Israel land grab law 'ends hope of two-state solution'

Salaam

Another update

Malaysia's Mahathir calls Trump a 'villain' for Jerusalem plan

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Muslim-majority Malaysia’s former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad on Friday called U.S. President Donald Trump an “international bully” and a “villain” for his move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Trump last week reversed decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and said the United States would move its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv in the coming years.

Sponsored

The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest barriers to a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace. Israel considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there.

Palestinians want the capital of an independent state of theirs to be in the city’s eastern sector, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move never recognized internationally.

The anger from Trump’s decision “will lead to what is called terrorism”, the 93-year-old Mahathir told a protest rally in front of the U.S. embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

“Today we have an international bully. Trump, go find someone your own size. This (Jerusalem plan) will only stir the anger of the Muslims,” said Mahathir, the chairman of Malaysia’s opposition coalition.

“We must use all our power to oppose this villain who is the president of the United States,” he said, urging all Muslim countries to cut ties with Israel.

Muhyiddin Yassin, another opposition leader, called on the Malaysian government to not proceed with planned investments in the United States.

Last week, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak urged Muslims worldwide to oppose any recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Social media users in Muslim-majority Malaysia vowed to boycott U.S. companies, such as McDonald’s Corp, following Trump’s decision. The chain’s Malaysian franchise said it did not support or engage in any political or religious conflicts.

Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Ahamd Hamidi on Friday said Najib and the leader of the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) would lead a protest rally next Friday in Malaysia’s administrative capital of Putrajaya, media said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-israel-asia/malaysias-mahathir-calls-trump-a-villain-for-jerusalem-plan-idUSKBN1E90T2?il=0

Salaam

Another update

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46Jj8ZNASZw

Jerusalem was the capital of the kingdom of Judah in the 9th century BCE. So how did it become part of Israel? What about Babylon, would that be a better capital? I don't think it matters what Trump recognizes, the guy has no dignitas or power to enforce his will. He is not the ruler of the world. All the Neo Cons which are both Republicans and Democrats are Zionists and recognize Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel. So what? They don't have the official powers to make it so.

Salaam

Perceptive

https://www.islamicboard.com/images/...V4AEqP98-1.jpg

Salaam

Another update


Ibrahim Abu Thuraya: Disabled Palestinian activist shot dead by Israeli troops in Jerusalem protest

Outrage after double amputee among of eight Palestinians killed since Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital


https://www.islamicboard.com/images/...uthuraya-1.jpg

A Palestinian activist who lost his legs in an air strike has been shot dead by Israeli troops as he protested against the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Wheelchair-bound Ibraheem Abu Thuraya, 29, was one of four Palestinians killed during Friday’s violent clashes, according to officials. Witnesses said he was unarmed. The Palestinian Authority’s health ministry said Mr Thuraya was shot just east of Gaza City, with the Israeli army saying it opened fire on the “main instigators” of violent protests at the Gaza border. A 31-year-old, Yasser Sokhar, was killed in the same clash.

The violent protests followed the decision by Donald Trump earlier this month to officially recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Another 82 Palestinians were injured, five of them seriously, in clashes along Gaza’s border with Israel, the health ministry said. Mr Thuraya had lost his legs and a kidney in an air strike, according to local reports, and was regularly seen with other Palestinian activists at protests.

“He was injured in 2008 by an Israeli helicopter that targeted him after he brought down the Israeli flag and raised the Palestinian flag along the border,” his brother Samir told AFP .

“It did not stop him from demonstrating for Jerusalem. He went alone every day to the border.”

He is understood to have washed cars for a living and told Shehab News in 2016 he hoped one day he could go abroad to get prosthetic legs. The group Irish Friends of Palestine helped raise money for his motorised scooter, according to its website.

In video footage apparently recorded shortly before his death, Mr Thuraya can be seen carrying the Palestinian flag and waving the victory sign at Israeli soldiers.

In another video, he is heard saying: “This land is our land. We are not going to give up. America has to withdraw the declaration it has made.”

Tear gas was reportedly used against the protesters and at some point Mr Thuraya abandoned his wheelchair, crawling through the grass before he was shot. His funeral took place on Saturday, The Guardian reported.

Photos and videos showing Mr Thuraya being pushed in his wheelchair shortly before his death have been widely shared on social media. Nasser Atta, a Jerusalem-based journalist, said on Twitter the death of the Gaza amputee “will be the beginning of the start of a third intifada, they compare him to Mohammed al-Dura killed during the Second Intifada”. Mohammed al-Dura was a 12-year-old boy killed by Israeli forces during rioting on the Gaza Strip in 2000, prompting worldwide condemnation and violent retribution.

According to the Middle East Eye, Mr Thuraya was known for climbing electricity poles and holding up Palestinian flags during protests. He told the Irish Friends of Palestine: “Please never look at my disabled body, look at the great job I am doing. I never get despaired. It’s not the end of the world and life should go on.”

Several thousand Palestinians took part in Friday’s protests at the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza, according to Israeli forces and eyewitness accounts.

“During the violent riots IDF (Israel Defence Force) soldiers fired selectively towards main instigators,” the military said in a statement.

It said demonstrators in the West Bank threw firebombs and rocks and rolled flaming tyres at soldiers and border police.

Another Palestinian was shot and killed after he reportedly stabbed an Israeli soldier during clashes at the West Bank border, according to reports which claimed he was believed to have been wearing a suicide belt. He was named by the Palestinian Health Ministry as 29-year-old Mohammed Aqal.

Protests have raged for the past 10 days in the disputed territories since Mr Trump’s announcement – highly controversial because Jerusalem is a holy place to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Israeli forces seized control of East Jerusalem from Arab forces in the 1967 Middle East War and later annexed it in a move considered illegal under international law. Israel has maintained a blockade of Gaza for a decade, claiming this is necessary to contain the territory's Islamist rulers Hamas, who have called for a new uprising in response to Mr Trump's Jerusalem declaration.

Mr Trump said the announcement merely recognises the reality that Jerusalem already effectively serves as the Israeli capital and is not intended to alter the city's borders.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a8114766.html

Salaam

More protests

JI chief expresses solidarity with Palestinians at Karachi million march

KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Chief Siraj-ul Haq said on Sunday that his party is holding a rally to express solidarity with the people of Palestine, adding that the JI wanted to unite the ‘Ummah’ as a family.

The JI chief was addressing a march held here to protest against the United States’ recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The 'Al-Quds million march' intended to express solidarity with Palestinians and protest against US President Donald Trump’s recent decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The march originated from University Road, moving forward to Urdu University and then concluded at Hasan Square.

JI chief Sirajul Haq earlier said the march would be the country’s biggest ever.

Earlier, party vice chief Asadullah Bhutto and JI Karachi ameer Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman visited Hasan Square where they reviewed the preparations for the million march.

Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman called on people to attend the march in large numbers and said "terrorism by United States was destroying world peace."

Earlier this month, JI had announced to hold countrywide protests over Jerusalem, with Sirajul Haq terming Trump’s decision as “adding fuel to the fire.”

Trump has put global peace in danger, he had said.

A fresh wave of violence has erupted on the Gaza Strip border following US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. As protests entered the second week, at least four Palestinians were shot dead and 150 others wounded by Israeli troops over the weekend.

Most of the casualties were on the Gaza Strip border, where thousands of Palestinians gathered to protest against Israeli soldiers beyond the fortified fence. Medics said the dead included a wheelchair-bound Palestinian.

In the occupied West Bank, another area where Palestinians are seeking statehood along with adjacent East Jerusalem, medics said two protesters were killed and 10 wounded by Israeli gunfire.

Palestinians -- and the wider Arab and Muslim world -- were incensed at Trump’s December 6 announcement, which reversed decades of US policy reticence on Jerusalem, a city where both Israel and the Palestinians want sovereignty.

Washington’s European allies and Russia have also voiced worries about Trump’s decision.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK0d_9qn4dU

https://www.geo.tv/latest/172636-ji-...over-jerusalem

More protests

Protesters have once again poured on to the streets of several international cities in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians, condemning a US decision to officially recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Eleven days after US President Donald Trump's move, mass rallies were held on Sunday in Indonesia, Turkey and Pakistan.

The biggest demonstration took place in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, where an estimated 80,000 protesters rallied outside the US embassy.

Waving Palestinian flags, the protesters also called on Trump to stop his plans to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Al Jazeera's Dessi Arianti, reporting from the massive rally in Jakarta, the fourth since Trump's announcement, said that many of the marchers had travelled from out of town to express their solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

"Men, women and children, carrying Palestinian flags and banners, condemned the US move while rallying at the National Monument in Jakarta at sunrise on Sunday," Arianti said.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/1...065716217.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlRDZxnsbjg

Head of Satmar Hasidic sect slams US recognition of Jerusalem
Anti-Zionist leader says Trump's decision doesn't alter group's opposition to Zionism, which he says 'has nothing to do with the city'

The head of a Satmar Hasidic faction slammed the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, the Satmar rebbe in Kiryas Joel, an ultra-Orthodox village in upstate New York, condemned the White House announcement made several days earlier by US President Donald Trump.

“We declare in the name of Haredi Judaism: Jerusalem, the holy city, will not be the capital of the Zionist state, even if the president of the United States says it is,” Teitelbaum said at an event Saturday night at the New York Expo Center in the Bronx, Israel National News reported.

“Just as Haredi Jews did not recognize President Truman’s declaration in 1948 that Israel is the Jewish state, we don’t recognize it today,” he said, using the Hebrew word ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Satmar is anti-Zionist and does not recognize the State of Israel.

Teitelbaum was speaking to thousands of followers at the annual event marking the 21st day of the Jewish month of Kislev, which commemorates the day that the late Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, the founder of the Satmar movement in America, escaped from the Nazis during the Holocaust in 1944.

“Jerusalem is a holy city, a city of piety. Zionism is the opposite of fearing God and Torah, and it has nothing to do with the city of Jerusalem,” Teitelbaum also said.

https://www.islamicboard.com/images/...7640x400-1.jpg

https://www.timesofisrael.com/head-o...-of-jerusalem/

Salaam

Another update

Musta'ribeen, Israel's agents who pose as Palestinians

They are dressed like Palestinian protesters, speak with the same accents and expressions, and show the same mannerisms. Their faces covered with checkered keffiyehs or balaclavas, they chant against the Israeli army and sometimes throw stones in the direction of the soldiers, all while drawing in other protesters as they get closer and closer to the army.

Then, quick as a bang, the scene erupts, and this group suddenly turns on the rest of the Palestinian protesters, brandishing guns that were concealed under their shirts, firing in the air, grabbing those nearest to them and wrestling them to the ground.

The army advances and takes into custody the Palestinians that were caught, as the rest of the protesters disperse, screaming out one word as a warning to others: "Musta'ribeen!"
Disguised as Arabs

Musta'ribeen, or mista'arvim in Hebrew, is a word that is derived from the Arabic "musta'rib", or one that is specialised in Arabic language and culture. In Israeli security terms, the word denotes security forces who disguise themselves as Arabs and carry out missions in the heart of Palestinian societies or other Arab countries.

The agents are given rigorous training, and in operations concerning the occupied territories, are taught to think and act like a Palestinian. Their main missions, according to Israeli affairs expert Antoine Shalhat, include gathering intelligence, arresting Palestinians, and - in their eyes - counterterrorist operations.

"The first musta'ribeen unit was established in 1942 before the state of Israel came into being until 1950," Shalhat said. "This unit was part of the Palmach, an elite division of the Haganah militia, which went on to later become the core of the Israeli army."

Not much is known about these agents because they operate in secret, he added. The Israeli army dissolves these units once their work is found out, and forms new ones to take their place.

"The agents must speak Arabic as if it is their mother tongue," Shalhat said. "They undergo courses to master Palestinian dialects and Arabic accents according to which Arab country they operate in, such as Yemen or Tunisia."

These courses take between four to six months and include how to master customs and religious practices, such as fasting and praying. The agents use makeup and wigs to complete their disguise but are chosen according to how similar their physical features are to Arab countenances. In total, the training can take up to 15 months, and consists of operational field work such as driving and sniping, how to move around in crowded Palestinian settings, and arms training.

"One of the most well-known units was the Rimon, which was established in 1978 and remained active until 2005," Shalhat said. "Their work was mostly concentrated in the Gaza Strip. Another unit that operated in Gaza was called Shimshon during the 80s and 90s."

"The Duvdevan 217 elite unit is still operative within the army. It was established during the 1980s by [former Israeli prime minister] Ehud Barak and currently functions in the West Bank and is considered the most active and secretive."

Presence in recent protests

Over the past two weeks, Palestinians have been protesting US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Hundreds have been arrested by Israeli forces, and 10 people have been killed so far in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Last week, during one of the protests at Ramallah's northern entrance near the illegal Bet Il settlement, a group of musta'ribeen infiltrated the protest and arrested three young Palestinian men, according to journalist Rasha Harzallah.

"They were only there for 10 minutes," said Harzallah, who was standing the closest to the first Palestinian protester arrested on Wednesday, December 13. "They were dressed exactly like the other Palestinian protesters, and threw a sound grenade at them."

"They were about five in total, and pulled out their guns and began firing in the air," she continued. "The army then suddenly advanced in huge numbers, and they began firing live bullets at people and in the air, even at the journalists."

Harzallah, who works for the official Wafa news agency, said that the agent nearest to her was wearing a dark red shirt and had his face covered with a keffiyeh.

"Before, he was standing on the front line with the other Palestinian protesters throwing rocks at the Israeli army," she said.

"The army then suddenly advanced quickly. Then I noticed the red-shirted man on top of a Palestinian protester, and he was waving his gun towards me and the photographer next to me shouting 'don't get close!'"

'How can they tell who they are?'

Harzallah explained that before the musta'ribeen made their presence known, the protesters were throwing stones at the Israeli army. But the soldiers did not respond, which immediately raised suspicions.

"They did not do anything," she said. "From experience, the protesters know that when the Israeli army stops firing sound grenades, tear gas, rubber bullets … then there's a big probability that the musta'ribeen are present among them. But how can they tell who they are?"

In the 2015 protests commonly referred to by Palestinians as the "Intifada of the knives", Harzallah witnessed another raid by the musta'ribeen, which she described as much worse.

"They fired their weapons at two Palestinians, one in the head and the other in his leg from point-blank range," she said.

"I saw them drag the Palestinian they had shot in the head…I thought he was dead because I saw bits of his flesh on the ground."

The young man, Mohammed Ziyadeh, lived; he remains partially paralysed. In an interview with Al Jazeera shortly after the incident, Ziyadeh relayed from his hospital bed that after being beaten by the musta'ribeen, they fired a bullet at his head and he lost consciousness.

"When I came round, they began interrogating me, but I told them I could not remember anything," he said, his speech slurred. "They took me to the hospital and beat me up again."

Ziyadeh underwent two surgeries and was interrogated and beaten after each one. His lawyer finally managed to set him free, and shortly after he was able to move one of his legs again. With the emergence of the musta'ribeen in protests, Palestinians have learned to become more vigilant. One way of differentiating themselves from the undercover Israeli agents is tucking their shirts into their waistbands, where concealed weapons would be seen.

"They should also take caution when a group drags other protesters closer to the army," Harzallah said, "and make sure that there is a group monitoring other protesters."

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/musta-israel-agents-pose-palestinians-171218061118857.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teqp5KQCBl0

Salaam

Another update

Erdogan says Turkey aims to open embassy in East Jerusalem

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey intends to open an embassy in East Jerusalem, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday, days after leading calls at a summit of Muslim leaders for the world to recognize it as the capital of Palestine.

It was not clear how he would carry out the move, as Israel controls all of Jerusalem and calls the city its indivisible capital. Palestinians want the capital of a future state they seek to be in East Jerusalem, which Israel took in a 1967 war and later annexed in a move not recognized internationally.

The Muslim nation summit was a response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s Dec. 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. His move broke with decades of U.S. policy and international consensus that the city’s status must be left to Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

Erdogan said in a speech to members of his AK Party in the southern province of Karaman that Turkey’s consulate general in Jerusalem was already represented by an ambassador.

“God willing, the day is close when officially, with God’s permission, we will open our embassy there,” Erdogan said.

Jerusalem, revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, is home to Islam’s third holiest shrine as well as Judaism’s Western Wall - both in the eastern sector - and has been at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades.

Foreign embassies in Israel, including Turkey‘s, are located in Tel Aviv, reflecting Jerusalem’s unresolved status.

A communique issued after Wednesday’s summit of more than 50 Muslim countries, including U.S. allies, said they considered Trump’s move to be a declaration that Washington was withdrawing from its role “as sponsor of peace” in the Middle East.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-israel-turkey/erdogan-says-turkey-aims-to-open-embassy-in-east-jerusalem-idUSKBN1EB0H7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj3RNITBGNY

Salaam

More comment, good insight to describe this move as the second Balfour declaration.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said US President Donald Trump's decision to formally recognise the city of al-Quds (Jerusalem) as Israel's capital, threatens to completely wipe out the Palestinian cause and any possibility of a Palestinian state.

Nasrallah also described Trump's announcement as a 'second Balfour Declaration', coming 100 years after the first, when Britain declared its aim to establish "a national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. The Hezbollah leader also said Trump's controversial decision poses a major danger to Muslim & Christian sanctities in the holy city, particularly the al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites. Furthermore, Nasrallah said Trump's announcement shows his complete contempt and disregard for the will of the international community, and is an insult and attack on the feelings of hundreds of millions of Muslims and Christians around the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EESWg0KGjDQ

- - - Updated - - -

Salaam

Another update.

US outnumbered 14 to 1 as it vetoes UN vote on status of Jerusalem

Nikki Haley furious over resolution, describing it as an ‘insult’ and saying the US won’t be told where it can put its embassy

A UN security council resolution calling for the withdrawal of Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has been backed by every council member except the US, which used its veto. The unanimity of the rest of the council was a stark rebuke to the Trump administration over its unilateral move earlier this month, which upended decades of international consensus.

The Egyptian-drafted resolution did not specifically mention the US or Trump but expressed “deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem”. A spokesman for the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, responded to the veto by saying it was “unacceptable and threatens the stability of the international community because it disrespects it”.

The UK and France had indicated in advance that they would would back the text, which demanded that all countries comply with pre-existing UNSC resolutions on Jerusalem, dating back to 1967, including requirements that the city’s final status be decided in direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The resolution was denounced in furious language by the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, who described it as “an insult” that would not be forgotten. “The United States will not be told by any country where we can put our embassy,” she said.

“It’s scandalous to say we are putting back peace efforts,” she added. “The fact that this veto is being done in defence of American sovereignty and in defence of America’s role in the Middle East peace process is not a source of embarrassment for us; it should be an embarrassment to the remainder of the security council.”

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, tweeted: “Thank you, Ambassador Haley. On Hanukkah, you spoke like a Maccabi. You lit a candle of truth. You dispel the darkness. One defeated the many. Truth defeated lies. Thank you, President Trump.”

The tabling of the resolution followed a weekend of negotiations aimed at securing the widest consensus possible on the issue. The vote has underlined once again the widespread international opposition to the US move, even among some of its closest allies.

It came ahead of a trip by the US vice-president, Mike Pence, to Jerusalem on Wednesday that will take place amid a deep rupture in US-Palestinian relations. The Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party has called for a day of demonstrations in the occupied Palestinian territories to coincide with the Pence trip. Palestinian officials had warned that in the event of a US veto on the security council, they would also seek a resolution at the general assembly.

The push for a vote – which came in the knowledge that the US would use its veto – followed Trump’s decision to upend decades of policy by declaring that the US recognises Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and that he plans to move its embassy there. Speaking before the vote, the UK’s ambassador to the UN, Matthew Rycroft, said the text was in line with London’s position on Jerusalem as an issue that must be resolved through negotiations.

In an apparent rejection of the authority of the security council, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Dann, said ahead of the vote: “Members of the council can vote again and again — for a hundred more times. It won’t change the simple fact that Jerusalem is, has been, and always will be the capital of Israel.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/18/us-outnumbered-14-to-1-as-it-vetoes-un-vote-on-status-of-jerusalem

Salaam

Meanwhile, the crown prince Bin Salman is getting rather cosy with the Zionists. The Zionists are most pleased.

Israel Invites Saudi Crown Prince to Mediate Palestine Peace Talks

Saudi newspapers have reported that Israel has invited Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to their country to lead peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine as a sign of the rapidly warming relations between the Gulf Kingdom and the Jewish State.

In a first-ever for Jerusalem-Riyadh relations, an Israeli minister gave an interview to a Saudi media outlet when Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz announced the invitation to independent newspaper Elaph.

"I recommend that Saudi Arabia, as the leader of the Arab world, take the initiative upon itself and come to the Palestinians and offer its sponsorship. In such a situation of Saudi leadership, I'm ready to have negotiations. I'm calling on King Salman to invite Netanyahu for a visit and on the Saudi crown prince to come here for a visit in Israel."

A member of the conservative Likud party and a lieutenant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Katz stressed the Saudi capability for "leadership" that made them an ideal mediator.

If King Salman, the crown prince's father and the formal ruler of Saudi Arabia, invites Netanyahu to his country, as Katz suggested, it would be the first visit of an Israeli prime minister to the kingdom in Israel's 70-year history.

Saudi Arabia and Israel do not have formal diplomatic relations, and Riyadh has traditionally supported Palestine and tried to sponsor Palestinian unity. However, relations began to warm after the Arab Spring, when Israel and Saudi Arabia discovered a common enemy: Iran.

Katz mentioned the intense rivalry between the Twelver Shiite Iranian government and that of Saudi Arabia, which has close ties to the Wahabbist sect of Sunni Islam and which mutually claim exclusivity over the inheritance of the Prophet's message and leadership of the Muslim community. He claimed that Israel was concerned by Iran asserting power along Israel's northern borders with Syria and Lebanon via proxy militias such as Hezbollah. "We don't need any message. We know very well what Iran is doing and what its intentions are," Katz said.

He added that the Israeli military would bomb Lebanon "back to the stone age" if Iran attempts to build precision rocket platforms in Israel's northern neighbor. "This is a red line for us, whatever the price," Katz said. "The more precise the Hezbollah missiles, the bigger the blow Lebanon will absorb."

Lebanon and Saudi Arabia's relationship has been under scrutiny since November, when Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri abruptly resigned, citing fears that he would be assassinated for his opposition to Iran and Hezbollah. Hariri later withdrew his resignation, sparking speculation that the entire spectacle was engineered by the Saudis to weaken Iran in Beirut.

But Israel's relationship with other Muslim nations has recently taken a blow. Following US President Donald Trump's announcement that he would be authorizing the move of the US Embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to the de facto but disputed capital of Jerusalem, leaders of Muslim-majority powers have claimed that it is now time for the US to drop any pretenses of neutrality and exit the peace process between Israel and Palestine.

Unsurprisingly, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas slammed the move, saying, "Trump wants to give Jerusalem as a present to Israel, as if he is donating one of the US states, as if he is the only person with the authority to decide. The US has lost its mediator role in the Israel Palestine peace process, and we will never allow in the future that the US takes part in the process."

European leaders have also strongly criticized Trump's announcement, calling it inflammatory and damaging to peace prospects.

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/2...abia-mediator/

- - - Updated - - -

Salaam

Another update

Trump-Salman image in Algeria angers Saudi Arabia

Saudi officials have registered their dissatisfaction with an image used by pro-Palestine demonstrators in Algiers comparing Saudi Arabia's king to the US president, according to news media reports. Supporters of Algeria's Ain Melilla football club staged a pro-Palestine rally in an Algiers stadium on Saturday. The row erupted as Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Ibrahim al-Sheikh, chairman of the Saudi Shura Council, arrived in Algeria on Monday to discuss bilateral ties with Algerian officials.

Some of the Algerian football fans carried a huge banner portraying a composite image of a face, half of which belonged to King Salman bin Abdulaziz while the other half belonged to Donald Trump , Turkey's Anadolu Agency said in a report.

The banner was accompanied by a caption, reading: "Two faces of the same coin."

The image was intended to express dissatisfaction with Trump's decision earlier this month to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, which has prompted widespread condemnation and protest across the Arab and Muslim world.

https://www.islamicboard.com/images/...X4AAJkSy-1.jpg

The following day, Sami bin Abdullah al-Saleh, Saudi ambassador to Algeria, voiced the Saudi kingdom's "annoyance" with the image, Anadolu Agency said.

"We will look into the authenticity of this image and take the appropriate response," Saleh said on Twitter.

On Sunday, with Algerian and Saudi activists widely sharing the image on social media, Saudi media outlets were describing the incident as an "insult" to King Salman, the report said. The Algerian authorities, for their part, have yet to issue a statement on the issue, the Anadolu Agency report said.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/1...185124462.html

Salaam

Another update

Insult to injury for the Palestinians

It is tempting to interpret the announcement this week of a delay until the new year in US vice-president Mike Pence’s visit to the Middle East as the ultimate travel warning. It follows an eruption of regional unrest over Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. During protests last Friday, Israeli occupation forces killed four Palestinians and injured more than 250.

US officials, however, are not worried about Pence’s safety. In fact, predictions of a third Palestinian uprising in response to Trump’s Jerusalem declaration may be premature. After decades of flagrant US bias towards Israel, Trump has confirmed to Palestinians only what they already knew. Some even grudgingly welcomed his candour. They hope he has finally silenced US claims to being an “honest broker” in an interminable “peace process” that has simply bought time for Israel to entrench the occupation.

The Palestinians’ anger towards Israel and the US is a slow-burning fuse. It will detonate at a moment of their choosing, not of Trump’s. Rather, the hesitation in Washington over the vice-president’s visit reflects the messy new diplomatic reality that the White House has unleashed. Pence was due here to smooth the path to Trump’s long-promised peace plan and to highlight the plight of Christians in the Middle East. The door has now been firmly shut in his face on both counts. Palestinian officials have declared a boycott of him, as have Christian leaders in Palestine and Egypt.

Instead of cancelling Pence’s visit or exploiting the extra breathing space to try to reverse the damage, the bull-headed Trump administration has indicated it is eager to break more of the china. Denied access to Palestinian officials, his schedule will focus on Israel. Following a diplomatic precedent set by his boss in May, Pence is due to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s occupied Old City and immediately below the Al Aqsa mosque plaza.

His visit, however, has been billed as “official”, not private. And it will be invested with far graver symbolism, given Trump’s designation of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

To add insult to injury, and in contravention of claims that Washington will not pre-determine the borders of a divided Jerusalem before peace talks, an unnamed senior US official gave Pence’s visit an even more troubling context. He noted that there was no scenario in which the US did not see the Western Wall ending up in Israel’s hands.

The US policy change on Jerusalem has been a hammer blow to the three main pillars supporting the cause of Palestinian statehood: the Palestinian Authority, the European Union and the Arab states.

The biggest loser is Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Washington stripped him of his emperor’s clothes: he now heads a Palestinian government-in-waiting that is unlikely ever to be attached to a state, viable or otherwise.

The Arab states, which assumed they were the key to a much-touted “outside-in” strategy, creating a regional framework for peace, have been deprived of the single issue – Jerusalem – that matters most to them. Egypt scrambled to help Abbas at the weekend by drafting a UN security resolution to rescind any change of status for Jerusalem. But an inevitable US veto made the move moot.

And Europe, which has played “good cop” to the bullying US one, has been exposed as complicit in its partner’s rogue behaviour. Europe’s predicament is underscored by its peace-making rhetoric. It has long cried wolf, warning that a moment would soon arrive when a two-state solution was no longer feasible, when a temporary occupation morphed into permanent apartheid. Now that the heart of a Palestinian state has been publicly devoured by the wolf, what will Europe and Abbas do?

The signs are that they will pretend nothing has changed – if only out of fear of what might fill the void if peace-making were exposed as a hollow charade. But it is precisely the pretence of a peace process that has kept Palestinians chained to an illusion. The perpetuation of false hope about statehood does not benefit Palestinians; it preserves a calm that aids Israel. That was why the White House accused Abbas of walking away from dialogue last week. But only a fool keeps on appealing to the better nature of a deaf thug.

The burden now falls on the PA, the Arab states and Europe to accept the new reality, and assert a policy independent of the US.

Some Palestinian leaders, like Hanan Ashrawi, already understand this. “Trump’s move is a new era,” she said last week. “There’s no going back.”

Palestinian goals and strategies must be reassessed. Nonetheless, the pressures for a return to the “peace” business as usual will be intense. Ordinary Palestinians in Jerusalem may be the first to signal the new direction of struggle – one that recognises that a Palestinian state is dead and buried. In recent years, growing numbers have started applying, as Israeli law entitles them to, for Israeli citizenship. Israel has twisted and turned to delay honouring its commitment, even as it calls Jerusalem its “united capital”.

Palestinians will have to shame Israel, the US and the watching world by adopting the tools of an anti-apartheid struggle – of non-violent resistance and civil disobedience – to gain equal rights in a single state.

At the moment, the undercurrents of Palestinian rage chiefly swirl below the surface. But they will rise in time, and the consequences of Trump’s deed will become all too apparent.

https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/insult-to-injury-for-the-palestinians/

One thing it does prove is that the West are Jewish states and Christendom is dead. What has the Pope done? Nothing! Another crypto Marxist Jew. All the ravings about the Western Crusaders are false, the Crusaders have long gone. The masters of puppets are the Jewish elite and nothing more. The tentacles of Zionism are reaching out to crush Islam either by soft power assimilation or hard power. At least the game plan is very clear now. I can see only one way to win. Many people in the West are unhappy about being slaves to the Zionists so if Islam can unite with anti Zionists it may survive. But if it keeps on fighting amongst itself with backbiting and battles it will surely fail. All can unite against the common enemy of Evil.

Salaam

More analysis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nsqx8Bkm7Bo&t=608s

Another update


US says it is 'taking names' of countries who oppose Donald Trump's Jerusalem decision

'The president and the US take this vote personally'

The US ambassador to the United Nations has warned she is "taking names" of UN members who oppose Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In a letter to UN members, Nikki Haley said the US President took the issue personally and the names of those who supported a resolution rejecting the bill would be reported to him.

“As you consider your vote, I want you to know the president and the US take this vote personally," she said.

She described Mr Trump's decision to move the US embassy as "an acknowledgement that peace is best advanced ... when all parties are honest with each other about the basic fact that Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel since the country's founding".

“The president will be watching this vote carefully and has requested I report back on those who voted against us," she added.

In a Twitter post, she said: "At the UN we're always asked to do more & give more.

"So, when we make a decision, at the will of the American ppl, abt where to locate OUR embassy, we don't expect those we've helped to target us.

"On Thurs there'll be a vote criticizing our choice. The US will be taking names."

The 193-member UN general assembly, where there are no vetoes, will hold an emergency session on Thursday to vote on the latest resolution at the request of Turkey and Yemen.

The international community has broadly condemned Mr Trump's decision to move the embassy, with Turkey describing it as "a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts".

Earlier this week, the US was outnumbered 14 to 1 at a UN security council vote on a resolution calling on America to reverse its decision, but the nation used its veto to block the measure. Ms Haley described the 14-1 vote as an "insult", warning: "It won't be forgotten".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Ms Haley and Mr Trump for the veto in a video posted on his Facebook page, in which he said the US Ambassador "lit a candle of truth" and dispelled "lies". A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the veto "threatens the stability of the international community because it disrespects it".

Britain was among the nations that supported the resolution and Downing Street said Theresa May restated her disagreement with Mr Trump's decision after the vote during a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"The Prime Minister reiterated that the UK disagreed with the decision and believed it to be unhelpful in terms of prospects for peace in the region," a No 10 spokesperson said.

She added that the status of Jerusalem should be determined in a negotiated settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and that Jerusalem should ultimately form a shared capital between the Israeli and Palestinian states. The Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour, said said he hopes for "overwhelming support" at Thursday's general assembly vote.

Israel considers Jerusalem its indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there, while Palestinians want the capital of an independent Palestinian state to be in the city's eastern sector, which Israel annexed in a 1967 war.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-donald-trump-jerusalem-israel-capital-decision-un-security-council-resolution-vote-veto-a8119951.html

Donald Trump threatens to cut aid to UN members over Jerusalem vote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vagkNjhFaQo

Salaam

Another update

Israel's Netanyahu calls U.N. 'house of lies' before Jerusalem vote

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the United Nations as a “house of lies” ahead of a vote on Thursday on a draft resolution calling on the United States to withdraw its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The State of Israel totally rejects this vote, even before (the resolution‘s) approval,” Netanyahu said in a speech at a hospital dedication in the port city of Ashdod. The 193-member U.N. General Assembly will hold a rare emergency special session on Thursday at the request of Arab and Muslim countries to vote on the draft resolution, which the United States vetoed on Monday in the 15-member U.N. Security Council.

Generating outrage from Palestinians and the Arab and Muslim world, and concern among Washington’s Western allies, President Donald Trump abruptly reversed decades of U.S. policy on Dec. 6 when he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Palestinians have protested daily in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip since Trump’s announcement, throwing stones at security forces and burning tires. Gaza militants have also launched sporadic rocket fire.

Eight Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire during the demonstrations and dozens wounded, Palestinian health officials said. Two militants were killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza after a rocket attack. Trump threatened on Wednesday to cut off financial aid to countries that vote in favor of the U.N. draft resolution, and his ambassador to the world body, Nikki Haley said the United States “will be taking names”. Netanyahu, in his speech, thanked Trump and Haley for “their brave and uncompromising stance”. He repeated his prediction that other countries would eventually follow Washington’s lead in pledging to move their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“The attitude towards Israel of many countries, on all continents, outside the walls of the United Nations, is changing and will ultimately permeate into the U.N. - the house of lies,” he said.

Most countries regard the status of Jerusalem as a matter to be settled in an eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, although that process is now stalled. Israel considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all embassies based there. Palestinians want the capital of an independent Palestinian state to be in the city’s eastern sector, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War and annexed in a move never recognized internationally.

Several senior diplomats said Haley’s warning was unlikely

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-t...-idUSKBN1EF14U

- - - Updated - - -

Salaam

Another update

UN General Assembly rejects Trump's Jerusalem move

A resounding majority of United Nations member states has defied unprecedented threats by the US to declare President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital "null and void".

The non-binding resolution was approved at a UN General Assembly emergency meeting on Thursday with 128 votes in favour and nine against, while 35 countries abstained. It passed despite intimidation by Trump, who had threatened on Wednesday to eliminate financial aid to member states who would vote against his decision, while Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, had warned that she would be "taking names" of those countries.

Shortly after the vote, Palestinian leaders called the vote a victory for Palestine and thanked the UN member states that rejected Trump's unilateral move "despite all the pressure exerted on them".

"This decision reaffirms once again that the just Palestinian cause enjoys the support of international community, and no decisions made by any side could change the reality, that Jerusalem is an occupied territory under international law," Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement. Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian chief negotiator, condemned Washington's decision but said the UN vote showed respect for the rule of law.

"It's a day of shame to those who stood shoulder to shoulder with the occupation and settlements against international law," he said. "But we appreciate very much that the majority of the international community decided, in spite of the threats and intimidation of the US, to stand tall with wisdom, far-sightedness, international law and the rule of law - and not the rule of the jungle."

Mevlut Cavusoglu, foreign minister of Turkey, a co-sponsor of the resolution, said on Twitter that "dignity and sovereignty are not for sale".

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, also welcomed the result of the vote on Twitter, calling it "a resounding global NO to Trump regime's thuggish intimidation" at the UN. For his part, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had earlier called the UN a "house of lies", condemned the "preposterous" vote and thanked Trump for his stance on Jerusalem.

"I do appreciate the fact that a growing number of countries refused to participate in this theatre of the absurd," he said in a televised statement.

"So I appreciate that, and especially I want to again express our thanks to President Trump and Ambassador Haley, for their stalwart defence of Israel and their stalwart defence of the truth."

'Great humiliation'

The session on Thursday at the 193-member body was held at the request of Arab and Muslim countries after the US vetoed the same measure in the Security Council on Monday.

The US was outnumbered 14 to 1 in that vote.

While the Security Council's five permanent members - the US, Britain, France, China and Russia - had veto power on Monday's vote, there are no vetoes at the General Assembly. Similar to the Egyptian-drafted text that was blocked by Washington on Monday, the draft resolution approved on Thursday did not mention the US by name but expressed "deep regret at recent decisions" concerning Jerusalem's status. Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, called the result of the General Assembly vote a "great humiliation for the US".

Bishara said that most UN member states that voted in favour of the draft resolution did not necessarily do so to back the Palestinians but to support "international legality".

"They voted for what they saw as a violation of international law," he said.

"The resolution starts by naming several UN Security Council resolutions, where the US either voted for or abstained, saying that Israel cannot annex East Jerusalem; that Israel cannot export its own population to East Jerusalem; that Israel cannot continue with the settlement building in East Jerusalem and so on," added Bishara.

"All in all, 128 countries voted for international law."

Embassy move

In addition to recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Trump announced on December 6 that the US would move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. No country currently has its embassy in the city, which is home to holy religious sites and has particular significance for Muslims, Christians and Jews. The US decision triggered a series of protests in the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as major international cities - from Jakarta, through Istanbul, to Rabat.

The status of Jerusalem has long remained a sensitive topic and one of the core issues in the Israeli-Palestine conflict. After occupying the city's eastern part in the 1967 War, Israel annexed the territory. In 1980, it proclaimed it as its "eternal, undivided capital."

The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, however, see East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. They have warned that any change to the status quo would mean the end of the peace process premised on a two-state solution. Thursday's vote was reminiscent of a session in 2012, when an overwhelming majority backed Palestine's upgrade in the UN to non-member state status.

In that vote, some 138 countries supported the upgrade, while nine - including the US, Israel, Canada and several South Pacific countries - voted against.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/1...135806725.html

Salaam

Another update. Principled move.

ANC resolves to downgrade embassy in Israel

The African National Congress (ANC), South Africa's ruling party, has resolved to "immediately and unconditionally" downgrade the South African Embassy in Israel to a liaison office.

The ANC's decision on Wednesday evening, announced during its 54th National Conference, came on the eve of a UN General Assembly emergency session where member states resoundingly approved a draft resolution rejecting US President Donald Trump's move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

"[It] sends a clear message to Israel that there is a price to pay for its human rights abuses and violations of international law," the ANC said in a statement.

"In order to give our practical expression of support to the oppressed people of Palestine, the ANC has unanimously resolved to direct the SA government to immediately and unconditionally downgrade the South African Embassy in Israel to a liaison office."

'A practical step towards peace'

Hashem Dajani, Palestine's ambassador in Pretoria, described the move as "an important decision". The Palestinian movement, Hamas, released a statement on Thursday acknowledging ANC members and activists in South Africa's Palestine solidarity movement "who convinced South Africans that it was the correct moral and ethical decision for their country".

The activist group, South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP), said: "the downgrade was a practical step towards a just peace".

In a statement, the organisation said: "This move by the ANC actively applies pressure on Israel's government to end its violations of international law."

But Steven Friedman, director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Johannesburg, said the ANC's move was not legally binding. Its implementation at government level was also uncertain, he said.

"There are people who are celebrating as if this is a done deal, when it is nowhere near that," he told Al Jazeera.

"Until and unless the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) takes this resolution on board, it means nothing."

DIRCO is South Africa's foreign ministry.

Friedman said that it was not unusual for the ANC to show support for the Palestinians.

"It doesn't mean that it will translate into [government] policy," he said.

DIRCO officials, he added, are known to hold sympathetic views towards Israel.

Zionist organisation decries decision

Separately, the move angered the South African Board of Jewish Deputies and South African Zionist Federation.

"We question the motives behind this discriminatory decision that would effectively prevent South Africa from playing any mediatory role in bringing about peace or dialogue between Israel and Palestine‚" the group said in a statement.

"This downgrade will do nothing for the Palestinian people‚ and have a detrimental effect on South Africans. We further question the motives of organisations and individuals who have managed to 'capture' the ANC's international relations agenda‚ including the BDS."

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, or BDS, seeks to end the Israeli occupation and dismantle Israel's illegal wall and settlements, demands full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel, and calls for the rights of Palestinian refugees to be upheld. The decision to downgrade the Israeli embassy came at the end of a five-day conference in which the ANC voted for a new leader, Cyril Ramaphosa, who takes over from President Jacob Zuma.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/1...114300246.html

Salaam

Meanwhile the King of Bahrain has sent a delegation to lick Bibi s boots.

Anger as 'This is Bahrain' delegation visits Israel

Palestinians have refused a Bahraini delegation from entering Gaza after the group visited Israel amid ongoing controversy over the US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem and recognise the city as Israel's capital. The interfaith "This is Bahrain" civil society group defended its visit to Israel on Monday, a day after its trip was reported, as a gesture of tolerance. The 25-member group, which is on a five-day tour, includes Sunni and Shia Muslim leaders, Christians, the leader of a Hindu temple, and a Sikh.

It aims to visit Islamic, Christian, Jewish and other holy sites, the group said, according to a statement carried on Bahrain's state news. Ater widespread outrage, a coalition of various political factions condemned the group's attempt to visit the besieged Gaza Strip, home to two million Palestinians.

In a statement on Monday, the Palestinian National and Islamic Forces in Gaza said there was no place for those who normalise relations with Israel in Gaza - or any other place of the occupied Palestinian territories. It added that the people of Gaza would prevent the delegation from entering the enclave. Reports said the Palestinian Ministry of Education also refused to meet with This is Bahrain, and would not receive the delegation in the occupied West Bank or Gaza.

The #Bahrain_resists_normalisation hashtag was used across Twitter as people vented their frustrations.

The move comes after US President Donald Trump formally recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a declaration that has caused widespread anger across the Muslim world. Jerusalem is home to Islam's third holiest site and its status is deeply sensitive for Muslims.

Here are some social media reactions:

Hussein Youssef, a Bahraini journalist and blogger, said: "This is Bahrain has carried out a number of activities supported by official figures in Bahrain, but its latest move of sending a delegation to Israel makes any affiliation with it a criminal act, and more.

If any of the groups' members denounce the latest move, then they should immediately declare their withdrawal from it. Continuing to be a part of this organisation from now on will only mean endorsing its agenda, which does not represent the people of Bahrain."

Basmah al-Qassab, a Bahraini blogger, said: "I believe that the Zionist entity [Israel] is an unjust occupier. The delegation's visit to occupied East Jerusalem is shameful and immoral, and its claim that it represents the Bahraini people is untrue and is insulting to the Bahraini people."

Nazeeha Saeed, a dissident Bahraini journalist, said: "This is Bahrain does not represent Bahrain!!! You call yourselves a multi-religious delegation … Do not use our nation's name in your fake calls to peace and tolerance."

Raeda Sabt, a Bahraini social influencer, said: "Bahrain's support for the Palestinian cause is documented in history books, and we cannot accept people who seek to tarnish Bahrain's reputation and discredit its history by normalisation [visiting Israel] – a move has greatly hurt us."

Twitter user Maitham Almosawi wrote: "Shame and disgrace will haunt the group that gave up their dignity in the arms of the Zionist entity. And thank God for those who were able to shed light on the truth behind these fake people."

User @Sultana lBahrain said most Bahrainis opposed the visit and believe Jerusalem belongs to Israel, regardless of Trump's sentiments.

"As Israel was dropping bombs on Gaza, and Palestinians were protesting Trump's Jerusalem declaration, King Hamad of Bahrain sends delegation to convey 'message of peace' to Israel," user @chanadbh tweeted.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/1...065439149.html

- - - Updated - - -

Salaam

The Foreign minister likes to lick boots as well.

Bahrain warns against challenging US over 'side issues'

http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/ima...e02abd5_18.jpg

Bahrain's foreign minister has said it is unhelpful to "pick a fight" with the United States over "side issues", while there is a threat from Iran.

Khalid al-Khalifa tweeted to his 460,000 followers on Wednesday: "It's not helpful to pick a fight with the USA over side issues while we together fight the clear and present danger of The Theo-Fascist Islamic republic." Relations between Bahrain and the Islamic Republic, Iran, are strained over various issues.

Bahrain and Israel, meanwhile, are united in their views on Iran, which they see as a threat to security. Many of the 672 people who responded to Khalifa's tweet interpreted the "side issues" he referred to as Washington's stance on Jerusalem. On December 6, US President Donald Trump announced that the US recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and would move its embassy there from Tel Aviv.

The move has drawn international condemnation and sparked a wave of heated protests around the world.

Khalifa's tweet, which unlike most of his messages on the social media site was posted in English and not Arabic, comes after a Bahrain delegation came under fire for visiting Israel earlier in December, after Trump's announcement.

Aside from December's developments, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in September was at the centre of rumours that Manama had called for normalising relations with Israel. Israel's foreign affairs ministry tweeted that Khalifa had denounced an Arab boycott of Israel and confirmed Bahraini citizens were free to visit Israel. Shortly after the tweet was posted, it was deleted. Critics say countries should refuse to normalise relations with Israel at a time when it is illegally occupying Palestinian land and oppressing the Palestinian people.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/bahrain-warns-challenging-side-issues-171221065312815.html

Seems to be a lot of Arab Zionists out there. The rich poodles of the West I mean. It's a wonder there are no revolutions going on. Probably be building synagogues all over the Arab world next.

Salaam

Yes, there just a bunch of satraps.

Another update, MBS once again demonstrating his 'leadership' abilities.

Saudi crown prince tried to persuade Abbas to support US peace plan: Officials
#Occupation

Mohammed bin Salman told the Palestinian president that the US was 'the only game in town' when it came to the peace process

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) asked Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to back a US-sponsored peace plan for Israel-Palestine, officials told Middle East Eye. Abbas was invited to Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh on Tuesday where he held talks with King Salman and MbS. The invitation came shortly following a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul where Abbas announced that he would no longer accept the US as a broker in the peace process.

However, on Tuesday MbS told Abbas that the US was "the only game in town" with regards to the peace process.

"The US is the only one with real influence on Israel, it's the only country that can put pressure on Israel in any peace process and no one else can do [that], neither EU, nor Russia or China," MbS told Abbas, according to Palestinian officials with knowledge of the meeting.

MbS told Abbas in a previous visit early this month that the US was "preparing for a peace deal, and this deal might not look good at the beginning but at the end it will be good." He also asked Abbas at the time to have the Palestinians in Lebanon align with the pro-Saudi camp and stay away from the pro-Iranian camp led by Hezbollah, the officials said.

"At some point bin Salman warned President Abbas that if he doesn't do the job in Lebanon, there are others who can do it, pointing to Mohammed Dahlan," one official told MEE, referring to the dissident Fatah politician.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudis-crown-prince-tried-persuade-abbas-support-us-peace-plan-officials-1621222721

Salaam

Another update. The word munafiqun comes to my mind.

The Saudi-UAE media attack on Erdoğan

Immediately after the end of the Special meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Summit on Jerusalem, which was called by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a number of Saudi and UAE media outlets began attacking Iran and Turkey in an unusual way. In an interview with Quds Press, the Secretary-General of the Turkish-Arab Institute for Strategic Studies in Turkey, Badr al-Din Habib Oglu, said: “The issue of Jerusalem has affected most of the Arab regimes, the Gulf regimes in particular, specifically Saudi Arabia.”

He added that the attack makes it clear that the UAE and Saudi arabia are involved in the US-Israeli plan “which revolves around abandoning the Palestinian cause and selling Jerusalem in exchange for the strengthening Mohammed bin Salman’s rule and the imposition of a new vision in the region.”

Oglu went on “the marginalisation of Turkey in the Islamic world and pressuring it through the media are part of a US-Zionist plan that is backed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE … The reason for this attack is the that the Turkish position on the rejection of the US decision on Jerusalem, is strong and has helped to mobilise the protests on Palestinian, Arab and Islamic streets.”

He added: “Turkey seeks to maintain a strong Palestinian, Arab and Islamic position against the US decision on Jerusalem and has not focused on Saudi Arabia. Instead, Turkey has just focused on the Zionist entity and the USA … [but] as President Erdoğan said. If we cannot protect Jerusalem today, we will not be able to protect Mecca and Medina tomorrow,” as he put it.

In an interview with Quds Press in Geneva, the Secretary-General of the Geneva Council for International Relations and Development, Anouar Gharbi, said that “the campaign against Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by some Saudi and UAE media sources does not serve the interests of the people of the Arab and Islamic region and directly damages the issue of the day; the issue of Jerusalem”.

He added: “It is a campaign that is similar to the campaign against Erdoğan in Israel, which uses extremist right-wing statements such as Israeli Minister of Intelligence and Transportation Yisrael Katz in his interview with the Saudi website Elaph.”

Gharbi called on the “reasonable and wise Saudi politicians to quickly stop their country’s fast plummet into a quagmire.”

He said: “Saudi Arabia is today at a dangerous crossroad and its choice to be behind the UAE which is fighting all fronts to abort the dreams of Arab people in justice, dignity and freedom, is a dangerous choice that does not meet the interests of the Saudi people.”

He added: “Saudi Arabia’s choice to be against the Arab, Islamic and international concerns – some of which were expressed by Erdoğan and other leaders during the recent Islamic summit – will leave Saudi Arabia with difficulties in the future which Saudi diplomacy will not be able to deal with.”

Al-Gharbi went on, “A number of UN reporters are currently working on files on human rights violations within the country and requests which question the ability of Saudis to protect holy sites, in addition to considering petitions which call for Saudi officials to be prosecuted for alleged war crimes in Yemen and the September attacks files as well as corruption files and claims to freeze deposits abroad.

Al-Gharbi concluded his interview with Quds Press, saying: “It is inconceivable that Saudi Arabia which is the Land of the Two Holy Mosques and the Qibla, should adopt an approach hostile to the people and, instead, serves a Zionist agenda that has become known to all for its hostility against the decisions of international legitimacy and the humiliation of the entire international community”. Saudi Arabia’s Al Riyadh newspaper published an article by Saudi writer Dr. Abdullah Nasser al-Fawzan, Monday, in which he launched a scathing attack on Iran and Turkey, which he described as “a wordy show off against Saudi Arabia.”

He said: “The Iranian president says that he has no objection to re-establish relations with us if and if, and he is delivering offensive words that the wise person refuses to mention, as if he was the one who cut the ties and we are beggars on his door, and now Erdogan, whom I do not remember that any of the rulers of the kingdom has offended or blamed in the past, and yet he continues his abuse. He used Jerusalem as a pretext and ridiculously talks about how to protect Medina, Mecca and the Kaaba from Israel and considers himself as one of its great protectors, as if he did not know that Iran, which he collaborates with, directs its rockets now by the Houthis to Mecca and the Kaaba… So, the sooner the better… Defend Mecca and the Kaaba, Oh Saviour!”

Al-Fawzan added: “We understand that the whole issue is just idle talk and falsehood. If they were serious, the Iranian president should ask Erdoğan to cut his overt relations with Israel instead of slandering us with having secret relations with Israel, and these relations are the cause of all the perils”.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171219-the-saudi-uae-media-attack-on-erdogan/

Salaam

Another update

Palestinian Christians slam US Jerusalem recognition

Palestinian Christian religious leaders have decried US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as an “insult” to Muslims and Christians around the world.

“We, Palestinians, Christians and Muslims reject the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” Jerusalem’s Greek Orthodox Archbishop Atallah Hanna said at a press conference in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Saturday.

“This declaration is an insult to our people and to our just cause,” he said.

He said the US decision was “an insult to Christians and Muslims around the world, who consider Jerusalem as an incubator of their most sacred, spiritual and national heritage”.nnHanna warned that the US decision was “dangerous” to the Palestinian cause.

“The US gave the occupation what it does not deserve,” he said, “Jerusalem is the city which we consider as our capital and an incubator of our holy sites.”

On 6 December, US President Donald Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital despite worldwide opposition. The decision sparked angry demonstrations across the Muslim world. Following a UN Security Council resolution that would have passed unanimously but for a US veto, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution spurning the US move by 128-9 votes.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other top Turkish officials have been at the international forefront opposing the US move, through sponsoring the UNGN resolution and calling an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), among other measures.

Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Middle East conflict with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem — occupied by Israel — might eventually serve as the capital of an independent state of Palestine.

Colonial Project

Hanna said Israeli violations targeted all Palestinians, whether Muslims or Christians and their holy sites in Jerusalem. “As we all stood up to defend the Aqsa Mosque, we will stand to defend the Christian endowments,” he said.

“Together we will stop the new colonial Trump project which aims to end the Palestinian cause,” he stressed.

Munib A. Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land, for his part, said Jerusalem is the capital of the three religions – Islam, Christianity and Judaism — and the capital of two peoples.

He stressed that the Evangelical Lutheran Church refuses any change of Jerusalem’s historical status.

“Whoever tries to change it [status quo] wants to turn this just cause into a religious war,” he said. Father Ibrahim Filtis, a Franciscan priest, said the US decision on Jerusalem has brought the Palestinian cause back to the forefront of world attention.

“This is a victory for the Palestinian cause, which is a central issue and the mother of all conflicts,” he said.

Bethlehem’s Governor, Gebrin Bakri, for his part, reiterated the rejection of the 14 churches in Palestinian territories of the US declaration on Jerusalem.

“The US states has decided to support Israel instead of supporting the status of the holy city,” he said.

“Because of this decision, we will not accept the US as a mediator in the peace process,” he said.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20...m-recognition/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBiOP6T2T5s