MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Very ineffective. And I agree with you on all counts.
I also agree with those that would like to see large scale UN peacekeeping forces, with personnel predominately from the region, keeping all in check, and ideally pushing Israel back behind previously recognised borders while also preventing attacks on it… but as things stand it’s a fantasy, there is not the ways, means or agreement to do it.
with no USA sanctions on those expanding illegal settlements any more
Unfortunately as far as I am aware the lifting of sanctions on settlers guilty of terrorism was one of the conditions of the original Biden peace agreement, I don't think that Trump is responsible for that.
I remain fairly open minded on what will happen now that Trump is in the Whitehouse as I don't attach that much value on what Trump says, which often doesn't match at all with what he actually does.
I think it is possible that Israel might at some point declare the full annexation of the West Bank, it's what the settler parties in the far-right coalition government have been strongly pushing for long time. In which case I would fully expect Trump to give his blessing. But that would make little difference to the dynamics of the situation imo as the West Bank is for all intents and purposes is already annexed by Israel.
The Gaza strip is different imo. Whatever Trump says the situation is that Hamas has not been defeated. They have undoubtedly lost a lot of military hardware but their numbers are probably about the same as at the start of the Israeli onslaught 15 months ago. And they are definitely stronger politically, certainly in the West Bank, than they were 15 months.
Resuming the genocide is obviously an option but what would be the point when it damages both Israel and the United States politically in the eyes of the world, and achieves nothing concrete in guaranteeing Israel's security?
Plus the "war" in Gaza was having a profoundly negative effect on Israel both economically and militarily, and politically on Netanyahu.
Unfortunately as far as I am aware the lifting of sanctions on settlers guilty of terrorism was one of the conditions of the original Biden peace agreement, I don’t think that Trump is responsible for that.
Sources?
The Gaza strip is different imo. Whatever Trump says the situation is that Hamas has not been defeated. They have undoubtedly lost a lot of military hardware but their numbers are probably about the same as at the start of the Israeli onslaught 15 months ago. And they are definitely stronger politically, certainly in the West Bank, than they were 15 months.
And Netanyahu knew that the type of military offensive he unleashed on Gaza would have zero chance of eradicating Hamas. Hence the ultimate aim always being the displacement or annihilation of the entire population of Gaza and the West Bank and the assimilation of those territories into Israel - one that Trump is now echoing. The continued existence of Hamas simply allows further steps towards that aim - the one-state solution.
And now he has four further years to pursue that aim with few restrictions, indeed with the encouragement of the most powerful nation on earth.
Sources?
Is that a joke? To paraphrase Joe Biden.
Well Biden for a start, he claims that the peace agreement signed was his peace agreement and no different to the one put to Netanyahu in May last year. All the political pundits seem to agree with that claim and the only thing discussed in the final days was the detail of the prisoner swap..... how many at a time, where, which ones first, etc.
Where are the claims that the lifting of sanctions is part of the peace deal worked for over the last six months, rather than something done at the whim of the new president (rescinding of Executive Order 14115)?
I remain fairly open minded on what will happen now that Trump is in the Whitehouse
It sounds like Trump wants to ship off Palestineans to surrounding Arab countries then clear the Gaza strip, which doesn't sound very Two State Solution to me. Predictably, and disgustingly, he's got his "real estate mogul", "what's in it for me?" hat on:
"Trump said earlier this week that he “might” be able to have a role in rebuilding Gaza, praising it as having a “phenomenal location, on the sea” and “the best weather.”
The comments echoed remarks made by his son-in-law Jared Kushner in February 2024 when Kushner called the waterfront property in Gaza “very valuable” and suggested Israel should move Palestinians out of Gaza and “clean it up.”
Looks like those protest votes last November have worked out well for everyone involved /s
Hence the ultimate aim always being the displacement or annihilation of the entire population of Gaza and the West Bank and the assimilation of those territories into Israel –
Oh I totally agree, the problem is that it doesn't currently seem to be going to plan. Sure the IDF are currently blocking the Netzarim Corridor in attempt to stop the return of Palestinians to their homes in northern Gaza but I very much doubt that is sustainable.
Israel has definitely tried to ethically cleanse Gaza but right now the process seems to be in reverse and the only way the Israeli government can do anything about that would be to resume the onslaught.
Israel carries out regular slaughters of Palestinians in Gaza and has been doing so for decades,l but in the short term at least I think that is probably now unlikely. And as I say not least because of the failure of the latest slaughter - literally the same week as the ceasefire deal was signed Hamas were killing Israeli soldiers.
Although obviously no one can be sure of anything with regards to Netanyahu's behaviour.
Israel has definitely tried to ethically cleanse Gaza but right now the process seems to be in reverse and the only way the Israeli government can do anything about that would be to resume the onslaught.
I'm not sure that Netanyahu minds a 'forever war', since it currently seems to be the only thing keeping him out of prison. It could be that the aim is simply to create the forever war rather than actually fully achieve the emptying of 2.3m Gazans. Either way, I can see the rubblification of Gaza resuming on some pretext or other over the next few months, probably with the blessing of Trump.
Where are the claims that the lifting of sanctions is part of the peace deal worked for over the last six months, rather than something done at the whim of the new president (rescinding of Executive Order 14115)?
My understanding was that the Biden administration offered the lifting of sanctions (which effect those in the coalition gov settler parties) as a sweetener for signing the ceasefire agreed.
But I can't recall the original source of that claim so I am happy to concede that the decision to lift the sanctions was Trump's and not anyone else's. Although to fair it was all window dressing in an attempt to appear that the US government was doing something about violation of international law by Israel in the West Bank.
You can be fairly confident that the sanctions were deliberately designed to have no real effect beyond perhaps causing some inconvenience, and of course they didn't. The United States could easily hurt Israel for violation of international law, if they actually wanted to.
I’m not sure that Netanyahu minds a ‘forever war’
I'm sure he doesn't but the 'war' in Gaza isn't/was no longer popular with voters, fighting a war which you don't appear to be winning often isn't, so I am not sure how quickly he could resume military operations.
IDF in Crisis, Despite a Cease-fire: Why Fewer Israelis Were Turning Up to Fight in Gaza
"As the conflict with Hamas became Israel's longest war, it has taken its toll – on morale, economic subsistence and mental health – leading to declining rates of reservists responding to call-up notices. The repercussions go far beyond the IDF and Gaza"
A while ago I suggested that the Israeli game plan in Gaza was to kill as many Palestinians as possible, with bombs, starvation and disease, and ethnically cleanse the rest by forced transfer to Egypt. Phase One seems to be nearing completion with the help of Genocide Joe and his ghastly sidekick Baby Butcher Blinken. Of course if you'd listened to the words and not looked at the actions you might have imagined that the US was working tirelessly to end the killing.
The election of Trump is of course a disaster in so many ways, but at least we have clarity, as he says the quiet part out loud, and Phase Two kicks into gear, with revelation of his plan to force Egypt and Jordan to aid and abet in the settler colonial / real estate conquest of Gaza.
With senior members of his administration openly agreeing that the West Bank is part of Israel, the project is nearly complete.
I'm told (Guardian, Times, BBC) that those being released by Hamas are 'hostages' and those released by Israel are 'prisoners'. No mention of 'administrative detention' (renewable every six months) based on 'secret evidence'. Anyone spot anything different in the mass media?
Anyone spot anything different in the mass media?
No, but we should be very concerned about the mental toll the ordeal has had upon them, despite them smiling, being well fed and clean. Meanwhile the Palestinians released are emaciated and weak, some having difficulty even to walk.
Yup, what I find interesting is how the BBC talks about the Israeli-Hamas "war" and yet IDF soldiers held by Hamas are referred to as "hostage" not prisoners.
I can't recall another recent war where the BBC has referred to POWs as "hostages".
Although to be fair to the BBC ever since they exposed the "sexed up" dodgy Iraq dossier and the sacking of the BBC's director general as a consequence, the BBC have remained deeply worried about upsetting the existing UK government.
Thanks Tony Blair
I don't think it's that deep, most journos are ****ing useless when it comes to correct terminology.
I can’t recall another recent war where the BBC has referred to POWs as “hostages”
Has there ever been a war where unarmed civilians have been referred to as POW's ?♂️ Hostages seems the correct term. Apart from Hamas fighters I'd put most of the Palestinian prisoners in the same category.
I don’t think it’s that deep, most journos are **** useless when it comes to correct terminology
Funny how the “mistakes” are always in the same direction.
These women were uniformed soldiers.
Were they treated as POWs? I very much doubt it.
Were they treated as POWs? I very much doubt it.
What does that actually mean? If a person is a POW, they are a POW, regardless of how their captors treat them. In this case the evidence is that they were well treated.
On the other hand I doubt that the Palestinian hostages were treated humanely because of the weight of eye witness accounts describing their abuse.
And you doubt it because … ?
Mainly because I mis-read your earlier post, apologies.
Mainly because I mis-read your earlier post, apologies.
Nae bother 🙂
I see Trump has said Gaza should be 'cleaned out of palestinians'
i wonder if this was something he promised netenyahu in his one of their many chats?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c07kpjyzgllo
I see Trump has said Gaza should be ‘cleaned out of palestinians’
As I posted above, it's not new, just more clearly enunciated with Trump's usual delicacy.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-white-house-accused-endorsing-displacement
Great in principle, fraught with risks in the application
Surprisingly the Gulf states seem to have been moving towards the peacekeeper position including some of their own troops although with Palestinian Authority personnel to try and give some legitimacy/local involvement.
I cant see anyone else wanting to stick their citizens in the middle of Hamas and Israel. Neither are exactly known for their ability to compromise and whoever is in the middle will end up hated by both.
Surprisingly the Gulf states seem to have been moving towards the peacekeeper position including some of their own troops although with Palestinian Authority personnel to try and give some legitimacy/local involvement.
I'm not sure working with the PA gives much legitimacy to anyone, given that body's capitulation to Israeli pressure and readiness to act against its own people.
e.g. https://www.newarab.com/news/palestinian-journalist-shot-head-pa-west-bank
I remain fairly open minded on what will happen now that Trump is in the Whitehouse as I don’t attach that much value on what Trump says, which often doesn’t match at all with what he actually does.
Good luck with that. I'd suggest Trump can empathise too well with someone that wants to kick unwanted people out.
Good luck with that. I’d suggest Trump can empathise too well with someone that wants to kick unwanted people out.
Trump will go with whatever suits his ego best. I have seen some suggestions he really wants a Nobel peace prize to match Obama's and solving the Israeli\Palestinian question is definitely worthy of it (personally I would give anyone who managed it permanently (in an ethical way) every Nobel prize including the dodgy economics one).
This makes sense to me based on his ego and interactions with Obama especially about the birther conspiracy.
So question is who can persuade him their tactic is the best way to it?
Good luck with that. I’d suggest Trump can empathise too well with someone that wants to kick unwanted people out.
Good luck with what? Just because Trump says he wants something it doesn't mean that he will get it. Remember when Trump said that he could end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours?
Just because Trump says that he wants Gaza ethnically cleansed it doesn't mean that it will happen, and he of course knows that.
One of the first prerequisites for Gaza to be cleared of Palestinians would be the defeat of Hamas, and yet despite the IDF fighting their longest ever war, and throwing everything at it, they still haven't managed to achieve that. It turns out that reducing rubble into smaller rubble doesn't solve the problem.
Right now with the ceasefire in operation the situation in terms of ethnic cleansing is going backwards for Israel. Which of course explains the outrage expressed by Netanyahu's far-right religious extremist coalition partners.
And for the IDF to resume hostilities would require Israel to overcome all the problems highlighted in the Haaretz article linked above. Even the full backing of Donald Trump won't necessarily motivate IDF reservists to fight or remove the economic, political, and military, costs to Israel of the war.
Right now imo the situation for the people in Gaza doesn't look quite as bleak as it did a few weeks ago, at least it doesn't seem to have become particularly bleaker.
Trump says stuff to frighten people, I wouldn't hang on to his every word. Perhaps he thinks that he will get more concessions out of Hamas if he tries to frighten them? A day or two ago he was threatening his old mate Putin.
This headline made me think of the days of the British Empire when the British army would regularly carry out massacres of the local people just to remind them who was in charge.
Lebanon says 22 killed by Israeli forces as residents try to return home
Btw the Israelis still use "administrative detention", which is a relic from British rule in Palestine, to suppress resistance from the local people.
But not the full sentence eh?
Oh behave Ernie. It's obviously not a genuine assessment of what I take as your viewpoint. No need for a follow up, post something worthwhile about Gaza instead.
Today it's 80 years since Auschwitz was liberated. It's odd to me in 2025 how a nation is still committing genocide and all other nations are just watching as bystanders. 80 years from the holocaust and we have learned nothing.
BBC News at 1 - "Israeli hostage should have been returned on Saturday under terms of ceasefire agreement" - i.e. repeating the Israeli line about something they can't verify.
It’s odd to me in 2025 how a nation is still committing genocide and all other nations are just watching as bystanders.
And in some cases supplying the weapons to carry out the mass killings
Last night Schindler's List was on the telly, I have never seen it but I couldn't stomach much more than a few minutes (I made several attempts) What the Nazis did is completely beyond comprehension to me, watching an reenactment from the comfort of a warm comfortable environment won't add much imo.
But I was intrigued in knowing how many lives Schindler managed to save. So I checked and it was approximately 1,200 An impressive amount but then I compared that figure with the 17,000 children which the IDF has slaughtered in Gaza in the last 15 months.
So much praise for a man who saved the lives of 1,200 in the 1940s, so little condemnation for a government which has directly killed 17,000 children in the last 15 months.
Whatever the reason for turning it off I'd recommend steeling yourself and watching it in its entirety because it is a truly monumental film.
Also the Israeli government is pretty much universally reviled around the world so I'm not sure what this means:
so little condemnation for a government which has directly killed 17,000 children in the last 15 months.
What the Nazis did is completely beyond comprehension to me
What goes to the heart of this incomprehension is how ordinary German people, the majority of a whole nation, could be part of the Holocaust, not just a few deranged individuals. How could such a mindset be instilled in a nation?
Then I recalled the quotes from the Israeli historian Ilan Pappe on the previous page :
......looking at the Israeli curricula, the next graduates of this system would be racist fanatics, extreme and dangerous to themselves and to others.....
This is the product of a very indoctrinated society from the cradle to the grave.
They can see dead Palestinian babies and say ‘Good, very good’. Dehumanisation is part of the Israeli DNA
I guess that when you are brought up in a culture which dehumanises an entire people it becomes relatively easy to murder them on an industrial scale.
Part of the evidence submitted to the International Court of Justice concerning the genocide in Gaza is the dehumanising language used by Israeli politicians.
Also the Israeli government is pretty much universally reviled around the world so I’m not sure what this means:
.
so little condemnation for a government which has directly killed 17,000 children in the last 15 months.
I thought it was self-explanatory but okay, it means that despite being "pretty much universally reviled around the world" the Israeli government gets so little condemnation, if any at all, from Western governments for directly killing 17,000 children.
Obviously there are honourable exceptions such as the government of Ireland but when was the last time you heard any British prime minister or American president directly condemning the Israeli government? They are more likely to sell/give them weapons than condemn them for killing children.
Yes throughout the world Israel is now reviled thanks to the genocide in Gaza, it just goes to show how little Western governments listen the views of their peoples. Exceptions excluded.
One year later and justice is for Hind is finally settled……….nah, only joking - the genocidal murderous ****s get away with it time and time again because……….Israel….collective guilt….hand wringing….
New Channel 4 documentary by Yousef Hammash on tonight at 9pm
Israelis busy reneging on ceasefire agreement - no doubt emboldened by Trump's support.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cr53e7e7yg3t
This is the the West Bank where there is no ceasefire in place because there isn't a "war" going on. So the IDF and armed civilian "settlers" can go around randomly murdering Palestinian men, women, children, including toddlers, with total impunity.
On Saturday evening, a 2-year-old girl was shot and killed by IDF gunfire in a village near Jenin. The army stated that the force fired at a building where, according to intelligence, a gunman was holed up. In the toddler's home, however, there was no gunman barricaded inside, but rather a family eating dinner.
That's from Israel's oldest newspaper btw
No wonder Netanyahu wants to silence it, Haaretz isn't in step with the new genocidal far-right Israel of today
https://twitter.com/swilkinsonbc/status/1884983309341532235?t=koAm_ZtANXmRS02gNwYwIw&s=19
More grueling urban combat for the IDF.
https://twitter.com/swilkinsonbc/status/1884983309341532235
Oh well Trump saves the day, ethnically cleanse Gaza of its entire population and turn it into a holiday resort. Anyone else remember certain prolific posters assuring us that Trump as US president wasn't a worse option than Biden? That's aged well hasn't it.
Anyone else remember certain prolific posters assuring us that Trump as US president wasn’t a worse option than Biden?
You appear to be under the miscomprehension that Gaza was not being actively ethnically cleansed during the Biden presidency, why? The Israelis cleared all the Palestinians out of northern Gaza whilst Joe Biden was US president.
Just because Joe Biden tutted very loudly as he gave Israel weapons to slaughter 47,000 Palestinians, 17,000 of them children, whist they attempted to ethnically cleanse Gaza and the West Bank, it doesn't provide any evidence that Biden helped the Palestinians in any way at all.
Netanyahu and his far-right government did absolutely every single thing they wanted to do when Biden was US president, he didn't stop them from doing anything at all.
Sure for public consumption Biden repeatedly drew red lines which he said the Israelis were not to cross knowing full well that they would simply totally ignore them and he would do sweet **** all about it.
Provide some evidence that things are any worse for the Palestinians now compared to under the Biden presidency. So Trump/the US are going to take over Gaza? Yeah right, even if that is the case it would represent an improvement on Gaza being under the control of IDF terrorists.
Trump wants his Abraham Accord extended to Saudi Arabia, he's desperate for that and his place in history. The Palestinians are going nowhere and Trump will be gone before the next UK general election.
Provide some evidence that things are any worse for the Palestinians now compared to under the Biden presidency.
Isn't that one of those "which toilet shall I use at Glastonbury" questions ?
Provide some evidence that things are any worse for the Palestinians now compared to under the Biden presidency.
Just watch what is going to unfold. Trump's first presidency showed us that he is in favour of Palestinians being pushed off the land, and encouraged settler expansion. He has far fewer restrictions at home this time around (at least 'till the mid-terms), and he'll push much further with this. And fast.
Just because Joe Biden tutted very loudly as he gave Israel weapons to slaughter 47,000 Palestinians
Trump said in his rambling press conference that it would require 1.7-1.8M palestinians to be moved to other countries. Before 7th Oct there was approx 2.1-2.2M residents in Gaza.
2.2M - 1.8M != 47000!
Something doesn't add up.
Also completely agree with Ernie. Biden (and other Western leaders, including our own) did the damage in allowing Netanyahu to reduce Gaza to rubble. Seeing people get all outraged now about the right of Gazans to live in a demolition zone is quite sickening. The damage is already done.
If you ask me Gazans would be much better off living in another country assuming any countries would have them. The Western powers should give up the pretence, get on with their plan of ethnic cleansing, and then live with the guilt, hypocrisy and long term consequences of that.
If you ask me Gazans would be much better off living in another country assuming any countries would have them. The Western powers should give up the pretence, get on with their plan of ethnic cleansing, and then live with the guilt, hypocrisy and long term consequences of that.
I said this a while ago (on here, I think). As a Gazan is it worth sacrificing your life and your kids' lives to a notion of "homeland'? For me it would not be. The US is what it is, at this point, and it's not realistic to add your drop of water in the hope that a tsunami sweeps it away.
I believe part of Netenyahu's extended visit to Washington is to secure a $1 billion dollar arms sale. Google suggests 4700 x 1000lb bombs and armoured bulldozers are in the mix.
I've no idea if things are going to improve or get worse, I can see potential for both outcomes. Regardless of how awful the previous guy was for Palestinians. The sale being paid for out of the US aid package to Israel.
I’ve no idea if things are going to improve or get worse
I doubt they can get much worse. The hypocrisy of western commentators debating the rights and wrongs of what comes next is quite astounding. It very much looks to me that many (and I'm talking about the media and establishment commentators rather than anyone on here) were happy to ignore the genocide being committed while Biden was president, but now its on Trump's watch they suddenly appear to be very concerned about what happens to the Gazans.
can strongly suggest watching Channel4 news…
Like anyone watches C4 news! 🙂
If you ask me Gazans would be much better off living in another country assuming any countries would have them.
...
The hypocrisy of western commentators debating the rights and wrongs of what comes next is quite astounding
You think I'm excluding myself from this? We're all complicit, every single one of us. You know all those questions asked after WWII about how the German public could allow the holocaust to happen right under their noses? We'll be asking the same questions of ourselves in the not too distant future.
Just watch what is going to unfold.
I am watching in anticipation waiting to see if Trump rebuilds Gaza as an American-Israeli holiday seaside resort before or after he has invaded Canada, Greenland, and Panama.
There is of course the little problem that Hamas hasn't been defeated, the Palestinians have made it clear that they have no wish to go anywhere, and Egypt and Jordan have categorically dismissed Trump's suggestion that they should accept the Gazans. Plus the problem that Trump only has 4 years to achieve all his aims
I am watching in anticipation waiting to see if Trump rebuilds Gaza as an American-Israeli holiday seaside resort before or after he has invaded Canada, Greenland, and Panama.
The US is going to need a larger flag to fit all the additional stars. 🙁
surely no one had
"Trump sends the US military in to ethnically cleanse Gaza and turn it into a giant Trump owned elite golf resort "
on their 2025 bingo list , not least all those Arab voters that voted for Trump, thinking he'd be on their side ,?
what trump has done though has made this a discussion, eg 10 years ago Brexit was a fringe view of a few far right nutters ....... and her we are!
not least all those Arab voters that voted for Trump, thinking he’d be on their side ,?
I don't think that it was ever a case of that at all, and much more a case of knowing that Joe Biden would never be on the side of Palestinians.
A perfectly good assessment imo. Trump is far more likely to screw Israel than Biden ever was. Trump's number one priority isn't being matey with Netanyahu but striking a deal with the Saudis, and the Saudis have made their position clear. This morning :
Meanwhile, the Saudi Arabian foreign ministry says it "rejects any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their land". It adds it would not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.
I have no idea anyone should still hang on to the idea that things were somehow better for the Palestinians when Joe Biden was US president.
I have no idea anyone should still hang on to the idea that things were somehow better for the Palestinians when Joe Biden was US president.
fair point, Bidens plan for a giant liesure complex displacing them from their ancestral homelands didnt even include Trump Tower rooftop infinity pool
maybe trump will give rach gazan a free wristband for pool access on Tuesdays and bus them over from their new permanent homes in a Lebanese/syrian refugee camp
Well okay you obviously want to turn it into some sort of hilarious joke but what I am seeing in the Muslim dominated WhatsApp groups in support of Palestine is an astonishing lack of interest in Trump's latest attention-seeking stunt. One of the local Palestine Solidarity Campaign officers, a Palestinian herself, has posted a comment which quite rightly ridicules Trump.
And IME they tend to be massively pessimistic about the situation in Occupied Palestine. Since Joe Biden's departure and the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza, plus the overwhelming evidence that the Palestinian resistance are nowhere near defeated, their spirits seem to be not quite as low as they were a few weeks ago.
Well okay you obviously want to turn it into some sort of hilarious joke but what I am seeing in the Muslim dominated WhatsApp groups in support of Palestine is an astonishing lack of interest in Trump’s latest attention-seeking stunt. One of the local Palestine Solidarity Campaign officers, a Palestinian herself, has posted a comment which quite rightly ridicules Trump.
????
his plans for the West Bank are coming next week so Im sure that there will be plenty more ridiculing to be done, I doubt it will be a full ethnic cleanse like his GAZA plan- , but handing complete control to Israel from the PA doesnt seem too unlikely ?
????
Sorry you were ridiculing Trump, not the suggestion that so far at least there is no evidence that life was any better for the Palestinians when Joe Biden was US president? Well it wasn't obvious from your comment.
I find it astonishing that some people desperately hang on to the notion that Biden somehow reigned in the Israeli government.
I also find it astonishing that some people appear to be unaware of how deep the crisis is for Israel. What Israel wants and what Israel gets are two totally separate things, and the United States President does not have some sort of magic wand.
Israel wanted to defeat Hamas, what Israel actually got was a Hamas who remain undefeated and according to Antony Blinken the former United States Secretary of State has replaced all their losses.
his plans for the West Bank are coming next week
I think there's an expected US statement on recognising the West Banks sovereignty in the next 4 weeks.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4z32y12jpo
Asked whether he agreed the US should recognise Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, Trump said he had yet to take a position but that he would have an announcement to make in four weeks' time.
That remark has caused alarm among Palestinians, for whom such an announcement would inevitably be seen as another nail in the coffin for a two-state solution
the notion that Biden somehow reigned in the Israeli government
Which if you bothered to read anyone else's posts instead of swamping the thread with your own posts, you'd realise nobody other than you has suggested such a thing. People have rightly pointed out that however bad Biden was for the Palestinians at least he wasn't openly calling for them to be forcibly removed from the rubble of their homes like Trump is. I'm pretty sure it was you alluding to Trump being no worse for the Palestinians than Biden some pages back. I think Trumps recent comments proves this is not the case. Whether there is any chance of Trump following through (in my opinion that chance is zero) the very fact he is openly suggesting relocation of the Palestinians will just embolden the headbangers in Isreal.
the notion that Biden somehow reigned in the Israeli government
.
you’d realise nobody other than you has suggested such a thing
Well if Joe Biden wasn't reigning in Netanyahu, and I can't see how anyone can claim that he was, how is the situation any worse now?
I’m pretty sure it was you alluding to Trump being no worse for the Palestinians than Biden some pages back.
I think some people might not have fully grasped just how bad things have been for the Palestinians in Gaza. If they had then perhaps they would realise that it really couldn't get much worse. Plenty of Middle East analysts, and US Muslim voters, came to that conclusion.
It is a perfectly reasonable conclusion given the situation, even if it doesn't receive the unanimous approval of STW. It is also based on Trump's known priorities which at the top of the list includes the expansion of the Abraham Accords.
No one can really know what made Netanyahu agree to the ceasefire deal but some believe that it was pressure from Trump who knows that there was is zero chance of Saudi Arabia coming onboard without a ceasefire. Personally I am more sceptical and suspect that it had more to do with the fact that the "war" wasn't achieving anything other than damaging Israel generally and the Likud party in particular.
But whatever the reasons the reality is that today the situation in Gaza is a tad better for the Palestinians than it was a couple of months ago. There is a ceasefire, Hamas have negotiated not as a defeated entity, and people by all accounts are extremely happy to have returned to northern Gaza after 15 months.
Like everyone else I have no idea how things will pan out for the Palestinians in Gaza over the next 4 years but right now the situation appears to be no worse than it has been over the past year.
I suspect that professor Muhannad Ayyash. :
https://www.aljazeera.com/author/mark_muhannad_ayyash_200706132625995
knows a bit more than me, and everyone else on this thread, about the situation in Palestine. And certainly Al Jazeera, which knows a bit more about the situation in Palestine than me and everyone else on this thread, believes that his opinion is credible and is worthy of attention:
Obviously he could be wrong though. We will see.
Blimey, I have just reread that opinion piece by Pro. Muhannad Ayyash and his predictions of could possibly happen appear to be uncannily near the mark in the short period that Trump has been reinstalled.
Although there may be surprises and unexpected developments, the second Trump administration will continue in the same direction it set back in 2017 and Biden decided to maintain in 2021.
What the Trump administration offered to the Palestinians was some economic support in exchange for giving up their political rights and self-determination aspirations.
Based on Trump’s proclamations during the campaign and the advisers, donors and supporters whom he is surrounded with, there is every reason to believe his second administration will continue to push further down this bipartisan path to eliminate the “Palestinian Question” once and for all.
The Trump administration will try to deal with this resistance by buying people off with economic incentives and the threat of violence and repression. But this approach will have – as it always has had – limited impact.
There has definitely been surprises and unexpected developments, and Trump clearly wants to eliminate the “Palestinian Question” once and for all, plus of course he is offering economic incentives.
It is a perfectly reasonable conclusion given the situation
The conversation is better off without such assumptions.
The conversation is better off without such assumptions
What “assumptions” are you actually talking about?
so after his spokesperson and republicans were rowing back on his plans....
Trump is now doubling down
SNAFU
I am sure that that I posted a link to Jeremy Bowen's article yesterday but I can't see it here now.
It is both interesting and plausible imo particularly his comments concerning Trump's overture to Iran, a development which to say surprised me would be an understatement.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2pwjgp59do
Obviously the usual suspects will dismiss it because it suggests that Trump has a plan, and we all know that politics is very simple...... "Trump is stupid and so are his supporters" 😉
The inhabitants are 100% right not wanting to leave, given it appears to be Israeli policy not to let people back in who do leave.
But something has to be done in order to rebuild. Perhaps the idea of Israel ceding more territory on the boundaries to expand the Gaza strip to make it more accommodating to the inhabitants.
Watched a prog on AlJazera a bit back of a young newly married couple looking to build their first home together, and all they could go for was to add a floor to an existing building.