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Fighting For The Right Wing War Messiah Ashrawi: Netanyahu committed to enhancing the extremist settler population
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![]() "Within the Jewish community they have preached an admixture of ultranationalism, religious mysticism, and racial superiority." Albert Einstein, 4-12-1948 |
There are some 196 government recognized Israeli settlements scattered across the Palestinian territory, all considered illegal under international law, while hundreds of unauthorized Israeli settler outposts — considered illegal even under Israeli law — also dot the Palestinian landscape.
While Israel considers settler outposts to be illegal, earlier this year, Israel passed the outpost “Regularization law,” which paved the way for the retroactive legalization of dozens of Israeli settler outposts, while loosening restrictions on settlers erecting outposts on private Palestinian land.
Meanwhile, in June, Israeli authorities broke ground on the first official new Israeli settlement in 25 years amid fierce condemnation from the international community and rights groups.
“Not by Might, nor by Power”: The Zionist Betrayal of Judaism
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Compassion Is Weakness
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Moshe Menuhin & Jewish NationalismMoshe Menuhin was born in Russia in 1893 to a distinguished, religious Jewish family. When the family moved to Palestine, Moshe was sent to Orthodox Jewish schools, first to Yeshivas in Jerusalem, then to the nationalistic Hebrew Gymnasia Herzelia in Jaffa-Tel Aviv.In 1913 (at age 20), he went to the United States to complete his higher education, attending New York University where he studied mathematics, political science, and education. Moshe Menuhin: "When we returned to Palestine, the decisive question was, do we want to come there as an ally, as a friend, as a brother, as a member of the coming community of the peoples of the Near East, or as the representative of colonialism and imperialism? The majority of the Jewish people preferred to learn from Hitler rather than from us...
As a conscientious Jew, I feel it necessary to set forth my views on Jewish history after studying and observing for many years the lofty and dignified Judaistic past of pure ethics, philosophy and religion, on the one hand, and the current decadent, tragic and revolting perversion of it into boisterous "Jewish" nationalism (Judaism turned into rampant Israelism) on the other.. I serve nobody's interests, and I am paid by no one... Yet, though I carefully and honestly stick to facts, I know that I am bound to antagonise the fanatical and professional idealists among the "Jewish" nationalists... "
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God's messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn't let me..." Luke 13:34 |
A delegation from the Palestinian Authority, led by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, is visiting Gaza Monday as part of reconciliation efforts to end a decade-long division between rival Fatah and Hamas groups.
Hamdallah and several other government ministers were to head to the coastal sliver on Monday morning and meet with Hamas officials as well as hold a cabinet meeting there on Tuesday.
“We are determined to undertake our role in supporting the reconciliation efforts and turning the page of the division so that the homeland becomes reunited,” the premier said during a ministerial meeting in Ramallah on Sunday.
Fatah and Hamas have been at odds ever since the latter scored a landslide victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006. Hamas governs the Gaza Strip, while Fatah has set up offices in the West Bank.
The two rival Palestinian factions finally agreed on a unity government in April 2014, but it fell apart months later.
Last month, Hamas announced that it had agreed to dissolve its administrative committee in Gaza. It also invited the Palestinian Authority led by President Mahmoud Abbas to return to the territory and hold new elections in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Fatah has welcomed the announcement and expressed hope that the Palestinian Authority would start taking over Gaza this week.
The visit by the Palestinian Authority government will be monitored by senior Egyptian intelligence officials who arrived in Gaza on Sunday, with Intelligence Minister Khaled Fawzy expected to join them on Monday.
"If now is not the time to put an end to illegal settlements, when is the right time?"
Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, Al-Monitor, 11-4-2016
"Gaza is an integral part of Palestine, and nothing that the Israelis do will take away this important part of our homeland or succeed in dividing us."
"The Palestinian cause is the heart of the Middle East struggle, and finding a solution to the Palestinian cause is an integral part of any comprehensive solution for the region."
"The US always want us to wait. They have ready excuses and justifications. There are the primaries, then the general elections, then the midterms. They are always wanting us to wait for this or that reason.
We have been under occupation for 49 years, and it is 68 years since the Nakba.
The international community including the US keeps saying that the settlements are illegal and illegitimate. If now is not the time to put an end to illegal settlements, when is the right time?"
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Netanyahu also announced Tuesday that his government would build thousands of new settler homes on Palestinian land in the West Bank and absorb the territory into Israel.
During a visit to Maaleh Adumim, one of the largest Jewish settlements in the West Bank, he said, "we will build thousands of housing units here," which "will be part of the state of Israel."
ANKARA - Turkey is luring militants away from the jihadist alliance that controls Syria's northwestern Idlib province as a step towards implementing a deal to reduce violence there, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday.
Idlib is one of four "de-escalation" zones which foreign powers agreed to establish in opposition territory in western Syria after years of civil war. But the former al Qaeda branch which controls the province has pledged to keep fighting Syrian government forces and their allies.
The ex-Nusra Front's stance has raised doubt about how Turkey, one of three parties to the agreement, can proceed with plans to deploy observers inside Idlib. Russia and Iran, the other two countries involved, are due to police its edges.
Cavusoglu said the first stage, already under way, was to separate "moderate rebels" from "terror organisations" - a reference to Nusra, which cut ties with al Qaeda last year, rebranded itself and now spearheads the Tahrir al-Sham jihadist alliance that dominates Idlib.
His comments endorsed remarks by a rebel source who said that efforts by foreign states were under way to encourage defections from the alliance, to break it up, isolate it and reduce its capacity to oppose any Turkish military deployment.
"With regards to Nusra, they are working to weaken it through intelligence operations," the source told Reuters. Those could include assassinations and campaigns to undercut the group's popular support, the source said.
The aim was to encourage jihadist fighters who are not members of al Qaeda to "melt into society".
At least two million people live in Idlib, the largest populated Syrian area held by rebels - including some nationalist Free Syrian Army factions who sometimes fought alongside jihadists.
The rebel source said up to 2,000 FSA fighters being trained by Turkish forces could deploy to Idlib, where many people have close ties to Turkey and could welcome a Turkish presence.
Turkey has called for the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad and supported several rebel factions, but has recently worked with Iran and Russia, both strong supporters of Assad, to stem the violence in Syria's six-year conflict.
TEHRAN - Iran's foreign minister held talks with the emir of Qatar Tuesday aimed at strengthening "co-operation," nearly four months into a Saudi-led blockade against the Gulf emirate.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif met at a time of heightened Gulf tensions, with Qatari officials warning the ongoing Arab blockade would only drive Doha towards regional powerhouse Iran.
Qatar's state news agency said the pair discussed the impasse in the region, which has seen Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with Doha over its ties with Iran and accusations that it supports extremists.
"During the meeting, they reviewed relations of cooperation between the two countries in various fields as well as exchanged views on the current situation in the region," read the statement from Qatar News Agency.
Tuesday's visit was notable as it was Zarif's first since Qatar's political isolation began on June 5..
Qatar's relationship with Shiite-dominated Iran, seen as the major rival to Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, is one of the major factors underpinning the crisis between Qatar and its former allies.
Doha in January 2016 had pulled its ambassador from Tehran in solidarity with Saudi Arabia over attacks on its diplomatic mission there... But in August, Qatar announced it was restoring full diplomatic relations with Iran by returning its ambassador.
Zarif and Al Thani focused on the need to increase long-term economic cooperation. Iran and Qatar share the world's largest offshore gas fields, located in the Persian Gulf and spreading over the two nations' territorial waters.
Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Tuesday President Bashar al-Assad was winning Syria's civil war and urged the United States to weigh in as Damascus's Iranian and Hezbollah allies gain ground.
Lieberman's comments marked a reversal for Israel, where top officials had from the outset of fighting in 2011 until mid-2015 regularly predicted Assad would lose control of his country and be toppled.
"I see a long international queue lining up to woo Assad, include Western nations, including moderate Sunnis.
Suddenly everyone wants to get close to Assad," Lieberman told Israeli media in an interview.
In late 2015, Russia helped Assad turn the tide with a military intervention that put Moscow's forces in the field alongside Israel's most potent foes—Iran and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah—opposite Syrian rebels.
The United States has focused its Syria operations on fighting rebel jihadis like Islamic State — dismaying Israel, which has tried to persuade both Washington and Moscow that Iran's expanding clout is the greater threat.
While largely keeping out of the Syrian civil war, Israel has tried to sway the world powers involved in the conflict and cautioned it could strike militarily to prevent Iran and Hezbollah entrenching further on its northern front.
"We hope the United States will be more active in the Syrian arena and the Middle East in general," Lieberman said.
"We are faced with Russians, Iranians, and also the Turks and Hezbollah, and this is no simple matter to deal with, on a daily basis."
Lieberman did not elaborate on what actions he sought from the Donald Trump administration...
Flashback: Iran is much more dangerous than ISIS
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America & its Useful Idiots
In political jargon, useful idiot is a term for people perceived as propagandists for a cause whose goals they are not fully aware of, and who are used cynically by the leaders of the cause.
It has become clear that the US’s main objectives in Syria is not their expressed goal of ‘fighting ISIS’, but regime change, isolating Russian influence, the Balkanization and the creation of failed states.
"I think the Western powers - the US, especially followed by Britain and France - are using Islamic extremism as their foot soldiers in conquering various countries.
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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met Wednesday with Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in the Iranian capital [Tehran] to discuss regional and bilateral issues amid an ongoing debate on the controversial independence referendum by Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which is opposed by both countries.
"During the visit, expansion of economic and trade ties will be discussed. Regional issues, including Syria, Iraq and the referendum in Iraq's Kurdistan will be discussed as well," Iranian State TV reported.
Erdogan is accompanied by his Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Economic Affairs Nihat Zeybekci, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak, Minister of Customs and Trade Bülent Tüfenkci, Minster of the Interior Süleyman Soylu, Minister of Culture and Tourism Numan Kurtulmuş, and Foreign Affairs Deputy Chairman of Justice and Development Party Mehmet Mehdi Eker on the official trip.
![]() Tehran appears to be a Modern City |
Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov underlined the importance of Saudi King Salman’s visit to Russia, which will kick off on Thursday, describing it as a “real turning point in the relations between the two countries” to achieve fruitful contribution to stability in the Middle East.
In an interview with Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in Moscow, Lavrov said his country shared Riyadh’s conviction of the need to “further develop bilateral relations at various levels”, and to work towards the establishment of regional and global stability. He noted that Riyadh and Moscow have maintained a high-level dialogue, which has translated into tangible results.
“We are intensifying efforts to strengthen trade ties and humanitarian relations with the Kingdom. Our common goal is to increase the volume of trade and expand the range of commodities, which both sides see as incompatible with the great potential of the two countries,” Lavrov said.
Lavrov stressed that King Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin would discuss the need to find sustainable and permanent solutions to the ongoing crises in the region, adding that the visit would represent “a true turning point in our relations and would take cooperation between us to a new level, achieving a fruitful contribution to stability in the Middle East and North Africa.”
Asked whether a political solution to the Syrian crisis would be reached soon, Lavrov said:
“Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, Russia has insisted on a solution through peaceful means by holding an extensive dialogue between the various parties. We also called on the international community to extend a helping hand to the Syrian people to end the violence and bloodshed and to prevent the support of criminals and terrorists inside the country.”
The Russian official criticized the international community for exerting pressure to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“The Arab League and many regional and international parties have taken a decision to strip Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of his legitimacy for a variety of reasons. In doing so, they have effectively attacked the right of the Syrian people to decide who will rule Syria and in what way. We strongly disagree with this approach,” he firmly stated.
Lavrov underlined the importance of the Astana meetings on Syria, during which he said the concerned parties have agreed that there was no alternative to a political and diplomatic settlement under the auspices of the United Nations and expressed their commitment to the ceasefire.
“Today, all actors must abandon their own geopolitical ambitions and contribute fully to the restoration of stability and security in Syria and throughout the Middle East and North Africa,” the Russian foreign minister said.
Female singers returned to state-run television in Saudi Arabia after a ban that lasted over 30 years, in the country's latest step towards projecting a more progressive image.
Al-Thaqafiya, Riyadh's channel dedicated to cultural programmes, aired a lengthy concert of iconic Egyptian diva Umm Kulthum on Tuesday, days after it announced the end of its ban on women drivers.
A source at the channel told popular daily Okaz that the broadcast marked the return of the "sound of the female singing voice" to official Saudi media and future concerts will include other classic women artists.
Umm Kulthum was one of the most influential Arab singers of the last century, she enjoys legendary status across the Middle East, where she is known as "The Lady".
Women singers were banned from state television in the wake of the 1979 takeover of the Grand Mosque in Mecca by extremist insurgents, who were inspired in part by what they saw as the liberalisation of Saudi culture. The strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam bans certain types of music.
Saudi Arabia has cautiously begun introducing entertainment, including music concerts, despite opposition from hardliners in the kingdom, where public cinemas and theatre are banned.
Umm Kulthum (live): Baeed Anak "Baeed Anak" (Away From You) at the Olympia Théâtre in Paris, November 1967. |
The Black Day of Egypt The national public farewell and funeral of Um Kalthoum; |
Iraqi forces have captured the town of Hawija and the surrounding area from ISIL, one of their last strongholds in Iraq.
With the capture of Hawija, the only area that remains under control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group in Iraq is a stretch alongside the western border with Syria.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in Paris on Thursday that "I want to announce the liberation of the city of Hawija today," calling it a "victory not just of Iraq but of the whole world". He said that the fight against ISIL is now focused on the border zone with Syria.
The offensive was carried out by US-backed Iraqi government troops and Iranian-trained and armed Shia paramilitary groups known as Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF).
"The army's 9th armoured division, the Federal Police, the Emergency Response division and (…) Popular Mobilisation Forces(PMF) liberated Hawija," said a statement from the joint operations commander, Lieutenant-General Abdul Ameer Rasheed Yarallah, on Thursday.
Hawija lies between two main routes north of Baghdad; one leading to Kirkuk and the autonomous Kurdish region, the other to Mosul and further on to the Iraqi border with Syria and Turkey.
Its geographical location in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk and its proximity to Mosul and the Iraqi Kurdish region has made it a centre of conflict between rival powers ever since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Hawija is also one of the most important agricultural areas and the second largest source of vegetables in Iraq.
The area's mainly Sunni Arab population of 450,000 is deeply hostile to both the Shia-led government in Baghdad and to the Kurds who form the historic majority in adjacent areas, which - in part - was what buoyed ISIL's control of the area.
US-led coalition troops nicknamed Hawija the "Kandahar in Iraq" after it put up fierce resistance to the 2003 US invasion.
Flashback - Iraq at the Brink, A Decade after the Invasion
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"None of them are composed of Iraqi nationals with a uniting vision"Vladimir Putin: "We are one people". Manifestations of separatism
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has met with the King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
It is the first state visit to Russia by a reigning Saudi monarch and marks a new level of relations between the countries.
According to the Kremlin, “the leaders will consider joint steps to further develop bilateral cooperation in the trade, economic, investment and cultural-humanitarian areas.”
Relations between the two countries have reached a “fundamentally new level recently,” according to the Russian Energy Minister and Co-Chairman of the Russian-Saudi Intergovernmental Commission Aleksandr Novak. “Parliamentary contacts show good dynamics and the two countries business circles maintain intensive dialogue," he said, adding that that significant progress has been made.
The two leaders have talked on the situation in the Middle East. Putin said that his talks were detailed, with the sides discussing the situation in the region.
"Just now, we held very detailed talks in a narrow format. We discussed bilateral relations and the situation in the region. This discussion was very substantive, informative and very trusting," Putin said.
The Saudi King has specifically touched upon the Syrian issue, saying Riyadh intends to achieve the resolution of the crisis in the war-ravaged country in accordance with Geneva decisions and UN Security Council resolutions.
The Fight Ahead: Questions About the Origins, Objectives, and War on BDS
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Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. Visit his website: ramzybaroud.net Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Jackson was different. No one like him had ever served as president. He made executive decisions based on his personal beliefs and did what he could to protect the common man. He feared that monied and business interests would corrupt republican values. |
US-president Donald Trump is stepping up threats against Iran, promising a “broad strategy” to punish Iran for all of its bad behavior.
Decertification of the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran (on the grounds it is “not in America’s interests”) would lead to a vote in Congress, which Trump appears to believe will lead to the US withdrawing from the P5+1.
This isn’t going to take place until next week, however,which has fueled speculation Iran might be coerced into making new concessions to placate him.
Iran, however, says that this is not the case.
Noting that they’re complying with the nuclear deal as it is, Iran has denied reports they’d be willing to negotiate on their conventional missile program, saying they believe demands for more concessions are a violation of the UN Security Council resolution on the nuclear deal.
It would be odd for Iran to try to make a second deal, having complied with the first one and still faced constant threats and condemnations from the Trump Administration.
Rather, Iran’s strategy appears to be to try to salvage the P5+1 deal, even if it’s without US participation. Which could well happen.
The other P4+1 nations all seem happy with the deal as is, and don’t act furious every time the UN admits Iran is complying. They may well decide that the US pullout is just a show of bad faith from the Americans, and not a reason to revise the deal for the remaining participants.
That concern is actually one of the main arguments officials have made to Trump against withdrawing from the deal, warning that it would both hurt America’s reputation and remove them from the deal for no real benefit.
![]() "Tearing up the Iran nuclear deal would be the height of folly and “disastrous." John Brennan, NYT, 30-11-2016 |
The JCPOA, when it was signed, was already a controversial agreement. The major disagreement between the White House and Congress on this deal and Republican skepticism about the agreement made the issue a significant foreign policy problem for Republican candidates during the presidential primaries.
During his campaign, Trump made multiple statements about the deal.
Although there were discrepancies among these statements – for instance at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) summit, he said that his number one priority will be "to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran", whereas in a piece in USA Today he said he will "renegotiate with Iran," constantly calling the deal very bad for the U.S.
He was also very reactive to Iran's role in different conflicts of the region. His foreign policy and security team members more or less agree that Iran constituted a major problem for the region.
Since his inauguration, one of the critical and often-asked questions about his foreign policy has been the issue of Iran... Every 90 days since the inauguration there were questions whether Trump would certify Iran's compliance with the JCPOA or not.
"Can a blind man lead a blind man?" Luke, 6:39
In the last few days, as the Oct. 15 deadline for the next certification approaches, there are more rumors about Trump's unwillingness to certify the compliance.
Trump's unwillingness to certify Iran's nuclear deal compliance is not present among other officials.
In a hearing last week, Mattis said that the deal is still in the U.S. national interest. He said: "I believe at this point in time absent indications to the contrary, it is something the president should consider staying with."
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford also backed this claim and said the deal makes U.S. safer.
Although Tillerson and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster avoided directly contradicting the president, they have followed a more cautious approach for U.S. policy on Iran. This situation is generating different statements competing against one another...
Many members of Congress do not seem to be interested in taking up the issue again.
Even those who opposed the deal before are in favor of keeping the JCPOA now. Furthermore, Congress does not seem to be adopting sanctions because of the concern of alienating the U.S. allies that backed the deal.
"The Divine Presence has never departed from the Western Wall"
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The Strange Story of the False Wailing Wall
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Iran will host the International Association of Science Parks World Conference (IASP) in 2018, an official said on Saturday.
"Last Year, a delegation from Iran, including Deputy Science Minister Dr. Ahmad Vahidi and presidents of 20 science and technology parks, participated in the IASP conference and it was unanimously decided that the next meeting of the Association be held in Iran in 2018," Director-General of the Science Ministry for Planning of Technical Affairs Khosro Piri said.
He added that the event will be held at Isfahan Science and Technology Town (ISTT) in Central Iran.
IASP is a worldwide network of innovation which connects the professionals managing science, technology and research parks (STPs) and other areas of innovation and provides services that further promote the growth and effectiveness for all members.
IASP is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. The IASP World Conference is held annually.
International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP):
IASP mission is to be the global network for science parks and areas of innovation, and to drive growth, internationalisation and effectiveness for its members.
Since the initiation of science parks and technology business incubators in the Islamic Republic of Iran, science parks and technology incubators have played an important role in Iranian National Development Plans.
Isfahan Science & Technology Town (ISTT) is the pioneering science town and one of the most successful in the country.
ISTT is pleased to host 35th IASP world conference on Science Parks and Areas of Innovation for the first time in Iran from 2-5 September 2018. ISTT land is adjacent to Isfahan University of Technology.
Jesus & The Age of Aquarius
If we are moving into the Aquarian Age it is often associated with the “New Age” as Aquarius rules all things non-traditional, non-conforming, rebellious, questioning, technological and scientific. Aquarius rules electricity, computers, airplanes, flight, democracy, humanitarian efforts and astrology. |
TEHRAN – Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami said on Tuesday that Iran and Turkey, as two influential countries in the Mideast region, will stop new scenario of 'the Zionist regime of Israel'.
“The U.S. and Israel have put a strategy of disintegrating the regional countries on their agenda after the failure of the Daesh scenario, but Iran and Turkey, as two important and influential regional countries, will not let them enact the new scenario,” he said during a meeting with Turkish Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar in Tehran.
Hatami noted, “Developments in the region during the past years have served the interests of the Zionist regime and harmed the world of Islam and have marginalized the issue of Palestine.”
He also said that protecting the regional countries’ territorial integrity is Iran’s principled policy.
“Cooperation among Iran, Turkey and Iraq can be effective and helpful in establishing stability and security in the region and countering division seeking actions,” he added.
Elsewhere, Hatami said that Iran attaches great importance to Turkey in its foreign policy.
Akar said that Iran-Turkey cooperation helps the regional peace and stability. He also said that Turkey supports territorial integrity of Iraq and Syria and is against any move to change borders.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Saturday that Turkey was conducting a "landmark" counterterror operation in Syria's Idlib.
Speaking at the Justice and Development Party (AK Party)'s consultative meeting in western Turkey's Afyonkarahisar, the president said: "Today a landmark operation is underway in Idlib, and this will continue. We will never allow a terror corridor along our Syrian border."
Erdoğan said that Turkey aimed to provide security for Idlib by extending the area cleared from terrorists in Operation Euphrates Shield, and added that operations in the region would continue.
The president also underlined that Turkey would not allow separatist operations in Iraq and Syria, just as "we haven't allowed such operations within our borders."
After addressing the audience at AK Party's consultative meeting, Erdoğan told press representatives that Turkish soldiers had not yet entered Syria's Idlib and were not yet involved in the operation, adding that the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was currently conducting the operation in the region.
The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) is currently supporting the FSA from within Turkey's borders, while Russian forces are providing air support to the operation, Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan last month said that Turkey would deploy troops in Syria's northwest Idlib province as part of a de-escalation agreement brokered by Russia in August.
Saudi Arabia will not let anyone finance terrorism and spread the ideology of hatred, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at a news conference for Russian media.
![]() “I can see a new bin Laden being created. He’s also Saudi, and he’s now being treated as a rebel: Abdullah al-Muhaysini. It’s really strange how history repeats itself.” Iranian official, april 2015 |
"Lots of militants from both Russia and Saudi Arabia are fighting for the Islamic State," the Saudi top diplomat said.
"They pose a threat for our countries and for other states, from where they came from. So, we have strong interest in cooperation."
At the same time, al-Jubeir accused Qatar of financing terrorism in various countries in a bid to intervene into domestic affairs of those states.
"We are convinced that there are certain principles that all countries must stick to: [they must] say "no" to terrorism, the financing of terrorism, extremism and propaganda of hatred, [as well as] attempts to interfere into domestic affairs of other states," he said .
"We expect those demands to be met by Qatar.".
Flashback - Bashar al-Assad: "Real revolutions
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![]() power to the street, or: the western backed anti-intellectual revolution |
President Assad: From a historical perspective, any genuine revolution is purely internal and cannot be linked externally by any means, as manifested by the Russian, French and even the Iranian revolutions.
Real revolutions are intrinsic, spontaneous, and are led by intellectual and ideological elites. What occurred in Syria since the outset of the crisis was flagrant external interference.
There were attempts to hide this, but it has become absolutely clear.
Secondly, the real revolution of 1963 was a revolution that empowered the country, society and human values.
It promoted science and knowledge by building thousands of schools, it brought light to the Urban and rural areas of Syria by building electricity lines and networks, it strengthened the economy by providing job opportunities according to competencies. It supported the wider foundations of society including farmers, labourers and skilled-workers. ...
Revolutions are about building countries and societies, not about destroying them; so how can we call what is happening in Syria a revolution?
Attempts to package the events on the ground as a part of a revolution have been futile from the beginning. ....
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has reiterated that "it is none the business of anybody other than the Syrian people to decide the future of Syria, pointing out that from the very beginning, Tehran's political plan has been based on "supporting ceasefire, inclusive government, inclusive national unity government, constitutional reform and elections in Syria."
During an interview published by News Week Zarif stressed that Iran has presence in Syria at the request of the Syrian government to support the country in its war on terrorist organizations like Daesh, asserting that Tehran has had a consistent policy of opposing extremism regardless of where it occurs.
"We will not stay in Syria any longer than we are welcome. We have this policy of not going anywhere uninvited, unlike others," he said, with reference to America and a few other countries.
He stressed that Iran is not putting itself on a collision course with anybody, noting that "others may be putting themselves on that course. I believe they are putting themselves on a collision course with the international community."
Iran has lived with pressure and sanctions in the past. It has not broken Iran’s determination to pursue its interests, which are in line with international norms and international obligations.
We will never pursue a nuclear weapons option, but we have options within international law that are available in the agreement; options that are available if Iran decides to walk away from the agreement in response to a US violation.
The Iranian top diplomat pointed out that Iran doesn't expect the United States to interfere in its internal affairs, and it, at the same time, doesn't not interfere in the US internal affairs.
He said he hopes President Trump realizes that negotiating international agreements is no fun like real estate deals.
Former Rapporteur of the Turkish Constitutional Court Murat Arslan has been awarded the 'Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize 2017'. The winner was named during the first day of the PACE autumn session.
Murat Arslan is in detention in Turkey and could not get the award himself.
The nominee, in detention since 2016 is a former well-known and reputed Rapporteur of the Turkish Constitutional Court and President of the now dissolved Association for the Union of Judges and Prosecutors (YARSAV). He has always been a supporter of the independence of the judiciary.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry slammed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for awarding a senior Gülenist with a human rights prize Monday.
A statement released by the ministry said offering the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize to Murat Arslan, the former president of the now dissolved Association for the Union of Judges and Prosecutors (YARSAV), was "wrong and unacceptable."
Arslan has been detained as the result of evidence that reveals his strong ties and membership to the Gulen movement.
The ministry accused PACE of "aiding the circles that support terrorism" and betraying "the ideals of democracy and human rights" by presenting Arslan, a terrorism suspect, as a human rights defender. (Daily Saba, 9-10-2017)
Murat Arslan, President of the Association of Judges and Prosecutors (YARSAV), was arrested on October 26, 2016, on charge of “being a member of an armed terrorist organization in accordance with Article 314/2 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK).
The Progressive Lawyers Association Ankara Office said: Arslan had been an honorable judge who stood against injustice his entire life - “The witch hunt against leftists, intellectuals and opponents has started.”
The union in its statement pointed out that associating Murat Arslan and YARSAV with the Gülen Community would be wrong. (Bianet, 27-10-2016)
The Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize is awarded each year by the Parliamentary Assembly, in partnership with the Vaclav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation, "to reward outstanding civil society action in defense of human rights in Europe and beyond," according to the PACE website.
Flashback: Havel denounces 'atheist civilisation'
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Once, it was democracy that brought Gülen and Erdoğan together.
The two religious men wanted to change the Turkish Republic through the ballot box, and, in 2002, they did just that.
Gülen wanted to practice Islam his own way, inspired by Said Nursî, a Kurdish military commander who fought, like Ataturk, to create a Turkish state.
But Nursî later turned against Ataturk’s secular project.
A passionate exponent of Nursî’s views, Gülen helped attract millions of educated, conservative Muslims from the countryside to sometimes-underground study circles, where they pored over the Kurdish leader’s arguments against atheism.
Said Nursî was a Kurdish Sunni Muslim theologian. He wrote the Risale-i Nur Collection, a body of Qur'anic commentary exceeding six thousand pages. Believing that modern science and logic was the way of the future, he advocated teaching religious sciences in secular schools and modern sciences in religious schools. |
Gülen’s movement, Hizmet, didn’t seek to confront the secular state.
Instead of fighting the White Turks, Hizmet wanted to replace them. The movement thus founded some 4,000 tutoring centers, which prepared 1.2 million students for the exams they would need to pass in order to enter the police and judiciary.
Many Hizmet members formed their own news outlets, opening papers such as Zaman, to counter a traditionally secular media landscape.
That strategy paid off in 2002, as the AKP won a historic election with widespread support.
Hizmet backed the AKP directly, and its influence —through thousands of schools and some of the country’s biggest banks, TV stations, newspapers, and trade associations— was felt in the party’s appeal across ethnic and political lines.
The AKP captured not only religious conservatives but also leftists, secularists fed up with the previous government’s illiberal methods, and Kurdish and Alevi minority groups.
The AKP relied on Gülen’s extensive network of media outlets, prosecutors, and judges to expose opponents in the armed forces and bring cases against them.
But the AKP-Gülen alliance didn’t last. Confident that it had most of the population’s support, the AKP at once set about realizing its dream of political Islam.
Gülen, meanwhile, advocated smaller, more incremental reforms—hesitation that AKP supporters construed as betrayal.
One area of discord was the always-contentious place of the headscarf, which, under secular rule, had been banned in schools. After the AKP came to power, religious Muslims campaigned to eliminate the restriction, but female Gülen followers opted to remove the headscarf in schools rather than challenge the law.
The enmity between the two groups mounted further in 2011, when electronic bugs, apparently planted by Gülen’s supporters, were discovered in the offices of Erdoğan and other AKP leaders.
In June 2013 the conflict came to a head. When police killed three protesters critical of the AKP and arrested thousands more during sit-ins at Istanbul’s Gezi Park and elsewhere in the country, Gülen issued a statement of support for the demonstrators and berated the ruling party for the crackdown.
Erdoğan hit back, threatening to use the AKP’s parliamentary majority to push through a law that would close Gülen’s tutoring centers. ...
Gülen’s current trial stems from that episode. Along with fellow defendants, the elder cleric is accused of membership in a terrorist organization that sought to bring down the government...
“Some of the Gülen sympathizers who have been charged have engaged in criminal activity,” Gareth Jenkins, an Istanbul-based researcher with the Silk Road Studies Program, said of the recent prosecutions of Gülen supporters. “But I think a lot of those who are being targeted are innocent both legally and morally. They are being prosecuted because they follow Gülen rather than because they have done anything wrong.”
Celil Sağır (Zaman editor) finds the conflict with Gülen ironic, given that Erdoğan himself rose to popularity after he was jailed in 1997 for reciting a poem that secularist authorities said was aimed at toppling the government.
“Now he is doing the same to Hizmet,” Sağır said.
It is “unfair and un-Islamic to call Hizmet a terrorist organization.... And, you know, it hurts to see this being done by people who call themselves Muslims.”
Palestinian unity closer now than at any time in last decade
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Yassin was killed in an Israeli attack on 22 March 2004. Abdel Aziz Rantisi was announced as the new head of Hamas. On 17 April 2004, Rantisi was killed by the Israeli Air Force. |
The most recent Egyptian diplomatic effort to reach this elusive reconciliation stands a better chance than previous attempts, as it takes place at a point in time when the interests of Fatah and Hamas, as well as a number of regional powers, are in alignment...
Reconciliation in the fullest meaning of the word might be still a remote aspiration. Yet, restarting a political process which results in a single political system for both Gaza and the West Bank is of vital importance for both parts of Palestine.
The former Islamic State linked Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander, ‘Abdel-Jabbar ‘Okeidi, announced on Tuesday the opening of a military academy to train new militants to ‘liberate’ Syria from the Assad government.
‘Okeidi stated in a video released, today, that the academy will be named in honor of the deceased Islamist leader, ‘Abdel-Qader Saleh – he was militant commander of Liwaa Al-Tawheed from the northern Aleppo town of Mar’e.
The former Syrian Army officer, ‘Okeidi, first became famous for his defection and then joining forces with the Islamic State during the siege of the Mennagh Military Airport in the northern country of Aleppo in early 2013.
Following the capture of the Mennagh Airport, ‘Okeidi called the Islamic State terrorists his brothers and a key ally in the battle against the Syrian government.
Flashback: ISIS, The Brutal Rise of a Terrorist Army
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Militants of the Islamic State no longer have sources of financing in Syria for purchasing weapons and ammunition and recruiting mercenaries, the group’s economic infrastructure in that country has been destroyed, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters on Tuesday.
"The Russian Aerospace Forces have destroyed the economic infrastructure of ISIL in Syria and foil any attempts by terrorists to resume the production and illegal sale of hydrocarbons in Syria.
ISIL no longer has the sources of financing for purchasing weapons and ammunition and recruiting mercenaries in Syria," he said.
"The ongoing supply of terrorists from Iraq triggers serious questions concerning the objectives of operations against terrorists conducted in the region by US aircraft and the so-called international coalition," Konashenkov stressed.
Militants of the Islamic State group control a larger territory in the western part of Iraq and this area continues growing, he went on.
"In the western part of Iraq, from where the terrorist forces are arriving to the eastern bank of the Euphrates River (where the Russian Aerospace Forces are not operating), the IS-controlled territory continues growing, and it is manifold larger than in Syria," Konashenkov said.
The United States and the coalition led by it have substantially reduced the intensity of strikes on the Islamic State in Iraq with the beginning of the Syrian army’s operation to liberate the Deir ez-Zor province, he added.
"Strangely enough, this decrease in the intensity of strikes in Iraq has coincided with the redeployment of large terrorist forces from Iraq’s border areas to Deir ez-Zor that are now trying to gain a foothold on the eastern bank of the Euphrates.
Konashenkov added that "the actions of the Pentagon and the coalition require clarification.
The Russian Defense Ministry has urged "the US side to explain its selective blindness regarding militants" operating near US forces in Syria.
Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that truce in the southern de-escalation zone in Syria could be undermined after the relocation of 600 militants and two convoys with medical aid into the area.
According to the spokesman, on October 2-3 a group of 600 militants, previously based in the Rukban refugee camp, located in the American-controlled al-Tanf zone, headed westward in SUVs, and after covering some 300 kilometers entered the southern zone of de-escalation through a former border control point at the Syria-Jordan border in Daraa.
The spokesman underscored the US would solely bear all the responsibility for sabotaging the peace process in Syria.
In his turn, Director of the North America Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry Georgiy Borisenko told Sputnik that US actions near the al-Tanf base in Syria are reminiscent of an attempt to divide the war-torn state:
"Of course, we have a lot of questions about what the Americans are doing in Syria... " "They even establish certain zones, for example, in the al-Tanf area, where they refuse to allow the forces of the legitimate government..."
He recalled that the Russian Defense Ministry, "on the basis of available objective data, draws attention to the fact that in fact, the Americans and the opposition units oriented toward them are actually not fighting Daesh militants.
"We are surprised about it. We will further monitor the situation, but we proceed from the assumption that any flirtation with terrorists is always dangerous and will turn against those who play such games," Borisenko pointed out.
BEIRUT, (ST) - Hizbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has stressed that the United States is not in a hurry to eliminate Daesh...
In a speech during the commemoration ceremony of two Hezbollah martyrs, Nasrallah said the battle against Daesh won't end until the terror group is completely destroyed and has no existence, pointing out that the United States is the party which prevents and delays the battle with Daesh because the terror group's mission in exhausting the region's countries and destroying its armies has not finished yet for the Americans.
Nasrallah went on to say that the United States wanted the battle against Daesh in Iraq to last for 10 or 20 years in order to blackmail the Iraqis, establish military bases and sell arms, but the Iraqis' determination to get rid of terrorism helped defeat terrorists there.
He added that the US has done the same with Lebanon by putting pressure on the Lebanese state and army as to prevent them from launching the battle against the terror group.
Nasrallah reiterated that the new American sanctions on Hizbollah won't change the party's stance on confronting the American hegemony in the region.
Saudi minister Thamer al-Sabhan's call for an international coalition against Hizbollah is a clear acknowledgment on the strength of Hizbollah... He affirmed that the resistance axis is much stronger nowadays.
Nasrallah made it clear that the problem of the US with Iran was not its nuclear file, but Iran's essential role in bringing down the Saudi-US scheme in the region.
Nasrallah unleashed a new scheme against Iran and Hezbollah.
“We are before a new scheme in the region, the Saudi-US scheme, and at the forefront of those who they want to get rid of is Iran: There’s a new talk on a new policy in battling Hezbollah, even Russia won’t be excluded...
The US is offering multimillion-dollar rewards for two high-level officials of the Lebanese group Hezbollah as the US administration prepares to unveil a strategy to counter Iran's perceived regional influence.
The US will pay up to $7m for information leading to the arrest of Talal Hamiyah, head of Hezbollah's foreign operations, and up to $5m for Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah military officer, the US state department said on Tuesday.
The rewards are the first offered by the US for Hezbollah officials in a decade, Nathan Sales, the US counterterrorism coordinator, said.
"Today's rewards are another step to increase the pressure on them and their organisation," said Sales.
Sales indicated that as part of President Donald Trump's soon-to-be-unveiled Iran strategy, the US would press countries to designate Hezbollah as an international terrorist group.
"Additionally, some countries have chosen to designate only Hezbollah's military wing... ; but that is a false distinction.
Make no mistake. Hezbollah has no political wing. It is a single organisation, a terrorist organisation, and it is rotten to its core."
Winning support for an intensified campaign against Hezbollah could prove difficult for the administration. Hezbollah is part of Lebanon's fragile coalition government and commands enormous support for the social services it provides.
"The Iranian regime has built and bankrolled Hezbollah to foment instability
throughout the region and across the world." Nathan Sales, CNN News, 11-10-2017
A multimillion dollar reward offered by the Trump administration in return for information leading to the arrest of two senior operatives of Hizbullah is part of ongoing U.S. efforts to "demonize" the group, a Hizbullah official said Wednesday. The new U.S. measures, including recent sanctions, will not affect Hizbullah's operational activities, the official told The Associated Press.
The rewards are the first offered by the United States for Hizbullah leaders in a decade, and come against the backdrop of heightened U.S.-Iran tensions resulting from President Donald Trump's threats to scuttle the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
An avowed critic of the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, Trump has called it one of America's "worst and most one-sided transactions" ever. U.S. officials have said he is looking for ways to pressure Tehran.
Under the new policy, the White House is focusing on the Revolutionary Guard and Hizbullah.
The Hizbullah official dismissed the accusations, saying the United States is "the last state" to designate people on terror lists, accusing it of supporting terrorist organizations and sponsoring states and regimes "that have a long history in financing and supporting terrorism."
"It is part of the continuous efforts to demonize Hizbullah. They are false accusations that will not have any effect on the operational activities of Hizbullah," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with party regulations.
Hizbullah has sent thousands of its fighters to Syria to shore up President Bashar Assad's forces in Syria's ongoing civil war and also has been fighting the Islamic State group both inside Syria and along the Lebanese-Syrian border.
Flashback: Eighty-two percent of Syrians and 85 percent of Iraqis
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![]() “The US-led Western alliance, while acting as an advocate of democracy, rule of law and human rights in individual countries, is acting in the international arena from the opposite position, rejecting the democratic principle of the sovereign right of states enshrined in the UN Charter and trying to decide for others what is good and what is bad." Sergei Lavrov, UN, 27-9-2014 |
The U.S. was the absolute winner of World War II.
All of the institutions in the new world order established under the leadership of the U.S. after World War II are based on the idea that the U.S.'s interests reflect all those of developed countries.
From 1947 onward, developing countries, including Turkey, were confined to the stereotypical economic prescriptions of the IMF...
After successive crises in the 1990s and 2000s, these countries found that the stereotypical IMF prescriptions did not work and were the cause of the crises and they began to implement relatively unique economic policies.
As a result of all of this, we are faced with a global systemic crisis today that is deeper than the 1929 crisis.
The 1929 crisis was overcome with a world war and U.S. hegemony.
The current crisis is precisely the crisis of the old system, which was built upon the economic and political hegemony of the U.S., and is unlikely to end without overthrowing the old system.
As long as the U.S. continues to behave in line with post-World War II conditions, the crisis will continue to deepen.
Unlike before, there is no one-dimensional detente based on only two countries, the U.S. and the Soviet Union. There is now an opportunity for multilateral partnerships, regional economic unions and relevant high-level technology exchanges on all levels.
Every step taken by the U.S. now is based on the old rationality and is not rational, feasible and sustainable today.
In other words, the political "mind" of the U.S. has remained in the previous century. According to Henry Kissinger, the 20th century was the U.S.' century, but we are now in the 21st century.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini says Washington’s possible withdrawal from the Iran deal will send a message to the international community that the US is not trustworthy when it comes to deal making.
In a Wednesday interview with PBS channel, Federica Mogherini highlighted Iran’s full compliance with the 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and said, “We have the international community strongly behind the full implementation of the deal.”
“Once that we have an agreement that is functioning, that is working, that is delivering, the worst thing you can do is trying to dismantle it, also because you would show the way to others that making deals actually is not worth it, because the message that America would send to the rest of the world is that America cannot be trusted upon,” she said.
The US, Mogherini added, would lose global trust “because a deal that America voted for just two years ago in the UN Security Council with a resolution unanimously adopted, a deal that America helped to shape enormously, enormously, would be rejected by the same country.”
“If we pass the message that with every change of administration in Washington or elsewhere deals are thrown away and renegotiated, no one would negotiate with any administration ever and any deal would be exposed to be renegotiated every term.
This is not the way of making deals, not in foreign policy, not in private businesses and I think [US] President [Donald] Trump understands that perfectly well,” she said.
The Trump administration withdrew the U.S. from the United Nations cultural organization, saying it’s biased against Israel and citing its decision to admit the Palestinian territories as a member state.
The decision to quit the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which the U.S. co-founded in 1945, “was not taken lightly,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement Thursday. She cited the need for “fundamental reform in the organization, and continuing anti-Israel bias at UNESCO.”
The U.S. hasn’t been paying dues to UNESCO since 2011, when President Barack Obama’s administration stopped providing about $72 million a year after the Paris-based organization accepted Palestine as a full member.
“At the time when conflicts continue to tear apart societies across the world, it is deeply regrettable for the United States to withdraw from the United Nations agency promoting education for peace and protecting culture under attack,” UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said in a statement. “This is why I regret the withdrawal of the United States.”
The organization's decision to designate Hebron’s Tomb of the Patriarchs as a Palestinian heritage site this year, as well as resolutions that seemed to minimize Jewish ties to Jerusalem, prompted accusations of anti-Israel bias, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accusing the organization of promoting “fake history.”
Netanyahu on Thursday welcomed what he called the “brave and moral” U.S. decision. He has instructed the Foreign Ministry to prepare for Israel’s own departure from the group..
The U.S. will remain a non-member observer state “in order to contribute U.S. views, perspectives and expertise,” Nauert said. Withdrawal from the organization won’t take effect until Dec. 31, 2018.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) based in Paris. Its declared purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through educational, scientific, and cultural reforms in order to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the United Nations Charter.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has told Sputnik it laments that Washington has decided to quit UNESCO over "anti-Israel bias," but noted that the organization will keep operating.
"We lament the move, that intends to limit its scope of operation," the foreign ministry spokesperson stated. "We are confident that the organization can survive such behavior, in the same way, it survived previous similar intimidations in the past, and will maintain protecting the total independence and professionalism of the organization."
The spokesperson slammed Washington for using its membership in the organization as a tool to push through the interests of Israel that has occupied Palestinian territories in flagrant violation of international law.
"The US government decides to stand by the occupiers, the violators of the same principles and laws that the UNESCO as a UN organization was entrusted to protect."
The Palestinians have been in a state of conflict with the Israelis since the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948. In recent years, the conflict has been exacerbated by Israel's construction activities in East Jerusalem, considered by many countries as the territory of Palestine. Earlier this year UNESCO adopted a resolution that called Israel an “occupant power.” After that Tel Aviv slashed its donations to the UN.
NEW YORK, October 12, 2017 (WAFA) – Palestine’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Riyad Mansour Wednesday urged the United Nations to demand from Israel to comply with international law and resolutions and stop building illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Mansour sent three identical letters to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the President of the Security Council (France) and the President of the United Nations General Assembly on Israel’s continued provocative statements and its plans to build and expand settlements throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, in direct and serious violation of international law and Security Council resolutions, including resolution 2334 (2016)...
Mansour said the international community should demand Israel’s compliance with international law, including humanitarian law and human rights law, as well as all relevant UN resolutions, including resolution 2334 (2016), and be ready to hold it accountable for its acts if these violations continue...
“The time has come to stop dealing with Israel as a state above the law, where there is no state above the law, including Israel,” Mansour concluded his letter.