International
Bowen: Israeli settlers intensify campaign to drive out West Bank Palestinians
Bowen: Israeli settlers intensify campaign to drive out West Bank Palestinians
Meir Simcha agreed to talk, but he wanted to do it somewhere special, because for him, this is a special time. In a place where nation, religion and war are linked inextricably with politics and the possession of land, Simcha chose a patch of shade under a fig tree next to a spring of fresh water.
From his dusty car, a small Toyota fitted with off road tyres, he produced a bottle of juice made from fruit and vegetables.
“Don’t worry, there’s no extra sugar,” he said as he poured it into plastic cups.
Simcha is the leader of a group of Jewish settlers steadily transforming a big stretch of the rolling terrain south of Hebron in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since it was captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
He moved two large flat stones into the shade as seats, and we sat down in a patch of lush grass, kept alive in the harsh summer heat by water dripping from a pipe coming out of the spring. It was a small oasis at the foot of a steep, arid, rocky slope and the location, if not our conversation, felt peaceful in a way that the West Bank rarely does these days.
The conflict between Arabs and Jews for control of the land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea started well over a century ago when Zionists from Europe began to buy land to set up communities in Palestine.
It has been shaped by significant turning points.
The latest has come from the deadly 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas and Israel’s devastating response.
The consequences of the last 22 months of war, and however more months are left before a ceasefire, threaten to spread across years and generations, just like the Middle East war in 1967, when Israel captured Gaza from Egypt and East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan.
The scale of destruction and killing in the Gaza war obscures what is happening in the West Bank, which smoulders with tension and violence.
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Since October 2023, Israel’s pressure on West Bank Palestinians has increased sharply, justified as legitimate security measures.
Evidence based on statements by ministers, influential local leaders like Simcha and accounts by witnesses on the ground reveal that the pressure is part of a wider agenda, to accelerate the spread of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories and to extinguish any lingering hopes of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Palestinians and human rights groups also accuse the Israeli security forces of failing in their legal duty as occupiers to protect Palestinians as well as their own citizens – not just turning a blind eye to settler attacks, but even joining in.
Violence by ultra-nationalist Jewish settlers in the West Bank has risen sharply since 7 October 2023.
Ocha, the UN’s humanitarian office, estimates an average of four settler attacks every day.
The International Court of Justice has issued an advisory opinion that the entire occupation of Palestinian territory captured in 1967 is illegal.
Israel’s rejects the ICJ’s view and claims that the Geneva Conventions forbidding settlement in occupied territories do not apply – a view disputed by many of its own allies as well as international lawyers.
In the shade of the fig tree, Simcha denied all suggestions he had attacked Palestinians, as he celebrated the fact that most of the Arab farmers who used to graze their animals on the hills he has seized and tend their olives in the valleys had gone.
He looks back to the Hamas October attacks, and Israel’s response ever since, as a turning point.
“I think that a lot has changed, that the enemy in our land lost hope. He’s beginning to understand that he’s on his way out; that’s what has changed in the last year or year and a half.
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“Today you can walk around here in the land in the desert, and nobody will jump on you and try to kill you. There are still attempts to oppose our presence here in this land, but the enemy is starting to understand this slowly. They have no future here.
“The reality has changed. I ask you and the people of the world, why are you so interested in those Palestinians so much? Why do you care about them? It’s just another small nation.
“The Palestinians don’t interest me. I care about my people.”
Simcha says the Palestinians who left villages and farms near the hilltops he has claimed simply realised that God intended the land for Jews, not for them.
On 24 July this year, a panel of UN experts came to a different conclusion. A statement issued by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said: “We are deeply troubled by alleged widespread intimidation, violence, land dispossession, destruction of livelihoods and the resulting forcible displacement of communities, and we fear this is severing Palestinians from their land and undermining their food security.
“The alleged acts of violence, destruction of property, and denial of access to land and resources appear to constitute a systemic pattern of human rights violations.”
Simcha has a plan to dig a swimming pool at the base of the spring where we sat to talk. Like many others who are leading the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, he is full of plans. When I met him first, not long after Hamas burst through Israel’s border defences on 7 October 2023, he lived in a small group of isolated caravans on a hilltop overlooking the Judean desert as it sweeps down to the Dead Sea.
Since then, Simcha says his community has expanded into around 200 people on three hilltops. He was part of the faction of the settler movement known as hilltop youth, a radical fringe that became notorious for the violent harassment of Palestinians. Most Israelis who have settled in the occupied territories are not like Simcha. They went there not for ideological and religious reasons, but because property was cheaper.
But now men like Simcha are at the centre of events, with their leaders in the cabinet, leading the charge, married, older, thinking not just about swimming pools for their children but of victory over the Palestinians, once and for all, and everlasting Jewish possession of the land.
Simcha comes across as a happy man. He believes his mission – to implement the will of God by turning the West Bank into a land for Jews, and not for Palestinians – is progressing nicely.
Bowen: Israeli settlers intensify campaign to drive out West Bank Palestinians
International
Indonesia Flood Disaster: Death Toll Exceeds 900 as Search for Hundreds Continues
Indonesia Flood Disaster: Death Toll Exceeds 900 as Search for Hundreds Continues
The death toll from the catastrophic Indonesia floods has risen to more than 900, with hundreds still missing as rescuers struggle to reach communities cut off by last week’s rare and powerful cyclone over the Malaca Strait. The storm unleashed torrential rain and severe landslides, destroying over 100,000 homes across multiple regions.
Authorities say relief efforts remain extremely challenging, with aid being air-dropped into isolated areas where roads and bridges have been washed away. The deadly floods form part of a chain of recent extreme weather disasters across Asia, bringing the combined regional death toll — including in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam — close to 2,000.
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In Aceh Tamiang, among the worst-hit districts, survivors described entire villages being swept away by surging waters. Residents of Lintang Bawah Village told the BBC Indonesian service that many families survived only by taking refuge on rooftops.
Fitriana, a survivor, recounted how some villagers endured three days without food or water as they clung to their homes: “Ninety percent of the houses in our village were destroyed,” she said, leaving 300 families displaced.
Another survivor described fleeing twice — first from his own home as floodwaters reached the second floor, and then again from a nearby village inundated overnight:
“While we were sleeping, water soaked the mattresses. There was no higher ground. We survived by climbing to the second floor of my daughter-in-law’s house.”
Indonesian authorities continue emergency operations as hopes fade for those still unaccounted for. The government has pledged expanded humanitarian support as the scale of the disaster becomes clearer.
Indonesia Flood Disaster: Death Toll Exceeds 900 as Search for Hundreds Continues
BBC
International
Russia Intensifies Airstrikes on Ukraine as Zelensky, Trump Envoys Advance Peace Talks
Russia Intensifies Airstrikes on Ukraine as Zelensky, Trump Envoys Advance Peace Talks
Russia has intensified its overnight aerial attacks on Ukraine, striking multiple regions just hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky described his discussions with Donald Trump’s negotiating team as “very constructive.” The renewed assaults come amid a fresh push for a US-led peace framework aimed at ending the nearly three-year-old war.
The mayor of Kremenchuk, a key industrial city in central Ukraine, confirmed the area suffered a “massive combined strike”, damaging critical infrastructure and leaving residents without water, electricity, and heat. No fatalities have been reported so far.
Russia’s defence ministry claimed it intercepted 77 Ukrainian drones across several locations during the same period, underscoring the ongoing intensity of the conflict despite diplomatic efforts.
Zelensky said he is “determined” to continue working closely with the US after three days of detailed negotiations in Miami involving Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and the former US president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Talks focused heavily on ensuring Russia’s compliance with any future peace agreement.
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The US has been mediating a multi-point peace plan, though progress remains limited as Kyiv, Moscow, and European allies differ on key proposals. European leaders have pushed for additional security guarantees for Ukraine, including the possibility of a multinational peacekeeping force, an idea Russia has rejected.
French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Zelensky are set to meet in London on Monday to coordinate Europe’s position on the evolving peace framework. Macron reiterated France’s commitment to achieving de-escalation and a ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the US and Ukraine have jointly urged Moscow to demonstrate “a serious commitment to long-term peace.” The appeal came after Witkoff returned from Kremlin talks with Vladimir Putin, which ended without a breakthrough.
Ukraine’s new chief negotiator Rustem Umerov said he and Witkoff have “agreed on the framework of security arrangements” and discussed deterrence measures needed to secure a durable peace.
The latest wave of Russian airstrikes — following a wider barrage a day earlier condemned by European leaders — underscores the gulf between diplomatic negotiations and realities on the ground as the war grinds on.
Russia Intensifies Airstrikes on Ukraine as Zelensky, Trump Envoys Advance Peace Talks
BBC
International
25 Dead in Goa Nightclub Fire After Suspected Gas Explosion in Arpora
25 Dead in Goa Nightclub Fire After Suspected Gas Explosion in Arpora
A devastating inferno at a popular nightclub in Goa has left 25 people dead, with authorities confirming that most of the victims were employees of the establishment located in Arpora, North Goa. Several tourists are also among the casualties.
Officials say the blaze, which erupted around midnight on Saturday, was triggered by a suspected gas cylinder explosion in the club’s kitchen. The fire quickly tore through the premises, leading to scenes of panic in the bustling nightlife district.
Goa Director General of Police Alok Kumar confirmed that the fire was concentrated on the ground-floor kitchen area and has since been brought under control. Most bodies were recovered near the kitchen, reinforcing concerns that staff members bore the brunt of the tragedy.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant stated that three victims died from burn injuries, while others succumbed to suffocation. He also revealed that “three to four” tourists had been confirmed dead, though their identities and nationalities remain unknown.
According to The Indian Express, the incident occurred at Birch by Romeo Lane, a well-known club near Baga Beach, one of Goa’s busiest tourist hubs. The area is lined with nightlife venues that typically draw large crowds on weekends.
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Witnesses described chaotic moments as screams filled the air moments after the explosion. One bystander told the BBC: “It was a normal Saturday night. Suddenly there were screams, and then we realized a massive fire had broken out. The scenes were horrific.”
Fire crews worked through the night, combing through charred debris to determine the full extent of damage and finalize victim identification. The remains of burnt furniture and décor were visible at the site on Sunday morning, now sealed off by security officials.
Victims’ bodies have been transferred to Goa Medical College in Panaji, where identification is underway before notifying families.
Chief Minister Sawant has ordered a formal inquiry into the cause of the blaze, promising that “those found responsible will face the most stringent action.” He expressed “deep grief” and extended condolences to affected families.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the incident as “deeply saddening”.
Goa, a former Portuguese colony famed for its beaches, nightlife, and resorts, attracts millions of visitors annually. Government figures show 5.5 million tourists visited the state in the first half of the year, including 270,000 international travelers.
The tragedy adds to a growing list of fatal fires in entertainment venues across India, including recent incidents in Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Gujarat, often linked to poor safety standards and overcrowding.
25 Dead in Goa Nightclub Fire After Suspected Gas Explosion in Arpora
BBC
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