AUSTRALIA

Media cuts 'impacting flood coverage'


Alex Mitchell
National
MARCH 1 2022 

An inquiry has been told that regional media job cuts have impacted coverage of the floods crisis.

Media coverage of crisis events like Australia's floods has been badly impacted by regional newsroom cuts, an inquiry has been told.

A parliamentary inquiry is examining the news media bargaining code created so media companies are paid fairly for content on Google and Facebook, along with how regional newspapers can remain viable.

But Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia vice-president Peter English said many stories from the recent floods featured "little value added through on-the-ground reporting", with so few regional towns covered by journalists.

"People are relying on social media for images, both images that are real and things that might not be real," he said.

"That may have impacted on the (flood-related) decisions they've made in terms of leaving their house or staying."

Dr English said there was little incentive for journalists to go to or stay in regional areas.

He recommended governments subsidise wages for journalists employed by local outlets and benefits if they continue to stay, while he also suggested tax cuts for regional outlets that maintain a local office.

"The employment of journalists who are embedded in local communities is essential," Dr English said.

"Only local reporters can understand how local issues impact on their local areas, not someone trying to report remotely."

The inquiry was told extra money from Google and Facebook allowed the ABC to create 50 new positions, including many in new small regional bureaus, but JERAA president Alex Wake said that was "just not enough".

She pointed to "quite gripping" and "brilliant" coverage of Lismore's floods, but said nearby towns were not being provided similar information.

"Just further north where there aren't local journalists located, coverage is not occurring," she said.

"It's great what's happening, but we need more jobs and more newsrooms across the country ... we need to encourage young people to stay in the regions and to have families and be there and be part of the community."

Australian Associated Press

Worst Australian floods in decades: 40,000 ordered to evacuate

Rod McGuirk,

 Mar 01 202

Tens of thousands were ordered to evacuate as heavy rains smashed Australia's east coast on Monday, submerging towns and stranding residents on rooftops.

Tens of thousands of people had been ordered to evacuate their homes by Tuesday and many more had been told to prepare to flee as parts of Australia’s southeast coast are inundated by the worst flooding in decades.

Scores of residents, some with pets, spent hours trapped on their rooves in recent days by a fast-rising river in the town of Lismore in northern New South Wales, and dozens of cars were trapped on a bridge in the nearby town of Woodburn over Monday night with both the bridge's approaches submerged.

QUEENSLAND FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES/AP
Heavy rain is bringing record flooding to some east coast areas while the flooding in Brisbane, a population of 2.6 million, and its surrounds is the worst since 2011 when the city was inundated by what was described as a once-in-a-century event.

Up to 50 people were rescued from the bridge early Tuesday, officials said.

“We had no capabilities to get them off in the dark so we just had to make sure that they bunkered down and we went in this morning and got them all out,” Woodburn State Emergency Services Commander Ashley Slapp told the ABC.

The flood waters are moving south into New South Wales from Queensland state in the worst disaster in the region since what was described as a once-in-a-century event in 2011.

New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet said there had been 1000 rescues in his state by Tuesday and more than 6,000 calls for authorities to help.

Perrottet said 40,000 people had been ordered to evacuate, while 300,000 others had been placed under evacuation warnings.

“We’ll be doing everything ... we can to get everybody to safety and get these communities right across our state back on their feet as quickly as possible,” Perrottet told reporters in Sydney.

QUEENSLAND FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES/AP
In this photo provided by the Fraser Coast Regional Council, water floods streets and buildings in Maryborough, Australia on February 28.

Government meteorologist Jonathan Howe described the amount of recent rainfall in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland as “astronomical.”

The death toll from the latest disaster remained at eight with all the fatalities in Queensland. The latest fatality was a man who was trapped in a car in flood water on Monday at Gold Coast city.

Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said emergency services held grave concerns for a man aged in his 70s who fell from his moored yacht in the state capital Brisbane into a swollen river on Saturday and for a 76-year-old man who disappeared with his vehicle in flood water northwest of Brisbane on Sunday.

QUEENSLAND FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES/AP
A blue barrier helps hold back flood water in a section of Maryborough, Australia.

The extraordinary rainfall comes as the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported this week that vast swathes of Australia have already lost 20 per cent of its rainfall and the country’s fire risk has gone beyond worst-case scenarios developed just a few years ago.

Australia’s hottest and driest year on record was 2019 which ended with devastating wildfires across southeast Australia. The fires directly killed 33 people and another 400 people were killed by the smoke.

The fires also destroyed more than 3,000 homes and razed 19 million hecatres of farmland and forests.

But two La Nina weather patterns have since brought above average rainfall to the same regions.

Dramatic scenes from northern NSW floods captured from the sky

By A Current Affair Staff|3 hours ago


New South Wales is in the firing line with the Northern Rivers region and in particular Lismore experiencing some of the worst flooding it has ever seen.

There have been distressing calls for help and extraordinary rescue scenes out of Lismore, Bungawalbin, South Ballina, Woodburn and along the Princess Highway.

Dramatic rescues were captured by A Current Affair's cameras from a helicopter flying above flood affected areas.

New South Wales is in the firing line with the Northern Rivers region. (A Current Affair)

Lismore is experiencing some of the worst flooding it has ever seen. (A Current Affair)

‣6:50
Brisbane residents angered by lack of flood warnings.
‣3:37
Lismore hero says 'just about every house we went past had people on roofs'.
‣3:56
Lismore gym becomes flood evacuation centre.

READ MORE: Brisbane residents angered by lack of flood warnings

Pregnant women, children and whole families were among those who needed rescuing.

Lismore was the first place in the state to be flooded after a levy that was built to protect the town gave way.

While the river south of Lismore has always been an area that gets hit hard by floods, there wasn't a house nearby that hadn't been inundated with water this time round.

There wasn't a house in the area that hadn't been inundated with water. (A Current Affair)

READ MORE: Dozens left with no option but to head to their roofs and wait for help

While some of the water had dropped off slightly today, there were still people moving about – a lot of them in canoes.

Lismore airport was totally flooded, with some of the smaller aircraft appearing as if they'd been thrown around like toys.

In Woodburn people could be seen trapped on a bridge after they parked their cars there in the hope they would be safe

.

There have been distressing calls for help and extraordinary rescue scenes out of Lismore, Bungawalbin, South Ballina, Woodburn and along the Princess Highway. (A Current Affair)

In Woodburn people could be seen trapped on a bridge after they parked their cars there in the hope they would be safe. (A Current Affair)

READ MORE: Lismore hero says 'just about every house we went past had people on roofs'

Most of the roads around the town of Woodburn were blocked, which left some people isolated.

Debris could be seen everywhere today, showing the destruction caused to local businesses and as authorities were overwhelmed, locals went out themselves in boats and tinnies to help with the rescue mission.

For people impacted by flooding, there is help available.

In an emergency, phone your local SES unit on 132 500.

In life threatening situations call triple zero immediately.

Flooded and freezing in Gaza

Sarah Algherbawi The Electronic Intifada 1 March 2022
Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza has been badly flooded over the past few months. 

 Ashraf AmraAPA images

The day I was born was probably the hottest day of 1991 – at least that is what my mother tells me.

Yet despite being a summer baby, I am happiest when it is cold and wet.

When I was a child, I gave myself a few nicknames. One of them was Winter Butterfly.

I often drew butterflies and wrote that nickname inside them on my textbooks and notebooks at school.

When I went to college, I deliberately waited until it started raining before walking home on many days.

The distance between college and home was approximately 3 kilometers. As I undertook that walk, I would feel energized by the rain.

It seemed to relieve whatever stress I was going through.

The love of rain has stayed with me. I especially enjoy visiting my in-laws at wintertime.

My in-laws belong to a family forced out of al-Majdal just north of Gaza during the Nakba – the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine. They now live in the middle of Jabaliya refugee camp.

It is hugely satisfying to drink a hot cup of tea and listen to raindrops falling on a tin roof in Jabaliya camp. I would go so far as to say it is good for the soul.

This winter has been different. We – my husband, children and I – did not visit Jabaliya camp even once.

My in-laws’ home was damaged during Israel’s May 2021 attack on Gaza.

An explosion nearby left cracks in its roof and walls. A lot of rainwater has leaked through the roof since then.

My in-laws are fortunate compared to others in the camp. They live on higher ground than many of their neighbors.

That seems to have protected my in-laws’ home from being flooded.
Emergency

The Salem family, who live on the southern edge of Jabaliya camp, have not had any such escape.

At one stage during the winter, they were awakened at 3 am. They quickly realized that their home had been flooded with a mixture of rainwater and sewage.

The water – more than a meter deep – caused immense destruction in their home, where a total of 12 people live.

Waseem, the youngest member of the family, is only a few months old. He became ill as the home got colder.

“I couldn’t find anything to keep the baby warm,” said Atef Salem, Waseem’s father. “All of our clothes were underwater. The only thing I could do was to wrap him with heavy bags that had been filled with sugar. We were rescued by civil defense people in a small fishing boat. They took baby Waseem and fortunately an ambulance was waiting nearby.”

Waseem was rushed to Gaza’s Indonesian hospital. There, his condition improved.

Israel destroyed more than 1,300 residential units throughout Gaza during the May attack. Almost 6,400 were damaged to a significant extent.

The human rights lawyer Salah Abdel Ati is among those whose property was bombed.

He had devoted a great deal of time and money towards building a three-story house in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza. Completed in 2019, the building included an apartment for each of his adult sons.

Both of his sons – Muhammad and Waseem – got married the following year and moved into the apartments above their parents on the ground floor.

Muhammad and his wife Hadeel took the first floor apartment. Waseem and his wife Marah went into the second floor.

The newly married couples both became parents to baby girls soon afterwards. By Gaza standards, the family were reasonably comfortable, though both Muhammad and Waseem were unemployed despite having university degrees.

Then came Israel’s attack in May 2021.

The family’s home is close to the Hala al-Shawa clinic, which caters to mothers and children. It was one of many healthcare facilities bombed during Israel’s offensive.

Israel’s bombardment of the clinic occurred on 11 May.

The bombardment was so powerful that it also caused damage to windows, doors and walls in Salah Abdel Ati’s home.

Later that same day, the home was damaged yet again when another explosion occurred nearby. The family were at home at the time but were not injured.

Because of that damage, the house started to tilt. And when the rains came in winter, the problems worsened.

Gaza’s works ministry requested in February that the family evacuate their home and recommended its demolition. Assessments carried out by the ministry indicate that the building is at imminent risk of collapse.

Waseem and Muhammad, along with their parents, have been forced to find accommodation away from the shared building since the evacuation. Muna, their mother, is hoping that the extended family will be back living together before long.

She is thinking about renting a house for the extended family until such time as they can build a new home. Yet with the shock of losing her home still raw, she has not yet drawn up clear plans.

“We used to be a stable family,” she said. “Now we are torn apart. I don’t know what we should do.”

Her husband Salah is similarly distraught.

“I did not expect this to happen,” he said. “I put all my money into building this house. Now we have nothing left.”

Sarah Algherbawi is a freelance writer and translator from Gaza.

 HINDUISM IS NOT HINDUTVA

Hindu Devotees Throng Temples to Worship Lord Shiva on 'Maha Shivratri' Festival – Video

14 minutes ago

© AFP 2022

Sangeeta Yadav

SPUTNIK

Maha Shivratri, the day when Lord Shiva married Goddess Parvati – as the legend goes – has been celebrated by Hindus since time immemorial. The duo is worshipped as the symbol of love, power, and togetherness.

People across India are celebrating the festival of Maha Shivratri, dedicated to Lord Shiva, on Tuesday by visiting temples to worship the deity.

These temples are reverberating with hymns and devotees' religious chanting of "Har Har Mahadev" or "Om Namah Shivai" in the name of Shiva.

Every year on this day, devotees visit temples and offer milk, honey, and flowers to Lord Shiva's phallic symbol -- "Shivalingam" – and pray before his statue. The temples become choc-a-bloc with people.

From taking a dip in the holy water of sacred rivers at different religious spots to fasting and meditating at home, devotees of Lord Shiva celebrate the day with much fanfare.

With the COVID-19 situation improving, spirits are high in India after almost two years of restrictions.

Also known as the "Great Night of Lord Shiva,'' Maha Shivratri falls on the darkest night of the year as per the Hindu calendar, and devout Hindus spend all night awake, chanting hymns for their spiritual awakening.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with several other politicians and celebrities took to social media to wish people luck on this special day.

© Photo

© Photo

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Netizens have flooded Twitter with pictures of Hindu devotees visiting temples and taking a dip in the holy water of the Ganges in Haridwar city.

© Photo

Noted sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik from Odisha state also created a sculpture of Lord Shiva adorned with 23,436 "rudrakshas" (stones used as prayer beads) on Puri beach to express his devotion to Shiva.

© Photo

Essential to bring women to centre of politics: Indian politician

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi tells Al Jazeera why the main opposition party gave 40 percent tickets to female candidates for Uttar Pradesh polls.

Congress party's Priyanka Gandhi waves during a roadshow for the ongoing assembly elections in Prayagraj in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh [Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo]

By Zeyad Masroor Khan
Published On 1 Mar 2022

In an unprecedented move, India’s main opposition Congress party has given 40 percent of its tickets to female candidates for the ongoing assembly elections in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, also the country’s most populous with more than 200 million residents.

The driving force behind the Congress move is Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, daughter of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the party’s current president, Italian-born Sonia Gandhi. Priyanka is also the younger sister of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Despite belonging to India’s most prominent political family, the 50-year-old – married to businessman Robert Vadra and mother of two children – is a late entrant to active politics and had so far confined herself to campaigning for her mother and brother during the parliamentary elections.

That changed in 2019 when she was given the charge to turn Congress fortunes around in politically-crucial Uttar Pradesh, a state the party ruled for decades before the rise of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and caste-based regional parties in the 1990s.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Priyanka shares her views on the need to empower more women, the BJP’s religious politics targeting minorities, mainly Muslims, and what her party is doing to resist it.

Al Jazeera: What was the idea behind giving 40 percent tickets to female candidates in Uttar Pradesh? Are you doing this knowing fully well that it is not a state where Congress has a significant presence? In other words, since you know you won’t win many seats, then why not make a strong feminist statement?

Priyanka Gandhi: I would say that’s a rather cynical way of looking at what is a pioneering step forward for the full participation of women in Indian politics. Uttar Pradesh is the largest state in India, it greatly influences the nation’s politics. It also happens to be one of the most deeply entrenched patriarchies in the world. What we are doing is challenging this patriarchy right from within it. The idea, not just of giving 40 percent tickets to women, but also of creating a separate manifesto for their empowerment by giving them employment opportunities, laying out plans for their health, education, safety and upliftment is to give them their rightful due. Women are treated with condescension as a political force by most political parties in India. An example of this is that the ruling party’s flagship programme for women addresses them as “daughters” and consists of handing them one free gas cylinder per year!

In a polity divided into the lines of caste and religion, women can be an immense driving force for change if they consolidate and become cognisant of their own collective political power. They can be instrumental in lifting the politics of the nation above narrow divisions and demanding a focus on development, health, education, employment, economics and other issues that deeply affect the public. It is essential to bring women to the centre of political agenda and discourse. We are happy to have spearheaded this change.

Congress party’s Priyanka Gandhi waves to supporters during a roadshow in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh [Sanjay Kanojia/AFP]

Al Jazeera: Do you expect the move to give Congress dividends in the long run or is this a one-off thing? What are the steps to create a political culture that gives women more visibility in Indian politics, particularly in your party?

Gandhi: It is certainly not a one-off thing. In the last three years since I have been given charge of UP, we have consistently stood up for women. Whether it was the Unnao rape cases, the Shahjahanpur case, the Hathras case, or for that matter most cases of heinous crimes against women, as well as other issues affecting women like the dismal wages being paid to assistant teachers or front-line health workers, the Congress party not only fought for justice for them but was instrumental in pressurising the government to take action. We will continue to fight for women with even more strength in the future.

On the political front, we have fielded 40 percent of women candidates in this election. We will encourage and support them to nurture their constituencies and become the voice of women in Uttar Pradesh. Many of them are brilliant women, brave and driven with the ambition to help their sisters. Some of them have suffered immense hardships. These include the mothers of rape victims, a lady who was belaboured by the police simply for taking a representation demanding an increase in wages to the chief minister, another whose clothes were torn off in public when she presented herself for a local election, another whose daughter was gang-raped and imprisoned on false charges two days after her wedding.

They are extremely courageous women and I see great potential in them. It has not been easy for them to transition into a political role, many have faced resistance from society and even internally from within our party but they have been remarkably resilient. On my part, I have fully supported and protected them. Aside from this, we will encourage even more women to fight the corporation and municipality elections in October and we will create an influx of young women leaders in our party organisation so that we become a fighting force for the empowerment of women in politics.

Al Jazeera: You also gave tickets to Muslim activists like Sadaf Jafar and the mother of a Muslim man killed during anti-citizenship law protests. What did you have in mind when you decided on their names?

Gandhi: Whether it was Sadaf, the mother of rape victims, the mother of an innocent boy killed during the anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) movement, the tribal boy in Sonbhadhra or many others like them whom we have given tickets to, each had one thing in common: the crimes against them were perpetrated by those who either had political power themselves or were connected to it. Giving them tickets to fight the election was to send a strong message that political power rightfully belongs to the people of this country. It is meant to enable and uplift them, not to oppress and destroy them. We said to them: “Power did this to you, now take it into your own hands and fight for yourself. Use it to help others who suffer like you did.”

Priyanka Gandhi speaks during the release of the Congress party’s manifesto for the Uttar Pradesh elections, in New Delhi [Altaf Qadri/AP Photo]

Al Jazeera: Uttar Pradesh is considered one of the unsafest places for women. What are some of the things you hope to change if you get into a position to influence political decisions?

Gandhi: We have proposed many steps to improve safety for women in our women’s manifesto. If we form the government in Uttar Pradesh, 25 percent of all recruits into the police force will be women so that policewomen are present at every police station to assist victims of crimes against women. Presently, when such crimes are committed, in most cases the police and administration protect the perpetrator. The first information reports (FIRs or police reports) are not filed, the woman’s family is pressurised and the woman herself is vilified and blamed. We intend to bring in a law that allows punitive action to be taken on any public servant who impedes the filing of an FIR within 10 days.

We are proposing a six-member special empowered commission consisting of female judges, activists and senior civil servants to look into cases of vilification and persecution of female victims of crime and their families. We have also announced that we will form a legal cell with female members active and available in every district to assist victims of rape, sexual assault, domestic violence etc. More than anything else, I would like to be able to effect a change in the social and political mindset of people. I believe that bringing women’s issues to the centre of public discourse and the increased participation of women in politics will drive this change.

Al Jazeera: The ruling BJP is trying its best to polarise the UP election along religious lines. What is Congress’s plan to counter this narrative?

Gandhi: The BJP has a two-pronged strategy to garner votes in every election. It polarises the electorate and it distributes rations and doles in a year or so before the election. Both these aspects of the BJP’s strategy reveal its truth. Its policies are designed to benefit its monopolist financiers and ensure that a large section of the populace remains poor. Its performance on employment, inflation, support to small and medium industries and strengthening agriculture has been abysmal.

Keeping people poor makes them dependent on, and grateful for, the paltry doles handed out to them. Sowing divisiveness in their minds enables the discussion to be fully diverted from governance and delivery. The BJP uses issues that emotionally charge the public, divide the electorate along religious and caste lines and ensure that it remains in power.

Priyanka Gandhi, left, waves during a roadshow for assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh [Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo]

I believe that driving a change of narrative towards development, jobs and opportunity for women and young people can counter the BJP’s divisive narrative or for that matter the caste-based politics of other political parties too. India has the largest youth population in the world. The current narrative is making use of this youthful population by directing its energy towards divisiveness and negativity. This same youthful energy can be directed towards a more positive and constructive national agenda. Bringing to the fore the fact that divisiveness does not resolve the immense problems being faced by the public is extremely important. People are indeed suffering. A recent survey of vulnerable households across 14 states revealed that 66 percent of households had been hit by income loss, 45 percent are in debt and 79 percent have faced food insecurity in the last two years. These are staggering figures.

On another note, I strongly believe the hypermasculine, jingoistic narrative of the BJP can be countered by a hyperfeminine, egalitarian narrative. By hyperfeminine, I mean a movement that aggressively asserts femininity and demands equality across the board. Women can effectively consolidate and alter the political narrative. Women are the backbone of society, they must be made to understand that they can also be the backbone of politics in the country. They can drive change.

Al Jazeera: What took you so long to enter active politics? And are you the Congress’s chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh?

Gandhi: My brother and I had a rough childhood as both my grandmother in whose home we grew up and my father was assassinated when we were very young. I wanted my children to have a simple and normal childhood. I did not want to expose them to the harshness of public life so I stayed out of politics except for managing my mother’s and brother’s constituencies and focus on bringing them up and making sure I was there for them. And I am not the Congress party’s chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh. I think it would be premature to make such assumptions. Let’s wait till the results are out.

KEEP READING
What Priyanka Gandhi’s entry into politics means for India’s elections
Indian police detain key opposition leaders marching against rape
‘Team Gandhi on the loose!’
Speculation over Priyanka’s political foray 

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

Thailand agrees plan for Saudi Arabia labor deployment as ties normalize


The skyline is seen through air pollution in Bangkok, Thailand February 15, 2018. (Reuters)

Reuters, Bangkok
Published: 01 March ,2022

Thailand plans to facilitate the deployment of labor to Saudi Arabia for the first time in decades, its government said on Tuesday, part of the restoration of ties that were severed by the Gulf State over a multi-million-dollar jewelry theft.

Thailand has been eager to normalize relations with the Kingdom after a spat that has cost billions of dollars in two-way trade and tourism revenues and the loss of tens of thousands of overseas Thai jobs.

The two countries agreed to reestablish full diplomatic ties following the January visit by Prime Minister Chan-ocha to Saudi Arabia.

Thailand’s cabinet on Tuesday approved two draft agreements on legal labor recruitment for Saudi Arabia which will protect the rights of workers and employers, said government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana.

“This will mark a new era of strengthening Thailand-Saudi Arabia economic ties and expanding the Thai labor market into the Middle East,” Thanakorn said.

Saudi Arabia downgraded relations over the theft in 1989 of about $20 million of jewels by a Thai janitor in the palace of a Saudi prince.

The spat became known as the “Blue Diamond Affair” and a year after the theft, three Saudi diplomats were separately assassinated in a single night. Many of the gems, including a rare blue diamond, are yet to be recovered.

The theft remains of Thailand’s biggest unsolved mysteries and the bloody trail of destruction that followed saw some of Thailand’s top police generals implicated.

Palestinians protest French statements on Jerusalem

February 28, 2022

French Prime Minister Jean Castex delivers a speech in Dunkirk townhall after a visit of Arcelor Mittal on February 04, 2022 in Dunkerque, France 

[Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images]

February 28, 2022 

Palestinians staged a rally in the Gaza Strip on Monday to protest statements by French Prime Minister, Jean Castex, in which he declared Jerusalem as "the eternal capital of the Jewish people."

"Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine," reads a banner waved by protesters during the rally organised by the Palestinian group, Hamas, in the western city of Khan Younis, Anadolu News Agency reports.

"Castex's remarks were part of the continuing bias of French and Western decision-makers to the Israeli occupation," Hamas leader, Mushir Al-Masri told Anadolu Agency.

"The Western policy can't give Israel legitimacy on the land of Palestine," he said.

READ: Church leaders urge Israel to halt Jerusalem land confiscation

On Friday, Castex claimed during a gala dinner hosted by the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) that "Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people."

"That does not stop anyone from recognising and respecting the attachment of other religions to this city," he said.

Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict, with Palestinians hoping East Jerusalem, now occupied by Israel, might eventually serve as the capital of a future Palestinian State.

Israeli forces brutally assault Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa mosque

The New Arab Staff
28 February, 2022

Fourteen Palestinians were wounded and 20 detained after Israeli police attacked Muslim worshippers.


Al-Aqsa mosque, located in the Old City of Jerusalem, is the third holiest site in Islam. [Getty]

Israeli forces detained at least 20 Palestinians and assaulted worshippers who had gathered to celebrate a Muslim holiday on Monday at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, activists and local media reported.

Fourteen Palestinians were wounded, including a child, and four were taken to hospital for treatment, the Palestinian Red Crescent announced on Monday evening, as they worshipped the Muslim festival of Al-Israa and Miraj.

Videos shared by Palestinians on social media showed Israeli forces throwing teargas and stun grenades into a crowd of worshippers, with many children and infants in the congregation, sparking panic.

One video showed an Israeli officer pushing a young woman to the ground and punching her, before dragging her away in a headlock with the help of other policemen.

Worshippers gathered near Al-Aqsa mosque - the third holiest site in Islam and the place from which Prophet Muhammad is said to have ascended to heaven - on Monday to celebrate the Al-Israa and Miraj holiday.

Since Jerusalem became entirely occupied by Israel in 1967, the complex containing the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been repeatedly targeted by Israeli settlers, police and soldiers.

Abuses against Palestinian worshippers have intensified over the past months.

Israeli settlers routinely break into the complex during Friday prayers to attack the mosque and believers, with the tacit approval of Israeli forces stationed near the mosque.

In 2021, the complex was raided by over 34,500 Israelis according to Palestine's Waqf ministry, the authority responsible for Palestinian holy sites.

Al-Aqsa mosque has become a highly symbolic battleground crystallising tensions between Israeli settlers, who would like to claim all of Jerusalem, and Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. The United Nations considers East Jerusalem occupied Palestinian land.

Israel bulldozers demolish three Palestinian business structures

February 28, 2022 

A view from the site as a building belonging to a Palestinian family demolishing by Israeli forces allegedly for being "unlicensed", in Nahalin village of Bethlehem, West Bank on December 21, 2021 [Wisam Hashlamoun - Anadolu Agency]

February 28, 2022 at 5:46 pm

Israeli municipal authorities ordered the demolition of a Palestinian grocery store, bakery and carwash in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabal Al-Mukabbir.

According to Wafa news agency the commercial buildings were targeted because occupation forces say they were built without the necessary permits.

Palestinian and Israeli rights groups say the Israeli demolition policy aims to limit the presence of Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem.

Iyaad Jaafreh, the grocery store owner, was also notified of occupation authorities' intention to take over a three dunum (0.74 acres) plot of land belonging to his family due to public interest.

Israeli authorities regularly carry out demolitions of Palestinian-owned homes and businesses in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, under the pretext that they are built without permits.

At least one-third of all Palestinian homes in Jerusalem lack building permits, placing some 100,000 Palestinians at risk of forced displacement. In 2014 Israel issued only one such permit to Palestinians and none the following year.

According to the Palestinian National Information Centre, Israel has forced Palestinians living in East Jerusalem to demolish more than 1,900 homes since it occupied the city in 1967.

Quds Press: 211 rights groups call for respecting Amnesty's report on Israel's apartheid

March 1, 2022

Secretary General of Amnesty International, Agnes Callamard (C) holds a press conference in East Jerusalem on February 1, 2022. 

[Mostafa Alkharouf - Anadolu Agency]

March 1, 2022 at 10:33 am

Some 211 rights groups and NGOs yesterday called for the international community to respect Amnesty International's report which labelled Israel an apartheid state, Quds Press reported.

In a joint statement, the rights groups and NGOs also called for respecting other similar reports, considering them international documents to be used in prosecuting Israel for its crimes of discrimination and racism against Palestinians.

The rights groups and NGOs considered the denial of the facts in these reports as a form of animosity towards Palestinians and denial of their inalienable rights.

At the same time, they condemned any parties or individuals who denied that Israel is practicing apartheid against Palestinians.

Concluding their statement, the rights groups and NGOs expressed their hope that Amnesty International opens an investigation into remarks made by the director of its office in Israel, Molly Malekar, in which she criticised the report.

Speaking to the Times of Israel, Malekar described the findings of Amnesty's report as a "punch to the gut".

On 1 February 2022, Amnesty International released findings of a comprehensive investigation into Israel's practices against Palestinians and found that Tel Aviv is adopting an apartheid regime against them.

Ukraine crisis highlights West’s hypocrisy over Israeli land theft

Ali Abunimah

Rights and Accountability 

22 February 2022

Veterans of the extreme-right nationalist Azov Battalion, a unit of Ukraine’s national guard, hold a rally in the capital Kiev, 14 March 2020. Far-right and neo-Nazi organizations played a key role in the Western-backed overthrow of Ukraine’s president in 2014, leading to the current crisis. 

NurPhoto via ZUMA Press

TWEETS BELOW ARTICLE

Just a day after Moscow recognized the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk from Ukraine, the European Union came out swinging against what it characterized as “Russian aggression.”

It condemned Moscow’s move as “illegal and unacceptable” and vowed swift sanctions “to target those who were involved in the illegal decision.”

The measures will also hit “banks that are financing Russian military and other operations in those territories” and aim to thwart the “ability of the Russian state and government to access the EU’s capital and financial markets and services.”

These sanctions – likely to be followed by others – supposedly flow from the EU’s deep respect for “international law,” as well as the “sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Ukraine.

The US is also laying out sanctions in response to what Washington describes as a Russian “invasion” of the two eastern regions that have been under the control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014.

Germany, which is largely dependent on gas supplies from Russia, announced the suspension of plans to build the Nordstream 2 pipeline.

The crisis in Ukraine today can be traced to American sponsorship of the 2014 coup against the country’s elected pro-Russian president that brought far-right and even neo-Nazi Ukrainian nationalists to power.

Washington’s goal has been to bring Ukraine into the anti-Russia NATO military alliance – something Moscow sees as an existential threat – and is strongly opposed by many among Ukraine’s large ethnic Russian population.
Biden recognizes Israel’s crimes

Yet the sudden concern for international law regarding Ukraine is nowhere to be found when it comes to Israel’s illegal occupation and annexation of Palestinian and Syrian land, and its imposition of an apartheid regime on the entire Palestinian people – a crime against humanity.

These Israeli crimes could of course not be perpetrated without American and European support or acquiescence.

When the Trump administration moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2017, effectively recognizing Israel’s illegal annexation of the city, the EU rejected the move.

The EU also rejected the 2019 US recognition of Israel’s illegal annexation of Syria’s occupied Golan Heights.

Ironically, one of the handful of countries ready to follow the US in recognizing Israel’s illegal annexation of Jerusalem is none other than the US and EU-backed government in Ukraine.

Notably, the Biden administration has refused to rescind Trump’s recognition of Israel’s blatantly illegal acts – even as Washington blasts Russia for recognizing Donetsk and Luhansk.

Indeed, Biden himself maintains an illegal US occupation of parts of Syria.

Under Trump, its explicit purpose was to plunder the country’s oil.

Yet the European Union, which has criticized both the US and Russia for their actions, has not imposed any sanctions on Washington for aiding and abetting Israel’s crimes.

That is hardly surprising. For decades, the European Union has acknowledged that Israel’s occupation, theft and annexation of Palestinian land is illegal, but instead of sanctioning it, Brussels rewards and encourages it.

The stark contrast with the immediate American and EU resort to sanctions against Russia is not lost on Palestinians.

“For us as Palestinians, we see this discussion and we ask ourselves, where is this discussion when it comes to Palestine?” Wesam Ahmad, of the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, said on Tuesday.

Ahmad was speaking during a webinar hosted by Finnish lawmaker Veronika Honkasalo, focusing on a bill she has introduced to ban trade in goods from occupied territories.

“The occupation of Palestinian territory has been going on for a much longer period of time,” Ahmad observed.

He said that the persistent “lack of action” in response to Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights and international law “undermines the credibility of the rule of law being something that applies across the board.”
Pressure from the people

Frustrated with the complicity, hypocrisy and unaccountability of their leaders, people across the continent are launching a European Citizens Initiative to force Brussels to close European markets to products and services from settlements in occupied territories, including Israeli colonies on Palestinian and Syrian land.

A European Citizens Initiative is a formal process that is meant to allow citizens to influence EU policy. It requires gathering the signatures of at least a million people from across the bloc.

This one has already passed the first hurdle of being formally registered by the European Commission, the EU’s executive body.

That came after the Commission had refused to register a similar initiative in 2019, a decision that was overturned last year when organizers went to court.

“Even though illegal settlements constitute a war crime under international law, the EU allows trade with them,” said the European Legal Support Center, one of 100 organizations urging EU citizens to sign on to the initiative.

Human Rights Watch – one of several major human rights groups that over the last year have concluded that Israel perpetrates the crime against humanity of apartheid – is also backing the initiative.

“Settlements unlawfully rob local populations of their land, resources and livelihoods,” Bruno Stagno, chief advocacy officer at Human Rights Watch, stated. “No country should be enabling the trade in goods produced as a result of land theft, displacement and discrimination.”

Frances Black, an Irish senator who sponsored legislation in her country to ban trade in settlement goods, is also urging support for the initiative.

Although passed by the Irish parliament, the government in Dublin is blocking implementation of Black’s Occupied Territories Bill.

Meanwhile, the similar bill in Finland is coming up for its first vote on Friday. It has secured 35 sponsors out of Finland’s 200 members of parliament.

If it passes, this would be only the first step towards becoming law.

More than 40 Palestinian human rights, political and cultural organizations have written to Finnish MPs. In a letter seen by The Electronic Intifada, they urge lawmakers to support the bill, calling it a “crucial opportunity for Finland to lead by example on complying with relevant obligations under international human rights and international humanitarian law.”

Contrary to persistent Israel lobby complaints that Israel is being singled out, all these initiatives would ban trade in goods from any occupied territory – including Western Sahara, which is occupied by Morocco.

In September, the European Court of Justice annulled an EU trade deal with Morocco because it included Western Sahara without the consent of its people and their internationally recognized representatives, the Polisario Front.

During Tuesday’s seminar hosted by Finnish MP Honkasalo, Salah Abdulahe Mohamed, an advocate for Sahrawi self-determination, charged that the EU continues to allow the import of goods plundered from Sahrawi territory – such as sardines and tomatoes – that are falsely labeled as products of Morocco.

The European Citizens Initiative that would stop trade with Israel’s settlements faces an enormous uphill battle. Of course, it would not even be necessary if EU governments really respected the norms they now accuse Russia of violating.

But time and again, international law proves not to be a yardstick against which all are measured, but a club used by the strong exclusively for their own advantage.

Ali Abunimah's blog