UN General Assembly debates call for end to Israeli occupation

A general view shows the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP)
A general view shows the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 19 September 2024
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UN General Assembly debates call for end to Israeli occupation

A general view shows the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP)
  • The text is based around an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice calling Israel’s occupation since 1967 “unlawful”

UNITED NATIONS, United States: UN member states debated Tuesday a push by the Palestinians to formally demand an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories within 12 months.
The text, which has faced fierce criticism from Israel, is based around an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice calling Israel’s occupation since 1967 “unlawful.”
“Israel is under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible,” read the opinion, requested by the General Assembly.
In response, Arab countries called for a special session of the assembly just days before dozens of heads of state and government descend on the UN headquarters this month to address the kick off of this year’s General Assembly session.
“The idea is you want to use the pressure of the international community in the General Assembly and the pressure of the historic ruling by the ICJ to force Israel to change its behavior,” said Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour Monday, acknowledging the draft resolution had “shocked many countries.”
The draft resolution, due for a vote Wednesday at 11:00 am (1500 GMT), “demands that Israel brings to an end without delay its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” and that this be done “no later than 12 months from the adoption.”
The first draft text gave only six months.
Israel firmly rejected the resolution on Tuesday.
“We gather here to watch the Palestinians’ UN circus — a circus where evil is righteous, war is peace, murder is justified,” said Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon.
“How dare you continue this tradition of passing one-sided resolutions against Israel.”

The draft resolution — which would be non-binding — “demands” the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian territories, a halt to new settlements, the return of seized land and property, and the possibility of return for displaced Palestinians.
It also calls on states “to take steps toward ceasing” arms provisions to Israel when there are “reasonable grounds to suspect that they may be used in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
“The Palestinians want to live — not survive. They want to be safe in their homes,” said Mansour Tuesday, kicking off the debate on the first resolution ever introduced by the Palestinians.
“How many more Palestinians need to be killed before change finally takes place to stop this inhumanity?“
The ICJ opinion was “a historic opinion as this was the first time the court examined the Israeli occupation as a whole,” Mansour said.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield condemned the draft resolution as “inflammatory” and said it “is not going to advance the cause of peace.”
“It also fails to acknowledge, among other things, that Hamas, a terrorist organization, is currently exerting power, control and influence in Gaza,” Thomas-Greenfield added.
While the Security Council is largely paralyzed on the Gaza issue — with the United States repeatedly vetoing censures of its ally Israel — the General Assembly has adopted several texts in support of Palestinian civilians amid the current war.
In May the assembly overwhelmingly supported a largely symbolic resolution on full Palestinian membership of the UN, garnering 143 votes in favor, nine against with 25 abstentions.
The push had previously been vetoed by Washington at the Security Council.
The October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the current war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,252 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.
“We fight because we have no other choice yet, despite the cruelty we have faced, despite the unprecedented terror unleashed upon our people, this assembly remains silent,” Danon told the assembly meeting.
 

 


Hezbollah warns Israelis to stay away from army in residential areas

Hezbollah warns Israelis to stay away from army in residential areas
Updated 10 sec ago
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Hezbollah warns Israelis to stay away from army in residential areas

Hezbollah warns Israelis to stay away from army in residential areas
  • Israel has increased its strikes on Lebanon after almost a year of cross-border fire by Hezbollah
  • The escalation has killed more than 1,200 people and displaced around a million from their homes

BEIRUT, Lebanon: Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Friday warned Israelis to stay away from Israeli army sites in residential areas in the north of the country.
“The Israeli enemy army uses the homes” of Israelis in north Israel, and has military bases inside residential “neighborhoods in major occupied cities such as Haifa, Tiberias, Acre,” it said in a statement in Arabic and Hebrew.
It warned Israelis “from being near these military gatherings in order to preserve their lives.”
After almost a year of cross-border fire, Israel has increased its strikes on what it says are Lebanese militant group Hezbollah sites since September 23.
The escalation has killed more than 1,200 people and displaced around a million from their homes.
Hezbollah has repeatedly announced it has fired rockets at areas in northern Israel.


UAE authorities to probe citizen for violating Lebanon travel ban

UAE authorities to probe citizen for violating Lebanon travel ban
Updated 13 min 25 sec ago
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UAE authorities to probe citizen for violating Lebanon travel ban

UAE authorities to probe citizen for violating Lebanon travel ban
  • The citizen had traveled to Lebanon with his family via another country

ABU DHABI: UAE attorney-general Hamad Said Al-Shamsi ordered an immediate investigation into a UAE national who violated the country’s travel ban to Lebanon, state news agency WAM reported on Friday.
The citizen had traveled to Lebanon with his family via another country, overcoming the travel restrictions placed from the UAE.
He will be investigated for endangering his family’s safety amid the escalating violence in Lebanon, WAM said.
“The Attorney-General emphasized the importance of adhering to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ travel advisories, which are designed to protect UAE citizens from potential dangers in certain regions,” read the statement.
Violators will be subject to fines and/or imprisonment according to the UAE Penal Code, warned Al-Shamsi.

Israel has intensified its bombardment on Lebanon, a year after it exchanged almost daily cross-border fire with the militant group Hezbollah since the war in Gaza started last October.

The international community has called for a ceasefire to prevent the outbreak of a wider war in the region.


Israel observes Yom Kippur amid firestorm over Lebanon strikes

An armed man talks to another ahead of evening prayers during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in Tel Aviv on October 11, 2024.
An armed man talks to another ahead of evening prayers during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in Tel Aviv on October 11, 2024.
Updated 12 October 2024
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Israel observes Yom Kippur amid firestorm over Lebanon strikes

An armed man talks to another ahead of evening prayers during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in Tel Aviv on October 11, 2024.
  • Israel’s military campaign has wrought devastation on Gaza and, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, killed 42,126 people, mostly civilians

JERUSALEM: Israel observed Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, on Saturday amid a firestorm of international criticism over its military offensive in Lebanon and its soldiers firing on peacekeepers.
As the holy day got under way Friday from sundown, Israel faced diplomatic backlash over what it acknowledged was a “hit” earlier in the day on a United Nations peacekeeping position in Lebanon.
Two Sri Lankan peacekeepers were hurt in the second such incident in two days, the UNIFIL mission said Friday.
The military said Israeli soldiers had responded with fire to “an immediate threat” around 50 meters (yards) from the UNIFIL post.
As Israel faced a chorus of condemnation from UN chief Antonio Guterres and Western allies, the military pledged to carry out a “thorough review.”
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah meanwhile warned Israelis to stay away from Israeli army sites in residential areas in the north of the country, alleging the military “uses the homes” of locals and has military bases in residential neighborhoods.
Hezbollah has repeatedly announced it has fired rockets at areas in northern Israel.

The UNIFIL peacekeepers have found themselves on the frontline of the Israel-Hezbollah war, which has killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.
The latest incident came a day after two Indonesian soldiers were hurt when, according to UNIFIL, tank fire hit a watchtower.
Sean Clancy, the Irish military’s chief of staff, said he did not believe Israel’s explanation of Friday’s incident.
“So from a military perspective, this is not an accidental act,” said Clancy, whose country has troops in UNIFIL.
Guterres condemned the firing as “intolerable” and “a violation of international humanitarian law,” while the British government said it was “appalled” by reports of the wounded.
US President Joe Biden said Friday he was “absolutely” asking Israel to stop firing at UN peacekeepers, while the French, Spanish and Italian leaders issued a joint statement expressing “outrage.”
French President Emmanuel Macron renewed his call for an end to exports of weapons used by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, while saying the UN peacekeepers had been “deliberately targeted.”
The incidents came more than two weeks into Israel’s war with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has seen Israeli warplanes conduct extensive strikes since September 23 on the militants’ strongholds, with multiple civilian areas hit, and ground troops deployed across the border.

Israeli and Hezbollah forces fought along the border on Friday, with Israeli air strikes reported in the south and east of Lebanon.
It marked a tense start to Yom Kippur. From sundown on Friday until nightfall on Saturday, Israeli markets are closed, flights stopped and public transport halted as observant Jews fast and pray on the Day of Atonement.
Diplomatic efforts to negotiate an end to the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza have so far failed, but Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said his government would ask the UN Security Council to issue a new resolution calling for a “full and immediate ceasefire.”
Leaders from nine European countries around the Mediterranean Sea on Friday also called for an end to fighting in Lebanon, as well as Gaza.
Mikati said that only the Lebanese military and peacekeepers should be deployed in the south of the country — the essence of existing Security Council Resolution 1701 — and “Hezbollah is in agreement on this issue.”
US special envoy Amos Hochstein said the United States was working “non-stop” toward a ceasefire.
“We want the whole conflict to end,” he told Lebanese television channel LBC from Washington.
Lebanon’s military said an Israeli strike on one of its positions in south Lebanon killed two of its soldiers on Friday.
Hezbollah is heavily armed and controls large swathes of Lebanon, and successive Lebanese governments have failed to subdue it.
The movement also fought Israeli troops during Israel’s last invasion in 2006.

In Beirut, residents of a central area of the capital targeted by twin Israeli air strikes on Thursday night salvaged their possessions and cleared rubble from the devastated streets.
“There are a lot of families living here,” said Bilal Othman, who explained that many people had sought shelter there from southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, which has been pummelled by Israeli raids since last month.
“Do they want to tell us there is no safe place left in this country?” he said.
The Israeli strikes apparently targeted Hezbollah’s security chief Wafiq Safa, a source close to Hezbollah told AFP.
Lebanon’s health ministry said the strikes killed 22 people and wounded more than 100.
Safa was close to Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike on south Beirut last month.

Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, following the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.
Israel’s military campaign has wrought devastation on Gaza and, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, killed 42,126 people, mostly civilians.
Late Friday, Gaza’s civil defense agency reported 30 people killed in Israeli strikes on Jabalia, north Gaza.
The co-head of a Japanese atomic bomb survivor group awarded the Nobel Peace Prize said the situation for children in Gaza reminded him of the plight of survivors after World War II.
“It’s like in Japan 80 years ago,” Toshiyuki Mimaki said in Tokyo.
 

 


Hezbollah warns Israelis to stay away from army in residential areas

A young boy uses binoculars to watch the port of Haifa from a lookout on October 11, 2024. (AFP)
A young boy uses binoculars to watch the port of Haifa from a lookout on October 11, 2024. (AFP)
Updated 12 October 2024
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Hezbollah warns Israelis to stay away from army in residential areas

A young boy uses binoculars to watch the port of Haifa from a lookout on October 11, 2024. (AFP)
  • After almost a year of cross-border fire, Israel has increased its strikes on what it says are Lebanese militant group Hezbollah sites since September 23

BEIRUT, Lebanon: Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Friday warned Israelis to stay away from Israeli army sites in residential areas in the north of the country.
“The Israeli enemy army uses the homes” of Israelis in north Israel, and has military bases inside residential “neighborhoods in major occupied cities such as Haifa, Tiberias, Acre,” it said in a statement in Arabic and Hebrew.
It warned Israelis “from being near these military gatherings in order to preserve their lives.”
After almost a year of cross-border fire, Israel has increased its strikes on what it says are Lebanese militant group Hezbollah sites since September 23.
The escalation has killed more than 1,200 people and displaced around a million from their homes.
Hezbollah has repeatedly announced it has fired rockets at areas in northern Israel.
 

 


Many Palestinian camps in Lebanon ‘empty after Israeli strikes’

UNIFIL vehicles drive in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel. (Reuters)
UNIFIL vehicles drive in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel. (Reuters)
Updated 12 October 2024
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Many Palestinian camps in Lebanon ‘empty after Israeli strikes’

UNIFIL vehicles drive in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel. (Reuters)
  • Israel has ramped up strikes across southern Lebanon and on Beirut’s once-densely populated southern suburbs

BEIRUT: Most Palestinian refugees living in camps in southern Lebanon or near Beirut have fled following escalating Israeli strikes, the head of the UN agency on Palestine refugees said on Friday, drawing parallels with mass displacement in Gaza.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said that the agency continued to provide services to the most vulnerable left behind — and that repeatedly fleeing was sadly “part of the history” of Palestinians. “Now, that’s part, unfortunately, of the plight, but if you compare it with what happened also in Gaza recently, you might have heard me describing how people are constantly being moved like pinballs. And one of the fears is that we replicate a situation similar to the one we have seen until now in Gaza,” he said.
Israel has ramped up strikes across southern Lebanon and on Beirut’s once-densely populated southern suburbs over the last three weeks, issuing evacuation warnings for more than 100 towns in southern Lebanon and neighborhoods near the capital.
They include evacuation warnings and strikes on the Burj Al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut’s southern suburbs and the Rashidiyeh Palestinian refugee camp near the south coastal city of Tyre. Many of the Palestinians who arrived in Lebanon after Israel’s creation in 1948, and their descendants, were living in 12 refugee camps around the country, which hosted about 174,000 Palestinian refugees.
Israeli leaders have accused UNRWA staff of collaborating with Hamas militants in Gaza, leading many donors to suspend funding.
The UN launched an investigation into Israel’s accusations and dismissed nine staff.
In July, the Israeli parliament gave preliminary approval to a bill that would declare UNRWA a “terrorist organization.”
Asked about the move, Lazzarini said the agency “has never, ever been as much under assault and attack.”
“A year ago, it was primarily a financial existential threat, but today it’s a combination of a political and financial threat. 2025 will be, again, a difficult year,” he said. He said he would have more clarity early next year on whether the US would resume funding.