Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says his country supports a democratic solution for the Palestinian- Israeli conflict.

“Now imagine the most cruel person of our time, the child-murderer prime minister of the Zionist Regime [Benjamin Netanyahu] goes to Europe and plays innocent, saying Iran wants to destroy them,” said Ayatollah Khamenei during his meeting with A group of university professors and researchers on June 10, 2018.

Who Wanted to Throw Israelis into the Sea?

“They are truly pioneers in oppression and cruelty throughout history. The European addressee listens and shakes his head, without mentioning their [Israel’s] crimes in Gaza and Quds,” he said adding: “The Islamic Republic acts logically on all matters. On the matter of the Zionist Regime, [Egypt’s late President] Jamal Abdul-Nasser proclaimed they would throw the Jewish people into the sea. We never made such remarks.”

“From day one, we announced a plan. We said, today democracy is a modern method that the entire world’s population agrees on. We said, for decision making on the historical country of Palestine, refer to the Palestinian people. This plan is registered with the United Nations as the statement of the Islamic Republic.”

“Those who are true Palestinians and have been living in Palestine over a hundred years ago–Muslims, Christians and Jews–where ever they are, either in the occupied lands or outside of them. They should be surveyed. Their vote should be applied.”

“Is this a bad opinion?” he asked adding: “The Europeans refuse to understand this. Then, that child-murderer, vicious oppressor plays innocent, saying Iran wants to kill several million people out of their population.”

What is Iran’s plan for Palestinian Issue?
Iran officially announced its proposed solution in 2012 during the 16th Non-Aligned Summit in Tehran.
Iran suggests that all current and former inhabitants of the Palestinian territory should participate in a referendum and decide about their fate and future. Iran’s leader described the country’s suggestion in his Inaugural Speech at the 16th Non-Aligned Summit.

“All the Palestinians – both the current citizens of Palestine and those who have been forced to immigrate to other countries but have preserved their Palestinian identity, including Muslims, Christians and Jews – should take part in a carefully supervised and confidence-building referendum and chose the political system of their country, and all the Palestinians who have suffered from years of exile should return to their country and take part in this referendum and then help draft a Constitution and hold elections. Peace will then be established,” he said during his speech in 2012.
Read Iran’s View’s detailed report about the solutions for the Palestinian- Israeli conflict suggested by different parties.

The post Israeli- Palestinian Conflict: Iran Offers a Practical, Democratic Solution first appeared on .

While more than 1,600 Palestinians have been killed and another 8,000 injured and more than 200,000 internally displaced persons are sheltered in UNRWA since Israel launched an full scale air attack against the tiny strip of Gaza on July 8, yet the international community failed to stop Israeli indiscriminately offensives .

UN’s human rights council passed a resolution condemning the Israel’s military actions; resolution was adopted by 29-1 vote. The sole “no” vote was the United States. Strong US support for Israel and Israel’s powerful lobby prevented any effective decision being made by the international organizations. Same was for more than last six decades of Israel – Palestine conflict.

In such circumstance when Palestinians see none of political efforts could protect them against the well-armed regime of Israel, in the Gaza strip, they prefer to resist rather than to continue living under an inhuman blockade.

Palestinians who lost of most of their land due to Israeli occupation since 1946, now only rule in the West Bank and Gaza strip. Two separate landlocked territories with two different ruling systems.

The Gaza under Hamas has chosen military resistance to liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation. On other hand, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in the West Bank recognized Israel In 1993 and accepted to stop fighting against Israel and engage in a peace process which went nowhere so far.

It was only after PLO put down its weapon that the Palestinians lost their control over the West Bank and Israel occasionally conduct crackdown in the region, arrest or kill civilians.

Looking at the West Bank as a sample of setting back from military resistance, Palestinians don’t see a successful experience while on other hand Lebanon’s Hezbollah successfully defeated Israel and ended the Israeli occupation of Lebanese territories in 2000 make resistance in Gaza more meaningful.

Like Hezbollah, Hamas is fighting Israel with military and financial support from Iran. It was Iranian missiles and arms that led Hamas to stop Israel in the 2008 and 2012 conflicts.

Despite Iran and Hamas’ strained relations over the Syrian war, Iran’s political and military officials have stressed their unconditional and strong support for Palestinian resistance groups including Hamas.

The letter of the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force to the Palestinian freedom fighters on July 31 is the latest exemplar of the support for Palestinians resistance from Iran.

“Before the almighty God, we take an oath with the martyrs that we will remain bound to and not change, just like we are and have been in doing our religious duty in supporting the resistance. We emphasize that we continue to insist on the victory of the resistance … until the ground, the sky, the sea for the Zionists turns into hell,” Qasem Soleimani wrote.

While Israel and US are trying to disarm resistance movements, Iran called on the world to help arm Palestinians in the West Bank.

“Everyone, whoever has the means, especially in the Islamic world, they should do what they can to arm the Palestinians [in the West Bank] too,” Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei said on July 29.

“Iran will also do its best to form military resistance in the West Bank. But obviously we won’t deal with Abbas and its people, we will work with real resistance groups,” Abdollahi who is familiar with the Iranian strategy in Palestine told Iran’s View.

Soleimani excluded Fatah and PA in his statement while naming Palestinian groups and leaders and praising their resistance.

But what an armed West Bank would mean for Israel?

West Bank has a population of more than 2,000,000 Palestinians who anxiously follow the events in Gaza and show their support from the resistance movement by protesting against Israel.

The photos and videos of Palestinians protesting and fighting back Israeli military by throwing stones may give one a better idea when those stones are to be replaced by weapons provided from Iran or other supporters of Palestinians freedom fighters.

In this case, Iran expects Palestinians to defend themselves against Israel in a more balanced battle.

The final solution to the Palestinian–Israeli conflict however is seen differently by Iran.
Iran suggests that all current and former inhabitants of the Palestinian territory should participate in a referendum and decide on their fate and future.

The post Arming West Bank only Way to Save Palestine first appeared on .

This history has always been a field of interest for not only scholars, but also humankind. Through stories of history people see a reflection of their future and their aims; sometimes they find their hopes in the darkness of their present by reviewing how bitter ages past have been replaced by light.

But by cracking the pages of written history, points emerge in your mind; fears, hopes and doubts. Yes, studying brings questions and questions demand answers…

Have you heard Napoleon Bonaparte once said: “History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon?” Now there is a part of history that is being questioned, and a group of people around the globe have raised doubts, saying they don’t agree upon what is claimed to be “The Holocaust”.

You have heard of (as Schindler’s List demonstrates) all the pains Jews have gone through; all the hatred they are facing even now, as in many American TV series and movies show. You have definitely heard of Iran’s outrage towards this part of history; but is that true?

Questioning the Holocaust is explicitly or implicitly illegal in 17 countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Switzerland.

Forbidding holocaust denial is justified by attributing it to an anti-Semitic act which cannot be an accurate argument.

There are too many controversies around Iran’s stance towards Israel. Saying ‘Iran wants to wipe Israel off the map’, ‘Iran is to kill the Jews’ etc.

But to understand Iran’s real stance toward this issue, it is worth reviewing President Mahmoud Ahmadienjad’s remarks about the Holocaust.

In an interview with NBC NEWS’s Brian Williams on Sept 19, 2006, Ahmadinejad raised three questions about the Holocaust:

1-      In the Second World War, over 60 million people (at least 50 million civilians) lost their lives. They were all human beings. Why is it that only a select group of those who were killed have become so prominent and important?

2-       If this event (Holocaust) happened, and if it is a historical event, then we should allow everyone to research it and study it. The more research and studies are done, the more we can become aware of the realities that happened. We still leave open to further studies absolute knowledge of science or math. Historical events are always subject to revisions, and reviews and studies…Why is it that those who ask questions are persecuted? Why is every word so sensitivity or such prohibition on further studies on the subject? Where as we can openly question God, the prophet, concepts such as freedom and democracy?

3-      If this happened, where did it happen? Did the Palestinian people have anything to do with it? Why should the Palestinians pay for it now? Five million displaced Palestinian people is what I’m talking about. Over 60 years of living under threat. Losing the lives of thousands of dear ones. And homes that are destroyed on a daily basis over people’s heads. You might argue that the Jews have the right to have a government. We’re not against that. But where? At a place where their people were — several people will vote for them, and where they can govern. Not at the cost of displacing a whole nation. And occupying the whole territory.

The Israeli – Palestinian confrontation is one of the longest lasting world crises in recent times and many believe an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would also be the key to solving the other issues and conflicts in the region.

As Iran’s President has frequently asserted, if the Holocaust happened in Europe, what is the fault of the Palestinian people? The Palestinian people’s lives are being destroyed today in the pretext of the Holocaust. Lands have been occupied, usurped. But what is their fault? What role did they play in the Holocaust?

“Well, assuming that the Holocaust happened, then, what does it have to do with the Palestinian people?”

So, What Iran doubts

Let’s review some major points Iran has raised about the Holocaust:

1. The evidence of the honoured history of each nation is always open to study; you have never heard of a ban on studying war crimes; for instance Iran has always presented evidence and proof to the world of what Iraq did to Iran’s people, as most countries do; but the Holocaust is the only part of history, which is kept out of questioning!

2. Let’s consider that the Holocaust is true, and as they say, “six million Jews during World War II, were murdered by Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, throughout German-occupied territory.” Still we need to ask: Why Palestinians should pay the price?

Though the solution to this dispute is not very complicated! (Churchill once said: “Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.”) Iran suggests that the Holocaust events should be further investigated by independent and impartial parties;

Iran is against using the Holocaust to justify the behaviour of Israel in the region, and this is a merely a political and humanitarian argument, nothing to do with Jews and cannot be interpreted as anti – Semitic.

Jews, like other minorities are living peacefully in Iran. Jews are protected in the Iranian constitution and a seat is reserved for a Jew in the Majlis (Iran’s Parliament). Iran hosts the largest Jewish population of any Muslim-majority country.And it is home to the second-largest Jewish population in the Middle East.

Your comments are welcome.

*Zahra Tohidian is an Iranian Journalist who mostly writes political articles and analysis.

The post Does Iran Deny the Holocaust? first appeared on .

In an Exclusive interview with Iran’sView, Muhammad Al-Zahar, co-founder of Hamas and a member of the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip talks about the latest Hamas-Israel confrontation, the two-state or one-state solution, Egypt- Hamas ties and the Syrian crisis.

Al-Zahar believes Hamas’ 300 million dollar loss over the 8-day Israeli assault on Gaza, was the least significant outcome of the war and Israel’s liability to Palestinian missiles transformed the conflict from the Gaza borders to the heart of Israel were the most outstanding results of the war.

Hamas’ top leader does not consider the establishment of a Palestinian state at the 1967 borders “a termination of struggles for the liberation of all Occupied territories.” nor an agreement to a Two-state solution; in an interview with Iran’sView he emphasized that only “one Single State should rule Palestine.”

Al-Zahar thinks of Camp David treaty’s cancelation by Egypt as “not wise” and stresses that the Egyptians government should take advantage of other means of pressuring the Israeli regime such as halting gas exports.  He also intends to seek the reopening of Rafah’s border as well as resolving the issue of the destruction of underground tunnels, once the Egyptian government is fully established.

Regarding the Syrian crisis, the senior Palestinian leader believes Hamas holds a neutral stance where neither of the parties are supported and this has not lead to a decline in Hamas-Iran relations: “We have extensive ties with Iran of which we feel proud.”

Alzahar emphasized Hamas’ opposes any forms of military interference in Syria, and sought the talks between the government and the opposition to begin as soon as possible.

Read Iran’sView Interview with Al-Zahar in full:

With reference to Israel-Hamas latest military battle:

-What is clear is that the outcomes of the war can never be measured based on the damages; and the reports published about the losses cannot be considered the final results and consequences of the war. The outcomes of the war are divided into two particular parts. The first part is that: the influence of the Palestinian parties’ reactions and responses to Israeli attacks were immense and this was the first time that the war was transformed from Gaza borders to the heart of the occupied territories which lead the residents of the Israeli settlements to leave their homes and consequently the regime requested the impeding of Israeli settlements bombardment and suggested to cease Gaza attacks, too.

With regards to the establishment of a two-state plan and a solution to the Palestinian problem

We have never agreed with the establishment of a partial Palestinian state as a solution for the country’s problem and we emphasize our stance regarding the liberation of all occupied territories. We have agreed to this plan [of the 1967 borders] as a solution but it never means we have given up on the rights of the Palestinian nation and have withdrawn from our previous stances and this plan should be the initiator of the liberation of the remaining occupied areas. There is a big difference between political tricks and withdrawal from official stances. We have agreed with the plan as a “temporary” solution and this does not mean we have refrained from all our holy ideals and the rights of the Palestinian nation. We believe that only one state should rule all of the Palestinian Territories.

Vis-à-vis ties with Egypt, Camp David treaty and the destruction of the underground tunnels at Rafah border

Firstly I should emphasize that it was not the Muslim Brotherhood that signed the Camp David treaty. Secondly Egypt is a country with a culture which respects international agreements and treaties. On the other hand although the Camp David treaty caused a lot of problems, it has assisted Egypt in restraining Israel. This is not wise for Egypt to start an unwanted war by canceling the treaty. Egypt needs to take advantage of other measurements such as halting gas exports to Israel.

Egypt’s stances on the recent Israeli attacks against the Gaza strip, on the US and the Zionist regime is very different from those of the Mubarak regime.

The underground tunnels are used for transferring aid to Palestinians. Therefore if Egypt opens border pathways, Hamas will destroy the underground tunnels as we will not need them anymore. In the current situation there is no agreement between Hamas and Egypt regarding these tunnels and we definitely ask Cairo to fully reopen the ground borders with Gaza.

Concerning ties with Iran

It is mere rumor and baseless falsehood that Hamas has left resistance and is not as close to Iran and Syria as it used to be. We have extensive ties with Iran of which we are proud of.

About Syria our policy is that we stand neither with the government nor with the opponents. Our main struggle is to liberate Palestine and we would never want even one drop of Palestinians’ blood to be shed anywhere outside the Palestinian borders. All our policies and plans are in line with resistance and we do our best to help Muslim and Arab countries get united on the Palestinian cause.  When the Syrian crisis had just started we announced that we would only support a political solution and we are against any forms of military intervention in the country. The talks between the Syrian parties would be initiated as soon as possible and the international community should support it.

On Palestine’s domestic affairs and Hamas internal conflicts

There is a very big difference between the national peace agreements signed in Qatar and Egypt. In the signed plan in Cairo, it was decided that the prime minister should be impartial and that the Palestinian government should be established as one technocrat state whereas in Qatar agreement it was agreed that “Mahmoud Abbas”, the head of the Palestinian Authority would be chosen as the Palestinian prime minister. Of course this part of the agreement is negotiable and changeable and we can reach an agreement over that in the future.

 This is true that we have internal disagreements in Hamas, but this does not mean Hamas is divided into parties and is not united. Each member’s opinion is respected. News about Hamas being divided and the members trying to form an independent party outside Palestine, is untruthful. Different opinions should be respected.

The post Senior Palestinian Leader Says Hamas is Neutral in Syrian Crisis first appeared on .

In an interview with IransView, Peled said he supported the Palestinian resistance and argued that contrary to what the media tries to depict, “Palestinians were always willing to compromise” and “[their resistance] has been mostly non violent resistance, even they were always attacked with violence by Israel.”

When asked how he as an Israeli began to learn about the facts on the Palestinian issue and became a peace activist he said “It begins at home.” Peled explained that advocating for the rights of Palestinians and criticizing the Israeli regime has been rooted in the family. In 1948, his mother refused to live in a house that belonged to an exiled Palestinian family as it was “the house of another mother”. His father too, was a proponent of complete withdrawal from the Occupied Territories. “My father, after he retired from the Israeli army as a general in 1968 became an advocate for Palestinians. He said Israel must allow the Palestinians to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital,” Peled noted.

But he recalled that it was after the death of her niece in the 1997 Ben Yehuda Street suicide attack in Jerusalem that he decided to get involved in the issue. Peled said that sister held the Israeli regime responsible of the death of her daughter. “The two young men who did this terrible thing, took their own lives and the life of my daughter and other innocent people with them, because we, the Israelis brought them to such despair and hopelessness. When we take away people’s land and destroy their homes, and put their fathers in prison and kill their younger brothers and sisters in their schools, when we deny them a future and hope, this is what happens. I hold the Israeli government responsible for my daughter’s death,” he quoted her sister Nurit.

Excerpts from the interview follow:

– On the effectiveness of the peace initiatives during the last six decades and the role of the US and Britain

The US and Britain are complicit in the crimes against Palestine. The peace efforts failed because they were not peace efforts, they were efforts to bring the Palestinians to surrender, and they would not.

No peace efforts will succeed as long as Israel is part of the effort, because Israel and Zionism are opposed to peace. Zionism claims that Palestine is the Land of Israel, that it belongs to the Jewish people and no one else. So they cannot and will not compromise. Peace can only come without a Jewish state, but a democracy with equal rights that respects human rights and civil rights of all people who live in Palestine/Israel. I hope to see a transformation of the Zionist state to a democracy, without violence, like apartheid fell in South Africa.

– On Iran’s leader proposal for the Palestine – Israel issue that calls for a referendum in which all of current and former residents of Palestine including Jews, Muslims and Christians will take part and decide for their own fate and future

I agree, it is the idea that all must be equal and all must enjoy respect for human rights and civil rights and decide as a democracy. I think it actually means turning Israel into a democracy and I agree. This will only work when Zionism, like apartheid is removed from power.

– On the two-state solution

I don’t think it was a good idea and I don’t think it ever had a chance to succeed. You cannot have a Jewish state in an Arab country (Palestine), with half of the people not Jewish unless it is a brutal regime with racist laws, like Israel.

I think the two-state solution was possible for a short time and as expected, it was killed by Israel. Israel wants all the land with no Palestinians and Israel will never compromise. That is why it failed. You cannot have an agreement if one side will not agree.

-On the activities to raise awareness on the Palestinian issue and how they help the resistance

Hundreds of university campuses in the US hold events like “Palestine Week” etc., and thousands of students take part. This is very effective resistance and many Jewish Americans take part and support this as well.

Then, there is also the BDS movement that calls for boycott divestment and sanctions against Israel.

All of these are excellent forms of resistance and I support them completely. I think they will be successful in bringing justice and peace to Palestine.

– His message to the Iranian people

I know that Iranian people are suffering because of the sanctions and because of the threat of an Israeli attack. This is a terrible thing and I can only hope it will end soon. Israel and the US are wrong about Iran.

I don’t believe that Israel will never attack Iran, because Israeli the government wants to keep the threat alive. Israel is using the “Iranian threat” as a smoke screen so people will not talk about Israeli crimes in Palestine.

I wish Iranian people well. If I had the chance I would gladly visit Iran, I know it is a beautiful country with a rich history and culture and I would love to see it.

The post Son of an Israeli General: ‘Peace can only come without a Jewish state’ first appeared on .

More than 130 years has passed since the beginning of the tensions between the Arabs living in Palestine and the Jews who immigrated to the land under the support of the Zionist movements. The establishment of an Israeli regime in Palestine in 1948 led to wars that spread tensions all over west Asian region and in some cases evoked terror and trans-regional operations.

With continuation of bloodshed and the incidence of 11 wars between Israelis and Palestinians during the past 64 years, different people and countries proposed solutions to end the conflicts rising from the occupation of Palestine. Many believe an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would also be the key to solve other issues and conflicts in the region.

In the past years, there were over twenty resolutions, negotiations, and solutions to end the conflict temporarily in certain cases. However, comprehensive solutions also have been proposed that fall into four categories:

1-      Urging Israel to return to the 1967 borders and establishing a Palestinian state

2-      Authorizing Israel to take over all the Palestinian land including the non-occupied parts.

3-      Calling for the establishment of two independent states (an Israeli and a Palestinian)

4-      Calling for the establishment of an independent state to rule all over Palestine

Although the 1967 borders give Palestinians only 23 percent of their land (including the West Bank, East al-Qods, and Gaza Strip), many Palestinian groups and Muslim countries approve the first category solutions and agree to give up the rest of the land to Israel.  Such solutions had no results as the Zionists have so far refused to divide al-Qods.

The second category is vividly unreachable as all Palestinians and Islamic states oppose it. The third category of solutions for the Palestinian issue, the two-state solution has been discussed and argued upon for years, having the support of world powers including the US and Russia.

The two-state solution first was proposed at the initial stages of the crisis and quarrels.  In fact, a year before the establishment of the Israeli state, a resolution was passed at the UN that divided Palestine into three zones, one for Jews, one for Muslims, and one zone to be under international control.

The UN document, ” The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1988″ that was published in 1990, described the results of the UN 1947 resolution known as the “Partition resolution”:

“The United Nations partition resolution did not provide a solution to the Palestine problem, and violence increased. In protest against the partition of their country, the Palestinian Arab Higher Committee called for a general strike…  The Security Council could not take any effective decision after discussing General Assembly resolution 181 (II) (the partition resolution) in December 1947. In March 1948 the United States draft proposal to enable the Council to act on the partition resolution failed, and the Council only called for an end to the violence in Palestine.” [i]

Also in 1976, The UN Security Council tried to pass resolutions supporting the two-state solution, all vetoed by the US due to Israel’s disagreement with the suggested borders. [ii]

Due to such disagreements over the borders, different solutions suggested by the US over the past years for the establishment of two independent states led to no results.

The two-state solution, despite being supported by the UN, the EU, the US, Russia, and many states and international figures, has failed because of the disagreements over the ways al-Qods and the “Haram al-Sharif” complex (or The Noble Sanctuary) were suggested to be divided. Neither the Palestinians nor Israelis agree to forsake this complex. Even the suggestion by former US president Bill Clinton who called for dividing the “holy site” into different parts was not accepted by any of the two sides of the conflict and yielded no results.[iii]

In fact this approach has had no progress since 66 years ago when the Partition resolution was passed and the efforts for establishing two independent states began.

Joe Walsh, a republican member of the US Parliament, criticized this approach in an article in The Washington Times.

“[The struggle to implement a “two-state solution] reminds me of the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. By that definition, everyone who continues to cling to the delusion of a two-state solution is insane. There is no such thing as a two-state solution. It cannot work, it has not worked, and it will not work.”[iv]

But the division of the Haram al-Sharif is not the only obstacle for the two-state solution. So far, all suggestions for the division of territory, including the return to the 1967 borders, have defined that the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and part of al-Qods belong to the Palestinian state. This is while the West Bank and Gaza Strip are far from each other geographically and thus it is not clear how a Palestinian state can be established in separate lands at the same time. Besides, the difference between political powers governing in the West Bank and in Gaza Strip is an issue not addressed in the two-state solutions.

The actions and behaviors of the Israeli regime during the past decades also shows the regime not only continues its occupation of the West Bank territory  but also continues to destroy the houses of Palestinians and make new Israeli settlements despite international statements and laws.

With the failure of the three solutions discussed above, there remains only the forth solution that demands the establishment of one sovereign state. It suggests that an independent state be established in the whole Palestinian territory where Muslims, Jews, and Christians must live and be considered as equal citizens with equal rights.

Different polls and studies also suggest that there is an increasing tendency towards this solution among Muslim and non-Muslim inhabitants of the land. According to a poll conducted in 2010 by the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center, the support for the establishment of an independent state increased by 14 percent while the favorability of the two-state solution decreased noticeably.[v]

The most important issue and the main problem in the way of the one-state solution is that what should the political system of the state’s government be. Some western observers suggest the establishment of a secular state which is clearly not suitable for the most religious conflict of the time.  Another suggestion is to establish a federal state, but considering the history of the cultural and boundary disputes this suggestion cannot maintain the stability and sovereignty of an independent country either.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic of Iran has proposed a solution that not only addresses all the problems and issues in other solutions, but also is fair and democratic.

Iran suggests that all current and former inhabitants of the Palestinian territory should participate in a referendum and decide about their fate and future. Iran’s leader described the country’s suggestion in his Inaugural Speech at the 16th Non-Aligned Summit:

“All the Palestinians – both the current citizens of Palestine and those who have been forced to immigrate to other countries but have preserved their Palestinian identity, including Muslims, Christians and Jews – should take part in a carefully supervised and confidence-building referendum and chose the political system of their country, and all the Palestinians who have suffered from years of exile should return to their country and take part in this referendum and then help draft a Constitution and hold elections. Peace will then be established.”[vi]

This solution suggests that the Palestinians themselves- and not other countries and people- should decide for their future. Deciding over the political system of government and holding elections by Palestinians themselves decreases the disagreements, and problems like dividing the land and boundaries would no longer exist, leaving the whole Palestine for its current and former inhabitants.

This solution is too clear to need any further explanation, yet it is not clear why the UN, the Security Council, and especially the US refuse to accept it as a low-cost solution for the Palestinian issue.

So far no reason or argumentation has proved this solution inefficient.  Even when the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon was asked about the solution proposed by Iran’s leader, he insisted on the two-state solution without giving any reason or analysis to reject Iran’s suggestion.

Now that this solution has been proposed by one of the most important countries in the West Asia, world public opinion is waiting to see how the Western countries, and particularly the US as the country who claims to support democracy, are going to react to it.

Ignoring this suggestion certainly is not going to solve any problem but further raises the questions and doubts about the goodwill of the different sides involved in the Palestinian issue. On the contrary, discussing and reviewing this suggestion as the only remaining political solution for the Palestinian issue would help reach a consensus over an ultimate solution for the conflict that has lasted for over six decades.

We try to discuss this solution further and bring the ideas of experts and political figures about it later in other articles.

The post Has the Road to a Political Solution for the Palestinian Crisis Reached a Dead-end? first appeared on .

The post Name of Paper Speaks for Itself: Palestine Times Announces Creation of Israel! first appeared on .

The Israeli soldiers detained the Hamas activists, including a former Hamas spokesman, Rafat Nassif, in the city of Nablus and the town of Tulkarem, according to Palestinian security sources. 

The Israeli military, however, said it “arrested” only five activists in Tulkarem, without giving further details. 

Earlier last week, Israeli troops abducted over 25 Palestinians, including several senior Hamas legislators, in the occupied West Bank. 

Palestinian lawmaker Hatim Qafisha from al-Khalil and another legislator Ahmad Attoun from al-Quds (Jerusalem) were among the abductees. 

Palestinian human rights groups have condemned the abductions, saying the move is aimed at destabilizing the ongoing reconciliation efforts among Palestinian factions.

Many of the inmates are under so-called administrative detention. 

The administrative detention, often implemented by the Israeli regime against the Palestinian population, is a sort of imprisonment without trial or charge, allowing regime forces to make arrests without formal charges for up to six months. However, the detention order can be renewed for indefinite periods of time. 

Palestinian prisoners have been subject to human rights violations such as the use of torture during interrogations by Israeli prison authorities.

The post Israeli forces abduct 8 Hamas activists first appeared on .