Israeli leaders are aware of the nature and dimensions of the conflict with the Palestinian people and its complexities. It is a conflict that Israel, which received military and financial support and political and legal cover provided to it by the colonial countries, was unable to resolve in about 75 years, despite all the crimes, massacres, wars of genocide and starvation it committed against the Palestinian people. The Gaza Strip had the largest share of it.
In its dealings with the Gaza Strip, Israel had only one of two means, or both: either mass displacement or murder. The idea of displacing the population of the Gaza Strip is not new, and every time documents leak that confirm that this plan has been on the agenda of the occupation and its supporters for decades, and the most serious project was deportation towards Egyptian lands and European countries... and to achieve this goal, and in less than two decades (that is, since the siege in From 2006 until 2023, Israel launched (12) wars on the Gaza Strip, including (5) destructive wars. The goal is one: to get rid of the security nuisance posed by the Gaza Strip and impose mass displacement on its residents.
Today, more than two months after the Zionist aggression against the Gaza Strip, the goals of the Israeli enemy have become clear, and they are summarized in three goals: two declared and a third hidden: The two declared goals are eliminating the resistance infrastructure, and seeking to impose a new security system in the Strip. The third and hidden goal is the mass displacement of the population, not only from Gaza but also from the West Bank.

In historical background:
Away from international law of all kinds and its description of what is happening in the Gaza Strip in terms of Zionist crimes and killings against the Palestinian people that exceeded (16 thousand) martyrs and tens of thousands of wounded, and the deliberate targeting of civilian facilities, including homes, hospitals, health centers, press and media headquarters, and centers housing displaced persons, away from all This, the forced displacement of the population is considered one of the most important foundations on which the Zionist project has been based since the beginning of its field applications in Palestine. On the eve of the Nakba in 1948, the armed Zionist groups adopted a policy of expulsion and organized terrorism in targeting civilians and destroying Palestinian villages one after another, in addition to raising residents’ fears through loudspeakers and other means of psychological intimidation to force them to leave. As a result of the massacres committed against the population, about 800,000 Palestinians were displaced towards the countries surrounding Palestine, who later became refugees whose number today exceeds (6) six million people.
These practices were supported and embraced by the positions of Israeli officials in the early stages that preceded the Nakba. One of the founders of the Israeli occupation state in 1937 (David Ben-Gurion) said in his explanation of the necessity represented by the process of expelling the Palestinians from their land and the importance of expanding it as a need for the Zionist project: “With forced deportation, we will have vast areas for settlement...I support forced deportation. I do not see anything wrong with it. "It is immoral."
After dozens of massacres were committed, the occupation, with direct support from the colonial Western countries, worked to erase the traces of the crimes committed and the forced displacement and ethnic cleansing they caused against the Palestinian people. This was confirmed by the international mediator Count Bernadotte in one of his reports, and because of him he was assassinated by gangs. Zionism. Enemy historians are currently trying to present new narratives with direct support from the institutions of the Israeli entity at its various legislative, judicial and executive levels in order to deny and obscure the Palestinian narrative and to establish the Zionist narrative as the only truth.

Displacement from the West Bank:
Since the first day of the occupation of the West Bank in 1967, Israel has worked to prepare the appropriate ground to “legally” control large areas of land, whether by seizing control of them for military purposes or confiscating them for settlement purposes. We are not exaggerating when we say that settlement in the West Bank has become a real danger that threatens not only the Palestinian state and eliminates any possibility of its establishment in the future, but also threatens the entire Palestinian existence. This is one of the reasons for the military operation last October 7, after the Palestinian people became confident and resisted. The Arab and international positions of protest and condemnation are not serious and will not deviate from the general description of the dangers of Israeli policies in Palestine, after attempts to liquidate the Palestinian issue have achieved important breakthroughs on more than one level.
The Zionist project has adopted a policy of tightly linking settlement with the theft of land and the displacement of its owners, and an equation has been established that says: No settlement operation can reach its actual extent unless it is accompanied by large-scale forced displacement operations at the hands of the Israeli army, since it constitutes, in addition to settlement, one of the arms of the “Jewish state.” . In a general overview of the reality of settlement, it becomes clear that it is a systematic policy adopted by official Zionist institutions to create material facts on the ground whose results cannot be ignored in any future negotiating process. The number of settlers in the West Bank increased from about 4,000 settlers in 1977, to more than 800,000 Jewish settlers today, distributed between the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. This number resides in 131 settlements spread throughout the length and breadth of the West Bank, in addition to 10 settlements in East Jerusalem and 115 settlement outposts.
Currently, the Israeli government expresses its positions through more than one official, stating that its policy towards the West Bank and its residents will depend on four pillars:
The first is to annex the largest portion of the land to the “State of Israel,” especially Area C, which is the area that is still under full Israeli control.
The second is arbitrary arrests for reasons that may be merely suspicious or related to posts on social media sites, carrying the Palestinian flag, celebrating an operation, or other forms of peaceful expression of rejection of the occupation.
The third is the direct killing of anyone who opposes Israeli policies or is exposed to occupation soldiers or settlers. The direct example of this policy is the continuous incursions into Palestinian cities, camps and villages, with all the accompanying massacres and destruction of residential neighbourhoods.
The fourth form is public displacement. The West Bank has recently witnessed the distribution of leaflets by settlers calling on Palestinians to leave the West Bank towards Jordan, accompanied by statements by some Israeli officials, which prompted the Kingdom of Jordan to reject the displacement plan and consider this a declaration of war against the Kingdom.
Israel is pursuing a clear policy regarding controlling the land through several forms, including:
- Forcibly transferring residents and forcing them to leave their homes, either by administrative decisions, punitive cases of residents, or military considerations..
- Demolition of homes: In 2022, according to United Nations data, Israel demolished 708 homes belonging to Palestinians, and during the first half of 2023 alone, Israeli forces demolished 256 homes.
This is in addition to other forms, including confiscation of land for reasons that are often unknown, deprivation of residency rights and then control over the land, and this happens in the city of Jerusalem, or direct control over it by settlers by force of arms and without the intervention of the occupation army, which usually provides protection for the heavily armed settlers. In 2022, Zionist data indicated that there were 200,000 weapons in the hands of the settlers, and recently one of the pillars of the Israeli government (Itamar Ben Gvir) distributed tens of thousands of military weapons to the settlers, meaning that every four settlers today have a weapon in their hands.

Forced displacement from the Gaza Strip:
Since 2006, the Gaza Strip has been subjected to an Israeli sea and land blockade, in which Israel prevented the entry of many materials and life supplies. This siege was described by the United Nations as a “manifestation of collective punishment” prohibited under international humanitarian law and many international conventions.
With the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, it began to become clear that the forced and mass displacement of the population towards the Egyptian Sinai is one of Israel’s goals, but in view of the international positions rejecting this plan, especially the Egyptians, the Israeli tone began to change, but this does not mean that the project has ended, but rather that Every detail of the aggression confirms that the mass displacement project is still at the forefront of the Israeli government’s concerns. The United Nations confirmed, through spokesman for the Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric, that “the United Nations in Gaza was informed by the Israeli army that all residents of the northern Gaza Valley must be transferred to the south within 24 hours.”
Although the United States, the European Union countries, and the Arab countries announced their rejection of forced displacement plans, they are merely positions that cannot be trusted. Because Israel continues its strategy of dealing with this plan and seeking to impose it by force of fire. It seems clear that there is something similar to the distribution of roles between Israel and the United States, as it is not possible to reconcile the rejection of forced and mass population displacement projects with the cover that Western countries provide for Israel to continue its aggression under misleading slogans entitled “self-defense.” Because everyone knows that Israel is realistically practicing a policy of mass displacement from the north of the Gaza Strip towards the center and south of the Strip as a first stage, and then displacement towards Egypt and perhaps beyond that in a second stage.
In practical terms, the United States of America does not refuse to displace Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip, and its positions and policies today confirm that it adopts this plan. Aside from the positions of some members of Congress who explicitly call for the displacement of refugees from Gaza to several countries, a document was recently leaked from the US administration to Congress requesting the opening of appropriations worth 106 billion dollars, of which about 4 billion are allocated “to support Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the West Bank.” The West Bank, as well as to deal with the potential needs of the people of Gaza who will flee to neighboring countries... The crisis in Gaza may lead to cross-border displacement and escalating humanitarian needs in the region, and the required funding can be used to deal with needs outside Gaza,” according to the letter issued by the management of the Office of Administration. And the budget in the White House..
Israel is trying to mislead public opinion with baseless lies. One time it says that it has identified safe areas in southern Gaza that those residing in the north must go to, knowing that the number of martyrs in the southern and central regions is higher than in the north, which confirms that there is no safe place in all of the territory of the Gaza Strip... and one time it distributes maps and specifies the destination. Which the population should turn to, in a deceptive message to world public opinion that Israel does not target civilians.
What happened during the “humanitarian truce” period, which began on November 24 and lasted for a week, confirms the fact that Israel has serious intentions to impose forced displacement, as it refused the return of residents to the northern Gaza Strip, and whoever of them tried to return, Israeli bullets were waiting for him...but despite this Doubt hangs over the possibility of Israel succeeding in its plan to displace the Palestinians residing in the northern Gaza Strip area, who insist on remaining in their homes despite the bombing, because they are firstly aware of the nature of the Israeli plan, and secondly, they are convinced that the Gaza Strip, with its north, south and center, is within range of Israeli aggression.
The project of mass displacement of the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank is a real plan in which the United States of America and some Western and Arab countries participate alongside Israel, but it cannot be imposed on the ground except in one case only, which is Israel’s possession of the field in all its details and the crushing of Palestinian resistance as a reality, idea and culture. This is something that seems clearly impossible to achieve, which makes the conflict continue regardless of the results of the aggression against the Gaza Strip, because the displacement of the Palestinian people outside of Palestine will remain an essential pillar of the Zionist project, which has begun to get diturbed in many of its details.

Israeli historian and academic Ilan Pappé believes that dehistoricizing the context of the war on Gaza helps Israel continue its genocidal policies in the besieged Strip.

Pappé - Director of the European Center for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter - belongs to the so-called “School of New Israeli Historians” along with thinkers such as Benny Morris, who addressed the “politics of transfer” (mass displacement), Ze’ev Sternhell, who discusses Israel’s liberal and democratic claims, and Avi Shlaim, who chronicles for settlement and resistance before the Nakba of 1948, and Tom Segev, who studied the racism and ugliness of the first Israeli settlers, and others.

  The moral foundations of Israel

Pappé wrote in his article for Al Jazeera that Israel is demanding that the definition of anti-Semitism be expanded to include criticism of the Israeli state and questioning the moral basis of Zionism. The academic - who left teaching at the University of Haifa in 2006 because of his views - adds that dehistoricizing the events of last October 7 helps Israel. And governments in the West are beginning to implement policies that they had avoided in the past, either for ethical, tactical, or strategic considerations.

Thus, the October 7 attack is used by Israel as an excuse to continue its genocidal policies in the Gaza Strip, as the writer says, and it is also an excuse for the United States to try to reassert its presence in the Middle East, and it is also an excuse for some European countries to violate and limit democratic freedoms in the name of " The new War on Terror".

But there are many historical contexts for what is happening now in Israel and Palestine that cannot be ignored, according to Pappe, as the broader historical context dates back to the middle of the 19th century, when “evangelical Christianity” in the West turned the idea of “the return of the Jews” into a “millennial religious necessity and called for Establishing a Jewish state in Palestine is part of the steps, and this would lead to the resurrection of the dead, the return of Christ, and the end of time.”

"Political Theology"

Pappé considers that "theology" (or the political use of religion) has become a policy followed since the end of the 19th century and in the years preceding World War I for two reasons:

Firstly, for the benefit of the British who wished to dismantle the Ottoman Empire and incorporate parts of it into the British Empire.

Second, this idea resonated with the British aristocracy, both Jews and Christians, who became fascinated with the idea of Zionism as a panacea to the problem of anti-Semitism in Central and Eastern Europe, which produced an unwelcome wave of Jewish immigration to Europe and Britain.

When these two interests united, they prompted the British government to issue the famous “infamous” Balfour Declaration in 1917, as the author of the book “Ten Myths About Israel” (2017) says.

Judaism as a nationality

Jewish thinkers and activists who redefined Judaism as a nationality hoped that this definition would protect Jewish communities from existential danger in Europe by focusing on Palestine as the space required for the “rebirth of the Jewish nation.”

In this process, the Zionist cultural and intellectual project turned into a “settler-colonial project aimed at Judaizing historical Palestine,” ignoring the fact that it was inhabited by indigenous people, as the author of the book “The Forgotten Palestinians: A History of the Palestinians in Israel” (Yale University 2011) says.

In contrast, Palestinian society, which was a completely pastoral society at that time and in its first stage of modernization and building national identity, produced its own anti-colonial movement, and its first major movement against the Zionist colonial project was the Buraq Uprising in 1929, and it has not stopped since then.

Another historical context relevant to the current crisis is the ethnic cleansing that took place in Palestine in 1948, which included the forced expulsion of Palestinians to the Gaza Strip from villages on the ruins of which some Israeli settlements were built (the same areas that were attacked on October 7). These were The Palestinians uprooted from their land are part of the 750,000 Palestinians who lost their homes and became refugees.

“The world observed the ethnic cleansing of 1948, but did not condemn it,” Pappe wrote. “As a result, Israel continued to resort to ethnic cleansing as part of its efforts to ensure its complete control over historic Palestine with as few indigenous Palestinians remaining as possible. This included the expulsion of 300,000 Palestinians during After the 1967 war, more than 600,000 have been expelled from the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip since then.

Occupation and fundamentalism

There is also the context of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Over the past fifty years, the occupation forces have imposed continuous collective punishment on Palestinians in these territories, exposing them to constant harassment by Israeli settlers and Israeli security forces and imprisoning hundreds of thousands of them, according to Pappe, author of the book “Evil Bureaucracy” : A History of the Israeli Occupation” (Oxford 2012).

The writer says that since the election of the current “fundamentalist Messianic” Israeli government in November 2022, all of these “harsh policies” have reached unprecedented levels, as the number of Palestinians killed, injured, and arrested in the occupied West Bank has increased significantly. Furthermore, the Israeli government's policies towards the Christian and Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem have become more aggressive.

Finally, there is also the historical context of the 16-year blockade of Gaza, where nearly half the population are children. In 2018, the United Nations already warned that the Gaza Strip would become an uninhabitable place for humans by 2020.

Pappe notes that it is important to remember that the blockade was imposed in response to “the democratic elections won by Hamas after the unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Gaza,” and more importantly to remember the era of the 1990s, when the Gaza Strip was cordoned off with barbed wire and separated from the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem in the wake of the Oslo Accords.

The isolation of Gaza, the fence surrounding it, and the increasing Judaization of the West Bank were a clear indication that the Oslo Accords (1993) in the eyes of the Israelis meant occupation by other means, and not a path to real peace, as the Israeli historian concludes.

Israel controlled the exit and entry points into Gaza, and even monitored the type of food that entered, and sometimes limited it to a specific number of calories. Hamas responded to this debilitating siege by firing rockets at civilian areas in Israel, according to the writer.

The Israeli government claimed that the motivation behind the Hamas attacks was “the Palestinian movement’s ideological desire to kill Jews, and considered it a new form of Nazism, ignoring the context of the Nakba, the inhuman and barbaric siege imposed on two million people, and the oppression to which Palestinians were subjected in different parts of historic Palestine.”

Hamas was, in many ways, the only Palestinian group that promised retaliation for these policies. However, the way it decides to respond may lead to its demise, at least in the Gaza Strip, and may also provide a pretext for further repression of the Palestinian people, according to Pappe.

The historian - who was born in Haifa and currently resides in Britain - says that "the brutality of the attack cannot be justified in any way, but that does not mean that it cannot be explained and put in context. As horrific as it was, the bad part is that it does not constitute an event." “It changes the rules of the game, despite the enormous human cost on both sides,” he said, and he wonders: What does this mean for the future?

Pappe answers his question by saying, “Israel will remain a state created by a settler-colonial movement, and that factor will continue to be in its political DNA as a determinant of its ideological nature. This means that although it portrays itself as the only democracy in the Middle East, it will remain a democracy for its Jewish citizens only.”

Internal conflict in Israel

Pappe says that the conflict within Israel between what we might call the “Judas State,” that is, the settler state that desires Israel to be more religious, theocratic, and racist, and the “Tel Aviv State” (which is more secular) and desires to maintain the status quo will erupt again. There are already signs of its return.

In his previous speech to Al Jazeera, Pappé considered that these two states (the “State of Judah” model and the “State of Tel Aviv” model) are not democratic when it comes to the Palestinians, while the possible democracy in the case of the “State of Israel” is only for the Jews and not for the Palestinians.

Pappe asserts that “Israel will remain an apartheid state - as a number of human rights organizations confirm - regardless of the developments in the situation in Gaza.” On the other hand, the Palestinians will not disappear and will continue their struggle for liberation.

He concludes that the possible way out is to change the regime in Israel to provide equal rights for everyone from the river to the sea, and allow the return of Palestinian refugees. Otherwise, the cycle of bloodshed will not end.

Source: Al Jazeera

An opinion poll conducted by the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that 51% of Israeli respondents believe that Benny Gantz is most suitable for prime minister, while 31% say that Benjamin Netanyahu is most suitable.

The poll showed that the opposition parties would obtain a parliamentary majority if the elections were held today, and they would collectively win 76 seats in the Knesset.

The poll also said that the ruling coalition parties - if the elections were held today - would collectively obtain only 44 seats.

The poll also showed that the official camp party led by Benny Gantz will increase its electoral strength from 12 seats to 38.

On the other hand, the poll said that the ruling Likud Party would lose its electoral popularity, falling from 32 seats to 20 if the elections were held today.

Last November, an opinion poll conducted by Maariv newspaper revealed that the strength of the ruling Likud Party had declined to 17 seats in the Knesset, and the strength of the party of Minister Benny Gantz in the Israeli emergency government had increased to 42 seats.

Netanyahu is facing a wave of sharp criticism, as many Israelis hold him responsible for the military and security failure in dealing with the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, which was launched by the Palestinian resistance led by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), on the Israeli settlements around the Gaza Strip, on October 7. Last October.

Source: Israeli press

If we really want to conduct a deep and equal review of Arab-Western relations, after a country demonstrated, over the past two months, its complete bias against Arab interests and against Palestinian rights, practicing two-faced contradictory rhetoric, playing with words, and completely ignoring everything it claimed to carry of civilizational and liberal values. As for the entire Palestinian issue... if we want that, let's start from the beginning. The basis is to completely get rid of the complex of inferiority, admiration, fascination, and childish adoption of all the Orientalist claims put forward by its civilization under the name of objectivity, hostile intellectual generalizations against the culture of the nation, and falsely and slanderously linking the doctrine and values of the Islamic religion to terrorism, backwardness, and puritanism behind the rest of the other religions, especially its religion.

The first step is to revive a tradition of renaissance carried out by Arab Islamic thinkers in the past when, without fear or hesitation, they represented, understood, criticized, took and responded to all the knowledge and cultures of others that preceded them or surrounded them, in order, first, to solve some of the problems of their present at that time, and second, in order to build a new Arab-Islamic renaissance that dazzled the world and made it imitate them and admire them and their new civilization.

Today we have before us multiple and disparate civilizations, cultures, experiences, values, and systems that we need to deal with just as the ancients dealt with the civilizations of Greece, Persians, India, and others. It is time for us to be like them, interacting and transcending, not being dazzled followers and spectators.

Many modern Arab and Muslim thinkers and philosophers have written over the past two centuries on this very point, and we have created a very rich intellectual and philosophical heritage. The time has come to review, renew and disseminate it, and make it a general trend and not an elitist dialogue that shines and fades without becoming an original and effective part of the formation of the nation.

Of course, the goal is not to achieve unilateralism in thought and knowledge, which will become an idol with time, but rather to reach diversity that interacts with each other, to enrich each other, and to contribute to the renewal of each other.

This step will not be sufficient if it is not accompanied by equal evaluation steps for relations with the West in the fields of politics, economics, and media. These are topics that contain thousands of sub-headings, which ultimately lead to an exit from the dependency we live in, which has reached shameful and unprecedented heights in the past two months when we allowed an Arab existential issue, such as the Palestinian issue, to be handed over to the West to do with it according to his interests, madness, and false religious and moral beliefs. While we were content with inaudible protests, and sometimes with silence towards Western madness, in order to go too far and deviate from all human borders and civilizational norms. After those neglects and resounding scandals practiced by the colonial West towards the Arab-Islamic bloc, a review of our daily political relations with it, and of our relations, interests, and common economic interests, has become in need of radical changes that make it feel that its interests with us and in our land will, after today, become Linked to the extent to which he respects our interests and takes them into account in the living reality and not through empty verbal reassurances and lies.

This last step will have no value if it is limited to a step here and a step there. Rather, we need a real activation of the foundations, commitments and goals of our Arab and Islamic regional institutions, after the specter of death loomed over many of them due to the prioritization of national or country self-interests over common national and Islamic interests. What matters to us is that we all raise the slogan: “There is no return to what was before October 7, and there is no acceptance of the humiliation, weakness, and helplessness that accompanied its events.” This is the least we can do to honor those who died, and to calm the souls of the martyred children and women who were assassinated by the hands of Western immoral and arrogant colonialism. 

In agreement with "Al-Khaleej"

The Israeli occupation forces arrested at least 12 citizens, including a child, from last night until Friday morning. The arrests were distributed in the governorates of Hebron, Jenin, Bethlehem, and Tubas, accompanied by widespread sabotage and destruction of citizens’ homes.

Thus, the total number of arrests after October 7 rose to more than (3,680), and this total includes those who were arrested from homes, through military checkpoints, those who were forced to surrender themselves under pressure, and those who were held hostage.

It is noteworthy that the occupation forces arrested dozens of Gaza workers yesterday from the governorates of Bethlehem, Tulkarm, and Nablus, as part of the comprehensive aggression against our people and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

The Palestinian poet Rifaat Al-Arair was killed in an Israeli raid, those close to him announced on the night of Thursday-Friday. He was one of the leaders of a generation of young Gazan writers who bet on writing in English to tell their stories.

His friend Ahmed Al-Naouk wrote on the “X” platform that Rifaat’s “assassination” was “tragic, painful and scandalous” and a “terrible loss,” after bloody raids in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday evening, as announced by the Ministry of Health in the Hamas government.

In turn, his friend, the Gaza poet Musab Abu Toha, wrote on Facebook that his heart was “broken,” adding: “My friend and colleague Rifaat Al-Arair was killed with his family minutes ago... I cannot believe it,” according to what Agence France-Presse reported.

For his part, writer and journalist Ramzi Baroud said on “X”: “Rest in peace, Rifaat Al-Arair. We will continue to be guided by your wisdom today and forever.”

The specialized American website “Literary Hub” also praised him.

Al-Arair taught English literature at the Islamic University of Gaza, and was one of the founders of the “We Are Not Numbers” project, which brought together authors from Gaza with “mentors” abroad who helped them write stories about their reality in English.

A few days after Israel began its ground operation in response to the Hamas attack, on October 7, Al-Arair said that he refused to leave the northern Gaza Strip, which was the epicenter of the fighting.

He had published on the “X” platform a widely circulated poem entitled “If I Must Die,” and concluded it by saying: “Let this inspire hope, let this be a story.”

Source: Alsharq Alawsat

The Huffington Post website revealed on Friday, December 8, 2023, quoting a US State Department official, that a state of anger is prevailing in decision-making circles in Washington. Because of what he described as Netanyahu's "burning" of America's reputation to advance his personal agenda, at a time when Washington Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that there was a gap between the Israeli government's declared intentions to protect civilians and the death toll, in his most public criticism of Israel's approach in its campaign in southern Gaza.

The official also indicated that US intelligence believes that Israel is continuing its operations despite Washington's calls for restraint, indicating that there are doubts that the current Israeli military campaign is bloodier than the attack in the northern Gaza Strip.

The American official added, according to what the site reported: “This is a pivotal moment in history, and we must feel angry about the way Netanyahu literally burned our reputation to advance his personal political agenda.” The American official also considered that the side effects of the Israeli occupation war against Gaza - on  American security - has very serious consequences.

Simultaneously, Blinken said in a press conference following his meeting with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron in Washington: “As we stand here nearly a week after this campaign in the south it remains necessary for Israel to attach importance to protecting civilians. There is still a gap between intent and to protect civilians and the actual results we see on the ground."

US President Joe Biden spoke by telephone with both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordanian King Abdullah separately earlier. Meanwhile, the White House said that Biden "stressed the urgent need to protect civilians and separate the civilian population from Hamas, including by corridors that allow people to safely exit the designated areas where hostilities are taking place."

This comes at a time when the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has killed more than 17,170 Palestinians and injured 46,000, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, since October 7, when Israel began bombing the Strip after a cross-border attack carried out by Hamas fighters.

cease-fire

At the same time, the Arab countries are renewing their efforts for an immediate ceasefire for humanitarian reasons in Gaza. The United States and its ally Israel oppose the ceasefire and say that it will only benefit Hamas. Blinken is scheduled to meet with senior diplomats from Arab countries such as Egypt on Friday in Washington.

The draft resolution was amended to stipulate “the need to protect the Palestinian and Israeli civilian population, in accordance with international humanitarian law” and “demand the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”

Adopting the resolution requires the approval of at least nine votes and the five permanent members not using the veto power, namely the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain. Washington said it does not support any further action by the Council at this time.

Opening the Kerem Shalom crossing

In a development that will help pave the way for more humanitarian aid to reach besieged Gazans who lack basic needs, the occupation has agreed, at the request of the United States, to open the Kerem Shalom border crossing to inspect trucks and inspect their cargo, an American official said.

Egypt and the United Nations are pressuring Israel to speed up the inspection process, which requires vehicles to go to the Egyptian border with Israel before returning to Rafah. The international organization says that the number of trucks crossing daily decreased to less than 100 from about 200 during the truce period, which lasted from November 24 to December 1.

The humanitarian truce also allowed the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli occupation prisons.

In Israel, Colonel Elad Goren told reporters: “We will open the Kerem Shalom crossing for inspection only. This will happen within the next few days.” Goren is the head of the Coordination Unit of Government Activities in the Territories, a unit of the Israeli Ministry of Defense that coordinates civil affairs with the Palestinians.

The Kerem Shalom crossing is located on the southern border of Gaza with Israel and Egypt, and was used to transport more than 60% of the cargo of trucks heading to Gaza before the outbreak of war two months ago.

With no end in sight to the fighting, White House National Security Assistant John Feiner said that the occupation has not set a final date for ending major combat operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

source: Arabic Post

An analysis conducted by the American newspaper Politico, Thursday, December 7, 2023, revealed that advocacy organizations that support Israel spent nearly 100 times more on advertising through Meta’s social media platforms, compared to pro-Palestinian and Arab groups, at a time when the decline in Supporters of the entity inside America reached 66%, according to a poll conducted last month.

The combined spending of more than $2 million on Facebook and Instagram, though uncoordinated, shows how pro-Israel groups are trying to shape public opinion among Americans, especially younger generations who are increasingly skeptical of Israel.

More than two million dollars

The efforts of these groups, including a group that spent nearly half a million dollars on Meta platforms during that period, come at a time when American and international lawmakers are considering adding conditions to additional support for Israel, as its military campaign has caused the deaths of at least 17,000 Palestinians. According to health authorities in the Gaza Strip, which is run by Hamas.

Politico analyzed the company's Meta Ad Library, or online database that tracks which groups buy paid messages on both Facebook and Instagram over specific time periods. The tech giant is one of the few social media companies, alongside Google, that discloses details about its ad buying numbers.

Politico reviewed ads that ran between November 2 and December 1, based on advocacy group affiliations with either Israeli or Palestinian issues.

On Meta's platforms, which collectively are the world's largest social media sites by number of users, groups buying pro-Israel ads include well-known names like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as well as the Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism, a group founded by billionaire Robert Kraft.

Politico found that combined spending of $2.2 million exceeded almost any other entity during that period, except for the conservative news outlet The Daily Wire and its Meta accounts, which spent nearly $3 million.

A big difference

By comparison, groups supporting Palestinians, Muslims and Arabs spent less than $20,000 in the same period on descriptive ads, Politico found.

The American-Arab Anti-Defamation Committee was the largest spender on advertising among pro-Palestinian advocacy groups. The group spent just under $10,000 on Meta platforms between November 2 and December 1, although almost all of its paid messages did not specifically mention the Middle East conflict.

“Help us protect the rights of Arab Americans,” one of the American-Arab Committee’s ads said, and was viewed 50,000 times, by mostly female users between the ages of 25 and 54 in states including California, New York and Texas, according to Meta data.

In this context, Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the American-Arab Committee, said: “The purpose of our ads is for people to know that we are here to protect them.” When asked why spending on pro-Palestinian ads lags behind those defending Israel, Ayoub considered that “it takes a lot of money to change people’s opinions about lying.”

Decline in support for Israel

The disproportionate spending on ads, many of which target younger users, coincides with growing skepticism about Israel among young Americans. A Quinnipiac University poll released last month showed that 66% of respondents under the age of 35 said they disapproved of Israel's response to the Hamas attack on October 7, compared to older Americans who were more supportive of Israel.

The largest pro-Israel advertiser between November 2 and December 1 was an organization called Facts for Peace, which spent more than $450,000 targeting meta users under the age of 30 in major US cities such as Houston, Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Within a month, the group also amassed more than 18,000 followers on TikTok, which does not provide transparency about ad buys in the United States.

Organized campaign

In a related context, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) announced earlier its cooperation with a variety of pro-Israel Jewish organizations in launching an organized campaign that seeks to reshape the narrative circulating in the American media regarding the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, according to what was published by the British website Middle East Eye.

The committee, which is described as the largest pro-occupation pressure group in the United States, called this campaign “Project 7/10,” and included the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Federations of North America, and the Anti-Defamation League. And the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

The organizations participating in the campaign said that it aims to enable continued support from the two prominent American parties (Democrat and Republican) for the Israeli occupation war on Gaza. shaping media coverage of the war; and “mobilize more attention” to the issue of detainees and prisoners held by Hamas after the October 7 attack.

Source: Arabic Post

Hundreds of representatives of civil society organizations and Jewish institutions in the United States, in a letter to US President Joe Biden, Thursday, December 7, 2023, called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Prominent Jewish organizations whose representatives sent the letter include Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, and J Street.

The message stressed the necessity of a ceasefire in Gaza, the liberation of prisoners, and taking political steps for a two-state solution in Palestine.

What is noteworthy about the letter is that it included the names of many Jewish clerics.

It stated: “We meet to call for a ceasefire, the release of prisoners, and a long-term political solution that guarantees collective security and freedom for both Israelis and Palestinians.”

It is noteworthy that White House trainees sent a letter to Biden on Wednesday, in which they called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Last November, more than 400 former and current officials called on the Biden administration to pressure Israel for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, through a letter they sent to the administration.

Since last October 7, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, which as of Thursday left 17,177 dead, 46,000 wounded, massive infrastructure destruction and an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to official Palestinian and UN sources.

Source: Arabic Post

The Israeli occupation forces stormed most of the cities of the occupied West Bank at dawn on Friday. The occupation soldiers deployed around homes and main roads and prevented the movement of Palestinian citizens.

Hebron

At dawn on Friday, Israeli occupation forces stormed a number of villages, towns and neighborhoods in the city of Hebron, in the south of the West Bank.

Local sources reported that the Israeli occupation forces stormed in large numbers the towns of Yatta, Al-Samu' and Dura, south of Hebron, in addition to the town of Beit Ummar in the north, and deployed around citizens' homes and on the main roads, preventing citizens' movement.

These forces also stormed several neighborhoods in the southern region of the city of Hebron, and detained a number of citizens’ vehicles, in the Karantina area, Wadi al-Haria and the Deek Junction, and searched them.

Nablus

At dawn on Friday, Israeli occupation forces stormed the villages of Salem and Talfit in the Nablus Governorate.

Local sources reported that foot forces from the occupation army stormed the village of Salem, east of Nablus, from the eastern side, and toured the village, without any injuries or arrests being reported.

The occupation forces also stormed the village of Talfit, south of Nablus, and drove several military vehicles through the streets and alleys of the village.

Ramallah and Al-Bireh

At dawn on Friday, Israeli occupation forces stormed the cities of Ramallah and Al-Bireh.

Local sources reported that a force of 20 jeeps stormed downtown Ramallah and were present at Al-Manara Roundabout, Al-Irsal Street, and Al-Nahda Street in Al-Bireh, and raided several buildings in the two cities.

The sources reported that the occupation forces stormed a store in the city of Ramallah near Al-Manara Roundabout, searched it, and tampered with its contents.

She pointed out that confrontations broke out with the occupation forces, who fired tear gas bombs, causing a number of citizens to suffocate.

Qalqilya

At dawn on Friday, Israeli forces stormed the villages of Kafr Qaddum and Jinsafut, east of Qalqilya.

Local sources confirmed that foot forces from the occupation army stormed Jinsafut and raided several homes. The occupation forces also raided several homes in Kafr Qaddum, and withdrew surveillance camera recordings from a number of them.

Jenin

Large forces from the occupation army stormed, at dawn on Friday, the villages of Rummana, Zabuba, and Al-Taybeh, west of Jenin.

Local sources reported that large forces of occupation forces stormed the village and conducted patrols through its streets.

Local sources reported that the occupation forces raided the house of citizen Ahmed Ratib Mahajna, searched it thoroughly, using police dogs, and broke the tiles on the roof of the house.

The occupation forces also stormed the villages of Rummana and Al-Taybeh, west of Jenin, and intensified their military presence in the vicinity of the town of Silat Al-Dhahr, south of the governorate.

A number of Palestinians were martyred, at dawn on Friday, and others were injured, in an Israeli bombing that targeted the Shujaiya neighborhood, east of Gaza City, according to Palestinian government media.

The Palestinian News Agency (Wafa) reported that the Israeli bombing of several areas in the Gaza Strip is continuing, especially the eastern areas in the city of Khan Yunis and on the beaches of the city of Rafah, south of the Strip, while Israeli warplanes targeted the central areas of the besieged Strip with several raids.

Six Palestinian citizens were killed and others were injured, today, Friday, during the Israeli occupation forces’ storming of Al-Far’a camp, south of Tubas.

The Ministry of Health reported that five citizens were killed and others were injured during the ongoing Israeli occupation forces storming the camp, while eyewitnesses reported that the occupation soldiers tried to prevent Red Crescent ambulances from reaching the injured.

Local sources said that Israeli special undercover forces, "Musta'arabiun", infiltrated the camp at first, and later the Israeli occupation forces sent military reinforcements to it, while snipers took to the roofs of a number of buildings.

Confrontations broke out with the forces storming the camp, amid heavy gunfire and the sounds of explosions being heard.

The American website Axios, citing four American and Israeli officials, said on Thursday that Egypt has warned the United States and Israel of a “rupture” in relations with the latter if it pushes Palestinians to migrate to Sinai as a result of the war it is waging in the Gaza Strip.

Egypt has always taken a decisive stance on the issue of the displacement of Palestinians and expressed its categorical rejection of it, and considered the war a threat to its national security, in light of Israel’s denial of the existence of a plan to displace the people of the Gaza Strip, despite its bombing, which is pushing them towards the border.

According to what three Israeli officials said, Egyptian officials expressed their concern that the crisis on the border with the Gaza Strip would lead to thousands of displaced people crossing the border in order to try to find shelter in Sinai, while one of the Israeli officials spoke of their Egyptian counterparts informing them of the possibility of fleeing. "Fighters" from the Gaza Strip to Egypt.

While Israeli officials said that the Egyptian side informed Israel that such a scenario could create a crisis in relations between Egypt and Israel, an American official confirmed to the website that his country shares Egypt’s same concerns, noting that Egyptian officials warned of a rupture with Israel if such an event occurred. Scenario.

Fears of an Israeli plan to displace Gazans at the expense of Egypt

Private sources previously told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that there is an Israeli plan after the cessation of military operations, with which the Israelis are bargaining, which is to gradually push a large number of the population of the Gaza Strip, which may reach a million people, to Egypt, and then distribute them to the Egyptian governorates. .

According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip resulted in the displacement of about 1.9 million people in Gaza, or approximately 85% of the population, while the Palestinian Ministry of Health said that the number of martyrs reached about 18,000.

In the first days of the war, which began on October 7, Israel was pushing Egypt to accept the transfer of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Sinai temporarily until the end of the war, according to what it said at the time. However, Egypt rejected the plan more than once, as did the Palestinian Authority and Jordan, which feared As well as the possibility of similar displacement occurring in the future from the West Bank.

Talk of the displacement of the people of the Gaza Strip has increased, with Israel expanding its war on the south of the Strip, which has focused in recent days on Khan Yunis, the largest city in the south, which contains hundreds of thousands of displaced people from the northern regions.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said, at the Aspen Security Forum in the US capital, Washington, on Thursday, that the displacement of Palestinian civilians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt contradicts international law, stressing the need not to punish the Palestinians and force them to leave their land.

The Egyptian Foreign Minister, along with a number of Arab foreign ministers, is visiting Washington to meet with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to discuss the war on the Gaza Strip.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed

UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed announced that the UAE had submitted a draft resolution to the UN Security Council demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for humanitarian reasons.

Bin Zayed said: “This request came in response to the catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip and the worsening suffering of the Palestinian people, as stated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations in his speech to the International Security Councils.”

On Wednesday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres sent a letter to the Security Council regarding Gaza, referring, for the first time since he took over the Secretariat, to Article 99 of the Charter of the United Nations.

The Secretary-General relied on the rarely used Article 99 of the Founding Charter of the United Nations, which authorizes him to “draw the attention of the Security Council to any matter that he considers may threaten the protection of international peace and security.”

For its part, Palestine welcomed the activation by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of Article 99 of the United Nations Charter to confront what the Gaza Strip is witnessing.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen considered the mandate of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres a "threat to world peace" after he sent a letter to the Security Council about Gaza to activate Article 99 of the organization's charter.

Two months after the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations previously warned of a “more terrifying scenario” in the Strip, which humanitarian operations may be unable to deal with.

Source: Sama News

Despite reports of an American deadline set for Tel Aviv to end its war on Gaza, estimated at weeks, a White House official denies that Washington has set a deadline for Israel to end the war, while Biden held new phone conversations with Netanyahu.

US President Joe Biden held telephone discussions on Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, amid reports of a discrepancy in the American and Israeli positions regarding the date for ending the war.

This came according to what an official in Whites House said, who spoke to Reuters, without revealing further details of the call between Biden and Netanyahu, and what was discussed regarding the war on Gaza.

While Israeli reports indicated that the call between Biden and Netanyahu touched on the operations of the Israeli occupation army in the southern Gaza Strip, and the need to bring more humanitarian aid to the Strip.

In an official statement, the White House stated that Biden held two separate calls, on Thursday, with Netanyahu and Jordanian King Abdullah, and said that there was a need for more aid for civilians in Gaza.

The White House said that Biden "stressed the urgent need to protect civilians and separate them from Hamas, including through corridors that allow people to move safely from designated areas of hostilities."

Biden stressed to Netanyahu that “there is an urgent need for more assistance in various fields.”

A “gap” between what Israel says about protecting civilians and the results on the ground

In turn, US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, confirmed in a joint press conference with his British counterpart, David Cameron, Blinken stressed that there is a “gap” between what he described as “Israel’s intention to protect civilians” and the results on the ground in Gaza, adding that Washington is speaking with Israel regularly concerns the protection of civilians.

Blinken said, "It remains necessary for Israel to give priority to protecting civilians. There is still a gap between, exactly as I said when I was there, the intention to protect civilians and the actual results that we see on the ground," and he noted that after his visit to Israel, at the end of the week Last, “aid began flowing into Gaza.”

He added, "Over the past few days, we have noticed Israeli steps towards protecting civilians in Gaza," considering that "the task of protecting civilians is difficult because Israel is dealing with a terrorist enemy," and claimed that "there are safe areas for civilians in Gaza, and we are working to ensure their readiness so that they are far from the fighting."

He added, "Hamas should not be able to commit its atrocities again against Israelis, and there should not be a forced transfer of Palestinians from Gaza." He said, "I was clear about basic principles, including not reoccupying Gaza and rejecting forced displacement or reducing the area of the Strip."

On the other hand, White House National Security Assistant, John Feiner, confirmed that the United States did not give Israel a deadline or specific date to end combat operations in Gaza; He considered that if the war stopped now, Hamas would continue to “pose a threat.”

In statements he made during his participation in a security forum and reported by Reuters, Viner said that the United States believes that many of “Israel’s security targets are still in the southern Gaza Strip.”

According to the American official, “If the war stops today, Hamas will continue to pose a threat to Israel, and for this reason the United States is not asking Israel to stop.”

He explained that Washington believes that "there are many legitimate military targets that still exist in southern Gaza," and said that the Palestinian Authority is the only option to deal with them as a political and institutional entity, referring to "the day after the war."

This comes after the Wall Street Journal revealed, on Thursday, that US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, informed officials in the Israeli war cabinet that Washington believes that the war should stop within weeks, not within months.

It added, quoting informed American officials, that Israeli officials did not provide any guarantees regarding this, but they expressed their “interest in things returning to normal,” especially in terms of the Israeli occupation economy not receiving blows.

US Secretary of State, Blinken, had telephone conversations with the Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs, who is close to Netanyahu, Ron Dermer, and informed him that Israel must make more efforts to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Blinken also urged Dermer for Israel to allow more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, while he welcomed the decision issued by the Israeli government, on Wednesday evening, to “allow” more fuel to enter the Strip.

This comes within the framework of ongoing communications between the Biden administration and the Israeli government to achieve the equation that Washington is trying to establish, which is represented by “humanitarian steps in exchange for more time” that it may grant to Israel in its war on Gaza.

In this context, Weiner pointed out that more than 200 humanitarian aid trucks arrive in Gaza every day, stressing his country’s desire to see more of them.

The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly, Thursday, on five periodic resolutions on the Palestinian issue, related to refugees, settlements, Israeli practices, and others.

This was stated in a statement issued by the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates.

The statement stated that the most prominent of these resolutions was the resolution on supporting Palestine refugees, “which received the support of 168 countries, while only one country, the occupying country, voted against it, and 10 countries abstained from voting, including the United States, Uruguay, and Paraguay.”

It added that the resolution concerned with the operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) received “the support of 165 countries, the objection of 4 countries: the United States, Canada, Israel, and Micronesia, and the abstention of 6 countries: Cameroon, Guatemala, Kiribati, Palau, and Papua New Guinea And Vanuatu.”

The Foreign Ministry said that the resolution regarding Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem and the occupied Syrian Golan, “received the support of 149 countries and the objection of 6 countries: the United States, Canada, the occupying state, Hungary, Micronesia, and Nauru, and 19 countries abstained from voting.” ".

Its statement stated that “the decision regarding the properties of Palestinian refugees and the revenues coming from them received the support of 163 countries and the objection of 5 countries, namely the United States, Canada, the occupying state, Micronesia, and Nauru, while 9 countries abstained from voting.”

While the resolution regarding the work of the Special Committee concerned with investigating Israeli practices that affect the human rights of the Palestinian people and other Arab residents in the occupied territories received the support of 86 countries, and the objection of 12 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, the occupying state, Canada, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, Austria, Australia, and 75 countries abstained from voting.”

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry welcomed the adoption of the resolutions, and called on the countries that abstained from voting “to correct their positions and stand on the right path, which is the path of truth, justice, and solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

It stressed "the role of states in ending the suffering of the Palestinian people, and urgent action at this time to impose a cessation of Israeli aggression and a ceasefire."

It is noteworthy that these decisions are not binding, but they have symbolic importance, and are issued annually by the United Nations General Assembly, which has 193 members.

The British newspaper The Times confirmed on Thursday that a British military team in the West Bank is working to prepare the Palestinian Authority to take over the administration of the Gaza Strip for the “post-Hamas era.”

This step brings to mind the project of American General Keith Dayton, who undertook the “Making a New Palestinian” program to retrain Palestinian Authority soldiers to thwart resistance operations against the occupation.

British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said, according to the newspaper: “The Palestinian Authority must assume responsibility in Gaza,” after the end of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

Shapps explained that the British support team has been on the ground in Ramallah for more than ten years, pointing out that Britain “will consider increasing its ability to assist the Palestinian Authority.”

He pointed out that he met today in Ramallah, Interior Minister Ziad Hab Al-Rih, and the British military team.

Shapps added that London is working with Washington to improve the capabilities of the Palestinian Authority, noting that he discussed the matter with his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin.

Secret meetings to discuss the “post-Hamas” phase

Press sources revealed a secret European-American-Palestinian meeting to discuss “what comes after Hamas in Gaza,” and a secret international meeting was held in early November in Geneva with the participation of a delegation from the Palestinian Authority.

The sources added that European countries and an American delegation are participating in this secret meeting, accompanied by a high-ranking political delegation from the Palestinian Authority. They confirmed that some delegations from European countries sent members of study centers to participate in the meeting.

It pointed out the participation of Arab countries through study centers and non-diplomatic researchers in the meeting, and the meeting is titled “After Hamas in Gaza.”

According to the sources, the first question on the agenda is “What is the possibility of the fall of Hamas?”, while the meeting discusses, in the second place on the agenda, the scenario of governance in Gaza after Hamas.

The Dayton project resurfaces

It is worth noting that the statements of the British Defense Minister, about what happened in March, when the United States formed a council to coordinate security cooperation between the Authority and “Israel,” led by American General Keith Dayton, who personally assumed the task of supervising the preparation and training of the Authority’s security agencies, to improve their ability in the security function, and “thwarting armed operations.”

That training was titled “The Making of the New Palestinian,” as Dayton not only worked to institutionalize security cooperation between the occupation and the Authority and make it more useful, but also ensured that the training courses he supervised would contribute to imposing a new security doctrine on the security establishment in the Authority, so that it would lead to thwart resistance work.

The American website “Axios” revealed in early February, quoting American and Israeli officials, that the visit of US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, to the occupied West Bank and the Israeli occupation was to pressure the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, to accept “a security plan that will restore the Authority’s control over the cities of Nablus and Jenin, and training a special Palestinian force to confront militants (i.e., resistance fighters) in the occupied West Bank.”

This evening, Thursday, hundreds of settlers organized a provocative march, starting from the Hebron Gate in occupied Jerusalem, all the way to Damascus Square and Gates, and from there to the Islamic Quarter, the Old Market, and the Al-Wad Neighborhood, on the occasion of “Jewish holidays,” and to demand an end to the Islamic Endowments’ jurisdiction over the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The participating settlers shouted insulting expressions at Arabs and Palestinians, and attacked a number of passers-by, while shops closed their doors to avoid their attacks.

Today, the occupation municipality placed a huge candlestick in Bab al-Jadid Square, one of the gates of the Old City, to light it to mark the start of the “holidays.”

According to the calls circulated by the so-called “Temple Groups,” the march received approval from the Israeli occupation police, and aims to “remove the guardianship of the Islamic Endowments from Al-Aqsa Mosque, and renew complete Jewish control over Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa.”

The occupation municipality lit up the historic Jerusalem Wall on the side of the Hebron Gate with light shows that included the menorah, which symbolizes this holiday.

Today, Thursday, the Israeli occupation army launched a massive arrest campaign in various areas of the Gaza Strip, most notably Beit Lahia, Khan Yunis, and Jabalia. Israeli media published pictures and clips showing a large number of Palestinians, stripped of most of their clothes, during arrest operations under the pretext of “confirming of their activity.”

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth published pictures and video clips, quoting the Israeli army, of a large number of Palestinians, stripped of most of their clothes, and piled into a truck to be transported to an unknown destination in Tel Aviv, which the newspaper did not name.

The video clips also showed the moments of arrest of a large number of Palestinians, while they were on the ground after being stripped of most of their clothes amidst a siege by Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported that army forces arrested dozens of Palestinians during their advance to take control of the northern part of the Strip, claiming that "some of them surrendered themselves voluntarily," in order to verify whether they belong to the Hamas movement or are activists in it.

On Thursday, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed announced that the Israeli army had arrested its correspondent from Market Street in Beit Lahia, along with a group of his brothers, relatives, and other civilians.

It added that its correspondent was among dozens of Palestinians arrested by the Israeli army. He deliberately forced them to take off their clothes, searched them, and humiliated them upon arrest, before taking them to an unknown destination, according to what the residents told the newspaper.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate announced that the Israeli army killed 75 journalists and workers in the media sector, while nearly 80 journalists were injured, and two journalists went missing, while it bombed the homes of the families of 60 journalists, destroyed the headquarters of 63 media institutions, and disrupted the work of 25 local radio stations (24 in Gaza and one In the West Bank, 3 media outlets were closed and restricted.

Recently, Israeli forces targeted areas in Beit Lahia, Khan Yunis, and Beit Hanoun with violent raids in northern Gaza, killing dozens of Palestinians on a daily basis.

High number of victims

Earlier Thursday, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, Ashraf Al-Qudra, said that the Israeli strikes had killed about 17,177 Palestinians and injured 46,000 since October 7.

Al-Qudra added that 350 Palestinians were killed and 1,900 injured during the past 24 hours in Gaza.

Israel's war on Gaza is entering its third month, as the Israeli army continues its attempts to advance on the ground as part of its plan for a "ground incursion" into the Gaza Strip, but these attempts are still "slow" and geographically limited, with Palestinian factions continuing to target its soldiers and vehicles.

Although the number of civilian deaths in Gaza has risen to unprecedented levels, the Biden administration is not considering using any of its influence on Israel to force the Israeli army to change its tactics, according to statements by American officials.

American officials say that they express their concerns in their private dialogues with Israel in order to mitigate civilian deaths, and they claim that Israel is listening, but the current campaign in southern Gaza, where there are millions of displaced civilians, is no less brutal than the Israeli operations in the north.

The official spokesman for the US State Department, Matthew Miller, said in his response to the questions of the Al-Quds.com correspondent at the State Department that Israel is listening to the US administration and is “working to avoid large numbers of casualties among civilian citizens” who move from one place to another depending on the situation. 

The spokesman pointed to Israel allowing more aid trucks into Gaza as evidence that Israel is listening, but Martin Griffiths, the UN's top aid official, said the situation in southern Gaza was "horrendous" and ended any possibility of meaningful humanitarian operations.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that more than 16,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 70% of whom are women and children, but this mass slaughter of civilians did not prompt the Biden administration to rethink support for the war, and refrain from taking measures that would force Israel to listen to concerns about civilian casualties, such as restricting military aid.

Instead, US officials emphasized that US military aid to Israel is unconditional, and the support has included near-daily weapons shipments, including thousands of massive bombs, and the deployment of more US firepower to the region to “deter” regional actors from entering the war.

American officials claim that reducing military support for the attack entails risks, as Reuters on Wednesday quoted a high-ranking American official as saying, “You begin to reduce the aid provided to Israel, you begin to encourage other parties to enter the conflict, you weaken the deterrent effect, and you encourage other enemies of Israel.”

Israeli officials made clear that they felt no pressure to change their tactics. Ofir Falk, foreign policy advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said: “I must admit that I feel that the prime minister does not feel any pressure, and that we will do whatever it takes to achieve our military goals.”

The Israeli occupation has administratively arrested about 700 Palestinians in Gaza since the beginning of the war on October 7.

According to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, the Israeli army and the Shin Bet Security Service have arrested, to date, about 700 people in Gaza, and their detention has been extended in an administrative procedure under the Unlawful Combatants Law.

It pointed out that "this number does not include the Palestinians who were arrested near the Gaza Strip on October 7th," and whose numbers were not specified.

The Broadcasting Corporation had previously indicated that the Israeli army had established an investigation and detention center for Palestinians who were arrested from inside the Gaza Strip.

Informed Palestinian sources confirmed that the US administration is pressuring Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to form a new Palestinian government with broad powers and carry out radical reforms in the Authority, specifically in the field of security.

American demands to form a new Palestinian government

The sources confirmed that the American demands that were repeated yesterday, Wednesday, during the meeting of US Vice President’s National Security Advisor, Philip Gordon, with President Abbas, focused on forming a new Palestinian government in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with a program whose goals are specific to reforming the security sector, rebuilding, economic empowerment, and preparing for elections. The sources continued: “American officials assured President Abbas that they will not interfere in who will be chosen or the names proposed for this government.”

According to the sources, “President Abu Mazen’s response was clear that these are internal Palestinian matters, and that what is required of the American administration is to put pressure on Israel in order to stop the bloody war on the Gaza Strip, through a ceasefire and an end to displacement in the Gaza Strip.”

Abbas's meeting yesterday, Wednesday, with US envoy Philip Gordon, at the presidential headquarters in the city of Ramallah, was "tense and negative," according to Palestinian officials. The sources who spoke to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said, “The atmosphere of Gordon’s meeting is no less negative and tense than President Abbas’s meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken last Thursday.”

He explained that "the meeting with Blinken was also tense, as he focused on what the Palestinian leadership is required to do in terms of reform in the field of security and freedoms, and touched on corruption and the need for reform, but he evaded the responsibility of the United States for the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as it is the main supporter of the Israeli occupation state" which gave it political cover and military aid to continue the war on Gaza.” He continued: "Blinken was clear that the American administration cannot persuade Israel to stop the war."

During his meeting with Abbas, Blinken evaded US responsibility for the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip

According to the sources, “President Abu Mazen asked Blinken, if the American administration cannot pressure Israel to stop the war and massacres in the Gaza Strip, and also failed to convince the occupation government to transfer Palestinian funds from tax revenues (clearance) to the Palestinian Authority, Why can the American administration only put pressure on the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinians?

Revitalizing the Palestinian Authority

Last Monday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas received a phone call from US Vice President Kamala Harris, in which she paved the way for the visit of her Vice President Gordon yesterday.

According to a statement issued by the White House, Gordon stressed, during his meetings in Ramallah, the American administration’s commitment to supporting the Palestinian people and their right to security, dignity, and self-determination. He stressed Washington's commitment to establishing a Palestinian state in the future, and explained that the Palestinian people must have a hopeful political horizon. “To this end, Gordon discussed revitalizing the Palestinian Authority,” according to the statement.

He added that Gordon stressed "that Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people, and poses an unacceptable terrorist threat to the Israeli people, and that Hamas cannot control Gaza when the fighting ends." Gordon stressed that the Biden administration "is committed to accelerating planning for the next day (of the war in Gaza), so that when the intense fighting phase ends, we can begin implementing these plans, with great support from the international community." He added, "The revitalized Palestinian Authority must have the ability to govern both Gaza and the West Bank, and that the Palestinian Authority's security forces must be strengthened to eventually assume security responsibilities in Gaza."

Oxfam (an international federation of charitable organizations focused on alleviating poverty in the world) said that chaos is overwhelming the international humanitarian system and Israel is implementing a campaign of collective punishment in the Gaza Strip.

It added that politicians failed to reach a ceasefire, which is the only humanitarian action that is truly important.

It indicated that the Israeli aggression in southern Gaza makes any humanitarian response in the entire Strip impossible.

OXFAM stressed that the so-called safe areas established by Israel inside Gaza are not protected, reliable, and inaccessible.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak revealed a position of the late Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak regarding the Gaza Strip, as he confirmed that Mubarak had assured him of his complete rejection of any Egyptian control over the Strip.

Barak added, in statements to the 555 Pilots Forum, that former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak strongly refused to accept any temporary control over the Gaza Strip, and then Barak went to persuade Abu Mazen, but Abu Mazen refused to accept control of the Gaza Strip under the guise of subjugating Hamas to the Israeli army.

The "14 Now" website said that because both Mubarak and Abu Mazen refused to agree to rule Gaza, Barak had no choice but to continue allowing Hamas to rule the Gaza Strip until the next round.

Barak also said that the goal of Operation Cast Lead in 2008 was to eliminate Hamas and transfer the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority, but in order to do this, Israel needed to rule Egypt for a transitional period until the Gaza Strip was transferred into the hands of Abu Mazen, which did not happen due to the Egyptian position of rejection. for this idea.

It is noteworthy that the Egyptian administration of the Gaza Strip began in 1948 until October 1956 and again from March 1957 until June 1967.

Gaza Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said in a press conference that 350 dead and 900 injuries arrived in Gaza hospitals during the past 24 hours.

He said that the number of dead rose to 17,177, and the number of injured to 46,000 since the start of the war on Gaza.

He continued, "The occupation deliberately targets ambulances and civil defense crews. We are facing difficulties in counting the dead and wounded due to the continuous bombing and the cutting of communications."

He stressed, "Less than 1% of the total wounded in the aggression left the Rafah crossing for the purpose of treatment abroad, and the occupancy rate in Gaza hospitals reached 206%."

He said that the liquidation of health services in northern Gaza would have serious and disastrous repercussions for the wounded.

He said, "We are facing great difficulties in operating the Al-Shifa Complex, and we need the support of international institutions. The Baptist Hospital has lost capacity and cannot provide health services, and the occupation is deliberately targeting ambulances and civil defense crews."

As the war on Gaza entered its 62nd day, several areas, specifically in the Khan Yunis and Jabalia region, witnessed fierce clashes between armed factions and the occupation forces, which continue to commit massacres against civilians throughout the Strip.

Today, Thursday, Israeli artillery and aircraft continued their intense bombardment and raids on various areas in the Gaza Strip, where the bombing and raids targeted residential squares and left dozens of dead and hundreds of injuries.

This comes as the number of dead and injuries continues to rise, as a spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported today that the number of dead as a result of the Israeli aggression on the Strip has risen to 17,177, and the wounded to 46,000 people with varying injuries, in addition to thousands of missing people, with the continuation of the Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip.

As the war on Gaza entered its 62nd day, several areas, specifically in the Khan Yunis and Jabalia region, witnessed fierce clashes between armed factions and the occupation forces, which continue to commit massacres against civilians throughout the Strip. Israeli aircraft escalated its raids targeting residential squares, while artillery bombed populated areas and the vicinity of displaced persons’ shelter centers, while local sources reported that a bombing targeted the Yabna refugee camp, near the border with Egypt, south of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.

Oxfam Relief and Development stressed that "the so-called safe zones established by Israel inside Gaza are unprotected, unreliable, and inaccessible."

The US State Department refrained from describing leaving children to die in Gaza as a “war crime,” and merely described the incident as a “tragedy.”

In a press statement on Thursday, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller described the discovery of decomposed bodies of children and infants in Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital in Gaza as a “tragic event,” avoiding considering it a “war crime.”

Miller said: "This incident is a tragedy. A tragedy for these children, for their families, for the Palestinian people and for the entire world."

The American official called on Israel to reduce civilian casualties.

In response to a journalist about whether Washington sees these events as a war crime or not, Miller said: “I will never evaluate the situation here. We will reach a decision after completing the process of collecting evidence.”

Regarding a question about whether the United States would form a mission to collect evidence of “war crimes” in Gaza, Miller said: “Currently there is an ongoing conflict, and we are monitoring events closely. But we will not talk about the steps we can take. We are at present in the middle of a major conflict” ".

On November 10, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that Israeli forces surrounded the “Al-Rantisi” and “Al-Nasr Children’s” hospitals, west of Gaza City, and forced medical teams to leave them.

As a result of the (Israeli) occupation’s refusal to remove sick infants from Al-Nasr Hospital and evacuate medical staff, the death of 5 infants was discovered after their decomposed bodies were found.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced today, Thursday, the targeting of four of its schools and the evacuation of five other schools in the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours.

UNRWA said in a statement, a copy of which was received by Xinhua News Agency, that its school in the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip was directly targeted, while three schools in Gaza City and the central Strip were subjected to indirect impacts.

The agency stated that it had completely evacuated five of its schools serving as shelters for displaced persons in towns east of Khan Yunis Governorate, south of the Gaza Strip, following direct orders issued by Israeli forces to facility managers.

Yesterday, the Israeli army allocated an additional area in the city of Khan Yunis, with an area of about one square kilometer, for immediate evacuation.

More than 1.9 million people (or more than 85% of the population) were displaced throughout the Gaza Strip, including about 1.2 million displaced people residing in 155 UNRWA facilities in all five governorates of the Strip, including the north and Gaza City.

UNRWA announced the killing of two of its employees, bringing the number of deaths among UN agency employees to 132 since the start of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, which is the highest death toll for United Nations employees during wars in its history.

For his part, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that the number of civilians being killed in the Gaza Strip is "increasing rapidly," noting that civilians, including women, children, the elderly, the sick, and people with special needs, are suffering the most.

Lazzarini warned that at least 60,000 additional people had to move to already overcrowded UNRWA shelters in recent days, with more people demanding shelter.

He said, "The evacuation order forces people to concentrate in an area less than a third of the size of the Gaza Strip, and they need everything: food, water, shelter, and mostly safety."

He added, "Access to water is limited, as the Israeli operation blocked access to the largest desalination plant in Gaza, which previously provided drinking water to a total of 350,000 people."

Lazzarini warned of the risk of stopping the largest hospital in southern Gaza, which includes more than a thousand resident patients and shelters 17,000 displaced people due to a lack of supplies and insufficient staff.

The Commissioner-General of UNRWA stressed that "there is no safe place in Gaza, whether in Rafah or anywhere in what is unilaterally called the safe zone," reiterating the call for a humanitarian ceasefire.

Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a large-scale war against the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), leaving more than 17,000 Palestinians dead after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, which, according to the Israeli authorities, claimed the lives of more than 1,200 Israelis.

Today (Thursday), the Palestinian Authority welcomed the initiative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, to call for a session of the UN Security Council to assume its responsibilities for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, based on Article 99 of the United Nations Charter.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that this initiative is a “very necessary step” that is consistent with the tasks assigned to the UN Security Council and institutions of international legitimacy.

The Ministry condemned "the attack and incitement carried out by Israel against the Secretary-General of the United Nations," and considered it "political terrorism to discourage Guterres from performing his role and carrying out his duties, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, international law, and human rights principles."

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called on world leaders and countries to support Guterres’ initiative and rally around it to push the Security Council to fulfill its obligations and decide to cease fire in the Gaza Strip.

Guterres announced yesterday that he had sent a letter to the President of the Security Council in which he activated - for the first time - Article 99 of the United Nations Charter, which states that “the Secretary-General may alert the Security Council to any matter that he deems may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”

Guterres said on the X platform, "In the face of the grave danger of the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, I urge the Security Council to help avoid a humanitarian catastrophe and I call for the declaration of a humanitarian ceasefire."

This is the first time that Guterres has activated Article 99 of the Charter since he became Secretary-General of the United Nations in 2017.

Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a large-scale war against the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) that left more than 17,000 Palestinians dead, after the Palestinian movement launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel that, according to the Israeli authorities, claimed the lives of more than 1,200 Israelis.

Israel announced today (Thursday) that the war in the Gaza Strip can be ended on two conditions: the release of all prisoners and the surrender of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

The Israeli Prime Minister's spokesman said to the Arab world, Ofir Gendelman, in a briefing today, "I say to the Gazans, the war can be ended today on two conditions. The first is that all our kidnapped must be released. You are suffering greatly because of their detention by the monsters of Hamas, and the second is that Hamas must surrender, as it has no hope of survival." "Its destruction is inevitable."

He continued, "I say to the Gazans that there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. After eliminating Hamas, your lives will improve, Gaza will be rebuilt, and you will enjoy security, stability, and prosperity...but there is no hope for achieving this as long as there is Hamas."

Gendelman added, "Israeli army forces are advancing in the southern Gaza Strip and surrounded the house of Yahya Al-Sinwar, the Hamas leader responsible for the October 7 massacres," adding, "The mission of these forces is to arrest him as soon as possible."

He went on to say that armed forces "breached Hamas' defensive lines in Jabalia and Shuja'iya in the north of the Gaza Strip, and in Khan Yunis in its south," stressing that "the city of Khan Yunis is cordoned off and besieged."