Thursday, January 18, 2018

Pence is on his way to the Middle East. Oh.

Railway link project proposed between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Israel calls it as "Peace Line." (click here)

Israel: A railway linking plan to connect Israel and Saudi Arabia is in consideration of the Israeli government and it has approved the cost of the project which is included in its 2019 budget three days earlier.
The Cost of the railway linking project is expected to be 15 million shekels ($4.5 million).
A team of experts has been formed by Israel railway commission to lay down the plan for the project.
According to the news reported in Middle East Monitor which quoted Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the purpose of the project is to transfer goods and people across the borders, and the initial plan of the project is to build a railway station in the city of Bisan with a railway network which travels through Jordan to Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
At present, the goods from Israel are being transported from Haifa port and then heading to Iraq, Saudi Arabia aJnd other Gulf States through Jordan.
The railway line plan is called by Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz as “Peace Line.”

The Trump administration has been threatening to end funding to the Palestinians.

January 16, 2018
By Nicole Gaouette and Jamie Crawford

WashingtonThe US has announced (click here) that it will hold back more than half of the funding it provides for a UN agency that supports Palestinians, about two weeks after President Donald Trump threatened to pull funding for the group.

The decision drew condemnation from Palestinians, praise from Israel, and expressions of deep concern from UN officials and refugee groups worried about the humanitarian impact and particularly the potential for further destabilization of a region already reeling from conflict in Syria.

The US will withhold more than half its scheduled $125 million payment from the United Nations Relief Works Agency, which provides humanitarian aid, education, social services and medical care to Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the move had nothing to do with "punishing" the Palestinians for their refusal to enter into negotiations with Israel, or their decision to push for a UN vote that resulted in overwhelming international condemnation of the Trump administration's decision to unilaterally recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital....

This is a common error of this administration in stating one reason for such actions against humanitarian interests, when in fact it will be preceived as punishment. Trump's administration seems to believe they can make statements that all people will believe and accept. "W"rong!

At least $65 million of humanitarian aid is being withheld by Trump and it will victimize the Palestian children. Trump has been threatening the end of funding to the Palestians and the United Naions since he took office. A year later he is unilaterally acting on his threat.

Now that Trump is not funding this aid, where did it go?

Supposedly the EXCUSE of defunding humanitarian aid is because the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is anti-Israel.

The UN agency is not anti-Israel. As a matter of fact in 2012, they planned to change an educational cirriculum to Palestinian children which would include the Holocaust.

October 20, 2012

...“It’s impossible (click here) that I would teach my students about the so-called Holocaust. UNRWA is planning to impose this on us, but we refuse to teach the history of our eternal enemies,” he insisted to The Media Line....

Perhaps while Israel is celebrating the "Peace Train" there can be a discussion about the aid to the Palestinians and the wholesome education of the children.

The Palestinians do not need more isolation and victimization; they need an economy and opportunity for their children to join the rest of the world's understanding of international, heinous crime including the Holocaust. The Palestinian children need far less isolation and victimization; they need an opportunity to be well rounded citizens of the Middle East with an understanding of peace opposed to suffering.