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The Biden Administration has now classified Ansar Allah, Yemeni military organization as “a terrorist organization.”

February 18, 2024
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At the same time that the Biden Administration formally designated the Yemeni movement Ansar Allah as a terrorist organization, X, formerly known as Twitter, cancelled Ansar Allah’s account.

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In response, the spokesman for the “Ansar Allah” group, Muhammad Abdel Salam, said in a statement on the “X” platform that “the classification decision reflects an aspect of America’s exposed and exposed hypocrisy.”

He added that through the resolution, Washington wants to “harm Yemen in support of Israel and encourage it to continue its genocidal war against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”

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(This article is a Google Translation from Arabic to English. It appeared at Rai Al Youm website, February 17, 2924

The American administration confirms that the classification of “Ansar Allah” as a “terrorist organization” comes into effect, and the group’s spokesman describes the decision as support for Israel and reflects part of America’s blatant hypocrisy.

Washington/Anatolia

On Friday evening, the United States announced that the designation of the Yemeni “Ansar Allah” group as a “terrorist organization” had entered into force.

The US State Department said in a statement, published on the

The ministry added, “The United States will remain committed to ensuring the continued flow of humanitarian aid to the Yemeni people.”

In response, the spokesman for the “Ansar Allah” group, Muhammad Abdel Salam, said in a statement on the “X” platform that “the classification decision reflects an aspect of America’s exposed and exposed hypocrisy.”

He added that through the resolution, Washington wants to “harm Yemen in support of Israel and encourage it to continue its genocidal war against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”

The group’s spokesman stressed the continuation of “preventing Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of occupied Palestine until the Israeli aggression stops and the siege on Gaza is lifted.”

On January 17, the United States announced the designation of the Ansar Allah group as a global terrorist organization, with the decision to enter into force after 30 days, in response to its attacks in the Red Sea.

“In solidarity with Gaza,” which is facing a devastating Israeli war with American support, “Ansar Allah” targeted Israeli cargo ships or those linked to them in the Red Sea with missiles and drones, stressing their determination to continue their operations until the end of the war on the Strip.

Since the beginning of this year, the Washington-led coalition has launched raids that it says target “Houthi sites” in various regions of Yemen, in response to its attacks in the Red Sea, which was met with a response from the group from time to time.

With the intervention of Washington and London and the tensions taking a noticeable escalation trend last January, “Ansar Allah” announced that it now considered all American and British ships among its military targets.

Palestine Tet – 107 – Glenwood Springs passes ceasefire resolution.

February 16, 2024

Confluence of the Colorado and Eagle Rivers in Dotsero – near Glenwood Springs

The first city in Colorado to pass a ceasefire resolution was not Denver, Boulder, Lakewood or Aurora … but Glenwood Springs. Congrats folks in the Springs that did it. 

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The resolution the council adopted last night called for: “an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza and occupied West Bank, immediate unhindered humanitarian aid into Gaza, and release of all hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinian civilians in order to work towards a long-term, lasting peace.”

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The resolution the council adopted last night called for: “an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza and occupied West Bank, immediate unhindered humanitarian aid into Gaza, and release of all hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinian civilians in order to work towards a long-term, lasting peace.”

The resolution the council adopted last night called for: “an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza and occupied West Bank, immediate unhindered humanitarian aid into Gaza, and release of all hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinian civilians in order to work towards a long-term, lasting peace.”

On Thursday night, February 15, 2024, by a unanimous 7-0 vote, the Glenwood Springs City Council became the first municipality in Colorado to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the four-month war in Gaza.

The resolution the council adopted last night called for: “an immediate and permanent cease-fire in Gaza and occupied West Bank, immediate unhindered humanitarian aid into Gaza, and release of all hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinian civilians in order to work towards a long-term, lasting peace.”

The council noted the rare preponderance of young people presenting the resolution. Six members of Ceasefire Now gave comments. Others held signs reading, “Don’t look away” and “Let Gaza live”.

The group’s comments highlighted the nearly 29,000 people in Gaza killed under Israeli bombardment and shelling, including 12,300 children, the 2.3 million people at extreme risk of famine, and the role of American taxpayers in supplying funding and arms.

Seth Bontrager of Ceasefire Now told the council, “As Americans, we are complicit in these atrocities. There is a $14 billion aid package going through Congress and I would much prefer this money be invested back into our communities instead of funding death and destruction overseas.”

Maya Hunt asked the council to “do better to represent me while my national government fails to.”

Following public comments, Councilman Jonathan Godes thanked those assembled for their “passion” and said, “I think asking for more peace is better than a continued genocide, which is what we’re seeing.”

Councilmember Shelley Kaup shared “My tendency is to want to support this, just to give us as leaders a voice to our leaders at the state and federal level. We’re just one small voice but I’d like to represent what I think a lot of our community is feeling.”

After the council passed the resolution, organizer Tucker Knight was gratified. “We are proud of the city council for their leadership. May it propel other cities to pass similar resolutions.”

Palestine Tet 106 – Denver City Council votes down a ceasefire resolution – but in a cowardly way – refuses to take the vote in front of a jam-packed conference room of ceasefire-end-the-Gaza-genocide supporters

February 15, 2024

Arnie Carter getting arrested for civil disobedience. He was protesting the policies of the Jewish National Fund and against the U.S. sponsored Israeli slaughter of Gazan Palestinians. Me too – in fact we were chained together

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“There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance next time.”

Malcolm X

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The Denverite: Denver City Council rejected an Israel-Gaza ceasefire proclamation after fleeing critics

The Denver Post: Denver City Council rejects Gaza cease-fire proclamation in tense meeting

When after more than a month of meetings, revisions, revisions of the revisions, the Denver City Council voted down a proclamation (which is NOT a resolution) calling for a permanent ceasefire between Israel and the Gaza Palestinians, several reports noted that more than 500 people showed up to support the passage of the resolution. I wonder if that was some kind of record in and of itself, a show of the groundswell of public opinion in Denver against the genocide and ethnic cleansing that Israel, with U.S. support, encouragement, money and arms, is conducting in Gaza.

In response to the unprecedented showing of anti-genocide supporters, the Council seemed shaken. Rather than proceed to the vote publicly and with dignity, Council members fled the chambers and voted in a more secure venue. After essentially boycotting the groundswell of unprecedented pro-Palestinian activities in Denver (and elsewhere in the state and nation), the major press finally did cover this meeting with major articles.

Still interesting. Who voted for the proclamation?

An open socialist, Sarah Parady – a member of Democratic Socialists of America; Shontell Lewis of Denver’s Black Community; and two Chicanas, Jamie Torres and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez – all in the flower of youth – that is to say an Anglo leftists and three persons of color, one black, two Chicanas . And that mix – people of color together with socialists all in the flower of youth – is the seed here in Denver and elsewhere in the country for the fightback against racism and discrimination of all kinds, for labor rights, for peace and to reverse climate change – in a word – for socialism!

Am I discouraged with the vote?

A little of course. But not much. While the proclamation was voted down, this is far from the end to working in Denver for a ceasefire.

No time to kvetch, beat our chests saying “Woe is us!”. While the proclamation was voted down, this is far from the end to working in Denver for a ceasefire.

Take a deep breath, if needed, take a breather – even if you can’t go to Costa Rica and count tropical birds as Nancy and I did … and come back stronger.

Much work to do. Together!

This is only the beginning.

We lost the vote but we have already won the hearts and minds of anybody with a conscience in this city and have done, in a tiny way, what the Palestinians have achieved at great costs in Gaza: put the Palestinian question: their suffering, their hopes back on the map. A beautiful, humane sleeping giant is awakening: the struggle of the Palestinian people, an integral part of the worldwide struggle for human, economic and social rights. 

Together for Palestine!

 

 

Costa Rica 4 – It’s beautiful rainforests aside, What’s the deal?

February 14, 2024

San Jose from San Isidro, Heredia

The time that Nancy and I spent in Costa Rica on vacation with ex-pat friends living there was enriching, enjoying, relaxing in every way.

Most things that seem too good to be true … are just that. So I have to wonder about this place where we spent so much enjoyable time, and to which, I admit, I hope to return, next time with camera and “bazooka gun” lens to photograph birdlife.

For a brief moment – two weeks – we could (kind of) escape the world’s ugliness to enjoy this Central American  country’s extraordinary natural wonders without much delving into the country’s seamy side.

I did very little of that actually although the last day a number of questions, beginning to scratch below the surface began to gnaw away at my Marxist soul, among them:

In 1948 as a part of an arrangement with the United States, Costa Rica abolished its military in an exchange for a commitment from the United States to insure its security. Without the punishing burden of military expenditures Costa Rica has been able to develop social programs, a W. European-like social contract that remains 75 years on in tact and in many ways impressive, and no doubt socially stabilizing.

  • What did Washington get (and still maintains) in return? An open environment for investment on Washington’s terms? A strategic outpost for monitoring its strategic neighbors, Panama with the canal? Nicaragua with its Sandinista government that has managed to survive (kind of) all these years? Dunno. Just wondering
  • With its rainforests, explosive diversity of flora and fauna and general social stability, Costa Rica is both a tourist Mecca and the hope for a large ex-pat community that numbers some 70,000 from the USA and Canada, “a friendly place” for North Americans both to visit and retire to, a kind of more interesting (to my tastes), more “authentic” southern Florida. The place is crawling with North Americans, Western Europeans. Yet tourism is actually an unstable basis on which to build the foundation of economic and social development as it fluctuates with the ups and downs of the global economy. What are the advantages, the costs of such an approach?
  • From the point of view of global political economy, the country finds itself in the periphery with some semi-peripheral industries. The top exports of Costa Rica are Medical Instruments ($4.32B), Bananas ($1.23B), Tropical Fruits ($1.14B), Orthopedic Appliances ($1.01B), and Other Edible Preparations ($638M), exporting mostly to United States ($6.31B), Netherlands ($1.18B), Belgium ($729M), Guatemala ($727M), and Panama ($585M).
  • What are the environmental impacts of mass producing pineapples, bananas and the like for North America and Europe. A friend on social media mentioned water pollution from pesticide usage on pineapple farms. Raised the question in my mind about sustainability, what lies under the surface of Costa Rica’s ecotourism.
  • On a geostrategic level, one that guides my thinking worldwide, what role does Costa Rica play in the United States’ overall policy for Latin America and the Caribbean? How does U.S-Chinese economic competition play out in the country. Our host, Daniel Walker pointed out a major sports/concert stadium in downtown San Jose built by the Chinese. But Chinese economic investment, trade is slowing to a trickle and did not take off after its construction. What’s that about?
  • In a region where any leader who challenges U.S. prerogatives doesn’t last very long – (think Guatemala, Hondorus, Nicaragua, Panama, Grenada, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic – and probably others) – how is it that Costa Rica has enjoyed relative stability? It’s kind of a mutant example of stability in the region. A number of “Costa Rica – like” examples that Washington has used as “models” for “development” in the Global South that I am more familiar with came to mind – Tunisia in N. Africa, Ghana in West Africa. Although suffering from punishing debt both these countries, are often portrayed as development successes resulting from U.S. and (of all things) World Bank/IMF aid. Yet a close examination suggests that in both these countries, social instability and increased class polarization plague their political landscape as their economies are pried open for foreign investment and forcing core-produced finished products down their throat.

Is Costa Rica merely the Central American example of Tunisia and Ghana (or visa versa)?

Again, here more questions than answers to all of these points. “Just wondering” as friends would say.

Global Research: Tucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin Interview: What President Putin Really Said

February 14, 2024

The great fear in the early 20th century – Still the great fear in the 21st

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Over the years I have seen numerous nasty comments, attacks against the web site “Global Research”.  Unfair and unprincipled. But what else is new? Of 100 articles – most serious, thoughtful analyses, maybe there is one or two that seem to me off the mark or off the wall.

That’s a pretty high percentage of good stuff.

When Tucker Carlson interviewed Russian President Vladimir Putin Nancy and I were in Costa Rica vacationing. Thus much of the shrill attacks on Carlson and the usual Putin bashing was considerably muted.

I have listened to that interview twice and am among those who 1. despite my opposition to much what makes up Carlson’s political/ideological agenda, I congratulate him; this interview is a serious, honest attempt to give voice to someone in the West who has become not only voiceless but vilified. The interview does credit to both of the participants. Carlson has shown both dignity and courage, a lot of both.

As for Putin, he is emerging as one of the most important politicians of the current era, so far principled and sophisticated than any of this Western counterparts. The current leadership in the United States and Western Europe is pathetic beyond belief and it appears given the choices U.S. voters will have in 2024, this situation will get only worse, no matter which one wins.

Malvine Reynolds, the late folksinger summed up the quality of the U.S. political class in a song, There’s a bottom below”

So you think you’ve hit bottom?

Oh no, there’s a bottom below!

The Carlson-Putin interview is one of the most important statements on the past, present and future of global geopolitics. The discussion of it below is excellent. I hope you 1. listen to the full interview 2. consider the analysis laid out below. 3. Listen carefully to former U.N. Weapons’ Inspector, Scott Ritter’s commentary, also below. RJP

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Tucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin Interview: What President Putin Really Said

Costa Rica 3 – The End of the Trip, Random Thoughts.

February 13, 2024

Daniel Walker and Nancy San Isidro, Heredia, Costa Rica

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Two Weeks in Costa Rica

I woke up this morning at 5 am as I have most morning here in San Isidro, Heredia, Costa Rica. There was a hard rain early on, but in spite of that, Luis, the gardener wearing a heavy raincoat was in the yard, lovingly caring for its plants, an expert in his field. Nancy is still sleeping. Carol, a habitual early riser is up and about. Daniel, who usually sleeps in later is up, preparing for an online English language class he teaches in the early morning.

Nancy and I are at the end of a two week vacation in Costa Rica; an enjoyable, stimulating time where we reconnected with old friends, saw a country and got an initial taste of its people previously unknown to us, got away from local issues both personal and political, and ever so cautiously tested our foreign traveling skills – or lack thereof. Of course there was one issue that – as they Supremes put it – “there is nowhere to run from, nowhere to hide” – the  Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, that organized evil of genocidal proportions, on a scale we have only read about in books.

We thought about it, talked about, tried to follow it every day, both more generally speaking and what is happening in Colorado (our historic effort to get the Denver City Council to pass a ceasefire proclamation).

Still, it has been a vacation and one we both have appreciated.

What made this trip possible at all is the fact that old friends, Daniel Walker and Carol Friesen offered us a place to stay and were generous hosts taking us around and introducing us to this magnificent country. Unable to speak Spanish and approaching 80 years of age of age I understood that I needed to be cautious in how I travel. Nancy is diligently (Nancy does EVERYTHING diligently) learning Spanish. She practices every day that helped some. Besides which I am – as Nancy noted – “a picky traveler”, very selective both with whom and how I travel, where I go, stay. Still I have no illusions, we ARE tourists in the end and any idea that somehow we escaped “the tourist trap” (well we did sort of) is an illusion.

So the personal connection – Daniel and Carol have lived in Costa Rica for seventeen years now – was a part of it. It is winter in Colorado and while there are colder places than Denver – actually the winters there are generally mild but still it’s winter – we wanted to go south. In the past, we have traveled and lived abroad a fair amount but not for a long time. One part of the world foreign to us is Central and South America. We’ve had some experience in Mexico (myself more than Nancy), and one trip to the Caribbean. I’d like to return to Mexico – it is an endless journey from a historical, natural evolutionary point of view and there is a chance we will. As for the Caribbean, with the exception of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic/Haiti I have no interest: too much blood in the soil as Alex Cockburn put.

Overall it was a fine trip to Costa Rica. The nature (animal, plant life) is, in a word breathtaking. I hope to study it more seriously on our return (today) to Colorado. A country with a varied topography (mountains, the sea, extended high valleys), with a unique flora and fauna, during our stay here I got a small glimpse of what Darwin and Wallace experienced in the tropics: explosive diversity, a virtual laboratory for evolution. Indeed, I intend to open my “On the Origin of Species” once again once back home too. One example: although being super cautious I didn’t take my camera equipment along, using “Merlin Bird ID” with a special download of the birds of Costa Rica, in the short period we were here (a little less than two weeks) the “ap” was able to identify more than 43 new bird species (most of them one morning in a two hour period near Sarapiqui). At this point all I have is a list of birds most of which I heard but did not see but I’ll follow up on that too.

The limitations:

I am 79 years of age, Nancy 72. Although at one point between us we have lived abroad for more than a decade, that is long ago, far away. It takes stamina we have less of, getting over creature comforts – we’ve done that previously, but now it’s harder. We met very few Costa Ricans and were implanted it seemed to me in what I would call the U.S expat community here, some 70,000 strong or there abouts. More on this last point in a moment. Not knowing anythng – really nothing – about the history or politics of the place makes me feel uncomfortable; I don’t like finding myself in “bubbles.”

Part of travel is breaching those bubbles. It can be exhilarating, stimulating but at the sae time so we must push ourselves, show a little courage, a bit of boldness to break down those barriers … even on vacation.

And that we did – or at least tried to do.

I will write more about Costa Rica and our experience here. For all its limitations in time and space (our connection to both the land and people), it was quite enjoyable, my head filled with thoughts, insights, inevitably, I understand, quite shallow as we have hardly scratched the surface of the place … but still, a beginning.

More soon.

 

Palestine Tet – 105 – Abdullah Elagha’s Email to Denver Councilman Chris Hines: Support a Ceasefire Proclamation

February 13, 2024

Abdullah Elagha

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By the time this blog entry is posted, the Denver City Council will have either voted in favor of a proclamation in support of a bilateral permanent ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians. As I am traveling home to the United States. I do not know how the council voted.

(The measure failed by a 4-8 vote).

In recent blog entries I have posted several emails to Denver City Council officials calling upon them to support a ceasefire. Here is one from a young man who has become a true civic leader in Denver, and whose personal sacrifice would have broken, completely destroyed most people.

New social movements produce their own generation of leadership. Abdullah Elagha is a one of these precious new, humane, militant voices.

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Good afternoon Councilman Hinds,

My name is Abdullah Elagha and I am a Palestinian American who lives and works in Denver in District 10, your district. I want to urge you to help make Denver join the over 50 cities who have called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. I am including the rest of the city council on this email as I would like them to hear my story as well.
Since October 7th, my family has faced an unrelenting series of horrors and tragedies. On October 10th, 1 year old Aseel Elagha was killed along with her 2 year old sister Taleen Elagha and 12 year old brother Yahya Elagha. In fact their entire family was killed that day, including their mother, father and grandparents. This was the first of 3 entire families of my relatives who have been wiped out entirely in the past 5 months. In total, 120 of my relatives have been killed by Israel since October 7th, and that number continues to grow each and every day.
Those who somehow have managed to survive this long have been living in unimaginable conditions. Immediately after October 7th Israel cut off water and electricity to the entire Gaza strip, depriving over 2 million people of the most basic human needs. They also installed a suffocating blockade, not allowing for any food or medical supplies to get in. This has since caused the healthcare system in Gaza to fully collapse. Doctors are performing amputations on children without anesthesia, per this CNN articleNote the date is from over a month ago, since then the situation has gotten considerably worse.
On a more personal level, my 18 year old cousin Borak Elagha, who is an American citizen by the way, born in Chicago, whom I’ve been keeping in touch with since this all started. Borak has been giving us glimpses of how difficult life there is. Below is an image he sent back in December of what he and his 11 family members have to eat: just 1 block of cheese and 1 can of beans, shared among all 11 of them, for the entire day. All while bombs continue to fall all around them, as you can see in the other image he sent.
It’s strange looking at these screenshots again as I’m sending them to you, as I now wish that I could go back to the time when Borak was updating me on how horrible their conditions were. You see, 4 days ago, Borak and his brother Hashem, who is also an American citizen, as well as their father and uncle, were abducted by Israeli soldiers and their current whereabouts are unknown. I have spoken with a number of news outlets about this already, here is a link to an article written about it by Fox 31. It is sickening to me to imagine what they are going through right now as the stories of torture and abuse that other Palestinian who have been abducted have recounted are harrowing, per this Amnesty International article.
I want to highlight that my stories are not unique. This is the experience of many, many people in Gaza, and their relatives here in the United States continue to grapple with these horrors every day. Similarly, Palestinian Americans here are facing an unprecedented rise in racially motivated violence. I am sure you have all heard the story of the 6 year old Palestinian boy in Illinois who was stabbed by his landlord, covered in this AP article or the Palestinian man in Texas who was stabbed last week, per this NPR article. But this situation has also hit close to home, as a dear friend of mine who is a Palestinian woman living in Colorado with businesses in Denver has received many death threats and had her home shot at, as you can see in this CBS article. These are verified, material examples of anti-Palestinian hate crimes that we continue to experience even right here in Colorado. This is why I truly believe that although this war is waging thousands of miles away, it is very much a local issue.
Nearly 30,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed since October 7th, nearly 10,000 of which are children and this number continues to grow each and every day. I understand that you may feel uneducated on this issue and that there is a lot of propaganda and charged opinions about this, however calling for a ceasefire is such a simple and basic ask. It is very clear that the primary targets of this offensive by Israel are civilians and civilian infrastructure. The 120 relatives of mine who were killed were all civilians. What was baby Aseel’s crime? What was 12 year old Yahya’s crime? Nearly all the hospitals in Gaza have been targeted, municipal buildings have been leveled, entire residential blocks of Gaza have been flattened and dozens of mosques and churches have been demolished. Not to mention the violence Palestinians in the West Bank have been facing, where there is no Hamas. In fact in the West Bank, Israeli forces are using Palestinians as human shields, as per this Reuters article.
 
It is clear as day that this is not a defensive war.
 
I urge you to call for the end of this violence and support the proclamation to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. This is not a political issue, this is a humanitarian issue. Stand on the right side of history and vote for humanity. 
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Palestine Tet – 104 – Denver, Colorado to vote on a ceasefire proclamation, today, Monday, February 12, 2024

February 12, 2024

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Palestine Tet – 104 – Denver, Colorado to vote on a ceasefire proclamation, today, Monday, February 12, 2024

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Yesterday, it was reported, that at the same time that the Superbowl began that Israel intensified its bombing campaign against the civilian population of Gaza targeting Rafah in a effort to expel as many Palestinians as possible into the Sinai to complete “Nakbah II”.
The bastards. 
Today, in Denver Colorado, the City Council will vote on a proclamation calling for a permanent ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza, first step in ending Israel’s unspeakably cruel war, massacre of Palestinians in Gaza which the International Court of Justice – a body connected to the United Nations – has designated as genocide. 
For those of us – Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, Jewish and Peace activists that have working for an end to the Israeli Occupation of Palestinian Territories and for a Palestinian state, our movement – essentially a peace movement – this moment is the culmination of more than a half century of work, for some longer than that. 
As someone who has been involved – and intimately so – in this above movement for most of his adult life, the momentum behind pressing the City Council for a peace fire has been literally unprecedented both in its size and scope. I’ve never seen anything like it, not in Denver, not across the country, the world. The myth of a “progressive,” “democratic” Israel has been ripped away for all the world to see. Actually outside the United States and Western Europe, most of the world’s people already knew the actual situation: that Israel is a rogue state, an apartheid state, little more than a U.S. proxy doing Washington’s dirty work, of which there is no end, in the Middle East (and beyond). 
Below an email to local City Council members calling on them to support the ceasefire proclamation written by Bob Ross, a neighbor and friend urging our City Council, rep, Amanda Sandoval to vote in support of the measure.
We live in the same neighborhood and have long been friends.  It expresses better than I could  the case for a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians and an end to the U.S. supported genocidal campaign against Palestine. Bob Ross repairs string basses for a living at Ross Double Bass, as such, a master craftsman (which he is). Within Colorado’s highly developed music scene he is well known and respected.
His remarks below are unedited. 

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Dear Representative Sandoval,

I’m writing to urge you to vote for the resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

While I am horrified and strongly condemn the heinous Oct 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli soldiers and civilians, this in no way can justify or excuse the indiscriminate bombing and assault/siege on the ~2.3 million Palestinians living in the Gaza strip.  The stated goal of this assault is the elimination of Hamas.  However, the idea that the Israeli leadership, not to mention our state department doesn’t know the history of the PLO, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc. and believe this will destroy Hamas, beggars’ belief.

Surely, they know the current bombing campaign no matter how many Hamas fighters are killed in the process will lead to even more recruits or even more virulent resistance groups as well as enraging the Arab street and increasing the likelihood of a regional conflict.   It will also throw fuel on the fire of antisemitism and anti-American sentiment increasing the likelihood of more 10-7 and 9-11 type attacks.   Given past and present statements of Netanyahu and members of his right-wing settler friendly government it seems clear that the intent has much more to do with revenge, collective punishment, and ethnic cleansing.  I’ve just reread the UN charter on genocide and believe one could make a reasonable case that with the aid and support of the United States government this is in fact what’s going on.

On Nov 21, 2023, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said at least 10,000 civilians, including more than 560 children, had been killed and over 18,500 injured since Russia launched its full-scale armed attack against Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Our government along with much of the world has condemned Putin’s invasion and indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets in Ukraine, but our support of the Israeli attack on Gaza hurts Ukraine and emboldens Russia.

Figures released at the end of December by the health ministry in Gaza (which seem to be regarded by UN agencies and most Human rights organizations as reliable) estimate that in a span of less than three months the civilian casualties are over 55000 injured and 21000 plus dead with 70% of those women and children!  Unbelievably ~1.9 million of a population of 2.375 million have been displaced.

While the United States rightly condemns the invasion of Ukraine and the indiscriminate Russian bombing of civilians, we in fact provide the bombs that at this moment are falling on Gaza and use our Security Council veto to stop a call for a ceasefire!  This is misguided and morally bankrupt and exposes the United States to well-deserved charges of hypocrisy.

Here’s David Petraeus talking about the horrific and brutal Oct 7 attack by Hamas: “This is the equivalent of the U.S. having experienced over 40,000 losses, rather than the 3,000 terrible losses that we sustained in the attacks of 9/11,” said Petraeus.   A quick calculation will show that by a similar logic the ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip since then would be the equivalent of the U.S. having experienced well over 3 million lost lives!

I am 71 years old and a lifelong Democrat who has supported you and other Democrats in the past.

However, I’ve stopped my monthly contributions to Act Blue and intend to target them more closely going forward so that any contributions I make only go to Democrats who are willing to call for a ceasefire and will call out the apartheid situation in Israel and demand and work towards justice for the Palestine people and peace and security for all people in that troubled land.

“I and the public know What all schoolchildren learn, those to whom evil is done

Do evil in return.”

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Red Sea Tensions Increase

February 12, 2024

The Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula – a great historic geographic, cultural zone with a long fascinating history with three choke points – The Suez Canal, Bab El Mandeb Straits and the Straits of Hormuz

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Black Agenda Report

Red Sea Tensions Increase

Palestine Tet – 103 – China joins South Africa in calling out US complicity in Israel’s ‘repeated violations of international law’ at UN Security Council

February 11, 2024

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Decensored News

Palestine Tet – 102 – Jewish Voice for Peace: The Wire: Is a ceasefire imminent? What you need to know.

February 10, 2024

ceasefire_protest

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Even in the bleakest moments, we keep fighting. Not just because it’s what we do, but because the tide is turning.

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Most Americans want a ceasefire. Our elected officials are out of touch.

This week, Democrats and Republicans each unveiled proposals that would provide billions in additional funding for Israel’s genocidal military, revealing just how out of touch they are with the majority of their constituents.

Today, the Democrat-controlled Senate is holding a procedural vote on a national security supplemental package that would send an astonishing $14.1 billion in weapons and military funding to Israel. It would also ban U.S. funding to UNRWA, the U.N. agency tasked with assisting Palestinian refugees, even as Gaza teeters on the brink of famine.

In a show of one-upmanship from the Republican-controlled House, a separate bill that would send even more funding to Israel’s genocidal military — $17.6 billion — and does not even mention the word “Palestinians,” was brought for a vote on Tuesday. Fortunately, it failed to pass, though 46 Democrats voted in favor of it.

Neither bill requires that the billions in U.S. military funding to Israel be subjected to any kind of oversight or conditions, even after the International Court of Justice found that Israel could “plausibly” be committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.

Traditional wisdom in Washington would have us believe it’s unpopular to stand up for Palestinian rights. But that’s never been farther from the truth.

Congress has a lot of catching up to do.

Most Americans — including the majority of Democrats — want a ceasefire in Gaza. More than one-third believe Israel is committing genocide.

Last week, Chicago became the biggest U.S. city yet to call for a ceasefire. Dozens of cities across the U.S. have passed ceasefire resolutions, representing the hundreds of thousands of Americans who want an end to the unspeakable suffering Palestinians continue to endure in Gaza.

But you wouldn’t know that looking at Congress. Last month, Senator Bernie Sanders brought forward a bill that would have required the U.S. government to investigate whether Israel is using U.S. funding to carry out grave abuses of human rights. It was voted down 72-11, meaning the majority of U.S. senators — Democrats and Republicans alike — don’t care to even verify whether the U.S. is directly enabling Israeli crimes.

Sanders has also proposed an amendment to the Senate’s national security supplemental that would cut $10.1 billion from the funding allocated to the Israeli military, but it’s unlikely to make it into the final bill.

Our task is to change the political calculus in Washington.

We do that by:

  1. Making our voices heard

Elected officials care what their constituents think. Whenever you make a call or send an email, you’re holding your member of Congress to account and showing them that supporting Palestinian rights is popular with the people who elected them.

  1.  Taking on special interest groups

Anti-Palestinians groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) are spending tens of millions of dollars to buy our elected officials’ silence, directly undermining the will of the people. By lobbying against a ceasefire, AIPAC is lobbying for genocide. That’s why JVP is making it our mission to take on AIPAC this year. Stay tuned for more.

Could a ceasefire be coming soon?

This week, Hamas responded to the U.S.-backed proposal for a ceasefire with a counteroffer: a 135-day truce, which would end with the withdrawal of all Israeli troops — a definitive end to the genocide.

In exchange for the safe return of the over 100 Israeli hostages still in Gaza, Hamas is also asking that the Israeli government free Palestinian political prisoners languishing in Israeli jails. Over the last four months alone, Israeli forces have arrested over 3,000 Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank.

The proposal would also allow more aid to enter Gaza and ensure the reconstruction of vital infrastructure begins sooner rather than later.

The Israeli government has already rejected the counterproposal, with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu once again calling for “total victory” in Gaza. This means the deal could fall apart, though Egyptian negotiators have said that talks will resume in Cairo tomorrow. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the region on Monday and met with Netanyahu today.

In Gaza, the Israeli military has now killed over 27,000 Palestinians, over 11,000 of whom were children. Nearly two million people have been forced to flee their homes, unsure of when they will ever return.

Gaza has been made uninhabitable by designThe Israeli military has inflicted massive damagecausing more destruction than the Syrian regime wreaked in five years of war in Aleppo. It has targeted critical civilian infrastructure that the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians forced to take refuge in tents and makeshift shelters will need in order to return home.

This is not an inevitable outcome of war; it is deliberate. Israel’s Kahanist government has never been shy about its true intentions: the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza, and the destruction of Palestinian life throughout historic Palestine.

All this to say: Our work does not end at a ceasefire. We’re only escalating from here.


We aren’t going anywhere.

Even in the bleakest moments, we keep fighting. Not just because it’s what we do, but because the tide is turning.

Check out this roundup of our latest media coverage to see what JVP has been up to.

Photo: Fernando Lopez

 

Palestine Tet – 101 – Denver, Colorado to vote on a ceasefire proclamation on Monday, February 12, 2024

February 10, 2024

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This coming Monday, in two days, Denver Colorado will vote on a proclamation calling for a permanent ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza, first step in ending Israel’s unspeakably cruel war, massacre of Palestinians in Gaza which the International Court of Justice – a body connected to the United Nations – has designated as genocide. 

For those of us – Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, Jewish and Peace activists that have working for an end to the Israeli Occupation of Palestinian Territories and for a Palestinian state, our movement – essentially a peace movement – this moment is the culmination of more than a half century of work, for some longer than that. 

As someone who has been involved – and intimately so – in this above movement for most of his adult life, the momentum behind pressing the City Council for a peace fire has been literally unprecedented both in its size and scope. I’ve never seen anything like it, not in Denver, not across the country, the world. 

Below an email to local City Council members calling on them to support the ceasefire proclamation written by Alejandra X. Castañeda, a neighbor and friend who lives down the block from us. It expresses better than I could – succinctly – the case for a ceasefire. Alejandra is one of the great walkers of all time. She is out virtually every day, along with her dog, walking miles and miles. I’ve seen her as far away as five miles from our homes walking at a quick pace. I’d like to walk with her once in a while but there is no way I could ever keep up with her pace.

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Dear councilwomen Sandoval and Gonzales-Gutierrez,
I’m writing today to ask you to please represent the best in all of us and vote in support of Proclamation 24-0006 calling for a ceasefire in Palestine and Israel.
“War is not healthy for children and other living things.” This quote hangs on the walls of the home I share with my daughter Violeta, who is 13 years old. I know you both have children as well, and I know you’d want them to live in a healthy world where they can thrive, be loved and in peace.
It may seem unnecessary for elected officials on the other side of the world to take a stand against war and call for a ceasefire and lasting peace. But what you do and say as government representatives matters, because we’re all connected, because peace in Palestine and Israel means peace for us all. We know that international affairs eventually have an impact on all of us, as the current arrivals of new immigrants at the southern border and eventually in Denver is showing us.
Thank you for voting in support of this proclamation.
Be well,
Alejandra X. Castañeda
[she/her/ella]

District 1 community member

 

 

Costa Rica 2 – Drug Trafficking blamed as homicides soar in Costa Rica

February 9, 2024

Mapa de la Región de Limón, Costa Rica - Go Visit Costa Rica

Insite Crime

Cocaine and Marijuana Fuel Ever-Higher Homicides in Costa Rica

Drug gangs battling over control of Costa Rica’s cocaine trafficking infrastructure and the domestic marijuana market are fueling an increase in violence in the country, which last year saw its highest-ever homicide rate.

Between the start of the year and April 27, Costa Rica has recorded a 36% increase in homicides compared to the same period last year, according to the Judicial Investigation Agency (Organismo de Investigación Judicial – OIJ).

Limón, a province with a port city of the same name, is the epicenter of the violence, with a homicide rate almost three times the national average. Located on the country’s eastern coast, its Moín container port is a drug hub for cocaine heading to Europe and marijuana entering the local market. More than one-quarter of the homicides registered in the country last year took place in Limón.

SEE ALSO: Costa Rica’s Limón Province Becomes Murder and Drug Trafficking Center

The Pacific coast province of Puntarenas, and the province of San José, home to the capital city of the same name, are also violence hotspots.

Disputes over drug territories and settling scores are among the leading causes of murder, Randall Zúñiga López, general director of the OIJ, told InSight Crime. Professional murders carried out by hitmen account for 63% of all homicides this year, compared to 50% during the same period last year.

Police efforts to break up organized crime groups have led to skirmishes between gangs fighting for control of criminal economies, he said. This month, police arrested over 2,600 people in a week during “Operation Costa Rica Segura.”

“Many criminal groups have been dismantled, which generates a power vacuum in areas like Limón,” said Zúñiga López.

An increase in the supply of Colombian marijuana is also fueling rising violence, he said. Traditionally, marijuana consumed in Costa Rica has come from Jamaica. However, multiple seizures of so-called creepy marijuana indicate that it may be displacing Jamaican cannabis.

“Those who are dying, for the most part, are drug dealers who did not want to give up their plaza, did not want to pay a quota for the right to sell drugs, or simply tried to fight another criminal group,” he said.

InSight Crime Analysis

Criminal groups vying for control of the movement of cocaine through ports, and of the local marijuana market, are pushing violence in Costa Rica to new levels.

Costa Rica has historically been an important transshipment point for cocaine bound for the US and Europe. However, the country recorded a significant drop in cocaine seizures in 2022, confiscating or helping to confiscate 33.1 tons, compared to 61.7 tons the year before. While this might indicate a decreasing role, other explanations may account for the lower seizures.

While most cocaine that leaves Costa Rica departs from Limón, storing shipments at the port is a risky choice for traffickers due to its notoriety as a drug departure point. Authorities are extra vigilant for potential drug shipments, and traffickers also risk the theft of their product, said Zúñiga Lopez.

SEE ALSO: Panama, Costa Rica: Major Waypoints For Cocaine to Europe

To avoid Limón, criminal groups transport cocaine on speed boats from Colombia to southern Puntarenas, to towns like Golfito, Quepos, and the Osa Peninsula. They then transport cocaine to San José, located between Puntarenas and Limón, before moving it onto the eastern seaport, often on the same day. From there, the drugs are put on a ship bound for Europe or the United States, according to Zúñiga López. Moving the drugs quickly makes it harder for authorities to detect and reduces the risks associated with storage in Limón, he added.

A shift in the local marijuana market is further fueling violence. Criminal groups importing Colombian creepy marijuana are attempting to dislodge rivals who have traditionally bought the drug from Jamaica. This extra supply has resulted in lower prices domestically, and increased competition among criminal groups for control of domestic markets in major cities, according to Zúñiga López.

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Drug trafficking blamed as homicides soar in Costa Rica

 / AP

In this colorful Caribbean port, where cruise ship passengers are whisked to jungle adventures in Costa Rica’s interior, locals try to be home by dark and police patrol with high-caliber guns in the face of soaring drug violence.

Costa Rica logged a record 657 homicides last year and Limon – with a homicide rate five times the national average — was the epicenter.

The bloodshed in a country better known for its laid-back, “it’s all good” outlook and its lack of a standing army has stirred a public outcry as the administration of President Rodrigo Chaves scrambles for answers.

Where Costa Rica had previously been just a pass-through for northbound cocaine from Colombian and Mexican cartels, authorities say it is now a warehousing and transshipment point for drugs sent to Europe by homegrown Costa Rican gangs.

In Limon, that shifting criminal dynamic has mixed with swelling ranks of young unemployed men who make up the majority of the casualties in fierce territorial battles.

Martín Arias, the deputy security minister and head of Costa Rica’s Coast Guard, said Limon’s violence stems from disputes over both the control of cocaine shipped to Europe and the marijuana sold locally.

In January, authorities dismantled a ring working to smuggle drugs through the container port. Cocaine has been secreted into walls of the steel containers and even packed among pineapple and yucca headed for Spain and Holland.

Foreign drug traffickers used to pay Costa Rican fishermen to bring gasoline to their smuggling boats.

“Later, the Mexican narcos said, ‘We’re not going to use money; we’re not going to leave the trail that money leaves in banks, in systems; we’re going to pay in cocaine,'” Arias said.

At first, the fishermen and their associates didn’t have the contacts to sell their cocaine abroad, so they sold it locally as crack. But once they realized how much more the cocaine was worth in Europe, they began smuggling it out of the port, he said.

“Later, the Mexican narcos said, ‘We’re not going to use money; we’re not going to leave the trail that money leaves in banks, in systems; we’re going to pay in cocaine,'” Arias said.

At first, the fishermen and their associates didn’t have the contacts to sell their cocaine abroad, so they sold it locally as crack. But once they realized how much more the cocaine was worth in Europe, they began smuggling it out of the port, he said.

Meanwhile, marijuana was arriving from Jamaica and Colombia, and gangs fought over the local market. Victims of that violence are mostly in marginalized neighborhoods, Arias said.

Costa Rican authorities classified 421 of last year’s 657 homicides as “score settling.”

Former Security Minister Gustavo Mata estimated that 80% of the killings in Costa Rica were related to the growth in drug trafficking.

“We used to talk about Colombian cartels, Mexican cartels,” Mata said. But now investigators have found gangs led by Costa Ricans, he said.

Mata, who served as security minister from 2015 to 2018, said that Costa Rica had become an “enormous warehouse” of drugs and an operations center for exports to Europe.

“We used to talk about Colombian cartels, Mexican cartels,” Mata said. But now investigators have found gangs led by Costa Ricans, he said.

Mata, who served as security minister from 2015 to 2018, said that Costa Rica had become an “enormous warehouse” of drugs and an operations center for exports to Europe.

The Limon port’s shipping business – both legal and illegal – has placed it at the center of violence.

“In Limon, there are four strong criminal groups competing for the drug market,” said Randall Zúñiga, director of Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Department. These groups clash, and “generally the people who die are sellers or members of the criminal groups.”

But the violence has not been confined to Limon or to those involved in the drug trade.

The Feb. 28 shooting of 8-year-old Samuel Arroyo, killed by a stray bullet while he slept in the capital San Jose, stirred popular outrage. Costa Ricans with no connection to the boy’s family turned out for his funeral carrying white balloons.

President Chaves said Samuel died in a manner that was “outrageous, inexplicable and unacceptable.” The president said the shooting apparently stemmed from a gang war. A 15-year-old was arrested in connection with the death.

One month earlier, Ingrid Muñoz organized a demonstration outside federal courts in San Jose to demand action after her 19-year-old son Keylor Gambia was killed defending his girlfriend from an assault.

“What we’re seeking is to create consciousness so that there is not impunity,” Muñoz said. “What we want is justice, so that the judges, as well as the prosecutors, understand the serious situation that not only the youth, but everyone in the country, is living.”

Security Minister Jorge Torres, in comments to congress in January, faulted a justice system in which he said those sentenced on drug violations serve only a fraction of their prison sentences. “There are crimes for which you must serve the entire sentence,” Torres said.

Torres said he would have a new security strategy ready by June, but meanwhile more resources for police were needed. “If we want to resolve this in the short term we need more police in the streets,” he said.

Limon sits 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of San Jose. It is Costa Rica’s most important port, handling much of the country’s exports to the United States and Europe.

In 2018, the government privatized its container port, giving the concession to a Dutch company.

Antonio Wells, secretary general of the dockworkers union for Costa Rica’s Atlantic ports, said some 7,000 jobs were lost in the port privatization, which he blames for Limon’s social problems.

Last year, Limon was the canton with the second-highest murder rate with more than 62 homicides per 100,000 residents.

“If there are no jobs, it sounds terrible to say, but for many the closest thing to a job is being a hit man,” Wells said.

Costa Rica’s murder rate has increased in each of the last four years. Last year’s rate was 12.6 per 100,000 residents, still only about one-third of Honduras, but the highest for Costa Rica since at least 1990.

Costa Rica’s Association of Professionals in Economic Sciences in January found a strong correlation between low levels of development and high homicide rates in the most violent cantons like Limon.

“This isn’t the Limon I grew up in,” a retiree who identified himself only as David said on a recent day as he chatted with others in the city’s central square. “After 9 o’clock at night you can’t walk and it’s really sad.”

International Press Review – February 5, 2024

February 8, 2024

I

Palestine Tet – 100 – U.S/Israel war on Gaza four months on: Organized evil on a scale we have only read about in books

February 8, 2024
Image

This boy went to save his books after Israel blew up his school

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“These last four months have been one long scroll of death and destruction trying to take in the enormity of what is occurring in or name, with our tax dollars.”

Caitlin Johnstone. Australian Journalist

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We’re all trying to keep on top of what heinous on-going war crimes . We’re not seeing a lot recently because the powers that be in Washington and Tel Aviv have succeeded in cutting off a lot of the internet sources and hiding a lot of it. But it continues to be as bloody, savage and profoundly racist as previously … and they are murdering a lot of journalists or drive them out. It’s not just Gazans who are filming the horrors in Gaza. Probably the most footage often is from IDF soldiers themselves giving thumbs up with something horrible happening in the background. 

Four months into Gaza genocide: Israel’s horrific targeting of civilians, purposeful destruction continues

Geneva – Approximately 110,000 Palestinians are reported killed, missing, and injured, leaving many suffering long-term disabilities, four months into Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said in a statement issued Sunday.

A total of 35,096 Palestinians in the Strip have been killed as of Friday evening, Euro-Med Monitor estimated. Of those killed in the Israeli air and artillery attacks on the Strip, 32,220 were civilians, including 12,345 children, 7,656 women, 309 health personnel, 41 civil defense personnel, and 121 journalists. Meanwhile, 67,240 individuals have been injured, hundreds of them critically. Within a week of the International Court of Justice’s ruling, the Israeli army killed over 1,048 Palestinians—most of them civilians—and injured over 1,800 others, and carried out 108 massacres.

The rights group explained that, in addition to the statistics provided by the Palestinian Health Ministry, its own figures include people who went missing after being arrested and forcibly disappeared by the Israeli army, as well as those who have been trapped beneath the debris of buildings hit by Israeli air and artillery strikes for more than 14 consecutive days now and are therefore presumed dead. Hundreds of bodies that cannot be recovered due to the ongoing Israeli violence remain on the roads, said Euro-Med Monitor, particularly in areas where Israel’s army has conducted ground incursions. The Euro-Med Monitor team further reported that about two million Palestinians, approximately 90% of the total population of the Strip, have been displaced from their homes and residential areas amid a lack of safe shelters, as 79,200 housing units have been completely destroyed and 207,000 housing units have been partially damaged.

Euro-Med Monitor warned that Israel has targeted more than 245 square kilometres, 67% of the entire Gaza Strip. This includes all of Gaza City and the Strip’s northern regions, where residents have been ordered to evacuate since late October. The majority of them have not yet been able to return; neither have residents of large areas in the central and southern sections of the Strip that Israel had designated as safe areas.

Euro-Med Monitor stated that Israel continues to escalate its military assaults against Palestinian civilians in an apparent attempt to expand its territory to include the entire Gaza Strip, uprooting the vast majority of the Strip’s population in violation of international law. This likely amounts to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, the rights group said.

The Geneva-based organisation emphasised that Israel is deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in order to cause as many casualties, material losses, and as much general destruction as possible as a form of retaliation and collective punishment. This is against international humanitarian law, the 1949 Geneva Convention, and amounts to war crimes according to the Rome Statute, which governs the International Criminal Court. According to Euro-Med Monitor’s team, the facilities targeted by Israel during its ongoing attacks include 334 schools, 1,720 industrial facilities, 183 health facilities, 478 mosques, three churches, 171 press offices, and 199 archaeological sites.

Two hundred thirty-five health facilities have been targeted so far, including 26 hospitals, 63 clinics, and 146 ambulances. Thus, out of 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip, only 13 hospitals are partially functional, while less than 17% of primary health care centres in the Strip are still partially operating.

A week after the International Court of Justice’s ruling, which required Israel to take all possible measures to prevent genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and to take immediate steps to ensure humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians there, Euro-Med Monitor reported that the Israeli army was still killing civilians at the same rate as before the ruling, as well as starving them, denying aid supplies, and depriving them of their most basic human rights; destroying their property to make it impossible for them to return to their homes; forcibly arresting them; and torturing them.

The human rights group also documented that Israeli forces are still besieging and bombing Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip. During the past few days, the building of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, which also houses the hospital, was bombed several times, killing at least seven civilians, including a hospital employee.

Euro-Med Monitor contended that Israel continues to specifically target civilians. Three civilians were slain, and four others were injured on 29 January; all were internally displaced refugees who sought safety near the Red Crescent headquarters in the west of Khan Yunis. Two were killed while attempting to remove the body of a woman who had been killed by Israeli forces a few metres away from the hospital.

In addition, the Israeli army issued fresh evacuation orders on 29 January, requiring residents and internally displaced people living in the neighbourhoods of Al-Nasr, Sheikh Radwan, Al-Shati camp, Northern Sands, Southern Sands, and Al-Sabra, Sheikh Ajlin, and Tal Al-Hawa in Gaza City to evacuate to Deir Al-Balah in the middle of the Strip.

Euro-Med Monitor confirmed that Israel continues to use starvation as a weapon of war, noting that the amount of aid supplies entering the Gaza Strip, especially the northern Gaza Valley, do not meet the population’s growing needs, while civilians gathering for the few aid trucks arriving in the area were deliberately targeted by Israeli soldiers. Of the 61 humanitarian relief operations scheduled to arrive in the northern Gaza Valley in January, only 10 were allowed entry by Israeli authorities.

Euro-Med Monitor has been closely tracking the continued inflammatory statements of Israeli officials, which express a clear premeditated intention to commit the crime of genocide. Israeli ministers continue to issue and condone statements inciting the extermination of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, said the human rights organisation, pointing to a conference attended by 12 ministers from the Israel’s ruling Likud Party, at which settler leader Daniela Weiss called for the return of settlement construction in Gaza, saying “the Arabs will not stay in Gaza”.

As in the past, said Euro-Med Monitor, Israel is failing to hold responsible individual Israeli citizens who encourage the genocide of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, regardless of the individual’s degree of political power or level of celebrity or influence.

Israel has flagrantly broken the terms of international humanitarian law, Euro-Med Monitor reiterated, which forbids property damage as a “preventive means” and property destruction as a means of deterrence, even for military purposes.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor renewed its call for an international investigation into Israel’s widely-documented violations of international law since it began its military attacks on the Gaza Strip on 7 October 2023; for an end to the state of impunity that Israel enjoys; and for a process that will hold accountable the perpetrators of human rights violations, as well as ensure that all victims receive compensation.

Euro-Med Monitor warned of the dangerous repercussions of many donor countries’ decision to suspend their funding for UNRWA in light of the current catastrophic conditions and the impending famine, as UNRWA is the main humanitarian agency in the Gaza Strip, serving more than two million people. The suspension is a dangerous violation of their international obligations, added the rights group, especially with regard to protecting the Palestinian people from the crime of genocide. Additionally, the suspension furthers Israeli policies and projects aimed at eradicating the Palestinian cause and depriving the Palestinian people, especially the refugees, of their guaranteed rights under international law and pertinent UN resolutions.

The international community must act swiftly to impose a binding executive decision on the International Court of Justice’s ruling, establish an immediate ceasefire, guarantee the safety of civilians and their return to their homes, and step up efforts by international organisations to monitor, record, and document Israel’s breathtaking violations of the Court’s ruling. These violations must be reported and widely disseminated in order for the Republic of South Africa and other countries involved in the lawsuit to prepare and submit a comprehensive report backed by evidence regarding the grave and pervasive violations happening to Palestinian civilians.