Author: Kairos Puget Sound Coalition

Ahead of the US election there is speculation about what the outcome will mean for Israel.

By Dr Adnan Abu Amer | Middle East Monitor | Nov 2, 2020

A President Biden will, it is believed, reopen the Palestinian Embassy in Washington — the Office of the Palestine Liberation Organization to be precise — which Trump closed in 2018

Israel is getting ever more concerned about the result of the US election tomorrow. It fears a win for Democrat candidate Joe Biden and the loss of its ally Donald Trump. In preparation for a Democrat victory, it is seeking closer cooperation with regional countries, greater influence within the Democratic Party, and positive contacts with Biden’s campaign team to negate the possibility of an anti-Israel foreign policy in Washington and an end to the US-Israel honeymoon.

Among the Israeli concerns about a President Biden in the White House is that he may take the US back into the Iran nuclear deal from which Trump withdrew in 2018. The Israelis also expect the issue of its settlements across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem to be back on the agenda with a Democratic administration, which is likely to view them once again as an obstacle to peace. The UN will also probably be emboldened to criticise the illegal settlements. Israel’s relationship with the White House will, most Israelis believe, be less than cordial.

Continue reading “Israel is getting ever more concerned about the result of the US election”

Filmmaker Abdelrahman al-Thaher is one of more than 20 Palestinian journalists reportedly currently detained by Israel.

By Middle East Eye staff | Middle East Eye |  Oct 27, 2020

‘We condemn the arrest of journalists, we affirm the freedom of journalists to do their work and we call on the (Israeli) occupying forces to immediately release Abdelrahman and all fellow journalists,’
— The Palestine International Forum for Information and Communication

Israeli forces on Tuesday arrested Palestinian journalist and filmmaker Abdelrahman al-Thaher at his home in the city of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank.

Rasha al-Sayeh, Thaher’s wife, told Middle East Eye that the family woke up to the sounds of military jeeps and then heavy knocks on the doors of nearby houses at 2am, before soldiers arrived at their house and Thaher opened the door.

“The Israeli officer asked [Thaher] if he was ‘the famous journalist’,” Sayeh said. “He then requested to search the study and his personal belongings.”

Continue reading “Israel arrests Palestinian journalist in West Bank”

Trumps one-sided approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict hurts Israel and makes any peace agreement harder to achieve.

By Dov Waxman  |  The Times of Israel  |  Oct 20, 2020

By favoring Israel so much, and by trying to punish and pressure the Palestinian leadership, Trump has only angered and alienated Palestinians.

Recent polls show that Israelis strongly prefer President Trump to his Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden. The reason for this is obvious. Many Israelis, specifically Jewish Israelis, think that Trump has been the most ‘pro-Israel’ president in modern times. That’s why he’s so popular in Israel—there are even city squares named after him and an Israeli settlement on the Golan Heights that bears his name.

Continue reading “So, you think Trump has been good for Israel?”

Conscientious objector Hallel Rabin was sentenced to 25 days behind bars for refusing to join the Israeli army over its policies toward the Palestinians.

By Orly Noy  |  +972 Magazine  | Oct 21, 2020

‘I will not take part in a system which is based on inequality and fear. We live in a reality that raises us to be violent, and I refuse to take part in it or keep quiet about it.’
— Hallel Rabin, Israeli conscientious objector

Israeli conscientious objector Hallel Rabin began serving a 25-day sentence in military prison on Wednesday for refusing to join the Israeli army over its policies toward the Palestinians.

Rabin, 19, from Kibbutz Harduf in northern Israel, arrived at Tel Hashomer conscription base on Monday, where she was brought before the IDF’s conscientious objectors committee. Military conscription is mandatory for most Jewish Israelis.

This is Rabin’s third period of incarceration, while her appeal to the conscientious objectors committee is still pending. She was first imprisoned in August after appearing before the committee to appeal for an exemption. She was tried and sentenced to two different periods of incarceration, including during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

Continue reading “Israeli conscientious objector begins third stint in military prison”

British university students encouraged to unite in working for Palestine regardless of differences in political and religious affiliations.

By Middle East Monitor | Oct 19, 2020

‘Black Lives Matter has become a target for Israeli groups, because the movement supports Palestinian human rights’.
— Nasim Ahmed, a political analyst at MEMO

The Association of Student Activism for Palestine held an online conference on Saturday, under the banner of “Justice for Palestine”. The intention, said the president of the association, Yahya AbuSeido, was to raise awareness about the Palestinian cause and promote campus and student activism at British universities.

AbuSeido urged students to unite in working for Palestine regardless of differences in political and religious affiliations. To this end, he suggested that new students should join their university Palestine societies. “This is a human rights issue,” he explained, “especially regarding Palestinian refugees and their legitimate right to return to their land.”

Continue reading “Students hold online conference to support Palestinian rights, including right of return”

The Biden foreign policy plan differs significantly from Trump’s policies, but there is little promise there would be substantive changes in policies for Palestinians.

By Muqtedar Khan | The Conversation | Oct 19, 2020

…the United States’ global role is on the ballot in November.

When the Taliban recently voiced its hope that Donald Trump would win a second term because he would withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, it was a reminder that the 2020 U.S. election has big implications for the Middle East – and, by consequence, for American national security.

Foreign policy barely registers on Americans’ election agenda this year in a race dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, economic woes and structural racism.

Continue reading “Biden’s plan to revive Iran talks could calm the Middle East – but on Israel he and Trump largely agree”

A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of the Jewish settlement of Ofra during clashes near the West Bank village of Deir Jarir near Ramallah on April 26, 2013. (photo: File: Mohamed Torokman/Reuters)

Despite repeatedly being cast as a nuisance to the peace and tranquillity of the world order, Palestinians continue their fight for true liberation.

By Mark Muhannad Ayyash | Al Jazeera | Oct 10, 2020

Attention is often given to the armed resistance, but far more numerous, diverse, and long-standing is the unarmed Palestinian resistance.

In the last few years, Israel has further cemented its grip on Palestine. The list of Palestinian losses is depressing: the marked movement towards international recognition of Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel, official annexation of Palestinian land, an increase in the number of settlers and the development of settlements on Palestinian lands, the horrific besiegement of Gaza and the world’s participation in the siege, the “de-development” of the Palestinian economy, uninhibited killing and maiming of Palestinians, suffocating restrictions on movement, gender-based violence in prisons and at checkpoints, continued demolitions of Palestinian homes, the stifling of Palestinian activism and speech for Palestinian rights in Western Europe and North America, and the rising tide of diplomatic normalcy between Israel and Arab states.

Continue reading “Fighting for Palestine”

British manufacturing equipment company JCB will face investigation for their role in demolition of Palestinian homes.

By Patrick Wintour |  The Guardian  | Oct 13, 2020

‘JCB’s apparent failure to address the material and prolific use of its products in demolition and displacement incidents that cruelly impacts Palestinian families, and also its use in settlement-related construction which creates pervasive human rights violations, must cease immediately.’
— Tareq Shrourou, director of Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights

The British heavy machinery firm JCB’s sale of equipment used in the destruction of Palestinian villages in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is being examined by a UK government body to determine whether its due diligence process complies with human rights guidelines set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The case is likely to test the degree to which multinationals are responsible if their export goods are sold by local distributors in ways that infringe human rights.

JCB, which has donated millions of pounds to the Conservative party and at least £25,000 to Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign, can now enter into government-overseen mediation with the NGO that made the claim or it can outright contest the claim.

Continue reading “JCB challenged over machinery used to demolish Palestinian homes”

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest in the halls of York University in Toronto. (Photo: via Twitter)

Recent events show the strength of Israeli lobbying efforts to marginalize those who criticize the Palestinian civil society-led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

By Yves Engler  |  The Palestine Chronicle |  Oct 2, 2020

A week ago Israel lobby groups convinced Zoom to cancel a San Francisco State University talk with Palestinian resistance icon Leila Khaled, former South African minister Ronnie Kasrils, director of women’s studies at Birzeit University Rula Abu Dahou, and others. It is thought to be the first time Zoom has ever suppressed a university-sponsored talk.

How much is too much? When will Israeli nationalists in North America completely discredit themselves by overusing their power to crush those defending Palestinians?

The recent ruthlessness of the Israel lobby is remarkable. Recently they’ve convinced Zoom to cancel a university-sponsored talk, a prominent law program to rescind a job offer, a public broadcaster to apologize for using the word Palestine and companies to stop delivering for a restaurant.

A week ago Israel lobby groups convinced Zoom to cancel a San Francisco State University talk with Palestinian resistance icon Leila Khaled, former South African minister Ronnie Kasrils, director of women’s studies at Birzeit University Rula Abu Dahou, and others. It is thought to be the first time Zoom has ever suppressed a university-sponsored talk.

Continue reading “Israel lobby will face blowback, eventually”