The Palestinian Authority Cracks Down on Sales of Land to Jews in Jerusalem

Oct. 25 2018

Earlier this month, agents of Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction apprehended a Palestinian businessman named Khaled al-Atari and subjected him to a violent interrogation; he is currently in hiding. Atari’s crime? He had purchased a three-story house in east Jerusalem from an Arab family and then sold it to a group of Jews for $17 million—in violation of a Palestinian Authority (PA) law forbidding any sale of property to Jews. Atari’s apprehension, writes Yoni Ben Menachem, is part of a larger PA crackdown on land sales in eastern Jerusalem; it is also a violation of the Oslo Accords:

On October 20, 2018, the Jerusalem police and the Shin Bet apprehended Adnan Gheith, the PA’s Jerusalem governor, and Jihad al-Faqih, director of the PA’s intelligence office in eastern Jerusalem. . . . They were arrested on suspicion of abducting [an Arab resident of Jerusalem], a realtor . . . whom they suspected of selling a property in the area of Herod’s Gate in the Old City. The realtor is an Israeli citizen who also holds a U.S. passport. According to Palestinian sources, he is still incarcerated in an interrogation cell of the PA General Intelligence Service in Ramallah.

His family has submitted a complaint to the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem regarding his arrest, but according to sources in Fatah, . . . Abbas has instructed that the realtor should not be released from custody. [Moreover], he wants to create a policy of deterrence against the sellers of land and property to Jews in the Old City, and he is looking [to make an example of someone].

According to the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian security forces are not allowed to operate in east Jerusalem. However, the PA has been openly violating [this aspect of the agreement]. As a result, the PA security forces have been playing a game of cat-and-mouse with the Israeli police and the Shin Bet. Residents of eastern Jerusalem relate that during 2018, after President Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the PA security forces stepped up their operations in the area. They are threatening residents on a daily basis and summon them to interrogations in the offices of the [PA’s] Jerusalem district governor. . . .

[T]he abduction of an Israeli citizen with U.S. citizenship is extremely serious. . . . This type of incident has not occurred in Jerusalem for many years. . . . It is time for Israel to take a strong stand against the Palestinian security services, who are violating the Oslo Accords in east Jerusalem to strengthen Abbas’s position.

Read more at Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

More about: East Jerusalem, Israel & Zionism, Mahmoud Abbas, Oslo Accords, Palestinian Authority

How the Trump Administration Can Begin Squeezing Iran on Day One

Nov. 14 2024

Currently Iran has lost much of its air-defense capabilities; Hizballah, its main striking arm and its insurance policy in case of an attack on its nuclear program, is in disarray; and its missile arsenal has failed to do damage to Israel. Mark Dubowitz and Andrea Stricker urge the incoming president to follow the IDF’s military successes with financial warfare:

During Donald Trump’s first term, his administration took nearly two years to settle on a consistent Iran policy and to impose tough sanctions. This meant if [Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei could endure just two years of maximum pressure, Americans might turn President Trump out of office. The gamble paid off.

This time around, Trump should ensure that Tehran has to endure four full years of unstinting pressure. The regime is wealthier thanks to President Biden—its petroleum exports tripled after Trump left office, generating $144 billion of sales from 2021 through 2023. But Tehran is reeling from the hammer blows Israel has delivered to the regime and its proxies since the October 7 slaughter. Twice, Iran has attempted to strike Israel with barrages of missiles, rockets, and drones, all to little effect. Yet when Israel hit back on October 25, it demonstrated that Iran’s supposedly robust air defenses were nearly worthless.

If the Israelis could operate with impunity in Iranian skies, the U.S. Air Force and Navy would face even less resistance. If Trump clearly and consistently says the United States will employ every means at its disposal to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, the threat of force will be credible. Khamenei will know that if he sprints for the bomb, it may spell the end of his regime. Biden claimed he would never let Iran get a nuclear weapon, but the threat was hollow.

Read more at Fox News

More about: Donald Trump, Iran, U.S. Foreign policy