Amazon fires senior managers from unionized Staten Island warehouse


Brendan McDermid / reuters

Amrita Khalid
·Contributing Writer

ENDGADGET
Fri, May 6, 2022,

Amazon fired a number of senior managers from its JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island on Thursday, only a month after workers voted to unionize. The New York Times reported that the company axed more than half a dozen senior-level workers on Thursday, many of who were involved in union organizing. A number of anonymous employees told the NYT that they believed the firings were retaliatory. JFK8 is the first and currently the only unionized Amazon warehouse in the US.

In a statement to Engadget, Amazon said the workers were fired as a result of “management changes.” “Part of our culture at Amazon is to continually improve, and we believe it’s important to take time to review whether or not we’re doing the best we could be for our team. Over the last several weeks, we’ve spent time evaluating aspects of the operations and leadership at JFK8 and, as a result, have made some management changes.”

Other Amazon workers have recently gotten the pink slip, allegedly due to their union involvement. Just a couple of weeks ago, four recently terminated Amazon employees filed charges with the NLRB, alleging that they were being punished for supporting a union. Last month the NLRB ordered Amazon to reinstate Gerald Bryson, a worker at the JFK8 facility who was fired due to what Amazon alleged was his violation of a company language policy. But the NLRB’s judge was not convinced by this argument, and accused Amazon of performing a “skewed investigation” of Bryson and retaliating against him for his union work.

Just yesterday, Amazon Labor Union president Chris Smalls testified before the Senate Budget Committee and met with President Joe Biden. The Biden administration has expressed reserved support for unionization efforts by Amazon, Starbucks and other workers.

In his testimony before the Senate, Smalls argued that the federal government should avoid awarding Amazon contracts due to its labor practices. “We cannot allow Amazon or any other employer to receive taxpayer money if they engage in illegal union-busting behavior and deny workers’ rights,” said Smalls.

Amazon reportedly fires at least six New York managers involved in labor union

Maya Yang

THE GUARDIAN
Fri, May 6, 2022

Photograph: Kathy Willens/AP

Amazon has reportedly fired over half a dozen senior managers who were involved in a New York warehouse union.

The firings, which took place outside the company’s employee review cycle, was regarded as the company’s response to the Amazon Labor Union which formed in Staten Island last month in a “historic victory” against the country’s second largest employer, the New York Times reported, citing former and current employees who spoke on the condition anonymity.

Most of the managers who were fired were responsible for carrying out Amazon’s response to the unionization efforts, the New York Times reported. According to their LinkedIn profiles that were reviewed by the Times, some of the managers were with the company for more than six years.

Related: Amazon workers reject union bid at second Staten Island warehouse

Amazon said the changes were made after evaluating the warehouse’s “operations and leadership” for several weeks.

“Part of our culture at Amazon is to continually improve, and we believe it’s important to take time to review whether or not we’re doing the best we could be for our team,” the spokesperson said.

The managers were being fired due to an “organizational change”, two employees told the Times. One said that some of the managers had recently received positive performance reviews.

In April, Amazon workers at the Staten Island warehouse voted in majority to form a union. The victory marked the first successful American organizing effort in the company’s history. Organizers have faced an uphill battle against Amazon, which now employs more than one million people in the US and is making every effort to keep unions out.

Christian Smalls, who heads the Amazon Labor Union, said on Twitter he had met with Joe Biden shortly after he harshly criticized Amazon during his testimony at a Senate hearing on Thursday.

Pro-union workers were seeking longer breaks, paid time off for injured employees and an hourly wage of $30, up from a minimum of just over $18 an hour offered by the company. The estimated average wage for the borough is $41 an hour, according to a similar US Census Bureau analysis of Staten Island’s $85,381 median household income.

Amazon has said they invest in wages and benefits, such as health care, 401(k) plans and a prepaid college tuition program to help grow workers’ careers.

“As a company, we don’t think unions are the best answer for our employees,” a spokesperson said following the union win. “Our focus remains on working directly with our team to continue making Amazon a great place to work.”

Earlier this week, Amazon warehouse workers at a second Staten Island warehouse overwhelmingly rejected a union bid, dealing a blow to organizers who pulled off the Staten Island union last month.

Organizers said they had lost some support at the warehouse after filing for an election in February because they directed more energy to the nearby facility that voted to unionize last month. There were also fewer organizers who worked in this facility – roughly 10, compared with the nearly 30 employed at the Staten Island warehouse.

The same obstacles that plagued the effort the first time, including Amazon‘s aggressive anti-union tactics, were at play again. In the lead-up to the election, Amazon continued to hold mandatory meetings to persuade its workers to reject the union effort, posted anti-union flyers and launched a website urging workers to “vote NO”.

“Right now, the ALU is trying to come between our relationship with you,” a post on the website reads. “They think they can do a better job advocating for you than you are doing for yourself.”

KANSAS

Wolf Creek cost $3 billion. Now they want us to pay to send nuclear power out of state

Dion Lefler
Sat, May 7, 2022

A Florida company wants to build an $85 million power line to carry electricity from the Wolf Creek nuclear plant at Burlington to Missouri.

And they want Kansas electric customers to pay for part of that.

We shouldn’t have to pay anything.

If anything, they should be the ones paying us.

The proposal now at the Kansas Corporation Commission would allow NextEra Energy, based in Palm Beach County, to build a 94-mile high-voltage line linking Wolf Creek to the Blackberry Substation in Jasper County, Missouri.

From there, the electricity generated would flow to other states through the Southwest Power Pool, which distributes electricity to utilities in 14 states.

The SPP initially proposed the project as part of a plan to more efficiently distribute Kansas wind energy across the power pool.

It was SPP that bid the project out and picked NextEra as the company to build, own and operate the Wolf Creek-Blackberry transmission line.

That benefits SPP and NextEra, but whether it’s a fair deal for Kansas consumers is highly questionable.

There’s a ton of history here being ignored.

Wolf Creek was originally a project of three utilities: Wichita-based Kansas Gas and Electric and Kansas City Power & Light each owned 47% and the much smaller Kansas Electric Power Cooperative owned 6%.

Construction started in 1977 and Wolf Creek was supposed to cost $1 billion. But it had to be rebuilt after the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear disaster and it cost $3 billion by the time it opened in 1985.

Those costs were repaid over decades by customers of KGE and KCP&L. It was particularly egregious for KGE customers.

After KGE merged in 1992 with Topeka-based Kansas Power and Light to create Western Resources, later Westar Energy, the commission kept the rates separate so the former KPL customers wouldn’t have to share the cost of the nuclear plant.

Over 17 long years, former KGE customers in southern Kansas paid an estimated $750 million in higher rates because of Wolf Creek.

Then in 2009, when the Wolf Creek debt was finally paid and southern Kansas started enjoying lower electric rates than their northern cousins, the commission reversed course and decided Westar was all one big happy company after all and should have the same rates across both divisions.

That ruling came just in time for the ex-KGE customers to help pay for required environmental upgrades to what had been KPL coal plants.

And now, after years of higher rates to pay off Wolf Creek debt, the customers who were KGE and KCP&L — now under the Evergy umbrella — are expected to share in the cost of a new transmission line to more efficiently ship Wolf Creek power out of state.

That’s a travesty.

Several of Kansas’ largest industrial power users are asking the right questions: Is this really necessary? and Does this comply with state policy requiring that such projects actually benefit Kansas ratepayers?

But the commission is limiting their input, so it’s up in the air whether those questions will be asked and if SPP and NextEra will have to answer under oath.

The economic study that NextEra provided on purported benefits to Kansas is laughable.

After an initial construction period, the project is expected to create six new jobs.

During construction, the project estimate is 988 jobs for two years. But those won’t be Kansas jobs.

NextEra has already contracted with a South Dakota construction company to build the line.

They’ll no doubt bring in their own crew from out of state, who will stay in motels and trailers along the route for a couple years and move on to the next project as soon as this one’s done.

Meanwhile, NextEra will be laughing all the way to the beach.

THANKS TO BREXIT A HISTORIC WIN
Sinn Fein hails 'new era' as it wins Northern Ireland vote












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Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill, left, and party leader Mary Lou McDonald take a selfie at Medow Bank election count centre on Saturday, May, 7, 2022, in Magherafelt , Northern Ireland. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

SYLVIA HUI and PETER MORRISON
Sat, May 7, 2022,

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — The Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, which seeks unification with Ireland, hailed a “new era” Saturday for Northern Ireland as it captured the largest number of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly for the first time in a historic win.

With almost all votes counted from Thursday's local U.K. election, Sinn Fein secured 27 of the Assembly’s 90 seats. The Democratic Unionist Party, which has dominated Northern Ireland’s legislature for two decades, captured 24 seats. The victory means Sinn Fein is entitled to the post of first minister in Belfast — a first for an Irish nationalist party since Northern Ireland was founded as a Protestant-majority state in 1921.

The centrist Alliance Party, which doesn’t identify as either nationalist or unionist, also saw a huge surge in support and was set to become the other big winner in the vote, claiming 17 seats.

The victory is a major milestone for Sinn Fein, which has long been linked to the Irish Republican Army, a paramilitary group that used bombs and bullets to try to take Northern Ireland out of U.K. rule during decades of violence involving Irish republican militants, Protestant Loyalist paramilitaries and the U.K. army and police.

“Today ushers in a new era,” Sinn Fein vice-president Michelle O’Neill said shortly before the final results were announced. “Irrespective of religious, political or social backgrounds, my commitment is to make politics work."

O'Neill stressed that it was imperative for Northern Ireland's divided politicians to come together next week to form an Executive — the devolved government of Northern Ireland. If none can be formed within six months, the administration will collapse, triggering a new election and more uncertainty.

There is “space in this state for everyone, all of us together,” O’Neill said. “There is an urgency to restore an Executive and start putting money back in people’s pockets, to start to fix the health service. The people can’t wait.”

While the Sinn Fein win signals a historic shift that shows diminishing support for unionist parties, it’s far from clear what happens next because of Northern Ireland's complicated power-sharing politics and ongoing tussles over post-Brexit arrangements.

Under a mandatory power-sharing system created by the 1998 peace agreement that ended decades of Catholic-Protestant conflict, the jobs of first minister and deputy first minister are split between the biggest unionist party and the largest nationalist one. Both posts must be filled for a government to function, but the Democratic Unionist Party has suggested it might not serve under a Sinn Fein first minister.

The DUP has also said it will refuse to join a new government unless there are major changes to post-Brexit border arrangements known as the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Those post-Brexit rules, which took effect after Britain left the European Union, have imposed customs and border checks on some goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. The arrangement was designed to keep an open border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland, a key pillar of the peace process.

But the rules angered many unionists, who maintain that the new checks have created a barrier between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. that undermines their British identity. In February, the DUP’s Paul Givan resigned as first minister in protest against the arrangements, triggering a a fresh political crisis in Northern Ireland.

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said he will announce next week whether he will return to the government.

“We will consider what we need to do now to get the action that is required from the government. I will be making my decision clear on all of that early next week,” he told the BBC.

The U.K.'s Secretary for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, said he will meet with all party leaders in the coming days and urge them to get back to the business of government quickly.

Voters have delivered a clear message that “they want a fully functioning devolved government in Northern Ireland, they want the issues around the Protocol addressed, and that they want politics to work better,” Lewis said.

Saturday's results bring Sinn Fein's ultimate goal of a united Ireland a step closer, although the party kept unification out of the spotlight this year during a campaign dominated by the skyrocketing cost of living.

O’Neill has said there would be no constitutional change on Irish unification until voters decide on it. Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald indicated Friday that planning for any unity referendum could come within the next five years.

Polling expert John Curtice, a professor of political science at the University of Strathclyde, said Northern Ireland's power shift is a legacy of Brexit.

“The unionist vote has fragmented because of the divisions within the community over whether or not the Northern Ireland Protocol is something that can be amended satisfactorily or whether it needs to be scrapped,” he wrote on the BBC website.

Persuading the DUP to join a new government and pressing the EU to agree to major changes in post-Brexit arrangements will pose a headache for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Curtice added. Johnson's own Conservative party lost at least 450 seats in Thursday's local election.

Britain’s Conservative government says the Brexit customs arrangements cannot work without unionist support in Northern Ireland. Johnson has threatened to unilaterally suspend the Brexit rules if the EU refuses to change them

Hui reported from London.

EXPLAINER: What's next for N. Ireland after Sinn Fein wins?
 

Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill, right, and party leader Mary Lou McDonald after Sinn Fein topped the poll at the Medow Bank election count centre on Saturday, May, 7, 2022, in Magherafelt , Northern Ireland. 

AP Photo/Peter Morrison

JILL LAWLESS
Sat, May 7, 2022, 12:53 PM·4 min read


LONDON (AP) — The election of Sinn Fein as the biggest party in Northern Ireland’s Assembly is a historic moment -- the first time an Irish nationalist party, rather than a British unionist one, has topped the voting.

With all but two of the assembly's seats filled Saturday, Sinn Fein has won with 27 seats out of 90. The Democratic Unionist Party, which had been the largest for two decades, has 24 seats and the Alliance Party, which defines itself as neither nationalist nor unionist, has 17.

WHY IS THIS A BIG DEAL?

The outcome is hugely symbolic. A party that aims to unite Northern Ireland with the neighboring Republic of Ireland has a mandate to take the reins in a state established a century ago as a Protestant-majority region within the United Kingdom.


It’s a major milestone for a party long linked to the Irish Republican Army, a paramilitary group that used bombs, bullets and violence to try to take Northern Ireland out of U.K. rule during decades of unrest. More than 3,500 people died in 30 years of violence involving Irish republican militants, Protestant Loyalist paramilitaries and the U.K. army and police.

A 1998 peace accord ended large-scale violence and Northern Ireland now has a government that splits power between British unionists and Irish nationalists. The arrangement has often been unstable, but has endured.

WILL SINN FEIN NOW GOVERN NORTHERN IRELAND?

The result gives Sinn Fein the right to hold the post of first minister in Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government, with the DUP taking the deputy first minister role.

But it’s unlikely a government will be set up smoothly soon.

Under Northern Ireland’s delicate power-sharing system, the posts of first minister and deputy first minister have equal status, and both posts must be filled for a government to be formed.

While Sinn Fein is ready to nominate its Northern Ireland leader Michelle O’Neill as first minister, the DUP says it will not follow suit unless there are major changes to post-Brexit border arrangements that it says are undermining Northern Ireland’s place in the U.K.

WHAT DOES BREXIT HAVE TO DO WITH IT?

Britain’s decision in 2016 to leave the European Union and its borderless free-trade zone has complicated Northern Ireland’s position. It is the only part of the U.K. that has a border with an EU nation. Keeping that border open to the free flow of people and goods is a key pillar of the peace process.

So instead, the post-Brexit rules have imposed customs and border checks on some goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. -- a border in the Irish Sea, rather than on the island of Ireland.

Unionists say the new checks have created a barrier between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. that undermines their British identity. The largest unionist party, the DUP, is demanding the arrangements, known as the Northern Ireland Protocol, are scrapped.

Britain’s Conservative government says the arrangements cannot work without unionist support, and is pressing the EU to agree to major changes. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has threatened to unilaterally suspend the rules if the bloc refuses.

But the U.K.-EU negotiations have reached an impasse, with the bloc accusing Johnson of refusing to implement rules he agreed to in a legally binding treaty.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

The Northern Ireland Assembly must meet within eight days so the newly elected legislators can take their seats. Assembly members will then choose a Speaker, followed by the nomination of ministers, starting with the first and deputy first ministers.

If, as seems likely, no executive can be formed because the DUP refuses, ministers from the previous government will stay in power and basic governance can continue — though ministers are barred from making major or controversial decisions.

If there is still no executive after 24 weeks, a new election must be held.

IS IRISH REUNIFICATION LIKELY?

Irish unity did not play a big role in this year's Northern Ireland election campaign, which was dominated by more immediate worries, especially a cost-of-living crisis driven by the soaring costs of food and fuel.

But it remains Sinn Fein’s goal, and party leader Mary Lou McDonald says a referendum in Northern Ireland could be held within a “five-year framework.”

The 1998 Good Friday peace deal stated that Irish reunification can occur if referendums support it in both Northern Ireland and the republic.

In Northern Ireland, such a vote would have to be called by the British government, “if at any time it appears likely to him that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a united Ireland.”

There are no set rules for deciding when that threshold has been met.

Complicating the picture is the fact that Northern Ireland’s identity is in flux, with a growing number of people -- especially the young -- identifying as neither unionist nor nationalist. That is reflected in the strong showing of the centrist Alliance Party. There are growing calls for the power-sharing rules to be changed to reflect the move beyond Northern Ireland's traditional religious and political divide.

Sinn Fein calls for united Ireland debate after historic election win




Sat, May 7, 2022
By Amanda Ferguson

BELFAST (Reuters) -Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), hailed its first victory in a Northern Ireland Assembly election as a "defining moment" for the British-controlled region and called for a debate on a united Ireland.

Sinn Fein was ahead of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) by 27 to 24 seats with two left to declare, making it the first Irish nationalist party to become the largest in the devolved assembly.

"Today represents a very significant moment of change. It's a defining moment in our politics and for our people," said the head of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neill, whose party secured 29% of first-preference votes to the DUP's 21.3%.

She said there should now be an "honest debate" around the party's goal of unifying the territory with the Republic of Ireland.

The victory will not change the region's status, as the referendum required to leave the United Kingdom is at the discretion of the British government and likely years away.

But the symbolic importance is huge, ending a century of domination by pro-British parties, supported predominantly by the region's Protestant population.

The DUP, a leading proponent of Britain's exit from the European Union, saw support undermined in part due to its role in post-Brexit talks between London and Brussels that resulted in trade barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

'HISTORIC RESULT'

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who is also leading a campaign to secede from the United Kingdom, was among the first to congratulate Sinn Fein in a Twitter post that hailed a "truly historic result."

While the largest party has the right to put forward a candidate for First Minister of Northern Ireland's compulsory power-sharing government, disagreements with the DUP mean such an appointment could be months away.

Asked by a journalist if she expected to become the region's first Irish nationalist First Minister, O'Neill said: "The people have spoken."

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said his party would not join the government unless the protocol governing Northern Ireland's trade with the rest of the UK following its exit from the European Union was totally overhauled.

The DUP's campaign focused on a promise to scrap what it calls a border in the Irish Sea.

Donaldson said he would see what British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says on the topic in a speech next week before deciding his next move.

The British government's minister for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis in a statement called on the parties to form an executive as soon as possible.

ALL-IRELAND ASPIRATIONS

Sinn Fein was long shunned by the political establishment on both sides of the Irish border for its links to Irish Republican Army violence during three decades of fighting over Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom that ended with a 1998 peace deal.

Since then it has reinvented itself to become the most popular party in the Republic of Ireland, where it has carved out a successful base by campaigning on everyday issues such as the cost of living and healthcare.

It followed a similar path in the Northern Irish elections, where it focused on economic concerns rather than Irish unity to appeal to middle-ground voters.

The election follows demographic trends that have long indicated that pro-British Protestant parties would eventually be eclipsed by predominantly Catholic Irish nationalist parties who favour uniting the north with the Republic of Ireland.

All unionist candidates combined secured slightly more votes than all nationalists in Thursday's election.

The cross-community Alliance Party scored its strongest ever result with 17 seats as it bids to establish itself as a third pillar of the political system.

(Writing by Conor Humphries; editing by Clelia Oziel and Frank Jack Daniel)

Growing African mangrove forests aim to combat climate woes

WANJOHI KABUKURU
Fri, May 6, 2022

MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — In a bid to protect coastal communities from climate change and encourage investment, African nations are increasingly turning to mangrove restoration projects, with Mozambique becoming the latest addition to the growing list of countries with large scale mangrove initiatives.

Mozambique follows efforts across the continent — including in Kenya, Madagascar, Gambia and Senegal — and is touted as the world’s largest coastal or marine ecosystem carbon storage project. Known as blue carbon, carbon captured by these ecosystems can sequester, or remove, carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at a faster rate than forests, despite being smaller in size.

Mozambique’s mangrove restoration project — announced in February alongside its UAE-based partner Blue Forest Solutions — hopes to turn 185,000 hectares (457,100 acres) in the central Zambezia and southern Sofala provinces into a forest which could capture up to 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide, according to project leaders.

“Blue carbon can be utilized not only to sequester tons of carbon dioxide but to also improve the lives of coastal communities,” Vahid Fotuhi, the Chief Executive officer of Blue Forest, told the Associated Press. “There are around one million hectares of mangroves forests in Africa. Collectively they're able to sequester more carbon dioxide than the total annual emissions of a country like Croatia or Bolivia.” He added these projects would create green jobs and promote biodiversity.

Africa’s major mangrove forests have been decimated in recent decades due to logging, fish farming, coastal development, and pollution, leading to increased blue carbon emissions and greater exposure of vulnerable coastal communities to flooding and other threats to livelihood.

But the continent's growing attention on mangrove restoration can be attributed in part to the successful Mikoko Pamoja project, initiated in 2013 in Kenya's Gazi Bay, which protected 117 hectares (289 acres) of mangrove forest and replanted 4,000 trees annually, spurring other countries to also address their damaged coastal land and recreate its success.

Mikoko Pamoja, Swahili for ‘mangroves together’, centered its efforts around protecting the small communities in Gazi and Makongeni villages from coastal erosion, loss of fish and climate change. It was dubbed the "world’s first blue carbon project” and earned the community of just 6,000 global fame, accolades, carbon cash and greater living standards.

“Mikoko Pamoja has led to development of projects in the community, including installation of water,” Iddi Bomani, the village chairperson of the Gazi community, said. “Everyone has water available in their houses."

"It especially leads to improved livelihoods through job creation when done by communities,” Laitani Suleiman, a committee member of the Mikoko Pamoja, added.

Several other projects have come to fruition since. In Senegal, 79 million replanted mangrove trees are projected to store 500,000 tons of carbon over the next 20 years. Neighboring Gambia launched its own reforestation effort in 2017, with Madagascar following suit with its own preservation project two years later. Egypt is planning its mangrove restoration project ahead of hosting the United Nations climate conference in November this year.

The projects have sparked a clamor for the sale of carbon credits, a type of permit that allows for a certain amount of emissions as remuneration for forest restoration or other carbon offset projects. Gabon was offered a recent pay package of $17 million through the Central African Forest Initiative due to its protection efforts, but complaints persist on the low prices offered to African governments.

“Africa remains excluded from a lot of financing available under climate change," Jean Paul Adam, head of the climate division at the Economic Commission for Africa, said, adding that a lack of financing means nations on the continent are unable to build up their resilience to climate change.

He added that “nature-based solutions and advocating for a fair development price of carbon” would propel the African economy.

And the benefits of reforestation can be significant, according to Coral Reef Alliance's Marissa Stein.

“Restoring and protecting our marine habitats plays a key role in maintaining the health of our planet,” she said, adding that mangroves alone store up to four times more carbon per hectare than tropical rainforests. The Global Mangroves Alliance also estimates that mangroves reduce damages and flood risk for 15 million people and can prevent over $65 billion of property damage each year.

___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

 FREE PALETINE!

Palestinians facing eviction by Israel vow to stay on land


















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Palestinian Issa Abu Eram takes his flock of sheep out for the afternoon graze, in the West Bank Beduin community of Jinba, Masafer Yatta, Friday, May 6, 2022. Israel's Supreme Court has upheld a long-standing expulsion order against eight Palestinian hamlets in the occupied West Bank, potentially leaving at least 1,000 people homeless.

(AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

IMAD ISSEID
Fri, May 6, 2022,

JINBA, West Bank (AP) — Everything here is makeshift, a result of decades of uncertainty. Homes are made from tin and plastic sheets, water is trucked in and power is obtained from batteries or a few solar panels.

The lives of thousands of Palestinians in a cluster of Bedouin communities in the southern West Bank have been on hold for more than four decades, ever since the land they cultivated and lived on was declared a military firing and training zone by Israel.

Since that decision in early 1981, residents of the Masafer Yatta region have weathered demolitions, property seizures, restrictions, disruptions of food and water supplies as well as the lingering threat of expulsion.

That threat grew significantly this week after Israel’s Supreme Court upheld a long-standing expulsion order against eight of the 12 Palestinian hamlets forming Masafer Yatta — potentially leaving at least 1,000 people homeless.

On Friday, some residents said they are determined to stay on the land.

The verdict came after a more than two-decade-long legal struggle by Palestinians to remain in their homes. Israel has argued that the residents only use the area for seasonal agriculture and that they had been offered a compromise that would have given them occasional access to the land.

The Palestinians say that if implemented, the ruling opens the way for the eviction of all the 12 communities that have a population of 4,000 people, mostly Bedouins who rely on animal herding and a traditional form of desert agriculture.

The residents of Jinba, one of the hamlets, said Friday that they have opposed any compromise because they have lived in the area long before Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war.

Issa Abu Eram was born in a cave in the rugged mountainous terrain 48 years ago and has endured a tough life because building is banned here.

In the winter, he and his family members live in a cave. In the summer, they stay in caravans near the cave. His goats are a source of income, and on Friday, he had laid out dozens of balls of hardened goat milk yogurt on the roof of a shack to dry.

He said his children grew up with the threat of expulsion hanging over them. They are attending a makeshift school in Jinba, with the oldest son now in 12th grade.

“He did not live in any other place except Jinba. How are you going to convince him ... to live somewhere else?” he said.

The Palestinian leadership on Friday condemned the Israeli Supreme Court ruling, which was handed down on Wednesday — when most of Israel was shut down for the country's Independence Day.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, said the removal order “amounts to forced displacement and ethnic cleansing, in violation of international law and relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.”

Also on Friday, Israel's interior minister said Israel is set to advance plans for the construction of 4,000 settler homes in the occupied West Bank. If approved, it would be the biggest advancement of settlement plans since the Biden administration took office.

The White House is opposed to settlement growth because it further erodes the possibility of an eventual two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The West Bank has been under Israeli military rule for nearly 55 years. Masafer Yatta is in the 60% of the territory where the Palestinian Authority is prohibited from operating. The Palestinians want the West Bank to form the main part of their future state.

Jewish settlers have established outposts in the area that are not officially authorized by Israel but are protected by the military. Last fall, dozens of settlers attacked a village in the area, and a 4-year-old boy was hospitalized after being struck in the head with a stone.

For now, the families say they have only one choice left: to stay and stick to their land.

“I don’t have an alternative and they cannot remove me,” said farmer Khalid al-Jabarin, standing outside a goat shed. “The entire government of Israel can’t remove me. We will not leave ... we will not get out of here because we are the inhabitants of the land.”

Referring to West Bank settlers who came from other countries, he said: "Why would they bring a replacement from South Africa to live in the high mountains, in our land, and replace us, and remove us, why? “

___

Associated Press writer Fares Akram in Hamilton, Canada, contributed to this report.

ILLEGAL ZIONIST OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE

Israeli minister touts plans to approve 4,000 settler homes


APARTHEID SETTLEMENT

A general view shows the West Bank Jewish settlement of Efrat, Thursday, March 10, 2022. Israel is set to advance plans for the construction of 4,000 settler homes in the occupied West Bank, the interior minister said Friday, May 6. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)


AREEJ HAZBOUN
Fri, May 6, 2022

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel is set to advance plans for the construction of 4,000 settler homes in the occupied West Bank, the interior minister said Friday, drawing warnings of “serious consequences” from the Palestinian Authority.

If approved, it would be the biggest advancement of settlement plans since the Biden administration took office. The White House is opposed to settlement growth because it further erodes the possibility of an eventual two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, a staunch supporter of settlements, tweeted that a planning committee would convene next week to approve 4,000 homes, calling construction in the West Bank a “basic, required and obvious thing.”

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the planned approvals would have “serious consequences on the ground” in an already tense West Bank. He did not say what those consequences might be, and the Palestinian Authority has no way of halting settlement building or any other Israeli measures.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that the Civil Administration, a military body, would meet Thursday to advance 1,452 units, and that another 2,536 units would be approved by Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

The Defense Ministry referred questions to COGAT, the military body in charge of civilian affairs in the occupied West Bank. COGAT did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter told reporters that the Biden administration has been clear on West Bank settlement expansion from the outset.

“We strongly oppose the expansion of settlements which exacerbates tensions and undermines trust between the parties," she said. “Israel’s program of expanding settlements deeply damages the prospects for a two-state solution.”

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and has built more than 130 settlements across the territory that are home to nearly 500,000 settlers. Nearly 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank under Israeli military rule.

Earlier this week, Israel's Supreme Court upheld an expulsion order that would force at least 1,000 Palestinians out of an arid region in the southern West Bank where they say they have been living for decades. The military declared the area a firing zone in the early 1980s.

The Palestinians want the West Bank to form the main part of their future state. They view the expansion of settlements as a major obstacle to any future peace deal because they reduce and divide up the land on which such a state would be established. Most of the international community views the settlements as illegal.

“All of these Israeli measures of demolition, eviction and settlement fall within the framework of the apartheid regime that the occupation applies to the Palestinians and their lands amid international silence,” said Abu Rdeneh, Abbas' spokesman.

Israel's current government is split between parties that oppose and support settlements. As a compromise, it has ruled out any major peace initiative or any move to formally annex parts of the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a former leader of the main settler council, is opposed to Palestinian statehood.

Israel approved the construction of 3,000 settler homes in October despite a U.S. rebuke. Authorities have, however, paused some especially controversial projects in the wake of strong U.S. opposition.

Settlement construction can only be approved after a long bureaucratic process, and it was unclear how soon construction crews would be able to break ground on the 4,000 homes if they get a green light. The process also provides the opportunity for Israeli officials to pause or delay such projects.

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Associated Press writers Fares Akram in Hamilton, Canada, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.