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tv   The Bottom Line  Al Jazeera  February 19, 2024 7:30am-8:01am AST

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a and ceilings the water didn't come from rainfall, but from under his home, ground water has been rising across areas in sleeping, flooding neighborhoods and damaging homes up the as one says, it's shifted the foundations of his home. so the way out of the house, but the cause of the war to the roof and was, was separated from the fund issues throughout the entire home, you know, just to my home. but all my neighbors, we pump the water out by the just comes back, the house, it would fall at any time. the government is renting small apartments to house out the others were displaced. experts across libby, i don't know exactly what's causing the ground water to rise, what they attribute to flooding to climate change, inadequate infrastructure and above average rainfall in recent years, the annual man uh yesterday 10 to 15 families were forced out of their homes and more families are expected to be evacuated. we brought to cadet, make some textbooks in geology and related fields from across the country. so we
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could put together a comprehensive report on the causes and put solutions to the government. most homes in the city with a population of around 320000. you septic tanks. the rising ground water is contaminated with sewage. and that's because, according to city officials, less than 6 percent of the homes and with them are connected to the government sewage network. the contaminated water is raising concerns waterborne diseases will spread. the government has sent in teams to help these men have been extracting more than 1200000 leaders a day from this area for more than 2 weeks. most of the former human heads, the emergency committee in sleeping right now we're working on temporary foster fixes the government's bringing in for an experts to help. but we're also working on medium and long term solutions. and despite all these efforts, the water keeps on rising. and more people are likely to find themselves forced out
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of their homes, mount china, l 0, sweeten oppenheimer pull things amazon of interest with the big windows at the british academy says awards of best as oppenheimer, one best. so best director for christopher nolan and leading act as a committee and murphy as well as for other awards and and the store and picked up the leading actress of wonderful comedy hall. simple things, which $15.00 prizes overall, the zone of interest about the come on down to the all shirts. concentration camp picked up 3 of was that sits in the elizabeth put on them. you could always keep up to date with all the news on our website that's i'll just say raw dot com to stay with us. the bottom line is coming up next. the call choose solutions that gives us no hope for future that we have to find
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creative solutions, not just turn our backs. i don't think that has a number. think about it as a person in yourself and that person's shoes. so as you can see for this is my us, my life, or at least in my life, those dentures. we want, we want the education reward because the women in my country and that's suite one. we are not denies all of who we are human beings and deserves to be treated equally . we are in their thoughts, that's our ancestors. whatever has been done before can be done as long as the human being is doing it. you just have to keep pushing because no one else can see. the vision is keywords. you a hi, i'm steve clements, i have a question. why is israel and most of the west targeting the only you an agency
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that serves millions of palestinians. let's get to the bottom line. the one day after the winning court ruled, but it's possible the israel is carrying out a genocide in gaza. western countries did something strange. they didn't distance themselves from israel instead and the move led by the united states more than 16 nations then started this suspend funding to unwrap that organization. the united nations relief and works agency was created in 1949 and quickly became one of the u . n's. biggest programs serving about 6000000 refugees, descendants of the palestinians who fled or were forced out of their homes by the creation of israel in 1948. israel now accuses 12 individuals have unrestricted 1000 employees in the gaza strip of taking part in the surprise attack on israel last october. the u. n says it will investigate and publish its findings over the next few weeks. but you in officials warn the crippling and now in the midst of
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a humanitarian crisis and gaza is to put even more lives at risk in a place where a 100000 palestinians have already been killed or maimed by israel. and almost 2000000 are in temporary shelters with no place left to go. so what's happening to the millions of people not only in gaza, but throughout the region who depend every day on and risk services to survive. and what about politics at play? today we're talking with layla hello, a former senior policy advisor to enroll and legal advisor to the palestinian authorities, negotiations department and, and are fine. who teaches post colonial studies at the university college london, and is author of refuge and resistance palestinians, and the international refugee system. it's great to have you both on today. thank you for joining us. the somber subject, but i want to start off listening to matthew miller, a state department spokesman, and get your reaction. so assessing and matthew, so i'm not going to respond to the commons uh by individual members of the connected. but i will say that under
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a has done and continues to do in valuable work to address the monitoring situation in gaza at great personal risk on romance members. i believe it's over a 100 unrest. staff members have been killed doing this live saving work. and we continue to not only support it, but we continue to commend them for the really heroic efforts that they make off in time while making the greatest sacrifice. so they love that comment by matthew miller was made about a month ago. 9 days after that, united states and many other nations said they were going to suspend funding for unreal. tell us why and tell us what the implications are as well. so as many people know that is there is riley's and the fisher general of under i had the regular meeting and which is really a official. i presented a set of claims saying that 12 staff members had been involved in the october 7
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attacks. and at that point, the fisher general laza really came out and made a statement that he would be firing all um 9 employees that were, that he could account for and this and created um a domino effect whereby the us and other major donors of the west uh, donors to honor of said that they will be suspending aid because of this claim that a association between these 12 staff members and how most activity you're in. let me ask you the, the you in a comp you in relief and works agency for palestinians was created in 1949 even though there was an un high commissioner for refugees. and then just sort of interested in why this organization was created when the united nations had another
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agency, the un high commissioner for refugees. i'm already in place a show. well, best up the, it's important to note that the u. n. h. the out of high commissioner for refugees was no actually in existence when and where was created. so in redwood created, as you said, at the end of 1949 unix, the i did not come into being until the following year. so that's the best thing to keep in mind. the other thing to be aware of is when you and hcr was created, it has a restricted mandate much more restricted than it has now been enabled its work to only be applied few european refugees. so this idea of creating specific you an agent, these are particular groups of refugees but very much the know at the time that was in raffle. no. actually the palestinian refugees of palestine, refugees, refugees from palestine which until 1952 included also providing services to jewish refugees and restore the doing that in 1952 at the request to be through the
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government. there was internet, there was u. n h the at which time site, you know, used to and then in the 1950s we also had u n. k r i, which was created for created refugee. so that was the norm at the time. it wasn't until 1967 that you in a sea of monday with you know, that's the lights and then you are essentially them withdraw. i think that's the 1st thing that's really important to keep in mind here because that often gets lost and it's all, it's been noise around this issue. the other thing to keep in mind is that inner has a much more restricted monday to this day. then you and actually i have not only and who is that through the, in the kind of work it does. and where is mandated solely to provide relief services to palestine. refugees in the 5 deals where it was, as i called you and it should be out by contrast, is also mandated to dispute. durable solution for, for general position, 2 cases of displacement and to provide protection to the refugee is that it works with. so tell us the product time refugees are actually in some way or my
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disadvantage because the agency that says them has a much more limits on date than the age of the defense pulled out the refugee group . i don't want to spend too much time on it, but i found an important distinction that on wrote, wasn't a way never designed to necessarily. we turn people back to their homelands or to resolve those issues. is that correct? that is correct. yeah. you and h d a does have this purpose to fit you in solution on it for faster solution over time. that'd be dead. internet does not have that purpose and it's never been built and said with that date. well it, i, i want to try to get it again the scale of this. so providing schools, hospitals, medical and food nutrition, kind of the broad social support within guys itself. they're 13000 employees of and rough. the broader when you look at the west bank, you look at other displays populations in syria and jordan and, and so the footprint of this organization, one is a huge employer. but to what happens, we're talking about 12 individuals and i,
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you know, the thing that comes to mind is, every big institution may have bad x. what are your own thoughts about holding an institution liable just for the activities of a very small number of people? well, it's absolutely absurd in given the, the circumstances to say that an organization that is so vital to a delivery as it is in gaza is unable to of function or that states that are giving the voluntary contributions to support under those services are going to withhold those funds because less than one percent of the south has been accused without a significant evidence. there are numerous outlets have reviewed the dasa, the summary that ca, that israel has released. it does not include any evidence of of what they are claiming. c and so given that there is no evidence
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given that they're such a small percentage of the $13000.00 a staff that, that are vital to a delivery it, it becomes extremely out of content its and lets complicit with a and a, a genocide agenda. so there, there's several of things going on right now. one of which is that israel is, you know, rhetorically and tactically, using this, this claim of a, a associates from us, an honora, to mobilize american public opinion to mobilize the congress a and an anti palestinian bias. right, the word terrorism is so provocative and can be quite leverage with us congress
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and other and, and, and the public. but then israel and released this summary dosa with this. these claims of that stuff. numbers were involved and october 7th. on the day that the icj, a opinion rendered a a finding of possible genocide and called on israel to take measures to stop that genocide. so is there is also obstructing and of scaring it's its responsibility. and we've seen that in what i would call it, a lot of us haven't heard of the train vibe. and then israel and congress at this point that they are willing to work with israel in its project of ethnic cleansing. and eliminating how this finance in gaza and just job pays well. i think it because later made
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a really important point about the i c. j reading. i think it was lagging because you asked about the western state role in that. so the icj, i also rules that 3rd party states had a role and a responsibility to ensure that essentially military in a to get into gaza. there was also a possibility that in now withdrawing, essential funding from en route. those states may actually be in breach of that ruling. so go a little bit deeper and because the international court of justice when it came did not find is real guilty of genocide said there may be reasons possible reasons to think that this may be underway. israel is, is expected and required to respond to those. what's interesting to me is i am on aware of any countries that distance were suspended their relations with israel after that i c. j funding. but literally, on the, on the day after you know, nearly 2 dozen countries, i think we've got,
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we went from 9 countries and 16 countries. and now i think we're up to 20 countries . right now there are at least temporarily suspending funds to enroll. and so layla just said, maybe this is a distraction tactic, but the systemic nature of the size, the biggest vendors are germany, the united states, the you are all in the suspension line. what do you think is going on there? well, i think it's worth keeping in mind that this has not come out of nowhere. there is a long running and that has been a long run campaign against en route, which pre date the type of the 7th which predicts the current. well, by yes, i mean, that's an jo beth pulled in order to be disbanded. i believe in 2017 e called for again in 2018. at that same year 2018. we had the trump administration, a close alliance with nothing yahoo! pulling all of its funding for and ro, there's been a long running theme, all that basically mary and her up trying to present it as some kind of
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a problem on the ground, often trying to conflate and or is what with her mouth. and the, the latest allegations are really best understood in that longer time to contact some on the is real side. some do not differentiate between palestinians, citizen citizens of gaza and from us. but we sort of look at that and you kind of look at the, you know, the arrangements here, you know, event changes the game about how you look at one, right? if one right is empowering and supporting all of these folks that you look broadly as an enemy is realize, had enrolled on it's in, it's in its target list for a long time. but what does it think would be replaced? i mean, i think it raises the fundamental question, if not under a then what? well, let me just say one thing very quickly is dave, which is the palestinians are not citizens of gaza. gaza is a very small strip of territory and it is not recognized as
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a state. it is effectively occupied. their point is real and 80 percent 70 to 80 percent of posts. and he's living in gaza or refugees, of who had lived inside israel, including places quite close. i appreciate that distinction because i look at them as having rights and you know, having deserving a state. i'm showing my own bias in this situation, but thank you for raising that. right. and so then the larger point is that what, what, what the irony of israel's desire to get rid of on or is that referring to what? and mentioned that the you posted in refugees are treated as an exception and they're not covered by the you and hcr, which is empowered to move politically for durable solutions, including the right of return for palestinian refugees in the event that unreal stops operating. and so should israel proceed with this plan to try to
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you know, get it, move to a situation where a palestinian refugees and gaza are not covered by an rows aid. we would be able to call on the you and hcr to stuff up and essentially ask israel to allow them to return. so there is an irony in, in this edition, israel as an occupying force would be legally responsible to care for the population. and so the quid pro, quote, in the west has always been, we will funding this agency despite it's 0 taishan to the israelis because we are not going to move on as israel to address the rights of the refugees. but we will fund this a mechanism in order to keep the status quote and help manage the conflict. so
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you know, israel sees an opportunity of disruption at this moment to try to leverage of bias a and a atrophy of the agency but of its own costs. you can just imagine a horrible escalation of the situation this point. and i'm saying if that is the, the a possibility, a nightmare that we may be walking towards, why aren't more people careful about the under a dimension of this? i think that's a very good question. and many common cases alongside palestinians in from god i have been raising the alarm for months now about the mounting evidence that the israeli government is the king that you use. it will as a way to force the be display, possibly millions of palestinians from god that we have, as i said, you know, mounting evidence that that is the plan. that was a neat a document from these ready for a ministry that can be talked about this. and that have been suggestions coming
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from various members of the is really state that cause i should be or i'm quite emptied of its inhabitants. and also being concerned that what being dressed up and framed a few minutes hurrying evaluation would really be a way to facilitate this post displacement. but i'm the, the u. n. a leadership themselves actually said earlier this week that they would not be part of a because really moves to evacuate rafa, which was which was partly coming in the context of feeds. writing can then that that might be on the card in other areas that been read needs the reform where it's under performing. you both know the institution. well, mean on the other side, those that will be critical to ventura, but are there other areas where the institution is performing poorly? they would also, in gender doubt among its donors. is the problem, isn't it just really,
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really reflection of the underline failure of the international community more than 75 years now, to grab the palestinian refugees, that right of return and to recognize that right to national self determination. so when there is this focus on in, right, and is that, can it disregard that for the framework for them, which is operating en, route, has now for a very long time, the operating with serious deficit it is significantly over stretched, but unfortunately, the, you know, so for the international community in reality, that's what we're talking about. there is, is really the west has for whatever reason, refused to recognize what that indicates about the underlying on inability to pasadena possession and having that chosen to make out. but it's the problem that exists with the agency itself. layla the funding mechanisms have ventura seem very tied in to those powers that were big in significant building united nations. it's activities in the late 19 forties. but eric, gulf states,
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which are now very rich themselves, are not a major part of the and rough funding scheme. why is that? because they, because as precisely usa, because it is the, the, the british, the americans because of the, the, the germans, the europeans that are responsible for the situation of essentially handing off mandate palestine to the creation of a jewish state on a palestinian territory. so there is a longstanding sense of responsibility and to tie in to unrra a. structurally, they sit on the advisory council and commission of on a they have ongoing mechanisms of review and on monitoring and requests for what i was doing and the gulf states while rich are not in the practice of stuffing
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up and helping palestinians in general. but also they are not they want, that's interesting. you just said something. i never thought about. you're saying that at the founding of this, it was essentially a deal created around the displacement of people in the creation of these real estate, displace palestinians resolving and responding to those. that itself may be a reason why other arab states in the region are not being more supportive. but i guess my question to you then would be, why aren't the or of states standing up and creating competitive structures, we're doing much more than they're doing. that doesn't necessarily validate that founding at why, why should they, i guess is what my, my question would be, i ultimately, these are, you know, the house and in refugees are refugees because they are not allowed to go home. their property was exposed, created. they've that, you know, the borders are close to them by israel because they are not jewish. so they want
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to go home on like many other refugees who are seeking a protection and wanting to stay in other countries for protective purposes. and so the question becomes really, why won't israel allow the refugees to come back? and why is it that we have to have an ongoing agency that acts as of you know, is state service for state laws, refugees who are seeking to return to their original homes, many of which are still standing or a property which is still a or land that is still vacant, so i think the question becomes really, why is an israel stuffing up to its responsibilities? and let me give you the last word in this and, and i guess my use. oh, i'm a realist, i'm, i'm not an idealist. i don't see things as they are not as we you know, sort of want them to be. but when i look at an equilibrium between israel's
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interest and eventual palestinian state for palestinian entities interest, i look at the are region broadly. you look at the us and europe, i guess you're an expert on just place people sitting on how to support. do you see any pathway to a stable and enduring and just alternative then the chaos we're seeing evolved today, and i just love to get you to quickly sketch out what you see as an alternative other than what we're seeing evolved today, which is chaos and a lot of horror actually to well we need to keep in mind that the, what the palestinian people have been asking for for 75 years and have been struggling for for 75 years is simply the realization of their rights as they stand within the framework of international know, these include, you know, most permanently in this context the right of return. so when we're talking about the possibility of wasteful order, new ideas, it's worth keeping in mind. we have an existing framework. the palestinian people
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have very consistent, meet the 75 years demanded that their rights under that framework they recognized and be implemented. and that is really what we need to come back to. rather than going to fight down the rabbit holes of acting as though in right is itself the problem and not a product that the biggest structural problem. well fascinating, an important discussion. i want to thank human rights lawyer, layla law and university college london lecturer and you're fine. thank you both for being with us today and your candid views on this. thank you so much i and so what's the bottom line? remember george floyd's dying words. i can't breathe well without interrupt. palestine is being suffocated. buried alive in front of us all where there are bad eggs and rugs of joint hamas and participated in the october 7th attack. maybe so were there agents in the fbi i in the c, i a who worked for russia and china and resulted in the deaths of many americans and other agents cooperating with us? yes, huge institutions with tens of thousands of employees have all sorts of folks in
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them that doesn't discredit the entire institution. particularly one is important as on this needs or rejection of innocent palestinians during their nightmare that they did not create is something none of us should be complacent about. and let me add another dimension. if civil society completely collapses in gaza, if rafa is attacked where the population has swollen from 300000 people to one and a half 1000000 as israel's work lines on. how about a people start trying to escape by any means necessary? can the surrounding error countries avoid escalation the countries of, or joining israel to undermine, and ruff are staring into the abyss and it's staring back. and that's the bottom line. the on counting, the cost of israel is 1st credit raising down graves. how bleak is the outlook for its economy? commercial real estate in the us as faltering banks as far away as job it
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a feeling the pain. plus we find out whether a full day work week will boost workers productivity counting the cost on i will just say around rights organizations filed a civil suit against and that states saying supply is around with via fonts for f. 355 projects makes the netherlands complicit. impossible war crimes in gaza? then that lens has how's the repeating distribution center for f 35 spare parts from where it's also supplies is were out in 2022 and exported spear parts worth 2 point $4000000.00 to the country with the escalation of the war. and guys, at this number is not predicted to be much higher for the 1st time, the court as a board of the country to stop sending weapons to swell. the verdict is seen as a severe blow to the dutch government to have argued that stopping it's gone for the ocean to the ex $35.00 program with jeff or dice. it's fights with us and it's,
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well, i was had a severe use. it cannot make impacts in this product to judge argued that political and economic interests con, be more important than the protection of civilian lives during the war. hodge, i mean, to be used as a un ambassador position given to you by or does have both. you've described that is better than is better than any of your thoughts providing answers my question to you. all the good coups i think, is the most difficult press than our part to answer facing realities. us veto in the security council. this is a may just something go because if not, get access to if he of the story on told to how does era the house coverage of africa is what i'm most proud of. every time i travel, whether it's east or west africa, people stop me and tell me how much they appreciate coverage. and our focus is not just on their suffering, but also on a more realistic and inspiring story. people trust to tell them what's happening in
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their communities in a t a n y. and as an applicant, i couldn't be more proud to be part of the stop and palestinians trying to reach a trunk from gauze and says he wants to color as is ready. snipers open fine. the ottoman this is alex is here in life and our house is still coming out of old house organizations as not so hospital in southern gaza is no longer function of the following. and his writing grade 200 patients, a student inside.

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