Update: Yesterday Israel’s Supreme Court put off demolitions of Palestinian houses in al-Walajah, granting villagers six months to come up with a zoning plan. This is a clear sign that American pressure works.
In a highwater mark of mainstream opposition to the unending Israeli occupation, 50 members of Congress have signed a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging him to try to stop Israel’s demolition of 38 Palestinian houses in al-Walaja, a village in the occupied West Bank, because the demolitions will undermine “Palestinian dignity” and “long-term Israeli security.”
Israel plans to make 360 Palestinians homeless to make room for Jewish settlements as part of its plans for greater Jerusalem.
The Israeli Supreme Court is set to hear an appeal from the Palestinians on March 30. (The Palestinians built the houses without permits; but Israel denies almost all building applications in Area C of the occupation anyway.)
Blinken was in Israel yesterday. He met with Israel leaders and offered vague opposition to Israeli actions that heighten tensions: “settlement expansion, settler violence, home demolitions, evictions.”
Asked specifically about al-Walaja, a top State Department aide indicated last week that Blinken would advise against the demolitions as “unilateral steps” that undermine the so-called two-state solution.
The signers of the Congressional letter on al-Walaja include many progressives, such as Betty McCollum, Marie Newman, Ilhan Omar, and Jamaal Bowman, as well as liberal J Street congresspeople, Jared Huffman, Jennifer Wexton, and Andy Levin. And several Jews, including Jan Schakowsky, Jamie Raskin, Steve Cohen, John Yarmuth, and Levin.
Progressive Zionist groups are campaigning against the al-Walaja demolitions. Americans for Peace Now calls them “morally wrong” as well as an obstacle to Palestinians ever getting a capital for a Palestinian state in Jerusalem. Ameinu has described the village’s centuries-long cultivation of olive trees and fruits and vegetables on terraces that illegal Jewish settlements wish to seize. J Street has posted against the demolitions in the past.
The village came up during a congressional forum in Michigan last Thursday. Two Democratic congresspeople are battling over a newly-combined suburban Detroit district, and a big issue in the race is, How much you are allowed to criticize Israel. Rep. Haley Stevens has been endorsed by AIPAC, the rightwing Israel lobby group; she never criticizes Israel. Rep. Andy Levin is in the J Street lane. He calls himself a “bold progressive” and sometimes criticizes Israel, and has been attacked as “corrosive” by a former AIPAC leader.
Levin and Stevens are said to be close in polls. The primary is August 2, and Jews are a key constituency in the district.
Levin criticized the Walaja demolitions as “unjust” in the forum conducted by the pro-Israel group the Jewish Democratic Council of America. He called for restrictions on the $4 billion we send to Israel, but not cutting any of the aid.
It is important to ensure that our military aid to Israel is used for legitimate security purposes. This is something that we do with our aid to every other nation as well. We don’t want to have our aid used to perpetuate or extend the occupation, or execute unjust actions like home demolitions, forced displacements or violence against civilians. Incidents like the potential demolition of homes of 300 people in the village of al-Walaja potentially happening right now harm innocent families and push the prospects for peace farther away.
Stevens disagreed. She does not support conditioning aid to Israel, regards the status of Gaza and the West Bank as being “long disputed,” regards Iran as the “real problem” in the region, and doesn’t want to pressure Israel “to make all the concessions.” Stevens brought up a red-meat issue for pro-Israel voters, Amnesty International director’s belief that Israel should not be a Jewish state.
We are right now in an environment where the head of Amnesty International has called into question Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. I find that wholly unacceptable and offensive to my beliefs and to where I think we need to be as a country and as a world, and I’m not afraid to call that out.
Levin repeatedly played the Jewish card.
I don’t see a way to have a secure peaceful future for a democratic homeland for my people unless we realize the political and human rights for the Palestinians. I know it’s difficult, I know it’s controversial. I didn’t sign up for the easy work. I’m going to stand in the breach and work with Israelis and Palestinians to bring the parties together and work for a two state solution so that at long last we can have peace and security in the region.
Levin’s two-state solution act is the J Street credo. (Anyone who’s been to Palestine knows two states will never happen and sustaining belief in it without putting any pressure on Israel is a form of cruelty toward Palestinians.)
But this race will be interesting to watch as it pits a hardline Democratic Israel supporter with a more progressive one.
This illusion of a two state solution is becoming a joke now…from Netanyahu (remember the crook?), other Zionist leaders, and Israel’s mean actions, anyone with half a brain should realize it is simply three words strung together, that has now become meaningless, representing false promises, used to ward off pressure from the world, and get away with an occupation, land theft, and the killing of unarmed civilians.
Israel even rejected the offer of jet fighters by the Obama administration 12 years ago to attend peace talks, they were THAT interested in a resolution to this decades long conflict.
“TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 17 (UPI) — Despite torpedoing U.S. President Barack Obama’s Middle East peace drive, Israel is still trying to sweet-talk Washington into providing 20 F-35 stealth fighters it promised free of charge in return for a settlements freeze in the occupied West Bank.
Washington withdrew the offer after the government of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, dominated by right-wing parties, refused to extend a 10-month halt in settlement building for 90 days, the Palestinian condition for continuing the talks.
In the face of Israel’s refusal, the U.S. administration withdrew the offer of free F-35s worth $3 billion, along with other incentives it had put on the table.
But Israeli officials say Netanyahu’s government is still trying to work out a deal to get the 20 radar-evading, fifth-generation fighters that are built by Lockheed Martin.”
They wanted those jet fighters, but were not interested in freezing building of settlements, and ending the occupation. The bigger joke is that they keep trying to convince the world that the Palestinians are not interested in getting their freedom, and basic rights, and want to continue their suffering. Members of Congress who believe the 2SS myth, are in denial, or totally delusional.
A very sad situation.
The thief only comes to steal, kill and destroy – JOHN 10:10
The plight of the Palestinian people are thousand times more deplorable than the Ukrainians. Yet, there is complete silence due to double standards and wicked hypocrisy.
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“Israel has long known that in order to avoid being held accountable for its crimes against Palestinians, it needs strong political allies. In the current world order, the most effective pressure on Israel would have to come from the West — but we are still very far from that point, as the United States & Europe have mostly been facilitating rather than inhibiting Israel’s actions. Nonetheless, the fear that views of Israel were beginning to shift in the West motivated former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to spend much of the last decade in forming an alliance of right-wing & authoritarian governments, including Brazil, Hungary, India, China, the Philippines, & of course, Russia.
“In an attempt to offer an alternative to liberal democracy & international law, Netanyahu wanted to make sure that if Israel were ever sanctioned by American or European powers, it would have auxiliary markets & suppliers who don’t even bother to pay lip service — as the West does — to Palestinian rights. The last of Netanyahu’s triumphs in this field, facilitated by President Donald Trump, was the signing of the Abraham Accords, adding Arab Gulf states to the long list of authoritarian countries who choose Israel over Palestinians. This regional realignment was on full display on Sunday, when Israel hosted leaders from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, & Morocco in the so-called Negev Summit.
“This anti-liberal axis has outlived Netanyahu, & now, as the Bennett-Lapid government refuses to condemn Russia, it is operating with the same goal & the same loyalties in mind.
“This is also the context for the recent wave of reports recognizing the nature of Israel’s apartheid regime, years after Palestinians & South African activists have done so. In the past two years alone, these have included Israeli human rights groups Yesh Din & B’Tselem, the international organizations Human Rights Watch & Amnesty International, & just this week, the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories.
“Arguably the central tipping point for these reports can be found in the Israeli decision, emboldened by the new illiberal alliance, to openly oppose the two-state solution in words as much as in deeds…”
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The Landline, 972 Magazine, March 27/212, by Haggai Matar.
“From Israel to Russia, occupiers are remaking the world order”
“A little over a month into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Israel remains very much on the fence as far as the war goes. While the government has issued a number of mild statements in support of Ukrainians, it has denied Kyiv’s requests for military support while trying to maintain good relations with both the victim & the aggressor, allowing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to serve as an occasional go-between for Vladimir Putin & Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“According to the official narrative, Israel has to maintain a level of neutrality in this conflict out of consideration for Russia’s Jewish population, which numbers around 180,000 people, & to allow Israel the freedom to attack military targets deep in Syria, with Moscow’s approval (the repeated violation of Syrian sovereignty is seen as a given by Israel, though it is precisely this kind of violation that the world is now trying to stop in Ukraine).
“In truth, however, Israeli interests in this war far exceed these short-term considerations & lie in deeper questions of international laws & norms. While most Western governments denounce Russia for its brutal attack on a neighboring country, Israel has an inherent problem speaking out clearly against the occupation of another people’s land & sovereignty. It cannot wholeheartedly join sanctions against Russia or denounce its war crimes while concurrently leading a diplomatic campaign against the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions Movement, or against proceedings in the International Criminal Court regarding suspected crimes committed in the context of Israel’s military occupation.
“The war on Ukraine is compelling the international community to reckon with the consequences of allowing powerful countries to openly challenge international law without being met with sanctions. Such was the case with the U.S. occupations of Afghanistan & Iraq; such is the case with the current wars in Syria, Yemen, & Ethiopia; & such is the case with Israel’s 55-year occupation. It is this potential moment of reckoning that Israel is trying to evade, because it recognizes that it may be branded as another Russia.(cont’d)