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Palestinian Climbers Defy Wartime Obstacles to Scale West Bank Cliffs

The nascent Palestinian climbing community has adapted to new challenges after the Israel-Hamas war. Sonia LOGRE / AFP
The nascent Palestinian climbing community has adapted to new challenges after the Israel-Hamas war. Sonia LOGRE / AFP
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Palestinian Climbers Defy Wartime Obstacles to Scale West Bank Cliffs

The nascent Palestinian climbing community has adapted to new challenges after the Israel-Hamas war. Sonia LOGRE / AFP
The nascent Palestinian climbing community has adapted to new challenges after the Israel-Hamas war. Sonia LOGRE / AFP

As Palestinian climber Faris Abu Gosh encouraged his friend ascending a limestone cliff in the occupied West Bank, the war raging in Gaza momentarily slipped from his mind.
Scaling rock faces has offered solace since the fighting erupted, but he and his friends have also had to face mounting challenges in what was already not an easy place for their budding climbing community, AFP said.
Yet, they have simply adapted, finding detours around new Israeli checkpoints or ways to avoid the heightened risks of confrontations with soldiers or settlers living in the surrounding hills.
"For the last seven years I've been completely obsessed with climbing and developed my entire life around it", said Abu Gosh, a 22-year-old physiotherapy student.
On a recent Saturday, a dozen Palestinian and Italian climbers were geared up in Wadi al-Ghul, a West Bank river valley that turns lush and green with winter rain.
As much as Palestinian climbers enjoy this recently opened spot for its natural beauty, they also appreciate its location far from Israeli settlements, which are considered illegal under international law.
And when Israeli troops are in the area, "we feel safer when foreigners come climb with us," said Abu Gosh.
"Soldiers usually don't bother white people."
Increased military presence
At least 435 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, according to Palestinian Authority data.
"In the first month, it was almost impossible to leave certain towns and villages, because the Israeli army closed roads," said Heba Shaheen, president of the Palestine Climbing Association.
"It was really hard, and it is still very hard," she added, describing a widespread feeling of insecurity in the West Bank.
Climbers have to travel on dirt roads and make long detours, Shaheen said, noting they might have to drive 90 minutes just because they cannot cross a 50-meter (160-foot) stretch of road that is only for settlers.
One of the climbers, Tariq Kaabna, told AFP an Israeli soldier had just that morning taken a water bottle from him and dumped its contents into Kaabna's backpack.
At the Ein Qiniya site, near Ramallah, "there has been an increase in settlers and soldiers going into the area," said Abu Gosh, who hails from the Qalandia refugee camp.
"Once the climbers were kicked out of the climbing site for military purposes. This stuff actually wasn't happening before," he added.
Ein Farah, a canyon filled by a river in winter time, has been closed to all climbers by Israeli park authorities since the beginning of the war.
Though located in the West Bank just 15 kilometers (9 miles) east of Jerusalem, the site was declared an Israeli nature reserve named Ein Prat, a practice that rights groups have labeled as a roundabout way of restricting Palestinian access to West Bank land.
'Nothing could help us forget'
The West Bank's rocky topography offers massive potential for establishing or "bolting" new routes, dozens of which have been opened over the past 15 years.
However, climbing's physicality brings the Palestinian sporting community further into the land struggle that has rocked the West Bank since Israel's 1967 occupation of the territory.
"When we were developing we would see or hear the military but we thought it would be safe," said Tim Bruns, a US climber who bolted some of the first West Bank routes in the mid-2010s with his friend Will Harris.
Bruns told AFP he was set to join a climbing trip to the West Bank in December with mountaineering star Alex Honnold, but it was canceled at the last minute over security and access concerns.
For Palestinian climbers like Shaheen and Abu Gosh, they have felt guilty at times for continuing climbing while the war rages in Gaza.
"Before the war, climbing was an escape. But after the war started there was nothing that could help us forget what is going on (in Gaza)," she told AFP.
Though the Palestinian climbing community is in its early days, Shaheen hopes they will one day get to compete in the Olympics.
The inclusion of the Palestine Climbing Association in the International Federation of Sport Climbing in February 2024 was one step in this direction.
"The ultimate goal is to sustain the climbing in Palestine by Palestinians," she said.

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Varieties

SpaceX Loses Contact with Starlink Satellite after Mishap

FILE PHOTO: SpaceX logo and Elon Musk silhouette are seen in this illustration taken, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: SpaceX logo and Elon Musk silhouette are seen in this illustration taken, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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SpaceX Loses Contact with Starlink Satellite after Mishap

FILE PHOTO: SpaceX logo and Elon Musk silhouette are seen in this illustration taken, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: SpaceX logo and Elon Musk silhouette are seen in this illustration taken, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

SpaceX's Starlink said one of its satellites experienced an anomaly in space on Wednesday that created a "small number" of debris and cut off communications with the spacecraft at 418 km (259.73 miles) in altitude, a rare kinetic accident in orbit for the satellite internet giant.

"The satellite is largely intact, tumbling, and will reenter the Earth's atmosphere and fully demise within weeks," Starlink said in a post on X.

The company said it was working with the US Space Force and NASA to monitor the debris pieces, the number of which SpaceX did not say.

Space Force's space-tracking unit did not immediately return a Reuters request for comment on the number of trackable debris, which could pose risks for other active satellites in orbit.

With the Starlink satellite still somewhat intact, the event seemed smaller in scale than other orbital mishaps such as the breakup of an Intelsat satellite that created more than 700 pieces, or the breakup of a Chinese rocket body last year.

Varieties

Lion, Bear Kept as Pets in Albania Find New Homes in German Wildlife Sanctuaries

In this photo, released on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025 by Four Paws, veterinarians prepare Erion, a three-year-old lion for its transportation from Tirana to Germany after its illegal keeping in Albania. (Four Paws via AP)
In this photo, released on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025 by Four Paws, veterinarians prepare Erion, a three-year-old lion for its transportation from Tirana to Germany after its illegal keeping in Albania. (Four Paws via AP)
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Lion, Bear Kept as Pets in Albania Find New Homes in German Wildlife Sanctuaries

In this photo, released on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025 by Four Paws, veterinarians prepare Erion, a three-year-old lion for its transportation from Tirana to Germany after its illegal keeping in Albania. (Four Paws via AP)
In this photo, released on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025 by Four Paws, veterinarians prepare Erion, a three-year-old lion for its transportation from Tirana to Germany after its illegal keeping in Albania. (Four Paws via AP)

A lion and bear rescued from captivity in northern Albania arrived in animal sanctuaries in Germany in early December after authorities in Tirana discovered they were being illegally kept as pets on a private estate.

Erion, a 3-year-old lion, and Flora, a 2-year-old bear, are now both starting a new life.

“We are very happy that the authorities confiscated the animals and that we now have the chance to bring them to Germany, where they can start over and live in species-appropriate conditions,” said Magdalena Scherk-Trettin, a senior project manager responsible for rescues at the international animal welfare organization FOUR PAWS.

A team from FOUR PAWS carried out the rescue after Albania’s National Forestry Agency located the lion based on videos posted on TikTok by its owner.

Neither authorities nor the organization have named the person who was keeping them as pets.

Veterinarians administered anesthesia before the animals were loaded into crates for their long trip to new homes. On Dec. 13, they ended a 70-hour journey through several European countries, with Erion now housed in a wild animal sanctuary in southeast Germany and Flora in a bear sanctuary in the north of the country, FOUR PAWS said.

The organization said both animals had been in poor condition.

“An initial visual check determined that Flora is malnourished and has dental issues, so her recovery plan is already underway,” the organization said.

And when Erion was rescued, his mane had fallen out, for reasons that the veterinarians have not yet been able to determine, it said.

Despite the challenging journey, the rescue was worth it, said Scherk-Trettin. “We are delighted to see these animals begin their new lives.”

Illegal wildlife trade remains a systemic problem in Albania and across the region, where bears in particular, as well as exotic animals, are kept in cages at restaurants or on private properties with little or no expert care.

Erion's and Flora's origins remain unclear. FOUR PAWS said it believes the lion is a victim of illegal wildlife trafficking, while the bear was likely poached from the wild.

“The rescue highlights Albania’s urgent need to tackle illegal wildlife trade and private keeping,” The Associated Press quoted the organization as saying in a statement.

Weak legislation, legal loopholes and poor enforcement have contributed to the widespread private captivity and trade of wild animals in Albania, according to FOUR PAWS, which estimates that more than 60 big cats are still being kept in poor conditions in Albania.

Albanian law allows for individuals or organizations to keep specimens of wild animals if they were born in captivity – for example in a zoo or a specialized facility. Non-native species born outside of Albania can also be kept if documents can be provided proving they were acquired from specialized breeding and trade centers.

Sajmir Shehu, a project manager at Four Paws, said the law lacks a stringent framework based on which organizations like his could prevent wild animals being kept in captivity.

The law also allows for animals to be confiscated if welfare or veterinary standards are not met, but imposes no sanctions on the owners of exotic pets.

Varieties

Saturn's Moon Titan May Not Have a Buried Ocean as Long Suspected, New Study Suggests

This image made by the Cassini spacecraft and provided by NASA on March 12, 2006, shows two of Saturn's moons, the small Epimetheus and smog-enshrouded Titan, with Saturn's A and F rings stretching across the frame. (NASA via AP)
This image made by the Cassini spacecraft and provided by NASA on March 12, 2006, shows two of Saturn's moons, the small Epimetheus and smog-enshrouded Titan, with Saturn's A and F rings stretching across the frame. (NASA via AP)
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Saturn's Moon Titan May Not Have a Buried Ocean as Long Suspected, New Study Suggests

This image made by the Cassini spacecraft and provided by NASA on March 12, 2006, shows two of Saturn's moons, the small Epimetheus and smog-enshrouded Titan, with Saturn's A and F rings stretching across the frame. (NASA via AP)
This image made by the Cassini spacecraft and provided by NASA on March 12, 2006, shows two of Saturn's moons, the small Epimetheus and smog-enshrouded Titan, with Saturn's A and F rings stretching across the frame. (NASA via AP)

Saturn's giant moon Titan may not have a vast underground ocean after all.

Titan instead may hold deep layers of ice and slush more akin to Earth’s polar seas, with pockets of melted water where life could possibly survive and even thrive, scientists reported Wednesday.

The team led by researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory challenged the decade-long assumption of a buried global ocean at Titan after taking a fresh look at observations made years ago by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft around Saturn.

They stress that no one has found any signs of life at Titan, the solar system’s second largest moon spanning 3,200 miles (5,150 kilometers) and brimming with lakes of liquid methane on its frosty surface, The AP news reported.

But with the latest findings suggesting a slushy, near-melting environment, “there is strong justification for continued optimism regarding the potential for extraterrestrial life,” said the University of Washington’s Baptiste Journaux, who took part in the study published in the journal Nature.

As to what form of life that might be, possibly strictly microscopic, “nature has repeatedly demonstrated far greater creativity than the most imaginative scientists," he said in an email.

JPL’s Flavio Petricca, the lead author, said Titan’s ocean may have frozen in the past and is currently melting, or its hydrosphere might be evolving toward complete freezing.

Computer models suggest these layers of ice, slush and water extend to a depth of more than 340 miles (550 kilometers). The outer ice shell is thought to be about 100 miles (170 kilometers) deep, covering layers of slush and pools of water that could go down another 250 miles (400 kilometers). This water could be as warm as 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius).

Because Titan is tidally locked, the same side of the moon faces Saturn all the time, just like our own moon and Earth. Saturn’s gravitational pull is so intense that it deforms the moon’s surface, creating bulges as high as 30 feet (10 meters) when the two bodies are closest.

Through improved data processing, Petricca and his team managed to measure the timing between the peak gravitational tug and the rising of Titan’s surface. If the moon held a wet ocean, the effect would be immediate, Petricca said, but a 15-hour gap was detected, indicating an interior of slushy ice with pockets of liquid water. Computer modeling of Titan’s orientation in space supported their theory.

Sapienza University of Rome’s Luciano Iess, whose previous studies using Cassini data indicated a hidden ocean at Titan, is not convinced by the latest findings.

While “certainly intriguing and will stimulate renewed discussion ... at present, the available evidence looks certainly not sufficient to exclude Titan from the family of ocean worlds," Iess said in an email.

NASA’s planned Dragonfly mission — featuring a helicopter-type craft due to launch to Titan later this decade — is expected to provide more clarity on the moon’s innards. Journaux is part of that team.

Saturn leads the solar system’s moon inventory with 274. Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is just a little larger than Titan, with a possible underground ocean. Other suspected water worlds include Saturn’s Enceladus and Jupiter’s Europa, both of which are believed to have geysers of water erupting from their frozen crusts.

Launched in 1997, Cassini reached Saturn in 2004, orbiting the ringed planet and flying past its moons until deliberately plunging through Saturn’s atmosphere in 2017.