Chair of Israel coalition government opposes Palestinian state

 (June 14) Likud MP Miki Zohar, chair of the Israeli coalition, says he is opposed to the Palestinians having a state. He claimed that as long as he chaired the coalition government he would not permit the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Zohar favors annexation of the occupied West Bank

Zohar says that Israel must declare sovereignty over the West Bank territories it occupies through annexation. The Holy Land he claims "is ours alone". The annexation would cut deep into territory claimed by the Palestinians. Under International law the West Bank is considered occupied territory but the Israelis consider it disputed territory and claim the laws of occupation do not apply. Israel has built Israeli settlements in the territory violating occupation laws.

Zohar said to the Hamevaser newspaper: "I am in favor of applying sovereignty to all Jewish communities in all parts of the Land of Israel. This is a historic opportunity that it is not certain we will have in the future - to apply sovereignty to at least 30 percent of Judea and Samaria. We should not be afraid to acknowledge the fact that this is our holy land and ours alone. On the other hand, I strongly oppose the principle of a Palestinian state. I will not allow any situation in which the government or Knesset commits itself to the establishment of a Palestinian state. As long as I am the chairman of the coalition, I will ensure these matters, as these are ideological and principled matters on which I will not compromise." Zahar admitted that there were will issues to be resolved, including roads, enclaves and more but that these issues were capable of resolution but he would in no way agree to the Palestinians having a state.

Annexation is supported by the US Trump administration

Back in late April Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made it clear that annexation was a matter for Israel to decide: "As for the annexation of the West Bank, the Israelis will ultimately make those decisions. That's an Israeli decision. And we will work closely with them to share with them our views of this in [a] private setting."

An anonymous US State Dept. spokesperson said in late April: "As we have made consistently clear, we are prepared to recognise Israeli actions to extend Israeli sovereignty and the application of Israeli law to areas of the West Bank that the vision foresees as being part of the State of Israel." The annexation would accompany an agreement by Israel to negotiate with the Palestinians along the lines of "President Trump's Vision" she said. However, the Palestinian's have already rejected Trump's plan that did not involve any negotiations or even consultations with Palestinians. A BBC article at the end of January described the Palestinian reaction: "Palestinians have dismissed US President Donald Trump's new Middle East peace plan as a "conspiracy". It envisages a Palestinian state and recognition of Israeli sovereignty over settlements in the occupied West Bank."

Previously published in the Digital Journal

Since publication of "Quartet" report Israeli settlement building has soared.

Israeli settlement expansion has surged in the two months since a diplomatic Quartet report called for a halt to the construction of Jewish settlements on land claimed by Palestine.

The Quartet, the U.S., Russia, EU and UN, urged Israel to cease building settlements on land claimed by the Palestinians but at the same time urged the Palestinians to cease incitement to violence. The incitement to violence often comes from Israeli actions as well. The Quartet recommendations are hardly new as the demand to cease settlement building was made in a February report as well. Indeed, the demand goes back as far as 2001 and the Mitchell Report: * The GOI should freeze all settlement activity, including the "natural growth" of existing settlements. " GOI stands for Government of Israel. In 2001 there were approximately 200,000 settlers living in the West Bank but now the number has almost doubled to 380,000.

As with earlier reports, the appeal to cease settlement building has fallen on deaf ears as the UN coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, reported to the UN Security Council: "Its recommendations continue to be ignored, including by a surge in Israeli settlement-related announcements and continuing demolitions." The Quartet report was to serve as a foundation for reviving the peace talks which collapsed back in April 2014 after a U.S. initiative. Instead an increase in the number of Jewish settlements being constructed makes any prospects of restarting talks and reach a deal less likely. Indeed the growth in settlements makes a two state solution increasingly doubtful.

Mladenov said that since July 1, Israel advanced plans for over 1,000 housing units in east Jerusalem and 735 units in the West Bank. Israel regards east Jerusalem as part of Israel although not recognized internationally. As well, PM Netanyahu's government has also tendered for 323 units to expand east Jerusalem settlements. It is also allocating $13 million in new funding to build 42 units in Kiryat Arba near Hebron. Israel is also surveying land on Bethlehem's outskirts for an entirely new settlement that Mladenov claims would contribute to the "dismemberment of the southern West Bank." At the same time as settlements are expanded, demolitions of Palestinian homes are increasing with over 130 structures destroyed since July 1.

Netanyahu has long argued that settlement building is not an obstacle to peace. He often points out that when there was a halt to settlement building there was not a peace deal but war. However, no one argues that halting settlement building is a sufficient condition for reaching a peace deal. It is simply one of several necessary conditions. Netanyahu's argument does not show that stopping the settlement construction is not required for a peace deal. The UN Security Council declared in a resolution way back in 1979 that the Israeli settlements in occupied territory are illegal. However, this has done nothing to stop Israel from building more.

Israel continued to insist the settlement building was not an obstacle to peace. David Keyes, spokesperson for PM Benjamin Netanyahu said:“it is not the presence of Jews, who have lived in the West Bank and Jerusalem for thousands of years, that is a barrier to peace. Rather, it is the unceasing efforts to deny that historical connection and a refusal to recognize that Jews are not foreign to Judea.

The claim that it is illegal for Jews to build in Jerusalem is as absurd as saying Americans can’t build in Washington or the French can’t build in Paris. The Palestinian demand to ethnically cleanse their future state of Jews is outrageous and should be condemned by the United Nations instead of being embraced by it.”This just assumes that east Jerusalem is part of Israel. The overwhelming majority of nations regard the settlements as illegal, as built upon occupied territory, and there is no international recognition of Israeli annexation of east Jerusalem. The continued settlement expansion means there will be less and less land available for any Palestinian state.

Two state solution may be dead as solution to Israeli Palestinian conflict

Award-winning UK journalist, author, and commentator, Mehdi Hasan, argues in an Al Jazeera article that the peace process attempting to reach a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is dead.

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Hasan has been claiming that this was the case ever since 2009. He notes however that the U.S. still clings to the possibility of an agreement to a two-state solution. He said at a recent dinner he attended National Security Adviser Susan Rice said a peace agreement was still possible and she looked to the next Israeli government "to demonstrate...a genuine commitment to a two-state solution." President Obama also clings to the idea that there can be a two-state solution saying in response to a question recently: I'll just reiterate what I've said previously. I continue to believe that a two-state solution is absolutely vital for not only peace between Israelis and Palestinians, but for the long-term security of Israel as a democratic and Jewish state.Obama does note the new government does contain some "folks" who do not support the two-state solution.

Hasan shows "some folks" includes the vast majority of cabinet ministers in Netanyahu's new government. Hasan provides a list of 16 ministers in the government who explicitly have rejected the two-state solution. Netanyahu in a single speech in 2009 accepted the idea of a demilitarised Palestinian state. A statement recently released by the Likud party said: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that any evacuated territory would fall into the hands of Islamic extremism and terror organizations supported by Iran. Therefore, there will be no concessions and no withdrawals. It is simply irrelevant.”This hardly fits in with trading land for peace and a two-state solution. To placate the U.S., Netanyahu often draws back from remarks such as this. Member of parliament (Knesset), Tzipi Hotovely said during a panel discussion that the two-state solution is not part of the Likud Party platform and Netanyahu's speech in 2009 supporting that position was simply a tactical maneuver to placate world opinion. Hotovely is now deputy foreign minister. In her inaugural address to Israeli diplomats she said:"This land is ours. All of it is ours. We did not come here to apologise for that… We expect as a matter of principle of the international community to recognise Israel's right to build homes for Jews in their homeland, everywhere."

The Israeli Interior Minister, Silvan Shalom, told Likud Party activists in 2012: "We are all against a Palestinian State there is no doubt about it." Netanyahu appointed Shalom as the chief negotiator with the Palestinians. This appointment hardly bodes well for a two-state solution.

The Education Minister, Naftali Bennett, formerly head of the council that represents Israeli illegal settlements. plans to annex most of the West Bank. He claimed that international opposition is the "result of ignorance" and rejected the idea that there would be a Palestinian state:"There is not going to be a Palestinian state within the tiny land of Israel. It's just not going to happen. A Palestinian state would be a disaster for the next 200 years."

Danny Danon, the new Minister of Technology also explicitly rejected the two-state solution: "Enough with the two-state-solution. Land-for-peace is over. We don't want a Palestinian State. We need to apply Israeli sovereignty over all Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. It's been about 20 years since the Oslo Accords. That's finished and now we're ready for new ideas."Several ministers claimed any separate Palestinian state would become a "terror state" right next to Israel, which was already surrounded by hostile Arab states. Many ministers also stressed the land belonged to Israel. Many defended the expansion of Israeli settlements including, Tourism Minister, Yariv Levin, who said that the two state solution was no solution and said a year ago: "We will try, slowly but surely, to expand the circle of settlements, and to afterwards extend the roads… At the end of this process, the facts on the ground will be that whatever remains [of the occupied West Bank] will be merely marginal appendage."This seems a reasonably accurate description of Israeli policy.While talking about a two-state solution and going through the motions of negotiation under pressure from the US, Israel has been occupying more and more territory in the West Bank. How the Gaza strip would fit into this plan is not clear. For now it remains a quasi-prison subject to Israeli control and a blockade. The government and inhabitants function at a minimal level as international welfare recipients remaining in a state of continual dependency.

Israel withholds tax funds collected for Palestine

Israel has frozen Palestinian tax funds, withholding transfer of $127 million, in a move that is in retaliation for Palestine's decision to join the International Criminal Court.

The Israeli daily Haaretz cited an anonymous Israeli official who said that the $127 million in funds are VAT and customs duties on goods destined for Palestinian territories collected by Israel. The official said: "The funds for the month of December were due to pass on Friday, but it was decided to half the transfer as part of the response to the Palestinian move." The Palestinians submitted documents to the UN in New York applying for membership in the ICC on Friday.

 Prior to the vote on a Palestinian resolution to the UN Security Council sponsored by Jordan, the Palestinian Authority had threatened to go forward with the application to join the court if the resolution failed. It did, as discussed on the appended video. The Palestinians want to level war crimes charges against Israel as well as challenge the legality of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It will take at least 60 days before the membership application could result in membership.

 Saeb Erekat. of the Palestine Liberation Organization(PLO) claims that the Israeli retaliation shows that it is frightened by the application: "Israel collects our customs and our taxes for us, so when they withhold these funds, it means that this month people will not be able to pay for their schools, hospitals, medical supplies, milk and bread..They [Israelis] are trying to suffocate the whole [Palestinian] nation.It shows that when it comes to enforcing collective punishment, they are punishing four million Palestinians, starving them, because they want to act with impunity.This shows the legitimacy of what we are doing at the ICC." Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas is under pressure to show that he is taking action to advance the Palestinian cause after the failure of peace talks and of a recent resolution defeated in the UN Security Council. Israel has deferred tax payments previously in November of 2012 when Palestine gained recognition at the UN as a non-member state. It also deferred payments even earlier in 2011 in May when Fatah and Hamas announced a reconciliation deal, and again in November when Palestine was admitted to UNESCO.

 The tax revenues withheld represent two thirds of the PA budget when you exclude foreign aid. Neither Israel nor the U.S. belong to the ICC. Though both have signed, on both also have indicated that they do not intend to follow up by ratifying the agreement. While opposition to the court was stronger during the Bush administration than under Obama, the U.S. does not appear ready to join: The Bush administration, coming into office in 2001 as the Court neared implementation, adopted an extremely active opposition. Washington began to negotiate bilateral agreements with other countries, insuring immunity of US nationals from prosecution by the Court. As leverage, Washington threatened termination of economic aid, withdrawal of military assistance, and other painful measures. The Obama administration has so far made greater efforts to engage with the Court. It is participating with the Court's governing bodies and it is providing support for the Court's ongoing prosecutions. Washington, however, has no intention to join the ICC, due to its concern about possible charges against US nationals.

 The U.S. has also expressed strong opposition to the Palestinian move to join the ICC. The U.S. also indicated that the move could have implications for U.S. aid to Palestine a senior U.S. official: "It should come as no surprise that there will be implications for this step, but we continue to review," the official told Reuters. U.S. economic support to Palestine amounts to about $400 million each year. Under U.S. laws, if the Palestinians use their ICC membership to press any claims against Israel the aid will be cut off. Israel may possibly attempt to prosecute Palestinian officials for war crimes in the US and elsewhere using pro-Israel NGOs to file lawsuits. Since the reconciliation of Hamas and Fatah in a unity deal completed last April, Israel now sees the PA who run the West Bank as partners with a terrorist organization Hamas. The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned Palestinian leaders that any unilateral moves they made could lead to prosecution for their support of Hamas.