The ad, placed by The World Values Network, where Rabbi Shmuley Boteach serves as executive director, decried Palestinians’ actions against Israelis and went on to blast Kerry for saying that “there’s been a massive increase in [illegal Israeli] settlements over the course of the last years and there’s an increase in the violence because there’s this frustration that’s growing”. The United States also strongly criticized Netanyahu’s decision.
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Leaders of the Israeli Arab minority declared a commercial strike for Thursday in protest at the ban and accused Netanyahu of scapegoating their community rather than addressing the Palestinians’ grievances and statehood demands. The group’s leaders, known for their fiery rhetoric, have spearheaded accusations that Israel is plotting to take over a sensitive holy site in Jerusalem.
“It is not just punishing the political position of the Islamic movement through its stance on Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa compound”, Khatib said. Chairman of the Dutch Socialist Party, Jan Marijnissen, was more specific in making this connection between the supposed Palestinian despair and the Muslims who killed 132 people in Paris.
In a separate development, Israel also said it had approved the construction of hundreds of homes in a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem. University of Haifa’s Sammy Smooha said the ban would cause “friction and resistance” while Northwestern University’s Elie Rekhess, a leading expert on Israel’s Arabs, has said the move would lead to “growing unity within the Arab political elites” pulling together the various ideological streams. “Do you know how many West Banks there are in the world?”
The graphic shows the expansion of the Israeli state over time, as it consumed a greater and greater share of Palestinian land.
Netanyahu sought to link the Paris bombings with the killing of two Israeli settlers in South Hebron on Friday, saying, “You can’t say these are the good terrorists and these are the bad terrorists”.
During a question-and-answer session with The Jerusalem Post’s chief diplomatic correspondent, Herb Keinon, Netanyahu repeated his criticism of the Swedish foreign minister, accusing her of having a “fundamental misunderstanding of the sources of terrorism”.
“The northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel is undermining the state”, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has accused Israeli troops of consistently attacking its teams in the field, shooting and firing tear gas canisters at them or beating and pepper spraying them. Gen. Yoav Mordechai and Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs Hussen al-Sheikh signed an agreement granting Palestinian mobile carriers 3G high-speed data services in the West Bank. It denied the Palestinians access to 3G and 4G services, and allowed no import of devices and equipment the service needs, citing security concerns.
In this Tuesday, November 10, 2015 photo, Palestinians drive near the Qalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Abbas said he also felt Olmert’s offer to accept a symbolic number of Palestinian refugees into Israel did not resolve the issue – because descendants of Palestinian refugees now number in the millions, many scattered across the region.
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Moreover, the use of the label of “terrorist” to justify the anti-democratic political persecution of the Northern Islamic Movement and the Morabitat not only gravely endangers the possibility of Palestinian liberation, but the rights of all citizens under Israeli rule.
