11 oct 2019
By Benay Blend
In both the United States and Israel, there is a myth that if we could just get rid of certain leaders—namely Trump and Netanyahu—then things would go back to normal, the good old days (in truth, for some but not for others).
“What have we become?” people ask, thereby glossing over the settler-colonial history of both countries. This historical amnesia stems from many factors. It satisfies the human desire for a definable villain, someone to lay the blame on rather than doing the harder work of understanding that it’s the capitalist, colonial system that must be changed.
In no way does this analysis negate the damage done by both leaders. What it does point to is the way that this focus plays into the founding myths of both countries. Indeed, Zionism not only stems from an ideology born out of nineteenth-century nationalism but also bears resemblance to settler states established in the Americas. In this scenario, both sought to present a virgin land, ready for fertilization and development.
Instead of “civilizing” the indigenous population or utilizing their labor, as was done in other colonial enterprises, the problem for Israelis was to find an “empty” land that could be transformed into a Jewish homeland, though this meant erasure of 689,272 residents through some serious historical revision. Like the so-called “virgin land” in the American West, this trope serves to gloss over the Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948 just as the American version disregards the extermination and/or relocation of the American Indigenous population.
In his “Forward” to Ramzy Baroud’s Last Earth: A Palestine Story (2018), Ilan Pappe refers to Al-Nakba al Mustamera, the on-going Nakba, a common term for the period after 1948. Moreover, he explains that discrete chapters in the history of Palestine, such as the disaster of 1948, are not just past events, but instead are a long narrative of massacres, land confiscation, displacement, and assassination. Relying on Patrick Wolfe, who “adapted and applied” the settler-colonial paradigm to Palestine, Pappe explains that the colonial project is on-going, as is Palestine’s resistance to it.
Similarly, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz writes in An Indigenous History of the United States (2014) that the history of United States is also that of settler-colonialism, i.e. the founding of a country established on the premise of white supremacy, the widespread use of African slavery, and a strategy of “genocide and land theft” that disenfranchised the Indigenous population (p.2). She adds that “those who seek history with an upbeat ending” (p. 2), or for the present purposes, those who seek to find a Golden Age in America’s past, might be looking far and wide for neither that conclusion nor that bygone age, exists.
Trump and Netanyahu, then, are merely just the symptoms, while Zionism, settler-colonialism, neoliberalism, capitalism, and racism are all elements of the disease. Impeaching Trump will not bring about a better world to come. Writing for Aljazeera as far back as 2015, Hamid Dabashi claims that “Trump is a symptom not the disease.”
In short, Dabashi adds, “he is a decoy, a diversion so outrageous, so disgusting that it overwhelms and hides the real disease.” The problem, he concludes, is “firmly rooted in the political culture of a country that began its history by the mass murder of Native Americans, continued by the systematic slavery of African Americans, and most recently with a stroke of a pen ordered the US population of Japanese descent incarcerated in concentration (internment) camps during World War II.
Writing four years later, Philip Weiss explores a variation of that same mantra used by liberal Zionists to entice their Jewish brethren back into the pro-Israel Democratic fold. According to Weiss, their argument goes something like this: “The only thing we need to do to end the Democratic Party’s disaffection with Israel is to get rid of Netanyahu—and Trump.” Like those who place all blame for America’s problems on the shoulders of Donald Trump, liberal Zionists locate all of the culpability for Israel’s sins on the actions of one person.
“His sins are innumerable and the damage he’s done immeasurable,” writes Gideon Levy, “and it would be great to have him out of our lives, but blaming everything on him is deceiving and a shirking of responsibility.” Yet Levy blames the “values and outlooks” that he says have been “ingrained here during decades of Zionists,” not the values of white supremacy and ethnic cleansing that have been inherent in Zionism since 1948. Levy wishes for a Mandela who would lead a revolution in the nation’s values, rather than lead a revolution that would instead dismantle the Zionist state.
Racism in both countries is not an individual problem but rather embedded in the institutions of each settler-colonial state. When George Bush slipped Michelle Obama a cough drop at John McCain’s funeral, it was viewed by most as a moment of civility, the kind of hands across the aisle so lacking in government today.
George Bush’s history as a war criminal responsible for thousands of deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan after 911 was totally erased by a desire to believe that we only have to be kind to each other in order to topple the racism of Trump’s regime. The same could be said for the practice of “normalization” by Israelis, defined by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) in the following way:
It is helpful to think of normalization as a “colonization of the mind,” whereby the oppressed subject comes to believe that the oppressor’s reality is the only “normal” reality that must be subscribed to, and that the oppression is a fact of life that must be coped with.
Those who engage in normalization either ignore this oppression or accept it as the status quo that can be lived with. In an attempt to whitewash its violations of international law and human rights, Israel tries to re-brand itself, or present itself as normal — even “enlightened” — through an intricate array of relations and activities encompassing hi-tech, cultural, legal, LGBT and other realms.
Frederick Douglass, the 19th century escaped slave turned statesman, said that power does not relinquish power without a struggle. Whether that be the dismantling of the Zionist state as advocated by the One State Foundation, the decolonization of the Americas outlined by the Red Nation, or any number of revolutionary struggles not carried out under the mantle of the colonialist enterprise, significant change will not come about by removing one person from leadership and / or advocating unity when all parties are not sharing equal power.
In an era when the governments of both Israel and the United States are working hard to erase the past, it is important to cut through the founding myths of each country in order to chart a clear path forward to a more egalitarian state.
– Benay Blend received her doctorate in American Studies from the University of New Mexico. Her scholarly works include Douglas Vakoch and Sam Mickey, Eds. (2017), “’Neither Homeland Nor Exile are Words’: ‘Situated Knowledge’ in the Works of Palestinian and Native American Writers”. She contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
In both the United States and Israel, there is a myth that if we could just get rid of certain leaders—namely Trump and Netanyahu—then things would go back to normal, the good old days (in truth, for some but not for others).
“What have we become?” people ask, thereby glossing over the settler-colonial history of both countries. This historical amnesia stems from many factors. It satisfies the human desire for a definable villain, someone to lay the blame on rather than doing the harder work of understanding that it’s the capitalist, colonial system that must be changed.
In no way does this analysis negate the damage done by both leaders. What it does point to is the way that this focus plays into the founding myths of both countries. Indeed, Zionism not only stems from an ideology born out of nineteenth-century nationalism but also bears resemblance to settler states established in the Americas. In this scenario, both sought to present a virgin land, ready for fertilization and development.
Instead of “civilizing” the indigenous population or utilizing their labor, as was done in other colonial enterprises, the problem for Israelis was to find an “empty” land that could be transformed into a Jewish homeland, though this meant erasure of 689,272 residents through some serious historical revision. Like the so-called “virgin land” in the American West, this trope serves to gloss over the Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948 just as the American version disregards the extermination and/or relocation of the American Indigenous population.
In his “Forward” to Ramzy Baroud’s Last Earth: A Palestine Story (2018), Ilan Pappe refers to Al-Nakba al Mustamera, the on-going Nakba, a common term for the period after 1948. Moreover, he explains that discrete chapters in the history of Palestine, such as the disaster of 1948, are not just past events, but instead are a long narrative of massacres, land confiscation, displacement, and assassination. Relying on Patrick Wolfe, who “adapted and applied” the settler-colonial paradigm to Palestine, Pappe explains that the colonial project is on-going, as is Palestine’s resistance to it.
Similarly, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz writes in An Indigenous History of the United States (2014) that the history of United States is also that of settler-colonialism, i.e. the founding of a country established on the premise of white supremacy, the widespread use of African slavery, and a strategy of “genocide and land theft” that disenfranchised the Indigenous population (p.2). She adds that “those who seek history with an upbeat ending” (p. 2), or for the present purposes, those who seek to find a Golden Age in America’s past, might be looking far and wide for neither that conclusion nor that bygone age, exists.
Trump and Netanyahu, then, are merely just the symptoms, while Zionism, settler-colonialism, neoliberalism, capitalism, and racism are all elements of the disease. Impeaching Trump will not bring about a better world to come. Writing for Aljazeera as far back as 2015, Hamid Dabashi claims that “Trump is a symptom not the disease.”
In short, Dabashi adds, “he is a decoy, a diversion so outrageous, so disgusting that it overwhelms and hides the real disease.” The problem, he concludes, is “firmly rooted in the political culture of a country that began its history by the mass murder of Native Americans, continued by the systematic slavery of African Americans, and most recently with a stroke of a pen ordered the US population of Japanese descent incarcerated in concentration (internment) camps during World War II.
Writing four years later, Philip Weiss explores a variation of that same mantra used by liberal Zionists to entice their Jewish brethren back into the pro-Israel Democratic fold. According to Weiss, their argument goes something like this: “The only thing we need to do to end the Democratic Party’s disaffection with Israel is to get rid of Netanyahu—and Trump.” Like those who place all blame for America’s problems on the shoulders of Donald Trump, liberal Zionists locate all of the culpability for Israel’s sins on the actions of one person.
“His sins are innumerable and the damage he’s done immeasurable,” writes Gideon Levy, “and it would be great to have him out of our lives, but blaming everything on him is deceiving and a shirking of responsibility.” Yet Levy blames the “values and outlooks” that he says have been “ingrained here during decades of Zionists,” not the values of white supremacy and ethnic cleansing that have been inherent in Zionism since 1948. Levy wishes for a Mandela who would lead a revolution in the nation’s values, rather than lead a revolution that would instead dismantle the Zionist state.
Racism in both countries is not an individual problem but rather embedded in the institutions of each settler-colonial state. When George Bush slipped Michelle Obama a cough drop at John McCain’s funeral, it was viewed by most as a moment of civility, the kind of hands across the aisle so lacking in government today.
George Bush’s history as a war criminal responsible for thousands of deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan after 911 was totally erased by a desire to believe that we only have to be kind to each other in order to topple the racism of Trump’s regime. The same could be said for the practice of “normalization” by Israelis, defined by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) in the following way:
It is helpful to think of normalization as a “colonization of the mind,” whereby the oppressed subject comes to believe that the oppressor’s reality is the only “normal” reality that must be subscribed to, and that the oppression is a fact of life that must be coped with.
Those who engage in normalization either ignore this oppression or accept it as the status quo that can be lived with. In an attempt to whitewash its violations of international law and human rights, Israel tries to re-brand itself, or present itself as normal — even “enlightened” — through an intricate array of relations and activities encompassing hi-tech, cultural, legal, LGBT and other realms.
Frederick Douglass, the 19th century escaped slave turned statesman, said that power does not relinquish power without a struggle. Whether that be the dismantling of the Zionist state as advocated by the One State Foundation, the decolonization of the Americas outlined by the Red Nation, or any number of revolutionary struggles not carried out under the mantle of the colonialist enterprise, significant change will not come about by removing one person from leadership and / or advocating unity when all parties are not sharing equal power.
In an era when the governments of both Israel and the United States are working hard to erase the past, it is important to cut through the founding myths of each country in order to chart a clear path forward to a more egalitarian state.
– Benay Blend received her doctorate in American Studies from the University of New Mexico. Her scholarly works include Douglas Vakoch and Sam Mickey, Eds. (2017), “’Neither Homeland Nor Exile are Words’: ‘Situated Knowledge’ in the Works of Palestinian and Native American Writers”. She contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
8 oct 2019
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) meets with US President's envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt (L)
US conspiracies against Palestine and the Palestinian people are allegedly for their benefit. In the words of outgoing US Middle East Envoy Jason Greenblatt though, with reference to all the unilateral decisions announced and acted upon by US President Donald Trump, “We made those decisions because they are the right decisions for the United States.” And the obvious advantages for Israel? It’s just “conflation.” according to Greenblatt.
Yet Greenblatt also said that one of his roles, apart from bringing Arab states closer to normalisation with Israel, was to “be out there changing the conversation about the conflict.” His whole discourse about the “conflict” erases Palestinian narratives.
In the end, who benefits from the promotion of Israel’s colonial narratives, which already form the foundations upon which the US and the rest of the international community base their hypothesis of alleged peace and negotiations? Israel, of course.
There is no conflation in the obvious fact that the US under Trump has acted overtly and solely in Israel’s interests. With the Palestinian Authority being the weakest pawn in the process, grovelling to an intentionally inactive international community, as well as the swiftness with which the US dealt Palestinians one blow after another while exploiting refugees in the process, Israel has benefited from Washington’s political endorsement of its colonial expansion. Moreover, Israel knows that the selective criticism levelled of its actions will not obstruct its plans.
“If we did not make these decisions,” Greenblatt stated, “we would not be closer to peace.” Yet there can be no peace in the annihilation of Palestinian collective memory and political rights.
Palestinians are under no illusion that the US is striving for peace; that a “peace process” actually exists. However, the PA has contributed to the distortion of the Palestinian cause by prevailing in its subservience to the international community. Hence, it is also pertinent to ponder how the international community, alongside Israel, paved the way for the US to enforce the next step of Palestine’s conversion to a self-declared “Jewish state”.
The broken systems that Greenblatt spoke about – he mentioned UNRWA specifically– are products of an international community absorbed in human rights rhetoric while remaining silent in the face of human rights violations.
There is no protection of human rights at an international level, only the preservation of institutions. Defunding UNRWA, therefore, is another step in maintaining the humanitarian project constructed by the international community for Palestinians and which is now being exploited by the US and Israel to eliminate the refugees’ legitimate right of return, refugee claims and refugee narratives.
If, as Greenblatt says, “peace can only be built on truth,” then peace must be built on Palestinian narratives and history; on Palestinian “truth”. From decades of colonialism to UN resolutions and the two frameworks for purported peace, there can be no doubt about the collusion between the US and the international community to force a perception of Palestinians as being irrelevant to their own political rights and future.
Allowing Israel to prevail in its colonial violence and displacement of Palestinians while simultaneously insisting upon its supremacy when it comes to negotiations is unequivocally an endorsement by the US and the international community of the removal of Palestinian narratives from the equation, along with the Palestinian people themselves.
US conspiracies against Palestine and the Palestinian people are allegedly for their benefit. In the words of outgoing US Middle East Envoy Jason Greenblatt though, with reference to all the unilateral decisions announced and acted upon by US President Donald Trump, “We made those decisions because they are the right decisions for the United States.” And the obvious advantages for Israel? It’s just “conflation.” according to Greenblatt.
Yet Greenblatt also said that one of his roles, apart from bringing Arab states closer to normalisation with Israel, was to “be out there changing the conversation about the conflict.” His whole discourse about the “conflict” erases Palestinian narratives.
In the end, who benefits from the promotion of Israel’s colonial narratives, which already form the foundations upon which the US and the rest of the international community base their hypothesis of alleged peace and negotiations? Israel, of course.
There is no conflation in the obvious fact that the US under Trump has acted overtly and solely in Israel’s interests. With the Palestinian Authority being the weakest pawn in the process, grovelling to an intentionally inactive international community, as well as the swiftness with which the US dealt Palestinians one blow after another while exploiting refugees in the process, Israel has benefited from Washington’s political endorsement of its colonial expansion. Moreover, Israel knows that the selective criticism levelled of its actions will not obstruct its plans.
“If we did not make these decisions,” Greenblatt stated, “we would not be closer to peace.” Yet there can be no peace in the annihilation of Palestinian collective memory and political rights.
Palestinians are under no illusion that the US is striving for peace; that a “peace process” actually exists. However, the PA has contributed to the distortion of the Palestinian cause by prevailing in its subservience to the international community. Hence, it is also pertinent to ponder how the international community, alongside Israel, paved the way for the US to enforce the next step of Palestine’s conversion to a self-declared “Jewish state”.
The broken systems that Greenblatt spoke about – he mentioned UNRWA specifically– are products of an international community absorbed in human rights rhetoric while remaining silent in the face of human rights violations.
There is no protection of human rights at an international level, only the preservation of institutions. Defunding UNRWA, therefore, is another step in maintaining the humanitarian project constructed by the international community for Palestinians and which is now being exploited by the US and Israel to eliminate the refugees’ legitimate right of return, refugee claims and refugee narratives.
If, as Greenblatt says, “peace can only be built on truth,” then peace must be built on Palestinian narratives and history; on Palestinian “truth”. From decades of colonialism to UN resolutions and the two frameworks for purported peace, there can be no doubt about the collusion between the US and the international community to force a perception of Palestinians as being irrelevant to their own political rights and future.
Allowing Israel to prevail in its colonial violence and displacement of Palestinians while simultaneously insisting upon its supremacy when it comes to negotiations is unequivocally an endorsement by the US and the international community of the removal of Palestinian narratives from the equation, along with the Palestinian people themselves.
3 oct 2019
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has lashed out at the Israeli regime for launching occasional airstrikes on the Syrian territory, noting that such strikes only lead to further escalation of tensions in the region.
Lavrov made the remarks in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, which was published on Thursday.
“Regarding arbitrary Israeli airstrikes on the Syrian territory, we have never concealed a negative attitude towards such actions that further destabilize the situation and could lead to an escalation,” Russia’s top diplomat said.
Israel launches airstrikes on the Syrian territory from time to time. Such aggressive moves are usually viewed as attempts to prop up terrorist groups suffering defeats at the hands of Syrian government forces.
Since 2016, the election of US President Donald Trump and his pro-Israeli decisions, including recognition of the “Israeli sovereignty” over the occupied Syrian territory of Golan Heights, have seemingly emboldened Tel Aviv to launch new aggression on the Arab country.
Elsewhere in his Thursday remarks, Lavrov commented on the potential of a confrontation between Iran and Israel in Syria, emphasizing that Syria should not become an arena for implementing external agendas.
“Syria should not become a platform for implementing plans or settling scores. The main task of all concerned forces must be to help restore peace to Syrian territory,” he added.
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced in early June that Moscow takes serious issue with Israeli military aggression against Syria.
The ministry said in a statement that Russia was concerned about the aerial attacks launched by the occupying regime against Syria, adding that it believes the assaults could pose a threat to regional stability.
Last month, the Russian aviation publication Avia.Pro reported that the country’s combat aircraft took off from Russia’s Hmeimim air base in Syria’s western coastal province of Latakia, “which resulted in the disruption of the Israeli attacks on the Syrian capital and its surroundings.”
According to the report, the Russian military also provided the Syrian armed forces with information about the Israeli drone that was preparing to strike the southeastern suburbs of Damascus.
Lavrov made the remarks in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, which was published on Thursday.
“Regarding arbitrary Israeli airstrikes on the Syrian territory, we have never concealed a negative attitude towards such actions that further destabilize the situation and could lead to an escalation,” Russia’s top diplomat said.
Israel launches airstrikes on the Syrian territory from time to time. Such aggressive moves are usually viewed as attempts to prop up terrorist groups suffering defeats at the hands of Syrian government forces.
Since 2016, the election of US President Donald Trump and his pro-Israeli decisions, including recognition of the “Israeli sovereignty” over the occupied Syrian territory of Golan Heights, have seemingly emboldened Tel Aviv to launch new aggression on the Arab country.
Elsewhere in his Thursday remarks, Lavrov commented on the potential of a confrontation between Iran and Israel in Syria, emphasizing that Syria should not become an arena for implementing external agendas.
“Syria should not become a platform for implementing plans or settling scores. The main task of all concerned forces must be to help restore peace to Syrian territory,” he added.
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced in early June that Moscow takes serious issue with Israeli military aggression against Syria.
The ministry said in a statement that Russia was concerned about the aerial attacks launched by the occupying regime against Syria, adding that it believes the assaults could pose a threat to regional stability.
Last month, the Russian aviation publication Avia.Pro reported that the country’s combat aircraft took off from Russia’s Hmeimim air base in Syria’s western coastal province of Latakia, “which resulted in the disruption of the Israeli attacks on the Syrian capital and its surroundings.”
According to the report, the Russian military also provided the Syrian armed forces with information about the Israeli drone that was preparing to strike the southeastern suburbs of Damascus.
30 sept 2019
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad Bin Salman in Saudi Arabia on 1 June 2019
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has vowed to recognise and normalise trade with Israel if the United States helps him “defeat Iran and take control of the Middle East.”
These statements, which were revealed by a documentary presented by PBS network, on Saturday, in the TV programme Frontline, were made by Bin Salman in a meeting with US President Donald Trump during his famous visit to Riyadh in May 2017.
Martin Smith, the presenter of the documentary, entitled The Crown Prince, said that Mohammad bin Salman wanted Trump to ensure “the United States’ assistance in defeating Iran while supporting the prince’s ambitions to become the key player in the Middle East.”
In return, Bin Salman pledged to help Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, in Smith’s words, which was the nucleus of what later formed the US plan to settle the Palestinian issue, known as the “Deal of the Century.”
The documentary featured the Washington Post’s military analyst David Ignatius quoting the Saudi Crown Prince, who stated: “I see a Middle East where Israel is a part of … I am ready to recognise and have trade relations with Israel.”
Ignatius added that Bin Salman’s proposal “tempted the US administration and became the focus of the plan that Kushner keeps on advocating”.
Israeli-Saudi relations have undergone a close rapprochement since the rise of Bin Salman to power, amid reports of a meeting held earlier by Bin Salman, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and other Gulf officials, on a yacht in the Red Sea.
Last June, a Saudi diplomat told Globes that normalising relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel would only be “a matter of time”, acknowledging the existence of Secret Israeli-Saudi ties and that Saudi Arabia is using Israeli technologies.
Despite the Saudi diplomat’s assertion of his country’s commitment to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as during Abbas’s recent meeting with King Salman, the latter reiterated his support for the process of hindering any peace paths that may bring detrimental consequences upon the Palestinian leadership. However, the diplomat acknowledged that King Salman and the Crown Prince were putting pressure on Abbas “to take the political and economic developments seriously.”
Although Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel Al-Jubeir, said that his country is not familiar with the details of the US plan to settle the Palestinian issue, known as the “Deal of the Century”, the Saudi diplomat indicated that the deal has one significant advantage, as “it includes an inclusive economic strategy for the development of the entire region, and especially Palestine”.
Al-Jubeir expressed his country’s readiness to invest large sums in the deal, “which Palestinians did not dream of getting before.” Thus, he promoted for numerous temptations advanced by the US, such as the claim that the money would achieve “real independence, good education, and self-sufficient health and industry sectors for the Palestinians.”
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has vowed to recognise and normalise trade with Israel if the United States helps him “defeat Iran and take control of the Middle East.”
These statements, which were revealed by a documentary presented by PBS network, on Saturday, in the TV programme Frontline, were made by Bin Salman in a meeting with US President Donald Trump during his famous visit to Riyadh in May 2017.
Martin Smith, the presenter of the documentary, entitled The Crown Prince, said that Mohammad bin Salman wanted Trump to ensure “the United States’ assistance in defeating Iran while supporting the prince’s ambitions to become the key player in the Middle East.”
In return, Bin Salman pledged to help Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, in Smith’s words, which was the nucleus of what later formed the US plan to settle the Palestinian issue, known as the “Deal of the Century.”
The documentary featured the Washington Post’s military analyst David Ignatius quoting the Saudi Crown Prince, who stated: “I see a Middle East where Israel is a part of … I am ready to recognise and have trade relations with Israel.”
Ignatius added that Bin Salman’s proposal “tempted the US administration and became the focus of the plan that Kushner keeps on advocating”.
Israeli-Saudi relations have undergone a close rapprochement since the rise of Bin Salman to power, amid reports of a meeting held earlier by Bin Salman, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and other Gulf officials, on a yacht in the Red Sea.
Last June, a Saudi diplomat told Globes that normalising relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel would only be “a matter of time”, acknowledging the existence of Secret Israeli-Saudi ties and that Saudi Arabia is using Israeli technologies.
Despite the Saudi diplomat’s assertion of his country’s commitment to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as during Abbas’s recent meeting with King Salman, the latter reiterated his support for the process of hindering any peace paths that may bring detrimental consequences upon the Palestinian leadership. However, the diplomat acknowledged that King Salman and the Crown Prince were putting pressure on Abbas “to take the political and economic developments seriously.”
Although Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel Al-Jubeir, said that his country is not familiar with the details of the US plan to settle the Palestinian issue, known as the “Deal of the Century”, the Saudi diplomat indicated that the deal has one significant advantage, as “it includes an inclusive economic strategy for the development of the entire region, and especially Palestine”.
Al-Jubeir expressed his country’s readiness to invest large sums in the deal, “which Palestinians did not dream of getting before.” Thus, he promoted for numerous temptations advanced by the US, such as the claim that the money would achieve “real independence, good education, and self-sufficient health and industry sectors for the Palestinians.”
By: Madeeha Araj/ NBPRS/
The southern areas of Hebron are subjected to extensive settlement acts as the Israeli Occupation Authorities announced the seizure of about populated 1500 dunums located within the borders of the Dura Municipality, south of Hebron, planted with olive trees and almonds.
In 1987, a State Document was signed against the basin n. 8 of Dura land by Israeli military order, and on July 31st this year, the Israeli Authorities completed the inspection and amendment of the borders, knowing that part of these lands located in areas B, and owners have an Ottoman Tabu on that.
The old-new recently amended military order provides for the seizure of this lands adjacent to Beer-Sab’a St. which connects the eastern Dura countryside and the southern town of Dhahriya that belonging to Amr, Abu Sharar, Al-Khatib, Shaheen, Dodeen, Hreibat and others.
In Hebron, settlers set up 6 new outposts on Palestinian land in the area between the 2017-2019 years, hundreds of meters away from major settlements built since previous years.
Those outposts were erected on the eastern, western and southern sides of the Governorate, particularly on the lands of Dura, Bani Na’im, Yatta, As-Samu, Dahreiah and Sa’ir.
The Occupation Authorities have been practicing for 25 years since the massacre committed by Baruch Goldstein, the policy of harassing the Palestinians to force them leave their city under the security pretexts, and to replace them with settlers.
In Nablus, a new settlement plan was disclosed to seize more land in Naqora, Sebastia, and Burqa, north of Nablus, in order to expand the settlement of Shafi Shomron through diverting agricultural land adjacent to the settlement from basin n 12 to settlement, knowing that settlement outpost around Nablus witness an expansion of their structural plans at the expense of the lands of the citizens, as is the case with the lands surrounding the settlements of Yitzhar and Bracha, south of Nablus.
In Jerusalem, the alleged “temple organizations” are preparing to carry out a series of Judaizing programs and large-scale invasions of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, on the occasion of the festive season, and incite further breaking into to impose a de facto position there.
Those organizations have begun to intensify their calls and disseminate them via media and social networking sites affiliated to them, stressing the full coordination with the occupation police to facilitate such acts.
In the wild-Sawahri, Jerusalem, the Israeli occupation authorities demolished the sit-in-strike tent after the Israeli Army declared it a closed military area, and prevented residents from reaching it in order to seize these lands. In spite the fact that the lands threatened by confiscation are far away from the Palestinian communities, residents and owners say that they will rebuild the tent and continue their sit-in-strike.
During her speech before the Human Rights Council, Head of Contacts and Media at the Marsad Organization, Sillin Yashar, as well as many other European and international NGOs, including the Euro-Mediterranean Observatory expressed their concern about the large-scale demolition acts in the West Bank, particularly in the occupied Jerusalem, describing them as “terrifying”’, as the Israeli occupation authorities destroyed more than 59 homes in East Jerusalem during the first half of 2019, and 215 demolitions were counted in 2018, which led to the displacement of thousands of Palestinians in clear violation of International Law and Humanitarian International Law.
Worth mentioning that these organization have demanded the international community to conduct the necessary investigations to put an end to the occupation and it violations.
The southern areas of Hebron are subjected to extensive settlement acts as the Israeli Occupation Authorities announced the seizure of about populated 1500 dunums located within the borders of the Dura Municipality, south of Hebron, planted with olive trees and almonds.
In 1987, a State Document was signed against the basin n. 8 of Dura land by Israeli military order, and on July 31st this year, the Israeli Authorities completed the inspection and amendment of the borders, knowing that part of these lands located in areas B, and owners have an Ottoman Tabu on that.
The old-new recently amended military order provides for the seizure of this lands adjacent to Beer-Sab’a St. which connects the eastern Dura countryside and the southern town of Dhahriya that belonging to Amr, Abu Sharar, Al-Khatib, Shaheen, Dodeen, Hreibat and others.
In Hebron, settlers set up 6 new outposts on Palestinian land in the area between the 2017-2019 years, hundreds of meters away from major settlements built since previous years.
Those outposts were erected on the eastern, western and southern sides of the Governorate, particularly on the lands of Dura, Bani Na’im, Yatta, As-Samu, Dahreiah and Sa’ir.
The Occupation Authorities have been practicing for 25 years since the massacre committed by Baruch Goldstein, the policy of harassing the Palestinians to force them leave their city under the security pretexts, and to replace them with settlers.
In Nablus, a new settlement plan was disclosed to seize more land in Naqora, Sebastia, and Burqa, north of Nablus, in order to expand the settlement of Shafi Shomron through diverting agricultural land adjacent to the settlement from basin n 12 to settlement, knowing that settlement outpost around Nablus witness an expansion of their structural plans at the expense of the lands of the citizens, as is the case with the lands surrounding the settlements of Yitzhar and Bracha, south of Nablus.
In Jerusalem, the alleged “temple organizations” are preparing to carry out a series of Judaizing programs and large-scale invasions of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, on the occasion of the festive season, and incite further breaking into to impose a de facto position there.
Those organizations have begun to intensify their calls and disseminate them via media and social networking sites affiliated to them, stressing the full coordination with the occupation police to facilitate such acts.
In the wild-Sawahri, Jerusalem, the Israeli occupation authorities demolished the sit-in-strike tent after the Israeli Army declared it a closed military area, and prevented residents from reaching it in order to seize these lands. In spite the fact that the lands threatened by confiscation are far away from the Palestinian communities, residents and owners say that they will rebuild the tent and continue their sit-in-strike.
During her speech before the Human Rights Council, Head of Contacts and Media at the Marsad Organization, Sillin Yashar, as well as many other European and international NGOs, including the Euro-Mediterranean Observatory expressed their concern about the large-scale demolition acts in the West Bank, particularly in the occupied Jerusalem, describing them as “terrifying”’, as the Israeli occupation authorities destroyed more than 59 homes in East Jerusalem during the first half of 2019, and 215 demolitions were counted in 2018, which led to the displacement of thousands of Palestinians in clear violation of International Law and Humanitarian International Law.
Worth mentioning that these organization have demanded the international community to conduct the necessary investigations to put an end to the occupation and it violations.
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