Thursday, November 02, 2023

World leaders condemn Israel's attack on Gaza refugee camp

At least 50 reported dead, but toll could be 120 or more

Palestinians search for victims in the rubble after Israeli airstrikes on Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Oct. 31.

Photo by Anas Jamal/ UPI | License Photo

Nov. 1 (UPI) -- World leaders on Wednesday condemned Israel's strike on the Jabalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip that left dozens of civilians dead the day prior.

Josep Borrell, the European Union's high representative for foreign affairs and security, called for international humanitarian law to be observed as Israel exercises its "right to defend itself" while also protecting all civilians.

"I am appalled by the high number of casualties following the bombing by Israel of the Jabalya refugee camp," he said.

Palestinian officials on Tuesday said that 52 people were killed in the strike, while local authorities said the bombing caused a massive explosion that destroyed more than a dozen residential buildings and at least 20 homes.

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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also said it "condemns and totally rejects the repeated targeting by the Israeli occupation forces of densely populated civilian areas" also saying it violated international humanitarian law.

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia condemns in the strongest terms possible the inhumane targeting by the Israeli occupation forces of the Jabalia refugee camp in the besieged Gaza Strip, which caused the death and injury of a large number of innocent civilians," it said.

The United Arab Emirates said the strike "reaffirmed the need for an immediate cease-fire to prevent further loss of life stressing the importance of protecting civilians, according to international humanitarian law, international treaties and the need to ensure that they are not targeted during conflict."

Jabalya is the largest refugee camp in the Gaza Strip with 116,011 Palestinian refugees, registered there as of 2023, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East.

It is located near Gaza City and was established in 1948 following the Arab-Israeli War and is the closest camp to the Erez border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel.

The UNRWA said it has 32 installations in the camp with 16 school buildings, one food distribution center, two health centers, two area relief and social services offices, a public library, seven water wells and a maintenance and sanitation office.

It added the area has been plagued by electricity cuts, high unemployment, contaminated water supply, "extremely high" population density and lack of availability of construction materials since before the war due to limitations on movement.

Israel reported that Ebrahim Biari, the head of the Jabalya battalion of Hamas and one of the leaders of the Oct. 7 surprise attack that killed 1,400 Israelis was killed on Tuesday.

"Tonight we eliminated the murderous terrorist Ibrahim Biari," said Israeli Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari, adding that the civilian casualties resulted from a "strike on terrorists and terror infrastructure" in a massive network of underground tunnels.

Hamas continues to deny that Biari and his lieutenants were in Jabalya at the time. Meanwhile, there was no immediate confirmation on the ground regarding the commander's status, which came at the expense of several dozen innocent lives.

During a press briefing, Hagari only alluded to the reported civilian casualties, saying, "the Hamas terrorists continue to use the civilian population as protective armor. This is intentional and devastatingly barbaric."

Bolivia cuts diplomatic ties with Israel over war
By Mark Moran

Israeli 155mm self-propelled Howitzers fire a garage from a bee inside southern Israel into the Gaza Strip on October 31, 2023. Israeli forces continue to fight inside the Gaza Strip with air strikes and artillery continuing to fire into Gaza.

Photo by Jim Hollander/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 1 (UPI) -- The Bolivian government has announced that it has cut diplomatic ties with Israel over its war with Hamas. It is the first country to sever ties with the country since the start of the war on Oct. 7.

María Nela Prada, a minister in President Luis Arce's administration, announced the decision at a press conference.

"We demand an end to the attacks on the Gaza Strip which have so far claimed thousands of civilian lives and caused the forced displacement of Palestinians," Prada said.

The decision represents a "condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip and its threat to international peace and security," according to the country's deputy foreign minister, Freddy Mamani.

Bolivia's former president Evo Morales called for the country to sever ties with Israel, citing the "horrific situation" Palestinian people are facing.

In a social media post Oct. 20, Morales demanded the Bolivian government sever ties with Israel and declare it a terrorist state.

According to Gaza health authorities, 8,525 people have been killed in Israel's retaliatory strikes since Oct. 7, but the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says the death toll includes 3,500 children.

The U.S. said on Tuesday that 66 trucks had been able to deliver aid inside Gaza, but charities say that will not be enough.

United Nations Relief and Works Agency commissioner-general, Philippe Lazzarini said that prior to the war, about 500 trucks would enter Gaza each day.

The presidents of Colombia and Brazil have also been critical of Israeli actions in Gaza, which Israeli officials claim is retaliation for the unprovoked, surprise attacks on Israel.

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has called for a ceasefire. "We are seeing, for the first time, a war in which the majority of those killed are children," he said in a social media post. "Stop! For the love of God, stop!"

Jordan recalls ambassador to Israel in protest of Gaza bombing 'catastrophe'

The Jordanian government has recalled its ambassador to Israel in protest of Israel's ongoing bombing campaign in Gaza (pictured) that has leveled large areas of the heavily congested region. Photo by Anas Jamal/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 1 (UPI) -- The Jordanian government has withdrawn its ambassador to Israel in protest of the ongoing bombing of Gaza and informed Israel not to return its diplomats to Jordan until the current crisis is resolved.

The Israeli military actions have killed at least 8,796 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the local Ministry of Health.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi announced the decision Wednesday.

Safadi said he had "decided to summon the Jordanian ambassador to Israel to Jordan immediately," in a post to X Wednesday.

Israel's ambassador to Jordan left the country about two weeks ago as protests against Israeli actions in Gaza swept the country.

Safadi also said he informed the "Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs not to return its ambassador who had previously left the kingdom, as an expression of the position of Jordan. The one who rejects the raging Israeli war on Gaza, which is killing innocent people, causing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe."

On Friday, a Jordanian-sponsored non-binding resolution calling for an "immediate unconditional release" of all civilian hostages and an "immediate durable and sustained humanitarian truce" passed the U.N. General Assembly 120-14 with 45 states abstaining.

OPINION

Siding with peace in the Middle East

The future for Palestinians and Israelis is being erased each passing day.

Palestinians leave their homes following Israeli bombardment on Gaza City, Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)

October 30, 2023

Bridget Moix

(RNS) — Pope Francis said it well: “War does not solve any problem, it only sows death and destruction, increases hatred, multiplies revenge. War erases the future.”

The future for Palestinians and Israelis is being erased each passing day. Before it is too late, the United States and Congress should side with peace, not more war, in the Middle East.

Hamas’ horrific attacks that killed more than 1,400 Israelis and their abduction of more than 200 civilians should be strongly condemned. The U.S. and international community should work fervently to hold those responsible accountable while securing the release of hostages. I stand for the safety and dignity of all Israelis.

I also stand for the safety and dignity of all Palestinians. The indiscriminate, inhumane Israeli response that has already claimed as many as 8,000 lives in Gaza, including many children, must also be clearly condemned. The U.S. and international community should insist international law be respected with all civilians protected.

As a person of faith, I mourn the tragic loss of all lives and pray for those who have lost loved ones in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. I also mourn the response of my government, which seems unable to value the human rights and lives of Palestinians. In stark contrast to the Pope’s message, President Biden has made clear which “team” the U.S. is on by asking Congress for billions more in weapons for Israel. This not only makes the U.S. complicit in unfolding war crimes; it also fuels anti-American sentiment, undermining national and global security.

FILE – Israeli soldiers carry the flag-covered coffin of Shilo Rauchberger at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. In Israel on Saturday, rabbis worked around the clock at Shura military base in Israel to identify and count the dead civilians and soldiers gunned down in the Hamas attack last week. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)

Having lived through the 9/11 attacks, I understand the fear and outrage that terrorism inflicts on a community. But two decades of endless war, military quagmires, trillions of dollars spent and more than 432,000 civilians killed from our global war on terror should have taught us that war is not the answer. Instead of pouring more weapons into the conflict with one hand while supporting humanitarian aid with the other, President Biden and Congress should be fervently working to help halt the killing while addressing the root causes, so the cycle of war and violence does not repeat itself.

Some media coverage is not helping. My middle-schooler, after a discussion about cable news with classmates, believed once an attack is labeled “terrorism,” there are no limits to the violence used in response. This is not the way international law works.

International humanitarian law does not allow the indiscriminate bombing of civilians. Hospitals, churches, schools and residential neighborhoods are not legitimate military targets, especially when they are providing refuge for thousands fleeing for their lives. Killing and abducting civilians can never be tolerated. But waging war against an entire population in response only deepens suffering, inviting more attacks.

My Quaker faith calls me to reject all forms of violence and to continually work to prevent war, break cycles of violence and rebuild relationships. But people of all faiths — or those not religious at all — can see the horrors of this war and what may come next.

More than 70 Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other organizations, including my own, recently signed this interfaith and civil society letter calling on Congress and the president to press for an immediate ceasefire and provide some measure of peace, security and humanitarian assistance to the civilians of both Israel and Gaza.

We agree all violence against civilians by Hamas and the Israeli military is to be condemned and must stop at once. A ceasefire should be declared, respected and enforced on both sides. Protecting civilians, securing the release of all hostages and ensuring humanitarian aid can flow freely requires a halt to the fighting. And rather than sending billions more in weapons, the president and Congress should work to de-escalate the conflict and insist Hamas and Israel fully respect international humanitarian law.

Bridget Moix. (Photo courtesy FCNL)

I cannot begin to understand the trauma and suffering people are now experiencing in Gaza and Israel, but I can choose to stand on the side of peace and of ending the killing, the side where human dignity for both Israelis and Palestinians still resides together.

(Bridget Moix is general secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation and its associated Quaker hospitality center, Friends Place on Capitol Hill. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

Don’t look away. Israel’s response is textbook ethnic cleansing.

A newly leaked document shows that Israel sees the war as an opportunity to push Palestinians into Egypt.

Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are brought to a treatment room of al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah, Oct. 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

October 31, 2023

Omar Suleiman

(RNS) — In just three weeks, more Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli bombing in Gaza than have all children in all of the world’s conflict zones since 2019. This includes the war in Ukraine. The more than 3,300 deaths of Palestinian children have come as entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble, crushing innocent residents and neighbors.

To the militant government of Israel, which includes a finance minister who doesn’t stint at applying the word “fascist” to himself, a racist supremacist defense minister who recently declared Palestinians to be “animals” and a corrupt prime minister, Palestinian lives simply do not matter.

In the U.S., meanwhile, many mainstream institutions, from the federal government to media outlets, contort themselves into ever more acrobatic positions to rationalize and justify Israel’s mass killing. For weeks we have heard that information is not coming out of Gaza, but social media captures it all — a Palestinian father carrying bags full of his now-eviscerated children’s limbs, Palestinian parents writing their children’s names on their torsos in black ink for easy identification, a Palestinian Al Jazeera journalist and Gaza bureau chief discovering that his wife, 15-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter were killed by an Israeli air raid.

As Israel’s assault gains momentum, the scope of the violence has become obvious. On Tuesday (Oct. 31), more than 500 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza.

This week, the news site Local Call released the full contents of a leaked Oct. 13 secret document in which Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence outlined the planned expulsion of the Palestinian population of Gaza to northern Sinai in Egypt.

The document reads like a twisted manifesto, detailing a recommendation to evacuate Palestinians out of Gaza and establishing “tent cities and later more permanent cities in the northern Sinai that will absorb the expelled population.”

So far, Israel has forcibly evicted more than a million Palestinians from their homes, internally displacing them and rendering them refugees inside a concentration camp. Israel committed this war crime while raining bombs on the people as they fled from their homes, another war crime. Now, those seeking safety in southern Gaza are being further pushed closer to the Egyptian border.

Palestinians leave their homes following Israeli bombardment on Gaza City, Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)

Palestinians leave their homes after Israeli bombardment on Gaza City, Oct. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)

This is the definition of ethnic cleansing. According to a 1994 United Nations report, ethnic cleansing occurs when one group of people removes “by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.”

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights abuses in the occupied territories, has identified Israel’s actions as ethnic cleansing as well, saying on Oct. 14: “Israel has already carried out mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians under the fog of war. In the name of self-defense, Israel is seeking to justify what would amount to ethnic cleansing.”

But the same definition means that Israel has been committing ethnic cleansing for more than 70 years. For decades, Palestinians have screamed “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” from the rooftops. My parents, both Palestinian refugees, recall their families’ stories of displacement in the Nakba of 1948, in which over 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes and homeland, and the Naksa of 1967, in which over 300,000 Palestinians fled Israeli terror. But their screams have continuously fallen on deaf ears.

Official Israeli policy claims the disappearance, displacement and expulsion of almost half of the Palestinian population was merely a coincidence, a voluntary decision by over a million Palestinians to move away. In 2006, Israeli historian Ilan Pappé corrected this narrative in a book titled “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.“

“What happened in Palestine was by no means an unintended consequence, a fortuitous occurrence, or even a ‘miracle,'” he said, “Rather, it was the result of long and meticulous planning.”

Israel’s commitment to creating an ethnostate has never been a secret aspiration. It’s one that Israeli officials openly express with callous disregard. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his September speech at the United Nations, displayed a map that depicted the full annexation of all remaining Palestinian land into Israel.

The recent leaked document shows that we are watching the realization of that aspiration. Palestinians are living out a perpetual nightmare of compounded cruelties — the cruelty of having no access to water, electricity, food and medicine; of being evicted from their homes and having their homes stolen by settlers chaperoned and protected by armed Israel Defense Forces soldiers; of being turned into refugees inside an open-air prison; of being sleep-deprived from the never-ending tremors, vibrations and explosions from endless bombs; of playgrounds and hospitals being blasted to rubble; of children being buried alive under the weight of their own collapsed bedrooms.

Most cruel of all is the cruelty of the world pretending this is a justified act of self-defense by an occupying nuclear-armed power.

We all bear witness to this campaign of cruelty. We all bear witness to the slow-motion ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, fully endorsed by much of Western liberal democracy. We all bear witness to the deafening cries for help from Gaza.

Like any witness in a courtroom, we are all being called to testify by our conscience.

It is time to take the stand. It is time to take a stand.

Hamas leader: ‘We salute all supporting resistance fronts’

By a guest author posted on November 1, 2023

This edited statement was issued by the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyseh, on Nov. 1, 2023.

The brutal, criminal, terrorist war against Gaza and its people continues for the 26th day. Our people and fighters face it with full valor and capability, drawing the map of the homeland with their pure blood. They bear what mountains cannot in sacrifices and steadfastness and martyrs, demonstrating patience in the face of wounds and pain.

O people of Gaza, the noble, the sacrificing, the redeeming, the giant heroes who are engaged in this decisive battle between two axes: the axis of freedom-loving and justice-seeking people, and the axis of racism and fascism.

This is a decisive battle between those who believe in human peace, tolerance, and civilized coexistence, and the new Nazis, backed by colonial powers that trample all values for their interests and bloody mentality.

On the 26th day of this heroic epic of our resistance and our people, and facing the genocidal war waged by the new Nazis, we stand in reverence and admiration to the legendary steadfastness of our people despite the enormous bloodshed, the numerous martyrs and wounded, especially from the recent brutal massacres in the Jabalia, Nuseirat, Shati and Fallujah camps, or rather, the extended massacre across the beloved Gaza Strip.

With this steadfastness and determination, and adherence to the homeland, our people have thwarted the enemy’s plans for a new Nakba of displacement and diaspora.

We express our pride in this honorable resistance, which teaches the enemy new military lessons every day, built on the shoulders of faithful men with great courage. The Al-Qassam Brigades and resistance factions fight them on all fronts, heroically confronting their tanks and continuous bombardment.

The enemy begins its ground war in light of a shaky decision and a divided leadership. The heroic fighters make them taste the bitterness of death, inflicting death and the wounded upon them.

We assure the criminal Zionist enemy and those who support it that their futile attempts to cover their failures by committing brutal massacres against unarmed civilians will not save them from a resounding defeat in Al-Aqsa Flood.

You were defeated on the glorious seventh of October, and now you stumble in your ground invasion that you carried out against our brave heroes and our unarmed people. You are gradually announcing some of your losses, but what our Brigades know, and what they will reveal, is much more significant and will shock you, your people, and those who stand behind them.

One of the main reasons for this war is Netanyahu, who leads a right-wing, racist, fascist group and thinks only of how to save himself and his family from imprisonment and accountability, even if it means destroying the entire region.

We warned all the parties we met with before this war that the continued actions of Netanyahu and his fascist government, including their aggressive policies towards the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islamic and Christian sanctities, settlement construction, and allowing settlers to wreak havoc, would not go unanswered.

We warned them that there would inevitably be an explosion due to these actions, and that efforts should be made to restrain this criminal and his gang. Unfortunately, our calls were ignored, and his allies continued to support and encourage his racist policies.

We warn them again that Netanyahu is willing to destroy everything in the region to save himself and the extremists around him, especially since we have informed the mediators of the need to immediately stop these massacres and genocides.

Demands of Hamas

Hamas has proposed a comprehensive vision starting with a ceasefire, opening the crossings, a prisoner exchange deal, and culminating in the establishment of a political path to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Al-Quds as its capital and the right to self-determination. However, Netanyahu is stalling and misleading his public with false promises that we will not allow him to achieve.

Their successive governments have failed to achieve any of these goals. They are well aware of the findings of their own investigative committees and the miserable failures they reaped after every battle.

But until this arrogant gang realizes that they have sunk in the sands of Gaza, this will cost them greatly on all fronts, at all levels, including people who are subjected to the same killing and destruction to which our people are exposed to, the last of whom were killed in the Jabalia massacre.

We remind the countries that support this Zionist entity and provide a cover for it to commit this massacre against our people in Gaza, first and foremost the United States, of the need to reverse their outdated colonial policies and demand that they stop providing military support to this fascist government.

We also call on countries supporting the entity to stop obstructing international will, calling for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of crossings, as recently demonstrated in the General Assembly meeting titled “United for Peace.”

We tell them that you are choosing the wrong side of history, present and future. The region will never experience peace and stability until our people achieve their legitimate rights to freedom, independence and return. Enough arrogance, hypocrisy. History has no mercy on anyone.

We salute all the Arab and Islamic nations and the free people of the world for their historic stance in supporting the Palestinian people and the resilient Gaza.

We also salute all supporting resistance fronts, especially in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, for their advanced and declared stance. We reiterate our call for our Arab and Islamic peoples and the free people of the world to continue their roaring movement in the streets around the world, which has bewildered all observers and showcased the position of Palestine and its just cause in the hearts of millions.

It is essential to continue putting pressure on decision-makers, especially in the West, to retract their supportive stances for this Zionist terrorist aggression.

Today, as the Rafah crossing is partially reopened, we emphasize the necessity of the crossing’s continuous operation without interruption in both directions, as it is a purely Egyptian-Palestinian passage.

We assure our people and the proud Gaza that your resistance is steadfast and firm, and it extracts high prices from this enemy for its crimes against you.

We also assure you that the peoples of the nation are boiling and are eager to participate in this glorious battle, which will surely be a dignified victory crowned with the liberation of our land, our sanctities and our triumphant return. “And those who have been wronged will know to which [kind of] return they will be returned.”

Mercy and eternity to the martyrs, speedy recovery to the wounded and giants and heroes. All respect and appreciation to you as you fight on all fronts, and I send a salute of pride to our respected people. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine: ‘Rise, revolt, words no longer work’

By a guest author posted on October 31, 2023

This slightly edited statement was released on Oct. 31, 2023, in response to the Israeli Occupation Forces massacre of hundreds of Palestinians at the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza.

A call from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to all the honorable people of our nation and the free people of the world:

“In the face of the flowing blood in Gaza, words no longer work. Rise… Revolt… Storm the embassies of the aggressor nations… Burn them… Destroy them.

Demand a halt to the flow of oil and gas to countries complicit in the aggression. Time is of the essence, and history is unforgiving… Be assured that the people of Palestine will not let you down.

“O free people, the fascist enemy seeks revenge on the Jabalia refugee camp, as well as the Nuseirat and Shati’ camps, committing horrific massacres, which exceed in brutality what the Nazis did in their dark history, using six tons of destructive U.S. bombs.

“A tragedy that appeals to human conscience; anyone who remains silent towards this killer is complicit in the genocide and depriving Palestinians of their humanity.

“A morally, politically, and militarily defeated entity wants to claim victory over our Palestinian blood.

“The Jabalia camp is the womb of the revolution and a symbol of Palestinian resilience and resistance, standing first in the battle of honor and duty, a spirit characterized by its strength, steadfastness, and high bravery.

“With its ground campaign, the enemy wants to cover its inevitable failure with massacres against Palestinian civilians, saluting the men of resistance in their various formations who are facing this aggression, and our steadfast people who reject displacement plans despite the genocidal war waged against them by the enemy.

“Great Gaza, with the stature of its heroes and the blood of its children, is our roots deep in the ground. It will rise from the ashes.

“Verbal stances don’t shoot down planes or prevent missiles from falling on the heads of the innocent. Therefore, we call:

– To expel the ambassadors of aggression.

– A cry of anger and dignity to stop the flow of oil and gas to countries complicit in the aggression.

– It is time to close the U.S. military bases in the Arab countries.

– For the workers’ unions in global ports to refuse to unload or load any weapon shipments from or to the Zionist entity.

“Let us trust in our people, ourselves, our dignity, our freedom, and our right to life.”

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment