*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
See Gaza Strip Access Restrictions.pdf since 2007 at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gaza_Strip_Access_Restrictions.pdf** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.”
*** The death toll in West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to PA’s Ministry of Health on March 17, this is the latest figure.
Source: mondoweiss.net
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Boris Kagarlitsky is in Prison!
On February 13, the court overturned the previous decision on release and sent Boris Kagarlitsky to prison for five years.
Petition in Support of Boris Kagarlitsky
We, the undersigned, were deeply shocked to learn that on February 13 the leading Russian socialist intellectual and antiwar activist Dr. Boris Kagarlitsky (65) was sentenced to five years in prison.
Dr. Kagarlitsky was arrested on the absurd charge of 'justifying terrorism' in July last year. After a global campaign reflecting his worldwide reputation as a writer and critic of capitalism and imperialism, his trial ended on December 12 with a guilty verdict and a fine of 609,000 roubles.
The prosecution then appealed against the fine as 'unjust due to its excessive leniency' and claimed falsely that Dr. Kagarlitsky was unable to pay the fine and had failed to cooperate with the court. In fact, he had paid the fine in full and provided the court with everything it requested.
On February 13 a military court of appeal sent him to prison for five years and banned him from running a website for two years after his release.
The reversal of the original court decision is a deliberate insult to the many thousands of activists, academics, and artists around the world who respect Dr. Kagarlitsky and took part in the global campaign for his release. The section of Russian law used against Dr. Kagarlitsky effectively prohibits free expression. The decision to replace the fine with imprisonment was made under a completely trumped-up pretext. Undoubtedly, the court's action represents an attempt to silence criticism in the Russian Federation of the government's war in Ukraine, which is turning the country into a prison.
The sham trial of Dr. Kagarlitsky is the latest in a wave of brutal repression against the left-wing movements in Russia. Organizations that have consistently criticized imperialism, Western and otherwise, are now under direct attack, many of them banned. Dozens of activists are already serving long terms simply because they disagree with the policies of the Russian government and have the courage to speak up. Many of them are tortured and subjected to life-threatening conditions in Russian penal colonies, deprived of basic medical care. Left-wing politicians are forced to flee Russia, facing criminal charges. International trade unions such as IndustriALL and the International Transport Federation are banned and any contact with them will result in long prison sentences.
There is a clear reason for this crackdown on the Russian left. The heavy toll of the war gives rise to growing discontent among the mass of working people. The poor pay for this massacre with their lives and wellbeing, and opposition to war is consistently highest among the poorest. The left has the message and resolve to expose the connection between imperialist war and human suffering.
Dr. Kagarlitsky has responded to the court's outrageous decision with calm and dignity: “We just need to live a little longer and survive this dark period for our country,” he said. Russia is nearing a period of radical change and upheaval, and freedom for Dr. Kagarlitsky and other activists is a condition for these changes to take a progressive course.
We demand that Boris Kagarlitsky and all other antiwar prisoners be released immediately and unconditionally.
We also call on the authorities of the Russian Federation to reverse their growing repression of dissent and respect their citizens' freedom of speech and right to protest.
Sign to Demand the Release of Boris Kagarlitsky
https://freeboris.info
The petition is also available on Change.org
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*Major Announcement*
Claudia De la Cruz wins
Peace and Freedom Party primary in California!
We have an exciting announcement. The votes are still being counted in California, but the Claudia-Karina “Vote Socialist” campaign has achieved a clear and irreversible lead in the Peace and Freedom Party primary. Based on the current count, Claudia has 46% of the vote compared to 40% for Cornel West. A significant majority of PFP’s newly elected Central Committee, which will formally choose the nominee at its August convention, have also pledged their support to the Claudia-Karina campaign.
We are excited to campaign in California now and expect Claudia De la Cruz to be the candidate on the ballot of the Peace and Freedom Party in November.
We achieved another big accomplishment this week - we’re officially on the ballot in Hawai’i! This comes after also petitioning to successfully gain ballot access in Utah. We are already petitioning in many other states. Each of these achievements is powered by the tremendous effort of our volunteers and grassroots organizers across the country. When we’re organized, people power can move mountains!
We need your help to keep the momentum going. Building a campaign like this takes time, energy, and money. We know that our class enemies — the billionaires, bankers, and CEO’s — put huge sums toward loyal politicians and other henchmen who defend their interests. They will use all the money and power at their disposal to stop movements like ours. As an independent, socialist party, our campaign is relying on contributions from the working class and people like you.
We call on each and every one of our supporters to set up a monthly or one-time donation to support this campaign to help it keep growing and reaching more people. A new socialist movement, independent of the Democrats and Republicans, is being built but it will only happen when we all pitch in.
The Claudia-Karina campaign calls to end all U.S. aid to Israel. End this government’s endless wars. We want jobs for all, with union representation and wages that let us live with dignity. Housing, healthcare, and education for all - without the lifelong debt. End the ruthless attacks on women, Black people, immigrants, and LGBTQ people. These are just some of the demands that are resonating across the country. Help us take the next step:
Volunteer: https://votesocialist2024.com/volunteer
Donate: https://votesocialist2024.com/donate
See you in the streets,
Claudia & Karina
Don't Forget! Join our telegram channel for regular updates: https://t.me/+KtYBAKgX51JhNjMx
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
We are all Palestinian
Listen and view this beautiful, powerful, song by Mistahi Corkill on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQwuhbLczgI
Greetings,
Here is my new song and music video, We are all Palestinian, linked below. If you find it inspiring, please feel free to share with others. All the best!
Mistahi
We are all Palestinian
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Labor for Palestine
Thousands of labor representatives marched Saturday, December 16, in Oakland, California. —Photo by Leon Kunstenaar
Video of December 16th Labor rally for Palestine.
Bay Area Unions and Workers Rally and March For Palestine In Oakland
https://youtu.be/L9k79honqIA
For More Information:
bayarealabor4palestine@gmail.com
Production of Labor Video Project
www.labormedia.net
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Just Like The Nazis Did
By David Rovics
After so many decades of patronage
By the world’s greatest empire
So many potential agreements
Were rejected by opening fire
After crushing so many uprisings
Now they’re making their ultimate bid
Pursuing their Final Solution
Just like the Nazis did
They forced refugees into ghettos
Then set the ghettos aflame
Murdering writers and poets
And so no one remember their names
Killing their entire families
The grandparents, women and kids
The uncles and cousins and babies
Just like the Nazis did
They’re bombing all means of sustaining
Human life at all
See the few shelters remaining
Watch as the tower blocks fall
They’re bombing museums and libraries
In order to get rid
Of any memory of the people who lived here
Just like the Nazis did
They’re saying these people are animals
And they should all end up dead
They’re sending soldiers into schools
And shooting children in the head
The rhetoric is identical
And with Gaza off the grid
They’ve already said what happens next
Just like the Nazis did
Words of war for domestic consumption
And lies for all the rest
To try to distract our attention
Among their enablers in the West
Because Israel needs their imports
To keep those pallets on the skids
They need fuel and they need missiles
Just like the Nazis did
They’re using food as a weapon
They’re using water that way, too
They’re trying to kill everyone in Gaza
Or make them flee, it’s true
As the pundits talk of “after the war”
Like with the Fall of Madrid
The victors are preparing for more
Just like the Nazis did
But it’s after the conquest’s complete
If history is any guide
When the occupying army
Is positioned to decide
When disease and famine kills
Whoever may have hid
Behind the ghetto walls
Just like the Nazis did
All around the world
People are trying to tell
There's a genocide unfolding
Ringing alarm bells
But with such a powerful axis
And so many lucrative bids
They know who wants their money
Just like the Nazis did
There's so many decades of patronage
For the world's greatest empire
So many potential agreements
Were rejected by opening fire
They're crushing so many uprisings
Now they're making their ultimate bid
Pursuing their final solution
Just like the Nazis did
Just like the Nazis did
Just like the Nazis did
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Free Julian Assange
Immediate Repeated Action Needed to Free Assange
Please call your Congressional Representatives, the White House, and the DOJ. Calls are tallied—they do count. We are to believe we are represented in this country. This is a political case, so our efforts can change things politically as well. Please take this action as often as you can:
Find your representatives:
https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
Leave each of your representatives a message individually to:
· Drop the charges against Julian Assange
· Speak out publicly against the indictment and
· Sign on to Rashida Tlaib's letter to the DOJ to drop the charges:
202-224-3121—Capitol Main Switchboard
Leave a message on the White House comment line to
Demand Julian Assange be pardoned:
202-456-1111
Tuesday–Thursday, 11:00 A.M.–3:00 P.M. EST
Call the DOJ and demand they drop the charges against Julian Assange:
202-353-1555—DOJ Comment Line
202-514-2000 Main Switchboard
Sign the petition:
https://dontextraditeassange.com/petition/
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Mumia Abu-Jamal is Innocent!
FREE HIM NOW!
Write to Mumia at:
Smart Communications/PADOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM-8335
SCI Mahanoy
P.O. Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733
Join the Fight for Mumia's Life
Since September, Mumia Abu-Jamal's health has been declining at a concerning rate. He has lost weight, is anemic, has high blood pressure and an extreme flair up of his psoriasis, and his hair has fallen out. In April 2021 Mumia underwent open heart surgery. Since then, he has been denied cardiac rehabilitation care including a healthy diet and exercise.
Donate to Mumia Abu-Jamal's Emergency Legal and Medical Defense Fund, Official 2024
Mumia has instructed PrisonRadio to set up this fund. Gifts donated here are designated for the Mumia Abu-Jamal Medical and Legal Defense Fund. If you are writing a check or making a donation in another way, note this in the memo line.
Send to:
Mumia Medical and Legal Fund c/o Prison Radio
P.O. Box 411074, San Francisco, CA 94103
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
.jpg)
Leonard Peltier Update—Experiencing the Onset of Blindness
Greetings Relatives,
Leonard is in trouble, physically. He is experiencing the onset of blindness. He is losing strength in his limbs. His blood sugar is testing erratically. This, on top of already severe conditions that have become dire. Leonard has not seen a dentist in ten years. His few remaining teeth are infected. He is locked down, in pain.
As always, Leonard’s fortitude remains astonishing. He is not scared of dying. He does not want to die in lockdown.
Our legal team has an emergency transfer underway. They are going to extraordinary lengths. We must get a top ophthalmologist to him. Thanks to your calls, the BOP did see him. They told him a specialist would be 8 - 10 weeks out.
Leonard does not have eight to ten weeks. He needs emergency care immediately.
If you can, please donate to this GoFundMe. Every penny matters. If you cannot, please share. If you are so inclined, go to www.freeleonardpeltiernow.org and contact the officials listed.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-leonard-peltier-get-medical-care-freedom?utm_campaign=p_cp+fundraiser-sidebar&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer
As always, thank you for your support.
Dawn Lawson
Personal Assistant Leonard Peltier
Executive Assistant Jenipher Jones, Esq.
Secretary Leonard Peltier Ad Hoc Committee
1-800-901-4413
dawn@allfiredup.blue
www.freeleonardpeltiernow.org
Leonard Peltier Update - Not One More Year
Coleman 1 has gone on permanent lockdown.
The inmates are supposed to be allowed out two hours a day. I have not heard from Leonard since the 18th.
The last time I talked to Leonard, he asked where his supporters were. He asked me if anyone cared about these lockdowns.
Leonard lives in a filthy, cold cell 22 to 24 hours a day. He has not seen a dentist in ten years. I asked him, “On a scale of 1 to 10, is your pain level at 13?” He said, “Something like that.” Leonard is a relentless truth-teller. He does not like it when I say things that do not make sense mathematically.
That is why Leonard remains imprisoned. He will not lie. He will not beg, grovel, or denounce his beliefs.
Please raise your voice. Ask your representatives why they have abdicated their responsibility to oversee the Bureau of Prisons and ensure they adhere to Constitutional law.
Uhuru, The African People’s Socialist Party, has stepped up for Leonard. NOT ONE MORE YEAR.
Fight for Free Speech – YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM8GDeGv90E
Leonard should not have spent a day in prison. Click “LEARN” on our website to find out what really happened on that reservation:
www.freeleonardpeltiernow.org
Write to:
Leonard Peltier 89637-132
USP Coleman 1
P.O. Box 1033
Coleman, FL 33521
Note: Letters, address and return address must be in writing—no stickers—and on plain white paper.
Sign our petition urging President Biden to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier:
https://www.freeleonardpeltier.com/petition
Email: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
Address: 116 W. Osborne Ave. Tampa, Florida 33603
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Updates From Kevin Cooper
A Never-ending Constitutional Violation
A summary of the current status of Kevin Cooper’s case by the Kevin Cooper Defense Committee
On October 26, 2023, the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP wrote a rebuttal in response to the Special Counsel's January 13, 2023 report upholding the conviction of their client Kevin Cooper. A focus of the rebuttal was that all law enforcement files were not turned over to the Special Counsel during their investigation, despite a request for them to the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office.
On October 29, 2023, Law Professors Lara Bazelon and Charlie Nelson Keever, who run the six member panel that reviews wrongful convictions for the San Francisco County District Attorney's office, published an OpEd in the San Francisco Chronicle calling the "Innocence Investigation” done by the Special Counsel in the Cooper case a “Sham Investigation” largely because Cooper has unsuccessfully fought for years to obtain the police and prosecutor files in his case. This is a Brady claim, named for the U.S. Supreme court’s 1963 case establishing the Constitutional rule that defendants are entitled to any information in police and prosecutor's possession that could weaken the state's case or point to innocence. Brady violations are a leading cause of wrongful convictions. The Special Counsel's report faults Cooper for not offering up evidence of his own despite the fact that the best evidence to prove or disprove Brady violations or other misconduct claims are in those files that the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office will not turn over to the Special Counsel or to Cooper's attorneys.
On December 14, 2023, the president of the American Bar Association (ABA), Mary Smith, sent Governor Gavin Newsom a three page letter on behalf of the ABA stating in part that Mr.Cooper's counsel objected to the state's failure to provide Special Counsel all documents in their possession relating to Mr.Cooper's conviction, and that concerns about missing information are not new. For nearly 40 years Mr.Cooper's attorneys have sought this same information from the state.
On December 19, 2023, Bob Egelko, a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an article about the ABA letter to the Governor that the prosecutors apparently withheld evidence from the Governor's legal team in the Cooper case.
These are just a few recent examples concerning the ongoing failure of the San Bernardino County District Attorney to turn over to Cooper's attorney's the files that have been requested, even though under the law and especially the U.S. Constitution, the District Attorney of San Bernardino county is required to turn over to the defendant any and all material and or exculpatory evidence that they have in their files. Apparently, they must have something in their files because they refuse to turn them over to anyone.
The last time Cooper's attorney's received files from the state, in 2004, it wasn't from the D.A. but a Deputy Attorney General named Holly Wilkens in Judge Huff's courtroom. Cooper's attorneys discovered a never before revealed police report showing that a shirt was discovered that had blood on it and was connected to the murders for which Cooper was convicted, and that the shirt had disappeared. It had never been tested for blood. It was never turned over to Cooper's trial attorney, and no one knows where it is or what happened to it. Cooper's attorneys located the woman who found that shirt on the side of the road and reported it to the Sheriff's Department. She was called to Judge Huff's court to testify about finding and reporting that shirt to law enforcement. That shirt was the second shirt found that had blood on it that was not the victims’ blood. This was in 2004, 19 years after Cooper's conviction.
It appears that this ongoing constitutional violation that everyone—from the Special Counsel to the Governor's legal team to the Governor himself—seems to know about, but won't do anything about, is acceptable in order to uphold Cooper's conviction.
But this type of thing is supposed to be unacceptable in the United States of America where the Constitution is supposed to stand for something other than a piece of paper with writing on it. How can a Governor, his legal team, people who support and believe in him ignore a United States citizen’s Constitutional Rights being violated for 40 years in order to uphold a conviction?
This silence is betrayal of the Constitution. This permission and complicity by the Governor and his team is against everything that he and they claim to stand for as progressive politicians. They have accepted the Special Counsel's report even though the Special Counsel did not receive the files from the district attorney that may not only prove that Cooper is innocent, but that he was indeed framed by the Sheriff’s Department; and that evidence was purposely destroyed and tampered with, that certain witnesses were tampered with, or ignored if they had information that would have helped Cooper at trial, that evidence that the missing shirt was withheld from Cooper's trial attorney, and so much more.
Is the Governor going to get away with turning a blind eye to this injustice under his watch?
Are progressive people going to stay silent and turn their eyes blind in order to hopefully get him to end the death penalty for some while using Cooper as a sacrificial lamb?
An immediate act of solidarity we can all do right now is to write to Kevin and assure him of our continuing support in his fight for justice. Here’s his address:
Mr. Kevin Cooper
C-65304. 4-EB-82
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin, CA 94974
Call California Governor Newsom:
1-(916) 445-2841
Press 1 for English or 2 for Spanish,
press 6 to speak with a representative and
wait for someone to answer
(Monday-Friday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. PST—12:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. EST)
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
The writers' organization PEN America is circulating this petition on behalf of Jason Renard Walker, a Texas prisoner whose life is being threatened because of his exposés of the Texas prison system.
See his book, Reports from within the Belly of the Beast; available on Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/Reports-Within-Belly-Beast-Department-ebook/dp/B084656JDZ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
Petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/protect-whistleblowers-in-carceral-settings
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Tell Congress to Help #FreeDanielHale
|
|
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Resources for Resisting Federal Repression
https://www.nlg.org/federalrepressionresources/
Since June of 2020, activists have been subjected to an increasingly aggressive crackdown on protests by federal law enforcement. The federal response to the movement for Black Lives has included federal criminal charges for activists, door knocks by federal law enforcement agents, and increased use of federal troops to violently police protests.
The NLG National Office is releasing this resource page for activists who are resisting federal repression. It includes a link to our emergency hotline numbers, as well as our library of Know-Your-Rights materials, our recent federal repression webinar, and a list of some of our recommended resources for activists. We will continue to update this page.
Please visit the NLG Mass Defense Program page for general protest-related legal support hotlines run by NLG chapters.
Emergency Hotlines
If you are contacted by federal law enforcement, you should exercise all of your rights. It is always advisable to speak to an attorney before responding to federal authorities.
State and Local Hotlines
If you have been contacted by the FBI or other federal law enforcement, in one of the following areas, you may be able to get help or information from one of these local NLG hotlines for:
Portland, Oregon: (833) 680-1312
San Francisco, California: (415) 285-1041 or fbi_hotline@nlgsf.org
Seattle, Washington: (206) 658-7963
National Hotline
If you are located in an area with no hotline, you can call the following number:
National NLG Federal Defense Hotline: (212) 679-2811
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
1) To Battle Wartime Hunger, Gazans Turn to a Humble Leafy Green
Palestinians have long gathered and cooked khobeza, a spinach-like wild plant that sprouts after rains. Now, it has become a lifeline.
By Ben Hubbard and Bilal Shbair, April 7, 2024
Ben Hubbard reported from Istanbul, and Bilal Shbair from Deir al Balah, Gaza.
Selling khobeza leaves in Rafah, in southern Gaza, in February. The plant is making up an outsize portion of many Gazans’ diets by providing a lower-cost way to blunt hunger. Credit...Mohammed Abed/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
As the Israeli military campaign to destroy Hamas pummeled his neighborhood in northern Gaza, reducing buildings to rubble and forcing residents to flee, the Palestinian laborer realized that he was running out of food.
The shops had closed, the markets had emptied and fighting prevented supplies from reaching them. So he and his remaining neighbors gathered a plant known as khobeza that grew near their homes and cooked it to sustain themselves, he said.
“It supported us more than everyone else in the world,” the laborer, Amin Abed, 35, said recently by phone from Gaza. “People survived the darkest chapters of the war on khobeza alone.”
For many generations, the people of the Holy Land have foraged for khobeza, a hearty green with a taste and texture somewhere between spinach and kale that sprouts in knee-high thickets along roadsides and empty patches of dirt after the first winter rains. Cooks sauté it in olive oil, season it with onions or boil it into soup to make tasty, low-cost meals.
Now, this green, a variety of mallow, is making up an outsize portion of many Gazans’ diets by providing an inexpensive way to blunt hunger. At a time when most other food is largely unavailable or prohibitively expensive, Gazans can harvest khobeza themselves and cook it by itself, or with a few other ingredients.
As Israel has imposed a near-complete blockade on the territory, aid groups and United Nations officials have increasingly warned that the amount of food entering Gaza cannot feed its roughly 2.2 million people, pushing ever larger numbers of Gazans toward catastrophic hunger. Malnutrition-related deaths have become more common, and an international group of experts warned last month that the entire population of Gaza faced acute food shortages and that famine-like conditions were “imminent” in the north, where aid is scarce.
“People don’t grasp how empty and dire the situation is there, from the price of a bag of flour to a bag of onions,” said Reem Kassis, a Palestinian writer who included a khobeza recipe in her most recent cookbook.
The plant, which is also eaten in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and elsewhere, grows wild and has a relatively mild flavor. In normal times, it is often seasoned with lemon juice or chili pepper.
Ms. Kassis said her mother’s family cooked it as a thick stew, filled with caramelized onions and drops of dough. Her father sautéed the plant in olive oil and drizzled it with lemon juice.
“It is considered a humble meal, not something you would serve your guests,” Ms. Kassis said. “In the absence of anything else, it is nutritious. You can stretch it, you can add dough or bread, you can add onions.”
In Gaza, where ingredients are scarce, many families boil it into a thin soup that can be shared among large numbers of people.
“We have been eating khobeza since the time of our ancestors,” said Sulaiman Abu Khadija, 32, an agricultural worker. “One generation passed it to another.”
Mr. Abu Khadija, his wife and their three children live in Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, and he sometimes walks far to reach open land where he can pick khobeza.
“Many people have eaten it during this war because there are no options for different vegetables,” he said. “It is easy to get anywhere and can be cooked quickly and simply.”
His family makes soup, boiling the leaves and then changing the water to ensure that the food is clean, he said.
While he knew the plant well before the war, he said some city dwellers who had been displaced from northern Gaza were unfamiliar with it, but pleasantly surprised when they tasted it.
It is often eaten hot, but some Gazans, like Mr. Abu Khadija, consider it more delicious cold.
The plant is not widely consumed in Israel, but it grows extensively there, and some chefs consider it a treasured local ingredient.
Moshe Basson, the executive chef and owner of the Eucalyptus restaurant in Jerusalem, said he had seen a video on social media that said it showed Gazans eating “weeds.”
“This is not a weed,” he recalled thinking. “This has to be khobeza.”
His cookbook features recipes that use khobeza, he said, and his current menu includes stuffed khobeza leaves and khobeza sautéed with garlic, olive oil and mushrooms, he said.
He was not at all surprised to see Gazans eating the plant.
“It is a medicine,” he said. “It is full of nutrition and for me as a chef, it is tasty.”
In their history, Israelis, too, have turned to khobeza in times of need.
During the war surrounding Israel’s foundation in 1948, Arab forces imposed a punishing siege on Jerusalem, and Jews trapped inside the city sent their children to forage for khobeza, also known as chalamit in Hebrew.
In the end, the Jews held out and the siege failed.
In this war, with Israeli jets raining bombs on Gaza and Israeli troops on the ground in parts of the territory, even foraging for khobeza can be perilous.
“No aid or anything else comes down to us,” said Rawan al-Khoudary, 22, referring to airdrops of food carried out by the United States and other countries.
As food grew scarce where she lives in northern Gaza, she said, her husband often went to agricultural land near the frontier with Israel to gather eggplants and khobeza. But during one trip, her cousin’s husband was shot and killed by someone the family believes was an Israeli sniper.
Now, they pick khobeza elsewhere.
“We make it into soup, we make it into stew, we make it into whatever we can,” she said. “We are living on khobeza.”
Abu Bakr Bashir contributed reporting from London, and Hiba Yazbek from Jerusalem.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
2) Ninth Week of Forced-Labor Stoppage in Alabama Prison
Natalia Marques reports on incarcerated organizers in St. Clair prison led by the Free Alabama Movement who are refusing to engage in prison labor, April 5, 2024
Activists in solidarity with incarcerated organizers outside of St. Clair prison. (Birmingham DSA)
On Saturday will begin the ninth week a group of activists will gather outside St. Clair Correctional Facility, near Birmingham, Alabama, to show solidarity with incarcerated organizers, who have been refusing to engage in prison labor since Feb. 6.
Organizers want to sustain the shutdown, which entails a full stoppage of all labor inside the prisons that prisoners are forced to do, for at least 90 days.
The organizers, led by the Free Alabama Movement, are living under the boot of the most violent state prison system in the United States — a nation known for having the largest prison population in the world and regularly employing torture and archaic methods of execution against its prisoners.
The Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) has become notorious for running a regime of violence against prisoners, while employing those same prisoners in a system of legalized slavery.
Incarcerated organizers in Alabama claim that ADOC keeps parole rates artificially low in order to keep as many prisoners in the labor force as possible.
The Free Alabama Movement has organized many statewide prison shutdowns throughout the years.
In 2022, prisoners initiated work stoppages at every single major correctional facility in the state.
In 2016, the Free Alabama Movement organized a shutdown with participation from reportedly 57,000 prisoners — potentially the largest prison shutdown in U.S. history.
Prisoners are now trying to replicate many of the same tactics as the previous shutdowns, by sustaining and trying to expand the shutdown of St. Clair, which began on Feb. 6, for at least 90 days. The goal is to spread the shutdown to all ADOC facilities.
Shutdown, Not a Strike
FAM organizers are intentional about their language, employing the term “prison shutdown” rather than “prison strike.”
According to Cecilia Prado, of the Tennessee Student Solidarity Network, which has been organizing in solidarity with FAM, incarcerated organizers “are participating in work stoppages and boycotts, but they do not call it a prison strike, because they know that people on the outside usually have the idea of prison strikes being related to wages, or to better benefits.”
Prisoners “do not want just better benefits,” Prado says. Instead, FAM organizers want to dismantle the entire system of prison labor, which they label as slavery.
“They want the massive financial incentive of the prison labor economy to go away, because it’s behind the fact that Alabama prisons are the most deadly, most crowded in the country.”
Organizations who have stood in solidarity with FAM include the Tennessee Student Solidarity Network, Birmingham Stands, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Birmingham Democratic Socialists of America, as well as students from nearby universities such as Middle Tennessee State University, Fisk University, Auburn University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Nashville State University, and Vanderbilt University.
Links With Genocide in Gaza
Throughout the prison shutdown, FAM organizers have used their platforms to show solidarity with various struggles, including the struggle in Palestine. On March 2, Young Palestinians Of Birmingham joined the Tennessee Student Solidarity Network and other organizations standing in solidarity with FAM organizers outside of St. Clair.
“The Young Palestinians of Birmingham supports the Free Alabama Movement in their struggle against the prison industrial complex, which is one of several systems that support the Zionist occupation of Palestine and ongoing genocide in Gaza,” Hamza, the president of YPB, told Peoples Dispatch.
“The St. Clair Correctional Facility in particular is the largest source of economic output from prison labor in Alabama. If the system can be shut down— if prison labor can be brought to an end — not only can incarcerated workers demand justice for the abuse and repression they experience at the hands of an oppressive system, but it would also be a major hit to the companies that supply ‘Israel’ with the weapons it needs to continue its extirpation of Palestinians in their native land.”
“Arms manufacturers like Raytheon and Lockheed-Martin not only profit from contracts with the U.Ss military, but also with the Zionist military. These companies create the jets and rockets that the occupation is armed with. The bombs that kill children in Gaza are made in America. Furthermore, these same corporations, along with many others, make billions of dollars from forced prison labor. Incarcerated workers are paid pennies to do work for companies that play a direct part in sustaining the occupation of Palestine and the ongoing genocide,” Hamza said.
Natalia Marques is a correspondent for Peoples Dispatch.
This article is from Peoples Dispatch.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
3) Israel’s withdrawal leaves a power vacuum in Gaza that could be filled by Hamas.
By Patrick Kingsley reporting from Jerusalem, April 8, 2024
A Palestinian woman walks past damaged buildings in Khan Younis on Monday, after Israel pulled its ground forces out of the southern Gaza Strip. Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The Israeli military’s departure from southern Gaza over the weekend has left the territory without a major active battle for the first time since a brief truce with Hamas in November, raising hopes that the two sides might reach another cease-fire.
But by withdrawing without empowering an alternative Palestinian leadership, Israel has left behind a power vacuum in which Hamas could regroup and re-emerge as a military force across much of the territory. That likelihood has prompted fears that for the foreseeable future, Israel will continue to mount raids across Gaza to prevent Hamas’s revival, extending the war for months to come.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that its 98th Division had left Khan Younis in southern Gaza in order “to recuperate and prepare for future operations.” That leaves no Israeli troops actively maneuvering in southern Gaza, according to two officials briefed on the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly about it.
The drawdown of troops continues a process that began in January and leaves the equivalent of a single brigade in all of Gaza, or fewer than 5,000 troops — down from roughly 50,000 at the height of the war in December.
The remaining troops inside Gaza are mostly guarding a buffer zone that Israel has created by destroying Palestinian buildings along the border, or positioned along a narrow land corridor that splits northern Gaza, including Gaza City, from the rest of the territory.
Two journalists for The New York Times traveled down the corridor last week, observing how it functions as a supply road for troops; a barrier to displaced Gazans attempting to move back to north Gaza; and a potential launchpad for future Israeli military operations in northern and central Gaza.
For the Israeli leadership, the withdrawal was a sign of Israel’s progress on the battlefield, and something they had long predicted. Israeli officials have said that, having routed Hamas, their army would eventually move most of its troops back to the strip’s perimeter and conduct brief attacks on specific targets, instead of carrying out large-scale ground maneuvers across wide areas.
To others, the drawdown constitutes an Israeli failure. Despite mounting a campaign that local authorities say has killed more than 33,000 and left Gaza on the brink of famine, Israel is leaving most of the strip without having achieved the objectives it set itself after Hamas raided Israel on Oct. 7, setting off the war.
Hamas’s most senior leaders are still alive; several thousand Hamas fighters are still at large; and roughly half of the hostages taken on Oct. 7 are still captive in Gaza. Israel’s withdrawal has left most of Gaza without a functional administration, and the void could yet be filled once more by Hamas.
To rout Hamas, Israel would need to follow through on its promise to advance on Rafah, the southern city where those fighters and leaders are thought to be hiding. Aid groups and foreign leaders warn that a ground offensive would lead to widespread harm to the more than one million civilians who have fled to the city since the war began.
Analysts said the withdrawal from southern Gaza could give fresh momentum to negotiations to achieve a cease-fire and an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held inside Israel. Negotiations have stalled for months, in large part because Israel does not want to agree to a truce that allows Hamas to remain in charge of any part of Gaza, while Hamas is wary of a deal that does not ensure its long-term survival.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is under pressure from the United States to agree to a truce, and parts of Israeli society want a deal, whatever the cost, in order to free the hostages. But members of Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition have threatened to resign if he ends the war without ousting Hamas from all of Gaza, and the proposed Rafah operation also has significant public support.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
4) Nicaragua is taking Germany to court over supplying arms to Israel.
By Marlise Simons Reporting from Paris, April 8, 2024
Judges and delegates at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Monday. Credit...Piroschka Van De Wouw/Reuters
Nicaragua, a longstanding supporter of the Palestinian cause, is broadening the legal battle over the Gaza conflict at the International Court of Justice by bringing a case against Germany, a major supplier of arms to Israel.
Nicaragua is arguing in its filing that “Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide” in Gaza and violating the Genocide Convention by providing Israel with military and financial aid. It asks for emergency measures ordering Berlin to halt its wartime support to Israel.
In hearings opening on Monday at the court in The Hague, Nicaragua is also expected to assert that Germany is enabling grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions by Israel, in particular the obligation to protect civilians during armed conflict.
A spokeswoman for the German chancellery, Christine Hoffman, told journalists last week that the government rejects Nicaragua’s accusations. Germany is expected to respond to the case on Tuesday morning.
Nicaragua’s government is itself facing sanctions for repressive policies at home. A United Nations special report last month said that the government’s numerous abuses, including the jailing and deportation of opposition figures as well as Roman Catholic clerics, were “tantamount to crimes against humanity.”
The case brought by Nicaragua on Monday at The Hague raises new questions about the liability of countries that have supplied weapons to Israel for the war in Gaza.
Lawyers say that Germany — Israel’s second-largest arms provider, after the United States — is an easier target for a suit than is the United States. Germany has granted full jurisdiction to the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest court. But the United States denies its jurisdiction, except in cases where Washington explicitly gives its consent.
Nicaragua’s case is the third before the court this year that deals with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
South Africa first sought emergency measures from the court, arguing that Israel was at risk of committing genocide, an assertion that the court found plausible but that Israel has strongly denied. The court ordered Israel to ensure that its citizens and soldiers do not violate the Genocide Convention, which Israel has signed. The convention forbids actions intended to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
South Africa has also petitioned the I.C.J. about hunger in Gaza and obtained a new ruling ordering Israel to permit delivery of food, water and other vital supplies “without delay.” Despite the court’s authority it does not have any means of forcing Israel to comply with its orders. Israel has strongly denied accusations of deliberate starvation in Gaza.
In February, the court also took up a case requested by the United Nations General Assembly on the legality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. Those hearings, planned long before the war, heard from more than 50 countries, most of which vented anger and frustration at Israel’s attacks on Gaza and the worsening death toll among civilians.
The Nicaraguan case is far broader in scope than South Africa’s, invoking both violations of the Geneva Conventions and the convention against genocide, and requiring the protection of civilians. It also accuses Israel of other “unlawful” conduct in the occupied territories.
The court has not yet accepted the case, but it is obliged to react quickly to requests for emergency measures, as in this case.
Israel, which is not a party to the dispute between Nicaragua and Germany, will not appear before the court in the hearings this week, which are expected to last two days.
Supporting Israel is seen as a historic duty in Germany in light of the Holocaust, but the mounting toll in Gaza has pushed some German officials to ask whether that backing has gone too far.
The recent intense activity at the court has put it in a rare spotlight. Lawyers say that countries have turned to the court because efforts by the United Nations and other negotiators have failed so far to stop the Gaza war.
“The I.C.J. is not going to end the war in Gaza, but it is a diplomatic tool that foreign policy uses to apply additional pressure on Israel,” said Brian Finucane, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group, a think tank for conflict resolution. “In the Nicaragua case, it further applies pressure on Germany.”
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
5) Palestinians return to an ‘unrecognizable’ city after an Israeli withdrawal.
By Hiba Yazbek reporting from Jerusalem, April 8, 2024
A Palestinian family rides on the back of a donkey-drawn cart past damaged buildings in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Monday. Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The withdrawal of Israeli ground troops from southern Gaza over the weekend allowed some Palestinians to return to the city of Khan Younis and check on their homes. But in the aftermath of a fierce, monthslong battle and Israeli bombings, some found only destruction.
“When I saw the scene I couldn’t handle it,” said Dr. Ahmad al-Farra, who went back on Sunday to find his family’s three-story villa reduced to a pile of rubble, surrounded by the few trees that were left standing in what was once a lush garden.
“I completely collapsed and nearly fainted,” he said in a phone call on Monday, adding that his wife and two teenage daughters burst into tears when they saw what was left of their home.
“I worked for 20 years to build this house,” said Dr. al-Farra, 54, who ran the pediatric ward at Nasser Hospital before the family fled south to Rafah in January. “You build a home corner by corner, stone by stone.”
“And in the end,” he added, “with a press of a button, it is reduced to rubble.”
The rest of Khan Younis was “unrecognizable,” Dr. al-Farra said. Most buildings and homes were completely demolished, partially destroyed or burned, and the streets had been bulldozed. “Khan Younis was annihilated like it’s World War II or even worse,” he said.
Dr. al-Farra said “many, many people” had returned to Khan Younis on Sunday. He soon realized that staying at his home was not a possibility. But like many other Gazans sheltering in Rafah, he said that he soon planned to move his family’s tent to somewhere in Khan Younis. He and others fear Israel’s pledge to send ground troops into Rafah in pursuit of Hamas’s leaders and fighters, an invasion that many believe will come after the end of the holy month of Ramadan this week.
“The dreams of an entire family have disappeared into the air,” said Dr. al-Farra. “Where will we go now? Will we spend the rest of our lives living in tents?”
Nima Abu Azoum, 45, said her family planned to return to Khan Younis from Rafah this week — a journey of about six miles that people are making on foot, on donkey carts or, in rare cases, by car. But she said that the long-awaited homecoming would not be what they had dreamed of since evacuating to Rafah early in the war.
Her nephews went to Khan Younis on Monday to ready the family’s homes for the return. But instead, she said, they found the homes destroyed and the body of their 21-year-old brother Nader buried under the rubble. He had refused to evacuate with them to Rafah.
“I don’t have a home anymore — it’s gone,” Ms. Abu Azoum said in a phone call on Monday. “And nothing is left of our neighborhood.”
Akram al-Satri, 47, who traveled from Rafah to check on his home on Monday, said very few houses were still intact in Khan Younis. Walking around the city was “extremely challenging,” because the streets were bulldozed and rubble was everywhere, he said in a phone call.
Mr. al-Satri added that some people had been able to pull the remains of loved ones out of collapsed homes, but could only recognize them from their clothes, as their bodies had decomposed.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
6) PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ Are Pervasive in Water Worldwide, Study Finds
A global survey found harmful levels even in water samples taken far from any obvious source of contamination.
By Delger Erdenesanaa, April 8, 2024
The study “sets off alarm bells,” one of the authors said. Credit...Joshua A. Bickel/Associated Press
They’re in makeup, dental floss and menstrual products. They’re in nonstick pans and takeout food wrappers. Same with rain jackets and firefighting equipment, as well as pesticides and artificial turf on sports fields.
They’re PFAS: a class of man-made chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. They are also called “forever chemicals” because the bonds in their chemical compounds are so strong they don’t break down for hundreds to thousands of years, if at all.
They’re also in our water.
A new study of more than 45,000 water samples around the world found that about 31 percent of groundwater samples tested that weren’t near any obvious source of contamination had PFAS levels considered harmful to human health by the Environmental Protection Agency.
About 16 percent of surface water samples tested, which were also not near any known source, had similarly hazardous PFAS levels.
This finding “sets off alarm bells,” said Denis O’Carroll, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of New South Wales and one of the authors of the study, which was published on Monday in Nature Geoscience. “Not just for PFAS, but also for all the other chemicals that we put out into the environment. We don’t necessarily know their long-term impacts to us or the ecosystem.”
High levels of exposure to some PFAS chemicals have been linked to higher cholesterol, liver and immune system damage, hypertension and pre-eclampsia during pregnancy, as well as kidney and testicular cancer.
The E.P.A. has proposed strict new drinking water limits for six types of PFAS and could announce its final rule as early as this week.
For their research, Dr. O’Carroll and his colleagues gathered nearly 300 previously published studies on PFAS in the environment. Together, these studies included 12,000 samples from surface water — streams, rivers, ponds and lakes — and 33,900 samples from groundwater wells, collected over the past 20 years. These samples don’t cover the whole planet: they are concentrated in places with more environmental researchers, like the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and the Pacific Coast of Asia.
The samples are probably also concentrated in places where people were already concerned about PFAS contamination, Dr. O’Carroll said. He cautioned that, as a result, the findings of this new study might be skewed to show higher levels of contamination than a true global average would. There’s reason to believe, however, that there’s some level of PFAS contamination nearly everywhere on the planet, he said.
Of the countries where studies had been done, the United States and Australia had particularly high concentrations of PFAS in their water samples.
Among the available samples, the highest levels of contamination were generally found near places like airports and military bases, which routinely use PFAS-containing foam to practice fighting fires. About 60 to 70 percent of both groundwater and surface water samples near these types of facilities had PFAS levels exceeding the E.P.A. Hazard Index, which measures how hazardous mixtures of certain chemicals might be to human health, and also exceeded limits in the E.P.A.’s proposed new drinking water regulations.
This research does an admirable job of collecting the available data and highlighting the extent of global contamination from PFAS chemicals, said David Andrews, a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group, a research and advocacy organization, who was not involved in this study.
Scientific research on the health effects of PFAS has evolved significantly in the past 10 to 20 years, he said, and what are considered safe exposure levels now are a tiny fraction of what they were a few decades ago.
The proposed E.P.A. drinking water rules, depending on their final language, will be a big step forward, he said.
Michael Regan, the E.P.A. administrator, has said his agency intends to require utilities to treat their water so that levels of some PFAS are near zero. This requirement would make the United States one of the strictest countries in terms of regulating PFAS in water.
Dr. Andrews added, however, that while treating drinking water is important, it doesn’t solve the whole problem. His own research has shown that PFAS chemicals are pervasive in wildlife, too.
“Once they’re released into the environment, it’s incredibly difficult to clean them up, if not impossible in many cases,” he said. “They can be removed from drinking water, but the ultimate solution is to not use them in the first place, especially in places where there are clear alternatives.”
For example, some outdoor clothing brands are moving away from PFAS for waterproofing their products and toward alternatives like silicones. Fast food restaurants can wrap their burgers in paper that’s been treated with heat to make it grease-resistant, or coated in a PFAS-free plastic instead. The Department of Defense is beginning to replace traditional firefighting foam with an alternative called fluorine-free foam, or F3.
In the meantime, Dr. O’Carroll said, “I’m not in any way trying to say that we should not be drinking water.” He added, “It’s more that I’m trying to say, from a societal point of view, we need to be careful what we put into the environment.”
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
7) Iran Smuggles Arms to West Bank, Officials Say, to Foment Unrest With Israel
The covert operation, described by U.S., Iranian and Israeli officials, is heightening concerns that Iran is seeking to turn the West Bank into a flashpoint in its shadow war with Israel.
By Farnaz Fassihi, Ronen Bergman and Eric Schmitt, April 9, 2024
A damaged building in Syria. Airstrikes in Syria last week targeted units from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps overseeing smuggling, according to officials. Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Iran is operating a clandestine smuggling route across the Middle East, employing intelligence operatives, militants and criminal gangs, to deliver weapons to Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to officials from the United States, Israel and Iran.
The goal, as described by three Iranian officials, is to foment unrest against Israel by flooding the enclave with as many weapons as it can.
The covert operation is now heightening concerns that Tehran is seeking to turn the West Bank into the next flashpoint in the long-simmering shadow war between Israel and Iran. That conflict has taken on new urgency this month, risking a broader conflict in the Middle East, as Iran vowed to retaliate for an Israeli strike on an embassy compound that killed seven Iranian armed forces commanders.
Many weapons smuggled to the West Bank largely travel along two paths from Iran through Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel, the officials said. As the arms cross borders, the officials added, they change hands among a multinational cast that can include members of organized criminal gangs, extremist militants, soldiers and intelligence operatives. A key group in the operation, the Iranian officials and analysts said, are Bedouin smugglers who carry the weapons across the border from Jordan into Israel.
The New York Times interviewed senior security and government officials with knowledge of Iran’s effort to smuggle weapons to the West Bank, including three from Israel, three from Iran and three from the United States. The officials from all three countries requested anonymity to discuss covert operations for which they were not authorized to speak publicly.
“The Iranians wanted to flood the West Bank with weapons, and they were using criminal networks in Jordan, in the West Bank and in Israel, primarily Bedouin, to move and sell the products,” said Matthew Levitt, director of the counterterrorism program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a research organization, and the author of a study on the smuggling route.
The smuggling to the West Bank, analysts said, began about two years ago when Iran started using routes previously established to smuggle other contraband. It is unclear exactly how many weapons have made it to the territory in that time, though analysts say the majority are small arms.
In the months since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack against Israel from Gaza, Israeli security forces have conducted a large-scale crackdown across the West Bank.
The Israeli military describes the raids as part of its counterterrorism effort against Hamas and other armed factions to root out weapons and militants. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, including those accused of attacking Israelis, according to the United Nations, in one of the deadliest periods in decades.
Human rights groups say many Palestinians are being unfairly detained, particularly those held in Israeli prisons without a formal trial. They say that it is unclear how many of the detainees possess genuine militant links.
“These arrests include many who are being swept up for reasons that are not clear,” said Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. “The Israeli government has a long track record of abusive detention, arbitrary arrests and detaining people for exercising their basic rights.”
For years, Iran’s leaders have declared the necessity of arming Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank. Iran has long supplied weapons for attacking Israel to militants elsewhere in the region, members of its so-called Axis of Resistance, including its two primary Palestinian allies in Gaza, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Both of those groups, which also operate in the West Bank, are designated terrorist organizations by the United States, the European Union, Israel and other countries.
The Iranian officials said Tehran had not singled out a particular group for its largess, choosing instead to broadly inundate the territory with guns and ammunition.
Afshon Ostovar, an associate professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School and an expert on Iran’s military, said Iran was focusing on the West Bank because it understood that access to Gaza would be curtailed for the foreseeable future.
“The West Bank really needs to be the next frontier that Iran will penetrate and proliferate weapons into, because if they are able to do that then the West Bank will become just as big a problem, if not bigger, as Gaza,” he said.
Fatah, the Palestinian faction that controls the Palestinian Authority and with it much of the West Bank, accused Iran last week of trying to “exploit” Palestinians for its own means by spreading chaos in the territory. In a statement, Fatah said it would not allow “our sacred cause and the blood of our people to be exploited” by Iran.
In a statement, Iran’s U.N. Mission did not comment on the smuggling operation, but emphasized what it said was the importance of Palestinians taking up arms against Israel.
“Iran’s assessment posits that the sole effective avenue for resisting the occupation by the Zionist regime is through armed resistance,” said Amir Saeid Iravani, the country’s U.N. ambassador. “Palestinian resistance forces possess the capability to manufacture and procure the necessary armaments for their cause.”
Even after Oct. 7, as Iran’s proxies have increasingly launched salvos from Lebanon and Yemen, Tehran and Jerusalem preferred to restrict much of their conflict to the shadows. But that covert war exploded into public view last week with the airstrike against an Iranian Embassy building in Syria.
Israeli warplanes on April 1 attacked a meeting of leaders from Iran’s armed forces and members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Damascus, the Iranian officials said. Among those killed was Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, 65, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps general in charge of Iran’s covert operations in Syria and Lebanon through which parts of the weapons smuggling trail wends, the Israeli, Iranian and American officials said.
That attack came on the heels of another Israeli airstrike. On March 26, Israeli forces struck a key node of the smuggling route in eastern Syria, according to the American and Iranian officials, and two of the Israeli officials.
The majority of the smuggled weapons, analysts said, are small arms like handguns and assault rifles. Iran is also smuggling advanced weapons, according to the American officials and Israeli officials. Those weapons, the Israeli officials said, include antitank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades, which fly fast and low to the ground, creating a challenge for Israel when defending civilian and military targets from close-range fire.
Israel’s domestic security agency, Shin Bet, said in a statement that it had recently seized advanced military equipment smuggled into the West Bank. The statement added that Shin Bet “takes very seriously involvement in activities directed by Iran and its affiliates and will continue to carry out active measures at all times to monitor and thwart any activity that endangers the security of the state of Israel.”
Working with its militant allies and established criminal networks, Iran is using two main routes to get weapons to the West Bank, the Israeli, Iranian and American officials said.
Along one route, Iran-backed militants and Iranian operatives carry the weapons from Syria to Jordan, the officials said. From there, the Iranian officials added, they are transferred at the border to Bedouin smugglers. The nomads take the weapons to the border with Israel, where they are picked up by criminal gangs who then move them to the West Bank.
The Iranian effort taps a well-established smuggling route in Jordan, which shares a porous 300-mile border with Israel. Last year, a Jordanian lawmaker was indicted in Amman, Jordan, after being caught in 2022 trying to smuggle more than 200 weapons into the West Bank. The source of the weapons is unclear.
One of the Iranian officials said increased security since Oct. 7, by both Israel and Jordan, has raised the risk of getting caught, especially for Bedouins and Arab-Israelis who play critical roles for their ability to cross borders.
A second, more challenging route skips Jordan and takes the weapons from Syria to Lebanon, two of the U.S. officials said. From there, many of the weapons are smuggled into Israel, where criminal gangs pick them up and move them to the West Bank.
The route through Lebanon, Mr. Levitt said, is more difficult, particularly since the war in Gaza started, because the border on which Hezbollah operates is more heavily patrolled by both the Israeli military and U.N. peacekeepers.
Much of the work coordinating the smuggling route is done by Iranian operatives from the Quds Force, the Revolutionary Guards’ external intelligence agency, according to two of the Iranian officials who are affiliated with the Guards.
In addition to killing General Zahedi, the Israeli strike against the Iranian Embassy building in Damascus last week killed two other Quds Force generals and four other officers, Iran said, making it one of the deadliest attacks of the shadow war.
The American officials and two of the Israeli officials said a series of strikes in Syria a week earlier were aimed at two Iranian intelligence divisions involved in the smuggling. One unit, known as Division 4000, is overseen directly by the Revolutionary Guards. The other, Division 18840, is operated by the Quds Force.
Days before the Israeli strike on the embassy building in Damascus, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gave his personal seal of approval to the Palestinian militants who receive many of Iran’s weapons. In Tehran, he met with the leaders of two armed groups: Ziyad al-Nakhalah of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas.
Ayatollah Khamenei, who years ago publicly issued an order to arm the West Bank, told both leaders, according to the state media, that Iran would not hesitate to support Palestinians and their cause.
“It would not have been easy for the Palestinian people to withstand this battle had it not been for Iran’s continuous and consistent support at all political, military and security levels,” Mr. al-Nakhalah said in a speech in Tehran.
Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting from Jerusalem.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
8) Active fighting has ebbed, but Gazans still face extreme hardship
By Victoria Kim, April 9, 2024
Palestinian women walking among the rubble of destroyed buildings in Khan Younis on Monday, after Israel pulled its ground forces out of the southern Gaza Strip. Credit...Haitham Imad/EPA, via Shutterstock
In early March, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began amid dashed hopes that negotiators would reach a deal for a pause in the fighting in Gaza.
On Tuesday, as weeks of fasting were drawing to a close, the pace of the war had slowed. But the prospect of relief and peace of any duration in the embattled territory remained elusive.
Cease-fire talks are still sputtering, Hamas has dismissed the likelihood of a deal and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has doubled down on his vow to invade Rafah, the final stretch of the Gaza Strip that his military has yet to push into.
“We will complete the elimination of Hamas’s battalions, including in Rafah,” he said on Tuesday. “No force in the world will stop us.”
For weeks, allies and the international community have been warning Israel that a move into Rafah would result in a humanitarian calamity. But Mr. Netanyahu’s remarks to military recruits on Tuesday — a day after proclaiming “there is a date” for the planned Rafah invasion — made clear he remained undeterred.
Hamas, in a statement on the messaging app Telegram early Tuesday, said it was reviewing the latest cease-fire proposal on the table, even though its demands had not been met. Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been mediating the negotiations.
Active fighting in the 140-square-mile enclave has ebbed to its lowest point since November. Israel withdrew troops from southern Gaza over the weekend, allowing some people to return to survey their homes in the southern city of Khan Younis, only to find much of it annihilated.
Analysts said the pullback of troops signaled a new phase of the war rather than the likelihood of an enduring cease-fire. Israeli leaders said the withdrawal was a result of their military’s achievements on the battlefield.
Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, will begin in Gaza on Wednesday. Under normal circumstances it’s a holiday filled with family visits, new clothes and sweet treats.
But this year, Gazans are facing Eid under the pall of widespread hunger and extreme shortages of basic necessities, on top of the destruction and death that have touched all corners of the enclave in six months of war. During the month of Ramadan, about 2,000 people were killed in the fighting, bringing the toll to more than 33,000 lives lost since the war began on Oct. 7, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its statistics.
COGAT, the Israeli agency responsible for coordinating aid deliveries into Gaza, said 419 trucks with humanitarian aid had entered the territory on Monday, the largest number since the outbreak of the conflict. Before the war, an average of 500 commercial and aid trucks entered each day, the level that aid agencies say is needed.
On Monday, the leaders of Egypt, Jordan and France urged an immediate cease-fire in Gaza in a joint opinion essay published in The Washington Post and other publications, citing the “catastrophic humanitarian suffering” and “intolerable human toll” brought on by the war.
King Abdullah II of Jordan, President Emmanuel Macron of France and President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi of Egypt together called for a two-state solution for the Palestinians, saying it was the only credible path to peace, and warned Israel against invading Rafah.
“Such an offensive would only bring more death and suffering, heighten the risks and consequences of mass displacement of the people of Gaza and threaten regional escalation,” they wrote in the essay.
Cassandra Vinograd contributed reporting.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
9) The U.N. Security Council agrees to take up a Palestinian bid for full membership.
By Farnaz Fassihi, April 9, 2024
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, addressing the Security Council at U.N. headquarters, in March. Credit...Craig Ruttle/Associated Press
The U.N. Security Council agreed on Monday to take up a Palestinian bid for full membership in the United Nations, which would amount to a recognition of statehood, but prospects for its acceptance remain dim.
A similar application failed in 2011 — the next year, Palestine was granted the lesser status of observer — and last week the Palestinian Authority asked the United Nations to take up its bid a second time.
The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, calling it “a historic moment again,” said that it was high time for the world body to recognize Palestinian statehood, which has support of most U.N. member states. That, he said, would “open the door slightly in the direction of peace.”
But the United States, which has a longstanding policy that Palestinian statehood must come as part of a negotiated agreement with Israel, has the power to defeat the U.N. application, and is seen as likely to do so.
The 15-member Security Council agreed to send the Palestinian application to its membership committee. That decision was unanimous, said Vanessa Frazier, the ambassador from Malta, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council this month. The committee will report back to the full Security Council with a recommendation, if it can agree on one.
Either way, the Security Council can vote on membership. To succeed, the application needs the votes of at least nine of the 15 member countries, and no veto by its five permanent members. The United States is one of the five nations that wield veto power.
Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, sharply criticized the Council for considering what he called “modern-day Nazi jihadists” for membership and said it was a “reward for Palestinian terror.”
The 2011 membership bid failed to get the support of nine of the Council’s 15 members. And even if it had, the United States signaled that it would veto the application.
But now, six months into a war between Israel and Hamas that has taken a catastrophic toll on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the issue of Palestinian statehood has gained momentum, receiving wide support among U.N. member states. About 140 countries have gone on record supporting the Palestinian bid now before the Council.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
10) Under U.S. pressure, Israel said more aid would go to Gaza. Is that happening?
By Matthew Mpoke Bigg, April 9, 2024
A Palestinian carries boxes of aid distributed before Eid al-Fitr holiday in Deir al Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on Monday. Credit...Ramadan Abed/Reuters
Four days after Israel promised to enable a major increase in aid reaching the Gaza Strip, it was unclear on Monday whether much had changed, or when it might, amid widely divergent claims about the amount of food and other vital supplies entering the territory.
Israeli airstrikes a week ago killed seven aid workers who had been delivering food in Gaza, renewing the international focus on the hunger crisis there. Under pressure from President Biden, the Israeli government, which insists on inspecting all supplies to Gaza, said last Thursday that it would take steps to increase aid deliveries, though it gave no date for the changes.
The Israeli unit that supervises aid deliveries into Gaza, COGAT, said on Monday that 322 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies were inspected and transferred to the territory on Sunday and that more than 70 percent of them carried food. That figure was the highest since the start of the war, it said.
But UNRWA, the primary United Nations agency aiding Palestinians, said that 103 aid trucks crossed into Gaza on Sunday.
The two sources often disagree on the volume of aid reaching the enclave, but the latest discrepancy was especially striking, and the reasons for it were unclear.
Until now, almost all aid for Gaza has entered through two southern border crossings, at Rafah and Kerem Shalom. Israel has recently allowed limited use of a third crossing farther north. Aid groups accuse Israel of restricting deliveries, which Israel denies; COGAT said Sunday on social media, “There is no limit to the amount of aid that can be facilitated for the civilians in Gaza,” repeating a line it has used for month.
Israel said last week that it would use the Erez border crossing into northern Gaza and the Israeli port of Ashdod, around 20 miles northeast of Gaza, to allow supplies to reach the territory. The threat of famine is most acute in the north.
The United States hopes that 350 aid trucks will enter Gaza each day by later this week, the State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, said on Monday, adding that the Biden administration expects Israel to ensure “a sustained” increase in aid deliveries to the territory.
Speaking at a daily news briefing, Mr. Miller said that Israel had taken “initial positive steps over the past few days” after President Biden warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that U.S. policy toward Israel could change if more is not done to feed and protect the people of Gaza.
Aid workers caution that any solution to the hunger crisis, which the United Nations says borders on famine, requires a sustained increase in the amount of aid that enters the territory as well as more medical staff trained in how to treat the effects of malnutrition. They also say it is unwise to look at a single day’s figures, given daily fluctuations, and that, above all, a cease-fire is needed so that civilians and humanitarian staff can operate in safety.
Before the conflict, around 500 commercial and aid trucks entered Gaza each day. Since Oct. 7, when Israel announced a siege of the territory, the number of trucks has varied but on average around 106 have entered Gaza each day, according to the U.N. data. For its part, COGAT’s figures show an average of around 115 trucks entering per day.
Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for UNRWA, said that Gaza needs 500 trucks of aid each day, for weeks and months, to remedy the crisis.
In the short term, the situation in north Gaza could worsen. The seven aid workers killed last week worked for World Central Kitchen and had been working to deliver hundreds of tons of aid that had arrived by ship to northern Gaza. The organization has since suspended its operations in Gaza, and the World Food Program said it only managed to get 47 trucks of aid to north Gaza, something it called a “drop in the ocean of need.”
The United States Central Command said it had airdropped aid to northern Gaza by parachute on Sunday. Several governments have conducted airdrops over Gaza in recent weeks but aid officials say that they are less efficient than overland deliveries.
Michael Crowley contributed reporting.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
