Senior Iranian officials have blamed Washington for stalled peace negotiations due to the United States naval blockade of the country’s ports, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it captured two foreign vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and opened fire on a third ship for violating maritime regulations.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran wants “dialogue and agreement” but “breach of commitments, blockade and threats are the main obstacles to genuine negotiations”.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said no deadline has been set by US President Donald Trump for the extension of his ceasefire on Iran, adding that it will be the president’s decision when the truce ends.

Lebanon has condemned Israel for the targeted killing of Lebanese newspaper correspondent Amal Khalil and the wounding of journalist colleague Zeinab Faraj, despite a negotiated ceasefire between both countries, which Israel has violated daily with deadly attacks and demolitions of Lebanese homes.

Lebanese president condemns killing of journalist Amal Khalil as ‘crime against humanity’

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has expressed his condolences over the death of Al Akhbar journalist Amal Khalil, who was killed by an Israeli attack in the town of al-Tayri, and extended his wishes for the swift recovery of colleague Zeinab Faraj, who was seriously wounded in the same attack.

Aoun said in a post on X that Israel’s “deliberate and consistent targeting of journalists” was aimed at “concealing the truth of its aggressive acts against Lebanon”.

Such acts constitute “crimes against humanity punishable under international laws and conventions”, the president said, adding that the killing of Khalil should serve as “an incentive for the international community to intervene and put an end to them”.

The president also extended his condolences to Khalil’s family, to Al Akhbar newspaper, and to the broader Lebanese and Arab media community, describing the slain journalist as having “joined the caravan of martyred journalists who preceded her on the path of martyrdom in the land of the South”.

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L’article Israel kills Lebanese journalist; Tehran-US talks stalled.. Video est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

Tehran is ‘fully prepared’ for US to resume hostilities at any moment, says Iran’s parliament speaker Ghalibaf.

Iran and the United States have made progress in negotiations but are still a long way from a deal, according to Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator – amplifying concerns about a possible return to war when their ceasefire is set to expire on Wednesday.

In a nationally televised address on Saturday night, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that despite “progress” with the US, “many gaps and some fundamental points remain… we are still far from the final discussion”.

On Sunday, Iran’s President, Masoud Pezeshkian, said that US ⁠President ⁠Donald Trump cannot justify depriving Tehran of what he called its ‘nuclear rights’.

“Trump says Iran ⁠cannot make use of its nuclear ⁠rights, but doesn’t say ⁠for what crime. ⁠Who is he to deprive a nation ‌of its rights?” Pezeshkian was quoted as ‌saying by the Iranian Student News Agency.

The future of Iran’s nuclear programme and the Strait of Hormuz are key sticking points in the negotiations.

The latest comments from the political leadership came after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reimposed restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz, less than 24 hours after reopening it. The reversal, it said, was due to the continuing naval blockade of Iranian ports by the US.

Ghalibaf, one of Iran’s top negotiators, called Washington’s blockade “ignorant” and “foolish”, saying Tehran would not allow others to transit the strait if its own ships were blocked.

He also said Iranian forces are “fully prepared” for the US to resume hostilities at any moment.

Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said Iranian officials are using the strait, through which 20 percent of globally traded oil normally transits, “as a pressure point” in negotiations, calling it perhaps the “most important bargaining chip”.

‘Start dropping bombs again’

Mediators have been pushing for a second round of US-Iran peace talks, after a first round in Islamabad ended on April 12 with no deal. The White House had said another round would likely be held in Islamabad. But Iran’s deputy foreign minister said on Saturday that no date could be set before the two sides agree on a “framework of understanding”, accusing Washington of maintaining a “maximalist” stance.

Donald Trump gave a series of mixed remarks on Saturday, saying Iran “got a little cute” on the Strait of Hormuz and that the US would not be “blackmailed”. The president added that US and Iranian officials remained in contact and negotiations were “working out really well”.

Earlier in the day, Trump said the US would “have to start dropping bombs again” if no deal was reached by Wednesday, when the ceasefire is due to end.

World Opinion + Aljazeera ENG

L’article Iran, US still ‘far’ from breakthrough amid Strait of Hormuz impasse.. Video est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

Leavitt is next asked about the Iran ceasefire, and says that reports the US has asked to formally extend it are « not true ».

Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has landed in Iran as part of a delegation to hold high-level talks on the resumption of talks between Iran and the US.

Iran’s army has warned it will block trade through the Red Sea along with the Gulf and Sea of Oman if the US naval blockade on Iranian ports continues.

The US military says it has “completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea” as its blockade in the Strait of Hormuz continues for a second day.

US President Donald Trump says the war is “close to over” after hinting at a second round of face-to-face talks with Iran in Pakistan in the coming days.

« We remain very much engaged in these talks, » she says, and conversations are « productive and ongoing ».

On reports that there are in-person talks being planned, she says « those discussions are being had but nothing is official until you here it from us here at the White House ».

« We feel good about the prospects of a deal », Leavitt says, adding that it’s « in the best interests of Iran » to meet Trump’s demands – which she says he’s made « very clear ».

If talks happen, they would « very likely » be in the same place they were last time – Islamabad – she says.

Five Israeli soldiers wounded in south Lebanon

The army says on X that one soldier was “seriously wounded” and four others were lightly wounded “as a result of rocket fire in southern Lebanon”.

The army did not provide further details, but Israeli Army Radio is reporting that they were wounded in Bint Jbeil, where fighting is currently raging between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.

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L’article White House says talks with Iran ‘productive and ongoing’.. Video est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

United States President Donald Trump threatens Iranian ships, saying they will be “eliminated” if they “come anywhere close to our blockade”.

The start of the US military’s blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports has now begun, according to the deadline it set.

Iran’s armed forces say that US’s “imposition of restrictions on the movement of vessels in international waters is an illegal act and amounts to piracy“.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says talks with the US in Pakistan failed because of Washington’s “maximalism, shifting goalposts and blockade”.

Israel’s military continues to bombard south Lebanon, with the country’s health ministry saying that at least 2,089 people have been killed in attacks since March 2.

How will the US implement its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz?

We’ve spoken to Salvatore Mercogliano, maritime historian at Campbell University in North Carolina, about how the US could effectively implement a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Mercogliano said he expected the US Navy to turn around ships that come out of the Strait while keeping at a distance from the range of Iran’s missiles and drones.

He added that CENTCOM specified that the blockade would exclude ships that departed from non-Iranian ports, as well as humanitarian vessels.

According to Mercogliano, the US has been reinforcing its naval forces and now has enough assets in place to operate a blockade.

What may end up happening is that Iran and the US enforce “two competing blockades.” “This has the potential to freeze shipping in and out the Strait of Hormuz entirely,” he said.

World Opinion + Agencies

L’article How will the US implement its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz?.. Video est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

As Pakistan celebrates its success in helping negotiate a two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran, its leaders are preparing to host the peace talks.

A two-day holiday was declared in the country’s capital of Islamabad ahead of the talks, which are due to begin on Saturday.

Whether or not they will actually go ahead has yet to be confirmed, but the city has readied itself all the same. The streets have become quieter as about 10,000 police officers and security forces are deployed.

The stakes for the world are high – countries across the globe are keen to see an end to the fighting and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery where about 20% of the global oil supply flowed through before the war.

But they are also high for Pakistan in other ways.

The South Asian nation will face a potential « nightmare scenario » if negotiations collapse, and it gets dragged into fighting with its neighbour Iran, says Abdul Basit, a South Asia expert at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. This could happen as Pakistan signed a mutual defence pact with Saudi Arabia last year – and Islamabad has since « made it clear that it will honour its commitment given to the Saudis », says Basit.

This could result in « three borders of Pakistan [becoming] hot », Basit explains, referring to Pakistan’s existing tensions with its other neighbours Afghanistan and India. « And Pakistan is fighting two full-fledged insurgencies in two of the four provinces. Pakistan cannot afford that. »

Yet pride and excitement is taking over Pakistani social media, with different memes going viral.

« It is a victory in the sense that no other country in the world was able to broker the ceasefire and we were on the verge of a possible catastrophe. Pakistan averted that, » says Basit.

The success is very much needed for a country that has endured years of political unrest, a fragile economy on the brink of a debt default only two years ago, and intense rivalry with India.

So how did Pakistan pull off this feat?

Trump favourite

Pakistan is in a unique position as it is trusted by the US, Iran and the Gulf countries.

The reconciliation process is led by Pakistan’s military chief Asim Munir, whom US President Donald Trump calls his « favourite field marshal », according to Mushahid Hussain Syed, a senator belonging to the ruling party Pakistan Muslim League.

Munir is arguably the most powerful man in Pakistan, a country where the army has long played a predominant role in politics.

Soon after the start of Trump’s second term, Munir started building rapport with the US president and gave him « two early wins », says Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistan ambassador to the US and UN.

The field marshal, acting on CIA intelligence, handed over the alleged mastermind behind the 2021 Kabul airport bombing when Americans were evacuating from Afghanistan. The suicide attack killed at least 170 Afghans and 13 US service members.

« Trump was so grateful that he mentioned this in his first address to the Congress, » Lodhi says.

The second win, Lodhi says, was « the way Pakistan conveyed to him that he had played a pivotal role in preventing a wider war with India ». Pakistan is one of the few countries that have nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize – which he has long coveted.

« Remember that Trump wasn’t really getting much joy from the tariff war that he was imposing practically on every country in the world. So, he really needed what he got from Pakistan. »

Pakistan has also promised access to its critical minerals, which the US sees as a national-security interest. In September 2025, Pakistan’s Frontier Works Organisation – the country’s major miner of critical minerals, which operates under the military – signed a $500m investment deal with a US company. The ceremony took place at the Prime Minister House, with Munir in attendance.

Then, in January, Pakistan signed an agreement with an affiliate of World Liberty Financials, the cryptocurrency venture co-founded by Trump and his family, which will potentially integrate its stablecoin into the country’s digital-payment system. It has bolstered the country’s ties with Trump’s circle too.

‘Principled stance’

However, these close ties did not stop Pakistan officially condemning the first US-Israeli attacks in Iran. But when Iran bombed the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, a military ally, Pakistan also issued a strongly worded statement against Iran.

On 7 April, Pakistan abstained from a UN Security Council resolution urging states to coordinate efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Syed calls it « one-sided » as the solution does not mention that the US and Israel attacked first.

This « principled stance » and « balanced approach » has helped to enhance the trust of Iran and other Gulf countries, says Syed.

It is with these countries that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has played a crucial role in the negotiations, former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan Aizaz Chaudhry says.

Over the past five weeks, Sharif and his deputy, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, spoke with more than a dozen world leaders and senior officials in Washington, Moscow, Beijing, key European capitals, Turkey, Egypt and GCC states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

On the day when the ceasefire was announced, Sharif said he had a « warm and substantive conversation » with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, who « reaffirmed Iran’s participation in the upcoming negotiations and expressed appreciation for Pakistan’s efforts ».

It seems Sharif has been able to leverage Pakistan’s long-standing relationship with Iran on this occasion. The two countries share a 920km border with Iran and have been cooperating for decades as a result, former Pakistan ambassador to Iran Asif Durrani says.

They also share other concerns: militants and the « unstable » Afghanistan.

« For the past five decades, we both have been facing instability in our countries in the form of refugees, » Durrani says.

Also not to be underestimated is the role religion has played in fostering trust and connection. While Pakistan is a Sunni-majority country, it has one of the world’s largest Shia populations. Every year, thousands of Pakistanis travel to Iran, the biggest Shia country, on pilgrimage.

But as Saturday ticks closer, it is unclear if Pakistan’s efforts will result in the promised peace talks. The ceasefire is under growing strain, and whether the two sides will actually turn up is still in question.

« The next phase – reaching a comprehensive agreement – is difficult, and Pakistan should continue to facilitate the process, » Chaudhry says.

Israel « is already trying to undermine the ceasefire by undertaking this fierce assault on Lebanon », Lodhi says. Israeli strikes on Wednesday killed more than 300 people in Lebanon, and Israel says the Iran ceasefire does not include Lebanon.

« There is this concern in Pakistan for sure amongst officials. And on that front, the responsibility and the onus rests on Trump to restrain Israel, » she adds.

Pakistan has already « played its part » to foster peace, Durrani says. « As a broker, mediator or facilitator, your job is to take the horse to water. You can’t make it drink. It is up to the parties to make use of that opportunity which is provided by Pakistan. »

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L’article Debate. The high-stakes diplomacy that led to Pakistan hosting US-Iran peace talks est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

The US is seen with growing suspicion within Kurdish communities and elites, which is changing political calculations.

Last month during the violent clashes between Kurdish forces and the Syrian army, the United States delivered a devastating message to Syria’s Kurds: Their partnership with Washington had “expired“. This was not merely a statement of shifting priorities – it was a clear signal that the US was siding with Damascus and abandoning the Kurds at their most vulnerable moment.

For the Kurds across the region watching events unfold, the implications were profound. The US is no longer perceived as a reliable partner or supporter of minorities.

This development is likely to have an impact not just on the Kurdish community in Syria but also those in Iraq, Turkiye and Iran.

Fears of repeat marginalisation in Syria

US support for Damascus under interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa paves the way for a centralised Syrian state – an arrangement that Kurds throughout the region view with deep suspicion. Their wariness is rooted in bitter historical experience.

Centralised states in the Middle East have historically marginalised, excluded and assimilated Kurdish minorities. The prospect of such a system emerging in Syria, with US backing, represents a fundamental divergence from Kurdish hopes for the region’s future.

The approach the Assad regime to the Kurdish question was built on systematic denial. Kurds were not recognised as a distinct collective group within Syria’s national fabric; the state banned the public use of the Kurdish language and Kurdish names. Many Kurds were denied citizenship.

Al-Sharaa’s presidential decree of January 16 promised Kurds some rights while the January 30 agreement between Damascus and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) included limited recognition of Kurdish collective identity, including acknowledgment of “Kurdish regions” – terminology conspicuously absent from Syria’s political vocabulary and government documents in the past.

These represent incremental gains, but they are unfolding within a transitional government structure that aims for centralisation as its ultimate objective. That is why Syrian Kurds remain suspicious of whether the promises made today will be upheld in the future.

While a consensus has emerged among the majority of Kurdish groups that armed resistance is not strategically viable at this stage, any future engagement with the US will be perceived with mistrust.

Possibility of renewed Shia-Kurdish alliance in Iraq

After years of power rivalries between Shia and Kurdish parties in Iraq, both groups are now observing developments in Syria and potential changes in Iran with a shared sense of threat and common interests. If in 2003, their alliance was driven by a shared past – the suffering under Saddam Hussein’s regime – today it is being guided by a shared future shaped by fears of being marginalised in the region.

At both the political and popular levels, Shia and Kurdish parties and communities have had much more in common over the past few weeks than in the past. This convergence is evident not only in elite political calculations but also in public sentiment across both communities.

For the first time in recent memory, both Kurdish elites and ordinary citizens in Iraq are no longer enthusiastic about regime change in Iran, a position that would have been unthinkable just a few weeks ago.

In addition, last month, Iraq’s Shia Coordination Framework, an alliance of its Shia political parties, nominated Nouri al-Maliki for prime minister, the most powerful position in the Iraqi government. Remarkably, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the dominant Kurdish political force, welcomed the nomination.

The KDP’s support for al-Maliki was not solely a reaction to anger over US policy in Syria. It was also rooted in Iraqi and Kurdish internal politics. The endorsement is part of an ongoing rivalry between the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) over Iraq’s presidency, an office reserved for the Kurds. The KDP needs allies in Baghdad to ensure its candidate, rather than the PUK’s, secures the position.

However, Washington might see an alignment between the KDP-led Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq and an al-Maliki-led government or a similar government in Baghdad as not conducive to its interests in Iraq, especially its efforts to curb Iranian influence.

Before casting blame, Washington should ask itself why the Kurds feels compelled to adopt this position. The Kurdish stance cannot be fully understood without factoring US policy in Syria into the discussion. From a Kurdish perspective, the US has not been a neutral arbiter in Syria.

The peace process in Turkiye

Over the past year, many believed that the sustainability of Turkiye’s peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) hinged on a resolution of the Kurdish question in Syria and the fate of the SDF.

The violent clashes between Damascus, backed by Ankara and Washington, and the SDF threatened to close the door on negotiations. Remarkably, however, not all avenues have been shut.

It now appears the two issues are being treated as separate files. Negotiations with the PKK are likely to continue within Turkiye’s borders, and crucially, PKK leaders have not translated their disappointment over the weakening of the SDF into a definitive rejection of talks with Ankara.

What sustains this dynamic is that the SDF has not been entirely dismantled, leaving some breathing room for continued dialogue between Ankara and the PKK.

The Iranian Kurds

The Iranian Kurds, although farther away from Syria, have also observed events there and made their conclusions. The abandonment of the SDF reveals the unpredictable nature of US support for the region’s minorities.

In light of this and given continuing US incitement against the Iranian regime, it is quite significant that the Iranian Kurds collectively and deliberately decided not to be at the forefront of the recent protests or allow themselves to be instrumentalised by Western media.

The Kurdish community in Iran is not enthusiastic about a potential return of Reza Pahlavi, who clearly enjoys support from Washington, and the restoration of the shah’s legacy, which was also oppressive. Iranian opposition groups – many of them based in the West – have not offered a better prospect for the Kurdish question. There is widespread fear that the current regime could simply be replaced by another with no guarantee for Kurdish rights.

Some Iraq-based Iranian Kurdish armed groups did carry out attacks on Iranian positions near the Iran-Iraq border. But the main Iranian Kurdish armed actors chose not to engage directly or escalate militarily. Their calculations are based on the uncertainty about the endgame envisioned by Israel and the US and the reality that any escalation would provoke Iranian retaliation against Iraqi Kurds.

With each abandonment of its Kurdish allies, the US further erodes the foundation of trust upon which its local partnerships rest. Iraqi and Syrian Kurds have learned to live with American unreliability, but this arrangement may not endure indefinitely. When it fractures, the consequences for US influence in the region could be profound.

By Kamaran Palani – Aljazeera

L’article Analysis. US abandoning the SDF has impacted Kurds across the region est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

Public anger is growing against looters and exploitative merchants. Their actions are seen as betrayal.

On July 17, I was in a market in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza looking for any affordable food item to buy when I saw a crowd of people gather in front of some shops. The people were angry about the exorbitant prices that the shop owners were charging for goods that had clearly been looted from aid convoys.

Two weeks later, I was at the same market and witnessed another angry protest. People were chanting, “You thieves!” and cursing the merchants.

Having no fear of God, shop owners are exploiting the famine without mercy, selling aid as if it were rare luxury items when in fact it is supposed to be distributed for free. The greed and exploitation have gone too far, and the people are taking things into their own hands. Across Gaza, there are protests against price speculation. In some places, shops are being forcibly closed.

Indeed, the prices of essential goods have soared to unimaginable levels, beyond anything dictated by the forces of supply and demand. People cannot understand why goods cost so much despite their minimal purchasing power. The prices I saw while walking at the market were insane: a kilo (2.2lb) of flour – 40 shekels ($12), a kilo of rice – 60 shekels ($18), a kilo of lentils – 40 shekels ($12), a kilo of sugar – 250 shekels ($73), a litre (1 quart) of cooking oil – 200 shekels ($58).

Since Israel imposed a full blockade on Gaza in March, the normal aid distribution through the United Nations – something that has to happen unabated in any warzone – has ceased.

To stave off global criticism, Israel set up humanitarian hubs to supposedly distribute aid. But they have been nothing more than death traps. Many of those who come to collect aid are shot at, and thousands have been killed or wounded.

In parallel, the Israeli government started allowing in a very small quantity of aid trucks, but a large portion of those are looted once they enter Gaza. The goods are then resold at outrageous prices.

Those who control this supply of looted food are powerful merchants and brokers, often protected by local influential actors or benefitting from indirect coordination with Israel. These actions are not spontaneous. They take place within a deliberately created atmosphere of chaos. With the collapse of state institutions and absence of legal accountability, exploitation has become the rule, not the exception.

It is clear to the Palestinians that the occupation doesn’t merely aim to show that Gaza is weak. It actively seeks to prove that it is ungovernable. To achieve this, closing the borders isn’t enough. The people of Gaza must be pushed into a state of constant chaos and friction.

Starvation is a key instrument here. Hunger doesn’t only kill. It also changes human nature. A starving person, stripped of the bare minimum needed to survive and subjected to daily humiliation, slowly loses the ability to think clearly, to judge or to restrain themselves from turning against those they perceive – rightly or wrongly – as contributing to their suffering.

There are black markets and war profiteers in every conflict. But in this one, the occupying power is encouraging these criminal activities, not because it is earning money from them, but because it serves its overall goal. The Palestinians who choose to participate in this form of extortion are motivated by greed, blackmail or survival.

This slow unravelling is exactly what the occupation has aimed for. It wants chaos in the streets of Gaza so Israeli and international media can be quick to point a finger at the Palestinians and declare: “Look, the Palestinian people are imploding. They can’t govern themselves. They don’t deserve a state.” But the truth is, this is not a sign of a failed nation. It is evidence of the occupation’s success in dragging it to the brink.

It is not the people who have lost control. Control has been forcibly stripped from them – through starvation, the systematic destruction of healthcare and sanitary infrastructure, the dismantling of state institutions and the empowerment of criminals.

Yet Gaza will not break. People may grow angry and desperate, cry out and protest, but they still retain a moral compass. This collective outcry is not infighting. It is a clear warning that society will no longer tolerate betrayal. Those who raise prices mercilessly in times of siege are traitors, and they will be held accountable before institutions of justice when Gaza rebuilds.

The occupation may be revelling now in the unfolding collapse, but it would be wrong to think it has defeated the Palestinians. Every crisis breeds new awareness. Every betrayal gives birth to new resistance. The vast majority of Palestinians refuse to become tools in the hands of their torturers. They refuse subjugation and erasure. They refuse to exploit and harm their fellow citizens.

Palestinian national solidarity is still alive.

By Amal Abu Seif Palestinian writer and researcher from Gaza – Aljazeera ENG

L’article Palestinians won’t tolerate war profiteering in Gaza est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

In the days following October 7, when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel to murder, mutilate and take hostage hundreds of Israelis of all ages, US President Joe Biden was quick to express his outrage, calling the Hamas attack “sheer evil.” He flew to Israel and pledged his support for it to act in self-defense, saying that if the US had been the victim of such an atrocity, its response would be “swift, decisive and overwhelming.” The US “has Israel’s back,” he declared.

Six weeks after Israel unleashed its military comeback, however, with air strikes and a comprehensive ground assault against Hamas in the north of Gaza, the US support for the war appears less than wholehearted. As the civilian death toll mounted in Gaza and aid agencies warned of shortages of water, food and fuel, US pressure mounted on the Israeli government to agree to a truce, both to allow more aid lorries to enter Gaza and allow for a negotiated release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians jailed in Israel.

Israel was initially reluctant to pause its assault, knowing that Hamas would use the time to rearm and reorganize its defenses. But it went ahead, both because of domestic pressure from families of hostages and from Washington. Around ten American citizens are among the hostages held in Gaza. Hamas has sought to prolong the suspension of the Israeli action against them by releasing only one or two of the Americans it holds, calculating that the longer they hold them, the longer the US will continue to pressure Israel to extend the truce.

While the Israeli government is clear in its determination to continue the offensive to eliminate Hamas once the truce is over, the White House is warning against its repeating in the south of Gaza the intense bombardment it launched in the north. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken warned that “far too many” Palestinians had been killed in the war already, ahead of his latest visit to Israel. He declared that his priority was both securing the release of all the hostages and improving protection for civilians in Gaza.

The clear US switch in priority from defeating Hamas to hostage releases and protecting Gazan civilians is driven in part by pressure from Arab and Western allies. But domestic political pressure is also playing a role. And as the US prepares for a presidential election next year, this key foreign policy issue is becoming a major issue among voters.

An NBC opinion poll, released on November 14, over one month into the war, shows that President Biden’s approval rating had sunk to an all-time low of 40 percent. And his stance on the Israel-Hamas war appears to be a major factor in this drop in support, with 56 percent of registered voters and 41 percent of Democrats disapproving of his handling of the conflict. Half of Democrat supporters said they thought the Israeli military action in Gaza was unjustified and that the US should stop providing it with military aid. Opposition to US support for the Israeli campaign was even more pronounced among young Democrat supporters, 70 percent of whom were against Biden’s backing of Israel and his refusal to back a permanent ceasefire.

These young Democrats are unlikely to switch their vote to Trump. But if enough stay at home on election day, it could prove fatal to Biden’s chances of a second term in the White House. The poll shows Biden trailing his predecessor, Donald Trump, who remains by far his most likely opponent in next year’s election. And Trump lost no time in seeking to exploit the mood by criticizing the Biden administration for failing to ensure that Americans were among the first batch of hostages freed by Hamas. Trump used his social media platform to declare that the reason for this was a lack of respect for Biden’s leadership. Trump has also claimed that if he had been president, the Hamas attack would never have happened because of his tough approach to Iran.

The growing Democrat opposition to Biden’s support for Israel in the war is finding expression in Congress, where 24 Democrat members of the House of Representatives earlier this month urged the president to push for an immediate, complete ceasefire. So far, the White House has resisted calls for a permanent ceasefire since it would enable Hamas to declare victory, regroup, and prepare for another deadly attack on Israeli civilians.

Supporters of the Palestinian people hold a rally and march called a Day of Action for Palestine as the conflict between Israeli and Hamas continues, near the White House in Washington, US, October 14, 2023. (Reuters)

And as Congress prepares to debate the Biden administration’s plan to provide $14.3 billion in emergency military aid for Israel, some Democrats are making an unprecedented attempt to attach conditions to the bill – insisting that Israel do more to avoid civilian casualties and agree to allow the delivery of more humanitarian aid. At the start of November, a majority of Democrats in the Senate challenged Biden’s request for emergency military assistance to Israel, calling for guarantees that Israel would take steps to minimize civilian casualties. The pressure on the president from fellow Democrats appeared to bear fruit when Biden told reporters that the idea of conditioning aid to Israel was “a worthwhile thought.”

President Biden has committed himself to Israel’s war aim of eradicating Hamas. But his previous backing for “swift, decisive and overwhelming” Israeli military action has been tempered with doubts over the way the campaign is being waged. And as the fighting shifts to the south of Gaza, with more civilian suffering inevitable, international and domestic pressure will build on Biden to find a way to end it or risk the issue seriously endangering his chances of re-election.

By David Powell worked for 20 years as a journalist in pan-Arab television news, including BBC Arabic and MBC. He is now an analyst of Middle East affairs specializing in media and Islamist movements.

Alarabiya ENG

L’article Analysis. Is US support for Israel wavering? est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

A senior UN aid official has warned that half of Gaza’s population is starving, as fighting there continues.

Carl Skau, deputy director of the UN World Food Programme, said only a fraction of supplies needed have been able to enter the Strip – and nine out of 10 people cannot eat every day.

Conditions in Gaza have made deliveries « almost impossible », Mr Skau said.

Israel says it must continue air strikes on Gaza to eliminate Hamas and bring Israeli hostages home.

Israel Defence Forces spokesman Lt Col Richard Hecht told the BBC on Saturday that « any death and pain to a civilian is painful, but we don’t have an alternative ».

« We are doing everything we can to get as much as possible inside the Gaza Strip, » he said.

Herzi Halevi, chief of staff of the IDF, was filmed telling soldiers the army has to « press harder » because « we’re seeing terrorists surrendering… a sign their network is collapsing ».

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has used an emergency law to bypass Congress and authorise the sale of some 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth more than $106m (£85m) to Israel.

Movement in and out of Gaza has been heavily restricted since 7 October, when Hamas fighters broke through Israel’s heavily-guarded perimeter fence – killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages.

In response, Israel closed its borders with Gaza and began launching air strikes on the territory, restricting aid deliveries which Gazans heavily relied on.

The Hamas-run health ministry says Israel has killed more than 17,700 Gazans in its retaliatory campaign, including more than 7,000 children.

Only the Rafah crossing bordering Egypt has been open, allowing limited quantities of aid to reach Gaza. This week Israel agreed to open the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel into Gaza in the next few days – but only for the inspection of aid lorries. The trucks would then go to Rafah to cross into Gaza.

Mr Skau said nothing had prepared him for the « fear, the chaos, and the despair » he and his WFP team encountered during their trip to Gaza this week.

They witnessed « confusion at warehouses, distribution points with thousands of desperate hungry people, supermarkets with bare shelves, and overcrowded shelters with bursting bathrooms, » he said.

International pressure and a temporary seven-day ceasefire last month had allowed some badly-needed aid to enter the Gaza Strip, but the WFP insists a second border crossing is now needed to meet demand.

Nine out of 10 families in some areas are spending « a full day and night without any food at all », according to Mr Skau.

People in Khan Younis in the south of Gaza, a city now surrounded on two fronts by Israeli tanks, say the situation there is dire.

Dr Ahmed Moghrabi, head of the plastic surgery and burns unit in the city’s only remaining health facility, Nasser hospital, fought back tears as he spoke to the BBC about the lack of food.

« I have a daughter, three years old, always she ask me (for) some sweets, some apple, some fruits. I can’t provide. I feel helpless, » he said.

« There is not enough food, there is not enough food, only rice, only rice can you believe? We eat once, once a day, only. »

Khan Younis has been the focus of heavy air strikes in recent days and the boss of Nasser hospital there said his team had « lost control » over the numbers of dead and wounded arriving at the facility.

Israel says Hamas leaders are hiding in Khan Younis, possibly in an underground network of tunnels, and that it is fighting house to house and « shaft to shaft » to destroy the group’s military capabilities.

Speaking on Saturday, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, accused the United States of being complicit in war crimes, after it vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Out of 15 of the Security Council members, 13 countries voted in favour of the resolution calling for a ceasefire. The UK abstained from the vote and the US was the only country to vote against the resolution.

Mr Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, said he held Washington responsible for « the bloodshed of Palestinian children, women, and elderly in Gaza at the hands of [Israeli] occupation forces ».

The US ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, defended the veto, and said the resolution was calling for an « unsustainable ceasefire » which « would leave Hamas in place able to repeat what it did on October 7 ».

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Saturday he appreciated the « correct stance » the US had taken at the security council.

A seven-day temporary ceasefire ended just over a week ago. Under the truce, 78 hostages were released by Hamas in exchange for 180 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

There are still more than 100 hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.

On Saturday, it was confirmed that Israeli hostage Sahar Baruch, 25, had been killed, his kibbutz and a hostages’ group said in a statement.

It comes after the armed wing of Hamas released a video on Friday which it said showed the bloody aftermath of a failed IDF operation to free an Israeli hostage.

By Fiona Nimoni – BBC News

L’article Israel-Gaza war: Half of Gaza’s population is starving, warns UN.. Video est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

Leading presidents and prime ministers from around the world are meeting for the annual G20 leaders’ summit in India’s capital, Delhi, from 9-10 September.

Narendra Modi is an authoritarian figure who, as India’s prime minister since 2014, has pushed his country into increasingly becoming a “de facto ethnic democracy”, in which Hindus define the national identity and non-Hindus are seen as second-class citizens. Yet as the host of the upcoming talks of the world’s 20 largest economies, Mr Modi will be feted by major global leaders – except his absent fellow strongmen Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.

Mr Modi’s dangerous majoritarianism is too easily overlooked by the west, as the G20 glad-handing will show. India had been considered an exemplary liberal parliamentary democracy among developing countries. This is being slowly dismantled by Mr Modi’s brand of Hindu nationalism. State intimidation has seen civil society harassed and critics jailed. A report by a group of prominent lawyers last year warned that “the administration of law has become the means by which … the Muslim community can be kept in a state of perpetual fear”. Since May, the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur has been burning, with its valley Hindus and highland Christians sinking into bloody fighting. Mr Modi’s party blames non-Hindus for the violence.

The Indian prime minister shares the ideological viewpoint of Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen in France and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. Mr Modi claims India suffered 1,000 years of servitude: 750 years of Muslim rule, plus 250 years of British rule. Pulling down, or discarding, symbols of that history – mosques, mausoleums, Lutyens’ Delhi buildings – is excused, in this thinking, because this represents a national, Hindu resurgence. Mr Modi tellingly speaks of 1,000 years of rule to come.

The west thinks that it must keep stumm because it needs India to contain China. But at what cost to democracy and human rights? Mukul Kesavan, an Indian historian, wrote earlier this year that when the White House rolled out the red carpet for Mr Modi, “One of the more entertaining things about [his] visit has been the sight of [Joe] Biden welcoming a foreign leader who had openly campaigned for his predecessor and liberal bête noire, Donald Trump.”

Last year, Gothenburg University’s annual report on the state of global democracy warned of a wave of “autocratization” spreading around the world. Since 2020, the report said, India has not been a working democracy but an “electoral autocracy” similar to that in Russia. All is not lost. India’s next general election will provide a chance for the public to have its say – though how much remains to be seen, given that a peer-reviewed paper suggested that in 2019 Mr Modi won around 11 seats by suppressing the Muslim vote. Its author, a respected economist, quit after his university failed to back him. The arrival of the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, otherwise known as INDIA, has also unsettled Mr Modi. Perhaps peeved at being opposed by “INDIA”, Mr Modi wants to respond only to the country’s Sanskrit name “Bharat”.

India’s prime minister says the G20 should let the global south shape the world’s future. As Human Rights Watch pointed out this week, “many proposed summit topics – debt crises, social protection programs, food security, climate change, internet freedom – are at their root about human rights”. Britain has its own share of democratic backsliding. But if Mr Modi desires successful outcomes then he, like all autocratic leaders, should understand why his actions at home undermine the arguments he wants to promote abroad.

Western democracies are wrong to overlook a country’s descent into electoral autocracy because they believe they need it to contain China

What is the G20?

The G20 – or Group of Twenty – is a club of countries which meets to discuss plans for the global economy.

Between them, G20 countries account for 85% of the world’s economic output and 75% of world trade. They contain two-thirds of the global population.

The members are the European Union and 19 nations – Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK and the US. Spain is always invited as a guest.

A smaller group of G20 member countries meets as the G7.

Some of the G20 member nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – have formed a separate group called Brics.

This is due to expand, having invited six other nations to join at its recent summit: Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

What does the group discuss?

The issues discussed by G20 leaders have broadened in recent years from just economics to include issues such as climate change, sustainable energy, international-debt forgiveness and taxing multinational corporations.

Every year, a different G20 member state takes over the presidency and sets the agenda for meetings.

Indonesia held the presidency in 2022, and the leaders’ summit was held in Bali.

As 2023 president, India wants the Delhi event to concentrate on sustainable development, as well as measures to spread economic growth more evenly between developed and developing countries.

The summit also provides an opportunity for one-to-one discussions to take place alongside group sessions.

The White House says that US President Joe Biden will talk to individual leaders about tackling climate change, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and getting global organisations such as the World Bank to do more to fight poverty.

However, the Kremlin says Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will not be attending the summit, and it’s been widely reported that China’s President Xi Jinping will also stay away.

Are there any controversial issues for G20 countries?

Russia’s war in Ukraine is likely to cause discord at the Delhi summit.

In March 2022, the G20 foreign ministers were unable to reach agreements at their meeting because of fierce arguments over the war between the US and Russia delegations.

At the Bali leaders’ summit in November 2022, discussions were dominated by a crisis involving missiles from the war falling on Poland’s side of the border with Ukraine.

In May, China and Saudi Arabia boycotted a G20 meeting on tourism which was held in Indian-administered Kashmir because the Kashmir region contains territory claimed by Pakistan as well as India.

A row has also broken out between India and China over a long-running border dispute, after Beijing released a map which claims the state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin plateau as Chinese territory.

What does the summit mean for India?

India has been positioning itself as a leading voice of developing countries known as the Global South in recent years and G20 is seen as its chance to deliver on these promises on a bigger stage.

The summit also comes ahead of the 2024 general elections in India and could bolster Mr Modi’s image as a leader who commands respect on the global stage.

The government has held hundreds of meeting across some 50 cities in the run-up to the summit in Delhi.

For months, cities and towns have been dotted with shiny billboards featuring the G20 logo and Mr Modi’s photos, framing the event as the prime minister’s earnest attempt to bring the world to India.

Mr Modi also appears to share a personal rapport with many of his G20 counterparts, including President Biden who accorded him a coveted state visit in June.

That said, the summit is not expected to be a breeze for India, given the current complex geopolitical situation.

Many economies are still struggling to recover from the pandemic and have grown increasingly anxious about the war and its economic impact, with global surges in food and energy prices.

Why is there a ‘family photo’?

At the end of key summits, the heads of government often pose for a group photograph, known as the « family photo ».

However, the diplomatic discord revealed by the image sometimes makes headlines in its own right.

In 2018, following the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was largely ignored, and made to stand at the far end of the group.

What has the G20 achieved?

At the 2008 and 2009 leaders’ summits, during the financial crisis, leaders agreed a host of measures to rescue the global economic system.

But some critics argue that subsequent summits have been less successful, often as a result of tensions between rival world powers.

However, bilateral meetings at the summit have often proved constructive.

In 2019, at Osaka, then-US president Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to resume talks to settle a major trade dispute.

Do G20 summits attract protests?

Big demonstrations often take place around the leaders’ summits.

Anti-capitalist protesters demonstrated at the 2010 summit in Toronto and the 2017 summit in Hamburg.

Thousands of demonstrators marched during the 2018 summit in Rio de Janeiro to protest against the G20’s economic policies.

In 2009 Ian Tomlinson, a newspaper seller, died after he was caught up in protests during the G20 summit in London.

World Opinions +The Guarasidian + BBC NEWS + Agencies

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