marwan, Author at CrossFireArarbia

Don’t Forget The West Bank Slaughter!

marwan
October 5, 2024

By Imran Khalid

Amid the ongoing violence and devastation in Gaza, much of the world has turned a blind eye to the equally volatile but less overt conflict simmering in the West Bank. While not as brutally visible as Gaza’s plight, the situation in the West Bank is equally dangerous, threatening to ignite unrest that could destabilize the Palestinian Authority and fuel ethnic cleansing.

Israel has steadily expanded settlements, demolished homes, and seized large swaths of land, targeting civilians in the process. Yet, global attention remains fixated on Gaza and Israel’s escalating war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. It is as if the world has forgotten that just a year ago, many feared the West Bank, not Gaza, would become the primary battleground between Israelis and Palestinians. Over the past two decades, the nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has diverged significantly between Gaza and the West Bank. After Israel’s 2005 unilateral disengagement from Gaza, the region was left without Jewish settlers, creating a different kind of friction compared to the West Bank. [1]

What is happening now in the northern West-Bank is the Gazafication of all Palestinian land.
The Israeli army is attacking with massive troops, including airplanes, and is about to invade a central hospital in Jenin. Early this morning Israel’s Foreign Minister tweeted about the… pic.twitter.com/lirmYax4uA
— MK Aida Touma-Sliman (@AidaTuma) August 28, 2024

Settlements are expanding day by day

On March 22, Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the largest West Bank land seizure since 1993, setting a new course for Israeli settlement policy [2]. The move by Smotrich to declare 800 hectares in the Jordan Valley as state land paves the way for further development of settlements in this area sharing some 50 kilometers with Jordan.

For the Palestinians, who distrust such moves, seeing them as serious threats to the creation of an independent Palestinian state — this feels like a knife in their back. It is the latest land grab that Palestinians see as a last step before creating an independent and contiguous state. Settlement expansion — which set a record last year, according to Israeli monitoring group Peace Now — has cast doubts over the feasibility of a two-state solution. The largest threat to the long term stability of the land is that, with each designation of land as state property, the probability of having peace shrinks. The ongoing expansion of settlements, land confiscation, and rising settler violence — often carried out with impunity — only compound the difficulties. In some cases, this is further exacerbated by the incident in which the Israeli army is providing either direct or tacit support.

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health has stated that 716 Palestinians have died in the West Bank from Israeli military and settler violence since Oct. 7, including 160 children. Today, more than 5,750 have been wounded and over 10,000 detained in siege [3]. Nearly all arrests take place without going through a proper legal process, with the detainees imprisoned under Israel’s “administrative arrest” system – a method that bypasses international standards and in many cases denies those held the right to see either an attorney or even forthright details of the charges against them.

The two-state solution is being destroyed by Israel

The Israeli government is being accused more and more of implementing an annexation plan in the West Bank. The ramifications of this should alarm all nations that have historically supported a two-state solution, as verbal assurances and well wishes do little to mitigate the reality that Israeli security forces now operate at will in Area A — sovereign Palestinian Authority territory under the Oslo Accords [4].

Adding to this escalating tension are the inflammatory statements from Israeli officials. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz over the weekend compared the military operations in Jenin and Tulkarm to those in Gaza, saying that we are at “war in every sense.” [5] His proposal of a similar evacuation process along the frontier where Palestinian civilians could be temporarily moved will only serve to add further fuel to the fire in an already volatile region.

Israel’s assault on the occupied West Bank is the biggest attack since 2002.

The Israeli military has cut off access to food, destroyed vital infrastructure and killed dozens of civilians in a matter of days.

Here’s what Palestinians in the West Bank are facing. pic.twitter.com/qOfG9Y0wjO
— AJ+ (@ajplus) September 3, 2024

Despite domestic political turmoil, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has artfully dodged blame as violence in Gaza and the West Bank rumbles on. He has practically dismissed calls for a two-state solution and openly defied the International Court of Justice. Netanyahu refuses to yield, a position that has crippled the fragile peacekeeping efforts in Gaza and aggravated fears of renewed violence in the West Bank. Netanyahu has now many excuses that could provide convenient cover for changes aimed at further entrenching Israeli control over the region.

The fate of the major part of the West Bank is crucial; without it, any prospective two-state solution will be dashed. Within Netanyahu’s ruling coalition are elements who seem intent on this very outcome, exerting considerable influence over the prime minister. In this context, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz’s inflammatory rhetoric about the West Bank is more than just careless language — it may be a deliberate signal of the government’s intentions. As Netanyahu’s administration edges closer to what appears to be a calculated annexation strategy, the international community should question whether this is not only a consequence of policy but its very purpose.

[1] https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/israel-palestine-gaza-hamas-explained-israels-2005-gaza-disengagement-plan-and-full-siege-order-4466132

[2] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/22/israel-seizes-800-hectares-of-palestinian-land-in-occupied-west-bank

[3] https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/humanitarian-situation-update-204-west-bank

[4] https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240326-israel-s-largest-land-seizure-since-oslo-accords-deals-fresh-blow-to-palestinian-statehood

[5] https://www.timesofisrael.com/katz-slams-borrell-for-saying-he-called-for-displacement-of-west-bank-palestinians/

This opinion is reprinted from the Anadolu news agency.

News

Killing Lebanon!

marwan
October 5, 2024

Opinion

To Great Gaza After 1 Year

marwan
October 5, 2024

By Awni Rajoub

A year has passed, and Gaza is still under fire, burning daily under a barrage of bombs and missiles. A year of total destruction, killing and displacing women, the elderly, and children. More 42,000 martyrs, including thousands of innocent children, fell victim to a war machine that knows no mercy.

Despite all this, and despite the ongoing pain, Gaza is still standing, steadfast, and resisting.

Doesn’t this represent the greatest victory for the human spirit? Doesn’t this express greatness and an invincible sense of belonging to the land and the homeland?

O Islamic nation, the Arab nation, where are you?

Gaza is screaming in pain, under its rubble are children waiting for hope, and its women are burying their sons under the dirt.

In the face of all this destruction, Gaza continues to resist. It resists the most hateful military force the world has ever known. An enemy that does not distinguish between a child, an elderly person, and a woman, an enemy that strikes without mercy, without compassion.

Gaza has no water, no medicine, no food. Yet its people eat the bark of trees and the grass of the earth to stay alive, to remain alive.

But they do not live only to survive, they live to fight. To tell the whole world: We are here, we do not die, we are not defeated.

One year since Israel’s war on Gaza began, more women and children have been killed by the Israeli military than the equivalent period of any other conflict over the past two decades. #CeasefireNOW pic.twitter.com/cwP9mFb7kH
— Oxfam in Jerusalem (@oxfamjerusalem) October 3, 2024

As for you, O Arab nation, O Muslim nation of two billion, where are you from Gaza? Where is your anger? Where is your conscience? Where is your jealousy for your brothers and sisters in Palestine?

While you are swaying with joy and dancing in your streets, Gaza is burying its sons.

While you are silent, Al-Aqsa is being desecrated, and the land is being raped.

Where are you from this? How can you allow yourselves to remain silent in the face of this injustice?

But despite everything Gaza refuses to be broken. Gaza does not ask for pity, it asks for justice.

While it bleeds Gaza is telling the world: Israel is an occupying state, a state that kills children, a state that displaces innocents. Israel deserves nothing but condemnation and isolation from the international community. How does the world accept the continuation of this brutal occupation? How does it allow these crimes to go unpunished?

Gaza, a symbol of pride and dignity, we owe you for standing up despite all the wounds, despite all the pain. You are the one thar remains, your people will remain free.

Thank you Gaza, we have learned from you the meaning of steadfastness. We have learned from you that resistance is not an option, but a duty and a right.

You are dignity, you are hope and the desired

Gaza, Gaza in the heart of every Arab

Gaza, victory and joy in the hearts of all Arabs

Tomorrow is near for those who see it

This article was translated from Jordan24.

News

20 Killed: Israel Bombs Coffee Shop in West Bank

marwan
October 4, 2024

Israeli forces killed at least 20 Palestinians on Thursday after bombing a coffee shop in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm using fighter jets, in the first such attack since the Second Intifada.

At least one missile hit a busy cafe in the al-Hamam neighborhood in the crowded Tulkarm refugee camp late at night as citizens gathered there, local sources reported.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said 18 Palestinians were killed in the attack in an initial estimate.

Opinion

Arabs Wake Up!

marwan
October 4, 2024

Dr. Muhammad Turki Bani Salama

In light of the ongoing brutal Israeli aggression on Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, the Arab and Islamic media arenas are crowded with official statements of condemnation and denunciation yet the situation remains the same. These expressions of concern and repeated warnings have become, in essence, part of a farcical and repetitive political play that does not provide any tangible support or actual assistance to the afflicted peoples. Rather they are empty words to alleviate popular pressures without any actual intention to take effective steps on the ground.

It is ironic these Arab and Islamic countries do not miss an opportunity to declare their support for Palestine and Lebanon in international forums. They are content with a monotonous diplomatic theatrical performance of statements of condemnation and warning without taking any real steps on the ground.

This is despite the number of dead, wounded and displaced who are increasing daily. These countries, especially the ones who normalized with Israel, are not even bothering to sever relations with Jewish state, or even think of imposing any significant economic sanctions on the entity.

On the contrary, some of these countries have increased the volume of trade and economic exchange with Israel since the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Flood battle since last October, as if they fear upsetting their new trading partner, while continue to present themselves to the world as protectors of Arab, Islamic and humanitarian principles and values.

This blatant contradiction between political rhetoric and action on the ground cannot but arouse the astonishment of the Arab and Islamic peoples. How can these countries claim to adhere to the values of Arabism, Islam and humanity, while they turn a blind eye to Israeli violations against the Arab populations of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen?

How can this support and these hollow words be considered real solidarity? The Arab peoples are asking: Where are the actions that reflect these resonant statements on the ground?

What is even more bizarre in this absurd scene is that even the drug dealers in the Maghreb have taken a more serious stance than those countries. By their decision to stop drug smuggling to Israel, they have demonstrated a greater understanding of effective action than many of the nation’s leaders.

أ.د. محمد تركي بني سلامة: النفاق الدولي والخذلان العربي: العدوان الإسرائيلي ومعاناة الشعوب العربية https://t.co/Gu0eQyR0RM pic.twitter.com/gwjfQxk97C
— راي اليوم (@raialyoum1) October 4, 2024

Those who operate in an illegal field have taken a stance that shows that real action can be more effective than any diplomatic statements at Arab summits. If only Arab leaders would learn a lesson from the drug dealers on how to provide support, relief to the distressed and rescue the oppressed.

As for banking on international law and the international community to stop the Israeli aggression, it is a losing bet by all standards. Israel is fully supported by the West, led by the Zionist United States, the head of the snake, and which no longer hides its explicit loyalty to the Zionist project.

While Washington sings the praises of human rights on every occasion, it adopts double-standard policies, turns a blind eye to the flagrant violations of Arab rights, and supplies Israel on daily basis the latest lethal weapons to continue its aggression against the Arab people without deterrence.

Relying on the Security Council or the United Nations for justice and/or stop the aggression is just an illusion and a mirage, closer to waiting for the impossible, because these institutions have proven time and again, they are unable to take any serious position when it comes to Israel.

So the fundamental question here is: Will the Arabs continue to play the role of spectators or will they decide to take serious positions to protect themselves and their interests first before thinking about protecting the rights of the peoples of Palestine and Lebanon?

And can the Arabs ever go beyond mere statements and take actual steps that restore balance in the face of Israeli arrogance? Or have the Arabs left history, geography and the entire political equation, and no benefit can be expected of them?

Only the coming days will reveal the answer but what is for certain now is Arab peoples can no longer tolerate more empty promises and hollow statements. They are waiting for real action that embody a strong political will capable of bringing about change.

In the end, the aggression continues, and with it the official Arab and international silence remains, at a time when the suffering of the Arab peoples in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere increases. These people have no choice but to resist, without expecting someone to appear in this lunatic world to take bold positions and truly stand for justice and humanity, in the face of the Zionist-American barbarism, brutal aggression and ongoing injustice.

The author is a Jordanian academic and a full professor who contributed this opinion in Arabic to Raialyoum.com