5 aug 2019
Former South African President Nelson Mandela's grandson, Chief Mandla Mandela joins hundreds of demonstrators at an inter-denominational march of members of pro-Palestinian groups and other civil society organisations during the holy month of Ramadan in Durban on June 2, 2018, to protest against Israel's handling of protests and violence in the Palestinian territories
Today, the 5th August marks 57 years since President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela’s arrest near Howick, KwaZulu Natal, in 1962.
The Apartheid regime was in cahoots with the CIA and the USA regime to effect his capture. Once again the USA government was on the wrong side of history a penchant it seems to pursue to this today.
Quite contrary to this position, the civil rights movement in America as part of the global anti-apartheid campaign stood squarely in the corner of President Mandela and the liberation struggle in South Africa.
Madiba’s arrest followed his return from military training by the Algerian FNLA part of a 16 country tour he undertook to mobilise support for the armed struggle. Upon his return he criss-crossed the country for 17 months briefing leadership often appearing in disguise at gatherings.
We mark this day not only to commemorate the historic deception but also to say to the world that the very regimes that were complicit in his arrest today continue to support Apartheid Israel [pdf] and an agenda of regime change in the Middle East, Latin America and elsewhere.
The US government and its lackeys in the UK are no friends of peace, justice and equality. They are no friends of the Palestinian people a cause so close to Nelson Mandela’s heart.
As we commemorate Madiba’s arrest we also remember his principled stand on Cuba. During the long years of his incarceration he drew immense inspiration from Commandante Fidel Castro, the broader Cuban leadership and heroic people. We salute the thousands of Cuban heroes who laid down their lives for our freedom and the freedom of many nations all over Africa. We demand an end to the unjust embargo unilaterally imposed upon Cuba by the USA.
President Mandela’s arrest marked a turning point in our struggle for liberation as the Apartheid regime became more brutal in its suppression of the liberation movement. We call on all freedom loving people around the world to work together to end human suffering, poverty and hunger.
We call on all freedom loving people to support the causes that Madiba championed especially the Palestinian struggle, ending the occupation of Western Sahara and the right of self-determination for the people of Kashmir.
Madiba’s arrest deprived a family, nation and the African continent of a great leader but it failed to crush our resolve to work for a better world.
Today, the 5th August marks 57 years since President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela’s arrest near Howick, KwaZulu Natal, in 1962.
The Apartheid regime was in cahoots with the CIA and the USA regime to effect his capture. Once again the USA government was on the wrong side of history a penchant it seems to pursue to this today.
Quite contrary to this position, the civil rights movement in America as part of the global anti-apartheid campaign stood squarely in the corner of President Mandela and the liberation struggle in South Africa.
Madiba’s arrest followed his return from military training by the Algerian FNLA part of a 16 country tour he undertook to mobilise support for the armed struggle. Upon his return he criss-crossed the country for 17 months briefing leadership often appearing in disguise at gatherings.
We mark this day not only to commemorate the historic deception but also to say to the world that the very regimes that were complicit in his arrest today continue to support Apartheid Israel [pdf] and an agenda of regime change in the Middle East, Latin America and elsewhere.
The US government and its lackeys in the UK are no friends of peace, justice and equality. They are no friends of the Palestinian people a cause so close to Nelson Mandela’s heart.
As we commemorate Madiba’s arrest we also remember his principled stand on Cuba. During the long years of his incarceration he drew immense inspiration from Commandante Fidel Castro, the broader Cuban leadership and heroic people. We salute the thousands of Cuban heroes who laid down their lives for our freedom and the freedom of many nations all over Africa. We demand an end to the unjust embargo unilaterally imposed upon Cuba by the USA.
President Mandela’s arrest marked a turning point in our struggle for liberation as the Apartheid regime became more brutal in its suppression of the liberation movement. We call on all freedom loving people around the world to work together to end human suffering, poverty and hunger.
We call on all freedom loving people to support the causes that Madiba championed especially the Palestinian struggle, ending the occupation of Western Sahara and the right of self-determination for the people of Kashmir.
Madiba’s arrest deprived a family, nation and the African continent of a great leader but it failed to crush our resolve to work for a better world.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is ready to “go to the White House and continue what [he] started with [US President] Donald Trump.”
With this and other confusing statements, Abbas tried to articulate the new Palestinian political agenda to foreign reporters in Ramallah last month.
According to Abbas, the PA is ready to return to negotiations with Israel if two conditions are met: Washington is to reverse its stance on East Jerusalem, thus recognising it as an occupied Palestinian city; and there is a renewed commitment to the so-called two-state solution. “I will not accept a one-state solution because one state will be an apartheid state,” Abbas insisted.
Aside from the Palestinian leader’s insubstantial logic, the official Palestinian discourse emanating from Ramallah these days seems oblivious to the massively changing political reality in Washington over the past two years or so.
Remarks by Abbas, his recently-appointed Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh or other PA officials are apparently based on the logic of a bygone era, one in which the US claimed, however falsely, to be an honest broker for peace; a period that lasted for nearly 25 years and during which PA officials benefited from the massive “peace process” racket, bankrolled by the US and other countries.
However, the jig is up. The PA has ceased to serve any useful purpose for the Israelis and their American benefactors, apart from the continued and shameful “security coordination” aimed largely at suppressing any Palestinian resistance to Israel’s brutal occupation.
Everyone seems to acknowledge this seismic change, except the PA.
While failing to understand the nature of the new challenge and redeem its past mistakes, the PA insists on remaining a major stumbling block to a new Palestinian strategy, one that should counter relentless US-Israeli efforts aimed at circumventing international law and, as a result, dismissing all Palestinian rights entirely.
Listening to PA officials speak makes one wonder if they are truly aware that the language coming out of Washington has shifted unmistakably, not only in its degree of bias towards Israel, but also in its complete adoption of the Israeli narrative in terms of nuances, religious fervour and political priorities.
US officials now speak as one with members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing extremist coalition.
The following examples illustrate the new US rhetoric that requires a complete Palestinian departure from their tired and clichéd language of the past.
On 6 December, 2017, Donald Trump said in a White House statement: “Jerusalem is not just the heart of three great religions, but it is now also the heart of one of the most successful democracies in the world.
Over the past seven decades, the Israeli people have built a country where Jews, Muslims, and Christians, and people of all faiths are free to live and worship according to their conscience and according to their beliefs. But today, we finally acknowledge the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. This is nothing more, or less, than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do.”
Trump’s infatuation with Israel is paralleled by complete disrespect and disregard for Palestinians.
On 2 January 2018, he tweeted: “We pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don’t even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with Israel. We have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table, but Israel, for that, would have had to pay more. But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”
US Vice President Mike Pence concurs. On 15 May last year, Pence said in celebration of Israel’s independence that Trump had done more to bring the US and Israel “closer together in a year than any president in the past 70 years.” He referred to him as “the greatest defender the Jewish state has ever had.” According to Pence, “President Trump made history now.”
For her part, former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley played a major role in trying to marginalise Palestinians on the international stage.
On 6 October last year she insisted that, “The Palestinians are not a UN Member State or any state at all. The United States will continually point that out in our remarks at UN events led by the Palestinians.”
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, meanwhile, has the perfect blend of Pence’s religious fanaticism and Haley’s political opportunism. In an interview with the New York Times published on 8 June, he said that, “Under certain circumstances, I think Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank.”
Friedman’s open support for Israeli colonialism was matched by comments made by US Middle East “peace” envoy Jason Greenblatt two weeks later: “We might get there [to a peace deal] if people stop pretending settlements, or what I prefer to call ‘neighbourhoods and cities’, are the reason for the lack of peace.”
He brushed aside the fact that all of Israel’s colonial-settlements are illegal under international law since they have been built on Palestinian land under Israeli military occupation since 1967.
When the PA dared to protest against such political bullying, Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser Jared Kushner lashed out on 3 July at the “hysterical and erratic” Palestinian leadership. “The door is always open for the Palestinian leadership… If they stop saying crazy things,” he added.
According to the new American political lexicon, Palestinians have absolutely no rights; international law has no relevance; and supposedly democratic Israel is a model state incapable of erring.
In Washington’s la-la land, there can be no room or tolerance for discussions about military occupation, illegal settlements, genocidal wars, sieges and apartheid if they involve even the slightest criticism of Israel.
Considering America’s complete and unconditional adoption of the Israeli agenda, Abbas should stop talking about negotiations and conditions. Instead, he should revitalise and unite the Palestinian front to counter the US-Israeli menace and its political lackeys across the Middle East.
With this and other confusing statements, Abbas tried to articulate the new Palestinian political agenda to foreign reporters in Ramallah last month.
According to Abbas, the PA is ready to return to negotiations with Israel if two conditions are met: Washington is to reverse its stance on East Jerusalem, thus recognising it as an occupied Palestinian city; and there is a renewed commitment to the so-called two-state solution. “I will not accept a one-state solution because one state will be an apartheid state,” Abbas insisted.
Aside from the Palestinian leader’s insubstantial logic, the official Palestinian discourse emanating from Ramallah these days seems oblivious to the massively changing political reality in Washington over the past two years or so.
Remarks by Abbas, his recently-appointed Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh or other PA officials are apparently based on the logic of a bygone era, one in which the US claimed, however falsely, to be an honest broker for peace; a period that lasted for nearly 25 years and during which PA officials benefited from the massive “peace process” racket, bankrolled by the US and other countries.
However, the jig is up. The PA has ceased to serve any useful purpose for the Israelis and their American benefactors, apart from the continued and shameful “security coordination” aimed largely at suppressing any Palestinian resistance to Israel’s brutal occupation.
Everyone seems to acknowledge this seismic change, except the PA.
While failing to understand the nature of the new challenge and redeem its past mistakes, the PA insists on remaining a major stumbling block to a new Palestinian strategy, one that should counter relentless US-Israeli efforts aimed at circumventing international law and, as a result, dismissing all Palestinian rights entirely.
Listening to PA officials speak makes one wonder if they are truly aware that the language coming out of Washington has shifted unmistakably, not only in its degree of bias towards Israel, but also in its complete adoption of the Israeli narrative in terms of nuances, religious fervour and political priorities.
US officials now speak as one with members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing extremist coalition.
The following examples illustrate the new US rhetoric that requires a complete Palestinian departure from their tired and clichéd language of the past.
On 6 December, 2017, Donald Trump said in a White House statement: “Jerusalem is not just the heart of three great religions, but it is now also the heart of one of the most successful democracies in the world.
Over the past seven decades, the Israeli people have built a country where Jews, Muslims, and Christians, and people of all faiths are free to live and worship according to their conscience and according to their beliefs. But today, we finally acknowledge the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. This is nothing more, or less, than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do.”
Trump’s infatuation with Israel is paralleled by complete disrespect and disregard for Palestinians.
On 2 January 2018, he tweeted: “We pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don’t even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with Israel. We have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table, but Israel, for that, would have had to pay more. But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”
US Vice President Mike Pence concurs. On 15 May last year, Pence said in celebration of Israel’s independence that Trump had done more to bring the US and Israel “closer together in a year than any president in the past 70 years.” He referred to him as “the greatest defender the Jewish state has ever had.” According to Pence, “President Trump made history now.”
For her part, former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley played a major role in trying to marginalise Palestinians on the international stage.
On 6 October last year she insisted that, “The Palestinians are not a UN Member State or any state at all. The United States will continually point that out in our remarks at UN events led by the Palestinians.”
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, meanwhile, has the perfect blend of Pence’s religious fanaticism and Haley’s political opportunism. In an interview with the New York Times published on 8 June, he said that, “Under certain circumstances, I think Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank.”
Friedman’s open support for Israeli colonialism was matched by comments made by US Middle East “peace” envoy Jason Greenblatt two weeks later: “We might get there [to a peace deal] if people stop pretending settlements, or what I prefer to call ‘neighbourhoods and cities’, are the reason for the lack of peace.”
He brushed aside the fact that all of Israel’s colonial-settlements are illegal under international law since they have been built on Palestinian land under Israeli military occupation since 1967.
When the PA dared to protest against such political bullying, Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser Jared Kushner lashed out on 3 July at the “hysterical and erratic” Palestinian leadership. “The door is always open for the Palestinian leadership… If they stop saying crazy things,” he added.
According to the new American political lexicon, Palestinians have absolutely no rights; international law has no relevance; and supposedly democratic Israel is a model state incapable of erring.
In Washington’s la-la land, there can be no room or tolerance for discussions about military occupation, illegal settlements, genocidal wars, sieges and apartheid if they involve even the slightest criticism of Israel.
Considering America’s complete and unconditional adoption of the Israeli agenda, Abbas should stop talking about negotiations and conditions. Instead, he should revitalise and unite the Palestinian front to counter the US-Israeli menace and its political lackeys across the Middle East.
1 aug 2019
A right-wing Israeli NGO filed, on Wednesday, a petition to have US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar barred from entering Israel, when she arrives for an upcoming tour, because she supports the international boycott of Israel (BDS).
The organization, Shurat HaDin, asked the Israeli Jerusalem District Court, on Tuesday, to demand that Interior Minister Aryeh Deri exercise his power to deny Omar entry.
Omar expressed, during recent weeks, her desire to visit occupied Palestine, along with Palestinian-American Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from Michigan.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, stated, according to Al Ray, that Israel will not prevent Omar Tlaib from entering Israel, when they arrive for a planned tour, in August.
Shuran HaDin said that its petition included proof of Omar’s activities supporting the BDS movement, including her sponsorship of a bill to allow the boycotting of Israel, earlier this month.
The NGO also cited a recent tweet by US President Donald Trump, calling on Omar and Tlaib to apologize to Israel, the White House and the American people, due to their “horrible statements.
It is noteworthy that the movement of BDS is quite active in the United States, especially in American universities.
Israel considers any anti- Israeli occupation activity as anti-Semitic, although many American Jews are involved in the activity of the boycott movement, because of their opposition to Israeli policies.
The organization, Shurat HaDin, asked the Israeli Jerusalem District Court, on Tuesday, to demand that Interior Minister Aryeh Deri exercise his power to deny Omar entry.
Omar expressed, during recent weeks, her desire to visit occupied Palestine, along with Palestinian-American Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from Michigan.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, stated, according to Al Ray, that Israel will not prevent Omar Tlaib from entering Israel, when they arrive for a planned tour, in August.
Shuran HaDin said that its petition included proof of Omar’s activities supporting the BDS movement, including her sponsorship of a bill to allow the boycotting of Israel, earlier this month.
The NGO also cited a recent tweet by US President Donald Trump, calling on Omar and Tlaib to apologize to Israel, the White House and the American people, due to their “horrible statements.
It is noteworthy that the movement of BDS is quite active in the United States, especially in American universities.
Israel considers any anti- Israeli occupation activity as anti-Semitic, although many American Jews are involved in the activity of the boycott movement, because of their opposition to Israeli policies.
For the fourth year in a row, and despite the urging of several leading human rights organizations and experts, including United Nations Special Rapporteurs, the United Nations has failed again to include Israel in its annual blacklist of armed forces that commit atrocities against youth, said Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), today.
“This failure is inexcusable, given Israel’s dismal human rights record and its documented abuses against Palestinian children, including the arbitrary detention of hundreds of children every year, its use of torture against them and other grave violations, including the deliberate killing and maiming of roughly 2,800 Palestinian children in 2018 alone.
Turning a blind eye to Israeli crimes and failing to apply such nominal standards of accountability emboldens the occupying power to escalate its flagrant violations, as documented and reported by human rights organizations,” she said in a statement, according to WAFA.
“In light of the international community’s abdication of its responsibilities vis-à-vis international law, it is no surprise that Israel continues to commit war crimes and violate international law and human rights on a daily basis with shameful impunity.
Additionally, the right-wing in Israel is exploiting the current US-Israeli partnership to create new facts on the ground with absolute disregard to international law and declared rejection of the internationally-endorsed requirements of peace, including Palestinian statehood.
This was clearly evident in the Israeli Cabinet’s farcical “approval” of Palestinian homes in so-called Area C in the occupied West Bank as a way to whitewash the construction of 6,000 new illegal settlement units on stolen Palestinian land. In this regard, we reaffirm that all settlement construction in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, is illegal and constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute. Israeli intransigence and American collusion cannot change this legal fact or set it aside.”
Ashrawi concluded by stressing that “the international community and its bodies have a legal and moral obligation to hold Israel accountable for its relentless criminality and rogue conduct, to preserve the standing and relevance of the international rules-based system, and to ensure that the Palestinian people enjoy their inalienable and absolute rights to self-determination and freedom.
“Peace and prosperity in the region will remain elusive so long as racist and colonial agendas that dismiss Palestinian rights are perpetuated by international inaction on the one hand and US collusion on the other.”
“This failure is inexcusable, given Israel’s dismal human rights record and its documented abuses against Palestinian children, including the arbitrary detention of hundreds of children every year, its use of torture against them and other grave violations, including the deliberate killing and maiming of roughly 2,800 Palestinian children in 2018 alone.
Turning a blind eye to Israeli crimes and failing to apply such nominal standards of accountability emboldens the occupying power to escalate its flagrant violations, as documented and reported by human rights organizations,” she said in a statement, according to WAFA.
“In light of the international community’s abdication of its responsibilities vis-à-vis international law, it is no surprise that Israel continues to commit war crimes and violate international law and human rights on a daily basis with shameful impunity.
Additionally, the right-wing in Israel is exploiting the current US-Israeli partnership to create new facts on the ground with absolute disregard to international law and declared rejection of the internationally-endorsed requirements of peace, including Palestinian statehood.
This was clearly evident in the Israeli Cabinet’s farcical “approval” of Palestinian homes in so-called Area C in the occupied West Bank as a way to whitewash the construction of 6,000 new illegal settlement units on stolen Palestinian land. In this regard, we reaffirm that all settlement construction in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, is illegal and constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute. Israeli intransigence and American collusion cannot change this legal fact or set it aside.”
Ashrawi concluded by stressing that “the international community and its bodies have a legal and moral obligation to hold Israel accountable for its relentless criminality and rogue conduct, to preserve the standing and relevance of the international rules-based system, and to ensure that the Palestinian people enjoy their inalienable and absolute rights to self-determination and freedom.
“Peace and prosperity in the region will remain elusive so long as racist and colonial agendas that dismiss Palestinian rights are perpetuated by international inaction on the one hand and US collusion on the other.”
31 july 2019
Official says Kushner, who is currently meeting regional leaders in Mideast , will upon returning 'discuss the many potential next steps to expand upon the success of the Bahrain workshop'
A senior White House official denied Wednesday that President Donald Trump is planning a summit of Arab leaders at Camp David to unveil his self-styled "deal of the century" for Middle East peace.
The plan to hold the summit was first revealed in Ynet's sister publication Yedioth Ahronoth on Wednesday morning.
According to the American official, “no summit has currently been planned."
He said that the U.S. team on the Middle East, which is headed by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and is at present in the region, "will report back to the president, the vice president, the secretary of state and the National Security Council upon returning to discuss the many potential next steps to expand upon the success of the Bahrain workshop.”
The official was referring to the June conference in Bahrain, which focused on advancing the peace process via economic benefits for the Palestinians but whose leaders were not invited to attend.
Kushner was meeting Wednesday with the Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman and later in the day with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. He and his entourage will then holds talks in Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
A Washington official who has been following the preparations for Kushner's trip said that the current intention is that Netanyahu will not attend the Camp David conference, as his participation would make it difficult for Arab invitees to accept.
The summit was reportedly planned together with Netanyahu and his ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer.
Trump is expected to present the deal without going into binding detail. For example, he will agree to a Palestinian entity, but not necessarily a state, he is likely to say yes to a Palestinian presence in East Jerusalem but not necessarily as the capital of a Palestinian state, and so on.
The American denial came hours after the Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the planned U.S. summit.
The summit, according to the Palestinian Authority, is aimed at strengthening Netanyahu ahead of the September elections, establishing normalized Israeli-Arab relations and pushing aside the Arab League-endorsed Saudi peace initiative of 2002.
Furthermore, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said, holding the conference is a sign that the U.S. does not view the Palestinian leadership as a partner for peace - and that Washington wants to reach an agreement without the Palestinians, thereby also eliminating the concept of a two-state solution.
The Palestinians have warned the U.S. against coming to the aid of Netanyahu, whom they say is trying to implement Israeli law in the West Bank and beyond.
Abbas is expected to reject the plan outright, while Netanyahu is likely to praise the move, but say he has many reservations, without elaborating. The Arab rulers will lend the process legitimacy by attending the Camp David conference.
A senior White House official denied Wednesday that President Donald Trump is planning a summit of Arab leaders at Camp David to unveil his self-styled "deal of the century" for Middle East peace.
The plan to hold the summit was first revealed in Ynet's sister publication Yedioth Ahronoth on Wednesday morning.
According to the American official, “no summit has currently been planned."
He said that the U.S. team on the Middle East, which is headed by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and is at present in the region, "will report back to the president, the vice president, the secretary of state and the National Security Council upon returning to discuss the many potential next steps to expand upon the success of the Bahrain workshop.”
The official was referring to the June conference in Bahrain, which focused on advancing the peace process via economic benefits for the Palestinians but whose leaders were not invited to attend.
Kushner was meeting Wednesday with the Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman and later in the day with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. He and his entourage will then holds talks in Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
A Washington official who has been following the preparations for Kushner's trip said that the current intention is that Netanyahu will not attend the Camp David conference, as his participation would make it difficult for Arab invitees to accept.
The summit was reportedly planned together with Netanyahu and his ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer.
Trump is expected to present the deal without going into binding detail. For example, he will agree to a Palestinian entity, but not necessarily a state, he is likely to say yes to a Palestinian presence in East Jerusalem but not necessarily as the capital of a Palestinian state, and so on.
The American denial came hours after the Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the planned U.S. summit.
The summit, according to the Palestinian Authority, is aimed at strengthening Netanyahu ahead of the September elections, establishing normalized Israeli-Arab relations and pushing aside the Arab League-endorsed Saudi peace initiative of 2002.
Furthermore, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said, holding the conference is a sign that the U.S. does not view the Palestinian leadership as a partner for peace - and that Washington wants to reach an agreement without the Palestinians, thereby also eliminating the concept of a two-state solution.
The Palestinians have warned the U.S. against coming to the aid of Netanyahu, whom they say is trying to implement Israeli law in the West Bank and beyond.
Abbas is expected to reject the plan outright, while Netanyahu is likely to praise the move, but say he has many reservations, without elaborating. The Arab rulers will lend the process legitimacy by attending the Camp David conference.
Kushner sets off to for Mideast visit to persuade leaders to attend the conference, set to take place before the Israeli September 17 elections; Netanyahu involved in the designing of peace plan Trump will present, but will not attend the conference
Senior White House advisor Jared Kushner is set to invite Arab Mideast leaders to a peace conference in the U.S. during his visit to the region, launched on Wednesday.
The peace conference is to take place in Camp David, the U.S. President's country retreat, and U.S. President Donald Trump is set to present his Mideast Peace Plan during the conference.
According to an unnamed source in Washington, the conference is set to take place before the September 17 elections in Israel; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dremer were involved in the designing the plan.
However, the source believes Netanyahu will not take place in the conference, since his presence will make it difficult for Kushner to convince Arab leaders to attend it.
The peace conference serves both Trump and Netanyahu's election campaigns; it portrays Netanyahu as a global leader and could affect Blue and White and the Labor parties' refusal to join his coalition after the elections.
On Tuesday, the security cabinet unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to build 700 housing units for Palestinians living in the West Bank’s Area C, which is under full Israeli civil and security control.
The decision, that outraged rightist circles, was set to assist Kushner in convincing Arab leaders in taking part in the planned peace conference.
Kushner is set to travel to Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to hold talks during his current visit.
Trump is expected to present the peace plan in Camp David without going into details and conditions; yes to a Palestinian entity, but not necessarily a Palestinian state, yes to Palestinian presence in Jerusalem, but not necessarily as a capital.
PA leader Mahmoud Abbas is likely to rule the plan out, while other Arab leaders will legitimate the move simply by attending the conference. Netanyahu, on his hand, is likely to praise the move and say he has many reservations without specifying.
Last week, Jordanian King Abdullah II met with Abbas in Amman. After the meeting, the two published an announcement supporting a Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem — both demands that Kushner aspires to get off the table.
"Both sides believe it is important to reach a steady peace between Israelis and Palestinians and stress that they will continue to back Palestinians in getting their legal rights and establishing a state based on the 1967 border, with East Jerusalem as its capital," said the mutual statement.
Senior White House advisor Jared Kushner is set to invite Arab Mideast leaders to a peace conference in the U.S. during his visit to the region, launched on Wednesday.
The peace conference is to take place in Camp David, the U.S. President's country retreat, and U.S. President Donald Trump is set to present his Mideast Peace Plan during the conference.
According to an unnamed source in Washington, the conference is set to take place before the September 17 elections in Israel; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dremer were involved in the designing the plan.
However, the source believes Netanyahu will not take place in the conference, since his presence will make it difficult for Kushner to convince Arab leaders to attend it.
The peace conference serves both Trump and Netanyahu's election campaigns; it portrays Netanyahu as a global leader and could affect Blue and White and the Labor parties' refusal to join his coalition after the elections.
On Tuesday, the security cabinet unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to build 700 housing units for Palestinians living in the West Bank’s Area C, which is under full Israeli civil and security control.
The decision, that outraged rightist circles, was set to assist Kushner in convincing Arab leaders in taking part in the planned peace conference.
Kushner is set to travel to Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to hold talks during his current visit.
Trump is expected to present the peace plan in Camp David without going into details and conditions; yes to a Palestinian entity, but not necessarily a Palestinian state, yes to Palestinian presence in Jerusalem, but not necessarily as a capital.
PA leader Mahmoud Abbas is likely to rule the plan out, while other Arab leaders will legitimate the move simply by attending the conference. Netanyahu, on his hand, is likely to praise the move and say he has many reservations without specifying.
Last week, Jordanian King Abdullah II met with Abbas in Amman. After the meeting, the two published an announcement supporting a Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem — both demands that Kushner aspires to get off the table.
"Both sides believe it is important to reach a steady peace between Israelis and Palestinians and stress that they will continue to back Palestinians in getting their legal rights and establishing a state based on the 1967 border, with East Jerusalem as its capital," said the mutual statement.
The Socialist International (SI), which concluded today its conference held in Ramallah, affirmed its solidarity and stand by the Palestinian people in facing the American "deal of the century", which is aimed at liquidating the Palestinian cause, according to Nabil Shaath, advisor to President Mahmoud Abbas on International Relations and Vice President of SI.Shaath said in a telephone interview with WAFA that the participants in the conference unanimously condemned the violations and crimes of the Israeli occupying power against the Palestinian people, including killings, arrests, home demolitions and expansion of the illegal Israeli settlements, and affirmed the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state on the 4 June 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
He pointed out that the conference was held specifically to support the struggle of the Palestinian people against the Israeli occupation and “all conspiracies” aimed at the liquidation of the Palestinian cause, explaining the importance of positions issued by members of the Socialist International, particularly since some of them govern in their countries.
"The convening of the conference in Palestine with the participation of dozens of the ruling Socialist parties and the opposition from different countries of the world serves as an important international support for the Palestinian people and their leadership at this difficult stage in which the Palestinian issue is facing the most dangerous liquidation plans," Shaath said.
He noted that the Israeli Meretz Party participated in the conference and approved all the decisions contained in its final communique.
"The Palestinian issue has been on the agenda and events of the Socialist International since its inception in 1951, which re-affirmed during its conferences all international resolutions related to Palestine," said Shaath.
He noted that Fatah becoming a full member in the SI in 2011 and with the National Initiative and the Popular Struggle Front joining it have contributed to great deal in introducing the Palestinian narrative and position from various developments, which prompted SI to adopt dozens of important decisions on Palestine.
Shaath said that the most important decisions of SI were to invite its members to play a role with their governments to unconditionally recognize the state of Palestine on the borders of June 4, 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital, in addition to its clear position on Israeli settlement activities in the Palestinian territories, which it said constitute a flagrant violation of international law and an obstacle to peace.
Socialist International is a political organization with 162 member organizations and political parties from around the world.
He pointed out that the conference was held specifically to support the struggle of the Palestinian people against the Israeli occupation and “all conspiracies” aimed at the liquidation of the Palestinian cause, explaining the importance of positions issued by members of the Socialist International, particularly since some of them govern in their countries.
"The convening of the conference in Palestine with the participation of dozens of the ruling Socialist parties and the opposition from different countries of the world serves as an important international support for the Palestinian people and their leadership at this difficult stage in which the Palestinian issue is facing the most dangerous liquidation plans," Shaath said.
He noted that the Israeli Meretz Party participated in the conference and approved all the decisions contained in its final communique.
"The Palestinian issue has been on the agenda and events of the Socialist International since its inception in 1951, which re-affirmed during its conferences all international resolutions related to Palestine," said Shaath.
He noted that Fatah becoming a full member in the SI in 2011 and with the National Initiative and the Popular Struggle Front joining it have contributed to great deal in introducing the Palestinian narrative and position from various developments, which prompted SI to adopt dozens of important decisions on Palestine.
Shaath said that the most important decisions of SI were to invite its members to play a role with their governments to unconditionally recognize the state of Palestine on the borders of June 4, 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital, in addition to its clear position on Israeli settlement activities in the Palestinian territories, which it said constitute a flagrant violation of international law and an obstacle to peace.
Socialist International is a political organization with 162 member organizations and political parties from around the world.
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