Opinion Archives - Page 4 of 22

Talking to Hamas: What is Trump up to?

CrossFireArabia
March 9, 2025

There are not enough leaks about the “backchannel” that began late last month in Doha between Trump’s envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, and leaders of Hamas’ political bureau (reports indicate that the Hamas delegation was led by Khalil al-Hayya). However, what is striking is that these talks coincided with an escalation in threats from both Trump and Netanyahu toward Hamas, warning of a resumption of war and a more severe course of action. Moreover, Israeli security sources indicate that there is a plan to begin the practical implementation of the displacement scheme announced by Trump!

The key question here is what lies behind the Trump administration’s decision to open a secret channel with Hamas at this specific time, especially when negotiations between Hamas and Israel regarding the second phase are stalling. This is particularly intriguing given that the Trump administration has shown a tougher stance toward Hamas than his predecessor, Joe Biden. Moreover, the Doha meetings coincided with Trump receiving a number of former detainees held by Hamas and issuing a strongly worded message, what he described as a serious threat. What is the significance of these parallel and simultaneous steps taken by the Trump administration toward Hamas?

Those close to the Trump administration suggest that this move is nothing more than a “tactical shift” in the US approach without any fundamental changes. The goal is to ensure that Hamas receives the message directly and forcefully, without intermediaries or misinterpretation. This explanation is logical and, in fact, the most likely scenario, as there are no real initiatives or substantial shifts in the US administration’s position. This is especially evident in the fact that the only stance issued by the U.S. National Security Council rejected the Egyptian-Arab proposal, reaffirming President Trump’s commitment to his plan.

So what message did Boehler convey to Hamas leaders? Or, in other words, what is the deal being offered to them? It is clear that the U.S. offer revolves around extending the first phase, or even calling it the second phase, in exchange for the release of all prisoners held by Hamas, including Americans, as well as the safe exit of Hamas and Qassam Brigades leaders from Gaza and the establishment of a long-term ceasefire in the Strip. However, does this include details about the day after the war? It remains unclear whether the U.S. message addressed that issue.

Nevertheless, the American stance remains unchanged, ending Hamas’ rule, disarming the movement, or effectively abandoning its military wing. It is also unknown whether the US has a specific policy if Hamas decides to transition into a political party that adopts peaceful resistance, for example.

Of course, the alternative Trump offers Hamas, should they reject these conditions, is the resumption of war, greater destruction in Gaza, and a forced displacement campaign against Palestinians. But the question that Hamas leaders are likely posing to Trump’s envoy is: What is the value of this threat if, in the end, what you are offering is nothing but the displacement of Palestinians? Why should we accept your terms, release the prisoners, lay down our arms, and leave Gaza if the outcome in both cases is the same? It is unclear whether Boehler had an answer to this question, or perhaps why Trump refuses the Arab plan, which is the most realistic and logical proposal presented so far.

On the other side, an important question arises: Is Hamas’ position unified between Doha and Gaza? There is significant room for interpretation and differences in the language coming from the Qassam Brigades on one hand and Hamas’ political bureau, particularly from one of the movement’s senior politicians, Mousa Abu Marzouk, on the other. It is also unclear whether Khalil al-Hayya is truly authorized to make such a crucial decision for the movement or what the limits of his mandate are. Is there any acceptance of the idea of a safe passage for the movement’s leaders in Gaza or laying down arms and transitioning into a peaceful movement? Or does Hamas still insist on maintaining both political and military strategies despite the severe imbalance of power and the massive destruction inflicted on Gaza and its people? All the choices are harsh and difficult.

Mohammad Abu Rumman is a columnist in the Jordan Times

Opinion

Stranger Than Fiction: Hamas in Trump’s World

Dr Khairi Janbek
March 8, 2025

By Dr Khairi Janbek

We often use George Orwell’s 1984 novel as a metaphor for similar circumstances which we feel we are living in contemporary times. In fairness, many a time, the novel provides an apt description of these circumstances. But a novel which is forgotten or overlooked, is the trilogy of Isaac Asimov – the Foundation – written in the early 1960s. Now, if he meant it to be a prophetic prediction of the future, one is likely to say he has come close to describing our epoch and circumstances.

In Asimov’s trilogy, and in a scientific fictitious world, a mathematical genius creates a world based on laws, order, and controlled emotions, in a sense, a world built on rationality. But suddenly, a mutant emerges, gathering a large following and support, and bent on destroying the existing norms, abolishing order, and breaking all laws. The author, calls it the mutant: The mule. Of course, one is talking here science fiction.

However, if we extrapolate from science fiction into real life, US President Donald Trump can be understood only by shedding the veil of absurdity that surrounds him, as, for all intents and purposes purposes, he is here here to break all the existing norms and order to the extent of firing even those whom have elected him.

As he projects his image on the domestic and international scenes, he comes out not as a president of a reality show but rather as a president of a “parallel” reality show. And what does that essentially mean? To the discerning observer it means that Trump is flip flopping between the two realities.

It was always known that president Trump dislikes multilateral and/or rather negotiations with blocs, whilst maintaining a preference for bilateral negotiations. So in carrying out his style of negotiations, he tends to pick the strongest or the wealthiest potential partners in any bloc to negotiate with. After all he is the one whom coined the dictum, if your rich and powerful then you must be right, but if you are rich but poor and weak, well, it’s your fault.

Consequently, this style of presidency, throws his allies and detractors into total confusion, and even close observers are finding it difficult to grapple with the US presidency bent on striking deals than reaching agreements.

He has no qualms about trying to reach a deal with Iran regarding its nuclear project, when in effect he was the one who tore up the nuclear agreement in the first place, but take note, it was an agreement not a deal.

He came out to negotiate directly with Hamas, though what’s the deal he is proposing, is not really known, but he doesn’t seem to have any qualms about breaking taboos and norms here.

So where does this leave his friends and allies? No man’s land really, in which you just go half way with him.

Dr Janbek is Jordanian writer based in Paris, France.

Opinion

Israel’s Forgotten Story: Palestinian Women Prisoners

CrossFireArabia
March 8, 2025

By Raed Mohammed Mahmood Amer

Since the beginning of the Palestinian struggle, women have played a central role alongside men in resisting Israeli occupation. They have played a key role in all aspects, whether in the phase of preparing and building, or in the battle for liberation. This participation was not limited to the more traditional roles, but formed the essence of the Palestinian struggle.

Despite the growing sacrifices they continue to make, Palestinian women continue to bear the cost of this struggle. Since its inception, Israeli occupation has systematically targeted women through killings, torture, arrests, and other forms of oppression.

As it pertains to arrest and detention, thousands of Palestinian women have been placed in the occupation’s prisons and military detention camps over the past close to six decades. Women have been used as leverage to pressure armed resistance fighters, particularly those related to them. Arrests of their female family members have been used as a form of blackmail aimed at forcing the men to surrender. This abusive policy has only escalated since Oct. 7, amid Israel’s ongoing assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza, Jerusalem, and the West Bank.

Since the start of the genocide, the arrest and detention of Palestinian women has spiked. According to our own data as prisoner’s defense groups, Israeli occupation forces have since Oct. 2023 arrested at least 490 Palestinian women from Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem. These arrests include women from all walks of life—at least 25 university students, six journalists, lawyers, mothers, wives of martyrs, and public figures such as parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar.

In addition, we have clear indications that there are a large number of female prisoners who were arrested from Gaza, that are being subject to the severe crime of enforced disappearances, with the occupation refusing to disclose their identities, the number of women being held, and the location of where they are being held.

Palestinian women currently in Israeli custody are enduring the most violent and dangerous period in the history of the prisoners’ movement. They are enduring a wide array of severe violations that have also been practiced against men. Knowing that women are among the most vulnerable sectors of Palestinian society, the Israeli occupation has weaponized and used women’s bodies against them in an attempt to inflict the most pain possible. These violations include rape, sexual, physical and psychological assault, forced unnecessary strip searches, enforced starvation, and deprivation of female-related necessities among many other things. While women have historically suffered such violations at the hands of occupation authorities, these practices only became severely more frequent and violent since the start of the genocide in Gaza. Countless testimonies of liberated Palestinian women serve as proof to the widespread abuses taking place inside the Israeli occupation’s prisons. The UN acknowledged reports of sexual violence, particularly against female detainees from Gaza.

Some examples of female prisoners

A prominent example is Khalida Jarrar, a Palestinian Legislative Council member. She has endured all forms of abuse by the occupation, including solitary isolation, torture, starvation, and medical neglect. She was placed in solitary confinement for five consecutive months before her release on Jan. 19, 2025 as part of the first batch of a prisoner exchange and ceasefire deal between the occupation and the Hamas movement. Among the worst violations that Jarrar faced was being denied the chance to attend the funeral of her daughter, who passed away while Khalida was in prison. Israel robbed Jarrar of her ability to bid her daughter farewell, like many other prisoners before and after her.

Another tragic example is the case of Israa Jaabis, who suffered severe burns on her body during her arrest. The Israeli authorities denied her medical treatment, exacerbating her already severe suffering. Additionally, female prisoner Hana Shalabi has been arrested and tortured several times. She went on a 44-day hunger strike in protest of being held without trial or charge, also known as administrative detention, amid the harsh conditions in Israeli prisons. Such cases highlight the magnitude of violations faced by Palestinian female prisoners, where the occupation shows no concern for the lives of these detainees.

Despite these grave violations faced by Palestinian women in Israeli prisons, international human rights organizations and institutions remain silent in the face of these abuses. The international community has not made any serious efforts to hold the Israeli occupation accountable or exert pressure on it to halt these inhumane policies against Palestinian female prisoners. Palestinian female prisoners are enduring an ongoing journey of suffering, and their plight is a part of the unending violations of the occupation. Palestinian women continue to await freedom, hoping justice will prevail.

The writer whose article appeared in Anadolu, is president if the Palestinian Prisoners Association.

Opinion

How do You Stop Israel’s New War?

CrossFireArabia
March 6, 2025

As Israel’s forces intensify their assault on the occupied West Bank, concerns are mounting over its broader objectives, further territorial expansion, forced displacement of Palestinians, and the gradual annexation of the occupied land.

Israel has killed more than 64 Palestinians, arrested at least 365, displaced hundreds of thousands and destroyed scores of homes and properties in the occupied West Bank since it launched its operation, the “Iron Wall,” on January 21, just days after a ceasefire took effect in the Gaza Strip.

For the first time in more than 20 years Israel deployed tanks in the West Bank and Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the army will remain in some refugee camps “for the next year.”

Since the start of the operation by the Israeli forces on January 21, several refugee camps have been nearly emptied of their residentsand over 5,000 Palestinian families have been displaced by the ongoing Israeli attacks in the West Bank according to the Palestinian government.

Starting in Jenin Camp, the operation has expanded to Tulkarm, Nur Shams, and El Far’a refugee camps and led to the displacement of more than 40,000 Palestine refugees.

As well, the occupation forces stormed several towns, including Idhna, Al-Shuyukh, and Beit Awa in Hebron, as well as the Al-Disha and Aida camps in Bethlehem, the Al-Mughayyir and Birzeit towns in Ramallah.

Israeli troops also raided the Amari camp in Al-Bireh and the Airport Street area in the Kafr Aqab neighborhood, located north of Jerusalem.

As the operation is spreading across most West Bank cities and refugee camps, analysts say that Israel’s long-standing aim to annex the occupied Palestinian territory is now more evident than ever and that it plans to annex the West Bank, squeeze the Palestinians into the smallest areas possible, particularly to expel them from Area C,referring to the division that makes up some 60 per cent of the Palestinian territory.

The use of air strikes, armored bulldozers, controlled detonations, and advanced weaponry by the Israeli forces has become commonplace, a spillover of the war in Gaza.

Such militarised approaches are inconsistent with the law enforcement context of the occupied West Bank, where there have been at least 38 airstrikes in 2025 alone.

Jenin Camp stands empty today, evoking memories of the second intifada and this scene stands to be repeated in other camps.

On the other hand, as the Israeli operation escalates, illegal settlers push further into Palestinian territories as

Area C -over 60 per cent of the West Bank- is basically what the Israeli settler movement and the Israeli state view as ultimately theirs.

Besides, they are creeping into Area B, which constitutes approximately 22 per cent of the West Bank.

The illegal settlers are backed by the Israeli state, which provides them with military, economic, and political support across the political spectrum, not just from right-wing factions.

Since the start of the onslaught against the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, at least 927 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In January, the Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now warned that Israeli authorities were planning to approve the construction of 2,749 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank.

The group said 2025 could see “record numbers” of settlement expansions, an average of 1,800 units per month.

On its part, the International Court of Justice declared in July that Israel’s long-standing occupation of Palestinian territories is “unlawful,” demanding the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reiterates that civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times and that collective punishment is never acceptable.

However, under the Knesset laws implemented on January 30, UNRWA no longer has any contact with the Israeli authorities, making it impossible to raise concerns about civilian suffering or the urgent need for the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

UNRWA, the main agency providing humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the refugee camps, has been banned by Israel to operate in East Jerusalem and now in the West Bank which is having a huge impact on the well-being of people, and on the economic situation.

This puts at grave risk the lives of Palestine Refugees and the UNRWA staff that serve them.

Israel has long tried to eliminate the UN agency, which enshrines the right of Palestinian refugees to return home.

Israel’s aggressive assault on the refugee camps and the UNRWA, aligns with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s goal “to end the concept of a Palestinian refugee”.

Moreover, the ongoing West Bank operation is seen as part of Israel’s plan to establish an exclusively Jewish state and recent reports surface that Israel is preparing to set up a military base in the Jenin camp, a part of its strategy to eliminate the refugee identity.

All of Israel’s actions and policies throughout the last several decades have been geared toward the ultimate goal of creating a Greater Israel across all of historic Palestine.

Najla M. Shahwan is a Palestinian author, researcher and freelance journalist. Author of 13 books in literature and a children story collection. Chairwoman of the Palestinian Center for Children’s Literature (PCCL). Founder of Jana Woman Cultural Magazine. Recipient of two prizes from the Palestinian Union of Writers. She contributed this article to The Jordan Times.

Opinion

Israeli Prisons: Places of Torture

CrossFireArabia
March 5, 2025

Since its establishment, Israel has been accused of policies aimed at displacing Palestinian communities and altering the demographic landscape of the occupied territories. The occupation has employed lethal tactics against Palestinians including killings, torture, and arrests. Since 1967, over 1 million Palestinians have been prosecuted under Israel’s military court system and subjected to detention.

For decades, Palestinian political prisoners have been used by the Israeli occupation as bargaining chips during negotiations of the so-called “peace process.” They have exercised all forms of brutality and torture against Palestinian prisoners in interrogation and detention centers in an attempt to extract confessions – whether true or false – by force, using both psychological and physical methods against them, in a blatant disregard for international law and countless international treaties and laws related to human rights. The current level of abuse, torture, and maltreatment of Palestinian detainees is unprecedented in terms of scale and frequency.

After Oct. 7, 2023, Palestinians saw a severe spike in the occupation’s long-standing violent policies and practices. The crisis extends beyond Gaza. Reports indicate systematic abuses within Israeli prisons and military camps, amounting to crimes against humanity, as defined under international law. At least 58 Palestinian political prisoners, including 37 people arrested from Gaza, have been murdered and martyred in the occupation’s custody since Oct. 7, 2023, including through torture, lethal beatings, starvation, and severe deprivation of medical treatment. The 58 people killed are only the ones whose identities have been revealed by the occupation. Dozens more have been killed and subject to enforced disappearance in Israeli custody with authorities refusing to reveal their identities. All of this is occurring amid international inaction, with the UN, and international human rights institutions and bodies, proving their inability to protect the Palestinian people and their rights.

Enforced disappearance and mass arrests

It is worth mentioning that Israeli occupation authorities are committing the severe crime of enforced disappearance against thousands of Palestinian detainees who have been arrested from Gaza since the start of the genocide, particularly from the beginning of the ground invasion. Thousands of civilians, including men, women, and children, have been abducted from different parts of the Gaza Strip, as well as thousands more who were working as laborers in the 1948-occupied territories prior to the outbreak of the war.

The crime of enforced disappearance is one of the main features of the genocide that went on for close to 500 days. Additionally, dozens of medical personnel were targeted with arrests during the Israeli army’s repeated invasions of hospitals, the largest of which was the invasion of the Shifa Hospital. Numerous videos circulated on social media showing Palestinian detainees in degrading conditions, including being stripped naked, blindfolded, and shackled in overcrowded spaces. Many were forced into tight groups in open areas, on the streets, and in military transport vehicles while restrained and exposed. They appeared in conditions that were highly degrading to human dignity and showed a severe disregard and contempt for Palestinian lives.

The Israeli judicial system has contributed to cementing the crime of enforced disappearance, further enabling the use of torture against detainees who were abducted from Gaza. Thousands of detainees from the strip were arrested and detained based on the “illegal combatants” law issued by the Knesset (Israeli parliament) in 2002, which fundamentally violates fair trial procedures and human rights. At the start of the genocide, the occupation made legal amendments to the “illegal combatants” law, which is similar in nature to its “administrative detention” military order used in the occupied West Bank.

Among the most significant amendments made to the illegal combatants law were as follows: Extending the detainee’s initial detention period for 45 days, judicial review after 75 days, and prohibition of detainees from meeting with their lawyers for 180 days. It is important to note that since the start of the genocide, the occupation has continued to refuse to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit detainees and prisoners in jails and camps as per its mandate. These amendments further institutionalized policies associated with enforced disappearance, as Israeli authorities continue to withhold information on detainees from Gaza, including their identities and locations. As a result, several human rights organizations filed petitions to the Israeli Supreme Court demanding the identities of the detainees and their places of detention. In every instance, the Supreme Court affirmed its long-standing role as a fundamental tool in cementing crimes against Palestinians.

To this day, there is no clear or accurate information about the total number of Palestinians arrested from Gaza, including women and children, nor about the martyrs who were killed through torture or executions. The only available data, up until the beginning of February 2025, shows that at least 1,882 Palestinians arrested from Gaza are categorized as “illegal combatants,” and this data does not include all of the detainees held in military camps.

Prisoner rights groups highlighted that the occupation built and restored special military camps used to detain Palestinians abducted from Gaza, alongside the existing central prisons. Among the most notorious of these military camps was the Sde Teiman camp, where detainees were subject to severe sexual assault, including rape. Other military camps being used to hold detainees from Gaza are the Anatot and Ofer camps, which have also witnessed extreme violations against Palestinian prisoners. In November 2023, when the occupation began releasing laborers from Gaza who had been held in Israel’s military camps, the prisoners’ testimonies began to reveal the level of inhumane and humiliating violations they endured. This included severe beatings, starvation, dehydration, denial of medical treatment, and keeping detainees blindfolded and handcuffed 24/7, causing many of them to need limb removal surgeries.

As time went on and more prisoners were released from Israeli custody, the testimonies only increased in terms of how horrific and shocking the crimes being committed were. The images of the detainees upon their release serve as a living testimony to the unfathomable violations committed against them. These revelations continued through several reports and journalistic investigations conducted about the Sde Teiman camp, including the leaking of a video showing soldiers gang-raping a Palestinian detainee.

International responsibility

As the genocide continues, some legal teams and human rights lawyers have been allowed limited access to a small portion of Gaza detainees. Their reports confirm systematic crimes, including extrajudicial executions, torture, and enforced disappearance. In this context, the Israeli occupation is employing the severe crime of enforced disappearance against thousands of detainees abducted from Gaza, which constitutes a crime against humanity according to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. This convention defines enforced disappearance as “the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.”

We reiterate our call to the international human rights system to overcome its ongoing impotence in the face of this genocide, and to take clear decisions and actions to hold the Israeli occupation accountable. This all-out war and aggression against our people, including those held in the occupation’s military camps and central prisons, must be halted now, and not a second later.

Raed Mohammed Mahmood Amer is the president of the Palestinian Prisoners Association and wrote this article for the Anadolu news website.