Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Israel bans UN aid organization

The situation in Gaza

Published 1 November 2024
– By Editorial Staff
UNRWA personnel in Gaza.
3 minute read

The Israeli parliament has voted in favor of two bills that effectively ban the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees from operating in the country.

UNRWA as an organization is infected by terrorism. It’s not a few people that UNRWA employees want to claim, it’s the whole organization, says David Mencer, a spokesman for the Israeli government.

UNRWA has long been the main relief organization in Gaza, and since Israel launched its ground invasion, it has also been one of the few actors to remain in the area, working to provide various forms of emergency assistance to the Palestinian civilian population – as well as frequently drawing attention to and raising the alarm about Israeli abuses and crimes.

The Israeli side has not estimated the organization’s presence, claiming that 10% of its approximately 13,000 employees have “terrorist links”, and that staff from the organization were involved in the 7 October attacks.

In response to the terror allegations, two laws were passed by a large majority. The first prohibits UNRWA from operating on Israeli territory and the second makes it illegal for Israeli authorities to have any contact with the UN agency.

In practice, the laws will also make it very difficult for the organization to continue operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, as it will no longer be able to coordinate its activities with the Israeli authorities.

“Unprecedented”

Representatives of both the UN and the EU criticize the decision, saying it will have disastrous consequences for the civilian population. Even the United States, Israel’s most important ally, urged its politicians to reject the ban.

The head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, condemned the decision, writing on X that Israel’s action “is unprecedented and sets a dangerous precedent”.

It opposes the UN Charter and violates the State of Israel’s obligations under international law.  This is the latest in the ongoing campaign to discredit UNRWA and delegitimize its role towards providing human-development assistance and services to Palestine Refugees”.

These bills will only deepen the suffering of Palestinians, especially in Gaza where people have been going through more than a year of sheer hell. It ⁠will deprive over 650,000 girls & boys there from education, putting at risk an entire generation of children. These bills increase the suffering of the Palestinians & are nothing less than collective punishment”, he continues.

Calls on the international community to act

He also stresses that the refugee status of Palestinians will not disappear just because Israel puts an end to UNRWA and that the UN will continue to work for a just and lasting solution to the plight of the Palestinians.

I urge Member States to take action to support UNRWA commensurate with the gravity of the situation and risks”, he further declares.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was established in 1949 to help the approximately 700 000 mainly Arab refugees who had been expelled from their homes when the State of Israel was established the previous year.

From the outset, the idea was that the relief effort would be a temporary solution and that the refugees would eventually return to their homes - a solution Israel has consistently opposed.

75 years later, there are 5.9 million Palestinians registered as refugees by the UN and receiving assistance from UNRWA. In addition to Gaza and the West Bank, they live in large refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

The UN agency has about 30,000 employees - the majority Palestinians, and 90% of the organization's donations come from UN member states.

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Israel wants to relocate entire Gaza population

The situation in Gaza

Published yesterday 12:56
– By Editorial Staff
Israel Katz orders the Israeli military to establish a concentrated zone for the population in Gaza.
2 minute read

The Netanyahu government in Israel has announced through Defense Minister Israel Katz that the Israeli military will establish a controlled area at the border with Egypt. The stated goal is to concentrate Gaza’s entire population in the area, which they are calling a “humanitarian city”.

The Israeli military IDF will guard the new area in the city to be built on the ruins of the bombed city of Rafah in southern Gaza, according to the Israeli government’s plans as reported by Israeli newspapers including Haaretz and Jerusalem Post. According to Katz, planning for the construction could begin during the 60-day ceasefire currently being negotiated.

The stated goal is to gather Gaza’s entire population in the limited zone at the border with Egypt. Katz states that the plan is for people entering the area to be thoroughly screened to ensure they are not connected to Hamas, and that once they enter the area, they will not be allowed to leave again. The advantage for them of entering there, officials explain, is that the area will not be attacked by the Israeli military, and basic necessities will be available.

The project is justified by Katz, like Israel’s Gaza policy in general, as aimed at reducing the influence of the Islamist resistance movement Hamas.

International warnings of ethnic cleansing

A large number of countries have long accused Israel of pursuing an ethnic cleansing project in Gaza, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres has also warned that the intention from the Israeli side appears to be to drive out the Palestinian population.

The intention might be for the Palestinians to leave Gaza, for others to occupy it, Guterres stated during the COP16 conference in Colombia in October last year.

– We will do everything possible to help them remain there and to avoid ethnic cleansing that might occur if there is not strong determination from the international community, he continued.

Swedish doctor in Gaza: “A haze of blood”

The situation in Gaza

Published 7 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
2 minute read

Foreign journalists are not allowed to enter Gaza, but continued reports are coming from healthcare workers about a catastrophic humanitarian situation. Swedish doctor Märit Halmin is one of 300 reportedly working at a field hospital and entered with a UN convoy.

It becomes like a haze of blood, gunshot wounds, explosion injuries, amputations, she says.

I don’t really have words to describe it, I had followed the news reporting before I came here and thought I would be prepared but it’s so terrible, she tells Swedish public radio P1.

When I entered Gaza and was driven here it was almost like a moonscape, there are no buildings. There are just piles of rubble and debris, dust and sand from destroyed concrete. Everything is destroyed, she recounts.

“Bizarre and brutal injuries”

Halmin has previously been deployed in Yemen and Syria, but says the proportions in Gaza are completely different with masses of injured civilians streaming in with very severe injuries.

I can’t even distinguish the individual patients because there are so many coming in with such bizarre and brutal injuries. It becomes like a haze of blood, gunshot wounds, explosion injuries, amputations, she says.

Help exists – but doesn’t get in

The doctor reports that there is a shortage of all types of resources, where the field hospitals have to improvise extensively and assist each other with the equipment they have, and she states that even her healthcare colleagues are severely malnourished.

I think the main problem right now is perhaps not that too little help is being sent but that somehow there’s a silent acceptance that the help doesn’t get in because of the blockade that exists against Gaza.

US approves $510 million weapons sale to Israel

The situation in Gaza

Published 1 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Crew aboard USS John C. Stennis prepares to move MK-82/BLU 111 bombs.
1 minute read

The United States has approved a $510 million weapons sale to Israel, including thousands of bomb guidance systems, the Pentagon announces. The deliveries come as Israel faces repeated accusations of committing genocide in Gaza, partially carried out using American bombs.

In a statement, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said the sale includes 3,845 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance systems and additional guidance systems for the MK 82 bomb.

“The United States is committed to the security of Israel”, the DSCA stated, adding that the sale “is vital to US national interests”.

The prime contractor is Boeing, based in St. Charles, Missouri.

The deal comes at a time of increased international scrutiny of US military support for Israel, as civilian casualties in Gaza continue to rise due to Israeli bombing campaigns.

Priest in West Bank’s last Christian village: “We live under constant fire from settlers”

The situation in Gaza

Published 29 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Today, Taybeh has approximately 1,300 inhabitants, and the village has maintained a Christian presence for at least 1,500 years.
3 minute read

Violence is escalating in the West Bank – including in Taybeh, the very last entirely Christian village in the region. Here, residents have experienced firsthand how extreme Jewish settlers are intensifying their attacks against Palestinian communities in the area.

– We live under constant fire from settlers, and under the crossfire of the Israeli occupation army, says Bashar Fawadleh to AsiaNews.

Fawadleh has been the parish priest at the Church of the Redeemer, which belongs to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, since 2021. He reports that the violence has forced more than ten Christian families to leave Taybeh since October 2024.

Taybeh, with approximately 1,300 residents, is located about 30 kilometers north of Jerusalem and 15 kilometers northeast of Ramallah in the West Bank. The village is surrounded by both Palestinian communities and several Jewish settlements. During the past week, residents, both Latin Catholic and Greek Orthodox, have experienced an escalation in attacks.

On Tuesday, June 25, dozens of masked settlers attacked the nearby village of Kafr Malik. According to journalist Ihab Hassan, the attack was carried out with support from the Israeli army. The settlers reportedly shot at civilians and set fire to cars and houses – three people were killed and nine were injured, one seriously.

Refuse to abandon their homes

Parish priest Fawadleh describes the situation in the village as desperate. In a statement to news agency ACIMENA, he says:

– Yesterday (Wednesday) evening, settlers attacked homes in the Karamelo roundabout, an area at the eastern entrance to the village

– The incident coincided with an attack by dozens of settlers on the village of Kafr Malik, which is near us, and which led to the death of three martyrs and the burning of many vehicles and homes.

Despite the violence, he says Taybeh’s residents refuse to yield or abandon their homes:

– We are living in very difficult conditions, but we are not afraid to remain in our land. We are not afraid of those who kill. We are a people who love our land and will never abandon it.

Aim to ethnically cleanse the area

The situation in the West Bank has been unstable since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, and settler attacks have escalated in recent months. According to analysts, extremist Jewish settler groups are trying to drive out both Muslims and Christians from areas they consider “the promised land”.

At the same time, radical settlers have gained political strength. Through their influence in the government – particularly via the Jewish Power and Religious Zionist parties – their agenda has gained increased traction.

Both parties are part of the coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu and have pushed for expansion of settlements, increased arming of settlers, and a tougher stance against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Recently, The Nordic Times reported how Jewish settlers near the Gaza border openly advocate for ethnic cleansing, wanting all Palestinians to be expelled – so they can take over the area themselves.

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