Sir, – The announcement by US president-elect Donald Trump that he plans to appoint the former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to Israel is a matter of serious concern (“Trump expected to appoint foreign policy hawk Rubio as secretary of state”, World, November 13th).
Mr Huckabee is an unbending pro-Israel hawk who has previously opined that “there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian” and has advocated the annexation by Israel of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
If this is a sign of Mr Trump’s likely direction on the Israel-Palestine issue – and it surely must be – then it is even more essential than ever that those governments that support international law and Palestinian political rights take purposeful action now to stop what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank.
It should be remembered that Mr Trump has repeatedly urged Israel to “finish the job” in Gaza without explaining how this should be done (Michael Jansen, “Trump’s re-election likely to embolden Israel”, Analysis, November 8th). The Israeli state, of course, has indicated clearly over the past year how it intends to “finish the job” – through monstrous slaughter and the physical flattening of Gaza.
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Israel’s methods are obvious at this stage, but less discussed is its long-term intention. Unfortunately, there are now many reasons to believe that this continuing catastrophe is ultimately about destroying all opportunities for Palestinian self-determination and positioning Israel to formally annex large parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Would the new Trump administration back such a plan in blatant contravention of international law?
He is a fickle creature, but, disturbingly, it seems possible. His choice of ambassador to Israel suggests as much.
Indeed, the far-right leaders of Israel’s colonial settler movement have greeted the election result with enthusiasm and firmly believe that Mr Trump will endorse Israeli expansionism and the total annexation of Palestinian territory (“US election result will herald ‘golden age’, say Israeli settlers”, World, November 9th). In March 2019, Donald Trump, then US president, at a meeting with Binyamin Netanyahu formally recognised Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, territory seized from Syria in 1967 and deemed occupied land under international law. So, he has form.
This should remind us to never lose sight of what is occurring in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where Israel’s illegal colonial settlers – over 700,000 at present – have become increasingly active and aggressive, confident that their long-cherished aspiration of a Greater Israel on Palestinian land can be achieved.
This is also why legislation such as the Occupied Territories Bill is so important and must be enacted as quickly as possible. Objections from the US should be ignored. – Yours, etc,
FINTAN LANE,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.