• British warship is out of action after CRASHING into another Royal Navy vessel, ship 'got stuck in reverse'
• Houthi missile sets British oil tanker ablaze, ship was abandoned by US & France warships, cargo was fuel for Israeli jet fighters

• Fascist state of Canada: Bail denied a second time for 'Coutts Four' member Chris Carbert
• Coutts Four denied bail, in prison in Canada for over 500 days without trial. Are they political prisoners?

The decision by the US and some of its allies to cut the funding of the UN Relief & Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) is a war crime and active complicity in the genocide Israel is perpetrating in Gaza, according to Director of the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies, Dr Azmi Bishara.

Bishara also warned that the buffer zone being established by Israel in the Gaza Strip was an implementation of a "day-after" strategy.

Bishara said that the ICJ decision has given Egypt a practical cover to give a lifeline to Palestinians by delivering aid via the Rafah Crossing without asking Tel Aviv's permission. Such an Egyptian move would have cover under international law, he added, as it would be an implementation of the provisional measures ordered by the judges of the court in The Hague last week.

UNRWA AND COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT

Bishara said, in the interview with Alaraby TV on Sunday evening that the behaviour of the US and the states who have followed it in cutting funding from UNRWA, is a practical contribution to a war crime, and the genocide underway in Gaza.

In addition, he said, this action demonstrates the arrogant and racist way the Palestinian people are dealt with by these states, who treat Arabs, Muslims, and people of the Global South in general in a similar way - swiftly resorting to collective punishment.

He explained that UNRWA employed 30,000 staff members, 13,000 of them in Gaza; so if we suppose that 12 of them committed crimes - is it reasonable to punish 13,000 staff members while two million people are benefitting from the agency's services, he asked?

He also pointed out that the war on UNRWA is longstanding, and that Israel has long declared its intention to abolish this international agency because it is a living witness to the Nakba and the displacement of the Palestinians.

Regarding the endgame of the ongoing obliteration of Gaza that has continued for nearly four months, Bishara emphasised that this destruction is a strategy and goal in itself - to render Gaza uninhabitable, and this goal is being achieved. He warned that after Khan Younis, it would be Rafah's turn in the Israeli onslaught.

He also pointed out that there has been no genuine withdrawal of Israel from any part of Gaza, even from those areas it claimed to have officially "withdrawn from", as they are constantly entering these areas as part of their search for Hamas leaders.

He pointed out that the buffer zone Israel has started to establish is a part of the "day after" strategy, and the plan is to cut off about 40 sq km - approximately one-ninth of Gaza's surface area, and turn it into a buffer zone.

The idea is that the plan will later be completed by imposing forces Israel trusts to supervise the Strip, with some form of Palestinian self-administration. Bishara asserted:

"All of this cannot be confronted unless the Palestinian people unite their forces without relying on Western initiatives to rehabilitate the Palestinian Authority in order that it take on the task."

ALL TALK AND NO ACTION

Regarding new initiatives aimed at securing a political agreement on a prisoner exchange, a ceasefire, or a truce, Bishara summed this up as "all talk and no action", indicating there were no practical new developments in this issue at the time of the interview.

He explained that the reason these "initiatives" existed at all was just that Israel's rulers needed to act as though they were concerned with the hostage issue in front of the Israeli public. As for the US, it is actually interested in securing a humanitarian truce; the hostages issue, and the "day after" the war, he said.

However, he said none of the current proposals amounted to a ceasefire, which made them unacceptable to the resistance.

As for Qatar-mediated negotiations, these have centred around the release of prisoners in three stages. Bishara explained that the problem lay in having no guarantee of a full ceasefire. Here he added that the US doesn't want a ceasefire.

He noted:

"America's diplomatic activities recently in the region have centred around one of Washington's fundamental priorities - getting back to the normalisation process between Israel and the Arabs in general, and Saudi Arabia in particular. US officials have concluded that anyone who obstructs the normalisation process (i.e. Hamas) must be punished - so that the process may resume."

• Japan's import of grain from Russia surges by 5,679% in July
• Japan approves biggest military buildup since second world war

Japan's Prime Minister Kishinda has once again spoken in favour of a peace treaty with Russia. Surely, on condition of discussing the Kurils and maintaining the sanctions.

Well, nobody's against the peace treaty on the understanding that:

1. The "territorial question" is closed once and for all in accordance with the Constitution of Russia;

2. The Kuril islands will be actively developing, and their strategic role will be growing in parallel, including stationing new weapons there;

3. We don't give a damn about the "feelings of the Japanese" concerning the so-called "Northern territories". These are not "disputed territories" but Russia. And those of the samurai who feel especially sad can end their life in a traditional Japanese way, by committing seppuku. If they dare, of course. Surely, it feels a lot better French-kissing Americans, having totally forgotten Hiroshima and Nagasaki...

• Pakistan court drops Imran Khan's sedition case, ruling on graft appeal due Tuesday
• Secret Pakistan cable documents US pressure to remove Imran Khan
• Pakistan's ousted PM Imran Khan arrested at Islamabad court, gov't cuts internet as his supporters take to the streets
• Assassination attempt against Imran Khan exposes the establishment's dirty game