After American President Donald Trump recognised Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, a major departure from decades of United States policy, Israeli politicians and right-wingers have begun to hope he will go further and back Israel’s claims to the West Bank.
Saeb Erekat, the Secretary-General of the PLO Executive Committee, told The National that there is now "no hope of peace with the Trump Administration."
"The American recognition of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Golan, and granting Israel the right of overriding security control over the West Bank means that what’s next is an Israeli annexation of the West Bank, backed and recognized by the Trump Administration and later a recognition of a Palestinian state in Gaza,” he said.
“Trump is creating a post-international law era,” Mr Erekat said. “He’s is giving a message to the world that whoever possesses military power can occupy the territory of his neighbour.”
Right-wing Israeli parties too believe that recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights will serve as the basis for a future annexation of the West Bank’s Area C. The territory makes up 60 per cent of the West Bank and it includes the major settlements blocs and the Jordan valley, both of which Israel claims are essential for its security – the same claim that was used to justify the Golan Height’s annexation.
Under Mr Trump, illegal settlement growth has ramped up – a fact those that back the projects say is in part due to the American leader.
Mr Trump last Monday recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, a plateau seized by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in 1981. The move was rejected by the entire international community and the UN security council has backed resolutions for it to be handed back to Syria.
"Trump's declaration on the Golan will serve as justification to the many voices on the Israeli right wing, which support immediate annexation of Area C in the West Bank – where all Israeli settlements, military installations and firing ranges, and undeveloped lands are located, along with approximately 100,000 Palestinians," Aluf Benn, a veteran Israeli journalist and editor-in-chief of left-wing newspaper Haaretz, told The National. He added that Area C was "essential for the viability of any future Palestinian state… hence the right-wing's eagerness to annex it and thus make Palestinian statehood even less likely than it is."
Mr Benn said that while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had so far resisted calls to back the annexation of Area C, “he will find it more difficult to resist if he wins the April 9 election and puts together a right-wing coalition.”
Mr Netanyahu has even hinted that the Golan move was just the beginning of a new approach. “Everyone says you can’t hold an occupied territory, but this proves you can. If occupied in a defensive war, then it’s ours,” he said.
International law, however, clearly states that territory seized by war must be returned.
Senior Israeli Journalist David Horovitz wrote in the Times of Israel that Mr Netanyahu may seek to dangle the prospect of annexing the major settlements blocs to secure the support of hard-line parties such as the New Right and Jewish home after the election to ensure he remains prime minister after April’s election.
A Haaretz poll last Monday shows that 42 per cent of Israelis support some form of annexation of the West Bank and only 28 per cent oppose.
Support for a two-state solution among Israelis is down at just 34 per cent.
The Trump administration is working on a long tipped but as yet unseen peace plan. There is speculation it will be unveiled after the Israeli elections in April.
But there is little hope of a positive reception as the Palestinian Authority has boycotted the Trump Administration since it unilaterally recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December 2017 in violation of international resolutions as well as the Oslo Accords.
In his speech to US lobby group AIPAC on the same day that Mr Trump recognised Israel’s annexation of the Golan, American Ambassador to Israel David Friedman that the US plan will include an “overriding Israeli security control over Judea and Samaria” the biblical name for the West Bank.
"The fact that Trump is helping Netanyahu to win, emphasizes what we knew all along which is that the Trump Administration doesn't want to make peace and doesn't believe in it," Palestinian political analyst Mohammad Qassem told The National. "All it wants is to continue implementing its unilateral measures through which it believes it can settle the conflict in a way that suits Israel and ends Palestinians rights."
Mr Friedman recently attacked the idea of an even-handed approach to solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict saying, “I think the idea that one could approach this conflict with a sense of neutrality, that the Israelis have a bunch of arguments, and the Palestinians have a bunch of equally valid arguments, and those have to be resolved, is pretty insulting to Israel.”
Aaron David Miller, who served as a Middle East adviser to the US State Department for 15 years said, “the purpose of the Trump Administration with respect to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is to fundamentally transform US policy in a way that rules out what is now the slimmest of possibilities – conflict-ending solution.”
UAE%20athletes%20heading%20to%20Paris%202024
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UAE%20SQUAD
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If you go
The flights
Etihad flies direct from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco from Dh5,760 return including taxes.
The car
Etihad Guest members get a 10 per cent worldwide discount when booking with Hertz, as well as earning miles on their rentals. A week's car hire costs from Dh1,500 including taxes.
The hotels
Along the route, Motel 6 (www.motel6.com) offers good value and comfort, with rooms from $55 (Dh202) per night including taxes. In Portland, the Jupiter Hotel (https://jupiterhotel.com/) has rooms from $165 (Dh606) per night including taxes. The Society Hotel https://thesocietyhotel.com/ has rooms from $130 (Dh478) per night including taxes.
More info
To keep up with constant developments in Portland, visit www.travelportland.com. Good guidebooks include the Lonely Planet guides to Northern California and Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi
Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser
Rating: 4.5/5
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
more from Janine di Giovanni
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The most expensive investment mistake you will ever make
When is the best time to start saving in a pension? The answer is simple – at the earliest possible moment. The first pound, euro, dollar or dirham you invest is the most valuable, as it has so much longer to grow in value. If you start in your twenties, it could be invested for 40 years or more, which means you have decades for compound interest to work its magic.
“You get growth upon growth upon growth, followed by more growth. The earlier you start the process, the more it will all roll up,” says Chris Davies, chartered financial planner at The Fry Group in Dubai.
This table shows how much you would have in your pension at age 65, depending on when you start and how much you pay in (it assumes your investments grow 7 per cent a year after charges and you have no other savings).
|
Age
|
$250 a month
|
$500 a month
|
$1,000 a month
|
|
25
|
$640,829
|
$1,281,657
|
$2,563,315
|
|
35
|
$303,219
|
$606,439
|
$1,212,877
|
|
45
|
$131,596
|
$263,191
|
$526,382
|
|
55
|
$44,351
|
$88,702
|
$177,403
|
Manchester City 4
Otamendi (52) Sterling (59) Stones (67) Brahim Diaz (81)
Real Madrid 1
Oscar (90)
Five healthy carbs and how to eat them
Brown rice: consume an amount that fits in the palm of your hand
Non-starchy vegetables, such as broccoli: consume raw or at low temperatures, and don’t reheat
Oatmeal: look out for pure whole oat grains or kernels, which are locally grown and packaged; avoid those that have travelled from afar
Fruit: a medium bowl a day and no more, and never fruit juices
Lentils and lentil pasta: soak these well and cook them at a low temperature; refrain from eating highly processed pasta variants
Courtesy Roma Megchiani, functional nutritionist at Dubai’s 77 Veggie Boutique
MORE ON TURKEY'S SYRIA OFFENCE
The language of diplomacy in 1853
Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)
We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.
Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
MORE ON CORONAVIRUS & THE ECONOMY
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
The Sky Is Pink
Director: Shonali Bose
Cast: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Farhan Akhtar, Zaira Wasim, Rohit Saraf
Three stars
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
HOW TO WATCH
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Twitter: @thenationalnews
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TikTok: @thenationalnews
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Company%20profile
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WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
