Syrians protest Israel’s incursions near occupied Golan Heights
Syrians are protesting Israel’s occupation of parts of the country’s south, near the occupied Golan Heights. Israeli troops have bulldozed olive groves, set up checkpoints and detained residents. Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett reports from the protests.
As Israel heads to the polls on October 27, its polarising and longest-serving prime minister is seeking re-election.
The Knesset is up for grabs next week and the Arab community is desperate to topple the far-right ruling coalition As the sun set over the town of Kfar Qasim, Palestinian citizens of Israel gathered over hot knafeh pastries and shots of strong cardamom-laced coffee to hear an urgent pitch for their votes. Palestinians make up about 20% of Israel’s population and their votes are likely to be critical to efforts to unseat Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right coalition in elections next week.
Clampdown comes as Israeli pogroms heighten tensions and spread violence across Palestinian territory.
Residents and analysts doubt October 27 vote will bring any meaningful shift in Israeli policy towards their country.
Looming over the crowd that has gathered to hear Gadi Eisenkot, the former general who is the lead opposition challenger in Tuesday’s Israeli election, is a man who is not there. Naturally, the warm-up speakers at this evening rally in the modest city of Modi’in, halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, stress the virtues of Eisenkot, a son of working-class Moroccan Jews who rose through the ranks to become chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces and entered politics only four years ago.
Super typhoon weakening but large parts of Taiwan, including Taipei, still mostly closed and flights cancelled Typhoon Champi swept past Taiwan on Saturday killing one person, injuring more than 500, and uprooting trees and severing power as it weakened and headed north toward the Chinese coast. Earlier classified as a super typhoon and one of the strongest storms in the Pacific this year, Champi was still packing gusts of about 126km per hour (78 miles per hour) near its centre, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA).