Our Wednesday News Analysis | Palestinians are tired of proving Israeli apartheid exists

Israeli soldiers guard Jewish settlers as they walk around the Palestinian market in the old town of Hebron in the West Bank on September 4, 2010. (Najeh Hashlamoun /Flash90)

Instead of acknowledging what Palestinians are voicing, the international community is buying more time for Israel to signal that it doesn’t desire apartheid — even as it uses every second of that time to show the opposite.

The line of proof has been moved, quite literally,
from the shards of the 1947 UN partition plan to the shrunken Bantustans
outlined in Trump’s “Deal of the Century” in January.

If annexation goes forward, that line will likely be moved again.

Between 1891 and ‘92, Francis William Reitz, the President of the Orange Free State (in what is today South Africa), exchanged a series of letters with Theophilus Shepstone, the former administrator of the Transvaal, to discuss the so-called “Native Question.”

The Boer republics, Reitz wrote, should “adopt the principle and maintain it steadfastly, that there shall be no ‘equality’ between the [Black] aborigines of South Africa and the people of European descent who have made this land their home.”

Read more: Palestinians are tired of proving Israeli apartheid exists

___________________

ISRAEL TURNING PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES INTO 'OPEN-AIR PRISON', SAYS UN EXPERT

Source: Middle East Eye
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-turning-palestinian-territories-open-air-prison-says-un-expert

By MEE staff
Published July 11, 2023

UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese says Israel's policies appear to be plan to 'de-Palestinianise' occupied territories

A Palestinian teacher opens an iron door controlled by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Hebron, on 13 February 2019 (AFP)

The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories has turned the West Bank into an open-air prison for Palestinians, the UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories has said in a new report.

"Since assuming her role in April 2022, Albanese has been critical of Israel's treatment of Palestinians and has said Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid and operating as a settler colonial state.

… she has faced a campaign from Israeli right-wing groups calling for her removal from her UN post.

… the US has also moved to shield Israel from condemnation over this settlement policy.
In February, Washington said it would oppose a resolution
that would condemn Israeli settlements at the UN Security Council."

The report states that since 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinians have been arrested by Israeli forces, and many have faced long detentions and are "often presumed guilty without evidence"...

Read more: Israel turning Palestinian territories into 'open-air prison', says UN expert

___________________

PROSPECT OF PALESTINIAN CIVIL WAR BEHIND ISRAEL’S DESIRE TO SAVE ABBAS

Source: Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2339427

By Ramzy Baroud
Published July 17, 2023

Mahmoud Abbas and Mohammad Shtayyeh in Jenin, West Bank, July 12, 2023. (Reuters)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has the perfect opportunity to exit the stage. But he will not. Abbas’ brief visit to the devastated Jenin refugee camp last week demonstrated the absurdity and danger of the PA and its 87-year-old leader. As he walked, Abbas struggled to keep his balance, in what was promoted as a “solidarity” visit to the camp.

Thousands of frustrated Jenin residents took to the streets, hardly chanting Abbas’ name. Some looked on with disappointment; others asked where the president’s forces were when Israel invaded the camp, killing 12 and wounding and arresting hundreds more.

The BBC reported on a “huge armed deployment” to secure Abbas’ visit, in which “PA security forces joined a thousand-strong unit of Mr. Abbas’ elite presidential guard.” Their only job was to “clear a path” for Abbas into the camp.

On the first, most-deadly day of the Israeli invasion of Jenin, the Israeli media, citing military sources, said that 1,000 Israeli soldiers were taking part in the military operation.

Yet it took more Palestinian soldiers to secure Abbas’ brief visit to Jenin.

Indeed, where were those well-dressed and equipped PA soldiers when Jenin was fighting and dying alone?

And why does Abbas need to be protected from his own people?

To address these questions, it is important to examine recent contexts and three significant dates in particular.

Read more: Prospect of Palestinian civil war behind Israel’s desire to save Abbas