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France and Indonesia called Wednesday for progress on “mutual recognition” between Israel and the Palestinians at a key meeting next month as Emmanuel Macron visited Jakarta, bringing the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation into his diplomatic efforts.It came as Paris and Jakarta signed a series of cooperation agreements, with Macron seeking to deepen trade and …

France, Indonesia call for Israeli-Palestinian progress as Macron visits Read More »

French activists dyed a Paris fountain red Wednesday to symbolise what they called the “bloodbath” of Palestinians in Gaza.Activists from Oxfam and Amnesty International poured dye into the Fontaine des Innocents in the heart of the French capital, while others held placards saying “Cease fire” and “Gaza: stop the bloodbath”.”This operation aims to denounce France’s slow response to an absolute humanitarian emergency facing the people of Gaza today,” the activists, which included the French branch of Greenpeace, said in a joint statement.”France cannot limit itself to mere verbal condemnations,” said former minister Cecile Duflot, executive director of Oxfam France.Clemence Lagouardat, who helped coordinate Oxfam’s humanitarian response in Gaza, denounced the Israeli blockade of the besieged territory.”The people in Gaza need everything, it’s a matter of survival,” she told AFP.The October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.Militants also abducted 251 people, of whom 57 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the Israeli army.The Israeli offensive launched in retaliation has killed at least 53,977 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run health ministry, which is considered reliable by the UN.Israel has now stepped up a renewed campaign to destroy Hamas, drawing international condemnation as aid trickles in following a blockade since early March that has sparked severe food and medical shortages.”There is a genocide going on and political inaction is becoming a kind of complicity in this genocide,” said Jean-Francois Julliard, head of Greenpeace France.”We call on (President) Emmanuel Macron to act with courage, clarity and determination to put an end to this bloodshed.”The activists urged states “with influence over Israel” to press for an immediate and lasting ceasefire, an arms embargo on Israel, the revision of a cooperation agreement between the EU and Israel and other measures. Macron has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “unacceptable” and “shameful” behaviour in blocking aid to the Palestinians in Gaza.In response Netanyahu has accused Macron of siding with a “murderous Islamist terrorist organisation”.

Nearly 380 writers from the UK and Ireland, including Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan, penned an open letter Wednesday denouncing what they called Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza and urging a ceasefire.The letter called on “our nations and the peoples of the world to join us in ending our collective silence and inaction in the face of horror,” they wrote in a letter published on the Medium website.”The use of the words ‘genocide’ or ‘acts of genocide’ to describe what is happening in Gaza is no longer debated by international legal experts or human rights organisations,” the letter continued.Israel has repeatedly denied all accusations of genocide in its campaign to crush Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.The letter comes a day after 300 French-language writers, including Nobel Literature prize winners Annie Ernaux and Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, signed a similar statement condemning “genocide”.”Palestinians are not the abstract victims of an abstract war. Too often, words have been used to justify the unjustifiable, deny the undeniable, defend the indefensible,” the British and Irish writers said.The writers, including novelist Elif Shafak and playwright Hanif Kureishi as well as the Scottish and Welsh writers PEN clubs, called for a ceasefire, the “immediate distribution of food and medical aid” in Gaza and sanctions on Israel.International condemnation has grown over Israel’s humanitarian aid blockade and relentless strikes after it ended a ceasefire in March and intensified military operations this month. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said 53,977, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israel’s offensive since October 2023, when a Hamas attack on Israel triggered the war.Some 1,218 were killed in the Hamas attack, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli military says are dead.”This is not only about our common humanity and all human rights; this is about our moral fitness as the writers of our time,” the writers said.On Monday over 800 UK-based legal experts, including former Supreme Court justices, wrote to Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying: “Genocide is being perpetrated in Gaza or, at a minimum, there is a serious risk of genocide occurring.”Serious violations of international law are being committed and are further threatened by Israel,” the lawyers said, adding the UK is “legally obliged to take all reasonable steps within their power to prevent and punish genocide.”

Sitting deep in east Indonesia’s lush jungle, Bokum, one of the country’s last isolated hunter-gatherers, has a simple message for the nickel miners threatening his home: “This is our land.”He belongs to the Hongana Manyawa Indigenous tribe, which includes around 3,000 “contacted” members like him, and another 500 who reject contact with the modern world.Their …

Nickel rush for stainless steel, EVs guts Indonesia tribe’s forest home Read More »