Page 20 - Palestine

Israel carries out airstrikes on Gaza city of Rafah after evacuation order

Seven months into its war against Hamas, Israel has been threatening to launch incursions in Rafah, which it says harbours thousands of Hamas fighters and potentially dozens of hostages

Netanyahu uses Holocaust ceremony to brush off int'l pressure against Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected international pressure to halt the war in Gaza in a fiery speech marking the country's annual Holocaust memorial day, declaring: If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone. The message, delivered in a setting that typically avoids politics, was aimed at the growing chorus of world leaders who have criticised the heavy toll caused by Israel's military offensive against Hamas militants and have urged the sides to agree to a cease-fire. I say to the leaders of the world: No amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum will stop Israel from defending itself, he said. Never again is now. Yom Hashoah, the day Israel observes as a memorial for the 6 million Jews killed by Nazi Germany and its allies in the Holocaust, is one of the most solemn dates on the country's calendar, and speeches at the ceremony generally avoid politics. Netanyahu also compared the recent wave of protests on American campus

Arab nations pushing for roadmap leading to Palestinian state within 3 yrs

The proposed roadmap, endorsed by Arab foreign ministers and supported by European nations, outlines a phased approach towards Palestinian statehood

Progress in Gaza truce talks, Israel downplays chance of ending war

A delegation of the Palestinian militant group Hamas was in Cairo on Saturday as Egyptian state media reported noticeable progress in cease-fire talks with Israel, though an Israeli official downplayed the prospects for a full end to the war in Gaza. Pressure has mounted to reach a deal halting the nearly 7-month-long war. A top UN official says there is now a full-blown famine in northern Gaza, while Israel insists it will launch an offensive into Rafah, the territory's southernmost city on the border with Egypt, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering. Egyptian and US mediators have reported signs of compromise in recent days, but chances for a cease-fire deal remain entangled with the key question of whether Israel will accept an end to the war without reaching its stated goal of destroying Hamas. Egypt's state-owned Al-Qahera News TV channel said Saturday that a consensus had been reached over many disputed points but did not elaborate. Hamas has called for a ...

US campus standoffs: Protestors and donors are on collision course

Brown University, the liberal Ivy League institution, agreed this week only to hold a board vote this fall on whether its $6.6 billion endowment should divest from any Israeli-connected holdings

US univs take steps to prevent protest disruptions of graduation ceremonies

With student protests over the Israel-Hamas war disrupting campuses nationwide, several major universities are intent on ensuring that commencement ceremonies joyous milestones for graduates, their families and friends go off without a hitch this weekend. It won't be easy. Colleges are hiring extra security, screening attendees at venues and emphasising that significant disruptions by pro-Palestinian protesters won't be tolerated. At the same time, they're pledging to honour free-speech rights by designating protest zones. Milestone is a perfect word, said Ken Burdick of Tampa, Florida, describing his daughter's graduation Saturday at the University of Michigan. He hopes the big day goes untarnished. People can exercise their First Amendment rights without disrupting or creating fear, Burdick said of protesters. Here's how some schools are planning to balance things: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN More than 8,000 graduates and 63,000 spectators are expected for Saturday's festivities

2,100 arrested in pro-Palestinian protests on US campuses: Report

At least 200 people were arrested at UCLA Thursday, bringing the nationwide total of arrests to more than 2,000 at dozens of college campuses since police cleared an encampment at Columbia University in mid-April, according to a tally by The Associated Press. Demonstrations and arrests have occurred in almost every corner of the nation. But in the last 24 hours, they've drawn the most attention at the University of California, Los Angeles, where chaotic scenes played out early Thursday as officers in riot gear surged against a crowd of demonstrators. The nationwide campus demonstrations began at Columbia on April 17 to protest Israel's offensive in Gaza, following Hamas' deadly attack on southern Israel on October 7. Militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to stamp out Hamas, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry there.

In online world, a new generation of protesters chooses anonymity

On campuses from New England to Southern California, students leading one of the largest protest movements in decades have increasingly strapped on face masks

Police removes barricades at pro-Palestinian protestors' encampment at UCLA

Police have begun removing barricades at a pro-Palestinian demonstrators' encampment on the UCLA campus. Thursday morning's law enforcement effort comes after officers spent hours threatening arrests over loud speakers if people did not disperse. Hundreds of people had gathered on campus, both inside a barricaded tent encampment and outside of it in support. The police action occurred a night after the UCLA administration and campus police waited hours to stop the counter-protesters' attack. The delay drew condemnation from Muslim students and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Demonstrators rebuilt the makeshift barriers around their tents on Wednesday afternoon while state and campus police watched.

Biden administration weighing measures to help Palestinians bring families

The Biden administration is weighing measures to help Palestinians living in the United States who want to bring family from the war-torn region. We are constantly evaluating policy proposals to further support Palestinians who are family members of American citizens and may want to come to the United States, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday. Jean-Pierre said discussions were underway but had no further details on how procedures might work. The new measures would help those who are legal permanent residents or US citizens and who have family in the region. It's difficult right now for anyone to get out of the Gaza Strip as the Israel-Hamas war continues, and more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to local health officials, around two-thirds of them children and women. The discussion comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has maintained that Israel will move forward with a major military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah

Trump downplays Capitol attack by comparing it to students' protest

Donald Trump on Tuesday lamented the possibility that Columbia University's pro-Palestinian protesters could be treated more leniently than the rioters who stormed the US Capitol in January 2021, marking the second time in a week the former president has invoked the ongoing campus protests to downplay past examples of right-wing violence. Speaking in the hallway outside a Manhattan courtroom where his criminal hush money trial is taking place, Trump questioned whether student demonstrators who seized and barricaded a campus building early Tuesday, some of them vandalising it in the process, would be treated the same way as his supporters who attacked the Capitol on January 6 to stop certification of the presidential results. I think I can give you the answer right now, he said. And that's why people have lost faith in our court system. Trump's remarks demonstrate anew how he and the Republican Party have tried to minimise the deadliest assault on the seat of American power in over 2

Troubled by police actions against protesters at US universities: UN

The UN's top human rights official has voiced concern over heavy-handed steps taken to disperse and dismantle pro-Palestinian protests across university campuses in the US, just hours before the New York Police Department arrested and cleared protesters at the prestigious Columbia University. Hundreds of police officers swept into Columbia University on Tuesday night to end the pro-Palestinian occupation of an administration building and sweep away a protest encampment, acting after the school's president said there was no other way to ensure safety and restore order on campus. The police cleared 30 to 40 people from inside Columbia University's Hamilton Hall late Tuesday after pro-Palestinian protesters occupied the administration building in New York earlier in the day. Freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly are fundamental to society particularly when there is sharp disagreement on major issues, as there are about the conflict in the Occupied Palestinian ...

Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested after Columbia University calls police

Officers took protesters into custody late Tuesday after Columbia University called in police to end the pro-Palestinian occupation on the New York campus. The scene unfolded shortly after 9 p.m. as police, wearing helmets and carrying zip ties and riot shields, massed at the Ivy League university's entrance. Officers breached Hamilton Hall, an administration building on campus, to clear out the structure. The demonstrators had occupied Hamilton Hall more than 12 hours earlier, spreading their reach from an encampment elsewhere on the grounds that's been there for nearly two weeks. Shortly before officers entered the campus, the New York Police Department received a notice from Columbia authorising officers to take action, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official was not authorised to discuss details of the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The NYPD's move came hours after the department's brass said officers wouldn't enter Columbia's ..

Yemen's Houthis launch drone attack on four ships in Indian Ocean, Red Sea

Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched repeated drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab Strait and Gulf of Aden since November, forcing shippers to re-route cargo

Protests over Gaza conflict roils US campuses ahead of graduations

Protests are roiling college campuses across the US as upcoming graduation ceremonies are threatened by disruptive demonstrators, with students and others sparring over Israel's military offensive in Gaza and its mounting death toll. Many campuses were largely quiet over the weekend as demonstrators stayed by tents erected as protest headquarters, although a few colleges saw forced removals and arrests. Many students are demanding their universities cut financial ties with Israel over the large-scale operation in Gaza it says was launched to stamp out the militant Palestinian group Hamas. Protesters on both sides of the rancourous debate shouted and shoved each other during duelling demonstrations Sunday at the University of California, Los Angeles. The university stepped up security after some physical altercations broke out among demonstrators, Mary Osako, vice chancellor for UCLA Strategic Communications, said in a statement. There were no reports of arrests or injuries. About 27

Highlights of the Day: HCLTech Q4 revenue rises 7.1% to Rs 28,499 cr, misses estimates

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Indian-origin student arrested in US for joining pro-Palestinian protests

Achinthya Sivalingan, hailing from Tamil Nadu, was arrested after demonstrators erected tents in the Princeton University courtyard early Thursday morning

Israel must pay for 'usurpation' of Palestinian territories: Iranian Prez

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has said Israel must be brought to justice for "usurpation and oppression" of the Palestinian territories, if not there will not be a guarantee that others would not do the same in other lands. Raisi was delivering a statement during his one-day visit to Sri Lanka on Wednesday. "When it comes to the oppressor, when it comes to the usurper, the Zionist Israeli regime has been committing oppression against the people of Palestine for 75 years, they have been usurping their territory," Raisi said. "First of all, we have to expel the usurpers. Secondly, we should make them pay the cost for all the damage they have created and thirdly, we have to bring to justice the oppressor and usurper," he said. Earlier on Wednesday, Raisi inaugurated a hydropower and irrigation project in Sri Lanka and said his country has proven that the West does not have a monopoly on technology. Raisi is the first Iranian leader to visit Sri Lanka since former President Mahmoud

Pro-Palestinian student protest US colleges' financial ties with Israel

Students at a growing number of US colleges are gathering in protest encampments with a unified demand of their schools: Stop doing business with Israel or any companies that empower its ongoing war in Gaza. The demand has its roots in a decades-old campaign against Israel's policies toward the Palestinians. The movement has taken on new strength as the Israel-Hamas war surpasses the six-month mark and stories of suffering in Gaza have sparked international calls for a cease-fire. Inspired by ongoing protests and the arrests last week of more than 100 students at Columbia University, students from Massachusetts to California are now gathering by the hundreds on campuses, setting up tent camps and pledging to stay put until their demands are met. We want to be visible, said Columbia protest leader Mahmoud Khalil, who noted that students at the university have been pushing for divestment from Israel since 2002. The university should do something about what we're asking for, about the

Highlights: Israel warned US about drone strike on Iran, says Italian foreign minister

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