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In the West Bank city of Tulkarem, the landscape has been transformed after Israeli army bulldozers ploughed through its two refugee camps in what the military called a hunt for Palestinian militants.The army gave thousands of displaced residents just a few hours to retrieve belongings from their homes before demolishing buildings and clearing wide avenues through the rubble.Now residents fear the clearances will erase not just buildings, but their own status as refugees from lands inhabited by generations of their ancestors in what is now Israel.The “right of return” to those lands, claimed by Palestinian refugees ever since the creation of Israel in 1948, remains one of the thorniest issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The army said it would demolish 104 more buildings in the Tulkarem camp this week in the latest stage of an operation that it launched in January during a truce in the Gaza war, billing it as an intensive crackdown on several camps that are strongholds of Palestinian armed groups fighting against Israel.”We came back to the camp and found our house demolished. No one informed us, no one told us anything,” said Abd al-Rahman Ajaj, 62, who had been hoping to collect his belongings on Wednesday.Born in Tulkarem camp after his parents fled what is now the Israeli city of Netanya, about 12 kilometres (seven miles) to the west, Ajaj said he had not foreseen the scale of the Israeli operation.- Thousands displaced -It began with a raid on the northern West Bank city of Jenin, a longtime stronghold of Palestinian militants, and quickly spread to other cities, including Tulkarem, displacing at least 40,000 people, according to UN figures.Vacating the camp after a warning of a raid, “we would usually come back two or three days later”, Ajaj told AFP.Now left without a house, he echoed the sentiments of Palestinians of his parents’ generation, who thought their own displacement in 1948 would also be temporary.”The last time, we left and never returned,” he said.In Tulkarem, the Israeli army’s bulldozers ploughed through the dense patchwork of narrow alleyways that had grown as Palestinian refugees settled in the area over the years.Three wide arteries of concrete now streak the side of Tulkarem camp, allowing easy access for the army.Piles of cinder blocks and concrete line the roadside like snowbanks after a plough’s passage.- ‘Eliminate the refugee issue’ -Ajaj said the destruction had been gradual, drawn out over the course of the operation, which the army has dubbed “Iron Wall”.Beyond the military value of wide access roads, many residents believe Israel is seeking to destroy the idea of the camps themselves, turning them into regular neighbourhoods of the cities they flank.Residents fear this would threaten their refugee status and their “right of return” to the land they or their forebears fled or were expelled from in 1948.The current Israeli government — and particularly some of its far-right ministers, who demand the outright annexation of the West Bank — are firmly opposed to this demand, which they see as a demographic threat to Israel’s survival as a Jewish state.”The aim is clearly to erase the national symbolism of the refugee camp, to eliminate the refugee issue and the right of return,” said Suleiman al-Zuheiri, an advocate for residents of nearby Nur Shams, Tulkarem’s other refugee camp, where he also lives.Zuheiri’s brother’s house was destroyed last week by the bulldozers.”The scene was painful and tragic because a house is not just walls and a roof. It holds memories, dreams, hopes and very important belongings that we couldn’t retrieve,” he said.Each demolished building housed at least six families on three floors, he added.The land allocated to the camps was limited, so residents have had little choice but to build upwards to gain space, adding an extra storey with each new generation.- Explosions rock camp -Back at Tulkarem camp, 66-year-old Omar Owfi said he had managed to make two trips into the camp now occupied by Israeli soldiers to retrieve belongings on Wednesday.He feared becoming homeless if his home was demolished.”They don’t care what the house is worth. All they care about is demolishing. We’re the ones losing. We’ve lost everything,” he told AFP.”They want to erase the camp — to remove as many buildings as possible and leave just streets.”He said he feared for his children and grandchildren, as they dispersed to live with various relatives.The Israeli supreme court froze the military order for mass demolitions in Tulkarem camp on Thursday, giving the state two months to answer a petition against them, said the Palestinian human rights group Adalah, which filed it.But the physical damage has already been done as the army’s manhunt for militants continues.As residents retrieved mattresses, wardrobes and air conditioning units from the camp on Wednesday under the surveillance of Israeli troops, gunshots rang out through the streets.A loud explosion echoed across the city, followed by a column of dust rising as another building was apparently blown up, sending the smell of gunpowder wafting in the wind.

Sipping green tea in his garden of roses, ex-communist party official Nguyen Van Cuong says he is “jobless but happy” after Vietnam cut 80,000 state roles this week.But fretting at home after leaving public employment once considered a job-for-life, Nguyen Thi Thu told AFP she feels “empty” over a future that is no longer certain.Vietnam …

Vietnam’s laid-off communist officials face uncertain future Read More »

BRICS leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday are expected to decry US President Donald Trump’s “indiscriminate” trade tariffs, saying they are illegal and risk hurting the global economy. Emerging nations, which represent about half the world’s population and 40 percent of global economic output, have united over “serious concerns” about US import tariffs, according to a draft summit statement obtained by AFP on Saturday.Since coming to office in January, Trump has threatened allies and rivals alike with a slew of punitive duties.His latest salvo comes in the form of letters informing trading partners of new tariff rates that will soon enter into force.The draft summit declaration does not mention the United States or its president by name, and could yet be amended by leaders gathering for talks Sunday and Monday.But it is a clear political shot directed at Washington from 11 emerging nations, including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. “We voice serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures which distort trade and are inconsistent with WTO (World Trade Organization) rules,” the draft text says. It warns that such measures “threaten to further reduce global trade” and are “affecting the prospects for global economic development.”- Xi no show -Conceived two decades ago as a forum for fast-growing economies, the BRICS have come to be seen as a Chinese-driven counterbalance to Western power. But the summit’s political punch will be depleted by the absence of China’s Xi Jinping, who is skipping the annual meeting for the first time in his 12 years as president.That absence has prompted fevered speculation in some quarters.”The simplest explanation may hold the most explanatory power. Xi recently hosted Lula in Beijing,” said Ryan Hass, a former China director at the US National Security Council who is now with the Brookings Institution think tank.The Chinese leader will not be the only notable absentee. War crime-indicted Russian President Vladimir Putin is also opting to stay away, but will participate via video link, according to the Kremlin.Hass said Putin’s non-attendance and the fact that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be a guest of honor in Brazil could also be factors in Xi’s absence.”Xi does not want to appear upstaged by Modi,” who will receive a state lunch, he said.”I expect Xi’s decision to delegate attendance to Premier Li (Qiang) rests amidst these factors.”Still, the Xi no-show is a blow to host President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who wants Brazil to play a bigger role on the world stage.In the year to November 2025, Brazil will have hosted a G20 summit, a BRICS summit, and COP30 international climate talks, all before heading into fiercely contested presidential elections next year, in which he is expected to run.Lula warmly welcomed leaders and dignitaries on Saturday, including China’s Premier Li Qiang, as the leftist president hosted a pre-summit business forum in Rio.”Faced with the resurgence of protectionism, it is up to emerging countries to defend the multilateral trade regime and reform the international financial architecture,” Lula told the event.Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, whose nation is still reeling from a 12-day conflict with Israel, is also skipping the meeting and will be represented by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.A source familiar with the negotiations said Iran had sought a tougher condemnation of Israel and the United States over their recent bombing of Iranian military, nuclear and other sites. But one diplomatic source said the text would give the “same message” that BRICS delivered last month.Then Iran’s allies expressed “grave concern” about strikes against Iran, but did not explicitly mention Israel or the United States. Artificial intelligence and health will also be on the agenda at the summit.Original members of the bloc Brazil, Russia, India, and China have been joined by South Africa and, more recently, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Ethiopia and Indonesia.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was sending a team to Qatar Sunday for talks on a truce and hostage release in Gaza, after Hamas said it was ready to start negotiations “immediately”.But Netanyahu, who is due to meet with President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, said the Palestinian Islamist group’s proposals for changes to a draft US-backed ceasefire deal were “unacceptable”.Trump has been making a renewed push to end nearly 21 months of war in Gaza, where the civil defence agency said 42 people were killed in Israeli military operations on Saturday.Hamas said Friday it was ready “to engage immediately and seriously” in negotiations, and was sending its responses to the truce proposal.”The changes that Hamas is seeking to make in the Qatari proposal were conveyed to us last night and are unacceptable to Israel,” said a statement from Netanyahu’s office.”In light of an assessment of the situation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed that the invitation to proximity talks be accepted and that the contacts for the return of our hostages — on the basis of the Qatari proposal that Israel has agreed to — be continued,” the statement added.Hamas has not publicly detailed its responses to the US-sponsored proposal, which was transmitted by mediators from Qatar and Egypt.Two Palestinian sources close to the discussions told AFP the proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.However, they said, the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel’s withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system.Trump, when asked about Hamas’s response aboard Air Force One, said: “That’s good. They haven’t briefed me on it. We have to get it over with. We have to do something about Gaza.”The war in Gaza began with Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked a massive Israeli offensive in the territory that aimed to destroy the group and bring home all the hostages seized by Palestinian militants.Two previous ceasefires mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States secured temporary halts in fighting and the return of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.- ‘Comprehensive deal’ -The Egyptian foreign ministry said Saturday that top diplomat Badr Abdelatty held a phone call with Washington’s main representative in the truce talks, Steve Witkoff, to discuss recent developments “and preparations for holding indirect meetings between the two parties concerned to reach an agreement”.Meanwhile, at a weekly protest demanding the return of the hostages, Macabit Mayer, the aunt of captives Gali and Ziv Berman, called for a deal “that saves everyone”, without exception.But recent efforts to broker a new truce have repeatedly failed, with the primary point of contention being Israel’s rejection of Hamas’s demand for a lasting ceasefire.The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip.Karima al-Ras, from Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, said people were “happy that Hamas responded positively, and we hope that a truce will be announced” to allow in more aid. “People are dying for flour, and young people are dying as they try to provide flour for their children,” she said.A US- and Israel-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, took the lead in food distribution in the territory in late May, when Israel partially lifted a more than two-month blockade on aid deliveries.The group said two of its US staff members were wounded “in a targeted terrorist attack” at one of its aid centres in southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis on Saturday. The Israeli military said it had evacuated the injured.UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said Friday that more than 500 people have been killed waiting to access food from GHF distribution points.- Civil defence says 42 killed -Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said Israeli military operations killed 42 people across Gaza on Saturday.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency.Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it could not comment on specific strikes without precise coordinates.The Hamas attack of October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,338 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.burs/dcp/smw/jhb/sst

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday made his first public appearance since the outbreak of his country’s recent 12-day war with Israel, taking part in a religious ceremony in Tehran, state media reported.The octogenarian leader was shown in a video broadcast by state television greeting people and being cheered at a mosque as worshippers marked the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, an important date for Shia Muslims.Khamenei, 86, can be seen on stage dressed in black as the crowd before him, fists in the air, chants “The blood in our veins for our leader!”State TV said the clip was filmed at central Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosque, named for the founder of the Islamic republic.Khamenei, in power since 1989, spoke last week in a pre-recorded video, but had not been seen in public since before Israel initiated the conflict with a wave of surprise air strikes on June 13.His last public appearance was two days before that, when he met with members of parliament.Israel’s bombing campaign followed a decades-long shadow war with Iran, and was aimed at preventing it from developing a nuclear weapon — an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.The strikes killed more than 900 people in Iran, its judiciary has said, while retaliatory Iranian missile barrages aimed at Israeli cities killed at least 28 people there, according to official figures.