All articles tagged with #israel palestine
A six-decade agreement governing Muslim prayer and Jewish access at Jerusalem's al-Aqsa compound has effectively collapsed under far-right Israeli leadership, with arrests of Muslim Waqf staff, bans on hundreds of worshippers, and police raids during Ramadan, signaling a dangerous shift that could ignite broader tensions in Jerusalem and the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Israel’s Prison Service is preparing to apply a death penalty for Palestinian prisoners, including creating a facility nicknamed 'Israel’s Green Mile' for executions and sending a delegation to study how capital punishment works elsewhere. A death-penalty bill passed its first Knesset reading and would, at least initially, target Hamas’ Nukhba and other serious attackers, with executions planned by hanging and carried out within 90 days of a final verdict. The plan would not apply to Jewish Israelis who kill Palestinians. Rights groups and UN experts have condemned the move, calling it a dangerous, unprecedented expansion of state violence.
From Davos to Gaza, reconstruction is framed as humanitarian aid, but Israel’s blockade of cement and other materials turns rebuilding into political leverage; analysts warn the process could reshape Gaza’s demographics through delays and privatized profits, a strategy dubbed 'silent demographic engineering' with debris clearance years and full reconstruction potentially decades.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, speaking in Rome, says a short-term peace between Israelis and Palestinians is unlikely after Gaza and warns slogans won’t rebuild trust; he urges concrete actions, opportunities for encounter, and leadership on both sides, questions the Board of Peace as serving major powers, notes the worsening plight of Christians in the Holy Land including emigration and permit hurdles, backs working toward a two-state solution, and calls pilgrims to return to Bethlehem and Jerusalem to show presence.
A global photo gallery recaps last week’s major events, from Israeli air strikes in Gaza and casualties in Ukraine to protests, political developments, and disasters across continents, illustrating the human impact of ongoing conflicts and crises.
Israeli airstrikes across Gaza killed at least 30 Palestinians, including several children, with casualties reported at a tent camp, an apartment building, and a police station, as the Rafah crossing set to reopen looms over the second phase of a US-brokered ceasefire. Mediators Egypt and Qatar condemned the strikes as escalation, while Israel cited ceasefire violations on the Israeli side; the toll underscores the fragility of the truce amid ongoing fighting.
Oxfam refuses to disclose Palestinian staff details to Israel amid a Gaza aid crackdown, arguing that sharing sensitive data would threaten staff safety and breach humanitarian principles; Israel has deregistered dozens of NGOs and demanded extensive staff information, while MSF offered a limited, safeguarded list and PNGO warned the move jeopardizes aid work.
An informal 'yellow line' marks a de facto internal border inside Gaza, with Israeli-designated zones shifting across the enclave and covering roughly half to 60% of its territory. The line governs where people can live, move and work, forcing repeated displacement and exposing civilians to ongoing bombardments, power outages and trauma. The border’s fluidity—expanding, moving and sometimes disappearing—shapes daily life, livelihoods and safety, even as aid groups warn that rebuilding could take years.
Miami Beach police visited Raquel Pacheco to discuss a January Facebook post criticizing Mayor Steven Meiner’s Israel stance; civil-rights groups, including the ACLU Florida, call the visit a chilling interference with protected speech, while police say the discussion aimed to prevent potential incitement or threats, sparking controversy after Pacheco posted the video of the encounter.
Israel’s Netanyahu labeled the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire largely declarative, even as Israeli strikes killed nine in Gaza and questions remain about how the plan will work—from who will govern the Palestinian committee to the role of an international Board of Peace, foreign troop deployment, and Hamas disarmament. With more than 450 Palestinians killed since October and winter looming, residents demand real relief—food, fuel, shelter—and concrete steps like reopening Rafah and funding reconstruction, though many details and funding commitments remain unclear.
An on-the-ground analysis argues that Israel's campaign in Jenin, Nur Shams, and Tulkarm refugee camps in the northern West Bank amounts to a Gaza-like genocide in denial, with about 40,000 people forcibly displaced over 19 days, widespread destruction of homes and infrastructure, and intensified settlement expansion and apartheid-style travel restrictions designed to erase Palestinian refugees and undermine their right of return while extending control over historic Palestine.
Thom Yorke and Radiohead members discuss the intense controversy and personal struggles related to their stance on Israel and Palestine, with Yorke expressing distress over the backlash and the band reflecting on their complex relationships with the region and its politics.
Marwan Barghouti, a key Palestinian figure, was secretly removed from Israel's prisoner exchange list at the last minute, jeopardizing the Gaza ceasefire deal, amid political tensions and negotiations involving Israel, Hamas, and regional actors.
Paul Weller is suing his former accountants for discrimination after they ceased working with him due to his public criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza, claiming their decision was based on his political beliefs and constitutes unlawful discrimination. Weller, a vocal supporter of Palestine, plans to donate any damages to Gaza humanitarian efforts, highlighting broader issues of silencing artists supporting Palestinian rights.
The article argues that recognizing Palestine as a state amid ongoing conflict and territorial division is largely symbolic and unlikely to improve the situation for Palestinians, as it overlooks the reality of their fragmented territories and military defeat, and risks fostering illusions of sovereignty that do not address the core issues.