The 'banal' trauma of Israel's nightly raids on Palestinian children

Despite cosmetic reforms to Israeli military law in the West Bank, Palestinian children and their families are routinely abused

Israeli soldiers interrogate a Palestinian woman during a night raid in the occupied West Bank refugee camp of Jalazun, north of Ramallah, on 16 June 2014 (AFP)

By Lily Galili in Tel Aviv, Israel

Published date: 26 November 2020 

A sudden noise pierced the silence of a dark night.

The infuriated banging on the gate of the blue-painted house terrified not only the family sleeping behind it but the whole neighbourhood.

The cries of babies alarmed by the shrill noise blended with the ear-splitting sound of fists banging on iron.

This is not the banal opening of a mysterious fictional story. It is the day-to-day life of Palestinian families in hundreds of villages all over the occupied territories: Israeli soldiers appear at the doorsteps of families in deep sleep, between 10pm and 5am, coming to search, arrest or detain a relative. 

Stolen childhood: Life after prison for Palestinian minors Read More »

Sometimes, they come with no particular reason. Too often, they leave accompanied by a blindfolded and handcuffed youngster plucked from his bed, followed from a distance by the receding sounds of crying, painful screaming and muted voices of despair of the family.

Hundreds of Palestinian teenagers are arrested by the Israeli military every year in nightly raids, violating the military’s own regulations with regards to issuing summons for interrogation prior to detention, according to a report issued by the Israeli human rights group HaMoked on Wednesday.

The report said summons would have enabled the boys to attend interrogation without the need for the traumatic experience of the nightly raids.

Its findings are based on 81 testimonies from boys aged 14 to 17, who were arrested at various times in 2018 and 2019. 

'Accumulative trauma'

Last week, the coronavirus-stricken world found alternative ways to mark International Children’s Day.

In Israel, under the title: “At night, while everybody is asleep”, several Israeli human rights organisations, including Breaking the Silence and Parents Against Child Detention, gathered to read testimonies of soldiers who participated in those nightly actions, as well as from Palestinian children and families who suffered from this practice and are victims of its long-lasting consequences.

Parents Against Child Detention is the newest of those organisations, formed just two years ago by two Israeli mothers and activists, Moria Shlomot and Nirith Ben-Horin, who are committed to documenting and raising public awareness to the alarming scope of this undiscussed phenomenon and consistent violation of rights of those children.

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According to Parents Against Child Detention and Military Court Watch, 150 to 200 Palestinian children from the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are held by Israeli authorities at any given time. Every year, Israel detains about 1,800 minors for varying periods of time.

The fact that Israel has signed international conventions on children’s rights is ignored.

Israeli criminal justice law relating to minors - which mandates that during these sensitive years of childhood and adolescence “use of authority must be carried out while protecting the dignity of the minor” - does not apply to Palestinian children in the West Bank, who are arrested and tried under the military system.

This system is not mandated to consider the mental health and development of children. Many aspects of this practice and routine are plain illegal.

The consequences are unavoidable. According to mental health workers affiliated with Parents Against Child Detention: “Palestinian children in detention experience disorientation, fear, shame and guilt. In many cases, due to serious threats, they also experience fear for the safety of their family.” 

Testimonies

Listening to the testimonies of the children and their families, it seems unavoidable.

Avner Gvaryahu, executive director of Breaking the Silence, calls this repetitive practice “accumulative trauma.” Testimonies of children further confirm this assessment.

A 14-year-old boy from al-Arroub refugee camp in the southern West Bank recounted the night of his arrest:

“I woke up at 2.30 am, when 15 Israeli soldiers broke into our house… Some were masked... The commander told me I am under arrest. They handcuffed me tightly, my hands behind my back... It was painful. I complained, but they just told me to keep quiet... I was detained. Then came the interrogation... They said I threw a Molotov bottle on a settlers’ bus... I did not. They were very aggressive… After a few hours I chose to admit to it, just to get it over. Deep into the night, a member of the family was waiting for me at every possible checkpoint since they could not know when and from where I would be allowed to enter…”

Another minor whose testimony was shared on International Children's Day recounted a very similar story with slight variations.

“My interrogator made me sign some document... I do not read or write Hebrew but he insisted, so I did. I was released late at night. It was freezing cold and rainy... I was afraid.”

Screams, threats and beatings: Palestinian children abused in detention

Read More »

Here’s another testimony of a 40-year-old mother of three from a village in the southern West Bank, Beit Ummar:

“Loud screaming in Hebrew and banging on the door woke us up at 5am. I opened the door. Six soldiers accompanied by dogs entered the house. I told the soldier my husband just underwent open-heart surgery. It made no difference. My 10-year-old reacted with a severe asthma attack; the eight-year-old has been wetting his bed since the soldiers first came to the house two years ago. Now, he did it again… The soldiers pushed us all into one room. I tried to find a blanket to cover the children but the soldiers threatened me and would not let me... They left about three hours later, said nothing, explained nothing.”

All stories sound similar, but each encapsulates different trauma. 

Proximity to settlements

Still, they share one surprising common denominator: according to a Military Court Watch report, “evidence suggests a strong geographic link between West Bank settlements (and their associated road network) and the military detention of children nearby. In 2019, the children who were detained lived on average within 900 metres of a West Bank settlement.”

As Hercule Poirot, the famous detective would say: “It’s too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence”.

Shlomot, the executive director of Parents Against Child Detention, couldn’t agree more.

'Due to the proximity of the settlements to Palestinian villages, the military imposes extra protection measures, including intimidation and spreading fear among Palestinians as deterrence'
- Moria Shlomot, Parents against Child Detention

“Authorities claim the proximity causes friction and enhances violence of the Palestinians against the settlers,” she told Middle East Eye.

“We want to offer an alternative explanation: due to the proximity of the settlements to Palestinian villages, the military imposes extra protection measures, including intimidation and spreading fear among Palestinians as deterrence. Hence the number of minors detained within this geographic circle.”

Former Israeli MP and activist Mossi Raz was one of the many who volunteered to read the testimonies on International Children’s Day. Nothing outstanding in the story he presented. Nobody died.

“This is exactly what struck me,” said Raz, talking to MEE, “the banality of it all. The coming and going of the soldiers whenever they want, the total distortion that became banal routine. This is the very essence of occupation - the every day and night intimidation and humiliation.

"There must be a total distinction between detention of adults and detention of minors. Unfortunately, these practices are deeply rooted and they will change only when occupation ends.”

“Our immediate aim is to make sure that detention of minors comes as a last resort only and for the shortest time,” says Shlomot. “Even this minor expectation does not materialise. The brutality of detention of minors does not end with the night invasion into their family home. It continues with the minor being driven to a military base, blindfolded and humiliated by the soldiers in the vehicle; it continues with the wait for an Arabic-speaking interrogator to come, sometimes with no food and no access to the toilet.

"Some children report manipulative pressure imposed on them using their families - like threatening to revoke their father’s working permit or their aunt’s permit to get medical treatment in Israel," she added.

"On top of everything else, the children are obsessed with guilt and tend to admit even when not guilty at all. Most of the time, they are detained for stone throwing, which is considered a security offence even when no damage is caused.”

Despite some cosmetic reforms to the military law in the West Bank, there remains an abundant number of child arrests and detentions.

“A child’s best interest,” as a guiding principle in international children’s conventions, certainly does not apply here.

ISRAEL'S CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
'Intentional lethal force': UN experts slam Israel for killing Palestinian child
Fatal shooting of 15-year-old Ali Abu Aliya a 'grave violation of international law', says UN Human Rights Office

Experts call for transparent investigation into killing of Ali Abu Aliya

 (Photo supplied)

By MEE staff
Published date: 17 December 2020 


United Nations experts condemned the Israeli military for killing a Palestinian child during a protest in the occupied West Bank earlier this month, calling the shooting of 15-year-old Ali Abu Aliya a "grave violation of international law."

In a statement released on Thursday by the UN Human Rights Office, the experts called on the Israeli government to conduct an "independent, impartial, prompt and transparent civilian investigation" into the boy's death.

"The killing of Ali Ayman Abu Aliya by the Israeli Defense Forces - in circumstances where there was no threat of death or serious injury to the Israeli Security Forces - is a grave violation of international law," they said. "Intentional lethal force is justified only when the security personnel are facing an immediate threat of deadly force or serious harm."
Killed on his birthday: Family grieves Palestinian boy shot by Israeli forcesRead More »

Israeli soldiers shot Palestinian Abu Aliya in the stomach during a protest near his village of al-Mughayir in the West Bank on 4 December. He later succumbed to his wounds.

The Israeli army has said that it opened an investigation into the incident but denied that live ammunition was used against the protesters, whom it described as "rioters".

The UN statement on Thursday noted that the protest at al-Mughayir was against an "illegal settlement outpost". While it acknowledged that children were throwing rocks, it stressed that they posed no immediate danger to Israeli forces and it countered the claim that live ammunition was not used.

"Abu Aliya was hit in the abdomen with a bullet from a 0.22 Ruger Precision Rifle, fired by an Israeli soldier from an estimated 100-150 metres. He died later that day in hospital," the statement said.

"The human rights experts are unaware of any claims that the Israeli security forces were in danger at any point of death or serious injury."

The UN experts - Agnes Callamard, special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, and Michael Lynk, special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian Territory - also underscored the broader issue of mistreatment of Palestinian children.
Atrocities against children

Abu Aliya was the sixth Palestinian child killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank in 2020, while more than 1,000 Palestinian minors have been wounded over the past year, according to the UN rights office.

US Congresswoman Betty McCollum denounces Israel's 'state-sponsored killing' of Palestinian child Read More »

Israeli atrocities against children raise "deep concerns" about Israel's human rights obligations as the occupying power in the Palestinian territories, Callamard and Lynk said. They also underscored that Israeli investigations into lethal use of force against Palestinians "rarely result in appropriate accountability".

"This low level of legal accountability for the killings of so many children by Israeli security forces is unworthy of a country which proclaims that it lives by the rule of law," the experts said.

The killing of Abu Aliya caused outrage among Palestinian rights advocates who said the incident was a reflection of the abuse that Palestinians endure at the hands of Israeli forces.

Unicef, the European Union and US lawmakers also raised concerns about the killing.

Earlier this month, US Congresswoman Betty McCollum denounced the shooting of the Palestinian child, calling it a manifestation of the occupation in the West Bank.

"Yesterday's death of a 15-year-old Palestinian boy in the West Bank by an Israeli soldier who shot the child in the abdomen is a grotesque state-sponsored killing," McCollum told MEE in a statement the day after Abu Aliya was killed.

"This senseless incident must be condemned as a direct result of Israel's permanent military occupation of Palestine."

#BDS #BOYCOTTPUMA

Palestinian activists continue push to boycott Puma
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel calls on Puma to stop sponsoring the Israeli Football Association

Puma has branded itself with the cause of social justice, and is a signatory to the United Nations Global Impact (AFP/File photo)

By Umar A Farooq
Published date: 12 December 2020 

As the Christmas holiday approaches, and with it one of the busiest seasons for gift-buying, Palestinians around the world are calling on consumers to boycott sports clothing brand Puma over its partnership with the Israeli Football Association.

On Saturday, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) launched its fourth Boycott Puma international day of action, which in addition to calling on shoppers to boycott the brand, will also organise calls to Puma, call on local teams around the world to stop using Puma products, and deliver a letter from 200 Palestinian football teams urging Puma to stop supporting Israeli occupation.

"As communities across the world grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic, climate catastrophe and the effects of savage capitalism, our choices as consumers are more important than ever," the campaign said on its website.


'Puma has been doing all sorts of acrobatics to try to distance itself from Israel's illegal settlement enterprise'

- Stephanie Adam, Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

"Our choices and campaigns have the power to effect change. We can convince companies to abide by their ethics and human rights policies."

In 2018, Adidas ended its partnership with the Israeli Football Association (IFA).

Soon after, Delta Galil, the exclusive importer of Puma products and brand activity in Israel, struck a four-year deal with the IFA to supply the Israeli national team with all necessary equipment to play during competitions.

The deal was criticised by Palestinian activists because football teams of the IFA are allowed to play in occupied territory in the West Bank, in violation of international law as well as the rules set by football's governing body, Fifa.

Delta Galil also has branches in and has operations on illegal Israeli settlements.

In a statement to Middle East Eye, Puma said that its contract with Delta Galil is ending at the end of 2020, and its new distribution partner, the Tel Aviv-based Al Srad Ltd, does not have any branches in illegal settlements nor does it operate in any.

As for a continued partnership with the IFA, Puma said it was up to Al Srad as to whether it will continue working with the association.

"Puma does not support football teams in settlements nor does its Israeli distributor have branches in settlements," a spokesperson for Puma told Middle East Eye.


"Puma does not have any other connection or association with any other Israeli football club team - neither in mainland Israel nor in settlements," the spokesperson said.

"As a brand concerned only with the power that Sport has to bring people together, Puma does not support any political direction, political parties or governments."
Ending complicity in Israeli occupation

Stephanie Adam, a campaigner with PACBI, said Puma is attempting to distance itself from Israel's illegal settlements and occupation of Palestinian territories.

"Puma has been doing all sorts of acrobatics to try to distance itself from Israel's illegal settlement enterprise as the global boycott launched by more than 200 Palestinian teams continues to grow," Adam told Middle East Eye.

"It's not surprising. What company with a progressive image would want to be associated with Israel’s apartheid regime that steals land and resources from the indigenous Palestinian population it has held under military occupation for decades?"

Why FIFA bottled out of enforcing its own rules on Israel Read More »

While Puma says it only has a connection to Israel's national football team, Palestinian advocates have also criticised this as well, saying that the sponsorship of the national team helps the country use the sport's global popularity to compete in international tournaments and wash over rights abuses.

Puma has branded itself with the cause of social justice, and is a signatory to the United Nations Global Impact, the world's largest sustainability initiative.

By signing this initiative, the brand committed to not being complicit in rights abuses.

Still, Adam noted that the strength of the boycott has helped people realise "that Puma can't promote itself as a corporate champion of social justice while helping to prop up Israel's apartheid regime".

She said that Puma's announcement that it is ending its contract with Delta Galil is a testament to the strength of the boycott campaign, but the company must go even further to stop its brand's sponsorship of the IFA.

"Puma needs to spend less time elaborating disingenuous statements denying the plain truth and more on ending its complicity in Israel's violent land grabs by terminating the sponsorship deal with the IFA," she said.

"We are mobilising this weekend and will continue to call on Puma to live up to its claims of a 'devotion to universal equality'."

Israel tried to lure Iran into war with Fakhrizadeh's killing. 

So far it has failed

It is likely Netanyahu and Trump agreed to provoke Iran and make problems for Biden. If Tehran does retaliate, it will likely be on a smaller scale

Iranian forces carry the coffin of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh during his funeral in Tehran (Reuters)

By Yossi Melman in Tel Aviv, Israel
Published date: 7 December 2020 

As time has elapsed since the killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on 27 November, the chances for quick retaliation are fading away.

After the assassination, in an operation east of Tehran attributed to Israel’s Mossad, senior Iranian leaders have used harsh language to promise revenge, not only against Israel but also the United States and Israel’s new allies in the region, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

Among those vowing retribution were President Hassan Rouhani and military confidants of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, including former Defence Minister Ahmad Wahidi.

But the inflammatory rhetoric subdsided. Gut feelings made room for cool-headed decisions. The first question to be asked is, why? Why did Israel decide to kill him?

Fakhrizadeh was a gifted nuclear physicist, who taught and researched at Imam Hossein University in his nation’s capital city. But he was also a brigadier-general in the Revolutionary Guard and deputy defence minister.

For years, Israeli, American, British and German intelligence services have said that his academic credentials were just a front for his real work as head of the secret military nuclear programme focusing on weaponisation - to produce nuclear bombs.

In documents from the Iranian nuclear archives stolen in 2018 by Mossad and partially published in the media, evidence was seen of Fakhrizadeh’s involvement with Iran’s development of weapons - including a recording of his voice, in which he talks about five bombs and the need for tests.

Eventually Mossad, using technological and digital surveillance, as well as agents on the ground, found soft spots in Fakhrizadeh’s security

Because of these suspicious, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency demanded to interview him twice, once a decade ago and again six years ago, but the request was rejected by the Iranian authorities.

It is not publicly known if Fakhrizadeh was working on weaponising Iran’s nuclear capabilities at the time of his death.

Western intelligence communities have tried to follow Fakhrizadeh, bug his phones and computers, and collect information about him.

Mossad went further and a few times even planned to kill him, but Fakhrizadeh was cautious, highly suspicious and evasive. He uncovered the plots against his life, went underground, and the security around him was doubled, around the clock.

In the end it was not sufficient. Eventually Mossad, using technological and digital surveillance, as well as agents on the ground, found soft spots in his security. On Sunday, Iran said that a satellite-controlled machine gun with "artificial intelligence" had been used to kill the scientist.

Avoiding the trap

The desire to assassinate a wanted man is not enough.

To carry out the plan, Mossad also needed accurate information and operational feasibility. Once Israel had acquired the desire, precise intelligence and logistical capabilities, only the question of timing - of why now - remained.

It was most likely that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is the ultimate authority in approving or denying whether Mossad chief Yossi Cohen can carry out such a mission, had consulted with outgoing US President Donald Trump.

Five scientists in 10 years: Iran's nuclear physicists are top targets for assassins

Read More »

Trump and his security and military aides must have been privy to the secret decision, because the US had to prepare itself for all eventualities, including the worst-case scenario: Iran deciding to retaliate by hitting US targets, such as its bases in Bahrain or Qatar.

This leads to the almost inevitable conclusion that Netanyahu and Trump hoped to provoke Iran.

Their hopeful scenario could have been that after Fakhrizadeh had been killed, Tehran would retaliate against the US, which would leave Trump with no choice but to declare war on Iran. If this was their plan, they wanted also to embarrass President-elect Joe Biden.

After their initial, emotional reaction, Iran's leaders understood the Israeli-American conspiracy and decided not to fall into the trap.

Iran still seeks revenge and prepares its intelligence agencies to be ready. But Tehran anxiously awaits Biden and his incoming administration. It hopes that the Democrat will bring the US back into the 2015 nuclear deal, known as JCPOA, and lift the crippling sanctions Trump has imposed over the past two years.


After their initial, emotional reaction, Iran's leaders understood the Israeli-American conspiracy and decided not to fall into the trap

All things considered, it is very unlikely that Iran will retaliate against US targets at all, and certainly not before Biden enters the White House on 20 January. The Iranians are looking beyond that date, however, in the knowledge that the new administration will need a few more months to formulate its policy and re-enter the nuclear deal, if it does so at all.

Yet Iran may eventually be disappointed. Contrary to how Netanyahu and US Republicans portray Biden, as weak and soft on Iran, he is not in Iran’s pocket. Biden wants to revive the nuclear deal and bring Iran into the international family of nations. But not at any cost.

Biden and some of his future cabinet nominees have hinted that they wish to improve the nuclear deal and close some of the loopholes in it. These include the notion of a “sunset” - when the agreement will expire - which Biden certainly doesn’t want to happen in 2025, as the original agreement stipulates.

He also hopes to persuade Iran to expand the deal so it will address the issues of long-range missiles, Iran’s destabilising interventions in the Middle East and its support for militant groups.

Limited options

In a way Iran is trapped. It desperately needs the sanctions to be lifted, otherwise with its deteriorating economy it will find itself in an economic, social and political catastrophe.

But Tehran also, as a matter of national pride and due its inner divisions between reformists and conservatives, will find it difficult to further compromise.

On the other hand, Iran has no hesitations about its desire and readiness to strike Israeli targets. But its capabilities are limited.

It doesn’t want to launch its long-range missiles from its own soil, knowing that not only will Israel retaliate with an iron fist, but also it may leave the US no choice but to rush and help its ally.

Iran says nuclear scientist killed by 'artificial intelligence' machine gun

Read More »

The other punitive measure available for the Iranian strategic planners is to launch its missiles from Syria. But here, too, its hands are tied. Russia and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would not approve it, and again Israel would respond harshly.

Another possibility is that Iran will conduct cyber-warfare against major Israeli strategic sites and infrastructure. However, Israeli cyber-capabilities - defensive and offensive - are much more superior than Iran's.

A year ago, Iran tried to strike Israeli critical infrastructure, but caused minimal damage to a few water pumps. However, a few years earlier it did manage to succeed in inflicting major damage to Saudi Arabia’s computers managing its oil industry.

The other option for Iran is to command its most reliable proxy, Hezbollah, to shower Israel with missiles from Lebanon. Yet, Iran, Hezbollah and the weak Lebanese government in Beirut know full well that any Israeli response would be swift and painful, to the point that Lebanon as a whole may collapse.

So, what is left for Iran is more of the same: to try to target Israelis abroad.

It has tried this in the past, after Mossad assassinated five Iranian scientists in the streets of Tehran between 2010-2012, and Hezbollah’s military chief Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus in 2008.

Most of these Iranian efforts were thwarted by Israeli intelligence. There is no indication they would be more successful now.

Who was Mohsen Fakhrizadeh?

- Hide

Top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was gunned down outside Tehran on Friday, a move declared an "act of state terror" by Iran's foreign minister.

Though it is unclear who is behind the assassination, it is likely to precipitate tensions comparable to the 3 January US killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

Fakhrizadeh is renowned as the architect of Iran’s military nuclear programme.

He became the face of Iran's nuclear ambitions when named in the International Atomic Energy Agency's 2015 "final assessment" of open questions about Iran's nuclear programme and whether it was aimed at developing a nuclear bomb.

The IAEA's report said that he oversaw activities "in support of a possible military dimension to [Iran's] nuclear programme" within the so-called AMAD Plan.

Iran denies ever having sought to develop a nuclear weapon.

Believed to be a senior officer in the elite Revolutionary Guard, Fakhrizadeh was the only Iranian the report identified.

The IAEA has long wanted to meet Fakhrizadeh as part of a protracted investigation into whether Iran carried out illicit nuclear weapons research.

Showing no sign it would heed the request, Iran acknowledged Fakhrizadeh’s existence several years ago but said he was an army officer not involved in the nuclear programme, according to a diplomatic source who spoke to Reuters. 

Fakhrizadeh was also named in a 2007 UN resolution on Iran as a person involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities.

An exiled Iranian opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), in May 2011 issued a report with what it said was a photograph of Fakhrizadeh, with dark hair and stubble. It was not possible to independently verify the picture.

The NCRI said in the report that Fakhrizadeh was born in 1958 in the holy city of Qom, was a deputy defence minister and a Revolutionary Guard brigadier-general.

According to the NCRI, the scientist held a nuclear engineering doctorate and taught at Iran’s University of Imam Hussein.

Fakhrizadeh’s assassination comes at a time of rising tensions, with Tehran fearing that outgoing US President Donald Trump could lash out before his term ends on 20 January.

Fakhrizadeh was mentioned by name by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he made a 2018 speech detailing an alleged archive of nuclear plans reportedly stolen from Iran.

"Remember that name, Fakhrizadeh," Netanyahu said.

In the same speech, the Israeli premier said the scientist had continued to work on "special projects" at the Iranian defence ministry after his military nuclear outfit was closed.

Fakhrizadeh was reportedly wanted by Mossad, and has previously escaped an assassination attempt.

Lebanon military court sentences pop singer Fadel Shaker to 22 years in prison

Shaker was sentenced in absentia for 'interfering in terrorist acts' and financing an armed group in 2012

Lebanese singer Fadel Shaker performs during a gathering in the main sports stadium in the southern Lebanese city of Saida on 9 June 2013 (AFP)

By MEE staff

Published date: 17 December 2020 

A Lebanese military court sentenced on Wednesday evening famous pop singer Fadel Shaker to a total of 22 years imprisonment with hard labour.

Shaker, whose real name is Fadel Shamander, was sentenced in absentia to 15 years for “involvement in terrorist acts committed by terrorists” and “for providing logistical services”, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

The court issued a second sentence against Shaker of seven years in prison and a fine of 5m Lebanese pounds ($3,312) for financing the armed group of the radical cleric Ahmed al-Assir and for securing it weapons and ammunition costs.

The Lebanese Permanent Military Court had sentenced Shaker in September 2017 to 15 years in prison with hard labour and issued the death penalty against Assir for armed clashes between his militant group and the Lebanese army in the southern city of Saida.

At least 18 soldiers and 13 armed men died in fighting that erupted in the neighbourhood of Abra when supporters of Assir opened fire at a military checkpoint in June 2013 amid tensions in Lebanon heightened by the civil war in neighbouring Syria.

Assir was arrested at the airport in Beirut in 2015 while trying to flee Lebanon with a fake Palestinian passport. At the time, he had changed his physical appearance by shaving his beard and sporting a moustache with large eyeglasses.

Shaker quit music to become a full-time vocal supporter of Assir, and has hidden in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh near Saida since the Abra clashes.

But he has been trying to make a comeback to the music world since 2013. “I’m an artist. I don’t know how to do anything else,” he said in an interview in 2018 with Middle East Eye.

He has released several singles in Egyptian and Gulf dialects since 2018, the latest of which came out on Monday, garnering more than two million views in 72 hours.

Saudi prosecutor seeks 20 years in prison for women's rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul

Terrorism court judge says verdict and possible sentencing in Hathloul's case may be expected as early as Monday

Loujain al-Hathloul was arrested in May 2018 alongside at least a dozen other women activists (AFP/File photo)

By MEE staff
Published date: 16 December 2020 

Saudi Arabia's state prosecutor is seeking the maximum possible jail sentence - 20 years behind bars - for women's rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, her sister Lina confirmed.

Hathloul, 31, is being tried in the kingdom's notorious terrorism court. In a hearing on Wednesday, the judge said a verdict and possible sentence for Hathloul's case may come as early as Monday, the Guardian reported, based on a copy of the prosecution's indictment provided by the activist's sister.

'They say she is a terrorist - in reality, she is a humanitarian, an activist and a woman who simply wants a better, fairer world'

- Lina al-Hathloul, sister of Loujain al-Hathloul

Things became more complicated later on Wednesday, as Hathloul's parents, who act as her legal team, were summoned via text to Riyadh’s criminal court on Thursday morning, Lina said on Twitter.

Hathloul's case was controversially transferred to the terrorism court late last month; it remains unclear if her parents' summoning to the criminal court implies another transfer.

"My sister must be released... All she has done is ask for women to be treated with the dignity and freedom that should be their right. For that, the Saudi authorities are seeking the maximum sentence available under the law - 20 years in prison," Lina told the Guardian on Wednesday.

'All they have are a bunch of tweets'

The women's rights activist was arrested in May 2018 with at least a dozen other women activists, just weeks before the decades-long ban on female drivers was lifted.

She and other imprisoned activists are being charged under the country's anti-cybercrime law, with the allegations against her described by UN experts as "spurious".

The charges included allegations that the activists, including Hathloul, "communicated with people and entities hostile to the king", "cooperated with journalists and media institutions hostile to the king", "provided financial support to foreign adversaries" and "recruited persons for information detrimental to the security of the kingdom".

"They say she is a terrorist - in reality, she is a humanitarian, an activist and a woman who simply wants a better, fairer world," Lina said.

Loujain al-Hathloul: Saudi Arabia uses tweets supporting women's rights as evidence

Read More »

During a hearing on Monday, a Saudi public prosecutor cited tweets posted by Hathloul about a campaign to let women drive and the kingdom's guardianship system as evidence against the jailed rights activist.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has presented himself as a reformer but has overseen a brutal crackdown on dissidents and independent Saudis, previously claimed there were videos of Hathloul proving she worked as a spy.

Still, on Monday, Hathloul's brother Walid noted that no such evidence was presented.

"No evidences were provided that are related to providing information to foreign hostile, recruiting people in sensitive positions," Walid said on Twitter.

"All they have are a bunch of tweets that they did not like."

UN experts have called on Saudi Arabia to release the imprisoned women's rights activists.

When Hathloul first appeared before a court last month, her family said she looked ill. Hathloul's family and rights groups have alleged that she has experienced sexual harassment and torture in detention. Saudi authorities deny the charges.

5,000-year-old relic from the Great Pyramid discovered in a cigar box in Scotland

ANOTHER AMAZING FIND IN THE MUSEUM

STORAGE ROOM 

Published 16th December 2020

Credit: University of Aberdeen

Written by Jessie Yeung, CNN

Late last year, curatorial assistant Abeer Eladany was reviewing items in the University of Aberdeen's museum collections, when she came across an item that didn't seem to belong.
Eladany, who is originally from Egypt and had spent a decade working at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, noticed the country's former flag on an unassuming cigar box. She opened it up to find small pieces of wood inside -- and, after cross checking it with museum records, realized she had stumbled upon a lost artifact from the Great Pyramid of Giza, the centerpiece of an enduring archaeological mystery.

Only three objects have ever been recovered from inside the Great Pyramid -- a trio of items known as the "Dixon Relics," according to the University of Aberdeen.

Two of them, a ball and a hook, are now housed in the British Museum. But the third object, fragments belonging to a much larger piece of cedar wood, had been missing for more than 70 years, the university added.

Abeer Eladany with the cigar box and pieces of wood. Credit: University of Aberdeen

"Once I looked into the numbers in our Egypt records, I instantly knew what it was, and that it had effectively been hidden in plain sight in the wrong collection," said Eladeny in a press release from the university.

"I'm an archaeologist and have worked on digs in Egypt but I never imagined it would be here in north-east Scotland that I'd find something so important to the heritage of my own country."
The Great Pyramid stands 139 meters (about 455 feet) high and was built around 4,500 years ago. It's the largest of the group of pyramids at Giza, the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and a major tourist attraction.

The pyramid is composed of narrow, cramped tunnels, difficult for people to climb through. In the 18th and 19th centuries, archaeologists and researchers used to try blasting their way into chambers inside. To avoid further damaging the ancient structures, modern archaeologists now use technology like robots and remote cameras to explore its interior; in the Great Pyramid, they have so far only gained access to three known chambers.

The relics were first discovered in 1872 inside the pyramid's Queen's Chamber by engineer Waynman Dixon. He was assisted by his friend James Grant, a graduate from the University of Aberdeen; their discovery of the relics, according to the release, was widely reported at the time.

The Giza pyramids in Egypt, photographed on March 13, 2020. Credit: Mohamed el-Shahed/AFP/Getty Images

Dixon took the ball and hook, and Grant took the piece of wood, the university said. After Grant's death in 1895, his collections were bequeathed to the university, and his daughter donated a "five inch piece of cedar" in 1946.

But because the piece was never properly classified, it stayed hidden for decades despite an "extensive search," until Eladany accidentally discovered it in the Asia collection.

"The University's collections are vast -- running to hundreds of thousands of items -- so looking for it has been like finding a needle in a haystack," she said. "I couldn't believe it when I realized what was inside this innocuous-looking cigar tin."

There are different theories about the wood's purpose and date of origin -- some researchers think it's part of a larger measurement tool, which they believe could provide clues as to how the towering pyramids were constructed.

The cigar box with wooden fragments had been added to the museum's Asia collection, but actually housed the Egyptian relics. Credit: University of Aberdeen

The process of radiocarbon dating has revealed that the fragments are from around 3341-3094 B.C. -- centuries before the construction of the Great Pyramid. Covid-19 restrictions had delayed the dating of the 'lost' cedar fragment, said the university. The larger piece of wood it originated from, still inside the Great Pyramid, was most recently seen by a robotic camera in 1993 and is now unreachable.

This suggests that the relics were original to the construction of the Pyramid, instead of being later left by those inside the completed Pyramid.

"It is even older than we had imagined. This may be because the date relates to the age of the wood, maybe from the center of a long-lived tree," said Neil Curtis, Head of Museums and Special Collections at the University of Aberdeen, in the release. "Alternatively, it could be because of the rarity of trees in ancient Egypt, which meant that wood was scarce, treasured and recycled or cared for over many years." He added that the discovery might "reignite interest" in the relics.

"It will now be for scholars to debate its use and whether it was deliberately deposited, as happened later during the New Kingdom, when pharaohs tried to emphasize continuity with the past by having antiquities buried with them.

Great Pyramid relic found in cigar box at university in Scotland

One of only three objects ever recovered from inside Egypt's Great Pyramid, wooden artefact may shed new light on ancient structure, says University of Aberdeen

Ancient cedar wood, now fragmented into pieces, is one of only three relics ever recovered from inside Great Pyramid (University of Aberdeen)

By Sheren Khalel
Published date: 16 December 2020 


A lost artefact from the Great Pyramid of Giza that had been missing for more than 70 years was found in a cigar box at the University of Aberdeen by an Egyptian curatorial assistant.

The artefact, one of only three objects ever recovered from inside the Great Pyramid, may shed new light on the structure, the university said in a news release on Wednesday. 

Abeer Eladany was reviewing items in the University of Aberdeen's museum Asian collections when she came across an item that didn't seem to belong. 

Eladany, who spent 10 years working in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, "was immediately intrigued", as the cigar box featured her country’s former flag on top. Opening it, Eladany found several pieces of ancient cedar wood fragments. 

Cigar box in which relic was found (University of Aberdeen)

Cross-referencing the item with other records, Eladany said she quickly realised she had discovered the "lost Dixon relic", one of three items uncovered inside the pyramid’s Queens Chamber in 1872 by engineer Waynman Dixon. 

"Once I looked into the numbers in our Egypt records, I instantly knew what it was, and that it had effectively been hidden in plain sight in the wrong collection,” Eladany said in Wednesday's news release. 


"I’m an archaeologist and have worked on digs in Egypt, but I never imagined it would be here in northeast Scotland that I’d find something so important to the heritage of my own country."
The three Dixon relics

Two of the Dixon artefacts - a ball and a hook - are housed in the British Museum. The third, which Eladany discovered, the fragment of wood that has broken into several, had been missing for decades. 

"The lost piece of cedar has generated many theories about its purpose and date and holds particular significance because of the potential for radiocarbon dating. Some have speculated that it was part of a measuring rule which could reveal clues regarding the pyramid’s construction," the university said in the news release. 

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The "lost" cedar fragment has shown that the wood can be dated to somewhere in the period 3341-3094BC - about 500 years earlier than historical records that date the Great Pyramid to the reign of the Pharaoh Khufu in 2580-2560BC, according to the university. 

The university said the age of the relic supports the idea that – whatever their use – the Dixon Relics were original to the construction of the Great Pyramid and not later artefacts left behind by those exploring the chambers.

“It may be just a small fragment of wood, which is now in several pieces, but it is hugely significant given that it is one of only three items ever to be recovered from inside the Great Pyramid.

“The university’s collections are vast - running to hundreds of thousands of items - so looking for it has been like finding a needle in a haystack. I couldn’t believe it when I realised what was inside this innocuous-looking cigar tin.”

Neil Curtis, head of museums and special collections at the University of Aberdeen, said: “Finding the missing Dixon Relic was a surprise, but the carbon dating has also been quite a revelation.

“It is even older than we had imagined. This may be because the date relates to the age of the wood, maybe from the centre of a long-lived tree. Alternatively, it could be because of the rarity of trees in ancient Egypt, which meant that wood was scarce, treasured and recycled or cared for over many years.

“It will now be for scholars to debate its use and whether it was deliberately deposited, as happened later during the New Kingdom, when pharaohs tried to emphasise continuity with the past by having antiquities buried with them.

“This discovery will certainly reignite interest in the Dixon Relics and how they can shed light on the Great Pyramid.”

Warning to all tyrants: The Arab Spring lives on

While some believe the uprisings of 2010-11 were a failure - the ferocity of the counter-revolution suggests otherwise

Khalil al-Anani
17 December 2020 

A decade ago, a young Tunisian, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire to protest his economic and social conditions, sparking a series of Arab uprisings and revolutions. It later became known as the Arab Spring and led to the downfall of Arab dictators in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

While some believe the Arab Spring failed to achieve its goals, particularly the establishment of free and democratic governments, there were many gains, including the ousting of the heads of four powerful authoritarian regimes: Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, and Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen.

The events of the past decade have revealed that the costs of authoritarianism and rejecting political change are very high - but those regimes that block reform are willing to pay a heavy price to remain in power. 

Sponsors of the counter-revolution

This is certainly the case in Syria, which has been destroyed due to President Bashar al-Assad’s refusal to respond to demands for change. There no longer exists a sovereign state that he can govern, since Syria has come under the protection and tutelage of foreign powers, in particular Iran and Russia.

Similarly, the costs of General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s coup in Egypt in 2013 were very high. He has become known in the international arena as the worst dictator in the Middle East. He also has been forced to sacrifice some of Egypt’s regional weight in order to appease his allies, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Arab Spring 2.0: Five lessons from 2011 for today's protesters Read More »

The sponsors of the counter-revolution, in particular the UAE and Saudi Arabia, spent large sums of money to stop the Arab Spring and to ensure that the protests would not reach them and unseat them from their thrones. They are now involved in civil wars in Yemen and Libya, financing mercenaries and warlords, such as General Khalifa Haftar. Their international reputations have reached a new low amid the killing of children and civilians in Yemen.

The ferocity of the counter-revolution itself might be the most important evidence of the success of the Arab Spring in achieving its goals, the chief of which was to raise the costs of tyranny. The UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are trying to stop Arab revolutions and uprisings from recurring at any cost.

The economic aid provided to Sisi by Abu Dhabi and Riyadh has reportedly exceeded $60bn, not to mention the arms deals signed with France, Italy, Russia and the US. Political support has also been provided to Sisi to improve his image in Washington through lobby groups. The Emirati ambassador to Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba, played a pivotal role in marketing the 2013 Egyptian coup to the US administration.

Another wave of uprisings

The experience of the Arab Spring revealed that, despite the power of security and intelligence services - and their use of all means of torture, murder and violation of human rights for the sake of intimidation - the structure of Arab despotism is subject to breakage.

Who could have imagined that the Mubarak regime, which lasted for 30 years, would fall in a matter of 18 days? Who would have thought that Libya’s Gaddafi would be found hiding in a hole a few months after the revolution was launched against him, or that Yemen’s Saleh would face the same fate, killed in a hideous manner after three decades of rule? 

Sudanese protesters arrive in the town of Atbara on 19 December 2019 (AFP)

Perhaps it is ironic that despite the continuing attempts by counter-revolutionary forces to abort the Arab Spring, the hopes for democracy are still alive.

The Arab Spring has become a reference for Arab youth who dream of freedom, dignity and justice - and who will not stop until they realise that dream

According to the 2019-2020 Arab Opinion Index, the largest annual survey in the Arab world conducted by the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies, about 74 percent of Arabs believe that democracy is the most appropriate system of governance for their home countries.

Moreover, the Arab region has witnessed another wave of uprisings and revolutions over the past two years, including Sudan, Algeria, Iraq and Lebanon. Throngs of demonstrators have taken to the streets to demand economic, social and political change.

Former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who was in power for more than 30 years, was overthrown, and former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned after massive demonstrations. Iraqi and Lebanese people rose up in protest against corruption and sectarianism, and to reject the domination of external forces over internal political decisions.

Many segments of Egyptian society also rose up in late 2019 to demand improvements in their social and economic conditions, despite the severe repression deployed by the Sisi regime.

Political and ideological divisions

Yet, any objective assessment of the Arab Spring experience must take into account the mistakes made by the political and revolutionary movements that were meant to lead Arab societies after the fall of authoritarian regimes.

These actors have suffered from political and ideological divisions, particularly between Islamists and secularists, and have been preoccupied with identity issues, such as the relationship between religion and the state. Often, these divisions have come at the expense of more urgent issues, such as improving economic and social conditions, eliminating corruption and addressing unemployment.

More than ever, the struggle for justice unites the Middle East and the world Read More »

The polarisation among these forces not only disrupted the potential for democratic transition but also led to the return of old regimes, as in Egypt.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood failed in governance due to a lack of experience in managing state affairs, and as a result of the forces of the old regime plotting against them. The gap of mistrust widened, and secular movements chose to ally with the military in order to get rid of the Muslim Brotherhood. This Islamic-secular division still plays an important role in sustaining Egypt’s political crisis seven years after the coup.

Political movements also failed to rebuild civil-military relations, to build civilian capacity within them, and to remove the military from political life. This failure allowed the military establishment to retain great influence in key sectors, contributing to its return to power, as in Egypt. Militaries succeeded in deceiving opposing political forces; they have been key partners in managing transitions, as in Sudan.

Simultaneously, the forces of the Mubarak regime - especially the military generals - remained in full contact and coordination with regional counter-revolutionary forces in Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Tel Aviv, as well as with the West, especially the US, aiming to seize power again under the pretext of restoring stability and combating terrorism.

Yearning for freedom

Ten years have passed since the Arab Spring, and despite attempts to silence the Arab peoples, large sectors - especially youth - continue to yearn for freedom, dignity and justice. The clearest evidence of this is that any time the fighting stops in Syria, peaceful protesters emerge to express their rejection of Assad and to demand his departure from power. Likewise, in Egypt, there is increasing criticism directed at Sisi on a daily basis, whether on social networks or through protests that occur from time to time, despite Sisi’s iron fist.

Several years ago, no one would have dared to criticise Sisi, whether in private or in public. Social media is now rife with insults and accusations against him, his family and those close to him - accusations of corruption and abuse of power for financial gain for himself and his family.

What is striking about the Arab Spring story is the political and moral bankruptcy of the West

Sisi has inserted the Egyptian army into all fields of the economy, angering many segments of society, especially the businessmen who supported him strongly when he came to power after the 2013 coup.

With Sisi shutting down all outlets of expression, and amid the state’s continued use of violence and repression against opponents, the situation will likely explode in his face sooner or later.

At the same time, what is striking about the Arab Spring story is the political and moral bankruptcy of the West. While western governments give others lessons on respecting democracy, their own behaviour over the past decade has achieved the opposite. Western governments failed to support the democratic transition processes in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, instead supporting Arab authoritarian regimes that were hostile towards the Arab Spring.

Realising the dream

The US and European governments are colluding with authoritarian regimes in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain. The most important evidence has been their shameful silence on Sisi’s 2013 coup, as well as their failure to condemn the horrific human rights violations in the country.

These governments also colluded with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was behind the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. They are silent on bin Salman’s arrests of dozens of journalists, businessmen, religious scholars and political activists.

They have continued to profit from the war in Yemen that resulted from the uprising against the Saudi-backed candidate to replace Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The 'revolution fist', a symbol of Lebanon's uprising, is pictured in Beirut on 22 October (AFP)

Western countries have prioritised arms deals and investments over human rights and democracy in the Arab world. Perhaps one of the most important lessons for the Arab peoples over the past decade is not to depend on external support in order to confront authoritarian regimes and to establish democracy.

The outcomes of the Arab Spring may seem meagre in comparison to the sacrifices made in Egypt, Libya, Syria or Yemen. But the inescapable fact is that the Arab Spring has become a reference for Arab youth who dream of freedom, dignity and justice - and who will not stop until they realise that dream.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

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