West Bank

Depraved:  The Legal Entanglement with Israel                             BY GARY FIELDS An Israeli soldier checking the IDs of Palestinians at the Huwara checkpoint. Photo by Gary Fields. Lost in Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the Presidential election, and the now-likely accession of Kamala Harris to Democratic nominee, is the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last week on the legality of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.*   In a searing rebuke to the State of Israel, the Court in its 83-page brief refuted Israeli claims that the Palestinian territories und...

BY M. REZA BEHNAM The Politics of Water Under Occupation: Israel in Palestine Photograph Source: Muhammad Sabah, B’Tselem – CC BY 4.0 The International Court of Justice released its historic advisory opinion on 19 July 2024 just as I was finishing my essay on Israel’s theft and abuse of the water resources of Palestine. The 80-page opinion, “Legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem,” unequivocally states that “the State of Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful” and should come to an end “as rapidly as possible.” The “Exploitation of natural resources” section (V/B.4, 124-133) was of particular interest to me. In it,...

Posted by: John Phoenix Maysaa Al-Maghrebi is facing extreme difficulty in finding clothes that fit her children, with the limited supply in the markets and the closure of many shops due to the blockade and the destruction of the economic and industrial infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. The mother, along with her family of five children, fled to the city of Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza Strip when the war of genocide broke out on Gaza, like thousands of other displaced people. She did not bring much with her, thinking the war would not last long. She says that each of her children has a limited number of clothes that have become worn out due to constant use, in addition to the environment they live in under a tent, which has further worn out their clothes as the children ...

Posted by: John Phoenix They aren’t just numbers. They represent tens of thousands of stories of loss, grief, and intense pain carried by families in Gaza. Over 20,000 children are still missing, with their fate unknown. Another number close to that is of unaccompanied children, as the tragedy of families in Gaza continues with the ongoing aggression since October 7th. Ahmad Hammad, who lost most of his family in a bombing on Deir al-Balah last January, says: “My grief for my martyred wife and children is one thing, but my grief for Hadi is on another level. He’s the only one we couldn’t retrieve from under the rubble that night. I don’t know if there’s anything left of his small body to bury or if he was vaporized by the explosion and fire.” In this painful story, Hadi w...

Posted by: John Phoenix The Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs has said that the Palestinian prisoners in Ofer Nazi Camp are suffering from harsh incarceration and health conditions and real starvation. In a statement on Wednesday, the Commission said that its lawyer was able recently to visit a number of administrative detainees and listen to their testimonies about the suffering of prisoners in Ofer Nazi Camp.. The Commission’s lawyer reported that the food served to the prisoners in Ofer Nazi Camp is extremely poor in quantity and quality, adding that the prisoners’ bodies became bony and skinny. The Ofer Nazi Camp prisoners also complained that Nazi jailers deprive them of having enough clothing, cleaning materials and other vital essent...