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0202 – Points of View from Jerusalem

#0202_A_View_from_West_Jerusalem

"This morning the Knesset Internal Affairs Committee marked International Human Rights Day with an emphasis on the ongoing violations by the Palestinian Authority against Israeli Arabs.

During the hearing, I explained that the Issam Akel affair (an American resident who has been detained in Ramallah for two months on suspicion of selling land to Jews) is part of a broader pattern of persecuting opponents of the tyrannical regime of Abu Mazen. In this context, we must put an end to this incompetence in the Arab sector in general and in Jerusalem in particular, lest the closure of cases and the assassinations increase."

– Nicolas Nissim Touboul [1]

#0202_A_View_From_East_Jerusalem

"An Open Letter to David Friedman, US Ambassador to Israel

November 29, 2013

Ambassador David Friedman
United States Ambassador to Israel

As an American citizen and a retired veteran, I was troubled today but not surprised by your demand for the immediate release of a dual Palestinian-U.S. citizen Isaam Akel held by the Palestinian Authority and who is being charged with helping to selling a Palestinian-owned home to an Israeli citizen.
First of all, I find it comical if not bemusing that you would use a 16th-century English word "antithetical" in your tweet to express your opposition and displeasure with the detention of Mr. Akel who is being charged with breaking the Palestinian law! An average Joe would not know what this term means. So, who were you trying to impress?
The Palestinian Authority arrested Akel, the real state dealer, two months ago for attempting to sell a property in East Jerusalem without the consent of his business partners and the P.A. Akel received a $25,000 dollars bribe for the Jerusalem land deal.
Palestinian law bars selling land to "a hostile state or any of its citizens", and requires the permission of the Palestinian Authority for all land sales in East Jerusalem. Reason? The sale of land in the Israeli Occupied Territories, including East Jerusalem to illegal Jewish settlers and or to Israeli citizens, is illegal since Palestinians see it as an attempt by Israel to "Judiazie" E. Jerusalem. Palestinians also want E. Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state. The whole world considered the settlements in E. Jerusalem and the West Bank as a violation of international law, except Israel.
As you should know, taking or giving a bribe is considered unlawful and is a violation of the laws of the United States. This crime was committed on Palestinian soil and not U.S. soil. On what grounds are you demanding his immediate release? Your demand strikes me not only as insulting but as an appellant breach of diplomatic protocol. I am not so sure who died and made you Elvis? After all, you seem to have a selective morality when it comes to helping US citizens in distress in Palestine. That leads me to the real reason I am writing this letter.
Where was your outrage when 3 U.S. citizens were recently humiliated and abused by Israel after they were denied entry into Palestine? One of them was detained for 2 weeks at Ben Gurion airport. Shamefully, you did not make a peep. Neither your twitter feed nor President Trump's said anything about Susan Abulhawa, Lara Alqassem, and Ariel Gold. It took the Israel Supreme court's ruling to allow Lara to stay and attend Hebrew University. No thanks to you!
May I ask you why the incarceration and abuse of these three American women were not "antithetical" (your term not mine) to US values? Why have you not come to their aid or demand their immediate release,” as you did in the case of Akel? I wonder if you even know that one of the women is Jewish like yourself!
I remember the outrage generated by the arrest of the 27-year-old Ilan Chiam Grapel, a dual Israeli-U.S. national who was arrested in a Cairo for spying for Israel in 2011. Unlike Susan, Lara, and Ariel, our government interceded on his behalf by stating "We see no basis for any legal action against him." Why bend backward to appease Israel and then go out of your way to ignore US citizens who are of Palestinian origins and who are critical of Israel's cruel and unjust treatment of the Palestinians?
To argue that our government does not interfere with the internal affairs of other countries and then turn around and tell the P.A. to release a lawbreaker immediately is hypocrisy or arrogant at best.
Before I end this letter, let me get something off my chest. The so-called "deal of the century" that you and the other two Zionist Jewish Americans(Kushner and Greenblatt) have engineered is going to be still born. It is nothing more than salvaged, old and failed peace plans. You and your cronies PM, Satanyahu[2] and Mo Ben Salman can take your deal and shove it where the sun does not shine.
This is not a deal but rather an Israeli dictate or surrender agreement written by the Israeli, promoted by the US and supported by the Gulf states for Palestinian leaders to sign. This cleverly-packaged and promoted deal will actually give Israel everything it wants and leave the Palestinians crumbs to contend with. Basically, 1) No Palestinian state, 2) No claim to the city of Jerusalem, 3, No rights of return to 5.5 million refugees, and 4) Israel will have exclusive control of the Gaza borders, airspace and waters.
A better peace plan would be to transfer Israel to the middle of the USA. That way, it would be surrounded with friendly states, Palestinians will get back what was stolen from them, US tax-payers will not have to pay Israel $3.5 BILLIONS a year until Judgement Day, and no one in the Middle East will burn the Old Glory and shout death to America.
As a representative of the American people in Jerusalem, you should extend the SAME COURTESY to all U.S. citizens visiting or living in Palestine, quit acting as an Israeli lap dog, plus, don't stick your nose where it does not belong."

– From the Ask Jerusalem [3] Facebook group

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0202 Editor’s note:
[1] Nicolas Nissim Touboul works with ‘Blue and White Human Rights’, a legislature programme “created as a Zionistic ideal, to enable individuals to support Palestinian rights and dignity and strengthen Israel as a just and worthy society.” This programme is under ‘The Institute for Zionist Strategies’ (IZS) who as self-described, “promotes and strengthens Israel’s Jewish character and its democratic nature.”
[2] A play on words with the word "satan" and Israel's Prime Minister's name Benjamin Netanyahu.
[3] Ask Jerusalem is a popular Facebook group in East Jerusalem.

https://tinyurl.com/y7bpxv3e
https://www.facebook.com/mohammed.agha.7393/posts/1116781821823642

https://www.facebook.com/1675349376080655/posts/2272533093028944