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Free Malaysia Today
7 days ago
- General
- Free Malaysia Today
Israeli ‘warning shots' at diplomats touring West Bank draw outrage
An AFP footage from Jenin, a frequent target of Israeli military raids, showed the delegation and journalists running for cover as shots were heard. (AFP pic) JENIN : Several nations that have backed Israel voiced outrage Wednesday after Israeli troops fired what they called 'warning shots' as foreign diplomats visited the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Authority accused troops of 'deliberately' shooting at the delegation near the flashpoint city of Jenin. The Israeli military, already under pressure over its tactics in the Gaza war, said it regretted the 'inconvenience'. AFP footage from Jenin – a frequent target of Israeli military raids – showed the delegation and accompanying journalists running for cover as shots were heard. A European diplomat said the diplomats went to the area to see the destruction caused by Israeli military raids since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023. The Israeli military said the diplomatic convoy strayed from the approved route and entered a restricted zone. Troops fired 'warning shots' to steer the group away, it said, adding that no one was injured and expressing regret for the 'inconvenience caused'. UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres's spokesman called the incident 'unacceptable'. 'Diplomats who are doing their work should never be shot at, attacked in any way, shape or form. Their safety, their viability, must be respected at all times,' the spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters. 'These diplomats, including UN personnel, were fired at, warning shots or whatever… which is unacceptable.' Several countries that had representatives in the group voiced outrage and demanded an investigation. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged Israel to hold those responsible 'accountable'. Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay summoned Israel's ambassadors or said they would raise the issue directly. Egypt denounced the shooting as a breach of 'all diplomatic norms', while Turkey demanded an immediate investigation. Turkey's foreign ministry said: 'This attack must be investigated without delay and the perpetrators must be held accountable.' Ahmad al-Deek, political adviser for the Palestinian foreign ministry who accompanied the delegation, condemned 'this reckless act by the Israeli army'. 'It has given the diplomatic delegation an impression of the life the Palestinian people are living,' he said. Palestinian news agency Wafa reported the delegation included diplomats from more than 20 countries including Britain, China, Egypt, France, Jordan, Turkey and Russia. The incident came as anger mounted over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Palestinians are scrambling for basic supplies after weeks of near-total isolation. A two-month Israeli aid blockade on Gaza has been partially eased this week. Israel stepped up its military offensive at the weekend, vowing to defeat Gaza's Hamas rulers, whose Oct 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war. Israel has faced massive pressure, including from its allies, to halt its intensified offensive and allow aid into Gaza. European Union foreign ministers on Tuesday ordered a review of the EU cooperation accord with Israel. Sweden said it would press the EU to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers, while Britain suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador. Pope Leo XIV described the situation in Gaza as 'worrying and painful' and called for 'the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid'. Hamas's 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the military says are dead. Gaza's health ministry said Tuesday at least 3,509 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 53,655.
Al Jazeera
27-05-2025
- General
- Al Jazeera
Mapping Israel's military campaign in the occupied West Bank
Israel is applying many of the tactics used in its war on Gaza to seize and control territory across the occupied West Bank during its Operation Iron Wall campaign, a new report says. Israel launched the operation in January. Defending what the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) termed 'by far the longest and most destructive operation in the occupied West Bank since the second intifada in the 2000s', the Israeli military claimed its intention was to preserve its 'freedom of action' within the Palestinian territory as it continued to rip up roads and destroy buildings, infrastructure, and water and electricity lines. The report by the British research group Forensic Architecture suggested Israel has imposed what researchers call a system of 'spatial control', essentially a series of mechanisms that allow it to deploy military units across Palestinian territory at will. The report focused on Israeli action in the refugee camps of Jenin and Far'a in the northern West Bank and Nur Shams and Tulkarem in the northwestern West Bank. Researchers interviewed and analysed witness statements, satellite imagery and hundreds of videos to demonstrate a systematic plan of coordinated Israeli action intended to impose a network of military control in refugee camps across the West Bank similar to that imposed upon Gaza. In the process, existing roads have been widened while homes, private gardens and adjacent properties have been demolished to allow for the rapid deployment of Israeli military vehicles. 'This network of military routes is clearly visible in the Jenin refugee camp and evidence indicates that the same tactic is, at the time of publication, being repeated in the Nur Shams and Tulkarm refugee camps,' the report's authors noted. Israeli ministers have previously stated that they planned to use the same methods in the West Bank that have destroyed the Gaza Strip, leading to more than 54,000 Palestinians killed and the majority of buildings damaged or destroyed. In January, Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel would apply the 'lesson' of 'repeated raids in Gaza' to the Jenin refugee camp. The following month, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has control over much of the administration of the West Bank, boasted that 'Tulkarem and Jenin will look like Jabalia and Shujayea. Nablus and Ramallah will resemble Rafah and Khan Younis,' comparing refugee camps in the West Bank to areas in Gaza that have been devastated by Israeli bombing and ground offensives. 'They will also be turned into uninhabitable ruins, and their residents will be forced to migrate and seek a new life in other countries,' Smotrich said. Hamze Attar, a Luxembourg-based defence analyst, told Al Jazeera these tactics are not new in Palestinian territory, having first been deployed by the British during their mandate over historic Palestine, which preceded Israel's foundation in 1948. 'It's part of the 'counterinsurgency' strategy,' he said. 'Bigger roads [mean] easy access to forces – bigger roads, less congested battle management; bigger roads, less ability for fighters to escape from house to house.'About 75,000 Palestinians live in the Jenin, Nur Shams, Far'a and Tulkarem refugee camps. They were either displaced themselves or descended from those displaced during the Nakba (which means 'catastrophe') when roughly 750,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes by Zionist forces from 1947 to 1949 as part of the creation of Israel. Now, at least 40,000 of those living in the West Bank refugee camps have been displaced as a result of Operation Iron Wall, according to the United Nations. As in Gaza, many of these people were forced from their homes on orders from the Israeli military, which researchers said have been 'weaponised' against the local population. Once an area had been cleared of its buildings and roads, it becomes a kill zone and the Israeli military is free to reshape and build whatever it likes without interference from residents, the report said. 'Such engineered mass displacement has allowed the Israeli military to reshape these built environments unobstructed,' the report noted, adding that when Palestinian residents did try to return to their homes after Israeli military action, they were often obstructed by the continued presence of Architecture researchers said Israeli attacks on medical facilities in Gaza have also spilled over into the West Bank. 'Israeli attacks on medical infrastructure in the West Bank have included placing hospitals under siege, obstructing ambulance access to areas with injured civilians, targeting medical personnel, and using at least one medical facility as a detention and interrogation centre,' the report said. During Israel's initial attacks on the Jenin refugee camp on January 21, multiple hospitals were surrounded by the Israeli military, including Jenin Government Hospital, al-Amal Hospital and al-Razi Hospital, researchers noted. The following day, civilians and hospital staff reported that the main road leading to Jenin Government Hospital was destroyed by Israeli military bulldozers and access to the hospital was blocked by newly constructed berms, or land barriers, On February 4, reports from Jenin said the Israeli military was obstructing ambulances carrying injured people from reaching the hospital. Also carrying unmistakable echoes of Gaza was an UNRWA report in early February saying the Israeli military had forcibly co-opted one of the health centres at the UNRWA-run Arroub camp near Jerusalem as an interrogation and detention attacks on healthcare facilities were part of a wider campaign to damage civilian infrastructure in the West Bank, the Forensic Architecture report said, using armoured bulldozers, controlled demolitions and air attacks. Researchers said they verified more than 200 examples of Israeli soldiers deliberately destroying buildings and street networks in all four of the refugee camps with armoured bulldozers reducing civilian roads to barely passable piles of exposed earth and rubble. Civilian property, including parked vehicles, food carts and agricultural buildings, such as greenhouses, were also destroyed during Israeli military operations, they said.
Arab News
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Why fury over Israeli actions in Gaza and West Bank may lead to EU sanctions
LONDON: Watching the widely circulated footage of Israeli soldiers firing 'warning shots' in the direction of a delegation of foreign diplomats visiting a refugee camp in the Palestinian city of Jenin on Wednesday, it was hard to resist the conclusion that the Israeli military had lost its collective mind. Luckily, no one was injured in the incident. But in a manner of speaking, Israel shot itself in the foot. The extraordinary provocation took place as Israel was already facing a rising wave of condemnation — internally and externally — and the threat of international sanctions for its actions in Gaza and the West Bank. International support for Israel, so unified in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian militant groups, in which 1,200 Israelis and others were killed and 251 more were taken hostage, has steadily crumbled in the face of outrage after outrage, which collectively have left more than 50,000 Palestinians dead and much of Gaza reduced to uninhabitable rubble. Last Tuesday, the day before the shooting incident in Jenin, the European Union announced that it was reviewing its political and economic relations with Israel – no hollow threat from a bloc that is Israel's biggest trading partner. 'The situation in Gaza is catastrophic,' Kaja Kallas, high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy and vice-president of the European Commission, said on Tuesday. Earlier that same day, the UN had raised the specter of thousands of babies dying of starvation 'in the next 48 hours' if Israel did not allow aid trucks to enter the territory immediately. Israel, while rejecting the suggestion that mass starvation was imminent, responded by allowing what critics condemned as a wholly insufficient token amount of aid into Gaza. 'The aid that Israel has allowed in is of course welcomed, but it's a drop in the ocean,' said Kallas. 'Aid must flow immediately without obstruction and at scale.' She had, she added, "made these points also with my talks with Israelis … and regional leaders as well. Pressure is necessary to change the situation.' • 38% Germans who now view Israel negatively. • 10% Drop in number of Germans who view Israel positively. Source: Bertelsmann Foundation study And pressure is building up. In an unprecedented move, the EU is now reviewing the EU-Israel Association Agreement, the legal basis for its trade relations with Israel, which entered into force in June 2000. Pressure for this review has been mounting since May 7, when Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp urged the EU to act, saying 'the situation in Gaza compels us to take this step.' Disturbed by the nightmarish scenes in Gaza and reports of increasing settler violence in the West Bank, his government, he said, 'will draw a line in the sand.' Losing European trade would be a massive blow to Israel's economy. The EU is Israel's biggest trading partner – in 2024 34.2 percent of Israel's imports came from the EU while 28.8 percent of Israel's exports went to the EU. The total value of the trade in goods between the two in 2024 was €42.6 billion. 'The review will specifically assess Israel's adherence to the human rights provisions within the deal,' said Caroline Rose, a director at the New Lines Institute focused on defense, security and geopolitical landscapes. The clause in the agreement that is now under legal scrutiny is Article 2. This states that 'Relations between the Parties, as well as all the provisions of the Agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy and constitutes an essential element of this Agreement.' Other international measures are under consideration, said Rose, including 'imposing a full arms embargo, referring Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICC), as advocated by Pakistan, enforcing a ceasefire and humanitarian aid access, sanctioning Israeli officials, supporting recognition of a Palestinian state, dismantling illegal settlements, reforming the UN Security Council veto system, and coordinating global reconstruction aid.' Rose cautions that 'internal divisions within the bloc could stall progress. While 17 member states support the review, countries such as Germany, Hungary, Austria and Italy reportedly oppose it. Germany and Austria, in particular, have resisted punitive measures despite issuing public condemnations.' Germany, bearing the moral weight of the Holocaust, has been a staunch supporter of Israel since its creation in 1948. But now, under new conservative chancellor Friedrich Merz, even Berlin is wavering. Last week, out of concern for the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, Merz despatched his foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, on a fact-finding mission. Wadephul was among the diplomats scattered by the warning shots fired by the Israeli military on Wednesday, as were senior delegates from countries including France, Belgium, the UK, Italy, Canada, Russia and China. All the countries involved have lodged complaints with Israel about the episode, which the Palestinian Authority condemned as a 'heinous crime' a 'deliberate and unlawful act' which 'constitutes a blatant and grave breach of international law.' The day after the shooting in Jenin, during a visit to Lithuania the German chancellor said 'we are very concerned about the situation in the Gaza Strip and also about the intensification of the Israeli army's military operations there. 'We are urging, above all, that humanitarian aid finally reaches the Gaza Strip without delay, and also reaches the people there, because, as we hear from the United Nations, there is now a real threat of famine.' On May 13 a study by the Bertelsmann Foundation found that over the past four years Germans had developed an increasingly negative view of Israel. In 2021 46 percent of Germans had a positive view of the country, compared with only 36 percent today, with 38 percent now viewing it negatively. Germany has seen many mass protests since the start of Israel's war in Gaza, which a majority of Germans oppose. On May 19, two days before the Israeli military's live-fire intimidation of international diplomats, the UK, France and Canada issued a joint statement condemning the situations in Gaza and the West Bank and strongly opposing the expansion of Israeli military operations in Gaza. While also calling on Hamas to immediately release the remaining hostages, the statement denounced 'the level of human suffering in Gaza' as 'intolerable.' The three nations added: 'Yesterday's announcement that Israel will allow a basic quantity of food into Gaza is wholly inadequate. We call on the Israeli Government to stop its military operations in Gaza and immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.' Israel, warned the statement, 'risks breaching international humanitarian law,' adding: 'We condemn the abhorrent language used recently by members of the Israeli Government, threatening that, in their despair at the destruction of Gaza, civilians will start to relocate. Permanent forced displacement is a breach of international humanitarian law.' Israel had a right to defend Israelis against terrorism, 'but this escalation is wholly disproportionate.' As a result, 'We will not stand by while the Netanyahu government pursues these egregious actions. If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.' In the West Bank, Israel must also 'halt settlements which are illegal and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state and the security of both Israelis and Palestinians. 'We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions.' On May 20, as the death toll from Israeli air strikes over the previous week reached 500, the UK summoned Israel's ambassador to London, paused talks on a new free-trade agreement, and announced further sanctions against West Bank settlers. Israel's operation in Gaza was "incompatible with the principles that underpin our bilateral relationship,' David Lammy, the UK foreign minister, told parliament. 'It is extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous, and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.' All these moves 'clearly reflect growing discomfort with Israeli military actions in Gaza but also in the West Bank,' Sir John Jenkins, who served as British ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria and as consul-general in Jerusalem, told Arab News. 'This has been crystallized by the issue of humanitarian aid. The UN has not handled this well itself. But it's a real political problem for Western governments, with significant domestic implications, which is why the UK has also paused trade talks.' However, he added, 'none of this will affect the Israeli decision-making process in the short term, and Western governments will be very reluctant to do anything that helps Hamas. 'But they will be increasingly keen to see a proper plan for the endgame. The question is: How much does the Trump administration support them? The news last week of the shooting of the two Israeli diplomats in Washington will only complicate this calculation.' Israel, increasingly isolated, nevertheless remains defiant. 'The British Mandate ended exactly 77 years ago,' a spokesperson for its foreign ministry said in response to last week's criticism from the UK. 'External pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction.' Yet in Europe that external pressure is mounting. So much so that, after 20 years of campaigning virtually in the wilderness for 'freedom, justice and equality' for Palestinians, the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement finally finds its much-criticised methods on the cusp of becoming mainstream. Founded in 2005, for two decades the Palestinian-led BDS and those who support it have endured international censure, based on an unquestioning acceptance of Israel's accusation that the organization's aims are merely a manifestation of antisemitism. Now, however, as governments in Europe, shocked by Israel's latest actions and the seemingly deliberate starvation of two million people in Gaza, begin to adopt stances for which BDS has been calling for 20 years, as it marks its 20th anniversary the organisation and its work is being vindicated. 'For the first time ever, even the world's most complicit governments are being forced – due to people power and moral outrage – to publicly consider accountability measures against Israel,' the BDS said in a statement. This was 'another clear sign that our collective popular BDS pressure is working. The taboo is broken – sanctions are the way forward to end Israel's atrocious crimes.' Nevertheless, the organization continues to be critical of the UK, France and Canada, countries which had spent 19 months 'enabling Israel's genocide with intelligence gathering and other military means.' The statements by the three 'are far too late and fall dangerously short of meeting these States' legal obligations under international law, including the Genocide Convention and the Apartheid Convention.' BDS says it is now stepping up its campaign to 'transform tokenism and empty threats into tangible and effective accountability measures, starting with a two-way military embargo and full-scale trade and diplomatic sanctions.' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, keenly aware as ever of his dependence upon the support of the right-wing extremists in his cabinet, went on the offensive last week. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, he said, were siding with 'mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers.' Astonishingly, he added, Starmer, Macron and Carney were 'on the wrong side of humanity and … the wrong side of history.' In fact, in the wake of the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, all three countries came out in unequivocal support of Israel, and its right to defend itself. What Netanyahu is refusing to acknowledge is that in the eyes of the world, the events of that day do not give Israel a carte blanche. His apparent determination to continue the war seemingly in order to keep himself in power, and to support the Zionist extremists in his cabinet who want to see Palestine ethnically cleansed, is facing growing criticism within Israel itself. One of the staunchest critics is Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister from 2006 to 2009, who recently told the BBC that what Israel was doing in Gaza was 'close to a war crime.' That earned him a rebuke from a current Israeli minister, but on Friday Olmert intensified his criticism. 'A group of thugs … are running the state of Israel these days and the head of the gang is Netanyahu,' he told the BBC World Service. He added: 'Of course they are criticizing me, they are defaming me, I accept it, and it will not stop me from criticizing and opposing these atrocious policies.' Speaking to Arab News, Ahron Bregman, a former Israeli soldier and a senior teaching fellow in King's College London's Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, said: 'You don't have to be an expert on international humanitarian law to conclude that what the Israelis are doing in the Gaza Strip is carrying out terrible war crimes. 'European governments can't ignore this any longer, as their publics are furious, and, at last, they have started to react.' Ideally, he said, 'it would be the UN Security Council that instructs Israel to stop the industrial killing in Gaza and the starving of the Gazans, but the Israelis seem confident that US President Donald Trump will not let such a resolution pass. 'But who knows? Sometimes, in war, there are moments which are turning points, moments that push nations of the world over the edge and make them take action to stop wars.' Bregman believes only two courses of action 'would make the Israeli government rethink and change its criminal behaviour in Gaza.' The first is that European countries should block trade relations with Israel — a step now being seriously considered in the European Union — and impose sanctions on the state. But his second suggestion, coming as it does from a man who served in the Israeli army for six years and took part in the 1982 Lebanon War, shows just how far the actions of the current Israeli government have strayed from what mainstream public opinion in the country now regards as acceptable. 'Young Israelis who fought in Gaza should be stopped when trying to cross into Europe,' he said. 'They should be investigated for their actions in Gaza and arrested if there's any suspicion of war crimes.' And, he added, 'pilots, who caused most of the damage in Gaza, should be sent automatically for trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.'
Al Jazeera
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Israel is under the assumption 'it can act with impunity'
Jeremy Corbyn, an Independent MP in the UK, says the Israeli military's decision to shoot in the direction of diplomats in Jenin is an act of impunity.
CBC
22-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Israeli ambassador suggests diplomats in West Bank led astray to provoke IDF
Israel's ambassador to Canada suggests that there might have been a deliberate effort to provoke Israeli soldiers before they fired warning shots in the vicinity of a diplomatic delegation — which included Canadians — in the West Bank on Wednesday. Four members of a Canadian delegation were part of a tour in the city of Jenin when members of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) fired warning shots in the area. Two are Canadian citizens, including Ottawa's top diplomat in the West Bank, and two are locally hired staff. No one was injured during the incident. Israel's Ambassador Iddo Moed suggested during an interview with CBC News Network's Power & Politics that the diplomats may have been led astray to intentionally try to provoke the IDF soldiers. "They went into the soldiers. There was nothing to see. There was a barrier, a very clear barrier. So what was the idea to walk into that barrier unless you want to try and provoke something," Moed told guest-host Peter Armstrong, referencing to videos of the incident "Maybe they were led there. I don't know, I don't want to speculate." WATCH | Israeli ambassador discusses West Bank incident: Israeli PM tells Canada, France, U.K. 'you're on the wrong side of history' 2 hours ago Duration 13:02 Israel's Prime Minister is calling out the leaders of Canada, France and U.K. after they released a joint statement threatening sanctions against Israel if it does not stop its renewed military offensive in Gaza. Washington police are also laying charges against the man accused of killing two Israeli embassy staffers last night. Plus, Canada is demanding answers after IDF soldiers shot near a diplomatic delegation that included four Canadians in Jenin, West Bank. Israel's ambassador to Canada joins Power & Politics. A video of the incident circulating online shows members of the tour group speaking to cameras near a large yellow gate. Gunshots can be heard as the group hurries away from the gate and goes around a street corner. In one video, two soldiers can be seen pointing guns in the direction of the group. The IDF said Wednesday that an initial investigation into the incident revealed that the delegation had deviated from an approved route and soldiers fired warning shots to get the delegation to move. The Palestinian Authority said the incident took place near the gate of a refugee camp after the delegation encountered another barrier at a different entrance. When pressed about the suggestion that the tour might have provoked Israeli soldiers, Moed again referred to videos of the incident. "You can see they really made an effort to confront the soldiers," Moed said. The ambassador added that there will be an investigation and that the government will take responsibility if any wrongdoing is uncovered. WATCH | Prime Minister Carney reacts to IDF firing shots near Canadian diplomats: Prime Minister Carney reacts to IDF firing shots near Canadian diplomats 24 hours ago Duration 0:29 Prime Minister Mark Carney says the Israeli ambassador has been summoned to Global Affairs Canada over the IDF firing shots near a diplomatic delegation that included Canadians in the West Bank on Wednesday. Speaking at a news conference in Ottawa, Carney says he expects a full investigation and explanation and calls the incident 'totally unacceptable.' Prime Minister Mark Carney called for a full investigation into the incident on Wednesday evening. "We expect a full investigation and we expect an immediate explanation of what happened. It's totally unacceptable," Carney said during a news conference. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand issued a summons to Moed on Wednesday so that the government could relay Canada's "serious concerns." The foreign ministers of France and Italy also issued summons to their respective Israeli ambassadors regarding the incident. But Moed suggested that the formal summons was unnecessary because the Israeli government has been forthcoming with those countries about what happened. "We have taken responsibility for the investigation, for dealing with the diplomats and with governments that want to have that information. But there is no need to formally request [that information] as if things like that are not happening naturally," Moed said. A senior Canadian government official told CBC news that members of the Canadian delegation were shaken up by the incident and were being offered support from Global Affairs Canada. Netanyahu calls out Carney, other leaders Wednesday's incident comes at a tense moment in Canadian-Israeli relations. Earlier this week, Carney joined British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in threatening to impose sanctions on Israel in response to its "denial of essential humanitarian assistance" in Gaza. In a video statement released Thursday condemning Wednesday's shooting of two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington, President Benjamin Netanyahu called out Carney, Starmer and Macron for their Gaza statement, accusing them of "emboldening Hamas."
