Palästina-News No. 50

March 2025

Palästina-News appears monthly. Each issue quotes articles from English-language online newspapers, portals and publications about Palestine and Israel in abridged form, edited by Martin Luzi Büechi. The German edition contains the translations.

In this issue

Palestine Talk with Lubna Shakaa: Tradition, Resistance and Relief
Censored, Persecuted and Ignored: Israeli Filmmakers
Fight Over the Meaning of “Genocide” (or to Acknowledge the Nakba for What It Is)
Israel's Policy of Judaization: Crude, Arrogant, Discriminatory and Abusive Treatment of Its Non-Jewish Citizens
Suggested for Further Reading: By Rejecting Evidence of Genocide in Gaza, the US Is Following a Familiar Pattern

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Joe Sacco: The war on Gaza – 1.16.24

Palästina-News Nr. 50, March 2025

What you don't learn in Switzerland

The aim of this newsletter is to improve information about events in Palestine and Israel, with a focus - but not only - on the German-speaking part of Switzerland. For this purpose, articles from English-language online newspapers, online portals, publications, etc., are quoted in abbreviated form.

References provide a link to the original article and / or publication medium. The edited articles have been shortened and may not fully reflect the opinions of the authors. Martin Luzi Büechi (MLB)

Mail: palnews@bluewin.ch

Website: www.palaestina-news.ch

Palestine Talk with Lubna Shakaa: Tradition, Resistance and Relief

I met Lubna Shakaa together with Vivian Khalaf, Chairwoman of the Board of the Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF), on the occasion of their appearance at the Cafe Palestina in Zurich on November 15, 2024. The reason for their visit to Zurich was the founding of a new chapter of PCRF in Switzerland of which Lubna is the Chair-woman.

But Lubna is also a member of one of the few Palestinian families who continue the ancient tradition of making Nabulsi soap. Not only is soap making economically and culturally important, but it also reaffirms the heritage and identity of Nablus. During the Second Intifada, local newspapers and the internet referred to Nabulsi soap as a remnant of a glorious past, a symbol of Palestinian culture and national heritage and a symbol of Palestinian resistance to occupation. However, the industry declined during the mid-20th century following the destruction caused by the 1927 earthquake, and later from the ongoing Israeli military occupation. Today only two soap factories survive. MLB

Lubna Shakaa, Café Bar Sattler Bern, February 8, 2025. MLB

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Old picture of al-Shakaa family soap factory

I recently spoke with Lubna Shakaa in Bern. She was born in Nablus, into a well-known soap-making family. Lubna explains to me that her family’s factory is a historical landmark in the old city of Nablus. Making pure saponified olive oil has been passed down from fathers to sons and grandsons. In the city of Nablus, in northern Palestine, there are only a few families who carry on the ancient legacy of making Nabulsi Soap. It is a type of castile soap originating from Nablus. Each family marks their soap with a special symbol, al-Jamal Nabulsi Soap is produced by the family for over 140 years.

Lubna further shares that, “Palestine is home to some of the world’s most ancient olive trees - some as old as 5,000 years. Using Palestinian extra virgin olive our soap is still made with traditional manual methods which requires natural ingredients to cook over fire for 5-6 days, then are poured onto the cold stone floor of the factory to be cut into squares. There are no artificial scents or perfumes added yet the olive oil base makes a rich, naturally hydrating bar”

Camel imprint on Nablus soap. Credit Lubna

The al-Shakaa soap factory played another important role in Palestinian history as Lubna`s great grand-father became one of the leaders of the Palestinian Revolution from 1936 - 1939. He frequently convened political meetings of Nablus’s respected families and leaders in the factory building. The tradition of making soap became intertwined with the struggle for Palestinian liberation from British rule. In present day Palestine, the Israeli occupation continues to attempt to erase Palestinian heritage by

repeated destruction of historical buildings and factories in the old city of Nablus. There are only two soap factories remaining.

Being a humanitarian and mother, Lubna was deeply affected by the war on Gaza which began in October 2023. She describes that witnessing the suffering, and especially the thousands of children targeted by Israeli struck her as a call to action to resume her volunteer work with NGOs.

Rahaf, just two, lost both her legs in an Israeli attack on her home in August 2024, not long after she had learnt to walk. PCRF flew her to the USA for treatment. Credit SkyNews.

„ After the war on Gaza began in 2023, I knew that I could do more. I got together with a group of other others in Switzerland who felt the same and we established a Switzerland Chapter of PCRF“ says Lubna. PCRF isn’t as well known in Switzerland, as it is a US based organization, with multiple chapters in the United States. But It is expanding globally, including a very well-established chapter in nearby Italy that Lubna collaborated with as well, to bring children to Italy for medical treatment. She took inspiration from the Italian chapter and established a chapter in Switzerland, based in Zurich, with a group of local volunteers.

The PCRF global organization provides free medical care to thousands of Palestinian injured and ill children yearly who lack access to care within the local health care system. Over. The years, there have been multiple medical missions including some Swiss doctors who have travelled to Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon to provide free medical care.

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Rafa showed off her walking skills with a broad smilef at Shriners Hospital in St Louis, Missouri, Credit SkyNews.

“I first became involved with PCRF as a volunteer in their treatment abroad program and worked to help medical evacuation of children in dire need for medical intervention from Gaza to the US, Europe, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan as well as other countries”.

Unfortunately, bringing children to Switzerland has been a challenge because of the limited govern-mental support as well as the lack of a unified community to support this kind of mission. Therefor one of the PCRF Switzerland goals for 2025 is to build this support and community as well as a trusting relationship with the Swiss authorities.

“We strive to raise awareness of the Palestinian cause across all cantons of Switzerland while serving as a platform for those who support this humanitarian mission. Our efforts include organizing events and campaigns to fund medical and humanitarian aid for children in urgent need. Additionally, we are building a database of medical volunteers ready to assist patients through medical missions in Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, or Switzerland. Our team is dedicated to making a lasting impact and improving the lives of Palestinian children through our work”. For ways to get involved check out PCRF Switzerland, this is the link to our page:

https://www.instagram.com/pcrf_switzerland/

Censored, Persecuted and Ignored: Israeli Filmmakers

Quotes from Haaretz

Broadcasters avoid Israeli filmmakers who dare to show uneasy sides of the conflict, cultural institutions evade them, and right-wing activists persecute them. But these documentarians are finding ways to fight back. Nirit Andermann, February 19, 2025

A scene from '1948 - Remember, Remember Not' by Neta Shoshani. Kan 11, part of the Israel Broadcasting Corporation, has repeatedly postponed the film since May 2023, with no fixed date for its airing until it was banned in November 2024. Credit: Itai Raziel

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Two security guards stood at the entrance of the Reading Bookstore on Tel Aviv's Allenby Street one evening a week ago. They waited in black jackets and wool hats, for uninvited guests who threatened to disrupt an event there. Twenty to thirty people ultimately gathered to hear a panel entitled, "Shut Up: the front lines of silencing documentary cinema."

A poster for the documentary “1948 - Remember, Remember Not”, banned by the Film Review Council last November.

The store stationed the security guards because 300 people registered early for the event so quickly that the organizers suspected they were right-wing activists seeking to sabotage the panel. But the guards were bored. The mob never showed up.

The four panelists, all directors whose documentaries have faced diverse attempts to silence them, weren't surprised. They know these methods well. They came to discuss their personal battles against the winds of censorship blowing in Israel, and to think together about the right way to fight back.

Screening documentaries critical of the state and army have become frustrating for their creators in recent years. Broadcasters avoid them, cultural institutions evade them and right-wing activists harass them. While not new, these efforts have increased multifold since the establishment of the current rightwing government, and worsened since the war erupted and nationalism has skyrocketed.

Three months ago, Haifa activists tried to screen an American documentary, "Gaza Fights for Freedom." The film follows demonstrations by the Gaza border fence in 2018 and 2019, during which about 200 Palestinians were killed. They hung posters around the

An einem Abend vor einer Woche standen zwei Sicherheitsbeamte am Eingang des Reading Bookstore in der Allenby Street in Tel Aviv. In schwarzen Jacken und Wollmützen warteten sie auf ungebetene Gäste, die drohten, eine Veranstaltung zu stören. Zwanzig bis dreissig Personen versammelten sich schliesslich, um eine Podiumsdiskussion mit dem Titel „Shut Up: the front lines of silencing documentary cinema“ zu hören.

Der Laden stellte die Sicherheitskräfte auf, weil sich 300 Personen so schnell für die Veranstaltung angemeldet hatten, dass die Organisatoren vermuteten, es handele sich um rechte Aktivisten, die die Veranstaltung sabotieren wollten. Aber die Wachleute waren gelangweilt. Der Mob tauchte nie auf.

Die vier Podiumsteilnehmenden, deren Dokumentarfilme mit verschiedenen Versuchen konfrontiert waren, sie zum Schweigen zu bringen, waren nicht überrascht. Sie kennen diese Methoden gut. Sie waren gekommen, um über ihre persönlichen Kämpfe gegen die Zensur in Israel zu sprechen und gemeinsam zu überlegen, wie man sich wehren kann.

Die Vorführung staats- und militärkritischer Dokumentarfilme ist in den letzten Jahren für ihre Macher und Macherinnen frustrierend geworden. Rundfunkanstalten meiden sie, Kultureinrichtungen gehen ihnen aus dem Weg und rechte Aktivisten und Aktivistinnen schikanieren sie. Diese Bemühungen sind zwar nicht neu, haben aber seit der Einsetzung der derzeitigen rechten Regierung um ein Vielfaches zugenommen und haben sich seit dem Ausbruch des Krieges und dem Anstieg des Nationalismus noch verschärft

Vor drei Monaten versuchten Friedensaktivisten und -aktivistinnen aus Haifa, einen amerikanischen Dokumentarfilm mit dem Titel „Gaza Fights for Freedom“ zu zeigen. Der Film folgt den Demonstrationen am Grenzzaun von Gaza in den Jahren 2018 und 2019, bei denen etwa 200 Menschen aus Gaza getötet wurden. Sie hängten Plakate in der ganzen Stadt auf und luden zu einer Vorführung und Diskussion ein. Da sie wussten, dass ein solcher Film nach dem 7. Oktober Widerstand hervorrufen könnte, gaben sie auf den Plakaten keinen Ort für die Vorführung an. Stattdessen fügten sie einen QR-Code für die Registrierung bei.

Eine von ihnen, Gaya Dan, sagt, dass es bald zu Belästigungen kam. „Alle möglichen Leute riefen eine von uns an, bedrohten sie und fragten, wo sie wohne und warum sie dies tue. Zwei Tage später rief mich die Polizei an“, sagt sie. „Kurz darauf kamen Polizisten zu meinen Eltern und sagten ihnen, dass auch der Shin Bet in die Angelegenheit verwickelt sei. Sie sagten, ich würde des Verrats beschuldigt und die Polizei würde mich verfolgen.“

Dan und ihre Kollegen und Kolleginnen gaben bekannt, dass die Vorführung an diesem Ort abgesagt

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city inviting people to a screening and discussion. Because they understood that such a film could provoke opposition after October 7, the posters did not give a location for the screening. Instead, they attached a QR code for registration.

One of them, Gaya Dan, says that harassment soon followed. "All kinds of people called one of us, threatened her, and began asking where she lived and why she was doing this. Two days later, the police called me," she said. "Shortly afterwards, cops went to my parents' home and told them that the Shin Bet was also involved in the matter. They said I was accused of treason and the police were following me."

Dan and her colleagues announced that the screening at that venue was cancelled, but they also decided to screen the documentary at another, secret, venue. "We realized that it had to be a secret screening to protect attendees. We really did hold it that day, and it was successful," she said.

wurde, aber sie beschlossen, den Dokumentarfilm an einem anderen - geheimen - Ort zu zeigen. „Uns wurde klar, dass es eine geheime Vorführung sein musste, um die Teilnehmer zu schützen. Wir haben die Vorführung an diesem Tag wirklich durchgeführt, und sie war erfolgreich“, sagte sie.

From left: Hagit Ben, Ayelet Heller, Danel Elpeleg, Noam Sheizaf and Neta Shoshani at the 'Shut up' event at the Reading Bookstore in Tel Aviv. Credit: David Bachar

Bitter Fight Over the Meaning of “Genocide” (Or to Acknowledge the Nakba for What It Is)

Jewish Currents and Boston University Today

A view of destroyed homes in the city of Khan Younis on April 26, 2024.Saher Alghorra—ZUMA Press

In 1947, Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish lawyer and peace researcher, drew up a draft law for the UN on the punishment of genocide. A year later, on 9 December 1948, the United Nations General

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Assembly adopted the draft by a vote of 55 to 0 as the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. But only a small part of Lemkin's original idea survived from what he presented in his book "Axis Rule in Occupied Europe".

Lemkin explains that he saw the word genocide as describing "an old practice in its modern development". In his view, genocide encompassed a wide range of crimes committed with the intent to destroy a national, religious, racial or ethnic group. Lemkin was a secular Jew who believed that every people has its own spirit. He argued that genocide encompassed not only acts of physical extermination but also acts of cultural annihilation. For him, the word described any attempt to wipe the essence of a people from the face of the earth. It included mass killings as well as actions to eliminate the "essential foundations of the life of national groups": the destruction of language, traditions, monuments, works of art, archives, libraries, universities and places of worship. Lemkin's list fits perfectly with what is happening in Gaza, i.e. the war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed there by Israel.

However, after years of contentious deliberation and diplomatic negotiation, the convention limited genocide to five categories of acts: killing members of a group; causing group members serious bodily or mental harm; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; forcibly transferring children from one group to another; and “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” Each one of these acts could constitute genocide only if committed with the specific intent to destroy a group. MLB

Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer, coined the word “genocide” in 1944 and hoped that persuading nations to recognize it as a crime might prevent it from recurring. Credit Bettmann / Getty Images

Jewish Currents: Can Genocide Studies Survive a Genocide in Gaza?

A discipline born from the study of the Holocaust faces its contradictions as Israel stands accused of the “crime of crimes.” The founders of genocide studies seemed committed to the ethos of never again for anybody - except for the Palestinians. Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents, Fall/Winter Issue 2024.

Following the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October, some major institutions of Holocaust and genocide studies felt compelled by their mission to speak out. The University of Minnesota's Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies issued a statement condemning the 'heinous attacks', concluding that 'violence against civilians in any form has no place in society and cannot be tolerated'. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), which also runs a research center on genocide prevention and publishes the journal Holocaust and Genocide Studies, issued a statement expressing solidarity with "the many Holocaust survivors who helped build the State of Israel, where they could finally live in the freedom and security they deserved after centuries of persecution and, ultimately, genocide".

And in November, a group of scholars at the Lessons & Legacies Europe Holocaust Studies Conference released a statement arguing that

Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents: Nach den von der Hamas angeführten Angriffen auf den Süden Israels am 7. Oktober 2023 sahen sich einige bedeutende Institutionen für Holocaust- und Völkermordstudien gezwungen, ihre Stimme zu erheben. Das Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies der University of Minnesota verurteilte in einer Erklärung die „abscheulichen Angriffe“ und kam zu dem Schluss, dass „Gewalt gegen Zivilisten in jeglicher Form keinen Platz in der Gesellschaft hat und nicht toleriert werden kann“. Das US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), das auch ein Forschungszentrum zur Verhinderung von Völkermord betreibt und die Zeitschrift Holocaust and Genocide Studies herausgibt, gab eine Erklärung ab, in der es seine Solidarität mit „den vielen Überlebenden des Holocaust, die beim Aufbau des Staat Israel, in dem sie nach Jahrhunderten der Verfolgung endlich in Freiheit und Sicherheit leben können die sie nach Jahrhunderten der Verfolgung und schliesslich des Völkermords verdient haben“.

Und im November veröffentlichte eine Gruppe von Wissenschaftlern auf der Konferenz Lessons & Legacies

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“the indiscriminate killings of children, women, and men whose only crime was being Jewish unavoidably bring to mind the mindset and the methods of the perpetrators of the pogroms that paved the way to the Final Solution.”

People bid farewell to their relatives after the home of the Abu Rakab family was bombed, July 18, 2024.Saher Alghorra—ZUMA Press

But as Israel immediately began a brutal bombing campaign against Gaza and cut off food, fuel, and water to the territory, some scholars of genocide tried to spread a different message. On October 13th, as the Israeli government ordered a wholesale evacuation from the north of Gaza - and after the minister of defense said that Israel was “fighting human animals,” and media personalities began urging the government to “flatten Gaza”- the historian Raz Segal, director of the program of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton University in New Jersey, wrote in a widely shared article in this magazine, “A Textbook Case of Genocide,” that Israel was demonstrating “explicit, open, and unashamed” intent to commit genocide as defined by the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention.

But most of the scholars and institutions that had issued or signed statements condemning Hamas after October 7th stayed silent amid Israel’s ever-worsening assault on Gaza. Meanwhile, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) - the oldest academic association for scholars of genocide, which had previously condemned human rights crises like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Myanmar’s attacks on the Rohingya people - appeared to have nothing to say in any direction.

In a piece for the Columbia Law Review, the legal scholar Rabea Eghbariah makes a case for recognizing “Nakba” as a formal concept in international law and scholarly analysis, arguing that this more accurately captures the violence and displacement faced by Palestinians. He told me in an interview that he advocates for thinking about “genocide,” “apartheid,” and “Nakba” as interlocking and overlapping con-

Europe Holocaust Studies eine Erklärung, in der es heisst, dass „die wahllose Tötung von Kindern, Frauen und Männern, deren einziges Verbrechen darin bestand, Juden zu sein, unweigerlich an die Denkweise und die Methoden der Täter der Pogrome erinnert, die den Weg zur Endlösung ebneten“

Doch als Israel sofort mit einer brutalen Bomben-kampagne gegen den Gazastreifen begann und die Versorgung des Gebiets mit Lebensmitteln, Treibstoff und Wasser einstellte, versuchten einige Gelehrte des Völkermords, eine andere Botschaft zu verbreiten. Am 13. Oktober, als die israelische Regierung eine umfassende Evakuierung des nördlichen Gazastreifens anordnete - und nachdem der Verteidigungsminister gesagt hatte, Israel kämpfe gegen „menschliche Tiere“, und Medienvertreter und Journalistinnen die Regierung aufforderten, „Gaza platt zu machen“ -, schrieb der Historiker Raz Segal, Direktor des Programms für Holocaust- und Völkermordsstudien an der Stockton University in New Jersey, einen weit verbreiteten Artikel in dieser Zeitschrift mit dem Titel „A Textbook Case of Genocide“. Israel zeige die „ausdrückliche, offene und schamlose“ Absicht, Völkermord im Sinne der Völkermordkonvention der Vereinten Nationen von 1948 zu begehen

Doch die meisten Wissenschaftler und Wissenschaftlerinnen sowie Institutionen, die nach dem 7. Oktober Erklärungen zur Verurteilung der Hamas abgegeben oder unterzeichnet hatten, schwiegen angesichts des immer schlimmer werdenden Angriffs Israels auf Gaza. Die International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) - die älteste akademische Vereinigung von Völkermordforschern, die zuvor Menschenrechts-krisen wie die russische Invasion in der Ukraine und die Angriffe Myanmars auf die Rohingya verurteilt hatte - schien in keiner Richtung etwas zu sagen zu haben.

An Israeli airstrike on a Southern Gaza refugee tent encamp-ment in late May resulted in scenes of horrific destruction, killing at least 45 people and injuring dozens more. Weapons experts say the bomb used in the strike was US-made. Photo by Jehad Alshrafi / AP Photo

In einem Beitrag für die Columbia Law Review plädiert der Rechtswissenschaftler Rabea Eghbariah dafür, „Nakba“ als formales Konzept im internationalen Recht und in der wissenschaftlichen Analyse anzuerkennen, da dies die Gewalt und die Vertreibung der Palästinenser und Palästinenserinnen besser erfassen würde. In einem Interview sagte er, dass er dafür plädiere, „Völkermord“,

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cepts, all of which share a history in “the juncture of 1948.” While he believes in the importance of naming genocide in Gaza today, he cautions that that charge must not be isolated from a broader understanding of Israeli state violence - that Gaza should not be exceptionalized from the broader “question of Palestine: “I am worried that some scholars can acknowledge the genocide in Gaza and still deny the Nakba,” he said. Ultimately, he argued: “If the problem with the [genocide] framework is that it’s leading to eternal debate that is not allowing us to actually address the root of the problem, we might as well just acknowledge the Nakba for what it is.”

„Apartheid“ und „Nakba“ als ineinandergreifende und sich überschneidende Konzepte zu betrachten, die alle eine gemeinsame Geschichte in der „Zeitspanne von 1948“ haben. Er glaubt zwar, dass es wichtig ist, den Völkermord im Gazastreifen heute als solchen zu benennen, warnt aber davor, diesen Vorwurf von einem breiteren Verständnis der israelischen Staatsgewalt zu isolieren, denn Gaza dürfe nicht von der umfassenderen „Palästina-Frage“ losgelöst werden: „Ich bin besorgt, dass einige Wissenschaftler den Völkermord in Gaza anerkennen und trotzdem die Nakba leugnen“. Letztendlich argumentierte er: „Wenn das Problem mit dem [Konzept des] Völkermordes darin besteht, dass es zu ewigen Debatten führt, die es uns nicht erlauben, das Problem an der Wurzel zu packen, können wir genauso gut die Nakba als das anerkennen, was sie ist.“

Never again!

Summer 1941 in the Warsaw ghetto. Children under the Nazis In the ghettos: starvation and disease. Living conditions in the ghettos were dire. There was overcrowding and poor sanitation so that contagious diseases spread rapidly. People faced hunger and starvation because of inadequate food supplies. Younger children, especially when orphaned, were particularly vulnerable, because they could not find work, and only those in work were able to obtain ration cards for food. Some children helped support themselves and their families by smuggling food. Others had to beg for food, or they depended on the local Jewish Council's efforts at distributing food to the needy, for example through food kitchens.

A destitute child eats a crust of bread while sitting on a street in the Warsaw ghetto, summer 1941. Photographer Willy Georg. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Rafael Scharf

Boston University Today: Is Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza?

One question that has been fiercely debated and argued since the violent and deadly attack against Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, is whether Israel’s swift counteroffensive has reached a point where it could be defined as a deliberate genocide. Now, an “objective, methodological, and detailed analysis” conducted by the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR), a consortium of human rights centers at colleges across the world, has released its finding (link to report). Alene Bouranova, Boston University today, June 5, 2024

Alene Bouranova, Boston University Today: One question that has been fiercely debated and argued in the eight months since the violent and deadly attack against Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, is whether Israel’s swift counteroffensive has reached a point where it could be defined as a deliberate genocide. Now, an “objective, methodological, and detailed analysis” has released its finding.

The UNHR report, conducted in part by the Boston University School of Law’s International

Alene Bouranova, Boston University Today: Eine Frage, die in den acht Monaten seit dem gewalttätigen und tödlichen Angriff der Hamas auf Israel am 7. Oktober 2023 heftig debattiert und diskutiert wurde, ist die, ob Israels rasche Gegenoffensive einen Punkt erreicht hat, an dem sie als vorsätzlicher Völkermord definiert werden könnte. Nun hat eine „objektive, methodische und detaillierte Analyse“ ihr Ergebnis veröffentlicht

Der UNHR-Bericht, der zum Teil von der International Human Rights Clinic der Boston University School of Law als Teil eines Berichts des University Network for Human

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Human Rights Clinic as part of a report from the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR), a consortium of human rights centers at colleges across the world, was released in mid-May 2024. “Israel has committed genocidal acts, namely killing, seriously harming, and inflicting conditions of life calculated, and intended to, bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza,” says Susan Akram, a LAW clinical professor of law and director of LAW’s International Human Rights Clinic, who contributed to the report. The report was researched and written by UNHR members from LAW’s International Human Rights Clinic, the International Human Rights Clinic at Cornell Law School, the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, and the Lowenstein Human Rights Project at Yale Law School.

The report’s conclusions are based on internationally agreed upon definitions of genocide. “As set forth in the Genocide Convention of 1948,” the report reads, “the crime of genocide requires that a perpetrator kill, seriously harm, or inflict conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of a group, in whole or in part, with the intent to destroy the group as such.” The report continues: “after reviewing the facts established by independent human rights monitors, journalists, and United Nations agencies, we conclude that Israel’s actions in and regarding Gaza since October 7, 2023, violate the Genocide Convention.”

Rights (UNHR), einem Zusammenschluss von Menschenrechtszentren an Hochschulen in aller Welt, erstellt wurde, wurde Mitte Mai 2024 veröffentlicht. „Israel hat Völkermord begangen, indem es Palästinenser und Palästinenserinnen im Gazastreifen getötet, schwer geschädigt und Lebens-bedingungen geschaffen hat, die auf die physische Zerstörung der palästinensischen Menschen abzielen“, sagt Susan Akram, klinische Professorin für Rechtswissenschaften und Leiterin der International Human Rights Clinic, die an dem Bericht mitgearbeitet hat. Der Bericht wurde von UNHR-Mitgliedern der International Human Rights Clinic der Harvard Law School, der International Human Rights Clinic der Cornell Law School, des Center for Human Rights der Universität Pretoria in Südafrika und des Lowenstein Human Rights Project der Yale Law School recherchiert und verfasst.

Die Schlussfolgerungen des Berichts stützen sich auf international vereinbarte Definitionen von Völker-mord. „In der Völkermordkonvention von 1948 heisst es: „Das Verbrechen des Völkermords setzt voraus, dass der Täter eine Gruppe in der Absicht tötet, sie als solche zu vernichten, ihr schweren Schaden zufügt oder ihr Lebensbedingungen auferlegt, die darauf abzielen, sie ganz oder teilweise zu zerstören.“ Der Bericht fährt fort: „Nach Überprüfung der Fakten, die von unabhängigen Menschenrechts-beobachtern, Journalisten und Organisationen der Vereinten Nationen festgestellt wurden, kommen wir zu dem Schluss, dass Israels Handlungen im und in Bezug auf den Gazastreifen seit dem 7. Oktober 2023 gegen die Völkermordkonvention verstossen.“

Never again?

March 2025 in the Gaza Prison: Global condemnation followed Israel's move, with Egypt, Qatar and Jordan calling Israel's blocking of aid a blatant violation of the ceasefire and humanitarian law. In Gaza, hunger took a toll on the bodies of children and the impact can last a lifetime. Urgent action against hunger is still needed, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global partnership which measures food insecurity. The UN Orphanage City’ helps children in Gaza as foodsuplly is still not sufficient. “When children are starting to die from starvation, that should be a warning like no other,” Jens Laerke, a spokes-person for the UN humanitarian office, said at a news briefing. “If not now, when is the time to pull the stops, break the glass, flood Gaza with the aid that it needs?”

Jana Ayad, a malnourished Palestinian girl, she receives treatment at the International Medical Corps field hospital in Deir al-Balah in the southern Gaza Strip, 22 June 2024. Reuters Mohammed Salem.

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Israel's Policy of Judaization: Crude, Arrogant, Discriminatory and Abusive Treatment of Its Non-Jewish Citizens

Quotes from Haaretz

Bulldozer dismantling temporary structures and uprooting surrounding vegetation on the site of Ras Jrabah Tuesday 10.12.. Credit: Regional Council for Unrecognized Villages

A few hundred meters from the new neighborhood being built in Dimona, roughly 500 Bedouin live in the unrecognized village of Ras Jrabah. That village was built before the Israel was founded. Its oldest residents still recall how they helped to build the nearby city. Since then, Dimona has developed and has gradually been pushing them out. Now, it plans to "swallow" the village without leaving a trace. The site should be cleared to make room for a "high-quality population," according to Dimona Mayor Benny Biton. The plan to evict the residents of Ras Jrabah in order to expand Dimona is an example of the government's crude, arrogant, discriminatory and abusive treatment of its non-Jewish citizens. Everything is permissible in the name of its Judaization policy. Haaretz, Editorial, January 6, 2025

According to Israel, a 'Local Resident' of the Negev desert – qualified for subsidized land prices – is not a displaced Bedouin, whose village was destroyed, but rather settlers from the West Bank. Haaretz, Kim Legziel, January 6, 2025.

The government is distributing plots of land in the Negev to garinim torani'im, a religious Zionist movement that sets up communities in underdeveloped areas, for the price of a used car.What's the price of a plot of land hundreds of square meters in size, for building a luxury home in the Negev? Well, it depends: If you're part of a garin torani from the Bnei David prearmy preparatory academy in the settlement of Eli – about $3,500 to over $19,000 shekels – without any need for a tender. In case you aren't, almost $83,000 will close the deal, before construction costs, of course.

Yet, if you're a Bedouin who already lives on that very same plot of land, you'll be evacuated to a Bedouin city. If you are lucky enough to have deep pockets, you'll be able to buy a small fraction of the land that was once yours, at market price. At least that's how two land tenders that were finalized in recent days on the site of the future community of Dror, near Meitar and Hura, were conducted – and this will probably recur in a series of communities to be established in the Negev in coming years.

About a month after the final demolition in November 2024 of the unrecognized Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran, the Israel Land

Residents packing up this week in Umm al-Hiran. "They told us the forces would come without warning. That's why we're working fast, to get it done," one said. Credit: Eliahu Hershkovitz

Die Regierung verteilt Grundstücke im Negev an Garinim Torani'im, eine religiöse zionistische Bewegung, die Gemeinden in unterentwickelten Gebieten errichtet, zum Preis eines Gebrauchtwagens. Was kostet ein Grundstück von Hunderten von Quadratmetern für den Bau eines Luxushauses im Negev? Nun, das kommt darauf an: Wenn man zu einer Garin Torani von der Bnei David Pre-Army Preparatory Academy in der Siedlung Eli gehört - etwa 3’500 bis über 19’000 USD - ohne dass eine Ausschreibung erforderlich ist. Falls man es nicht ist,

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Authority (ILA) tenders were closed. Entrepreneurs will build residential buildings in the Jewish community to be established in its place, Dror.

Miryam Abu al-Kiyan, a teacher,moved to Umm al-Hiran 14 years ago after marrying Raed, who was born in the village. The two had four daughters, but even in the good days the threat of demolition always hovered. "I've been crying for two days, moving things and crying”, she said. Credit: Eliahu Hershkovitz

kann man mit fast 83’000 Dollar den Deal abschliessen, natürlich vor den Baukosten.

Wenn man jedoch ein Beduine oder Beduinin ist, welche bereits auf demselben Stück Land lebt, wird man in eine Beduinenstadt umgesiedelt. Wenn Hat man das Glück, viel Geld zu haben, kann man einen kleinen Teil des Landes, das einem einst gehörte, zum Marktpreis kaufen. Zumindest wurden auf diese Weise zwei Landausschreibungen durchgeführt, die in den letzten Tagen auf dem Gelände der künftigen Gemeinde Dror in der Nähe von Meitar und Hura abgeschlossen wurden - und dies wird sich wahr-scheinlich in einer Reihe von Gemeinden wieder-holen, die in den kommenden Jahren im Negev errichtet werden.

Etwa einen Monat nach dem endgültigen Abriss des «nicht anerkannten» Beduinendorfs Umm al-Hiran im November 2024 wurden zwei Ausschreibungen der Israel Land Authority (ILA) abgeschlossen. Die Unternehmer werden in der jüdischen Gemeinde Dror, die an ihrer Stelle errichtet werden soll, Wohngebäude bauen.