Palestinian Hamas supporters take part in a protest against Israel’s plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 26, 2020.  Photo by REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa.

Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz warned Hamas against retaliating against Israel’s planned annexation of parts of the West Bank.

“If Hamas tests us, they will pay a heavy price,” Gantz said Monday.

The Gaza-based militant group fired rockets last Friday in Israel’s direction a day after its spokesperson warned that annexation would be seen as a “declaration of war.” Israel’s air force responded by striking two Hamas sites in the southern Gaza Strip.

Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said Thursday Israel would “regret bitterly” extending sovereignty over the Palestinian territory.

“The occupation and those who stand behind it need to understand very well: The resistance considers this decision a declaration of war on our Palestinian people,” Obeida said in a statement.

Gantz, who also serves as Israel’s alternate prime minister, said Lebanon would be held responsible for any actions Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah takes in response to annexation.

“Israel will not accept any excuses,” Gantz said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his government will begin the process of annexation as soon as Wednesday, conditional on US approval. Under the plan, up to 30% of the West Bank, including Jewish settlements and fertile Jordan Valley, would be incorporated into Israel.

But Gantz, Netanyahu’s main coalition partner, suggested Monday that annexation may need to wait until after Israel deals with its coronavirus outbreak. Citing a source close to the former army chief, The Times of Israel reported Gantz told US diplomats that July 1 was not “a sacred date.”

Additionally, American sources familiar with the negotiations told The Jerusalem Post that annexation would not be happening as planned on Wednesday.

Also on Monday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet condemned Israel’s proposed annexation.

“Annexation is illegal. Period,” Bachelet said in a statement, adding, “I am deeply concerned that even the most minimalist form of annexation would lead to increased violence and loss of life.”

Source: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/06/hamas-gantz-israel-retaliate-annexation-west-bank-netanyahu.html

The post Israel’s Gantz warns Hamas on retaliating against annexation first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

We are alarmed by reports that migrants in detention centres in Hungary have been deliberately deprived of food in contravention of international laws and standards.

According to the existing laws in Hungary, migrants and asylum seekers without the right to stay in Hungary are immediately detained in transit zones during their asylum procedure, or until they can be returned. In these transit zones, they are subjected to asylum and deportation procedures, which fail to effectively assess each individual’s situation. We are concerned by the absence in these transit zones of meaningful individualised procedures, which are required to ensure deprivation of liberty is an exceptional measure and that all risks prohibiting a person’s return are taken into account.

Furthermore, if the Hungarian Immigration and Asylum Office starts a procedure with a view to expel the rejected applicant from the country, migrants are no longer provided with food.  Pending the enforcement of the expulsion, adults – with the sole exception of pregnant or nursing women – are deliberately deprived of food, which can lead to malnutrition and is both detrimental to their health and inherently inhumane.

According to reports, since August 2018, at least 21 migrants awaiting deportation had been deprived of food by the Hungarian authorities – some for up to five days.

We note that the Hungarian authorities had promised to end this practice following an interim measure by the European Court of Human Rights. However, we regret that, in the absence of a clear change in the legal framework, reports suggest the practice is continuing.

We note also that the Hungarian authorities do not consider some of these migrants to be in detention as they can ‘voluntarily’ leave the transit zones towards neighbouring Serbia. However, we add our views that a migrant must not be subject to detention in inadequate conditions, arbitrary detention or other forms of coercion as this renders any return involuntary. Furthermore, we note that such ‘voluntary’ departure could put migrants at further risk as it could breach Hungarian deportation orders, and force migrants to enter Serbia irregularly in contravention of Serbian law.

The UN Human Rights Office reminds States that they have an obligation and heightened duty of care towards migrants who are deprived of their liberty, including through the provision of food. The deliberate deprivation of food is prohibited under the Mandela Rules, and violates the rights to food and to health, as well as the prohibition of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

We encourage Hungary to ensure it fulfils its human rights obligations towards those deprived of liberty, regardless of whether they are in transit zones or any other place where migrants are detained and cannot provide for themselves.

We reiterate the right of all migrants to seek asylum, as well as the fundamental human rights principle of ‘non-refoulement’, which prohibits the return of any person to a situation where they would face a real and foreseeable risk of persecution, death, torture, and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment, or other irreparable harm.

* Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Pages/Home.aspx

Source: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/28211

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When Turkish ground troops rolled into Afrin, a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria, in January, the regime was making a considered political calculation. The campaign, which Ankara called Operation Olive Branch, involves Turkish Army Forces and Free Syrian Army troops supported by an air campaign, and aims to oust fighters from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) from Afrin.

One of the reasons the Turkish presidency gave for the operation was so that it could start sending some of the 3.5m Syrian refugees living in Turkey, back to a safe zone in Syria. It was doing this in the name of “European security”.

This marks a return of rhetoric in which Turkey presents itself as useful to Europe’s security. Such rhetoric dominated Turkey’s security culture during the Cold War, when it was aligned with the West against the Soviet Union, but was abandoned in the 1990s and 2000s as it developed relations with Russia and Middle Eastern states.

Once again, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, argues that the country can help fight terrorism in Europe by stopping onward irregular migration. Today, Turkey’s message to Europe is clear: we are dealing with your threats, so you should help and allow us to address ours.

This new operation is not the first time Erdoğan’s regime has strategically used Syrian refugees in its dealings with Europe. After the collapse of the peace negotiations between the government of Turkey and the Kurdish movement in 2015-16, the Turkish Armed Forces launched military operations in south-east Turkey against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is linked to the Kurdish Democratic Union Party. According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, more than 2,000 civilians were killed and 355,000 people were displaced during these operations. Several towns were wiped off the map, including the historical city of Sur.

The regime played the Syrian refugees card to quieten criticism from Europe. The result was the March 2016 EU-Turkey refugee deal, in which irregular migrants arriving in the EU from Turkey were to be returned – with €6 billion pledged to Turkey by the EU. The deal was negotiated as journalists and academics, critical of the the military operations against the Kurds, were being targeted by Turkish authorities.

Linking refugees to Europe’s security

Erdoğan played the refugee card once again in November 2016 when the European Parliament voted to freeze negotiations on Turkey joining the EU. Realising how important it was to Europe that Syrian refugees were kept in Turkey rather than attempting the dangerous sea crossing to Greece, he said “if you go any further, these border gates will be opened”. In July 2017, the European Parliament called for the suspension of Turkey’s accession process. The issue of Turkish accession became a heated issue during Germany’s election in September 2017, when the chancellor, Angela Merkel, said she would seek to end membership talks.

With Operation Olive Branch, Syrian refugees are being used to further Turkey’s strategic interests beyond its borders – with an explicit reference made at the same time to “securing” Europe.

In the initial days of the operation, Turkey’s official presidential Twitter account explained that one of the operation’s objectives was “to ensure the safe return of displaced Syrians to their homes” and that it would “curb the flow of terrorist elements and undocumented migrants into Europe”. The logic was that once the operation was concluded, it would allow “500,000 refugees to return to Afrin”.

Reflecting on this on January 30, the Brussels representative for the ruling Justice and Development party said: “The operation will lead to the return of Syrian refugees in Turkey. The fewer refugees in Turkey, the less migrant flow to Europe.”

Reviving Cold War rhetoric

It’s unclear whether the EU and its member states’ relative silence on the operation in Afrin is related to Turkey’s strategic use of refugees. Yet, given the Erdoğan regime’s practices in recent years, it appears Turkey has revived the mentality that dominated Turkey’s security culture during the Cold War: securing Turkey means securing Europe, and by extension, NATO.

The EU recognises that its security is under threat from “illegal migrants” and terrorism. Turkey’s military operation in Syria against the Kurdish autonomous region – which is a threat to Turkey itself – will also help Europe address its own threat. The news outlet of a pro-regime thinktank, SETA, recently put this in plain terms: “If Europe and the EU want to protect their own values, then they should support Turkey’s operation.”

By broadly linking undocumented migration and terrorism, Erdoğan is reflecting an issue that has captured the EU’s security mentality in the post-9/11 era. Turkey has clearly learned that linking an issue with migration offers advantages in its dealings with the EU. It is a transit country for undocumented migrants and is likely to ask the EU to launch new mechanisms and financial aid in the area of counter-terrorism cooperation in return for preventing future irregular migration.

Turkey needs to position itself as Europe’s security provider in order to pursue its own strategic interests of weakening the Kurdish autonomous region in Syria and replacing it with a pro-Turkey or neutral “safe zone”. And to do so without invoking disturbing noises from Europe.

Turkey has embraced its position as the EU’s border guard. The regime realises that migrants contained in Turkey will be useful to further its interests both domestically and internationally. And Europe appears content, for now, to play Turkey’s neo-Cold War game.

Source: http://theconversation.com/turkey-is-using-syrian-refugees-as-bargaining-chips-as-it-moves-against-the-kurds-90904

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