30 nov 2019
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu announced the allocation of 40 million shekels (NIS) in aid, to support the ‘security and emergency budget’ in the West Bank and Jordan Valley, Ma’an News reported.
Prime Minister Netanyahu said that the Israeli government will approve the allocation of 40 million shekels to support the settlements, during a meeting on Sunday with the heads of settlement councils in the West Bank.
Netanyahu stressed that he will continue support, and strengthen the settlements, noting that a security grant, in the amount of 34.5 million NIS.
The increase in budget of 5.5 million NIS is allotted for the immediate support of ambulance stations in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, as well as 3.6 million NIS for settlement support centers.
Netanyahu said: “We will provide this grant within the framework of preserving the lives and security of our brothers who live there.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu said that the Israeli government will approve the allocation of 40 million shekels to support the settlements, during a meeting on Sunday with the heads of settlement councils in the West Bank.
Netanyahu stressed that he will continue support, and strengthen the settlements, noting that a security grant, in the amount of 34.5 million NIS.
The increase in budget of 5.5 million NIS is allotted for the immediate support of ambulance stations in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, as well as 3.6 million NIS for settlement support centers.
Netanyahu said: “We will provide this grant within the framework of preserving the lives and security of our brothers who live there.”
28 nov 2019
The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has recently started to build 176 housing units in the illegal settlement of Nof Tzion in Jabel Mukaber neighborhood, southeast of Jerusalem.
According to Haaretz website, upon completion of the expansion project, the settlement will be the largest Jewish settlement within a Palestinian neighborhood in the holy city.
Nof Tzion was established by Jewish investors in the early 2000s and the residents moved in eight years ago, with currently 96 settler families living in two compounds.
The settlement face the Old City of Jerusalem and is surrounded on all sides by the Palestinian neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber.
The area slated for expansion was the subject of a lengthy legal dispute, Haaretz explained in a report. About 10 years ago, a Palestinian businessman, Bashar al-Masri, tried unsuccessfully to purchase the land to prevent the Jewish neighborhood's buildout.
The land was eventually purchased by two Jewish investors — Rami Levy, a Jerusalem supermarket mogul, and Kevin Bermeister, an Australian businessman and one of the founders of Skype. About two years ago, permits were issued for the construction of additional 176 apartments.
According to settlement activist and Jerusalem councilman Arieh King, the current expansion is only the first phase, with another 300 housing units expected to be approved.
Nof Tzion is already the second largest Jewish settlement in a Palestinian neighborhood. The first is Ma’ale Zeitim on the Mount of Olives in the Palestinian neighborhood of Ras al-Amud, which is home to 106 Jewish settler families.
“The expansion of the settlement into the neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber is a symbol of the Israel government’s choice to prevent the possibility of an agreement in Jerusalem and to continue to impose its rule on the residents of East Jerusalem without equal rights and with increasing oppression,” Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher with the NGO Ir Amim, said in response to the construction.
“Jerusalem is a binational city and therefore it will be good for the Israelis here only if it is good for the Palestinians,” he added.
In a similar context, Israel’s construction and housing ministry is preparing a plan to build up to 11,000 housing units for Jewish settlers on the land of the defunct Atarot Airport, the Israel Hayom daily reported Thursday.
The plan had been repeatedly stalled in the past due to diplomatic considerations but then-housing minister Yoav Gallant ordered it be revived immediately after US president Donald Trump was elected to office in 2016, Israel Hayom said.
The plan is to be presented to the Jerusalem district planning committee within a few months.
According to Haaretz website, upon completion of the expansion project, the settlement will be the largest Jewish settlement within a Palestinian neighborhood in the holy city.
Nof Tzion was established by Jewish investors in the early 2000s and the residents moved in eight years ago, with currently 96 settler families living in two compounds.
The settlement face the Old City of Jerusalem and is surrounded on all sides by the Palestinian neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber.
The area slated for expansion was the subject of a lengthy legal dispute, Haaretz explained in a report. About 10 years ago, a Palestinian businessman, Bashar al-Masri, tried unsuccessfully to purchase the land to prevent the Jewish neighborhood's buildout.
The land was eventually purchased by two Jewish investors — Rami Levy, a Jerusalem supermarket mogul, and Kevin Bermeister, an Australian businessman and one of the founders of Skype. About two years ago, permits were issued for the construction of additional 176 apartments.
According to settlement activist and Jerusalem councilman Arieh King, the current expansion is only the first phase, with another 300 housing units expected to be approved.
Nof Tzion is already the second largest Jewish settlement in a Palestinian neighborhood. The first is Ma’ale Zeitim on the Mount of Olives in the Palestinian neighborhood of Ras al-Amud, which is home to 106 Jewish settler families.
“The expansion of the settlement into the neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber is a symbol of the Israel government’s choice to prevent the possibility of an agreement in Jerusalem and to continue to impose its rule on the residents of East Jerusalem without equal rights and with increasing oppression,” Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher with the NGO Ir Amim, said in response to the construction.
“Jerusalem is a binational city and therefore it will be good for the Israelis here only if it is good for the Palestinians,” he added.
In a similar context, Israel’s construction and housing ministry is preparing a plan to build up to 11,000 housing units for Jewish settlers on the land of the defunct Atarot Airport, the Israel Hayom daily reported Thursday.
The plan had been repeatedly stalled in the past due to diplomatic considerations but then-housing minister Yoav Gallant ordered it be revived immediately after US president Donald Trump was elected to office in 2016, Israel Hayom said.
The plan is to be presented to the Jerusalem district planning committee within a few months.
The Israeli Ministry of Housing is working on re-planning the construction of a new settlement on the abandoned Qalandia airport to expand the settlement of Atarot, north of Jerusalem, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reported on its website, on Thursday.
The Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA) reported that the settlement includes 11,000 housing units extending about 600 dunams from the abandoned airport and the air-conditioning factory to the Qalandia checkpoint.
The land was seized in the early 1970s by the Labor government at the time. The new neighborhood of East Settlements.
The plan includes land at the airport “Qalandia”, which was closed by the occupation authorities with the outbreak of the second intifada in 2000, after being targeted by the Palestinian resistance.
The newspaper pointed out that the settlement plan was drawn up several years ago, and has been frozen on more than one occasion due to international political pressure against the settlement in the territories occupied in 1967, especially the opposition expressed by the US administration headed by Barack Obama at the time, which opposed the settlement expansion in Jerusalem.
The newspaper pointed out that the former Housing Minister, Yoav Galant, issued orders to resume work on the settlement project, after the election of the US President Trump.
According to the website, the Israeli Ministry of Housing is working on “land-use planning” to be used for the construction of the settlement neighborhood, with the plan to allocate land use to areas planned in the next few months to the Planning and Construction Committee of the Jerusalem area.
The newspaper pointed out that the settlement plan enjoys great support from the mayor of the occupation in Jerusalem, Moshe Leon, and the head of the opposition bloc in the municipality, in addition to the Minister of Jerusalem Affairs in the Israeli government Ze’ev Elkin.
According to estimates by Israeli political officials, according to “Israel Hume”, the Trump administration will not oppose the settlement construction plan north of occupied Jerusalem, as long as no permit for immediate construction in the region.
On November 18, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared his country deemed Israeli settlements illegal and contrary to international law. Prior to that, on December 6, 2017, recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would encourage the occupation to pay dozens of settlement plans in the West Bank. Occupied West Jerusalem including Jerusalem.
With the announcement of Pompeo, 176 settlements will be inhabited by approximately 670,000 settlers, according to the Wall and Settlement Authority, which received American legitimacy and became part of Israel.
The Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA) reported that the settlement includes 11,000 housing units extending about 600 dunams from the abandoned airport and the air-conditioning factory to the Qalandia checkpoint.
The land was seized in the early 1970s by the Labor government at the time. The new neighborhood of East Settlements.
The plan includes land at the airport “Qalandia”, which was closed by the occupation authorities with the outbreak of the second intifada in 2000, after being targeted by the Palestinian resistance.
The newspaper pointed out that the settlement plan was drawn up several years ago, and has been frozen on more than one occasion due to international political pressure against the settlement in the territories occupied in 1967, especially the opposition expressed by the US administration headed by Barack Obama at the time, which opposed the settlement expansion in Jerusalem.
The newspaper pointed out that the former Housing Minister, Yoav Galant, issued orders to resume work on the settlement project, after the election of the US President Trump.
According to the website, the Israeli Ministry of Housing is working on “land-use planning” to be used for the construction of the settlement neighborhood, with the plan to allocate land use to areas planned in the next few months to the Planning and Construction Committee of the Jerusalem area.
The newspaper pointed out that the settlement plan enjoys great support from the mayor of the occupation in Jerusalem, Moshe Leon, and the head of the opposition bloc in the municipality, in addition to the Minister of Jerusalem Affairs in the Israeli government Ze’ev Elkin.
According to estimates by Israeli political officials, according to “Israel Hume”, the Trump administration will not oppose the settlement construction plan north of occupied Jerusalem, as long as no permit for immediate construction in the region.
On November 18, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared his country deemed Israeli settlements illegal and contrary to international law. Prior to that, on December 6, 2017, recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would encourage the occupation to pay dozens of settlement plans in the West Bank. Occupied West Jerusalem including Jerusalem.
With the announcement of Pompeo, 176 settlements will be inhabited by approximately 670,000 settlers, according to the Wall and Settlement Authority, which received American legitimacy and became part of Israel.
25 nov 2019
It is hardly a major surprise that the US government has finally decreed that illegal Jewish settlements built in defiance of international law are somehow “consistent” with the said law. US foreign policy has been edging closer towards this conclusion for some time.
Since moving into the White House in January 2017, President Donald Trump has unleashed a total and complete reversal of his country’s foreign policy regarding Palestine and Israel.
Let us not have any illusion regarding the American approach to the so-called “Israeli-Palestinian conflict” prior to Trump’s Presidency, though. The US has never, not even once, stood up for Palestinians or Arabs since the establishment of the State of Israel on the ruins of historic Palestine in 1948. Moreover, Washington has bankrolled the Israeli occupation of Palestine in every possible way, including the subsidising of the illegal Jewish settlements.
Nevertheless, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s statement at a press conference on 18 November — “The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements is not, per se, inconsistent with international law” — is still very dangerous. In fact, it constitutes a political departure from previous US policies.
How? Historically, Washington has struggled in its understanding of international law, not because of its lack of legal savvy but because, quite often, US interests have clashed with the will of the international community. A recurring case in point is the Israeli occupation of Palestine, where the US has vetoed or voted against numerous UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions that either criticised Israel or supported the rights of the Palestinians.
Only in 1978 did a US administration dare to describe Israeli settlements as “inconsistent with international law”. That happened during Jimmy Carter’s Presidency, when Washington began fiddling earnestly with the “peace process” political model, which eventually led to the signing of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty at US Presidential retreat Camp David in 1979.
“Since then,” Joseph Hincks wrote in Time Magazine online, “Republican and Democratic Presidents have referred to settlements as ‘illegitimate’ but declined to call them illegal — a designation that would make them subject to international sanctions.”
That said, it was President Ronald Reagan who — although objecting to the principle of the illegality of the settlements — deemed them to be an “obstacle to peace”, demanding a freeze on all settlement construction.
Pompeo’s statement is, in fact, compatible with Washington’s self-contradictions regarding the construction of Israel’s illegal settlements in occupied Palestine. In December 2016, the Barack Obama administration declined to veto a UN Security Council resolution [pdf] that described the settlements as a “flagrant violation” of international law, adding that they have “no legal validity”. Although Obama chose to abstain from the vote, that decision was itself seen as a historical departure from traditional US foreign policy-making, further highlighting the US unconditional and, often, blind support for Israel.
While, in some way, the Trump administration’s support for Israel is a continuation of the dismal trajectory of American bias, it is also particularly unique and disturbing. Previous US administrations attempted to maintain a degree of balance between their own interests and those of Israel. Trump, on the other hand, seems to have aligned his country’s foreign policy regarding Palestine and Israel entirely with that of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing camp.
Indeed, for over two years, the State Department has been giving Israel political carte blanche, agreeing to all of its demands and expectations and asking for nothing in return. As a result, Washington has accepted Israel’s designation of Jerusalem, including occupied East Jerusalem, as its “eternal and undivided capital”; agreed to Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights; and actively plotted to dismiss the issue of Palestinian refugees altogether. The latest announcement by Pompeo was but one of many such steps.
One theory regarding the ongoing surrender of US foreign policy to Israel is that Washington is slowly, but permanently, withdrawing from the Middle East, a process that began in the later years of George W Bush’s presidency and continued unabated throughout the two terms of the Obama administration.
The current succumbing to Israel’s wishes is like America’s departing gift to its most faithful ally in the Middle East.
Another explanation is concerned with the apparently defunct “deal of the century”, a vaguely defined political doctrine that seeks to normalise relations with Israel, regionally and internationally, while keeping the status quo of its occupation and Apartheid regime untouched.
For that deal to be resurrected after months of inertia, Washington is keen to prolong Netanyahu’s premiership, especially as the long-serving Israeli Prime Minister is facing his greatest political challenge and even a possible jail term following various corruption charges.
Currently, Israel is undergoing a political crisis after two General Elections within six months — and the possibility of a third — coupled with a historic socio-economic and political polarisation among the electorate. To keep Netanyahu alive politically, his allies in Washington have thrown him some major lifelines, all in the hope of winning him more support among Israel’s dominant right-wing political camp.
By rendering the illegal settlements “consistent” with international law, Washington is paving the road for Israel to annex all major settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank, for which Netanyahu will no doubt take the credit.
Israel has never been truly concerned with international law, but it needed this US green light to move forward with annexing at least 60 per cent of the occupied West Bank. Indeed, with the haemorrhaging of US concessions to Israel, Netanyahu is eager for more.
Desperate to strengthen his faltering grip on power, the Israeli leader agreed on 20 November to advance a bill that calls for the annexation of the Jordan Valley. The bill was drafted by Sharren Haskel, a member of the Israeli Likud — Netanyahu’s party — who tweeted following the Prime Minister’s decision that the US announcement was “an opportunity to promote my law for sovereignty in the [Jordan] Valley.”
The US decision to defy international law on settlements is not dangerous because it violates international law, for the latter has hardly ever been a concern for Washington.
The danger actually lies in the fact that US foreign policy regarding the Israeli occupation has become a mere rubber stamp that allows Israel’s extreme right-wing government to determine single-handedly the fate of the Palestinian people and sow the seeds of instability and war in the Middle East for many years to come.
Since moving into the White House in January 2017, President Donald Trump has unleashed a total and complete reversal of his country’s foreign policy regarding Palestine and Israel.
Let us not have any illusion regarding the American approach to the so-called “Israeli-Palestinian conflict” prior to Trump’s Presidency, though. The US has never, not even once, stood up for Palestinians or Arabs since the establishment of the State of Israel on the ruins of historic Palestine in 1948. Moreover, Washington has bankrolled the Israeli occupation of Palestine in every possible way, including the subsidising of the illegal Jewish settlements.
Nevertheless, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s statement at a press conference on 18 November — “The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements is not, per se, inconsistent with international law” — is still very dangerous. In fact, it constitutes a political departure from previous US policies.
How? Historically, Washington has struggled in its understanding of international law, not because of its lack of legal savvy but because, quite often, US interests have clashed with the will of the international community. A recurring case in point is the Israeli occupation of Palestine, where the US has vetoed or voted against numerous UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions that either criticised Israel or supported the rights of the Palestinians.
Only in 1978 did a US administration dare to describe Israeli settlements as “inconsistent with international law”. That happened during Jimmy Carter’s Presidency, when Washington began fiddling earnestly with the “peace process” political model, which eventually led to the signing of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty at US Presidential retreat Camp David in 1979.
“Since then,” Joseph Hincks wrote in Time Magazine online, “Republican and Democratic Presidents have referred to settlements as ‘illegitimate’ but declined to call them illegal — a designation that would make them subject to international sanctions.”
That said, it was President Ronald Reagan who — although objecting to the principle of the illegality of the settlements — deemed them to be an “obstacle to peace”, demanding a freeze on all settlement construction.
Pompeo’s statement is, in fact, compatible with Washington’s self-contradictions regarding the construction of Israel’s illegal settlements in occupied Palestine. In December 2016, the Barack Obama administration declined to veto a UN Security Council resolution [pdf] that described the settlements as a “flagrant violation” of international law, adding that they have “no legal validity”. Although Obama chose to abstain from the vote, that decision was itself seen as a historical departure from traditional US foreign policy-making, further highlighting the US unconditional and, often, blind support for Israel.
While, in some way, the Trump administration’s support for Israel is a continuation of the dismal trajectory of American bias, it is also particularly unique and disturbing. Previous US administrations attempted to maintain a degree of balance between their own interests and those of Israel. Trump, on the other hand, seems to have aligned his country’s foreign policy regarding Palestine and Israel entirely with that of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing camp.
Indeed, for over two years, the State Department has been giving Israel political carte blanche, agreeing to all of its demands and expectations and asking for nothing in return. As a result, Washington has accepted Israel’s designation of Jerusalem, including occupied East Jerusalem, as its “eternal and undivided capital”; agreed to Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights; and actively plotted to dismiss the issue of Palestinian refugees altogether. The latest announcement by Pompeo was but one of many such steps.
One theory regarding the ongoing surrender of US foreign policy to Israel is that Washington is slowly, but permanently, withdrawing from the Middle East, a process that began in the later years of George W Bush’s presidency and continued unabated throughout the two terms of the Obama administration.
The current succumbing to Israel’s wishes is like America’s departing gift to its most faithful ally in the Middle East.
Another explanation is concerned with the apparently defunct “deal of the century”, a vaguely defined political doctrine that seeks to normalise relations with Israel, regionally and internationally, while keeping the status quo of its occupation and Apartheid regime untouched.
For that deal to be resurrected after months of inertia, Washington is keen to prolong Netanyahu’s premiership, especially as the long-serving Israeli Prime Minister is facing his greatest political challenge and even a possible jail term following various corruption charges.
Currently, Israel is undergoing a political crisis after two General Elections within six months — and the possibility of a third — coupled with a historic socio-economic and political polarisation among the electorate. To keep Netanyahu alive politically, his allies in Washington have thrown him some major lifelines, all in the hope of winning him more support among Israel’s dominant right-wing political camp.
By rendering the illegal settlements “consistent” with international law, Washington is paving the road for Israel to annex all major settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank, for which Netanyahu will no doubt take the credit.
Israel has never been truly concerned with international law, but it needed this US green light to move forward with annexing at least 60 per cent of the occupied West Bank. Indeed, with the haemorrhaging of US concessions to Israel, Netanyahu is eager for more.
Desperate to strengthen his faltering grip on power, the Israeli leader agreed on 20 November to advance a bill that calls for the annexation of the Jordan Valley. The bill was drafted by Sharren Haskel, a member of the Israeli Likud — Netanyahu’s party — who tweeted following the Prime Minister’s decision that the US announcement was “an opportunity to promote my law for sovereignty in the [Jordan] Valley.”
The US decision to defy international law on settlements is not dangerous because it violates international law, for the latter has hardly ever been a concern for Washington.
The danger actually lies in the fact that US foreign policy regarding the Israeli occupation has become a mere rubber stamp that allows Israel’s extreme right-wing government to determine single-handedly the fate of the Palestinian people and sow the seeds of instability and war in the Middle East for many years to come.
Former Israeli Communications Minister, Ayyoub al-Qarra, an Arab Druze member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, said that Israel was advancing its normalization ties with various Arab countries, and next year, Israelis will be able to open businesses and have normal political tries with Arab Gulf states.
The Maan News agency quoted al-Qarra stating that his recent visit to the United Arab Emirates was “great and historic,” and added that the normal ties between Israel, and these Arab states will be openly declared after the United States presents its “peace plan.”
He added that he already started meetings and communications with senior political leaders in Bahrain and that the official declaration of this normalization was only delayed due to the corruption investigations into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the impeachment inquiry of U.S. President Donald Trump.
In an interview with i24news, al-Qarra said that the idea of a gas pipeline between Saudi Arabia and Israel is possible, and the Saudi monarchy is capable of implementing such a project, according to Maan.
He also said that the idea of the gas pipeline was first made by a Gulf state, without specifying which.
When asked about confirming a meeting took place between Netanyahu and the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammad Bin Salman, the Israeli minister refused to answer, and only said that such issues are sensitive.
He also said that he is personally working with a state in the Gulf to arrange future visits by senior Israeli officials to Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, and added that “soon, Muslims with Israeli citizenship will be allowed to enter Mecca for pilgrimage using their Israeli-issued passports,” and citizens of these states will be able to visit “Israel, especially Jerusalem.”
Al-Qarra added that a prince from the United Arab Emirates recently visited Israel along with his wife, where she received medical treatment at an Israeli hospital.
He also said that he previously visited Qatar on behalf of the Netanyahu government, and held meetings with its senior political leaders.
The Maan News agency quoted al-Qarra stating that his recent visit to the United Arab Emirates was “great and historic,” and added that the normal ties between Israel, and these Arab states will be openly declared after the United States presents its “peace plan.”
He added that he already started meetings and communications with senior political leaders in Bahrain and that the official declaration of this normalization was only delayed due to the corruption investigations into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the impeachment inquiry of U.S. President Donald Trump.
In an interview with i24news, al-Qarra said that the idea of a gas pipeline between Saudi Arabia and Israel is possible, and the Saudi monarchy is capable of implementing such a project, according to Maan.
He also said that the idea of the gas pipeline was first made by a Gulf state, without specifying which.
When asked about confirming a meeting took place between Netanyahu and the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammad Bin Salman, the Israeli minister refused to answer, and only said that such issues are sensitive.
He also said that he is personally working with a state in the Gulf to arrange future visits by senior Israeli officials to Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, and added that “soon, Muslims with Israeli citizenship will be allowed to enter Mecca for pilgrimage using their Israeli-issued passports,” and citizens of these states will be able to visit “Israel, especially Jerusalem.”
Al-Qarra added that a prince from the United Arab Emirates recently visited Israel along with his wife, where she received medical treatment at an Israeli hospital.
He also said that he previously visited Qatar on behalf of the Netanyahu government, and held meetings with its senior political leaders.
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