Palestine hails UN vote on right to self-determination
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement welcoming the adoption of a resolution by the United Nations General Assembly to recognise “the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination”.
The ministry pointed out that 170 countries voted in favour of the resolution, including states “that have evolved their positions to support this fundamental right”. Only Israel, the United States and four others voted against it, while nine countries including Palau and Tonga abstained.
The resolution is welcome “at a time when the Palestinian people are facing genocide and ongoing violations of all their rights, including the right to self-determination”, the ministry said, adding this gives hope to Palestinians that the world is ready to “confront genocide, colonial settlement expansion, and settler terrorism”.
EU to discuss sanctions, ‘suspending political dialogue with Israel’
Foreign ministers of the European Union will discuss proposals to ban imports from illegal Israeli settlements and suspend political dialogue with Israel.
The bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, announced he is proposing the measures because of the many violations of international law committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
The EU has imposed many sanctions – from visa bans and “terrorist” designations to import restrictions and sanctions – in other cases of violations of international law, but “until now Israel has been spared from any meaningful consequences”.
“This has to change. This is why I have proposed an import ban on illegal settlement products, based on the recent advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, similar to the existing import ban on products from occupied Ukrainian territories – because even-handedness is the lynchpin of Europe’s credibility.”
Borrell said he will also propose a suspension of political dialogue with Israel to EU member states.
After a year of unheeded pleas about the situation in Gaza, we cannot continue with business as usual.
I have proposed to EU Member States to ban import of products from illegal settlements and to suspend the political dialog with Israel.
Read my blog:https://t.co/n9BM5UbW5n pic.twitter.com/PdeMiYPfyy
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) November 15, 2024
In Amsterdam, clashes trigger a divisive blame game as old wounds reopen
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/15/in-amsterdam-clashes-trigger-a-divisive-blame-game-as-old-wounds-reopen
More than a week after clashes in Amsterdam, Tori Egherman, a Jewish writer and researcher who has lived in the Dutch capital for 20 years, still feels angry.
“What makes me angry is that they come, act in the most violent and racist ways, and then leave us to clean up their mess,” she said of the Israeli football club fans involved in last week’s violence.
“This episode only makes Jews and Muslims suffer the most. If we are more divided and can’t work together, there’s little we can do as communities to improve the current situation.”
