By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies* NEW YORK | 14 May 2024 (IDN) — On May 8, 2024, as Israel escalated its brutal assault on Rafah, President Biden announced that he had “paused” a delivery of 1,700 500-pound and 1,800 2,000-pound bombs, and threatened to withhold more shipments if Israel went ahead with its full-scale […]
The Palestinian Case: Applying to be a Member of the UN
UN Security Council Report BERLIN | NEW YORK | 8 May 2024 (IDN) — On 18 April, the US vetoed a draft Security Council resolution that would have recommended that “the State of Palestine be admitted to membership in the United Nations”. Twelve Council members voted in favour of the draft resolution, while two abstained […]
Gaza War: More Death and Despair for Rafah’s 700,000 Women and Girls
By UN Women NEW YORK | 7 May 2024 (IDN) — With the population of the southern city of Rafah, in Gaza, ballooning fivefold, from 250,000 to 1.4 million people, in just seven months of the war, the physical and mental health conditions for women and girls have been deteriorating rapidly, as new data collected […]
How Israel and Iran Benefit from Escalation
By Dr Muneer Ahmed & Siddharth Anil Nair* This article was issued by the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), an independent think-tank. NEW DELHI | 7 May 2024 (IDN) — While the spectre of inter-state conflict has loomed large over West Asia these past few months, it appears now to be at a […]
The Gaza War Pushes More Than Half of Palestinians into Poverty
By J Nastranis NEW YORK | 3 May 2024 (IDN) — The seven-month-long Gaza war is thrusting nearly 1.74 million—more than 58 per cent—of Palestinians into poverty, plunging the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the State of Palestine by nearly 27 per cent or causing a loss of 7.1 billion US Dollar from a 2023 […]
WHO Fears Bloodbath If Israel Launches a Full-Scale Military Operation in Rafah
By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA | 3 May 2024 (IDN) — The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for respecting “the sanctity of health care”, adding that “parties to the conflict have the coordinates of health facilities”. These must be actively protected and remain accessible to patients, health workers and partners. “The safety of health and […]
Erdogan Could Have Become a Great leader of a Great Nation
By Dr Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK 1 May 2024 (IDN) — Turkey’s President Erdoğan could have emerged from the Israel-Hamas war as a peacemaker. Instead, being absorbed by fake piety, hypocrisy, and folly, he chose to fan the flames of the horrific war, further poisoning the atmosphere and intensifying the hostility and hatred between Israel […]
A Plea for a Resolution to the Economic & Humanitarian Crises in Yemen
By Wameedh Shakir Following is statement to the UN Security Council by Wameedh Shakir, Chairwoman of Itar Foundation for Social Development on 15 April. UNITED NATIONS | 23 April 2024 (IDN) — I stand before you today with a heavy heart, pleading for your urgent attention to the ongoing crisis in Yemen that has unfolded […]
US Bashed for Vetoing the State of Palestine’s UN Full Membership
By J Nastranis NEW YORK | 20 April 2024 (IDN) — As the United States vetoed the Palestine State’s bid for full United Nations membership, the office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the US veto was “blatant aggression … which pushes the region ever further to the edge of the abyss”. In a […]
Will the Ukraine and Gaza Wars Encourage Russia to Support Nuclear-Armed Iran?
By Meir Javedanfar* TEL AVIV | 19 April 2024 (IDN | ELN) — According to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency’s recent report, the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) currently has sufficient uranium enriched to 60% to build three nuclear weapons if it decides to do so. Building a nuclear bomb would provide the IRI […]