The international organization Doctors Without Borders confirmed that one of its convoys was deliberately attacked by the Israeli occupation forces during their evacuation from the Shifa Medical Complex in central Gaza City.

The organization said in a statement on its official website on Sunday that one of its employees’ relatives was killed and another was injured in the attack on its convoy.

The France-based international organization added that the convoy was trying to evacuate 137 of its Palestinian employees and their families from the Shifa Medical Complex in central Gaza City, indicating that thousands of civilians in Gaza City were at risk of death, including more than 100 of its employees and their families.

At dawn last Wednesday, the Israeli occupation army stormed the Al-Shifa Complex after besieging it for days, as it contains civilians who were displaced from their homes as a result of the ongoing Israeli bombing in the area.

In non-final statistics, the Ministry of Health announced that the number of martyrs in the Gaza Strip had increased, as of yesterday evening, Saturday (November 17), more than 11,800 dead, including 4,900 children, 3,155 women, and 690 elderly people, while the number of casualties reached more than 29,500 wounded. Since the start of the occupation’s aggression against the Gaza Strip on the seventh of last October.

During the same period, 205 health personnel and 36 civil defense personnel were killed, in addition to more than 215 wounded health workers. More than 60 ambulances were also attacked, 55 of which were damaged and put out of service.

While 26 of 35 hospitals in Gaza, and 52 of 72 primary health care clinics, i.e. more than two-thirds, stopped working due to damage resulting from the occupation bombing or lack of fuel.

Dozens of settlers, protected by the Israeli occupation police, stormed, on Sunday morning, the courtyards of the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Local sources reported that dozens of settlers stormed Al-Aqsa from the direction of the Mughrabi Gate, carried out provocative tours in its courtyards, and also performed Talmudic rituals in the vicinity of the Bab al-Rahma prayer hall.

In a related context, Israeli forces tightened their military measures at all doors of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and prevented Palestinians from entering it, while allowing settlers to storm it.

The military administration of the city of Kiev said that Russia launched several waves of drone attacks on the city - early Sunday - for the second night in a row, in an escalation of its attacks on the Ukrainian capital after a pause for several weeks, while the Ukrainian president announced new steps to secure his country.

The head of the military administration in Kiev, Serhiy Popko, said - via the Telegram application - that “the enemy’s drones were launched in numerous groups and attacked Kiev in waves from different directions, and at the same time they were constantly changing their course, and for this reason warnings of air raids were announced several times.” in the capital".

Bobko said that according to preliminary information, Ukrainian air defense systems hit approximately 10 Iranian-made Shahed drones in Kiev and its suburbs.

Air defenses

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced new steps to secure his country, especially strengthening Ukrainian air defenses in the coming weeks.

Air defense will become more important in Kiev's defense plans as winter approaches, and Kiev expects Moscow to launch more attacks on Ukraine's electricity, heating, and water supplies this winter.

The Ukrainian army stated that the energy infrastructure in the Zaporozhye and Odessa regions (southern Ukraine) was subjected to a violent attack by Russian drones, in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported - via its Telegram channel - that out of 38 drones launched, 29 of them were intercepted.

At the same time, Russian air defenses thwarted a drone attack on the Russian capital, yesterday, Saturday, according to the mayor of Moscow.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced - via his channel on the Telegram platform - early Sunday morning that on Saturday evening the attack on Bogorodsky, in the eastern administrative district of Moscow, had been repelled.

The Russian Defense Ministry also announced that air defense destroyed a Ukrainian drone over Bogorodsky.

In this context, the Arab affairs commentator on Channel 13, Hezi Simantov, said, “Hezbollah will continue to use North Square until it sees a change in the Gaza Strip,” adding: “There is no change in Gaza, and Yahya Sinwar has not been liquidated, and Israel is not able to completely eliminate Hamas.”

He added, “The danger of eliminating Hamas, dissolving it, and removing it from the Hamas-Iran-Hezbollah-Syria axis is not on the agenda.”

He warned that “what is happening on the northern border and in the frontline and northern towns is an unbearable situation, and no one lives there, and no one wants to return there, and this matter is considered an achievement for Hezbollah.” Israeli Member of the Knesset from the Likud Party, Tali Gotlev, said, “Hezbollah is not a deterrent. It mocks us and attacks us all the time, when it suits it.”

Yesterday, the former head of the Israeli Military Intelligence Division, Amos Yadlin, said that “Nasrallah’s hand is uppermost in the north,” referring to the superiority of the Islamic resistance in Lebanon in the ongoing confrontations with Israel, on the Lebanese-Palestinian border.

Yadlin added, “Hezbollah is carrying out a war of attrition for us, making tens of thousands of Israelis flee, and returning them to the north is a very big challenge.”

Commenting on Yadlin’s statement, the military affairs commentator on Israeli Radio, Amir Bar Shalom, said, “What Nasrallah did was to drive a wedge between “Israel” and the residents of the north.”

The Israeli Channel 12 said, “Many Israelis did not leave the north with their consent, and some were forced out, and they fear returning to the settlements.”

Yadlin had said earlier that “the Israeli army is still far from achieving its goals” in the aggression against the Gaza Strip, and the time factor is not in Israel’s interest, neither in the north, nor in the economy, nor in relation to pressure from abroad.

The statements of Israeli officials and the Israeli media come at a time when confrontations continue between the Islamic resistance in Lebanon and the Israeli occupation.

The resistance announced today, Saturday, that it had shot down, via a surface-to-air missile, an Israeli Hermes 450 drone, which is a multi-mission combat drone. The military media published scenes of it.

Source: Sama News

In its long history, humanity has not known anything more cruel than wars. In them, all the evils, pains, and damages that people cause to each other are gathered, and their impact and effects exceed those resulting from natural disasters and pandemics. It is certain that this war waged by the occupying state against our Palestinian people in Gaza is one of the most horrific wars in modern history, because it specifically and intentionally targets civilians, despite the false slogans and goals promoted by the Israel. It is a war that includes the crime of genocide, because it targets civilians without distinguishing between them and combatants. It is a war of displacement that includes the crime of ethnic cleansing, whether in the context of the military operations carried out or the declared goals of displacing Palestinians outside their homeland. It is a war in which Israel imposes the crime of collective punishment, denying water, food, medicine, and fuel to two million Palestinians under the eyes of the world. This hypocritical and complicit world, does not move a finger while it sees hospitals being targeted and stormed, and continues to count the dead, including children, women, medical teams, and United Nations employees.

Despite what this war shows of the ugliness of those who claim to be human beings, and the horror of the crimes they commit, it has revealed a number of facts that are hidden behind cosmetics and methods of deception and misleading. This blatant revelation does not concern us alone as Palestinians, even though we are its main victims. Rather, it concerns all humanity and may establish a new more honest and humane world order.

The most prominent thing that the war revealed was the truth about Israel, the truth about unbridled brutality that is devoid of all controls and laws. But the world, including many of our Arab brothers, is still deceived by this country, which has largely succeeded in deceiving and misleading the world and presenting itself as a normal country, aspiring to peace and establishing normal relations with the countries of the world. Israel, which caused the great catastrophe of the Palestinian people through uprooting, displacement and massacres, is the same one that continues these operations under the pretext of the right to self-defense.

Much ambiguity surround the details of the Nakba (1948) and some of its facts, the disclosure of which required academic research, testimonies, and the passage of a long period of time to release some documents. As for the atrocities this time, they are broadcast live and directly to the whole world. Whoever doubts the brutal criminal nature of this state and its practices in relation to one fact, can be certain of the truth in many other facts that present themselves every hour.

There is one person in this world who does not want to believe what is happening, and that is President Joe Biden, who still believes the fabrications of beheadings, the slaughter of children, and the responsibility of the Palestinians for the bombing of Baptist Hospital. This president, who seems to be "in control of his mental faculties", discovered, or was told and believed, that under Al-Shifa Hospital there are headquarters for the resistance leadership and weapons. He immediately commented: It is a war crime!

Israel's brutality is not limited to the government and its official departments, but rather extends to the various spectrums of the political map, whose representatives have begun to speak with one voice and repeat the lies of the official establishment. Israeli society reveals an environment saturated with racism that does not see the life of the non-Jew as equivalent to the life of the Jew. For the sake of the latter’s comfort, well-being and happiness, the occupation of the Palestinian can continue and deprive him of his most basic human and national rights. Rather, deprive him of his life if necessary. The soft, civilized and democratic image that Israel promotes of itself has deceived some Palestinians and many Arabs to the point of being fascinated by this Middle Eastern miracle, in which Israelis appear to be gentle and concerned about the environment, culture, arts, freedoms and civil rights. But the war revealed the falsity of these allegations and that Israeli society is a military society that sanctifies war and does not give any weight to international laws or human values.

This war revealed, through the clearest images, the extent of the injustice and ugliness of the international system based on double standards, which is controlled by the United States and the centers of the West, whose leaders and officials still nostalgic for their colonial and racist past, where laws and provisions are adapted based on the nationality of the victims, their color, religion, and race. Human rights, and even the right of peoples to resist their occupiers, are sacred principles for Ukraine, but they mean nothing for the Palestinians.

It is true that there are many free, principled and influential voices that have emerged in the West through massive and unprecedented demonstrations and protests, but the decision-making circles are still subject to those racists who are ready in advance to believe all Israeli lies. These circles also control the media, such that major newspapers, television stations, and international platforms have adopted Israeli narratives without verification, in blatant and disgraceful violation of the most basic professional principles that first-year journalism students learn. The foundations of this unjust international system began to shake years ago with the rise of China and the war launched by NATO against Russia, but it has now revealed its ugliest manifestations with this unjust war launched by NATO against Gaza.

The war also revealed the weakness and disintegration of the Arab system. This nation, which numbers about 400 million people and has a growing economy and enormous resources, seemed unable to bring aid and medical supplies to Gaza, and was more than 35 days late in holding its summit to come out with a statement that does not satisfy or relieve hunger, and to confirm the absence of its weight and influence in international policies, even those which concern and affect the future of its people.

Finally, the war revealed the fragility and weakness of our internal Palestinian situation, and our inability to adopt unified policies in the face of the dangers that threaten our rights and threaten our entire destiny. 

Unfortunately, Israel, which has been riven by sharp and deep differences for years, united during the war, while we, who face existential risks much greater than those faced by the occupying and apartheid state, did not unite.

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the Israeli attack on the Al-Fakhoura United Nations School in the northern Gaza Strip, which resulted in the death and injury of dozens of innocent people.

It considered that the number of women and children who lost their lives at the hands of Israel in Gaza in the past five weeks is a source of shame for humanity.

It called on "the international community not to turn a blind eye to Israel's trampling of the law and all human values through these grave crimes it commits."

A foot protest march of thousands of activists and families of detainees held by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) arrived in Jerusalem yesterday, Saturday, where they demanded “answers” from the Israeli government - as pressure on it intensified - after the announcement of the death of two detainees in Gaza during the last days.

According to the Israeli army, about 240 people were detained in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, which was carried out by the Palestinian resistance on the seventh of last October on the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip, and since then their families have been demanding through various means their release. Many Israelis hold their government responsible for this, because it was surprised by the Palestinian resistance attack.

The highway leading to Jerusalem was crowded with pictures of detainees during the march in which thousands participated and which began last Tuesday from Tel Aviv, which is about 60 kilometers from Jerusalem.

The faces of the detainees were printed on black T-shirts and banners, and demonstrators gathered in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, launching hundreds of yellow balloons into the sky with the words "Send them back."

The participants chanted, "Send them back to their homes now. All of them. Now," a slogan they have been calling for  6 weeks.

Among those who participated in the march to Jerusalem was centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid, who supports the war, but demands Netanyahu's resignation.

The detainees' families, who are demanding the acceleration of any prisoner exchange, are frustrated by Netanyahu's insistence on the need to remain discreet about the negotiations being mediated by Qatar and Egypt.

Demonstration in Tel Aviv

In a similar context, hundreds of people demonstrated yesterday, Saturday, in Tel Aviv against the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip. The demonstration was organized by the left-wing Hadash party, according to Israeli media. One of the banners read: “An eye for an eye, and we are all blind.” Kan TV reported that the demonstrators demanded a change to "the worst government in Israel's history."

On the other hand, the website of the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that there was a counter-demonstration in which dozens of participants participated.

Verbal and physical confrontations took place between the two sides. The newspaper added that the pro-war demonstrators threw water bottles at the peace march participants and chanted, “Go to Gaza” and “Death to the Arabs.”

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies

An analysis by the American news network CNN showed the possibility of the Israeli army rearranging weapons before the media visit to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.

The network published on its website in Arabic, on Saturday evening, a report entitled “A CNN analysis indicates the possibility that the Israeli army will rearrange weapons before the media visit to Al-Shifa Hospital.”

She said: “An Israeli army video clip on November 15 showed the moment of inspection of Hamas weapons that were found in Al-Shifa Hospital, as fewer weapons appeared at the scene compared to later videos filmed by international media crews, indicating that the weapons may have been transferred.” Or put it there before the news crews arrive.”

In this regard, CNN stated that it “compared the footage published by the Israeli army online with the footage taken by Fox News, which was granted access to the site in the following hours.”

“Israel Defense Forces spokesman Jonathan Conricus was leading the tour in the IDF video when his wristwatch showed the time 13:18,” she said.

She added: “Later, when darkness fell, Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst visited the scene and said in his report: ‘It is midnight.’”

She continued: “Yingst showed a bag located behind the MRI machine inside the hospital, where two Kalashnikov rifles appeared on top of it.”

She added: “However, the Israeli army video clip that was filmed earlier showed only one AK-47 “Kalashnikov” rifle, and it is not clear where the second AK-47 weapon came from and why it did not appear in the previous Israeli army clip ?

She said: “In the intervening hours, the Israeli army also published on the Internet a photo of the weapons that were allegedly found in Al-Shifa Hospital. The name of the photo (WhatsApp file) indicates that it was taken at 17:35, which places it after the IDF’s tour of the MRI complex but almost certainly before the Fox News crew arrived.”

She added: “It is possible that the weapons will be removed from the scene and replaced before news crews arrive.” But this does not explain why more weapons appeared when the press arrived than in the original IDF video.”

She continued: “The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) was also granted access to the hospital the next day, November 16, and at that time there were still two AK-47 rifles visible on top of the bag inside the MRI room.”

She added: “CNN contacted the Israeli army to obtain clarifications regarding the apparent contradiction, but did not receive a response.”

The Israeli army had used these weapons to justify the storming of the hospital and thus claim that “Hamas” used the hospital as its headquarters.

(Sama)

By Dan Sheehan

It’s been a hell of a 24 hours for writers demonstrating moral courage.

Last night at the National Book Awards, over a dozen NBA finalists took to the stage to use their moment in the spotlight to oppose the ongoing bombardment of Gaza and to call for a ceasefire.

Then, earlier this morning, the news broke that Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, essayist, and poetry editor of the New York Times Magazine, Anne Boyer, has resigned from her post, writing in her resignation letter that “the Israeli state’s U.S.-backed war against the people of Gaza is not a war for anyone” and that she “won’t write about poetry amid the ‘reasonable’ tones of those who aim to acclimatize us to this unreasonable suffering.”

Here is Boyer’s extraordinary resignation letter—in which she takes direct aim at the language used by her (now former) employer in its coverage of the war on Gaza—in full:

I have resigned as poetry editor of the New York Times Magazine.

The Israeli state’s U.S-backed war against the people of Gaza is not a war for anyone. There is no safety in it or from it, not for Israel, not for the United States or Europe, and especially not for the many Jewish people slandered by those who claim falsely to fight in their names. Its only profit is the deadly profit of oil interests and weapon manufacturers.

The world, the future, our hearts—everything grows smaller and harder from this war. It is not only a war of missiles and land invasions. It is an ongoing war against the people of Palestine, people who have resisted throughout decades of occupation, forced dislocation, deprivation, surveillance, siege, imprisonment, and torture.

Because our status quo is self-expression, sometimes the most effective mode of protest for artists is to refuse.

I can’t write about poetry amidst the ‘reasonable’ tones of those who aim to acclimatize us to this unreasonable suffering. No more ghoulish euphemisms. No more verbally sanitized hellscapes. No more warmongering lies.

If this resignation leaves a hole in the news the size of poetry, then that is the true shape of the present.

—Anne Boyer

Let’s hope that Boyer’s courage inspires other writers of her stature to use their platforms to speak out against this unconscionable war.

The World Health Organization announced that Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City had turned into a “death zone,” calling for its complete evacuation.

The organization said in a statement, at dawn on Sunday, that it led an assessment mission to the hospital yesterday, and headed a joint United Nations team that included public health experts, logistical officials and security staff from a group of agencies on a short and “high-risk” mission to the hospital.

WHO said that she is working with her partners to “develop urgent plans for the immediate evacuation of the remaining patients, staff and their families,” noting that 291 patients and 25 health workers are still inside the hospital.

The World Health Organization noted that the team described the hospital as a "death zone" and that the situation there was "desperate."

WHO  pointed out that "the effects of the bombing and shooting were clear, and the team saw a mass grave at the entrance to the hospital and was told that more than 80 people were buried there."

The organization indicated that there is a shortage of clean water, fuel, medicines, food and other basic aid, which has caused the largest and most advanced hospitals in Gaza to stop working.

It added, "The hospital's corridors and grounds were filled with medical and solid waste, which increased the risk of infection." She stated that among the patients remaining in the hospital were 32 children, "whose conditions are very critical."

The World Health Organization confirmed that a number of patients died during the past two or three days due to the absence of medical services.

A Palestinian was killed at dawn today, Sunday, by Israeli occupation forces after storming the city of Jenin and Jenin camp.

The director of Jenin Governmental Hospital, Wissam Bakr, reported that Issam Hussein Al-Fayed (46 years old), a disabled person, was killed by Israeli occupation army at the entrance to the camp. 

Large forces from Israeli army, accompanied by a military bulldozer, stormed the city of Jenin, deployed in a number of neighborhoods in the city, and deployed their snipers on the roofs of a number of homes and buildings.

Confrontations took place between citizens and Israeli forces in a number of neighborhoods of the city and the camp, and there was a helicopter flight and reinforcements arriving at the camp.

Israel also arrested 9 young men from Khallet Al-Souha, including Ahmed, Mahmoud, Raed, Khalil, Hamza, Ismail Owais, and the young man Nimr Marhi from the Kharouba neighborhood in the city, and detained the citizen Umm Nidal Kaakban for hours, who is from the Sibat neighborhood in the city, before releasing her.

Israeli forces blew up the doors of a number of homes, and called on the Owais family via loudspeakers to evacuate their home in the “Khallet Al-Souha” area of the city.

Israeli forces also raided the neighborhoods of Wadi Izz al-Din, al-Bayader, al-Hadaf, al-Zahraa neighborhood, al-Marah, Kharouba, the eastern neighborhood, Haifa Street, and Jenin-Nablus Street, where they set up a military checkpoint. The army also detained an ambulance in the city and forced those inside it to get off.

Israeli bulldozers began destroying the infrastructure and bulldozing the streets in the Al-Zahraa neighborhood in the city, and caused damage to a number of citizens’ vehicles.

It intensified its presence in front of Jenin Governmental Hospital and in front of Ibn Sina Hospital, and obstructed the work of ambulances.

In Bethlehem, a young Palestinian was killed at dawn today, Sunday, by Israeli occupation bullets in the Dheisheh camp, south of Bethlehem.

A local source reported that the young man, Omar Ali Al-Laham, was killed after being hit Israeli bullets in the head during confrontations that broke out in the camp after the occupation army stormed it.

The source added that Israeli forces prevented Red Crescent crews in the city from approaching the young man, Al-Lahham, and providing treatment to him after he was injured.

Israeli army also arrested the young man, Muhammad Yasser Jawarish, after raiding and searching his father’s house in the camp.

The Israeli aggression against Gaza continues for the 44th day, and the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced the death of more than 200 Palestinians in the bombing that targeted Al-Fakhoura and Tal Al-Zaatar schools.

A medical source told Al Jazeera that 31 Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids that targeted homes in the central Gaza Strip last night.

Israeli killings in the Gaza Strip have not stopped since the start of the aggression on the seventh of last October, as schools, hospitals, educational institutions, mosques, and public and private property were within the focus of targeting by the occupation aircraft, artillery, and battleships, leaving thousands of martyrs and wounded, most of them women, children, and the elderly, as well as about hundreds of missing people.

On Saturday, the White House denied information about the existence of a US-brokered agreement between Israel and Hamas that would allow the release of dozens of women and children held hostage in the Gaza Strip in exchange for a cessation of fighting for five days.

In response to a Washington Post report about a preliminary agreement, White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said on the X platform, “We have not reached an agreement yet, but we continue to work hard to reach an agreement.”

On Saturday, the American newspaper "Washington Post" quoted "informed sources" that "Israel and Hamas reached a preliminary agreement, mediated by the United States, that would release dozens of women and children held hostage in Gaza in exchange for a cessation of hostilities for five days." .

The newspaper reported that “the release of the hostages may begin within days and lead to the first stop in the current conflict in Gaza, if the detailed six-page agreement is adhered to.”

The newspaper also reported from unnamed sources that “all parties will stop combat operations for at least five days while some hostages will be released in batches, provided that there will be aerial surveillance to stop the fighting.”

But the White House National Security Council responded quickly via the X platform, denying that any major hack had been achieved on Saturday evening

Washington has previously confirmed that the ceasefire is linked to the release of the hostages

White House Senior Advisor for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk acknowledged during the 19th edition of the “Manama Dialogue Forum,” organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, that the situation in Gaza is “horrific” and “unbearable.” ‏

But he added, "There will be an influx of humanitarian aid, fuel, and a ceasefire when the hostages are released."

This was preceded by the martyrdom of 5 Palestinian prisoners in  Israeli prisons since October 7th. According to what the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority announced several days ago.

Prisoner Thaer Samih Abu Assab from Qalqilya was dead in the Negev prison. He is the sixth prisoner to die in  Israeli prisons since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on October 7 last.

The Prisoners' and Ex-Prisoners' Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club said in a joint statement, "The occupation assassinated prisoner Thaer Samih Abu Assab (38 years old) from Qalqilya Governorate in the Negev Desert Prison. He has been detained since May 27, 2005 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He is... "The sixth martyr prisoner after the seventh of last October."

US President Joe Biden said on Saturday that a “renewed” Palestinian authority must ultimately govern the Gaza Strip and the West Bank after the war on Gaza.

He added, in an opinion article published by the Washington Post, “As we strive for peace, Gaza and the West Bank must be reunited under a single governance structure, and ultimately under a renewed Palestinian authority, while we all work toward a two-state solution.”

He said: "There must be no forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, no re-occupation, no siege, and no reduction of territory."

Biden used the article to try to answer the question of what the United States wants for Gaza once the conflict ends.

“The international community must allocate resources to support the people of Gaza in the immediate aftermath of this crisis, including temporary security measures, and establish a reconstruction mechanism to meet Gaza’s long-term needs in a sustainable manner,” he wrote. “It is imperative that no terrorist threats again emanate from Gaza or West Bank".

He added: “If we can agree on these first steps, and take them together, we can begin to envision a different future. In the coming months, the United States will redouble its efforts to create a more peaceful, integrated, and prosperous Middle East.”

He pointed out that he discussed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York last October "a set of substantive commitments that would help Israel and the Palestinian territories better integrate into the greater Middle East." "This is also the idea behind the Creative Economic Corridor that will connect India to Europe via the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel, which I announced with my partners at the G20 summit in India in early September," he said.

Netanyahu said that Israel must maintain its “comprehensive military responsibility” for Gaza “for the foreseeable future.”

Biden also said that the United States is ready to issue a visa ban on “extremists” who attack civilians in the West Bank. Israeli settler violence against Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank has escalated since the start of the war on Gaza.

Biden said: "I stressed to Israel's leaders the need to stop extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and hold perpetrators of violence accountable."

The West Bank, inhabited by three million Palestinians, has been witnessing a state of turmoil for more than 18 months, raising increasing international concern with the escalation of violence after October 7.

(Reuters, Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that “the United States and the world are putting great pressure on us,” noting that no deal has yet been reached regarding the prisoners.

As Netanyahu said, during a press conference in Tel Aviv: “I saw the march of the families of the kidnapped and I tell them that I am walking with you, and until this moment there is no deal.”

He added, "The United States and the world are putting great pressure on us, but we are repelling it and will continue the war. They asked us not to enter Gaza or Al-Shifa Hospital and a ceasefire, and we refused. From day one, I have been leading efforts with my colleagues to maintain Washington's support. I also appreciate the United States, led by our friend Joe Biden, which sees things through." exactly like us,

We also agreed to an American request to bring two fuel trucks into southern Gaza daily, and we are committed to achieving a decisive victory to eliminate Hamas, and we will not stop the mission of returning the prisoners.”

He continued, "I offer my condolences to the families of the soldiers who fell in the Gaza Strip, and I asked to bring together the families of the 'kidnapped' with the war council, to show them what we are doing, and the unity of the people, determination, and our steely strength are conditions for achieving victory."

"Military victory cannot be achieved without political support from the leaders and the people."

The Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, confirmed that the brutal war waged by Israel against Gaza is in fact the fifth round since Israel’s unilateral separation from the Gaza Strip, without a peace agreement ending the conflict with the Palestinians, warning that rounds of violence may be repeated if this hellish cycle has not been broken through a peace process that leads to an end to the occupation.

Aboul Gheit's statements came during an expanded session entitled “New Initiatives to Achieve Peace,” within the framework of the “Manama Dialogue,” which is hosted by the Kingdom of Bahrain and brings together an elite group of security officials, diplomats, and experts from the Arab region and various parts of the world.

Jamal Rushdi, the official spokesman for the Secretary-General, quoted Aboul Gheit as confirming that many believe that this crisis began on October 7 with Hamas’ attacks on Israel, while the root of the problem is the continuous Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories since 1967, stressing that Israel It wants to keep the land in all of Palestine, as well as obtain security and peace, and events over the years have proven the corruption of this perception.

Aboul Gheit considered that the path that led to the current situation began with the elimination of the peace process, the coup against the Oslo process, and the rise of the Israeli right in its various versions that became more extreme over the years, which worked to destroy any possibility of peace, weaken the Palestinian partner, and convince the Israeli people of the possibility of dealing with the problem of the Palestinians as a security problem, and that the occupation regime can be sustained by continuing to subjugate the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Aboul Gheit said that there are no new initiatives to achieve peace because the Arabs have already presented their initiative since 2002 under the name of the Arab Peace Initiative, which is based on the principle of land for peace and promises Israel normal relations with the countries of the region in the event of withdrawal from the lands occupied in 1967 and the establishment of a Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

He added that Israel has continued to reject this initiative since its launch, and that the time has come for Israeli leaders as well as the Israeli people to realize that the path to achieving security passes through a political settlement, and not the continuation of the occupation, as the Palestinians will not leave their land and their struggle for independence will continue as long as the occupation is on their chests. .

Rushdi explained that the Secretary-General of the Arab League was keen to categorically emphasize the danger of ideas that promote the displacement of Palestinians to neighboring countries, in Egypt or Jordan, stressing that this option represents a recipe for chaos, violence and long-term instability in the entire Middle East, and that the Palestinians and the Arab countries completely reject such a scenario of evacuating Palestine of its people and ethnically cleansing it.

The conditions of prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons are becoming more difficult and harsh with the passage of time. This is not what some people believe, that with the passage of time this attack will subside. But it is clear that the occupation forces took advantage of the current circumstances in order to intensify the attack, and even to become a permanent approach, under the pretext that these practices are linked to the conditions of Israeli prisoners held by the Palestinian resistance. But in fact, the attack began when Ben Gvir took over the Ministry of National Security in Israel about a year ago.

Intensive and widespread retaliatory measures that fall within the crime (collective punishment) imposed by the occupation against prisoners.

After October 7, the occupation prison administration began imposing collective retaliatory measures within the framework of the established and systematic crime of “collective punishment” against prisoners, which was the most severe and dangerous in decades. The competent institutions were able, through limited visits they carried out to some prisons, which took place under extremely difficult circumstances, and through the testimonies they obtained from those who were recently released; to monitor these procedures, which constitute an extension of a set of policies and procedures that Israel has adopted against prisoners over many decades.

The repressive forces, armed with all types of weapons, carried out massive raids into the prisoner’s rooms and cells, and placed the prisoners in collective and double isolation, as all (the prisoners’ rooms) were turned into cells after stripping them of all their possessions, and confiscating all the simple electricals that they were using, to meet their basic needs. It carried out widespread attacks against prisoners, through severe beatings using sticks and batons, causing dozens of injuries to them and then deliberately leaving them without treatment. Since the canteen was banned, prisoners have been deprived of access to cigarettes, coffee, and tea.

These measures affected the basic necessities of life (food, water, treatment, and electricity), after they cut off electricity to the prisoners’ sections, reduced the amount of water and the hours it is available to them, imposed unprecedented restrictions on sick prisoners, and doubled the policies of denial of treatment that already existed against them, and stopped the transfer of prisoners to prison clinics, as well as to hospitals. Starvation was also imposed after the cantina was closed, and the remaining food supplies (such as canned food) were confiscated by the prisons. Meals were reduced to two meals, which no longer amounted to being described as meals, as they were inedible morsels.

It closed all facilities, including the laundry that the prisoners used to wash their clothes, after confiscating their clothes and leaving the prisoner with only one spare change. In some prisons, they confiscated shoes and pillows, carried out mass transfers against prisoners, and isolated many of them in solitary confinement after severely beating them. As a result of the daily arrest campaigns, the prisons were crowded with new detainees. The room that could accommodate six prisoners, the number of prisoners in it exceeded ten, and in addition to all of this, interrogations and investigations were carried out for many prisoners about the current situation.

These measures also included the “Ramla Prison Clinic,” where sick prisoners are held. Prisoners in the “Ramla Prison Clinic” complained of the difficulty of inspection and the quantities of food that do not match the amount of medications they take. In addition, the measures included the “Damoun” prison, where the female prisoners are located, who since October 7th have been subjected to several repression operations accompanied by gas spraying, and three female prisoners were placed in isolation, where the representative of the female prisoners, Marah Bakir, remains in solitary confinement in Al-Jalama prison to this day.

The occupation's measures also reached the point of targeting prisoners through a systematic and premeditated assassination of detainees. Since the outbreak of the war, six prisoners have been martyred as a result of being subjected to severe beatings.

In this context, the institutions concerned with prisoners confirm that the reality of prison life for prisoners today is more difficult and dangerous, and is closer to the reality of prisoners in the late sixties and beginning of the seventies.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, said on Saturday that the news of the killing of children, women and men while they were taking shelter in Al-Fakhoura School in northern Gaza is “tragic.”

Griffiths added, in a statement published on the United Nations website, that “shelters are places of safety, and schools are places of learning.”

He stressed that "civilians cannot and should not bear this matter any longer."

The UN official concluded his speech by saying: “Humanity must prevail.”

President Mahmoud Abbas called on US President Joe Biden to intervene immediately to stop the humanitarian catastrophe and genocide against our people, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 42,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom are children and women.

In a televised speech, broadcast on Palestine TV this Saturday evening, the President addressed US President Joe Biden, who alone bears a special responsibility, due to his international standing and great influence on the occupation authorities, to intervene immediately to stop the aggression and provide relief to our besieged people in the Gaza Strip in addition to stop the attacks of the Israeli occupation forces and the continuing terrorism of settlers against our people in the West Bank and Jerusalem, which threaten an imminent explosion.

President Abbas stressed that our Palestinian people deserve to live on their homeland in freedom and dignity and will remain steadfast on their land until they achieve their legitimate rights to independence and a state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Today, Saturday, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned, in the strongest terms, the blatant bombing of the Al-Fakhoura School, affiliated with UNRWA, in the Gaza Strip, by the occupation forces.

The Ministry renewed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's complete rejection of the systematic targeting of civilians, while demanding an immediate ceasefire and ensuring the protection of civilians, relief facilities and their workers.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also stressed the necessity of activating international accountability mechanisms regarding the continuing Israeli violations of international humanitarian law and international legitimacy resolutions.

On Saturday, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, condemned the "horrific" occupation aircraft raids on the organization's schools in the Gaza Strip housing displaced persons.

Lazzarini said on the “X” platform that he received “horrific pictures and footage of many victims and wounded in another UNRWA school that shelters thousands of displaced people in the northern Gaza Strip.”

He added, "These attacks cannot become a normal thing. They must stop. A humanitarian ceasefire cannot be delayed any longer."

Today, Saturday, the Israeli occupation forces committed two massacres in Al-Fakhoura and Tal Al-Zaatar schools in the Jabalia refugee camp, north of Gaza, which led to the death and injury of hundreds of children and women.

On the fourth of this month, Al-Fakhoura School was subjected to a direct bombardment by occupation aircraft, during which at least 12 citizens were killed and 54 were injured.

In a non-final tally, the Ministry of Health announced that the number of martyrs in the Gaza Strip had reached 11,470 martyrs as of November 16, including 4,707 children, 3,155 women, and 686 elderly people, while the number of casualties reached more than 29,000 since the beginning of the Israeli aggression. On the Gaza Strip on the 7th of last October.

While more than 3,600 civilians are still missing or under the rubble, including 1,750 children.

Palestinian writer and journalist Mustafa Al-Sawaf and a number of his family members were killed in Israeli  bombing of his home in Gaza.

Al-Sawaf is one of the most famous media figures and analysts and has written hundreds of writings and analyzes on Palestinian political affairs.

Al-Sawaf has written newspaper articles specializing in Palestinian affairs since 1999. He is a frequent guest on various media outlets. He has published a number of books, including: Days of Rage (2005), Al-Sawaf’s six-part series of articles, and a collection of political short stories, “There Was a Householder.” (2017), and Hamas from memory (2017), according to the Roya Center for Political Development.

Israeli settlers are trying to assert control over a disputed piece of land in a sensitive area in occupied East Jerusalem. The land has been in the possession of the Armenian Patriarchate for centuries.

Israeli settlers are attempting to lay claim on an important property in the Armenian quarter in occupied East Jerusalem exacerbating tensions as war on Gaza rages.

Xana Capital, the company owned by Israeli settler Danny Rubenstein, also known as Danny Rothman, has made further attempts in the last twenty-four hours to seize a sizeable tract of land in the Armenian Quarter in occupied East Jerusalem.On two separate occasions, Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, private security guards and Israeli settlers stormed the Armenian Quarter in a move to assert control of the land in dispute. Two bulldozers accompanied them. 

Earlier in the month, armed Israeli settlers made a similar move, but community members repelled them.  Hagop Djernazian told The New Arab that members of the Armenian community stopped the work from progressing.  "The community prevented them from advancing. Then the police came at 11:00 pm in big numbers and demanded the community to leave, but we stood in front of the police and prevented them from entering". 

According to Djernazian, lawyers representing the Patriarchate have explained to the Israeli police that the matter is in the courts and, in the meantime, the settlers cannot change facts on the ground. 

Xana Capital is laying claim on the land following signing a deal with the Armenian Patriarch Nourhan Manougian several years ago. The Armenian Patriarchate has since withdrew from the agreement. The details of the agreement are not entirely apparent. The property deal reportedly pertains to 11.5 dunams in the Armenian Quarter, which amounts to 25 per cent of the total size of the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City. It includes a vast tract of land currently used as a parking lot, a seminary, and five residential homes. Omar Haramy, a Palestinian Christian activist who came to show solidarity with Armenian activists, told TNA that "Jerusalem is under attack, especially the Armenian Quarter; there is no justice in Jerusalem, no justice under occupation". 

Members of the various Churches in Jerusalem, including the Latin Patriarchate and the Evangelical Lutheran Church, are expected to pay solidarity to the Armenian Patriarchate on Friday. 

(New Arab)

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor expressed its "shock and dismay" at the Israeli army's carrying out physical liquidation operations against wounded Palestinians, during the forced evacuation of the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City and using its administration as human shields.

The Observatory stated that it received testimonies about the Israeli army’s use of members of the Shifa Complex administration as human shields, to conduct an extensive combing and search operation in the complex’s hospital facilities before carrying out horrific mass field killing operations.

According to the testimonies, the Israeli army requested Dr. Marwan Abu Saada, director of the Surgical Hospital in the Shifa Complex, to negotiate with it, on behalf of the complex’s administration, to arrange mechanisms for evacuating the wounded and sick from hospitals and facilities in the complex.

But what happened was that the occupation army used Doctor Abu Saada as a human shield in order to open all the doors of the hospital departments in the complex for more than five continuous hours, searching for signs of a military presence in the complex.

According to the Observatory, when the Israeli occupation failed to find any evidence it sought of a military presence in the compound, “the soldiers went crazy and deliberately carried out physical liquidation operations on a number of the wounded by direct shooting at them and killing them in cold blood.”

The Euro-Mediterranean Monitor reiterated its strong condemnation of the blatant violations that have been and continue to be committed against hospitals that enjoy special protection, under international humanitarian law, including Article 19 of the Geneva Conventions, which stipulates that “medical service units may not be attacked under any circumstances, but must be respected.” and protected at all times by the parties to the conflict.”

The Observatory also recalled Article 56 of the Geneva Conventions, which stipulates that “the occupying state must, to the maximum extent permitted by the means at its disposal, guarantee and maintain, in cooperation with national and local authorities, medical institutions and services, hospitals, public health, and health care in the occupied territories.”

The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory called for an urgent opening of an independent international investigation into the Israeli occupation army turning hospitals into firing zones and conducting field executions, which may amount to war crimes, and the need to hold the perpetrators and those who issued the order accountable.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, it seems that the American administration began to form its own vision of the consequences of the situation in the Strip after the end of this war. Despite the absolute and open support that Tel Aviv received from Washington, which was translated into a continuous flow of various types of support, and the compatibility of the American position with the Israeli goal of eliminating the Hamas movement, by ending its rule in the Gaza Strip and destroying its military structure 

When the American administration consulted the Israeli War Council about the future of the Strip after the war, it did not find anything new and convincing in the vision presented. This vision focused on the necessity of achieving the military goal of excluding Hamas from the scene of the Gaza Strip, but it did not present a political horizon or a clear vision for what would happen next. The basis of the vision of Netanyahu and his most right-wing ministers was to go in a smooth direction towards re-imposing comprehensive security control over the Gaza Strip, either by returning to the continued occupation of it completely or at least partially, and in the best case scenario, creating a Palestinian administration there that would handle the civil affairs of the Gazans, which might be the Palestinian Authority, after The largest number of them were expelled to Sinai.

Although the US Secretaries of State and Defense urged Netanyahu at the time to give greater attention to the issue of the future of the Gaza Strip, Washington was initially drawn, under the impact of the “Seventh of October” shock, to the Israeli square, to the Israeli vision square, and tried to pass the issue of expelling the Palestinians to Sinai under the argument of humanitarian reasons. But it did not take long for it to regain control of its position, not on the war, which it still strongly support, but on the future of the situation after the war. It is likely that three reasons prompted Washington to do so.

First, the contacts and consultations conducted by Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, in Arab capitals revealed to the administration the strength of the position of its Arab allies, not only in the categorical and absolute rejection of Israel’s expulsion of the Palestinians from their homeland, but also in the urgent need to close the conflict through the only way, which is the establishment of a Palestinian state  According to the principle of the “two-state solution” adopted by America and the international community. 

This is in addition to the urgent Arab demand for the necessity of a ceasefire as soon as possible to address the catastrophic situation of civilians. The American administration has become convinced of the Arab position that the goal of stabilizing the region and normalizing Israel’s presence in it cannot be achieved in a fundamental way except by resolving the Palestinian issue, and not by continuing to merely manage it with the intention of neutralizing it.

Second, the images conveyed daily of the brutality with which Israel unleashed its vengeance on all Palestinians in Gaza, causing thousands of victims, most of them children, and the enormity of the massive destruction that affected various aspects of Gazan life, led to a growing and angry international public opinion that began to put pressure on Western governments support to Israel without accountability. Of course, the anger was directed at Washington and President Biden, the symbol of unlimited support for Israel in its war with Gaza. The catastrophic humanitarian situation worsening daily in the Gaza Strip has become embarrassing for Washington, which began demanding that Israel legalize the war, not stop it, out of concern for the lives of civilians and the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Third, despite the collapse of the US administration’s material, moral and emotional support for Israel after the Hamas attack on October 7, and its emphasis on the depth of the organic relationship that links America with Israel, its relationship with the extreme right-wing government of Israel is not good, and there is a long history of estrangement between Biden and Netanyahu. It is most likely that the confidence of the members of this administration in Netanyahu is low, as his intentions and actions - and the unbridled extremism of the extreme right among the settlers in his government - raise in them doubts. Therefore, this administration found that its support for Israel in the war on Gaza should not mean the necessity of submitting to the wishes of its current government, especially with regard to the future status of Gaza, and the settlement of the conflict in general.

The American administration wants a stable Middle East, at least to the minimum extent, that is, to the extent that American interests can be taken care of without the need to allocate high resources, or get involved in a muddy war. America's supreme strategic interest has shifted from the region, after it believed that it had guaranteed its interests and contained its conflicts to the minimum that it could live with, and has moved to what is more important and has a greater impact on it in the future, which is the threat of Chinese rise.

Therefore, it tried hard to contain the conflict with Iran by negotiating its nuclear file, and made a great effort to build on the success of its predecessor in normalizing Israel’s relations with Arab countries, and pushing towards the normalization of Saudi-Israeli relations. All of this came in order to devote more time to confronting China and containing its rise. As for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it has been neglected and ignored, as if it no longer has any importance or influence on the course of political life in the region.

Hamas' sudden attack on Israel came to change the monotony of the situation in the region and the bleakness of the Palestinian situation. Because of him, the Palestinian issue returned to the top of the list of global attention. The American administration has rediscovered that the Palestinian issue is the focus of political life in the region. It seems that for the reasons mentioned above, and in order to achieve the strategic American interest, this administration, under the pressure of need, which may be fleeting, found it necessary to shift its position from managing the conflict with the intention of keeping it on the simmer, to announcing its endeavor to resolve it.

In this context came the Biden administration's new position on the future of the sector after the war, which Blinken recently expressed, in which he publicly and noticeably differed from Netanyahu's position. Regarding the determinants of the new position, Blinken emphasized the US administration’s refusal to re-occupy the Gaza Strip, impose a siege on it again, forcibly displace its population out of it, or reduce its area, all of which are extremely important points. Assuming that the Israeli-American goal of the war is achieved, which is to end the possibility of Israel being exposed to “terrorist” attacks from Gaza and threats to it from the West Bank, and to achieve sustainable peace and security, governance in the Gaza Strip, according to what Blinken stated, must be based on the aspirations of the Palestinians, It should be led by the Palestinian Authority in the unified West Bank and Gaza, include a sustainable mechanism for the reconstruction of Gaza, and include a road map for Palestinians and Israelis to live in two states subject to the same standards.

Regardless of whether this vision is true or not, putting it into practice requires basic conditions to be met. 

First, being able to end Hamas’ rule and destroy its military structure in the Gaza Strip. This condition has not been fulfilled yet, as the war has not yet ended, and there are many factors that are still active and present, and will have their effects in determining the final outcome. Although the indicators available so far may suggest that there is a possibility of achieving the Israeli-American goal, ending Hamas’ rule of the Gaza Strip does not end the movement, and most likely will not reduce the percentage of popular support for it among the Palestinians, but rather may increase this support. What this means is that implementing the American vision cannot succeed by excluding Hamas from participating in the political process. This is something that requires the will of all parties, and the expenditure of a lot of effort and time to be achieved. This is something that may require, as Blinken indicated, to go through... A “transition period,” during which the future governance of the sector requires the involvement of countries from the region and beyond, as well as international institutions.

Secondly, getting rid of Netanyahu and his right-wing government, which constitutes a fundamental and real obstacle to the possibility of realizing the new American vision, and replacing it with a less extremist government that is open to achieving a political settlement of the conflict in accordance with the principle of the two-state solution, and capable of moving forward in this endeavor. This may be the easiest condition to achieve, as the Netanyahu government, before it was expanded and transformed into an emergency government, was on the verge of collapse, and the political future of its president was at an end after the war ended. It is likely that the forces of the religious settler right will be curbed in the next Israeli government. Although the October 7 attack took the Israelis towards the right, and united them around waging war and confronting Hamas, there is a reasonable possibility of a shift in Israeli public opinion after the end of this war, towards acknowledging that living in safety requires ending the conflict in accordance with the principle of the two-state solution.

Third, putting the vision expressed by Blinken into actual implementation requires the presence of a real will on the part of Biden and his administration, and not just a sloganeering position required by the needs of the stage, which fades with the end of the war, especially with the approaching entry into the season of preparation for the presidential elections, and entering into the fever of the electoral campaign. Although the US President will likely face a fierce challenge from Trump, it may lead to neglecting the implementation of the vision expressed towards resolving the conflict in the Middle East. But it is worth noting that the unlimited and unconditional bias that Biden presented to Israel in the beginning angered Muslim Americans, those of Palestinian and Arab origins, and other Americans with progressive tendencies, including Jewish Americans, as well as the progressive wing of the Republican Party, which caused him to lose electoral support. It is necessary for him, especially in swing states that he needs to win in order to win his re-election battle. Therefore, he is desperate to appease these angry people, which means he cannot neglect the topic of importance to them. This opens a positive area for internal pressure to transform the vision into action.

With the possibility of the American administration to proceed, even if it is limited and fraught with risks, and if it does come, it will come burdened with deep Palestinian pain due to the magnitude of the loss and enormous suffering that has engulfed the people in Gaza and disrupted the course of life there for many years to come. The important and urgent questions that must be answered by the Palestinians are: 

Should we let things flow smoothly over us, so that we are the recipients of what others plan and carry out against us, or does the duty require the Palestinian political level to seriously prepare for the next Palestinian path that is required to confront various possibilities, and to be well prepared to protect the supreme national interest of the Palestinian people, which may be targeted under the slogan and application of two-state solution. What are the most important preparations that must be taken, the warnings that must be taken into account, and the positions that must be adhered to, so that the Palestinian position is both strong and effective?

The most important pillars of the Palestinian vision can be summarized in the following points:

First, the necessity of effective action at various levels and various international arenas, with the help of Arab countries, on the necessity of immediately stopping the insane war on the Gaza Strip. All possible pressure must be exerted on the American administration to change its position on this war, and to assure it that its absolute support for Israel will have a negative impact on it, especially on achieving its strategic interest in a stable Middle East. This interest cannot be achieved by continuing to slaughter Palestinians in Gaza. The first urgently necessary condition is the immediate ceasefire and a comprehensive prisoner exchange that will end the suffering of thousands of Palestinians in Israeli detention centers. Lifting injustice against the Palestinians is the basic condition upon which it is possible to build to achieve stability in the region.

Secondly, focusing on the fact that the history of the conflict did not begin, according to the Israeli narrative, on “the 7th of October,” but rather extends through Palestinian suffering that has continued for seventy-five years, and that this suffering must end. Since wars are fought to achieve a political goal, the Palestinian goal of this war is not limited only to addressing the aspects of the enormous human suffering it has produced for the Palestinians of Gaza, although it is an urgent necessity, but rather to seriously addressing the accumulated causes that lead to the continued eruption of the situation. The fundamental Palestinian demand is the necessity of ending the occupation and achieving freedom and independence. This was the motivation for the Palestine Liberation Organization to accept the two-state solution, and requires the American administration and its Western allies to obtain Israeli acceptance of this solution, which has not been achieved so far.

Third, taking advantage of the American position rejecting the displacement of Gazans, present and future, outside the Gaza Strip, and relying on the solidity of the Palestinian cling to the land, on the one hand, and the categorical position of the Arab countries’ rejection of the Israeli displacement plan, especially Egypt and Jordan. On the other hand, to close the door permanently and definitively on the desire to Israel seeks to forcefully displace Palestinians from their homeland. This war will destroy Israel's ability to achieve its desire, not only for this once, but forever. 

Therefore, it is necessary to declare the Palestinian-Arab position that absolutely rejects the issue of expulsion, and to stop discussing it, so as not to inadvertently provide it with the oxygen necessary to keep it in circulation and alive. However, in this context, special attention must be paid to what the mechanism for achieving the Israeli desire to displace the Palestinians could become, so that voluntary migration becomes the path followed to achieve the goal. 

Therefore, it is important, Palestinian and Arab, to work early and diligently with the countries that Israel might seek to open the doors of its immigration to a large collective number of Palestinians, in order to alert and warn it of the possibility of engaging in such a suspicious goal.

Fourth, with the urgency of the worsening need in the Gaza Strip, and the necessity of giving it the greatest Palestinian importance and attention, it is also required not to ignore what is happening in the West Bank in terms of the intensification of the settlement process and the targeting of Palestinians, whether from the occupation army, or from systematic settler violence. It is necessary to carry out a comprehensive and focused media and diplomatic campaign in various capitals of the world, but in the Western capitals allied with Israel, to demand serious positions on it, not only to continue to provide verbal condemnations, but to translate them into taking steps to curb this settlement expansion and the ongoing terrorism that the Palestinians are exposed to.

Fourth, confronting the urgent need to put the Palestinian internal affairs in order, in a real and realistic manner. Over the past sixteen years, the Palestinian national cause has suffered from a division that has exhausted it and has not led to any progress in the effort to achieve the goal of the Palestinian national project. We must acknowledge the mistakes that have been committed, and not continue throwing them from one party to another, and continue throwing accusations around, as this is ineffective. Although it is not permissible to underestimate the important issue of acquiring the legitimacy of Palestinian representation, which is being fought over internally, and may even be very important, the continuation of this struggle over it weakens the overall Palestinian ability vis-à-vis others. The continued preoccupation with the self division deviates the Palestinian compass.

This division must end in order for the collective Palestinian effort to be directed towards achieving the general national goal. The Palestine Liberation Organization must open its doors to be the umbrella of all Palestinians. Hamas must also translate the step it took when it changed its charter in 2017, and confirm what the head of its political bureau expressed a few days ago, by accepting the two-state solution. As for recognizing Israel, this is another matter, and it is not permissible for a Palestinian to make the mistake of repeating it again, as it is a result and not the gateway to a settlement. Ending the division is a must necessitated by current events, and if this necessity is exceeded now, we will lose achieving any meaningful political goal from this war, which means that we will continue in self-discussions that are not useful, and will only be satisfied with healing the wounds.

Fifthly, the importance of ending the division and putting the internal Palestinian house in order lies in preempting the possibility of imposing what Blinken called a “transitional phase” for managing the sector. Although it is hoped that the outcome of the war will be different from what Israel and America want, taking other possibilities into consideration is important to determine the best ways for an effective Palestinian confrontation. In this regard, the Palestinians must reject the “transitional phase” clearly, completely and firmly, for three reasons. 

First, this will create a real possibility of separating the future of the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, which could form the basis for undermining the Palestinian national endeavor to establish a comprehensive Palestinian state, and lead to the swallowing of Jerusalem and the West Bank by Israel. 

Second, accepting the arrangements for that stage will make the Palestinian Authority merely a participating party with other parties in the arrangements, and not the only party with exclusive responsibility for the occupied Palestinian territory. This is something that, if accepted by the Palestinians, would most likely open up negative future possibilities on the issue of Palestinian representation. 

Thirdly, because we Palestinians have a bad experience with the “transitional period” It has been tried and turned into a “final stage,” which has been in existence for three decades now, even though it was supposed to end in five years. Learning from the past, we must never again accept negotiations on an open-ended path without a real and binding guarantee. Therefore, the outcome must be agreed upon in advance, which is ending the occupation and establishing the Palestinian state, obtaining an international declaration guaranteeing this within a specific time frame, and then entering into detailed negotiations to translate this into practice within the duration of that ceiling. In short, from now on, we should focus on recognizing the principle, then looking into the details.

Sixth, all of the above requires activating the Palestinian political system, and ridding it of the monotony of calcified routine, which has made it unable to face the enormous challenges. Injecting dynamism into this system requires, in addition to ending the division, a transition and return from relying on individual capabilities and initiatives, to activating the various institutional structures of this system, and benefiting from employing all the capabilities of the Palestinians, regardless of their orientations and whereabouts, in a way that ensures the holding of general elections as soon as possible. There is a real opportunity, created by the depth of the enormous Palestinian suffering as a result of this crazy war, to heal the Palestinian rift, reunite and sharpen resolve. Patriotism is higher than factionalism, and the national need now calls for the solidarity and action of all Palestinians.

(Alayam)

Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated on Saturday in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office in West Jerusalem to demand the return of Israeli prisoners from Gaza.

Thousands of Israelis joined the foot march that reached the outskirts of western Jerusalem after it started from the city of Tel Aviv last Tuesday.

Israeli Channel 12 estimated the number of participants in the protest at “more than 30,000.”

The demonstrators carried a large banner that read, “Return all abductees.”

Among the demonstrators was Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid.

Before arriving in West Jerusalem, the demonstrators marched in the march called for by the families of the Israeli prisoners, across the highway linking West Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The march comes amid faltering negotiations to exchange prisoners between Israel and Hamas, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, which are being conducted with American encouragement.

Channel 12 said: “The families invited all members of the Military Ministerial Council to meet them this evening, saying: You are responsible for returning them (the prisoners) now. Meet us and stop allowing us to beg - this does not make sense.”

The channel indicated that members of the Military Ministerial Council, Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, “will meet with the people this evening, while Prime Minister Netanyahu and Ministers of Defense Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer have not confirmed their attendance.”

A number of protesters wore black T-shirts with pictures of the prisoners and the phrase, “Send them home.” They also carried banners with pictures of the prisoners and Israeli flags, and chanted, “We will bring them back.”

Israeli television stations broadcast images of the march and then the massive rally.

The movement of the prisoners' families puts pressure on the Israeli government to quickly complete a prisoner exchange deal.

The head of the Israeli National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, said on Friday that there is currently no prisoner exchange agreement.

He added at a press conference in Tel Aviv: “I see a lot of reports, at this stage there is no agreement on any of the issues that are part of the discussion process.”

He added: "If such an agreement is available, it will lead to many families being able to be reunited with their loved ones," referring to Israel's demand that the agreement include a large number of Israeli prisoners.

Hanegbi continued: “The government has taken an unequivocal, unanimous decision that there will be no ceasefire without a very significant release of the abductees. We stand by that and do not compromise.”

The Israeli army says that Hamas has been detaining 239 Israelis in Gaza, both military and civilian, since October 7, when the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement, stormed Israeli settlements and military sites around the Gaza Strip.

For its part, Hamas says it wants to exchange Israeli prisoners for prisoners in Israeli prisons, a ceasefire in Gaza, and the introduction of humanitarian aid to the population.

According to Palestinian sources, Israel detains more than 7,000 Palestinians in its prisons, including women, children, and the sick.

The cities of southern Gaza are anticipating an Israeli escalation against them, similar to the cities in the north, in what has been described as “establishing a new phase” of the war by shifting its weight south and putting more pressure on the population to move towards Rafah on the Egyptian-Palestinian border.

A military expert for Sky News Arabia monitors Israel's goals in this "new phase" and its relationship with the population displacement plan.

Hours ago, the chief spokesman for the Israeli army, Admiral Daniel Hagari, announced in a press conference that the forces would bomb Hamas targets wherever they found them, including the southern Gaza Strip.

Shortly thereafter, the Palestinian News Agency, Wafa, reported that 26 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured in an Israeli bombing, at dawn on Saturday, that targeted residential apartments in the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli raids also targeted a house east of Rafah, killing a number of people who were taken to Al-Najjar Hospital.

In parallel, the Israeli army continues to ask residents of southern Gaza to leave their homes, indicating the expansion of its ground incursion to reach there, which means additional pressure on residents to leave.

"the trick"

Military expert Major General Majid Al-Qaisi, director of the Security and Defense Program at the Center for International Policymaking, describes Israel’s previous announcement that its target was northern Gaza as a “hoax.” Because it "wants the operations to include the entire sector, from its north to the Egyptian border in the south."

Far from what Tel Aviv suggests that its goal in bombing southern Gaza is to track down armed members of the Hamas movement and reach the hostages that the movement may transport there, Al-Qaisi outlines what he sees as the real goals of shifting the weight of operations to southern Gaza:

After failing to achieve a military achievement in the northern Gaza Strip, Israel wants to establish a new phase, in which it opens a front in the city of Khan Yunis. To disperse the Hamas movement and push it to fight on the axes of Beit Lahia in the north and Khan Yunis in the south.

The bombing of Khan Yunis reduces the pressure on the Israeli army, and isolates Deir al-Balah from Khan Yunis, just as Gaza was isolated from Deir al-Balah.

An attempt to influence the population in this area, which has become crowded with displaced people from the north of the Gaza Strip, and force them to move further south towards Rafah.

In this direction, it is expected that Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis will be exposed to what Al-Shifa Hospital was exposed to. Because it is a large hospital and there are displaced people there.

The Israeli army is trying to achieve a military achievement on the ground and market it to internal public opinion, which is no longer convinced of achieving any victories

“We will not clean up after Israel”

For his part, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi, on Saturday, renewed his country's rejection of Israel's plan to displace Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan.

Al-Safadi said, during the “Manama Dialogue” summit held by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Bahrain, that the Israeli war will bring disaster, not only to Gaza, but to the region.

Speaking before the summit, Al-Safadi stated that the Israeli government appears to aim to expel the Palestinians from Gaza, which constitutes a direct threat to national security in Jordan and Egypt, noting that the Israelis have been saying for years that the only way forward is to expel the Palestinians from the land of their ancestors.

But after the war, Al-Safadi continues, the Arab countries will not come and clean up the mess after Israel, stressing that no Arab forces will be sent to Gaza.

In the past few days, Israeli and American proposals were circulated for countries neighboring Gaza to send Arab forces to maintain security in the Strip. And ensuring that Palestinian armed factions do not return to action again.

Internal rejection of Netanyahu

The expansion of the military operation to southern Gaza coincides with increasing internal pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as a new opinion poll showed that the majority of Israelis do not want Netanyahu, whose dismissal is getting louder.

In the poll, the results of which were published by the Maariv newspaper in cooperation with the Lazar Research Center, on Friday, regarding who is better to head the government, Netanyahu or the Minister of the War Cabinet, Benny Gantz, the results were as follows:

Benny Gantz 50 percent.

Netanyahu 29 percent.

21 percent responded that they did not know.

As the poll showed, the Likud Party, led by Netanyahu, declined to 17 seats in the Knesset (Parliament), after it had 18 seats in the last elections.

In contrast, the party of Gantz, a former defense minister, won 42 seats in the poll, a record number since its formation.

(Sky News)

The newspaper "Haaretz" indicated on its website, today, Saturday, that the Israeli security establishment's estimates have strengthened, that the participants in the shooting during the "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation on the seventh of last October, had no prior knowledge of the festival that was held near "Kibbutz Ra'im", which is close to the Gaza Strip, and they decided to come to the place after they discovered that there was an event with wide participation.

The newspaper also reported that an Israeli military helicopter arrived at the site and opened fire on the gunmen, also wounding a number of festival participants.

The Israeli security establishment's assessment depends on several matters, including the investigations conducted with the resistance members who were arrested, and the investigations conducted by the Israeli occupation police, which led to the fact that the resistance fighters wanted to reach "Kibbutz Re'im" and other kibbutzim in the region.

The Israeli newspaper quoted an unnamed police source as saying that the investigation into the events “also revealed that a military helicopter belonging to the Israeli army arrived at the scene of the event coming from the military base (Ramat David) and opened fire toward the terrorists, and it appears that it also wounded some of the revelers.” "Those who were at the place. According to the police, 364 people were killed at the festival."

Haaretz reported that senior officials, whom it did not name, believed that they in the Hamas movement discovered the presence of the festival through marches or parachutes (parachutes), and directed the elements to the site through their communications system.

According to the Israeli allegations reported on the newspaper’s website, it was heard in a video clip taken by the body camera of a Hamas member asking one of the Israeli citizens who was arrested how to go to “Re’im,” even though he was in another area.

Among the evidence that supports these estimates, according to what the newspaper reported from its sources in the police and senior security officials, is that the first gunmen arrived at the party from the direction of Street 232 and not from the direction of the border fence.

The newspaper's police sources said that the ceremony was scheduled to be held on Thursday and Friday, and the army agreed on Tuesday evening of the same week for the festival organizers to hold it on Saturday as well, based on their request.

This last-minute change reinforces the assessment that Hamas was not aware of the festival. The newspaper quoted an unnamed senior Israeli police official as saying: “By our estimation, about 4,400 people were present at the event, and the vast majority of them were able to escape after the decision to disperse the festival was taken four minutes after a rocket salvo was fired.”

  Police analysis shows that many of the party participants managed to escape.

Source: Alaraby Aljadeed

On Saturday, the Israeli army committed two massacres, resulting in hundreds of dead and wounded, at Al-Fakhoura School, which houses displaced persons in the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, and at Tal Al-Zaatar School in the town of Beit Lahia.

It was reported that more than 200 displaced people were martyred in the massacre committed by Israeli forces at a school belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Organization for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) that was housing displaced people.

The pictures showed bodies lying on the ground, as it was clear that an Israeli bombing targeted them while they were sleeping.

The school itself witnessed a massacre on the fourth of this month, in which a large number of displaced people were killed.

On Saturday morning, the Israeli army also bombed Tal al-Zaatar School, in the town of Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip, killing 50 displaced people and wounding dozens, according to medical sources.

Commenting on the occupation’s bombing of Al-Fakhoura, the Hamas movement said: “We will not leave this land, and you will be held accountable for your massacre in Al-Fakhoura and your continued crimes against children and civilians".

It added, “The massacre claimed the lives of dozens of dead and wounded, adding to the hundreds of massacres committed by the occupation with premeditation, with a green light from the American administration, and with the inability and shameful silence of the international community.”