peace initiatives

Planet Watch

Podcast: in defense of dissident minorities

Amid the massive war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine and Israel in Gaza, there are dissident Russians and dissident Israelis who are courageously protesting, and resisting the consolidation of a pro-genocide consensus. Recent violent and deadly attacks on perceived Israeli or pro-Israel human targets in the US meanwhile point to the dangers of the notion of collective guilt. In Episode 281 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg urges that dissident minorities must not be dismissed as irrelevant, but encouraged and offered solidarity. (Photo via Novaya Gazeta)

Palestine

UNRWA urges Israel to lift Gaza aid blockade

Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief & Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini urged Israel to lift the aid blockade in Gaza, charging that under Israeli military control “aid distribution has become a death trap.” The UNRWA head asserted that aid distribution in Gaza can only be effectively achieved through the United Nations. He demanded that Israel allow the UN to manage a safe and at-scale delivery of aid in Gaza, calling this “the only way to avert mass starvation including among 1 million children.” (Photo: hosny salah from Pixabay)

Palestine

Gaza: aid agencies reject Israel’s ‘humanitarian’ plan

Amid growing warnings of starvation, the Israeli military allowed humanitarian aid into Gaza for the first time in more than 11 weeks. The first trucks were permitted to pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing after the UK, France and Canada threatened to sanction Israel if it did not allow in assistance. UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher welcomed the move, but said it was a “drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed.” In an open letter issued the same day the first trucks were allowed in, nearly a dozen international aid and human rights groups warned that a US-backed organization set up to take over aid distribution in Gaza is “a dangerous, politicized sham.” They charged that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has been launched without Palestinian involvement, while the population in Gaza remains under siege. (Photo: Maan News Agency)

Africa

Cameroon: peace activist sentenced to life term

Amnesty International condemned the life sentence handed down by a military court in Cameroon against activist Abdu Karim Ali, calling it an “affront to justice” and demanding his immediate and unconditional release. According to Amnesty, Ali was arrested without a warrant and arbitrarily detained after he produced a video exposing torture carried out by the leader of a pro-government militia in Cameroon’s conflicted Southwest Region. Cameroon’s Southwest and Northwest regions have been experiencing an armed conflict since 2016 in what is known as the Anglophone crisis. Demonstrations for greater linguistic rights in the Anglophone regions were met with repression by the Francophone central authorities, leading to an initiative to secede from Cameroon as the “Federal Republic of Ambazonia.” Ali had advocated for a Swiss-led mediation process to resolve the conflict. (Map: TNH)

Greater Middle East

PKK resolves to dissolve at 12th Congress

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) held its 12th Congress in the Medya Defense Zones of northern Iraq, where delegates voted to dissolve the group’s organizational structure and end the armed struggle against the Turkish state that it has waged since 1984. The congress was convened in response to the “Call for Peace and a Democratic Society” issued in February by PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned in Turkey since 1999. The statement called for his followers to lay down arms and pursue a civil struggle for Kurdish rights. However, Turkey continued to carry our air-strikes on the Medya Defense Zones right up to the very eve of the congress, and even in the days after it concluded. Turkey has also continued its campaign of air-strikes on the Rojava region of northern Syria, where PKK-aligned Kurdish forces have established an autonomous zone. (Image of PKK flag: Wikipedia)

Palestine

Israeli cabinet approves ‘conquest’ of Gaza

The Israeli government unveiled a new military plan for the Gaza Strip, an operation forebodingly dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots” after an Old Testament conqueror. Approved unanimously by the security cabinet, the plan calls for the “conquering of Gaza” and retaining the territory indefinitely, an official said. The plan also includes concentrating the Palestinian civilian population in a “sterile area” in the south of the Strip. The official said Israel will give Hamas until the end of US President Donald Trump’s upcoming trip to the Middle East to agree to a hostage deal. Otherwise, “Operation Gideon’s Chariots will begin with great force and will not end until all its objectives are achieved.” The military is already calling up tens of thousands of reservists in preparation for the new operation. (Photo: Jaber Jehad Badwan via Wikimedia Commons)

Europe

Tatar Mejlis opposes betrayal of Crimea

The representative body of the Crimean Tatar people has vowed to oppose any international recognition of Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. The Tatar Mejlis, now sitting in exile in Kyiv, said that any move to recognize Crimea as Russian territory would violate international law. Refat Chubarov, the body’s chairman, asserted in a statement: “Crimea is the homeland of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people and an integral part of Ukraine. Accordingly, no one can decide the fate of Crimea under any circumstances, except for the Ukrainian state and the Crimean Tatar people.” The statement comes amid reports that the Trump White House is pressuring Kyiv to accept a peace formula that includes formal US recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea. (Photo: Crimean Tatar Mejlis)

Syria

Israeli intervention threatens Syria transition: UN testimony

Israel’s ongoing military actions in Syria undermine the Arab country’s political transition, and the opportunity for Syria and Israel to form a new security agreement, UN Assistant Secretary General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Khaled Khiari said before the Security Council. In addition to carrying out air-strikes on several towns and cities since the fall of the Bashar Assad dictatorship late last year, Israel has pushed deeper into Syria from the Golan Heights and occupied more territory. Israel recently declared that it would remain in southern Syria indefinitely, and has even advertised Passover “hiking tours” in the newly occupied areas. (Photo via Twitter)

Africa

Internationalization of South Sudan conflict seen

Amnesty International expressed concern over ongoing violations of international human rights law in South Sudan amid escalating violence from both internal and cross-border actors. Reports indicate mounting attacks on civilians, political repression, and increasing risk of a wider war. The Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) has confirmed the deployment of special forces in South Sudan to support President Salva Kiir, citing “growing insecurity in the country.” Amnesty said Uganda may have violated the 2018 UN Security Council arms embargo by entering South Sudan with armored units. Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) also fought a two-day battle near the border in Upper Nile state against the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO), the South Sudanese faction led by Vice President Riek Machar, who has now been placed under arrest. (Map via PCL)

Greater Middle East

Lebanon ceasefire —real or fiction?

The ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese political and militant group Hezbollah is on shaky ground following an Israeli air-strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs. It was the first strike on Lebanon’s capital since a pause in hostilities came into effect in November last year. Israel—which has bombed southern Lebanon almost daily despite the ceasefire—said it was retaliating for a rocket attack into northern Israel. Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem warned that if Israel continues to carry out strikes in Lebanon, and the Lebanese government does not act to stop it, then his organization will take matters into its own hands. (Image via Flickr)

Greater Middle East

Trump launches air-strikes on Yemen, Iraq

President Donald Trump ordered a series of air-strikes on Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, promising to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the Houthi rebels cease their attacks on shipping along a vital maritime corridor. Houthi authorities said 13 civilians were killed in the strikes. Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who control the capital, have said they will resume attacks on ships in the Red Sea in response to Israel’s renewed blockade on aid to Gaza. Following the January Hamas-Israel ceasefire, the Houthis had paused their campaign of attacks on shipping, which they depict as a gesture of solidarity with the Palestinians (although many targets are not linked to Israel). Days before the strikes on Sanaa, a US air-raid in Iraq’s Anbar province reportedly killed Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, the second-highest ranking ISIS leader. (Photo: CENTCOM)

Palestine

Israel blocks Gaza aid, ceasefire teeters

Israel is imposing a total blockade on aid entering the Gaza Strip, raising fears of a return to violence, and of a rapid further deterioration in the dire humanitarian situation in the devastated enclave. The move is intended to pressure Hamas to accept a temporary extension of the first phase of the three-stage ceasefire deal. The second phase was supposed to see Israel and Hamas hammer out a plan for Gaza’s post-war governance. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instead repeatedly expressed support for US President Trump’s widely condemned proposal to expel the 2.1 million Palestinian residents of Gaza and take control of the territory. Arab leaders meeting in Cairo endorsed a $53 billion reconstruction and post-war governance plan as a counter-proposal to Trump’s vision, but it was immediately rejected by the US and Israel. (Photo: Mohamed Soulaimane al-Astal/TNH)