Category: 2. World

LONDON: As Iranian rockets shook East Jerusalem in mid-June, Rawan Shalaldeh sat in the dark while her seven-year-old son slept. She had put him to bed early and hid her phone to prevent the constant alerts from waking him, hoping sleep would shield her child from the terror above.

“The bombing was very intense; the house would shake,” Shalaldeh, an architect and urban planner with the Israeli human rights and planning organization Bimkom, told Arab News.

While residents in nearby Jewish districts rushed into reinforced shelters, Shalaldeh and her family in the Palestinian neighborhood of Jabal Al-Zaytoun had nowhere to go.

“East Jerusalem has only about 60 shelters, most of them inside schools,” she said. “They’re designed for students, not for neighborhood residents. They’re not available in every area, and they’re not enough for the population.”

Her home is a 15-minute walk from the nearest shelter. “By the time we’d get there, the bombing would already be over,” she said.

Instead, her family stayed inside, bracing for the next strike. “We could hear the sound but couldn’t tell if it was from the bombs or the interception systems,” she recalled. “We couldn’t sleep. It was terrifying. I fear it will happen again.”

That fear is compounded by infrastructure gaps that make East Jerusalem’s residents more vulnerable. “Old homes in East Jerusalem don’t have shelters at all,” she said. “New homes with shelters are rare because it’s extremely hard to get a building permit here.”

Israeli law requires new apartments to be built with protected rooms. However, homes built without permits are unlikely to follow the guidelines, leaving most without safe space.

The contrast with West Jerusalem is stark. “There’s a big difference between East and West Jerusalem,” Shalaldeh said. “In the west, there are many shelters, and things are much easier for them.”

Indeed, a June 17 report by Bimkom underscored these disparities. While West Jerusalem, home to a mostly Jewish population, has about 200 public shelters, East Jerusalem, which is home to nearly 400,000 Palestinians, has just one.

Even where shelters do exist they are often inaccessible. The municipality’s website fails to clearly mark their locations, and many residents are unaware they exist. Some shelters even remain locked during emergencies — especially at night.

The report concluded that the current infrastructure is grossly inadequate, leaving most East Jerusalem residents without access to basic protection during attacks.

Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem hold temporary residency IDs that lack any listed nationality and must be renewed every five years. Unlike Arab citizens of Israel — often referred to as “48 Arabs” — or residents of southern Israel, they do not have Israeli citizenship.

For many Palestinian and Arab citizens of Israel, the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June laid bare a deeper inequity — one that extends beyond conflict and into the fabric of everyday life.

“I haven’t spoken with any of my friends in the north yet, but I saw videos on Instagram,” Shalaldeh said. “Arab families tried to enter shelters and were prevented — because they’re Arab.”

The war, she said, exposed an uncomfortable truth for many Arab citizens of Israel. “After the war, many realized they’re not treated like Israelis — even though they have citizenship, work in Israel and speak Hebrew.”

“There’s an Israeli policy that tries to blur their identity. But the war opened a lot of people’s eyes. It became clear they’re not equal, and the issue of shelters was shocking for many.”

One town where this inequity became alarmingly visible was Tira, a predominantly Arab community in central Israel with roughly 27,000 residents. Though well within the range of missile attacks, Tira lacks adequate public shelters.

“Most of the few shelters that exist are outdated, insufficient, or located far from residential areas,” Fakhri Masri, a political and social activist from Tira, told Arab News. “In emergencies, schools are often opened as temporary shelters, but they only serve nearby neighborhoods and can’t accommodate everyone.

“Many homes do not have protected rooms, and this leaves families, especially those with children or elderly members, extremely vulnerable.”

When sirens sounded during the attacks, panic set in. “It was the middle of the night,” Masri said. “Many of us had to wake our children, some still half asleep, and scramble for any kind of cover.

With official shelters scarce, families resorted to improvised solutions. “People ran into stairwells, lay on the ground away from windows, or tried to reach school shelters — if they were even open or nearby,” he said.

Others simply fled to their cars or huddled outdoors, hoping distance from buildings would offer some safety.

“It was chaotic, frightening, and it felt like we were left completely on our own,” Masri said. “The fear wasn’t just of rockets — it was also the fear of having no place to run to.”

Underlying this crisis, he argued, is a deeper pattern of state neglect. “Arab towns like Tira were never provided with proper infrastructure or emergency planning like Jewish towns often are,” he said. “That in itself feels like a form of discrimination.

“It makes you feel invisible — like our safety doesn’t matter. It’s a constant reminder that we’re not being protected equally under the same state policies.

“We are not asking for anything more than what every citizen deserves — equal rights, equal protection, and the right to live in safety and dignity. It is a basic human right to feel secure at our own home, to know that our children have somewhere safe to go during an emergency.”

Masri, who has long campaigned for equal emergency protections, called on the Israeli government to end discrimination in shelter planning.

“Treat Arab towns with the same seriousness and care as any other town,” he said. “We are people who want to live in peace. We want our children to grow up in a country where safety is not a privilege but a right — for everyone, Jewish and Arab alike.

“Until that happens, we will keep raising our voices and demanding fairness, because no one should be left behind.”

The picture is similar for the roughly 100,000 Bedouin who live across 35 unrecognized villages in the Negev and Galilee regions, often in makeshift homes that provide little protection. Many of these villages are near sensitive sites targeted by Iran.

One such village is Wadi Al-Na’am, the largest unrecognized village in Israel, home to about 15,000 Bedouin residents in the southern Negev desert.

“When we say unrecognized, it means we have nothing,” said Najib Abu Bnaeh, head of the village’s emergency team and a member of its local council. “No roads, no electricity, no running water — and certainly no shelters.

“During wars, people flee the villages. They hide in caves, under bridges — any place they can find.”

After the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, the army began installing a small number of shelters in unrecognized villages. But Abu Bnaeh said that these efforts have fallen short.

“In our village, they built two structures,” he said. “But they have no ceilings, so they don’t protect from anything.”

He estimates that more than 45,000 protective buildings are needed across all unrecognized villages.

As the head of Wadi Al-Na’am’s emergency response team, Abu Bnaeh leads a group of 20 volunteers. Together, they assist residents during missile alerts, evacuating families to shelters in nearby townships such as Segev Shalom and Rahat, and delivering food and medicine.

“We train people how to take cover and survive,” he said. “We also help train teams in other villages how to respond to injuries, missiles and emergencies.

“The best way to protect people is simple. Recognize the villages. Allow us to build shelters.”

Even recognized villages face issues. In Um Bateen, officially recognized in 2004, basic infrastructure is still missing.

“Although our village is recognized, we still don’t have electricity,” Samera Abo Kaf, a resident of the 8,000-strong community, told Arab News.

“There are 48 Bedouin villages in northern Israel. And even those recognized look nothing like Jewish towns nearby.”

Building legally is nearly impossible. “The state refuses to recognize the land we’ve lived on for generations,” she said. “So, we build anyway — out of necessity. But that means living in fear; of winter collapsing our roofs, or bulldozers tearing our homes down.”

Abo Kaf said that the contrast is obvious during her commute. “I pass Beer Sheva and Omer — trees, paved roads, tall buildings. It’s painful. Just 15 minutes away, life is so different.

“And I come from a village that is, in many ways, better off than others,” she added.

With each new conflict, the fear returns. “Israel is a country with many enemies — it’s no secret,” Abo Kaf said. “Every few years, we go through another war. And we Bedouins have no shelters. None.

“So not only are our homes at risk of demolition, but we also live with the threat of rockets. It’s absurd. It’s infuriating. If something doesn’t change, there’s no future.”

Michal Braier, Bimkom’s head of research, said that no government body had responded to its report, though many civil society organizations have supported its findings based on specific cases.

“There are stark protection gaps between high- and low-income communities,” she told Arab News. “And most Arab and Palestinian communities rank low on socio-economic indicators.

“This is a very neo-liberal planning and development policy that, by definition, leaves the weak behind.”

 

 

Over the weekend, the Indian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau released a preliminary report on last month’s crash of Air India flight 171, which killed 260 people, 19 of them on the ground.

The aim of a preliminary report is to present factual information gathered so far and to inform further lines of inquiry. However, the 15-page document has also led to unfounded speculation and theories that are currently not supported by the evidence.

Here’s what the report actually says, why we don’t yet know what caused the crash, and why it’s important not to speculate.

What the preliminary report does say

What we know for certain is that the aircraft lost power in both engines just after takeoff.

According to the report, this is supported by video footage showing the deployment of the ram air turbine (RAT), and the examination of the air inlet door of the auxiliary power unit (APU).

The RAT is deployed when both engines fail, all hydraulic systems are lost, or there is a total electrical power loss. The APU air inlet door opens when the system attempts to start automatically due to dual engine failure.

The preliminary investigation suggests both engines shut down because the fuel flow stopped. Attention has now shifted to the fuel control switches, located on the throttle lever panel between the pilots.

Data from the enhanced airborne flight recorder suggests these switches may have been moved from “run” to “cutoff” three seconds after liftoff. Ten seconds later, the switches were moved back to “run”.

The report also suggests the pilots were aware the engines had shut down and attempted to restart them. Despite their effort, the engines couldn’t restart in time.

We don’t know what the pilots did

Flight data recorders don’t capture pilot actions. They record system responses and sensor data, which can sometimes lead to the belief they’re an accurate representation of the pilot’s actions in the cockpit.

While this is true most of the time, this is not always the case.

In my own work investigating safety incidents, I’ve seen cases in which automated systems misinterpreted inputs. In one case, a system recorded a pilot pressing the same button six times in two seconds, something humanly impossible. On further investigation, it turned out to be a faulty system, not a real action.

We cannot yet rule out the possibility that system damage or sensor error led to false data being recorded. We also don’t know whether the pilots unintentionally flicked the switches to “cutoff”. And we may never know.

As we also don’t have a camera in the cockpit, any interpretation of pilots’ actions will be made indirectly, usually through the data sensed by the aircraft and the conversation, sound and noise captured by the environmental microphone available in the cockpit.

We don’t have the full conversation between the pilots

Perhaps the most confusing clue in the report was an excerpt of a conversation between the pilots. It says:

In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so.

This short exchange is entirely without context. First, we don’t know who says what. Second, we don’t know when the question was asked – after takeoff, or after the engine started to lose power? Third, we don’t know the exact words used, because the excerpt in the report is paraphrased.

Finally, we don’t know whether the exchange referred to the engine status or the switch position. Again, we may never know.

What’s crucial here is that the current available evidence doesn’t support any theory about intentional fuel cutoff by either of the pilots. To say otherwise is unfounded speculation.

We don’t know if there was a mechanical failure

The preliminary report indicates that, for now, there are no actions required by Boeing, General Electric or any company that operates the Boeing 787-8 and/or GEnx-1B engine.

This has led some to speculate that a mechanical failure has been ruled out. Again, it is far too early to conclude that.

What the preliminary report shows is that the investigation team has not found any evidence to suggest the aircraft suffered a catastrophic failure that requires immediate attention or suspension of operations around the world.

This could be because there was no catastrophic failure. It could also be because the physical evidence has been so badly damaged that investigators will need more time and other sources of evidence to learn what happened.

Why we must resist premature conclusions

In the aftermath of an accident, there is much at stake for many people: the manufacturer of the aircraft, the airline, the airport, civil aviation authority and others. The families of the victims understandably demand answers.

It’s also tempting to latch onto a convenient explanation. But the preliminary report is not the full story. It’s based on very limited data, analysed under immense pressure, and without access to every subsystem or mechanical trace.

The final report is still to come. Until then, the responsible position for regulators, experts and the public is to withhold judgement.

This tragedy reminds us that aviation safety depends on patient and thorough investigation – not media soundbites or unqualified expert commentary. We owe it to the victims and their families to get the facts right, not just fast.

CNN
 — 

Several children were killed in an Israeli airstrike at a water distribution point in central Gaza Sunday, health officials said, one of several deadly incidents in the territory that come as ceasefire talks in Doha falter.

Hopes had been high for the latest negotiations but after days of negotiations the two sides accused each other of blocking an agreement while on the ground there has been no let-up in Israel’s military campaign, which resumed when the last ceasefire collapsed in March.

The Palestinian health ministry reported Sunday that 139 bodies had been brought to Gaza hospitals in the past 24 hours, with a number of victims still under the rubble. The number is the highest reported since July 2 and brings the total number of people killed since October 7, 2023 to 58,026, according to the ministry.

That was before the Israeli airstrike Sunday killed six children and four others at a water distribution point in central Gaza, according to Al-Awda Hospital. Video from the chaotic scene showed multiple casualties including children amid buckets and water carriers.

The Israeli military acknowledged that an airstrike targeting an “Islamic Jihad terrorist” had gone wrong and the “munition fell dozens of meters from the target,” saying the incident was under review.

Also in central Gaza on Sunday, at least 12 people were killed and more than 40 injured when an Israeli airstrike targeted a crowded junction, according to Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, Director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex central Gaza City. The dead included a prominent doctor, Ahmad Qandeel, described by the health ministry as “one of Gaza’s most respected medical professionals.”

“Conditions on the ground are worse than they’ve ever been,” the acting director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Sam Rose, told CNN on Monday. “There’s a certain tragic and horrific and numbing inevitability about this that the longer it goes on, the worse it will get.”

He said Palestinians in Gaza are forced to make “impossible choices” between starvation or risking death to secure aid.

Sunday’s heavy toll followed several deadly incidents Saturday. The ministry said 27 were killed and many more injured when Israeli troops opened fire on people trying to obtain aid from a distribution site near southern Rafah run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

GHF denied the claim, saying “there were no incidents at or in the immediate vicinity of our sites” on Saturday.

The Israeli military also denied that anyone was injured by gunfire from its troops in the vicinity of the site but said it continued to review the reports. It told CNN Sunday it had no further comment.

However, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its field hospital near the site had received 132 patients suffering from weapon-related injuries. Twenty-five were declared dead on arrival and six more died after being admitted – the largest number of fatalities since the hospital began operations in May 2024, according to the ICRC.

“This situation is unacceptable. The alarming frequency and scale of these mass casualty incidents underscore the horrific conditions civilians in Gaza are enduring,” the ICRC added.

Nearly 800 Palestinians were killed while trying to access aid in Gaza between late May and July 7, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), when the GHF began operating.

Elsewhere in Gaza, 13 people were killed Saturday in airstrikes in Al-Shati refugee camp near Gaza City, in the north of the territory, according to Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital. Salmiya told CNN that 40 injured people had been admitted. Geolocated video showed at least one child among the victims.

The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday it had destroyed weapons and tunnels used by Hamas in northern Gaza and the air force had carried out attacks on more than 150 targets across the Gaza Strip, including “booby-trapped buildings, weapons depots, anti-tank missile and sniper positions.”

The spike in casualties in Gaza comes as talks on agreeing a new ceasefire deal and hostage continue in Doha, with optimism having faded that an agreement can be quickly reached.

US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said he’s meeting with Qatari officials Sunday on the sidelines of the Club World Cup football match in New Jersey as he remains “hopeful” for the prospect of a Gaza ceasefire.

Despite days of proximity talks in Doha between Israel and Hamas, significant gaps remain between the warring parties.

An Israeli source familiar with the matter said last week that the outstanding issue was where the Israeli military would redeploy in Gaza once the ceasefire takes effect. The latest proposal called for the military to withdraw from parts of northern Gaza on the first day of a ceasefire and from parts of southern Gaza on the seventh day.

The detailed maps were left to negotiations between Israel and Hamas, and that appears to be the main sticking point.

The talks had “stalled,” a senior Hamas official told CNN on Saturday, claiming Israel had added new conditions, “the latest being new deployment maps for the Israeli army’s presence in the Gaza Strip.”

In a video message released Sunday, Netanyahu said that Israel accepted the latest ceasefire plan presented by the US special envoy Steve Witkoff – but that Hamas had rejected it.

“We accepted the deal, the Witkoff Deal, and even later the version that the mediators proposed to us — we accepted that too. Hamas rejected it,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu said Hamas wants to stay in Gaza “so it can rearm and attack us again and again.”

He said he was determined to bring the hostages back and to defeat Hamas.

“What we need to do is the right thing: insist on the release of the hostages and insist on the second objective of the war in Gaza — the elimination of Hamas and ensuring that Gaza will never again be a threat to Israel.”

“I won’t compromise on these missions,” Netanyahu added.

Israel’s Hostages and Missing Families Forum issued a statement Sunday, accusing Netanyahu of creating a “false impression” that a comprehensive deal is unattainable, contrary to public will.

“Anyone who sabotages such an agreement is willfully acting against the Israeli people for political survival,” they warned, adding, “That is how history will remember him.”

Recent opinion surveys in Israel suggest overwhelming approval for a deal that would end the war and return all the hostages, living and dead. A poll for Israel’s Channel 12 Friday said that 74% of the public believes that Israel should end the war in Gaza in exchange for the return of all the abductees in one step, with only 8% supporting the phased deal that the government is trying to promote.