SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Defense officials from Chile convened a meeting at the bottom of the planet on Thursday in a bid to bolster their territorial claims in Antarctica as tensions escalate over Russia's maneuvers in the polar region.
Lawmakers from Chile's parliamentary defense committee flew to a desolate air base for a meeting billed as an assertion of national sovereignty.
“We are going to be sitting in Antarctica in an act of sovereignty, of safeguarding and supporting our national integrity in the face of any threats," said committee member Camila Flores, singling out Russia as posing such a threat.
The lawmakers revealed little about their talks at the glacier-filled base beyond saying they addressed “the prevailing geopolitical conditions” on the white continent that has vast mineral resources, fresh water reserves and no government.
The meeting comes amid a recent frenzy of media reports surrounding Russia's purported discovery of massive oil reserves in Antarctica back in 2020, when the Russian polar research vessel Alexander Karpinsky reportedly uncovered some 500 billions of barrels worth of crude oil. The issue resurfaced earlier this month in a U.K. parliamentary session where experts warned Russia’s geological surveys could jeopardize the decades-long ban on mining in the region.
The reports rattled Chile and Argentina — among the seven countries that assert claims of sovereignty over parts of the demilitarized continent. Russia's surveys took place in the Weddell Sea, where Chile's territorial claims overlap with those of Britain and Argentina, according to documents presented to the British parliament.
“We are going to continue defending what we believe is fair,” said Francisco Undurraga, head of Chile's defense committee, condemning the “crafty aspirations" of nations rushing to assert greater influence over Antarctica in an increasingly energy-hungry world.
When reports of Russian resource-extraction projects surfaced earlier this month, Argentina demanded to know whether Russia had scientific or economic intentions. Chilean President Gabriel Boric promised to “firmly oppose any commercial exploitation of minerals and hydrocarbons.”
Historic tensions over Antarctic claims have also re-emerged between Boric's left-wing government and Argentina's far-right government.
In an effort to reshape Argentina's foreign policy in line with the United States, Argentine President Javier Milei last month announced the construction of a southern naval base with U.S. involvement to help Argentina stake claim to Antarctica, drawing complaints from Chile's foreign ministry.
Geopolitical competition is just the latest issue to test the 53-nation Antarctic Treaty, which in 1959 enshrined the territory as a scientific preserve used only for peaceful purposes.
Rising sea levels due to climate change, unregulated tourism and krill fishing in the Southern Ocean are just a few other challenges that the consensus-based system is struggling to address.
FILE - Gentoo penguins stand on rocks near the Chilean station Bernardo O'Higgins, Antarctica, Jan. 22, 2015. Members of Chile’s Defense Committee met on Thursday, May 23, 2024, in a special briefing in Antarctic to address “the prevailing geopolitical conditions”. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli forces were preparing on Friday to carry out home demolitions across two northern urban refugee camps in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the governor of one of the camps and Israeli military documents shared with The Associated Press by the United Nations.
Abdallah Kamil, the governor of Tulkarem, wrote on Facebook on Thursday that the military was preparing to demolish 116 homes across Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, two main targets of Israel’s raid into the northern West Bank.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Two demolition orders indicated that the buildings would be demolished in 24 hours, according to military documents shared by a U.N. official on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The news sent residents of the now evacuated Nur Shams and Tulkarem camps scrambling back to collect belongings before the destruction of their homes. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said there were reports of Israeli forces arresting and firing warning shots at Palestinians as they did so.
The Israeli military has been carrying out an operation in the West Bank over the past several months that displaced, at its height, approximately 40,000 Palestinians. It had emptied and largely destroyed several urban refugee camps in the northern West Bank, like Tulkarem and Nur Shams, that housed the descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes in previous wars. That’s the largest displacement in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast war.
Israel has said that troops will stay in some camps for a year.
Residents of the now evacuated refugee camp of Tulkarem return to collect belongings before the destruction of their homes as Israeli forces prepare to carry out the demolition of 116 homes across the two refugee camps of the Israeli occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Residents of the now evacuated refugee camp of Tulkarem return to collect belongings before the destruction of their homes as Israeli forces prepare to carry out the demolition of 116 homes across the two refugee camps of the Israeli occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Residents of the now evacuated refugee camp of Tulkarem return to collect belongings before the destruction of their homes as Israeli forces prepare to carry out the demolition of 116 homes across the two refugee camps of the Israeli occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Residents of the now evacuated refugee camp of Tulkarem return to collect belongings before the destruction of their homes as Israeli forces prepare to carry out the demolition of 116 homes across the two refugee camps of the Israeli occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Residents of the now evacuated refugee camp of Tulkarem return to collect belongings before the destruction of their homes as Israeli forces prepare to carry out the demolition of 116 homes across the two refugee camps of the Israeli occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Residents of the now evacuated refugee camp of Tulkarem return to collect belongings before the destruction of their homes as Israeli forces prepare to carry out the demolition of 116 homes across the two refugee camps of the Israeli occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Residents of the now evacuated refugee camp of Tulkarem return to collect belongings before the destruction of their homes as Israeli forces prepare to carry out the demolition of 116 homes across the two refugee camps of the Israeli occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Residents of the now evacuated refugee camp of Tulkarem return to collect belongings before the destruction of their homes as Israeli forces prepare to carry out the demolition of 116 homes across the two refugee camps of the Israeli occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Residents of the now evacuated Palestinian refugee camp of Tulkarem return to collect belongings before the destruction of their homes as Israeli forces prepare to carry out the demolition of 116 homes across the two refugee camps of the Israeli occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
