The dramatic story of Israel’s birth in 1948 following the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/holocaust-memorial-sara-atzmon,1986">Nazi Holocaust </a>captured the wonder and admiration of the world. Its founders claimed that Israel would be a light to the nations. But the Jewish state’s identity has now gone from being the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-loss-of-an-identity">victim of genocide</a> to perpetrator in less than two generations. Israel’s Likud government stands accused of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/crime-against-humanity-in-gaza">genocide in Gaza </a>by a UN Special Committee, the World Court’s admission that the accusation is plausible, and recently by 28 nations acting in concert to declare Israel in violation of International Humanitarian Law. What happened? Rather than face the truth of 75 years of injustice to Palestinians that led to the terrible slaughter and hostage-taking by Hamas in 2023, most Israelis support the daily overkill in Gaza, now nearly two years long. After <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/mortality-in-the-gaza-israel-war">more than 100,000 casualties</a> under constant bombing of the civilian population with no one shooting back, famine has begun. Israel as a society and government have performed exactly the opposite of what David Ben Gurion declared: The State of Israel will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace … Israel lost its soul by becoming racist, then racialist, with the doctrinaire view that Jews are by nature and divine right superior to other races. This has led to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-world-s-moral-failure-in-gaza">suppression of the Palestinians</a>, and, if given the opportunity, to their extermination, as is now evident in Gaza. Why under its decades-long military occupation of Palestine, have Arabs been killed, imprisoned, wounded, neighbourhoods bombed, houses destroyed, streets ploughed up, families imprisoned behind concrete walls, and an entire population denied the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/history-of-female-im-mobility-in-nepal">right to travel</a>?&nbsp; The Zionist’s answer to these questions may be that the Palestinians under decades of military rule are not actually citizens of Israel. That is a distinction without a difference, because the occupying authority has legal responsibility for the population under occupation, including the West Bank and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/saving-what-is-left-of-gaza">Gaza</a>. True, there are areas declared to be administered by the Palestinians alone, but no one pretends that the Palestinian territory is truly free and independent. The occupied territory and its people remain wards of the Israeli state. Even though the UN created Israel, its various governments have long denied any right of the UN to curtail its expansionist aims and war-making powers.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250730090744_f0e965da3702f8d2cea081e607d40a09249dceedf4e6fd725f9fd139c2132ecf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20250730090744_f0e965da3702f8d2cea081e607d40a09249dceedf4e6fd725f9fd139c2132ecf" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="805" loading="lazy" alt="How Israel lost its soul"> </figure>  Jewish Holocaust survivor Raphael Lemkin coined the word ‘genocide’ and made it his lifelong task to see it implemented in international law. The Genocide Convention was ratified by the United Nations in 1948, but is being deliberately flaunted by Israel in Gaza. Genocide is a serious charge, but its terms in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/un-faults-nepal-s-war-crimes-bill">international law</a> are clear: no killing or setting up conditions for the destruction of a people group just because they are members of that group, no forced expulsion or transfers of that group, and no public advocacy to do so, which is a key provision already violated by Messrs Netanyahu, Trump, Galant, and others. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/guest-editorial/the-international-order-is-dying-in-gaza">The International Order Is Dying in Gaza</a>, Mohamed ElBaradei In January 2024 the International Court of Justice (ICJ), joined by an Israeli ad hoc Judge, Aharon Barak, voted to urge punishment of those advocating expulsion or transfer of the population of Gaza. The citizens of Israel bear collective responsibility for the actions of their government, but not as individuals unless they specifically vote for or advocate genocidal actions. Israeli opposition figures, of which there are very few, are courageous and deserve praise. What about the citizens of the United States where both Democrats and Republicans have long aided and abetted Israel’s violence toward those under its protection? Governments and citizens everywhere must join forces to prevent famine from claiming more children in Gaza.&nbsp; Citizens must raise our voices now or be forever classed with those who allowed and abetted today’s Genocide. (Inter Press Service) James E Jennings PhD is President of <a href="http://www.conscienceinternational.org/index.php" target="_blank">Conscience International</a>, and Leader of US Academics for Peace delegations to Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, and other countries. He taught Middle East History, Archaeology, and Religion at US universities. <h2>Bearing Witness</h2> The Associated Press, AFP, BBC News and Reuters this week issued this joint statement:&nbsp; We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families. For many months, these independent journalists have been the world’s eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza. They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering. &nbsp;&nbsp; Journalists endure many deprivations and hardships in war zones. We are deeply alarmed that the threat of starvation is now one of them. It is essential that adequate food supplies reach the people of Gaza.

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How Israel lost its soul

With the ongoing war, innocent <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-44124396">death and destruction in Palestine by Israel</a>, the recognition of the state of Palestine stands out as the most complicated issue in the history of state recognition.&nbsp; Both Israel and Palestine have their own history and geography as well as their supporters and opponents. Israel's war in the region is escalating, as the air strikes on Lebanon on Sunday shows.&nbsp; It should be acknowledged that Israel and Palestine have equal rights to statehood, to exist, to defend, and to live in peace. Israel and Nepal both applied for <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2020/12/5-facts-about-nepals-un-membership/">membership of the UN at the General Assembly</a> in 1949. Israel’s application was proceeded by the Assembly and approved by the Security Council in the same year.&nbsp; Nepal’s membership was blocked until 1955 at the Security Council because of a Soviet veto. In 1960 Nepal was the first South Asian country to recognise Israel by a unilateral government decision and established diplomatic relations. Nepal supported Palestine statehood both at the Non-Aligned forum in the 1980s and the UN General Assembly in recent times. Nepal should now make a formal and unilateral declaration in support of full recognition of the State of Palestine.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-world-s-moral-failure-in-gaza">The world’s moral failure in Gaza</a>, Graça Machel This should be a declaration similar to what Nepal government issued vis-a-vis Israel decades ago, and a new declaration is especially warranted because of the misuse of the veto power by the United States, blocking Palestine’s full membership of the UN. Nepal may emphatically remind itself of being similarly blocked from becoming a UN member for five years because of the Soviet veto. The Palestine question has become a ‘politics of international law’ within and outside the UN. In May 2024, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68983650">the General Assembly referred a proposal to the Security Council</a>, calling for the admission of Palestine as a full member of the UN. The United States used its veto against it. After the US veto Norway, Ireland, Spain and several European countries declared Palestine statehood unilaterally.&nbsp; Informed debate on Palestinian statehood is a rare subject in the Nepali media. Hamas terror on 7 October, 2023 in Israel in which <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-confirmed-killed-in-hamas-attack">10 Nepali students were killed</a> and one Nepali citizen is still being hostage, was rightly condemned by the Nepal government and media.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/hamas-releases-thais-but-where-is-bipin">Hamas releases Thais, but where is Bipin?</a>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240827110848_99ae0b3f0825f77dbc91027d5084b46e6b44318a11067dfbc967824925ed5656.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240827110848_99ae0b3f0825f77dbc91027d5084b46e6b44318a11067dfbc967824925ed5656" data-rendition-name="original" width="2400" height="1667" loading="lazy" alt="Damage after an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City on October 2023 NT 2"> <figcaption>The damage following an Israeli airstrike on the El-Remal area in Gaza City on October 9 2023. Photo: NAAMAN OMAR/ WIKIMEDIA</figcaption> </figure>  Anyone who believes in international rule of law must condemn acts of terrorism whether it is by state or non-state actors. But the Nepal government and media seem to be silent on condemning acts of genocide in Gaza. This is despite the<a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/experts-react/experts-react-what-the-international-court-of-justice-said-and-didnt-say-in-the-genocide-case-against-israel/"> International Court of Justice acknowledging ‘plausible genocide’</a> by Israel that is not a proportinate response to terrorism.&nbsp; The Nepal government should declare Palestine statehood in the same manner as Prime Minister BP Koirala's government recognised Israel in 1960 -- a bold, unilateral and formal recognition – even though Nepal voted in favour of Palestine in resolutions at the UN General Assembly and Non-Aligned countries' conferences. Of 193 UN member states, 146 have voted for and 94 countries have established formal diplomatic relations with Palestine, yet it is still being <a href="https://press.un.org/en/2024/sc15670.doc.htm">blocked from full UN membership</a>. The state practice of recognition follows political realities and the process varies from case to case. In the case of Palestine, especially in opposition to the United States veto, Nepal should make an official endorsement with other countries like Norway and Spain to strengthen the de jure status of Palestine. &nbsp; Nepal’s expressed solidarity with Palestine is noteworthy, but voting in UN resolutions is not enough for de jure recognition of Palestine since the Security Council approval is lacking. The<a href="https://press.un.org/en/2024/ga12599.doc.htm"> UN General Assembly only gave de facto recognition of Palestine</a>, which helped to upgrade its non-state observer status to a UN member. However, it is still awaiting recognition of de jure sovereignty as well as full membership of the UN. Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/protests-of-despair"> Protests of despair</a>, Slavoj Žižek Right or wrong, the Security Council has ultimate authority to declare so-called ‘hard law’. Under the UN hierarchy of its five permanent members (US, UK, France, Russia and China) have the authority to block any substantive decision. UN records shows that the United States has used its veto 42 times in favour of Israel. All attempts to recognise Palestine’s de jure sovereignty have been blocked by the United States. Contrary to the Security Council, the General Assembly is the global legitimate forum. The Assembly resolutions, however, are only recommendatory, lacking binding force. The weakness of the Assembly resolutions, lamentably, is that they usually form so-called ‘soft law’, but which can still be seen as binding law. The Security Council and supporters of ‘hard law’ do not perceive Assembly resolutions as binding law. Israel is defying not only the International Court of Justice’s rulings but also the orders of Security Council. As a response to a recent request by the General Assembly, the <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/node/204176">International Court of Justice on July 19 gave an advisory opinion</a> in which it declared that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967 was unlawful. Israel and the United States did not recognise the Court's opinion on this issue.&nbsp; Palestine has some weaknesses to fulfill statehood, which is also the case of Israel. For example, Palestine does not have full control over its territory since it is under occupation. When it comes to Israel, there is a problem with its democracy, democracy being known as a modern criterion of statehood in addition to territory, control over territory, population and government. In this context, Israeli democracy is not free of criticism, with some even calling it an <a href="https://www.vox.com/23924319/israel-palestine-apartheid-meaning-history-debate">‘apartheid state’</a>.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/guest-editorial/the-international-order-is-dying-in-gaza">The International Order Is Dying in Gaza</a>, Mohamed ElBaradei For Palestine to be regarded as a fully sovereign State under international law, it must obtain de jure recognition -- this means legal acknowledgement by the international community. Some are calling for an Israel-Palestine ‘bi-national state’, a homeland for both Jews and Palestinians, but only de jure sovereign Palestine may be helpful for future peace in West Asia.&nbsp; Nepal’s new unilateral declaration will not by itself be enough to make Palestine a sovereign state. It will, nonetheless, make history. Or at least Nepal will be standing courageously on the right side of the history. &nbsp;&nbsp; Katak Malla is a Senior Fellow at the Stockholm Centre for International Law and Justice in Stockholm University.

Nepal should recognise Palestinian sovereignty

I once asked <a href="https://chomsky.info/">Noam Chomsky</a> how he manages to remember so many facts and figures and hold audience attention. He replied that he did not convey any new information, that his talks are based on materials already in the public domain, he simply joins the dots.&nbsp;
Chomsky teaches us that it is not necessary to be loud and sensationalist in order to be heard. His clear and courageous moral compass over decades is a most valuable lesson.
On 17 June, some media reported that Chomsky, 95, had died after a stroke he suffered last year. He was in hospital in Brazil, and his wife has since said he is continuing treatment at home.&nbsp;
<a href="https://time.com/6987747/noam-chomsky-stroke-brazil/">Noam Chomsky</a> was already a legend when I first met him over two decades ago in December 2001 when he visited Pakistan for the inaugural Eqbal Ahmad Memorial lecture series.
Eqbal Ahmad had been an anti-Vietnam War activist in the US in the 1960s and later taught at Hampshire College and was among Chomsky's circle of friends, which included other legendary figures like Howard Zinn and Edward Said.
He had returned to Pakistan after the death of Gen Ziaul Haq in 1988 and was prominent in the peace and anti-nuclear weapons movements in the region. He died in May 1999, on the first anniversary of India's nuclear test, that Pakistan had followed.
In November 2001, Chomsky did a lecture series in India. Another fellow-traveller, the well-known physics professor and activist Pervez Hoodbhoy invited Chomsky to Pakistan for the Eqbal Ahmad Memorial lecture series. These events were organised months earlier, and Pervez was initially worried about whether there would be an audience.
The 11 September 2001 attacks had just taken place and Chomsky cut through America’s outrage to point out that the attacks were historic not for their scale but because of where they took place, mainland America, which had not been attacked before.
Also, this was not the first, but "the second 9/11". The earlier, <a href="https://yawmle.clicks.mlsend.com/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjU4NTIxOCxcImxcIjoxMjQ3MTY4MTY1MjQxMTc1NDMsXCJyXCI6MTI0NzE2ODE3MDAwMTcxMzQxfSIsInMiOiJjNjNkNDc0NGI5NzBjMTU3In0" target="_blank">“far more serious"</a> 9/11 was the one in 1973, he said, the violent coup against the elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile.
Many in America were uncomfortable with such statements, but in progressive circles here and around the world, his popularity soared.
I asked the organisers if I could follow Chomsky around Pakistan for a documentary. They agreed to let me tag along to his room at the Avari Hotel in Lahore. Noam Chomsky and his wife Carol had arrived in Pakistan to a celebrity welcome that discomfited them. Chomsky politely conveyed that we were welcome to film his public events but that he and Carol were uncomfortable being followed around by a camera.
We put our equipment away until he entered the venue where he was speaking. He walked through the packed hall to a standing ovation. A few days later, he addressed a larger audience at another packed venue, an indoor stadium in Islamabad. In both places, people listened in pin drop silence as he spoke, low key and without histrionics.&nbsp;
There was a shameful exception, when he spoke at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University when I was an international Fellow there in 2005-2006. In that intimate setting, another international fellow and her husband, both from Israel, kept interrupting Chomsky, despite being admonished by the moderator and other fellows.
Chomsky didn’t lose his cool, but I heard later that he vowed never to come back to Lippman House. I was glad to hear that the Nieman Fellows prevailed upon him to return in 2017 and that it went smoothly.
In September 2006, John ‘Jack’ Trumpbour, a Research Director at the Center for Labor and a Just Economy (CLJE) at Harvard Law School invited Chomsky as a featured speaker for the <a href="https://yawmle.clicks.mlsend.com/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjU4NTIxOCxcImxcIjoxMjQ3MTY4MTY1MzA0MDkwMDAsXCJyXCI6MTI0NzE2ODE3MDAwMTcxMzQxfSIsInMiOiI2ZDhlOTE5YzNjZTdkOTFkIn0" target="_blank">launch of a collection of essays,</a> The Selected Writings of Eqbal Ahmad (Columbia University Press), September 2006.&nbsp;
I was a speaker, along with Margaret Cerullo, Eqbal's colleague from Hampshire College and one of the book's editors. Stuart Schaar, Eqbal's college buddy from the 1950s at Princeton University was also a speaker. Like Chomsky, he has paid the price for his support of the Palestinian cause, sidelined in the mainstream academia as Eqbal himself was.
Another friend, the journalist David Barsamian, who runs Alternative Radio and speaks Urdu and Hindi, flew in from Colorado for the event. In his speech titled Confronting Empire: Eqbal Ahmad’s Legacy and the Contemporary Crisis, Chomsky talked about how Israeli attacks actually mean “Israeli and US attacks, since the USA supports Israel with weapons as well as diplomatic and ideological support”.
We were then witness to an “unusual historic event” — the destruction of a nation” as Israel punished the Palestinians for “a terrible crime they committed: in the last free election they voted in the wrong people”.
Chomsky commented that the real reason for the Israeli (US-Israeli) aggression is that the then Hezbollah provided the only meaningful support for Palestinian rights, and also because they wanted to eliminate Lebanese deterrents that stand in the way of an attack on Iran.
The aggression has two consequences, he said. First, it deters negotiations. Second, it makes the dissidents and reformers more vulnerable, as regimes under attack tend to become harsher.
In April 2011 the <a href="https://yawmle.clicks.mlsend.com/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjU4NTIxOCxcImxcIjoxMjQ3MTY4MTY1Mzc3NDkwMzQsXCJyXCI6MTI0NzE2ODE3MDAwMTcxMzQxfSIsInMiOiI3ODZjNjVlYjMzZDZkOTViIn0" target="_blank">American Friends Service Committee</a> invited Chomsky to <a href="https://yawmle.clicks.mlsend.com/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjU4NTIxOCxcImxcIjoxMjQ3MTY4MTY1NDA4OTQ3NjMsXCJyXCI6MTI0NzE2ODE3MDAwMTcxMzQxfSIsInMiOiI2ZGQ4OGQ4ZWI5NzFmNjBjIn0" target="_blank">address a seminar</a> at Boston University titled ‘Days of Hope and Challenge’, where I was the other speaker.
I felt privileged to have been invited to contribute towards a compilation for his 90th birthday in December 2018. In my note, I shared some of my memories and thanked him for his vision, courage and consistency over the years, and his principled moral stand that have given strength and courage to so many of us over the years.
Despite his legendary status, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/08/opinion/noam-chomsky-chatgpt-ai.html">Chomsky</a> was always humble and accessible. He always replied personally to emails as long as he could, even if it was a one-line response to a question asking him to confirm whether a Twitter account in his name was genuine (‘The twitter account from what I’ve heard is honest and accurate but I have nothing to do with it’).
He was unfailingly generous in lending his name in support of the causes I and others reached out to him for, endorsing resolutions ranging from human rights and democracy to peace between India and Pakistan. In 2018 he joined many public intellectuals in urging Bangladesh to <a href="https://yawmle.clicks.mlsend.com/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjU4NTIxOCxcImxcIjoxMjQ3MTY4MTY1NDQwNDA0OTIsXCJyXCI6MTI0NzE2ODE3MDAwMTcxMzQxfSIsInMiOiI0NGJhNGUxMzRkZjYxOWJmIn0" target="_blank">release the photojournalist Shahidul Alam</a>. He was also among the public intellectuals including Amartya Sen who <a href="https://yawmle.clicks.mlsend.com/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjU4NTIxOCxcImxcIjoxMjQ3MTY4MTY1NDcxODYyMjEsXCJyXCI6MTI0NzE2ODE3MDAwMTcxMzQxfSIsInMiOiJjNzg1NTFiZDVmMmNmM2I3In0" target="_blank">endorsed a letter</a> calling on Pakistan to release the jailed publisher-editor of the Jang Group Shakilur Rahman, in 2020.
My last interaction with him was in September 2021 when I had invited him to address an online seminar hosted by the <a href="https://yawmle.clicks.mlsend.com/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjU4NTIxOCxcImxcIjoxMjQ3MTY4MTY1NTAzMzE5NTAsXCJyXCI6MTI0NzE2ODE3MDAwMTcxMzQxfSIsInMiOiIwZTFjOWIzZDNkYWJjNDM0In0" target="_blank">Southasia Peace Action Network</a> (Sapan) that over 80 of us had launched in March that year to build a narrative for a Southasian Union along the lines of the European Union, or at the very least, regional dialogue and collaboration between all the countries of the Subcontinent.&nbsp;
But by then Chomsky had moved to Arizona. He agreed to join but didn't show up, which was not like him. The meeting ended. We stopped the recording and were chatting among ourselves, when Noam Chomsky appeared. We asked him to speak and began recording again.
As always, Chomsky <a href="https://yawmle.clicks.mlsend.com/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjU4NTIxOCxcImxcIjoxMjQ3MTY4MTY1NTU1NzQ4MzIsXCJyXCI6MTI0NzE2ODE3MDAwMTcxMzQxfSIsInMiOiJmMDU0YjI1MzExYTE1ZjgzIn0" target="_blank">put the issue into perspective</a>, arguing for the need to put people first. This would mean engaging with the governing authorities to mitigate and overcome human rights violations, while working with Afghans on the ground especially in rural areas rather than focusing on Kabul.
He advocated pressuring Afghans to shift the economy from opium cultivation to mineral resources, encouraging trade, development, and their integration into the region — “these moves can’t be made through sanctions”.
Uppermost should be the fate of the Afghan people, he said, but engagement “does not mean overlooking the abuses”.
The best way we can pay tribute to Noam Chomsky is by following his example: Stand firm, keep calm, keep speaking out, put information in context, and keep doing our work.
Beena Sarwar is a journalist from Pakistan currently based in Boston. She is the founder and editor of Sapan News. This tribute is <a href="https://beenasarwar.com/2024/06/21/what-ive-learned-from-noam-chomsky/">excerpted from her column</a>, Personal Political.&nbsp;
<a href="mailto:beena@sapannews.com" target="_blank">beena@sapannews.com</a>

Keep calm, keep speaking out

The 7 October Hamas attack on southern Israel near the Gaza border killed 1,139 people, 764 of them civilians, 251 were taken hostage, with Nepali student Bipin Joshi possibly among them.&nbsp;
Of the 17 work-study Nepalis at Kibbutz Alumim, 10 were mercilessly murdered by Hamas. This newspaper covered the tragic deaths, profiled the students describing their hopes and dreams, and spoke to their grief-stricken families in western Nepal.&nbsp;
Although the conflicts in West Asia may seem distant, the deaths proved that they directly impact Nepalis. There are thousands of Nepali caregivers and students in Israel, and at least 2.5 million others employed in the Gulf region who will be affected in case the conflict spreads. A larger conflagration would affect food and fuel prices, and further harm Nepal’s struggling remittance-driven economy.
The Israel-Palestine conflict is rooted in history that goes back to the British mandate by the League of Nations and the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 following the Holocaust. Although the Jewish people were granted a national home, they were also supposed to protect the rights of the Arab majority in the land.
The conflicts in Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq today are essentially proxy wars between Saudi-UAE vs Iran. And because an enemy of an enemy is considered a friend, Israel patched up with Saudi-Emirates which explains the muted response from Gulf governments (and the West) about what is happening in Gaza.&nbsp;
Since 7 October, the world has watched the unending horror of Israel’s asymmetric and disproportionate retaliation against Palestinian civilians. Nearly 38,000 people have been killed in Gaza alone, more than 15,000 of them babies and children.&nbsp;
The Israeli state cannot use Hamas terrorism as an excuse for its own war crimes. The air time and column inches the Western media devoted last week to the freeing of four Israeli hostages was much more than the collateral killing of 274 Palestinians during the rescue.&nbsp;
More journalists (mostly Palestinians) have been killed in 8 months than in all the six years of World War II. Nearly all schools and hospitals have been destroyed. Journalists in Gaza are risking their lives to bring the humanitarian catastrophe to the world's attention. Without them, we would not know the truth.&nbsp;
But even as a military strategy this is not smart. Israel does not have an exit plan.This is not war, it flouts all international conventions on the rules of warfare. A genocide perpetrated 80 years ago cannot justify another one today.&nbsp;
The Israeli government must know what it is doing is wrong because it is thin-skinned about any reference to ‘genocide’ and label everyone from student protesters at US universities to world leaders who speak out ‘anti-Semites’.&nbsp;
When António Guterres only obliquely said the Hamas attack “did not happen in a vacuum”, it was intolerable for the Israelis. The government lashed back at the United Nations Secretary-General. Israel has also hit back at South Africa for filing a genocide case at International Court of Justice in The Hague for its conduct of the war.&nbsp;
After nearly eight months of relentless bombardment, many Gazans are so fed up that there is reported to be growing resentment against Hamas for using them as human shields. It is clear Hamas does not care much about civilian lives either.&nbsp;
But there is also deep distress among ordinary Israelis about how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sullied their country’s international image.&nbsp;
Netanyahu himself is not fighting Hamas, he is fighting for his political longevity by appeasing extremist coalition partners.
On Monday he dissolved the war cabinet after former general and opposition leader Benny Gantz resigned, Netanyahu is replacing it with a smaller war council made up of hard-right members who now want to go after Hezbollah in Lebanon.
During his acceptance speech at this year’s Oscars in March, Jonathan Glazer, the Jewish director of the movie Zone of Interest set in Auschwitz during the Holocaust, said: “Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people. Whether the victims of October 7 in Israel or the on-going attack on Gaza — all the victims of this dehumanisation, how do we resist?”
Nepal recognised the Palestinian state in 1988, and was only the second Asian country to establish bilateral relations with Israel in 1960 at a time when the Jewish state was regarded as a pariah by most of the world. B P Koirala’s friendship with David Ben Gurion was an important factor behind the move.&nbsp;
We wonder what B P would say today of the annihilation of Gaza.
Sonia Awale

Crime against humanity in Gaza

ISTANBUL — It is hard to imagine that only 200km away from here on Turkey’s Black Sea coast there is a full-scale war going on which has killed 200,000 people in the past two years. And to the south, the complete destruction of Gaza with unconscionable violence against Palestinian civilians has escalated into a direct Iran-Israel conflict. In both wars, the protagonists have atomic weapons or are close to developing them. Russia has threatened to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, while Israel and Iran have both targeted locations of each other’s nuclear facilities in this week’s drone and missile attacks. Although there are indications Iran and Israel are exercising restraint, a slight miscalculation could result in a regional conflagration dragging in the Saudis and Emirates. If that happens, the US could also get involved.&nbsp; A bipartisan vote in the US legislature sanctioning $65 billion worth of weapon systems for Ukraine will prolong the war. Hawks on Russian tv talk shows now openly threaten to nuke not just Ukraine but also London and Paris.&nbsp; <a href="https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/" target="_blank">The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists</a> has moved its <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2024/01/press-release-doomsday-clock-remains-at-90-seconds-to-midnight/" target="_blank">‘Doomsday Clock’</a> to 90 seconds before midnight because of what it called ‘ominous trends that continue to point the world toward global catastrophe’. This is the closest the clock has ever been to nuclear Armageddon. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/at-home-and-abroad">At home and abroad</a>, Editorial Besides Russia-Ukraine and Iran-Israel tensions, nuclear nation-states have also proliferated. Aside from the US, Russia, Britain and France, Israel has 90 warheads, India and Pakistan have about 170 each, China has more than 400 and North Korea has 30 with ballistic missiles to deliver them across the Pacific. Although total warhead stockpiles have declined after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, there is now a new three-pronged US-Russia-China Cold War, and the number of nuclear weapons states has increased. The threat of nuclear conflict is real enough for <a href="https://www.nytco.com/press/new-york-times-opinion-announces-a-new-series-on-nuclear-threats/" target="_blank">The New York Times to launch a series (titled: At the Brink) </a>to look into the new nuclear arms race and ‘what might be done to make the world safer’.&nbsp; It is a macabre choice about which is a bigger threat to the Earth in the coming years: a planet cooked by global warming, or destroyed by all-out war leading to a nuclear winter. Robert Frost’s poem Fire and Ice comes to mind: Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favour fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/year-of-reckoning">Year of reckoning</a>, Editorial The way we are headed, the world could ‘perish twice’. The two crises are linked, both have their origins in greed, ambition and ultra-nationalism. It is the result of tribalism and the decline of the multilateral approaches needed to address justice, fairness and co-existence.&nbsp; The Doomsday Clock was moved to 7 minutes to midnight during the Cuban Missile Crisis. All-out nuclear war was so unthinkable then that most people blocked it from their minds. It is the same now with war and warming. Here in Nepal, global affairs seem remote to people struggling just to get by from day to day. When news of the war in Ukraine and West Asia does reach the public on mobile devices, it could as well be happening on another planet.&nbsp; Yet, we in Nepal will be affected. The Ukraine war led to a spike in fuel and food prices worldwide, and Nepal’s economy is still reeling from it. Hundreds of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-play-russian-roulette-in-distant-war" target="_blank">Nepalis are fighting in the Russian Army</a>, and at least 33 have been killed in action with dozens out of contact. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-nepali-s-lucky-escape-from-hamas" target="_blank">Ten Nepali students were killed</a> by Hamas in Israel, and one is still missing. A broader war in West Asia, aside from the impact on the world economy, would directly affect the estimated 2 million Nepalis working in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Israel and Lebanon. The country is just not prepared for their sudden mass return. &nbsp; A nuclear war between Israel and Iran is not as unthinkable as it sounds. Hardliners in Israel are calling for nuclear hits on Iran’s atomic research facilities before Tehran develops its own bombs. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-destroyer-of-worlds" target="_blank">Prevailing winds would blow radioactive fallout</a> from even a tactical nuclear strike to Pakistan, India and over Nepal. We now live in a global village. War anywhere will affect Nepalis everywhere. Editorial: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/new-year-same-difference">New year, same difference</a>, Editorial Kunda Dixit This article is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240429130440_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20240429130440_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="103" loading="lazy" alt="Japan stories logo"> </figure>

War and warming

The relentless <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/business/solidarity-with-gaza" target="_blank">siege on Gaza</a> is a dark reflection on humanity. Well over <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/100th-day-gaza-genocide-100000-palestinians-killed-missing-or-wounded-enar" target="_blank">100,000</a> Palestinians have been declared killed, injured, or missing over the past six months, and the overwhelming majority are innocent civilians who bear no responsibility for Hamas’ <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-confirmed-killed-in-hamas-attack" target="_blank">7 October attack.</a>&nbsp;
The United Nations Security Council has finally <a href="https://press.un.org/en/2024/sc15641.doc.htm" target="_blank">passed</a> a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas. Now, all UN member states, particularly Israel’s political and military allies, must do everything in their power to ensure that the resolution is implemented in full as soon as possible.
For Gazans who survive Israel’s military assaults, a lethal combination of displacement, hunger, and disease awaits. Israel’s blockade of humanitarian supplies, food, and clean water has made life in the enclave a nightmare.&nbsp;
Aid agencies <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/women-gaza-birth-pregnancies-1.7143489#:~:text=Aid%20agencies%20and%20doctors%20say,and%20food%20for%20the%20infants." target="_blank">report</a> mothers giving birth without anaesthetics, babies dying from dehydration and malnutrition, and sickness ravaging entire communities. With no one in Gaza safe from massacre, we have reached the threshold of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/22/unicef-official-utter-annihilation-gaza" target="_blank">population-scale annihilation</a>.
The trauma is now reverberating across the whole region. Gazans are haunted by post-traumatic stress disorder and grief, and more than one million children are in dire need of <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2024/02/child-rights-committee-statement-children-gaza" target="_blank">psycho-social support</a>. The latest devastation adds to the suffering inflicted by Israel’s 18-year-old <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/18/israel-unlawful-gaza-blockade-deadly-children" target="_blank">blockade of Gaza</a>.&nbsp;
And in the West Bank, Palestinians face multiple threats, from unconstrained settler violence and forced displacement to the constant threat of arbitrary detention.&nbsp;
At the same time, more than 100 Israelis and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-nepali-s-lucky-escape-from-hamas" target="_blank">many foreigners</a> are still held <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/hamas-hostages-israel-gaza-41432124" target="_blank">hostage</a> by Hamas, in contravention of international humanitarian law, prolonging the pain felt by their families and those of the civilians killed on 7 October.
Worse may come if Israel <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/guest-editorial/the-international-order-is-dying-in-gaza" target="_blank">defies warnings</a> from its closest allies and moves ahead with its plans for an <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68591487" target="_blank">assault on Rafah</a>, which is currently host to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/gaza-rafah-israel-hamas-war-photo-gallery-2a93ded7d44b9720d941f7e53c5bf45e" target="_blank">1.5 million people</a>, including over 600,000 children.&nbsp;
Many of those seeking refuge in this border city have already endured the trauma of multiple displacements over the past half-year. A full-scale Israeli military incursion must not be allowed to happen.
I write these words as someone who looked into the eyes of young Palestinians while preparing the 1996 UN report <a href="https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/about/the-mandate/mandate/the-machel-reports/" target="_blank">The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children</a>. Speaking to children in refugee camps, we promised that their suffering would end.&nbsp;
Not only have we failed to make good on that promise, we have left an even more hostile world for children who happen to be born Palestinian. I carry this haunting failure with me.
I also write these words as a member of The Elders, the group of independent global leaders that I co-founded with my late husband, Nelson Mandela, and which was chaired in its early years by Archbishop <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/columnist/desmond-tutu" target="_blank">Desmond Tutu</a> and former UN Secretary-General <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/columnist/kofi-a-annan" target="_blank">Kofi Annan</a>.&nbsp;
Madiba (Mandela) gave us a mandate to work for peace, justice, and human rights worldwide, and he always considered <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/12/5/unpack-the-past-mandela-the-keffiyeh-and-south-africas-palestine-embrace" target="_blank">Palestinian liberation</a> to be key to achieving a just and free world for all.&nbsp;
How can any of us speak credibly of universal human rights and the international rule of law when we permit brutality and occupation to continue for decades?
Amid such despair and lack of moral courage by those with the power to stop the current carnage in Gaza, I am proud of the exceptional leadership that South Africa has shown in bringing a <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/node/203454" target="_blank">complaint against Israel</a> for violating the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice.&nbsp;
The ICJ’s preliminary ruling, on January 26, and the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jillgoldenziel/2024/04/01/why-the-international-court-of-justice-gave-israel-a-new-order/#:~:text=On%20March%2028%2C%20the%20International,what%20South%20Africa%20had%20requested." target="_blank">additional measures</a> ordered on March 28, explicitly condemn the atrocities taking place in Gaza and are unambiguous about the steps Israel must take to protect innocent Palestinians, including unhindered provision of humanitarian assistance at scale.
Israel and the countries providing it with military and financial assistance must heed the court’s findings and adhere to their obligations under international law. But we are not helpless in the face of this monumental suffering.&nbsp;
As members of one human family, we have an ethical duty to speak out against these injustices in our own circles of influence. We can wield power through our own individual and community activism. With our votes and protests, we can – and must – demand accountability from our political leaders.
Here is what we must demand. First, additional humanitarian land routes urgently need to be opened to meet the overwhelming need for life-saving aid. The safety of aid deliveries must be guaranteed at all times.&nbsp;
Air drops and the recently proposed <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240327-the-new-maritime-aid-corridor-poses-a-major-threat-to-gaza-and-egypt/" target="_blank">maritime corridor</a> are insufficient, and must not be allowed to absolve Israel of its own responsibility to civilians in Gaza.
Second, world leaders must use military and financial leverage to compel Israel to cease its violations of international law and comply with the ICJ’s orders. All countries providing military assistance to Israel should immediately put these shipments under review and set new conditions for future provision. Those that continue supplying arms are enabling the carnage and may be complicit in war crimes.
Third, decision-makers must provide full financial and political support to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. Many donors have rushed to <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240205-as-donors-suspend-critical-funding-to-unrwa-allegations-against-staff-remain-murky" target="_blank">suspend funding</a> for the organization, pending the outcome of investigations into Israel’s allegations that some UNRWA staff participated in the October 7 attack.&nbsp;
This premature, disproportionate response is now irresponsibly endangering the rights and well-being of millions of Palestinian refugees. The Israeli government has made no secret of its desire to dismantle UNRWA once and for all. Will we allow it to become yet another casualty of the war?
The situation cries out for concerted action by a broad coalition of countries committed to a just and permanent peace that enables Israelis and Palestinians to co-exist under conditions of mutual respect, self-determination, dignity, and security. Palestinian and Israeli lives and security are of equal worth. If this fundamental truth does not prevail on political leaders and ordinary citizens, we will continue to forsake generations of innocent children.
Graça Machel is a Mozambican politician, Deputy Chair of The Elders and founder of the <a href="http://gracamacheltrust.org/new/" target="_blank">Graça Machel Trust</a>. She is the widow of former President of Mozambique Samora Machel and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela. &nbsp;

The world’s moral failure in Gaza

After Covid-19 struck in 2020, creating chaos and misery, I hoped that some silver lining would emerge from this global tragedy. For a time, it seemed possible. The pandemic was a powerful reminder of our common vulnerabilities, our shared humanity, and the importance of solidarity that transcends our differences and borders.&nbsp;
Now, however, I wonder if I was wrong even to hope. Once the pandemic subsided, we rushed back to the precipice with renewed vigour. None of the lessons of solidarity stuck, as if we were coated in Teflon. Many, if not all, of the pillars of the post-World War II global order seem to be crumbling. Violent conflict has become the default method to settle disagreements between countries (Russia and Ukraine) and within countries (Yemen, Sudan), while the multilateral security system, headed by the United Nations Security Council, is sliding into irrelevance.&nbsp;
Moreover, the inequality gap between the Global North and the Global South has widened, and more of the latter countries are suffering from debilitating debt burdens. This, in turn, has exacerbated poverty, fuelled migration, and sown distrust. With populism and authoritarianism on the rise, attacks on human rights and democratic values have intensified and, in some cases, the veneer of elections has given these attacks spurious legitimacy. And the intensifying rivalry between the United States and China is fast becoming an end in itself.&nbsp;
But the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas has dealt a particularly crushing blow to the system. The gross violations of international humanitarian law to protect civilians beggar belief. In fact, the atrocities committed against civilians, first in Israel and now in Gaza, are evil in its purest form. These despicable acts should be at the top of the priority list for the International Criminal Court prosecutor and addressed in International Court of Justice proceedings. We must halt this descent into the abyss.&nbsp;
The cavalier disregard for the principles and norms of international law, such as limitations on the right to self-defense, and the willful blocking of the Security Council from fulfilling its “primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security,” have been unconscionable. Senior UN humanitarian officials on the ground in Gaza have used phrases like “hell on earth” and “humanity giving up” to express their desperation. Few seem to be listening.&nbsp;
There is now a looming rupture between the West and the Arab and Muslim world, even as Western and Arab populations are directing anger toward their leaders. Dehumanising, rage-filled rhetoric emanates from all sides and reverberates on city streets, university campuses, and in small towns the world over. All efforts to build bridges of respect and understanding over the last few decades seem to have collapsed.&nbsp;
Moreover, the Arab and Muslim world has lost faith in perceived Western norms: international law and institutions, human rights, and democratic values. In their view, the West itself is showing that brute force trumps all else. Of course, the increasing belief that democracy and human rights – the liberal values that once inspired the Arab Spring – are simply tools for Western domination is music to the ears of autocrats and despots.&nbsp;
The war underscores two lessons. First, conflicts don’t resolve themselves, and allowing them to fester is shortsighted and dangerous. UN Secretary-General António Guterres was viciously attacked by Israel after saying that Hamas’s October 7 attack “did not happen in a vacuum.” But he was acknowledging a truth – the pent-up humiliation and sense of injustice among the Palestinians – that most people who follow the Palestinian-Israeli conflict have long recognized.&nbsp;
The conflict has elicited calls for the revival of the ill-fated “peace process” that has been limping along for decades. But the same leaders now promoting a two-state solution silently looked on as Israel devoured (through annexation and settlement expansion) most of the land that was meant for a Palestinian state. The aftermath of today’s violence may very well offer the last opportunity to reach a just and lasting peace before the entire region goes up in flames.&nbsp;
The other important lesson is that building a more robust and equitable global security system and financial architecture requires structural reforms. For starters, the veto power of the UN Security Council’s five permanent members should be drastically curtailed, if not eliminated. The US and Russia must also resume nuclear arms talks and take meaningful steps toward disarmament. It is scandalous that there is no longer a single nuclear-arms-control agreement in operation between the world’s two largest nuclear powers.&nbsp;
The Bretton Woods institutions – the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank – must give the developing world a fair say in global decision-making and equitable access to financial resources for development. Although policymakers have been calling for such an overhaul since the collapse of the Soviet Union more than 30 years ago, no progress has been made.&nbsp;
We must not permit an opportunity born of war to slip through our fingers. In the absence of radical reform of the international order, the Gaza war will herald a world spiraling out of control.&nbsp;
© Project Syndicate
Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General Emeritus of the International Atomic Energy Agency, received the Nobel Peace Prize

The International Order Is Dying in Gaza

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is arriving in Kathmandu on Sunday on a visit that was originally scheduled for mid-October, but was put off due to the Israel-Hamas crisis. Even during his visit he will be busy trying to find a path to peace in the Gaza war. &nbsp; The Israeli government has criticised the Secretary-General for remarks in the Security Council this week in which Guterres said the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October “<a href="https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2023-10-24/secretary-generals-remarks-the-security-council-the-middle-east%C2%A0">did not happen in a vacuum</a>”.&nbsp; Israel took offence even though Guterres had added that the “grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas”. Israel’s censure of the UN Secretary-General’s carefully balanced speech to the Council is itself an indication of the extreme geopolitical polarisation over <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/as-in-nepal-thais-mourn-nationals-killed-in-israel">the Gaza war</a>. On his way to Kathmandu, Guterres will be stopping in Doha where he is expected to engage with Hamas’ Iranian mentors.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231028031036_52c1f0f8be09553e6f6a26831289b6600f4b5fd0181746432cf534b4d50cb3df.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20231028031036_52c1f0f8be09553e6f6a26831289b6600f4b5fd0181746432cf534b4d50cb3df" data-rendition-name="original" width="2478" height="1416" loading="lazy" alt="UN resolution"> <figcaption>An Emergency Special Session of the UN General Assembly on 27 October adopted a resolution calling for 'immediate and sustained humanitarian truce' in the Middle East. Even though it did not explicitly call for a ceasefire, 120 countries (including Nepal voted for the resolution) while most western countries either voted against or abstained. Interestingly, Bhutan voted for the resolution, while India abstained.</figcaption> </figure>  Though not directly involved, Nepal has been affected by the Israel conflict. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-confirmed-killed-in-hamas-attack">Ten Nepali agriculture students were killed</a> by Hamas, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/waiting-for-bipin-joshi">one is still missing</a>.&nbsp; The brutality of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/war-in-israel-earthquake-and-grief-in-nepal">the Hamas raid</a> in which most of the 1,400 victims were civilians, including women and children, has been widely condemned. The Israeli response, however, has been disproportionate, asymmetrical, and indiscriminate. More than 7,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, and many innocent women and children have been killed and injured. Even in purely strategic terms, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response will be militarily counterproductive for Israel. And what is puzzling is the West’s carte blanche to the IDF to continue its carpet bombing of Gaza. The western media’s partisan coverage of the conflict in the name of ‘balance’ is even more troubling. President Joe Biden possibly is driven by his re-election bid in 2024, and bipartisan domestic support for Israel. Western governments do not even want to use the word ‘ceasefire’, preferring to call for ‘a humanitarian pause’ to Israel’s bombing. There is a danger that António Guterres will be preoccupied with the deepening crisis in West Asia so that his two main agenda points in Kathmandu (<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/no-closure-after-nepal-s-insurgency">transitional justice</a> and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/for-destruction-ice-is-also-great-and-will-suffice">climate change</a>) will be eclipsed. &nbsp; Guterres is scheduled to address a joint session of Nepal’s Federal Parliament on 31 October, and meet former Maoist commander Pushpa Kamal Dahal who is now prime minister.&nbsp; Dahal’s main purpose in inviting Guterres to Nepal is to get a UN stamp of approval to the transitional justice process. Survivors and families of the victims of war crimes have opposed efforts by the current coalition government to ram through <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-tj-bill-protects-perpetrators-shortchanges-survivors">a bill that would grant amnesty to perpetrators</a>. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission on the Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons were led by political appointees and remain dissolved.&nbsp; Since the former enemies are now in government together, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/transitional-injustice-in-nepal">they do not want to rake up the past</a>. The Maoists have tried to make a distinction between ‘political murder’ and ‘criminal murder’, while state security says it was just responding to an anti-government insurgency.&nbsp; Guterres will have to impress upon his Nepali interlocutors that absence of war is not peace, and that there can be no peace without justice. Dahal, Deuba &amp; Co, on the other hand, will try to convince the Secretary General that Nepalis are ready to l<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/restorative-justice-for-peace-building">et bygones be bygones</a> and focus on economic progress, job creation and development.&nbsp; Western support for justice and human rights in Nepal <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/nepal-s-transitional-justice-and-the-west-s-recalibration">is not as robust as it used to be post-2006</a>. A weaker West, and ascendant India and China in Nepal’s neighbourhood may have emboldened Nepal’s leaders to determine that the geopolitical climate is conducive to conclude the peace process 17 years after the conflict ended.&nbsp; The current <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/forgetting-to-remember">Truth and Reconciliation Commission draft bill </a>allows pardons for murder, disappearances, sexual offences and torture. It legitimises the recruitment of child soldiers. And it is fuzzy on who should try such crimes.&nbsp; Allowing known perpetrators of war crimes on both sides to get away would reinforce the climate of impunity that has become even more evident after the recent presidential pardon for a convicted murderer and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepal-gets-gold-medal-for-corruption">political interference into police investigations into high profile corruption scandals</a>. A predecessor of António Guterres, Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden, visited Nepal in 1961, and that helped give <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/putsch-ek">King Mahendra’s coup</a> some legitimacy. Guterres is in Nepal at a time when crimes against humanity are being committed in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/remittonomics-and-conflict">Gaza war and other conflict zones around the world</a>.&nbsp; The Secretary-General’s message in Kathmandu has to be: forgetting war crimes risks a repeat of war.

António Guterres' agenda in Kathmandu

This is the 45th instalment of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/diaspora-diaries-1/">Diaspora Diaries</a>, a regular series in Nepali Times with stories of Nepalis living and working abroad. Pramod KC, Salyan&nbsp; In Israel, we were advised during orientation to run to bunkers when the siren went off. It is a normal part of daily life there.&nbsp; But for us 17 <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-confirmed-killed-in-hamas-attack">Nepalis at Kibbutz Alumim</a>, it was the first time since we landed in Israel a month previously that we heard the siren go off that Saturday morning, and had to run to the bunker near our apartment.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231022071024_d4ca226cf4525a29a724b1df66653246c012b5c386a4361c24288b0e023fc6ad.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20231022071024_d4ca226cf4525a29a724b1df66653246c012b5c386a4361c24288b0e023fc6ad" data-rendition-name="original" width="1224" height="1632" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in Iarael Hamas attack"> <figcaption>Pramod KC</figcaption> </figure>  It soon turned into a nightmare. We were hiding in the bunker, all 17 of us crammed together. Outside, there were gunshots, sirens and explosions, &nbsp;we also heard increasingly loud and angry voices in Arabic. We did not understand what was being said, but it was evident that something was terribly wrong.&nbsp; Hamas had captured the area and armed men were coming near our bunker.&nbsp; Birendra Chaudhary, Kailali&nbsp; The sounds of firing got closer. One of our friends who was closer to the door got shot in the leg. Another friend tried to explain to the gunmen that we are Nepalis, hoping they would show some mercy, but got shot as well. Both died on the spot.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231022071028_ffb2d5cb464470b461466f5f5617196319a7d01476bc322c757ba6f20b1847f5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20231022071028_ffb2d5cb464470b461466f5f5617196319a7d01476bc322c757ba6f20b1847f5" data-rendition-name="original" width="960" height="958" loading="lazy" alt="Neplais in Iarael Hamas Attack"> <figcaption>Birendra Chaudhary</figcaption> </figure>  The gunmen then threw two grenades inside our bunker. Bipin Joshi quickly hurled one of them out. But the second one exploded inside, injuring five of our friends, mostly below their waists. I can't describe the scene, their legs were crushed, and they were in a lot of pain.&nbsp; Avash Bhattarai, Kailali&nbsp; Bipin and Himanchal worked on a farm in a kibbutz 12 km away from mine. The three of us have been inseparable since our undergrad years, and had gone to Israel together.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023102207108_7d0bcffe976766d01e8bffda420c707a5050bf00868a1557ce03edfbdbeb52d8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2023102207108_7d0bcffe976766d01e8bffda420c707a5050bf00868a1557ce03edfbdbeb52d8" data-rendition-name="original" width="780" height="780" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in Israel Hamas attack"> <figcaption>Bipin, Avash and Himanchal had been inseparable since their undergrad years, and had gone to Israel together.</figcaption> </figure>  At my farm, Saturday was a workday. We were packing onions and tomatos from 7AM. Our friends had sent us group pictures from the bunker where they were hiding so we knew something was up, but we did not take it seriously.&nbsp; The pictures were of happy selfies and them playing ludo on their phones in the bunker.&nbsp; But after 8AM, the electricity went off. Things were already getting tense with sounds of sirens and missiles, so our employer told us to stop working and that we would resume when things normalised. &nbsp; By now, the news was bad from where Himanchal and Bipin were. I called Himanchal, he did not pick up but sent me a message saying two of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/war-in-israel-earthquake-and-grief-in-nepal">our friends had died after getting shot</a>. We were shocked. &nbsp; After that he went out of contact. We were terrified. Instead of the bunker, we hid in our apartment because we had already learnt that Hamas gunmen were coming inside bunkers. Bunkers no longer felt safe.&nbsp; Pramod KC, Salyan&nbsp; Of the 17 of us Nepalis in the bunker, five were injured and two were dead. How do I describe that scene, of watching your friends suffer, die in front of your eyes?&nbsp; Three Israeli medical policemen finally arrived at our bunker, which gave us a little bit of hope. They attended to our injured friends. They took the remaining ten of us to another bunker nearby with a kitchen. Bipin Joshi was with us.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231022071036_34f97f3eed7167a9b8e1d1e22331c5d054dc49c605abbd6f5c4e0b6a5766aad8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20231022071036_34f97f3eed7167a9b8e1d1e22331c5d054dc49c605abbd6f5c4e0b6a5766aad8" data-rendition-name="original" width="703" height="540" loading="lazy" alt="Iareal Hamas attack"> <figcaption>Bunkers after the Hamas attack. Source: https://fb.watch/nQj7lvGUpq/</figcaption> </figure>  We hid wherever we could in that crammed space, and the location we managed to squeeze ourselves in would later decide our fate.&nbsp; Also hiding in the second bunker were <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/as-in-nepal-thais-mourn-nationals-killed-in-israel">workers from Thailand</a>. We got calls from friends who had been injured in the grenade attack, the Israeli police apparently left them there and did not take them immediately to hospital. We called the embassy and other Nepalis but there was no help. Only two of those injured survived. We could do nothing.&nbsp; Himanchal Kattel, Tel Aviv About 90 minutes after we sought shelter in the kitchen bunker, Hamas fighters broke down the door and started shooting at us. I was shot thrice – in my left chest, right chest, and in my finger.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231022071012_12c290d603cdadef2ffaa2b4144b4487c7653ceed75b77a965bc9d2f5563b446.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20231022071012_12c290d603cdadef2ffaa2b4144b4487c7653ceed75b77a965bc9d2f5563b446" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="1084" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in Isreal Hamas attack"> <figcaption>Avash with Himanchal who was shot thrice, and is now recovering in a hospital.</figcaption> </figure>  Bipin Joshi was not shot. They took him and three Thai men outside. I do not know what happened there. I was rescued after six hours from the bunker by Israeli soldiers and taken to hospital where I am now recovering.&nbsp; Birendra Chaudhary, Kailali&nbsp; The gunmen did not pick targets, they just shot mercilessly at whatever they saw and left. At various points I had thought I would die, and had tightly shut my eyes waiting for the end. But somehow, I survived.&nbsp; One of the grenades had hurt my leg and it was bleeding. I tried to stay still for hours in the corner, and could not switch positions no matter how much it hurt. It was hard to breathe too because of the tear gas. &nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/bringing-nepal-to-israel">Bringing Nepal to Israel</a>, Prabha Ghimire Everything else is a blur. The wounded were asking for water, but I was hiding in the corner trembling with fear and could not help. I waited for hours. &nbsp; Later, the Thais heard Hebrew being spoken and said Israeli soldiers had arrived. So they went out, and we followed them.&nbsp; Pramod KC, Salyan&nbsp; After we were rescued by the Army, I was asked to identify bodies in the bunker. We did not see Bipin anywhere, and we presumed he was taken with the Thais as hostage. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231022071032_030bca84d0663d2ebe78d4a8ab22603e3c3b5055bbc96b69d8880fd11cbc13f0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20231022071032_030bca84d0663d2ebe78d4a8ab22603e3c3b5055bbc96b69d8880fd11cbc13f0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1125" height="2000" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in Iarel Himas attack"> </figure>  To get news, any news, about his whereabouts would help. His family is deeply worried. We hope the government and media can lobby for him.&nbsp; I am lucky to have come out of this unhurt. When I first saw the Nepali flag plane that came to Tel Aviv to take us back, I felt I had already reached home. It was a bittersweet feeling to be safe, but I lost all those friends. I went to visit my friend Prabesh Bhandari’s mother, who is also from Salyan. He was her only son. She is in shock and tells me that she has lost everything and just wants her son’s body (“सास त आएन लास त ल्याइदिनु नि, बाबु”).  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231022071040_5df7f440928f09bf0f9bc493d06b6fb91ff412999d6afba53e99e7d9ee328f29.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20231022071040_5df7f440928f09bf0f9bc493d06b6fb91ff412999d6afba53e99e7d9ee328f29" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis killed in Israel Hamas attack"> <figcaption>The bodies of three of 10 Nepalis killed in Israel, Narayan Prasad Neupane, Lokendra Singh Dhami and Dipesh Raj Bista arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday. Four identified bodies were sent, the body of Ashish Chaudhary will arrive in the afternoon. Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>  I cannot sleep properly. I wake up, replaying the trauma in the bunker in my mind, I hear the sound of sirens and voices of friends asking for water. These memories haunt me. The slightest sound frightens me. After a week at home and spending time with family and friends, it has got slightly better.&nbsp; I feel this is my second birth. I stared at death in the face twice in those bunkers.&nbsp; Avash Bhattarai, Kailali The first time I communicated with Himanchal after October 7, it was in the hospital where he is now recovering. We spent about an hour chatting before I headed to Nepal, and I call him every day.&nbsp; I am of course happy to be with my family who really were under a lot of stress, but I still have mixed feelings about leaving my friends behind, and losing many.&nbsp; Bipin is still nowhere to be found. I hope he is ok. The news of two American hostages being freed has given us a tiny flicker of hope. One can only hope and pray that he is safe, and will be returned soon.&nbsp; But my mind also goes in different directions: between hope and fearing the worst. His parents and sister are in shock and waiting for him.&nbsp; Bipin had said we should join forces for an agriculture startup after we returned from Israel. We had literally gone to Israel to ‘<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/diaspora-diaries/i-went-to-earn-and-learn">learn and earn</a>’. Look what happened.&nbsp; Birendra Chaudhary, Salyan&nbsp; It is still difficult to imagine how I survived when so many others died. I had my second session today with an Israeli counsellor. She has helped me relax a bit. The night before this massacre, it was a Friday and we had cooked chicken together for dinner. Little did we know what lay in store for us the next day.&nbsp; For Dasain, we had planned a full goat cookout, our first Dasain away from Nepal.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231022071028_77bda722eabbffed7c1a209651901723c29a966dd6f204c54dc8df3869e9a7e2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_13" data-image-id="20231022071028_77bda722eabbffed7c1a209651901723c29a966dd6f204c54dc8df3869e9a7e2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in Israel Hamas attack"> <figcaption>Birendra, Pramod and other Nepali students in Isreal before the attack.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231022071020_8f87b5fd87fc7b1ac2aa99ed658f6c8b9f194934be5917f8fd2465c13a3ab89a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20231022071020_8f87b5fd87fc7b1ac2aa99ed658f6c8b9f194934be5917f8fd2465c13a3ab89a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1249" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Nepali students at the bunker before the Hamas attack on 7 October. "> <figcaption>Nepali students in a bunker before the Hamas attack on 7 October.</figcaption> </figure>  Translated from a conversation. Diaspora Diaries is a regular column in Nepali Times providing a platform for Nepalis to share their experiences of living, working, studying abroad.&nbsp; Authentic and original entries can be sent to editors@nepalitimes.com with ‘Diaspora Diaries’ in the subject line.&nbsp; Compiled with help from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-nepali-s-lucky-escape-from-hamas" target="_blank">Nischal Pandey</a> now in Kailali and Ramesh Joshi in Tel Aviv.

Waiting for Bipin Joshi

<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/dasain-goes-global,3950">Dasain homecoming for the Nepali diaspora</a> this year was overshadowed by the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/war-in-israel-earthquake-and-grief-in-nepal">killing of 10 Nepalis in a Hamas attack</a> on an Israeli kibbutz on 7 October. One student is still missing. Dasain also coincided with the annual conference of non-resident Nepalis in Kathmandu. Unlike workers, these are Nepalis who have permanent residence abroad, and they seemed more concerned about getting Nepali citizenship papers. <div class="embed-block"><iframe title="Nepalese around the World" aria-label="Map" id="datawrapper-chart-NTCV9" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/NTCV9/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="800" height="518" data-external="1"></iframe></div> But fear of a widening war in West Asia is the main concern today for millions of other Nepali workers. As the Nepali diaspora spreads across the globe, many find themselves in war zones or caught up in violence. This is not the first time Nepalis have been caught up in conflict. Many migrant workers are living in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/trapped-in-ukraine">active conflict areas like Ukraine</a>. Many of the estimated 4,000 Nepali students there escaped to Poland in February 2022 when the Russians invaded. Some of the others <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-in-the-russian-army-want-to-quit">enlisted and there are Nepalis fighting on both sides</a>.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231020061024_17d617631aa90dcb31630cb3d33f96d05357c61aa2f60ede57d72aae8aaa3617.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20231020061024_17d617631aa90dcb31630cb3d33f96d05357c61aa2f60ede57d72aae8aaa3617" data-rendition-name="original" width="1047" height="1591" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis trapped in Ukraine"> <figcaption>Nepalis trapped in Ukraine in 2022.</figcaption> </figure>  Only this week, a Nepali mercenary Bibek Khatri fighting with the Russian Army was captured in the Avdiivka by Ukrainians. In a<a href="https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1714955395037278371" target="_blank"> video posted on X </a>by Anton Gerashchenko, Khatri says he joined the Russian military to make money and make his mother proud. To be sure, Nepal’s Gurkha soldiers have fought in most major wars of the 20th century: Flanders Field <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/gallipoli-and-the-gurkhas,2271">Gallipoli</a>, Italy, Malaya, Burma, Falklands, Sri Lanka, and are <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/recruitment-of-nepalis-into-indian-army-paused">deployed on India’s borders</a> with Pakistan and China.&nbsp; But it is in the volatile North Africa-West Asia region where Nepalis find their situation most precarious. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/a-girl-from-kathmandu">Twelve Nepalis workers were executed in 2004 by Ansar al-Sunna in Iraq</a>. The Saudi-UAE blockade of Qatar from 2017-2021 affected Nepalis, many of whom lost their jobs. In 2014, some 126 Nepalis were evacuated from war-torn Libya to neighbouring Tunisia with the help of the Indian Embassy in Tripoli. IN 2016, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/canada-settlement-with-families-of-nepali-guards">13 Nepali guards were killed in a Taliban attack on the Canadian Embassy in Kabul</a>. Some of the estimated 2,200 Nepalis, mostly female domestic workers, had to be evacuated after the Beirut blast in 2020.&nbsp; This time the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-nepali-s-lucky-escape-from-hamas">rescue of Nepali students from southern Israel</a> was swift because they were well-documented students and were easy to track down. The presence of an Israeli embassy in Kathmandu, and a Nepal embassy in Tel Aviv helped.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231020061032_a99482384cb43a14c38a2a146ba3bca21e0a11f24b35ec8949ebb369d0c61685.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20231020061032_a99482384cb43a14c38a2a146ba3bca21e0a11f24b35ec8949ebb369d0c61685" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis rescued from Israel NT"> <figcaption>Nepalis were rescued from Israel earlier this month following the Hamas attack on a kibbutz where they were working. Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>  “There are two types of Nepali migrants, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/migration-not-a-wish-but-necessity-for-nepalis">those who are compelled to go</a> and those who will leave anyhow. But both need to know about the status of destination countries, and once they get there they must notify the Nepal Embassy of their location in case they need to be evacuated,” says former foreign minister Bimala Rai Poudel. Migration expert Ganesh Gurung says the government should at the very least guarantee the safe return of its workers in the event of a disaster of any kind.&nbsp; Nepal’s Foreign Employment Welfare Fund has collected Rs7 billion over the years from fees paid by people leaving for overseas jobs, and is used in rescue and resettlement of migrants. However, it does not take care of people who do not pay the fee, or do not go through recruitment agencies.&nbsp; Gurung says the facility should apply for all Nepali workers abroad in case they need emergency evacuation. The facility was most useful during the Covid pandemic <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/too-many-stranded-nepalis-not-enough-flights">when hundreds of thousands of stranded workers had to be flown home</a>. Nepal’s economy survives on remittances, and money the diaspora sends home <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/bada-inflation-at-bada-dasain">has reached record levels this year</a>. “One of the major contributing factors to Nepal reducing its poverty rate was the money that workers abroad sent home,” explains Gurung. “But if more people choose to come back because of increasing geopolitical tensions and conflict, it will have a cascading effect on Nepal’s remittonomics.”&nbsp; Nepal is <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/high-risk-remittance">heavily reliant on remittance money</a> because other sectors are stagnant. Migration is a safety valve, but there does not seem to be a strategy to create meaningful jobs at home. Those who came home during the Covid-19 pandemic have <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-workers-returning-to-india">mostly gone back because of the lack of job prospects here</a>. Now, as geopolitical tensions rise, risking the very safety of Nepalis abroad, migration and the economy’s dependence on remittance will be fragile.&nbsp; Bimala Rai Poudel says the West Asia conflict is a warning bell for Nepal to rethink its over-reliance on outmigration. Ganesh Gurung agrees that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-confirmed-killed-in-hamas-attack">the Israel-Hamas war</a> should be a warning that Nepal’s remittance economy is vulnerable to geopolitics. He adds: “What Nepal has been doing so far is crisis management, what we really need to pre-crisis preparedness given the potential dangers of crises like the one in Israel we will be exposed to in the coming days.”

Remittonomics and conflict

The monsoon has got bad press because Nepal’s tourism operators actively told visitors to avoid <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/managing-the-monsoon?%2F">the rainy season</a>. It is time to change that. The reason can be found right here in the vast alpine meadows of Central Nepal where this time of year you can walk on velvet grass of pastures abloom with delicate pink, red and yellow flowers as the mist rolls up the valley. There is no sound except the hum of bumble bees. &nbsp;&nbsp; There are dozens of places across high Nepal called Chaurikharka, which means yak pasture. But this particular Chaurikharka in Rukum East located at an altitude of 4,000m stands out for its serene beauty, rustic charm and bucolic setting. There is just the occasional chime of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">yak bells</a> in the distance, and the sharp whistle of herders corralling sheep. &nbsp;&nbsp; The grass shoots are so fragile that one hesitates to step on them, the rounded ridges appear and quickly vanish in waves of mist. With the<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/before-the-next-monsoon"> arrival of monsoon</a>, these meadows are a soothing shade of green dotted with millions of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-anatomy-of-a-flower?%2F=">multi-coloured flowers</a>. Until very recently, it took a week or so to hike up to places like Chaurikharka, but with the expansion of the road network even to these far-flung mountains in the lap of Dhaulagiri, they are much more accessible. It is just a three-hour uphill from the Mid-Hill Highway on the border between Baglung and Rukum East.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250802130828_a0b06b494d751b2144ffbbf10894ea64b29e8aed844bc8c66171783abfaf4e16.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250802130828_a0b06b494d751b2144ffbbf10894ea64b29e8aed844bc8c66171783abfaf4e16" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="Visit Nepal in the monsoon"> </figure>  Purists would say that such easy access devalues the sanctity of these remote high meadows, but it also means more people will be moved to treasure the experience, appreciate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/natures-fragile-gift-to-nepal">the value of nature </a>so they can take steps to protect it.&nbsp; To be sure, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/deadly-monsoon-in-nepal-turns-deadlier">monsoon season can be challenging for road travel</a>. The roads are rough even at the best of times, and in the monsoon they become muddy and treacherous, often blocked by<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/monsoon-deluge-in-nepal"> landslides</a>. But that could be precisely the kind of adventure that the more intrepid visitors crave. Improved road connectivity has already made Chaurikharka and places like Badimallika &nbsp;and other sacred lakes in the mountains of western Nepal popular with domestic tourists. What is driving this traffic is the urge to go to exotic new places and share videos and selfies on social media. Several of Nepal’s travel vloggers have visited Chaurikharka and popularised the place, enticing followers on TikTok or YouTube to retrace their footsteps. But even as they become more popular, these fragile and once-remote places should be protected from over-tourism.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250731110736_f97110b7cdc3e7f80d5877690948fc9f4c95a09c583deb23b07355491e6c5446.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250731110736_f97110b7cdc3e7f80d5877690948fc9f4c95a09c583deb23b07355491e6c5446" data-rendition-name="original" width="1083" height="699" loading="lazy" alt="Visit Nepal in the monsoon NT"> </figure>  <h2>INCREASING FOOTFALL</h2> Chaurikharka is located in Bhume Rural Municipality of East Rukum, near the scenic valley of Dhorpatan in Baglung district. Even in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/monsoon-culture">middle of the monsoon</a>, there is a steady stream of Nepali hikers trooping to these high pastures – especially during festival days like Saune Sankranti which this year was on 17 July and actually marks the auspicious beginning of the monsoon here. “This year the rains have not been as heavy and there have been some clear mornings when we could see everything from Dhaulagiri to Machapuchre,” says Khageswar Bhandari, who trekked up here from the road. “The flowers, the greenery and the snowy mountain views make this an incredibly unique place.”&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250802130824_1b9e26f2e9853fdfe69154bb42a7c9ea6da4bf4940efc1da99b304dcfbd7d3d9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250802130824_1b9e26f2e9853fdfe69154bb42a7c9ea6da4bf4940efc1da99b304dcfbd7d3d9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1152" loading="lazy" alt="Visit Nepal in the monsoon"> </figure>  Chaurikharka is worthwhile to get to in any season, but it has a different charm during the monsoon. Word has spread and because it is now easy to get to from Baglung or even Pokhara, people have been flocking here.&nbsp; “Holidays and Saturdays see the largest crowds, with up to 500 visitors every day,” says ward chair Mankaji Pun of Bhume.&nbsp; There was a time not too long ago when local herders brought sheep, goats, cows, buffaloes, horses, and mules to graze here during the monsoon. Although there are still livestock around, animals have been replaced by visitors taking selfies. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-monsoon-and-nature-s-arithmetic">The monsoon, and nature’s arithmetic</a>, Tom Robertson Ward Chair Pun says infrastructure development is his main priority. A foot trail to Chaurikharka was built last year by the Tourism Division Office in Kohalpur, but access via the Raniwas-Koipa road section still remains challenging.&nbsp; “If we get more budget, we can improve the road and facilities to make Chaurikharka the main tourist attraction of this region,” says Bhume Municipality Chair Hom Prakash Shrestha. “After that, we hope to promote Chaurikharka as a top tourist spot.”&nbsp; Economic activity is also picking up with the arrival of visitors, but there seems to be a need to manage the makeshift sheds made of corrugated sheets that spoil the beauty of the place. Tea shops and lodges are also available but facilities are basic. Kuldeep Neupane took a three-day trip from Ghorahi in Dang to visit Chaurikharka recently, and says: “This is an ideal trip to make a quick getaway and let nature recharge your mind and body. And it is much more fun with a tent, to watch the sunrise over the Himalaya or the mist blowing in.”

Visit Nepal in the monsoon

Nepal is graduating to become a developing country on 24 November 2026 after half-century in the Least Developed Country (LDC) category. By 2030, the country hopes to transition to middle-income status.&nbsp; Everone from Prime Minister K P Oli have boasted that this is a matter of national pride, and will have a multiplier impact on trade and economy.&nbsp; But will it make any difference to the average Nepali? Not unless improved governance <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/why-invest-in-nepal">spurs investment and creates jobs</a>.&nbsp; Countries need to meet at least two of the three criteria in two consecutive triennial reviews to be eligible for graduation from LDC. Nepal has consistently met the thresholds for the Human Assets Index (HAI) and the Economic and Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI) in 2015, 2018, and 2021. But Nepal was recommended for graduation before meeting the per capita <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-great-income-divide">Gross National Income (GNI)</a> threshold of $1,306. “A major implication of LDC graduation is the loss of preferential market access available through Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) and other arrangements,” explains economist Sameer Khatiwada. “But over two-thirds of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-doesnt-produce-its-2-biggest-export-items">Nepal’s exports</a> are to India, and the preferential market access to India is through a bilateral trade agreement. This has nothing to do with our LDC status.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250815060832_f5eabe7628a8cdf84f33b25d7cef3c4dc8913a26d8e5b253ea52a36e176b8a85.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250815060832_f5eabe7628a8cdf84f33b25d7cef3c4dc8913a26d8e5b253ea52a36e176b8a85" data-rendition-name="original" width="640" height="470" loading="lazy" alt="LDC graduation "> </figure>  Furthermore, a provision under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) allows Nepal to export to India duty-free if the items are at least 30% value-added. Nepali traders take advantage of this by re-exporting edible oils without meeting that requirement, falsely boosting Nepal’s exports.“ Following graduation from LDC, the value addition threshold might increase to 40%,” says Kalpana Khanal of the Policy Research Institute. “This is supposed to work to our advantage, because on paper value addition inherently means <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/staying-home-to-create-jobs">job creation at home</a>.” But Nepal’s exports to other major destinations will face <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-and-the-us-india-tariff-tiff">tariff increases</a> with the graduation. A South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SWATEE) study shows that while tariff increase in the US market is relatively low (see page 5) it is considerably higher in Europe. The International Trade Centre (ITC) in a 2022 study also estimated that graduation could result in a 4.3% decline in Nepal’s projected exports, but this is excluding the impact of changes in ‘rules of origin’ provisions in preference-granting countries such as the UK and Europe.&nbsp; Nepal’s top export to these preference-granting countries is <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=1482">carpets</a>, and will not be impacted, but other items such as textiles and apparel will be heavily affected due to higher cost of production. The impact will felt mostly by small and medium enterprises which represent the largest share of exports to LDC-specific preference-granting countries. As for the service exports, Nepal never really made use of the World Trade Organization’s LDC services waiver anyway, hence the effect will be minimal, if any. There is also concern about Nepal’s graduation at a time when the global economy is topsy-turvy, amidst <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/turning-point-in-us-india-relations">tariff wars and conflicts</a>. This affects Nepalis abroad directly and may impact <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/more-remittance-more-than-remittance">remittances </a>which hit $11 billion in 2024. In comparison, Nepal only received $350 million in foreign loans and grants last year.&nbsp; Tourism arrivals have finally reached pre-pandemic levels, but bad publicity about pollution, poor infrastructure and bureaucratic hurdles hinder further growth. Manufacturing continues to struggle, while hydropower and the IT sector have taken off.&nbsp; “Look at data -- <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/tourism-needs-a-new-push">tourism arrivals</a> are up, spending is up, IT exports are up, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/why-nepal-needs-to-restore-ev-tax-subsidy">EV sales </a>are up, Europe still needs 85-90 million skilled workers. We are sitting on $16 billion in cash reserves, our balance of payment, foreign exchange reserve, tax to GDP ratio, credit flow are all positive, we have to build on these factors,” says Sujeev Shakya of the Nepal Economic Forum. He adds: “Our mindset creates negativity to promote rent-seeking behaviour, but this cynicism will go away after 2026 with LDC graduation. We must deal with data, look at trends, and projects which will bring in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/why-there-is-no-foreign-investment-in-nepal">international investments</a>.” Khanal agrees that investment is not dependent on<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/backside/Nepal-not-the-least-developed-country,306"> LDC status</a>. The factors that that affect investment are policy stability, a strong legal framework, market potential and ease of doing business. She adds, “That is where our focus needs to be, and we need to retain <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/diaspora-diaries/migrant-worker-returns-to-create-work-at-home?fbclid=IwAR09xJfsClCwn8uRVAmz28CU658vdKpuyDwB_b1sNlvKtAFFnSldnA0JS2g">Nepalis with jobs at home</a> for our sustained growth.” After 2026, financing support from donors and aid agencies could be affected and Nepal will no longer be able to access Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) to adapt to the impacts of climate change. But the Global Environment Fund and Green Climate Fund will still be available.“ LDC status does not determine bilateral development aid, that is usually driven by broader <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/looking-beyond-two-boulders">geopolitical considerations</a>,” says Sameer Khatiwada. “The World Bank and Asian Development Bank, which provide concessional loans to Nepal, it is determined mainly by per capita income, not LDC status.” &nbsp;However, Nepal may lose some concessional terms for loans. Nepal is currently a lower-middle-income country as per the World Bank in the bracket for GNI between $1,036 and $4,045. The country is already receiving more loans than grants and in July the World Bank increased its interest rate on loans by 100% from 0.75 to 1.5%. “All this means that the impact of LDC graduation for Nepal might not be as earth-shattering as some tend to think. Countries that have recently graduated, such as Botswana and the Maldives, have shows that graduation is just a step in a country’s development path,” says Khatiwada. Sujeev Shakya also sees the glass as half full, explaining that LDC graduation is just a stepping stone if Nepal has the right policies in place. He adds, “Nepal’s biggest advantage is our<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/investing-in-people"> working age population</a> and we have investments coming in. These aided by how adaptive we are as a society are the very foundations on which Nepal will grow.”

Not poor, but not rich

Two weeks ago, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli announced jubilantly on social media that Nepal had achieved a historic annual growth of 81.8% in exports. He was right. Nepal’s trade did take a great leap forward compared to last year. But the dramatic rise was mainly due to processed soya bean oil.&nbsp; However, Nepal does not produce the edible oil it exports. In fact, the soya and palm oil that make up 44% of total exports are imported from Southeast Asia and South America, and simply re-exported, mostly to India.&nbsp; Under the SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Area) Agreement, Nepal can export products to India duty-free if it has at least 30% value-added. Nepal’s traders have taken advantage of SAFTA even though the edible oils they export do not reach that value addition threshold. “The 30% value addition requirement is often only on paper,” says former commerce secretary Purushottam Ojha. “It is clear that simply packaging edible oils in Nepal does not fulfil the terms of the trade agreement.” Prime Minister Oli is aware of this, and even called Nepal’s export figures “fake” at an earlier event. The government is relying on other iffy figures to suggest that Nepal’s economy is strong and getting stronger. For example, the value of imports rose by 13.25% in 2024-25 compared to the previous fiscal year.&nbsp; Some of it was due to a jump in electric vehicle imports worth Rs 31.76 billion, but mostly it was because more wholesale soya oil was imported to be re-packaged and sold in India. The very fact that the government boasts about increased imports is an indication of how much it relies on taxing them for revenue. Touting such trade figures cannot be the basis to claim an economic rebound.&nbsp; “A jump in the value of imports can be interpreted as an increase in purchasing power, but it is not evidence of a stronger economy,” says economist Keshav Acharya. “Even though imports have increased, Nepal's domestic production and productive capacity have not improved.” Nepal Rastra Bank's semi-annual economic activity study report shows that industrial production was down in the first six months of the last fiscal year. This despite an increase in the number of new industries registered and investment commitments. Out of the Rs70.2 billion proposed foreign investment, Nepal received only Rs17.9 billion last year.&nbsp; Meanwhile, the rate of capital formation was limited to 24% last year, which is lower than the year before, suggesting that new investment, job creation and economic expansion all declined. If domestic production does not improve in relation to this year’s inflated trade figures, the outflow will put pressure on foreign exchange reserves like it did three years ago. At that time, Nepal borrowed from the IMF under its Extended Credit Facility Program to kickstart the economy.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025080710084_2cdaaa5795828c4a7de93a0604ba884ef0a8b8f24cccd939f6c24e279ab6058f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2025080710084_2cdaaa5795828c4a7de93a0604ba884ef0a8b8f24cccd939f6c24e279ab6058f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1633" height="723" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's bubble economy NT"> <figcaption>Source: NEPAL RASTRA BANK</figcaption> </figure>  The macroeconomy is on firm footing with foreign exchange reserves at a comfortable Rs2,520 billion in May, up 23% from last year. This was largely due to remittances, and partly due to a falling NPR exchange rate. Real estate transactions and the stock market index have also been climbing as a result of government policies to revive the sector.&nbsp; However, former executive director of Nepal Rastra Bank Nar Bahadur Thapa cautions: “This is not organic growth, it is the result of deliberate policy decisions to relax rules on real estate and stock markets transactions.” In reality, the sharp rise in land prices have increased the cost of production, and excessive monetisation of the real estate has become the main source of Nepal’s economic woes. The central bank has announced a slew of new policies, shifting the terms of loan repayment for industrialists and entrepreneurs, reducing interest rates, and injecting more working capital — all designed to inject adrenaline into the real estate and stock market sectors.&nbsp; When he was governor, Mahaprasad Adhikari made several financial reforms during the latter half of his tenure to stimulate the economy, including tightening credit flow.&nbsp; By the last fiscal year, additional financial reforms had resulted in a credit expansion rate of around 8%. As the pace of credit expansion slows, real estate prices have started to fall. This is actually beneficial to the economy, because it lays the foundation for improvements in land-related entrepreneurship, production, and the construction sector. Just because real estate and the stock market transactions increase, it does not indicate an economic turnaround — especially when manufacturing and productive sector continues to languish.&nbsp; “It is foolish to believe that real estate and the stock market have magically revived our economy. Agriculture employs more than half of the population, but it is in decline. Investment in the productive sector has not increased, and job creation has not increased.” Two years ago, Nepal’s industrialists, business leaders, and political leadership predicted a recession amidst a sluggish business, declining market demand, large-scale job loss, and a shrinking real estate and share market.&nbsp; Still, the economy grew by 3.36% in fiscal year 2023/24. In fact, Nepal’s economy has grown nominally over the last two decades even when all sectors of the economy are in decline.&nbsp; Says Keshav Acharya: “The growth in trade, real estate, and the stock market are bubbles. The real economy remains stagnant.”

Nepal’s bubble economy

The final investigation report on the crash of a Saurya Airlines jet on 24 July 2024 at Kathmandu airport has revealed flaws in the carrier’s technical operation procedures, poor monitoring by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) and gaps in the airport’s emergency response. Eighteen people including a child were killed, and only the captain survived as the plane plunged seconds after takeoff, crashing within the airport perimeter. This was the latest in a series of aircraft accidents in previous years, and further tarnished Nepal’s already poor aviation safety record and contributed to the country being retained in the EU’s air safety list. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The circumstances in the Saurya crash were different from the Yeti Airlines crash in Pokhara in January 2022 that killed all 72 on board, and two Tara Air crashes in February 2016 and May 2022 on approach to Jomsom that together claimed 45 lives. However, all four tragedies were a result of negligence of carriers and crew, failure to follow procedures, regulatory slackness, and overconfidence. The Saurya crash, especially, was a glaring example of how an ailing airline broke its own rules to allow passengers, including non-employees, a joy ride to Pokhara on a maintenance ferry flight. CRASH REPORT The Final Investigation Report prepared by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission and released on the first anniversary of the crash last week carried a long list of rules that were ignored or broken, and of regulatory failure. The first mistake was to cram spares, tools and inflammable chemicals needed for the aircraft’s C-Check in Pokhara into the cargo hold flouting its own ground handling procedures.&nbsp; There was no check-in of passengers, some of whom were not even employees – even though regulations say only flight and maintenance crew should be on board a maintenance positioning flight. Many brought their own luggage into the plane and stored it unsecured in the cabin. There was no flight attendant to give a safety briefing to passengers. The load and trim charts given to the flight crew were rough estimates, and the total takeoff weight of the plane was 18,300kg plus or minus 200 kg. That would still have been all right, but there was a glaring mistake in the speedchart Saurya pilots were using to calculate the minimum takeoff speed (known as VR), and it had been wrong ever since the 21-year-old aircraft entered service with the airline in 2017. FAULTY DATA&nbsp; The Commission probed Flight Data Recorder inputs from previous takeoffs of the Canadian-built CRJ200-LR in 2023-2024 and found that the undetected error in the speedchart had caused the plane to pitch up at an abnormal rotation rate at least 18 times on previous takeoffs.&nbsp; Any rotation rate more than 3°/sec is regarded as unusual. But on at least two occasions, this aircraft with tail number 9N-AME had rotation rates of 5.8°/sec and 5.5°/sec, the second one was when the pilot who survived was flying in March 2024.&nbsp; On this particular day, the plane’s rotation rate was 6.5°/sec, causing it to go into a deep stall soon after takeoff, the Commission report said. Essentially, the plane was not flying fast enough down the runway to take off safely.&nbsp; It is not yet clear whether excess weight, unsecured luggage, wrong centre of gravity were also factors, but relying on a faulty speedchart for the given takeoff weight, the captain flying pulled back on the yoke before the plane had reached takeoff speed and at a pitch angle that was too steep. The investigation report says the plane then went into a deep stall and started banking right with the stick shaking. At this point, the flight officer on the right hand seat is heard on the cockpit voice recorder saying: “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Sir, Sir, Sir…” It then banked left before the pilot flying turned the plane sharply to the right again in an evasive action to avoid the parking aprons of the international and domestic terminals. Had he not done so, there would have been a disaster of a much greater magnitude at Kathmandu airport that day. The plane scraped the runway with its right wingtip, collided with a container having helicopter spare parts, and plunged into a gully east of the runway, exploding in a fireball. The investigation also noted that the impact forces seemed to be survivable for some occupants. The fire trucks took unnecessarily long to reach the site even though it was inside the airport perimeter. The absence of an ICAO-standard runway strip, inadequate rescue drills, lack of training, and a blocked emergency service gate leading to the crash site were cited as other factors. &nbsp;&nbsp; <h2>Timestamp of a Disaster</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250731110724_39cdd04693994ce6e55a5b302905c0fa4884fe85bed21ff0779bb1439f3a5725.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250731110724_39cdd04693994ce6e55a5b302905c0fa4884fe85bed21ff0779bb1439f3a5725" data-rendition-name="original" width="778" height="826" loading="lazy" alt="Flouting rules caused Saurya tragedy NT"> </figure>  11:10:34 - The Saurya Airlines CRJ200 on the takeoff roll from runway 02. It had a takeoff weight of about 18,300kg, but the pilot’s speedcard had a previously undetected mistake about the minimum takeoff speed. 11:10:55 -The plane with tail number 9N-AME goes into deep stall soon after takeoff because it does not have enough speed to lift its weight. The plane also has an abnormally steep nose-up attitude.&nbsp; 11:11:03 - Without enough speed to generate lift, the plane banks right, then left and right again in CCTV photos taken from the domestic apron (below). If it had not banked right, it could have hit the aprons and terminal buildings. Seen parked is Saurya’s other CRJ200 with tail number 9N-ANM.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250731110732_608132f7225c649125cca2691dd6a6bf930984c5b359e888d7ad9e5eacce3afd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250731110732_608132f7225c649125cca2691dd6a6bf930984c5b359e888d7ad9e5eacce3afd" data-rendition-name="original" width="770" height="555" loading="lazy" alt="Flouting rules caused Saurya tragedy NT"> </figure>  11:11:08 - The plane scrapes the runway with its right wingtip, and falls into the gully. The captain is thrown off the left side of the cockpit and survives. 11:11:15: Plane explodes in a fireball inside the airport perimeter. Firefighters take time to reach the site because of lack of access road and a blocked gate. Read the full investigation report <a href="https://www.tourism.gov.np/files/9N-AME%20AIC%20Final%20Report.pdf">here</a>.