Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) - Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

Israel Suspends West Bank Annexation in Deal to Normalize Relations With the UAE

Noa LandauReuters — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 22:54:20 +0000

Annexation still on the table, Netanyahu says, but the U.S. asked Israel to ‘temporarily postpone’ applying sovereignty to parts of West Bank in order to advance the peace agreement.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands after delivering press statements before an official dinner in Jerusalem on May 22, 2017. Credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP

Israel and the United Arab Emirates reached a historic peace deal on Thursday that will lead to a full normalization of diplomatic relations between the two Middle Eastern nations in an agreement that U.S. President Donald Trump helped broker.

Under the agreement, Israel has agreed to suspend applying sovereignty to areas of the West Bank that it has been discussing annexing, a joint statement by all three parties to the agreement said.

Trump, in a tweet, called the agreement a “HUGE breakthrough,” describing it as a “historic peace agreement between our two GREAT friends.”

Benjamin Netanyahu@netanyahu

Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump

HUGE breakthrough today! Historic Peace Agreement between our two GREAT friends, Israel and the United Arab Emirates!

The joint statement said the three leaders had “agreed to the full normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.”

“This historic diplomatic breakthrough will advance peace in the Middle East region and is a testament to the bold diplomacy and vision of the three leaders and the courage of the United Arab Emirates and Israel to chart a new path that will unlock the great potential in the region,” the statement said.

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

Joint Statement of the United States, the State of Israel, and the United Arab Emirates

The peace deal was the product of lengthy discussions between Israel, the UAE, and the United States that accelerated recently, White House officials said.

The agreement was sealed in a phone call on Thursday between Trump, Netanyahu, and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, crown prince of Abu Dhabi.

The officials described the agreement, to be known as the Abraham Accords, as the first of its kind since Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994. It also gives Trump a foreign policy success as he seeks re-election on November 3.

Annexation on hold

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised speech Thursday night that “Today marks a new era in Israel’s relations with the Arab world” and that the two countries agreed on “a full, formal peace.”

“For years, Israel has been portrayed as an enemy…now more countries will join us in this circle of peace,” the prime minister said.

He added that annexation is “still on the table,” and that it is a promise Netanyahu said he is “committed to.”

Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a press briefing in Jerusalem, August 13, 2020. Credit: Jonathan Zindel/Pool via Flash 90

“Extending sovereignty will be done only alongside the United States,” Netanyahu said. “Without coordination, in the best case, will do nothing, and in the worst case, will harm relations between us. The United States asked that Israel temporarily postpone annexation.”

The joint statement by the three leaders said that as “a result of this diplomatic breakthrough and at the request of President Trump with the support of the United Arab Emirates, Israel will suspend declaring sovereignty” over areas of the West Bank that were envisioned in the U.S. Middle East plan unveiled by Trump in January.

“Israel for the foreseeable future will be focused on building this relationship and pursuing all the advantages that can come from having this new relationship with this country, and we also breaks the ice for doing more normalizations and peace agreements with other regional players as well,” one White House official told Reuters.

A senior political source told Haaretz that annexation is still on the agenda and that Israel is committed to it. “The Trump administration asked that we temporarily postpone declaring [sovereignty over parts of the West Bank] in order to achieve the beginning of this historic peace agreement with the Emirates.”

A senior Likud official praised the agreement, saying: “The Israeli and international left always said that it is impossible to bring peace with Arab nations without peace with the Palestinian people. That there is no other way except from withdrawing from the ’67 borders, clearing out the settlements, dividing Jerusalem, and establishing a Palestinian state. This is the first time in History that Prime Minister Netanyahu broke the paradigm of ‘land for peace’ and brought ‘peace in exchange for peace.'”

Sources involved said that Netanyahu discussed the agreement with Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi only after the agreement was formally announced by Washington. Both Gantz and Ashkenazi deny that they were previously unaware of the agreement.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he “rejects and denounces the surprising announcement by Israel, the United States, and the UAE,” and called it a “betrayal of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Palestinian cause.” A senior adviser to Abbas read the statement from outside the PA president’s Ramallah headquarters.

PLO Executive Committee member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi condemned the agreement and its terms on Twitter. “Israel got rewarded for not declaring openly what it’s been doing to Palestine illegally and persistently since the beginning of the occupation,” she wrote, referring to the annexation agreement. “The UAE has come out in the open on its secret dealings/normalization with Israel. Please don’t do us a favor. We are nobody’s fig leaf!”

Hanan Ashrawi@DrHananAshrawi

Israel got rewarded for not declaring openly what it’s been doing to Palestine illegally & persistently since the beginning of the occupation. The UAE has come out in the open on its secret dealings/normalization with Israel. Please don’t do us a favor. We are nobody’s fig leaf!

Sarah Leah Whitson@sarahleah1

BREAKING: #UAE and #Israel “normalize” relations. The trade? Israel won’t formally annex and exercise sovereignty over the land it has for all intents and purposes already annexed and exercises sovereignty over… ZERO for the rights of Palestinians

‘A win for diplomacy’

UAE Ambassador to the United States Yousef Al Otaiba released a statement calling the agreement “a win for diplomacy and for the region” and “a significant advance in Arab-Israeli relations that lowers tensions and creates new energy for positive change.”

He added that the move “immediately stops annexation and the potential for violent escalation. It maintains the viability of a two-state solution as endorsed by the Arab League and international community. It creates new dynamics and possibilities in the peace process.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a phone call with Washington and Dubai, August 13, 2020.Credit: Kobi Gideon / GPO

MohamedBinZayed@MohamedBinZayed

During a call with President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, an agreement was reached to stop further Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories. The UAE and Israel also agreed to cooperate and setting a roadmap towards establishing a bilateral relationship.

Al Otaiba’s statement concludes with a reassurance that “The UAE will remain a strong supporter of the Palestinian people – for their dignity, their rights, and their own sovereign state. They must benefit from normalization. We will forcefully advocate for these ends, now directly and bolstered with stronger incentives, policy options, and diplomatic tools.”

Next steps

White House officials said Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, and Middle East envoy Avi Berkowitz were deeply involved in negotiating the deal, as well as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien.

Pompeo congratulated Israel and the UAE in both Arabic and Hebrew in a tweet, calling the agreement “a significant step forward for peace in the Middle East.”

Secretary Pompeo@SecPompeo

US government account

Today is an historic day. After vigorous diplomatic outreach by President @realDonaldTrump, Israeli Prime Minister @netanyahu and Emirati Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed have signed an agreement to fully normalize relations between their two great nations.

Secretary Pompeo@SecPompeo

US government account

The United States congratulates Israel and the Emirates for this remarkable achievement, which is a significant step forward for peace in the Middle East. Blessed are the peacemakers. Mabruk and Mazal Tov.

In a statement, the U.S. secretary of state called the agreement “a remarkable achievement for two of the world’s most forward-leaning, technologically advanced states, and reflects their shared regional vision of an economically integrated region. It also illustrates their commitment to confronting common threats, as small – but strong – nations.

The United States hopes that this brave step will be the first in a series of agreements that end 72 years of hostilities in the region. Although the peace treaties between Israel and Egypt and Jordan have not yet fulfilled their full potential, since the 1978 Camp David Accords and the 1994 Wadi Arava Agreement, we have witnessed significant economic development in Egypt and Jordan, an unmistakable dividend of peace.”

Delegations from Israel and the United Arab Emirates will meet in the coming weeks to sign bilateral agreements regarding investment, tourism, direct flights, security, telecommunications, and other issues, the statement said.

The two countries are expected soon to exchange ambassadors and embassies.

The agreement envisions giving Muslims greater access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem by allowing them to fly from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv, White House officials said.

The joint statement said the United Arab Emirates and Israel will immediately expand and accelerate cooperation regarding the treatment of and the development of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus amid the pandemic.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Source: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/with-trump-s-help-israel-and-the-uae-reach-historic-deal-to-normalize-relations-1.9070687

[Disclaimer]

The post Israel Suspends West Bank Annexation in Deal to Normalize Relations With the UAE first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

China’s Next Military Move: A Base in the Persian Gulf?

Michael Rubin — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 11:50:22 +0000

For the past half-century, the United States has essentially dominated international waters in the Persian Gulf uncontested by any Great Power. As in the South China Sea and in the Bab el-Mandeb, however, Xi may have ambitions to challenge the United States and assert its military influence over yet another strategic chokepoint.

For a generation, China has expanded its economic outreach to the Middle East but has largely remained diplomatically neutral and militarily absent. Beijing, for example, maintains cordial diplomatic relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. It often abstained on contentious UN Security Council resolution. And while Chinese Navy ships do make occasional port calls in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, but China’s non-combatant evacuation operation from Libya at the beginning of that country’s civil war was far less coordinated and effective than Chinese authorities claimed.

President Xi Jingping’s assertiveness may not be limited to China’ periphery, in Hong Kong, the South China Sea, and Ladakh. China, for example, not only established a military base in Djibouti within miles of the U.S. presence but also has begun to interfere with U.S. pilots in the region.

Now, according to the Iranian press, it appears that China may be seeking a more permanent base in the Persian Gulf. Majid Reza Hariri, speaker of Iran-China Joint Chamber of Commerce, traced increased Chinese involvement both to Ahmadinejad-era agreements and to Xi’s 2015 visit to Iran, in which the Chinese president both met with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani and signed agreements involving both the security and military sectors.

Within the Iranian parliament, rumors now abound that one of these agreements include the lease of facilities on Kish island (Kish is where Bob Levinson disappeared, before being held by Iran until his death years later and where the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps onloaded 50 tons of weaponry onto the Karine-A before attempting to smuggle it to the Palestine Liberation Organization). The rumors about the alleged lease started airing in the conservative Iranian news agency Tasnim in February 2020. Alef.ir, a news site affiliated with conservative parliamentarian Ahmad Tavakoli, quoted Hassan Norouzi, a parliamentary hardliner, announcing that he had written to Rouhani to explain why “Negotiations [have been] underway by the government to hand over Kish Island to the Chinese for 25 years.” After complaining about government secrecy in its past dealing with Beijing, Norouzi announced, “If there is any discussion about this, we will definitely stop it, and the Chinese officials should also know that such transfers will not take place.”

While Norouzi’s populist rhetoric may resonate with his working-class constituents in Robat Karim, an impoverished district near Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, parliamentary outrage is a non-factor in Iranian security and defense calculations. In practice, Iran’s elected parliament has no power to counter the military, defense ministry, or supreme leader. That he would air such threats publicly, however, likely suggests that there is some truth behind the rumors and that Chinese work is either progressing or becoming more visible.

China’s growing military assertiveness has various ramifications. Too often, the State Department has assumed that where it leads, Gulf Cooperation Council members would follow. Arab Gulf states might be frustrated with Washington, but they understood the threat from Tehran meant they had little choice but to grin and bear American arrogance. Congressional and partisan hostility toward Saudi Arabia, however, increasingly causes its leaders to look for balance farther afield. While the United States is adept at deploying its forces, it has less accustomed to having to compete. It is becoming increasingly urgent, however, that it does so; Washington can no longer take the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, let alone Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman, for granted.

Likewise, China’s growing military ambitions in the region make it more crucial that Israel stops its flirtation with Beijing. A generation of Israeli leaders has tried to have it both ways: a partnership with the United States while seeking to sell sensitive military technologies to China. Many Israeli officials rationalize that by cultivating China, they can keep it from fully casting its lot with reactionary regional regimes. That was always naïve, but should China be building a base in the Persian Gulf, it should end that illusion once and for all. If Israelis do not conclude similarly, then it is time for both Republicans and Democrats to consider continued guarantees to maintain Israel’s qualitative military edge. After all, U.S. investment in Israel’s security was always part of a broader U.S. strategic calculation. If Israel becomes a strategic liability in a new Cold War, it behooves the United States to mitigate the threat Israeli technology leakage could have on U.S. forces regionally.

Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). You can follow him on Twitter: @mrubin1971.

Source: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/middle-east-watch/chinas-next-military-move-base-persian-gulf-164184

[Disclaimer]

The post China’s Next Military Move: A Base in the Persian Gulf? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Palestine’s Mahmoud Abbas is threatening the nuclear option

The National — Mon, 25 May 2020 08:57:02 +0000

Faced with the threat of illegal annexation, the Palestinian Authority is signaling that it is running out of options.

An Israeli activist holds a banner during a protest against the US peace plan for the Middle East, in front of the US ambassador’s residence in Jerusalem, on May 15, 2020, as Palestinians commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the 1948 Nakba or “catastroph” which left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the war accompanying the birth of Israel. AFP

Palestinians pray during a protest marking the 72nd anniversary of Nakba and against Israeli plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, in the village of Sawiya near Nablus May 15, 2020. Reuters

Palestinian medics run away from tear gas fired by Israeli troops during a protest marking the 72nd anniversary of Nakba and against Israeli plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, in the village of Sawiya near Nablus May 15, 2020. Reuters

A Palestinian man argues with an Israeli border policewoman during a protest marking the 72nd anniversary of Nakba and against Israeli plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, in the village of Sawiya near Nablus May 15, 2020. Reuters

Israeli activists hold placards as they protest against the US peace plan for the Middle East in front of the US ambassador’s residence in Jerusalem, on May 15, 2020. AFP

Since Donald Trump became US President, the walls have been rapidly closing in on Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, and his commitment to negotiating a two-state agreement with Israel.

In January, Mr. Trump issued a “peace proposal” that virtually invites Israel to annex about 30 percent of the occupied West Bank, including the strategically crucial Jordan Valley. Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, successfully campaigned to remain in office on a promise to do exactly that in the coming months.

A Palestinian man argues with an Israeli border policewoman during a protest against Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, near Nablus in the West Bank on May 15, 2020. Reuters

The Trump administration has asked Tel Aviv to wait until a joint Israeli-US mapping committee determines which chunks of Palestinian territory Washington will allow Israel to devour. Palestinians have not been included in any of these conversations whatsoever. Naturally, they are desperate to assert their agency, make themselves relevant, and press the international community to act fast to save the possibility of a two-state peace agreement.

On Tuesday, Mr. Abbas voiced this anguish, declaring: “The Palestine Liberation Organisation [of which he is the chairman] and the State of Palestine are no longer committed to all signed agreements and understandings with the Israeli government and the American government, including security commitments.”

It’s not clear what this announcement will mean in practical terms for the Palestinian Authority government in Ramallah and its considerable administrative and governance role in the lives of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. But by adding that Israel would now have to “uphold responsibilities before the international community as the occupying power” he was clearly hinting at the PLO’s longstanding “nuclear option” of dismantling the quasi-independent Palestinian administration that has been developed within the occupation’s broader context since 1993.

Nickolay Mladenov, called May 20, 2020 on Israel to drop plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, joining a growing international chorus of opposition. AFP

Dismantling it would certainly create innumerable headaches for Israel. If the PA completely closes its institutions, Israel would theoretically have to step in and directly rule Palestinian towns as well as provide for the basic needs of the population.

That’s not something many Israelis want to do, but it’s not impossible either.

The greatest brunt, especially at first, would be felt by ordinary Palestinians, who would lose a wide range of administrative and social services and, in many cases, jobs; the PA and its subordinate agencies are the biggest employers in the West Bank and Gaza.

Completely renouncing the Oslo Accords and refusing to deal with Israel would also mean giving up most of the PA’s operating budget, which is funded by Palestinian taxes that under the accords are collected by Israel and transferred to the Authority.

But apart from repeated declarations that the Palestinians have ended all security and intelligence co-operation with Israel and the US, there is no sign that the PA has changed its functional modus operandi. No one seems to have resigned from, let alone closed, any office, though Palestinian security forces have reportedly been withdrawing from certain areas.

The bottom line is that Palestinians have not developed any practicable alternative national strategy to seeking a political agreement with the Israelis. If negotiating with Israel now seems a complete dead-end, armed struggle has an even worse track record. And no one in their right mind really believes Israel is going to be brought to heel by the UN or to its knees by grassroots international boycotts.

So, this threat is probably an empty one, at least until a new leadership with an alternative vision emerges – although the dire situation certainly demonstrates the urgent need for both.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas heads a leadership meeting at his headquarters, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on May 19, 2020. AP

It is difficult to understand what Mr. Abbas hoped to gain by this speech under the current circumstances. Some Palestinians whisper that the plan was for him to emphasize that this is what the PA and PLO had always intended to do in the event of a major Israeli annexation. That makes more sense, given that should Israel grab all that land such a response would probably be inevitable and arguably justifiable.

But it hasn’t happened yet. And it may not. Publicly, the Trump administration is not urging Israelis to avoid annexation for the rest of the year, but it isn’t encouraging them either. It’s hard to imagine that Mr. Trump would be disappointed if the Israelis decide to wait and see what happens.

With the looming threat of a Joe Biden presidency, Tel Aviv may feel some urgency to act now. But Mr. Biden has pointedly repeated his commitment to a two-state solution and insists he won’t be bound by any new commitments Mr. Trump makes that would render it impossible and is even prepared to reverse them. Is that a fight Israel really wants to have with Washington in 2021 and beyond?

Since it’s unclear what the Israelis will do, why would Palestinians want to appear to be abrogating the very agreements, particularly the Oslo Accords’ Declaration of Principles, that explicitly disallow annexation?

No doubt Mr. Abbas is trying to remain relevant and to communicate the level of Palestinian desperation and despair to an apparently apathetic international community. But the price for such defiant-but-empty bluster – reminiscent of the “you’re leaving because I want you to go” genre of torch song – is potentially quite high. Much wiser to let Israel administer the rhetorical as well as practical coup de grace to the Oslo process.

The Palestinian leadership has said this kind of thing before, although not quite so categorically, and then decided, in the cold light of day, that canceling co-operation, let alone dismantling fledgling Palestinian national institutions, doesn’t make much sense. It is, we keep discovering, easy, and even habitual for both parties’ rash actions to hurt Palestinians and Israelis simultaneously.

Fortunately, Israel and the US are essentially ignoring the speech. Unfortunately, there may come a time when such drastic declarations and steps become unavoidable. But last week wasn’t it. The immediate goal for all responsible actors must be avoiding such a calamitous, but closer than ever, point of no return.

Hussein Ibish is a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington

Source: https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/palestine-s-mahmoud-abbas-is-threatening-the-nuclear-option-1.1024046#2

[Disclaimer]

The post Palestine’s Mahmoud Abbas is threatening the nuclear option first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Russia and the Palestinians send a strong message to US

Ramzy Baroud — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 22:47:39 +0000

The Russian-sponsored Palestinian unity talks in Moscow last week were neither a success nor a failure. Uniting Palestinian factions was not the main objective of the Moscow conference. Instead, the nature of the event, the host country and the clear messages sent to Washington and Tel Aviv were all meant to communicate something else entirely. And they did.

The head of the Fatah delegation to the conference, Azzam Al-Ahmed, apologized to his hosts on behalf of Palestinians for failing to achieve political reconciliation. But that apology could have been prepared in advance. It would not have been rational to expect that a conference organized in such haste, with few preliminary meetings or intense prior consultations, could have achieved the coveted unity.

If one is to also consider the various unity agreements signed between Fatah and Hamas in the past — but never honored — and bearing in mind the additional punitive measures slapped by the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Gaza recently, a unity deal in Russia would have been nothing less than a miracle.

So why did the Russians hold the conference in the first place? And why did the Palestinians agree to attend if its failure was a foretold conclusion? The answers lie elsewhere, specifically in Warsaw, Poland.

At about the same time that Palestinians met in Moscow under the auspices of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the US was holding its own conference in Warsaw. The Warsaw meet was Washington’s attempt at creating a new political paradigm to replace the defunct “peace process,” which itself was an American political invention.

While the peace process has failed terribly — thanks to the US’ blind support of Israel — Warsaw, too, is unlikely to deliver any meaningful or long-term political vision in the Middle East. The conference was the equivalent of a public US declaration that only Israel matters and that Washington’s commitment to Tel Aviv is paramount.

Even the PA of Mahmoud Abbas, known for its political subservience to Washington, was repulsed by the US’ new, brazen political approach. Time and again, the White House has made it clear to its former Palestinian ally that its political aspirations are no longer a subject worthy of even mere consideration by the US. The relocating of the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May last year was one of many such signs.

Abbas, who is now increasing pressure on his Hamas rivals in Gaza, and is plotting against his own Fatah rivals in the West Bank, agreed to allow Fatah participation in the Moscow conference because he also has a message for the US, the gist of which is: “We too have a new strategy and political alternatives.”

Knowing in advance that the Donald Trump administration’s so-called “deal of the century” is likely to be consistent with the new, more aggressive US foreign policy approach to the Middle East, Fatah is keen to preclude the announcement of the “deal” by seeking different routes that do not necessarily go through Washington. For Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian factions, freeing Fatah from Washington’s grip is something they can also all agree on.

A Hamas official, Hussam Badran, was very clear regarding the consensus of all Palestinian participants in denouncing the “deal of the century (and) all conspiracies to eliminate the Palestinian cause.” Musa Abu Marzouk, who led the Hamas delegation, declared from Moscow that all Palestinians factions will work together to “confront the deal of the century.” Fatah’s position was the same.

For Russia, a unified Palestinian call to defeat the latest US political stratagem in the region is consistent with Moscow’s ongoing efforts to undermine Washington’s formerly uncontested role in the Middle East.

True, the Palestinian factions failed to agree on a final statement written on behalf of all parties, but the disagreements were of little relevance to their political outlook concerning Washington’s political ploys. Islamic Jihad refuses to consider a Palestinian state limited to the 1967 borders and, along with Hamas, does not see the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the one and only representative of all Palestinians, as the draft of the final statement proposed.

These positions are hardly new, especially since Hamas and Islamic Jihad are not yet part of the PLO. Palestinian factions would need more than a two-day conference in Moscow to iron out the numerous details of such complex issues.

Russia, too, had its own messages to send. Aside from a message to the US-led Warsaw conference that Moscow is ready to fill the gap left by the US departure from the “peace process,” another Russian-hosted political summit in Sochi carried layers of direct and subtle meanings. The tripartite Sochi summit brought Russia, Turkey and Iran together to discuss the future of Syria following the US withdrawal.

For Russia to be heavily involved in two major political processes and conflicts concerning the Middle East at the same time is unprecedented since the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet-led socialist bloc. Those in Washington who see Moscow as an adversary must have been particularly displeased by these developments. The US-Russian rivalry is definitely at its highest point in many years.

Hamas and other Palestinian factions, save Fatah, would have welcomed Russia’s re-engagement, regardless of any specific political contexts. Hamas has been under massive pressure and near-complete isolation in Gaza for many years, and a political outlet of this nature is, for the movement, a welcome development. Hamas is now ready to upgrade its ties with Russia, especially after leader Ismail Haniyeh received an official invitation to include Moscow on his next trip outside of besieged Gaza.

The major change in the political equation, however, is that Fatah has been recently dropped from the US political sponsorship list and so is desperately seeking new political and financial patrons. Abbas is likely to wait for further indications of the changing American position before completely abandoning his quest of a US-sponsored “peace” with Israel.

All three conferences — Warsaw, Moscow and Sochi — should offer enough of an indication that the new political paradigm, which has been in the making for years, is unlikely to be reversed, at least not any time soon.

Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. His latest book is “The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story” (Pluto Press, 2018). He earned a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter. Twitter: @RamzyBaroud

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News’ point-of-view

Source: http://www.arabnews.com/node/1454181

[Disclaimer]

The post Russia and the Palestinians send a strong message to US first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Paraguay opens its Israel embassy in Jerusalem

Deutsche Welle — Mon, 21 May 2018 05:19:36 +0000

Paraguay is the third country after the United States and Guatemala to move its embassy to the disputed city. The status of Jerusalem remains a major hurdle to a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

Paraguay opened its new Israel embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, following in the footsteps of the United States and Guatemala.

Last week, the US relocated its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, infuriating the Palestinians. The US move was followed by Guatemala two days later.

Romania, the Czech Republic and Honduras have said they are also considering moving their embassies to Jerusalem.

The status of Jerusalem remains one of the biggest stumbling blocks in solving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, who with broad international backing want Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their future capital.

Israel regards the entire city, including the eastern sector that it captured in the 1967 Middle East war, as its capital. The annexation was never internationally recognized and most global powers want the city’s final status to be agreed upon in a peace deal between the two sides.

‘Provocative and irresponsible measure’

Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the ceremony.

“This is a historic day that strengthens ties between Paraguay and Israel,” Cartes said.

“A great day for Israel. A great day for Paraguay. A great day for our friendship,” Netanyahu responded. “You have not only the support of our government but the profound gratitude of the people Israel.”

Hanan Ashrawi, an official of the Palestine Liberation Organization, criticized Paraguay’s move.

“By adopting such a provocative and irresponsible measure that is in direct contravention of international law and consensus, Paraguay has conspired with Israel, the United States and Guatemala to entrench the military occupation and to seal the fate of occupied Jerusalem,” Ashrawi said in a statement.

In December, US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, reversing decades of US policy. The move was seen as a setback to efforts to resolve the decades-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

ap/kms (AP, Reuters, AFP)

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/paraguay-opens-its-israel-embassy-in-jerusalem/a-43867129

[Disclaimer]

The post Paraguay opens its Israel embassy in Jerusalem first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.