The latest report by the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process painted a bleak picture for Palestine. Gone are the days when UN representatives attempted to conflate diplomatic negotiations with the Palestinian Authority's cooperation over the coronavirus pandemic. In 2020, the Palestinian economy contracted by 10 to 12 per cent; it's "one of the largest annual contractions since the Palestinian Authority was established […]
Ramona Wadi, Middle East Monitor
77 posts
A look at Israeli colonisation from the inside requires a thorough reckoning. In Hagar Kotef's recent study, The Colonising Self: Or, Home and Homelessness in Israel/Palestine, settlement narratives are juxtaposed with accountability. Running parallel to Palestinian memory, Kotef immediately embarks upon the concept of settlement and settler narratives, and examines the extent to which these narratives can threaten or colonise Palestinian memory itself. The book is […]
With US President Joe Biden's first call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now out of the way, the first inklings of the new administration's diplomacy regarding Palestine and Israel have been made public. Biden, it seems, will incorporate elements of the Trump administration's policies while promoting the two-state paradigm, even as both illegal annexation and the "Abraham Accords" normalisation deals have dealt a permanent blow […]
The Biden administration is adopting a confusing position regarding Jerusalem, signalling a possible effort to square the circle of taking the US back to the fold of international consensus on Palestine and Israel, while maintaining the gifts which former US President Donald Trump handed on a plate to Israel. As usual, Washington is being duplicitous. Also as normal, the PA is staying silent. In a recent […]
The Palestinian Authority's recent, and unusual, response to the EU's statement condemning Israel's latest settlement expansion would have been welcomed if it came from a consistent political position. In the wake of Israel's impending annexation, it seems that the PA has caught up with the ramifications of territorial loss. Then again, even in this instance, the PA sabotaged the opportunity to clarify Palestinian demands, with its […]
At the rate that it is failing the people of Palestine, the Palestinian Authority will only stop jeopardising their cause when it is declared to be completely obsolete, more so than the two-state compromise. At this year's first meeting of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Palestine's UN Permanent Observer Riyad Mansour put […]
When news of the "Abraham Accords" broke last year, Israel's impending annexation of the occupied West Bank was sidelined. The new diplomatic opportunities in line with what the international community itself pursues with Israel, and which also validated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claims that the Palestinian cause was no longer a priority for Arab countries, gave international diplomats some breathing space. For months, the focus […]
US President Joe Biden announced the restoring of diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Authority and the resumption of humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people, in a bid to bring the country back to international consensus after the Trump administration pursued a different form of diplomatic relations which culminated in the Abraham Accords. According to Acting US Ambassador to the UN, Richard Mills, the move guarantees "the best way to […]
"An unprecedented place," is how Israel Hayom described the Trump administration's scheming with Israel against the Palestinian people, during an interview with outgoing US Ambassador David Friedman. Unprecedented, that is if we isolate the Trump era from decades of US and international foreign policy. This distinction was reinforced by Friedman in his assessment of the recent years juxtaposed against that of the Obama administration and its […]
The Palestinian legislative and presidential elections are set to be held in May and July respectively, and the Palestinian Authority is following US President Joe Biden's diplomatic path meticulously. A democratic veneer which seeks to reinstall current PA leader Mahmoud Abbas is in the offing, and Fatah is obliging. Biden's administration-in-waiting called upon the PA to hold elections. Not for a democratic and free representation of […]
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is "deeply concerned" about Israel's ongoing settlement expansion, the Palestinian Authority's official media, Wafa news agency, has reported. Another 800 settlement units will endanger two-state politics, but will do nothing to endanger the UN's stranglehold over Palestine. If settlements endanger the two-state framework, there is always the collateral damage that arises from such human rights violations – forced displacement – and […]
The UN has mastered the art of dissociating itself from colonisation, especially that which it has supported through international consensus. Former UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov, who in 2019 blamed Palestinians for Israel's aggression against Gaza, has left his post with a parting message that illustrates how Palestine is an international project and one that endorses a false equivalence which […]
"Shocking scenes of violence" was how the Jewish Insider described last week's storming of the Capitol Building in Washington DC by supporters of outgoing US President Donald Trump. It is a dissociative statement, one that does not equate the US with violence, apart from glossing over the fact that Trump himself encouraged and incited such action in his own country. But perhaps the greatest dissociation comes […]
In what reads like a tentative attempt to bring the US back on track when it comes to international diplomacy, the US Foreign Affairs Committee representative, Gregory Meeks, has said that humanitarian aid for the Palestinians may be resumed in order to prioritise two-state politics. Clearly advocating for the two-state compromise which would, allegedly, provide "both parties with self-determination", Meeks stated, "We may need to restart […]
After returning to security coordination with Israel just days after Joe Biden was declared the winner of the US presidential election, the Palestinian Authority wasted no time in reassuring the international community that it was ready to resume negotiations with Israel. No criticism was publicly voiced by PA leader Mahmoud Abbas over what such negotiations would entail, after Israel consolidated its position internationally through the lauded […]
When US President Donald Trump leaves office in three weeks' time, he will have laid the foundations for a further downgrading of the Palestinian struggle for freedom. It is, perhaps, little wonder that the Palestinian Authority was so eager to resume the illusion of "normal" in preparation for improved relations with the incoming Biden administration. As a result of the normalisation agreements reached between Israel and […]
In yet another scripted audience, the Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh met the outgoing UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, and made an inaccurate statement about the UN and international law with regard to Palestine. "The United Nations is a guarantor of international law and legitimacy," he declared. "It rejected the deal of the century and annexation, and strengthened the […]
The EU's recent financial donation to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) leaves no doubt about the motive. As the agency continues to face an unprecedented year-on-year financial crisis due to the US cancelling its regular and very large donations and insufficient support from the international community, the EU gave an additional $4.8 million to help alleviate the extra burdens imposed by […]
Politicians are portraying Palestine in terms of a state of emergency, while avoiding any public recognition of the fact that colonialism has created permanent instability there that is exacerbated whenever humanitarian needs are amplified. Israel's illegal blockade on Gaza is once again the subject of a petition, signed by 24 members of the European Parliament. Calling upon Israel to end the blockade, the petition states, in […]
The 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan designed for Palestinians living in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) is expected to reach 1.8 million out of 2.45 million people who have been identified as vulnerable and in need of humanitarian aid, with 70 per cent of the allocated funds going to Gaza. A joint press release by the Palestinian Authority's Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh and the UN's Humanitarian Coordinator […]
If we were to listen only to the international community's rhetoric about the impending Israeli annexation of Palestinian territory, the impression would be that the plans are more obsolete than the two-state compromise. It is impossible to forget how, at the first inkling of Arab leaders' capitulation to Israel in terms of normalising relations, notably the United Arab Emirates, the international community treated the postponement of […]
Identity and war are themes explored in Inaam Kachaci's novel, The American Granddaughter (Interlink Books, 2020). The main character is Zeina, an Iraqi-born US citizen, who is thoroughly immersed in US culture while retaining links to her roots. She applies for a position as a translator with the US Army for diverging reasons. It is the aftermath of 9/11 and the US "War on Terror" is […]
Last November, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced that it ran out of funds, with Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini calling for $70 million in aid to ensure the continuation of basic needs and services for Palestinian refugees. The mismanagement of funds and corruption at the hands of the previous UNRWA administration, combined with the US decision to withdraw funding from the […]
Thanks in part to Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas's decision to restore relations with Israel, pressure is increasing on the leadership to resume negotiations with the occupation state "without preconditions". During a virtual regional security meeting hosted by Bahrain, Israel's Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi described the normalisation agreements between the settler-colonial enterprise and Gulf States as an opportunity for the Palestinian people. "The Abraham Accords do […]
The UN's hypocritical manner of dealing with the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People finds a contender in the way of the Palestinian Authority. On behalf of PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, Palestine's Permanent Observer to the UN Riyad Mansour addressed a virtual UN meeting with a statement that portrayed the recognition of one paradox while creating others equally harmful to the Palestinian people's political […]
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres never misses an opportunity to illustrate how the international community has failed Palestine and its people. On 29 November, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People — or to be more accurate, the anniversary of the UN conspiracy to allow Israel to be established as a colonial project in Palestine through the 1947 Partition Plan, established in UNGA Resolution 181 […]
Two statements from the EU within a few days of each other portray the duplicity of its policy towards Palestine. With the two-state compromise always looming in the background as a reminder of how the international community never intended Palestinians to have their own state, let alone liberate themselves from Israel's colonial land grab, the EU is praising the Palestinian Authority's return to security coordination while […]
If there is one thing in which the Palestinian Authority excels, it is theatre of the absurd. Following its announcement that, based on international reassurances, there will be a resumption of security coordination with Israel, the PA's official news outlet Wafa published a news brief detailing the Palestinian leadership's welcome of commendations from international bodies over the decision. However, would the international community ever contradict the […]
US President-elect Joe Biden has not yet taken office, but Israel's false security narrative is already taking precedence over everything else. Meanwhile, within the ranks of the Palestinian Authority which gambled with Palestinian lives during outgoing President Donald Trump's tenure, the next step has been to uphold that narrative by restoring security coordination — collaboration by any other name — with the Israeli occupation authorities. That […]
There are a couple of meaningful things that the EU should do, without delay: it should drop the pretence that it supports the Palestinian people's right to their own land, and it should clarify the purpose of its diplomacy, which is to safeguard the two-state rhetoric. On Monday, EU representatives visited Givat Hamatos, a site between Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank which has […]
The US "deal of the century" may be scrapped when President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January, but its ramifications will not necessarily be anathema to the incoming administration. Just as outgoing President Donald Trump utilised decades of international and US foreign policy to make a series of concessions to Israel, the same will happen when Biden returns the US to the fold of the two-state […]
The US elections were characterised by the drive to oust Donald Trump from the White House. The Palestinian Authority, crippled as it is with the Trump administration's policies obliterating almost all of its political presence, joined the chorus supporting Joe Biden. For the PA, a Biden presidency represents an opportunity to relegate the "deal of the century" to history, albeit one that provided a string of […]
The Palestinian Authority’s annual outbursts against the Balfour Declaration do not match its politics. The document which normalised the colonisation of Palestine was published on 2 November, 1917. Palestinians quite rightly view it as one of the main causes of their current status. The PA, however, doesn’t seem to be able to join the dots between historical and current politics. If the Balfour Declaration gave vital […]
The US-Israeli narrative on Palestine goes a step further than the designated humanitarian label which the international community imposed upon the Palestinian people. As US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman predicted that up to ten Arab countries would normalise relations with the settler-colonial state, Palestinians, he said “must stop clinging to their victim narrative”. Friedman was speaking during an online event for members of Friends of Tel Aviv […]
Haim Bresheeth Žabner’s detailed study of the origins and role of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are based on one main observation: Israel is defined by its military. An Army Like No Other: How the Israel Defence Forces Made a Nation (Verso Books, 2020) delves into Zionist settler-colonialism and its violence, the latter being a necessity, as the author states: “An obvious element of any settler-colonial […]
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman has left no doubt about the rationale behind the recent normalisation agreements with Arab states, praised by the international community as an opportunity to kick-start negotiations about the two-state compromise. In the background, the UAE’s lauded diplomacy, which postponed the annexation process and was hailed as an achievement for the Palestinian people, has served its purpose to normalise the next […]
The UN’s non-binding and generalised Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have provided a diversion in current EU and Palestinian politics. On the brink of experiencing additional dispossession and forced displacement as the normalisation agreements between Israel and Gulf states open the door to more anti-Palestine diplomacy in the region, Palestinians have been swept to the periphery as officials debate ambiguities instead of seeking ways to counter Israel’s […]
The major political concessions to Israel made by US President Donald Trump have influenced both the occupation state and the Palestinian Authority in terms of who each would prefer to see winning next month’s presidential election. A recent poll revealed the Israeli public’s preference for Trump, while the PA has taken the opposite stance. “If we are going to live another four years with President Trump, […]
Why does the Palestinian leadership never discuss the relationship between those responsible for the colonisation of Palestine and those who are complicit in its continuation? The PA remains locked in a cycle that ignores its own complicity with the international community and the Israeli occupation. Is the Palestinian Authority even aware of its contradictions? Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad Al-Maliki was clearly oblivious when he addressed the […]
For decades since Israel established itself in Palestine, there has been no gradual relinquishing of slogans such as its “right to exist”. The Zionist colonial narrative, which is not only built upon the foundations of power imbalance, but also its preservation, maintains multiple possibilities to threaten and warn others, even as Israel continues to structure its impunity in such a way that the international community will […]
For all the rhetoric in which the Palestinian Authority tries to assimilate with the Palestinian people’s resilience, there is no reason to think that the Palestinian leadership is attempting a different political strategy. On the contrary, not even the compromise required of the PA by the international community has served the leadership. In the lull before Israel decides how and when to proceed with annexation, the PA […]
Since the normalisation agreements of the UAE and Bahrain with Israel were announced, the UN’s only response has been to communicate its approval for a new phase which, in international rhetoric, paves the way to reignite diplomatic negotiations for “peace”. The approach was beneficial for everyone except the people of Palestine. Bridging the gap between the US “deal of the century” and the two-state paradigm proved […]
On the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas had the opportunity to deliver a powerful speech and back it up with a change in Palestinian politics. He did neither. On the contrary, Abbas’s mild criticism of the international organisation was mellowed by yet another avowal to “wait”, rather than work on a Palestinian alternative to end decades of […]
The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Minister, Riyad Al-Maliki, has said that it will forego its six-month presidency of the Arab League due to the organisation’s attitude towards the normalisation of relations with Israel at the expense of the Palestinian cause. “The State of Palestine has decided to relinquish and forsake its right to preside over the Arab league Council because it is not an honour for it […]
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman is reeking of fake accomplishments. The “conflict”, he has claimed, will be over with the normalisation agreements which Arab countries are seeking with Israel. Israel Hayom’s report is quite telling in several respects, notably the irrelevance of Palestinians as constructed by US-Israeli scheming, and to which the UN has no objection. Indeed, where is the so-called international opposition to the […]
In the aftermath of the Arab League’s failure to condemn normalisation of relations with Israel, Palestinian unity is once again on the agenda. Whether this is a reaction to the realisation that Palestinians have been abandoned, or a sincere effort to bring politics to the people remains to be seen. However, the Palestinian Authority’s dominance is evident, and harmful to the prospects of the Palestinian people’s […]
Reports in the Times of Israel indicate that the annexation of land from the occupied West Bank will be suspended until 2024, confirming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that annexation is still on the agenda. With a somewhat clearer picture of how Israel utilises delays for colonial gain, the international community should be using the same timeframe to prevent Israel from further expansion but, of course, […]
Should we take the Nobel Peace Prize seriously? This year’s nominations include two polar opposites: Cuba’s Henry Reeves Brigade, whose medical interventions in the coronavirus context have placed the country’s internationalism on the world stage; and US President Donald Trump, nominated by a far-right Norwegian politician for his role in the UAE-Israeli normalisation deal. It is the second time that Trump has been nominated by the […]
Prior to the UAE-Israeli normalisation agreement, when speculation over annexation of the occupied West Bank was rife, Israel’s Agriculture Minister Alon Schuster spoke in favour of “cultivating settlements”; his enthusiasm for breaking international law was shared by Defence Minister Benny Gantz. Such a move, according to Schuster and Gantz, would benefit both Palestinians and Israelis in the occupied West Bank, ostensibly to “enable coexistence in accordance […]
Predictably, Donald Trump’s Senior Adviser Jared Kushner exhibited no historical discernment when justifying the normalisation of relations between Israel and the UAE, and how this will affect the Palestinian people’s political rights. Palestinians, he declared, should not be “stuck in the past.” This was a sweeping statement typical not only of the US, but also the international community and its abstractions about “peace” and “negotiations”, which […]
Following a brief interval in which all attention was focused on whether Israel would follow through with its annexation plans, world leaders are now back with their usual rhetoric about peace negotiations and “saving” the defunct two-state paradigm. The UN, of course, is at the helm of this narrative, hailing the UAE-Israeli normalisation agreement as a step towards “peace”. All that is left is for world […]
Contrary to what the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s Secretary-General Saeb Erekat stated confidently a few months ago, Israel has not stopped demolishing the homes of Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank. In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, an agreement riddled with loopholes was reached in which Israel agreed to halt home demolitions temporarily, with the exception of buildings alleged to be a security threat […]
While Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) normalised relations, based upon a US-brokered deal, the United Nations (UN) in turn normalised this latest diplomatic aggression against Palestine, hoping it will: “Create an opportunity for Israeli and Palestinian leaders to re-engage in meaningful negotiations that will realise a two-state solution in line with relevant UN resolutions, international law and bilateral agreements,” as expressed by Secretary-General Antonio […]
It is a pity that Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas wasted so much time in declaring that no one has the right “to speak on behalf of the Palestinian people.” The statement was made within the context of the US-brokered deal normalising relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, which has allegedly stalled annexation of land from the occupied West Bank for an indefinite period. The deal exacerbates Palestine’s isolation in the […]
While the Palestine Liberation Organisation has been calling upon the EU to step up from rhetoric to action regarding Israel’s forthcoming annexation of occupied West Bank territory, Europe’s Foreign Affairs Chief Josep Borrell invited Israeli Defence Minister Gabi Ashkenazi to Brussels to meet with the bloc’s foreign ministers. “While the international community is concerned with the ‘possibility’ of annexation,” said PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi, […]
In the aftermath of the 1948 Nakba, Palestinians have had to contend with different forms of erasure and fragmentation of Palestinian identity, while acquainting themselves, without choice, with a colonial reality which thrived upon exclusion. Manar Makhoul’s study regarding the evolution of Palestinian identity explored in Palestinian literature brings a sequence of changes to the helm. In chronological order and at times overlapping, Makhoul illustrates how […]
Like other countries prioritising international consensus and diplomatic relations with Israel simultaneously, Australia is trying to square a colonial circle. Whilst not averse to promoting the two-state paradigm and expressing “concern” at the forthcoming annexation, Australia also supports Israel against the International Criminal Court’s possible investigation into war crimes committed by Israeli officials. Much like the US and its “shared values” rhetoric, “Australian values” — let’s […]
The UN is changing its narrative about the coronavirus cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. A few months ago, this cooperation was politicised by the UN within the context of diplomatic negotiations. Rather than focus on the pandemic and the additional hardships it places upon Palestinians due to yet another form of security coordination, the UN, taking its lead from Israeli officials and international diplomats, […]
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has adjourned without issuing its ruling on whether Israeli officials will be tried for war crimes against the Palestinian people since 2014, when Gaza was destroyed during “Operation Protective Edge”. With an extended timeframe until the ruling is due, Israel now has additional time to prepare for any eventual action taken by The Hague. It has apparently already drawn up a […]
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden may try to sustain the fable that he is an alternative to current US President Donald Trump, but for the Palestinians a Biden presidency will most probably normalise the human rights violations that have attracted wider endorsement as a result of US support for Israel. Any political differences from those promoted by the Trump administration that Biden might have will definitely […]
Israel’s outgoing Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, is not leaving the arena without his usual, unfounded claim that the international community is subservient to the Palestinian narrative. In a recent item in the Jerusalem Post, Danon cautioned against calling Israel’s plan to formalise its land theft “annexation”. To substantiate his claim, he quoted former Israeli Prime Minister and wanted terrorist Menachem Begin: “You can annex […]
From seemingly defiant rhetoric to the expected capitulation, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has offered nothing in terms of a unified Palestinian stance against US President Donald Trump’s deal of the century. Going back to a compromised international community, ready to negotiate additional losses for Palestinians which will ultimately fail to prevent Israel’s annexation of their land, is not a counter-proposal, as the PA wishes us […]
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s op-ed for YNet news reflects all that is wrong with speaking out against annexation “as Israel’s friend”. Israel has diplomatic allegiances and acquaintances; “friendship” is the euphemism used to make colonialism and collaboration endearing to the undiscerning. It is no surprise that Johnson’s op-ed drew upon privileged personal experiences as opposed to British colonial involvement in Palestine. The Balfour Declaration of […]
According to Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz, 1 July is not “a sacred date” to implement the proposed annexation of more Palestinian land. In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu minimised the role played by Gantz’s Blue and White Party, while slightly altering the latter’s statement to state that due to diplomatic and security concerns, annexation would take place after 1 July. The bottom line is that […]
International donors have influenced and shaped narratives on Palestine, to the point that to speak about Palestine without reflection is an exercise in disseminating global perceptions and intent. Nadia Naser-Najjab’s study, Dialogue in Palestine: The People to People Diplomacy Programme and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (IB Tauris, 2020) provides a detailed account of how the internationally-funded diplomacy programme, known as P2PP, made use of psychology and social […]
For Palestinians, Israel’s military checkpoints are made for its colonial violence and perpetual dehumanisation of the occupied population. In the latest grotesque spectacle of extrajudicial killing, Ahmed Erekat, a 27 year old Palestinian man and nephew of the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s Secretary General Saeb Erekat, was killed by Israeli soldiers after losing control of his vehicle close to a checkpoint at Abu Dis. Erekat was on […]
The main arguments against the impending Israeli annexation of land in the occupied West Bank are dominated by proponents of the Zionist colonial project. Of course some Palestinians are speaking out against annexation, but the political framework is missing, as the Palestinian Authority and the international community intended it should be all along. Among Israeli supporters, those against annexation are speaking out to safeguard the Zionist […]
Rhetorical opposition to Israel’s annexation plans has gaining rather futile momentum. The clearest example of this came at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva from Adalah, Al-Haw, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling, and Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights. These human rights organisations stated that annexation, “Will normalise Israel’s colonial project and will amount to […]
Since Israel announced its plan to annex swathes of the occupied West Bank, the EU has only hypothesised on what steps the bloc may take in response. The most prominent of these could be the exclusion of Israel from the Horizon 2020 research grants. Other than this possibility (it is no more than that at this stage), which should have been done long before now in […]
Further proof that the Palestinian Authority will not attempt to safeguard what remains of Palestine, let alone insist on decolonisation, is the plan submitted to the Middle East Quartet which does nothing other than confirm subjugation to the two-state compromise. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh is reportedly calling the plan “a counter-proposal” to the US deal of the century. Scant details are available at the moment. […]
Israeli media outlets are trying to create a furore over a possible move by the Palestinian Authority to submit a resolution at the UN General Assembly condemning Israel’s annexation plan. “The solution to the conflict will come through direct negotiations in Jerusalem and not through political terrorism in New York,” declared Israel’s outgoing Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, about a non-binding resolution which will have […]
For several years, the call for a one-state solution has been part of the alternatives to the two-state paradigm which forms the backdrop to international diplomacy on Palestine. “One state” is generally described as a state with equal rights for all Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews, yet the power imbalance supporting the colonial process makes its implementation impossible. If it were to come into being, the […]
The coronavirus pandemic in the occupied West Bank has not deterred Israel from demolishing Palestinian dwellings and structures, including those funded by the EU. In the last week of May, the EU representatives in Jerusalem and Ramallah issued a statement in which they noted the ongoing demolitions as well as the cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and Israel regarding the pandemic. “In line with the EU’s […]
On Tuesday, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas declared the dissolution of agreements with Israel and the US, following the annexation plans that have been facilitated through the so-called “deal of the century”. Wafa news agency published Abbas’ declaration, which partly reads: “The Palestine Liberation Organisation and the State of Palestine are absolved, as of today, of all the agreements and understandings with the American and Israeli governments and of all […]
The Palestinian people can expect nothing but feeble attempts at rhetoric that contradict political action from Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. In his speech commemorating the 72nd anniversary of the 1948 Nakba, Abbas once again proved he has no plan to counter the ongoing Israeli colonial expansion. “Nothing is more precious to us than Palestine, and nothing is more honourable to us than our people and our national […]
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Israel tomorrow for discussions with its leadership about annexation, among other issues. After politically facilitating the annexation process for Israel, Pompeo is attempting, and failing, to divert attention away from the role the US played in the recent colonial decision. During the meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leader of the Blue and White Party Benny Gantz, Pompeo […]
In 2018, the Israeli defence company Elbit won a €59 million ($63.7 million) contract to provide drone surveillance systems in the Mediterranean for the EU. “Having been selected by the European Union authorities is yet another vote of confidence in the Hermes 900 by following additional contract awards for this UAS in Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Israel,” Elbit’s General Manager Elad Arahonson declared. The contract can be renewed […]