Conscientious objectors Shahar Peretz (left) and Daniel Peldi at an anti-annexation protest in the city of Rosh Ha ayin June 2020. (Oren Ziv)
Sixty Israeli teenagers published an open letter addressed to top Israeli officials on Tuesday morning, in which they declared their refusal to serve in the army in protest of its policies of occupation and apartheid.
The so-called “Shministim Letter” (an initiative with the Hebrew nickname given to high school seniors) decries Israel’s military control of Palestinians in the occupied territories, referring to the regime in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem as an “apartheid” system entailing “two different systems of law; one for for Palestinians and another for Jews.”
President-elect Joe Biden listens as his Secretary of State nominee Tony Blinken speaks at The Queen theater on November 24, 2020, in Wilmington, United States [AP/Carolyn Kaster]
As President-elect Joe Biden announces the final choices for his cabinet, many in the American political establishment are breathing a sigh of relief. Predictability, moderation and centrism in policymaking are the words of the day.
Though progressive Democrats like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez loomed large in efforts to bring Democrats out to vote in record numbers, Biden seems to have turned his back on them and their progressive agenda as he fills federal agencies and cabinet positions.
NEW YORK: In his final briefing as the UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov’s words vividly encapsulated the epic tragedies that have unfolded during decades of struggle. “Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs have lived with conflict for too long,” the envoy told the UN Security Council on Monday. “Loss and displacement are part of the personal history of every single household.” The harsh realities the Palestinian people face have been exacerbated of late by a severe, $88 million gap in funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). This raised fears that the agency might have to suspend the life-saving services it provides to refugees across the region, including health care and education.
A vaccine in Palestine? Sorry, Israeli settlers only
Chris Doyle
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https://arab.news/ptnkr
Gaza in December can be gritty at the best of times. Rain and wind play havoc with the shacks of the crowded refugees camps. Flooding is frequent, leading to impassable streets and alleyways, the air scented with the stench of overflowing raw sewage decorated with floating debris. As with nearly every piece of infrastructure in this tiny strip of occupied land, the drainage barely functions. Even farmlands are under water, and crops such as strawberries are ruined.
With the floods this year comes the added terror of the COVID-19 pandemic. The streets were empty last weekend because of a two-day lockdown. An overnight curfew has been in place since August. Contaminated rainwater is the virus’s friend. In Gaza, the virus has few barriers and plenty of humans to infect. Crowded unsanitary conditions and a malnourished population combine with a crippled healthcare system barely cap