Israeli parliament approves capital punishment only for Palestinians

Ibrahim Husseini
Jerusalem
02 March, 2023

The Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Adalah, called the legislation "immoral" and indicative of the "Knesset's effort to establish two separate legal systems based on race."


The legislation comes against the backdrop of heightened tensions between Palestinians and Israelis

In a preliminary reading, the Israeli parliament approved a bill instituting the death penalty only on Palestinians.

The unusual legislation allows Israeli courts to impose capital punishment against Palestinians who have perpetrated a nationalistically motivated murder of a citizen of Israel. The legislation, however, does not apply to an Israeli who kills a Palestinian.

MK Limor Sonn Har Melech from the extremist Jewish power party sponsored the bill. Yisrael Beitnu, a party outside the ruling coalition, advanced similar legislation. The two pieces of legislation will likely be merged for future readings in the parliament.

Earlier, the Israeli cabinet supported the bill.

55 MKs supported the bill, while 9 opposed it.

The proposed piece of legislation comes against the backdrop of heightened tensions between Palestinians and Israelis. On Sunday, hundreds of Jewish radicals stormed the town of Huwara and surrounding villages in the occupied West Bank, killing one Palestinian and setting fire to homes, cars and trees.

The bill will now go to the House Committee before returning to the Knesset for the first reading.

The Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Adalah, called the legislation "immoral" and indicative of the "Knesset's effort to establish two separate legal systems based on race."

Itamar ben Gvir said this proposal aims to "sever terror and create substantial deterrence."


Ynet news reported that Baharav-Miara, Israel's attorney general, was against the proposed legislation because it wouldn't serve as a deterrent since the perpetrators are ideologically motivated and willing to accept being killed anyway.

Member of Knesset Ahmad Tibi opposed the legislation.

"We have always been against the death penalty,​ for any offense, but not only us; [a vast majority of Members of Knesset] objected to it, and there are Jewish and religious Members of Knesset who have ​opposed it on moral religious grounds. There is a ruling of the Chief Rabbi against capital punishment. Rabbi Herzog and Rabbi Ovadia opposed it.

Israeli Official Warns of Ben Gvir’s Law on Executing Palestinian Prisoners

M.S | DOP - 2 March, 2023

The former Israeli Shin Bet chief, Avi Arieli, warned Thursday, March 2, of the death penalty law against Palestinian prisoners enacted by extremist Itamar Ben Gvir a few days ago.

“We are playing with fire,” said Avi Arieli. “One of the most dangerous things we face is the number of operations.”

He added, “The death penalty law for the perpetrators of Palestinian operations is very dangerous because it will double the motivation to carry out more operations.”

Yesterday, Israeli occupation’s ministerial committee for legislation voted to advance a bill proposed by extreme far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to execute Palestinian prisoners.

Calls grow to press on Israel to prevent controversial death penalty

Groups call for respecting global human rights treaties, Hamas urges 'effective international action'

Muhammed Majid |02.03.2023
GAZA CITY, Palestine

A European human rights organization as well as Palestinian factions and institutions have called for international pressure to prevent Israel from passing a death penalty bill against Palestinian prisoners convicted of killing Israelis.

Israel's parliament, Knesset, approved Wednesday the first reading of the controversial bill presented by the far-right Jewish Power party, headed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and endorsed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The proposed bill must be approved and enacted in three voting sessions to be held in the Knesset after being accepted by the government.

The Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor on Wednesday called on all relevant parties to "pressure Israel to prevent death penalty legislation against Palestinian detainees" and stressed the need for it to respect international human rights treaties.

"What is more concerning is that Palestinians in the occupied territories are tried by kangaroo military courts, with a conviction rate above 99%, which means a total lack of fair trial," Lara Hamidi, Euro-Med Monitor's partnerships and communications coordinator, told the UN Human Rights Council.

She stressed that the Israeli actions on the ground "reflect a pattern of systematic extrajudicial executions" carried out by the Israeli army.

Israeli oppression

For its part, Mohjat al-Quds Foundation for the Martyrs, a Palestinian nongovernmental organization, said that "the (draft) law of executing prisoners is an attempt to kill and uproot everything that is Palestinian."

In a statement, the foundation called on international and human rights institutions and the UN to "break the state of silence and put pressure on the Zionist occupation to stop passing the law and stop repressive measures against prisoners and detainees."

Also, the Waed Association for Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners, a Palestinian NGO, said in a statement that the bill "violates and contradicts all international laws" and it "clearly reflects the extent of the decadence and confusion of the Zionist entity."

The director of the foundation, Abdullah Qandil, called on the Arab countries and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to "exercise their efforts towards dropping this law, which will change the nature of the entire (Israeli-Palestinian) conflict and will drag the region into an open confrontation."

Legalization of murder

On the other hand, the Palestinian Hamas group said "the law of executing Palestinian prisoners is an open attempt to legitimize the systematic killings carried out by the occupation forces against our people, and disrespect for the international system and laws and covenants."

In a statement, the group called for "an effective international action to deter and punish this Zionist government that has never stopped killing and inciting (against Palestinians)."

On Dec. 29, the Knesset gave confidence to the current government headed by Netanyahu, which is described as "the most right-wing in the history of Israel," especially in terms of policies hostile to the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation.

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine described the draft law as "a racist fascist par excellence, and (it) expresses the depth of the fascist state that controls the overwhelming majority of Knesset members."

The front warned in a statement that "approving it in its final form will further ignite the flames of popular anger."

Death sentence

According to the Knesset, the bill stipulates that a person who, intentionally or recklessly causes the death of an Israeli citizen, and when the act is carried out with racist or hateful motives and to harm Israel, must face the death penalty.

Despite the arrest of the perpetrators of the attacks, according to the Knesset, "in practice, all the killers receive comfortable conditions in prison and salaries from the Palestinian Authority, and at the appropriate time most of them are released in various deals."

About 4,500 prisoners are held in 23 Israeli prisons and detention and investigation centers, including children, women and hundreds of administrative detainees who are being held without trial, according to the concerned Palestinian bodies.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat in Ankara

Palestinian prisoners ramp up disobedience campaign following Israeli raid on cells

Currently, Israel holds 4,780 Palestinian in its jails, including 29 women, 160 children and 915 detainees without charges under the "administrative detention" system, according to human rights groups.

Palestinian prisoners announced a mass hunger strike to start on 22 March 2023. [Qassam Muaddi /TNA]

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails ramped up their protests on Thursday by refusing to leave their cells.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Club described the protest action as "a new act of defiance to the Israeli prison services", ahead of an announced mass hunger strike scheduled to start on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, set for 22 March 20233.

The move came following a raid by Israeli prison guard forces on Palestinian prisoners in the Negev prison, south of the country on Wednesday.

"The occupation prison guards cut electricity for all the Palestinian prisoners' sections in the Negev late on Wednesday, then began to search the rooms and confiscate electric devices," Ayah Shreiteh, spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, told The New Arab.

"Earlier last week, the occupation prison services informed prisoners in the Negev that if their families send them new clothes, they would have to give back the old ones, which adds to the recent repressive measures introduced by the occupation government against Palestinian prisoners," she pointed out.

Earlier in February, the Israeli security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered restrictions on shower time and quantity of water for Palestinian prisoners. Ben-Gvir has been introducing more and more repressive measures against Palestinian prisoners, which began with the transfer of tens of Palestinian prisoners between several Israeli jails to break any attempts to organise.

Palestinian prisoners escalated their civil disobedience campaign in early February to demand the end of the new repressive measures, pledging to conduct a mass hunger strike in which Palestinian prisoners from all political affiliations would participate in late March.

On Wednesday, the Israeli Knesset approved in a preliminary phase a bill put forward by Ben-Gvir to enable the death penalty sentence for Palestinian prisoners. The bill has been pushed for by the Israeli far-right for more than a year.

"The preliminary approval means that the death penalty bill has entered in the legislation process, which includes a first reading and second reading approvals, before a final vote," Milena Ansari, spokesperson for Addameer Prisoner Support Association, explained to TNA.

"It remains unclear if the bill will eventually pass because Israeli has signed international conventions against the death penalty, which means that the Knesset is breaching Israel's international obligations," she said.

"This move increases the already-high tensions between Israeli authorities and Palestinian prisoners, which indicates that the hunger strike is probably going to happen," she added.

On Monday, The 'Higher Emergency Committee' of the Palestinian prisoners' unified leadership body said in a statement made public by the Prisoners' Club, "We, who have come out to resist the occupation, ready for martyrdom, are not scared by a death penalty bill, but it only makes us more resilient to confront the occupiers, inside and outside of prison."

"We will continue or protest leading to the mass hunger strike on the first day of Ramadan," the prisoners' statement added.

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Israeli authorities have been intensifying repressive measures against Palestinian prisoners since the Gilboa prison break in September 2021, which triggered this latest wave of civil disobedience campaigns by the prisoners.

In January, Itamar Ben Gvir pledged to resume all suspended repressive measures and introduce further restrictions as soon as he assumed Israel's security ministry. Israeli far-right ministers also championed the death penalty bill as part of their electoral program.

Currently, Israel holds 4,780 Palestinian in its jails, including 29 women, 160 children and 915 detainees without charges under the "administrative detention" system, according to human rights groups.

Since 1967, around 1 million Palestinians have been arrested by Israeli forces.

Turbulent Israel Sinks Deeper Into Strife

Demonstrators ahead of the protest in Jerusalem, Feb. 20.Photographer: Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg

By Sylvia Westall
March 2, 2023 
Israelis block city highways as police fire stun grenades. Soldiers clash with Jewish settlers in the West Bank. An arch enemy in the Middle East seeks new arms.

Multiple crises are rocking Israel roughly two months into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest term. And things only seem to be getting worse.

Tens of thousands of Israelis are protesting a government plan to overhaul the judiciary that’s deepened the divide between traditional, more religious Jews who mainly back the change and the secular professionals who see it as a threat to the Middle East’s most developed economy and democracy.

The effects are being felt in markets. This week the cost of insuring Israeli debt against default rose to the highest since 2019 for five-year credit-default swaps, and the shekel is among the worst-performing emerging market currencies.

“Israel is on the brink of internal disintegration and severe social rift,” Yuval Diskin, the former head of the domestic security agency, said at a demonstration this week, warning of the threat of civil war.

Also stirring concern is Israel’s top foe Iran — itself battling unprecedented domestic protests. Israeli officials believe Tehran wants new air-defense systems from Russia that will narrow the window for any potential strike on its nuclear sites. Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium has already reached a record.

While no one is talking about an imminent attack, the rhetoric has escalated under Netanyahu. And any strike could trigger a regional conflagration affecting global oil supplies.

Closer to home, there are skirmishes between soldiers and settlers who have rampaged through Palestinian villages. There are also protests over the proposed judicial changes and escalating violence with Palestinians that threatens to increase with the coming holidays of Ramadan later this month and Passover in early April.

Sixty-two Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops since the beginning of the year, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, alongside 14 Israelis.

Opposition lawmaker Efrat Rayten Marom summed up the feelings of many with her comment this week: “The country is in a dark age.”

 

Demonstrators outside Israel’s parliament, Feb. 20.
Photographer: Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg

Controversial Israeli legal reforms spark fears for economy
Agence France-Presse
March 02, 2023

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 

Controversial legal reforms being debated in Israel's parliament have sparked fears in the high-tech and financial sectors that foreign investors will be scared off in a blow to growth prospects.

The new legislation has been spearheaded by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which took office in December and is regarded as the most right-wing in Israeli history.

It aims to curtail the powers of the Supreme Court and give politicians greater powers over the selection of judges.

The proposals could deal a "severe blow to the economy", former Bank of Israel governors have warned in the country that dubs itself the "start-up nation".

Writing recently in the top-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper, former governors Karnit Flug and Jacob Frenkel acknowledged the situation "is still far from that of countries like Hungary and Poland, and its situation is immeasurably better than that of Turkey".

"But it is important to understand that there is a connection between seemingly unrelated processes, such as the ability of the judiciary to criticise the government, and confidence in the economy, which affects economic performance."

Key figures in Israel's high-tech sector -- which accounts for some 15 percent of GDP and more than half of exports -- have played a key role in the protest movement, which has seen mass rallies in Tel Aviv and other cities.

The judicial reform program includes a clause which permits parliament to annul decisions by the Supreme Court, which Netanyahu and his far-right allies view as politicized.
'Corruption and uncertainty'

Some analysts say uncertainties related to the reforms have already triggered a decline in the economy, with the value of the Israeli shekel falling seven percent against the US dollar since the end of January.

The shekel slumped further after parliament voted in favor of two clauses at first reading on February 21.

This week it was trading at 3.67 shekels to the dollar, a four-year low.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) was down 5.7 percent over the past month.

High-tech workers have taken part in the protests, saying the industry will suffer if foreign firms lose confidence in the legal system and democratic principles.

Dror Salee, a leading high-tech entrepreneur for the past 25 years, says the impact is already being felt.

"There are no figures yet on the decline in foreign investment, which represents 85 percent to 90 percent of investment in high-tech -- but I don't know of a start-up that is managing to raise funds in this moment," Salee said.

"Everything we have built over the past 20 to 30 years is collapsing," added Salee, who has taken part in the protests as one of the leaders of the high-tech sector.

"There is a close link... between economic growth and investment on the one hand and the democratic system on the other", said Omar Moav, economics professor at Britain's University of Warwick and Reichman University near Tel Aviv.

"When the judiciary is weakened and the executive can set the rules of the game at its discretion, it opens the door to corruption and uncertainty, two things that will put off investors and markets."

'Snowball effect'

Salee warned of a "snowball effect", should lawmakers adopt the reforms -- currently being debated in parliament with several legislative stages still to go.

"Israelis, who often go to work abroad in high-tech for a few years, will be more likely to leave and fewer to return," he said.

"The sector will lose its comparative advantage in terms of human capital, which will feed the loss of investments."

Israel's tech sector expanded substantially during Netanyahu's previous 12-year stint in office until 2021. That year the sector accounted for 54 percent of Israeli exports, or $67 billion, according to the most recent figures from the Israel Innovation Authority.

Some critics tie the reform proposals to Netanyahu's trial on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He denies the allegations and any link between the reforms and his own court case.

But Moav notes that before the corruption cases in 2019, Netanyahu opposed the judicial reforms.

"Netanyahu, who knows full well the economic cost of judicial reform, is ready to pay the price to escape his run-ins with the law," he charged.

© 2023 AFP

‘I've already lived under Stalin!’ Anti-government protests spread across Israel

As Wednesday marked a huge day for protests all over the country decrying the judicial reform, Holon is the latest city to join the list of local municipalities where people, waving flags and chanting aloud, are taking to the streets by the thousands

Up until now, Israelis, who wanted to make their disapproval of the government's judicial reform known, traveled to major cities like Tel Aviv, Haifa, Be'er Sheva or Jerusalem, but as the massive nationwide protests enter their third month, smaller municipalities are also having their say.

One such locale is the city of Holon, 190,000 strong, which lies just south of Tel Aviv and where thousands of flag-wielding adults, teenagers and toddlers all turned out Wednesday night, honking their horns, shouting slogans through their loudspeakers, playing their drums, singing songs, dancing or just standing in solidarity with the spirit of the demonstration.

People showed up equipped with some interesting signs. An elderly woman carried a sign that said "I've already lived under Stalin", evoking the Soviet despot in concern the reform might be a step toward absolving the government of all accountability.
A group of young women carried a sign bearing the inscription "They can take our lives, but they will never take our freedom!", an iconic quote from Mel Gibson's 1995 epic historical drama Braveheart.

Another sign addressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly: "Bibi, you'll go down in history as the one who ruined Israel!"

The chants, much like the signs, were varied. Some simply shouted "Democracy" over and over while others chanted "havurat mushchatim lo tivhar et hashoftim", meaning they won't allow a group of corrupt politicians to pick their judges, eluding to one of the more polarizing provisions in the reform which would give the government greater control over the judge selection process.

One of the reform opponents' gravest concerns is that Netanyahu would use it to reshape the judiciary in a way that would allow him to avoid his corruption trial.
Shelly David is a 62-year-old Holon native who shares that concern.
"I actually made a sign that urges calm between both sides but my husband didn't think it's a good idea for me to bring it," she said.


Shelly David speaks to Ynetnews about judicial reform

(Photo: Gilad Meiri)
"I'm also a bit worried about the idea that Netanyahu is using it to get out of his legal trouble. I don't have all the proof for this, but it is a concern."
Shelly Atzmon, a 37-year-old mother of two, was more adamant. "We can't allow this reform to happen. We just can't."

What provision from the overall reform package bothers you the most?
"The fact that 61 Knesset members that have a political agenda are going to overrule Supreme Court justices? How can this be? We're no longer a democracy if we just stand by and let this go on. This isn't Syria."

How do you respond to those who want accountability for the Judiciary?

"Don't make me laugh. Their version of accountability is that they'll use the status in the Knesset to make their interests the law of the land. That's not accountability. I don't trust any of them."


Protesters waving flags in Holon
(Photo: Gilad Meiri)

Regardless of how you feel about it, do you think the reform will pass?

"I don't know. The only thing I can say is that we'll keep fighting to the end, and with some help from above, we'll win in the end."

And the protest seemed to also erode boundaries between left and right. Mordechai Kirilinsky, 67, is a proud Likud voter. "I've always liked Netanyahu."


A sign saying Netanyahu will be remembered as the one who ruined the State of Israel
(Photo: Gilad Meiri)

How many times did you vote for him?

"Pretty much every time he ran, including when he beat (former prime minister Shimon) Peres after Rabin was assassinated."

So this really goes back a long time for you.

"Not just for me. My grandfather was in the Haganah (a pre-state Zionist paramilitary that served as a precursor to the IDF) and was a big fan of Menachem Begin. He wouldn't have stood for this."

Elderly woman holding sign saying she's had enough of dictatorships back in Stalin's time
(Photo: Gilad Meiri)

Weren't there signs before the elections that Netanyahu might be inclined toward supporting such a reform?

"You know what he once said? That the existence of a strong and independent judiciary is the key to all other institutions in a democracy. How could I have known he'd suddenly change his tune like that?"


A sign quoting Braveheart
(Photo: Gilad Meiri)

A politician is a politician, right?

"Sure, but there has to be a limit. This is too big of an issue to flip-flop on."

Does that mean that in the next elections, you might vote for someone like Lapid?
"I'm disappointed," he smiled. "Not insane."

 

Basim Naim, “This New Statement Confirms That ‘Israel’ Is Run by a Fascist Government”

M.S | DOP - 2 March, 2023

Basem Naim, Head of the Department of Politics and Foreign Relations in Gaza, commented on the statement of the extremist Israeli Finance Minister, Smotrich, on the Palestinian town of Hawara, that it’s clear evidence of the fascism and extremism inherent in the current Israeli government.

“Next to many statements and actions by officials in the Israeli occupation government, this new statement comes to confirm that “Israel” is run by a fascist government, which poses a real threat to security and stability, not only in Palestine but also in the region and at the international level,” said Naim.

He added, “Today, the international community stands plain in front of the insolence of the truth here on the Palestinian land. We, as victims of this new fascism, are waiting for actions, not just words.”

Naim continued, “We hope that this will not take too long because time means that new lives, from all sides, will be lost until this is achieved.”

During his speech at an economic conference held by The Marker newspaper, the extremist Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said on Wednesday, March 1, “The Palestinian village of Huwwara should be wiped out. The state needs to do it and not private citizens – referring to the Israeli settlers who attacked Hawara last Sunday.”

On Sunday, February 26, Israeli colonizers stormed Hawara town, under the protection of the occupation forces, threw stones at Palestinian homes, set fire to garbage containers and Palestinian vehicles, and tried to burn olive trees. They also set fire to a Palestinian house with its residents inside.

The settlers’ attack on the town resulted in the killing of a Palestinian and the injury of 390 others, as the Israeli occupation forces participated in the attack on the Palestinian citizens instead of controlling the security situation in the area.

February| IOF Detains 175 Palestinian Citizens, 31 Boys in Jerusalem 

M.S | DOP - 2 March, 2023

The far-right Israeli occupation government has been escalating its attacks against the Palestinian citizens of Jerusalem during February, especially with the announcement by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir of the “Defensive Wall 2” military operation on the city.

In February only, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained 175 Palestinian citizens, including 6 women and 31 minors, in occupied Jerusalem.

The Israeli occupation courts issued 14 administrative detention orders against Palestinian detainees from the city.

In its war against the Palestinian detainees, the Israeli occupation launched a punitive campaign against the freed detainees and their families, including seizing their bank accounts, raiding dozens of homes, and confiscating their gold jewelry, cars, and other valuables.

This step came in the implementation of the decision of the Minister of the Israeli occupation army, Yoav Gallant, to impose financial penalties on 87 Jerusalemite detainees and their families under the pretext of receiving financial aid from the Palestinian Authority.

The escalation of Israeli violations against the Palestinians was not limited to their arrest only, but also affected the detainees inside the occupation prisons.

The Israeli occupation prisons administration began on February 16, 2023, imposing collective punishments on Palestinian detainees against the collective disobedience steps they took during the past two days in response to the measures of the extremist Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir.

The number of Palestinian detainees in the occupation prisons is currently about 4,780, including 160 children, 29 women, and 914 administrative detainees.

Home confinement and deportation

The Israeli occupation issued 29 house arrest orders against Jerusalemites, including 5 children, in February.

The occupation courts issued more than 15 deportation orders against Palestinians in Jerusalem, 7 of which were deportation orders from the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. IOF

Administrative detention

The Palestine Center for Prisoner Studies confirmed that the number of administrative detainees in the occupation prisons has recently increased to more than 1,000 detainees, which is the highest rate in 20 years.

The Palestine Center said that the Israeli occupation has greatly escalated the issuance of administrative orders against Palestinian prisoners, as they issued more than 400 decisions since the beginning of this year.

It indicated that more than 85% of the administrative prisoners are ex-detainees, who were previously detained and spent years in the occupation prisons, and the occupation re-arrested them again under false pretexts.

Among the administrative detainees are one female, Raghad Al-Fanni from Tulkarm, five children, two deputies from the Legislative Council, two detainees with cancer, and a number of elderly detainees over 60 years old.

235 Palestinian detainees killed by medical negligence

The number of Palestinian detainees who died inside the Israeli occupation prisons rose to 235, after the death of the Palestinian detainee Ahmed Abu Ali, 48, from the city of Yatta, near Hebron, as a result of the crime of medical negligence by the Israeli prisons administration.

The Prisoners Club said in a statement that the prisoner Abu Ali, who has been detained since 2012, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Abu Ali is a father of nine children, and there are about two years left until his release date. Over these years, he has suffered from several diseases, chronic heart health problems, diabetes, and others.

However, the Israeli occupation is still holding the bodies of 11  detainees who were killed inside its prisons.

The occupation uses the policy of medical negligence policy a weapon against the Palestinians by which they are killed slowly.

As a result, the number of sick Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons has reached about 600 detainees, including 24 detainees with tumors.

Human Rights Advocates Call on US Congress to Stop Funding Israeli Occupation 

Af.M | DOP - 2 March, 2023

Palestinian human rights activists in the United States on Thursday, 2 March 2023 called on members of the Us Congress to stop supplying unrestricted funding to the Israeli occupation.

The Palestinian activists vocally opposed the US administration’s unlimited support of Israeli occupation and its racist government in favor of Israeli settlers’ brutal activities.

The advocates affirmed that it is time to end the US support for the Israeli apartheid regime based on the US law that prohibits support for human rights violators.

Israeli violence against Palestinian people and their properties sharply increased in recent months amid intensified Israeli deadly military raids in occupied Palestinian territories.

Earlier this week, Israeli settlers set dozens of Palestinian homes and cars on fire in Huwara, a town in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, in what appeared to be the worst outburst of settler violence in decades.

Local Palestinian sources reported that Israeli settlers torched some 30 Palestinian-owned homes and cars during the late-night rampage, which came a day after two settlers were killed.

Earlier this month, Israeli occupation claimed the lives of 11 Palestinians and injured more than 100 others in a deadly military raid into the old city of Nablus.

Palestinian officials said this was the deadliest start to a year there since 2000. 64 Palestinians have been killed over the last two months across the occupied Palestinian lands.

 

Perspectives | China wants the Line D pipeline. Can Central Asia deliver?

The long-planned construction of Line D of the Central Asia-to-China pipeline is not yet clinched. / CNPC-AktobeMunaiGas

 By Joe Webster for Eurasianet March 2, 2023

   

China is signalling that it wants to move forward with a Central Asian natural gas pipeline project that’s been discussed for decades. But does Central Asia have gas to fill the pipeline, known as Line D?

The region is facing its own increasingly undeniable gas shortages, as well as competition from Russia and liquefied natural gas (LNG) suppliers. So, the long-planned construction of Line D of the Central Asia-to-China pipeline, while increasingly likely, is not yet clinched.

Beijing: Making moves in natural gas markets

China’s total natural gas consumption jumped more than 1,000 percent in the first two decades of this century as it became the world’s largest importer. It imported about 42% of its total natural gas consumption in 2021, receiving supplies via LNG, Central Asia pipeline natural gas, Russia and Myanmar. Flows from Turkmenistan accounted for about 75% of all import volumes from Central Asia in the same year (China has not released volumes for 2022 imports).

That gas flowed through the Central Asia-to-China pipeline network, which began operations with Line A in 2009; Line B came online the following year. The two have a combined capacity of 30bn cubic metres (bcm) per year and connect to Turkmenistan’s Bagtyyarlyk gas field. Line C, with a capacity of 25 bcm/year, entered service in 2014, with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan each providing 10 bcm and Kazakhstan contributing 5 bcm.  

There are signs that Beijing plans to expand these links.

After launching a new gas field in Turkmenistan last summer, Beijing announced it would add a fourth pipeline to its domestic West-East Pipeline (WEP) network. While PipeChina claimed this was to ensure domestic gas supplies from the western province of Xinjiang, it seems instead that Beijing is seeking to accommodate more natural gas inflows along Line D. That’s because, while China is developing production in Xinjiang’s Tarim basin, the gas there is in ultra-deep reservoirs that pose technical and economic challenges. Analysts are sceptical that the WEP’s expansion is only to deliver domestic gas. 

Indeed, due to Turkmenistan’s relatively competitive production costs, Beijing has continued to court Ashgabat, and the two sides issued a joint statement in early January explicitly committing to accelerate “construction of Line D” and to “intensify cooperation in the gas industry.”

Beijing would take some risk by accepting more Central Asian natural gas, as the region has often struggled to fulfil its production obligations, sparking mini-energy crises in China. During the winter of 2017/2018, production failures in Turkmenistan led to outages in China.

The unreliability of Central Asian gas exports continued over the last two winters. In January 2022, Uzbekistan paused exports to China during Kazakhstan’s unrest; Tashkent also reportedly suspended exports in November 2022 amid surging domestic demand, although some accounts hold that Uzbek officials quietly maintained (politically unpopular) exports. Also in November 2022, China sought assurances that Kazakhstan would maintain gas deliveries. Yet last week Kazakhstan vowed to end winter exports.

And in January, Turkmenistan suspended gas exports due to extremely cold weather. A week later, Ashgabat undertook yet another “constitutional” overhaul, which brought former president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov back in charge, demoting his son and injecting yet more doubt about stability in the secretive country.

Central Asia’s (somewhat) competitor: Russia

Fortunately for Ashgabat, its biggest competitor in the region, Russia, is having its own troubles supplying China. In October, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that the Russia-to-China Power of Siberia (PoS) pipeline, which opened in 2019, will reach its full capacity only in 2027, not 2025 as originally agreed.

Additionally, Moscow’s proposed Power of Siberia-2 pipeline (PoS-2) is still stuck in negotiations, despite Gazprom’s desperation to replace Europe-directed volumes.

While the proposed Line D and PoS-2 pipelines are both directed at Chinese markets, the two do not compete with one another – necessarily.

The PoS-2 would supply north China, especially Beijing, complimenting flows on Gazprom’s existing pipeline. Chinese policymakers, conversely, appear to be planning for Line D to service southern and central China.

The reality is likely to be messier. Currently, Central Asian gas also supplies north Chinese markets, so greater production from Turkmenistan could pressure Russian exports.

China’s maritime LNG import capacity competes with overland pipeline routes and is also expanding this year, leaving Beijing with greater sway over both Ashgabat and Moscow.

In other words, Beijing is in the driver’s seat: It can leverage supplier competition to secure favourable terms from Central Asia, Russia and LNG producers further afield.

It all comes down to Turkmenistan

While the West might prefer that China commit to larger LNG purchases, as these agreements would benefit Western exporters and provide energy leverage vis-à-vis Beijing, it will also seek to deny Moscow revenues – including by supporting Central Asian exports when appropriate.

Kazakhstan could incentivise natural gas production by limiting the role of state monopolies and, most of all, rationalising market prices. Kazakhstan is gradually and cautiously lifting consumer prices, but these reforms could easily run afoul of popular sentiment – and Astana botched the last liberalisation initiative, which sparked massive protests. Uzbekistan’s natural gas sector, meanwhile, suffers from astonishing levels of corruption.

Greater regional natural gas exports to China will therefore likely hinge on additional production in Turkmenistan. Whether Ashgabat has sufficient governance capacity remains an open question.

Joe Webster is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a contributor at The China Project, and editor of The China-Russia Report. Opinions in this article are his own.

 

OPINION

A Geoeconomic Tsunami

By Marc Saxeril

The world economy is currently going through a lot of turmoil. The re-organization is in full swing. To survive, not only companies but entire nations need to adapt their development models.

BERLIN, Mar 2 2023 (IPS) - When tectonic plates shift, the earth shakes. Tsunamis race around the globe in the form of shock waves. The global economy has experienced three such earthquakes in recent years. The Covid-19 pandemic has made us aware of the vulnerability of a globally integrated economy.

When important components are stuck in quarantine in China, production lines in Germany come to a halt. Thus, in the organization of global supply chains – which for decades have been trimmed down for efficiency (‘just in time’) – resilience (‘just in case’) will play a more important role in the future.

After the end of the unipolar moment, larger and smaller powers are vying for the best positions in the new world order. In the hegemonic conflict between China and the United States, the government under Joe Biden has verbally disarmed, but its export controls in the high-tech sector have all the more bite.

This politicizes the framework conditions for investment decisions. Market access, infrastructure projects, trade agreements, energy supplies and technology transfers are more and more being evaluated from a geopolitical point of view.

Companies are increasingly faced with the decision of choosing one IT infrastructure, one market and one currency system over the other. The major economies may not decouple from each other across the board, but diversification (‘not all eggs in one basket’) is gaining momentum, especially in the high-tech sector. As this develops, we cannot rule out the possibility that economic blocs will form.

Marc Saxer

The experience with the ‘human uncertainty factor’ in the pandemic is also resulting in the acceleration of digital automation. Robots and algorithms make it easier to protect against geopolitical risks.

In order to bring these vulnerabilities under control, the old industrialized countries are reorganizing their supply chains. It remains to be seen whether this is purely for economic or logistical reasons (re-shoring or near-shoring), or whether geopolitical motives also play a role (friend-shoring).

Bloc formations

China must respond to these challenges. The fate of the People’s Republic will depend on whether it succeeds in charging to the head of the pack in worldwide technology, even without foreign technology and know-how. Anyone who believes that Beijing has no countermeasures up its sleeve will soon be proven wrong.

In order to compensate for the closure of the developed export markets, the Silk Road Initiative has been opening up new sales markets and raw material suppliers for years. At the last party congress, the Chinese Communist Party officially approved a reversal of its development strategy.

From now on, the gigantic home market will be the engine of the ‘dual circular economy’. Export earnings are still desired, but strategically they are being relegated to a supportive role.

One impetus behind China’s massive build-up of gold reserves serves is the goal of having its own (digital) currency take the place of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Because China benefits more than anyone else from open world markets, it is continuing to rely on a globally networked world economy for the time being. Alternatively, Beijing could also be tempted to create its own economic bloc.

The foundations for this have already been put into place, with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the BRICS Development Bank (NDB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Silk Road Initiative (BRI) and bilateral cooperation in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.

The difficulties that Western companies face in the Chinese market should provide just a sample of what is looming if China makes market entry into such a bloc contingent on good political will.

But it is not just China. Generally, for all of Asia as the new center of the world economy, these geoeconomic disruptions are tantamount to a tsunami. And the disruptions could hit developing countries particularly hard.

Whether they are being cut from global supply chains for the sake of resilience or due to geopolitical factors, this brings equally devastating results. Of course, some economies are hoping to benefit from the diversification strategies of developed countries (i.e. the ‘China plus one’ strategy).

But digital automation neutralizes what is often their only comparative advantage – cheap labor costs. Why should a European medium-sized company have to deal with corruption and power cuts, quality problems and sea routes lasting weeks, when the robots at home produce better and cheaper?

Algorithms and artificial intelligence are also likely to replace millions of service providers in outsourced back offices and call centers. How are developing countries supposed to feed their (sometimes explosively) growing populations if, in the future, simple jobs are to be performed by machines in industrialized countries? And what do these geoeconomic disruptions mean for the social and political stability of these countries?

As with Europe, most Asian states depend on China’s dynamism for their economic development – and on the guarantees of the US for their security. Therefore, to varying degrees, they resist pressure to choose sides.

Whether it will be possible to escape the pull of geoeconomic bi-polarization over the long term, however, is still an open question. If the splitting of IT infrastructures continues, it could be too costly to play in both technological worlds.

American regulations prevent products with certain Chinese components from entering the market; but those who want to play on the Chinese market will not be able to avoid a steadily increasing share of Chinese components.

Reducing economic vulnerabilities through diversification

This type of global economy would also pose an existential challenge to export nations such as Germany. Even the short-term cutting off of Russian energy is a Herculean task. Decoupling from China at the same time seems difficult to imagine. But burying one’s head in the sand will not be enough.

Neither nations nor businesses will be able to escape the pressure from Washington and Beijing. In the future, important economic, technological, and infrastructural decisions will increasingly be subject to geopolitical considerations. Therefore, reducing one-sided vulnerabilities through diversification is the right thing to do.

On the other hand, some of the lessons drawn from the over-reliance on Russian energy before the war seem short-sighted. For decades, the German economy has integrated itself more deeply into the world economy than many other countries, with the goal of avoiding violent conflicts through interdependence.

It cannot break out of these interdependencies from one day to the next. Reducing economic vulnerabilities through diversification is therefore the right move, while decoupling for ideological reasons is the wrong one. Germany should therefore beware of sacrificing its economic future to an overly ambitious value-based foreign policy.

This is because losses of prosperity translate into fears of the future and social decline at home – a fertile breeding ground for right-wing populists and conspiracy theorists.

The geopolitical race, digital automation and the reorganization of supply chains according to resilience criteria are mutually reinforcing processes. It is not only companies that have to rethink their business models – entire national economies need to adapt their development models in order to be able to survive in a rapidly changing global economy.

The particular difficulty lies in having to make investment decisions today without being able to foresee exactly what the world of tomorrow will look like. Looking into the crystal ball, some think they can see an age of de-globalization. And in fact, in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the peak of globalization, as measured by the volume of world trade and capital exports has already passed.

However, de-globalization is not synonymous with a relapse into autarkic national economies. A stronger regionalization of the more networked global economy is more likely. In view of the political, social and cultural upheavals of turbo-globalization, this need not be the worst of possible outcomes.

One thing is certain: A geoeconomic tsunami will roll around the globe, crushing old structures in its path. The hope is that out of the ‘creative destruction’ that Joseph Schumpeter spoke of, there will emerge a more resilient, sustainable and diversified global economy.

However, without political shaping of the new world economic order, the opposite could also occur. Politically, this means adapting the rule-based world order so that it remains a stable framework for an open world economy because even the organization of a regionalised world economy needs global rules of the game that everyone adheres to.

Therefore, with few exceptions, nearly all nations have a great interest in the functioning of rules-based multilateralism. However, in the Global South, there is already a great deal of distrust towards the existing world order.

In reality, according to some, this amounts to the creation of the old and new colonial powers, whose supposedly universal norms do not apply to everyone but are instead violated at will by the permanent members of the UN Security Council.

In order to break through current blockages, such as those of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the emerging powers must be granted representation and a voice in the multilateral institutions that would be commensurate with their newfound importance.

Europe will have to accept a relative loss of influence because, as a rule-based supranational entity, its survival and prosperity depend on an open, rule-based world (economic) order.

Instead of morally elevating itself above others, Europe must concentrate all its energies on maintaining the conditions for the success of its economic and social model. In order to prevent the regionalization of the world economy from turning into the formation of competing blocs with high prosperity losses for everyone, there is a need for new partnerships on an equal footing beyond the currently popular comparisons of democracies and autocracies.

In order for new trust to develop, the global challenges (climate change, pandemics, hunger, migration) that particularly affect the Global South must finally be tackled with determination.

Marc Saxer coordinates the regional work of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in the Asia Pacific. Previously, he led the FES offices in India and Thailand and headed the FES Asia Pacific department

Source: International Politics and Society (IPS)-Journal published by the International Political Analysis Unit of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Hiroshimastrasse 28, D-10785 Berlin

IPS UN Bureau

FIFA ‘tone deaf’ for appointing supermodel as ambassador, says former women’s international

By Amy Woodyatt, CNN
Thu March 2, 2023

Supermodel Lima was announced as FIFA's global fan ambassador on Monday.

CNN —

FIFA’s decision to appoint Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima as its global fan ambassador ahead of the Women’s World Cup has been derided as “tone deaf” and “truly baffling” by former Australian international Moya Dodd.

Soccer’s world governing body announced Monday that Lima, a former Victoria’s Secret model, would “develop, promote and participate in several global initiatives involving fans from all over the world,” while FIFA President Gianni Infantino said the 41-year-old Brazilian “lives and breathes ‘futebol.’”

Dodd, the former vice-captain of Australia’s women’s football team, said on Wednesday that Lima’s public image “looked an odd fit for an organisation that says it wants to empower girls and women, and whose President is required to be “a vanguard” for promoting gender equality (yes, that’s in the FIFA Governance Regulations).”

Dodd, who previously led Fifa’s taskforce on women’s football, wrote on Linkedin: “[W]hen a girl plays football, the world sees her differently. Instead of being complimented on her nice looks or her pretty dress, she is valued for her game-saving tackles and brilliant goal-scoring.

“She’s admired for what she can DO, rather than how she looks, putting her on a more equal footing with her brothers in a way that can alter the whole trajectory of her life’s ambitions.

Dodd said that when a girl plays football, "she's admired for what she can DO, rather than how she looks".Stuart Franklin/FIFA/Getty Images

A member of the FIFA’s executive committee from 2013 to 2016, Dodd expanded on her comments, adding that her own research on Lima “showed that this model specifically was known for crash-diet eating & drinking,” and referenced a 2006 GQ article, where the Brazilian is quoted as saying abortion is a crime.

“What will this ambassador represent to the large and growing population of aspirational #womensfootball players and fans who love the game because it shows us what empowerment and equality can look like?” asked Dodd.

Lima’s publicist, Laurent Boye, said the model’s stance had changed since she made those comments 17 years ago.

“We can proudly say that Ms Lima has been promoting a healthy lifestyle for several years and like many people, her position on many LGBTQIA+ and women issues has evolved and she is considered an ally,” Boye said in a statement, Reuters news agency reported.

'We know what's on the line': Megan Rapinoe looks to third World Cup win ahead of this year's tournament

In a follow-up post, Dodd said that Lima’s view’s on abortion still hadn’t been addressed.

“To be clear, there is no criticism of Lima’s personal choice - everyone should have that right. But denouncing abortion as a crime means that you think others who make a different choice should be treated as criminals and punished accordingly.

“That is a terrifying prospect, and not consistent with women’s empowerment or right to control their own bodies and futures, imho,” Dodd wrote.

CNN has reached out to FIFA for further comment.

In a statement Monday, Lima said she was ” very thankful and honoured to have been chosen by FIFA to be the first Global Fan Ambassador and to be given such a platform to help fans get even closer to the game.”

Ouarda Coussay, a representative for model management agency Elite World Group, which represents Lima, declined further comment when contacted by CNN.

The 2023 Women’s World Cup runs from July 20 to August 20 in Australia and New Zealand.

CNN’s Sammy Mngqosini contributed reporting.