In search of a leader who loves discipline

3 April 2019

Sri Lanka is guilty on many counts like committing war crimes, aiding the narcotics industry and squandering state funds and as of now not being committed to solving its power crisis. This could be why Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe the other day said that Sri Lankans should be provided with military training. The Premier took Singapore as an example for a country which used this method and said that this could be the last chance Sri Lanka gets to develop.

The Premier’s call to discipline ourselves has been long overdue. We have a sea surrounding us and plenty of rivers and lakes, but we are known as a country which prefers to import a good amount of the fish we consume and in some instances the water we drink. Benefiting from commissions and deals has made our decision makers love the green notes they get more than see a country become self-sufficient.

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• For the record as many as 10 mega generators are being allowed to rot
• Recently we heard of a brawl at a lawyers’ get-together where one invitee had broken a bottle and attempted to stab others
• The Government expects to discipline the people, but doesn’t wish to tighten their belts

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Just days ago we heard of the country’s cricket captain Dimuth Karunaratne being nabbed by the police for driving under the influence of liquor and being involved in a road accident. There was also a statement made by minister Ranjan Ramanayake that there are several lawmakers who attend parliament sessions after being intoxicated with narcotics. What a joke this bunch of clowns have turned this country into.

When on drives from Borella towards Lady Ridgeway Hospital there is a huge billboard which sports a saying by JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake. It reads ‘Politics is a license to steal”. The Marxist lawmaker sums up the political set-up here quite beautifully using such few words which make us ponder about the future of our next generation.

Now it seems that the country would not benefit from this method because the authorities don’t support the users of solar power

Minting Money

Right now the country endures a three hour power cut in the morning and plunges into darkness for another hour during the night. This is not solely due to the breakdown at the Norochcholai Power Station as the government points out. Insiders reveal that the power cuts are the result of a mafia and also due to political revenge.

We have now come to know that the authorities are minting money through deals where electricity is bought from the private sector at a high price. To aid these dubious deals the authorities have discouraged the use of generators and solar power plants. For the record as many as 10 mega generators are being allowed to rot while 50 substandard generators were bought later on, but to no avail. The engineer who opposed the buying of these substandard generators was ‘shown the door’ by the authorities.


Critics point out that the governments both in the past and the present have not come up with a comprehensive plan to sort out the power crisis between the period 2014-2019.

The solar power units were becoming popular, but it hit the purses of those who were engaged in the buying of electricity from the private sector. Those who introduced the solar power plants were expected to add 1480 Mega Watts to the system. Now it seems that the country would not benefit from this method because the authorities don’t support the users of solar power.

Most houses in Madiwela enjoyed an uninterrupted service of water and electricity; thanks to the presence of ministerial quarters in the area

Apart from the extended power cuts the country’s citizens also had to endure water cuts. Some houses in Kotte area survived without water for 48 hours or more, when just a few blocks away, most houses in Madiwela enjoyed an uninterrupted service of water and electricity; thanks to the presence of ministerial quarters in the area. What the people in the country can’t stomach is when lawmakers enjoy perks in abundance when the folks who cast their votes and brought them into power suffer untold hardships.

The Government expects to discipline the people, but doesn’t wish to tighten their belts with regard to the use of water and electricity. Insiders point out that 49% of the water diverted for use in Colombo drips to the ground as a result of leaks. The authorities must have an eye on such leaks with the same interest they have in being vigilant of the dropping water levels in reservoirs. 

More than the rains, the citizens of this country await the arrival of several drug lords in Sri Lanka after they were nabbed in Dubai.

Already the Sri Lankan authorities have taken onto custody one Kanjipani Imran who was deported from Dubai. The drug lord had made arrangements, according to newspapers, to board a flight to Maldives the moment he landed in Sri Lanka. Such stories leave us wondering whether these drug lords and traffickers are surviving with the help of politicians.

Sri Lanka is a nation which much learn fast the way to discipline its citizens who have scant respect for the law and valued principles. Recently we heard of a brawl at a lawyers’ get-together where one invitee had broken a bottle and attempted to stab others. Separate complaints have been lodged with the police regarding this incident. What can we expect of ordinary citizens when educated lawyers behave in such a questionable manner?

Just days ago we heard of the country’s cricket captain Dimuth Karunaratne being nabbed by the police for driving under the influence of liquor

When power fails during the late evening and we can do nothing about it, those with their thinking caps on do think of bringing to power a politician who can put the country on the path to prosperity. For this we have in mind a ‘mediator’ who has a clean track record as a politician and promotes democracy, a fearless personality whose pastime is beautifying Colombo city and the man from Hambantota who loves building homes for the less affluent, but not his personality as the future leader of the country. But whoever assumes power must make disciplining this nation a top priority.

Colombo – The one and only!

Dr. Wijerathne and the Wetland team at the awards ceremony on 25 October 2018


Diyasaru wetland park is a must-visit place

Thursday, 4 April 2019 

Last year in October something quite interesting happened. Now I think most of you would be jumping to a conclusion, which indicates how much we know about things political but not at all about very important developments with respect to our nation’s attributes.
I am not going to argue about the vital importance of politics but I am a serious subscriber to the concept of Sri Lanka is much too politicised and we live and breathe politics and our actions are seriously shaped by our political views rather than national views. In my view we really must make an effort to depoliticise politics and that would be seriously beneficial to our country.


However, to indicate what happened in last October, our capital Colombo became a globally accepted Wetland City and among the cities bestowed with that fame and positioning, Colombo is the only capital city in the list. Colombo city in this instance refers to the Colombo Metropolitan region, which encompass six local authorities. Thus it captures both the administrative capital as well as the commercial capital.

Now such an accomplishment is very important in this day and age of cities becoming environmental nightmares. The world’s most number of polluted cities in terms of air quality is in India. The reason being urbanisation is perceived as an ongoing concern across the world in all countries and this unbridled growth of cities is giving rise to a multitude of issues. That is the reason for the title Colombo – The one and only!

However, this unique positioning and acceptance have escaped most of us, and including even those living and breathing within its confines. Sadly most of those appear to take almost the contrarian position towards ensuring sustenance of the position that has been bestowed.
Urbanisation and wetlands

A defining mega-trend today is urbanisation. It has been estimated that 50% of the population reside in cities and by 2050 this number is expected to rise significantly. The emphasis of the concept of wetland cities was to appreciate and recognise some pioneering cities that have managed to ensure healthy coexistence of wetlands while the cities grew right around.

It is no secret that as a result of the quest for land, when cities grow wetlands become the first casualty. They also utilise wetlands for wastelands as such areas are destined for solid waste disposal.
It was the Ramsar Convention that introduced the Wetland City accreditation and in the final recognition it is mentioned that these 18 cities chosen and awarded have taken exceptional steps to safeguard their urban wetlands. What is expected is for these pioneer cities to serve as examples and inspire all other countries and especially cities to pursue sustainable urbanisation.

A wetland is a place where the land is covered by water, either salt, fresh or somewhere in between. Marshes and ponds, the ends of a lake or ocean, the delta at the mouth of a river, low lying areas that frequently flood – all of these are wetlands. You have specific soils and vegetation that characterise wetlands. The definition indicates that there is no necessity for water to be present at all times.

If we understand that wetlands are places of most productive habitats on the planet, then we would be aware of the perils of their destruction. While they directly support many life forms, they also serve as nurseries for many species. Now Sri Lankans should be quite supportive of wetlands as they support the cultivars of our staple diet – Paddy lands are wetlands!
The Ramsar Convention 

The Ramsar Convention is the international agreement on protection of wetlands and Sri Lanka for a small island nation has six Ramsar sites to its credit, starting with Bundala.

Ramsar is a unique convention because it is the only international convention that is devoted to protecting a single ecosystem. The way to Ramsar was advocated by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which also developed the scheme of city accreditation.

Sri Lanka as a signatory has agreed to the conservation of wetlands within its borders. Wetlands in proximity to cities or within are known as urban wetlands and they are quite important to the health of a city. Many are blissfully unaware of the potential benefits from these wetland spaces. It is the recognition that brought in the Wetland Accreditation scheme.


The first such recognition that took place on 25 October 2018 was an important culmination of this concept recognition. Colombo has an exceptional position as a result of this inclusion because it is the only capital city in the selection, as this is not an easy recognition to be achieved. Yet many of us were not aware of this achievement as 26 October dawned and many months later we still do not know.

Now this is not a selection and recognition for life for Colombo. In six more years the cities will stand scrutiny and those who only enjoyed the position stand to lose the recognition. This implies that there has to be a sustained program in ensuring the wetlands stay healthy and perhaps even more enhanced to serve all of us in return. We are mostly unknown benefactors of this unique ecosystem.
Economic argument for sustaining wetlands 

If someone were to present an economic argument for sustaining wetlands with an example, New York City found that it could save $ 3-8 billion in new wastewater treatment plants by purchasing and preserving $ 1.5 billion in land around its upstream catchment.

A more regional example comes from Kolkatta, where the world sees the city’s basic waste being handled by the surrounding wetlands. The megapolis of Kolkatta produces almost 750 million litres of wastewater and sewage every day. Without a single wastewater treatment plant in the core part of the city, it is the wetland that attends to the duty. East Kolkata wetlands covers 125 sq. km, which is the world’s only fully functional organic sewage management system and in turn has become a productive fish habitat. It is interesting to note some selfless individuals may still be needed to preserve such heritages however unique and important wetland’s eco-services may be. In the case of east Kolkatta wetlands, it is the yeoman efforts of the Sanitation Engineer Dhrubajyoti Ghosh who has endured harassment and even loss of his position but had managed to win an important victory in courts when a World Trade Centre was a preferred development instead of the wetland!

Ghosh’s victory in court is considered the very first of such events and he still has to relentlessly continue the fight. What was recognised for Colombo was the recognition of the State’s role in wetland protection and development.


It should also be known that wetlands are quite good in carbon absorption. The climate service potential of 20 sq km of wetlands in Colombo has to be significant; 8.5% of CMR area consists of wetlands. However, the encroachment and the concept of ‘such spaces are for anything’ mindset prevailing in some quarters is a challenge that needs to be addressed.
Preserving this unique recognition

The team and the organisation – SLLRDC’s wetland management division with DG – UDA submitting the official application – that carried Colombo to the podium on 25 October has really done a sterling job in positioning the unique resource and the demonstrating the Government’s commitment to protect and nurture. How do we go on to instil this value of Colombo to its citizens?

The wetland park Diyasaru established closer to the Parliament in Kotte is really a place to visit by those who seek understanding on this subject. SLLRDC has initiated a number of wetland parks in the area today, with Diyasaru being the latest. It is hard to believe it has already reached the cable TV channel of Animal Planet with its reporting on the fishing cat population in the park. That all this is literally just a stone’s throw from the Parliament is pretty amazing.

All in Colombo and the rest outside should value the honour the city has received. It is a unique recognition that has to be preserved. However pioneering the efforts have been so far, much more would be needed in the years to come by. The understanding has to be spread across the populace.

By having the capital city region declared and recognised internationally, Sri Lankans should be united in understanding and in service. This just may be the catalyst we wanted to breathe in environmentally-responsible behaviour to the populace. Also remember that the World Wetland Day falls just two days ahead of our day of independence. Easy to remember right!?

Shamima Begum claims she faced threats of retaliation for speaking out against IS

Begum said sympathisers of the Islamic State's ideology threatened to burn her tent down if she spoke out against the group

Begum's son Jarrah died in the al-Roj refugee camp three weeks after he was born born (Screengrab)

By Areeb Ullah-2 April 2019

Shamima Begum, the British teenager who joined the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, said she was facing threats of retaliation against her child if she spoke out against the militant group to journalists. 

Speaking for the first time since her newborn son Jarrah died in a refugee camp in northern Syria, 19-year-old Begum said she was "brainwashed" by the group and "regretted" her decision to join IS. 

"I was afraid of my life and of my child's life," Begum told the Times. 

"Back in al-Hawl there was a lot of dangers that came with not supporting Dawlah," said Begum, referring to IS using the Arabic word for state. 

From 'Paki bashing' to citizenship-stripping: Shamima Begum case an issue of identity for British-Bangladeshis

Read More »

"[They threatened] to burn down my tent and stuff. I knew that everyone was watching my case, what the journalists were saying about me and I was saying, how I was presenting myself to the journalists, so anything I said against Dawlah, they would immediately attack, so I was afraid of that."

When asked who was threatening her in the al-Hawl refugee camp, Begum said that groups of Tunisian IS women threatened her and others who went against the Islamic State's ideology. 

"They [Tunisians] told me that me not covering my face it means that I'm not Muslim which is not true, and that gives them the right to burn down my tent?" said Begum.

"These people are more extreme than dawla. Some people believe that dawla are not even Muslim and they have the ideology that they've created out of ignorance and pride."   

Begum was transferred to the al-Roj refugee camp a week before giving birth to Jarrah. Since moving to the camp, she claims to have found groups of women who have also become disillusioned with IS. 

"There are more women here who don't believe in what Dawlah did," said Begum. 

"They were in the same situation as me. They came thinking one thing, but then they saw a whole different story.

"I feel more open to speak about it now. I had no idea of the extent of what was going in Dawlah- women being put in prison, people's husbands being executed for no reason. I am shocked."

Earlier this month, Begum's family began the formal process to challenge the British government's decision to revoke her UK citizenship. 

Her case has led to serious criticism of the UK government, which has been accused of rendering Begum stateless and abandoning her and her young child who died.

In the United States, the State Department recently said it would not allow a woman to return to the country after she left to join IS in Syria.

The US government has argued that Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen and therefore she has no right to enter the country.

Still, her family and lawyer say that the Trump administration's claims are false - and she is, in fact, a US citizen - and they have vowed to take the case to court.

"They're playing games with the vague language, and they're going to see us in court," Muthana's lawyer, Hassan Shibly, told Middle East Eye in February.

German expulsion based on media smears, says Rasmea Odeh

Riri Hylton - 2 April 2019

Rasmea Odeh, a Palestinian political activist, has strongly criticized the German authorities for trying to muzzle her.

Odeh left Germany this week after a Berlin court upheld a deportation order issued against her.

Before her departure, Odeh stated that she “felt sorry” for Germany. The treatment she received was at odds with Germany’s image of being a “democratic country,” she suggested.

Odeh (72) argued that she could not see what was “dangerous” about how she had been invited to give a speech in Germany about the situation facing Palestinian women.

When Odeh arrived to address a Berlin event on 15 March, she was surrounded by police. The officers forced her away from the area.

Odeh was handed German-language documents, containing her deportation order. When they were translated, she learned that the allegations contained in them were “copied and pasted” from smears in media stories.

The stories referred to how Odeh had been convicted of bombing offenses by Israel in 1969. Yet they omitted to mention how she had been tortured until she confessed to the allegations against her.

“I can’t breathe”

“Everybody knows that I faced torture because they tortured me psychologolically, by beating and sexual torture,” Odeh told the Berlin media outlet Redfish. “Sometimes I can’t breathe when I remember how they tortured me. They used electricity on my body. They tortured young Palestinian people in front of me and some of them passed away from torture.”

Odeh’s lawyers contended that the deportation order against her violated the rights to free speech and freedom of movement. A Berlin court nonetheless upheld the order.

After Odeh was banned from speaking on 15 March, Palestine solidarity activists sought to have her address an event 12 days later.

When Odeh was also banned from speaking at the second event, its organizers made sure that her voice could be heard by video.

“I have lived a harsh and unstable life, full of injustice, and with all of the daughters and sons of my people have been subjected to racist and unjust attacks over and over again, and still I resist,” Odeh told her supporters.

“My reception in Berlin confirms this – in the wrong way. And it emphasizes the presence of narrow-minded, racist forces – as well as emphasizing your presence on the frontline confronting racism, Zionism and oppression. In this context, the visible conflict between the camp that refuses to acknowledge human rights and our camp, which calls for equality, democracy and true freedom for all inhabitants of the land, is intensifying.”

Ukraine’s TV President Is Dangerously Pro-Russian

Volodymyr Zelensky could become the country’s next real-life leader. If his show is any guide, Ukrainians should be worried.

Ukrainian comedian Volodymyr Zelensky on set in Kiev, Ukraine, during filming of “Servant of the People” on Feb. 6. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

BY ALEXANDER J. MOTYL

 | APRIL 1, 2019, 8:00 PM

After this weekend’s first round of voting in Ukraine’s presidential election, Volodymyr Zelensky, a popular actor, and Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s current leader, have emerged as front-runners. Ukraine’s next president, though, will be either Poroshenko or Zelensky’s alter ego, Vasyl Holoborodko.

Holoborodko is the incorruptible television president Zelensky plays in the hit series Servant of the People, now in its third season. A simple schoolteacher, whose tirade against corruption is filmed by a student and goes viral, Holoborodko catapults to the presidency. In real life, Zelensky has kept his campaigning to a minimum. He has let Holoborodko do the work for him, which may mean that the only way to guess at the real man’s views may be to take seriously the fake one’s.

Like Zelensky, who never showed much of an interest in government until he decided he’d like to run one, Holoborodko knows little about politics, economics, or international affairs. In the show, he sets aside the stirring inaugural address his handlers have written to state that he won’t make any promises because that would be “dishonest and I don’t know enough.” He does assure the public, though, that he will “act in such a manner that I won’t be ashamed to look children in the eye.” His next two seasons in office are marked by a series of oftentimes funny confrontations with an intractable bureaucracy, slimy advisors, and corruptioneers galore.

If the show is, as one Canadian supporter of Zelensky has written, a “playbook for reform,” then his backers should be worried. At best, they can expect nothing but setbacks for two years. At worst, they might see their country dissolve and their leader go to jail. At the end of the second season,
Holoborodko’s efforts win him enough enemies that he loses a rigged election. In the third season, crazed Ukrainian nationalists (with the slogan “Freedom, Surname, Country”) stage a coup that leads to his arrest. As one of the usurpers says while asking prison inmates to reveal their last names (and, hence, their nationality), “Ukraine is not for everybody”—so much so, apparently, that even “Ukrainian prisons will only hold patriots.”

By the time the latest episode of the third season rolls around, the country breaks up into close to 30 statelets. In the far west is the Kingdom of Galicia; in the far east, the SSSR, which stands for Union of Free and Self-Reliant Republics but also happens to be the Latinized version of the Cyrillic acronym of the USSR. In the middle, there’s even a Jewish state centered on the city of Uman, the home to Hasidism. Fortunately for Ukraine, Holoborodko stages a comeback, is re-elected president, appoints a new cabinet of reformers, and is so successful that the breakaway statelets are persuaded to rejoin the nation. The economy booms, foreign direct investment returns, start-ups take off, migrants return home, and Ukraine even embarks on a space program.

Alas, two statelets refuse to come home—Galicia and the SSSR, whose elites insist they can’t coexist in a unified Ukraine. The people save the day, however. A fire breaks out in a Lviv mine, threatening the lives of the miners trapped in the shafts. The SSSR leadership refuses to help, but a troop of Russian-speaking rescuers from Donbass rushes to Lviv and saves their Ukrainian-speaking comrades. Both regions rejoin the nation, and Ukraine is whole once more.

But Holoborodko isn’t finished. He attends a meeting of Western countries in Brussels, where the Westerners admonish Ukraine for challenging their economic and political primacy. Holoborodko proudly walks out. Back in Ukraine, he tells a graduating class that he envies them for being able to live in this new Ukraine. But there’s one enormous problem that will affect them and their children for decades to come: Ukraine still has $163 billion in debt. He calls on Ukrainians to pay it back “so that we will never again be second-rate people.” The final scene of the episode (and, depending on Zelensky’s political fortunes, possibly of the series) shows Maidan square, the site of the Orange and Euromaidan revolutions of 2004 and 2014, respectively, piled high with gold. The people have come through. The show ends with a transparent campaign message to vote for Zelensky for president.

 Most of the characters speak Russian most of the time. In reality, in Ukraine, Ukrainian is spoken publicly at least as often as Russian. The vast majority of Ukrainians who speak out for the Ukrainian language and culture are hardly radical putschists. Corruption is widespread, but it’s not quite the monster that Holoborodko—and Western journalists—imagines it to be. And rather than chide Ukraine, the West would be delighted if it took off economically and politically. These inaccuracies may be forgiven as campaign hyperbole.

Unforgivable is the absence from the show of Russia or Russian President Vladimir Putin. In its alternate universe, Crimea and Donbass are not occupied. There is no war. There are no deaths. There is no mention of Russian attempts to quash Ukrainian independence since 1991. This curious absence suggests either that Zelensky, who serves as the show’s executive producer, has no idea how to deal with a very real existential threat to Ukraine or, far worse, that he doesn’t believe that there is one. At best, then, a President Zelensky would be prone to serious mistakes in his relations with Putin; at worst, he might be willing to make concessions that would hollow out Ukrainian sovereignty.

The absence of Putin’s Russia has another implication. It’s impossible to understand Ukraine’s war in the eastern Donbass region—the inspiration for the show’s own civil conflicts—without an appreciation for Putin’s invasion and annexation of Crimea; his support for separatists in Ukraine’s southeast; his continued basing of several thousand soldiers there; his stationing of tens of thousands of Russian troops, tanks, and artillery units along Ukraine’s border; and his blockade of Ukraine’s ports on the Sea of Azov.

By ignoring all these facts, the show adopts Putin’s narrative—one that he began expounding years ago and then perfected during the Euromaidan revolution. Russia was forced to occupy Crimea and invade southeastern Ukraine, he insists, in order to save the country from the supposedly fascist junta that had ousted pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, threatened the lives of Ukraine’s Russian speakers, and made plans to join the U.S.-led imperialist alliance known as NATO. The show effectively says Russians aren’t to be blamed for any of the country’s problems; blame Ukrainians, it argues, more specifically Ukrainian patriots who think they can rely on the West.

Throughout his five years in office, Poroshenko has consistently rejected Putin’s line and striven to make Ukraine a viable nation and state. In large measure, he has succeeded. Ukraine has a strong army that has fought the Russians and their Donbass supporters to a standstill. The country is increasingly integrated into Western institutions and is expanding its ties to the rest of the world. Poroshenko’s administration has adopted a raft of positive political, economic, social, and cultural reforms, and it has effectively left the Russian sphere of influence.

By contrast, if Servant of the People is any guide, Zelensky may well roll back these achievements and effectively bring Ukraine back into the so-called Russian world. Zelensky’s major strength—that he is identified with Holoborodko—is also his major weakness. He has got a few weeks before the next round of voting to make his own mark, but that, too, would be a problem; there is no hiding the fact that he has no experience in politics. Zelensky’s supporters hope that his advisors, especially the self-styled reformers who served under Poroshenko, will make up for his ignorance, but that’s unlikely. Their willingness to renounce Poroshenko when the going got tough bodes ill for their future dedication to Zelensky. Zelensky could end up completely on his own—or completely dependent on oligarch backers. On his own, he’ll fail as a reformer. As a puppet to powerful oligarchs, he would succeed as an anti-reformer. Whatever the outcome, a weak president would be just what Ukraine’s corrupt elite—and Putin—want.

Poroshenko is a known quality, which is his own strength and weakness. Many Ukrainians correctly see him as a steady hand who saved Ukraine from the brink of disaster in 2014-2015. Many also correctly see him as someone who has failed to defang the oligarchs and has imposed painful price hikes, mandated by the International Monetary Fund, on a struggling population. Five more years of Poroshenko would probably mean five more years of moderate reform, growing institutionalization and stability, and progressive integration into the West. But Poroshenko could also surprise Ukrainians. He just might worry about his historical legacy enough to conclude that he needs to do something dramatic—like a real crackdown on corruption.

The choice before Ukrainians couldn’t be starker. In 2004, they voted against Yanukovych. The government that followed failed at reform but succeeded in keeping Ukraine alive. In 2010, they voted for Yanukovych. His government ignored reform, promoted a pro-Putin agenda, threatened Ukraine’s existence, and sparked the Euromaidan revolution. In 2014, they voted for Poroshenko, who managed to create a Ukraine that is so free that it can seriously consider electing a make-believe president.

The question is: Will Ukrainians opt for fantasy, or will they decide that the current reality is good enough?

Palestinians pray for fish as Israel opens deeper waters

A man displays fish for sale at the seaport of Gaza City, after Israel expanded fishing zone for Palestinians April 2, 2019. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Nidal al-Mughrabi-APRIL 2, 2019

GAZA (Reuters) - As their rickety motorboats puttered out into deep Mediterranean waters for the first time in almost two decades, the Palestinian fishermen prayed for deepwater mackerel and tuna to supplement Gaza’s usual shallows fare of sardines, shrimp and crab.

This week, as part of Egyptian-mediated efforts to ease the plight of 2 million residents of the blockaded Gaza Strip, Israel has extended the area where it permits Palestinians to fish.

“Such a distance has been off-limits. And hopefully there are lots of fish to bring back,” said 69-year-old fisherman Ahmed al-Amoudi.

Israel keeps a naval cordon on Gaza, part of a blockade it and neighbouring Egypt say is necessary to prevent arms smuggling by the Hamas Islamists that rule the coastal territory.

Israel has long limited Palestinian fishing waters, and has varied the size of the zone. It was tightened to just 6-9 miles (9-15 km) from the coast in recent years. But on Monday, Israel broadened the limit to 12-15 miles (19-24 km) out, its widest since 2000, before a Palestinian revolt erupted.

“This step is part of the civilian policy aimed at preventing a humanitarian deterioration in the Gaza Strip and reflects the policy of distinguishing between terror and the uninvolved populace,” an Israeli official said.

Palestinians saw the move as an Israeli concession to a year of protests at the border, combined with several surges of cross-border fighting which have prompted mediation by Egypt, the United Nations and Qatar on ways to help Gaza’s economy.

“Thanks to God and then to the ‘March of Return’, which opened up the sea for us,” al-Amoudi said, referring to the weekly demonstrations at the frontier, which demand a lifting of the blockade and the right for Palestinians to return to homes their families fled or were forced from when Israel was founded.

April to June are peak Gaza fishing season. The sector accounts for less than 5 percent of the enclave’s GDP and supports some 50,000 people, a fraction of the 2 million population.

But the fishing has value beyond the numbers, as one of the few viable industries in Gaza, where more than half the population is unemployed and nearly 80 percent receive some form of aid, according to the World Bank.

 

With Gaza’s land borders tightly controlled by neighbouring Israel and Egypt, the sea’s horizon provides many Palestinians with a glimpse of hoped-for freedoms of movement in the future.

The U.N. Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladtenov welcomed Israel’s decision to increase the fishing zone, adding: “(I) urge for a substantial improvement of the movement and access for goods and people, including between Gaza and the West Bank.”

He said that the United Nations its partners have raised about $45 million that would allow the creation of around 20,000 jobs in Gaza this year.

The fishermen still have it hard, with fuel and spare parts for their boats scarce. They say that Israel has also barred the importation to Gaza of wire cables that would allow them to line nets for plumbing the depths.

But fisherman Wael Abu Mohammed was still cautiously upbeat.

“With 15 miles now we will be comfortable, if there are no problems with the Israelis,” the father of 10 said. “We hope for the best.”


 Slideshow (7 Images)
The past year has been the deadliest in Gaza since the last war between Hamas and Israel five years ago, with nearly 200 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces at the border demonstrations. One Israeli soldier was killed.

United Nations investigators say Israel has used excessive force. Israel says it has no choice but to use deadly force to protect the border from militants and infiltrators.

The Israeli navy has in the past fired on Palestinian boats that strayed from the fishing zones, sometimes impounding the vessels and detaining their occupants. In addition to smuggling, Israel worries about seaborne attacks. In the 2014 Gaza war, Hamas frogmen swam from Gaza to storm an Israeli coastal base.

The Israeli official said that maintaining the expanded zone for Gaza fisherman “depends on (them) honouring the agreements” and that any attempt to venture beyond it “will be handled accordingly by the (Israeli) security services”.

Students vote to divest at Brown, Swarthmore

Nora Barrows-Friedman -2 April 2019

In a historic move, Brown University in Rhode Island has become the first US Ivy League institution to pass a student referendum supporting divestment from companies complicit in Israel’s human rights violations.

The Brown vote follows a similar divestment resolution passed by the student government at Swarthmore College in early March.

The Brown referendum calls on the administration “to divest all stocks, funds, endowment, and other monetary instruments from companies complicit in human rights abuses in Palestine, including Boeing, Caterpillar, G4S, Hewlett Packard Enterprise CO, Motorola Solutions Inc., Oaktree Capital Group LLC, Textron, AB Volvo, and The Safariland.”

It garnered 69 percent of the voting student body’s support, according to students with the Brown Divest campaign, and the voter turnout “was one of the highest in the history of elections held by the Undergraduate Council of Students,” the group adds.

The 21 March referendum was a “historic day for Brown as we take an emboldened and clear stand against the university’s complicity in human rights abuses in Palestine and in similar systems of oppression across the world,” Brown Divest said.

Students say that the measure follows years of mobilization and the unity of campus groups, and that they will continue to hold the administration accountable to implement the demands of the student body.

A student supporter of the referendum who did not wish to be named told The Electronic Intifada that since the measure passed, more than 250 students have applied to join the core group of Brown Divest. Student activists are also preparing to engage in public activism to pressure the administration to implement divestment.

“The student body has a united stance,” the student said. “They recognize that what’s going on in Palestine is not okay and that we should do something about it.”

Brown president responds

Immediately following the outcome of the Brown referendum on divestment, the university’s president emailed the student body denouncing the vote and dismissing the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign for Palestinian rights as “polarizing.”

In the email, seen by The Electronic Intifada, president Christina Paxson also reiterated her 2013 rejection of calls for academic boycott against Israeli institutions.

Brown Divest organizers said they are “disappointed, but unfortunately not surprised” by Paxson’s remarks.

“The history of activism on Palestine is dotted with similar instances, when democracy is pushed aside to stifle Palestinian voices,” the group stated.

Students were also the target of online intimidation campaigns, the Brown student told The Electronic Intifada. A Facebook group – garnering fewer than 35 “likes” – was set up to harass student supporters of the referendum, and its administrators accused supporters of Palestinian rights of anti-Semitism.

The student said that they anticipated such tactics. Members of Brown Divest who are also members of the campus chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace wrote an op-ed in the Brown Daily Herald explaining why such smears are mere attempts to silence Israel’s critics.

With an overwhelming consensus of student support for divestment despite the efforts by Israel supporters to thwart the outcome of the vote, the Brown student told The Electronic Intifada that “clearly, we’re doing something right. It means we’re resilient and we won’t back down. We have information and facts to back up our claims and what we’re fighting for.”

Watch Brown Divest’s campaign video above.

Swarthmore students support Palestinian rights

In Philadelphia, the student government at Swarthmore College voted in favor of a resolution calling on the institution to pull its investments in companies complicit in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians, including Boeing, Caterpillar, Elbit Systems, Hewlett Packard, Bank Hapoalim, Hyundai and Lockheed Martin.

The 3 March vote followed an earlier attempt to pass a divestment resolution, which failed in February. The student government had scheduled a re-vote “on the basis that student groups had not been heard out evenly or sufficiently,” according to the campus newspaper.

Leading up to the vote, students faced relentless smear campaigns and online harassment from Israel-aligned groups.

A Twitter account calling itself “Stop Hate At Swarthmore,” which began tweeting right before the vote, smeared students who support the resolution as “anti-Semites” and labeled Swarthmore SJP as a “hate group.”

Attempts by Israel lobby groups to label SJP as a “hate group” are a well-worn tactic, as exposed in the undercover documentary The Lobby–USA.

Another Israel-aligned Twitter account, @Radical Alerts, “then tweeted the location and time of the … meeting to its roughly 3,000 followers, calling on them to ‘show up and protest this hate’,” according to the Phoenix.

A student member of an Israel lobby group on campus conceded to a right-wing Zionist publication that the streams by these Twiter accounts of accusations of anti-Semitism “likely helped [to] persuade” the student government to vote in favor of the resolution, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Prominent scholars and professors including Angela Davis and Robin D.G. Kelley, human rights lawyers Maria LaHood and Noura Erakat, and Jewish Voice for Peace’s executive director Rebecca Vilkmoerson and other leading Palestine rights activists wrote an open letter expressing support for Swarthmore students.

“This harassment is not happening in isolation and is no accident. Rather, it is part of a deliberate strategy we see on campuses across the country to intimidate and silence those who organize in support of Palestinian lives and dignity,” the letter says.

When students became aware of the harassment campaigns on social media, “we immediately began informing campus administration about all of the incoming attacks. However, they were not just targeting members of SJP, they were also attacking members of our student government by name,” Joy George, a core member of Swarthmore SJP, told The Electronic Intifada.

George is also a member of Aja, a healing collective for Black women, femmes and nonbinary folks, and an editor of Voices, Swarthmore’s online newspaper.

At the vote, “members of SJP were well versed in the tactics and practiced non-engagement so as to minimize harm that would come to our more vulnerable members, but it was certainly stressful considering the disportionate danger to Arab and students of color,” George added.

She explained that tweets by the “Stop Hate at Swarthmore” account were “coming up as ‘promoted’ on the timelines of other Swarthmore students,” which she said reveals the various attempts to influence the campus climate.

Students self-organized to defend each other against the harassment tactics, George said. She added that SJP informed members of the student government about the methods Israel lobbies use to pressure and intimidate student leaders.

“It’s really about making sure everyone knows we’re in this together and we need to support each other when and where we can,” George noted.

Swarthmore president rejects divestment

Following the student government’s vote to support divestment, the college’s president stated that the institution’s endowment would not be altered by student consensus on blocking investments in corporations that violate human rights.

“The policy states that we have a responsibility to manage the endowment to yield the best long-term financial results in order to fulfill Swarthmore’s educational mission, rather than to pursue other social objectives,” President Valerie Smith stated in an email to the campus community, seen by The Electronic Intifada.

George said she was unhappy with the college position.

“Personally speaking, it was disappointing to not have the official support of the college in the face of blatant antagonization from external groups, especially where there are students, both Palestinian and allies, in the immediate line of fire.”

She added that students will continue to meet with Smith “in the hopes that more substantive backing can be garnered.”

Other administrators, she said, have been helpful in investigating the threats and smears against student supporters of Palestinian rights.

Cornell pushes for divestment

Meanwhile, Cornell University’s student government held a debate on 28 March on a resolution that would urge the administration to pull its investments in companies that violate Palestinian rights.

The divestment campaign is sponsored by the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and is endorsed by nearly two dozen student organizations.

The president of the Ithaca, New York university has already remarked that she would not support any implementation of divestment over human rights issues and repeated talking points pushed by Israel lobby groups that denigrate and distort the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign for Palestinian rights.

In a letter to members of Students for Justice in Palestine, seen by The Electronic Intifada, president Martha Pollack claims that “BDS unfairly singles out one country in the world for sanction when there are many countries around the world whose governments’ policies may be viewed as controversial.”

Students say that the Cornell chapter of Hillel has been attempting to thwart support for divestment on campus.

Hillel is a national campus organization which explicitly excludes Jewish students who identify as anti-Zionist and has a policy against co-sponsoring any event with a student organization that supports the BDS campaign.

“Cornell Hillel and its filial groups, in opposition to most every other minority organization on campus, have positioned themselves as the loudest proponents of the State of Israel and detractors of the divestment campaign on campus,” wrote three Jewish students in the Cornell newspaper.

Is austerity reducing life expectancy?

“Life expectancy is decreasing and is lower in poorer areas. A direct result of this Government’s austerity policies.”

• By Georgina Lee-29 Mar 2019

That was the claim from Labour’s Debbie Abrahams yesterday. She was talking about new figures out this week that show life expectancy among the poorest women in England has fallen since 2012.

So is austerity to blame?

The figures

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports it has found “a large fall in life expectancy at birth among women living in the most deprived areas in England when comparing the periods 2012 to 2014 and 2015 to 2017.”

Just to underscore the significance of this: these figures don’t show that life expectancy for the most deprived women is growing at a slower ratethan previously. These figures show an actual decrease in life expectancyat birth for the poorest women in England — a drop of 100 days between 2012-14 and 2015-17.

At the same time, women in the richest areas of the country have continued to see their life expectancy rise, which “has led to a significant widening in the inequality in life expectancy at birth in England”.


The situation is slightly different for men. The ONS found that “in general, males living in more deprived areas had either non-significant slight falls or gains in life expectancy” between 2012-14 and 2015-17.

Looking at the overall picture, the ONS report says “our wider analysis of mortality shows that life expectancy in the UK has stopped improving at the rate that was expected before 2011.”

Is austerity to blame?

A baby born in England and Wales in 1950 could expect to live to 66. By 2010, that figure was 79 years.

Statisticians and health experts predicted that this trend would continue into the 2010s, but since 2011, mortality rates (the rate at which people die) have not been declining as fast as anticipated.
This has caused growth in life expectancy to stall. Researchers have been trying to get to the bottom of what’s caused this shift in the long-term trend.

Veena Raleigh, a senior fellow at the independent healthcare think tank the King’s Fund, wrote in 2017: “two factors are uncontested […] more older people – particularly older women – than expected given historical trends are dying. The second is that flu contributed to excess deaths in some years, notably 2015 and also in 2017.”

But after that, it gets more difficult.

Richard Faragher, Professor of Biogerontology at the University of Brighton, wrote in 2017: “clearly, budget cuts could reduce life expectancy, but the relationship is not straightforward. It is possible to have high or rising life expectancy during austerity, as is the case in Japan. Similarly, you can have rising life expectancy despite high levels of inequality – this was the case in Britain from 1900-1950.”
So austerity doesn’t always lead to lower life expectancy and lower life expectancy isn’t always caused by austerity.

Nevertheless, Professor Faragher suggests that a dramatic increase in the number of older people, exacerbated by relative budget cuts to health and social care provision, is behind the overall stalling in life expectancy across England.

He writes: “it can be argued that the oldest people are highly vulnerable and that excess deaths among them, from underfunded services, are a major cause of the stalled life expectancy increases […] Austerity has unmasked the unhealthy ageing of our population.”

This is broadly consistent with research published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health looking specifically at what caused the spike in deaths in 2015.

The paper’s authors pinpointed a very particular mechanism that they said was at least partly to blame: “delayed discharges”. That’s where patients are ready to leave hospital but can’t because there’s no suitable accommodation or care available for them.

The researchers said “the increased prevalence of patients being delayed in discharge from hospital in 2015 was associated with increases in mortality, accounting for up to a fifth of mortality increases.”

Overall, they concluded that their study “provides evidence that a lower quality of performance of the NHS and adult social care as a result of austerity may be having an adverse impact on population health.”

Is it correlation or causation?

In 2017, the British Medical Journal published research that linked austerity measures, specifically constraints on health and social care spending, with an estimated 120,000 “excess” deaths between 2010 and 2017.

The paper was described variously as a “landmark study”, a “bombshell report”, and evidence that “austerity kills”.

But despite the eye-watering headline figures, we should treat the findings with caution.

Responding to the paper, Martin Roland, Emeritus Professor of health services research at the University of Cambridge, said: “the link to health and social care spending is speculative as observational studies of this type can never prove cause and effect.”

He added “the authors overstate the certainty of this link [between excess deaths and cuts to] funding and are highly speculative about the money needed to ‘save lives’ in future.”

Dr Richard Fordham, senior lecturer in health economics at the University of East Anglia called the paper’s suggestion that extra deaths were linked to falling nurse numbers “a plausible hypothesis”, but pointed out that “other explanations are available”.

He lists some alternatives: “Patient cohorts may have changed (for example more end-stage, longer-term illnesses); patients may have succumbed to different or new diseases (e.g. MRSA, cirrhosis, etc.); or had greater multiple morbidities (asthma plus diabetes plus cancer, etc.) than similar cohorts of the same age before them”.

Taken together, the criticisms of the “120,000 deaths” paper can be summarised as “correlation does not prove causation”.

Similar critiques have been levelled at the other research we’ve considered here.

For example, Adam Steventon, Director of Data Analytics at the Health Foundation think tank says that “the evidence is far from clear” that delayed discharges from hospitals caused the spike in deaths in 2015.

Responding to that paper, he points out that “the causes of the higher mortality rates are not well understood, but are likely to be complex”, and notes that “one possible contributor is an increased prevalence of influenza”, which has affected Portugal, Hungary, Spain, the Netherlands and France — not just the UK.

He concludes that “it is very hard to consider [the study’s] findings to be reliable evidence that there is a link between deaths and delayed discharges”.

What does the ONS say?

FactCheck asked the ONS whether there was any evidence that the trends reported in this week’s figures are caused by austerity.

A spokesperson told us “We are currently working with government departments and agencies such as Public Health England to understand the reasons behind this. We are looking at what other information might help to shine a light on this issue and plan to make more announcements on this topic later in the year.”

FactCheck verdict

Life expectancy in England is not growing at the rate that experts predicted before 2011. And official figures published this week show that for some groups — women living in the poorest parts of the country — life expectancy at birth isn’t simply stalling, it’s actually falling.

Various academic studies have attempted to link austerity policies with the slowdown in life expectancy gains. Some have even tried to put a figure on how many “excess deaths” have been linked to austerity (one paper estimated 120,000 between 2010 and 2017).

But, as even some of the authors of those studies have pointed out, we must treat these findings with caution. They have suggested correlation (increased mortality coinciding with austerity policies). But they have not proved causation (austerity actually bringing those deaths about, and all other explanations being eliminated).

Five of the largest EU countries — France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain — saw a fall in life expectancy for men and women between 2014 and 2015, suggesting the phenomenon is not unique to the UK and the austerity we’ve seen since 2010.

The independent King’s Fund think tank says that “in our view, single explanations are unlikely to provide the answer; it is more likely that many factors are at play.”

Trump abandons plan for pre-election vote on health care after talking to McConnell

President Trump spoke to reporters at the White House April 2 about how he believes Republicans can change U.S. health care. (The Washington Post)

By John Wagner and

Erica Werner-April 2 at 3:02 PM

President Trump abandoned plans to press for a vote on a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act ahead of next year’s elections following a conversation with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican said Tuesday.

McConnell told reporters that he and Trump had “a good conversation” Monday afternoon in which he said that Senate Republicans had no intention of trying to overhaul President Obama’s signature health-care law during a campaign season — a move many in the GOP saw as politically perilous, given that the issue helped Democrats in last year’s midterm elections.

“I made it clear to him we were not going to be doing that in the Senate,” McConnell said, also pointing out the difficulty in crafting a bill that could pass the Democratic-led House. “We don’t have a misunderstanding about that.”

In tweets late Monday night after the two men had talked, Trump signaled that he was punting on the issue until after next year’s election — suggesting that he believes he would still be in the White House and that Republicans would control both chambers of Congress at that point.

“Vote will be taken right after the Election when Republicans hold the Senate & win back the House,” Trump wrote. “It will be truly great HealthCare that will work for America.”

[For Trump’s ‘Party of Healthcare,’ there is no health-care plan]

President Trump stopped to talk to members of the media as he walks to Marine One to depart from the South Lawn at the White House on Thursday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

McConnell said Tuesday that Trump still plans to develop a health-care plan to present to voters during the campaign but the Senate will not act on any “comprehensive” legislation before 2021.

Congressional Republicans were caught off guard by Trump’s rapid shift to focus on health care last week, which was set off by his abrupt decision to direct the Justice Department to intervene in a federal-court case seeking to eliminate the ACA in its entirety on constitutional grounds.

Trump later showed up a Senate Republican luncheon where he declared that they should be the “party of health care” and asked for assistance in writing a new bill.

It soon became apparent, however, that other Republicans had little appetite to take on an issue that benefited Democrats during last year’s midterm elections.

McConnell signaled that he would not play a major role in authoring new health-care legislation, saying he would instead wait to see what the White House produced in consultation with leaders of the Democratic-controlled House.

Obamacare imperiled yet again - this time, by the Justice Department

After a district judge ruled that the much-embattled Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional, the Justice Department said the whole law should be invalidated. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

[The Health 202: Trump’s latest twist on health care]

And Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), whose panel would be central to any such debate, also said last week that there was no plan to move forward.

In his tweets, Trump claimed that a bill is in the works.

“The Republicans are developing a really great HealthCare Plan with far lower premiums (cost) & deductibles than ObamaCare,” he said. “In other words it will be far less expensive & much more usable than ObamaCare.”

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

Everybody agrees that ObamaCare doesn’t work. Premiums & deductibles are far too high - Really bad HealthCare! Even the Dems want to replace it, but with Medicare for all, which would cause 180 million Americans to lose their beloved private health insurance. The Republicans.....

67.8K

10:13 PM - Apr 1, 2019

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

....are developing a really great HealthCare Plan with far lower premiums (cost) & deductibles than ObamaCare. In other words it will be far less expensive & much more usable than ObamaCare. Vote will be taken right after the Election when Republicans hold the Senate & win......

64.7K

10:23 PM - Apr 1, 2019

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

....back the House. It will be truly great HealthCare that will work for America. Also, Republicans will always support Pre-Existing Conditions. The Republican Party will be known as the Party of Great HealtCare. Meantime, the USA is doing better than ever & is respected again!

60.6K

10:37 PM - Apr 1, 2019

Despite the delay in legislative action, the Trump administration is continuing to push for the dismantling of the ACA through the courts.

On Tuesday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) held an event outside the Supreme Court urging the Justice Department to reverse its position in the case. Democrats in both chambers are introducing resolutions Tuesday to that end. The House plans to vote Wednesday.

“We’re here to condemn what the president did,” Pelosi said. “Americans need to know where their representatives stand.”

Schumer mocked Trump for pushing off the health-care debate past the elections.

“Translation: They have no health-care plan,” he said. “What a ruse. What a shame. What a disgrace. . . . The American people will not stand for the president playing cynical games with health care.”

Sen John Thune (R-S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican, said it makes sense to wait until after the election to attempt the large-scale health-insurance overhaul the president was suggesting.

Trump probably “looked at the possibility that anything could move, I mean the idea that he could get a Democrat House to agree with the Republican Senate on something he wants to try to get enacted,” Thune said. “My guess is it’s just probably a realistic assessment of what the field looks like for the next couple of years.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) said he did not think that Trump’s tweet removed any pressure from Republicans to come up with a health-care solution — an issue he said he would continue to focus on in his own reelection campaign.

“That’s one man’s timetable,” Cornyn said of Trump’s declaration that a vote would take place after the elections. “But I intend to continue to try to find ways to provide more affordable choices for people when it comes to their health care.”

Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) held a news conference Tuesday morning to discuss legislation to reduce the cost of prescription drug prices and increase transparency for consumers. Both senators said they were focused on drug prices — something they said they viewed as achievable — not the broader ACA replacement plan the president now says will be put off until after the elections.

“I think you’d have to ask the president. I know what I’m going to focus on. I’m going to focus on drug prices,” Scott said when asked about Trump’s declaration that the vote would take place after the elections.

Trump previously named Scott as one of the Republican senators working on replacement legislation.

“I talk to the president a lot. I called him last week to talk about a couple other issues, and he brought up the fact he’d like me to focus on this, and I told him that what I was working on was prescription drug prices,” Scott said. “I’m a business guy. I didn’t try to do grand bargains.”

As Missouri attorney general, Hawley led his state to join others in bringing the lawsuit aimed at overturning the ACA — legal action that the Trump administration is now supporting. Asked whether he had a “moral responsibility” to offer a replacement if the ACA is struck down in court, Hawley said it will remain in place as the case is adjudicated and that “I expect that will take quite some time.”

“Obamacare is in place; it’s going to be for the foreseeable future,” Hawley said. “But we need to act now to actually get relief for families who depend on these prescription drugs.”

Seung Min Kim and Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.