Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s tentative proposal needs Western backers.

By Justin Ling, a journalist based in Toronto. FP

NOVEMBER 9, 2023, 4:30 PM

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has a plan for peace in Gaza and Israel. If it has any hope of becoming reality, he’ll need Western backers. Thus far, he doesn’t have any.

It’s time for Western leaders to step up.

As the death toll in Gaza grows, now over 10,000, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has been trying to win allies for his three-step peace plan. First, Mikati proposes, would come a five-day pause in hostilities, during which Hamas would release some of its Israeli hostages and Israel would open its border crossings to more humanitarian aid. If the peace can hold for those 120 hours, negotiations would begin for the release of the remaining hostages in exchange for prisoners held by Israel. As that happens, work on an international summit for a permanent two-state solution would begin.

If it can get off the ground, Mikati’s proposal would channel the worst violence Israelis and Palestinians have seen in decades into the most serious peace effort since the collapse of the Oslo Accords.

Continue reading Lebanon’s half-formed peace plan may be Gaza’s best chance →

AJ+ – 27-1-2022

China is bad. At least, that’s what even a glance of U.S. reporting on China tells us. It’s a way of reporting that follows a long history of constructing the Chinese — in news, popular culture and the halls of DC — as a threat. In the first episode of Backspace, a new media critique series from AJ+, Sana Saeed explores what China and the Chinese have looked like in the American imagination, how that impacts and is impacted by U.S. immigration and foreign policies, and ways we can retell that story.

Al Jazeera – 8 thg 11, 2023

While attention has been on the war in Gaza, there’s been a rise in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.#AJStartHere with Sandra Gathmann explains what’s happening.

00:53 – What is the West Bank?
01:25 – How control of the West Bank is divided between the Palestinian Authority and Israel
02:10 – How Israel restricts life for Palestinians in the West Bank
04:34 – Israeli army raids in the West Bank
06:40 – Israeli settlers in the West Bank
07:04 – Settler attacks on Palestinians
08:30 – How Palestinians have been displaced because of settler violence
09:12 – How the Israeli government supports settlers
10:07 – President Biden’s response to the settler attacks

This episode features: Nour Odeh – Political commentator & analyst Charles Stratford – Al Jazeera correspondent Hoda Abdel-Hamid – Al Jazeera correspondent Nida Ibrahim – Al Jazeera correspondent

Hinduism, Weaponised: A Secular India Under Threat | In Bad Faith – Part 1 | CNA Documentary

CNA – Insider 9-4-2022

We investigate the reasons behind the weaponisation of Hinduism by the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing, paramilitary volunteer organisation that aims to create a Hindu Rashtra – a subcontinent only for the Hindus.

From supporting cow vigilantes in Rajasthan attacking Muslim cattle traders to spreading Islamophobia across RSS-backed television stations, why understand why India’s secular fabric is under threat. Continue reading In bad faith – 3 parts →

A Palestinian man reacts as others check the rubble of a building in Khan Younis, Gaza, on November 6. Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images

In pictures: Israel at war with Hamas

Updated 1:39 AM EST, Tue November 7, 2023

One month ago, the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a brutal assault on Israel, killing more than 1,400 people and kidnapping more than 240, according to Israeli authorities. It was the deadliest terror attack in the country’s history.

Israel’s retaliation has been lethal, with an air and ground campaign on the densely populated enclave of Gaza, which Hamas has controlled since 2007. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would take “mighty vengeance” and was readying for “a long and difficult war.”

The siege of Gaza has killed more than 10,000 people, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry there. Gaza’s population is also gripped by humanitarian crisis after Israel cut off access to food, water and electricity. Only a “trickle” of aid has been allowed to enter the isolated territory, according to the United Nations. Residents are grappling with severe shortages, and power is running out as fuel dwindles.

Editor’s note: This gallery contains graphic images. Viewer discretion is advised.

Continue reading In pictures: Israel at war with Hamas →

United Nation

Historical Timeline

1917 – 1947: British mandate

Palestine was among former Ottoman territories placed under UK administration by the League of Nations in 1922. All of these territories eventually became fully independent States, except Palestine, where in addition to “the rendering of administrative assistance and advice” the British Mandate incorporated the “Balfour Declaration” of 1917, expressing support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”. During the Mandate, from 1922 to 1947, large-scale Jewish immigration, mainly from Eastern Europe took place, the numbers swelling in the 1930s with the Nazi persecution. Arab demands for independence and resistance to immigration led to a rebellion in 1937, followed by continuing terrorism and violence from both sides. UK considered various formulas to bring independence to a land ravaged by violence. In 1947, the UK turned the Palestine problem over to the UN. Read more.

1947 – 1977: Partition plan, 1948, 1967, 1973 wars, inalienable rights

Continue reading History of the Question of Palestine →

US-China: Is A New NATO Emerging In Asia? | When Titans Clash 2 – Part 1/3 | CNA Documentary

CNA Insider – 29-4-2022

As the Ukraine crisis unfolds, China accuses the US of creating an Indo-Pacific version of NATO, and warns of a “Ukraine style tragedy” for Asia. On the other hand, countries like Japan, Philippines, India, Australia and South Korea, seek closer ties to the US as concerns emerge over China’s actions. Could Asia witness a war in the years ahead? Continue reading When titans clash 2 (3 parts) →

European and Asian allies of the United States increasingly doubt Washington’s ability to simultaneously help Israel and Ukraine – Bloomberg writes, citing sources.

The United States was confident in the normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab countries, so it moved resources from the Middle East to direct them to fight Russia or China, and is now forced to ask Tel Aviv to postpone the operation in the Gaza Strip in order to increase its forces in the region, the agency writes .

At the same time, Ukraine has exhausted its reserves of artillery shells from the United States and its allies, and attempts to increase ammunition production are facing various obstacles.

Continue reading Allies fear US is overextended as global conflicts spread →

Al Jazeera English – 25-10-2023

“I just want the bombardment to stop so I can go back to school.” The daughter of Al Jazeera correspondent Youmna ElSayed describes what Israeli bombardment is like in Gaza, in a conversation with her mother.

SÁNG ÁNH – 29/10/2023 11:25 GMT+7

TTCT – Israel đang triển khai một sách lược rất kiểu “tát nước bắt cá” có nguy cơ gây ra một thảm họa nhân đạo tại Dải Gaza trong cuộc chiến Trung Đông hiện giờ.

Sau hai tuần chiến tranh, ngày 21-10, 20 xe tải, tức 400 tấn hàng cứu trợ, được cho phép vào Dải Gaza bị Israel vây hãm. Đây là kết quả sau khi thương thuyết, thảo luận tới lui và Israel lúc thuận lúc không. 

Nguyên tắc của Israel là nếu Hamas buông súng đầu hàng thì Gaza sẽ được tiếp tế. Trừng trị tập thể, như ta biết, là vi phạm quy ước quốc tế. Không thể vì 2.000 du kích mà đánh bom và bỏ đói tập thể hơn 2 triệu người dân tại Gaza.

Đây chẳng phải là việc lén lút, mà là chính sách công khai của Israel mang tên “Sách lược Dahiya”, do tham mưu trưởng Gadi Eizenkot (2015-2019) chủ trương từ lúc ông là tư lệnh mặt trận miền bắc đối diện Lebanon. Trong chiến tranh với Hezbollah tại Lebanon (2006), Dahiya là khu ngoại ô Beirut do Hezbollah quản lý.

Continue reading Dải Gaza: Một thảm họa nhân đạo chực chờ →

Gaza Teen Describes What Life For Her & Other Children Is Like Right Now. Sara Besasio, a 16-year-old who grew up in Gaza. Sara said she’s lived through 7 major Israeli military operations in her lifetime. She called on the global community to answer why kids like her have to suffer so much merely for growing up in Gaza.

Palestinian teenager Dima Allamdani lost 13 family members in an Israeli air attack after following the military’s orders to flee northern Gaza.

This 18-year-old girl had a message for the world before her and her family fled their home in Gaza.

https://fb.watch/nWg7HsNy6p/

Barack Obama

·It’s been 17 days since Hamas launched its horrific attack against Israel, killing over 1,400 Israeli citizens, including defenseless women, children and the elderly. In the aftermath of such unspeakable brutality, the U.S. government and the American people have shared in the grief of families, prayed for the return of loved ones, and rightly declared solidarity with the Israeli people.

Continue reading Barack Obama: Thoughts on Israel and Gaza →

AJ+ – 22-5-2021

Israeli occupation of Palestine tends to be a touchy subject for news media, so much so that they break journalistic standards and writing etiquette just to avoid implicating one party over another — which still seems to end up working out in Israel’s favor and never Palestine’s. That’s led to a media environment that can’t clearly call out the ethnic cleansing and apartheid inflicted upon Palestinians, doesn’t point to context when talking about the results of decades-long oppression and displacement, and can’t help but equivocate about two disproportionately affected populations. But maybe that’s starting to change.

Sana Saeed looks at what U.S. media coverage has gotten wrong about recent events in Gaza, Sheikh Jarrah and occupied Palestine, and offers her own media critique.

Al Jazeera English – 19-10- 2023

What’s happening with civilians in Gaza? Why is it so complicated to open Egypt’s border for aid? And where’s this all going? #AJStartHere with Sandra Gathmann answers three big questions on the Israel-Gaza war.

00:55 – What will happen to civilians in Gaza?

01:16 – Israel’s air assault on Gaza

01:56 – Israel’s total blockade on Gaza

02:34 – Half of Gaza’s population has been displaced

02:43 – Why people moved from the north to the south of Gaza

03:58 – Why can’t Egypt send supplies or open the Rafah crossing?

04:06 – The relationship between Egypt and Israel

04:51 – Egypt and Israel say some aid can now cross through Rafah

05:25 – The situation for Palestinian dual nationals in Gaza

06:06 – Why Egypt and Jordan don’t want to take any Palestinian refugees

07:30 – Where’s the Israel-Gaza war going? How will it end?

09:33 – Is Israel’s aim to wipe out Hamas actually possible?

This episode features:

Youmna ElSayed – Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza

Rami Khouri – American University of Beirut

Elijah Magnier – military analyst

Laila El-Haddad – Palestinian journalist & author

China’s Belt And Road Initiative: 10 Years Of Evolution And Beyond | Insight | Full Episode

CNA Insider – 12 thg 9, 2023

It is the 10th year of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). From Central and Southeast Asia to the Middle East and Africa, how has China’s mega infrastructure project changed the world? In this retrospective on the 10th anniversary of the BRI, Insight looks at the developments in Asia and Africa that have sprung from China’s marquee project. From growing trade links to environmental impacts to political influence, the BRI has undeniably changed the region. But with growing economic headwinds and a flagging Chinese economy, will Beijing continue to invest in the BRI? What will the next decade bring?

0:00 Introduction

01:10 Belt and Road Initiative in Central Asia

07:55 How the war in Ukraine is shaping the BRI

12:13 Growing China-ASEAN trade

13:57 How the BRI increased durian exports from Thailand to China

17:54 Dams: Good for energy generation, bad for food supply?

26:28 China’s growing influence in the Middle East

31:21 Why China is investing so much in Africa

35:34 Debt trap diplomacy?

38:40 Rise in non-performing loans on the Belt and Road

40:16 A shift in strategy for the BRI?

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ABOUT THE SHOW: Insight investigates and analyses topical issues that impact Asia and the rest of the world.