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European Union missions deplore Israeli demolitions in Area C

JERUSALEM, February 22, 2017 (WAFA) - The European Union (EU) missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah Wednesday deplored continuing Israeli demolitions of Palestinian structures in Area C of the West Bank and the stop work orders.

The EU missions said in a statement that these demolitions increase the threat of demolition on Palestinian structures in Khan al-Ahmar, location of a school which serves five local communities, issued by Israel in the occupied West Bank on Sunday.

So far in 2017, 218 Palestinians have been displaced due to demolitions, confiscations and evictions of 135 structures in Area C only. More than half of the displaced persons were children.

In East Jerusalem, 63 people (among whom 31 children) have been displaced due to demolitions, confiscations and evictions of 31 structures in 2017.

During last year, 6,088 Palestinians were affected by 872 demolitions in Area C, among whom 1,663 were children, and humanitarian structures provided by the EU or EU Member States worth approximately EUR 536,000 were destroyed or confiscated.

EU humanitarian activities are carried out in full accordance with International Humanitarian Law, with the sole aim of providing humanitarian support to the most vulnerable population, said the EU missions statement.

The EU missions called on the Israeli authorities to halt demolitions of Palestinian houses and property in accordance with its obligations as an occupying power under international humanitarian law, and to cease the policy of settlement construction and expansion, of designating land for exclusive Israeli use and of denying Palestinian development.

M.K.

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European Union missions deplore Israeli demolitions in Area C - WAFA - Palestine News Agency

By Javier Solana

The world needs the European Union now more than ever. Despite recent crises and the hard blow dealt by the Brexit vote, the EU may well be the worlds best line of defense against todays most serious threats: isolationism, protectionism, nationalism, and extremism in all forms, all of which are once again growing in Europe and beyond.

The key to enabling the EU to meet this potential to save itself and the world from catastrophe is for member states urgently to adopt a European Union first mantra.

Unlike the America first credo embraced by US President Donald Trump, such a mantra would not be an exercise in damaging unilateralism. On the contrary, it would compel member states governments to look beyond narrow national interest, defend openness and multilateralism, and confront head-on the exclusionary political forces that have lately been gaining ground.

It would drive member states to consolidate the EU, thereby enabling it to overcome the challenges it faces and help preserve the international order.

That order is neither an inessential accessory nor a post-war relic. It has supported global prosperity and stability for 70 years. We need it together with the multilateralism on which it is built to confront many of the economic, environmental, and strategic challenges we now face, challenges that cannot be addressed at the national level.

A cornerstone of the existing international order is the recognition that maintaining peace and human welfare requires an understanding of and respect for the needs and interests of others needs and interests that are no less legitimate than our own.

Multilateralism is not a product of unsustainable solidarity, as some like to claim; it is the result of an enlightened interpretation of ones own interests. With a constructive attitude, even a large number of disparate actors can reach agreements in which everyone wins by yielding a little; without it, prospects for sustained peace and widely shared prosperity become far bleaker.

If all countries put their own interests first, paying no heed to others, competition will quickly overwhelm common interests. If nobody is ever willing to yield, we will all lose.

If we depend solely on bilateral deals, the shared spaces and synergies that facilitate agreement on difficult but vital topics from climate change to security will narrow until they disappear.

This is why Trumps embrace of an American first mantra is so worrying. As the worlds leading power, the US sets the tone of cooperation and often provides the incentives for other countries to participate.

If the US maintains a unilateral and isolationist stance, other countries are almost certain to follow suit, endangering everyone including the US.

Recently, the Trump administration has begun to moderate some of its foreign-policy positions. In particular, Trump has finally agreed to honor the One China policy.

He also seems to have rectified his approach to Japan, after having raised doubts about his willingness to follow through on Americas security commitments.

These developments imply that the administration is beginning to recognize the need for a more constructive approach.

That recognition may arise partly out of an understanding of history. Experience has shown that the most effective way to prevent conflicts is through inclusion and cooperation. Exclusionary rhetoric plays into the hands of those who reduce identity to nativist definitions.

When such figures nationalists and populists have been left to guide policy in the past, the result has been large-scale conflict.

At a time when global power dynamics are in flux, as is true today, the risk of such an outcome is even greater. Today, an effort is being made to incorporate emerging powers particularly China more deeply into the existing structures of global governance.

Casting doubt on these structures, which have sustained stability over the last seven decades, would merely fuel more nationalism and competition, opening the way for volatility and conflict.

If the US cannot be counted on to support global stability, the EUs model and experience will become even more important. The EU is the embodiment of inclusion, cooperation, and democratic values.

Despite its flaws, the EU has proved time and again how differences can be resolved peacefully and constructively. Its member states are uniquely committed to multilateralism; indeed, we practice it daily.

The results speak for themselves. No one can doubt that the EU has been a guarantor of peace, democracy, modernity, and progress for all of its members.

Its community model which requires cooperation, negotiation, and compromise to reach any consequential decision amounts to a check on extremism, because no member country can push radical policies forward without other members pushing back.

This is not to say that EU countries face no risk of falling victim to simplistic populist rhetoric. On the contrary, the point is to highlight why EU member states must dedicate themselves to the continued construction of a stronger and deeper union.

For the sake of Europe and the world, it is time to put the EU first.

No one knows better than Europe the consequences of extremism and nationalism or how to overcome them. With an enlightened and supranational spirit, the EU has achieved a sustained peace that would have seemed impossible a century ago. It must not lose sight of that achievement. Instead, it must continue to advance the union, and show the world what multilateralism can do.

Writerwas EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary-General of NATO, and Foreign Minister of Spain. He is currently President of the ESADE Center for Global Economy and Geopolitics and Distinguished Fellow at the Brookings Institution.

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The European Union First - New Vision - New Vision

Afghanistan is set to lay out stringent penalties for bacha bazi sexual slavery and abuse of boys for the first time, officials say, in a landmark move against the deeply entrenched practice.

AFP revealed last year how the Taliban were exploiting rampant bacha bazi in police ranks to mount deadly insider attacks, exposing a hidden epidemic of kidnapping of young boys for institutionalised sexual slavery.

The revelations intensified longstanding demands by campaigners for Kabul to enact an incisive legal provision to curb bacha bazi literally boy play which has seen a striking resurgence in post-Taliban Afghanistan.

A raft of punishments will now be listed in Afghanistans revised penal code from up to seven years in jail for sexual assault to capital punishment for aggravated cases such as violating more than one boy.

There is an entire chapter on criminalising the practice (bacha bazi) in the new penal code, Nader Nadery, a senior advisor to President Ashraf Ghani, told AFP.

The code is expected to be adopted any time this month. This is going to be a significant step towards stopping this ugly practice.

Graphic showing documented cases of sexual slavery kidnappings in Afghanistan. (AFP)

A draft of the chapter seen by AFP, titled Driving children towards moral corruption, states that bacha bazi victims cannot be prosecuted, a significant caveat in a nation where sex assault victims often face punishment.

Afghanistans criminal law previously only prohibited pederasty and sex outside of marriage, which rights campaigners said did not sufficiently address the problem of bacha bazi.

This chapter clearly defines bacha bazi as a crime, leaving no room for ambiguity, Ghanis legal advisor Nasrullah Stanekzai told AFP, waving printed copies of the revised penal code in his hand.

Aside from police commanders, warlords, politicians and other members of the Afghan elite often keep bachas as a symbol of authority and affluence.

The young boys, sometimes dressed effeminately with makeup and bells on their feet, can be used as dancers at private parties and are often sexually exploited.

AFPs investigation found the Taliban were using the boys keen on revenge and easy prey for recruitment to infiltrate security ranks and mount crippling insider attacks on police in southern Afghanistan. The insurgents deny the claim.

21st century slaves

Before the penal code, activists pushed for years for special legislation on bacha bazi, with scant hope of getting it through parliament as they suspect the practice is prevalent among lawmakers themselves.

I have received calls from MPs that say they will never let a bacha bazi law pass in parliament, said Soraya Sobhrang from the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. This is a battle to save 21st century slaves.

The penal code is likely to be passed by presidential decree during the ongoing parliamentary recess. But Sobhrang worries some lawmakers may try to water it down when it is later subjected to a parliamentary review.

Afghanistan has a poor record of enforcing similar provisions, including a law to eliminate violence against women and another to ban the recruitment of child soldiers, especially when the perpetrators are powerful.

Explicit criminalisation in law of the heinous practice of bacha bazi is commendable, but implementation of laws in Afghanistan has been questionable, the All Survivors Project, a global fact-finding effort into sexual violence against males in conflict zones, told AFP.

How is the government planning to monitor, investigate and hold accountable those responsible for abusing boys under this new legal provision?

Graphic locating documented cases of sexual slavery kidnappings in Afghanistan. (AFP)

As Afghanistans conflict escalates, critics have said there appears to be no will to act against abusive security officials who are seen as the lesser of two evils in the fight against insurgent groups.

Western officials have privately conceded to AFP that some Afghan commanders accused of bacha bazi are too strategic to be removed from their posts.

But growing public scrutiny of the practice, once shrouded in shame and silence, is forcing authorities to act in some areas.

Earlier this month, the government sacked Shah Mirza Panjsheri, police chief of the volatile Dasht-e-Archi district in northern Kunduz province, after a video of his bacha bazi party surfaced on social media.

He was kidnapping young, beautiful boys and forcing them to dance in bacha bazi gatherings, a Kunduz government spokesman told AFP.

When we heard about this we dismissed him immediately, he said, adding that he was the first high-ranking police official in Kunduz to be sacked for this practice.

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Afghanistan to set penalties for abuse of boy sex slaves - Hindustan Times

Afghanistan have crumbled in sensational fashion in the third one-day international against Zimbabwe, losing 5-5 in a stunning collapse to hand the hosts a three-run win in Harare.

The result means Zimbabwe keep their hopes in the five-match series alive, with the ledger now sitting 2-1 in Afghanistans favour.

Cruising at 5-121 and needing just nine runs from 23.3 overs to seal the series, Afghanistan fell in a heap as seamer Chris Mpofu (3-24) and left-arm spinner Sean Williams (3-15) ran riot.

Mpofu started the panic when he had Samiullah Shenwari (29) and Najibullah Zadran (first-ball duck) caught behind in successive balls.

Quick Single: Beauty of Pune pitch in eye of beholder

The 31-year-old quick struck again in his next over after Williams had chimed in with the scalp of Mohammad Nabi, before Mpofu took the final wicket to complete an unlikely victory.

Earlier, Tarisai Musakanda (60) and Malcolm Waller (36 not out) were two of only three Zimbabwe batsmen to reach double-figures as the home side were skittled for 129 in 32.4 overs.

Afghan seamer Gulbadin Naib (4-27) did best with the ball while Asghar Stanikzai top-scored for the tourists with 31.

The fourth ODI is on Friday and the final match on Sunday, both at the Harare Sports Club.

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Afghanistan lose 5-5 in nightmare collapse - cricket.com.au

Laura Cesaretti

Laura Cesaretti is an Italian freelance journalist based in Afghanistan. She has previously worked in Turkey and Lebanon, covering the Syrian humanita

Afghanistans Khorasan region is often associated with war and social conservatism, yet it has a rich history of religious tolerance and a passion for art.

Whether known to be the graveyard of empires or the land of lions, Afghanistan has always been perceived as the motherland of fearless, rural fighters. Yet the view of a mountainous, ruthless country does not give justice to the beauty of this historic land, regulated for centuries by codes and institutions that incorporated progressive thinking. Over 30years of war and an unstoppable campaign against local tribal customs have contributed to enforce this conventional wisdom, portraying Afghans as conservative extremists who oppose any form of modernization.

Not surprisingly, this stereotype is also used by the Islamic State (IS). The group first set foot on Afghan soil in 2014, and it announced the establishment of the so-called Province of Khorasan the following year. The people of Khurasan in general love Islam and warfare, Shaykh Hafidh Said Khan, the appointed wali of Khorasan, told the ISDabiqmagazine, and because of this, the region has a dormant force for supporting tawhid and jihad.

The use of the term Khorasan is not casual. Historically, it refers to a broader area that includes northern Afghanistan and other Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The actual boundaries, however, have been the subject of tales and narratives that extend them to include the southern-central provinces of Afghanistan.

A controversialhadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad), in particular, has later engraved the region with a deep symbolic meaning across many Islamist groups. It is said that an army will rise up from this region bearing a black banner, and it will lead Muslims to the final victory against the enemies of Islam. This has encouraged speculation, particularly referring to Afghanistan, spreading the belief that the Taliban or other groups like IS could be the prophesied army.

What many, including the Islamic State today, ignore is how the Afghan Islamic tradition is profoundly unrelated to this apocalyptic view. Throughout history, Afghan nationalist movements have been inspired by an Islam that did not fear to include elements of Hinduism and Zoroastrianism, for centuries making Afghanistan one of the most spiritual and tolerant religious crossways. Even nowadays, in the old city of Kabul you can find an old temple where people worship Baba Ratan, a Sufi saint for Muslims and a guru for Hindus and Sikhs, famous for having professed miracles across India and Afghanistan, including Jalalabad, Kabul, Peshawar and Khorasan.

The impact of his teachings and poems is still alive in todays Afghanistan, along with the spiritual footprint of other Sufi thinkers. Popular poetry, strictly related to religion and society, uses vocabulary of human rights and national pride, and Sufi scholars are believed to be the real architects of Afghan society.

This ascetic approach toward life is not relegated to the intellectual Afghan class. Afghan politicians recite lines of poetry in their speeches, and farmers use their birds as metaphors for life, recalling, perhaps, the lines that Iman Ghazali, the great 11th-century Sufi, wroteduring his last state of illness: A bird I am: This body was my cage/But I have flown leaving it as a token. Even conservative clerics often use poems in Friday prayers, and the most violent warlords prefer to have pictures of themselves taken with flowers rather than an AK47.

Many Muslims around the world do not agree with the way of Sufism, and this is saying a lot about Afghan people. Things have changed in the past years, but most of our people are still very moderate, compassionate and caring about each other. We are one of the few cultures which have to allow Sufism to grow, explains Mahmud Kaber Khalili, grandson of the great poet Khalilullaj Khalili and son of the political leader Masood Khalili. In his book,Afghanistan Decoded, Mahmud Khalili has dedicated an entire chapter to his familys historicalhujraa meditation room built in 1962 decorated only by poems.

Even during wartime, the hujra has been preserved with the highest respect by mujahedeen and Taliban alike. Poetry, in fact, has always been considered to have a powerful social role in Afghanistan, and people from different economic and social background pay the same level of respect to poets. Poetry festivals are held regularly in many provinces of the country, even the ones controlled by the Taliban, who have a long-standing poetic tradition.

Poetry of the Talibanbrings together over 200 poems about grief and battle, as well as love and mysticism. Contrary to music, banned under the Taliban as religious propaganda, poetry had little to do with political ideology, and more with local traditions that characterized the Afghan identity.

The Afghanistan Ministry of Information and Culture has repeatedly lamented this misinterpretation of Afghan culture, and how the international community has paid so little attention to this fundamental peculiarity of the Afghan life. We are the victim of terrorism, says the spokesperson of the ministry, Haroon Hakimi. It is unfortunate that birthplace of so many scholars who were spreading peace and love to the world has been affected by war, and known mainly for that.

Sufism, in fact, has been used as a counterterrorism strategy by the West, but not as a source of interpretation and understanding of a great civilization. Khorasans Sufi intellectuals and poets such as Rumi are popular in the West, but not well-known for their religious beliefs and spiritual interpretations.

Indeed, the Khorasan region is also homeof rigid interpretations of Islam, such as the Deobandi school, to which groups such as the Taliban belong. This interpretation is not much different from the Wahhabi teachings that inspired the Islamic State, and yet the space for political and social debate has always characterized this part of the region.

Baqi Hilaman Ghaznawi, a Sufi scholar and writer of many books in Dari and Pashto, explains: Taliban are not al-Qaeda or Daesh [Islamic State]. In the 1990s, when they arrived, they respected our spiritual traditions.

It is this spiritual narrative that characterizes the Khorasan region more than war and conservatism. The aesthetic passion for poetry and emotion of Afghans is something that can be felt in every aspect of their every day like. Yet neither the West nor the Islamic State are ready to recognize it.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observers editorial policy.

Photo Credit:farid_ep

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Afghanistan: The Stolen Tale of Khorasan - Fair Observer