In this mailing:
- Khaled Abu Toameh: It's Official: Palestinians Join Iran-led Anti-Peace Camp
- Judith Bergman: The Protests in Belarus
by Khaled Abu Toameh • August 18, 2020 at 5:00 am
By holding a political protest at the compound of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Palestinians are not only desecrating the sanctity of the site, but also sending a warning to citizens of UAE not to visit Jerusalem or the mosque, as many apparently hoped to do.
The Joint Statement of the United States, Israel, and the UAE on August 13 points out that according to President Donald J. Trump's Vision for Peace, "all Muslims who come in peace may visit and pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Jerusalem's other holy sites should remain open for peaceful worshippers of all faiths."
This warning shows that the Palestinians believe they have exclusive control over Islam's third-holiest site and are free to decide who can visit the site and who cannot. It is therefore the right time for Arabs and Muslims to step in to demand an end to Palestinian hegemony over the Al-Aqsa Mosque and other holy sites in Jerusalem.
By declaring war on the UAE, the Palestinian leadership has chosen to align itself with those who seek the elimination of Israel: Iran, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah. The Palestinian leadership has again demonstrated its determination to act against the interests of its own people, who could have benefited from the UAE-Israel deal by seeking financial aid from the Arab countries and jobs in the Gulf states.
Palestinians are waging an unprecedented campaign of defamation against the United Arab Emirates and its de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed. By holding a political protest at the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Palestinians are not only desecrating its sanctity, but also sending a warning to citizens of UAE not to visit Jerusalem or the mosque, as many apparently hoped to do. Pictured: Palestinians burn a portrait of Bin Zayed on August 14, 2020 at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
The Palestinians have spent the past few months trying to persuade the international community, including Arab countries, to help prevent Israel from applying its sovereignty to portions of the West Bank.
Now that one of these countries – the United Arab Emirates – succeeded in striking a deal with Israel, according to which the Israeli plan to extend Israeli law to more land would be suspended, the Palestinians are waging an unprecedented campaign of defamation against the UAE and its de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed.
Instead of thanking the UAE for managing to suspend the Israeli plan, Palestinians are protesting against the UAE because of its decision to normalize its relations with Israel. Palestinians have been burning UAE flags and photos of Bin Zayed and denouncing him as a "traitor," as well as accusing him of "stabbing the Palestinians and Arabs in the back" and "betraying Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem and the Palestinian cause."
by Judith Bergman • August 18, 2020 at 4:00 am
"You speak about unfair elections and want fair ones? I have an answer for you. We had the elections. Unless you kill me, there will be no other elections." — Alexander Lukashenko, Tass News Agency, August 17, 2020.
Lukashenko's crackdown on the protests has been particularly severe: Some 6,700 have been detained since protests erupted in the evening of August 9, at least two people have died and many more have been wounded. Riot police have used rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades to disperse thousands of peaceful demonstrators.
"Crowds outside a detention centre in Minsk say the screams of torture victims are audible from outside, and video footage corroborates this. The evidence points to a campaign of widespread torture and other ill-treatment by the Belarusian authorities who are intent on crushing peaceful protests by any means.... These are people whose only 'crime' was to take to the streets in peaceful protest. What we are seeing in Belarus is a human rights catastrophe that demands urgent action." — Marie Struthers, Amnesty International Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, August 13, 2020.
Unlike the murder of George Flynn in the US, the horrifying police brutality against thousands of peaceful demonstrators in Belarus has not caught the attention of Western activists, none of whom has taken to the streets in solidarity with innocent Belarussians.
The people of Belarus probably need a strong Western response, not just to counter Lukashenko and the rigged elections, but also to show Russia's President Vladimir Putin, who has been pushing for ever-closer "integration" with Belarus for many years, that Belarus will not be abandoned by the West.
Ukraine, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, all of which border Belarus, will be following developments closely. The West really needs to do the same: supporting Belarussian civil society, while deterring Russia's designs on the country.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko's crackdown on protests has been severe: Some 6,700 have been detained since protests erupted on August 9, at least two people have died and many more have been wounded. Pictured: Opposition supporters demonstrate in Minsk, Belarus on August 16, 2020. (Photo by Sergei Gapon / AFP via Getty Images)
President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron grip since 1994, "won" his sixth presidential election on August 9 with a remarkable 80% of the vote. Both the US and the EU have described the election -- much like the previous elections there -- as neither free nor fair.
"Belarus is an authoritarian police state in which elections are openly rigged and civil liberties are curtailed," Freedom House wrote in its 2019 report about Belarus.
Lukashenko is said to have treated Belarus as his personal fiefdom, while pretending that the Soviet Union never really went away. Prior to his political career, Lukashenko was the director of a state collective farm and, after the collapse of the Soviet Union was for a time perceived as a savior of Belarus, but he quickly went back to his old Communist ways.
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