Cases of poisoning have been reported across Iran, including the city of Ardabil
The British newspapers published this morning dealt with several issues related to the Middle East, including the confrontations between the Palestinians and the Israelis, the attitude towards African immigrants in Tunisia, as well as the latest developments in the case of the poisoning of female students in Iran.
We begin today’s presentation with a report by Borzo Dragahi, international affairs correspondent for The Independent, entitled “Iran announces arrests over poisoning of schoolgirls, but provides few answers as ambiguities persist.”
“Iranian authorities have announced the arrest of a number of people allegedly behind a series of mysterious poisonings that have sickened thousands of schoolgirls in dozens of cities across the country,” the writer says.
“The Ministry of Interior claimed that members of a four-member band of anti-regime activists linked to ‘foreign’ media are behind the poisonings, which it says is an ‘attempt to create fear and terror’ among Iranians,” he added.
The poisonings “caused outrage in Iran and abroad, putting pressure on the regime to act. Reports of it began in late November in the holy city of Qom, before at least 127 schools in 25 of the country’s 31 provinces reported incidents.” The author states.
The writer states that the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, touched last Monday on the subject for the first time, and urged the authorities to vigorously pursue the suspects. “A crime of this magnitude is unforgivable. The perpetrators must be severely punished. These people will not get an amnesty,” he said in a speech.
Iran’s claim that arrests were carried out followed Mr. Khamenei’s speech. Officials have not released the names of any suspects, determined the exact number of detainees, or broadcast photos of alleged perpetrators, as they often do when arresting political opponents or criminal suspects.”
A Palestinian youth throws stones at Israeli army vehicles, in protest against the storming of the Askar camp for Palestinian refugees
“A New Dynamic for the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict”
And from Iran to the developments in the Palestinian territories, which were the focus of a report published by The Guardian newspaper to its correspondent in Jerusalem, Bethan McKiernan and Sufian Taha, entitled “The barriers between the West Bank factions are fading with the growing resistance to the Israeli occupation.”
The writers say, “The streets of the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank were full of men dressed in black, wearing masks and carrying M-16 rifles with cheap ammunition. The almost continuous crackle of gunfire was deafening, and the city was almost drowned in chants (we will teach Tel Aviv a lesson). )”.
The authors consider that the huge number of gunmen and the mixing of flags belonging to several different factions, Hamas, Fatah and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which drew the bodies of two gunmen killed in an Israeli army attack, “indicates a new dynamic in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
And they add, “In defiance of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, armed resistance to the Israeli occupation is increasing, and the barriers between the factions are fading as their interests begin to merge.”
The newspaper quoted a 25-year-old wearing a silver headband and the insignia of Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades, who spoke on condition of anonymity, “The Palestinian Authority is against us, arresting and torturing us… They sold the cause for money while we protect this land with our blood… I came from Nablus today.” “To support our brothers. We are facing the occupation wherever it is. You can see from our numbers, see how many are here today. For every martyr they kill, 10 are replaced.”
The newspaper says that “indications are emerging that the groups of young men who organized in their towns to respond to the Israeli incursions began to coordinate across different cities: that the shooter in Huwwara, a member of Hamas from Nablus, chose to hide in the Jenin refugee camp, where he was sheltered by fighters.” Locally, he indicates that these ties are strengthening. This coordination lays the groundwork for a return to an all-out conflict with Israel, even if the Palestinian Authority and half of the ruling Fatah movement are divided against it.”
The newspaper believes that for the residents of the cities of Nablus, Jenin and Ramallah, the war has already returned, as Israeli forces have killed about 70 Palestinians so far in 2023, half of them militants and the other half civilians, according to human rights groups. On the other hand, the Palestinian gunmen killed 14 Israelis, most of them civilians except for one person.
“I think this is worse than the second intifada,” said Nadia, 55. “Now, every time (the Israelis) enter, they kill… They don’t differentiate between civilians and militants.”
With the Palestinian death toll steadily rising, and settlers committing violence like the one seen in Huwwara with impunity, what little respect the Palestinian Authority still enjoys is evaporating. Social media, with what they described as the heroism of the martyrs, while criticizing the Palestinian Authority as collaborators.
The near future does not bode well. The month of Ramadan, when tensions often run high, begins on March 23. It seems likely that Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right national security minister in Israel’s new right-wing government, will pour fuel on the fire. By proceeding with orders to demolish Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem.
Migrants at Tunis-Carthage International Airport prepare to leave Tunisia
“Isolated Tunisia”
We move on to a report by The Times Middle East correspondent Richard Spencer and Jane Flanagan, entitled “Tunisian President’s Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Fueled Racist Mob Violence.”
Once it was the great hope of the Arab Spring, the authors say. But now Tunisia is cut off from its African neighbors and at risk of being boycotted by global financial institutions after its eccentric and increasingly authoritarian president unleashes a crackdown on immigration.
“West African governments have evacuated hundreds of their citizens from Tunisia and will move more this week after President Saied claimed there was a ‘criminal plot’ to make his predominantly Arab and Muslim country a purely African country,” they add.
“His speech led to a wave of attacks on black Africans in towns and cities across the country. Saied was forced to condemn the violence, but the African Union has already canceled a conference he planned to hold in Tunis this month.”
In a heavy blow to Tunisia’s ailing economy, the World Bank said it would suspend new lending to the cash-strapped country. While human rights groups accused Saied of fueling xenophobia to steer clear of the economic and political crisis his coup against parliament and the prime minister was supposed to solve. in 2021, but it has worsened,” the authors explain.
Within days, mobs attacked immigrants from south of the Sahara. Hundreds were beaten, arrested, thrown off public transport, fired from their jobs and kicked out of their homes, the report states.
The authors explain, “Proximity to Europe has made Tunisia a magnet for immigrants, especially from West Africa, but not in large numbers. The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights estimates that there are 21,000 illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa in the country, which has a population of 12 million.” .
