Important UPDATE on Nov. 14
Female Israeli soldier captive
allegedly died in Israeli air raid
Summit: A “comprehensive solution” is required that guarantees the
unity of Ghaza and the West Bank as “land for the Palestinian state".
الرياض - وكالات: طالب قادة الدول العربية والإسلامية، أمس، بـ"حل شامل" يضمن وحدة غزة والضفة الغربية "أرضا للدولة الفلسطينية"، خلال قمة مشتركة لزعماء الجامعة العربية ومنظمة التعاون الإسلامي في الرياض. وجاء في البيان الختامي المشترك أنّ القمة "ترفض أي طروحات تكرس فصل غزة عن الضفة الغربية بما فيها القدس الشرقية والتأكيد على أن أي مقاربة مستقبلية لغزة يجب أن تكون في سياق العمل على حل شامل يضمن وحدة غزة والضفة الغربية أرضا للدولة الفلسطينية التي يجب أن تتجسد حرة مستقلة ذات سيادة وعاصمتها القدس الشرقية على خطوط 4 حزيران 1967
Riyadh - Agencies: Yesterday [i.e. Nov. 11], leaders of Arab and Islamic countries called for a “comprehensive solution” that guarantees the unity of Ghaza and the West Bank, “land of the Palestinian state,” during a joint summit of leaders of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Riyadh.
The joint final statement stated that the summit “rejects any proposals that would establish the separation of Ghaza from the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and emphasizes that any future approach to Ghaza must be in the context of working on a comprehensive solution that guarantees the unity of Ghaza and the West Bank as the territory of the Palestinian state, which must be embodied in a free state.” Independent, sovereign, with East Jerusalem as its capital, along the lines of June 4, 1967
[Al-Ayyam, Palestine, on Nov. 12]
The official spokesman for the Palestinian Presidency , Nabil Abu Rudeina, confirmed that Israeli attempts to separate the Ghaza Strip from the West Bank will fail, and this will not be allowed, regardless of the continuing pressures and threats. He said in a statement today, Sunday, that Ghaza is an integral part of the Palestinian territories, and it is the responsibility of the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO], stressing that security and stability in the region and the world will not be achieved except by ending the Israeli occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, which includes the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Ghaza Strip.
[Jordan ZAD, Amman, on Nov. 12]
The Al-Qassam Brigades notified that a 19 year old female Israeli soldier captive, 'Fauul Azai Marek Assiani فاؤول أزاي مارك أسياني' from 'Modiein موديعين', originally coming from Morocco, the number of her identity card being 214179293, allegedly died in an Israeli air raid on Ghaza. Additional remarks made by the captive:
"All of Ghaza is being bombarded with missiles." "We are afraid that we will die from the missiles."
[Al-Maqar, Jordanian electronic newspaper founded in 2012. Article published on Nov. 13]
Here is some personal opinion published at the University of Toronto.
I republished part of it in order to give a hand in its distribution. It's all
about anti-fascism, anti-semitism and freedom of thoughtful speech:
Opinion: Blockading media on Palestine is a
bombardment against freedom of expression
In response to Hamas’ October 7 attack, Israel destroyed Gaza’s Al-Watan Tower, which housed several media outlets and telecom service providers that supplied internet access, thus leading to an internet outage. On October 27, after a continued onslaught of Israeli air strikes, Ghaza’s already delicate connectivity was further snuffed out as Israel began its ground operations. And, between the drafting and publication of this article, on November 5, Gaza lost communication another time as Israeli troops encircled Ghaza City.
..........
The blockade of communication severely interferes with journalistic processes. With no safe spaces to do their job while struggling against internet outages, Palestinian media have been largely fronted by Ghazan journalists reporting from the ground on platforms such as Instagram. Among others, journalists Motaz Azaiza, Plestia Alaqad, and Bisan Owda have caught the attention of international viewers.
However, even the voices of journalists on social media seem to be stifled by media giants. Users are accusing Instagram, owned by Meta, of suppressing viewership on pro-Palestinian posts, removing these posts, or even ‘shadowbanning’ — obscuring content without official notification — Palestinian content creators. Yet, the October attacks are not the first time that media giants have shown prejudice against pro-Palestinian content. Meta published an internal review which showed that their 2021 policies had an “adverse impact“ on the "rights of Palestinian users to freedom of expression” and that there was an over-enforcement of Arabic content.
In an interview, Mariam El-Rayes, a Palestinian student at U of T, told me that users are not seeing her Instagram stories when she posts about Palestine. When she posted random images in between her stories about Palestine to increase the chances of her stories being visible to her followers — a method known as an ‘algorithm break’ — she discovered something strange. She provided screenshots to show there was a significantly higher number of views on her ‘algorithm break’ stories than on her previous stories about Palestine — 32 versus 51 views — despite the fact that the stories were all public and that Instagram stories must be viewed in the chronological order of posting.
Accusations of platforms suppressing Palestinian news have led people to find ways to trick the algorithm, including posting ‘algorithm breaks’ as above or adjusting keywords, like ‘P@lestine’ or ‘Isr*el’, to avoid triggering censorship. The media siege can only serve to compound the humanitarian siege in Ghaza, smothering the news before it can reach an international audience.
Responding to user complaints, Meta released a statement clarifying that “Hamas is designated by the US government as both a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and Specially Designated Global Terrorists. It is also designated under Meta’s Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy. This means Hamas is banned from our platforms, and we remove praise and substantive support of them… while continuing to allow social and political discourse — such as news reporting, human rights related issues, or academic, neutral and condemning discussion.”
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