Israel - UAE - U.S. Declaration, Annexation, and Apartheid

Grotius – Center for International Law and Human Rights

News Update

Israel – UAE – U.S. Declaration, Annexation and Apartheid

 

Today, 13 August 2020, the American President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates issued a statement on normalizing relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates which related to the planned annexation of occupied Palestinian territory by Israel in coordination and agreement with the United States. According to the White House’s declaration:

"As a result of this diplomatic breakthrough, and at the request of President Trump with the support of the United Arab Emirates, Israel will suspend declaring sovereignty over areas outlined in the President’s Vision for Peace and focus its efforts now on expanding ties with other countries in the Arab and Muslim world. The United States, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates are confident that additional diplomatic breakthroughs with other nations are possible, and will work together to achieve this goal."[1] (emphasis added – MD)

 

The declaration does not uphold basic international law principles that bar the annexation of occupied territories. It also demonstrates that the United States is in complete coordination and cooperation with Israel regarding the prospect of annexing Palestinian occupied territory. Further, diplomatically and geopolitically, the United Arab Emirates has never been a significant actor regarding the rights of Palestinians. The country has no official or other status to defend, waive, or otherwise represent these rights.

 

Israel’s intention to annex occupied Palestinian territory is another flagrant violation of international law defying one of its basic foundations that land cannot be acquired by force. Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza during the 1967 Israel – Arab war. The annexation amounts to an act of aggression under international law. It is specifically prohibited by U.N. Security Council resolution 242 of 22 November 1967 which emphasized “the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war…”, and generally by article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter.

 

Prior annexations by Israel of 1967 occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories had been nullified by the U.N. Security council. The Council’s resolution 478 of 20 August 1980 pronounced Israel’s Basic Law: Jerusalem Capital of Israel which enjoys constitutional status under Israel’s legal system as a violation of international law as well as “null and void”.[2] Similarly, U.N. Security Council resolution 497 of 17 December 1981 provided that Israel’s application of its law and jurisdiction to the occupied Golan heights was “null and void and without international legal effect”.[3]

 

Israel’s plans to annex areas in the West Bank have been coordinated with the United States pursuant to article 29 of the national unity government agreement signed on 20 April 2020 which states in the relevant part “The Prime Minister could bring the agreement that will be reached with the United States regarding applying the sovereignty for cabinet consideration starting from 1 July 2020.”

 

U.N. Secretary General and regional entities such as the Arab League and the European Union have denounced the Israeli government’s intention to annex areas in the West Bank.[4] United Nations human rights experts have opposed Israel’s annexation highlighting its clear illegality. They also noted Israel’s longstanding human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories that helped shape an apartheid system.[5] These violations have consisted of mass killings of civilians, political assassinations, systematic torture, collective administrative detentions and other arbitrary arrests, and war crimes.[6] Israel’s practices have benefited from impunity bestowed by its military and civilian legal systems.[7] 

 

The 1993 Oslo and subsequent accords between exiled and stateless Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel signed at the American White House created a Palestinian Authority on small parts of the West Bank and Gaza with municipal powers, no sovereignty, and total dependence on Israeli good will and domination. These accords stipulated that the negotiations process between the parties should culminate by May 1999 encompassing the most important issues: Israeli settlements, the status of Jerusalem, and the rights of the 1948 displaced Palestinian refugees.

 

However, the Israeli construction of settlements continued unabated ever since preventing the possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state on the entire territory of East Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza.[8] The Clinton Administration’s approach to mediate between the parties during the 1990s personified by the Special Middle East Coordinator Dennis Ross was characterized by obvious bias towards Israel pushing Palestinians to waive basic rights guaranteed under International law.[9] By the end of 1993 the number of settlers in East Jerusalem and the West Bank was 247,000. It grew to 375,000 by 2001.[10] Today this number is estimated to be 594,000 persons, including about 208,000 in East Jerusalem.[11]

 

The International Court of Justice’s 2004 Advisory Opinion on Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory concluded that the 1993 and subsequent agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization did not alter the status of Israel as an occupying power in East Jerusalem and the West Bank “all these territories (including East Jerusalem) remain occupied territories and Israel has continued to have the status of occupying power.”[12] Similarly, Israel’s unilateral disengagement from Gaza completed in September 2005 did not release Israel from the status of occupying power given its effective control and siege over that area.[13] The American government (Elliot Abrams) played a key role in orchestrating the West Bank – Gaza divide subverting democratic processes carried out in 2006 under Israel’s domination.[14]

 

Israel maintains its claim for a biblical right in the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories.[15]An official Israeli Commission comprised of a Supreme Court Judge, a District Court Judge, and former Legal Adviser to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs determined in 2012 that building settlements in the 1967 occupied territories has not been illegal.[16] The persistent construction of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and West Bank demonstrate the intent to capture as much land as possible on the one hand, and Israel’s lack of interest in genuine peace on the other.  Formed by consecutive Labor and Likud governments the Israeli settlements created a Bantustan reality controlling the natural resources of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, encircling Palestinian communities, and enjoying exclusive bypass roads.[17]

 

Contrary to the Israeli legal, political, and cultural perceptions, all of the settlements built in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law. U.N. Security Council resolutions denounced Israel’s attempt to change the demographic character and administrative status of Jerusalem shortly after 1967 and subsequently declared the Israeli settlements as illegal.[18] The International Court of Justice reiterated this position in 2004 “The Court concludes that the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (including East Jerusalem) have been established in breach of international law.”[19] Most recently, U.N. Security Council resolution 2334 of 23 December 2016 reaffirmed the settlements’ illegal nature emphasizing that they constitute a “flagrant violation of international law”.

 

The Israeli – American coordinated annexation is a conclusion of American policies that expressed total support for Israel’s claims against Palestinians’ rights. All those in the Trump administration who have dealt with the Israel – Palestine issue are passionate supporters of and ideologically committed to Israel and its settlements: Trump’s son in law and adviser Jared Kushner, the American ambassador to Israel David Friedman, and former envoy for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt. From recognizing the entire city of Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel contrary to International law,[20] to withholding humanitarian aid pressuring Palestinians to waive their rights,[21] and culminating in U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declaring on 18 November 2019 that “the establishment of Israeli settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law”,[22] the United States has acted as Israel’s proxy in international affairs. Trump’s purported peace plan of 28 January 2020 between his administration and Israel is contrary to international law, lacks validity, and suffers from discredited legitimacy.[23]

 

Despite some recent changes, the American political framework remains largely hostile to the rights of Palestinians. It is a constant consideration among American foreign policy makers. The main reason for this phenomenon is the disproportionate influence of political activism on behalf of Israel.

 

The current American president has no actual knowledge of the Israel – Palestine issue, nor any interest in it. Yet, his problematic personal qualities make him a formidable perpetrator of international law breaches and a tireless advocate for human rights violations. With established connections to the mafia,[24] no exoneration from obstruction of justice during the Muller investigation,[25] dubbed as “the most thoroughly and comprehensively corrupt individual who has ever been elected president”,[26] described by his former attorney as “conman”, “cheat”, “liar”, and “racist”,[27] paid porn stars so they won’t reveal affairs he had with them,[28] and associated with deceased sexual offender Jeffery Epstein, [29] Trump qualifies as a malicious political figure that should not be trusted nationally as well as internationally.[30]  

 

AIPAC is a well-known organization that places Israel’s interests above all and often misrepresents the actual nature of the country’s behavior to both major American political parties while seeking political support.[31] Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who owns a free Israeli daily newspaper Yisrael HaYom that backs the Likud party and considered the most popular of all newspapers, has been one of the most significant contributors to the American Republican party for years.[32]Cosmetics businessman and President of the World Jewish Congress Ronald Lauder is another influential figure in the Republican party regarding Palestine.[33]Michael Bloomberg constitutes a reliable anchor for Israeli influence in American politics as well. A ruthless wall street operative[34] who has been likened to Italy’s Berlusconi[35] he mastered shifting political loyalties. The former mayor of New York amassed a poor civil rights record including on racial justice in the city,[36] abundance of support for Israel’s aggressive militarism,[37] and constant advocacy for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[38] The New York Times’s reporting and commentary is extremely unbalanced on Israel - Palestine. The newspaper includes several American and Israeli reporters and publicists who often write about Israel favorably and from an Israeli perspective. They are Isabel Kershner, Thomas Friedman, Ronen Bergman, Bret Stephens, Matti Friedman, Adam Rasgon and Roger Cohen.[39]    

 

The reflection of exclusivist nationalism and dispossession Zionism and Israel have systematically engaged in negating Palestine as well as the rights of Palestinians.[40] Whether by ethnically cleansing more than two thirds of the Palestinian population during the 1948 war,[41] or by expressing total rejectionism to applicable international law,[42] Israel has lived up to the standards of racist colonial powers. Its consistent discrimination against Palestinians in Israel many of them internally displaced during Israel’s formative war and after, is an important indicator of the country’s true nature. Israel’s declaration of independence, its basic laws and other legislation, and the courts’ jurisprudence are textualized by and adhere to the principal of Jewish supremacy. The country’s tireless indoctrination of the public sphere conforms to this mode of governance.[43] Today, Israel controls the entire territory of historic Palestine executing various measures of apartheid and racist regime.[44]

 

South African scholar, international law authority, and former U.N. special rapporteur on human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories (2001 – 2008) John Dugard equated between apartheid South Africa and Israel’s nature:

"The Israeli security forces engage in torture and brutality exceeding the worst practices of the South African security apparatus. And the humiliation of black people that was a feature of apartheid in South Africa is replicated in occupied Palestine. Racist rhetoric in the Israeli public debate offends even those familiar with the language of apartheid South Africa. 

 

The crude racist advertising that characterized campaigning in Israel's recent elections was unknown in South Africa.  Of course, there are differences that arise from the different histories, religions, geography and demography, but both cases fit the universal definition of apartheid. In international law, apartheid is a state-sanctioned regime of institutionalised and legalised racial discrimination and oppression by one hegemonic racial group against another. 

 

In some respects, apartheid in South Africa was worse. In some respects, Israeli apartheid in occupied Palestine is worse. Certainly, Israel's enforcement of apartheid in occupied Palestine is more militaristic and more brutal. Apartheid South Africa never blockaded a black community and methodically killed protesters as Israel is currently doing along its fence with Gaza."[45] 

 

South African anti – apartheid activist and post-apartheid minister Ronnie Kasrils wrote in 2019:

"The parallels with South Africa are many. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, recently said: 'Israel is not a state of all its citizens … Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people – and them alone.'

 

Similar racist utterances were common in apartheid South Africa. We argued that a just peace could be reached, and that white people would find security only in a unitary, non-racist, democratic society after ending the oppression of black South Africans and providing freedom and equality for all."[46]

 

Since before its formation and throughout its history Israel has violently turned its back to the region often collaborating with foreign powers who pursued their interests, will to dominate, and desire to instigate civil wars. Israel’s founding is colonial by nature. The 1917 British Balfour Declaration granted to a British politician the right for sovereignty in foreign Palestine for a recent, predominantly Eastern European community that constituted less than 10% of the total population. Britain had no legal, moral, or historical right to award Lord Rothschild this declaration.

 

To this day Israel invokes Balfour’s declaration as the source for its legal right in Palestine referring to the 1922 Palestine Mandate’s preamble which placed the British government’s unauthorized declaration at its center.[47] Israel has also aligned itself with British and French militarism shortly after its founding against the peoples of the region, and has been absolutely attached to the American military for more than half a century. The country has not only exercised hostility towards the region’s populations, but also provided active support for other powers who did so.[48]

 

America’s foreign policy had transformed its primary ally to be the first and only nuclear power in the Middle East.[49] A colonial occupying power for decades Israel is the largest recipient of American aid in the world in absolute terms and proportionately. In 2016 the Pentagon renewed an agreement according to which Israel would receive $38b in military aid for ten years.[50]

 

For decades the official American approach towards the rights of Palestinians has been untrustworthy. It is exceptionally flawed under the leadership of Donald Trump. The country’s declaration together with Israel and UAE has no effect on the rights of the Palestinian people.

 

For additional information, please contact:

Marwan Dalal, Executive Director

 

 

 

[1] Joint Statement of the United States, the State of Israel, and the United Arab Emirates, Times of Israel, 13 August 2020. See also Donald Trump’s twitter account.

[2] For incomprehensible reasons, the Israeli Jewish public opinion in Israel considers that any offer regarding any part of East Jerusalem, irrespective of its content and nature, is the most generous one that any Israeli government could ever make. This public opinion neglects the fact that Israel is not the ‘owner’ of this area, and disregards any concrete historical actuality that does not favor the Israeli Jewish mythology. This perception is shared by those in the American Jewish community who consider Israel as central to their own mythical identity. Some in Israel, like legal theorist Chaim Ganz, derive a historical right for Israeli sovereignty in Palestine based on historical events elsewhere requiring altruism from Palestinians that no other people under colonial rule would accept. Not less importantly, there has been no reciprocity of this proposed argument on the Israeli side for decades despite the clear disparity in power between the two sides. Ganz should have engaged in attempts to provide alternatives to Zionist sovereignty in Palestine that do not collide with the natural Arab environment of the region as opposed to vehemently strive to legitimize it on moral grounds. In the United States one can easily detect left as well as center liberal and human rights research (all in American Rawlsian terms and his ‘veil of ignorance’) that has selected to focus on any global issue except that of Israel’s violations, while not advancing the American push for human rights protection. See, for example, the work of Noah Feldman, Samantha Power and Susan Farbstein blessed by Martha Minow’s epistemology: JTA, “Harvard Law School dean, initiator of Israeli program, to step down”, Timekeis of Israel, 6 January 2017. See also Evan Osnos, “In the Land of the Possible”, New Yorker, 15 December 2014; Dexter Filkins, “The Moral Logic of Humanitarian Intervention”, New Yorker, 9 September 2019; The Good Shepherd film, 2006. Benefitting from America’s shadows in the Middle East to defame the region’s poor human rights record suffers from indecent academic rigor and lame political effort.   

[3] On 25 March 2019 Trump proclaimed the Syrian Golan Heights as part of Israel contrary to international law. See Marwan Dalal, Proclaiming Illegality: The Golan Heights and Trump’s Deficit of International Law (Grotius - Center for International Law and Human Rights, May 2019).

[4] Michelle Nichols, “ U.N. chief calls on Israel to abandon West Bank annexation plan”, Reuters, 24 June 2020; “Arab League slams Israeli plan to annex occupied West Bank”, Al-Jazeera, 30 April 2020; TO I Staff, “EU says it won’t recognize unilateral Israeli annexation in West Bank”, Times of Israel, 19 May 2020.

[5] OHCHR, Israeli annexation of parts of the Palestinian West Bank would break international law – UN experts call on the international community to ensure accountability, 16 June 2020, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25960&LangID=E. 

[6] On Israel’s war crimes see, for example, “Israel accused of war crimes during campaign in Gaza”, The Guardian, 5 November 2014; Jonathan Cook, “Israel to consider war crimes case”, Al—Jazeera, 29 March 2014; Report of the U.N. Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, 25 September 2009; AI, Under the Rubble: House Demolition and Destruction of Land and Property, 17 May 2004.

[7] See Lisa Hajjar, Courting Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza (University of California Press, 2005); Marwan Dalal, Trump’s Promised Land: Israel’s Apartheid Against the Palestinians (Grotius – Center for International Law and Human Rights, 2019). 

[8] See Dani Dayan, “Israel’s Settlers Are Here to Stay”, New York Times, 25 July 2012. 

[9] See Clyde Haberman, “Dennis Ross’s Exit Interview”, New York Times, 25 March 2001; Dennis Ross & David Makovsky, Be Strong and of Good Courage: How Israel’s Most Important Leaders Shaped its Destiny (Public Affairs, 2019). Following the James Baker era, Ross served in Republican and Democratic administrations advising on the Middle East with special focus on Israel – Palestine. His intimate relationship with New York Times’s Thomas Friedman is troubling. Compare with Edward Said, The End of the Peace Process: Oslo and After (Vintage, 2001).

[10] See Btselem, Land Grab: Israel’s Settlement Policy in the West Bank (May 2002).

[11] HRC, Human Rights Situation in Palestine and other occupied territories, 13 March 2017, para. 11. See also, AP and TOI Staff, “West Bank settlements report rapid growth in 2019”, Times of Israel, 28 January 2020.

[12] ICJ Advisory Opinion on Legal Consequences of Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, 9 July 2004, para.78. Since then the Palestinian Authority has engaged in symbolic diplomatique activity at the United Nations and the International Criminal Court the aim of which to gain statehood status. The United States led by Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton, Senator from New York, opposed the Palestinian effort at the United Nations. America is not a party to the International Criminal Court’s proceedings.  

[13] See U.N. Security Council resolution 1860 of 8 January 2009; Report of the international fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, resulting from the Israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance, 27 September 2010, paras.261-264; Report of the U.N. Secretary General, Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, 30 August 2016, para.5; Report of the U.N. Secretary General on the Human Rights Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, 22 August 2013, paras.21-23; U.N. General Assembly resolution 69/93 of 16 December 2014.

[14] See David Rose, “The Gaza Bombshell”, Vanity Fair, April 2008.

[15] See Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israeli Settlements and International Law, 30 November 2015, https://mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/israeli%20settlements%20and%20international%20law.aspx

[16] Report on the Status of Construction in Judea and Samaria, 21 June 2012, p.13; David Kretzmer, “Bombshell for the Settlement Enterprise in Levy Report”, Haaretz, 10 July 2012. See also Amos Schoken, “Only International Pressure Will End Israeli Apartheid”, Haaretz, 22 January 2016. Schocken’s article suffers from several major fallacies, the most important of which is presuming a prior and reliable Zionist solution to the Palestine question. The article is also limited in its analysis geographically and substantively. Nevertheless, for an Anglo – American audience this article might be significant given the opposing convictions.

[17] See, for example, Amira Hass, “New Israeli Bypass Will Bring Settlement Closer to Jerusalem and Hurt Palestinian Farmers”, Haaretz, 29 November 2019; HRW, Separate and Unequal: Israel’s Discriminatory Treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories”, December 2010.

[18] See U.N. Security Council resolutions 252 of 21 May 1968; 298 of 25 September 1971; 446 of 22 march 1979;  452 of 20 July 1979; and 465 of 1 March 1980.

[19] ICJ Advisory Opinion on Legal Consequences of Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, 9 July 2004, para.120.

[20] See U.N. General Assembly resolution 73/22 of 30 November 2018; Loureen Sayij, President Trump’s Recognition of Jerusalem: A Legal Analysis, Oxford Human Rights Hub, 11 December 2017; “Jerusalem status: World condemns Trump’s announcement”, BBC, 7 December 2017.

[21] Colum Lynch, “Trump Administration Seeks to Withhold Millions in Aid to Palestinians”, Foreign Policy, 10 August 2018.

[22] U.S. Reverses 41-Year Old Policy on Israeli Settlements, C-Span, 18 November 2019,  https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4831012/us-reverses-41-year-policy-israeli-settlements

[23] See Joseph Massad, “Palestinians have indeed ‘missed an opportunity’ – to Surrender to Zionism”, Middle East Eye, 31 January 2020.

[24] BBC Newsnight, “Donald Trump’s business links to the mob”, 4 march 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k3B-tw2sB0; Craig Unger, “Trump’s Russian Laundromat”, The New Republic, 13 July 2017.

[25] Noah Bookbinder, “Muller’s Damning Report”, New York Times, 18 April 2019.

[26] Peter Wehner, “The Full Spectrum Corruption of Donald Trump”, New York Times, 25 August 2018. See also Andrea Bernstein et al, “How Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr, Avoided a Criminal Indictment”, New Yorker, 4 October 2017.

[27] Josephine Tovey, “The key excerpts from Cohen’s testimony on the ‘truth about Trump’”, The Guardian, 27 February 2019.

[28] Ben Protess et al, “Manhattan D.A. Subpoenas Trump Organization Over Stormy Daniels Hush Money”, New York Times, 1 August 2019.

[29] See Connie Bruck, “Alan Dershowitz, Devil’s Advocate”, New Yorker, 29 July 2019.

[30] Several senior officials and advisers were either fired from their posts or simply could not tolerate being in Trump’s vicinity for their own personal reasons, including former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Yet, Trump’s untrustworthiness is part of the general problematic nature of America’s behavior in international affairs. Like Britain, the country can be characterized as a national security nation that has been inflicting severe harm globally depicted in its popular culture, enjoying exceptional impunity, and shamelessly preaching about democracy, rule of law, and human rights.  

[31] See John Mearsheimer & Stephen Walt, “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy”, New York Times. 23 September 2007. A political nuisance who practices AIPACing (the collection of financial contributions from American Jews in exchange for political support for Israel) in the Democratic party is Daniel Shapiro. With no genuine qualifications and a member of Israel’s notorious INSS, Shapiro has shamelessly engaged in emotional political extortion on the one hand and boasted about a bloated and disproportionate American military aid towards Israel on the other. His reward for the money collected was an appointment as American ambassador to Israel during the Obama administration. See Shane Goldmacher, “Biden Calls Out ‘Anti Semitism’ on the Left and Criticizes Israeli Policies”, New York Times, 19 May 2020; Shapiro’s profile at INSS: https://www.inss.org.il/person/daniel-b-shapiro/. Placing loyalty towards Israel above any other, Shapiro has willfully collaborated with the country’s apartheid. The pro-Israel American Jewish community of which Shapiro is a qualified representative can be depicted in the American sitcom Seinfeld which captures liberal American Jewish identity and nothingness. And there is Michael Walzer, his theories, and courageous fight against anti-Semitism. His meaningless opposition to the 2003 Iraq war and support for an ongoing small war, without genuinely observing the sanctions’ consequences will be considered implicitly in our next report. See Michael Walzer, “What A Little War in Iraq Could Do”, New York Times, 7 March 2003. His silence about his country’s actual foreign policy depicted systematically in Hollywood films is an academic famine in the United States. 

[32] See Nicholas Confessore, “New G.O.P. Help From Casino Mogul”, New York Times, 16 June 2012; Jason Zengler, “Sheldon Adelson is Ready to Buy the Presidency”, New York Magazine, 9 September 2015; Jonathan Martin, “Sheldon Adelson is Poised to Give Donald Trump a Donation Boost”, New York Times, 13 May 2016; Sheldon Adelson, “I Endorse Donald Trump”, Washington Post, 13 May 2016; Justin Elliott, “Trump’s Patron-in-Chief”, ProPublica, 10 October 2018; Peter Stone, “Sheldon Adelson to donate $100m to Trump and Republicans, fundraisers say”, The Guardian, 10 February 2020.

[33] See Ira Stoll, “Lauder Clarifies New York Times Op-Ed That Caused ‘Unintended Pain’”, The Algemeiner, 9 September 2018; Maggie Haberman et al, “Pompeo Fuels Further Talk of Senate Race”, New York Times, 21 August 2019.

[34] Is there any other kind?. See the documentary Panic: The Untold Story of the Financial Crisis, 2018. See also Lee Fang, “Bloomberg’s Investment Portfolio Includes Bets on Private Equity, Fracking”, The Intercept, 24 February 2020.

[35] Joel Kotkin, “You Think Trump’s a Danger to Democracy? Get a Load of Bloomberg”, Daily Beast, 18 January 2020; Ross Barkan, “Michael Bloomberg Isn’t a Smug Technocratic Centrist. He’s Something Far Worse”, Jacobin, 14 February 2020; John Cassidy, “Seven Questions for Michael Bloomberg”, New Yorker, 15 February 2020.

[36] See “Mike Bloomberg Ran Stasi Style Police and Surveillance Operations Against Muslim Americans”, The Intercept, 19 February 2020; Zaid Jilani, “Mike Bloomberg has a terrible past. Will his money stop scrutiny of it?”, The Guardian, 18 February 2020.

[37] See Herb Keinon, Ïs Michael Bloomberg, Jewish Dem. Candidate, good for Israel?”, Jerusalem Post, 26 November 2019; Michael Arria, “Bloomberg Defied a Flight Ban to Show Support for Israel, Defended the Country Shelling a School and Killing Sleeping Children”, Mondoweiss, 14 February 2020; Eric Cortellessa, “Bloomberg to AIPAC: I’ll never condition aid to Israel, no matter who’s PM”, Times of Israel, 2 March 2020. As with Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew of Britain, Charlie Rose, and many others there are strong indications that Bloomberg was an associate deceased sexual offender Jeffery Epstein. His name appears in Epstein’s peculiar phone book. Given Bloomberg’s wealth and financial talent it is doubtful that he was seeking Epstein’s electoral donation or his strategic monetary advice. See also the documentary Jeffery Epstein – Filthy Rich, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j0rjlfmDx4

[38] Michael Finnegan, “2020 Candidate Michael Bloomberg says he doesn’t regret backing Iraq war”, Los Angeles Times, 6 January 2020.

[39] The British political setting suffers from similar deficiencies. Tony Blaire’s premiership was sustained by Rupert Murdoch’s media, Peter Mandelson’s advice, and Michael Abraham Levy’s financial backing. The Miliband brothers share a common emotional sympathy towards Israel despite their purported ideological feud (David is to the right of Edward, in British terms). The Monarchy’s military and its security institutions by definition fail to uphold basic human rights values and international law standards qualifying for an international tribunal of their own. England’s noisy and non-Murdochian media compete ruthlessly for the remaining share of Stamford Bridge’s market without providing genuine accountability for Britain’s political class and security officials. Keir Starmer’s political talents combine all of these elements while reporters such as Robert Fisk remain visibly silent about the country’s atrocities. Britain is an island of worthless army, monarchy, government, press, and hooligan crowds all the country’s tabloids who actually offer money for pictures and scandalous stories.      

[40] See Rashid Khalidi, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917 – 2017 (Metropolitan Books, 2020).

[41] Nur Masalha, Expulsion of Palestinians: The Concept of Transfer in Zionist Thought, 1882 – 1948 (Institute for Palestine Studies, 2012); Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (One World, 2007).

[42] See Noura Erakat, Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2019).

[43] Elia Zureik, The Palestinians in Israel: A Study in Internal Colonialism (Routledge, 1979); Nadim Rouhana, Palestinian Citizens in an Ethnic Jewish State, (Yale University Press, 1997); Ahmad Sa’di, Thorough Surveillance, The Genesis of Israeli Policies of Population Management, Surveillance and Political Control Towards the Palestinian Minority (Manchester University Press, 2013); Ben White, Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination, and Democracy (Pluto Press, 2011); HRW, Israel: Discriminatory Land Policies Hem in Palestinians, May 2020.

[44] See John Dugard & John Reynolds, “Apartheid, International Law, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, 24(3) EJIL, pp.867-913, 912 (2013); Virginia Tilly ed., Beyond Occupation: Apartheid, Colonialism, and International Law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (Pluto Press, 2012); Israel & South Africa: The Many Faces of Apartheid (Zed Books, 2015); Ali Abunimah, One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli – Palestinian Impasse (Meropolitan Books, 2007);; Edward Said, “The One State Solution”, New York Times, 10 January 1999.

[45] John Dugard, “Why aren’t Europeans Calling Israel an Apartheid State?”, Al-Jazeera, 17 April 2019. CIA’s destructive role in foreign affairs has been demonstrated also in Apartheid South Africa. The organization led the effort to imprison Nelson Mandela. See the 2016 almost celebratory revelation in The Times of Britain: James Sanders, “How the CIA trapped Mandela”, The Times, 15 May 2016. Britain had a significant role in the formation of Apartheid South Africa: Richard Dowden, “Apartheid Made in Britain: How Churchill Rhodes, and Smuts Caused Black South Africans to Lose Their Rights”, The Independent, 18 April 1994. Like much of the world, South Africa has not been without ‘problems’ even after the end of apartheid.

[46] Ronnie Kasrils, “I fought South African apartheid. I see the same brutal policies in Israel”, The Guardian, 3 April 2019. See also “Tutu: Israel’s Humiliation of Palestinians ‘Familiar to Black South Africans’”, Haaretz, 10 March 2014; Nkosi Zwelivelile, “My grandfather Nelson Mandela fought apartheid. I see the parallels with Israel”, The Guardian, 11 October 2018; Gary Young, “Israel’s complicity in apartheid crimes undermines its attack on Goldstone”, The Guardian, 24 May 2010; Gideon Levy, “A Tribute to a South African Jewish Hero and Freedom Fighter”, Haaretz, 3 may 2020; Chris McGreal, “Worlds apart”, The Guardian, 6 February 2006; “Brothers in arms – Israel’s secret pact with Pretoria”, The Guardian, 7 February 2006. For a contrary position see Douglas Feith, “Can Israel Be Jewish and Democratic”, Wall Street Journal, 25 October 2010; Douglas Feith et al, Menachem Begin’s Zionist Legacy (Koren Publishers, 2015). Feith played a key role in producing false pretexts for the March 2003 American invasion of Iraq. He will be discussed in our next report. Noah Feldman who teaches various topics at Harvard Law School travelled all the way to Iraq to educate the locals about democracy: Jennifer Lee, “American Will Advise Iraqis on Writing New Constitution”, New York Times, 11 May 2003. It should be noted that much of the Israeli left had been and continues to be committed to Zionist ideology of Jewish socialist nationalism. Important representatives of this approach are Yair Tzaban who served as Minister of Immigrant Absorption (executing Israel’s exclusivist immigration laws and policies) and Daniel Gutwein whose historical research is ‘a-political’ with respect to Palestine. The latter’s historical consciousness had probably informed the directionless politics of former MK Issam Makhoul and continue to place limits on the political imagination of several contemporary Arab MKs. In general, these political boundaries persist in the Israeli academy as well where Palestinian academics from Israel have been glued to the thought of their Israeli supervisors or employers who project an inherently limited international perspective.   

[47] Report on the Status of Construction in Judea and Samaria, 21 June 2012.

[48] See Victor Kattan, From Coexistence to Conquest: International Law and the Origins of the Arab – Israeli Conflict (Pluto Press, 2009); Laurie Milner, “The Suez Crisis”, BBC, 3 March 2011; Dan Collins, “Israel to U.S.: Don’t Delay Iraq Attack”, CBS News, 18 August 2002; Ronen Bergman, “Can Trump Screw Up the World’s Best Intelligence Relationship?”, New York Times, 18 May 2017. Israel has also contributed destructively to civil wars in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Sudan.

[49] See Hedrick Smith, “U.S. Assumes the Israelis Have A – Bomb or Its Parts”, New York Times, 18 July 1970; J. Bowyer Bell, “Israel’s Nuclear Option”, 26(4) Middle East Journal, pp.379 – 388 (Autumn, 1972).

[50] Peter Baker et al, “U.S. Finalizes Deal to Give Israel $38 Billion in Military Aid”, New York Times, 13 September 2016. 

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Pompeo's Deal: Sudan and Israel Relations

Grotius - Center for International Law and Human Rights

News Update

24 October 2020

 

Pompeo’s Deal: Sudan and Israel Relations

 

On 23 October 2020, the American White House issued a statement declaring a diplomatic agreement between Sudan and Israel:

"Today, Israel and Sudan have agreed to make peace and to normalize their relations in another landmark agreement brokered by President Trump."

 

In the coming weeks, the two countries will begin negotiations on cooperation agreements in agriculture, economy, trade, aviation, migration issues, and other areas of mutual benefit.[1]

 

The United States used its immense economic leverage to push one of the poorest countries in the world ravaged with repeated civil wars to reach this deal with Israel.[2] As part of the Arab League, Sudan has been diplomatically supportive of Palestinian rights and opposed Israel’s aggressive violations. There have never been actual armed hostilities between Sudan and Israel, nor does the country appear in Israel’s laws as an enemy state. The American diplomatic effort that has placed Israel at the centre of its foreign policy by pushing other countries to make diplomatic agreements with it seems to be directed against the rights of the Palestinian people.[3]

 

Under Trump – Pompeo, the United States has been the most pro-Israel administration in recent memory. Captured domestically by Sheldon Adelson’s political contributions,[4] Pompeo – Trump have been engaged with an accelerating effort to abolish internationally guaranteed rights for the Palestinian people.[5] The American administration’s attempts to compel Palestinians to submit to its and Israel’s narrative and conduct have failed.[6]

 

Other than seeking economic salvation from the United States, there is no reason for Sudan to forge diplomatic agreement with Israel. An apartheid like regime that has violently breached the rights of Palestinians and premised on Jewish supremacy,[7] Israel is worthy of opposition and condemnation, not diplomatic rewards. Israel has also contributed destructively to civil wars in Sudan both historically and currently enjoying complete impunity.[8] Sudan split in two in 2011.

 

The United States has rarely used its exceptional military and other financial support for Israel to convince the country to abide by international law, uphold human rights values, and guarantee the rights of the Palestinian people. On the contrary, in 2016 the American government signed a strategic 10 years military aid pact with Israel,[9] and recently confirmed its commitment to Israel’s military superiority in the region.[10]  

 

As a representative of international illegality, the American Foreign Secretary Pompeo is the least credible person to manoeuvre diplomatic agreements. Pompeo has imposed sanctions against the International Criminal Court for investigating alleged American war crimes,[11] and threatened the same court with consequences should it investigate alleged Israeli war crimes against Palestinian civilians.[12] A former head of the American Central Intelligence Agency, Pompeo is an avid supporter of the organization’s illegal use of lethal drones, particularly in Africa, in areas where there is no armed conflict involving the American government, and by civilians who organizationally are not subject to the command of the U.S. military.[13] Pompeo has also led the advocacy to illegally attack and kill an Iranian general causing a severe diplomatic crisis.[14] In Addition, Pompeo has been active in suppressing his own diplomatic corps.[15]  

 

The American government’s tradition of destabilization in Africa renders Pompeo’s diplomatic discourse about realizing ‘peace’ untrustworthy.[16] Pompeo’s government and his domestic political ambition generate illegal policies on the one hand, and extremely one-sided diplomacy on the other. The only reasonable response to such behaviour is to oppose the American government and its closest ally Israel.  

 

For additional information, please contact:

Marwan Dalal, Executive Director

 

 

 

[1] Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-brokers-historic-peace-agreement-israel-sudan/

[2] Ronen Bergman et al, “Sudan is Focus of U.S. Efforts to Improve Ties with Israel”, New York Times, 27 September 2020; Lara Jakes et al, “State Dept. to Remove Sudan from List of Terrorist States”, New York Times, 19 October 2020.

[3] This declaration follows a similar one between Israel and two rich Gulf countries: The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. That declaration was explicitly used against the rights of Palestinians by noting that in return for the diplomatic deal, Israel would “suspend” its planned annexation of Palestinian occupied territories. Both of these countries have never engaged in armed hostilities with Israel or led any diplomatic campaigns in support of Palestinian rights. Like Sudan they are not defined as enemy states by Israel’s laws.   

[4] Adelson is passionate about Israel and owns a free Israeli daily newspaper, the most popular in the country, that backs the Israeli Likud party. For his political donations in the United States see Nicholas Confessore, “Campaign Aid is Now Surging Into 8 Figures”, New York Times, 13 June 2012; Theodoric Meyer, “How Much Did Sheldon Adelson Really Spend on Campaign?”, Pro Publica, 20 December 2012; Jason Zengerle, “Sheldon Adelson is Ready to Buy the Presidency”, Ney York Magazine, 7-20 September 2015; Sheldon Adelson, Ï Endorse Donald Trump for President”, Washington Post, 13 May 2016; Peter Stone, “Sheldon Adelson backs Trump trip to Israel after $100m pledge, sources say”, The Guardian, 20 May 2016; Chris McGreal, “Sheldon Adelson: the casino mogul driving Trump’s Middle East policy”, The Guardian, 8 June 2018; Jeremy Peters, “Sheldon Adelson Sees a Lot Like in Trump’s Washington”, New York Times, 22 September 2018; Justin Elliott, “Trump’s Patron-in-Chief”, Pro Publica, 10 October 2018; Paul Steinhauser, “Adelson sells out $75 million to pump up pro-Trump super PAC in final stretch”, FoxNews, 15 October 2020.   

[5] “World leaders react to US embassy relocation to Jerusalem”, Al-Jazeera, 14 May 2018; Edward Wong, “U.S. to End Funding to U.N. Agency That Helps Palestinian Refugees”, New York Times, 31 August 2018; Mark Landler, “Kushner Says Punishing Palestinians Won’t Hurt Chance for Peace Deal”, New York Times, 13 September 2018; Lara Jakes et al, “In Shift, U.S. Says Israeli Settlements in West Bank Do Not Violate International Law”, New York Times, 18 November 2019.    

[6] Dov Lieber, “Palestinians won’t meet with Kushner, Greenblatt, or any US officials on peace”, Times of Israel, 17 December 2017. See also Danny Danon, “What’s Wrong with Palestinian Surrender?”, New York Times, 24 June 2019.  

[7] See, for example, John Dugard “Why Aren’t Europeans calling Israel an Apartheid state?”, Al-Jazeera, 17 April 2019; Beyond Occupation: Apartheid, Colonialism, and International Law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (Virginia Tilley ed.)(Pluto Press, 2012);  Chris McGreal, “Worlds apart”, The Guardian, 6 February 2006; “Brothers in arms – Israel’s secret pact with Pretoria”, The Guardian, 7 February 2006; Israel and South Africa: The Many Faces of Apartheid (Ilan Pappe ed.)(Zed Books, 2015); Noura Erakat, “The structural roots of Israeli apartheid”, Al-Jazeera, 29 October 2013; Jonathan Cook, “Why Israel is an apartheid state”, AMEU, March – April 2018; OHCHR, Israeli annexation of parts of the Palestinian West Bank would break international law  - UN experts call on the international community to ensure accountability”, 16 June 2020; Marwan Dalal, Trump’s Promise Land: Israel’s Apartheid Against the Palestinians (Grotius – Center for International Law and Human Rights, October 2019). Since its inception, Israel has enjoyed the support of Jewish communities, citizens of other countries, particularly those who reside in the United States reflecting all political affiliations. In the United States support for Israel has been shaped by American Jewish influence in the academy, culture, the media, and philanthropy. The aim has been to selectively portray Israel misrepresenting its true character and nature.   

[8] See Interim report of the Panel of Experts on South Sudan established pursuant to Security Council Resolution 2206 of 3 March 2015, para73; Haim Koren, “South Sudan and Israel: A love affair in a changing region?”, Dayan Center for Middle East and African Studies – Tel Aviv University, 28 February 2019; Yossi Melman, This is How Israel Intervened in Civil War in Sudan (1969 – 1971), Maariv, 6 November 2015 (Hebrew).

[9] Peter Baker et al, “U.S. Finalizes Deal to Give Israel $38 Billion in Military Aid”, New York Times, 13 September 2016.

[10] Judah Ari Gross, “Gants touts ‘major leap’ for Israeli security as US re-ups military edge promise”, Times of Israel, 22 October 2020.

[11] Laurel Wamsley, “Trump Administration Sanctions ICC Prosecutor Investigating Alleged U.S. War Crimes”, NPR, 2 September 2020.

[12] TOI Staff, “Pompeo warns ICC of ‘consequences’ for potential war crimes probe of Israel”, Times of Israel, 16 May 2020.

[13] Joe Penny, “C.I.A. Drone Mission, Curtailed by Obama, Is Expanded in Africa Under Trump”, New York Times, 9 September 2018;  

[14] Edward Wong et al, “Pompeo, a Steadfast Hawk, Coaxes a Hesitant Trump on Iran”, New York Times, 22 June 2019.  

[15] Pranshu Verma, “Senate Democrats Issue Scathing Review of Pompeo’s Tenure at State Dept.”, New York Times, 28 July 2020.

[16] See, for example, “Four more ways the CIA has meddled in Africa”, BBC, 16 May 2016; Rene Lemarchand, “The C.I.A. in Africa: How Central? How Intelligent?”,  14(3) Journal of Modern African Studies, pp.401-426 (1976); Stephen Weissman, “CIA Covert Action in Zaire and Angola: Patterns and Consequences”,  94(2) Political Science Quarterly, pp.263-286 (Summer 1979); Helen Epstein, “America’s secret role in the Rwandan genocide”, The Guardian, 12 September 2017; Craig Whitlock, Ü.S. expands secret intelligence operations in Africa”, Washington Post, 13 June 2012; Stephen Weismann, “What Really Happened in Congo: The CIA, the Murder of Lumumba, and the Rise of Mobutu”, 93(4) Foreign Affairs, pp.14-24 (2014). See also John Stockwell, Secret Wars of the CIA, American University, C-Span, 3 November 1989,  https://www.c-span.org/video/?10353-1/secret-wars-cia#   

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