Life in Zanuta, a Palestinian village atop a windy ridge in the desolate south Hebron hills, deep in the occupied West Bank, has never been easy. The community are mostly herders who raise goats and sheep through the barren landscape’s scorching summers and freezing winters, and who have steadfastly refused to leave their homes despite the mounting difficulties posed by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers on one hand and radical Israeli settlers on the other.
Members of 3 generations of the Baghdad family in Zanuta. Photograph: Bethan McKernan/The Guardian
But after weeks of intense settler violence in the aftermath of the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, Zanuta’s 150 residents have made a collective decision to leave. Armed settlers – some in reservist army uniforms, some covering their faces – have begun breaking into their homes at night, beating up adults, destroying and stealing belongings, and terrifying the children…
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/31/west-bank-palestinian-villages-israeli-army-settlers
Craig Mokhiber, director of the UN’s New York office of the high commissioner for human rights, resigned to protest against the organisation’s handling of what he called a “textbook case of genocide”.
Israeli airstrikes have destroyed apartment blocks and killed dozens of people at a refugee camp in northern Gaza on the 25th day of a conflict that the United Nations said has become a “graveyard” for children. At least six airstrikes hit residential areas in the Jabalia refugee camp on Gaza City’s outskirts on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people and injuring about 150 people, Hamas officials said.
Video footage showed at least 47 bodies pulled out of the rubble and rescue teams searching for survivors amid twisted metal and two huge craters. The Hamas-run health ministry called the attack a “heinous” massacre. The Israeli military said it had targeted the camp to kill Ibrahim Biari – a key Hamas commander linked to the group’s 7 October attack on Israel who, it said, had taken over civilian buildings in Gaza City with his fighters….
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Palestine and Israel: Historical, Legal and Moral Issues
Is the One-Sided US Response to the Gaza Crisis a Sign of Civilizational Decline?
Michael Brenner: Europe-Jews-Muslims
Gaza, trades unions, fascism & oppression
Israel-Hamas War: US arms industry stocks rocket (October 10)
After the truth-shower 