A7News: Palestinian Authority: Jerusalem is not negotiable

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Friday, Feb. 15 '19, י' באדר תשע"ט





HEADLINES:
1. PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: JERUSALEM IS NOT NEGOTIABLE
2. CHILDREN KEPT SHOCKING SECRET FROM TEACHERS, FRIENDS
3. FINANCE MINISTER: I'LL DO EVERYTHING I CAN TO PREVENT PRICE HIKE
4. AUSTRALIA TARGETS MARCH SIGNING OF STALLED INDONESIA TRADE DEAL
5. ALIZA LAVIE LEAVES YESH ATID
6. NETANYAHU: SOMETHING AMAZING HAPPENED HERE
7. KUSHNER ON US PEACE PLAN: ARAB STATES ABANDONING HATE
8. PENCE RIPS EUROPE FOR HELPING IRAN EVADE US SANCTIONS


1. PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: JERUSALEM IS NOT NEGOTIABLE
by Dalit Halevi

Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Rami Hamdallah emphasized that Jerusalem, and all of its neighborhoods, suburbs, and nearby Bedouin encampments, is not for sale and is not negotiable.

Speaking in the Bedouin encampment of Bir Nabala, Hamdallah said that the PA's activities will continue regardless of the challenges. This, he said, is part of the responsibility of the PA Arabs and their justification for existence.

According to Hamdallah, Jerusalem will always be an inseparable part of "Palestine."

He also said that the PA Arabs proved to the world that despite Israel's financial and political "siege" and its "attacks," the building and development in the area are the PA's way of fighting, growing, and continued existence. Thanks to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' leadership and diplomatic activities, he said, the PA Arabs have managed to overcome the "plotting" against them.


2. CHILDREN KEPT SHOCKING SECRET FROM TEACHERS, FRIENDS
by Sponsored Content

The Ben Dahan teenagers have attended school during recent weeks concealing a secret. Though teachers and friends noticed that they seemed less clean and that they often wore the same clothing, they did not dream of the dark reality at hand:

The Ben Dahan family recently made aliyah from French Polynesia, full of optimism for their new life in the 'holy land.' When father Daniel lost his job, however, the matter took a turn for the worst. Unable to secure a new job for months due to his insufficient Hebrew, Daniel and his wife Devorah, a high school teacher, were no longer able to cover their basic expenses. Before long, they were evicted from their apartment. The otherwise 'regular' family of 5 is now homeless.

Living on the couches of neighbors, the Ben Dahan family have taken a major blow to their confidence and dignity. Daniel has recently begun work, but the two parents, despite being employed, are unable to recover from their previous debts and secure a place to live. The situation has become so severe that Devorah has made a plea to the public. She presents homelessness from a new perspective:

"Before this I thought that people who were homeless had issues, that there was something wrong with them," she writes. "But we're just a regular Jewish family, with two working parents doing their best, and it happened to us."

The exasperated mother has now been forced to beg for the help of strangers, in the hopes of gaining a fighting chance at renting an apartment and putting food on the table until they are back on their feet. Their story is a grim reminder that even those households with two working parents can experience the unthinkable. Donors can rest assured that contributions go toward providing the most basic dignity to a family in need.

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3. FINANCE MINISTER: I'LL DO EVERYTHING I CAN TO PREVENT PRICE HIKE
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) promised to do everything possible to prevent the prices of price-controlled dairy products from rising.

Responding Friday to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit's statement that there is no reason the government cannot raise the cost of price-controlled dairy products, Kahlon said, "Over the past year, I have refused to sign an agreement to raise the prices of dairy products."

"This is because I believe it to be a cynical and unnecessary step, taken by an aggressive and exploitative monopoly which aims to increase profits at the expense of the public.

"It pains me that the attorney's office did not see fit to back my stance.

"I will do everything in my power, within the confines of the law, to prevent this unnecessary price hike. I intend to order that the subject of the dairies' management, first and foremost that of Tnuva, as well as the relationships between the dairies, be re-examined immediately after the elections."


4. AUSTRALIA TARGETS MARCH SIGNING OF STALLED INDONESIA TRADE DEAL
by AFP, Arutz Sheva Staff

Australia said Friday a long-awaited trade deal with Indonesia will be signed in March, following months of diplomatic tension over Canberra's plan to move its embassy to Jerusalem.

The multi-billion-dollar deal will include improved access for Australian cattle and sheep farmers to Indonesia's 260 million people, while Australian universities, health providers and miners will also benefit from easier entry to southeast Asia's biggest economy.

Greater access to the Australian market is expected to spur Indonesia's automotive and textile industries, and boost exports of timber, electronic and medicinal goods.

"This a strong deal for both our countries, which will increase the two-way flow of trade and investment, creating more opportunities for farmers, businesses and economic development," Australia's minister for trade Simon Birmingham told AFP.

Bilateral trade was worth US$11.7 billion in 2017.

The deal has been in negotiations since 2010 and was expected to be signed before the end of last year before it stalled when Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison proposed the relocation of Australia's embassy to Jerusalem.

Morrison first floated the shift in October, ahead of a critical by-election in a Sydney suburb with a sizeable Jewish population.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, was angered by the proposal.

In December, Morrison formally recognized Jerusalem's western neighborhoods as the capital of
Israel, while stressing his commitment to a two-state solution.

He stood by his decision despite outcry from neighboring Muslim countries, while Indonesia in response simply said it had noted the decision.

"Indonesia is the third largest democracy in the world with a fast-growing economy, making the strengthening of our ties both strategically and economically important," Birmingham said in a statement.

"I've continued to have very constructive discussions with a number of Indonesian Ministers in the last few months and am pleased to be finalizing arrangements that we hope will achieve a March signing," he added.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir confirmed the signing of a deal was imminent.

"All the issues have been discussed and negotiations have been finalized," he told reporters in the capital, Jakarta.

A March signing will come within months of an expected Australian election, where polls have Morrison's conservative coalition facing a loss.

The deal also comes just ahead of national polls in which Indonesian president Joko Widodo is pushing his economic record in the battle for re-election.


5. ALIZA LAVIE LEAVES YESH ATID
by Hezki Baruch

MK Aliza Lavie on Friday morning announced her decision to leave the Yesh Atid party.

The announcement comes after party chairman Yair Lapid told Lavie that she would not be placed in a realistic spot on the party list.

Yesh Atid MK Haim Jelin received a similar notification on Thursday, after which he decided to leave the party and not run in the coming elections.

According to News 12, sources close to Jelin quoted him as saying that Lapid "kicked me out. He brought lots of new people and made them promises. Lapid doesn't think for a second about the residents of the Gaza border area, who I represent in the Knesset. All that interests him is showing off a sparkly list of new people who will compete against [Benny] Gantz. Gantz confused him."

In an official statement, Gantz said, "Since I immigrated to Israel as a lone soldier and settled in Kibbutz Be'eri (near the Gaza border - ed.), I have insisted on serving society and the country in every job I do. This is how I will continue to act in the future as well. I am a farmer, a settler, a resident of the Gaza border area, and above everything else, I am a Zionist who loves this country."

"My values are my landscape, every day and every hour. For me, it's not just a slogan that lasts until elections, it's not a show, and I have no need for stage instructions."


6. NETANYAHU: SOMETHING AMAZING HAPPENED HERE
by Yoni Kempinski, Warsaw

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/259073

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu considers the international conference which took place in Warsaw this week to be a success and a sign of the diplomatic progress Israel has made in the Middle East.

"I can reveal that something happened here. Of the five Arab foreign ministers who spoke, four spoke out against Iran and spoke of Israel's right to defend itself. They talked about the fact that once the main issue was the Palestinian issue, but today they said that the Iranian issue should be at the top. When I spoke yesterday, they did not leave, they sat. They did not just sit. They did not just nod. here are many contacts, but here there was something public with a group picture," Netanyahu said.

"There is a change here, the change is in terms of the things they said, and the things that will be done. I'm not saying that the Palestinian issue did not come up, but it came out as a derivative of the larger issues. The big issue was Iran, while the Palestinians were just mentioned. This was once inconceivable. [US Vice President Mike] Pence told me it was a big change.

"I cannot detail what I talked with certain people about, or what I'll talk about later. It's not that they (the Arab foreign ministers) have no complaints, they do. But they recognize the intensity of the threat, and recognize Israel's assets. They said they wanted a practical continuation of this meeting. I have practical suggestions for the rest, which I will not elaborate on. It's important that they sat there, in front of the cameras.

He also praised Israel's relationship with the Trump Administration. "Pence spoke very forcefully against the Europeans, and the workarounds they made against the sanctions. As for Kushner, he said he would reveal [the US peace plan] following the elections and that the Arab initiative was appropriate once, but not suitable today."

"I met with the foreign ministers of Britain, Brazil, Oman, the Polish Prime Minister, and Vice President Pence. That's all I can say."

Netanyahu acknowledged that Russia remains close to Iran. "It is true that Putin met with [Iranian President] Rhouhani. I will also meet with Putin. I cannot say that there is no tension in the relations between Russia and the United States. Everyone knows about that. As for Iran, there is no alliance [between Iran and Russia], but rather common interests. Russia is not among those who are working to get Iran out of Syria, but we are. This affects Russia, as they see our strength."

"The Americans expressed total support for our policy and for the goal of removing Iran from Syria. Assad must make a decision if he continues with the policy of bringing Iran to make a terrorist base to our north."

The prime minister also addressed the issue of his recent statements which seem to contradict Israel's past policy of ambiguity on actions taken for its security.

"I will not reveal things which they do not already know that we did," Netanyahu said. "But when we use planes to strike Hezbollah and Iranian positions there is no issue of revealing sources."


7. KUSHNER ON US PEACE PLAN: ARAB STATES ABANDONING HATE
by Yoni Kempinski, Warsaw

Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner said that the US Middle East peace plan would be presented after Israeli elections in April.

Speaking during a session at the US-Polish conference on the Middle East held in Warsaw Thursday, Kushner refrained from going into detail about the plan, but said that both sides would have to "make compromises," according to reports.

"I think hearing from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel probably did a better job than I could have done of explaining to you why this is very possible today and why there's reason to be optimistic.

"If you look at the unifying principle of a lot of the Arab world over the previous time I think hatred of Israel has been the unifying principle. Now you're seeing in a lot of these Arab countries it's the love of their citizens and their desire to what in their countries best interests to provide them with the most opportunity and to prevent the most harm, and I think that's leading a lot of these countries to make different decisions and choose different paths.

"We spoke about the Arab peace initiative. That's something I hear about a lot; I think it was a great initiative, in 2002 when it was done, but it hasn't produced peace, so if that was the framework under which something would be accomplished then I think that would have been accomplished a long time ago, and then I wouldn't be doing the duty I'm doing right now to try to bring the people together.

"I would just urge everybody as this unfolds over the next months to keep an open mind... We'll hopefully find creative solutions where both sides can gain a lot more than they give, and we'll work alongside some traditional frameworks to try to find a way where people can be better off."

Earlier Thursday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had addressed the Iranian threat in the Middle East, asserting, "You can't achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran. It's just not possible."

"They're a malign influence in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, the three H's - the Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah - these are real threats," Pompeo elaborated. "There are others as well, but you can't get peace in the Middle East without pushing back against Iran."


8. PENCE RIPS EUROPE FOR HELPING IRAN EVADE US SANCTIONS
by Gary Willig

US Vice President Mike Pence called on European nations to cease assisting Iran in evading US sanctions.

Speaking at the Warsaw conference on the Middle East Thursday, Pence said that "sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative. In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions."

He decried the "effort to break American sanctions against Iran's murderous revolutionary regime".

"It is an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU and create still more distance between Europe and the United States.

Pence strongly criticized the Iranian leadership for its threats and human rights abuses. "The authoritarian regime in Tehran represses the freedom of speech and assembly, persecutes religious minorities, brutalizes women, executes gay people, and openly advocates the destruction of the State of Israel."

"Beyond its hateful rhetoric, the Iranian regime openly advocates another Holocaust and seeks the means to achieve it," he said.

"So to all of you gathered here who share this vision for peace and security across the Middle East, I promise you, on behalf of the President of the United States and the American people, that if you stand with us in this noble cause, we will stand with you.

The Vice President expressed a vision of the three Abrahamic religions living together in peace and harmony.Today, Jews, Christians, and Muslims -- more than half the population of the Earth and nearly all the people of the Middle East -- claim Abraham as their forefather in faith," Pence said.

"And I believe, on that foundation of that Abrahamic tradition, we can find a firm foundation for a brighter future for all the peoples and all the faiths of the Middle East.

Referring to the Temple Mount by its Arabic name, Pence said that "at the Haram al-Sharif, we see young Muslims' heads bowed in prayer. At the Church of the Sepulchre, we see a Christian child receiving the grace of baptism. At the Western Wall, we see a young Jewish boy being bar-mitzvahed."

"What we see there, we can see across the Middle East. That's the vision that President Trump has. That's what brings us all here today to pursue with sincere hearts. I believe with all my heart we can claim that blessing anew for all of the people of this region and for the world -- for ourselves and our posterity -- if we claim it with faith and we claim it together. So let us begin," the Vice President concluded.