PALESTINIAN Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on Monday warned Israel that the Jabal al-Baba community to the east of Jerusalem is a red line, warning Israel that it must not cross it!
The prime minister stressed that his government stands with the Palestinian community against any Israeli attempts to uproot and displace them. The PM stated: ‘On November 9th, the community of Jabal al-Baba received an evacuation order, giving the residents eight days to move to a site specified by the Israeli authorities.
‘The residents, who were already forced off their lands by Israel in 1948, have dwelled at their present site, with the permission of the landowners, for several decades. The community of Jabal al-Baba has explicitly and vehemently rejected Israel’s plan to ‘relocate’ the community to a site of Israel’s choosing, and have appealed against this plan to Israel’s High Court.
‘Nevertheless, high-ranking Israeli officials, including its Prime Minister and its Minister of Defence, have called for the immediate removal of the entire community, who now fear impending mass demolitions,’ said Hamdallah.
‘As the Prime Minister of the State of Palestine, let me say clearly: we stand with our Palestinian citizens in Jabal al-Baba, as well as with all of the other Palestinian communities across the West Bank that Israel seeks to displace in order to build illegal settlements in their place. If the Israeli authorities proceed with this demolition, or with the displacement of entire Palestinian communities in “Area C” of the West Bank, a red line will have been crossed.’
The workers of the UK and the world must also stand unconditionally alongside the Palestinian families of Jabal al-Baba! Hamdallah pointed out the strategic consequences of the Israeli plan and that ‘the forced transfer of Palestinian communities located in this area is only the first step, and would not only disconnect East Jerusalem from the West Bank, but would also complete a stretch of illegal settlements from East Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, thus severing the West Bank into two for Palestinians. This development would spell the end of the internationally backed two-state solution by preventing the creation of a viable Palestinian state.’
Israel is now proceeding to put an end to the two-state solution favoured by the Palestinian people, and is opting for one state, namely a ‘Greater Israel’ with Israeli cynics saying that the Gaza Strip can be a Palestinian state in a federation with Egypt.
Israel is acting with such boldness because it has in its pockets pledges of full support not just from the UK and the US, but from a number of Arab states. The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, has just admitted that Tel Aviv has ties with ‘a dozen’ Arab countries. He said on Monday: ‘They still do not vote with us, but I can say that we have a relationship with them.’
This revelation comes as Saudi Arabia plans to take the field with Israel against Iran, and inseparably with it against the establishment of a viable Palestinian state and an independent Lebanon. On November 14, Lebanon’s al-Akhbar daily published a secret undated letter from Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that says: ‘I have the honour to submit to you the draft of the plan to establish relations between the kingdom and the State of Israel, based on the strategic partnership agreement with the United States of America, which was discussed with the secretary of state.’
On November 19, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz revealed for the first time that Tel Aviv has had covert contacts with Saudi Arabia. A report published by The Times revealed that Saudi Arabia and the Israeli regime were in clandestine talks to establish official economic relations and to open trade ties for the first time since Israel was established in 1948.
Saudi Arabia is getting ready to put its billions from oil revenues to work to prevent a two state solution in favour of a Greater Israel, allied to the Gulf feudal regimes and the US-UK axis against Iran.
All the more reason for UK workers to bring down the Tory government and bring in a workers government that will organise to help establish, support, defend and sustain a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, and with all refugees having the right to return!
