The European Green Party has welcomed Hannah Spencer’s victory in the Gorton and Denton by-election. Spencer’s dominant win came against a backdrop of ludicrous smears from Labour and led to racist dogwhistles from Reform.

Reacting to the victory, European Green Party co-chair Vula Tsetsi said:

Voters in the Manchester constituency of Gorton and Denton have heard Zack Polanski and the Green Party’s call to ‘make hope normal again’ and they have made it reality.

This victory brings the number of Green Members of Parliament in the UK to five, up from the historic high of four after the last general election. Together with their skyrocketing membership this confirms the Greens as a solid and growing progressive force in the UK.

We warmly congratulate Hannah Spencer and the Green Party of England and Wales for their enthusiastic, hopeful and locally rooted campaign. People are looking for affordable housing, clean air, and properly funded public services to improve their everyday lives.

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Co-chair Ciarán Cuffe added:

Greens are demonstrating that the green transition can lower energy bills, create quality jobs and strengthen local communities.

While right-wing and far-right parties, including Reform UK, continue to try to divide communities across Europe, this result proves that fear is not the only force shaping politics.

The Green Party of England and Wales, a full member of the European Green Party, has beaten Reform and Labour by offering credible solutions on affordability, housing and investment in public services. This makes us very hopeful for the upcoming UK local elections in May.

The Greens have seen significant local wins across Europe, that gave the Greens the mayoral leadership in five capitals. These include Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Copenhagen (Denmark), Budapest (Hungary), Riga (Latvia) and Zagreb (Croatia).

Featured image via the Canary

Inequality economist Faiza Shaheen has summed up why people chose hope in the Gorton and Denton by-election. The Green’s Hannah Spencer won by a mile in the Manchester constituency by-election.

“Represent” the people

On social media, Shaheen said:

Greens came from nowhere to win in one of the safest Labour seats in the country. This is evidence that people want politicians that represent them, not the billionaires and city lobbyists

As part of a wide-reaching purge of progressives (that may have now backfired given the rise of the Greens), Keir Starmer arbitrarily blocked Shaheen from standing as a Labour candidate in the 2024 election. That’s despite her performance against Conservative Iain Duncan Smith in the Chingford and Woodford Green constituency in 2019. She came within around 1,000 votes from unseating him.

The Autonomy Institute made the corruption around corporate influence clear with its research last year. 373 companies have made over £60 billion from public contracts following their political donations in “recent years”.

As Shaheen points out, the public are sick of it and the result in Gorton and Denton reflects that. The Greens won a landslide victory in what appeared to be a close race. The party received 14,980 votes to Reform’s 10,578.

‘Muslims would forget’

Economist and politician Shaheen continued with her reasons for the Green win:

Labour’s complicity in a genocide has hurt them (David Lammy once told me that Muslims would forget!); and that people can and will defeat the divisive politics of Reform. Thank you Hannah Spencer, Zack Polanski and the Green Party 

Despite the ceasefire, people aren’t forgetting the indiscriminate bombardment of Palestinian people. Labour was in a position to help stop the onslaught and instead has done the opposite.

As Shaheen says, the Greens are showing that a re-balancing of the economy away from billionaires and elites.

Featured image via the Canary

New York mayor Zohran Mamdani apparently helped to encourage US president Donald Trump and his paramilitary militia, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit, to release a Columbia student with over 100,000 Instagram followers. Tens of thousands more people whom immigration authorities have unfairly mistreated, however, haven’t had such luck.

Just got off the phone with President Trump.

In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elmina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning.

He has just informed me that she will be released imminently. https://t.co/rvmTWpq83r

— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) February 26, 2026

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had accused Elmina Aghayeva of having a student visa termination due to a ‘failure to attend class’ back in 2016. ICE agents reportedly impersonated police officers to gain access to the Columbia University dorm where they detained Aghayeva.

Many politicians chimed in to criticise her dodgy detention. And it seems Mamdani’s plea to Trump may have made an impact.

However, few of the people ICE has detained during Trump’s second term in office have the same kind of profile Aghayeva does.

What about justice for everyone else?

The Trump regime regularly refers to the people ICE detains as dangerous or violent criminals – supposedly the “worst of the worst“. But as CBS News has reported, a DHS document shows less than 14% of around 400,000 people whom ICE arrested in the last year actually had “charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses”.

ICE’s unaccountable, aggressive behaviour has resulted in numerous deaths. And about 40% of all the people it has arrested “did not have any criminal record at all“, apart from questions relating to their permission to stay in the US. Civil proceedings have usually addressed such violations historically.

This means that ICE is mistreating tens of thousands of people who are definitely not ‘the worst of the worst’, and getting away with it.

Everyone deserves fair treatment from authorities – whether they’re influencers or not. But that doesn’t seem to be the system that currently reigns in the US under Donald Trump. And even politicians don’t seem to make as much noise when ICE detains people who don’t have such a prominent profile.

Featured image via the Canary

After a jam-packed night of amazing performances and surprise guests, Sombr had a unique way of grabbing Brit Awards viewers’ attention during this year’s ceremony.

On Saturday evening, the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter was the penultimate performer at the Brits, kicking things off with a rendition of his hit Undressed.

Halfway through the performance, viewers were shocked when there appeared to be a scuffle between Sombr and an apparent stage invader, who pushed him from the podium he’d been singing on.

At that point, the man in question ripped down a gold shimmer curtain, as Sombr launched into the second of his two songs, Back To Friends.

Many subsequently rushed to social media to check what had actually transpired, and see whether or not the stage invasion was genuine.

However, it’s been pointed out that the supposed stage invader was wearing a t-shirt, emblazoned with the message “Sombr is a homewrecker”, in a nod to the American performer’s upcoming single of the same name.

While Rosé and Bruno Mars’ collaboration Apt. picked up the latter award, the former went to Rosalía, beating stiff competition from the likes of Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Doechii, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and Bad Bunny.

The US and Israel’s unprovoked attack on Iran has led to retaliatory strikes across the Arabian Gulf. The Gulf Cooperation Council states (GCC) – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE – are caught in a nexus partially of their own making as imperial ties threaten to pull the region apart.

Arguably, the right to self-defence, enshrined in international law is one thing. However the use of excessive force, risks isolating Iran and undermining its cause.

Strike on Iran means gloves are off

Unlike the largely contained and bruising 12-day war in 2025, this time Iran’s gloves are off. Responding to US strikes, its government launched attacks on Arab Gulf countries hosting US assets. So far, these states—many of which Iran claims are ‘allies’ — are resisting being pulled into the ring of fire. However, the flames of war are fanning out in their direction.

Dubai International Airport, terminal three to be precise, suffered an Iranian drone attack. The government has issued an emergency alert to all civilians, urging them to ‘seek immediate shelter.’ Thousands of passengers, whose flights were cancelled, remain stranded in the airport. The airport is now thrust into the theatre of war:

Earlier videos from #Dubai airport Terminal 3 pic.twitter.com/tZPYiiZi2d

— Ovais Jafar (@ovaisjafar) February 28, 2026

The path of mutual destruction

Earlier today, an Iranian missile targeted the headquarters of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain. Another missile struck Dubai’s Fairmont Hotel located in the upscale Palm Jumeirah, which caught fire. Kuwait’s International Airport was targeted by a drone strike, grounding both departures and arrivals until further notice. Meanwhile, in Jordan, Iranian missiles were intercepted. Similarly, in Iraq, drones targeting the US consulate and the International Airport were also shot down.

تحطم طائرة مسيرة داخل مطار أربيل، واشتعال النيران فيها.pic.twitter.com/1fmhelBXcN

— المحامي سعد شنگالي (@SaadSh1ingali) February 28, 2026

The stress test of regime durability

Tehran’s leadership has maintained its innocence, with officials and aligned commentators justifying these actions through the logic of self-defense — like a defiant child caught with its hand in the candy jar. Sacrificing its allies to save itself is a dangerous tango. It is one that may not end US strikes. In other words, it could be cutting off its nose to spite its face.

If self-defense — both as rationale and military strategy — is reliant on the spread of terror and military tactics that risk civilian lives, Iran is purposely dragging the region into quicksand—escalation by de-escalation, promoting the proliferation of war. The millions of Arabs who have survived war and established roots in the Gulf — not just recently, but over decades—are unlikely to agree. And can you blame them?

In an interview with NBC News, Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Aragchi, said

Nobody has any record of any aggression by us against our neighbours in the past 200 years.

The irony is clearly lost on him.

No appetite for war

However, the slew of stern statements issued by these neighbours, reeling from intense retaliatory strikes and the resulting state of emergency, suggests that Aragchi is leading audiences astray. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, among others, have condemned the barrage of attacks as an attack on their sovereignty. The message is clear – Arab countries will not bow to Iran’s pressure campaign.

Even across Lebanon and Iraq, Iran’s proxies, despite condemning Trump’s unprovoked strikes, are yet to mobilise their personnel. They appear to be keeping a low profile, fearful, it may seem, of possible blowback, with their own survival in mind.

بيان | دولة قطر تدين بشدة استهداف أراضيها واستهداف الدول الشقيقة وتؤكد احتفاظها بحق الرد

الدوحة | 28 فبراير 2026

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تعرب دولة قطر عن إدانتها الشديدة لاستهداف الأراضي القطرية بصواريخ إيرانية بالستية، وتعتبره انتهاكًا صارخًا لسيادتها الوطنية، ومساسًا مباشرًا بأمنها وسلامة أراضيها،… pic.twitter.com/eLnpNx3ZO8

— الخارجية القطرية (@MofaQatar_AR) February 28, 2026

With few options for pushback, Iran is swinging the bat, and excusing its actions as targeting “legitimate targets on military sites”. The videos circling on social media tell a different story.

Iran won’t relent until the “enemy” is defeated – it officials have repeatedly warned. But at what cost? America is equally misguided if it thinks that leadership decapitation and military aggression will result in a ‘happy ever after’. Iraq is a case in point.

A sustained war, feared by all — mostly civilian populations who have already survived war once, twice, or thrice, in some cases – is becoming an increasingly likely, though terrifying prospect. It will test regime durability irrespective of the regional earthquake it will set in motion, and place the Middle East on a warpath.

Featured image via the Canary

With a peace deal at hand, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu chose war. Negotiators have said unprecedented progress was being made in US-Iran talks. Iran itself said it was willing to offer immense flexibility on the nuclear issue and other questions.

The US and Israel attacked anyway.

Their pretext is incredibly weak — perhaps even weaker than the rationale for the Iraq 2003 invasion. Donald Trump’s rambling eight-minute explainer was so thin that he started citing events from the 1950s:

From this eight-minute address, in which President Trump revisited decades of grievances dating back to the 1979 revolution and the 441-day hostage crisis, and decades of chanting “Death to America”, the scope of today’s military attack appears to extend well beyond Iran’s… pic.twitter.com/Kw8JuHIZOY

— Omid Memarian (@Omid_M) February 28, 2026

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As the bombs were dropped on 28 February, Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi — a key negotiator — told CBS News that unheralded breakthroughs had been made in the talks:

I’m asking to continue this process because we have already achieved quite a substantial progress in the direction of a deal. And the heart of this deal is very important, and I think we have captured that heart.

Asked what the heart of the deal was, Albusaidi said:

if the ultimate objective is to ensure forever that Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb, I think we have cracked that problem through these negotiations by agreeing a very important breakthrough that has never been achieved any time before. And I think if we can capture that and build on it, I think a deal is within our reach.

WATCH: After meeting with Vice President JD Vance, Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi – a key mediator in the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks – tells @margbrennan “the peace deal is within our reach.” He also said, “I don’t think any alternative to diplomacy is going to solve this… pic.twitter.com/zOuSPxLy5j

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) February 27, 2026

And pressed on the nuclear questions, the minister said the deal had gone beyond even former US president Barack Obama’s 2015 deal with Iran:

The single most important achievement, I believe, is the agreement that Iran will never, ever have a nuclear material that will create a bomb. This is, I think, a big achievement. This is something that is not in the old deal that was negotiated during President Obama’s time. This is something completely new.

Read the full transcript here.

Peace thrown away by US and Israel

It is highly unusual that a figure like Albusaidi would publicly disclose details like this. Guardian diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour suggested it was a desperate — and, it seems, vain — attempt to avoid a war:

In what looks like a desperate bid to prevent a US sanctioned attack on Iran by Israel, Oman removes the secrecy surrounding the core of his proposed Iranian deal – Iran would never again store highly enriched uranium. He outlined Iran’s acceptance of zero stockpiling of enriched… https://t.co/BXxILQB5D4

— Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) February 28, 2026

The US was about to achieve its objectives. Trump opted to attack. The Omani minister even said that Iran had even agreed to discuss its ballistic missiles — a previous red line for Iran:

Oman FM says he believes Iran will discuss its ballistic missile program in context of a separate security negotiation with GCC countries.

He told CBS Iran was open to direct nuclear inspections, again at an unprecedented level:

This is why I think this is a much, much better deal, because I think Iran is open to the idea in a way that- that- that never had been the case in the past.

Drop Site News is one of the few outlets to engage with official US enemies. Drop Site have made a point of speaking to Hamas. The outlet has also interviewed Iranian officials.

On 24 February, an Iranian official told them:

We have demonstrated an almost unbelievable level of flexibility on the enrichment issue itself.

The same individual claimed:

Iranian negotiators, he said, working in coordination with the Supreme National Security Council and empowered by the country’s leadership, “decided to exercise maximum flexibility on the nuclear issue, but only on the strict condition that it would genuinely prevent the outbreak of war.

Drop Site are publishing regular strike updates here:

🚨 BREAKING: Iran Launches Strikes on U.S. Bases Across the Middle East

▪️Explosions seen at the U.S. Naval Base in Al-Juffair, Bahrain, confirmed by Bahrain.

▪️Alarm sirens followed by up to four explosions in Kuwait.

▪️Massive explosions reported in Abu Dhabi.

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▪️In Qatar,… pic.twitter.com/I8ytf3X5G8

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) February 28, 2026

British operations against Iran

The Brits say they aren’t involved in hitting Iran. This is false. As the Canary reported on 24 February, at least one Royal Navy sailor permanently serves as navigator for the USS Churchill. The Churchill is currently part of the US armada attacking Iran.

And in 2024, our colleagues at Declassified UK reported the UK has a secret war pact with Israel to attack Iran:

According to leaked documents, the British project was codenamed HEZUK and designed to counter the “destabilising regional activity of Iran and Hizballah”.

This would be done by strengthening UK-Israel intelligence collaboration and increasing military cooperation, with the effect of deepening bilateral security integration.

Read the full report here.

The US — with Israeli assistance — has thrown away the very deal Trump has been clamouring after for years. Against a background of genocide in Gaza and increased belligerence in the western hemisphere, Trump and Netanyahu have pulled the trigger. And the so-called ‘peace president’ — who built his brand around opposition to American wars in the Middle East — may have just blown open the gates of hell.

Featured image via the Canary

The US and Israel are committing a cheeky war crime again, this time with another horrific attack on Iran. And as usual, Starmer and European governments are allowing it to happen.

Zarah calls out Starmer’s cowardice, again

Zarah Sultana was among the many British people to point out the hypocrisy of Prime Minister Keir Starmer allowing this to happen.

The Your Party MP tweeted:

An Omani mediator said last night a peace deal between the US and Iran was within reach.

This morning, the US and Israel bombed Iran.

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No imminent threat. No legal basis. Another illegal war dressed up as “security” and “democracy”.

The Labour government must stop being Trump’s poodle and condemn this blatant violation of international law before it engulfs the region.

The war drums are banging, our movement must resist.

She is, of course, correct. There is absolutely no legal basis for this war. And as usual, Starmer has rolled over for Trump, telling BBC News:

Iran should return to the negotiating table

To be clear, that’s where they were when the US and Israel attacked them.

The attack, we were told, was preemptive. But that is of course more bullshit. As Sultana says there was no imminent threat from Iran. As Zeteo News reporter Prem Thakker pointed out, the phrase is insulting our intelligence:

The phrase “preemptive strike” is as insulting as when we were sold “humanitarian pauses” in the middle of a live-streamed genocide. The powerful looking you straight in the face and telling you your common sense simply doesn’t matter.

EU also rolls over for Israel and US

While Starmer has stayed silent, other officials defended the US and Israel’s actions. Vice President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas, blamed Iran:

The latest developments across the Middle East are perilous.

Iran’s regime has killed thousands. Its ballistic missile and nuclear programmes, along with support for terror groups, pose a serious threat to global security. The EU has adopted strong sanctions against Iran and supported diplomatic solutions, including on the nuclear issue.

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However, as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese told her, this is rank hypocrisy:

I wish you had applied the same scrutiny to Israel, as it made millions homeless and displaced; thousands killed; thousands detained and tortured. Regional destabilisation from Gaza to Lebanon and the whole region.
Double standards elevated to policy make Europe weaker, not safer

Donald Trump is a war criminal and a pedophile

As always, there’s a Trump tweet for everything, though. In 2011, the President tweeted:

In order to get elected, Barack Obama will start a war with Iran.

Let’s not forget, though, the real reason why Trump is getting more dangerous by the day. The rapist-in-Chief is hoping that by dropping bombs, he’ll distract everyone from the fact that he’s named over 38,000 times in the Epstein files.

This can’t be an either-or, he needs to be arrested for war crimes and for being a massive fucking paedophile.

Featured image via the Guardian

Not a day goes by when Al-Mughayyir is not violently attacked- either by settlers or the Israel occupation army.

The village, which has a population of around 4000, is in the occupied West Bank, North East of Ramallah. Problems began in 2018, when the first settlement was built, just 300m to the North of al Mughayyir.

Israel work with settlers to terrorise the village

Marzouk Abu Naim, is on the village council. He tells the Canary:

The first thing they did was cut the trees, burn the land, and steal livestock. They assaulted farmers and stopped them going to their land.

There are now nine settlements to the North, East, and South of the village. The violence directed at the community has increased exponentially, and so to has the land theft. Not long ago, Al Mughayyir had 43,000 dunums, or 4300 hectares of land, but not any more.

Abu Naim told me:

Since 7 October, 2023 we only have 1000 dunums of land. Settlers, helped by the army, have taken it all. They hit and shoot at people, and force them from their land and their homes, and they steal everything. They are with the army all the time. The army and the settlers are the same thing, except for the jacket. They all have guns.

There used to be two routes into the village. But the army has now closed the gates to the Western village entrance, and made the other one into a checkpoint. Sometimes this is closed, so people are unable to go in or out of al Mughayyir.

Multiple Palestinian young men have been killed by the Israeli occupation during the raids on the village

In January 2019,  a large number of settlers entered the village and shot at people. A 15 year old boy was killed. According to Abu Naim, five Palestinians are still suffering long term injuries from this attack, and regularly need to be treated in hospital.

In April 2024, around 1000 settlers stormed the village, cut down trees and destroyed Palestinian homes. While the settlers terrorised al Mughayyir,  the army closed the gates of the village and prevented anyone from leaving. A 23 year old young man was killed, and more than 75 people were injured. Homes were raided, 200 sheep were stolen, and scores of cars belonging to villagers were vandalised.

In August 2025, when the Canary last spoke with Abu Naim, Israel prevented Palestinians from leaving or entering the village, for three days. They killed an 18 year old Palestinian, and destroyed 10,000 olive trees.

Abu Naim says:

When they killed the last person, they closed the village while the funeral was going on and started shooting at people in their cars. And the settlers threw stones. They want us to leave our village. They want the village, but without the Palestinians. They start with the trees, with the sheep, now they will end  our income. Our life here has stopped. We cannot do anything. Everyone is so worried. We don’t know what will happen, but we will stay here.

No one from al Mughayyir  is spared from the occupation’s violence

The people of al Mughayyir are costantly harrassed, intimidated and physically abused. And the situation has escalated since 7 October. Israeli occupation forces (IOF) come into the village almost every nght, entering homes, destroying their contents, and directing violence towards residents. They even arrest children.

Then the settlers arrive in the daytime to continue terrorising the community.

One villager, who wished to remain anonymous, for fear of retribution, tells us about a recent raid in al Mughayyir, where the IOF smashed their way into his home. He says that two military vehicles entered the village, and blocked all access into and out of al Mughayyir. The vehicles were there for around two hours, ahead of the arrival of around 100 Israeli occupation soldiers.

He told me:

Residents were unaware of where these soldiers had come from. They had entered al Mughayyir on foot, without being detected. During the raid, soldiers played music, fired sound bombs and tear gas, leading to multiple cases of suffocation. A tear gas canister landed in the home of an older woman, and she had to be transferred to the hospital. They also fired live ammunition. The soldiers moved through the village like thieves, spreading across several streets and neighbourhoods. They scared the children, stole money, stormed houses, and did everything possible to intimidate the families. They raided at least 35 houses, including the homes of prisoners. The purpose of this was to threaten the prisoners wives, who are alone, and to scare the prisoner’s children. The soldiers also stole money from the houses. In one case they stole 2000 NIS (£500) from a man’s home, and in another they took 1500 NIS. They smashed everything inside my house, threw the contents of the fridge onto the floor, and destroyed everything that was planted. They kept shouting: “Where’s the money? Where’s the money?”.”

“They target us because we are Palestinian”

This resident told us the raid lasted until about 6am, when the military withdrew to the Eastern part of al Mughayyir.

He says:

We always say it, and keep saying it- they target us because we are Palestinian. We are the voice of truth, and the rightful owners of this land.

Another resident of al Mughayyir, who also wishes to remain anonymous, tells us about a raid on the village some time ago. He was only a child when the IOF stormed his home and arrested him, at 1am. He says he was taken to the Israel occupation’s army camp, called Jebbit, close to al Mughayyir, and then transferred to another army camp in the morning.

It was not a normal arrest. It was barbaric- full of insults and severe beatings. When I arrived at the camp, they handcuffed and blindfolded me. At sunrise they transferred me to another camp, where I was interrogated for 22 days. After my six months detention, I was sentenced to one year in actual prison.

During his transfer between prisons, this resident says the occupation severely beat him. And, throughout his time in jail, he had no means of communication with his family whatsoever. “Israel” is the only country in the world to prosecute children in military courts, although only Palestinian children, of course. And conviction is inevitable.

He told me:

I am a resident of the Ramallah area, but was released at Hebron Gate. This is the occupation policy, to make families worry about their children, and take longer to bring them to their homes. That’s my story, but there’s so much suffering, and stories we can’t tell. So much pain in our hearts for our brothers and children who are in jail. But we will stay. We are here in our land, and won’t leave. They won’t intimidate us. This land will remain ours.

While attention is diverted elsewhere, the Israeli occupation acts with impunity and consolidates its control over Palestinians

While the international community is focused on the genocide in Gaza, Israel is still getting away with serious human rights violations, not only in al Mughayyir but throughout the occupied West Bank.

War crimes, and crimes against humanity are being committed by settlers and the IOF on a daily basis. They blatantly abuse, displace and kill Palestinians, and do not even feel they need to hide their crimes. They know the world will remain silent, and the time is right for them to ethnically cleanse occupied Palestine.

The international community needs to act urgently for justice and peace in the territory. And it must uphold the ruling of the International Court of Justice which ruled, in 2024, that ‘Israel’s’ occupation of Palestine is illegal, and must be stopped “as rapidly as possible.”

Featured images and videos via author

The people of Jenin Refugee Camp, in the occupied West Bank, have experienced many difficulties and much suffering over the years.The camp was established in 1953, after the Nakba, to house Palestinians expelled from over 50 villages in the Haifa and Nazareth areas by the Israeli occupation.

Jenin Refugee Camp residents endure

Until last year, 17,000 Palestinians lived in the 1 km² Jenin Camp. They endured decades of displacement and military incursions, and one of the highest levels of poverty and unemployment of all those living in the West Bank refugee camps.

Farha Abu AlhaijaI was born and brought up in the camp. She says the situation is now the most difficult it has ever been for the people who lived there. In January 2025, the largest forced displacement in the West Bank since 1967 took place. The criminal ‘Israeli’ regime launched Operation Iron Wall, forcibly displacing 40,000 Palestinians living in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams refugee camps.

She tells the Canary:

All 17,000 people from Jenin camp have been displaced, along with about 1800 houses completely destroyed. That is around half of the houses that were in Jenin Camp. The other houses are burnt or partially destroyed. The Palestinian Authority (PA) and UNRWA paid six months of their rent for the people, but now it has finished, and the PA cannot pay. So the people have to pay from their own money, but they cannot pay, as they don’t have enough money. No one is helping them, and it is a big problem. Some go out of their houses to stay with. their family, while others have moved into metal or plastic shelters.

82 percent of displaced families in the Northern West Bank are currently living in rented accommodation. This causes a huge financial burden on Palestinians. While living in Jenin Refugee Camp, residents needs were met, and accommodation was free. But those forcibly displaced must now pay rent. In addition, there is an unemployment crisis in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli occupation has not only driven the Palestinian economy to “near total collapse”. It has also, since October 2023, taken away permits allowing work in ‘Israel’ from more than 100,000 Palestinians.

Huge psychological toll on women and children from

According to Abu Alhaijal, these hardships also take a psychological toll on the population, including herself:

It’s very very difficult. All my history, my friends, my family were in this camp. Many people have been killed, many from my family. I wonder what we can do. We want peace for our children, to continue their lives, but there is no hope for people here. We feel we have lost all things.

Abu Alhaijal is also chairperson of Not to Forget Association, an organisation working with women and children of Jenin refugee camp. It was established in the aftermath of the 2002 massacre. 150 Israeli occupation force (IOF) tanks and armoured personnel carriers, along with F16 fighter jets, shelled the camp. No food, water or medical supplies were allowed in, while the dead and injured residents were prevented from leaving the camp or receiving treatment for their injuries. According to Human Rights Watch, 400 people were made homeless, their houses demolished and destroyed by the IOF.

She told me:

After the incursion in Jenin Camp in 2002, it was really the women and children who were most in need, because their psychology was very destroyed. We cared for those who had lost members of their family – at this time the occupation damaged the houses, so many people left the camp. More than 70 were killed, including many children and those with disabilities. Immediately, Not to Forget set up a psycho-social support project, with mothers and their children from Jenin camp.

Although this project was the association’s first programme, it was not the last. Then came the distribution of much needed relief – food, blankets, medicine, and even school materials. But according to Abu Alhaijar the most recent incursion, which displaced the entire population of Jenin Refugee Camp, has been the hardest for those affected.

Not to Forget providing “an emergency response to the tragic situation”

She says:

We are providing an emergency response to the tragic situation the people of Jenin camp have found themselves facing. Some families are unable to pay for rent, electric, water, or medicine. Not To Forget tries to help them, but we cannot do this all the time, as we are also struggling with funding. This is an especially big problem for the people now. We are in Ramadan now, a special time for the Islamic people. They must prepare food, sit the family at the same table, but there’s nothing for the people now.

Snipers prevent anyone accessing Jenin Refugee Camp to see what, if anything, remains of their homes. Those who have entered the camp have been shot and killed, including children. From their office, the Not to Forget team often see burning homes and explosions from the camp area, and hear shooting throughout the day. But they have no idea what is happening there, or what the Israeli occupation is shooting at. And while the association knows that its centres in the camp were destroyed, there have no further details.

Abu Alhaijal says:

It’s a really tragic situation. The children pay the highest price, and the impact of displacement on them is great. They don’t accept the situation they find themselves in. Many times we have gone outside to make a trip. But the children ask if they can go back to the camp instead.

The association’s staff members are now scattered throughout various villages in the area, so travelling to the newly rented centre in Jenin is often difficult. But these psychologists, educators, and teachers continue their essential work with women and children.

All that is needed is for powerful countries to stop supporting the terrorist state of ‘Israel’

Not to Forget projects are numerous and varied. Teenagers benefit from vocational training, such as car maintenance courses. The association has also joined forces with Medical Aid for Palestine, to help Palestinians come to terms with their grief and trauma. Women are taught new skills, not only to give them self confidence but to provide them with a livelihood. Economic empowerment is extremely important, especially during this period of high unemployment. Children also benefit from after school teaching that is currently taking place.

Conditions across the occupied West Bank are dire. Not only has the economy collapsed, and public services become non-functional. Settlers and the IOF also terrorise, displace, and kill Palestinians on a daily basis. Vast amounts of Palestinian land are stolen for the ‘Jewish state’, while more than 10,000 Palestinians are held as political prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons. Silence from the international community gives these Israeli terrorists confidence. They make no attempt to conceal their crimes, which occur in broad daylight, and are carefully planned out to inflict maximum suffering on the Palestinian population.

International support for the people of Palestine is now more important than ever and, according to Abu Alhaijal, change is not as difficult as people imagine.

She told me:

Change would be easy if there was international pressure on Israel. Israel doesn’t work alone. It has the support of the powerful – the US, the Arabic countries and the rest of the world. This world support allows Israel to continue doing whatever it wants. Without this, Israel would be nothing.

Featured images via author

The US and Israel are once again showing their true colonialist colours as they launch unprovoked attacks on Iran.

Make no mistake. The US/Israel war against Iran is a colonial war. Like the genocide in Palestine, the invasion of Iraq and Libya, the incineration of Vietnam and Laos, it is war to subjugate the people of the global South and annihilate their resistance. Colonialism has no…

— Jason Hickel (@jasonhickel) February 28, 2026

Of course, Trump claims the attacks are due to the US not being happy with Iran’s position on the nuclear weapon negotiations. CNN claims the US and Israel have been planning the operation for months and targeted:

Iran’s supreme leader, president and head of the armed forces.

But already, despite their advanced precision weaponry, Israel has attacked two schools.

Whether it’s seizing oil, regime changes, or destroying and preventing the use of nuclear weapons, the US and Israel have been singing from the same hymn sheet for 30 years.

🇮🇱🇺🇸 Their aim goes beyond destroying WMDs, seizing oil, or regime change in #Iran 🇮🇷; they have been pursuing systematic conquest, genocide after genocide, and control of the entire Middle East in pursuit of a so-called “promised empire of Israel” https://t.co/PT56koM2Bi

— Bashir Qaman✍️ (@BashirQaman) February 28, 2026

Iran and the right to self-defence

The reality? The goal is murdering black and brown people and stealing land. Whether it’s for ‘Greater Israel‘ or for the US’s financial interests, it’s one and the same — murder and control the people in the global majority, and get rich in the process.

What the mainstream media is not telling you is that under international law, Iran has the right to self-defence against unprovoked and illegal attacks.

Unfortunately, Zarah Sultana is, so far, the only left-wing MP in the UK to have said that publicly.

Under international law, Iran has the right to defend itself from unprovoked and illegal attacks.

This is US imperialist aggression, plain and simple. https://t.co/oObYj5mSJd

— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) February 28, 2026

Jeremy Corbyn stated that the attacks were:

The attacks on Iran by Israel and the United States are illegal, unprovoked and unjustifiable.

Peace and diplomacy was possible. Instead, Israel and the United States chose war.

This is the behaviour of rogue states — and they have jeopardised the safety of humankind around…

— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) February 28, 2026

But he failed to mention that Iran has the right to self-defence.

As did Zack Polanski, which is disappointing to say the least.

This is an illegal, unprovoked and brutal attack that shows once again that the USA and Israel are rogue states.

The UK must end our cosy relationship with the USA and our ongoing support for Israel. https://t.co/LeAyf8ehPa

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) February 28, 2026

As did many members of the European Parliament.

The EU condones the US-Israeli illegal and unprovoked war of aggression on Iran.

European failure to stand up for basic principles of international law legitimises rogue state behaviour and endangers lives throughout the world.

Shameful. Dangerous. https://t.co/PPmXAzOto6

— Marc Botenga MEP (@BotengaM) February 28, 2026

When white people are bombed illegally, as we have seen over the last few years in Ukraine, there is an automatic and non-negotiable right to self-defence. No one questions it; the world sends weapons, and random MPs decide to go and fight for the cause.

So why is this different?

I think we all know the answer to that. It’s because so much of the world still sees black and brown people as less than, and it’s fucked up.

Bombing Iran — including children, is in the typical US and Israeli imperial playbook. We’re once again seeing their pattern of colonial conquest play out in real time. But just like Palestine, Iran has the right to self-defence against these unprovoked and illegal attacks.

Feature image via Al Jazeera English/ YouTube