In Occupied Palestine
Zionism in practice
Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Land
08:00, 15 October until 08:00, 16 October 2024
[Source of statistics: Palestinian Monitoring Group]
Gaza Strip
Attacks: There are no safe places for the militarily-dominated population in Gaza, who find themselves subjected to airstrikes and other missile attacks on buildings, homes and many essentialfacilities, as well as constant gunfire and invasions by Israeli forces. The Israeli Navy continues to fire missiles, targeting facilities and buildings along the entire Gaza shoreline.
Victims: 65 more people have been killed, bringing the total number killed in Gaza since 7 October to at least 42,409. Another 140 have been wounded, bringing that total to 99,153. The daily average number of men, women and children killed in Gaza is at least 113 and, that of those injured, is now more than 265.
Israel is a rogue nation
It should be removed from the United Nations
One rogue nation cannot declare war on the UN itself and continue to get away with it
Mehdi Hasan | 16 October 2024
https://www.theguardian.com/
Over the past year, Israel has launched attacks on multiple countries and occupied territories: the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran. Yet countries and territories aside, Israel has also targeted one specific organisation with a series of unprecedented rhetorical and violent attacks.
Yes, the United Nations. We have all witnessed Israel, effectively, declare war on the UN.
Consider the record of recent weeks and months:
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Israel’s prime minister, while standing on stage at the UN general assembly, denounced the body as “contemptible”, a “house of darkness” and a “swamp of antisemitic bile”.
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Israel’s outgoing ambassador to the UN shredded a copy of the UN charter with a miniature paper shredder while also standing at the podium of the general assembly, and later said the UN headquarters in New York “should be closed and wiped off the face of the Earth”.
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Israel’s foreign minister falsely accused the UN secretary general of not having condemned Iran’s attacks on Israel, declared him “persona non grata in Israel” and announced that he had “banned him from entering the country”.
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The Israeli government actively obstructed a UN-mandated commission of inquiry trying to collect evidence on the 7 October attacks.
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Israel’s parliament is in the process of designating a longstanding UN agency, Unrwa, as a “terrorist organisation”.
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The Israeli military has bombed UN schools, warehouses and refugee camps in Gaza for 12 consecutive months, and killed a record 228 UN employees in the process. “By far the highest number of our personnel killed in a single conflict or natural disaster since the creation of the United Nations,” to quote the UN secretary general.
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The Israeli military is now also attacking UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon. According to the UN, “five UN ‘Blue Helmets’ serving with UNIFIL in Lebanon have been injured as Israeli forces inflicted damage on UN positions close to the ‘Blue Line’.”
How is any of this OK? Acceptable? Legal?
Perhaps the biggest question of all: how is Israel still allowed to remain a member of the UN? Why has it not yet been expelled from an organisation that it is relentlessly and shamelessly attacking and undermining? Sure, there are other human rights abusers that remain card-carrying members of the UN – Syria, Russia and North Korea, to name but a few – but none of them have killed UN employees en masse; none of them have sent tanks to invade a UN base; none of them have “refused to comply with more than two dozen UNSC resolutions”. It has been more than 60 years since any country in the world dared make the UN secretary general himself “persona non grata”.
To be clear: it’s not as if there isn’t a mechanism for expelling a UN member state. Article 6 of the UN charter says:
“A Member of the United Nations which has persistently violated the Principles contained in the present Charter may be expelled from the Organization by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.”
Now some might point out that no member state has ever been expelled from the UN under Article 6. Plus, the United States, which has vetoed over 50 UN security council resolutions critical of Israel since the early 1970s, would never allow such a “recommendation of the Security Council” to be made.
It’s a valid objection. History, however, teaches us that there are workarounds to security council vetoes. As the international law professor and former US state department adviser Thomas Grant pointed out in October 2022, while making his own case for expelling Russia from the United Nations in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, “UN members on two occasions in the past have judged a particular Member delegation no longer fit to sit at the organisation’s table. On both occasions, the UN improvised a solution.”
In 1971, socialist and non-aligned nations in the Global South voted in the UN general assembly to recognized the People’s Republic of China as “the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations” and thereby replaced the representatives from the Republic of China (Taiwan), which had been a founding member of the UN. ROC was out, PRC was in – and it was the general assembly, not the security council, that decided it.
Three years later, relying again not on the UN charter but its own “rules of procedure” as the human rights lawyer and former UN official Saul Takahisi has noted, the UN general assembly “voted to refuse to recognise the credentials of the South African delegation” and “barred South Africa from participation in the UNGA” until 1994.
Oh, and the two main reasons cited by the UN general assembly for suspending South Africa’s membership? Its practice of apartheid against the indigenous Black population and its illegal occupation of neighboring Namibia. Sound familiar?
Crucially, as Thomas Grant has written, “the move against South Africa followed no precise procedural pathway in the UN charter or existing UN practice” and the UN showed how “an improvisatory ethos prevails, when the member states judge a matter important enough that they must act.”
So what is more “important” for the UN member states right now than attacks on the UN itself by a single member state? On the UN’s authority, personnel, headquarters and charter? On Saturday, 40 countries issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s brazen and ongoing assault on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon but talk is cheap. UN member states need to act.
The Israeli government may want to pretend that the United Nations, and the general assembly in particular, is irrelevant, impotent and filled with antisemitic bias, yet Israel only exists today because of a UN general assembly resolution. The country’s own 1948 Declaration of Independence makes seven different references to the United Nations, all of them super-positive and ever-so-grateful.
So evicting Israel from the UN, or at least suspending its participation in the general assembly as a first step, would send a powerful message – both to the people of Israel and to the rest of the world.
That the authority of the United Nations still matters. That the lives of UN staff and peacekeepers also matter. And that one rogue nation cannot declare war on the UN itself and continue to get away with it.
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Mehdi Hasan is the CEO and editor-in-chief of the new media company Zeteo
West Bank
[Palestinian Monitoring Group]
Israeli Army attack on refugee camp – 1 killed and 1 wounded: Jenin – 19:55–21:50, Israeli Occupation forces, firing live ammunition, stormed the Jenin refugee camp, killing one person, Karim Samer Tawfiq Jabarin, and wounding one other: Muhammad Younis Awis.
Israeli Army attack – 1 child wounded along with 1 other resident: Nablus – evening, Israeli forces, storming Beit Furik, wounded a 12-year-old boy, Mahmoud Osama Abdullah Nasasra, and one other person: Muhammad Jamal Shahada.
Israeli Army attack on refugee camp – 1 wounded – population–control: Hebron – 18:25, the Israeli Army stormed Halhul, wounding one person, Shadi Jamal Muhammad Abu Rayyan, as well as detaining and interrogating a number of people.
Home invasions and surveillance: Jerusalem – morning, Israeli Occupation forces raided the Qalandiya refugee camp, invading homes and examining their surveillance–camera recordings. Shops were also invaded.
Home invasion: Jerusalem – 09:30, Israeli forces raided the town of Qatana and searched a home.
Home invasion and destruction: Jerusalem – the Israeli Army demolished part of a house, in the Ras al-Amud neighbourhood.
Home invasion and forced personal demolition: Jerusalem – Israeli troops forced a resident, Yousef Shahada Atoun, to destroy his home in the village of Sur Bahar – or otherwise be forced to pay an extortionate sum to the Israeli Occupation demolition squads, who would be sent in to do it.
Home invasion and military occupation: Tulkarem – 17:40, Israeli forces raided the city, occupied a house and turned it into a military post.
Home invasions – 1 taken prisoner: Nablus – 01:40–07:10, the Israeli military raided Asira al-Shimaliya and invaded a number of homes, taking prisoner one resident.
Home invasion and destruction: Jericho – Israeli soldiers demolished a house, in Ein al-Dyouk al-Tahta.
Home invasions: Bethlehem – 01:35–03:25, Israeli Occupation forces raided the village of Wadi Fukin and invaded a number of homes.
Israeli Army – abduction: Jerusalem – dawn, Israeli Occupation forces, raiding al-Ram, abducted a 17-year-old youth: Ismail Nasser Al-Shawamreh.
Israeli police and settlers’ mosque violation: Jerusalem – 08:00, settler militants, escorted by Israeli police, invaded the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and molested worshippers.
Israeli Army medical supply sabotage: Jerusalem – 09:00, Israeli forces demolished a facility providing oxygen for medical services, in the Wadi al-Joz neighbourhood.
Israeli Army population–control: Ramallah – the Israeli Army continued the closure of access to the Atara town bridge for the seventh consecutive day, forcing people to take long journeys.
Israeli Army settlement development: Tubas – Israeli troops, in the North Jordan Valley, began the building of a new settlement road, south–east of Bardala village.
Israeli Army agricultural sabotage: Jenin – 10:25, the Israeli military demolished three greenhouses, in the village of al-Jalameh.
Israeli Army olive harvest sabotage: Qalqiliya – 09:00, Israeli soldiers, in the east of Azzun, forced people to stop olive harvesting and ejected them from the land, which is adjacent to the Ma’ale Shamron Occupation settlement.
Israeli Army olive harvest sabotage: Nablus – 09:50, Israeli Occupation forces, in the village of Yanun, stopped olive harvesting and forced people off the land.
Israeli Army economic sabotage: Nablus – 10:45, Israeli forces demolished a petrol station, in the village of al-Lubban al-Sharqiya.
Israeli Army assault with rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Bethlehem – 22:40, the Israeli Army fired rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades towards people in al-Khadr.
Israeli Army water crime: Hebron – 11:05, Israeli troops demolished a well, in the town of Yatta.
Israeli Army assault with stun grenades: Hebron – dawn, the Israeli military launched stun grenades towards homes, near the entrance to a refugee camp.
Israeli Army population–control: Hebron – 20:25, Israeli soldiers issued an order, for the early evening closure of a shop near the Ibrahimi Mosque.
Occupation settler stoning: Tubas – 11:50, Israeli Occupation settlers stoned homes, in the al-Farisiya area of the North Jordan Valley.
Occupation settler violence: Tubas – 22:30, Israeli settlers invaded the Khirbet Samra area, in the North Jordan Valley, and terrorised residents.
Occupation settler terrorism – olive harvest sabotage: Qalqiliya – 17:10, Israelis, from the Kedumim Occupation settlement, invaded Kafr Qaddum agricultural land and terrorised olive harvesters.
Occupation settler terrorism – olive harvest plunder: Nablus – 09:20, Israeli settlers invaded Burin village agricultural land, terrorised olive harvesters and plundered crops.
Occupation settler olive harvest sabotage: Nablus – evening, Israeli Occupation settlers invaded olive groves in the al-Marj area of Burqa village and cut off branches from a number of trees.
Occupation settler terrorism: Jericho – evening, Israeli settlers raided the Arab al-Maliha community in the al-Ma’arjat area, west of Jericho, and threatened people’s homes, placing hate–messages on some Bedouin dwellings.
Occupation settler agricultural sabotage: Bethlehem – 10:55, Occupation settlers damaged crops, on Nahalin town farmland.
Occupation settler terrorism – olive harvest plunder: Hebron – 15:10, Israeli settlers terrorised farmers on Susya village land and plundered the olive harvest.
Raids: Ramallah – 18:00–19:30, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled Sinjil, Abwein and Aroura, as well as the village of Jaljuliya.
Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Ramallah – 18:15-20:45, Israeli forces raided al-Bireh, taking prisoner two people.
Raids: Ramallah – 00:30–07:10, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled Beit Rima as well as the villages of Deir Ghassaneh and Aboud.
Raid: Ramallah – 00:40, Israeli troops raided and patrolled al-Mazra’a al-Gharbiya.
Raid: Ramallah – 02:25, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the village of al-Mughayir.
Raid: Jenin – 09:10, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of Faqua.
Raid: Jenin – 18:30, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the village of Taybeh.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Jenin – 05:15, Israeli forces raided and patrolled Yamun, taking prisoner one person.
Raid: Tulkarem – 19:10, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the village of Farun.
Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Qalqiliya – 02:15–06:15, Israeli troops raided the city, taking prisoner two people.
Raid – 2 taken prisoner in refugee camp: Nablus – dawn, the Israeli military raided the Balata refugee camp, taking prisoner two people.
Raids: Nablus – 02:05–07:10, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the villages of Salem, Deir al-Hatab and Azmut.
Raid – destruction: Salfit – 10:20, Israeli Occupation forces raided Kafr al-Dik and demolished a house-under-construction.
Raid: Salfit – 19:10, Israeli forces again raided and patrolled Kafr al-Dik.
Raid: Salfit – 14:40, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled Kifl Haris.
Raid: Salfit – 19:10–05:20, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the town of Bruqin.
Raids: Salfit – 19:15-20:25, the Israeli military raided and patrolled Deir Istiya and Haris village.
Raid: Salfit – 19:40–23:05, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the city.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Jericho – 02:55, Israeli Occupation forces raided the city, taking prisoner one person.
Raid: Bethlehem – 09:40, Israeli forces, firing stun grenades, raided and patrolled al-Khadr.
Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Bethlehem – 02:45–03:55, Israeli troops raided the city, taking prisoner two people.
Raid – stun grenades fired: Hebron – dawn, the Israeli military, firing stun grenades, raided the town of Sa’ir, taking prisoner one person.
Raid – stun grenades fired: Hebron – 11:40, Israeli soldiers, firing stun grenades, raided and patrolled the town of Yatta.
Raid: Hebron – 22:40, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the town of Dura.
Raid: Hebron – 01:15, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the town of Idhna.
Raid – 2 taken prisoner: Hebron – 02:00, the Israeli Army raided the city, taking prisoner two people.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Hebron – 04:25, Israeli troops raided Beit Ummar, taking prisoner one person.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner in refugee camp: Hebron – 04:50, the Israeli military raided the al-Arroub refugee camp, taking prisoner one person.