, this is straightforward. While the trial judge may have given his nod of approval to the terms of the agreement, under the federal rules of criminal procedure, the agreement is not final until the judge hears the defendants actually admit guilt under oath in a public courtroom and then accepts the plea in a written order.
That admission has not yet taken place because Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who learned of the plea agreement while traveling, removed the authority of Gen. Susan Escallier, who is supervising the prosecution, to enter into plea agreements without his express approval.
Thereupon, defense counsel asked the judge in the case, Col. Matthew McCall, to enforce the agreement anyway since it is a signed contract, and schedule the plea hearing at which Mohammed and others will presumably comply with their obligations to spill the beans on this 23-year-old case.
The military prosecutors—who initiated the plea negotiations two years ago because they recognized that they cannot ethically defend the torture regime of President George W. Bush— complied with Pentagon orders and asked Judge McCall to reject the plea.
Last week, the judge denied the government’s request and rejected the Pentagon’s order and scheduled hearings at which Mohammed and the other defendants will presumably acknowledge their guilt under oath.
The judge’s ruling is essentially unassailable. He ruled that when Defense Secretary Austin rescinded the authority of General Escallier—a retired military judge—to agree to guilty pleas, it was too little and too late. By the time Austin removed Escallier’s authority to approve guilty pleas in all Gitmo cases, she had already approved these pleas. Thus, she was fully possessed with the power to approve them at the time she signed the approvals.
The prosecution now confronts an ethical dilemma.
The plea negotiations were begun by the prosecutors. The current team of prosecutors is the second prosecutorial team. Full disclosure—I consulted with the first team of prosecutors on some of their civil liberties issues. The current team, after reviewing the work of its predecessors, concluded that the case was not winnable and posed a great risk to American jurisprudence and to American troops stationed abroad.
The risk to jurisprudence is the nearly impossible task of defending torture. Lawyers are prohibited from using evidence obtained under torture to prove a case, and judges are prohibited from permitting such evidence to be considered by juries.
This is a basic principle of law that President George W. Bush forgot about, ignored or never knew when he authorized torture back in 2001. Mohammed was tortured for three years at black sites in foreign countries and at Gitmo.
Judge McCall has not yet ruled on exactly what evidence will come before the jury—should there ever be a trial— as he is the fourth judge in the case. In order to make his rulings, McCall will need to review more than 40,000 pages of documents and transcripts produced by his predecessors.
Bush also forgot, ignored or never knew that military judges—unlike federal district court judges—rotate off their assignments every four or five years.
If Bush had not crafted the jurisprudential nightmare in Gitmo—with its torture regime and agonizingly slow military rubrics—Mohammed and the others would have been tried in federal court in New York City by now, and would have been acquitted and set free or convicted and executed or still serving life terms.
Instead we have the anomaly of prosecutors asking a military appeals court—once headed by the same Escallier—to reject a guilty plea that the same prosecutors sought and crafted so that they can now try a case that they have told their superiors and publicly revealed will be impossible to win and dangerous to try.
Why will it be dangerous to try Mohammed? Because when the world learns from a public courtroom what the U.S. government did to him in its torture chambers—all of it criminal, unconstitutional and constituting war crimes for the prosecution of which there is no statute of limitations and
which are not pardonable—it will be startled; and many angered folks will seek revenge on unsuspecting U.S. troops abroad.
All Americans should care about this. The feds are subject to the Constitution and the rule of law. They cannot evade or avoid either for unpopular defendants or for political gain. If they could, then no one’s freedom is secure.
Andrew P. Napolitano, a former judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, was the senior judicial analyst at Fox News Channel and hosts the podcast “Judging Freedom.” Judge Napolitano has written seven books on the U.S. Constitution. This article was first posted at <www.consortiumnews.com>, Nov. 14, 2024. The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News. Copyright© 2024 Andrew P. Napolitano. Distributed by Creators. com. Reprinted with permission.
BY CLIVE STAFFORD SMITH AND OMAR SULEIMAN
We have recently—imam and lawyer—joined forces, along with so many unsung heroes, to demand respect for the humanity of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. She is often called the “Most Oppressed Muslim Woman in the World”—and with good cause. There is no other woman who went through the full U.S. Rendition to Torture program. There is no other example of a case where a woman was abducted by the CIA and their Pakistani co-conspirators along with her three small children.
And is there a parent in the world who does not tremble at the fate that
befell those kids? Suleman, aged 6 months, was apparently killed when he was dropped on his head during the abduction. The CIA has never let Aafia know, but this happened on March 30, 2003 in Karachi, so it seems unlikely that the child is still alive. Yet which fate would be worse for the mother—to know the infant who was so recently a part of your body is dead? Or to hold out a faint hope two decades later that he lives?
It might seem obvious that Suleman did die once you hear what our government—the U.S.—did to the other two. Mariam, aged 3, was taken all the way to Afghanistan, a war zone, where her name was changed to Fatima and she was involuntarily put in a family of white Christian Americans for seven years. She would still be there but for former President Hamid Karzai, who later helped get her home.
Then there is Ahmed, who was taken to Kabul and put in prison, at the age of six! He was told his name henceforth was to be Ihsan Ali and that he would be killed if he said it was anything else. Ahmed and Mariam are both U.S. citizens, and it is mind-boggling that the CIA, sworn to uphold the U.S. Constitution, would do this to two children from anywhere, let alone kids carrying U.S. passports.
Aafia was herself taken to Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, where she endured five years of torture. Eventually, through an agonizing path, she ended up in FMC Carswell, a federal women’s prison in Fort Worth, Texas, serving what is essentially a life sentence.
This article is not the forum in which to contest her guilt—whatever our well-founded doubts—so let us pretend she really did try to kill an American soldier, even though she was the only person to be shot. Regardless, it is a common thread in most faiths that we should remember those in distress, and that’s part of what brings the two of us together in this struggle for Aafia. In the Qur’an we are told, “And they give food from their sustenance, in spite of their love for it, to the needy, the or-
phan, and the captive…” (Insaan “The Human” 76:8). The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) famously taught that “no one of you believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself” (Bukhari). In the Bible, a verse reads that we should “continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering” (Hebrews 13:3).
Empathy is a pronounced value in our traditions, and if ever there was someone who needs religious solace right now, it is Aafia Siddiqui. So when she told her volunteer lawyer (Clive Stafford Smith) that she had not had an imam during her 16 years in prison, let alone the five years of torture before that, Clive reached out to Imam Omar, who immediately agreed to visit her every couple of weeks to give her spiritual assistance.
This was months ago, and each time we chased up the prison authorities, they came up with a new reason to do nothing. First, they wanted their form filled out. We did that. Then they said they needed a driver’s license and proof of being an imam. Then they said they did not have the documents they needed, and we asked what else they needed. Months went by and they requested strange documentation that demonstrated they had no intention to facilitate Aafia’s request.
Last month Clive’s team demanded to know when this was going to get resolved. We were told nothing. Then this week we were told that they had denied Omar’s right to help Aafia: “This memorandum is to advise of the denial of visiting for Imam Suleiman.” The memorandum is dated Sept. 26— meaning it was written two months ago, but they had not bothered to tell us until now.
No reason is given. The Biden administration has labored long and hard to alienate Muslim Americans in its blinkered support for Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, but it is difficult to understand why this request would be denied. Is it
because of other human rights advocacy? Could it be precipitated by previous tweets and protests demanding that there should be justice for Aafia? Or could it be that demanding an end to the atrocities against the Palestinian people has once again alienated us from yet another basic space in which to function?
Today Clive and his colleagues have filed a suit in federal court to force the issue, yet it should not take a lawsuit for the Carswell authorities to respect fundamental religious rights—they could just read the Bible, the Qur’an or maybe even just the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Clive Stafford Smith is a human rights lawyer and director of the UK charity 3DC, <3dc.org.uk>. Imam Dr. Omar Suleiman is an American Muslim scholar and theologically driven activist for human rights. He is the founder and president of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, and a professor of Islamic Studies at Southern Methodist University. This article was first posted at <www.aljazeera. com>, Nov. 21, 2024. The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. Copyright © 2024 Al Jazeera Media Network. Reprinted with permission.
BY ERIC S. MARGOLIS
Pakistan is the world’s most important Muslim nation. It has 251 million people, nuclear weapons, the world’s sixth largest armed forces, intelligent, capable people, vast lands and major sources of water.
Yet Pakistan is a giant mess. Its current politics are a form of tribal warfare. Corruption engulfs almost everything. Disease, particularly diabetes, afflicts its long-suffering people. Polio is making a return.
In recent years, Pakistan has suffered vast floods that have ravaged this na-
tion. Equally menacing, next-door India remains an ever-present danger. Far-right Hindu extremists who are heavily represented in the current Modi government, keep talking about “reabsorbing” Pakistan into “Mother India.” This would have happened long ago except for Pakistan’s important nuclear arsenal and delivery systems.
India has also built an extensive nuclear arsenal, including three new submarines armed with intermediaterange nuclear missiles. This while people in India and Pakistan starve in the streets. And 60 percent of homes in India lack indoor plumbing.
The only institution in Pakistan that really works well is the armed forces. I have met many of its generals: most of them are intelligent, combat-ready officers. I knew Gen. Akhtar Abdur Rahman Khan, the ferocious chief of ISI intelligence service who led the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan. He was murdered with the tough tank general Zia ul Haq, who ruled Pakistan until his aircraft was sabotaged in 1988. Zia was a great Islamic warrior and man of steel. Many Pakistanis still believe he was assassinated by the U.S., though there is no direct evidence.
I was friends with the late Benazir Bhutto, a fascinating and alluring woman who was murdered in 2007. I interviewed Gen. Pervez Musharraf in 1999, a man who seemed insignificant compared to Gen. Zia.
Benazir Bhutto, whose father Zulfikar was ordered hanged by Zia, used to tease me, “Oh, Eric, you love your Pakistani generals.” I did. Most were fierce Pashtuns from the NW Frontier, born warriors. They first defeated the Soviet Union, then the mighty USA.
I also took to some of the Indian generals that I met. They and their Pakistani counterparts had none of the slipperiness and deceit of most politicians.
This brings me to the jailed, 51-yearold former cricket star, Imran Khan, Pakistan’s most popular political figure. Khan was jailed on fake charges over receiving gifts, when the ruling oligarchy feared Khan would win a land-
slide in elections. His wife was also thrown into prison.
Imran Khan’s chief enemies were the Sharif brothers, Shebhaz and Nawaz. Both were rich Punjabi industrialists often accused of egregious corruption. I came out of war-torn Afghanistan to interview Nawaz. He left me unimpressed, particularly after the time I spent with the fiery General Zia.
The United States and Britain, vocal champions of democracy, had nothing to say about the illegal imprisonment of Pakistan’s most popular democratic politician. It was clear they were supporting the Sharif brothers, who were more amenable to America’s wishes and anti-Islamic policies. Pakistan’s influential army appears to be backing the Sharif regime.
This is interesting. Washington, which makes so much noise about democracy, is now supporting undemocratic regimes in Morocco, Tunisia, totalitarian Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the Gulf, not to mention Africa and Latin America. The CIA installed the current Ukrainian regimes. Efforts are again afoot to overthrow the Assad regime in Syria and, of course, to crush the life out of Palestinians.
What Washington really wants around the globe is total obedience, not real democracy. Pakistan is a sad example. President Pervez Musharraf told me that a senior State Department official warned him that if Pakistan did not allow U.S. troops to use his nation to attack Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, “we will bomb you back to the Stone Age.”
Great powers want to have their way. Democracy and common sense too often do not stand in the way. At least the new Trump administration in Washington is being brutally frank about its wants and needs, unlike the honeytongued hypocrites of the Biden years.
Eric S. Margolis is an award-winning, internationally syndicated columnist. This article was first posted on his website, <www.ericmargo lis.com>, Nov. 30, 2024. Copyright © 2024 Eric S. Margolis. Reprinted with permission.
By Dale Sprusansky
NAOMI KLEIN’S seminal work, The Shock Doctrine, begins with her talking to Black Louisianans inside a shelter for those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Amid the unprecedented devastation—the dead not yet counted, many still missing, communities destroyed, livelihoods submerged under water—politicians and businessmen were already talking about how to profit from divvying up and redeveloping destroyed, mostly poor minority communities. Based on all this talk, “you could almost forget the toxic stew of rubble, chemical outflows and human remains just a few miles down the highway,” Klein writes.
Needless to say, the refugees at the shelter in Baton Rouge were irate at the idea their misfortune was a God-given gift to remake Louisiana. “Are they blind?” one man asks of the politicians. “No, they’re not blind, they’re evil. They see just fine,” a woman interjects. Bingo.
For those following Israeli policy over the past year, the dynamic outlined by Klein is hauntingly familiar. Palestinian and Lebanese civilians have been scattered and killed on a grand scale. Their cities and towns have been demolished. Survivors are left destitute,
with nothing to return to and nowhere to go. Israel and its supporters see this calamity clearly, and yet they are more interested in opportunistically reshaping the region than assisting desperate refugees or negotiating peace.
In the wake of Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, there has been much talk in pro-Israel circles about next steps. Virtually none of them are peaceful. Resettling Gaza and/or parts of Lebanon with Israelis is one proposal. Working with the Palestinian Authority and Arab Gulf states to create an unrepresentative, collaborationist government in Gaza is on the table. Collapsing the Lebanese state and reengineering the political, social and military fabric of the country is another. Advancing the war to Iran to eliminate the head of the socalled “octopus of terror” is much discussed.
In short: leaders in the U.S. and Israel see a window of opportunity in which they can remake the region. Israel is the Ark and U.S. weapons are the floodwaters. Once the weapons have consumed the region and the flood of war recedes, they are audacious enough to believe they can re-create the Middle East. Instead, they will likely find themselves like Noah—alone, naked and exposed— drunk on their own power as the citizens of the region refuse to succumb to their plans.
Israel’s audacity is not just in thinking that it can remake the region, but also in failing to recognize that the region it detests is in many ways the fruit of its own hands. The violent imposition of the state of Israel in 1948 scattered refugees across the region, leaving them to plot their return from the squalor of their camps. In various wars, Israel seized land from neighboring states, some of which it has never returned. Its 1982 invasion of Lebanon facilitated the rise of Hezbollah. Israel’s efforts to divide and conquer Palestinians led to the ascendance of Hamas. Israel encouraged the U.S. to invade Iraq, which only helped to expand Tehran’s reach. It blockaded Gaza and Swiss cheesed the West Bank, thinking the resulting resistance could be contained or even used to fuel its lucrative “defense” industry. In tandem with Washington, Israel convinced several Arab states to accept normalization without granting Palestinians statehood or human rights in return, the thought again being that the walled-off and caged Palestinians had no agency or ability to put their cause on the global agenda.
In many ways, the United States is Dr. Frankenstein and Israel is its monster, and the modern Levant is likewise Israel’s monstrous creation. Is Israel wrong to desire a new regional reality? No. But is doubling down on its brutality, which helped create the current dilemma, really the best way to positively transform the region? Some in Israel actually think it is.
Those who want Israel to cynically capitalize on the present moment by remaking the region generally have very little desire for a sustainable and just peace. Some religious idealogues want to use this wave of violence to advance their goal of establishing a “Greater Israel” with expanded borders. Others want to achieve their goal of finishing the Nakba. Political ideologues want to install puppet regimes in regional capitals. Neocons are salivating to advance militarism. Weapons manufacturers are eager to expand profits. Regardless of their selfish reasons, these actors see doubling down on violence as a means to advancing their goals, or a means in and of itself. The problem, in their view, is not that the old aggressive policies failed, but that they were too restrained. The events of
Oct. 7, 2023, provided the impetus for them to remove the shackles.
In The Shock Doctrine, Klein notes that elites view catastrophic events as “exciting market opportunities.” She terms this practice “disaster capitalism.” Israel, too, practices a version of this doctrine—often in response to man-made wars that it either starts or instigates via its violations of human rights. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu indeed played the “disaster Zionism” card after the Oct. 7 uprising. What began as the bloodiest day in Israeli history was transformed into a successful political scheme to stay in power and advance the worst goals of Zionism. “Never let a good crisis go to waste,” as the saying goes.
Very little of what Israel has done since Oct. 7 is new. What is novel is the pace and ferocity with which Israel seized the moment to carry out long-stated goals. Israeli leaders have spoken openly for decades about their disdain for Palestinian lives and their expansionist ambitions. In September 2023, Netanyahu addressed the U.N., bringing with him a map of the “New Middle East” that excluded the occupied Palestinian territories. Eradicating Palestine is not some new post-Oct. 7 plan, but a long-standing ambition now being re-energized.
When he addressed the U.N. General Assembly, the prime minister was gloating about the arrival of a new regional era, one in which Israel could enjoy the dual economic benefits of occupation and normalization with autocratic Arab regimes—all thanks to the invisibilization of the Palestinian people encoded into the Abraham Accords. In many ways, Netanyahu viewed the diplomatic agreements as the culmination of decades of work to disentangle the issue of Palestine from Israel’s relations with the Arab world. From his perspective, the accords showed that regional economic prosperity and integration could be achieved without Israel making any meaningful concessions to Palestinians.
As recently as the 1990s, many Israelis feared that their country would face economic peril if it did not achieve peace with Palestinians. However, the emergence of
the Israeli security industry as the backbone of the country’s economy reversed this outlook. This “created a powerful appetite inside Israel’s wealthy and most powerful sectors for abandoning peace in favor of fighting a continual, and continually expanding, war on terror,” Klein writes. The Abraham Accords built on this, as some Gulf Arab leaders became more interested in obtaining access to Israel’s booming blood-fueled economy and technological innovations than championing the rights of Palestinians. This economic bridge built over Palestinian despair, leaders in the U.S. and Israel told us, was the panacea for a war-weary region.
In one sense, Oct. 7 exposed the sham of the Abraham Accords, as the Palestinians showed they were not going to let themselves be bypassed and forgotten amid a regional race for economic and military gain. However, one could argue that from Israel’s perspective, the diplomatic agreements were never truly about resolving the Palestinian issue, but about strategically capitalizing on the decreased concern about Palestine among Arab leaders. This perspective makes Oct. 7 less of a moment of failure for Israel and more of an opportunity for it to pocket diplomatic gains and advance the existential goals of its ethno-state. In a sense the sequence of events worked out quite well for Israel; with a handful of Arab states now in its back pocket, it was freer to launch its “final solution” to the Palestine problem. Add to that the initial outpouring of global support for Israel after Oct. 7 and the unwillingness of the U.S. to impose any real restraints on Israel, and the time was clearly right for Israel to make its long-desired move.
Of course, there is grand delusion in much of Israel’s thinking. The Palestinians will not concede their right to exist freely in Palestine. Non- and semi-state actors in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen now pose a greater threat to Israel than ever before. Iran has been legitimized as the first somewhat credible state threat to Israel in decades. Even Arab states friendly with Israel have begun expressing extreme disgruntlement with its policies, and many of them have grown much closer to Iran over
the past year. Abraham Accords signees were drawn to Israel by the opportunity for economic growth and cooperation against the perceived Iranian threat. But these countries now see Israel as the primary regional threat and have mounting questions regarding Israel’s economy. Indeed, the idea that war is good for the Israeli economy is being tested in the extreme, as mounting boycotts, brain drain, a labor shortage, the decimation of the tourism industry, businesses shuttered due to war and excessive military spending are taking a toll on the country. Israel may have seen Oct. 7 as a prime opportunity to implement its grand vision, but it may also be the day it overdosed on its own supply.
The region sees what Israel refuses to comprehend—escalation will not bring about peace, perpetual violence is not a strategy and attempting to violently remake the region will yield the same results. In fact, it is incorrect to say Israel is trying to create a new Middle East. Rather, it is doubling down on the old Middle East: wars, colonialism and regime change. Instead of shocking the region into accepting yet another version of its violent hubris, Israel ought to let itself be shocked by what it has become. The Middle East does not need to be remade by Israel. It needs a new Israel. ■
Continued from page 36
ican troops brought the U.S. into more disrepute than the U.N. and not just its “moral” standing. It was simply shrugged off and forgotten by most members. This time, the organization’s members would get their retaliation in first. It is pointless to try creative engagement with bigots.
While appreciating his need for caution, many people were despairing of Karim Khan, the ICC prosecutor. After all, other judges on the ICC have been threatened, bullied and blackmailed by Israeli agents. But he pulled a geopolitical rabbit out of his British barrister’s wig with the Myanmar charges. To the rest of the world, how does the U.S. greet an indictment of Putin and threaten sanctions against the U.S. and its international signatories, like Britain and France, for taking the same actions against Netanyahu? And now, the vultures are fluttering home to roost as in an adroit master stroke, Khan has announced his action against the head of the Myanmar junta.
In any rational politics, this would pose U.S. officials an insoluble dilemma: How can they welcome General Min Aung Hlaing’s arrest while attacking Netanyahu’s? To Khan’s delight, Myanmar,
like Israel, is not a signatory, but like Israel it committed crimes on the territory of a state that was—Bangladesh.
President-elect Donald Trump’s U.N. ambassador pick, U.S. representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY), has joined Israel’s call to defund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). When she launches off at the U.N., delegates should program their ChatGBT with the translation “yada yada yada” for her keynote message and media should deride, rebut or mock her.
There is no upside to pandering to her nor even trying to reason with her since her delusional world actually has a solid grounding in reality. Stefanik’s future career plans are founded on massive American Israel Public Affairs Committeerelated donations. Like Nikki Haley before her, her limited vision sees the world stage as merely the green room in which she prepares herself for the Oval Office. The interests of the U.S., the world, even humanity at large are entirely peripheral. It is true that the U.S. as U.N. founder convened the early meetings of the U.N. in Long Island. But what a long, twisted road for U.N. diplomacy to bring it down to Long Island politics for an obsessive career-oriented and parochial politician. ■
By Diana Safieh
IN RECENT YEARS, the movement for Palestinian rights has gained remarkable momentum among young people in the United Kingdom. Driven by a deep sense of justice and urgency, UK organizations like Palestine Action, public figures such as rapper Lowkey, and student-led groups have become powerful voices in this movement, each contributing in unique ways to an expanding network of youth-led advocacy for Palestinian rights.
A major focal point of youth activism in the UK has been the campaign against Elbit Systems, a large private arms manufacturer which operates multiple sites across the UK. Elbit produces a variety of military technologies, including drones and surveillance equipment that are used by Israel against Palestinian civilians. For many, Elbit symbolizes the UK’s complicity in international conflicts, prompting bold actions aimed at disrupting its operations.
Aug. 6, 2021 in London, England.
The grassroots network Palestine Action has spearheaded much of the campaign against Elbit. Their direct action methods—occupying factories, chaining themselves to equipment and spray-painting slogans—are designed to interfere with Elbit’s operations and draw public attention to the arms trade’s connection to human rights abuses. Palestine Action has staged multiple high-profile factory occupations, vandalized buildings and halted production in Elbit’s factories, forcing the company to close some of its facilities, such as Elbit Ferranti in Oldham.
Leicester’s UAV Tactical Systems factory has also been at the center of attention of Palestine Action; it makes the Watchkeeper
Diana Safieh is a writer and podcaster whose areas of expertise are Palestine, true crime and anything even slightly unusual. She currently works with St John Eye Hospital and the Balfour Project in the UK. She was recently invested as a member of the Order of St. John for her efforts, just like her father, Ambassador Afif Safieh and great uncle.
drone, which is based on the technology of the Hermes drone used by the Israeli military in operations suspected of infringing on international law. Activists argue that when the British government invests in technology that has been field-tested on Palestinians, Britain is complicit in violations of international human rights laws.
These actions, often led by young people willing to face legal repercussions, underscore the power of civil non-violent disobedience in today’s activism landscape. Many young activists view direct action as essential to holding powerful entities accountable for injustices they see as intertwined with colonialism and systemic oppression. Despite facing arrests and legal challenges, these activists remain undeterred, seeing their actions as a necessary stance against both local and global complicity in human rights abuses.
Many university students across the UK have led calls for their institutions to divest from companies linked to Israel’s military operations in Palestinian territories. For example, student groups at universities like the University of Manchester, SOAS (School of
Rapper Lowkey (Kareem Dennis) performs outside UAV Engines in Shenstone, England to protest the drones produced here for Israeli defense company Elbit Systems that are used in Gaza and elsewhere, Sept. 10, 2022. Lowkey is a vocal opponent of Zionism and has per‐formed in fundraisers to help rebuild the Gaza Strip.
Oriental and African Studies), and the University of Cambridge have pushed for university endowments and pensions to divest from corporations associated with the occupation of Palestine.
Student-led organizations, including the Palestine Societies or Friends of Palestine groups, have arranged protests, educational events, teach-ins and discussions on campuses nationwide. These groups regularly hold Palestine Solidarity Weeks, panel discussions and cultural events that educate students about the Palestinian struggle and urge them to advocate for policy changes within their institutions.
Student activism for Palestine often intersects with other issues, such as antiracism and anti-colonialism, positioning Palestinian rights within a broader social justice framework. Through petitions, open letters and collaborations with university boards, these students are challenging the status quo and demanding that institutions act responsibly and align their practices with ethical values.
Young people in the UK and further afield have been using social media platforms such as Instagram, X and TikTok to am-
plify messages in support of Palestine, often using hashtags like #FreePalestine and #StopTheGenocide. Social media campaigns have educated broader audiences about specific issues, such as the Sheikh Jarrah evictions in East Jerusalem and the assault on Gaza.
Many young influencers, artists and activists in the UK have raised awareness about Palestinian rights through their platforms. Journalists and influencers frequently share resources, educational content and news updates that resonate with youth and mobilize them for events and actions.
Activists use these platforms not only to share information but also to organize protests, livestream events and encourage digital advocacy, making it possible for people to participate wherever they live. The power of digital activism allows youth to engage directly with audiences, bypassing traditional media channels that may be hostile to their concerns.
In addition to digital advocacy, young people in the UK have actively participated in large-scale protests and marches to show solidarity with Palestine. These protests, organized by groups like the
Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Stop the War Coalition, are massive displays of support that include people from all walks of life, with young people at the forefront. Smaller, localized protests have also taken place across the UK; these protests take the form of marches, public gatherings or vigils where activists distribute literature, display Palestinian flags and speak to passersby about the issues facing Palestinians.
In addition to direct action, cultural figures like British-Iraqi rapper Lowkey have played a critical role in amplifying the Palestinian rights movement. Through his politically charged lyrics, Lowkey brings issues of war, human rights violations and oppression to a mainstream audience, and his outspoken activism for Palestine has inspired a generation to take action. Lowkey’s song “Long Live Palestine,” which has garnered millions of views, provides a powerful commentary on the lived experiences of Palestinians under occupation and serves as a call for solidarity from listeners around the world. Songs like “Long Live Palestine” have become anthems within the movement, connecting the Palestinian struggle with broader themes of anti-imperialism and social justice. Lowkey’s music serves as a rallying cry, resonating with a generation that feels increasingly alienated by traditional political channels. Through his work, he has inspired young people to educate themselves, question mainstream narratives and mobilize in support of Palestine.
In addition to his music, Lowkey actively participates in protests and collaborates with groups such as Stop the War Coalition and Palestine Action, speaking at events and promoting awareness on social media. For young activists, Lowkey’s voice symbolizes a fusion of art and activism that not only educates but also animates and catalyzes. His influence shows how culture can play a transformative role in social movements.
Some young activists use art, poetry and film to highlight the Palestinian struggle. Mural painting, street art and public art installations have been employed to symbolize resistance and solidarity. For instance, murals depicting Palestinian resistance and symbols have been created across cities like London, where activists use public art to express support for Palestinian rights.
Youth activists have initiated petitions and written open letters calling for government action on Palestine, such as ending UK arms exports to Israel or recognizing Palestinian statehood, urging members of Parliament to support policies that align with international law and Palestinian rights.
Some youth activists have also appealed to local councils to take symbolic stances in support of Palestine. For instance, they have asked councils to fly Palestinian flags or adopt resolutions in solidarity, which are
nonbinding but raise awareness and demonstrate local support for the Palestinian cause.
These examples demonstrate the depth and diversity of youth activism for Palestinian rights in the UK. By using innovative strategies, leveraging digital platforms and engaging directly in protests and political actions, young people are making a powerful impact and signaling that their commitment to global justice issues is here to stay.
Youth activists in the UK face significant challenges, including legal repercussions and backlash from political leaders. For instance, activists involved in Palestine Action’s advocacy have faced arrests and legal consequences, but these obstacles have only deepened the commitment of many within the movement. Some critics argue that these tactics are too confrontational. However, many ac-
tivists view civil disobedience as a moral imperative, a means of bearing witness to what they see as injustices that must be challenged.
Looking ahead, youth-led activism for Palestinian rights shows no signs of slowing down. Young people are increasingly disillusioned with traditional political channels and are seeking more direct means of enacting change. For many, the Palestinian struggle embodies a universal fight for justice, inspiring solidarity that transcends borders.
Young people are redefining what it means to advocate for social justice. Their diverse approach reflects a new generation’s determination to hold both corporations and governments accountable and push for a world where justice and human rights are prioritized over profit and power. Through their actions and commitment, they are forging a powerful legacy, one that signals a shift in social consciousness to a future where youth voices are indispensable in the fight for a fairer world. ■ (Advertisement) Please enter or renew my subscription to the Washington Report
■ Check/Money order payable to Washington Report enclosed (U.S. Funds only)
■ Send me an invoice with my first issue to my address below.
■ Use this form and the lines above to start a gift subscription. Enter your name and subscriber number (located on your magazine label, beginning with WR).
■ You can also scan the QR code at right to subscribe online.
By Ahmad Halima
Fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv stage a pro‐Israel demonstration near the Central Railway Station, lighting up flares and chanting "Let the IDF win” and “F*** the Arabs!” ahead of the UEFA Europa League match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax in Amsterdam, Netherlands on Nov. 7, 2024. Maccabi fans clashed with Amsterdam citizens and ripped off Palestinian flags hung on the streets.
VIOLENCE ERUPTED before, during and after the Nov. 7 soccer match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax Amsterdam. Israeli supporters displayed banners for Israeli soldiers, disrupted the moment of silence for the Valencia flood victims before the match, and were openly racist afterwards, attacking a taxi driver and houses of Amsterdammers displaying Palestinian flags.
The unequivocal characterization of the soccer violence as antiSemitism is yet another Israeli attempt to manufacture consent for its ongoing genocide, ethnic cleansing, occupation and apartheid. The reporting around the Amsterdam violence had markers that indicate that it may have been an Israeli psyop in which disinformation was employed to shape public opinion and push the narrative that anti-Semitism is rampant. These markers include powerful Israeli government statements pushed through public, press and diplomatic channels to secure the dominance of the Israeli framing of the
Ahmad Halima is a Middle East and North Africa analyst and consultant. He is Dutch ‐Palestinian, usually based in the Nether‐lands and holds an MA in International Affairs from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.
story, even before evidence was collected, and elicit uncritical responses from American and European leaders. The goal? To ensure that the West internalizes that it is a dangerous place for Jewish people, a strategic reminder that the State of Israel still serves the same purpose as its Zionist founders claimed: Jews can only be safe in Israel. It aims at justifying Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians and its war crimes in Lebanon and Syria while denying the reality that others, including Jews, can be anti-Zionist. The Zionist ideology accepts a narrow definition of what it means to be Jewish, and it diminishes the diversity of Jewish communities.
The Israeli government did this by rapidly disseminating strong statements and backing these up with concrete actions that are like those taken by a government when its citizens unexpectedly find themselves in a war zone or natural disaster abroad, measures that are key to manufacturing (and maintaining) consent for its genocide. While the local Amsterdam authorities were still gathering the facts, Netanyahu made a speech at 3 a.m. about what happened in Amsterdam.
The mayor of Amsterdam said that she was “completely caught off guard by Israel.” The Israeli government was quick to put out statements about a “rescue mission” even before Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof had made a statement that included armed Israeli soldiers and rescue workers as well as evacuation flights. Only the latter materialized. The idea of a military rescue mission to save Israelis in Amsterdam is psychologically strategic; it reinforces statements by Israeli officials that Jews in Amsterdam are under attack. Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke of “an anti-Semitic pogrom,” Netanyahu called it a “planned anti-Semitic attack against Israeli citizens” and “an attack on Jews, just for being Jews.” Western politicians and news headlines echoed this message of a “targeted” and “barbaric” attack against Jews.
Netanyahu immediately “requested that security be increased for
the Dutch Jewish community,” most of whom are not Israeli citizens. In other words, according to Israeli reports, the violence in Amsterdam was against the Jewish community because they are Jewish. It had nothing to do with the reality that Zionist Israelis were attacking anyone who could be Palestinian or pro-Palestinian, and walking the streets with belts and planks, damaging property, and chanting racist and genocidal slogans.
The publicity about a potential armed Israeli mission to rescue Jews from Amsterdam likely pushed U.S. and European officials to strengthen their rhetoric. Geert Wilders, the extreme right Dutch leader of the Party for Freedom, the largest party in the Dutch Parliament, was quick to blame the Moroccan-Dutch community: “we saw Muslims hunting Jews…Moroccans want to destroy Jews.” Wilders, who has much in common with Donald Trump, including racist anti-immigration policies and lawsuits, does not shy away from rubbing shoulders with openly anti-Semitic, right-wing parties and politicians in the U.S. and Europe. He has repeatedly been accused of being an anti-Semite himself, including in 2017 by Arnon Grunberg, a New York City-based author whose mother survived Auschwitz: “Wilders supports anti-Semites, is supported by anti-Semites, and attacks politicians who are fighting anti-Semitism.”
Eva Prins, daughter of a Holocaust survivor, wrote in the Dutch newspaper Trouw that “Jewhunt,” used in reference to the violence in Amsterdam, is a gravely insulting term for all the Jews in the Netherlands who
survived World War II and continue to live with its traumas. Maurits de Bruijn, a queer Jewish author, echoed this, saying that the term “pogrom” is dangerous in this context, mainly “because it makes Jewish people more fearful.” He raises an important point: “If we call the riots in Amsterdam ‘pogroms,’ which words will we use when we actually need help?”
The disinformation campaign created fear by portraying violence against violent Israeli hooligans, some of whom were off duty members of the Israeli Occupation Forces, as attacks on innocent Jewish civilians going about their lives.
The mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, later regretted describing the violence as bringing back “the memory of pogroms,” saying that “the word became very political and actually became propaganda” that is used by politicians “to discriminate against Moroccan Amsterdammers, Muslims.” Indeed, in combination with the disingenuously one-sided framing of the riots by the press, politicians and local government, these measures created fear in Dutch Muslim communities, who have been alienated from public discourse. Footage of police who fail to intervene as Israeli hooligans attack Arabor Muslim-looking people raises eyebrows: who will the police and politicians protect?
Less than a week after the riots, the Dutch right-wing coalition government opportunistically proposed draconian measures “to counter anti-Semitic violence.” This did not come about in isolation: The Israeli and domestic Zionist lobby succeeded
On Nov. 14, just a few days after Maccabi Tel Aviv’s match against Ajax in Amsterdam, Israel’s soccer team played against the French national team in Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Michel Barnier and France’s interior minister were all present in what was described as an act of solidarity against anti-Semitism. This was a reference to the thoroughly discredited claim by Israel and its supporters that there had been an anti-Jewish pogrom following the Amsterdam match. Macron, his ministers and all the Western leaders who rushed to endorse that claim had had ample opportunity to see for themselves the evidence of Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters’ thuggery and racism; there were no pro-Palestinian mobs hunting down Jews, and yet the French officials stuck to the Israeli version
in their disinformation campaign. The Israeli Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Anti-Semitism effectively influenced the Dutch Parliament by sending a report to members before the parliamentary debate on the Amsterdam violence. The report, titled “Dutch-based Organizations with Ties to Hamas behind the November Pogrom in Amsterdam,” accuses Dutch pro-Palestine organizations of having ties to Hamas and of being behind “the attacks on Israelis and Jews.” The Dutch government says that it told Israel that the informal way (i.e. not through official channels) in which this information was shared goes “against the principles of [the Netherlands’] democratic rule of law.”
The attempt to influence Dutch politics and its policy response was effective: Protests were banned, and police were practically given free rein to employ violence, including dropping pro-Palestine protesters at the outskirts of the city to be beaten by riot police. Politicians keenly described the riots as an “integration problem,” implying that anti-Semitism is a non-Dutch, non-Western type of racism. Measures include trying rioters for terrorism, the censorship of some social media pages that advocate for Palestinian rights, and the withdrawal of Dutch citizenship for those with dual nationality. The latter is clearly aimed at Moroccan-Dutch nationals, as those with only Dutch citizenship cannot be made stateless. This is likely unconstitutional because it would result in different punishments for the same crime. ■
of events. Whether this stemmed from a commitment to support Israel whatever it does, the inability of politicians in general to ever admit having been wrong, or a combination of the two can only be guessed.
The match was a bit of a washout. Only 20,000 football fans were present at the 80,000-capacity Stade de France stadium, the lowest attendance in its history. The match was a dull nil-all draw. A peaceful pro-Palestinian protest was kept at a distance by police.
The previous night, a pro-Palestine protest was held near a gala event held to raise money to support the Israeli military. Bezalel Smotrich, one of the arch advocates of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, had been due to speak, but cancelled. Smotrich has ordered preparations for the annexation of settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
—John Gee
By Catherine Baker
“Occupied Palestine” was met with bomb threats and censorship on its initial release in the U.S. in 1981. “Gaza Ghetto: Portrait of a Palestinian Family,” was the first documen‐tary film produced in the Gaza Strip.
TWO DOCUMENTARIES about Palestine from the early 1980s prove the saying, plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose (the more that changes, the more it’s the same thing). The films, which were the focus of an Oct. 20 Online Film Salon hosted by Voices From the Holy Land, are “Gaza Ghetto: Portrait of a Palestinian Family” (1984, directors Joan Mandell, Pea Holmquist and Pierre Bjorklund) and “Occupied Palestine” (1981, director David Koff).
“One of the most valuable things we see in these two films is how little the occupation really changed, and how many of the things we actually did talk about before Oct. 7, 2023, as just the day-to-day realities of occupation, were there 40 years ago,” said Mitchell Plitnick, the Salon’s moderator and president of ReThinking Foreign Policy. “Without having that understanding, we cannot accurately think about what’s going on today, and it leaves us vulnerable to these kinds of narratives where everything started on Oct. 7.”
Catherine Baker is a member of the steering committee of Voices From the Holy Land, which conducts online film discussions, and senior editor with We Are Not Numbers, a Gaza‐based project to amplify the voices of young Palestinian writers.
“Gaza Ghetto” focuses on a family living in Jabalia refugee camp; it also offers cameos of various representatives of the Israeli occupation. In “Occupied Palestine,” Palestinians describe what it means to live under occupation. Scenes vividly depict their resistance, while Israelis defend their country’s actions and bluntly lay out their plans.
The films offer visual evidence of strategies Israel has used to secure possession of the land.
For example, “Occupied Palestine” presents scenes of Canada Park, the site of the Palestinian villages of Imwas, Yalu and Beit Nuba, which were ethnically cleansed in June 1967 but are now covered by (non-native) trees whose plantings were financed by the Jewish National Fund. The forest serves to hide evidence of the population that once lived there and to prevent their return.
This is a prominent example of greenwashing, noted Salon panelist Aline Batarseh, executive director of Visualizing Palestine. Greenwashing is a policy that Israel uses “to conceal its colonial project and to present itself as an enlightened country.” It is strategically similar, she said, to pinkwashing (promoting LGBTQIA+ rights to project a progressive image and distract attention from occupation and apartheid) and whitewashing (conducting military investigations that suggest accountability but actually provide cover for illegal actions).
The opening and closing scenes of “Gaza Ghetto” depict a Palestinian grandfather attempting to bring younger family members to Dimra, the village from which he was displaced in the 1948 Nakba. “They are met with great hostility by the people who have occupied their houses, their erased village,” observed Salim Tamari, a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies.
The Israelis inform the Palestinians that they must have permits to visit the village, but they will only be allowed to obtain those permits as agricultural laborers. “That summarizes the tempo and the relationship between Gaza and the Israeli urban centers,” Tamari noted, “which of course became detrimental to, and defining of, the relationship between Israel and the West Bank as well.”
Both films introduce viewers to prescient statements from former Israeli leaders. In “Occupied Palestine,” an Israeli quotes the early Zionist leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky as saying that the country will belong to the military force that can control it. Plitnick noted that this sentiment makes clear “that Zionists intended to dominate all of the land and that Palestinians could find a life, if they decided to submit under the conditions of Zionist domination.”
Likewise, “Gaza Ghetto” includes clips of Ariel Sharon, then Israeli defense minister and later prime minister, referring to himself as a farmer; he acknowledges that the area he farms used to be Arab land and nostalgically recollects their “peaceful co-existence.”
But “the price of this normalization,” observed Tamari, was the pacification of the Gaza District, which occurred after a major military intrusion into the refugee camps of Gaza, especially in the north, and the displacement of thousands of refugees from these camps to the south—a displacement that is recurring now, he emphasized.
Tamari pointed to one significant difference between the past, as depicted in these films, and the present: the level of everyday interaction between Palestinians and Israelis. “As much as that was a colonialist interaction and the interaction of a dominated people and a dominating people, there was still human interaction.” The blockade and the separation walls have made the idea of living together in some future very difficult to imagine, he said. “The quantum amount of killing since the October war began is going to make any kind of coexistence more difficult than before,” Tamari cautioned.
“However, there’s no doubt that we are destined to live together in this land. How are we going to do it?”
Tamari continued: “The majority of Israelis, and certainly the bulk of Israeli leadership, thinks of co-existence as one of a lopsided relationship [with] the Israelis on top, and that cannot continue to
operate anymore. So even when we have a transitional period of adjustment by territorial arrangements, it has to be based on equality. It has to abolish the apartheid system, and it has to lead to a kind of citizenship in which Israelis and Palestinians, separate or together, have to be equal.”
Sami Awad, co-director of Nonviolence International, noted that in a final scene of “Occupied Palestine,” a Palestinian tells the filmmaker that their struggle is not with Jews or Judaism, but rather with the ideology called Zionism. This is something that Palestinians have been saying “since day one,” Awad noted.
“Palestinians are in this land. We are indigenous to this land. We will always exist in this land. We’ll always seek to return to this land. This is our home. This is our indigenous community. And so it is up to Israelis. Are they ready to engage in dismantling an ideology that is completely founded on separation and racism and this idea, as Dr. Salim said, that ‘one group of people is better than others’?”
How, at this moment of extreme violence, should allies work to achieve this vision of two equal peoples? Tamari counseled on taking a long view, while Awad suggested introspection on why
strategies from the past have failed to obtain security, liberation and freedom. He suggested embracing the radical possibility of a “Palestinian Renaissance” emerging, “a real opportunity for us as Palestinians to come together to revisit the structures that have brought us to where we are now, and to create new structures that are truly representative of the entire global Palestinian community.”
The panelists recommended the following specific actions: continuing support of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions; supporting university students’ activism; working to dismantle Zionism, including and especially Christian Zionism; and leveraging the mass protest movements around the world into political interventions. Education remains key: Awad specifically encouraged people to set up screenings of the two films within local groups and communities, while Batarseh encouraged people to make use of the free resources offered by Visualizing Palestine.
The event was co-sponsored by the Palestinian American Research Center and United Church of Christ Palestine Israel Network. Recordings of this Salon and other Online Film Salons are available at the VFHL website <https://www.voicesfromtheholyland.org>. ■
Plitnick concluded the discussion with a personal observation. “When you object to the genocide in Gaza, when you object to apartheid in Israel, when you object to what has been done to the Palestinians for a century now, you are going to be called an anti-Semite.
“You are not an anti-Semite.”
Speaking as someone raised as an Orthodox Jew, he added, “I had rocks thrown at me. I was beaten. I know what anti-Semitism looks like. You ain’t it.
“People who are standing up for Palestinians are, in fact, standing up for the Jewish people as well. My safety comes
when there is justice in this world, when we’re fighting racism, when we’re fighting misogyny, when we’re fighting all of the -isms, and most certainly, when we’re fighting against what Israel does to the Palestinians.
“Call it anti-Zionism. Call it against-Israel policy. I don’t care what the name is, but when you’re doing it, you are not being antiSemitic.”
Being branded as anti-Semitic can be painful, he acknowledged, “but try your best to let it just roll through you, because it’s all they’ve got. It’s a sign that they’ve lost the argument.” —CB
By Candice Bodnaruk
The rock band OP‐ED, (l‐r) Art Anthony, Tarek Abdel Aziz, Jay Nowicki and Rusty Robot. Haithem Jegham, who recently joined the band is not pictured.
OP-ED, A ROCK BAND formed in Winnipeg after Oct. 7, is of the school of thought that music and activism are synonymous. The band focuses on making that connection, using music to cross boundaries, speak up and inspire change.
Dubbed Winnipeg’s own Palestinian protest band, the group played its first show in May 2024 to a sold-out crowd in the prairie city.
OP-ED was formed back in November and December 2023 when musician Tarek Abdel Aziz started writing a few raw demos about the war on Gaza—real-time reactions to the terrible things from news and social media.
For Abdel Aziz, music is a universal language that hits people on a deeper emotional level than most other art forms and has a reach and continuity that extend beyond a two-hour rally on a Saturday afternoon.
“For us this band became our way of speaking up and doing what we can with what we know,” he said.
Abdel Aziz then met the band’s future guitarist, Jay Nowicki (from the local band The Perpetrators), at one of the weekly Winnipeg
Candice Bodnaruk has been involved in Palestinian issues for the past 14 years through organizations such as the Canadian BDS Coalition and Peace Alliance Winnipeg. Her political action started with feminism and continued with the peace movement, first with the No War on Iraq Coalition in 2003 in Winnipeg.
rallies for Palestine.
“From our first conversation it was clear we shared the same urgency to do something about what was happening, not to mention some undeniable instant chemistry between us,” Abdel Aziz said. OP-ED was born.
Art Anthony, who played bass guitar, joined later, along with Rusty Robot as drummer. Recently musician Haithem Jegham, who is from Tunisia, joined OP-ED and is now on drums while Robot has moved to guitar and keyboards.
“Most of the songs were centered around the children being killed en masse—it just felt impossible to stay silent,” Abdel Aziz said, referencing the band’s earlier work, adding that as a Palestinian refugee who grew up in Lebanon he related to that reality and felt compelled to tell the story of this struggle through Palestinian eyes.
The origins of the band’s name came from the original meaning of the term “op-ed” in journalism, which refers to “opposite the editorial room.” Like taking on the mainstream media, the band also set out to challenge the mainstream response from the music industry, one of clear support for Israel.
“The name OP-ED is fitting, because we are, in a way, in direct contrast to the editorial rooms of mainstream media, and OP-ED is about pushing back against mainstream narratives and amplifying the stories that often get buried in them,” he said.
Abdel Aziz was also frustrated by artists and musicians who came out to support Israel after Oct. 7. Very few chose to speak up for Palestinians and many are still silent.
“In the arts world, I saw artists quickly signing letters and making statements in support of Israel, while staying completely silent on the war crimes being committed against people in Gaza. And then there’s a lot of artists, international and local, who say nothing, even now, even though in the past they were outspoken on issues that
are connected to human rights,” he said.
Since Oct. 7, Abdel Aziz has also witnessed the blatant bias in “Western” media, politics, education, the arts and the international music scene. “I kept seeing mainstream outlets take statements from Israeli officials and military at face value, while either ignoring or casting doubt on anything coming from Gaza, whether it’s local authorities, reporters or even the U.N. And the bias isn’t just in media—it’s everywhere,” he said.
Yet OP-ED is one rock band that unapologetically stands for what it believes in. If some people see them as a political band and toss them aside because it makes them uncomfortable, that’s fine, Abdel Aziz told the Washington Report
Abdel Aziz was not raised in North America, he grew up listening to classic tracks like Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” and John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
The band does not make music for fame, accolades or commercial success. Abdel Aziz said that OP-ED does not stream its music on Spotify, mainly because of the platform’s poor treatment of artists and its partnerships with Israeli companies.
Abdel Aziz has been gratified by the support from the Palestinian solidarity movement, which he describes as amazing. He said the reaction to the band’s first-ever show back in May at the Park Theatre in Winnipeg was both heart-filling and validating.
“That show was sold out, by the way, thanks to the help of the great lineup of bands that played with us, especially Propagandhi” (a favorite local Winnipeg band).
The band’s debut album is particularly personal for Abdel Aziz.
The Storm is a concept album that follows a young Palestinian couple, Adam and Mariam, who marry just before Oct. 7, 2023, and are soon caught in the relentless bombardment of the Israeli war machine. Mariam is killed early on, and the album tracks Adam’s journey through grief, memories and reflections that are as personal as they are worldly and political.
Abdel Aziz explained that as a Palestinian born in Lebanon in the early 1980s, The Storm could have easily been his story, as he and his wife Haneen were a young
couple escaping Lebanon under Israeli airstrikes the summer of 2006.
“Our lives could have easily taken a similar path to Adam and Mariam. There are countless Adams and Mariams across Palestine and Lebanon whose stories rarely get heard,” he concluded.
The Storm is set to debut Spring 2025. In the meantime, readers can hear OP-ED on most streaming platforms except Spotify. Search for OP-ED’s lyrics and updates on Instagram and YouTube or visit their Linktree at <https://linktr.ee/op_ed>.
Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) is calling on Canadians to write to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), the National Revenue Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, as well as other members of parliament and ask that they immediately end the charitable status of organizations found to be aiding and abetting war crimes against humanity and prosecute those organizations.
The letter writing campaign comes on the heels of a November 2024 decision by the Federal Court to reject an appeal by the Jewish National Fund of Canada (JNF). The organization was appealing an August decision by the CRA that revoked its charitable status.
“For Palestinian human rights advocates, the JNF’s judicial defeat is a significant victory,” IJV Canada said in a press release.
For many years the JNF Canada and the Ne’eman Foundation of Canada have been sending Canadian taxpayer-subsidized charitable donations to Israeli intermediaries that are complicit in war crimes and undermining the territorial sovereignty of Palestine, specifically in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The federal court decision means that in the next few months, JNF Canada will have to either turn over its remaining assets (approximately $31M Canadian in 2023) to the CRA or transfer them to another charity. IJV noted that JNF may look to transfer its funds to another organization involved in similarly harmful practices against Palestinians, many of which are still operating.
JNF Canada plans to challenge the recent decision in the Federal Court of Appeal.
According to Karen Rodman with Just Peace Advocates, the status revocations of both JNF Canada and the Ne’eman Foundation of Canada in August 2024 suggest that the CRA is taking seriously the July 19, 2024, International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the Legal Consequences Arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Territories.
“The CRA needs to be clear that not only does our Canadian income tax law need to be upheld, but also that the decision of the World Court needs to direct its actions to ensure that there is no Canadian taxpayer support being used to maintain the unlawful occupation or in any way contributing to it,” Rodman said. ■
By John Gee
THEY’RE NOT PALESTINIAN, Lebanese or Israeli, but many migrant workers are numbered among the casualties of the current Palestine war—killed, injured, held as prisoners, violently displaced or made jobless.
Nearly half a million migrant workers were employed in Israel and Lebanon before October 2023. In Israel, there were reported to be 123,000 such workers in 2022, of whom 73,000 were caregivers and the rest were employed in agriculture and construction. This was in addition to more than 100,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In Lebanon, there were officially 177,000 migrant workers. Official figures certainly understated the total numbers, as there were tens of thousands of people in both states who were undocumented—and who
John Gee is a free ‐ lance journalist based in Singapore and the author of Unequal Conflict: The Palestinians and Israel.
have consequently faced difficulty leaving when they want to do so.
Workers from outside the region were attracted by the prospect of substantially higher pay than they could obtain in their countries of origin. Most have only a hazy idea of the issues involved in the Palestine conflict, and none chose to work in Israel or Lebanon out of political sympathies. Typically, they pay intermediaries such as recruiters and agencies in order to obtain a job, and their families have high expectations of them, so they feel obliged to comply with whatever instructions they receive from their employers, even when it puts their health and security at risk. To do otherwise, they fear, would lead to them being fired and repatriated, possibly still with recruitment costs to pay off and families that had been reliant upon their remittances. It’s a recipe for ruthless exploitation, assisted by governments that pass protective measures that they rarely enforce.
The outbreak of the wars in Palestine and Lebanon had a big impact on migrant workers, beginning with the initial shock of the al-Aqsa Flood attack. Kav LaOved, an Israeli organization that assists all vulnerable workers employed in Israel, posted the following on its website in October 2024:
“On 7 October 2023, dozens of migrant agricultural workers were murdered, injured and kidnapped. As many as 39 agricultural migrant workers from Thailand were murdered along with 10 agricultural “trainees” from Nepal, 2 from Tanzania (the body of one is still held in Gaza) and one from Cambodia. The latter had arrived in Israel only two or three weeks earlier to study advanced agriculture, but in practice serving as cheap labor on farms. Thirtyone workers from Thailand and one Nepalese were kidnapped that day. In November 2023, as part of a hostage deal, 23 workers from Thailand were liberated. Only six of the eight migrant workers from Thailand still being held in the Gaza Strip are known to be alive along with the student from Nepal.”
that 175,000 migrant workers, primarily from Ethiopia, Kenya, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, are currently in Lebanon.
Some migrant workers were killed or injured in the north of Israel by rockets fired by Hezbollah during the Israeli attack on Lebanon; they included five Thais, four of whom died near Metulla in October 2024. The great majority of Israeli civilians had been evacuated from this area, but local farmers had permission to stay and keep their workers there. Most Thais are employed in agriculture, which makes them especially vulnerable, since workers in fields cannot readily take shelter from rocket fire or interception debris.
It is unknown at present how many of the Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Ethiopian and other migrant workers have been killed in Lebanon. There are undoubtedly many migrant workers among the onefifth of Lebanon’s population displaced from their homes. There have been reports of well-off employers who left Lebanon or moved to safer areas, abandoning workers to fend for themselves. Migrant worker rights and welfare NGOs in the country have reported difficulties
finding shelter for them, as the welfare of displaced Lebanese citizens has been prioritized by official and unofficial bodies. Many have been forced to camp out on streets and in other public spaces.
In the aftermath of Oct. 7, Israel banned nearly all Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip from working in Israel, inflicting great hardships on their families and creating a labor shortage in Israel, particularly in construction and agriculture. This was exacerbated both by the call-up of Israeli reservists and by some migrant workers opting to return to their homelands. At least 2,000 Chinese workers were evacuated and 9,000 (out of a total of around 30,000) Thais left. India evacuated 1,300 workers who wanted to leave, and yet the Narendra Modi government responded positively when Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sought to expedite the implementation of a May 2023 agreement for 42,000 Indian workers to be employed in Israel, calling for an initial 10,000 to be recruited quickly. Indian trade unions have criticized the government for expos-
ing workers to danger by agreeing to sendthem to a war zone and also for potentially aiding Israel’s war against the Palestinians. Semi-skilled Indian workers are tempted by the prospect of wages at least five times higher than those they can obtain where they live, but some of the first recruits to arrive have already complained that they have not been paid what they are due and that they are expected to work long hours and put up with poor accommodation.
The Netanyahu government’s appeal to India was part of a wider effort to recruit tens of thousands of migrant workers to plug yawning gaps in Israel’s workforce. It has reached out to Malawi, Kenya and Ecuador for workers. The first Malawians have already arrived. Judging from past experience, even in the doubtful event of Israel obtaining the number of recruits that it is desperately trying to scrape together from elsewhere in the world, it is unlikely that they will prove as capable as the Palestinians who have been excluded, as Israeli employers have complained in the past. ■
By Jonathan Gorvett
The Open Rafah team presents the “World’s biggest tragicomedy book” for Palestine during the 70th anniversary of the Guinness Book of World Records at the Rami Library in Istanbul, Türkiye on Nov. 21, 2024.
WHILE SOME TURKS were highly disturbed by Donald Trump’s November U.S. presidential election victory, others have seen it as heralding a positive turn in Turkish-U.S. relations.
Indeed, as Professor Hasan Unal from Ankara’s Bilkent University told the Washington Report, “Those relations could not be any worse under Trump than they were under Biden.”
The outgoing Democratic president is still remembered in Ankara for his 2021 description of the slaughter of Ottoman Armenians in 1915 as a “genocide”—anathema to many Turks.
Biden has also been widely condemned for the carte blanche he has given Israel in its slaughter of civilians in Gaza and Lebanon.
The outgoing U.S. president recently warmed U.S. relations with the Republic of Cyprus by lifting its arms embargo against the Greek Cypriot-dominated administration for another year. Türkiye supports the internationally unrecognized Turkish Cypriot state in the north of the divided island.
Biden has also continued to give U.S. support to Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq.
Ankara sees these groups—the People’s Defense Units and Syrian Democratic Forces—as linked to its own armed Kurdish separatists, the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK).
Since the 1980s, Turkish forces have been fighting the PKK, which on Oct. 25 claimed responsibility for attacking a defense industry establishment in the outskirts of Ankara in which five people were killed.
For many Turkish foreign policy analysts, Trump’s election—and his frequently stated aim of pulling the U.S. out of its global military commitments—may mean an end to all the frictions triggered by Biden’s policies.
More broadly, a withdrawn and domestically pre-occupied U.S. fits well with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s long-term goal of establishing Türkiye as one of the poles of an increasingly multipolar world.
Yet doubts also remain across the political spectrum over the incoming U.S. president’s future policy toward Israel.
In addition to what this might mean for the Palestinians, Türkiye is also concerned over whether Trump might embolden Israel into a major war with Iran. While “starting a war against Iran would be madness for both the U.S. and Israel,” says Unal, “with so many very pro-Israeli picks for Trump’s cabinet, are new wars on the horizon?”
Many also recall that Trump’s first term was not exactly a stellar period in U.S.Turkish relations. A major row developed over Türkiye’s purchase of Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missiles, a move that led to NATO-member Türkiye’s expulsion from the NATO F-35 fighter jet program.
A U.S. pastor, Andrew Brunson, spent two years in prison in Türkiye, from 2016 to 2018, allegedly for supporting Türkiye’s attempted 2016 coup. Trump ordered sanctions against various Turkish officials over this detention and more broadly against Türkiye, with the Turkish economy suffering badly in consequence.
U.S. troops also remained in Syria and Iraq, as part of operations against Islamic State, but also effectively supporting the Syrian and Iraqi Kurds. Yet, Ankara hopes
that this time, things will be different.
Regarding U.S. support for the Kurdish groups in Syria, in 2019, Unal recalls, “Trump ordered the U.S. troops out.” Figures in the previous Trump administration, such as John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, then acted to block the president’s orders. Neither of them will be part of the new administration.
As for Cyprus, “Trump doesn’t give a damn about it,” says Unal, “as he made clear in his first term.”
Trump’s promise to end the war in Ukraine is seen in Ankara as positive, especially from an economic point of view.
“Rebuilding Ukraine will be a great opportunity for Turkish construction companies,” Professor Hüseyin Bagci at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University told the Washington Report. “Türkiye also has very good relations with Russia, not applying sanctions against them, so if the war is over, Türkiye will also benefit from this.”
How the incoming U.S. president may handle Israel and Iran, however, is a subject generating more mixed reactions. Turkish public opinion is highly supportive of the Palestinians, yet Turkish governments—including Erdogan’s—have previously had good relations with Israel.
In September 2023, Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu even shook hands at the U.N. in New York.
The more recent horror in Gaza and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, however, has heightened Erdogan’s anti-Israeli rhetoric.
(Advertisement)
In contrast, Trump has applauded Israel’s actions, and his incoming administration will contain many pro-Israel figures.
Yet, “How could you find anyone in the U.S. these days to appoint as secretary of state who isn’t pro-Israeli?” asks Unal. “Trump has said he will neither start a war nor support an ongoing one. He may therefore not give Israel a free hand.”
Trump’s previous term also saw the beginnings of Arab-Israeli rapprochement, with the Abraham Accords. Trump’ son-inlaw, Jared Kushner, was the go-between in their negotiations.
This may suggest the direction of travel for both the U.S. and Türkiye in a Trump second term—a return to some degree of Turkish rapprochement with Israel. Ankara hopes that Trump will recognize that ending the current slaughter in Gaza is key to this as well as a resumption of his previous administration’s warm relations with Arab states such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, with whom Türkiye has recently reconciled.
Such a reconciliation may be unacceptable to many ordinary Turks, but Erdogan’s foreign policy has long been characterized by hard-headed calculations.
“Erdogan has learned his lessons from the first Trump term,” says Bagci, “and the U.S. will also re-evaluate Türkiye once again. There will be much more common interest this time. After all, in global terms, the U.S. needs Türkiye and Türkiye needs the U.S.” ■
Armed groups opposing Syrian President Bashar al‐Assad’s regime seized control of much of Aleppo’s city center in Syria on Nov. 30, 2024. The opposition forces also seized the governor's office, the police headquarters and Aleppo Citadel, a symbolic landmark of the city.
THE SUDDEN AND DRAMATIC developments in northern Syria— beginning in the outskirts of Idlib and surrounding villages near Aleppo and culminating in Syria’s second largest city falling into rebel hands— have thrust Türkiye—widely seen as the closest external power to the rebel factions—into a spotlight it neither sought nor fully avoided.
The speed and ease with which the associated fighters, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), moved out of their Idlib stronghold to capture Aleppo and push further toward the city of Hama in just three days was extraordinary. This was not merely a tactical success—it struck a critical blow to the economic and logistical infrastructure of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The M5 highway, now under the control of HTS, is a vital artery linking Aleppo to Damascus and other regime-held areas. Its loss represents a significant setback for al-Assad’s already fragile economy.
These developments are a turning point, reshaping the balance of power in northern Syria and marking a new phase in the protracted
Özge Genç is a visiting fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs in Doha, Qatar, which posted this article on their website on Dec. 5. Previously, she was the research director at the Center for Public Policy and Democracy Studies (PODEM) in Istanbul, Türkiye.
By Özge Genç Special Report
conflict that began in 2011. Yet HTS’ dominant position within the rebel forces complicates the outlook for parties otherwise cheering on their advance against the Assad regime.
The group, which traces its origins to al-Qaeda, has long been designated as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.N. Security Council, the United States and Russia. HTS has attempted to rebrand itself as an actor that the world can work with, mainly by severing ties with transnational jihadist networks, implementing internal reforms and restricting the activities of foreign militants in northwestern Syria. However, questions persist regarding its governance capacity and ability to manage newly captured territories without alienating local populations.
HTS occupies a unique position as a group that is nobody’s official ally but everyone’s tolerated nuisance. Still, the rebel group has not established a direct affiliation with the Turkish state, even though it relies on Türkiye allowing the flow of resources and humanitarian aid into Idlib province.
As such, Ankara has remained quiet on the extent of its involvement in the offensive, but it may have had advanced knowledge due to the involvement of the Syrian National Army (SNA), which operates under the aegis of Türkiye. It is plausible that Ankara did not expect the rebels to rout the regime so thoroughly; nonetheless Türkiye’s interests have been well-served by the groups’ ongoing military advancement.
This relationship is difficult for Ankara to explain domestically due to the societal and historical trauma surrounding jihadist movements, both within Türkiye and globally. Yet beyond permitting aid flows, the arrangement includes logistical allowances, intelligence-sharing via Turkish observation posts, and maintaining a status quo in the region. The relationship between Türkiye and HTS can best be described as one of aligned interests; Türkiye avoids direct engagement with HTS but ensures they do not obstruct each other’s objectives. Simultaneously, HTS independently coordinates with foreign governments and aid missions run by the United Nations.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government views the recent game-changing developments through both regional and domestic lenses. For Türkiye, Syria is not merely a foreign policy concern but is deeply intertwined with domestic priorities. By backing opposition groups, Ankara is able to pressure Assad while simultaneously advancing its domestic agenda.
For example, the large Syrian refugee population in Türkiye has become a political lightning rod, with public demand for their repatriation growing. As such, Ankara’s drive to create safe zones, now including Aleppo, is motivated in part by the fact that approximately 42 percent of Syrians currently living in Türkiye are from the Aleppo region. This effort is as much about facilitating “voluntary” refugee return as it is about addressing rising public discontent over their presence in Türkiye.
Similarly, Türkiye’s presence and activities in northern Syria are largely focused on countering Kurdish territorial ambitions—an issue that has considerable overlap with Kurdish militancy inside Türkiye. Indeed, Ankara views the large swathe of Syrian territory controlled by the U.S.-sponsored and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as a front for the Syrian Democratic Union (PYD) and People’s Defense Units (YPG)—the Syrian affiliates of the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that it is determined to defeat.
Ankara’s frustration with Assad’s rigidity has also shaped its stance. For years, Türkiye has called for meaningful dialogue with the Syrian regime to resolve the conflict. However, Assad’s demands—such as the full withdrawal of Turkish forces and an end to support for the opposition—are viewed in Ankara as unrealistic. Despite adhering to these demands, the regime’s economic and military position is fragile, especially with its vital allies Iran and Russia also overstretched and weakened. Assad’s refusal to meaningfully engage with Türkiye, despite repeated overtures
from Ankara, now appears to have been based on an overestimation of his position.
For Iran, Aleppo’s loss is a particularly bitter pill. Tehran has invested heavily in Assad’s survival: deploying Hezbollah, reshaping demographics and building a land corridor connecting Syria and Iraq to Lebanon. The potential severing of this corridor would be a strategic disaster for Iran, further isolating it in the region. Unlike in 2016, when Iran could mobilize militias from Iraq and elsewhere to bolster the Syrian regime, the Islamic Republic’s already overstretched position could make such a response more difficult today.
Accordingly, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rushed to Ankara two days after Aleppo’s fall. This visit followed directly after consultations in Damascus. Araghchi emphasized the importance of cooperation between Tehran and Ankara to ensure stability and security in the region, despite their support for opposing sides. Following the diplomatic exchanges, Iranian officials accused Türkiye of supporting the “terrorists,” which Ankara and others view as ironic. Behind closed doors, Iran likely asked Ankara to leverage its influence over HTS to stop further advances. But there is no reason to believe Ankara would heed this request, or that it is able to influence such decisions.
The Aleppo operation also exposes the fragility of the current regional order. The Arab League’s cautious embrace of alAssad, driven by a desire for stability, now faces new challenges. Türkiye’s assertive actions could disrupt these normalization efforts, forcing Arab states to reassess their positions.
Meanwhile, Western countries—while cautious of HTS’ rise and Türkiye’s influence—have not openly blamed Ankara and seem generally satisfied with the outcome in Aleppo. However, taking this as a win for Türkiye is premature. In other instances, assertive Türkish foreign policy decisions, such as implementing the open-door policy for Syrian refugees to enter its border in the early stages of Syrian civil war, have prompted unexpected blowback. Notably, in the wake of the Aleppo takeover, HTS
has attempted to appeal to the international community by indicating a willingness to transfer Aleppo’s governance to a transitional body; withdraw armed groups from civilian areas to facilitate civil administration; and respect sectarian diversity. Türkiye’s relationship with HTS may evolve should the group gain broader acceptance within the international community.
Looking ahead, the conflict’s trajectory hinges on several factors. Russia’s role remains a significant wild card. Will Moscow reassert itself in Syria, or will it cede more space to Türkiye and opposition forces? Iran, too, must decide whether to prioritize Syria or continue to focus on other areas like Lebanon and Iraq.
Ultimately, the Aleppo takeover encapsulates Syria’s defining characteristic: a fragile balance where any gains are uncertain and shaped by the unpredictable interplay of local, regional and international forces. For now, the opposition is advancing, Assad is retreating and everyone else is recalculating. If Türkiye’s goal was to remind the region of its clout, it is safe to say “mission accomplished.” The question is, for how long? For all parties, the outcome of this offensive will shape the next chapter of the Syrian conflict—but it leaves no guarantees for stability. ■
(Advertisement)
Send your story ideas, responses to features and copy requests (with $5) to:
Capitol Hill Citizen 1209 National Press Building, Washington, DC 20045
Editor: Russell Mokhiber Phone: (202) 656-7660
Email: editor@capitolhillcitizen.com
Find us on the web at: www.capitolhillcitizen.com
By Mustafa Fetouri
European Union and United Nations.
WHEN WAS THE LAST time you heard of the League of Arab States (LAS), also known as the Arab League? Probably it has been more than a few years. Even your favorite magazine, the Washington Report, has not mentioned it since 2018, yet Google Maps says their respective Washington, DC addresses are a fiveminute drive apart!
Clinically dead organizations are not newsworthy, and their members do not usually pronounce their passing. Over the decades and despite its failure (or maybe because of it), LAS managed to survive by being static. Organizations age, just like people, and they need periodic revitalization or radical change. Not LAS. It has become more like a souvenir than a living structure capable of responding to its surroundings in a proactive way. Even its website, its gateway to the people it claims to represent, is primitive. Its hundreds of employees never respond to emails, leaving the
public in the dark about its work. Its secretariat hardly publishes annual performance or financial reports. I have been sending messages for years and never got any response. A couple of times, I’ve provocatively commented on the Secretary General on X hoping he would answer, but he never did.
The idea of having a regional grouping of the Arabic-speaking countries from Bahrain in the northeast to Morocco on the eastern shores of the Atlantic Ocean was, originally, a shrewd British idea first floated by Anthony Eden in 1941. Eden, foreign secretary at the time, was sensing the demise of the British Empire and wanted to secure an alternative to sustain the dying empire’s influence and long-term interests. Winning the Arabs’ loyalty against the Axis Powers, he hoped to guarantee the waning Empire’s future role in the region after (deceptively) promising Arabs recognition of their aspirations for independence.
But the league only came into being in March 1945 when seven Arab countries signed its founding charter in Cairo. Cairo, the charter dictated, must be the headquarters and the Secretary Mustafa Fetouri is a Libyan academic and freelance journalist. He received the EU’s Freedom of the Press prize. He has written extensively for various media outlets on Libyan and MENA issues, and has published three books in Arabic. His email is mustafa fetouri@hotmail.com and Twitter: @MFetouri.
General should always be an Egyptian.
The fact that LAS was a British-supported idea has remained a big stain on its face. Most Arabs suspect its real objective and question its effectiveness, particularly in connection with Palestine, which paradoxically dominated its agenda right from the beginning.
When Israel launched its Gaza genocide in 2023, LAS was nowhere to be seen or heard in any meaningful way. It did however convene two summits—first in Bahrain, a charter violator who openly normalized ties with Israel—and the second in Saudi Arabia, an active candidate to follow in Bahrain’s footsteps. Summiteers’ speeches were filled with words of unity and sympathy with Gaza, but nothing practical. They could not, even cautiously, blame their friend, the United States, for heavily subsidizing the Israeli genocide in progress. In practice LAS has become a bystander mutely watching as, again, Israel continues its mass murder of a LAS member population: the Palestinians.
Article two of the LAS charter defines its purpose: to “strengthen the relationship” between its members to “coordinate their political plans.” LAS gradually branched out into different fields of cooperation including agriculture, transportation, education and finance. In 1950 its members signed the Joint Arab Defense and Economic Cooperation Treaty, known as the Arab Collective Defense Pact. It is like NATO’s Article 5, obliging all members to defend one another. That treaty has not prompted a response to the genocide in Gaza.
In 1976, LAS launched the Arab Monetary Fund, modelled after the International Monetary Fund. The fund’s mission statement says it aims to provide finances to member states. Ultimately, the fund should adopt a unified monetary policy for all 22 members to “lay the monetary foundations for Arab economic integration.” These two pivotal treaties further raised the Arab masses’ aspiration in having a single organization leading them into a brighter col-
lective future. However, both treaties were never fully implemented yet LAS carried on as usual.
Palestine has always been the elephant in the room when LAS leaders meet, even before Israel was created on Palestinian (i.e. Arab) land, and even before the refugee crisis exploded with nearly one million Palestinians forced out of their homes, farms, schools and businesses. The leaders knew what was coming and LAS took the lead in fighting the Zionist project in Palestine with an ad hoc Arab Liberation Army, made up of regular soldiers and Arab volunteers. People from distant countries like Iraq, Libya, Morocco and Sudan volunteered to fight for an independent Palestine, hoping to disrupt the creation of Israel in its earlier stages. Hundreds of Libyans, including my late father-in-law and two uncles, were stationed in the West Bank city of Tulkarm for over a year. They returned frustrated. My father-in-law’s hand was permanently disabled.
Palestine became a full member in 1976, emphasizing the centrality of the Palestinian cause to the entire Arab world. The LAS recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole representative of the Palestinian people. This development highlighted how attached nearly half a billion Arabs were to Palestine, and by joining the league Palestinians got a platform to explain their cause to the entire world. Palestine also qualified for protection and financial assistance as dictated by the two previously mentioned treaties for defense and finance. To the wider Arab masses LAS appeared to be doing the right thing. However, the future only brought frustrations and humiliations to both Palestinians and the Arab world, from Morocco to Bahrain, whose interests LAS was created to safeguard.
Palestine became a fixed item on the LAS work agenda of annual summits. Back in 1967 and in the aftermath of the Israeli victory over Egypt, Jordan and Syria, LAS quickly organized a summit
that became a milestone in LAS relations with Palestine. The Khartoum summit ended with the three famous Arab nos: No recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel and no peace with Israel. The summiteers also agreed to insist on “the rights of the Palestinian people in their own country.” By that time Israel had occupied the rest of Palestine beyond the armistice lines—the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza—in addition to Egypt’s Sinai and Syria’s Golan Heights. In the background, Israel never stopped displacing Palestinians and confiscating their land.
By the 1980s the new definition of LAS as a debating club for leaders became its default name among the wider Arab majority. With its status lost, legitimacy eroding and respect disappearing, LAS has already caught the horrific Egyptian bureaucracy infection becoming a spiralling semi-dead corrupt, unreformable, incurably ill body, laden with structural defects. Still it refuses to die but keeps surviving every disaster just like it did in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1982. It transformed itself into an ineffective leaders’ debating club. In a way the alAqsa Flood is a wake up call to LAS: either wake up or be replaced by a more modern and functional body representing Arabs.
The main criticisms against LAS are that it fails to implement its treaties and resolutions and it fails to hold members accountable for charter violations.
Four of its members signed the Abraham Accords in open and blatant violation of its charter, yet LAS failed to issue protesting statements or reproach its members. Now nearly one third of its members have open relations with Israel despite the Khartoum resolutions, while others are in the process of doing so, including founding member Saudi Arabia. The fear and ridicule now is that these countries will form a pro-Israel lobby within LAS itself.
Will LAS survive the latest Gaza disaster? Bet on it. Chronically ill patients do not die quickly. ■
Jonathan Kuttab: In Defense of Non-Violent Resistance
Post- Oct. 7, armed resistance is viewed by many as the only viable path for achieving Palestinian liberation. Jonathan Kuttab, cofounder of Nonviolence International and the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, believes this mentality must be rejected on strategic and moral grounds. He outlined his principled case for non-violent resistance on a webinar hosted by the Balfour Project on Nov. 14.
“I am a pacifist. I do not believe that violence solves anything,” Kuttab began. “Even though oppressed people like the Palestinians have the legitimate right to use armed resistance if they choose, I have always argued that it would not be wise for them to exercise this right, and that non-violence is a much more effective and efficient method for their liberation.”
Kuttab described Oct. 7 as “an anomaly in Palestinian resistance,” which he said has been primarily non-violent, relying on tactics such as protests, boycotts and strikes. The First Intifada, an uprising against Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian lands, “was largely non-violent—and deliberately so,” he noted. The 2018-2019 Great March of Return in Gaza was likewise non-violent, as thousands peacefully gathered along Israel’s border wall to demand their right to return to their native towns and villages.
Israel responded to both movements with violence and intimidation, Kuttab pointed out. More than 200 Palestinians were killed by Israel during the Great March of Return, and at least 9,000 were injured. Meanwhile in 1988, “One of the greatest proponents of non-violence, Dr. Mubarak Awad, was actually deported [by Israel] at the very beginning of the intifada,” Kuttab noted.
Palestinians have primarily used non-violence on pragmatic rather than intellectual or principled grounds, Kuttab observed. Palestinians “never claimed the language or mantle of non-violent resistance,” he said. “We have always glorified
the gun and armed resistance, but we’ve actually been practicing non-violence… .We have perfected the language and the rhetoric of armed struggle. We have the language, the poetry glorifying the gun and armed resistance.”
This long-enduring cultural narrative could help explain why armed resistance has become actualized on a large scale in recent years. However, Kuttab believes the rise in support for armed resistance is not a fundamental rejection of non-violence, but a desperate reaction to failed leadership.
“Many people rejected non-violence not because they rejected the principle of non-violence, but they rejected the Oslo process; they rejected the Palestinian Authority (PA); they rejected the ongoing process of the fragmentation of Palestinian society; they rejected the siege against Gaza; they rejected the process by which violence was a monopoly of the occupier,” he said.
This frustration is particularly strong among younger Palestinians. “There’s very clearly a generational divide,” Kuttab said. “Young people are fed up, they think that the older generation has failed them, that the methods of the older generation don’t
work and they need something new.... They place non-violence in the basket of failed policies, in the basket of the PA and its collaboration with Israel, in the basket of the Oslo agreement and compromises, of surrender. They place armed resistance in the opposite camp.”
Kuttab implored skeptics to reconsider the merits of non-violence. “People don’t really understand non-violence,” he insisted. “They think it just means you do one activity, and if it fails, ‘Uh, we tried non-violence, we can go back to violence.’ It’s like armed struggle. It doesn’t happen just with one battle, or with one campaign or with one event. There are losses, there are gains, there are sacrifices to be made, there are resources to be dedicated to it, there’s training. It has to be a continued campaign.”
Non-violence is “counterintuitive,” Kuttab acknowledged. “Our bodies are trained to think in terms of ‘fight or flight’…if we don’t fight, we are somehow viewed as cowardly, complicit and failing in the job of liberation. I don’t view it that way at all. Nonviolence is a very deliberate, active, necessary, costly—definitely costly— method of fighting for liberation….Non-vi-
olent resistance is a very robust, active campaign that requires as much, if not more, discipline than armed resistance, and certainly it entails sacrifices.”
To those who argue non-violence has failed in the face of Israeli brutality, Kuttab rebuts that “armed resistance also hasn’t worked very well….We really have not been very good at armed struggle….We can’t out-violence the Israelis at all.”
Dale Sprusansky
In the winter of 2023—as their phones conveyed images of Israel bombing hospitals, universities, residential buildings and aid convoys in Gaza—students on U.S. campuses began protesting. “Seeing busloads of students being arrested at Columbia University in New York City was the spark that ignited the encampment movement across this country,” said Max Flynt, a student leader at San Francisco State University (SFSU) and a member of the General Union of Palestine Students. “I remember watching those videos and wondering, ‘Why haven’t we started an encampment yet at SFSU?’ That’s when the planning of our encampment began.”
Flynt was a panelist at the 53rd Voices From the Holy Land Online Film Salon on Nov. 17, titled “Silencing Student Voices.” Fellow panelist Ilan Cohen, a recent graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University, was a founder of Columbia Jews for Ceasefire. He stressed the importance of daily communications as the movement grew. “Students didn’t just collaborate, we learned from each other’s mistakes. We tried not to replicate what failed on other campuses and also to understand which things would be replicable and what would work.”
The third panelist, Steven W. Thrasher, a professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism (currently suspended from teaching due to his advocacy) described visiting protests at six campuses during the 2024 spring semester. “We had three robust encampments here in Chicago: at Northwestern, DePaul University and the University of Chicago. All of
New York University students face off with police threatening their encampment, on April 26, 2024, in New York City.
them showed how charges of anti-Semitism, aimed at student protesters, were false. At Columbia, students held seder dinners, and our encampment at Northwestern coincided with Passover. One of the most powerful experiences in my life was singing Passover songs with hundreds of people and taking matzah from somebody in a yarmulke, and me taking it as a Christian and passing it on to someone in a hijab.”
“Consider the vision you would have gotten of the student movement from the New York Times all the way to the New York Post and Fox News,” asked Natasha Lennard, moderator of the salon, a columnist for The Intercept, and professor at the New School for Social Research in New York. “The entire spectrum, from liberal to right-wing media, framed the story of the student movement as one of ‘anti-Semitism on campus,’ erasing the many, many Jewish voices who took part in these protests as anti-Zionist Jews.”
“New York University (NYU) students who speak out against Zionism now risk violating the school’s nondiscrimination policies,” wrote Lennard, herself an anti-Zionist Jew, in The Intercept. NYU is trying to weaponize Title VI protections (in the 1964 Civil Rights Act, banning discrimination in educational settings) against anyone using the term “Zionism”—except Zionist stu-
dents themselves. “It doesn’t take a masters in political science to understand that if everything is anti-Semitism, then nothing is anti-Semitism. The word loses its meaning,” observed Cohen.
“When we’re facing a systematic and global force of oppression that is very coordinated and very targeted, the only way to get past that is to also work together,” asserted Cohen. Indeed, across the nation, college administrators collaborated to find ways to suppress the free speech of their students. Lennard added, “There are universities that have relied so much on their legacy of social justice, the New School is one, Swarthmore is another. And yet, at these places, there are extraordinary disciplinary and punitive measures facing both faculty and students. The wider context is that there is no university left standing in Gaza—a point made by students again and again on their own campuses.”
All kinds of students are getting arrested,” observed Thrasher. “I’m seeing a handful of Palestinians and a handful of Jewish faculty members, but overwhelmingly Black and Black-and-queer faculty. I was one of a few people criminally charged for my part in the protests,” said Thrasher. “The charges were dropped. But one of the accusations made in the congressional hearings was that, as a profes-
sor who was standing between students and the cops, I was preventing university police from doing their job. Many university administrators and boards of trustees actually see their primary duty as policing ideas, policing the range of things that can be debated in university.”
One of the movement’s notable successes happened at SFSU. Through a three-week encampment and negotiations with university administrators, student protesters (led by the General Union of Palestine Students and Students for Gaza) ultimately won divestment from weapons manufacturers, along with an investment policy based on screening for human rights.
Flynt explained, “History counts. The longest student strike in U.S. history was at SFSU in 1968. It was led by the Black Student Union and the Third World Liberation Front and created the first ethnic studies college in the country. Many of the images from that moment show police repression of Black students on the quad—on the grass of our where our encampment was this year.”
Student leadership also counts. “At our encampment,” said Flynt, “there were daily meetings in which [our elected leaders] decided on tactics together. It was an organizing structure in which people felt they were involved in the decisions that were made. Our negotiations with the president happened in front of 400 people at least. Anything that the president was putting on the table, everyone could hear it. We’d reply, ‘Okay, we’ll take this back to the encampment and discuss among ourselves.’ That method really helped us build a larger movement on campus.”
“Finally, there was mass participation. We had at least 1,000 students marching around our university administration building. It turned the tide in our negotiations to get divestment, and it helped protect us from repression.”
Commenting on the future of this student movement, Cohen stated, “There’s a sense of urgency when we see what’s happening on the ground in Palestine, and it’s so hard to pace ourselves and to remind ourselves that this is a marathon and not a sprint.”
Flynt added, “The biggest question is do
A Palestinian carries a bag of flour from an aid distribution center in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on Dec. 3, 2024.
we go back to the encampments? Do we build for a student strike? We’re looking for different tactics in which we can ignite that spark that we need. But answers to questions like those don’t come easily. Our job as protesters for Palestine is not just to get divestment, to get a tactical win. If every university in our country divested from weapons manufacturers, it would be a drop in the bucket. It would not matter. Our job as organizers is to create a political crisis in America that cannot be ignored by our government.”
A full recording of this salon can be viewed at <voicesfromtheholyland.org/featured-videos>.—Steven Sellers Lapham
A year after Israel began ground operations in the Gaza Strip, 90 percent of Gaza’s population has been displaced and over 44,000 confirmed dead. On Oct. 15, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft hosted “Israel’s Invasion of Gaza: One Year Later,” a webinar that examined the ramifications and future implications of the conflict. Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, moderated the discussion, which featured Francesca Albanese, U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Palestine; Noura Erakat, professor and legal scholar; and Daniel
Levy, analyst and co-founder of J Street. Albanese opened the discussion by reflecting on her United Nations report, “Anatomy of a Genocide,” released in March 2024, which found “reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met.” She expressed dismay that, after more than a year and despite a multitude of documented atrocities, the U.S. and other Western powers continue to facilitate Israel’s campaign of annihilation.
The lack of accountability from the international community, particularly the U.S., UK and Germany, demonstrates a blatant disregard for international law. Erakat asserted that Western powers selectively utilize international law and institutions as tools to advance their interests without any consistency. A prime example of these double standards can be seen with the International Criminal Court (ICC). In 2023, the Biden administration praised its issuance of an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Biden stated that the ICC “makes a very strong point,” while Moscow condemned the charges as “outrageous.” However, when the ICC charged Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant with war crimes, Washington was quick to
denounce the warrants as “outrageous.”
In Oct. 2024, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock argued that individuals lose their status as civilians once they are used as human shields. Erakat pointed out that this narrative conveniently ignores decades of established protocols in international law that regulate the conduct of guerilla wars. She said that Article 57 of the Geneva Conventions states that conventional militaries must refrain from attacking when they can’t distinguish between combatants and civilians. Erakat noted that “what Israel and its allies…want to tell us is that [their situation] is unprecedented, and so they have to create new laws of war.”
Numerous United Nations resolutions, International Court of Justice (ICJ) findings and ICC warrants appear to have little impact on Israel’s conduct. Levy asserted that the case of Palestine shows that these institutions are merely symbolic and ineffective in the face of dominant power dynamics.
In Sept. 2024, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced allegations of intentionally providing misleading information to Congress about the blockage of U.S. aid to Gaza by Israeli forces. Blinken testified that Israel has not restricted humanitarian aid access to civilians in Gaza, despite documented footage and statements by Israeli officials to the contrary. Erakat observed that if Blinken admitted that Israel was obstructing U.S. humanitarian aid, Washington would be required to restrict weapons exports to Israel under Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act. Erakat asserted, “It’s undeniable, this is why so many of us insist that this is not merely U.S. complicity in genocide, but that this is also a U.S. genocide against Palestinians.”
The panelists were skeptical about any prospects of de-escalation in Gaza. In her closing remarks, Albanese called for a global paradigm shift away from Western hegemony. “This can be an opportunity for a really positive and peaceful revolution that asks for global democracy against what some scholars call global apartheid.”
Sara Benboubaker
Israel’s killing of high-profile leaders in Hamas and Hezbollah raises speculation over the future of the Iran-aligned “Axis of Resistance.” On Oct. 30, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft hosted a webinar to discuss the status of the state and non-state actors that comprise the alliance. Moderated by Adam Weinstein, deputy director of the Quincy Institute’s Middle East program, the panel featured Steven Simon, senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute; Nir Rosen, writer, journalist and filmmaker; and Narges Bajoghli, assistant professor of Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
Consisting of the Houthi statelet in northwest Yemen, factions within Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Assad government in Syria and the Islamic Republic of Iran, the transnational coalition has opened six military fronts against Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks.
Members of the alliance are often portrayed simply as Iranian proxies, but the reality is more complex. While Iran was foundational to the establishment of Hezbollah and the PMF, these groups gained traction because of local opposition to foreign oc-
cupation. Bajoghli asserted that “Iranian Shi’i ideology” is not a driving factor behind the alliance, instead arguing that “opposition to Western hegemony in the region” is the shared interest of all factions. According to Simon, Washington also views the Resistance Axis in realist terms as a “power bloc” of local movements “whose objectives overlap with Iran’s regionally,” and have been mobilized by Tehran “for the purpose of power projection.”
Although Resistance Axis members share common objectives, this has not always been the case. At the onset of the Syrian civil war, Bajoghli noted, Hamas sided with the Syrian opposition, while Iran and Hezbollah intervened on behalf of Assad.
The alliance’s response to Israel’s genocide in Gaza has radically altered the perspective of Sunni populations in the region, Rosen said. Despite Palestine’s status as “the Sunni cause par excellence,” Rosen pointed out that no Sunni groups or governments “are engaged in what is perceived to be a just war” against Israel. Instead, “the Houthis, Iraqi Shi’i, Lebanese Shi’i and Iranians” are resisting Israel at an enormous human cost, while Sunni governments prioritize relations with the United States. “The Oct. 8 intervention, first by Hezbollah and then followed by other actors that are either
Shi’a or Zaydi, did a lot to bring Sunnis and Shi’i together,” Rosen said.
The past year has seen unprecedented levels of military coordination amid the first direct conflict between the axis and Israel. Weinstein emphasized the heavy toll the war has exacted on the coalition, with Israel’s killing of senior leadership in Hamas and Hezbollah and its bombing of Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Iran. Despite substantial setbacks, Bajoghli warned against over-estimating the impact of strikes on the Resistance Axis. Pointing out that “all of these groups are set up in very horizontal ways” with “asymmetrical warfare built into their identities,” she observed that they have proven adept at “replenishing their leadership” in past conflicts.
Although the true impact of Israel’s onslaught on the Resistance Axis’ military infrastructure is difficult to gauge, Simon contends that the damage has been severe. “Hamas is destroyed basically as a military organization” and “probably incapable of reconstituting such that it can threaten Israeli security for the foreseeable future.” Hezbollah has “been very badly wounded” by the pager attacks, assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, destruction of missile stockpiles and inability to receive arms through the Syrian border. Simon acknowledged that the Houthis have “shown that they can reroute global shipping” and PMF militias “can send drones to Israel,” but downplayed their significance to the broader conflict.
With the Resistance Axis suffering heavy losses, Weinstein questioned whether Iran would pursue a nuclear weapon. Bajoghli explained that “the Iranians are only about two weeks away, by most accounts, to be able to have enough centrifuges to create one” and “the demand for having nuclear weapons” has “risen quite high” among the Iranian public. Some Iranians may feel they need a nuclear weapon for deterrence against Israeli and U.S. aggression. Observing that Tehran “is really focused on negotiations of sanctions relief” and is using it [nuclearization] as a political chip, Bajoghli reasoned that Iran is unlikely to build a bomb “unless things continue to escalate very directly with Israel and potentially the United States.” —Jack McGrath
Challenges facing the Arab world following the re-election of Donald Trump dominated many sessions of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations’ (NCUSAR) 32nd annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC on Nov. 12-13.
“While no one knows what will happen in a Trump administration, there are parts of the Arab world that feel a little bit hopeful and others are jittery about whether he will be able to end the wars as he promised in his campaign,” Al Jazeera’s Washington, DC bureau chief Abderrahim Foukara stated in the opening panel on Nov. 13. “Some people are betting on the unpredictability of Donald Trump to deal with the issues. But every single appointment that Trump has made looks like things will not go down well for Iran, Gaza and the West Bank.”
Noting the large protests in Arab countries over Israel’s war on Gaza, the longtime journalist said the extent of civilian casualties in the devastated enclave, particularly among children, has “shocked and angered a lot of people in the Arab world and well beyond, including here in the United States.”
In Dearborn, MI, where many Arab Americans voted for Trump, “the Biden ad-
ministration and Kamala Harris paid the price electorally for their policy toward Israel and the Palestinians,” Foukara noted. “Many Americans who put their name and futures on the line in anti-war protests have voted with what many of them describe as their moral compass.”
According to journalist and author Charles Glass, the major regional fear is that Israel will drag the United States into a war with Iran. “We know America’s attempts to restrain [Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu are futile,” he said. Since the Madrid Conference in 1991 there has never been any serious attempt at peace between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of either a single secular democratic state or a two-state solution, Glass pointed out. “The peace process,” he insisted, “is a sham and has been a sham since the beginning and will remain a sham. But at least to stop the mass murder that is going on in Gaza and Lebanon, there should be a ceasefire in Gaza…but that is not a solution to the whole thing….It’s a temporary fix after which there should be—but won’t be— movement toward a solution.”
Asked about the role of Jared Kushner in the Trump administration, Glass only noted that “Jared Kushner made the entirely obnoxious statement that there is good, valuable beachfront property coming up soon
[in Gaza.]” Glass described it as “disgusting” to ethnically cleanse the north of Gaza so that Trump’s son-in-law can build hotels.
In his keynote address, Prince Turki Al Faisal Al-Saud, chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, said “a great responsibility lies on the United States’ shoulders to restore order by returning to its ideals and principles and to lead our world back to a real rulesbased international order.”
With respect to Israel’s war on Gaza, the U.S. stance has been a “total disappointment and it is seen in the region as complicity-diplomacy that buys time for Netanyahu to finish his genocide and war on the Palestinians,” the former Saudi ambassador to the U.S. said. “If this type of conduct continues with the new administration, the mistrust of American policies would hamper any future initiatives by the United States. Continued failure of addressing the issue of Palestine, the mother of all conflicts in the region, has been and will continue to be the bone of contention between the Arab world and American administrations.”
Al-Saud also reiterated Riyadh’s position that “there will be no normalization with Israel without a Palestinian state, with its capital in East Jerusalem.”
Elaine Pasquini
Amid the genocide in Gaza, Israeli attacks on Lebanon and in the wake of the 2024 elections, more than 1,500 people gathered to renew their support for the Council on American-Islamic Relations at a gala celebrating CAIR’s 30th anniversary at the Washington Hilton Hotel on Nov. 22. Brooklyn-born Palestinian Muslim American community activist Linda Sarsour served as a rousing emcee who emphasized that CAIR always has the Muslim and Arab American’s back and ensures the community will not be silenced or intimidated.
Attendees of every age were inspired by short film clips and testimonies highlighting the launch of CAIR as a two-man operation
by Nihad Awad, CAIR’s national executive director, and Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR’s national communication director. Dr. Manal Fakhoury, CAIR’s national board chair, praised the two visionary leaders for their courage to work for what really matters. Starting with two employees and a fax machine in a small office on K Street in downtown Washington, DC, CAIR has grown into the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization with more than 500 staff, attorneys and board members in more than 25 offices nationwide fighting for civil rights, social justice and political power. “Now thousands of us have a voice on the front lines,” Fakhoury noted. “One small victory led to the next and CAIR rose to each occasion.”
Lena Masri, national litigation and civil rights director and general counsel, described some of the recent court cases CAIR has won, including the March 2024 U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling on behalf of its client, American Muslim Yonas Fikre, who was unlawfully placed on the U.S. federal No Fly List and pressured to become an informant. A CAIR report exposed, condemned and filed several lawsuits regarding an Islamophobic FBI secret terrorist watchlist which has 1.47 million entries, 98.6 percent of them with Muslim names.
Another recent triumph took place on Oct. 1, 2024, when the federal district court in Maryland ruled in favor of CAIR and
Palestine Legal’s client, Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Maryland, holding that the university couldn’t cancel their students’ interfaith vigil on Oct. 7, intended to mark one year of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. CAIR also filed a lawsuit in May 2024 challenging the application of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order punishing criticism of Israel on college campuses. In a major win for anti-genocide protesters across the country, on Oct. 29, a federal court in Texas held that government rules generally forbidding students from criticizing Israel are unconstitutional. CAIR is also suing a Maryland school district for allegedly placing three teachers on administrative leave for supporting Palestinian rights.
Edward Ahmed Mitchell, CAIR’s national deputy executive, said while CAIR doesn’t have the finances or resources of the federal government or the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), thanks to consistent support from the community CAIR demonstrates time and again that it can prevail. One thing the opposition doesn’t have is supporters like the people in this room, Mitchell said. Yes, President Joe Biden is still funding genocide and there is more work CAIR must do to ensure no future president will allow another genocide. While many attendees are feeling despair and disappointment in their countrypeople being on the wrong side of history today, Mitchell urged attendees to remem-
United States Postal Service Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation (required by 39 USC 6985 (1) Publication Title: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs; (2) Publication No: 8755-4917; (3) Filing Date: 12/05/24; (4) Issue Frequency: Monthly except Jan/Feb, March/April June/July, Aug/Sept and Nov./Dec. combined (5) No. of issues published annually: 7; (6) Annual subscription price: $29; (7) Complete mailing address of known office of publication: American Educational Trust, 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707; (8) Complete mailing address of headquarters or general business office: American Educational Trust, 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707; (9) Full names and complete mailing addresses of publisher, editor and managing editor: Publisher: Andrew Killgore, 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707, Executive Editor: Delinda Hanley, 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 200091707, Managing Editor: Dale Sprusansky, 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707; Editor: Ida Audeh, 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707; 10) Owner: American Educational Trust, 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707; (11) Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 percent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities: none; (12) The purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes has not changed during preceding 12 months; (13) Publication title: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs; (14) Issue date for circulation data below: Nov/Dec 2024 XLIII v.7 (15) Extent and nature of circulation: (a) total no. copies (net press run): Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 5,300 No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 5,200; (b) Paid and/or requested circulation: (1) Paid/requested Outside-County mail subscriptions stated on Form 3541 (include advertiser’s proof and exchange copies): Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 3,251; No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 3,184; (2) Paid In-County subscriptions stated on Form 3541 (include advertiser’s proof and exchange copies): Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 42, No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date,42; (3) Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors, counter sales, and other non-USPS paid distribution: Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 130, No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 120 (4) Other classes mailed through the USPS: Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months,66 No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 60(c) Total paid and/or requested circulation [sum of 15b (1), (2), (3), and (4)]: Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 3489; No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 3406; (d) Free distribution by mail (samples, complimentary and other free): (1) Outside-County as stated on Form 3541: Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 450; No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date 509; (2) In-County as stated on Form 3541, Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months,405, No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 505; (3) Other classes mailed through the USPS, Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 91, No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 130; (e) Free distribution outside the mail (carriers or other means): Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 1,858; No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 1,974 (f) Total free distribution (sum of 15d and e): Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 1863 Average No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date 2044; (g) Total distribution (sum of 15c and f): Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 4551, No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 4945; (h) Copies not distributed: Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 200; No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date 300; (i) Total (sum of 15g and h): Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 4651 No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 5000 (j) percent paid and/or requested circulation (15c/15gX100): Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months,59%, No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 58%; 16 Electronic Copy Circulation: a. Paid Electronic Copies: Average No. Copies Each issue during preceding 12 months: 380; No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date: 440; Total paid print copies and paid Electronic Copies: Average No. Copies Each issue during preceding 12 months: 3068;Total paid print and Electronic Copies of Single Issue published nearest to filing date: 3168; Total Print Distribution +Paid Distribution: Average No. Copies Each issue during preceding 12 months: 4931; Total paid print and Electronic Copies of Single Issue published nearest to filing date: 5385; Percent Paid (Both Print & Electronic Copies): Average No. Copies Each issue during preceding 12 months: 62%;Total paid print and Electronic Copies of Single Issue published nearest to filing date 58%.
This statement of ownership will be printed in the Jan/Feb 2025 issue of this publication; (17) Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager, or Owner: Delinda Hanley, Executive Director, 12/6/24, I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties). Failure to file or publish a statement of ownership may lead to suspension of second-class authorization. PS Form 3526 October 1999 (Facsimile).
ber that in the past U.S. and South African civil rights leaders continued to hold onto their hope and faith that oppression would end and their country’s laws would change.
CAIR’s gala featured stirring addresses by Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Howard University’s Dr. Altaf Husain. CAIR honored dozens of elected officials, NGO leaders, journalists, students and health professionals who demonstrated courage in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
In a stirring finale, Awad urged attendees to remember they have power and obligations. “As we speak, Israeli fighter jets and tanks are not silent” and the devastation they are causing is “done in our name, with our tax dollars, with our
(Advertisement)
weapons.” For that we are angry, but emotions are not enough, Awad asserted; “We are not helpless.” In November our votes did not stop the genocide, but we did show our government that it cannot continue to ignore our voices. “While many of us don’t welcome the election’s outcome, Democrats caused their welldeserved defeat,” he emphasized. They took the community for granted, but the game has changed forever. No political party owns the American Arab and Muslim vote, and we unlocked our power in key swing states which hold the keys to victory, Awad said. CAIR will continue to expose the lobbies and hold leaders accountable because this movement is unstoppable, he vowed.
To free Palestine we also have to free Congress and the White House, Awad said. We will hold the incoming administration accountable and hold its feet to the fire, he promised. While Congress is targeting non-profits and religious organizations supporting Palestine, “don’t panic,” Awad said. They are trying to intimidate and silence us because they’re insecure and see that Americans are waking up. Instead, double your efforts to defend your rights, use your legal power in the courts and in the streets. “We are on the right side of justice,” he concluded, and the next generation demands unwavering commitment from us today.
—Delinda C. Hanley
ONE YEAR INTO the IsraelU.S. genocidal war on Gaza, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in combat in Tal alSultan in Rafah. For Palestinians (and Arabs generally), he was a man of principle, who spoke clearly and defiantly as he affirmed the right of Palestinians to live free of Israeli domination. Unlike other leaders on a national scale—most recently Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, among many others—he was not assassinated but rather died in combat, an end for which he had expressed a preference. He commanded the militias that roared out of Gaza on Oct. 7, broke through the structure meant to encage them, neutralized Israel’s southern command, captured prisoners of war and took them to Gaza, to use them as bargaining chips to end the siege on Gaza and to release Palestinians in Israeli prisons. That turned out to be the opening salvo in the Palestinian war of liberation.
I read Sinwar’s two-part novel, The Thorn and the Carnation, because I hoped that the text might provide some insight into this remarkable man from Gaza whose movement has defied the Israeli-U.S. genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, now underway for more than 14 months. Sinwar wrote his novel in prison while serving four life sentences, charged in 1989 with killing two Israeli soldiers and some Palestinian collaborators with Israel. He was 27. He had no way of knowing if or when he would be released (although he might have retained hope that he would
By Ida Audeh
be, knowing that the Palestinian resistance never turns its back on its imprisoned cadres), and so he was using the novel to communicate with his countrymen. (As it turned out, he was released in a prisoner exchange in 2011 after serving 22 years of his sentence, an exchange he helped to negotiate.) The novel was completed in 2004, the year Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, founder of Hamas and a wheelchair-bound quadriplegic, was assassinated. For readers today, the ongoing genocide in Gaza provides what amounts to a sequel to the novel; we see a clear trajectory from the events described in the book to the moment we find ourselves in now and that knowledge gives the novel added depth and poignancy.
The novel begins in 1967, when Sinwar’s main character, 5-year-old Ahmad, finds himself living under Israeli occupation; it ends in 2001 or so, during the second intifada. Through the events affecting Ahmad and his impoverished family, Sinwar explores several topics, only a few of which will be mentioned here: direct Israeli occupation and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA); the prison experience; the rise of Islamist activism; the character of the freedom fighter; and the scourge of collaborators.
One senses that Sinwar is attempting to provide a historical record for Gaza’s young population about the brutality of the Israeli occupation: what it was like to live through the Israeli night patrols, the rounding up of men, the extended curfews and the mass destruction of homes in the early 1970s. Gaza was home to a refugee population that needed UNRWA services to survive, but it was also a site of resistance, and neighborhoods developed a system of shouting harmless phrases when Israeli patrols entered
their areas without warning, by way of alerting militants to the threat. He describes the discussions that took place when Israel opened its labor market to Gaza. People weighed their need for income against their rejection of interacting with the occupation in any way; practical needs won out, and soon working in Israel was normalized. Sinwar relays this without moral judgment. Years later, the PLO signed the Oslo Accords, and Sinwar portrays the heated arguments
between the PA supporter and Islamists within Ahmad’s family. Today the battles raging in Gaza and in the West Bank are the inevitable outcome of that shameful sellout.
The Israeli prison system hovers over the lives of the occupied Palestinians. (It has been estimated that about 40 percent of the male population of the occupied territories has spent time in an Israeli prison between 1967 and 2012.) Sinwar describes the torture methods used in the
prisons as well as the practice of using other detainees as informants to extract information in more relaxed conversations in prison spaces. He recounts that by way of explaining the need to remain alert and not let one’s guard down, almost like delivering survival tactics to (young) readers who might find themselves in such situations. The prisons are also sites of political education, organization and resistance, a place where leaders are formed.
Sinwar himself did much more than merely survive in prison—he studied Hebrew and learned it well enough to read biographies of Israeli leaders and to translate text into Arabic. His immersion into the world of Israeli history and biographies made him a match for any Israeli he had to deal with. (Seven months into the current genocide, an Israeli analyst would say, “Sinwar squeezes us like a lemon; he reads the political and military map of Israel better than we do.”)
Today, Israel mass arrests Palestinians and takes them to torture centers, where the extraction of resistance information is of lesser significance than the thrill of torturing Palestinian bodies. In the past, the Israeli population could remain ignorant of the occupation regime’s prisons; but now, Israeli torturers live stream their brutality against Palestinian bodies to sadistic Israeli viewers who clamor for more.
Sinwar’s discussion of student activism offers a fascinating insider’s view of young men charting a political course under conditions of constant threat. Palestinians developed the first university in Gaza when Egypt closed its doors to Palestinian students in the wake of President Anwar Sadat’s normalizing of relations with Israel. Ahmad and his cousin would attend that university, which resembled a high school with a skeletal staff. Several decades later, Gaza could boast 17 higher education in-
stitutions, and by mid-April 2024, all of them had been either completely or partially destroyed, and at least 95 professors had been killed, generally with their families. As Israel’s crimes against Palestinians are tallied, add scholasticide to the crimes of genocide and ecocide.
In the novel, Ahmad’s brother Mahmoud is aligned with Fatah; another brother, Mohammad, is an Islamist; and so is Ahmad’s favorite cousin, Ibrahim. Sinwar does not shy away from depicting the criticism of Islamists in the 1970s: that they did not accept the Palestine Liberation Organization as the representative of the Palestinian people (recognition of which had been a hard-fought struggle) and were slow to take up armed struggle. Israel tolerated their early organizing, seeing the Islamist movement as a tool to splinter the Palestinian population into two antagonistic camps. In Part 2, the Islamists are beginning to make their own weapons and attack Israelis wherever they can—mostly soldiers and settlers, but noncombatants as well. Reading the novel in 2024, as the beleaguered Palestinian resistance led by Hamas forges ahead in year two of a battle against Israel financed by the United States—14 months during which it has prevented Israel from achieving a single war objective—one has to marvel at the evolution of the organization. Today it fights with a range of home-made weapons, and its fighters are creating legends. No other liberation struggle—not Algeria or Vietnam or South Africa—has had to struggle against such staggering odds.
While describing the evolution of the Islamist movement, Sinwar depicts the personal characteristics of the ideal revolutionary in the characters of Ahmad’s role models: his brothers and his cousin Ibrahim. Piety is a key ingredient; so are self-sacrifice, discipline and asceticism. Being a good listener and negotiator are necessary for anyone who aspires to lead. Integrity and having an unwavering moral compass are essential qualities. This depiction initially struck me as somewhat idealized. Upon further reflection, I realized that today’s fighters are providing
the evidence not only of skill and determination on the battlefield but also of a code of conduct unknown to their enemies. Western leaders, pundits and the corporate media demonize or dismiss the Palestinian resistance fighters, but many details in the official narrative of “Hamas terrorism” are contradicted by statements of Israelis or the videos taken by the fighters themselves. For example, some Israeli prisoners released in the initial exchange have had positive things to say
No other liberation struggle has had to struggle against such staggering odds.
about their captors—how they were protected by them during times of intense shelling, treated humanely and fed whatever was available to their captors. When they were released to the custody of the Red Cross, they looked relatively relaxed—at least when compared to traumatized Palestinians released from jail who had clearly lost weight and expressed concern for their comrades in prison because of the sadistic torture they were subjected to.
A recent item published on Resistance News Network purports to be a letter from Israeli captive Alexander Trufanov to the Israeli public, in which he expresses fear that his government will kill him or at best, write him off; he says that “the fighters of Islamic Jihad have saved my life several times to keep me from dying. Some of them were wounded, and others lost their lives while trying to protect me.” And this after the fighters’ own family members have been targeted for extermination.
Another example of the principled resistance of the fighters: in the videos released by the resistance groups, we see what they see, including medical evacuations of wounded and dead Israeli soldiers. (Resistance video clips are shown and discussed during the Electronic In-
tifada’s weekly webcast.) Never do the fighters attempt to impede the evacuations even though they have the Israelis in line of sight. It is truly remarkable, especially when compared with the depraved conduct of Israeli soldiers, executing patients, shooting children in the head, shelling hospitals and raping men and women snatched from the street.
Contending with Palestinian collaborators with Israel is a recurring theme in the novel. As depicted, when evidence of collaboration with the Israeli authorities is confirmed, a social crisis presents itself: the collaborator cannot be allowed to live freely because of the threat he poses to the resistance and to the society at large. In the novel, collaborators were hapless Palestinians who either need movement permits or had committed some moral transgression that made them open to blackmail; today the threat to militants comes from an institution installed to serve the Israeli occupation. Palestinians seethe when learning that PA forces raid refugee camps in search of militants wanted by Israel after these same militants had successfully warded off an Israeli military assault on the camps. Reading the novel as militants in West Bank camps are contending with both Israeli and PA attacks, one understands why Sinwar depicts collaboration with the enemy as a threat that colonized people cannot tolerate.
Yahya Sinwar will be remembered not only for the way he lived his life and the resistance movement he led, but also for the manner in which he met his end: in combat, his head wrapped in a kuffiyeh to hide his identity (he most likely did not want to be captured alive), defiant until the end. Killed by an Israeli soldier who did not recognize him, his body was taken for an autopsy, and the Israelis announced that he hadn’t eaten in three days. That detail, as much as anything he wrote about in his novel, is so characteristic of the man who endured the same hardships as the fighters he led, who described in his novel the lived experience of a nation at the mercy of Israeli-U.S. colonization and who gave his life to the struggle against that brutal regime. ■
All books featured in this section are available from Middle East Books and More, the nation’s preeminent bookstore on the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy. www.MiddleEastBooks.com • (202) 939-6050 ext. 1101
By Ta-Nehisi Coates, One World, 2024, hardcover, 235 pp. MEB $30
Reviewed by Steve France
The Message is a slim book based on brief trips that Ta-Nehisi Coates recently took to Senegal, South Carolina and Palestine/Israel. In October, the book landed in the media like a 2,000-pound “blockbuster,” instantly setting off secondary explosions in the form of high-profile interviews with the celebrated writer, and spawning a stream of commentaries.
The media focused mainly on the position Coates takes in a long, final meditation on his 10 days in Palestine, namely, that Israel is a settler-colonial, apartheid state. This anti-Zionist opinion is one that analysts are used to debating, but Coates isn’t interested in debates. He says early on that he aims to “reach into the hearts of readers and set them on fire” politically, just as he has done in earlier works.
That means getting to the heart of Zionism as a nationalist ideology, and the blueprint for the so-called Jewish state—and demonstrating that it is a sickening manifestation of the scope of Western racism. It also means writing from his personal, subjective point of view, even as he fuses it with close attention to works of history, Palestinian and Israeli memoirs, and current political analysis. Thus, in Chapter One, he describes the racism he felt as a child growing up in a struggling family in the ghetto of West Baltimore, and how becoming a reader transformed his life, fascinating and “haunting” him until he went from reader to
Steve France is an activist, writer and retired lawyer living outside Washington, DC.
writer—from being haunted to being a “ghost” in readers’ minds.
In Chapter Two, he describes personal revelations about racial history that gripped him in Senegal, especially during his visit to Fort Gorée Island, a notorious launching point of the “Middle Passage” slave trade route to the Americas. Coates’ imagination is brought back relentlessly to the shores of America, where whites continue to exalt “white civilization” and denigrate Africans. In Chapter Three, during his visit to South Carolina, he observes nostalgic MAGA white Americans who rage against—and fight to ban—books like his that tell the story of American racism.
Readers are already resonating with powerful depictions of the depth and the adaptability of Western racism—and the weight of cruelty felt by its victims—when Coates tells us what it was like to walk the land of Palestine for the first time: “I suddenly felt I had traveled through time as much as through space.” The Jewish-only settlements he had imagined as “rugged camps” instead squatted upon their hilltops
like big “American subdivisions,” glaring down on the vulnerable, old villages of Palestine. Made to wait endlessly and pointlessly at checkpoints, he noticed “the sun glinting off the shades” of soldiers standing around “like Georgia sheriffs.” He felt as though he was standing in “the one place on the planet—under American patronage—that resembles the world my parents were born into.” The Palestinians and Israelis he met on his tour showed him sights and told him stories that only added to his dismay and disgust.
Some readers may question whether Coates knows enough about Palestine/Israel to make his assertions. Is he just projecting an American vision onto a very different reality? He acknowledges that his visit was very brief, and that there are many things he doesn’t know about “the conflict.” But one big thing he knows very well is racism. He knows it in his guts, has studied it long and hard, and flatly reports that never in his life had he felt its glare “burn stranger and more intense than in Israel.”
Strikingly, he finds that Zionism is “a counter to an oppression that feels very familiar.” The analogy is to the craving for power and ethnic respect that Coates saw drive the Black nationalist ideology his father struggled to advance as a Black Panther leader and a book publisher. Just as Zionism burst forth as a passionate, visionary way to escape European persecution and prejudice, with Palestine as a dream destination, so, American Black nationalists sought to escape from the history of slavery and Jim Crow into a pure Black freedom represented by Africa.
An epigraph to the book quotes James Baldwin: “the intangible dreams of people have tangible effects in the world.” Especially when they come true, he might have added.
The Message connects the dots of these problems in an original and compelling thesis that will give experts on Israel/Palestine much to ponder. At the same time, Coates gives relative newcomers to the issues an eye-opening model of ways to think and feel their way to an understanding of how Israel has come to the point of committing genocide—and has pulled the West along with it.
Edited by Mahmoud Muna and Matthew Teller, with Juliette Touma and Jayyab Abusafia, Saqi Books, 2024, paperback, 336 pp. MEB $21.95
Reviewed
by
Ida Audeh
This volume of essays was collated as an act of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza who have been undergoing Israel’s genocidal war since October 2023. Editors Mahmoud Muna and Matthew Teller state in the Introduction that they hope the book “will be of lasting value in preserving Gaza’s culture and retelling Gaza’s stories…an attempt to amplify marginalized voices and illuminate hidden histories to evoke the spirit of a place under attack.”
The title is taken from 7-year-old Judy, a child who lost family members and all the things she held dear, but remains “absolutely certain that daybreak is near, and that this nightmare will end.”
The short essays capture the voices of dozens of Gazans living through the genocide, as well as survivors of previous Israeli wars on Gaza. The editors wisely intersperse personal accounts, so difficult to read, with more journalistic accounts providing historical, sociological and cultural background of the territory Israel seems determined to obliterate. Entries describe the weaving and embroidery tradition in Gaza; UNRWA’s photo archive; the short-lived Gaza airport; and Gaza’s food traditions. As a whole, the
Ida Audeh is senior editor of the Washington Report
If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose by Refaat Alareer, OR Books, 2024, hardcover, 288 pp. MEB $24.99
The renowned poet and literature professor Refaat Alareer was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City alongside his brother, sister and nephews in Dec. 2023. He was just 44 years old, but had already established a worldwide reputation that was further enhanced when, in the wake of his death, the poem that gives this book its title became a global sensation. “If I Must Die” is included here, alongside Alareer’s other poetry. He wrote extensively about a range of topics: teaching Shakespeare and the way Shylock could be appreciated by young Palestinian students; the horrors of living under repeated brutal assaults in Gaza, one of which, in 2014, killed another of his brothers; and the generosity of Palestinians to each other, fighting, in the face of it all, to be the one paying at the supermarket checkout. Such pieces, some never before published, have been curated here by Yousef M. Aljamal, one of Alareer’s closest friends and collaborators. This collection forms a fitting testament to a remarkable writer, educator and activist, one whose voice will not be silenced by death, but will continue to assert the power of learning and humanism in the face of barbarity.
Forest of Noise: Poems by Mosab Abu Toha, Knopf, 2024, hardcover, 96 pp. MEB $22 Mosab Abu Toha was already a well-known poet when the curr ent assault on Gaza began. After the Israeli army bombed and destroyed his house, pulverizing a library he had painstakingly built for community use, he and his family fled for their safety. Somehow, amid the chaos, Abu Toha kept writing poems. These are those poems. Uncannily clear, direct and beautifully tuned, they form one of the most astonishing works of art wrested from wartime. Here are directives for what to do in an air raid; here are lyrics about the poet’s wife, singing to his children to distract them. Huddled in the dark, Abu Toha remembers his grandfather’s oranges and his daughter’s joy in eating them. Moving between glimpses of life in relative peacetime and absurdist poems about surviving in a barely livable occupation, Forest of Noise invites a wide audience into an experience that defies the imagination—even as it is watched live. This is an urgent, extraordinary and arrestingly whimsical book. Searing and beautiful, it brings us indelible art in a time of terrible suffering.
No One Knows Their Blood Type by Maya Abu AlHayyat, translated by Hazem Jamjoum, Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2024, paperback, 150 pp. MEB $18
No One Knows Their Blood Type is a novel of identity, belonging and conflicting truthsof stories, secrets, songs, rumors and lies. On the day that her father dies, Jumana makes a discovery about her blood type. Hers could not have been inherited from her fatherthe father she sometimes longed for, but always despised. This extraordinary novel centers its narrative not on the battlefield of history, but on how women live every day and the colonial context of their embodied lives. With humor and exhilarating inventiveness, it asks: why aren’t questions of love, friendship, parenthood and desire at the core of our conversations about liberty and freedom? How would this transform our ideas of resistance?
volume offers a depiction of a place that was home to people who are passionately attached to it and are watching it be systematically destroyed. (“We used to mourn for a person, a pet, a beautiful memory…Now, we mourn for all of Gaza.”) We hear their voices and read of their struggles to hold on. The result is haunting and maybe a little enraging, too, that such cruelty has been allowed to persist, to become a chronic situation.
At least 30 essays are written by people who are still in Gaza. Three are posthumous contributions, their essays collected from text messages and journal entries. One of them, Heba Abu Nada, was killed in the first month of the war. Two days before she was killed, she wrote: “If we die, know that we are willing and steadfast, and tell of us that we are a people with a rightful claim.” On the day of her death, she wrote: “Before God, we in Gaza are either martyrs or witnesses to liberation and we all wait to learn where we will fall. We are all waiting, O God. Your vow is true.” If any voices are worth amplifying and remembering, surely it is the voices of the dead.
Some of the accounts deliver a gut punch. It is easy to assume that after living month after month with death never far away, people are reduced to scavenging for food and shelter as they walk wearily from one illusive “safe zone” to another. But that is not all that happens. Consider the words of Asmaa Mustafa, a teacher with 16 years of experience, written on Jan. 31, 2024: Here, we find young children specializing in political analysis. They listen to adults in the shelters. They place events in the context of the nation’s history. They predict what is coming and know how to endure. They discuss current affairs, as history repeats itself and calamities continue to befall this bereaved people. Life in the shelters has taught us patience. We have learned to manage our anger, to console others, to empathize with the poor and the unhoused, to face death. We have learned to bow our heads to no one but God. We have learned how to be free. It has become a cliché, practically, to marvel at the resilience of the long-suffering Palestinians of Gaza, but the sentiments expressed in that excerpt (and in the essays of other writers as well) depict people who have retained their humanity,
their love of life and their sense of community. Astonishingly, no one expresses the rage or bitterness one might expect.
The book also calls attention to Israel’s acts of ecocide and cultural genocide. The essays remind us how wrenching it is to find oneself in a displacement camp in a town where every familiar landmark—mosque, bakery, library, school—has been obliterated. Before reading this book, I didn’t give much thought to the huge role of the sea in Gazans’ lives, as the eternal refuge, the site of family barbecues, the place students went to celebrate the end of their exams. Now the sea brings not refuge, but rather Israeli gunships firing on people desperately holding on to what is familiar, as one account describes.
Editors Mahmoud Muna (manager of Jerusalem’s Educational Bookshop and cultural and political commentator) and Matthew Teller (writer, radio broadcaster and author of Nine Quarters of Jerusalem, among other titles) have pulled together a rich and moving record of a people and a geography that deserve so much more from the world.
By Diana B. Greenwald, Columbia University Press, 2024, paperback, 320 pp. MEB $35
Reviewed by Matthew Vickers
Mayors in the Middle marks the academic debut of Diana B. Greenwald, an assistant professor of political science at the City College of New York. Her book offers a remarkable investigation of Israeli control of the Palestinian Authority (PA)-administered West Bank vis-à-vis municipal politics and governance. The release of this study comes at a time when Mahmoud Abbas’ PA is attempting to leverage its minimal influence over Israel’s invasion of Gaza while hoping that in any post-war settlement, it will not appear to arrive “on the back of an Israeli tank.”
While scholarship on the occupied territories after the signing of the Oslo Accords typically sheds light on the everyday machinations of the occupation and the international bodies that created the occupied territories as we know them, Greenwald’s book is distinct in its restrained focus on municipal
politics, exposing the contradictions and constraints that underlie everyday Palestinian politics. The book’s most significant contribution is its ingenious theorizing of “indirect rule” in the West Bank. Greenwald’s approach, which contrasts with that of other scholars, defines “indirect rule” as “rule carried out in part through collaboration with intermediaries from the ‘native,’ indigenous, or preexisting population.” Indirect rule was a tool of 19th-century European empires, especially the British. For example, during their control of India, the British cemented their de facto rule through the so-called “Princely States,” semi-autonomous enclaves that weren’t formally a part of the directly Britishadministered territories yet were essential in maintaining a colonial presence.
As Greenwald outlines, indirect rule requires a class of indigenous intermediaries to administer the everyday lives of their populations, including through repression. These regimes, tasked with crucial responsibilities in the colonial apparatus, are typically intrinsically unpopular with the indigenous population. The PA, which not only manages some fiscal and administrative responsibilities but also coordinates its security forces with the Israeli military, is an exemplar of such an intermediary.
Palestine has a long history of indirect rule, pre-dating early Jewish immigration in the 20th century and Israel’s seizure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967. The Ottomans, British and Jordanians established complex local governance regimes, allowing for some form of Palestinian administration alongside the dominant state. After the 1967 war, Israel began experimenting
with municipal elections in the West Bank in the hopes of constructing a docile, native ruling elite—an idea that backfired spectacularly within a few years.
By 1976, elections produced a sweep of Palestinian mayors who openly criticized the Israeli occupation, some of whom candidly affiliated themselves with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In the era before the Oslo Accords, Palestinian mayors became significant players in the liberation struggle, combining nationalist politics with nimble city management and administration. Following the passage of Oslo and the inauguration of the PA, Israeli wishes for a cooperative indigenous government came closer to reality. However, nationalist resistance remained well-organized through elections. Opposition parties, including Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and independent politicians continue to contest the established formulas of indirect rule, but have
been continually obstructed by the realities of Israeli occupation.
Greenwald utilizes quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the difficult terrain of Palestinian mayors. Fatah, aware of its reputation as a partner in Israel’s security regime and as a corrupt political actor, often refrains from tax collection and relies on deficit spending. Opposition mayors, especially those affiliated with Hamas, have relied on strict enforcement of tax collection and alternative means of supporting the government, often directly engaging with community members in securing funding and constructing the government. Regardless of who is governing, the constraints of Israeli military rule, faulty administration from Ramallah and the unnerving presence of settlements remain ever-present.
In a particularly illuminating paragraph, a former Hamas mayor (who wished to stay anonymous) described how, after winning an election in 2005 against an incumbent
Fatah candidate, “the municipality fund was almost empty…People with bouncing checks from the municipality were knocking on our door for money…although the check bounced many months before...six months ago and sometimes even a year ago.”
Greenwald’s work will undoubtedly revolutionize the study of local governance in Palestine and most contemporary studies of semi-colonial governance—provoking deep questions surrounding autonomy, agency and forms of governance. Although certain sections may be uncomfortably technical and dense for a casual reader, researchers and academics will find a rich text that balances theory and empirical evidence for its findings.
Matthew Vickers is an undergraduate student at Occidental College, where he is majoring in diplomacy and world affairs. He was an intern at the Washington Report last summer.
www.Otherwords.org
At Mondoweiss, w
r the movements, activists ove e c
fearless, independent journalism is more th year of publication, Mondoweiss’s Now in our 16 the world’s struggles interconnect. resistance and hope – stories that show us all how We cover Palestinians’ stories of occupation, Palestine. in reedom f foor truggl e s h and policymakers who affect t ef
t t a odcas w p e r n u o o e t ubscrib n & s Liste important than ever.
t//ppodcastmondoweiss.net/
Compiled by Jack McGrath and Dale Sprusansky
To the Smoky Mountain News, Dec. 4, 2024
A recent edition of a local paper described the visit of an Israeli envoy to bring relief supplies to our area after Helene.
Yet, the same country, Israel, bombs Gaza daily killing thousands of Palestinians with bombs made in the United States.
At latest count over 44,000 killed, by some estimate more than half are women and children, with daily bombings of elementary schools and hospitals.
They also use their military to block relief aid to starving children. Yet the same Israel, which blocks relief supplies to starving children, sends an envoy to bring relief supplies to one of the richest countries in the world.
What hypocrisy!
Paul Strop, Waynesville, NC
To the Chicago Tribune, Oct. 22, 2024
Money in politics has neutralized the conscience of most members of Congress!
That is why, when much of the public wants accountability for Israel regarding the use of American weaponry in Israel’s massive and continuing attacks in Gaza, the West Bank and now Lebanon, Congress blithely ignores the opportunity to use American leverage.
Lobbyists use money to buy out the moral fiber of our legislators. President Joe
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS
1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVE. NW
WASHINGTON, DC 20500
COMMENT LINE: (202) 456-1111
WWW.WHITEHOUSE.GOV/CONTACT
ANY MEMBER: U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WASHINGTON, DC 20515 (202) 225-3121
Biden knows he cannot, dare not, get Congress to take any action holding Israel to responsible use of our weaponry. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu knows this, too, and continually runs circles around our president and, with his military, defies international law. Thus, we the people, we the taxpayers, end up funding much of the destruction, death, starvation and disease of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank and now the residents of Lebanon.
I remember as a young child that one of my father’s favorite comments at the evening meal was a biblical admonition: “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). We must find a way to end the power of money in politics. The conscience of America and the preservation of humanity are at stake.
Rev. Martin Deppe, Chicago, IL
To The Daily Iowan, Oct. 20, 2024
“To what extent is the University of Iowa participating in Israel’s war on Gaza?”
This was a question posed to me by my students as protesters across the country continue to demand the United States halt weapons shipments to Israel.
The Pentagon invests a staggering $8 billion in higher education, according to the most recent Defense Department R&D expenditure report. And while a lion’s share of this largesse goes to private research institutions, public schools, such as Pennsylvania State University and the University of Texas at Austin, have recently secured lucrative funds for weapon systems
SECRETARY OF STATE ANTONY BLINKEN
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE 2201 C ST. NW
WASHINGTON, DC 20520
PHONE: (202) 647-6575
VISIT WWW.STATE.GOV TO E-MAIL
ANY SENATOR: U.S. SENATE WASHINGTON, DC 20510 (202) 224-3121
research. If you’re wondering about the University of Iowa, it ranks 97th on the list of funding recipients at $16 million.
But the picture is much more complicated when you consider the university’s investment holdings. The UI owns stock in Lockheed Martin, Teledyne, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Palantir, Monsanto, Hanwha Corp and Raytheon. These companies make weaponized drones, cluster bombs, depleted uranium munitions and white phosphorus. Some of these materials are banned by more than 120 countries on Earth.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has used these weapons to decimate institutions of higher education across Gaza. Every university in the territory has been destroyed. Thousands of students and more than a hundred faculty have been killed in the attacks.
To answer my students’ question: yes, the UI is knowingly participating in the war on Gaza.
Stephen Voyce, Iowa City, IA
To the Sandoval Signpost, Nov. 25, 2024
I want to thank Senators Martin Heinrich (D) and Ben Ray Lujan (D) of New Mexico for voting to halt the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel because of its transgressions in the war against Hamas, including Israel’s blocking of U.S. humanitarian aid to Gaza. Unfortunately, despite their courageous votes, the resolutions did not pass.
This spring, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State De-
partment’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration provided an assessment to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, which concluded that Israel was deliberately blocking deliveries of food and medical aid into Gaza. USAID also accused Israel of killing aid workers and bombing ambulances and hospitals.
And in June the global poverty organization Oxfam issued a press release titled, “Famine risk increases as Israel makes Gaza aid response virtually impossible.”
More recently, in October a group of 99 U.S. medical professionals who volunteered in Gaza sent an urgent letter to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The letter asserts that conditions are so dire that malnutrition in pregnant women is resulting in spontaneous abortions, and that babies are starving to death daily because mothers are too malnourished to breastfeed, coupled with a lack of formula and clean water.
The letter also concludes that there is strong evidence of Israel’s “widespread violations” of international humanitarian law.
I encourage Senators Heinrich and Lujan, as well as other members of Congress, to meet with the American healthcare workers who are signatories to this letter in order to obtain a first-hand account of the atrocities that are occurring in the Gaza Strip.
Terry Hansen, Milwaukee, WI
To the Hudson County View, Nov. 25, 2024
Jewish Voice for Peace of Northern New Jersey salutes the city of Hoboken and its mayor, Ravi Bhalla, and city council for their planned raising of the Palestinian flag in a ceremony at City Hall. At this time when people in Palestine are experiencing a tragedy of devastating proportions, it is especially appropriate to show Hoboken’s Palestinian Americans that their neighbors see their humanity.
Astonishingly, there are some who have charged that the flag raising is an anti-Semitic act. To be sure, the world is rife with conflict, with people on opposite sides of
political divides in the larger world. But this discomfort cannot be allowed to prevent us from acknowledging the contributions and value of each of the components of the Hoboken community. Expressing respect and compassion for Palestinians has nothing to do with anti-Semitism.
It is important to emphasize that criticisms of Israeli policy—whether by Jews, Palestinians and countless Americans of all backgrounds—are not motivated by antipathy toward Jews.
Indeed, for many members of Jewish Voice for Peace, it is precisely the Jewish lessons we learned growing up that lead us to oppose Israel’s current treatment of Palestinians. When six million Jews were slaughtered in the Holocaust, we were taught that such horrors should never happen again, not to Jews, not to anyone. We have confidence that the city council will not allow false and weaponized charges of anti-Semitism to be used to prevent recognition of Hoboken’s Palestinian community at a time of its greatest anguish.
Jewish Voice for Peace of Northern NJ
To The Washington Post, Nov. 28, 2024 Imperfect justice is better than none. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant were charged with crimes against humanity, not just war crimes. Arrest warrants were issued not only for Israeli leaders but also for Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif. Though Israel may investigate military wrongdoing, commensurate punishment rarely follows. The editorial board gives too much credence to Israel’s ability to police itself and too little weight to the necessity for the international community to fill the vacuum.
Bruce Fein, Washington, DC
To the Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber, Nov. 29, 2024
Sitting down with family and friends to celebrate a bountiful table and the many
blessings bestowed upon us by God, nature and America’s abundant opportunity, there is a lingering lump in my throat and guilt in my soul.
As we acknowledge these gifts, we also offer up prayers for the less fortunate. But thousands of miles away, our so-called “friends” and “best allies” have been formally accused of horrific acts by the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Just last week the ICC issued warrants for the arrests of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “for the war crime of (employing) starvation as a method of warfare” as well as “the crime against humanity of persecution” for depriving “a significant portion of the civilian population in Gaza of their fundamental rights, including the rights to life and health.”
Behind the hugs and assurances of President Joe Biden and the pandering of Secretary of State Antony Blinken are a chorus of administration officials who have watched an unending string of atrocities unfold in Gaza for more than a year, just as we have on our own televisions. There is literally too much blood, smoke, rubble and misery to catalog. Yet our own leaders continue to draw beige lines in the dust and assure us they are doing everything they can to stop “our friends” in Israel from using the billions of dollars’ worth of planes, tanks, rockets, bombs and bullets we provide them to commit war crimes.
In May, President Biden called the ICC investigation of Israeli war crimes “outrageous.” Last week, the White House said it “fundamentally rejects” the warrants for the arrest of Netanyahu and Gallant. (Unlike 124 other nations, the United States did not sign the Rome Statute establishing the court in 1998.)
Netanyahu has called the warrants “anti-Semitic” and assured the world “Israel will not recognize” their validity.
Netanyahu and Gallant are now international fugitives of the highest order. Do they deserve a prayer at your table this Thanksgiving? I’ll be praying for their arrest. As for Biden, he’s on his own.
John van Amerongen, Vashon, WA ■
The following are individuals, organizations, companies and foundations whose help between Jan. 1, 2024 and Nov. 30, 2024 is making possible activities of the tax‐exempt AET Library Endowment (federal ID #52‐1460362) and the American Educational Trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Some Angels will help us co‐sponsor the next IsraelLobbyCon. Others are donating to our “Capital Building Fund,” which will help us expand the Middle East Books and More bookstore. We are deeply honored by your confidence and profoundly grateful for your generosity. WASHINGTON
Help make sure that the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs will be here for the next generation.
By remembering the Washington Report in your will, you can:
• Make a significant gift without affecting your current cash flow;
• Direct your bequest to a vital purpose—educating readers about U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East;
• Receive a charitable estate tax deduction & Leave a legacy for future generations.
Bequests of any size are honored with membership in the American Educational Trust’s “Choirmasters,” named for angels whose foresight and dedication ensured the future of the Washington Report and Middle East Books and More. For more information visit www.wrmea.org/donate/bequests.pdf, contact us at circulation@wrmea.org, write: American Educational Trust, PO Box 292380, Kettering, OH 45429, or telephone our new toll-free circulation number 800-607-4410.
American Educational Trust
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
1902 18th St. NW
Washington, DC 20009
January/February 2025
Vol. XLIV, No. 1
on Nov.