Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Saeb Erekat

Palestinian Authority

Israel-Palestine

Palestinian

At Large

Big Shot

20030420

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Top Abbas adviser al-Sheikh to lead PLO’s executive committee

2022-05-27

[IsraelTimes] Appointment will strengthen bigwig’s position in potential bid to succeed 86-year-old Paleostinian Authority President Abbas.

Senior Paleostinian Authority official Hussein al-Sheikh has been appointed secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Paleostine Liberation Organization, a spokesperson for al-Sheikh said on Thursday.

A longtime member of the ruling Fatah party and a top adviser to Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas

...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....
, al-Sheikh is viewed as one of several contenders to succeed the 86-year-old leader. His appointment could put him in a prime position to do so.

Abbas directly appointed al-Sheikh to "take on the duties of the secretary-general," according to a PA presidential memo issued on Wednesday. al-Sheikh wasted little time, amending his biography on Twitter to add the new title of secretary-general as of Thursday afternoon.

For decades, Paleostinians viewed the Paleostine Liberation Organization as the standard-bearer of their national movement. Though the PLO has become largely devoid of power since the establishment of the Paleostinian Authority in the mid-1990s, an appointment to its leadership still carries symbolic weight.

The position has been unmanned since former secretary-general Saeb Erekat
...negotiated the Oslo Accords with Israel. He has been chief Paleostinian negotiator since 1995. He is currently negotiating with Israel to establish a de jure Paleostinian state...
died of COVID-19 in November 2020.

One of Abbas’s closest aides, al-Sheikh has long played a key role in Paleostinian politics. In recent years he has taken over various diplomatic duties, often meeting with American and European diplomats and flying to summits in Cairo with the ailing PA leader.

Al-Sheikh also enjoys close ties with his Israeli counterparts. Along with PA intelligence chief Majed Faraj, al-Sheikh attended every meeting between Abbas and senior Israeli officials over the past year.

Al-Sheikh’s Civil Affairs office controls the pipeline of coordination between Israel and the Paleostinian Authority. The bureau exerts tremendous influence over Paleostinian daily life, handling everything from prized permits to work in Israel to infrastructure projects in the West Bank.7

However,
the hip bone's connected to the leg bone...
Sheikh also has little public legitimacy, having never been democratically elected to a senior position. He is also disliked by many for his close ties to Israeli officials and to the unpopular Abbas.

In March, al-Sheikh met with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. He said he spoke to Lapid of the need for an Israeli-Paleostinian grinding of the peace processor.

"I emphasized to him the need for a political horizon based on signed agreements [between Israel and the PA] and international resolutions, as well as the cessation of unilateral measures that impede a two-state solution," al-Sheikh wrote on Twitter then.

Al-Sheikh was first handed a seat on the PLO Executive Committee at a February conference of the organization. The confab was largely seen as having been convened by Abbas to hand PLO posts to close aides, such as al-Sheikh.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Palestinian leadership positions filled by Abbas loyalists

2022-02-08

[JPost] So "A new morning begins"..naaaahhhh
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which are not part of the PLO, did not send representatives to the meeting, saying it would drive a deeper rift among Palestinians.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday scored a victory as the Palestinian Central Council (PCC) voted in favor of appointing some of his loyalists to key positions in the Palestinian leadership.

Hussein al-Sheikh, head of the PA General Authority of Civil Affairs, was chosen to replace the late Saeb Erekat, who died in 2020, as secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee.

Abbas serves as chairman of the PLO Executive Committee and the Fatah Central Committee, two bodies that are now dominated by his loyalists.

The appointment of Sheikh boosts his chances of becoming No. 2 in the Palestinian leadership and a potential successor to Abbas.

Mohammad Mustafa was elected to replace PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi, who resigned in 2020 after accusing the Palestinian leadership of marginalizing the PLO and excluding it from decision-making.

Ramzi Rabah was elected to replace veteran PLO Executive Committee member Tayseer Khaled, who submitted his resignation.

The PCC elected Ramzi Khoury as chairman of the Palestinian National Fund, the PLO’s “finance ministry.” Khoury, a longtime confidant of Abbas, was also elected to be a member of the PLO Executive Committee.

The PCC also voted in favor of appointing another Abbas loyalist, Rouhi Fattouh, as speaker of the Palestinian National Council, the PLO’s legislative body and parliament in exile. Fattouh replaced Salim Zanoun, who retired after 30 years in the job.

The PCC decisions were announced at the end of a two-day meeting in Ramallah that was boycotted by several Palestinian factions and figures who had accused Abbas of “hijacking” the Palestinian decision-making bodies and refusing to share powers with others.

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which are not part of the PLO, did not send representatives to the meeting. The two groups had called on Palestinian delegates and factions to boycott the session, saying it would deepen divisions among the Palestinians and sabotage efforts to end the rivalry between Abbas’s Fatah and Hamas.

Palestinian political analysts said the decisions of the PCC would tighten Abbas’s control over the PLO and other major institutions and pave the way for his loyalists to play a significant role in the post-Abbas era.

“This is a big victory for President Abbas,” said one analyst. “It is also a major blow to his rivals, especially those within the PLO and Fatah.”

Other analysts denounced the PCC decisions as a “crime” against the Palestinians and said those elected do not represent the Palestinians.

In a speech before the PCC on Sunday night, Abbas accused Israel of “undermining the two-state solution” and said that “options remain open.”

“It is not possible to continue implementing agreements [with Israel] unilaterally, and our contacts with the Israeli side are not a substitute for a political solution based on international legitimacy,” he said.

The Palestinians will continue to work with the US administration to strengthen bilateral relations, Abbas said.

“We are still waiting for the implementation of its commitments to protect the two-state solution and the signed agreements,” he said, referring to Washington’s pledge to reopen the US Consulate in Jerusalem that was closed in 2018.

Link

-Land of the Free

Describing Jews as ‘Privileged,' Ethnic Studies Curriculum Sparks Backlash

2021-01-24

[Free Beacon] The latest draft of a state-mandated public school curriculum is generating concerns among Jewish groups, who say California's proposed ethnic studies agenda raises troubling questions about the treatment of Jews compared with other minorities.

The draft curriculum is intended to serve as the foundation for schools to fulfill California's required high school ethnic studies class. It includes a sample lesson on Jews, recommending students discuss how Jews "sometimes have experienced conditional whiteness and privilege." Though the proposed curriculum touches on the experiences of several other ethnic groups, the word privilege is applied to only Jews.

The draft also highlights the contributions to the Arab-American experience of several prominent anti-Semites, from the late journalist Helen Thomas to the Palestinian activist Linda Sarsour and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.).

Prominent Jewish leaders and activists slammed the proposed curriculum, which is open for public comment until Jan. 21. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, called the curriculum a "tragedy," describing it as "woke gone wild with skin color and specific groups installed in a new pecking order."

Link

-Short Attention Span Theater-

World Economic Forum: you will not own anything - rent is all.

2020-10-26

[Publish.Twitter]

You'll own nothing, and you'll be happy. This is how our world could change by 2030. Read more: https://t.co/rkhF5AdSZ3 pic.twitter.com/UXxY1xTiiP
— World Economic Forum (@wef) November 18, 2016

The Evil founder of the World Economic Forum - Klaus Schwab
or the more real view here: Klaus Schwab and his great Fascist Reset

Remember - He's a main gear in Davos.

Lots of behind-the-times wishful thinking there.

People like owning things. Perhaps fewer things than in the past — Mr. Wife just signed up for the AppleMusic service, which means he will listen to national artists on it, while still buying CDs from local artists; I am taking a similar approach to books, and trailing daughter #2 and her husband will continue to decorate their home with pretty things purchased on their travels and furnishings that suit both her 5’2” height and his 6’6” — renting is for those who have average needs and taste, and aren’t willing to save up to purchase.

The fight on the superpower front will between contenders for #2, as it has been since WWII ended. China only has a few more years before their lack of primacy becomes as painfully obvious as did Japan’s before them, and nobody else is big enough economically, now that the EU project is distracted by their refugee problem.

The organ manufacture thing sounds reasonable, which also takes care of any meat shortage once the kinks are worked out and the process scaled up. It also wipes out ecological concerns on the subject.

After the brouhaha about Covid-19, the demanded changes for climate change would be a dead letter even if we weren’t already sliding down the cooling side of the cycle.

And finally, because of fracking and President Trump’s very heavy thumb on the scales, the wars and jihads that are creating so many refugees are coming to an end, resulting in a tacit world agreement to send them all home. Mexico’s current refusal to pass along the groups coming from Central America is an example of what we have to look forward to.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hadassah hospital consulting with US medics on COVID treatment for Erekat

2020-10-20

[Jpost] Earlier, Erekat said he was experiencing "difficult symptoms resulting from my lack of immunity as a result of lung transplantation."

Veteran PLO official Saeb Erekat
...negotiated the Oslo Accords with Israel. He has been chief Paleostinian negotiator since 1995. He is currently negotiating with Israel to establish a de jure Paleostinian state...
, who contracted the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)

coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)

...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
earlier this month, was intubated on Monday after his condition worsened, and he is now considered at death's door in Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem.

On Monday the hospital issued a statement reporting that Erekat was "ventilated on high concentration of oxygen and on nitric oxide gas and is in the prone position. He has received concentrated convalescent plasma with high levels of anti-Covid antibodies."

"We have consulted with specialists from Tel Aviv, New York and Washington," the front man said, adding: "Prognosis remains very guarded."

Erekat was transferred to Hadassah on Sunday at death's door.
Erekat, 65, underwent a lung transplant in the US in 2017 after suffering from pulmonary fibrosis, a condition that scars the lungs and damages their ability to circulate oxygen.

"Mr. Erekat had a quiet night but his condition deteriorated this morning, and is now critical," a statement from Hadassah said Monday morning. "Due to respiratory distress, he is in a coma and ventilated. Mr. Erekat's treatment presents a significant challenge as, as the recipient of a lung transplant, he is immunosuppressed and suffers a bacterial infection in addition to the corona."

According to the hospital, Erekat is in the intensive care unit for corona patients and required high-flow oxygen therapy (HFOT) and oxygen (Airbo). He was not ventilated and was deemed stable when he entered the hospital on Sunday, although his condition deteriorated on Monday.

"Mr. Erekat is receiving top-notch professional care like all serious corona patients at Hadassah and the staff will do everything to assist his recovery. At Hadassah, we treat every patient as if he were our only patient," said the hospital’s director, Prof. Zeev Rothstein.

Several members of the Paleostinian ruling Fatah faction in east Jerusalem arrived at the hospital to inquire about Erekat’s condition. Erekat is the most senior Paleostinian official to be admitted to an Israeli hospital after testing positive for the coronavirus.

"Due to the chronic health problems he faces in the respiratory system, Dr. Erekat’s condition now requires medical attention in a hospital," the PLO said in a statement.

Erekat, who previously served as chief Paleostinian negotiator with Israel, is currently secretary-general of the PLO. He is also a member of the Fatah Central Committee.

The decision to transfer Erekat to an Israeli hospital came after his condition deteriorated over the past 24 hours, Paleostinian sources told The Jerusalem Post.

The Paleostinian Authority made an urgent request to Israel to allow Erekat, who lives in Jericho, to be transferred to an Israeli hospital immediately, the sources said.

Erekat was in stable, pH balanced condition and fully conscious while being taken to the hospital in an Israeli ambulance, they said.

On October 9, Jordan’s King Abdullah instructed his government to provide Erekat with any medical care he requires.

Another senior PLO official, Hanan Ashrawi, was diagnosed with the coronavirus earlier this month.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Senior PLO official Saeb Erekat is currently in serious but stable condition at Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem

2020-10-19

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Senior PLO official Saeb Erekat is currently in serious but stable condition at Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in #Jerusalem. He was rushed there earlier today after a deterioration in his health due to COVID-19, from his home, to the hospital, under IDF protection. (@ignis_fatum)
— 𝕯𝖔𝖌𝖊 🎃 (@IntelDoge) October 18, 2020

Link

Europe

The European Union sends a strong message against Turkish provocations

2020-09-17

[ALMASDARNEWS] The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, sent a strong message towards Ankara following further provocations against Greece.

“Turkey is and will always be an important neighbor. But while we are close together on the map, the distance between us appears to be growing,” she said during her speech at the European Parliament.

The strong stance of the European Union comes after renewed Turkish provocations against Greece, following a dispute over gas and drilling rights in the Mediterranean Sea.

“Yes, Turkey is in a troubled neighborhood. And yes, it is hosting millions of refugees, for which we support them with considerable funding. But none of this is justification for attempts to intimidate its neighbors,” von der Leyen said in her annual speech to the European Union.

The President of the European Commission also added that both, Greece and Cyprus can count on full European solidarity as the rift between the two NATO members seems to be growing.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Arab League rejects PA demand to condemn Israel-UAE deal

2020-09-10

I honestly never thought I would see this in my lifetime
[IsraelNationalNews] The Arab League on Wednesday failed to pass a resolution proposed by the Palestinian Authority (PA) which would have condemned the normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Times of Israel reports.

"After a three-hour debate, some Arab countries refused to include [a] statement condemning [the UAE] for abandoning Arab decisions. Additionally, they struck out a clause which discussed the trilateral agreement" between the UAE, the US, and Israel, the PA representative to the Arab League, Muhannad al-Aklouk, was quoted as having told the Ma’an news agency.

Senior Arab League official Hussam Zaki said, "Discussion around this point was serious and comprehensive. But it did not lead to agreement over the resolution proposed by the Palestinians."
Note to the Palestinians. Your "cause" is over. You were always expendible against Israel in lives, now you are in cause.
Zaki said the PA representatives had insisted they would either accept a condemnation of the agreement or no statement on the issue at all.

"A number of amendments were proposed, and then counter-amendments...and we were at a point in which Palestinian demands had not been realized, and the Palestinians preferred it not to pass rather than have it pass in a manner which they believed to be inadequate," Zaki said.

Before Wednesday’s discussion, the PA leadership submitted a draft resolution in which it watered down its criticism of the normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas denounced the Israel-UAE deal and described it as "a stab in the Palestinians' back". He has also said that no peace would be achieved in the region by bypassing the Palestinian Arabs in favor of normalization of relationships between the Arab states and Israel.

Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat warned that the Israel-UAE agreement would kill the two-state solution, strengthen "extremists" and undermine the "possibility of peace".

An Arab League condemnation of the Israel-UAE deal seemed unlikely from the start, sinc several Arab states such as Egypt and Bahrain have expressed public or tacit support for the deal.

Senior PA official Hussein al-Sheikh called the Arab League’s failure to condemn the deal "the triumph of money over dignity."

"The Arab League has not produced anything. It has given the entire region condemnations of everyone ad nauseum — except for Israel. This is a thunderous collapse, the use of ’national sovereignty’ to justify subservience," al-Sheikh said, according to Times of Israel.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem also condemned the Arab League’s failure to pass the resolution.

"This inability to condemn the UAE merely tempts Israel and the United States to continue implementing their plan to liquidate the Palestinian cause," he was quoted as having said.
Thank Iran for pushing the Arabs to fully recognizing Israel due to their aggression.

Link

-PC Follies

Top PLO official Saeb Erekat to mentor students at Harvard’s Kennedy School

2020-09-03

[IsraelTimes] Chief Paleostinian negotiator will give virtual seminars as a fellow in The Future of Diplomacy Project in move criticized by pro-Israel groups.

Saeb Erekat
...negotiated the Oslo Accords with Israel. He has been chief Paleostinian negotiator since 1995. He is currently negotiating with Israel to establish a de jure Paleostinian state...
, the Paleostinians’ chief negotiator, is bringing his expertise to Harvard.

Erekat will mentor students and give virtual seminars as a fellow in The Future of Diplomacy Project at the Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Erekat, also the secretary general of the Executive Committee of the PLO, said in a 2014 interview with Al Jazeera that "I will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state."

The Kennedy School — among the most prestigious graduate schools for public and social policy in the world — announced Erekat’s appointment last week. The other Fisher Family Fellows include Julie Bishop, chancellor of the Australian National University; Federica Mogherini, the high representative/vice president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019; and Peter Wittig, who served nearly 40 years in the German Foreign Service.

The new fellows "will strengthen our capacity to learn the lessons of effective diplomacy and statecraft," faculty chair Nicholas Burns said, according to the watchdog group Honest Reporting.

Harvard announced last month that it would provide only online learning for the fall semester. The announcement said the fellows will visit the Ivy League university’s Boston-area campus in the spring to lead study groups on topics of their expertise, including the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict.

Erekat’s appointment was criticized on Twitter by the Israel advocacy groups CAMERA on Campus and The Simon Wiesenthal Center, among others.

Link

Arabia

Yasser Arafat's widow apologizes to UAE over insults, burning of flags

2020-08-23

Mrs. Arafat returns briefly to the world stage.

[Jpost] Suha Arafat,

...the fashionable, formerly Catholic, bottle-blond Palestinian expat who ran off and married the elderly PLO Number 1 in a queer sort of patriotism, then lived to regret it...

the widow of former PLO leader Yasser Arafat,

...formally Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini. Born in Cairo in 1929, and educated there, died in 2004 in a French hospital. The flamboyant and brutal USSR-trained terrorist failed to destroy Israel in the service of Arab transnational socialism under the guise of Palestinian national liberation, though he was lauded internationally for his efforts. After founding Fatah sometime in the 1950s, Arafat was chairman of the PLO from 1968 until he died, probably of AIDS from unusual interactions with his personal guards, though his people claimed Israel had poisoned him. Whether the child of the wife he took near the end of his life was also his has never been tested, nor the rumour that she inherited his ill-gotten millions...

has apologized for the burning of Emirati flags in protest of the normalization deal between the UAE and Israel. The apology, which appeared on Instagram account called "officialsuhayasserarafat," was welcomed by some UAE citizens but criticized by several Paleostinians.

Some Paleostinians expressed concern over the harsh response of the PA leadership to the Israel-UAE accord. They accused the PA leadership of an "overreaction" and warned that scenes of Paleostinians burning UAE flags and photos of bin Zayed would cause great damage to the Paleostinians, particularly those living in the Gulf.

PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat
...negotiated the Oslo Accords with Israel. He has been chief Paleostinian negotiator since 1995. He is currently negotiating with Israel to establish a de jure Paleostinian state...
appealed to Paleostinians not to harm the symbols of the UAE. "The Emirati flag is a symbol that must be respected, and so are all other symbols of Emirati illusory sovereignty," he said.

Erekat’s statement came after many Gulf citizens strongly condemned the Paleostinian leadership’s campaign of incitement against the UAE. Several UAE and Saudi academics, journalists and political activists accused the Paleostinians of being "ungrateful" and denounced the burning of Emirati flags and pictures of bin Zayed.

Suha’s apology, however, drew sharp criticism from other Paleostinians, including bigwigs in the West Bank who said that she was not entitled to speak on behalf of the Paleostinian people.

Some Paleostinians claimed that the apology was a sign of the close relationship between Suha Arafat and Mohammed Dahlan, the deposed Fatah operative who serves as special adviser to bin Zayed. Based in Abu Dhabi, Dahlan is considered an archrival of Abbas.

Suha, who does not hold any official position in the Paleostinian Authority, has been living in Malta for the past decade.

After the death of her husband in 2004, she and her daughter, Zahwa, moved to Tunisia and obtained Tunisian citizenship. In 2007, Tunisia revoked her citizenship. Four years later, the Tunis Court of First Instance issued an international arrest warrant for her in connection with a corruption scandal that involved the former Tunisian first lady, Leila Ben Ali.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

The Dahlan enigma: One Palestinian leader isn’t condemning the Israel-UAE deal

2020-08-18

[IsraelTimes] Some Paleostinian officials believe Emirates-backed Mohammad Dahlan, a former top security official to PA President Abbas, was involved in the move to normalize ties.

Prominent figures in Paleostinian politics condemned the normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates as a betrayal. The PA itself called the deal "despicable" and demanded it be reversed. Said Saeb Erekat
...negotiated the Oslo Accords with Israel. He has been chief Paleostinian negotiator since 1995. He is currently negotiating with Israel to establish a de jure Paleostinian state...
, the veteran Paleostinian negotiator, "I never expected this poison dagger to come from an Arab country."

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israel deal on annexation will take a while to take effect, White House adviser says

2020-08-14

[Al Ahram] White House adviser Jared Kushner said on Thursday that a deal would take time to be implemented, when asked how long Israel had agreed to suspend its West Bank annexation plans as part of a normalization deal with the United Arab Emirates.

Israel and the UAE announced earlier on Thursday that they will normalize diplomatic ties and forge a broad new relationship, a move that reshapes the order of Middle East politics from the Paleostinian issue to Iran.

Link

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