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Showing posts from May, 2020

5-30-2020 ‘Justice for Iyad, justice forGeorge’: Hundreds protest police killing of Palestinian in Jerusalem – Oren Ziv+972

5-30-2020 'Justice for Iyad, justice for George': Hundreds protest police killing of Palestinian in Jerusalem – Oren Ziv +972 https://www.972mag.com/police-violence-iyad-hallak-george-floyd/ Israelis and Palestinians take to the streets to protest police violence, drawing parallels with the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. … In Tel Aviv, over 200 people protested outside the city's police headquarters while over 150 left-wing activists, including a dozen Palestinians, marched on Jerusalem's King George Street. The demonstrators held signs that read "Palestinian Lives Matter" and "Justice for Iyad, Justice for George," in reference to George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was killed last week in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after a white policer officer pinned him to the ground by his neck. Floyd's death has sparked mass demonstrations in cities across the United States…   Pos

5-21-2020 Palestinian politics after annexation: Palestinian Authority critic Abdul Sattar Kassem on what comes next – Ahmad Al-Bazz Mondoweiss

https://mondoweiss.net/2020/05/palestinian-politics-after-annexation-palestinian-authority-critic-abdul-sattar-kassem-on-what-comes-next/ …Can't a one-state solution that includes Palestinian refugees and Israelis be a choice, when everybody between the river and the sea shares equal rights?   How would you regain your rights while there are around seven million Jews in Palestine? They have taken our homes and they have taken our lands. For the sake of peace, we might consider what you are referring to, that Palestine will be an open area for Palestinians and for Jews who are here. But for the time being what I say and what most people who think the same way say: we should concentrate on the liberation of Palestine and we believe that Israel as a state is not going to stay long here in this area.   What gives you such a belief?  I trust the strength of the Arab resistance in both southern Lebanon and southern Palestine. In southern Lebanon, Hezbollah is a deterren

5-28-2020 Death a Dogma? After annexation, world likely to abandontwo-state solution- Raphael Ahren Times of Israel

https://www.timesofisrael.com/death-of-a-dogma-after-annexation-world-likely-to-abandon-two-state-paradigm/   … even those critical of the Israeli government say annexation would make any other outcome impossible.   "This decision will kill the two-state solution, making a one-state solution inevitable," Safadi, the Jordanian foreign minister, said Wednesday… "Right now, the two-state solution is dead… Wouldn't it be great if we actually had a democratic state for Jews and Palestinians between the river Jordan and the Mediterranean?" Irish member of the European Parliament Mike Wallace asked Borrell this week.   Earlier this month, dovish Israeli columnist Gideon Levy endorsed annexation as "the only way out of the deadlock, the only possible shake-up that could end this status quo of despair we've gotten stuck in, which can no longer lead anywhere good.".. And if Israel is seen as single-h

5-26-2020Joe Biden's campaign removes'racist' anti-Palestinian language from platform – Ali Harb Middle East Eye

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/joe-bidens-campaign-removes-racist-anti-palestinian-language-plat   Passage saying BDS lets Palestinians 'off the hook for their choices' has disappeared from Biden's plan for Jewish-American communities…Joe Biden's campaign has watered down an anti-BDS line from his platform for Jewish-American communities, removing "racist" language that angered Palestine solidarity activists.The Biden campaign said in a statement earlier this month that his administration will "firmly reject the BDS movement, which singles out Israel - home to millions of Jews - and too often veers into antisemitism, while letting Palestinians off the hook for their choices." But on Tuesday, that line disappeared from the platform. It was replaced with a pledge to "firmly reject the BDS movement - which singles out Israel and too often veers into anti-Semitism - and fight other efforts to delegitimise Israel on the global

5-19-2020 Annexation is not just about stealing land — it’s about expelling Palestinians- Ahmad Al-Bazz +972

https://www.972mag.com/israel-settler-colonial-annexation/ What the international community views as an illegal move under occupation is in fact another stage in Israel's century-long settler colonial project….The answer lies in what Israel may be preparing to announce: not only the absorption of the settlements and surrounding land, which are already under its control, but also the final cleansing of the Palestinians who remain in those areas. That plan has been unfolding for years in places like the Jordan Valley, E1, and the South Hebron Hills, but it could be pursued more swiftly once formal annexation is declared…   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

5-20-2020 Abbas declares end to agreements with Israel, US – Yamna Patel Mondoweiss

https://mondoweiss.net/2020/05/abbas-declares-end-to-agreements-with-israel-us/   Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared late Tuesday night an end to "all agreements and understandings" with Israel and the United States, and that his government would be "handing over responsibility of the occupied territories back to Israel." …The likelihood of the PA to willingly break down its government, forfeit its power, and lay off the thousands of people who rely on government jobs, is next to impossible. .. [Ramallah analyst Dawoud Yousef says] "How is one to pursue a diplomatic path with an entity whose core strategic goal is the negation of your existence?"   "If the PA really cared about liberation instead of its own privilege, it would have dissolved itself under Arafat. Realistically, one cannot end an agreement that has already expired or been disregarded by one of the parties."   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME membe

1-3-2020 Public Opinion Poll # 75 – Palestine Center for Policy and Survey Research

www.pcpsr.org/en/node/799 Public support is highest (90%) to the response of ending the split and reunifying the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, followed by waging a diplomatic warfare against Israel in international organizations (85%); withdrawing Palestinian recognition of Israel (84%); waging non-violent popular demonstrations (78%); ending security coordination (77%); ending the implementation of the Oslo Agreement (69%); waging an armed struggle or return to an armed intifada (64%). We found that a large majority (59%) is opposed and 37% are not opposed to the abandonment of the two-state solution and the adoption of a one-state solution (it is worth mentioning that two months ago support for the adopting the one-state solution stood at 28%); 56% are opposed and 40% are not opposed to a response in which the status quo is essentially maintained with no major changes introduced; and a 52% are opposed and 45% are not opposed to d

June/July-2020 ’48 Palestinians Believe TheMoment Has Arrived: One Democratic State – Steve France Washington Report on Middle East Affairs

https://www.wrmea.org/2020-june/july/48-palestinians-believe-the-moment-has-arrived-one-democratic-state.html …the situation for the Palestinians may have "returned to its [pre-1948] existential roots," when all faced the same threat of exile or subjugation. That was the response, in February, of more than 80 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza in a poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR). They, along with Israeli Jews of conscience, are calling for "One Democratic State" (ODS) for all the people, and they are beginning to be heard...   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member  

5-23-2020Annexation Is the Israeli Settlers' RealEstate Dream Come True - Michael Sfard Haaretz

https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-annexation-is-the-israeli-settlers-real-estate-dream-come-true-1.8865898   …How will this be done? Via two main legal methods; first, the Absentees' Property Law. This law was passed in 1950 to nationalize Palestinian refugees' property. Once applied to an annexed area, it will lead to the expropriation of all land there owned by Palestinians living in Jordan, Syria or Lebanon. West Bank residents who own property in the annexed area could also lose their assets because, technically, they too will become "absentees."   This is what West Bankers who own property in East Jerusalem faced after Israeli law was applied there… Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

Palestinian Leaders Have No Strategy Against Annexation - Muhammad Shehada Haaretz

https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-from-abbas-to-hamas-palestinian-leaders-have-no-strategy-against-annexation-1.8860548     A fumbling, factional, incoherent Palestinian response to Israel's looming move on the West Bank would be a dream for annexationists And that's exactly what's happening The serious dangers of Israel's lurking annexation cannot be overemphasized. Once officially implemented, it would be nearly impossible for any future Israeli government to walk it back or undo the ensuing damage.   Annexation would leave Palestinians with an unlivable, shakshuka-like non-state, irrevocably and perhaps fatally compromise the Palestinian peace camp , terminally alienate two-states advocates, and lead to long-term radicalization among impoverished Palestinians with no political horizon or improvement in living conditions in sight… Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

5-11-2020 Abba Eban Was the Last to Hold These Two Israeli Posts at Once. Next: Gilad Erdan - David M. Halbfinger New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/world/middleeast/israel-ambassador-gilad-erdan.html?action=click&module=moreIn&pgtype=Article&region=Footer&action=click&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=Article&region=Footer&contentCollection=Middle%20East ...A younger rival to Netanyahu is to become Israel's ambassador to the United Nations and, in November, to Washington as well….He may be well prepared for the United Nations post in at least one respect: As strategic affairs minister, he has led Israel's campaign against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and other efforts efforts to delegitimize Israel and turn it into an international pariah... Posted by Judith Ferster AIME member

4-29-2020 treet leader calls on AIPAC to end ‘Israel-right-or-wrong’ policy and condemn annexation - Philip Weiss Mondoweiss

https://mondoweiss.net/2020/04/j-street-leader-calls-on-aipac-to-end-israel-right-or-wrong-policy-and-condemn-annexation/   In the last couple of days American liberal Zionist organizations and European governments have issued statements opposing the plan of the new Israeli government to begin annexing occupied lands in the West Bank come July. They say annexation is a line that must not be crossed because it will destroy the possibility of a Palestinian state — even as the Trump administration says that annexation is up to Israel. The EU has said there will be a "strong response" if Israel annexes. Germany and the UK have come out against it. France says annexation "would not pass unchallenged and shall not be overlooked in our relationship with Israel." …… While author Ian Lustick has said that annexation is a step toward Israel becoming a real democracy, not one that discriminates against Palestinians.. .

4-6-2020 Is This The Death Of The Two-State Solution? – The Real News Network

https://therealnews.com/stories/paradigm-lost-death-of-two-state-solution-israel-palestine In his new book, "Paradigm Lost: From Two-State Solution to One-State Reality," Ian Lustick describes the end of not only the two-state solution, but also the idea of partition.   [Interview with Kim Brown] Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

5-6-2020 Israel After Coronavirus: One Crisis, One State –and That Includes the Palestinians – Gideon Levy Haaretz

www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-after-coronavirus-one-crisis-one-state-including-the-palestinians-1.8819039?utm_source=traffic.outbrain.com&utm_medium=referrer&utm_campaign=outbrain_organic All of a sudden Palestinians can sleep in Israel, Arab health workers are garnering praise and Israelis are experiencing an 'occupation.' Maybe this crisis will show that we are all human beings? Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

5-5-2020 Annexation Isn't the End of the World. Listen to Gideon Levy Haaretz

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/annexation-isn-t-the-end-of-the-world-listen-to-gideon-levy-1.8822273   [an audio   interview]   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

4-29-2020 ICAHD’s Jeff Halper responds to the agreement between Netanyahu and Ganz and the annexation plans – ICAHD

https://icahd.org/2020/04/29/icahds-jeff-halper-responds-to-the-agreement-between-netanyahu-and-ganz-and-the-annexation-plans/   With the signing of an agreement with Benny Gantz, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally got a government that gives him the two things he most coveted: immunity from prosecution in his three corruption cases, and a mandate to annex large swathes of the West Bank, Israel's "settlement blocs," finally expanding Israel's borders from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, foreclosing forever any Palestinian state, and imposing an apartheid regime of Jews over Palestinians -- with the approval of the US and the complicity of the international community, from China and India to the Arab states. [So-called " permanent residency" would make Palestinians' status worse.]. If there is a silver lining to all this, it is that it took a Trump to finally put to bed…what we have all really known for the past 20