Clarity Press

31/10/2024

The BRICS Summit in Kazan: A Manifesto for a Rational World Order
Alfred de Zayas
"The Kazan Declaration of 23 October 2024, adopted at the 16th BRICS Summit[1] hosted by Russia in the city of Kazan on the Volga river from 22 to 24 October and attended by 36 countries[2], constitutes a pivotal moment for humanity. There is hope in the air, a certain optimism that we can gradually change the paradigm, marshal the world disorder, move away from bloc-mentality, abandon confrontational politics, phase out dependence on the US-dollar, and craft a coherent policy to enhance trade, social and cultural exchange in tandem with the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter and in the spirit of the UNESCO Constitution[3].

True enough, US and NATO provocations and war-mongering are not likely to disappear anytime soon. In fact, judging by what we read in the mainstream media, there is a surge in bellicose rhetoric in the West and a real danger that continued escalation will drive humanity to Apocalypse — in which case the UN Charter and the Kazan Declaration will not matter, because we will no longer inhabit planet Earth. Civilizations are not eternal. The Assyrian, Persian, Etruscan, Maya[4] civilizations all went under. We could wake up dead tomorrow – if we do not prevent a nuclear confrontation. As John Lennon sang, “War is over – if you want it”.[5]

While tensions will persist for years, the very existence of BRICS and the future-oriented Kazan Summit offer an alternative to Western nihilism. BRICS has just added 13 new members, and there are dozens more who want to join. This is eloquent proof that the world is changing and will continue to evolve away from US hegemonic fantasies. Indeed, BRICS is far more representative of global realities than the EU or the G-7. The thirteen new members are Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam – a panorama that encompasses all continents.

Unlike the UN Summit of the Future and Pact for the Future[6] of 20-22 September 2024, the Kazan Declaration with its 134 paragraphs constitutes a major step in the development of a multipolar world order and a reaffirmation of the will of the Global Majority to strengthen international peace and security through multilateralism. A return to the principles and purposes of the UN is possible when enough states commit to resolve all differences through diplomacy and exercise good faith instead of continuing to practice a “culture of cheating”[7]. ..."
More on CounterPunch.
Get De Zayas' books here: https://www.claritypress.com/book-author/alfred-de-zayas/

29/10/2024

Alastair Crooke : Israel’s Preference For Self-Destruction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txkNk76E3SI
KEY analysis of Israel's aborted strike against Iran /
It was supposed to lead off with the destruction of the air defenses of Iran and of Iraq and Syria on the way so that then the second and third waves could come in with conventional weapons to destroy the Iranian targets...But those second and third waves never happened. Suddenly the Israelis stopped. They discovered they were being locked on to by another missile defense system and were frightened...

Much more there; apologies for fragmentary capture from transcript.

Get The Fall of Israel here: https://www.claritypress.com/product/the-fall-of-israel/

27/10/2024

EUROPE: LIVING IN A BANKSTA'S PARADISE by Alex Krainer
"European Union’s eventual collapse is a certainty - it has been for a very long time. It’s been rigged for demolition through its financial architecture which institutionalizes a system of governance that’s typical of all historical eras where moneylending oligarchies gained the control of the political system. The predictable result of all this is that European economies are floundering: their entrepreneurial dynamism and competitiveness is being systematically suffocated and slowly consumed by the parasitic leech hidden behind the EU bureaucratic institutions. For the ordinary people and businesses, this system is driving a steady, inexorable descent into poverty.

European Stability Mechanism
One of the main components of Europe’s pathological financial architecture is the European Stability Mechanism (ESM): Eurozone’s permanent bailout fund. The ESM is not exactly a household name, but you can really think of it as a monstrous vampire leech attached to Europe’s economy.

The treaty establishing the ESM is an astonishing legal concoction which established a limitless, institutional conveyor belt of bailout funds from the European taxpayer, ultimately to the banking cartel. ESM’s capital was supposedly limited to €500 million (in some documents it says €700 million), but the Treaty sets no limits on the obligations imposed on European taxpayers, no room for negotiation, no legal recourse.

As drafted, the ESM Treaty was a violation of the EU Treaty (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union) as well as constitutions and/or laws of EU member states as it restricts each member nation’s fiscal sovereignty. Ratifying it necessitated a dismayingly convoluted process of amending the EU treaty and circumventing member states’ domestic laws.

It came to an initial vote in January 2012 when it was passed without barely a mention in the press. The ESM became operational in October 2012 even though it was never fully ratified by all member states. Here are some of the Treaty's provisions:

Article 8: the Treaty does not limit the fund capital to its authorized capital (€500 or €700 billion), but to its issue value which is up to the ESM’s board of governors to decide.

Article 9: "ESM members hereby irrevocably and unconditionally undertake to pay on demand any capital call made on them... within seven days of receipt."

Article 19: ESM governors may extend the scope of the ESM’s operations. ESM may borrow funds to bail out insolvent Eurozone banks in capital markets, without approval by national parliaments.

Article 21: ESM can borrow funds from banks or other persons or institutions without any limits. ESM member nations shall guarantee and be liable for the repayment of these sums.

Article 25: if one or more ESM members fail to meet their obligations, the other members are liable for the shortfall in proportion to their share of the fund capital.

Article 30: "Governors, ... and staff members shall be immune from legal proceedings with respect to acts performed by them in their official capacity and shall enjoy inviolability in respect of their official papers and documents."

Article 32: The ESM, its property, funding, and assets... shall enjoy immunity from every form of judicial process ... the ESM shall... be immune from search, requisition, confiscation, expropriation, or any form of seizure... by executive, judicial, administrative or legislative action." This article further stipulates that ESM shall be exempted from the legal requirement in any of the ESM member nations’ legal requirement to be authorized or licensed as a credit institution.

Article 34: all ESM officials, governors and directors are to observe absolute professional secrecy in relation to any matter relating to the ESM.

Article 35: directors and governors will enjoy full legal immunity beyond their time in office and in both international law and that of the EU member states.

If we boil down the legal language of the ESM Treaty, we have an unelected, supra-national body that can allocate unlimited bailout funds, ultimately to the benefit of Eurozone’s failing banks, at their discretion and in perpetuity...."
More here: https://alexkrainer.substack.com/p/eu-living-in-the-bankstas-paradise?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1063805&post_id=150794558&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=ba0zd&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

More on the Money Powers here: https://www.claritypress.com/product/why-the-west-cant-win-from-bretton-woods-to-a-multipolar-world/

25/10/2024

What Has Israel Achieved In The Last Year?
List of 29 failures!
by Arhbungleon Moon of Alabama website
1. Israel has essentially lost territory in the north of Occupied Palestine. Hezbollah's rocket barrages over the last eleven months has driven the settler population out of the North. This is likely permanent. Israel's settler population in the Gaza envelope has also been thinned out since the 7 October attacks.
Moreover, current ongoing attacks from Yemen, Iraq, Iran and Lebanon are depopulating Israel.
2. The Houthi have put an unbreakable chokehold on the Red Sea and all Red Sea shipping. There is no way to break this chokehold. The USN and all other Western navies have tried for almost 12 months and failed utterly.
Attempts to conduct strikes on the Houthi, including massive strikes on core infrastructure in Hodeida have yielded ZERO results over a period of almost a year. The Israelis are to thank for this achievement.
3. The cementing of Hezbollah as the primary military force in Lebanon: Hezbollah's Radwan forces have proven capable of protecting Lebanon's southern borders with Palestine. All attempts by the IDF and their supporting American Special Forces to take control of this area and drive the Radwan forces back have failed.
4. The ensured survival of Hamas: Hamas in the Gaza strip persists after almost a year. For months they've demonstrated ability to strike IDF forces daily, destroying IDF ground equipment and troops. This is true, even if incremental in nature. Hamas is still able to launch rockets on the Gaza envelope.
This means their rocket manufacturing facilities are still functional. Hamas has demonstrated staying power and resilience. Compared to Fatah in the West Bank, Hamas has demonstrated an ability and willingness to actualize the Palestinian desire for self determination.
Due to Israel's excessive response to 7 October, Fatah has been permanently sidelined. Hamas will forever be known as the true face of Palestinian resistance.
5. The validation of Hezbollah's resilience: Despite eliminating one (1) component of the Hezbollah leadership, Hezbollah has reconstituted its leadership structure. It's most senior leadership council, the Shura is still intact.
Despite a technically brilliant infiltration of the communications infrastructure supply chain by Israel and after a massive air strike involving rarely used bunker buster missiles, Israel has failed to dent the combat capability or even morale of Hezbollah.
6. Hezbollah has established, for the first time in history, a buffer zone cleared of Israelis within the held territory of 'Israel' (Occupied Palestine).
7. Recent and previous strikes carried out by the IRGC on Tel Aviv showed the failure of the Iron Dome and the failure of ALL Israel's air defense systems. David's Sling. Arrow. Patriot. Moreover, the air defense systems of Israel's satraps (Jordan) were also proven to fail. Further, the interception systems of the USN were proven to be inadequate.
This has massive implications for war-gaming a conflict between the US and Iran. It means that the US will have to consider the fact that regardless of what it may inflict on Iran, it will not be able to shield anyone and itself against a concurrent Iranian retaliation.
Moreover, the US must now acknowledge that Iran has the ability to destroy it's carrier groups.
Marine power projection is therefore no longer of any use in the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean, Red Sea, Gulf of Oman ... It must now recalculate all it's previous attack plans.
8. The hardening of Hezbollah positions in the South of Lebanon: Despite the spectacular and tragic strikes Israel has carried out on Beirut the essential damage is limited to civilian blocks and civilian villages in the south. It appears that very little of Israel's considerable air firepower has harmed Hezbollah itself. Hezbollah not only remains lodged there but the creation of rubble and destruction has provided them future cover and shelter.
The net effect of these strikes has been to galvanize Hezbollah's fighters, drive Hezbollah recruitment, set world opinion firmly against Israel. The global environment for Israelis, Zionists and sadly, even non-Zionist Jews has been polluted on account of Netanyahu's actions in Beirut.
On the other side of the equation, the IDF has wasted substantial amounts of materiel on killing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure. Infrastructure which has nothing to do with the threat posed by Hezbollah.
While the US has put its entire arsenal at Israel's disposal these materials are far from infinite and will run out soon - or become so expensive that it begins place further pressures on the U.S economy and logistics chains.
9. The US' ongoing Iraq Occupation is coming apart at the seams: Despite the US presence in Iraq, it is demonstrably unable to exert any influence on the Iraqi resistance movements there, who launch increasingly sophisticated missile and drone attacks from Iraqi territory under the noses of US garrisons.
In addition, the behavior of Israel has stimulated anti-US activity in Iraq and will shortly result in a violent ejection of U.S forces from that country regardless of the current puppet government's attempts to retain the U.S presence. It may take years to complete but the ejection of American forces from Iraq is all but assured now that the Hashds have demonstrated the ability to use substantial lethal force.
10. The Syrian occupation is coming apart at the seams: Strikes against U.S bases in Syria have become a weekly occurrence now. The resistance movements in Syria have shown that they have the capability to put American bases under constant pressure. The U.S will shortly lose it's comfortable perch on the Conoco oil fields in Syria and with it, control of the spigot to the various anti-government militant movements in the region ... and with that, control of Syria. Turkey and Russia have become confident to bomb ISIS and Kurdish proxies in Syria.
In short, Israel's needless bloodlust has imperiled the US' ongoing occupation of the entire Middle East.
11. Israel has destabilized Jordan. Iran has pushed Jordan (and others) into showing their cards at the middle eastern poker table. The government of Jordan has been exposed as a completely controlled satrap of Israel. Its national interests are completely subordinate to Israel and the USA above and beyond the interests of Jordanian people.
This begins the countdown to the end of the regime of King Abdullah of Jordan and his administration.
MORE at Moon of Alabama website

Get THE FALL OF ISRAEL: The Degradation of Israel’s Politics, Economy & Military here: https://www.claritypress.com/product/the-fall-of-israel/

25/10/2024

SOME COMMENTS RE STEINBOCK INTERVIEW / Book /THE FALL OF ISRAEL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzsA5IRoppU

13 hours ago
A very good history lesson, thanks dr Steinbock.
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12 hours ago
GREAT INTERVIEW! Full of clear-eyed insights.
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1 reply
l.freedom5397
11 hours ago
Thank you Nima 👏👏👏
I’ve never listened to Dr Steinbock before..
Brilliant historical references which help understand today’s crisis. Brilliant conversation 😉
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10 hours ago
Excellent Nima to bring truth to this sad world!
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10 hours ago
Excellent Nima such interesting programmes ALWAYS and guests. Thank you keep the good work 👍
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12 hours ago
Absolutely phenomenal guest Nima.
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10 hours ago
Dr. Steinbock is able to handle the many factors involved in the problem of Israel's history, economy, aggression, and expansion with ease. I appreciate the clear picture he weaves together.
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13 hours ago
THE WEST's MORAL FREE-FALL!
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12 hours ago
A most illuminating conversation. Many thanks to the author, and to Nima the host for inviting Mr Steinbock to the show. I hope we may hear from him again ( tho it is a sad story he tells, at least, so far).
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12 hours ago
I do not know who is this Dr Dan Steinbock, but he does seem to have a clear-eyed view of the history and play of history in the making. I'd like to see a conversation between this gentleman and Dr Richard Wolff.
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4 hours ago
Thank you for this excellent interview, actually more like a lecture - very interesting and highly informative. What I like most, dear Nima, is the fact that you don't have the need to put yourself in scene like so many other journalists and hosts. It shows how self-confident you are and how polite that you let your guests speak and finish their line of thoughts without constantly interrupting them! I guess this is part of the reason that you get such excellent and high-level guests. Thanks a lot!!
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11 hours ago
Great discussion Nima!! One of the best podcast on geopolitics out there today!! Always amazing and informative discussion ❤️🙏
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GET THE BOOK: https://www.claritypress.com/product/the-fall-of-israel/

25/10/2024

Patrick Lawrence: Harris Comes Out of the Closet on Israel
amala Harris has had her fun with all those “progressive” voters, in and at the edge of the Democratic Party, who were much taken—or taken in, better put—as the vice president played the empathy card in her many statements of concern for the fate of the Palestinians of Gaza. Let us be clear, to borrow one of Harris’s favorite locutions: If she wins on Nov. 5 and a Harris administration comes to be next Jan. 20, there will be no deviation whatsoever from the Biden regime’s limitless, unconditional support for Zionist Israel’s expanding campaigns of terror in West Asia.

We know this now, after months of Harris’s “strategic vagueness”—how artful this New York Times phrase, an apologia for political deviousness in two words—because The Times has just published a remarkable piece of “news analysis” making it clear indeed that Harris’s campaign-trail talk “should not be confused with any willingness to break from U.S. foreign policy toward Israel as a presidential candidate.”

Wow. My mind tumbled instantly back to the leaked transcript of that six-figure speech Hillary Clinton gave to a roomful of Wall Streeters during her 2016 campaign. I say one thing to the great broad masses out on the hustings, she told the assembled financiers, but pay no attention. I’m telling you here that we’re in this together.

Ah yes, politics in the land where all is artifice and nothing need be sincere.

If this news meant merely more of the same it would be grim enough, given the spectacle of Israeli savagery that confronts us daily. But in my read the Harris people have put us on notice that the U.S., should she emerge the victor in a few weeks, will back Israel as unequivocally, as it does now, while the Zionist regime continues to ignore international law and escalate across the region..."
scheerpost. com/2024/10/24/patrick-lawrence-harris-comes-out-of-the-closet-on-israel/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzsA5IRoppU

23/10/2024

from PRISON RADIO
[email protected]

On September 15th, 2024, a tragic, horrifying event took place at Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison—an event that highlights the unbearable conditions incarcerated individuals face every day. In a recent radio essay, Kevin Rashid Johnson reports that Econ, and his cellmate Trayvon Brown set themselves on fire, hoping to escape the intolerable racism, abuse, and inhumane conditions they were subjected to. Econ suffered third-degree burns; his cellmate’s injuries were even worse.

These are not isolated acts. In a span of just two weeks, a dozen Black men at Red Onion took the same desperate measures, setting themselves ablaze. These are not acts of protest. These are human beings driven to extreme lengths, simply hoping for relief from their torment.

Kevin Rashid Johnson, a revolutionary activist incarcerated at Red Onion, has reported on these horrific incidents, exposing the extreme cruelty and hopelessness that defines life inside the prison. Rashid is no stranger to the injustices of the system. Born on October 3, 1971, in Richmond, Virginia, Kevin "Rashid" Johnson is a founding member of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party, and later the Revolutionary Intercommunal Black Panther Party. He has spent decades fighting for the rights of incarcerated individuals, all while enduring life behind bars himself, after being convicted of murder in 1990—a crime he maintains he did not commit.

Prison Radio is the platform that makes it possible for Rashid’s voice—and the voices of countless others trapped in America’s prison system—to be heard.
https://form-renderer-app.donorperfect.io/give/redwood-justice-fund/pr-2023-e-blast-copy-2

22/10/2024

TJE QIONCY INSTITUTE INTERVIEWS GLENN DIESEN:
The response of most of the international community to the Ukraine War has illustrated the greatly weakened ability of the US, and the West in general, to shape the policies of states around the world. Global economic architecture is being reorganized as the world diversifies away from excessive reliance on Western technologies, industries, transportation corridors, banks, payment systems, insurance systems, and currencies. A multipolar system is coming back into existence, though its future contours are unclear. Dr. Glenn Diesen is a leading analyst of these global trends. He was joined by Anatol Lieven, director of the Eurasia program at the Quincy Institute and Artin DerSimonian, junior research fellow at the Quincy Institute. They discussed Dr. Diesen's just-published book, The Ukraine War and the Eurasian World Order (Clarity Press 2024).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ZNUNMxoYNkY&fbclid=IwY2xjawGEZFdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHSw0kXthYkXsmUadVG7ByIP-6ICRikUXrx_j3gwby9hrK5Kr70I0G7ilmw_aem__wYV8uUnuw4L-Zjr8hBgOw

GET THE BOOK HERE: https://www.claritypress.com/product/the-ukraine-war-the-eurasian-world-order/

19/10/2024

Q&A with Dr Steinbock on The Fall of Israel
ht tp/worldfinancialreview.com/qa-with-dr-steinbock-on-the-fall-of-israel/
Dr Steinbock’s new book The Fall of Israel is a stunning look at the longstanding forces undermining the state of Israel and the lives of Palestinians, while fostering genocidal atrocities and regional escalation. His interview offers revealing insights about the ongoing catastrophe.

The path to the obliteration of Gaza was paved by a confluence of a set of longstanding forces; the subject of Dr Dan Steinbock’s new book, The Fall of Israel

The book comes with high-level endorsements. “The Fall of Israel does an outstanding job explaining the causes and the evolution of the disastrous path that Israel is on,” says Prof. John Mearsheimer, the leading proponent of realism in international relations.

In addition to Mearsheimer, the book is endorsed by Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is concerned of US complicity urging “those of us who believe in the rule of law and democracy to read this book. Our current national path leads us straight to hell.“

Their views are seconded by Ilan Pappe, Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies; Prof. Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Princeton’s Middle East Security and Nuclear Policy Specialist; Jonathan Kuttab, the-founder of Al-Haq for Palestinian human rights; Alfred-Maurice de Zays, UN expert on Democratic and Equitable International Order; and Erkki Tuomioja and Mogens Lykketoft who were among a group of former European foreign ministers charging Israel for being an “apartheid state.”

What makes The Fall of Israel unique is its broad scope. What makes it unsettling is its stubborn quest for verifiable truth, even if it is complex and nuanced. The book connects the dots among the lethal headwinds in the Middle East. We sat down with Dr Steinbock to learn more.

The great conjuncture
Question (Q): In The Fall of Israel, you argue that the forces of the great conjuncture are the key to understand the Israel/Palestine catastrophe. What do you mean by the term? ..."

AVAILABLE NOW DIRECTLY FROM CLARITY PRESS: https://www.claritypress.com/product/the-fall-of-israel/

Explore Dr. Steinbock's insights on the fall of Israel in this in-depth Q&A. Discover the key geopolitical factors, historical context, and economic impacts that have shaped the nation's challenges and future prospects. Learn what lies ahead for Israel.

18/10/2024

Impossible Dream Realized: Media Falls Below Congress in Trust Survey
Gallup's annual confidence survey shows 68% of Americans will not relieve themselves on a journalist in flames
by Matt Taibbi
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Impossible Dream Realized: Media Falls Below Congress in Trust Survey
Gallup's annual confidence survey shows 68% of Americans will not relieve themselves on a journalist in flames
Matt Taibbi
Oct 17
∙
Preview


READ IN APP


The just-released results from Gallup’s Trust in Media Survey leave no doubt that members of my profession are officially America’s lowest life form. Gallup asked:

In general, how much trust and confidence do you have in the mass media — such as newspapers, T.V. and radio — when it comes to reporting the news fully, accurately, and fairly — a great deal, a fair amount, not very much, or none at all?

A great deal 7

Fair amount 25

Not very much 29

None at all 39

The Great Deal/Fair Amount number of 32% merely ties Gallup’s lowest-ever number, first recorded in 2016. The more shocking result is the combined Not much (29%) and None at all (39!) number of 68%. That is one point lower than the 67% figure posted by the usual standard-setter for mistrust: “The legislative branch, consisting of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.” It’s really not that close, as most distrust of Congress is of the softer, “Not very much” variety (44%), while the press laps elected counterparts by 15 points (39%-24%) in the far more hardcore None at all category...."

Get Patrick Lawrence's book here: https://www.claritypress.com/product/journalists-and-their-shadows/

15/10/2024

My sister was the 166th doctor to be murdered in Gaza
Ramzy Baroud
"...At one point, it felt that all of Soma’s suffering was finally paying off: a nice family home in Khan Yunis, with a small olive orchard, and a few palm trees; a loving husband, a professor of law and eventually the dean of law school at a reputable Gaza university; three daughters and two sons, whose educational specialties ranged from dentistry to pharmacy, to law to engineering.

Even under siege, life — at least for Soma and her family — seemed manageable. True, she was not allowed to leave the Strip for many years due to the blockade, and thus we were denied the chance to see her for years on end. True, she was tormented by loneliness and seclusion, hence her love affair with and constant citation of García Márquez’s seminal novel. But at least her husband was not killed or missing. Her beautiful house and clinic were still standing. And she was living and breathing, communicating her philosophical nuggets about life, death, memories and hope. And then…

“If I could only find the remains of Hamdi, so that we can give him a proper burial,” she wrote to me last January, when the news circulated that her husband had been executed by an Israeli quadcopter in Khan Yunis. Because his body was missing, she held on to some faint hope that he was still alive. Her boys, on the other hand, kept digging in the wreckage and debris of the area where Hamdi was shot, hoping to find him and give him a proper burial. They would often be attacked by Israeli drones in the process of trying to unearth their father’s body. They would run away, and return with their shovels to carry on with the grim task.

To maximise their chances of survival, my sister’s family decided to split up between displacement camps and other family homes in southern Gaza. This meant that Soma had to be in a constant state of moving, travelling, often long distances on foot, between towns, villages and refugee camps, just to check on her children, following every incursion, and every massacre.

“I am exhausted,” she kept telling me. “All I want from life is for this war to end, for cosy new pyjamas, my favourite book, and a comfortable bed.”

These simple and reasonable expectations looked like a mirage, especially when her home in the Qarara area, in Khan Yunis, was demolished by the Israeli army last month. “My heart aches,” she wrote. “Everything is gone. Three decades of life, of memories, of achievement, all turned into rubble.”

She pointed out that this is not a story about stones and concrete. “It is much bigger. It is a story that cannot be fully told, however long I write or speak. Seven souls had lived here. We ate, drank, laughed, quarrelled, and despite all the challenges of living in Gaza, we managed to carve out a happy life for our family.”

READ: South Africa President urges world to pressure Israel to stop attacks in Gaza, Lebanon

A few days before she was killed, she told me that she had been sleeping in a half-destroyed building belonging to her neighbours in Qarara. She sent me a photo taken by her son, as she sat on a makeshift chair, on which she also slept amidst the ruins. She looked tired, so very tired.

There was nothing I could say or do to convince her to leave. She insisted that she wanted to keep an eye on the rubble of what remained of her home. Her logic made no sense to me. I pleaded with her to leave. She ignored me, and instead kept sending me photos of what she had salvaged from the rubble, an old photo, a small olive tree, a birth certificate…

My last message to her, hours before she was killed, was a promise that when the war is over, I would do everything in my power to compensate her for all of this. That the whole family would meet in Egypt, or Turkiye, and that we would shower her with gifts, and boundless family love. I finished with, “Let’s start planning now. Whatever you want. You just say it. Awaiting your instructions…” She never saw the message.

Even when her name, as yet another casualty of the Israeli genocide in Gaza was mentioned in local Palestinian news, I refused to believe it. I continued to call. “Please pick up, Soma, please pick up,” I pleaded.

Only when a video emerged of white body bags arriving at Nasser Hospital in the back of an ambulance did I think that maybe my sister was indeed gone."...
Read the entire article on Middle East Monitor

Get Ramzy Baroud's books here: https://www.claritypress.com/book-author/ramzy-baroud/