15 sept 2016
By Ramzy Baroud
Thousands of Native Americans resurrected the fighting spirit of their forefathers as they stood in unprecedented unity to contest an oil company’s desecration of their sacred land in North Dakota.
Considering its burdened historical context, this has been one of the most moving events in recent memory.
The standoff, involving 5,000-strong Native American protesters, including representatives of 200 tribes and environmental groups, has been largely reduced in news reports as being a matter of technical detail – concerning issues of permits and legal proceedings.
At best, both the tribes and the oil company are treated as if they are equal parties in a purportedly proportionate tussle. “’Dakota’ means ‘friendly’ and yet, it seems, neither side has been too friendly to each other,” wrote Mark Albert in the website of the American broadcasting television network, CBS.
The Dakota Nation is justifiably alarmed by the prospect that its water supplies will be polluted by the massive pipeline, which will extend across four states and stretching over 1,100 miles.
The ‘other side’ is the company, Energy Transfer Partners, whose construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline at the cost of $3.7 billion is infringing upon the territorial rights of Native American tribes, destroying sacred burial grounds and threatening to pollute the main water sources of large communities of Native Americans. Fear over future spills under the Missouri River is hardly a hype.
The US is struggling with ongoing water crises, partly because of dilapidating infrastructure, but also because of numerous oil spills and natural gas leaks.
The recent water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and the BP oil spill earlier in the Gulf of Mexico – both resulting in massive humanitarian and environmental crises – are only two recent cases in point. But the problem is far deeper and constantly worsening.
Data obtained by the news network, CNBC from the government’s Environmental Protection Agency showed that “only nine U.S. states are reporting safe levels of lead in their water supply.
These include Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota and Tennessee.” As if that is not worrying enough, the massive crude oil pipeline will be going across several of these states, likely shortening the list of these states even further.
Discussion about the potential risks of the construction of the pipeline has been rife for years. The issue, however, received national and international coverage when Native American tribes mobilized to protect their land and water resources.
The mobilization of the tribes has been met with state violence. Instead of appreciating the serious grievances of the tribes, particularly those in the Standing Rock Reservation – which is located only one mile away, south of the pipeline – the state governor summoned all law enforcement agencies and activated the National Guard.
Mace was used on protesters; they were beaten, arrested and chased out by armed men in uniform. In the United States, when the people stand up to corporations, it seems that, more often than not, state violence is galvanized against unarmed people to protect the big businesses.
But missing from this story is an essential component: the mobilization and unity among Native American tribes has been the most awe-inspiring in many decades.
As chiefs and representatives of tribes from all across the United States kept arriving at the encampment grounds, the collective spirit of Native American nations was being vigorously revived.
In fact, the ongoing mobilization of Native American tribes is far greater than the struggle against a money-hungry Corporation, backed by an aggressive state apparatus.
It is about the spirit of the Native people of this land, who have suffered a prolonged genocide aimed at their complete eradication. To see them standing once more, along with their families, riding their feather-draped horses and fighting for their very identity is a cause for celebration.
It brings hope to oppressed people all across the world that the human spirit will never be destroyed. The genocide of the Native Americans, similar to the ongoing destruction of the Palestinian Nation, is one of the lowest points of human morality.
It is particularly disheartening that there are yet to be serious attempts at addressing that grave injustice. For 500 years, Native Americans witnessed every attempt at erasing them from the face of the planet.
Their numbers dwindled from ten million prior to the arrival of Europeans to North America to less than three hundred thousand at the turn of the 20th century.
They were exterminated by colonial wars and ravaged by foreign diseases. Calls to destroy Native Americans were hardly implicit but, rather, clearly-articulated.
For example, Spencer Phips, Lieutenant Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Province issued this statement in 1755 on behalf of King George II: “His Majesty’s subjects to embrace all opportunities of pursuing, captivating, killing and destroying all and every of the aforesaid Indians.”
The price list for the scalp of murdered Natives were as follows: “50 pounds for adult male scalps; 25 for adult female scalps; and 20 for scalps of boys and girls under age 12.”
The genocidal approach to Native Americans continued, unabated. A century later, in 1851, California Governor Peter H. Burnett made this declaration: “A war of extermination will continue to be waged between the two races until the Indian race becomes extinct.” Methods of extermination differed, from outright murder to disease-infected blankets, to, as of today’s standoff, threatening their most viable resource: water.
Yet, somehow, the spirit of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and numerous brave chiefs and warriors still roam the plains, urging their people to stand up and carry on with an overdue fight for justice and rights.
Palestinians have always felt that the legacy of the Native Americans is similar to their own. “Our names: branching leaves of divine speech; birds that soar higher than a gun.
You who come from beyond the sea, bent on war; don’t cut down the tree of our names; don’t gallop your flaming horses across the open plains.” These were a few of the verses in Palestinian poet’s Mahmoud Darwish’s seminal poem “Speech of the Red Indian.” I recall the day that magnificent piece of Arabic literature was first published in full in Palestine’s ‘Al-Quds’ newspaper.
At the time, I was a teenager in a refugee camp in Gaza. I read it with much trepidation and giddiness – carefully, slowly, and repeatedly. Those who could read, recited it out loud to those who could not. Many tears were shed on that day, mostly because we all knew too well that we, in fact, were the ‘Red Indians.’
They were us. Long before feminist critical theory coined the term ‘intersectionality’ – which contends that oppression is interconnected and one oppressive institution cannot be examined in isolation from others, Palestinians – as other victims of genocidal colonization – fully comprehended and held such a belief.
Palestinians are losing their lives, land and olive trees as they stand up to Israeli tanks and bulldozers. Their reality is a replay of similar experiences faced – and still being confronted – by Native Americans.
Well into the 21st century, the Native American-Palestinian struggle remains one and the same. “Our pastures are sacred, our spirits inspired, The stars are luminous words where our fable is legible from beginning to end..” Wrote Mahmoud Darwish, of the Native Americans. Of the Palestinians.
Dr. Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com.
Thousands of Native Americans resurrected the fighting spirit of their forefathers as they stood in unprecedented unity to contest an oil company’s desecration of their sacred land in North Dakota.
Considering its burdened historical context, this has been one of the most moving events in recent memory.
The standoff, involving 5,000-strong Native American protesters, including representatives of 200 tribes and environmental groups, has been largely reduced in news reports as being a matter of technical detail – concerning issues of permits and legal proceedings.
At best, both the tribes and the oil company are treated as if they are equal parties in a purportedly proportionate tussle. “’Dakota’ means ‘friendly’ and yet, it seems, neither side has been too friendly to each other,” wrote Mark Albert in the website of the American broadcasting television network, CBS.
The Dakota Nation is justifiably alarmed by the prospect that its water supplies will be polluted by the massive pipeline, which will extend across four states and stretching over 1,100 miles.
The ‘other side’ is the company, Energy Transfer Partners, whose construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline at the cost of $3.7 billion is infringing upon the territorial rights of Native American tribes, destroying sacred burial grounds and threatening to pollute the main water sources of large communities of Native Americans. Fear over future spills under the Missouri River is hardly a hype.
The US is struggling with ongoing water crises, partly because of dilapidating infrastructure, but also because of numerous oil spills and natural gas leaks.
The recent water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and the BP oil spill earlier in the Gulf of Mexico – both resulting in massive humanitarian and environmental crises – are only two recent cases in point. But the problem is far deeper and constantly worsening.
Data obtained by the news network, CNBC from the government’s Environmental Protection Agency showed that “only nine U.S. states are reporting safe levels of lead in their water supply.
These include Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota and Tennessee.” As if that is not worrying enough, the massive crude oil pipeline will be going across several of these states, likely shortening the list of these states even further.
Discussion about the potential risks of the construction of the pipeline has been rife for years. The issue, however, received national and international coverage when Native American tribes mobilized to protect their land and water resources.
The mobilization of the tribes has been met with state violence. Instead of appreciating the serious grievances of the tribes, particularly those in the Standing Rock Reservation – which is located only one mile away, south of the pipeline – the state governor summoned all law enforcement agencies and activated the National Guard.
Mace was used on protesters; they were beaten, arrested and chased out by armed men in uniform. In the United States, when the people stand up to corporations, it seems that, more often than not, state violence is galvanized against unarmed people to protect the big businesses.
But missing from this story is an essential component: the mobilization and unity among Native American tribes has been the most awe-inspiring in many decades.
As chiefs and representatives of tribes from all across the United States kept arriving at the encampment grounds, the collective spirit of Native American nations was being vigorously revived.
In fact, the ongoing mobilization of Native American tribes is far greater than the struggle against a money-hungry Corporation, backed by an aggressive state apparatus.
It is about the spirit of the Native people of this land, who have suffered a prolonged genocide aimed at their complete eradication. To see them standing once more, along with their families, riding their feather-draped horses and fighting for their very identity is a cause for celebration.
It brings hope to oppressed people all across the world that the human spirit will never be destroyed. The genocide of the Native Americans, similar to the ongoing destruction of the Palestinian Nation, is one of the lowest points of human morality.
It is particularly disheartening that there are yet to be serious attempts at addressing that grave injustice. For 500 years, Native Americans witnessed every attempt at erasing them from the face of the planet.
Their numbers dwindled from ten million prior to the arrival of Europeans to North America to less than three hundred thousand at the turn of the 20th century.
They were exterminated by colonial wars and ravaged by foreign diseases. Calls to destroy Native Americans were hardly implicit but, rather, clearly-articulated.
For example, Spencer Phips, Lieutenant Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Province issued this statement in 1755 on behalf of King George II: “His Majesty’s subjects to embrace all opportunities of pursuing, captivating, killing and destroying all and every of the aforesaid Indians.”
The price list for the scalp of murdered Natives were as follows: “50 pounds for adult male scalps; 25 for adult female scalps; and 20 for scalps of boys and girls under age 12.”
The genocidal approach to Native Americans continued, unabated. A century later, in 1851, California Governor Peter H. Burnett made this declaration: “A war of extermination will continue to be waged between the two races until the Indian race becomes extinct.” Methods of extermination differed, from outright murder to disease-infected blankets, to, as of today’s standoff, threatening their most viable resource: water.
Yet, somehow, the spirit of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and numerous brave chiefs and warriors still roam the plains, urging their people to stand up and carry on with an overdue fight for justice and rights.
Palestinians have always felt that the legacy of the Native Americans is similar to their own. “Our names: branching leaves of divine speech; birds that soar higher than a gun.
You who come from beyond the sea, bent on war; don’t cut down the tree of our names; don’t gallop your flaming horses across the open plains.” These were a few of the verses in Palestinian poet’s Mahmoud Darwish’s seminal poem “Speech of the Red Indian.” I recall the day that magnificent piece of Arabic literature was first published in full in Palestine’s ‘Al-Quds’ newspaper.
At the time, I was a teenager in a refugee camp in Gaza. I read it with much trepidation and giddiness – carefully, slowly, and repeatedly. Those who could read, recited it out loud to those who could not. Many tears were shed on that day, mostly because we all knew too well that we, in fact, were the ‘Red Indians.’
They were us. Long before feminist critical theory coined the term ‘intersectionality’ – which contends that oppression is interconnected and one oppressive institution cannot be examined in isolation from others, Palestinians – as other victims of genocidal colonization – fully comprehended and held such a belief.
Palestinians are losing their lives, land and olive trees as they stand up to Israeli tanks and bulldozers. Their reality is a replay of similar experiences faced – and still being confronted – by Native Americans.
Well into the 21st century, the Native American-Palestinian struggle remains one and the same. “Our pastures are sacred, our spirits inspired, The stars are luminous words where our fable is legible from beginning to end..” Wrote Mahmoud Darwish, of the Native Americans. Of the Palestinians.
Dr. Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com.
13 sept 2016
National Security Council Acting Chairman Yaakov Nagal, arrived Tuesday morning to Washington to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which will complete the military aid package from the US to Israel that will be valid until 2029.
According to the prospective agreement, which will go into effect upon the expiration of the current package in 2018, the US will provide Israel with a financial package which will amount to $38 billion over the course of the next decade along with missile defense systems. Under the terms of the agreement, Israel will also be prohibited from making additional budgetary requests from Congress.
The current military aid package, which will expire in 2018, provided Israel with an annual sum of $3.1 billion. Prime Minister Netanyahu requested a significant increase of $4.5 billion per year on account of his unsuccessful bid to stymie the US-Iran nuclear agreement. However, the two sides eventually reached a middle ground, resulting in an annual financial sum of $3.8 billion.
The new package will include provisions, for the first time, for missile defense projects which, hitherto, have been drawn from funds directly from Congress. Indeed, over the last few years, American legislators transferred up to $600 million for missile defense purposes.
According to the prospective agreement, which will go into effect upon the expiration of the current package in 2018, the US will provide Israel with a financial package which will amount to $38 billion over the course of the next decade along with missile defense systems. Under the terms of the agreement, Israel will also be prohibited from making additional budgetary requests from Congress.
The current military aid package, which will expire in 2018, provided Israel with an annual sum of $3.1 billion. Prime Minister Netanyahu requested a significant increase of $4.5 billion per year on account of his unsuccessful bid to stymie the US-Iran nuclear agreement. However, the two sides eventually reached a middle ground, resulting in an annual financial sum of $3.8 billion.
The new package will include provisions, for the first time, for missile defense projects which, hitherto, have been drawn from funds directly from Congress. Indeed, over the last few years, American legislators transferred up to $600 million for missile defense purposes.
12 sept 2016
US Ambassador Shapiro speaks at 9/11 memorial ceremony
Speaking at a 9/11 memorial and opening the Institute for Counterterrorism's 16th World Summit, US Ambassador Dan Shapiro says that a US aid package shows commitment to Israeli qualitative military edge in the region.
US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said that the US will be signing its largest ever aid package to Israel, and that the aid package will cover all of Israel's security needs until 2029.
He was speaking at the opening of the 16th World Summit of the International Institute for Counter Terrorism at the Herzeliya Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) on Sunday.
"The next decade of American military support for Israel is spelled out in a Memorandum of Understanding our countries have been discussing in recent months. “The new agreement with Israel will guide our military assistance until 2029,” National Security Advisor Susan Rice told the American Jewish Committee a few months ago, “and will be the single largest military assistance package—with any country—in American history,” the Ambassador said in his speech.
He went on to describe that the US will continue to help Israel maintain its qualitative edge in the region by providing the Jewish state with next generation fighter jets, helping to finance anti-missile technology, and investing in tunnel detection technology.
According to the Washington Post, the White House is delaying the signing of the agreement due to a conflict with the US Senate, chief amongst them South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham (R).
Graham is leading the fight in Congress to increase the amount of US aid to Israel to $3.4 billion.
Graham was quoted as saying “the Israeli prime minister told me the administration is refusing to sign the (memorandum of understanding) until I agree to change my appropriation markup back to $3.1 billion,” Graham said. “I said, ‘Tell the administration to go F themselves.’
“I’m offended that the administration would try to take over the appropriations process," Graham said. "If they don’t like what I’m doing, they can veto the bill. We can’t have the executive branch dictating what the legislative branch will do for a decade based on an agreement we are not a party to.”
Speaking at a 9/11 memorial and opening the Institute for Counterterrorism's 16th World Summit, US Ambassador Dan Shapiro says that a US aid package shows commitment to Israeli qualitative military edge in the region.
US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said that the US will be signing its largest ever aid package to Israel, and that the aid package will cover all of Israel's security needs until 2029.
He was speaking at the opening of the 16th World Summit of the International Institute for Counter Terrorism at the Herzeliya Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) on Sunday.
"The next decade of American military support for Israel is spelled out in a Memorandum of Understanding our countries have been discussing in recent months. “The new agreement with Israel will guide our military assistance until 2029,” National Security Advisor Susan Rice told the American Jewish Committee a few months ago, “and will be the single largest military assistance package—with any country—in American history,” the Ambassador said in his speech.
He went on to describe that the US will continue to help Israel maintain its qualitative edge in the region by providing the Jewish state with next generation fighter jets, helping to finance anti-missile technology, and investing in tunnel detection technology.
According to the Washington Post, the White House is delaying the signing of the agreement due to a conflict with the US Senate, chief amongst them South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham (R).
Graham is leading the fight in Congress to increase the amount of US aid to Israel to $3.4 billion.
Graham was quoted as saying “the Israeli prime minister told me the administration is refusing to sign the (memorandum of understanding) until I agree to change my appropriation markup back to $3.1 billion,” Graham said. “I said, ‘Tell the administration to go F themselves.’
“I’m offended that the administration would try to take over the appropriations process," Graham said. "If they don’t like what I’m doing, they can veto the bill. We can’t have the executive branch dictating what the legislative branch will do for a decade based on an agreement we are not a party to.”
11 aug 2016
The U.S. warned Israel against the pending demolition of the Palestinian village of Sussiya after officials popped in the area on Wednesday.
“If the Israeli government proceeds with demolitions it would be very troubling,” State Department Press Office director Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters on Wednesday.
“We remain concerned about the increased demolition of Palestinian structures in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which reportedly have left dozens of Palestinians homeless, including children,” she said.
“More than 650 Palestinian structures have been demolished this year, with more Palestinian structures demolished in the West Bank and east Jerusalem thus far than in all of 2015,” she added.
Officials from the U.S. Consulate General in Occupied Jerusalem visited the village, a home to over 48 Palestinian families. Jabal al-Khalil Regional Council head Yochai Damri said he was “outraged” with U.S. interference with regard to Sussiya’s projected demolition.
“We’re talking about a criminal clan from Yatta that has taken over the land and has built illegally,” Damri claimed as he called for tearing down the village.
“It’s unacceptable that the U.S. government would interfere on legal matters,” said Damri. “We’re talking about an attempt to prejudice the court in a foreign country.”
Located in the Israeli-controlled Area C, Sussiya village has been exploited by the Israeli occupation authorities for illegal settlement construction. In 1983 an illegal settlement outpost named after the village was built on Palestinian lands in the territory.
The period from 1983 onward witnessed an escalation represented in the forced displacement of Palestinian natives from their own and only homes in the village.
“If the Israeli government proceeds with demolitions it would be very troubling,” State Department Press Office director Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters on Wednesday.
“We remain concerned about the increased demolition of Palestinian structures in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which reportedly have left dozens of Palestinians homeless, including children,” she said.
“More than 650 Palestinian structures have been demolished this year, with more Palestinian structures demolished in the West Bank and east Jerusalem thus far than in all of 2015,” she added.
Officials from the U.S. Consulate General in Occupied Jerusalem visited the village, a home to over 48 Palestinian families. Jabal al-Khalil Regional Council head Yochai Damri said he was “outraged” with U.S. interference with regard to Sussiya’s projected demolition.
“We’re talking about a criminal clan from Yatta that has taken over the land and has built illegally,” Damri claimed as he called for tearing down the village.
“It’s unacceptable that the U.S. government would interfere on legal matters,” said Damri. “We’re talking about an attempt to prejudice the court in a foreign country.”
Located in the Israeli-controlled Area C, Sussiya village has been exploited by the Israeli occupation authorities for illegal settlement construction. In 1983 an illegal settlement outpost named after the village was built on Palestinian lands in the territory.
The period from 1983 onward witnessed an escalation represented in the forced displacement of Palestinian natives from their own and only homes in the village.
31 july 2016
Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot landed in the United Stated on Sunday in an effort to bridge the few remaining gaps with the American government on the signing of a new military aid package. One of his stops will be a visit to the first operational F-35 squadron.
IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot landed in the United States on Sunday for a four-day visit, as the guest of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, US Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford.
Lt. Gen Eisenkot will meet with security personnel in Utah, Florida, and Washington during his visit. They will discuss joint security challenges, Middle East security, and military cooperation.
One of Eisenkot's main topics of discussion with his American counterparts will be the American military aid package to Israel. It now seems that the two sides are close to bridging the gaps on the deal, which may be agreed upon as early as this week. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has stated on multiple occasions that the multy-year deal will be signed before Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year), which this year will take place on October 2.
The aid deal is a document that is signed once every decade. As party of the latest deal, Israel received some $3.1 billion a year in military aid money. This time however, Israel increased its request to approximately $5 billion in annual aid money.
One of the main disagreements the two sides have relates to several conditions considered unacceptable to Israel. One of these is the demand the Israel not be allowed to use the money to make purchases in Israel. Such a demand could hypothetically bring about the dismissal of thousands of workers in the Israeli security industry, since such an agreement would seriously hinder Israel's security industry's profit capacity. Currently, Israel is allowed to use up to 26.3 percent of aid funds to make purchases from Israeli firms.
A second demand by the US is that Israel refrain from using the aid money for fuel purchases in an effort to maximize Israeli purchases of US military industry products. This would compel Israel to search its coffers for an additional NIS 400 million for its defense budget for fuel purchases which would have an adverse effect on other sectors.
IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot landed in the United States on Sunday for a four-day visit, as the guest of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, US Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford.
Lt. Gen Eisenkot will meet with security personnel in Utah, Florida, and Washington during his visit. They will discuss joint security challenges, Middle East security, and military cooperation.
One of Eisenkot's main topics of discussion with his American counterparts will be the American military aid package to Israel. It now seems that the two sides are close to bridging the gaps on the deal, which may be agreed upon as early as this week. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman has stated on multiple occasions that the multy-year deal will be signed before Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year), which this year will take place on October 2.
The aid deal is a document that is signed once every decade. As party of the latest deal, Israel received some $3.1 billion a year in military aid money. This time however, Israel increased its request to approximately $5 billion in annual aid money.
One of the main disagreements the two sides have relates to several conditions considered unacceptable to Israel. One of these is the demand the Israel not be allowed to use the money to make purchases in Israel. Such a demand could hypothetically bring about the dismissal of thousands of workers in the Israeli security industry, since such an agreement would seriously hinder Israel's security industry's profit capacity. Currently, Israel is allowed to use up to 26.3 percent of aid funds to make purchases from Israeli firms.
A second demand by the US is that Israel refrain from using the aid money for fuel purchases in an effort to maximize Israeli purchases of US military industry products. This would compel Israel to search its coffers for an additional NIS 400 million for its defense budget for fuel purchases which would have an adverse effect on other sectors.
29 july 2016
The US State Department strongly condemned, in a statement issued on Wednesday, Israel’s continued settlement expansion in occupied Jerusalem.
State Department Spokesman John Kirby said, in the statement, that the United States was “deeply concerned” by reports of the Israeli government opening tenders for 323 additional units in several Israeli settlements east of occupied Jerusalem.
He expressed, according to the PNN, his government’s disapproval of plans to build an additional 770 units in the illegal Israeli settlement of Gilo, which was announced Monday.
In the statement, Kirby said that the actions of the Israeli government, aimed at fast-tracking the resettlement of Israeli Jewish citizens into settlements on Palestinian territory, appeared to represent a steady acceleration of settlement activity that is systematically undermining the prospects for a two-state solution:
“We remain troubled that Israel continues this pattern of provocative and counterproductive action, which raises serious questions about Israel’s ultimate commitment to a peaceful, negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.”
Kirby’s statement has joined a long line of other nations, international organizations, and rights groups, including the European Union and United Nations, that have condemned Israel’s policies in the occupied Palestinian territory, which have escalated to a concerning degree over the past several months.
State Department Spokesman John Kirby said, in the statement, that the United States was “deeply concerned” by reports of the Israeli government opening tenders for 323 additional units in several Israeli settlements east of occupied Jerusalem.
He expressed, according to the PNN, his government’s disapproval of plans to build an additional 770 units in the illegal Israeli settlement of Gilo, which was announced Monday.
In the statement, Kirby said that the actions of the Israeli government, aimed at fast-tracking the resettlement of Israeli Jewish citizens into settlements on Palestinian territory, appeared to represent a steady acceleration of settlement activity that is systematically undermining the prospects for a two-state solution:
“We remain troubled that Israel continues this pattern of provocative and counterproductive action, which raises serious questions about Israel’s ultimate commitment to a peaceful, negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.”
Kirby’s statement has joined a long line of other nations, international organizations, and rights groups, including the European Union and United Nations, that have condemned Israel’s policies in the occupied Palestinian territory, which have escalated to a concerning degree over the past several months.
28 june 2016
21 june 2016
Israel’s newly installed defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, met Monday with his U.S. counterpart, Ashton Carter.
Lieberman, who last month replaced longtime defense minister Moshe Yaalon, is in Washington, D.C., seeking to reassure Israel’s closest ally that the transition will be smooth.
“Secretary Carter and Minister Lieberman reaffirmed the strength of the U.S.- Israeli defense relationship and the United States’ unwavering commitment to Israel’s security,” the Pentagon said in a statement after the meeting.
The Pentagon statement said Lieberman would travel to Fort Worth, Texas, to see the rollout of the first F-35, or joint strike fighter, meant for use in Israel.
The F-35 is believed to be the most advanced combat jet in use. “Israel will be the first foreign partner to receive the F-35, which will play a key role in maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge in the Middle East,” the statement said.
Lieberman, who last month replaced longtime defense minister Moshe Yaalon, is in Washington, D.C., seeking to reassure Israel’s closest ally that the transition will be smooth.
“Secretary Carter and Minister Lieberman reaffirmed the strength of the U.S.- Israeli defense relationship and the United States’ unwavering commitment to Israel’s security,” the Pentagon said in a statement after the meeting.
The Pentagon statement said Lieberman would travel to Fort Worth, Texas, to see the rollout of the first F-35, or joint strike fighter, meant for use in Israel.
The F-35 is believed to be the most advanced combat jet in use. “Israel will be the first foreign partner to receive the F-35, which will play a key role in maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge in the Middle East,” the statement said.