palestine news and politics

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/15689992

The U.S., Israel’s top ally, said it instead hopes to broker a cease-fire and hostage-release agreement between Israel and Hamas, and envisions a wider resolution on the war sparked by the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called Hamas’ demands “delusional.”

Netanyahu also opposes Palestinian statehood, which the U.S. calls a key element in a broader vision for the normalization of relations between Israel and regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia. His Cabinet adopted a declaration Sunday saying Israel “categorically rejects international edicts on a permanent arrangement with the Palestinians” and opposes any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu has vowed to continue the Gaza offensive until Israel achieves a “total victory” over the Hamas militant group and plans to expand it to Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where more than half the enclave’s 2.3 million Palestinians have sought refuge.

Obviously the US can stop Israel. The Biden administration is simply choosing not to. However this is an interesting read so I'm posting it.

Israel's cabinet has unanimously voted on a measure which opposed what it called the "unilateral recognition" of Palestinian statehood.

"Israel rejects outright international dictates regarding a permanent accord with the Palestinians. An accord, should it be reached, will only come through direct negotiations between the sides, without preconditions," the formal Israeli statement said, according to the prime minister's office.

"Israel will continue to oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. Such recognition in the wake of the October 7th massacre will grant a huge, unprecedented reward to terrorism and prevent any future peace accord," it added.

“What’s happening in the Gaza Strip isn’t a war, it’s a genocide,” Lula told reporters in Addis Ababa where he was attending an African Union summit on Sunday.“ It’s not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It’s a war between a highly prepared army and women and children,” added the Brazilian “What’s happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people hasn’t happened at any other moment in history. Actually, it has happened: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/15647589

On Friday, protesters fired flares in the air and demanded Netanyahu step down. Mounted police and trucks blocked their way. Demonstrators blame the prime minister for the security failures leading to the Hamas attack on Israeli communities on Oct. 7 — when authorities here say militants killed 1,200 people — as well his handling of the war in Gaza and the hostages since.

“Netanyahu has to leave or we’ll never get the hostages home,” said Karen Beltz, a Tel Aviv film producer. She said the protests were beginning to swell, but were still not as large or angry as the anti-government demonstrations that rocked Israel for months last year.

It's from January 17. I assume numbers have only gotten worse.

Perhaps the most astonishing response Israel has offered to South Africa’s genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Israel has the “most moral army in the world” and that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) make every effort to avoid harming non-combatants. Two weeks before Netanyahu made this statement, the Switzerland-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported that Israel had killed 29,124 people in Gaza. Of these, 26,706, a shocking 92 percent, were civilians. This suggests that it is not just a matter of Israel failing to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants; it is that it increasingly appears as though Israel is deliberately trying to kill as many civilians as possible, with an added bonus if Hamas fighters are eliminated along the way. According to a US doctor in Gaza, Israeli snipers are routinely executing Palestinian children with single shots to their heads. Medical workers, patients, and displaced civilians have endured similar fates.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/15630816

AMMAN — Seventyfive years into the Palestinian “Nakbah”, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has taken the responsibility to provide humanitarian aid to Palestine Refugees across the region.

Director Marketing Communications Widian Othman said that “UNRWA acts as a miniature government within the refugee camps”, emphasising the agency’s indispensable role.

“Without UNRWA, the essential lifelines for refugees would vanish as the agency oversees everything from street cleaning to health and education, effectively mirroring the comprehensive services provided by the government to ensure the well-being of those residing in the camps,” she said.

https://archive.ph/hsZ58

https://archive.ph/Mbvjb

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/12072489

Prominent Black Church Leaders Call for End of U.S. Aid to Israel https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/16/us/ame-church-us-israel-aid.html?smid=nytcore-android-share