Bangladeshis rally support in ‘moral obligation’ to stand with Palestine

Residents of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, take part in a vigil for Gaza on Nov. 10, 2023. (X: @PalestineEmbBD)
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Updated 21 November 2023
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Bangladeshis rally support in ‘moral obligation’ to stand with Palestine

  • People come to the Palestinian Embassy in Dhaka to donate all they can for Gaza
  • Palestinian ambassador calls support from ordinary Bangladeshi ‘overwhelming’

DHAKA: From children to the elderly, Bangladeshi citizens have been pooling their resources for people in Gaza in the wake of Israel’s attacks on the enclave, hoping their display of solidarity will show the Palestinians they are not alone.

From the beginning of the Israeli onslaught in early October, the Bangladeshi government has repeatedly denounced the bombardments of civilians and medical infrastructure in the besieged Gaza Strip, but it is the support of ordinary people that, for the Palestinian ambassador to Dhaka, shows the deep connection Bangladeshis have with his country.

“It means everything ... And that comes from their hearts, deep from their hearts,” Yousef Ramadan told Arab News.

The ambassador recalled how two children, a brother and sister, brought a tin box in which they had been saving money for three years to the embassy.

“They brought it all to me,” he said. “And they wrote a letter saying how they feel about the children of Palestine.”

It was not an isolated story as many people have over the past month traveled from villages to visit the embassy and donate whatever they can for assistance to Gaza, where Israeli attacks have brought unprecedented destruction.

“They travel from very far, from very far places, and then they come to donate. The poor people, the people who are in need of this money ... and yet they take it, and they prefer to give it to the Palestinian people,” the ambassador said, remembering a Bangladeshi man in his late 80s who came to the embassy in the first days of the Israeli aggression to donate the money he had been saving for Hajj.

“He preferred to give his savings to Palestine and not to go to Hajj ... He came with the money,” Ramadan said, adding he did not accept the donation, and that the intention alone was worth much more than the money.

“The Palestinian people, when they hear these stories, this makes them stronger,” he said. “This gives us a push, a positive push for the people of Palestine, that ‘you are not alone’ ... there are other brothers and sisters far away geographically, but in the heart, they are very close. It’s indescribable ... it’s overwhelming.”

Israeli forces are believed to have killed at least 13,000 Palestinians and wounded tens of thousands of others, who are no longer able to receive help as most medical facilities have been damaged and cut off from essential supplies.

Two-thirds of the dead are women and children, according to the UN, which has warned that as daily Israeli strikes continue to devastate the enclave, Gaza is becoming a “graveyard for children.”
Masuma Khatun, a schoolteacher in Dhaka and a mother of three, said: “The Gazans are now facing Hell on Earth due to ongoing Israeli attacks. Innocent children, women are losing their lives in indescribable suffering. I can’t look at the news nowadays, seeing the injured children lying on the floors of hospitals.

“We, the people of Bangladesh, always stand beside the Palestinians ... To us, the ongoing suffering of the innocent Gazans feels as if a part of our body was injured.”

Khatun told Arab News that every Bangladeshi understands the Palestinian struggle and resistance to Israeli occupation, as their own nation had fought a war of liberation against Pakistan, in which hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed in 1971.

When the country became independent, advocacy for Palestine officially became part of Bangladesh’s foreign policy.

“Our father of the nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, expressed solidarity with the Palestinians and stood by brothers and sisters of Palestine during the Non-Aligned Movement conference in 1973 in Algiers. In 1974, during the Lahore summit of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation), Rahman stood by the people of Palestine with a very strong voice,” said Prof. Mohammad Abdul Kadir of the Department of Arabic at the University of Dhaka.

“The people of Bangladesh always expressed their solidarity with Palestinians in every possible way ... It’s our duty to stand beside the Palestinians during this Israeli aggression.”

Many in Bangladesh see this duty as something far beyond politics.

“It’s a moral obligation for all Bangladeshi people, irrespective of religion, class, and caste to support and stand beside the Palestinians because they are fighting for justice,” said Salma Begum, a young entrepreneur in Dhaka.

“The Palestinians are indomitable ... they have been struggling for sovereignty and independence for many decades and they never give up. It’s a courageous nation. I salute them.”


Pro-Palestinian protesters take Israel sculptures from UK university

Updated 03 November 2024
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Pro-Palestinian protesters take Israel sculptures from UK university

LONDON: A pro-Palestinian group took two sculptures of Israel’s first president from a UK university in a protest marking the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, with police on Sunday confirming they were investigating reports of a burglary.
“Today, Palestine Action have marked 107 years since the Balfour Declaration, by taking two sculptures of Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann, from its display case at University of Manchester,” the protest group said in a press release.
Greater Manchester Police told AFP in a statement that it had received a report of a burglary at the north west England university at around 11.55pm (2355 GMT) on Friday.
The local Jewish Representative Council of GM & Region community group wrote on X that “overnight, criminals from Palestine Action broke into the University, smashed the case and stole the statue of Weizmann.
“We urge the authorities and Home Secretary to fully proscribe Palestine Action as it is essential they face the full force of the law,” it added.
In the Balfour Declaration, UK foreign minister Arthur Balfour spelled out plans to form “a national home for the Jewish people” in a 1917 letter to Walter Rothschild, a British politician and supporter of the idea of creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
The letter was endorsed and published by the government on Nov 2, 1917.
Palestine Action also sprayed the London office of charity Jewish National Fund (JNF) with red paint, and carried out a similar protest at the Britain Israel Communications and Research Center (BICOM) lobby group HQ in London.
It also collaborated with students from the University of Cambridge, where Balfour was educated, to spray the university’s Institute of Manufacturing and Senate House.


Grenade attack wounds several in Indian-administered Kashmir — police

Updated 03 November 2024
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Grenade attack wounds several in Indian-administered Kashmir — police

  • Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between rivals India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947
  • The region is home to a long-running insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and militants since 1989

SRINAGAR: Indian-administered Kashmir’s chief minister on Sunday condemned a “deeply disturbing” grenade attack on a busy market in the main city of Srinagar, which police and media reported left several wounded.

“A grenade attack on innocent shoppers at the ‘Sunday market’ in Srinagar is deeply disturbing,” Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said in a statement.

“There can be no justification for targeting innocent civilians.”

Abdullah did not say how many were wounded, but a senior police officer, who was not authorized to speak to journalists, said nine people were wounded, all civilians.

The Press Trust of India (PTI) showed dozens of armed police and soldiers cordoning off the area in the Himalayan city.

The Hindustan Times quoted Tasneem Showkat, a doctor at Srinagar’s SMHS Hospital, as saying at least eight injured had been taken for treatment.

“The injured include eight men and one woman,” Showkat said, the newspaper reported. “All are so far stable.”

Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between rivals India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947 and is home to a long-running insurgency.

At least 500,000 Indian troops are deployed in the territory, battling an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and separatist militants since 1989.

The grenade attack comes a day after Indian troops killed three suspected militants in two separate firefights.

In October, gunmen ambushed an army vehicle and killed five people, including three soldiers.

That came a week after seven people were shot dead near a construction site for a strategic road tunnel to Ladakh, a high-altitude Himalayan region bordering China.

New Delhi regularly blames Pakistan for arming militants and helping them launch attacks, an allegation Islamabad denies.

“The security apparatus must do everything possible to end this spurt of attacks at the earliest so that people can go about their lives without any fear,” Abdullah added.


Lahore primary schools shut over record pollution: Pakistan officials

Updated 03 November 2024
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Lahore primary schools shut over record pollution: Pakistan officials

LAHORE: Pakistan’s second city of Lahore will close primary schools for a week over record pollution, government authorities said Sunday, to avoid exposing millions of children to smog several times above levels deemed dangerous.
For days, the city of 14 million people has been enveloped by smog, a mix of fog and pollutants caused by low-grade diesel fumes, smoke from seasonal agricultural burning and winter cooling.
The air quality index, which measures a range of pollutants, exceeded 1,000 on Saturday — well above the level of 300 considered “dangerous” — according to data from IQAir. The Punjab government also recorded peaks of over 1,000 on Sunday, which it considered “unprecedented.”
“Weather forecast for the next six days shows that wind patterns will remain the same. Therefore we are closing all government and private primary schools in Lahore for a week,” Jahangir Anwar, a senior environmental protection official in Lahore told AFP.
“All the classes” for children up to the age of 10, “public, private & special education... shall remain closed for one week” from Monday until Saturday, read a local government decision seen by AFP.
The decision added that the situation will be assessed again next Saturday to determine whether to extend the school closure.
“This smog is very harmful for children. Masks should be mandatory in schools. We are keeping an eye on the health of children in senior classes,” Punjab senior minister Marriyum Aurangzeb told a news conference Sunday.
Smog counters have been established in hospitals, she added.
Breathing the toxic air has catastrophic health consequences, with the WHO saying strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory diseases can be triggered by prolonged exposure.


Spanish royals visit flood-hit region as fresh downpours loom

Updated 03 November 2024
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Spanish royals visit flood-hit region as fresh downpours loom

VALENCIA: Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia on Sunday just after midday arrived in the Valencia region where devastating floods have killed more than 200 people, television images showed.
The royals, accompanied by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, visited Paiporta — one of the worst affected towns — and are due to move on to Chiva, another battered town close to Valencia, later in the day.
Hopes of finding survivors ebbed five days after torrents of muddy water wrecked towns and infrastructure in Spain’s worst such disaster in decades.
Nearly all the deaths have been in the Valencia region, where thousands of security and emergency services frantically cleared debris and mud in the search for bodies.
Describing “the worst natural disaster in the recent history of our country,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said it was the second deadliest flood in Europe this century.
Sanchez was expected to accompany King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia as well as the Valencia region leader Carlos Mazon on a visit to the areas affected by the floods on Sunday, according to the premier’s office. The exact program of their visit has not yet been made public.
The monarchs’ visit comes as Spain’s meterological agency issued a fresh warning for heavy downpours in the Valencia region.
Up to 100 liters per square meter (22 gallons per square yard) of water could fall in the province of Castellon and the area surrounding the city of Valencia, the agency forecast.
It also sounded the alarm for torrential rain that may cause flooding in the southern province of Almeria, advising residents not to travel unless strictly necessary.
Restoring order and distributing aid to destroyed towns and villages — some of which have been cut off from food, water and power since Tuesday’s torrent — is a priority.
With Spain deploying an extra 10,000 troops, police and civil guards to the Valencia region, the country was carrying out its largest deployment of military and security force personnel in peacetime, Sanchez said.
Officers made around 20 arrests on Saturday evening for thievery and acts of looting, police said, with the authorities pledging to crack down on those taking advantage of the disaster to commit crimes.
Authorities — including Mazon — have come under fire over the warning systems before the floods, and some stricken residents have complained that the response to the disaster has been too slow.
“I am aware the response is not enough, there are problems and severe shortages... towns buried by mud, desperate people searching for their relatives... we have to improve,” Sanchez said.
In the ground-zero towns of Alfafar and Sedavi, AFP reporters saw no soldiers while residents shovelled mud from their homes and firefighters pumped water from garages and tunnels.
“Thank you to the people who have come to help us, to all of them, because from the authorities: nothing,” a furious Estrella Caceres, 66, told AFP in Sedavi.
In Chiva, a town west of Valencia which Spanish media reported may be visited by the monarchs, Danna Daniella said she had been cleaning her restaurant for three days straight and was still in shock.
“It feels like the end of the world,” the woman in her 30s said.
She said she was haunted by memories of the people trapped by the raging floodwaters “asking for help and there was nothing we could do.”
“It drives you crazy. You look for answers and you don’t find them.”
With telephone and transport networks severely damaged, establishing a precise figure of missing people is difficult.
Sanchez said electricity had been restored to 94 percent of homes affected by power outages and that around half of the cut telephone lines had been repaired.
Transport Minister Oscar Puente told El Pais daily that certain places would probably remain inaccessible by land for weeks.
Ordinary citizens carrying food, water and cleaning equipment have continued their grassroots initiative to assist the recovery, although authorities have urged people to stay at home to avoid congestion on the roads that would hamper the work of emergency services.
On Sunday, the Valencian government limited the number of volunteers authorized to travel to the city’s southern suburbs to 2,000 and restricted access to 12 localities.
The storm that sparked the floods on Tuesday formed as cold air moved over the warm waters of the Mediterranean and is common for this time of year.
But scientists warn climate change driven by human activity is increasing the ferocity, length and frequency of such extreme weather events.
Emergency services late on Saturday issued an updated toll of 213 people confirmed killed — 210 in the Valencia region, two in neighboring Castilla-La Mancha and one in Andalusia in the south.
Authorities have warned the toll could yet rise, as vehicles trapped in tunnels and underground car parks are cleared.


Grenade attack wounds several in Indian-run Kashmir: police

Updated 03 November 2024
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Grenade attack wounds several in Indian-run Kashmir: police

  • The Press Trust of India (PTI) showed dozens of armed police and soldiers cordoning off the area in the Himalayan city
  • At least 500,000 Indian troops are deployed in Kashmir, battling an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels since 1989

Srinagar: Indian-run Kashmir’s chief minister on Sunday condemned a “deeply disturbing” grenade attack on a busy market in the main city of Srinagar, which police and media reported left several wounded.
“A grenade attack on innocent shoppers at the ‘Sunday market’ in Srinagar is deeply disturbing,” Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said in a statement.
“There can be no justification for targeting innocent civilians.”
Abdullah did not say how many were wounded, but a senior police officer, who was not authorized to speak to journalists, said nine people were wounded, all civilians.
The Press Trust of India (PTI) showed dozens of armed police and soldiers cordoning off the area in the Himalayan city.
The Hindustan Times quoted Tasneem Showkat, a doctor at Srinagar’s SMHS Hospital, as saying at least eight injured had been taken for treatment.
“The injured include eight men and one woman,” Showkat said, the newspaper reported. “All are so far stable.”
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between rivals India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947 and is home to a long-running insurgency.
At least 500,000 Indian troops are deployed in Kashmir, battling an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels since 1989.
The grenade attack comes a day after Indian troops killed three suspected militants in two separate firefights.
In October, gunmen ambushed an army vehicle and killed five people, including three soldiers.
That came a week after seven people were shot dead near a construction site for a strategic road tunnel to Ladakh, a high-altitude Himalayan region bordering China.
New Delhi regularly blames Pakistan for arming militants and helping them launch attacks, an allegation Islamabad denies.
“The security apparatus must do everything possible to end this spurt of attacks at the earliest so that people can go about their lives without any fear,” Abdullah added.