EU fears Israeli-occupied West Bank becoming a ‘new Gaza’

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell speaks during a visit to the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt September 9, 2024. (REUTERS)
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell speaks during a visit to the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt September 9, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Updated 11 September 2024
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EU fears Israeli-occupied West Bank becoming a ‘new Gaza’

EU fears Israeli-occupied West Bank becoming a ‘new Gaza’
  • Borrell said Israel was opening “a new front... with a clear objective: to turn the West Bank into a new Gaza — in rising violence, delegitimising the Palestinian Authority and stimulating provocations to react forcefully”

CAIRO: The European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell warned on Tuesday that increased violence in the occupied West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war erupted meant it risked becoming “a new Gaza.”
Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967 and is separated from the Gaza Strip by Israeli territory, has flared alongside the war that began after Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
Borrell said Israel was opening “a new front... with a clear objective: to turn the West Bank into a new Gaza — in rising violence, delegitimising the Palestinian Authority and stimulating provocations to react forcefully.”
Israel was also “not shying away from saying to the face of the world that the only way to reach a peaceful settlement is to annex the West Bank and Gaza,” Borrell added at a ministerial meeting of the Arab League in Cairo.
He accused “radical members of the Israeli government” of trying to make it “impossible to create a future Palestinian state,” which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several cabinet members have painted as a threat to Israel.
Some Israeli ministers have recently called to increase military operations in the West Bank.
“Without action, the West Bank will become a new Gaza,” Borrell said.
“And Gaza will become a new West Bank, as settlers’ movements are preparing new settlements,” he told the meeting.
“The international community deplores, feels, and condemns, but finds it hard to act.”
Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank hit a record in 2023, according to Israeli rights group Yesh Din, and the European Union has said last year saw the most settlement building permits issued in decades.
Some 490,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, in settlements which are illegal under international law, alongside three million Palestinians.
Since the Gaza war began on October 7, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 662 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
At least 23 Israelis, including members of the security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks in the West Bank during the same period, Israeli officials say.
On Tuesday, Israel’s military said it was “highly likely” that its forces “unintentionally” shot dead a US-Turkish activist last week, during a protest in the West Bank against settlement expansion.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was killed on Friday in the town of Beita, the site of weekly demonstrations against Israeli settlements.

 


Prayers and applause: two sides of Jerusalem react to Iran missiles

Prayers and applause: two sides of Jerusalem react to Iran missiles
Updated 19 sec ago
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Prayers and applause: two sides of Jerusalem react to Iran missiles

Prayers and applause: two sides of Jerusalem react to Iran missiles

JERUSALEM: Depending on where you were in Jerusalem on Tuesday night, Iran’s missile attack on Israel provoked either fervent prayers or cries of joy.
Jewish prayers in an underground car park in west Jerusalem; expressions of joy in Palestinian districts in the Israeli-annexed east of the city.
When the air raid sirens wailed, hundreds of people in the central bus station in the west heeded the military’s calls and headed underground to take shelter.
Some of those who gathered in the car park read from religious texts as others stayed glued to their phones.
The dull sound of explosions came from above as Israeli air defenses intercepted incoming missiles fired from Iran.
Outside in the open, the dark sky was streaked with light trails from the east, amid the boom of blasts echoing over the Holy City.
In a shelter in Musrara district in west Jerusalem, residents called friends and relatives elsewhere in Israel to exchange news of what was happening.
One man who preferred not to be identified by name told AFP: “We can put things into perspective, but the kids can’t.”
He gave out sweets to young ones in the car park, “so they don’t have bad memories” of the situation.
Children were crying, however, and families continued to arrive amid the wave of alerts.
Some even expressed surprise as they had not heard of the threat, despite repeated warnings broadcast by the authorities for more than an hour.
On the other side of Jerusalem is the Palestinian quarter of Silwan in the east of the city, which Israel seized in the 1967 war and later annexed.
One resident told AFP of the reaction in Silwan when the warnings sounded.
“As soon as the Palestinians heard the first sirens, there were whistles and applause, and there were cries of ‘Allahu Akbar!’ (God is Greatest),” said one resident of the moment the streaks of fire appeared in the night sky.
She said people did not go to shelters because they don’t have any. Instead they went out into the streets or onto roofs to see what was happening.
Back in west Jerusalem, after the all clear, 17-year-old Alon returned to his small DIY shop.
“It’s been six months since I’ve heard the alert in Jerusalem,” he said of the first time Israel’s arch-enemy Iran attacked with drones and missiles on the night of April 13-14.
“I wasn’t afraid,” he added.


Iran warns against any direct military intervention in support of Israel

Iran warns against any direct military intervention in support of Israel
Updated 5 min 49 sec ago
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Iran warns against any direct military intervention in support of Israel

Iran warns against any direct military intervention in support of Israel

TEHRAN: Iran’s armed forces warned Wednesday against any direct military intervention in support of Israel in response to Iran’s missile attack.

“In the event of direct intervention by countries supporting the regime (Israel)... their centers and interests in the region will also face a powerful attack by the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the armed forces said in a statement quoted by Fars news agency.


Israel’s Netanyahu says ‘whoever attacks us, we attack them’

Israel’s Netanyahu says ‘whoever attacks us, we attack them’
Updated 12 min 43 sec ago
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Israel’s Netanyahu says ‘whoever attacks us, we attack them’

Israel’s Netanyahu says ‘whoever attacks us, we attack them’

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday called Iran’s massive missile attack on Israel “a big mistake” and vowed to make Tehran “pay for it.”

“Iran made a big mistake tonight and will pay for it,” said Netanyahu hours after the attack, and warned: “Whoever attacks us, we attack them.”


Iran calls on UN to prevent further escalation in Middle East tensions

Iran calls on UN to prevent further escalation in Middle East tensions
Updated 13 min 9 sec ago
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Iran calls on UN to prevent further escalation in Middle East tensions

Iran calls on UN to prevent further escalation in Middle East tensions
  • “Our defensive operation is in line with international law and the right to self defense ... we only targeted military and security facilities,” the foreign ministry said in its statement regarding the missile attack on Israel

DUBAI: Iran’s foreign ministry called on the United Nations Security Council to take “meaningful action” to prevent threats against regional peace and security, after Tehran launched a salvo of missiles against Israel on Tuesday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said the assault was in retaliation for recent Israeli killings of militant leaders and aggression in Gaza and Lebanon. Lebanese Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and Revolutionary Guards deputy Commander Abbas Nilforoushan were killed in Beirut last week.
“Our defensive operation is in line with international law and the right to self defense ... we only targeted military and security facilities,” the foreign ministry said in its statement regarding the missile attack on Israel.
In an earlier post on X, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran’s action was “in defense of Iranian interests and citizens,” adding that his country was not looking for war but would “firmly stand against any threat.”

 


Iraq reopens airspace after closure due to Iranian strikes on Israel

Two Iraqi flight controllers monitor air traffic from the tower of Baghdad International Airport. (AFP file photo)
Two Iraqi flight controllers monitor air traffic from the tower of Baghdad International Airport. (AFP file photo)
Updated 29 min 12 sec ago
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Iraq reopens airspace after closure due to Iranian strikes on Israel

Two Iraqi flight controllers monitor air traffic from the tower of Baghdad International Airport. (AFP file photo)

BAGHDAD, Iraq: CAIRO: Iraq’s transport ministry announced the reopening of Iraqi airspace to incoming and outgoing civilian flights at Iraqi airports, state media reported on Tuesday, after a brief closure due to Iranian strikes on Israel.