CrossFireArabia
This 10-year-old Palestinian girl, Rasha, left her will before she was killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted their home in the Gaza Strip. Rasha bequeaths that her clothes be distributed to those in need and that her belongings be shared among her female cousins.
CrossFireArabia
Mahmoud Khalil, an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent and a US green card holder, is facing deportation after being arrested by federal immigration officials on March 8.
A leader of student protests at Columbia University, Khalil’s arrest has been described by US President Donald Trump as the “first of many” as his administration ramps up its crackdown on campus opposition to the Gaza war. But a federal judge has temporarily halted the 30-year-old’s expulsion from the US.
As a legal permanent resident, Khalil was detained without a warrant by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials as he and his wife were returning to their Columbia University-owned apartment in upper Manhattan.
The agents initially claimed his student visa had been revoked, but after Khalil’s wife provided proof of his green card status, they stated that his green card was also being revoked and took him into custody.
DHS justified Khalil’s arrest by citing his involvement in “activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organisation,” under the framework of Trump’s executive orders aimed at “prohibiting anti-Semitism.”
“Khalil’s case has been the most publicly known case of an arrest by DHS officials of a pro-Palestine protester from a college campus or a university campus” said Meghnad Bose, a Delacorte Fellow at the Columbia Journalism Review, and one of the journalists who broke the news of the arrest.
A recent graduate from the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), Khalil was a prominent figure during the 2024 Columbia University pro-Palestinian campus occupations.
He acted as a spokesperson and negotiator for demonstrators who condemned Israel’s military actions in Gaza and advocated for the institution to sever financial ties with Israel and companies supporting the genocide.
Recently, Khalil was among the pro-Palestinian activists investigated by a new disciplinary body at Columbia University established to address harassment and discrimination complaints.
Days before his arrest, an online campaign targeting Khalil was launched by pro-Israeli groups and individuals, including Columbia Business School professor Shai Davidai, who called for his arrest and deportation.
These posts tagged U.S. officials such as President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“That is definitely a suspicious turn of events. Was the DHS conducting its own investigation into Khalil prior to all of this? Or were they just acting on cue based on what these pro-Israel groups and individuals posted online?” Bose said.
Initially believed to be in a New Jersey facility, Khalil was confirmed to be at LaSalle Detention Centre in Louisiana on March 10. On the same day, Judge Jesse M. Furman ruled that Khalil cannot be removed from the US without court approval.
The actions against Khalil coincided with the Trump administration’s decision to cancel around $400 million in federal grants to Columbia University, citing the “failure to protect Jewish students from anti-Semitic harassment.”
The university’s response to Khalil’s arrest has been criticised for its lack of transparency and action.
The day before the arrest, Khalil emailed Columbia interim president Katrina Armstrong: “Since yesterday, I have been subjected to a vicious, coordinated, and dehumanising doxxing campaign led by Columbia affiliates Shai Davidai and David Lederer who, among others, have labelled me a security threat and called for my deportation.”
He continued, “I have not been able to sleep, fearing that ICE or a dangerous individual might come to my home. I urgently need legal support, and I urge you to intervene and provide the necessary protections to prevent further harm.”
Reports surfaced of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents being spotted on campus throughout the week of the arrest. In response, Columbia University issued a memo over the weekend advising faculty and staff not to interfere in “exigent circumstances” when ICE agents seek access to university buildings or individuals without a warrant.
Khalil’s arrest has sparked a wave of protests on campus, with students, including Jewish ones, rallying in opposition to DHS’s actions, demanding that ICE be removed from university premises.
“Especially vulnerable are the international students, because many of them feel that if they post on social media now, if they attend a protest, they might end up being deported,” Bose said, raising concerns about the right to protest within university communities.
Khalil’s arrest also seems to be part of a broader political strategy targeting universities.
“This is happening specifically to someone who is Palestinian and who stood up for the rights of Palestinians in Gaza. So this is not just a cause agnostic free speech issue,” he added.
Donald Trump has frequently targeted Columbia University for its students’ advocacy for Palestinian rights in Gaza, including during his electoral campaign.
“The Gaza Solidarity encampment at Columbia inspired similar encampments not just across the United States, but across the world,” he said.
“It seems rather clear that they [the Trump administration] want to make Columbia [an] example for communities of students and faculty around the country, that even an Ivy League University in New York City will not be spared the wrath of the American government for having protested against the policies of the American government as it relates to Israel.”
This report is written by Francesca Maria Lorenzini for the Jordan Times
CrossFireArabia
Bahrain, with its shallow waters and rich oyster beds, has long been synonymous with pearls, which formed the backbone of the island nation’s economy for thousands of years. Diving for pearls, otherwise known as pearling, remains part of the country’s cultural DNA.
“I always say that all Bahrainis have pearl diving in their blood,” Mohamed Alslaise, a pearl diver and field researcher for the Bahrain Institute for Pearls and Gemstones (DANAT) tells UN News. “Almost all the families that moved from the Arabian Gulf or Iranian coast to Bahrain were divers.”
Mr. Alslaise is passionate about preserving and reviving this age-old tradition, notes that many families in the Gulf nation have a member who was either a pearl diver or contributed in some way to the pearl diving industry.
Pearling in the Persian Gulf shaped Bahrain’s economy for thousands of years but, following a peak around the turn of the 20th century, the perfection of cultured pearls by Japan in the 1930s caused a sharp and devastating decline in the industry.
Khaled Salman, a diver since the 1970s, explains that while diving continues, it’s no longer done in the old way.
UN Video/Hisae Kawamori
Bahraini diver, Mohamed Alslaise extracting pearls from oysters.
“Nowadays, larger quantities are extracted due to advancements in technology, allowing divers to stay underwater for longer periods. In the past, a diver would stay underwater for four minutes, but now scuba divers can remain underwater for an hour or more.”
Due to lower pearl prices, Salman notes, “Many people don’t sell the pearls they extract; they store them until prices rise and then sell them to traders in Bahrain.”
Some pearls are used in local industries, while others are marketed outside Bahrain. He also highlights three types of pearls: synthetic, cultured, and natural, adding that “distinguishing between these types requires experience and modern equipment.”
The decline in pearling also affected Bahrain’s shipbuilding industry. Abdulla, a designer of wooden ships and boats for over 35 years, shares his perspective: “Bahrain is famous for its shipbuilding industry, which was integral to pearling. There are several types of ships, varying by design, but now smaller ships are used for pearling due to decreased demand.”
The wood for shipbuilding is imported from Africa and Singapore, and, says Abdulla, the lifespan of a ship can extends beyond 100 years.
UN Video/Hisae Kawamori
Abdulla, a designer of wooden ships and boats for over 35 years.
“Most Bahraini traditions are connected to the pearl diving industry. For instance, the pearl diving songs,” says Mr. Alslaise. “The folklore of pearl diving has been passed down for generations. We still sing the same songs, which were originally sung to boost morale on the boats.”
Bahrain’s historic pearling site, known as the Pearling Path, has been inscribed as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The site testifies to the pearling tradition and the wealth it generated in the Gulf region for millennia.
According to UNESCO, the area consists of 17 buildings in Murharraq city, three offshore oyster beds, part of the seashore and the Qal’at Bu Mahir fortress on the southern tip of Muharraq Island, from where boats used to set off for the oyster beds.
There are shops, storehouses, a mosque, and the homes of wealthy merchants in the area. According to UNESCO, the location is the only complete example of the pearling cultural tradition and the wealth it produced during the period when the Gulf economy was dominated by trade from the second century until Japan developed cultured pearls.
It also constitutes an outstanding example of traditional utilization of the sea’s resources and human interaction with the environment, which shaped both the economy and cultural identity of the island’s society.
UN News/ Abdelmonem Makki
A band performing a pearl diving song in Bahrain. The folklore of pearl diving has been passed down for generations.
“I am one of the people who fell in love with pearl diving without any guidance from my parents or family,” Mr. Alslaise. “The generation before us was not allowed to dive when they were young because, after oil was discovered, all the jobs shifted to the oil industry.”
According to Mr. Alslaise, since 2017, when Bahraini authorities introduced pearl diving licenses, many people who signed up had no prior knowledge of pearl diving.
“Now, seven years down the line, many Bahrainis have reconnected with this heritage. Over 1,000 divers are now registered and dive regularly to create an income for themselves.”
