EDITOR: The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party is now in full swing!
Now that the US elections race is on and seriously so, the normal ritual of ‘who is supporting more of Israel;s aggression?’ is now played by the main candidates. To win this game, a very difficult task indeed, one must prove that he is more supportive of Israel than the other guy. This is difficult, as the goal post is moving all the time…
The US, a country with 8.9% unemployment, is very generously supporting Israel, a country with 6.1% unemployment. It makes sense, doesn’t it. So now starts the race to give Israel more money and quicker. But this is not all; the race is also to prove who can hurt the Palestinians more – close their office in Washington, remove financial support from the PA, and the latest – removing US contributions from any UN body which supports Palestine, or passes resolutions supporting it. Neat one, Romney!
By the end of this race, the Israelis would be collecting in big way, the Palestinians will be further broken and humiliated, and all will be well. One cannot think of a better way to run the most powerful nation on earth, can one?
But, really, the most powerful nation on earth must be the one so strongly supported by the most powerful nation on earth, surely? You could get confused here, easily.
Anyway, seems that they should not worry so much, as the US and UK and other friends of Jewish Democracy for Jews Only are going to make sure there is no Security Council vote until 2020, so what is the noise about? The imperial cavalry has saved its devoted servant, yet again.
By the way, please don’t blame me for the fact none of this information can be found on the BBC. Being always objective, such items will obviously be out of place there… instead, it is leading today with: ‘Israel Offers Palestinians Talks’. Surely that is far more important, isn’t it? So you can write and complain to the BBC for being an organ of the Israeli propaganda, which while true, will not make any difference. I stopped trying.
The first real move towards freedom and democracy, must be the demand for removal of the power of veto of the four nations now holding it. Only then can issues be discussed openly and democratically at the UN! Down with the Veto Powers, Down with the past!
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Perry blasts Obama’s Mideast policy: Haaretz
Rick Perry, Republican presidential front-runner, says U.S. president’s demands ftrom Israel emboldened Palestinians to appeal for UN recognition.
Republican presidential front-runner Rick Perry waded into a tense foreign policy dispute on Tuesday by criticizing the Palestinian Authority’s effort to seek a formal recognition of statehood by the UN General Assembly and assailing the Obama administration’s broader policies in the Middle East.
In a speech in New York, Perry pledged strong support for Israel and criticized President Barack Obama for demanding concessions from the Jewish state the Texas governor says emboldened the Palestinians to appeal for UN recognition.
“We would not be here today at this very precipice of such a dangerous move if the Obama policy in the Middle East wasn’t naive and arrogant, misguided and dangerous,” Perry said in a speech in New York. “The Obama policy of moral equivalency which gives equal standing to the grievances of Israelis and Palestinians, including the orchestrators of terrorism, is a very dangerous insult.”
In a statement before Perry spoke, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney also waded into the tense foreign policy dispute over Mideast policy. He called the jockeying at the United Nations this week “an unmitigated disaster.” He accused Obama’s administration of “repeated efforts over three years to throw Israel under the bus and undermine its negotiating position.”
Perry also criticized Obama’s stated goal that any negotiations should be based on the borders Israel had before a 1967 war that expanded the Jewish state. While the 1967 borders have been the basis for diplomatic negotiations, they have never been embraced before by a U.S.¬ president. Perry called that stance “insulting and naïve.”
Perry’s remarks came as the Obama administration has redoubled its efforts to block the Palestinian bid. The U.S.¬ has promised a veto in the Security Council, but the Palestinians can press for a more limited recognition of statehood before the full … and much more supportive … General Assembly.
Perry also expressed support for allowing Jewish settlements to be constructed on the West Bank, a practice Obama has asked the Israeli government to cease. And Perry said that the entire city of Jerusalem should be part of Israel, a move that would make key religious and historical sites part of the Jewish state. Israel captured East Jerusalem from the Palestinians in 1967.
Perry even suggested he would move American diplomatic personnel out of Tel Aviv and instead recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. “As the president of the United States, if you want to work for the State Department, you will be working in Jerusalem,” he said.
Romney said the policy of limiting Israel’s negotiating flexibility “must stop now.” He called on Obama to unequivocally reaffirm the U.S.¬ commitment to Israel’s security and a promise to cut foreign assistance to the Palestinians if they succeed in getting U.N. recognition.
Both Perry and Romney said the U.S.¬ should reconsider funding for the UN itself if the global body votes to recognize the Palestinian Authority.
The Republican presidential hopefuls are intent on standing strongly behind Israel, an effort to appeal to Jewish voters and donors who play a pivotal role in presidential elections. It’s also an effort to reach evangelical Christians, who play a key role in the Republican primary process and who support Israel for theological reasons.
Perry on Tuesday said that his own Christian faith is part of his support for Israel. “I also as a Christian have a clear directive to support Israel, so from my perspective it’s pretty easy,” Perry said when a reporter asked if Perry’s faith was driving his views. “Both as an American and as a Christian, I am going to stand with Israel.”
Complaints about Obama’s Israel policy helped a Republican, Bob Turner, win a special election in a heavily Jewish and Democratic New York congressional district last week. Turner appeared with Perry at the speech.
“It’s vitally important for America to preserve alliances with leaders who seek to preserve peace and stability in the region,” Perry said. “But today, neither adversaries nor allies know where America stands. Our muddle of a foreign policy has created great uncertainty in the midst of the Arab Spring.”
The National Jewish Democratic Council CEO, David A. Harris, said in a statement that “Rick Perry’s comments today demonstrate that he clearly has little command of the U.S.-Israel relationship and even less interest in preserving the historic bipartisan support for Israel.”
According to the statement, “it is long past time for Perry and other Republicans to heed the advice of those genuinely working towards bipartisan support for Israel, and to quit playing political games with support for Israel.”
Obama is also in New York on Tuesday for meetings on the sidelines of the General Assembly. He planned to meet later in the week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Rick Perry accuses Barack Obama of betraying Israel over Palestinian bid: Guardian
Texas governor turns Palestinian statehood bid into election issue, accusing Obama of siding with ‘orchestrators of terrorism’
Chris McGreal in New York and Harriet Sherwood in Beit El
Rick Perry accused Barack Obama of abandoning Israel in favour of the ‘Arab street’. Photograph: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images
The confrontation over the Palestinian bid to win recognition as a state at the United Nations shifted to the US presidential race when Rick Perry, the leading Republican contender, accused Barack Obama of appeasing terrorists and betraying Israel.
Perry, at a campaign rally in New York, launched a stinging attack on Obama’s handing of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, accusing him of abandoning America’s ally in favour of the “Arab street” in the Egyptian revolution, as diplomatic wrangling continued to try to head off a showdown in the UN security council over the Palestinian request for statehood.
The Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, was to meet the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the British foreign secretary, William Hague, on Tuesday as Europe spearheaded efforts to dissuade him from pursuing the UN move with promises to revive peace negotiations.
Obama has said the US will veto the Palestinian request – expected to be made on Friday – for the security council to recognise a state based on the land occupied since the 1967 war, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The US president is also expected to speak out strongly against the move in his speech to the UN general assembly on Wednesday.
But Perry said that was not good enough, and blamed the president for bringing on the crisis by siding with the Palestinians over the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, and by saying the US would act as a neutral broker in talks.
Perry said: “The Obama policy of moral equivalence, which gives equal standing to the grievances of Israelis and the Palestinians, including the orchestrators of terrorism, is a very dangerous insult. There is no middle ground between our allies and those who seek their destruction.
“We see the American administration having a willingness to isolate a close ally, and to do so in a manner that is both insulting and naive.”
Perry attacked Obama for his recent statement, which angered Israel, that any final peace agreement should be based on the borders that existed before the 1967 war, even though it is widely accepted that will be the basis of a deal.
“It was wrong for this administration to suggest the 1967 borders should be the starting point for Israel-Palestinian negotiations,” Perry said. “The Obama administration put Israel in a position of weakness, taking away their flexibility to offer concessions as part of the negotiations process.
“Indeed, bolstered by the Obama administration’s policies and the apologists at the UN, the Palestinians are exploiting instability in the Middle East, hoping to achieve their objective without concessions and direct negotiations with Israel.”
Perry also criticised Obama’s handling of the revolutions in the Middle East, particularly in abandoning support for the former Egyptian leader, Hosni Mubarak, who was a close ally of Israel.
The Texas governor spoke of the “risk posed by the new regime in Egypt”, which is not as sympathetic to Israel.
“The Obama administration has appeased the Arab street at the expense of our national security,” he said.
Perry’s attack is part of a growing Republican assault on Obama’s Israel policy as evidence he is weak, despite the administration’s success in finding Osama bin Laden.
Israel can be a sensitive political issue in the US, in part because of considerable support for the Jewish state among Christian evangelical voters.
Jewish voters tend to overwhelmingly support Democratic presidential candidates, but unhappiness over US policy on Israel can have an impact in swing states, most notably Florida, and on congressional elections.
Last week, Democrats suffered an upset, losing a New York congressional election to the Republicans in a heavily Jewish constituency. Although several factors were at play, particularly high unemployment and economic stagnation, polls showed that among some Jewish voters there was significant disquiet about Obama’s Israel policies.
More importantly, the issue is used by Obama’s opponents to accuse him of being soft on America’s enemies and incompetent.
Republicans in Congress are blaming the president for the Palestinian request to the security council because of a speech Obama made to the UN a year ago, in which he said he hoped to welcome a sovereign state of Palestine as a UN member by October 2010.
The Palestinians are portraying that statement as “Obama’s promise”. Republicans say it is further evidence that Obama is hostile to Israel.
Another leading presidential contender, Mitt Romney, last week said the Palestinian approach to the UN “is another testament of the president’s failure of leadership”.
Perry said that if the UN grants additional recognition to the Palestinians, the US should close the Palestinian Liberation Organisation office in Washington. Other Republicans want to go further, and cut of the more than $500m in aid the Palestinian Authority receives from the US each year.
The House of Representatives foreign affairs committee last week held a hearing on the issue in which the chairperson, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, called for aid to be cut.
Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, said at the UN on Tuesday that the Palestinians should be punished for taking the statehood bid to the security council.
“There should be consequences for irresponsible behaviour. There should be consequences for the Palestinians shutting the door on negotiations,” he said.
In the West Bank, which the Palestinians want the UN to declare part of their state, a call to Jewish settlers to rally against the move flopped when only a few dozen attended a series of marches against the Palestinians’ bid for statehood. Soldiers in riot gear watched as the protesters burned the Palestinian flag near Beit El, a settlement close to the Palestinian city of Ramallah.
“If the Palestinians want a state, they can go to Europe or the US – it’s very nice there,” said Michael Ben Ari, a member of the Israeli parliament. “This is the land of Israel and we are here forever.”
Hardline settlers have stepped up attacks on Palestinians and their property in the runup to the UN meeting, according to the Palestinian media, amid fears on both sides that they are trying to provoke confrontations. The Israeli security forces have stockpiled tear gas, rubber bullets and foul-smelling water cannon in preparation for possible violent demonstrations.
Report: UN vote on Palestinian statehood might be delayed for weeks: Haaretz
Sources say a ‘silent agreement’ exists among Western powers to act to postpone the Security Council vote.
The upcoming United Nations votes on a Palestinian state are expected to be postponed to an unspecified date, sources in New York said Tuesday.
Postponements are expected for both the UN General Assembly vote on the declaration of an independent Palestinian state, as well as the UN Security Council vote on full Palestinian membership, the sources said.
While media sources are preoccupied with whether the United States will succeed in its attempts to secure a majority of opposing votes to decline the Palestinians’ bid for statehood, sources say a “silent agreement” exists between Western powers to act to postpone the vote at the Security Council.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe hinted at the apparent vote postponement. In an interview with ‘Europe 1′ radio on Tuesday, Juppe said that “diplomats are still hoping to prevent a crisis. It doesn’t appear that a vote (on a declaration of Palestinian independence) will happen this Friday and that is in order to allow time for diplomacy to renew peace talks.”
Juppe added that “there’s a procedure for dealing with such requests and it can take a few days or weeks more.”
Juppe’s comments are in accordance with estimates among sources involved with the U.S.-led and western-supported attempts over the past few days to delay the Security Council vote.
If the Palestinian request does go ahead on Friday, the United States can refer the request to a debate inside the framework of informal consultations that Security Council members hold behind closed doors – a procedure that could last weeks or months. The sources reminded that more than a month ago, France distributed a draft resolution that included sanctions against Syria. The draft has not yet reached a discussion because Russia, with the support of China, has been delaying discussions of the draft at the Security Council.
Lebanon holds a senior position as rotating president of the Security Council and the Lebanese ambassador can try to speed up the process of debating the Palestinians’ request, but a rotating president cannot decide on the priorities of Security Council discussions.
Sources in New York claim that Abbas is interested in postponing the Security Council vote, for this would give him time for diplomatic bargaining with the United States.
Palestine Q&A: towards an independent state: Guardian
Palestine will become the 194th member of the UN if its application for statehood goes ahead and succeeds. But what will this mean?
Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem
Palestinian football fans cheer their national men’s team at half-time during an Olympic games qualifying match with Thailand. Photograph: Ammar Awad/Reuters
What will be the territory of Palestine?
Palestine is likely to consist of territory in the West Bank and Gaza, totalling around 6,200 sq km (2,393 sq miles). At the moment the two areas are physically separate, although they could be linked by a sealed road in future.
The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of their new state. Israel, which annexed the east of the city after the 1967 war, rejects any division.
The borders have not been decided and will be a matter for negotiation with Israel, which wants to retain its big settlement blocs in the West Bank. Land swaps in compensation are expected to be agreed.
The Palestinian population is around 2.6 million in the West Bank, 1.6 million in Gaza and 270,000 in East Jerusalem. Palestinians are overwhelmingly Muslim although there is a small Christian population.
There are also around 300,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank and a further 200,000 in East Jerusalem. Israel evacuated settlers from Gaza in 2005.
Arabic is the language of Palestine.
What are the symbols of the new state?
Flag: black, white and green stripes overlaid with a red triangle, adopted as the flag of the Palestinian people in 1964. It was banned by the Israeli government until 1993.
Passport: Palestinian Authority passports have been available to people born within its jurisdiction since 1995. However, many Palestinians hold Jordanian passports.
Currency: the Israeli shekel, but there is talk of reviving the Palestinian pound.
Sport: Palestine has both a men’s and a women’s national football team.
Military: Palestine has no army, airforce or navy.
How is Palestine governed?
There are two separate de facto governments in the West Bank and Gaza, under a president elected by all the Palestinian people. There is also an elected legislative council.
In the West Bank, the authority, dominated by the Fatah political faction, is the official administrative body. Established in 1994 under the Oslo accords, its jurisdiction runs only in the main cities of the West Bank.
Hamas is in charge of the Gaza Strip after fighting a bloody battle for control against Fatah in 2007, after winning elections 18 months before.
The Palestinian president is Mahmoud Abbas, and the prime minister in the West Bank is Salam Fayyad. In Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh is the de facto prime minister.
Earlier this year, following a reconciliation agreement with Hamas, which has since faltered, Abbas promised elections next year.
Does Palestine already have most of the institutions of state?
There is a legislative council and local authorities, and ministries of finance, health, education, transport, agriculture, interior, justice, labour, culture, social affairs etc.
The West Bank and Gaza have separate security forces and judicial systems.
There is a Palestinian stock exchange in Nablus.
Where does its money come from?
Most of the authority’s income comes from international donors, although it also raises money from taxes and customs. Under the Oslo accords, Israel collects around £69m each month in customs duties which it then forwards to the authority.
Employees pay taxes, although much employment is on a cash basis.
Most of the West Bank’s trade is with Israel, although some goods are exported to Europe. Exports from the West Bank were estimated to be worth around $850m (£541m) last year. Exports from Gaza have ceased, with rare exceptions, since Israel imposed a blockade more than four years ago.
The EU contributes around $700m a year, and the US $600m.
In April, the International Monetary Fund said the authority was “now able to conduct the sound economic policies expected of a future well-functioning Palestinian state, given its solid track record in reforms and institution-building in the public finance and financial areas.”
Gaza’s funding is opaque. According to Israeli and western intelligence, money is channelled from Iran and Islamist supporters in the Arab world.
Will state recognition change the situation on the ground?
No, is the short answer. Almost everything will be the same. The lives of Palestinians will continue to be dominated by the Israeli occupation and control over their territory. But it may strengthen their position in future talks.
What about Gaza?
Gaza is hardly mentioned in all the current debate about a Palestinian state. Mahmoud Abbas is the elected president of all Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza, but the current geographic and political separation make a unified state difficult. Hamas disapproves of the authority’s approach to the UN, saying it reflects a “path of compromise” instead of resistance. Haniyeh has said: “We support establishing a Palestinian state on any part of Palestinian land without giving up an inch of Palestine or recognising Israel.”
I want to visit the new state of Palestine. How do I get there?
The West Bank’s only entry and exit points are overland via Israel and Jordan. It has no airport and is landlocked. It is practically impossible for ordinary visitors to get into Gaza. It has two strictly-controlled exit and entry points by land to Israel and Egypt. Israel maintains a naval blockade off Gaza’s coast preventing the movement of sea traffic. The runway of Gaza’s airport was bombed by the Israelis in 2002.
Israel’s president requests heads of state to oppose Palestinian UN bid: Haaretz
In phone calls with the presidents of Austria and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Shimon Peres promotes direct negotiations; Palestinian sources: negotiations are complimentary, not contradictory, to UN bid.
President Shimon Peres spoke to the presidents of Austria and Bosnia-Herzegovina on Tuesday, requesting they oppose the Palestinian bit for statehood at the UN Security Council.
In telephone conversations with Austrian President Heinz Fischer and incumbent President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Živko Budimir, Peres said a Palestinian state could only be established via direct negotiations.
Peres is planning to speak to the presidents of Gabon and Nigeria later tonight.
Gabon’s position is being closely watched because it is one of the countries voting on the Security Council. The vote is expected to be close.
Laure Olga Gondjout, the chief of staff for President Ali Bongo of Gabon, said Tuesday that the country has not yet made up its mind on whether Palestinians should be granted UN membership. She added that the country’s delegation to the United Nations has not yet submitted its position on the matter.
When asked how Gabon would vote on the Palestinians’ bid for United Nations membership, Gondjout replied: “We have not turned in our position statement… We cannot anticipate a recognition of the new state of Palestine… or a non-recognition at this point.”
Peres’ conversations with his fellow heads of state come as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sets off for the United Nations in New York.
Speaking at a Likud party conference ahead of his flight, Netanyahu said he is aware that he will come under heavy pressure at the United Nations.
“Tonight I am going to New York to speak at the General Assembly, meet with (U.S. President Barack) Obama and with other leaders,” Netanyahu said. “I know the reception I received here is much warmer than the one I will receive at the UN, and exactly because of that I think we should go there and present our truth… of a people attacked over and over by those opposed to their very existence. That is the most basic truth.”
Netanyahu said he has turned to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas several times, and offered him to meet, but Abbas declined. “I told him the road to peace goes through direct negotiations and not unilateral decisions at the UN,” he said.
Netanyahu received support from opposition leader Tzipi Livni, who called upon the prime minister to initiate political negotiations with the Palestinians. “Your trip is critical for the future of Israel,” said Livni, “Every move at the United Nations dangers the security and national interests of Israel, and this is avoidable.”
Sources at the Palestinian government told Haaretz on Tuesday evening, following Netanyahu’s comments, that “even if we start direct negotiations with Israel, it does not cancel the UN bid. We see both of these paths as complimentary, not contradictory.”
Palestinians will land from UN dream into Mideast reality: Haaretz
Israel’s struggle against the granting of even a symbolic expression of Palestinian sovereignty implies that Palestinian attempt to change reality will run into opposition.
By Akiva Eldar
When Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas returns from New York with a United Nations decision recognizing a Palestinian state or an observer/non-member nation in his pocket, he will be forced, as always, to land at Jordan’s international airport in Amman and travel from there to the Israeli border station on the Hussein (formerly Allenby ) Bridge. Israeli police will examine the cars in his entourage, flip through the passports and VIP documents (if Israel hasn’t canceled them as part of its punishment process ) and send them on their way – until the next Israeli army checkpost. The Palestinians are aware that one of the first steps they must take in order for their sovereignty to be worth more than a piece of paper is to establish an international airport.
In light of the struggle being waged by the Israeli government against the granting of even a symbolic expression of Palestinian sovereignty in the West Bank, it’s safe to assume that the Palestinian attempt to change reality in the field will run into tough Israeli opposition. Really, now, why are they so hot to change long-standing arrangements? Can’t they enjoy the desert landscape from Amman to the Jordan River, as Israel train passengers enjoy the hilly landscape on the way to Jerusalem? Would we dare to make such one-sided short cuts, without asking permission from our neighbors, just in order to save a few minutes travel time? Absolutely! And the proof bears the seal of the Israeli High Court of Justice.
Two weeks ago, the High Court rejected a petition filed by the head of the Beit Iksa council and three residents of this West Bank village against the expropriation of their land for the purpose of laying down track for the fast train from Lod to Jerusalem (of which 6.7 kilometers runs through occupied territory ).
The attorneys for the petitioners, Hosem Yunis and Natur Kamer, argued that building infrastructure in occupied territory, seized temporarily in war, exclusively for the needs of the occupying population (there are no train stations in the West Bank at all ) was a breach of international law. As is well known, the residents of Beit Iksa, like the rest of the inhabitants of the West Bank, do not number among Israel Railways’ clientele. However, the government’s reply to the petition may teach us that the people sitting in the Attorney General’s Office are optimists and seekers of peace in the region.
The office informed the court that at this point in time, several different plans for laying rail tracks in the Palestinian cities of the West Bank were under discussion, and that it would be possible to connect them to the train lines in Israel.
Moreover, at a time when Israel spares no effort to disconnect Gaza from the West Bank, the government promised the High Court that there would be “rail linkage” between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It also said that the plan to establish a rail line from Mevasseret Zion to Ramallah had been discussed and examined by the highest government planning council, and would in future be transmitted to the Palestinian Authority and the special Israeli planning committee in the West Bank – and all of this, of course, “when political and security conditions are ripe.”
Why not plan rail lines to Damascus and Baghdad for “when political and security conditions are ripe?”
The officials in the Attorney General’s Office apparently believe that expropriating Arab land in order to shorten the ride for Jews will speed up the ripening of these conditions. And just to be sure, the government is prepared for Pviolence: It noted that that the confiscated lands would serve as an escape route, “to preserve the life and safety of train passengers when, among other times, they are situated in Judea and Samaria.”
This is not the whim of a junior attorney. In the High Court ruling, Justice Uzi Fogelman, who headed the panel, mentions that the activities of the train are carried out with the approval of the attorney general vis-a-vis the legality of the route in accordance with the standards of international law. The petition, which addressed an important political and legal issue of unparalleled practical significance, was rejected “in light of a delay in submission.”
The annexation in practice to Israel of settlements east of the Green Line (1967 border ) has become routine. It is rarer to find a community such as Sheni Livneh, most of which lies within Israeli borders, on a list of settlements. An expert on the settlements, Dror Etkes, discovered its name on the list of those within the jurisdiction of the Hebron Hills council. But it is missing from the official administrative order detailing the list of settlements that belong to each of the regional and local councils in the West Bank. An aerial photo reveals that except for a row of houses in the northernmost section, which spill over the Green Line, the rest of the community lies within Israel.
On the community’s Internet site, the Batei Emunah company, which boasts of its activities for “the Jews of Judea and Samaria,” offers homes with gardens for NIS 534,000. According to the Web site, most of the residents work at the Dead Sea Works, Soroka Hospital, Intel in Kiryat Gat or in the Omer industrial area. Some work in the community, in agriculture, tourism or the arts.
“If in the past we spoke of a flow of Israelis into the West Bank, now we see how the West Bank is flowing back into Israel,” Etkes says, adding: “It turns out that this is not a pollution of the political culture that has developed in the settlements, but a blurring of borders physically and administratively.”
The Civil Administration confirms that despite the fact that Sheni Livneh does not belong to the south Hebron Hills regional council, “in practice and by agreement,” it receives services from it. And why? “Since it does not belong to any municipal network in Israel.”
Do you get it?
Palestinians: we are already recognised as a state by two-thirds of the globe: Guardian
UN delegation claims member countries comprising 75% of the world’s population are in favour of its bid for full statehood
James Ball
Almost two-thirds of the UN’s member states – representing more than 75% of the world’s population – already formally recognise the Palestinian state in some form, according to analysis by the Guardian.
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, is pressing forward with plans to formally request UN membership this Friday, despite attempts at a diplomatic compromise by many western states and a US pledge to veto the membership bid. Raising Palestine to full statehood would need to pass the UN security council – where it is subject to veto – and then a vote at the general assembly, comprising all 193 UN member states.
However, the general assembly can raise Palestine’s status from “permanent observer” to “non-member observer state”, a largely symbolic vote, without security council approval.
The Guardian analysis corroborates reports that such a vote would be extremely likely to be passed. Statements on government websites, from the Arab League, Palestinian administrations and elsewhere suggest that in some form, often with caveats, 126 UN member states already grant formal diplomatic recognition of a Palestinian state. The majority of these countries, 105, also formally recognise the state of Israel.
The countries that recognise Palestine comprise around 5.5bn of the world’s population of 7bn – more than 75% – but based on World Bank GDP figures make up less than 10% of the world’s economy, highlighting the global rift on what remains a highly contentious topic.
Countries which do not yet formally recognise Palestine are overwhelmingly concentrated in western Europe and North America. No western European democracy currently recognises Palestine as a state, but some newer EU members have previously recognised statehood.
The UN is unlikely to vote on Abbas’s proposals for a period of several months even if the resolution is tabled as planned. Envoys from the Middle Eastern Quartet – the US, UN, EU and Russia – are meeting through the week to work on compromise plans to place before Abbas and the Israeli government.
The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, urged Abbas not to put proposals for statehood before the UN, warning such a course of action was “not the best way forward”.
• Methodology: The graphic is based on countries that are recognised as full UN members who have independently formally acknowledged Palestine as a nation state. The countries who have given this formal recognition do not necessarily agree on borders or other factors in statehood, and may have recognised Palestine at any point between 1988 and 2011.
• Figures for population estimates and GDP are taken from the World Bank datastore, using the most recent year for which data was available (typically 2010).
The story of the watermelon and the forty prisoners: The Electronic Intifada
Ameer Makhoul, Gilboa Prison 19 September 2011
For every forty prisoners, there was one middle-sized watermelon distributed in Gilboa prison this summer. (Mushir Abdelrahman / MaanImages )
This piece was written from Gilboa prison following Israeli Prime Minister’s speech at the Israeli Presidential Conference on 23 June, 2011. During his speech, Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel will impose a series of measures to harden conditions for Palestinian political prisoners, declaring that “the party is over.”
On Friday, 24 June at 12:46 pm, the prison administration brought us, the prisoners, a watermelon. It was our first watermelon of 2011. According to the prison regulations, each prisoner gets 180 grams of fruit each day. It’s one of our basic rights. However, a few days ago, when it seemed that fruits were unavailable, each of us was provided with an onion as an alternative, or compensation.
On that day, all of us had a share in the watermelon “party.” Each prison section, containing 120 prisoners, received the total number of three watermelons. The prisoners are divided into separate and isolated sections according to where they come from: while those who come from Jerusalem, ‘48 Palestine and the Golan Heights compile the first section; those of the West Bank are in the second; and our compatriots from the Gaza Strip are in the third. And not only that, in the prisons in the south of the country the prisoners are divided also according to the the political faction they belong to, and for the last four years they have been prevented from receiving any guests.
For every forty prisoners, there was one middle-sized watermelon. As always, we have a special staff composed of prisoners that is in charge of distributing the food. This time, its task was especially difficult: each watermelon had to be cut into forty equal pieces! At the end, each prisoner received a watermelon piece in the shape of an isosceles triangle, whose equal sides are red and the base green. The latter — that is, the rind — was calculated into our 180 grams of fruit a day.
Thief of freedom
Our watermelon experience brought to my mind the popular story of “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.” The analogy is not a purely a numerical one: in the story, forty thieves were locked in a cave — the mouth of which was sealed by magic — while hiding from justice; in our life, however, there is only one thief, who lives in the open. Our thief continues to rob freedom, a nation and a people by locking us behind closed bars. But, when we look at the horizon, we see the thief’s world slowly closing up on him.
The crimes of our thief can be exposed by confrontation. We are not disillusioned, but our so-called “parties” inside the prison bars do have a taste, because we prepare them ourselves. Also, we are not orphans, for outside the prison walls our people are struggling for liberation. Until when? Only we, as prisoners and as a people, can answer this question.
Ameer Makhoul is a Palestinian civil society leader and political prisoner at Gilboa Prison.
Translated by Shadi Rouhana
Mounting settler violence forces Palestinian youth to postpone first ever Model UN: The Electronic Intifada Blogs
Submitted by Jalal Abukhater on Tue, 09/20/2011 – 17:40
Along with four of my high school mates, I have been working on organizing Palestine’s first local Model United Nations conference. It was going to be held in Ramallah this weekend. We wanted to offer many students in Palestine the opportunity to participate in a Model United Nations conference, for the first time, to understand and gain awareness of how the United Nations functions and how it deals with world issues.
But sadly, due to the rising threat of violence by Israeli settlers, we were forced to postpone it.
The first Palestinian Model United Nations Conference (PalMUN) was planned to be held over this weekend in Ramallah, starting on Friday, September 23rd; however, due to the current volatile situation in the West Bank caused by illegal Israeli settler violence in response to the Palestinian’s United Nations bid seeking full membership of Palestine, we have decided to postpone the conference until the 7th of October, 2011.
Israeli settler violence and terror against the Palestinians in the West Bank is on the rise. Settler terror against Palestinians have never stopped, but in this month there has been a big increase of incidents involving settlers burning mosques, burning crop fields, attacking villagers, and abducting children. You can read more about the spread of settler violence here on The Electronic Intifada.
Settlers have carried out many intentional hit-and-runs, burning of crops, attacking cars, abducting children, and burning mosques. The roads between Ramallah-Jerusalem, Ramallah-Bethlehem, and especially Ramallah-Nablus, have become a prime target for settlers to strike at Palestinian cars and take refuge in their illegal settlements, fully protected by the Israeli military.
Over 140 students comprising of 15 MUN delegations from schools in Ramallah, Nablus, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Haifa had registered to attend this first-of-a-kind event in Palestine.
We had noted in a letter sent out to all participants that we want to ensure that every student attending PalMUN is fully comfortable and doesn’t have any worries regarding whether he or she will be able to reach the conference and travel back home. Sadly, we have lived with settler violence our entire lives and given the impunity the settlers enjoy, we came to a collective decision that postponing the conference was wiser than risking the safety of any of our participants.
At a time when Israeli Jewish settlers’ hostility against the Palestinians is on the rise, we decided that holding the conference as planned would put conference goers’ safety at risk given the increased settler violence has disrupted traffic between Palestinian cities.
Settlers have vowed to march toward Palestinian cities in the coming days to protest the Palestinian bid for full membership at the UN. Testimonies are being heard from conference delegates and friends who are expressing fear about traveling on some of the West Bank roads after several incidents have been reported of settlers harassing and attacking Palestinian cars.
We also expect that on the opening day of the conference, Israeli soldiers are going to block many roads across the West Bank, adding to the already numerous checkpoints which are suffering Palestinian communities. The final outcome was the postponing of the conference until 7 October, and hopefully everything will go well then.
Palestinians, meanwhile, are volunteering for watch-teams to patrol West Bank villages and warn of any settler attack against Palestinians. Four days ago, I heard on the radio that in Qusra village near Nablus, 10 Settlers who were planning to attack the village after midnight were caught by Palestinian youth who were assigned to protect the village. One settler managed to escape by pulling out a gun and shooting at an unarmed Palestinian man, according to the radio.
However, the Palestinian youth released the settlers 40 minutes later fearing further consequences as settlers do carry plenty of lethal weapons, unlike unarmed Palestinians. Early in the morning, Israeli army raided the village searching for those who stopped settler attack, 6 Palestinians were injured by Israeli rubber bullets, many others suffered suffocation due to tear gas, as Ma’an reported.
Village councils have been assigning groups of youth volunteers to guard the villages, now the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee has launched a similar campaign dubbed the “Refusing to Die in Silence” project. On Wednesday, September 21st, there will be a booth at al-Manara in Ramallah (at the time of major Pro-statehood rallies) the booth will give the chance for more people to register to volunteer in those watch teams or to help in reporting incidents close to their location immediately.
While the real United Nations does nothing to stop Israel’s army and settlers constant terror against Palestinians, we Palestinian youths cannot even hold a Model United Nations conference in peace.