Current Affairs Israel is an apartheid state
- Thread starter Billy Dean
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^Most sane genocide enjoyer.
Royal
Player Valuation: £10m
Thank you
Toffeeslam
Player Valuation: £40m
Is that after we carpet bomb your mah’s region ?
Charlie Sweet
Player Valuation: £35m
It'd take some mortar to do that job!
Toffeeslam
Player Valuation: £40m
What ever it takes to prevent any more creatures from crawling out
Royal
Player Valuation: £10m
old crocky bird so might need to go nuclear tbh lad
BigMick
Player Valuation: £20m
Palestine is only ever in the news when terrible things happen so here's a bit of positive news just for a change. Those who are genuinely interested in the Palestinian people may find it interesting - those who are not shouldn't waste their time by clicking on the link.
https://www.972mag.com/farkha-ecovillage-democracy-communism/
It's a good article and I have only a couple of quibbles with it.
1. The failure to mention the non-political NGOs that have given advice and practical help to the villagers.
2. While the article rightly highlights the influence of communism it fails to mention the traditional Arab concept of al-Ouneh - Arabic for 'help' or 'aid'. This simplification of the story is likely due to the magazine's target audience being a western, left-wing readership.
Al-Ouneh is an indigenous aid system that saw communities being self-reliant, with everyone helping each other and ensuring that the whole community had what they needed – whether they could afford it or not. Sounds a lot like communism, but I know which came first!
Prior to the Oslo Accords, al-Ouneh was common throughout Palestine but one of the unforeseen side-effects of Oslo was a decline in the practice. Oslo gave the Palestinians a western-style democracy, a western-style government, and a western neo-liberal economy, and it has seen Palestine receive more international aid per capita than any other country. It resulted in a bloated and unequal economy, with a massive gap between the small clan of elites and the growing population of poor, and a weakened civil society waiting for the next handout or project, rather than mobilising its own resources for its own development.
However, al-Ouneh never completely died out, mainly thanks to a handful of small, non-political NGOs helping to keep it alive. These organisations are underfunded, usually relying on collections and individual donations rather than the lavish funding that political NGOs receive from mainly western countries. Over the years they've helped numerous communities mobilise to improve their own facilities and use their local resources to provide themselves with income. This can often mean plotting a course through the arcane planning laws which can include leftovers from the Ottomans, British, and Jordanians, as well as Israeli and PA rules, and sometimes having to find a way around PA corruption.
A few other things I know about Farkha. Water is crucial and the village are trying to become completely water-independent by building two large artesian wells. With the help of an NGO they've built a new olive press, enabling them to produce olive oil in line with EU standards, which allows them to export it to the EU, as well as to the Gulf. They've even created a football pitch!
They've set an example which other villages and communities are following, so al-Ouneh will continue to be reintegrated into more villages and towns throughout the West Bank.
https://www.972mag.com/farkha-ecovillage-democracy-communism/
It's a good article and I have only a couple of quibbles with it.
1. The failure to mention the non-political NGOs that have given advice and practical help to the villagers.
2. While the article rightly highlights the influence of communism it fails to mention the traditional Arab concept of al-Ouneh - Arabic for 'help' or 'aid'. This simplification of the story is likely due to the magazine's target audience being a western, left-wing readership.
Al-Ouneh is an indigenous aid system that saw communities being self-reliant, with everyone helping each other and ensuring that the whole community had what they needed – whether they could afford it or not. Sounds a lot like communism, but I know which came first!
Prior to the Oslo Accords, al-Ouneh was common throughout Palestine but one of the unforeseen side-effects of Oslo was a decline in the practice. Oslo gave the Palestinians a western-style democracy, a western-style government, and a western neo-liberal economy, and it has seen Palestine receive more international aid per capita than any other country. It resulted in a bloated and unequal economy, with a massive gap between the small clan of elites and the growing population of poor, and a weakened civil society waiting for the next handout or project, rather than mobilising its own resources for its own development.
However, al-Ouneh never completely died out, mainly thanks to a handful of small, non-political NGOs helping to keep it alive. These organisations are underfunded, usually relying on collections and individual donations rather than the lavish funding that political NGOs receive from mainly western countries. Over the years they've helped numerous communities mobilise to improve their own facilities and use their local resources to provide themselves with income. This can often mean plotting a course through the arcane planning laws which can include leftovers from the Ottomans, British, and Jordanians, as well as Israeli and PA rules, and sometimes having to find a way around PA corruption.
A few other things I know about Farkha. Water is crucial and the village are trying to become completely water-independent by building two large artesian wells. With the help of an NGO they've built a new olive press, enabling them to produce olive oil in line with EU standards, which allows them to export it to the EU, as well as to the Gulf. They've even created a football pitch!
They've set an example which other villages and communities are following, so al-Ouneh will continue to be reintegrated into more villages and towns throughout the West Bank.
BigMick
Player Valuation: £20m
The ordinary people of Gaza are seldom heard from. Any anti-Hamas protests are quickly suppressed; any criticism of the 'armed struggle' is quickly crushed. The west, obsessed with propping up the terminally-ill Palestinian Authority, ignore them apart from when Hamas decide the time is ripe for another catastrophic bombing campaign.
An American NGO, The Center for Peace Communications, who work throughout the MENA region, have recently released 25 short videos featuring interviews with ordinary Gazans.
https://www.peacecomms.org/gaza#whispered-in-gaza
Hamas aren't happy about the videos and there have been several hacking attempts to prevent distribution of the material. They also produced counterfeit clips with voiceovers to twist the testimonies to their viewpoint, notably when there's any criticism of the 'armed struggle'.
Despite this, and no matter how unpalatable it seems, the time is long overdue for the west, particularly the US, to talk to Hamas. At the moment, while Egypt have a moderating influence upon them, they are very much in the malign Iran camp. That has to change. There are practical people within Hamas who desperately want international legitimacy, and they need to be encouraged by offering a peaceful route to Palestinian political integration with Fatah. Hamas have in the past had several unofficial short term 'tahadiyas' (ceasefires) with Israel, the last one lasting until May 2021, and some of the more pragmatic members have proposed a 3 to 5 year 'hudna' - truce - with Israel agreed on in the United Nations. Exploring that option would be a start, and certainly a better policy than the current one of turning a blind eye to Hamas' activities.
An American NGO, The Center for Peace Communications, who work throughout the MENA region, have recently released 25 short videos featuring interviews with ordinary Gazans.
https://www.peacecomms.org/gaza#whispered-in-gaza
Hamas aren't happy about the videos and there have been several hacking attempts to prevent distribution of the material. They also produced counterfeit clips with voiceovers to twist the testimonies to their viewpoint, notably when there's any criticism of the 'armed struggle'.
Despite this, and no matter how unpalatable it seems, the time is long overdue for the west, particularly the US, to talk to Hamas. At the moment, while Egypt have a moderating influence upon them, they are very much in the malign Iran camp. That has to change. There are practical people within Hamas who desperately want international legitimacy, and they need to be encouraged by offering a peaceful route to Palestinian political integration with Fatah. Hamas have in the past had several unofficial short term 'tahadiyas' (ceasefires) with Israel, the last one lasting until May 2021, and some of the more pragmatic members have proposed a 3 to 5 year 'hudna' - truce - with Israel agreed on in the United Nations. Exploring that option would be a start, and certainly a better policy than the current one of turning a blind eye to Hamas' activities.
Toffeeslam
Player Valuation: £40m
Another raid in Nablus this time by the IDF if u could call it that and another 10 Palestinians dead.
IDF said 3 alleged militants were killed but not said a word on how the other 7 died so as usual brush under the carpet and victim blame the Palestinians.
These muppets in the Israeli government with start another intifada through their provocative actions
IDF said 3 alleged militants were killed but not said a word on how the other 7 died so as usual brush under the carpet and victim blame the Palestinians.
These muppets in the Israeli government with start another intifada through their provocative actions
https://news.sky.com/story/west-ban...pogrom-by-israeli-military-commander-12822393
The irony! After the pogroms and the holocaust- we have the treatment and ghettoisation of the Palestinians by their “guests”
KMT
The irony! After the pogroms and the holocaust- we have the treatment and ghettoisation of the Palestinians by their “guests”
KMT
Bloody hell, has Netanyahu really given Itamar Ben-Gvir his own police force as the price of delaying "judicial reform"?
Dangerous development.
Dangerous development.
BigMick
Player Valuation: £20m
At the end of January there was a shooting attack at a restaurant near Jericho. This made the current conflict very real to me as I have relatives and friends in and around that city. I've since had the chance to talk to them to find out what happened.
Although the restaurant is Jewish owned it is not, as was reported in the UK press, in a Jewish settlement but stands at the Almog Junction in Area C - Almog is a nearby settlement. I must have driven past it a hundred times but, as far as I can remember, never been in any of the three restaurants or the garden centre found there - definitely stopped at the petrol station though.
The junction was also the site of ecoME, an idealistic peace initiative than ran for 9 years. Founded by Jews it was jointly run by Jews and courageous Palestinians - it closed because of chronic underfunding and persistent threats to the Palestinian participants. I probably visited it half a dozen times. One of the people who ran it said the lesson she learned was that there are plenty of people in both communities who want peace but there are also plenty in both communities who don't want peace under any circumstances.
The attack began when a car was stolen from Jericho and driven to the restaurant, staffed by a mixture of Jews and Arabs, where CCTV showed the car pull up and the gunman enter the restaurant where he fired a warning shot at an approaching (Arab) member of staff before turning his gun on the diners. Happily, the gun jammed and he ran outside, had another go at shooting and when that failed he jumped into the car and headed back towards Jericho where the car was later found burned out.
From the video literally everyone in Jericho knew the identity of the unmasked driver and who the shooter was likely to be, and that they came from the Aqabat Jabr camp just outside the city. The IDF would quickly have the same information.
The following day the city awoke to find that many roads around the city were closed in an attempt to stop the gunman from escaping and other gunmen from entering. It effectively funnelled everyone who wanted to leave or enter the city onto two main roads, where they found that the checkpoints were manned and operating - usually only the one leading to Allenby operates, although the PA Security Force (PASF) also check vehicles entering the city if they have Israeli number plates, to ensure that no Jews enter the city.
This led to propaganda that Jericho was being locked down - it wasn't but it took around 45 minutes to get through the checkpoints at the busiest time of day. The IDF were checking not just ID cards but also making a thorough search of every vehicle and registering every mobile phone on their data base - they have no legal authority to do the latter and some people refused, which only held up the queue even more.
The map shows the roads closed marked with an X.
A few days later everyone who had given their mobile number received a message warning that a security operation was to take place some time after 11pm and that everyone should stay indoors: “We act in a targeted manner against terrorism. Avoid unnecessary confrontations with the security forces and keep your children at home. Listen to us so we can restore peace to the camp.”
At about 1am an elite Israeli force entered Aqabat Jabr, a gunfight ensued, five Palestinians arrested but the two wanted men evaded capture and the IDF withdrew. Two days later, another message and the same elite force reentered Aqabat Jabr. This time they were met by a well prepared defence with several roads blocked in an attempt to force the IDF onto roads where IEDs had been laid and gunmen could surround them. A fierce gunfight ensued causing the IDf to pull back and call up reserves from the brigade who were guarding the perimeter of the camp - not specially trained for this kind of fighting - about 40% of that brigade are female. Eventually, 5 gunmen were killed, including the two wanted men, and several others arrested.
The following day all roads were opened and checkpoints removed. This was important for the economy of the city which usually benefits at this time of year from holidaymakers from other parts of Palestine and Israel enjoying the mild winter climate. I should add that several powerful figures from the PA, PLO and Fatah own 2nd homes in Jericho, as do a couple of prominent Israeli politicians.
Three weeks later a US citizen was killed in another attack close to the Dead Sea - the murderer was a relative of the gunman who attacked the restaurant. Once again Jericho found itself in lockdown. Two days later the IDF launched a daytime raid into Aqabat Jabr where the two wanted men gave themselves up after a short gunfight in which one was killed.
Jericho is known as a peaceful city where there has been no major incidents since 2005. These incidents seemed to come as a surprise to the PA, the Israelis and to the media. Not to the local population though.
Jericho is mainly a Fatah-supporting city but there has always been a small Islamist presence - in the Aqabat Jabr camp it basically consists of a few extended families, such as Awidat and al Muqaiti. Many of them have spent time in PA prisons for Hamas activities. During the Gaza war of May '21 there were a couple of attempts to incite trouble with a failed car ramming of a bus stop and an attempted drive-by shooting - no action taken by the IDF which was otherwise engaged.
This small Hamas-supporting cell was bolstered by the arrival about 3 months earlier of 12 Hamas gunmen from Jenin - Jenin's Islamist faction is dominated by Islamic Jihad with Hamas playing a secondary role. This was perhaps the time for the PASF to take action. A few more gunmen followed shortly after - together these men brought with them a certain kind of glamour associated with experienced fighters, organisational ability, and, most importantly, access to money and smuggling contacts. Most of the weapons flowing into the area come from Iran, through Syria and smuggled into Jordan and then to the West Bank. The Jordanians and Israelis work together to thwart the smugglers - the Jordanians literally take no prisoners - and reckon the amount of guns - and drugs (captagon) - confiscated has risen fourfold but that 75% of the smuggling succeeds in getting through the porous border.
Prior to the first Israeli raid the governor of Jericho issued a long statement urging the local populace not to get involved, pointing out the danger of undermining the PA and the benefits of the peace the city has enjoyed since 2005. Political activists well away from the situation, many of them safely abroad, predictably piled in on him but the vast majority of the population heeded his call. The people I've spoken to certainly don't want the IDF operating in Palestinian territory but neither do they want their city to go the same way as Jenin and Nablus where many businesses have gone bankrupt and closed due to the situation. Hamas, on the other hand, have reiterated their aim of turning Jericho (and other cities) into another Jenin. To do that they need to convince non-Islamists to join their fight - that's the message they've been pushing from Ismail Haniyeh downwards.
Has the cell in Aqabat Jabr been destroyed? No - damaged but not destroyed. Many of those hospitalised are already returning as heroes to gullible, testosterone-filled young men. The Israelis seized the contents of a large weapons store but it's believed there are two similar stores elsewhere in the camp - there's no doubt they underestimated the number of weapons in the camp, and probably the West Bank as a whole.
The vast majority of the people of Jericho are going about their normal lives as best they can, dealing with everyday problems such as teachers and doctors being on strike. Ramadan has begun. Rumours suggest trouble is planned for after 10 days. As my friend from ecoME once told me, "One bullet can undo a thousand days of progress."
Although the restaurant is Jewish owned it is not, as was reported in the UK press, in a Jewish settlement but stands at the Almog Junction in Area C - Almog is a nearby settlement. I must have driven past it a hundred times but, as far as I can remember, never been in any of the three restaurants or the garden centre found there - definitely stopped at the petrol station though.
The junction was also the site of ecoME, an idealistic peace initiative than ran for 9 years. Founded by Jews it was jointly run by Jews and courageous Palestinians - it closed because of chronic underfunding and persistent threats to the Palestinian participants. I probably visited it half a dozen times. One of the people who ran it said the lesson she learned was that there are plenty of people in both communities who want peace but there are also plenty in both communities who don't want peace under any circumstances.
The attack began when a car was stolen from Jericho and driven to the restaurant, staffed by a mixture of Jews and Arabs, where CCTV showed the car pull up and the gunman enter the restaurant where he fired a warning shot at an approaching (Arab) member of staff before turning his gun on the diners. Happily, the gun jammed and he ran outside, had another go at shooting and when that failed he jumped into the car and headed back towards Jericho where the car was later found burned out.
From the video literally everyone in Jericho knew the identity of the unmasked driver and who the shooter was likely to be, and that they came from the Aqabat Jabr camp just outside the city. The IDF would quickly have the same information.
The following day the city awoke to find that many roads around the city were closed in an attempt to stop the gunman from escaping and other gunmen from entering. It effectively funnelled everyone who wanted to leave or enter the city onto two main roads, where they found that the checkpoints were manned and operating - usually only the one leading to Allenby operates, although the PA Security Force (PASF) also check vehicles entering the city if they have Israeli number plates, to ensure that no Jews enter the city.
This led to propaganda that Jericho was being locked down - it wasn't but it took around 45 minutes to get through the checkpoints at the busiest time of day. The IDF were checking not just ID cards but also making a thorough search of every vehicle and registering every mobile phone on their data base - they have no legal authority to do the latter and some people refused, which only held up the queue even more.
The map shows the roads closed marked with an X.
A few days later everyone who had given their mobile number received a message warning that a security operation was to take place some time after 11pm and that everyone should stay indoors: “We act in a targeted manner against terrorism. Avoid unnecessary confrontations with the security forces and keep your children at home. Listen to us so we can restore peace to the camp.”
At about 1am an elite Israeli force entered Aqabat Jabr, a gunfight ensued, five Palestinians arrested but the two wanted men evaded capture and the IDF withdrew. Two days later, another message and the same elite force reentered Aqabat Jabr. This time they were met by a well prepared defence with several roads blocked in an attempt to force the IDF onto roads where IEDs had been laid and gunmen could surround them. A fierce gunfight ensued causing the IDf to pull back and call up reserves from the brigade who were guarding the perimeter of the camp - not specially trained for this kind of fighting - about 40% of that brigade are female. Eventually, 5 gunmen were killed, including the two wanted men, and several others arrested.
The following day all roads were opened and checkpoints removed. This was important for the economy of the city which usually benefits at this time of year from holidaymakers from other parts of Palestine and Israel enjoying the mild winter climate. I should add that several powerful figures from the PA, PLO and Fatah own 2nd homes in Jericho, as do a couple of prominent Israeli politicians.
Three weeks later a US citizen was killed in another attack close to the Dead Sea - the murderer was a relative of the gunman who attacked the restaurant. Once again Jericho found itself in lockdown. Two days later the IDF launched a daytime raid into Aqabat Jabr where the two wanted men gave themselves up after a short gunfight in which one was killed.
Jericho is known as a peaceful city where there has been no major incidents since 2005. These incidents seemed to come as a surprise to the PA, the Israelis and to the media. Not to the local population though.
Jericho is mainly a Fatah-supporting city but there has always been a small Islamist presence - in the Aqabat Jabr camp it basically consists of a few extended families, such as Awidat and al Muqaiti. Many of them have spent time in PA prisons for Hamas activities. During the Gaza war of May '21 there were a couple of attempts to incite trouble with a failed car ramming of a bus stop and an attempted drive-by shooting - no action taken by the IDF which was otherwise engaged.
This small Hamas-supporting cell was bolstered by the arrival about 3 months earlier of 12 Hamas gunmen from Jenin - Jenin's Islamist faction is dominated by Islamic Jihad with Hamas playing a secondary role. This was perhaps the time for the PASF to take action. A few more gunmen followed shortly after - together these men brought with them a certain kind of glamour associated with experienced fighters, organisational ability, and, most importantly, access to money and smuggling contacts. Most of the weapons flowing into the area come from Iran, through Syria and smuggled into Jordan and then to the West Bank. The Jordanians and Israelis work together to thwart the smugglers - the Jordanians literally take no prisoners - and reckon the amount of guns - and drugs (captagon) - confiscated has risen fourfold but that 75% of the smuggling succeeds in getting through the porous border.
Prior to the first Israeli raid the governor of Jericho issued a long statement urging the local populace not to get involved, pointing out the danger of undermining the PA and the benefits of the peace the city has enjoyed since 2005. Political activists well away from the situation, many of them safely abroad, predictably piled in on him but the vast majority of the population heeded his call. The people I've spoken to certainly don't want the IDF operating in Palestinian territory but neither do they want their city to go the same way as Jenin and Nablus where many businesses have gone bankrupt and closed due to the situation. Hamas, on the other hand, have reiterated their aim of turning Jericho (and other cities) into another Jenin. To do that they need to convince non-Islamists to join their fight - that's the message they've been pushing from Ismail Haniyeh downwards.
Has the cell in Aqabat Jabr been destroyed? No - damaged but not destroyed. Many of those hospitalised are already returning as heroes to gullible, testosterone-filled young men. The Israelis seized the contents of a large weapons store but it's believed there are two similar stores elsewhere in the camp - there's no doubt they underestimated the number of weapons in the camp, and probably the West Bank as a whole.
The vast majority of the people of Jericho are going about their normal lives as best they can, dealing with everyday problems such as teachers and doctors being on strike. Ramadan has begun. Rumours suggest trouble is planned for after 10 days. As my friend from ecoME once told me, "One bullet can undo a thousand days of progress."
BigMick
Player Valuation: £20m
Sadly my Palestinian sources were spot on. I'll have to apologise to them for labelling their accurate information 'rumours'.
Meanwhile, Tawfiq Tirawi has become the most senior Palestinian politician to blame the Palestinian Authority for the present situation in the West Bank.
Who is Tawfiq Tirawi?
Elected to Fatah’s Central Committee in 2009 after heading the General Intelligence Service (GIS) for two years - formerly a member of Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade - a close confidant of Yasser Arafat and was with him during the siege of the Muqata in Ramallah. Previously spent several years in a Syrian prison for PLO activities.
President of Istiqlal University (the PA’s military academy) in Jericho until his removal by Mahmoud Abbas in August 2022, following his criticism of Abbas and Hussein al-Sheikh. Abbas is now trying to expel Tirawi from Fatah in the same way he previously did with Mohammed Dahlan and Nasser al-Qadri, both now living in exile abroad. Tirawi is regarded as one of the candidates to succeed Abbas once the Great Man pops his clogs.
In a statement shown on Saudi TV and released privately in Palestine by Tirawi, he sharply criticised the escalation of the "resistance" to Israel in the West Bank, calling it "futile" and a "disaster for Fatah, the PA and the Palestinian people." He added that "the national project of the Palestinians is built on a struggle in international circles and they have had success in this" and "that is the route that should be pursued."
Turning to the growth of militias in various cities, especially Jenin and Nablus, he firmly blamed the PA.
"The activities of the militias are against the law. The PA's security mechanisms did nothing to prevent the growth of the militias inside the refugee camps from the beginning, from May 2021 onwards. If they didn't know about the smuggling of weapons, then it's a disaster, and if they did know about it, then the disaster is even greater."
"The PA is afraid of confrontations with the armed terrorists and have abandoned security in the northern West Bank - today the armed groups are in control of the area."
He criticised the lack of support given to local leaders opposed to the militias, such as the Governor of Nablus. These "splits in the Fatah movement have been exploited by Hamas, enabling them to gain support in the West Bank."
Unless this changes, "the battle is already lost."
He went on to criticise Abbas for undermining the Palestinian Basic Law by gathering power to himself, the latest example coming at the end of March when he issued a Presidential Decree which, amongst other things, switched the hiring and firing of the head of security from the PA Legislature to the President alone. This, of course, reduces the chances of a rebellion by the security force against Abbas, and will make the current head of security more powerful when the succession battle takes place.
"Many of us are envious of the Israelis' freedom to protest against their government."
I don't usually agree with a lot of what Tirawi says, but he is one of the more perceptive Palestinian leaders. Often when you scrape away the usual politician's BS - playing to the gallery etc - their is a kernel of truth in what he says. This time, though, he's pretty much spot on - it's amazing how being forced out of power can loosen the tongue.
I
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