Latest news with #OperationIronWall
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
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 troops. Forensic 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 site. The 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.
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.
Al-Ahram Weekly
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Israel intensifies deadly assault on Jenin and Tulkarm - War on Gaza
Israeli occupation forces expanded their military operation in the occupied West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarm, demolishing homes and shops, detaining hundreds, displacing thousands, and killing 47 people, Palestinian officials said on Tuesday, according to WAFA. The Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank, codenamed Operation Iron Wall, began on 21 January in Jenin. In Jenin, the assault on the city and its refugee camp entered its 64th consecutive day. Military bulldozers continue to raze homes, demolish commercial properties, and widen roads for Israeli military use. The municipality of Jenin said the Israeli army issued demolition orders for about 66 buildings, affecting some 300 homes in neighbourhoods including Al-Aloub, Al-Hawashin, and Al-Samran. The occupation barred residents from retrieving their belongings or returning to the homes they were displaced from. Israeli troops have also bulldozed 100 percent of the camp's streets and approximately 80 percent of the city's streets, displacing residents from 3,200 homes. WAFA reported that the number of displaced persons from Jenin camp has reached 21,000 — 90 percent of the camp's population — and they are now seeking shelter in the town and surrounding villages. The Israeli operation killed 34 Palestinians in Jenin alone, with dozens more injured. They also detained approximately 480 Palestinians in the city and refugee camp, according to Palestinian rights groups. In the Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps, Israeli forces maintained their military campaign for 58 and 45 days, respectively. Military reinforcements, including armoured vehicles and infantry units, have been deployed, besieging entire neighborhoods. Israeli forces continue to raid and occupy homes, turning them into military barracks. The army seized at least 10 residential buildings. At the same time, hundreds of families have been forcibly displaced, particularly from the Rabaya'a neighborhood of Tulkarm camp and the northern district of the city, according to WAFA. The municipality reported that the occupation destroyed 396 homes and partially damaged 2,573 others in the Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps. Thousands of shops, vehicles, and other infrastructure have been damaged or demolished. Israeli forces have also blocked major roads with earth mounds and imposed severe restrictions on movement. The occupation also killed at least 13 Palestinians in Tulkarm since the start of the military escalation, including a child and two women — one of whom was eight months pregnant. The Israeli forces forcibly displaced over 4,000 families from Tulkarm. The Commission of Detainees' and Ex-Detainees' Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) reported that between Monday evening and Tuesday morning, Israeli forces detained at least 25 Palestinians across the West Bank, mainly in Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah, Qalqilya, and Jerusalem. These arrests are part of an ongoing crackdown that has seen 480 detentions in Jenin and 230 in Tulkarm since the beginning of the Israeli military operation, according to WAFA. Palestinian human rights organizations have documented patterns of systematic Israeli abuses, including field executions, targeted assassinations, forced disappearances, and collective punishment. The occupation forces also used Palestinian detainees as human shields and converted multiple seized homes into military outposts. Israeli forces conduct near-daily raids across the occupied West Bank, frequently arresting Palestinians under the pretext of security operations. These operations, conducted without warrants, often trigger violent confrontations with residents. Under Israeli military law, army commanders have full executive, legislative, and judicial authority over the three million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, leaving them without any legal recourse. According to Addameer, a Palestinian prisoner rights group, there are currently 9,500 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons, including 350 children and 21 women. Israel is holding at least 3,405 Palestinians under administrative detention, which allows indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial. Since Israel's occupation of the West Bank in 1967, mass arrests have been a routine policy. Addameer estimates that the occupation has detained over 800,000 Palestinians in the last 50 years — a figure now believed to be closer to 1 million. This means that 40 percent of Palestinian men and boys in the occupied territories were imprisoned at some point. Nearly every Palestinian family has experienced the detention of a loved one. The expansion of the military operation in Jenin, Tulkarm, and across the West Bank shows no signs of abating, as Israeli forces continue large-scale detentions, home demolitions, and forced displacement amid increasing humanitarian concerns. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Egypt Independent
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Egypt Independent
Egypt puts forward new proposal to restore ceasefire in Gaza
Egypt has presented its new proposal to restore the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. An Egyptian official told the Associated Press that the proposal stipulates that Hamas releases five living hostages, including an American-Israeli individual, in exchange for Israel allowing the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip and a week-long cessation of fighting. Israel must also release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. A Hamas official explained that the movement responded positively to the proposal, without elaborating. Israel's war on the Gaza Strip has now resumed, after Tel Aviv shattered the truce and ceasefire agreement. On Monday, the Palestinian municipality of Rafah announced a complete blackout of communications and the internet in Tel al-Sultan neighborhood, warning of a genocide for thousands of trapped civilians. The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced the deaths of 61 citizens, while 134 wounded people arrived at hospitals in Gaza over the past 24 hours. Israeli forces shelled the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross west of Rafah, Palestine, with a tank shell, violating international law. Israeli tanks also advanced into the vicinity of Rafah's Mawasi area, amid heavy artillery shelling. Senior Hamas leader killed The Israeli army announced on Monday that it targeted a senior Hamas leader inside Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, south of Gaza Strip. Palestinian media confirmed that Ismail Barhoum, a member of the movement's political bureau, was killed in the airstrike on the hospital's operating room, where he was receiving treatment after being injured in a previous bombing. The Palestinian municipality of Rafah reported that communications and internet service were completely cut off in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood, with thousands of civilians at risk after being trapped without the ability to seek assistance. In the occupied West Bank, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned that tens of thousands of displaced people in the northern occupied West Bank, Palestine, lack adequate shelter, basic services, or access to healthcare. The organization said in a statement on Monday that: 'Following the ceasefire in Gaza in January, Israel launched Operation Iron Wall in the occupied West Bank, forcibly displacing thousands and leaving them in a highly precarious situation.' Israeli ambulance services and local media reported that an Israeli was killed and another seriously wounded in a shooting attack near the city of Yokneam, southeast of Haifa. Israeli police said that a gunman ran over civilians at a bus station near the city before getting out of his car and opening fire. Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
Al-Ahram Weekly
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Israeli operations expand in the West Bank - World - Al-Ahram Weekly
Israel has intensified its military operations in the Occupied West Bank, displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians and escalating ethnic cleansing. For nearly 50 days, Israeli forces have conducted large-scale military operations across the northern West Bank, particularly in the cities of Jenin, Tukaram, and Tubas, as well as their adjacent refugee camps. Dubbed 'Operation Iron Wall,' the campaign has driven more than 40,000 Palestinians from their homes, according to local estimates. Israeli media reports indicate that the Israeli government has given the military a green light to expand its operations, deploying additional forces to the northern West Bank. The offensive has left extensive destruction in its wake, while arrest campaigns and raids have increased in other cities, including Nablus, Qalqilya, and Salfit. Jenin remains the epicentre of Israeli military operations, with heavy assaults continuing for the 49th consecutive day. On Sunday, the Israeli Army extended its operations to include the nearby towns of Qabatiya, Al-Yamoun, and Silat Al-Harithiya, where bulldozers razed large areas of land and tanks were seen rolling into the city. For the first time in two decades, Israeli Merkava tanks were spotted entering Jenin, firing indiscriminately at civilian homes. The escalation aims to instill fear and force residents to flee to shelters, according to local sources. Meanwhile, Israeli troops imposed a curfew and carried out widespread demolitions in Qabatiya, leading to fierce confrontations with Palestinian residents. On 25 February, the Israeli Army blocked displaced Palestinians from returning to their homes in the Jenin Refugee Camp and reportedly threatened a Palestinian journalist covering the events. In Tulkarm, the Israeli military campaign has entered its 28th consecutive day, with reinforcements including armoured bulldozers and tanks continuing to level streets and infrastructure in the Refugee Camp. Civilians are unable to assess the full scale of the destruction due to ongoing military restrictions. Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli troops stormed the western district of Nablus, raiding the Balata Refugee Camp and surrounding villages. In Ramallah, the army entered multiple towns, vandalising vehicles and commercial properties. In Qalqilya, shops were ransacked, and dozens of Palestinians were detained in sweeping arrest operations. In Occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli settlers under heavy military protection have continued daily incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound since the beginning of Ramadan. Israeli forces have set up checkpoints around the city, blocking Palestinians from the West Bank from entering the holy site, heightening fears of further escalation. Israel has reinforced its network of fixed and mobile checkpoints, severely restricting Palestinian movement. Military closures have triggered major traffic bottlenecks. In recent days, the Israeli Army has intensified operations in Bethlehem and Hebron, traditionally less volatile compared to the northern West Bank, targeting the Al-Arroub and Al-Fawwar refugee camps in Hebron and the Dheisheh Camp in Bethlehem. Troops have fired live ammunition and tear gas while storming homes and carrying out arrests, potentially also seeking to provoke unrest in the southern West Bank. DEEPENING CRISIS The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has warned of an escalating humanitarian crisis, describing the current displacement as the largest in the West Bank since the 1967 War. It estimates that approximately 40,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes. 'Entire refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams have been nearly emptied of their residents,' UNRWA said in a statement. 'With the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure, including homes, many people face the prospect of having nowhere to return to.' Israeli legislative measures started to target UNRWA on 30 January, weakening international protection for Palestinian refugees. Since the military campaign began, Israeli forces have demolished homes across northern West Bank refugee camps. In the Nur Shams Camp alone, the army razed more than 16 buildings, just days after demolishing 11 houses in the same area. Similar demolitions have taken place in Tulkarm and Jenin. 'These large-scale demolitions represent an alarming new trend,' UNRWA warned. 'They are having an unprecedented impact on Palestinian refugees and appear to be aimed at permanently altering the character of the camps.' Veteran Palestinian journalist Iyad Hamad said that the West Bank escalation is intrinsically linked to the war on Gaza, with a broader goal of dismantling the Palestinian refugee issue. 'There is an Israeli-American push to end the Palestinian question altogether. The war on Gaza was devastating, but the West Bank is now paying the price without even firing a single shot,' Hamad told Al-Ahram Weekly. Hamad pointed to Israel's simultaneous attacks on UNRWA and the refugee camps as part of a wider strategy. 'The systematic targeting of refugee camps and the efforts to dismantle UNRWA aim to erase the Palestinian refugee issue entirely,' he said. 'This is a calculated plan to prevent any future discussion on the right of return.' According to Hamad, Israel's long-term strategy is to depopulate West Bank refugee camps and eliminate the legal status of Palestinian refugees, thus undermining their internationally recognised right to return to their ancestral lands. Regarding the inclusion of the West Bank in the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, Hammad said that a ceasefire is an agreement between two parties, whereas there is no actual war in the West Bank. 'The aggressor is the Israeli Army, while Palestinian citizens are the victims. There is no ceasefire here because there are no two warring sides in the West Bank,' he said, emphasising that pressure must be exerted on Israel to halt its aggression. He highlighted that the ongoing siege, economic and financial hardships, checkpoints, closures, raids, and killings indicate that the West Bank is under Israeli control around the clock. He added that the future of the West Bank is clear and has already been mapped out by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's extreme-right government. 'The goal is the annexation of the West Bank. There are voices within the Israeli government openly calling for the dismantling of the Oslo Accords and the complete erasure of the Palestinian issue,' he explained. He noted that since 7 October 2023, settlement expansion and land confiscation in the West Bank have surged dramatically, while the Israeli authorities continue to support settler violence aimed at seizing Palestinian land and attacking villages, refugee camps, and cities under the protection of the Israeli Army. A significant recent statement came from former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, who declared an expansion of military activities in the northern West Bank. He instructed the army to prepare for a prolonged presence in the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams refugee camps for at least a year. Gallant said that approximately 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced from these camps, which are now 'completely empty of residents.' Furthermore, the operations have led to the suspension of UNRWA activities in these areas. ISRAELI ACTIONS Commenting on these developments, Israeli affairs analyst Fouad Lahham argued that Israel's military campaign in the West Bank is not about security or countering armed groups, as the Israeli government claims, but is instead driven by political objectives. 'The primary aim is to launch a large-scale assault on the West Bank to create conditions that force Palestinians to flee, thereby reducing their presence. But the more direct and fundamental goal is to demolish the Palestinian refugee camps and transform them into residential suburbs, thereby erasing a key physical and symbolic reminder of the Palestinian refugee issue,' Lahham said. He added that part of this strategy involves dismantling UNRWA facilities and halting its operations in the camps. Lahham warned that the actions might not be confined to northern West Bank camps but could extend to central and southern areas. ' Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly, Lahham pointed out that Israel is aware that the resistance in the West Bank consists of small groups armed with light weapons, having managed these for years without resorting to large-scale destruction. 'Now, Israel is using this as a pretext to completely wipe out the camps and eliminate the last physical witness to the forced displacement of the Palestinians in 1948,' he asserted. Regarding a ceasefire, Lahham expressed scepticism about the inclusion of the West Bank in the ongoing negotiations in Doha. 'There are two main reasons for this. First, Israel seeks to turn the West Bank into an active conflict zone to justify its long-term settlement expansion and annexation plans. It wants the West Bank to be a battleground but does not want it included in any ceasefire agreement.' 'Second, Israel's right-wing government views the political situation in the West Bank as entirely distinct from Gaza and treats them as separate entities,' he explained. 'Unfortunately, the future of the West Bank is now being dictated by the whims of figures like US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government. The direction is clear: either full annexation or the fragmentation of the West Bank into disconnected Palestinian enclaves that are unlivable and surrounded by iron barriers,' he said. Israel would continue pressuring Palestinians to leave through so-called voluntary migration schemes , he said. * A version of this article appears in print in the 13 March, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
