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Sunday, February 26, 2017

[mukto-mona] Donald Trump and the death of the two-state solution



OpinionPalestine24 February 2017

Donald Trump and the death of the two-state solution

The demise of the two-state has been evident for some time.

The strange double act of Benjamin Netanyahu and his poodle has marked the official burial of the two-state solution, writes Shlaim [Reuters]

 

By

Avi Shlaim

 

Avi Shlaim is an emeritus professor of international relations at Oxford University.

At his meeting with the US President Donald Trump at the White House on February 15, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scored what in his eyes must be a spectacular diplomatic success: he got the new president to reverse the US' long-standing support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to give him a free hand to do more or less whatever he likes with the West Bank.

The major stumbling block to a two-state solution is the illegal Zionist colonial project on the West Bank. The Obama administration repeatedly tried and failed to secure an Israeli settlement freeze.

By abstaining in the United Nations Security Council vote on December 23 last year, it made possible the passage of a landmark resolution. UNSC Resolution 2334 condemned the settlements as a flagrant violation of international law and a major impediment to the achievement of a two-state solution. For the first time since 1967, Israel came under concerted international pressure, which included the US, to curb settlement expansion.

US no longer as part of the solution

WATCH - Trump drops US commitment to Israel-Palestine two-state solution (2:23)

The election of Donald Trump let Israel off the hook. He was pro-Israel and pro-settlements and he campaigned on a promise to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

President-elect Trump tweeted his opposition to the Security Council resolution and promised that things will change after January 20. Netanyahu conveyed to the president-elect and his team his opposition to a Palestinian state well in advance of inauguration.

He also assured his hawkish ministers at home that he would make it clear to Trump that all he is willing to concede to the Palestinians is a "state minus", suggesting a level of autonomy well short of statehood.

At the press conference with Netanyahu, Trump denounced what he regarded as unfair and one-sided action against Israel at the UN and indicated that he would not hesitate to use the veto to protect the US' junior ally.

His other comments were practically identical to the Israeli government's talking points: Trump criticised the Palestinians for their alleged incitement of their children to hate Israelis, he urged the Palestinians to recognise Israel as a Jewish state, and he stressed that it is the parties themselves who must work out the peace deal.

This ignored the staggering asymmetry of power between the parties which precludes a voluntary agreement: Israel is too strong and the Palestinians are too weak. Hence the need for a third party to redress the balance.

The question today is no longer one state or two states but the protection of basic Palestinian rights, both individual human rights and the collective right to national self-determination.

 

When pressed by a journalist on the subject of the two-state solution, Trump said: "I'm looking at two-state and one-state and I like the one that both parties like. I'm very happy with the one that both parties like".

Referring to the Israeli prime minister by his nickname, he added: "I can live with either one. I thought for a while it looked like the two-state, looked like it may be the easier of the two, but honestly if Bibi and the Palestinians, if Israel and the Palestinians are happy, I'm happy with the one they like the best".

Trump might as well have said to the man standing alongside him: "Yes Sir, no Sir, three bags full Sir". His body language reinforced the impression of not just deference but subservience and obsequiousness towards his guest.

Nonetheless, the president's poor English and his confused and contradictory message must not conceal the bombshell he dropped: the US would no longer insist on a Palestinian state as part of the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Defiant Netanyahu

Explainer: Israel-Palestine conflict, the two-state solution (1:36)

The same question about the two-state solution was addressed to the prime minister. Netanyahu has a long history of duplicity on the subject: when it suits him he pays lip service to the idea of a Palestinian state while working assiduously to make it impossible.

Just before the 2015 elections he finally removed all ambiguity by stating that there will be no Palestinian state on his watch. His answer to the question at the press conference was vintage Netanyahu: "Rather than deal with labels, I want to deal with substance", he said evasively.

He then went on to stipulate his two "prerequisites" for a peace settlement: the Palestinians must recognise Israel as a Jewish state, and "Israel must retain overriding security control over the entire area west of the Jordan River".

Presumably, this is what Netanyahu meant by a "state minus". What this amounts to is a collection of enclaves with no territorial contiguity, no sovereignty, no capital city in Jerusalem, and no armed forces, in short, Bantustans.

INTERACTIVE: Will the American embassy move to Jerusalem?

Not even the most moderate of Palestinian politicians would accept a peace deal on such humiliating terms and Netanyahu knows it. Trump who accused the UN of one-sidedness could not have been more one-sided himself.

In this respect the strange double act of the prime minister and his poodle may be said to have marked the official burial of the two-state solution.

OPINION: US and Israel join forces to bury Palestinian statehood

In truth, the demise of the two-state has been evident for some time. Netanyahu's far-right coalition government is packed with expansionists and outright annexationists who recognise only Jewish rights in what they call Judea and Samaria or the Land of Israel.

American presidents in the past three decades have talked a great deal about the two-state solution but have done virtually nothing to implement it. As the American expression goes, they have talked the talk but not walked the walk.

Back to basics

Inside Story - What happens to global support for two-state solution? (25:30)

The question today is no longer one state or two states but the protection of basic Palestinian rights, both individual human rights and the collective right to national self-determination.

Sadly, the Palestinians are handicapped by weak leadership and by the internal rivalry between Fatah and Hamas. Israel's occupation of the Palestinian lands is now its 50th year and the pressure on Netanyahu from his right-wing coalition partners to annex the main settlement blocs is growing all the time.

American leverage to halt this creeping annexation of the West Bank has virtually vanished under the new administration. The Security Council made a valiant effort to curb Israel's settler-colonialism but this effort is now imperilled by the American veto on the Security Council.

Western governments as a whole have been either unable or unwilling to hold Israel to account for its persistent violations of international law or for its systematic abuse of Palestinian human rights.

OPINION: Don't blame Trump for tiring of the two-state solution

The abuse takes countless forms: a discriminatory legal system, settlers-only roads, home demolitions, arbitrary arrests, torture, the mistreatment of children for stone-throwing, the blockade over the Gaza Strip and daily humiliation of the non-Jewish inhabitants of the West Bank at over 500 checkpoints.

Justice for the Palestinians can therefore only come from the efforts of civil society. Here the signs for a change are quite encouraging. Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), the global grassroots movement in support of Palestinian rights is steadily growing in both size and impact. BDS upholds the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity.

In a world that is moving away from nation-states and national borders to universal rights, the message of BDS is ever more relevant. Inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, it is fighting to end Israeli apartheid. And it represents the best hope the Palestinians have for a better future.

Avi Shlaim is an emeritus professor of international relations at Oxford University and the author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World. 

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

 



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Posted by: "darmanar" <darmanar@darmanar.org>


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Re: [mukto-mona] Bismillah in the bathroom



That is an unassailable point! Never thought about it in quiet those terms.Thank you.


Mahfuzur Rahman


-----Original Message-----
From: Shah Deeldar shahdeeldar@yahoo.com [mukto-mona] <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
To: mukto-mona <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sun, Feb 26, 2017 5:03 pm
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] Bismillah in the bathroom

 
What is the difference between a confined bathroom vs thousands open sewers in Dhaka? If these idiots knew that sewer water is being recycled to drinking water, many might stop using this precious commodity..... let alone drinking it with the Bismillaah chant. The real truth need not be told or exposed?


On Saturday, February 25, 2017 1:35 PM, "'mahfuzur@aol. com' mahfuzur@aol.com [mukto-mona]" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:


 
Sorry. Had to resend. I hope this works. Here is the link ( I hope)

MR

http://enblog.mukto-mona.com/2017/02/24/bismillah-in-the-bathroom/




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Posted by: "mahfuzur@aol.com" <mahfuzur@aol.com>


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Mukto Mona plans for a Grand Darwin Day Celebration: 
Call For Articles:

http://mukto-mona.com/wordpress/?p=68

http://mukto-mona.com/banga_blog/?p=585

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VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/

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"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190





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Re: [mukto-mona] A Muslim Woman Tried to Work in Trump’s White House, Lasts Only 8 Days



I agree that hijab-clad women in the progressive women's march were due to hypocrisy and stupidity on the part of the organizers. I am glad that I was not there.

One big problem of the USA is the otherwise good 1st Amendment to its constitution. Freedom to practice all religions sounds great. But if one looks at it carefully, it is an oxymoron; because, to allow freedom to practice some aspects of some of the religions is to allow atrocities on some other religious groups and on non-religious people. Thus, as the world progresses in terms of justice and civilization, freedom of religion must be replaced with freedom of humanity; and that would require abandoning some aspects of some of the religions.

Sukhamaya Bain

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On Sunday, February 26, 2017 11:36 AM, "Jiten Roy jnrsr53@yahoo.com [mukto-mona]" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:


 
The main objective of these Hijab wearing Ladies is to make a statement that they are Muslim women, and they are willing to surrender their freedom to make that statement.
We saw, the progressive women's march in Washington was led by a Hijab wearing lady, which, in itself, shows the utter hypocrisy to the notion that this group leads a platform for women's freedom.  
Progressive women group (lead by mainly Hollywood celebrities) in the West are the most disingenuous,   immoral group of women in the West. When they talk about women's freedom, what they really mean is unlimited abortion right for women. Even that they do not care about in practice, as evidenced by the leadership of a Hijab wearing Woman, who surely do not support unlimited abortion right. These ladies are bunch of hypocrites, just hungry for TV time.
Jiten Roy



From: "Sukhamaya Bain subain1@yahoo.com [mukto-mona]" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
To: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2017 6:38 PM
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] A Muslim Woman Tried to Work in Trump's White House, Lasts Only 8 Days [2 Attachments]

 
[Attachment(s) from Sukhamaya Bain subain1@yahoo.com [mukto-mona] included below]
In the land of liberty, she wears the symbol of Islamic subjugation of women. She should have lasted shorter in the progressive Obama White House. The dishonesty of the progressive forces is one big reason for Donald Trump defeating Hillary Clinton.

For people who do not know, hijab is based upon blind following of the Koran (The Light:24.31). That verse is not only demeaning to women, it is insulting to men as well. It assumes all men to be incapable of controlling their sexuality when they see any regularly clothed woman that is not a member of his immediate family. Hijab is no choice of a free mind. The semblance of choice is due to some women's excessive religiosity that causes them to lose the sense of what is their right. I think the progressive forces of the world should discourage excessive religiosity. No human is born with a religious stamp on him/her; and all humans need to apply their human intelligence on religions. Without humans doing that, too much of hatred, discontent and atrocities due to religions will continue in the world.

Sukhamaya Bain

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On Saturday, February 25, 2017 6:09 PM, "'Jamal G. Khan' M.JamalGhaus@gmail.com [mukto-mona]" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:


 

A Muslim Woman Tried to Work in Trump's White House, Lasts Only 8 Days


Inline image 1

(PETE SOUZA/WHITE HOUSE)
This is what it looks like when a patriot faces a bunch of monsters.
Rumana Ahmed is a Muslim. She wears a hijab. And she has been working at the White House since 2011. Under President Obama, she was promoted to work at the National Security Council from the Office of Public Engagement. Since then, she has served as an adviser to President Obama, particularly in how he addressed and considered American Muslims. When Donald Trump won, most people in her shoes would have walked away instantly and found a new job. After all, Trump had traversed the country for two years spouting racist, xenophobic, sexist drivel, with a particular focus on anti-Muslim rhetoric.
But that's not what Rumana Ahmed did. She decided to stay on despite her disagreements, because protecting what America stands for is even more important when what it stands for is threatened. Then, eight days after the inauguration, she had to quit. Ahmed wrote an eye-opening piece about her experience for The Atlantic, which shows just how quickly the White House's culture changed on January 23, 2017.
The weeks leading up to the inauguration prepared me and my colleagues for what we thought would come, but not for what actually came. On Monday, January 23, I walked into the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, with the new staffers there. Rather than the excitement I encountered when I first came to the White House under Obama, the new staff looked at me with a cold surprise. The diverse White House I had worked in became a monochromatic and male bastion.
But it wasn't just the whiteness that was surprising. It was the dysfunction. It was as if the entire national-security apparatus had been set on fire.
Decision-making authority was now centralized to a few in the West Wing. Frustration and mistrust developed as some staff felt out of the loop on issues within their purview. There was no structure or clear guidance. Hallways were eerily quiet as key positions and offices responsible for national security or engagement with Americans were left unfilled.
But perhaps the most painful and infuriating part of Ahmed's account is when she finally—after eight days! That's how fucked up this administration is!—decided to quit after Donald Trump's Oh, are those Muslim countries? I didn't even realize! Muslim ban was signed.
The evening before I left, bidding farewell to some of my colleagues, many of whom have also since left, I notified Trump's senior NSC communications adviser, Michael Anton, of my departure, since we shared an office. His initial surprise, asking whether I was leaving government entirely, was followed by silence—almost in caution, not asking why. I told him anyway.
I told him I had to leave because it was an insult walking into this country's most historic building every day under an administration that is working against and vilifying everything I stand for as an American and as a Muslim. I told him that the administration was attacking the basic tenets of democracy. I told him that I hoped that they and those in Congress were prepared to take responsibility for all the consequences that would attend their decisions.
He looked at me and said nothing.
It was only later that I learned he authored an essay under a pseudonym, extolling the virtues of authoritarianism and attacking diversity as a "weakness," and Islam as "incompatible with the modern West."
You should read her entire piece, as it is a reminder in these dark times of what patriotism actually looks like. Because, as we continue to learn, especially in Trump's America, it's not minorities in Americawho are the threat.

Watch Now: Trump Must Go


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Posted by: Sukhamaya Bain <subain1@yahoo.com>


****************************************************
Mukto Mona plans for a Grand Darwin Day Celebration: 
Call For Articles:

http://mukto-mona.com/wordpress/?p=68

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****************************************************

VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/

****************************************************

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190





__,_._,___

Re: [mukto-mona] Bismillah in the bathroom



What is the difference between a confined bathroom vs thousands open sewers in Dhaka? If these idiots knew that sewer water is being recycled to drinking water, many might stop using this precious commodity..... let alone drinking it with the Bismillaah chant. The real truth need not be told or exposed?


On Saturday, February 25, 2017 1:35 PM, "'mahfuzur@aol.com' mahfuzur@aol.com [mukto-mona]" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:


 
Sorry. Had to resend. I hope this works. Here is the link ( I hope)

MR

http://enblog.mukto-mona.com/2017/02/24/bismillah-in-the-bathroom/




__._,_.___

Posted by: Shah Deeldar <shahdeeldar@yahoo.com>


****************************************************
Mukto Mona plans for a Grand Darwin Day Celebration: 
Call For Articles:

http://mukto-mona.com/wordpress/?p=68

http://mukto-mona.com/banga_blog/?p=585

****************************************************

VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/

****************************************************

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190





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