Released Palestinian Zakaria Zubeidi blames West for Israel’s occupation
Released Palestinian Zakaria Zubeidi blames West for Israel’s occupation/node/2588582/middle-east
Released Palestinian Zakaria Zubeidi blames West for Israel’s occupation
Released Palestinian prisoner and prominent former militant Zakaria Zubeidi talks to the media during a local reception ceremony in the West Bank city of Ramallah Friday. (AP)
Released Palestinian Zakaria Zubeidi blames West for Israel’s occupation
Zubeidi given hero’s welcome in Ramallah after being freed as part of Gaza ceasefire
Former militant commander says US, UK, France have denied Palestinians their freedom
Updated 01 February 2025
Arab News
LONDON: One of the most prominent Palestinian figures freed this week by Israel as part of the Gaza ceasefire has blamed Western countries for the Israeli occupation.
Zakaria Zubeidi, a former militant commander in the West Bank, received a hero’s welcome when he arrived in Ramallah late on Thursday after his release by Israel.
The 49-year-old, who grew up in a refugee camp in Jenin, was jailed in 2019 after an Israeli military court convicted him of involvement in terrorism.
In an interview with Sky News, Zubeidi said he still believed in “a resistance that will lead us to freedom,” but claimed that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank had been allowed to continue by the international community.
He added: “Freedom has no price. But the world that has denied me my freedom — particularly Britain, France, and the United States — must return what they have taken from me and my children.
“They are the ones who need to reconsider their mistakes, not me.
“They are the ones who have wronged us, and they should think about rectifying the harm they have caused to me and my children.”
Such is Zubeidi’s popularity that he was greeted by the former Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.
“Palestinians are desperate for peace,” Shtayyeh said. “We want a genuine peace process that does really bring peace and justice for everybody.”
A long line of people at a school in Ramallah also waited to shake Zubeidi’s hand and hug him.
Zubeidi has been banned from returning to Jenin, where Israeli forces have launched military operations after switching their focus from Gaza to the West Bank.
Zubeidi has admitted a role in a bombing attack in 2002 during the Second Intifada that killed six Israeli civilians.
During that period he was the head of the Jenin Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the military wing of the Fatah political party.
Zubeidi’s father was arrested by Israel for being a Fatah member when Zubeidi was a child. Later, as a teenager, he was shot in the leg while throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.
Zubeidi’s mother and brother were killed in 2002 during Israeli military operations in Jenin.
His mother had hosted a theater group in Jenin to promote understanding between Palestinians and Israelis, which Zubeidi attended.
He was among six prisoners who escaped in 2021 by digging a tunnel with dining plates, before being captured five days later.
’There is no blank check’: Syrian leader told to rein in militants
Updated 56 sec ago
“The abuses that have taken place in recent days are truly intolerable,” said French Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine In addition to the challenge of quelling sectarian violence, Sharaa must also contend with a host of foreign powers from the United States to Russia, Israel, Turkiye and Iran
DAMASCUS: Syrian Arab Republic’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa has a lot to prove to win over Western powers. If the first few weeks of his rule are anything to go by, he may be heading in the wrong direction. The West is watching Syria’s leaders closely to ensure they rein in the Islamist militants who killed hundreds of Alawites, create an inclusive government with effective institutions, maintain order in a country fractured by years of civil war and prevent a resurgence of Daesh or Al-Qaeda. To hammer home the message, three European envoys made clear in a March 11 meeting with Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shibani in Damascus that cracking down on the militant fighters was their top priority and that international support for the nascent administration could evaporate unless it took decisive action. The meeting has not previously been reported. “The abuses that have taken place in recent days are truly intolerable, and those responsible must be identified and condemned,” said French Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine, when asked about the message delivered in Damascus. “There is no blank check for the new authorities.” Reuters spoke to the three European envoys as well as four regional officials during a trip to Damascus. They all stressed that the authorities must get a grip on security across the country and prevent any repeat killings. “We asked for accountability. The punishment should go on those who committed the massacres. The security forces need to be cleaned up,” said one European envoy, who was among the group of officials who delivered the message. Washington has also called on Syria’s leaders to hold the perpetrators of the attacks to account. US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said they were monitoring the interim authority’s actions to determine US policy for Syria. The problem for Sharaa, however, is that his Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) group only comprises around 20,000 fighters, according to two assessments by Western governments. That makes him reliant on the tens of thousands of fighters from other groups — including the very hard-line militant factions he is being asked to combat – and moving against them could plunge Syria back into war, five diplomats and three analysts said. Thousands of Sunni Muslim foreigners, from countries including China, Albania, Russia and Pakistan, joined Syria’s rebels early in the civil war to fight against the rule of Bashar Assad and the Iran-backed Shiite militias who supported him, giving the conflict a sectarian overtone. One of the reasons Sharaa now depends on a relatively small force of some 20,000 fighters from several disparate groups, including the foreign militant, is because he dissolved the national army soon after taking power While the step was meant to draw a line under five decades of autocratic Assad family rule, diplomats and analysts said it echoed Washington’s decision to disband the Iraqi army after the fall of Saddam Hussein — and could lead to similar chaos. Sharaa’s move, along with mass dismissals of public sector workers, has deepened divisions in Syria and left hundreds of thousands without income, potentially pushing trained soldiers into insurgent groups or unemployment, worsening Syria’s instability, according to five European and Arab officials. Neither Sharaa’s office nor the Syrian foreign ministry responded to requests for comment for this story.
STUCK IN A PARADOX In addition to the challenge of quelling sectarian violence, Sharaa must also contend with a host of foreign powers from the United States to Russia, Israel, Turkiye and Iran — all turning Syria’s territory into a geopolitical chessboard. Turkiye holds the north, backing opposition forces while suppressing Kurdish ambitions. US-backed Kurdish-led forces control the east with its vital oil fields, while Israel capitalized on Assad’s fall to bolster its military foothold. It now controls a 400-square-km demilitarised buffer zone, supports the Druze minority and is opposed to the Syrian leadership. In response to the massacres of civilians, Sharaa has established an investigation committee and promised to punish those responsible, even those close to him. But any action against the militants who carried out the killings could ignite factional infighting, purges and power struggles — leaving the new government stuck in a paradox, the diplomats and analysts said. “Obviously Sharaa doesn’t control the foreign militants and does not call all the shots,” said Marwan Muasher, vice president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “What is clear is that the massacres were carried out by people who are Salafi militants, and are not listening to what he’s saying.” While diplomats recognize that the inquiry is a step in the right direction, they said its credibility would have been far stronger with UN and international observers. Ultimately, they said, the true test of Sharaa’s leadership lies not just in the commission’s findings but in how he deals with the fighters responsible for the atrocities. The massacres were, however, a stark reminder of the forces at play in post-Assad Syria, signalling a brutal reality that toppling a dictator is the beginning of a larger, more perilous battle to shape the country’s future. Abdulaziz Sager, founder of the Saudi-based Gulf Research Center, said the presence of “rogue groups” — the foreign militants — operating outside the law would lead to a collapse in security and undermine the state’s authority. “Therefore, the new leadership has no choice but to take firm action against such violations,” he said. An Arab diplomat said political support from Arab states was also not unlimited, and would need to be matched by concrete steps, including inclusive governance, protection of minorities and real progress on the ground. That means genuine power-sharing with Alawites, Christians, Kurds and other minorities — and only then can the new leadership stabilize Syria and garner US and European support, the Arab diplomat said. Washington and European states have tied the lifting of sanctions, imposed under Assad, to the new authorities proving their commitment to inclusive governance and the protection of minorities. Removing these sanctions is crucial to reviving Syria’s shattered economy, Sharaa’s most pressing challenge.
SAME PLAYBOOK? But despite promises of reform, the five-year constitution Sharaa unveiled this month gave him absolute power as president, prime minister, head of the armed forces and chief of national security, as well as granting him the authority to appoint judges, ministers and a third of parliament — dashing hopes for democratic reforms. The constitution also enshrines Islamic law as “the main source” of legislation. Critics argue that the constitution swaps autocracy for Islamist theocracy, deepening fears over Sharaa’s roots as the leader of a hard-line Islamist faction once allied with Al-Qaeda. Kurds, who control northeastern Syria and recently agreed to integrate with the new government, criticized the temporary constitution for “reproducing authoritarianism in a new form.” Syria’s dilemma, analysts say, mirrors the trials faced by Arab states a decade ago when, in 2011, a wave of uprisings ousted dictators in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen. The “Arab Spring” upheavals promised democratic revival, but takeovers by Islamists, military coups, and violent fragmentation turned these hopes into setbacks. The victories were short-lived, with states such as Yemen and Libya descending into violence and chaos. Syria, having endured a far longer and bloodier conflict, now stands at a similar crossroad. Analysts say if Syria’s rulers adopt exclusionary policies that ignore the cultural, religious, ethnic diversity of its citizens, they are bound to fail. In Mursi’s case, his divisive constitution failed to meet the people’s diverse demands and led to his toppling by the army. Such a policy in Syria, the analysts add, would fuel domestic resistance, antagonize neighbors, and prompt foreign intervention. “Some internal and external forces wanted a secular state, while the constitutional declaration reaffirmed the state’s religious-Islamic identity, stating that Islamic law (Sharia) would be the primary source of legislation,” said Sager. “A possible compromise could have been a model similar to Turkiye’s — a secular state governed by an Islamic party.” Muasher at the Carnegie Endowment said Assad’s fall should serve as a warning to those who replaced him in Syria. He said Sharaa must decide whether to adopt the same playbook that made Assad vulnerable and led to the mass Sunni uprising that eventually ousted him — or adopt a different course. “Syria’s new rulers must recognize that the brutal authoritarian model of the regime they replaced was ultimately unsustainable, as is any political system based on exclusion and iron-fisted rule,” Muasher said. “If they fall back on repression, they will subject Syria to a grim fate.”
Erdogan, who has repeatedly denounced the protests as “street terror,” stepped up his attacks on the opposition
In a possible shift in tactics, Ozel said the CHP was not calling for another nightly protest
Updated 14 min 49 sec ago
AFP
ISTANBUL: Protesters were defiant Wednesday despite a growing crackdown and nearly 1,500 arrests as they marked a week since the start of Turkiye’s biggest street demonstrations against the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan since 2013.
The protests erupted on March 19 after the arrest of Istanbul opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as part of a graft and “terror” probe, which his supporters denounced as a “coup.”
Vast crowds have hit the street daily, defying protest bans in Istanbul and other big cities and the arrests with 1,418 people held up to Tuesday according to official figures.
Those detained include AFP journalist Yasin Akgul, who the Paris-based agency says was doing his job covering the protests.
Erdogan, who has repeatedly denounced the protests as “street terror,” stepped up his attacks on the opposition with a bitter tirade against the main opposition Republican People’s (CHP) party of Imamoglu and its leader Ozgur Ozel.
In a possible shift in tactics, Ozel said the CHP was not calling for another nightly protest Wednesday outside the Istanbul mayor office, instead urging people to attend a mega rally on Saturday.
But it was far from certain that angry students, who have taken an increasingly prominent role in the protests and are far from all CHP supporters, would stay off the streets.
Most nights, the protests have turned into running battles with riot police, whose crackdown has alarmed rights groups. But there were no such clashes on Tuesday, AFP correspondents said.
The arrest of Akgul, who was remanded in custody on Tuesday along with six other journalists who were also arrested in dawn raids on Monday, was denounced by rights groups and Agence France — Presse, which said the 35-year-old’s jailing was “unacceptable” and demanded his immediate release.
“We are deeply concerned by reports of repression against protesters and journalists in Turkiye,” said a French foreign ministry source, asking not to be named, adding that Akgul “was covering the protests professionally.”
Addressing the vast crowds gathered for a seventh straight night at Istanbul City Hall, Ozel said the crackdown would only strengthen the protest movement.
“There is one thing that Mr.Tayyip should know: our numbers won’t decrease with the detentions and arrests, we will grow and grow and grow!” he vowed.
The extent of the crackdown, he said, meant there was “no room left in Istanbul’s prisons.”
Imamoglu also posted a defiant message targeting Erdogan on his social media channels, vowing to “send him away at the ballot box,” accusing the Turkish leader of “staying behind closed doors in Ankara not to govern Turkiye but to protect his seat.”
“We will be one... we will succeed,” he added.
Erdogan himself took aim at Ozel in a speech to his party, dismissing the CHP leader as “a politically bankrupt figure whose ambitions and fears have taken his mind captive.”
The CHP, he claimed, had created “too much material even for Brazilian soap operas” with corruption cases in Istanbul municipalities.
Although the crackdown has not reduced the numbers, most students who joined a huge street rally on Tuesday had their faces covered, an AFP correspondent said.
“We want the government to resign, we want our democratic rights, we are fighting for a freer Turkiye right now,” a 20-year-old student who gave his name as Mali told AFP.
“We are not terrorists, we are students and the reason we are here is to exercise our democratic rights and to defend democracy,” he said.
Like most protesters, his face was covered and he refused to give his surname for fear of reprisals.
Another masked student who gave her name as Lydia, 25, urged more people to hit the streets.
“All Turkish people should take to the streets, they are hunting us like vermin (while) you are sitting at home. Come out, look after us! We are your students, we are your future,” she said, her anger evident.
Unlike previous days, the CHP’s Ozel said there would be no rally at City Hall on Wednesday, but called protesters to rally instead on Saturday in the Istanbul district of Maltepe to demand early elections.
Lebanese defense minister’s visit to Syria delayed: officials
The delay was “in no way related to tensions or conflicts” said an official
Menassa had been set to meet his Syrian counterpart
Updated 23 min 58 sec ago
AFP
BEIRUT: Syrian Arab Republic’s authorities delayed a visit planned for Wednesday by the Lebanese defense minister that aimed to discuss tensions along the border, officials from the two countries told AFP.
“We were informed on Tuesday by the Syrian party of the postponement of the visit” of Lebanese minister Michel Menassa, a Lebanese official said on condition of anonymity.
The delay was “in no way related to tensions or conflicts,” the official added, without specifying the date to which it had been postponed.
A Syrian government source meanwhile told AFP that the delay was due to “preparations for the formation of a new government.”
Menassa had been set to meet his Syrian counterpart, Murhaf Abu Qasra, in the first visit by a Lebanese minister since the cabinet was formed in February.
Border tensions flared earlier in March after Syria’s new authorities accused Lebanese armed group Hezbollah of kidnapping three soldiers into Lebanon and killing them.
The Iran-backed group, which fought alongside the forces of toppled Syrian president Bashar Assad, denied involvement. But the ensuing cross-border clashes left seven Lebanese dead.
Islamist-led rebels ousted Assad in December.
Israeli attacks have ‘got to stop’: Senior UK minister
Health secretary: Britain has used ‘every diplomatic lever’ to end ‘unjustifiable’ violence
FM: ‘Difficult to see’ how Israel’s actions ‘compatible with international humanitarian law’
Updated 22 min 1 sec ago
Arab News
LONDON: Israel’s attacks on Palestinians have “got to stop,” the UK’s health minister has said.
Wes Streeting denounced Israel’s ending of the two-month ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza as “soul-destroying,” adding that airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave “can’t be justified as self-defense.”
Israel restarted operations in Gaza last week. The territory’s health authorities say nearly 700 people have died since then, the majority of whom are believed to be women and children. It brings the total number of deaths in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, to more than 50,000.
Streeting told The Guardian at a live event on Tuesday that the UK government has used “every diplomatic lever available” to end the “bloody war,” but he still feels “powerless” in the face of renewed Israeli aggression in Gaza and the West Bank.
“I find it soul-destroying seeing the breakdown of the ceasefire and the impact we’re seeing on innocent human lives,” he said.
“I was looking back at some photos just this morning of a place called Susya in the West Bank, which has been under threat of demolition by the Israelis for many years and now is on the frontline of settler violence.
“This is completely unjustifiable. It’s completely intolerable. It doesn’t serve in Israel’s self-interest. It can’t be justified as self-defense, and it has got to stop.”
He added: “It’s very frustrating … feeling powerless in the face of this appalling conflict which does nothing for Israelis or Palestinians.”
A statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on March 18 said the renewed strikes on Gaza were “only the beginning.”
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy condemned the “appalling loss of life,” saying it is “difficult to see” how Israel’s actions “can be compatible with international humanitarian law.”
Israel threatens to seize parts of Gaza over fate of hostages
Netanyahu told parliament that “the more Hamas persists in its refusal to release our hostages, the stronger the pressure we will exert”
Hamas warned hostages would return “in coffins” if Israel does not stop bombing the Palestinian territory
Updated 4 min 4 sec ago
AFP
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Wednesday to seize parts of Gaza if Hamas does not release hostages, while the militant group warned they would return “in coffins” if Israel does not stop bombing the Palestinian territory.
Just over a week since the military resumed operations following a January truce, Israel said two projectiles were fired from the Gaza Strip, with one intercepted and the other landing near the border, and with no immediate reports of any casualties or damage.
The rocket fire came a day after hundreds of Palestinians staged a rare protest against Hamas, chanting slogans against the movement and calling for an end to the war.
Shattering weeks of relative calm in the war brought by the fragile ceasefire, Israel last week resumed intense bombardment and ground operations across Gaza, while militants returned to launching rocket attacks.
According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, 830 people have been killed in the territory since Israel resumed its strikes on March 18. No deaths have been reported on the Israeli side.
Israeli officials say the resumption of operations was meant to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages, after a stalemate in talks with mediators on extending the truce — which saw 33 Israeli captives freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Israel wanted an extension of the truce’s initial phase, while Hamas demanded talks on a second stage that was meant to lead to a permanent ceasefire.
Netanyahu told parliament that “the more Hamas persists in its refusal to release our hostages, the stronger the pressure we will exert.”
“This includes the seizure of territories, along with other measures I will not elaborate here,” he added, days after his Defense Minister Israel Katz had warned: “The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel.”
Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered the war, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
“Every time the occupation attempts to retrieve its captives by force, it ends up bringing them back in coffins,” Hamas said in a statement.
The group said it was “doing everything possible to keep the (Israeli) occupation’s captives alive, but the random Zionist bombardment is endangering their lives.”
Gal Gilboa-Dalal, an Israeli survivor of the 2023 attack whose brother was taken hostage, has told AFP he can “constantly imagine our reunion.”
“This moment felt closer than ever and unfortunately, it’s drifting away from me again,” he said of his brother Guy Gilboa-Dalal, taken from a music festival near the Gaza border and last seen in a video shared by Hamas last month.
“We are fighting here against a terrorist organization that only understands force,” said Gal.
“On the other hand, I am terrified that these bombings and this operation... will endanger the hostages there. There’s no way to know what the terrorists might do to them or if a missile might accidentally hit them,” he added
The Hamas attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 50,183 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry.
In northern Gaza on Tuesday, Palestinians gathered for the biggest anti-Hamas rally since the start of the war, chanting “Hamas out” and “Hamas terrorists.”
Majdi, a protester who did not wish to give his full name, said the “people are tired.”
“If Hamas leaving power in Gaza is the solution, why doesn’t Hamas give up power to protect the people?“
Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007 after winning a Palestinian election the year before. No vote has been held since.
Levels of discontent toward Hamas in Gaza are difficult to gauge, in part because of its intolerance for public expressions of dissent.
Fatah, the Palestinian movement of president Mahmud Abbas, has called on Hamas to “step aside from governing” Gaza to safeguard the “existence” of Palestinians in the war-battered territory.
