Source: Xinhua Editor: huaxia 2024-05-02
BOGOTA, May 1 (Xinhua) — Colombia will sever diplomatic relations with Israel on Thursday, said President Gustavo Petro on Wednesday.
Speaking to a crowd in the capital Bogota, the Colombian president referred to the Israeli government as “genocidal.”
“The era of genocide, of the extermination of an entire people before our eyes, before our humanity, cannot return,” said Petro, adding that if Palestine dies, humanity dies.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz denounced Colombia’s decision. “Relations between Israel and Colombia have always been warm, and no antisemitic and hate-filled president can change that,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.
The Colombian president has expressed his intention to cut off diplomatic ties with Israel on several occasions since the UN Security Council adopted in March a resolution on ceasefire in Gaza.
Colombia recalled its ambassador to Israel in October, a few days after Israel launched military operations in densely-populated areas in Gaza in response to Hamas attack.
Source: Xinhua Editor: huaxia 2024-05-02
“Due to the distress caused by the violence that took place on Royce Quad late last night and early this morning, all classes are cancelled today,” said the university in an alert to faculty, staff and students on Wednesday morning.
LOS ANGELES, May 1 (Xinhua) — The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), one of the top public universities in the United States, cancelled all classes for Wednesday after a night of violent clashes on campus over the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.
“Due to the distress caused by the violence that took place on Royce Quad late last night and early this morning, all classes are cancelled today,” said the university in an alert to faculty, staff and students on Wednesday morning.
The university urged them to avoid the Royce Quad area and announced that Royce Hall, one of the original buildings and the defining symbol for the UCLA campus, will remain closed through Friday.
Last week, pro-Palestinian protesters set up an encampment of tents near Royce Hall in support of Palestinians.
Violent clashes erupted between pro-Palestinian protesters and pro-Israel counter-protesters late Tuesday night and lasted a couple of hours.
Fireworks, tear gas and fights broke out just after 10:50 p.m. Tuesday night local time and continued early Wednesday morning as around 100 pro-Israel counter-protesters attempted to seize the barricade around and storm the ongoing Palestine solidarity encampment, according to Daily Bruin, the university’s student newspaper.
“The chaos comes as Chancellor Gene Block faces criticism for improper handling of the encampment and the same day the university deemed the encampment to be unlawful, threatening students inside with suspension and expulsion,” reported Daily Bruin, adding that campus police and security retreated as pro-Israel counter-protesters and other groups attacked protesters in the encampment.
A participant in the encampment, who was granted anonymity for safety reasons, was quoted as saying by Daily Bruin that there were at least five injuries inside the encampment, most with eye injuries and some temporarily unresponsive.
Mary Osako, vice chancellor for UCLA Strategic Communications, said in a midnight statement that “horrific acts of violence occurred at the encampment tonight and we immediately called law enforcement for mutual aid support. The fire department and medical personnel are on the scene.”
“We are sickened by this senseless violence and it must end,” Osako noted.
Local news outlets reported that protesters clashed for more than two hours before law enforcement intervened.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a post on social media platform X that the violence unfolding at UCLA is “absolutely abhorrent and inexcusable.”
California governor Gavin Newsom’s office also said in a statement on X Tuesday night that it is closely monitoring the situation at UCLA and law enforcement leaders are in contact while “resources are being mobilized.”
Following the arrest of more than 100 student protesters last month at Columbia University in New York, pro-Palestinian demonstrations are spreading at colleges and universities across the United States.
Aside from UCLA, students at some other California colleges and universities, including Stanford University, the University of Southern California, UC Berkeley, and Sacramento State, joined the national protest. A total of 35 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, early Tuesday morning, ending a week-long occupancy of buildings on campus of the university in Northern California.
Source: Xinhua Editor: huaxia 2024-05-02
In a letter dated April 26, Francis told member states that the resumption of the ESS was requested by Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, and Uganda, in their respective capacities as chair of the Arab Group, chair of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Group and chair of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement.
UNITED NATIONS, May 1 (Xinhua) — The UN General Assembly will resume its 10th emergency special session (ESS) on May 10, after Palestine’s UN membership bid was blocked by the United States at the Security Council in April.
UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis has informed member states that he will convene a plenary meeting of the ESS on May 10, said Monica Grayley, his spokeswoman, on Wednesday.
In a letter dated April 26, Francis told member states that the resumption of the ESS was requested by Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, and Uganda, in their respective capacities as chair of the Arab Group, chair of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Group and chair of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement.
The United States on April 18 vetoed a Security Council draft resolution that would have recommended to the General Assembly Palestine’s full UN membership.
Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, expressed the hope that the General Assembly would ask the Security Council to reconsider the issue at the ESS.
“We will now bring the matter for consideration by the General Assembly on May 10 in a resumed 10th emergency special session and trust that this body representing the international community will unequivocally support the admission of the State of Palestine to the UN and call on the Security Council to reconsider our application for admission favorably,” he told a General Assembly meeting on Wednesday on the use of veto by the United States.
Under UN rules, the admission of new members has to be recommended by the Security Council before a vote in the General Assembly. If the Security Council does not recommend the application or postpones its consideration of the application, the council then must submit a special report to the General Assembly, which in turn could ask the council to reconsider.
The 10th ESS on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory was convened for the first time in April 1997.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 