‘Peace to Prosperity’ plan imposes total Zionist control, denies all Palestinian human rights and violates international law

Trump and Netanyahu’s so-called ‘Peace to Prosperity’ plan ignores the Palestinian right to self-determination, 1967 borders, international humanitarian law and a stream of United Nations Security Council resolutions, including UNSCR 2334, which New Zealand helped to bring forward in 2016. The Resolution was passed in the UN by 14-0, with even the UK voting in favour and the isolated US obdurately abstaining.

The greatest political threat to global peace and stability today is the wanton undermining, by great power interests, of universally recognised rules-based international relations, particularly those established by international law and the deeply humanitarian Fourth Geneva Convention. Resolution 2334 reminds us that Israel’s belligerently-imposed, exclusively Jewish civilian settlements, established on Palestinian land, are violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Zionist ideology isolates Israel from reason, the world community and commonsense; a glaring example of which is the Israel lobby’s description of the Palestinian land upon which it enforces its undeniably foreign military Occupation as “disputed”. Israel’s argument in this regard was rejected by the International Court of Justice in 2004.

The Zionist plan’s one-sidedness is meant to mislead, with references to what it terms Palestinian ‘violence’ repeated, out of context, over and over again, yet with no recognition whatsoever of Israel’s overwhelming daily violence and population-control methods practised on Palestinians.

Because of mainstream news media complicity, their daily headlines and commentary only occasionally ever mention the relentless Israeli violence in Palestine, let alone the frequent air strikes! Daily news and statistics regarding the violence Palestinians are forced to live under are reported, however, in the emailed In Occupied Palestine daily newsletter, sourced and compiled for easy reading and correlation chiefly from the Palestinian Monitoring Group’s daily situation reports. The In Occupied Palestine daily newsletter continues to be received and made use of worldwide, to subscribers only, as it has been for the past two decades. Many recipients choose to forward them still further, providing a valuable counter to Zionist propaganda.

January 2020 in Palestine

It wasn’t until 15 January that four missiles were fired across the Green Line from Gaza. That Palestinian missile attack was followed by three others, on three separate days, towards the end of the month. On 30 January, Gaza’s Resistance fighters also opened fire on an Israeli Army position in al-Farahin, behind the Green Line. The Palestinian missile-firings were clearly an outraged response to 37 persistent Israeli Gaza ceasefire violations up to and including 14 January.

On the day of the first Palestinian missile firings, Israel hit Gaza with four air strikes, two Navy attacks on Palestinian fishing boats and four Army assaults on Gaza farmland. In addition, the Gaza community in east Khuza’a, Khan Yunis, also came under attack from beyond the Green Line. By the end of the day Israel had committed 11 ceasefire violations, bringing its total for the month until then to 48.

By the last day of January, the total number of Israeli Gaza ceasefire violations totalled 139 compared with 7 (two of which targeted the Israeli military) from Palestinian Resistance factions. The population in Gaza, however, suffered five deaths at the hands of the Israeli military in January, the youngest of which was aged 15. While Israeli propaganda claims its border with Gaza is under constant threat, the Israeli Army makes incursions, at will, into Gaza. Israeli warplanes have total freedom of movement over a territory that has no means of aerial defence whatsoever.

Of course, it is not only Gaza that is terrorised by Israel. The daily toll of malevolent Israeli Army population control and Occupation settler violence inflicted, daily, brings nothing but total misery upon all Palestinians living under belligerent military Occupation. The relentless horror is documented regularly in the In Occupied Palestine (IOP) daily newsletters. Here are just a few of the accounts taken from those IOP newsletters covering the month of January:

Home invasions – homes destroyed: Jerusalem – 09:05, Israeli troops destroyed two homes in the Silwan neighbourhood.

Home invasions – tent dwellings and water pipeline seized: Jerusalem – Israeli forces seized five tent dwellings, as well as a water pipeline.

Home invasions – tent dwellings and water tank seized: Tubas – 14:35-16:30, Israeli forces raided Khirbeit Atouf village, dismantled three tent dwellings and seized possession of a water conservation tank, as well as the three tent dwellings.

Israeli Army mosque violation and population control: Jerusalem – 13:30 and again at 19:00, Israeli police officers invaded the Bab Al-Rahma prayer area in the Al-Aqsa Mosque and assaulted worshippers, forcibly pepper-spraying them and forcing them out of the mosque.

Israeli Army plunder: Nablus – dawn, Israeli forces raided the eastern neighbourhoods of Nablus City, searched a steel mill and plundered the property of equipment.

Israeli Army robbery and population control: Hebron – 12:00, Israeli forces seized a motor vehicle equipped with tools, emergency devices and medication belonging to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and detained a doctor, Firas Abu Ali, as well as two other people who were providing medical services in the area.

Israeli Army abductions: Nablus – 21:15, Israeli soldiers abducted three minors, Hassan Husam Azmi Oshibi (16), Muhammad Azzam Oshibi (16) and Asem Hatem, Asim Darwish (17), near Salem village road junction.

Israeli Army abductions: Hebron – 18:20, Israeli troops abducted two minors, Khaled Jasser Al Sharif (14) and Ahmad Muhammad Dalloul (17), at the entrance to the al-Arrub UN refugee camp.

Israeli Army armed robbery – population control: Bethlehem – the Israeli Army robbed a resident of Nahalin, Mahmoud Ahmad Suwad, of a concrete pump he was using to build a home.

Israeli Army land grab: Bethlehem – the Israeli Army seized land for itself in the Wadi Al-Hindi area of Jorat al-Sham’a village.

Home invasions in UN refugee camp – plunder: Jenin – 00:20-01:50, Israeli forces, firing rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters, raided Jenin, the Jenin UN refugee camp and Jalqamus village, searching several homes, plundering a steel mill and taking prisoner three people: Rushdi Subhi Al-Bath and his sons, Uday and Mohammad.

Home invasions – abductions and armed robbery in UN refugee camp: Hebron – 03:25, Israeli forces raided the al-Arrub UN refugee camp, searched several homes and abducted two 16-year-old youths: Ahmed Hassouna al-Badawi and Muhammad Ahmad al-Jabri. The soldiers also robbed a refugee in the camp, Amjad Jawabir, of 2,000 NIS (US$500).

Settlement development: Jerusalem – the Israeli Government approved plans for the construction of 1150 settlement units, the first stage of planning procedures which include a plan to build 786 housing units in Ramallah and 180 in the Mitzpeh Dani settlement, as well as 147 in the Mitzpeh Jericho settlement, 107 in the Alon Moreh settlement, 100 in the Neve Tesuf settlement and 40 in the Bedouin colony in Salfit.

Occupation settler agricultural sabotage: Nablus – Israelis from the Rahalim Occupation settlement in al-Sawiya village felled 50 privately-owned olive trees in the village area of al-Wad.

Israeli Army abductions – aged 13 and 15: Jerusalem – evening, Israeli soldiers abducted two children: Mohammad Abu Qalbin, aged 13 and Mohammad Al-Himi, aged 15.

Occupation settler violence – supported by Israeli Army stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Nablus – Israeli forces, firing stun grenades and tear gas canisters,  supported Israelis from the Yitzhar Occupation settlement who were invading Madma village agricultural land and stoning villagers‘ homes.

Israeli Army land theft: Bethlehem – the Israeli Army ordered the seizure of land in the districts of  Baqoush, Khillet Thaher al-Ain, Thaghrat Hamad, a-Shaghaf, Zuqindih, Ain Qassis and Shush’halat, as well as the al-Rajim areas of al-Khadr and Irtas. The land was seized for the building of a settlement bypass road.

Home invasion – 2 homes destroyed: Bethlehem – the Israeli Army destroyed a tent dwelling and a mobile home in Beit Jallah.

Israeli Army vandalism and sabotage of Palestinian eduction: Hebron – 09:10, Israeli forces destroyed the foundations of a school under construction in north-east Yatta.

Occupation settler violence: Hebron – 23:00, a gang of Israeli Occupation settlers raided the Old City Jaber neighbourhood and attacked several homes, throwing stones and glass bottles, and yelling racist abuse at residents.

Israeli Occupation population control and mosque violation: Jerusalem – the Israeli Occupation issued an order, banning an Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher, Akrama Sabri, Chairman of the Supreme Islamic Authority in Jerusalem, from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for a week.

Israeli Occupation population control and mosque violation: Jerusalem – the Israeli Occupation issued orders, banning two residents, Ahmad Ghazalat and Moath Idris, from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque, for a period of five months, as a condition of their release from captivity.

Israeli Occupation population control and mosque violation: Jerusalem – 09:00, settler militants, escorted by Israeli  police, invaded the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and molested worshippers.

Israeli Army –  boy (15) beaten and hospitalised: Bethlehem –  23:20, Israeli soldiers, at the Container military checkpoint, beat up and hospitalised a 15-year-old boy: Marouf Ahmad Al-Atrash.

Israeli police mosque violation – rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Jerusalem –  dawn, Israeli police, firing rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters, invaded the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, pursuing and assaulting worshippers during dawn prayers.

Occupation settlers – racist arson attack on mosque: Jerusalem – dawn, Israeli settlers set fire to the Shuafat Mosque in Beit Safafa village and spray-painted race-hate messages on the mosque walls, while the Israeli Army sealed off the mosque and prevented worshippers from entering. 

Home invasions and  armed robbery:  Nablus – 02:05-05:00, the Israeli Army raided Burqa village and searched several homes. In one of them, the householder, Mohammad Faleh Daghlas, was robbed of cash to the value of 5,000 NIS(US$1,200). In another home, one person was taken prisoner and, in another, Maen Nureldin Al-Sha’er  was ordered to report to Israeli Intelligence for interrogation.

Occupation settler violence and agricultural sabotage:Qalqiliya – 17:55, a gang of Israeli Occupation settlers invaded Jit village farmland and felled several olive trees, bulldozed more land and installed a mobile home on another privately-owned piece of land.

Occupation settler violence and hospitalisation – and agricultural sabotage: Nablus – 17:00, militants from the Rahalim Israeli Occupation settlement invaded al-Sawiya farmland, stoning and hospitalising a farmer, Mohammad Hamad Khalil (62), and his son, Nizar, at work on their land.

Occupation settler racist arson attack on Palestinian school: Nablus – dawn, Zionist militants from the Yitzhar Israeli Occupation set fire to a classroom at the village boys’ secondary school, and spray-painted racist messages on the school walls.

Israeli Army –  pharmacy destroyed: Jerusalem – Israeli forces destroyed a pharmacy in the Wadi al-Jouz neighbourhood.

Israeli Army – 5 wounded, including youngster – rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters:Ramallah – 13:50, northern entrance to al-Bireh: rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters. Five people wounded, including a 16-year-old youth: Ameen Abdel-Kareem Abu Al-Rub. In addition, there were several tear gas casualties.

Tear-gas casualties inside family home: Hebron – evening, the Israeli Army, firing stun grenades and tear gas canisters at people and homes in Beit Ummar, caused seven tear-gas casualties, including a child, when a tear gas canister exploded inside the home of Ahmad Mahmoud Al-Alami.

Israeli Army abductions – youngsters wounded –  rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Ramallah – 13:10, Israeli forces, in east al-Bireh, firing rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters, abducted a 14-year-old boy, Wissam Al-Qadi, and wounded three youngsters: Mohammad Muneeb Abdul Rahman Maridi (16), Haitham Wajih Mohammad Musabeh (15) and Mohammad Naeem Hadeda (16).

Israeli Army – critical wounding – UN refugee camp – rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Hebron – 08:30, Israeli forces, firing rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters at the entrance to the al-Arrub UN refugee camp, targeted residents, including schoolchildren, critically wounding one person, Ayman Abdel-Rahman Yacoub, taking prisoner three others and causing tear gas casualties.

Occupation settler violence – shooting and hospitalisation: Ramallah – an Israeli settler shot, wounded and hospitalised a resident of Safa village, Saed Hussien Falnat, near the Beit Sira military checkpoint.

Israeli Army – 2 children abducted – rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Hebron – evening, al-Thaher, Beit Ummar. Israeli troops, firing stun grenades and tear gas canisters, abducted two children: Abdullah Fahd Ibrahim Uda Sabarna (12) and Hamza Sameeh Issa Bahr (14).

Israeli Army – 2 more children abducted: Hebron – 14:50, Israeli soldiers abducted two 15-year-old refugees: Nasser Hassan Muhammad Jawabreh and Qusay Bassam Abu Hashhash.

Israeli police mosque violation – 10 worshippers wounded and hospitalised: Jerusalem – dawn, Israeli police, firing rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters, invaded the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during dawn prayers, wounding and hospitalising ten worshippers.

Ceasefire violation – Israeli Army live fire – 9 wounded: Khan Yunis – Israeli forces opened fire on protesters in Khan Yunis, wounding nine people.

Israeli Army violence – 5 wounded – rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters: Tubas – 12:50, the Israeli Army fired rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters at people in Khirbet Atouf village who were protesting against the “Deal of the Century”. Several people were beaten and at least five wounded and taken away by ambulance. Several more became tear gas casualties. The five wounded were identified as: Saeed Hamed Abu Ahmad, Fawaz Daraghmeh, Moataz Sarmah Marwah, Abdel-Jalil Rasmi Bisharat and Ramah Halal Al-Din Qtishat.

Occupation settlers and Israeli Army violence – 3 villagers wounded: Nablus – 13:30, Israel Occupation settler militants raided farmland on the outskirts of the village of Madama, throwing stones and smashing the windows of the home of a villager: Ahmad Khalil al-Qat. The Israeli Army, firing rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters, arrived to support the settlers as the villagers began to try to defend themselves and their property, wounding three villagers.

Occupation settler vandalism and agricultural sabotage: Nablus – a gang from the Shafi Shamron Israeli Occupation settlement invaded Sebastia village farmland, uprooted newly-planted olive seedlings and destroyed the protective wall around them.

Revealing the daily reality

Towards the end of the 1990s, while “surfing” the Internet, I discovered the Palestinian Monitoring Group‘s daily situation reports (sitreps) concerning the whole of Occupied Palestine. It seemed to be the only daily account of the Israeli Occupation’s daily toll on Palestinian life, limb, liberty and property, to counter the almost complete lack of such news from the mainstream news media. That was how I began compiling and emailing, on behalf of the Palestine Human Rights Campaign in Auckland, the In Occupied Palestine daily newsletter. News rapidly spread about the IOP’s availability and our list of subscribers has kept growing.

Whenever the PHRC had a properly functioning website (sadly now defunct), each newsletter was also posted and archived, which meant it was more easily accessible globally. The In Occupied Palestine daily newsletter continues to be circulated worldwide but just by email, to subscribers only, as it has been over the last two decades. Please contact lesliebravery@icloud.com if you also wish to become a subscriber.

No security for Palestine

Israel wishes the world to consider security as its own unique right, one not applicable to the militarily Occupied, segregated and defenceless Palestinian people. Sheldon Richman, writing in Counterpunch on 3 February, quotes from the Zionist plan:

Upon signing the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreement, the State of Israel will maintain overriding security responsibility for the State of Palestine, with the aspiration that the Palestinians will be responsible for as much of their internal security as possible, subject to the provisions of this Vision.

It gets worse – in the plan there is no mention whatsoever of security for Palestine against external threats and it goes on to state:

Should the State of Palestine fail to meet all or any of the Security Criteria at any time, the State of Israel will have the right to reverse the process outlined above. The State of Israel’s security footprint in all or parts of the State of Palestine will then increase as a result of the State of Israel’s determination of its expanded security needs and the time needed to address them.

There is no vestige of humanity nor respect for Palestinians in Israel’s daily, criminal acts of oppression against them – the Zionist regime exhibits nothing but vile contempt towards those it wishes to control. Israel’s behaviour should be warning enough to the world that the ‘Peace to Prosperity’ plan is nothing but subterfuge to permanently gain the upper hand and wipe out all hope for the Palestinian people. Have we learned nothing from history? Stuart Littlewood reminds us of Israel’s Plan Dalet, describing the proposed plan, he writes: “The Zionist terror conspiracy to steal the land of Palestine is nearing its bizarre climax.”

The Palestinian people have most certainly not been consulted in the contriving of this contemptuous so-called ‘deal’ yet the UK seems to have come down on the side of the US and Israel in apparent approval of the Netanyahu/Trump plan. Will the present New Zealand Government unequivocally reject it and stand by Resolution 2334? The endangered worldwide perception of international law and defence of universal human rights and justice desperately needs progressive governments to declare their unconditional and unwavering support.