Gaza's war is far from over for injured children clinging to life in hospital

Over 500 children in Gaza were injured during the 11 day conflict with some needing specialist care and facing life-changing injurie


At 2am on the 21st of May, Gaza’s eleven day nightmare ended after some of the heaviest Israeli airstrikes on the enclave.

But for four year old Sarah, the war was far from over.

Lying in a hospital bed in room number three of the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza city, she cried and refused any contact with her doctor, who was struggling to examine her, asking her to move her hand.

He feared she may be suffering partial paralysis from her injuries.

“She is crying all the time, she is afraid and she doesn’t want to talk to anyone,” Sara’s aunt Amal Al Mattrabi’y told The National.

Sara was sleeping in her home when Israeli warplanes bombed the house, located at Al Thalatheni street in Gaza city. Sara and her mother were injured.

“Sara unfortunately will suffer from lower hemiplegia, because of her injuries in her brain, and thoracic and cervical vertebrae,” Jordanian neurosurgeon and spinal surgery consultant Dr Rami Algroom told The National.

“Doctors carried out a number of surgeries for her to stop the bleeding, and we will put a treatment plan in place to improve her condition,” he said.

A Palestinian child, who was wounded in overnight Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip, receives treatment at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza city. Getty Images

Dr Algroom arrived in Gaza a week ago to help treat a surge in injuries that was overwhelming hospitals as the conflict escalated.

Sara’s family refuses to admit that she will have to continue her life in a wheelchair, and pray to God that a miracle can avert this outcome.

“I have come to Gaza in the previous wars and treated wounded people, but this time I see most of the injuries affect children, in the brain and bone marrow. About one tenth of cases among children need to get treatment outside of Gaza,” Dr Algroom added.

Marah Albahtiti, age five, was another child laying in the intensive care unit at Alshifa hospital. She was connected to a ventilator after doctors conducted several surgical operations to stabilise her condition.

Marah came to the hospital seven days after her home was bombed by Israeli warplanes.

“Marah came to the hospital with serious injuries, and in shock. We treated her immediately while she was awake but she did not react,” Dr Jamal Al Harazeen, general doctor at Alshifa hospital told The National.

“She suffered a number of wounds to her abdomen, hands and legs. Four specialist doctors were inside the operation room, conducting a number of surgical operations, beside plastic surgery,” he added.

Dr Al Harazeen said that Marah will require life support until she can breathe by herself.

According to the heath ministry of Gaza, around 540 patients under 18 years old entered the hospital with different injuries. At least 232 Palestinians have died, 65 of them children and 39 of them women while more than 1,900 have been wounded.

Ibraheem Jineed, age six year, was lying in room number five at Alshifa hospital, waiting to be transferred to Egypt to continue his treatment.



A Palestinian girl takes selfie with her mobile amongst the rubble of the destroyed Al-Shorouq tower after a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza fighters, in Beit Hanun, northern Gaza Strip. EPA





“Losing time is not good for him, his condition could worsen if he doesn’t leave Gaza for treatment,” said Sohaib Jineed, Ibraheem’s 22-year-old cousin to The National.

Ibrahim suffered injuries to his bowels which have now become inflamed and he needs to get treatment immediately.

Ibrahim was sitting in front of his home in Jabaliya camp, north of the Gaza Strip on the first day of the war when shelling killed his brother and injured another of his brothers.

The ministry of health has launched a distress call asking international humanitarian organisations and relief institutions to aid the health sector.

The ministry says $46 million will be needed initially to provide medicines and medical equipment, after supplies have become depleted following Israel’s blockade of the enclave.

After 1,000 Israeli airstrikes, a truce came into effect on May 21 at 2am following intensive Egyptian mediation.

The end of hostilities was greeted by thousands of Palestinians in Gaza taking to the streets in celebration, a cacophony of whistles and cheers as residents of the city welcomed the announcement of what local militants called a victory over the Israelis.

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The moral burden of being a Palestinian citizen of Israel

Israeli forces detain a group of Palestinian Israelis in the mixed Arab-Jewish city of Lod on May 13, 2021, during clashes between Jewish far-right extremists and Arab residents. AFP     THE WOUND TO THE HEAD, BANDAGED, IS CONSISTANT WITH RUBBER BULLET WOUND

My sister is a nurse at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. She felt unsafe going to work this week even though a few months ago, she and other Arab healthcare workers like her were applauded for their work in Israel during the pandemic. My two brothers, who work in Tel Aviv, are similarly afraid. Last week, the town in which my other sister lives, Jadeidi Al Makr, was sealed off by Israeli police. My nephew, who is three, is having nightmares because he was recently with his father in our hometown of Umm Al Fahm, near Haifa, when police started throwing tear gas at protesters. The targeting of Arabs by Jewish extremists in recent weeks, often as Israeli police stand by, gives my family good reason to be afraid.

Although my family is Palestinian, we have Israeli citizenship. In the aftermath of the Arab-Israeli war in 1948, our land was included within the borders of the newly formed State of Israel. Today, about 21 per cent of the Israeli population is like us – Arabs, mostly Muslim but also some Christians and Druze. Many live in mixed cities, such as Haifa.

Growing up in Umm Al Fahm, an overwhelmingly Muslim city that is proud of its Islamic identity and Palestinian heritage, I always had a strong sense of pride in my family’s ancestry and culture. But it also taught me what it feels like to be a second-class citizen. In Israel, Arab and Jewish children are segregated during their school years. As a child, I learned about how Arab houses were demolished by the Israeli state, which is viewed in my community as a mere continuation of the annexation of Arab land that preceded Israel’s establishment. I learned about how the Bedouins, the indigenous Arab residents of the Negev desert, live in “unrecognised” villages.

I also remember the tyres burning at the entrance to Umm Al Fahm during the Second Intifada, when Arab citizens of Israel participated in protests in solidarity with other Palestinians. As young men from my town ran away from Israeli police, I felt frustration, anger and grief, and the sense that we really do not belong anywhere.

An Israeli police car burns after a demonstration following the funeral of Mousa Hassouna, an Arab resident of Lod, on May 11, 2021. AFP

But I haven’t always felt that way. There have been moments – albeit sometimes dark ones – when I have felt part of the Israeli experience. When I was 19, I left my childhood home to go to Beer Sheva, a primarily Jewish city, to study medical laboratory science at Ben Gurion University. It’s a unique university, because it houses Arab and Jewish students together. That was my first time having a direct connection to Israel’s Jewish community.


It was also the first time I experienced how it feels to be under rocket attacks from Hamas, the militant group ruling Gaza, which is not far from Beer Sheva. I heard the warning sirens for the first time during Operation Cast Lead, as Israelis call the three-week war between Israel and Hamas in 2008-2009.

The rocket attacks were constant, and the Jews and Arabs living in our dorm found themselves sharing bomb shelters – and awkward conversations about the Palestine-Israel conflict. In these moments, it was difficult not to understand the fear and frustration of Jewish Israelis. I felt, for a minute, like I was in their shoes.

But I did remind my Jewish colleagues and neighbours frequently that the Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Gaza fear attacks, too, and they do not have the privilege of sheltering in a bunker. The majority of them are helpless civilians, including women and children, stuck in the crossfire. After all, the technology and weapons Israel uses are capable of causing more damage than any rocket launched by Hamas.

One night, as I walked to a restaurant in Beer Sheva with a couple of friends, I was caught off guard by rocket fire, and panicked because we were in the middle of the street and didn’t know where to take shelter. We squatted behind a wall, listening to the explosions of the Iron Dome intercepting two Hamas rockets.


The Jews and Arabs in our dorm found themselves sharing bomb shelters – and awkward conversations

It occurred to me again that Gaza has no Iron Dome, and that even though I was Palestinian, if I had been born on the “wrong” side of the border, I would have had a very different experience in this conflict – one that is much less privileged than my experience of being born within the borders of the State of Israel. Suddenly, with that realisation, it became difficult for me to cling exclusively to my Palestinian identity and to forget about how my Israeli citizenship, and the socioeconomic and political effects that come with it, has influenced and amplified my opportunities in life.

As much as I am a Palestinian, I am a second-class citizen of Israel, and as much as I am that, I am better off than other Palestinians. These are the layers of contradiction the conflict forces into my life and the lives of others in my community, and my awareness of them shifted my sense of identity from Palestinian to Palestinian-Israeli.

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Ten years ago, I moved to the US to pursue graduate studies, and being there has further reinforced my dual identity. In America, I have encountered people from all backgrounds, and have found myself identifying as either Palestinian or Israeli, depending on what was most likely to avoid conflict. Even though I am an Arab Muslim, the US immigration and legal systems treat me as an Israeli. My Israeli passport either validates me or invalidates me in countries all over the world.

Palestinian citizens of Israel are sometimes praised by others in the Arab world on the very rare occasions in which one of us participates in an attack on other Israelis. And yet there are so many Arab and Muslim countries I cannot visit, even as an Arab, because of my passport.

A few years ago, I travelled to Turkey, and there I got another taste of how Israeli Jews are treated even in a country Israelis are allowed to visit. In Istanbul, the first thing my Turkish friends were told was not to tell anyone that I am from Israel and not to show my passport.

The connections I developed with my Jewish roommates, friends, mentors and colleagues have been stronger than any feeling that either I or they were the “other”. These relationships have helped me, in fact, to put myself in the shoes of the Jewish “other” and to learn and understand their narratives, even when I do not agree with the way they explain or respond to the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. But they have also reaffirmed my attachment to my own cultural identity as a Palestinian, and my empathy for my community across all of Palestine – inside and outside of what is now Israel. Whenever violence against Palestinians erupts in East Jerusalem, Gaza, the West Bank or in Israel, I feel it all over again.

Dr Anwar Mhajne is a political scientist and assistant professor at Stonehill College
Updated: May 21, 2021

How US donors fund settler activity in East Jerusalem

Rights activists call for crackdown on US tax-exempt non-profits behind evictions of Palestinians

Palestinian rights activists say evictions are made possible largely thanks to private US funding, with non-profit groups enjoying tax-free status. AP

The impending eviction of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood has prompted Palestinian rights activists to call for more scrutiny into how tax-exempt US-based charities – and the private firms that donate to them – are funding Israeli settlement activity that is widely seen to violate international law.

US-funded settler groups have long viewed Sheikh Jarrah as a future home for Jewish families and pushed for the removal of Palestinians who have lived in the area for decades.

The expected expulsions from the historic neighbourhood are at the centre of the current conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Activists say the evictions are made possible largely thanks to private US funding, with non-profit groups enjoying tax-free status that effectively amounts to a generous subsidy from the federal government.

“Without the donations, [these groups] don't exist,” said Hagit Ofran, who heads the settlement watch team at Peace Now, an Israeli non-governmental group.

The UN has repeatedly called for Israel to halt its settlement activity in the Palestinian territories, including in East Jerusalem.

The forced transfer of a “protected population under occupation is a grave breach of Article 4 of the Geneva Convention of International Law,” said Michael Lynk, the UN special rapporteur for the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.

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“It may well amount to a war crime under international law,” Mr Lynk told The National.

Yousef Munayyer, a Palestinian-American political analyst and non-resident fellow at the Arab Centre think tank in Washington, believes the US government should crack down on non-profit groups funding Israeli settlers.

“If people were using charitable organisations as a way to support war crimes overseas in any other context, I think our government would probably take serious steps to prevent that from happening,” Mr Munayyer told The National.

“We need an approach from the government that says American tax dollars and our charitable mechanisms should not be used” to support settlement activities, he said.

“That's really the least we should expect from a responsible administration.”

Currently, four Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah risk losing their homes to Jewish settler groups after a long-running legal battle.

Nahalat Shimon International, the organisation leading the legal fight for settlers, is owned by a company registered in Delaware, US.

US citizens are major contributors to what rights groups call Israel’s “illegal expansion” into territory that would go to Palestinians in a two-state solution.

According to a 2015 report in Israel's Haaretz newspaper, from 2009 to 2013, US-based charities donated more than $220 million to Israeli settlement organisations.

Peace Now said Israel has built more than 55,000 housing units in East Jerusalem since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, when the Israeli military occupied the area.

Meanwhile, Israeli law makes it extremely tough for Palestinians, who consider East Jerusalem the capital of their future state, to build homes.

The Israeli government has only allowed the construction of 600 housing units – and those were all built in the 1970s, Peace Now said.

The Central Fund of Israel, a US-registered non-profit organisation that is exempt from federal income tax, gave more than $36m to various Jewish charities and causes in 2019, according to its financial information disclosure that year.


The organisation, which has an address in Cedarhurst, New York, is listed as the US charity for tax-deductible donations by the Israel Land Fund, a real estate company that buys up land in East Jerusalem.

CFI president Jay Marcus said it does not fund settlement activity.

It gives money to charities “all around the land of Israel without discrimination”, he said.

“CFI’s criterion is only that the charities are worthy and they are registered charities in Israel and CFI does not discriminate or favour based on location,” Mr Marcus told The National in an email.

He did not immediately respond to a query about CFI’s connection to the Israel Land Fund.

Headed by Jerusalem's deputy mayor, Arieh King, the ILF’s mission statement is to “reclaim the land of Israel for the people of Israel".

Its website lists land it wants to buy in Sheikh Jarrah, which it refers to by the Hebrew name of Nahalat Shimon. The company calls these “ideology properties".

Since its creation in 1948, Israel has used an absentee property law to claim land that had been owned by Palestinians who fled the newly founded state.

The Israeli government has continued to use the law to obtain properties in East Jerusalem.

On the ILF's website, it claims it is running “critically low” on funding and asks for donations “to help us fulfil the commandments; help bring Jewish land back to the Jewish people".

The US charity has significant backing from major donors, including Cherna Moskowitz, the widow of the late Irving Moskowitz, an American billionaire physician and businessman who was one of the leading funders of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The Cherna Moskowitz Foundation gave just over $3m to the ILF in 2018 – the fund’s second-largest contribution.

In addition, the Irving Moskowitz Foundation gave $2.1m.

Ms Moskowitz also gave $50,000 to American Friends of Ateret Cohanim, a US-based charity established to fund the Israel-based non-profit Ateret Cohanim, which buys land in East Jerusalem with the purpose of installing Jewish tenants in the area.

Israelis stand on the roof of a Palestinian house controlled by settlers, during protests in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. EPA

The National tried to contact Friends of Ateret Cohanim for comment but did not hear back in time for publishing.

The National also called the number listed on the Cherna Moskowitz Foundation’s tax forms.

The person who answered did not identify herself but said she worked for a company affiliated with the foundation and was not in a position to comment.

Ateret Cohanim’s stated goal is to “fulfil a generations-old dream of rebuilding and securing a united Jerusalem, strengthening our Jewish roots and re-establishing the once thriving Jewish communities that were destroyed by Arab pogroms".

The organisation’s purchases have been focused in and around the Old City.

The US arm of the non-profit is run by Susan Hikind, the wife of Dov Hikind, a former New York state politician.

One of the largest funders of settlement activity in East Jerusalem is the Israel-based Ir David Foundation, often referred to as Elad.

According to its website, the foundation “is dedicated to the preservation and development of the Biblical City of David and its environs".

In practice that means purchasing land from Palestinian families and in the past two decades, the group has bought dozens of Jewish homes in East Jerusalem and developed archaeological sites in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan.

The foundation is funded in part by the US-based non-profit Friends of Ir David. Among the charity’s top donors are the Cherna Moskowitz Foundation and the Koum Family Foundation.

According to Friends of Ir David’s most recent tax returns, which are publicly available, the Koum Family Foundation donated $3m in 2018.

The Koum Family Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Jan Koum, the Ukrainian-born American co-founder of the mobile messaging application WhatsApp.

When reached by phone, Moshe Billet, the executive director of Friends of Ir David, declined to comment.




Palestinians run away from Israeli border police during a demonstration in support of Palestinian families that face eviction from their homes at Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in the Damascus gate in Jerusalem. EPA








US Internal Revenue Service rules prohibit tax-exempt charities in the US from funding activities “that are illegal or contrary to public policy”.

Mr Lynk, the UN special rapporteur, said there has been little enforcement of the rules when it comes to Israel, even though the US – alongside countries like Canada and Britain – has stated opposition to Israeli settlements.

“In Canada and the United States, charitable organisations have been allowed to maintain their status and have been able to use tax laws to be able to raise money to be able to further the Israeli settlement project,” Mr Lynk said.

“We've yet to see a decisive decision in either the courts of these countries or by changing legislation to make more definitive restrictions on these organisations.”

However, some of the pro-Israel non-profits have claimed they have been discriminated against by the IRS.

In 2010, the Z Street non-profit that claims to “educate Americans about the Middle East” sued the IRS for delaying the approval of its tax-exempt status. The organisation in 2018 won its case, along with an apology from the IRS for taking so long to grant the approval.

Lori Lowenthal Marcus, Z Street’s founder, wrote in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal which stated that under the Obama administration, the IRS was unfairly scrutinising charities with links to Israel.

The US State Department and the IRS did not respond to requests for comment from The National.


Updated: May 19, 2021 10:05 PM

UK

Animal rights protesters disrupt McDonald’s distribution centres

The group are demanding McDonald’s commit to becoming fully plant-based by 2025.

Protesters release a yellow smoke canister outside a McDonalds distribution site in Basingstoke, Hampshire / PA

By John Besley
7 hours ago

McDonald’s has apologised to customers for “any disappointment caused” due to blockades by animal rights protesters at four of the fast food chain’s UK distribution centres.

Animal Rebellion, who claim the action will impact roughly 1,300 restaurants, are using trucks and bamboo structures at distribution sites in Hemel Hempstead, Basingstoke, Coventry and Heywood, Greater Manchester, to stop lorries from leaving depots.

The group is demanding McDonald’s commit to becoming fully plant-based by 2025.

Animal Rebellion protester suspended from a bamboo structure outside a McDonalds distribution site in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, which is being blockaded to stop lorries from leaving the depot. / PA

A McDonald’s spokesman said: “Our distribution centres are currently facing disruption.

“We are assessing the impact on deliveries to our restaurants and to menu items.

“We apologise to our customers for any disappointment caused.”


Animal Rebellion said they intend to remain at the sites for at least 24 hours, causing “significant disruption” to the McDonald’s supply chain.

In a video posted on Twitter, a protester in Coventry said the demonstration “feels like the absolutely right thing to do”.




Animal Rebellion

@RebelsAnimal
BREAKING NEWS (pls share!). Around 50 Animal Rebellion activists are *right now* blockading @McDonaldsUK entire UK distribution network to its 1300 UK restaurants for its role in the climate emergency, #Amazon deforestation, and animal suffering. We must switch to #plantbasedfood


10:09 PM · May 21, 2021


She added: “We are in the middle of a climate and ecological emergency and we are still consuming huge quantities of meat on a scale that is just not sustainable for our planet.”

Greater Manchester Police said officers at a demonstration in Heywood are helping to “maintain safety whilst facilitating the right to peaceful protest” and “there is minimum disruption to the local community”

. 

PA

James Ozden, a spokesman for the protest group, said the action is aimed at calling out the animal agriculture industry for its part in the global climate crisis.

He said: “The meat and dairy industry is destroying our planet: causing huge amounts of rainforest deforestation, emitting immense quantities of greenhouse gases and killing billions of animals each year.

“The only sustainable and realistic way to feed ten billion people is with a plant-based food system. Organic, free-range and ‘sustainable’ animal-based options simply aren’t good enough.”

Animal rights group blockades McDonald's 

UK distribution centres

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Animal rights group blockades McDonald's UK distribution centres

Animal Rebellion activists blockade McDonald's distribution centre in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire

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Animal rights group blockades McDonald's UK distribution centres

Animal Rebellion activists blockade McDonald's distribution centre in Coventry

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Animal rights group blockades McDonald's UK distribution centres

Animal Rebellion protesters outside a McDonald's distribution site in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire



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Animal rights group blockades McDonald's UK distribution centres

Animal Rebellion protesters outside a McDonald's distribution site in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire

 Almost 200,000 people join ‘free Palestine’ protest in central London Saturday 22 May 2021 

Read more:

 https://metro.co.uk/2021/05/22/palestine-protest-almost-200000-people-march-through-central-london-14628158/?ito=newsnow-feed?ito=cbshare

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/

IEA's net-zero call to action raises concerns in Asia

The International Energy Agency's recommendations for reaching net zero emissions by 2050, are 'dizzyingly ambitious', according to Japan's MUFG

Wind turbines near a coal-fired power station in Garzweiler, western Germany. The direct implications of the IEA's call to halt upstream projects is a shrinking of global oil supplies by more than 8% annually. AFP

The International Energy Agency's calls for fossil fuel resources to remain unexploited in order to reach net-zero targets by 2050, has been rebuffed by some of the world's top oil consumers in Asia.

The Paris-based agency's roadmap to carbon neutrality calls for no new investment in fossil fuel supply projects and no further final investment decisions in new unabated coal plants, which uses the fuel without lowering its carbon impact.

However, for many of the world's fossil fuel-consuming economies in Asia, a rapid shift away from hydrocarbons comes in the way of industrialisation plans.

Japan, which pledged to go net-zero last year, is the fifth-largest consumer of crude and the world's fourth-largest importer of the fuel.

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The country with the world's third largest economy "needs to protect its energy security including a stable supply of electricity, so we will balance this with our goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050", Akihisa Matsuda, the deputy director of international affairs at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) told Reuters.

The report's suggestions to reach carbon neutrality "is not necessarily in line with the Japanese government's policy", he added.

The report also raised concerns in Australia, which continues to commit to coal and gas investments.

"The IEA report doesn't take into account future negative emission technologies and offsets from outside the energy sector – two things that are likely to happen and will allow vital and necessary future development of oil and gas fields," Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association chief executive Andrew McConville told the agency.

The IEA report comes as developed nations such as the US, turn their backs on fossil fuels.

The US has frozen new exploration activities on federal lands and has rejoined the Paris Agreement, which seeks to limit emissions to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. It also plans to halve emissions from 2005 levels by 2030.

A number of countries adopted positions on carbon neutrality last year after movement restrictions to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic led to a record fall in carbon emissions.

The IEA's recommendations for reaching net zero emissions by 2050, are "dizzyingly ambitious", Ehsan Khoman, director, head of emerging markets research - Emea at Japan's MUFG Bank said on Thursday.

The direct implications of the IEA's call to halt upstream projects is a shrinking of global oil supplies by more than 8 per cent annually.

"The IEA’s recommendations may prove challenging to transpire at the speed and magnitude as it’s NZE [net zero emissions] trajectory necessitates, and instead could be designed to provide clarity around the practicalities of increased climate ambition," Mr Khoman said.

However, others such as Joeri Rogelj, director of research, Grantham Institute, Imperial College London said that the IEA's roadmap is not the most ambitious.

Its call to action on reaching net-zero targets is, however, far from being the most conservative and is more than a token effort, he added.


Published: May 20, 2021 03:43 PM

Fewer insurers willing to take on fossil fuel companies


By Karen Graham
Published May 21, 2021

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) plant site in the oil sands of Alberta, Canada
THE SITE HAD TWO FATALITIES DURING CONSTRUCTION

Oilsands companies are finding it more difficult to insure their facilities in Northern Alberta, Canada, with insurers citing both the financial and climate risk of fossil fuel industries and the oilsands in particular.

Added to the dilemma is a recent report by the International Energy Agency that concluded there is no more room for coal, oil, or gas if the world intends to meet net-zero emissions by 2050.

The fight to stop the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion from Alberta to British Columbia, on Canada’s West Coast made national and international news recently, according to CBC Canada.

Things got dicey, with the Crown corporation behind the project seeking to protect the names of the insurance companies backing the controversial development.

The Canada Energy Regulator had to step in and side with the Crown Corporation after demonstrators blocked the entrances to a number of insurance companies in Vancouver, demanding they stop selling insurance to fossil fuel companies.

“It’s certainly a sign that the pressure on the insurance companies is working,” said Elana Sulakshana, with the Rainforest Action Network, an environmental organization based in San Francisco.

Over the past several years, three insurance companies from Europe – Axa, Zurich, and Swiss Re have announced plans to stop insuring Canadian oil sands projects, and reduce or entirely eliminate investments in the oil and gas sector.

Many insurers are backing away from oil sands projects

Allianz announced earlier this month a tightening of its coal policy globally, and new restrictions on its business with the oil sands industry, drawing praise from environmental groups.

According to the announcement, oil sands projects and new oil sands pipelines will be excluded, as well as companies that make more than 20 percent of their revenues from oil sands.

Regine Rechter, an energy campaigner at Urgewald said, “An exclusion of oil sands companies is overdue; many other insurers have already implemented this in recent years.”

And even the Crown Corporation made it clear in its application that over the years, pressure from environmentalists was making it harder and more expensive to find enough insurance, threatening the viability of the project.

The Insurance companies are quick to cite their reasons for pulling out of oil sands investments. Number one is the financial risk involved as well as climate regulations and societal pressure.

These risks “could result in significant loss of value (‘stranded assets’) for the most carbon-intensive businesses,” wrote AXA in 2017, calling the oilsands “a particularly carbon-intensive form of energy.”


In this article:Alberta Canada, climate regulations, Environmental Activism

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/fewer-insurers-willing-to-take-on-fossil-fuel-companies/article#ixzz6vcHJ3nHo

Op-Ed: Major deal – G7 to cease coal finance this year

By Paul Wallis
Published May 22, 2021

The North Antelope Rochelle opencut coal mine. — Photo: Peabody Energy. (Creative Commons 4.0)

Well, it had to happen sooner or later, but sooner is much better. By ending finance, the G7 is effectively phasing out coal. Coal is a glutton for money, as well as a global-scale problem for emissions. China, the world’s largest polluter, wasn’t part of this deal. That said, if it sticks to 19th-century energies, that has some global ramifications, too.

Credit where it’s due – The coal agreement is a first, even if many would say it’s a few decades late. At a time of massive global upheaval, some strategic policy coherence is more than welcome. The next stage is a UN summit in November to make this a truly global initiative. If adopted, coal is gone as an energy source.

Getting rid of coal also equates to a massive hit to global pollution, the key factor in the G7 decision. Coal releases a virtual smorgasbord of pollutants. The sheer scale of this pollution is truly mindboggling, in the billions of tons per year. Coal power plants also release a lot of secondary pollution, like contaminated water, etc.

Interestingly, one of the under-mentioned comments on this new approach was that reliance on fossil fuels was a factor in the decision. “Reliance” is an old issue, but it has become much more of a working equation in the future of energy as resources dry up and/or become uneconomic.

…But what about the huge financial stakes in coal?

There’s an easy answer to that question, and it couldn’t be more obvious. As any one of millions of recyclable carbon products, coal could be very useful. Black coal is almost pure carbon. It can be turned into almost literally anything, including the non-toxic new resins, 3D printing, etc.

Carbon, in fact, is one of the most widely-researched products on the planet. From basics to advanced carbon nano products, there’s a future sitting there waiting to go when the coal industry wakes up. The value for the coal will increase, ironically. That’s because any other possible use of coal other than as fuel adds value and doesn’t destroy the resource.

Well, it had to happen sometime. Somebody got something right. Let’s hope the nuts and conspiracy morons don’t get in the way.

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/op-ed-major-deal-g7-to-cease-coal-finance-this-year/article#ixzz6vcRQHJo4

G7 countries agree to end state financing for coal power plants this year

Steam rises from the cooling tower of the coal-fired power 

plant Datteln 4 of Uniper in Datteln, western Germany, May 30, 2020. 

© Ina Fassbender, AFP

Text by:NEWS WIRES

The Group of Seven wealthy nations on Friday agreed to end state financing of coal-fired power plants by the end of this year, and to "mostly decarbonise" electricity supplies in the 2030s.

Ahead of a leaders meeting in Britain next month, G7 countries' climate and environment ministers also reaffirmed their commitment to keep temperature rises below 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, following a two-day virtual meeting.

Scientists say any increases beyond that will trigger uncontrollable climate change.

"Recognising that continued global investment in unabated coal power generation is incompatible with keeping 1.5C within reach, we stress that international investments in unabated coal must stop now," the ministers said.

UK lawmaker Alok Sharma, who is president-designate of the COP26 UN climate summit to be held in Glasgow in November, said the consensus was "a clear signal to the world that coal is on the way out".

The move follows a recommendation from the International Energy Agency earlier this week that all future fossil fuel projects must be scrapped if the world is to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and limit warming to 1.5C.

German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze called the agreement "an important step forward" that gave credibility to industrialised nations to urge others to follow suit.

Her French counterpart, Barbara Pompili, said it "sets the stage for a radical transition towards clean energy", hailing Japan, which had resisted, for getting on board.

The G7 countries -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and Britain -- are home to major carmakers, and further agreed to "significantly accelerate" the shift away from petrol in the transport industry within the decade.

Fossil fuels should also be mostly phased out from G7 countries' electricity supplies by the 2030s.

The grouping reiterated that it aimed to eliminate "inefficient fossil fuel subsidies" by 2025 and encouraged all countries to follow suit.

Meanwhile it vowed to "champion" new global biodiversity targets, including conserving or protecting at least 30 percent of global land and at least 30 percent of the global ocean by 2030 to halt, and reverse biodiversity loss.

'Vague'

Nations around the world committed under the 2015 Paris accord to keeping the global temperature increase to under two degrees Celsius and ideally closer to 1.5C by 2050.

However, many of the largest emitters have so far failed to do so and countries have not even agreed on a unified rulebook governing how the Paris agreement works in practice.

Sharma said earlier this month that the upcoming COP summit -- the biggest climate talks since the Paris talks -- were "the last hope" of realistically keeping to the targets.

All G7 nations now have 2030 emissions reduction targets, aligned with 2050 net zero aims.

The German government recently raised the ambition on its emissions reduction targets after a landmark ruling by the country's top court declared a flagship climate protection law "insufficient".

Under the new targets, the government expects to slash emissions by 65 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, going further than the current 55 percent reduction target.

Germany is also aiming to be carbon neutral by 2045, five years earlier than previously planned.

Environmental activists broadly welcomed the commitments struck Friday, but urged wealthy countries to produce more detailed plans and timeframes.
 
"The commitment on ending international coal funding is a real positive and leaves China isolated globally with its ongoing international financing for the most polluting fossil fuel," said Rebecca Newsom, of Greenpeace UK.

"Unfortunately though, too many of these pledges remain vague when we need them to be specific and set out timetabled action."

Nick Mabey, chief executive of the E3G climate think-tank, said the agreements provided "real momentum" ahead of COP26, pinpointing the deals around investment in coal and other fossil fuels as particularly significant.

"It puts the burden on any fossil fuel development now to prove that it's 1.5C compatible," he told the BBC.

(AFP)

Terrifying moment wall of dust hits Russian city
Duration: 00:55 



A severe sandstorm covered the southern Russian city of Astrakhan in thick dust on Wednesday. According to officials, it's the first time that the phenomenon has occurred in the region.

 KameraOne