3-7-2024 Compilation

Al Jazeera – March 7, 2024

Gaza ceasefire talks end in Cairo with ‘no substantial answer or solution’

Hamas says its delegation has left Egypt but talks on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will continue next week until an agreement is reached with Israel, whom the Palestinian group says has “thwarted” mediators’ attempts to broker a deal before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

“Hamas’s delegation left Cairo this morning for consultation with the leadership of the movement, with negotiations and efforts continuing to stop the aggression, return the displaced and bring in relief aid to our people,” a Hamas statement said on Thursday.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Israel had been “thwarting” efforts to conclude a ceasefire mediated by Qatar and Egypt during four days of talks in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

Abu Zuhri said Israel was rejecting Hamas’s demands to end its offensive in the enclave, withdraw its forces, and ensure freedom of entry for aid and the return of displaced people.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Israel did not send a delegation to these recent negotiations, during which representatives from Hamas, Qatar and Egypt tried this week to secure a 40-day ceasefire in time for Ramadan, which begins early next week.

The agreement would see captives being held by Hamas and other Palestinian groups in Gaza be exchanged for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

Reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said: “This round of talks has concluded with no substantial answer or solution for [a] ceasefire or pause in the fighting.”

“It is worth mentioning that the Israelis themselves chose not to send their own delegation to Cairo for this round of talks because they were hoping to receive a list of names of all of the captives who are alive and currently being held in Gaza,” Salhut said.

Hamas said meeting this Israeli demand is impossible without a ceasefire because captives are scattered across the warzone. According to Salhut, there were reports indicating there would be another round of talks next week.

At least 1,139 people were killed and about 250 captives were taken in Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7. More than 100 captives were released during a weeklong ceasefire in November.

Hamas pledged to continue the negotiations, but officials in the Palestinian armed group said a ceasefire must be in place before captives are freed, Israeli forces must leave Gaza and all Gaza residents must be able to return to the homes they have fled.

Despite earlier comments that the negotiations were at an impasse, the United States said on Wednesday that a truce was still possible.

“We continue to believe that obstacles are not insurmountable and a deal can be reached, … so we’re going to continue to push for one,” US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller said in Washington, DC.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said the number of Palestinians confirmed killed in Israel’s war has surpassed 30,800. It reported 83 deaths within the latest 24-hour reporting period alone, and witnesses said Israeli bombardments continued in Khan Younis and Rafah in southern Gaza as well as in areas in central part of the strip.

Reporting from Rafah, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said on Thursday that Israel has returned 47 bodies that had been taken from a graveyard near Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis when its military stormed the compound last month.

The decomposed remains were buried in Tal as-Sultan in the western part of Rafah.

“This is a tragedy for the people who have already lost so much, and the desecration of graveyards and bodies is a violation under international law,” Mahmoud reported.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/7/gaza-ceasefire-talks-end-in-cairo-with-no-substantial-answer-or-solution

Shykh Sulaiman Ahmad – March 6, 2024

Hamas provide ceasefire proposal

1. Ceasefire in Gaza one week before the start of the implementation of the deal.

2. Clear Israeli acknowledgment of withdrawal from Gaza with international guarantees to achieve this withdrawal.

3. No humanitarian truce, but rather a cessation of aggression on Gaza.

4. Freedom of movement in Gaza and allowing all displaced persons to return to their homes and areas without any conditions.

5. From the first day of implementing the deal, aid is allowed to enter all areas of Gaza without segmenting it into security squares.

6. After the first week of the ceasefire in Gaza, the exchange process begins, with Hamas not objecting to it being in installments and with international guarantees that Israel will not violate these agreements.

7. Absolute rejection of allowing any released detainee outside Palestinian territories, and each is released in their own region.

8. Release of all detainees from the Shalit deal who were re-arrested as a breach of the deal, numbering 57 detainees without being part of the deal.

9. Detainees from inside Israel and Jerusalem are an essential part of the deal, and we do not accept an Israeli veto on this criterion.

10. Hamas and the resistance factions will provide the names of the first batch of Israeli captives 48 hours before the exchange execution, without pre-arranged lists for the number of captives and bodies, as the counting process will take more time if the war stops.

11. Hamas, for the first time, presented a list of names to be the first batch for the exchange process, and it was determined as follows:

a. 160 detainees with high and old sentences, starting with the following names:

- Marwan Barghouti

- Ahmed Sa'adat

- Abdullah Barghouti

- Ibrahim Hamed

- Abbas al-Sayed

and the rest of the names in the list according to precedence and judgment without regard to faction or geography.

b. All women, regardless of their sentences, faction, or geography.

c. All patients, regardless of their sentence, age, or identity, and this clause is titled Prisoner Walid Daqqa.

d. Elderly individuals, with the definition of elderly being sixty and above according to international standards.

e. All children and minors, regardless of their sentence or identity, with the age limit defined as 18 and below according to international standards.

After completing the first batch, we move on to the second batch amidst a comprehensive agreement to cease fire and achieve the complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip and the opening of all crossings to allow all aid to reach the people of the Strip without Israeli control, and without achieving this, we will not proceed to the rest of the batches, which include bodies.”

https://twitter.com/ShaykhSulaiman/status/1765551989360882048

AFP – March 6, 2024

China calls war in Gaza 'a disgrace to civilization'

China described the war in Gaza as a "disgrace to civilisation" and called on Thursday for an immediate ceasefire as the conflict stretched into its sixth month despite efforts by mediators to reach a truce.

US President Joe Biden has urged Hamas to accept a ceasefire plan with Israel before the Muslim fasting month begins, which could be as early as Sunday depending on the sighting of the crescent moon.

However, mediators in Egypt have struggled to overcome tough obstacles in their attempts to negotiate a pause, while the United Nations has warned that famine looms for Palestinians trapped by the fighting.

"It is a tragedy for humankind and a disgrace for civilisation that today, in the 21st century, this humanitarian disaster cannot be stopped," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a news conference in Beijing.

China, historically sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, has been calling for a ceasefire since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.

"The international community must act urgently, making an immediate ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities an overriding priority, and ensuring humanitarian relief an urgent moral responsibility," Wang said.

The war has reduced vast stretches of Gaza to a wasteland of gutted buildings and rubble and sparked a humanitarian disaster for its 2.4 million people.

- 'Catastrophic' hunger levels -

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Wednesday that 20 people have died of malnutrition and dehydration, at least half of them children.

Only limited aid has reached Gaza's north, where the UN's World Food Programme has warned that hunger has reached "catastrophic levels" in northern Gaza, where aid has been limited.

"Children are dying of hunger-related diseases and suffering severe levels of malnutrition," the WFP said.

According to Gaza's health ministry, one of the latest victims was a 15-year-old girl who died at Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital.

Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said "the famine in northern Gaza has reached lethal levels" and could claim thousands of lives unless Gaza receives more aid and medical supplies.

Gazans were waiting to collect bags of flour outside a UN refugee agency office in the southern city of Rafah, now home to nearly 1.5 million Palestinians, most of them displaced by the war.

"The flour they provide is not enough," said displaced man Muhammad Abu Odeh. "They do not provide us with sugar or anything else except flour."

In Khan Yunis, southern Gaza's largest city, dozens of people went to inspect their homes and take what belongings they could recover after Israeli forces pulled out of the city centre, an AFP correspondent said.

The army has yet to respond to an AFP request to confirm such a withdrawal.

- Ramadan tensions -

The war began after Hamas launched the October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in about 1,160 deaths, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

The militants also took around 250 hostages. Israel believes 99 of them remain alive in Gaza and that 31 have died.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 30,717 people, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to push on with the campaign to destroy Hamas, before or after any truce deal.

Biden called on Hamas on Tuesday to accept a truce plan brokered by US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators, saying "it's in the hands of Hamas right now".

The proposed deal would pause fighting for "at least six weeks", see the "release of sick, wounded, elderly and women hostages" and allow for "a surge of humanitarian assistance", the White House said.

One known sticking point centres on an Israeli demand for Hamas to provide a list of hostages still being held, a task Hamas says it is unable to complete while Israeli bombing continues.

The Palestinian Islamist group said in a statement it had "shown the required flexibility with the aim of reaching an agreement", insisting on a complete halt to the fighting.

Violence has flared in past years during Ramadan in annexed east Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound -- Islam's third-holiest site and Judaism's most sacred, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Hamas has urged Muslims to flock there in great numbers, as they do every year, while some Israeli far-right politicians have urged restrictions.

Israel has said Muslims will initially be allowed into the site "in similar numbers" as in recent years, followed by a weekly "situation assessment".

- 'Widespread starvation' -

Jordanian, US and other planes have repeatedly airdropped food into Gaza but WFP deputy chief Carl Skau said "airdrops are a last resort and will not avert famine".

South Africa petitioned the International Court of Justice on Wednesday to impose more emergency measures against Israel over what it described as "widespread starvation" in Gaza.

British Foreign Minister David Cameron also pressed Israel on Wednesday to increase the flow of aid into Gaza.

More than 100 people were reported killed in bloody chaos last week when thousands of people swarmed aid trucks. Gaza officials blamed the deaths on Israeli gunfire, while the army insisted most were trampled or run over.

Another truck convoy was diverted by Israeli troops within Gaza late on Tuesday and then stopped by "a large crowd of desperate people who looted the food", the WFP said.

Israel, which has recalled its UN envoy in a sign of growing tensions, said the UN Security Council should "designate Hamas immediately as a terrorist organisation" and impose sanctions on it.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/chinese-fm-blasts-us-suppression-042335741.html

World Socialist Web Site – March 6, 2024

Hunger and starvation intensifying in Gaza

Mike Head

Despite massive global protests after last Thursday’s “flour massacre,” in which Israeli troops killed at least 115 people and wounded 760 more trying to get food aid, the genocide is escalating. Hunger and starvation are worsening every day in the Gaza Strip.

Among the latest reports, Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Sunday that 15 children had died of malnutrition in a single hospital, the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza in recent days.

“The unofficial numbers can unfortunately be expected to be higher,” World Health Organisation spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said.

Reuters reported from Al-Awda health centre in Rafah, southern Gaza: “Two Palestinian toddlers with sunken eyes and emaciated faces, one in a yellow cardigan and the other in a stripy top, were lying side by side on a bed in a Gaza clinic, their thin, bony legs protruding from diapers that looked too big for them.”

Nurse Diaa Al-Shaer said children suffering from malnutrition and from a range of diseases were arriving in unprecedented numbers.

A 12-year-old boy, Yazan Al-Kafarna, died there on Monday. Filmed by Reuters on Saturday, he was pale and emaciated, with skeletal limbs.

According to United Nations estimates, at least 576,000 people in Gaza—roughly 25 percent of the Strip’s population—are now experiencing true famine, and one in every six children under the age of two in Gaza City and the Strip’s northern areas is severely malnourished.

This is forcing Palestinians to make shocking decisions like eating animal feed in order to survive.

David North, the national chairman of the Socialist Equality Party (US) announced today the selection of Joe Kishore and Jerry White as its candidates in the 2024 presidential election campaign.

Regardless of the fraudulent claims of humanitarian concern by the Biden administration and US imperialism’s allies, they are continuing to help block aid supplies from reaching desperate Palestinians, while arming Israel with the weapons it is using to murder and maim.

The UN’s World Food Program today said the Israeli army had returned a convoy of 14 aid trucks after the vehicles waited for three hours at a checkpoint in Wadi Gaza. The convoy was the first of its kind since deliveries to the northern Gaza Strip were suspended on February 20, the UN agency said.

Israel has blocked aid into northern Gaza for most of 2024 and frequently attacked aid seekers who attempted to receive what little aid does make it to Gaza Strip’s north.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said its initial investigations into the “flour massacre” at the Nabulsi roundabout west of Gaza City found that dozens of victims suffered gunshot wounds, rather than being run over or crushed, in contrast to what the Israeli army claimed.

At a media conference held at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza on Sunday, Dr. Amjad Aliwa, an emergency specialist at the hospital, said he was present with doctors and nurses and thousands of civilians, when the Israeli army opened heavy fire on everyone waiting to receive aid as soon as the trucks arrived on Thursday at 4:00 a.m.

What happened constituted a horrifying massacre, Aliwa said, adding that it was difficult to recover many of the wounded, whose fate were still unknown.

Euro-Med Monitor, a Geneva-based human rights organisation, warned that the Israeli shooting of starving Palestinian civilians receiving aid had become a regular practice. In recent weeks, Israeli forces had directly attacked and killed dozens of people in Gaza City, including on Salah al-Din Street and in the vicinity of the Kuwait roundabout.

This is part of an intensifying operation to depopulate the north and drive people into Rafah, into the already overcrowded refugee encampments in Gaza’s southern tip, in preparation for a full-scale Israeli military assault there as well.

Despite the enormous and growing needs of the more than 2.3 million people living in appalling conditions, humanitarian supplies that entered the Gaza Strip in February fell by half compared to January, Euro-Med Monitor said in a statement.

February saw an average of just 98 trucks enter the Gaza Strip each day, which was roughly half the number of trucks that entered in January. That was just a fraction of the 500 trucks a day before the events of October 7, 2023.

Euro-Med Monitor explained that the needs of Gaza’s people now exceeded even that previous supply because Israel had destroyed or cut off all sources of production, including fuel, electricity and raw materials. The five months of carnage and the rapid spread of disease and famine also had produced more medical needs than ever before, particularly for the sick and injured, women, children and the elderly.

Addressing the UN General Assembly on Monday, Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), warned that the agency, created by the General Assembly 75 years ago in response to the driving of more than 700,000 Palestinians out of what is now Israel, was “at a breaking point.”

That was because more than 15 countries—including the US and its allies—had continued to suspend funding to the relief agency after Israel alleged, without providing evidence, that some of its employees were involved in the October 7 uprising. Lazzarini warned that UNRWA was facing “a deliberate and concerted campaign to undermine its operations and ultimately end them.”

Lazzarini cited remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “openly stating that that UNRWA will not be part of post-war Gaza.” This plan was already underway, Lazzarini said, with “the destruction of our infrastructure across the Gaza Strip.”

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 30,631 Palestinians have been killed, and 72,042 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

In the latest such incident, Euro-Med Monitor documented the Israeli army’s killing of a Palestinian man who was deliberately run over in Gaza City’s Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood on February 29 after he was arrested. According to eyewitnesses, the man was subjected to harsh interrogation by members of the Israeli army, who bound his hands with plastic zip-tie handcuffs before running him over with a military vehicle from the bottom to the top of his body.

In an effort to suppress reporting of these systemic crimes, another journalist was killed in Gaza this week. “Journalist Mohamed Salama, broadcaster … on Al-Aqsa satellite channel … was killed in the bombing of a house in the city of Deir al-Balah,” Gaza’s Government Media Office said, bringing the number of journalists killed in Gaza to 133 since October 7.

So far, the Israeli aggression has resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly 2 million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority forced into Rafah near the border with Egypt. This is the largest mass expulsion of Palestinians since the 1948 Nakba, in which the Zionist militia and later the Israeli army forced more than 700,000 residents to flee their homes.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/03/06/ouno-m06.html

Countercurrent – March 6, 2024

Gazan Family Eat Bread for First Time in Months

By Dr. Marwan Asmar

Starving Palestinians who just arrived from northern Gaza to the south of Wadi Gaza eat bread for the first time in months. They had come from north Gaza to Wadi Gazi, just to the south of the Strip as reported by the Quds News Network.

“When did you out set out for here from the north,” one anonymous voice asked a group of people of mostly women and young children.

“We started out in the morning, till we got here,” one old man said.

https://twitter.com/heba_8308/status/1764923012048904657/photo/1

“God be with you,” said the voice and quickly changing his tune. “Bring more bread, bring more bread,” he shouted, asking the group, “how is the situation [up there]?”

“The situation is starvation, starvation, starvation,” the old man kept saying. He was echoing what everybody is saying that the northern region of Gaza is being deliberately starved by the Israeli army for months with no aid trucks allowed to enter the region.

Yazan Kafarneh, a child from Gaza that passed away today due to hunger imposed by Israel, after he became a skeleton ! pic.twitter.com/tgcqZAfsW5

— Omar Zaghloul ÚãÑ ÒÛáæá (@omarzaghloul82) March 4, 2024

The voice told an old woman to quench her thirst. “What is wrong,” the voiced added, “please tell me?”. He already knew there was neither food nor water up north in places like Gaza City, Atwam, Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoon.

He then asked “how many days since this lady has eaten bread?”

“About 20 days….” The old man replied.

“More,” she replied weakly but “it would have been better, if we hadn’t,” she added in reference to the other starving people she left behind.

A child in Gaza says they’ve resorted to eating dead pigeons and donkey food. Gaza is being starved and humans are being killed from starvation, from disease, from airstrikes, from heartbreak, from malnutrition, and in all inhumane ways possible. We need a ceasefire now. pic.twitter.com/6YTUxCKOcJ

— WearThePeace (@WearThePeaceCo) February 27, 2024

Despite Israeli instructions to move down south, about 700,000 stayed in the north but the Israeli army is blocking aid trucks from reaching them and is starving them in the process.

“Why are you, tearful,” the voice then asked.

“From the situation we are in…” replied the old man.

Another voice in the background says bring more bread.

Dr Marwan Asmar is a journalist from Amman, Jordan

https://countercurrents.org/2024/03/gazan-family-eat-bread-for-first-time-in-months/

The Conversation March 5, 2024

Ramadan finds greater recognition in America’s public schools

Published: March 21, 2023 8:42am EDT Updated: March 5, 2024 10:13pm ES

Ramadan – the Islamic month of fasting – is expected to begin at sunset on March 10, 2024. The likely first day of fasting will be Monday, March 11. Amaarah DeCuir, who researches Muslim student experiences, offers insights into how public schools can move toward greater recognition of the sacred Islamic month.

How many Muslim students are enrolled in public schools in the US?

There are 3.85 million Muslims in the United States. Of that number, 1.35 million are children.

Although this may only represent a small portion of public school students nationwide – and many Muslim children attend private Islamic schools – Muslim students are a part of a 60% majority of students in public schools who say that religion is important in their lives.

What are public schools legally obligated to do for Ramadan?

Federal law – specifically Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – protects all students from discrimination based on race, color or national origin. This includes students of any religion.

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In 2023, the U.S. Department of Education reissued guidance on constitutionally protected prayer and religious expression. This gave school leaders detailed information on federal protections for students who seek to practice their religion during the school day.

These guidelines help schools prepare adequate accommodations for Muslim students year-round. The guidance specifically mentions Ramadan stating Muslim students also have constitutional protections that permit them to pray during non-instructional time, as long as it doesn’t disturb other students.

What are the benefits when schools recognize Ramadan?

Research shows that students have a stronger sense of belonging, have better well-being and do better academically when they attend a school that fosters a positive environment that recognizes the diversity of the student body.

By contrast, students who experience discrimination and bias tend to suffer academically. High-quality, supportive school environments create excellent teaching and learning for all students.

What are specific ways that schools accommodate students who fast?

During Ramadan, Muslims abstain from food and drink during daylight hours. Muslim students who fast may request to sit away from the school cafeteria to avoid the sights and smells of food.

Alternate seating minimizes physical discomfort and supports other experiences like reading, quiet play or rest during lunchtime. Muslim students often prefer to sit in the library or a favorite classroom during their lunchtime, ideally with other Muslim students observing the fast.

Students who have not reached puberty, female students who are menstruating at the time and students who are ill or traveling are exempt from fasting during Ramadan.

How have Muslim students experienced Ramadan in public schools?

Although fasting does not prohibit studying and completing schoolwork, some fasting students may notice that they experience fatigue, headaches and daytime dehydration when fasting. Others notice increased energy and focus and better sleep.

Muslims begin abstaining from food and drink at dawn, typically one hour before sunrise. The exact time changes with the seasons and geographic location. During Ramadan 2024, which falls in March and April, fasting students may wake up as early as 5 a.m. to eat, drink and pray. By the end of the day, studies have shown that students may have less cognitive focus, in addition to fatigue and exhaustion.

Some Muslim students struggle with academic assessments and complicated tasks scheduled in the late afternoon during Ramadan. They may seek permission to take tests early in the school day when they are more alert and able to focus on complex tasks.

Muslim students break their fast at home or the mosque at sunset. After the meal, families may join nighttime community prayers at the local mosque, for about two hours. These traditions and routines limit students’ abilities to complete typical homework assignments and after-school activities. Some students opt to do homework early in the morning when they are more alert, but some after-school programs like athletics and clubs are not easily postponed. Schools can support Muslim students by modifying expectations for after-school engagement during Ramadan.

Does the Israel-Palestine conflict raise any particular concerns?

The U.S. Department of Education 2023 Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer and Religious Expression states that school officials are required to make accommodation “on the basis of requests.” But since Oct. 7, 2023, American Muslims have faced increased anti-Muslim bias and hate, creating a climate of fear that leads Muslims to hide their identity or censor their speech. A 2020 national survey found that 44.6% of Muslim young people were most likely to conceal their religious identity.

As educators prepare for Ramadan, they can advance inclusive practices that offer schoolwide accommodations to minimize the need to make requests that reveal students’ religious identity. Similar to universal design principles, educators can offer alternative lunch seating, low-intensity physical education and multiple assessment schedules to support any student who might be observing the fast.

What about doing physical education or sports during Ramadan?

Muslim students who have physical education classes during Ramadan may ask to avoid cardio-intensive activities when fasting to avoid exhaustion and dehydration. Instead, they may opt for moderate strength training with periods of rest.

Young Muslim athletes might not perform as well as they usually do at the start of Ramadan, until their bodies get used to fasting. Older student-athletes adjust their workout schedule during Ramadan to prepare for competitions. Muslim student-athletes rely upon coaches to adapt physical training during Ramadan.

How have college students recognized Ramadan on their campuses?

Muslim students in higher education have long traditions of hosting annual Fast-A-Thons to invite fellow students to fast in community with them for one day in Ramadan. Dating back to 2001 at the University of Tennessee, Muslim Student Associations, known as MSAs, continue to promote Fast-A-Thons to raise awareness of Ramadan and Muslims. Occasionally, groups fund-raise for social justice causes like local and global hunger. Today, many college campus MSAs invite other students to fast for a day and host events to enjoy the sunset meal together.

How many school districts close for the end-of-Ramadan festival?

By my count, at least 19 U.S. public school districts were closed in 2023 for Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that follows the month of Ramadan.

This now includes Watchung, New Jersey,Broward County, Florida, Hilliard, Ohio, and Stamford, Connecticut.

Eid ul Fitr this year is expected to be observed on Wednesday, April 10.

This is an updated version of an article originally published on March 21, 2023.

Vivian Lam, Associate Health and Biomedicine Editor

https://theconversation.com/ramadan-finds-greater-recognition-in-americas-public-schools-197845