Arab Voices (Episode # 1,209)

During this episode of Arab Voices, we will have 3 segments:

1) Electronic Intifada Newscast - A summary of the latest developments in occupied Palestine including the Israeli genocide and catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip and the ongoing Israeli atrocities in the West Bank, presented by Nora Barrows-Friedman, associate editor at the Electronic Intifada.

2) "Greater Israel: is Lebanon the first destination?" – A podcast from Middle East Eye, in which Mathilda Mallinson, host of the podcast, interviews Dr. Maha Shuayb, Director of the Center for Lebanese Studies, about the forced displacement of over 1,000,000 people by Israel, and also interviews Gideon Levy, Israeli journalist and author, about the Israeli attack on Lebanon.

For more than a million people in Lebanon now sleeping in cars, shelters, refugee camps and the streets, their homes bombed to rubble, the difference between words may feel immaterial. But under international law, the difference is monumental. Under the Geneva Convention armies are obliged to give advance warning of attacks that may affect civilian populations. But they are strictly prohibited from forcibly displacing civilians– unless it is for their own security. Even in this case, they must ensure there is satisfactory shelter, and allow civilians to return as soon as possible. In other words, an evacuation is a legal requirement– but forced displacement is a war crime.

3) "By serving Israel's agenda, Trump betrayed Gulf allies" - An opinion by Soumaya Ghannoushi, a British-Tunisian writer and expert on Middle East politics, published at Middle East Eye. Ghannoushi argues that instead of shielding the region from conflict, the presence of American bases — which were supposed to protect Gulf states — has turned them into targets in a war they neither started nor wanted. She says “From Doha to Riyadh, the lesson is becoming difficult to ignore: the arrangement meant to guarantee their security is now exposing them to danger”.