( Middle East Monitor ) – Labelling Israeli settlement products “strengthens extremists, does not help promote peace in the region, and shows Belgium as not contributing to regional stability,” according to Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll. He lashed out at Belgium’s announcement that it would start applying more restrictive measures on goods produced by […]
“The Israeli settlements are a presumptive war crime under the Rome Statute:” Will the UN listen to its own Rapporteurs?
( Middle East Monitor) – “The Israeli settlements are a presumptive war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and should be treated as such by the international community,” UN Special Rapporteurs, Michael Lynk and Balakrishan Rajagopal declared in a statement earlier this month. This goes a step further than the non-binding […]
How Israeli Squatter-Settlers attack Palestinians and their Olive Harvests with Impunity
( Middle East Monitor) – As happens each year during the Palestinian olive harvest, Israel’s illegal settlers are destroying olive trees and attacking Palestinian farmers. The International Committee of the Red Cross has said that in the year to August this year, over 9,300 olive trees were destroyed by Israeli settlers; the damage peaked during […]
UN: Removal of Indigenous Population – 2020 saw the highest number of displaced Palestinians registered in Years
( Middle East Monitor) – Each year, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) provides proof of the fallacy upon which the two-state compromise in Palestine-Israel is based. Palestine’s economy is tied perpetually to donor funding and Israel’s existence. “Recovery in 2021 and beyond hinges on actions that will be taken (or not) by […]
Palestinians are newly Unified, demonstrating against Israeli Colonial Violence and Expulsion from Jerusalem
( Middle East Monitor) – In terms of state-building and diplomatic negotiations, the occupied West Bank has been perceived in starkly different terms from Gaza. With the international community funnelling financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority in the former, the concept of a fragmented Palestine has been duly enhanced. To the undiscerning, the PA represented […]
Bennett’s “Natural Growth” Rhetoric can’t conceal Israel’s colonial Land Grab
( Middle East Monitor) – Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is playing with words to advance the colonial state’s de-facto annexation of the occupied West Bank. In an interview with the New York Times, Bennett used spin about compromise which amounted to nothing other than promoting colonial expansion while retreating on formalising another land grab. […]
European Union, U.S. bear Responsibility for Israel’s Squatter-Settlements on Palestinian Land
( Middle East Monitor) – When European diplomats visit the occupied Palestinian territories to observe the damage wrought by Israel’s home demolitions and forced displacement, the only response is generally to “urge the Israeli authorities to cease such actions.” As a settler-colonial state based on the ideology of Zionism, Israel was built upon and maintains […]
Will the US Stand up to Israeli Theft of Palestinian East Jerusalem?
( Middle East Monitor ) – Jerusalem is once again in the diplomatic crosshairs over US President Joe Biden’s intention to reopen the American Consulate in Jerusalem, which was closed by the Trump Administration in 2019. According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, reopening the consulate is “an important way for our country to […]
Israel’s colonial violence and international humanitarian aid
( Middle East Monitor ) – Whenever Israel bombs Gaza, donor countries are expected to raid their treasuries and manage the resultant humanitarian crisis. The aftermath of the latest colonial aggression against the enclave is no different. On one hand, the reconstruction of Gaza will probably follow previous mechanisms in which the UN plays a […]