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New backlash over Trump plan to move Palestinians out of Gaza

An idea floated by US President Donald Trump to move Gazans to Egypt or Jordan faced a renewed backlash Tuesday as hundreds of thousands of Gazans displaced by the Israel-Hamas war returned to their devastated neighbourhoods.A fragile ceasefire and hostage release deal took effect earlier this month, intended to end more than 15 months of war that began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.After the ceasefire came into force, Trump touted a plan to “clean out” the Gaza Strip, reiterating the idea on Monday as he called for Palestinians to move to “safer” locations such as Egypt or Jordan.The US president has repeatedly claimed credit for sealing the truce deal after months of fruitless negotiations.Trump invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House next Tuesday, the premier’s office said in a statement.”Prime Minister Netanyahu is the first foreign leader to be invited to the White House during US President Trump’s second term,” the statement said.Jordan, which has a tumultuous history with Palestinian movements, on Tuesday renewed its rejection of Trump’s proposal.”We emphasise that Jordan’s national security dictates that the Palestinians must remain on their land and that the Palestinian people must not be subjected to any kind of forced displacement whatsoever,” Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad Momani said.Qatar, which played a leading role in brokering the truce, said on Tuesday that it often did not see “eye to eye” with its allies, including the United States.”Our position has always been clear to the necessity of the Palestinian people receiving their rights, and that the two-state solution is the only path forward,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said.Following reports that Trump had spoken with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the weekend, Cairo said there had been no such phone call.”A senior official source denied what some media outlets reported about a phone call between the Egyptian and American presidents,” Egypt’s state information service said.On Monday, Trump reportedly said the pair had spoken, saying of Sisi: “I wish he would take some (Palestinians).”After Trump first floated the idea, Egypt rejected the forced displacement of Gazans, expressing its “continued support for the steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land”.- ‘No matter what’ -France, another US ally, said any forced displacement of Gazans would be “unacceptable”.It would also be a “destabilisation factor (for) our close allies Egypt and Jordan”, a French foreign ministry spokesman said.Moving Gaza’s 2.4 million people could be done “temporarily or could be long term”, Trump said on Saturday.Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he was working with the prime minister “to prepare an operational plan to ensure that President Trump’s vision is realised”.Smotrich, who opposed the ceasefire deal, did not provide any details on the purported plan.For Palestinians, any attempts to force them out of Gaza would evoke dark memories of what the Arab world calls the “Nakba”, or catastrophe — the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation in 1948.”We say to Trump and the whole world: we will not leave Palestine or Gaza, no matter what happens,” said displaced Gazan Rashad al-Naji.Almost all of the Gaza Strip’s inhabitants were displaced at least once during the war, which has levelled much of the Palestinian territory.The ceasefire hinges on the release during a first phase of 33 Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.On Monday, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said eight of the hostages due for release in the first phase are dead.Since the truce began on January 19, seven Israeli women have been freed, as have about 290 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.On Monday, after Hamas and Israel reached agreement on the release of six hostages this week, “more than 300,000 displaced” Gazans were able to return to the north, according to the Hamas government media office.”I’m happy to be back at my home,” said Saif Al-Din Qazaat, who returned to northern Gaza but had to sleep in a tent next to the ruins of his house.”I kept a fire burning all night near the kids to keep them warm… (they) slept peacefully despite the cold, but we don’t have enough blankets,” the 41-year-old told AFP.- Under the rubble -Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.During the attack, militants abducted 251 hostages. Eighty-seven remain in Gaza, including dozens Israel says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 47,317 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.”In terms of the death toll, yes, we do have confidence. But let’s not forget, the official death toll given by the ministry of health, is deaths accounted in morgues and in hospitals, so in official facilities,” World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier said on Tuesday.”As people go back to their houses, as they will start looking for their loved ones under the rubble, this casualty figure is expected to increase.”

New film explores radicalization from perspective of IS ‘Brides’

It has been 10 years since a teenage Shamima Begum and two friends secretly left Britain to marry Islamic State group fighters in Syria.Over the past decade Nadia Fall, a British theater director of Muslim heritage, has watched the polarizing and vitriolic debate about Begum’s infamous case, online radicalization, and who is to blame.”We kept thinking ‘well these are girls, these are children really, legally,'” said Fall, who began work on a film project with writer Suhayla El-Bushra.”The stories never really were (told) from their point of view.”The resulting new drama, “Brides,” which premiered at the US-based Sundance festival and is loosely inspired by their story, is an attempt to change that.As much a road movie about friendship as it is political, the film follows two fictional Muslim teenagers on their journey through Turkey, to Syria.”Brides” does not concern itself so much with what happens in Syria, but how and why the girls traveled there in the first place.Doe and Muna suffer racist bullying at school. They live in a neighborhood where graffiti scrawled on the wall says “Behead All Muslims.” Their parents are abusive, emotionally or physically.They convince each other that the men waiting for them in Syria will treat them with more respect than they experienced back home. “This is not an apologist film,” said Fall.But “teenage brains are hardwired to take risks,” and the girls “were duped” by shadowy online voices who falsely purported to represent Islam, she said.- ‘Empathize’ -The subject matter continues to be divisive.Last year, Begum lost a high-profile bid to appeal the stripping of her British citizenship.She was 15 years old when she travelled to Syria. Now 25, Begum has not been able to return from a refugee camp in northern Syria.Tabloid newspapers, who have consistently called Begum a “vile fanatic” who has “no place on our soil,” celebrated the latest court ruling.Rights groups argue that Begum should answer for any crimes in her home country.While the film’s characters are not specifically based on Begum, the influence is clear.Actress Safiyya Ingar grew up in London’s Hackney, “ten minutes from where those girls are from.”Co-star Ebada Hassan listened to a BBC podcast to study Begum’s infamous case.”I thought it was imperative to get a person’s point of view who’d been through that, instead of just using what I’ve seen in the media for this portrayal,” she said.”It was nice to hear her voice. I tried to empathize with her before filling these shoes. But, she added, “I’m not trying to pretend to be her — at all.”- ‘Monsters’ -Fall believes that young people including Begum have been treated differently by the UK government, legal system and media due to their faith and skin color.”We didn’t want to regurgitate stories about radicalization and so on. But we just thought it was our story to tell,” said Fall.Like most films at Sundance, the movie is up for sale to potential distributors.Fall believes the subject remains urgent, as the divisive forces that drove the girls’ terrible decisions are stronger than ever.”It’s not gone away, this idea of ‘us versus them’, ‘these people are different,’ and trying to exploit other people feeling marginalized,'” said Fall.”It doesn’t have to be Syria,” she warned.

Israel defies UN and vows to cut ties with UNRWA, with US blessing

Israel, backed by Washington, will cease contact with the UN’s Palestinian humanitarian relief agency UNRWA and any body acting on its behalf, its UN envoy said Tuesday, drawing condemnation from aid groups.Signaling a shift in the US position on the agency by the administration of President Donald Trump, a US envoy voiced support for the decision and called for a probe into Israeli claims UNRWA sites were used by Palestinian militant group Hamas.UNRWA’s offices and staff in Israel play a major role in the provision of healthcare and education to Palestinians, including those living in Gaza, devastated by 15 months of war with Israel.Fighting destroyed hospitals and sparked outbreaks of infectious disease, while hundreds of thousands of Gazans faced starvation conditions and have depended on food aid.The organization says it has brought in 60 percent of the food to have reached Gaza since the start of the war, which was ignited by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. But it has long clashed with Israeli officials, who have repeatedly accused it of undermining the country’s security. “The legislation concerning UNRWA activities in Israel will officially come into force in 48 hours on January 30… UNRWA must cease its operations and evacuate all premises it operates in Jerusalem,” the Israeli envoy, Danny Danon, told the UN Security Council.”The legislation forbids UNWRA from operating within the sovereign territory of the State of Israel, and forbids any contact between Israeli officials and UNWRA.”Israel remains committed to its commitments under international law.”Israeli orders for UNRWA to leave its offices in East Jerusalem prompted a strongly worded response from UN chief Antonio Guterres who demanded Israel “retract it.”His intervention sets up a possible showdown between authorities and UNRWA staff when the deadline expires Thursday.- ‘Jeopardizing’ peace -Israel claims that a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the deadly October 7, 2023 assault, and insists that other organizations can pick up the slack to provide essential services, aid and reconstruction — something the UN disputes.A series of probes, including one led by France’s former foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some “neutrality related issues” at UNRWA — but stressed Israel had not provided evidence for its chief allegations.The agency’s chief Philippe Lazzarini said UNRWA capacity “far exceeds that of any other entity.”He called Israel’s actions against UNRWA a “relentless assault… harming the lives and future of Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory.” But the United States threw its weight behind the move of its closest Middle East ally, accusing Lazzarini of overstating the impact of the decision.”The United States supports the implementation of this decision,” said Dorothy Shea, a United States representative to the UN.”UNRWA exaggerating the effects of the laws and suggesting that they will force (out) the entire humanitarian response is irresponsible and dangerous,” she said. “UNRWA is not and never has been the only option.”Under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden, Washington had supported UNRWA’s continuing its work — but withheld funding at the insistence of Congress.On Israeli claims that Hamas used UNRWA sites, which in Gaza include schools, clinics and depots, to hold hostages, Shea said “it is vital for a full and independent investigation to assess these very serious allegations.” The Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said only UNRWA and the Palestinian Authority could help his people.”Yet Israel is demanding that everyone forsake them and work around them, setting us all up for failure,” he said.Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.During the attack, militants took into Gaza 251 hostages. Eighty-seven remain in the territory, including dozens Israel says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 47,317 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.A ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas is now in place, intended to bring an end to the more than 15 months of war.

Israel frees nine Lebanon POWs, PM seeks release of nine more

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Tuesday that Israel had freed nine Lebanese prisoners under the terms of a more than six-week-old ceasefire and urged the release of another nine.Israeli forces had been due to withdraw from southern Lebanon by Sunday under the terms of the ceasefire agreement with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah but that deadline was extended until February 18.In a statement released on Tuesday, Mikati thanked the International Committee of the Red Cross for its role in the release of the nine prisoners of war freed by Israel so far.He also asked the ICRC to work for the release of “nine other Lebanese still held in Israel”.Mikati had already appealed to the United States on Sunday to use its influence with its ally to secure the release of Lebanese detained by Israel during the war.In a statement on Tuesday, the ICRC welcomed the release of the first batch of Lebanese prisoners.The ICRC “remains ready to fulfil its role as a neutral intermediary in facilitating the release, transfer and repatriation of individuals detained in connection with the conflict,” a spokesperson said.A source close to Hezbollah told AFP on Monday that seven of its fighters had been captured during the war.Israeli troops have also detained a number of Lebanese since Sunday who were attempting to return to their homes in the south without waiting for the army to complete its delayed withdrawal.Troops killed 24 returning residents on Sunday and another two on Monday, Lebanese authorities said.On Tuesday, Israeli fire wounded a Lebanese soldier who was deploying to the south in accordance with the ceasefire, along with three civilians, an army statement said.An Israeli air strike also wounded 14 people in the southern city of Nabatiyeh al-Fawqa on Tuesday, the Lebanese health ministry said.