Middle East Press On: Us-Iran Tension, Gaza genocide, Turkey's Repositioning, Israel's Obliteration of Palestinians, Epstein Pressed Qatar, Who Is H'seyin Doğru German Journalist, New Age Islam's Selection, 25 February 2026
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
25 February 2026
Who utilizes the US-Iran tension, and for what reason?
Gaza Board of Peace: Can pledges deliver real change?
Türkiye's repositioning in the era of economic security
Reconstructing the details of Israel’s obliteration of Palestinians
‘Recognize Israel’: Epstein Pressed Qatar as Israel Stays Central in Files
German Journalist Sanctioned by EU over Gaza Reporting – Who Is Hüseyin Doğru?
Trump’s ‘Board of Peace – Aggrandizing Theater and the Impunity of Genocide
39 Dead, Including 22 Children, as Gaza Infrastructure Collapses — B’Tselem
------
Who utilizes the US-Iran tension, and for what reason?
BY MUHITTIN ATAMAN
FEB 25, 2026
Tension between the United States and Iran is being closely watched by the world, with speculation mounting about whether the conflict will escalate into war. There has been a tidal wave for a long time. The U.S. and Iranian representatives are making contradictory statements. They sometimes use conciliatory language and sometimes confrontational language. Observers place bets every day on whether the two states will go to war.
The two countries have sat on the negotiation table in Muscat, Oman and continued in Genoa, Switzerland. It seems that it will not be an easy decision to make for both sides. When we look at the Iranian side, we see that they use a conciliatory language, their officials insistently explaining that they will not start the war. However, Iran faces very serious risks and threats in two areas.
On the one hand, perhaps the Iranian regime is going through its most difficult days since the revolution in 1979 in its domestic politics. The latest wave of protests and growing economic problems are causing difficult times for the Iranian regime. On the other hand, given the losses of the last year, such as the attacks against Iran during the 12-Day War, the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, which was Iran’s closest ally in the region, and the blows suffered by Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iran is forced to adopt a defensive stance against the U.S. and Israel.
At the beginning of the tension, the U.S. had only one demand: ending Iran’s nuclear program. However, as the negotiations dragged on, the U.S. raised the stakes. The U.S. now has three main demands from Iran: ending its nuclear program, restrictions on its long-range ballistic missiles, and an end to its support for regional proxy groups.
Given the explanations of Iranian officials, it seems that Iran is ready to make concessions on its nuclear program. In return, Iran wants the U.S. to lift economic sanctions and to allow Iran to enrich uranium. However, Iran will not accept the other two demands for two main reasons.
First of all, Iran needs an effective external threat to consolidate the regime and also ensure national unity. Until very recently, the enmity toward both the U.S. and Israel, great and little Satan respectively, had been providing necessary reasoning for the regime. Political instability in Iran forces the regime to use foreign policy issues for domestic consumption. In other words, Iran will instrumentalize its tension with the U.S. and Israel to provide support for the regime.
Second, Iran wants to maintain its deterrent powers against external threats. If Iran meets the three main American demands, it will lose its deterrent power. If it gives up its support for its regional proxies, it will lose its outreach. Similarly, if it ends its long-range ballistic missile program, Iran will lose its deterrent power. Any global or regional state may directly target Iran under certain circumstances.
Similar to Iran, the U.S. and Israel also have their own problems to solve. Israel will hold parliamentary elections on Oct. 27, 2026. Netanyahu wants to win “another victory” in the region to guarantee his reelection. He destroyed Gaza and directly attacked seven regional countries, including Qatar, one of the closest allies to the West. Now, he needs another political adventure to get reelected. Therefore, the Israeli government will put extra pressure on the U.S. to resort to war.
In the U.S., President Donald Trump has been severely criticized for bypassing the Constitution and for his unilateral foreign policy activities. The U.S. institutions have begun to discuss and redefine their legal rights and responsibilities. Many politicians, including some Republicans, started to directly criticize the Trump administration for violating the Constitution. On the other hand, the U.S. midterm elections are scheduled to be held on Nov. 3, 2026. Therefore, Trump, whose approval rating hit a new low, also needs a victory and success before the elections.
President Trump, who deployed the largest military force to target Iran, will not return home without getting what he wants. The U.S. has sent a significant number of fighter jets and support aircraft to the region, gathering the greatest amount of air power in the area since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
It seems that although the regional realities and balance of power discourage all three states from going to war, all three states will instrumentalize tension with other countries to get what they want in domestic politics. That is, they will utilize the crisis for domestic consumption. Although this calculation involves risks, it will determine whether they go to war. We will wait and see.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/columns/who-utilizes-the-us-iran-tension-and-for-what-reason
-----
Gaza Board of Peace: Can pledges deliver real change?
BY SHAHMEER GHIASUDDIN KHAN
FEB 25, 2026
For Palestinians in Gaza, diplomacy is not a debate taking place in distant conference halls. It is measured in whether a child sleeps under a solid roof, whether hospitals have electricity and whether families can rebuild what was reduced to rubble. That is the real standard by which the first meeting of the U.S.-led Gaza Board of Peace, held in Washington, will ultimately be judged.
The gathering brought together representatives from more than 45 countries. Participating countries pledged around $7 billion as an initial contribution toward a reconstruction fund. The Gulf states would be contributing a significant portion of that amount, and discussions also included the formation of an international stabilization force, with five countries agreeing to deploy troops. On paper, these are significant steps.
But for Gaza, reconstruction is not just about numbers.
The enclave’s infrastructure has been devastated, with hospitals damaged or destroyed, schools turned into shelters, water systems crippled and entire neighborhoods flattened. Millions of desperate Gazans depend on humanitarian assistance. The scale of rebuilding requires tens of billions of dollars. A $7 billion down payment may signal an intent, but it is only the beginning of what will be a long and politically complex process.
There are also unresolved questions. Who will oversee reconstruction on the ground? How will humanitarian aid flow consistently and without obstruction? What political framework will ensure that rebuilding efforts are not undone by renewed violence? And most importantly, will Palestinians themselves have a meaningful role in shaping their future?
The Board of Peace has generated both cautious interest and skepticism. Some see it as an opportunity to mobilize resources quickly and coordinate international efforts. Others worry that without addressing root causes such as occupation, security guarantees and political representation, reconstruction risks becoming a recurring cycle.
For ordinary Palestinians enduring harsh conditions, especially with winter compounding their hardship, patience is running out. They are not asking for symbolic gestures. They are asking for safety, dignity and the chance to live normal lives.
If the Gaza Board of Peace is to make a difference, it must go beyond announcements and pledges. It must ensure sustained funding, genuine political will and a framework that prioritizes the rights and security of civilians. Reconstruction cannot be separated from justice.
History has seen many conferences about Gaza. What will determine whether this one stands apart is not the scale of the meeting room or the size of the first pledge, but whether it translates into lasting change on the ground.
For Palestinians in Gaza, a lasting and sustainable peace is the only outcome that matters.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/gaza-board-of-peace-can-pledges-deliver-real-change
------
Türkiye's repositioning in the era of economic security
BY MERT CAN DUMAN
FEB 25, 2026
Over the past decade, global trade has entered a decisive new era in which the familiar phenomena of integration, efficiency and liberalization have been steadily reshaped by a new principle: sustainable economic security. Trade policy is no longer shaped solely by market dynamics. It is increasingly driven by geopolitical risk, strategic competitiveness, logical diplomacy, technological sovereignty and supply chain resilience. According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), global trade growth has slowed from an annual average of 4.6% in the pre-2008 period to below 2.7% between 2019 and 2024, and it is forecasted as 2.4% in 2025 and 2.6% in 2026, reflecting the structural nature of this transformation rather than a cyclical downturn.
Export controls, sanctions regimes, investment screening mechanisms and industrial subsidies have become defining features of the global economy. From mid-October 2024 to mid-October 2025, compared to the prior 12-month period, the value of global goods imports affected by new tariffs and other import measures increased more than fourfold, marking the highest coverage in over 15 years of WTO trade monitoring. Undoubtedly, strategic sectors such as clean energy, digital technologies, critical minerals, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing are now firmly embedded within national security frameworks. The U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, the EU’s Net-Zero Industry Act and China’s strategic control over rare earth exports illustrate how economic security has become institutionalized within trade policy. What we are witnessing is not a temporary deviation, but a structural transformation of the global trading system.
As this change presents both risks and opportunities for emerging economies, the choice of Türkiye has been clear: Economic security does not require isolation, protectionism or disengagement from global markets. It requires preparedness, resilience and strategic foresight. The new era of the global economy is being characterized by slower trade growth, protectionist trade composition and reshoring trends in terms of the rise of “friend-shoring” strategies. The WTO indicates that established trading relationships are fragmenting, leading to a rise in bilateral and regional trade agreements globally, from 291 in 2017 to 375 in 2025, an increase of 30%. The transformation toward polypolarization has introduced polycrises. Supply chains are no longer optimized as they used to be in textbooks. Reliability, redundancy and geopolitical alignment are more effective in determining them instead of cost efficiency as in the past.
The COVID-19 pandemic, followed by major geopolitical shocks and redesigning of trade patterns, exposed the vulnerabilities of over-concentrated and fragile value chains. In response, Türkiye’s trusted manufacturing, logistics and energy hub is capable of diversifying supply routes and mitigating systemic risks. For instance, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) pipelines, alongside Türkiye’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and gas storage facilities, have further strengthened its role in regional energy security. This positioning is the result of deliberate policy choices aimed at strengthening Türkiye’s economic security architecture, not by closing doors, but by expanding strategic options.
Economic security, not retreat
Unlike some advanced economies that have turned inward under the banner of security, Türkiye has pursued a different path. The response of Türkiye has centered on three pillars: strategic diversification, industrial upgrading and proactive diplomacy.
Trade diversification has occurred to reduce excessive dependency on limited markets. Between 2002 and 2025, the share of Türkiye’s exports to non-EU markets increased from 41% to nearly 59%, with significant growth in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. Moreover, industrial modernization to increase both domestic value-added and technological depth with proactive economic diplomacy ensures the country’s integration into global trade networks while defending its strategic interests, which are the roots of the "Century of Türkiye" vision. Today, with our commercial missions in over 270 countries and regions, Türkiye's exports are not only increasing in quantity, but also the share of our medium-high and high-technology product exports in total exports has risen from 30% in 2002 to 43.5%.
Additionally, both green and digital transitions driven by the National Technology Initiative have been transforming Türkiye’s production ecosystem into a more smart, sustainable and inclusive sector rather than being framed as regulatory burdens or compliance costs. It is a fact that Türkiye's renewable energy installed power capacity has surpassed a significant threshold, exceeding 75,000 megawatts, placing it fifth in Europe and 11th worldwide, with accelerating investments in solar, wind and green hydrogen. Similarly, the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy and the Digital Türkiye Initiative are positioning the country at the forefront of the digital economy. The country’s e-commerce volume surpassed TL 3 trillion ($68 billion at the current exchange rate) in 2024, growing by over 61.7% annually. Smart manufacturing systems, digital trade platforms and secure data infrastructures are no longer optional, but they are essential components of economic security in the 21st century.
Looking ahead
As economic security narratives gain strength, the risk of fragmentation in the multilateral trading system becomes more pronounced. While protectionist reflexes, discriminatory industrial policies and unilateral trade measures threaten the foundational principles of global trade, Türkiye remains firmly committed to the reform and revitalization of the WTO as the cornerstone of global trade governance to design fairness, sustainability and inclusivity, not on zero-sum rivalries. Economic security, when applied responsibly, can reinforce stability and trust. However, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) simulations show that deep fragmentation could reduce global GDP by up to 7%, disproportionately harming emerging economies. This is why the country’s balanced approach, reconciling openness with resilience, stands out. If misused, economic security risks become a justification for exclusion rather than cooperation.
In a world where trade and technology are increasingly competitive, Türkiye’s experience offers a critical lesson: Economic security means strengthening foundations, not closing borders. Ankara remains committed to building an economy that is resilient, sustainable and globally competitive, while contributing constructively to a fair and secure international trading system. By localizing critical production, investing in clean technologies, expanding digital infrastructure and maintaining diversified partnerships, Türkiye is transforming global uncertainty into a strategic opportunity.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/turkiyes-repositioning-in-the-era-of-economic-security
--------
Reconstructing the details of Israel’s obliteration of Palestinians
February 24, 2026
by Ramona Wadi
A joint report released recently by Forensic Architecture and Earshot reconstructs Israel’s massacre of aid workers in March 2025. Commencing with Israel’s first violation of the ceasefire on 18 March 2025, in which 414 Palestinians were killed, the report focuses on 23 March, when two Palestinian Red Crescent Society ambulances were headed towards Al-Hashashin, close to Rafah and the site of an Israeli airstrike. At Tel al-Sultan, Israeli forces ambushed the second ambulance, killing two aid workers. The first ambulance was then dispatched to search for the missing ambulance, along with two other PRCS ambulances. Two other UN vehicles passing by Tel al-Sultan were also ambushed by Israeli forces.
According to the report, 910 gunshots were heard in the three recordings from the night of the attack. The video retrieved from one of the victims, PCRS first responder volunteer Reefat Radwan, captured the sound of 844 gunshots fired by Israeli forces within five minutes.
A total of 15 aid workers were killed. Israeli forces destroyed all vehicles in a bid to conceal evidence of the massacre. All 15 victims were buried in a mass grave close to the site of the ambush. Besides the immediate concealment of the massacre, the report notes that within hours, the site of the massacre was transformed into an evacuation route, complete with checkpoints for interrogating Palestinians.
However, a further transformation of the area was to occur. The report states that between 23 March and 30 May 2025, the site became one of the aid distribution sites, or kill zones, operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund.
Israel operates through various steps of obliteration, each one related to additional international law violations including repeated massacres.
With the first ceasefire violation, Israel paved the way for a massacre of first aid responders. After killing 414 Palestinian civilians, Israel executed 15 aid workers. With each massacre, the previous becomes less nuanced in a fast paced genocide such as the one Israel inflicted on Gaza. With aid workers, the case is always more amplified. However, Israel also sought to obliterate evidence not only by concealing the mass grave beneath the so-called aid distribution hubs, but by perpetuating further massacres on the site.
This process reflects Israel’s colonial annihilation throughout the decades. If one considers the 1948 Nakba and related massacres, mass graves may still be undiscovered under the infrastructure of Israel’s colonial enterprise. The joint report by Forensic Architecture and Earshot not only establishes the details and corroborates witness statements with reconstruction of the massacre and the geographical data. It also allows for reflection on the past and what the international community allowed to unfold in Palestine. With sophisticated methods of analysis such as what is now available, what would the 1948 Nakba look like? If we had more visibility of what the Nakba looked like, how much more would the international community be accountable for, in its ethnic cleansing complicity with Zionism?
And yet, despite evidence of this massacre in Tel al-Sultan, mapped, reconstructed and corroborated, impunity remains at the highest levels. Spoken for, or unspoken for, Palestinians have faced decades of repeated obliteration. History repeats itself and even when it is mapped, it is ignored, for Israel’s benefit.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20260224-reconstructing-the-details-of-israels-obliteration-of-palestinians/
------
‘Recognize Israel’: Epstein Pressed Qatar as Israel Stays Central in Files
February 25, 2026
Early Trail: 2016–2017 Emails
The newest tranche of US Department of Justice-released documents is forcing attention back onto a pattern that spans years: Jeffrey Epstein’s efforts to cultivate influence in the Middle East consistently intersected with Israel—whether through elite proximity, political signaling, or security arrangements.
One of the earliest and most consequential signals in the newly circulating material centers on a Manhattan building owned by Epstein on the Upper East Side. Emails reported by multiple outlets show Israeli government-linked security personnel coordinated access protocols and the installation of protective systems at the property where former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak reportedly stayed for extended periods.
The correspondence suggests a structured relationship—clearance procedures, lists of personnel needing access, and discussion of surveillance and entry controls—coordinated with officials connected to Israel’s mission in New York. While appearing in files is not proof of criminal conduct, the operational detail elevates scrutiny far beyond casual social contact and places Israeli state-linked security infrastructure inside an Epstein-owned address.
This early timeline matters because it frames a recurring theme: Epstein was not simply circulating among wealthy intermediaries; he was repeatedly positioned near state power and security protocols—especially when the Israeli political sphere was involved.
Qatar Pressure and Regional Networking
By 2017, the documents show Epstein expanding his Middle East reach into Gulf political crises. Reuters reports that during the 2017–2021 blockade of Qatar, Epstein exchanged messages with a Qatari businessman and ruling family member, offering strategic advice and pushing Doha toward steps that would strengthen its standing with Donald Trump’s White House.
According to reports, Epstein urged Qatar to forge links with Israel—either by moving toward recognition or by pledging major funding into a “terrorism victims” fund—presenting normalization as a pathway to political protection in Washington.
The significance is not whether Qatar followed his advice (Reuters notes Qatar ultimately maintained its course and the blockade ended in 2021). It is that Epstein’s own strategy language treated Israel not as a side issue, but as a central diplomatic lever: a gateway to US favor, a marker of alignment, and a transactional tool he believed could reshape regional outcomes.
At the same time, the file cache indicates Epstein cultivated contacts across the Gulf, finance and business spheres—an ecosystem where Israeli normalization debates, security cooperation, and US patronage frequently intersect.
Fallout Spreads
The most immediate Middle East institutional consequence documented so far is corporate: DP World’s longtime chief Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem stepped down after his name surfaced in the DOJ files and scrutiny intensified over communications with Epstein, Reuters reported.
It describes crude and explicit exchanges, and notes that major institutional backers paused new investment amid pressure, before leadership changes followed. DP World appointed new leadership after the fallout, underscoring that the scandal’s impact is not confined to reputational embarrassment—it is affecting capital flows, investment decisions, and the governance of strategic infrastructure firms.
This matters in the context of regional leverage: DP World sits at the heart of global shipping and port logistics, including across Africa and the Middle East. The Epstein files, in other words, are now colliding with the architecture of trade corridors and state-linked business empires—precisely the kinds of networks that can quietly reshape geopolitical relationships.
Our Strategic Assessment
The public debate over Epstein’s “global network” is increasingly being pushed in two directions: one that treats the scandal as a collection of individual moral failures, and another that tries to redirect attention outward—toward rival states, especially China and Russia—through selective readings of emails about Aramco or other deals.
Western media indeed report Epstein floated ideas involving a major China stake option in Saudi Aramco in 2017, material now frequently cited to imply a China-centered master narrative.
But the record emerging from the documents points to something more politically revealing: Israel remains a recurring node in Epstein’s Middle East posture—appearing not as a peripheral reference, but as a strategic hinge in his relationship-building, his influence logic, and the state-linked proximity that surfaces in the material.
The Qatar episode is illustrative. Epstein’s pressure line was not “look East to China”—it was “move toward Israel” to secure US power alignment. The Barak-linked building correspondence is even more stark: it is difficult to frame such operational coordination around access and security as mere social coincidence, even absent criminal allegations.
The attempt to individualize the scandal—pinning it on isolated actors—also runs into a structural reality: the networks described in the files repeatedly touch state-adjacent influence, elite protection details, and the kind of cross-border immunity that ordinary people do not have. The ongoing wave of resignations and institutional fallout underscores that this is not only about Epstein as a person, but about systems that enabled him to circulate with impunity.
Finally, efforts to divert attention toward China and Russia function as a political distraction in another sense: they flatten a story in which Israel-linked political access and normalization leverage repeatedly appear as the operative currency in Middle East influence games. The documents show a pattern of elites treating Israel as both shield and signal—something to be leveraged in Washington and deployed across regional crises.
If the Epstein files are exposing anything with consistency, it is this: the scandal is not narrowing. It is widening into the political architecture that allowed a trafficker to embed himself in elite networks, including those with direct or indirect Israeli political and security adjacency.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/recognize-israel-epstein-pressed-qatar-as-israel-stays-central-in-files/
-------
German Journalist Sanctioned by EU over Gaza Reporting – Who Is Hüseyin Doğru?
February 24, 2026
‘Zero Access’
German journalist Hüseyin Doğru has recently revealed that he has been left without access to any income, stating on the social media platform X that he has “ZERO access to any money” and cannot provide food for his family.
In his post, he directly linked his situation to his journalism, arguing that the sanctions were imposed in connection with his reporting on Gaza and Palestine solidarity coverage in Germany.
He described the measures as punishment for publishing content that challenged Berlin’s position on Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
The post reignited attention around a case that began in May 2025, when the Council of the European Union added Doğru to its sanctions list under a generic framework targeting what it called “Russia’s destabilizing actions.”
The measures froze his assets and prohibited EU entities, including banks, from making funds available to him.
Last January, German outlet Berliner Zeitung reported that his bank, Comdirect, extended the freeze on his account and blocked access even to a previously authorised €506 subsistence allowance. According to the report, the restrictions persisted despite legal efforts and correspondence from his lawyer.
The Sanctions
The sanctions stem from a 20 May 2025 EU decision expanding measures against what Brussels described as “information manipulation” and hybrid threats. Among those listed were AFA Medya and its founder, Hüseyin Doğru.
Doğru is the founder of Red Media, a Berlin-based English-language outlet that gained visibility during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza for publishing footage, protest coverage, and commentary critical of German and EU support for Israel.
In statements shared on X, Doğru has argued that the EU’s evidence file against him consisted largely of his own social media posts and journalism related to Gaza.
He has denied allegations of acting on behalf of any foreign state and maintains that his work focused on documenting Palestinian suffering and political developments.
German authorities previously framed Red Media within broader concerns about foreign influence campaigns. However, no criminal conviction has been issued against Doğru in Germany.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/german-journalist-sanctioned-by-eu-over-gaza-reporting-who-is-huseyin-dogru/
------
Trump’s ‘Board of Peace – Aggrandizing Theater and the Impunity of Genocide
February 24, 2026
By Jamal Kanj
More than 75,000 Palestinians have been murdered in Gaza, with tens of thousands more still missing beneath the rubble. They did not die to “build a home,” or privatize their beaches. They had homes and free beaches. Gaza was a living city—albeit under decades of Israeli siege—before it was leveled by the most advanced global terror machine on earth, armed, financed, and diplomatically shielded by successive US administrations.
This reality was nowhere to be found at the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace in Washington. Sold as a diplomatic initiative, the gathering functioned instead as a spectacle condoning Israeli war crimes, disciplining resistance, and rebranding occupation as peace. The symbolism was everywhere. Donald Trump opened the meeting by recognizing FIFA president Gianni Infantino, as if the gathering were a global sports gala, before he introduced the world’s political leaders. The staging spoke louder than words. The meeting was a performance, where hierarchy trumps humanity and optics replaces accountability.
Trump used the moment as expected. He generously lavished praise on himself and recycled the same familiar hogwash by condemning Palestinian resistance while remaining silent on Israel’s systematic violations of the ceasefire. In perhaps one of the worst, most troubling moments of his speech, Trump claimed that the war in Gaza was over, but for “little flames.”
The “little flames” were the lives of more than 600 Palestinians murdered by Israel since the start of his ceasefire. Six hundred human beings were extinguished while Trump spoke in metaphors. Peace does not exist where murdering Palestinians is excused, and occupation is normalized.
There was no recognition of genocide or Israeli atrocities. To the contrary, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff thanked Benjamin Netanyahu, an internationally indicted war criminal, and spoke exclusively of Israeli captives. There was no mention of the tens of thousands of murdered Palestinians, the 10,000 Palestinian hostages in Israeli jails, no acknowledgment of mass graves, starving families, or children pulled lifeless from the rubble. The Israeli predicament was individualized, humanized, and elevated. Palestinian suffering was erased entirely.
The people of Gaza and the rest of Palestine do not suffer from a lack of homes. They suffer—and continue to suffer—from the complete denial of their historic rights. What Gaza needs is not reconstruction of beachfront real-estate fantasies, but a political solution that recognizes Palestinians as human beings entitled to freedom, dignity, and a state of their own. Gaza is neither a development site nor a charitable project. Treating Gaza as a humanitarian problem to be managed, not a people to be liberated, is precisely how occupation is preserved and why resistance becomes inevitable.
Trump claims to champion peace while endorsing Israel, a state that has destroyed or damaged more than 90 percent of the hospitals, 100 percent of the universities, targeted bakeries, water systems, and murdered close to 300 journalists and bars international press in order to conceal its war crimes in Gaza. He condemns resistance to the occupation while excusing the conditions that make resistance unavoidable. He speaks of stability while supporting a permanent system of oppression. For peace, in Trump’s vocabulary means institutionalized submission.
Unlike many Arab and Muslim rulers who lined up to kiss Trump’s ring, several foreign leaders, preserving some measure of decency and self-respect, were absent from the Washington extravaganza. The Mexican President declined because Palestine was not invited. The Vatican and others were absent because the forum excluded the very people under occupation. Even European states complicit in enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza could not bring themselves to join the Washington circus.
Since the ceasefire was announced, Israel has repeatedly rationed food, fuel, and medical supplies and murdered hundreds of Palestinians. These violations are not disputed. They are documented by humanitarian organizations and international observers. Throughout, Trump and his Israel-first team normalized them through disinformation and omission, and trivialized them as “little skirmishes.” The siege is erased. The occupation rendered invisible. Apartheid denied. Resistance, detached from its political, historical, and legal context, is dismissed as a nuisance.
Trump’s portrayal of Palestinian resistance completes the moral inversion. He blames the victims, even as Israel prevents his handpicked civilian “peace committee” from entering Gaza, obstructing the very tools of his supposed peace. No mention of decades of military occupation, a 17-year siege on Gaza, or an apartheid system that privileges Jewish supremacy while denying Palestinians basic rights.
What makes Trump’s Board dangerous is its ambition to absolve Israel from the genocide, and license mass killing under the banner of “peace.” By treating Israeli violations as tolerable and Palestinian resistance as illegitimate is not just hypocrisy, but rather it is driven by his political impotency to stand up to the power of the Israel-first American Zionist.
Trump’s Board of Peace will not fail only because it lacks balance or nuance. It will fail because it is never meant to confront oppression. Besides being an aggrandizing opportunity for Trump, it is formed to clear Israel of war crimes, discipline the occupied, and anesthetize a public trained to accept Palestinian death as unfortunate background noise.
When peace exonerates the perpetrators and silences the victims, war rages on. When murder is dismissed as “little flames” to be snuffed out by innocent lives, resistance becomes a moral imperative. Colonized peoples do not achieve liberty by renouncing resistance while their land is stolen and their future erased. Such is not peace, but rather the normalization of barbarism and the impunity of genocide.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/trumps-board-of-peace-aggrandizing-theater-and-the-impunity-of-genocide/
------
39 Dead, Including 22 Children, as Gaza Infrastructure Collapses — B’Tselem
February 24, 2026
Devastating Winter, Devastated Infrastructure
A new report published by the Israeli rights group B’tselem on Monday reveals how severe winter storms in December 2025 and January 2026 turned into a death sentence for dozens of Gaza residents because essential infrastructure had already been destroyed by repeated military assaults and blockade.
The report states that 39 people were killed, including 22 children, as wind, rain and flooding battered homes, displacement camps, and partially-destroyed neighborhoods.
These deaths did not occur in a vacuum; they were the result of a complete breakdown in the systems — power, drainage, shelters, heating — that protect civilian life, leaving families with no refuge from cold and flooding.
One Gaza resident quoted by humanitarian agencies described the storms with haunting clarity: “The rain came and the wind howled — but we were already shattered. The walls that once protected us are gone, and the storm simply finished what the bombs began.” The combination of wartime destruction and brutal weather rendered what would have been survivable conditions elsewhere into fatal ones.
The umbrella organization Shelter Cluster, cited in the report, noted that Storm Byron damaged or destroyed over 42,000 tents and affected more than 235,000 people — an environmental disaster amplified by years of bombardment and displacement.
B’Tselem’s investigators emphasized that “these were not natural deaths from weather alone — they were deaths made inevitable by the collapse of Gaza’s essential infrastructure.” This conclusion situates the fatalities not as isolated events but as part of a broader humanitarian catastrophe.
Children Frozen
The human toll of these conditions is starkest among Gaza’s children. According to the B’Tselem report, 22 of the 39 people killed were minors, a figure that underscores the vulnerability of the youngest residents when life-sustaining systems fail.
One parent, whose family lost two children in the floods, told local volunteers: “We fled our home because it was destroyed; we thought we would find safety here, but the storm took them. I wrapped them in blankets, but there was no warmth left in our lives.” Testimonies like this are woven throughout the report to underline that these deaths were not simply from cold or rain — they were from exposure in a landscape of ruin.
Another elderly resident, speaking through tears, said: “When the generators stopped and the water rose, we just waited for the end. We had nowhere warm to go.”
A Call to Action
The B’Tselem report doesn’t treat these deaths as incidental. It frames them as a direct consequence of a systematic destruction of infrastructure — destruction that left Gaza’s population unable to shield itself from predictable seasonal weather.
A senior field researcher with B’Tselem said: “We are documenting not just collapsed buildings, but collapsed life-support systems. What became fatal in Gaza was foreseeable, and preventable, if basic infrastructure had not been obliterated.” This language makes the case that infrastructure destruction is not only an immediate military effect but an ongoing humanitarian risk.
The report lays bare how the combination of war, blockade, and environmental vulnerability has created a setting where ordinary weather events become deadly. International agencies have repeatedly warned that conditions in Gaza — from housing to sanitation to power — are dangerously inadequate for civilian survival, particularly in winter.
Humanitarian organizations have issued similar warnings. A UNICEF statement from December 2025 mourned the death of children due to cold and noted that “these tragedies are preventable” if basic safeguards were in place.
The B’Tselem report ultimately calls for accountability for the destruction of infrastructure and urgent action to restore basic services.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/39-dead-including-22-children-as-gaza-infrastructure-collapses-btselem/
------
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism