8 feb 2020
Ambassador Marwan Toubasi presenting George Mavrikos with Medal of Honor of President Mahmoud Abbas
The Secretary-General of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), George Mavrikos, reiterated yesterday the Federation’s rejection and condemnation of the American so-called "deal of the century" and the American-Israeli aggressive policies in the eastern Mediterranean region and announced solidarity activities with the Palestinian people.
Mavrikos stressed in his speech at the European Sector Conference of the WFTU, in the presence of the Palestinian ambassador to Greece, Marwan Toubasi, and with the participation of the heads of trade s from 23 European countries, the Federation's solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle to achieve their legitimate rights.
During the conference held in the Greek capital, Athens, Mavrikos announced the start next week in various countries of the world of an international solidarity campaign with the Palestinian people.
Toubasi reviewed at the conference the Palestinian leadership's position rejecting the deal of the century indicating that it violates international law and United Nations resolutions, while implementing Israel’s colonial project at the expense of the rights of the Palestinian people.
He urged participants in the conference to defend, not only the rights of the Palestinian people, but also the principles of international law, the UN Charter, and the values of democracy, justice and human rights.
He said the United States and Israel are not only targeting the cause of the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights, but also seek to create a world order governed by chaos and the absence of justice in place of international law.
WFTU includes in its membership s from 133 countries, including Palestine, which has joined it since 1943.
The Secretary-General of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), George Mavrikos, reiterated yesterday the Federation’s rejection and condemnation of the American so-called "deal of the century" and the American-Israeli aggressive policies in the eastern Mediterranean region and announced solidarity activities with the Palestinian people.
Mavrikos stressed in his speech at the European Sector Conference of the WFTU, in the presence of the Palestinian ambassador to Greece, Marwan Toubasi, and with the participation of the heads of trade s from 23 European countries, the Federation's solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle to achieve their legitimate rights.
During the conference held in the Greek capital, Athens, Mavrikos announced the start next week in various countries of the world of an international solidarity campaign with the Palestinian people.
Toubasi reviewed at the conference the Palestinian leadership's position rejecting the deal of the century indicating that it violates international law and United Nations resolutions, while implementing Israel’s colonial project at the expense of the rights of the Palestinian people.
He urged participants in the conference to defend, not only the rights of the Palestinian people, but also the principles of international law, the UN Charter, and the values of democracy, justice and human rights.
He said the United States and Israel are not only targeting the cause of the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights, but also seek to create a world order governed by chaos and the absence of justice in place of international law.
WFTU includes in its membership s from 133 countries, including Palestine, which has joined it since 1943.
7 feb 2020
More than 100 Democrats in the US House of Representatives signed today a letter rejecting President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan, known as the "deal of the century", saying it would “hurt Israelis and Palestinians alike, pushing them toward further conflict.”
"It does not have our support, and the Israeli government must not take it as a license to violate international law by annexing all or portions of the West Bank," according to the letter, led by Democratic Reps. Alan Lowenthal and Andy Levin.
The letter read, “In addition to the highly problematic nature of your proposal, the timing of its release suggests motives unrelated to helping solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
The House in December passed a bipartisan resolution, H.Res. 326, affirming support for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that may be achieved through direct negotiations, without any unilateral annexation of territory.
The Palestinian leadership and the majority of Arab states have rejected the Trump administration’s proposal, which envisions a noncontiguous Palestinian state encircled by an Israeli security barrier, with Israel exercising security control over the West Bank and Jordan Valley, as well as air, land and sea ports.
"It does not have our support, and the Israeli government must not take it as a license to violate international law by annexing all or portions of the West Bank," according to the letter, led by Democratic Reps. Alan Lowenthal and Andy Levin.
The letter read, “In addition to the highly problematic nature of your proposal, the timing of its release suggests motives unrelated to helping solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
The House in December passed a bipartisan resolution, H.Res. 326, affirming support for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that may be achieved through direct negotiations, without any unilateral annexation of territory.
The Palestinian leadership and the majority of Arab states have rejected the Trump administration’s proposal, which envisions a noncontiguous Palestinian state encircled by an Israeli security barrier, with Israel exercising security control over the West Bank and Jordan Valley, as well as air, land and sea ports.
6 feb 2020
Israelis of all political persuasions welcomed the Trump “peace plan”, but the Palestinian citizens of the self-styled Jewish state are angry because the deal refers to land and population swaps between Israel and Palestinian Authority territory.
This confirms that Israel wants to displace them, fulfilling right wing aspirations.
Arab members of the Israeli parliament have said that they will not agree to the deal of the century and its explicit annexation proposal.
Nevertheless, the right-wing Israeli government now has a green light to strip citizenship from hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in the “Triangle” in northern Israel.
It is clear that Trump’s plan is not just about taking more of the Palestinian land occupied in 1967, but that it also wants to “transfer” Palestinians from the areas occupied in 1948.
Israel wants to “swap” the area with the PA; protests against this are not, therefore, simply in solidarity with the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the refugees in the diaspora. There is also a conspiracy against their existence in Israel.
The Palestinians in Israel have held crisis talks about the implications of the deal, especially for those in the Triangle, which is a predominantly Arab area in Israel, near the West Bank, divided into the Northern Triangle and the towns of Kafr Qara, Ar’ara, Baqa Al-Gharbiyye and Umm Al-Fahm, and the Southern Triangle, which includes Qalansawe, Tayibe, Kafr Qasim, Tira, Kafr Bara and Jaljulia.
It is a stronghold of the Islamic movement in Israel, led by Sheikh Raed Salah.
The part of the Triangle mentioned in the Trump plan covers 350 square kilometres. The area threatened by the swap proposal covers more than 42,000 acres, inhabited by 300,000 Palestinians, who make up 20 per cent of the total Palestinian population inside Israel and have Israeli citizenship.
These villages are thus a source of demographic concern for Israel due to the steadily increasing population, which is expected to reach 500,000 in the next five years, tipping the demographic balance in favour of the Palestinian Arabs.
The Triangle is more conservative in nature than the more integrated Arab regions in Israel. Swapping the land and population out of Israel will see the loss of those who best preserve traditional Palestinian identity.
Local political groups believe that the land and population swap is an extension of previous efforts by Israel to liquidate the Palestinian issue; Israel wants more land but without the people of Palestine on it.
It is not the first time that the Israelis have sought to transfer the largest number of Triangle residents and the least amount of land. Such a move will not only hit the Palestinians directly involved, but also their extended families and social connections, many of which will be severed.
Efforts to Judaise the Triangle areas to provide Israel with some strategic depth have included a belt of settlements on the outskirts of the Arab towns. This has caused anxiety among the Palestinians, with almost daily attacks by settlers against them and their properties. There is also a fear that another massacre like that at Kafr Qasem in 1956 is on the cards in order to make the local population leave of their own accord.
A plan developed by the late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, called the “Seven Stars” project, tried to change the demographic nature of the Triangle. A Jewish majority was to be created by establishing religious centres, hemming-in Umm Al-Fahm so that it could not be developed further, and linking the area to settlements in the West Bank.
This would also have seen the removal of the so-called Green “Armistice” Line of 1949 dividing the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 from those occupied in 1967. The latter were supposed to form the “State of Palestine” according to the international consensus. Sharon’s project did not get beyond the discussion stage.
It is clear that Israel is seeking to buy enough time to impose a fait accompli on the ground by getting Knesset approval for the deal. Although the Arab MKs have the third largest coalition with 12 seats, their chances of thwarting the vote on the plan are almost non-existent in light of the general agreement within Israel to implement Trump’s plan.
Israelis have declared the Palestinian-Israeli population growth as a “demographic time bomb”. With a falling birth rate among Israeli Jews, the fear is that Palestinians will outnumber them across historic Palestine within the next ten years.
Land swaps to defuse this “threat” to the “Jewishness” of the state of Israel have been mooted before, of course. Post-1967, Israel’s policies in the newly-occupied territories have included the annexation of Jerusalem, still unrecognised by most countries in the world; land confiscation; house demolitions and the removal of residency rights.
In 1982 a secret document called for the Interior Ministry to crack down on the Palestinians and push them to leave their land. This was picked up by the racist General Rehavam Ze’evi in 1988, and notorious Rabbi Meir Kahane, who called for Umm Al-Fahm to be attacked as a means of provoking its residents.
By 2004, former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman was proposing the swap of minor Israeli settlements in the West Bank with Arab villages and towns in the Triangle, based on similar agreements made post-World War Two in different parts of the world. Donald Trump’s “peace plan” is in many ways simply a US-endorsed Judaisation project giving Israel everything that it wants, for now. Its aims and objectives mirror those of earlier schemes.
Israeli security agencies are also concerned about the growing influence and activities of the Islamic movement within the “Jewish state”, particularly in the Triangle, as its ideas are similar to those of the Muslim Brotherhood. The movement also mobilises volunteers against Israeli violations at Al-Aqsa Mosque. The fear is that the conflict will spill over into serious clashes between Palestinian Muslims and religious Jews.
The timing of the release of the deal of the century helped Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces yet another general election next month — the third in less than a year — as well as indictments for corruption. The deal is a bit of a lifeline for the Israeli Prime Minister. Nevertheless, approval and implementation of its terms may be postponed until after the election, giving the Arab MKs time to try to prevent the displacement of citizens from the Triangle.
Palestinians within Israel believe that the Trump “peace plan” is anything but peaceful, and will lead to violence. In fulfilling the aims and aspirations of the Israeli far-right, it looks set to entrench even further Israel’s status as an apartheid state, with the indigenous people facing ever more discriminatory legislation and displacement.
It remains to be seen if they can prevent the implementation of the plan, at least the land swap clause, which seeks to rob so many people of their citizenship and transfer them against their will.
This confirms that Israel wants to displace them, fulfilling right wing aspirations.
Arab members of the Israeli parliament have said that they will not agree to the deal of the century and its explicit annexation proposal.
Nevertheless, the right-wing Israeli government now has a green light to strip citizenship from hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in the “Triangle” in northern Israel.
It is clear that Trump’s plan is not just about taking more of the Palestinian land occupied in 1967, but that it also wants to “transfer” Palestinians from the areas occupied in 1948.
Israel wants to “swap” the area with the PA; protests against this are not, therefore, simply in solidarity with the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the refugees in the diaspora. There is also a conspiracy against their existence in Israel.
The Palestinians in Israel have held crisis talks about the implications of the deal, especially for those in the Triangle, which is a predominantly Arab area in Israel, near the West Bank, divided into the Northern Triangle and the towns of Kafr Qara, Ar’ara, Baqa Al-Gharbiyye and Umm Al-Fahm, and the Southern Triangle, which includes Qalansawe, Tayibe, Kafr Qasim, Tira, Kafr Bara and Jaljulia.
It is a stronghold of the Islamic movement in Israel, led by Sheikh Raed Salah.
The part of the Triangle mentioned in the Trump plan covers 350 square kilometres. The area threatened by the swap proposal covers more than 42,000 acres, inhabited by 300,000 Palestinians, who make up 20 per cent of the total Palestinian population inside Israel and have Israeli citizenship.
These villages are thus a source of demographic concern for Israel due to the steadily increasing population, which is expected to reach 500,000 in the next five years, tipping the demographic balance in favour of the Palestinian Arabs.
The Triangle is more conservative in nature than the more integrated Arab regions in Israel. Swapping the land and population out of Israel will see the loss of those who best preserve traditional Palestinian identity.
Local political groups believe that the land and population swap is an extension of previous efforts by Israel to liquidate the Palestinian issue; Israel wants more land but without the people of Palestine on it.
It is not the first time that the Israelis have sought to transfer the largest number of Triangle residents and the least amount of land. Such a move will not only hit the Palestinians directly involved, but also their extended families and social connections, many of which will be severed.
Efforts to Judaise the Triangle areas to provide Israel with some strategic depth have included a belt of settlements on the outskirts of the Arab towns. This has caused anxiety among the Palestinians, with almost daily attacks by settlers against them and their properties. There is also a fear that another massacre like that at Kafr Qasem in 1956 is on the cards in order to make the local population leave of their own accord.
A plan developed by the late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, called the “Seven Stars” project, tried to change the demographic nature of the Triangle. A Jewish majority was to be created by establishing religious centres, hemming-in Umm Al-Fahm so that it could not be developed further, and linking the area to settlements in the West Bank.
This would also have seen the removal of the so-called Green “Armistice” Line of 1949 dividing the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 from those occupied in 1967. The latter were supposed to form the “State of Palestine” according to the international consensus. Sharon’s project did not get beyond the discussion stage.
It is clear that Israel is seeking to buy enough time to impose a fait accompli on the ground by getting Knesset approval for the deal. Although the Arab MKs have the third largest coalition with 12 seats, their chances of thwarting the vote on the plan are almost non-existent in light of the general agreement within Israel to implement Trump’s plan.
Israelis have declared the Palestinian-Israeli population growth as a “demographic time bomb”. With a falling birth rate among Israeli Jews, the fear is that Palestinians will outnumber them across historic Palestine within the next ten years.
Land swaps to defuse this “threat” to the “Jewishness” of the state of Israel have been mooted before, of course. Post-1967, Israel’s policies in the newly-occupied territories have included the annexation of Jerusalem, still unrecognised by most countries in the world; land confiscation; house demolitions and the removal of residency rights.
In 1982 a secret document called for the Interior Ministry to crack down on the Palestinians and push them to leave their land. This was picked up by the racist General Rehavam Ze’evi in 1988, and notorious Rabbi Meir Kahane, who called for Umm Al-Fahm to be attacked as a means of provoking its residents.
By 2004, former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman was proposing the swap of minor Israeli settlements in the West Bank with Arab villages and towns in the Triangle, based on similar agreements made post-World War Two in different parts of the world. Donald Trump’s “peace plan” is in many ways simply a US-endorsed Judaisation project giving Israel everything that it wants, for now. Its aims and objectives mirror those of earlier schemes.
Israeli security agencies are also concerned about the growing influence and activities of the Islamic movement within the “Jewish state”, particularly in the Triangle, as its ideas are similar to those of the Muslim Brotherhood. The movement also mobilises volunteers against Israeli violations at Al-Aqsa Mosque. The fear is that the conflict will spill over into serious clashes between Palestinian Muslims and religious Jews.
The timing of the release of the deal of the century helped Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces yet another general election next month — the third in less than a year — as well as indictments for corruption. The deal is a bit of a lifeline for the Israeli Prime Minister. Nevertheless, approval and implementation of its terms may be postponed until after the election, giving the Arab MKs time to try to prevent the displacement of citizens from the Triangle.
Palestinians within Israel believe that the Trump “peace plan” is anything but peaceful, and will lead to violence. In fulfilling the aims and aspirations of the Israeli far-right, it looks set to entrench even further Israel’s status as an apartheid state, with the indigenous people facing ever more discriminatory legislation and displacement.
It remains to be seen if they can prevent the implementation of the plan, at least the land swap clause, which seeks to rob so many people of their citizenship and transfer them against their will.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, Thursday, condemned what he described as the dangerous Israeli escalation against the Palestinian people which has led to the killing of at least three young men and the injury of dozens of others, in the last 24 hours, the Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA) reported.
In a statement, Abu Rudeineh blamed the escalation on the so-called “deal of the century”, which he said “created this atmosphere for the escalation and tension by trying to impose false facts on the ground that we have repeatedly warned against and stressed that any deal that does not meet the rights of our people and does not aim to make a just and comprehensive peace will inevitably lead to this escalation that we are witnessing today.”
He warned against the systematic Israeli escalation, stressing that “the Palestinian people and their leadership will stand strong against all these conspiracies and they will foil them just as they did in all previous conspiracies, regardless of the sacrifices.”
In a statement, Abu Rudeineh blamed the escalation on the so-called “deal of the century”, which he said “created this atmosphere for the escalation and tension by trying to impose false facts on the ground that we have repeatedly warned against and stressed that any deal that does not meet the rights of our people and does not aim to make a just and comprehensive peace will inevitably lead to this escalation that we are witnessing today.”
He warned against the systematic Israeli escalation, stressing that “the Palestinian people and their leadership will stand strong against all these conspiracies and they will foil them just as they did in all previous conspiracies, regardless of the sacrifices.”
A draft United Nations Security Council resolution condemns Israel’s plan to annex the settlements it has built illegally on occupied Palestinian territories, in a rebuke of a US-devised “peace plan” that endorses the Israeli land theft of Palestinian-owned property.
The draft, which was reported on by Reuters on Tuesday, has been drawn up by Palestinians and circulated to council members by Tunisia and Indonesia.
The resolution “stresses the illegality of the annexation of any part” of the occupied Palestinian territories and “condemns recent statements calling for annexation by Israel” of these territories.
This past Tuesday, US President Donald Trump unveiled the outlines of his so-called “deal of the century,” which features Israel’s annexation of the settlement colonies that it has installed across the West Bank since occupying the Palestinian territory during the war of 1967.
More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built on the land since the military occupation began. Settlement colony construction significantly increased following the ‘Oslo Peace Accords’ of 1994.
The proposed US deal also envisions the recognition of Jerusalem (known in Arabic as al-Quds) as Israel’s “capital” — although Palestinians have, through the decades, held steadfast to the core demand of retaining Jerusalem as the capital of their sovereign Palestinian state.
All previous foreign-mediated agreements between Palestinians and Israelis, as well as repeated United Nations’ resolutions, have mandated Israel to withdraw behind the 1967 borders — known as the ‘Green Line’.
All Palestinian factions have unanimously rejected Trump’s plan. Palestine stopped recognizing the US as a mediator in the Middle East process when Trump, in December 2017, recognized occupied Jerusalem (al-Quds) as Israel’s “capital.”
Trump had announced the scheme — masterminded by his son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner among other key pro-Israeli figures — some two years ago, but had withheld its details.
The draft “strongly regrets” that the Trump plan “breaches international law” and UN resolutions.
The deal also “undermines the inalienable rights and national aspirations of the Palestinian people, including [the rights] to self-determination and independence,” the draft says.
The resolution stresses the need for an acceleration of international and regional efforts to launch “credible negotiations on all final status issues in the Middle East peace process without exception.”
It is expected to be submitted to a vote at the Security Council on February 11, coinciding with a visit by Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority.
However, the U.S. is almost certain to cast its veto against this resolution, as is usually the case when resolutions supporting Palestinian rights are proposed.
The Palestinians, who have vowed to have their complaints heard at the UN, are next expected to take their objection to the UN General Assembly (UNGA), where the US cannot strike down any approved resolutions (but the resolutions also do not have any enforcement mechanisms).
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also reasserted the world body’s firm stance against any potential annexation of the Palestinian lands in an indirect attack on the US scheme.
“Our position is very clear. We are the guardians of the UN resolutions and international law in relation to the Palestinian question,” he told a wide-ranging news conference at the UN’s headquarters in New York on Tuesday. “We are totally committed to the two-state solution,” based on the 1967 borders.
Also on Tuesday, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell rejected the annexation clause featured in Trump’s plan.
EU governments attach no legal status to the settlements built in the West Bank and Syria’s Golan Heights since Israel’s occupation of the lands, he said, repeating the European Union’s stance on the matter.
The draft, which was reported on by Reuters on Tuesday, has been drawn up by Palestinians and circulated to council members by Tunisia and Indonesia.
The resolution “stresses the illegality of the annexation of any part” of the occupied Palestinian territories and “condemns recent statements calling for annexation by Israel” of these territories.
This past Tuesday, US President Donald Trump unveiled the outlines of his so-called “deal of the century,” which features Israel’s annexation of the settlement colonies that it has installed across the West Bank since occupying the Palestinian territory during the war of 1967.
More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built on the land since the military occupation began. Settlement colony construction significantly increased following the ‘Oslo Peace Accords’ of 1994.
The proposed US deal also envisions the recognition of Jerusalem (known in Arabic as al-Quds) as Israel’s “capital” — although Palestinians have, through the decades, held steadfast to the core demand of retaining Jerusalem as the capital of their sovereign Palestinian state.
All previous foreign-mediated agreements between Palestinians and Israelis, as well as repeated United Nations’ resolutions, have mandated Israel to withdraw behind the 1967 borders — known as the ‘Green Line’.
All Palestinian factions have unanimously rejected Trump’s plan. Palestine stopped recognizing the US as a mediator in the Middle East process when Trump, in December 2017, recognized occupied Jerusalem (al-Quds) as Israel’s “capital.”
Trump had announced the scheme — masterminded by his son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner among other key pro-Israeli figures — some two years ago, but had withheld its details.
The draft “strongly regrets” that the Trump plan “breaches international law” and UN resolutions.
The deal also “undermines the inalienable rights and national aspirations of the Palestinian people, including [the rights] to self-determination and independence,” the draft says.
The resolution stresses the need for an acceleration of international and regional efforts to launch “credible negotiations on all final status issues in the Middle East peace process without exception.”
It is expected to be submitted to a vote at the Security Council on February 11, coinciding with a visit by Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority.
However, the U.S. is almost certain to cast its veto against this resolution, as is usually the case when resolutions supporting Palestinian rights are proposed.
The Palestinians, who have vowed to have their complaints heard at the UN, are next expected to take their objection to the UN General Assembly (UNGA), where the US cannot strike down any approved resolutions (but the resolutions also do not have any enforcement mechanisms).
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also reasserted the world body’s firm stance against any potential annexation of the Palestinian lands in an indirect attack on the US scheme.
“Our position is very clear. We are the guardians of the UN resolutions and international law in relation to the Palestinian question,” he told a wide-ranging news conference at the UN’s headquarters in New York on Tuesday. “We are totally committed to the two-state solution,” based on the 1967 borders.
Also on Tuesday, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell rejected the annexation clause featured in Trump’s plan.
EU governments attach no legal status to the settlements built in the West Bank and Syria’s Golan Heights since Israel’s occupation of the lands, he said, repeating the European Union’s stance on the matter.
4 feb 2020
The US government has begun a campaign to pressure the Palestinian National Authority and President Mahmoud Abbas to accept the “Deal of the Century” launched by US President Donald Trump, in the form of criticism made by his adviser, Jared Kushner, adviser during an interview with CNN.
In the interview, Kushner threatened Palestinian leadership, saying that if the Palestinians are unable to fulfill certain conditions under the plan, Israel should not recognize them as a state.
Kushner also criticized the behavior of the Palestinian Authority, saying that Abbas “has served 16 years instead of four years, and this is not a prosperous democracy.”
Kushner said there were promises of a democratic Palestinian state, but there is something that makes him believe that with this program and the “offering,” there is no one and that this state and order does not exist and that there will be no such state.
“Page 34 of the plan states that the basic condition for recognition of this Palestinian state is that it will enjoy free press, free elections, freedom of religion, stable and transparent financial institutions such as the Western world, and an independent judiciary, and it is clear that this does not currently exist,” he said.
“He also states in the plan that the United States and Israel are the two countries that will rule if the Palestinian state meets these conditions, but I fear that there are currently no Arab countries that meet these criteria,” the US adviser said. Is this not a simple way to tell the Palestinians that you will never have a state?”
The European Union, in a statement, said that it was fully committed to the transatlantic partnership and values all efforts to help find a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“The EU recalls its commitment to a negotiated two-State solution, based on 1967 lines, with equivalent land swaps, as may be agreed between the parties, with the State of Israel and an independent, democratic, contiguous, sovereign and viable State of Palestine, living side by side in peace, security and mutual recognition – as set out in the Council Conclusions of July 2014.”
The statement said that the US initiative, as presented on 28 January, departs from these internationally agreed parameters:
“To build a just and lasting peace, the unresolved final status issues must be decided through direct negotiations between both parties. This includes, notably, the issues related to borders, the status of Jerusalem, security and the refugee question,” it added.
The European Union called on both sides to re-engage and to refrain from any unilateral actions contrary to international law that could exacerbate tensions. We are especially concerned by statements on the prospect of annexation of the Jordan Valley and other parts of the West Bank.
In line with international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions, the EU does not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the territories occupied since 1967. Steps towards annexation, if implemented, could not pass unchallenged, PNN reports.
The United States has requested a closed-door U.N. Security Council meeting for Thursday at which Kushner is to present the administration’s new plan, diplomats said, Al Ray further reports.
Kushner has requested a closed-door session on Thursday, during which he can clarify details of the plan and respond to questions from the UNSC’s other 14 members.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to be at the United Nations on February 11, to make his case against the U.S. proposals.
In late 2017, a Palestinian-inspired resolution condemning Washington’s unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital received 14 votes in the Security Council, but the United States quashed it with its veto.
Kushner is the architect of the plan unveiled by Trump last week, and rejected Saturday by the Arab League and by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Monday.
The plan proposed the establishment of a Palestinian capital in Abu Dis, a suburb of Jerusalem.
In a statement, Saturday, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said he has launched a campaign to persuade member countries not to support any Palestinian action that is hostile to the US plan.
In the interview, Kushner threatened Palestinian leadership, saying that if the Palestinians are unable to fulfill certain conditions under the plan, Israel should not recognize them as a state.
Kushner also criticized the behavior of the Palestinian Authority, saying that Abbas “has served 16 years instead of four years, and this is not a prosperous democracy.”
Kushner said there were promises of a democratic Palestinian state, but there is something that makes him believe that with this program and the “offering,” there is no one and that this state and order does not exist and that there will be no such state.
“Page 34 of the plan states that the basic condition for recognition of this Palestinian state is that it will enjoy free press, free elections, freedom of religion, stable and transparent financial institutions such as the Western world, and an independent judiciary, and it is clear that this does not currently exist,” he said.
“He also states in the plan that the United States and Israel are the two countries that will rule if the Palestinian state meets these conditions, but I fear that there are currently no Arab countries that meet these criteria,” the US adviser said. Is this not a simple way to tell the Palestinians that you will never have a state?”
The European Union, in a statement, said that it was fully committed to the transatlantic partnership and values all efforts to help find a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“The EU recalls its commitment to a negotiated two-State solution, based on 1967 lines, with equivalent land swaps, as may be agreed between the parties, with the State of Israel and an independent, democratic, contiguous, sovereign and viable State of Palestine, living side by side in peace, security and mutual recognition – as set out in the Council Conclusions of July 2014.”
The statement said that the US initiative, as presented on 28 January, departs from these internationally agreed parameters:
“To build a just and lasting peace, the unresolved final status issues must be decided through direct negotiations between both parties. This includes, notably, the issues related to borders, the status of Jerusalem, security and the refugee question,” it added.
The European Union called on both sides to re-engage and to refrain from any unilateral actions contrary to international law that could exacerbate tensions. We are especially concerned by statements on the prospect of annexation of the Jordan Valley and other parts of the West Bank.
In line with international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions, the EU does not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the territories occupied since 1967. Steps towards annexation, if implemented, could not pass unchallenged, PNN reports.
The United States has requested a closed-door U.N. Security Council meeting for Thursday at which Kushner is to present the administration’s new plan, diplomats said, Al Ray further reports.
Kushner has requested a closed-door session on Thursday, during which he can clarify details of the plan and respond to questions from the UNSC’s other 14 members.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to be at the United Nations on February 11, to make his case against the U.S. proposals.
In late 2017, a Palestinian-inspired resolution condemning Washington’s unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital received 14 votes in the Security Council, but the United States quashed it with its veto.
Kushner is the architect of the plan unveiled by Trump last week, and rejected Saturday by the Arab League and by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Monday.
The plan proposed the establishment of a Palestinian capital in Abu Dis, a suburb of Jerusalem.
In a statement, Saturday, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said he has launched a campaign to persuade member countries not to support any Palestinian action that is hostile to the US plan.
