15 oct 2017
|
|
The U.S. and Israel are pulling out of UNESCO, over what they call an ‘anti-Israel bias,’ but the move may actually underscore their bias towards basic Palestinian rights. Meanwhile, Palestinian factions Fateh and Hamas have reached a new unity deal.
Ali Abunimah is co-founder of the award-winning online publication The Electronic Intifada and author of ‘One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse’. His latest book is titled ‘The Battle for Justice in Palestine’. Based in Chicago, he has written hundreds of articles on the question of Palestine in major publications including The New York Times, The Guardian and for Al Jazeera. |
TRNN transcript:
AARON MATÉ It’s The Real News. I’m Aaron Maté. The US and Israel are pulling out from the U.N. body UNESCO. UNESCO is responsible for international cooperation in education, science, culture, and communication. The US government and Israel say it has an anti-Israel bias. Is UNESCO really being punished because in fact, Israel and the US have an anti-Palestinian bias? Over US and Israeli objections, UNESCO has admitted Palestine as a member and has declared the Palestinian city of Hebron, a world heritage site in danger. Ali Abunimah is co-founder of the website, Electronic Intifada and his latest book is The Battle for Justice in Palestine. Ali, welcome. You have an article up at The Electronic Intifada saying that in doing this, in pulling out of UNESCO, the US is putting Israel first.
ALI ABUNIMAH: Yes, it’s extraordinary because Trump came in shouting, “America first.” The US statement announcing the withdrawal from UNESCO, specifically sites an anti-Israel, alleged anti-Israel bias at UNESCO, which I found extraordinary because it’s impossible to imagine the US citing an anti-British, or anti-Canadian, or anti-French bias for any action it might take. That would subject the President to all kinds of accusations of putting another country first but that seems to be quite normal in this country, and especially odd, I think, when we have all of this hysteria about supposed Russian interference.
AARON MATÉ Right. Yes, the, one of the main topics of focus right now. Let’s talk more about UNESCO. Israel’s been leading a campaign against it for a long time and UNESCO’s crime appears to be that it’s voiced concern for the very precarious state of Palestinian areas like Hebron and also the Old City of Jerusalem.
ALI ABUNIMAH: Yeah. It’s important to understand, sort of to step back and look at the context of military occupation and colonization by Israel. As everyone knows, Israel has been aggressively colonizing the west bank for decades, particularly in and around Jerusalem. One of the key elements of this colonization project is staking pseudo historical claims based on archeology. Israel has always used heritage, and culture and archeology as a weapon to try to legitimize its illegal colonization. What UNESCO has done has to raise the red flag on this and to point out that Israel has systematically undermined some major sites, including the sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, and it has declared the Old City of Jerusalem a world heritage site in danger for a number of years, because of Israeli excavations, and colonization, and other actions.It made that declaration in Hebron as well over the summer. Israel’s objection has also been based on a lie that the various U.N. resolutions, the various UNESCO resolutions on these matters have denied Jewish connections either to the al-Aqsa compound, Temple Mount in Jerusalem, or to the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. You hear this claim repeated all the time and it’s an absolute lie. Those resolutions, in fact, recognize explicitly that these places are venerated by Muslims, Christians, and Jews. There’s no denial of any connection. What the resolutions state explicitly is that these sites are in occupied Palestinian territory. Israel’s objection to that is that Israel objects to international law. Israel doesn’t want international law enforced. Simply put, stating international law as it is, that no one disputes that these are occupied territories, is what Israel and the United States call, “Anti-Israel bias.”
AARON MATÉ Right, Ali. What you’re talking about there, I’m just thinking, it’s a wonderful metaphor for how defenders of Israeli government policies have long, the terms in which they framed this conflict. If you recognize basic Palestinian existence, humanity. Like for example, recognizing their connection to the sites where they’ve lived forever, then all of a sudden you’re denying a Jewish, you’re denying Jewish rights and you’re denying Jewish identity. It really is quite striking. Let me ask you, whenever I interview you about the Israel Palestine conflict, it’s like every single time we have to point out that these policies predate Trump.This story with UNESCO is no exception, because after UNESCO voted to admit Palestine as a member back in 2011 I think, it was the administration of Barack Obama that cut funding to UNESCO in response. Now, that’s put the U.S. in arrears for hundreds of millions of dollars. What this decision by Trump now means, is that the U.S. is not going to have to pay … It’s not going to pay its bill, so it owes UNESCO something like $500 million in dues, but now because Trump is pulling out, the U.S. is not going to cover the dues that it owes because Obama cut its payments back five years ago.
ALI ABUNIMAH: Well, that’s right. All of these policies are a continuation. Of course, Trump is only the latest President to provide political and diplomatic cover to Israel’s crimes, its colonization, its occupation, and so on. Of course, Obama was doing that. While he was cutting funding to UNESCO, let’s remember that Obama is the one who a year ago signed a memorandum with Israel to give it the biggest military aid package in the history of the United States, starting from the coming year, the coming fiscal year. Obama was also a continuation of that policy. It’s important not to reduce this to big bad all Trump. These are U.S. policies that have been fundamentally structurally anti-Palestinian for decades.As it regards UNESCO and the presence of Israel and the United States, I mean, I would say, “Good riddance,” to them, because what they have done is turn UNESCO and other U.N. agencies into tools for their own attempts to legitimize Israel’s violations of international law and Palestinian rights, now perhaps without the distraction of Israel’s bullying and smear campaigns. Remember when the votes went against it last year, Israeli diplomats started comparing UNESCO to ISIS. That’s the level of defamation and smearing that Israel gets into. I think without those distractions, without the sabotage by the United States and Israel, perhaps UNESCO can go on to do some good in the world.I welcome Israel’s announcement that it plans to withdrawal from UNESCO and encourage Israel to go much further and to withdraw from other U.N. agencies and indeed from the United Nations altogether. I think that would be fitting, since Israel has since its establishment, shown nothing but utter contempt for the United Nations, utter disregard for international law, and is in violation of more U.N. resolutions by far than any other state. I would say, “Good riddance to Israel,” and encourage it to follow the logic of its departure from UNESCO and to leave altogether.
AARON MATÉ Ali, let me switch gears a little bit to this news coming out of the occupied territories. Just on Thursday, the two main Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, assigned a reconciliation agreement in Cairo. It seems like a pretty big concession for Hamas, because they’re effectively giving up day-to-day control of Gaza, which they’ve been in control of for a decade now. Also, Gaza’s borders. Your thoughts on what’s just happened here.
ALI ABUNIMAH: Well, it’s déjà vu. They’ve signed I don’t know how many reconciliation agreements over the past few years. Right now, there is tremendous optimism, or hope let’s say, among Palestinians, particularly in Gaza that this will yield something, because the situation in Gaza is so desperate. Hamas is really in a bind. It is really besieged and cornered in Gaza, so it needed to do something to break out and change the situation. I’m honestly very skeptical that it’s going to lead to any dramatic change, because really the fundamental disagreement between Hamas and Fatah, or Hamas and the Palestinian authority run by Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction, has not been addressed by this deal. Which is, that Hamas is an armed resistance movement that has fought three wars against Israel in the last decade, while Abbas and his authority work closely with the Israeli occupation army in the west bank.It seems impossible, it is impossible to reconcile, on the one hand, a group that is collaborating with the occupation, on the other hand, with a group that is resisting to it. The only way to resolve this, is if Abbas gives up his collaborative relationship with the Israeli occupation, or Hamas surrenders its weapons and renounces resistance. Neither of those outcomes are likely and so there’s going to be an attempt at some kind of fudge and to kick it down the road. For all the fanfare of this agreement, they had celebrations in Gaza and so on. The issue of Hamas’ weapons has been kicked down the road. It has not been addressed. You have Israel saying, “That we will not accept any agreement in which Hamas does not surrender its weapons.” Really, I don’t see anything fundamental going to change.I think it’s important to understand the split among the Palestinian factions, not really as an internal issue but as a product of the relationship with Israel. Is that Israel will only deal with and accept Palestinian leaders who collaborate with the occupation. It will not accept a resistance movement as part of a Palestinian political establishment. I think that really raises fundamental questions about what the Palestinian strategy is. Is it to continue to go along with this dead peace process of collaborating and cooperating with Israel? Or does there have to be some kind of broader strategy that mobilizes Palestinians to resist?
AARON MATÉ Right. I mean, Israel is so opposed to Hamas and its insistence on its right to resist, that even when Hamas respects these multiple cease fires that we’ve seen, it’s Israel that we constantly see violating it in an attempt to provoke a violent response.
ALI ABUNIMAH: That’s correct. It’s not just Israel, because the so-called international community is very complicit in this destructive dynamic. Let me give you an example. Last May, Hamas put forward a new charter, which made some really significant concessions. I mean, these were positions that it had taken before, but it sort of formalized them in May. Particularly, accepting the 1967 borders as the outline of the settlement, offering Israel a long term indefinite truce and cease fire, and separating itself from the Muslim Brotherhood saying that, “It’s an independent Palestinian nationalist movement,” and so on. As I’ve pointed out in some of my articles, these are the kinds of shifts in position that were fundamental to making breakthroughs in Ireland with Sinn Féin and the IRA on the one hand and the British and the loyalist on the others.What had to happen was there had to be reciprocal steps. What you’d expect to see now, for example, is the European Union as one example, acknowledging those changes in Hamas’ position, and opening up some kind of dialogue, and encouraging Israel to offer something reciprocal. Instead, what we’ve seen is the European Union taking the same hard-line rejectionist approach as Israel and is saying, “We will have no change in policy. We will not talk to them.” Effectively, the Palestinian resistance has to surrender. What that guarantees is that there is going to be no political breakthrough and I think it increases the likelihood of another war against Gaza with potentially even more catastrophic consequences. We have to be very clear that if and when that happens it will not be because of Hamas. It will be because of the rejectionism of Israel and its international supporters.
AARON MATÉ We have to leave it there. Ali Abunimah, co-founder of The Electronic Intifada. His latest book is The Battle for Justice in Palestine. Thanks, Ali.
ALI ABUNIMAH: Thank you.
AARON MATÉ Thank you for joining us on The Real News.
AARON MATÉ It’s The Real News. I’m Aaron Maté. The US and Israel are pulling out from the U.N. body UNESCO. UNESCO is responsible for international cooperation in education, science, culture, and communication. The US government and Israel say it has an anti-Israel bias. Is UNESCO really being punished because in fact, Israel and the US have an anti-Palestinian bias? Over US and Israeli objections, UNESCO has admitted Palestine as a member and has declared the Palestinian city of Hebron, a world heritage site in danger. Ali Abunimah is co-founder of the website, Electronic Intifada and his latest book is The Battle for Justice in Palestine. Ali, welcome. You have an article up at The Electronic Intifada saying that in doing this, in pulling out of UNESCO, the US is putting Israel first.
ALI ABUNIMAH: Yes, it’s extraordinary because Trump came in shouting, “America first.” The US statement announcing the withdrawal from UNESCO, specifically sites an anti-Israel, alleged anti-Israel bias at UNESCO, which I found extraordinary because it’s impossible to imagine the US citing an anti-British, or anti-Canadian, or anti-French bias for any action it might take. That would subject the President to all kinds of accusations of putting another country first but that seems to be quite normal in this country, and especially odd, I think, when we have all of this hysteria about supposed Russian interference.
AARON MATÉ Right. Yes, the, one of the main topics of focus right now. Let’s talk more about UNESCO. Israel’s been leading a campaign against it for a long time and UNESCO’s crime appears to be that it’s voiced concern for the very precarious state of Palestinian areas like Hebron and also the Old City of Jerusalem.
ALI ABUNIMAH: Yeah. It’s important to understand, sort of to step back and look at the context of military occupation and colonization by Israel. As everyone knows, Israel has been aggressively colonizing the west bank for decades, particularly in and around Jerusalem. One of the key elements of this colonization project is staking pseudo historical claims based on archeology. Israel has always used heritage, and culture and archeology as a weapon to try to legitimize its illegal colonization. What UNESCO has done has to raise the red flag on this and to point out that Israel has systematically undermined some major sites, including the sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, and it has declared the Old City of Jerusalem a world heritage site in danger for a number of years, because of Israeli excavations, and colonization, and other actions.It made that declaration in Hebron as well over the summer. Israel’s objection has also been based on a lie that the various U.N. resolutions, the various UNESCO resolutions on these matters have denied Jewish connections either to the al-Aqsa compound, Temple Mount in Jerusalem, or to the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. You hear this claim repeated all the time and it’s an absolute lie. Those resolutions, in fact, recognize explicitly that these places are venerated by Muslims, Christians, and Jews. There’s no denial of any connection. What the resolutions state explicitly is that these sites are in occupied Palestinian territory. Israel’s objection to that is that Israel objects to international law. Israel doesn’t want international law enforced. Simply put, stating international law as it is, that no one disputes that these are occupied territories, is what Israel and the United States call, “Anti-Israel bias.”
AARON MATÉ Right, Ali. What you’re talking about there, I’m just thinking, it’s a wonderful metaphor for how defenders of Israeli government policies have long, the terms in which they framed this conflict. If you recognize basic Palestinian existence, humanity. Like for example, recognizing their connection to the sites where they’ve lived forever, then all of a sudden you’re denying a Jewish, you’re denying Jewish rights and you’re denying Jewish identity. It really is quite striking. Let me ask you, whenever I interview you about the Israel Palestine conflict, it’s like every single time we have to point out that these policies predate Trump.This story with UNESCO is no exception, because after UNESCO voted to admit Palestine as a member back in 2011 I think, it was the administration of Barack Obama that cut funding to UNESCO in response. Now, that’s put the U.S. in arrears for hundreds of millions of dollars. What this decision by Trump now means, is that the U.S. is not going to have to pay … It’s not going to pay its bill, so it owes UNESCO something like $500 million in dues, but now because Trump is pulling out, the U.S. is not going to cover the dues that it owes because Obama cut its payments back five years ago.
ALI ABUNIMAH: Well, that’s right. All of these policies are a continuation. Of course, Trump is only the latest President to provide political and diplomatic cover to Israel’s crimes, its colonization, its occupation, and so on. Of course, Obama was doing that. While he was cutting funding to UNESCO, let’s remember that Obama is the one who a year ago signed a memorandum with Israel to give it the biggest military aid package in the history of the United States, starting from the coming year, the coming fiscal year. Obama was also a continuation of that policy. It’s important not to reduce this to big bad all Trump. These are U.S. policies that have been fundamentally structurally anti-Palestinian for decades.As it regards UNESCO and the presence of Israel and the United States, I mean, I would say, “Good riddance,” to them, because what they have done is turn UNESCO and other U.N. agencies into tools for their own attempts to legitimize Israel’s violations of international law and Palestinian rights, now perhaps without the distraction of Israel’s bullying and smear campaigns. Remember when the votes went against it last year, Israeli diplomats started comparing UNESCO to ISIS. That’s the level of defamation and smearing that Israel gets into. I think without those distractions, without the sabotage by the United States and Israel, perhaps UNESCO can go on to do some good in the world.I welcome Israel’s announcement that it plans to withdrawal from UNESCO and encourage Israel to go much further and to withdraw from other U.N. agencies and indeed from the United Nations altogether. I think that would be fitting, since Israel has since its establishment, shown nothing but utter contempt for the United Nations, utter disregard for international law, and is in violation of more U.N. resolutions by far than any other state. I would say, “Good riddance to Israel,” and encourage it to follow the logic of its departure from UNESCO and to leave altogether.
AARON MATÉ Ali, let me switch gears a little bit to this news coming out of the occupied territories. Just on Thursday, the two main Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, assigned a reconciliation agreement in Cairo. It seems like a pretty big concession for Hamas, because they’re effectively giving up day-to-day control of Gaza, which they’ve been in control of for a decade now. Also, Gaza’s borders. Your thoughts on what’s just happened here.
ALI ABUNIMAH: Well, it’s déjà vu. They’ve signed I don’t know how many reconciliation agreements over the past few years. Right now, there is tremendous optimism, or hope let’s say, among Palestinians, particularly in Gaza that this will yield something, because the situation in Gaza is so desperate. Hamas is really in a bind. It is really besieged and cornered in Gaza, so it needed to do something to break out and change the situation. I’m honestly very skeptical that it’s going to lead to any dramatic change, because really the fundamental disagreement between Hamas and Fatah, or Hamas and the Palestinian authority run by Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction, has not been addressed by this deal. Which is, that Hamas is an armed resistance movement that has fought three wars against Israel in the last decade, while Abbas and his authority work closely with the Israeli occupation army in the west bank.It seems impossible, it is impossible to reconcile, on the one hand, a group that is collaborating with the occupation, on the other hand, with a group that is resisting to it. The only way to resolve this, is if Abbas gives up his collaborative relationship with the Israeli occupation, or Hamas surrenders its weapons and renounces resistance. Neither of those outcomes are likely and so there’s going to be an attempt at some kind of fudge and to kick it down the road. For all the fanfare of this agreement, they had celebrations in Gaza and so on. The issue of Hamas’ weapons has been kicked down the road. It has not been addressed. You have Israel saying, “That we will not accept any agreement in which Hamas does not surrender its weapons.” Really, I don’t see anything fundamental going to change.I think it’s important to understand the split among the Palestinian factions, not really as an internal issue but as a product of the relationship with Israel. Is that Israel will only deal with and accept Palestinian leaders who collaborate with the occupation. It will not accept a resistance movement as part of a Palestinian political establishment. I think that really raises fundamental questions about what the Palestinian strategy is. Is it to continue to go along with this dead peace process of collaborating and cooperating with Israel? Or does there have to be some kind of broader strategy that mobilizes Palestinians to resist?
AARON MATÉ Right. I mean, Israel is so opposed to Hamas and its insistence on its right to resist, that even when Hamas respects these multiple cease fires that we’ve seen, it’s Israel that we constantly see violating it in an attempt to provoke a violent response.
ALI ABUNIMAH: That’s correct. It’s not just Israel, because the so-called international community is very complicit in this destructive dynamic. Let me give you an example. Last May, Hamas put forward a new charter, which made some really significant concessions. I mean, these were positions that it had taken before, but it sort of formalized them in May. Particularly, accepting the 1967 borders as the outline of the settlement, offering Israel a long term indefinite truce and cease fire, and separating itself from the Muslim Brotherhood saying that, “It’s an independent Palestinian nationalist movement,” and so on. As I’ve pointed out in some of my articles, these are the kinds of shifts in position that were fundamental to making breakthroughs in Ireland with Sinn Féin and the IRA on the one hand and the British and the loyalist on the others.What had to happen was there had to be reciprocal steps. What you’d expect to see now, for example, is the European Union as one example, acknowledging those changes in Hamas’ position, and opening up some kind of dialogue, and encouraging Israel to offer something reciprocal. Instead, what we’ve seen is the European Union taking the same hard-line rejectionist approach as Israel and is saying, “We will have no change in policy. We will not talk to them.” Effectively, the Palestinian resistance has to surrender. What that guarantees is that there is going to be no political breakthrough and I think it increases the likelihood of another war against Gaza with potentially even more catastrophic consequences. We have to be very clear that if and when that happens it will not be because of Hamas. It will be because of the rejectionism of Israel and its international supporters.
AARON MATÉ We have to leave it there. Ali Abunimah, co-founder of The Electronic Intifada. His latest book is The Battle for Justice in Palestine. Thanks, Ali.
ALI ABUNIMAH: Thank you.
AARON MATÉ Thank you for joining us on The Real News.
12 oct 2017
The US has decided to withdraw from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), accusing the body of "being biased against Israel.”
US state department spokesperson Heather Nauert announced on Thursday that the US would establish an observer mission to replace its representation at the Paris-based agency.
Nauert said the US step reflected the need for fundamental reform in the organization in view of its anti-Israel bias.
Irina Bokova, UNESCO's outgoing director-general, said she "deeply regrets" the decision and is convinced that "UNESCO has never been so important for the US, or the US for UNESCO.”
The decision demonstrates the US administration's "complete and total bias" towards Israel, Mustafa Barghouthi, secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative (political party), told al-Jazeera satellite channel over the phone from Ramallah.
"This behavior is counterproductive and shameful,” Barghouthi said
"Sooner or later they will see Palestine in every UN agency. Will the US respond to that by withdrawing from the WHO or the World Intellectual Property Organization? They will be hurting only themselves," he added.
He also said it is "as if Israel is dictating US policy not only in the Middle East but also in international organizations. That's going to have a very harmful effect on the idea the US being a mediator between the Palestinians and the Israelis."
The US was angered in 2011 when UNESCO members granted Palestine full membership of the body and decided to stop funding UNESCO but did not officially withdraw.
The US opposes any move by UN bodies to recognize Palestine as a state, believing that this must await a negotiated Middle East peace deal.
Last July, UNESCO declared the Old City of al-Khalil (Hebron) in the occupied West Bank, as a Palestinian World Heritage site in danger, a decision sharply criticized by the US and Israel.
In recent years, UNESCO adopted resolutions that criticized Israel for mishandling heritage Islamic sites in Jerusalem and condemned “Israeli violations and illegal measures against freedom of worship.”
US state department spokesperson Heather Nauert announced on Thursday that the US would establish an observer mission to replace its representation at the Paris-based agency.
Nauert said the US step reflected the need for fundamental reform in the organization in view of its anti-Israel bias.
Irina Bokova, UNESCO's outgoing director-general, said she "deeply regrets" the decision and is convinced that "UNESCO has never been so important for the US, or the US for UNESCO.”
The decision demonstrates the US administration's "complete and total bias" towards Israel, Mustafa Barghouthi, secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative (political party), told al-Jazeera satellite channel over the phone from Ramallah.
"This behavior is counterproductive and shameful,” Barghouthi said
"Sooner or later they will see Palestine in every UN agency. Will the US respond to that by withdrawing from the WHO or the World Intellectual Property Organization? They will be hurting only themselves," he added.
He also said it is "as if Israel is dictating US policy not only in the Middle East but also in international organizations. That's going to have a very harmful effect on the idea the US being a mediator between the Palestinians and the Israelis."
The US was angered in 2011 when UNESCO members granted Palestine full membership of the body and decided to stop funding UNESCO but did not officially withdraw.
The US opposes any move by UN bodies to recognize Palestine as a state, believing that this must await a negotiated Middle East peace deal.
Last July, UNESCO declared the Old City of al-Khalil (Hebron) in the occupied West Bank, as a Palestinian World Heritage site in danger, a decision sharply criticized by the US and Israel.
In recent years, UNESCO adopted resolutions that criticized Israel for mishandling heritage Islamic sites in Jerusalem and condemned “Israeli violations and illegal measures against freedom of worship.”
9 oct 2017
US President Donald Trump says that he will not go ahead with his controversial pledge to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, as he wants to give a shot at achieving peace between Palestine and Israel, he said on a TV show, “I want to give that a shot before I even think about moving the embassy to Jerusalem.,” referring to the current efforts for the peace process between the two sides.
Trump noted that his administration was working on a plan for peace between the two sides.
Foreign countries currently have their embassies Tel Aviv since they do not recognize Israel’s unilateral claim of control over all of Jerusalem, according to the PNN.
Israel occupied east Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1967, and illegally annexed east Jerusalem, in a move which is disapproved by the international community. This causes problems on almost a daily basis in Jerusalem including settlers raiding Al-Aqsa Mosque and Israeli soldiers illegally seizing houses and lands in the Jerusalem area.
In June, Trump signed a temporary order to keep the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, despite a campaign promise he made to move it to Jerusalem. “If we can make peace between Palestine and Israel, I think it’ll lead to ultimately peace in the Middle East, which has to happen,” he said.
“We’re gonna make a decision in the not too distant future,” Trump said. But, for now, the peace push comes first.
Trump noted that his administration was working on a plan for peace between the two sides.
Foreign countries currently have their embassies Tel Aviv since they do not recognize Israel’s unilateral claim of control over all of Jerusalem, according to the PNN.
Israel occupied east Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1967, and illegally annexed east Jerusalem, in a move which is disapproved by the international community. This causes problems on almost a daily basis in Jerusalem including settlers raiding Al-Aqsa Mosque and Israeli soldiers illegally seizing houses and lands in the Jerusalem area.
In June, Trump signed a temporary order to keep the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, despite a campaign promise he made to move it to Jerusalem. “If we can make peace between Palestine and Israel, I think it’ll lead to ultimately peace in the Middle East, which has to happen,” he said.
“We’re gonna make a decision in the not too distant future,” Trump said. But, for now, the peace push comes first.
5 oct 2017
In a meeting last month with UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, US president Donald Trump described Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu as “the harder side to convince in his efforts to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal,” according to Haaretz newspaper.
“Trump said both leaders are problematic,” a Western diplomat who was briefed on the meeting said on condition of anonymity. “But the general context was that from the two of them, Netanyahu is the bigger problem.”
On September 19, Trump held a 15-minute meeting with Guterres on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
According to six Western diplomats and one former senior Israeli official, at least half of the meeting dealt with the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Trump, who had met with Netanyahu in New York the previous day, gave Guterres his impressions of that meeting and his own views on the peace process.
An informed Western diplomat said Trump reiterated to Guterres that he was determined to try to advance a historic peace deal, and that over the years, he had made many difficult deals, but he had always heard that the hardest deal of all was the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and he wanted to try to meet this challenge.
According to the diplomat, Trump also told Guterres that Netanyahu was more of an obstacle to peace efforts in the Middle East than Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas,
Trump described Abbas as “a very old (82) man who suffers from domestic political problems and needs a legacy to leave behind,” stressing that he would never have a president more understanding of Israel’s security needs than Abbas.
He expressed his belief that there was a chance that Abbas would agree to steps he had not agreed to in the past.
“Trump said both leaders are problematic,” a Western diplomat who was briefed on the meeting said on condition of anonymity. “But the general context was that from the two of them, Netanyahu is the bigger problem.”
On September 19, Trump held a 15-minute meeting with Guterres on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
According to six Western diplomats and one former senior Israeli official, at least half of the meeting dealt with the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Trump, who had met with Netanyahu in New York the previous day, gave Guterres his impressions of that meeting and his own views on the peace process.
An informed Western diplomat said Trump reiterated to Guterres that he was determined to try to advance a historic peace deal, and that over the years, he had made many difficult deals, but he had always heard that the hardest deal of all was the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and he wanted to try to meet this challenge.
According to the diplomat, Trump also told Guterres that Netanyahu was more of an obstacle to peace efforts in the Middle East than Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas,
Trump described Abbas as “a very old (82) man who suffers from domestic political problems and needs a legacy to leave behind,” stressing that he would never have a president more understanding of Israel’s security needs than Abbas.
He expressed his belief that there was a chance that Abbas would agree to steps he had not agreed to in the past.
3 oct 2017
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt has publicly called on the Palestinians to recognize the State of Israel and commit to nonviolence.
Uploaded on his Twitter page, Greenblatt, who has paid several visits to the region in a bid to inject energy into the moribund peace talks, said “The United States stresses that any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognition of the State of Israel, acceptance of previous agreements and obligations between the parties, and peaceful negotiations."
In addition, Greenblatt mentioned underway efforts to reconcile the Palestinian political factions, which he said have been the byproduct of pressure by several neighboring countries.
“The United States welcomes efforts to create the conditions for the Palestinian Authority to fully assume its responsibilities in Gaza, as noted in the September 28 Quartet statement,” he declared in the brief.
Greenblatt’s statement has been read as a rare layout of the White House’s preconditions to kick-start stalled peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
The comments were released shortly after the Palestinian Prime Minister Rami al-Hamdallah began his reconciliation visit to Gaza on Monday, arriving in a vehicle motorcade through the Erez border crossing separating Israel and Gaza. He was accompanied by a large delegation of Fatah officials from the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, dozens of aides, and armed bodyguards.
Upon entering the Gaza Strip, al-Hamdallah said that he hoped the reconciliation would succeed, and that the main beneficiary of the division between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas is Israel.
Uploaded on his Twitter page, Greenblatt, who has paid several visits to the region in a bid to inject energy into the moribund peace talks, said “The United States stresses that any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognition of the State of Israel, acceptance of previous agreements and obligations between the parties, and peaceful negotiations."
In addition, Greenblatt mentioned underway efforts to reconcile the Palestinian political factions, which he said have been the byproduct of pressure by several neighboring countries.
“The United States welcomes efforts to create the conditions for the Palestinian Authority to fully assume its responsibilities in Gaza, as noted in the September 28 Quartet statement,” he declared in the brief.
Greenblatt’s statement has been read as a rare layout of the White House’s preconditions to kick-start stalled peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
The comments were released shortly after the Palestinian Prime Minister Rami al-Hamdallah began his reconciliation visit to Gaza on Monday, arriving in a vehicle motorcade through the Erez border crossing separating Israel and Gaza. He was accompanied by a large delegation of Fatah officials from the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, dozens of aides, and armed bodyguards.
Upon entering the Gaza Strip, al-Hamdallah said that he hoped the reconciliation would succeed, and that the main beneficiary of the division between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas is Israel.
2 oct 2017
Hebrew sources unraveled behind-closed-doors cooperation between the Israeli government and the US administration to construct new settlement units on Palestinian land in al-Khalil.
The Hebrew-speaking 0404 news site quoted sources close to the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as denying reports that the construction of new settlement homes is the product of pressure by Israel's Interior Minister, Aryeh Deri, and Education Minister, Naftali Bennett.
According to the same sources, last month, Netanyahu told the US administration about his decision to construct dozens of new homes for Israeli settlers in the southern occupied West Bank province of al-Khalil.
On Sunday, the Israeli government approved a plan to construct 31 settlement homes in al-Khalil, in a move that is said to be forwarded by Deri and Bennett.
Israeli settlements across the occupied Palestinian territories are deemed illegitimate under international law.
The Hebrew-speaking 0404 news site quoted sources close to the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as denying reports that the construction of new settlement homes is the product of pressure by Israel's Interior Minister, Aryeh Deri, and Education Minister, Naftali Bennett.
According to the same sources, last month, Netanyahu told the US administration about his decision to construct dozens of new homes for Israeli settlers in the southern occupied West Bank province of al-Khalil.
On Sunday, the Israeli government approved a plan to construct 31 settlement homes in al-Khalil, in a move that is said to be forwarded by Deri and Bennett.
Israeli settlements across the occupied Palestinian territories are deemed illegitimate under international law.
1 oct 2017
PLO Executive Committee Member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi and the Secretary-General of the PLO Executive Committee Dr. Saeb Erekat both issued press releases criticizing US ambassador David Friedman, who said that Israel is occupying only 2% of the West Bank, among other statements that show his “blatant bias to Israel,” as Dr. Ashrawi called it, whereas Dr. Erekat said that it is an attempt to normalize Israel’s colonial policies.
According to the PNN, Dr. Ashrawi said that “The US Ambassador to Israel has proved once again that he is completely removed from reality. In addition to his long-standing support for Israeli settlements, and after referring to the “alleged occupation” of Palestinian land, he has the audacity to maintain that Israel occupies only 2% of the West Bank and that illegal settlements that carve, annex and steal Palestinian land are part of Israel. This Ambassador has continued to visit illegal settlements and even joined the Israeli celebrations in June marking the occupation of Palestinian land in 1967.
“Not only does the Ambassador break from long-standing US policy, he is also at odds with the international legal, political and moral consensus. His positions are a mirror reflection of the settlers’ ideology in Israel’s right-wing coalition government rather than that of successive administrations that have claimed to be invested in peace.
“The US Ambassador to Israel cannot impose his alternative facts or realities on an entire people that has been held captive under a brutal occupation for half a century. The occupation exists. Settlements are illegal under international law and constitute a war crime. These facts and realities are not in question.
“If the US Administration is truly committed to peace, it will hold its Ambassador accountable for his consistently outrageous and morally repugnant attitude, actions and statements.”
For his part, Dr. Erekat said that it is not the first time that Mr. David Friedman has exploited his position as US ambassador to advocate and validate the Israeli government’s policies of occupation and annexation. He was the first US ambassador to participate in the Israeli celebrations of the colonial occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem this June, has continuously announced his intention to continue visiting illegal settlements in Occupied Palestine, as well as he has referred to the Israeli occupation of Palestine as “alleged”.
His latest statement about Israel, “occupying only 2% of the West Bank” declaring that “Israeli settlements are part of Israel” is not only false and misleading but contradicts international law, United Nations resolutions and also the historical US position.
Israel is internationally recognized as the occupying power over 100% of Palestine, including in and around Occupied East Jerusalem. Such positions undermine ongoing efforts towards achieving a just and lasting peace between Israel and Palestine on the 1967 border.
According to the PNN, Dr. Ashrawi said that “The US Ambassador to Israel has proved once again that he is completely removed from reality. In addition to his long-standing support for Israeli settlements, and after referring to the “alleged occupation” of Palestinian land, he has the audacity to maintain that Israel occupies only 2% of the West Bank and that illegal settlements that carve, annex and steal Palestinian land are part of Israel. This Ambassador has continued to visit illegal settlements and even joined the Israeli celebrations in June marking the occupation of Palestinian land in 1967.
“Not only does the Ambassador break from long-standing US policy, he is also at odds with the international legal, political and moral consensus. His positions are a mirror reflection of the settlers’ ideology in Israel’s right-wing coalition government rather than that of successive administrations that have claimed to be invested in peace.
“The US Ambassador to Israel cannot impose his alternative facts or realities on an entire people that has been held captive under a brutal occupation for half a century. The occupation exists. Settlements are illegal under international law and constitute a war crime. These facts and realities are not in question.
“If the US Administration is truly committed to peace, it will hold its Ambassador accountable for his consistently outrageous and morally repugnant attitude, actions and statements.”
For his part, Dr. Erekat said that it is not the first time that Mr. David Friedman has exploited his position as US ambassador to advocate and validate the Israeli government’s policies of occupation and annexation. He was the first US ambassador to participate in the Israeli celebrations of the colonial occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem this June, has continuously announced his intention to continue visiting illegal settlements in Occupied Palestine, as well as he has referred to the Israeli occupation of Palestine as “alleged”.
His latest statement about Israel, “occupying only 2% of the West Bank” declaring that “Israeli settlements are part of Israel” is not only false and misleading but contradicts international law, United Nations resolutions and also the historical US position.
Israel is internationally recognized as the occupying power over 100% of Palestine, including in and around Occupied East Jerusalem. Such positions undermine ongoing efforts towards achieving a just and lasting peace between Israel and Palestine on the 1967 border.
