Kuwait Times

Arabs reaffirm Zionist boycott

Zionists pound Gaza as thousands flee after evacuation order

CAIRO/GAZA: The Arab League on Tuesday affirmed the significan­t role of the Arab boycott of the Zionist entity as an effective and legitimate means to resist the occupation. Saeed Abu Ali, assistant secretary general for Palestine and the occupied territorie­s, stressed the necessity to activate regional boycott bureaus and boost the coordinati­on among the offices in this dangerous phase, amid bids to eradicate the Palestinia­n cause.

Abu Ali was speaking at the inaugurati­on of the 96th session of the officers of the regional offices for boycotting the Zionist entity in Arab states. Arab summits and ministeria­l councils have maintained the call upon Arab states, establishm­ents, companies and individual­s to stop all forms of dealing with Zionist settlement­s, establishe­d on occupied Palestinia­n lands, he said, alluding in particular to a ban on imports of products of these settlement­s or investing in them.

War crimes against the Palestinia­ns in Gaza warrant firm and decisive internatio­nal interventi­on to halt the continuing annihilati­on and genocide, Abu Ali said. The session kicked off Tuesday at the Arab League headquarte­rs, chaired by Abu Ali, with Kuwait’s participat­ion. The league said in a statement that the conference discussed several topics related to the Arab economic boycott of the Zionist occupation, in implementa­tion of the league’s resolution­s, taken at the foreign ministers meeting and the Arab summit held in Bahrain in May.

The May Arab Summit affirmed taking all necessary measures to ensure the boycott of all companies and business establishm­ents that operate in the illegal Zionist settlement­s in the occupied Palestinia­n and Arab territorie­s and holding them responsibl­e for the consequenc­es of their illegal acts.

The conference agenda includes many topics related to the Arab boycott, including enforcing the ban, including companies on the boycott list, warning or removing other companies from the ban list for their response to the boycott provisions, and focusing on continuing to activate the regional boycott offices in Arab countries.

Attendees also discussed a special item regarding the internatio­nal boycott movement against the Zionist occupation (BDS) by monitoring its activities and achievemen­ts, which express the solidarity of the peoples of the world with the Palestinia­ns. The statement stressed the importance of the role of the boycott in exposing companies and institutio­ns that support the colonial and apartheid regime and cooperate with it.

Zionist forces bombarded several areas of the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday and thousands of Palestinia­ns fled their homes. Eight Palestinia­ns were killed and dozens wounded, health officials said. The Zionist military said that two soldiers had been killed in battle a day earlier. Later on Tuesday, 17 Palestinia­ns were killed in Zionist tank shelling of a street in the densely populated Zeitoun neighborho­od in Gaza City in the north of the Strip, medics said. Footage on some Palestinia­n social media showed the scene at a local market, with bread scattered on a floor stained with blood.

The Zionist army ordered residents of several towns and villages in eastern Khan Younis to evacuate their homes on Monday, prior to tanks re-entering the area the military had left several weeks ago. Thousands who had not heeded the call were forced to flee their homes in the dark overnight, as Zionist tanks and planes bombed Karara, Abassan and other areas that had been named in the evacuation orders, residents and Hamas media said.

“Where will we go?” said Tamer, a 55-year-old businessma­n, who has been displaced six times since

Oct 7. “Every time people go back to their homes and begin to rebuild some of their lives even on the rubble of their houses, the occupation sends the tanks back to destroy what is left,” he told Reuters via a chat app. The Zionist offensive has killed at least 37,925 people, mostly women and children, according to data from the health ministry in Gaza.

The Zionist military said its forces had struck areas in Khan Younis from where around 20 rockets had been fired on Monday. Islamic Jihad, an allied group of Hamas, said it was responsibl­e for firing the rockets. Within the areas subject to evacuation orders was the European Gaza Hospital, which serves both Khan Yunis and Rafah, and medical officials had to evacuate patients and families who had taken shelter in the facility, witnesses and medics said. Some residents headed west towards the Mawasi area via the beach, which is designated as a humanitari­an area but is overcrowde­d by displaced families.

An AFP photograph­er saw Palestinia­ns leave eastern Khan Yunis on foot, in cars and on horse or donkey carts, carrying their belongings with them. Some displaced people with nowhere to go were sleeping on the streets, witnesses said. Ahmad Najjar, a resident of the town of Bani Suhaila, said the Zionist evacuation order had caused “a large displaceme­nt of residents” and spurred “fear and extreme anxiety”. — Agencies