White House slams ‘unacceptable’ Israeli settler violence
Updated 16 August 2024
AFP
WASHINGTON: The White House on Thursday condemned what it called “unacceptable” attacks on Palestinians by Jewish settlers, after one person was killed and another wounded in a village in the occupied West Bank.
“Attacks by violent settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank are unacceptable and must stop,” a National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement.
“Israeli authorities must take measures to protect all communities from harm, this includes intervening to stop such violence, and holding all perpetrators of such violence to account.”
The Palestinian health ministry said a 23-year-old man was killed and another suffered critical gunshot wounds to the chest in the attack on the village of Jit, west of Nablus.
The Israeli military said “dozens of Israeli civilians, some of them masked,” had entered Jit and “set fire to vehicles and structures in the area, hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the incident.
Among those targeted was Muhammad Al-Sunaydar, who the Treasury said manages a network of petroleum companies and was one of the most prominent petroleum importers in Yemen
Updated 12 sec ago
Reuters
WASHINGTON: The US on Tuesday imposed sanctions on what it said was a Houthi-linked petroleum smuggling and sanctions evasion network across Yemen in fresh action targeting the militant group.
The US Treasury Department in a statement said the two individuals and five entities sanctioned were among the most significant importers of petroleum products and money launderers that benefit the Houthis.
“The Houthis collaborate with opportunistic businessmen to reap enormous profits from the importation of petroleum products and to enable the group’s access to the international financial system,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender.
“These networks of shady businesses underpin the Houthis’ terrorist machine, and Treasury will use all tools at its disposal to disrupt these schemes.”
Among those targeted was Muhammad Al-Sunaydar, who the Treasury said manages a network of petroleum companies and was one of the most prominent petroleum importers in Yemen.
Three companies in his network were also designated, with the Treasury saying they coordinated the delivery of $12 million worth of petroleum products with a US-designated company to the Houthis.
Since Israel’s war in Gaza began in October 2023, the Houthis have been attacking vessels in the Red Sea in acts of solidarity with the Palestinians.
In January, the US re-designated the Houthi movement as a foreign terrorist organization, aiming to impose harsher economic penalties in response to its attacks on ships.
US envoy urges Syria’s Sharaa to revise policy or risk fragmentation
Sharaa has promised to protect members of Syria’s many sectarian minorities
Barrack said the new government should consider being “more inclusive quicker” when it comes to integrating minorities into the ruling structure
Updated 37 min 25 sec ago
Reuters
BEIRUT: A US envoy has urged Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa to recalibrate his policies and embrace a more inclusive approach after a new round of sectarian bloodshed last week, or risk losing international support and fragmenting the country.
US envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack said he had advised Sharaa in private discussions to revisit elements of the pre-war army structure, scale back Islamist indoctrination and seek regional security assistance.
In an interview in Beirut, Barrack told Reuters that without swift change, Sharaa risks losing the momentum that once propelled him to power.
Sharaa should say: “I’m going to adapt quickly, because if I don’t adapt quickly, I’m going to lose the energy of the universe that was behind me,” Barrack said. He said Sharaa could “grow up as a president and say, ‘the right thing for me to do is not to follow my theme, which isn’t working so well.’“
Sharaa, leader of a former Al-Qaeda offshoot, came to power in Syria after fighters he led brought down President Bashar Assad in December last year after more than 13 years of civil war.
Though his own fighters have roots in Sunni Muslim militancy, Sharaa has promised to protect members of Syria’s many sectarian minorities. But that pledge has been challenged, first by mass killings of members of Assad’s Alawite sect in March, and now by the latest violence in the southwest.
Hundreds of people have been reported killed in clashes in the southern province of Sweida between Druze fighters, Sunni Bedouin tribes and Sharaa’s own forces. Israel intervened with airstrikes to prevent what it said was mass killing of Druze by government forces.
Barrack said the new government should consider being “more inclusive quicker” when it comes to integrating minorities into the ruling structure.
But he also pushed back against reports that Syrian security forces were responsible for violations against Druze civilians. He suggested that Daesh group militants may have been disguised in government uniforms and that social media videos are easily doctored and therefore unreliable.
“The Syrian troops haven’t gone into the city. These atrocities that are happening are not happening by the Syrian regime troops. They’re not even in the city because they agreed with Israel that they would not go in,” he said.
“No successor” to Sharaa
The US helped broker a ceasefire last week that brought an end to the fighting, which erupted between Bedouin tribal fighters and Druze factions on July 13.
Barrack said the stakes in Syria are dangerously high, with no succession plan or viable alternative to the country’s new government.
“With this Syrian regime, there is no plan B. If this Syrian regime fails, somebody is trying to instigate it to fail,” Barrack said. “For what purpose? There’s no successor.”
Asked if Syria could follow the dire scenarios of Libya and Afghanistan, he said: “Yes, or even worse.”
The US has said it did not support Israel’s airstrikes on Syria. Barrack said the strikes had added to the “confusion” in Syria.
Israel says Syria’s new rulers are dangerous militants, and has vowed to keep government troops out of the southwest and protect Syria’s Druze minority in the area, encouraged by calls from Israel’s own Druze community.
Barrack said his message to Israel is to have dialogue to alleviate their concerns about Syria’s new Sunni leaders and that the US could play the role of an “honest intermediary” to help resolve any concerns.
He said Sharaa had signaled from the beginning of his rule that Israel was not his enemy and that he could normalize ties in due time.
He said the United States was not dictating what the political format of Syria should be, other than stability, unity, fairness and inclusion.
“If they end up with a federalist government, that’s their determination. And the answer to the question is, everybody may now need to adapt.”
David Lammy speaks out against new Israeli, US aid system and says Tel Aviv could face new sanctions
25 countries call for an end to humanitarian restrictions in Gaza
Updated 52 min 13 sec ago
Arab News
LONDON: Britain’s foreign secretary said he feels “appalled” and “sickened” by Israel’s actions in Gaza, and that the UK could launch a new wave of sanctions against Tel Aviv if no ceasefire deal is reached.
It follows a joint statement from 25 countries on Monday — including the UK, France, Canada and Australia — urging Israel to end its restrictions on aid entering the Palestinian enclave, The Independent reported.
David Lammy said that only a “change in behavior” from Israel would cause the British government to abandon its plan to introduce new sanctions against it.
The Israeli military this week launched a new ground operation on Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, which is the primary aid hub for the territory.
Lammy was interviewed on “Good Morning Britain” on Tuesday, a day after releasing the joint statement with his 24 counterparts.
He was asked what steps the government would take should Israel fail to reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
“Well, we’ve announced a raft of sanctions over the last few months,” he said.
“There will be more, clearly, and we keep all of those options under consideration if we do not see a change in behavior and the suffering that we are seeing come to an end.
“It’s important that we continue to work with international partners if we are to have the maximum result. But what I want to see is a ceasefire and it’s my assessment that once the Knesset rises on July 28, we are more likely to see a ceasefire come into effect.”
Last month, Lammy announced British sanctions against two senior far-right members of the Netanyahu government, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, both of whom have repeatedly incited violence against Palestinians.
Monday’s 25-nation joint statement condemned Israel and the US’s aid model for Gaza, which was designed to replace much of the existing UN aid system in the enclave.
The organization at the center of the new model, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has faced intense criticism after scores of Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli forces at its designated aid sites.
Lammy told “BBC Breakfast” about his reaction to events in Gaza: “I feel the same as the British public: appalled, sickened. I described what I saw, yesterday in parliament, as grotesque.”
He added: “These are not words that are usually used by a foreign secretary who is attempting to be diplomatic, but when you see innocent children holding out their hand for food, and you see them shot and killed in the way that we have seen in the last few days, of course Britain must call it out.”
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 55,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
Food situation in Gaza ‘absolutely desperate,’ charity warns
Markets in the enclave are devoid of goods and people with cash are unable to find bread or vegetables to purchase, says Save the Children official
Several aid organizations have warned that some of their staff in Gaza are starving due to low food and drinking water supplies
Updated 52 min 34 sec ago
Arab News
LONDON: Rachael Cummings, the humanitarian director for Save the Children, described the food situation in Gaza as “absolutely desperate” and “the worst it has ever been.”
She spoke to Sky News from Deir Al-Balah on Tuesday, a city in central Gaza where Israeli forces launched a bombing campaign this week and where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought shelter.
“One of my colleagues said to me yesterday: ‘We are all walking together towards death’. And this is the situation now for people in Gaza.
“There is no food for their children; it’s absolutely desperate here,” she said during the video call.
Markets in the territory are devoid of goods, she added, and people with cash are unable to find bread or vegetables to buy.
“My team have said to me: ‘There’s nothing in my house to feed my children, my children are crying all day, every day’.”
Cummings’ remarks came as the UK, along with 24 other nations, issued a joint statement on Monday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and criticizing the US-Israeli model of aid distribution. In recent weeks, hundreds of Palestinians have reportedly been killed while attempting to obtain food from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a controversial organization supported by the US and Israel.
“The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” the joint statement said.
The 25 countries also called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of hostages captured by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attacks. Sources informed Reuters that Israel suspects some hostages taken by the armed group may be located near Deir Al-Balah.
Meanwhile, several humanitarian organizations, including UNRWA and the Norwegian Refugee Council, have also warned that some of their staff are starving due to low food and drinking water supplies in the territory.
Since Sunday, 21 children have died in Gaza due to severe malnutrition and hunger-related complications, amid shortages of food and medical supplies.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy pledged £40 million ($54 million) for humanitarian assistance in Gaza on Tuesday.
Charity staffer Liz Allcock, who works for Medical Aid for Palestinians in Gaza, welcomed the announcement, but told Sky News: “There have been (similar) statements in the past 21 months and nothing has changed. In fact, things have only got worse. And every time we think it can’t get worse, it does.
“Without a reversal of the siege, the lack of supplies, the constant bombardment, the forced displacement, the killing and the militarization of aid, we are going to collapse as a humanitarian response,” she said.
“And this would do a grave injustice to the 2.2 million people we’re trying to serve.”
How heritage defenders are rescuing Gaza’s artifacts, preserving cultural identity
Palestinian archaeologists are racing to safeguard ancient objects from bombed museums, private collections, and historical sites
International experts warn that Gaza’s cultural memory is at risk of permanent loss if preservation efforts are not supported
Updated 49 min 51 sec ago
Jonathan Gornall
LONDON: It is one of the more extraordinary and unexpected images to have emerged from the chaos and destruction in Gaza.
Two men, wearing high-visibility vests and stepping carefully through the rubble-strewn streets of Khan Younis, are carrying a priceless Roman-era pottery jar, supported between them on a folded carpet serving as a makeshift sling.
The incongruous photograph tells a story of hope and determination — hope that Palestine has a future, and determination that, whatever tomorrow might bring, the heritage of an entire people will not be destroyed.
The photograph was taken during the summer last year, when the men, members of the Heritage Guardians Team from the Khan Younis-based Mayasem Association for Culture and Arts, were taking part in the evacuation of thousands of artifacts from Al-Qarara Museum, which had been severely damaged in the fighting.
Emergency restoration work at Qasr Al-Basha in Gaza, almost completely destroyed in 2023. (Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation)
Today, thanks to emergency funding supplied by ALIPH, the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage, those artefacts are stored in a relatively safe and secret place, in the hope that one day they can be returned to a restored museum.
The rescue of Palestine’s past is just one of 550 projects in 54 countries that have been funded by ALIPH since 2017.
The alliance was founded by France and the UAE at an international conference on heritage in danger, held in Abu Dhabi in December 2016 in the wake of widespread destruction of monuments, museums and heritage sites in conflict areas. Saudi Arabia was one of ALIPH’s founding members and remains one of its biggest contributors.
This month ALIPH announced additional funding of $16 million for 28 new projects supporting heritage in Gaza, Africa, Syria and Ukraine, bringing the total amount committed worldwide by the organization since 2017 to $116 million.
Much of that money has been spent on major projects, such as ALIPH’s response to the explosion in the port of Beirut in 2020. Since expanded to cover 37 individual projects — 26 of which have been completed — the commitment to Lebanon has reached $5.4 million.
ALIPH’s funding for Iraq, much of it in response to the destruction of multiple heritage sites by Daesh, has seen more than $31 million invested in 49 initiatives.
Smoke billowing during an Israeli strike on the besieged Palestinian territory. (AFP)
It began in 2018 with the massive project to rehabilitate the Mosul Museum, in which ALIPH invested $15.8 million in collaboration with the Louvre, the Smithsonian Institution, and the World Monuments Fund, working with local partners and Iraq’s State Board of Antiquities and Heritage.
ALIPH has also spent $3 million on 18 projects in Syria since 2019, working with 11 local operators to protect and restore archaeological sites, monuments, historic neighborhoods, museums and religious buildings.
The new program that ALIPH wants to implement in the coming months includes the rehabilitation of the Palmyra museum and its artifacts, and the stabilization of damaged monuments at the ancient site, where the destruction inflicted there by Daesh in 2015 was one of the key events that led to the alliance’s foundation.
But it is the much smaller sums invested in timely, emergency interventions, such as several funded by ALIPH in Gaza, that often have a disproportionately significant impact.
Muhannad Abu Lehia, left, and Mahmoud Abdul Ghafour, members of the Heritage Guardians Team of Mayasem Association for Culture and Arts, carry a Roman pottery jar to safety from the bombed Al-Qarara Museum in Khan Younis, Gaza. (Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation)
“We have quite a large number of small projects,” said Elke Selter, ALIPH’s director of programs. “And a lot of these are acute emergencies, when you actually can’t spend large amounts of money and just need to pay for an evacuation, for boxes to move objects, for tarpaulins to cover a hole in a roof, or for wooden panels to put in front of broken windows.”
The cost of such interventions, which can make all the difference to the future of a heritage site, can be just a few thousand dollars.
Larger, general applications for funding can be made through the regular calls for projects that are advertised on ALIPH’s website — the current call, in partnership with the EU, is for projects in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, and closes on July 31.
But ALIPH is also open year-round to requests for emergency assistance grants, worth up to $75,000 each, for which applicants must submit a brief, precise proposal for interventions designed “to halt or prevent irremediable heritage degradation that cannot wait until the next call for projects.”
“I believe that our emergency response is one of ALIPH’s main strategic advantages,” said Selter.
“We do very important projects also, before and after emergencies, but there are many others doing that too. In terms of being actively present, and being able to provide funding within 48 hours, if needed, we’re alone.”
Israeli troops deploy by Israel's border fence with the Gaza Strip. (AFP)
Part of the consideration of each emergency application is the risk posed to those on the ground.
With only a couple of dozen staff at headquarters in Geneva, ALIPH is “primarily a financial instrument, and so it’s not ALIPH that puts on its boots and its helmets and goes on site,” said Selter.
“But we work with local operators and provide funding to people on the ground who ask for it, and who are, at that moment, doing whatever they can to save heritage that is clearly important to them.
“These people are going to do it either way, so we can either help them, or not. And if you know that you’re one of the only ones that can help, I think there’s a duty to do so.”
ALIPH takes steps to ensure projects are as safe as possible.
“We try to do whatever we can in our power to make sure that the teams are as safe as they can possibly be, given the situations in which they work,” Selter added.
A truck bound for a secret destination is loaded with rescued artefacts from the ethnographic collection at Al-Qarara Museum. (Mayasem Association for Culture and Arts)
“In Gaza, for instance, we’ve put them in touch with UNMAS, the UN demining service, so that sites could first be checked.
“We stay in touch throughout a project, and in the particular case of Gaza we also make sure they understand that, for us, things like reporting deadlines are not essential.
“Of course, it’s important that the administration at some point is in order, but we don’t need them to risk their lives in order to send us a report within a deadline.”
In Gaza last year, ALIPH partnered with the Khan Younis-based Mayasem Association for Culture and Arts and teams from Al-Qarara Museum and The Palestinian Museum in Birzeit in the West Bank to inventory and evacuate Al-Qarara’s collection of more than 3,000 artefacts.
INNUMBERS
• 550 Projects that have been funded by ALIPH since 2017.
• $16m Additional funding for new projects unveiled by ALIPH this month.
• 28 New projects to support heritage in Gaza, Africa, Syria and Ukraine.
In April 2024, ALIPH also supported the urgent rescue from the rubble of surviving artifacts from the Rafah Museum, which, before it was almost completely destroyed by Israeli bombing, housed hundreds of objects related to Palestinian heritage, including a unique collection of traditional thobes.
ALIPH is currently supporting emergency protection and stabilization measures for the historic Qasr Al-Basha in Gaza, being undertaken by the Palestinian Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation.
Hamas fighters secure an area before handing over three Israeli hostages to a Red Cross team in Deir El-Balah. (AFP/File)
Once the seat of Mamluk and Ottoman power, the palace became a museum in 2010, housing collections of the Palestinian Antiquities Department, before it was almost completely destroyed in 2023.
Equally devastated was Al-Omari Mosque in the heart of Gaza’s old city, which was built in 1149 and has been repeatedly damaged, most recently in December 2023. Almost all that remains intact is the building’s minaret.
ALIPH is supporting the Ramallah-based Palestinian NGO Riwaq, the Center for Architectural Conservation, which is carrying out emergency stabilization and documenting the destruction to support any future work.
In February this year, ALIPH funded a damage assessment and stabilizing built heritage workshop in Cairo.
Run by the Egyptian Foundation for Heritage Rescue and the Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Bethlehem, it has prepared 20 Palestinian heritage professionals to form teams and intervene in Gaza as soon as the situation allows.
ALIPH has also spent $3 million on 18 projects in Syria since 2019. (Iconem)
More than 60 heritage professionals from Gaza, the West Bank and Cairo also attended an ALIPH-funded online course on risk management and undertaking emergency cultural heritage protection measures.
“We were really surprised that we had more than 60 participants,” said project manager Gala-Alexa Amagat.
“Something we see in every conflict we work in is that people attach such importance to preserving the heritage that they have.
“A lot of the people in Gaza who attended actually walked very far every morning to get to a place where they could get a connection and connect to that training, which was completely beyond what we expected.”
ALIPH relies on the generosity of donors, including nine member countries, public donors such as the EU, and private individuals and philanthropic foundations. Its next donor conference will be held in Abu Dhabi at the end of next year.
“Of course, the funding landscape is under serious pressure,” said Selter.
“But on the other hand, after eight years, ALIPH is becoming better known, which makes funding a bit easier. People know us now, and those who were hesitant at the beginning can see that we have delivered.
Working amid the chaos of the badly damaged Al-Qarara Museum, members of the Aliph-funded Mayasem Association for Culture and Arts carefully document artefacts prior to their evacuation. (Mayasem Association for Culture and Arts)
“We hope that our donors will remain committed and that they’re happy with the results that we’ve delivered.”
Ultimately, those results stand as a testament to the dedication of thousands of individuals around the world, from South America in the west to Indonesia in the east, many of whom are working in dangerous circumstances.
“The past belongs to all of us, and it is vital to protect our heritage to build a shared future,” said Valery Freland, ALIPH’s executive director.
“We are much more than just a funder. But the real heroes are our partners on the ground, who often face great challenges, but are committed to protecting the world’s heritage.”
