Conflicto palestino-israelí (Continuación)

MundoOriente Próximo

Ni un solo Estado árabe apoya a Hamás. De hecho, los Estados árabes están del lado de Israel, esperando exterminar este movimiento terrorista de una vez por todas. Hamás no es un partido político, sino una secta fundamentalista cuya ambición es restablecer el califato islámico tal y como debió de existir en tiempos del profeta Mahoma. Hamás no representa en ningún caso a los palestinos, ni prevé la creación de una Palestina musulmana. Basta con remitirse a su Carta Fundacional, que está a disposición de todo el mundo. ¿Alguien la ha leído? Esta carta prevé la desaparición de Israel, pero también la eliminación de todos los regímenes clericales o laicos de la región a la espera de la restauración del Califato.…  Seguir leyendo »

An anti-Israeli protest in Tehran, April 2024. Majid Asgaripour / Reuters

MundoOriente Próximo,

The Israel-Hamas war—and the possibility that it may explode into a wider conflagration—has upended the determined efforts of three U.S. presidents to pivot American resources and focus away from the Middle East. Immediately after Hamas’s October 7 attack, U.S. President Joe Biden moved quickly to support Israel, a critical American ally, and deter the expansion of hostilities. But as of this writing, the conflict has become a hellish impasse. The security imperatives driving the war command wide support among the Israeli public, yet months of intense Israeli operations have failed to eliminate Hamas, killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, and precipitated a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.…  Seguir leyendo »

What Netanyahu Must Do to Bring Home the Hostages

MundoOriente Próximo

If the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, were serious about securing the release of all the hostages in Gaza, they would have been home long ago.

From his first official statements after Oct. 7, Mr. Netanyahu has placed a higher priority on destroying Hamas than on ensuring the hostages’ safety. It took weeks before the Israeli negotiating team adequately addressed the hostage situation. Mr. Netanyahu appointed a political ally, whose previous nomination for national police chief had been scuttled by controversy, to the position of coordinator for the captives and the missing.

Hamas initially set strict terms for a hostage exchange: the release of all Palestinian prisoners, about 8,000 people, which at that time included 559 serving life sentences for killing Israelis.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAméricaMundoOriente Próximo,

El Derecho Internacional Público, tal como lo entendemos hoy, es primero y principalmente obra de Estados Unidos. A la visión americana debemos el impulso, diseño y construcción del Orden Liberal Internacional basado en normas e instituciones, corazón del multilateralismo (y de las relaciones globales en general) desde el final de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. En estos tres cuartos de siglo de andadura, menudearon polémicas y dificultades que, sin embargo, no alcanzaron -en ningún caso- la puesta en duda esencial del sistema. Hasta hoy. Hoy, se extiende la percepción de su fragilización por asaltos frontales y socavación de cimientos. Esta es la perspectiva que informa las últimas actuaciones que EEUU ha protagonizado en el Consejo de Seguridad de Naciones Unidas (CSNU), en la grave situación en Gaza.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

For a few months now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly invoked the name of the Gaza Strip’s southernmost city: Rafah. His government has relentlessly threatened Hamas—and promised its own public—that it will soon send ground troops into the only part of Gaza that Israel has yet to invade. Netanyahu dangles the threat in almost every meeting and press conference, without mentioning that the manpower and logistics required to both recruit the required IDF troops and evacuate the civilian population would take weeks to organize. That process has yet to begin.

But another battle is well under way. The U.S.…  Seguir leyendo »

Dejen que la gente coma

MundoOriente Próximo, ,  

En las peores condiciones imaginables —tras huracanes, terremotos, bombas y disparos— aparece lo mejor de la humanidad. No una vez, ni dos, sino siempre.

Las siete personas asesinadas en una misión de World Central Kitchen en Gaza el lunes eran lo mejor de la humanidad. No son anónimos: tienen rostro y nombre. No son trabajadores humanitarios genéricos ni daño colateral de la guerra.

Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, John Chapman, Jacob Flickinger, Zomi Frankcom, James Henderson, James Kirby y Damian Sobol arriesgaron todo en favor de la actividad más fundamentalmente humana: compartir nuestro alimento con los demás.

Junto a ellos serví en Ucrania, Turquía, Marruecos, las Bahamas, Indonesia, México, Gaza e Israel.…  Seguir leyendo »

El paradójico ataque contra el consulado iraní

MundoOriente Próximo, ,

El pasado 1 de abril, el jefe de operaciones de la Fuerza Quds en Siria y Líbano era asesinado desde el aire junto con otros siete Guardianes de la Revolución. Aunque todas las miradas se centraron en Tel Aviv, nadie parece haber reconocido ni probado la autoría de la acción. Todo lo que ha rodeado a esta operación -un ataque aéreo a la embajada de Irán en Damasco- es absolutamente paradójico, y las promesas de venganza que podría tomar el régimen iraní contra Israel, al que considera responsable del ataque, también.

La primera de las paradojas que rodean a esta acción en particular, y a la conflictiva relación Irán e Israel en general, es que a ninguno de los dos les interesa un enfrentamiento abierto.…  Seguir leyendo »

El fracaso moral del mundo en Gaza

MundoOriente Próximo

El implacable sitio de Gaza arroja una pesada sombra sobre la humanidad. La cantidad de palestinos muertos, lesionados o desaparecidos en los últimos seis meses supera con creces las 100 000 personas, en su inmensa mayoría civiles inocentes sin ninguna responsabilidad por el pavoroso ataque cometido por Hamás el 7 de octubre de 2023.

El Consejo de Seguridad de Naciones Unidas ha aprobado por fin una resolución que exige un alto el fuego inmediato y la liberación inmediata de los rehenes de Hamás. Ahora es necesario que todos los estados miembros de la ONU (y en particular los aliados políticos y militares de Israel) hagan todo lo que esté a su alcance para asegurar la plena implementación de la resolución en el menor tiempo posible.…  Seguir leyendo »

Israeli soldiers in Gaza, February 2024. Israel Defense Forces / Reuters

MundoOriente Próximo

Six months after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, Israel seems stuck. Its war in Gaza has inflicted grievous blows on Hamas, and the group is unlikely to be able to carry out another comparable attack for some time, if ever. The price for this success is high, however, both in terms of Palestinian lives and Israel’s reputation. Israel remains far from its goal of destroying Hamas, and it seems trapped in a military campaign that is likely to make only incremental progress at huge cost.

After October 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swore to “destroy Hamas” by killing its leaders, shattering its military forces, and demolishing its infrastructure.…  Seguir leyendo »

Palestinians shop for iftar dinner in Jerusalem on Tuesday. (Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images) Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu/Getty Images

MundoOriente Próximo

As the conflict in the Middle East reverberates around the world, many in the West have fallen into the emotional traps of anger, fear and righteousness toward the perceived other side. Exporting the conflict will not bring peace any more than it will bring victory, and the only way to reduce the flames is to learn to coexist.

My work as an imam and focus on spiritual coexistence in Israel and Palestine has shown me that the best personal defense against destructive emotions is to find the other inside ourselves. A complex identity is a natural antibody that inoculates against hate, and I myself identify as a Muslim, a Bedouin, a Palestinian and an Israeli.…  Seguir leyendo »

Food rations to be delivered to Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza. (Eshak Daour)

MundoOriente Próximo, ,

Two months ago, my family opened the first soup kitchen in Beit Lahia, my hometown in northern Gaza. We served a simple vegetable stew — a spin on traditional Gazan recipes like fogaiyya and sumagiyya — made with whatever vegetables we could get our hands on. On our first day, we fed 120 families. A local photographer snapped photos, and we even made the local news.

By now, the daily routine is dignifying and familiar. Our mother wakes at the crack of dawn to peel and prepare produce, my father sources spices, and I work as operations manager. By 7 a.m.,…  Seguir leyendo »

The site of an Israeli airstrike on an Iranian embassy building in Damascus, April 2024. Firas Makdesi / Reuters

MundoOriente Próximo, ,

On April 1, Israel launched its latest attack on Iran in the two countries’ ongoing shadow war, with an airstrike that flattened a section of Iran’s embassy complex in Damascus and reportedly killed at least 12 people. Among the dead was Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who headed Iran’s military operations in Syria and Lebanon, where he worked for decades and became a close interlocutor with Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The strike also killed Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, Zahedi’s deputy, and at least five other officers in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Israel crossed a new line with the strike on Iran’s diplomatic compound, which Iran and many other governments see as tantamount to striking Iranian territory itself.…  Seguir leyendo »

Let People Eat

MundoOriente Próximo, ,  

In the worst conditions you can imagine — after hurricanes, earthquakes, bombs and gunfire — the best of humanity shows up. Not once or twice but always.

The seven people killed on a World Central Kitchen mission in Gaza on Monday were the best of humanity. They are not faceless or nameless. They are not generic aid workers or collateral damage in war.

Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, John Chapman, Jacob Flickinger, Zomi Frankcom, James Henderson, James Kirby and Damian Sobol risked everything for the most fundamentally human activity: to share our food with others.

These are people I served alongside in Ukraine, Turkey, Morocco, the Bahamas, Indonesia, Mexico, Gaza and Israel.…  Seguir leyendo »

Police officers extinguish a fire during a protest against the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government on March 16, in Tel Aviv, Israel. Amir Levy/Getty Images

MundoOriente Próximo

When U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, one of the staunchest pro-Israel lawmakers in the United States and the highest-ranking Jewish official in Washington, effectively called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ouster on the Senate floor in mid-March, it was a watershed moment for anyone following Israel’s role in U.S. politics.

Israel has been so sacrosanct in America for so long that the idea that a hawkish Democrat like Schumer would call for regime change in Israel is extraordinary. But the Senate leader’s stance is fairly mainstream among Israelis. There’s consensus—even within his own party—that elections should be held early.…  Seguir leyendo »

Israel y las guerras sin fin

MundoOriente Próximo,

El acuerdo que parece ir abriéndose paso en la comunidad internacional para poner fin al conflicto entre Israel y Hamás desencadenado por los atentados del pasado 7 de octubre se articula en torno a dos principios expresos: la salida del primer ministro israelí, Benjamín Netanyahu, y el inicio de negociaciones que conduzcan a la solución de los dos Estados en el territorio del antiguo mandato británico sobre Palestina. Pero existe, además, un principio implícito, que es el que probablemente acabará marcando la evolución del conflicto en los próximos meses y años: al contrario de lo que han venido sosteniendo Netanyahu y sus aliados, incluyendo los patrocinadores de los Acuerdos de Abraham, la completa anexión de Gaza, Cisjordania y Jerusalén Este, ocupados a raíz de la guerra de 1967, no conducirá a la “extinción” del problema palestino, sino a la profundización de la fractura política, social y religiosa que ensombrece el futuro de Israel.…  Seguir leyendo »

Emergency personnel scramble atop the rubble of a building next to the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Syria, which was struck by Israel on Monday. (Louai Beshara/AFP via Getty Images)

MundoOriente Próximo

Monday illustrated the spectrum of outcomes we have seen from the Israel Defense Forces: astonishing precision in targeting some of Iran’s most toxic commanders at a secret meeting in Damascus and appalling sloppiness in an apparently accidental strike on a humanitarian team in Gaza.

That’s not a good formula. And it helps explain the agony of this war for Israel and its adversaries alike.

Nearly six months into the Gaza conflict, Israel has achieved tactical successes that are gradually degrading Hamas and deterring its Iranian sponsors. It can conduct “targeted killings” of its enemies, at least aboveground, almost at will. Yet the strategic prize of “victory” and regional stability seems as distant as ever.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Two-State Solution Is an Unjust, Impossible Fantasy

MundoOriente Próximo

After 176 days, Israel’s assault on Gaza has not stopped and has expanded into what Human Rights Watch has declared to be a policy of starvation as a weapon of war. More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed, and the international community has reverted to a deeply familiar call for a two-state solution, under which Palestinians and Israelis can coexist in peace and security. President Biden even declared “the only real solution is a two-state solution” in his State of the Union address last month.

But the call rings hollow. The language that surrounds a two-state solution has lost all meaning.…  Seguir leyendo »

People walk past the damaged headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City on Feb. 15. AFP via Getty Images

MundoOriente Próximo,

Last month, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), said that the agency had reached a “breaking point”. After Israel accused 12 agency personnel of involvement in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, 18 states announced in January that they would suspend funding to UNRWA, including its two top donors: the United States and Germany. On Saturday, the U.S. Congress barred funding to the agency through March 2025.

Although Lazzarini has dismissed 10 of the employees (the other two are dead), and the U.N. promptly launched an investigation into the allegation, most donor states have refused to resume funding until the investigation is finished.…  Seguir leyendo »

Planes airdropping humanitarian aid packages into Gaza City, March 9, 2024. Mahmud Isa/Anadolu/Getty Images

MundoOriente Próximo

In the days that followed Hamas’s heinous October 7 attack on military bases, kibbutzim, towns, and the Nova music festival, several high-ranking Israeli officials announced that they intended to deprive Gaza’s civilian population of its most basic needs. At the time, over 80 percent of the goods entering the Gaza Strip came from Israel, which has kept the area under strict blockade for seventeen years. On October 9, following two days of extensive aerial bombing, the country’s minister of energy and infrastructure, Israel Katz, announced that he had ordered water, electricity, and fuel to be cut off. “What was”, he said, “will not be”.…  Seguir leyendo »

Aid from the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip, March 2024. Mohammed Salem / Reuters

InternacionalONUMundoOriente Próximo, ,

There has hardly been a war, crisis, or peace process involving Israel and an adversary that has not involved a UN response of some kind. Despite the UN’s many shortcomings, the assumption that any situation would be far worse without its involvement has generally been an accepted principle. The war that began with Hamas’s brutal attack on October 7 has challenged this assumption like never before, particularly for Israel. Despite years of working with the main UN agency that provides aid and services to Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, Israel is now seeking to dismantle it.

In January, Israeli officials alleged that as many as 12 of UNRWA’s staff members in Gaza participated in the October 7 attack.…  Seguir leyendo »