NEW YORK, May 6, 2024 (AFP) – Columbia, the prestigious New York university at the heart of US campus protests against the war in Gaza, announced Monday that it has canceled the main ceremony for graduating students next week. The Ivy League institution said it would “forego the university-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15” and hold a series of smaller events instead. “We are determined to give our students the celebration they deserve, […]
Tag: Palestinians
Israel’s Rafah evacuation order sparks global alarm
RAFAH, Palestinian Territories, May 6, 2024 (AFP) – Israel called on Palestinians to leave eastern Rafah Monday ahead of a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city, amid increasing global alarm about the consequences of such a move. The evacuation call followed disagreement between Israel and Hamas over the Palestinian militant group’s demands to end the seven-month war, during weekend negotiations in Cairo. Egyptian state-linked media said the talks stalled after a rocket attack claimed […]
Hamas official says group will not accept truce that does not end Gaza war
GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, May 4, 2024 (AFP) – A senior Hamas official on Saturday said the group would not accept a truce that did not completely end the Gaza war, accusing Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu of “personally hindering” a deal. Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators met a Hamas delegation in Cairo on Saturday in the latest bid to halt the devastating almost seven-month-old war that has triggered worldwide protests. They were to hear the […]
Clashes at UCLA pro-Palestinian protests in US campus unrest
Clashes broke out on Wednesday at pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, as dozens of universities around the United States struggle to contain similar protests. Protesters and counter-protesters were seen clashing with sticks, and tearing down metal barricades, TV footage showed. Others were seen launching fireworks or hurling objects at each other in the dark — lit up with laser pointers and bright flashlights. Tear smoke was also fired […]
Embracing hostage families, Blinken urges Hamas to accept ‘very strong’ deal
TEL AVIV, May 1, 2024 (AFP) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Wednesday on Hamas to accept a “very strong” ceasefire-for-hostages offer as he vowed to put a priority on families seeking to reunite with loved ones. In rare scenes for the top US diplomat, who has faced furore at home and abroad over President Joe Biden’s support for Israel in its campaign against Hamas, Blinken was greeted outside his Tel Aviv hotel […]
Police arrest Columbia students, clear occupied building in campus unrest
By Ana FERNÁNDEZ NEW YORK, May 1, 2024 (AFP) – Dozens of helmeted police flooded Columbia University’s campus in the heart of New York City on Tuesday to evict a building occupied by pro-Palestinian student protesters and detain demonstrators. Police climbed into Hamilton Hall via a second floor window they reached from a laddered truck, before leading handcuffed students out of the building into police vans. The hall had been occupied at dawn by demonstrators […]
Protesters chase EU diplomats from Palestinian Museum
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories, April 30, 2024 (AFP) – Protesters from a Palestinian university chased a group of European diplomats out of a museum in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday over what activists said was their position on the Gaza war. Video posted on social media showed Italian consul general Domenico Bellato hurrying away from the Palestinian Museum near the city of Ramallah followed by a crowd of demonstrators. “The student’s movement refused those visitors […]
Netanyahu says troops to enter Rafah ‘with or without’ Gaza truce
JERUSALEM, April 30, 2024 (AFP) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the Israeli military will launch a ground offensive in Rafah “with or without” a truce with Hamas in Gaza. “The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question. We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there with or without a deal, in order to achieve the total […]
Biden presses Egypt and Qatar on ceasefire, hostage deal
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2024 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden on Monday urged the leaders of Egypt and Qatar to “exert all efforts” towards securing the release of hostages held by Hamas as part of negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire, the White House said. Washington, Doha and Cairo have been mediating for months to achieve a truce in the Palestinian territory which has endured relentless bombing by Israel in response to the unprecedented deadly attack […]
Hamas releases video of two hostages calling for Gaza deal
GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, April 27, 2024 (AFP) – Hamas’s armed wing released video Saturday of two men held hostage in Gaza who are seen alive and urging Israeli authorities to strike a deal for the release of all the remaining captives. Campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum identified the two as Keith Siegel and Omri Miran who were abducted by militants during the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7. “The […]
Police detain 100 as pro-Palestinian camp cleared at US university
BOSTON, April 27, 2024 (AFP) – Police detained about 100 people as they moved in to clear an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters in response to the use of anti-Semitic slurs, the school said. The action was taken after protesters resorting to “virulent anti-Semitic slurs, including ‘Kill the Jews,’ crossed the line,” the school said in a statement on social media platform X. The protests against Israel’s war with Hamas began at Columbia University earlier this […]
Hamas says studying new Israeli truce proposal
By Jay DESHMUKH JERUSALEM, April 27, 2024 (AFP) – Hamas said it was studying on Saturday the latest Israeli counterproposal regarding a potential ceasefire in Gaza, a day after media reports said a delegation from mediator Egypt arrived in Israel in a bid to jump-start stalled negotiations. The signs of fresh truce talks came alongside at least three Israeli air strikes during the night in Rafah, southernmost Gaza, according to an AFP correspondent. Rafah is […]





