Palestine fear that they could be isolated within the region over Arab support after legitimate concerns are raised over a peace deal in the region that could be forced upon them by the US. Israeli forces have murdered the alleged killer of a settler in the illegal Israeli settlement of Havat Gilad a few weeks ago. Finally, a Palestinian beauty blogger has rejected an industry award due to the sponsorship by Actress Gal Gadot.
The US could force a peace deal onto the region by bypassing Palestine entirely. This would be achieved by convincing Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan to fall in line behind them.
The deal supposedly officially recognises some land for the Palestinians, conveniently forgetting they already had land that was given away by the British and US.
Isolating Palestine
The declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital seems to be a move to isolate Palestine from its allies in the region because none of them seem overly keen to stand against the US. MEE has previously reported how MbS put pressure on Abbas to accept Trump's peace proposal. Details of the peace plan have not been released but it has been suggested that it would not include recognising East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state and any settlement of the issue of Palestinian refugees' right of return.
On Wednesday, Palestinian and Israeli media reported that the Israeli forces killed a Palestinian and arrested another in the West Bank town of Jenin.
The Israeli police claimed that he was involved in the shooting of the settler The shooting of settler Raziel Shevah occurred near the West Bank settlement outpost of Havat Gilad, which was built without the Israeli government's authorisation, and, like other settlements, is considered illegal under international law. The Palestinian state media have identified the man as Ahmed Jarrar, whose father was a Hamas leader who was killed by Israeli soldiers during the second intifada in 2002.
The Changemaker Award, which celebrates the beauty company Revlon Live Boldly campaign, was given to Amani al-Khatahtbeh for her advocacy for Muslim women, however, she declined the award because of the ambassador role given to Gal Gadot, who is a former Israeli Army soldier support the Israeli Defence Force’s campaign against the Palestinian people.
Gal Gadot shared a message of support for the IDF of her Facebook page during the conflict between Israel and Gaza in 2014, which saw at least 2,200 Palestinians killed, 20,000 homes destroyed and up to 500,000 Gaza residents displaced.
Amnesty International UK to cancel an event organised by the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) is an important development in the fight against Israel's illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The JLC have claimed that they don’t have a position on the settlements but in December 2016, it backed a protest of the UN Security Council's adoption of a resolution condemning Israeli settlements. Furthermore, the JLC take an active approach in fighting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. Among the group also include Israeli apologist groups such as BIOCOM and the Zionist Federation.
