Author: Kairos Puget Sound Coalition

Our newly elected leaders need to take such constructive steps if we are ever truly going to find lasting peace.

By Elizabeth A. Eaton, Mae Elise Cannon  |  Religion News Service  | Jan 4, 2021

The recent agreements between Israel and Arab states benefit these countries’ respective economies, but little or no consultation took place with the Palestinians, and the agreements did little to help end the conflict.

(RNS) — Last year, Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian lands in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and its blockade of Gaza brought increased misery and property violations to the Palestinians: home demolitions, expansion of settlements, detention of Palestinian children, continued restrictions on movement and access and (particularly in Gaza) fears of annexation.

All this took place while the occupied territories were suffering the same scourge of COVID-19 as the rest of us.

The recent agreements between Israel and Arab states benefit these countries’ respective economies, but little or no consultation took place with the Palestinians, and the agreements did little to help end the conflict.

Continue reading “The US can help Israel and Palestinians reach a just peace”

New report by rights group B’Tselem will make it harder to smear Israel’s critics as antisemites for arguing that Israel is a racist state.

By Jonathan Cook |   Middle East Eye |  Jan 14, 2021

B’Tselem has abandoned the pretense that apartheid can be limited to the occupied territories, as though Israel – the state that rules Palestinians – is somehow exempt from being classified as integral to the apartheid enterprise it institutes and oversees.

For more than a decade, a handful of former Israeli politicians and US diplomats identified with what might be termed the “peace process industry” have intermittently warned that, without a two-state solution, Israel is in danger of becoming an “apartheid state”.

The most notable among them include Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert, two former Israeli prime ministers, and John Kerry, who served as former US President Barack Obama’s secretary of state. Time is rapidly running out, they have all declared in the past.

Continue reading “Israel is losing the fight to obscure its apartheid character”

David Friedman, President Trump’s bankruptcy lawyer-turned-ambassador, leaves his post having radically overhauled policy toward Israel and the Palestinians.

By David M. Halbfinger  |  The New York Times  |  Jan 10, 2021

Far from enhancing American influence on the conflict… Mr. Friedman had reduced it nearly to nil, all but destroying hopes for a two-state solution.
— Husam Zomlot, who headed the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington until it was closed

JERUSALEM — Love him or hate him, and most people who have paid attention fall into one camp or the other, Ambassador David M. Friedman will complete his tour of duty in Israel this month having etched his name in history as one of America’s most influential envoys.

It was Mr. Friedman, 62, who drove the radical overhaul of White House policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, dreaming up the seemingly endless list of political giveaways that President Trump bestowed upon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters on the Israeli right.

Continue reading “Strong views and ‘Close to the Boss’: How U.S. Envoy reshaped a conflict”

The Israeli military court found Palestinian Issa Amro guilty in what human rights advocates have called a “campaign of persecution” against a nonviolent community organizer.

By Kathryn Shihadah |  IMEMC News  |  Jan 8, 2021

“Today Israel announced that Palestinians are not allowed to peacefully protest the Israeli occupation without a permit from the occupier…”
— Issa Amro

On Wednesday morning, an Israeli military court handed Palestinian human rights activist Issa Amro a guilty verdict on 6 of 16 counts. Charges are related to his nonviolent protests and organizing against the Israeli occupation.

Middle East Eye reports that Amro, who was recognized by the United Nations as “Human Rights Defender of the Year” in 2010, was convicted on 3 counts of “participating in a rally without a permit,” 2 counts of “obstructing a soldier,” and 1 count of “assault.”

Amnesty International has characterized the charges as “baseless,” and part of a “campaign of persecution” against Amro.

Continue reading ““Palestinian Gandhi” Issa Amro convicted in Israel”

Below the headlines celebrating Israel’s vaccination rates lies a far darker story about health inequality.

By Ariel Gold  | Mondoweiss  |  Jan 6, 2021

Perhaps Israel’s most flagrant demonstration of having two sets of laws for two groups of people is its court system in the West Bank.

The media is abuzz these days with headlines such as “How Israel Became a World Leader in Vaccinating Against Covid-19.” While the U.S. has so far vaccinated only 1.3% of its population against COVID-19, Israel has already given the vaccine to over 14% of its citizens. In explaining this, the media cites Israel’s socialized medicine, the fact that the country is small but wealthy (allowing Israel to pay $62 a dose, compared to the $19.50 the U.S. is paying), and the heavily digitized nature of Israel’s health care system. But below the headlines celebrating Israel’s vaccination rates lies a far darker story about health inequality.

Israel has a population of around nine million. 20% of Israel’s population are Palestinian citizens of Israel. These people can vote in elections, have representation in the Knesset, and are being vaccinated against COVID-19. But, there are another around five million Palestinians who live under Israeli rule, without rights, and like the rest of the world, are suffering from the pandemic.

Since 1967, Israel’s settler population has ballooned to close to 500,000, with Israeli settler regional councils controlling 40% of West Bank land. Despite the U.S.-facilitated normalization deals with the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco that occurred during the latter half of the year, that were supposed to have halted Israel’s annexing of the West Bank, 2020 has seen the largest number of settlement unit approvals since the watchdog group Peace Now began tracking in 2012.

Read the full article here →

NGO Development Center was behind ‘Palestinian NGO Code of Conduct’ document, which ruled out any collaboration with the Jewish state.

By Cnaan Liphshiz   | The Times of Israel |  Jan 4, 2021

The French Development Agency, or AFD, which focuses on “on climate, biodiversity, peace, education, urban development, health and governance,” last year gave an 8 million euro ($9.8 million) grant to the NGO Development Center, or NDC, a Palestinian group that says it promotes good government practices in the West Bank. 

The French government has allocated about $10 million to a Palestinian organization that is a leading promoter of the boycott Israel movement.

Promoting that boycott has been found illegal in France in several high-profile cases.

The French Development Agency, or AFD, which focuses on “on climate, biodiversity, peace, education, urban development, health and governance,” last year gave an 8 million euro ($9.8 million) grant to the NGO Development Center, or NDC, a Palestinian group that says it promotes good government practices in the West Bank. It was behind the 2008 “Palestinian NGO Code of Conduct,” a document includes a rejection of “any normalization activities with the occupier [Israel], neither at the political-security nor the cultural or developmental levels.”

Continue reading “France grants $10 million to Palestinian group promoting Israel boycott”

Quds News Network slammed the move by the social media giant as politically motivated.

By MEE staff | Middle East Eye  | Jan 2, 2021

“For years, American apps, including Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp, have been deleting and deactivating the accounts of Palestinians in coordination with the Israeli government and security agencies, on the pretext of preventing Palestinian ‘incitement and hate speech'”
— Quds News Network (QNN)

A popular Palestinian news platform said that it was removed from popular social media app TikTok without any notice, in a move it claimed to be connected to news content it published.

Quds News Network’s (QNN) website and social media accounts frequently publish videos on Palestinian news that quickly go viral, including 1,200 videos on TikTok, before it was banned.

QNN’s director Ahmad Jarrar accused TikTok of being in “partnership with the occupation”.

Continue reading “Palestinian news platform QNN banned by TikTok”

The cover-up has to stop – and with it, the huge sums in aid for a country with oppressive policies towards Palestinians

By Desmond Tutu | The Guardian  |   Dec 31, 2020

There has been an oral agreement since President Richard Nixon to accept Israel’s “nuclear ambiguity” – effectively to allow Israel the power that comes with nuclear weapons without the responsibility.

Every recent US administration has performed a perverse ritual as it has come into office. All have agreed to undermine US law by signing secret letters stipulating they will not acknowledge something everyone knows: that Israel has a nuclear weapons arsenal.

Part of the reason for this is to stop people focusing on Israel’s capacity to turn dozens of cities to dust. This failure to face up to the threat posed by Israel’s horrific arsenal gives its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, a sense of power and impunity, allowing Israel to dictate terms to others.

But one other effect of the US administration’s ostrich approach is that it avoids invoking the US’s own laws, which call for an end to taxpayer largesse for nuclear weapons proliferators.

Continue reading “Joe Biden should end the US pretence over Israel’s ‘secret’ nuclear weapons”

The Church Movement for Palestine in 2021 – A message from Kairos USA.

By Mark Braverman |  Palestine Portal  |  Dec 30, 2020

“…the release of “Cry for Hope: A Call to Decisive Action” has spurred the churches on national and denominational levels to challenge Christian Zionism as theology and as political policy.”
— Mark Braverman, Executive Director

The year 2020 was pivotal for the kairos movement. One legacy of the departing Trump administration is that the veil was ripped from the illusion of the United States as standing for self-determination and the restoration of human rights for Palestinians. We report briefly below on how action by churches to keep Palestine on the agenda of the incoming administration has begun. On the global front, the release of “Cry for Hope: A Call to Decisive Action” has spurred the churches on national and denominational levels to challenge Christian Zionism as theology and as political policy. As reported previously here, the debate over Christian Zionism has begun on every continent, with dialogue with church leaders taking place in Germany, Scandinavia, and the UK and open political debate beginning in the U.S. and in South Africa. In India, West Asia and Latin America, kairos organizations and their affiliates in the churches and the human rights community are organizing in support of “Cry for Hope” and in solidarity with Palestinians. Kairos USA will continue to cover these developments in the national and global arenas.

Continue reading “A Message from Kairos USA Executive Director Mark Braverman”