*Israel’s Threatened Invasion of Rafah Is Looming Over the Holy Month of Ramadan* *The myth of the US as an honest peace broker has been buried under Gaza’s rubble.* by Michel Moushabeck, Truthout, March 14, 2024 https://truthout.org/articles/israels-threatened-invasion-of-rafah-is-looming-over-the-holy-month-of-ramadan/ . . . This Sunday, on the eve of Islam’s holiest month of the year, worshippers in Gaza prayed in bombed-out mosques. In occupied East Jerusalem, hundreds of Palestinian worshippers were prevented on Sunday evening from entering the Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site. They were beaten with batons by Israeli forces in an effort to block them from entering and praying at the mosque, which has long been threatened with destruction by Israeli groups. . . . The Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med Monitor) said in a statement on Sunday that its staff in Gaza “is recording nearly daily deaths among the elderly due to Israel’s systematic and pervasive crimes of starvation and treatment deprivation in the Gaza Strip, especially in Gaza City and the Strip’s northern regions.” . . . With all eyes focused on Gaza, Israel has intensified its demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. A surge in attacks on Palestinian residents by soldiers and armed settlers was also reported as Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the defense ministry to clear up space in its prisons for the arrest of “thousands” more Palestinians. ... . . . Naturally, the U.S. the Israel blamed Hamas for the breakdown in negotiations and the failure to reach a deal on the proposed six-week temporary pause in the fighting. ... . . . In his March 10 article in Haaretz, Israeli journalist Gideon Levy reported about the estimated 1,000 to 1,500 Palestinian captives from Gaza that Israel held since October 7, of whom 27 have died in custody. He wrote: “No one demonstrates for their release; the world shows no interest in them. They are held in inhumane conditions and their fate is considered inconsequential.
Levy’s article reported only on the hostages taken from Gaza since October 7. There are over 7,500 hostages taken from the West Bank during the same period. And this is in addition to the thousands of Palestinians already languishing in Israeli jails under its illegal administrative detention policy, which can hold detainees indefinitely without a charge or trial. ... . . . The recent Biden administration’s food airdrops as well as its latest announcement that the U.S. will embark on building a “floating temporary pier” on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast that allows aid delivery by sea — which could take months while Israel continues murdering civilians — amounts to nothing more than humanitarian theater designed to contain international outrage against U.S. complicity in the genocide and the starvation of Palestinians in Gaza. . . . During this Ramadan, let us remember those who were forced to fast long before the advent of this holy month, those who run for cover as they hear the sound of tank fire instead of rushing to eat when they hear the sound of the canon, those 1.4 million displaced Palestinians who are trapped at Gaza’s southern point as Israel prepares to invade them, and those hundreds or thousands of civilians who will perish before this holy month — which should have been a time of joy — comes to its end. # # # On Wed, Mar 13, 2024 at 7:53 PM Steven L. Robinson <[email protected]> wrote: > (Behind a pay wall, url at the end of the article. SR) > > > > *Palestinians Describe Beatings, Stress Positions, Other Alleged Abuses in > Israeli Detention* > > > > *Former Gazan detainees said they were physically assaulted, forced to > kneel for up to 20 hours a day, sometimes with hands tied above their heads* > > > > *By Fatima AbdulKarim, Sune Engel Rasmussen and Anat Peled/Wall Street > Journal/March 13, 2024* > > > > RAMALLAH, West Bank—When Israeli soldiers released Baha Abu Rukba near a > Gaza border crossing after holding him for nearly three weeks, the > 24-year-old Palestinian said he was in pain and struggling to walk after > being hit repeatedly with rifle butts and kicked in the groin. > > > > Since Israel’s armed forces pushed into Gaza in response to the Hamas Oct. > 7 attacks on southern Israel that left 1,200 people dead, according to > Israeli authorities, the United Nations estimates they have detained > thousands of young Palestinians > <https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/israel-hamas-war-gaza-strip-2023-11-21/card/winning-release-of-palestinian-prisoners-is-one-of-hamas-leader-s-top-goals-N1w48HYCXn0wJEZJPak9> > in operations the Israeli military has said are aimed at identifying > militants. > > > > The Wall Street Journal has spoken with more than a dozen former detainees > who described being subjected to various forms of psychological and > physical abuse, including being beaten during interrogations and placed in > stress positions for prolonged periods. > > > > “I was praying just to survive,” said Rukba, who works as a paramedic with > the Palestine Red Crescent Society. Some days, he said, he was forced to > kneel for up to 20 hours, his hands tied to a rod above his head. > > > > Twenty-seven Palestinians from Gaza have died in Israeli detention since > Oct. 7, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported earlier this month. The > Israeli military told The Wall Street Journal that it was aware of 27 > deaths among detainees in its custody. > > . . . > > Full at: > https://www.wsj.com/world/palestinians-describe-beatings-stress-positions-other-alleged-abuses-in-israeli-detention-1129b86f > > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#29447): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/29447 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/104919325/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
