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In Gaza, a senior Hamas leader involved in the ceasefire negotiations has told Drop Site News that Hamas will not agree to demands that it unilaterally disarm.

Basem Naim also said that Hamas would not submit to Israel’s demand for a total demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip.

This comes amid reports that President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed back in December that Hamas would be given a two-month deadline to disarm.

As President Donald Trump prepares to convene the first official meeting of his so-called Board of Peace in Washington tomorrow, he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have re-escalated demands that Hamas and other Palestinian resistance factions imminently disarm — with Netanyahu insisting that all small arms must be turned over before the Israeli military withdraws any of its forces.

“Very importantly, Hamas must uphold its commitment to Full and Immediate Demilitarisation,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Sunday.

This demand is being presented as a condition for any reconstruction to begin in Gaza, with no guarantees for Palestinian security or sovereignty.

Criminal complaint
On Monday, the Hind Rajab Foundation said it had filed a criminal complaint in Chile seeking the prosecution of Rom Kovtun, an Israeli soldier accused of taking part in the deadly 2024 siege of Al-Shifa Hospital.

The World Health Organisation reports at least 21 patients were killed during attacks on the hospital.

Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is demanding greater access to Gaza to expand aid and recovery efforts.

Administrator Alexander De Croo spoke from Gaza City:

Alexander De Croo: “More than 300,000 families in Gaza are looking for housing. Only 10 percent of people today living in Gaza have housing which has the basic accommodations, so 90 percent of the population is today looking for housing.

“You have seen in what very difficult circumstances people have to live or have to survive.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Owen Wilkes (1940–2005) was known throughout the Pacific and across the world as an outstanding researcher on peace and disarmament.

His work:

• exposed plans to build a US Navy satellite tracking station in the Southern Alps
• identified a foreign spy base at Tangimoana (near Bulls)
• led to job offers from leading peace research institutes in Norway and Sweden — and an espionage charge for taking photographs during a cycling holiday, and
• supported local campaigns against foreign military activity in the Philippines, and for a nuclear-free Pacific.

Born in Christchurch, Owen Wilkes was an internationalist and a dedicated New Zealander — a subsistence farmer on the West Coast (where his self-built eco-home was demolished by the local council), an archaeologist, tramper and yachtsman.

In this forthcoming book, edited by historian Mark Derby and Wilkes’ former partner May Bass, experts in their own fields who knew and worked with him reflect on his achievements and his legacy. The contributors include:

Ingvar Botnen
Nils Petter Gleditsch
Nicky Hager
Di Hooper
Murray Horton
Maire Leadbeater
Robert Mann
Neville Ritchie
David Robie
Ken Ross
Peter Wills

The book, published by Raekaihau Press in association with Steele Roberts Aotearoa, has a timeline, a bibliography of Owen’s publications in several languages, and an index.

The book is being published on November 30.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Retired foundation director of Otago’s National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies Professor Kevin Clements has been awarded the International Studies Association’s (ISA) 2022 Distinguished Scholar Award in its peace studies section.

The ISA said the award was given each year to a scholar who had a substantial record of research, practice and/or publishing in the field of peace and conflict studies.

The association’s selection committee was deeply impressed by the breadth and quality of Professor Clements’ work on disarmament, conflict resolution and problems of historical memory and reconciliation in Asia-Pacific, as well as his institution – and organisation – building work.

“I would like to share this honour with all of my colleagues since, among other things, the committee noted my ‘institution and organisation building work’. I could do no institution building without all of your talent, hard work and support,” Professor Clements said.

“I look forward to acknowledging my NCPACS and Australian peace and conflict studies colleagues at the award ceremony.”

At the upcoming 2022 International Studies Association conference in Nashville, Tennessee, Professor Clements will join the Distinguished Scholar Awards Roundtable to celebrate his contributions to the field.

Professor Clements was at Otago for 11 years before retiring in 2020. He was awarded the NZ Peace Foundation’s 2014 Peacemaker Award and served as secretary-general of the International Peace Research Association and past secretary-general of the Asia Pacific Peace Research Association.

Prior to taking up these positions he was the professor of peace and conflict studies and foundation director of the Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

His career has been a combination of academic analysis and practice in the areas of peacebuilding and conflict transformation. Professor Clements has been a regular consultant to a variety of non-governmental and intergovernmental organisations.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz