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Labor’s ‘symbolic’ shift on Israel a split from Western allies

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There are not many occasions when a middle power with a relatively small population, like Australia, can make a significant impact on world affairs. Either on the field of battle or in diplomacy.

A few instances, however, immediately come to mind. In 1918 – the year of victory on the Western Front – the Australian Imperial Force played a fundamental part in the Allied victories that defeated the German army.

Then on April 24, 1951, Australian forces, with the support of Canadians, thwarted a major Chinese attack on Seoul, the capital of South Korea, during the Korean War. This proved central to the thwarting of North Korea’s intent to conquer its neighbour.

In diplomacy, Australia’s role in the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 stands out. Labor, led by prime minister Ben Chifley, was in office at the time and Bert Evatt was minister for external affairs.

In his position as president of the UN general assembly, and in other capacities, Evatt played an influential role in the decision to separate the region of Palestine into Jewish and Arab entities and to admit Israel into the UN in May 1948.

It’s against this historical background that the decision of the Albanese Labor government warrants consideration. On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced a change in Australia’s policy with respect to Israel.

Wong indicated that, from now on, Australia will refer to the area conquered by Israel in its defensive Six-Day War in 1967 as “the occupied Palestinian territories”.

In 2014, the Coalition government led by Tony Abbott used the term “disputed territories”.

In 1967, Israel conquered the West Bank from Jordan. Along with Gaza and Sinai from Egypt and the Golan Heights from Syria.

Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in 1982 after a treaty was negotiated between the two nations.

Then in 2005, Israel quit Gaza and left it in the control of the Palestinian Authority – it was soon taken over by the Islamist terrorist group Hamas, which wages rocket attacks on Israel from time to time.

Jordan has no wish to control the West Bank as it did following the collapse of the Ottoman empire in 1918. And Egypt does not want Gaza back. The border between Syria and Israel has remained relatively quiet since 1967.

Both Labor and the Coalition support the two-state solution to resolve the issues unresolved since 1967. Namely a Jewish state of Israel (which contains a large Arab minority, most of whom want to remain there) and a state inhabited primarily by Palestinians (in which some Jews may wish to remain).

Negotiations have broken down for a number of reasons, including the fact that Israel does not have an obvious negotiating partner.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, wants to see the destruction of Israel.

And the more moderate leadership of the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, is reluctant to do a land swap lest it be overthrown by Islamist extremists.

Moreover, successive Israeli governments, whether of the right or centre, are not going to risk the destruction of the Jewish state by surrendering territory central to the defence of the nation.

For Israel to survive, some land exchanges would be necessary.

In view of the evident complexities, it is not at all clear what a change of emphasis in the position of the Australian government can achieve. After all, Australia is not a big player in the Middle East.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has stated that despite the decision to declare the West Bank and Gaza are “occupied Palestinian territories” and Israeli settlements on the West Bank are “illegal”, he remains a strong supporter of Israel.

Wong has said much the same about the territories and commented that this is “consistent with the approach taken” by “the UK, New Zealand and the EU”.

So it is. But not with that of the US and Canada.

Wong has also said Australia regards the West Bank as including Jerusalem and Gaza. This means Australia seems to regard such traditional Jewish places in the Old City as the Western Wall and the Temple Mount as illegally occupied – rather than places whose status would be determined in a negotiated twostate solution between Israelis and Palestinians, whenever that might occur.

And then there is the matter of West Jerusalem. The Coalition during Scott Morrison’s prime ministership recognised West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital – rather than Tel Aviv. This followed a similar decision by president Donald Trump, which has not been reversed by President Joe Biden.

The Coalition’s decision has been overturned by the Albanese government. Yet the status of West Jerusalem should not be a matter of any doubt, since it is within the borders of Israel as determined by the UN in 1948.

Writing in the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s The Strategist on Wednesday, Roger Shanahan described the government’s changes announced this week as “relatively symbolic”. But symbols can be important. Moreover, Israel is an ally of Australia and the two nations benefit from mutual trade along with intelligence-sharing of considerable security benefit.

There is little doubt the changed policy was influenced by the Labor Party’s Left faction in the lead-up to the ALP national conference in Brisbane next week. But not only by the Left.

Former NSW premier Bob Carr, a member of the Labor Right, has also been in the vanguard of this movement.

The aim of the Left in this instance is for Australia to support the establishment of a Palestinian state. It’s not at all clear how this would work without a two-state solution in the first instance.

Then there is the likelihood Hamas could take over power in the West Bank as it did in Gaza.

Which would inevitably lead to more conflict.

During the past year the Albanese government has done well in the handling of foreign affairs and defence policy. The current disagreement over Israel is unfortunate since it is an international matter over which Australia can have little real impact. Unlike in 1918 and 1951.

Gerard Henderson is executive director of the Sydney Institute.

Article link: todayspaper.theaustralian.com.au/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=1f56aab3-c3b6-4992-89b4-d343b0fd0288
Article source: The Australian | Gerard Henderson | 12.8.23

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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Israel accused of torture, abuse of Palestinians

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The UN official tasked with examining Israel’s policies in the West Bank and Gaza presented in Geneva a scathing report accusing the Jewish State of collectively imprisoning the Palestinians, sexually abusing Palestinian women and “challenging the very foundations of the international legal order”.

In her Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese called on UN member states to prosecute Israeli officials under universal jurisdiction, and urged Palestinian Authority security forces to suspend cooperation with Israel “that may lead to violating fundamental rights and freedoms under international law”.

“A 10,700-word report cannot capture the scale and extent of the arbitrary deprivation of liberty in the occupied Palestinian territory,” she wrote. “Nor can it convey the suffering of millions of Palestinians who have, directly or indirectly, been affected.”

Albanese has a history of antisemitism, which she has not explicitly apologised for, instead denouncing criticism of her rhetoric as a smear campaign.

In her report, Albanese accused Israel of torture, mistreating Palestinian corpses, coercing gay Palestinians to provide information, and “invasive strip searches, sexual abuse and threats” toward women.

She also denounced Palestinian self-rule, saying it “has added a layer of repression to Palestinian life under occupation”.

“The security coordination between the Palestinian Authority and Israel has pioneered a direct connection between Palestinian and Israeli detention apparatuses,” she wrote.

“Arbitrary arrests and detention carried out by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the de facto authorities in the Gaza Strip have contributed to stifling Palestinians’ rights and freedoms,” she continued, not naming the Hamas terror organisation throughout her report.

Albanese did not mention Palestinian terrorism in her report. The closest she came was a sentence in the conclusion: “Without condoning crimes that Palestinians have committed during decades of illegal occupation, most criminal convictions of Palestinians have been the result of a litany of violations of international law, including due process violations, that taint the legitimacy of the administration of justice by the occupying power.”

She also accused Israel of “settler-colonial apartheid” and referred to Israeli communities past the Green Line as “colonies”.

The Italian lawyer also took Israel’s Supreme Court to task for approving its policies in the West Bank and Gaza.

In 2014, Albanese said that the “Jewish lobby” controls the US, in comments first exposed by The Times of Israel.

She has also sympathised with terror organisations, dismissed Israeli security concerns, compared Israelis to Nazis, accused the Jewish State of potential war crimes, said that Israel controlled the BBC and claimed that the Jewish State started wars out of greed.

Article link: https://www.australianjewishnews.com/israel-accused-of-torture-abuse-of-palestinians/
Article source: Australian Jewish News / The Times of Israel | Lazar Berman | July 17, 2023

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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The UN refuses to retract its condemnation of Israel over the Jenin military operation

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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Israel’s United Nations ambassador called on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to retract his condemnation of the country for its excessive use of force in its largest military operation in two decades targeting a refugee camp in the West Bank.

U.N. deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said the secretary-general conveyed his views on Thursday “and he stands by those views.”

Guterres, angered by the impact of the Israeli airstrikes and attack on the Jenin refugee camp, said the operation left over 100 civilians injured, uprooted thousands of residents, damaged schools and hospitals, and disrupted water and electricity networks. He also criticized Israel for preventing the injured from getting medical care and humanitarian workers from reaching everyone in need.

Israel’s two-day offensive meant to crack down on Palestinian militants destroyed the Jenin camp’s narrow roads and alleyways, forced thousands of people to flee their homes and killed 12 Palestinians. One Israeli soldier also was killed.

“I strongly condemn all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror,” Guterres told reporters.

Asked whether this condemnation applied to Israel, he replied: “It applies to all use of excessive force, and obviously in this situation, there was an excessive force used by Israeli forces.”

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan called the U.N. chief’s remarks “shameful, far-fetched, and completely detached from reality.” He said the Israeli military action in Jenin “focused solely on combating the murderous Palestinian terror targeting inno

cent Israeli civilians.”

Haq, the U.N. spokesperson, said Guterres “clearly condemns all of the violence that has been affecting the civilians in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, regardless of who is the perpetrator.”

The U.N. Security Council discussed Israel’s military operation in Jenin behind closed doors Friday at the request of the United Arab Emirates and received a briefing from Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari.

Erdan sent a letter to the 15 council members and Guterres before the council meeting saying that over the past year, 52 Israelis were killed by Palestinians, and many attacks were carried out from Jenin or from the area.

“The international community and the Security Council must unconditionally condemn the latest Palestinian terror attacks and hold Palestinian leadership accountable,” he said.

The Security Council took no action.

Article link: https://www.news10.com/news/international/ap-the-un-refuses-to-retract-its-condemnation-of-israel-over-the-jenin-military-operation/
Article source: News10 (Albany, NY) | Edith M. Lederer | Jul 8, 2023

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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UN blacklists Russian forces for killing children, striking schools

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UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations put Russian forces on its annual blacklist of countries that violate children’s rights in conflict for killing boys and girls and attacking schools and hospitals in Ukraine, according to a new report.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in the report to the Security Council that he is ‘‘appalled’’ by the high number of ‘‘grave violations’’ against children in Ukraine in 2022, ‘‘shocked’’ at the number of attacks on schools and hospitals, ‘‘concerned’’ by the detention of children, and ‘‘troubled’’ that some Ukrainian children have been transferred to Russia.

The UN chief did not put Israel on the blacklist for grave violations against 1139 Palestinian children, including 54 killings last year – as supporters had hoped.

Instead, he welcomed Israel’s engagement with the UN special envoy for children in armed conflict, Virginia Gamba, and its ‘‘identification of practical measures including those proposed by the UN’’ to protect children.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, told reporters Guterres ‘‘made a big mistake’’ in not listing the most extreme government in Israel’s history.

‘‘It is very disappointing to the Palestinian people and to the Palestinian children,’’ he said.

The secretary-general said in the report that last year children were disproportionately affected by conflict. He said the UN verified grave violations against 13,469 children, including 2985 who were killed, in 24 countries and one region.

‘‘Grave violations’’ include the recruitment and use of youngsters by combatants, killings and injuries, sexual violence, abductions, and attacks on schools and hospitals.

Guterres said the spread of conflicts to new areas contributed to a 140 per cent increase in grave violations in Myanmar and a 135 per cent increase in South Sudan. An upsurge in activity by armed groups, including al-Qaida and the Islamic State, also caused a severe deterioration of the situation in the central Sahel, particularly in Burkina Faso, leading to an 85 per cent increase in grave violations.

Violations also increased in Colombia, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Sudan and Syria, the secretary-general said.

Guterres said the Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups were listed for carrying out 480 attacks on schools and hospitals, and for killing children, in particular through their shelling and airstrikes on cities and town. The report said 136 Ukrainian children were killed and 518 injured.

The secretary-general urged Russian forces to abide by their obligations under international law and their own commitments to protect children, including by avoiding the military use of schools and hospitals, putting in place accountability and reparations measures, and exchanging information with the UN on all children in conflict-affected areas.

Guterres also urged Russia to ensure that no changes are made to the personal status of Ukrainian children, including their nationality.

Deportations of Ukrainian children have been a concern since Russia’s invasion, and the International Criminal Court increased pressure on Russia when it issued arrest warrants on March 17 for President Vladimir Putin and the Russian children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of abducting children from Ukraine.

The UN chief said he is also concerned by the number of grave violations against children by Ukrainian forces.

The report said Ukrainian armed forces were responsible for the deaths of 80 children and injuries to 175 others, as well as 212 attacks on schools and hospitals.

Article link: https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2023-06-22/un-puts-russian-forces-on-blacklist-for-killing-children-and-attacking-schools-in-ukraine
Article source: The Age / Associated Press | Edith M Lederer | 24.6.23

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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Abbas urges UN to suspend Israel during first commemoration of 1948 flight of the Palestinians

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UNITED NATIONS — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the United Nations on Monday to suspend Israel’s membership unless it implements resolutions establishing separate Jewish and Arab states and allows the return of Palestinian refugees.

Abbas spoke during the first official U.N. commemoration of the flight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from what is now Israel following the U.N.‘s partition of British-ruled Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states 75 years ago.

Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, had sent letters to General Assembly ambassadors condemning the commemoration and urging them not to attend what he called an “abominable event” and a “blatant attempt to distort history.” He said those who attended would be condoning antisemitism and giving a green light to Palestinians “to continue exploiting international organs to promote their libelous narrative.”

Israel and the United States were among those that boycotted the commemoration of what is known as the Nakba, or catastrophe.

In an hourlong emotion-charged speech, Abbas asked the world’s nations why more than 1,000 resolutions adopted by U.N. bodies regarding the Palestinians had never been implemented. He held up a letter from Israel’s foreign minister, Moshe Sharett, after the resolutions were adopted in 1947 and 1948 promising to create a Palestinian state and allow the return of refugees and said: “Either they do fulfill these obligations, or they stop becoming a member.”

The General Assembly, which had 57 member nations in 1947, approved the resolution dividing Palestine by a vote of 33-13 with 10 abstentions. The Jewish side accepted the U.N. partition plan and after the British mandate expired in 1948, Israel declared its independence. The Arabs rejected the plan and neighboring Arab countries launched a war against the Jewish state.

The Nakba commemorates the estimated 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes in 1948.

The fate of these refugees and their descendants — estimated at over 5 million across the Middle East — remains a major disputed issue in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Israel rejects demands for a mass return of refugees to long-lost homes, saying it would threaten the country’s Jewish character.

The Nakba commemoration comes as Israeli-Palestinian fighting has intensified and protests over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government and its plan to overhaul Israel’s judiciary show no sign of abating. Israel’s polarization and the Netanyahu government’s extremist positions have also sparked growing international concern.

Abbas specifically blamed Britain, as Palestine’s ruler before the 1947 partition, and the United States, Israel’s most important ally, for the flight of the Palestinians, saying they “bear political and ethical responsibility” for evicting Palestinians and implanting Israel “in our historic homeland.”

“And Israel would not have continued its hostility and aggression without the support it receives from these two countries,” he said.

Abbas strongly criticized Israel for calling itself the only democracy in the Middle East, saying “it is the only state in the world that occupies another people.” And he rejected Israel’s insistence that it “made the desert bloom,” saying Palestine pre-1947 was “very civilized,” green, with lakes and rivers, and exported oranges to Europe.

The Palestinian leader said the most important right Palestinians are demanding now is self-determination and an independent state based on June 1967 borders. He reiterated that the Palestinians have agreed to accept 22% of the 1947 territory as part of a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not the 44% they were given in the partition.

But he said the two-state solution is being destroyed, pointing to Israeli ministers “publicly calling for another nakba against the Palestinians” and Israelis calling for the killing of Palestinians, insisting defiantly that the Palestinians will never leave or give up East Jerusalem, which they want as their capital.

Abbas said Palestinians are not against Jews, but “I am against those who occupy our land.” He was born in Safed in the Galilee, now part of Israel, and said like other Palestinian refugees he wants to go home.

He said Israel should recognize and apologize for the Nakba, which has created the world’s longest refugee crisis, and pay compensation to the refugees and for land it now occupies. And he said that if these root causes are not addressed, the Palestinians will continue to pursue its rights and take legal action, especially at the International Criminal Court, which was greeted by loud applause from the large audience in a U.N. conference room.

Israel has remained defiant.

“We will fight the ‘Nakba’ lie with full strength and we won’t allow the Palestinians to continue to spread lies and distort history,” Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said in a statement.

As the 75th anniversary approached, the now 193-member General Assembly approved a resolution last Nov. 30 by a vote of 90-30 with 47 abstentions requesting the U.N. Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People to organize a high-level event on May 15 to commemorate the Nakba. The United States was among the countries that joined Israel in voting against the resolution.

Abbas called for the General Assembly to establish May 15 every year as an international day “to commemorate the Palestinian plight” and to call for Palestinians achieving their rights to an independent state.

Israel’s foreign ministry said dozens of countries canceled or downgraded their participation in Monday’s event in response to an Israeli campaign. But among the many groups supporting the Nakba commemoration and an independent Palestinian state whose representatives spoke on Monday were the Group of 77, a U.N. coalition of 134 mainly developing nations and China, and the 120-member Nonaligned Movement.

Speaking at the commemoration, U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo expressed “deep concern” that prospects for restarting negotiations toward a two-state solution “continue to diminish.”

DiCarlo pointed to the rapid expansion of Israeli settlements, which is “illegal under international law,” pervasive violence including by Israeli settlers, and Israel’s “unabated” evictions, demolitions and seizures of Palestinian-owned property.

She also cited the record number of Palestinian civilians killed last year since the U.N. started recording deaths in 2005, and the highest number of Israeli civilians killed since 2015, warning that this year is on track to match or surpass those numbers.

“Palestinians deserve a life of justice and dignity and the realization of their right to self-determination and independence,” the undersecretary-general for political affairs said. “The U.N. position is clear. The occupation must end.”

In a speech to the U.N. Security Council on April 25, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Malki renewed his call for countries that haven’t yet recognized the state of Palestine “to do so as a means to salvage the moribund two-state solution.”

To hurt Israel economically, Malki urged countries to ban products from Israeli settlements and trade with settlements, to “sanction those who collect funds for settlements and those who advocate for them and those who advance them,” and to list settler organizations that carry out killings and burnings as “terrorist organizations.”

And he urged the international community to take Israel to the International Court of Justice, the U.N.’s highest tribunal. The General Assembly asked the court in December to give its opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, a move denounced by Israel.

Article link: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/commemorate-palestinians-1948-flight-israel-time-99322456
Article source: ABC News / Associated Press | Edith M. Lederer | May 15, 2023

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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Israel to withhold PA tax revenue, impose other sanctions after Abbas’s UN success

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The security cabinet on Friday voted to approve a series of sanctions against the Palestinian Authority in response to Ramallah’s successful initiative at the United Nations last week to have the International Court of Justice draft a legal opinion regarding Israel’s conduct in the Palestinian territories.

Among the measures approved by the ministers, whose government took office last week, were seizing tax revenues Israel collects on behalf of the PA and channeling them to Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism; deducting from the revenues to offset payments the PA makes to Palestinian terrorists, attackers, security prisoners and their families; freezing Palestinian construction in much of the West Bank; and canceling some Palestinian VIP benefits.

The security cabinet vote represented a significant departure from the policy of the previous government, which in several ways sought to strengthen the Palestinian Authority, fearing that its collapse would only boost more extreme Palestinian forces such as Hamas. At the same time, that government’s prime ministers — Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid — would not meet with PA President Mahmoud Abbas, let alone hold negotiations toward a two-state solution with him.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long boasted of his efforts to isolate the PA and he has cobbled together the most right-wing government in Israeli history, made up of many lawmakers who support collapsing the PA and view it as a terror-inciting body. They do not share the view of the defense establishment, which stresses the importance of Israel’s security cooperation with the PA and has pushed successive governments to prevent its dissolution.

The security cabinet instead voted Friday to follow through on sanctions it had threatened to impose if the PA moved forward with its campaign against Israel in the international arena, with ministers approving five measures against Ramallah.

The first was to seize NIS 139 million ($39 million) in tax revenues that Israel collects on the PA’s behalf and hand them to the families of Israelis killed in Palestinian terror attacks, in line with legal suits on the matter.

The security cabinet also voted to further strip from the tax revenues the amount that the PA granted to Palestinian terrorists and the families of slain attackers over the previous year. Israel passed legislation mandating this deduction, but the previous government delayed its implementation over warnings regarding the PA’s imminent financial collapse.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) convenes the first meeting of his new government’s security cabinet in Tel Aviv on January 5, 2023. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

The ministers also voted to freeze construction plans for Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank, where Israel maintains both civilian and security control under the Oslo Accords. Israel has only approved a handful of such projects over the past decade, while green-lighting hundreds of plans in adjacent settlements. Right-wing lawmakers have long pledged to act against wildcat Palestinian construction in the area, and are acting on that pledge in the new government.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has also been given authority over a pair of Defense Ministry bodies responsible for West Bank construction, has ordered one of them — known as the Civil Administration — to cease enforcement against illegal settler construction while upping enforcement against illegal Palestinian construction, according to a Thursday report in the Walla news site.

The security cabinet also voted to approve stripping VIP benefits from PA officials involved in the effort to sanction Israel at the UN and other international arenas. These benefits allowed certain PA officials and their families permits to go through checkpoints that are closed to most Palestinians, or to move to the front of the line for faster passage.

In addition, the security cabinet said in a statement that the ministers voted to take action against organizations in the West Bank that promote terror activity or any hostile activity, “including “political or legal activity against Israel under the guise of humanitarian activity.”

Reacting to the measures, Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh said “the measures announced by the occupation government, foremost of which is the continued piracy of our money, will not discourage us from our position in pursuing their government in international institutions and forums.”

He called on the international community “to force the occupation government to release the billions of shekels that have been pirated.”

Israel already under the previous government outlawed seven Palestinian rights groups, claiming they were acting on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group. But Jerusalem has yet to publicize evidence of the claim, which has been rejected by a number of Israel’s European allies.

In an interview Friday on Kan news, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan described the PA as “our enemy,” adding that the Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour “is the representative of an enemy that pays terrorists, that incites, that leads to the murder of innocent civilians.”

He spoke to Kan a day after the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount, which led many countries to rap Israel for stoking tensions by allowing the move to take place.

Israel insists that the visit was in line with the fragile status quo at the site, whereby Muslims may visit and pray and non-Muslims may only visit during limited windows. It also argued that ministers have visited the site in the past, though none had the reputation of Ben Gvir, a self-described disciple of the late extremist rabbi Meir Kahane who was convicted in the past of terror-related offenses and has called for upending the Temple Mount status quo.

While the Palestinians had urged the Security Council to issue a statement rebuking Israel for Ben Gvir’s visit, no such move was being planned, two diplomats in the top body told The Times of Israel.

The Thursday Security Council session came one week after the UN General Assembly voted to adopt a resolution requesting that the ICJ submit a legal opinion determining whether Israel’s “occupation” of the Palestinians is permanent and recommending steps that should be taken if that is the case.

Article link: https://www.timesofisrael.com/ministers-slap-sanctions-on-palestinian-authority-over-efforts-against-israel-at-un/
Article source: ToI Staff | Times of Israel | 6 January 2023

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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Israel to withhold PA tax revenue, impose other sanctions after Abbas’s UN success

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The security cabinet on Friday voted to approve a series of sanctions against the Palestinian Authority in response to Ramallah’s successful initiative at the United Nations last week to have the International Court of Justice draft a legal opinion regarding Israel’s conduct in the Palestinian territories.

Among the measures approved by the ministers, whose government took office last week, were seizing tax revenues Israel collects on behalf of the PA and channeling them to Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism; deducting from the revenues to offset payments the PA makes to Palestinian terrorists, attackers, security prisoners and their families; freezing Palestinian construction in much of the West Bank; and canceling some Palestinian VIP benefits.

The security cabinet vote represented a significant departure from the policy of the previous government, which in several ways sought to strengthen the Palestinian Authority, fearing that its collapse would only boost more extreme Palestinian forces such as Hamas. At the same time, that government’s prime ministers — Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid — would not meet with PA President Mahmoud Abbas, let alone hold negotiations toward a two-state solution with him.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long boasted of his efforts to isolate the PA and he has cobbled together the most right-wing government in Israeli history, made up of many lawmakers who support collapsing the PA and view it as a terror-inciting body. They do not share the view of the defense establishment, which stresses the importance of Israel’s security cooperation with the PA and has pushed successive governments to prevent its dissolution.

The security cabinet instead voted Friday to follow through on sanctions it had threatened to impose if the PA moved forward with its campaign against Israel in the international arena, with ministers approving five measures against Ramallah.

The first was to seize NIS 139 million ($39 million) in tax revenues that Israel collects on the PA’s behalf and hand them to the families of Israelis killed in Palestinian terror attacks, in line with legal suits on the matter.

The security cabinet also voted to further strip from the tax revenues the amount that the PA granted to Palestinian terrorists and the families of slain attackers over the previous year. Israel passed legislation mandating this deduction, but the previous government delayed its implementation over warnings regarding the PA’s imminent financial collapse.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) convenes the first meeting of his new government’s security cabinet in Tel Aviv on January 5, 2023. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

The ministers also voted to freeze construction plans for Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank, where Israel maintains both civilian and security control under the Oslo Accords. Israel has only approved a handful of such projects over the past decade, while green-lighting hundreds of plans in adjacent settlements. Right-wing lawmakers have long pledged to act against wildcat Palestinian construction in the area, and are acting on that pledge in the new government.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has also been given authority over a pair of Defense Ministry bodies responsible for West Bank construction, has ordered one of them — known as the Civil Administration — to cease enforcement against illegal settler construction while upping enforcement against illegal Palestinian construction, according to a Thursday report in the Walla news site.

The security cabinet also voted to approve stripping VIP benefits from PA officials involved in the effort to sanction Israel at the UN and other international arenas. These benefits allowed certain PA officials and their families permits to go through checkpoints that are closed to most Palestinians, or to move to the front of the line for faster passage.

In addition, the security cabinet said in a statement that the ministers voted to take action against organizations in the West Bank that promote terror activity or any hostile activity, “including “political or legal activity against Israel under the guise of humanitarian activity.”

Reacting to the measures, Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh said “the measures announced by the occupation government, foremost of which is the continued piracy of our money, will not discourage us from our position in pursuing their government in international institutions and forums.”

He called on the international community “to force the occupation government to release the billions of shekels that have been pirated.”

Israel already under the previous government outlawed seven Palestinian rights groups, claiming they were acting on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group. But Jerusalem has yet to publicize evidence of the claim, which has been rejected by a number of Israel’s European allies.

In an interview Friday on Kan news, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan described the PA as “our enemy,” adding that the Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour “is the representative of an enemy that pays terrorists, that incites, that leads to the murder of innocent civilians.”

He spoke to Kan a day after the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount, which led many countries to rap Israel for stoking tensions by allowing the move to take place.

Israel insists that the visit was in line with the fragile status quo at the site, whereby Muslims may visit and pray and non-Muslims may only visit during limited windows. It also argued that ministers have visited the site in the past, though none had the reputation of Ben Gvir, a self-described disciple of the late extremist rabbi Meir Kahane who was convicted in the past of terror-related offenses and has called for upending the Temple Mount status quo.

While the Palestinians had urged the Security Council to issue a statement rebuking Israel for Ben Gvir’s visit, no such move was being planned, two diplomats in the top body told The Times of Israel.

The Thursday Security Council session came one week after the UN General Assembly voted to adopt a resolution requesting that the ICJ submit a legal opinion determining whether Israel’s “occupation” of the Palestinians is permanent and recommending steps that should be taken if that is the case.

Article link: https://www.timesofisrael.com/ministers-slap-sanctions-on-palestinian-authority-over-efforts-against-israel-at-un/
Article source: ToI Staff | Times of Israel | 6 January 2023

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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Israel and Palestinians clash at UN Security Council meeting as tensions rise

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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Israel’s U.N. ambassador accused the Palestinians on Wednesday of stabbing a knife into any chance for reconciliation by seeking an advisory opinion from the U.N.’s highest court on Israel’s decades-old occupation — and the Palestinian U.N. envoy accused Israel’s new government of seeking to crush its people.

The always contentious monthly U.N. Security Council meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was even more vitriolic and threatening this week, and U.N. Mideast envoy Tor Wennesland warned that “a dangerous cycle of violence persists on the ground, amidst increased political tension and a stalled peace process.”

“Israelis and Palestinians remain on a collision course amid escalating political and inflammatory rhetoric as well as heightened violence in the West Bank — both with potentially grave consequences,” he said. “Absent a concerted and collective effort by all, with strong support from the international community, spoilers and extremists will continue to pour more fuel on the fire and we will move still further from a peaceful resolution of the conflict.”

Underlying the ongoing violence is the Palestinians’ decades-long quest for an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, territories seized by Israel in the 1967 war. Israel considers the West Bank to be disputed territory and has built dozens of settlements that are now home to roughly 500,000 Jewish settlers.

In the latest confrontation, the Palestinians and their supporters won U.N. General Assembly approval on Dec. 30 of a resolution asking the International Court of Justice or ICJ to intervene in one of the world’s longest-running and thorniest disputes and render an advisory opinion on the legality of Israeli policies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israel’s new hardline government responded on Jan. 6 by approving steps to penalize the Palestinians in retaliation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they were aimed at what he called “an extreme anti-Israel” step at the United Nations.

The measures include withholding $39 million from the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority and transferring the funds instead to a compensation program for the families of Israeli victims of Palestinian militant attacks, deducting an amount equal to the sum the authority paid last year to families of Palestinian prisoners and those killed in the conflict including militants implicated in attacks against Israelis, and ending VIP travel privileges for leading Palestinians.

The Palestinians responded by getting more than 90 countries to sign a statement expressing “deep concern” at penalizing the Palestinians for going to the court, and urging Israel to reverse the punitive measures. Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen rejected the statement.

At Wednesday’s Security Council meeting, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan accused the Palestinians of drafting “a poisonous and destructive resolution” referring Israel to the ICJ “with the sole purpose of destroying Israel as the Jewish state.”

He claimed this has been a Palestinian goal since before Israel’s founding in 1948, and said one weapon they use “is the manipulation and abuse of international bodies” to force Israel to agree to their demands, which he called “multilateral terror.”

Erdan pointed to anti-Israel activities spurred by the Palestinians at the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court, and said that with the adoption of the General Assembly resolution on the ICJ, “the Palestinians stabbed a knife in the heart of any chances for dialogue or reconciliation.”

He also accused the Palestinians and the U.N. of exaggerating Palestinian casualties and under-reporting and discriminating against Israeli victims. While 2022 “may have been the deadliest year for Palestinian terrorists,” he said, “it was also the year with the most terror attacks committed against Israelis in a decade.”

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, told the council the new Netanyahu-led government has said openly its program is to increase settlements, “annexation, systemic discrimination and oppression.”

“It does not recognize our rights anywhere, and proclaims a right for its settlers everywhere,” Mansour said.

The international community overwhelmingly considers settlements to be illegal. Israel’s annexation of east Jerusalem, home to the city’s most sensitive holy sites, also is not internationally recognized.

Mansour said “peace is still possible,” but only if the Security Council and the international community “stand up to the supremacists” and take action to end Israel’s occupation, ensure accountability for its annexation of Jerusalem, recognize the state of Palestine, and reject Israeli settlers in occupied territory.

“We face the absurd situation where impunity is enjoyed by those who violate the law and collective punishment is endured by those entitled to its protection,” Mansour told the council.

By —

Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press

Article link: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/israel-and-palestinians-clash-at-un-security-council-meeting-as-tensions-rise
Article source: PBS News Hour

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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UN seeks court opinion on ‘violation’ of Palestinian rights

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Palestinians are welcoming a vote by the United Nations General Assembly to ask the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

“The time has come for Israel to be a state subject to law, and to be held accountable for its ongoing crimes against our people,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh said on Twitter that Friday’s vote “reflects the victory of Palestinian diplomacy”.

While the court’s rulings are not binding, they influence international opinion.

It last addressed the conflict in 2004, when the assembly asked it to consider the legality of an Israeli-built separation barrier.

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour thanked countries that backed the measure.

“We trust that regardless of your vote today, if you believe in international law and peace, you will uphold the opinion of the International Court of Justice, when delivered,” Mr Mansour said, going on to urge countries to “stand up” to Israel’s new, hard-line government.

Israel didn’t speak at the assembly, which voted during the Jewish Sabbath.

In a written statement beforehand, Ambassador Gilad Erdan called the measure “outrageous,” the UN “morally bankrupt and politicised” and any potential decision from the court “completely illegitimate”.

Conflict history

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war.

The Palestinians seek all three areas for an independent state.

Israel considers the West Bank to be disputed territory and has built dozens of settlements that are now home to roughly 500,000 Jewish settlers.

It also has annexed east Jerusalem and considers the entire city to be its capital.

An additional 200,000 Israelis live in settlements built in east Jerusalem that Israel considers to be neighbourhoods of its capital.

Palestinian residents of the city face systematic discrimination, making it difficult for them to build new homes or expand existing ones.

The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements to be illegal.

Israel’s annexation of east Jerusalem, home to the city’s most sensitive holy sites, also is not internationally recognised.

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Two years later, the Hamas militant group seized control of the territory from the forces of internationally recognised President Mahmoud Abbas.

Friday’s resolution asked the International Court of Justice to look at the legal consequences of Israeli measures, which it said are “aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem”.

It also asks for an opinion on how all Israeli policies affect the legal status of its occupation, “and what are the legal consequences that arise for all states and the United Nations from this status”.

Lobbying for the vote

The vote was 87-26, with 53 abstentions.

It followed approvals of the draft resolution in the assembly’s budget committee earlier on Friday and in the Special Political and Decolonisation Committee on November 11.

Israel carried out widespread behind-the-scenes lobbying efforts against the measure and decried the assembly for voting after the Sabbath began on Friday evening.

Ahead of the vote, outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid personally contacted about 60 world leaders, while figurehead President Isaac Herzog spoke to many counterparts, according to an Israeli diplomatic official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing private diplomatic efforts.

The United Nations has a long history of passing resolutions critical of Israel, and Israel and the US accuse the world body of being unfairly biased.

Israel has accused the Palestinians, who have non-member observer state status at the United Nations, of trying to use the UN to circumvent peace negotiations and impose a settlement.

The Palestinians say that Israeli officials, especially incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are not serious about seeking peace as they continue to expand settlements on occupied lands.

The last round of substantive peace talks broke down in 2009.

Before the November 11 committee vote, Mr Erdan told UN diplomats that approving the resolution would destroy “any hope for reconciliation” with the Palestinians and perpetuate the conflict.

He warned that involving the court “in a decades-old conflict only to dictate one side’s demands on the other ensures many more years of stagnation” and give the Palestinians “the perfect excuse to continue boycotting the negotiating table to perpetuate the conflict”.

After that committee vote, Mr Mansour said “our people are entitled to freedom,” stressing that “nothing justifies standing with Israeli occupation and annexation, its displacement and dispossession of our people”.

The court is expected to solicit opinions from dozens of countries before issuing its opinion months from now.

Israel has not said whether it will cooperate.

Previous international attempts to resolve conflict

It is not the first time the world court has been asked to weigh in on the conflict.

In 2004, the court said that a separation barrier Israel built was “contrary to international law” and called on Israel to immediately halt construction.

Israel has said the barrier is a security measure meant to prevent Palestinian attackers from reaching Israeli cities.

The Palestinians say the structure is an Israeli land grab because of its route through east Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank.

Israel has ignored the 2004 ruling, and Friday’s resolution demands that Israel comply with it, stop construction of the wall and dismantle it.

It says Israel should also make reparations for all damage caused by the wall’s construction, “which has gravely impacted the human rights” and living conditions of Palestinians.

The request for the court’s advisory opinion is part of a wide-ranging resolution titled, Israeli practices and settlement activities affecting the rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the occupied territories.

Article link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-31/un-seeks-court-opinion-on-violation-of-palestinian-rights/101819104
Article source: ABC | AP | 31.12.22

2023-10-24 01:28:30.000000
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