Middle East Press On: West Bank, Emirate, Normalization, Ceasefire: New Age Islam's Selection, 15 July 2025
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
15 July 2025
Israel’s West Bank ‘Emirate’ Gambit Reveals Its Desperation
Israeli-Syrian Security Arrangement: A New Model Of Normalization?
Can Netanyahu Deliver A Ceasefire Gaza Can Trust?
Iraq And The Fires Of Its Neighbours
The Anti-Zionist Congress: A New Era for Jewish-Palestinian Solidarity
The Destruction of Gaza is a Political Choice: From Mustafa Hafez to Today’s Charred Classrooms
Palestine’s Boxing Champion: World Dream Ends Under Gaza Rubble
Political Theatre on Gaza: The Trump-Netanyahu Ceasefire Deal
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Israel’s West Bank ‘Emirate’ Gambit Reveals Its Desperation
Ramzy Baroud
July 14, 2025
Israel is aggressively implementing plans to shape Palestine’s future and that of the broader region, sculpting its vision for the “day after” its genocide in Gaza. The latest bizarre iteration of this strategy proposes fragmenting the West Bank into so-called emirates, starting with the “Emirate of Hebron.”
This unexpected twist in Israel’s protracted search for alternative Palestinian leadership first surfaced in the staunchly pro-Israel US newspaper The Wall Street Journal. It then quickly came to dominate all Israeli media.
The report details a letter from a person identified by the newspaper as “the leader of Hebron’s most influential clan.” Addressed to Economy Minister Nir Barakat, Jerusalem’s former Israeli mayor, the letter from Sheikh Wadee Al-Jaabari appeals for “cooperation with Israel” in the name of “coexistence.”
This “coexistence,” according to the “clan leader,” would materialize in the “Emirate of Hebron,” which would “recognize the state of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people,” in exchange for reciprocal recognition of the “Emirate of Hebron as the representative of the Arab residents in the Hebron district.”
The story may seem perplexing. This is because Palestinian discourse, regardless of geography or political affiliation, has never entertained such an absurd concept as united West Bank “emirates.”
Another element of absurdity is that Palestinian national identity and pride in their people’s unwavering resilience, especially in Gaza, are at an unprecedented apex. To float such clan-based alternatives to legitimate Palestinian leadership seems ill-conceived and is destined to fail.
Israel’s desperation is palpable. In Gaza, it cannot defeat Hamas and other Palestinian factions that have resisted the Israeli takeover of the Strip for 21 months. All attempts to engineer an alternative Palestinian leadership there have collapsed.
This failure has compelled Israel to arm and fund a criminal gang that operated in Gaza before Oct. 7, 2023. This gang functions under the command of Yasser Abu Shabab. It has been implicated in a litany of violent activities. These include hijacking humanitarian aid to perpetuate famine in Gaza and orchestrating violence associated with aid distribution, among other egregious crimes.
Like the clan in Hebron, Abu Shabab’s criminal gang possesses no legitimacy and no public support among Palestinians. Why would Israel resort to such disreputable figures when the Palestinian Authority, already engaged in “security coordination” with it in the West Bank, is ostensibly willing to comply?
The answer lies in the current extremist Israeli government’s adamant refusal to acknowledge Palestine as a nation. Thus, even a collaborating Palestinian nationalist entity is deemed problematic from an Israeli perspective.
While Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is not the first Israeli leadership to explore clan-based alternatives among Palestinians, the prime minister and his extremist allies are exceptionally determined to dismantle any Palestinian claim to nationhood. This was explicitly stated by extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. He famously declared in Paris, in March 2023, that a Palestinian nation is an “invention.”
Thus, despite the PA’s willingness to cooperate with Israel in controlling Gaza, Israel remains apprehensive. Empowering the PA as a nationalist model fundamentally contravenes Israel’s overarching objective of denying the Palestinian people their claim to nationhood and, consequently, statehood and sovereignty.
Though Israel has consistently failed to establish and sustain its own alternative Palestinian leadership, its repeated efforts have invariably proven disruptive and violent.
Prior to the Nakba of 1948, the Zionist movement, alongside the British authorities colonizing Palestine, heavily invested in undermining the Arab Higher Committee, a nationalist body comprising several political parties. They achieved this by empowering collaborating clans, hoping to dilute the Palestinian nationalist movement.
When Israel occupied the remainder of historic Palestine in 1967, it reverted to the same divide-and-conquer tactics. For instance, it established a Palestinian police force directly commanded by Israeli military administrations, in addition to creating an underground network of collaborators.
Following the overwhelming victory of nationalist candidates in the 1976 elections in the West Bank, Israel cracked down on Palestine Liberation Organization-affiliated politicians, arresting, deporting and assassinating some.
Two years later, in 1978, it launched its “Village Leagues” project. It hand-picked compliant traditional figures, designating them as the legitimate representatives of Palestinians. These individuals, armed, protected and financed by the Israeli occupation army, were positioned to represent their respective clans in Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Gaza and elsewhere. Palestinians immediately denounced them as collaborators. They were widely boycotted and socially ostracized.
Eventually, it became evident that Israel had no alternative but to engage directly with the PLO. This culminated in the Oslo Accords in 1993 and the subsequent formation of the PA. However, the fundamental problem persisted: the PA’s insistence on a Palestinian state remains anathema to an Israel that has shifted dramatically to the right.
This explains the Netanyahu government’s unwavering insistence that the PA has no role in Gaza in any day-after scenario. While the PA could serve Israel’s interest in containing the rebellious Strip, such a triumph would inevitably recenter the discussion of a Palestinian state — a concept repugnant to most Israelis.
There is no doubt that neither the Abu Shabab gang nor the Hebron emirate will govern Palestinians, either in Gaza or the West Bank. Israel’s insistence on fabricating such alternatives underscores its historic determination to deny Palestinians any sense of nationhood.
Israel’s persistent fantasies of control invariably fail. Despite their profound wounds, Palestinians are more unified than ever — their collective identity and nationhood hardened by relentless resistance and countless sacrifices.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2608073
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Israeli-Syrian Security Arrangement: A New Model Of Normalization?
By Elie Podeh
JULY 15, 2025
The head of Israel’s National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, was quoted as saying that Syria and Lebanon are candidates for normalization with Israel. A few days later, reports surfaced of an alleged meeting between an NSC representative and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa during his visit to the United Arab Emirates. However, both sides denied the meeting had taken place.
Talk of normalization agreements with Arab and/or Muslim states has recently been voiced primarily by President Donald Trump, US envoy Steve Witkoff, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and others.
Following the Abraham Accords, the term “normalization” gained traction in political discourse and rhetoric, as it carried the promise of new and warm relations – unlike the “cold” peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan.
The use of the term “normalization” to describe potential relations with Syria and Lebanon may be misleading, as it suggests scenarios that currently seem beyond the horizon. A Syrian official told Al Jazeera that “statements regarding the signing of a peace agreement between Israel and Syria at present are premature. It is impossible to speak of negotiations on new agreements unless Israel fully commits to the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and withdraws from the areas it invaded.”
The contacts that have developed between Israel and Syria following the fall of the Assad regime and the rise to power of Sharaa in December 2024 are surprising for two main reasons: First, the organization led by Sharaa, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, is jihadist with a clear Islamist ideology that sees Israel and Zionism as enemies to be eradicated.
Second, Israel’s military response to the regime’s collapse – including the annulment of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, its seizure of the demilitarized zone, Mount Hermon, and other areas, as well as aid to the Druze – could have led to radicalization, heightened tensions, and hostility. However, the new regime adopted a moderate stance in both its statements and actions toward Israel. This included avoiding condemnation of Israel during its attack on Iran and tacitly permitting Israel Air Force overflights of Syrian airspace.
These moves strengthened the thinking that the regime’s radical image might no longer be relevant. The fact that Trump quickly met with Sharaa during his visit to Saudi Arabia and lifted sanctions on Syria also played a role.
A review of Israel-Syria relations
Nevertheless, a brief historical review of Israel-Syria relations reveals that although Syria was a staunch adversary – having fought four wars with Israel (1948, 1967, 1973, and 1982) – it engaged in negotiations with Israel on several occasions and even came close to signing a peace agreement.
Thus, after the War of Independence, a military officer named Husni al-Za’im, who seized power in 1949, proposed peace with Israel and the resettlement of half the Palestinian refugees in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from half of Lake Kinneret. Some view this episode as a missed historic opportunity, but Za’im was assassinated three months after taking power, and the initiative was never realized.
Another officer, Adib Shishakli, held talks with Israel in the 1950s, but they, too, did not materialize.
Conditions for an agreement ripened only after Hafez al-Assad took power in 1970 and following the Yom Kippur War. It was US secretary of state Henry Kissinger who succeeded in brokering the first (and last) disengagement agreement between the two countries in 1974 – a deal that held until recently.
More serious attempts at a peace agreement were made in the 1990s, after the Oslo Accords. The Assad regime conducted direct negotiations, with US mediation, with prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Netanyahu, and Ehud Barak. Barak came the closest to reaching an agreement – only a few dozen meters from the Kinneret shoreline separated the sides.
Under Bashar al-Assad as well, at least two serious attempts at an agreement were made: one during Ehud Olmert’s term and another during Netanyahu’s, just before the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. It is worth noting that there is historical evidence that Netanyahu, during his 1996 and 2010 terms, secretly expressed willingness to withdraw from the Golan Heights.
During the Syrian civil war (2011–2024), Israel maintained contacts with rebel organizations in southern Syria and with Druze representatives following the fall of the Assad regime.
Sharaa’s immediate interest is to put Syria on a path of reconstruction while addressing the concerns of minority groups (Kurds, Druze, and Alawites) and combating rogue jihadist factions. This process is only in its early stages. Stability and calm would attract significant investments and loans from the international community.
A realistic analysis suggests that full normalization with Israel could harm Sharaa’s legitimacy – which is in any case uncertain – especially if it entails conceding the Golan Heights. On the other hand, a limited agreement restoring the status quo would be viewed positively by Syrian public opinion. So far, contrary to expectations and public discourse in Israel, Syrian media has not focused much on the issue, though there are initial signs of preparing public opinion for the benefits of peace.
New types of normalization
A renewed security agreement between Israel and Syria – if achieved – could lead to a new kind of normalization.
To date, I have identified three types of normalization: first, behind-the-scenes contacts without a formal agreement, as with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman; second, formal ties primarily at the government level, such as with Egypt and Jordan – what we often refer to as a “cold peace”; and third, warmer relations that include engagement with civil society organizations, such as with Morocco, the UAE, and Bahrain (the so-called “Abraham Accords”) – at least until the war.
The new type of normalization would be less than a peace agreement but would include a security arrangement potentially enabling covert cooperation on a range of shared regional interests vis-à-vis Iran and other mutual threats.
Such an agreement could lay the groundwork for an Abraham Accords-style normalization after a period of trust-building. One example of such confidence-building was the appearance of Shadi Martini, a Syrian businessman and political activist who was involved in humanitarian aid provided by Israel during the civil war, at the opening conference of the Knesset lobby for promoting a regional security arrangement, held last week.
Yet, the issue of the Golan Heights will remain contested: on one hand, peace with Egypt and Jordan entailed Israeli withdrawal from all the territories it captured in 1967, setting a precedent and creating expectations on the Arab side; on the other hand, since 1939 Syria has had to swallow the loss of Alexandretta to Turkey, yet this issue has not hindered the flourishing of relations between the two countries.
The Hamas attack of October 7 had many unintended consequences; the fall of the Assad regime was one of them. Any agreement between Israel and Syria would fall into that same category.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-860993
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Can Netanyahu Deliver A Ceasefire Gaza Can Trust?
Hani Hazaimeh
July 14, 2025
With news swirling of a potential ceasefire agreement in Gaza, brokered during a high-profile meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump at the White House last week, Palestinians — particularly those in Gaza — find themselves once again suspended between cautious hope and deep skepticism. The promise of peace may be inching closer, but the lingering question remains: can the world really trust Netanyahu to honor such an agreement? And more fundamentally, can a permanent ceasefire hold in the face of Israel’s historical record of violating its own commitments?
The Gaza Strip, shattered by relentless airstrikes and years of blockade, is yearning for a pause, for a reprieve. Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble, families torn apart and basic services like food, water and electricity remain scarce. In this humanitarian wasteland, any talk of a ceasefire sparks a flicker of hope — but that hope is deeply guarded.
Both Netanyahu and Trump have much to gain politically from a ceasefire. Netanyahu is mired in domestic turmoil, battling corruption charges, protests and an increasingly fractured coalition. Trump is keen to present himself once again as a global statesman capable of forging historic deals. The stakes are high — but so too is the distrust.
Palestinians have seen this story play out before. Ceasefire after ceasefire — brokered by Egypt, Qatar or the UN — has collapsed due to Israeli violations, continued settlement expansion or renewed military operations. Despite declarations and photo-ops, Israel has consistently returned to tactics that violate Palestinian sovereignty and humanitarian norms. The Netanyahu government, heavily influenced by its far-right members, has shown little willingness to seriously engage with the Palestinian cause beyond security concerns.
And yet, Palestinians are not rejecting the idea of peace — they are rejecting hypocrisy. A genuine and lasting ceasefire must be more than a tactical maneuver or an electoral prop. It must include an unequivocal end to Israeli military operations in Gaza, the lifting of the suffocating blockade and a credible international mechanism to monitor compliance on both sides. Any agreement must address not only the symptoms of war, but also the root causes: occupation, displacement and political disenfranchisement.
While the US continues to play the role of chief negotiator, the international community cannot remain a bystander. It must step forward — not just to endorse any agreement, but to provide binding guarantees that Palestinians’ rights will be protected and upheld. The Arab world, the EU and the UN should demand oversight mechanisms that ensure Israel complies with its commitments and that the Palestinian people are not once again left to suffer the consequences of broken promises. International actors must insist on a framework that goes beyond ceasefire management and toward a sustainable political solution.
The people of Gaza cannot endure another “pause” that merely resets the countdown to the next war. They need assurance, accountability and, above all, dignity. The ceasefire must not be a reward for violence nor a temporary de-escalation until the next round of bloodshed. It must be the beginning of a broader peace process that affirms the right of Palestinians to live freely in their homeland, with access to food, water, safety and a future.
Netanyahu and Trump may seek to shape the headlines in Washington, but history will judge them by what follows on the ground in Gaza. If the proposed ceasefire does not include real protections, real oversight and real political engagement, it will join the long list of failed truces that have left Palestinian civilians to bury their dead in silence.
A meaningful ceasefire must be built on trust — but trust is earned, not imposed. And until Israel demonstrates a consistent commitment to peace and until the world holds it accountable for its actions, Palestinians will remain wary of agreements signed with smiles abroad and broken with bombs at home.
The people of Gaza are watching. The world must do more than just watch with them — it must stand with them.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2608077
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Iraq And The Fires Of Its Neighbours
Ghassan Charbel
July 14, 2025
I once asked a man who had worked in Saddam Hussein’s palace whether he had ever heard him swear. “No, he did not have a habit of swearing. He would fall silent when he became angry, but sparks would flash in his eyes; whenever he accused someone of treason, betrayal or embezzlement of public funds, his visible rage was terrifying,” the man replied. He then nuanced his view. “To be precise, I do recall him once saying: ‘To hell with Iran, to hell with Turkiye.’ It seemed that Saddam had been bemoaning Iraq’s geographical location.”
Let us set aside Saddam’s complaints about fate and geography. The reality is that destiny has associated Iraq with flames — in its region, along its borders and in its neighborhood. Iraq has always had a fraught relationship with neighboring Syria and these tensions have left the two neighbors on the brink of open conflict on several occasions. Saddam and Hafez Assad’s decades-long mutual animosity never abated. Today, the long and complicated relationship between the two countries is being tested once again.
Saddam’s complaints about geographical fate came to mind when I was in Baghdad, where I heard that, during the recent Israeli-Iranian war, Iraq narrowly averted “an existential threat even greater than Daesh had posed when it rolled through a third of Iraq’s territory.” Iraq managed to keep this threat at bay by staying out of the firestorm raging near its borders, even as warplanes and missiles flew through its airspace.
My interlocutor attributed Iraq’s narrow escape to several factors: the Iraqi authorities and the factions operating in Iraqi territory had taken Israel’s threats seriously, the US went from offering advice to raising the alarm and, crucially, Iran had not asked the factions to join the war. On the contrary, it urged them to do nothing.
He added that the factions — having seen how Israel had breached Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as the first Israeli strike on Iran, which exposed the latter’s vulnerability — realized that they were far too weak to enter this fight. And he noted that the Iraqi authorities had thwarted three attempts by “rogue factions” to attack Israel.
The last time Iraq faced such a difficult test was when Aleppo fell into the hands of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham. At the time, Iran encouraged its allies to come to the aid of Bashar Assad. Iraq’s State Administration Coalition, the parliamentary bloc that formed the current government, held a closed-door meeting attended by all its members.
Some factions were eager to intervene, arguing that “the implications of terrorists gaining ground in Syria would inevitably spill over into Iraq.” However, the factions needed to transport heavy weaponry if they were to intervene effectively and this was not possible amid Israel’s control of the skies.
At this point of the debate, it was suggested that the Iraqi army could undertake this operation. However, several attendees warned of the risks: such a step could reignite sectarian conflict on Iraqi soil, fracture Iraq’s state institutions and create a serious rift between Baghdad and Irbil. After a tense meeting, the coalition settled on limiting its response to diplomatic channels and media campaigns.
Baghdad made one last effort to persuade Assad to publicly agree to meet Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but he remained intransigent. Only on the eve of his departure did he agree to a low-level meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers in Baghdad. By then, however, the window had closed and the moment had passed.
One Iraqi observer summed up this episode pertinently. “Iraq’s political forces did not shed many tears for the Assad regime. He is a Baathist and Iraq’s political system had been built on the wreckage of Baathist horrors. Moreover, the man, fearing that his regime would be the next target after Saddam fell, had been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iraqis. The Assad regime funneled thousands of extremists into Iraq, where they carried out suicide bombings, massacres and devastating attacks.”
Nonetheless, the observer noted, “the image of Ahmad Al-Sharaa sitting in Assad’s chair was deeply unsettling to the factions in Baghdad.
“The Iraqi government has responded to these apprehensions pragmatically.
“The two countries are coordinating on security matters and their foreign ministers have met. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani even met Al-Sharaa in Doha, despite being criticized for doing so. One could say Baghdad is keeping a close eye on Al-Sharaa and monitoring his policies. However, we probably will not see him in Baghdad anytime soon, even as he heads to other regional and international capitals.”
In recent months, Iraq has managed to narrowly escape two daunting threats: the collapse of the Assad regime and the Israeli-Iranian war. Now, in the sweltering heat of summer, the winds of Iraq’s upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled for November, have begun blowing. If experience offers any guidance, “electoral wars” are never simple in Iraq, nor are the power struggles within the circle of elites. Indeed, Al-Sudani has confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that he intends to run for reelection, making it clear that he intends to finish what he has started during his current term.
The electoral stakes are high. Iraqis can only hope that flames will not once again erupt in Iran, threatening to propel Iraq into an even more dangerous and destabilizing debacle than that of a contested parliamentary election.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2608071
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The Anti-Zionist Congress: A New Era for Jewish-Palestinian Solidarity
By Ramzy Baroud
July 15, 2025
Future historians, remember this place and date: Vienna, June 13-15, 2025. This was when hundreds of anti-Zionist Jews, joined by Palestinians and other allies, gathered for the first ‘Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress.’
This gathering stands in stark contrast to the First Zionist Congress, held 128 years prior, from August 29-31, 1897, near Vienna in Switzerland. Chaired by Theodor Herzl, that congress founded the modern Zionist movement with the stated aim: “Zionism seeks to establish a home in Palestine for the Jewish people, secured under public law.” This objective was unambiguous.
Zionist institution-building rapidly followed, beginning with the Zionist Organization (ZO), later renamed the World Zionist Organization. This was succeeded by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) during the Fifth Congress in Basel in 1901.
The conflation of Zionism with Jewish identity began in earnest then, culminating in today’s historical absurdity where, in many Western official and media circles, anti-Zionism is equated with antisemitism.
From the perspective of the initial Zionist conveners, Zionism, despite resistance from many European Jewish communities, appeared successful. Among its many steps toward conquering Palestine and ethnically cleansing Palestinians, Zionists secured the support of Western powers, notably Britain, which formalized its backing through the Balfour Declaration. This November 2, 1917, letter from British Foreign Secretary Lord Rothschild to the Zionist Federation declared: “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”
The aftermath is a profoundly painful and bloody history. These efforts led to the Nakba, the ‘Catastrophe,’ where the Palestinian homeland was largely erased to make way for Zionists who insisted they acted and spoke on behalf of global Jewry.
Jewish communities did not gather in Israel in later years and decades to fulfill some biblical prophecy. The founders of Zionism were almost entirely atheists who exploited God and religious texts to manipulate Jews into immigrating to Israel. The profound irony here is that while atheist Jews purported to represent God’s will on earth, the actual religious Jewish communities – both Orthodox and Reform rabbis – rejected Zionism from its inception. This rejection even necessitated moving the First Zionist Congress from Munich, Germany, to Switzerland.
Acceptance of Zionism was gradual. It first required the successful, critical feat of displacing an entire nation from its historical homeland, defending the newly acquired territories, and securing Western and international support.
Following the Naksa, the ‘Setback,’ of June 1967, when Israel, with the unconditional support of the U.S. and other Western governments, conquered much more Arab territory, Zionism finally succeeded in imposing itself as a reality on Jewish discourse. Anti-Zionist Jews became a shrinking minority, and the equation between Zionism and Judaism became the norm.
Now, as Israel clearly struggles to maintain the success of its old Zionist project, primarily due to the Resistance of the native Palestinians, massive global shifts are underway. Estimates suggest that over 500,000 Israeli Jews have left the country since the October 7, 2023, war. This reverse migration is increasing and will certainly surge following the Israel-instigated war against Iran.
The Gaza genocide and the historical steadfastness (sumud) of the Palestinian people have exposed every Zionist falsehood. Gaza has achieved more in less than two years than all collective efforts in the last 128 years. This shatters any illusion that the liberation of an oppressed nation can be imported from the outside.
As the world turns against Zionism, empowered anti-Zionist Jewish communities are now playing a crucial role in further exposing Zionism and mobilizing global support for Palestinians.
The Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress Declaration unequivocally states: “As Anti-Zionist Jews, we stand together with all Palestinians—in Palestine and in exile—against Zionism and its crimes, including genocide, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and occupation. We affirm the right of people under occupation to resist by any means, as is recognized by several UN provisions.”
The declaration leaves no doubt about the anti-Zionist congress’s position, having unified the efforts of numerous existing and well-established anti-Zionist Jewish groups.
What makes this event historic, beyond the enormous effort and the intention to expand and branch out to all such groups worldwide, is its moral clarity.
For many years, being an anti-Zionist Jew was largely confined to identity: morally driven Jews declaring that Israel does not represent all Jews and that not all Jews are Zionists. While such statements were not wrong or unhelpful, historically, many such groups operated with a degree of separation from the larger global efforts supporting Palestinian liberation.
The Israeli genocide in Gaza has significantly altered this, as we’ve witnessed many Jewish communities, groups, and individuals worldwide standing on the front lines of Palestinian solidarity. The role of young Jews, particularly in North American and European universities, has proven to be a game-changer.
The declaration’s language reflects this fundamental shift: “We condemn without qualification all Israeli war crimes committed since October 7, 2023, including ethnic cleansing, militarised apartheid, urbicide, scholaticide, medicide, mass starvation as an instrument of forced expulsion of more than two million Gazans, and an extant genocide of hundreds of thousands—the worst war crime of our time.”
The declaration condemned “western powers” for their “active and enthusiastic support” of Israeli war crimes. It named the US, the European Union, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand for serving as defenders and enablers of Israel’s crimes against humanity. These are the very entities that supported Zionism from its beginning.
The Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress did not mince words, did not navigate language to avoid offense, and did not hesitate to show its firm stand with Palestinians, their struggle, their resistance, and their liberation.
The final passage of the declaration is critical and deserves to be fully stated:
“Finally, we call upon and embrace all Israeli Jews who reconsider their allegiance with the apartheid genocidal regime. We invite you to join the movement for the decolonization of Palestine. After eight decades of systemic denial of Palestinian rights and freedoms, it is time to respect Jewish historical legacy and the principles of Judaism itself, it is time to build once again that place that historically respected our shared lives and freedoms in Palestine.”
It seems Zionism has come full circle. As Palestinians and their regional allies disprove Zionist theories on the superiority of violence, on ‘iron walls,’ and other myths, a growing movement of anti-Zionist Jews is now challenging the very essence of Zionism and its relationship with Jewish communities.
The amount of pain, loss, and suffering over the last 128 years is incalculable. But it’s becoming clear that Zionism is finally being undone, primarily by Gaza and the sumud of the Palestinians, but also by international solidarity, a large part of which has always been, and now increasingly is, expressed by anti-Zionist Jews—not as a separate community, but as an integral part of humanity’s push against colonialism, imperialism, and injustice.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/the-anti-zionist-congress-a-new-era-for-jewish-palestinian-solidarity/
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The Destruction of Gaza is a Political Choice: From Mustafa Hafez to Today’s Charred Classrooms
By Ghada Ageel
July 14, 2025
Rescuers and medics reported that many of the children pulled from the school were so charred as to be unrecognisable, even to family members. 16 Palestinians, including many children and infants, were killed, some burnt alive. Family members used shreds of clothing to identify the children. Their names are now added to the UNICEF casualty list of over 17,000 dead children. Israel says Hamas militants were using the school as a base. No person with a conscience believes them.
After the Israeli bombs hit, the children who had been trapped by the fires died, unable to get to safety, as fire spread rapidly through the classrooms. The next morning, a news report showed lost children wandering through the wreckage—some searching for belongings to salvage, others collecting the flesh of their friends. One survivor told a reporter that her niece, along with her six children and husband, were burned to death in the attack.
In many ways, the school is a metaphor for the Gaza Strip as a whole – often called the largest open-air prison in the world- those trapped inside have no way to escape from the ferocious attacks. It was the second time in less than a year that this school was attacked, killing innocent displaced families with their children.
The school was named Mustafa Hafez School in Gaza City – the home of my first ever teaching assignment. I last visited in the summer of 2023, during my annual trip to Gaza. I sat with my friend Sahar, a teacher still working there. We reminisced about our early days, walking past the colorful mural painted on the school’s outer wall—the one that faced the playground where we used to train the girls’ scout and music team, who used to perform and sing in honor of Gaza’s most prominent guests.
Today, that mural is covered in blood. The school walls that once bore vibrant murals of hope and learning are now scorched and crumbling. Tattered clothes hang from blackened rafters. A child’s burnt shoe lies beside a broken fan. Blood pools on the ground where children once played. All of this brutality forms part of a long pattern of violence against schools and civilians.
One of the dangerous errors perpetuated by defenders of Israel’s genocide is to believe that history began on October 7, 2023. In reality, the history/roots of violence and dispossession stretch much further back—to the era of British colonial rule, and the subsequent Zionist settler-colonial project imposed on Palestine.
One example is the story of Mustafa Hafez, a prominent Egyptian officer who organized and directed Palestinian fedayeen (guerrilla fighters) operations against Israeli occupation in the early 1950s. Exactly 69 years ago this month, in July 1956, Hafez was assassinated by Israel’s Mossad through a booby-trapped book— a symbolic and calculated crime to eliminate Arab figures connected to Palestinian resistance. After the attack, Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan held a lavish garden party to celebrate Hafez’s assassination.
This was not just the elimination of a man; it was an attack on a narrative of rights, an effort to silence resistance at its intellectual and strategic roots. Israel has long followed a logic that believes that by killing leaders, thinkers, and allies of Palestinian liberation, it can kill the very impulse for freedom and the idea to live free. But this strategy has failed. In Palestinian collective memory, Hafez lives on as a martyr and hero. Schools, streets, and institutions across Gaza, including the one now lying in ruins, were named in his honor—a living testament to the fact that memory and rights cannot be bombed into oblivion.
Israel’s attacks on educational institutions and centers of knowledge production are deliberate. It is a policy that has persisted since the day I opened my eyes to military occupation – decades before Hamas existed, and long before October 7.
After Israel shut down all of Gaza’s universities in 1987 as part of its collective punishment policies, the only path left for continuing my education was a teacher training college administered by the so-called Israeli “civil administration.” Mustafa Hafez School became my first teaching post. I taught math and science to children aged 7 to 12 in the heart of Rimal—Gaza’s most vibrant neighborhood—once full of learning centers, including AMIDEAST and the British Council, bookshops, dozens of UN schools and community spaces, women’s embroidery collectives, and the cultural lifeblood of a people refusing to give up.
During my own schooling, attacks on schools, the attack, arrest, and torture of students and teachers, and the closure of educational institutions were the norm. Throughout my elementary and high school years, education was under siege. My generation—and over 100,000 Palestinian students—were denied the right to attend university for more than seven consecutive years when Israel shut down all of Gaza’s universities between 1987 and 1994.
For Israel, targeting schools is not a deviation from policy during wartime—it is the policy.
Likewise, the announcement by Israel’s Defense Minister that the population of Gaza will be forced to live in a small area beside Rafah is also a matter of policy. Now the guards are rounding up all the prisoners of the world’s largest open-air prison and placing them in one cell. This announcement comes as we mark thirty years since the genocide of Bosnia, when thousands were rounded up in the “Death March” before being executed.
After each genocide, the world says, “never again”. Except with Gaza instead of decrying the horrors, the western governments rush to supply Israel with more weapons—justified by the false claim of self-defence. But as Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, has made clear: “Israel has no right to defend itself against the people it occupies.” That is not opinion—it is international law.
This horror is not unfolding in a vacuum. It is enabled by American and Western weapons, funding, silence, complicity, and impunity. And what has Israel done with that impunity? It has flattened hospitals, starved civilians, dropped 2,000-pound bombs on refugee camps, and burned children alive. Now, with Gaza in ruins and the bank of civilian targets exhausted, it strikes the same infrastructure again—schools, hospitals, clinics, and community halls—the very places where it directs civilians to seek safety.
I think of the Mustafa Hafez School often. Of the chalkboards, the laughter, the murals. I think of the students I taught—now possibly among the dead or displaced. I mourn for them, but I also write for them. Because the struggle to preserve education is also the struggle to preserve life, dignity, and future.
Israel may destroy Palestinian schools and buildings, but it will not erase Palestinian rights and memory, our stories, or our right to be free.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/the-destruction-of-gaza-is-a-political-choice-from-mustafa-hafez-to-todays-charred-classrooms/
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Palestine’s Boxing Champion: World Dream Ends Under Gaza Rubble
July 14, 2025
From winning medals and Asian championships to displacement tents, this is how the life of Abdullah bin Mahmoud Al-Ghalban, the Palestinian boxer who shone brightly in Asian rings, was overturned before the war extinguished everything in the Gaza Strip.
Abdullah began his athletic journey in 2019 with the Al-Nasr Al-Arabi Club within the Strip, specializing in boxing. He quickly made a name for himself in local and continental competitions, winning a gold medal and the award for Best Player in an Asian championship, marking the Palestinian national team’s first victory in an Asian tournament.
But the path to his dream remained incomplete. After setting his sights on participating in the Paris Olympics, the recent Israeli aggression turned everything upside down.
With the outbreak of war in Gaza, Al-Nasr Al-Arabi Club was forced to close its doors, later transforming into a shelter for displaced people. Faced with this forced transformation, Abdullah found himself far from training, close to the pain of the people, participating in relief efforts, and selling on the sidewalk to secure a livelihood.
In the midst of this reality, Abdullah lost his brother, who was his teacher and support, following an Israeli bombing that targeted their neighborhood. It was another tragedy added to his record of losses, this time not losing a fight, but a life.
Abdullah told Al-Jazeera Net that the dream he had built over the years no longer had any shape, after the rings were destroyed, clubs were closed, and those who pushed him forward were killed.
Abdullah’s story is not an exception in Gaza; it is one of dozens where sports intertwined with war, dreams with displacement, and ambition with loss. The former champion expresses the tragedy of a rising Palestinian generation that saw sports as its window to the world but found itself trapped amidst the rubble.
Despite everything, there remains a tone of defiance in Abdullah’s voice. He affirms that sports are not just a fight to be won or lost, but a message, and he will stick to it, even if the ring changes.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/palestines-boxing-champion-world-dream-ends-under-gaza-rubble/
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Political Theatre on Gaza: The Trump-Netanyahu Ceasefire Deal
By Robert Inlakesh
July 14, 2025
In the immediate aftermath of the 12-day battle between Israel and Iran, US President Donald Trump shifted his focus on allegedly pursuing a ceasefire in Gaza. Despite the benefits for all sides, in the event of a durable ceasefire, we are yet to see tangible steps taken to bring the genocide to a close.
At the beginning of July, Donald Trump released a post of “Truth Social” claiming that Israel had agreed upon a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, adding that “I hope… that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better – IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” in the Republican Party President’s typical style of social media diplomacy.
Yet, since the beginning of the month, it has become clear that the Israelis never accepted any ceasefire proposal formally and have continued to add conditions to the proposal, which are evident non-starters for Hamas.
The Hamas position is very clear: they seek a prisoner exchange but value a comprehensive agreement to end the war entirely and will not back down from this position. The Palestinian political party has also repeatedly expressed its readiness to hand power over to a domestically led governing body, which would be a precursor to a Palestinian government following free and fair democratic elections.
Israel, on the other hand, is not even willing to implement a deal that would replicate the one implemented upon Trump’s inauguration in late January. It has created the so-called Morag Corridor that bisects southern Gaza, adding to its scheme of territorial separation inside the besieged coastal territory.
During the ceasefire negotiations in 2024, the big sticking points were Israel’s withdrawal from the Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors. At the time, policy makers in Tel Aviv argued that it would prove difficult to return to occupying these dividing line positions inside Gaza in the event of war and made a big deal about how integral these corridors were to “security”, which it is now also claiming about the newly built Morag Corridor.
On March 18, Israel unilaterally tore up the Gaza ceasefire, which was met with American acquiescence. The Israeli military had withdrawn from both Philadelphi and Netzarim, yet began returning to these positions within days, debunking their own notions that withdrawal made reoccupying the area difficult.
In other words, there are no real obstacles on the ground to a ceasefire. Hamas will cede power; there are ample investors and aid organizations willing to help, while the Israeli military has no real excuses in terms of military concessions. Whether we will see a ceasefire is down to whether Tel Aviv wants it or its allies in Washington force it.
Will There Be a Ceasefire and Why?
In order to assess whether a ceasefire is likely, we have to factor in what could shape such a decision. The first is what the Israelis and Americans can get out of it and why.
For Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, a ceasefire could rupture his ruling coalition and cause a political schism with the most hardline elements of his right-wing alliance, which could end up translating to a loss in any future elections.
Thus far, the Israeli prime minister has failed to achieve his stated war goals after 22 months of inflicting one of the worst atrocities in modern history upon the people of Gaza. He is currently using an ISIS-linked militia that is composed of hardened criminal collaborators in Gaza, while his US allies are helping to run the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” (GHF).
The Trump administration recently injected 30 million dollars in its people’s tax dollars to finance the scheme that has been condemned by over 160 NGO’s and labelled a “death trap”. Meanwhile, the occupying army is setting up concentration camps for Gaza’s civilian population and desperately attempting to find a new method for ethnically cleansing the territory.
Yet, following the battle with Iran, Netanyahu saw both a rise in support for his right-wing coalition, in addition to a rise in popular support amongst Israelis for ending the war in Gaza. Therefore, the personal political incentive for him would be to close the war on Gaza, return the captives through a prisoner exchange, and focus on Tehran instead.
Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that Iran’s enriched Uranium stockpile survived the Israeli-US attacks on the Iranian nuclear facilities, while his Defense Minister, Israel Katz, has claimed that the strategy on combating Tehran’s nuclear program is similar to getting rid of cancer, hinting at future strikes.
Furthermore, the issue of Hezbollah in the north is still clearly a major priority for the Israelis, and their continued illegal occupation of southern Syria enables military action in Lebanon that could come from the Bekaa Valley region on the ground, perhaps even in concert with armed efforts from forces loyal to Ahmed al-Shara’a.
Syria is clearly allied with Israel against Iranian-aligned groups – Hezbollah and the Palestinian resistance – presenting an opening that may not exist in the future, given the shaky situation for the pro-US leadership in Damascus.
Israel’s primary concerns are therefore fighting against Hezbollah and Iran. If Gaza is taken out of the situation, this could potentially negate the possibility of having to fight a multifront ground war in the north and south in the future, while also taking Yemen’s Ansarallah out of the picture at least temporarily.
Although the occupied West Bank could surprise Tel Aviv with a shock uprising, it appears as if the territory has been successfully pacified with the help of the Palestinian Authority for the time being. Even a large-scale annexation of Area C of the West Bank (60% of the territory), may not translate into any meaningful popular resistance there.
A major challenge to the Israeli occupiers in the West Bank cannot be ruled out, however, as the October 2015 Knife Intifada demonstrated to be the case. Quite suddenly and for reasons which can only be understood in hindsight, there can be an uprising that comes out of nowhere.
This being said, nobody is expecting the West Bank to be a major factor in the foreseeable future. Therefore, taking the resistance in the Gaza Strip out of the multi-front war would make perfect strategic sense for the leadership in Tel Aviv.
From the US perspective, ending the genocide in Gaza would obviously carry many benefits. Israel has lost popular support in the United States, so on a domestic level, the Trump administration would benefit in the court of public opinion. Also, the US would appear strong over their Israeli allies, especially as many Americans have begun to question who really controls the foreign policy positions of their President.
Washington could also then pave the way towards a proper Syria-Israel normalization agreement, while working on bringing Saudi Arabia into their so-called “Abraham Accords” alliance. There is no real downside to ending the Gaza genocide from a purely US perspective at that point, as their attempt to achieve total regional dominance can be achieved against Iran and Hezbollah, in theory, not in the Gaza Strip against Hamas.
All of the motivators towards achieving a ceasefire are there. But we have to understand that the mere fact that it isn’t happening means that the US and Israel don’t actually want one yet. If Washington and Tel Aviv wanted a lasting ceasefire, it would be announced within a few days and implemented soon thereafter. Even if Israel said no, the US could force it with a single phone call.
Political Theater
During the course of the Biden administration’s rule, post October 7, 2023, we heard time and time again about “imminent” ceasefires and the various efforts of US negotiations “working around the clock” to end the war. It would later be revealed through reports published by Israel’s Channel 13 and Drop Site News that the Biden government never asked for Israel to end the war, long after it became aware that there were no clear war goals in Gaza.
Donald Trump’s announcements and the reports about “officials” and “leaks” should also be assumed to be similarly deceptive. These are all part of a show that is being put on for public consumption.
There is also a precedent for this kind of political theatre during the Trump administration’s reign in power too. This was exactly what we saw in the lead-up to Israel’s surprise attack against Iran. The US and Israeli media were constantly leaking reports that Trump was fighting with Netanyahu, some Zionist propaganda outlets even produced outlandish claims that Washington was set to recognize a Palestinian State.
Above and beyond all is the way that Israeli society sees this situation, which is the primary motivator for the theatre we are seeing. The talk of imminent agreements over the Gaza war keeps the pressure off of Netanyahu, while he continues to scheme on how to continue his regime change efforts against Iran.
There is a significant portion of the Israeli population that desperately wants to see an end to the war, for two reasons: Because they seek the return of the captives, and also due to their frustration at the frequent deaths of soldiers who are being caught in ambushes by the Palestinian resistance each day.
Israel has already lost the military war in Gaza and has been incapable of executing the ethnic cleansing program that they have sought since 2023. The Israeli public does not have the determination to fight and wants easy solutions that don’t carry consequences.
Benjamin Netanyahu understands his delusional population better than anyone else and has proven capable of duping the genocidal citizenry. If there is going to be a ceasefire, the US and Israel will make it happen; otherwise, everything we are seeing just needs to be viewed as part of a script.
Results on the ground are the only thing that can be trusted. What we hear from the US and Israeli corporate media must be taken with a grain of salt, while Trump and Netanyahu’s words are all but meaningless.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/political-theater-on-gaza-the-trump-netanyahu-ceasefire-deal/
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URl: https://www.newageislam.com/middle-east-press/west-bank-emirate-normalization-ceasefire/d/136178
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