Israel land grab law 'ends hope of two-state solution' (OP)
Salaam
With Trump in power, Netanyahu has a free hand.
Israel land grab law 'ends hope of two-state solution'
Land grab law 'allows theft, stalls peace process'
Law that retroactively legalises settler homes on private Palestinian land widely condemned as legitimising theft.
Israel's land grab law that retroactively legalises thousands of settlement homes in the occupied West Bank legitimises theft, violates international law and ends the prospect of a two-state solution, according to politicians, legal experts and human rights groups.
The so-called "Regulation Bill" instantly drew wide condemnation as it was voted in by members of the Knesset late on Monday with a 60 to 52 majority.
The law applies to about 4,000 settlement homes in the West Bank for which settlers could prove ignorance that they had built on privately owned Palestinian land and had received encouragement from the Israeli state to do so.
Three Israeli NGOs - Peace Now, Yesh Din and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel - and numerous Palestinians said they intend to petition the Supreme Court to cancel the law.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday in a statement: "This bill is in contravention of international law and will have far reaching legal consequences for Israel."
The EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement that the bloc "condemns" the law and urges against its implementation "to avoid measures that further raise tensions and endanger the prospects for a peaceful solution to the conflict".
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the law was an aggression against the Palestinian people.
"That bill is contrary to international law," Abbas said following a meeting with French President Francois Hollande in Paris. "This is an aggression against our people that we will be opposing in international organisations.
"What we want is peace ... but what Israel does is to work toward one state based on apartheid."
Hollande called on Israel to go back on the law, saying it would "pave the way for an annexation, de-facto, of the occupied territories, which would be contrary to the two-state solution".
Hours before Abbas' meeting with Hollande, Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, told the Associated Press news agency that the law puts "the last nail in the coffin of the two-state solution".
Calling the move "theft", Erekat said the ruling showed "the Israeli government trying to legalise looting Palestinian land".
The Arab League also accused Israel of "stealing the land" from Palestinians.
"The law in question is only a cover for stealing the land and appropriating the property of Palestinians," said the head of the Cairo-based organisation, Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
Palestinian owners will be compensated financially or with other land, but cannot negotiate their terms.
The law is a continuation of "Israeli policies aimed at eliminating any possibility of a two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state", Aboul Gheit said.
Jordan, one of the few Arab states to have diplomatic ties with Israel, also denounced what it called "a provocative law likely to kill any hope of a two-state solution".
According to the UN envoy for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, the law crosses a "very thick red line" towards annexation of the occupied West Bank, and sets a "very dangerous precedent".
Speaking to the AFP news agency, he said: "This is the first time the Israeli Knesset legislates in the occupied Palestinian lands and particularly on property issues."
He also raised the possibility the law could open Israel up to potential prosecution at the International Criminal Court, a threat Israel's own top government lawyer, attorney general Avichai Mandelblit, has also warned of.
Mladenov called for strong international condemnation of the legislation but declined to criticise the US after President Donald Trump's administration refused to comment on it.
Trump is more sympathetic to Israel's settlement policies than previous US presidents; the Israeli government has approved plans to build thousands of new homes on occupied territory since the far-right leader settled into the White House.
"I think that is a very preliminary statement," Mladenov said. "Obviously they do need to consult, this is a new administration that has just come into office and they should be given the time and the space to find their policies."
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the US was likely to discuss the law with Netanyahu when the Israeli prime minister visits on February 15, but did not comment further in a press briefing on Tuesday.
David Harris, head of AJC, the global Jewish advocacy organisation, said that "Israel's High Court can and should reverse this misguided legislation" ahead of Netanyahu's meeting with Trump in February.
That was also the message from Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who said last week: "The chance that it will be struck down by the Supreme Court is 100 percent."
'Against all international laws'
International law considers all settlements to be illegal, but Israel distinguishes between those it sanctions and those it does not, dubbed outposts.
A Palestinian Cabinet minister also called on the international community for support.
"Nobody can legalise the theft of the Palestinian lands. Building settlements is a crime, building settlements is against all international laws," said Palestinian Tourism and Antiquities Minister Rula Maayaa. "I think it is time now for the international community to act concretely to stop the Israelis from these crimes."
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called the law "unacceptable" and urged the international community to act immediately.
"This is an escalation that would only lead to more instability and chaos," Rdeneh said.
Palestinians want the occupied West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip - territories Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war - for their future state.
The international community views settlements as illegal and an obstacle to reaching peace.
Shortly before leaving office, US President Barack Obama allowed the UN Security Council to pass a resolution declaring settlements illegal.
Tobias Ellwood, Britain's Middle East minister, also condemned the land grab bill, saying it "is of great concern that the bill paves the way for significant growth in settlements deep in the West Bank".
Yuval Shany, an international law professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said the law violates basic rights, interferes with property rights and is discriminatory because it regulates only the transfer of land from Palestinians to Jews.
Re: Israel land grab law 'ends hope of two-state solution'
Salaam
Another update. Long read.
In the Dead of Night, By Brute Force IDF Raids in West Bank Show How Occupation Becomes Routine
There’s barely a Palestinian family that isn’t familiar with this practice. Israelis don’t get abducted from their homes. This is a feature of the apartheid system
It happens every night, with or without any apparent reason. It’s always brutal: a violent invasion of the home of a sleeping family, before the eyes of the women and the children, everyone abruptly awakening to a nightmare of dozens of soldiers, sometimes with dogs. An alien presence. The arrest missions of the Israel Defense Forces, perhaps the most salient sign of the routine of the occupation, are carried out both in times of unrest and periods of quiet. Hardly a night goes by without them.
The raids take place across the West Bank – including Area A, which is nominally under the Palestinian Authority’s control – and always at night. Every decent Israeli has the obligation to try to imagine the scene: to be woken up in the dead of night by armed, masked soldiers, their rifles aimed at you and at your terrified children. Often the troops resort to violence, tying up members of the household and beating them. Sometimes they use live ammunition.
At some point, they take someone, the wanted individual, into custody, with no explanation, no arrest warrant, no judicial oversight. In some cases, they don’t even let their captive get dressed. Days will pass before the family learns where he is, what his condition is, what the suspicions against him are. Or he might be released after a few days, again with no explanation. If he’s brought to trial, the charges against him will be revealed; some of them are real, others are invented or political in nature, as is usual in the military courts.
In some raids, the IDF soldiers leave as abruptly as they arrived, not detaining anyone – the raid was apparently launched in order to sow fear or for training purposes. Sometimes they simply get the address wrong. There’s barely a Palestinian family that isn’t familiar with this practice. Israelis don’t get abducted from their homes. This is a feature of the apartheid system.
It happened last night and the night before last; it will happen tonight, and tomorrow night, too, while we’re asleep. These are abductions, plain and simple – “arrests” is newspeak. In contrast to what happens in more benighted regimes, here the disappeared will reappear: The families are eventually able to locate their loved ones. Afterward, they can also see them in court. Helpless in the face of the juggernaut, the Palestinians have become accustomed to this reality and accept it with seeming equanimity, as an integral part of their lives.
But generations of Palestinian children are growing up with fear, trauma and scars from the terror of those nights. The IDF doesn’t provide data about the scale of the phenomenon, but an unofficial estimate is that the number of people arrested during the past year reached some 2,700. The army does publish almost daily communiqués about the “booty”: how many were arrested the preceding night. Every person suspected of throwing a stone can expect a night visit of this kind, every Palestinian family can look forward to the unannounced arrival of these uninvited guests. In some cases no arrest is made; the raid was carried out to collect information, demonstrate control, maintain the troops’ vigilance, keep the local population in a state of constant fear.
No one even thinks of summoning the wanted individuals for questioning – always, they are snatched from their beds, and their families are subjected to brutal treatment.
This week, accompanied by Musa Abu Hashhash, a field researcher for the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, we visited two homes to which the IDF paid visits recently. In one case the soldiers shot and wounded the head of the household; in the other they raided a home where they’d killed the father three years earlier during a similar mission. In two homes, both in the Hebron area, the testimonies are similar, the questions they raise identical. In Halhul, we were received cordially by the Dawadi family, and in Beit Ummar, by the Abu Marya family. Neither family could understand why the soldiers behaved as they did.
On November 5, a little after 4 A.M., the Dawadi family was awakened by the sounds of a break-in. A staircase surrounded by neglected vines and fig and pomegranate trees leads to the second floor of their two-story house, situated on a hill west of Halhul. Everyone was asleep, apart from two boys, Mahmoud and Lahmed, who were playing Babaji, the addictive computer war game.
Searchlights illuminated the house as the troops tried to force open the front door by dislodging the lintel above it. About 30 soldiers surrounded the building and a dozen of them, all masked, burst into the ground-floor apartment, where Mohammed, 27, his wife, Manal, and their 2-year-old son, Nasser, were sleeping. They handcuffed Mohammed and questioned him about his brother, Muhand, who is 18. He lives on the second floor, Mohammed told them, along with the other unmarried sisters and brothers, and their parents.
Waiting for the soldiers on the second floor were the father of the family, 52-year-old Khaled (known as Nasser at home), and his wife, Nawifa, 50. Khaled opened the door for the troops before they could break it down, and they streamed in without a word. According to Mahmud, 25, the soldiers became violent immediately, binding family members with plastic handcuffs and hitting them. They pushed Nawifa and daughter Kinda, 14, into the kitchen, threw Khaled onto a living-room sofa and shut the brothers in another room. Mahmud recalls the story now calmly, in fluent Hebrew; he had worked in Israel for eight years, only one of them with a permit.
The soldiers took Muhand, whom they had identified from a photo they had, into another room; Mahmud says he heard them beating him. Finally they handcuffed Muhand and were about to leave with him. But he was wearing only underwear, and his mother told the soldiers that she had locked the front door and wouldn’t open it until her son was allowed to get dressed. Mahmud says he asked to speak with their officer. The soldiers hushed him: “You are terrorists and no one is going to talk to you.” Now he asks, “What law in your country allows you to behave this way? What is this, a mafia?”
Finally, Nawifa managed to give Muhand a shirt and jacket, and the soldiers allowed him to put on pants and shoes. They walked down the stairs into the cold street. It’s not clear what happened there, but suddenly Mahmud heard a soldier say, “Pump him,” and then saw his father, Khaled, who had followed the soldiers into the street,slump to the ground next to the building’s entrance. No shot was heard – they must have used a silencer – nor was blood seen at first. Khaled was shot near his knee, at close range. Fortunately, the bullet did not hit the kneecap, only a muscle. He was taken to Aliya Hospital in Hebron and discharged three days later.
During our visit this week, Khaled was in court at Ofer military base, near Ramallah, to attend a hearing for Muhand, who has been in detention since that night on suspicion of throwing stones and Molotov cocktails.
“Put yourself in my place,” Mohammed says, his toddler son sitting on his knees. “My wife wakes me up and says she hears a noise, soldiers break in and aim their rifles at us and at our little boy. Nasser started to cry and a soldier shouted at him to be quiet. How could he yell at a 2-year-old boy?” Since that night, Mohammed relates, his son frequently wakes up at night and shouts, “Yahud! Yahud!” (“Jew! Jew!”)
“Why does the army behave like that?” Mohammed asks. “We worked in Israel and saw that the Israelis can behave differently. What happens to them when they become soldiers? If they’d knocked on the door, we would have opened it. If they had summoned Muhand for questioning, he would have gone.”
***
A poultry shop in the nearby town of Beit Ummar. Khaider Abu Marya raises chickens in the yard of his house and also buys them in Jericho; he sells them whole for eight shekels ($2.15) a kilo in his store. On July 23, 2015, Khaider lost his father, Falah, 52, when soldiers invading his home to arrest one of his sons fired three live rounds into his upper body. From the poultry shop we drive to the home of the Abu Marya family, where the smells of a chicken coop and dead fowl hang in the air. Inside, the family tells us that Falah was killed after soldiers shot and wounded his son, Mohammed, and Falah had gone out to the balcony to shout for help. The soldiers made no arrests.
This past November 6, the day after the Halhul incident, IDF troops again arrived at the Abu Marya residence. It was 3 A.M. They were looking for another member of the family, Muhi, 21. They entered the house by force and, according to Khaider, hit his brother Yihyeh. Their mother, Faika, screamed, terrified that another disaster was about to strike the family. The dozen soldiers were accompanied by a frightening dog. They demanded the ID cards of the family members, but Faika, utterly distraught, had a hard time finding them. The house was in the midst of preparations for the wedding of another son, Nabil, the following week.
According to Faika, the soldiers attached an electric-shock device to Yihyeh’s chest and back, and beat him on the face until he bled. Hearing the shouting and screams from the floor below, Khaider’s three small children and Mohammed’s 18-month-old infant began to cry with fear.
Eventually the soldiers left, taking Muhi and Yihyeh with them, even though the latter was not on the wanted list. Yihyeh was freed a day later. On the day of our visit to the Abu Marya home, a hearing was held in Muhi’s case, but no one in the family traveled to the Ofer court and he is still in detention.
Asked for comment on the two incidents, the IDF Spokesman’s Unit provided this response: “On November 5, IDF troops entered the village of Halhul in order to arrest a terror suspect. When they arrived at their destination, violent disturbances began inside the suspect’s house. To carry out their mission, the fighters had to restrain three males who were behaving wildly.
“On their departure from the house, a disturbance broke out that threatened the lives of the soldiers, who responded by shooting at the lower part of the body of one of the individuals leading the disturbance.
“On November 6, while special forces of the Border Police were carrying out an action in the village of Beit Ummar, aimed at arresting a terror suspect, a member of the suspect’s family attacked the fighters. The soldiers responded by using a taser to hold him off, and, as he continued to present a danger to the force, he was arrested after attacking a policeman. Despite your claim to the contrary, no violence was used vis-à-vis other family members.”
Nabil’s wedding took place as planned, on November 17, without his incarcerated brother. The family says they have no idea what Muhi is suspected of. A photograph of the late father of the family looks down on us from the wall of the living room in his house.
Re: Israel land grab law 'ends hope of two-state solution'
Salaam
Another update. More background. The Zionists are displeased. Note that anybody who disagrees with a Zio is branded an 'extremist', and anybody who is a good bootlicker is a 'moderate'.
London mosque cancels Israeli Holocaust event after complaints
A London mosque which was due host an exhibition by an Israeli Holocaust museum has cancelled the event after pressure from the community.
The Yad Vashem exhibition was due to take place on Sunday at the Hussainiyat Al-Rasool Al-Adham centre in Golders Green which mainly serves the Iraqi Shia community. The exhibition was due to honour Muslim Albanians who helped, protected and rescued their Jewish neighbours during the Holocaust.
But controversy erupted when it became known that Yad Vashem is based in occupied Jerusalem and is partially financed by and supports the state of Israel. The museum is located near where the Deir Yasir massacre of Palestinians by Zionists took place.
Yesterday, a statement from the mosque was circulated on WhatsApp which said the centre didn’t know about the Israeli connection and cancelled it once that became clear.
The statement read: “In regards to the ‘Love your Neighbour Event’: This event was planned to be a local event with local partners to build relationships with the neighbours. The aim of the programme was to show Muslims in a good light by telling the story of Muslim Albanians who saved Jews in WW2.
“The Markaz did not know of the international connections some organisations had or of the political affiliations as throughout the process we were focused on our local relationships. Once that was made clear the event was cancelled. The Markaz is a community hub for the local community. The Markaz has no connections to any foreign government and stays well clear of anything political or perceived to be political.”
5Pillars understands that pressure was put on the centre from both within the UK and abroad after one of our articles was translated into Arabic and Farsi. We also understand that the event was cancelled after the headquarters of the Shia sect that the mosque follows was contacted with complaints.
After the news broke, several Zionists in the UK criticised the cancellation.
Rabbi Natan Levy, head of operations at Faith Forums for London, and one of the organisers behind the event, told the Jewish News: “We will continue to focus on building local relations even though this event has been cancelled. However, we are confident after reviewing plans there is goodwill to continue working with communities in Barnet.’
Levy called the exhibition “a powerful reminder that during the Jewish community’s darkest hour, the Muslim community in Albania were one of the few who did not stand by when the Nazis attempted to eradicate Jewish neighbours. It’s important to remember we have historically supported each other.”
Over the past year the mosque has gone to great lengths to ingratiate itself with the local Jewish community, most of whom are thought to be supporters of Israel.
Jews in Golders Green were split over the new mosque when it opened last year. Some expressed concerns over road congestion and parking, and others spouted Islamophobic rhetoric on social media platforms about the presence of an Islamic centre in the heart of the Jewish community.
More than 6,000 people signed a petition against plans to turn the former Golders Green Hippodrome into a mosque. The petitioners claimed it would cause “disruption”, citing traffic and pollution problems.
Others, however, including the Jewish community media, condemned opposition to the mosque and the Islamophobic rhetoric surrounding it.
Re: Israel land grab law 'ends hope of two-state solution'
Salaam
Another update.
Iraqi lawmaker demands probe into officials’ visits to Israel
Deputy parliament speaker in Baghdad fumes after Israel reveals 15 dignitaries have made groundbreaking trips to Jewish state
Visits by Iraqi officials to Israel that were announced by the Jewish state stirred controversy Monday in Iraq, where the deputy parliamentary speaker demanded a probe to identify those who crossed a “red line.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday that three Iraqi delegations visited Israel in 2018, and details were also later released by media.
Baghdad does not recognize Israel, and is technically in a state of war with the country.
First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Hassan Karim al-Kaabi in a statement called for “an investigation… to identify those who went to the occupied territory, particularly if they are lawmakers.”
“To go to the occupied territory is a red line, and an extremely sensitive issue for all Muslims,” the statement said.
Kaabi is close to Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr, whose bloc won the largest number of seats in Iraq’s legislative election last year.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the 15 Iraqi visitors were “influential Shiite and Sunni personalities in the country,” but did not give names.
The ministry said the Iraqi travelers had visited “Israeli officials and universities,” as well as the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.
A spokesman for the memorial told AFP that “a group of 10 Iraqis” had “undertaken a guided tour in late December.”
He said he was not able to give details on the identity and roles of the Iraqis.
Israeli TV news company Hadashot, which described the Iraqis as “local leaders,” reported Sunday that they had stressed that they were not taking part in an official visit and that secrecy was paramount.
A significant Iraqi Jewish community lives in Israel, and regularly calls for a normalization of ties between Baghdad and the Jewish state.
But the question remains sensitive and Israel’s support for an independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan in late 2017 provoked Iraqi officials’ ire.
Israel was the only country to back the vote, which Baghdad deemed illegal.
Malaysia bans Israeli athletes from competing in swimming championships
The Malaysian government has prohibited Israeli athletes from competing in the World Para Swimming Championships which will take place in the country later this year.
The city of Kuching in the eastern Sarawak state will host hundreds of swimmers from 70 countries from July 29th to August 4th, but not Israeli ones.
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad told a press conference on Thursday: “We maintain our stand on the prohibition. If they do come, it is a violation. If they want to withdraw Malaysia’s right to host the championships, they can do so.”
And Deputy Malaysian Sports Minister, Sim Hee Kyung, said on Wednesday that his country would not allow the Israeli athletes to enter the country, citing the “clear” Malaysian policy regarding dealings with Israel. The minister stressed that: “The government will maintain its steadfast position regarding this issue as a means to protest against the continuous Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people.”
For over 50 years, Malaysia has rejected normalising ties with Israel due to huge popular support for Palestine among the Malaysian population. It is one of a number of Muslim-majority countries that has no formal diplomatic ties with Israel, with entry to the country on an Israeli passport prohibited.
Following the announcement the International Paralympic Committee expressed its disappointment and said it would work to resolve the issue.
Israeli athletes are regularly banned from competing at international sporting events in Arab or Muslim countries, or forced to compete without displaying their national symbols. A number of incidents have led to reprimands from international governing bodies.
Re: Israel land grab law 'ends hope of two-state solution'
Salaam
Another update
Israeli Police Fire Tear Gas at Palestinian Christians Protesting Israeli Exhibit Mocking Jesus Christ
Hundreds of Palestinian Christians and their supporters gathered Friday in Haifa, in northern Israel, to protest an Israeli exhibit that featured Ronald McDonald taking the place of Jesus on the cross.
The so-called “McJesus” exhibit was created by Finnish artist Jani Leinon, and has been on display at a gallery in Haifa as part of a gallery exhibition called ‘Sacred Goods’.
It recently came to the attention of church authorities in Haifa, who called for the protest.
The Greek Patriarchate said “While we express freedom of expression, this should not include mocking and targeting our religion and religious figures”.
The Patriarchate added that they blame the municipality of Haifa for this exhibit. They said that the Municipality collects taxes, including from those Christians that were insulted by this exhibit. This was especially insulting because the timing of the exhibit came just as the Greek Orthodox Christians were celebrating Christmas, according to their calendar.
The Israeli authorities claimed that the night before the protest, an unknown person threw a flaming bottle at the museum, causing minimal damage.
During the protest on Friday, Israeli police say that three of their officers were hit by rocks and bottles and injured. Dozens of Palestinian protesters were treated for the effects of tear gas inhalation.
The Israeli Cultural Minister, Miri Regev, on Thursday weighed in on the issue, saying that she had received “ many complaints of serious offense caused to the Christian community’s feelings”, and asked the Director General of Haifa Museums to remove the controversial artwork.
Yoav Gallant dismisses Palestinian state, calls to annex West Bank
“Settlements are the new Zionism of the 21st Century,” Galant said.
Israel must apply sovereignty to Area C of the West Bank, Aliya and Integration Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday during a campaign stop in the Binyamin region of the West Bank.
He also dismissed the possibility of creating a Palestinian state in the West Bank.
"I am clearly saying no, to a Palestinian state. It is not possible to have more than one state west of the Jordan River,” Gallant said.
“This is the place of the Jewish, Zionist and democratic state of Israel,” whose existence is baed on the strength of the biblical forefathers, Galant said.
“We will work to apply sovereignty in all of Judea and Samaria and to strengthen the settlements,” Gallant said, adding that “settlements are the only key to holding onto sovereignty and Zionism.”
“Settlements are the new Zionism of the 21st Century,” Gallant said.
These communities also play an important role in providing public safety, he said, adding they “are the eastern security belt for the State of Israel.”
He also warned terrorists against future attacks, explaining that anyone who tries to harm the state or its people is risking their life.
“We will get every terrorist. They will end their life in prison or in the cemetery," he said.
Gallant, who left the Kulanu party to join the Likud, had been the Housing and Construction Minister and was known for his strong support of the settlements, including advancing the building project in Efrat known on the Givat HaEitam hilltop.
On Sunday he braved the wet weather and the cold winds to settlements of Beit Aryeh, Neve Tzuf, Eli and Shiloh. His statements there place him to the right of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who does not support the application of sovereignty at this time, or at any time during his last eight years as prime minister.
A Palestinian from Hebron has rejected a $100 million Israeli offer to buy his home.
An inhabitant of the West Bank city of Hebron, Abdul Raouf Al-Mohtaseb rejected an Israeli offer worth $100 million for his house and shop, located in the centre of the old neighbourhood of Al-Sahla, Hebron, Arabi 21 reported on Friday.
Al-Mohtaseb has rejected all previous Israeli offers made to him for his house and shop, which overlook Ibrahimi Mosque in the centre of the old city.
“I rejected $100 million,” Al-Mohtaseb said, adding: “I will reject all the money on earth. I will not betray my land or my people. Money is fine, but only when it is clean.”
Speaking to Al-Mayadeen TV, Al-Mohtaseb said that the offers started at $6 million, before rising to $40 million and eventually reaching $100 million. He stressed however that he would not change his position, but rather that he would remain a guard of the Ibrahimi Mosque.
Israeli settlers in the city, he said, had suggested they could facilitate his travel to Australia or Canada to live a new life and found new businesses, but he also rejected this offer.
Al-Mohtaseb stressed that the higher the settlers raise their offer for his house, the more his love of the land rises, noting that he has 20 grandchildren who he hopes will spend their lives in Hebron. “I spent my childhood here, but my grandchildren are deprived of this,” he lamented.
In another interview, Al-Mohtaseb also explained the suffering of Palestinians in Hebron due to the Israeli occupation: “Once, I travelled to Jordan, but I felt so bad the next day and I cut my trip [short] and returned back to Hebron,” he said, stressing that: “However, we are living in a real prison.”
He said that a settler named Boaz once came to him and offered him $30 million for his house. He said that he took Boaz to his house and pointed to the bricks, asking him: “For which brick would you pay the $30 million?” Boaz replied: “I want to buy the whole house.” Al-Mohtaseb replied: “The $30 million is not enough for even one brick.”
Re: Israel land grab law 'ends hope of two-state solution'
Salaam
Another update
Israeli PM visits Chad to restore relations
Chad severed diplomatic relations with Israel in 1972
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed to Chad on Sunday for talks aimed at restoring diplomatic relations between Tel Aviv and N’Djamena.
“I am now leaving on another historic and important breakthrough, to Chad, a huge Muslim country bordering Libya and Sudan,” The Times of Israel newspaper quoted Netanyahu as saying in statements ahead of travelling to Chad.
“There will be big news,” Netanyahu said, hinting at the formal resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Chad severed diplomatic relations with Israel in 1972.
Netanyahu described his visit to Chad as “part of the revolution we are doing in the Arab and Muslim world”.
The Israeli premier claimed that Iran and the Palestinians have attempted to “prevent Israel’s diplomatic push”.
“It greatly worries, even greatly angers [them],” he said.
The resumption of bilateral ties between Chad and Israel is expected to be announced in a joint press conference between Netanyahu and Chadian President Idriss Deby.
Israeli Channel 10 reported Saturday night that Netanyahu is expected to offer his government’s support for Deby to prevent militants’ infiltration to Chad coming from Libya.
Netanyahu’s delegation to Chad includes senior officials from the defense and finance ministries, in an indication of his target to boost military and trade ties with Chad.
The Chadian President had made a rare visit to Israel in November.
London mosque hosts Israeli museum exhibition despite complaints
A London mosque has gone ahead with an Israeli Holocaust exhibition in the presence of several pro-Prevent figures and an Israeli embassy official.
5Pillars understands that the chairman of Eton Road Mosque, Bashir Chaudhry, received many complaints about the exhibition in Ilford on Sunday from Muslims who felt that all Israeli institutions should be boycotted in solidarity with the Palestinians.
Nevertheless, the Jewish News reported that 70 people attended the event, “defying a small protest outside.”
Among the attendees were the controversial Commissioner for Countering Extremism Sara Khan, Fiyaz Mughal of Faith Matters, Vivian Aisen, Director of Public Diplomacy at the Israeli Embassy, and pro Israel MP Mike Gapes.
Addressing the audience, Bashir Chaudhry said: “When I was asked to host this event I said we certainly shall support it and we shall learn something from it. This exhibition opened my eyes to how Jews and Muslims worked together in that difficult time.
“For the last couple of weeks, I’ve had emails and calls saying I shouldn’t be hosting this event here in a Muslim centre. I said to them: no, you are wrong. No protest was going to stop us and we were determined that whatever happens we would go ahead with the event.”
The exhibition demonstrated how Muslim Albanians protected their Jewish citizens, but also offered sanctuary to Jewish refugees who had arrived in Albania and faced deportation to concentration camps.
Speaking to the Jewish News, Yusuf Patel, Community Engagement Coordinator at Redbridge Council, added: “Here today, we are an example of standing strong and not allowing certain sections of some communities to disrupt this event. Our message to those extremists is: this is just the beginning.”
And Mike Gapes MP told the Jewish News: “I’m delighted that Yad Vashem’s exhibition has come here. My message to any protesters is that you’re not going to stop us: the values of this country and the co-operation of people of all faiths will continue and will succeed.”
On Friday Bashir Chaudhry told 5Pillars that he would have to consult with colleagues about hosting the event because he did not know about the Israeli institution mounting the exhibition.
After the Israeli connections to the event were explained to him, Mr Chaudhry said: “This was not explained to me, I was just told it was about Albanian Muslims who helped the Jews during the Second World War. Every Muslim has a strong sympathy with the Palestinian cause, there’s no doubt about that. I have lobbied for the Palestinians myself. But no one is doing anything about the situation there. So-called Muslim countries in the Muslim world are dealing behind closed doors with Israel, including Saudi Arabia.
“But I’ve just heard about this background so now I will have to consult with my colleagues about whether to cancel it or not.”
The Yad Vashem exhibition was due to take place recently at the Hussainiyat Al-Rasool Al-Adham centre in Golders Green to honour Muslim Albanians who helped, protected and rescued their Jewish neighbours during the Holocaust.
But the event was cancelled when it became known that Yad Vashem is based in occupied Jerusalem and is partially financed by and supports the state of Israel. The museum is located near where the Deir Yasir massacre of Palestinians by Zionists took place.
Zionist media claimed the mosque had been the victims of intimidation and threats, without providing any evidence for this.
In December the Eton Road Mosque invited members of the British Army, Pakistani and Israeli diplomats for an interfaith event to celebrate the Mawlid, Christmas and Chanukah together.
The Islamic Human Rights Commission has held its annual Genocide Memorial Day conference in London. This year’s conference put the spotlight on Western colonialism and how it has led to genocides all over the world. Roshan Muhammed Salih reports.
Palestinians condemn Chad’s normalisation with Israel
The Palestinian Islamic resistance movement Hamas has denounced Chad’s normalisation of relations with Israel as a “stab in the back” of the Palestinian nation, calling on the N’Djamena government to reconsider the move.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Chad, where he and Chadian President Idriss Deby “announced the renewal of diplomatic relations between Chad and Israel.”
In a statement on Monday, Hamas condemned Chad’s involvement in a “dangerous wave of normalisation with the Israeli occupation.”
The Palestinian movement further denounced Chad’s policy shift “as a stab in the back of the Palestinian people and their just cause” against the Israeli occupation of their homeland.
“While Hamas realises the dangerous repercussions of normalisation with the Israeli occupation on the Palestinian cause, it calls on Chad to reconsider its move, isolate the Israeli occupation, and continue supporting the Palestinian people’s freedom struggle against the occupation,” the statement read.
Deby visited Israel and met with Netanyahu in November, becoming the first Chadian leader to visit Tel Aviv 47 years after the two sides severed ties.
Back then, Israeli media cited sources in N’Djamena as saying that Deby’s visit was focused on “security” and that Tel Aviv had already been supplying weapons and other military equipment to Chad.
Over the past two years, Netanyahu has been seeking to secure a foothold in Africa. He has travelled to several African states in a bid to convince them to stop voting against the Israeli regime at the United Nations in favor of Palestinians.
The Israeli regime is now seeking to restore relations with Mali, a West African country, The Times of Israel reported on Monday.
The report, citing unnamed Israeli officials, said the regime is preparing for a visit by Mali’s Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga “in the coming weeks.”
Re: Israel land grab law 'ends hope of two-state solution'
Salaam
Another update
Blurb
Maajid Nawaz's funding and aliances exposed with proof. I have Alidawah with me, as we go through his recent call into LBC to confront this individual.
Using mainstream sources to prove the atrocities being done by the state of Israel academically. This is important when we present our case, which (understandably) can be more emotional. We need to strike a balance if we are to be taken seriously.
Re: Israel land grab law 'ends hope of two-state solution'
Salaam
More antisemitism.
Blurb
Democratic Congressmember Ilhan Omar of Minnesota is facing criticism today after commenting on a tweet by Glenn Greenwald. On Sunday, Greenwald tweeted, ”GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy threatens punishment for
@ilhan
MN and
@rashida
Tlaib over their criticisms of Israel. It’s stunning how much time US political leaders spend defending a foreign nation even if it means attacking free speech rights of Americans.” Rep. Omar retweeted his post and added the line: “It’s all about the Benjamins baby.” She later named AIPAC as the organization paying American politicians to be pro-Israel.
Below the Western media’s radar, tensions have been escalating in Israeli-occupied Jerusalem.
In the last week, a new confrontation has emerged over al-Aqsa Mosque compound, in the context of intensifying efforts by Israeli authorities and settlers to change the status quo and take over Palestinian properties in and around the Old City.
The Jordanian government recently decided to expand the composition of the Waqf – the body charged with managing al-Aqsa Mosque compound – to include a number of high-ranking Palestinians, alongside the long-standing Jordanian members.
Gates shuttered
The move came in response to what International Crisis Group’s Ofer Zalzberg described to Haaretz as “the erosion of the status quo” at the site, including the tolerance by Israeli occupation forces of “quiet worship” by Jews in the compound – “a relatively new development”, the paper noted.
Last Thursday, the newly expanded council inspected, and prayed at, a building located at the Gate of Mercy (Bab al-Rahma), shuttered by Israeli occupation authorities since 2003. At the time, the closure was justified on the grounds of alleged political activities and links to Hamas – but the building has remained closed ever since.
Overnight on Sunday, Israeli forces put new locks on metal gates that lead to the building. When Palestinian worshippers attempted to open the gates, clashes broke out, and a number of Palestinians were arrested by Israeli police.
Tuesday night saw renewed confrontations and arrests, while an Israeli court on Wednesday banned a dozen or so Palestinians from entering the compound. Both the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Hamas have condemned the developments, and warned of the “volatility” of the situation.
New facts on the ground
Events in the compound cannot be viewed in isolation from the bigger picture in Jerusalem, and in particular, what Israeli NGO Ir Amim has called an “accelerated, intensifying chain of new facts on the ground”, including “a mounting number of state-sponsored settlement campaigns inside Palestinian neighbourhoods”.
One expression of such campaigns is the eviction of Palestinian families from their homes so that settlers can take possession of the properties. Last Sunday, the Abu Assab family was expelled from their home in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, a fate facing hundreds more Palestinian families in occupied East Jerusalem.
What is taking place in Jerusalem is “an organised and systematic campaign of settlers, with the assistance of government agencies, to expel entire communities in East Jerusalem and to establish settlements in their stead”, in the words of an Israeli settlements’ monitor.
“It is very clear what they want: a Jewish majority here and in East Jerusalem,” Silwan-based activist Jawad Siyam told the Independent recently. His community is blighted by the presence of the settler-run “City of David” compound, which is set to receive a further boost from Israeli occupation authorities in the form of a planned cable-car station.
Jerusalem has largely been out of the headlines for awhile, with most attention – understandably – being paid to the Great March of Return protests in the Gaza Strip and the bogged-down efforts to secure relief from the blockade. Israeli elections are also on the horizon, and speculation continues over what precisely the Trump administration has got in store by way of a “peace plan”.
In the background, however, accelerated Israeli colonial policies in occupied East Jerusalem could be leading to a new boiling point.
Grassroots activism
The Waqf has stated that it seeks the opening of the Bab al-Rahma site, a demand that has the potential to become a focus for the kinds of mass protests witnessed in the summer of 2017. Then, metal detectors introduced by Israeli occupation authorities outside al-Aqsa Mosque compound sparked spontaneous demonstrations, with the devices ultimately removed.
Whether or not the Waqf chooses such a path, it could also find its hand forced by the pressure of grassroots activism; there is considerable concern among Palestinians that the Israeli government – along with the so-called “Temple movement” activists – are ultimately working towards a spatial division of, and establishment of formalised Jewish prayers within, al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Meanwhile, the United States is proceeding with the closure of its consulate in East Jerusalem, and relocation of Palestinian “affairs” to an office within the new embassy – a potent symbol, were one needed, that the Trump administration’s vision will be a stark departure from even the pretence of a “two-state solution”, and a rubber-stamp for Israel’s de-facto, single state.
This week’s events – however they develop – are a reminder, however, that while Israel and the US see Jerusalem as fair game for an accelerated process of colonisation and deepening imposition of Israeli sovereignty, the city’s Palestinian residents are experienced spoilers of Israeli designs, and may well soon reprise such a role.
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