Baerbock took part in a meeting of Arab and European foreign ministers in Riyadh, initiated by Saudi Arabia and Norway…reports Asian Lite News
Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has spoken out in favour of more humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip and a two-state solution, during the talks with counterparts from Western and Arab countries in Riyadh.
During the talks, Baerbock emphasised that an independent Palestine state as a part of a comprehensive peace process and a two-state solution remains a clear goal of German policy, according to reports from German delegation circles on Monday evening.
Baerbock took part in a meeting of Arab and European foreign ministers in Riyadh, initiated by Saudi Arabia and Norway, at which the prospect of a two-state solution and the recognition of Palestine was on the agenda.
A two-state solution foresees the peaceful co-existence of Israel and a Palestinian state based on the borders of the Palestinian Territories occupied by Israel since 1967 – the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
However, Israel’s government rejects such a two-state solution outright, whereas, the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas has said it wants an independent Palestinian state but will not officially recognise the state of Israel.
Baerbock also made it clear “that there is now an urgent need for improved humanitarian access to Gaza and the release of the hostages,” it was reported after the talks.
She also held confidential talks with Arab and Western colleagues in Riyadh on the specific steps needed to end the fighting and find a sustainable solution to the conflict.
The ministers, including Baerbock’s US counterpart Antony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron, met in Riyadh on the fringes of a two-day World Economic Forum (WEF) conference. Israel did not take part in the talks.
As Gaza’s death toll rises, nationwide protesters urge schools to sever financial links with Israel and divest from conflict-enabling companies…reports Asian Lite News
As students protesting the Israel-Hamas war at universities across US dug in Saturday and vowed to keep their demonstrations going, some universities shut down encampments after reports of antisemitic activity among the protesters.
With the death toll mounting in the war in Gaza, protesters nationwide are demanding that schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.
Early Saturday, police in riot gear cleared an encampment on the campus of Northeastern University in Boston while several dozen students shouted and booed at them from a distance, but the scene was otherwise not confrontational.
The school said in a statement that the demonstration, which began two days ago, had become “infiltrated by professional organizers” with no affiliation to the school and protesters had used antisemitic slurs.
“We cannot tolerate this kind of hate on our campus,” the statement posted on the social media platform X said.
The University of Pennsylvania took similar action Friday when interim President J. Larry Jameson called for an encampment of protesters on the west Philadelphia campus to be disbanded, saying it violates the university’s facilities policies.
The “harassing and intimidating comments and actions” by some protesters violate the school’s open expression guidelines as well as state and federal law, Jameson said, and vandalism of a statue with antisemitic graffiti was “especially reprehensible and will be investigated as a hate crime.”
“I am deeply saddened and troubled that our many efforts to respectfully engage in discourse, support open expression, and create a community that is free of hate and inclusive for everyone have been ignored by those who choose to disrupt and intimidate,” he said.
At Columbia University, where protesters have inspired pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country, negotiations continued with those at the student encampment.
The university’s senate passed a resolution Friday that created a task force to examine the administration’s leadership, which last week called in police in an attempt to clear the protest, resulting in scuffles and more than 100 arrests.
Though the university has repeatedly set and then pushed back deadlines for the removal of the encampment, the school sent an email to students Friday night saying that bringing back police “at this time” would be counterproductive.
Decisions to call in law enforcement, leading to hundreds of arrests nationwide, have prompted school faculty members at universities in California, Georgia and Texas to initiate or pass votes of no confidence in their leadership. They are largely symbolic rebukes, without the power to remove their presidents.
But the tensions pile pressure on school officials, who are already scrambling to resolve the protests as May graduation ceremonies near.
California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, gave protesters who have barricaded themselves inside a building since Monday until 5 p.m. Friday to leave and “not be immediately arrested.” The deadline came and went. Only some of the protesters left, others doubled down. After protesters rebuffed police earlier in the week, the campus was closed for the rest of the semester.
In Colorado, police swept through an encampment Friday at Denver’s Auraria Campus, which hosts three universities and colleges, arresting about 40 protesters on trespassing charges.
Students representing the Columbia encampment said Friday that they reached an impasse with administrators and intend to continue their protest. After meetings Thursday and Friday, student negotiators said the university had not met their primary demand for divestment.
In the letter sent to Columbia students Friday night, the university’s leadership said “we support the conversations that are ongoing with student leaders of the encampment.”
Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik, faced significant criticism from faculty Friday, but retained the support of trustees.
A report by the university senate’s executive committee, which represents faculty, found Shafik and her administration took “many actions and decisions that have harmed Columbia University.” Those included calling in police and allowing students to be arrested without consulting faculty, misrepresenting and suspending student protest groups and hiring private investigators.
Also Friday, Columbia student protester Khymani James walked back comments made in an online video in January that recently received new attention. James said in the video that “Zionists don’t deserve to live” and people should be grateful James wasn’t killing them.
“What I said was wrong,” James said in a statement. “Every member of our community deserves to feel safe without qualification.”
James, who served as a spokesperson for the pro-Palestinian encampment as a member of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, was banned from campus Friday, according to a Columbia spokesperson.
Protest organizers said James’ comments didn’t reflect their values. They declined to describe James’ level of involvement with the demonstration.
In France, students at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, which counts President Emmanuel Macron among its many famous alumni, students blocked access to a campus building and classes went online as the wave of protests reached overseas.
Police clashed with protesters Thursday at Indiana University, Bloomington, where 34 were arrested; Ohio State University, where about 36 were arrested; and at the University of Connecticut, where one person was arrested.
The University of Southern California canceled its May 10 graduation ceremony Thursday, a day after more than 90 protesters were arrested on campus. The university said it will still host dozens of commencement events, including all the traditional individual school ceremonies.
Universities where faculty members have initiated or passed votes of no confidence in their presidents include Cal Poly Humboldt, University of Texas at Austin and Emory University.
Further details about the nature of discussions between the two were immediately unclear. …reports Asian Lite News
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to meet militant organisation Hamas’ political bureau head Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday in Istanbul, to discuss the ongoing Gaza war, state broadcaster TRT reports.
Further details about the nature of discussions between the two were immediately unclear. Haniyeh on Wednesday met Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Qatar for talks on a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages, according to the state news agency Anadolu.
Erdogan publicly endorses Hamas. Earlier this week, he likened Hamas to Turkish independence fighters against Western armies in Anatolia the 1920s, during a parliament address.
At the same address, the Turkish leader attacked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over what he called an ongoing “massacre” in Gaza. Israel firmly rejects Erdogan’s statements.
Despite the president’s verbal attacks, Turkey has recently stepped up its efforts to play a mediating role in the Gaza war.
Negotiations mediated primarily by the United States, Qatar and Egypt have so far failed.
The war began after more than 1,200 people were killed in the massacre carried out by Hamas and other militant Palestinian groups in Israel on October 7. Numerous people were also taken hostage from Israel to the Gaza Strip. There are still 133 people being held there, only some of whom are probably still alive.
Israel responded with massive airstrikes and a ground offensive in Gaza, with more than 33,000 people killed in the strip.
Given the high number of civilian casualties and the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the strip, Israel is being increasingly criticized internationally – even by close partners.
This initiative is part of efforts by the UAE to help ease the suffering of the people in Gaza quickly…reports Asian Lite News
The Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) organised the “From the UAE via Egypt to our people in Gaza” event in Cairo. The event aimed to pack and prepare aid for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Media professionals, artists, and social media influencers from Egypt and other Arab countries attended and participated in the event.
This initiative is part of efforts by the UAE to help ease the suffering of the people in Gaza quickly and efficiently in response to the escalating humanitarian crisis. The focus is on minimising the negative impact on vulnerable groups like women, children, and the elderly.
In this regard, Rashid Mubarak Al Mansouri, ERC Secretary General, stressed that the UAE has been quick to provide relief, food, and healthcare needs to the people of the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the crisis. This is in line with the UAE’s commitment to alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people as a result of the difficult and ongoing conditions they live in, and reflects the values of giving and human solidarity that are deeply rooted in the leadership and people of the UAE towards supporting their brothers in times of crisis.
Al Mansouri praised the support of Egypt, with its institutions and people, in providing the necessary facilities and coordination required to provide relief to the Palestinian brothers in Gaza. This has facilitated the entry of Emirati aid and the UAE field hospital into the Strip.
He said that the UAE and Egypt are collaborating at official and community levels in a spirit of fraternity and solidarity to support the Palestinian people in Gaza during their difficult times. Media professionals, artists, and social media influencers at the event expressed their joy in participating and commended the UAE’s active role in aiding Palestinians and providing medical treatment. These efforts significantly help ease the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The event “From the Emirates via Egypt to our people in Gaza” demonstrates the coordination and cooperation with Egyptian institutions and communities, underscoring the ERC’s belief in involving key community figures in humanitarian efforts.
The ERC remains committed to supporting and providing relief to the Palestinian people in Gaza. The consistent Emirati initiatives reflect the UAE’s historical commitment to aiding Palestinians, easing their humanitarian crisis, and upholding values of solidarity through a long history of relief and humanitarian work.
The WHO chief said more than 3,400 people have already been evacuated, and many more were awaiting Israeli approval to leave…reports Asian Lite News
Amid the continuing Israeli onslaught on Gaza in retaliation to the Hamas terror attacks on October 7, last year, and fears of a new front opening up in Rafah amid the ongoing war, World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Saturday said approximately 9,000 patients trapped in the Strip were in urgent need of evacuation abroad, CNN reported.
With healthcare infrastructure ‘all but collapsed’ in Gaza, thousands need treatment for cancer and kidney dialysis, as well as for injuries sustained during the conflict, Tedros posted on X.
The WHO chief said more than 3,400 people have already been evacuated, and many more were awaiting Israeli approval to leave, according to CNN.
“We urge Israel to speed up approvals for evacuations, so that critical patients can be treated,” Tedros said, adding, “Every moment matters.”
According to CNN, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated on Friday that Gaza’s partially functional hospitals can only provide ‘limited services’ and are overwhelmed with patients. They are also facing “critical shortages of fuel, medicines, medical supplies, and health personnel.”
According to the UN, more than 400 attacks on healthcare infrastructure in the Gaza Strip had been documented by the WHO as of March 12, affecting some 100 ambulances and nearly 100 health facilities.
Israel has repeatedly blamed Hamas for hiding behind civilians in Gaza’s hospitals and other medical facilities, accusations the militant group denies.
Meanwhile, nearly 400 tonnes of food aid are expected to arrive in Gaza by ship in the coming days, according to the non-governmental organisation arranging the deliveries, CNN reported.
Juan Camilo, a community outreach manager with World Central Kitchen, stated that the aid would be distributed to residents in the northern part of the Strip.
He mentioned that The Open Arms, a rescue vessel that recently delivered aid to Gaza, was towing a barge, while another cargo vessel, ‘Jennifer’, was also transporting aid.
World Central Kitchen mentioned that the vessels are equipped with machinery to expedite the off-loading process. Additionally, they noted that the aid includes dates provided by the United Arab Emirates for Palestinians observing Ramadan.
Earlier this month, World Central Kitchen said almost 200 tons of aid were delivered by ship in an operation conducted with the Emirati government and Open Arms, with support from Cyprus.
Truce talks between Israel and Hamas to resume
Truce talks between Israel and Hamas will resume on Sunday in Cairo, the latest attempt to bring about a pause after nearly six months of war in the Gaza Strip, Egypt’s Al Qahera News TV reported on Saturday, citing a security source.
An Israeli official told Reuters that Israel will send a delegation to Cairo on Sunday. A Hamas official however told Reuters the group would wait to hear from Cairo mediators on the outcome of their talks with Israel first.
The warring sides have stepped up negotiations, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, on a six-week suspension of Israel’s offensive in return for the proposed release of 40 of the 130 hostages still held by the Palestinian militant group in Gaza.
Hamas has sought to parlay any deal into an end to the fighting and withdrawal of Israeli forces. Israel has ruled this out, saying it would eventually resume efforts to dismantle the governance and military capabilities of Hamas.
Hamas also wants hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled Gaza City and surrounding areas southward during the first stage of the war to be allowed back north. One Israeli official said his country was open to discussing allowing back only “some” of the displaced.
More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, according to health authorities in the territory.
The war erupted after Hamas militants broke through the border and rampaged through communities in southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel kept up its aerial and ground bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Friday, killing 82 Palestinians in the past 24 hours, the territory’s health ministry said as fighting raged around Gaza City’s main Al Shifa hospital.
The ministry added that Israeli forces in control of the hospital had blockaded 107 patients in the human resources department without water, electricity, or medication for several days, refusing all calls to evacuate them.
Armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said their fighters continued to battle Israeli forces around the medical facility, the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital before the war, which had been one of the few health care facilities even partially operational in north Gaza before the latest fighting.
The Israeli military said forces operating in Al Shifa killed three armed Hamas commanders inside two buildings of the medical facility. Forces located sniper rifles, AK-47s, magazines, and grenades during the activity, the military said.
Israel said it killed and detained hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad gunmen at Al Shifa during its raid there. Hamas and medical staffers deny any armed presence inside medical facilities, accusing Israel of killing and arresting civilians.
Despite the membership losses, however, Labour still holds a commanding lead in UK opinion polling…reports Asian Lite News
The UK’s main opposition party has suffered a sharp fall in membership over its policies on Gaza and green investment, The Guardian reported.
Figures from the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee show that more than 23,000 people have canceled their membership over the last two months.
It follows controversies over the party leadership’s refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, and a decision to abandon a commitment to spend $35 billion on a green investment plan.
Despite the membership losses, however, Labour still holds a commanding lead in UK opinion polling, suggesting it will take government at the next election, ending 14 years of Conservative rule.
David Evans, the party’s general secretary, revealed in a report this week that membership had fallen from 390,000 in January this year to 366,604 at the latest count.
Membership peaked at more than 532,000 in 2019. Party insiders say that the drop has been caused by anger among Muslim and green supporters.
Party leader Keir Starmer’s weeks-long refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza last year resulted in more than 70 Labour councilors resigning from the party.
A senior Labour figure said of the latest results: “It is a big fall in just two months. People were surprised, even taken aback.”
Starmer has also faced a rebellion from Labour MPs over his stance on Gaza, including on the frontbench, with Jess Phillips, then shadow minister for domestic violence, resigning in November.
She said at the time: “I have to use my voice to try, and wherever possible, move the dial. And look, I think this dial will move. I think that it won’t be too long before the US and the UK feel that the (Israeli) military action is achieving nothing.”
Momentum, a Labour-allied grassroots political campaign opposed to Starmer, said that the party was taking its supporters for granted.
A statement from the movement, which supported previous leader Jeremy Corbyn, said: “From a failure to oppose Israel’s brutal war on Gaza to morale-damaging U-turns and the mistreatment of Diane Abbott, Keir Starmer is alienating swathes of Labour’s core support.”
Over 115 MPs urge fresh pressure on Israel over Gaza
More than 115 MPs in the UK have demanded a series of government measures to safeguard Palestinian civilians in Gaza and place new political pressure on Israel.
In a letter to Foreign Secretary David Cameron dated March 29, backbench parliamentarians from all parties urged the government to take immediate action over the “alarming” situation in Gaza.
Among the demands are the full restoration of UK funding to UNRWA, as well as renewed political pressure on Israel to enable the unimpeded access of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
“Turning the taps back on” in the enclave is “vital,” the letter says, warning that Israel should suffer “diplomatic consequences” if it fails to abide by international law.
The government should also demand that “Israel must not use starvation as a weapon of war” and abide by the provisional measures set by the International Court of Justice in January this year, the letter says.
Any shift in British foreign policy toward Israel must include a deadline that, if passed without changes, would result in “serious consequences” for the relationship between the two countries.
Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, described the letter as a potential “turning point” in the UK’s relationship with Israel.
Since the outbreak of violence on Oct. 7, grassroots political campaigns across the UK have sought to pressure the government into calling for a ceasefire and condemning Israel’s war.
The letter is “evidence of huge anger in political circles” in the UK, Doyle added, warning that it also represented a failure of the government to represent the views of the electorate.
But government communication is fast changing tone in statements regarding the Israel-Hamas war, he said.
The letter warns that the UK’s own efforts to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza have been compromised by Israel.
“It is alarming that Israel has delayed UK aid into Gaza by delaying permissions to cross the border and by preventing the necessary staff from obtaining visas,” it says.
“Further UK pressure on the Israeli government to let aid in, open the Port of Ashdod, and ‘turn the taps back on’ in Gaza is vital.”
The civilian population in the enclave is “on the brink of famine,” the letter adds, warning that the threshold for famine may already have been met in northern sections of Gaza, with 27 children and three adults having fallen victim to starvation or dehydration.
“People have resorted to eating bird seed, animal feed and grass … and digging down into the soil to access water pipes for drinking and washing,” the letter warns.
The UK government, in an earlier response to an MP, officially blamed the failure of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza on “arbitrary denials by the Israeli government.”
The government warned in February that Israel would be in breach of international humanitarian law if it denied food and water to the enclave.
The letter also follows a significant vote in the UN Security Council calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with the UK voting in favor.
A looming invasion of Rafah has forced the UK government to change its language and tone toward Israel, said Doyle.
Any incursion into the southernmost area of Gaza, where almost the entire population of the enclave is now sheltering, would result in a “reaction” from the UK and European powers, he added.
The Gaza health ministry reported that 12 individuals, including children, perished in an airstrike targeting a displacement camp near Khan Yunis late on Tuesday….reports Asian Lite News
Israeli forces persisted in their assault on the Gaza Strip despite a UN Security Council resolution for an immediate ceasefire.
The Gaza health ministry, controlled by Hamas, reported that 12 individuals, including children, perished in an airstrike targeting a displacement camp near Khan Yunis late on Tuesday.
Israeli forces also continued their assault on Gaza City’s largest hospital and surrounded two other medical facilities in Khan Yunis, AFP reported. The Palestinian Red Crescent warned of thousands trapped in Nasser hospital, highlighting the perilous situation.
Israel withdraws negotiators
Meanwhile, Israel has recalled its negotiating team from Qatar after Hamas rejected its latest offer on a hostage deal and truce, it was reported. The delegation led by the Mossad chief, David Barnea, had been in Doha for eight days.
Israel has said that it will not relent to many of the demands put forward by the meditators, including Qatar and Egypt on behalf of the Hamas side.
According to sources in the Israel defence ministry, Hamas had again put forward a demand of a total ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli troops and rehabilitation of Palestinians in northern Gaza from the south where they have been staying as refugees since the war broke out.
Meanwhile, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement on Tuesday night said, “Hamas wanted a permanent ceasefire and its decision to reject a US brokered compromise was clear proof of it not interested in continuing talks, and a sad testament to the damage caused by the UN Security council resolution.”
The statement also said, “Israel won’t cave into delusional demands made by Hamas.”
The hawks in the Israeli establishment, including Defence Minister Yoav Gallant were not willing for even a temporary truce. This is owing to the military intelligence reports that Hamas military infrastructure has crumbled and only four battalions were remaining in southern Gaza and that it was only a matter of time before Hamas caves in.
UN says ‘acts of genocide’
A UN human rights expert says she believes Israel has committed “acts of genocide” in Gaza, BBC reported.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, presented her report to UN member states in Geneva on Tuesday.
But Israel has already dismissed her findings.
Albanese concluded that “there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the crime of genocide against Palestinians as a group in Gaza has been met”.
“One of the key findings is that Israel’s executive and military leadership and soldiers have intentionally distorted jus in bello principles, subverting their protective functions, in an attempt to legitimize genocidal violence against the Palestinian people,” a summary of the report stated.
It was on Monday the United Nations Security Council approved the resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and the “unconditional” release of all hostages held by Hamas following the October 7 attack on Israel.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asserted that the resolution must be implemented and any fall in its imposition would be “unforgivable.”
The draft resolution was put forward by 12 non-permanent members of the international forum, including Algeria, Guyana, Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, South Korea and Switzerland, Al Jazeera reported.
Israel cancels US visit
The White House has said that it was “perplexed” by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to cancel a planned visit to Washington by a delegation comprising senior Israeli officials.
Netanyahu made the decision after the US on Monday abstained from a United Nations Security Council vote on a draft resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza until the end of Ramadan. US abstention, instead of veto, effectively gave the green light to the measure, Xinhua news agency reported.
“We are kind of perplexed by this,” John Kirby, spokesperson for the US National Security Council, told reporters at the White House daily briefing in reaction to the scraping of the Israeli delegation, which was invited by the Joe Biden administration to come to Washington for talks on a possible alternative to a ground operation by the Israeli military in Rafah.
Kirby said in a further explanation that the resolution, even as it got passed, would have “no impact at all on Israel and Israel’s ability to go after Hamas”.
Kirby added that abstaining the draft resolution “does not represent a change at all” in US policy coping with the situation in Gaza.
The US, according to Kirby, is still of the view that a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas should be part of a deal securing the release of those held hostage by Hamas. Meanwhile, the US “continues to stand with Israel as they fight Hamas”, Kirby said.
In what seemed to be the thinly veiled criticism of Netanyahu’s government, Kirby stressed that it is the US, not Israel, that gets to decide its own policy.
