التصنيف: estaql

غزة – وكالات:

قالت مصادر في غزة.. إن حركة حماس وافقت على تمديد الهدنة لأربعة أيام، وقال المصدر إن حماس «أبلغت الوسطاء بموافقة الفصائل الفلسطينية على تمديد الهدنة أربعة أيام»، حسب ما نقلت فرانس برس.

هذا وقد أكدت عدة مصادر مطلعة على المفاوضات التي تجريها منذ أيام عدة كل من قطر ومصر وأميركا، والتي تلعب دور الوسيط بين الجانبين الفلسطيني والإسرائيلي، قرب التوصل إلى تمديد لوقف النار.

وكان مسؤول إسرائيلي أشار في وقت سابق إلى إمكانية تمديد الهدنة في غزة يومين أو ثلاثة بعد انتهائها، إلا أنه أوضح أنه في حال تمديد الهدنة فإنه من المحتمل استئناف العمليات العسكرية في غزة أو تجديدها مرة أخرى، وفق ما نقلت صحيفة «واشنطن بوست».

في هذه الأثناء أكدت منظمة الصحة العالمية مجدداً أن شحنات المساعدات التي تدخل القطاع وسط الهدنة المؤقتة بين إسرائيل وحركة حماس «قطرة في محيط».

As its war on Gaza continues with no end in sight, Israel will be participating in the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) which started on Thursday in Dubai. For the Israeli government, this will be an invaluable opportunity to engage in “green diplomacy”, promote its climate technologies, and divert the international community’s attention from its illegal occupation, apartheid and ongoing war crimes against the Palestinians.

Indeed, participating in the world’s top climate event while continuing to indiscriminately bomb an unlawfully besieged territory will allow Israel, which has long been trying to conceal its theft of Palestinian land and resources under a cloak of pseudo “environmentalism”, to push its extensive “greenwashing” agenda to dangerous new extremes.

Given the scale of atrocities Israel has committed in Gaza in the past few weeks, the presence of an Israeli delegation – no matter its size or the relative seniority of its members – will cast a shadow over COP28.

The Israeli government has said its delegation to the conference has been significantly “scaled down” due to “current events”, and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his top ministers will not be in attendance. Nevertheless, it said Israel will still have a pavilion at the conference which will be used to promote its environmental start-ups and initiatives, especially those from the southern regions affected by the war.

Regardless of who in the Israeli government ends up attending the summit this year, however, they will struggle more than ever to sell the image of Israel as an environmental leader. The dissonance caused by Israel’s representatives suddenly switching from genocidal threats to eco-friendly jargon will be mind-breaking for global audiences.

Can anyone take seriously, for example, any recommendations on clean and sustainable energy from Israel’s Energy Minister Israel Katz, who at the start of the war stated: “Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No electric switch will be turned on, no water tap will be opened, and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home”? Or can anyone with any self-respect take ecological advice from Israel’s Agriculture Minister Avi Ditcher, who declared that Israel is “rolling out Nakba 2023” in Gaza?

Saying the genocide part out loud, the Israeli government cannot expect its rhetoric to not have long-term diplomatic, economic, and potentially legal consequences, or to not damage the country’s standing as a climate leader. Jordan, for example, has already pulled out of an energy and water deal with Israel which was hatched in COP27 due to what Jordanian Foreign Minister called “Israel’s barbarism in Gaza”.

The public relations fallout caused by Israel’s war will also make it difficult for it to sell its climate tech solutions as global audiences will find it hard to reconcile Israel’s supposed concern for the environment with its current actions in Gaza.

Israel’s air raids and total blockade of Gaza have left civilians on the verge of dehydration and starvation. The UN had to pressure Israel to allow clean water into the territory and refrain from using water as a “weapon of war”. More than 15,000 people in Gaza have been killed in indiscriminate attacks on residential areas, schools, and hospitals, including thousands of children. Those who survive are without adequate shelter, food, and medical care.

The Gaza Strip was barely habitable before Israel’s latest assault due to a years-long, relentless blockade. Now, Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment and total siege – its ongoing genocide – has also triggered an ecocide in Gaza. Even if the war ended today, it would take years for Gaza’s natural ecosystems to recover.

Of course Israel’s greenwashing efforts also did not start with this war. Israel has been trying to greenwash its occupation of Palestine and oppression of the Palestinian people since its inception.

Indeed, since the founding of Israel in 1948, the Jewish National Fund, Israel’s largest green NGO that controls 13 percent of state land, has been evicting Palestinians from their lands and destroying their villages under the pretence of protecting forests and preserving natural reserves. It has also uprooted hundreds of thousands of olive trees to destroy Palestinian lives and livelihoods.

Meanwhile, Israel’s national water company Mekorot created a “water apartheid” in the occupied West Bank, where Jewish settlers consume six times more water than 2.9 million Palestinians living there.

Despite its apartheid policies in the West Bank, in the international arena, Mekorot has managed to position itself as a leading contributor to the quest to achieve UN sustainability goals. It led a special session on water at COP27 and has been publishing annual environmental, social and governance (ESG) and corporate responsibility reports with little consideration or even mention of its practice of water apartheid against the Palestinians.

At last year’s COP27, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, who recently supported the collective punishment of civilians in Gaza, promised that Israel would be “net zero” by 2050. Since he failed to mention Palestine and Palestinians in his speech, however, it is unclear whether the environmental consequences of the occupation, the apartheid, or the 40,000 tonnes of explosives dropped on Gaza (which amounts to more than two nuclear bombs) would be included as part of Israel’s carbon footprint this year.

Writer and analyst Zena Agha has described Israel’s environmental policy as “Janus-faced”, on the one hand promoting “environmental reform and technological development” and on the other, depriving “Palestinians of their land, water, and other natural resources”.

Amid the ongoing genocidal assault on Gaza, at COP28, this two-sidedness will reach new extremes.

COP28 is already under fire for maintaining strong connections to big oil companies while purporting a technical and diplomatic agenda to transition away from fossil fuels. The optics of an Israeli delegation at COP28 amid an ongoing offensive that inflicted unprecedented humanitarian and environmental damage on Gaza will undoubtedly damage the reputation of the conference further.

Indeed, the scale of the humanitarian crisis Israel created in Gaza has not only exposed Israel’s decades-old greenwashing strategies and tarnished its image as a climate solution leader, but also called into question the credibility of a state-centred approach to global warming that ignores human rights.

By allowing itself to become a venue for Israel to greenwash its increasingly more brutal attacks on Palestinian people, land and essential infrastructure, as well as its disregard for UN resolutions, institutions and staff (more than 100 UN employees have been killed in the Gaza war so far), COP28 threatens to undermine critical features of the global climate agenda, namely state compliance, accountability, and respect for international law and institutions.

While Israel’s attendance at COP28 exposes one of the many existing problems with our current approach to tackling global warming, it is not too late to change course.

Those committed to achieving climate justice should treat this conference as an opportunity to call out greenwashing and state the obvious connection between human rights and the climate emergency. As Greta Thunberg rightly said, there can be “no climate justice on occupied land”, and occupiers should not be allowed to use climate conferences to greenwash their wars.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

A memo indicates the TV network aims to put itself in a ‘better position’ for the 2024 US elections, The Hill reports.

Washington, DC – MSNBC has cancelled Mehdi Hasan’s weekend TV programme, sparking anger from many Palestinian rights supporters who consider the progressive host a rare critic of Israeli policies on United States cable news.

The decision, first reported by the news website Semafor on Thursday, came amid what advocates describe as a crackdown on criticism against Israel in the media, at universities and in arts. The country is currently leading a military offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, prompting human rights concerns.

Left-wing Congressman Ro Khanna said cancelling the show during the conflict is “bad optics” for the network.

“As a strong supporter of free speech, MSNBC owes the public an explanation for this decision,” Khanna wrote in a social media post. “Why would they choose to do this now?”

Semafor reported that Hasan’s show will be replaced by extending news anchor Ayman Mohyeldin’s self-titled programme to two hours. Mohyeldin, who is Arab American, is also a critic of the Israeli government.

Hasan will be retained by the network as an on-screen analyst, US media outlets indicated.

In a note to staff quoted by the publication The Hill, MSNBC President Rashida Jones said the reshuffle aims to “better position” the network as it heads into the 2024 US elections. MSNBC did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Palestinian American human rights lawyer Noura Erakat called the programme “more needed than ever”.

“He should be amplified, not shut down,” Erakat wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

MSNBC cancels Mehdi Hasan’s show@msnbc make this make sense. @mehdirhasan’s program has felt like an oasis on air and more needed than ever. His program w Mark Regev was a whole class on journalistic method. He should be amplified,not shut down. https://t.co/r5Saq1ssdm#Gaza

— Noura Erakat (@4noura) November 30, 2023

A persistent interviewer known for confronting guests about false claims and past statements, Hasan previously worked as an Al Jazeera host. He also was a senior columnist at The Intercept, a news website.

Earlier this month on his programme, he deployed his trademark interviewing style to question Israeli government adviser Mark Regev about false claims promoted by Israeli officials. In one example, Hasan pointed to an instance where a calendar in a Gaza hospital was presented as a list of Hamas operatives.

“We shouldn’t blindly believe anything Hamas says. But why should we believe what your government says, either?” Hasan asked.

After a lengthy back-and-forth, Regev acknowledged that Israel may have committed “mistakes” in putting out such information.

Author Sarah Kendzior pointed to that segment as she questioned MSNBC’s decision to nix Hasan’s show.

“They canceled Mehdi Hasan for interviews like this — evidence-based and willing to challenge power — and it is doubtful he will be the only journalist pushed out for daring to practice journalism,” she wrote in a social media post.

On Thursday, US journalist David Sirota noted that Hasan has reported critically on both Republicans and Democrats.

“Canceling him is another step in the deliberate homogenization of news content into pure red-vs-blue infotainment,” Sirota wrote on X.

There is a history of US journalists being penalised for their criticism of Israel. In 2018, CNN sacked Marc Lamont Hill as a contributor over a speech at a United Nations meeting in support of Palestinian rights. Hill now hosts the programme UpFront on Al Jazeera.

In 2021, The Associated Press news agency also fired a young reporter over social media posts in support of Palestinian rights.

Two Palestinian boys have been shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.

More than 6,000 children have been killed in Gaza – not counting those still missing or buried under the rubble.

And there are about 250 minors in Israeli prisons.

Why does Israel target Palestinian children?

Presenter: Folly Bah Thibault

Guests:
Yousef Hammash – Gaza advocacy officer for the Norwegian Refugee Council and a resident of Gaza

Tanya Haj-Hassan – paediatric intensive care doctor who has worked in Gaza. She co-founded Gaza Medic Voices, a social media account that shares firsthand testimonies from healthcare workers in the Gaza Strip.

Alex Saieh – head of humanitarian policy and advocacy at Save the Children. Saieh specialises in humanitarian and post-conflict recovery.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Even before he took office last January, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sought to position his country as a world leader in the battle against climate change.

He arrived at the United Nations Climate Change Conference last year to cheers and supporters chanting his name. “Brazil is back,” he told enthusiastic audiences, declaring the fight against climate change “the highest profile” issue of his administration.

One year later, Lula is returning on Friday to the annual climate conference, known in its latest edition as COP28. But critics question whether he has lived up to the sweeping promises he made on the world stage, particularly as Brazil continues to grow its oil and natural gas sectors.

“Lula da Silva’s Brazil can’t be at once a climate leader and the world’s fourth oil exporter,” Suely Araújo, a public policy specialist at the environmental NGO Observatório do Clima, told Al Jazeera.

Still, with world leaders like United States President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping notably absent from COP28, Lula aims to send the message that Brazil can marshal efforts to tackle climate policy — and fill the leadership vacuum.

“We arrive at COP28 with our heads held high,” Ana Toni, the climate change secretary at the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, said during a November 8 news conference.

A show of strength

Brazil’s government has already announced that the country plans to send the largest delegation in its history to the event, composed of an estimated 2,400 registered participants.

Most hail from civil society or business organisations, but at least 400 are expected to be government officials, including high-level cabinet ministers.

The show of strength at COP28 strikes a contrast with the more sparse attendance under Lula’s predecessor, former President Jair Bolsonaro.

The right-wing leader, a climate sceptic, was a repeated no-show at the annual climate conferences, and upon taking office, he revoked Brazil’s offer to host one of the events.

Bolsonaro also drew criticism for overseeing record levels of deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, where destruction hit a 12-year high in 2020. Approximately 218.4sq kilometres (84.3sq miles) of forest cover were razed in his final month in office alone.

Deforestation has slowed under Lula, dropping 20 percent since his inauguration, according to government statistics. Earlier this year, he announced an “ecological transition plan” that would invest in green energy goals, and he has set 2030 as the deadline for ending Amazon deforestation.

“Lula da Silva’s government has already achieved important advances in terms of rebuilding Brazil’s environmental policies,” Araújo said. “The climate agenda has had a central place [in his administration] since his presidential campaign.”

A need for domestic support

But critics have blasted Lula for not going far enough — and for failing to bring key stakeholders into his climate change agenda.

“We’re still living in the country of promises, not of effectiveness,” said Dinamam Tuxá, executive coordinator for the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), an Indigenous rights coalition.

Lula is expected to use the COP28 conference to push world leaders for greater commitments to protecting rainforests like the Amazon, which are pivotal for moderating climate change.

But Tuxá fears Lula’s proposals are empty words without more political support at home.

Brazil’s Congress skews conservative, with Bolsonaro’s party holding the most seats of any single group in the lower chamber. This, Tuxá explained, has stymied Lula’s goals of bolstering Brazil’s economic policies and advancing Indigenous rights.

“We are seeing a beautiful discourse and maybe even political will, but there’s no governability,” Tuxá said.

More than half of Brazil’s 1.7 million Indigenous people live in the Amazon, making them key partners in the fight for environmental protection.

But earlier this year, Brazil’s Congress voted to restrict the powers of federal agencies dedicated to Indigenous peoples and the environment. And in October, Lula partially vetoed legislation to limit what would qualify as Indigenous land, sparking criticism for not having rejected the entire bill.

“We understand this is a coalition government, but unfortunately, this has made it hard to approve public policies for Indigenous people,” Tuxá explained.

Other groups likewise decried a feeling of marginalisation in Lula’s climate policy.

Tâmara Terso, a member of the Black Voices for Climate network, said her group would attend COP28 to speak out against environmental racism in Brazil, a term used to describe how communities of colour face disproportionate impacts from climate change.

She criticised Lula’s government for failing to include a race-conscious perspective in its environmental plans.

“Even though we have reached a point of dialogue, there are still obstacles in taking part in the decision-making process,” she said. “This is the message we’re bringing to COP28.”

‘Greenwashing’ at COP28

Other advocates, meanwhile, have questioned the messages that powerful interest groups are broadcasting at COP28. Cinthia Leone, a press officer for the Brazilian nonprofit ClimaInfo, noted the increasing presence of businesses at the conference.

She fears the climate change events could turn into public relations platforms for industries with little interest in lowering their carbon output.

“Companies have learned from civil society that they have to be present at COPs,” Leone said.

“When they arrive, they come on strong, with a lot of money and robust marketing strategies. That ends up turning the event into a big fair where companies set their stands to sell their greenwashing and false solutions.”

The accusation of “greenwashing” — or peddling a misleading environmental track record — is one that Lula himself faces in advance of COP28.

Nicole Oliveira, executive director of the Arayara International Institute, an NGO, pointed to what she considered contradictions in Lula’s rhetoric and his administration’s actions.

The day after COP28 closes, on December 13, Oliveira said Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency is slated to auction off hundreds of “blocks” of territory for oil exploration.

“The blocks up for auction coincide with preserved areas, including some on top of the Noronha seamounts, recognised worldwide for their role in marine biodiversity maintenance,” Oliveira said. “We never expected such an auction to take place under this government.”

She also criticised an announcement from the Ministry of Mines and Energy that indicated Lula’s administration aimed to make Brazil the fourth-largest oil exporter in the world.

“At this point in the climate crisis, we should be walking through a different path, not burning more fossil fuels,” Oliveira said.