Quiet on settlement activity, Mideast Quartet calls for PA control of Gaza - By Michael Wilner -
The statement omitted any reference to Israeli settlement activity - a rarity for the Quartet.
The Middle East Quartet, a working group on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict comprised of Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, issued a statement on Thursday addressing the growing humanitarian crisis plaguing Gaza following conversations between envoys from the four players.
Notably, the statement omitted any reference to Israeli settlement activity - a rarity for the Quartet, which in its last report on the conflict offered detailed and scathing criticism of the government's construction efforts.
An official familiar with its drafting told The Jerusalem Post that Thursday's statement naturally focused on Gaza following recent meetings in New York between Egypt's President Fattah el-Sisi and Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Those meetings centralized on Palestinian Authority efforts to reclaim control of the coastal strip from Hamas.
The Quartet encouraged efforts from Egypt and other regional powers "to create the conditions for the Palestinian Authority to assume its responsibilities in Gaza," it said in a joint statement. "They urge the parties to take concrete steps to reunite Gaza and the West Bank under the legitimate Palestinian Authority."
Reunification of the Palestinian territories under PA control "will facilitate lifting the closures of the crossings, while addressing Israel's legitimate security concerns, and unlock international support for Gaza's growth, stability, and prosperity, which is critical for efforts to reach lasting peace," they continue, calling on "the international community to act accordingly" in response to the "grave" humanitarian challenge facing Gazans.
The statement echoes a speech delivered by the US special representative for international negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, to a UN committee earlier this month, in which he squarely blamed Hamas for the crisis.
"The Quartet envoys stand ready to engage with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and the region in support of this process," they continued.
This time last year, the Quartet was lambasting the Israeli government over its construction work in Area C and east Jerusalem.
"The Quartet emphasized its strong opposition to ongoing settlement activity, which is an obstacle to peace, and expressed its grave concern that the acceleration of settlement construction," the group's September 2016 report read, referring to Israel's building in east Jerusalem as "settlement activity" to its ire.
The Trump administration says that settlement activity is "not helpful" to the pursuit of peace between Israelis and Palestinians - a top priority for President Donald Trump. But the Obama administration, which was in power and at the table when the 2016 report was drafted, took a harder and more vocal line against settlement construction.
"The retroactive 'legalization' of existing units, and the continued high rate of demolitions of Palestinian structures, are steadily eroding the viability of the two state solution," the 2016 statement continued.
Do Advocates for Palestinians Ever Listen to Palestinians? - By Mitchell Bard -
If you pay any attention to advocates and supporters of the Palestinians who live outside the Middle East, you would think that the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are mostly interested in settlements, boycotts, "occupation," savaging Israel and achieving a two-state solution.
You have to wonder if these activists ever speak to Palestinians who live in the territories -- because when pollsters ask for their opinion, it becomes clear that their actual views are quite different.
The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) conduced its latest poll this month, and found that "an overwhelming majority of the Palestinian public is worried about the future of liberties in Palestine."
Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank, and Hamas in Gaza, both deny Palestinians their basic civil rights: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly. Women's rights are virtually nonexistent.
As I've written before, advocates who claim to care deeply about the welfare of the Palestinians never stand up for the Palestinians' rights when they're abused by the Palestinian Authority (PA), or criticize the authoritarian rule of Abbas.
When was the last time that the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Arab American Institute, Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, CAIR or any other pro-Palestinian group spoke out against the abuses? They only find their voices if they can find some way to blame the Jews -- because they prefer anti-Israel propaganda to aiding the Palestinians.
But the Palestinians oppressed by their leaders know better. While advocates abroad are free to speak out -- but do not, journalists and activists in the territories are routinely arrested. More than 80% of respondents said that the PA does not have the right to detain activists such as Issa Amro, who was arrested and reportedly beaten for criticizing the PA's detention of Palestinian journalist Ayman al-Qawasmi. Most Palestinians admit, however, that they are afraid to criticize the Palestinian Authority.
When asked what they consider to be the most serious problem confronting Palestinian society, the public ranks poverty and unemployment, and the spread of corruption in public institutions, as their top two concerns. Only 23% say that their top priority is the continuation of occupation and settlement activities. But when was the last time that you heard a Palestinian activist talk about poverty and corruption?
While Abbas periodically threatens to disband the PA in response to Israeli actions, as if this would somehow punish the Israelis, 50% of Palestinians wish that he would -- because they consider the PA "a burden on the Palestinian people." A whopping 67% of the public also want Abbas to resign (80% of Gazans), and 65% are dissatisfied with his performance as president.
We hear a lot from Israel's detractors about the blockade of Gaza, which was precipitated by Hamas terror attacks, but Gazans are increasingly angry with Abbas. According to the survey, "Gazans are moving away from Fatah and the Palestinian leadership in an unprecedented way," because of sanctions that Abbas imposed on the Gaza Strip to try to pressure the people there to turn on Hamas.
Given the conditions in the PA, it is not surprising that 43% of Gazans and 22% of West Bank Palestinians say that they want to immigrate to other countries. Note too, how you never hear Palestinians or their supporters calling for people to move to the PA territories to build the state or fight for independence; this is one of many contrasts with the Jewish people's commitment to their homeland.
Advocates for the Palestinians who tend to be hostile toward peace talks and a two-state solution are more in tune with the Palestinian people in the territories. Nearly three-fourths of the Palestinian public don't think that the Trump administration is serious about reaching a peace agreement, and 55% are opposed to accepting an invitation from the administration to resume negotiations with Israel. A slim majority- 52%-47% -- support the two-state solution; 31% favor a one-state solution.
One positive development in the survey was an increase in support for non-violent resistance (still only 26%), which the pollsters attribute to the success in forcing Israel to remove metal detectors from the entrance to the Temple Mount.
The survey also found, however, that support for violence had increased, and that 35% of the public believes that violence is the most effective means of achieving independence. More ominously, 45% support a return to an armed intifada in the absence of peace negotiations.
One interesting finding is that the Palestinians seem to have developed a more realistic view of the importance of their cause to the Arab world. While some advocates (and Arabists) perpetuate the myth that the Palestinian issue is central to the stability of the Middle East, 77% of Palestinians believe that "the Arab world is too preoccupied with its own concerns, internal conflicts, and the conflict with Iran, and that Palestine is no longer the Arab's principal or primary issue or cause."
Advocates for Israel are sometimes accused of blindly supporting the Israeli government when, in fact, there are no shortage of Israeli critics of the state's leaders and policies. The same cannot be said of our Palestinians' friends.
The selective outrage and morality of advocates for the Palestinians is apparent from their silence when it comes to the mistreatment of Palestinians by their own leaders. This hypocritical obsession with Israel's real and imagined sins highlights their insincerity, and reveals that most care less about the welfare of the Palestinians than the demonization, if not destruction, of Israel.
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