Vermont Senator, and former presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders addressed a Tel Aviv protest opposing the Israeli government’s plan to annex parts of the Jordan Valley and West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government are facing pushback over plans to annex large swaths of the occupied West Bank as early as next month, with Israeli and Palestinian protestors taking to the streets to voice their opposition to the plans over the weekend.
Justin Trudeau has floundered in Canada’s response to Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank. Perhaps it’s because he wants a seat on the security council.
In a statement launched today, tens of Palestinian civil society organizations, professional associations, unions, human rights and advocacy groups, and networks, representing an overwhelming majority of Palestinian civil society, called on governments to adopt “effective countermeasures, including sanctions” to “stop Israel’s illegal annexation of the Occupied West Bank and grave violations of human rights.”
In response to Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has announced that Palestinian Authority is walking away from agreements with Israel and the U.S. Ahmad Al-Bazz interviews Abdul Sattar Kassem on what this move will amount to, and the future of the Palestinian struggle following Israeli annexation.
Netanyahu will move ahead to annex territories in Palestine near the Green Line containing Jewish settlements, says Yair Golan of Meretz. “He will explain to the rest of the world, Alright, we did what was reasonable, what was accepted by the Palestinians in former negotations, and what was heavily accepted by President Trump according to his future plan.”
The Netanyahu-Gantz coalition government will be sworn in this week and Netanyahu has made it clear that he intends to move forward with annexation plans this summer. Almost every Democrat opposes the move, but virtually none of them want to even suggest doing anything about it.
Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett has approved the expansion of the Efrat settlement in the southern occupied West Bank — nearly doubling the settlement in size. The comes just one week before U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to visit Israel to discuss annexation plans.
The Palestinian Authority is facing its most serious existential threat yet: bowing down to Kushner or insisting on returning to a dead political paradigm that was constructed, then abandoned, by Washington.
Benjamin Netanyahu says he’s about to move forward with Israeli annexation of the West Bank. Why hasn’t Joe Biden said anything yet?