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22 oct 2019
Netanyahu Fails to Form Government: Now What?
Prime Minister Netanyahu announced, yesterday, that he’s officially handing back his mandate to President Rivlin after failing to form a new Israeli government.

The mandate will now pass to his rival and Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz, who will no doubt face the same difficulties as his opponent.

But, what exactly is at stake now that the first formation attempt has failed?

Since the deadline for his government formation had been set for Wednesday, Prime Minister Netanyahu, facing unfavorable odds, decided to give back his mandate to president Rivlin.

He did this in a video launched yesterday.
The mandate for the formation will now most likely pass to his Blue and White rival and former Chief of Military Staff Benny Gantz. That means that, as of today, it will be the first time in almost 11 years that someone other than Netanyahu will be responsible for the formation of Israeli government.

This counts as the second time that the Israeli prime minister was unable to successfully lead the formation, after two rounds of elections in which Likud didn’t manage to secure a parliamentary majority. “Since I received the mandate, I have worked tirelessly both in public and behind the scenes to establish a broad, national unity government. That’s what the people want,” he clarified, in a statement.

Conflicting interests and corruption

Netanyahu blames the failure of the formation on Gantz’s insistence on including Arab-majority parties into the new government against his will. “During the past few weeks, I made every effort to bring Benny Gantz to the negotiating table. Every effort to establish a broad national unity government, every effort to prevent another election,” he said. “To my regret, time after time he declined. He simply refused.”

Similarly, Gantz clarified that Netanyahu wasn’t negotiating in good faith since the unity government was only an option for the prime minister if it included his traditional hardline and religious allies. “The time for spin is over,” declared Blue and White, in their statement. “Now is the time for action. Blue and White is determined to form a liberal national unity government led by Benny Gantz, whom the people elected about a month ago.”

On top of this, there is still the problem of Netanyahu potentially being indicted for fraud, bribery and breach of trust, in three different, unrelated affairs, putting a significant amount of pressure on his shoulders to step aside as prime minister. If a unity government is formed before Israeli Attorney General Mendelblit decides to indict him, Netanyahu could remain in office, since the prime minister is the only elected official allowed to do so.

If, however, Mendelblit decides to indict him before the government has been officially formed, Netanyahu would not enjoy te privilege of immunity, and he would have to step down. At that point, Israel would be in uncharted legal territory.

What’s next?

The result of Netanyahu’s resignation as ‘formateur’ leads to an interesting upcoming agenda.

  • 22nd to 24th of October: President Rivlin has three days to make a decision about his next step, although it’s almost entirely certain that he will pass the formation mandate on to Gantz. However, in these three days, all Knesset factions have the option to meet with Rivlin, if they so desire, in order to discuss their ideas.
  • 19th to 21st of November: Gantz will have 28 days to form a government, just like Netanyahu, and the deadline will be one of these days, depending on when Rivlin makes his decision. Unlike Netanyahu, however, Gantz will not have the option of a 14-day extension to his formation period.
  • 10th to 12th of December: Should Gantz also fail to form a government, certain Knesset factions will have the opportunity to push forward a candidate for prime minister that they would judge fit for the job. If that happens, it would be unprecedented. These dates obviously count if Gantz uses up his full 28-day period for his attempt at formation.
  • 3rd to 10th of March 2020: Within these dates would be held a third round of elections, should Knesset members fail to find a third candidate for the position of prime minister. It should be made clear that a third round of parliamentary elections in one year would be an absolute first in Israel’s history.

The second formateur

Benny Gantz, although being 60 years of age, is a bit of a newcomer in Israeli politics. He’s vowed to unify the country and heal its sectarian divides created, according to Blue and White, by a decade of Netanyahu branding Israel’s large 20% Arab minority as supporters of terror. His Blue and White party is a centrist coalition which includes many of Netanyahu’s critics, like secular politician Yair Lapid, and former senior military officers (like Gantz himself). Additionally, he’s hinted that he’d be interested in reinvigorating the peace process with the Palestinians, although he has remained vague on this matter.

The Blue and White leader has no problems entering into a government with Likud, but not with a prime minister who’s being tried for corruption. Several people, like Netanyahu’s party member Gideon Saar, have already indicated that they would be willing to succeed the prime minister. But, as of yet, Likud has not dropped support for their current leader.
21 oct 2019
Israeli occupation responsible for declining Christian population
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There is a possibility that there will be no indigenous Christians left in the Holy Land - unless Israel ends its occupation of Palestine. This was the urgent message from Palestinian Christian theologians and activists speaking at the Holy Land Conference in Johannesburg last week.

Hosted by The Evangelical Alliance of South Africa (TEASA), which represents almost 4 million Christians who identify as born-again or evangelical, delegates heard first-hand accounts of how Israel’s military occupation and its restrictions on Palestinian movement prevented Christian Palestinians from worshiping at Christianity’s most sacred sites in occupied Jerusalem. Some of these sites are located less than 15km from their homes. Israel’s occupation of Palestine has also effectively deprived Palestinians of access to education, health-care and employment opportunities.

This has led to an exodus of Christian Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. Indigenous Christian Palestinians once constituted over 19% of Palestine’s population, and number less than 2 percent today.

According to Shireen Awwad Hilal, the coordinator of Musalaha Women’s Ministry in Bethlehem, the chief cause of the decline in the Christian population of the Holy Land is not due to the persecution of Christians by Muslims. “Many Christians feel that there is little hope for a better future for their children under Israeli occupation, and this has contributed to the growing emigration of Palestinian Christians. Christian Palestinians are under threat from the Israeli occupation – not Islam,” says Awwad Hilal.

Yousef Al-Khouri agrees. “Muslim and Christian Palestinians suffer equally under the Israeli occupation. There is no conflict between Islam and Christianity in Gaza or anywhere else in occupied Palestine. This is not a religious conflict, this is occupation,” says the Gaza-born Biblical Studies lecturer whose family goes back over 900 years in the Greek Orthodox priesthood in Palestine.

According to TEASA secretary-general, Reverend Moss Nthla, the conference and the visit by the Palestinians was a ground-breaking attempt by the evangelical movement in South Africa to introduce an alternative narrative on the Holy Land. The dominant narrative within the evangelical movement is that the creation of the state of Israel was a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. This narrative, Nthla says, “weaponizes the Bible against Palestinians and justifies the occupation of Palestine.”

“As Christians, we need to change our role as unwitting collaborators with the oppression of Palestinian people. We must inform and equip ourselves to be part of a solution that has as its aim a just peace in Palestine, rather than being part of the problem,” Nthla explained in an interview with the Afro-Palestine Newswire Service.  “South African Christians must be interested in what is happening in Israel/Palestine because it is the place where Jesus Christ was born, lived and died.”

The South African Council of Churches (SACC) has condemned Israel’s occupation of Palestine, calling the treatment of the Palestinians by Israel “worse than Apartheid”.

In September, the Anglican and Methodist Churches of Southern Africa resolved to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel until that state ended its military occupation of Palestine.

15 oct 2019
Is Israel stealing Palestinian cuisine?
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By Yousef Al-Helou

Culture is a reflection of each society and community. It can be identified through different factors ranging from traditional heritage, music to art and cuisine, among other elements.

They form the pillars of the identity of nations and countries, but if they are taken away and appropriated by others then what is left of that identity?

To this end, ordinary Palestinians including owners of Palestinian restaurants all over the world feel they have a duty to show the rich culture of their people through showing maps, posters, old photographs and handmade crafts decorating the interiors of their dining areas as well as sitting rooms in Palestinian homes.

It is a voluntary individual educational process to raise awareness amongst non-Palestinians and raise awareness to fight all attempts to forge history and most importantly the appropriation of Palestinian cuisine.

Restaurants are like little microcosms of the Palestinian identity and culture. A fierce cultural war often breaks out when Palestinian meals are mislabeled as Israeli ones whether by online or TV ads or at restaurants owned by Israelis.

Palestinian culture and life revolves around food in every aspect, whether it is an ordinary day or a special occasion. A few books were written about Palestinian cookery and cuisine; it is a reminder that food and national identity are tied together.

Lovers of Palestinian cuisine know where to find their favorite Palestinian dishes in their cities outside Palestine. Not to mention the famous Palestinian cheesy dessert known as kunafaeh.

Maramia, is Arabic for sage – an aromatic herb added to tea by Palestinians – it is one of the few places that offer the taste of Palestine in the UK.

The admiration to the Palestinians' cause and struggle is not only limited to politics, but also to their authentic typical meals such as musakhan, maqlouba, mansaf, stuffed vine leaves, hummus, falafel and shakshouka.

Cooking styles vary by region, and each type of style and the ingredients used, are generally based on the climate and location of the particular region in historic Palestine and on traditions.

Dining in restaurants such as Shakshouka – another restaurant based in central London – makes you identify with a place called home. Seeing posters of icons of the Palestinian struggle such as 16-year-old Ahed Tamimi, Yasser Arafat as well as Muslim and Christian holy places and traditional homemade handicrafts and embroideries. Shakshouka is a typical Palestinian meal; It consists of eggs poached in a sauce of spiced tomatoes, green peppers and chopped onion.

These kinds of restaurants serve as a hub to Palestinian communities through which Palestinians tell their stories and the deeply rooted narrative of their nation.  

They do this to keep their history alive and to bring people closer to their homeland as well as attracting pro-Palestine supporters and sympathizers to enjoy their time and get a partial taste of being in Palestine while listening to Palestinian traditional music, learn Arabic with a Palestinian dialect or watch live performance of Palestinian folk dance known as Dabkah.

While the recipes of the meals vary and are hugely popular Middle Eastern dishes, one thing is crystal clear, you just cannot call hummus, falafel or shakshouka Israeli dishes even if the world's top celebrity chefs try to convince you they are. Simply put Israel was established in 1948 at the expense of the Palestinian people, who were made refugees scattered all over the world until this moment.

A big percentage of Israeli society consists of Arab Jews who migrated from Arab countries after the formation of the nascent state of Israel some 70 years ago. They brought with them "Arabic" authentic meals from countries such as Iraq, Morocco and Yemen.

The argument revolves around naming the dishes as Israeli, whereas calling them at least Middle Eastern or Levantine dishes would just calm the fumes a bit.

Palestinians often refer to attempts to appropriate their culture and cuisine as "Israeli forging strategy" aimed at stripping them of their identity through the theft of their cuisine as if occupying their land was not enough. They have a valid point as many would agree.

The endless propaganda efforts in which Israeli claims to Palestinian cuisine cannot just change facts because they have no historical base.

Inviting celebrity chefs to cook meals and branding them as Israeli will not succeed in convincing the world that falafel is Israel's national snack!

All these deliberate and decades old strategies will not erase Palestinian identity and culture.

If you want to taste the real authentic Palestinian cuisine and desserts you need to pay a visit to the old city in East Jerusalem Al-Quds, Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus, Bethlehem or Gaza some of the largest Palestinian cities on the Mediterranean under Palestinian control.

If you happen to be in Nazareth, Acre, Jaffa – cities in historic Palestine dominated by Palestinian communities then you have a chance to taste the real authentic Palestinian dishes but be wary and do not be misled if you are told that falafel is an Israeli dish. Palestinians have no sovereignty whatsoever when it comes to their freedom of movement, there is, however, also an attempt to appropriate their food.

Turkish kebabs, Lebanese tabbouleh, Moroccan couscous or Philly cheese steak are dishes that no one can argue were appropriated from other nations, but when it comes to Israel’s efforts to present itself as an indigenous Middle Eastern community, that does not resonate, especially if you call hummus "Israeli khummus.”

Palestinians are proud of their food and they are rightly provoked if they see food stalls in markets in Europe or in the US, for example, selling falafel sandwiches branding it as an Israeli national dish.

Planting olive groves and citrus orchards and fig trees are part of the Palestinian culture, as olives and pickles are a must on the Palestinian dining table.

There is no better taste for Palestinians and their three Levantine counterparts, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon than sitting down to a breakfast that contains zaatar – dried thyme  – dipped in olive oil with a cup of tea with fresh mint or dried sage and if you want to something hearty you can have ful, hummus and falafel.

Cultural appropriation is denial of the existence and heritage of the owners of the land – the Palestinians in their millions inside the occupied Palestinian territories, in refugee camps in Arab countries or in the diaspora worldwide.

- Yousef Alhelou is a Palestinian journalist and political analyst based in London. He has been covering the Palestinian-Israeli affairs since 2005 and reported on the Israeli wars on Gaza in 2008 and 2012 as well as other major events. He is a former Reuters journalist fellow attended Oxford University and a United Nations alumni. His article appeared in TRT World website.

Aoun: Israel violates int’l law, seeks to impose new fait accompli
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Lebanese president Michel Aoun has accused Israel of violating all international laws, conventions and norms and seeking to impose a new fait accompli on the ground.

Aoun made the remarks at the first conference of the Levant meeting, entitled: "Meeting and a Breakfast Prayer, Lebanon the Homeland of Dialogue and Civilizations", which was held in Beirut.

The president strongly denounced the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and its exposure to Judaization as “a flagrant violation of all international laws and resolutions, and a dangerous indicator of something being prepared.”

He said that Israel’s violations include settlement expansion, racist legislation and its disrespect for the inviolability of internationally recognized borders.

Ghanim of Kuwait blames int’l silence for Israel’s ongoing crimes
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Kuwait’s National Assembly Speaker, Marzouk al-Ghanim, said Monday that the Israeli occupation’s persistence in its crimes is encouraged by the international community’s silence.

Al-Ghanim made his remarks at the 141st Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference being held in Serbia capital, Belgrade.

“The international silence increases despair and kills hope of the region’s nations, especially the Palestinian people, he said.

“This might lead the situation to explode and no one will be immunized against its repercussions and effects,” he warned.

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