Month: February 2024

doha, qatar — A United Nations-led international conference ended Monday with consensus on the goals Taliban rulers must meet but little progress on how the world should coordinate engagement with the unrecognized government.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres convened special representatives to Afghanistan from 25 countries as well as the European Union, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization for a two-day conference in Qatar’s capital, Doha.

The Taliban refused to attend, saying participation was “unbeneficial” if the U.N. did not see them as the sole representatives of Afghanistan.

However, Rosemary di Carlo, U.N. undersecretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, met separately with a Taliban representative from the group’s Doha-based political office.

At the press briefing after the event, Guterres rejected the notion that the U.N. failed to bring Afghanistan’s de facto rulers to the table because of ineffective communication, saying the conditions the Taliban had placed were unacceptable.

“These conditions, first of all, denied us the right to talk to other representatives of the Afghan society and demanded a treatment that would, I would say, to a large extent be similar to recognition,” Guterres said.

Supporting the Taliban, Russia said the hardline group’s decision to not attend, “as they were offered to take part only in a marginal part of the meeting,” was “valid.”

Questioning the selection of the few Afghan civil society members invited, the Russian delegation refused to engage with them.

At Afghan authorities’ request, Russian representatives “decided to abstain from the conveners’ meeting with the participation of so-called Afghan civil society participants, who were, by the way, chosen in a nontransparent manner, behind Kabul’s back,” a Russian Embassy statement posted on social media said.

Speaking to reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York, Russia’s permanent representative to the world body, Vassily Nebenzia, told reporters his country was not abandoning the issue of Afghan women’s rights. He defended the Russian decision to reject meeting Afghan activists as a pragmatic choice.

“There are other things for Afghanistan that should be dealt with and should be attended to … and we have to engage with those people who rule Afghanistan now,” he said.

Consensus and criticism

The meeting, convened to discuss the recommendations of a U.N.-sponsored, independent assessment of Afghanistan, saw “complete consensus” on the goals outlined in last year’s review, Guterres said.

These goals include having an Afghan government that is inclusive, rather than the all-male, predominantly Pashtun Taliban setup; ending the restrictions on women’s mobility and their right to study and work; and preventing Afghanistan from becoming a terrorist hotbed.

China’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Yue Xiaoyong, however, signaled some disagreements as well.

“Some of the members also emphasized the need to unfreeze the overseas assets of $7 billion to Afghanistan – the need to lift the unilateral sanction[s] by United States,” Yue told reporters on the sidelines of the event.

The U.S. froze $7 billion of Afghan central bank funds after the Taliban took control of the country in August 2021. In 2022, the Biden administration put half the money in a Switzerland-based trust account called “Fund for the Afghan People,” which a board oversees. The remaining money is locked in the U.S.

Yue said foreign nations should not impose themselves on Afghanistan.

“The international community, they are coming to help, not to impose, not to put pressures, but show respect to Afghanistan so that all sides can come to have engagement, to have dialogue,” he said.

China is the only country that has sent an ambassador to Kabul under the Taliban rule and has received a Taliban ambassador as well. Still, Beijing insists it has not recognized the Taliban government.

Special envoy

The Doha huddle also discussed the appointment of a U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan, a position the independent assessment recommends.

According to U.N. documents, the envoy will “focus on diplomacy between Afghanistan and international stakeholders and advancing intra-Afghan dialogue.”

Most members of the Security Council support the idea; China and Russia abstained from voting on it.

The Taliban oppose such an appointment, arguing that the U.N. Assistance Mission to Afghanistan, or UNAMA, already exists.

“We need to have clear consultations with the Taliban in order to have a clarification of the role of that envoy, of who can be that envoy, in order to make it attractive from the point of view of the Taliban,” the secretary-general said.

A source told VOA that delegates agreed the special envoy should be from the region and have knowledge of Islam, the religion of most Afghans.

More engagement

Despite the Taliban’s absence, the secretary-general said the conference was “extremely useful” and hoped the rulers in Kabul would join next time.

Responding to a VOA question on how the Taliban’s future participation would be possible if they insisted on recognition, Guterres suggested more engagement.

“With different levels of organizing the meetings, I think we will find easily a solution to allow for the participation of the Taliban,” he said.

Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, told VOA in Doha that the U.N. and the Taliban would have to try harder to ensure the de facto rulers come to the next meeting.

The “Taliban are a reality, so you have to devise ways and means to do business with them. But at the same time, they also have to take certain responsibilities,” Durrani said.

Speaking to VOA on the sidelines in Doha, Rina Amiri, U.S. special envoy for Afghan women, girls and human rights, said the demand to ensure women’s rights would stay on the table.

“I can assure you that on the issue of women’s rights and human rights, we have said it’s central and it’s nonnegotiable,” she said.

VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.
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Tensions Escalate Between Somalia, Ethiopian Over AU Summit Incident

mogadishu, somalia — Tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia escalated over the weekend following allegations by Somalia’s president that Ethiopian security forces tried to bar him from attending the African Union summit in Addis Ababa.

The incident came amid a dispute between the countries involving the breakaway region of Somaliland.

Speaking to journalists before cutting short his trip, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said the actions of the Ethiopian forces were part of a grand scheme by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to annex part of Somalia.

“This morning when I prepared myself to attend the closing session of the summit, the Ethiopian security blocked my way,” Mohamud said Saturday, adding that he wasn’t allowed “to come out of the hotel and go on with my cars and entourage.”

Ethiopia, he said, wanted “to annex part of Somalia to Ethiopia and to disrespect the African Union summit participants like me.”

The Somali president eventually gained access to the meeting, entering with the security team of Djibouti President Ismael Omar Guelleh.

The Ethiopian government rejected Mohamud’s claim and said the Somali leader and his delegation declined to be accompanied by a security detail assigned to him.

Hard to place blame

Matt Bryden, co-founder of Sahan Research, a policy and security think tank, said he thought it wasn’t easy to apportion blame, because there could have been a breakdown in security protocol.

“Either the Ethiopians unreasonably denied access to the president and his security detail, or the Somali security personnel escorting the president were trying to bring weapons into a location into which they were not permitted,” Bryden said.

The claims by Mohamud escalated tensions that were already running high because of an agreement signed New Year’s Day between Abiy and Somaliland President Muse Bihi.

The memorandum of understanding would grant landlocked Ethiopia access to the Gulf of Aden to build a naval base. In exchange, according to Somaliland, Ethiopia would recognize it as an independent state. Ethiopia, however, said it would merely consider that possibility.

Somalia, which still considers Somaliland part of its territory, is insisting the agreement be canceled.

The African Union has called for dialogue to resolve the issue, but a former Somali government minister, Abdullahi Godah Barre, said that wasn’t the right move now.

Barre said dialogue is always good, but Ethiopia has to retract the deal so that the dialogue will be without conditions. No one, he said, will accept negotiations based on annexation.

Ethiopia has not explicitly rejected Somalia’s annexation claim, but Abiy said this month that “Ethiopia does not wish to harm Somalia.”

According to Bryden, the issue is complicated by Somalia’s dependence on Ethiopian troops for security in southwestern parts of the country.

“Somalia has still not called for Ethiopian troops to leave southwestern Somalia, which would be disastrous, because presumably, places like Beletweyn, Bulobarde, Baidoa and other towns would fall into the hands of al-Shabab if Ethiopia were to do so,” he said.

Ethiopia and Somalia have a long history of tensions and have even gone to war with each other. However, in recent years, the two countries have enjoyed relatively friendly relations. Ethiopia currently deploys its troops into Somalia within and outside the African Union framework.
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Pakistan Parties Still Trying to Form Coalition Government

ISLAMABAD — Major political parties in Pakistan have been struggling to cobble together a coalition government nearly two weeks after the controversy-marred national elections produced no clear winner.

The political party of former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), held a fresh meeting Monday with the Pakistan Peoples Party, (PPP) led by former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, to discuss the possibility of forming a coalition.

The talks between the two traditional ruling parties, bitter rivals of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) began last week after PML-N nominated Sharif to become prime minister again, and Zardari announced conditional support for his candidacy, saying the PPP would not join the government nor take Cabinet posts.

PML-N, which is believed to be favored by the military, and PPP have both won 75 and 54 seats, respectively. However, dozens of the seats are being legally challenged by rival parties.

A group of independent candidates backed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s PTI, are leading, with at least 93 seats out of 266 up for grabs in the 336-seat lower house of parliament but not enough to form a governing majority.

The remaining 70 seats in the legislative assembly are reserved for women and religious minorities and are allocated based on political parties’ proportional representation in the election results.

Khan’s party alleges a state-orchestrated electoral fraud deprived it of a parliamentary majority. Otherwise, it would have 180 seats, allegations that government officials deny.

Sharif formed a coalition government with the PPP and became the prime minister for the first time after a vote of no-confidence removed Khan from office in April 2022 after a falling out with the military leadership. However, the Sharif administration failed to effectively govern and address the economic challenges he inherited.

PTI announced Monday that all of its backed, successful independent candidates would join a smaller parliamentary religious group, known as the Sunni Ittehad Council, to enable the party to claim its share of reserved seats in the National Assembly. Candidates who win elections without a party platform are not allocated reserved seats.

While addressing a joint news conference with the PTI leadership in Islamabad, the leader of the religious party, Hamid Raza, said that both parties had signed a memorandum and that all directions would come from Khan.

Critics have warned that even if Sharif’s party succeeds in forming a coalition government, Khan’s massive public support suggested Pakistanis are fed up with the military’s intervention in politics to facilitate family-run parties like PPP and PML-N to return to power time and again.

“After the most controversial elections since 1977, What Next?” Senator Mushahid Hussain, a veteran influential PML-N politician, said on social media platform X.

Hussain urged his party’s leadership to respect the PTI mandate as the largest single parliamentary group and warned that “any hotchpotch patchwork coalition won’t work and will be a recipe for disaster, similar to the tragic aftermath of flawed 1977 polls!”

The senator referred to the chaos and violence that followed the rigged vote in 1977 and allowed the military to seize power to rule Pakistan for the next decade or so.

Khan, 71, has been in jail since August on a series of controversial charges, including corruption, leaking state secrets while in office, and having a fraudulent marriage, barring him from contesting the polls.

The legal challenges were part of a military-backed crackdown on his party that detained PTI leaders, raided their homes and harassed female relatives, forcing many to quit the part or politics altogether. Mainstream media came under censorship orders allegedly from the military to avoid mentioning Khan’s name on air.

The critical blow came just weeks before the elections when Pakistan’s election commission, in a widely criticized decision, banned PTI from using its iconic cricket bat symbol on the ballot paper in a county where more than 40% of the population is illiterate and voters rely on electoral symbols to identify their candidates.

Censorship

Meanwhile, social media users across the country largely remained cut off from X for a second day on Monday in the aftermath of widespread protests of alleged vote-rigging in the February 8 polls and allegations that the results were manipulated to help pro-military parties.

NetBlocks, an independent watchdog tracking global cybersecurity and internet governance, confirmed what it said was the latest “national-scale disruption” in the country of about 241 million people.

“Metrics show X/Twitter has now been restricted in #Pakistan for over 48 hours as concerns mount over election fraud; authorities have failed to provide a lawful basis for the measure, which violates the public’s fundamental right to free expression at a critical moment,” NetBlocks said on X.

Government officials have refused to comment on the social media disruption. Pakistani authorities also suspended nationwide mobile phone and internet services on election day over terrorism threats, fueling vote-tampering suspicions and drawing an international backlash.

The internet disruptions Saturday — occurring shortly after a top bureaucrat publicly confessed to helping manipulate election results in five districts under his supervision — gave credence to allegations of vote fraud.

Liaqat Ali Chatha, commissioner of Rawalpindi Division, where the military is also headquartered, told reporters in his office that he was resigning from his post and turning himself in to police custody.

Chatha accused Pakistan’s chief election commissioner and the chief justice of orchestrating the electoral wrongdoing, charges that both denied. A high-level investigation has since been launched.

Pakistan’s interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, apparently responding to criticism of top government functionaries over their alleged interference in the disputed elections, warned that such a campaign was a breach of law.

Kakar’s office quoted him as saying in a statement that “some elements” were “using different tricks, including the weaponization of social media in blackmailing and pressurizing civil servants to switch their loyalties from the state of Pakistan to the violent gang.”

The prime minister did not elaborate and added, “The state of Pakistan shall defend the civil servants in discharging their constitutional duties, act against these violent trolls and ensure exemplary punishment to them.”

Critics said pro-democracy activists in Pakistan had been using X and other social media platforms to get around sweeping media censorship in the lead-up to, on, and after the February 8 vote.

The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, or HRCP, also criticized the government for blocking internet access, saying such actions “bleed online businesses and comers” at a time when the national economy is already struggling.

“It also infringes on people’s right to democratic decision-making, information, and expression. This practice must stop immediately,” the HRCP said in a post on X.
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US Stealth Jet Offer to Turkey Puts Future of Its Russian S-400 Missiles in Doubt

With Turkey-U.S. relations improving rapidly, Washington offered to allow Ankara to buy its advanced F-35 military jet if it removes to a third country the S-400 missiles it purchased from Russia. But as Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, the missiles remain a potent symbol of deepening Turkish-Russian ties.
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Biden Considering New Russia Sanctions After Navalny Death

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Malnutrition Plagues Sudanese Refugee Children

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25 Killed in Afghanistan Landslide Caused by Snowfall

Kabul, Afghanistan — A landslide caused by heavy snowfall has killed 25 people and injured eight others in the eastern Afghan province of Nuristan, a disaster management ministry spokesperson said Monday.

Earth, snow and rubble swept through the village of Nakre in the Tatin valley of Nuristan overnight Sunday.

“As a result of the landslide, some 25 people have been killed and eight injured,” spokesperson Janan Sayeq said in a video clip shared with media.

Sayeq also told AFP the death toll could rise.

Nuristan province, which borders Pakistan, is mostly covered by mountainous forests and hugs the southern end of the Hindu-Kush mountain range.

Provincial officials said snow has also hampered rescue efforts.

“Due to clouds and rain, the helicopter cannot land in Nuristan,” said Mohammad Nabi Adel, the head of public works in the province.

Adel said snow had blocked one of the main roads into the province, making “the rescue operation difficult.”

Around 20 houses were destroyed or heavily damaged, the provincial head of information and culture Jamiullah Hashimi told AFP.

Snow continued to fall as rescuers tried to dig people out of the rubble, Hashimi said, noting that the efforts were hampered not only by weather but the lack of equipment in the remote area.

“Modern equipment, tools, and facilities are not available for the rescue operation,” he said.

Rescuers relied on shovels, axes and other hand tools to dig through the earth and rubble to retrieve the dead.

Large boulders also fell in the landslide and had to be blasted with explosives to make way for the rescuers.

Afghanistan is one of the world’s poorest countries, racked by decades of war, prone to natural disasters and vulnerable to extreme weather events linked to climate change.

Soil erosion risks

Mountainous areas of Afghanistan have long been vulnerable to landslides and floods, but in recent years risks have increased due to deforestation and drought, worsened by climate change, experts say.

“When vegetation cover or the forests are cut down, or if green coverage doesn’t exist in the area, soil erosion occurs,” said Rohullah Amin, head of climate change for the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA).

“With soil erosion, when it rains or snows and the vegetation cover… doesn’t exist anymore it causes such landslides.”

The arrival of snow this season was delayed across much of Afghanistan, which is accustomed to harsh winters but in its third year of drought.

Officials said there has been less snowfall in Nuristan compared to previous years, though Amin said the province was not less hard-hit by drought than other parts of the country.

“This year we had little snow, and it doesn’t last for long,” said Adel.

The exceptionally low level of rain in a country that relies heavily on agriculture forced many farmers to delay planting.

The South Asian country was once flush with humanitarian aid following the U.S.-led occupation but funding to Afghanistan has plummeted since the Taliban returned to power in mid-2021, in part because of the many restrictions it imposed on women.
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Al-Shabab Reports Cuban Hostages Killed by US Airstrikes

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Tractors Roll Into Downtown Prague as Czech Farmers Join Protests

PRAGUE — Hundreds of Czech farmers drove their tractors into downtown Prague on Monday, disrupting traffic outside the Agriculture Ministry, as they joined protests against high energy costs, stifling bureaucracy and the European Union’s Green Deal.

Farmers across Europe have taken to the streets this year, including in Poland, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, to fight low prices and high costs, cheap imports and EU climate change constraints.

Czech farmers are planning to join protests this week, although major agricultural associations distanced themselves from Monday’s action, in which tractors blocked one lane of a major road through Prague, slowing but not completely snarling traffic.

Several hundred whistling and jeering protesters gathered outside the Agriculture Ministry yelling “Shame” and “Resign”.

“We came today mainly because of the bureaucracy around farming, the paperwork is on the edge of what is bearable,” 28-year-old farmer Lukas Melichovsky said while in the line of tractors.

Another farmer, Vojtech Schwarz, said cheaper imports did not face the same scrutiny as domestic production: “They have a different starting line because we are overseen by a million officials,” he said.

The government has said the organizers of Monday’s demonstration have little to do with real farming.

“Today’s demonstration does not have much in common with the fight for better conditions for farmers,” Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on X social media platform, adding some of its organizers were pro-Russian or had other political aims.

“We are negotiating with those who represent farmers,” Fiala said.

The Agrarian Chamber (AK) plans protests alongside other European farmers at border crossings on Thursday and was not part of Monday’s tractor protest.

Its main complaints are EU farm policy, market distortions and low purchase prices coming from surpluses amid cheap imports from outside the bloc.

Farmers also complain of costs associated with the EU’s climate change fight laid out in the Green Deal, which sets out agricultural regulations for the bloc’s 27 members for decades.

“Farmers are desperate in this hopeless situation and do not know what they should expect in the near future, let alone the distant one,” AK president Jan Dolezal said last week.

In Slovakia, farmers were due to protest this week to push the government to help the sector, angry over late subsidies, uneven aid or cheaper non-EU imports, including from Ukraine.

Tractors took to some streets already on Monday, with TASR news agency reporting farmers had blocked the main border crossing between Ukraine and Slovakia for one hour.

Earlier this month, Polish farmers blocked roads across the country and at border crossings with Ukraine, kicking off a month-long general strike to protest against EU policies.
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Miami Expects Trophies From Messi’s First Full Season in Major League Soccer

Miami, Florida — Lionel Messi and Inter Miami get the new Major League Soccer season under way on Wednesday with pressure on the Argentine star to deliver trophies for his club and more eyeballs on the league.

The World Cup winner joined Inter from Paris Saint Germain in mid-July, the biggest name ever to move to MLS and his signing caused a massive spurt in interest in American soccer.

The eight-times and current Ballon d’Or winner, made an instant impact, leading Miami to the Leagues Cup title, packing stadiums and massively increasing subscriptions to Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass broadcast package.

But the excitement waned as the 36-year-old struggled to maintain his fitness in the face of a hectic schedule and Miami were unable to overcome their poor early season results and make the playoffs.

Then Inter’s decision to undertake a grueling overseas pre-season tour backfired with Messi and the team booed in Hong Kong after the star sat out a high-profile friendly due to injury.

Poor performances added to the sense that money-spinning trips to El Salvador, Saudi Arabia and Japan had been a mis-step for a team looking to hit the ground running this season.

A long and busy season awaits for Messi and his team-mates who as well as competing in MLS, have qualified for the regional CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Miami will also aim to defend their Leagues Cup title — against Mexican as well as MLS opposition — and all those challenges come in a summer which will include Argentina’s bid for the Copa America in the USA.

Messi has been joined in Miami by another veteran striker in Uruguayan Luis Suarez, making up a quartet of former Barcelona players with midfielder Sergio Busquets and left-back Jordi Alba.

Coping with expectation

No MLS team has ever been able to draw on players of such pedigree and experience and with that comes the expectation that they will land the club’s first MLS title.

Messi is well used to such pressure but it is a new sensation for some of the younger players in Gerardo Martino’s squad.

Shanyder Borgelin, the 22-year-old striker who scored in last week’s home friendly against Argentine club Newells Old Boys, says the team can cope with the high expectations.

“That’s expected when you have the greatest player in the world, four of the greatest players in the world, but I think we’re ready,” he told the Miami Herald.

“We are all called up to a big task. I definitely think the (preseason) losses and everything that comes with that made us a lot stronger,” he added.

Miami kick-off their campaign on Wednesday at home to Real Salt Lake with the rest of the league getting under way on Saturday.

Defending champions Columbus Crew start their title defense at home to Atlanta United with their French coach Wilfried Nancy looking to maintain the momentum of a playoff campaign which ended in victory over Los Angles FC.

LAFC, the 2022 MLS Cup winners, host Western Conference rivals the Seattle Sounders in the biggest clash of the opening weekend.

LAFC have lost four regular starters from last season’s team including Italian Giorgio Chiellini, who has retired.

But Steve Cherundolo’s side have added a World Cup winner of their own with France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris joining from Tottenham Hotspur.

Top-scorer Denis Bouanga remains with the club despite reports he could head back to France but the future of the team’s talismanic Mexican forward Carlos Vela remains unclear.

The 34-year-old Vela is a free agent after his contract with the club was not yet renewed.

There are some new faces on the bench with former Aston Villa manager Dean Smith taking charge at Charlotte and Phil Neville, the former Manchester United player and ex-Inter Miami boss now at the Portland Timbers.

The opening games are set to be officiated by replacement referees after talks over a new collective deal between the refs union and the league’s Professional Referees.
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AU Approves Ban on Slaughtering Donkeys

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Top UN Court Opens Hearings into Israel’s Occupation of Lands

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Palestinian foreign minister on Monday accused Israel of apartheid as he urged the United Nation’s top court to declare that Israel’s occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state is illegal and must end immediately and unconditionally.

The allegation came at the start of historic hearings into the legality of Israel’s 57-year occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state. The case stands against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war, which immediately became a focal point of the day — even though the hearings were meant to center on Israel’s open-ended control over the occupied West Bank, the Gaza Strip and annexed east Jerusalem.

Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad al-Maliki said he stood before the International Court of Justice “as 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, half of them children, are besieged and bombed, killed and maimed, starved and displaced.”

“More than 3.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank, including in Jerusalem, are subjected to colonization of their territory and racist violence that enables it,” he added.

The session, expected to last six days, follows a request by the U.N. General Assembly for a non-binding advisory opinion into Israel’s policies in the occupied territories. Judges will likely take months to issue an opinion.

“The United Nations enshrined in its charter the rights of all peoples to self-determination and pledged to rid the world of the gravest breaches of this right, namely colonialism and apartheid,” al-Maliki continued. “Yet for decades, the Palestinian people have been denied this right and have endured both colonialism and apartheid.”

The Palestinians argue that Israel, by annexing large swaths of occupied land, has violated the prohibition on territorial conquest and the Palestinians’ right to self-determination, and has imposed a system of racial discrimination and apartheid.

“This occupation is annexation and supremacist in nature,” al-Maliki said and appealed to the court to uphold the Palestinian right to self-determination and declare “that the Israeli occupation is illegal and must end immediately, totally and unconditionally.”

After the Palestinians’ address, an unprecedented 51 countries and three international organizations will speak. Israel is not scheduled to speak during the hearings, but could submit a written statement.

Yuval Shany, a law professor at Hebrew University and senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, said Israel will likely justify the ongoing occupation on security grounds, especially in the absence of a peace deal.

It is likely to point to the Oct. 7 attack in which Hamas-led militants from Gaza killed 1,200 people across southern Israel and dragged 250 hostages back to the territory.

However, Palestinians and leading rights groups argue that the occupation goes far beyond defensive measures. They say it has morphed into an apartheid system, bolstered by settlement building on occupied lands, that gives Palestinians second-class status and is designed to maintain Jewish hegemony from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Israel rejects any accusation of apartheid.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three areas for an independent state. Israel considers the West Bank to be disputed territory, whose future should be decided in negotiations.

It has built 146 settlements across the West Bank, according to watchdog group Peace Now, many of which resemble fully developed suburbs and small towns. The settlements are home to more than 500,000 Jewish settlers, while around 3 million Palestinians live in the territory.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem and considers the entire city to be its capital. An additional 200,000 Israelis live in settlements built in east Jerusalem that Israel considers to be neighborhoods of its capital. Palestinian residents of the city face systematic discrimination, making it difficult for them to build new homes or expand existing ones.

Israel withdrew all of its soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005, but continued to control the territory’s airspace, coastline and population registry. Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza when the Palestinian militant Hamas group seized power there in 2007.

The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements to be illegal. Israel’s annexation of east Jerusalem, home to the city’s most sensitive holy sites, is not internationally recognized.

It’s not the first time the court has been asked to give an advisory opinion on Israeli policies.

In 2004, it said a separation barrier Israel built through east Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank was “contrary to international law.” It also called on Israel to immediately halt construction. Israel has ignored the ruling.

Also, late last month, the court ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in its campaign in Gaza. The order came at a preliminary stage of a case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide, a charge that Israel denied.

South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress, has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank to the apartheid regime of white minority rule in South Africa, which restricted most Black people to “homelands” before ending in 1994.
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Farmers in India Meet with Government for a Fourth Round of Talks