World roundup: December 4 2024

Stories from South Korea, Chad, France, and elsewhere

TODAY IN HISTORY

December 4, 1676: A Swedish army under King Charles XI defeats an invading Danish army at the Battle of Lund. Though a relatively small battle in terms of the number of soldiers involved, in percentage terms this is one of the bloodiest battles in European history. Of the 21,000 or so soldiers involved on both sides, roughly two-thirds were killed or wounded. The Swedish victory thwarted the Danish invasion and is therefore considered a turning point in the 1675-1679 Scanian War.

December 4, 1872: The merchant vessel Mary Celeste is discovered floating adrift and deserted near the Azores Islands. The Mary Celeste’s lifeboat was missing but the vessel itself was still seaworthy, which needless to say was puzzling. Conditions on board suggested that the crew abandoned ship fairly abruptly, but their ultimate fate was never determined so there’s no testimony as to what caused them to flee. Theories as to what happened have ranged from the paranormal (giant sea monsters, the Bermuda Triangle even though the ship was nowhere near that area) to the scandalous (mutiny, piracy, attempted insurance fraud) to the mundane (weather, malfunction, concerns about the safety of the ship’s alcoholic cargo).

MIDDLE EAST

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

The Arab Center’s Mtanes Shihadeh discusses the deeper logic underpinning the Israeli government’s crusade against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency:

Israel began inciting against UNRWA since the beginning of the current war on Gaza. It has worked diligently and in variable ways to disrupt the agency’s work. For example, Israel has claimed that Hamas uses the organization’s assets in the Gaza Strip as military facilities and rocket launching bases, and that a number of agency employees participated in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel also continued to incite against the agency’s education system under the pretext that its curricula agitate against Israel and encourage violence. The utmost incitement and hostility came with the passage of two laws by the Knesset at the end of October [2024] to end and prevent UNRWA’s work in the areas under Israeli sovereignty, including East Jerusalem.

This position paper argues that, beyond its claims and declarations, Israel’s goals in escalating its campaign against UNRWA, enacting laws to close the agency’s work in areas under its control, and preventing communication with it are essentially political goals. Israel aims to close UNRWA permanently in order to close the file of Palestinian refugees in general and abolish the right of return for Palestinians. This helps Israel resolve the Palestinian issue in accordance with its own vision, impose a fait accompli, and normalize the occupation.