-Compiled by JNS.org-
Palestinian unilateralism means Oslo Accords no longer valid, think tank says
(JNS.org) The Palestinian Authority’s unilateral quest for statehood and other forms of recognition in the international arena is among 10 points illustrating why the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians are no longer valid, wrote Alan Baker, Israel’s former ambassador to Canada, in a new article for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) think tank.
In a September 1993 letter to Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had stated that “all outstanding issues relating to permanent status will be resolved through negotiations,” rather than unilateral actions.
“By petitioning the U.N., the International Criminal Court, and international organizations to recognize them and accept them as a full member state, and by their unification with the Hamas terror organization, the Palestinians have knowingly and deliberately bypassed their contractual obligations pursuant to the Oslo Accords in an attempt to prejudge the main negotiating issues outside the negotiation,” Baker wrote.
“This, together with their attempts to delegitimize Israel among the international community and their attempted actions against Israel’s leaders, has served to frustrate any possibility of realization of the Oslo Accords, and as such the Palestinians are in material breach of their contractual obligations,” he added.
Baker, director of the JCPA’s Institute for Contemporary Affairs, wrote that Israel now “has the legitimate right to declare that the Oslo Accords are no longer valid and to act unilaterally in order to protect its essential legal and security interests.”
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U.S. criticizes Israel’s suspension of tax transfer to Palestinians over ICC bid
(JNS.org) The United States on Monday criticized Israel’s decision to halt the scheduled transfer of $127 million in tax revenue to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in response to PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s decision to apply for Palestinian membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“We’re opposed to any actions that raise tensions. And obviously, this is one that raises tensions. We call on both sides to avoid actions that raise tensions and make it more difficult to return to direct negotiations,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel would “not sit idly by” while the PA opts “for a confrontation with the state of Israel.”
“We will not allow them to drag IDF soldiers and commanders to the International Criminal Court in The Hague,” Netanyahu said. The prime minister added that instead of Israeli officials, it is “the heads of the Palestinian Authority who struck an alliance with the Hamas war criminals who should be held accountable” by the ICC, referring to the unity agreement Abbas’s Fatah faction reached with the Hamas terrorist group last spring.
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Left won’t withstand pressure against Israel, Netanyahu says
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kicked off the Likud party’s general elections campaign on Monday with a speech in Tel Aviv, slamming the leaders of the recently merged Labor and Hatnuah parties.
“Tzipi Livni and Buji (Isaac) Herzog will not withstand the pressure, and there is a lot of international pressure,” he said. “They will be the ones to protect the security of Israeli citizens? They will stand up to Hamas? Hezbollah? Iran? They will surrender immediately to diktats. Not just because they are weak, but also because they want to capitulate. They just want to withdraw and concede.”
“The Left promised a new Middle East,” added Netanyahu. “But we now have an Islamic State Middle East. I say with regret that the Left is disconnected from reality.”
The Labor-Hatnuah campaign responded in a statement that Netanyahu “was weak against Hamas and conducted negotiations with it.”
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Leader of world’s largest Islamic group visits Temple Mount
(JNS.org) The secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a Saudi Arabia-based umbrella group representing 57 Muslim countries, visited the Temple Mount on Monday.
Madani’s first Temple Mount visit comes as Muslim-Jewish tension simmers over control of the holy site, contributing to an uptick in Palestinian terrorism in and around Jerusalem.
“Coming to the mosque is a right for me as well as every Muslim,” Madani said in reference to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is located on the Temple Mount. “It is our right to come here and to pray here. No occupation authority should take this right from us.”
Though it controls the Temple Mount, Israel bans Jewish prayer at the site.
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Israel prepares for stormy winter front
(JNS.org) Israel on Tuesday prepared for the country’s first major storm of the winter, which is expected to bring heavy rainfall and snow to northern Israel and Jerusalem. Powerful winds preceding the rain have prompted sandstorm warnings in southern Israel and the Negev Desert.
The Galilee and Golan Heights regions completed their preparations on Monday, with the Mount Hermon ski resort already reporting more than 8 inches of snow. “The moment the snowfall stops and the weather allows it, we will clear the ski trails and let the public come and enjoy,” site manager Shaul Ohana said.
Jerusalem was also preparing for the storm, taking precautionary measures after the experience of last winter’s blizzard, when drivers were stranded in their cars and entire neighborhoods lost power. The police have decided to close off the main highways leading to Jerusalem even before the storm begins, to prevent drivers from getting stuck.
“We have learned important lessons from the last blizzard. I believe we will weather this storm with more of a sense of joy than emergency,” Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said.
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American Historical Association rejects anti-Israel resolutions
(JNS.org) The American Historical Association (AHA) rejected two anti-Israel resolutions proposed by Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement activists in a 144-55 vote at the association’s annual meeting on Sunday in New York.
The resolutions, proposed by Historians Against the War (HAW), criticized Israeli policies but did not go as far as calling for a boycott of Israel.
“Though the resolutions did not call for academic boycotts of Israel, they were part of the BDS campaign which uses false accusations to erode Israel’s reputation and pave the way for more draconian anti-Israel resolutions,” said Roberta P. Seid, Ph.D, director of research-education at the pro-Israel group StandWithUs and a member of the AHA.
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Norwegian map exhibition calls all of Israeli territory ‘Palestine’
(JNS.org) An exhibition funded by the Norwegian NGO People’s Aid—which is funded by the Norwegian government, among others—displayed paintings of maps that did not mention Israel and labeled all of Israeli territory as “Palestine,” according to Palestinian Media Watch.
The exhibition, titled “This is Palestine,” includes maps painted by Palestinian children from Lebanon.
One of the maps, called “This is the area of Palestine,” is accompanied by text stating that the area of “Palestine” is “27,009 square kilometers.” That figure represents the size of all of Israel.
A second map, showing the “borders of Palestine,” omits any reference to Israel, and a third map displays Israeli cities of Be’er Sheva, Jaffa, Acre, Haifa, and Safed as “the cities of Palestine.”
In addition to governmental support from Norway, People’s Aid receives funding from the Canadian International Development Agency. The NGO stated in its annual account in 2012 that it received financial support from the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the European Union, the United Nations, the Dutch and Swedish ministries of foreign affairs, and various other governments and entities.
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