Daily Sabah – November 23, 2023
Israel, Hamas to exchange 1st group of hostages Friday
The temporary pause in hostilities between Israel and Hamas will start at 7 a.m. (05:00 GMT) on Friday and the exchange of the first group of hostages will start at 4 p.m., Qatar's foreign ministry said Thursday.
The truce would include a temporary cease-fire in both the north and south of the Gaza Strip, ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari told reporters in Doha, adding that Palestinians would also be released from Israeli jails as part of the deal.
The lists of civilians to be released from Gaza had been agreed, Ansari said.
The first pause in the seven-week-old war is meant to be accompanied by the release of 50 women and children hostages captured by Hamas who raided Israel on Oct. 7, in exchange for 150 Palestinian detainees from Israeli jails.
Israel has said the truce could last beyond the initial four days, as long as Hamas frees at least 10 hostages per day.
Ansari said Qatar hoped to negotiate a subsequent agreement to release additional hostages from Gaza by the fourth day of the truce.
The Israeli prime minister's office said Thursday that authorities were in contact with the families of all the hostages being held in Gaza after receiving "a first list of names."
It did not immediately specify who was on the list.
https://www.dailysabah.com/world/mid-east/israel-hamas-to-exchange-1st-group-of-hostages-friday
Yeni Safak – November 23, 2023
Escalation in Gaza and the broader Middle East
By Süleyman Seyfi Öğün
The situation in Gaza is escalating, and it seems to be a well-thought-out plan. The issue for Israel goes beyond just aiming to end Hamas; there are indications that they intend to force the eviction of Palestinians from Gaza, completely empty the area, and eventually open it up for Jewish settlements, as per their statements. Gaza is not the final target; they plan to extend this to the West Bank, with extremist leaders, allies of Netanyahu, showing no signs of stopping until they achieve a thorough 'cleansing.' It's a comprehensive operation. It's hard to predict how feasible this is at this point, but there are signs that this escalation could potentially involve Christian communities in Jerusalem at a certain stage.
The United Kingdom and the U.S. are staunchly supporting this escalation, while the EU, especially Germany and France, completes the alignment. Geopolitical power clusters have formed a line extending from the Baltic region, Eastern Europe, and Greece down to the Eastern Mediterranean, Girit, Cyprus, Israel, and the Levant. Israel, once done with its 'cleanup' in Gaza, is likely to turn its attention to Syria as the next target.
Understanding this requires clearing our minds from the pressure of official narratives. It's evident that these plans have originated, especially in the UK, from financial powers, military structures, and industries working in tandem. In contrast, neither Russia nor Iran wants to get involved in the developments in the Levant more than necessary. Russia is silent about Israel's actions in Syria, indicating a kind of agreement where Israel refrains from supporting Ukraine, allowing Israel a free hand in Gaza and Syria.
Iran, from the very beginning, clarified that it has no connection with Hamas' actions. Following this, Iran prevented possible involvement from its proxy, Hezbollah, and other elements in Lebanon. Russia's stance is understandable, but how do we explain Iran's reserved stance? It now seems clearer that, ultimately, Iran is working as a partner with Israel. Both Iran and Israel need each other as enemies. The function of Iran-backed groups in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon is to provide justification for Israel's expansion. In return, Iran expects the billions blocked by Western banks to be returned, especially from the Biden administration, which leans towards reconciling with Iran and bringing it back into the system. The extremist minority that wants to escalate the attacks may exist, but they are not as influential as they might think. The mainstream view is to first reconcile Iran with the Gulf and the Arabs, integrating it into the system.
Iran's deal with China is arguably its smartest move lately. The easing of relations between Iran and the Gulf, China's approach to the Arab states, and various agreements parallelly unfolded. China, in fact, played a crucial role in the rapprochement between Arabs and Persians. Initially, we perceived this as a move against the West and Israel (a perspective influenced by orthodox geopolitical views). However, there was no reaction from either the West or Israel, suggesting that this might have been a coordinated effort. Essentially, these developments were events that would eventually open up space for Israel. Recently, Xi Jinping and Biden met, deciding to suspend their disputes. For now, at least, the situation in the Pacific seems to have calmed down. Don't be surprised; the powers managing the U.S. and China are not that different. Just as Biden is tied to London banks and Wall Street, Xi Jinping is equally connected. China has not been eager to align with Russia, given its historically controlled relationship with energy barons. China has not strongly condemned Israel's brutality, possibly for the same reason. Just like Russia, China is, to some extent, a part of these developments, though not as directly involved.
Everyone is focused on the U.S. elections, as if Trump's return would magically end the conflicts. While Trump did take a different approach by reaching an understanding with Russia, neutralizing NATO, leaving Europe to Russia, and adopting a Middle East policy that included Israel under Russian influence, events did not unfold as he anticipated. If he returns for a second term, he will likely do his best to halt the Russia-Ukraine war. If he takes action against Europe, using the Biden administration as leverage, it wouldn't be surprising. Can he stop Israel, and does he want to? I'm not sure.
Informed Comment – November 23, 2023
Israelis and Palestinians: It will be Worse Next Time
By Jeremy Pressman
Storrs, CT– Israelis and Palestinians have already entered hell. The casualties, the wounded, the hostages, the displacement of people and emptying of communities, the widespread trauma, the fear, the complete disruption of normal life, the intense suffering. But even at this moment we should all remember something: Barring a strategic shift, the recent past suggests the situation will likely get more and more horrific each time.
Hamas and the Likud-led Israeli government, citing their respective nationalisms, are locked in a death struggle for control of the Holy Land. They each draw upon an internationally-recognized national right to self-determination but to the total exclusion of the other. Neither has ever legally recognized that the other people have standing.
Israel’s nationalist-religious right is implementing a vision of a Jewish state, with no ethnonational equality and no territorial room for a State of Palestine alongside Israel. In addition to formal indications like the 2018 Nation State Law, ministers and other elites have made a number of relevant statements both before and after the Hamas attack on October 7. For example, this past August, Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, said, “My right, and my wife’s and my children’s rights, to get around on the roads in Judea and Samaria, is more important than the right to movement for Arabs.” He envisions a clear, permanent hierarchy where Israeli Jews have rights and most Palestinians do not.
Unlike the State of Israel, Hamas lacks the control of the territory in Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank, but the nationalist-religious vision it has sketched out has no room for a Jewish State of Israel. Even in 2017, when Hamas released modified ideas, it still stated, “Its goal is to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project.” In this Hamas vision, Israel and its people have no standing or legitimacy: “The expulsion and banishment of the Palestinian people from their land and the establishment of the Zionist entity therein do not annul the right of the Palestinian people to their entire land and do not entrench any rights therein for the usurping Zionist entity.” That Hamas leaders have sometimes talked of negotiations and a long-term ceasefire will do little to assuage their critics.
In short, neither the most powerful Israeli political coalition nor Gaza’s most powerful Palestinian movement are making any room for the other. Thus, it seems highly unlikely the conflict will suddenly take a turn away from conflict and toward conflict resolution or negotiations as long as they remain the top powers.
Rather, confrontational events from 2014, 2021, and now 2023 – three battles between Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces – show us the myriad ways the violence could spin further and further out of control. Consider these four elements:
First, Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023, showed that it is not deterred by or fearful of Israeli military force, Israel’s primary strategy for containing Hamas. Moreover, we have been reminded that Hamas, like many non-state armed groups, will constantly be innovating, looking for unexpected vulnerabilities. Suicide bombings seemed catastrophic at the time but compare the Israeli death toll and psychological impact from the entire second intifada to that one day in October 2023.
Second, all the Israeli military campaigns against Palestinians in Gaza, including 2014, 2021 and right now, show that Israel has an unimpeded military capability to realize the genocidal rhetoric that we have heard from some Israeli political leaders. Israel could decide to flatten Gaza anytime, and Palestinians could not stop them. At a minimum, it could try to use bombing to drive the entire Gaza population through the Rafah crossing and into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Third, in 2021, we saw widespread fighting between Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel. Such fighting was reminiscent of 1947-48 and foreshadows a civil war. Some people forget that even before Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, and then fought with several neighboring Arab states, Zionists and Palestinians already were skirmishing in the Holy Land; the 1948 war had already begun. Today, if we add the ongoing violent settler rampages in the West Bank – attacking Palestinians as the Israelis seek to drive them from their homes – and the operation of Palestinian militant cells in Jenin or Nablus, one can quickly imagine fighting in the streets and a large-scale, deadly struggle amidst intermixed or nearby Arab and Jewish communities.
Fourth, we are tottering on the edge of a regional war. Hezbollah, itself well-armed, and Israel, with its advanced military and nuclear weapons, are at a low boil. The US Navy moved two carrier groups to the region. Iranian allies have attacked US forces, for example in Iraq; the US has bombed Syria at least three times in recent weeks. Houthi militants from Yemen have fired at Israel. Israel continues to bomb Syria to destroy arms.
Every one of our worst fears is plausible, even as they have not all fully played out: inter-communal fighting, terrorism, regional war, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. They may not all happen now, but we have a much better sense of what they would look like. The warning lights are flashing, and such catastrophic violence could occur the next time or the time after that.
One can hope that external mediators or grassroots movements for change can divert the political actors from these terrible scenarios. The need is urgent. But barring such a change in direction, the possibility of tremendous additional suffering lies straight ahead of us.
Jeremy Pressman is a professor of political science and director of Middle East Studies at the University of Connecticut. He is co-director of the Crowd Counting Consortium. His books include The Sword is Not Enough: Arabs, Israelis, and the Limits of Military Force (2020). His next article, with Prof. Ehud Eiran and forthcoming in The Middle East Journal, is entitled, “US Recognition of Israeli Territorial Claims in the Golan Heights and Jerusalem: Implications for the Norm against Acquisition of Territory by Force.”
https://www.juancole.com/2023/11/israelis-palestinians-worse.html
Countercurrent – November23, 2023
The old and new Nakba:
Forced expulsion of Palestinians must be rejected
by Dr Ramzy Baroud
It is simply inaccurate to claim that the ongoing Israeli attempt to displace all, or many Palestinian refugees from Gaza to Sinai is a new idea, compelled by recent circumstances.
Displacing Palestinians, or as it is known in Israeli political lexicon, the “transfer”, is an old idea — as old as Israel itself.
In fact, historically, population “transfer” has been more than an idea, but an actual government policy, with clear mechanisms. Yosef Weitz, director of the Land and Afforestation Department, was entrusted with setting up the Transfer Committee in May 1948 to oversee the expulsion of Palestinian Arabs from their towns and villages.
In other words, while Israel was concluding the initial phase of ethnic cleansing, it initiated another phase, that of “transfer”, the results of which are well known.
But even many of Israel’s so-called liberal intellectuals have, and continue to promote the idea, either proactively or in hindsight. “I don’t think that the expulsions of 1948 were war crimes,” Israeli historian Benny Morris said in an interview with Haaretz in 2004. “I think he [Israel’s founding father David Ben-Gurion] made a serious historical mistake in 1948 […] If he was already engaged in expulsion, maybe he should have done a complete job. […] You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs. You have to dirty your hands.”
Morris was specifically referring to the Nakba, which began in earnest in December 1947, and did not conclude until 1949. Then, ethnic cleansing took on a different form, a slower campaign aimed at rejigging the demographic map of the newly founded Israel in favour of Israeli Jews at the expense of Palestinian Arabs.
Several campaigns targeting Palestinian Arab communities, which remained in Israel after the Nakba, were initiated under various guises. Though not a single community had survived the demographic onslaught by the Israeli government, Palestinian Bedouins received the lion’s share of displacement, a campaign that continues to this day.
After the war of June 1967, mass expulsion resumed once more. Approximately 430,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced, especially from areas originally occupied in 1948. Over the years, up to the present, hundreds of thousands of Israeli Jewish settlers have taken the place of the displaced Palestinians, claiming their land, homes and orchards as if their own.
In fact, the slow ethnic cleansing of the West Bank is considered the epicentre of Israel’s ongoing colonialism in Occupied Palestine. And, from an international law perspective, it is one of its greatest war crimes, as it represents a stark violation of international norms, especially the Fourth Geneva Convention.
“The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies,” Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states. It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
To claim that the recent call for mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza is a new event, compelled by the violent episode of October 7, and the subsequent genocide in Gaza, is both inaccurate and dishonest.
This claim ignores the fact that Israel, as a settler-colonial project, was founded on the concept of ethnic cleansing, and that Israeli politicians never stopped talking about mass displacing Palestinians, even under supposedly “normal” circumstances.
For example, in 2014, then foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman tried to rebrand the old “transfer” strategy, using not-so-clever new language.
“When I talk about land and population exchange, I mean the Little Triangle and Wadi Ara,” Lieberman said in a statement, referring to the predominantly Arab regions in central and northern Israel, insisting that “this is not a transfer”.
This context is critical if we wish to truly understand the story behind the enthusiastic return to the language of ethnic cleansing.
On November 11, Avi Dichter, Israel’s minister for agriculture and former head of the spy agency Shin Bet, specifically called for another Nakba. “We are now rolling out the Gaza Nakba,” Dichter said in a TV interview.
We can easily extract the following set of information from the Israeli minister’s statement: Israelis are very familiar with the term ‘Nakba’, thus what has befallen the Palestinian people 75 years ago, that of ethnic cleansing and genocide, and they remain unrepentant.
However, this was not a statement said in anger. A leaked government report dated October 13, six days into the war, suggested the mass transfer of Gaza’s population to the Sinai Desert.
Four days later, on October 17, the Israeli think tank “Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy”, published a paper calling on the Israeli government to take advantage of this “unique and rare opportunity to evacuate the whole Gaza Strip”.
It makes little sense to assume that such extensive reports were all conjured up within a matter of days. Indeed, it takes years of planning and discussions for such complex schemes to be prepared, so that they become worthy of official consideration.
This is not the only evidence that the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza was not an urgent strategy propelled by recent events, as Palestinians in the West Bank, who were not involved in the October 7 operation, also found themselves under the threat of expulsion. This prompted Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh to state on November 7 that Amman considers any attempt to displace Palestinians a “red line”, in fact, a “declaration of war”.
Though Arab and international pressure has, thus far, failed to slow down the Israeli death machine in Gaza, Arab countries spoke firmly against any Israeli attempts to displace Palestinians.
For now, the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants, most of whom are refugees from historic Palestine, are internally displaced within that tiny piece of land, denied water, food, electricity — in fact, life itself. But they remain steadfast and will not allow for another Nakba to take place, no matter the cost.
The “Gaza Nakba” must be rejected, not just by words, but through solid Arab and international action, to prevent Israel from taking advantage of the war to expel Palestinians out of their homeland, again. They must also work to hold Israel accountable for its war crimes, past and present, starting with the original Nakba of 1948.
Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out”. His other books include “My Father was a Freedom Fighter” and “The Last Earth”. Baroud is a non-resident senior research fellow at the Centre for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net
Houthi Launch Long-Range Missiles Toward Israel in New Attack
"We will continue to carry out more military operations until the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank stops," the Houthis said.
On Wednesday, Yemen's Houthi rebels said that they have launched long-range missiles toward Israel, in a new operation to revenge the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
"The winged missiles targeted various military targets of the Israeli entity in Eilat," the militia's spokesman Yehya Sarea said in a statement aired by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.
"We will continue to carry out more military operations until the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank stops," he said, without providing further details.
This is the ninth cross-border missile attack claimed by the Yemeni Houthi fighters since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out on Oct. 7.
The United States announced last month that one of its navy ships in northern Red Sea intercepted several missiles fired from Yemen toward Israel.
On Sunday, the Houthis announced that they had hijacked what they said an "Israeli ship" near Bab-el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea and took it to the port city of Hodeidah.
On Monday, the Houthis released footage showing that they used a military helicopter and boats when they hijacked the ship.
The Houthis have been in control of much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and the strategic Red Sea port city of Hodeidah since the Yemeni civil war broke out in late 2014.
World Socialist Web Site – November 23, 2023
Israel’s Gaza “truce”:
A pause to reload the guns for the next stage in the genocide against the Palestinians
By Jordan Shilton
The brief lull in Israel’s savage onslaught on the defenceless civilian population of Gaza scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. local time Thursday is widely being presented as a “ceasefire,” or at least a “humanitarian pause.”
Assuming the agreement is fulfilled, which is by no means assured, it will amount to little more than an operational pause in Israel’s military offensive to ethnically cleanse Gaza by carrying out a genocide against the Palestinian people.
The terms of the agreement, mediated by Qatar and the United States, include the release by Hamas of 50 women and children among the approximately 240 Israelis captured by Hamas fighters during the October 7 incursion into Israel. In return, Israel will release 150 Palestinian detainees, halt fighting in the Gaza Strip for four days, and permit 200 trucks carrying aid to enter the enclave each day. The number of Palestinian detainees being released is minuscule compared to the over 10,000 Palestinians held in detention by Israel under the most brutal conditions, including routine torture.
The agreement remains highly unstable, illustrated by the announcement late Wednesday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s national security adviser that the release of the first hostages would be delayed by up to 24 hours and only take place Friday. During the four-day pause, Israel will refrain from operating aircraft and drones over southern Gaza, but in the north they will only do so during a short window between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. each day.
All Israeli ground forces will remain in place, ready to resume battle at a moment’s notice. As Netanyahu put it at a press conference Wednesday evening, “When the pause is done, we resume the war. It may be that we are forced to do so much earlier.” He also rejected any suggestion that the pause applied to Israel’s northern border, where the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have been striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. Underlining the point, War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz told the same press conference, “What’s happening now in northern Gaza can also happen in southern Lebanon and Beirut.”
Even if the pause in fighting holds, it will strengthen Israelns military position. Some military analysts have claimed that since Israel has used about 2,500 joint direct attack munition smart bomb kits in Gaza since the bombardment began six weeks ago, it only retains stockpiles of precision-guided munitions for 10 days of fighting. With daily C-17 flights arriving in Israel from the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany carrying much needed military supplies, the four-day period could give the IDF time to replenish its stocks.
The military situation on the ground could also allow Israel to use the pause to prepare the next stage in its genocidal onslaught. As the`Wall Street Journal`wrote in a Wednesday editorial, the timing of the agreement misnnt bad for Israel. Having assumed a dominant position in Gazans north, it needs to prepare to turn south.l
The crisis-ridden Netanyahu government is far less enthusiastic about the agreement. Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed that his main goal in the Gaza war is to meliminatel or mdestroyl Hamas, meaning, in reality, the expulsion of the Palestinians from Gaza. Jewish Power, Netanyahuns fascistic coalition partner, voted to reject the hostage deal at a Tuesday night cabinet meeting.
However, Netanyahu came under increased pressure from the families of the hostages over recent days to do more to secure their release. He is a deeply unpopular figure in Israel, with broad sections of the population holding him at least partially responsible for the deaths of Israeli civilians on October 7. Netanyahuns increasingly precarious position makes it all the more likely that he will endeavour to resume and intensify the war at all costs, since the alternative would almost certainly be the end of his premiership, followed by criminal prosecution.
In the six weeks since Israelns air bombardment began, well over 14,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed, and half of Gazans buildings have been destroyed or damaged. Just 10 of Gazans 36 hospitals are functioning. Al-Shifa Hospital, formerly the enclavens largest, has been occupied by Israeli troops, with parts of it turned into a military barracks. Malnutrition and disease are rampant among the population due to the deliberate targeting of bakeries, which have all stopped operating, and lack of fuel to power water treatment facilities.
Oblivious to this human catastrophe, the corporate-controlled media would have everyone believe that the Biden administration twisted Netanyahuns arm and intervened in the negotiations with Qatar to secure a mhumanitarian pause.l Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders wrote in an opinion piece for the`New York Times`that the mpausel is a mpromising first step that we can build upon.l Sanders, who just two weeks ago rejected any talk of a ceasefire out of hand, proceeded to call for a msignificant, extended humanitarian pausel and work towards a mtwo-state solution,l all of which could be achieved mif the United States uses the substantial leverage we have with Israel.l
The suggestion that US imperialism, after more than three decades of uninterrupted wars in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa, acts as some sort of moderating influence on the Israeli regime is preposterous. Throughout the entire six-week bombardment of Gaza, the unconditional support of Washington and its European imperialist allies for the Israeli military has emboldened the Netanyahu government to carry out war crimes on a daily basis. These have included the devastation of hospitals, schools, and critical public infrastructure, the killing of over 100 United Nations aid workers, and the cutting off of electricity, fuel and water to Gazans 2.3 million residents.
As for the mtwo-state solution,l the Israeli regime has openly declared its genocidal intentions against the Palestinians, with Biden administration officials proclaiming all the while that they would not impose any mred linesl on Israelns conduct of the war. A leaked Intelligence Ministry document in October revealed plans to drive Gazans population into tent camps in Egyptns Sinai Desert. More recently, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the mvoluntary migrationl of the Gaza population to mthe countries of the world.l
The imperialistsn endorsement of methods of warfare not seen since the Nazis can only be understood in the context of a rapidly developing third world war. Israelns imperialist-backed onslaught on Gaza is part of a Middle East front incited above all by Washington with the aim of retaining its regional hegemony. The Biden administration has deployed two aircraft carrier battle groups and a nuclear-capable submarine to the region to prepare for military conflict with Iran.
At the same time, Washington continues its backing for the far-right Ukrainian regime in the US-NATO war on Russia, which is aimed at subjugating the country to the status of a semi-colony and plundering its natural resources. In the Asia-Pacific, regular provocations by American imperialism and its regional allies against China continue. The callous indifference shown by Biden, Germanyns Scholz, Francens Macron and Britainns Sunak to the deaths of over 14,000 Palestinians underscores that in this new redivision of the world between the major powers that is well underway, human life is cheap and expendable.
The only way to stop the genocide in Gaza is through the development of a global anti-war movement led by the working class. The demonstrations involving millions of people around the world over the past six weeks have shown that there exists widespread disgust and outrage in every country over Israelns savage onslaught and the support it has received from the imperialist powers.
What is required is a decisive turn to the working class, which must be mobilized in struggle to halt military operations in Gaza and throughout the region. Military supplies to Israel should be blocked, and the production of military equipment and other critical products must be halted through the active intervention of workers into political life. Preparations should be made for a political general strike on an international scale in opposition to the imperialist powers backing the Israeli regime, which are themselves deeply despised because of decades of attacks on workersn wages and conditions and the prosecution of bloody wars. The success of this struggle depends above all on the development of a mass movement of workers fighting for a socialist and internationalist program.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/11/23/qjtc-n23.html?pk_campaign=newsletter&pk_kwd=wsws
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