CMEP Bulletin: Israel/Palestine on the American Stage
Ten U.S. Democratic Senators Urge Netanyahu: Do Not Demolish Palestinian Village of Sussia [Haaretz]
Haaretz reports, “Ten U.S. senators sent a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu on Wednesday urging him to stop the demolition of Sussia and Khan al-Ahmar, two Palestinian villages in the West Bank that Israeli authorities say were built illegally. Among those who signed the letter are two prominent Jewish members of the Senate, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). … Sussia is located near the Jewish settlement of the same name in Area C, the region under full Israeli civil and security authority. … The Israeli High Court ordered to halt its demolition and allow residents, among the poorest in the West Bank, to remain in the village. However, Israel rejected a master plan presented in the name of Sussia residents and has not prepared one of its own.”
US Reverses, Says Palestinians Can Keep DC Office Open [The Hill]
“The U.S. will allow the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) office in Washington to remain open, despite threatening last week to shutter it. According to a State Department spokesperson, the office will be allowed to stay open with certain limitations, including that the PLO’s activities there be ‘related to achieving a lasting, comprehensive peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.’ … The Trump administration could lift the restrictions after 90 days if peace talks have begun between the Palestinians and the Israelis, the spokesperson said, adding that the State Department is ‘optimistic’ that by that time ‘the political process may be sufficiently advanced that the President will be in a position to allow the PLO office to resume full operations,’” according to The Hill.
Analysis of NGO Monitor’s “Analysis” of the McCollum Bill [Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP)]
Lara Friedman writes, “On 11/16, NGO Monitor (NGOM) published a hit-piece attacking legislation introduced by Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN), HR 4391, promoting the human rights of Palestinian children and seeking to ensure that United States tax dollars are not supporting violations of these rights by Israeli authorities. Below is a point-by-point analysis of NGOM’s “analysis” of the bill. … The McCollum bill is not suggesting that minors under the age of criminal responsibility are immune from consequences for their alleged actions. The bill is observing that even under Israeli military law, they cannot be tried in military courts. This makes the detention of these children and the violation of their rights as minors even starker.”
Click here to read these items and more in the Churches for Middle East Peace Bulletin.