Saddam's Death, 201 [november 2023]
attempt to destroy political holism in the middle east

See also: Page 200: sept-oct 2023 and Page 202: dec 2023



Israel at war: Rockets slam Jerusalem (2023)


Israel & The Temple Revolution & Unesco & the Temple
Regime Change in Iraq - Overview 2002/2003 - Trump & the Pisces Messiah - Kennedy Speech 1961 - Eisenhower's Social Gospel - "I Have, I Rule and I will Destroy" - Iran & the dialogue of civilizations - Netanyahu & Infantilization of Israel - Jesus & Pophet Muhammed: "Be a stranger in the world" - Ideological Warfare Center - Jewish fundamentalism in the State of Palestine - Palestinian Martyrs and Jewish Heroes - The Balfour Declaration - Trump's move on Jerusalem (2017) - Abbas & Trump's "slap of the century" - John Bolton, prominent war hawk, National Security Adviser to President Trump - Lies & Provocations: France, UK and USA show their dark face - Trump, the 'deal-breaker' - Explaining America’s economic might - Netanyahu & The Survival of the Fittest - Bush’s ‘Axis of Evil’ Is Now Pence’s ‘Wolf Pack of Rogue States’ - Mike Pence & antisemitism - Amnesia of the US Foreign Policy Establishment - Israeli Elections 2019 - Was Jesus a Palestinian? - Labor disappears from Knesset - Settlers from the White House - NO to International Law - Israel & The Three Central Dilemmas - Netanyahu & Neo-Zionism - Secularism & 'Jewish' identity - Pompeo & Christian leadership - Jeremy Corbyn & Jewish Witch Hunt - Trump's Deal of the Century - Netanyahu & the Moongod Abraham - Gantz' betrayal - Trump's sanctions against ICC officials - The Ceasar Act - The Turkey-Armenia conflict - Joe Biden's Running Mate - The UAE-Israel-deal - The Sudan-US-Israel-deal - Robert Fisk Articles" - Joe Biden elected president - The return of Victoria Nuland - Putin 2014: New Rules or a Game without Rules - Alexander Dugin & The Great Awakening - Bennett is an 'evil' and 'wicked' Reform Jew, say haredi MKs - The Taliban enter Kabul - UAE leaders receive Syrian President Assad - Lapid & the Palestinian state - Yusuf al-Qaradawi died in Qatar - Israel heading toward a fascist theocracy - Ukraine is now a failed state: - The Global Civilization Initiative - Assad joins Arab leaders in Jeddah - Israel at war: Rockets slam Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, 2023


Index Page - Start

Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was born April 28, 1937 and died December 30, 2006. He was the fifth President of Iraq, holding that position from July 16, 1979 until 9 April 2003. He was one of the leading members of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, and afterward, the Baghdad-based Ba’ath Party and its regional organization Ba’ath Party, Iraq Region, which advocated ba’athism, an ideological marriage of Arab nationalism with Arab socialism. (Patricia Ramos, july 2013)


How the National Security State Manipulates the News Media
Ted Galen Carpenter, antiwar.com, March 09, 2021

An especially dangerous threat to liberty occurs when members of the press collude with government agencies instead of monitoring and exposing the abuses of those agencies. Unfortunately, collusion is an all-too-common pattern in press coverage of the national security state’s activities. The American people then receive official propaganda disguised as honest reporting and analysis.


"The national security of America and the security of the world could be attained if the American leaders [..] become rational, if America disengages itself from its evil alliance with Zionism, which has been scheming to exploit the world and plunge it in blood and darkness, by using America and some Western countries.
What the American peoples need mostly is someone who tells them the truth, courageously and honestly as it is.
They don’t need fanfares and cheerleaders, if they want to take a lesson from the (sept. 11) event so as to reach a real awakening, in spite of the enormity of the event that hit America.
But the world, including the rulers of America, should say all this to the American peoples, so as to have the courage to tell the truth and act according to what is right and not what to is wrong and unjust, to undertake their responsibilities in fairness and justice, and by recourse to reason..."

Saddam Hussein, INA 15-9-2002


Joe Biden & Truth - 2009

US Vice President Joe Biden said that the new administration would seek the unvarnished truth from its spies, whether or not their information supported the goals of the government.
The Vice President's address was greeted with loud cheers by the several hundred CIA employees who gathered for the swearing in ceremony in the foyer of the Agency's headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
Standing before the wall of 89 stars representing the CIA staff who have died in the line of duty, Mr Biden said:
"We expect you to provide independent analysis, not to engage in group think. We expect you to tell us the facts as you know them wherever they may lead, not what you think we want to hear." (Tim Shipman. 20-2-2009)

"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people …
The wave of the future is not the conquest of the world by a single dogmatic creed but the liberation of the diverse energies of free nations and free men. …
Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind." John F.Kennedy


“Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you can not retain.”

Saadi Shirazi
(Persian poet & humanist, born in Shiraz, Iran, c. 1210)


Flashback- Hanan Ashrawi 2002:
The New Age of Ideology

"The post-September 11 era in the US has heralded in a new age of ideology whose discourse and world views have served not only to accommodate such extremist views as those held by Sharon, but also to provide him with a platform and an influence that were unthinkable only a year ago.
Thus while the American President is busy devising a new Manichean universe of absolute good and absolute evil, pronouncing policy on the basis of a simplistic polarization of the world, and unilaterally defining the terms while categorizing state and non-state actors accordingly, Sharon’s Israel has maneuvered itself into a position of even greater power on the world stage provided explicitly by the US."

Index Page


"Holism is the most fundamental discovery of 20th century science. It is a discovery of every science from astrophysics to quantum physics to environmental science to psychology to anthropology.
It is the discovery that the entire universe is an integral whole, and that the basic organizational principle of the universe is the field principle: the universe consists of fields within fields, levels of wholeness and integration that mirror in fundamental ways, and integrate with, the ultimate, cosmic whole...."
"For many thinkers and religious teachers throughout this history, holism was the dominant thought, and the harmony that it implies has most often been understood to encompass cosmic, civilizational, and personal dimensions. Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Lord Krishna, Lao Tzu, and Confucius all give us visions of transformative harmony, a transformative harmony that derives from a deep relation to the holism of the cosmos."

About political holism

Political holism is based on the recognition that "we" are all members of a single whole. There's no "they," even though "we" are not all alike. Because "we" are all part of the whole, and therefore interdependent, we benefit from cooperating with each other. Political holism is a way of thinking about human cultures and nations as interdependent.
Political holists search for solutions other than war to settle international disagreements. Their model of the world is one in which cooperation and negotiation, even with the enemy, even with the weak, promotes political stability more than warfare.
In an overpopulated world with planet-wide environmental problems, the development of weapons of mass destruction has rendered war obsolete as an effective means to resolve disputes.

Political dualists consider political holists unpatriotic for questioning the necessity to defeat "them." In times of impending war, political dualists tend to measure patriotism by the intensity of one's hostility to the country's immediate enemy.
Naturally, they would view as disloyalty any suggestion that the enemy is not evil, any call for cooperation with the enemy, any criticism of one's own country.
To political dualists, cooperation with the enemy means capitulation, relinquishment of the nation's position of dominance.
At its extreme, political dualism is essentially tribalism. (Betty Craige, 16-8-1997)


Desmond Tutu & Ubuntu

"A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, based from a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed."
"We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World.
When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity." (Ubuntu info)

Kahlil Gibran's hometown Bsharre
celebrates 'The Prophet' centennial
by Naharnet Newsdesk [Lebanon] 6-11-2023

Gibran: "One’s own religion is after all a matter between oneself and one’s Maker and no one else’s."
Nestled in the mountains of northern Lebanon, a museum dedicated to Kahlil Gibran in his hometown of Bsharre has been celebrating the centennial of "The Prophet", the renowned author's most famous work.
Since it was first published in the United States in 1923, millions of copies of "The Prophet" have been sold worldwide, with the book becoming a literary classic that has been translated into dozens of languages from the original English.
"Every reader, no matter where they're from, feels that this book relates to them and moves them deeply... whether they are Christian, Muslim, Jewish" or atheist, said museum director Joseph Geagea. It "touches the spirituality of each individual, dealing with death, life, friendship, love, children" and other topics, he added.

A collection of poetic prose, "The Prophet" tells the story of Almustafa, who before returning to his homeland, speaks to residents of the city of Orphalese about various aspects of life. Divided into 26 chapters, verses from "The Prophet" are often quoted at births, weddings and funerals around the world.
"Biblical style is pervasive" in "The Prophet", Lebanese author Alexandre Najjar said during a recent reading in Beirut, also noting the influence of Islam's mystic Sufi tradition.
"The Prophet" captured the hearts of students and hippies in the 1960s, Najjar said, including for the passage: "Your children are not your children... they come through you but not from you."
Elvis Presley "loved the book so much that he used to give it to his friends on their birthday", he added.
Other celebrities and leaders, from John Lennon to Japan's former Empress Michiko and late Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, were also fond of the book, the museum's Geagea said.
Despite his popularity among readers, Gibran's most famous work received a lukewarm reception at the time of writing from American critics, who criticised it as simplistic and moralising.

The Extreme Ambitions of West Bank Settlers
A leader of the settlement movement on expanding into Gaza,
and her vision for the Jewish state.
By Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, November 11, 2023

For decades, Daniella Weiss has been one of the leaders of Israel’s settlement movement. Weiss became involved in settlement politics in the wake of the 1967 war.
In the early seventies, her family moved to the settlements in the West Bank and she later served for a decade as mayor of Kedumim, a community in the north. She has also been arrested numerous times, including for assaulting a police officer and interfering with an investigation into the destruction of Palestinian property.
More recently, she has been affiliated with the Nachala settlement organization, which helps younger settlers establish illegal outposts in the West Bank, an initiative that’s controversial even among the settler community. (Weiss is a neighbor and an ally of Bezalel Smotrich, the extremist minister of finance, who has said that the Palestinian people do not exist and that Palestinian communities need to be erased; he also lives in Kedumim.)

Weiss and I recently spoke by phone. Since the Hamas massacre of October 7th, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government—in addition to invading Gaza—has, with its allies in the settler movement, become increasingly aggressive in the West Bank.
Sixteen Palestinian communities have been removed from their land, and a hundred and seventy-five Palestinians have been killed. I wanted to talk to Weiss to understand the extremism of the settler movement, and her ultimate intentions for the West Bank. During our conversation we also discussed how her religious attitudes shape her view of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, why human rights should not be considered universal, and why she should not be expected to mourn for dead Palestinian children.

-- I was born in Israel in 1945, three years before the birth of the modern Jewish state. I was born in the Tel Aviv area.
-- And your parents?
-- My father was born in the United States. My mother was born in Warsaw, Poland, and she immigrated with her parents to Israel when she was a year old. So she came to Israel many years before the state of Israel was born.
-- How would you describe the settler movement?
-- I see the settler movement today as a direct continuation of the settler movement of a hundred and twenty, thirty, forty years ago.
I see it as a chapter in the history of Zionism, and we are in one of those chapters of modern Zionism. Settlement is the way to return to Zion.
-- You said, "Settlement is the way to return to Zion”?
-- Yes. It’s the end of the dispersion and the beginning of the revival of the Jewish nation in this homeland.

-- What are the borders of that Jewish nation?
-- The borders of the homeland of the Jews are the Euphrates in the east and the Nile in the southwest. [This would include the territory of multiple Middle Eastern countries as well as the territory that Israel controls today.]
-- There’s a Palestinian slogan that has become very controversial: “From the river to the sea,” which means from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. It’s controversial because it would include all the land that currently makes up Israel. But you’re saying from the river to the—
-- What is controversial?
-- Palestinians sometimes use the slogan “From the river to the sea.” But what you’re saying is that from the river to the Nile is the Jewish homeland, correct?
-- Of course. If someone decides to invent a new religion today, who will decide the rules? The first nation that got the word from God, the promise from God—the first nation is the one who has the right to it.
The others that follow—Christianity and Islam, with their demands, with their perceptions—they’re imitating what existed already. So, why in Israel? They could be anywhere in the world. They came after us, in the double sense of the world.

-- When did you first get involved in the settler movement?
-- In 1967, in the Six-Day War. The Six-Day War was such a miracle, and aroused very deep feelings toward the birthplace of our nation—Hebron, Shiloh, Jericho, Nablus. And, because of the miracle of the war, we had this spiritual sensation that something happened in the dimensions of a Biblical scene.
I felt that I wanted to be an active part in this miraculous happening. My husband didn’t like the idea of moving from Tel Aviv to the mountains of Judea and Samaria. He liked our life near Tel Aviv. But then, when the Yom Kippur War broke out, in 1973, I became involved in a very intensive way, and so did my husband.
We both became part of the settlement movement of Gush Emunim, the movement that established communities in Judea and Samaria. I forced my husband to follow me and our two daughters—they were little ones—to a tiny tent on the mountains of Samaria, where we all live today. Now we have a big family with four generations. My mother-in-law came with us, and then we have our daughters and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They are all settlers in Samaria.
-- In a lot of these places where settlements have been developed, from 1967 to the present day, there have been Palestinian communities and Palestinian families. What is your feeling about where these people should go?
-- It’s the opposite. None of the communities in Judea and Samaria are founded on an Arab place or property, and whoever says this is a liar. I wonder why you said it. Why did you say that, since you have no idea about the real facts of history? That’s not true. The opposite is true. Who got this idea into your mind?
-- Palestinian communities have been removed from their land, kicked off their land by—
-- No, you never read things like that. No. There are no pictures. [According to a report by Btselem, an Israeli human-rights group, parts of Kedumim, where Weiss lives, were built on private Palestinian land; in 2006, Peace Now found that privately owned Palestinian land comprised nearly forty per cent of the territory of West Bank settlements and outposts.]
-- O.K. I’m a little surprised you are denying this. I thought you were going to say, “It’s O.K. to kick Palestinians off land because it belongs to the Jewish people.”
-- You did no homework before you interviewed me. Everything that you say is the opposite of my personality and my philosophy. You are interviewing a person, and you don’t know anything about them. It’s very strange. I’ve never encountered a situation like this.
-- I was trying to understand where Palestinians who live in the West Bank should go.
-- Why should they go? Why should they go?
-- They should stay where they are, you’re saying?

-- They should accept the fact that in the Land of Israel there is only one sovereign. This is the issue. So let’s not confuse things. We the Jews are the sovereigns in the state of Israel and in the Land of Israel. They have to accept it.
-- If they accept it, should they receive full voting rights and things like that?
-- In the state of Israel, they have the right to vote for the Knesset, because Ben-Gurion gave them this right. He trusted them—and, even if he didn’t trust them, he didn’t have much of a choice.
He wanted to have a state for the Jews, and he knew the world would make problems with the issue of voting. But, in the seventy-five years since independence, the Arabs in the state of Israel and the Arab members of the Knesset showed in every possible way that their idea is to establish a Palestinian state. They are not working for the interests of the state of Israel.
So I think the Arabs in Judea and Samaria have no right to ask for rights or take part in elections for the Knesset. They lost their right to vote for the Knesset. They will never get this right.
They will have their own Palestinian Authority where they can run their civilian affairs in a logical way, but not as members of the Knesset. No, no, no.

-- So rights are not some sort of universal thing that every person has. They’re something that you can win or lose. -- That’s right.

You’ve been part of the settlement movement during a lot of different governments. How do you feel that the current government of the past year has been treating settlers broadly compared with past governments?
-- I will say that it’s better under Netanyahu. It doesn’t satisfy my ambitions and my dreams and my plans, but there are eight hundred thousand Jews—or settlers, if you want. So this gives me a lot of encouragement that from eight hundred thousand we will become two million, then three million.
-- When you say that the government’s been better, but it hasn’t realized your dreams, what are those dreams?
-- Two million Jews in Judea and Samaria. More settlements, more farms, bigger cities.
-- When you say that you want more Jews in the West Bank, is your idea that the Palestinians there and the Jews will live side by side as friends, or that—
-- If they accept our sovereignty, they can live here.

-- So they should accept the sovereign power, but that doesn’t necessarily mean having rights. It just means accepting the sovereign power.
-- Right. They are not going to have the right to vote for the Knesset. No, no, no...

The world, especially the United States, thinks there is an option for a Palestinian state... We want to close the option for a Palestinian state... It’s a very simple thing to understand.

Syria News: President al-Assad discussed
with Iraqi President the Arab role required to halt
the Israeli aggression on Palestinians
Syrian Arab News Agency, 11 November 2023

Riyadh, SANA- President Bashar al-Assad met on Saturday the Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid at his residence in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The talks dealt with the Arab role required to halt the Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people.
President al-Assad said that the Western collusion which justifies all forms of crime and destruction in Gaza Strip is encouraging the Israeli killing machine, as the United States and the West provide support tools that help them commit massacres, and they also provide political cover for these massacres that daily target women, children, and the elderly, all of which mount to the level of genocide.
President al-Assad added that the Israeli entity’s usurpation of the Palestinians’ right to their land and state, and its occupation of Syrian and Lebanese territories is the main and permanent cause of all the region’s problems.

For his part, the Iraqi President stressed the need to stop the war of genocide committed by the Israeli occupation in Gaza and the rest of the Palestinian territories, calling for halting it and guaranteeing the rights of the Palestinian people.
The two leaders also reviewed bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries and agreed to exert efforts to develop them in all fields in a way that responds to the aspirations and interests of the two countries and the two brotherly peoples.


Iraq is at a crossroads.
Will it choose its Shia militias or relations with the US?
By Sarkawt Shamsulddin, The Atlantic Council, 10-11-2023

In the heart of the tumultuous Middle East, Iraq finds itself at a crossroads, grappling with the complex dynamics of the Hamas-Israel conflict while trying to navigate the intricate relationships between its Shia militias and the United States.
Iraq stands out as the sole Arab state that has steadfastly refused to sign an armistice agreement with Israel since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Technically, Iraq remains in a state of war with Israel—a historical enmity that significantly influences its stance in the present conflict. Iraq not only refuses to recognize Israel as a state but has also passed laws criminalizing any ties with the country. This long-standing antagonism forms the backdrop against which Iraq’s current position on the Hamas-Israel conflict is crafted.

Amid the surprising attack by Hamas on October 7, Iraq faced conflicting positions.
The official stance of the Iraqi government is centered on diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, advocating for Palestinian statehood in the long term, and creating open humanitarian corridors for Gazans...
On the day of Hamas’s attack, the Iraqi government issued a statement reaffirming Baghdad’s unwavering commitment to the Palestinian cause.
It blamed Israel for the consequences of the attack as “a natural result of the systematic oppression they have been subjected to since ancient times at the hands of the Zionist [Israel] occupation authority.” It emphasized that Iraq stands with the Palestinian people in their pursuit of legitimate rights and unequivocally condemned any injustices and usurpations that obstruct the path to Palestinian statehood.

The United States has a history of tensions and confrontations with several Iraqi Shia armed groups that are integral to the Iraqi political process while operating independently from its military apparatus.
These militias—many of them aligned with Iran—have been involved in multiple attacks on US interests in Iraq and Syria over the last seven years.
However, since the inauguration of Prime Minister Sudani in October 2022, tensions between the United States and these groups in Iraq have significantly decreased. This reduction can be attributed partly to the majority of these armed groups aligning with Sudani’s coalition to form a government, necessitating a temporary truce with the United States.

However, the conflict in Gaza adds complexity to Iraq’s relationship with the United States, especially as various armed groups and political figures have already resumed rocket and drone attacks on US interests in Iraq since October 7.
This threat is poised to intensify as long as the Hamas-Israel conflict continues. Several pro-Iranian Iraqi militia commanders, including prominent figures like Hadi al-Amiri of the Badr Brigade and groups like Kataib Hezbollah, have issued belligerent statements praising Hamas’s attack and made threats against US interests in Iraq should the United States intervene on Israel’s behalf.
Additionally, Muqtada al-Sadr, an influential Shia cleric and a significant political voice within Iraq, called on the Iraqi government to formally end the US mission in Iraq and close the embassy.
However, he rejected violent methods to target US diplomats but warned that he would consider taking other measures if the Iraqi government did not respond to his request. This is partly related to the intra-Shia rivalry between Pro-Iranian camps and the Sadr bloc. However, the Palestinian issue remains a sensitive and popular topic in Iraq, garnering support from most Iraqi political figures.


Spain will work to recognize Palestinian state: PM Sanchez
Daily Sabah [Turkey], Nov 15, 2023

Spain's acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his country will strive nationally and across Europe to "recognize the state of Palestine."
During the debate ahead of the vote expected to solidify his left-wing coalition government, Sanchez told lawmakers that this recognition and diplomatic effort is the "first commitment of this legislature."
He said the international community must recognize the Palestinian state because it is a "solution" that has long been "justly demanded" by the Palestinian people.
Sanchez also urged for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, strict compliance with humanitarian law, and for Israeli authorities to allow international aid to reach the besieged population.
The Spanish leader firmly condemned the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and called for the release of hostages. "But with the same clarity, we reject the indiscriminate massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank," he said.

In evaluating Sanchez's speech, acting Equality Minister Irene Montero said Spain should impose sanctions on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and break diplomatic ties with Israel.
"We need a lot more than words in an investiture debate to stop the planned genocide that Israel is carrying out in Palestine ... the distance between these words and inaction is painful," tweeted Podemos leader and Social Rights Minister Ione Belarra...

Flashback: Spain’s far-left ministers continue
to slam Israel’s ‘genocide’ in Gaza
Middle East Monitor, November 1, 2023

Several far-left ministers in Spain’s caretaker government continued to speak out against Israeli attacks on Gaza on Wednesday, pushing for Spain and the international community to do more to stop its actions in Palestine, Anadolu Agency reports.
"Bombing hospitals, refugee camps, children, defenceless elderly people, Israel is demonstrating the worst of humanity. How long will European leaders make us accomplices of this barbarism", Ione Belarra, Head of the Podemos party and Minister for Social Rights, posted on X.
Belarra, who has been pressuring Spain and the EU to break off ties with Israel, also praised Bolivia for breaking diplomatic relations with Israel and Colombia for calling the siege a genocide.

Earlier this week, the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain called out Spanish ministers for “anti-Semitism.”
The Israeli embassy in Spain also slammed them as having “aligned themselves with ISIS-like terrorism,” for priorcomments.
Spain rebuked the embassy’s statement, accusing it of mischaracterising their positions and asserting that Spanish politicians can freely share their opinions. Foreign Affairs Minister, Jose Manuel Albares, also insisted that Spain’s official foreign policy is only determined by his or the Prime Minister’s office.


War on Gaza: Jordan minister doubts
Israel can wipe out Hamas
Arab News, November 18, 2023

Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi said on Saturday that he did not understand how Israel’s goal of obliterating the Palestinian militant group Hamas it is fighting in Gaza could be achieved: “Israel says it wants to wipe out Hamas. There’s a lot of military people here, I just don’t understand how this objective can be realized,” Ayman Safadi said.
He warned Jordan would do “whatever it takes to stop” the displacement of Palestinians, amid heavy Israeli bombardment of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and other Islamist militants.
“We will never allow that to happen, in addition to it being a war crime, it would be a direct threat to our national security. We’ll do whatever it takes to stop it” said Safadi at the IISS Manama Dialogue security summit in Bahrain.

The Israel-Hamas war has reawakened long-standing fears in Jordan, home to a large population of Palestinian refugees and their descendants. They fear that Israel could expel Palestinians en masse from the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians have surged since Oct. 7 attack.
“This war is not taking us anywhere but toward more conflict, more suffering and the threat of expanding into regional wars,” said Safadi.
Israel did not immediately respond to Safadi's comments, which included a call for an immediate ceasefire and end to the fighting.

Top foreign policy adviser to the United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said on Saturday that statements from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about a longer term presence in Gaza were worrying.
“We hear now from the Israeli prime minister and indeed the Israeli president about the sort of longer term Israeli connection to Gaza. They are very worrying,” Anwar Gargash said at the Manama summit.
“This indicates that perhaps the lesson that we as the majority of people in region are taking away from the Gaza crisis which is the need to go back to the two state solution. We need to go back to an Israeli and Palestinian state living side by side.."


Gaza, West Bank should be 'reunited'
under Palestinian Authority: Biden
AFP|Ahram online, Saturday 18 Nov 2023

Gaza and the West Bank should eventually be "reunited" under a new Palestinian Authority, US President Joe Biden said in an opinion piece published Saturday.
"As we strive for peace, Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution," he wrote in the piece published in the Washington Post.
Despite Israel's top ally Washington giving its full backing to the country in its brutal war on the Gaza Strip the United States has voiced concerns over the shocking scale of death toll caused by Israel's war, killing more than 12,300 people, many of them women and children. It has also raised questions over the long-term future of Gaza once the Israeli invasion is over.
"A two-state solution is the only way to ensure the long-term security of both the Israeli and Palestinian people. Though right now it may seem like that future has never been further away, this crisis has made it more imperative than ever," Biden said.

The US leader threatened sanctions against settlers committing violence against Palestinians in the West Bank as bombs rain down on Gaza:
"Eextremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop and those committing the violence must be held accountable," he said. "The United States is prepared to take our own steps, including issuing visa bans against extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank."


Saudi crown prince: We demand
‘serious’ peace process for Palestinian state
Arab News, 22-11-2023

Saudi Arabia demands the start of a serious and comprehensive peace process to establish a Palestinian state along the borders of 1967, the Kingdom’s crown prince said on Tuesday.
Addressing a virtual summit of the BRICS group, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said there is no way to achieve security and stability in Palestine except through the implementation of international decisions related to a two-state solution.
The crown prince added that the Kingdom rejected the enforced displacement of Palestinians and called on all countries to stop exporting arms to Israel.
“We demand an immediate halt to Israeli military operations in Gaza,” he said.
Prince Mohammed said the Kingdom had worked tirelessly since the beginning of the crisis to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip and demanded the immediate entry of aid into the territory....
Meanwhile, the chair of the extraordinary BRICS summit accused Israel of war crimes and “genocide” in Gaza.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said: “The collective punishment of Palestinian civilians through the unlawful use of force by Israel is a war crime. The deliberate denial of medicine, fuel, food and water to the residents of Gaza is tantamount to genocide.”

Egypt: Sisi urges international recognition
of demilitarized Palestinian State
Ahram Online, Friday 24 Nov 2023

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi called on the international community to recognize the Palestinian State and admit it to the United Nations, during a press conference with the Prime Ministers of Spain and Belgium on Friday.
Sisi said that the revival of the two-state solution idea over 30 years hasn't yielded significant progress.

"There is a need for a different approach, one that involves the international community's recognition of a Palestinian state and its entry into the United Nations," he added.
The State of Palestine attained recognition as an observer state of the United Nations General Assembly in November 2012.
"The only solution to the Palestinian issue," as explained by El-Sisi, is "the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, within the borders of 4 June (1967), with East Jerusalem as its capital."
El-Sisi expressed readiness to accept a demilitarized Palestinian state, potentially with the presence of international forces —whether from NATO, the United Nations, or American or Arab forces—to guarantee security for both the Palestinian and Israeli states.

Regarding Egypt's stance on Palestinians' displacement from Gaza, El-Sisi adamantly reiterated, "We will not permit the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip."
He emphasized, "I sensed a genuine and real understanding by the international community on our rejection of the displacement issue."
The Egyptian president, whose country brokered a ceasefire in Gaza alongside Qatar and the United States, voiced his hope for the extension of the ceasefire in Gaza, emphasizing the importance of continuous humanitarian aid to the strip.

For his part, the Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sanchez asserted that a permanent truce must be achieved in Gaza alongside the continuous flow of humanitarian assistance into the Strip. Sanchez emphasized the importance of reaching a two-state solution, explaining that it will not be easy to achieve, but is essential to pursue to resolve the century-old Israeli-Arab conflict.

See also: Israel at war 2023


Israel-Palestine conflict & The Gaza War
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera, 24 Nov 2023

Israel’s war on Gaza may well prove suicidal in the long term and lead to the demise of the mighty “Jewish State”.
Indeed, Israel’s deliberate, industrial-scale murder of the Palestinian people under the pretext of “self-defence” won’t enhance its security or secure its future. Rather, it will produce greater insecurity and instability, further isolate Israel and undermine its chances for long-term survival in a predominantly hostile region.

In truth, I never thought Israel could have much of a future in the Middle East without shedding its colonial regime and embracing normal statehood.
For a short while in the early 1990s, it seemed as if Israel was changing direction towards some form of normalcy, albeit dependent on the United States.
It engaged the Palestinians and Arab states in the region in a “peace process” that promised mutual existence under favourable American auspices.
But Israel’s colonial nature dominated its behaviour at each and every turn. It wasted countless opportunities to end its occupation and live in peace with its neighbours. To paraphrase Israeli diplomat Abba Eban’s infamous quip, Israel “never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity”.
Instead of ending its occupation, it doubled down on its colonisation project in the occupied Palestinian territories.
It has multiplied the number of illegal Jewish settlements and settlers on stolen Palestinian lands and networked them through special bypass roads and other planning projects, creating a dual system, a superior, dominating one for the Jews and an inferior one for the Palestinians.
As one apartheid was dismantled in South Africa, another was erected in Palestine.

In the absence of peace and in the shadow of colonisation, the country has slid further towards fascism, enshrining Jewish supremacy into its laws and extending it to all of historic Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
In no time, the fanatical and far-right parties gained momentum and took over the reins of power under the opportunistic leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, undermining Israel’s own institutions, and all chances of peace based on coexistence between two peoples.
They rejected all compromise and have begun devouring the entirety of historic Palestine, expanding the illegal Jewish settlement on stolen Palestinian lands throughout the occupied West Bank in an attempt to squeeze the Palestinians out.
They also tightened their siege of the Gaza Strip, the world’s largest open-air prison, and dropped all pretence of ever allowing it to unite with its Palestinian hinterland in a sovereign Palestinian state.

Then came the October 7 attack....
The Netanyahu regime, true to its nature, turned the tragedy into a rallying cry and doubled down on its racist dehumanisation of the Palestinians, paving the way for a genocidal war.
It declared war on “evil”, by which it meant, not only Hamas, but also the people of Gaza. One Israeli leader after another, starting with the president himself, implicated all the Palestinians in the gruesome attack, claiming there are no innocents in Gaza.
Since then, Israel turned vengeful, tribal and adamant on destruction and expansion with total disregard for basic human decency and international law....

Long before the war on Gaza, a leading Israeli journalist, Ari Shavit, predicted the demise of Israel “as we know it”, if it continued on the same destructive path. And last week, Ami Ayalon, a former head of Israel’s Shin Bet secret service, warned that the government’s war and territorial expansion will lead to “the end of Israel” as we know it. Both have written books warning Israel about the dark future ahead if it continues its occupation...

Wikipedia Info:

Marwan Bishara is a Palestinian-Israeli Arab, born in Nazareth, Israel. He is currently (2023) an author, columnist and the senior political analyst for Al Jazeera English. He has been described as "one of the Arab world's leading public intellectuals" and writes extensively on global politics and is widely considered a leading authority on the Middle East and international affairs.
Although he grew up in Israel, Marwan Bishara has spent most of his adult life outside the country, including periods of studying, living and working in the United States and France...
Bishara identifies as a liberal democrat in as far as he supports liberal democracy. He is also a pacifist and has written extensively on the futility and savagery of war, its disingenuous justifications and inherent misogyny preferring to press for diplomacy and conflict resolution.
As a Palestinian intellectual, Bishara has been especially critical of Israeli policies while denouncing anti-semitism and all other forms of racism.
Equally critical of Palestinian violence Bishara supports peaceful coexistence, through equality, justice and freedom for all in Israel Palestine.


Netanyahu lobbying Likud MKs, saying only he can
prevent a Palestinian state in Gaza, West Bank
Jacob Magid|Times of Israel, 27 November 202s


netanyahu, [occupied] west-bank, 2020

[Israeli] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly met with at least 10 backbenchers in his Likud party over the past week in an effort to ensure their continued support, as the ruling party drops further and further in the polls since the war.
“I am the only one who will prevent a Palestinian state in Gaza and [the West Bank] after the war,” the Kan public broadcaster quotes Netanyahu as having told the lawmakers.
The stance clashes directly with the policy of the Biden administration, which has sought to revive talk of a two-state solution in order to maintain the support of the Arab world, as he continues to offer full-throttled backing of Israel.
“I have known [US President Joe] Biden for more than 40 years, and know how to speak to the American public,” Kan quotes Netanyahu as having told the Likud backbenchers in individual meetings.
One of Netanyahu’s sit-downs was with Likud MK David Bitan, who urged the prime minister to avoid bombastic declarations that have come back to haunt him. Netanyahu had initially declared that Israel would not allow any fuel into Gaza before walking that pledge back earlier this month...


Egypt commemorates International Day of
Solidarity with Palestinian People
Ahram Online, Wednesday 29 Nov 2023

Egypt commemorated the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on Wednesday, reminding the world of the suffering of people who lived under occupation for over 70 years and today are subject to unprecedented aggression.
In 1977, the UN General Assembly called for the annual observance of 29 November as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

In a statement by the foreign ministry, Egypt affirmed its solidarity with the resilient Palestinian people until they regain their rights and establish their state, underscoring the ongoing presence of the Palestinian cause in the international fora and global conscience.
The ministry underlined that this commemoration coincides with a painful reality as [innocent] Palestinians are witnessing brutal aggression, in which humanity has been slaughtered daily for over 54 days, in a blatant violation of international law and humanitarian rules.
"The international community remains arms folded in the face of a horrifying toll of civilian casualties from this aggression, claiming the lives of approximately 15,000 civilians, the majority of whom are women and children, in addition to millions of Palestinians who are subject to practices that defy all principles of humanity," the statement read.
According to the foreign ministry's official spokesperson Ahmed Abu-Zeid, Egypt called for a permanent and unconditional ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to spare the lives of the innocents, emphasizing the necessity of providing sufficient and sustainable humanitarian assistance to address this humanitarian tragedy faced by Palestinians.
Egypt emphasized that regional stability in the Middle East can only be achieved through a just and comprehensive resolution of the Palestinian cause...

See also: Israel at war 2023

Senior US lawmakers review plan linking Gaza
refugee resettlement to US aid to Arab countries
By Ariel Kahana, IsraelHayom, 29-11-2023

A new initiative submitted to the US Congress calls for conditioning American aid to Arab countries on their willingness to receive refugees from Gaza, Israel Hayom has learned.
The proposal was shown to key figures in the House and Senate from both parties. Some who were privy to the details of the text have so far kept a low profile, saying that publicly coming out in favor of the program could derail it.


23 November 2023: UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini meets with displaced people
“I have just returned from my second visit to the Gaza Strip since the war began. I bear witness to the unspeakable suffering of people.." “Since my first visit two weeks ago, the humanitarian situation has already become far worse. Displacement continues. UNRWA now hosts more than 1 million people in its schools and premises across the Gaza Strip.
"Israel is trying to keep civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip as low as possible, but Hamas is not allowing the refugees to leave and Egypt is unwilling to open its borders," the plan's authors write in the opening paragraph.
They later go on to explain that "the only moral solution is to ensure that Egypt opens its borders and allows for the refugees to flee from the tyrant control of Hamas. The US Government provides Egypt with approximately $1.3 billion in foreign aid, and these funds can be allocated to the refugees from Gaza who will be allowed into Egypt."
They continue: "The neighboring borders have been closed for too long, but it is now clear that in order to free the Gazan population from the tyrannical oppression of Hamas and to allow them to live free of war and bloodshed, Israel must encourage the international community to find the correct, moral and humane avenues for the relocation of the Gazan population."

The plan notes that Egypt should not shoulder the entire burden, but other regional countries should chip in. "Iraq and Yemen receive an approximate $1 billion in US foreign aid, and Turkey receives more than $150 million. Each of these countries receive enough foreign aid and have a large enough population to be able to accept refugees adding up to less than 1% of their population," the stress.
The plan also calls on the US to condition foreign aid to Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, and Turkey on those countries accepting a certain number of refugees.
The plan even goes so far as to envision how many Gazan residents each of these countries will receive:
One million in Egypt (constituting 0.9% of the population there), half a million for Turkey (0.6% of the population in Turkey), 250,000 for Iraq (0.6% of the Iraqi population), and another 250,000 for Yemen (0.75% of the overall population there currently).
Each of these countries receives generous financial aid from the US and under the plan, it should continue to be handed out only under the condition that they accept Gazans.

It should be noted that the Biden administration opposes the forced removal of Gaza residents from the Strip but has not ruled out voluntary migration for those who choose to do so.

Resettlement from Gaza must be an option
by John Bolton, The Hill, 16-11-2023

Israel is far from eliminating Hamas’s terrorist threat, but what becomes of Gaza Strip residents thereafter? One viable long-term solution that receives little attention is resettling substantial numbers of Gazans. Rejecting this idea reflexively risks dooming the Middle East to continuing terrorism and instability.
Israel isn’t going away. Muslim governments have recognized Israel and, before October 7, more were coming. Moreover, the two-state solution is definitively dead: Israel will never recognize a “Palestine” that could become another Hamas-stan.
Besides, Gaza is not a viable economic entity, and neither would a “state” consisting of Gaza and an archipelago of Palestinian dots on the West Bank be viable. Israel has made clear it rejects any “right of return” for Palestinians, and has announced it will no longer even grant work visas to Gazans seeking employment.

The real future for Gazans is to live somewhere integrated into functioning economies. That is the only way to realize the promise of a decent life and stability for a people who have been weaponized for far too long. The sooner the Biden administration realizes it, the better.
Refugee status is not hereditary. International policy is clear that the least desirable outcome for those displaced by conflict is life in a refugee camp, which is essentially what all of Gaza is. This has been orthodoxy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees since its inception.
Central to its basic mission of refugee protection and assistance is that the two legitimate outcomes are returning refugees to their home country or resettling them in countries willing to grant them asylum. UNHCR is not a permanent welfare agency.
The UN Relief and Works Agency, by contrast, is an aberration from the return-or-resettlement doctrine. For decades, UNRWA has served as the Palestinian department of health, education, welfare, housing and more; it would close up shop if resettlement became a reality.
What a surprise that UNRWA does little resettlement, and functions within the UN system as a surrogate for Palestinian demands.
The answer is to abolish UNRWA
, and transfer its responsibilities to UNHCR, which understands that resettlement is far better humanitarian policy than permanent refugee life....
Resettlement may be unpalatable to many, but it needs to be on the table.

John Bolton was national security adviser to President Trump from 2018 to 2019, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006.

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