These days, the films that we are getting down to “Netflix and chill” with have less to do with green-screen magic, explosions or mystical monsters; and more to do with the unfortunate slow catastrophe that is unfolding in the world.
23 Dec, 2016 – Israel will not abide by the UN Security Council’s demands for Tel Aviv to halt its settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian lands, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
“Israel rejects this shameful anti-Israel resolution at the UN and will not abide by its terms,” the statement from the PM’s office said, according to Reuters.
18 December 2016 (Pressenza)* – “Prayer of the Mothers” is a song by singer and songwriter Yael Deckelbaum. It was created together with women of the movement “Women Wage Peace” which aims for a peaceful and nonviolent solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
(Image by YouTube: Screenshot from the video “Prayer of the Mothers”) | Source: Pressenza
Since its creation in summer 2014 during the escalation of the conflict in Gaza, which saw over 2,200 people killed, it is bringing together women from all nations and of all religions to set in motion a dialogue to end war and violence and to awaken a new spirit of hope and fundamental change, which can only be created by embracing the power of women, the power to care, to protect and to nourish.
24 December 2016 (WSWS)* – On Friday [24/12/2016], the United Nations Security Council passed a toothless resolution censuring Israel’s expansion of settlements. The vote followed a decision by the Obama administration to abstain, rather than exercising its veto power.
**Photo: “Gas the Arabs” painted on the gate outside a Palestinian home in Hebron by Israeli settlers. It is signed “JDL” (Jewish Defence League). | Author: Magne Hagesæter | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
A vote on the resolution was postponed on Thursday by its initial sponsor, Egypt, following the intervention of US president-elect Donald Trump. It was reintroduced on Friday with new sponsors New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal.
Not only in my own face, but in the faces of at least half the Israeli population.
He has appointed a bankruptcy lawyer named David Friedman to the job of US ambassador in Israel.
This sounds like a bad joke. But it is brutal reality. It sets a precedent unknown in the annals of international diplomacy
FIRST OF all, it is bad practice to appoint an ambassador to a country with which he has a deep personal connection.
You don’t send a Cuban-American Castro-hater to be the US ambassador in Havana. You don’t send Kuomintang Chinese from Taiwan to be US ambassador in Beijing.
True, it is not the first time an American Jew has been appointed ambassador to Israel. There have been two or three, who could just as well have served as Israeli ambassadors to Washington. But they were far less opinionated than this specimen.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 23 December 2016 welcomed the adoption of a Security Council resolution which states that the establishment of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, have “no legal validity,” constitute a “flagrant violation” under international law and are a “major obstacle” to a two-State solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.
The Security Council votes on resolution reiterating its demand that Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem. The vote was 14 in favour, with one abstention (United States). UN Photo/Manuel Elias
“The resolution is a significant step, demonstrating the Council’s much needed leadership and the international community’s collective efforts to reconfirm that the vision of two States is still achievable,” the UN chief’s spokesperson said in a statement.
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 23 2016 (IPS)– A historic UN Security Council resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements received sustained applause within the security council chamber after it was adopted with 14 votes in favour and one abstention on Friday 23 December.
The Shuafat refugee camp can be seen across the separation wall from the Israeli settlement Pisgat Ze’ev. Credit: Jillian Kestler-D’Amours/IPS.
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The Arab-backed resolution condemns the “construction and expansion” of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, calling them a “flagrant violation” of international law and a “major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution.”
23 December 2016 – Highlighting that the number of casualties in the Mediterranean Sea this year has crossed 5,000 with the latest reports of about 100 people feared to have drowned, the United Nations refugee agency has called on countries to increase pathways for admission of refugees.
Risking their lives to reach Europe from North Africa, a boatload of people, some of them likely in need of international protection, are rescued in the Mediterranean Sea by the Italian Navy. Photo: UNHCR/A. D’Amato
According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), this is the worst annual death toll ever seen.
Photos by Muse Mohammed, Brendan Bannon and Ashley McLaughlin*
The Voices of Displacement in South Sudan
15 December 2016 (IOM)* – “Let peace come,” says John from his small shop in a displacement site in South Sudan’s Malakal town. “Let people go back to their houses and live in harmony.
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On 15 December 2016, South Sudan’s brutal crisis entered its fourth year. Since a struggle between political rivals plunged South Sudan into a devastating conflict in 2013, an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 people have died* and more than 3 million have fled from their homes.
From a bay window, the elder Arafat children, along with their parents, watch as a swirl of costumed children crisscross the snowy streets.
With each ring of the doorbell, the family exchange uncertain glances, still not quite sure what to do. Then, one of the older children breaks the impasse, bounding down the stairs and handing out candy.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 