The leaders of Norway, Ireland and Spain have said their countries will formally recognise Palestine as a state next week for the sake of “peace in the Middle East“, prompting Israel to immediately recall its envoys.

The three European countries will formally enact recognition on May 28 despite Israel’s warnings of the consequences.

Spain and Ireland said the decision was not against Israel nor in favour of Hamas, but rather in support of peace.

Israel reacted angrily, warning the move would mean more instability in the region and recalling its ambassadors to all three countries.

Both Hamas and its rival, the Palestinian Authority, have welcomed the recognition.

Norway was first to make its announcement Wednesday in a move co-ordinated with the other two countries.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said in an address that the move was “in support of moderate forces that are on a retreating front in a protracted and cruel conflict”.

“This is an investment in the only solution that can bring lasting peace in the Middle East,” he added, referring to the so-called two-state solution which would see an Israeli and a Palestinian state existing peacefully next to each other.

Ireland and Spain followed suit soon after.

“Today, we state clearly our unambiguous support for the equal right to security, dignity, and self-determination for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples,” Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin said.

The country’s Prime Minister Simon Harris later stressed that “Hamas is not the Palestinian people”.

“Today’s decision to recognise Palestine is taken to help create a peaceful future,” he said.

Mr Harris’s comments were echoed by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who said the move was “not against Israel, is not against the Jews”.

“It is not in favour of Hamas which is something that has been said. This recognition is not against anyone, it is in favour of peace and coexistence.”

Israel reacted to the announcements with fury. Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he was ordering the immediate return of the Israeli ambassadors to all three countries for “consultations”.

“Israel will not go over this in silence – there will be other serious consequences,” he said.

Mr Katz also said that the three countries’ ambassadors in Israel will be summoned for “reprimand talks”, during which they will be shown a video of the abduction of female Israeli soldiers on 7 October.

Hamas, which controls Gaza and is currently at war with Israel, said Wednesday’s announcements would be a “turning point in the international position on the Palestinian issue”.

In a statement to AFP, Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas figure, said the “brave resistance” of the Palestinian people was behind the move.

Hamas’s rival, the Palestinian Authority (PA) – which controls parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank – said Norway, Spain and Ireland had demonstrated their “unwavering commitment” to “delivering the long overdue justice to the Palestinian people”.

Also on Wednesday, the Israeli military approved the return of Israeli citizens to the sites of three settlements in the occupied West Bank, which they had been banned from entering since 2005.

Israel’s parliament had voted to allow its citizens to return in March last year, but military permission was needed for the bill to be enforced.

Most of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

The issue of Palestinian statehood has vexed the international community for decades.

Since the 7 October attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has doubled down on his opposition to such a plan, saying the creation of a Palestinian state would compromise Israel’s security.

Israel’s foreign ministry said in a post on social media on Tuesday that recognising a Palestinian state would lead to more “terrorism, instability in the region and jeopardise any prospects for peace”.

About 1,200 people were killed in the unprecedented attacks on 7 October, when Hamas gunmen burst into Israel. They took 252 others back to Gaza as hostages.

Since then, more than 35,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israel’s Gaza offensive, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of the world already recognises the state of Palestine. Earlier this month, 143 of the 193 members of the United Nations General Assembly voted in favour of it joining the UN, something only states can do.

Before Wednesday’s announcements, only nine European countries supported Palestinian statehood and most of those took the decision in 1988 when they were part of the Soviet bloc.

Most other European countries, and the US, still believe recognition should come only as part of a long-term two-state solution to the conflict.

A White House spokesperson said US President Joe Biden was a “strong supporter” of the two-state solution, and believed “a Palestinian state should be realised through direct negotiations, not through unilateral recognition”.

Slovenia and Malta have also said recently that they were considering a formal recognition.

Norway’s prime minister also said on Wednesday that he hoped the recognition of Palestinian statehood by the three countries would bring renewed momentum to the peace talks.

Long-running negotiations in Cairo aimed at securing a truce and further hostage releases are currently stalled.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate. Earlier this week, the UN said food distribution in the southern Gaza city of Rafah had been suspended due to a lack of supplies and insecurity.

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) recently applied for arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu and Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, for war crimes. Both Israel and Hamas have condemned the move.

Israel says an offensive in Rafah is needed to eliminate Hamas but the international community has warned against it, saying it will greatly exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

World Opinions – Agencies

L’article Ireland, Norway and Spain to recognise Palestinian state.. Video est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.

Mediator Qatar says 13 Israelis, including dual nationals, 10 Thais and one Filipino released in Gaza.

Group of 39 Palestinian women and children transported from two Israeli jails to Ofer prison ahead of expected release.

After seven weeks of war, Palestinians in bombarded Gaza welcome first pause in fighting with mixed feelings.

Israeli army says northern Gaza is out of bounds, blocks displaced Palestinians from returning home.

More than 14,800 people killed in Gaza since October 7. In Israel, the official death toll from Hamas’s attacks stands at about 1,200.

A big crowd has gathered around the Red Cross vehicle at the Beitunia checkpoint in the West Bank, where 39 Palestinians freed from Israeli prison are set to be released.

We are hearing the release of the Palestinian prisoners has been delayed due to scuffles between some Palestinian men and Israeli forces.

The crowd around the car are chanting “where are the prisoners, where are the prisoners?”

Those Palestinian women and teenage boys were transferred earlier today from two jails in northern Israel to a military courts complex in the occupied West Bank.

Once the Palestinian side is satisfied that their release has taken place, the deal remains on track. Around the same time as today’s release of hostages in Gaza, it’s thought that Hamas was also due to hand the list of the next group of hostages it will release tomorrow.

Qatar has said it has an “operations room” in Doha co-ordinating messages and making sure the releases in Gaza take place in a “safe” environment. So as today’s hostages are transferred to hospitals to be reunited with their loved ones, the whole process starts again ahead of another set of releases expected tomorrow.

With many moving parts, lots can still go wrong.

This is all about the sides verifying what has been agreed, before honouring their next set of commitments under the deal. And at the same time, a very delicate temporary ceasefire needs to stay in place for four days, or potentially even longer.

Emergency service tells Israeli Army Radio captives in ‘good’ health

Eli Bin, the director general of Israel’s national emergency service Magen David Adom, has told Army Radio he had spoken to the Red Cross delegation overseeing the captive release.

He said he was told an initial assessment indicated the captives were in “good and reasonable” health.

The released Israeli captives were set to be brought to hospitals in Israel after being brought from Gaza to Egypt via the Rafah crossing.

World Opinions – Agencies

L’article ‘Where are the prisoners?’ chant crowd in West Bank waiting for Palestinians’ release.. Video est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.

In the Gaza Strip, children’s ages are measured by how many Israeli assaults they have been through.

About half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million is under 18, and the current offensive is Israel’s fifth major one in 15 years.

The constant trauma has resulted in four out of five children in Gaza living with depression, grief and fear, according to a 2022 report by Save the Children.

More than half struggle with suicidal thoughts and the trauma of witnessing the deaths of other children.

As the death toll mounts – about 500 children have been killed so far in seven days – parents try their best to create a sense of normalcy to help their children cope.

The current assault’s nonstop bombing has killed more than 1,500 Palestinians in total, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.

Samah Jabr, a 35-year-old mother of four in Gaza City, is worried about her eldest son, Qusay, 13.

“He is very agitated and lashes out a lot these days. He jumps at any sound,” she said. “He can’t bear anyone speaking loudly, even if they’re joking. I try to tell him that this war will end.”

Jabr hugs Qusay as often as she can, holding him close and talking soothingly about what they will do after the war. She hopes this will give him the strength to get through this time.

“The sound of the missiles is terrifying, and our house shakes so hard,” Jabr said.

She taught her children, who never leave her side, how to spot the light that accompanies a missile so they are prepared for the deafening sound that will follow.

In the southern city of Rafah, Ahlam Wadi says her son Omar, 10, sleeps with his hands covering his ears.

“I’m worried about him,” the 30-year-old said. “I’m scared he will be damaged in the long run. I try to distract him by talking to him constantly, but he can only hear the bombs and missiles.”

Wadi and her children stay together in one room, and her husband tries to distract them by telling them about his own childhood.

“He tells them that he lived through these events before he got married and that he was very strong and not afraid,” she said.

“My second son, Saeed, who is seven, asks me whether I was also strong and fearless. I tell him I tried hard to be brave.

“I’m worried that he will have these panic attacks for the rest of his life,” she said of the attacks that grip her little boy.

Fear of loss

Manal Salem, who lives in Gaza City, said she gets her three children to talk to their grandparents every day to tell them what they heard during the night and whether that scared them or they felt brave.

“Their grandmother tells them they must bear these difficult days because it is only temporary and that they will get through this war and be happy together again,” Salem said.

“They reply by telling their grandparents to be safe because they love them so much and want to see them again.”

Salem’s daughter Mai, who is six, has separation anxiety because her father, a doctor who works in the Al-Shifa Hospital emergency room, doesn’t come home every night.

“Mai thinks her dad will be hit by a missile whenever he’s not at home with her,” Salem said. “I keep reassuring her that he’s fine, that she must stay strong.

“I also try to calm her down by letting her talk to her dad on the phone, but sometimes he can’t respond because so many casualties are coming in.”

In Khan Younis, Rawand Khalaf tries to distract her five children, nine to 14 years old, through play.

“I sit with all of them in one room and invent games with their toys, so they will not focus too hard on the sounds of explosions,” Khalaf said.

“My kids have their toys with them all the time for comfort, and I keep telling them everything will be fine.”

Her eldest son, Aaed, tells Al Jazeera that he cannot get the images of children killed or under the rubble out of his head, much less the images of injured children screaming in pain.

“I can’t imagine how children with such small bodies can bear these huge missiles,” he said. “I can’t understand how nobody does anything to help them. The children of Gaza have a right to live.

World Opinions + Agencies

L’article Gaza’s terrified children all too aware Israel’s bombs steal their joy.. Video est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.

Des combats entre forces israéliennes et membres du Hamas se poursuivaient dimanche dans le sud de l’État hébreu au lendemain de l’attaque surprise lancée par le groupe islamiste palestinien. Plus de 659 Israéliens ont été tués et plus de 100 sont prisonniers aux mains du Hamas, selon le gouvernement israélien. À Gaza, contrôlée par le Hamas, 370 palestiniens ont péri, indiquent les autorités locales. L’armée israélienne a annoncé avoir procédé à des frappes de représailles à Gaza ainsi que sur le sud du Liban. 

La Première ministre italienne Giorgia Meloni s’est entretenue dimanche par téléphone avec son homologue israélien Benjamin Netanyahu, à qui elle “a réaffirmé le pleine solidarité” de Rome après l’offensive du Hamas, ont annoncé ses services.

Israel moving massive amounts of armoured vehicles to the Gaza border earlier today.

#Israel #Hamas #Palestine #Palestinian #IronDome #Gaza #TelAviv pic.twitter.com/tLMEtYixOP

— FlashFactsHub (@FlashFactsHub) October 8, 2023

“Le gouvernement italien travaillera avec les partenaires internationaux pour coordonner le soutien” à Israël, ont-ils indiqué dans un communiqué. “L’Italie est au côté au peuple israélien dans ce moment difficile”.

#IsraelPalestineWar #FreePalestine #hamasattack #Israel #طوفان_الأقصى
#GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/aTFfBsTyjI

— ImranKhan’sForce (@TheVirginNews) October 8, 2023

Giorgia Meloni “a réaffirmé la pleine solidarité du gouvernement italien pour les attaques subies et la solidarité aux familles des victimes, aux otages et aux blessés”.

Le vice-Premier ministre et ministre des Affaires étrangères Antonio Tajani doit se rendre mercredi et jeudi au Caire, où il rencontrera le président Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, une visite prévue avant l’offensive du Hamas.

We will never fail to have Israel’s back. pic.twitter.com/3JM8d665iJ

— President Biden (@POTUS) October 8, 2023

“Etat de guerre” confirmé

Le cabinet de sécurité israélien a confirmé que le pays était officiellement en état de guerre et qu’il pouvait donc entreprendre une “action militaire significative”.

C’est ce qu’a annoncé le bureau du Premier ministre israélien Benjamin Netanyahu, qui avait déjà parlé d’un état de guerre après l’incursion de centaines de miliciens du Hamas en Israël.

From hubris to humiliation: The 10 hours that shocked Israel https://t.co/fzjsykEmU6 via @AJEnglish

— Julie Devès (@DevesJulie) October 8, 2023

Le vote du cabinet de sécurité israélien confère à la déclaration de Benjamin Netanyahu une valeur juridique. Cette décision est conforme à la loi 40 de l’État d’Israël, qui stipule que le pays ne peut entrer en guerre sans une décision gouvernementale en ce sens.

Last night, the Security Cabinet approved the war situation and, to this end, the taking of significant military steps, as per Article 40 of Basic Law: The Government.

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 8, 2023

L’Autorité palestinienne veut une réunion auprès de la Ligue arabe

L’autorité palestinienne demande une réunion d’urgence auprès de la Ligue arabe après “l’agression israélienne brutale et persistante contre les citoyens palestiniens dont la prise d’assaut de la mosquée al-Aqsa par des milliers de colons”. La concertation devrait être initiée par les ministres des Affaires étrangères conformément à la requête, précise l’agence de presse WAFA.

Des confrontations ont lieu régulièrement aux alentours de la mosquée al-Aqsa à Jérusalem qui est considérée par les musulmans comme par les juifs comme un lieu saint.

La Ligue arabe comporte 22 membres. Elle a été fondée en 1945 afin de renforcer la collaboration entre les États-membres. Parmi eux, de plus en plus établissent des relations avec Israël, au grand dam notamment du Hamas.

World Opinions + Agences

L’article Plus de 659 morts côté israélien et plus de 100 personnes aux mains du Hamas.. Vidéos est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.

The Palestinian territories are overcome with grief following the death of 51-year-old Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot dead in the West Bank city of Jenin on the morning of May 11.

Palestinians across the world expressed their sadness over the killing of Abu Akleh, whose funeral procession Wednesday went through Jenin, Nablus and Ramallah. A state funeral will be held today, May 12, in the Ramallah with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in attendance. She will be buried on May 13 in her hometown of Jerusalem.

Abu Akleh was shot in the head while on her way to cover the Israeli army’s raid of the Jenin camp.

She was accompanied by a group of journalists, including Al Jazeera producer Ali al-Samudi, who was shot in the back and is currently receiving treatment in hospital, journalists Shatha Hanaysha and Mujahid al-Saadi, among other photographers.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Samudi said that at 6 a.m. of May 11, the Israeli army stormed the Jenin camp and surrounded the house of Abdullah al-Hosari, who was killed during another Israeli raid in the camp on March 1.

Upon learning of the operation, he called Abu Akleh and asked her to get ready to cover the events in the camp. He went there by himself to secure a safe place for the crew, he told Al-Monitor.

Samudi added, “As soon as Shireen arrived at the site, we parked the vehicles in a safe place, put on our helmets and protective vests and walked onto a street near the camp, where there were Israeli army vehicles. We stopped at the camp entrance for a few minutes to announce our presence in the area so that the Israeli army could see us.”

The journalists with Shireen Abu Akleh when she was shot described it as among the worst experiences of their lives.

“A few minutes later, we walked 20 meters into the street. This was when the first bullet was fired at us, but no one was hurt. Then I told Shireen that they were targeting us and that we had to go back, and as soon as I turned around to return, I was hit in the back. Then Shireen started screaming ‘Ali is injured’ as I started running toward the street to get to a car to take me to the hospital,” he said.

Samudi was hit by a bullet in the back. He suffered severe bleeding that medical staff managed to control and expects to remain hospitalized for a few days.

Journalist Hanaysha described an experience that was probably the toughest in her life, as she was with Abu Akleh at the moment she was hit. Despite being so near her, she was unable to check on her because of the ongoing shooting.

“What we were exposed to in the Jenin refugee camp as journalists was direct targeting on the part of the Israeli army, considering that we were in an exposed area where army vehicles could see us. We were wearing the press uniform including protective jackets and helmets, in a quiet spot away from fighting,” Hanaysha told Al-Monitor.

Hanaysha added, “We took sniper fire. Shireen was shot dead by a bullet below her ear. Still the shooting continued, and I took refuge behind a tree trunk. They kept shooting to prevent the young men from saving us.”

Minutes after the shooting began and despite the continuing heavy fire, camp resident Sherif al-Azab managed to drag the two journalists from the scene and to a vehicle that would take them to the hospital, as seen in video captured by other camp residents.

In the video, Abu Akleh can be seen lying face down, motionless, next to Hanaysha, who was shot at each time she tried reach Abu Akleh to ascertain how badly injured she was.

The Israeli authorities initially suggested that Abu Akleh may have been shot by Palestinian gunmen and later announced a probe into the incident, asking the PA for a joint investigation.

The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem published an aerial photo of Jenin camp as well as video from the scene of the incident. The photo shows the location of Palestinian gunmen at the time. The site where Abu Akleh was killed outside the camp borders, with several buildings between the two, making the IDF’s claimed trajectory unfeasible.

The initial findings of Abu Akleh’s autopsy, which was performed on the afternoon of May 11 in the Forensic Medicine Institute of An-Najah University in Nablus, read that the reporter was hit by a bullet that “caused extensive cerebral lacerations and skull fractures.” Examiners reported in a press conference, “The weapon used was of high caliber. A distorted projectile has been seized and is currently being studied.” The round that struck Abu Akleh was determined to have been fired from an M-16 rifle, which is used by both sides in the conflict.

The final autopsy report has yet to be issued.

On the evening of May 11, the Haaretz newspaper reported on the Israeli army’s investigation, which found that during the operation the soldiers fired a few dozen bullets northward, where Abu Akleh and the press crews were standing.

Abu Akleh was part of the first generation of field correspondents for Al Jazeera. She joined the channel one year into its operation. Many Palestinians regard the slain journalist as a press icon for her 25 years of experience at Al Jazeera and her coverage of unforgettable events such as the Al-Aqsa intifada in 2000 and Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.

By Ahmad Melhem + al-monitor.com

L’article Analysis. Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh’s colleagues recount her killingRead est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.

Mays Abu Ghosh, a 22-year-old Palestinian student, was released by Israeli forces on Monday, 15 months after she was arrested.

Abu Ghosh, a journalism student at Birzeit University, was arrested in August 2019 and charged with being a member of the Democratic Progressive Student Pole, a student bloc banned by Israeli military orders, and taking part in student activities against Israeli occupation.

She was also charged with “communicating with an enemy” – she took part in a conference on the Palestinian right of return – and contributing to an allegedly Hezbollah-affiliated news agency.

Abu Ghosh was fined 2,000 shekels ($600) and released from Damon prison at the Jalameh checkpoint, north of the illegally occupied West Bank city of Jenin, where her family and friends received her.

Israeli border policemen detain a Palestinian protester at a demonstration in support of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails, in the illegally occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem [File: Ammar Awad/Reuters]

Several human rights groups said Abu Ghosh told them about the physical and psychological torture she suffered for more than a month at the notorious Maskobiyeh interrogation centre in Jerusalem.

The groups added that she was forced into several stress positions for extended hours and was threatened that she would go home either paralysed or mentally broken. She was also forced to listen to the cries and screams of other prisoners undergoing interrogation, and faced repeated slaps to her face as Israeli soldiers shouted obscenities at her.

“I want to tell everyone what happened with me during the interrogation and torture period,” Abu Ghosh told Al Jazeera a day after she was released. “Not as something that has happened to me but for any Palestinian to know what to expect when Israel arrests them.”

Israeli military courts, which Palestinians in the occupied territories are tried by, have a 99.74 percent conviction rate.

“The military prosecution charged Abu Ghosh over acts related to her student union activities at the university in addition to her media action,” said Addameer, a prisoner rights group. “Such a practice demonstrates the occupation authorities’ criminalisation of fundamental human rights through military orders.”

Palestinians stage a demonstration in support of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah in December 2019 [File photo]

Abu Ghosh added that the message she carries from other female prisoners is one of “national unity”.

“They also have demands regarding living conditions, especially for those who are serving long sentences,” she said. “Cameras in the prison courtyard are on all the time and violate their privacy.”

Family targeted

In January 2016, Abu Ghosh’s older brother Hussein was killed by Israeli forces for allegedly carrying out a stabbing attack.

Israeli forces then demolished their family home.

In August 2019, Abu Gosh’s then home was raided at dawn by Israeli forces accompanied by military dogs.

She was taken to a separate room and ordered to switch on her laptop and phone. Following her refusal, she was blindfolded, handcuffed and arrested.

A month later, her 17-year-old brother Suleiman was arrested to pressure Abu Ghosh into a confession. He served four months under administrative detention – imprisoned by Israel without charge or trial. Her parents were also summoned for interrogation.

According to Addameer, 40 Palestinian women are imprisoned by Israel. The total prison population currently stands at 4,500 – including 170 minors and 370 administrative detainees.

In Damon prison, seven prisoners have taken up university courses but a raid on their cells by the Israeli Prison Service last week resulted in their books being confiscated.

Following her release, Abu Ghosh said she wants to finish her studies and continue with her media training.

“The prison authorities threatened to isolate prisoners who continue their studies,” Abu Ghosh said.

“We [with other prisoners] formed a small programme to study philosophy, Arabic literature, and poetry. We also had certain rituals we did together, like getting ready before a family visit.”

SOURCE : AL JAZEERA

L’article Palestinian student released from Israeli jail after 15 months est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.