Every society requires some form of civilian authority to provide basic services, maintain public order, and ensure civilian life goes on. This is particularly true in times of crisis, catastrophe, and war. The territory of Gaza, with a population of 2.3 million, is particularly in need of these services. Under international law, the occupying forces are responsible for providing these services to their “enemy” civilian population. This was the case even before October 7, when Hamas provided this function and carried out these services with

The Age & Sydney Morning Herald / AP| Mike Corder | 21 July 2024 About time – but Netanyahu will simply ignore the ruling and nobody will have the guts to do anything about it – Mark The top UN court has ruled Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is ‘‘unlawful’’ and called on it to end and for settlement construction to stop immediately, issuing an unprecedented condemnation of Israel’s rule over the lands it captured 57 years ago. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

(The Australian, 13/7/2024) Same old story – Mark US President Joe Biden says US mediators are making progress in reaching a Gaza ceasefire deal and has called for an end to the Israel-Hamas war.Mr Biden, in a news conference on Thursday aimed at reassuring doubters about his re-election bid, acknowledged concerns about Israeli actions despite his support for the US ally.“There’s a lot of things in retrospect I wish I had been able to convince the Israelis to do, but the bottom line is we

(The Age, 13/7/2024) Netanyahu has no responsibility it seems – blame anybody but do not punish anybody except the Palestinians – Mark The Israeli military has released the results of its first internal probe into the Hamas attacks on October 7, admitting to major failings in the defence of Kibbutz Be’eri, a hard-hit community on the Gaza border, but falling short of holding individual commanders to account and leaving key questions unanswered.The report said “severe mistakes and errors” were made in the army response as

Even before October 7, the taboo against talking to Hamas allowed the world to ignore the ever growing crisis in Gaza and its people until it blew up in their faces. However, it is a well known truth that you don’t make peace with your friends but with your enemies.  When October 7 occurred, Israel rapidly weaponized the demonization of Hamas, already declared by Israel and the US to be a terrorist group, to justify all its actions in Gaza. This was bolstered by a

Exclusive: Labor Friends of Palestine hit out at federal government’s stance as ‘weakening’ commitment to Palestinian statehood What a brave and amazing woman – oh that politics worldwide could have politicians with Fatima’s guts and commitment – Mark Labor Friends of Palestine have praised Fatima Payman’s decision to cross the floor to support Palestinian statehood as “entirely consistent with Labor principles and policy” and rejected federal Labor’s stance as a “weakening” of its commitment on the issue. After Anthony Albanese temporarily suspended the senator from caucus, the group wrote