The recognition of Palestine as a state by some major Western powers, including the  UK  and  France , has come so late that many would argue these nations also bear some responsibilities for the thousands of preventable deaths that have occurred in Gaza. Yet, US President Donald Trump, the most powerful man on Earth, believes the recognition of a Palestinian state by key allies is effectively rewarding Hamas for its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which started the war. According to White House Press Secretary  Karoline Leavitt , "Frankly, he believes it's a reward to Hamas." President Trump repeated the  same diatribe  against its allies that have independently announced recognition of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly's 80th session. Shockingly, it's not just President Trump, who earlier this year shockingly proposed to convert Gaza into "the Riviera of the Middle East"; many leading media houses, particularly in Britain, also echo...

It’s ironic that the 75th anniversary of two international instruments - the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the UN Convention on Genocide - is being observed when the world is witnessing the killing spree on and forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza via Israel’s military operation. This is the worst attack on Palestinians since the one that took place during the creation of the Jewish state, which Palestinians call Nakba (or, catastrophe). The creation of Israel resulted in the expulsion of at least 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and 78 percent of historic Palestine being overtaken. The remaining 22 percent was divided into what are now the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip. After 75 years, it’s been feared that now, three times more Palestinians will be driven out from Gaza. The human rights declaration was approved by the UN general assembly on December 10, 1948, a day after the first human rights treaty, the Genocide Convention(the first h...

On the 23 rd of January when the President of The International Court of Justice (ICJ), AbdulQwai Ahmed Yusuf at the onset of his deliberations clearly pronounced that “the court’s references in this Order to the Rohingya should be understood as references to the group that self-identifies as the Rohingya group”, some of us in the Press Room got elated. And, then again while establishing the link between provisional measures and the rights whose protection was sought he said: “In the Court’s view, the Rohingya in Myanmar appear to constitute a protected group within the meaning of article II of the Genocide Convention.” Those survivors of the atrocities who were present inside the chamber and in the gallery later described their feelings as electrifying. Yasmin Ullah of Rohingya Rights Network told a press meet later that ‘it was feeling of what was like to be human and equal to others’.   The court order that brought joy among the persecuted Rohingya community and humanists ...