International Solidarity Movement - Page 15 - Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.

UNRWA Aid Cuts: a Coordinated Political and Economic Attack

02 February 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Gaza

An UNRWA school turned into a shelter for displaced Palestinians, January 2024. @UNRWA

Mere hours after the ICJ ruling which found Israel is ‘plausibly’ committing genocide in Gaza and ordered it shall take “immediate and effective measures” to enable urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance into the besieged strip, the apartheid state started a timely orchestrated attack against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency For Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). This resulted in 15 Western countries suspending funding to the agency at a crucial time.

Let’s be clear, this is not only a vindictive act after the ICJ ruling and an attempt to deflect the attention from the genocide that Israel is carrying out, but also a political attack to rid of an institution which enshrines the right of return of Palestine refugees and their fundamental existence, which Israel wants the world to forget. Founded after the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe), UNRWA has granted “refugee” status to generations of Palestinians.

The aid cut from Western countries is another attack on the Palestinians and a continuation of the unhinged and unilateral support by Western allies for Israel’s genocidal plan and its will to eradicate the indigenous people of the land it stole. However, now with a legally binding ruling on the table, this action from Western governments could not only be in breach of the measures ordered by the UN court but also in violation of the Genocide convention.

As the largest aid organisation in Gaza, UNRWA is crucial to displaced Palestinians. It is now providing shelter to over 1 million displaced people, in addition to food and primary healthcare. In the context of Gaza where, after almost 4 months of assault by the Israeli occupation which resulted in the killing of over 26,000 people and injuring of over 65,000, the ramifications of UNRWA losing funding are dire, as it is providing humanitarian aid to 2 million Palestinians, nearly the whole Gaza population. UNRWA’s Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini emphasized the heinous nature of these actions, stating that “Palestinians in Gaza did not need this additional collective punishment. This stains all of us.”
Around 15 countries announced funding cuts: led by the US (UNRWA’s biggest donor), Canada, Australia, UK, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Japan, and others followed suit. Meanwhile, France and the EU have announced they will review their funding to UNRWA in the coming period. Ireland, Norway, and Spain declared that they had no intention of suspending funding. Norway’s Foreign Affairs Minister Espen Barth Eide said that cutting funds amounts to collective punishment and Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, wrote on X that “famine is now inevitable”.

UNRWA employs around 33,000 staff, 13,000 in Gaza. UNRWA facilities in the strip have been repeatedly and deliberately hit by Israeli strikes, killing 372 displaced Palestinians sheltering there. 152 UN staff members were also killed during the attacks. The Agency has warned that humanitarian assistance will stop by the end of February if funds are not reinstated.

This has been the latest attack on the Agency by the Israeli government, with Netanyahu now openly calling for the “termination” of its mission. During a discussion at the Israeli Parliament in early January 2024, Noga Arbell, a former Israeli foreign ministry official, called for the destruction of UNRWA stating: “it will be impossible to win this war if we do not destroy UNRWA. And this destruction must begin immediately… UNRWA duties cannot be transferred, they must be cancelled.”

The Agency has not only a network of social services which, especially in Gaza, cannot be delivered by any other organisations, but has also a historic memory and a symbolic role in that it preserves the right of return of the Palestinians people. This is a right, however, which cannot be taken away from the children of the diaspora, with or without this institution. Dismantling UNRWA now will only serve to advance Israel’s strategy of starving and displacing once and for all Palestinians from their land. It is crucial to recognize that the the right of return of Palestinians is enshrined in international law and explicitly stated in UN General Assembly resolution 194:

“refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.”

Therefore, any political and economic attacks to undermine UNRWA risk facilitating the execution of Israel’s plan, contrary to the internationally recognized rights of the Palestinian people.

Gaza genocide: landmark ruling against Israel

29 January 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | The Hague, Netherlands

On Friday, January 26, after a two-week tense wait, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered the ruling on the genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel. In a landmark decision, the ICJ accepted SA’s case and asserted that there is indeed a plausible risk of genocide in the brutal attack on the besieged Gaza Strip. The ICJ ordered Israel to take “all measures within its power” to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza but stopped short of ordering a ceasefire (as has been ordered previously in other cases, such as the case brought by Ukraine against Russia).

By finding ‘plausible’ that genocide is being committed in Gaza, the ICJ asserted its jurisdiction to rule in the case. Six provisional measures were then ordered by the Court, which included that Israel must prevent acts of genocide in Gaza, prevent and punish public incitement to genocide, and immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. The Court also ordered Israel to preserve evidence of genocide and to submit a report to the Court in one month.

Reactions to the case have been mixed. On the one hand, this is a landmark case that has dealt a huge reputational blow to Israel and its Western allies. As a representative for Amnesty International stated, the ruling “sends a clear message that the world will not stand by in silence as Israel pursues a ruthless military campaign to decimate the population of the Gaza Strip and unleash death, horror and suffering against Palestinians on an unprecedented scale.”

The ruling also places Israel in a very difficult position, with legal experts believing it will now be harder for Israel to wage war in Palestine. Failure to comply with the orders will only increase public sentiment that is, on the whole, in favor of Palestinians, and may draw criticism of Israel from allies like the EU, who stated that they expect a ‘full, immediate implementation’ of the provisional measures. As such, the case can be seen as an ‘important step’ that could prevent further suffering and harm to Palestinians.

Legal experts have also affirmed that the only way to implement the measures imposed by the court is effectively only via a ceasefire.

On the other hand, many prominent Palestinians and allies viewed the case as a disappointment, noting Israel’s flagrant disregard for international law and the need for an immediate ceasefire. As Mohammed el-Kurd tweeted:

“The ICJ has failed to implement South Africa’s first and most important requested provisional measure: “the State of Israel shall immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza. Not shocking, but stings nonetheless.”

Meanwhile, others questioned the legitimacy of the case given that international law seems to be, increasingly, something that is only upheld when convenient to Western states and their allies. Whilst this is a legally binding Court ruling, it is questionable whether these measures will be implemented and who will enforce them. Far from providing a definite ending to the genocide in Gaza, as many hoped, the ICJ case may be best seen as another step in the growing international movement aiming to end Israel’s abuses in Palestine.

Non-Stop Killings and Incursions in the West Bank

27 January 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | West Bank

By Diana Khwaelid

The Israeli Occupation forces killed four Palestinians in the West Bank in 4 days, during incursions in several cities from January 12 to 15.

Since October 7, 2023, the West Bank has witnessed large-scale Israeli incursions, involving storming cities, villages and camps, and carrying out assassinations and arrests of Palestinian youths. Tulkarem in particular has witnessed many more such operations than ever before.

Tulkarem

On January 12, the IOF stormed the village of Zita, northeast of the city of Tulkarem, at about 20:30, opening fire on Palestinian youths and killing a young student, Khaled Zubaidi. He was 19-year-old and from the village of Zita, a student of Telecommunications Engineering at Palestine Technical University Kadoori. Two others were injured.

Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps have witnessed continuous incursions in the past months too.

Funeral of Khaled Zubaidi, 19, in Tulkarem. Credit: ISM

Nablus

The same week, the Israeli army stormed the city of Nablus, and opened fire indiscriminately on Palestinians in the street. An elderly man was wounded after he was shot in the abdomen, a 15-year-old Palestinian child suffered a head injury and was taken to the hospital, and a young Palestinian man, Abboud al-Shami, was arrested.

Al-Khalil

On the evening of Monday, January 15, the IOF stormed the town of Dora, south of Al-Khalil. There, they opened fire, killing a young man and a young girl, Mohammed Abu Saba, 22 and Ahed Mohammed, 23. Both were residents of Dora, and were killed merely because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Occupation forces injured nine others, four of whom seriously, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Tulkarem, Nablus

On the evening of Monday, January 15, Israeli forces opened fire on a Palestinian from the village of Beit Furik, in Nablus. The shooting happened near the Annab checkpoint connecting Tulkarm and Nablus, in the northern West Bank.

At that time, when Israeli occupation forces closed the road, barring citizens from entering and leaving both Tulkarm and Nablus, an Israeli soldier stopped a car carrying Fares Khalifa of the Nur Shams camp, an officer in the Palestinian Preventive Security Service and a liberated prisoner who spent 8 years in Israeli occupation prisons.

Khalifa refused to get out of the car, violating the soldier’s orders. After examining his Palestinian ID, the Israeli soldier forcibly removed Khalifa from the car, handcuffed him, and shot him, according to eyewitnesses who were in the area. Khalifa died instantly.

At the time of Fares Khalifa’s shooting, his family in the Nur Shams camp was still grieving the death of their other son, Farsan. A former prisoner of the occupation forces, he was released and deported to Gaza, where he was killed in the war a few weeks ago.

Continued Israeli incursions that are increasing in intensity, in conjunction with the continuation of the genocidal attack by occupation forces on Gaza, have left many Palestinians in a constant state of sadness, fear and tension, as they continue to confront a considerably more dangerous time than the country has witnessed in many years.

Fares Khalifa, 37, killed near Tulkarem. Credit: WAFA.

Planting olive trees as an act of resistance

21 January 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Umm Safa

Maher Sabah, a village leader, holding an olive tree during the day of work in Umm Safa. Credit: ISM.

On January 20, ISM volunteers joined with Israeli activists to work alongside villagers of Umm Safa, a village 30km north of Ramallah, planting olive trees and vines on part of the 200 dunums (50 acres) of the village’s communal land. Replacing some of the many olive trees destroyed by settlers is both an economic necessity and an act of resistance, clearly saying this is our land and we intend to stay on it.

As the day progressed and we came in view of the illegal settlement, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) turned up to disrupt this challenge to the Zionist settler colonial project. Immediately, they started pushing people around, shouting and pointing their weapons, demanding everyone leave the area, declaring it a “Closed Military Zone”. They seized gardening tools, uprooted some of the newly planted trees and seized mobile phones when they could.

After another jeep full of soldiers arrived, it became apparent they were going to escalate their violence. As we moved back, volleys of tear gas were fired at us whilst a military drone hovered overhead collecting intelligence (fortunately it did not eject a cloud of tear gas as we have experienced at previous confrontations). To avoid more serious violence from the IOF (like use of live ammunition) and/or arrests, the village leaders decided to stop the work and return to the village.

Umm Safa is one of the many Palestinian communities at the sharp end of ethnic cleansing. It is subject to regular violent attacks by armed illegal settlers – backed up by the IOF- from the nearby settlement of Ateret and its outposts.

The villagers’ land is being stolen from them in front of their eyes. Only one week ago, 14 dunums (around 3.5 acres) of land cultivated with olive trees was seized and cleared by settlers with IOF in tow, with the apparent intention of establishing a new outpost. Further pressure has been put on the community since 7^th October, with the Israeli army blocking the village’s only access road to the main road network with a locked gate and impassable earth mounds.

Despite the premature end to the day, the community had made a clear statement of resistance. Most of the olive trees had come through the confrontation unscathed, the tools and phones seized were left behind by the IOF, but, most importantly , the community’s determination and right to stay on their land had been unambiguously asserted.

Existence is resistance.

A video of the disruption caused by Israeli army can be found here.

When Shepherding Your Flock Becomes a Crime

16 January 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Masafer Yatta

Muhammed being led away by IOF soldiers. Credit: ISM.

For the villagers of Khallet Al Dabaa, in Masafer Yatta, shepherding is a traditional way of life. One which they have followed on their traditional lands in the West Bank’s South Hebron Hills since Ottoman times. For the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) however, it is apparently an existential threat and one which needs to be dealt with severely.

Yesterday afternoon (Monday 15^th January), Khallet resident Muhammed Debabse was with his flock on a hillside on village lands. It appears that, in response to illegal settlers from a nearby hilltop outpost taking exception to this, the IOF soldiers arrived soon after. They summarily detained Muhammed and took him away. His whereabouts were not known until the lawyer engaged by the family was able to establish that he had been taken to Kharyat Al Arba police station near Al Khalil (Hebron).

Anxious hours passed for his family until, at around 8pm, they received notification from the lawyer that Muhammed would be released but only on payment of a 1,000 NIS (£250) fine, a significant sum of money for the family. The fine being paid, Muhammed eventually returned home late in the evening, ten hours or so after being detained.

So what was his “crime”? The official letter (written in Hebrew only) which the police gave him on release did not specify any offence and only made reference to a “financial penalty”. In the eyes of the occupation however, any expression of ownership of the land by the Palestinians is an act of resistance and that’s the “crime” which Muhammed, along with his fellow villagers are guilty of.

Since the genocidal attack on Gaza began, the Israeli government has used it as an excuse to increase crimes in the West Bank and forcible expulsion of Palestinian from their ancestral land. Masafer Yatta has been no exception.