07/08/21 07/08/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> post killers have to be brought to justice. what we could do now, it is a request of the international to help us in identifying those killers, to be part of this internatiol manhunt and investigation becausee need to

rectify this. amy: haiti has declared a state of siege after the assassination of president jovenel moïse. police have killed four spects and arrested two as authorities probe who was behind the assassination. we will get the latest and then go to afghanistan. >> if the taliban come to afghanistan by force [indiscernible] people are already standing up against the taliban and taking up arms. amy: as the u.s. military says its withdrawal from afghanistan is 90% complete, the taliban is escalating its offensive by seizing more districts. we will speak to a longtime afghan women's rights defender and a journalist in kabul. plus, we will look at why the palestinian authority is cracking down on palestinian demonstrators in the occupied west bank. all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. haiti's interim prime minister has declared a state of siege and imposed martial law following wednesday morning's assassination of president jovenel moïse. the first lady of haiti was injured in the attack and was airlifted to a hospital in miami, where she is reportedly in critical but stable condition. haitian police say they've arrested two suspected assassins and kill four others in a gunfight. video from the scene shows the heavily armed attackerclaimed to be from the u.s. dea, the drug enforcement administration. u.s. state department spokesperson ned price dismissed those claims wednesday and condemned the assassination of the haitian president. >> those who seek to accomplish their political goals through

violence and by subverting the rule of lawill not succeed in thwarting the haitian people and their desire for a better and brighter future. amy: the u.s. twice supported coups that removed haitian president jean-bertrand aristide from power -- first in 1991, then again in 2004. it is unclear who is currently in charge of haiti. shortly before his assassination, president moïse announced a new prime minister to replace claude joseph. men now claiming to be prime two minister. after headlines, we'll have the latest on the unfolding crisis in haiti. the world health organization says the global death toll from covid-19 has topped 4 million though the true figure is likely far higher. indonesia recorded its highest ever one-day death toll wednesday, with the delta coronavirus variant fueling a surge in cases that's broken the healthcare system.

only about 5% of indonesia's 270 million people are fully vaccinated. japan declared a covid-19 state of emergency for tokyo throughout the upcoming summer olympics. officials had already banned foreign spectators at the games and are discussing whether to abandon plans to allow domestic fans. in the united kingdom, where just over half of all people are fully vaccinated, daily coronavirus cases have passed 30,000 for the first time since january. prime minister boris johnson still plans to lift most restrictions for england on july 19. in the united states, coronavirus infections have increased by 35% over the last two weeks according to a "new york times" count. the cdc says the highly transmissible delta coronavirus variant now represents over half of all new infections in the

united states. at least one person was killed and several others injured after tropical storm elsa made landfall on florida's northern gulf coast. over the weekend, elsa crashed through the caribbean, killing at least three people and causing major damage to homes and other buildings. california is bracing for dangerously high temperatures, with a heatwave forecast to bring highs of 115 degrees fahrenheit in the central valley and more than 120 degrees to some desert areas. this comes as new data show north america just experienced the hottest june ever recorded, with temperatures averaging more than 2 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels. in minnesota, indigenous-led water protectors continue to take nonviolent direct action to stop construction of enbridge's line 3 tar sands pipeline. on tuesday, activists locked themselves to drilling equipment

and built blockades on access roads in a bid to stop enbridge from drilling under the willow river. water protectors say construction crews appeared to puncture an aquifer, discharging drilling mud and chemicals into the river. this is winona laduke, an anishinaabe activist and executive director of honor the earth. >> the rivers belong to the fish. they bong to the animals. they belong to the people. they do not belong to enbridge. amy: if completed, enbridge's line 3 pipeline would account for carbon emissions equivalent to 50 new coal-fired power plants. u.s. troops and diplomatic workers in iraq and syria came under fire in at least three separate drone and rocket attacks over a 24-hour period. one attack targeted the u.s. embassy in baghdad's green zone. in a separate assault, rockets fired at an iraqi air base in

western iraq left two u.s. troops injured. they were the latest attacks on u.s. forces since late june when president biden ordered airstrikes in syria and iraq targeting an iranian-backed militia. the inter-american commission on human rights says colombian authorities used excessive and disproportionate force to quell massive mobilizations against the right-wing government of colombian president iván duque. since the protests began, over 80 people have died, many at the hands of police and paramilitary forces. commissioner antonia urrejola called on colombia wednesday to make structural changes to its militarized police force. >> the commission found in repeat instances and regions of the country, the states response to protest was characterized as an excessive and disproportionate use of force. in many cases, the action

included lethal force. the inter-american commission received serious complaints scriminate use of firearms against protesters and from people who aren't participating in the protests. amy: back in the united states, the newly formed "atlanta homeless union" has been protesting all week outside of atlanta's city hall. earlier this week, police violently removed their encampment and arrested at least six people. the group of unhoused activists are demanding housing, healthcare, clean water, and a seat at the table in determining policies that impact their lives. in a statement, the group is calling on city officials to stop relying on "band-aid solutions" and to listen to those "closest to the problem." attorneys general from 36 states and washington, d.c., have filed an antitrust lawsuit against google, accusing the company of unlawfully stamping out its competition. the lawsuit says google has paid off developers to keep them loyal to google's platform and paid off other tech companies to prevent them from creating app stores that would compete

with the dominant google play store. google collects a commission of up to 30% on app purchases. former president trump has sued the ceo's of google, facebook, and twitter in a class-action lawsuit. trump is seeking punitive damages for what he says is censorship and for platforms that have banned him to restore his accounts. in other trump news, legal experts say more indictments against trump organization officials are likely after the manhattan district attorney last week charged chief financial officer allen weisselberg with criminal tax fraud. as well as charged the trump organization. meanwhile, a washington, d.c., court has suspended rudy giuliani's law license two weeks after a similar move in new york. the suspensions are related to giuliani's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. in surfside, florida, search-and-rescue crews have given up hope of finding survivors in the rubble of the

champlain towers south condominium two weeks after the oceanfront apartment building collapsed. this is miami-dade county mayor daniella levine cava. >> at this point, we have truly exhausted every option available to us in the search-and-rescue mission. so today is about beginning the transition to recovery so that we can help to bring closure to the families who have been ffering and waiting for news. amy: crews have found the remains of at least 54 people and 86 remain unaccounted for. on wednesday, a grand jury agreed to investigate the building's collapse. in minneapolis, darnella frazier, the teenager whose recording of george floyd's murder was seen around the world, says her uncle was struck and killed by a police car during a car chase. her uncle, 40-year-old leneal lamont frazier, was not involved in the chase.

darnella frazier said of the tragedy -- "another black man lost his life in the hands of the police! today has been a day full of heartbreak and sadness. the police made a bad decision by doing a high speed chase on a residential road. that bad decision cost my uncle his life." in new york, governor andrew cuomo has declared a gun violence emergency. the state is allocating nearly $140 million to programs aimed at combatting gun crimes, including increasing access to employment. "the new york times" reports gun crime rose by as much as 75% in major new york cities since the start of the pandemic. the new measures will also open a path for civil lawsuits against gun manufacturers and distributors and stops people with warrants from purchasing firearms. and the united kingdom's high court has granted the biden administration the right to

appeal a lower court's ruling blocking the extradition of wikileaks founder julian assange to the united states. this comes as "the wall street journal" reports u.s. officials have given assurances to the u.k. that julian assange would not be held in a supermax prison if extradited to the u.s. on wednesday, assange's fiancé stella moris called on the biden administration to end its pursuit of assange. >> the lawyers of julian were spied on. their offices were broken into. even our six month old baby was targeted while he was in the embassy. and now the high court has limited the grounds on which they are allowed to appeal. so the case is falling apart. if the biden administration is serious about respecting the rule of law, the first amendment and of defending press freedom,

the only thing it can do is drop this case. this case is the most vicious attack on global press freedom in history. amy: julian assange faces up to 175 years in prison in the u.s. for violations of the espionage act related to the publication of classified documents exposing u.s. war crimes. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i am amy goodman, joined by my co-host nermeen shaikh. we are both in new york. hi, rmeen. nermeen: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: we are going to begin today in haiti. the interim prime minister has declared a state of siege and imposed martial law following the assassination of haiti's president jovenel moïse, who died in an armed attack on his home early on wednesday.

the first lady of haiti was injured in the attack and was airlifted to a miami hospital. she is reportedly in stable but critical condition. haitian authorities say police have killed four suspects and detained two others, but the individuals have not been identified. haiti's ambassador to the united states says the assassation was carried out by "foreign mercenaries and professional killers." video shot from outside the president's home shows the heavily armed attackers claimed to be from the u.s. dea, the drug enforcement administration. listen carefully. >> this is the operation of dea. [indiscernible] amy: "this is a dea operation"

they are saying. the person speaking with an american accent but this video has not been verified. on wednesday, state department spokesperson ned price was asked if the dea was involved in the assassination. >> can you speak to the dea element of all of this? the ambassador also talked about the footage where they are identifying themselves as dea agents and he says he does not believe in it. can you say that is not the case, that you have an assessment those are not dea officials? can you set the record straight on that? >> as you said, the haitian investor himself dismissed these allegations. these reports are absolutely false. the united states condemns this heinous act, these false reports are nothing more than that, false reports. amy: it is unclear who is now in charge of haiti. under haiti's constitution, the president of the supreme court would normally take power, but

the judge recently died of covid-19. haiti now has two men claiming to be prime minister. lastly, president moïse appointed ariel henry to become his seventh prime minister in four years but henry has not yet been sworn in. meanwhile, haiti's acting prime minister claude joseph has assumed power following moïse's assassination. on wednesday, joseph addressed the nation. >> the first elements of information we have at our disposal make us understand it happens to be a group of english and spanish speaking persons. they were carrying huge caliber weapons that killed the president. as the incumbent chief of government, gathered of counsel in strict accordance with article 149 of the constitution. i just presided an extraordinary council of ministers were we decided to declare a state of

siege on the whole territory. amy: haiti was already facing a political, security, and economic crisis prior to the assassination of the president. earlier this year, opponents of moïse accused him of orchestrating a coup to stay in power beyond february 7, when his term officially ended. we go now to guerline jozef, co-founder and executive director of haitian bridge alliance, that works with haitian immigrants in the united states. as all of this unfolds, if you can give your assessment of what took place? i mean, of this video with an american voice sing "this is the dea" -- has not been verified -- apparently people were speaking in spanish, of course not the language of haiti. how is it even this group of people could get to the president's house without the acquiescence of the police or

the military, which would suggest a kind of coup going on? what do you understand at this point as you talk to people around haiti? >> good morning, aiming. thank you for having me. as all of these are developing on the ground in haiti, actually, after we receive the call yesterday morning -- in the middle of the night at 2:45, my first question was, what happened? where are the guards? we are the extreme security that the head of state is supposed to be having? as we heard from the video allegedly, we do not know exactly who ose peop are. i understand people on the ground are still looking into those allegations, so we are hoping to get a light on those. but what i can tell you is today, as of yesterday, haiti is in mourning. whether you are for the jovenel

government were against his ideologies, today people are m inourning. today people are in fear. today the streets of haiti are empty because people are trying to make sense of what just happened. nermeen: could you talk about the signicance of the assailants allegedly claiming to be from the dea of the u.s.? to your knowledge, has the dea operated in haiti in the past? if so, with the invoking the dea overcome, as you said, the extreme security that the president's resence has? >> well, i am not a person who deals with tho specific issues. issues dealing with immigration

and what is happening on the ground when it affects people that are being forced to leave the country. so athose investigations continue, i do hope we get clarification of what is happening. whomever are involved in the extremely, extremely inhuman act in the country of haiti will be brought to justice. nermeen: could you talk a little bit about -- we reported earlier there have been widespread reports of the political violence and security situation in haiti prior to this assassination, the government accused of the using gangs to crush the opposition, many hundreds who have been detained, arrested, or killed in the last several years -- a new deal with migrants coming to the u.s.. what do you know what that situation and how many people who come to the u.s. are fleeing

that violence? as you st mentioned, what we are witnessing is a result of a long and bloody acts that have been happening. last week alone, we had estimated 15 young men and women who were massacred, including journalists, including the young woman who was leading the fight on behalf of of the haitian community on the ground. we are seeing the nation of president jovenel moïse as part of a long strike of bloody massacres on the people on the ground and now to the has level of office in haiti. so we have to understand this isn't just -- this didn't just happened yesterday in the middle of the night.

this is the most internal and external violence that has been plunging haiti into the darkness. what we're seeing right now, we don't know what the next move wille b understand this is part of a long history of bloody murders that have been happening in the country and now we are at a level where haiti is in mourni ng, in pain. our sl, our hearts are calling for justice, crying for protection because we do understand as we serve mignts in the united states, they don't want to be home but what people have to do when home is in the mouth of a shark. as we look at what is happening in the country, we are also seeing -- forced migration,

foed displacement and the majority of the people leaving their home country are because of abuse, because of unst, because of the type of issues we are seeing in haiti right now. sour heart goes to jovenel moïse's family. the first dy martine, we are praying for her rovery, but also praying for those who have lost their lives for no cause in the past year as human should before. amy: you live here in the united states. you are part of what many call haiti's to the apartment, haitians who live in the united states. when we spoke to you last, then president moïse, who is now been assassinated, was supposed to leave office. the biden administration supported moïse and even this week, there was a deportation flight to haiti.

you deal with immigrants all the time. can you talk about what you're calling on the biden administration to do in this time of unprecedented assassination? >> absoluty. again, as you mentioned, as of february 7, depends on which way you interpret the constitution, president jovenel was supposed to leave from the position. at the same time, the government -- the way they interpret the constitution, jovenel moïse set until the 22nd. what we are asking president biden do is quickly release the notice that patients were currently -- able to apply for tps that we have for so long to

be able to win that battle for over 150,000 haitians who are already in the united states as of may 21, 2021. at the same time, we are asking for protection for asylum-seekers who had been at the u.s.-mexico border between a year to five years who have been waiting for a chance to apply for asylum. we are asking president biden to immediately resend total 42, which has been used as a vehicle not only to destroy lives, but create that pipeline for possible deportation to haiti. as we just mentioned, the eve of the assassination, -- it is absolutely unbelievable for us to see -- the insecurity on the ground at the same time from the united

states to be deporting people to haiti. we are asking for a complete halt for all deportations to haiti. we are asking for the release of all the haitians asylum-seekers are currently in immigration prisons in the united states. we are asking president biden and his administration for protection, security for asylum-seekers and immigrants who have come to our shores asking for protection as we see what is happening on the ground today. amy: guerline jozef, thank you for being with us, cofounder and executive director of haitian bridge alliance. the u.s. military says its withdrawal from afghanistan is 90% complete. the taliban escalates by seizing more districts. we will speak to a long time afghan women's rights defender and afghan journalist in kabul. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we turn to afghanistan. on wednesday, taliban fighters attacked the capital of the afghan province of badghis as part of an escalating taliban

offensive in northern and northwest afghanistan. the taliban now controls roughly one third of all 421 districts and district centers in afghanistan. the taliban offensive comes as the u.s. and nato forces are withdrawing from the country after nearly 20 years of fighting. u.s. central command estimates the u.s. withdrawal is 90% complete. last week, the u.s. military left bagram airfield, a key center of command in america's longest war. an afghan official said u.s. forces did not coordinate the departure with local authorities, resulting in a period of looting at the airbase before afghan forces took over control. as the u.s. winds down its withdrawal from afghanistan, at least 650 troops are expected to remain to secure the u.s. embassy in kabul. in addition, "the new york times" has reported the u.s. will maintain a "shadowy combination of clandestine special operations forces,

pentagon contractors, and covert intelligence operatives." president biden is expected to speak about afghanistan today. meanwhile, representatives of the taliban and the afghan government met in iran today for high-level peace talks. in a joint statement, the two sides said, "war is not the solution to the afghanistan problem." we a joined now by two guests. sima samar is a longtime a afghan women and human rights defender, served as minister of women's affairs of afghanistan from 2001 to 2003. in 2012, she was awarded the right livelihood award over her advocacy for women's rights. she joins us from houston, texas. and joining us from afghanistan is ali latifi, a freelance journalist based in kabul. his recent piece for al jazeera is headlined "afghans say recent taliban advances forced them to take up arms." according to al jazeera, 30% of

the country is under taliban control? do you find you can actually verify this? >> it is hard to verify the statistics because, for one thing, a lot of these districts are often trading hands. they go back and forth. this is something that has been going on for years. the difference is in the past, this kind of cat and mouse game took weeks or months, sometimes even years. now it is in a matter of days where you will get a report the district fell to the taliban and the 2, 3, four days later they say it was regained by the government. in the last week, i have been to -- including kabul, three different provinces of the country. i have met with people who are part of these local uprising forces, which is what i wrote about for the al jazeera story. i met with security forces. i met with officials, including

provincial governors. and they're really putting a lot of weight behind these uprising movements, saying they what -- they are supportive of actual people trying to defend their own area. taking guns left over from the civil war or when the taliban were hiding these guns were even the last 20 years when disarmament -- was never really successful. or in some cases, handing out new guns to them. the idea is they want to show the taliban the people are against them, supporting the national security forces, and they are willing to fight against them, against the taliban. it is really a big gamble at this moment. nermeen: can you explain why you're concerned about this, the fact former luger dean as well as many other volunteers are

taking up arms, what you wrote about, what do you fear might happen? >> it is not necessarily my fear. it is the fear that -- look, there plenty of people that support absolutely 100% these uprisings because they think it is localized security, bringing power back to the people. but there are some people who fear if you're handing out all of these guns, can you get them back when you supposedly won the war for reached your goal of somehow getting rid of the taliban? and can you make sure these people will not turn their guns against the people of these areas? in some areas we went, the people that were part of these uprisings, they may have been from the same province or region, but they were not necessarily from the same exact district or same exact area as where they were fighting.

the question is, will this lead to tension and could we end up in a situation like 1992 where all of these armed movemts essentially turn their guns against each other and the rockets raining down on kabul? the entire city was divided along ethnic lines and lines according to their allegiance to different armed groups, and the city was ghettoized and there was all kinds of -- in a way, lawlessness, which is what eventually led to the taliban coming to power. that is the fear people have, can you control this when you need to? nermeen: dr. sima samar, you are the minister for women's affairs from 2001 to 2003. that is following the installation of the government after the u.s. invasion. could you talk about your concerns regarding the taliban?

taliban reportedly in charge of one third of districts and also the broader effects of the withdrawal of u.s. and foreign troops from the country? >> good morning to you. good morning to your listeners. let me crack -- i was minister of foreign affairs only for six months, but for a long time, i s a chairperson of afghanistan human commission which was also an institution, i would say one of the success stories of the country, promotion and protection of human rights and continue to do the same work. i think as my colleague said, 30% of the country is under the control of the taliban the people are not supportive of

their presence. it used to be exchange of districts between the two conflicts, warring factions. but this time, they are more rapid. it is a concern because we don't know what will happen. but the concern of the people, more people are displaced and it is a lot of violence -- which push pple out of their homes. the people are already poor and the economy is not in very good shape. it is a concern of more poverty and more tension. onhe issue of people uprising and protection or supporting or standing against the taliban, thproblem is it requires proper management as the previous speaker said. if it is not managed properly, the people of afghanistan do not

have a good experience with that kind of uprising. i hope it will not create any ethnic and political tension between the people who are against the taliban. but i think the issue is, clearly, it was not really -- the withdrawal was not at the right time. at least should have done after aease-fire between the political parties were the different groups, warring factions in the country. that has not happened, unfortunately. i think another issue is, of course, afghanistan should not be abandoned because we had the experience before, which was in doubt with a serious attack -- and up with a serious attack. and if that happened, it would be another disaster, not only -- for everyone around the world. amy: dr. sima samar, i want to

get your response to the television spokesperson talking about their position on women's rights on cnn just a few weeks ago. >> we are not against the basic rights of women. that is education and their work. only because we are in islamic society, they have to observe the islamic hijab. even now, if you go to the kabul city, the women are observing the hijab by themselves because a different culture, islamic culture. amy: he was speaking on cnn. dr. sima samar, can you respond to what he said?

also talked about the talks going on right now in iran between the taliban and the afghan government, previously in doha but that wasn't including the afghan government, and where women stand in all of this. >> well, i think on the stand up the spokesperson the respect is acumen rights, why not all of e human ghts? not just education and work. as he said, the afghan women are already respecting the hijab, then what is the problem? it is the same thing from when they were in power in 1996-2001. i think they have to show in action because the area under control of taliban, they ve not shown the changes they claim

they have been changed and respecting women's rights. unfortunately, women a beaten up for simple issues, violating the basic human rights. that is one issue. the second -- the question you asked, i think the tehran talks, you see there are no women at all. inoha, were not satisfied with having four women involved among 42 men come but they choose the number beuse it was 42 years of war but now it is 43 years of war and it is going to 44, unfortunately. i personally believe there's no harm to talk, what it should be conclusive. it should be coordinated. somebody sitting inoscow.

somebody sitting in doha. 70 sitting in another part of the world, china for iran. could or should be coordinated and it should be a way to get out of this problem. afghan people should realize they are responsible for the country and should come to an idea and a plan to end the war in the country. it is very violent and people keep losing lives every day. amy: what to afghan women need most right now? >> i think they need recognition. they need to be recognized, first of all, and have to be included in the process. with inclusion -- of course, they should be supported. they will not get financial and political support, so that is really important that our existence should be recognized

in the cntry and should be included in all the issues in relation of the country and the social and cultural and peace process and the peace building. nermeen: ali latifi, people have pointed out the war i afghanistan -- there have been foreign countries involved in addition to the u.s. the u.s. was not the only one. could you speak specifically out the iolvement of pakistan and its continuing alleged support for the taliban, the prime minister giving an interview to "the new york times" recently saying whatever leverage his government had with the taliban has vanished once

u.s. announces withdrawal because the taliban took that withdrawal is a sign of its victory? >> well, i think the fact that imran khan admits to "the new york times" is government had even 1% should say a lot. it is not just pakistan. it is ironic that the talks are happening in tehran as well, is we have gotten clear proof on the ground that pakistan and iran are very heavily involved with the taliban, are aiding and abetting them, supplying them, providing them safe haven. i mean, literally on the ground -- when you talk to police in different provinces, they will say we found weapons in munition that was clearly coming from pakistan or from iran. you know, people will talk about the fighters on the ground. i talked to an mp from the

western province about a year ago -- a few months ago and he was saying when he was in charge of security in the south and west, he saw a runyan fighter standing alongside the taliban. people will say the same thing about pakistanis. there is clear evidence, for instance, when the second leader of the taliban was still alive, there was footage of him going to the airport to go to iran and it also believe the emirates. there were pictures of different pakistani leaders living in the areas around the line. the fact that osama bin laden, if the whole point of this war was about al qaeda and 9/11 and bin laden, he was found -- the statement the media always uses is that he was found your the pakistani equivalent of west point and yet there is no real

pressure ever being put on pakistan. if imran khan says, i have little or no leverage against the taliban, the question incomes, white is at washington and berlin and london and paris and all these other places asking him, we did you have leverage over the taliban? why did you have leverage over the taliban? why have you not been doing anything to exercise that leverage and a positive way? and this is something that upsets everyone in afghanistan because, as i said, there's document improve, both on the ground here and just things like pictures and footage, that show pakistan has a very acti role andiran and yet there is no real pressure, physical, real pressure be put on pakistan because of it. amy: ali latifi, today president biden will be addressing the issue of afghanistan. it has been almost 20 years, the

united states longest war. talk about the results of the u.s. invasion and occupation on afghanistan. >> i was just reading today, there was a headline the u.s. is considering giving visas and support to afghan women and rights activists and journalists who may feel in danger after the u.s. withdrawal. i think just that headline enough says, if in 2001 george bush's entire justification, you know hillary clinton when she became secretary of state went on these speaking tours and came on these missions and kept talking about things like human rights and women's rights and someone is so forthcoming and yet literally in 2021, two months before the withdrawal, we have a headlines, may have to evacuate thousands of women and rights workers 20 years after

their invasion of the country allegedly to support women to reestablish human rights, to reestablish democracy. i think that in itself says everything. amy: we want to thank you both for joining us. ali latifi is a freelance journalist based in kabul. we will link to your al jazeera piece headlined "afghans say recent taliban advances forced them to take up arms." and we want to thank dr. sima samar, afghan women and human rights defender. as we turn now to why the palestinian authority is cracking dn on palestinian demonstrators in the occupied west bank stop we will go to ramallah. stay with us.

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we turn now to the occupied west bank, where the palestinian authority is facing intense criticism for violently cracking down on palestinian protesters in recent weeks following the death of human rights activist nizar banat in palestinian authority custody. banat was a vocal critic of the pa. he was arrested on june 24 by pa

foes whoroke inta relave'house whe he was stayg in the town dura. relativewho witnsed the atta say ban waseaten befo his aest. hours afr his dention, h was deared dea this is nizabanat's wifeihan banat and relative, hussain banat. >> two months ago, there was a shooting toward us from unknown people. they wanted to kill mozar -- nizar. for two months we did not see him. we heard at 3:00 a.m. was arrested. they took his laptop stuck two hours later he was aounced dead. >> we were at home had 3:30 a.m. suddenly we heard a noise. they open e door of the room where we were sleepin they were from the preventative forces. we were sleeping.

we woke up and they were beating nizar. amy: nizar banat had run on behalf of an opposition party in the parliamentary elections that president mahmoud abbas would eventually call off. on saturday, hundreds of palestinian protested in ramallah, calling for abbas to step down. this comes as the israeli newspaper "ynet" reported last week the palestinian authority is attempting to buy tear gas canisters, stun grenades, and other nonlethal munitions from israel. for more, we go to ramallah, where we are joined by mariam barghouti, palestinian writer. her recent op-ed for "the washington post" is headlined "opinion: who is the palestinian authority protecting? not us." ok, lay out who is the palestinian authority and who are they protecting. >> thank you for having me, amy. the palestinian authority is a regime that was created to the

1994 oslo accord. it was meant to serve as an interim government for civil administration of palestinian affairs. the palestinian authority now is acting like a police state without the state. and what is happening is a complete assault on palestinian rights, palestinian lives, palestinian voices. and the only thing that is being protected are the security forces. the regime complex. nermeen: you right in your piece that "the horse goes up these really crimes are to you begin the disk to describe. the only consistency is the violence analyst forms in different uniforms sustains these really colonialism." can expand white think that is the case and also explain -- respond to the argument by the palestinian authority that their

fears centered around hamas? >> right. the palestinian authority is often collaborated with israel at the expense of palestinians. the palestinian authority has adhered to the agreement of the curative coordination with israel based on the oslo accord. it was a one-way street where palestinians are being handed over to the authorities were vocalizing the complete refusal of anything that mea colonialism, of anything that means ethnic cleansing. the palestinian authority did this for israel. the palestinian authority put sanctions on -- being brutally attacked by israel, was being starved by israel, when its electricity was also being cut by israel. they colluded with israeli colonialism. when we hear the palestinian

authority say things like hamas, it reminds me of the same thing the israeli were sayings, and attempt to criminalize us. we are palestinians who want to be palestinians, want to save palestinians from the river to the sea. the palestinian authority allowed israel to confine us to the west bank. it has even negated the right of return for refugees. it has ignored palestinians with israeli citizenship. nermeen: could you explain who funds the palestinian authority and what you think needs to happen? >> the palestinian authority is funded from different actors and parties, namely international states within the eu, the u.n.,

and other actors as well. we should not just confined -- the bigger focus is what is being funded. most of the funding is coming under the emblem of capacity building of palestinians, but it is really going to the security forces. this is where the money is being flooded. every year, i see nor police cars instead of more schools and that is because this is what israel also wants. it wants us to turn into watchdogs so it can become a cheaper occupation and colonialism on that front. the pa is not just being funded and material value. it is being supported by tolerating the repression. we have been speaking about this for over a decade. over a decade palestinians were getting beaten in the streets.

every time this happens, a little media attention comes but the support and the tolerance of it continues. and now we are being politically assassinated. amy: can you talk, nizar banat mariam bargr banat was, how he died, why this is so significant when talking about the role of the palestinian authority? >> nizar banat was a very vocal critic of corruption, namely the collis staining authority. he was attacked in hebron by security forces, taken under the pretext of being arrested but he was beaten so brutally that the images of his corpseecovered purple and blue. personly cou notook at the iges so i cant even imagine s familynd close

frnds. he was a palestinian that said something. that said something about an authority that is pretending to represent as but is actually forcing us into our homes come into whispers, to fear of wanting to le in dignity, of wanting to live justly, wanting to live as palestinians. nizar was also a father and husband. he wasn't just the critic of the palestinian authority. he was not just a palestinian that refused israeli colonialism. in the end, he was a person just like all of us. we are learning all of these different dynamics because our lives are on the line. we cannot afford to not know. nermeen: could you say at the moment, of course, this repression is taking place in

the midst of the pandemic. could you explain what the situation is in terms of vaccination and how the palestinian authority has been dealing with the pandemic? >> the palestinian authority initially began -- the response to the pandemic, well, according to the polling and survey. then it slowly started showing how the state of emergency was also being used to enforce new legislation, new laws that repress palestinians, and continued to solidify that the grasp they have on our rights to express our rights to change. what is happening right now, not just in vaccinations with the palestinian authority's and israel had an agreement to exchange pfizer vaccines but it turned out the one israel is

going to get were about to expire soon -- jan that recklessness. beyond that, sinister move by israel. the pandemic is also being used to enforce new laws to repress palestinians within a legal framework. it is very dangerous because if they won't politically assassinate us, they will shove us in just like the israel does with military detention. amy: i would ask you about the new government and the continued now bombing of the gaza strip on saturday and what israel's military called retell it -- retaliation. your final comments? >> no new government in israel is going to bring change. what is going to bring change is ending the cleansing and calling

out apartheid and persecution for what it is. this new government is doing the same thing the old government did. just because the uniform chans, just because -- doesn't mean it is what it is, which is ethnic cleansing. amy: thank you so much for being with us. mariam barghouti, palestinian writer and researcher based in ramallah. we will link to her peace in "the washington post" headlined "opinion: who is the palestinian authority protecting? not us." that does it for our show. today, a fond farewell to democracy now! senior producer carla wills. carla, your brilliance, passion for social justice reporting, certainly helped to make democracy now! what it is today. it is never goodbye, just thank you, thank you, thank you so much. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693

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roots of tokyo. edo, city of water. ♪ ♪ hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in new york. people in countries around the world have lost someone to the coronavirus. a child, a mother, a friend. some have died without anyone by their side, and now the number of deaths worldwide has passed 4 million. more than 600,000 people in the u.s. have died. more than