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This seems like a big thing:
We want cooperation with Israel,” says Sheikh Wadee’ al-Jaabari, also known as Abu Sanad, from his ceremonial tent in Hebron, the West Bank’s largest city located south of Jerusalem. “We want coexistence.” The leader of Hebron’s most influential clan has said such things before, as did his father. But this time is different. Sheikh Jaabari and four other leading Hebron sheikhs have signed a letter pledging peace and full recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Their plan is for Hebron to break out of the Palestinian Authority, establish an emirate of its own, and join the Abraham Accords.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/new-palestinian-offer-peace-israel-hebron-sheikh-emirate-36dd39c3
@Sleepyguy saidOnce the "Sand Indians" agree to stay on the reservation, they can open a casino! 😆
This seems like a big thing:
[quote]We want cooperation with Israel,” says Sheikh Wadee’ al-Jaabari, also known as Abu Sanad, from his ceremonial tent in Hebron, the West Bank’s largest city located south of Jerusalem. “We want coexistence.” The leader of Hebron’s most influential clan has said such things before, as did his father. But this time is different. Sheikh Jaa ...[text shortened]... te]
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/new-palestinian-offer-peace-israel-hebron-sheikh-emirate-36dd39c3
@spruce112358 saidDid you read it?
Once the "Sand Indians" agree to stay on the reservation, they can open a casino! 😆
A document in Hebrew lists the Hebron-area sheikhs who have joined the emirate initiative. The first circle has eight major sheikhs, who together are believed to lead 204,000 local residents. The second circle lists 13 more sheikhs, who lead another 350,000. That makes a majority of the more than 700,000 people in the area. Both circles have sworn allegiance to Sheikh Jaabari in this matter, an Israeli associate of the sheikh witnessed. Those clan members also include many of the Palestinian Authority’s local foot soldiers. The sheikhs expect them to side with family.
“I plan to cut off the PA,” Sheikh Jaabari says. “It doesn’t represent the Palestinians.” The clans governed their own localities for hundreds of years, he says. Then “the Israeli state decided for us. It brought the PLO and told the Palestinians: Take this.” Yasser Arafat’s PLO had been exiled to Tunisia, after being chased out of Jordan and Lebanon, when the first Oslo Accord in 1993 installed it in the West Bank. This was called the peace process, but the sheikh says he never saw any peace from it.
“There is an Arab proverb,” Sheikh Jaabari says: “Only the village’s calves plow its land. This means that a person who lives for decades outside—what does he know about where the springs of water in Hebron are located? The only thing you”—the PLO—“know about Hebron is collecting taxes.”
Four other Hebron sheikhs, whom I interview separately over Zoom, are even more strident. “The PLO called itself a liberation movement. But once they got control, they act only to steal the money of the people,” one major sheikh says. “They don’t have the right to represent us—not them and not Hamas, only we ourselves."
They're taking a shot at self governance, and really sticking their necks out to do so.
@Sleepyguy saidIf this will put Palestinians on EVEN SMALLER reservations, the borders of which will be controlled by the IDF, the Israelis will of course eagerly accept the arrangement since it costs them nothing. In fact, it will concentrate the natives into tiny areas which the Israelis can easily mass deport later. 😆
Did you read it?A document in Hebrew lists the Hebron-area sheikhs who have joined the emirate initiative. The first circle has eight major sheikhs, who together are believed to lead 204,000 local residents. The second circle lists 13 more sheikhs, who lead another 350,000. That makes a majority of the more than 700,000 people in the area. Both circles have sworn ...[text shortened]... "
They're taking a shot at self governance, and really sticking their necks out to do so.
If this would lead to an independent Palestinian state beyond Israeli control, Israel will of course reject it in the name of 'security.' 😆
Personally, I think retreating into small, non-viable Bantustans is a mistake, but... I'm not on the ground there. 😆
@spruce112358 saidDo you ever even think about peace?
If this will put Palestinians on EVEN SMALLER reservations, the borders of which will be controlled by the IDF, the Israelis will of course eagerly accept the arrangement since it costs them nothing. In fact, it will concentrate the natives into tiny areas which the Israelis can easily mass deport later. 😆
If this would lead to an independent Palestinian state beyond ...[text shortened]... ink retreating into small, non-viable Bantustans is a mistake, but... I'm not on the ground there. 😆
This is a major shift in the right direction. The sheikhs making this proposal are not a bunch of moderates. These are respected old school clan leaders saying out loud that the PA is illegitimate, that there IS NO PALESTINIAN STATE. If these guys can let go of scrubbing Israel off the map why the hell can't you?
@Sleepyguy saidThere is no peace without justice. 😆
Do you ever even think about peace?
This is a major shift in the right direction. The sheikhs making this proposal are not a bunch of moderates. These are respected old school clan leaders saying out loud that the PA is illegitimate, that there IS NO PALESTINIAN STATE. If these guys can let go of scrubbing Israel off the map why the hell can't you?
As for these sheikhs trying desperately to create a little area where Israel won't bother them - let's just say I am skeptical. Israel is drooling over ALL that land, so my prediction is that Israel will take it. Eventually. The Jews certainly won't relinquish control, ever, over any part of "Greater Israel" (which means whatever land area they decide they want.)
Because as Rajk999 put it, "might makes right." 😆
@Sleepyguy saidThe locals are calling BS:
This seems like a big thing:
[quote]We want cooperation with Israel,” says Sheikh Wadee’ al-Jaabari, also known as Abu Sanad, from his ceremonial tent in Hebron, the West Bank’s largest city located south of Jerusalem. “We want coexistence.” The leader of Hebron’s most influential clan has said such things before, as did his father. But this time is different. Sheikh Jaa ...[text shortened]... te]
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/new-palestinian-offer-peace-israel-hebron-sheikh-emirate-36dd39c3
"Palestinian city residents, including Jaabari's extended family members, roundly condemned the proposal, saying that its authors do not represent them.
Hebron-based activist and journalist Issa Amro said that the proposal and its authors are "complete fabrications".
"The so-called 'Hebron sheikhs' in this WSJ piece are complete fabrications - anonymous figures with zero political presence, social standing, family ties and community recognition," he told Middle East Eye.
"No media, no clans, no Palestinian factions acknowledge them because they simply don't exist as consequential actors. This isn't journalism - it's inventing Palestinian 'leaders' to fit an artificial narrative while real Hebronites endure occupation," he added.
Local political figures also expressed surprise at the report, noting that the authors of the letter had no real influence in the city and that Jaabari in fact lives in Jerusalem.
Jaabari's own family issued a statement denouncing the plan, saying that it "in no way represent the position of our respected family and does not reflect the will of its members".
"The Jaabari family has always been – and remains – part of the Palestinian national fabric, justly struggling for freedom and independence. We reject all attempts to normalise the occupation or grant it legitimacy."
The family told Haaretz that Jaabari "is known for his ties to settlers and Israeli institutions, which primarily serve his personal and business interests", and that his initiative enjoys "no public support".
In a post on X, Amro said the WSJ report "names no verifiable sources and ignores documented power structures" and constitutes "either shockingly poor journalism or deliberate misinformation".
"At a time when Hebron faces very real challenges - from expanding settlements to military closures - this fictional narrative does a grave disservice to readers and Palestinians alike," he said."
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hebron-residents-and-leaders-denounce-local-sheikhs-plan-declare-independence-and-recognise
@Sleepyguy saidThe idea that the Palestinian People would abandon the idea of a State was always far-fetched though it's not surprising a few Quislings would do so if it meant getting a fiefdom from the Israelis.
@no1marauder
Oh bummer. Back to the endless killing then I guess.
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@no1marauder saidThe way it was presented, as an emirate structured by clan allegiances, or maybe a few of them strung together (like the UAE), sounded perhaps like a more natural method of self rule than one state, to my propaganda-soaked Western ears anyway. Oh well.
The idea that the Palestinian People would abandon the idea of a State was always far-fetched though it's not surprising a few Quislings would do so if it meant getting a fiefdom from the Israelis.