A new goal appears to be emerging for the US and Israel in the Middle East: the wholesale delegitimisation of Palestinian statehood.
When the US initiated direct talks with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation in 1988, and then reinforced that step by inviting its leaders to the White House, many believed that America’s efforts to end Palestinian nationalism were over. However, the pro-Israel Trump administration has been chipping away at the idea – and, apparently, Palestinian leaders have not even noticed.
In February 2017, while serving as US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley rejected the appointment of the former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Salam Fayyad, as peace envoy to Libya. At the time, some thought that this was a one-time aberration, at least in part because President Donald Trump and his team were in active dialogue with PLO officials.
Explaining her decision, Ms Haley said: “The United States doesn’t currently support a Palestinian state or support a signal that this appointment would send to the United Nations. From now on, the United States will act, not talk, in support of our allies.”
PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi described Ms Haley’s decision as ridiculous. “This is discrimination against the Palestinian people as a whole,” Mrs Ashrawi said. “This is the rejection, beyond logic, of the most qualified person with the highest standard of profession and integrity."
There was little doubt about Mr Fayyad’s suitability for the position, but the reasons for his disqualification were equally clear in the eyes of the Trump administration: his Palestinian nationalism. Mrs Ashrawi could also not have foreseen that she, herself, would also become a target of the same policy.
Last month, Mrs Ashrawi was refused a visa to visit the US. This was not an attack on her as a person, but part of a larger American fight against the very concept of Palestinian self-determination and statehood.
One need only look back at the actions of the Trump administration to confirm this.
The closure of the Palestinian mission in Washington in September 2018 and the revocation of the visa of ambassador Husam Zomlot showed that the US is no longer interested in engaging with the PLO. The defunding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, an organisation dedicated to the care of Palestinian refugees, revealed similar motivations. Then came Mr Trump’s unilateral decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv and thus take “Jerusalem off the table” as the capital of an independent Palestinian state.
If the Trump administration wants its vision for peace between Palestine and Israel to have any credibility, it has to change its approach
A close reading of the public statements of top US officials provides further confirmation. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's refusal to commit to the two-state solution was the first indication of a U-turn in American Middle East policy. Then Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and chief adviser on the Middle East, declared that the so-called US peace plan will not even refer to a two-state solution.
But perhaps the most vivid illustration of the US's concerted attempts to delegitimise Palestinian nationalism can be seen by simply analysing the Twitter account of Jason Greenblatt, Washington's point man for the Palestine-Israel conflict.
Mr Greenblatt, who describes himself as “Assistant to the 45th President of the USA & Special Representative for International Negotiations”, has more than 28,000 followers, but he only follows 20 users – mostly Trump officials. The only non-US accounts among these are Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, and the Israeli embassy in Washington. He doesn’t follow a single Palestinian. For a person seeking solutions to the Palestinian conflict and who is familiar with all the players, it makes little sense that he appears not to want to know what people such as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh or PLO secretary general Saeb Erekat are thinking. All have Twitter accounts and all post both in Arabic and in English.
In March and April 2019, Mr Greenblatt posted 233 times. A whopping 136 tweet (58 per cent) are directly pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian, with much of his antipathy directed towards Hamas. A further 22 deal with the US support for the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights; 10 praise the moves of Arab leaders to normalise relations with Israel, while another seven support Mr Netanyahu’s hardline policy towards Iran. In total, 76 per cent of all the tweets by Mr Greenblatt in this two-month period are supportive of Mr Netanyahu’s policies.
The numbers alone are revealing, but the content of Mr Greenblatt’s postings paints an even more lucid picture. In a tweet dated April 23, he described a mural of one of the most revered PLO leaders Khalil Ibrahim Al Wazir as a “despicable glorification of violence and terrorism”.
None of the tweets posted in March or April have a single negative comment about Israel or its leaders. In fact, Mr Greenblatt has never criticised Israeli leaders – not even when organisations such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee were condemning Mr Netanyahu’s pre-election alliances with extremist parties such as the settler-supporting Jewish Home and the openly racist Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Strength).
Mr Greenblatt often says that his team wants to do things differently. He has also expressed a desire not to repeat past mistakes. However, one of the greatest failures of US Middle East policy was its denial of Palestinian nationalism back in the 1970s and 1980s.
If the Trump administration wants its vision for peace between Palestine and Israel to have any credibility, it has to change its approach. A balanced public position, showing respect to aspirations of Palestinian statehood and Palestinian leaders, not to mention some expression of empathy for those experiencing the brutal realities of occupation, would be a good place to start.
Daoud Kuttab is a Palestinian journalist and media activist
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
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ABU DHABI ORDER OF PLAY
Starting at 10am:
Daria Kasatkina v Qiang Wang
Veronika Kudermetova v Annet Kontaveit (10)
Maria Sakkari (9) v Anastasia Potapova
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova v Ons Jabeur (15)
Donna Vekic (16) v Bernarda Pera
Ekaterina Alexandrova v Zarina Diyas
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
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- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Abu Dhabi World Pro 2019 remaining schedule:
Wednesday April 24: Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship, 11am-6pm
Thursday April 25: Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship, 11am-5pm
Friday April 26: Finals, 3-6pm
Saturday April 27: Awards ceremony, 4pm and 8pm
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
Banthology: Stories from Unwanted Nations
Edited by Sarah Cleave, Comma Press
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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2.
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China
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3.
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UAE
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4.
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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6.
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Canada
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7.
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Singapore
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8.
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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10.
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South Korea
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