Houthis Force Supporters to Visit Graves, Prove Loyalty

A Yemeni at a Houthi cemetery in Sanaa (AFP)
A Yemeni at a Houthi cemetery in Sanaa (AFP)
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Houthis Force Supporters to Visit Graves, Prove Loyalty

A Yemeni at a Houthi cemetery in Sanaa (AFP)
A Yemeni at a Houthi cemetery in Sanaa (AFP)

Houthi militias have forced loyalists and government officials to visit the graves of dead militants during Eid celebrations, including the tomb of the head of the Supreme Political Council, Saleh al-Sammad. who was killed in 2018 during a strike carried out by the coalition to support the legitimacy in Yemen.

Millions of Yemenis in areas under Houthi control continue to suffer from miserable living conditions.

The militias continue to pressure officials and residents in Sanaa to organize group visits to the graves of the dead, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The sources pointed out that the group's pressures resulted in organizing group visits by officials and residents in Sanaa over the past few days to some of the graves of the dead militants.

The militias seek to mislead and deceive the local and international public opinion that their dead are popular in Yemeni society.

The group also exploits religious and other sectarian occasions to attract more young recruits, school students, and relatives of the dead.

Meanwhile, sources close to Houthis in Sanaa told Asharq Al-Awsat that the militia allocated sums of money to finance the daily visits to the graves through the so-called "General Authority for Martyrs Families Welfare."

Yemeni politicians in Sanaa said that the Houthi leaders spend lavish money and food aid on their supporters and provide care for the families of their dead through many entities that the group has established.

Residents of several neighborhoods in Sanaa told Asharq Al-Awsat that the militia's supervisors recently forced them to leave their homes en masse to visit cemeteries.

Some residents said that the coup supervisors threatened "absentees" with blacklists, saying those who didn't attend the visits will be denied access to some aid and liquefied domestic gas (LNG).

The residents pointed out that the group's supervisors transported residents of some neighborhoods of different ages in Sanaa to the cemeteries on buses.

Bashir, a resident of the al-Nahda neighborhood, confirmed that the group targets new communities each day, forcing their residents to visit the graves of Sammad and another officials across the governorate.

Residents of various Sanaa neighborhoods complained to Asharq Al-Awsat earlier about the continued pressure and Houthi violations on forced mass visits to graves.

Several months ago, the militias forced senior officials and government employees under their control and the residents to visit the graves designated for their dead.

They also ordered school principals to organize field trips to visit the cemeteries.

Yemeni local sources stated earlier that the coup built over 100 new cemeteries for its dead in seven governorates under its control: Sanaa, Saada, al-Mahweet, al-Hodeidah, Raymah, Ibb, and Dhamar to be added to the already established 400 cemeteries.



Report Says Israeli Settlers Used Grazing to Grab Swathes of West Bank Land

20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)
20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)
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Report Says Israeli Settlers Used Grazing to Grab Swathes of West Bank Land

20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)
20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)

A report by Israeli settlement watchdogs says settlers have used grazing to seize control of 14 percent of the occupied West Bank through the establishment of shepherding outposts in recent years.

In their report, "The Bad Samaritan", Israeli NGOs Peace Now and Kerem Navot said that in the past three years, 70 percent of all land seized by settlers was "taken under the guise of grazing activities".

Settlers in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, use herding to establish a presence on agricultural lands used by Palestinian communities and gradually deny them access to these areas, according to the report.

To force Palestinians out, settlers resort to harassment, intimidation and violence, "with the backing of the Israeli government and military", the watchdogs said.

"Israeli authorities make living conditions very difficult, but settler violence is really the main trigger why people leave lately -- they have nothing to protect themselves", said Allegra Pacheco, director of the West Bank Protection Consortium, a group of international NGOs.

"People get very worried about their families and their safety", and have no recourse when settlers start occupying their lands, she told AFP.

Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to around 490,000 Israelis living in settlements and outposts considered illegal under international law.

Around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank.

On Friday, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that "Israeli settlers injured 23 Palestinians in one week, mainly in Bedouin and herding communities".

That same week, between March 11 and 17, "two Palestinian families were displaced, and at least two houses, eight vehicles and 180 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings were vandalized" in incidents involving settlers.

More than 60 entire Palestinian shepherding communities throughout the West Bank have been expelled using such methods since 2022, the report added.

These communities are overwhelmingly in the West Bank's Area C, which under the Oslo Accords signed in the 1990s falls under full Israeli control.

In recent months, several Israeli far-right politicians including some in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government have suggested taking advantage of the friendly US administration under President Donald Trump to annex part or all of the West Bank in 2025.

"The systematic and violent displacement of Palestinians from hundreds of thousands of dunam of land in recent years has undoubtedly laid the groundwork to facilitate such ambitions", the new report said of annexation, using a traditional measure of land area equivalent to 1,000 square meters.