THE LAST COLONY -- VIVE LE INDEPENDENCE

Four dead in New Caledonia riots, France to declare state of emergency

Kirsty Needham and Juliette Jabkhiro
Updated Wed, May 15, 2024 







Damage caused by rioters in New Caledonia

SYDNEY/PARIS (Reuters) -France will declare a state of emergency on the Pacific island of New Caledonia on Wednesday after three young indigenous Kanak and a police official were killed in riots over electoral reform.

The state of emergency will give authorities additional powers to ban gatherings and forbid people from moving around the French-ruled island.

Police reinforcements have been sent to the island after rioters torched vehicles and businesses and looted stores. Schools have been shut and there is already a curfew in the capital.

"Since the start of the week, New Caledonia has been hit by violence of a rare intensity," said Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.

"No violence will be tolerated," he said, adding that the state of emergency "will allow us to roll out massive means to restore order."

Earlier in the day, a spokesman for New Caledonia's President Louis Mapou said that three young indigenous Kanak had died in the riots. The French government later announced that a police official had died from a gunshot wound.

Rioting broke out over a new bill, adopted by lawmakers in Paris on Tuesday, that will allow French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to vote in provincial elections - a move some local leaders fear will dilute the Kanak vote.

"Residents are terrorised, armed and organising themselves to make the rounds tonight and protect their homes," said Lilou Garrido Navarro Kherachi, 19, who drove around protester blockades on Wednesday morning in the island's capital Noumea.

She said she heard gunfire and saw burning cars and buildings, including a ruined veterinary clinic where neighbours had evacuated the animals before the fire spread.

Police were outnumbered by protesters, she told Reuters.

Electoral reform is the latest flashpoint in a decades-long tussle over France's role in the mineral-rich island, which lies in the southwest Pacific, some 1,500 km (930 miles) east of Australia.

France annexed the island in 1853 and gave the colony the status of overseas territory in 1946. It has long been rocked by pro-independence movements.

LOOTING

New Caledonia is the world's No. 3 nickel miner and residents have been hit by a crisis in the sector, with one in five living under the poverty threshold.

"Politicians have a huge share of responsibility," said 30-year-old Henri, who works in a hotel in Noumea. "Loyalist politicians, who are descendents of colonialists, say colonisation is over, but Kanak politicians don't agree. There are huge economic disparities," he said.

Henri, who declined to give his full name, said there was significant looting amid the riots, with the situation most dangerous at night.

The French government has said the change in voting rules was needed so elections would be democratic.

But it said it would not rush calling a special congress of the two houses of parliament to rubber-stamp the bill and has invited pro- and anti-independence camps for talks in Paris on the future of the island, opening the door to a potential suspension of the bill.

The major pro-independence political group, Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS), which condemned the violence, said it would accept Macron's offer of dialogue and was willing to work towards an agreement "that would allow New Caledonia to follow its path toward emancipation".

Most residents were staying indoors. With stores closed, breastfeeding mothers were organising to share milk with mothers who have none left to feed their babies, said witness Garrido Navarro Kherachi.

She said she moved to New Caledonia when she was eight years old, and has never been back to France. Although eligible to vote under the new rules, she says she won't "out of respect for the Kanak people".

"That would give me the right to vote but I don't feel I know enough about the history of Caledonia and the struggle of the Kanak people to allow me to vote," she said.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney and Dominique Vidalon, Elizabeth Pineau, Michel Rose, Augustin Turpin, Juliette Jabkhiro and Camille Raynaud in Paris; writing by Kirsty Needham and Ingrid Melander; Editing by Sonali Paul, Ros Russell and Christina Fincher)

France declares state of emergency in New Caledonia after deadly riots

RFI
Wed, May 15, 2024 


French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in New Caledonia after four people – including a gendarme – were killed in riots that broke out over controversial changes to voting rules.

Hundreds of people have been injured in the worst unrest the Pacific island has seen since the 1980s, with schools and shops shuttered as police reinforcements were sent in.

French authorities say more than 130 people have been arrested since protests turned violent on Monday.

Shops were looted and vehicles set on fire, prompting authorities to ban public gatherings and close the main airport. A night-time curfew has been extended to Thursday.

The Interior Ministry said 500 security forces would be deployed to support the 1,800 police and gendarmes already in the French overseas territory.

“All violence is intolerable and will be the subject of a relentless response to ensure the return of order," the Elysée's website said.

Those killed were young indigenous Kanak people, a spokesperson for New Caleonian leader Louis Mapou said, as well as a gendarme who was shot in Plum, a south-western coastal village.

New Caledonia has witnessed decades of tensions between indigenous Kanaks seeking independence from France, and the descendants of colonisers who want to remain French.

This week's violence came after the National Assembly on Tuesday approved a constitutional reform that would increase the number of people eligible to participate in elections.

Why this French island in the Pacific is being roiled by violence over a vote held 10,000 miles away

Angus Watson and Helen Regan, CNN
Wed, May 15, 2024 

Deadly violence on the French island of New Caledonia erupted for a third day Wednesday, with armed clashes between protesters, militias and police, and buildings and cars set on fire in the capital of the South Pacific archipelago.

At least four people have died in the unrest, which is considered the worst since the 1980s, and prompted authorities to impose a curfew in the capital Noumea. It has also banned public gatherings, carrying weapons and selling alcohol, and closed the main airport — usually a busy tourist hub — to commercial traffic.

The violence is the latest outburst of political tensions that have simmered for years and pitted the island’s largely pro-independence indigenous Kanak communities — who have long chafed against rule by Paris – against French inhabitants opposed to breaking ties with their motherland.

France’s military has mobilized and flown in “four additional squadrons to restore order,” according to French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.

Lying in the South Pacific with Australia, Fiji and Vanuatu for neighbors, New Caledonia is a semiautonomous French territory — one of a dozen scattered throughout the Pacific, Caribbean and Indian Ocean.

Protests began Monday involving mostly young people, in response to the tabling of a vote 10,000 miles (17,000 kilometers) away in the French parliament proposing changes to New Caledonia’s constitution that would give greater voting rights to French residents living on the islands.

On Tuesday, legislators voted overwhelmingly in favor of the change.

The move would add thousands of extra voters to New Caledonia’s electoral rolls, which have not been updated since the late 1990s. Pro-independence groups say the changes are an attempt by France to consolidate its rule over the archipelago.

“The last two days we’ve seen violence of a scale we haven’t seen for 30 years in New Caledonia,” Denise Fisher, a former Australian Consul-General in New Caledonia, told CNN. “It is kind of marking the end of 30 years of peace.”

“The Kanak people are objecting to [the vote in France] not just because it’s been decided in Paris without them but also they feel that they want it to be part of a negotiation … which would include another self determination vote and a range of other things.”

French President Emmanuel Macron called for calm, issuing a letter Wednesday to New Caledonian political leaders urging them to “unambiguously condemn all this violence” and inviting both pro- and anti-independence leaders to meet him “face to face” in Paris.

Macron will chair a defense and national security council on Wednesday, focusing on the violence, the presidential palace said.

Macron’s administration has pushed for a pivot to the Indo-Pacific, stressing that France is a Pacific power, as China and the United States beef up their presence amid a battle for influence in the strategically important region. New Caledonia is at the center of that plan.

“The stakes are high for France,” Fisher added. “France has identified an entire Indo-Pacific vision for itself.”

“The legitimacy of France’s participation this way, having an influence in this way, is in question when you have scenes like this.”
The violence

Three people - two men and a woman, all indigenous Kanaks - have been shot dead in the violent protests and looting, according to Charles Wea, spokesperson for Louis Mapou, President of the Government of New Caledonia. A French police officer who was injured by gunfire in the riots also died, French interior minister Gérald Darmanin said.

Demonstrators have also set fire to buildings and cars in Noumea, defying a curfew that has been extended to Thursday.

Thick plumes of black smoke covered the capital on Wednesday morning, social media video showed. Images showed burned-out cars, fires in the street, and shops vandalized and looted.

“Some are equipped with hunting rifles with buckshot as ammunition. Others were equipped with larger rifles, firing bullets,” the French High commissioner to New Caledonia Louis Le Franc said.

More than 140 people have been arrested, while at least 60 security personnel have been injured in the clashes between local nationalist groups and the French authorities, according to Le Franc.

One Noumea resident told CNN affiliate Radio New Zealand of panic buying reminiscent of Covid-19. “A lot of fire, violence…but it’s better I stay safe at home. There are a lot of police and army. I want the government to put the action for the peace,” the person told RNZ, asking to remain anonymous.

Smoke rises in the distance in Noumea, New Caledonia on May 14, 2024. - Theo Rouby/AFP/Getty Images

French gendarme officers guard the entrance of the Vallee-du-Tir district, in Noumea, New Caledonia on May 14, 2024. - Theo Rouby/AFP/Getty Images
The vote

Colonial France took control of New Caledonia in 1853. White settlement followed and the indigenous Kanak people were longtime victims of harsh segregation policies. Many indigenous inhabitants continue to live with high rates of poverty and high unemployment to this day.

Deadly violence exploded in the 1980s eventually paving the way towards the Noumea Accord in 1998, a promise by France to give greater political autonomy to the Kanak community.

Multiple referendums were held in recent years - in 2018, 2020 and 2021 - as part of the agreement offering voters in New Caledonia the option to secede from France. Each referendum was voted down, but the process was marred by boycotts from pro-independence groups and by Covid-19.

Voter roles have been frozen since the Noumea Accord, the issue that France’s parliament was seeking to address in the vote that sparked this week’s violence.

French lawmakers in Paris voted 351 – 153 in favor of changing the constitution to “unfreeze” the territory’s electoral rolls, enfranchising French residents who have been in New Caledonia for 10 years.

The lists were frozen by the French government to appease pro-independence Kanak nationalists who believe new arrivals to the former colony, including from France, dilute popular support for independence.

Both houses of France’s parliament need to approve the constitutional change passed by the National Assembly.

On Tuesday, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said the government would not call a meeting of the parliament to vote on the motion before talks with Kanak leaders, including major independence alliance the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS).

“I invite New Caledonia’s political leaders to seize this opportunity and come to Paris for talks in the coming weeks. The important thing is conciliation. Dialogue is important. It is about finding a common, political and global solution,” Attal said on the floor of the National Assembly.

FLNKS issued its own statement Wednesday both condemning the vote at the National Assembly and calling for an end to the violence.

“FLNKS appeals to the youth involved in these demonstrations for appeasement and to ensure the safety of the population and property,” the statement read.

State of emergency set for France's New Caledonia after deadly riots

Mathurin DEREL
Wed, May 15, 2024 


Map of New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean. (STAFF)


President Emmanuel Macron moved Wednesday to declare a state of emergency in France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia after a second night of rioting that left four dead, including a gendarme, and hundreds wounded.

Anger over constitutional reforms from Paris boiled over again after the lower house of parliament overnight backed a hotly-disputed voting reform that the representatives of the indigenous Kanak population say weighs against them.

Despite heavily armed security forces fanning out across the capital Noumea, and the ordering of a nighttime curfew, rioting continued overnight virtually unabated in the worst violence there since the 1980s.

New Caledonia, which lies between Australia and Fiji, is one of several French territories spanning the globe from the Caribbean and Indian Ocean to the Pacific that remain part of France in the post-colonial era.

Colonised by France from the second half of the nineteen century, it already has special status within France unlike other overseas territories.

While it has on three occasions rejected independence in referendums, independence retains support particularly among the indigenous Kanak people.

Macron warned that any further violence would be met with an "unyielding" response and called for a resumption of political dialogue to end the unrest, the Elysee said in a statement.

"The president has requested that the decree aimed at declaring a state of emergency in New Caledonia be included on the agenda" of a cabinet meeting this afternoon, the presidency said.

- Looting and fires -

Shops were looted and public buildings torched during overnight violence, the authorities there said.

Hundreds of people including around 100 police and gendarmes have been injured in the unrest, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in Paris.

The presidency said three people had been killed, while a gendarme has been very seriously wounded. The gendarme -- based outside Paris -- later died of his wounds, the national gendarmerie said.

Macron cancelled a planned domestic trip and moved Wednesday's regular cabinet meeting to hold a crisis meeting with key ministers on New Caledonia earlier on Wednesday.

In Noumea and the commune of Paita there were reports of several exchanges of fire between civil defence groups and rioters.

Streets in the capital were pocked with the shells of burned-out cars and buildings, including a sports store and a large concrete climbing wall.

"Numerous arsons and pillaging of shops, infrastructure and public buildings -- including primary and secondary schools -- were carried out," said the High Commission, which represents the French central government in New Caledonia.

- 'Calm and reason' -

Security forces had managed to regain control of Noumea's prison, which holds about 50 inmates, after an uprising and escape bid by prisoners, it said in a statement.

Police have arrested more than 130 people since the riots broke out Monday night, with dozens placed in detention to face court hearings, the commission said.

A nighttime curfew was extended, along with bans on gatherings, the carrying of weapons and the sale of alcohol.

The territory's La Tontouta International Airport remained closed to commercial flights.

As rioters took to the streets, France's lower house of parliament 17,000 kilometres (10,600 miles) away voted in favour of a constitutional change bitterly opposed by indigenous Kanaks.

The reform -- which must still be approved by a joint sitting of both houses of the French parliament -- would give a vote to people who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years.

Pro-independence forces say that would dilute the share of the vote held by Kanaks, the Indigenous group that makes up about 41 percent of the population and the major force in the pro-independence movement.

But those in favour of the reform argue voter lists have not been updated since 1998 -- depriving island residents who arrived from mainland France or elsewhere since then of a vote in provincial polls.

Macron has said French lawmakers would vote to definitively adopt the constitutional change by the end of June unless New Caledonia's opposing sides agree on a new text that "takes into account the progress made and everyone's aspirations".

After he urged local representatives to soothe tensions, major pro- and anti-independence parties issued a joint statement Wednesday calling for "calm and reason" to return to the archipelago, adding that "we are destined to keep living together".

burs-jh-sjw/jm

New Caledonia police patrol streets with burnt cars

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Reuters 
Updated Tue, May 14, 2024

STORY: :: New Caledonia police patrol streets with burnt cars

after protesters blocked key roads

::May 13, 2024

:: Noumea, New Caledonia

:: The international airport is shut and a curfew is in place,

according to the French High Commission

::Thio, New Caledonia

:: Protesters fear the proposed changes to the

constitution may dilute the vote of indigenous Kanak

New Caledonia's government called for calm and condemned the destruction of property. Video showed police patrolling the streets among burnt-out cars and plumes of smoke, after protesters had set up blockades on key roads on Monday (May 13).

The protests and violence happened on Monday ahead of debate on Tuesday in the French National Assembly on changes to the New Caledonian constitution. The proposed changes would allow more French residents to vote in New Caledonia elections, which independence supporters fear will dilute the vote of indigenous Kanak.

The French High Commission said in a statement that significant disturbances in the capital, Noumea, and surrounding townships were ongoing, and numerous buildings including shops, pharmacies and car dealerships were damaged. So far 36 people had been arrested.

France sends more police, seeks talks, to quell New Caledonia riots

Updated Tue, May 14, 2024

France sends more police, seeks talks, to quell New Caledonia riots

By Kirsty Needham and Juliette Jabkhiro

WELLINGTON/PARIS (Reuters) - France sent extra police squadrons to quell riots on the Pacific island of New Caledonia on Tuesday but also opened the door to a negotiated settlement with pro- and anti-independence groups.

Overnight, rioters burnt cars, dozens of businesses, clashed with police and set up barricades to protest against plans to allow more people to take part in local elections in the French-ruled territory, which indigenous Kanak protesters reject.

The proposed changes, which the National Assembly in Paris will vote on later on Tuesday, would allow French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to vote in provincial elections - a move local leaders fear will dilute the Kanak vote but the government says is needed so elections are democratic.

"The streets were on fire, they were rioting in the streets, quite a frightening experience actually," New Zealand tourist Mike Lightfoot told TVNZ television.

Despite a curfew, violence continued on Tuesday evening on the island, situated some 20,000 km (12,427 miles) from mainland France, local broadcaster NC La 1ere reported.

The island's capital Noumea was covered by a cloud of black smoke, NC La 1ere said, adding that a local sport facility had been set ablaze. It also reported a riot in a prison.

One of five island territories spanning the Indo-Pacific held by France, New Caledonia is the word's third-largest nickel producer and is the centrepiece of French President Emmanuel Macron's plan to increase Paris's influence in the Pacific.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said the vote should proceed in the afternoon as planned, but confirmed that Macron would not rush into convening a special congress of the two houses of parliament required to rubber-stamp the bill.

Instead, he would invite representatives of the territory's population - both pro- and anti-independence - to Paris for talks on the future status of New Caledonia, after decades of tensions over France's role.

"It's through talking, and only through talking, that we can find a solution," Attal told lawmakers. "All we want is to find an overall political agreement, with those in favour of and against independence."

He did not spell out what such a deal could cover.

VIOLENCE

At a rally in Paris, pro-independence protesters said the bill should be withdrawn.

"If there is violence today (in New Caledonia), it's in response to the violence we've suffered from since colonisation," Kanak youth leader Daniel Wea, 43, told Reuters, saying the planned electoral changes would leave the Kanaks isolated on their island.

"We're here to show ... we will fight until we get what we want: independence," said 24-year-old Wendy Gowe, whose grand-fathers died when violence flared up on the island in the 1980s.

New Caledonia is situated 1,500 km (930 miles) east of Australia, with a population of 270,000 including 41% Melanesian and 24% of European origin, mostly French.

A 1998 Noumea Accord helped end a decade of conflict by outlining a path to gradual autonomy and restricting voting to the indigenous Kanak as well as people who arrived in New Caledonia before 1998.

The accord allowed for three referendums to determine the future of the country. In all three, independence was rejected, but that did not end the debate over the island's status or France's role.

Meanwhile, French miner Eramet said its local unit SLN had raised its security level amid the unrest and that its plant was running at minimum capacity.

"Our mines are halted, just like the vast majority of mines in New Caledonia," a spokesperson told Reuters.

Nickel miner Prony Resources said it activated a crisis unit to "maintain our industrial facilities and prevent any damage to our assets".

The French government has been negotiating a rescue package for the loss-making New Caledonian nickel sector, including a commitment to supply Europe's battery supply chain, but talks have stalled amid current political tensions.

(Reporting by Lucy Craymer and Kirsty Needham in Wellington, Dominique Vidalon, Tassilo Hummel, Gus Trompiz, Elizabeth Pineau, Juliette Jabkhiro in Paris; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Neil Fullick, Stephen Coates, Christina Fincher, William Maclean)


Curfew imposed in New Caledonia after violent protests against constitutional reform

RFI
Tue, May 14, 2024 at 12:03





The local government in New Caledonia has called for calm after violence broke out during protests to changes to the constitution being debated in the French National Assembly, which are denounced by supporters of independence for the overseas territory in the Pacific.

"All the reasons discontent, frustration and anger could not justify hurting or destroying what the country has been able to build for decades and compromising the future," the local government said in a statement Tuesday, after protests turned violent on Monday.

Violence broke out on the edge of a demonstration organised Monday by pro-independence supporters against changes to the constitution that would allow more French residents to vote in elections in New Caledonia, which independence supporters fear will dilute the vote of indigenous Kanak.

Several police officers were injured during clashes with protesters, the French High Commission said Tuesday, announcing a curfew in the capital, Noumea, on Tuesday night.

Buildings and businesses in Noumea and the surrounding areas were damaged and cars set on fire. Firefighters said they received nearly 1,500 calls Monday night and intervened in 200.

Pro- and anti-independence demos in New Caledonia split French island group

New Caledonian representatives in Paris to discuss territory's future

France mulls New Caledonia electoral reform ahead of key vote


‘High-calibre weapons’ fired in riots on French Pacific island

Our Foreign Staff

THE TELEGRAPH
Tue, May 14, 2024 

Rioters fired “high-calibre weapons” at police during a night of violent unrest and looting on the island of New Caledonia, the French Pacific territory’s high commissioner has said.

High Commissioner of the Republic Louis Le Franc told reporters that “there have been no deaths” but “shots were fired at the gendarmes using high calibre weapons and hunting rifles”.

The unrest erupted on Monday in the French-run archipelago as protesters demonstrated against proposed voting reforms that have angered separatists.

At least two car dealerships and a bottling factory in Noumea were set on fire in arson attacks. Several supermarkets in the capital and neighbouring towns Dumbea and Mont-Dore were looted.

French gendarme officers on patrol in Noumea amid protests against a constitutional bill aimed at expanding the electorate for an upcoming election - THEO ROUBY/AFP

Sylvie, whose family has lived in New Caledonia for generations, said: “The police station nearby was on fire and a car was too, in front of my house. There was non-stop shouting and explosions, I felt like I was in a war. We are alone. Who is going to protect us?”

On Monday night groups of young masked or hooded demonstrators took over several roundabouts and confronted police, who responded with non-lethal rounds. Several vehicles were torched during violent clashes.

A total of 36 people were arrested and 30 police officers were injured, authorities confirmed. A night-time curfew, a ban on public gatherings, and a ban on alcohol sales are now in place until 6am on Wednesday.

Schools, colleges and the international airport are closed until further notice.

The high commission, the representative of the French state in New Caledonia, said: “Very intense public order disturbances took place last night [Monday] in Noumea and in neighbouring municipalities, and are still ongoing at this time.

The New Caledonia government appealed for “reason and calm” and called on “all Caledonians to demonstrate a sense of responsibility” while the commission said it was “massively mobilising internal security and civil security forces”.

Cars at a Renault dealership in the Magenta district in Noumea were torched during the protests - AFP

The unrest comes as a constitutional reform is being debated in the national assembly in Paris. It aims to expand the electorate in the territory’s provincial elections.

France vowed in the Noumea Accord of 1998 to gradually give more political power to the Pacific island territory of nearly 300,000 people.

Under the agreement, New Caledonia has held three referendums over its ties with France, all rejecting independence.

The pro-independence Indigenous Kanaks rejected the result of the last referendum held in December 2021, which they boycotted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Smoke can be seen in the distance as a result of the riots in Noumea - AFP

The Noumea Accord has also meant that New Caledonia’s voter lists have not been updated since 1998 – meaning that island residents who have arrived from mainland France or elsewhere anytime in the past 25 years do not have the right to take part in provincial polls.

The French government has branded the exclusion of one out of five people from voting as “absurd”, while separatists fear that expanding voter lists would benefit pro-France politicians and “further minimise the Indigenous Kanak people”.

During a visit to the territory last year, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said he wanted a revised constitutional status for New Caledonia to be in place by the beginning of 2024.

Mr Macron has been seeking to reassert his country’s importance in the Pacific region, where China and the United States are vying for influence but France has territories such as New Caledonia and French Polynesia.

BURN! FULL MOVIE

GREAT ANTI IMPERIALIST FILM  

REVOLT IN AN 18TH CENTURY SUGAR COLONY IN THE CARIBBEAN

 

Opinion

Lara Trump’s RNC Falls Flat on Its Face After Assault on Voting Rights

Talia Jane
Tue, May 14, 2024



A bid launched by the Republican National Committee to block voting rights in Arizona failed Tuesday after a Maricopa County judge summarily dismissed a complaint lodged by the RNC against the state’s 2023 Election Procedures Manual, handing a win to voting rights advocates. Conservatives launched a tsunami of legal attacks in February against the manual, to impede voting rights and allow for voter harassment in Arizona. Tuesday’s decision is the first ruling addressing those lawsuits and mud in the eye of the RNC, newly run by nepobaby-in-law Lara Trump.

According to Democracy Docket, the lawsuit filed February 9 by the Republican National Committee, Republican Party of Arizona, and Yavapai County Republican Party sought to block enforcement of the EPM on the basis that Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes failed to give the public enough time to comment before implementing the EMP and that portions of the EMP violate state law. The complaint also sought to have provisions removed regarding limiting public access to voter signatures, restrictions against challenging early mail-in ballots before they’re returned, and allowances for out-of-precinct voting.

The suit was filed by the RNC the same day as another suit by conservative group Arizona Free Enterprise Club, which claims the EMP, by prohibiting voter intimidation and harassment, inhibits “free speech.” That case has not yet been decided.

An Arizona judge helped revive an 1864 abortion law. His lawmaker wife joined Democrats to repeal it

RIO YAMAT
Tue, May 14, 2024 at 10:04 PM MDT·4 min read
415



 Arizona Sen. Shawnna Bolick, R-District 2, speaks, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the state Capitol in Phoenix. Bolick joined Democrats in the Arizona Senate on Wednesday to vote to repeal an 1864 ban on almost all abortions that her husband, Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, helped reinstate.

 (AP Photo/Matt York, File)


When it was Shawnna Bolick’s turn to speak, the words tumbled out of her for 20 minutes. The conservative lawmaker was in the middle of a heated debate in the Republican-led Arizona Senate on a bill to repeal an 1864 law banning nearly all abortions.

Democrats needed at least one more vote from the right to advance the bill.

Bolick, head hung low and tripping over her words, described her three difficult pregnancies, including one that ended in miscarriage. She said she wouldn't have got through it "without the moral support of my husband.”


Her husband, Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, was part of the majority that voted in April to restore the near-total ban.

Observers in the gallery jeered as the senator declared herself “pro-life." Only in the final moments of her speech did her intention become clear.

“I am here to protect more babies,” she said. “I vote aye.”

The bill passed and a day later, May 2, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs signed it into law.

Shawnna Bolick’s vote to repeal the near-total ban her spouse helped reinstate underscores the increasingly chaotic philosophical and legal landscape surrounding abortion access in Arizona, and it reflects national Republicans’ struggle to navigate the politics of abortion during a presidential election year.

This could spell trouble for the judge and the senator. Both declined interview requests from The Associated Press.

Shawnna and Clint Bolick met in Washington at an event hosted by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research institute. They have long been friends with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — a godfather to one of Clint Bolick’s sons — and his conservative political activist wife, Ginni.

Clarence Thomas was part of the majority that overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 — something he had sought for more than 30 years — and he also pressed his colleagues to reverse rulings protecting same-sex marriage, gay sex and the use of contraceptives.

After the 2020 presidential election, Ginni Thomas sent emails urging Republican lawmakers in Arizona — including Shawnna Bolick — to choose their own electors to undo Joe Biden's victory in the state. Bolick, then a state representative, introduced a bill the following year to rewrite Arizona's election laws to give state lawmakers the power to reject election results “at any time before the presidential inauguration.” Her proposal died before coming to a vote.

Their conservative credentials haven’t shielded them from criticism as Clint Bolick seeks another six-year term on the bench, and his wife, who was appointed last year to represent her northern Phoenix district, faces a primary challenge on July 30.

After the high court published its ruling, calls from the right to repeal the near-total ban quickly surfaced. On social media, U.S. Rep. David Schweikert, a Republican, said the court “legislated from the bench." Former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey said the court's ruling didn't reflect “the will of the people.”

A progressive group also launched a campaign targeting Justices Bolick and Kathryn King — both of them voted to restore the 160-year-old abortion ban and are up for retention election in November.

“Arizonans have a constitutional right to hold judges and justices accountable,” said Abigail Jackson, digital coordinator for Progress Arizona. “So we want to let Arizonans know that these two particular justices will be on the ballot in November and to direct some of their energy towards unseating them.”

Voters rarely deny a sitting judge another term; only six have been unseated since Arizona adopted its judicial retention election system in 1974.

Democrats, meanwhile, have put the abortion ruling at the center of their quest to take control of the state Legislature for the first time in decades. Sen. Bolick, representing one of the most competitive districts in the state, is among their top targets.

Bolick appeared to argue on the floor that a repeal would guard against extreme ballot initiatives to enshrine abortion rights, saying she wanted “to protect our state constitution from unlimited abortions.”

But the Center for Arizona Policy, an anti-abortion advocacy group, blasted her vote to repeal, saying she “voted with pro-abortion activist lawmakers.”

Some Republican colleagues agreed.

“She has confused the pro-life community,” Sen. Jake Hoffman said on the floor after the vote. “Make no mistake, to everybody watching this and hearing my voice right now, and everyone who will hear it, she voted for abortions.”

The repeal bill won’t take effect until 90 days after the state’s legislative session ends, typically in June or July. The Civil War-era ban could meanwhile be enforced, but the high court on Monday issued a stay on its decision, making a 2022 statute banning abortions after 15 weeks Arizona’s prevailing abortion law.

But the legal landscape could change yet again if Arizona voters approve a ballot measure in November to enshrine abortion access up to 24 weeks of pregnancy in the state constitution. Organizers say they’ll submit more than enough signatures by the July 3 deadline.

___

Yamat reported from Las Vegas. Associated Press writers Jonathan J. Cooper and Anita Snow in Phoenix contributed to this report.


Arizona Supreme Court delays enforcement of 1864 abortion ban

Taylor Romine, CNN
Tue, May 14, 2024 



The Arizona Supreme Court delayed enforcement of the state’s recently revived 1864 abortion ban, according to an order filed Monday. The order allows for a 90-day stay requested by the state’s attorney general.

Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a repeal of the 1864 abortion ban on May 2, but the repeal will not be in effect until 90 days after the legislative session ends, CNN previously reported. The state’s legislature is currently in session, meaning the Civil War-era abortion ban could come into effect for a brief period.

The stay will be in effect through August 12 so Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes could consider a petition for certiorari to the US Supreme Court, the order said. Another stay could be filed again, according to the order.

Mayes said in a statement she is “grateful” the court stayed the enforcement and said the earliest the 1864 abortion ban can be enforced is September 26, due to an additional 45 days stipulated in a separate case.

“I will do everything I can to ensure that doctors can provide medical care for their patients according to their best judgment, not the beliefs of the men elected to the territorial legislature 160 years ago,” she said.

On Monday, the court also denied a motion from Planned Parenthood Arizona asking the court to stay the 1864 abortion ban until the repeal of that law takes effect.

The repeal of the Civil War-era ban earlier this month was a victory for abortion rights advocates, who have for years tried to overturn the 1864 law that banned abortion at all stages of pregnancy, except to save a mother’s life, and threatened providers with two to five year prison sentences.

CNN’s Rashard Rose and Clay Voytek contributed to this report.

Arizona Supreme Court pushes back enforcement date for 1864 abortion ban

Alex Tabet and Adam Edelman
Mon, May 13, 2024


PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court on Monday granted a request to delay enforcement of the state’s 1864 near-total abortion ban.

The court granted Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes’ request for an additional 90 days before the Civil War-era ban can be enforced.

Even though Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a repeal of the ban on May 2, that measure cannot take effect until 90 days after the state’s legislative session ends — and it is still in session. Monday's court order essentially narrows the window in which the ban could be enforced, if it all.

“I am grateful that the Arizona Supreme Court has stayed enforcement of the 1864 law and granted our motion to stay the mandate in this case for another 90 days,” Mayes said in a statement Monday.

She also said her office "will consider the best legal course of action to take from here,” which could include asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.

Previously, Mayes' office said the 1864 ban would go into effect June 27. The court's action Monday pushes that back to Sept. 26, her office said.

The enforcement date hinges heavily on when the state's legislative session ends. Last year, it wrapped up July 31. If legislators were to keep to that timeline, the ban could be enforceable for about a month — from Sept. 26 until late October — under the new projections. But it’s still unclear when this year's session will end.

With the enforcement delay, the state is operating under a 15-week ban on abortions passed in 2022 — signed by the governor at the time, Doug Ducey, a Republican — that makes exceptions for medical emergencies but not for rape or incest.

That law has prompted a coalition of reproductive rights organizations to try to get a constitutional amendment on the state’s ballot in November. The amendment would enshrine the right to an abortion through fetal viability and greatly expand the scope for exceptions.

The coalition, known as Arizona for Abortion Access, is on track to get the referendum on the ballot.

In a statement Monday, a spokesperson for the coalition noted that the state Supreme Court's order does nothing to undo the 2022 law.

“With this order, Arizonans are still subjected to another extreme ban, one that punishes patients experiencing pregnancy complications and survivors of rape and incest,” spokesperson Chris Love said.

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, abortion rights have been on the ballot in more than a half-dozen states. Each time, including in red states like Kansas and Ohio, abortion-rights advocates have prevailed.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com


Arizona’s high court is allowing the attorney general 90 more days on her abortion ban strategy

Kenneth Wong
Mon, May 13, 2024 

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s highest court on Monday gave the state’s attorney general another 90 days to decide further legal action in the case over a 160-year-old near-total ban on abortion that lawmakers recently voted to repeal.

The Arizona Supreme Court’s order leaves in place for now a more recent law that legalizes abortion up to 15 weeks of pregnancy. It also allows Attorney General Kris Mayes more time to decide whether to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mayes expressed gratitude for the order, and said the earliest the 1864 law can now take effect is Sept. 26, counting the 90 days just granted, plus another 45 days stipulated in a separate case.

"I will do everything I can to ensure that doctors can provide medical care for their patients according to their best judgment, not the beliefs of the men elected to the territorial legislature 160 years ago," Mayes said.

Arizona’s Supreme Court in April voted to restore the older law that provided no exceptions for rape or incest and allows abortions only if the mother’s life is in jeopardy. The majority opinion suggested doctors could be prosecuted and sentenced to up to five years in prison if convicted.

The Legislature then voted narrowly to repeal the Civil War-era law, but the repeal won’t take effect until 90 days after lawmakers wrap up their current annual session. It has been unclear if there would be a period the older ban could be enforced before the repeal took hold.

The anti-abortion group defending the ban, Alliance Defending Freedom, said that it would keep fighting despite the latest delay.

"Arizona’s pro-life law has protected unborn children for over 100 years," said the group’s senior counsel Jake Warner. "We will continue working to protect unborn children and promote real support and health care for Arizona families."

Planned Parenthood Arizona CEO Angela Florez welcomed the move. She said the organization "will continue to provide abortion care through 15 weeks of pregnancy and we remain focused on ensuring patients have access to abortion care for as long as legally possible."

Arizona for Abortion Access released a statement on this ruling, saying:

"Another day, another ruling, another example of why we must pass the Arizona Abortion Access Act. With this order, Arizonans are still subjected to another extreme ban, one that punishes patients experiencing pregnancy complications and survivors of rape and incest. Arizonans deserve to know our rights are ensured and protected, not constantly in flux based on the whims of politicians or the outcomes of endless lawsuits. Only the Arizona Abortion Access restores and protects Arizona’s right to access abortion care once and for all, and that’s why Arizona voters will turn out to support it in November."
Near-total ban can trace roots back to the 19th century

(U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Joseph Barron)

The law known as A.R.S. 13-3603 can trace its roots back to 1864, a time when Arizona was not even a U.S. state.

A.R.S. 13-3603 states:

"A person who provides, supplies or administers to a pregnant woman, or procures such woman to take any medicine, drugs or substance, or uses or employs any instrument or other means whatever, with intent thereby to procure the miscarriage of such woman, unless it is necessary to save her life, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than two years nor more than five years."

A.R.S. 13-3603's repeal means that a statute banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy would become Arizona’s prevailing abortion law, when the repeal bill officially takes effect.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WWIII

Chinese coast guard shadows Filipino activists sailing toward disputed shoal

JIM GOMEZ
Updated Wed, May 15, 2024 








In this photo provided by Atin-Ito/Akbayan Party, activists and volunteers on fishing boats prepare for their journey at Masinloc, Zambales province, northwestern Philippines on Wednesday May 15, 2024. A flotilla of about 100 mostly small fishing boats led by Filipino activists sailed Wednesday to a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, where Beijing's coast guard and suspected militia ships have used powerful water cannons to ward off what they regard as intruders. 

(Atin-Ito/Akbayan Party via AP)

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Chinese coast guard ships shadowed a group of Filipino activists and fishermen sailing on wooden boats toward a disputed shoal in the South China Sea which Beijing has fiercely guarded from what it regards as intruders.

The Philippine coast guard deployed three patrol ships and a light plane to keep watch from a distance on the group of about 100 people who set off from western Zambales province to assert Manila’s sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal and surrounding waters. Dozens of journalists joined the three-day voyage.

The navy also dispatched a ship to help keep an eye on the participants.

The four wooden boats carrying the Filipinos were still far from the shoal when at least two Chinese coast guard ships began shadowing them at nightfall, said Emman Hizon, one of the organizers, adding that the participants remained in high spirits and would not turn back.

Some chanted “Atin Ito” — the name of the group, which means “This is ours” in Tagalog — repeatedly after they spotted the Chinese coast guard ships.

“Atin Ito contingent will continue with its course,” Hizon said.

“Our boats are exercising evasive maneuvers while the Philippine coast guard continues to maintain its close distance to the convoy to thwart any further attempt from Chinese coast guard vessels,” Hizon said

The convoy was expected to reach the area of the shoal Thursday morning, the organizers said, adding they would seek to avoid confrontations but were ready for any contingencies. The group plans to lay down symbolic territorial buoys and provide food packs and fuel to Filipino fishermen in the high seas near the shoal.

“Our mission is peaceful, based on international law and aimed at asserting our sovereign rights,” said Rafaela David, a lead organizer. “We will sail with determination, not provocation, to civilianize the region and safeguard our territorial integrity.”

In December, the group mounted an expedition to another disputed shoal but cut the trip short after being tailed by a Chinese ship.

China effectively seized Scarborough Shoal, a triangle-shaped atoll with a vast fishing lagoon ringed by mostly submerged coral outcrops, by surrounding it with its coast guard ships after a tense 2012 standoff with Philippine government ships.

Angered by China’s action, the Philippine government brought the territorial disputes to international arbitration in 2013 and largely won, with a tribunal in The Hague ruling three years later that China’s expansive claims based on historical grounds in the busy seaway were invalid under the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The ruling declared Scarborough Shoal a traditional fishing area for Chinese, Filipino and Vietnamese fishermen. In the past, fishermen have anchored in the shoal to avoid large waves in the high seas in stormy weather.

China refused to participate in the arbitration, rejected the outcome and continues to defy it.

Two weeks ago, Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships used water cannons on Philippine coast guard and fisheries ships patrolling Scarborough Shoal, damaging both vessels.

The Philippines condemned the Chinese coast guard’s action on the shoal, which lies in the Southeast Asian nation’s internationally recognized exclusive economic zone. The Chinese coast guard said it took a “necessary measure” after the Philippine ships “violated China’s sovereignty."

Asked about the Atin Ito convoy on Wednesday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, “If the Philippine side abuses China’s goodwill and infringes on China’s territorial sovereignty and jurisdiction, China will safeguard its rights and take countermeasures in accordance with the law, and the responsibilities and consequences incurred will be borne entirely by the Philippine side.”

In addition to the Philippines and China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have also been involved in the territorial disputes.

Chinese coast guard ships have also ventured into waters close to Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia in the past, sparking tensions and protests, but the Southeast Asian nations with considerable economic ties with China have not been as aggressively critical of Beijing's increasingly assertive actions.

The Philippines has released videos of its territorial faceoffs with China and invited journalists to witness the hostilities in the high seas in a strategy to gain international support, sparking a war of words with Beijing.

The increasing frequency of the skirmishes between the Philippines and China has led to minor collisions, injured Filipino navy personnel and damaged supply boats in recent months. It has sparked fears the territorial disputes could degenerate into an armed conflict between China and the United States, a longtime treaty ally of the Philippines.

South China Sea face-off: The Philippines that China was not prepared for | WION Game Plan 

 China has been usurping territory in South China Sea for several years. While It did not face a lot of resistance, but now, one country is challenging its might - Philippines. While it is still a David and Goliath face-off, under the leadership of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Philippines is posturing itself strongly against China and holding its ground despite all Chinese attempts to intimidate and scare. What is Philippines’ Game Plan? Watch Game Plan only on WION with Shivan Chanana

Harvard pro-Palestinian students end encampment but vow continued protest

Reuters
Tue, May 14, 2024 




(Reuters) - A group of Harvard students said on Tuesday they would peacefully end a pro-Palestinian protest encampment after the university agreed to discuss its endowment with the protesters and begin reconsidering involuntary leaves it imposed on some.

A Harvard spokesperson said the school had agreed to a "discussion regarding students' questions related to the endowment" and referred to prior statements from Harvard leaders rejecting calls for divestment from Israel-linked companies.

The Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP) coalition, which has called on the school to divest from companies with ties to Israel, announced in an Instagram post that it would dismantle the three-week-old encampment, but vowed to "re-group and carry out this protracted struggle through other means."

"We are under no illusions. We do not believe these meetings are divestment wins. These side deals are intended to pacify us away from full disclosure and divestment. Rest assured, they will not," the post said.

The encampment at one of the country's most prestigious universities had divided the campus community, with some wealthy alumni condemning the protests as antisemitic and counter to "Western values" while others signed letters supporting the protesters.

Colleges and universities roiled by similar protests across the country have taken varying approaches, with some controversially summoning riot police to campus and others allowing demonstrations to unfold without intervention.

Harvard has agreed to begin the process of reinstating at least 22 students from involuntary leaves of absences and to expedite the cases of more than 60 students facing administrative charges for their involvement in the encampment, according to the student newspaper.

Protesters on Tuesday morning played music from a speaker while taking down their tents and removing their sleeping bags from the Harvard Yard, a central part of the campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the student newspaper reported.

Nearby, workers assembled the temporary stage and banner display for Harvard's commencement ceremonies next week.

(Reporting by Julia Harte; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Harvard students end protest as university agrees to discuss Middle East conflict

MICHAEL CASEY and STEVE LeBLANC
Updated Tue, May 14, 2024 





 Students protesting against the war in Gaza, and passersby walking through Harvard Yard, are seen at an encampment at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on April 25, 2024. Participants at the Harvard encampment protesting the war between Israel and Hamas announced they were voluntarily ending their occupation of Harvard Yard. The student protest group said in a statement that the encampment “outlasted its utility with respect to our demands,” and interim Harvard University President Alan Garber agreed to pursue a meeting between those involved in the protest and university officials. 

(AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)


CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Protesters against the war between Israel and Hamas were voluntarily taking down their tents in Harvard Yard on Tuesday after university officials agreed to discuss their questions about the endowment, bringing a peaceful end to the kinds of demonstrations that were broken up by police on other campuses.

The student protest group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine said in a statement that the encampment “outlasted its utility with respect to our demands.” Meanwhile, Harvard University interim President Alan Garber agreed to pursue a meeting between protesters and university officials regarding the students’ questions.

Students at many college campuses this spring set up similar encampments, calling for their schools to cut ties with Israel and businesses that support it.

The latest Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas and other militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking an additional 250 hostage. Palestinian militants still hold about 100 captives, and Israel's military has killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Harvard said its president and the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Hopi Hoekstra, will meet with the protesters to discuss the conflict in the Middle East.

The protesters said they worked out an agreement to meet with university officials including the Harvard Management Company, which oversees the world's largest academic endowment, valued at about $50 billion.

The protesters’ statement said the students will set an agenda including discussions on disclosure, divestment and reinvestment, and the creation of a Center for Palestine Studies. The students also said that Harvard has offered to retract the suspensions of more than 20 students and student workers and back down on disciplinary measures faced by 60 more.

“Since its establishment three weeks ago, the encampment has both broadened and deepened Palestine solidarity organizing on campus,” a spokesperson for the protesters said. “It has moved the needle on disclosure and divestment at Harvard."

Harvard alumnus Rotem Spiegler said she's glad to see the protest being dismantled, but thinks it improper to reward students in part for being disruptive.

“It just should have happened a while ago, and they should have suffered consequences to what they’ve been doing here violating everybody’s space and not respecting any of the university rules that were adjusted even while they were going,” Spiegler said.

Faculty members who supported the demonstration in Harvard Yard said the students achieved “an important step towards divestment from Israel and liberation for Palestine.”

“We honor the bravery of our students, who put themselves at risk to amplify the worldwide call for Palestinian liberation that global leaders have been trying to suppress,” Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine said in a statement.

At the University of California, Berkeley, students demanding the school divest from companies doing business in Israel began removing their campus encampment Tuesday afternoon as protest leaders held discussions with university administrators.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ sent the demonstrators a letter Tuesday evening agreeing “to support a comprehensive and rigorous examination of our investments and our socially responsible investment strategy.”

At Harvard, student Chloe Gambol, said the biggest achievement of the Cambridge protest was just shining a spotlight on the situation in Gaza.

“The point of a protest is to draw attention and to make a scene and make a stand and, I think, definitely achieved that based on what we see on all the news. A lot of people are talking about it,” she said.

But Howard Smith, a senior researcher at Harvard, said he was happy to see the encampment go down.

“I think the students were very misguided and, basically, historically incorrect and morally off base,” he said. “But I’m pleased that the situation at Harvard was not as crazy as in some other places.”

Protesters also voluntarily took down their tents Monday night at Williams College in Massachusetts after its board of trustees agreed to meet later this month. Williams President Maud Mandel said dialogue is the answer.

“In a year when personal, political and moral commitments are being tested, I have seen our diverse community members -- including people in the encampment, and people who question or oppose it -- try to engage with each other across differences, looking for ways to exchange views without trading insults,” Mandel said in a statement.

At the University of New Mexico, school president Garnett Stokes warned that the encampment along a busy stretch of the Albuquerque campus needed to be dismantled by Tuesday evening and those who did not comply would be subject to “institutional enforcement.”

The collection of tents and tarps had been in place going on three weeks, inhabited by a mix of activists, some students and homeless people.

Stokes' message to all students and staff acknowledged the demands of the protesters who have been advocating for a ceasefire along with disclosure of the university’s investment portfolios. She said the school was committed to being transparent.

In western New York, the University of Rochester cleared out an encampment ahead of Friday’s commencement ceremony. Most protesters dispersed voluntarily, but two people unaffiliated with the university were arrested for damaging a commencement tent, school spokesperson Sara Miller said.

Pro-Palestinian protesters reach agreement with Harvard University to end encampment

Isabel Rosales and Devon M. Sayers, CNN
Tue, May 14, 2024 


A group of pro-Palestinian protesters maintaining an encampment at Harvard University have reached an agreement with the university and will end their encampment, the group said in a news release Tuesday.

Harvard has agreed to hold reinstatement proceedings “for the over 20 students and student workers suspended by the University for their alleged participation in the encampment,” the group said.

For 60 students and student workers facing disciplinary procedures, the university has agreed to expedite their cases “in line with precedents of leniency for similar actions in the past,” according to Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP), the organization behind the encampment.

The agreement – which the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance described as an example of “mis-governance” by the university – comes as college officials around the country have called in law enforcement to clear pro-Palestinian encampments and quell demonstrations in recent weeks.

Alan Garber, Harvard’s interim president, in a message to the university community, said he has asked schools to “promptly initiate applicable reinstatement proceedings for all individuals who have been placed on involuntary leaves of absence.” Garber did not say how many students were involved.

Garber also said he has asked the “disciplinary boards within each School to evaluate expeditiously, according to their existing practices and precedents, the cases of those who participated in the encampment.”

Garber “will ask the schools to adjudicate disciplinary matters promptly,” according to a university spokesperson, adding that he will also request that reinstatement requests be processed expeditiously.

Harvard University has 12 graduate and professional schools, the undergraduate Harvard College, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

HOOP said the university will meet with the protesters “to begin discussions on disclosure, divestment, and reinvestment.” Harvard will also engage in conversations about creating a “Center for Palestine Studies at Harvard,” the group said.

Garber said he will “facilitate a meeting with the chair of the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility and other University officials to address questions about the endowment.”

The Harvard Crimson reported May 6 that Garber has repeatedly stated that the endowment will not be used as a tool for political means. The university has also repeatedly stated its position resisting calls for divestment.

The university president and the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences will also meet with students “to hear their perspectives on academic matters related to longstanding conflicts in the Middle East,” according to Garber’s message.

“I acknowledge the profound grief that many in our community feel over the tragic effects of the ongoing war,” Garber said. “There will continue to be deep disagreements and strongly felt emotions as we experience pain and distress over events in the wider world.”

The encampment at the Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus lasted 20 days, according to the group.

Harvard began placing students connected to the encampment on “involuntary” leaves of absence, the Harvard Crimson reported Friday, citing an Instagram post from HOOP.

The move came after protesters rejected an offer from Garber to avoid being placed on leave in exchange for taking down the encampment.

The Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance, in a message to members, described the agreement as “gross mis-governance” that “undermines the stated mission” of the university. The group accused the interim president of “giving preferential treatment to students, faculty and staff whose conduct not only targeted Jews but also disrupted and imperiled the wider Harvard community.”

The alumni alliance urged members to withhold donations to Harvard, and join a campaign to “donate one dollar, and no more, to the University for the foreseeable future — not in anger, but in sadness and in hope.”

The Ivy League school has experienced a period of historic turmoil in recent months.

Claudine Gay, the first Black president in Harvard history, stepped down in January amid a firestorm of controversy over her academic writings and disastrous performance at a congressional hearing on antisemitism.

Harvard is the nation’s oldest university, with over 25,000 undergraduate students, according to the university. Harvard commencement events start May 21, according to the university.

Harvard student protesters reach agreement to end pro-Palestine campus encampment

Josh Marcus

THE INDEPENDENT UK
Tue, May 14, 2024 

Student protesters have reached an agreement with Harvard University to end a 20-day pro-Palestine encampment that’s been occupying a central green at the prestigious university.

Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP), the activist coalition which coordinated the encampment as part of its campaign to get the university to cut financial ties with the Israeli military apparatus, announced the deal on Instagram on Tuesday.

“Encampments are a tactic — a big and beautiful one — in a larger strategy of divestment,” the group wrote in a statement. “Here at Harvard, we believe the utility of this tactic has passed, and we have decided to re-group and carry out this protracted struggle through other means.”

“We are under no illusions: we do not believe these meetings are divestment wins,” HOOP added. “These side-deals are intended to pacify us away from full disclosure & divestment.”

Following negotiations with the student activists, the school agreed to reinstate 22 students from involuntary leaves of absence for their participation in the encampment, according to the Harvard Crimson university newspaper.

People walk past the remnants of an encampment of tents in Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass (AP)

The school also offered HOOP a meeting with members of university leadership involved in setting guidance for stock purchases within Harvard’s $50bn endowment.

“There will continue to be deep disagreements and strongly felt emotions as we experience pain and distress over events in the wider world,” Harvard president Alan M Garber wrote in an email Tuesday to Harvard affiliates following the deal. “Now more than ever, it is crucial to do what we do at our best, creating conditions for true dialogue, modeling ways to build understanding, empathy, and trust, and pursuing constructive change anchored in the rights and responsibilities we share.”

This spring, protest encampments have formed at universities across the United States.

University administrations have taken starkly different approaches to engaging with these demonstrations.

Some schools, like Brown University, forged a deal with protesters to end their encampment in exchange for putting forward a vote on Israeli divestment.

Others, like Columbia University, have failed to reach agreements with students, and have instead called riot police to campus to clear out the demonstrators.


Harvard reaches deal to end pro-Palestinian encampment

Lexi Lonas

THE HILL
Tue, May 14, 2024 


The pro-Palestinian encampment at Harvard University announced Tuesday it would end after reaching an agreement with the nation’s oldest university.

Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP) said in a post on the social platform X the school agreed to begin the process of reinstating students who had been suspended and offered meetings with Harvard Management Company about potential divestment from Israel. The school also will have conversations regarding the creation of a Center for Palestine Studies.

“We are under no illusions: we do not believe these meetings are divestment wins. These side-deals are intended to pacify us away from full disclosure & divestment. Rest assured, they will not,” HOOP said.

During the three-week encampment, Harvard closed its gates to the public, suspended 20 students and had more than 60 people referred for disciplinary charges, according to the group.

“At Harvard, our Schools have responsibility for our involuntary leave and disciplinary processes. With the disruption to the educational environment caused by the encampment now abated, I will ask that the Schools promptly initiate applicable reinstatement proceedings for all individuals who have been placed on involuntary leaves of absence,” said interim President Alan Garber.

“I will also ask disciplinary boards within each School to evaluate expeditiously, according to their existing practices and precedents, the cases of those who participated in the encampment,” he added.

Multiple U.S. colleges have moved to end weeks of protest on their campuses as commencement season arrives. Harvard is one of a few institutions that have cut deals with their demonstrators, a list that also includes Northwestern University and Brown University.

—Updated at 3:07 p.m.

Pro-Palestinian group ends weeks-long encampment at Harvard University, pledges other actions

Maria Papadopoulos
Tue, May 14, 2024 

A pro-Palestinian group on Tuesday ended its encampment at Harvard Yard after meetings with university administrators, but pledged to “carry out this protracted struggle through other means.”

“Harvard Beware: The Liberated Zone is Everywhere,” the group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday morning.

“After lasting beyond student move-out, the Harvard encampment has concluded,” the post said. “The struggle for Palestinian liberation goes on.”

The decampment happened as a result of meetings with Harvard University officials, the protesters said in their social media posts.

The announcement came one week after the heads of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, citing increased concerns for campus safety, called on protesters to end encampments on both campuses.

Harvard officials earlier said protesters continuing with the encampment, which lasted for nearly three weeks, would face consequences, including being placed on involuntary leave from the Ivy League school.

 Students protesting against the war in Gaza, and passersby walking through Harvard Yard, are seen at an encampment at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on Thursday, April 25, 2024. Protest camps have sprouted up over the past two weeks at dozens of campuses across the nation. Some schools have set up encampments on campuses, including Harvard University. Others like Boston College have been calm. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)More

“As a pre-condition for decamping, administration will retract suspensions,” the Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine said Tuesday. “Administration has also offered us meetings regarding disclosure and divestment with members of the Harvard Management Company and “conversations” regarding the establishment of a Center for Palestine Studies at Harvard.”

“We are under no illusions: we do not believe these meetings are divestment wins,” the group said. “These side-deals are intended to pacify us away from full disclosure & divestment. Rest assured, they will not.”



In an open letter to members of the Harvard Community last week, Interim Harvard President Alan Garber called for an immediate end to “the occupation of Harvard Yard.”

Garber said at the time that the continuation of the encampment “presents a significant risk to the educational environment” at Harvard and that anyone who participates in or perpetuates the encampment “will be referred for involuntary leave from their Schools.”

Harvard University in a statement on Tuesday confirmed that the “participants in the Harvard Yard encampment voluntarily ended the occupation of Harvard Yard today.”

A university spokesperson said that “Garber will pursue a meeting between encampment participants and the chair of the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility and other University leaders for a discussion regarding students’ questions related to the endowment.”

University administrators will also “meet with encampment participants for further discussion on their views and perspectives regarding the conflict in the Middle East.”

Involuntary leave notices were issued to students participating in the encampment “based on the ongoing disruption to the educational environment and resulted in students being ineligible to remain in Harvard housing and cease to be present on campus until reinstated,” according to the university.

“Now that the disruption has ended, the University will encourage the Schools to promptly process petitions for reinstatement for those students placed on involuntary leave,” the university said.

A student protester stands in front of the statue of John Harvard, the first major benefactor of Harvard College, draped in the Palestinian flag, at an encampment of students protesting against the war in Gaza, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

The ongoing encampment at Harvard has “disrupted our educational activities and operations,” Garber earlier said, adding that the actions of some protesters towards Harvard staff and passersby are “indefensible and unacceptable.”

“The right to free speech, including protest and dissent, is vital to the work of the research university. But it is not unlimited,” Garber earlier said. “It must be exercised in a time, place, and manner that respects the right of our community members to do their work, pursue their education, and enjoy the opportunities that a residential campus has to offer.”

Recently, Massachusetts Congressman Jake Auchincloss called on Garber to remove the Pro-Palestine encampment and “re-engineer” a more accepting environment on campus.

“The oppressive and overbearing culture that is antizionist does not represent the median American, nor does it represent the core values of America,” said Auchincloss, who spent the day on Thursday speaking with Israeli and Jewish students at Harvard.

Students protesting against the war in Gaza, and passersby walking through Harvard Yard, are seen next to the statue of John Harvard, the first major benefactor of Harvard College, draped in the Palestinian flag, at an encampment at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)More

Garber issued the call to end the encampment at the university as Harvard is set to hold its commencement on May 23.

His comments last week came as another Ivy League school, Columbia University in New York, announced that it would cancel its main commencement ceremony amid ongoing protests.

The days leading up to Harvard’s planned commencement later this month have been disruptive for both students and staff at the historic Cambridge campus, Garber earlier said.

“The disruptions from this encampment at the heart of the University have been numerous. Harvard College exams and other important activities and events have had to move elsewhere,” Garber said. “Safety concerns over the past two weeks, including those raised as a result of students sleeping outdoors overnight, have required us to sharply limit access to Harvard Yard.”

In February, the co-chairperson of Harvard University’s talk force on antisemitism resigned amid concerns that the prestigious Ivy League school would not act on the group’s recommendations. That same month, Harvard condemned what it called a “flagrantly antisemitic cartoon” that an undergraduate group posted on social media.

House Republicans last month launched an investigation into federal funding for universities amid the campus protests and reports of growing antisemitism on college and university campuses.

The doctor who saved Sen. Tammy Duckworth in Iraq is trapped in Gaza. Now she's trying to save him

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Frank Thorp V and Zoë Richards and Abigail Williams and Monica Alba and Courtney Kube
Updated Wed, May 15, 2024 

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., says she owes her life to Dr. Adam Hamawy, an American surgeon who provided critical care to her 20 years ago when she was wounded in the Iraq War.

That's why she's working the phones to try to help Hamawy, who is trapped in Gaza with other aid workers, make a safe return home to the U.S.

“We’re shaking every tree, calling everyone to make sure we do everything we can to ensure safe passage of these doctors to whatever crossing we can get them to,” Duckworth said in an interview Tuesday.

Hamawy is one of 10 American doctors from a team of 19 health care professionals from the Palestinian American Medical Association who traveled to Gaza this month to provide emergency medical assistance at the European Hospital in the Khan Younis area of Gaza.

Plastic surgeon Adam Hisham Hamawy (Islam Dogru / Anadolu via Getty Images)

The group was blocked from leaving Gaza on Monday because of a border closure in Rafah, the medical group said in a news release.The Biden administration has warned Israel against a full-scale invasion of Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than 1 million people are sheltering, citing humanitarian concerns.

The State Department said it continues to engage directly and actively with the governments of Israel and Egypt to advocate for the medical group’s safe departure from Gaza.

“We believe that there is more that can be done here, and this is just another example of why it is so crucial and important that the Rafah border crossing be open,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters Tuesday. “Not just for the appropriate flow of humanitarian aid, but also for the safe departure of foreign nationals.”

Duckworth, who said she has been in contact with Hamawy, said he and his fellow aid workers were lacking basic medical supplies and were treating people who were in a United Nations vehicle that was hit Monday.

“They’re severely restricted, is what he’s texted back to me,” Duckworth said.

“They are low on all medical supplies; they’re low on food and water. And, you know, it’s pretty dire there right now,” she added.

The Palestinian American Medical Association did not immediately reply to a request for additional comment.

The Biden administration is tracking the matter closely and working to see whether it can get the group out of Gaza. It had no further details to share, a U.S. official said.

“We continue to work to see if we can get them out, but not going to have more to share at this moment, will let you know if that changes though,” the official told NBC News.

Duckworth said she had a “very productive conversation” with Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog, in addition to outreach to the White House National Security Council and various groups that have contacts within the region.

In a post on X, Duckworth called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ensure the protection of aid workers and civilians.

“The Netanyahu admin must work to open the Rafah crossing, support evacuations and allow much more aid in,” she wrote.

Like many of her Democratic colleagues, Duckworth, a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, has voiced concerns over civilian casualties in Gaza since the war broke out last year. She has also criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the war.

Duckworth, a former Army National Guard member, lost both legs and partial use of her right arm during the Iraq War in 2004 after a rocket-propelled grenade struck her helicopter. She has credited Hamawy with providing her with life-saving care.

“I’m alive because of Dr. Hamawy and the doctors and medical folks who saved me in Iraq. He was there. He took care of me when I couldn’t take care of myself,” Duckworth said in the interview. “He certainly is very near and dear to my heart, because he saved my life 20 years ago.”

Hamawy, who is from Princeton, New Jersey, is a father of four. He was deployed to Iraq from May 2004 to February 2005, according to an Army spokesperson, who said Hamawy also enlisted in the New Jersey National Guard and served in the Army as a plastic surgeon and a general surgeon and as a flight surgeon in the Medical Corps.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

Israel's Netanyahu says militants make up about half of Gaza deaths

EVERY PALESTINIAN IS A TERRORIST

OR AT LEAST HALF OF THEM ARE

CBSNews
Updated Tue, May 14, 2024 

Israel's Netanyahu says militants make up about half of Gaza deaths


Jerusalem — Israel's prime minister said on a podcast that almost half of those killed in the Gaza war are Hamas fighters, again addressing a civilian toll that has sparked global outrage. Benjamin Netanyahu maintained the overall toll is lower than that given by authorities in the Palestinian territory.

According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 35,091 people have been killed in the territory during more than seven months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.

Last week, the United Nations changed its estimate of the number of women and children believed to be among the civilians killed in the Palestinian territory, shifting from figures previously provided by the Hamas government in Gaza to numbers stated by the enclave's health ministry.

According to the ministry's figures, which have been cited by the U.N. since May 10, about 13,000 women and children have been killed in Gaza since the war began on Oct. 7, when Israel launched its strikes against Hamas in retaliation for the group's terrorist attack.

The estimate is significantly lower than the figures provided by the Hamas administration in Gaza and previously cited by the U.N., which had said almost 24,000 of those killed were believed to be women and children.

Speaking Sunday on the "Call Me Back" podcast, Netanyahu said the death toll in Gaza was around 30,000, and that Hamas fighters accounted for nearly half of that toll. He insisted to podcaster Dan Senor that Israel had "been able to keep the ratio of civilians to combatants killed... (to) a ratio of about one to one."

"Fourteen thousand have been killed, combatants, and probably around 16,000 civilians have been killed," he said. He gave similar figures in March during an interview with Politico, at a time when Gaza's health ministry was reporting a toll of at least 31,045, and again in an interview with Dr. Phil in early May.

Neither Israel nor Hamas have provided evidence to show how they reach their respective death toll estimates. The Hamas-run Gazan administration and health ministry do not differentiate between civilian and combatant casualties in their war tallies.

The U.N. and a long list of countries, including the U.S., have voiced alarm at the number of civilian deaths in Gaza. United Nations rights chief Volker Turk warned in a statement last month that children especially were "disproportionately paying the ultimate price in this war."

Netanyahu's latest comment came amid intensified pressure from Israel's chief military supplier, the U.S., over the Palestinian toll from the war. Washington paused delivery of 3,500 bombs, and President Biden warned he would stop supplying artillery shells and other weapons if Israel carries out a full-scale invasion of Rafah, where around one million people are sheltering.

Palestinians search for casualties at the site of an Israeli airstrike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas militant group, in Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza, May 14, 2024. / Credit: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Getty

A U.S. State Department report said Friday that it was "reasonable to assess" that Israel has used American arms in ways inconsistent with standards on humanitarian rights but that the United States could not reach "conclusive findings."

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas' unprecedented Oct. 7 terrorist attack, which saw the militants kill some 1,200 people and take about 240 others hostage. About 100 of those captives are still believed to be alive and held in Gaza. Israeli officials believe more than 30 others are dead, but their bodies are still being held.

Biden administration says more civilians have died in Gaza than Hamas terrorists

Brendan Rascius
Mon, May 13, 2024 



President Joe Biden’s administration believes more civilians have been killed in Gaza than Hamas terrorists.

In a May 12 interview on CBS News, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. government concurs with an Israeli assessment that 16,000 civilians and 14,000 terrorists have been killed since the outbreak of war.

“While Israel has processes, procedures, rules, regulations to try to minimize civilian harm, given the impact that this operation, this war in Gaza has had on the civilian population…those have not been applied consistently and effectively,” Blinken said.

The interview comes as the Israel-Hamas war, which is entering its seventh month, has led to widespread destruction in Gaza. In addition to tens of thousands of deaths, the majority of the territory’s residents have been displaced and many face a “full blown famine,” according to United Nations reports.

“Given the totality of what we’ve seen in terms of civilian suffering — in terms of children, women, men caught in this crossfire Hamas is making who’ve been killed or been injured — it’s reasonable to assess that in a number of instances, Israel has not acted in a manner that’s consistent with international humanitarian law,” Blinken added.

Blinken also spoke about a newly released State Department report on the Israeli military’s conduct, which was required under a presidential national security memorandum.

He said the report did not conclude that the Israeli military has violated U.S. laws and arms sharing agreements.

“We’ve concluded is in the case of the the use of weapons, as you said, this is an extraordinarily complex military environment,” Blinken said. “That makes it very difficult to determine, particularly in the midst of war, exactly what happened and to draw any final conclusions from any one incident.”

He added that American assessments of the war will remain ongoing.

The interview comes just days after Biden said he would pause the transfer of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel if it invades Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than 1 million people are estimated to have taken shelter.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which (the Israeli military) go after population centers,” the president told CNN on May 9.

“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone in Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities — that deal with that problem,” he added.

The president’s announcement sparked mixed reactions from lawmakers, with progressives hailing it as a policy win, while Republicans have condemned the move as one that would bolster Hamas, according to Politico.

“I think this is really speaking to the large swath of the Democratic Caucus that needs to see a change,” Rep. Becca Balint, a Democrat from Vermont, told the outlet. “It has been very satisfying to see the message, I believe, is getting through, it’s getting delivered.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, in a post on X formerly Twitter called Biden “the most anti-Israel president we have ever seen” who “has undermined Israel at every turn.”

As a result of the president’s comments, House Republicans have unveiled legislation that calls on Biden to use congressionally approved security funding for Israel “as Congress intended.”

Gaza death toll: how many Palestinians has Israel's campaign killed?

Reuters
Updated Tue, May 14, 2024

Aftermath of an Israeli strike on a house in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip


(Reuters) - Palestinian health authorities say Israel's ground and air campaign in Gaza has killed more than 35,000 people, mostly civilians, and driven most of the enclave's 2.3 million people from their homes.

The war began on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants stormed across the border into Israeli communities. Israel says the militants killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and dragged 253 into captivity in Gaza.

This explainer examines how the Palestinian death toll is calculated, how reliable it is, the breakdown of civilians and fighters killed and what each side says.

HOW DO GAZA HEALTH AUTHORITIES CALCULATE THE DEATH TOLL?

In the first months of the war, death tolls were calculated entirely from counting bodies that arrived in hospitals and data included names and identity numbers for most of those killed.

As the conflict ground on, and fewer hospitals and morgues continued to operate, the authorities adopted other methods too.

A May 7 Health Ministry report gave an overall toll of 34,844. It said 21,058 of those deaths were counted from bodies that hospitals reported arriving at morgues. Another 3,715 were deaths reported online by family members who had to input information including identity numbers.

It listed the remaining 10,071 deaths as having "incomplete data". Omar Hussein Ali, head of the ministry's emergency operations centre in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said these were bodies that had arrived at hospitals or medical centres without personal data such as identity numbers or full names.

IS THE GAZA DEATH TOLL COMPREHENSIVE?

The numbers "do not necessarily reflect all victims due to the fact that many victims are still missing under the rubble", the Palestinian Health Ministry says. In May it estimated that some 10,000 bodies were uncounted in this way.

The U.N. human rights office and the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health have also said during the conflict that the true figures are likely higher than those published.

HOW CREDIBLE IS THE GAZA DEATH TOLL?

Pre-war Gaza had robust population statistics and better health information systems than in most Middle East countries, public health experts told Reuters.

A spokesperson for the World Health Organisation said the ministry has "good capacity in data collection/analysis and its previous reporting has been considered credible".

The United Nations regularly cites the ministry's death toll figures, while naming the ministry as the source.

Early in the conflict, after U.S. President Joe Biden cast doubt on casualty figures, the health ministry published a detailed list of the 7,028 deaths that had been registered by that point.

Academics looking at details of listed casualties said in a peer-reviewed article in the Lancet medical journal in November that it was implausible that the patterns shown in the list could be the result of fabrication.

However, there are specific questions over the inclusion of 471 people said to have been killed in an Oct. 17 blast at al-Ahli al-Arab hospital in Gaza City. An unclassified U.S. intelligence report estimated that death toll "at the low end of the 100 to 300 spectrum".

DOES HAMAS CONTROL THE FIGURES?

While Hamas has run Gaza since 2007, the enclave's Health Ministry also answers to the overall Palestinian Authority ministry in Ramallah in the West Bank.

Gaza's Hamas-run government has paid the salaries of all those hired in public departments since 2007, including in the Health Ministry. The Palestinian Authority still pays the salaries of those hired before then.

The extent of Hamas control in Gaza now is difficult to assess with Israeli forces occupying most of the territory, including around locations of major hospitals that provide casualty figures, and with fighting ongoing.

WHAT DOES ISRAEL SAY?

Israeli officials have said the figures are suspect because of Hamas' control over government in Gaza. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Mamorstein said the numbers were manipulated and "do not reflect the reality on the ground".

However, Israel's military has also accepted in briefings that the overall Gaza casualty numbers are broadly reliable.

Last week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said 14,000 Hamas fighters and 16,000 Palestinian civilians had been killed in the war.

HOW MANY CIVILIANS HAVE BEEN KILLED?

The Health Ministry figures do not differentiate between civilians and Hamas combatants, who do not wear formal uniform or carry separate identification.

Israel periodically provides estimates of how many Hamas fighters it believes have been killed. The most recent was Netanyahu's estimate of 14,000.

Israeli security officials say such estimates are reached through a combination of counting bodies on the battlefield, intercepts of Hamas communications and intelligence assessments of personnel in targets that were destroyed.

Hamas has said Israeli estimates for its losses are exaggerated but has not said how many of its fighters have been killed.

The Palestinian Health Ministry says more than 70% of the dead are women and children under 18. For most of the conflict its figures showed children as representing slightly over 40% of all those killed.

However, conditions in hospitals compiling figures have worsened amid the fighting and many of those killed may not be identifiable due to their injuries.

In May the ministry updated its breakdown of the fatalities to be based only on the 24,686 bodies it said had been fully identified, and not on the more-than 10,000 bodies it said have not yet been identified.

When it made this change, the numbers appeared significantly less, prompting Israel to raise further questions over the figures.

(This story has been refiled to restore dropped question mark in the headline)

(Compiled by Emma Farge, Nidal al-Mughrabi, Ali Sawafta and James MacKenzie, writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Gareth Jones)