02/04 Links Pt1: The Return of the Peace Processors; The U.N. Refugee Agency With Few Actual Refugees; The Palestinian Arabs demand Big Ben back

From Ian:

The Return of the Peace Processors

The establishment conversation on Israel and its neighbors has been dominated for more than 30 years by members of a guild referred to as the peace processors. The foundational premises that animate the guild's work in the Middle East have been shown, repeatedly and consistently, to be simply wrong. The reaction of the peace processors to the repeated failures of the real world to live up to their expectations speaks to an intellectual community that is blind to the realities of Middle East politics.

Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, we were told, was going to lead to an explosion of violence across the Muslim world, but nothing of the sort happened. A fence separating Israel from the West Bank was said to be doomed to fail because it didn't address the real motivations of suicide bombers, yet after the fence was built, suicide bombing dwindled. By achieving autonomy for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, the Oslo Accords were supposed to lead to a reduction in violence. Instead they led almost instantly to a massive increase in violence.

Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank is said to be killing the peace process and that "time is running out" for a two-state solution. Yet the number of Israeli settlements in the West Bank remained largely unchanged and the amount of West Bank land built up remained between 1.5 and 2%. Moreover, the demographic balance between Israelis and Palestinians didn't change. Just as the number of Jews in the West Bank grew, so too did the number of Arabs.

Richard Goldberg: The U.N. Refugee Agency With Few Actual Refugees

In 2012, then- Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois tried to answer this question. His amendment to an annual spending bill demanded an estimate of people receiving Unrwa services who were actually displaced by the 1948 war. The Obama administration delivered a classified answer in 2015. The State Department guarded the secret, even during the Trump years—until Mr. Pompeo’s tweets.

“Unrwa is not a refugee agency; it’s estimated <200,000 Arabs displaced in 1948 are still alive and most others are not refugees by any rational criteria,” Mr. Pompeo tweeted. “Taxpayers deserve basic truths: most Palestinians under UNRWA’s jurisdiction aren’t refugees, and UNRWA is a hurdle to peace. America supports peace and Palestinian human rights; UNRWA supports neither. It’s time to end UNRWA’s mandate.”

President Biden reportedly intends to restore funding to the agency. Some questions he needs to answer: Should America support more than five million people through a refugee agency if fewer than 200,000 of them are refugees? Why should the State Department’s refugee bureau oversee Unrwa if the majority of its registry are not refugees?

Since most people registered with Unrwa are citizens or permanent residents of another country—such as Jordan—or currently reside within the borders of a future Palestinian state, Congress should work with the administration to find bilateral solutions. America can still assist the remaining 200,000 refugees while supporting others outside the Unrwa framework.

Remarkably, there are no technical teams from the U.S. Agency for International Development or other federal agencies designing programs, projects, or budgets to help Palestinians registered with Unrwa achieve economic independence. In other words, there are no plans to improve their lives. That needs to change.

American oversight of the U.N. must also change. When the U.S. contributes to U.N. agencies, it often takes a seat on the board to exercise basic oversight. Unrwa, however, has no board of governors and no oversight.

It took more than eight years, but we finally got the truth: Less than 5% of those on Unrwa’s registry are refugees. This means Unrwa is not a refugee agency, but something else entirely. That demands a bipartisan policy to halt the abuse of taxpayer funding.

Gerald M. Steinberg: A Pragmatic Peace for Israelis and Palestinians

For more than 70 years, peace between Palestinians and Israelis has eluded the most dedicated and experienced negotiators. Grand plans that focus exclusively on Palestinian perspectives, and downplay deeply embedded Israeli insecurity, including the growing Iranian threat, have no chance of success. And there is no value in presenting proposals that fail to consider the deep conflict between Hamas and Fatah, or the lack of a Palestinian leadership capable of reaching a historic compromise. The Palestinians and their supporters claim that the establishment of a sovereign state in which the Jewish people are the majority, with Jewish symbols, violates their rights. For Israelis, the injustices began with the Arab rejection of the 1947 UN Partition Plan, followed by an invasion aimed at "throwing the Jews into the sea," denying 4,000 years of Jewish history in this land, including Jerusalem. Palestinians have the potential for realizing the benefits of peace and cooperation, but this will require a willingness to let go of the goal of reversing the establishment of Israel. New leadership focused on improving the lives of Palestinians is necessary. To avoid doing harm, and to make lasting contributions, peacemakers should focus on steps that promote cooperation, rather than adding to the conflict.

Teaching the truth about Israel’s legal claims

On January 3rd, CAMERA on campus hosted an online event with renowned international law expert, Professor Eugene Kontorovich. The webinar, cosponsored by Yamina at Ben Gurion University, Kahol Lavan at Ben Gurion university, Im Tirzu at Sapir College, and StandWithUs, was designed to expose students to the legal facts about Israel. When reflecting on Sunday’s event, Lotem Shahar, the head of Yamina at Ben Gurion University, highlighted the importance of Israeli students understanding International Law in relation to Israel. According to Shahar, international legal facts are useful tools in the arsenal of Israel activists, and serve as an effective complement to the primarily used narrative-based activism.

In only thirty minutes, Professor Kontorovich explained the intricacies of Israel’s borders, their origin in the San Remo Conference of 1920, and how these oft-forgotten facts are critical in understanding Israel’s legal claims in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Indeed, he clarified that in accordance with the legal doctrine of uti possidetis juris, the State of Israel inherits the borders of the preceding governing entity — in this case, the British Mandate. The professor did note, however, that it could be argued that Israel may have forfeited its claims to Gaza when it withdrew from the territory in 2005. Professor Kontorovich also discussed the importance of looking comparatively at different countries that were formed with prior mandate borders, as Israel was, to recognize the hypocrisy of the accusations lobbied against Israel.

The professor spoke of the legal status of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and provided a counterargument to the frequently heard assertion that these settlements are illegal. Claims of illegal Israeli settlements and illegally occupied territories can be heard not merely in prominent media outlets and the halls of the United Nations, but also voiced on college campuses by grassroots anti-Israel groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). Sadly, these terms have become part of the accepted vernacular when discussing the conflict.

In the lecture, Professor Kontorovich highlighted the double standard applied to Israel by citing examples like Iraq, whose borders were decided during the San Remo Conference, and is also home to a large Kurdish minority with aspirations for self-determination. He clarified that although Iraq and Israel share notable similarities, Iraq is not seen as the occupier of Kurdish land, and the international community is not up in arms with allegations that Iraqi borders are illegitimate. In contrast, Israel has been condemned by the UN General Assembly 17 times in 2020 alone (compared to 6 overall for the rest of the world) due to settlement activity or actions conducted in the West Bank and Gaza. Professor Kontorovich explained that questioning the validity of borders derived from past mandates creates a slippery slope that can lead to contested borders in numerous other Middle Eastern countries.

Amb. Dore Gold: "Occupation": The Search for an Alternative Term -

Israel captured the territory of Judea and Samaria, which is also called the West Bank, as a result of the 1967 Six-Day War, when it battled a coalition of five Arab armies in a war of self-defense.

Former Chief Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court Meir Shamgar wrote in the 1970s that "territory conquered does not always become occupied territory to which the rule of the Fourth [Geneva] Convention applies." The convention "is based on the assumption that there had been a sovereign, who was ousted, and that he had been a legitimate sovereign."

But the previous Jordanian presence in the territories was the result of its illegal invasion of the West Bank in 1948 in defiance of the UN Security Council. Jordan's 1950 annexation of the West Bank was only recognized by Britain, Pakistan, and Iraq, but not by the rest of the international community, including the Arab states.

For many, "occupation" was a loaded term. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which has special responsibility for the Fourth Geneva Convention's implementation, decided to hold an expert meeting on the subject in 2008. A majority of the experts noted the "pejorative connotation of 'occupation'," and thought alternative language was needed.

In the territories Israel captured in 1967, a new reality has emerged. Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and it agreed to the establishment of a self-governing Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, in line with the Oslo Accords, in 1993. Was this a Palestinian state? No. But it wasn't an occupation either, making the term completely irrelevant for describing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Talking about the "occupation" has become a means of branding Israel unfairly and is often used to wage political warfare against the Jewish state. In light of this background, it would be far more accurate to call the territories "disputed territories," as is done in similar circumstances elsewhere.

The insane repetition of failure

The P.A. will not see these steps taken by the Biden administration as goodwill gestures, but rather an acknowledgment that their strategy persists. They don’t need to give an inch to gain a lot. This is demonstrably proven, time and again.

Only when the Palestinians understand that not only will they not gain, but they will lose, will their determination to continue fighting to be broken. That should be the goal.

The carrot has been tried repeatedly and has failed to even bring the Palestinians to the negotiating table. It’s time for the stick.

A stick that breaks their will to continue the conflict is one that will deliver peace and security to Israel and a better future to the Palestinians, free of the burden of the conflict.

The fact that the failures of the past are about to be repeated does not bode well for Israel’s security, nor for a brighter Palestinian future.

Unfortunately, paradigms are hard to break, even if they fly in the face of fact.

In the results-oriented business world, someone in charge of negotiations who was unable to even bring two parties together would be immediately removed from his position, with his reputation in tatters.

Amr’s appointment is a paradigm for failure that will ultimately be repeated.

Expecting different results from the exact same failed policies is insanity, but it is also deadly since more lives will surely be lost as a result of this madness.

In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Einstein’s definition, despite the cliché, unfortunately still rules.

Honest Reporting: In Depth: Arafat Rejected Peace in 2000

Recent peace agreements between Israel and UAE, Bahrain and Sudan have changed the face of the Arab-Israeli conflict and revealed a pent-up frustration among Arab nations with the long-standing Palestinian veto on their ability to normalize relations with Israel.

Arab nations have not suddenly become “pro-Israel” or abandoned their support for a Palestinian state, but they are more willing to call out Palestinian mistakes and lack of gratitude for longstanding Arab support. This dynamic was starkly on display in a recent interview of Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia on Al Arabiya, a Saudi-owned television channel. Bandar spoke for over an hour, focusing on Palestinian leadership mistakes over the decades, capped off in the final part recounting the colossal error committed by Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat in rejecting a peace agreement with Israel in 2000-2001. Even though these events are twenty years old, Bandar puts it front and center, demonstrating its enduring importance in discourse about the conflict. This article will review the old and new evidence showing the tragedy of Arafat’s “no” response to an attractive peace deal, despite continued attempts by many to absolve Arafat and the Palestinians of fault.

In July 2000 the U.S., led by President Bill Clinton, hosted and mediated the Camp David Summit with Israel, led by Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and the Palestinians, led by Chairman Arafat, to negotiate a conflict-ending peace agreement. After two weeks of intensive discussions the negotiations broke down without an agreement. Soon afterwards the Palestinians launched the Second Intifada, which seemingly dashed hopes for further negotiations. However, the parties continued to remain in contact, and on December 23, 2000, with Bill Clinton entering the last month of his presidency, he called the two sides to the White House and dictated a set of final peace terms, known as the Clinton Parameters (the “Parameters”), which sought to bridge the gap between the Israeli and Palestinian positions. The Parameters offered the Palestinians substantially more than the proposals made at Camp David, seemingly providing everything most observers thought would satisfy the Palestinians:[1]

State Department: Abraham Accords not ‘substitute’ for Israeli-Palestinian peace

The Biden administration said that while it hopes other countries will normalize relations with Israel, it doesn’t believe that such deals are a substitute for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

“The United States will continue to urge other countries to normalize relations with Israel, and we’ll look for other opportunities to expand cooperation among countries in the region,” U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Tuesday.

Price, who reiterated that the Biden administration welcomed Monday’s agreement between Israel and Kosovo that was negotiated under the Trump administration, said that the administration’s hope is that they can contribute to progress towards Israeli-Palestinian peace.

“We hope that as Israel and other countries in the region join together in a common effort to build bridges and create new avenues for dialogue and exchange, these efforts contribute to tangible progress towards the goal of advancing a negotiated peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” he said.

Price also declined to weigh in on whether or not the Trump administration deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for the Abraham Accords, saying that it is up to the Norwegian parliament.

The Circle of Peace in the Middle East

2020 was a game changing year for Israel's relations with the Arab world: The number of Arab countries holding official ties with Israel tripled, now totaling 6. Now, Israel MFA opened new embassies in the UAE, Bahrain & Morocco to boost these new friendships.

White House Can't Explain Why Biden Hasn't Called Netanyahu In First 2 Weeks

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed Tuesday that President Joe Biden had not yet spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the first two weeks of his administration — but could not explain why he had not done so.

The following exchange took place during Tuesday’s White House press briefing:
Reporter: Correct me if I wrong, but the president hasn’t spoken yet with Prime Minister Netanyahu. He has not. Isn’t that surprising?

Psaki: I don’t know that it’s surprising less than two weeks into an administration. He hasn’t called every foreign leader yet. He certainly would love to spend more time talking to foreign leaders. His first love is foreign policy. But I expect he’ll continue to have additional engagements in the weeks ahead. And, obviously, we have a long and abiding relationship with Israel, important security relationship. I’m sure they’ll discuss that and a range of issues when they do connect.

In contrast to Biden, President Donald Trump spoke with Netanyahu on Jan. 22, 2017, his second full day in the Oval Office.

Thus far, in order, Biden has spoken with: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada; President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico; Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom; President Emmanuel Macron of France; Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany; Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg of NATO; President Vladimir Putin of Russia; and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan.

For top policy wonk Peter Berkowitz, 18 months of Pompeo and circumstance

Peter Berkowitz never planned on becoming the US State Department’s top policy adviser. The conservative political scientist planned on leaving Stanford University’s Hoover Institute for a year to focus on Israel policy under former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, and then leave.

Close to three years later, including a year and a half as director of Policy Planning at the State Department, Berkowitz is finally back in the ivory tower, with the knowledge that policy wonks make plans and God laughs.

From his own career plans, to realizing that the State Department would not lead on the Middle East peace process, to unintended consequences of Washington pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, to misunderstandings regarding the Trump administration’s West Bank stance — Berkowitz knows not everything has to go according to plan for it to work out.

What do you think is going to happen with the new administration coming in and incoming Secretary of State Anthony Blinken?
It seems to me that now Secretary of State Blinken not only must process the new intelligence on Iran, but he must incorporate into his understanding the events of the last four years. He was a supporter of the JCPOA. He presumably opposed the decision of the Trump administration to exit the agreement. But he’s not inheriting the world he left [as Biden’s national security adviser] in 2016.

Presumably, the Biden administration will pursue a new agreement with Iran. What can that look like given the new circumstances? Seems to me these are the two features of the new circumstances that Secretary of State Blinken will undoubtedly take into account. One is the progress Iran has made in pursuing a nuclear weapon and two, the new realities presented by the normalization of relations between Israel and the Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Morocco, and the potential there is for Israel to normalize relations with other Gulf countries.

You know, it seems to me that the normalization of relations does impose some constraints. This is, I believe, a tremendously positive development for stability in the Middle East. But what brings the Emirates, Israel, Bahrain closer, and what brings Israel closer to Saudi Arabia?

One factor that has brought Israel closer to Bahrain and the Emirates is the concern about the Iranian threat. A decision by the Biden administration to somehow rejoin JCPOA, to somehow trust the Iranians, look away from their production of missiles and their sowing of terror, it seems to me, the implication of that is to bring Israel and the Gulf Arab countries even closer. It will confirm their sense that they have increasing responsibility for their own security.

At State, you moved to change the legal status of settlements and lower the chance for Palestinian statehood. Was the goal of the policy to take the two-state solution off the table for a future administration?
It’s really important to emphasize that the White House peace plan involves a proposal for a two-state solution, indeed, a two-state solution in which the Palestinians would retain control over approximately 70% of the West Bank. There are also land swaps. An Israeli airforce Blackhawk helicopter carrying US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hovers over Psagot Winery, in the settlers industrial park of Sha’ar Binyamin near the Israeli Psagot settlement in the West Bank north of Jerusalem on November 19, 2020. (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)

We have to be very careful about the policy that the State Department and therefore the Trump administration adopted concerning the settlements. It is often misstated, but Secretary Pompeo was very careful in his language. He did not say that settlement activity is consistent with international law as often cited. He said “settlements in the West Bank beyond the Green Line are not per se inconsistent with international law.” What is the difference in those two formulations? It’s huge. One says that automatically everything that Israel builds is automatically consistent with international law. The other formulation, which was secretary Pompeo’s, says that whatever Israel builds is not on its face illegal. It’s a matter of dispute and each case has to be examined on its own merits.

Israel holds a winning hand against Biden onslaught

Since Biden has stacked his inner circle with ministers and consiglieri mostly hostile to Israel, we shouldn’t be surprised at what’s coming.

Some of it has arrived already.

One of Biden’s first phone calls was not to Benjamin Netanyahu, but to the Palestinian Authority to assure the boys that everything is back to normal, yes, as it was under Obama. This means the PLO eyesore, that is, the PLO office in DC is okay to reopen. The funds that Trump took away from the PA are being returned … the “two-state solution” is back on the table…and Abbas is back in the saddle.

Some days it is good to be a terrorist. Be patient, and await the American voters to vote low for the highest office.

Abbas, no doubt, expressed his gratitude, and both he and Biden agreed that Trump was terrible…but hey, happy days are here again.

Trump had consigned the Palestinian Arabs to the far corners of the earth. For four years, sucking their thumbs, hardly a peep out of them.

Result? The entire Middle East changed…for the better. Who knew that they were the problem? Trump knew.

The Taylor Force Act, it was understood, still prohibits murdering Jews for the money…but that could change if the Israelis don’t behave.

Matt Duss, Bernie's anti-Semitic foreign policy advisor is about to get a job at the State Department. I can't get bent out of shape about this. He's no different from anyone else that Biden has appointed. What's one more? At least he's consistent. Everyone there hates Israel.

— Caroline Glick (@CarolineGlick) February 4, 2021

New Biden State Department hire has some interesting ideas about Israel pic.twitter.com/h0DtUaxRRW

— Eric Cunningham (@decunningham2) February 4, 2021

This pay (terrorists) to slay (Israelis) has been around for years. We had "meetings" where the PA said they "wanted to" make a change, but they refused to stop making these atrocious payments. Hopefully the Biden Administration will make progress without trading anything for it. https://t.co/3MLnajkS4B

— Jason D. Greenblatt (@GreenblattJD) February 3, 2021

Turkish News Agency Publishes Bizarre Graphic on ‘Abundance of Jewish-Origin Officials’ in Biden Administration

Turkey’s state-run news agency published a bizarre infographic highlighting an “abundance” of Jewish officials in the Biden Administration, featuring photographs of eight of the president’s appointees.

“Israeli press widely covers abundance of Jewish-origin officials in Biden team,” wrote the Anadolu news agency, which is run by the Turkish government, in the infographic. It listed figures like US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, and White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain.

Published in both English and Turkish versions, the graphic portrayed the list of Jewish US officials merely as coverage of their “extensive media attention in Israel,” quoting news headlines from publications like Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post next to an Israeli flag.

But some observers appeared to view that framing as pretext.

“#Turkey’s Official News Agency is singling out Biden’s Jewish cabinet members. Bewildering move to say the least,” tweeted National News Senior Correspondent Joyce Karam, who also linked to a similar infographic, from another Turkish outlet in January, which claimed that Jews were “severely overrepresented” in Biden’s Cabinet.

“Ah, and no, in case you’re wondering, they didn’t do this for non-Jewish nominees in cabinet,” she added.

#Turkey's Official News Agency is singling out Biden's Jewish cabinet members. Bewildering move to say the least. https://t.co/54KYCv5XED

— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) February 3, 2021

Ankara’s awful pro-regime media continues to push the dog whistles singling out Jewish members of Biden admin and putting an Israeli flag with them, this comes after Clash Report and other regime officials did the same, this is orchestrated from the top pic.twitter.com/x0tEuypCJI

— Seth Frantzman (@sfrantzman) February 3, 2021

Netanyahu scraps UAE, Bahrain trip over COVID-19 restrictions

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled his planned trip to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain for next week, citing the halting of all passenger flights in and out of Israel due to COVID-19.

The Prime Minister’s Office statement said Netanyahu was doing so “despite the importance of the trip.”

“Netanyahu very much appreciates the invitations from Crown Prince [of Abu Dhabi] Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed and the King of Bahrain Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa and the historic peace between our countries,” the statement reads.

This is the third time Netanyahu has postponed a trip to the UAE due to coronavirus-related restrictions and political developments in Israel. Netanyahu was expected to visit Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, as well as Manama, Bahrain next week, stopping only for a few hours in each, due to coronavirus restrictions and concerns over its more-contagious variants.

Houda Nonoo: 2021: A promising year for Bahrain and Israel - opinion

While 2020 was historic for Bahrain and Israel, this year will be even better as we feel its influence. Here are some of the areas where I believe we will see a large impact in 2021.

– Business: The COVID pandemic impacted economies around the world. Now, as economies open up again, businesses in Bahrain have a new market to tap into: Israel. So too, businesses in Israel have a new market to tap into: Bahrain. The opportunities in technology, start-ups, fintech, industrial manufacturing, real estate, agriculture, food processing, consumer goods and more have no limits. Additionally, our countries can benefit from sharing best practices as we rebuild our economies.
– Healthcare: Israel is known for its healthcare innovation, creating cutting edge solutions to some of the world’s most complex healthcare challenges. By partnering, we can propel healthcare forward. We can also benefit from an exchange of doctors and medical training programs.
– Education: Bahrain and Israel put great emphasis on their educational institutions, and there is opportunity to collaborate on this front as well. Whether it be an exchange student program or a professor exchange, there are wonderful way to teach our students, who will be the future leaders of the new Middle East.
– Travel and Tourism: The travel and tourism opportunities are probably where the people of both countries are most excited. The Ritz Carlton in Manama recently announced that it will begin offering kosher food, and Gulf Air recently announced its Tel Aviv route. Israeli carriers are looking at opportunities to fly into Manama as well. During my recent trips to Israel, I heard from many people about their excitement in having visitors from Bahrain – both Muslim and Jewish – come to visit. The Abraham Accords have opened up larger opportunities for tourism as more American and European Jews are now planning to come visit. There are groups that are looking to come for Passover, and there are plans underway for other Jewish holidays.

While history was made this past year between our two great countries, in many ways, 2021 will be even more exciting as the impact of the Abraham Accords begins to come to fruition. At the core of this agreement is the desire to create a new Middle East, one built on peace and prosperity for all. I believe that the growing partnerships between Bahrain and Israel will lead to sustainable peace in the region. This year we will see collaborations in the business, healthcare, education and travel and tourism sectors that will further bring our leaders’ bold vision to reality.

“We will stand with you, We stand with peace” listen to powerful words by @amjadt25 🇮🇱🇦🇪🇧🇭 pic.twitter.com/fzviuAvp6Z

— Sharaka - شراكة (@sharakango) February 3, 2021

UAE, Israeli soccer clubs to play first friendlies since normalization

UAE club Al-Ain will play Israel's Maccabi Haifa in two friendlies, the Emirati club said on Wednesday. This will be the first game since the two countries normalized relations in September 2020.

According to French news agency AFP, the announcement was made during the virtual signing of a deal between the two clubs.

The agreement "will consolidate the policy of bridge-building and cooperation between the two major clubs in various fields including marketing, technical cooperation, investment, commercial activities, media, and sport," Mohamed Thaaloob, chairman of the Al-Ain club investment company, said.

The clubs, which the report noted are two of the most successful in their respective leagues, also agreed to stage two friendlies, the first to be hosted by Al-Ain and the second to be held in Haifa at an unspecified future date.

In October the Emirati and Israeli football federations signed a cooperation agreement, a first between the two nations, intended to promote closer sporting ties.

A month before that agreement, Emirati club Al-Nasr signed Israeli player Diaa Saba, who is of Palestinian heritage, becoming the first Israeli player to sign for a club in an Arab league, AFP said.

Algerian TV Debate about Participation in Sporting Events with Israeli Teams

Lina TV (Algeria) aired a debate about Algerian participation in international sporting events with Israelis on January 22, 2021. Algerian journalist Hassan Moali said that if Algeria were to face Israel in the Qatar World Cup in 2022, the Algerian national team should play against Israel. He added that while he does not support “sports normalization” with Israel, he does believe that athletes should not boycott Israeli athletes and they should respect international sports treaties. Moali added that participation in sporting events with Israelis should not make much of a difference, since Algeria and Israel are both members of various international organizations such as the Union for the Mediterranean. He said: “Sports and politics should be separated.” Algerian-based Egyptian journalist and TV host Hamdy Shagie said that all Algerians despise Israel, and what Israel wants most is to gain normalization with Arab countries in the fields of arts and sports, however, even in Egypt, which has a peace agreement with Israel, there is no normalization in these fields. He added that when you support playing against an Israeli sports team, you must keep in mind that they are Zionists, and when you support Zionists, every bit of support you give them is invested in killing women, children and the elderly in Gaza. The crowd applauded and cheered him on. Algerian journalist and researcher Mahdi Berrached said that if athletic meets with Israel are nothing more than sporting events, then how could the attack against the Israeli delegation to the 1972 Olympics, in which Algerian Mohammed Boudia played a role in planning, be justified?

Syria Demands UNSC Take ‘Immediate’ Action Following Alleged Israeli Strike

The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Thursday demanded that the United Nations Security Council take “firm and immediate” action in the wake of missile strikes on Syrian targets allegedly carried out by Israel on Wednesday night, according to official Syrian media.

“At 10:42 p.m. on Wednesday, February 3rd 2021, the authorities of the Israeli enemy repeated the aggression on the Syrian territory through launching successive waves of missiles from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan on the southern region,” the ministry said in a letter addressed to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Security Council President Barbara Woodward, official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.

SANA also reported that “most” of the missiles were shot down and that there were no casualties.

The UK-based war monitor group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that strikes targeted “several military positions,” including farms housing militias associated with Lebanese Hezbollah and the Syrian Resistance for the Liberation of the Golan.

Palestinian terrorist indicted in murder of Esther Horgen

The IDF Prosecution filed an indictment for murder against Palestinian Mohammad Maroh Kabaha on Thursday for the murder of Esther Horgen on December 20.

According to the six-count indictment in Salem Military Court, Kabaha planned the attack some six weeks in advance. One reason was to avenge the death of his friend Camal Abu Wae’r, a Palestinian prisoner who fell sick and died in jail.

The indictment said that at first Kabaha, 40, wanted to carry out a shooting attack against IDF soldiers, and even carried out surveillance of IDF units. However, he eventually dropped that plan when he learned that purchasing a weapon would be too expensive.

Looking for a place to carry out an attack against more vulnerable Israeli civilians, Kabaha went through a hole in the security barrier and found that a number of Israelis took strolls in the Reihan forest.

On December 20, while smuggling cigarettes with acquaintances in the forest near the fence, he left them to pick mushrooms near Tel Menashe, where he spotted 52-year-old Esther Horgen walking alone.

Palestinian PM in Area C calls for sanctions on Israel over demolitions

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh called for international sanctions against Israel as he joined the European Union delegation when they visited the site of the illegal village of Khirbat Humsa, which the IDF destroyed three time this week.

"Serious sanctions on Israel should be imposed because this Israeli occupation should have a serious price," he said Thursday, during his visit to Area C of the West Bank, which is under Israeli military and civilian control.

"If the Israeli occupation is not costly then Israel will not stop really stop its actions against our people," Shtayyeh said as he stood off of a sandy road, in the middle of a green field, surrounded by small rocky hills in the Jordan Valley.

Several dozen feet away stood a few remaining white tents. During Shtayyeh's visit, he urged village residents to stand firm against Israel's determination to relocate their small community, which is located in the middle of a firing zone.

The Palestinians have argued that Palestinian herders have lived at that site for many decades, since before the pre-1967 war.

The Palestinian Arabs demand Big Ben back

It goes on to claim that the British military ordered the clock tower dismantled. Then the "British moved the clock first to a new tower across from the municipality of Jerusalem, and transferred it to the British Museum in London, to become the famous British icon, 'Big Ben'."

How did Big Ben, which resides in a clock tower built in 1859, become a Muslim clock tower from the 20th century?

There are some other slight differences between the two and the “stolen clock” such as the fact that London's clock tower is 316 feet tall while the ‘Palestinian’ clock tower was only 42 feet.

But the story of the “Palestinian clock” is also the story of the entire myth of “Palestine”.

When you believe that the Jerusalem of King David and King Solomon was originally yours, you can just as easily believe that London’s Big Ben was originally the property of “Palestine”.

The “Palestinian clock” is as real as “Palestine”. The myth of a “Palestinian” people propounded by Fatah which has spent decades killing over it is also the story of the “Palestinian clock”.

There’s no more of a “Palestinian” people who were dispossessed by the Jews than Big Ben is a “Palestinian” clock stolen and passed off as London’s Big Ben. Both are fake history built out of resentments and garbled stories whose context has been lost, but whose hatreds remain real.

There were never any Palestinians. When the clock was built the region had been part of the Ottoman Empire, the last Caliphate until ISIS. The caliphates had settled it with Arab Muslim clans who dominated Christian refugees fleeing Muslim persecution, along with groups of other minorities from escaped slaves to gypsies, along with the indigenous Jewish population.

PMW: A new chapter in the PA’s fictitious narrative of victimhood: Terrorists are innocent, “executed by Israel” for no reason

When 17-year-old Palestinian Atallah Rayyan was shot and killed while trying to ‎stab and murder an Israeli soldier last week, the PA was quick to put out fake news, ‎telling Palestinians he was “executed.” ‎

Right away, the PA utilized the so-called “Martyrdom”-death of a terrorist to further its ‎narrative of victimhood, according to which every problem, crisis, and hardship is ‎Israel's fault. ‎

It follows that when young Palestinians heed the PA’s teachings and carry out “an ‎operation,” attacking Israeli soldiers with knives and getting killed in the process, ‎they are innocent according to the PA. ‎

Last week two such stabbings took place, and in both cases the Palestinian terrorist ‎stabbers were killed when Israeli soldiers defended themselves. But the Palestinian ‎public is told that they were innocent and just happened to be near the soldiers who ‎‎– according to the PA libel about Israeli policy – shoot to kill young Palestinians for ‎no reason. ‎

This whitewashing of attempted murder is coming from the very top of the PA: No ‎less than Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh fed the libel, repeating the lie that ‎Israel has a policy of “summary executions”: ‎

Terror promotion is prohibited by the Israeli Order for Security Provisions, and PMW has notified the relevant Israeli authorities of this “PA terror promotion program.” (2/2)

— TPS - Israel's News Agency (@TPS_News_co_il) February 3, 2021

EXCLUSIVE: Allegations of Jibril Rajoub’s Involvement in Eliminating Hamas Members Surface as Elections Heat Up

Fatah’s internal power struggles are intensifying ahead of the election and have become a “dirty game,” according to one of the organization’s senior members. Fatah is the primary faction in the Palestinian Authority.

On the one hand, Abu Mazen’s people, led by Jibril Rajoub, are working to prevent senior Fatah members Muhammad Dahlan and Marwan Barghouti from running in the elections. Dahlan and Barghouti’s people say that the threat posed by Abu Mazen in the Fatah Revolutionary Council, to shoot anyone who dares to run outside the Fatah list, has launched a campaign of settling of accounts.

On the other hand, official documents held in Yasser Arafat’s “safes and personal drawers” are now being pulled out, targeting Jibril Rajoub. He is secretary general of the Fatah committee who is leading the negotiations with Hamas for unity and is expected to head the Fatah delegation to talks between the factions in Cairo on February 8.

Fatah officials, who disclosed the documents, believe that if Rajoub’s status is harmed, Abu Mazen will be harmed in his wake and they are working to blow up the upcoming Cairo talks, before it is too late, they claim.

Jews in Israel are “invaders,” “avenging [the] gas ovens” – PA TV sermon

Jews in Israel are “invaders,” “avenging [the] gas ovens” by “attacking” the Palestinian people – PA TV sermon [Official PA TV, Nov. 20, 2020]

Unidentified preacher: [Our nation’s] children are shouting, its wounded are suffering, its elderly are groaning, its mothers are crying, its Al-Aqsa Mosque is captive, and its land is stolen. But the situation of humiliation will not last, and Palestine will expel the invaders… [Israel] is a fake state that gathered the [Jewish] diaspora at the expense of scattering others [and] avenged its gas ovens by attacking a peaceful people.

MEMRI: Iranian Expediency Council Official In Article In 'Tabnak' Daily: 'Why Iran Is Demanding A Nuclear Bomb'

On January 28, 2021, the Iranian daily Tabnak, which is associated with the pragmatic circles in the Iranian regime, published an article by Mostafa Najafi, secretary of the foreign and international relations working group of the regime's Expediency Council and political commentator for Middle East affairs. In the article, titled "Why Iran Is Demanding A Nuclear Bomb," he examined Iran's nuclear program options with the new U.S. administration of President Biden, in light of Biden's announcement that he would be interested in a U.S. return to the JCPOA nuclear deal.

Najafi explained that the nuclear weapons option was best for Iran because there is no guarantee that a return to unending negotiations with the West would yield an agreement that the West would honor, as was seen with the JCPOA, or that sanctions on Iran would be lifted. He argued that Iranian nuclear weapons and the nuclear balance of terror that Iran would thus attain would lead to Middle East stability, based on the theories of American political scientist Kenneth N. Waltz (d. 2013), the father of the neorealist (or structural realist) theory of international relations. Najafi went on to state that Iran would not use nuclear weapons to invade neighboring countries, but in order to establish its own security – that is, its regime. He also justified Iran's right to nuclear weapons with the claim that nuclear weapons states (NWS) are deterred by nuclear weapons states tend not to engage in provocation.

Earlier, on December 13, 2020, Najafi had published a similar article in the Iranian Foreign Ministry mouthpiece Irdiplomacy.ir, after President Trump failed to win reelection.[1]

It should be noted that Najafi's arguments justifying Iran's obtaining nuclear weapons are invalid: Iran as a nuclear weapons state will spark a regional nuclear arms race. Furthermore, nuclear weapons states do not refrain from engaging in provocation when it serves their interests. Najafi's assurances that Iran will not use nuclear weapons to invade neighboring countries is no guarantee that it will not act against them in other ways, secure in the knowledge that it is protected from Western pressure because it has nuclear weapons. Additionally, the West will no longer be able to pressure Iran on any matter, and the European demands that Iran limit its regional expansion and development of ballistic missiles will be futile.

UAE Official: Israel Could ‘Easily’ Take Out Iranian Nuclear Facilities

Dubai’s deputy police chief Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim said on Wednesday that Israel could easily destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“Israel can attack the nuclear facilities in Iran. And it would be easier than you think. One covert attack in the middle of the night and everything would be over the next morning,” he tweeted.

In a follow-up tweet, the former Dubai police chief wrote, “The Jews have a custom embedded in them, first they cry and get sympathy and understanding from all over the world, and only then they act.”

Tamim made international headlines in 2010 when he accused Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency of responsibility for the assassination that year of top Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel room. The deputy police chief, who is something of a symbol in the UAE, has a history of making controversial remarks, including some antisemitic statements.

He caused a stir in June 2020 with a series of tweets calling for the Gulf states and the rest of the Arab world to admit that they want to establish open diplomatic relations with Israel.

In First for Europe, Iran Envoy Sentenced to 20-Year Prison Term Over Bomb Plot

An Iranian diplomat accused of planning to bomb a meeting of an exiled opposition group was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday in the first trial of an Iranian official for suspected terrorism in Europe since Iran‘s 1979 revolution.

Assadolah Assadi was found guilty of attempted terrorism after a foiled plot to bomb a rally of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) near Paris in June 2018, Belgian prosecution lawyers and civil parties to the prosecution said.

The third counsellor at Iran‘s embassy in Vienna, he was arrested in Germany before being transferred to Belgium for trial. French officials have said he was running an Iranian state intelligence network and was acting on orders from Tehran.

He did not attend his hearings, which were held behind closed doors amid high security, and neither he, not his lawyer, have commented.

In March, he warned authorities of possible retaliation by unidentified groups if he is found guilty, according to a police document obtained by Reuters. The courtroom was heavily guarded, with armored vehicles outside and police helicopters overhead.

A spokesman for Iran‘s Foreign Ministry told the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency on Jan. 24 that Assadi’s diplomatic immunity from prosecution had been violated and that he was a victim of a Western trap.

Iran Seeks to Encircle Israel with Rocket-Launching Platforms

Israel's acceptance of a renegotiated Iran deal should be conditioned on the Biden administration legitimizing Israelis' fears, rather than ignoring them. Our concerns are based on our distant and recent history; in living memory, our grandparents and parents experienced unimaginable calamity. More than half a century later, in 2006, thousands of rockets were launched from Lebanon at Israel's towns and villages, and dozens of Israelis were killed. This was done at Iran's behest. And the thousands of rockets fired into Israel from Gaza since the Islamist takeover in 2007 were also supplied by Iran, directly or indirectly.

In his book Palestine, Ali Khamenei, the Iranian spiritual leader, explains how Israel will be wiped out. It will be encircled by territories that will serve as mega-launching pads of rockets aimed at civilian population centers. In Lebanon, Hizbullah has 150,000 rockets ready to fire. From Gaza, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have more than 10,000. Many can reach Tel Aviv. And Iran is now seriously at work cultivating its third launching platform in Syria. To understand our fears, Americans should imagine that four million rockets are aimed at New York and Los Angeles from bases in Canada and Mexico.

We Israelis don't want a single American soldier to risk his or her life for us. Instead, we require U.S. diplomatic backing for the measures any responsible Israeli government will be forced to take, on its own, to remove the threat in order to defend ourselves by ourselves.

Iranian agents scouted UAE, Israeli, US embassies in East Africa for attack — TV

Several Iranian agents who scouted out the Israeli, American, and Emirati embassies in an unnamed East African country in preparation for a potential attack have been arrested, according to a Monday Israeli TV report.

The agents were sent by Iran to gather intelligence on the sites for a terror attack, Kan News reported, citing Western intelligence sources.

Some held dual European and Iranian citizenship, and some were arrested in the East African country, while others were apprehended in different countries. The attack was thwarted last month, according to the report.

The report said Iran intended to target one of the missions in retaliation for the killing of its top general Qassem Soleimani by the US last year and of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in November. Iran blamed Israel for Fakhrizadeh’s killing and swore revenge.

On Friday, a blast rocked the Israeli embassy in New Delhi, India. The explosion damaged cars but did not cause injuries.

Israeli authorities are treating the explosion as a suspected terror attack aimed at the embassy, and have stepped up security precautions at missions around the world.

Prominent Hezbollah Critic Killed in Lebanon

A prominent Lebanese Shi’ite publisher who criticized the armed Hezbollah movement was shot dead in a car in southern Lebanon on Thursday, the first such killing of a high-profile activist in years.

A judge following the case said the body of Lokman Slim had four bullets in the head and one in the back. A security source said his phone was found on the side of a road.

They said the motive remained unclear.

Slim, who was in his late 50s, ran a research center, made documentaries with his wife, and led efforts to build an archive on Lebanon‘s 1975-1990 sectarian civil war.

He spoke against what he described as the Iranian-backed, Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah‘s intimidation tactics and attempts to monopolize Lebanese politics.

His sister suggested Slim was murdered because of this. He was last seen after visiting a poet friend. His wife said he went missing overnight and did not answer his phone.

Hezbollah did not respond to a request for comment on his death, which the French ambassador and Lebanese officials, including the president, called “an assassination.”

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