Foreign correspondent for @washingtonpost, based in 🇸🇳 but often roaming. Always @postlocal Say hi at [email protected]
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Joined June 2014
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This past weekend, @washingtonpost published our 16-page special section on the Sahel — a region of the world that over the past decade has been transformed by conflict.
A thread below of reporting highlights from 12+ trips to the region & each of the stories in đź“°
Rachel Chason retweeted
"The reason I keep bringing up the Palestinians throwing rocks to protect Heidi is because, I mean, I can’t emphasize enough how much these young men are . . . Yesterday, they put their lives on the line. There were soldiers there, and soldiers will shoot when somebody is throwing rocks. These young men put their lives on the line to protect a sixty-three-year-old Jewish American journalist. And, I mean, these guys are heroes. If they were not doing that, so many villages would’ve been overtaken. They are literally the only defense. [On Saturday] I was in a village called Jalud, and the exact same thing happened. We got attacked by settlers, and it was these young men, whom we call the shabab, who fought them back with rocks. And the reason I just want to put a fine point on this is because, for me, just in terms of where things are going with Israel-Palestine politically, I think that a sort of discursive shift in how we talk about Palestinians’ right to defend themselves needs to happen." @infinite_jaz to @IChotiner
As fighting between Saudi-backed forces & the Houthis ramps up, negotiation appears largely off the table.
“This is a fateful, defining war,” @AhmedNagiYE said. “It will decide the future of Yemen and of Gulf security… It has become a zero-sum game.”
wapo.st/4jX5V8E
There appears little room for negotiation and a lot of room for escalation, @BashaReport, as the Houthis cross “every red line imaginable” with attacks on civilians, including Muslim pilgrims who were hit in the airport attack.
“There is still a lot of room for more intense fighting,” @BashaReport said, “and for more bad things to happen.”
Full story with @suzanHaidamous & @MohamdEch: wapo.st/4jX5V8E
“They’re obsessed,” said the Arab diplomat. “They think they can bring down a presidency.”
From @sgreports on Tehran's strategy in the closing weeks before the midterms: washingtonpost.com/world/202…
Rachel Chason retweeted
@Heidiphotos, a veteran photojournalist, was knocked to the ground, beaten with sticks, kicked repeatedly, and stripped of her cameras and phone by masked settlers.
She suffered lacerations across her body, a broken rib, four broken vertebrae and injuries to her hand, including a finger that was ripped open, exposing bone
The attack has sparked outrage among some Israelis, who decried a pattern of escalating violence and lawlessness in the West Bank
w / @Rachel_Chason, @gerryshih, @suheirjrs @washingtonpost
wapo.st/4k2eFu3
Rachel Chason retweeted
To be clear: Some facts are neither in dispute nor unclear. Our photographer was clearly marked as Press. She was clearly beaten. These are not partisan or risible statements, but indisputable. We urge a thorough investigation and accountability.
The Prime Minister’s Office:
The facts surrounding the confrontation near Abu Falah, during which Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was allegedly assaulted, remain unclear and are under investigation.
Israel unequivocally condemns violence against anyone—Jews, Arabs, Christians or journalists. Those responsible will be held accountable.
But serious questions remain. Reports indicate some 200 Arabs and far-left activists confronted approximately 40 Israeli youths. Footage shows masked individuals on both sides hurling objects, amid reports of fireworks fired at Jewish youths. Other footage appears to show Levine knocked down and immediately helped to her feet by the same unidentified individual.
The investigation must establish the facts, including who initiated the violence.
We will not allow disputed incidents to be exploited to demonize the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria.
The facts must determine the conclusions. Not the headlines.
Rachel Chason retweeted
Masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villagers on Friday, setting olive groves on fire and slinging rocks.
Caught in the attack was Post photographer Heidi Levine. “They just kept kicking me and kicking me, like probably 50 times,” Levine said. wapo.st/4yt6dHY
Rachel Chason retweeted
Horrified by what happened to our dear friend Heidi Levine while she was on assignment today.
“They just kept kicking me and kicking me,” she said.
washingtonpost.com/world/202…
.@Heidiphotos is a legend -- a role model + guide to so many of us & a remarkable example of deep kindness and compassion in the field after so many years covering this conflict. She was attacked bearing witness to settlers attacking an olive harvest...
wapo.st/4B6E8Jb
The kind of event that she has covered, time and time again, in the West Bank. She and @sammy_westfall recently published this in-depth piece looking at settler violence in the West Bank, which @Heidiphotos worked on tirelessly, for months.
washingtonpost.com/world/202…
Rachel Chason retweeted
Told @washingtonpost: Airstrikes in Gaza are part of a “low-level violence” that has become normalized under the ceasefire. “Israel simply fires as it wishes, constantly going on the offensive … inching forward with no real pushback from the outside.”
washingtonpost.com/world/202…
Rachel Chason retweeted
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed 74,245 Palestinians in three years, Gaza’s health ministry says.
“There is a ceasefire in name only,” said a senior policy fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations. washingtonpost.com/world/202…