US President-elect Donald Trump and his ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have discussed “Iranian threats” in three phone calls since the US election results were announced last Wednesday. “We see with our own eyes the Iranian threat in all its components, and the danger it poses,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

This came at a time when the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, announced that he would head to Tehran on Wednesday to hold talks that he described as “very important” with Iranian officials.

Grossi's visit to Tehran comes at a sensitive time and amid uncertainty about the policy Trump will pursue with the faltering talks held by the Joe Biden administration aimed at returning to the nuclear deal, which Trump withdrew from in 2018.

In parallel, Iranian reports stated that Tehran conducted a test launch of an intercontinental missile on Friday evening, from the Shahroud Space Center, which was subjected to an Israeli strike last month.

US President-elect Donald Trump has announced his intention to appoint hardline former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director Tom Homan to his next administration.

Homan headed the agency charged with overseeing the US border during the previous Trump administration (2017-2021), during which nearly 4,000 migrant children were separated from their parents and placed in detention.

“I am pleased to announce that former ICA Director and Border Patrol stalwart Tom Homan is joining the Trump Administration and will be responsible for our Border Security,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform last night, calling him “Border Czar.”

"I have known Tom for a long time, and there is no one better placed to oversee and control our borders than him," he added, noting that he will be responsible for "all deportations and repatriations of illegal immigrants. It is a key part of his agenda, in addition to overseeing the southern and northern borders, maritime and air security."

Homan had been widely expected to be offered a border-related position, and Trump vowed to launch the largest deportation operation in the country’s history, adding “no doubt” that Homan “will do a great and long-overdue job.” Such a role would not require Senate confirmation.

Wait for me

In an interview with Fox News, Homan said, "The military will not round up and detain immigrants in the country illegally, and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement will move to implement Trump's plans in a humane manner."

"It will be a targeted, well-planned operation run by ICE officers, and the men and women of ICE do this every day. They're good at it, and when we go out there, we'll know who we're looking for. We'll probably know where they'll be, and it'll be done in a humane way," he added.

Earlier this year, at the National Conservative Conference in Washington, Homan expressed frustration with news coverage of a mass deportation.

“Wait until 2025,” he said, adding that while he believes the government needs to prioritize national security threats, “nobody is off limits. If you’re here illegally, you better look over your shoulder.”

"I have my word," he said. "Trump is coming back in January, and I will be on his tail when he comes back, and I will be running the largest deportation operation this country has ever seen."

Republican Trump will officially return to the White House in early 2025, after defeating Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 5 elections.

During his election campaign, Trump strongly attacked illegal immigrants, considering that they bring "bad genes" to his country and "poison" American blood.

The Commission of Prisoners' Affairs and Liberated Prisoners reported this morning, Monday, that female prisoners in Al-Damon prison are subjected to a series of attacks and punishments, as their privacy is violated and their psychological state is targeted, through a series of immoral and inhumane policies and procedures.

The lawyer of the Commission, who recently visited the prison, reported that the living and health conditions are poor, as they are detained in the rooms (23 hours a day), and the break is only one hour, including the use of showers for bathing and washing, and the food is bad and dirty, and there is a great shortage of blankets and clothes, and the rooms are witnessing great overcrowding, as (11 prisoners) are detained in one room, in addition to the deprivation of medical examinations, medicines and treatments.

In this context, the Authority’s lawyer visited the prisoner (F.S.) from Ramallah, who is 48 years old, and who narrated the details of what she and her sister were subjected to when they were arrested on 1/13/2024, when their home was raided and vandalized. The raid was terrifying in terms of the number of soldiers and their appearance, and they were masked. They were transferred over the course of several days to Ofer Prison, then to Etzion Detention Center, and from there to Sharon, until they settled in Damon Prison.

The Commission’s lawyer quoted the prisoner as saying that she and her sister were subjected to insults, curses, and inhumane searches. They also spent a very long time handcuffed and blindfolded, all of which coincided with severe beatings all over their bodies. The investigators were venting their hatred through this brutal treatment. It is worth noting that the two sisters were arrested on the basis of television interviews after their brother was assassinated by the Israeli occupation, and they are still detained.

The Commission’s lawyer visited the prisoner (N. Z.) from Jericho Governorate, who is 37 years old and is still detained. It is worth noting that the charges against her are incitement via social media (Facebook). She was arrested after her home was raided, its contents were tampered with, vandalized, and her cell phones and computers were confiscated.

The prisoner (N.Z.) told the Commission’s lawyer that the method of arrest was terrifying, with strip searches, screaming, beatings all over the body, handcuffing, blindfolding, cursing, insults, and humiliation. Her health condition was not taken into consideration, as she told them upon her arrest that she had cancer and had undergone a removal operation, in addition to suffering from a stomach ulcer and farsightedness. The prison administration deliberately confiscated her glasses and prevented her from wearing them after she arrived at the detention center.

Taiwan's Justice Ministry's Bureau of Investigation said on Monday there was no evidence that Taiwanese companies were involved in producing pagers that exploded in Lebanon in September, targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The office said in a statement that the Taiwanese company "Gold Apollo" has not produced "AR-924" pagers for years, and that the devices are produced by a company called "Frontier Group Intiti", which is a company outside Taiwan.

On September 17 and 18, booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded in Beirut’s southern suburbs and in southern and eastern Lebanon, where the pro-Iranian party has a strong presence. The two incidents killed 39 people and injured about 3,000, according to Lebanese authorities.

Israel has confirmed for the first time that it was behind the operation. Israeli media reported yesterday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed his government that he had approved the “Pager” operation and the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, despite opposition from senior officials in the security establishment and the political echelon.

The Israeli occupation army announced today, Monday, the interception of 4 drones launched from Iraq and a missile launched from Yemen.

The "Islamic Resistance in Iraq", which includes factions loyal to Iran, had earlier today claimed responsibility for launching four drone attacks against targets in northern and southern Israel.

The factions issued four statements between 03:00 and 05:30 GMT, confirming the launch of drones towards “vital” targets that they did not specify, two of them in the north of the Hebrew state and two in the south, “in continuation of our approach to resisting the occupation, and in support of our people in Palestine and Lebanon.”

Later, the Houthis claimed responsibility for launching a ballistic missile at Israel. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said they targeted “the Nahal Sorek military base southeast of Jaffa in occupied Palestine (...) and the operation was carried out with a hypersonic ballistic missile (Palestine 2).”

Pro-Iranian Iraqi groups have been launching attacks on Israel since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, in support of it, they say.

Fires near Jerusalem

In addition, the Israeli Fire Service announced that fires broke out west of Jerusalem as a result of fragments of “interceptor missiles or rockets,” according to Agence France-Presse.

The Jerusalem Fire Department statement confirmed that its personnel “are working to extinguish the fires... In parallel with the firefighting operations, the firefighters are conducting additional surveys in the area to verify that there are no other fires and damage caused by fragments of interceptor missiles/rockets.”

This morning, Monday, the Israeli authorities demolished the tents of the residents of the unrecognized village of Al-Araqib, which is threatened with uprooting and displacement in the Negev region, in the lands of 1948, for the 232nd time; under the protection of police forces and their affiliated units.

This is the tenth time that the Israeli authorities have demolished the tents and modest homes that house the people of Al-Araqib since the beginning of this year until today, after demolishing them 11 times in 2023, 15 times in 2022, and 14 times in 2021, in its repeated attempts to push the villagers to frustration and despair and displace them from their lands.

The first time the Israeli authorities demolished Al-Araqib was on July 27, 2010, while the previous demolition was carried out on October 13.

The people of Al-Araqib village insist on staying and clinging to their land, and they re-erect their tents each time from wood and nylon coverings to protect them from the intense heat in the summer and the bitter cold in the winter, and to confront plans to uproot and displace them from their land.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the Jerusalem District Court today, Monday, to postpone his testimony in the corruption cases in which he is accused until next February, after the court had postponed, last July, the start of his testimony until December 2.

Netanyahu's lawyers justified the request for postponement by saying that "a series of extraordinary events occurred that made it impossible for the prime minister to prepare to testify in the case at the present time."

Among the events mentioned by Netanyahu's lawyers were the assassination of Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, contacts regarding a prisoner exchange deal, the war in Lebanon and the direct confrontation with Iran. They claimed that "in recent months, information has accumulated in the security apparatus, the details of which will be able to be presented in a closed court session, and which will affect the form of the prime minister's testimony."

People close to Netanyahu have recently said that Netanyahu's testimony cannot take place on time because the War Department did not allow him to prepare to present it, and because his constant presence in court during this period poses a danger to his life and the lives of the rest of those present in the courtroom.

Last June, Netanyahu's lawyers requested that his testimony be postponed until next March, but the court rejected that. The judges said in their decision at the time that "there is a fundamental public interest in advancing the proceedings as much as possible."

The judges also rejected Netanyahu's request not to begin hearing his testimony until they consider a request to drop the charges against him, alleging investigative failures and selective law enforcement.

Netanyahu's trial began in January 2020. He is accused in Cases 2000 and 4000 of fraud and breach of trust due to suspicious deals with the publishers of the Walla website and the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. He is accused in Case 1000 of receiving gifts from wealthy people. This case is also described as the "personal benefits case."

Riyadh is hosting an extraordinary Arab-Islamic summit today, a year after the previous summit, to discuss the continued Israeli aggression on Palestine and Lebanon, and regional developments. The summit aims to review the outcomes of the 2023 summit and assess the deteriorating situation in Gaza and Lebanon, where the number of martyrs in Gaza has exceeded 43,000, and in Lebanon more than 3,000.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan yesterday opened the preparatory ministerial meeting for the extraordinary Arab and Islamic summit in Riyadh, which will be held today, Monday. During the meeting, the Israeli aggression on the Palestinian territories and Lebanon were discussed, in addition to regional developments following the victory of US President Donald Trump.

The summit draft resolution was also discussed in preparation for presenting it to the leaders today, Monday, with coordination of positions between member states in a summit described as "fateful."

This summit is an extension of the joint Arab-Islamic summit held in Riyadh on February 11, 2023, which aimed to support efforts to stop the Israeli aggression, in coordination with the leaders of Arab and Islamic countries. The previous summit had issued decisions including breaking the siege on the Gaza Strip, allowing in humanitarian aid, calling on the Security Council to stop the aggression, and urging countries to stop exporting weapons to Israel. It also called for international investigations into Israeli war crimes, and called for holding an international peace conference based on the Arab Peace Initiative and implementing the "two-state solution."

Ministerial Meeting: Discussions and Expectations

The ministerial meeting discussed the agenda of the upcoming summit, which will address the most important issues up for discussion. The meeting was attended by Deputy Foreign Minister Eng. Waleed bin Abdul Karim Al-Khuraiji, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Political Affairs Ambassador Dr. Saud Al-Sati, Undersecretary of the Ministry for Multilateral International Affairs, General Supervisor of the Ministry’s Agency for Public Diplomacy Affairs Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Rassi, and Director General of the Office of His Highness the Minister Abdulrahman Al-Daoud.

At the opening session of the summit, Hussein Ibrahim Taha, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, will deliver a speech, followed by speeches by Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary General of the League of Arab States, Palestinian Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Mohammad Mustafa, and Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Abu Habib.

The importance of the summit and the role of Saudi Arabia

The summit is of strategic importance, said Hussein Ibrahim Taha, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, who stressed that it reflects the commitment of Saudi Arabia and the member states of the organization to provide support to the Palestinians and enhance joint action to confront the Israeli aggression. Discussions will also focus on stopping the war in Gaza and Lebanon, coordinating positions in international forums, in addition to calling for the implementation of the two-state solution and holding the Israeli occupation accountable.

For his part, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the Arab League, said that the summit is an opportunity to review Arab and Islamic positions and approaches in supporting the Palestinians and the Lebanese. Jamal Rushdi, spokesman for the League, pointed to the failure of the international will to stop the Israeli aggression despite numerous attempts, which requires greater efforts to pressure Israel.

UNRWA's role at the summit

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini is expected to participate in the summit to affirm Saudi Arabia's continued support for the agency in providing its humanitarian and relief services in various regions, including Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. UNRWA Media Advisor Adnan Abu Hasna stressed that Saudi Arabia is leading international efforts to protect the agency, noting that it has provided more than $1 billion to support UNRWA operations in the past decade.

Expected decisions

Today's summit aims to review the outcomes of the previous summit and evaluate the efforts made to stop the Israeli war in Gaza and Lebanon in light of the ongoing escalation. In this context, the preparatory meeting discussed the most important decisions expected to be taken at the summit, which include:

Intensifying international pressure to stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza and Lebanon.

Strengthening humanitarian support and opening channels for the entry of aid.

Calling on the Security Council to take decisive action to stop the war.

Call on the International Criminal Court to investigate Israeli war crimes.

Assigning a ministerial committee to formulate an effective international move towards a comprehensive and just solution.

Supporting the Palestinian demand and calling for holding an international peace conference as soon as possible, with the aim of achieving permanent peace in accordance with the approved international references.

In this context, the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, indicated that the chances of holding the conference are "very likely and feasible."

Twenty years have passed since the passing of Yasser Arafat, the immortal national leader, founder of the Palestinian entity, builder of the glories of the national dream, maker of the impossible revolution in impossible times, and captain of the ship that laid the foundations of the state and prepared for the Palestinian people the birth of their desired independence.

Twenty years have passed since the departure of the father of national identity, who performed miracles in a time of no miracles, and was able to accumulate national struggle in all arenas and platforms, in all roads and trenches, and in all the fields where Yasser Arafat left his mark as a Palestinian revolutionary in the face of the occupation, to become a solid pillar and a foundation in the world equation, which no one can bypass, a sign, a slogan, and a common legacy for every free person, every believer in justice, and every yearning for freedom. It is the Palestinian division and Yasser Arafat's immortal philosophy that has become an approach and a way of life, not just a slogan, and has formed a lifeline that continues to this day, as it is capable of facing challenges, and it is the incubator of the spirit of revolutionary creativity, and it is the compass that embodied the meaning of national struggle, and established the democracy of the jungle of guns, with Arafat's creativity that has no equal.

Twenty years have passed since the departure of Yasser Arafat, the man, the revolutionary, the leader and the chief. On his anniversary these days, we remember him as Gaza, which is being subjected to an ongoing genocide, remembers him. How much it loved him and he loved it, and how he was a towering, constructive knight on its land, establishing the Palestinian dream state, with an airport, a port and a building that shaped the image of modern Gaza, rising before the wreckage and devastation that befell it. He strengthened national unity with his well-known closeness to the masses who loved him and he loved them, and who stuck to him and he shortened the distances between him and them with the sincerity of his affection for them. He used to connect with the old and the young, visit the camp before the city, and meet with the youth before the official and international delegations, and he did not sever ties with anyone. This is the great Arafatist school with its principles, values, behaviour, and its struggle and humanitarian dimension.

Twenty years have passed since the departure of the founding leader, the builder, the inspirational one, the human being, the brave symbol. On this anniversary, Gaza is under genocide, exposed to death, killing, oppression and destruction, and is living through one of the most difficult chapters. The world is a witness and silent to all that has happened and is happening from massacres, slaughter, starvation and siege. On this anniversary, which is passing under the impact of the tragedy and suffering of our people, the determination to survive and persevere remains as a solid Arafatist, who refused expulsion, imprisonment and deportation, and preferred martyrdom, just as we are witnessing these days the people’s refusal to emigrate, be expelled and exiled, and they remain despite everything they are exposed to in the chapters of suffering and torment they are living.

Twenty years after the departure of Yasser Arafat, we remember him in his military uniform when he stood in the White House as a master and leader, and with the shoes of revolutionaries and the keffiyeh of the free, he sat on the throne of place and time, a symbol brandishing the victory sign that he never changed, and did not give it up to give it to generations as a legacy, a slogan and an identity, and on his waist was the pistol of the freedom fighter, and in his majesty was the dignity of the fighter for the rights of his people, and the features of the Palestinian in him did not change before or after, announcing since that day the birth of a new dawn, for the struggles of a people who led their national march with the competence of the leader who struggled for a free and dignified life for his people, and he broke the theory of colonialism and occupation that sought to consecrate the nonsense of "transient inhabitants in place" and a land without a people as they claimed, to a people with a complete formation, a freedom fighter in the field, builder of a state of institutions and law, preserving the legacy of the first, a language, culture and a solid civilization, with a national identity and eternal human values, the proof of which in meaning is a carefully tied keffiyeh, so there was no country in the world However, it submitted and gave its absolute recognition of our people’s right to their land and to enjoy freedom and independence.

Glory and eternity to Him.

The Lebanese Hezbollah party broadcast a video clip showing scenes of operations carried out by its fighters against the occupation forces in Kfar Shuba in southern Lebanon, and the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms.

According to the video clip, broadcast by Hezbollah and dating back to today, the tenth of this month, its fighters targeted gatherings of the Israeli occupation army around the border towns of Shebaa and Kfar Shuba.

The footage showed the fighters conducting an aerial reconnaissance of the target, then launching rocket barrages towards the Israeli target.

Hezbollah fighters continue to confront Israeli forces trying to penetrate Lebanese territory, while targeting Israeli settlements and strategic areas and centers inside Israel.

Earlier today, Sunday, the party announced that it had targeted a gathering of Israeli army forces between the towns of Houla and Markaba in southern Lebanon with a barrage of rockets, and that it had targeted the Upper Galilee.

Its fighters also targeted the settlements of Even Menachem, Zor'it, Shomera, Shtula and Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel with rocket barrages, and the Shraga base north of the city of Acre with a salvo of rockets.

With two clean, beautiful words, Qatar responded to the Israeli allegations through directed media targeting the Qatari role in efforts to support the Palestinian cause in general, and mediation efforts to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in particular.

Qatar said (inaccurately) in response to the allegations published by most Israeli media outlets and some foreign stations about Qatar's withdrawal from the ceasefire negotiations in the Strip, and made it clear in an unambiguous manner that its efforts in mediation between Hamas and Israel were only suspended, explaining that everything that is rumored by Israel about Qatar's withdrawal is inaccurate, and aims to confuse its role, and it informed the partners of its position, which is based on the reality of the negligence and indifference of the Israeli side and the impossible conditions that Netanyahu sets to obstruct the negotiations that were close to success if it were not for Netanyahu's efforts to achieve his narrow political goals.

In response to the decision to expel the Hamas leadership and close its office in Doha, Qatar also clarified that these reports are inaccurate, and that the purpose of having a Hamas office in Doha is to have a channel of communication between all parties, and that this presence achieved a previous ceasefire and reached a truce last November. Once again, another chapter and story of the Israeli conspiracy against Qatar and its pivotal role in supporting the Palestinian cause is revealed. It is responsible for a long-term aid campaign, and it continues to represent an important and influential Gulf and Arab front and lever. Its role and great efforts in seeking to create calm and restore security and stability in the Middle East have clear fingerprints that cannot be underestimated or circumvented. Unfortunately, this is what Israel is seeking under the leadership of Netanyahu, who previously stated several months ago that Doha’s role is problematic. According to another Israeli minister, the Qatari capital is a center for supporting and financing terrorism. At that time, Qatar responded and regrettably denounced Netanyahu’s completely incorrect allegations, and said that if Netanyahu’s circulated statements are proven to be true, then the Israeli Prime Minister is obstructing and undermining mediation efforts for narrow political reasons instead of giving priority to saving lives, including those of the Israeli detainees.

Netanyahu had refrained from thanking Qatar in front of the families of the Israeli hostages, attributing this to the fact that Qatar is no different in essence from the United Nations and the Red Cross, but is in some ways more problematic.

The level of the false accusations by Israel increased when the extremist Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich accused Qatar of supporting and financing terrorism, claiming via the X platform that Qatar is largely responsible for the attack launched by Hamas on October 7, 2023, calling on Western countries to exert more pressure on it, and threatening that Qatar will not be involved in what happens in Gaza the day after the war.

As part of the media war directed against the Qatari role, Yair Netanyahu's son went beyond previous statements, when he said in a lecture he gave in the American city of Miami, that Qatar is the largest funder of terrorism after Iran, and that it is behind the anti-Israel protests in American universities.

Qatar did not remain silent about these lies and allegations, but rather strongly criticized them and clarified its position on the Qatari humanitarian aid that is being brought into Gaza through Israel itself, and that it was always under surveillance and was primarily directed to needy families in Gaza. Accordingly, Qatar does not have any problematic role in the region and does not support terrorism as Israel claims. It is clear that the problematic role that is hindering the negotiations is an American-Israeli role par excellence, as the United States is also seeking to pressure Qatar to close the Hamas office in Qatar, and according to the Qataris, this is a major blow to their efforts over many years. It seems that the campaign of criticism of the Qatari role is also related to Trump’s arrival to power in America and Israel’s readiness to benefit from his presence in the White House, after January 20th. Accordingly, it is in Netanyahu’s interest to obstruct Qatar’s role at least until Trump assumes his duties, hoping to give the new American president a diplomatic victory, through which he can blackmail Qatar and show Hamas as the obstacle to negotiations, at a time when the world is well aware of the reality of the Qatari diplomatic role, which the Palestinian leadership highly values. The Israeli news and allegations that diminish this role are nothing but misleading talk in impure newspapers whose goal is to divert the compass from a commendable Qatari effort.

To summarise and summarize the speech, the options of the Arab world - with its local and regional systems, bodies and organisations - to respond to the potential challenges of the second term of US President Trump, are represented by one of the following: either surrender and full or partial dealing with the conditions, pressures and dictates, and thus we all suffer a crushing and overwhelming defeat with no decision, or a complete, rolling, studied or rational confrontation, by avoiding, absorbing or recycling pressures, or rushing to present proposals and initiatives or putting alternatives on the table. And because this requires a long explanation, I say that the confrontation requires rushing to complete coordination between the various Arab systems, regardless of the differences and disagreements between them, because Trump, who wins for the second time at an exceptional moment in American and global history, does not necessarily herald the end of wars except at our expense, and does not come with magical solutions except by eliminating our dreams. There is nothing to indicate that the man comes with more experience, expertise or rationality, and it is not necessary for us to believe that he is a man of settlements and deals, so he rushes to make deals with us.

Deals are made between the powerful and with parties that are similar in interest and harm, and our Arab world is not powerful and is not a party similar to other parties.

I return to my options of surrender and confrontation. The option of surrender is largely achievable, as every regime will want to save its life without looking at the other parties, as each party has its fears, concerns, weaknesses and fragility. The option of surrender is an easier and less harmful option, and therefore it is possible that it will happen right before our eyes. We can imagine how much loss we, the Palestinians, will suffer, in the sense of the disappearance or abandonment of the two-state solution, which becomes impossible as we progress in time, as well as the possibility of annexing the West Bank or parts of it, forced and voluntary displacement, or both, in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Jerusalem, the continuation of the occupation as an alternative to a settlement, deepening the separation as an alternative to reconciliation, and searching for practical and local bodies and organizations as an alternative to the unifying bodies.

Surrender means that the occupation project will take whatever funding, legitimacy and permanence it wants, and surrender means returning to square one of the conflict, which clearly means dismantling the land of the Palestinian people and dismantling its ties and unity.

Surrender means free normalization and an Israeli-Western victory over our region and its entire peoples.

As for the moderate, studied and gradual confrontation, in my opinion it means insisting on the Arab vision to resolve all the conflicts in the region, and not allowing aggression, expansion and extremism to advance and win. There are multiple Arab proposals, and I do not want to present them or even express an opinion about them, as they are ultimately an expression of a certain historical stage that lacks the ability, strength and influence, and perhaps the real political will to benefit from the facts of reality and the capabilities of the nation. There are Arab proposals, as I said, Saudi, Egyptian, Jordanian and Emirati, and this is the axis of moderation and economic ability and calm diplomacy with a long and heavy breath. In my opinion, this is another testing moment for this movement to prove itself, and to be an alternative to the other axes that it has criticized and besieged all the time. I believe that this is the right moment for moderation to present itself as capable of flexibility and dealing with unprecedented risks and challenges. It has its sayings, tools and alternatives. It is not enough for this movement to criticize or object without having a political and intellectual alternative in order to achieve representation, legitimacy and reliability.

This is the moment to test this current to stop the bloodshed in Gaza and Lebanon, to break this unprecedented savagery and to break this crazy cycle of blood and fire.

We do not say this in vain, arbitrarily, or to curry favor with anyone, because the arrival or election of Trump, despite all the criminal and racist files that he brings with him, may lead to internal and external wars. The Arab moderation movement is called upon to confront rationally, strongly, and calmly, otherwise the defeat will be general and catastrophic. And whoever has not learned from what happened over the course of 400 days of massacres that did not shake the consciences or hearts of the colonial West, then we should expect the same from our brothers and sisters.

The danger is imminent and severe, and hearts are completely in the throats.

During a Russian-African ministerial conference held yesterday, Saturday, and today in Sochi (southwest of the country), Moscow sought to impose itself as an indispensable partner for African countries, promising to provide them with “full support” in the “multipolar world” promoted by the Kremlin in confrontation with the West.

After Moscow was a major player in Africa during the Soviet era, it has been working for years to re-strengthen its influence in the countries of this continent that did not join the Western sanctions imposed on Russia after its war on Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed today - in a speech addressed to senior officials from about 50 African countries in Sochi - that "our country will continue to provide full support to our African friends in various fields."

In the speech - which was read by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov - he said that this support could be in the field of "sustainable development, combating terrorism and extremism, epidemic diseases, solving food problems or the consequences of natural disasters."

The President expressed his hope to strengthen "Russian-African relations as a whole" at the conclusion of this conference, which was held as a continuation of two summits between Moscow and the continent hosted by Russia in 2019 and 2023.

"Not a colonial power"

Lavrov stressed that Russia and African countries are seeing "progress on all axes" of cooperation between them "despite the artificial obstacles" raised by "the entire West," the expression Moscow uses to refer to the United States and its allies.

The Sochi conference comes after a BRICS summit hosted by Kazan (southwestern Russia) last month, during which Putin sought to demonstrate the failure of the West's policy of isolation and sanctions against him.

Russia's strategy to extend its media influence in Africa - particularly through social networks - is based on denouncing "neo-colonialism" and calling for a "more just world order," a discourse that resonates with some African officials.

Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop stressed yesterday on the sidelines of the conference that "Russia is not a colonial power and has never been a colonial power. On the contrary, it has been with the African peoples and other peoples in the world to help them get out of the colonial system."

In contrast, many Western officials accuse Moscow of waging an "imperialist" war in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine.

Minerals, Security and Digital Domain

Russian mercenary groups such as the Wagner Group or its successor, the Africa Corps, are active in Africa in support of local governments, while “advisors” according to Moscow work to assist local officials.

This is particularly true in the Central African Republic and the Sahel countries, where growing Russian influence has been accompanied by a decline in French influence.

In 2023, Russia supplied Africans with more than $5 billion worth of weapons, according to state-run Rosoboronexport.

But officials gathered in Sochi believe that support must go beyond security issues.

"The digital space must be developed in Central Africa," with Russian support, Marie-Thérèse Chantal Ngakono, Commissioner for Infrastructure at the Economic Community of Central African States, was quoted by AFP as saying.

Large Russian groups are showing particular interest in exploiting raw materials in Africa, particularly diamonds in Angola and Zimbabwe, oil in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and bauxite in Guinea.

“We have over 75 minerals in Africa, and they are not being properly exploited,” said Yang Piero Omatsayi, founder of Get Age Nation Builders, an organization that works to promote the continent’s progress.

The Nigerian politician continued that "thanks to the partnership with Russia," one of the world's largest exporters of gas, oil and diamonds, "we will be able to put these resources to good use."

But Bakary Sambe, director of the Timbuktu Institute in Senegal’s capital, said this week that the long-term partnership with Russia raises questions, explaining, “Will Russia give Africa the same attention if the war in Ukraine ends?” And does the partnership with Africa represent a “real strategic priority” or a temporary concern linked to its conflict with the West?

A state of necessity required by Palestinian, Arab, Islamic and Christian work and effort, to differentiate among European and American peoples between the rejection of Zionism and its fascist, racist Israeli colonial project in Palestine, and between Jews and Judaism.

The racist colonial Zionist movement is working to mix Jews and Judaism, and its Israeli colonial project, as if hostility to occupation, colonialism, racism and their crimes means hostility to Jews and Judaism. It wants, and has worked and succeeded in the process of mixing over the past decades, and the formula of hostility to the colony has been transformed as if it were hostility to Semitism and Jews, as if Zionism is the sole legitimate representative of the Jews, and their leadership, working to do them justice and gather their geographical distribution in the countries of the world, as if the colony is the protector, refuge and site of happiness and stability for the Jews regardless of their nationalities, places of birth and nationalities.

The claim of the Zionist movement is similar to the claim of the extremist Islamic jihadist organizations and factions, that they represent Islam and Muslims, and they are not, although they are Islamic organizations in leadership and content, but their content is ijtihad and not binding, and for this reason they failed to prove their existence and dominance and to spread their thought and orientations, and they failed to impose their coup, jihadist or violent policies and systems on the Arab and Islamic peoples, just as they and other opposing organizations failed to market themselves in favor of undemocratic regimes and to submit to them under the pretext of commitment to those in authority.

The Zionist movement is a political movement par excellence, which employed religion, and employed the suffering of the Jews in Europe at the hands of the Russian Tsardom, the German Nazis, and the Italian Fascism, in favor of its idea of establishing a "national homeland for the Jews" in Palestine, and succeeded in doing so based on its references among the traditional European colonial states: 1- Britain with its decisions from the Balfour Declaration to the Mandate over Palestine, and its employment of facilitating the reception of foreign Jews from the invading Jews, and their handing over of the institutions of Palestine and its joints to the Zionist movement from 1917 until 1948, 2- France with its conventional weapons, nuclear reactor, and atomic weapons, 3- Germany by pushing foreign Jews towards Palestine and providing them with financial compensation in the billions.

These countries and their governments, for the most part, still support the colony despite the occupation, colonialism, and crimes of mass murder and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians. This is evident in the policies and measures of Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, and France. However, their peoples and youth have begun to realize the nature of the colony and its expansionist project, and this is due to two reasons:

The first is the clear and obvious crimes of the colony.

The second is the suffering of the Palestinian people and understanding their pain and legitimate aspirations for freedom and independence.

The changes among European peoples and even in the United States are positive, but they are not sufficient to be effective and change the policies of their governments that support the colony.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed on Sunday that he had spoken three times by phone in the past few days with Republican Donald Trump, the winner of the US presidential election held last Tuesday.

"Trump and I spoke three times in the past few days. They were good and very important talks, and there is a common view of the Iranian threat," Netanyahu said at a press conference.

"These were very good and important talks, aimed at strengthening the solid alliance between Israel and the United States," he continued.

Netanyahu added: "We share views on the Iranian threat in all its aspects, and the danger it poses."

He added: "We also see the great opportunities available to Israel in the areas of peace and expanding its scope, and in other areas," he claimed.

Netanyahu was the first to congratulate Trump, after he was declared the winner of the US presidential election last Wednesday.

Netanyahu sent a message to Trump and his wife Melania, a copy of which was sent by his office to Anadolu Agency, beginning with the phrase: "Congratulations on the greatest comeback in history."

"This is a great victory," Netanyahu said, signing the letter with his name and that of his wife Sara, over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and outgoing Vice President Joe Biden.

Observers believe that Republicans and Democrats are “two sides of the same coin” in supporting Israel, and even compete in this regard, due to the financial and political influence that Jewish lobby groups have in Washington, in addition to the common interests between the two parties.

During his first presidential term, Trump provided significant support to Tel Aviv, and in 2017 decided to consider occupied East Jerusalem the capital of Israel and move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv, which the Palestinians reject and violates relevant international resolutions.

Since the beginning of the genocidal war on Gaza, in October 2023, the Biden administration has provided Israel with strong support at the military, intelligence and political levels.

The genocide resulted in more than 146,000 Palestinian deaths and injuries, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amidst massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and the elderly, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.

For decades, Israel has occupied Arab lands in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, and rejects the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the borders before the 1967 war with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Johnny Mansour: Biden administration will hand Trump a heavy legacy laden with dangerous burdens in Gaza, Lebanon and Ukraine

Adel Shedid: Biden prefers to leave the current crises pending, whether in Lebanon or Gaza, until the next administration takes them over.

Dr. Rifat Sayed Ahmed: The Biden administration will not take effective steps in the transitional phase and “Netanyahu will take over the escalation”

Tarek Wahbi: Biden administration may move towards “crisis management with minimal losses” without seriously seeking to resolve outstanding conflicts

Dr. Muhannad Hafizoglu: The presidential transition in America is often characterized by rising tensions or the outbreak of wars.

US President Joe Biden will leave the White House in about two months, leaving behind major files, internal and external, for President Donald Trump’s administration, most notably the wars in Ukraine and the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, because after the loss of his deputy Kamala Harris, he and his Democratic Party no longer have any interest in cooling the battle fronts that have opened their war warehouses to provide everything necessary for the continuation of the war, whether in Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon, or other hot files in the world.

The remaining period of President Biden's term seems to be a "golden" time-out for the Israeli occupation state to continue the war of extermination that it has been waging for thirteen months in the Gaza Strip, and has recently expanded its scope to include Lebanon and other Arab countries. On the contrary, it may be a golden opportunity for the head of the occupation government, Benjamin Netanyahu, to escalate his aggression in intensity and area to include other Arab countries, such as: Syria and perhaps Yemen, Iraq and Iran.

Writers and analysts who spoke to “Y” believe that the Biden administration will not take effective steps in the transitional phase to stop the war in Gaza, Lebanon or Ukraine, but may move towards “crisis management with minimal losses” without seriously seeking to resolve the pending conflicts.

An open ticket for Netanyahu to do whatever he wants in Gaza

Many believe that the transitional period in the US presidency will push the Biden administration to hand over a good and acceptable legacy to President Trump, said historian and Middle East researcher Johnny Mansour from Nazareth.

He added: In fact, the Biden administration stood helpless in the face of Netanyahu's approach in dealing with the political and military issue related to the war on Gaza and Lebanon. He pointed out that the crisis of the Biden administration is that it gave Netanyahu an open ticket to do whatever he wants in Gaza, or rather a green light to implement a project planned for years for the complete ethnic cleansing of the Strip, and the expulsion of nearly two million Palestinians, which strengthens the Jewish demographic base in historical Palestine, which has been flabby in recent years with the increase in the percentage of Palestinian presence, compared to the Jewish presence.

Mansour explained that "the US administration was unable to stop the Israeli bull's rage despite all the scenes of genocide and destruction that Netanyahu is carrying out in the Gaza Strip, and currently in Lebanon, to the point that he is ready to drag the Biden administration into a war with Iran, and here this administration was able to, and this is credited to it for not being dragged into this square. It appeared to the world that it is still able to move the threads of global politics in a manner that suits its current and future interests in the Middle East region."

A resounding slap to the Democrats

Regarding the Gaza Strip, Mansour said that the Biden administration, which was committed to defending Israel, and in the face of the horrific scenes and voices that came out in the United States urging it to do something, and the great loss suffered by the US Vice President and presidential candidate, was a resounding slap in the face to it, which means that Biden will not do anything to rein in the raging Israeli bull.

He said: "We believe that Biden will hand over to Trump a heavy legacy laden with dangerous burdens in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Ukraine, in addition to the anger of a large number of countries in the world over the US policy that trampled on all international values by allowing Israel to deal unprecedented blows to international institutions working to create a political and military balance in the world."

Mansour believed that this means that Israel's aspirations go beyond merely dealing with the conflict in the Middle East to the level of directing the management of the region and the world as well.

Mansour concluded by saying: “What the Biden administration has failed to do, intentionally or otherwise, it will not fix during the transitional period, but will remain a lame duck until the reins of government are handed over to someone who has been tried before.”

Biden was not interested in a ceasefire

For his part, Israeli affairs expert Adel Shadid said: US President Joe Biden was not interested in a ceasefire in the previous period, but was committed to supporting the continuation of the war, believing that this was in the interest of Israel and the United States, by seeking to "break the spirit of resistance" within the new Middle East trends.

Shadid pointed out that the current American and Israeli goals are in harmony, which makes the Biden administration in no hurry to end the escalation.

Shadid continued: Biden does not see much benefit in stopping the war, especially at this stage, and it is likely that he will pass the crisis on to the next administration.

He explained that he does not now have to confront the Jewish lobby or a significant segment of Democrats.

He added: "Biden was not worried about the election results, especially after winning the party's nomination and transferring it to Vice President Kamala Harris, which reinforces the belief that Biden may prefer to leave the current crises pending, whether in Lebanon or Gaza, until the next administration takes them over."

"Trump is Israeli in his passions and interests"

For his part, the strategic expert and Egyptian nationalist thinker, Dr. Rifat Sayed Ahmed, said: The Biden administration will not take effective steps in the next transitional phase, noting that "Netanyahu will undertake the violent escalation" by intensifying military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, and the escalation may extend to the Golan and Syria.

Ahmed expected that the region would witness more violent Israeli intervention in the Arab arena, with the possibility of tensions escalating into an Iranian-Israeli confrontation in Iraq or even in the streets of Tehran, but direct US intervention is unlikely.

Ahmed believed that the next administration, led by Trump, would fully support Israel without reducing the levels of conflict in the Middle East, and that any reliance on Trump’s intervention to stop the escalation was a “strategic mistake.”

He pointed out that Trump, whom he described as "Israeli in his inclinations and interests," will not ease the war in Gaza and Lebanon, but will continue to provide full support to Israel, including support for its settlement operations.

Ahmed reviewed Trump's previous positions, such as his assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the "Deal of the Century", and his transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem, considering that some parties' reliance on Trump to stop the war is "mere wishful thinking", and that the region will continue to suffer from the effects of this US-backed Israeli escalation.

Biden administration will leave thorny issues

Lebanese researcher in international relations, Tariq Wahbi, explained that the United States is not a model of good governance as much as it is a bloc of interests, starting with security and then economic.

With the recent Democratic losses, the Biden administration may move toward what is known as “crisis management with minimal losses” without seriously seeking to resolve the outstanding conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, Wahbi said.

Wahbi raised a question about the ability of any American administration to restore stability in the region to what it was before October 7, 2023, adding: "But is there really a roadmap following the ceasefire?"

He pointed out that the guarantees that the next Trump administration will provide may be conditional on its well-known method of financial pressure and dictation, far from any real concession from the Arab parties.

Wahbi believes that the Biden administration will leave thorny issues, such as the crises in Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon, Syria and Sudan, to the next administration.

Wahbi expressed his concern about the "Trumpian solutions", which tend to focus on the financial dimensions and estimating losses, as if the United States were acting like an insurance company whose primary concern is estimating the cost of crises and the feasibility of financing them.

"The next four years may be difficult to implement and the content until 2028," Wahbi added, expecting difficulty in convincing Biden of solutions before he leaves, despite the efforts of his envoy to the Middle East, Amos Hochstein, who will try to present new solutions to the Democrats before the transfer of power.

Leaving complex files to the Trump administration

As for the Turkish academic and political researcher, Dr. Muhannad Hafizoglu, he said: “The presidential handover and takeover phase in the United States is often characterized by escalating tensions or the imminent outbreak of wars.”

He considered that this period is being exploited by the US administration to evaluate internal and external files that require a new vision.

Oglu explained that during the two-month transition period, the United States is evaluating the hot issues that require new direction, whether within the United States or in its foreign policies.

He explained that this stage allows the outgoing president and team to keep the hot files and complicate them, which increases the challenges for the new team.

Oglu added: The current elections between Biden and Trump make the transitional phase more tense, especially in light of the differences between the two parties.

He expected that the period would witness an escalation in several areas such as Gaza, Lebanon, and Ukraine, in an attempt by the Biden administration to buy time and leave complex files facing the next Trump administration.

Davutoglu stressed that Biden and his team are likely to keep the situation as it is, and may even deliberately increase tensions, which would pave the way for an escalation phase aimed at putting obstacles in the way of the next Republican administration, specifically Trump, who had promised many changes in his electoral policies.

Bassam Zakarneh: Yasser Arafat's absence left a huge void that negatively affected not only the Palestinian arena

Issam Bakr: Abu Ammar, with his charismatic personality and political acumen, has always been a safety valve for national unity.

Dr. Ahmed Rafiq Awad: Arafat was a unique and exceptional leader, distinguished by his unique qualities, and was a maker of events, not a follower of them.

Imad Ghayatha: Abu Ammar was distinguished by his spirit of rebellion against reality, so that the rights of the Palestinian people would always remain at the forefront.

Dr. Qusay Hamed: His leadership acumen was able to prevent a slide into sharp divisions in the fabric of Palestinian society

Akram Atallah: He has a unique ability to formulate a rare symbolism that still has a profound impact on the conscience of the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian cause witnessed dangerous turning points in the two decades following the passing of the late President Yasser Arafat, the “Father of Palestinian Nationalism,” as his absence left an influential void on various levels, in light of the existential war that the Palestinian people are facing.

Politicians, writers and analysts confirmed in separate interviews with “I” that the martyrdom of Yasser Arafat (Abu Ammar) had profound dimensions for the Palestinian people. Arafat was a symbol of Palestinian unity and a global figure that international events could not ignore. His vision represented strength and embrace for the Palestinian people. They pointed out that his personality was unique and event-making, as he was distinguished by his exceptional ability to manage challenges.

They stress that after twenty years, Yasser Arafat's legacy of unity and steadfastness must be preserved, calling for this to be translated into actions to enhance the national position and confront the challenges facing the Palestinian people today.

Deep and sad meanings in the memory of the immortal martyr

Bassam Zakarneh, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, explains that the date of the martyrdom of President Yasser Arafat, “Abu Ammar,” carries deep and sad meanings for the Palestinian people, and it is a black history for the Palestinians.

Zakarna confirms that this anniversary represents a remembrance of the character of Abu Ammar, who was like a second father to every Palestinian. He was known for his embrace of the martyrs and the wounded, and his deep belief in the unity of the Palestinian people, and he is the father of Palestinian nationalism.

Zakarna confirms that Abu Ammar's presence was overwhelming on the international and Arab arenas, as he was not just a Palestinian leader, but a global symbol of unity and steadfastness.

"No one can deny Yasser Arafat's vast influence at the international and regional levels, and his ability to make the Palestinian issue a top priority in global political interests," Zakarna says.

Zakarna asserts that the personality of the late President Yasser Arafat was a unifying force for the Palestinian people, stressing that if Abu Ammar had been alive, the division that the Palestinian arena witnessed after his passing would not have occurred.

He says: "I believe that the division would never have happened under Abu Ammar's presence. He was a source of consensus for all segments of the Palestinian people, and he was always able to unite the word and the ranks."

He stresses that Abu Ammar's absence left a huge void that negatively affected not only the Palestinian arena, but also the positions of Arab leaders and peoples towards the Palestinian cause, which led to a decline in Arab interest and support compared to what it was during his era.

Zakarna points out that the Palestinian cause is suffering today from an unprecedented state of weakness, coinciding with the genocide facing the Palestinian people, especially in light of the absence of a leadership figure of the stature and strength of Abu Ammar.

“The symbolism that Abu Ammar represented cannot be replaced,” Zakarna says. “After his passing, there was an urgent need for a collective leadership to fill his place and restore the Palestinian cause’s momentum and position on the international stage. Unfortunately, the PLO and Fatah have witnessed a significant decline since his absence.”

Zakarna believes that Abu Ammar's great international impact was clear, as he had a strong presence and wide influence on global liberation movements.

Zakarna says: “Abu Ammar managed his international relations shrewdly, investing these relations in the interest of the Palestinian cause, and always placing it at the forefront of the global political scene. There was continuous recruitment to confront American and Israeli pressures, and he knew exactly how to gain the sympathy and support of the international community.”

Zakarna talks about the field role of the late President Yasser Arafat, pointing out that he was always present in the field among his people, especially in critical and difficult moments. Zakarna recalls Abu Ammar’s position during the events in Lebanon, where he was among the fighters, sharing their risks and standing by their side.

Zakarna says: “Abu Ammar was close to the masses. Every Palestinian felt him as a father, and they drew strength and inspiration from him. If he were here today, we would find him among the masses, leading them and strengthening their resolve in Gaza, Jenin, Tulkarm, and Lebanon.”

He stressed that the absence of Yasser Arafat left a void that cannot be easily filled, emphasizing the need to draw inspiration from the lessons of unity and steadfastness that he instilled in the Palestinian people, and to work to restore the strength and status of the Palestinian cause as it was in his time.

Zakarna says: “Today we need to restore the national spirit that Abu Ammar founded, and work hard to reorganize the ranks to confront the challenges that threaten our existence and rights.”

Major repercussions left by Arafat's absence

Issam Bakr, a member of the Central Committee of the People's Party and a member of the Factions Coordination Committee in Palestine, confirms that the impact of the absence of the late President Yasser Arafat on the Palestinian situation was great, and that there are major repercussions left by this absence, recalling the spirit of Yasser Arafat as a symbol of the national cause and as a fighter who devoted his life to achieving freedom for his people.

Bakr points out that Arafat, with his charismatic personality and political acumen, was a safety valve for national unity, as he was able to gather the Palestinian factions under one umbrella, considering that Arafat was a meeting point for the Palestinians, firmly convinced that the fundamental contradiction was with the occupation, regardless of the extent of the internal differences between the parties.

Bakr explains that this base established by Arafat remained the basis of Palestinian national action, as all components agreed on the necessity of confronting the occupation as a priority.

Bakr points out that over the course of twenty years, the Palestinian cause has undergone tremendous local, regional and international changes, describing the period as one burdened with challenges, as the cause suffered from decline and fragmentation, especially due to the Palestinian division that worsened after Arafat’s absence.

This vertical and horizontal division, he says, has had devastating effects on the Palestinian national project, and has allowed the Israeli occupation to double its hostile measures of settlement, Judaization of Jerusalem, demolition of homes, and closure of Palestinian areas and their transformation into enclaves.

Bakr asserts that Arafat had extended his hand for peace until the last moment, but the rise of extremist religious and nationalist forces in Israel, which rely on a discourse denying the existence of the Palestinian people, thwarted all attempts to reach a settlement.

Bakr points out that successive Israeli prime ministers used peace talks as a means of deception and misleading, and had no real intention of achieving a just peace.

Looking at all the stations after Arafat's assassination, Bakr confirms that his loss was a great shock to the Palestinians who stood in amazement at the announcement of his martyrdom, pointing out that the funerals held for him in Paris, Cairo and Ramallah embodied the extent of the loss.

Rebuilding national identity

Bakr stresses that Arafat, with his firm positions in which he refused to compromise on national constants, rebuilt the Palestinian national identity through the PLO, at a time when the occupation tried to erase this identity and return the Palestinians to the status of refugees without national ties.

Bakr says: "Nothing can fill the void left by Arafat, the master of splendid presence. This is what can be said with modesty in the context of trying to assess the loss, a loss on the national, popular and official levels, of his firm positions of not compromising on national constants."

It is believed that Arafat faced this challenge with determination, and was able to establish Palestinian rights in the international arena, shattering the Israeli narrative that sought to deny the existence of a Palestinian people with non-negotiable rights.

Bakr points out that one of Arafat's most important achievements was affirming the unified national identity, which enabled the Palestinians to establish their presence in global geopolitics, especially in the United Nations institutions. Arafat was also vocal in demanding the lifting of the historical injustice against the Palestinian people and the correction of these injustices.

In this context, Bakr believes that the anniversary of Arafat's martyrdom should be an occasion to adhere to the path of national unity, and to emphasize that ending the division has become a matter that cannot be postponed, and that this requires real political will to turn this painful page in Palestinian history.

Bakr believes that the national consensus program, which Arafat emphasized in the Declaration of Independence in 1988 in Algeria, is still the umbrella under which all Palestinian forces meet.

He points out that this programme is based on the right of return, self-determination and the establishment of an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, citing successive decisions of the Palestinian National Councils.

Bakr stresses that this political program still enjoys the consensus of the Palestinian forces, which was confirmed in the various rounds of reconciliation, calling for building on these foundations to strengthen the continuation of the unity of the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, as Arafat was able to build the PLO as a unified framework that includes all Palestinians.

Bakr confirms that the Palestinians do not depend on the individual but on the institution, which is the PLO, the title of the unified Palestinian people and its sole legitimate representative. President Mahmoud Abbas has always declared in this regard his firm adherence to the same goals and his following in the same footsteps that President Arafat had eliminated. There were even translations and movements that led to the recognition of the State of Palestine, obtaining membership in the United Nations and many others, despite the stumbling block of ideologically fueled rejection in Israel with the “ghetto” mentality and denial of the existence of the other, and attempts at uprooting.

Meeting current challenges requires radical changes.

In the context of anticipating future solutions, Bakr believes that confronting the current challenges requires radical changes, starting with dissolving the agreements signed with Israel, and reaffirming that the current stage is a stage of national liberation.

Bakr stresses the need to redirect the function of the Palestinian Authority, which was established by a decision of the Central Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization as a step towards independence, pointing out the importance of changing its function to become a tool for strengthening national steadfastness instead of managing the current crisis.

Bakr believes that the Israeli occupation has exploited the current situation to strengthen its control and expand its settlements, driven by a mentality that rejects coexistence with the Palestinian people and seeks to uproot them.

Bakr believes that the appropriate response should be to turn the tables on the occupation and to free ourselves from the illusions that have been hanging over the political path since the Oslo Accords.

Bakr stresses the importance of unleashing the Palestinian people's energies in a comprehensive confrontation with the occupation, considering that this path is the only way to revive hope among the Palestinian people and achieve their national aspirations.

Major transformations that affected the course of the Palestinian issue

Political analyst Dr. Ahmed Rafiq Awad confirms that during the twenty years following the death of President Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian cause witnessed major transformations and radical challenges that affected its course and future.

Awad explains that one of the most prominent turning points was the decline in the effectiveness of the two-state solution, which was rooted in the Oslo Accords. The agreement became a failed model in achieving Palestinian goals, and at the present time, this solution is witnessing a gradual withdrawal from the international political scene.

Awad points out that the Palestinian issue has noticeably declined on global and regional agendas during Abu Ammar's absence.

Awad asserts that the terrible internal Palestinian division was the most prominent turning point in the events after the martyrdom of Abu Ammar, which has become a real danger, with the possibility of developing into permanent separation, if it is not dealt with carefully. The Israeli arena has also witnessed a political and social upheaval towards extremism, as the idea of coexistence has collapsed, to be replaced by the idea of walls, isolation, and escalating racism.

Over the past two decades, attempts to marginalize the Palestinian cause and abolish the rights of the Palestinian people have increased, according to Awad, but despite these challenges, there are tangible achievements, such as the recognition of the State of Palestine in the United Nations, which established legal and humanitarian recognition of the existence of a Palestinian entity. However, the Palestinian state remains without clear borders, a divided geography, and a scattered demographics.

In the context of the ongoing deterioration, Awad points out that international recognition of Palestine remains surrounded by questions about how to transform it into a reality that ensures stability in the region.

Arafat's passing was an undeniable loss, as he was a unique and exceptional leader, according to Awad, who asserts that the martyr Yasser Arafat played a pivotal role in shaping the modern Palestinian national identity, and that his martyrdom was a turning point in the path to the birth of the Palestinian state as we know it today.

Awad points out that Israel was aware of Arafat's size and power when it decided to assassinate him. He was not just a besieged leader, but was able to besiege the occupation itself and embarrass Israeli policy, which made Israel believe that assassinating him would solve some of its crises.

However, according to Awad, the crisis was not resolved, but rather deepened after his absence. The Palestinian people paid a heavy price and suffered successive disasters as a result of the loss of that leader who was able to bring the parties together and find solutions to the crises, but the people remained steadfast in the face of Israel.

Awad believes that Arafat was distinguished by unique qualities. He was a maker of events, not a follower of them. He was an initiator who did not wait for circumstances, and he possessed a superior ability to maneuver and negotiate in the darkest of circumstances.

Awad describes him as a source of action and movement, capable of turning corners and mobilizing the masses, always maintaining the idea of Palestinian unity, which formed the basis of his strength in facing internal and external challenges.

Awad asserts that the most honest stage in Arafat’s career was the moment of his martyrdom, which established the principles of the Palestinian national movement and proved the strength of the Palestinian struggle. “He was a symbol of national unity, capable of creating hope and solutions, so his martyrdom remains a decisive moment that cannot be compensated for,” Awad explains.

The period following Arafat's martyrdom represents a dangerous turning point.

Imad Ghayatha, a professor of political science at Birzeit University, confirms that the period following the martyrdom of Yasser Arafat represents a dangerous turning point in the course of the Palestinian cause, with the absence of a figure like Yasser Arafat, with his unique negotiating and combative abilities, leaving a void that the Palestinians still suffer from to this day.

Ghayatha explains that Arafat had rare charisma and unique leadership, but his leadership nature did not always conform to the requirements of traditional institutional work, which created a discrepancy in the methods of managing the affairs of the Palestinian cause.

Ghayatha asserts that Arafat was distinguished by his spirit of rebellion against reality, and he challenged the harsh conditions that faced the rights of the Palestinian people in order to keep rights at the forefront.

Although his policies, especially in the last two decades of his life, sometimes seemed like political adventures, Ghayatha confirms that they were carefully considered adventures with deep national dimensions. He was keen to keep the Palestinian cause alive on the international scene, and to emphasize the rights of the Palestinian people, despite the hostility and difficulties he faced.

Ghayatha points out that what we are living today is the legacy of Yasser Arafat, who established a political structure and a national entity, but he also left behind sensitive files and accumulated challenges that need someone to handle them responsibly, and the legacy left by Arafat has not been adequately understood.

Ghayatha believes that despite the presence of leaders who took on the task of completing Arafat’s legacy, these leaders were unable to adequately deal with the complex reality he created, which led to weakness in confronting political changes and international pressures.

Ghayatha stresses that the lessons and morals learned from Arafat’s experience cannot be fully understood or evaluated without working within a solid institutional framework. The absence of institutional work made it difficult to fully benefit from Arafat’s legacy, as Arafat is a founding leader.

Ghayatha stresses the importance of strengthening Palestinian national institutions to ensure the continuity of the struggle and the achievement of national goals.

A pivotal moment in the history of the Palestinian cause

Speaking about the profound impact of the passing of President Yasser Arafat and the effects of his absence over the past twenty years, Dr. Qusay Hamed, Professor of Political Science at Al-Quds Open University, confirms that Arafat’s martyrdom constituted a pivotal moment in the history of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people as a whole.

Hamed explains that the disappearance of Yasser Arafat, and the developments that followed, brought about radical changes in the Palestinian scene.

Hamed asserts that after Arafat's departure, the Palestinian people lacked leadership acumen that was capable of controlling internal affairs and preventing the slide towards major challenges, most notably the Palestinian division, which remained a central scene during the past two decades.

According to Hamed, the first challenge that the Palestinian people faced after Arafat’s absence was the necessity of choosing a Palestinian leadership with high political competence and acumen, as the roles he held required a large cadre to fill them. The other challenge was the Palestinian division, which became one of the most dangerous scenes negatively affecting the Palestinian cause.

He explains that the ongoing political and geographical division to this day has had an impact on the internal Palestinian situation and on the position of the Palestinian cause on the international and regional levels.

Hamed says: "If Yasser Arafat were alive, he would not have allowed this division to extend to this extent, given his charismatic personality, the weight of his political history, and his ability to remedy and prevent such an unfortunate division from occurring."

Hamed confirms that Arafat had a unique ability to maintain the unity of the Palestinian ranks, and he was keen to ensure that his compass was clear and directed towards the confrontation with the Israeli occupation, not towards internal conflicts, and he did not allow those differences to control the Palestinian people, and without the Palestinians being lost in internal disputes that would drain their energy and their cause.

Hamed confirms that Arafat had a wide network of international relations, including liberation movements and influential forces in the world, and he was able to keep the Palestinian issue present on the agenda of Arab countries and the international community.

Hamed asserts that Yasser Arafat was not just a political leader, but rather a charismatic figure who carried the burden of the Palestinian cause for more than fifty years, during which Arafat was able to build bridges with various countries, including marginal countries and major powers, and established a strong base of support for the Palestinian cause.

Hamed addresses the flaw in the division that occurred between the Fatah and Hamas movements after Arafat's departure, stressing that the political and geographical division was something that should never have happened.

Hamed says: “We were supposed to rebuild the Palestinian leadership on sound foundations, and to respect the results of the elections, to ensure the participation of all forces in making fateful decisions,” stressing that the Palestinian people are still suffering from the effects of this division, despite the clarity of the diagnosis and means of treatment.

Hamed stresses the necessity of drawing lessons from Arafat's experience, pointing out that Arafat combined political, diplomatic and military work with great skill, taking advantage of all the components of the Palestinian people and its factions, and this ideal combination that distinguished Arafat is still absent from the Palestinians today.

Hamed says: “Arafat held all the strings connected to the Palestinian cause, and we may differ on his style of managing affairs, but he ensured that tasks were carried out efficiently, and no one felt that there was any negligence in supporting the cause.”

Hamed stresses that the Palestinian people need to strengthen their unity and respect the popular will to ensure the continuity of the struggle to achieve their aspirations.

The Godfather of the Palestinian Cause

Writer and political analyst Akram Atallah describes the late martyr President Yasser Arafat as the “spiritual father of the Palestinian cause,” pointing out his unique ability to formulate a rare symbolism that still leaves a deep impact on the conscience of the Palestinian people.

Atallah believes that Yasser Arafat's symbolism was not just a personal trait, but rather a combination of the history of struggle and the battles that Arafat fought in order to revive the Palestinian national movement.

Atallah asserts that Abu Ammar’s absence left the Palestinians in a state of political orphanhood, as if they were unable to manage their own affairs after his passing. This feeling of orphanhood was embodied in a state of internal dispersion and division, as the Palestinians fought over his political legacy, like sons fighting over what their father left them after losing him.

He explains that this fighting has led the Palestinians into a dark tunnel with no apparent way out.

Atallah confirms that Arafat's absence opened the door to a state of weakness and exposure, and the Palestinian arena seemed to lack a unified political system that would bring everyone together under one umbrella.

Atallah believes that this dark tunnel that the Palestinians entered after Arafat’s departure shows the importance of Arafat as a symbol that united the Palestinians. Arafat’s absence brought down the curtain on the settlement project that he had launched in the Palestinian arena, as the political path that Abu Ammar had started ended with his departure. There was no longer a clear path to a settlement, and the Palestinian issue was transformed into internal disputes and quarrels between factions, while what remained of the relations with Israel became more like an autonomous administration that lacked any real political dimension, which contradicts the goals of the Palestinian national movement that was established to achieve independence and freedom.

Atallah asserts that if Arafat were present today, the Palestinian situation would be completely different, as Arafat played roles that united the Palestinians, stressing that his paternal symbolism would have prevented the sharp divisions that the Palestinian arena witnessed after his departure.

Atallah believes that Arafat, as a national leader and founder, had the ability to unite all Palestinian factions, such that no party could challenge his authority or symbolism, even in the darkest of circumstances, pointing out that all factions, even those that disagreed with his political approach, found their place under his umbrella.

Atallah shows that Hamas, for example, would not have challenged Arafat's symbolism in the way that happened after his death.

Atallah asserts that the symbolic power that Arafat enjoyed was sufficient to maintain national cohesion, as he recalled the beginning of the emergence of the Hamas movement in its strong political and organizational form, and how it did not dare during Arafat’s era to take extremist positions in the political challenge.

Atallah stresses that Arafat was the true father of the Palestinians, and was able to make the Palestinian political system a unified entity under his leadership, as he knew how to balance the different forces and unite them towards a common goal.

What a night like the waves of the sea, casting its curtains with all kinds of heavy worries on hearts laden with the pains of loss, illness, fear, hunger and homelessness.

What a long night that never ends, and the morning is not better than it. The day of those crucified in the fire is no different from their night, and it does not calm the fear of their children, or satisfy their hunger, or quench their thirst, or heal their wounds.

What a night that stretches like the night of the pre-Islamic poet who tried to rule and died trying to achieve it. The hands of the clock in Gaza have stopped, and the diaries of those crammed into the lines of extermination, waiting for their turn at the blazing stove, have frozen in fear and terror from the gloom of the scene and the evil of the outcome.

The experts of the "deadly diet" are creative in presenting recipes, under the instructions of the generals, so that the bodies melt as punishment for their insistence on staying under the roofs of the houses in the neighborhoods rigged with death, in Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia.

The night of Gaza has become long and drawn out, and the wolves have not been satisfied with the waterfalls of blood, nor have the crows stopped pursuing their prey, even while they are sleeping or playing, or on “hospital beds,” which do not live up to their name after they were taken out of service by drones.

Under the rubble, at these moments, souls gasp, breaths are stifled, and the wounds of fathers and mothers bleed next to sons and grandchildren, breathing their last in silence, like the silence of hidden consciences covering up the raging holocaust of genocide.

Stop the war of extermination now..!

The Israeli occupation forces launched a campaign of raids and arrests in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem at dawn and this Monday morning.

In Nablus, the occupation forces raided a building in the Rafidia area, and a house east of the city, searched it, ransacked its contents, and arrested the young man Yousef Abu Safi.

The occupation forces also raided a house in the Askar al-Balad area, searched it and arrested the two brothers, Amin and Amir Bahr al-Dam.

The occupation forces also stormed a commercial store in the eastern market area, carried out acts of vandalism inside it, and seized a computer connected to surveillance cameras.

In Bethlehem, the occupation forces stormed the village of Husan amidst intensive security measures and positioned themselves in the middle of the village, specifically near the village council headquarters, and fired tear gas bombs around the Civil Defense headquarters, without any injuries being reported.

In Qalqilya, the occupation forces stormed the village of Azzun and arrested two young men: Muhammad Abdul Karim Salim and Ibrahim Nidal Salim, in their thirties, after raiding and searching their homes.

In occupied Jerusalem, the occupation forces stormed the Shuafat camp and arrested the young man, Muhammad Nizar Muhammad Ali, after raiding his family’s home and tampering with its contents.

Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Mustafa, called for supporting the efforts and vision of President Mahmoud Abbas to hold an international peace conference within a year, as stated in the recent General Assembly resolution on the nature of the Israeli occupation, and to hold a reconstruction conference if the Israeli aggression and war of extermination against our people in the Gaza Strip stop.

Mustafa reiterated the importance of what the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Contact Committee, headed by His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan, has done since the beginning of the war of extermination, calling for the continuation of its work, renewing the committee’s mandate to implement the decisions of the joint summit, and working with the capitals of influential countries, and in international institutions, especially the Security Council, to lead the effort to stop the Israeli war of revenge, increase recognition of the State of Palestine, obtain full membership, and punish Israel for its crimes.

This came during his speech, today, Sunday, at the preparatory ministerial meeting for the extraordinary Arab and Islamic summit scheduled to be held tomorrow, Monday, in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

The Prime Minister stressed the importance of joint action on practical steps and sanctions against Israel to end its illegal occupation of the State of Palestine within 12 months, as stated in the General Assembly resolution to implement the legal advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice months ago.

Mustafa said: "This requires submitting a draft resolution to the Security Council under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, to oblige Israel, the occupying power, to cease fire in the Gaza Strip and allow humanitarian aid into all areas of the Strip, immediately, and implement the relevant Security Council resolutions."

The Prime Minister also called for adopting the submission of a draft resolution to the Security Council for the State of Palestine to obtain full membership in the United Nations, and implementing this resolution as soon as possible, in the days following the summit, and launching steps to freeze Israel's participation in the United Nations General Assembly, on four bases: that it works against the goals and principles of the United Nations Charter, that it represents a threat to international peace and security, and that it is a rogue state that has not fulfilled the requirements for its membership in the United Nations, and based on the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice on 7/19/2024, which considered that the Israeli occupation is illegal and constitutes a system of apartheid and racial discrimination, and that it and its effects must be removed.

Mustafa added: "Within the framework of the legal accountability required to ensure that Israel does not escape punishment, and to provide justice to the victims of our Palestinian people, we call on Arab and Islamic countries to join the genocide lawsuit against Israel in the International Court of Justice, and to work to enhance the speed of the International Court of Justice's ruling on Israel's commission of the crime of genocide against our people."

The Prime Minister continued: "We hope that the sister countries will work with Switzerland, the depositary state of the Geneva Conventions, to implement the General Assembly resolution calling for the convening of a conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions as soon as possible, and to consult on the outcomes of this conference so that the countries can assume their responsibilities towards punishing Israel for its violations of this convention."

Mustafa addressed His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and through him to his sister country, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with the utmost appreciation and gratitude for the Kingdom’s initiative to hold the joint Arab-Islamic summit for the second time in a row within a year, with the aim of unifying the Arab and Islamic position to confront the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause and our Arab and Islamic region, and the extension of this aggression to include the brotherly Lebanese people, and to reach the lands of the sisterly Syrian Arab Republic.

The Prime Minister expressed the State of Palestine's appreciation for the initiative and efforts of the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with partners to establish the global alliance to implement the two-state solution, and held the first meeting in Riyadh on October 30 and 31. We call on the alliance to complete its countries' recognition of the State of Palestine and adopt Palestine's obtaining full membership in the United Nations, and to take political, legal and economic measures to push Israel to implement the two-state solution.

Mustafa stressed the State of Palestine's deep appreciation for the efforts of all sister Arab and Islamic countries in supporting the steadfastness of our people on their land, in the face of genocide, displacement and cleansing, and in supporting their legitimate struggle to exercise their inalienable rights.

Al-Awda Hospital in North Gaza Governorate reported that 19 injured people were transferred from the hospital to hospitals in Gaza City Governorate, through the International Committee of the Red Cross, in light of the genocide and ethnic cleansing that the governorate has been witnessing for more than a month.

The hospital administration said in a statement: "19 injured people were transferred from the hospital to hospitals in Gaza City, in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Palestinian Red Crescent."

Kamal Adwan Hospital urgently called for the provision of basic supplies and ambulance services, in addition to lifting the siege on northern Gaza, stating that "cases of malnutrition and famine have begun to appear in the region, and northern Gaza is being subjected to a war of extermination, and we are suffering as a result of the deliberate silence on the crimes committed against us."

١Israeli universities are witnessing an unprecedented wave of boycotts by academics since the beginning of the war on Gaza, reaching more than 300 cases of boycott, according to data from the Committee of University Presidents, which was published today, Sunday.

Belgium recorded the highest number of boycotts of Israeli academics, reaching more than 40 cases, followed by the United States with more than 35 boycotts, then Britain with more than 20 cases, and the Netherlands with more than 15 boycotts, while Italy recorded more than 10 boycotts following an initiative launched by its academic union.

The boycott of Israeli universities and academics is expressed in many forms, the most prominent of which is the refusal to publish scientific articles, which numbered approximately 50 cases.

About 30 lectures by Israeli academics were also cancelled, while about 30 cases were recorded in which foreign academics refused to give lectures at scientific conferences and study days organised by Israeli universities.

About 30 cases of cancellation or suspension of research cooperation or between Israeli and foreign universities and student exchanges were recorded.

This boycott of Israeli universities included many faculties and scientific fields, including history, law, archaeology, Jewish studies, cultures, natural sciences, and engineering.

The data indicated that "the situation is particularly serious" in Belgium, which cancelled about 15 academic grants, and other cases included refusing to issue recommendations and reports to Israeli researchers and ignoring written or verbal messages from them.

“The academic boycott is one of the central challenges facing Israeli universities, since October 7, in the international arena,” said Emmanuel Nachshon Schlinger, head of the anti-academic boycott team at the Committee of Presidents of Israeli Universities.

He added that the phenomenon of academic boycott is escalating significantly following the war and threatens to target the Israeli academic standing.

Paris police chief Laurent Nunez announced on Sunday that 4,000 police and gendarmes will be deployed next Thursday to secure a "high-risk" match between France and Israel at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, in the fifth round of Group 2 of the UEFA Nations League.

Nunez told French channel BFMTV that the deployment of this large number of troops comes within the framework of "strict and unconventional security measures" to secure an international match of this type.

He added that 4,000 police and gendarmerie personnel will secure the stadium's perimeter, as well as public transportation in Paris, with some of them deployed inside the stadium.

Nunez added that about 1,600 security personnel will be deployed inside the stadium in France, including an elite unit of the national police, which will secure the Israeli team. He pointed out that the match is considered "high risk", especially in light of the tense geopolitical situation.

The Paris Police Director also explained that the French authorities are working in coordination with the Israeli embassy in Paris and with some elements of the Israeli police, stressing that these elements "will not participate in securing the event on Thursday."

The security measures come a week after violence in Amsterdam between groups of fans, including Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, during a Europa League match, which drew international condemnation.

"Palestinian flag is forbidden"

The Paris police chief also indicated that entry with a Palestinian flag would be prohibited, and only French and Israeli flags would be allowed. He added that "for fans, there will be a security measure around the stadium with two checkpoints, in addition to identity checks if necessary."

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz confirmed in its editorial on Sunday that the Israeli army is carrying out an “ethnic cleansing operation” in the northern Gaza Strip, which includes forcibly displacing the few remaining residents, destroying their homes and infrastructure, and opening wide roads as part of a plan aimed at separating the northern areas of the Strip from Gaza City.

The newspaper relied on a report by its military correspondent Yaniv Kubovich, who accompanied the Israeli forces on a tour of the area, describing the situation there as looking like a "natural disaster," despite the newspaper's emphasis that what is happening is systematic and intentional destruction.

The newspaper added references to a report published by the British newspaper The Guardian, which quoted Brigadier General Itzik Cohen, commander of the 162nd Division in the Israeli army, denying that residents would be allowed to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, explaining that most of the residents of Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, al-Atatra and Jabalia had already been evacuated, and that his forces had received clear orders to carry out this forced evacuation. Cohen indicated that his mission was to "evacuate and cleanse an area," claiming that the evacuation was intended to "protect the residents" and facilitate the movement of Israeli forces.

The newspaper touched on the "generals' plan" drawn up by retired Major General Giora Eiland and some other retired commanders, which calls for displacing the population in the northern Gaza Strip and preventing the entry of humanitarian aid, considering that what Eiland is presenting publicly is part of a strategy implemented by the army under the direction of its military and political leaders, starting with Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Southern Command Commander Yaron Finkelman, and with the support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Galant, and his successor, Israel Katz.

The newspaper stressed that Netanyahu bears the greatest responsibility for the "war crimes" that also aim to destroy the homes of Palestinians and displace them, as part of the "war of rebirth" that seeks to pave the way for a long-term occupation and the possibility of future Jewish settlement.

Haaretz also touched on the comment of Israeli historian Daniel Beltman, a specialist in Holocaust and genocide studies, who described Eiland as an embodiment of moral collapse and a loss of historical understanding, noting in his article that the “Eiland Plan” falls within the category of “war crimes” ranging from ethnic cleansing to genocide.

In his article titled “Eiland’s Justifications Aim to Cover Up Israeli Crimes in Gaza,” Beltman believes that Eiland is trying to justify the displacement operations through flimsy justifications, considering that Eiland represents the moral collapse of “Israel.”

Beltman pointed out that Eiland has tried to portray the Gaza Strip as an “independent state” since the disengagement in 2005, likening the situation to Germany in the 1930s, but he considered this comparison misleading. Beltman stressed that Gaza is still under the effective control of Israel, which controls the entrances to the Strip, airspace, and territorial waters, which hinders the delivery of basic services such as health and education.

Beltman also denied Eiland's claims about the similarity between the rise of the Nazis and Hamas's seizure of power in Gaza, describing this comparison as illogical, and explained that Hamas seized power in besieged conditions and under Israeli military control, and that it is not a recognized international entity with economic and military capabilities.

Beltman concluded his article by questioning the fate of the Palestinians displaced under the Eiland plan, and pointed out that ignoring the provision of housing, care, and security for the displaced reflects a deliberate intention to oppress the residents of Gaza. He said that the “selective justifications” presented by Eiland aim to evade the fact that “Israel” is committing a war crime in Gaza aimed at ethnic cleansing and changing the demographic composition of the region.

President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas said that the Palestinian people cannot be eliminated or dissolved, and the Palestinian cause cannot be liquidated.

The President said, on Sunday evening, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the martyrdom of the symbolic leader Yasser Arafat, that our people in the Gaza Strip are being subjected to a second catastrophe and a war of genocide that history has never witnessed, and the occupation has turned the Strip into an uninhabitable area.

The President stressed that the displacement plan will not pass and we will not allow it to pass with the steadfastness of our people and the support and backing of our brothers and friends in the world, stressing that the leadership will not stop making every effort to stop the criminal war of extermination, until the last soldier withdraws from the Gaza Strip, so that the Strip returns to its natural place in the Palestinian state, and we heal the wounds of our people and rebuild it better than it was.

The President pointed out that the Palestinian issue is going through a difficult phase with the presence of the extreme right-wing government in Israel. The Gaza Strip is not the only one being subjected to a war of extermination and a plan for annexation and displacement, as the West Bank is being subjected to the same plan.

The President stressed that the Palestinian people will remain on their land and will not leave it, and this is the will of Yasser Arafat and all the martyrs of our people, foremost among them the martyrs of the Central Committee of the Fatah Movement.

The President said: We are committed to the option of peace, and we will continue to work to achieve it, stressing that security and stability cannot be achieved except by eliminating the occupation and achieving sovereignty and independence on the land of the Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on the 1967 lines, and finding a just solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees on the basis of the Arab Initiative and Resolution 194.

The President reiterated his rejection of the occupation's decisions to ban UNRWA from operating in Palestine, stressing that the State of Palestine will confront these decisions in coordination with the countries hosting Palestinian refugees.

The President said: Thanks to the steadfastness of our people and their defiance of the occupation's liquidation plans, we will continue to move towards freedom and independence, and the occupation will be held accountable for its crimes and aggression against our people, our land and our holy sites, in international courts.

The President stressed that we are on the path to achieving our national unity under the banner of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of our Palestinian people, and the owner of the independent national decision.

The President stressed the commitment to the legitimate and internationally recognized national goals and rights, pledging to the masses of our great people to continue on the path of freedom and independence, for which our best sons and daughters sacrificed their lives. He stressed that our people and their leadership will not rest until the prisoners gain their freedom.

The President concluded his speech by saying: “Yasser Arafat’s legacy remains in us and we will not deviate from it. We will remain rooted in this land because we are its owners, and the truth of the Palestinian people cannot be obliterated or ignored.”

The following is the text of the President's speech:

O masses of our steadfast Palestinian people, who are standing with pride and dignity on the homeland in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jerusalem, and in the diaspora across the world.

Today we commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the martyrdom of the symbolic leader Yasser Arafat, who carried the banner of the Palestinian national struggle for decades for freedom and independence. Perhaps the most important lesson from the path of this exceptional leader, and the path of the Palestine Liberation Organization, is that the Palestinian people cannot be eliminated or dissolved, and the Palestinian cause cannot be liquidated, and that our people have an ancient homeland upon which they built their history and civilization, this civilization that presented to humanity the message of love and peace.

This anniversary comes while the Palestinian people are going through harsh and difficult circumstances. There is a second Nakba in the Gaza Strip, as our people are being subjected to a war of genocide that history has never witnessed before, hundreds of thousands of martyrs and wounded, comprehensive destruction, displacement, hunger, diseases and epidemics. The occupying state has turned the Strip into an uninhabitable area, and what is happening today in the northern Gaza Strip is the best evidence of that. The sword of forced displacement is still hanging over the necks of the people of Gaza. We say here with all clarity and firmness that this plan will not pass and we will not allow it to pass with the steadfastness of our people and with the support and backing of our brothers and friends in the world. In the West Bank and Jerusalem, our people are facing continuous attacks on them, our land, and our Islamic and Christian sanctities by the occupation forces and terrorist settlers, who are practicing crimes of ethnic cleansing and racial discrimination.

Allow me on this occasion to address in particular the steadfast and steadfast masses of our people in the Gaza Strip, to tell them that we will not stop making every effort to stop the criminal war of extermination, until the last occupying soldier withdraws from the Gaza Strip so that the Strip can return to its natural place in the Palestinian state. We will also not rest until we heal the wounds of our people in the Gaza Strip, and rebuild it better than it was.

Oh, masses of our great people

The Palestinian cause is going through a difficult phase with the presence of the extreme right-wing government in Israel. The Gaza Strip is not the only one being subjected to a war of extermination and a plan for annexation and displacement. The West Bank is being subjected to the same plan, and the right-wing government believes that the conditions are favorable for implementing its expansionist goals at the expense of the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights.

We tell them and others that we have been the sons of this land for thousands of years. We will remain here and will not leave. This is the will of Yasser Arafat and all the martyrs of our people, foremost among them the martyrs of the Central Committee of the Fatah Movement. We assure them all that we will remain faithful to the covenant and that the banner will remain raised.

We have always adhered to the option of peace, we have adhered to it in all difficult and complex circumstances, and even when the other party abandoned it. We do not view peace as a passing phase. We seek to establish a just and lasting peace, and we believe that this peace, and that security and stability, can only be achieved by ending the occupation and achieving sovereignty and independence on the land of the Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on the 1967 lines, and finding a just solution to the Palestinian refugee issue on the basis of the Arab Initiative and Resolution 194. In this regard, we affirm the existence and strengthening of the work of UNRWA and reject the decisions of the occupation authorities to ban its work in Palestine, which we reject and will confront in coordination with the countries hosting Palestinian refugees.

Our heroic people

Thanks to your steadfastness and your confrontation of these crimes and liquidation plans, we are moving towards freedom and independence. International recognition of the State of Palestine is continuing, especially in the European arena, and the occupation is being dragged to international courts, and for the first time it will be held accountable for its crimes and aggression against our people, our land and our holy sites. Today, there is an international coalition of more than a hundred countries that was established through the commendable efforts of the Arab Islamic Committee, the European Union and sister and friendly countries in order to embody the State of Palestine and obtain full membership in the United Nations.

Here we must appreciate the positions of the peoples and countries of the world that support us and work with us in international forums. We also assure you that we are on the path to achieving our national unity under the banner of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of our Palestinian people, and the owner of the independent national decision.

On the twentieth anniversary of the martyrdom of the symbolic leader Abu Ammar, we affirm to the masses of our great people our adherence to the legitimate and internationally recognized national goals and rights, and we pledge to them that we will continue with the same determination on the path of freedom and independence, this path for which the best sons and daughters of the Palestinian people sacrificed their lives, and the heroic prisoners sacrificed their freedom in the prime of their youth, and I tell them that your people and your leadership will not rest until you achieve your freedom.

Yasser Arafat's legacy remains in us and we will not deviate from it. We will remain rooted in this land because we are its owners.

The reality of the Palestinian people cannot be obscured or ignored.

Long live Palestine

Long live the Palestinian people, free and proud

Glory to our righteous martyrs, foremost among them the martyr, leader and symbol Abu Ammar.

Healing for our wounded and freedom for our heroic prisoners

May the peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.

Today, Sunday, the preparatory meeting of foreign ministers for the extraordinary Arab-Islamic summit began in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, with the participation of Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Mohamed Mustafa.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs, chaired the preparatory ministerial meeting for the extraordinary Arab and Islamic summit scheduled to be held tomorrow, Monday, in the capital, Riyadh.

This summit is an extension of the joint Arab-Islamic summit held in Riyadh on November 11, 2023, based on the directives of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and in continuation of the efforts made by Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, and in coordination with the leaders of sister Arab and Islamic countries.

The meeting discussed the agenda of the upcoming summit and discussed the most important issues up for discussion.

As anti-Israeli war protests on Gaza disrupted college campuses across the United States, signs and chants demanded “Divest” and “Ceasefire Now!” This fall, the language of protest has become bolder, as if celebrating the October 7, 2023, attack, and echoing the rhetoric of Hamas, declaring, “Glory to the Resistance!” The mass protests and police and security crackdowns that swept college campuses last spring have dissipated, and campuses have become quieter and more peaceful this fall. But on some campuses, student groups have struck a strikingly more aggressive tone.

Israel’s brutal war on the besieged and devastated Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 44,000 Palestinians, 70 percent of them women and children according to the United Nations, is regularly described as genocide, “but until recently few of these slogans seemed pro-Hamas,” according to the newspaper, which says that “for some, including many in the Jewish community, this is a disturbing shift. But for others, the new rhetoric is the natural evolution of a movement responding to a brutal war now in its second year, with no end in sight.”

The newspaper quotes Mitchell Silber, an associate professor at Columbia University who runs a nonprofit that helps provide security for Jewish communities in the New York metropolitan area, saying that groups often escalate their rhetoric when they don’t achieve their goals, with a small group urging stronger action. “We’re at this tipping point. We’re starting to see a radicalization of their message,” he said. Silber, a former director of intelligence analysis for the New York Police Department, sees a more explicit rhetoric: “blatantly pro-Hamas, blatantly pro-Hezbollah, blatantly pro-Houthi.” The tougher messaging could soon clash with the incoming Trump administration.

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to crack down on campus protests, and his allies expect the Department of Education to more aggressively investigate college campuses' responses to pro-Palestinian movements.

In May, Trump told donors, “If I’m reelected, we’re going to set this movement back 25 or 30 years.” He also promised to deport foreign students who participate in the protests. “Once they hear that, they’re going to act appropriately.”

The messages sometimes appear on social media including Telegram and Instagram, and sometimes at public events. Colleges have repeatedly said they do not tolerate violence but have also said they respect students’ right to free speech.

The new rules have limited how groups can protest on many campuses, and the large camps that disrupted campus life in the spring are gone. There are also more organized efforts to channel student and faculty concerns about issues in the Middle East into academic discussion, Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, told the newspaper.

Although fewer students have participated in antiwar efforts this year, many of those who remain are more extreme in their messaging, some observers say, according to the paper, which notes that “at the University of California at Berkeley a year ago, students hung a long banner from Sather Tower, a famous 307-foot bell tower on campus. It read: ‘Stop the Fire Now. Free Gaza,’ with an image of the Palestinian flag. This fall, that banner was gone and a new one was hung in its place, reading: ‘Glory to the Resistance,’ with an inverted red triangle, a symbol used by Hamas to mark military targets and that has become associated with the Palestinian resistance movement.”

Some protesters now refer to the October 7 attacks as the “Al-Aqsa Flood,” a name used by Hamas. On the first anniversary of the attacks, a Columbia University protester, walking through the center of campus amid a noisy crowd, held aloft a banner that included drawings of a hang glider, an inverted red triangle, and the message “Long live the Al-Aqsa Flood/Glory to the Resistance.”

Students involved in protest groups say the move toward more hardline rhetoric is a result of frustration with a war that shows no signs of ending anytime soon.

News from the Middle East has been controversial in recent weeks, with the killing of Hamas leaders, Israeli incursions into Lebanon, attacks on Iranian targets and horrific videos of civilians dying.

Students now believe it will take more drastic action to bring about change, and they are no longer willing to practice “respectability politics,” says Matt Kovak, a Berkeley history graduate student who helps run the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. “What we’re seeing is a realistic response to people who have been marching and protesting for a year, and these international institutions and the United States have no interest in a ceasefire, a year into the war,” Kovak says.

The paper says that there is no doubt that the majority of activists for Palestine are engaged in completely peaceful protests: calling for a ceasefire, writing divestment proposals, organizing educational seminars and film screenings, creating art and embroidery together. Some groups have hosted vigils for those killed in the war in Gaza; in Colombia, students read thousands of names aloud.

“We have overwhelmingly seen that the student-led protests are peaceful calls for human rights for those in Palestine; of course, they are becoming more urgent as the situation abroad continues to deteriorate,” said Farah Afifi, research and advocacy coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The newspaper claims that the shift (in the intensity of the discourse) is most evident at Columbia University, the center of last year's protests.

For weeks, Columbia University Apartheid Devest, one of the pro-Palestinian groups on campus, has taken a tougher tone through its communications channels. On Substack, the group has praised the leadership of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Ansar Allah (known as the Houthis), all Iranian-backed groups that the United States has designated as terrorist organizations. One post referred to these groups as the Axis of Resistance and said they “effectively utilized a hierarchy and organized structure led by an anti-imperialist political line to carry out operations effectively.”

The Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona is one of the chapters that has posted positive messages about Sinwar after his killing by Israeli forces. On Instagram, the group posted a photo of him with the words: “The face of the resistance. Martyred while fighting for our liberation. Rest in peace,” followed by a heart emoji.

On this point, the newspaper attributes to Mia Amari, a Palestinian-American and the branch president, that “last year people were more afraid to speak up.” Now, she said, “people are finally fed up and saying what’s on their minds.”

Asked if this could be read as support for terrorism, she said, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” Like other pro-Palestinian activists, she argued that the focus on the October 7 attacks was unfair, and that the day should be understood in the context of a long history of oppression.

A member of the leadership team at Mac for Palestine at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, made a similar point. Orianne Saxe Bernstein, a third-year student at Macalester, said that terms like “terrorism” “lose their persuasive power among students,” because they are applied to violence committed by Palestinians but not violence committed by Israel.

She said that students’ experiences on campus with the protest movement, including “intense surveillance, violent police, brutal arrests and threats to their education or even their personal safety,” have changed the way they see the Palestinian struggle. She said students realize that they are suffering “only a small part of the extreme oppression that defines Palestinian existence under occupation” and that “this form of oppression is extreme.”

However, she said the group's posts about Sinwar's life were not intended to support Hamas.

Syrian media sources reported today, Sunday, that an Israeli raid targeted a residential building in the Sayyida Zeinab area in the Damascus countryside, resulting in 5 deaths and 8 injuries.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said that initial information indicates that an Israeli aggression targeted the Sayyida Zeinab area in the Damascus countryside, adding that the raid left a number of dead and wounded.

Israel has not yet claimed responsibility for the bombing, but over the years it has launched hundreds of air strikes on Syrian territory, targeting government forces and targets it says are Iranian or affiliated with the Lebanese Hezbollah.

The pace of raids has increased in recent weeks as Israel's war on Lebanon has intensified since September 23.

Israel has been launching raids on Syria for years, and has intensified these attacks since the start of its war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he had spoken with US President-elect Donald Trump three times in the past few days with the aim of strengthening the "strong alliance between Israel and the United States."

"These were very good and important talks," Netanyahu said in a statement. "We agree on the Iranian threat in all its components and the danger it poses. We also see the great opportunities for Israel in the area of peace and its expansion and in other areas."

Netanyahu admitted, for the first time, responsibility for the bombing of the pagers in Lebanon. He said that this operation and the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah were launched despite the opposition of senior officials in the security establishment.

"Before the pager operation, they told me that the United States would oppose it, but I didn't listen," Netanyahu was quoted as saying by the state broadcaster. According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Netanyahu meant that he was told this by dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Galant. This is the first time a senior Israeli official has publicly acknowledged the bombing of communications equipment in Lebanon.

Four citizens, including a child, were killed and others were injured today, Sunday, in an Israeli bombing of the Nuseirat camp and Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, northwest of Gaza City.

Local sources reported that the occupation warplanes bombed a house in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, which led to the death of 3 citizens and the injury of others.

The occupation warplanes bombed the Turkmani Tower, west of Nusairat.

She added that an occupation drone of the "Quadcopter" type dropped bombs on citizens in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, northwest of Gaza City, which led to the death of a child (3 years old) and the injury of his parents.

The occupation artillery launched violent shelling on the areas of Beit Lahia Project, Tel al-Zaatar, and Jabalia Camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

In a preliminary toll, the number of dead since the beginning of the aggression on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023 has risen to about 43,603 dead, and 102,929 wounded, the majority of whom are women and children, while thousands of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, where they cannot be reached.