A View From The Left-* * * * NEW WARS / OLD WARS – What Could Possibly Go Wrong

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NEW WARS / OLD WARS – What Could Possibly Go Wrong

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ISRAEL, PALESTINE, GAZA. . . and the US

Jerusalem: UN resolution rejects Trump's declaration

The UN General Assembly has decisively backed a resolution effectively calling on the US to withdraw its recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.  The text says that any decisions regarding the status of the city are "null and void" and must be cancelled. The non-binding resolution was approved by 128 states, with 35 abstaining and nine others voting against.  It came after US President Donald Trump threatened to cut financial aid to those who backed the resolution.    More

The vote by population was even more overwhelming if we look at the countries which voted with the US:

·         The nine who voted against the resolution were the US, Israel, Guatemala, Honduras, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Togo

Abstainers were either white settler colonies or small countries dependent on the US and/or looking for Israeli support in Washington.

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Bethlehem: Living Between Tear Gas and Christmas Ornaments (from last year)

Bethlehem is a besieged city surrounded by a 26-foot-high wall erected on much of its perimeter. This imposing edifice prevents many farmers from getting to their land and restricts residents from performing everyday actions, like going to school or work. By the time it is completed, 56 kilometers of this barrier—which many call the apartheid wall—will leave 12 communities physically separated from the rest of Bethlehem. Fully 85 percent of the Governorate of Bethlehem is classified as part of Area C—under complete Israeli control in all security and civil matters. In addition, there are 19 settlements—illegal according to international law and officially opposed by the U.S. government—surrounding the governorate which house over 100,000 Israeli settlers… This Christmas season, as Christians the world over sing of Baby Jesus’s little town of Bethlehem, they must also remember that this city remains under a crippling Israeli occupation. There will be no meaningful peace in Bethlehem as long as the Palestinians there have to live with the wall, settlements, and an unrelenting military chokehold.    More

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