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  • Pergas Wrote Letter To Lee Hsien Loong, Expressed Concerns On Israeli-Palestine Conflict

    Pergas Wrote Letter To Lee Hsien Loong, Expressed Concerns On Israeli-Palestine Conflict

    The Singapore Islamic Scholars and Teachers Association (Pergas) has written to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to highlight the Muslim community’s concerns about the “situation in Palestine”, saying the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict is “regrettable and worrying”.

    The letter, written in Malay and dated 17 February, expressed Pergas’ hopes that Lee would bring up the matter during the two-day official visit to Singapore by Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Monday and Tuesday (20-21 February).

    In the letter, the President of Pergas, Ustaz Hasbi Hassan, said, “Israel’s occupation has lowered the value of human lives. It has caused the lives of children, women and the elderly.

    Pergas has expressed our concern and the Singapore Muslim aspiration to the Singapore government on the Palestine situation. Alhamdulillah, our concern has been conveyed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to the Israeli’s Prime Minister during his two-day Singapore visit earlier this week.

    “The blockage and control of Gaza has ravished the basic human rights for protection, housing, health, education and more. The upholding of these rights has been agreed upon by the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), which urge Israel to stop illegal housing on Palestinian land,” he said in the letter.

    Ustaz Hasbi stressed that as Muslims and citizens of Singapore, Pergas stands by the values of harmony and justice and, like any other community, rejects any form of tyranny, invasion and repression.

    “Violence will only beget violence, and peace could never be achieved as long as discrimination, tyranny and repression still exist,” he said.

    Pergas understands the Singapore government’s policy on such matters, which has been affirmed by the appointment of former Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Hawazi Daipi, as Singapore’s new non-resident representative to the Palestinian Territories. Hawazi assumed the position in November last year.

    “We support the government’s policy and hope that Israel and Palestine can work together towards peace and harmony. We also hope that all forms of repression and violence will cease with justice prevailing for both parties,” Ustaz Hasbi said.

    Prime Minister Lee’s reply to Pergas

    In a letter addressed to Ustaz Hasbi dated Tuesday (21 February), Lee thanked Pergas for expressing its concerns about the situation in Palestine and the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

    Lee said he fully understands these concerns. Singapore is friends with both Israel and the Palestinian National Authority, and many Arab countries, he added.

    “While the situation is complex and progress is difficult, Singapore has always urged Israel and Palestine to resume direct negotiations and work towards a just and durable solution to this longstanding conflict,” Lee said in the letter.

    Lee also reiterated Singapore’s position in the letter, saying that the Republic is convinced that “a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, however hard to achieve, is the only way to bring peace and security to both peoples.”

    The prime minister has stated Singapore’s position and concerns to Netanyahu during his visit here and last year. In the letter, Lee said he has explained to the Israelis that the Middle East matters to Singapore.

    “People all over the world are seized with the Israeli-Palestinian issue, and with the plight of the civilians caught up in the conflict. For Muslim communities particularly, it is an emotional matter.

    “Singapore is in Southeast Asia, surrounded by Muslim-majority countries. And we ourselves have a substantial Muslim population, who are an important part of our harmonious multi-ethnic population,” Lee said.

    He added that “Singapore fervently hopes for peace between Israel and the Palestinians”, which will contribute to a more stable Middle East and a safer world.

    “I thank you for supporting Singapore’s position, which reflects the interests of our nation,” Lee concluded in the letter.

    Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

  • Donald Trump: I Like 2 State Solution But I’ll Leave It Up To Israel And Palestinians

    Donald Trump: I Like 2 State Solution But I’ll Leave It Up To Israel And Palestinians

    WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he likes the concept of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, expressing his preference on the issue for the first time since sparking international criticism for appearing to back away from the longstanding bedrock of Middle East policy.

    But in an interview with Reuters, Trump stopped short of reasserting a U.S. commitment to eventual Palestinian statehood and instead said again that he would be “satisfied with whatever makes both parties happy.”

    Trump’s comments put a new twist on a statement he made at a Feb. 15 joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggesting that his administration would no longer insist on the creation of an independent Palestinian state as part of any future peace accord.

    It could also send a signal to both sides, as well as the international community, that the principle that has long underpinned U.S.-led peace diplomacy will not be discarded if the Trump administration moves forward, as he has promised, with an initiative to restart long-stalled peace efforts.

    “No, I like the two-state solution,” Trump said when asked whether he had backed away from the concept during his joint White House appearance with the right-wing Israeli leader. “But I ultimately like what the both parties like.”

    “People have been talking about it for so many years now. It so far hasn’t worked,” he added. But he then repeated his revised position, saying: “I like this two-state solution, but I am satisfied with whatever both parties agree with.”

    Trump’s comments provided nuance to his earlier comments.

    “I’m looking at two states and one state, and I like the one both parties like,” he said at last week’s news conference. “I can live with either one.”

    Those words were welcomed at the time by the Israeli right but denounced by Palestinians, who seek a state of their own.

    A one-state solution would be deeply problematic for both sides. One concept would be two systems for two peoples, which many Palestinians would see as apartheid and endless occupation. A second version would mean equal rights for all, including for Palestinians in an annexed West Bank, but that would compromise Israel’s Jewish character.

    United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres cautioned against abandoning the idea of a two-state solution, saying there was “no alternative,” and Egyptian and Jordanian leaders also renewed their commitment to that goal.

    Trump’s revised language could soften such criticism, but still fails to meet demands that he explicitly re-commit to seeking a two-state solution.

    At the news conference, Trump pledged to work toward a peace deal but said it would require compromise on both sides. He also surprised Netanyahu by urging him to “hold back on settlements for a little bit,” a vague appeal to curb construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

    But at the news conference he offered no new prescription for achieving an accord that has eluded so many of his predecessors, and Palestinian anger over his strongly pro-Israel stance could make it difficult to draw them back to the negotiating table.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Israel PM Describes ‘Battle For Future Of Humanity’ During Singapore Visit

    Israel PM Describes ‘Battle For Future Of Humanity’ During Singapore Visit

    In the first visit to Singapore by an Israeli head of state in 30 years, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday issued a call for greater diversity and tolerance.

    Netanyahu gave a roughly 10-minute speech to Jewish community members gathered at the tightly guarded Maghain Aboth Synagogue, built in Singapore in the late 1800s.

    Netanyahu spoke of his recent visits to Muslim-majority countries Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, noting that he visited a synagogue in the latter.

    “Jewish children in Kazakhstan were singing Hebrew songs as they sang here, in a Muslim state and that reflects the kind of world we like to see: a world of tolerance, a world of diversity as opposed to the world that is being challenged today by the forces of barbarism and intolerance,” he said. “This is a battle for the future of humanity.”

    Netanyahu added that the relationship between Singapore and Israel had expanded beyond the defence ties which were set in the mid-1960s, when Singapore became independent of Malaysia.

    “It’s not only that we’re both innovation nations. It’s not only that we’re small people that have defied the limitations of our size. It is that we’re committed to a better world. A world of diversity, a world that follows the values that we as a people have held for so many years,” he said.

    Netanyahu said he had held talks with Singapore’s government earlier in the day and that the talks would continue later. His speech at the synagogue coincided with the reading of Singapore’s budget in Parliament.

    Netanyahu’s visit to Singapore comes hard on the heels of the Israeli prime minister’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the U.S. last week, but that visit went unmentioned.

    Netanyahu’s visit to Singapore on Monday was quieter than the last visit of an Israeli head of state to the island-nation.

    In 1986, Israel’s then-President Chaim Herzog became the first Israeli head of state to visit Singapore. But when the Israeli embassy in Singapore announced the visit about a month ahead of time, protests erupted across Muslim-majority countries Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, and Singapore faced diplomatic ire and pressure to cancel the visit.

     

    Source: www.cnbc.com

     

  • Ismail Kassim: World Cannot Remain Neutral On Israel Oppression Of Palestine

    Ismail Kassim: World Cannot Remain Neutral On Israel Oppression Of Palestine

    With the arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu today for an overnight visit, let’s give him a warm welcome and also take the opportunity to look at the ME conflict in perspective and set the record straight.

    By now, it has become clear – to those who want to see – that the Israelis prefer to seize captured land rather than peace and have no compunction of oppressing the Palestinians and treating them as a conquered people.

    Under the circumstances, to stay on the side lines and to insist on being neutral is tantamount to supporting the aggressor.

    Let’s look at the record:

    1. By now, the Israelis have killed more innocent Palestinians than IS, Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups have killed non-Muslims.

    2. More Muslims have died at the hands of IS and gang than non-Muslims.

    3. The main beneficiary of IS bloody rampage is Israel.

    4. The biggest losers everywhere are Muslims.

    5. I cannot rule out the possibility that this so-called IS Caliph is actually a Mossad and CIA agent.

    6. IS suicide volunteers have blown themselves up in vain.

    7. The Caliph and his followers can do the world no better favour than to blow themselves up.

    8. Hitler oppressed the Jews for about7 years but Israel have ill-treated and lorded over the Palestinians for more than 50 years.

    Should the world continue to stay on the side lines and remain neutral, satisfy only in making empty appeals, to both parties to resolve their conflict peacefully?

     

    Source: Ismail Kassim

  • People’s Power Party: Standing In Solidarity With Palestine, Singapore Must Urge Israeli To Respect International Law And Human Rights

    People’s Power Party: Standing In Solidarity With Palestine, Singapore Must Urge Israeli To Respect International Law And Human Rights

    Protest against Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Visit to Singapore

    The People’s Power Party expresses our dismay and disappointment on the account that the Republic of Singapore is hosting a state level visit with Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. On grounds dear to us, we elect to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people who have until now, been deprived of a rightful independent statehood, and the very fact that Israel’s current hostile policy has put the much awaited Two-States solution into a stalemate. It is without doubt that under the watch of its current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the State of Israel continues to brutalise its position as the unforgiving occupying power over Palestinian territories. Palestinian lands and private properties continues to be confiscated and forcefully vacated to make way for illegal settlements, violating international law and stands in contradiction against various UN charters and resolutions. The latest, being UN Resolution 2334, has been met with obvious defiance from PM Benjamin Netanyahu who once again demonstrated his will not to abide by the Security Council’s mandate. This is indeed a call for concern.

    Under Benjamin Netanyahu’s watch, Israel continues to choke West Bank and Gaza from getting open access to commerce and trade, freedom to travel, adequate humanitarian aids and necessities and within that wider overview, been a resultant force that has stagnated the economic growth and opportunities of the occupied Palestinian population. The state of this occupation, conducted by aggressive military force that reeks of brutality are indeed acts that are deplorable which has been condemned at international level. Without any withdrawal in sight in view of its occupation policy, any indication from Singapore to host such high level meeting serves to endorse Israel’s disparaging acts.

    The Israeli government continues to affirm its illegal stance, calling Jerusalem, a city of shared sanctification by the three Abrahamic faith, as its eternal capital. This violates another UN resolution who has long viewed that such pronunciation are to be rejected outright .

    The Palestinian struggle and resistance have taken various shapes and actions. While we do not endorse nor condone acts of deliberate terrorism that hawks on human lives to achieve political aims, the response put forth by Israeli’s military has been grossly outweighing in scale. It reeks of vengeance and often undertaking punitive and collective punishments to families of suspected resistant fighters which destroy their homes and places of residence indiscriminately. In effect, Israel seeks to achieve its existence through means that spells acute and deliberate terrorising.

    Without doubt, Benjamin Netanyahu, in his capacity as the country’s Prime Minister, has overseen the continuation of such operations. Benjamin Netanyahu’s defiance in response to the latest Resolution 2334’s passing was all too obvious that he is repulsively defiant. His intention to downgrade ties with countries which have been historically friendly with Israel, but had voted for the very resolution, shows the very obvious how far he would go to disregard peace as the ultimate solution to the Palestinian issue. The reactions subsequent to the passing of the resolution from him and his government so far ought to be condemned and reprimanded. Hence, it is ethically wrong for our government to demonstrate a higher level of friendship with a country that perversely downplays, lest disrespect, mandated UN resolutions.

    We should not host Benjamin Netanyahu, given the continuing human rights violation and breach of International Law as well as his defiance of UN resolution under his Premiership. We run risk of destroying our warm relationship with our neighbours and contradicting our international standing as a small open country which has championed the Rule of Law, upholding the International Law and an active advocate of the legitimacy of United Nations resolutions. His visit could create an air of distrust and scepticism towards the Singapore’s consistency in our diplomatic commitment in promoting Rule of International Law.

    Singapore also prides itself as the bastion of religious and cultural diversity, with its people enjoying a high level of communal integration. Our values in accepting differences among its religious communities have allowed us to prosper as a nation in peace, within ourselves and with our neighbours. Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s apparatus and apartheid rule at present, do not share the same value which we hold dearly. Granting him a state visit could well undermine the very values we have been accustomed to in achieving peaceful coexistence.

    PM Lee Hsien Loong should seriously review its relationship with Israel. We hold the innate view that Singapore should continue its neutrality, befitting to humanistic principles, towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without the need to break existing bilateral ties with the State of Israel. On that note, we applaud our government’s effort and diplomatic engagement in finding ways to seek a peaceful resolution to the ongoing Palestinian occupation. We acknowledge our relationship with Israel spanned from the time our armed forces was in its foundation stage. However, we should not turn a blind eye to Israel’s unacceptable conduct and stance with regards to its Palestinian Occupation. These are namely:

    1) Disregard of United Nations Resolutions which call upon Israel to carry out the agreed Two-States peaceful resolution to the Palestinian Occupation.

    2) Facilitating and initiating ILLEGAL settlement on Palestine land.

    3) Supporting and legalising Land-Grab policy in Palestine which grossly and blatantly in breach of International Law with respect to Occupation.

    4) Effecting apartheid rule on Palestinian land.

    5) Carrying out systemic human rights abuses, terrorising and condone the atrocities carried out by its armed forces in the Occupied land.

    All these issues need to be put forth in concessionary stages before Singapore alleviates its bilateral relationship with Israel. The vehemently continuous terrorising nature of Israel towards its occupying residents in Palestine runs contrary to our strong resolve in wanting to eradicate terrorism. Hence it is crucial at this stage that we rescind any invitation that we may have extended to Israel’s Prime Minister.

    We should instead persuade Israel to honor its earlier agreement to peaceful establishment of the Two-States resolution. We should continue to persuade Israel to end military hostilities and withdraw immediately all the illegal settlements that continues to be constructed in occupied Palestinian territories. It is all too important that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government shows full intention and commitment in abiding with past resolutions to entrench trust in the international community by fostering and pursuing peaceful end of occupation hostilities. Until Benjamin Netanyahu shows his intention to conduct this wilfully, any engagement that we conduct at this level would only deliver an impression that we are in tacit approval of Israel’s condemning actions towards the illegally occupied Palestinian territories.

    Goh Meng Seng
    Secretary General
    People’s Power Party Singapore
    For CEC

     

    Source: Goh Meng Seng