Another Monday. My bruised knees were not up to running round the village this morning. Maybe we’ll go for a walk later … if the rain which is currently falling eases off. It’s all very well seeing snowdrops and crocuses and such, all trying to give the impression that spring is just around the corner, and it’s all very well the weathermen talking about milder weather, but round here it’s still cold and damp!
In a few days we are off to Portugal where we hope that even if it rains the rain will be slightly warmer.
Meanwhile the wider world continues to be chaotic.
The far right seem to be winning in German elections.
President Trump has a least one state governor objecting to his rulings on transgender people.
Some 150,000 Canadians have signed a petition calling on their government to take Elon Musk’s Canadian citizenship away from him because of bis alliance with Donald Trump. Mind you, if Trump manages to annex Canada that won’t be a problem any longer.
Israel has sent tanks into the Jenin in the West Bak, in an operation they say will last a year, leaving another 40,000 displaced people unable to return home. Here’s something from The Guardian:
“Israel has sent tanks to the West Bank city of Jenin, in the first deployment of its kind in the area in more than two decades, as troops intensify operations in the territory that officials said will last at least a year.
The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, said on Sunday that the latest operation across the West Bank was expanding, and that troops would remain in the area’s urban hotspots “for the coming year”, meaning approximately 40,000 people displaced by the fighting will not be able to return to their homes.
The Israel Defense Forces said they were sending tanks to the northern city of Jenin for the first time since the height of the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, in 2002.”
And here’s something else:
“Netanyahu 'preparing atmosphere' to return to waging war on Gaza - Hamas official
Hamas official Basem Naim has been talking to Al Jazeera about the precocious Gaza ceasefire deal which looks increasingly like it will collapse. As a reminder, Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed the handover of 620 Palestinians indefinitely as he is demanding Hamas stop what he called its “cynical use of hostages for propaganda”.
Naim – a member of Hamas’s political bureau - said the Israeli prime minister is “intentionally sabotaging” the truce agreement. He told Al Jazeera:
Before going to the next step, we have to be sure that the past step, which was releasing 620 prisoners, are already released.
Because Netanyahu is clearly sending strong messages that he is intentionally sabotaging the deal; he is preparing the atmosphere for returning back to the war.
Therefore what are the guarantees that he might take the other four bodies and again not release the agreed upon number of Palestinians plus the 620 Palestinians?
Sometimes I wonder if, had the state of Israel had not been created by international agreement, Israel, or at least the IDF, might also be declared terrorist organisation as well as Hamas.
It’s been going on a long time. Here’s an extract from a poem called “Jenin” by Lebanese poet Etel Adnan. It was originally published in French in 2004. That’s 21 years ago. And it had already been going on a long time then.
Jenin
But they came, the bastards, to eradicate, with bombs,
to tell very simply that we didn’t exist.
They started with the olive trees,
then with the orchards,
then with the buildings,
and when all had disappeared,
they threw, one on top of the other,
the children, the old and the newly-weds
In a mass grave,
all to tell the world of the half-dead
that we didn’t exist,
that we have never existed,
and therefore that they were right …
to exterminate us all.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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