10 june 2019
They call it the Manama workshop, and it is titled “Peace for Prosperity”. It is due to be held in Bahrain on June 25 and 26 and will be attended by representatives for the world governments and finance ministers. It will include Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, according to Israeli media. The workshop will present investment ideas and opportunities in the region to business people and investors from Arab countries as well as from countries around the world for them to contribute to the economic side of the American peace plan known as the deal of the century. The workshop also aims to encourage attendees to invest in the Palestinian territories and mobilize regional and international support to increase the economic investments that could be offered by the awaited American peace plan, which is expected to be announced in the coming months.
First of all, I am wondering why it is being called a workshop, not a conference. Is this part of the misguidance and deception scheme they have been plotting since they announced the shameful deal of the century? Or is it because they are too ashamed to officially announce the normalized relations between the Arab and Israeli governments and the liquidation of the Palestinian cause? However, this shame has wholly faded in recent years, since Donald Trump took office in the US, and everything has been out in the open rather than under the table, not directly stated by leaders. We are in a time of exposure and revelation of all those who plotted and conspired against Palestine and the entire Arab nation. All the masks have been removed, and everyone’s real face has been exposed, without any makeup or beautification. This may have been the only benefit we gained from this painful time in our nation’s history!
We must go back and examine the essence of the deal of the century to understand why the Manama Workshop will be held and why it was decided that Bahrain would host it? The answer to this question could be taken directly from the mouth of the political analyst for Israel’s Channel 13, Barak Ravid, who said that the reason Bahrain was chosen was due to the close ties between Israel and Bahrain, that developed considerably recently.
This cursed deal aims to end the conflict between the Arabs and Israel without resolving the conflict itself and reaching a fair solution. To achieve this, normalization must be established between the Arabs and Israeli enemy using financial bribes in the form of economic investments and deals in the occupied Palestinians territories that would raise the low economic level and living standards of the Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. These citizens are suffering from financial hardships imposed on them by the Israeli enemy. Hence, the Israelis have replaced the political aspect of the Palestinian cause with the economic aspect, i.e. trading in the political path for economic development and financial path for the Palestinians. This is the main aim in the American peace plan, as they believe that this money, which will be Gulf money, will blind the Palestinians and make them lose their minds. They also think that it will tempt the countries hosting Palestinian refugees to settle them in their county as an alternative homeland, thus altogether cancelling the right of return. We must keep in mind that last year, Trump decided to cut all funding to the UNRWA and asked other countries to also cut their aid to the organisation specializing in refugee affairs in their miserable camps, including food, education, health, etc.
To understand the importance of this organisation and the role it is tasked with, we must go back to its founding. The UNRWA was established in 1948, i.e. after the Nakba and the expulsion of at least 800,000 Palestinians from Palestine. The label “refugees” applies to the Palestinians who left Palestine in 1948, including their children and grandchildren, whose numbers now reach about 5.4 million according to UNRWA statistics. The American administration considers this to be the most significant obstacles hindering alleged peace between the Palestinians and Israel. This is why Washington began accusing the organisation of corruption, while Netanyahu called for the shutdown of the UNRWA and claimed the agency was reinforcing the Palestinian refugee problem. He also claimed it was exaggerating the number of refugees.
Meanwhile, UNRWA Director in Gaza, Matthias Schmale, warned that the decision to cut funding to the agency would lead to the deterioration of the Palestinian refugees’ humanitarian situation. He also called on decision-makers to fund the organisation and separate political issues from humanitarian issues. Schmale believes that Trump’s decision was punishment for the Palestinians for rejecting his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving the American embassy to Jerusalem. It is worth noting that the US contributes about $350 million a year in aid to the agency and is the biggest funder of the agency, which has a total budget of $1.2 billion. This may cause us to wonder what this small amount represents for the wealthiest countries in the world and its value compared to the $600 billion Saudi Arabia pumped into the US Treasury during his visit to Saudi Arabia?
These were the first measures taken in the context of this bad deal. The purpose of Trump’s decision was to end to the refugees’ issue, which is the most complicated and complex issue on the negotiations table, thus removing the “right of return” file from the negotiations. Hence, the Zionist, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son in law and advisor, tasked with the Palestinian-Israeli issue, seeks to eliminate the UNRWA and strip the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip of refugee status, thus reducing the 5.4 million refugees registered in the UN records, to less than 500,000 refugees. This is where the idea to resettle Palestinian refugees in surrounding Arab countries, which is actually an old idea that dates back to the 1950s but was completely rejected by the Arab countries in the past to preserve the Palestinian identity. Therefore, these countries did not give refugees citizenship in the countries they resided in and instead considered them guests in their country to preserve the right of return. This decision was made by the Arab League when it was still alive!
We cannot separate all of this from the law issued by Israel last year, called the Nation-State Law, which showed Israel’s ugly racist fact. This law declared Palestine a state and homeland for the Jewish people alone and asserted the right to self-determination as the right of the Jewish people alone. The law made Hebrew the only official language in the country and made the Arabs a minority. Hence, it forces the Arabs in Palestine to choose between two options: either leave the country or accept being lesser than and become a minority that does not have the right to demand citizenship and equal rights. This reinforces the great lie promoted by the Zionists for a century, that Palestine is the land of the Jewish people alone, the Promised Land granted to them by God and therefore they cannot let it go. It also means that the Palestinian presence in the country has been in the form of occupation and that the war in 1948 was a war of liberation from the Palestinian occupier. It would also mean that the land they are building settlements on in Jerusalem and the West Bank is not occupation, but expansion in the Israeli state. Therefore, the law stipulated that “the state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value and will act to encourage and promote its establishment and consolidation” and that immediate citizenship is granted only to Jews.
Netanyahu supported the law, as he told the Knesset after it passed the law, “This is a defining moment in the history of Zionism and the history of the state of Israel… 122 years after Herzl (founder of the Zionist project) published his vision of a Jewish state, we have stated by law the basic principle of our existence.”
This would mean the complete elimination of the right of return, and therefore, the US quickly welcomed and supported this heinous racist law. The US had already recognized the Israeli settlements built in the West Bank, which houses about 650,000 Jews. The deal of the century aims to raise the number of settlers to 1.5 million by establishing new settlements. The US has even called on other countries to recognize them.
All of the measures taken by both the US and Israel, beginning with the recognition of Jerusalem as the unified capital of Israel to the decision to the annexation of the Golan Heights to Israel and the nation-state law, have all been preliminary steps paving the way to implementing the deal of the century, which aims to liquidate the Palestinian cause.
The Manama workshop came to culminate this deal with the economic aspect and swallow the political aspect which is scheduled to be announced in the future. Regardless of the unannounced details, which we have heard nothing about except through leaks in the media from time to time, the deal reinforcing the Israeli occupation in Palestine and eliminates the rights of the Palestinians. No free Palestinian or Arab would accept this deal, as there is no way that the economic aspect can be achieved at the expense of their national project and the restoration of their right to establish an independent state. Instead, the political element must come before the economic aspect, and the economic projects, investments, and prosperity for the Palestinians must stem from it.
This reminds me of the words of the late poet Amal Donqol, in his poem “Do not reconcile”, in which he says, “Do not reconcile/even if they give you gold. I wonder/if I were to gouge out your eyes/and replace them with two gems/would you see? These things are priceless.”
This is what the US does not understand. It is convinced that the Palestinians would be happy with economic incentives as an alternative to the independent state they are demanding as a condition for any lasting peace negotiations with Israel.
The Manama workshop has fallen into the quagmire of shame and disgrace, and it will never escape it. The bad deal of the century will not be passed, as the nation still has a pulse and refuses to concede historical Palestine. The resistance in Gaza has bared its teeth and will not concede or compromise in the matter of its homeland Palestine. Peace will not be achieved without the Palestinians receiving all of their rights and the establishment of a free independent state.
- Dr Amira Abo el-Fetouh is a political commentator. Her article appeared in MEMO.
First of all, I am wondering why it is being called a workshop, not a conference. Is this part of the misguidance and deception scheme they have been plotting since they announced the shameful deal of the century? Or is it because they are too ashamed to officially announce the normalized relations between the Arab and Israeli governments and the liquidation of the Palestinian cause? However, this shame has wholly faded in recent years, since Donald Trump took office in the US, and everything has been out in the open rather than under the table, not directly stated by leaders. We are in a time of exposure and revelation of all those who plotted and conspired against Palestine and the entire Arab nation. All the masks have been removed, and everyone’s real face has been exposed, without any makeup or beautification. This may have been the only benefit we gained from this painful time in our nation’s history!
We must go back and examine the essence of the deal of the century to understand why the Manama Workshop will be held and why it was decided that Bahrain would host it? The answer to this question could be taken directly from the mouth of the political analyst for Israel’s Channel 13, Barak Ravid, who said that the reason Bahrain was chosen was due to the close ties between Israel and Bahrain, that developed considerably recently.
This cursed deal aims to end the conflict between the Arabs and Israel without resolving the conflict itself and reaching a fair solution. To achieve this, normalization must be established between the Arabs and Israeli enemy using financial bribes in the form of economic investments and deals in the occupied Palestinians territories that would raise the low economic level and living standards of the Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. These citizens are suffering from financial hardships imposed on them by the Israeli enemy. Hence, the Israelis have replaced the political aspect of the Palestinian cause with the economic aspect, i.e. trading in the political path for economic development and financial path for the Palestinians. This is the main aim in the American peace plan, as they believe that this money, which will be Gulf money, will blind the Palestinians and make them lose their minds. They also think that it will tempt the countries hosting Palestinian refugees to settle them in their county as an alternative homeland, thus altogether cancelling the right of return. We must keep in mind that last year, Trump decided to cut all funding to the UNRWA and asked other countries to also cut their aid to the organisation specializing in refugee affairs in their miserable camps, including food, education, health, etc.
To understand the importance of this organisation and the role it is tasked with, we must go back to its founding. The UNRWA was established in 1948, i.e. after the Nakba and the expulsion of at least 800,000 Palestinians from Palestine. The label “refugees” applies to the Palestinians who left Palestine in 1948, including their children and grandchildren, whose numbers now reach about 5.4 million according to UNRWA statistics. The American administration considers this to be the most significant obstacles hindering alleged peace between the Palestinians and Israel. This is why Washington began accusing the organisation of corruption, while Netanyahu called for the shutdown of the UNRWA and claimed the agency was reinforcing the Palestinian refugee problem. He also claimed it was exaggerating the number of refugees.
Meanwhile, UNRWA Director in Gaza, Matthias Schmale, warned that the decision to cut funding to the agency would lead to the deterioration of the Palestinian refugees’ humanitarian situation. He also called on decision-makers to fund the organisation and separate political issues from humanitarian issues. Schmale believes that Trump’s decision was punishment for the Palestinians for rejecting his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving the American embassy to Jerusalem. It is worth noting that the US contributes about $350 million a year in aid to the agency and is the biggest funder of the agency, which has a total budget of $1.2 billion. This may cause us to wonder what this small amount represents for the wealthiest countries in the world and its value compared to the $600 billion Saudi Arabia pumped into the US Treasury during his visit to Saudi Arabia?
These were the first measures taken in the context of this bad deal. The purpose of Trump’s decision was to end to the refugees’ issue, which is the most complicated and complex issue on the negotiations table, thus removing the “right of return” file from the negotiations. Hence, the Zionist, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son in law and advisor, tasked with the Palestinian-Israeli issue, seeks to eliminate the UNRWA and strip the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip of refugee status, thus reducing the 5.4 million refugees registered in the UN records, to less than 500,000 refugees. This is where the idea to resettle Palestinian refugees in surrounding Arab countries, which is actually an old idea that dates back to the 1950s but was completely rejected by the Arab countries in the past to preserve the Palestinian identity. Therefore, these countries did not give refugees citizenship in the countries they resided in and instead considered them guests in their country to preserve the right of return. This decision was made by the Arab League when it was still alive!
We cannot separate all of this from the law issued by Israel last year, called the Nation-State Law, which showed Israel’s ugly racist fact. This law declared Palestine a state and homeland for the Jewish people alone and asserted the right to self-determination as the right of the Jewish people alone. The law made Hebrew the only official language in the country and made the Arabs a minority. Hence, it forces the Arabs in Palestine to choose between two options: either leave the country or accept being lesser than and become a minority that does not have the right to demand citizenship and equal rights. This reinforces the great lie promoted by the Zionists for a century, that Palestine is the land of the Jewish people alone, the Promised Land granted to them by God and therefore they cannot let it go. It also means that the Palestinian presence in the country has been in the form of occupation and that the war in 1948 was a war of liberation from the Palestinian occupier. It would also mean that the land they are building settlements on in Jerusalem and the West Bank is not occupation, but expansion in the Israeli state. Therefore, the law stipulated that “the state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value and will act to encourage and promote its establishment and consolidation” and that immediate citizenship is granted only to Jews.
Netanyahu supported the law, as he told the Knesset after it passed the law, “This is a defining moment in the history of Zionism and the history of the state of Israel… 122 years after Herzl (founder of the Zionist project) published his vision of a Jewish state, we have stated by law the basic principle of our existence.”
This would mean the complete elimination of the right of return, and therefore, the US quickly welcomed and supported this heinous racist law. The US had already recognized the Israeli settlements built in the West Bank, which houses about 650,000 Jews. The deal of the century aims to raise the number of settlers to 1.5 million by establishing new settlements. The US has even called on other countries to recognize them.
All of the measures taken by both the US and Israel, beginning with the recognition of Jerusalem as the unified capital of Israel to the decision to the annexation of the Golan Heights to Israel and the nation-state law, have all been preliminary steps paving the way to implementing the deal of the century, which aims to liquidate the Palestinian cause.
The Manama workshop came to culminate this deal with the economic aspect and swallow the political aspect which is scheduled to be announced in the future. Regardless of the unannounced details, which we have heard nothing about except through leaks in the media from time to time, the deal reinforcing the Israeli occupation in Palestine and eliminates the rights of the Palestinians. No free Palestinian or Arab would accept this deal, as there is no way that the economic aspect can be achieved at the expense of their national project and the restoration of their right to establish an independent state. Instead, the political element must come before the economic aspect, and the economic projects, investments, and prosperity for the Palestinians must stem from it.
This reminds me of the words of the late poet Amal Donqol, in his poem “Do not reconcile”, in which he says, “Do not reconcile/even if they give you gold. I wonder/if I were to gouge out your eyes/and replace them with two gems/would you see? These things are priceless.”
This is what the US does not understand. It is convinced that the Palestinians would be happy with economic incentives as an alternative to the independent state they are demanding as a condition for any lasting peace negotiations with Israel.
The Manama workshop has fallen into the quagmire of shame and disgrace, and it will never escape it. The bad deal of the century will not be passed, as the nation still has a pulse and refuses to concede historical Palestine. The resistance in Gaza has bared its teeth and will not concede or compromise in the matter of its homeland Palestine. Peace will not be achieved without the Palestinians receiving all of their rights and the establishment of a free independent state.
- Dr Amira Abo el-Fetouh is a political commentator. Her article appeared in MEMO.
US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has accused Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to get the Congress to scrap a bipartisan — Republican and Democratic — resolution supporting a “two-state solution” to the Mideast conflict.
“Endorsing a two-state solution while simultaneously attempting to block a Palestinian state is what Netanyahu has been doing for decades,” Omar said in Twitter remarks.
“Now he is trying to block a simple bipartisan resolution. For progress sake, let’s hope Congress stands firm,” she added.
According to US news websites, Netanyahu has embarked recently on trying to water down the planned resolution, which was jointly introduced by senators Chris Van Hollen and Lindsey Graham.
In this regard, Netanyahu instructed his ambassador to the US to work on having the term “two-state solution” removed from the bill.
“Endorsing a two-state solution while simultaneously attempting to block a Palestinian state is what Netanyahu has been doing for decades,” Omar said in Twitter remarks.
“Now he is trying to block a simple bipartisan resolution. For progress sake, let’s hope Congress stands firm,” she added.
According to US news websites, Netanyahu has embarked recently on trying to water down the planned resolution, which was jointly introduced by senators Chris Van Hollen and Lindsey Graham.
In this regard, Netanyahu instructed his ambassador to the US to work on having the term “two-state solution” removed from the bill.
A group of Palestinian and Arab experts and academics have called for resisting the US deal of the century and boycotting the Bahrain economic conference slated for late June.
This came in a recent symposium held by the Arab Thinking Forum in London.
The participants condemned the deal of the century as a plan portending a new Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) and a conspiracy targeting the Palestinian cause.
They discussed the options that the Palestinians and Arabs should adopt to confront the deal and stressed the importance of finding solutions to the inter-Arab division and the internal crises in some Arab countries in order to address the challenges.
Head of the Forum Mohamed Ameen stressed the importance of holding such symposiums in light of some Arab regimes’ hasty rapprochement with Israel.
Ameen accused some Arab regimes of trying to make their communication with the Israeli occupation state a natural development and treating it as a regional partner while considering the Palestinians an enemy.
He urged the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to seize the moment and call for a national dialog aimed at reorganizing and reuniting the Palestinian house.
This came in a recent symposium held by the Arab Thinking Forum in London.
The participants condemned the deal of the century as a plan portending a new Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe) and a conspiracy targeting the Palestinian cause.
They discussed the options that the Palestinians and Arabs should adopt to confront the deal and stressed the importance of finding solutions to the inter-Arab division and the internal crises in some Arab countries in order to address the challenges.
Head of the Forum Mohamed Ameen stressed the importance of holding such symposiums in light of some Arab regimes’ hasty rapprochement with Israel.
Ameen accused some Arab regimes of trying to make their communication with the Israeli occupation state a natural development and treating it as a regional partner while considering the Palestinians an enemy.
He urged the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to seize the moment and call for a national dialog aimed at reorganizing and reuniting the Palestinian house.
In response to U.S. ambassador to Israel’s remarks that “Israel has the right to annex some of the occupied West Bank”,the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates announced that it is considering filing a complaint to the International Criminal Court.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman’s statement, the ministry claimed “is a reflection of the broad U.S. policy that is totally biased with the Israeli occupation and colonial policies.”
In a press release, the Palestinian ministry posed the question; “In what logic does Friedman think that Israel has the right to annex parts of the West Bank?, On what reality did he base his conviction? Or international law prohibiting the annexation of territory by force? Or the reality imposed by the occupation authorities?”
The ministry proclaimed that Friedman “is illiterate in politics, history and geography, and belongs to the state of the settlements… has nothing to do with logic, justice or law, unless they serve the occupation state, which he is eager to defend by all means.”
According to International Law, taking over or annexing land through military force is prohibited, Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, and has ruled militarily there, since that time.
“These statements prove that Friedman is the ambassador of colonization and hostility targeting the Palestinian rights, including the right to self-determination and independence.”
– Palestinian Authority Spokesperson Ibrahim Milham
“U.S. has its foreign policy determined by people who are politically immature and extremist in their ideologies, such as Kushner, Greenblatt and Friedman. These men are playing politics as if they are in a circus.”
– Palestinian Authority Spokesperson Ibrahim Milham
“Friedman’s statements are direct incitement against the Palestinian people, and are filled with lies that aim at justifying the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.”
– Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization,
Dr. Hanan Ashrawi.
In response to Friedman’s statement that even if peace is achieved, the Israeli military would need to continue its military occupation of the West Bank, “this would constitute an annexation of occupied territory, which is a war crime according to international law.”
– Chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat.
More Palestinian officials have condemned the recent statement by US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman.
“the vision of the American side to annex occupied territories is a war crime according to the international law.”
– Secretary General of Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee, Saeb Erekat, (Twitter)
“President Trump’s ambassador provides enough background in order for everyone not to attend the Manama meeting: Their vision is about annexation of occupied territory, a war crime under international law.”
– Saeb Erekat, (Twitter)
Friedman told the New York Times that he blamed the Palestinian Authority for the current stalemate in the peace process with Israel.
All statements of the US ambassador “are totally rejected by all the Palestinians.”
– aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and veteran Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath, (Voice of Palestine Radio)
“We won’t accept any American or Israeli steps and measures, Palestinians are sticking to their territories and will carry on with their struggle until they topple all the plots that aim at eliminating the Palestinian cause.”
– Nabil Shaath, (Voice of Palestine Radio)
“Practically, Israel still occupies area C in the West Bank, and any Israeli measures will be a violation of international law.”
– Nabil Shaath, (Voice of Palestine Radio)
“US President Donald Trump protects and encourages the Israeli side to keep occupying other people’s territories and violate the international law, and “any peaceful solution must end the Israeli occupation.”
Nabil Shaath, (Voice of Palestine Radio)
U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman’s statement, the ministry claimed “is a reflection of the broad U.S. policy that is totally biased with the Israeli occupation and colonial policies.”
In a press release, the Palestinian ministry posed the question; “In what logic does Friedman think that Israel has the right to annex parts of the West Bank?, On what reality did he base his conviction? Or international law prohibiting the annexation of territory by force? Or the reality imposed by the occupation authorities?”
The ministry proclaimed that Friedman “is illiterate in politics, history and geography, and belongs to the state of the settlements… has nothing to do with logic, justice or law, unless they serve the occupation state, which he is eager to defend by all means.”
According to International Law, taking over or annexing land through military force is prohibited, Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, and has ruled militarily there, since that time.
“These statements prove that Friedman is the ambassador of colonization and hostility targeting the Palestinian rights, including the right to self-determination and independence.”
– Palestinian Authority Spokesperson Ibrahim Milham
“U.S. has its foreign policy determined by people who are politically immature and extremist in their ideologies, such as Kushner, Greenblatt and Friedman. These men are playing politics as if they are in a circus.”
– Palestinian Authority Spokesperson Ibrahim Milham
“Friedman’s statements are direct incitement against the Palestinian people, and are filled with lies that aim at justifying the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.”
– Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization,
Dr. Hanan Ashrawi.
In response to Friedman’s statement that even if peace is achieved, the Israeli military would need to continue its military occupation of the West Bank, “this would constitute an annexation of occupied territory, which is a war crime according to international law.”
– Chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat.
More Palestinian officials have condemned the recent statement by US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman.
“the vision of the American side to annex occupied territories is a war crime according to the international law.”
– Secretary General of Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee, Saeb Erekat, (Twitter)
“President Trump’s ambassador provides enough background in order for everyone not to attend the Manama meeting: Their vision is about annexation of occupied territory, a war crime under international law.”
– Saeb Erekat, (Twitter)
Friedman told the New York Times that he blamed the Palestinian Authority for the current stalemate in the peace process with Israel.
All statements of the US ambassador “are totally rejected by all the Palestinians.”
– aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and veteran Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath, (Voice of Palestine Radio)
“We won’t accept any American or Israeli steps and measures, Palestinians are sticking to their territories and will carry on with their struggle until they topple all the plots that aim at eliminating the Palestinian cause.”
– Nabil Shaath, (Voice of Palestine Radio)
“Practically, Israel still occupies area C in the West Bank, and any Israeli measures will be a violation of international law.”
– Nabil Shaath, (Voice of Palestine Radio)
“US President Donald Trump protects and encourages the Israeli side to keep occupying other people’s territories and violate the international law, and “any peaceful solution must end the Israeli occupation.”
Nabil Shaath, (Voice of Palestine Radio)
9 june 2019
The Hamas Movement has strongly denounced US ambassador David Friedman for saying Israel has the right to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, affirming his remarks reflected “consistency with Israel’s far-right vision.”
In a press release, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said that Friedman’s remarks vindicated further the depth of the US administration’s complicity in the aggression against the Palestinian people and their national cause.
Qassem stressed the need for a united Palestinian position to confront the US efforts to liquidate the Palestinian cause, calling on the Palestinian Authority leadership to “leave the waiting square and take the initiative in confronting the deal of the century.”
He called for responding to Friedman’s remarks through giving the Palestinian resistance a free hand in the West Bank, which he described as the most targeted arena, and renouncing the policy of security coordination with the Israeli occupation.
In a press release, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said that Friedman’s remarks vindicated further the depth of the US administration’s complicity in the aggression against the Palestinian people and their national cause.
Qassem stressed the need for a united Palestinian position to confront the US efforts to liquidate the Palestinian cause, calling on the Palestinian Authority leadership to “leave the waiting square and take the initiative in confronting the deal of the century.”
He called for responding to Friedman’s remarks through giving the Palestinian resistance a free hand in the West Bank, which he described as the most targeted arena, and renouncing the policy of security coordination with the Israeli occupation.
8 june 2019
David Friedman, the current U.S. Ambassador to Israel and former Trump bankruptcy attorney, stated Saturday that he thinks Israel has a right to take over the Palestinian territory of the West Bank – despite international law which prohibits land annexation through military force.
In an interview with the New York Times, Friedman stated, “Under certain circumstances, I think Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank”.
The West Bank refers to the area west of the Jordan River which Israel occupied by military force in 1967 and has retained military control over since that time. It is one of two Palestinian areas under Israeli military occupation – the other is the Gaza Strip. Israel has also illegally occupied the Golan Heights, which is part of Syria, since 1967.
Friedman blamed the Palestinian leadership for Israel’s ongoing military occupation of their land, claiming that the Palestinian Authority had “turned down” some “extremely generous offers” from Israel – although the only ‘offers’ that had been presented would deny Palestinians their internationally-recognized right to sovereignty, self-determination and freedom of movement.
Palestinian Authority Spokesperson Ibrahim Milham responded to the claim, saying “Friedman’s statements are a direct violation of international legitimacy resolutions and are parallel with the illegal Israeli policies. These statements prove that Friedman is the ambassador of colonization and hostility targeting the Palestinian rights, including the right to self-determination and independence.”
Milham added that, “This shows how one of the world’s biggest countries has its foreign policy determined by people who are politically immature and extremist in their ideologies, such as Kushner, Greenblatt and Friedman. These men are playing politics as if they are in a circus.”
Friedman has long been a supporter of Israeli colonial settlements, heading up the Zionist organization Friends of Bet El, which funds settlements constructed on stolen Palestinian land, while he was working as a bankruptcy lawyer prior to his appointment as Ambassador to Israel.
His ambassadorship was opposed by dozens of Jewish groups in the US, including the liberal J Street, which stated at the time, “David Friedman, President Trump’s nominee for US Ambassador to Israel, is a leading supporter of the settlement movement who lacks any diplomatic or policy credentials. He has attacked fellow Jews and public figures with hateful accusations that should disqualify him from representing our country in any capacity, never mind in one of the region’s most sensitive and important diplomatic posts.”
Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said that, “Friedman’s statements are direct incitement against the Palestinian people, and are filled with lies that aim at justifying the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.”
In his interview Saturday, Friedman also stated that even if peace is achieved, the Israeli military would need to continue its military occupation of the West Bank.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said this would constitute an “annexation of occupied territory, which is a war crime according to international law.”
In an interview with the New York Times, Friedman stated, “Under certain circumstances, I think Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank”.
The West Bank refers to the area west of the Jordan River which Israel occupied by military force in 1967 and has retained military control over since that time. It is one of two Palestinian areas under Israeli military occupation – the other is the Gaza Strip. Israel has also illegally occupied the Golan Heights, which is part of Syria, since 1967.
Friedman blamed the Palestinian leadership for Israel’s ongoing military occupation of their land, claiming that the Palestinian Authority had “turned down” some “extremely generous offers” from Israel – although the only ‘offers’ that had been presented would deny Palestinians their internationally-recognized right to sovereignty, self-determination and freedom of movement.
Palestinian Authority Spokesperson Ibrahim Milham responded to the claim, saying “Friedman’s statements are a direct violation of international legitimacy resolutions and are parallel with the illegal Israeli policies. These statements prove that Friedman is the ambassador of colonization and hostility targeting the Palestinian rights, including the right to self-determination and independence.”
Milham added that, “This shows how one of the world’s biggest countries has its foreign policy determined by people who are politically immature and extremist in their ideologies, such as Kushner, Greenblatt and Friedman. These men are playing politics as if they are in a circus.”
Friedman has long been a supporter of Israeli colonial settlements, heading up the Zionist organization Friends of Bet El, which funds settlements constructed on stolen Palestinian land, while he was working as a bankruptcy lawyer prior to his appointment as Ambassador to Israel.
His ambassadorship was opposed by dozens of Jewish groups in the US, including the liberal J Street, which stated at the time, “David Friedman, President Trump’s nominee for US Ambassador to Israel, is a leading supporter of the settlement movement who lacks any diplomatic or policy credentials. He has attacked fellow Jews and public figures with hateful accusations that should disqualify him from representing our country in any capacity, never mind in one of the region’s most sensitive and important diplomatic posts.”
Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said that, “Friedman’s statements are direct incitement against the Palestinian people, and are filled with lies that aim at justifying the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.”
In his interview Saturday, Friedman also stated that even if peace is achieved, the Israeli military would need to continue its military occupation of the West Bank.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said this would constitute an “annexation of occupied territory, which is a war crime according to international law.”
file picture, a Saudi money changer counts US banknotes at a currency exchange shop in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Less than a week after Saudi authorities arrested more than 60 people, including Palestinian expatriates and Saudi nationals, on charges of supporting the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement, they have now blocked money transfers between the kingdom and the Gaza Strip.
The new step taken by the Riyadh regime against Palestinians involves official and non-official money transfers as the procedure has witnessed a marked decline over the past week and during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, Arabic-language al-Khaleej Online news website reported.
The report described residents of the besieged and impoverished Gaza Strip as the main victims of the move. Most of the bank transfers that used to be carried out normally in the past, were frozen just a few days before the start of the holiday.
Remittance transactions are taking much longer time than usual – something that used to be done in a matter of few hours.
Many Palestinians have complained of the move, and termed it as “unprecedented.” They argue that the process of transferring money between Saudi Arabia and the Gaza Strip has become extraordinarily difficult.
Abu Fuad, a resident of the Gaza Strip who refused to give his last name for fear that his family could be persecuted in the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah, said he has experienced difficulty receiving money from his family.
“It is three days since the remittance has been made, but I have not received anything. Financial transfers used to be done in a few hours and without any obstacles in the past. But since the week before the Eid, the procedures have become complex and most of the transfers are frozen without any obvious reason,” he said.
Abu Fuad considered the measure as a “new crackdown on the Palestinian community living in Saudi Arabia,” stressing that it would aggravate their sufferings as students rely heavily on money transferred from their families living outside the kingdom.
He called upon the Palestinian Embassy in Riyadh to intervene immediately, and try to work out a quick and practical solution to the crisis, which has negatively affected the Palestinian community in Saudi Arabia.
Over the past two years, Saudi authorities have deported more than 100 Palestinians from the kingdom, mostly on charges of supporting Hamas resistance movement financially, politically or through social networking sites.
The Riyadh regime has imposed strict control over Palestinian funds in Saudi Arabia since the end of 2017.
All remittances of Palestinian expatriates are being tightly controlled, fearing that these funds could be diverted indirectly and through other countries to Hamas.
Money transfer offices are asking the Palestinians to bring forward strong arguments for conversion, and do not allow the ceiling of one’s money transfer to exceed $3,000.
Related: Saudi crown prince offered Abbas $10 billion to accept Trump's plan: Report
Less than a week after Saudi authorities arrested more than 60 people, including Palestinian expatriates and Saudi nationals, on charges of supporting the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement, they have now blocked money transfers between the kingdom and the Gaza Strip.
The new step taken by the Riyadh regime against Palestinians involves official and non-official money transfers as the procedure has witnessed a marked decline over the past week and during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, Arabic-language al-Khaleej Online news website reported.
The report described residents of the besieged and impoverished Gaza Strip as the main victims of the move. Most of the bank transfers that used to be carried out normally in the past, were frozen just a few days before the start of the holiday.
Remittance transactions are taking much longer time than usual – something that used to be done in a matter of few hours.
Many Palestinians have complained of the move, and termed it as “unprecedented.” They argue that the process of transferring money between Saudi Arabia and the Gaza Strip has become extraordinarily difficult.
Abu Fuad, a resident of the Gaza Strip who refused to give his last name for fear that his family could be persecuted in the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah, said he has experienced difficulty receiving money from his family.
“It is three days since the remittance has been made, but I have not received anything. Financial transfers used to be done in a few hours and without any obstacles in the past. But since the week before the Eid, the procedures have become complex and most of the transfers are frozen without any obvious reason,” he said.
Abu Fuad considered the measure as a “new crackdown on the Palestinian community living in Saudi Arabia,” stressing that it would aggravate their sufferings as students rely heavily on money transferred from their families living outside the kingdom.
He called upon the Palestinian Embassy in Riyadh to intervene immediately, and try to work out a quick and practical solution to the crisis, which has negatively affected the Palestinian community in Saudi Arabia.
Over the past two years, Saudi authorities have deported more than 100 Palestinians from the kingdom, mostly on charges of supporting Hamas resistance movement financially, politically or through social networking sites.
The Riyadh regime has imposed strict control over Palestinian funds in Saudi Arabia since the end of 2017.
All remittances of Palestinian expatriates are being tightly controlled, fearing that these funds could be diverted indirectly and through other countries to Hamas.
Money transfer offices are asking the Palestinians to bring forward strong arguments for conversion, and do not allow the ceiling of one’s money transfer to exceed $3,000.
Related: Saudi crown prince offered Abbas $10 billion to accept Trump's plan: Report
6 june 2019
PA President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated his hopes that the US-proposed peace plan, dubbed the “Deal of the Century”, will go to Hell.
“I hope that the next Eid al-Fitr would come with us, the Palestinian people, having liberated our country from the Israeli occupation, established our independent state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and overcome the plots contrived against the Palestinian issue, including the Deal of the Century, which will all go to Hell,” Abbas stated, according to WAFA.
Abbas said this as he visited and laid a wreath of flowers on the grave of the late president Yasser Arafat, for the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
He performed the Eid al-Fitr prayer at Al-Tashrifat Mosque, in the presidential headquarters in Ramallah.
US deal of the century 'will go to hell', Palestinian president says
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has once again dismissed US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal for “peace” between the Israeli regime and Palestinians, dubbed “the deal of the century,” stressing that the plan will eventually “go to hell.”
“I hope that the next Eid al-Fitr would come while the Palestinian people liberate their country from the Israeli occupation, establish their independent state, with East al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital, and overcome the plots contrived against the Palestinian issue, including the Deal of the Century, which will all go to hell,” Abbas stated.
He made the remarks as he laid a wreath of flowers on the grave of late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
On Tuesday, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called upon Arabs to boycott the so-called deal of the century, describing his three-man team tasked with formulating the plan as “settlers.”
“Once again, I call on our Arab brothers not to talk to this group of settlers, [Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared] Kushner, [US Middle East envoy Jason] Greenblatt, and [US ambassador to the occupied territories David] Friedman,” Erekat, who is also the Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said.
He added, “What they are planning is prosperity for the settlers.”
The remarks came a day after leader of Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip stated that the US-touted Middle East peace deal is “doomed to failure.”
“On behalf of [Gaza] clans, dignitaries and elders, we declare our outright rejection of the deal of the century, and all conspiracies and forms of normalization with the Occupation and we declare a state of national alert to confront it,” Yahya Sinwar said.
“The deal of the century is doomed to failure in one way or another, and we ask the peoples of our nation from all spectra to close ranks in the face of the deal,” the Hamas chief pointed out.
On June 2, Trump acknowledged that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s doubts about his so-called deal of century “may be right.”
"Look, we’re doing our best to help the Middle East to get a peace plan, and he [Pompeo] may be right. I mean, most people would say that," Trump told reporters in Washington, DC.
He added, “But if we can get a Mid-East peace plan that would be good. And when Mike says that, I understand when he says that, because most people think it can’t be done. I think it probably can. But as I say often, we’ll see what happens.”
Trump’s “peace plan” has already been rejected by Palestinian authorities ahead of its unveiling at the end of Ramadan and the formation of the new Israeli cabinet.
Speaking in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on April 16, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh lashed out at the initiative, asserting it was “born dead.”
Shtayyeh noted that negotiations with the US were useless in the wake of the country’s relocation of its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds, which Palestinians consider the capital city of their future state.
“I hope that the next Eid al-Fitr would come with us, the Palestinian people, having liberated our country from the Israeli occupation, established our independent state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and overcome the plots contrived against the Palestinian issue, including the Deal of the Century, which will all go to Hell,” Abbas stated, according to WAFA.
Abbas said this as he visited and laid a wreath of flowers on the grave of the late president Yasser Arafat, for the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
He performed the Eid al-Fitr prayer at Al-Tashrifat Mosque, in the presidential headquarters in Ramallah.
US deal of the century 'will go to hell', Palestinian president says
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has once again dismissed US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal for “peace” between the Israeli regime and Palestinians, dubbed “the deal of the century,” stressing that the plan will eventually “go to hell.”
“I hope that the next Eid al-Fitr would come while the Palestinian people liberate their country from the Israeli occupation, establish their independent state, with East al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital, and overcome the plots contrived against the Palestinian issue, including the Deal of the Century, which will all go to hell,” Abbas stated.
He made the remarks as he laid a wreath of flowers on the grave of late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
On Tuesday, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called upon Arabs to boycott the so-called deal of the century, describing his three-man team tasked with formulating the plan as “settlers.”
“Once again, I call on our Arab brothers not to talk to this group of settlers, [Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared] Kushner, [US Middle East envoy Jason] Greenblatt, and [US ambassador to the occupied territories David] Friedman,” Erekat, who is also the Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said.
He added, “What they are planning is prosperity for the settlers.”
The remarks came a day after leader of Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip stated that the US-touted Middle East peace deal is “doomed to failure.”
“On behalf of [Gaza] clans, dignitaries and elders, we declare our outright rejection of the deal of the century, and all conspiracies and forms of normalization with the Occupation and we declare a state of national alert to confront it,” Yahya Sinwar said.
“The deal of the century is doomed to failure in one way or another, and we ask the peoples of our nation from all spectra to close ranks in the face of the deal,” the Hamas chief pointed out.
On June 2, Trump acknowledged that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s doubts about his so-called deal of century “may be right.”
"Look, we’re doing our best to help the Middle East to get a peace plan, and he [Pompeo] may be right. I mean, most people would say that," Trump told reporters in Washington, DC.
He added, “But if we can get a Mid-East peace plan that would be good. And when Mike says that, I understand when he says that, because most people think it can’t be done. I think it probably can. But as I say often, we’ll see what happens.”
Trump’s “peace plan” has already been rejected by Palestinian authorities ahead of its unveiling at the end of Ramadan and the formation of the new Israeli cabinet.
Speaking in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on April 16, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh lashed out at the initiative, asserting it was “born dead.”
Shtayyeh noted that negotiations with the US were useless in the wake of the country’s relocation of its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds, which Palestinians consider the capital city of their future state.
