Shangri-La Dialogue 2024

Indonesia ready to send peacekeeping, medical forces to support ceasefire in Gaza: Prabowo

Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto said his country is discussing with the relevant parties to speed up the deployment of medical personnel to hospitals in Gaza. 

ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

Tan Tam Mei
Assistant Foreign Editor
ST
JUN 01, 2024,

SINGAPORE – Indonesia is prepared to send peacekeeping troops and medical forces to support a prospective ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas have been warring, said Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto on June 1.

“We are prepared to contribute significant peacekeeping forces to maintain and monitor this prospective ceasefire as well as provide protection and security to all parties and to all sides,” said Mr Prabowo, who in October will become Indonesia’s eighth president.

Mr Prabowo, along with his vice-president running mate, Mr Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who is the son of incumbent president Joko Widodo, won the Feb 14 election with almost 60 per cent of the votes.

Speaking on the second day of the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue, the annual regional security forum held in Singapore, Mr Prabowo said Indonesia is also discussing with the relevant parties to speed up the deployment of medical personnel to hospitals in Gaza.

“Indonesia also is very willing to evacuate and treat wounded Palestinians,” he said, adding that Jakarta is ready to receive and treat up to 1,000 patients in the immediate future.

Refering to United States President Joe Biden’s May 31 announcement of a three-phase Israeli proposal for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, Mr Prabowo said the details have to be studied further, but it is “an important step forward”. He also said that the only real solution for peace in the Israel-Palestinian conflict is a two-state solution.

Since becoming president-elect, Mr Prabowo, a retired army general, has been active in global engagements, meeting international leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in the months leading up to his October inauguration.

The high-level defence pow-wow in Singapore, attended by global security and defence leaders, including those from Washington and Beijing, is being held amid rising tensions in the South China Sea and growing US-China rivalry.

Mr Prabowo, who has been defence minister since 2019, has not shied away from commenting on geopolitical issues such as the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. At the Shangri-La Dialogue in 2023, he pitched a controversial peace plan to end the conflict that began in 2022.

And during his special address on June 1, Mr Prabowo reaffirmed his proposal as one that is “logical, relevant and necessary”.

“It is necessary as an intermediate solution to this difficult, dangerous and, one might even say, potentially disastrous situation in Ukraine,” he said, referring to the plan that called for Ukraine and Russia to withdraw 15km from each party’s forward positions to form a new demilitarised zone, and called for a United Nations referendum on what he termed “disputed” territory.

That plan drew praise from China but criticism from Western nations.

During the session, Mr Prabowo reiterated what he termed the “Asian” way of handling conflict through maintaining good relationships among regional countries, especially amid increased geopolitical tensions and a widening trust deficit between states.

“I’ve been convinced... that real security comes through very good relations between our immediate neighbours,” he said.

Indonesia, the largest economy in South-east Asia and the fourth-most populous nation in the world, must be “close” and “friendly” with its immediate neighbours through engagement, respect and negotiation to solve issues, said Mr Prabowo.

“We have had military conflict with our neighbours... Malaysia and Singapore. But now we are the best of friends.

“We have resolved our differences without interference from any external power.”

In March 2024, Singapore and Indonesia signed landmark agreements that ended years of, at times, heated public wrangling over sensitive issues involving defence, airspace boundaries management and extradition matters.

While he was in Singapore, Mr Prabowo also met Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong.

Both leaders reaffirmed their nations’ close bilateral and people-to-people relations, and took note of the progress made in areas of cooperation such as renewable energy and sustainability.

Mr Prabowo also met Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishan, as well as US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin during this trip.

Famine possibly under way in northern Gaza

despite recent aid efforts – report

Concerns over hunger in Gaza have risen since an expert said Gaza had entered ‘full-blown famine’ after months of war.

 by Joe Connor
2024-06-05 




An independent group of experts has warned famine is possibly under way in northern Gaza but that the war between Israel and Hamas and restrictions on humanitarian access have impeded the data collection to prove it.

The group known as the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net) said famine in Gaza “is possible, if not likely”.

Concerns about deadly hunger have been high in recent months and spiked after the head of the World Food Programme last month said northern Gaza had entered “full-blown famine” after nearly seven months of war. Experts at the UN agency later said Cindy McCain was expressing a personal opinion.Israeli soldiers work on a tank in a staging area near the Israeli-Gaza border in southern Israel (AP)

An area is considered to be in famine when three things occur: 20% of households have an extreme lack of food, or are essentially starving; at least 30% of the children suffer from acute malnutrition or wasting, meaning they are too thin for their height; and two adults or four children per every 10,000 people are dying daily of hunger and its complications.


That is according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a collection of UN agencies, governments and other bodies that in March warned famine was imminent in northern Gaza.

Tuesday’s report by Fews Net is the first technical assessment by an international organisation saying that famine is possibly occurring in northern Gaza.

Funded by the United States Agency for International Development, Fews Net is an internationally recognised authority on famine that provides evidence-based and timely early warning information for food insecurity.Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis (AP)

It also helps inform decisions on humanitarian responses in some of the world’s most food insecure countries.


But for a formal declaration of famine, the data must be there.

Such a declaration could be used as evidence at the International Criminal Court as well as at the International Court of Justice, where Israel faces allegations of genocide.

The report cautioned that data collection would likely be impeded as long as the war goes on. It said people – including children – are dying of hunger-related causes across the territory and that those conditions will likely persist until at least July, if there is no fundamental change in how food aid is distributed.

The report also cautioned that efforts to increase aid into Gaza are insufficient, and urged Israel’s government to act urgently.




The UN and international aid agencies for months have said not enough food or other humanitarian supplies are entering Gaza, and Israel faces mounting pressure from top ally the US and others to let in more aid.

Israel has repeatedly denied there is famine under way in Gaza and rejected allegations it has used hunger as a weapon in its war against the militant Hamas group. It has opened a number of new crossings into Gaza in recent months, saying they helped increase the flow of aid.

But Israel has also been expanding its offensive in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, once the main hub of humanitarian aid operations. That invasion has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and other supplies to Palestinians facing hunger.

The Israeli military, which is responsible for the crossings into Gaza, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Fews Net report

Israel captures all points of aid access to Gaza after seizing Philadelphi Corridor

Officials in Gaza, international organizations insist there is no alternative to opening all border crossings to combat humanitarian crisis in Gaza

Mohamed Majed and Ali Semerci | 02.06.2024


GAZA CITY, Palestine

After Israel’s announcement on Wednesday that it had taken control of the Philadelphi Corridor along the Palestine-Egypt border, the army blockade of all borders of the Gaza Strip was reinforced, and all aid entry points were captured.

This move severs Gaza's geographical connection with Egypt, enabling the Tel Aviv administration to obstruct or restrict the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza. The region has been experiencing a major humanitarian crisis due to ongoing attacks since Oct. 7, 2023.

The most affected by this development are the 2.3 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip where people are already suffering from severe food, water, and medicine shortages due to Israel's restrictions, which violate international laws and the laws of war.

According to a statement from the Gaza government’s Media Office, 2.3 million Palestinians, including 2 million who have been displaced multiple times and rely on daily aid, need more than 7 million meals per day due to Israel’s "starvation" policy.

Additionally, fuel, medicine, and other vital necessities must be sent to the region to meet the needs of the displaced population.

However, Israel’s strict restrictions on aid entry and the closure of border crossings are deepening the humanitarian crisis in Palestine's besieged enclave.

Rafah border crossing seized

On May 7, the Israeli army launched a ground assault on Rafah in southern Gaza, where displaced Palestinians had taken refuge.

The army seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah Border Crossing between Gaza and Egypt, closing the crossings.

This situation made it impossible to deliver aid through Rafah or evacuate wounded people who needed treatment outside of Gaza.

Egypt declared that it would not accept "Israel's policy of fait accompli" and its imposition at the Rafah Border Crossing, and refused to coordinate with Israel.

Cairo blamed Tel Aviv for the border crossing closure and the potential consequences that would further escalate the crisis in Gaza.

Limited aid trucks enter Gaza

During a phone call on May 24, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his American counterpart Joe Biden agreed to temporarily deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza via the Karem Abu Salem border crossing, also known in Israel as Kerem Shalom.

However, since May 24, only a limited number of aid trucks have been able to enter Gaza through the Kerem Abu Salem Border Crossing due to Israel’s strict restrictions.

The Kerem Abu Salem Border Crossing has been closed to aid entry to Gaza since May 5. During May, the crossing was opened and closed twice, with only a few dozen commercial trucks entering.

Most Gazans, however, have no income source or the ability to purchase goods from the private sector due to ongoing attacks since Oct.7.

According to the Gaza government’s Media Office, only 215 aid trucks, including 109 loaded with flour and six with medicine, managed to enter Gaza last week through a point established by the Israeli army west of Beit Lahia.

The government media office in Gaza said on Sunday that the US-built temporary pier on the coast of Gaza delivered only 100 trucks of aid in a week since operations began.

The floating dock collapsed due to weather conditions and strong waves and the US estimates that repairs will take more than a week.

Officials in Gaza and international organizations insist that there is no alternative to opening all border crossings to combat the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The government in Gaza stated that the US is trying to improve its “ugly image” with the pier.

Blockade ongoing for 18 Years

Israel’s capture of the Philadelphi Corridor, which completely blocks Gaza, strengthens the blockade that has been in place for 18 years.

After Hamas won the parliamentary elections in 2006 and took control of the Gaza Strip, Israel began imposing a blockade on Gaza, which was tightened in 2007.

Israel's blockade of Gaza includes the closure of four border crossings: Karni, Nahal Oz, Kerem Ebu Salim, and Sufa.

The Beit Hanoun Border Crossing was designated for individual entry and exit, while the Kerem Abu Salem Border Crossing was reserved for commercial goods, with both crossings open and closed on a limited basis.

Despite increasing international calls for a resolution to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the International Court of Justice’s ruling to halt attacks on Rafah, Israel has tightened its siege on the Gaza Strip by controlling the Philadelphi Corridor.

According to Sam Rose, director of planning for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), humanitarian aid is only a few kilometers from Gaza's border, but Palestinians are on the verge of famine.

Rose highlighted the difficulties encountered in delivering aid to Gaza due to restrictions and arbitrary inspections imposed by Israeli authorities, calling the international community to put pressure on Israel to allow aid trucks to enter Gaza through known borders such as Rafah and Kerem Abu Salem, as well as to reopen the al-Mintar, al-Shuja'iya, and Beit Hanoun borders.

*Writing by Seda Sevencan

THEY RELIVE THEIR COLLECTIVE MEMORIES 

Thousands of Israel nationalists march on flashpoint Jerusalem Day

By

 AFP

Waving flags and many chanting anti-Arab slogans, thousands of Israeli nationalists marched through annexed east Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday, with main streets empty of Palestinians fearing attacks.

The so-called Jerusalem Day flag march commemorates the Israeli army’s capture of the city’s eastern sector in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, home to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam’s third holiest site, which Jews call the Temple Mount.

Thousands of Jewish nationalists, including far-right activists, marched through predominantly Arab neighbourhoods of the Old City, waving Israeli flags, dancing and occasionally shouting inflammatory or racist slogans.

“This is my country. I am the owner here. I’m the boss here, there is no Palestine,” screamed one marcher.

From early on Wednesday, police set up barriers near Damascus Gate, deploying more than 3,000 officers.

Most shops in the Old City were closed before the march, as streets emptied of Palestinians and filled with young Israelis, some carrying weapons.

“If you wander the streets, you will see how they (nationalist boys marching) work to provoke people, beat and break people”, Jalal Saman, a shopkeeper at the Old City told AFP before the march.

“Every year the same problems and events, but year after year they increase. The problems, the hatred has become greater,” the grocer said.

Moments later, a large group of boys insulted and threw garbage at Saman, prompting security forces to disperse the crowd before moving on to break up another clash.

One altercation began when stones were thrown from a roof, an AFP correspondent reported. Police said 18 people suspected of various offences, including assault, had been arrested.

Outside the Old City, families and youth stopped near the city hall in west Jerusalem to sing along to live music and dance in an atmosphere void of tensions and violence.

The march commemorates Jerusalem’s reunification under Israeli rule after it captured the city’s eastern half — home to the historic Old City and its sites holy to three Abrahamic religions — in the 1967 war.

– ‘Victory is ours’ –

For many Palestinians, the route through predominantly Arab neighbourhoods is seen as a deliberate provocation. Palestinians claim the city’s eastern sector as the capital of their future state.

By the time the march officially began, all shops on the route had been shuttered, and the worst clashes had passed.

Marching down the narrow streets of the Old City, some chanted “The people of Israel will live” or “The eternal people aren’t scared.”

Others entoned racist slogans such as “We will burn your villages” or “All Arabs can suck it”.

“Most of the people in the homes stayed home so as not to cause any friction with the settlers,” 62 year old guide Nasser Moussa told AFP towards the end of the march.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said at the march: “We send a message to Hamas. Jerusalem is ours. Damascus gate is ours. The Temple Mount is ours.”

“With the help of God, the full victory is ours,” he said, as crowds cheered.

Elie Duran, 64, said the celebration had taken on greater meaning after the war in Gaza.

“We celebrate every year with so much fervour, maybe a little more this year because I lost my son in Gaza this year, so there’s something more emotional for me,” he told AFP.

– ‘Rampage of settlers’ –

Police said they deployed officers throughout the city to “maintain public order, safety and secure property, as well as direct traffic” during the march.

As tight streets became packed with religious youth groups entering the Old City in waves, police had little space to prevent acts of petty vandalism on Arab businesses.

The march ended Wednesday evening at its normal terminus, the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray.

In 2021, Hamas launched a barrage of rockets toward Jerusalem as the march began, triggering a 12-day conflict with Israel.

On Wednesday, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh condemned the event.

“The rampage of settlers in Jerusalem confirms that Jerusalem is the focus of the conflict, and our people will not rest until the occupation ends and an independent Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital,” he said in a statement.

This year’s march comes nearly eight months after Hamas’s October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 36,586 people, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

by Louis Baudoin-Laarman and Michael Blum

Hamas signals post-war ambition in talks with Palestinian rival Fatah

People hold Fatah flags during a protest in support of the people of Gaza, as the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas continues, in Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, October 27, 2023. 

REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma/File Photo

JUN 05, 2024

RAMALLAH - Deep divisions will limit progress at reconciliation talks between Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah this month, conversations with five sources in the groups indicate, but the meetings highlight that the Islamist group is likely to retain influence after Israel's war in Gaza.

The talks between Hamas and the Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will be held in China in mid-June, according to officials from both sides. They follow two recent rounds of reconciliation talks, one in China and one in Russia. China's foreign ministry declined to comment.

The next meeting will be held amid attempts by international mediators to reach a ceasefire deal for Gaza, with one of the key sticking points being the "day-after" plan - how the enclave will be governed.

Considered a terrorist organisation by many Western nations, Hamas was shunned long before its Oct. 7 attacks killed 1,200 people in Israel, with more than 250 hostages taken, triggering the war in Gaza.

But even as it is pummelled militarily, the meetings of Hamas politicians with officials from the Fatah party that controls Palestinian politics in the Israeli-occupied West Bank point to the group's aim of shaping the post-war order in the Palestinian territories, according to a source familiar with conversations within Hamas.

The person, like other unnamed officials in this story, declined to be named because they weren't authorized to discuss sensitive matters with the media.

Hamas, which ruled Gaza before the war, recognises it cannot be part of any internationally recognised new government of the Palestinian territories when fighting in the enclave eventually ends, said the source.

Nonetheless, it wants Fatah to agree to a new technocratic administration for the West Bank and Gaza as part of a wider political deal, the source and senior Hamas official Basim Naim said.

"We are speaking about political partnership and political unity to restructure the Palestinian entity," Naim, who attended the previous round of China talks, said in an interview.

"Whether Hamas is in the government or outside it, that is not a prime demand of the movement and it doesn't see it a condition for any reconciliation," he said. Naim, like much of Hamas' political leadership, operates in exile outside of Gaza.

The prospect of Hamas surviving as an influential political player is a thorny issue for Western states.

Despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Gaza war goal of destroying the Iran-backed group, most observers agree Hamas will exist in some form after a ceasefire. An offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement has deep reach and ideological roots in Palestinian society.

The United States and EU oppose any role for Hamas in governing Gaza after the war, during which Israel’s offensive has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to the Gazan health ministry.

Still, some U.S. officials have privately expressed doubt Israel will eradicate the group. A senior U.S. official said on May 14 Washington thought it unlikely Israel could achieve “total victory”.

Killing every member of Hamas was unrealistic and was not the goal of the Israeli army, but destroying Hamas as a governing authority was "an achievable and attainable military objective," said Peter Lerner, a spokesperson for Israel's military.

LOW ODDS

Western states support the idea of post-war Gaza being run by a revamped Palestinian Authority (PA), the administration led by Abbas that has limited self-rule over patches of the West Bank. Based in Ramallah, the PA is broadly acknowledged globally as representing the Palestinians and receives security assistance from the United States and the EU.

Led by Abbas, and before him Yasser Arafat, Fatah was the undisputed leader of the Palestinian cause for decades until the rise of Hamas, an Islamist movement.

The PA also ran Gaza until 2007, when Hamas drove Fatah from the enclave, a year after defeating Fatah in parliamentary elections - the last time Palestinians voted.

Despite the talks, the factions' enmity means odds remain low for a deal to reunite the administration of the Palestinian territories, the conversations with the five sources indicated, a view echoed by four experts.

"My expectations of rapprochement are minimal or less," said Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center.

Palestinians aspire to a state on all territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 war, when Israel seized the West Bank - including East Jerusalem - and the Gaza Strip.

Despite 143 countries recognising Palestine, including Ireland, Spain and Norway last week, hopes for a sovereign nation have been diminishing for years as Israel expands settlements in the West Bank and opposes statehood.

The Hamas-Fatah split further complicates the goal. The factions hold deeply diverging views about strategy, with Fatah committed to negotiations with Israel to bring about an independent nation while Hamas backs armed struggle and does not recognise Israel.

The bitterness spilled into the open at an Arab summit in May, when Abbas accused Hamas of giving Israel "more pretexts" to destroy Gaza by launching the Oct. 7 attack.

Hamas said the remark was regrettable, calling Oct. 7 a crucial moment in the Palestinian struggle.

Hamas' 1988 founding charter called for Israel's destruction. In 2017, Hamas said it agreed to a transitional Palestinian state within frontiers pre-dating the 1967 war, though it still opposed recognising Israel's right to exist.

Hamas has restated this position since the eruption of the Gaza war.

NEW GOVERNMENT?

In March, Abbas swore in a new PA cabinet headed by Mohammed Mustafa, a close Abbas aide who oversaw Gaza reconstruction during a previous stint in government from 2013 to 2014. Though the cabinet is made up of technocrats, Abbas' move angered Hamas, which accused him of acting unilaterally.

Senior Fatah official Sabri Saidam told Reuters that forming a new government would amount to wasting time.

A second senior official familiar with Fatah's terms for the China talks said it wants Hamas to acknowledge the role of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as the Palestinians’ sole legitimate representative, and to commit to the agreements the PLO has signed.

This would include the Oslo accords signed 30 years ago under which the PLO recognised Israel and which Hamas violently opposed.

The official said Fatah would want the government to have full security and administrative control in Gaza - a challenge to Hamas' sway there.

Fundamentally at odds with the PLO over Israel, Hamas has never joined the body but has long called for elections to its governing institutions, including its legislative body known as the PNC.

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Friday that in addition to a government of "national consensus", the group wants elections for the PA presidency, parliament and the PNC.

Ghassan Khatib, a lecturer at Birzeit University in the West Bank, said Hamas was interested in reconciliation only on its terms, maintaining its politics, security apparatus and ideology, which he said would risk plunging the PLO into international isolation.

"Abbas cannot accept them with their politics, because that would jeopardize the only PLO achievement - international recognition," he said.

PART OF THE FABRIC

Despite this, Fatah official Tayseer Nasrallah said Fatah viewed Hamas as part of "the Palestinian national fabric and part of the political fabric also".

Saidam said consensus was necessary to manage aid and reconstruction in Gaza. Fatah had made clear it would not return to Gaza "on the back of an (Israeli) tank, but rather we will come in agreement with everyone", he added.

Israeli government spokesperson Tal Heinrich said the PA’s willingness to work with Hamas was "unfortunate."

An opinion poll conducted in the West Bank and Gaza by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in March showed Hamas enjoying more support than Fatah, with its popularity still higher than before the war.

Being hosted by China has marked a diplomatic boost for the Iran-backed Hamas.

Ashraf Abouelhoul, managing editor of the Egyptian state-owned paper Al-Ahram and a specialist on Palestinian affairs, said Hamas was more interested in a deal than Fatah, because reconciliation could give the battle-weary organisation cover to rebuild.

Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center said it was difficult to imagine Hamas embarking on any military action that would prompt large-scale Israeli retaliation in the foreseeable future.

But, he said, reconciliation would be a "transitional phase that would allow Hamas to slowly rearm.".

 REUTERS

EXPANDING THE MIDDLE EAST WAR

Israel hit Lebanese residential buildings with white phosphorous – rights group

5 June 2024

Israel Lebanon White Phosphorous. Picture: PA

Human rights advocates say it is a crime under international law to fire the munitions into populated areas.

A global human rights group has claimed that Israel used white phosphorus incendiary shells on residential buildings in at least five towns and villages in southern Lebanon, possibly harming civilians and violating international law.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its report that there was no evidence of burn injuries due to white phosphorus in Lebanon, but that researchers had “heard accounts indicating possible respiratory damage”.

Human rights advocates say it is a crime under international law to fire the controversial munitions into populated areas.

Israel maintains it uses the white phosphorus only as a smokescreen and not to target civilians.

The white-hot chemical substance can set buildings on fire and burn human flesh down to the bone.

Survivors are at risk of infections and organ or respiratory failure, even if their burns are small.

The HRW report includes interviews with eight residents in conflict-hit southern Lebanon, and the group says it has verified and geolocated images from almost 47 photos and videos that show white phosphorus shells landing on residential buildings in five Lebanese border towns and villages.

The Lebanese health ministry says at least 173 people have required medical care after exposure to white phosphorus.

The researchers found that the controversial incendiaries were used in residential areas in Kfar Kila, Mays al-Jabal, Boustan, Markaba, and Aita al-Shaab, towns that are among the hardest-hit in eight months of fighting.

The New York-based rights group alongside Amnesty International also accused Israel of using white phosphorus in residential areas in October 2023, less than a month after clashes began between the Israeli military and the powerful Hezbollah group along the southern Lebanon-Israel border, a day after the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7.

In its report, HRW called on the Lebanese government to allow the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute “grave international crimes” within Lebanon since October 2023.

“Israel’s recent use of white phosphorus in Lebanon should motivate other countries to take immediate action toward this goal,” said HRW Lebanon researcher Ramzi Kaiss.

More 400 people have been killed in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also including more than 70 civilians and non-combatants.

In Israel, 15 soldiers and 10 civilians have been killed since October. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the border.

By Press Association

 

Hamas says Israel wants ‘endless’ truce negotiations

A girl injured by Israeli bombardment on al-Bureij was taken to the Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. — AFP pic

Wednesday, 05 Jun 2024 

BEIRUT, June 5 — A senior Hamas official in Beirut yesterday accused Israel of prolonging truce negotiations and repeated the Palestinian group’s position rejecting any deal that excludes a permanent ceasefire.

The statement came as mediator Qatar said it was awaiting a “clear position” from Israel on a proposed Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal outlined by US President Joe Biden.

Hamas official Osama Hamdan said Israel’s response to mediators regarding a ceasefire proposal that Hamas accepted on May 6 “speaks to opening the door to endless negotiations on everything”.

Qatar, along with the United States and Egypt, has been engaged in months of back-and-forth negotiations over details for a ceasefire and the exchange of hostages and prisoners.

Talks stalled in early May when Israel began ground operations in Rafah, southern Gaza.

In a bid to revive the negotiations, Biden said on Friday that Israel proposed a new three-stage roadmap.

Hamdan told a news conference in Beirut that according to the US president, “the mediators guarantee to continue negotiations indefinitely, until the two parties agree”.

Hamas had told mediators it “cannot agree to a deal that doesn’t that does not secure... a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and the achievement of a serious, real prisoner exchange deal”, he said.

That Israel has not agreed to such a deal shows it wants to reclaim the hostages and “then resume its aggression... it doesn’t want a ceasefire,” he said.

“We call on the mediators to obtain a clear position from the Israeli occupation, on its commitment to... a permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal,” Hamdan added.

Previous mediation frameworks have failed over Hamas’s demand for a permanent ceasefire, while Israel insists on its right to pursue its objective of destroying the Palestinian group.

Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said Tuesday that “we have yet to see a very clear position from the Israeli government towards the principles laid out by President Biden,” adding there was no “concrete approval” from either side

. — AFP

Bid for dominance over Asia Pacific tests US, China attempt at detente

US defence chief Lloyd Austin hails a ‘new era of security’ in the Asia Pacific, drawing a strong pushback from a senior Chinese official.

Lloyd Austin told attendees of the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore that in the past three years there had been a 'new convergence around nearly all aspects of security' in the Asia Pacific region [Edgar Su/Reuters]

Published On 1 Jun 2024

Defence chief Lloyd Austin has praised a “new era of security” in the Asia Pacific as he underscored that the region remained a major strategic priority for the United States, drawing a quick pushback from a senior Chinese military official.

Austin made the statement on Saturday, a day after holding a crucial meeting in Singapore with his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, during which they agreed to resume military-to-military communications amid efforts to ease growing tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

China hailed Friday’s face-to-face talks and the agreement to mend fraying security ties as “stabilising”. But competition and tensions over a slew of issues – from Taiwan to the South China Sea – continue to test the resolve of both countries.

On Saturday, Austin said that in the past three years there had been a “new convergence around nearly all aspects of security” in the region, where there was a shared understanding of “the power of partnership”.

“This new convergence is producing a stronger, more resilient and more capable network of partnerships and that is defining a new era of security” in the region, Austin told the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

However, it was not “about imposing one country’s will” or “bullying or coercion”, Austin said, in an apparent shot at China, which has increased its sabre-rattling over self-ruled Taiwan and grown more confident in pressing its claims in the South China Sea.

“This new convergence is about coming together and not splitting apart,” Austin said. “It’s about the free choices of sovereign states.”

Responding to Austin, Chinese Lieutenant General Jing Jianfeng accused the US of seeking to build “an Asia Pacific version of NATO”, and described the superpower as the “greatest challenge to regional peace and stability”.

Jing said the US strategy was intended “to create division, provoke confrontation and undermine stability”.

“It only serves the selfish geopolitical interests of the US and runs counter to the trend of history and the shared aspirations of regional countries for peace, development and win-win cooperation,” said Jing, who serves as the deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China’s Central Military Commission.

Reporting from Singapore, Al Jazeera’s Patrick Fok said Austin left “very little doubt” that the US was trying to project its power in the region.

“That seems to provoke a response from the Chinese side,” he said, pointing out that the “acrimony has spilled out in the open”.

He added: “The message that we are getting here [is that] the US is deeply committed to the Indo-Pacific and that the US is not going anywhere.”

‘Inviting wolves’

Austin has been attempting to refocus attention on China’s actions in the Asia Pacific, as he sought to alleviate concerns that conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza have distracted from his country’s security commitments in the region.

“Despite these historic clashes in Europe and the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific has remained our priority theatre of operations,” Austin stressed.

“Let me be clear: The United States can be secure only if Asia is secure,” Austin said. “That’s why the United States has long maintained our presence in this region.”

Austin also highlighted the importance of alliances in the region, highlighting the need for “peaceful resolution of disputes through dialogue and not coercion or conflict”.

During their meeting on Friday, Austin was warned by Dong that the US should not interfere in China’s affairs with Taiwan, defence ministry spokesperson Wu Qian told reporters. China claims the democratically governed island as its own territory.

Some US officials have been warning that Beijing has become more emboldened in recent years, recently launching what it described as “punishment” drills around Taiwan.

China is also furious over the US’s deepening regional defence ties, particularly with the Philippines, and its regular deployment of warships and fighter jets in the South China Sea.

On Saturday, Austin insisted that the US’s commitment to defend the Philippines under their mutual defence treaty remained “ironclad”, as repeated confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the South China Sea have stoked fears of a wider conflict.

“America will continue to play a vital role in the Indo-Pacific, together with our friends across the region that we share and care so much about,” Austin said, describing Chinese activities in disputed waters with the Philippines as “dangerous harassment”.

Jing, the Chinese general, said these alliances only contributed to instability in the region.

“It is natural for neighbours to bicker sometimes, but we need to resolve disagreements through dialogue and consultation rather than inviting wolves into our house and playing with fire,” he said.

ICYMI

The ANC party that freed South Africa from apartheid loses its 30-year majority

The African National Congress party has lost its parliamentary majority in a historic election result that puts South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago

ByGERALD IMRAY Associated Press and MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press

June 1, 2024

JOHANNESBURG -- The African National Congress party lost its majority in a historic election result Saturday that puts South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago.

With more than 99% of votes counted, the once-dominant ANC had received just over 40% in Wednesday's parliamentary election, well short of the majority it had held since the all-race vote of 1994 that ended apartheid and brought it to power under Nelson Mandela.

The final results are still to be formally declared Sunday by the Independent Electoral Commission, but the ANC cannot pass 50% and an era of coalition government — also a first for South Africa — is looming.

The ANC remains the biggest party despite a staggering loss of support since the last election in 2019 as South Africa struggles with deep poverty and inequality. The country has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world and voters also blamed the ANC for shortages of clean water, electricity, housing and other services.

The ANC will now likely need to look for a coalition partner or partners to remain in the government and reelect President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second and final term. Parliament must meet to elect the South African president within 14 days after the election result is declared.

“The way to rescue South Africa is to break the ANC’s majority and we have done that,” said John Steenhuisen, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance party.

Julius Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters opposition party, said that the ANC's “entitlement of being the sole dominant party” was over.

The way forward could be complicated for Africa’s most advanced economy, and there’s no coalition on the table yet. The three main opposition parties and many more smaller ones were in the mix as the bargaining begins.

“We can talk to anybody and everybody,” ANC Chairman Gwede Mantashe said on national broadcaster SABC.

Steenhuisen's Democratic Alliance received around 21% of the vote. The new MK Party of former President Jacob Zuma, who has turned against the ANC he once led, was third with just over 14% of the vote in the first election it has contested. The Economic Freedom Fighters was fourth with just over 9%.

More than 50 parties contested the election, many of them winning tiny shares, but the three main opposition parties appear to be the most obvious for the ANC to approach.

Electoral commission Chairman Mosotho Moepya said it was a time for everyone to keep calm “and for leaders to lead and for voices of reason to continue to prevail.”

"This is a moment we need to manage and manage well," he said.

Steenhuisen said his party is open to discussions with the ANC, as did Malema. The MK Party said one of their conditions for any agreement was that Ramaphosa is removed as ANC leader and president. That underlined the fierce personal political battle between Zuma, who resigned as South African president under a cloud of corruption allegations in 2018, and Ramaphosa, who replaced him.

“We are willing to negotiate with the ANC, but not the ANC of Cyril Ramaphosa," MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndlela said.

MK and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters have called for parts of the economy to be nationalized.

The centrist Democratic Alliance, or DA, is viewed as business-friendly. Analysts say an ANC-DA coalition would be more welcomed by foreign investors.

DA has been the most critical opposition party for years and doesn't share the ANC's pro-Russia and pro-China foreign policy. South Africa takes over the presidency of the Group of 20 industrialized and emerging-market nations next year.

An ANC-DA coalition "would be a marriage of two drunk people in Las Vegas. It will never work,” Gayton McKenzie, the leader of the smaller Patriotic Alliance party, told South African media.

DA says an ANC-MK-EFF agreement would be a “doomsday coalition” given MK and EFF are made up of former ANC figures and would pursue the same failed policies.

The three opposition parties had a combined share that was bigger than the ANC, but they are highly unlikely to all work together. The DA was also part of a preelection agreement with other smaller parties to potentially form a coalition.

Amid it all, there was no sense of celebrations from ordinary South Africans, but rather the realization that a rocky political road was ahead. The Daily Maverick newspaper had a South African scratching his head with the words: “What Does It Mean For Our Future?” on its front page. The Die Burger newspaper led with an image of about a dozen political parties' logos going into a meat grinder.

South African opposition parties were united in one thing — something had to change in the country of 62 million, which is Africa's most developed but also one of the most unequal in the world.

The official unemployment rate is 32% and the poverty disproportionately affects Black people, who make up 80% of the population and have been the core of the ANC's support for years. The violent crime rate is also high.

The ANC has seen a steady decline in its support over the last 20 years, but by around three to five percentage points each election. It dropped 17 percentage points this time from the 57.5% it won in 2019.

Nearly 28 million South Africans were registered to vote, and turnout was expected to be around 60%, according to the electoral commission.

People lined up on a cold winter night and waited hours after the official poll closing time, with some votes being cast at 3 a.m. the following day. That indicated the desire from many to have their say, but also reflected one of South Africa's inherent problems — some voting stations had delays because of electricity outages plunging them into the dark.

___

Gerald Imray reported from Cape Town.

___

AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa