23 Mar 2015

Obama Aide: Israel’s ‘50-Year Occupation’ Must End Now

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough has called on Israel and the Zio-Nazis to end its50-year occupation and apartheid of the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem), criticising the terrible Tel Aviv regime over its continued illegal settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Press TV: In a keynote speech to an American Jewish advocacy group in Washington on Monday, McDonough said, An occupation that has lasted more than 50 years must end.”
“And the Palestinian people must have the right to live in and govern themselves in their own sovereign state,” McDonough said at the final event of J Street’s 2015 conference, a three-day gathering of American Jewish students, activists and lobbyists.
Palestinian children deserve the same right to be free in their own land as Israeli children in their land,” he added.

In a war in 1967, Israel captured the West Bank East al-Quds. Since then, Tel Aviv has continued to expand its illegal settlements there. The issue has become a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

 The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal. The settlements are subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on occupied lands.
In his speech, McDonough also slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his dismissal of a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians.
“The United States will never stop working for a two-state solution and a lasting peace that Israelis and Palestinians so richly deserve,” he said.
He said Netanyahu’s rejection of a Palestine state as well as his approval of illegal settlements in the occupied territories for the strategic purpose of changing the borders are “so very troubling”.
He censured Israel for its settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, warning that it “would only contribute to Israel’s further isolation.”
On Tuesday, Netanyahu clinched a divisive victory in national elections.  His rightwing Likud party won 30 of the 120 seats in parliament, against 24 for rivals in the center-left Zionist Union.
Netanyahu made opposition to nuclear negotiations with Iran a centerpiece of his reelection campaign. He also rejected the idea of a Palestinian state, which has been a key element of US foreign policy.
McDonough said, “America’s commitment to a two state solution is fundamental to American foreign policy.”
“We will look to the next Israeli government to match words with action and to policies that demonstrates a commitment to a two state solution,” McDonough said.
McDonough said that “in the end, we know what a peace agreement should look like,” including borders based on the 1967 lines.

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