EU fuels Jew-hatred that Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine can end

 

The European Union’s institutionalized Jew-hatred was on full show when High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy since 2019 - Josep Borrell - took the opportunity to castigate the Jewish State and one of its Ministers during a press conference.

Borrell’s outburst came when asked the following question:

Q. "I would like to ask your reaction of the Israeli Finance Minister [Bezalel] Smotrich who said yesterday in the speech in Paris - and I quote him -: “There is no such thing as the Palestinian nation, there is no Palestinian history, there is no Palestinian language.” I would like to ask your comments on this.”

Borrell lashed out against Smotrich and Israel:

"The comments of Minister Smotrich go, once again, in the opposite direction and certainly cannot be tolerated. I call on the Israeli government to disavow those comments and to start working together with all parties to defuse tensions. It is not the first time that I have to express our concerns regarding the spiralling violence on the ground and we - the European Union - we have constantly advocated for measure of de-escalation, not inflammatory. The latest meetings in Aqaba, and in Sharm El Sheik go in the good direction, but I have to deplore this unacceptable comment by Minister Smotrich. It is wrong it is disrespectful; it is dangerous; it is counterproductive to say this kind of things in a situation which is already very tense.

So, we will continue on our longstanding commitment to the two-state solution with an independent and sovereign state of Palestine living side by side with Israel in peace and security.

I am sorry if some don’t like to listen to this kind of things, but this is the position of the European Union. It is not the personal position of the High Representative. It is the European Union position. ..."

Not tolerate Smotrich’s comments? Calling on the Israeli government to disavow Smotrich’s comments? Borrell’s arrogance and ignorance was appalling.

Smotrich was calling out the Palestinians false narrative claiming to be an ancient people - adopted unquestioningly by Borrell despite the following facts:

• Arabs living in Palestine in 1922 were not recognized by the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine as a separate people - only comprising part of the “existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”
• The 1947 UN Partition Resolution called for creation of a Jewish State and an Arab State - not a Palestinian State
• The “Palestinians” were identified for the first time in history in 1964 in the founding Charter of the Palestine Liberation Organisation:

“The Palestinians are those Arab citizens who were living normally in Palestine up to 1947, whether they remained or were expelled. Every child who was born to a Palestinian parent after this date whether in Palestine or outside is a Palestinian. 

• Additionally that Charter expressly provided:

“This Organization does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or the Himmah Area. Its activities will be on the national popular level in the liberational, organizational, political and financial fields.”

The EU’s continuing call for a separate independent and sovereign state for the Palestinians - in addition to Jordan - ignores the existence of the alternative Saudi-based Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution proposed in 2022 - that states:

“Jordanians and Palestinians are as similar as any people can be. They are Sunni Arabs from the same neighborhood. Merging them will not create any long-term ethnic or sectarian fault lines.”

Successful implementation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution will end the 100 years-old Jewish-Arab conflict. Borrell’s anti-Jewish diatribe ensures the continuation of that conflict - not its resolution.

Please join my Facebook Page: “Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine supporters”

Author’s note: The cartoon--commissioned exclusively for this article--is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators--whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

Netanyahu victory paves way for Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine

Bibi Netanyahu’s triumphal return as Israel’s next Prime Minister affords him the opportunity to fulfil one of his major election promises: Ending the 100-years old unresolved Arab-Jewish conflict. 

It has been a long and arduous road for Netanyahu to travel since he told the United Nations on December 11, 1984:

“Those who accept the notion of a Palestinian people must therefore wonder: how many Palestinian Arab peoples are there? Is there a western Palestinian Arab people and, just across that narrow stream known as the Jordan River an eastern Palestinian Arab people? How many Arab States in Palestine does Palestinian self-determination require? Clearly, in eastern and western Palestine there are only two peoples, the Arabs and the Jews; and, just as clearly, there are only two States in that area, Jordan and Israel. The Arab State of Jordan, containing some 3 million Arabs, does not allow a single Jew 10 live there. It contains four fifths of the territory originally allocated by the predecessor of the United Nations. the League of Nations, for the Jewish national home. The other State, Israel, has a population of a little over 4 million, of which one sixth IS Arab. It contains less than one fifth of the territory originally allocated to the Jews under the Mandate. The claim of self-determination, then, is misleading, for the inhabitants of Jordan which,  incidentally, Hussein's grandfather, King Abdullah, wanted originally to call the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine - are largely Palestinian Arabs, and within that population, western Palestinian Arabs are the majority. It cannot be said, therefore, that the Arabs of Palestine are lacking a State or their own, the ultimate expression of self-determination. The demand for a second Palestinian Arab State in western Palestine, and the twenty-second Arab State in the world, is merely the latest attempt to push Israel back into the hopelessly vulnerable armistice lines of 1949.”

The United Nations rejected Netanyahu’s warning  - pushing ahead instead to try and create that 22nd Arab state between Israel and Jordan in territories allocated to the Jews to reconstitute the Jewish National Home under article 6 of the Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the UN Charter.  

Both the Security Council and General Assembly subsequently passed a plethora of anti-Israel resolutions using  highly-inflammatory language such as  “Occupied Palestinian Territories” and recognising two separate peoples in the process - “Jordanians” and “Palestinians” – even granting observer status to the non-existent “State of Palestine”

This 22nd Arab state still remains a figment of the UN’s warped imagination today – whilst various UN  organs seek to delegitimise and isolate Israel as an international pariah. 

A new Saudi-based proposal published on 8 June finally debunks these heinous anti-Israel longstanding UN positions :

“Jordanians and Palestinians are as similar as any people can be. They are Sunni Arabs from the same neighborhood. Merging them will not create any long-term ethnic or sectarian fault lines.” 

This Saudi-based proposal – calling for Jordan, Gaza and part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) to be merged into one territorial entity called The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine with its capital in Amman – not Jerusalem - shreds the UN’s failed 22nd Arab state solution.

“The transition to an expanded Palestinian–Jordanian kingdom will then be relatively straightforward since it will simply involve the current kingdom of Jordan’s widening its writ to cover the Palestinian territories and the diaspora in a step recognized by all relevant countries”

Netanyahu’s long trek - begun in 1984 in the face of UN hostility - can hopefully soon be ended with the successful creation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine and an end to a conflict that the UN has shamefully mismanaged.

Author’s note: The cartoon--commissioned exclusively for this article--is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators--whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine to end Mandate for Palestine saga

 

The creation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine –the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one single territorial entity comprising about 80% of the territory of the Mandate for Palestine (Mandate) - will be a fitting end to the Mandate saga which began on July 24, 1922 with the unanimous approval of its terms by all 51 Members of the League of Nations. 

The remaining 20% of the Mandate territory will mark the final internationally recognised boundaries of Israel -3000 years after the loss of the Jewish ancient and biblical homeland to the Roman General -Pompey - following his conquest of Jerusalem and its surroundings in 63 BC.

This two-state solution in Palestine - one Arab the other Jewish - had not been that originally planned by the Principal Allied Powers at the San Remo Conference in April 1920 and confirmed by the Treaty of Sevres in August that year. 

San Remo had provided for: 

• Arab self-determination within the territory comprised in the Mandate for Syria and Lebanon and the Mandate for Mesopotamia - comprising 99.99% of the territory formerly part of the 400 years old Ottoman Empire liberated after World War 1
• Jewish self-determination within the territory comprised in the Mandate for Palestine located on both sides of the Jordan River - the remaining 0.01% of the liberated Ottoman Empire 

Two and a half of the 12 Tribes of Israel had settled East of the Jordan River after reaching the Promised Land - as recorded in the Old Testament. The other nine and a half tribes had continued on to settle West of the Jordan River.  

However the arrival of Abdullah - a member of the Hashemite dynasty - in Transjordan on 21 November 1920 accompanied by a band of armed troops en route to help his brother Faisal fight the French to retain Faisal's crown in Syria - resulted in:

• Great Britain - at the Cairo Conference held on March 12, 1921 - stopping Abdullah by creating the Emirate of Transjordan for Abdullah in 78% of Mandatory Palestine East of the Jordan River. The Emirate remained part of the Mandate until granted independence by Great Britain in 1946 - changing its name to the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan.
• Article 25 being inserted into the Mandate document on July 24, 1922--restricting the right of the Jewish people to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in 22% of Mandatory Palestine West of the Jordan River
• The Council of the League of Nations approving these changed arrangements on September 16, 1922.

These changes have been preserved until today under article 80 of the United Nations Charter. 

The United Nations failure to observe the terms of its own Charter has been the greatest obstacle to achieving the Mandate-contemplated two-state solution. 

That two-state solution has however become politically attainable following a detailed plan for its creation in an article dated 8 June - written by Ali Shihabi a close confidante of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman the next King of Saudi Arabia - and published in Al-Arabiya News – owned by the Saudi Royal Family. 

Successful negotiations between Israel and Jordan to implement Shihabi's plan would result in:

• The merger of Mandate territory located East and West of the Jordan River into one Arab State and
• the recognition of a Jewish State in the remaining Mandate territory West of the Jordan River 

The last chapter of the Mandate saga begun on July 24, 1922 is on the diplomatic horizon. 

Author's note: The cartoon--commissioned exclusively for this article--is by Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones"- one of Israel's foremost political and social commentators--whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

Biden rejects Saudi plan for Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine

 

President Biden's support for the creation of an additional Arab State between Israel and Jordan constitutes his clear rejection of a Saudi plan to merge Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one territorial entity to be called "The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine" ("Saudi Solution").

Biden's decision to pursue the failed policy adopted by President Obama and Biden as Vice President between 2011 and 2016 ("Obama/Biden two-state solution") was confirmed in Bethlehem on July 15, 2022:

"Today, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. President Biden reaffirmed the enduring ties between the Palestinian and American peoples and underscored his commitment to a two-state solution on the 1967 lines with land swaps mutually agreed by the Israelis and Palestinians. He also highlighted the importance of direct negotiations leading to an independent, sovereign, viable, and contiguous Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel, both enjoying secure and recognized borders, allowing the two peoples to live side-by-side in peace and security."

Biden made this specific commitment even though admitting on arriving in Israel two days earlier:

"The two-state solution is still the best way to ensure peace and democracy for Israelis and Palestinians; however, I don't see a near horizon for this solution."

Biden's refusal to consider or even comment on the Saudi Solution since its publication six weeks ago in a Saudi Royal Family-owned news outlet - was replicated when Biden held meetings on July 16, 2022 with:

• Saudi Arabia's King Salman 
• King Salman's son and successor Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in what was described as an "extended working session" and 
• The leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

In none of those meetings was the Saudi Solution raised or discussed - as the White House: 

Detailed Fact Sheet and Joint Statement by Biden and the GCC make very clear. 

Biden's return to the Obama/Biden two-state solution enunciated by President Obama on 19 May 2011 is unfathomable:

"What America and the international community can do is to state frankly what everyone knows--a lasting peace will involve two states for two peoples: Israel as a Jewish state and the homeland for the Jewish people, and the state of Palestine as the homeland for the Palestinian people, each state enjoying self-determination, mutual recognition, and peace. So while the core issues of the conflict must be negotiated, the basis of those negotiations is clear: a viable Palestine, a secure Israel. The United States believes that negotiations should result in two states, with permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent Israeli borders with Palestine. We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states. The Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their full potential, in a sovereign and contiguous state."

With no horizon in sight for achieving this solution - Biden is ensuring the 100-years-old unresolved conflict between Jews and Arabs will indefinitely continue to exact its toll of human lives and suffering as the following diagram so graphically illustrates:

Jordan-Israel negotiations on the other hand could see the Saudi Solution successfully achieved in six months by redrawing the existing international border between Jordan and Israel - finally completing the original two-state solution first contemplated by the League of Nations when adopting the Mandate for Palestine on July 24, 1922: 

• Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine: exercising sovereignty in about 80% of Mandatory Palestine and 
• Israel: exercising sovereignty in the remaining 20%.

Rejecting the Saudi Solution will have unpleasant consequences for the US-Saudi relationship and the US economy during Biden's remaining term as President. 

Author's note: The cartoon--commissioned exclusively for this article--is by Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones"--one of Israel's foremost political and social commentators--whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades

Biden should push for Jordan & Israel to divide Judea & Samaria

 

President Biden's proposed visit to the "West Bank" is promising to end up becoming a fruitless trip to an artificially-coined destination supposedly inhabited by a mythical ancient "Palestinian people". 

This scenario is far removed from the biblical and historic realities that had existed for 3000 years prior to April 24, 1950 - when Biden's destination was called "Judea and Samaria" – the ancient and biblical heartland of the Jewish people. 

Biden's Press Secretary - Karine Jean-Pierre – exposed Biden's – and her--apparent ignorance of these indisputable facts when announcing the President's forthcoming visit in these terms: 

"The President will also visit the West Bank to consult with the Palestinian Authority and to reiterate his strong support for a two-state solution, with equal measures of security, freedom, and opportunity for the Palestinian people.

United Nations resolutions and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) propaganda has used Jean-Pierre's faux narrative since 1967 in a concerted effort to deny the Jewish people have any right to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem under article 6 of the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the 1945 United Nations Charter. 

This post-1967 narrative differs from that used on 1 December 1948 when a conference organized in Jericho and attended by numerous Arab delegations including mayors of Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, the Arab Legion Military Governor General and military governors from all districts, and other notables adopted the following resolution:

"Palestine Arabs desire unity between Transjordan and Arab Palestine and therefore make known their wish that Arab Palestine be annexed immediately to Transjordan. They also recognize Abdullah as their King and request him proclaim himself King of new territory."

The Jericho Conference came after:

• The Mandatory Power – Great Britain – had granted independence on June 27, 1946 to Transjordan – 78% of the territory comprised in the 1922 Mandate for Palestine located East of the Jordan River
• Transjordan had invaded Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem– 4% of the Mandate territory located West of the Jordan River – on May 15, 1948--driving out all the Jews living there as it assumed control of these areas.

The Jericho resolution confirms:

• There was then no identifiable "Palestinian people" – only "Palestine Arabs".
• The leaders of the "Palestine Arabs" were not calling for the creation of a second Arab State in the territory formerly comprised in the Mandate for Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital –in addition to Transjordan.

Despite International and Arab League objections - unification of these two exclusively-occupied Arab territories - comprising some 82% of the territory of the Mandate for Palestine located on both sides of the Jordan River - was achieved on April 24, 1950 – resulting in:

• "Judea and Samaria" being designated the "West Bank"
• The newly-unified entity being named "Jordan"
• "Palestine Arabs" living in the "West Bank" becoming "Jordanian citizens"
• A two-state solution in former Palestine:  one Jewish State called Israel in 18% of former Palestine and one Arab State called Jordan in the remaining 82% of Palestine.

The Palestinian people were only identified for the first time in the 1964 PLO Charter - but the PLO expressly did not claim to exercise regional sovereignty over the "West Bank of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan" under article 24,

 Unification lasted until Jordan's loss of Judea Samaria and East Jerusalem to Israel in the 1967 Six Day War – although its Arab inhabitants enjoyed Jordanian citizenship until 31 July 1988. 

Dividing Judea and Samaria between Israel and Jordan in direct negotiations aimed at redrawing their existing international border is certainly attainable. 

Biden should push for this two-state solution that accords with history, geography and demography.

Author's note: The cartoon--commissioned exclusively for this article--is by Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones"--one of Israel's foremost political and social commentators--whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

Biden, Israel & UN have two 100-year-anniversaries to celebrate

 

President Joe Biden's postponement of his forthcoming trip to Israel this month due to "scheduling factors" gives Biden, the United Nations (UN) and Israel the opportunity to celebrate at UN headquarters the 100th anniversaries of American and international support for the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. 

 In announcing Biden's postponed visit US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides said:

"I'll bet that Joe Biden has been to Israel and the Middle East more times in his career than every American president combined. He calls himself a Zionist, he loves this place and I think there's no question about his commitment to this place."

The first Zionist Congress in Basle in 1897 had declared: 

"Zionism aims at establishing for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine."

America's commitment to Zionism's ambitious goal came on 30 June 1922 – when both houses of the US Congress passed the following joint resolution:

"Favoring the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That the United States of America favors the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which should prejudice the civil and religious rights of Christian and all other non-Jewish communities in Palestine, and that the holy places and religious buildings and sites in Palestine shall be adequately protected." 

The League of Nations (LON) – the UN's predecessor--closely followed the US Congress on 24 July 1922--proclaiming the Mandate for Palestine:

Recognising "the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country"

On September 16, 1922 a memorandum relating to article 25 of the Mandate was presented by the British Government to the Council of the League notifying it that the reconstitution of the Jewish National Home was to occur only in 22% of the Mandate territory west of the Jordan River -and not in Transjordan – the remaining 78% of the Mandate territory east of the Jordan River  

The area set aside for the Jewish National Home in Britain's Memorandum included Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem – the 3000-years old ancient and biblical heartland of the Jewish people. 

In 1948 Transjordan (having gained its independence in 1946) attacked and conquered Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem - driving out all the Jews then living there and unifying Transjordan, Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem in 1950 into one territorial unit - renamed Jordan 

Israel's capture of Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War offered the hope that the provisions of the Mandate would be finally fulfilled.

Instead the rights of Jews under the Mandate to return and settle in Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem were arbitrarily shredded by the UN--even though such rights had been expressly preserved by article 80 of the UN's own Charter. 

The UN to its eternal shame re-designated Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem as "Occupied Palestinian Territory", rather than "Jewish Mandated Territory" - passing scores of UN resolutions declaring as "illegal" the right of Jews to live there. 

It is the UN that is acting illegally in defiance of its own Charter. 

The upcoming 100-year-anniversaries of the momentous decisions made in 1922 by America and the League of Nations supporting self-determination for the Jewish people need to be honoured and implemented.

Author's note: The cartoon--commissioned exclusively for this article--is by Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones"- one of Israel's foremost political and social commentators--whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

Jordan/West Bank reunification key to peace in Jerusalem

 

Separating Jews and Arabs in former Palestine – first decreed by the League of Nations 100 years ago under article 25 of the Mandate for Palestine and subsequently endorsed by the United Nations in its 1947 Partition Plan - has become even more urgent following:

• the outpouring of rabid Jew-hatred emanating from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during Ramadan 
• three Jewish fathers being murdered - leaving 16 Jewish children fatherless - and seven more Jews being wounded - in an axe and knife wielding bloodbath perpetrated by two Arabs

Violent Arab riots against Jews first occurred in 1920 and 1921. Secretary of State for the Colonies -Winston Churchill - in his White Paper dated June 3, 1922 - had sought to allay Arab fears of a Jewish takeover of all of Palestine 

"Unauthorized statements have been made to the effect that the purpose in view is to create a wholly Jewish Palestine. Phrases have been used such as that Palestine is to become "as Jewish as England is English." His Majesty's Government regard any such expectation as impracticable and have no such aim in view. Nor have they at any time contemplated, as appears to be feared by the Arab delegation, the disappearance or the subordination of the Arabic population, language, or culture in Palestine. They would draw attention to the fact that the terms of the [Balfour -ed]Declaration referred to do not contemplate that Palestine as a whole should be converted into a Jewish National Home, but that such a Home should be founded 'in Palestine.'"

As a result - Article 25 was inserted in the Mandate adopted by the League of Nations on July 24, 1922: 

• Restricting the reconstitution of the Jewish National Home after 3000 years in just 22% of Palestine located west of the Jordan River - today called Israel, Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza 
• Granting Arab self-determination in the remaining 78% of Palestine located east of the Jordan River--today called Jordan. 

The Jews accepted - albeit reluctantly - article 25’s inclusion in the Mandate.  The Arabs never did -demanding 100% of Palestine - not the 78% they were allocated under article 25 

100 years later:

• Israel exercises sovereignty in 17% of former Palestine 
• Jordan exercises sovereignty in 78% of former Palestine
• Sovereignty in 5% of former Palestine west of the Jordan River - Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza - remains unallocated.

According to a recent poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research:

• 32% of Palestinian Arabs living in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza support one state west of the Jordan River with equal rights for Jews and Arabs 
• 44% think that armed struggle is the most effective means of ending the "Israeli occupation" 

This proposed one-state solution - bringing Arabs and Jews together - is only agreed to by 10% of Israelis. However an alternative one-state solution that separates Jews and Arabs - reducing conflict- is feasible and involves: Direct negotiations between Jordan and Israel - the two successor states to the Mandate for Palestine - to redraw their current international border - which would result in:

• Gaza plus the heavily-populated Arab areas of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) as existed between 1950 and 1967 - becoming part of Jordan 
• the heavily-populated Jewish areas of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) becoming part of Israel
• no Arab or Jew having to leave his current home
• Jordan being affirmed as Custodian of the Islamic Holy Shrines in Jerusalem
• Freedom of worship in Jerusalem for Jews, Christians and Moslems

The League of Nations and United Nations mutually-agreed destination - one Jewish State and one Arab state in former Palestine - will have finally been reached. 

Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones"- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

San Remo Conference: Catalyst for Jewish and Arab independence

 

The San Remo Conference held on April 24-25, 1920 marked the beginning of self-determination for both the Jewish People after 3000 years of dispersion and the Arabs after 400 years of Ottoman rule. 

Among those participating in the Conference - indicating its historic importance and the significant decisions it would be tasked with making: 

• United States of America: Mr. Robert Underwood Johnson, American Ambassador in Rome; 
• British Empire: The Right Hon. D. Lloyd George, Prime Minister; The Right Hon; the Earl Curzon of Kedleston, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs;
• France: M. Millerand, President
• Italy: Signor Nitti, Prime Minister (in the Chair);
• Japan: Mr. Matsui

The Minutes of the Meeting were headed: MINUTES OF PALESTINE MEETING OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE ALLIED POWERS HELD IN SAN REMO AT THE VILLA DEVACHAN  APRIL 24. 1920.

However the agenda covered far more than Palestine – dealing with: -

“the question of mandates for those territories which had been Mandates formerly under Turkish domination and which it was proposed should, in the future be administered by the various Principal Allied Powers”

Those territories were identified as Mesopotamia and Syria as well as Palestine. 

San Remo granted the Arabs independence in:

• Syria (estimated population 2.22 million) and 
• Mesopotamia (estimated population 3 million)

Comprising an area of 624000 km2 - 85% of the total area of these three territories: The Conference resolved:

“that Syria and Mesopotamia shall in accordance with the fourth paragraph of article 22, Part I (Covenant of the League of Nations), be provisionally recognised as independent States subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone. The boundaries of the said States will be determined, and the selection of the mandatories made, by the Principal Allied Powers”

Mesopotamia gained independence in 1932 and Syria in 1946. 

The Jews were initially allotted all of Palestine at San Remo –117000km2 - the remaining 15% of these three liberated Turkish territories – within which the Jewish National Home was to be “reconstituted” after 3000 years.  

However 78% of Palestine east of the Jordan River (Transjordan) was whittled away for Arab independence by the time the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine was promulgated in July 1922 - leaving Jewish self-determination to happen in just 3% of the territories dealt with at San Remo. 

Transjordan (today called Jordan) became independent in 1946. 

The British Government’s 1921 Interim Report on the Civil Administration of Palestine recorded that hardly 700,000 people were living in Palestine west of the Jordan River– 560000 of whom were Moslems, 77000 Christians and 76000 Jews:

“a population much less than that of the province of Gallilee alone in the time of Christ * (*See Sir George Adam Smith "Historical Geography of the Holy Land", Chap. 20.)”.

About 350000 non-Jews lived in Palestine east of the Jordan River:

The San Remo Conference unanimously agreed that the civil and religious rights of these existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine were not to be prejudiced by San Remo’s decisions and that the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country were also not to be affected – guarantees that were expressly included in the terms of the Mandate for Palestine.

The Arabs have never accepted that the decisions simultaneously made in relation to Mesopotamia Syria and Palestine at San Remo in 1920 were part of a plan that by 1922 offered:

• The Arabs: independence in 97% of the liberated Ottoman territories.
• The Jews: independence in the remaining 3%

The Jewish-Arab conflict will remain unresolved whilst the Arabs remain in their 102 years-old state of denial.

Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

Jordan & Israel can end the 100 years old Jewish-Arab conflict

 

It took Jordan's King Abdullah II just a 10 minutes helicopter flight from Jordan to Ramallah on 26 March to meet Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) leader Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah - itself only 15 minutes' drive from Jerusalem - Abdullah's first trip to Judea and Samaria (West Bank) since 2017.  The Arab Weekly reported on Abdullah's visit:

"Well-informed Jordanian sources have linked the previously unannounced visit of the Jordanian king to Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, to the Negev Summit. They said that Jordan was uncomfortable with the new "Abrahamic" peace process between Israel and Arab countries. It particularly resents being marginalised and losing control over its most important card, the Palestinian issue."

Abdullah has only himself to blame for Jordan's growing marginalisation--abandoning the policy pursued by his great-grandfather King Abdullah I and his father King Hussein  of unifying the two Arab populations living on both sides of the Jordan River into one State between 1950 and 1967. 

Abdullah instead has been supporting the PLO demand for the creation of an independent Arab state west of the Jordan River - in addition to Jordan east of the Jordan River: two Arab states and one Jewish state within the territory comprised in the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine (Mandate). 

Abdullah needs to rethink supporting the PLO's demand if he wishes to regain control of decisions to be made west of the Jordan River affecting Arabs and Jews in the last 5% of former Palestine where sovereignty still remains unallocated between Jordan and Israel after 100 years of conflict. 

Abdullah's marginalisation also risks Jordan losing its role as the custodian of the Muslim Holy Shrines in Jerusalem conferred on Jordan in 1994 by the Washington Declaration and Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty.  

Between 1950 and 1967: 

• Judea and Samaria (West Bank) - which included Ramallah - was part of Jordan - and its residents were Jordanian citizens
• The PLO did not claim regional sovereignty "over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan" or the "Gaza Strip" on its founding in 1964 - claiming only that "Palestine with its boundaries at the time of the British Mandate is a regional indivisible unit"
• Abdullah's father King Hussein - at page 118 of his published memoirs Uneasy Lies the Head (1962) - justified  continuing Jordanian rule on both sides of the Jordan River against international condemnation:

"Palestine and Jordan were both under British Mandate, but as my grandfather pointed out in his memoirs, they were hardly separate countries. Transjordan being to the east of the River Jordan, it formed in a sense, the interior of Palestine" 

Jordan comprises 78% of the territory of former Palestine whilst Judea and Samaria (West Bank) comprises just 4%.

Abdullah's visit to Ramallah took place at the same time as the Negev Summit was putting life into the Abraham Accords - Israel's Foreign Minister working with his counterparts from Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates on shared challenges and interests--along with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's encouragement and support. 

Ending the 100 years-old conflict between Arabs and Jews has become increasingly urgent with no movement in sight to create an additional Arab State west of the Jordan River after almost 30 years of failed political and diplomatic attempts and pressure from the United Nations. 

The reunification of the Arab populations living on both sides of the Jordan River - as existed between 1950 and 1967 - by re-drawing the current international border between Israel and Jordan in direct negotiations - is the kiss of life that can end the Arab-Jewish conflict.

Author's note: The cartoon--commissioned exclusively for this article--is by Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones"- one of Israel's foremost political and social commentators--whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

Jordan-PLO-Egypt negotiations with Israel could be key to peace

 

The Negev Summit (Summit) taking place on 27 and 28 March - hosted by Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid– could be the catalyst for promoting the beginning of direct negotiations - without preconditions - between Israel, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Egypt - on the allocation of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza.

Summit attendees will include:

• US Secretary for State Antony Blinken
• Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed
• Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, 
• Minister of Foreign Affairs of Morocco Nasser Bourita, and 
• Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt Sameh Shoukry.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safdi will be meeting PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah during the Summit. However - according to Israel’s Channel N12 - al-Safdi may join the Summit before the event is concluded. 

On March 18 Principal Deputy Spokesperson in the US State Department--Jalina Porter--had announced Blinken’s visit to the Middle East without mentioning the Summit.   

Porter articulated the Biden Administration’s views on creating a second Palestinian Arab State in former Palestine--in addition to Jordan:

... "the Biden-Harris administration believes that there should be a viable and democratic Palestinian state living in peace alongside a Jewish and democratic state. We believe that a negotiated two-state solution is the best way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the administration has also made clear on numerous occasions that Israelis and Palestinians alike equally deserve to live in security, prosperity, and freedom."

Porter’s choice of the term "Israeli-Palestinian conflict" was unfortunate. 

A more appropriate term would have been the "Arab-Jewish conflict" which has been raging unresolved in former Palestine for more than 100 years - long before the terms "Israelis" and "Palestinians" were created in 1948 and 1964 respectively. 

In this long-running conflict - every word counts. 

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181- passed in 1947 - had called for Western Palestine - today called Israel, Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza - to be partitioned into one Arab State and one Jewish State.  This area comprised 22% of the territory in the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine.  Jerusalem was to become a separate entity to be governed by a special international regime.  

The remaining 78% of former Palestine - Transjordan - today called Jordan - had already achieved its independence in 1946. This area was exclusively populated by Arabs - having been excluded from Jewish settlement in 1922 by article 25 of the Mandate for Palestine. 

The Jews accepted Resolution 181 - but it was rejected by the Arabs - resulting in the invasion of Western Palestine by the armies of six Arab States - Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. 

Transjordan conquered East Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and unified those areas with Transjordan to form a new territorial entity - renamed Jordan in 1950 - until these areas were lost to Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.  

Egypt conquered Gaza and administered it between 1948 and 1967.  

Summit participant - Egypt’s Sameh Shoukry - held talks in Cairo three weeks ago  with Ziad Abu Amr — the Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister and PLO Executive Committee Member — and Palestinian Minister of Social Development Ahmad Majdalani. 

Shoukry then reportedly expressed the importance of continuing contact with various regional and international parties concerned in order to create the appropriate atmosphere for reviving the negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides at the earliest opportunity. 

The Summit could well be creating that appropriate atmosphere which eventually sees Jordan-PLO-Egypt negotiations with Israel to finally complete the solution first contemplated in 1922 - the division of former Palestine between Arabs and Jews.

Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones"- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

UN should use Israel-bashing model to oust Russia from Ukraine

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly needs to stop its pious bleating and move to immediately set up a network of Ukrainian-dedicated agencies to try and force Russia to end its invasion and occupation of Ukraine – adopting the same model it has established in trying to force Israel’s withdrawal from Judea and Samaria (West Bank) over the last 50 years.

The General Assembly has failed in Israel’s case – because:

• Sovereignty remains unallocated and still in dispute between Jews and Arabs after 100 years
• Israel has the legal right to reconstitute the Jewish National Home there pursuant to articles 6 and 25 of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the UN Charter
• Any Israeli withdrawal can only occur after secure and recognised boundaries are fixed pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 242.

However Russia’s invasion of the sovereign territory of another UN member state challenges the UN’s continued existence – as UN Secretary-General Assembly Antonio Guterres has pointed out: 

“It is wrong. It is against the Charter. It is unacceptable. But it is not irreversible”

Reversing Russia’s flagrant violation of the UN Charter justifies the General Assembly adopting its Israel-bashing model to establish the following Ukrainian-dedicated agencies to humiliate and bash Russia into withdrawing from Ukraine: 

• Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Ukrainian People (CEIRUP): To institute a programme that will enable the Ukrainian people to exercise their inalienable rights to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty without external interference; to return to their homes and property from which they have been displaced. 

• Department for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs’ (DPPA) Division for Ukrainian Rights:To serve as the Secretariat of CEIRUP and provide the following core functions: 

1. Organising the meetings of CEIRUP and its Bureau at UN Headquarters;
2. Monitoring political and other relevant developments;
3. Organising programmes of international meetings, conferences and CEIRUP delegation visits;
4. Implementing a publications programme;
5. Developing and maintaining the United Nations Information System on the Question of Ukraine (UNISUKR) and managing CEIRUP’s outreach efforts including via social media;
6. Cooperating with civil society organizations active on the Russia-Ukraine issue;
7. Organising an annual observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Ukrainian People;

• United Nations Ukrainian Works and Relief Agency:  To carry out direct relief and works programmes solely for Ukrainian refugees. 

• Special Rapporteur: To assess the human rights situation in the Occupied Ukrainian Territories, report publicly about it, and work with governments, civil society and others to foster international cooperation.

• Special Committee: To investigate Russian practices affecting the human rights of the Ukrainian People and other residents of the Occupied Ukrainian Territories

• United Nations Special Coordinator for the Russia-Ukraine conflict: The Secretary-General’s Personal Representative and the focal point on the ground for UN support in all political and diplomatic efforts related to any peace process, responsible also for coordinating the activities of all UN Russia-Ukraine agencies, funds and programmes on humanitarian and development assistance to be set up to assist the Ukrainian People

These agencies will neutralise any Russian veto in the Security Council and reinforce sanctions and other decisions made by individual UN Member States to force Russia out of Ukraine.

Simultaneously the UN Human Rights Council should establish an ongoing independent, international commission of inquiry - appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council - to investigate in the Occupied Ukrainian Territories all alleged violations of international humanitarian law and all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law by Russia leading up to and since 22 February 2022.

The UN will cease to have any credibility or relevance if the General Assembly fails to implement these measures. 

Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

Guterres changes course on UN Israel-PLO two-state solution

 

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has had an epiphany—just four days after declaring on February 8th that there was no plan B to replace the UN-endorsed Israel-PLO two-state solution: Creating a second Arab State – in addition to Jordan—in the territory comprised in the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine.

On February 12th Guterres spoke positively of a new grassroots Plan B - “The Holy Land Confederation” - creating an Israeli-Palestinian confederation - after meeting with its authors in New York.

Creation of The Holy Land Confederation involves:

• the Palestine Liberation Organisation leadership (PLO) and the Israeli government negotiating a confederal peace agreement within one year on the future borders of the two States and on a future confederation - including its potential evolution and further stages of liberalization over another four years
• If no confederal agreement is reached within one year then negotiations for a Peace Agreement will center on the two state solution only.

The authors of the confederation have conceded:

“No formal confederations exist today, and the few states that call themselves a “confederation” are in fact federations” (p.91)

Yet this pie in the sky, vague and nebulous confederation proposal has been deemed significant enough for Guterres to give it his endorsement.

Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric said after the February 12th meeting:

“The secretary-general received [former Israeli justice minister] Yossi Beilin and [former Palestinian negotiator] Hiba Husseini, who presented him with their report on the ‘Holy Land Confederation’ process ... He thanked them for their useful contribution to try and achieve a lasting solution to the conflict,”

The meeting with Guterres lasted just 40 minutes and included four of Guterres’ advisers. Guterres reportedly said the plan could perhaps help revive the peace process - expressing regret at the absence of negotiations.

Beilin reportedly said he asked Guterres if the confederation plan could be included in Guterres’ talking points with leaders in the region and if Guterres could help the group use the UN platform for debates and discourse on the confederation:

“He [Guterres] promised that in his talks with his interlocutors, as he said, he will raise this option of a confederation,” Beilin said, adding that separately, “for the first time after many years, [Guterres said] he can have a dialogue with the Israeli government.”

There is another – and far better - alternative plan waiting in the wings to revive the peace process and get negotiations started: The Trump-Israel-PLO-Jordan Initiative

1. Israel and the PLO negotiate for the creation of a two-state solution on the basis of President Trump’s 2020 Peace Plan – and in default of their agreeing to do so or failing to reach agreement
2. Israel and Jordan negotiate to redraw their current agreed international boundary designated under Clause 3(2) of the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace Treaty – based on Trump’s Plan
3. 100% of Gaza and about 70% of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) containing 95% of its Arab population will in either scenario be internationally-recognised as being under Arab sovereignty and control.
4. No Arab or Jew will have to leave his current home.

Israel has endorsed Trump’s Plan as a “historic opportunity” and “significant milestone” whilst the Arab League has rejected it.

The uncertainties and five year time frame involved in negotiations to establish The Holy Land Confederation stand in strong contrast to the immediate results that negotiations based on The Trump-Israel-PLO-Jordan Initiative could yield within months.

Guterres will be doing world peace a disservice if he ignores endorsing The Israel-PLO-Jordan Trump Initiative after endorsing The Holy Land Confederation proposal.

Guterres’ welcome change of course opens up a new horizon for finally resolving the 100 years old Arab-Jewish conflict.


Author’s note: The cartoon—commissioned exclusively for this article—is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators—whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

UN remembers the Holocaust as it abandons the Jewish People

 

The United Nations (UN) ceremony to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day was held on January 27, 2022 - as the UN was simultaneously continuing its incessant assault on the Jewish People that is once again giving rise to increasing Jew-hatred worldwide.

UN-sponsored Jew-hatred began with the establishment of The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People under resolution 3376 (XXX) and the scurrilous “Zionism is racism” Resolution 3379 (XXX) – both passed by the General Assembly on November 10, 1975.

The following 47 years has seen three totally-fabricated statements formulated and repeatedly propagated by the UN and some of its various agencies: 

• Jews have no right to live in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and East Jerusalem 
• Jews living there are doing so illegally in flagrant violation of international law 
• Jews are the major obstacle to peace 

Secretary-General of the UN – Antonio Guterres - enunciated these false statements demonizing the Jewish People as recently as December 15, 2021:

“I call on Israel to put a stop to all settlement activities immediately. Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation of international law and United Nations resolutions. They undermine the prospect of achieving a two-State solution by systematically eroding the possibility of establishing a contiguous, independent, sovereign and viable Palestinian State”

Guterres was pushing his master’s odious three-point narrative – when he should have been forcefully rejecting it for the following reasons:

• Jews have the inalienable right to live in these specifically-designated areas of former Palestine for the purpose of reconstituting the Jewish National Home (“Inalienable Right) – legally conferred on them by article 6 and article 25 of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine and preserved by article 80 of the UN Charter.

• Israel’s first Prime Minister – David Ben-Gurion – then the Representative of the Jewish Agency – emphasised the importance of the insertion of Article 80 into the UN Charter in evidence before the UN Special Committee for Palestine at Lake Success, New York on 7 July 1947:

• Article 80 preserves the Jewish People’s Inalienable Right notwithstanding the demise of the League of Nations on April 19, 1946 and remains as alive and exercisable today as it was when unanimously adopted by all 51 Member States of the League of Nations on July 24, 1922 – (see image following)

The following headline appearing over a media release on January 27th by UN News – the official UN  media outlet - indicates the lengths the UN will go to to bury Article 80:

“The Holocaust “defined the United Nations”, Secretary-General António Guterres told a virtual ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day on Thursday, recalling that the UN Charter was drafted in San Francisco “as the Dachau concentration camp was liberated”.

The Charter defined the UN - giving it the responsibility under Article 80 to ensure the rights of the Jewish People created by the Mandate were preserved.

Excluding any mention of Article 80 contained in that Charter and the reasons for its inclusion continues to be the fuel that enables the UN to falsely condemn 600000 Jews for illegally living in areas where they are legally entitled to do so and from where all Jews were driven out and expelled between 1948 and 1967.

Abandoning the Jewish People by failing to recognise its vested rights under the Mandate for Palestine and the UN Charter brands the UN as the world centre for disseminating and inciting Jew-hatred. 193 Member States need to evaluate their continuing membership. 

“Never again” is threatening to become “Yet again” – whilst the UN continues to act in flagrant violation of article 80 of its own Charter. 

Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

UN Security Council incites Jew-hatred thanks to Obama & Biden

The Obama-Biden administration’s failure to veto UN Security Council Resolution 2334 on December 23, 2016 — as President Obama was vacating the White House to hand over the reins of power to President-elect Donald Trump — has seen that Resolution being weaponized for the last five years to incite Jew-hatred worldwide — with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres firing the bullets.

Guterres is required to report to the Security Council every three months on the implementation of Resolution 2334 and recently issued his 20th such report covering the period September 29 — December 9, 2021.

Guterres states:

“In its resolution 2334 (2016), the Security Council reaffirmed that the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, had no legal validity and constituted a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace. In the same resolution, the Council reiterated its demand that Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and that it fully respect all of its legal obligations in that regard. No such steps were taken during the reporting period.”

This Security Council Resolution falsely accuses Jews of:

• Illegally settling in “the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 including East Jerusalem” (“Territories”): 

These Territories have been designated for 3000 years as “Judea and Samaria” and “Jerusalem” — the ancient and biblical heartlands of the Jewish People — and were so designated in 1947 by the UN Special Commission Report on Palestine and UNGA Resolution 181 (II). 

• Having no right to live in these Territories: 

All Jews living there were ethnically cleansed in 1948 by six invading Arab armies and prevented from returning until 1967. 

• Acting in flagrant violation of international law

The right of Jews to live in these Territories is expressly authorized by articles 6 and 25 of the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine and preserved until today by article 80 of the United Nations Charter.

Resolution 2334 institutionalized Jew-hatred in the Security Council. 

Jew-hatred is now being preached and practiced under the cover of United Nations respectability.

Guterres further points out:

“In its resolution 2334 (2016), the Security Council called upon all States to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.”

Dealing with Jews living in Israel differently from Jews living in the Territories:

• Violates anti-discrimination international humanitarian law 
• Disregards the UN Charter’s call “to practice tolerance”.
• Constitutes racial apartheid

An Obama-Biden veto would have consigned Resolution 2334 to the dustbin of history — like so many other similar Resolutions reeking of Jew-hatred vetoed by them. 

Then US Secretary of State—John Kerry—explained why America allowed this pernicious Resolution to pass:

”...the two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians… the vote in the United Nations was about preserving the two-state solution”

Really?

A different solution worked successfully between 1948 and 1967: Unifying the two banks of the Jordan River to create one State replacing “Transjordan”  — re-named “Jordan” in 1950.

Why couldn’t a similar solution work again?

Obama and Biden’s abstention-decision on Resolution 2234 — as they were leaving office — to preserve the two-state solution by creating a second Arab state in former Palestine in addition to Jordan – has seen Jews paying the price — being increasingly exposed to targeted attacks worldwide fuelled by UN Secretary-General quarterly reports on the implementation of a Security Council Resolution that falsely demonises the Jewish People.

Jew-hatred has become firmly entrenched in the UN Security Council to its eternal shame.

Author's note: The cartoon - commissioned exclusively for this article - is by Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones"- one of Israel's foremost political and social commentators - whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

Israel & Jordan need to negotiate on Trump 2020 Peace Plan

It is regrettable that Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Jordan’s King Abdullah did not discuss the possibility of Jordan-Israel negotiations on former US President Donald Trump’s 2020 Peace Plan for allocating sovereignty in Judea/Samaria (West Bank), Gaza and parts of Israel (Trump’s Plan) - when they met in Amman on January 5th.

Gantz enthusiastically supported Trump’s Plan (see image below) following its release on January 28 2020:

“The Trump administration’s peace plan is a significant and historic milestone indeed. Immediately after the elections, I will work toward implementing it from within a stable, functioning Israeli government, in tandem with the other countries in our region.”

Israel now has a stable functioning Government – so Gantz’s failure to raise Trump’s Plan with Abdullah when sitting face to face with the King runs counter to Israel’s national interest. 

This is especially so given Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s outright rejection of Trump’s Plan – reportedly telling an Arab League foreign ministers meeting on 1 February 2020: 

“They told me Trump wants to send me the deal of the century to read, I said I would not. 

Trump asked that I speak to him over the phone, so I said ‘no’, and that he wants to send me a letter, so I refused to receive it.”

Holding up a map that shows the gradual geographic reduction of Palestine through four stages from pre-1948 to Trump’s Middle East plan, Abbas said: “I challenge any of you, if you can even see us on the map. If you ask a child in first grade to draw Trump’s map he will never know how to.”

“This is a disgrace,” 

The map Abbas brandished (pictured below) was a phony map of “Historic Palestine” – dating from 1947 - not 1920.

Article 2 of the PLO Charter recognizes that Palestine between 1920 and 1946 included what is today called Jordan - 78% of the territory of Palestine under the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine:

“Palestine, with the boundaries it had during the British Mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit.”

Jordan was granted independence by Great Britain in 1946 - terminating its Mandate in the remaining 22% of Palestine in 1948. 

The PLO never claimed sovereignty in Judea/Samaria (West Bank) or Gaza on its establishment in 1964 – article 24 of its founding Charter declaring:

This Organization does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or the Himmah Area. Its activities will be on the national popular level in the liberational, organizational, political and financial fields.

Jordan occupied Judea/Samaria between 1948 and 1967.

Jordan’s history certainly qualifies it to replace the PLO as Israel’s negotiating partner to implement Trump’s Plan.

Abdullah stressed to Gantz the: 

“importance of maintaining calm in the Palestinian Territories and taking all measures to create the horizon needed to achieve just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution”

Jordan - stepping into the negotiating void created by Abbas’s continuing rejection of Trump’s Plan – would become a major driver in maintaining that calm. 

Israel-Jordan negotiations to redraw their currently-agreed existing international border - using Trump’s Plan - could result in the following two-state solution first contemplated by the 1922 Mandate for Palestine: 

1. Israel acquiring sovereignty in about 30% of Judea/Samaria (West Bank) 
2. Jordan acquiring sovereignty in about 70% of Judea/Samaria (West Bank), all of Gaza and parts of Israel’s existing sovereign territory.
3. No Arab or Jewish residents being forced to move from their current homes or business locations.

Trump’s Plan has now become the definitive blueprint for resolving the 100-years old Arab-Jewish conflict in former Palestine. 

Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

UN abandons moral compass in waging semantic warfare on Israel

 

The language being used by the United Nations (UN) and its officials to characterise the unresolved 100-years old conflict between Jews and Arabs disqualifies the UN from having any meaningful role to play in ending that long-running dispute.

The Report to the Security Council on November 30,2021 by Tor Wennesland — Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process – is the latest in the ongoing saga of semantic warfare being waged against Israel. 

Wennesland’s Report is peppered with the following terminology that reeks of prejudice against Jewish claims but is heavily-biased in favour of Arab claims:

1. “Occupied Palestinian Territory”

“Occupied Palestinian Territory” is in fact “Disputed Territory”: Territory which is claimed by both Jews and Arabs.  

Use of “Occupied Palestinian Territory” rather than “Disputed Territory” signals that the UN does not accept Jewish claims to any of this “Disputed Territory ” – notwithstanding that article 80 of the UN’s own Charter preserves the right of Jews to live in that Territory for the purposes of reconstituting the Jewish National Home there under the terms of the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine.

2. “West Bank”

The term “West Bank” was coined in 1950 to designate 4% of the territory of former Palestine west of the Jordan River - called “Judea and Samaria” for the previous 3000 years - which was unified with an additional 78% of the territory of former Palestine east of the Jordan River - called Transjordan — to form a new territorial entity renamed “Jordan”.

Wennesland’s use of the stand-alone term “West Bank” without any reference to its 3000 years old historic name indicates the immoral depths to which the UN and its officials have sunk.

After all — the UN itself had used the term “Judea and Samaria” in Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947:

“The boundary of the hill country of Samaria and Judea starts on the Jordan River at the Wadi Malih south-east of Beisan”

The UN Special Commission on Palestine also used the term “Judea and Samaria” in its 1947 Report:

”...the interior of the country is very mountainous with the hills of Judea and Samaria in the centre” 

Removing any possible identification with Jews and Jewish history by expunging any reference to “Judea and Samaria” –-the Jewish People’s ancient and biblical heartland – exposes the UN’s anti-Jewish bias in papering over Jewish claims to this disputed territory in favour of an invented fake pro-Arab claim made for the first time in history in the 1964 PLO Charter.

3. “The Palestinian Authority”

On January 3, 2013 - the term “Palestinian Authority” was replaced by the term “State of Palestine” - when Mahmoud Abbas, acting in his capacities as President of the State of Palestine and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, signed “Decree No. 1 for the year 2013.” 

 Article 1 of the decree states:

“Official documents, seals, signs and letterheads of the Palestinian National Authority official and national institutions shall be amended by replacing the name ‘Palestinian National Authority’ whenever it appears by the name ‘State of Palestine’ and by adopting the emblem of the State of Palestine.” 

Article 4 states: 

“All competent authorities, each in their respective area, shall implement this Decree starting from its date.”

What motivates the UN and its officials to still turn a blind eye to this official name change after almost 9 years?

The UN continues to lose its credibility, neutrality and impartiality as it and its officials use language and terminology which is antithetical to seeking an end to the Arab-Jewish conflict.

Sticks and stones won’t break the UN’s bones – but waging semantic warfare against Israel is certainly doing just that.

Author’s note: The cartoon—commissioned exclusively for this article—is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”—one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators—whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.