A protest near the home of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner against Israel's possible annexation of the West Bank in Washington. The issue of Palestine has divided Americans on age and partisan lines. Sipa USA
A protest near the home of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner against Israel's possible annexation of the West Bank in Washington. The issue of Palestine has divided Americans on age and partisan lines. Sipa USA
A protest near the home of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner against Israel's possible annexation of the West Bank in Washington. The issue of Palestine has divided Americans on age and partisan lines. S
Two weeks ago, Peter Beinart, a prominent liberal Jewish-American commentator made waves by announcing, in a 7000-word essay, that after decades of dedicated support for a two-state solution he is abandoning support for Jewish nationalism and embracing a one-state vision for Palestine-Israel.
He is hardly the first Jewish American to renounce a Jewish ethno-nationalism, but he is the most prominent in years. Predictably, he was viciously attacked with slurs like "traitor" and "Nazi"by die-hard co-religionists.
His article is one more symptom of the collapse of the once-near-unanimous mainstream American support for Israel and a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
That consensus is collapsing on both sides.
It is not just liberals such as Mr Beinart who are embracing the idea of a single state between the river and the sea. Much of the effort of the Trump administration, with its widespread Christian evangelical and a few wealthy right-wing Jewish supporters, on Israel policy has been designed to move the US away from that same fading two-state consensus.
Under Donald Trump, space has been carved out on the Republican right to abandon any meaningful two-state vision and embrace the establishment of a greater Israel through unilateral annexation.
The proposal released by the Trump administration in January purports to be a two-state vision. But the Palestinian state it suggests would lack most key attributes of sovereignty and be entirely surrounded by the greater Israeli state that would annex up to 30 per cent of the West Bank.
Everyone understands that this is not actually a two-state scenario, not least because Palestinians will never agree to such an arrangement. It is, of course, cynical rhetorical cover for Israel's annexation and the death of a two-state future.
The main purpose of Mr Trump's proposal was not immediate Israeli annexation, and therefore no such annexation has yet been attempted. Instead, the primary aim was to shift US discourse to create space for mainstream American political voices, beginning on the Republican right, to embrace the vision of a greater Israel at the expense of a two-state agreement.
The West Bank. The UN has described Thursday's agreement as an opportunity for Israeli-Palestinian re-engagement. AP Photo
Meanwhile, most Democrats, especially in Congress, remain rhetorically committed to the two-state vision that the US effectively agreed to in 1993. Only one member of Congress, the Palestinian-American Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, has, like Mr Beinart, embraced a one-state agenda.
Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden keeps insisting he is going to fight to protect the potential for two states and has vowed to "reverse" anything Mr Trump may do in the coming months that threatens it.
Although almost all leading Democrats remain committed to a two-state model, and even many leading Republicans obviously have serious qualms about annexation, the old consensus regarding Israel, peace and the special relationship between the two countries is seriously cracking.
A clear partisan divide and a nascent generational rift are both creating fissures on Israel that have not existed in the US for decades.
Much of the responsibility for this lies with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has consistently steered Israel's government into a close alliance with Republicans and against Democrats. He all but campaigned for Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election and has frequently interfered in US domestic politics, invariably on the side of the Republicans. It may have served his personal political aims but not Israel’s national interests.
Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American, is the only member of US Congress to embrace a one-state agenda. Reuters
More importantly, the epicentre of the most ardent US support for Israel, or at least greater Israel and annexation, has shifted from its traditional Jewish-American base to a new, and far more radical, evangelical Christian one. This is largely the basis for Mr Trump's support for annexation.
The language announcing Mr Trump's recognition of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem and moving of the US embassy there from Tel Aviv was plainly that of evangelical Christians rather than Jewish Zionists. Moreover, the event was officially celebrated by fundamentalist Christian radical pastors, some of whom have anti-Semitic histories, and all of whom are ardent supporters of the occupation because they believe it will hasten the divinely ordained end of times.
These evangelicals are delighted by Mr Trump's annexationist policies. The Jewish-American mainstream was plainly not. Virtually all prominent Jewish-American Democrats in Congress oppose the plan and annexation, and the largest Jewish-American groups were notably unenthusiastic if not outrightly opposed.
Then US vice president Joe Biden seen with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington in 2010. Israelis do not have much to fear from a Biden administration.Reuters
Several of the most important of these groups have let it be known they are prepared to defend Israel in the event of annexation but only with great trepidation and unease, and all but the most extreme plainly hope it does not happen.
Mr Beinart is certainly speaking for a growing group of mainly younger Americans, including Jewish Americans, who are no longer able to reconcile their liberal and equality-valuing principles with Israel's policies. Particularly given that, if it annexes large chunks of the West Bank, Israel will be effectively enforcing a new separate, radically unequal and apartheid-like permanent reality on Palestinians and Israelis alike, this sentiment and constituency is only likely to grow.
That it lacks a coherent narrative, practicable vision, and, by far most importantly, does not have the support of any significant political grouping of Jewish Israelis or Palestinians on the ground, will probably not prevent this idea from continuing to gather support, especially among the young.
US President Bill Clinton (C) stands between PLO leader Yasser Arafat (R) and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzahk Rabin (L) as they shake hands for the first time, on September 13, 1993 at the White House in Washington DC, after signing the historic Israel-PLO Oslo Accords on Palestinian autonomy in the occupied territories. (Photo by J. DAVID AKE / AFP)
So, as prospects for a Palestinian state and a peace agreement dwindle, Americans are splitting along left-right and young-old axes.
As things stand, the situation is sustainable for Israel. Most Democrats are still supportive and Israelis do not have much to fear from a Biden administration. Some Republicans, though, and especially theChristian fundamentalists among them, are at times more strident Jewish nationalists than most Israelis.
But anyone who values the US-Israel relationship and is not worried about this trajectory lacks an imagination.
Increasingly, Democrats, especially younger and more liberal ones, are being systematically alienated from Israeli policy and even Zionism. And with “friends” like Mr Trump's evangelical allies, Israel does not need any enemies.
All this means the once-inviolable "special relationship" between the two countries will not remain a settled issue in American politics much longer. That is a seismic shift, and it is not good news for Israel.
Hussein Ibish is a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington
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There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
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Points about the fast fashion industry Celine Hajjar wants everyone to know
Fast fashion is responsible for up to 10 per cent of global carbon emissions
Fast fashion is responsible for 24 per cent of the world's insecticides
Synthetic fibres that make up the average garment can take hundreds of years to biodegrade
Fast fashion labour workers make 80 per cent less than the required salary to live
27 million fast fashion workers worldwide suffer from work-related illnesses and diseases
Hundreds of thousands of fast fashion labourers work without rights or protection and 80 per cent of them are women
Countries have been coming up with ways to restrict and monitor the use of non-commercial drones to keep them from trespassing on controlled areas such as airports.
"Drones vary in size and some can be as big as a small city car - so imagine the impact of one hitting an airplane. It's a huge risk, especially when commercial airliners are not designed to make or take sudden evasive manoeuvres like drones can" says Saj Ahmed, chief analyst at London-based StrategicAero Research.
New measures have now been taken to monitor drone activity, Geo-fencing technology is one.
It's a method designed to prevent drones from drifting into banned areas. The technology uses GPS location signals to stop its machines flying close to airports and other restricted zones.
The European commission has recently announced a blueprint to make drone use in low-level airspace safe, secure and environmentally friendly. This process is called “U-Space” – it covers altitudes of up to 150 metres. It is also noteworthy that that UK Civil Aviation Authority recommends drones to be flown at no higher than 400ft. “U-Space” technology will be governed by a system similar to air traffic control management, which will be automated using tools like geo-fencing.
The UAE has drawn serious measures to ensure users register their devices under strict new laws. Authorities have urged that users must obtain approval in advance before flying the drones, non registered drone use in Dubai will result in a fine of up to twenty thousand dirhams under a new resolution approved by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai.
Mr Ahmad suggest that "Hefty fines running into hundreds of thousands of dollars need to compensate for the cost of airport disruption and flight diversions to lengthy jail spells, confiscation of travel rights and use of drones for a lengthy period" must be enforced in order to reduce airport intrusion.
