Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki.   (photo credit: REUTERS/MOHAMED ABD EL GHANY)

The Palestinian Authority leadership on Friday strongly condemned and rejected Bahrain’s decision to establish relations with Israel, calling it a “betrayal of Jerusalem, al-Aqsa Mosque and the Palestinian issue.”

The PA Foreign Ministry announced it has decided to immediately recall its ambassador to Bahrain for consultations in protest of the normalization agreement.

Last month, the Palestinian leadership issued a similar response to the normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It also decided to recall its ambassador to Abu Dhabi.

The PA leadership said the Bahraini decision would “support the legalization of the cruel crimes of the Israeli occupation against our Palestinian people at a time when the occupation [sic] state is continuing to control the Palestinian lands and annex them by military force; is working toward Judaizing Jerusalem and controlling the Islamic and Christian holy sites; and is committing crimes against the Palestinian people.”

The Palestinian leadership said in a statement that it views the Bahraini decision “with utmost seriousness because it destroys the Arab Peace Initiative, resolutions of Arab and Islamic summits and international legitimacy.”

It said the Palestinians reject the decision and call on Bahrain to immediately retract it because it causes huge damage to the national rights of the Palestinian people and to joint Arab action.

“The Palestinian leadership reaffirms its call for the Arab countries to adhere to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and urges the international community to adhere to international law and the resolutions of international legitimacy,” the statement read.

“The Palestinian leadership reaffirms that it has not and will not authorize anyone to speak on its behalf. It also affirms that peace and stability in the region won’t be achieved unless the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories is ended and Palestinians achieve an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with east Jerusalem as its capital – and that the issue of the refugees is solved on the basis of United Nations Resolution 194. Those who believe that concessions that come at the expense of the rights of the Palestinian people will serve peace, security and stability in the region are deluding themselves.”

Several Palestinian officials expressed outrage over the “disgraceful and treacherous” Israel-Bahrain agreement and accused Bahrain of betraying the Palestinian people.

PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat accused the UAE and Bahrain of “contributing to [US President Donald] Trump’s presidential campaign at the expense of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.”

Ahmed Majdalani, member of the PLO Executive Committee, denounced the Israel-Bahrain agreement as a “stab to the national rights of the Palestinian people and their national cause. He said that the US administration’s “delusion that it can make peace between the occupying state and the Arab countries without the Palestinians and without an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories is political stupidity.”

Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other extremist groups also condemned the Israel-Bahrain accord and said it was “the fruit of the failure of the Arab League.”

Last week, Arab League foreign ministers refused to endorse a Palestinian draft resolution that condemned the UAE for its agreement to establish relations with Israel.

“What the Kingdom of Bahrain did is disgraceful and constitutes a political setback and a major downfall for the rulers of Bahrain,” Hamas said in a statement. “This series of steps, initiated by the Emiratis, and then the rulers of Bahrain, constitutes political crimes, contributes to the implementation of the Deal of the Century and undermines the foundations of Arab solidarity. Hamas rejects this announcement and considers it a stab in the back of the Palestinian people, a betrayal of Palestine and Jerusalem and a step against the interests of the Arabs and Muslims.”

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/palestinians-strongly-condemn-israel-bahrain-deal-withdraw-ambassador-641976

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REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun     Labourers work at a construction site in the Israeli settlement of Ramot in an area of the occupied West Bank that Israel annexed to Jerusalem, Jan. 22, 2017.

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RAMALLAH, West Bank — The victory of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party in the April 9 elections comes much to the dismay of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and leaves it with a lot to lose.

Following initial election results, PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat tweeted April 9, “Israelis have voted to maintain the status quo, as far as the occupation of Palestine. They voted for apartheid, and [for] an endless occupation. Exit polls show that only 18 members of the 120-seat Knesset support two states [based] on the 1967 borders.”

The Israeli media discussed and analyzed the PA’s dissatisfaction with Netanyahu’s victory, though some PA officials claimed to have no favorite candidate.

In an article published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Israeli journalist Yoni Ben Menachem wrote that the PA was deeply disappointed and frustrated with the results of the Israeli elections, as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas fears that Netanyahu will impose Israeli sovereignty over parts of the West Bank.

Ben Menachem quoted undisclosed Palestinian officials as saying they have no practical means to prevent such a measure.

Three days before the elections, Netanyahu told Channel 12 that he would start extending Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank and annex West Bank settlements if he was reelected. He said he had discussed the issue with representatives of US President Donald Trump.

The PA is also wary of Trump’s peace plan for the Middle East, which he is likely to reveal once Netanyahu finishes forming his government coalition.

“The Palestinian leadership saw the Israeli election results coming, based on its reading of Israeli society, which is biased toward the right wing. These elections have proved that Israel has completely eliminated the two-state solution,” PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi told Al-Monitor.

“Our priority now is to strengthen the steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land as Israel seeks to control the land and get rid of its people because of the demographic danger they pose. Palestinians ought to take a major step at the internal level, which is to achieve unity and end division.”

She added that the leadership will address the international community, Palestine’s allies and its friends around the world and take steps within the framework of international law and its institutions.

The PA still has a card up its sleeve, Ashrawi said: finally insisting on implementing the long-delayed decisions of the PLO central and national councils. This, however, remains far-fetched for the near future.

In March 2015, the PLO Central Council decided to define relations with Israel politically and economically and stop all security coordination with it. In October 2018, the council reiterated the same decision, but it still remains unimplemented. Meanwhile, the Palestinian National Council had decided in May 2018 to direct the PLO Executive Committee to stop recognizing Israel until Israel recognizes the State of Palestine according to 1967 borders — another decision that has yet to be carried out.

“Several decisions have been made to this effect, but they can’t be applied all at once. Implementing these decisions requires preparation and debate at the level of the leadership,” Ashrawi said.

Nabil Shaath, Abbas’ adviser for international relations, told Al-Monitor, “The implementation of these decisions is subject to the president’s political assessments. The PA is considering all options and alternatives in the face of Israel.”

Palestinians now must “galvanize efforts at the popular and international levels,” Shaath said, noting that Abbas has always said the Oslo Accords and all agreements signed with Israel will be revisited, given Israel’s failure to abide by them. Shaath has said the PA will look at the US peace plan that Trump is preparing to announce, but expects to find it unsatisfactory.

He added that Israel’s election results were expected and denied claims that the PA had a favored candidate in the elections.

“The Israeli elections mean nothing to us. The competition between the Israeli parties was on who can oppress the Palestinians more. There were no fundamental differences between candidates, especially since there is no Israeli left wing,” Shaath said.

However, Ahmed Rafiq Awad, a political science professor at Al-Quds University, told Al-Monitor, “Netanyahu was the PA’s least-favorite candidate, as his election program was based on ending the two-state solution and promoting settlements. This would further exacerbate the already-tense situation and cause a confrontation, which the PA is not ready for.”

He added, “The PA’s options are now limited. Its reactions to the Israeli policies have always been delayed, in the absence of a clear strategy and its dependency on the toothless Arab regimes [when it comes to the Palestinian issue], mediators and the international community.” All these efforts have proved futile.

Ghassan al-Khatib, director of the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center and a former PA planning minister, told Al-Monitor, “The PA will have a hard time dealing with Israel, not because the latter seems to have abandoned the peace process and bilateral diplomatic relations, but because Palestinians have lost many of their strong points. The Arab situation is fragile and the division is deeper than ever, and all the while the US continues to take a clearly hostile stance [against Palestinians].”

He added, “The PA ought to focus on ending the division, strengthen the Palestinians’ steadfastness and ready them to face future pressures that will rise at all levels. Meanwhile, there should be efforts to galvanize the international community into taking action in favor of Palestinians, while focusing on international law and work at the popular level, mainly through the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement” against Israel.

Netanyahu’s threats to annex parts of the West Bank and intensify settlement-building are the coup de grace to the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state. This places the PA in the embarrassing predicament of having to prove the viability of its existence.

Found in:TRUMP, SETTLEMENTS, ISRAELI ELECTIONS, ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT

Ahmad Melhem is a Palestinian journalist and photographer based in Ramallah for Al-Watan News. He writes for a number of Arabic outlets.

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Source: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2019/04/deal-century-israeli-elections-annexation-west-bank.html

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Very little has been said in several months about this issue, since Israel’s UN envoy Danny Danon suggested last April that US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley is likely to support Israel’s becoming one of the five members to join the Security Council in 2019.

Haley has spoken of the need to alter the UN’s treatment of Israel, and Dannon stressed that “it is clear that we will get the support of the US, and I think that we can even expect active support for this important bid.”

But that was more than three months ago, with zero updates on the issue from anyone in Israel or the US State Dept. So why the sudden crisis mode over in Ramallah?

WAFA quoted Majdalani as saying there are efforts now to allow Israel to fill one of the vacant seats of the Security Council’s non-permanent member states, but if it does happen, “it will be a political farce and scandal,” particularly since Israel had not honored any of the Security Council resolutions, nor the UN charter and principles.

“Sanctions should be imposed on Israel and it should be prosecuted for its crimes, not chosen as member of the Security Council,” Majdalani said.

The sudden wake-up call may have to do with the coming visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority later this month by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, his first visit since taking his new job. Ambassador Danon said the visit would allow Guterres to “build a relationship” with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and also meet Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman.

“It’s a great opportunity for the Secretary General to experience Israel, to meet the leaders of Israel and to understand the challenges that Israel faces day-in and day-out,” Danon told AFP.

The PA Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour told Ma’an on Saturday that the Palestinian leadership is engaged in a detailed plan of action seeking to thwart Israeli efforts to obtain membership in the Security Council. To that end, Mansour said that Guterres’ visit to Ramallah, with President Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO gang, would be a long one, starting early in the morning and ending at 6 PM.

So they’ll have lots of time to explain why Israel, which has never been honored with a UN Security Council Membership but has been cited by the same body more than any country on the planet, should not get this upgrade.

Source: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/92786/pa-hysterical-possibility-israeli-seat-un-security-council/

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