Tag: Gaza

  • Brown University reaches deal with student protesters

    Brown University reaches deal with student protesters

    Brown University on Tuesday reached an agreement with students protesting the genocide in Gaza that would see them remove their encampment from school grounds in exchange for the institution considering divesting from Israel.

    The move represents a first major concession from an elite American university amid student protests that have taken over campuses across the country, divided public opinion and led to hundreds of arrests.

    In a statement, Brown President Christina Paxson said students had agreed to end their protests and clear their camp by 5:00 pm local time Tuesday and “refrain from further actions that would violate Brown’s conduct code through the end of the academic year.”

    In turn, “five students will be invited to meet with five members of the Corporation of Brown University in May to present their arguments to divest Brown’s endowment from ‘companies enabling and profiting from the genocide in Gaza’.”

    The board will vote on the proposal in October.

    Student protesters jumped for joy upon hearing the news of the deal and chanted “with love not fear, divestment is getting near” before beginning to remove their tents.

    “We are ending (the encampment) knowing that we made a huge victory for divestment at Brown, for this international movement and a victory for the people of Palestine,” said Brown student Leo Corzo-Clark.

    The university, located in Providence, Rhode Island, “has come to the table to listen to our demands and to listen to its students and to consider divesting from war, divesting from death, divesting from occupation,” said Sam Theoharis, another student protester.

    In her statement, Paxson said “the devastation and loss of life in the Middle East has prompted many to call for meaningful change, while also raising real issues about how best to accomplish this.”

    But she added: “I have been concerned about the escalation in inflammatory rhetoric that we have seen recently, and the increase in tensions at campuses across the country.”

  • Palestinian prisoner in Israel wins top fiction prize

    Palestinian prisoner in Israel wins top fiction prize

    Palestinian writer Basim Khandaqji, jailed 20 years ago in Israel, won a prestigious prize for Arabic fiction on Sunday for his novel “A Mask, the Colour of the Sky”.

    The award of the 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction was announced at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.

    The prize was accepted on Khandaqji’s behalf by Rana Idriss, owner of Dar al-Adab, the book’s Lebanon-based publisher.

    Khandaqji was born in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Nablus in 1983, and wrote short stories until his arrest in 2004 at the age of 21.

    He was convicted and jailed on charges relating to a bombing in Tel Aviv, and completed his university education from inside jail via the internet.

    The mask in the novel’s title refers to the blue identity card that Nur, an archaeologist living in a refugee camp in Ramallah, finds in the pocket of an old coat belonging to an Israeli.

    Khandaqji’s book was chosen from 133 works submitted to the competition.

    Nabil Suleiman, who chaired the jury, said the novel “dissects a complex, bitter reality of family fragmentation, displacement, genocide, and racism”.

    Since being jailed Khandaqji has written poetry collections including “Rituals of the First Time” and “The Breath of a Nocturnal Poem”.

    He has also written three earlier novels.

    bur-srk/srm

    © Agence France-Presse

  • 37 million tonnes of debris in Gaza could take years to clear: UN

    37 million tonnes of debris in Gaza could take years to clear: UN

    There are some 37 million tonnes of debris to clear away in Gaza once the Israeli offensive is over, a senior official with the UN Mine Action Service said Friday (Apr 26).

    And unexploded ordnance buried in the rubble would complicate that work, said UNMAS’ Pehr Lodhammar, who has run mine programmes in countries such as Iraq.

    It was impossible to say how much of the ammunition fired in Gaza remained live, said Lodhammar.

    “We know that typically there is a failure rate of at least 10% of land service ammunition,” he told journalists in Geneva.

    “What we do know is that we estimated 37 million tonnes of debris, which is approximately 300 kilos of debris per square metre,” he added.

    Starting from a hypothetical number of 100 trucks, that would take 14 years to clear away, he said.

    Lodhammar was speaking as UNMAS launched its 2023 annual report Friday.

    The war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas erupted when the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on Oct 7.

    The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people in Israel, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

    Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas, and its ensuing military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 34,356 people, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

  • Baby girl born after pregnant mother martyred died

    Baby girl born after pregnant mother martyred died

    The daughter of a pregnant woman who was martyred in the Israeli attack at Rafah in the occupied Palestinian territory of Gaza, has also died.

    Last week, a pregnant woman, Sabrin Al-Sakini, her husband and three-year-old daughter were martyred as a result of the Israeli attack in the Rafah area of Gaza. The doctors saved the daughter of Sabrin Al-Sakini by performing an emergency operation and the new-born girl was named ‘Shaheed Sabreen’s daughter’.

    The doctors who took care of the baby girl said that the weight of the baby girl at the time of birth was 1.4 kg and that her condition was improving. However, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation, the newborn girl died yesterday and was buried next to her mother.

    More than 34,000 people have been martyred as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression in Gaza since October 7, 2023, including more than 14,000 children and more than 9,000 women.

  • Bridgerton actress Nicola Coughlan courageously stands up for Palestine

    Bridgerton actress Nicola Coughlan courageously stands up for Palestine

    Many people know Nicola Coughlan from shows like Bridgerton and Derry Girls. In a new interview with Teen Vogue, she openly showed her support for the Palestinian people who are facing a genocide in Gaza.

    “There’s a huge connection between Ireland and Palestine that maybe a lot of people aren’t aware of, and a shared history,” she explained. “To me it always becomes more about supporting innocent people. Are we supporting innocent people no matter where they’re from, who they are? That’s my drive.”

    Coughlan has been using her social media to talk about and raise money for the people in Gaza. She’s also been wearing a pin for Artists4Ceasefire. She’s not worried about having trouble getting acting jobs because of her political views. She feels good knowing that she’s using her influence to make the world better, so when she looks back on her life, she’ll know she did something good.
    “You might hear people say, ‘You won’t get jobs,’ ‘You won’t do well,’” admitted the Barbie actor. “But I believe if you know you’re standing up for innocent people, then I’m not scared of what others think.”

    Coughlan knows she has a big influence because she’s famous. “I’m lucky I’ve come this far in my career, especially as a white woman,” she said. Talking about being in the spotlight, she added, “I love my job, and I’m grateful I get to travel and meet amazing people. I feel like I need to give back because of this.”

    Even before she was on TV, Coughlan was involved in making the world better. “I supported different causes,” she remembered. “I campaigned for marriage equality and marched for abortion rights in Ireland. I’ve always cared about fairness and helping people.”
    With the first part of Bridgerton season three coming on May 16, Coughlan can focus on her successful TV career without worrying about being rejected because of her beliefs.

  • Student demonstrations against Gaza genocide take world by storm

    Student demonstrations against Gaza genocide take world by storm

    Anti-Zionist students in the US have taken to their campuses to call out the blatant atrocities being committed by Israel in the besieged strip and the West Bank, and asking the universities to divest from investing in Israel.

    The demonstrations have now expanded beyond US borders.

    French police broke up a pro-Palestinian protest by dozens of university students in Paris, officials said Thursday, as Israel’s bombardment of Gaza sparks a wave of anger across college campuses in the United States.

    AFP reports that according to witnesses, the protesters were demanding that Sciences Po university “cut its ties with universities and companies that are complicit in the genocide in Gaza” and “end the repression of pro-Palestinian voices on campus”.

    Similarly, students in Sydney, Australia, have also set up a camp at Sydney University and carried out demonstrations.

    Background:

    The mass protests started from Columbia University on April 17 which then spread across colleges and universities in America.

    The US has been openly supporting and financing Israeli genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. And while many people have lost their jobs and students have been expelled due to their support for Gaza, the demonstrations on university campuses are getting bigger by the day.

    Top universities such as Yale, NYU, and Columbia are facing heightened tensions as pro-Palestinian demonstrators are being arrested amid escalating conflicts between the two sides of the genocides.

    Columbia granted students protesters an extension to disassemble their encampments twice, citing ongoing negotiations aimed at resolving the tense situation. All classes will be conducted virtually on Monday due to mounting tension.

    On Monday, 60 individuals at Yale, including 47 student protesters, were arrested for trespassing after blocking traffic around the campus. Additionally, several protesters were also arrested at NYU.

    Other American colleges and universities with Gaza encampments include Emerson College, MIT, Tufts, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Brown, Rice, and more.

    It is a big moment in the midst of a genocide, a point in time where we all must decide to stand on the right side of history.

  • Malala reiterates Gaza support after criticism on collaboration with Hilary Clinton

    Malala reiterates Gaza support after criticism on collaboration with Hilary Clinton

    Education activist Malala Yousafzai has issued a statement on social media, reiterating her support for Palestine and calling out Israel for committing a genocide in Gaza.

    Earlier this week, she faced severe criticism, even from those who have always defended her, after it was revealed that she was partnering with former US First Lady Hilary Clinton, who has actively spoken against a ceasefire in Gaza.

    While Malala has issued a statement in support of Palestine now, her collaboration with a warmonger remains unaffected.

    As co-producers for a new Broadway production titled “Suffs,” they will mark their debut on the Broadway stage.

    “Suffs” is a musical that depicts the suffrage movement in the United States, chronicling the campaign for women’s right to vote from 1913 to 1920, culminating in the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

    The collaboration has become questionable for the Pakistani public in the light of on-going Israeli genocide in Gaza that is financed by the US and above all, supported by Hilary Clinton herself. And people are asking: what exactly is Malala thinking by doing this collaboration at this time.

  • Gaza photographer’s work wins World Press Photo of the Year

    Gaza photographer’s work wins World Press Photo of the Year

    Reuters photographer Mohammed Salem from Gaza won the prestigious 2024 World Press Photo of the Year award on Thursday for his image of a Palestinian woman cradling the body of her five-year-old niece in the besieged strip.

    The picture was taken on October 17, 2023, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where families were searching for relatives killed during Israeli bombing of the Palestinian enclave.

    Salem’s winning image portrays Inas Abu Maamar, 36, sobbing while holding Saly’s shrouded body in the hospital morgue.
    “Mohammed received the news of his WPP award with humility, saying that this is not a photo to celebrate but that he appreciates its recognition and the opportunity to publish it to a wider audience,” Reuters Global Editor for Pictures and Video, Rickey Rogers, said at a ceremony in Amsterdam.

    “He hopes with this award that the world will become even more conscious of the human impact of war, especially on children,” Rogers said, standing in front of the photo at the Nieuwe Kerk in the Dutch capital.

    Announcing its annual awards, the Amsterdam-based World Press Photo Foundation said it was important to recognise the dangers facing journalists covering conflicts.

    It said 99 journalists and media employees had been killed covering the war Israel has unleashed on Gaza.

    “The work of press and documentary photographers around the world is often done at high risk,” said Joumana El Zein Khoury, the organisation’s executive director.

    “This past year, the death toll in Gaza pushed the number of journalists killed to a near-record high. It is important to recognise the trauma they have experienced to show the world the humanitarian impact of the war.”

    Salem, a Palestinian aged 39, has worked for Reuters since 2003. He also won an award in the 2010 World Press Photo competition.
    The jury said Salem’s 2024 winning image was “composed with care and respect, offering at once a metaphorical and literal glimpse into unimaginable loss.”

    “I felt the picture sums up the broader sense of what was happening in the Gaza Strip,” Salem said when the image was first published in November.

    “People were confused, running from one place to another, anxious to know the fate of their loved ones, and this woman caught my eye as she was holding the body of the little girl and refused to let go.”

  • Google fires 28 workers protesting contracts with Israel

    Google fires 28 workers protesting contracts with Israel

    New York, United States – Google fired 28 employees following a sit-down protest over the tech giant’s contract with the Israeli government, a Google spokesperson said Thursday.

    The Tuesday demonstration was organized by the group “No Tech for Apartheid,” which has long opposed “Project Nimbus,” Google’s joint $1.2 billion contract with Amazon to provide cloud services to the government of Israel.

    Video of the demonstration showed police arresting Google workers in Sunnyvale, California, in the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s, according to a post by the advocacy group on X, formerly Twitter.

    Kurian’s office was occupied for 10 hours, the advocacy group said.

    Workers held signs including “Googlers against Genocide,” a reference to accusations surrounding Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

    “No Tech for Apartheid,” which also held protests in New York and Seattle, pointed to an April 12 Time magazine article reporting a draft contract of Google billing the Israeli Ministry of Defense more than $1 million for consulting services.

    A “small number” of employees “disrupted” a few Google locations, but the protests are “part of a longstanding campaign by a group of organizations and people who largely don’t work at Google,” a Google spokesperson said.

    “After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety,” the Google spokesperson said. “We have so far concluded individual investigations that resulted in the termination of employment for 28 employees, and will continue to investigate and take action as needed.”

    Israel is one of “numerous” governments for which Google provides cloud computing services, the Google spokesperson said.

    “This work is not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services,” the Google spokesperson said.

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    © Agence France-Presse

  • TIME magazine finally recognises Motaz Azaiza in top 100 influential figure list

    TIME magazine finally recognises Motaz Azaiza in top 100 influential figure list

    ‘TIME Magazine’ just released its yearly list of the top 100 most influential people worldwide, highlighting the individuals who’ve made big impacts on the global arena. One standout this year is Motaz Azaiza, famous for being one of the brave journalists exposing Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

    Motaz, a photo journalist from Gaza, got onto the TIME100 list after gathering a worldwide following who watched the genocide unfold through his camera lens.

    TIME described Motaz as the “World’s eyes and ears in his native Gaza”. The description continued to read, “Armed with a camera and a flak jacket marked ‘PRESS,’ the 25-year-old Palestinian photographer spent nearly four months documenting life under Israeli bombardment: families displaced from homes, women mourning loved ones, a man trapped beneath the rubble. His pictures showed what life is like in Gaza, which most international reporters can’t see because they’re not allowed in there. But doing this was dangerous. Since October 7, at least 95 journalists have been killed in Gaza. This is the deadliest time for journalists since 1992. Many more have been hurt or arrested. Motaz left Gaza in January. Now, he works to tell people about the crisis and asks for help from other countries.”