The Judaization of Al-Quds, Jerusalem — How it Works

by Rima Najjar

The Judaization of Jerusalem. It used to work under cover of darkness, at least in the mainstream media, but now it’s out in the open with official recognition of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem from the United States.

Israel implements its judaization of Jerusalem by directly undermining the sanctity of both Muslim (the Haram al Sharif) and Christian (the Via Dolorosa) holy sites in al-Quds and by continuing to establish irreversible and exclusive control over the holy city as an Israeli-Jewish city.

Israel implements strategies that ensure its physical domination of the city. Since it illegally annexed East Jerusalem after the 1967 war, it has devised numerous policies to create geographic integrity and demographic superiority in favor of a Jewish Jerusalem.

But this strategy did not begin in 1967. In the wake of the 1948 war, the newly-minted Israeli government quickly rejected all calls for internationalizing the city and declared that “Arab aggression” invalidated Israel’s obligation to implement the partition plan, and specifically the UN sanctioned corpus separatum of Jerusalem — Resolution 181 recommended the creation of independent Palestinian and Jewish States and a Special International Regime for the city of Jerusalem.

Today Israel’s hasbara machine falsely declares that Palestinian “terrorism” invalidated Israel’s obligation to implement final status negotiations for an independent Palestinian state in the Oslo process, when, in fact, it has been busy leaving nothing for the negotiators to decide upon.

Ironically, on 2 Feb 1949, Ben Gurion magnanimously expressed willingness to establish corpus separatum over the Old City, primarily in order to delegitimize Jordan’s hold over the Old City while removing Israel’s own territorial gains from the equation.

Today, unsurprisingly, we hear that Israel’s exclusive control of the Old City is part of the “New Palestine” Deal. At the same time, on June 01, 2019 the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med) released a report that documented 130 violations by Israel against Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem during April.

It was the Labor government of Levi Eshkol which set the precedents for complete Israeli sovereignty over a “united” Jerusalem in 1967, with a flurry of Israeli legislative maneuvering that echoed the 1949 frenzy, immediately according Jerusalem a status different than that of the rest of the occupied territories.

Jewish colonization efforts were to emphasize security in the Jordan Valley and in “Greater Jerusalem” as well as the high ground along the western portion of the West Bank. In other words, preserve the Jewish demographic majority won as a result of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948 in the Palestinian lands already grabbed.

Likud’s obsession, an obsession which today has the political upper hand, was/is on creating a Jewish demographic majority in the occupied Palestinian territories with the purpose of acquiring more Palestinian territory for the Jewish state.

Israel’s strategies re Jerusalem implemented at the municipal level (with full backing of the Israeli government) have been the most devastating for Palestinian Jerusalemites. The architect of the Israeli master plan for Jerusalem, as many know, was former mayor Teddy Kollek, who pursued plans to cut “Greater Jerusalem” from the rest of the West Bank and facilitated its annexation with the stated objective of ensuring Jewish demographic superiority as well as geographic integrity. Here are a few of his words from 1984 regarding what he considered to be the premature establishment of the now vast Jewish colony of Ma’alehAdumim ringing the city:

“I think it is a mistake to establish it before we have filled Jerusalem. In aother five years, we will fill Jerusalem and then we will go there [Ma’alehAdumim]. In Jerusalem, we took upon ourselves, as Jews, a very difficult urban task, in that we received distant neighborhoods, and we had to connect them …”

Note: Jerusalem was not empty and did not need to be “filled”!

The Jewish colonization ofJerusalem is in direct contravention of UN Security Council Resolution 465 Concerning the Application of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Prohibition to Establish Settlements in the Territories, including Jerusalem, 1 March 1980.

Israel has forced a Jewish majority in all parts of Jerusalem and in the process brutally suffocated the legitimate rights and aspirations of Palestinian Jerusalemites, who, nevertheless, cling to their rights and identity in the holy city as Muslims, as Christians and as Palestinians.

Since 1967, successive Israeli governments have systematically eradicated all other visions of the holy city of Jerusalem except for the vision of Jerusalem as the “eternal, undivided capital of the Jewish State.”

Without question, Israel has always viewed the final status of Jerusalem as already settled. With Trump’s “Deal of the Century”, Israel believes it will finally secure unquestionable legitimacy for its exclusive rule over the holy city.

It’s up to the international community to stop it. In its report mentioned above, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med) “urged the United Nations and its concerned bodies as well as the European Union to closely monitor the situation in Jerusalem and to condemn the harsh acts to which Palestinians are subjected and to shoulder their responsibilities towards the Palestinians under occupation.”

– Rima Najjar is a former professor (now retired) at Al-Quds University, Palestine. She comes from Lifta, Jerusalem and Ijzim, Haifa and currently lives in the United States.

Oman Also Betrays the Palestinian Cause

Israeli war criminal breaks bread with Arabian sycophant

By Tahir Mustafa

In trying to explain why the prime minister of the illegitimate Zionist entity, Benjamin Netanyahu visited his country, the Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin ‘Alawi bin ‘Abdullah offered a strange excuse. Attending a security summit in Bahrain’s capital Manama on October 27, the Omani minister said the sultanate would not act as a “mediator” in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

He then admitted what had really motivated the Zionist’s visit to the sultanate. Israel is “present in the region, and we all understand this, the world is also aware of this fact and maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same and also bear the same obligations,” ‘Abdullah said.

Suppose a serial rapist and killer were on the loose in a neighborhood; would one argue that his presence was a reality and we should accept him? Such a criminal should be apprehended and dealt with according to law. But Arabian rulers have clearly abandoned their last shred of dignity and self-respect, had they any to begin with, and surrendered en masse to the Zionist war criminals.

Netanyahu’s visit to Oman to meet Sultan Qabus late evening on October 25 was a complete surprise and kept secret until the Zionist returned home. Omani TV, however, made no effort to hide the fact. Instead, it showed Netanyahu being warmly welcomed by the sultan. The two were seeing walking together and then sitting for a long discussion. Oman has no diplomatic ties with the Zionists but that has not deterred such meetings from taking place.

Netanyahu took his wife Sara for the visit as well as Mossad intelligence chief Yossi Cohen and National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat. The make-up of the entourage clearly indicated something much more than “offering ideas to help Israel and Palestinians to come together” was part of the agenda. What it was could be gleaned from the fact that Netanyahu’s visit was preceded by the visit of Mahmud ‘Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority (PA), to Oman.

Netanyahu’s visit must be viewed against the backdrop of US President Trump’s “deal of the century” idea in which Palestine will be buried permanently and forgotten. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the hardcore Zionist and Likudnick, is spearheading this drive. Kushner has cultivated a close friendship with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. The latter added another fiendish act to his long list of barbaric practices by having journalist Jamal Khashoggi murdered and then dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. The brutal murder sent shockwaves throughout the world and put Bin Salman, who was a partner in Kushner’s diabolical plot against the Palestinians, on the defensive.

Last June, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Jordan assuredWashington of their support for the plan during visits to those countries by Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, the US envoy to the region. Bin Salman had also called ‘Abbas to Riyadh and put the deal before him. He offered him a $10 billion bribe to accept it and forget about a viable Palestinian state.

The deal is so outlandish that even the imperialist-Zionist agent ‘Abbas could not accept it despite the $10 billion bribe offer. And what is in the deal? Palestinians should forget about Jerusalem as their capital. The US has already declared the sacred city as Israel’s “capital” and moved its embassy there without so much as a whimper of protest from the Arabian rulers or any of the Muslim rulers. The Palestinians were asked to live in Bantustans and would have Abu Dis as their “capital.” But where on earth is Abu Dis? Even some Palestinians have not heard of this non-descript place.

Not surprisingly, Palestinian resistance groups — Hamas and Islamic Jihad — condemned Netanyahu’s visit to Oman. They urged the Arabian rulers to support the oppressed people of Palestine.

Hamas warned about the dangerous consequences of Netanyahu’s visit for the people of Palestine. Islamic Jihad also condemned the visit, saying that by welcoming him, Oman acquitted Netanyahu of the crimes committed against innocent Palestinians.

The visit occurred at the invitation of the Omani ruler, according to Netanyahu’s office. The Zionist war criminal was so pleased with the visit that he tweeted, “A special visit in Oman — we’re making history!” He also posted a video of his reception and meeting with the Omani ruler. His office issued a statement saying Netanyahu discussed the Middle East peace process “and other issues of shared interest” with Sultan Qabus.

What peace process is Netanyahu referring to and what “other issues of shared interest” could there be? There is no peace process; it is dead. The only thing happening is Zionist brutality against hapless Palestinians who suffer daily humiliations at the hands of the colonizers. The “other issues of shared interest” need closer scrutiny.

That also explains why Netanyahu was so enthusiastic about his visit to tiny Oman that is not considered a Middle Eastern heavyweight. Two Arabian regimes — Egypt and Jordan — already have diplomatic relations with the Zionist entity. Others, like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates have close links without formal diplomatic ties.

Two factors add to Oman’s importance. First, it sits on the Western side of the Persian Gulf (dominated by Islamic Iran) and hugs the Sea of Oman. Second, Oman’s Salalah Port is close to the Yemeni border where a brutal Saudi-led war has raged since March 2015. Any Israeli encroachment in Oman undermines Islamic Iran and threatens the struggle of the Yemeni people against the Saudis and their agents.

Unlike other Arabian regimes, hitherto Oman had maintained a fairly balanced policy, especially vis-à-vis Islamic Iran. It had also not allowed itself to be railroaded into the disastrous policy of surrender to the Zionist entity. This, however, may be changing under US and Saudi pressure.

America’s Middle East policy is unraveling as Arabian regimes grab at each other’s throats. In Syria, the warmongers have been defeated after seven years of bloodletting. President Bashar al-Asad is still in power and his army is close to liberating the last province — Idlib — from the clutches of the takfiri terrorists.

The brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi has exposed the Saudi crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman as a monstrous brute. He is not the “moderate” the West has been trying to project him to be. And since Bin Salman was the lynchpin of the surrender brigade, his atrocious conduct has made him an international pariah, at least for now. The Saudi regime is likely to be engulfed in turmoil in the foreseeable future, so why would Oman want to join the camp led by the Bani Saud?

Donald Trump’s “deal of the century” that is being imposed on the Palestinians through the Arabian rulers may not make much headway in the present circumstances. Oman’s public embrace of Netanyahu makes no sense unless there are other factors that have not been made public.

It is, however, a stab in the back of the Palestinians.