Daily Sabah – June 24, 2024
Middle East on brink as Israel, Hezbollah drum up war rhetoric
Two senior European diplomats voiced concerns Monday over a potential spillover of Israel’s Gaza war into Lebanon as Tel Aviv-Hezbollah tensions continued to climb.
European foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that the Middle East was close to seeing a wider war.
"The risk of this war affecting the south of Lebanon and spilling over is every day bigger," Borrell told reporters ahead of a foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg.
"We are on the eve of the war expanding."
Tensions have soared along Lebanon's border with Israel amid cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and Israeli forces.
The Iran-backed group has said it would not stop until there is a cease-fire in Gaza, where Tel Aviv has killed more than 37,600 Palestinians since the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion.
Earlier in June, Hezbollah targeted Israeli towns and military sites with the largest volleys of rockets and drones in the hostilities so far, after an Israeli strike killed a senior commander of the group.
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah last week said nowhere in Israel would be safe if a full-fledged war broke out between the two foes and also warned the Greek Cypriot administration against aiding Israel.
Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis condemned it as absolutely unacceptable to make threats against a European Union member.
Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Monday the situation between Israel and Hezbollah was very worrying and she would travel to Lebanon soon.
"A further escalation would be a catastrophe for people in the region," she said.
Lebanon next?
The warnings come a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was winding down its current phase of the Gaza war, setting the stage for it to send more troops to the northern border with Lebanon.
The comments further heightened Israel-Hezbollah tensions at a time when they appear to be moving closer to war.
Netanyahu said in a lengthy TV interview that while the army is close to completing its current ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, that would not mean the war is over. But he said fewer troops would be needed in Gaza, freeing up forces to battle Hezbollah.
"We will have the possibility of transferring some of our forces north, and we will do that," he told Israel's Channel 14, a pro-Netanyahu TV channel, in an interview that was frequently interrupted by applause from the studio audience.
First and foremost, for defense," he added, but also to allow tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to return home.
Fighting between the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Israel has escalated in recent weeks, raising fears of a full-blown war.
Hezbollah is much stronger than Hamas, and opening a new front would raise the risk of a larger, region-wide war involving other Iranian proxies and perhaps Iran itself that could cause heavy damage and mass casualties on both sides of the border.
White House envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region last week meeting with officials in Israel and Lebanon in an effort to lower tensions. But the fighting has continued.
Netanyahu said he hoped a diplomatic solution to the crisis could be found but vowed to solve the problem "in a different way" if needed. ″We can fight on several fronts and we are prepared to do that," he said.
Israel's army last week said it had "approved and validated" a new plan for a Lebanon offensive.
The Israeli military has also alerted the U.S. it could use weapons never deployed before in the event of an all-out war with Hezbollah, according to Channel 12.
"Tel Aviv conveyed a message to the White House stating its intent to employ unspecified new weapons systems to swiftly deal with any potential conflict with Hezbollah and avoid a prolonged war,'' the Israeli television channel said.
Another Gaza
Earlier Friday, the U.N. chief Antonio Guterres also expressed "profound" concerns over the growing tensions, saying the world "cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza."
"I felt compelled today to voice my profound concerns about escalation between Israel and Hezbollah along the Blue Line," Guterres told reporters in New York, hinting at "escalation in bellicose rhetoric from both sides as if an all-out war was imminent."
Warning against a wider regional conflict in the Middle East, Guterres said: "One rash move – one miscalculation – could trigger a catastrophe that goes far beyond the border, and frankly, beyond imagination."
"Let's be clear: The people of the region and the people of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza," he said.
Israel kills Hamas chief Haniyeh's family members in Gaza attack
Israel has killed several members of the Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh's family, including his sister, in an attack in the western Gaza City on Tuesday.
According to medical sources, at least 10 people of the Haniyeh family were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their home in the Beach refugee camp, western Gaza City.
On April 10, Haniyeh lost three of his sons in an Israeli airstrike on their car in the Beach camp.
Other Israeli airstrikes targeted two schools used as shelters in the al-Daraj neighborhood, eastern Gaza City, and in the Beach refugee camp, leaving a number of fatalities.
The health authorities are yet to confirm the numbers of the killed and injured people.
Meanwhile, the Civil Defense teams in the al-Maghazi refugee camp, the central Gaza Strip, removed the bodies of five people, including three children and a woman, from under the rubble of a home destroyed by an Israeli airstrike.
Israel, flouting a U.N. Security Council resolution on an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation for its genocidal war on Gaza since the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion.
More than 37,600 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 86,100 others injured, according to local health authorities.
More than eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
Over 20,000 children missing in Israel's brutal war on Gaza
Israel's war on Gaza, now in its 262nd day, has killed at least 37,598 Palestinians — mostly women and children –– and wounded 86,032, with more than 9,500 abducted by Tel Aviv.
Thousands of Palestinian children have been missing, trapped beneath the rubble of destroyed homes, detained by Israeli forces, buried in unmarked graves or lost from families, Save the Children said in a new statement
The agency’s child protection teams said the latest displacements caused by the offensive in Rafah have separated more children and further increased the strain on families and communities caring for them.
"It is nearly impossible to collect and verify information under the current conditions in Gaza, but at least 17,000 children are believed to be unaccompanied and separated and approximately 4,000 children are likely missing under the rubble, with an unknown number also in mass graves," the British aid group said.
"Others have been forcibly disappeared, including an unknown number detained and forcibly transferred out of Gaza, their whereabouts unknown to their families amidst reports of ill-treatment and torture."
Meanwhile, the aid agency’s child protection teams warn of the urgent action needed to protect separated and unaccompanied children – action that is severely undermined by the deteriorating security situation.
A Save the Children Child Protection Specialist in Gaza said:
"Every day we find more unaccompanied children and every day it is harder to support them. We work through partners to identify separated and unaccompanied children and trace their families, but there are no safe facilities for them – there is no safe place in Gaza. Besides, reuniting them with family members is difficult when ongoing hostilities restrict our access to communities, and constantly force families to move.
“Neighbours and extended family members who have taken in lone children are struggling to meet their basic needs, such as shelter, food, and water. Many are with strangers - or completely alone - increasing the risk of violence, abuse exploitation and neglect.”
Mass casualties were reported following the latest attacks by Israeli forces in Rafah. After one attack, UN experts said that reports emerged of ‘people trapped inside burning plastic tents’ and ‘burnt alive’, and the Gaza Ministry of Health reported ‘bodies burned beyond recognition’. Save the Children warned that confirming identification of a body by the next of kin is almost impossible when whole families have been wiped out and entry restrictions mean the equipment and experts needed cannot get in.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, more than 14,000 children have been killed since 7 October, roughly half of whom have not yet been fully identified, partially due to their bodies being harmed beyond recognition [3]. Children are also among those recently found in mass graves, according to UN experts, with many showing signs of torture and summary executions, as well as potential instances of people buried alive.
At least 33 Israeli children have been killed since October, while it is unclear if any children are among those still being held hostage in Gaza. As of 9 June, around 250 Palestinian children from the West Bank are missing in the Israeli military detention system, their families unable to physically confirm their whereabouts and wellbeing due to additional restrictions on visits introduced since October.
The UN has received numerous reports of mass detentions, ill-treatment and enforced disappearance of possibly thousands of people, including children.
Save the Children’s Regional Director for the Middle East, Jeremy Stoner, said:
“Families are tortured by the uncertainty of the whereabouts of their loved ones. No parent should have to dig through rubble or mass graves to try and find their child’s body. No child should be alone, unprotected in a war zone. No child should be detained or held hostage.
“Children who are missing but living are vulnerable, face grave protection risks and must be found. They must be protected and reunited with their families. For the children who have been killed, their deaths must be formally marked, their families informed, burial rites respected, and accountability sought. As many have pointed out, Gaza has become a graveyard for children, with thousands of others missing, their fates unknown. There must be an independent investigation and those responsible must be held accountable. We desperately need a ceasefire to find and support the missing children who have survived, and to prevent more families from being destroyed.”
Save the Children has been providing essential services and support to Palestinian children since 1953. Save the Children teams in Gaza work with local partners to identify and support unaccompanied children. This includes providing individual child protection case management, cash for caregivers looking after separated children, psychosocial support, and community monitoring and engagement. Save the Children also provides access to services such as child friendly spaces and nutrition and health support.
Notes
[1] Save the Children estimates approximately 21,000 children are missing in Gaza. This includes 17,000 unaccompanied and separated children, and 4,000 children buried under the rubble [see 2 below]. Save the Children added these estimates to equal approximately 21,000 children missing in Gaza, or over 20,000.
[2] The UN estimates that 10,000 people are believed buried under the rubble in Gaza, and also estimates that 40% of casualties in Gaza are children. Save the Children estimates this would amount to approximately 4,000 children buried under the rubble in Gaza.
[3] According to latest figures from the Ministry of Health in Gaza, more than 14,100 children have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, of which 7,779 have been identified. This means that while the identities of some 7,797 children who have been killed in the conflict are known, approximately half of the total number of children killed (6,303) have not yet been identified. The Ministry of Health says that the documentation process of fully identifying details of the casualties is ongoing
Palestinian groups confirm commitment to success of China's mediation for reconciliation
The Palestinian Hamas and Fatah groups on Monday announced their commitment to the success of China's mediation efforts to achieve the Palestinian reconciliation.
This comes in two separate statements as both rivals blamed each other for obstructing Tuesday's scheduled expanded national dialogue meeting in the Chinese capital Beijing.
In a statement, Hussam Badran, responsible for national relations within the Hamas group, said his group "responded to the invitation of the friends in China related to achieve the Palestinian national unity," stressing that the group dealt with "high positivity and great responsibility."
He added that Tuesday's scheduled meeting was agreed based on the bilateral meeting between Hamas and Fatah held in Beijing in April, and was planned to be an expanded meeting that includes several Palestinian groups.
Badran noted that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas informed the Chinese side of his rejection to participate in the expanded meeting.
For its part, the Fatah Movement voiced appreciation for China's efforts that hosted the national dialogue meeting between Fatah and Hamas.
In a statement cited by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, Fatah held Hamas responsible for the failure of all previous dialogues between them.
Commenting on President Abbas's rejection to attend the meeting in Beijing, the statement said Fatah is committed to the national dialogue in China, and works to complete the preparations for a suitable atmosphere to make the Chinese mediation successful.
In April, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said representatives of Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas held “consultations on advancing intra-Palestinian reconciliation and for in-depth and candid dialogue” in Beijing.
Before the Beijing talks in April, both groups also held similar talks in Moscow in February.
Similar rounds of talks took place in the past years in Türkiye, Algeria, and Egypt but all failed to bring a breakthrough in the Palestinian reconciliation file.
The Palestinian Territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been politically divided since June 2007 due to sharp disagreements between the Fatah and Hamas movements.
Hamas won a majority in the legislative elections of 2006. Since then, it has controlled the Gaza Strip, and Fatah has governed the West Bank.
Why did Muslim-majority Tajikistan ban the hijab?
By Ramazam Dengiz & Emre Basaran
The ban on headscarves in Tajikistan is seen as a reflection of the political line that the government of president-for-life Emomali Rahmon has been pursuing since 1997.
Tajikistan's government passed a law banning the hijab, the latest in a string of 35 wide-ranging religion-related acts, in a move described by the government as "protecting national cultural values" and "preventing superstition and extremism".
The law, approved by parliament's upper house Majlisi Milli last Thursday, bans the use of "foreign clothing" — including the hijab, or head covering worn by Muslim women.
Instead, Tajikistan citizens are encouraged to wear Tajik national dress.
Those violating the law are set to be fined on a scale ranging from 7,920 Tajikistani somoni (almost €700) for ordinary citizens, 54,000 somoni (€4,694) for government officials and 57,600 somoni (about €5,000) if they are a religious figure.
Similar laws passed earlier this month affect several religious practices, such as the centuries-old tradition known in Tajikistan as "iydgardak," in which children go door-to-door to collect pocket money on Eid holidays.
The decision was seen as surprising, as the central Asian country of some 10 million is 96% Muslim, according to the last census in 2020.
Yet, it is a reflection of the political line that the government has been pursuing since 1997.
In Tajikistan, the government of president-for-life Emomali Rahmon has had its sights set on what they describe as extremism for a long time.
Opposition party declared a terrorist group
After a peace deal to end a five-year civil war in 1997, Rahmon — who has been in power since 1994 — first found a way to coexist with the opposition Tajikistan Islamic Resurrection Party (TIRP), which was granted a series of concessions.
According to the UN-brokered agreement, representatives of the pro-Sharia TIRP would share 30% of the government, and TIRP was recognised as the first post-Soviet political party in Central Asia founded on Islamic values.
However, Rahmon managed to push out TIRP from power despite the party becoming more secular over time. In 2015, he then managed to shut down TIRP altogether, designating it a terrorist organisation after the party allegedly took part in the failed coup attempt in which General Abdulhalim Nazarzoda, a key government bureaucrat, lost his life.
Meanwhile, he turned his attention to what his government described as "extremist" influences among the citizens.
After first banning the hijab in public institutions, including universities and government buildings, in 2009, the regime in Dushanbe pushed for a number of formal and informal rules meant to prevent neighbouring countries from exerting influence but also strengthen its control over the country.
While there are no legal restrictions on beards in Tajikistan, multiple reports state that law enforcement has forcibly shaved men sporting bushy beards, seen as a potential sign of someone's extremist religious views.
The Law on Parental Responsibility, which entered into force in 2011, penalises parents who send their children to religious education abroad, while according to the same law, those under 18 are banned from entering places of worship without permission.
Turning mosques into tea houses
A 2017 statement by the Tajikistan Religious Affairs Committee said that 1,938 mosques were closed down in just one year, and places of worship were converted into tea shops and medical centres, for example.
The latest set of laws was said to have been spurred by the deadly Crocus City Hall attack in Moscow in April. Four of the attackers captured by Russian law enforcement — said to be part of the Khorasan branch of the so-called Islamic State, or ISIS-K — had Tajikistan passports, according to Russian authorities.
President Rahmon, who said he aimed to make Tajikistan "democratic, sovereign, law-based and secular" — quoting the opening line of the 2016 Constitution — advised the people to "Love God with (their) heart".
"Do not forget your own culture," he stated.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) designated Tajikistan a "country of special concern" in its 2023 report.
Where else is the hijab banned?
In Europe, the hijab has been a point of contention in a number of countries.
Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders — whose party recently formed a government after scoring an unprecedented win in the general election — has long proposed a ban on hijab as part of a much larger set of anti-Islam measures, including a ban on the Muslim holy book, the Quran, and any non-western immigration.
In 2004, France introduced legislation prohibiting wearing "symbols or clothes through which students conspicuously display their religious affiliation," including the hijab, in public primary schools, middle schools, and secondary schools, but not its universities.
A similar law was passed in Austria in 2017, banning headscarves in schools for children up to 10 years of age, with parents facing potential fines of €440 if they chose to send their kids to school wearing a hijab regardless.
Italy has banned the hijab-like swimsuit, also known as the "burkini", from its pools and beaches since 2009. Several cases of women being fined or prohibited from swimming or sunbathing in public have caused turmoil in recent years, particularly in the country's north.
In addition, Germany, Belgium, Norway and Bulgaria all have laws prohibiting the use of face-covering garments, known as burqas, in schools or public institutions.
Opponents of such laws maintain that banning the hijab, in secular countries in particular, is a slippery slope that might see Europe's Muslim communities disenfranchised down the line.
Some on both sides of the argument claim this is a women's rights issue: while those opposing the hijab and the burqa say they restrict a woman's choice of how to dress, others who are against the ban believe that women should also have the right to choose to wear either if they feel it's a part of their identity.
In 2013, the UK Conservative government of David Cameron rejected the calls to ban the burqa in public, stating that "women should have the freedom to choose what to wear".
In Ireland, then-Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also rejected the possibility of a ban on burqas in 2018, saying, "I don't agree with the doctrine of every religion or necessarily any religion, but I do believe in the freedom of religion."
Several Muslim-majority countries have banned the burqa and hijab in public schools, universities, or government buildings, including Tunisia (since 1981, partially lifted in 2011), Kosovo (since 2009), Azerbaijan (since 2010), Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
https://www.euronews.com/2024/06/24/why-did-muslim-majority-tajikistan-ban-the-hijab
CAIR – June 21, 2024
CAIR Condemns Ban on Hijab, Islamic Clothing in Tajikistan
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, has condemned the passage of a bill in Tajikistan that would ban the Islamic headscarf, or hijab, and other Islamic clothing.
“Banning the hijab is a violation of religious freedom and such bans on religious attire should have no place in any nation that respects the rights of its people,” said CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor. “We condemn this draconian, repressive law and urge the Tajik government to reverse this decision.”
He noted that CAIR previously condemned the proposal to ban the hijab in Tajikistan.
CAIR sees Tajikistan’s ban on Hijab as latest example of global Islamophobia.
https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-condemns-ban-on-hijab-islamic-clothing-in-tajikistan/
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