Critical Observer

ISRAEL SENDS TROOPS TO WEST BANK FOR SETTLERS' DEATH

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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's military deployed hundreds of troops in the West Bank on Friday, a day after a drive-by shooting by suspected Palestinian gunmen killed a Jewish settler couple driving home with their children. 
 
The attack took place late Thursday when gunmen opened fire at a vehicle travelling near the Palestinian village of Beit Furik. The shots killed Eitam and Naama Henkin, residents of the Jewish West Bank settlement of Neria. Their four young children, including a four-month old infant, were in the back seat of the car, but were unharmed. 
 
On Friday, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon visited the site, pledging to catch the perpetrators and, like other Israeli politicians, blaming Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for inciting such violence. 
 
Thousands attended the parents' funeral on Friday in Jerusalem, including Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. 
 
"We cannot stand silently when the hands of murderers steal a loving mother and father away from their children," Rivilin said in a eulogy. "We are facing a brutal terrorist onslaught." 
 
The attack comes on the heels of a series of Palestinian rock and firebomb attacks that have prompted Israel to vow to quash such threats. 
 
It also followed a hard-line speech at the United Nations by Abbas, the last of several that Israeli leaders have condemned as incitement. Abbas has said that Israelis desecrate a Jerusalem holy site with their "dirty feet" and charged that Israel was committed to the "ethnic cleansing" of his people. 
 
Speaking before the U.N. General Assembly, Abbas said Israel had repeatedly violated its commitments, most notably by expanding settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, on lands the Palestinians seek for a future state, and accused Israel of waging "a new war of genocide ... against the Palestinian people." 
 
"A people whose leader encourages murder will never have a state and this must be stated clearly," said Cabinet minister Naftali Bennett, head of the pro-settler Jewish Home party. 
 
Settler leaders said they planned to stage a protest in front of the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who is currently in New York after addressing the United Nations — to demand tougher action to defend the settlers from militants. 
 
Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers welcomed Thursday's attack but stopped short of claiming responsibility for it. Abbas' Palestinian Authority did not comment on the attack. 
 
Tensions have continued to flare between Israelis and Palestinians over the Jerusalem site known to Jews as the Temple Mount, home to the biblical Temples, and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, site of the Al-Aqsa mosque and the spot from where the Prophet Muhammad is said to have ascended to heaven.

ISRAEL SENDS TROOPS TO WEST BANK FOR SETTLERS' DEATH

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's military deployed hundreds of troops in the West Bank on Friday, a day after a drive-by shooting by suspect...

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Palestinian flag to fly at UN HQ after 119 nations vote ‘yes’

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UN General Assembly has passed a Palestinian resolution to allow its flag fly in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York, angering Israel and giving hope to Palestinians seeking to gain full UN membership. 
 
The resolution stated that flags of non-member observer states like Palestine “shall be raised at [UN] Headquarters [in New York] and United Nations Offices following the flags of the member states.” 
 
The vote was passed with 119 votes out of 193 in favor. Among the European countries that voted ‘yes’ were France, Russia, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Belgium, Malta and Poland. 
 
The majority of EU member states were among the 45 countries that chose to abstain. A total of eight countries voted against the idea, including the US and Israel. 
 
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah told reporters that he strongly believes this marks another step towards recognition of Palestinian statehood. 
 
“It’s a step to the recognition of Palestine as a full member state of the United Nations,” Hamdallah said in Paris. 
 
Currently, the UN has only one other non-member observer state – the Vatican. The Holy See did not demonstrate any excitement when the idea was first brought up last month, however, and rejected the Palestinians’ original proposal to introduce the resolution as a joint effort, asking the Vatican to co-sponsor the document. 
 
The Vatican still remained unsure on Wednesday whether it will be flying its flag next to Palestine’s. 
 
The observer flags could go up within 20 days, according to the resolution. 
 
Palestinian diplomats would like to see the flag raised on September 30, marking the day when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed world leaders at the annual gathering of the UN General Assembly. 
 
Israel criticized the UN’s decision, claiming the international body is biased towards Palestinians. 
 
“The assembly would vote to declare the Earth is flat if the Palestinians proposed it,” Israel’s UN Ambassador Ron Prosor said. 
 
At the same time, US Ambassador Samantha Power expressed concern that flying the flag at the UN will only create more tension between Israelis and Palestinians. 
 
The occupied Palestinian territories have been seeking full independence from Israel for decades, with Palestinians demanding full recognition as a sovereign state from the UN and the international community. 
 
This significant step forward for Palestinians comes after the General Assembly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine in 2012. 
 
At the end of 2014, a bid proposed by the Palestinians’ calling for the creation of a Palestinian state and an end to Israeli “occupation” failed in the UN Security Council after the US used its veto power to kill the measure. 
 
In the beginning of September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced his willingness to continue negotiations with Palestine “without preconditions.” 
 
The last round of peace talks between the Israeli government and the Palestinians took place between July 2013 and April 2014. Israel halted the negotiations after Fatah, part of the Palestinian Authority, declared peace with Hamas, Israel’s sworn enemy. 
 
In a recent statement, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said that the Israelis have the “right” to build settlements in the West Bank and it is “not a matter of political debate.” His comments are likely to cause controversy, with the EU and Palestine opposed to illegal Israeli development in the area. 
 
Settlement building in occupied territories is considered illegal by international bodies. It has also been a major obstacle to peace negotiations. The Palestinians see the West Bank as part of any future independent state. 
 
Currently, more than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements in and around East Jerusalem. All of them have been built since Israel occupied the Palestinian territories in 1967. 
 
At the same time, Israel has maintained a blockade of the Gaza Strip since 2007, on the grounds of preventing arms from being delivered to the Hamas militant movement. 
 
However, many human rights groups argue that Israel is deliberately trying to hurt the Palestinian population by not allowing humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and preventing any kind of sea trade. 
 
The latest UN report said that “almost all of the population” is destitute in the Gaza Strip because wars and economic blockades have all but destroyed its entire economy. If the trend continues, the territory may become “unlivable” in five years, a UN conference has warned.

Palestinian flag to fly at UN HQ after 119 nations vote ‘yes’

UN General Assembly has passed a Palestinian resolution to allow its flag fly in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York, an...

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Gaza to be UNINHABITABLE by 2020 if trends continue says The UN

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A new United Nations report says Gaza could be "uninhabitable" in less than five years if current economic trends continue. 
 
The report released Tuesday by the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development points to the eight years of economic blockade of Gaza as well as the three wars between Israel and the Palestinians there over the past six years. 
 
Last year's war displaced half a million people and left parts of Gaza destroyed. 
 
The war "has effectively eliminated what was left of the middle class, sending almost all of the population into destitution and dependence on international humanitarian aid," the new report says. 
Gaza's GDP dropped 15 percent last year, and unemployment reached a record high of 44 percent. Seventy-two percent of households are food insecure. 
 
The wars have shattered Gaza's ability to export and produce for the domestic market and left no time for reconstruction, the report says. It notes that Gaza's "de-development," or development in reverse, has been accelerated. 
 
Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade of Gaza since the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007. 
 
The report comes as Egyptian military bulldozers press ahead with a project that effectively would fill Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip with water and flood the last remaining cross-border underground smuggling tunnels, which have brought both commercial items and weapons into Gaza. 
The report calls the economic prospects for 2015 for the Palestinian territories "bleak" because of the unstable political situation, reduced aid and the slow pace of reconstruction. 
 
By CARA ANNA of Associated Press 
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Gaza to be UNINHABITABLE by 2020 if trends continue says The UN

A new United Nations report says Gaza could be "uninhabitable" in less than five years if current economic trends continue. T...

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