Just a few miles off the Thailand coast, the island of Kothau looks like a postcard.

I'd underneath the surface lies something sinister.

In the last 20 years dozens of tourists have died mysteriously on the island.

A dark cloud who's come over the island, death, mystery and danger.

Listen to Death Island every Wednesday on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hello, this is It Could Happen here and I am Shireen.

And today it's just me. It's me and I am alone.

So that means I am probably going to tell you about some fucked up shit that happened in the Middle East.

Which is exactly what I'm about to do.

I just think some things are purposely under-reported and even when they are seldom reported about, it's always a bit skewed and biased.

So I just try to draw attention to certain countries and their people as best as I can because of this.

And today I think we're due for an update on Palestine.

Israel continues to dehumanize Palestinians daily and blatantly and it's not just through murdering them.

Last year, under new Israeli restrictions on foreign entry into the West Bank, foreigners romantically involved with Palestinians must declare their relationship to the occupying Israeli government.

Yes, you have to tell them if you are involved with the Palestinian why I don't know because they're treated as less than human.

And this is one of many laws that deny Palestinians of basic human rights and keep them under apartheid rule.

I want to talk about all that's happened in just these first few months of 2023 because this cycle of violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank in particular has suddenly surged to levels that we have not seen in years.

As of this recording on March 7th, at least 66 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers since the start of 2023 and at least 17 of those killed have been children.

For comparison in 2022, which was the deadliest year in the West Bank in decades, 48 Palestinians were killed in the combined months of January, February, March and April.

The deaths are increasing day by day and there hasn't seemed to be a stop to them at all.

2022 saw the highest number of civilians killed by Israeli security forces in the past 17 years and the highest number of Israelis killed since 2016.

Renewed violence flared up between Palestine and Israel in January of this year for many reasons and it continues to build an intensify after a cascade of concerning events.

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