’We have nothing’: Iraqi protesters voice anger, hope

A woman holds an Iraqi flag as supporters of Iraqi populist leader Moqtada al-Sadr gather during a sit-in at the parliament building, amid political crisis in Baghdad, Iraq August 3, 2022. (Reuters)
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Updated 03 August 2022
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’We have nothing’: Iraqi protesters voice anger, hope

BAGHDAD: Thousands of Iraqi protesters have occupied the parliament in Baghdad’s Green Zone for the past five days, the latest political turmoil to strike the war-scarred country.
The mass sit-in is led by followers of powerful Shiite Muslim preacher and political kingmaker Moqtada Sadr, who is facing off against a rival, Iran-backed Shiite faction called the Coordination Framework.
The at times carnival-like protests have seen demonstrators repeat the Sadrist rhetoric but also express anger at a dysfunctional political system, poor public services and the weak economy of the oil-rich but corruption-plagued country.
Nearly two decades after a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, and 10 months on from the latest elections, the impasse has left Iraq without a new prime minister or president.
AFP spoke to four of the demonstrators, several of whom did not want to be fully identified, about why they have joined the mass protest camp.
Ali Mohammed Oklah, 43, left behind his wife and three children to drive for four hours from Iraq’s mostly Shiite south to the legislature in the usually ultra-secure Green Zone government district.
“I’m rebelling to free my country from the fangs of the corrupt,” said the Islamic studies high school teacher, who also wants Iraq to adopt a new constitution and a presidential system.
He spoke proudly of his movement — “we the Sadrists” — and its previous breaches of the Green Zone, prime minister’s office and legislative chamber.
“I’ve joined them all and I’m proud of it,” he said, stressing the “revolutionary ideology” of the camp around firebrand cleric Sadr who once led an anti-US militia and who has millions of devoted followers.
Oklah acknowledged “the difficulty of the struggle for reform” in Iraq.
But he stressed his conviction that Sadr enjoys “divine protection” and commands a “loyal popular base, which is like the arm with which he strikes at the dens of the corrupt.”
Leaning back in a chair inside the legislative chamber, Umm Ali, 47, has come to demonstrate with her husband, brothers and nephews.
She vowed they would stay “until the Sayyed tells us to withdraw,” using the honorary title of Sadr, whose black turban marks him as a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
A portrait of Moqtada sat in the lap of the mother of six girls and one boy.
“He is the only one with integrity,” said the woman, who lives in Baghdad’s working-class Sadr City district, named after the preacher’s late father who was a revered cleric.
Her goal, she said, is to “recover the country. The whole country has been stolen.”
She said her husband has been disabled since he was wounded in a 2009 bombing in Baghdad.
“He was a civil servant, he was just getting out of work,” she said. “Since then we have received no compensation.”
She said her son started working after primary school to help feed the family.
“There is no work for young people,” she said. “Even those with higher degrees become porters or day laborers. Is this what they deserve?“
Wearing shorts, flip-flops and sunglasses, Rassul Achour, 20, has used his three-wheeled motorcycle taxi to shuttle protesters in the blistering summer heat.
He charges only about 30 US cents for the tuk-tuk ride and says “it’s symbolic, just for the petrol.”
On a normal day his tuk-tuk earns him just over $10, just enough to scrape by with his wife and their one-year-old daughter.
Life is a struggle he said, with daily power cuts, potholed streets and a night-time tuk-tuk ban that makes his job harder.
Pointing to other young protesters, he said: “All these young people don’t have jobs. We want jobs.”
Achour said he would be ready for any job, even with the military: “Let them give me a job and send me anywhere, even to the border with Syria.”
Computer engineer Mustafa, 29, who studies French in his spare time, said he doesn’t belong to the Sadrist camp but came to protest anyway.
His primary allegiance is with the broad anti-government protest movement that exploded onto Iraq’s streets in late 2019 but petered out amid a bloody crackdown and the Covid pandemic.
Mustafa recalled that Sadrists had also rallied back then: “Half of the demonstrators were Sadr supporters, they had their tents and his portraits.”
Now he has come daily to the parliament protest, hoping it will “change the reality” of Iraq.
He vented his anger at the ruling class he blames for Iraq’s many unresolved woes.
“They have millions and billions, they have air conditioning, houses, villas abroad,” he said. “And we have nothing at all.”


World leaders urge aid, war’s end after Gaza deal

Updated 9 sec ago
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World leaders urge aid, war’s end after Gaza deal

PARIS: World figures hailed the announcement of a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas, urging them to stick to it and hurry aid to Gaza civilians.
Here is a roundup of reactions from official statements, broadcast remarks and online messages.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it was “imperative that this ceasefire removes the significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid across Gaza so that we can support a major increase in urgent life-saving humanitarian support.”
US President Joe Biden said he was “thrilled” that hostages would be freed and “confident” the deal would hold. “I’m deeply satisfied this day has... finally come,” he said in a televised statement.
Incoming US president Donald Trump vowed to “work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven.”
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said “both parties must fully implement this agreement, as a stepping stone toward lasting stability in the region.”
Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hoped the agreement “will be beneficial for our region and for all humanity, particularly for our Palestinian brothers, and that it will open the way to lasting peace and stability.”
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry stressed “the need to adhere to the agreement and stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza,” calling for “the complete withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces from the (Gaza) Strip and all other Palestinian and Arab territories and the return of the displaced to their areas.”
Brazil’s foreign ministry called on the parties to “respect the terms of the accord, to guarantee a permanent end to hostilities, the freeing of all hostages and the free entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
China’s foreign ministry spokesman said Beijing hoped “that relevant parties will take the ceasefire in Gaza as an opportunity to promote the easing of regional tensions.”
The president of neighboring Egypt, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, called for “the entry of urgent humanitarian aid” into Gaza. He said the deal followed “strenuous efforts” by Egypt, Qatar and the United States.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi called on world powers to ensure the “sufficient and durable” delivery of aid to Gaza.
Iraq’s foreign ministry stressed the “need to immediately allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories” and “intensify international efforts to rebuild” areas damaged during Israel’s Gaza offensive.
“Today, the world realized that the patience of the people of Gaza and the steadfastness of the Palestinian resistance forced the Zionist regime to retreat,” Iran supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, adding that Israel was “defeated.”
France’s President Emmanuel Macron said the agreement must be “respected” and followed by a “political solution.”
Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the deal “opens the door to a permanent end to the war and to the improvement of the poor humanitarian situation in Gaza” and must be “implemented to the letter.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called it “the long overdue news that the Israeli and Palestinian people have desperately been waiting for.” He urged steps for a “permanently better future... grounded in a two-state solution.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her country “expects that all the hostages can finally return to their families” and saw an “opportunity to significantly increase humanitarian assistance” to Gaza civilians. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called it an “important step toward peace.”
Pakistan’s foreign affairs ministry said it hoped the truce would lead to a permanent ceasefire and allow an increase of aid to Gaza and reaffirmed its support for a “just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the Palestinian question.”
UN rights chief Volker Turk said the deal promised “huge relief after so much unbearable pain and misery... and it is imperative that it now holds.” The chief of the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees Philippe Lazzarini called for “rapid, unhindered and uninterrupted humanitarian access and supplies to respond to the tremendous suffering caused by this war.”

Netanyahu says Cabinet won't meet over ceasefire until Hamas backs down from 'last minute crisis'

Updated 3 min 3 sec ago
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Netanyahu says Cabinet won't meet over ceasefire until Hamas backs down from 'last minute crisis'


Key negotiators who helped get a Gaza ceasefire deal

Updated 16 January 2025
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Key negotiators who helped get a Gaza ceasefire deal

  • Qatar, Egypt and the United States mediated the long-running efforts to halt the fighting in the ravaged Palestinian territory

DOHA: A ceasefire agreement in Gaza has been reached between Israel and Hamas after more than 15 months of war. The United States, Egypt and Qatar have mediated the long-running efforts to halt the fighting in the ravaged Palestinian territory, often coming close to a deal before a frustrating breakdown in negotiations.
The latest round of talks proved successful this week, with all sides bringing their top negotiators to the Qatari capital, Doha.
Here is a look at the key players who negotiated the deal:
David Barnea
The head of Israel’s spy agency headed up Israel’s negotiation team throughout the negotiation process.
Working alongside the head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency and top political and military advisers to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and meeting with the Biden administration, Barnea was the highest-profile member of the Israeli negotiating team — but kept his own proclivities private during the talks.
Ronen Bar
The head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency also has been involved in negotiations for months. Bar’s agency handles matters relating to Palestinian security prisoners, some of whom, under the agreed-upon deal, are set to be released by Israel in exchange for hostages.
Bar has led the agency since 2021. Just days after the devastating Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel that launched the war, he took responsibility for failing to thwart the militants. He said investigations into what happened would need to come after the war.
Khalil Al-Hayya
The acting head of Hamas’ political bureau and the militant group’s chief negotiator is based in Qatar but does not meet directly with Israeli or American officials, communicating instead through Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
His role increased in importance after Israeli soldiers killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip. Sinwar, the architect of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, was believed to be dictating the Hamas stance in negotiations up until his death.
But even before Sinwar’s death, Al-Hayya was managing affairs for the militant group. Al-Hayya, seen as less of a hard-liner than Sinwar, had served as Sinwar’s deputy and had managed ceasefire negotiations in 2014 as well.
He is a longtime official with the group and survived an Israeli airstrike that hit his home in Gaza in 2007, killing several of his family members.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani
Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister led his country’s pivotal mediation efforts in the stop-start negotiations. He has been a key communicator with Hamas throughout the process, as Israel and Hamas have not communicated directly.
The most consequential phase of negotiations — those that have occurred over the last few weeks — took place in Doha, his country’s capital.
Al Thani said the ceasefire would take effect Sunday.
Hassan Rashad
The director of Egypt’s General Intelligence Agency was also a liaison with Hamas throughout the talks.
Rashad took office in October 2024, replacing former chief intelligence official Abbas Kamel, who led the negotiations during the first ceasefire in November 2023.
Several rounds of negotiations have occurred in Cairo, and the mediators will move to the Egyptian capital Thursday for further talks on implementing the deal.
Brett McGurk
President Joe Biden’s top Middle East adviser has been putting together a draft of the deal from the discussions with the two sides as the lead negotiator in the Israel-Hamas negotiations.
McGurk has been a fixture in US Mideast policy for more than two decades in the National Security Council and White House under both Democratic and Republican administrations.
He’s shuttled frequently to the Middle East for talks with senior officials about the conflicts with Hamas and Hezbollah.
Steve Witkoff
President-elect Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East has met separately in recent weeks with Netanyahu and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, another key mediator.
Witkoff, a Florida real estate investor and co-chair of Trump’s inaugural committee, has kept in contact with Biden’s foreign policy team as the incoming Trump and outgoing Biden administrations coordinated on the deal.
 


A look at the Gaza ceasefire deal

Updated 16 January 2025
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A look at the Gaza ceasefire deal

DOHA: Key mediator Qatar said on Wednesday that 33 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza would be released in the first stage of a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the war in the Palestinian territory.
Two sources close to Hamas earlier told AFP that Israel would release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, while an Israeli government spokesman said hundreds would be released.
Below are the key details of the expected initial phase of the deal according to Qatari, US, Israeli and Palestinian officials and media reports:

Qatar said Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza starting on Sunday and a hostage and prisoner exchange after 15 months of war.
Thirty-three Israeli hostages will be released in the first, 42-day phase of the agreement that could become a “permanent ceasefire,” said Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani.
Those first released would be “civilian women and female recruits, as well as children, elderly people... civilian ill people and wounded,” he said.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said on Tuesday Israel was “prepared to pay a heavy price — in the hundreds” in exchange for the 33 hostages.

An anonymous Israeli official said “several hundred terrorists” would be freed in exchange for the hostages, with the final number depending on how many of the 33 hostages are alive.
Two sources close to Hamas told AFP that Israel would release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including those with “lengthy sentences.”
Sheikh Mohammed said the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for the Israeli hostages in the second and third phases would be “finalized” during the initial 42 days.
The 33 are among the 94 hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the ongoing war. The total includes 34 captives the Israeli military has declared dead.
According to the Times of Israel, Israeli officials believe the 33 hostages are alive, though confirmation from Hamas is pending.


Gaza humanitarian situation, by the numbers

  • At least 1.9 million people are displaced
  • 92 percent of housing units are destroyed
  • 68 percent of the road network is destroyed or damaged
  • There are “zero” fuel reserves to operate generators at hospitals
  • 88 percent of school buildings need rebuilding or major repairs
  • Food aid amounting to three months’ of rations for Gaza’s population are waiting to enter

During the initial, 42-day ceasefire Israeli forces will withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas to “allow for the swap of prisoners, as well as the swap of remains and the return of the displaced people,” Qatar’s prime minister said.
Negotiations for a second phase would commence on the “16th day” after the first phase’s implementation, an Israeli official said.
This phase would cover the release of the remaining captives, including “male soldiers, men of military age, and the bodies of slain hostages,” the Times of Israel reported.
Israeli media reported that under the proposed deal, Israel would maintain a buffer zone within Gaza during the first phase.
Israeli forces were expected to remain up to “800 meters inside Gaza stretching from Rafah in the south to Beit Hanun in the north,” according to a source close to Hamas.
Israeli forces would not fully withdraw from Gaza until “all hostages are returned,” the Israeli official said.
Haaretz newspaper reported that Israel would allow the movement of residents from southern Gaza to the north.
The source close to Hamas said Israeli forces would withdraw from the Netzarim corridor westward toward Salaheddin Road to the east, enabling displaced people to return through an electronic checkpoint equipped with cameras.
“No Israeli forces will be present, and Palestinian militants will be barred from passing through the checkpoint during the return of displaced persons,” he said.

Joint mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt will monitor the ceasefire deal through a body based in Cairo, Sheikh Mohammed said, urging “calm” in Gaza before the agreement comes into force.
There was “a clear mechanism to negotiate phase two and three,” Sheikh Mohammed added.
“We hope that this will be the last page of the war, and we hope that all parties will commit to implementing all the terms of this agreement,” Qatar’s prime minister said as he unveiled the deal.
Under the arrangements outlined by Qatar, the details of phases two and three will be “finalized” during the implementation of phase one.
US President Joe Biden said the as-yet unfinalized second phase would bring a “permanent end to the war.”
Biden said phase two would comprise an exchange for the release of remaining hostages who are still alive, including the male soldiers. Then all remaining Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza, the US president said.
 

 


Netanyahu says Gaza ceasefire is still not complete, hours after US and Qatar announce deal

Updated 16 January 2025
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Netanyahu says Gaza ceasefire is still not complete, hours after US and Qatar announce deal

  • ’Final details’ of Gaza deal being worked out, Netanyahu’s office says
  • Mediators will next head to Cairo for talks on implementing the ceasefire

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the ceasefire agreement with Hamas is still not complete and final details are being worked out.

“An official statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be issued only after the completion of the final details of the agreement, which are being worked on at present,” his office said in a statement released at midnight.

Netanyahu has not said explicitly whether he accepts the deal announced hours earlier by Qatar’s prime minister and President Joe Biden.

In a statement, Netanyahu said he would only issue a formal response “after the final details of the agreement, which are currently being worked on, are completed.”

Netanyahu’s statement comes hours after the United States and Qatar announced the deal, which would pause the devastating 15-month war in Gaza and clear the way for dozens of hostages to go home. The conflict has destabilized the Middle East and sparked worldwide protests.

Egyptian, Qatar and US negotiators will head to Cairo on Thursday for further talks on implementing all aspects of the ceasefire deal, according to a senior US official.

The official said the negotiators are focused on making sure expectations are clear to both Israel and Hamas, and that implementation of the agreement is carried out as smoothly as possible.

The official was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Gaza’s second-largest militant group after Hamas, hailed the ceasefire deal as “honorable.”

Hamas had needed the group’s support for the deal in order to avoid a potential disruption in the process.

“Today, our people and their resistance imposed an honorable agreement to stop the aggression,” Palestinian Islamic Jihad said in a statement.

The group said the deal between Israel and Hamas includes the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as well as an “honorable” prisoner exchange. It said that militant groups in Gaza “will remain vigilant to ensure the full implementation of this agreement.”

Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s fighters took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and have since been battling Israeli forces in Gaza.

 

 

Gazans celebrate

Large crowds of joyful Palestinians took to the streets in Gaza when the agreement was announced, cheering and honking car horns.

“No one can feel the feeling that we are experiencing now, an indescribable, indescribable feeling,” said Mahmoud Wadi in central Gaza’s Deir Al-Balah before joining a chanting crowd.

The Israel Hamas-war has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to health authorities there. The Health Ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians, but says women and children make up more than half the fatalities.

Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, when militants stormed into southern Israel and killed about 1,200 people and abducted around 250. A third of the 100 hostages still held in Gaza are believed to be dead.