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Biden acknowledges ‘pain’ of Arab Americans over war in Gaza

Biden acknowledges ‘pain’ of Arab Americans over war in Gaza
Joe Biden on Friday acknowledged "the pain being felt" by many Arab Americans over the war in Gaza and over U.S. support of Israel and its military offensive that has left Arabs, Muslims and anti-war activists angry and disappointed. (AFP/File)
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Updated 29 March 2024
Reuters
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Biden acknowledges ‘pain’ of Arab Americans over war in Gaza

Biden acknowledges ‘pain’ of Arab Americans over war in Gaza
  • Many Muslims and Arabs in the United States have urged the Democratic president to call for a permanent ceasefire
  • “We must also pause to reflect on the pain being felt by so many in the Arab American community with the war in Gaza,” Biden said
Updated 29 March 2024
Reuters
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WASHINGTON: Joe Biden on Friday acknowledged “the pain being felt” by many Arab Americans over the war in Gaza and over US support of Israel and its military offensive that has left Arabs, Muslims and anti-war activists angry and disappointed.
Many Muslims and Arabs in the United States have urged the Democratic president to call for a permanent ceasefire, stop the sale of weapons to Israel and use more leverage to protect civilian lives as a humanitarian crisis unfolds in Gaza.
“We must also pause to reflect on the pain being felt by so many in the Arab American community with the war in Gaza,” Biden said in a proclamation on Arab American Heritage Month released by the White House, adding he was “devastated” by the suffering.
However, hours after Biden’s Friday statement, the Washington Post reported that his government had signed off on additional bombs and warplanes for Israel in recent days worth billions of dollars.
Israel is the leading recipient of US foreign aid, and the US vetoed multiple votes at the United Nations calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza assault, before abstaining from a vote in late March.
The Biden administration has issued proclamations since 2021 ahead of April, which is observed as Arab American Heritage Month. This year’s proclamation was longer than previous ones due to Biden’s comments on Gaza.
Protests demanding a ceasefire in Gaza have occurred in many US cities in recent months, including near airports and bridges in New York City and Los Angeles, vigils outside the White House and marches in Washington.
Demonstrators have regularly interrupted Biden’s campaign events and speeches, including a high profile fundraiser in New York City on Thursday.
They have asked Biden to meet their demands or risk losing their support in November’s election. Arab and Muslim Americans are unlikely to back Biden’s rival, Republican former President Donald Trump, but observers note they could sit out the election and deny Biden crucial votes. They had overwhelmingly supported Biden in 2020.
Biden said on Friday he was working to increase humanitarian aid into Gaza, free hostages taken by Hamas and establish an immediate ceasefire lasting at least six weeks.
Biden also said Arab Americans have been a target of hate crimes while noting the fatal October stabbing of 6-year-old Palestinian American Wadea Al-Fayoume in Illinois, the November shooting of three students of Palestinian descent in Vermont, and the February stabbing of a Palestinian American man in Texas.
Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s subsequent military assault on Hamas-governed Gaza has killed over 32,000 people, according to the local health ministry, displaced nearly all of its 2.3 million population, put the enclave on the brink of starvation and led to accusations of genocide that Israel denies.

Topics: War on Gaza US President Joe Biden Arab Americans Israel Palestinians

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Zelensky denies troops surrounded in Kursk as Russia retakes villages

Zelensky denies troops surrounded in Kursk as Russia retakes villages
Updated 3 sec ago
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Zelensky denies troops surrounded in Kursk as Russia retakes villages

Zelensky denies troops surrounded in Kursk as Russia retakes villages
Updated 3 sec ago
Zelensky has acknowledged that the situation in the Kursk area is “very difficult” for Ukraine
“There is no encirclement of out troops,” he said

KYIV: Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky denied Saturday his troops were encircled in Russia’s Kursk region, where Moscow has regained swathes of land this week, as Russia said it took back two more villages in the border region.
US leader Donald Trump had a day earlier asked Russia’s Vladimir Putin on social media to spare the lives of Ukrainian troops that he said were “completely surrounded” by the Russian army.
Moscow has pushed this week to retake a large part of the land that Ukraine originally captured in its western Kursk region last summer.
Zelensky has acknowledged that the situation in the Kursk area is “very difficult” for Ukraine, but contradicted Trump’s comments.
“There is no encirclement of out troops,” he said on social media, adding that: “Our troops continue to hold back Russian and North Korean groupings in the Kursk region.”
Kyiv had hoped to use the Russian territories as a bargaining chip in any negotiations to end the more than three-year conflict.
The UK on Saturday hosted a virtual summit on how to protect any ceasefire in Ukraine, but Zelensky warned that Moscow was intent on “prolonging the war” and “ignoring diplomacy.”
He also accused Moscow of amassing troops on the border with “an intention to attack our Sumy region” — attacked by Moscow at the start of its 2022 invasion but since spared the worst of the fighting seen in other eastern regions.
Putin had this week not committed to an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine proposed by the US, instead putting forward conditions and raising “serious questions” about the idea.
The Kremlin has hailed its troops ousting Ukrainian forces from swathes of the Kursk region, with Moscow on Saturday releasing images of a destroyed center in Sudzha — the main town occupied by Ukrainian forces for months.
The Russian defense ministry said troops took control over the villages of Zaoleshenka and Rubanshchina — north and west of Sudzha.
Sudzha was home to around 6,000 people before fighting began and Ukraine had set up a military administration there after its shock August 2024 incursion.
The Russian defense ministry’s footage showed heavily destroyed houses and shops, with rubble and broken glass on the streets, and some Russian flags flying.
The acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexander Khinstein, said Russia had evacuated 275 civilians from areas it had regained since Wednesday.
Khinstein said “174 of the residents are now in temporary accommodation” and that the “work of evacuating our residents is continuing.”
The Kremlin has hailed the Kursk operations as a major success.
Responding to Trump’s call to spare Ukrainian troops in Kursk region, Putin said Friday:
“If they lay down their arms and surrender, they will be guaranteed life and dignified treatment.”
Russia’s defense ministry also said that military engineers were working to clear the areas that were held by Ukraine.
Russia had also deployed almost 200 firefighters to help put out a fire at an oil depot caused by a Ukraine drone strike in the southern Krasnodar region, authorities said.
The governor of the Krasnodar region Veniamin Kondratyev said in the early hours of Saturday that a petrol reserve station in the Black Sea city of Tuapse was “attacked by the Kyiv regime.”
Elsewhere on the front, Zelensky claimed the situation around the eastern city of Pokrovsk — which Russian troops have tried to capture for months — had “stabilized.”
Ukrainian officials also said the number of wounded from a Russian strike a day earlier on Zelensky’s hometown Kryvy Rig rose to 14.
Moscow has targeted the central city throughout its invasion and Kyiv said Friday it struck a residential area of Kryvy Rig, destroying large apartment buildings.
Ukrainian prosecutors said the wounded children were a two-year-old and a 15-year-old.

Italy sees surge in migrant crossings despite PM’s tough stance

Italy sees surge in migrant crossings despite PM’s tough stance
Updated 15 March 2025
Arab News
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Italy sees surge in migrant crossings despite PM’s tough stance

Italy sees surge in migrant crossings despite PM’s tough stance
  • Country sees 40% rise driven by Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, despite numbers elsewhere in Europe dropping 
  • Italy struck deals last year with authorities in Libya, Tunisia to halt Mediterranean crossings
Updated 15 March 2025
Arab News

London: Italy has experienced a sharp rise in the number of migrants arriving illegally this year, damaging Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s reputation for being tough on migration, The Times reported.

While Europe broadly has seen numbers of migrants decline, Italy saw an increase of 40 percent despite Meloni’s government striking deals last year with authorities in Libya and Tunisia to halt Mediterranean crossings, which initially led to a 58 percent drop.

The number of migrants reaching Italy so far this year is 8,232, up from 5,912 in the same period in 2024.

The increase has been driven by a 68 percent rise from Libya, facilitated by hundreds of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis arriving in the North African country to make the journey to Europe.

So far this year, 3,195 Bangladeshis and 1,247 Pakistanis have crossed into Europe, with more than half traveling to Italy.

Frontex, the EU’s border force, said labor deals between Libya and Bangladesh were making the journey easier for migrants.

It added that overall, there had been a drop in people reaching Europe of around 25 percent, including to Greece, Spain and the Balkans. The total number to reach Europe so far this year stands at around 25,000. The number of crossings from France to the UK, meanwhile, is down 28 percent.

Frontex said traffickers are using faster boats with more engines to avoid the Italian Coast Guard, with migrants paying up to €8,000 ($8,737) for the crossing.

“Smugglers are using them to get people quickly out of Libyan waters, avoiding patrols in the early stages,” a Frontex spokesman said.

“In January alone, nearly 30 of these types of boats carrying nearly 1,500 people were detected.” 

Topics: Italy migrants

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Ghosts of fast fashion: Has colonialism ruined Bangladesh’s luxury fabric trade?

Ghosts of fast fashion: Has colonialism ruined Bangladesh’s luxury fabric trade?
Updated 15 March 2025
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Ghosts of fast fashion: Has colonialism ruined Bangladesh’s luxury fabric trade?

Ghosts of fast fashion: Has colonialism ruined Bangladesh’s luxury fabric trade?
  • Dhaka was the global center of muslin and fine handloom weaving until British colonial rule
  • Top model and designer Bibi Russell spearheads a movement to revive Bangladeshi textile art
Updated 15 March 2025
SHEHAB SUMON

DHAKA: Now a hub of cheap, mass-produced clothing for global brands, Bangladesh was for centuries known as the opposite — a center of coveted luxury textiles. The European appeal of these fine fabrics in the late 18th century marked the beginning of the industry’s decline, ultimately leading to its eventual erasure.

Historically, eastern Bengal — now Bangladesh — was renowned for its master weavers of silk and cotton textiles and particularly for muslin, a lightweight fabric crafted from extremely fine handspun yarns.

Dhaka became the center of muslin weaving in the early 17th century when the fabric became popular on the Indian subcontinent under the Mughal Empire. It dominated the global market for 200 years.

“Dhaka muslin was a symbol of tradition and royal nobility in this land. It was celebrated for its magnificent design and exceptional craftsmanship, earning worldwide acclaim. So fine was its weaving that an entire muslin sari could easily pass through a finger ring,” said Mohammad Ayub Ali, head of the muslin revival project at the Bangladesh Handloom Board, which works to preserve classical Bengali weaving techniques.

“Traders from various European countries, including England, the Netherlands, Portugal and Greece, were actively engaged in the muslin trade.”

This flourishing market was, however, soon overshadowed by colonial influence. Bengal’s textile industry began to wither after the British East India Company conquered the region in the mid-18th century, took control of the industry and exploited it beyond its limits.

In his 1772 work “Considerations on India Affairs,” merchant William Bolts of the British East India Company describes weavers being forcibly taken from their workplaces to produce textiles at English factories. Some resorted to self-mutilation — cutting of their own thumbs — in a desperate attempt to escape forced labor.

Another devastating blow to the native industry came with the tariffs imposed by the British colonial rulers, as England entered the Industrial Revolution and itself began mass-producing fabrics.

“The British rulers suppressed our local cotton producers and muslin weavers to create a favorable market for (their) textiles. Cheap textiles started to pour into our markets ... In the middle of the 19th century, muslin production in Dhaka was completely stopped,” Ali said.

“We were forced to import British clothes ... We once had 100 percent local input in cotton production, weaving and the expertise required to create world-class garments. But now, we only produce ready-made clothing as tailors.”

Bangladesh is the second-largest exporter of ready-made garments in the world, after China, producing large volumes quickly and cheaply. Around 4 million people are employed in factories, where unsafe working conditions, frequent deadly accidents and monthly wages that rarely exceed $120 regularly make headlines in both local and international press.

There is a direct link between the exploitative sector and colonial legacy.

“The colonizers systematically dismantled our thriving artisan economy ... The destruction of that heritage was not just about economics; it was about erasing a culture of excellence and self-reliance,” top Bangladeshi model and celebrated designer Bibi Russell, renowned for her efforts to revive her homeland’s textile art, told Arab News.

“While Bangladesh has become one of the largest exporters of ready-made garments in the world, we must ask ourselves at what cost. The fast fashion industry has created millions of jobs, but it has also perpetuated a system where workers are often undervalued, artisans are sidelined, and our natural resources are exploited. In many ways, it reflects a continuation of the exploitative systems of the past, where the value of human skill and creativity is sacrificed for profit.”

Bibi Russell speaks to Bangladeshi TV in December 2024. (Bibi Russell)

Russell is an advocate of the growing defashion movement, which calls for a shift away from the disposable culture of fast fashion — including its overconsumption, environmental degradation and the exploitation of workers in countries where labor laws and wages are poor.

She believes such a change is possible as the world is waking up and the global fashion landscape is changing, with consumers becoming more conscious of sustainability and ethical practices.

“Bangladesh has an incredible opportunity to lead this change ... Our history shows that we are resilient, and I see an opportunity to reclaim our legacy as a hub of quality and innovation, not just quantity,” she said.

“By investing in our craftspeople and celebrating their work, we can create an industry that uplifts rather than exploits, honors rather than erases ... This is our moment to rewrite the narrative — not as victims of a colonial legacy, but as innovators and creators.”

Topics: Bangladesh

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Thailand says assured of Uyghurs’ safety after US visa bans

Thailand says assured of Uyghurs’ safety after US visa bans
Updated 15 March 2025
AFP
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Thailand says assured of Uyghurs’ safety after US visa bans

Thailand says assured of Uyghurs’ safety after US visa bans
  • Thailand on Saturday responded to a United States visa ban on officials from the kingdom involved in deporting dozens of Uyghurs back to China, saying it had “received assurances” of their safety
Updated 15 March 2025
AFP

BANGKOK: Thailand on Saturday responded to a United States visa ban on officials from the kingdom involved in deporting dozens of Uyghurs back to China, saying it had “received assurances” of their safety.
The Thai government has suffered intense criticism from around the world for its decision to hand over at least 40 Uyghurs, who were flown by special plane to China’s northwestern Xinjiang region in late February.
The Uyghurs had spent years languishing in Thai detention facilities after fleeing China more than a decade ago.
On Friday US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced visa restrictions on an unspecified number of former or current officials from Thailand involved in the deportation.
Thailand’s foreign affairs ministry said in a statement on Saturday it noted the US decision adding it had “received assurances from the Government of China concerning the safety of the Uyghurs.”
It said Thailand “will continue to follow up on the well-being of this group.”
Thailand is the oldest US ally in Asia but maintains friendly relations with Beijing.
“Thailand has always and will continue to value the long-standing and close treaty alliance with the United States,” the statement said.
The United States accuses China of genocide over its mass camps for Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim minority in the northwestern Xinjiang region.
China rejects the accusations and says it is providing vocational education to improve Uyghurs’ future.

Topics: Thailand Uyghurs

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Zelensky denies Ukrainian troops encircled in Russia's Kursk region

Zelensky denies Ukrainian troops encircled in Russia's Kursk region
Updated 15 March 2025
AFP
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Zelensky denies Ukrainian troops encircled in Russia's Kursk region

Zelensky denies Ukrainian troops encircled in Russia's Kursk region
  • Zelenskiy says Kursk operation ongoing, Ukrainian troops not encircled
Updated 15 March 2025
AFP

KYIV: Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky denied Saturday any “encirclement” of his troops by Moscow’s forces in Russia’s Kursk region, a day after US President Donald Trump made the claim.
“There is no encirclement of our troops,” Zelensky said on social media, adding: “Our troops continue to hold back Russian and North Korean groupings in the Kursk region.”

Ukraine said Saturday it had downed 130 Russian-launched drones across the country at night, as international efforts to end the three-year war intensify.
Kyiv’s air force said the Iranian-made Shahed drones were downed over 14 regions and that Moscow had also attacked with two ballistic missiles.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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