Al Jazeera – July 6, 2024
Masoud Pezeshkian elected Iran’s president
Pezeshkian acknowledges ‘difficult path ahead’ after winning run-off election with 53.7 percent of the
Iran’s president-elect Masoud Pezeshkian has promised to serve all Iranians in his first public address after being declared the winner of an election run-off against his hardline rival Saeed Jalili.
Speaking from the Iranian capital Tehran on Saturday, Pezeshkian said his victory will “usher in a new chapter” for the country.
“We are ahead of a big trial, a trial of hardships and challenges, simply to provide a prosperous life to our people,” he said during brief remarks at the mausoleum of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Pezeshkian also hailed the relatively high turnout in Friday’s polls, promising to listen to the voices of the Iranian people and “fulfil all the promises” he made.
Seen as a centrist and reform-minded candidate, Pezeshkian secured nearly 16.4 million of the more than 30 million votes cast, ahead of Jalili who received some 13.5 million, according to the official count.
“By gaining [the] majority of the votes cast on Friday, Pezeshkian has become Iran’s next president,” the Ministry of Interior said in a statement.
Shortly after the announcement, Jalili conceded defeat, saying anybody elected by the people must be respected.
“Not only should he be respected, but now we must use all our strength and help him move forward with strength,” he told state television.
There were scenes of celebration after the results were declared, with small groups of Pezeshkian supporters taking to the streets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was among several world leaders to congratulate Pezeshkian, but Western leaders were yet to respond.
The vote on Friday followed a June 28 ballot with an historically low turnout, when more than 60 percent of Iranian voters abstained from the snap election for a successor to Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May.
In last week’s election, Pezeshkian received about 42.5 percent of votes and Jalili some 38.7 percent.
Reporting from Tehran on Saturday, Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar noted that about 50 percent of Iranians did not vote as some didn’t “have faith that the election will bring any change, whether the winner is a conservative or a reformist”.
Others boycotted the election, Serdar said. “This is a silent protest.”
Pezeshkian is expected to assume his duties within 30 days. As he is still a member of parliament from Tabriz, the body will first vote on his resignation.
The country’s ninth elected president will next have to be officially endorsed in a ceremony by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after which he will be sworn in at the Parliament.
Pezeshkian repeatedly praised Khamenei during his speech on Saturday in what Al Jazeera’s Serdar said appeared to underscore that the president-elect is seeking to avoid a rift with Iran’s political establishment.
“He once again repeated that he is not the president only for the reformists but also for every Iranian who did not vote for him,” he said. “That is very important, because Iran socially is quite a divided country now and that fragility is a great concern for the political establishment.
“So, now he’s promising to be a bridge between the state and the people,” Serdar added.
Challenges ahead
Political analysts said Pezeshkian’s triumph might see the promotion of a pragmatic foreign policy, ease tensions over the now-stalled negotiations with major world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear deal and improve prospects for social liberalisation in Iran.
Both presidential candidates had promised to revive the flagging economy, beset by mismanagement and sanctions reimposed since 2018 after then-United States President Donald Trump unilaterally ditched the nuclear deal.
Tohid Asadi, a professor at Tehran University, told Al Jazeera that Pezeshkian’s victory showed that many Iranians are interested in “a shift in domestic and foreign policies”.
Still, Asadi explained that Iranian politics are “a highly dynamic and complex mechanism” in which the president is only one actor influencing decisions.
On the nuclear deal, he said, “the ball is going to be in the court of the United States and the West” in rebuilding trust among Iran’s political establishment.
Mostafa Khoshcheshm, a Tehran-based analyst and professor at Fars Media Faculty, said he was not expecting strategic changes to Iran’s foreign policy.
The foreign policy file, he explained, “is decided by the entire establishment, mostly at the Supreme National Security Council, where [there are] representatives of the government as well as the armed forces, the Iranian supreme leader and the Parliament”.
Much would also depend on the outcome of the US presidential election in November, which will again pit incumbent Joe Biden against Trump.
“If Donald Trump comes into office, I don’t really expect any kind of change, any talks between the two sides, or any change in the present course of actions,” Khoshcheshm told Al Jazeera.
In the end, Pezeshkian will be in charge of applying state policy outlined by Khamenei, who wields ultimate authority in the country.
Gaza ceasefire, prisoners swap efforts gain momentum
A Palestinian official says the latest truce proposal could lead to a framework agreement if embraced by Israel.
Efforts to secure a ceasefire and prisoners' release in Gaza have gathered momentum after Hamas made a revised proposal on the terms of a deal and Israel said it would resume stalled negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Joe Biden on Thursday he would send a delegation to resume negotiations, and an Israeli official said his country's team would be led by the head of the Mossad intelligence agency.
A source in Israel's negotiating team, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was now a real chance of achieving agreement.
The Israeli remarks were in sharp contrast to past instances in the nine-month-old war in Gaza, when Israel said conditions attached by Hamas were not acceptable.
A Palestinian official close to the internationally mediated peace efforts said the latest proposal by the Palestinian resistance group could lead to a framework agreement if embraced by Israel.
He said Hamas was no longer demanding as a pre-condition an Israeli commitment to a permanent ceasefire before the signing of an agreement and would allow negotiations to achieve that throughout a first six-week phase.
"Should the sides need more time to seal an agreement on a permanent ceasefire, the two sides should agree there would be no return to the fighting until they do that," the official said.
Türkiye's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was quoted by media as saying he hoped a "final ceasefire" could be secured "in a couple of days", and urged Western countries to put pressure on Israel to accept the terms on offer.
Hezbollah-Hamas talks
Gaza health authorities say more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive launched in response to a Hamas-led attack on Israel last October 7 in which Israel said 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage.
The war has displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and caused a humanitarian crisis.
It has also fuelled tension across the region, triggering exchanges of fire across Israel's northern border with the Iran-aligned Hezbollah group in Lebanon.
Hezbollah said on Friday its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and a top Hamas official, Khalil Al-Hayya, had met to discuss the latest developments in Gaza.
A Hezbollah official later said the group would stop firing as soon as any Gaza ceasefire agreement took effect, echoing previous statements by the group, which says its rocket and drone attacks on northern Israel are in support of the Palestinians.
"If there is a Gaza agreement, then from zero hour there will be a ceasefire in Lebanon," the official said.
Biden welcomes Netanyahu’s decision
The White House said Biden had, during their phone call on Thursday, welcomed Netanyahu's decision to resume the stalled talks "in an effort to close out the deal".
Some far-right partners in Netanyahu's governing coalition have indicated they may quit the government if the war ends before Hamas is destroyed. Their departure would probably end Netanyahu's premiership.
Israel's Channel 7 News reported that, at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, far-right coalition partner Itamar Ben Gvir had accused security and defence officials of deciding to resume the talks without consulting him.
Hamas' new proposal responded to a plan made public in late May by Biden that would include the release of about 120 hostages still held in Gaza and a ceasefire.
The plan entails the gradual release of hostages and the pullback of Israeli forces over an initial two phases, and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners. A third phase involves Gaza's reconstruction and the return of the remains of dead hostages.
Israel has previously said it will accept only temporary pauses in the fighting until Hamas, which governs Gaza, is eradicated.
An Israeli delegation in Egypt on Thursday discussed details of the possible deal, Egyptian security sources said. They said Israel would respond to the Hamas proposal after discussions with Qatar which, like Egypt, has mediated the peace efforts.
https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/gaza-ceasefire-prisoners-swap-efforts-gain-momentum-18180632
Day 274 of Israeli aggression in Gaza: 38,098 killed, 87,705 injured
The Israeli onslaught on Gaza continues, killing 29 Palestinians and injuring 100 others in the past 24 hours.
On day 274 of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, the number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli occupation reached 38,098, in addition to 87,705 injuries, according to the daily report published by the Health Ministry in Gaza.
"Israel" committed three massacres in 24 hours, killing 29 Palestinians and injuring 100 others.
While some were transported to partially functioning hospitals, many victims remain trapped beneath the rubble with rescue crews unable to reach them.
Others remain either injured or lie there as lifeless bodies dispersed on the streets as rescue crews are also prohibited from attending to them or transporting them.
The Israeli genocide is ongoing
A renewed series of sporadic attacks were carried out by the Israeli occupation on the 274th day of its ongoing aggression on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, Al Mayadeen's correspondent reported.
Our correspondent confirmed six people were killed when an Israeli airstrike targeted a police car in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood in western Rafah.
Another Israeli airstrike targeted South of Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip, as per our correspondent.
In the eastern part of Gaza City's al-Shujaiya neighborhood, residential buildings were demolished by occupation forces, as per our correspondent.
Israeli artillery bombardments have also intensified in the southeastern areas of the al-Zaytoun neighborhood, claiming additional lives. Earlier, two people were killed in an Israeli airstrike that bombed a house in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood.
Israeli occupation forces killed 5 journalists in 12 hours
Five journalists were among those killed in the occupation's recent attacks in Gaza City and al-Nusairat camp over the past 12 hours.
1. Journalist Saadi Madooh
2. Journalist Adeeb Sukkar
3. Journalist Amjad Al-Jahjouh
4. Journalist Wafa Abu Dhubaan
5. Journalist Rizq Abu Shikyan
Earlier today, Journalist Amjad Jahjouh, along with his wife, journalist Wafa Abu Dabaan, and their child, were killed in an Israeli bombing at Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp.
On Friday, Palestinian journalists Saadi Madoukh and Ahmed Sukkar were killed in an Israeli raid that targeted the Madoukh family home in Gaza City's Daraj neighborhood.
It is worth noting that Palestinian journalists have been consistently targeted, alongside their families, by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza since the genocide was launched in October. The latest death toll shows that the IOF killed 158 journalists since October 7, as per Gaza's Media Office.
Bosnia and Herzegovina remembers Srebrenica genocide victims, bids farewell
On the 29th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide on July 11, Bosnia and Herzegovina prepares to honor and lay to rest newly-identified victims.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has finalised arrangements to bid farewell to 14 newly-identified victims of the Srebrenica genocide on the 29th anniversary of the atrocity.
Green coffins with the remains of the victims are ready in Visoko from where they will depart July 9 for the village of Potocari to be buried July 11 at the collective funeral.
Every July 11, newly identified victims of Europe's worst genocide since World War II, which killed more than 8,000 people, are buried in a memorial cemetery in Potocari in eastern Bosnia.
The youngest victim to be buried this year is Beriz Mujic, 17, born in 1978 in Zvornik.
His remains were found 28 years after his death and exhumed in May 2023.
He was killed in July 1995 in the Suceska area near Bratunac and his remains were exhumed in the Srebrenica municipality area.
Mujic will be buried next to his brother, Hazim, who was buried in 2013.
Their father, Omer Mujic, has still not been found.
The oldest victim that will be buried is Hamed Salic, born in 1927. He was 68 when he went missing in the summer of 1995 in the town of Zepa. His remains were exhumed in May 2014 and recently identified.
Thousands of visitors from various countries will attend the funeral service and burials. After this year’s funeral, the number of burials in the cemetery will rise to 6,765.
The bodies, whose identification has been completed, are kept in the Visoko City Cemetery.
On Tuesday, coffins bearing the names of the deceased will be transported from Visoko to Srebrenica.
Bosnia and Herzegovina's Federation entity passed a decision Friday declaring July 11, 2024, the Day of Remembrance for the Srebrenica Genocide, as a Day of Mourning in the entity.
The move came after the UN in late May passed a resolution to designate July 11 as Srebrenica Genocide Remembrance Day, with overwhelming support from the General Assembly.
The resolution, spearheaded by Germany with co-sponsorship from more than 40 countries, calls for July 11 to be declared "International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica."
The Day of Mourning will be marked by a mandatory display of the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina at half-mast on the buildings of legislative, executive and judicial authorities, public institutions, and other legal entities in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Cultural and entertainment programmes cannot be held in public places in the Federation entity. Media outlets operating in the entity are required to align and adjust programming content to the Day of Mourning.
The decision was made to express condolences and sympathy with the families of the victims and to remember the genocide in Srebrenica.
Ibrahim Becirovic, a survivor of the genocide and author of the book, "Genocide in Srebrenica," addressed the Croatian Parliament on Friday during a commemoration for the victims.
''It's not easy to speak when emotions and memories of the brutal suffering of many relatives and friends in the UN-protected zone in Potocari and the senseless killings of previously captured men and boys at mass execution sites flood in,'' said Becirovic.
He said there is still a need for support and understanding for survivors to spread the truth and culture of remembrance despite 29 years since the genocide.
More than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed when Serb forces attacked the UN "safe area" of Srebrenica in July 1995, despite the presence of Dutch troops tasked with acting as international peacekeepers.
Serb forces besieged Srebrenica, trying to seize territory from Bosniaks and Croats to form their own state.
The UN Security Council declared Srebrenica a "safe area" in the spring of 1993. Serb troops, however, led by General Ratko Mladic –– who was sentenced to life for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide –– overran the UN zone.
The Dutch troops failed to act and Serb forces occupied the area, killing 2,000 men and boys on July 11 alone. Some 15,000 Srebrenica people fled to the surrounding mountains but Serb troops hunted them down and killed 6,000 in the forests.
The bodies of genocide victims were discovered in 570 different locations throughout the country.
On December 21, 1991, the Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a federal structure was established within Yugoslavia.
The Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was then declared on January 9, 1992.
Bosnia and Herzegovina then declared independence after a referendum held on February 29 and March 1 in 1992 which sparked a three-year war.
The war in Bosnia Herzegovina lasted until December 14, 1995, and more than 100,000 people were killed and 2 million had to migrate.
The fate of approximately 7,000 who disappeared during the war is still unknown.
Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso military leaders sign new pact, rebuff ECOWAS
Move is latest sign the countries are moving away from traditional regional and Western allies following spate of coups.
The military leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have hailed a newly signed treaty as a step “towards greater integration” between the three countries, in the latest showing of their shift away from traditional regional and Western allies.
During a summit in the Niger capital of Niamey on Saturday, the three leaders signed a confederation treaty that aims to strengthen a mutual defence pact announced last year, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
The signing capped the first joint summit of the leaders – Niger’s General Abdourahmane Tchiani, Burkina Faso’s Captain Ibrahim Traore, and Mali’s Colonel Assimi Goita – since they came to power in successive coups in their bordering West African nations.
It also came just months after the three countries withdrew from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc in January.
Speaking at the summit on Saturday, Tchiani called the 50-year-old ECOWAS “a threat to our states”.
The West African economic bloc had suspended the three countries after their respective military takeovers, which occurred in July 2023 in Niger, September 2022 in Burkina Faso and August 2021 in Mali.
ECOWAS also imposed sanctions on Niger and Mali, but the bloc’s leaders have held out hope for the trio’s eventual return.
“We are going to create an AES of the peoples, instead of an ECOWAS whose directives and instructions are dictated to it by powers that are foreign to Africa,” Tchiani said.
Burkina Faso’s Traore also accused foreign powers of seeking to exploit the countries. The three nations have regularly accused former colonial ruler France of meddling in ECOWAS.
“Westerners consider that we belong to them and our wealth also belongs to them. They think that they are the ones who must continue to tell us what is good for our states,” he said.
“This era is gone forever. Our resources will remain for us and our populations.”
For his part, Mali’s Goita said the strengthened relationship means an “attack on one of us will be an attack on all the other members”.
Shifting influence
Reporting from Abuja on Saturday, Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris noted that the three military leaders met just a day before ECOWAS was set to have a meeting in the capital of Nigeria.
Efforts to mediate the countries’ return to the bloc were expected to be discussed, Idris said.
“Many people believe that the meeting in Niger was to counter whatever is coming [from] ECOWAS and to also outline their position: That they are not returning to the Economic Community of the West African States,” he explained.
Idris added the newly elected president of Senegal, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, recently visited the three countries in an informal capacity in an effort to mend the ties.
“However, it’s not clear whether or not he’s got a positive response,” he said.
Adama Gaye, a political commentator and former ECOWAS communications director, said the creation of the three-member Alliance of Sahel States has “weakened” the economic bloc.
Still, Gaye told Al Jazeera that “despite its real-name recognition, ECOWAS has not performed well when it comes to achieving regional integration, promoting intra-African trade in West Africa and also in ensuring security” in the region.
“So this justifies the feeling of many in West Africa – [the] ordinary citizenry and even intellectuals – [who are] asking questions about the standing of ECOWAS, whether it should be revised, reinvented,” he said, urging the bloc to engage in diplomacy to try to bridge the rift.
Violence and instability
The Niamey summit also came a day before the United States is set to complete its withdrawal from a key base in Niger, underscoring how the new military leaders have redrawn security relations that had defined the region in recent years.
Armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) have jockeyed for control of territory in all three countries, unleashing waves of violence and spurring concern in Western capitals.
But following the recent coups, the countries’ ties to Western governments have frayed.
French troops completed their withdrawal from Mali in 2022, and they left Niger and Burkina Faso last year.
Meanwhile, US Air Force Major General Kenneth Ekman said earlier this week that about 1,000 military personnel would complete their withdrawal from Niger’s Air Base 101 by Sunday.
The US is also in the process of leaving a separate, $100m drone base near Agadez in central Niger, which officials have described as essential to gathering intelligence about armed groups in the region.
While pushing out former Western allies, the military leaders in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali have increasingly pursued security and economic ties with Russia.
However, it remains unclear if the new approach has helped to stem the violence that has plagued the countries, which are home to about 72 million people.
In 2023, Burkina Faso saw a massive escalation in violence, with more than 8,000 people killed, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) tracker.
In Niger, slight gains against armed groups largely backslid following the coup, according to ACLED.
Meanwhile, an offensive by Malian forces and Wagner mercenaries saw “elements” of the Russian-government-linked group “involved in the indiscriminate killing of hundreds of civilians, destruction of infrastructure, and looting of property, as well as triggering mass displacement”, ACLED said.
About three million people have been displaced by fighting across the countries.
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The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
