As the world turns its attention to the pandemic, Israel is moving forward with military raids

As the world turns its attention to the pandemic, Israel is moving forward with military raids

Human Rights observers and media should divide their attention between the coronavirus and the conflict in Palestine

by InfoBrics

March 26, 2020

Submitted by InfoBrics, authored by Lucas Leiroz, research fellow in international law at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro…

The West Bank situation is becoming increasingly complicated amid the coronavirus pandemic and territorial disputes between Palestinians and Israelis. At first, the Palestinian Authority and Israel showed signs of cooperation in combating the pandemic. A few weeks ago, joint measures were announced between both sides to contain the epidemic of the new coronavirus in the region. The measures include distribution of cleaning and personal hygiene materials, in addition to virus testing kits and medical equipment.

On the part of Tel Aviv, the total closure of the West Bank was promoted, allowing, however, access for Palestinian workers involved in the construction and agriculture sectors to the Jewish state, which is why the proposal was well accepted by Ramallah. On the part of the Palestinians, the West Bank has also been blocked, but only partially and for two weeks, since last Sunday (March 22), in addition to the implementation of a series of control and quarantine measures.

Larry Romanoff -- Gaza: Murdering Children for Sport

Gaza: Murdering Children for Sport

By Larry Romanoff

Global Research, March 12, 2020

Region: Middle East & North Africa

Theme: Law and Justice

In-depth Report: PALESTINE

Ayman Mohyeldin was an Egyptian reporter for al-Jazeera English who had covered dozens of major events in the Middle East for many American and other networks. His reputation was enormous, and his reporting on the Israeli assault on Gaza was such a stellar journalistic performance that NBC “aggressively pursued him to leave Al Jazeera, paying him far more than the standard salary . . .” His new assignment for NBC was to cover Israel and Palestine, a task greatly assisted by his ability to speak Arabic and his intimate knowledge of the Middle East and its history.

But in July of 2014 Mohyeldin was abruptly removed from NBC by David Verdi, a top NBC executive, who ordered Mohyeldin to leave Gaza immediately. NBC attributed Mohyeldin’s removal to unspecified “security concerns”, but there was an additional factor at play. (1)

Mohyeldin had been playing soccer on a beach with four small Palestinian boys, and had no sooner backed away from them, and was not so many meters distant from them, than an Israeli gunboat which had been monitoring them from a short distance offshore, fired an artillery shell directly into the group of boys, blowing them all to bits. Mohyeldin had witnessed the deliberate murder of four small Palestinian boys by the Israeli military and submitted a full report to NBC who scuttled his report to replace it with a different version presented by his replacement. (2) (3) (4)

But it was too late. Mohyeldin had already posted on social media photos of the boys, their names, and the game, and was so distraught at what he had seen that he had already posted graphic evidence on the same social media of the event he had just witnessed. If not for his instinctive actions, the event would never have been known. (5) (6) (7) (8) (9)

But this was nothing.

Hans Stehling -- Trump, Pence & Pompeo, the Gang of Three, Claim Criminal Theft of Palestinian Land to be Lawful!

 Trump, Pence & Pompeo, the Gang of Three, Claim Criminal Theft of Palestinian Land to be Lawful! 

By Hans Stehling

Global Research, January 29, 2020

Region: Middle East & North Africa, USA

Theme: Law and Justice

In-depth Report: PALESTINE

A masked Palestinian protester sets tires on fire during clashes with Israel forces as they protest Middle East peace plan announced Tuesday by US President Donald Trump, which strongly favors Israel, at Beit El checkpoint, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Wednesday, Jan 29, 2020 (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Israeli border police arrests a Palestinian ahead of a protest against Middle East peace plan announced Tuesday by US President Donald Trump, which strongly favors Israel, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Jan 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

As the jumped-up, self-proclaimed, blonde new ruler of the world gives away half the Palestinian West Bank to the current Israeli military occupier, the world watches in amazement at the idea that this unbalanced popinjay – currently facing impeachment – could possibly be elected for a second term.

What on Earth happened to integrity and the rule of law?  What happened to the Geneva Conventions? What happened to the NPT? What has happened to America? How is it possible that the world has to succumb to the unlawful activities of the Gang of Three: Trump, Pence and Pompeo?

The idea that this dangerously out-of-control  triumvirate is allowed to continue to trample on international law by overturning hundreds of years of legal consensus around the world, is a frightening indication of corrupt government and leadership.

The activities of the Gang of Three becomes more bizarre every day as they configure both America and the world to their own personal advantage. It is reminiscent of the recent rape of South Africa by the Gupta family.

Who would have believed that after Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Reagan and Obama, the American people would then make the gigantic error of electing a hotel developer with no political experience to run the most powerful state in the world? A man who cannot read and write but is adept at tweeting and philandering.

This political aberration must be dealt with once and for all by the electorate.

Time is now of the essence as the nuclear clock is already now at two minutes to midnight.    These are very dangerous times. The clowns must go otherwise the United States will eventually mirror lame-duck South Africa – a country hugely rich in natural resources but now near to collapse, and that, for America, would be a complete tragedy for the entire world.

Annexation of the Palestinian West Bank is unlawful and a criminal act of the Israeli state in collusion with the Gang of Three in the White House. The international community must condemn and reject such acts of forced colonisation. This is 2020 not 1936.

RÉSEAU VOLTAIRE -- Révélations sur le « Deal du siècle »

Révélations sur le « Deal du siècle »

RÉSEAU VOLTAIRE | 2 JANVIER 2019 

Fin octobre 2018, Avigdor Lieberman, qui était alors ministre israélien de la Défense, a dévoilé à l’Autorité palestinienne les principes du plan de paix états-unien pour le conflit israélo-palestinien, annonce le journal saoudien Al-Hayat.

 La souveraineté du Peuple palestinien serait reconnue, mais elle ne serait pas liée à un territoire.
 La Cisjordanie et Gaza seraient traités distinctement : une petite partie de la Cisjordanie resterait sous la responsabilité de l’Autorité palestinienne, tandis que la majorité de son territoire actuel serait rattachée à la Jordanie ; Gaza passerait sous contrôle égypto-qataro-saoudien.
 L’essentiel de Jérusalem-Est passerait sous contrôle israélien.
 Des milliards de dollars des pays du Golfe seraient investis dans les Territoires palestiniens pour permettre leur essor économique.

Selon Avigdor Lieberman, le plan US est à prendre ou à laisser, pas à négocier.

L’Autorité palestinienne a dénoncé un complot états-unien.

Le Hamas a commencé à recevoir de l’argent du gouvernement israélien via le Qatar.

Le gouvernement israélien s’est divisé sur la réaction à adopter. Avigdor Lieberman a démissionné le 14 novembre et des élections anticipées ont été convoquées pour avril 2019.

As Far as the White House is concerned, Palestine no longer exists

For the U.S. Palestine No Longer Exists: Trump Regime Closes Jerusalem Consulate Serving Palestinians

By Stephen Lendman

Global Research, October 20, 2018

Region: Middle East & North Africa, USA

Theme: Intelligence, Law and Justice

The Trump regime’s one-sided support for Israel is deplorably hard-edged.

Earlier this year, it cut off most US funding for Palestinians. All funding through UNRWA for its refugee population ended, a flagrant assault on their rights and welfare.

In September, the State Department closed the PLO office in Washington after operating for 24 years.

At the time, John Bolton said closure was because “Palestinians refusing to take steps to start direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel” – a bald-faced lie.

It’s because Palestinians haven’t unconditionally surrendered to unacceptable US and Israeli demands. The move severed formal US diplomatic relations with Palestinians.

Trump regime hardliners want Palestinians severely punished for refusing to abandon their fundamental rights.

Draft Dodger in Chief Dodges “Historic” Opening of US Embassy, Jerusalem

Draft Dodger in Chief Dodges “Historic” Opening of US Embassy, Jerusalem

By Felicity Arbuthnot

Global Research, May 17, 2018

Region: Middle East & North Africa

Theme: Crimes against Humanity, History, Law and Justice, Police State & Civil Rights

In-depth Report: PALESTINE

It was NBC’s Cal Parry who summed up the obscenity of Donald Trump’s ignorant and igniting decision to move the US Embassy to West Jerusalem, then to celebrate the inauguration on Monday, 14th May: “Well dressed American and Israeli officials on one side of the screen: desperation, death and fires on the other.”

In 1948, 700,000 Palestinians began their flight from the city and the region trying to escape the massacres by Jewish militias on that date, seventy years ago. Commemorated ever since as the day of “Nakba” – disaster, catastrophe, cataclysm – following them to this day as land is stolen, families expelled and “settlements” encroach, and Palestinian history is bulldozed.

‘ “When the massacre started the (paramilitaries) took a kid and strapped him on an army jeep and drove him around different neighbourhoods of Jerusalem, saying ‘the same will happen to you if you don’t leave,’ ” Abu Kaya said, retelling his grandfather’s story to Middle East Eye.’ (1)

“ … not a single country currently has its embassy in Jerusalem because such a move is widely considered to violate international law.”

FINIAN CUNNINGHAM -- Gaza Massacre Exposes Western Hypocrisy on Russia’s ‘Annexation’ of Crimea

FINIAN CUNNINGHAM | 18.05.2018 | WORLD / EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST

Gaza Massacre Exposes Western Hypocrisy on Russia’s ‘Annexation’ of Crimea

This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled a new 19-kilometer bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula with mainland southern Russia. Thousands of kilometers away, in occupied Palestine, a massacre was being carried out by Israeli soldiers with full support of the United States as it opened a new embassy.

The two events are not as disparate as one might think at first glance. They both involve “annexation” – one fictitious, the other very real. But Western hypocrisy inverts the reality.

While US dignitaries were opening the new American embassy in Jerusalem amid pomp and ceremony, some 60 unarmed Palestinian protesters were shot dead in cold blood by Israeli snipers. Among the dead were eight children. Thousands of others were maimed by live fire. The bloodshed could increase in coming days.

Israel, Ukraine, and U.S. Crack Downs Against the Press

Israel, Ukraine, and U.S. Crack Downs Against the Press

By Eric Zuesse

Global Research, May 17, 2018

Region: Europe, Middle East & North Africa

Theme: Law and Justice, Media Disinformation, Police State & Civil Rights

In-depth Report: PALESTINE, UKRAINE REPORT

On Wednesday, May 16th, Russian Television reported recent crackdowns against the press, on the part of both Ukraine’s Government and Israel’s Government. One headline story, “9 journalists injured by Israeli gunfire in Gaza ‘massacre’, total now over 20”, reported that Israel had shot dead two journalists:

“Yaser Murtaja, 31, a cameraman for Palestinian Ain Media agency, died on April 7 after he was shot by Israeli forces the previous day while covering a protest south of the Gaza Strip. He wore a blue protective vest marked ‘PRESS’.”

And:

“Ahmad Abu Hussein, 24, was shot by Israeli forces during a protest in the Gaza strip on April 13. He died from his injuries on April 25. He was also wearing a protective vest marked ‘PRESS’ at the time.”

The other 18 instances were only injuries, not murders, but Israel has now made clear that any journalist who reports from the Palestinian side is fair game for Israel’s army snipers — that when Palestinians demonstrate against their being blockaded into the vast Gaza prison, and journalists then report from amongst the demonstrators instead of from the side of the snipers, those journalists are fair game by the snipers, along with those demonstrators.

Some of the surviving 18 journalists are still in critical condition and could die from Israel’s bullets, so the deaths to journalists might be higher than just those two.

Later in the day, RT bannered “Fist-size gunshot wounds, pulverized bones, inadmissible use of force by Israel in Gaza – HRW to RT” and presented a damning interview with the Israel & Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch.

The other crackdown has been by Ukraine. After the U.S. Obama Administration perpetrated a very bloody coup in Ukraine during February of 2014, that country has plunged by every numerical measure, and has carried out raids against newsmedia that have reported unfavorably on the installed regime. The latest such incident was reported on May 16th by Russian Television, under the headline, “US endorses Kiev’s raid on Russian news agency amid international condemnation”. An official of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) stated there:

America’s News Media Foment Hate

“I reiterate my call on the authorities to refrain from imposing unnecessary limitations on the work of foreign journalists, which affects the free flow of information and freedom of the media.”

An official of the CPJ (Committee to Protect journalists) stated:

“We call on Ukrainian authorities to disclose the charges and evidence they have against Vyshinsky or release him without delay. … We also call on Ukrainian authorities to stop harassing and obstructing Russian media operating in Ukraine. The criminalization of alternative news and views has no place in a democratic Ukraine.”

Israel blocks Turkey from transporting wounded Palestinians from Gaza

Published time: 18 May, 2018 00:11

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© Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters

Turkey’s attempts to evacuate Palestinians wounded in Gaza for medical treatment have been blocked by Israel, the government in Ankara said.

Israel is blocking Turkey from “standing beside our oppressed brothers,” Turkey’s deputy prime minister, Recep Akdag, said, as cited by Anadolu Agency. Turkey asked to send a plane to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, but the request was rejected due to political and security concerns, according to Israel’s Channel 10.

“We received a request from international health authorities to approve a Turkish flight to evacuate those being treated in Gaza to Turkey,” Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman told Channel 10.

Read more

‘F*ck Turkey’: Netanyahu’s son posts controversial Instagram image

“After discussion with security agencies and Israeli experts, we decided to allow treatment in Israel and/or to send medical supplies to Gaza. But we did not permit the Turkish flight.”

Tensions have increased between the two nations since Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador from Ankara and withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv, in response to Israel’s killing of at least 60 Palestinians at the Great Return March protests in Gaza on Monday. More than 100 people have been killed during the six-week protests.

The Rafah border crossing has been opened for six days this week to allow injured Palestinians in Gaza to receive treatment in Egypt. Minister of Health Ahmed Emad Eddine said he had been “instructed by the political leadership” to allow Palestinians to be treated in Egyptian hospitals, Egypt Today reports.  

Last month, Israel rejected a request to transfer two wounded Palestinians from Gaza to the West Bank because they had taken part in the demonstrations. The High Court ruled Israel had to allow the patients to receive treatment, but at that stage both needed amputations.

Massacre in Gaza: Political Narratives and the “The Decency of Violence”

Massacre in Gaza: Political Narratives and the “The Decency of Violence”

By Dr. Binoy Kampmark

Global Research, May 17, 2018

Region: Middle East & North Africa

Theme: Crimes against Humanity, Law and Justice, Media Disinformation, Police State & Civil Rights

In-depth Report: PALESTINE

It has the makings of another Intifada: appalling timing in terms of commemoration (the founding of the state of Israel; the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem in all-Trumpistan affair); popular protest with all its untidy trimmings; then a massacre clinically inflicted by forces with superior fire power.

On Monday, the use of force by Israeli forces supposedly designed to quell riots and prevent an incursion by Palestinians from Gaza initially resulted in 58 deaths. The numbers duly grew, and it did not take long for a packaged, ribboned narrative to appear.

Craig Murray -- Those Who Die in Palestine: Those With Dead Souls Here

Those Who Die in Palestine: Those With Dead Souls Here 

7 Apr, 2018  in Uncategorized by craig | View Comments

I cannot imagine the cold courage it must take to be a Palestinian, walking in protest, unarmed, towards the fence that contains the agony of their long drawn-out genocide, in the knowledge that the bullets will start splintering bones and ripping out brain matter around them, and every millisecond could be their own last.

I cannot imagine the cold viciousness it must take to work on the Guardian newspaper, where on the homepage the small headline of the latest six Palestinians to be shot dead, is way below the larger headline of the several hundredth article associating Jeremy Corbyn with anti-Semitism, on the basis of the quite deliberate conflation of anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel.

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/04/those-who-die-in-palestine-those-with-dead-souls-here/