Netanyahu annexation pledge sparks outrage
OIC MINISTERS TO MEET OVER ISRAELI PM’S ‘ESCALATION’
Arab and Muslim countries yesterday led a wave of outcry after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to annex a key part of the occupied West Bank if re-elected.
Netanyahu’s controversial pledge involves extending the Israeli regime’s sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea which account for one-third of the West Bank if he wins next week’s elections.
The UAE expressed its strong condemnation and categorical rejection of the announcement. Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said: “Netanyahu’s declaration is a serious escalation that breaches all international conventions and resolutions, and an expression of electoral exploitation in its worst form, without respect to the legitimacy of international resolutions.”
Saudi Arabia denounced the pledge as a “very dangerous escalation”. The strongly worded statement from the Saudi royal court, which runs the affairs of King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, marked a significant rebuke from a regional power.
Arab foreign ministers said after an Arab League meeting in Cairo that the announcement “constitutes a dangerous development and a new Israeli aggression”, and warned of “the ramifications of these dangerous, illegal and irresponsible” move saying it would “undermine
the chances of progress in the peace process”.
Jordan: Peace treaty at stake
Jordan’s House Speaker said Netanyahu’s pledge put the peace treaty with Israel “at stake”. “The house of representatives, rejecting all the racist statements coming from the leadership of the occupier, confirms that dealing with this occupier requires a new path that would place the peace treaty at stake,” Atef Al Tawarneh said.
Palestinian officials said any such measure risks “killing off” and “destroying” the entire peace process.
Meanwhile, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said it will hold an emergency foreign ministers’ meeting on Sunday. “At the request of Saudi Arabia, the organisation will hold an emergency meeting on Sunday at the level of foreign ministers in Jeddah ... to discuss the serious Israeli escalation,” the 57-member body said. — Agencies
Saudi Arabia yesterday condemned as a “dangerous escalation” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial pledge to annex the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank if he is re-elected in September 17 polls.
“The kingdom affirms that this declaration is a very dangerous escalation against the Palestinian people and represents a flagrant violation of the United Nations charter and the principles of international law,” the official Saudi Press Agency said, citing the royal court.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said it will hold an emergency foreign ministers’ meeting on Sunday to discuss the “Israeli escalation”.
“At the request of Saudi Arabia, the organisation will hold an emergency meeting on Sunday at the level of foreign ministers in Jeddah ... to discuss the serious Israeli escalation,” the 57-member pan-Islamic body said on Twitter yesterday.
Arab foreign ministers also condemned the plan as an “aggression” saying it undermines any chances of a peace settlement with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu said on Tuesday he planned to annex the Jordan Valley, a large swathe of the occupied West Bank, if he wins a closely-contested election just a week away.
Israel captured and occupied the West Bank in the 1967 war in a move never recognised by the international community.
Palestinians seek to make it part of a future state.
‘Undermining progress’
The Arab League “considers his announcement a dangerous development and a new Israeli aggression by declaring the intention to violate the international law,” Arab foreign ministers said in a statement after a meeting in Cairo.
“The league regards these statements as undermining the chances of any progress in the peace process and will torpedo all its foundations,” the statement said. Arab foreign ministers had been holding a meeting in Cairo, seat of the Arab League, but added an emergency session after Netanyahu made his comments on live television.
Saeb Erekat, the long-time chief Palestinian negotiator, warned on Tuesday night that if Netanyahu manages to put through his plan, he would have “succeeded in burying even any chance of peace between Palestinians and Israelis. The Israelis, the international community must stop such madness. We need to end the conflict and not to keep it for another 100 years.” He added unilateral annexation of occupied territory was a war crime.
In a possible sign of Palestinian anger, rockets fired from Gaza later on Tuesday night set off alarms in southern Israel, including in Ashdod, where Netanyahu was hustled offstage by bodyguards to take cover in the middle of a campaign speech.
Hanan Ashrawi, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), wrote on
Netanyahu’s declaration is a serious escalation that breaches all international conventions and resolutions, and an expression of electoral exploitation in its worst form, without respect to the legitimacy of international resolutions.” Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan | UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
The Arab and Islamic worlds’ preoccupation with many local and regional crises will not affect the status of the Palestinian cause. Israel’s attempts to impose a fait accompli policy will not obliterate the inalienable and protected rights of the Palestinian people.” Saudi Royal Court
Twitter that the Israeli leader was out to impose a “greater Israel on all of historical Palestine and (carry) out an ethnic cleansing agenda”.
Ashrawi told AFP that Netanyahu was “not only destroying the two-state solution, he is destroying all chances of peace.” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Twitter called Netanyahu’s plan a “serious escalation”.
Jordan and Egypt are the only Arab states to have peace treaties with Israel. Fighting for his political life after an inconclusive election in April, Netanyahu also reaffirmed a pledge to annex all of the colonies Israel has established in the West Bank.
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said in early May that he hoped Israel would take a hard look at President Donald Trump’s upcoming Middle East peace proposal before “proceeding with any plan” to annex West Bank colonies.
Netanyahu is out to impose a greater Israel on all of historical Palestine and (carry) out an ethnic cleansing agenda” Hanan Ashrawi | Senior PLO official
John Bolton was in Mongolia. More than 1,930km away, President Donald Trump orchestrated an image for the world’s front pages by becoming the first US president to set foot in North Korea, shaking hands with Kim Jong-un on the north side of the demilitarised zone.
The distance was telling. Bolton, a longtime critic of diplomacy with North Korea, had scheduled his foray to Mongolia weeks before Trump’s impromptu invitation to meet Kim. But the national security adviser’s isolation at such a high-profile moment underscored the growing disconnect between the two men.
Their repeated clashes on policy and style reached an exclamation point on Tuesday when Trump ousted Bolton with a tweet.
It was a marriage that was never going to last: Trump and Bolton rarely saw eye to eye on global hotspots. The national security adviser held far more hawkish views than the “America first” president on matters such as Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan.
By the spring, Bolton found himself cut out of important White House meetings and the president’s perceived diplomatic triumphs, including the historic visit to North Korea.
As Trump met with Kim, Bolton was photographed shaking hands with Mongolia’s secretary of state.
The president has spent a career fixed on image, prizing striking looks and frequently boasting about family members
■ and Cabinet officials who look like they “stepped out of central casting”.
Didn’t fit the part
Bolton’s bushy moustache simply didn’t fit the part. Bolton, a former ambassador to the United Nations and then a fixture on Fox News as a national security commentator, nearly entered the 2016 presidential campaign himself to push his hard-nosed foreign policy.
His neoconservative credentials never meshed with the isolationist vibe of Trump’s campaign but, during the presidential transition, there was Bolton striding through the SCAN ME Scan the QR code to read the full report
gilded lobby of Trump Tower to meet with the president-elect. Bolton didn’t get a job just then.
The president debated firing Bolton for weeks, listening to the advice of outside allies like Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
With time, he grew increasingly agitated with the national security adviser, who had become a vocal internal critic of potential talks between Trump and leaders of Iran and, separately, Afghanistan’s Taliban.
Trump tweeted Tuesday that he “informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House.” “I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions,” Trump continued, adding Bolton to a long list of aides fired via tweet.
But this time, there was return fire just a few minutes later. “I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, ‘Let’s talk about it tomorrow’,” Bolton retorted via tweet.