Headline News 03/05/2017

Headlines

• Hamas Abandons Palestine

• Syria Airstrikes "After Dinner Entertainment”

• Yemen on the Brink of Starvation

Details

Hamas Abandons Palestine

Hamas has presented a new political document that accepts the formation of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, without recognizing the statehood of ‘Israel’, and says that the conflict in Palestine is not a religious one. The positions were made official on Monday in Qatar's capital, Doha, by Khaled Meshaal, the leader-in-exile of the Palestinian group that runs the besieged Gaza Strip. "We shall not waive an inch of the Palestinian home soil, no matter what the recent pressures are and no matter how long the occupation," Meshaal told reporters as he revealed the document to the public after two years of work. "Hamas rejects any idea except liberating the home soil entirely and completely, although it does not necessarily mean we recognize the Zionist entity or give up any of our Palestinian rights."

While Hamas' 1988 founding charter called for the takeover of all of mandate Palestine, including present-day ‘Israel’, the new document says it will accept the 1967 borders as the basis for a Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital and refugees back to their homes. This "solution" isn't a new one as it tows the American line of a two state solution. The diagnoses of this conflict and occupation not being a religious one is incorrect as the basis of the Palestinian resistance to the occupation has been Islam. It is also worth mentioning that accepting the 1967 borders automatically acknowledges the existence of an ‘Israeli’ state – the Jewish entity - so simply saying that we will not acknowledge it whilst the actions of Hamas say otherwise highlights their political naivety.

Syria Airstrikes "After Dinner Entertainment”

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross explained how Donald Trump "interrupted dessert" to declare to Chinese president Xi Jinping its intentions to strike Syria. Many details have come out after the firing of more than 50 rockets last month with most people realizing that the action was more for power projection than to sincerely punish the regime for its use of chemical weapons. More specifically Mr. Ross explained how Trump made the airstrikes a point to Xi Jinping confirming the US attention to make clear its power and threat to an increasingly challenging China.

Yemen on the Brink of Starvation

The head of the United Nations stood in front of a room full of global leaders Tuesday 2 May 2017, and made a passionate plea: “On average, a child under the age of 5 dies of preventable causes in Yemen every 10 minutes,” António Guterres said. “This means 50 children in Yemen will die during today’s conference, and all of those deaths could have been prevented.” Two years since Saudi Arabia interfered in Yemen the Arab world's poorest country, is facing collapse. Its currency, agriculture, infrastructure, health care and even the most basic social cohesion have been destroyed by the war, and about 7 million people are on the brink of starvation, while two-thirds of the population relies on humanitarian aid to survive. Ironically, Saudi Arabia has made the biggest public funding pledge, promising $150 million for Yemen.

Much of the physical destruction in the country has been wrought by a Saudi-led air campaign - backed by the United States and others - that has indiscriminately targeted civilians.