Mondoweiss

Annulation d’une conférence pour la paix de Judith Butler : la ville de Paris invoque le risque de polémiques
▻https://www.liberation.fr/idees-et-debats/annulation-dune-conference-pour-la-paix-de-judith-butler-la-ville-de-pari

Israel’s Gaza onslaught is the next stage of the Dahiya Doctrine
▻https://mondoweiss.net/2023/12/israels-gaza-onslaught-is-the-next-stage-of-the-dahiya-doctrine

The Dahiya Doctrine is not a recent invention from the 2006 Lebanon War — it evolved from Israeli settler-colonial dehumanization of Palestinians. The doctrine formularized the indiscriminate and disproportionate attack on a civilian population and civilian institutions such as hospitals, and it became a standard. What we see is now the next stage of this murderous policy in practice.

Israel deports human rights defender documenting Palestinian home demolitions
By International Solidarity Movement November 26, 2023 – Mondoweiss
▻https://mondoweiss.net/2023/11/israel-deports-human-rights-defender-documenting-palestinian-home-demoli

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Alison Russell, a Scottish-born Belgian citizen and Human Rights Defender, was detained by the Israeli occupation authorities while documenting the demolition of a house in Masafer Yatta, in the South Hebron Hills of the occupied West Bank.

She was deported after very perfunctory proceedings at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court. Israeli police alleged in a public statement that Alison “supported a terrorist organization.” Her attorney pointed out that this claim had no basis. Nevertheless, the presiding judge issued a verdict couched in fiery nationalist rhetoric, claiming that “There are many faces to Hamas terror. There are various kinds of terrorists. Some terrorists wield guns and bombs while others use a computer keyboard”.

The Human Rights Defender was taken to the Ben Gurion Airport, and deported, with a decree issued to bar her re-entry. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Kahane-linked Minister of Police in the Netanyahu government, issued a personal statement celebrating “The deportation of the Belgian terrorist supporter who had supported the Hamas Nazis” and “congratulating the Judea and Samaria Police for their good work.”

In the last month and a half, the charge of being a “supporter of a terrorist organization” has become an excuse for an extensive campaign of political persecution against anyone who dares to post any protest the unfolding genocide in Gaza. This has affected Palestinians who have Israeli citizenship and against Israeli Jews, such as the teacher Meir Baruchin, who was detained for almost a week on completely unfounded charges. In the Gaza Strip, a far more brutal procedure for the same allegations is implemented. A Gazan journalist or political activist accused of “supporting Hamas” may expect to be targeted and/or have their family targeted by a missile from an Israeli warplane. Such was, for example, the fate of Ahmed Abu Artema and countless other Palestinian activists and journalists. (...)

Influential Israeli national security leader makes the case for genocide in Gaza

▻https://mondoweiss.net/2023/11/influential-israeli-national-security-leader-makes-the-case-for-genocide

In an Op-Ed titled “Let’s Not be Intimidated by the World,” Israeli ret. Major General Giora Eiland argues that all Palestinians in Gaza are legitimate targets and that even a “severe epidemic" in Gaza will "bring victory closer.”

[…]

“Who are the ‘poor’ women of Gaza? They are all the mothers, sisters or wives of Hamas murderers”.

[…]

“Behind every terrorist stand dozens of men and women, without whom he could not engage in terrorism. Now this also includes the mothers of the martyrs, who send them to hell with flowers and kisses. They should follow their sons, nothing would be more just. They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.”

[…]

“The international community warns us of a humanitarian disaster in Gaza and of severe epidemics. We must not shy away from this, as difficult as that may be. After all, severe epidemics in the south of the Gaza Strip will bring victory closer and reduce casualties among IDF soldiers”

[…]

Eiland has a long history of being surprisingly forthright about his view on the state of the Gaza Strip. In 2004, then as head of the National Security Council, he regarded the Gaza Strip as “a huge concentration camp” as he advocated for the U.S. to force Palestinians into the Sinai desert as part of a “two-state solution.”

[…]

It is interesting to see Eiland recognizing such a reality even before the Gaza “disengagement” of 2005, before the election of Hamas in 2006, and before the genocidal siege of 2007, which has only been upped in its severity since October 7. At this point, regarding Gaza, as a concentration camp appears perhaps too weak a term — it has become an extermination camp.

23/10/2023
Israeli think tank lays out a blueprint for the complete ethnic cleansing of Gaza – Mondoweiss
▻https://mondoweiss.net/2023/10/israeli-think-tank-lays-out-a-blueprint-for-the-complete-ethnic-cleansin

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#nakba

Update, October 24, 2023

After this article was originally published, the Israeli outlet Calcalist reported on a separate plan for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza that is being circulated by the Israeli Intelligence Ministry headed by Gila Gamliel. The leaked document was reportedly created for an organization called “The Unit for Settlement – Gaza Strip” and was not meant for the public.

In the plan being proposed by the Intelligence Ministry, Palestinians in Gaza would be displaced from Gaza to the northern Egyptian Sinai peninsula. In the report, the ministry described different options for what comes after an invasion of Gaza and the option deemed as “liable to provide positive and long-lasting strategic results” was the transfer of Gaza residents to Sinai. The move entails three steps: the creation of tent cities southwest of the Gaza Strip; the construction of a humanitarian corridor to “assist the residents”; and finally, the building of cities in northern Sinai. In parallel, a “sterile zone”, several kilometers wide, would be established within Egypt, south of the Israeli border, “so that the evacuated residents would not be able to return”. 

In addition, similar to the plan described in the original story below, the document calls for cooperation with other countries, in fact “as many as possible” so that they may “absorb” the Palestinians who have been uprooted from Gaza. Among the countries mentioned as possible sites for Palestinians from Gaza are Canada, European countries such as Greece and Spain, and North African countries. 

Original article

The Hamas attack on Israeli towns surrounding Gaza on October 7 has provided a pretext for an unprecedented, genocidal revenge campaign by Israel involving the massacre of now nearly 5,000 Palestinians, including over 2,000 children – and that may only be the beginning. Now, an Israeli think tank with ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is promoting plans for the complete ethnic cleansing of Gaza. 

On October 17, the Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy published a position paper advocating for the “relocation and final settlement of the entire Gaza population.” The report advocates exploiting the current moment to accomplish a long-held Zionist goal of moving Palestinians off the land of historic Palestine. The report’s subtitle makes it clear: “There is at the moment a unique and rare opportunity to evacuate the whole Gaza Strip in coordination with the Egyptian government.” 

The Misgav Institute is headed by former Netanyahu National Security Advisor Meir Ben Shabbat, who remains influential in Israeli security circles.

#Directive_Hannibal — Wikipédia
▻https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directive_Hannibal

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/Flickr_-_Israel_Defense_Forces_-_Chief_of_Staff_Lt._Gen._Benny_Gantz_Holds_a_Surprise_Training_Exercise_%283%29.jpg/1200px-Flickr_-_Israel_Defense_Forces_-_Chief_of_Staff_Lt._Gen._Benny_Gantz_Holds_a_Surprise_Training_Exercise_%283%29.jpg

Le but de la directive Hannibal est d’empêcher l’enlèvement de soldats israéliens par les forces ennemies, même si cela se fait au prix de la vie de ces soldats. Les soldats israéliens ont pour ordre d’empêcher toute tentative d’enlèvement par la force et d’utiliser tous les moyens disponibles à cette fin. La logique controversée derrière l’ordre semble être qu’un soldat mort est préférable à un captif.

Behind the fighting in Ein al-Helweh refugee camp – Mondoweiss
▻https://mondoweiss.net/2023/08/behind-the-fighting-in-ein-al-helweh-refugee-camp

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Speculation regarding the role of the PA

Ein al-Helweh camp is what some refer to as a “swing camp,” in the sense that, unlike other refugee camps where a single faction exercises complete control, Ein al-Helweh remains contested terrain, with no single faction enjoying full control over the area. As a result, Fatah has occasionally engaged in clashes with Islamist groups that attempt to extend their control over the camp. But Fatah’s efforts have been thwarted due to the significant power held by the Islamist groups.

Sameer al-Shareef, 49, is a leader in the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and a member of the Popular Committee in Ein al-Helweh. He criticized the violence as a betrayal of the Palestinian cause.

“The unfolding chaos in the camp is a shameful indictment of the current state of affairs for the Palestinian people,” he told Mondoweiss. “The living conditions in Lebanon are already deplorable, and they are even worse within the camps. The people can’t bear any more of this.”

Al-Shareef also decried the lack of resolution after three earlier ceasefire proposals fell through. “More than half of the camp’s population has been displaced and is now left to fend for themselves in the streets,” he said. “Significant areas of the camp have been devastated. In al-Tawari neighborhood alone, roughly 40 houses have been obliterated, rendering them uninhabitable.”

Al-Shareef expressed his apprehension regarding the strain such a crisis puts on Palestinian-Lebanese relations. “We find ourselves in an increasingly awkward position with the surrounding Lebanese community. This could potentially fan the flames of negative sentiment toward the Palestinian community.”

As for Lebanese society, the ongoing situation within the camp has sparked a myriad of reactions. Lebanese media outlets have suggested that the primary trigger behind this recent round of conflict was Majed Faraj, the head of the intelligence apparatus of the Palestinian Authority (PA), who visited Lebanon a week before the clashes erupted.

According to widespread commentary in the Lebanese media, these reports suggest that the Israeli government was discontented with the PA given its inability to stifle armed resistance in Palestine, particularly in Jenin refugee camp. Lebanese analysts speculate that Majed Faraj’s trip to Lebanon was to undermine the efforts of Palestinian resistance factions operating in Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps. This would mean that the clashes in Ein al-Helweh are not random outbreaks of violence but carry implications for several parties, including the Lebanese resistance factions, who have been accused of supporting West Bank militants and allowing them to operate on Lebanese soil.

In other words, the widespread narrative in the Lebanese media holds that Faraj traveled from Palestine to Lebanon to request Fatah members in the camp to initiate an armed clash with the Islamist groups — not to eradicate them, but to create a security disturbance in Lebanon at Israel’s request.

These sources contend that the disturbances in Ein al-Helweh indicate that Israel potentially might carry out future actions within the Lebanese state.

231 Palestinians were killed this year. These are their stories.
By Yumna Patel December 31, 2022 – Mondoweiss
▻https://mondoweiss.net/2022/12/231-palestinians-were-killed-this-year-these-are-their-stories

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2022 has been the deadliest year for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in decades. We kept a record of all those who were killed by Israeli state and settler violence. These are their names, faces, and stories.
(...)

UN Special Rapporteur facing smear campaign for calling out Israeli settler-colonialism and apartheid
By Jonathan Ofir December 21, 2022 – Mondoweiss
▻https://mondoweiss.net/2022/12/un-special-rapporteur-facing-smear-campaign-for-calling-out-israeli-sett

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The new UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese, has recently come under attack by a host of pro-Israel actors, including the supposedly free Israeli press. 

Albanese stepped into her role in May, following Michael Lynk, who had already been raising Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism towards the end of his six-year tenure. Albanese’s first report took these concepts a step forward. In a September report, she highlighted “settler-colonialism” in the heading paragraph, pointing to the “context of the settler-colonial features of the prolonged Israeli occupation.” 

“Apartheid,” in Albanese’s appraisal, is not even a sufficient term to describe the Israeli settler-colonialist paradigm. It’s bigger than Apartheid. And it is this call to accountability that has instigated Israel lobby groups and government officials into an all-out smear campaign.

The attacks against Albanese can best be summarized by a major hit-piece that was published last Wednesday in the Times of Israel. It contained a dossier of her supposed antisemitic statements and was titled, “UN Palestinian rights official’s social media history reveals antisemitic comments.” (...)

Israel lobby’s realignment over Ben-Gvir is giving Biden room to criticize – Mondoweiss
▻https://mondoweiss.net/2022/11/israel-lobbys-uproar-over-ben-gvir-is-giving-biden-room-to-criticize

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(...) Two other pillars of the Israel lobby, Dennis Ross and David Makovsky, warned Netanyahu not to bring Ben-Gvir into the government because it would damage Israel’s standing in American politics: giving “an enormous boost” to Israel’s “fiercest critics,” and those trying to end U.S. aid to Israel and “delegitimize” the Jewish state.

Normally we would have nothing to say about Israeli coalition negotiations as Americans, Ross and Makovsky said, but these are not normal circumstances: “there is a campaign against Israel and it is important not to strengthen the hand of those determined to weaken the relationship.” Menendez’s warning to Netanyahu “should set off alarm bells in Israel,” they said.

Those who have no love for Israel will seize on this. They will use it to expand their appeal in the Congress and the country. They will exploit it to try to undo aspects of the relationship, and certainly to challenge Israeli military requests.

Now Netanyahu is flipping the bird to Ross, Menendez, Ann Lewis and Mark Mellman. Why? First, because Netanyahu needs Ben-Gvir and Smotrich to “crush” the Israeli legal system so that his trial on corruption charges will come to naught.

“Netanyahu… wants this coalition with all the difficulties and all the headaches that it will include because it’s the only coalition that will remove the legal threat to him,” reporter Amir Tibon told an Israel Policy Forum podcast. “Netanyahu doesn’t have an alternative to Smotrich and he doesn’t want one. This is the government we are going to have. Everybody needs to come to terms with it and think what to do.”

Second, Netanyahu believes that the United States is something “easily moved.” He thinks the Israel lobby will have his back, as it has always had his back in the past.

The Israel lobby is clearly in great disarray right now– with a realignment coming. AIPAC and the ADL and the American Jewish Committee will swallow anything. But the center-right and liberal Zionists are in an uproar.

J Street has seized the moment. The liberal Zionist group’s CEO Jeremy Ben-Ami wrote three days after the Israeli election that the rise of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich should bring an awakening for the American Jewish community — against AIPAC.

This is a moment of truth and of choice….Who will be the primary political voice of our community? Will it be those, like us, who stand for justice, democracy and diplomacy? Or those, like AIPAC… And what will America’s Jewish communal leadership do?

Ben-Ami went further on an Americans for Peace Now webinar. He said that the Israeli election was a “huge opportunity” for liberal Zionists to seize control of the Israel lobby.

“This is a rare moment where the center of the American Jewish community suddenly pays attention for a few minutes to what’s going on over there and the reality of the creeping annexation, the reality of the growing power of the far right… It’s just shocking to me, but large numbers of American Jews are completely unaware of all these things.”

Now that these Jews are paying attention, J Street will show them that it represents American Jewry and not AIPAC.

“This is a moment for us to seize the opportunity to grow our own power in this country.”

Forget about leftwing/anti-Zionist Jewish groups– they don’t count for J Street. (...)

#IsraelUSA

Arrestation du président du Théâtre de la Liberté du camp de réfugiés de Jénine - [Les amis du théâtre de la liberté de Jénine]
▻http://atljenine.net/spip.php?article233&lang=fr

Bilal al-Saadi, président du Freedom Theatre, a été arrêté par l’armée israélienne alors qu’il revenait d’une réunion en présence du ministre palestinien de la culture à Ramallah.
ATL Jénine dénonce cette arrestation et, plus largement, le système inique de la détention arbitraire.
Vive la résistance culturelle des artistes palestiniens.

Israeli general, a Harvard fellow, extols Gaza onslaught as ‘really clean’ and ‘very nice’ – Mondoweiss
▻https://mondoweiss.net/2022/08/israeli-general-a-harvard-fellow-extols-gaza-onslaught-as-really-clean-a

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Amos Yadlin, a retired Israeli general who is a senior fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School, praises onslaught on Gaza that killed 15 children as an “exceptional achievement.”

Le rapport de la faculté de droit de Harvard sur l’apartheid laisse les défenseurs d’Israël sans voix
mercredi 6 avril 2022 - Steve France / Mondoweiss - Traduction : AFPS
▻https://www.france-palestine.org/Le-rapport-de-la-faculte-de-droit-de-Harvard-sur-l-apartheid-laiss

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Le récent rapport du laboratoire international des droits de l’Homme de la faculté de droit de Harvard, qui déclare qu’Israël pratique l’apartheid, est une victoire pour les droits de l’Homme palestiniens.

Au cas où vous l’auriez manqué, le laboratoire international des droits de l’Homme de la faculté de droit de Harvard a récemment publié un rapport qui conclut que le traitement des Palestiniens de Cisjordanie par Israël constitue un crime d’apartheid. L’étude, intitulée « Apartheid in the Occupied West Bank : A Legal Analysis of Israel’s Actions », a été publiée le 28 février, dans le sillage de cinq rapports sur l’apartheid plus longs et plus vastes publiés depuis 2020 - et juste avant que le rapporteur spécial des Nations unies sur les droits de l’Homme dans les territoires palestiniens occupés ne publie un autre rapport sur l’apartheid le 21 mars.

Préparé par le laboratoire des droits de l’Homme de la faculté de droit en partenariat avec l’association Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights, basée à Ramallah, le rapport a été publié sans fanfare et a bénéficié d’une couverture médiatique minimale. Et il n’a, jusqu’à présent, suscité aucune condamnation publique de la part du lobby israélien. L’État d’Israël n’a réagi que par une déclaration superficielle et non substantielle de son ambassadeur auprès des Nations unies, Gilad Erdan, selon laquelle « ceux qui ont rédigé le rapport au nom de Harvard... ont décidé de délégitimer l’État juif en raison de leurs opinions antisémites ». (...)

▻https://mondoweiss.net/2022/04/harvard-law-school-apartheid-report-leaves-israels-defenders-speechless
#Apartheid

Masterclass in Hypocrisy: Yes to pulling Russian liquor, NO to deshelving Israeli apartheid wines
By Canada Palestine Association March 2, 2022 – Mondoweiss
▻https://mondoweiss.net/2022/03/masterclass-in-hypocrisy-yes-to-pulling-russian-liquor-no-to-deshelving-

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We have been campaigning for years to have illegal Israeli settlement wines pulled off the shelves of publicly owned liquor stores in British Columbia. Successive governments, including the current NDP one, have either ignored or rebuffed our demands to even investigate this situation. We have been told it’s a matter of “consumer choice” or under “federal jurisdiction”. The previous NDP minister responsible for this portfolio, David Eby, flat out refused to meet with us in 2018.

So imagine our shock when in just 2 days, the BC NDP government joined other provinces in putting a “…halt to the importing and sale of Russian liquor products from our BC Liquor Stores and provincial liquor distribution centres”. So it can be done and done quickly, it seems. It just depends on who you are and what political agenda is being served. And clearly, the “consumer choice” argument was nothing but a big lie. (...)

#BDS

The construction of Israel’s Gaza concentration camp is complete

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Israel announced the completion of an underground wall and maritime barrier surrounding the besieged Gaza Strip. Not a single mainstream media outlet used the term “concentration camp” to report on it but they should have.

▻https://mondoweiss.net/2021/12/the-construction-of-israels-gaza-concentration-camp-is-complete
#underground #sous-terrain #verticalité #murs #barrières_frontalières #Israël #Palestine #Gaza #barrière_maritime #mur_maritime

The banning of human rights defenders: Israel and South Africa compared – Mondoweiss
▻https://mondoweiss.net/2021/11/the-banning-of-human-rights-defenders-israel-and-south-africa-compared

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Even the apartheid regime in South Africa never outlawed human rights defenders in the manner that Israel just did when it declared six Palestinian organizations to be “terrorist organizations.”

#sionisme #Palestine

Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian

Reflections on what the putative assassin of Robert F. Kennedy has meant to my generation of Arab Americans.

By Steven Salaita September 17, 2021 – Mondoweiss
▻https://mondoweiss.net/2021/09/sirhan-sirhan-the-palestinian

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Convicted of murdering Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, Sirhan Sirhan is one of those rare figures whose name everyone knows, but whom nobody much discusses. Recently, however, he has been in the news again.

I remember being a kid, maybe an early teenager, sitting at the table with my father. He was cheerful that afternoon, a rare occasion in those days. He was my hero, but my insistence on doing poorly in school had caused lots of strain and we spent much of our time at loggerheads. He greeted rebellion with even more severe punishment. My father was kind and decent, but relentlessly confident in his idea of discipline.

But on that afternoon we were relaxed. We connected well through my burgeoning curiosity about the world, the Middle East in particular. It was before the internet and satellite TV, and dad hated talking on the phone, especially long distance (which was expensive in the old days), yet he always seemed to know what was going on back home. We were nibbling at nuts and olives and chitchatting without any of the usual tension.

I mentioned Sirhan Sirhan, whom I’d recently learned about from a news story. I thought it was hilarious that he had the same first and last name.

“He’s an Arab, you know,” my father said. His tone was one of both dignity and regret.

“He is?”

“From Palestine.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“A Christian, too.”

Same tone. (...)

Coming face to face with Zionist fragility | Ali El-Sadany and Aidan Place
▻https://mondoweiss.net/2021/06/coming-face-to-face-with-zionist-fragility

The Israel Fellow for Carnegie Mellon Hillel flew into a rage when two Muslim student leaders refused to endorse a propaganda-filled “fact finding” trip to Israel. They say the fellow’s response serves as a microcosm of Zionist behavior and attitudes. Source: Mondoweiss

The war in my head
Reporter Tareq Hajjaj shares how his family barely escaped two Israeli attacks in Gaza, revealing the trauma reporters experience when they cover the wars they are also trying to survive.
By Tareq S. Hajjaj - June 4, 2021 – Mondoweiss
▻https://mondoweiss.net/2021/06/the-war-in-my-head

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For the first time, I’m not sure I can manage to finish a dispatch. Last month, death loomed closer than a walk to the bathroom. It did not matter where I was inside Gaza, every place in this small territory of 140.9 square miles was proximal to shelling and airstrikes.

Hostilities escalated on May 10, 2021, and came to a close in a ceasefire brokered by Egypt 11 days later, but I am still thinking about the six days after I fled my home in Shuja’iyya, a neighborhood in the east of Gaza. In total, my family and I were uprooted twice during the fighting. Each time with more relatives in tow, we rushed out the door with only a moment’s notice and joined the exodus in the streets that spanned as far as the eye could see across Gaza’s flat roads.

I live in a residential area that is adjacent to the buffer zone with Israel. Days into what started as strikes from Israeli jets and rockets from Gaza, Israeli forces opened fire from the ground and sea. Explosives rained from the west and east, and of course the sky. My sister, who lives closer to the border, came to take shelter in my home.

In the first days of the war, the adults and older teenagers taught the kids a few tricks to attempt to block out the sounds of the blasts. We could dilute the noise, but the impact shook the walls and floors and us on them. (...)

#GAZA

Coexistence in Israel’s ‘mixed cities’ was always an illusion – Mondoweiss
▻https://mondoweiss.net/2021/05/coexistence-in-israels-mixed-cities-was-always-an-illusion

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In a sign of the growing dangers, the Israeli media reported this week that applications for gun licenses – usually available only to Jewish citizens – had risen seven-fold.