World should reject Israel nefarious plans

Instead of joining the global community in the war against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that has been mercilessly claiming lives across the world, Israel is busy planning nefarious activities.

Israel’s plan to use parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories annexed in 1967 is rightly seen by the UAE as a dangerous development that impedes the peace process and undermines international efforts to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The attempt by the Israeli government to impose sovereignty on parts of the occupied West Bank is certainly unacceptable and violates international law and resolutions and impedes the peace process.

There can be no doubt that Israel is taking advantage of the global preoccupation with confronting the coronavirus pandemic to impose a new reality on the ground.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on April 26 that the United states would give Israel the nod within two months to move ahead with annexation of parts of the occupied lands.

Palestinians have flatly rejected the US peace proposal announced by President Donald Trump in January, primarily because it awards Israel most of what it has sought during decades of conflict, including nearly all the occupied land on which it has built settlements.

Under international law, settlements in all the Palestinian territories, including east Jerusalem, are illegal.

Trump’s plan is biased in favour of Israel as it would allow the occupation forces to annex all settlements as well as the strategic Jordan Valley. It would give the Palestinians limited autonomy in several chunks of territory with a capital on the outskirts of occupied Jerusalem, and that too only if they meet nearly impossible conditions.

As per Trump’s plan, Israel would also maintain overriding security responsibility for the State of Palestine, including at the Palestinian state’s international border crossings.

Washington should heed Arab countries’ call to abide by UN resolutions and withhold support for plans and maps of the Israeli occupation government woven under the cover of the so-called American-Israeli deal of the century.

European Union countries too should exert pressure on Israel to cancel its despicable plans.

What Israel conveniently forgets is that that only map that can be accepted by the international community as the map of Palestine is the map of the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with occupied Jerusalem as its capital.

Palestinian anger is justified.

This step, if taken, would eliminate the possibility of embodying an independent, sovereign, geographically connected and viable Palestinian state. This step, if completed, would end the two-state solution, as Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al Maliki points out.

The UAE’s current position towards the Palestinian cause is an extension of the historic position of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan who provided unwavering support to the Palestinians in their quest for their legitimate rights.

Right from the beginning, the UAE has maintained its unwavering stance in support of efforts to reach a permanent, just, and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue based on a two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state according to the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with international resolutions, the Arab Peace Initiative, and the principles of the Madrid Peace Conference.

It is imperative for the international community to fulfil its responsibility in calling for an end to all settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and reject Israeli actions that violate the relevant international resolutions.