Israeli settlement expansion sees the UN shy away from its duty, as usual

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201105-israeli-settlement-expansion-sees-the-un-shy-away-from-its-duty-as-usual/

by Ramna Wadi    5 November 2020   Middle East Monitor (MEMO)

A picture taken from a Palestinian village in Nablus, showing an Israeli settlement in the West Bank on 22 June 2020 [JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP/Getty Images]

 

UN intransigence over Israel contrasts with Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk’s observations regarding Israel’s ongoing settlement expansion, not least because the latter boosts his arguments by providing some colonial context instead of remaining tethered to the two-state compromise. Following the recent announcement that plans for approximately 5,000 new settlement dwellings have been approved by Israel, Lynk pointed out that, “The international community observes, it sometimes objects, but it does not act.”

Indeed, the UN and its institutions are examples of passive observers. The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories (OCHA) yesterday reported that Israel demolished 76 housing structures in Humsa Al-Bqai’a, displacing 73 Palestinians. The report also noted that 869 Palestinians have been displaced so far in 2020, and called upon Israel “to immediately halt unlawful demolitions.” It’s a typically toothless UN statement which Israel will, of course, ignore.

It is too simplistic to say that Israel has taken advantage of the world’s focus on the US election in order to go ahead and almost completely destroy an entire Palestinian village. Nothing has stopped Israel doing things like this before, because the international community has not united collectively against colonialism. All the UN has done is to refer to international law while helping Israel to break the law, thus using its own power and lack of accountability to transfer impunity to the settler-colonial enterprise in Palestine. As with its response to Israel’s settlement expansion, the UN has simply shied away from its duty, as usual.

Lynk has distanced himself from the UN’s fawning over the normalisation agreements between Israel and some Gulf states, which are now being extended to other Arab countries, as the US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman revealed in October. “While Israel may have shelved its plans for the de jure annexation of the settlements in August,” warned the UN official, “it is continuing with the de facto annexation of the Palestinian territory through this unrelenting settlement growth.”

READ: Israel soldiers, settlers fatally shoot, assault Palestinians

Annexation has been postponed until the Arab normalisation deals with Israel are completed. Such statements as made last week only validate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy, which was disseminated repeatedly on Israeli media but never challenged politically by the Palestinian Authority. Indeed, the PA only voiced its objections when its abandonment by erstwhile regional allies became obvious. Once again, the Palestinian leadership’s unedifying scramble to embrace the two-state paradigm is not to be admired. Such a “solution” confers legitimacy on decades of Israeli colonial expansion and only seeks partial accountability, something that Israel and the international community can easily dismiss.

The distinction between Israel’s previous settlement expansion and the new wave is cosmetic. Zionism’s earliest colonial enterprise, which was legitimised as a state and recognised by the international community, is spared criticism, let alone subjected to accountability. As far as the UN is concerned, settlement expansion is only recognised as a violation in relation to the two-state compromise which it upholds. As for the de facto annexation that Lynk referred to, the UN prefers to remain silent until the territory is formally stolen. Only then can Palestinians expect some form of statement which will, once again, bemoan the threat to “two state” politics but ignore the very real existential threat to the people of occupied Palestine.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

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https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201103-kamala-harris-us-will-reverse-trump-era-policy-restore-relation-with-palestine/

Kamala Harris: US will reverse Trump-era policy, restore relation with Palestine

November 3, 2020 at 2:35 pm     MEMO

The administration of US Presidential candidate Joe Biden will reverse a number of President Donald Trump’s controversial policies on Palestine and the broader Middle East, according to Kamala Harris. The Democratic Party candidate for vice president made numerous pledges in an interview over the weekend with the Arab American News. Responding to a question about US foreign policy in Palestine and the broader Middle East, Harris said: “Joe and I also believe in the worth and value of every Palestinian and every Israeli and we will work to ensure that Palestinians and Israelis enjoy equal measures of freedom, security, prosperity and democracy.” Signalling a major shift from the Trump era, which saw the US depart from its traditional position to side with the ultra-right anti-Palestinian government of Benjamin Netanyahu, Harris added: “We are committed to a two-state solution, and we will oppose any unilateral steps that undermine that goal. We will also oppose annexation and settlement expansion.” Harris also pledged to reverse Trump’s decision to defund organisations delivering critical relief and aid to the Palestinians. “Will take immediate steps to restore economic and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, address the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, reopen the U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem and work to reopen the PLO mission in Washington”. Speaking about the broader Middle East, Harris said that in Syria a Biden-led administration “will once again stand with civil society and pro-democracy partners in Syria, and help advance a political settlement where the Syrian people have a voice”. In comments that are likely to cause deep anxiety in Saudi Arabia, Harris stated that the US will not stand by and watch Riyadh wreak havoc in the region. “Instead of standing by as the government of Saudi Arabia pursues disastrous, dangerous policies, including the ongoing war in Yemen, we will reassess the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia and end support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen,” said Harris. Harris also commented on Trump’s highly controversial Muslim ban. “Discrimination and bigotry will have no place in a Biden-Harris administration,” she added. “On our first day in office, Joe and I will rescind the un-American Muslim travel and refugee bans and make America, once again, a welcoming destination for immigrants and refugees, including by raising the refugee admissions cap.” ******************************************************************************************** ‘If you care about Israel, vote for Trump,’ Israel settler chief says