The only story last week was the decision by the UN Security Council to pass a resolution which, amongst other things, condemned the Jewish settlements on Palestinian territory as without legal foundation. (It did also, though this gathers no reports, condemn Palestinian violence.) This is resolution 2334. A great deal of diplomatic and legal work […]

Haaretz’s investigative reporter Barak Ravid reveals that British legal figures and diplomats worked directly with the Palestinians on the wording of resolution 2334 without informing Israel. The Brits smoothed the wording and made it possible for Obama’s administration to support it without involving any American figures. British diplomats also encouraged New Zealand to become one of the four presenters of the resolution.

Two reputable and knowledgeable bodies, Foreign Policy magazine and the Institute of Palestine Studies strongly deprecate the Trump team’s stated intention of moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a hugely symbolic act, and issue sharp warnings about the consequences.

Before Trump was elected as next President, American Jews were comfortable in the feeling that antisemitism did not exist in the US – it was an archaic phenomenon of Europe and the MidEast. No longer. This account of twisting a menorah into a swastika is a reminder of the deep racism in the southern states – from which Jews don’t get a free pass.

Not meaning she is one of the 18.2m followers of the next guardian of the free world, but after Trump had laid into those who criticise Israel May followed him with a new diplomatic rule: it is ‘not appropriate’ to criticise one’s allies. Which bodes ill for that free world.

Ron Dermer, the Israeli ambassador to the US, sent his credentials to the White House in 2013 and, despite his links with the Republicans, Obama’s administration was happy to accept them. Now he is touring TV stations claiming Obama is a “runaway train”, that Israel had proof that the US was behind UNSC’s Resolution 2334 against Israel’s settlement policy, proof he would present to Trump’s staff – though there is evidence that he already has.

It’s not obvious that all the people now on Netanyahu’s blacklist will care about being banished to his outer office. He appears more like a child hurling everything he can reach out of his pram.

Donald Trump tweeted himself into the centre of America’s political world with brief messages that were often crude insulting and hateful. It did him more good than harm amongst the apolitical. Kerry’s speech was a ‘marker’ of the urgency and seriousness of making two states possible. Trump has tweeted that away.

We are reposting a map and report from Human Rights watch on settlements on Palestinian land because of the current centrality of Israeli settlements to the UN Security Council (UNSC) and the policy of the Obama administration. Look at the map. Could a functioning Palestinian state be created out of this?

Pleasingly, Vox.com assumes that lots of people don’t know what the UNSC is and why its vote on Israel’s settlements matters. They provide a 9-point answer including, No. 8, whether Trump can reverse it. (Not likely)

John Kerry’s bravery is evident in the hugely hostile response to him and his speech in both Israel and the USA. Here we post the two favourable responses from Barak Ravid (‘3 years too late’) and the NY Times.

The Washington Post recounts the steps taken by UNSC members – careful to leave the USA out of it – since last summer to achieve a new resolution on settlements. It was their last chance to save the 2-state solution. Two drafts had been circulating (the UK helped edit the Egyptian one). The US was not involved in either.

The attacks on Kerry flow in: he’s patronising, condescending, scheming, interfering, living in la-la land, ignores the Palestinian terror state. As such, no need to take him seriously. Bring on Trump!

John Kerry, outgoing Secretary of State and indefatigable worker for Palestine/Israel negotiations makes a definitive speech because he thinks that the incoming administration will be a disaster for the 2-state solution – ‘we cannot, in good conscience, do nothing, and say nothing, when we see the hope of peace slipping away.’ Full transcript.

It was hoped that out of the horror and tragedy of the Holocaust would come a determination that never again would a policy of genocide be conceived and carried out. All humanity has failed in this. The obstacle, illustrated by the IHRA’s ‘instructive ‘examples’ is the idea that, says David Rosenberg, this means ‘never again must Jews be at risk of genocide’. As for others, such as Palestinians, – that’s someone else’s problem.

The UN Security Council (UNSC) first decided that Jewish settlements in the oPt were illegal in 1979. Israel relied on the US vetoing further resolutions. A jaded Akiva Eldar doubts if Israel will be bothered about Resolution 2334. It fits into Netanyahu’s narrative of persecution and conspiracy.

This week, December 19th-25th, 2016, ended with an important event for all who have argued and campaigned for Palestinian rights and, in particular, for the ending of Jewish settlements plonked all over Palestinian land: the resolution by the UN’s Security Council affirming the illegality of those settlements. Apart from the key element – “Reiterates its […]

There’s not much point in carrying reports of Netanyahu’s response to the UNSC’s resolution on settlements. It is entirely, self-pityingly, predictable. Here he musters his troops for a fight-back against the rule of international humanitarian law.

The UN security resolution condemning Israeli settlements is a ‘landmark’ change, if only symbolically. It has been received positively by most – which doesn’t include the Israeli government which, rhetorically, condemns the resolution as anti-Israel, a betrayal of common values (a snide reference to the American annihilation of the indigenous population?) In one of the more bizarre events of 2016 Trump – with his large antisemitic following – and Bibi have become brothers-in-arms, the religion of Israel being defence of the nation state. What, if anything, this UNSC act will change is discussed by some of the commentators here.

The people who want to enforce a ban, in the name of Judaism, on Christmas and secular celebrations in public spaces and hotels raise the central question – whether Israel is a religious or secular state.