Palestinian Female Al Jazeera Reporter Shireen Abu Akleh Dies after Being Shot by Israeli Army
New Age Islam News Bureau
11 May 2022
• The Taliban Harshly Suppressed the Second Day of the
Women’s Protest in Kabul
• Women and Girls’ Rights Are an Unseen Casualty of
the Crisis in Syria
• Women Urged To Take Part In Nation-building:
Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Shahnaz Yari Named Iraq’s Women Futsal Coach
• US First Lady Guest of Honour at Kuwait Embassy’s
Dinner
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/palestinian-jazeera-shireen-israeli/d/126979
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Palestinian Female Al Jazeera Reporter Shireen Abu
Akleh Dies After Being Shot By Israeli Army
Shireen Abu Akleh, a
Palestinian veteran Al Jazeera journalist, was shot in the face by Israeli
forces during a raid into Jenin refugee camp in occupied West Bank [Al Jazeera]
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11 May, 2022
An Al Jazeera journalist was shot and killed by the
Israeli army while covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank town of
Jenin early Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Shireen Abu Akleh, a well-known Palestinian female
reporter for the broadcaster's Arabic language channel who is also a US
citizen, was shot and died soon afterward. Ali Samoudi, another Palestinian
journalist, was hospitalized in stable condition after being shot in the back.
In video footage of the incident, Abu Akleh can be
seen wearing a blue flak jacket clearly marked with the word “PRESS.”
Samoudi, who was working as her producer, told The
Associated Press they were among a group of seven reporters who went to cover
the raid early Wednesday. He said they were all wearing protective gear that
clearly marked them as reporters, and they passed by Israeli troops so the
soldiers would see them and know that they were there.
He said the first shot missed them, then a second
struck him, and a third killed Abu Akleh. He said there were no militants or
other civilians in the area — only the reporters and the army.
He said the military's suggestion that they were shot
by militants was a “complete lie.”
Shaza Hanaysheh, a reporter with a Palestinian news
website who was also among the reporters, gave a similar account in an
interview with Al Jazeera's Arabic channel, saying there were no clashes or
shooting in the immediate area.
She said that when the shots rang out she and Abu
Akleh ran toward a tree to take shelter.
“I reached the tree before Shireen. She fell on the
ground,” Hanaysheh said. “The soldiers did not stop shooting even after she
fell. Every time I extended my hand to pull Shireen, the soldiers fired at us.”
The Qatar-based network interrupted its broadcast to
announce her death. In a statement flashed on its channel, it called on the
international community to “condemn and hold the Israeli occupation forces accountable
for deliberately targeting and killing our colleague.”
“We pledge to prosecute the perpetrators legally, no
matter how hard they try to cover up their crime, and bring them to justice,”
Al Jazeera said in a statement.
Qatar’s deputy foreign minister condemned the killing
by “Israeli occupation,” and in a Twitter post called for an end to “state
sponsored Israeli terrorism.” Al Jazeera said that Akleh was killed “in cold
blood” by Israeli forces.
The country’s assistant foreign minister Lolwah al-Khater
said on Twitter that Israeli forces killed Akleh “by shooting her in the face”
while she was “wearing the press vest and a helmet,” adding that “this state
sponsored Israeli terrorism must STOP, unconditional support to Israel must
end.”
US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides said in a tweet that
he encourages a “thorough investigation” into the circumstances of Akleh’s
death.
The Israeli military said its forces came under attack
with heavy gunfire and explosives while operating in Jenin, and that they fired
back. The military said it is “investigating the event and looking into the
possibility that the journalists were hit by the Palestinian gunmen.”
Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said it had
proposed to the Palestinian Authority a joint pathological investigation into
the reporter’s death. “Journalists must be protected in conflict zones and we
all have a responsibility to get to the truth,” he tweeted.
Israel’s Prime Minister later said that the
Palestinian Authority rejected the Israeli offer to hold a joint autopsy.
The Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of
the occupied West Bank and cooperates with Israel on security matters,
condemned what it said was a “shocking crime” committed by Israeli forces.
Abu Akleh, 51, was born in Jerusalem. She began
working for Al-Jazeera in 1997 and regularly reported on-camera from across the
Palestinian territories.
Israel has carried out near-daily raids in the
occupied West Bank in recent weeks amid a series of deadly attacks inside
Israel, many of them carried out by Palestinians from in and around Jenin. The
town, and particularly its refugee camp, has long been known as a militant
bastion.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war,
and the Palestinians want the territory to form the main part of their future
state. Nearly three million Palestinians live in the territory under Israeli
military rule. Israel has built more than 130 settlements across the West Bank
that are home to nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers, who have full Israeli citizenship.
Israelis have long been critical of Al Jazeera’s
coverage, but authorities generally allow its journalists to operate freely.
Another Al Jazeera reporter, Givara Budeiri, was briefly detained last year
during a protest in Jerusalem and treated for a broken hand, which her employer
blamed on rough treatment by police.
Source: Al Arabiya
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The
Taliban Harshly Suppressed the Second Day of the Women’s Protest in Kabul
Photo:
Khamaa Press
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10
May 2022
By
Saqalain Eqbal
A
handful of women in Kabul have staged demonstrations in response to the
Taliban’s decision to “make hijab mandatory,” with Taliban militants allegedly
dispersing protesters and detaining journalists.
At
the protest today on Tuesday, protesters chanted “The burqa is not our hijab”
and “Afghan women in the Taliban’s grip – the Afghan people in need a mouthful
of bread,” three days after the Taliban decreed “the hijab mandatory.”
They
took to the streets with the slogan “Bread, Work, and Freedom,” claiming that
their rallies were a continuation of Afghan women’s protests.
The
demonstration began at the Ansari square of Shahr-e-Naw and continued just
outside of the Ministry of Interior, where the Taliban surrounded them and
detained journalists, according to Zhulia Parsi, one of the protesting girls.
The
journalists have been detained, according to Zhulia Parsi, and she has no idea
where they are being held. “The Taliban snatched the girls’ smartphones and
took them away,” she claimed.
Taliban
forces reportedly ripped down the banners and dispersed the protesters, according
to Zhulia.
The
Taliban wanted to take the women inside the ministry and force them to confess,
Zhulia Parsi told the reporters.
The
Taliban released an order to make hijab mandatory three days ago, which sparked
massive national and international outrage.
The
Taliban, according to Reina Amiri, the US special envoy for women’s affairs in
Afghanistan, are considering covering women and have no plans to solve the
economic crisis.
The
Taliban wanted to take the women inside the ministry and force them to confess,
Zhulia Parsi told the reporters.
The
Taliban released an order to make hijab mandatory three days ago, which sparked
massive national and international outrage.
The
Taliban, according to Rina Amiri, the US special envoy for women’s affairs in
Afghanistan, are considering covering women and have no plans to solve the
economic crisis.
The
Taliban’s decision, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, is a
breach of human rights and a clear infringement of women’s civil, human, and
social rights.
The
Taliban has yet to respond to the overwhelming outrages.
Source:
Khaama Press
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Women and girls’ rights are an unseen casualty of the crisis in Syria
10
May 2022
ALEPPO,
Syria/UNITED NATIONS, Brussels – “Life quickly became an open-air prison after
the war,” a young woman from Aleppo told UNFPA. “We were instructed not to
leave our houses for fear of harrassment, rape and kidnap. I was told that
child marriage was my only path to true safety.”
More
than a decade of grinding conflict, mass displacement, economic devastation,
multiple droughts, and an unrelenting pandemic are fuelling catastrophic
humanitarian needs in Syria. Some 7.3 million women and girls need critical
sexual and reproductive health services and support for gender-based violence,
as vulnerabilities to multiple forms of physical and sexual violence and child
marriage continue to soar.
Many
women and girls report abuse to be so widespread and unchecked, it has become
normalized as a reality of daily life. For some, it is all they have ever
known. “Violence against women and girls has become so common after the
crisis,” explained Shaza, an adolescent girl from Qamishli in northeast Syria.
“Many women in my family are struggling and cannot find the right support. I
see more women being beaten by men in their families, and sometimes in public.”
In
2022, an estimated 26.5 million people are in need due to the crisis: 14.6
million people inside Syria and approximately 12 million across the region,
including 5.6 million Syrian refugees and host community members. The crisis is
taking a particularly heavy toll on women and girls. Severe funding shortfalls,
ongoing hostilities and fuel shortages are disrupting the delivery of essential
services – with a direct impact on their health, safety and lives.
Meanwhile
the United Nations World Food Programme reports that the cost of basic food
such as rice and bread have reached their highest levels since recording
started.), and could be pushed even higher by the war in Ukraine. Nine out of
ten people in Syria now live below the poverty line, and when food is scarce it
is often women and girls who eat last and least, leading to alarming levels of
malnutrition among children and pregnant and lactating women.
Impacts
escalate as resources dwindle
On
9 and 10 May, the European Union held its 6th Brussels Conference on Syria, the
main pledging event for the country and the region in 2022. While political
attention is diverted to newer conflicts unfolding around the world, millions
of Syrians in crisis are in danger of being forgotten.
“The
situation is worse now than ever for women and girls,” said Dr. Luay Shabaneh,
UNFPA’s Regional Director in the Arab States. “We must step up efforts and work
together to ensure that women and girls’ rights to give birth safely and live
free from violence are protected, and that they can actively participate in
finding a sustainable path forward.”
UNICEF
estimates that more than 3 million children from Syria are no longer in school,
leaving them at heightened risk of forced marriage and child labour. This means
an entire generation could lose their educational future, and with it any
chance of successfully joining the workforce as adults. The situation is even
more dire in displacement camps and other settlements, where more than half of
the children are not in school.
Betul
is 12 years old and recently moved with her family from Syria to Turkey, where
she was able to attend a UNFPA-supported youth centre. She described the
support she received there as life-altering: “I don’t want to get married. I
want to study, and the centre helped make that a reality.” Betul also started
receiving psychosocial support at the centre to respond to her family’s
pressure to get married. “I talked to the psychologist and explained my
situation. They guided me on how to talk with my family, and I followed their
advice. I’m attending grade 12 now and hope to go to university next.”
Throughout
the region, UNFPA is supporting 79 women and girls’ safe spaces, 15 youth
centres, 26 emergency obstetric care facilities, 119 primary health-care
centres and 94 mobile clinics. UNFPA and its partners remain committed to
providing life-saving services to women and girls in Syria and in camps and
host communities across the region.
UNFPA
urges scaled-up response in Syria
An
estimated 70 per cent of the population cannot meet their basic needs, yet at
the end of 2021 the humanitarian response for Syria was less than 50 per cent
funded – the lowest levels seen in six years. UNFPA is appealing for $145.2
million in 2022 to continue its life-saving work inside Syria and the five
neighbouring countries hosting the majority of Syrian refugees – Egypt, Iraq,
Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
Over
the past five years, UNFPA has ramped up its regional response to the crisis,
doubling the number of people reached since its onset in 2011. In 2021 alone,
more than 1.1 million women received sexual and reproductive health services
and some 600,000 were supported with gender-based violence response and
protection, including 200,000 adolescent girls. Around 150,000 women were
provided with cash assistance.
Source:
Relief Web
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Women
Urged To Take Part In Nation-building: Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and
Industry
Fahad
Shabbir
May
10, 2022
RAWALPINDI,
(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th May, 2022) :The Rawalpindi Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (RCCI) has urged women to play their due role in
nation-building. Pakistan was going through difficult times due to political
uncertainty and polarisation.
Addressing
the standing committee on women entrepreneurs at the chamber office, President
Nadeem Rauf said that 50 per cent of Pakistan's population belonged to women
while their participation was miniature in the country.
"Female
participation in all segments of life plays a vital role in uplifting
socio-economic conditions of the country's people", he added.
He
said that women had played a significant role throughout the country's history,
whether it was in the domain of politics, social work, military, science,
sports or space, they had made an indelible mark in promoting the country's
soft image in the international arena and had contributed to the country's
development.
Group
leader and former President Sohail Altaf said that country's economy and
political polarisation were concerns for the business community.
Sohail
urged women being educationists, housewives, and mothers to play their crucial
role in the nation-building and character building of the youth.
The
meeting was attended by women representing different sectors, including
textile, clothing, beautician, education and food.
Source:
Urdu Point
https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakistan/women-urged-to-take-part-in-nation-building-1508374.html
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Shahnaz Yari Named Iraq’s Women Futsal Coach
May,
11, 2022
TEHRAN
(Tasnim) – Ex-Iran futsal coach Shahnaz Yari was named the new head coach of
Iraq’s women futsal coach.
She
will travel to Baghdad along with her assistants to finalize her deal.
Former
Iran’s men coach Mohammad Nazemosharia had previously been named the head coach
of Iraq’s men team.
Yari
will lead the Iraqi team in the West Asian Championship in Saudi Arabia.
Source:
Tasnim News
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2022/05/11/2708544/shahnaz-yari-named-iraq-s-women-futsal-coach
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US
First Lady Guest of Honour at Kuwait Embassy’s Dinner
WASHINGTON,
May 8: US First Lady Dr. Jill Biden attended on May 4th the Kuwait-America
Foundation gala dinner as guest of honor, which was held at the Kuwait Embassy
in the nation’s capital in support of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) impactful work worldwide. Kuwaiti Ambassador to the US Sheikh
Salem Al-Sabah and his wife Sheikha Rima Al-Sabah hosted this year’s Gala
Dinner. The event recognized the longstanding commitment to promoting and
securing peace on the global stage of CIA Director William Burns, the Public
Service Award Recipient and Hollywood actor Ben Stiller, the Private Citizen
Award Recipient, whose unwavering dedication and tireless work on behalf of
refugees and displaced people around the world is inspiring.
In
her remarks, the First Lady, addressing Sheikh Salem and Sheikha Rima, said
“you and Rima have been such good friends to us over the years, as well as
being humanitarian leaders,” noting that she’s “so grateful.” She shed light on
the “responsibility to not just support refugees, but end the tragedies that
forced them from their homes.” “I’m grateful for the work of organizations like
Kuwait-America Foundation that have taken up this cause as well. There is so
much work to do,” she remarked. In his speech, Kuwait’s Ambassador to the US
Sheikh Salem Al-Sabah said that the refugee crisis “only continues to grow more
dire by the day. That today we are still seeing an increase in human suffering
because of displacement is heartbreaking.” “The number of people forced to
leave their homes, fl eeing violence and destruction, rises daily –
particularly as the horrible war in Ukraine rages on,” he added. He continued,
“We are honored to not only recognize UNHCR’s vital work this evening, but to also
join with them in a call to action.”
Proud
He
affirmed that Kuwait was “proud to be a longstanding supporter of the UNHCR,”
indicating that “over the last 10 years alone, Kuwait’s contributions to the
agency have amounted to more than USD 432 million, establishing Kuwait as the
top donor to UNHCR in the region over the last decade.” “As a result of our
initiatives and generous support, and in recognition of our leading regional
and international philanthropic role, Kuwait has been designated as a ‘humanitarian
hub,’” he remarked. On her part, Sheikha Rima Al-Sabah, also UNHCR Goodwill
Ambassador, announced that “this year alone we have, once again, raised over
USD one million for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.”
“Together,
we are helping to save lives and build better futures for the millions of
people around the globe forced from home,” she said. “We are all bearing
witness to an unprecedented level of displacement… And tragically, the numbers
only continue to rise. It is a humanitarian crisis without comparison, but
UNHCR is at its forefront.” She continued that “the determined support of
everyone in this room is helping the UN Refugee Agency and its nearly 18,000
people on the ground in 132 countries to protect some of the world’s most
vulnerable people, providing them with shelter, medical care, education,
healthcare – and the hope – they so desperately need.”
Meanwhile,
CIA chief Burns said he is “honored and humbled” for receiving the Public
Service Award. “I have the privilege of serving as director of the CIA, leading
exceptional women and men who as we sit here this evening, are doing hard jobs
and hard places around the world,” Burns added. “In honoring me, you really are
honoring all of them.” He also expressed “particular appreciation for the work
UNHCR… UNHCR is truly indispensable.” On his part, Actor Ben Stiller — also a
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador — said “to receive this private citizen award, it is
just an honor. I received a few awards in my life, a few. This one feels very
different.”
Honor
“While
this honor is in my name, it’s really a recognition of the efforts of the UN
refugee agency and all the people who work there,” he added. Meanwhile, United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi thanked in his remarks
Sheikh Salem and his wife, saying “what you have been doing for many, many
years now, assemble people here… talking about important causes, making people
aware of difficult problems and challenges around the world and asking for
their support has been invaluable.” He re-emphasized that Sheikh Salem is the
ambassador of a country that “has been recognized as a champion of
humanitarianism,” and that Sheikha Rima, who he has asked to remain as UNHCR
Goodwill Ambassador, “is the ambassador of an organization that tries to help
as much as it as it can.” “So really to you, to the State of Kuwait… thank you
very much,” he remarked.
Among
the attendees at the gala dinner were First Lady Jill Biden, CIA Director
William Burns, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Actor Ben Stiller, UN High
Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, Secretary of Homeland Security
Alejandro Mayorkas. Also attending were Director of National Intelligence Avril
Haines, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator Bob
Menendez, Senators Jim Risch and Roy Blunt, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, and
Counsellor to the President Michael Donilon.
Deputy
Chief of Staff of the President Bruce Reed, CBS news Margaret Brennan who
served as master of ceremonies, as well as the ambassadors of Saudi Arabia,
Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Jordan, Ukraine, and Germany. US Secretary of State was
scheduled Antony Blinken was scheduled to attend and deliver keynote remarks
but he had tested positive for COVID-19. Over the past 21 years, Sheikh Salem
and his wife Sheikha Rima have hosted at the Kuwait Embassy residence three US
Presidents (George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump), three Vice
Presidents (Dick Cheney, Mike Pence and Joe Biden), First Ladies (Laura Bush,
Melania Trump and Jill Biden), as well as every US Secretary of State (Colin
Powell, Condoleezza Rice Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Rex Tillerson and Mike
Pompeo), among countless other US dignitaries. (By Sherouq Sadeqi- KUNA)
Source: Arab Times Online
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/news/us-first-lady-guest-of-honor-at-kuwait-embassys-dinner/
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/palestinian-jazeera-shireen-israeli/d/126979