The Increase in Nuclear Rhetoric on the Korean Peninsula is Deeply Concerning

By Khaled Khiari

In his remarks to the UN Security Council on Non -Proliferation/DPRK , November 27

A Security Council meeting in progress. Credit: United Nations

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 28 2023 (IPS) - At 10:42 PM local time on 21 November, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) launched a rocket “Chollima-1″ loaded with the reconnaissance satellite “Malligyong-1”, from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station.

The DPRK’s National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA) announced that the rocket flew normally along the preset flight track and that the satellite entered orbit at 10:54 PM. It also announced that the DPRK would be “launching several reconnaissance satellites in a short span of time”.

This follows previous failed attempts on 31 May and 24 August this year, also using the “Chollima-1” rocket. The DPRK’s launches represent a serious risk to international civil aviation and maritime traffic.

While the DPRK issued a pre-launch notification to the Japanese Coast Guard, it did not issue airspace or maritime safety notifications to the International Maritime Organization, the International Civil Aviation Organization, or the International Telecommunications Union.

While sovereign states have the right to benefit from peaceful space activities, Security Council resolutions expressly prohibit the DPRK from conducting any launches using ballistic missile technology. On 21 November, the Secretary-General strongly condemned the launch of yet another military satellite using ballistic missile technology.

He reiterated his call on the DPRK to fully comply with its international obligations under all relevant Security Council 2 resolutions and to resume dialogue without preconditions to achieve the goal of sustainable peace and the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The DPRK continues to implement its five-year military plan unveiled in January 2021. It should be recalled that developing a military reconnaissance satellite was part of the plan, along with various other weapons systems including so-called tactical nuclear weapons.

On 27 September, the DPRK adopted a constitutional amendment further enshrining its policy on nuclear forces in the Constitution. As such, the DPRK has consistently demonstrated its strong intention to continue pursuing its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, in violation of relevant Security Council resolutions. We emphasize once again our call on the DPRK to refrain from such actions.

The increase in nuclear rhetoric on the Korean Peninsula is deeply concerning. The Secretary-General has consistently noted that the only way to prevent the use of nuclear weapons is to eliminate them. All states must reinforce and recommit to the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime built over decades, including the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which has yet to enter into force.

Pending the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, it is imperative that the DPRK maintains the highest level of safety at its nuclear facilities. Mr. President, With growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the importance of re-establishing communication channels and off-ramps is essential, particularly between military entities.

Exercising maximum restraint is critical to avoid unintended accidents or miscalculations. We call on Security Council Members to unite and explore practical measures to halt the current negative trend, making full use of the tools of dialogue, diplomacy, and negotiation, while adhering to all Security Council resolutions.

On a separate note, I would like to highlight once again concerns regarding the humanitarian situation in the DPRK. The United Nations is ready to assist the efforts of DPRK in addressing the basic needs of its vulnerable populations. We continue to closely follow the easing of DPRK border restrictions and urge the DPRK to allow the unimpeded re-entry and rotation of the international community, including the United Nations Resident Coordinator and other international UN staff.

A collective return would positively impact international support to the people of the DPRK including on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Khaled Khiari is UN Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East and Asia and the Pacific.

IPS UN Bureau

Health experts decry New Zealand's scrapping of world-first tobacco ban


NOVEMBER 28, 2023 

LONDON — Health and tobacco campaigners said on Monday (Nov 27) that New Zealand's plan to repeal laws that would ban tobacco sales for future generations threatened lives and put international efforts to kerb smoking at risk.

The country's new centre-right coalition will scrap the laws introduced by the previous Labour-led government, according to coalition agreements published on Friday.

The package of measures would have seen bans on selling tobacco to anyone born after Jan 1, 2009, reduced the amount of nicotine allowed in smoked tobacco products and cut the number of retailers able to sell tobacco by over 90per cent.

They marked some of the toughest anti-tobacco rules in the world. A ban on smoking for future generations was subsequently proposed in the United Kingdom, with other countries also considering similar rules.

"This is major loss for public health, and a huge win for the tobacco industry – whose profits will be boosted at the expense of Kiwi lives," said Boyd Swinburn, co-chair of Health Coalition Aotearoa in New Zealand.

HCA pointed to academic research that found the laws could have saved some US$1.3 billion (S$1.73 billion) in health system costs over 20 years, and reduced mortality rates.

New Zealand's Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of usual business hours in the country.

Sarah Jackson, Principal Research Fellow in the University College London Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, said the decision could threaten plans in other nations.

"There is a risk that New Zealand's U-turn could prompt policymakers in England to reconsider," she said.

The coalition government will also tax smoked products only and reform regulations for alternatives like vapes, including a ban on disposable vapes and tougher penalties for those selling to underage customers, according to the documents.

Incoming Finance Minister Nicola Willis told New Zealand's Newshub Nation that the former government's measures would have significantly reduced tax revenues.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of UK health charity ASH, said that smoking costs public finances nearly double tobacco tax revenues.

Some bears in Japan may not hibernate in winter, say wildlife experts amid spate of attacks

The bears may continue searching for food in winter due to the poor harvest of nuts this year.

PHOTO: EPA-EFE

Kolette Lim

The onslaught of bear attacks in Japan are expected to ease as the animals go into hibernation for the winter, but experts have warned of bears which may not sleep during the season.

Due to a poor harvest of beech nuts this year, a staple food source for bears, animals which did not eat enough may continue wandering around without hibernating, said Mr Teruki Oka, head of the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute at Shikoku Research Center at the Japanese city Kochi.

Mr Oka told Japanese news outlet Mainichi Shimbun that in typical hibernation stages, the bears get plenty of nutrition during autumn to fatten up before holing in trees or dens until spring. Species such as Asian black bears usually start hibernating as early as November and sleep until early May of the following year, he added.

“They don’t wake up in the middle of hibernation to search for food, but stay where they are,” Mr Oka said.

Bears which prefer meat to nuts may also not hibernate due to the lack of prey in the winter, reported Mainichi Shimbun.

A male brown bear codenamed “Oso18” was culled in August 2023, according to Hokkaido government sources. The bear had terrorised farms and attacked more than 60 cattle in eastern Hokkaido since 2019.

Environment researcher Hiromi Taguchi said: “They’re hungry and agitated in the winter due to the lack of prey animals.” These bears attack humans as they remember how to attack other animals, added the professor at Tohoku University of Art and Design.

When the winter is warmer than usual, bears may also face difficulty in hibernating as their body temperatures do not drop enough, said Prof Taguchi. He advised caution when going into the mountains for winter activities such as skiing.

“It is common knowledge among hunters in north-east Japan, known as matagi, to shoot such bears without hesitation if they spot one.”

Some northern areas in Japan have put a bounty on bears to curb the number of bear attacks. Officials in the northern Akita prefecture plan to hand out 5,000 yen (S$45) to hunters for each bear they shoot, reported Bloomberg on Oct 27.

According to broadcast media outlet NHK, about 167 bear attacks have been reported in Japan in 2023 by October, exceeding the 2020 record of 158.

Mr Oka warned of bears which commonly appear in urban areas such as city centres. These bears are accustomed to humans and root through household garbage in search of food, he told Mainichi Shimbun.

Stating that bear sightings have been reported even during cold months such as December and January, Mr Oka said: “People need to take precautions to keep bears away by making sure that household garbage is properly disposed of even in the winter.”

60 Palestinian women still held in Israeli jails: Palestinian Prisoners Society

Israeli army detained 56 out of 60 Palestinian women, girls after Oct. 7 as part of massive wave of arrests, says media officer of Palestinian Prisoners Society

Qais Abu Samra |28.11.2023 


RAMALLAH, Palestine

Israeli authorities continue to hold 60 Palestinian women in jail, with most detained after Oct. 7, a local nongovernmental organization, said on Tuesday.

Speaking to Anadolu, Amal Sarahneh, media officer at the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), said the Israeli army detained 56 Palestinian women and girls in a major wave of arrests in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem after Oct. 7, so far detaining 3,260 people.

Sarahneh added that Israel had released 33 Palestinian women under a prisoner swap deal with Gaza-based resistance group Hamas over the past four days.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said earlier that Tel Aviv would agree on the release of 50 Palestinian women in additional swaps with Hamas in exchange for the release of Israelis held in Gaza.

Before Oct. 7, the number of Palestinians detained in Israeli jails was around 5,200, including more than 1,000 held in administrative detention without charge or trial.

Tensions have been high across the occupied West Bank since the fighting broke out on Oct. 7 between Palestinian groups and Israel in Gaza.

Nearly 240 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli forces in the West Bank since Oct. 7 in addition to over 2,850 others injured, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar

Historic Virgin flight to cross Atlantic on sustainable fuel
Middle East described as pivotal to future of green aviation as flight takes off on eve of Cop28

Powered by Rolls-Royce engines, the Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 Dreamliner
will be fuelled by a blend of cooking oils, fats and synthetic kerosene Getty Images

Tim Stickings
Nov 28, 2023

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner is taking a step towards greener air travel on Tuesday when it flies passengers from London to New York on sustainable fuel, an industry tipped to thrive in the Middle East.

The Virgin Atlantic plane has been given special clearance by regulators to fill up with 100 per cent sustainable aviation fuel for its flight from Heathrow Airport to John F Kennedy International Airport.

The Virgin flight is touted as the first scheduled flight with passengers on a full-sized jet using sustainable fuel.

Its two Rolls-Royce engines are being powered by a 60-tonne blend of cooking oils, fats and synthetic kerosene – billed as having carbon emissions 70 to 80 per cent lower than standard kerosene jet fuel – reducing “travel guilt” for passengers.
READ MORE
Cop28 explained: How to book tickets, what to do and how to get there

Taking off on the eve of Cop28 in Dubai, the flight was described by John Kelly, Rolls-Royce president for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa, as a “symbolic event” demonstrating that the fuel is technically viable.


“It’s a historic moment and it’s a significant milestone,” he told The National.

He said the rise of sustainable fuel was especially important for markets such as the UAE that rely on long-haul travel, which is regarded as a difficult sector in which to cut carbon emissions.

“The reality is the most viable way to do that is through the use of sustainable aviation fuel,” Mr Kelly said.

A tank of sustainable aviation fuel, which is billed as having carbon emissions 70 to 80 per cent lower than regular jet fuel. Photo: Rolls-Royce


Aviation bosses like SAF because it can be “dropped in” to existing tanks without totally remodelling a plane, unlike more radical innovations such as electric or hydrogen-powered aircraft.

A UN-led aviation conference in Dubai agreed last week to aim for a 5 per cent emissions cut by 2030 through the use of sustainable fuels, days before Cop28 opens under the UAE’s leadership.

Air travel accounts for about 2 per cent of global carbon emissions. However, sustainable fuel fills up just 0.1 per cent of jet plane tanks at present, according to Virgin Atlantic, which is operating Tuesday’s transatlantic flight, known as Flight 100.
Sustainability race

US business jet manufacturer Gulfstream Aerospace, flew a SAF-powered G600 aircraft from its Georgia headquarters to an airfield in southern England on Sunday, in what it called a transatlantic first.


Emirates last week became the first airline to test 100 per cent sustainable fuel on an Airbus A380, which took off from Dubai International Airport and landed 75 minutes later. Adnoc announced last month it had been certified to produce its own blend.

Regulators normally insist on no more than a 50-50 blend of SAF and normal jet fuel, but officials in Britain gave a permit to Virgin Atlantic after testing Rolls-Royce’s Trent 1000 engine on the ground.

UK minister Baroness Charlotte Vere, Parliamentary Secretary in the Treasury, called it a “huge step towards net zero”.

Once the industry “can confidently say, technically, operationally, we're SAF-ready”, the next step is to “take down barriers” to using it more broadly, Mr Kelly said, including the cost and availability.

John Kelly, Rolls-Royce's president for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa, says the region is pivotal for the future of sustainable aviation. Photo: Rolls-Royce

“If we do that right, it is extremely viable as a solution. You could see 80 per cent reduction in the emissions,” he said. “That’s a huge benefit and can remove the travel guilt that the travelling public may be feeling right now.”

He said “the Middle East is pivotal” in scaling up sustainable fuel because of its political drive towards sustainability. Mr Kelly cited the UAE’s presidency of Cop28 and access to finance and renewable energy.

“The leadership, the drive, the strategic direction is there,” he said.

“You’ve actually got the ability, environmentally, for potential production of SAF in large quantities, through things like harnessing renewables – solar is the obvious one in this part of the world.

“Then you’ve got the really key driving factor which is finance. You’ve got the investment through sovereign wealth funds and some of the financial entities based here in the world that will really drive the step change in what’s required with that long-term mindset.

“This isn’t done for a quick return, it’s done for the benefit of us all.”

Manufacturers such as Rolls-Royce are also looking into electric-powered planes, although the expectation is that these would be for short regional trips because of the weight of on-board batteries. Hydrogen is another option being explored, although this takes up much more space than conventional jet fuel.

A sustainable aviation forum is scheduled for day seven of Cop28 at Expo City Dubai, when transport will be a focus of discussions as part of a schedule of themed days at the summit.

Cop28 is taking place from Thursday until December 12.

Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano erupts



Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano located in the waters of Sunda Strait erupted on Tuesday morning, spewing volcanic ash cloud of about 1km high into the sky, an official said. — Reuters file pic
Join us on our WhatsApp Channel, follow us on Instagram, and receive browser alerts for the latest news you need to know.

Tuesday, 28 Nov 2023

JAKARTA, Nov 28 — Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano located in the waters of Sunda Strait erupted on Tuesday morning, spewing volcanic ash cloud of about 1km high into the sky, an official said.

Xinhua quoted the volcano’s Observation Post Officer Anggi Nuryo Saputro as saying the eruption occurred at 6.29am local time for 130 seconds, with the wind heading north.

“The ash column was observed to be grey to black in colour with thick intensity towards the north,” he said in a statement.

Since its birth in June 1927, Anak Krakatau’s volcanic activity has been on the rise, making its body larger and taller, up to 157 m above the sea level. Its activity has increased significantly since April last year, which raised its dangerous status to the third highest level.

In 2018, Anak Krakatau erupted and triggered a tsunami that killed over 400 people and left thousands homeless. 

— Bernama

Eruption resumes at Italy's Mount Etna

28 November 2023

Eruption resumed at Mount Etna in Italy's Sicily, the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said, Azernews reports, citing Anadolu Agency.

The 3,300-meter-high mountain (10,827 feet) continued to emit ash and lava from its southeast crater over the weekend, the institute noted on Sunday in a statement, adding that the emissions were only limited to this crater.

Europe's highest active volcano, Mount Etna's southeast crater resumed activity on Nov. 12, with authorities warning the aircraft flying over the region.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

‘100 trillion’ from Zimbabwe part of N.S. fraudster’s plan to repay victims

A former financial manager from Nova Scotia is banking on a seemingly hypothetical situation where currencies around the world will be "reset," giving him the money to pay a $1.1-million fine related to an investment scam that swindled more than 200 victims, a judge heard Monday.


Quintin Sponagle is shown outside a Halifax provincial courtroom on Jan. 19, 2017. (Robert Short/CBC – image credit)


28.11.2023


An ongoing hearing in Halifax provincial court has been examining whether Quintin Sponagle, 59, to pay the court-ordered fine related to his 2017 sentencing on one count of fraud.

An American man, David Sybesma, testified Monday by video that he has known Sponagle for 15 years, and that he holds “assets” for Sponagle that would cover the fine amount once they become “revalued.”

In short and sometimes confusing testimony, Sybesma didn’t explain in depth how the process would work, but suggested it involved the establishment of “asset-backed currencies” in 209 countries.

Sybesma said he and a group of like-minded people purchased assets for Sponagle because of the consultancy work he did for them.

The assets include “Zim notes,” he said, with one worth “100 trillion,” an apparent reference to banknotes that circulated in Zimbabwe during a period of hyperinflation in 2009. The African country has since moved to a different currency.

The trial is being held at Halifax provincial court

The hearing is being held at Halifax provincial court. (Robert Short/CBC)

Sponagle, who lives in Upper Vaughn, N.S., pleaded guilty seven years ago to one count of fraud involving 201 victims, many of them from church groups and his social circle.

They had invested $4.4 million in a financial firm Sponagle controlled that was incorporated in Panama and maintained an office in Windsor, N.S. At least $1.1 million was never put into investments, and was instead spent on cars, recreational vehicles and international travel.

Sponagle was extradited to Canada from Panama after spending 19 months in a notorious prison in the Central American country. He pleaded guilty to one count of fraud in Canada and was handed probation and a fine.

Sponagle has said he doesn’t have the money to pay the court fine, although he maintains he wants to do so. In order for him to be sent to prison, the Crown must show that Sponagle has the means to pay, but is not willing to do so.

Current U.S. government a ‘corporation’

It was not made clear in court where Sybesma, who described himself as a truck driver, farmer and business consultant, is located.

He referenced in his testimony the creation of the U.S federal reserve in 1913, called the current American government a “corporation,” and said he only dealt in cash for his daily needs. He also testified in vague terms about a project in Vietnam and Cambodia.

At one point during the hearing, prosecutor Shauna MacDonald asked Sybesma if he believed he was “entitled to assets by virtue of being a person, is that what you’re saying?” “Yes,” Sybesma replied.

The hearing continues Tuesday, and Sponagle is expected to testify.

Post published in: Featured

UAE Faces Scrutiny As Oil Producer Hosts UN Climate Summit In Dubai

Given fossil fuels account for nearly 90% of the carbon dioxide emissions driving climate change, many have argued that there is a clear conflict of interest in having oil and gas producers at the helm of climate talks.

COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber Kamran Jebreili/Associated Press

SALAM ABUSHARAR
The Conversation

UPDATED: 28 NOV 2023

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), the world’s seventh largest oil producer, will host the 28th UN climate change summit (COP28) in Dubai from November 30 to December 12. Presiding over the conference will be the chief executive of the UAE state-owned oil company Adnoc, Sultan al-Jaber.

Given fossil fuels account for nearly 90% of the carbon dioxide emissions driving climate change, many have argued that there is a clear conflict of interest in having oil and gas producers at the helm of climate talks. The UAE is alleged to flare more gas than it reports and plans to increase oil production from 3.7 million barrels a day to 5 million by 2027.

Some contend that the oil and gas industry could throw the brake on greenhouse gas emissions by investing its vast revenues into plugging gas flares and injecting captured carbon underground. But independent assessments maintain that the industry will need to leave at least some of its commercially recoverable reserves permanently underground to limit global warming. No oil-exporting country but Colombia has yet indicated it will do this.

Dubai appears determined to undermine even this small victory. An investigation has released documents showing the UAE hosts planned to advise a Colombian minister that Adnoc “stands ready” to help the South American country develop its oil and gas reserves.

The UK invited ridicule by expanding its North Sea oil fields less than two years after urging the world to raise its climate ambitions as summit host. The UAE seems destined for a similar fate – before its talks have even begun.




Oil consumption & dependence

The UAE’s fast-growing population of 9.9 million (only 1 million are Emirati citizens) has the sixth highest CO2 emissions per head globally.

Citizens are used to driving gas-guzzling cars with fuel priced well below international market rates and using air conditioning for much of the year thanks to utility subsidies. Visiting tourists and conference-goers have come to expect chilled shopping malls, swimming pools and lush golf greens that depend entirely on energy-hungry desalinated water.

Despite decades of policies aimed at diversifying the country’s economy away from oil, the UAE’s hydrocarbon sector makes up a quarter of GDP, half of the country’s exports and 80% of government revenues. Oil rent helps buy socioeconomic stability, for instance, by providing local people with public-sector sinecures.

This state of affairs is a central tenet of the Arabian Gulf social contract, in which citizens of the six gulf states mostly occupy bureaucratic public sector positions administering an oil-based economy with expatriate labour dominating the non-oil private sector.

Tech-fixes, targets and the future

How does the UAE plan to cut its own emissions?

Adnoc and other international oil companies are banking on select technologies (to sceptics, “green cover” for further climate damage) to preserve their core business model: extracting oil.

Adnoc, along with the wider oil and gas industry, has invested in carbon sequestration and making hydrogen fuel from the byproducts of oil extraction. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), such measures, even if fully implemented, will only have a small impact on greenhouse gas emissions.

The UAE was the first in the Middle East to ratify the Paris climate agreement and to commit to net zero emissions by 2050. With near limitless sunshine and substantial sovereign wealth, the UAE ranks 18th globally per capita and first among Opec countries for solar power capacity. Solar now meets around 4.5% of the UAE’s electricity demand and projects in the pipeline will see output rise from 23 gigawatts (GW) today to 50GW by 2031.

The Barakah nuclear power plant (the Arab world’s first) started generating electricity in 2020. While only meeting 1% of the country’s electricity demand, when fully operational in 2030, this may rise to 25%.

The oil sector is inherently capital-intensive, not labour-intensive, and so it cannot provide sufficient jobs for Emiratis. The UAE will need to transition to a knowledge-based economy with productive employment in sectors not linked to resource extraction.

In the UAE, sovereign wealth fund Mubadala is tasked with enabling this transition. It has invested in a variety of high-tech sectors, spanning commercial satellites to research and development in renewable energy.

But even if the UAE was to achieve net zero by some measure domestically, continuing to export oil internationally means it will be burned somewhere, and so the climate crisis will continue to grow.

Self-interest

Is disappointment a foregone conclusion in Dubai?

Already one of the hottest places in the world, parts of the Middle East may be too hot to live within the next 50 years according to some predictions.

Rising temperatures risk the UAE’s tourism and conference-hosting sectors, which have grown meteorically since the 1990s (third-degree burns and heatstrokes won’t attract international visitors). A show-stopping announcement to further its global leadership ambitions is not out of the question.

At some point, one of the major oil-exporting countries must announce plans to leave some of its commercially recoverable oil permanently untapped. COP28 provides an ideal platform. A participating country may make such a commitment with the caveat that it first needs to build infrastructure powered by renewable energy and overhaul its national oil company’s business model to one that supplies renewable energy, not fossil fuel, globally.

The UAE has the private capital and sovereign wealth required to build a post-oil economy. But will it risk being the first mover?

COP28: UAE planned to use climate talks to make oil deals

PAKISTAN

SOCIETY: CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD?

Umar Bacha Published 

November 26, 2023 

These young children spend whatever time off they get collecting firewood to sell at a market in Dara Manaf Khel | Photos by the writer


We are on the way to Shalkho, a tourist destination in Alpuri tehsil in Shangla, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when we come across Nazia Feroz, 9, carrying a bAundle of firewood on her head. She is walking with five other children from the mountainous Shalkho jungle in Dara Manaf Khel.

We meet them on a Sunday, their day off from school, but these children are working, bringing firewood from the mountainous jungle to sell at a local market to make ends meet.

Nazia’s father, Feroz Khan, has been bedridden for the last three years due to a pulmonary illness. Nazia and her two siblings are enrolled in the government primary school in Dara Manaf Khel but, after school, and over the weekend, they bring firewood to sell in the Kuz Alpuri bazaar. They also use the firewood as fuel to burn in their home.

“My father used to work for years as a coal miner in Hyderabad, Sindh, where he became ill and was diagnosed with black lungs,” says Nazia, adjusting her scarf after placing the bundle of firewood on the path

Many children in impoverished Shangla district have to work to support their families, where all adult males have either moved out to other areas to work in coal mines or returned seriously ill

Every Sunday, they go to the Shalkho jungle with a group of her relatives, mostly school students, and bring firewood and sell each bundle for Rs 250. From their earnings, they buy food and other essentials on their way back home.

Nazia is a third grade student at the sole primary school for the 4,000 residents of village council Manaf Khel. A local school teacher claims that 90 percent of the men of the village work as coal miners in different provinces. The Shangla Coal Mine Workers Rights Association, however, estimates that figure as 70 percent. It claims, every year, around 50 men die and more are crippled or injured due to pulmonary diseases.

Coal miners face grave risks in this field of work. Aside from lung diseases caused by inhaling coal soot, debilitating injuries, such as to the spine, are common. And then there’s the constant risk of death on the job.

Nine labourers were killed and four injured in a explosion at a coal mine in December 2022 in Orakzai tribal region of Doli, a few hundred kilometres south of Shangla district. Two years earlier, three miners from Shangla were killed and 10 injured at an explosion in a coal mine in the Boya area of Orakzai. Mine accidents are reportedly common due to the build up of flammable gases.

Government officials regularly promise to look into coal miners’ issues, including reviewing proper working conditions at coal mines and whether, for example, they receive safety equipment while working. However, nothing substantial comes of their statements.

Because of the extreme poverty in Shangla district, the locals, particularly young men, prefer to work as coal miners, because they usually have links to some relatives already employed in the profession, however risky it is.

Salih Khan, the head teacher at the aforementioned government primary school, says that, as soon as winter vacations are announced, most middle, high and college students leave for coal mining work in other areas and remain there until school resumes.

Replying to a question regarding his students collecting firewood after school and on weekends, Khan says it is common, as these children grow up under great hardship. They do this work to be able to run their homes and buy school stationery, because most of their fathers are away working in coal mines.

Nazirullah is one of the children among the group we meet, carrying a bundle of heavy firewood; he looks at us curiously. Where are you from, he asks us in Pashto.

Nazirullah is in the first grade and his elder brother, Zaibullah, in the fourth. Both boys carry heavy bundles of firewood to their home and tell us they dream of becoming doctors and serving the poor villagers of their area.

Nazirullah, dressed in his blue school sweater and wearing a shawl on his head as a turban tells us about his father Gul Baz, who works as a coal miner somewhere in Punjab. They have no one else in the house to help them bring firewood they can use for cooking or heating their homes, he informs us.

Before Nazirullah can complete his sentence, however, his brother interrupts and says it is the season for collecting firewood and they have to collect as much as possible to store before snowfall, because they will not be able to walk in harsh weather.

“We get tired and fall ill carrying firewood and then food from the bazaars on our shoulders,” says Nazirullah, saying they have to walk for hours through harsh and narrow terrains. “But we can’t say anything to our mother, as we know we have to do this to make a living.”

Every child we meet has a similar story of hardship.

Shabirullah, a fifth grade student, tells Eos he is the only boy at home and has to deal with such challenges, as all the males in his family older than 15 years are away. He says that, after passing middle school or Matric, boys from the village leave for work because of poverty and a lack of work opportunities in Shangla.

The children’s head-teacher, Salih Khan, tells us the student body at the government school is 433 and, along with himself, there are seven teachers in total. The village has three police constables for the village council of 4,000 people; the rest of the adult men have moved out for work.

Dara Manaf Khel is a village council of the district headquarters, the Alpuri Union Council, but has no girls’ primary school. So the 157 girls of Dara Manaf Khel are also enrolled in the boys’ school.

Khan says 50 percent of his students work to collect firewood and other chores usually done by adults, adding that their young lives are filled with miseries and hardship. He admits the kids are weak in their studies because of the hardships they face, which makes it difficult for them to focus on their schoolwork, for example.

He adds that their mental wellbeing has also been affected by these challenges, especially if you compare them to students from cities, who get to focus on their studies during their weekends and holidays. Those students can also participate in extracurricular activities.

Meanwhile, these children, who want a better education, cannot avail of additional tuition even during their winter vacation, because they cannot afford it. Although many aspire to graduate, they do not go beyond middle school, as they have to begin working to support their fathers.

Abid Yar, the spokesperson of Shangla Coal Mine Workers Rights Association, tells Eos that every coal miner’s child faces these challenges, but the number of orphans is also very high in the district; they are more vulnerable and face tougher challenges.

Abid Yar says they have been demanding a ‘Working Folks Grammar School’ in Shangla, as set up in other districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the first government of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf. But this has not happened yet. Neither have authorities initiated any scholarship programme for children of coal miners or even initiatives for their welfare, though the government makes massive revenue from coal, he says.

It seems the welfare and future of these poor children is as much a priority for governments as Shangla is removed from the corridors of power.

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent
in Shangla. X: @umar_shangla

Published in Dawn, EOS, November 26th, 2023

ZIONISM, IMPERIALISM AND THE PALESTINE ‘QUESTION’

The history of the Palestinian people’s subjugation at the hands of Israel stretches back decades.


Qasim A. Moini 

DAWN

Published November 26, 2023 

The constant barrage of bloody, violent images emanating from Gaza are mind-numbing. In particular, the pictures of dazed minors and tiny bodies wrapped in shrouds have shaken people across the world — all except Israel’s staunchest supporters in numerous Western capitals, and the potentates and strongmen of the ‘ummah’.

The latest assault on Gaza has highlighted the plight and victimhood of the Palestinian people, and the righteousness of their cause, while exposing the unmitigated brutality the Israeli state unleashes against the most defenceless and vulnerable of populations.

As various commentators have noted, the conflict — and the decades-old suffering of the Palestinian people — did not begin on October 7, with the Hamas attack on Israel. This sorry tale of subjugation, violence and humiliation goes back over a century.

To understand what the ‘Palestine question’ is all about, we must examine the history of the area from the beginning of the 20th century, which can help explain and put in context the grave injustice the Palestinians have been subjected to for over a 100 years, as well as the Zionist appetite for expansion and destruction, and the slavish Western support for Tel Aviv’s unforgivable actions against innocent civilians.

As per Zionism — Israel’s founding ideology — Israel, as it is known today, is the biblical ‘Promised Land’ of the Jewish people, a land that was reclaimed by the Jews after 2,000 years in 1948 (after displacing the Palestinians). However, the focus of this write-up is not the theological arguments for or against Israel — that is a different subject altogether — but instead the historical and geopolitical developments of this region over the last 100 years.

While many in the Western world are painting the tragedy unfolding in Gaza as a consequence of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, the history of the Palestinian people’s subjugation at the hands of Israel stretches back decades

A dispassionate analysis along these lines will only strengthen the view that the native population of Palestine was dispossessed of their land thanks to colonial intrigue and Zionist brutality, and that the Jews of Europe built a homeland in Palestine in a land that was not theirs.

Furthermore, the evidence points to the fact that empire, the heirs of empire and the Zionists have formed an unbreakable bond going back a century, which explains the callousness of Western states, particular the US and European nations, which have stood by Israel like a rock, even as it has butchered over 5,500 Palestinian children in just six weeks.

A map of Palestine that was published in 1947, a year before the Nakba| National Geographic Magazine



THE GENESIS OF A CONFRONTATION

Perhaps the genesis of the Palestine question can be traced to World War I and the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. The Sublime Porte, once a force to be reckoned with across Asia, Africa and Europe, was now in a terminal phase, uncharitably dubbed the ‘Sick man of Europe’, as Europe’s colonial powers sought to divvy up the remnants of the Sultan’s empire.

Adhering to the dictum of divide et impera — divide and rule — the British urged Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Makkah and ruler of Hijaz (whose descendants today rule Jordan), to rise up against the Ottomans. What transformed into the Arab Revolt served as a deathblow to Ottoman rule over Arab lands, which would be instrumental in the British occupation of Ottoman Palestine, and the creation of Israel three decades later.

While the British were promising the Arabs lands of their own to rule, they were also assuring Europe’s Jews that Palestine was theirs for the taking, never mind the fact that Britain had no locus standi — it was giving away land it would soon occupy, land that did not belong to it.

In the infamous Balfour Declaration of November 1917, Arthur James Balfour, then British foreign secretary and a former prime minister, told Lord Walter Rothschild, a prominent British Zionist, that, “His Majesty’s Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this objective”, while adding the quid pro quo that nothing would be done to prejudice the rights of “existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.”

These few lines would change the course of history, and spell the beginning of the long Palestinian nightmare that continues till this day, and which the people of Gaza are living through.

Arab villagers fleeing from an unidentified area in the Galilee region in October 1948 | Reuters


CAPTURING JERUSALEM

Just a month after the Balfour Declaration, Jerusalem would fall out of Ottoman hands, and into British control. Upon entering the holy city, Edmund Allenby, the victorious British general, is reported to have said: “The wars of the Crusades are now complete.”

In an interesting and somewhat related anecdote, when French general Henri Gouraud occupied Damascus in 1920, he reportedly went to Salahuddin Ayyubi’s tomb and remarked “Saladin, we have returned.”

The fall of Ottoman Palestine would result in the formation of Mandatory Palestine, a British-occupied territory under the League of Nations that saw increased Jewish immigration from Europe, aided by the rise of fascism in that continent. However, relations between the native Arabs and the new arrivals were fraught.

As Ahad Ha’am, himself a Zionist, observed of his compatriots, “They treat the Arabs with hostility and cruelty, deprive them of their rights, offend them without cause and even boast of these deeds.” Things would only get worse, as the Zionists, and later Israelis, would do much worse to the Arabs, as the pummelling of Gaza has proved.

Former British prime minister Arthur Balfour (centre) and the first president of Israel Chaim Weizmann (third from the right) visiting Tel Aviv in 1925 | AFP

AN IMPERIAL OUTPOST

While many of Europe’s elites sought to encourage Jews to immigrate to Palestine so that they could ‘cleanse’ their countries of the community, the Zionists also offered their services to empire in return for support for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

For example, Chaim Weizmann, who would later become the first president of Israel, had said in 1914: “… Should Palestine fall within the British sphere of influence, and should Britain encourage a Jewish settlement there, as a British dependency, we could have in 20 to 30 years a million Jews out there — perhaps more; they would … form a very effective guard for the Suez Canal.”

Indeed, Weizmann’s words would prove to be prophetic, as his political descendants lived up to their end of the bargain, by eagerly participating in the Suez War of 1956.

By the end of World War II, Jewish immigration to Palestine had increased considerably, as had tensions between the Arabs and the Jews. The British Empire, weakened by two world wars, decided to wash its hands of the Palestine question and ended the Mandate in 1948 after the matter had gone to the United Nations (UN), and the global body had called for a partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states.

The Arabs rejected the plan, while the Jews declared independence, leading to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Barefoot and pushing their belongings in prams and carts, Arab families leave the coastal town of Jaffa, which became part of the greater Tel Aviv area in the state of Israel | United Nations

ISREALI EXPANSIONISM

‘Greater Israel’ is often dismissed as a concoction of conspiracy theorists and YouTube cranks. Yet the fact is that expansionism, and the occupation of other people’s land, is contained within political Zionism’s DNA.

Theodor Herzl, the father of political Zionism, in his diaries had written that Israel’s boundaries should stretch “from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates”, while other Zionist thinkers had also dreamt of including parts of Lebanon, Syria and Transjordan. Certainly, Zionism’s heirs in modern Israel have faithfully stuck to the vision of their elders, whether it is through the establishment of settlements in the occupied territories, considered illegal by the international community, or the continued occupation of Syrian (the Golan Heights) and Lebanese (Shebaa Farms) territory.

Through the various Arab-Israeli conflicts since the establishment of Israel, Tel Aviv has sought to extend its territory through occupation. For example, in the 1948 Nakba (literally ‘Catastrophe’, but meaning the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians) that came with the establishment of Israel, the Zionist state is said to have occupied 80 percent of the territory that was supposed to be divided up between both sides by the UN partition plan.

An Israeli military vehicle driving towards the Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on June 7, 1967 | AFP

In 1956, when Gamal Abdel Nasser dared to nationalise the Suez Canal, the UK, France and Israel ganged up to attack Egypt. Just over a decade later, in the 1967 War, Israel would occupy Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Sinai from Egypt, as well as Golan from Syria. In 1982, it invaded Lebanon, an occupation that would be ended by Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in 2000, as the Israelis vacated South Lebanon.

As is illustrated by the aforementioned facts, Israel has a voracious appetite for other people’s land, and has often been aided in its forays by its Western friends. Until the Suez War of 1956, it was principally the UK which was Israel’s chief patron, while France helped Tel Aviv with its clandestine nuclear programme.

But after Suez, America, the heir to the European empires of the old world and the new global hegemon, would be Israel’s principal foreign benefactor, providing tens of billions of dollars in aid to Tel Aviv, and a staunch diplomatic defence of Israel at all global fora.

Israeli soldiers bring back a portrait of Gamal Abdel Nasser as a souvenir after their invasion of Egypt and Gaza in 1956 | AFP

THE BACKING OF THE WEST

It was not always like this. The Dwight D. Eisenhower administration of the US had actually sponsored a UN resolution denouncing the tripartite attack on Egypt. But perhaps due to Cold War calculus, and the increasing power of the pro-Israel lobby and Christian evangelicals in the US, from the 1967 war onwards, US defence of Israel was “iron-clad”. In fact, in the 1973 War, the US rushed men and weapons there to ensure Israel survived the Arab blitz.

This “iron-clad” support has manifested itself even as Israel has mercilessly butchered over 13,000 Palestinians since October 7. Following the Hamas attack, European and American leaders made a beeline for Israel, warmly embracing Benjamin Netanyahu and assuring the Israelis that ‘we’ stand with ‘you’ against ‘them’.

Palestinians surrender to Israeli soldiers in June 1967 in the West Bank | AFP

This theatre of the absurd continued even as hundreds of thousands of people marched in Washington, London and Paris calling for stopping the butchery of civilians. Here, in the reaction of the Western political elite, the pieces of the 100-year-old puzzle seemed to come together, as the Western elite’s unconditional love of Israel, and contempt for the Palestinians, manifested themselves very clearly.

Israel was birthed and nursed by empire. It has been supported and defended by the successors of empire. Of course, this was a two-way affair, as Israel had also provided valuable services to empire, as its loyal outpost in the Middle East. Therefore, after the dust settles, it would be folly of the highest order to expect the West to offer lasting and judicious solutions to the Palestine solution.

If anything, an equitable solution — acceptable to the Palestinian people, all of them, not just the ruling clique in Ramallah — is likely to emerge from the ascendant Global South, members of which have themselves been victims of empire. There is far too much historical baggage that the Western states are unable to shed where Israel is concerned, and this has been proved throughout the Gaza massacre.

Palestinian girls returning home from school pass a line of Arab men being frisked by Israeli soldiers in Gaza in 1986 | Reuters


Looking back at history, British historian Arnold J. Toynbee’s sharp and succinct analysis of the Palestine question in 1968 offers clues for a possible solution:

“If Palestine had remained under Ottoman Turkish rule, or if it had become an independent Arab state in 1918, Jewish immigrants would never have been admitted into Palestine in large enough numbers to enable them to overwhelm the Palestinian Arabs in this Arab people’s own country.”

History cannot be rewritten. Yet we can learn from it, if we choose to. An unfair and unjust normalisation will not end the Palestinians’ suffering, nor will the brutal violence targeted at Arab men, women and children dull their appetite for freedom and basic dignity.

Only justice for generations of Palestinians will help bring peace to this tortured land.

Header image: The aftermath of Israeli airstrikes on the Jabaliya refugee camp in Northern Gaza | AP

The writer is a member of staff

Published in Dawn, EOS, November 26th, 2023