In this mailing:
by Bassam Tawil
• December 5, 2016 at 5:00 am
- While
construction in Jewish settlements of the West Bank and neighborhoods
of Jerusalem has long been carried out within the frame of the law and
in accordance with proper licenses issued by the relevant authorities,
the Palestinian construction is illegal in every respect.
- The Palestinian
goal is to create irreversible facts on the ground. The sheer enormity
of the project raises the question: Who has been funding these massive
cities-within-cities? And why? There is good reason to believe that
the PLO and some Arabs and Muslims, and especially the European Union,
are behind the Palestinian initiative.
- The Jewish
outpost of Amona, home to 42 families, is currently the subject of
fiery controversy both in Israel and in the international arena.
Apparently, settlements are only a "major obstacle to peace"
when they are constructed by Jews.
- The EU and some
Islamic governments and organizations are paying for the construction
of illegal Palestinian settlements, while demanding that Israel halt
building new homes for Jewish families in Jerusalem neighborhoods or
existing settlements in the West Bank.
- The hypocrisy and
raw malice of the EU and the rest of the international community
toward the issue of Israeli settlements is blindingly transparent. Yet
we are also witnessing the hypocrisy of many in the Western mainstream
media, who see with their own eyes the Palestinian settlements rising
on every side of Jerusalem, but choose to report only about Jewish
building.
An example of massive illegal Palestinian construction
on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
As the international community continues to slam Israel for
construction in Jewish settlement communities, Palestinians are quietly
engaging in massive construction of entire neighborhoods in many parts of
the West Bank and Jerusalem. In addition to overlooking the Palestinian
building project, the West has clearly been neglecting a crucial difference
between the two efforts: while the construction in the Jewish settlements
of the West Bank and neighborhoods of Jerusalem has long been carried out
within the frame of the law and in accordance with proper licenses issued
by the relevant authorities, the Palestinian construction is illegal in
every respect.
In this behind-the-scenes endeavor, which does not meet even the most
minimum standards required by engineers, architects and housing planners,
the Palestinian goal is to create irreversible facts on the ground.
by Majid Rafizadeh
• December 5, 2016 at 4:00 am
- Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei made it clear that Trump's presidency causes "no
difference" to Iran-US relationships. He called the Americans'
election "a spectacle for exposing their crimes and
debacles."
- "Thank God,
we are prepared to confront any possible incident." — Iran's
Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
- From the
perspective of Iranian moderates, reformists and hardliners, the US is
not a superpower anymore; but a weak actor in the Middle East and on
the global stage.
- Iranian leaders
also made it clear that Tehran will continue supporting Hezbollah and
other groups that have been designated as terrorist groups by the US
Department of State. These groups pursue anti-American and
anti-Israeli agendas.
Ideologically speaking, Iran's hardliners, primarily Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior officials of the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC) who enjoy the final say in Iran's domestic and foreign
policies, have made it clear that Iran will not change the core pillars of
its religious and revolutionary establishment: Anti-Americanism and hatred
towards the "Great Satan" and the "Little Satan",
Israel.
Supporters of Ayatollah Khamenei and the IRGC enthusiastically shouted
"Death to America" in response to a recent speech that Khamenei
gave, applauding the 1979 hostage-taking and takeover of the US Embassy in
Tehran.
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