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Palestinians don't need a state. We need justice

Palestinians don't need a state. We need justice

The Guardian8 hours ago
There are few things the pro-Israel side gets right. But on one point – the Palestinians' rejection of two states – they've been more-or-less correct. For me, and many others, the fundamental injustice of the establishment of the state of Israel – which occurred through massive, deliberate and purposeful ethnic cleansing designed to create a Jewish majority in historic Palestine – meant that Israel never really attained moral legitimacy among Palestinians. As Robert Malley and Hussein Agha write in their new book, Tomorrow Is Yesterday: 'deep down, most Palestinians, though ready to accept Israel's existence, have not accepted its historical legitimacy', a statement whose veracity I can attest to.
I remember being a 15-year-old in Palestine. I remember being held up at checkpoints in the West Bank, and being unable to visit Jerusalem or Israel because of the color of my ID card, in effect, because of my race. I could see how unjust, how retrograde, the entire basis of Israel was. No amount of German or western guilt over the Holocaust would make accept the idea that Jewish supremacy in Palestine was somehow desirable, or just. I think that continues to be true for the overwhelming majority of Palestinians. Possibly, for the overwhelming majority of humanity in the post-colonial global south.
That's not to say that the political process – which commenced in Madrid and Oslo –wasn't undertaken in good faith by sincere and earnest people. I know some of the negotiators on the Palestinian side, like Diana Buttu, a principled advocate for Palestinian rights for decades now. Daniel Levy, who negotiated for the Israelis, has been an outspoken opponent of Israeli apartheid and the genocide in Gaza, and a formidable critic of the peace process in the past 20 years.
At its height in 1995, the Oslo process, which was supposed to produce a Palestinian state, but more importantly, an end to claims, commanded the support of two-thirds of Palestinians. Many of them, like my parents, were prepared to close a chapter on history, to swallow their grievances so that their children may live. Similarly, the Palestinian negotiators I've met in the past two decades each understood the basic deficit of justice, the imbalance in the ledger, but they sought to abort a conflict which has ravenously claimed the future at every turn.
In many cases their intentions were honorable.
And yet, the failure of the Peace Process was pre-ordained, readily apprehensible to anyone who lived in the Occupied Territories in the 1990s, when the settlements truly metastasized. It should have been obvious to anyone with a map and a history book, too. That's because Zionism, Israel's animating ideology, adheres to classically European colonialism, which continues to be the best framework for understanding Palestine/Israel. Writing in October 2003 in the New York Review of Books, the moral thinker and historian Tony Judt described Israel as 'an anachronism', essentially a throwback to the Belgian Congo or 18th century Australia. Israel's extermination of native life in Gaza is anachronistic, too. It rhymes, in the worst way.
There were glaring structural reasons for Oslo's failure as well. The fact that many of the American negotiators were Zionists was under-reported, and under-appreciated. Dennis Ross, who led the American team, is a Zionist, indistinguishable to my eyes from Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak, two former Israeli prime ministers. Bill Clinton, who was president at the time, recently referred to 'Judea and Samaria', coded Zionist language for the occupied West Bank. In effect, Oslo pitted a stateless people against two nuclear-armed states led by people who were fundamentally invested in Jewish supremacy in Palestine.
Emmanuel Macron's decision to recognize a Palestinian state in September amounts to little, as Donald Trump noted. I do not know Macron's intentions, but the Palestinians have never really warmed to European and American condescension, which is implicit in every conditional statement, every contingent incrementalism. Mark Carney's strange, confused statement that Canada would only accept a 'Zionist Palestinian state' is grimly entertaining for anyone with a basic grasp of the issues. Anyone who isn't a dilettante, in other words.
Now, in the midst of a genocide, the Palestinians are best served by abandoning any effort to attain self-rule in the Occupied Territories. A reorientation towards basic rights is overdue, along with recognition the Palestinian struggle was never really about a seat at the United Nations, representation in Unesco, or Fifa. The force of the Palestinian cause rests in one principle: justice.
Two years ago I thought justice meant a single state with equal rights between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea. But now, the Palestinians are confronted by a difficulty: no one is able to articulate what justice means in the wake of so much slaughter, of so many dead men, women and children, dead babies. The genocide has changed my perspective on the majority of Jewish Israelis, and once they retire their guns and mortars – as one day they surely will – we will have to reckon with the moral, and actual, wreckage of their century-long Sturm und Drang, their violent ejaculations, in Palestine.
Ahmed Moor is a writer and fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace
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Israel plans to widen coming offensive beyond Gaza City into last areas not under its control
Israel plans to widen coming offensive beyond Gaza City into last areas not under its control

The Independent

time17 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Israel plans to widen coming offensive beyond Gaza City into last areas not under its control

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel plans to widen its coming offensive beyond Gaza City to the last areas not yet under Israeli control, and where most of Gaza's 2 million residents have sought shelter as the territory slides toward famine. The mobilization of forces is expected to take weeks, and Israel may be using the threat of a wider offensive to try to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages or surrendering after 22 months of war sparked by its Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel. Any expansion of Israeli operations is likely to bring even more death and destruction to the war-ravaged territory, around 75% of which is already largely destroyed and controlled by Israel. A wider offensive would also force more people to flee and further disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid during a severe hunger crisis. The plans have also sparked controversy in Israel. 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Macron calls for UN peacekeepers to ‘stabilise' Strip: as it happened
Macron calls for UN peacekeepers to ‘stabilise' Strip: as it happened

Times

time21 minutes ago

  • Times

Macron calls for UN peacekeepers to ‘stabilise' Strip: as it happened

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'These measures were taken in response to extraordinary circumstances,' said Nicolai Tangen, chief of Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages the $2 trillion fund. 'The situation in Gaza is a serious humanitarian crisis. We are invested in companies that operate in a country at war, and conditions in the West Bank and Gaza have recently worsened. 'In response, we will further strengthen our due diligence.' The Al Jazeera correspondent who was killed in Gaza on Sunday worked with a Hamas communication office at the start of his career, according to local journalists who knew him. Anas al-Sharif's former job was to publicise events organised by the militant group that has controlled Gaza since 2006, they said. However, the Committee to Protect Journalists said that Israel had failed to provide any evidence to back up its claims that Sharif was a terrorist posing as a reporter. 'Journalists are civilians. They must never be targeted in war. And to do so is a war crime,' Jodie Ginsberg, the chief executive of the independent advocacy group, said. 'International law is clear that active combatants are the only justified targets in a war setting. So unless the IDF can demonstrate that Anas al-Sharif was still an active combatant, then there is no justification for his killing.' Palestine Action is a 'violent organisation' that has committed 'significant injury', Downing Street said. Asked about people arrested as part of protests linked to the group, the prime minister's spokesman said: 'We've said that many people may not yet know the reality of this organisation, but the assessments are very clear: this is a violent organisation that has committed violence, significant injury, extensive criminal damage, and as I say, it has met the tests as set out under the Terrorism Act to be proscribed.' Sir Keir Starmer is 'gravely concerned' about the repeated targeting of journalists in Gaza, his spokesman has said. 'Reporters covering conflicts are afforded protection under international humanitarian law, and journalists must be able to report independently, without fear, and Israel must ensure journalists can carry out their work safely,' the prime minister's spokesman said. Asked about the claim that one of the journalists was linked to Hamas, the spokesman said: 'That should be investigated thoroughly and independently, but we are gravely concerned by the repeated targeting of journalists.' Instead of an Israeli military occupation of Gaza, President Macron said an international coalition under a UN mandate should be used to 'stabilise' and secure the territory. 'No to an Israeli military operation. Yes to an international coalition under a UN mandate to fight terrorism, stabilise Gaza and support its populations, and establish a governance of peace and stability,' the French president told BFMTV. He called on the UN security council to 'work to establish this mission and give it a mandate'. 'I have asked my teams to work on it without delay with our partners,' he said, adding that it is 'the only credible way out of an unacceptable situation for the families of hostages as well as for the Gazans' and 'the only credible way to begin to emerge from the permanent war and rebuild peace and security for all'. President Macron has described Israel's plans to step up its military operation in Gaza as 'a disaster of unprecedented gravity'. The French president told BFMTV on Monday: 'We must end this war now with a permanent ceasefire. The Israeli cabinet's announcement of an expansion of its operations in Gaza City … and a reoccupation [of Gaza] by Israel constitutes a disaster of unprecedented gravity and a headlong rush into permanent war.' He added: 'Israeli hostages and the people of Gaza will continue to be the first victims of this strategy.' Anas al-Sharif wrote a 'will and … final message' designed to be published online in the event that 'Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice'. The Al Jazeera correspondent wrote that he had 'lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification — so that Allah may bear witness against those who stayed silent … doing nothing to stop the massacre that our people have faced for more than a year and a half'. In the message, dated April 6, 2025, he wrote of his family, including his wife Umm Salah, and 'my dear son Salah, whom I had wished to support and accompany through life until he grew strong enough to carry my burden and continue the mission'. 'Do not forget Gaza … And do not forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance,' he added. A 27-year-old suspect has been arrested on suspicion of vandalising the Western Wall and is due to appear in court later on Monday. Israeli police said that they would request that the suspect's detention be extended. The graffiti, reading 'there is a holocaust in Gaza' in Hebrew, appeared earlier this morning on the southern portion of the wall, the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray. A similar message was also scrawled on the wall of the Great Synagogue, elsewhere in the city, prompting an outcry across the political spectrum in Israel. Bezalel Smotrich, the hardline finance minister, said the perpetrators 'forgot what it means to be Jewish'. Benny Gantz, the former defence minister who is now an opposition leader, called the vandalism 'a crime against the entire Jewish people'. The UN human rights office on Monday condemned the killing of six Palestinian journalists in Gaza as a 'grave breach of international humanitarian law' by Israel's military. The post on X was accompanied by a photograph of flattened blue tents next to a bullet-ridden wall in Gaza City. Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. Palestinians reported the heaviest bombardments in weeks on Monday in areas east of Gaza City after Binyamin Netanyahu said he expected to complete a new expanded offensive in the territory 'fairly quickly'. Witnesses said Israeli tanks and planes attacked Sabra, Zeitoun, and Shejaia, three eastern suburbs of Gaza City in the north of the territory, on Monday, pushing many families out of their homes westwards. Some Gaza City residents said it was one of the worst nights in weeks, raising fears of military preparations for a deeper offensive into their city, which according to Hamas is now sheltering about a million people after the displacement of residents from the territory's northern edges. The Israeli military said its forces fired artillery at Hamas militants in the area. 'It sounded like the war was restarting,' said Amr Salah, 25. 'Tanks fired shells at houses, and several houses were hit, and the planes carried what we call fire rings, whereby several missiles landed on some roads in eastern Gaza,' he told Reuters via a messaging app. Greta Thunberg and other activists are set to sail a new flotilla loaded with humanitarian aid to Gaza to break what they called the 'illegal Israeli siege' of the territory. The actors, Susan Sarandon, of the US, Gustaf Skarsgard, of Sweden, and Liam Cunningham, of Ireland, are due to take part in the 'Global Sumud Flotilla' which will include activists from 44 countries. 'On August 31st we are launching the biggest attempt ever to break the illegal Israeli siege over Gaza with dozens of boats sailing from Spain,' the Swedish campaigner wrote on Instagram late on Sunday. 'We will meet dozens more on September 4th sailing from Tunisia and other ports.' The exact number of ships due to take part in the flotilla was not specified. Two previous attempts by activists to deliver aid by ship to Gaza, in June and July, were boarded by Israeli troops, and the activists were detained. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Monday condemned the 'acknowledged murder by the Israeli army' of the Al Jazeera correspondent, Anas al-Sharif, and other journalists in Gaza. Where Israel accused Sharif of being a 'terrorist' affiliated with Hamas, the press freedom campaign group said he was 'one of the most famous journalists from the Gaza Strip [and] the voice of the suffering Israel has imposed on Palestinians in Gaza'. RSF called the Israeli allegations that Sharif was a Hamas terrorist, posing as a journalist, 'baseless'. It called on other countries to intervene, saying the UN security council should meet to insist on the protection of journalists in conflict zones. The co-founder of the civil liberty group which organised the protest in support of Palestine Action on Saturday said hundreds of people 'want to be arrested for terrorism because they see it as a badge of honour'. Tim Crosland told Times Radio that the next protest will be 'on a different scale'. 'Already, we've had hundreds and hundreds of people saying that they want to be arrested for terrorism because they see it as a badge of honour, as resistance to genocide,' he said. Asked if he sees it as a 'badge of honour' himself, Crosland replied: 'In this context, yes, I do. I would not be able to look myself in the mirror if I thought I was a bystander to genocide.' He added that the goal of the action is 'to expose the government's hypocrisy over what's happening in Gaza'. The rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinovitch, has condemned the graffiti on the holy site as a desecration and urges police to investigate. 'A holy place is not a venue for expressing protests — whatever they may be — and all the more so when it is done at the holiest site to the entire Jewish people,' he said in a statement issued by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which manages the site. 'The police must investigate the incident, locate the perpetrators of this desecration, and bring them to justice.' The Western Wall in Jerusalem, the holiest site in Judaism, being the last remnants of the Second Jewish Temple, has been graffitied with the words: 'There is a holocaust in Gaza.' The message, written in Hebrew, is the first time in recent memory that such vandalism has occurred at the protected site, which is inside the Old City and part of a larger wall surrounding the contested Temple Mount compound. The site is in active use, with areas for segregated prayer, and is under heavy security with checkpoints in two of the entrances. It was placed under Israeli control after the war in 1967. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's national security minister, tweeted that he was shocked to see the graffiti and vowed to bring the perpetrator to justice. 'I was shocked to see the harm and disrespect at the holiest site for the Jewish people — the Western Wall. The Israel police will act with lightning speed to apprehend the offender and bring them to justice,' he wrote. Tom Kington, Rome Guido Crosetto, Italy's defence minister, accusing the Israeli government of 'losing its ability to reason, and its humanity', and comparing its war in Gaza to Russia's attacks on Ukraine. In remarks to Italy's La Stampa newspaper, Crosetto said Binyamin Netanyahu was resorting to policies in Gaza that 'dangerously resemble' those used by Vladimir Putin in Ukraine. Referring to Netanyahu's plan to occupy Gaza, Crosetto said: 'The motive of a legitimate defence of a democracy after it suffers a terrible terrorist attack is no longer convincing. We are watching a very different undertaking: the conquest of a foreign territory which involves a humanitarian catastrophe.' Crosetto said Italy did not have plans to recognise the Palestinian state. 'No, because there is no state, and recognising a state which does not exist risks becoming a political provocation in a world which is already dying from too many provocations,' he said. Israel's ambassador to the UN responded to the strike that killed six journalists, saying that a 'terrorist with a camera is still a terrorist'. On Monday, Danny Danon called Sharif 'a terrorist operating under the guise of an Al Jazeera journalist' on X. However Ayman Odeh, an Israeli opposition MP, bemoaned that any profession in Gaza is 'marked for death'. 'Journalists must not be in Gaza. Doctors must not be in Gaza. Football players must not be in Gaza. Children must not be in Gaza. Women must not be in Gaza. Human beings must not be in Gaza,' Odeh wrote on X. He added: 'Because for the Israeli government, it is permissible to kill journalists. It is permissible to erase witnesses. It is permissible to silence voices that report what is happening there.' A video showing the fatal shooting of a Palestinian rights activist by an Israeli settler was published on Sunday by an Israeli human rights group. Odeh Hadalin, who contributed footage to the Oscar-winning documentary, No Other Land, was killed on July 28 by Yinon Levi. Levi has previously been sanctioned by the US for violence against Palestinians and was arrested after he shot Hadalin, only to be released and placed under house arrest over claims of self defence. In the video, Hadalin, from Umm al-Khair in the south Hebron Hills, is shown standing in close range of the shooter. There has been no allegation that he posed any threat. He was buried last week after the army released his body ten days after his death. Bono and the other members of U2 have published a lengthy criticism of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. The statement on the Irish band's website, with quotes from all four members of the group, starts with reflections on the atrocities committed when Hamas launched its war against Israel on October 7, 2023 — which Bono repeatedly calls 'evil' — before condemning Israel for the humanitarian crisis created in Gaza. 'The blocking of humanitarian aid and now plans for a military takeover of Gaza City has taken the conflict into uncharted territory,' the band writes. 'We are not experts in the politics of the region, but we want our audience to know where we each stand.' Bono, an activist for numerous social causes, writes: 'Our band stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine who truly seek a path to peace and coexistence with Israel and with their rightful and legitimate demand for statehood.' At least 145 of the 193 UN members now recognise or plan to recognise a Palestinian state at the general assembly, which Israel's prime minister has criticised as 'shameful'. Binyamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that international calls to recognise Palestinian statehood would 'not bring peace, it will bring war'. 'To have European countries and Australia march into that rabbit hole, just like that, fall right into it and buy this canard is disappointing, and I think it's actually shameful,' he added. Israel's ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said Albanese's decision was symbolic and 'will not change the reality on the ground'. After similar moves to recognise a Palestinian state by France, Britain and Canada, Winston Peters, New Zealand's foreign minister, said his government could follow suit when the country's cabinet meets next month. Peters said he and his fellow ministers would 'weigh up the issue carefully and then act according to New Zealand's principles, values and interests'. He added that New Zealand's recognition of a Palestinian state was a 'matter of when, not if'. Australia's announcement that it will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly in September came close to a week after an estimated 200,000 people marched across Sydney Harbour Bridge in protest against Israel's ongoing military campaign in Gaza. On Monday, Australia's prime minister said that his nation would formally recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations general assembly in September. Speaking after a cabinet meeting in Canberra, Anthony Albanese said Australia would 'recognise the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own, predicated on the commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority'. He added: 'We will work with the international community to make this right a reality. Australia is making this statement today following our cabinet meeting as part of a co-ordinated global effort, building momentum for a two-state solution.' The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an American non-profit organisation, has confirmed the deaths of 186 journalists since the start of Israel's military offensive in Gaza in October 2023. After this latest attack, the CPJ said it was 'appalled' to learn of the journalists' deaths. 'Israel's pattern of labelling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom,' Sara Qudah, the CPJ regional director for the Middle East, said. 'Journalists are civilians and must never be targeted. Those responsible for these killings must be held accountable.' Israel's military said that Sharif was the head of a Hamas cell and 'was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops', citing intelligence and documents found in Gaza as evidence. Last October, Israel's military had named Sharif as one of six journalists in Gaza whom it alleged were members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, citing documents it said showed salaries and lists of people who completed training courses. Al Jazeera, which is based in Qatar, said it categorically rejected the accusations. Israel does not allow foreign journalists to report independently from Gaza. Anas al-Sharif, 28, was among a group of four Al Jazeera journalists and an assistant who died in a strike on a tent near al-Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City. A sixth journalist, Mohammad al-Khaldi, a local freelance reporter, was also killed in the attack, medics at the hospital said on Monday. Calling Sharif 'one of Gaza's bravest journalists', Al Jazeera said the attack was a 'desperate attempt to silence voices in anticipation of the occupation of Gaza'. Al Jazeera named the others killed in the strike as Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa. A prominent Al Jazeera journalist, who had previously been threatened by Israel, was killed with four colleagues in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday, in an attack condemned by journalists and rights groups. Israel's military said it had targeted and killed Anas al-Sharif, alleging that he led a Hamas cell and was involved in rocket attacks against Israel, which Al Jazeera denies. Before his death Sharif had denied being connected to Hamas.

Scottish cultural groups 'lead world by far' on Israel boycott
Scottish cultural groups 'lead world by far' on Israel boycott

The National

time33 minutes ago

  • The National

Scottish cultural groups 'lead world by far' on Israel boycott

On Monday, Art Workers for Palestine Scotland confirmed that more than 200 Scottish organisations had given their backing to the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). PACBI dates back to 2004. It asks artists and academics to sign up to boycott Israeli institutions in protest of the country's policies toward Palestinians, which experts including Amnesty International and B'Tselem say constitutes genocide. READ MORE: Wee Ginger Dug: The real reason Gaza journalists are killed? To hide Israel's crimes In Scotland, organisations including the Scottish Artists Union, BUZZCUT, Atlas Arts, Scottish Queer International Film Festival, Timespan, Arika, and the V&A Dundee Young People's Collective have all pledged to support PACBI. The PACBI campaign said that crossing the 200 threshold meant Scotland had 'by far the highest proportional uptake of our call in any country on earth'. The Scottish Government under SNP leader John Swinney is also considering a state boycott of Israel, as The National revealed last week, after it was challenged by Green MSP Ross Greer to follow up on its description of Israel's actions as genocide. A spokesperson from Art Workers for Palestine Scotland campaign said: 'Over the last two years our campaign for the cultural boycott of Israel has garnered over 200 endorsements from across the length and breadth of Scotland, sending a clear message to our cultural 'leaders' and politicians: that Scottish culture stands proudly and unequivocally with the Palestinian people. 'Israel's longstanding use of a 'culture' as a way to disguise its brutal regime of genocide and ethnic cleansing will no longer go unchallenged. We stand for real decolonisation in the arts and recognise the vital role of artists and art workers to use our platform and our skills for liberation. 'The backing of PACBI in Scotland represents the highest proportional uptake of PACBI anywhere in the world and is a testament to the radical currents running through Scottish culture, which was also at the forefront of the cultural boycott of Apartheid South Africa. 'We urge the Scottish Government to end its complicity and to use its full devolved power to back the Greer proposal and institute legislation that effectively boycotts the pariah state of Israel, which is in breach of international law, as Apartheid South Africa was before it. 'We especially demand the Scottish Government formerly backs a full sporting and cultural boycott of Israel.'

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