(Ils traitent les palestiniens de la façon dont ils ont été traité au cours des siècles ce qui a fait d'eux des spécialistes dans l'oppression. note de rené)

 

PRCS: 47 Palestinians injured by Israel forces in West Bank

June 19, 2021 at 1:04 pm | Published in: Middle East Monitor

June 19, 2021 at 1:04 pm

Israeli forces have injured at least 47 Palestinians on Friday in the northern West Bank when they used tear gas and fired rubber bullets to disperse an anti-settlement rally, Anadolu Agencyreported.

According to a Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) statement, the injuries took place during clashes with Israeli forces in the town of Beita, in the southern city of Nablus.

The statement confirmed that 42 Palestinians were suffocated due to gas inhalation and pepper spray, while five others were injured by rubber-coated bullets.

It added that most cases were treated in a Red Crescent field hospital, with the exception of three who were taken to hospital.

Read: Israel shoots, kills 15-year-old Palestinian in Nablus

Following weekly Friday prayers, a rally of Palestinians demonstrating against Israeli settlements on their land was met with Israeli tear gas canisters, pepper spray and rubber-coated bullets.

Palestinians hold regular protests in Beita against Israeli settlements in Jabal Sbeih.

In recent weeks, four Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in Beita during anti-settlement rallies.

According to Israeli and Palestinian figures, around 650,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in 164 settlements and 116 settlement outposts.

International law regards both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Jewish settlement-building activities illegal.

The losses are steep, particularly as transport for nomadic beekeepers has become both risky and expensive due to the conflict that has been raging across Yemen since 2015.

Last year, Mohammad Aqari paid about $300 to hire labourers, a truck driver and a guide to transport his bees from his home province of Hujjah to a high-quality feeding ground in an area affected by the conflict.

"When we got there, the Sidr trees were doing well and the bees began gathering nectar. A few days later, the weather changed suddenly from mild to cold, and the rain started," said Aqari, 40, who leads Hujjah's Beekeeper Collective.

"The bees could no longer find any nectar in the flowers, so to stay alive they had to eat their own honey. When I checked the honeycombs, they were all empty," Aqari said.

Aqari lost out on $1,000 of his expected $6,000 earnings for the season, but others in Hujjah lost five times as much, he added.

READ: Yemen living conditions harshest in history

Things are getting worse

Climate modelling suggests the situation could get worse.

Heavy rain events are likely to become both more intense and more frequent in Yemen by 2030, according to projections by the Climate Service Center Germany.

By 2085, Yemen could see its heavy rain events become 33 per cent more intense and as much as 139 per cent more frequent, it said.

But climate adaptation interventions have been difficult, specialists say, partly because rival authorities control different Yemeni governorates – complicating nationwide data collection.

"You need historical climate data, and even if you have data you don't know if it's reliable or not," said the UN Environment Programme's West Asia office, which covers Yemen.

The conflict has also diverted most foreign help towards urgent humanitarian aid.

The Netherlands' foreign office, for instance, said it had to redirect funding from several climate-related projects in Yemen in 2018 to support emergency humanitarian needs.

And while some foreign and domestic development initiatives have tried to support beekeepers, they have focused on distributing hives or marketing the honey – not on making the sector resistant to adverse climate shifts, Nasher said.

As the poorest and most water-insecure country in the Middle East and North Africa, Yemen has been left without the tools to face the volatility to come, analysts said.

"Even though its own (CO2) emissions are low, its farmers and beekeepers are among the most affected and the least prepared for climate change," said the UNDP's Ali.

Aqari said he feared he may not be able to pass his passion onto the next generation as climate threats increase.

"This profession runs through our veins, and I couldn't leave my children in this life without teaching them," he said. "Bees are part of my life."