Lawyer Nitsana Sarshan-Leitner protests against Hamas Leaders in front the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, Netherlands September 3, 2018.
A group of Israeli settlers have filed a lawsuit against Hamas with the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing the Palestinian resistance group of committing “war crimes”, the Jerusalem Post reported on Monday.
According to the newspaper, the lawsuit calls on The Hague-based tribunal to investigate purported “war crimes” committed by Hamas leaders who allegedly ordered Palestinian activists in Gaza to fly incendiary kites and balloons over Israeli territory.
In recent weeks, Palestinian activists have been flying incendiary kites and balloons over Israeli territory as part of ongoing anti-occupation demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone.
Millions of Palestinian refugees "cannot simply be wished away", the head of a U.N. support agency said on Monday, hitting back at a U.S. aid cutoff and allegations its work only perpetuates their plight.The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) provides services to about 5 million Palestinian refugees across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank and Gaza. Most are descendants of some 700,000 Palestinians who were driven out of their homes or fled fighting in the 1948 war that led to Israel's creation.The growing refugee count was cited by Washington, UNRWA's biggest donor, in its decision last week to withhold funding, and has potential ramifications for the Palestinians' pursuit of a right of return to land now in Israel.Successive Israeli governments have ruled out such an influx, fearing the country would lose its Jewish majority.Confederation to ‘liquidate’ Palestinian cause: Hamas"I express deep regret and disappointment at the nature of the U.S. decision," UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl said in an open letter to Palestinian refugees and the agency's staff in which he pledged its operations would continue.Appearing to echo Israel's view that descendants of the 1948 refugees should not share that status, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert criticised UNRWA on Friday over its "endlessly and exponentially expanding community of entitled beneficiaries".Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described UNRWA on Sunday as "the refugee perpetuation agency" whose money "should be taken and be used to really help rehabilitate the refugees, whose real number is a sliver of that reported by UNRWA".But Krahenbuhl said "the protracted nature of the Palestine refugee crisis" was not unique. He said the children and grandchildren of long-displaced refugees in Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia, Congo and elsewhere are also recognised as refugees and assisted by the United Nations.Palestine still believes in 2-state solution: AbbasSCHOOLS OPEN"No matter how often attempts are made to minimise or delegitimise the individual and collective experiences of Palestine refugees, the undeniable fact remains that they have rights under international law and represent a community of 5.4 million men, women and children who cannot simply be wished away," he said.The United States paid out $60 million to UNRWA in January, withholding another $65 million, from a promised $365 million for the year. Krahenbuhl said Gulf states had injected funds but UNRWA still needed more than $200 million.In Lebanon on Monday, UNRWA opened its school year as scheduled. Studies in UNRWA-run schools in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip got under way on Wednesday.Arab League slams US aid cut to UN Palestine agencyClaudio Cordone, director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon, told Reuters that funds would last only until the end of the month but the agency would continue to raise money to ensure the schools remain open.Washington's move against UNRWA was the latest in a series of U.S. and Israeli policy decisions that have angered Palestinians and raised international concern.They include Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December, the moving of the U.S. Embassy to the contested city in May and Israel's adoption of a "nation-state" law in July that says only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country. Turkey slams US decision to cut UNRWA funding
UNRWA chief defends refugee criteria for millions of Palestinians
According to Israeli officials, the improvised aerial weapons have caused a number of fires inside Israeli territory resulting in significant material damage -- but no deaths or injuries.
In May, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority called on the ICC to investigate Israel’s illegal settlement-building activities and war crimes allegedly perpetrated by the Israeli army.
Palestine formally joined the ICC in 2015 after President Mahmoud Abbas signed the Rome Statute the previous year.
Although Israel, too, signed the Rome Statute (which established the court) in 2000, it is not a member of the ICC.
Palestinian group Hamas said a U.S. proposal for creating a confederation between Palestine and Jordan was meant to liquidate the Palestinian issue.“Confederation means usurping Jerusalem, abolishing the right of return and liquidation of UNRWA,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasem said in a statement on Monday.On Sunday, Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said U.S. President Donald Trump's aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner and U.S. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt offered him the idea of establishing a Palestine-Jordanian confederation.Speaking at a meeting with the non-governmental organization Peace Now in Ramallah, Abbas reportedly said he would accept the offer and asked if Israel would be a part of the proposed confederation.Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said people of Palestine and Jordan were the ones to decide on the confederation, according to the official news agency WAFA.Hamas said Abbas’ talk about confederation between Palestine and Jordan “helps the [Israeli] occupation to be a natural part of the region”.On Sunday, the Jordanian government rejected the U.S. proposal for creating a confederation between Palestine and Jordan.
Confederation to ‘liquidate’ Palestinian cause: Hamas
U.S. Envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt has criticized the Palestinian Authority, saying it rejected U.S. peace proposal for resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict even before studying it.This came in an editorial by Greenblatt in Israeli daily newspaper Israel Hayom on Monday.The U.S. envoy said President Donald Trump wants to make 2018 a “year of peace”, citing the political equation in the region has changed.He argued that Israel is no longer a common enemy for the Arab world, including the Palestinians.Jordan rejects US-proposed confederation with PalestineGreenblatt said that Iran is now the enemy for Arabs and Israel.“When I visited the region for the first time in 1983, the prevailing situation in the Arab world [with the exception of Egypt] was hostility and war with Israel,” Greenblatt said. “But after 35 years, there is a different reality. In facing the aggressive Iran … most leaders now realize that Israel is not the problem - and that the Jewish state can be part of the solution for them.”The Palestinian leadership has rejected U.S. mediation since December, when Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.Palestine still believes in 2-state solution: AbbasIsraeli navy injures Palestinian during boat protest
US envoy slams Palestinian Authority
Jordan rejected Sunday a U.S. proposal that allegedly calls for the creation of a confederation between Palestine and Jordan, saying it was impossible to join the kingdom with Palestine’s West Bank.Jordanian government spokeswoman Jumana Ghuneimat told local media that joining Jordan with the Israeli-occupied West Bank was not a matter that is open for discussion, and it was “not possible”.She added that Jordan’s stance, which she said supports a two-state solution regarding Palestine-Israel issue, was fixed and clear.Also, the political wing of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic Action Front (IAC) spokesman Murad al-Adailah told Anadolu Agency that formation of the confederation would cause Palestinians to lose their right to “retake their occupied lands”.“The idea of confederation means Palestinian people to lose their right to liberate its occupied lands. This right can only be achieved by liberation of all Palestinian lands,” Adaliah said.He asserted that Jordanian people would not accept any solution that will put Palestinians’ rights at risk. Earlier in the day, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the U.S. President Donald Trump's aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner and the U.S. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt offered him the idea of establishing a Palestine-Jordanian confederation.Speaking at a meeting with the non-governmental organization Peace Now in Ramallah, Abbas reportedly said he would accept the offer and asked if Israel would be a part of the proposed confederation.Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said people of Palestine and Jordan were the ones to decide on the confederation, according to the official news agency WAFA.He said that the idea of confederation with Jordan has been on the agenda of Palestinian administration since 1984.'Palestine still believes in 2-state solution': AbbasIsraeli navy injures Palestinian during boat protest
Jordan rejects US-proposed confederation with Palestine
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday said Palestine still believes in peace on the basis of the principle of a two-state solution, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.Speaking at a meeting with a delegation from the Israeli "Peace Now" movement at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah, Abbas said: "Peace must be reached no matter how great the challenges and difficulties it faces, for a better future for our children and our youth from both peoples.""Despite all the difficult circumstances surrounding us, we still believe in peace on the basis of the resolutions of international legitimacy and the principle of a two-state solution to establish our civil state, which works to spread culture and peace in the world," he saidPalestine bound to Egypt's mediation: President AbbasAbbas recalled that the contacts with the U.S. administration have been cut since President Donald Trump announced the transfer of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, declaring it the capital of Israel, and trying to redefine the Palestinian refugee in violation of the resolutions of international legitimacy.Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Middle East conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem -- occupied by Israel since 1967 -- might eventually serve as the capital of an independent Palestinian state.Trump, however, sparked international uproar for his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.Arab League slams US aid cut to UN Palestine agencyThe Palestinians have snubbed calls from the Trump administration to return to the negotiating table, arguing that Washington gave up its status as a neutral mediator by making the declaration.About the U.S. decisions to end funding for he United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Abbas stressed that this issue must be resolved in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative.On Friday, the U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Washington "will no longer commit further funding" to the UNRWA.Turkey slams US decision to cut UNRWA fundingThe U.S. was by far UNRWA's largest funder, giving $350 million annually, or about one-quarter of the agency's budget.Earlier last week, UNRWA had warned if Washington went through with its funding cut it would likely result in greater instability.Established in 1949, UNRWA provides critical aid to more than 5 million Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.Israeli troops fire on Gaza protesters, wounding 52
Palestine still believes in 2-state solution: Abbas
At least one Palestinian was injured on Sunday when Israeli naval forces opened fire on 50 boats carrying Palestinians from Gaza to breach the maritime blockade of the coastal strip.Scores of Gazans boarded 50 boats with the intention of sailing off the coast of the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli-imposed sea blockade on the Palestinian coastal enclave.According to an eyewitness, the Israeli naval forces opened fire on Palestinians wounding a young Palestinian.Since March, more than 170 people have been martyred and thousands more injured by Israeli army fire during protests against the decades-long Israeli occupation and an 11-year blockade on the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly 2 million inhabitants of basic commodities.No deal with Hamas before captives returned: Israeli PM
Israeli navy injures Palestinian during boat protest