Commentary
|
Title | | Description | Date |
Congress is poised to pass far-reaching Israeli wish list | | JOSH RUEBNER -
Mondoweiss
"With the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s passage of the United
States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2020 last
week, the current Congress is now poised to enact with little
transparency its most far-reaching bill related to Israel at the
height of a national public health emergency. According to Lara
Friedman, President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP),
the committee vote took place “without even bothering with a
pretense of public discussion” and was especially egregious because
the committee voted on a wholly new version of the bill which “was
not made public until long after the hearing ended.” ca | 29/5/2020 |
... |
Late to Realize the Cost of Trump`s Plan, Israeli Settlers Aren`t Going to Pay | | Noa Landau -
Haaretz
"Who would have believed that out of all those opposed to the Trump
administration’s Middle East plan, it would be the settler
leadership that would head one of the most aggressive and passionate
campaigns against it?" ca | 28/5/2020 |
... |
European leaders said to implore Netanyahu not to advance annexation | | RAPHAEL AHREN -
Times of Israel
"I ask you, in a spirit of friendship, that your new government not
take unilateral action [in the West Bank]. Such a move would
destabilize the Middle East,” French President Emmanuel Macron told
Netanyahu, according to a report aired Tuesday on Channel 13. “Only
dialogue with the Palestinians and a just and balanced solution will
provide Israel with peace, security and stability...Several European
nations are currently considering ways to deter Israel from moving
forward with its declared intention to apply sovereignty to the
entire Jordan Valley and all settlements across the West Bank —
territory much of the international community wants to see become a
Palestinian state — and how to punish it if it ignores their
warnings and carries out the annexation, according to the report.”
ca | 28/5/2020 |
... |
Israelis, drop your denial and recognize the Nakba (includes reactions to `Neither Intractable nor Unique`) | | Dahlia Scheindlin - +972 - Some criticized my choice of cases, which they thought favored the Palestinian argument. Others criticized the attempt to document and empathize with the Israeli national consciousness and fears. I also suggest that a political mechanism acknowledging the separate national identities of both sides is the more politically realistic approach.
[bz] | 26/5/2020 |
... |
For a new political imagination, Israeli Jews must unlearn Zionism | | Norma Musih - +972 - As Israelis, our task is not only to recognize the expulsion
of Palestinians in 1948 — it is to train our imagination to build a shared place to
live in freedom and equality [ry] | 25/5/2020 |
... |
Will Mahmoud Abbas really stop PA collaboration with Israel? | | Ali Abunimah -
Electronic Intifada
"The only meaningful move Abbas could make would be the one the PA
leadership has ruled out: dissolving the authority and forcing
Israel to bear the full legal responsibilities, costs and
consequences of its occupation of millions of Palestinians and their
land...Meanwhile the European Union appears to have completely
backed off any threat to hold Israel accountable over its annexation
plans." ca | 22/5/2020 |
... |
Palestinian leaders` confused messaging over next steps with Israel | | Ahmad Melhem -
Al-Monitor
"Ghassan al-Khatib, a former Palestinian planning minister and a
former director of the government media office in Ramallah, told Al-
Monitor this is the first time that Abbas had used the language he
did in his speech; Khatib said the Palestinian position is not an
escalation but rather a result of Israeli policies that abolished
the implementation of all agreements...He said Israel is dragging
the PA away from cooperation and into conflict. He also said the
announcement that security coordination is stopping does not harm
Israel but would rather be painful to the PA, which he said benefits
from it more than Israel does." ca
| 22/5/2020 |
... |
Netanyahu will do ‘crawling annexation’ of colonies near Green Line | | Philip Weiss -
Mondoweiss
"...Trump and Pompeo have given Israel a semi-OK to move toward
annexation, Israeli ambassador Ron Dermer is lobbying administration
officials and conservative politicians/influencers to back Israel on
annexation, and AIPAC has said whatever Israel does the U.S. has to
stand by Israel.In Israel, Netanyahu’s political opposition says
that annexation will move forward. Though it is likely to be
piecemeal.Here are Yair Golan of the Meretz party and Aida Touma-
Sliman of the Joint List speaking on an Israel Policy Forum call two
days ago." ca | 22/5/2020 |
... |
Pompeo’s Visit to Israel Signals a Green Light Turns Yellow on Annexation, | | New York Times - What was so urgent and sensitive, in the middle of
a virus pandemic, that America’s top diplomat had to make a 16-hour
trip to Israel instead of simply picking up the phone? Although Mr.
Pompeo took pains to avoid publicly addressing annexation, analysts
suggested that a goal of the trip was to caution Israel’s leadership
against moving too quickly.Mr. Pompeo met first with Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, who had campaigned on a promise to push ahead
with annexation as soon as possible, and later with Benny Gantz,
alternate prime minister in the new government, who had campaigned
against unilateral annexation. Without explicitly suggesting that
Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gantz slow the process, Mr. Pompeo seemed to
signal as much, telling Israel Hayom, a pro-Netanyahu newspaper,
that Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gantz “will have to find the way forward
together.”“To the extent that in the coalition agreement, Gantz
waived his veto right over annexation, Pompeo is handing it back to
him,” said Ofer Zalzberg, a senior analyst at the International
Crisis Group. [ak] | 19/5/2020 |
... |
Trump Won`t Just `Allow` Netanyahu’s West Bank Annexation – He`ll Force It | | Chemi Shalev - Haaretz - Trump’s scandalous mismanagement of the coronavirus crisis makes his reliance on evangelicals absolute. Without their full and enthusiastic enlistment, up to and including the very last believer, not only does Trump stand a good chance of losing the swing states that enabled his victory in 2016, he could very well be beaten in longstanding Republican strongholds as well, including North Carolina and Texas, in which evangelicals comprise about a third of the voting public.
Which is why the very thought – or hope – that Trump will behave like a responsible statesman and stop the new Netanyahu government from annexing the Jordan Valley and Jewish settlements in the West Bank is ludicrous. With a crumbling economy, an ongoing epidemic and the death of tens of thousands of Americans blamed on his mismanagement; with his back to the wall, polls in free fall and GOP colleagues starting to voice concerns about losing the Senate – Trump won’t dare disappoint his loyal evangelical legions. They want annexation, and annexation they will get. [bz] | 12/5/2020 |
... |
Not a terrorist | | Nir Gontarz - Twitter - "The Palestinian who threw a brick at the soldiers who were walking around in his neighborhood last night is not a terrorist. Anyone who targets IDF soldiers while they are outside the borders of the state and in the midst of a civilian population is not a terrorist. Soldiers who die during such activity - are not murdered. They are killed. None of this detracts from the intensity of grief for a soldier`s death.
(Signed:) Nir, father of a combat soldier" [bz]
| 12/5/2020 |
|
Sergeant Amit Ben Yigal was sacrificed by the State of Israel on the altar of occupation | | Adam Keller - Gush Shalom - Gush Shalom mourns the unnecessary death
of Staff Sergeant Amit Ben Yigal who fell in battle at the village
of Ya’bad, where the State of Israel sent him to enforce occupation
rule. Amit Ben Yigal joins a very long and painful line of young
victims who were sacrificed by the State of Israel on the altar of a
53 years old occupation, on the altar of settlement expansion, on
the altar of the annexation plans of the government which is to be
inaugurated his week.[ak] | 12/5/2020 |
... |
100 Years of Shame: Annexation of Palestine Began in San Remo | | Ramzy Baroud - CounterPunch - "In fact, one could argue that the West’s long
engagement in the question of Israel and Palestine has followed the same San
Remo prototype: where the Zionist movement (and eventually Israel) is granted
its political objectives based on unenforceable conditions that are never
respected or implemented" [ry]
| 11/5/2020 |
... |
A moment of truth for Israel-Palestine | | Marwan Bishara - Al Jazeera - The story and logic behind Israel`s `annexation
government` [ry] | 11/5/2020 |
... |
A Call to Collective International Action | | Dr. Hanan Ashrawi - PLO Dept. of Public Diplomacy - The Palestinian
leadership welcomes important statements made by many states and
regional organizations, including the European Union, Russia, China,
France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Italy, and Norway
rejecting Israeli plans for the annexation of Palestinian territory
as illegal and unacceptable. These statements reflect a global and
principled commitment to the standing and universal application of
international law, which strictly prohibits annexation. Immediate
corrective measures are required to confront unilateralism,
annexation, and land grab and save the prospects and requirements of
peace. It is time for preemptive and concrete measures that can
change the dangerous dynamics on the ground and restore the
relevance and effectiveness of accountability and international
responsibility, as they are detailed in international and European
laws. States need to individually and collectively honor their
domestic laws and international obligations in relation to human
rights violations, annexation, and other illegal actions Israel is
undertaking.
The international community can and should leverage its collective
influence to chart a new and credible multilateral political, legal,
and financial approach that stops Israel’s illegal and toxic actions
from condemning the region to perpetual conflict. [ak] | 9/5/2020 |
... |
The High Court didn’t stop Netanyahu. It won’t stop annexation either | | Meron Rapoport - +972 - Fighting corruption is not much of a political platform. It does not have the ability to provide answers to complex questions that plague Israeli society. The story that has animated Israel’s existence for the past 52 years is the occupation. This, and the notion of “Jewish supremacy,” in which this country belongs solely to one ethnic group, is what defines the State of Israel.
This is precisely why as soon as the 61 Knesset members — from Avigdor Liberman to the Joint List — vowed to not sit with Netanyahu and rallied around Benny Gantz, the entire camp crumbled to pieces. As Haggai Matar wrote on these pages in late March, the minute Gantz had to make a choice between corruption and sitting in a government backed by the Joint List, he went with the former. Of course, a center-left government would not have brought about the end of the occupation. But a coalition that would have included nationalists like Liberman alongside Israel’s Palestinian leadership would have posed a significant challenge to the notion of “Jewish supremacy,” and could have opened the door to potentially ending the occupation and Israeli apartheid.
[bz] | 9/5/2020 |
... |
Is there no limit to the anti-Palestinian racism of The New York Times? | | Michael F. Brown - The Electronic Intifada/Media Watch -
Liberal Zionists still believe in a Jewish state that grants special and better rights to Israeli Jews than to Palestinians.
But they have lost the argument among Zionists that the best way to achieve this is through ethnic separation in the form of a two-state solution.
Pipes is now a means to an end: soft Zionist bastions like The New York Times op-ed page will tolerate his toxic anti-Palestinian incitement as long as he can be recruited in the cause of protecting the Zionist dream of an exclusivist* Jewish state. [*"an exclusivist state" isn`t what liberal Zionists dream of, but they do insist on "a Jewish majority state", yes-bz]
| 9/5/2020 |
... |
Netnayahu can implement annexation - but will he? | | Judy Maltz - Haaretz - The coalition agreement allows Netanyahu to
introduce a West Bank annexation bill, starting July 1, and Benny
Gantz can`t veto it. But will he actually go through with it?
Shaqued Morag, executive director of Peace Now, has no that he will.
“Bibi is a different person now. In the past, he might have
considered annexation an irresponsible move and more cautious – but
today, what motivates him is his legal and political survival and
hhis trial in the Jerusalem District Court, beginning on May 24,
in three separate cases involving bribery, fraud and breach of
trust. Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, currently a
visiting fellow at Tel Aviv University, is not so sure. "The Israeli
security establishment is opposed to annexation, which might
undermine the peace with Jordan and the security cooperation with
the Palestinian Authority. Even if Gantz has no veto, with him as
Defense Minister the opinion of the army would get voiced. Also,
there might be pressure by the settlers to extend the annexation far
beyond the 30% of the West Bank promised by Trump, which could slow
down the entire process. And Netanyahu might hesitate to carry out
annexation with the approval of Trump two months before the US
election where Trump might be replaced by a Democrat who might
reverse approval for the annexation. It would be more sensible to
wait until the November Presidential Elections. [ak]
| 5/5/2020 |
... |
Annexation of the West Bank will have catastrophic consequences | | Gershon Baskin - The Jerusalem Post - Let it be known and crystal
clear that the unilateral annexation of the West Bank or parts of it
will be catastrophic. The idea that Israel can get away with such a
unilateral move is based on little more than when our outgoing
health minister declared that the coronavirus pandemic would be
resolved by the coming of the Messiah. Annexation will lead to
probable unified Palestinian violence of the Second Intifada type;
and/or the collapse of the Palestinian Authority and forcing the
responsibility of governing an unwilling population of millions of
Palestinians on Israel; and/or the collapse of the peace treaty with
Jordan; and/or the final end of Israel as a democracy. [ak]
| 5/5/2020 |
... |
What will happen to Palestinian land the day after annexation? | | Ziv Stahl - +972 - The exact shape that annexation will take is still unknown. One
thing is certain: Israel will use it to facilitate the theft of Palestinian land across the
West Bank [ry] | 4/5/2020 |
... |
Hating Arabs as a Common Ground: Why Israel’s Coalition Government is Likely to Survive | | Ramzy Baroud - CounterPunch - “Shortly after an agreement to form a ‘national
emergency government’ in Israel, leader of the Blue and White […] party, Benny
Gantz, tweeted triumphantly that ‘democracy’ in Israel has been ‘safeguarded’.
[…] By making such an assertion, Gantz is simply deluding himself, following one
the most disgraceful acts of political betrayal in the country’s modern history” [ry] | 4/5/2020 |
... |
11 European ambassadors warn Israel against West Bank annexation | | TOI STAFF -
"The envoys from the UK, Germany, France, Ireland, the Netherlands,
Italy, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, Finland and the EU issued a
formal objection to the Foreign Ministry against the move, Channel
13 reported...Also on Thursday, the Arab League said that the
planned annexation constituted a “new war crime” against the
Palestinians during a virtual conference chaired in Cairo." ca | 1/5/2020 |
... |
Israeli attorney general clears Netanyahu to head new government | | Rina Bassist -
Al Monitor
"It was a dramatic day on Israel’s political scene. Attorney General
Avichai Mandelblit wrote to the High Court today that in his
opinion, there are no legal obstacles to Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu forming the next government, despite the criminal charges
of bribery, fraud and breach of trust he is facing. Mandelblit also
argued that despite the legal difficulties, the unity deal should be
accepted and not invalidated by the court. The attorney general
stated, “Despite the significant difficulties that arise in this
matter, they do not constitute grounds for judicial intervention.”
ca
| 1/5/2020 |
... |
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