Israeli Police Break up Palestinian Parents’ Committee Meet

A Palestinian demonstrator waves a national flag during confrontations with Israeli troops, following a protest against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the occupied- West Bank, in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near the Jewish settlement of Kedumim on January 6, 2023. (AFP)
A Palestinian demonstrator waves a national flag during confrontations with Israeli troops, following a protest against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the occupied- West Bank, in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near the Jewish settlement of Kedumim on January 6, 2023. (AFP)
TT
20

Israeli Police Break up Palestinian Parents’ Committee Meet

A Palestinian demonstrator waves a national flag during confrontations with Israeli troops, following a protest against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the occupied- West Bank, in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near the Jewish settlement of Kedumim on January 6, 2023. (AFP)
A Palestinian demonstrator waves a national flag during confrontations with Israeli troops, following a protest against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the occupied- West Bank, in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near the Jewish settlement of Kedumim on January 6, 2023. (AFP)

Israeli police broke up a meeting by Palestinian parents in east Jerusalem about their children's education, claiming it was unlawfully funded by the Palestinian Authority. 

The operation Saturday came just days after Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist with a long record of anti-Arab rhetoric and stunts, began his post as part of Israel's new government, its most conservative right-wing ever. He now oversees the police. 

Police alleged the meeting was funded by the Palestinian Authority and attended by PA activists, which it said was in violation of Israeli law. Police said they prevented the meeting from taking place and that they were operating under an order by Ben-Gvir to shut it down. Police declined to provide evidence backing up their claim and a spokesman for Ben-Gvir referred questions to the police. 

Ziad Shamali, head of the Students' Parents' Committees Union in Jerusalem, which was holding the meeting, denied there was any PA involvement, saying it was being held to discuss a shortage of teachers in east Jerusalem schools. He said he viewed the claim of PA ties as “a political pretext to ban” the meeting. 

The Palestinian Authority was created to administer Gaza and parts of the occupied West Bank. Israel opposes any official business being carried out by the PA in east Jerusalem, and police have in the past broken up events they alleged were linked to the PA. 

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it, a move unrecognized by most of the international community. Israel considers the city its undivided, eternal capital. The Palestinians seek the city's eastern sector as the capital of their hoped-for state. 

About a third of the city's population is Palestinian and they have long faced neglect and discrimination at the hands of Israeli authorities, including in education, housing and public services. 

Ben-Gvir has pushed for a tougher line against the Palestinians, a stance that appears to have taken root in the government. On Friday, its ministers agreed to a series of punitive measures against the Palestinians in retaliation for their having asked the UN’s highest judicial body to give its opinion on the Israeli occupation. 



Top Houthi Leaders Flee Sanaa Amid Trump-Ordered US Strikes

Top Houthi leaders disappear from Sanaa, communication cut off (Houthi Media)
Top Houthi leaders disappear from Sanaa, communication cut off (Houthi Media)
TT
20

Top Houthi Leaders Flee Sanaa Amid Trump-Ordered US Strikes

Top Houthi leaders disappear from Sanaa, communication cut off (Houthi Media)
Top Houthi leaders disappear from Sanaa, communication cut off (Houthi Media)

Senior Houthi leaders have disappeared from public life in Sanaa, gripped by fear of US airstrikes ordered by President Donald Trump, now entering their third week, sources in Yemen said.

The first-tier leadership of the Iran-aligned group is believed to have fled the capital, which remains under Houthi control, seeking shelter in remote areas of Saada and Amran provinces.

According to informed sources, the group’s leaders have severed traditional communication channels and several have either gone into hiding or relocated to undisclosed locations as a precaution against possible targeted strikes.

Since the launch of US airstrikes on March 15, senior and mid-level Houthi leaders have vanished from public view and social media platforms, Yemeni sources say, as fear of targeted attacks continues to grow within the group’s ranks.

Informed sources confirmed there has been no trace of the group’s top two tiers of leadership - neither in the institutions under Houthi control in Sanaa, nor on the streets and neighborhoods they once frequented in luxury vehicles.

Even the sectarian events that Houthi leaders were known to regularly attend have reportedly gone on without their visible presence.

The Houthi group has remained tight-lipped about the extent of its human and military losses following US airstrikes ordered by Trump.

However, sources say several leaders not belonging to the ruling family of Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi are still believed to be in Sanaa.

Many of these figures have adopted strict security measures to avoid detection, including travelling in vehicles with tinted windows and covering their faces with cloaks when leaving temporary residences, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The precautions reflect growing fears of betrayal or being targeted by further strikes.

A source in Sanaa revealed that third-tier Houthi officials—mostly tribal figures and field supervisors—were instructed to flee to the northern provinces of Saada, Amran and other areas as US air raids intensified.

According to the source, mid-level Houthi officials have lost all direct contact with the group’s senior leadership after the latter switched locations and shut down their communication lines.