Five waiting for aid among 22 Palestinians killed in Gaza
Israeli evacuation order in central Gaza 'devastating' to aid efforts, says UN
Israeli army says it struck Houthi targets in Yemen's Hodeidah port
Hamas considering quitting ceasefire talks unless 'deal reached by end of week'
At least 58,895 Palestinians killed and 140,980 wounded since Gaza war began
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
an hour ago
- The National
The complex legacy of Srebrenica and why today's wars never seem to end
Earlier this month, the world commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide. The tears of the relatives of victims will not dry for as long as they live. What do they signify? A fundamental insight is that the past is always with us, and we fail to understand details at our peril. In Srebrenica's case, 19th-century Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman imperialism triggered unrest among subject Balkan populations. This was a factor in the First World War and led to a Serbian kingdom that was re-named Yugoslavia in 1929 and conquered by Nazi Germany in 1941. The successor postwar communist republic fell behind the Iron Curtain in 1945 and fragmented into six states in 1991. Thus, the Balkan states – like others elsewhere – have long formed and re-formed. The lesson for our 80-year-old United Nations age is that the sanctity of national boundaries is a recent innovation against history's repeated wars over land that has strong symbolic value everywhere. Nowadays, with 150 territorial disputes frozen, smouldering or raging worldwide, is it futile to find definitive solutions? Perhaps diplomats would be more effective, not by solving such disputes, but by getting nations to disagree in peace. The contrary winner-loser approach via international courts is usually unsuccessful, as with the many maritime disputes in the South China Sea. Furthermore, whatever the dispute, the political economy determines outcome. The relatively stable and prosperous Yugoslavia crumbled after disruption in the 1980s. The lesson for contested corners of the globe is that this is how states are made or broken. What about state structure? Like Yugoslavia, many federations have come and gone. The US and Switzerland are most successful. The Soviet Union was less so, and the Egypt-Syria-Libya and Singapore-Malaysia federations were short-lived. Several contemporary federated countries remain strife-ridden works in progress. When factors of economy and democracy are stripped out, neither federations nor unitary states (such as Afghanistan, Haiti and Lebanon) are superior in terms of stability. That is worth remembering when prescribing governance models for conflicted Myanmar, Iraq and Syria. What matters more is 'ethnicisation'. Genetic variations among humans do not result in biologically defined racial differences. But social, cultural and religious variety are easily manipulated. Yugoslavia illustrated how ambitious leaders instrumentalised the scant differences between Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosniaks. The lesson for outsiders is to beware the challenges of stretching such fault lines, as the European Commission (now Union) did by hurrying to recognise Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia, thereby entrenching their ethnic majorities. Germany – haunted by its past Nazi role in the Balkans – led the policy to stabilise post-Yugoslav turmoil through 'ethnic cantonisation'. That left multi-ethnic Bosnia and Herzegovina open to bitter warring in the early 1990s. Misdirected bombs and bullets wreak collateral damage among nearby innocents, weaponised language triggers wider horrendous psycho-social trauma transmitted down generations Colonial ethnicisation led to the 1994 Rwanda genocide that included a failed UN peacekeeping mission. No lessons were learnt as the Srebrenica massacre of nearly 8,400 Bosnian Muslims unfolded a year later, watched by a UN protection force. That genocides happen under public gaze and are rarely prevented is the sombre conclusion. The quest for justice in Srebrenica provides more lessons, the first obstacle for accountability being the recognition of a genocide. This was first determined by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 2004 and confirmed by the International Court of Justice in 2007. By then, the genocide was over. All genocides suffer the same slow reckoning, leaving survivors to get what comfort they can from subsequent commemorations. One reason for tardiness is that states prefer genocide determination to be left to international mechanisms, which take time to negotiate. That allows states to avoid inconvenient implications for foreign relations, although the Genocide Convention empowers them to judge genocide cases. Germany and France have boldly done so, but selective determinations are perceived as political, undermining the universal significance of the most egregious crimes against humanity. Meanwhile, criminal justice for genocide requires finding individuals guilty. That usually means leaders because genocide is generally an act of state or authority. Thus, guilty verdicts get misrepresented as symbolic shaming of a whole nation. This is evident now in rising global anti-Semitism because of Israeli war tactics. After the Srebrenica verdict, Serbian nationalists felt insulted. 'We are not a genocidal people' was a popular slogan. And so, denial became Serbian state policy, hampering collective healing. The country remains mired in citizen discontent with unresolved historical undercurrents, including the further 'ethnicised' loss of Kosovo in 2008. Bosnia and Herzegovina also remains a fractured land. The divisive legacy continues with the neighbouring Russia-Ukraine war, where many Serbians feel a cultural affinity with Russia while the EU supports Ukraine. Russian leaders have been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, while Russia invokes alleged Ukrainian collusion with Nazi genocidaires during the Second World War. The discomfiting conclusion is that genocides provide excuses for future bad behaviours. Srebrenica also left the world more divided, as indicated by the 2024 UN General Assembly vote that established July 11 as the day for commemorating the genocide. Just 84 states voted in favour while 68 abstained and 19 opposed. The horror that should have united the world has, instead, sanctioned toxic denialism. That is echoed in current controversy on whether or not Gazan suffering under Israeli attack constitutes genocide. The stark lesson for others seeking genocide-related redress – for example, Sudan's Darfuris, Iraq's Yazidis, Myanmar's Rohingya or Ethiopia's Tigrayans – is that adversarial western judicial traditions can trigger angry pushback rather than contrite 'never-again' pledges. Such justice may seed further conflict when remembrances give prominence to a predominant category of victim while overshadowing other suffering. As with those who also suffered – such as righteous non-Jews during the Holocaust, 'good' Serbs in Bosnia, Hutus in Rwanda, Buddhists in Myanmar or Arabs in Darfur. The paucity of Nelson Mandelas means that inclusive justice through truth and reconciliation is generally not favoured. Srebrenica's lessons are not static as each generation sees the past with new eyes including the significance of genocide. Especially in our era where wars are waged not only through drones and missiles but via words to demonise and dispirit opponents. The most potent verbal assaults deploy the language of genocide because the implicit moral censure is a powerful mobiliser of political narratives that continue in Central and Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, the brutalities that accompany modern conflict, be it sexual violence in Darfur or starvation in Gaza, mean that victims and observers struggle to find language adequate for their pain and outrage. And so, cries of genocide get more common, regardless of the strict criteria of the 1948 Genocide Convention. Invoking genocidal language by human rights violators and defenders alike is one reason why today's wars never appear to end. Because while misdirected bombs and bullets wreak collateral damage among nearby innocents, weaponised language triggers wider horrendous psycho-social trauma transmitted down generations. As the flowers laid during Srebrenica commemorations fade, their biggest message is that when there are no universal settled truths, or if narratives around the lived experiences of affected people are sharply contested, peace retreats further away.
Gulf Today
an hour ago
- Gulf Today
Access denied
Israel has refused to renew visas for the directors of three United Nations Agencies operating in Gaza where they provide aid and care for 2.3 million Palestinians. Visas have been denied to Jonathan Whittall who heads Palestine mission of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, and to Ajith Sunghay, the representative in Palestine for the organisation for Human Rights, OHCHR. UNRWA's commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini had already been barred from travelling to Gaza. UN Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher told the Security Council that the UN's mission is to provide aid, report on events witnessed by staff on the ground, and press for adherence to international law. He stated, 'Each time we report on what we see, we face threats of further reduced access to the civilians we are trying to serve. Nowhere today is the tension between our advocacy mandate and delivering aid greater than in Gaza.' He added, 'Visas are not renewed or reduced in duration by Israel, explicitly in response to our work on protection of civilians.' UNRWA has long been an Israeli target. Israel's Knesset adopted two laws last October which prohibited Israeli authorities from having contact with the agency and banned it from operating East Jerusalem. In November Israel began implementing these measures, claiming without providing evidence the agency has Hamas staff members who were involved in the Oct.7, 2023, attack when the movement killed 1,200 and abducted 250. In January, the agency's international staff in East Jerusalem were compelled to relocate to Amman in Jordan while local staff remained in place. If fully applied, the latest measures could violate the mandate of UNRWA, which was created in 1949 and in 1950 began providing shelter, food, medical care, education, and welfare services for most of the 750,000 Palestinians rendered stateless and homeless by the emergence of Israel by war in 1948. UNRWA currently cares for almost six million Palestinian refugees living in Israel, the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. Israel has called for the dissolution of UNRWA and for Palestinian refugees to settle in host countries, despite their objections. On the permanent settlement issue UNRWA was not only not mandated to care for the refugees but effect the ultimate resolution of the 'Palestinian refugee problem.' This was laid down in the General Assembly's December 1949 resolution 194, paragraph 11, which called for a return of Palestinian refugees to their homes as soon as 'practicable' and compensation for their losses. For Israel, return was never 'practicable' and compensation was refused. Consequently Palestinian refugees remain in limbo and UNRWA has become their quasi-state. The plan for a Jewish state in Palestine was adopted by General Assembly partition resolution 181 of November 1947. The Zionists welcomed the resolution which awarded 55 per cent of Palestine to a Jewish state and 45 per cent to an Arab (Palestinian) state and provided for international administration for Jerusalem. But the Zionists had no intention of abiding by the terms of the resolution. Once the Zionist pre-state army Haganah received a large consignment of weapons in March 1948, it began a coordinated offensive to conquer the whole of Palestine by attacking the areas allocated to the Arab state and Jerusalem. By May 14-15 when the British mandate expired and the Jewish state was proclaimed, the Israelis had already expelled 200,000 of the 750,000 Palestinians ultimately made homeless. The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq only intervened after mid-May and could not contain the Haganah which had seized 78 per cent of Palestine before the truce was signed in March 1950. Jordan assumed control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Egypt of Gaza. Alarmed by the Israeli onslaught, land grab, and flood of refugees, the UN appointed as mediator Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte, who was responsible for rescuing 15,000 people, many of them Jewish, from Nazi concentration camps during World War II. As he was critical of Israel's actions and put forward a peace plan rejected by the Zionists, Bernadotte was assassinated in September 1848 by the Israeli Stern Gang headed by Yitzak Shamir (who was prime minister in 1983-1984 and 1986-1992). The UN retaliated by adopting resolution 194 which Israel had no intention of respecting. From its creation 77 years ago until now, Israel has seen the UN as an organisation intent on frustrating its ambitions and depriving it of conquests although the UN has abided by its 1945 Charter, which bans the acquisition of territory by force. On Oct.29, 1956, Israel invaded and occupied Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and Gaza and on November 5th, Britain and France – which had plotted with Israel – attacked Egypt to topple President Gamal Abdel Nasser who had nationalised the Suez Canal. However, an angry US President Dwight Eisenhower ordered an end to the war and Israeli withdrawal from Egyptian territory. He had little choice, because the Suez war coincided with Russia's invasion of Hungary which had rebelled against Soviet rule. The UN responded to the conflict by establishing the UN Emergency Force (UNEF) force to stabilise the Israel-Egypt border. As tensions peaked between Egypt and Israel in May 1967, Cairo ordered UNEF to evacuate. This was partially completed when Israel launched its third war against the Arabs on June 5 during which Israel completed its conquest of Palestine by occupying East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. Israel conquered the Golan Heights of Syria and resumed its occupation of Sinai. In November 1967, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 242 which called for Israeli withdrawal from territory occupied that June. Israel ignored the resolution and built settlements. In October 1973, Egypt and Syria mounted the first Arab war against Israel by invading Sinai and the Golan. After Israel reconquered these territories, the Security Council passed resolutions 338, 339, and 340 calling for an end to the war and implementation of 242. Israel only pulled out of Sinai in 1979 after signing a peace treaty with Egypt. Israel evacuated its settlers and soldiers from Gaza in 2005 but retained control by air, land and sea. Israel invaded south Lebanon in 1978 to halt attacks from Palestinian forces and in 1982 occupied Lebanon from the southern border to Beirut. The UN called for total Israeli withdrawal. Israel pulled back to a wide border zone which it held until Hezbollah drove Israeli forces from the area in May 2000. If Israel had acted on UN resolutions, 18 years of violence could have been avoided. Photo: AP
Gulf Today
an hour ago
- Gulf Today
More than 100 aid, rights groups call for action as hunger spreads in Gaza
More than 100 largely aid and rights groups on Wednesday called for governments to take action as hunger spreads in Gaza, including by demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire and the lifting of all restrictions on the flow of humanitarian aid. In a statement signed by 111 organisations, including Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Refugees International, the groups warned that mass starvation was spreading across the enclave even as tons of food, clean water, medical supplies and other items sit untouched just outside Gaza as humanitarian organizations are blocked from accessing or delivering them. "As the Israeli government's siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families. With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes," the organisations said. "The Government of Israel's restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death." Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City on Wednesday. Reuters The organisations called for governments to demand that all bureaucratic and administrative restrictions be lifted, all land crossings be opened, access to everyone across Gaza to be ensured and for the rejection of military-controlled distribution and a restoration of a "principled, UN-led humanitarian response." "States must pursue concrete measures to end the siege, such as halting the transfer of weapons and ammunition." Israel, which controls all supplies entering Gaza, denies it is responsible for shortages of food. More than 800 people have been killed in recent weeks trying to reach food, mostly in mass shootings by Israeli soldiers posted near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centers. The foundation, backed by the United States, has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality. Israeli forces have killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians in airstrikes, shelling and shooting since launching their assault on Gaza. For the first time since the war began, Palestinian officials say dozens are now also dying of hunger. Gaza has seen its food stocks run out since Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March and then lifted that blockade in May with new measures it says are needed to prevent aid from being diverted to militant groups. The Norwegian Refugee Council told Reuters on Tuesday its aid stocks were completely depleted in Gaza, with some of its staff now starving, and the organisations accused Israel of paralysing its work. Reuters
