3) The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question
Daily Archives: 30. Oktober 2023
UPDATING LIVE: UN Security Council to meet again on Gaza crisis
The emergency meeting was reportedly called for by the United Arab Emirates, the sole Arab nation on the 15-member Council, after Israel expanded its operations into Gaza over the weekend.
The head of the UN agency supporting Palestine refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, and a senior director from the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Lisa Doughten (on behalf of relief chief Martin Griffiths), are expected to brief ambassadors, along with the head of the UN Children‘s Fund, Catherine Russell.
In a sign of civil order starting to break down in the ravaged enclave, UN-operated aid warehouses were raided this weekend by thousands of desperate people who took wheat flour, hygiene supplies and other basic survival goods.
Meanwhile, hospitals in northern Gaza are hanging on by a thread, according to humanitarians, amid “repeated evacuation orders” by Israeli forces. Medical staff working there and civilians seeking shelter have reportedly refused to leave, saying evacuation would mean death for patients on ventilators and in intensive care units.
On Friday, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour to adopt a resolution on the crisis, calling for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities.”
Biden sends Treasury official to Saudi Arabia, Qatar to discuss Gaza aid, counterterrorism
In Riyadh, Nelson co-chaired a meeting of the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center.
In Doha, Nelson met with Qatar Central Bank governor Bandar al Thani, Attorney General Issa bin Saad al Nuaimi and leaders of the National Counterterrorism Committee.
This afternoon (30 October), #UNSC members will hold an emergency briefing on #Israel/#Gaza, requested by @UAEMissionToUN and @Chinamisison2UN.
@UNRWA @UNLazzarini will brief.
Gaza hospitals hanging on by a thread: UN humanitarians
The vicinities of Shifa and Al Quds hospitals in Gaza city and of the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza, have been bombarded over the weekend, UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA said.
This followed renewed calls by the Israeli military to evacuate these facilities immediately,” OCHA added.
“Palestinian and Israeli civilians have suffered enough”, UN relief chief Martin Griffiths wrote on social platform X on Monday. He revealed that he is in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory and “will be discussing with the leadership of both parties how we can ramp up the humanitarian response”.
A hero from the civil defence team breaks down into tears after rescuing a child from under the rubble
(28.10.2023)
Hamas representatives in Moscow to hold talks with Russian diplomats
(Oct 26, 2023)
„I can say and confirm that representatives of the relevant Palestinian movement (Hamas) are on a visit to Moscow. As for contacts, we will inform you (about their results) additionally,“ Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said at a news conference in Moscow.
Hamas says leadership visited Russia, met Sergey Lavrov
March 14, 2023
The Palestinian armed group Hamas said on Tuesday that it sent a high-level delegation to Russia and held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
In an interview published on Hamas’ website, Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, said party leaders visited Russia and met Lavrov and that the visit was a reflection of Hamas’ weight among major global powers.
Hamas team lands in Russia ahead of meeting with top officials
(4 May 2022)
The delegation is made up of Hamas officials based outside of Gaza.
Hamas has seen its ties with Russia improve in recent years. Last month, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh held a rare phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
How Qatar is allowed to provide sanctuary for Hamas leaders like Haniyeh is ridiculous. This is a country that hosted the World Cup last year and continues to host the world’s most violent terrorists. CENTCOM has a base in Qatar. It has elite troops stationed there. They should go capture Haniyeh tonight and extradite him to Israel or the US to stand trial.
Zur Verfassung von Palästina
(14.Januar 2015)
Stets wurden die Palästinenser von den Großmächten für geopolitische Zwecken missbraucht. Ihre eigene Oberschicht hat diesen oft zugearbeitet. Dieser Artikel soll nun keinen Versuch einer Intervention darstellen oder einer solchen direkt oder indirekt zuarbeiten, sondern in ehrlichem Interesse an der prosperierenden Koexistenz zweier Staaten im für drei Weltreligionen heiligen Land ein paar Ideen vorbringen.
Die Republik
Die Staatsform Palästinas wird letztlich auch dessen Gesellschaftsordnung prägen, vielleicht sogar entscheiden. Die Republik ist die höchste Form der Demokratie, da sie diese schriftlich durch eine Verfassung sichert und bei entsprechender Umsetzung und Teilung der Gewalten garantiert, statt sie der Willkür und dem Missbrauch ehrenwerter Monarchen, Medienmogulen, imperialer Präsidentschaften und manipulativer Mechanismen ausliefert.
Anzunehmen ist, dass es auf eine Republik Palästina hinauslaufen wird.
Sicherlich ist ebenfalls anzunehmen, dass es gesellschaftliche Gruppen in Palästina gibt, die eine Islamische Republik nach dem Vorbild des Iran bevorzugen würden. Die P.L.O. sollte diesen Standpunkt akzeptieren und gegen diesen einen eigenen Verfassungsentwurf vorlegen, ohne zu versuchen andere Entwürfe zu unterdrücken oder den sinnlosen Weg eines Konsens zu versuchen. Gruppen, letztlich lediglich Milizen, wie der “Islamische Dschihad in Palästina” oder die “Volksfront zur Befreiung Palästinas”, sind bei jedem auf Wahlen basierenden politischen Prozess irrelevant. Bei der Hamas sieht das schon anders aus. Gegen sie verlor die P.L.O. die Wahlen von 2006. Das sollte der P.L.O. zu denken geben.
Entscheidend wird sein, wie die Palästinenser, die als Staatsvolk genauso divergent und vielfältig sind wie jedes andere, einerseits ihre Differenzen austragen und andererseits ihre verschiedenen Strömungen insoweit interagieren, dass sie sich auf einen tragfähigen Gesellschaftsvertrag einigen, eine Verfassung.
Jedweder Verfassungsentwurf, der von provisorischen, indirekt gewählten, oder sogar gar nicht gewählten Gremien entwickelt werden sollte, etwa durch die Autonomiebehörde oder den Legislativrat, ist zum Scheitern verurteilt. Selbst wenn dieser Entwurf, in westlicher Manier von “magischen” Rechtszerbrechern zu London entworfen und auf die Etablierung einer weiteren Finanzkolonie in Vorderasien zugunsten des weltweiten Bankenkartells ausgerichtet, alternativlos dem Palästinensischen Volk vorgelegt werden sollte, würde dieser bereits den Keim des Verfalls und der Destruktion in sich tragen. Von Neid zerfressene Imperialisten und Usurpatoren, allen voran die Menschenschinder der saudischen Monarchie und ihre Brüder und Schwestern in der Nomenklatura Israels, würden alle Hebel in Bewegung setzen um die Republik Palästina und deren Aufblühen über ihren leider immer noch vorhandenen Einfluss auf die winzige palästinensische Funktionärs-Kaste bereits im Keim zu ersticken.
Nur ein Gremium, dessen Mitglieder ausschließlich die Aufgabe der Entwicklung eines tragfähigen Verfassungsentwurfs haben, die mit dieser Aufgabe keine weiteren Profit- und Karriereinteressen verbinden können und die direkt aus dem Volke Palästinas gewählt sind, wird dieser Aufgabe gerecht werden.
Womit wir zur Verfassungsgebenden Versammlung kommen.
Die Verfassungsgebende Versammlung
Was die Meisten nicht wissen: nach der Revolution in den nordamerikanischen Kolonien des Britischen Imperiums im Jahre 1776 dauerte es zwölf Jahre und einen Krieg, bis vom ersten Kontinentalkongress (1774-1775), vom zweiten Kontinentalkongress (1775 – 1781) und dem Kongress der Konföderation (1781-1789), bis sich die dreizehn, bis dahin lose über die “Konföderationsartikel” verbundenen ehemaligen Kolonien schließlich 1787 in einer über vier Monate andauernden Versammlung in Philadelphia auf eine Verfassung der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika und ein Regelwerk zu deren Inkraftsetzung einigten.
Mal abgesehen vom Schicksal der dortigen Ureinwohner: das kann kein Maßstab für das 21. Jahrhundert sein. Aber einerseits ein Hinweis darauf, wie schwierig die Entwicklung einer Verfassung tatsächlich ist, sowie andererseits für die Größe der Chance die mit einem Gelingen verbunden sind.
#UNGA Special Session: “Any life lost is a tragedy, there is no hierarchy of death” – Bob Rae, Canada Representative to the United Nations
(Oct 27, 2023)
BREAKING: Israel’s President Yitzchak Herzog has confirmed that the German-Israeli citizen Shani Louk has been found beheaded.
He tells @BILD: …
Ricarda Louk tells Piers Morgan that the video of her daughter Shani being taken by Hamas terrorists was sent to her eldest son: „He started crying and screaming…“ „It breaks you completely… how can this happen to me?“
(16.10.2023)
German tattoo artist ID’d as woman paraded through streets by Hamas
(Oct. 8, 2023)
But another cousin spotted footage of Shani online as her body appeared lifeless and surrounded by armed militants in the back of the truck.
One Hamas fighter had his leg over her waist as another grabbed part of her dreadlocks.
Her legs were unnaturally laid out in the back of the truck.
Her parents watched the video to confirm it was their daughter, the Washington Post reported.
UN Security Council set to hold emergency meeting on Gaza war
The Gaza meeting will take place after the council meets first on Western Sahara and then on Colombia.
The General Assembly, where there are no vetoes, adopted a resolution Friday by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions calling for humanitarian truces leading to a cessation of hostilities. Security Council resolutions are legally binding.
UAE will seek resolution for „immediate humanitarian pause“ at UN Security Council meeting, sources say
The sources said the draft text of the Security Council resolution calls for “an immediate humanitarian truce” and further “humanitarian pauses.”
Earlier this month, the United States vetoed a draft resolution at the UNSC which called for a humanitarian pause.
The UAE is the only Arab country currently a member of the UNSC.
Israel-Palestine crisis has ‘reached an unprecedented level of dehumanisation’: Independent rights expert
The independent human rights expert also criticised Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian lands and the mistreatment of Palestinians.
“We are talking of an occupying power. Israel is an occupying power vis a vis the Palestinians. There is no independent and sovereign Palestinian state,” said Ms. Albanese.
“The occupation has been the vehicle to colonise, brutalise, arbitrarily arrest and detain and to carry out summary executions against the Palestinian people.”
She criticised the international community for not doing more to end the illegal occupation.
“Has the international community ever stopped this protracted illegality? No. This is why I keep on saying the international community has a huge, huge responsibility in the catastrophe that is now unfolding.”
Hundreds of Israeli demonstrators gathered in front of Netanyahu‘s house in Caesarea on Saturday, demanding him to resign and for an immediate prisoners’ swap for Israeli hostages in Gaza
Netanyahu slammed for post blaming intelligence chiefs for Oct. 7 failure; apologizes
“Contrary to the false claims: Under no circumstances and at no stage was Prime Minister Netanyahu warned of Hamas’s war intentions,” read the original tweet, posted shortly after 1 a.m. local time, hours after Netanyahu held a joint press conference with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister Benny Gantz.
The tweet elaborated: “On the contrary, all the security officials, including the head of military intelligence and the head of the Shin Bet, assessed that Hamas had been deterred and was looking for a settlement. This assessment was submitted again and again to the prime minister and the cabinet by all the security forces and intelligence community, up until the outbreak of the war.”
WHO: civilians, patients, and health workers in Gaza spend night in darkness and fear
(28.10.2023)
Reports of bombardment near the Indonesia and Al Shifa hospitals are gravely concerning. WHO reiterates that it is impossible to evacuate patients without endangering their lives. Hospitals across Gaza are already operating at maximum capacity due to the injuries sustained in weeks of unrelenting bombardment, and are unable to absorb a dramatic rise in the number of patients, while sheltering thousands of civilians.
„There is nowhere to flee to, nowhere to run to.“ UNRWA Affairs Gaza Director warns of the dire situation in Gaza, citing 5 direct hits to UNRWA schools that killed 17 people and injured 281 others.
„الناس خائفون ومحبطون ويائسون. وتتفاقم التوترات والخوف بسبب انقطاع خطوط الهواتف والاتصالات عبر الإنترنت. إنهم يشعرون بأنهم بمفردهم، معزولون عن عائلاتهم داخل غزة وبقية العالم“.
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8,005 Palestinians have now been killed in Gaza. We’re nearing the death toll of the Srebrenica genocide.
Meanwhile, the IDF & settlers are razing Palestinian villages & cities in the Westbank leaving over 100 dead. More land & homes stolen.
“Never again” the world said.
Thousands of Palestinians who broke into UN food warehouses in the besieged Gaza Strip are ‘scared, frustrated and desperate’ after 3 weeks of war, says director of UN Palestinian refugee agency
They let humanitarian aid in. Then they bombed it so that Gaza would starve.
People have started congregating at barber shops and hair salons to charge their cell phones because most of those salons use solar energy to charge the batteries that provide those shops with electricity, so now those shops are also being targeted by these kinds of “killing” missiles. The Israeli army bombed two of the salons, one in Khan Younis and one in Nuseirat refugee camp. They hit the salons only, not the areas near them. It wasn’t collateral damage; it was a deliberate strike on civilians.
These missiles exploded inside the salon and killed everyone inside, but the building was left standing. This is how these missiles operate.
One of the bakeries that Israel bombed in Nuseirat refugee camp had just received a shipment of flour from UNRWA meant to cover the food needs of the entire camp. Israel waited to bomb it once all the flour was unloaded.
(27.10.2023)
Situation in Gaza ‘growing more desperate by the hour’, says UN chief Guterres
(28.10.2023)
UN Secretary-General António Guterres began his official visit to Nepal by extending deep condolences to the families of the 10 Nepalese students killed in the terror attacks by Hamas in Israel, and once again called for the protection of all civilians in Gaza, where, he said, “the situation is growing more desperate by the hour.”