brands. it is good to have you with us. in her that months. -- here are the headlines. the conflict between israel and tom moss has gone into a second week as airstrikes push the death toll and gaza to at least 212. is really attacks have destroyed a building that housed gaza's religious affairs ministry and killed a senior commander of islamic jihad. palestinian armed groups have fired more rockets from gaza into southern israel, entering at least 17 people. residential towers were struck.

pressure is building on the u.s. to encourage israel to agree to a cease-fire. on sunday, washington again blocked efforts of the un security council to come up with a joints it meant. reporter: the president has changed his report -- approach. he said he would be talking about a cease-fire, but he did not throw his support behind it apparently in the call, the president was explicit, according to the white house, the president expressed his support for a cease-fire and discussed u.s. engagement with egypt and other partners toward that end. anchor: france has announced it will wipe the debt by saddam. sue don is struggling to emerge

from u.s. sanctions. the head of the world health organization as described disparities as a form of apartheid. he says the gap is huge and has called on manufacturers to make jabs available to the sharing scheme sooner than planned. if years cyclone has plastered the shore in western india. the cyclone crossed the coast where it has been described as the most powerful storm in 20 or 30 years. more news on al jazeera after inside story coming up next. ♪

anchor: israel says is carrying out airstrikes to defend itself, but according to the um. are international laws being respected and where does that leave thousand indians fighting for their rights? this is houston -- this is inside story. welcome to the program. more than 200 palestinians killed by israeli airstrikes. residential buildings flattened and homes destroyed. israel says it is targeting tunnels in self-defense following rocket attacks by palestinians. 10 people in israel have been

killed in the past week. hamas says his actions were in response to the displacement of palestinians in occupied east jerusalem. that spread into fighting before . the u.n. is warning the fight could unleash a crisis. international calls for a cease-fire are mounting. palestinian and israeli officials both made their case to the security council. >> when you embrace your children and grandchildren's rights, please think of our children and of how you can honor those killed and spared those still alive. think of what it feels to see your world crumbling down and not being able to protect them. think of what it means to sleep not knowing which one of you

will wake up. remember that each time israel hears a foreign leader speak of its right to defend itself, it is further emboldened to continue murdering entire families in their sleep. >> this is not the first time that hamas has indiscriminately fired deadly missiles at israeli civilians while hiding behind palestinian civilians. but this time, it is different. it was completely premeditated by hamas in order to gain political power. it was all a part of their vicious plan. while hamas seeks discretion of the state of israel, it is also fighting take power and the rest thank -- west bank into replace the palestinian authority. anchor: let's hear from the u.n.

security general. >> international law applies to everyone without exception, all member states are supposed to abide by the resolutions, and obviously, the unity of the security council is extremely important. the recent incidents show how important it is to restart the peace process, because it is the only way. i am a true believer that we need to promote a two state solution leading to peace and harmony between the two with normalized relations in the region and the full participation for the peace process to move forward. anchor: the u.s. and western capitals have backed israel's right to defend themselves, while weber state palestinians right are being ignored. it dates back to 1982 when the

united station -- united nations passed a general assembly passed a resolution. let's take a quick look. algeria was colonized by france from the 1800s until the war for independence in 1954 when national liberation front fighters launched against french rule. algeria is recognized as a sovereign state. the 1960's marked a turning point in south africa, system of government that separated people based on race. anti-apartheid groups maintain resistance with some using guerrilla warfare. that ended in the 1990's in a democratic government was formed.

in ireland, in the early 1900s. it led to the deaths of hundreds of people including civilians, but the cause gained popularity in the to the establishment of a breakaway government in ireland. let's bring in our guests. a reader in law. the head of peace building interventions. [indiscernible] the director of the center for conflict and humanitarian studies at the dell heart institute. welcome all to the program. israelis do not consider themselves to be an occupying force, as we have been hearing

in international law, they are regarded as such? >> they are. it is definitely in occupied territory as far as the law is concerned. there are different interpretations by the israelis that got some momentum in the 1988 jordanian secretary in the west bank. some israelis claim the land practically was occupied from jordan, now there is no country demanding the liberation of, and as such, we are not quite in occupied force. this of course contradicts all of the norms of international law as far as i am aware, and the definition of occupation goes as back as the 19th century and has been built on a control.

in the case of palestine, it continues. they are in control of the land, and as such, that brings not only the right for resistance, but also a huge amount of responsibilities on the israelis to protect human rights, properties, not to destroy properties and forms of culture and so on and so forth. certainly, not to colonize it and do any unilateral annexation of such territories or move populations to live in those areas. anchor: in south africa, draw on your own experience in a second. the overriding narrative in israel is that israel has the

right to self-defense in the face of rocket attacks in gaza. >> the principle of self-defense is established in international law as well. but, i think the principal of self-determination does override such a consideration. it does not help that the rockets are flying straight into israeli homes, because it makes the moral case much more difficult. but, i think this is a complex situation that we need to be quite focused in terms of understanding multiple violations on both sides. and also a failure of the international system. we need to put that on the table , to actually be able to mediate and come up with a resolution, and enduring and sustainable

peace they can in fact enable these two entities to coexist. i think it is important to look at the role of powerful actors in the united nations system, to hear what we see as the administration's and washington's change, it changes. and we should raise the question, why is this happening so shortly after a transition in washington. and what can the international system do to address this crisis. anchor: you know the law very well, if you have an occupied suppressed palestinians as they are, but if palestinian factions of firing rockets on indie -- israel, are the israelis not within their rights to try and stop them and take out the source? >> that's a very good point.

another issue on the international law. first of all [indiscernible] palestine clearly has the right under international law to put together by lawful means the occupying power which is israel in this case. it's not only the west bank but also the gaza strip. [indiscernible] including despite disengagement [indiscernible] the problem with self-defense is defenses claimed as a

consequence of attacks that were put in place by israel. israeli authorities are putting into place a widespread and systematic [indiscernible] both in the west bank, including east jerusalem, and the gaza strip. the claim here is that of a consequence of what they are putting in place. anchor: are you saying that hamas are firing rockets because they have been provoked with settlement building? that we can classify the firing of rockets by hamas as self-defense? >> i'm saying that international

law [indiscernible] the geneva convention on article one [indiscernible] due to the conflict in which people are fighting against occupation. in this context, they have to comply with monetary law principles. hamas cannot put in place any attack against [indiscernible] have to comply with general principles. anchor: the palestinians defending themselves from an overall impression rather than a

direct attack on gaza? >> there defending themselves from a systematic occupation that is trying to push them out of their land and replace them with communities that are brought from all over the globe in the name of religion. they have a very clear case in terms of the illegality of the situation, and even if you were to think about what is going on in gaza and hamas resisting, under international law, even if there is resistance and the occupier is not in full control of the territory, that does not make the obligations in terms of international law any less. they still have to go back to the geneva convention, and at the center of those is the

respect for human rights and the respective ownership and property and everything else and in fact, an important aspect is the law that should be implemented if the law of the land, not the law of the occupier. it is your duty to sustain law and order, but ultimately, it is the law of the land. in what israel has been doing is suspended the law of the land for selectively take it here and there and they go back to the ottomans to take and put together what suits their cause. what suits the idea and the agenda of the israelis. this is what led us to where we are today. what we are seeing was not started in the last week or so. this is a systematic approach that has been taken since 1967

with the occupation of the west bank and gaza. before that of course with 1947. since the recognized occupation of the west bank and gaza, israel has not upheld any of the international standards, and certainly have not upheld or materialized or implemented any resolutions that were referred to in your report. the largest number of resolutions that are extremely explicit and very clear, black and white. none have them have been respected or upheld. anchor: we will look forward in a second or two. what parallels can we draw with south africa and what people went through their during the

era of apartheid, which led to him nelson mandela? >> i think it's very important to historic size these complex and not simply for a moment in time and try to understand the different i mentioned read illegality of the occupation has been established. the illegality of apartheid, the white supremacist regime which separated people in south africa on the basis of the color of their skin, and what you are seeing in palestine is similar separation taking place. walls to divide communities, checkpoints to control the movement of people, and that is why you have seen the parallel with south africa in occupied

territories. nelson mandela who many people remember as a piece reconciler, was the first leader of the armed wing of the african international congress. he led a campaign of assaulting installations of the apartheid state, and the level of casualties is nowhere near what we see today in palestine, but it was a concerted military campaign to try and take on the apartheid system. it became clear quickly that there is an asymmetry of power between the state apparatus and an armed militia that is made of movements coming together. it's important to say they were not the only armed movement.

others were involved in military struggles against the apartheid states. anchor: i'm going to jump in their. is apartheid going now and the palestinian territories? >> sure. if you take apartheid as definition, the international convention on the separation and punishment of the crime of apartheid, it literally says that apartheid is any hint human acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining the domination of one racial group over another. this is what is going on within the occupied territory certainly, and even within israel. this is a discussion that has been going on for some time, it has gained momentum in the 1970's, and the general assembly resolution is very clear. more than 109 states are parties

to the convention. of course, israel is not a party to a lot of conventions, and they are to regulate the conduct the relation of the state to its people, and this is of course because of the nature of the state, the way it is done and thought about as a dynamic entity that is growing day on day and acquiring land. this is happening against the background where the palestinians, right from 1973, have been presenting compromises. if you recall in 1988, the plo agreed or accepted the two important u.n. resolutions 242 and 338, and that came following the peace agreement that egypt had with the israelis, and also the arab states has been recognizing plo as the only

legitimate representative of the palestinian people, and then the separation that happened with jordan in the occupied territories to pass that. that has led them into a role which sort of kick starts the oslo peace agreement in 1993, which was seen as a process. the hope that the process would lead them into an end to the conflict. instead, it has ended as a process, have made many compromises and the return has been negligible. as far as they are concerned, and has been the opposite. they have lost their land. there is no practical way of having the two state solution because of that fragmented organization. anchor: we have this ongoing apartheid which is a daily factor of life, we have the latest bout of aggression in

gaza, what elements of what we are seeing in gaza might constitute war crimes? >> every state has the right to self-defense, [indiscernible] but happening in gaza is there are strong evidence that there are ongoing war crimes committed against the civilian population in gaza. exactly like it happened in 2008, 2009, 2015. [indiscernible] this approach was already denounced by the u.n. commission of inquiry into thousand nine, 2014. clearly establishing that the israeli authorities were responsible. [indiscernible]

indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population in 2014, they collected evidence of more than 3000 incidents which may amount to war crimes. [indiscernible] now, there is evidence that these crimes do not belong to the past but our daily committed. we can clearly provide examples of the attacks, tv stations, broadcasting building in the gaza strip. where there is no military necessity but civilian objectives about attacks without military necessity. [indiscernible] anchor: i'm going to jump in there again.

tim in cape town, briefly if you would, in the end, what can we learn from the peace process in south africa to apply to the seemingly impossible dream of peace in the middle east? >> in the end it was nelson mandela who was a brilliant commander and transformed himself into a negotiator and peacemaker. he established the peace agreement with the south african apartheid regime and became a reconciler after that as the first president of south africa. the desire to become mandela's. we're going to see more buildings destroyed and more lives lost. i think this is the enduring lesson from south africa, even though it is not perfect, it is a model we can be exploring in

terms of a sustainable solution to the situation in the occupied territories in israel. anchor: we have run out of time, do appreciate your time joining us. thank you to our guests. thank you for watching. further discussion, go to our facebook page. facebook.com/a.j. inside start area join the conversation on twitter. from me in the whole team, goodbye for now. ♪

>> a unique form of protest by a palestinian artist to create postage and passport stamps. >> [indiscernible] >> sending a message of resistance about the arab-israeli conflict. >> welcome to palestine. >> we understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the world. we bring you the news and current affairs matter to you. >> the foundation of human civilization. >> at the industry did not make

money, have any people would be out of work, >> public interest is definitely not taking. >> an in-depth examination into the agribusiness. >> industry does not want any regulation. >>y>y>y>y>y>y>y>y>é>é>é>

male announcer: thank you for joining us on this episode. female: the outbreaks of covid-19 in many u.s. states are growing-- male: an unprecedented surge in new coronavirus cases. female: intensive care units are full. david lipson: america is in crisis. male: milestone. three million cases of the coronavirus. female: number of cases now surpassing 4 million. david: coronavirus is burning its way through communities right across the nation. its economy is in trouble. its streets are in turmoil. male: --has become more present with no signs of letting on. david: and its itspeople feel betrayed.il. phil robinson: we are the law of the land.