Do you believe in angels? About 7 in 10 U.S. adults do, a new AP-NORC poll shows

WHY AMERIKA WILL NEVER BE A SCIENCE NATION

A detail of "The Righteous Shall Receive a Crown of Glory," Brainard Memorial Window for Methodist Church, Waterville, New York, ca. 1901 is photographed while on display at the "Louis C. Tiffany and the Art of Devotion" exhibit at the Museum of Biblical Art in New York on Thursday, Oct. 25 2012. About 7 in 10 U.S. adults say they believe in angels, according to a new poll released on Saturday, July 29, 2023, by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. 

(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

HOLLY MEYER
Sat, July 29, 2023 

Compared with the devil, angels carry more credence in America.

Angels even get more credence than, well, hell. More than astrology, reincarnation, and the belief that physical things can have spiritual energies.

In fact, about 7 in 10 U.S. adults say they believe in angels, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

“People are yearning for something greater than themselves — beyond their own understanding,” said Jack Grogger, a chaplain for the Los Angeles Angels and a longtime Southern California fire captain who has aided many people in their gravest moments.

That search for something bigger, he said, can take on many forms, from following a religion to crafting a self-driven purpose to believing in, of course, angels.

“For a lot of people, angels are a lot safer to worship,” said Grogger, who also pastors a nondenominational church in Orange, California, and is a chaplain for the NHL's Anaheim Ducks.

People turn to angels for comfort, he said. They are familiar, regularly showing up in pop culture as well as in the Bible. Comparably, worshipping Jesus is far more involved; when Grogger preaches about angels it is with the context that they are part of God's kingdom.

American's belief in angels (69%) is about on par with belief in heaven and the power of prayer, but bested by belief in God or a higher power (79%). Fewer U.S. adults believe in the devil or Satan (56%), astrology (34%), reincarnation (34%), and that physical things can have spiritual energies, such as plants, rivers or crystals (42%).

The widespread acceptance of angels shown in the AP-NORC poll makes sense to Susan Garrett, an angel expert and New Testament professor at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Kentucky. It tracks with historical surveys, she said, adding that the U.S. remains a faith-filled country even as more Americans reject organized religion.

But if the devil is in the details, so are people’s understandings of angels.

“They’re very malleable,” Garrett said of angels. “You can have any one of a number of quite different worldviews in terms of your understanding of how the cosmos is arranged, whether there’s spirit beings, whether there’s life after death, whether there’s a God … and still find a place for angels in that worldview.”

Talk of angels, Garrett said, is often also about something else, like the ways God interacts with the world and other hard-to-articulate ideas.

The large number of U.S. adults who say they believe in angels includes 84% of those with a religious affiliation — 94% of evangelical Protestants, 81% of mainline Protestants and 82% of Catholics — and 33% of those without one. And of those angel-believing religiously unaffiliated, that includes 2% of atheists, 25% of agnostics and 50% of those identified as “nothing in particular.”

The broad acceptance is what fascinates San Francisco-based witch and author Devin Hunter: Angels show up independently in different religions and traditions, making them part of the fabric that unites humanity.

“We’re all getting to the same conclusion,” said Hunter, who spent 16 years as a professional medium, and started communicating as a child with what he believed were angels.

Hunter estimates that a belief in angels applies to about half of those practicing modern witchcraft today, and for some who don't believe, their rejection is often rooted in the religious trauma they experienced growing up.

“Angels become a very big deal" for long-time practitioners who've made occultism their primary focus, said Hunter, an angel-loving occultist. “We cannot escape them in any way, shape or form.”

Jennifer Goodwin of Oviedo, Florida, also is among the roughly seven in 10 U.S. adults who say they believe in angels. She isn’t sure if God exists and rejects the afterlife dichotomy of heaven and hell, but the recent deaths of her parents solidified her views on these celestial beings.

Goodwin believes her parents are still keeping an eye on the family — not in any physical way or as a supernatural apparition, but that they manifest in those moments when she feels a general sense of comfort.

“I think that they are around us, but it’s in a way that we can’t understand,” Goodwin said. “I don’t know what else to call it except an angel.”

Angels mean different things to different people, and the idea of loved ones becoming heavenly angels after death is neither an unusual belief nor a universally held one.

In his reading of Scripture as an evangelical Protestant, Grogger said he believes angels are something else entirely — they have never been human and are on another level in heaven's hierarchy. “We are higher than angels,” he said. “We do not become an angel.”

Angels do interact with humans though, said Grogger, but what "that looks like we’re not 100% sure.” They worship God who created this angelic legion of unknown numbers, he said, adding that evangelicals often attribute the demonic forces in the world to the angels who fell from heaven when the devil rebelled.

The Western ideas about angels can be traced through the Bible — and to the worldviews of its monotheistic authors, Garrett said. Those beliefs have changed and developed for millennia, influenced by cultures, theologians and even the ancient polytheistic beliefs that came before the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, she said.

“There are sort of lines of continuity from the Bible that you can trace all the way up to the New Age movement,” said Susan Garrett, who wrote “No Ordinary Angel: Celestial Spirits and Christian Claims about Jesus.”

The angels in the Bible do God's bidding, and angelic violence is one part of their job description, said Esther Hamori, author of the upcoming book, “God's Monsters: Vengeful Spirits, Deadly Angels, Hybrid Creatures, and Divine Hitmen of the Bible.”

“The angels of the Bible are just as likely to assassinate individuals and slaughter entire populations as they are to offer help and protect and deliver,” said Hamori. She doesn't believe in these angels, but studies them as a Hebrew Bible professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York where she teaches a popular “Monster Heaven” class.

“They’re just God’s obedient soldiers doing the task at hand, and sometimes that task is in human beings' best interests, and sometimes it’s not," she said.

The perception that angels act angelic and look like the idyllic, winged figurines atop Christmas trees could be attributed to an early centuries belief that people are assigned one good angel and one bad — or have a good and bad spirit to guide them, Garrett said.

This idea shows up on the shoulders of cartoon characters and is likely what Abraham Lincoln was alluding to in his famous appeal for unity when he referenced “the better angels of our nature” in his first inaugural address, she said.

“It’s also tied in with ideas about guardian angels, which again, very ancient views that got developed over the centuries,” Garrett said.

For Sheila Avery of Chicago, angels are protectors, capable of keeping someone from harm. Avery, who belongs to a nondenominational church, credits them with those moments like when a person’s plans fall through, but ultimately it saves them from being in the thick of an unexpected disaster.

“They turn on the news and a terrible tragedy happened at that particular place,” Avery said, suggesting it was an “angel that was probably watching over them.”

 A statue of Archangel Michael, left, stands near a large United States flag at Russell Salvatore's Patriots and Heroes Park, Friday, Aug. 10, 2018, in Buffalo, N.Y.

 (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

 Costumed Halloween revelers take pictures with their phones before the start of New York City's 48th annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021, in New York. 

(AP Photo/Dieu-Nalio Chery, File)

A man walks by a pair of angel wings displayed in a store in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Tuesday, May 7, 2019 

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

 Angels and a note blessing victims rest on the ground at the site of a makeshift memorial for school shooting victims at the village of Sandy Hook in Newtown, Conn., Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012. A gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the town, killing 26 people, including 20 children before killing himself.

 (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

 Katy Perry attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination exhibition on Monday, May 7, 2018, in New York. 

(Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

 A statue of the angel Lucifer stands in the Retiro park in Madrid on April 29, 2005. Wrought in bronze, its mouth is agape in horror with fang-baring snakes coiled around the legs, as it falls from heaven.

 (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)

 A well-preserved, long-hidden mosaic depicting the face of an angel which was uncovered by restoration workers at the former Byzantine cathedral of Haghia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey, is seen on Saturday, July 25, 2009. The seraphim figure _ one of two located on the side of a dome _ had been covered up along with the building's other Christian mosaics shortly after Constantinople _ the former name for Istanbul _ fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 and the cathedral was turned into a mosque. The mosaics were plastered over according to Muslim custom that prohibits the representation of humans. 

(AP Photo/Ibrahim Usta, File)
ASSOCIATED PRESS

 A bronze statue of the Archangel Gabriel blowing a trumpet stands at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine as the sun rises in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan in New York on Sunday, March 26, 2023. 

(AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

US' move to send Taiwan weapons worth $345-million  likely to provoke China; here's why

29 Jul 2023

Sounak Mukhopadhyay

MINT PRESS, INDIA

Taiwan will receive $345-million weapons aid package from US. The move is likely to provoke China and escalate tensions in the region.

The official declaration of the US aid package to Taiwan did not provide details on the weapon systems.

Taiwan is going to receive a weapons aid package, valued at a substantial $345 million ( ₹2,838 crore), from the United States. Despite keeping the specifics of the arms package confidential, this move is likely to provoke China, as Taiwan strongly opposes China's claims of sovereignty.

The 2023 budget has granted Congress the power to offer up to $1 billion ( ₹8,226 crore) worth of weapons aid to Taiwan, much to the dismay of Beijing, which has been the primary supplier of arms to the island and persistently demands that the U.S. refrain from selling weapons to Taiwan.

The formal announcement of the aid package did not disclose the weapon systems included in it. However, there were previous reports suggesting that the package could contain four unarmed MQ-9A reconnaissance drones.

Also Read: Explained: China issuing ‘stapled visas’ to Arunachal Pradesh players may concern national security; here's how

Nonetheless, the final selection of equipment might be subject to alteration, as officials are considering removing certain advanced equipment that is exclusively available to the U.S. Air Force, Reuters reported.

In the midst of the escalating tensions between the United States, Taiwan, and China, the unveiling of this weapons aid package underscores the intricate complexities in the region. The implications of this move have far-reaching consequences for the geopolitical dynamics in East Asia.

Taiwan's defence ministry thanked the U.S. for its "firm security commitment," adding in a statement it will not comment on the package details due to the "tacit agreement" between the two sides.

Also Read: 'India open to Chinese investments': Centre as Ajit Doval affirms strained strategic trust

Among the issues that could confound the inclusion of the drones was who would pay for their alterations, one of the people briefed on the matter said previously. Reuters could not determine if the drones were still part of the package.


Taiwan had previously agreed to purchase four, more advanced, MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones, made by General Atomics, which are slated for delivery in 2025.

Why US' move may provoke China

China considers Taiwan, which is governed democratically, as part of its own territory and has escalated military intimidation towards the island in the last three years. China has maintained its stance on using force if necessary to assert control over Taiwan.

However, Taiwan vehemently opposes China's claims of sovereignty and firmly asserts that the future of the island should be determined solely by the Taiwanese people.

(With Reuters inputs)

Arming Taiwan is an Insane Provocation

by John V. Walsh Posted onJuly 12, 2023

The Island of Taiwan has been turned into a “powder keg” by the infusion of U.S. weaponry, pushing the Taiwanese people into the “abyss of disaster.”  These are the words of the Chinese Defense Ministry in reaction to the recent $440 million sale of U.S. arms to the island. And now the U.S. is also giving, not selling, arms to Taiwan, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer.

The “First Island Chain” Strategy of the U.S.

Taiwan is but one in a series of islands along the Chinese coast, often called “The First Island Chain,” which now bristles with advanced U.S. weapons. These are accompanied by tens of thousands of supporting U.S. military personnel and combat troops.  The “First Island Chain” extends from Japan in the north southward through Japan’s Ryukyu islands which include Okinawa, to Taiwan and on to the northern Philippines. (U.S. ally, South Korea, with a military of 500,000 active duty personnel and 3 million reserves is a powerful adjunct to this chain.) In U.S. military doctrine the First Island Chain is a base to “project power” and restrict sea access to China.

Taiwan is at the center this string of islands and is considered the focal point of The First Island Chain strategy. When the fiercely hawkish Cold Warrior, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, conceived the strategy in 1951, he dubbed Taiwan America’s “unsinkable aircraft carrier.”

Taiwan is now one source of contention between the U.S. and China. As is often said but rarely done, the pursuit of peace demands that we understand the point of view of those who are marked as our adversaries. And, in China’s eyes, Taiwan and the rest of these armed isles look like both chain and noose.

How would the U.S. react in a similar circumstance? Cuba is about the same distance from the U.S. as the width of the Taiwan Strait that separates Taiwan from the Mainland. Consider the recent U.S. reaction to rumors that China was setting up a listening post in Cuba. There was a bipartisan reaction of alarm in Congress and a bipartisan statement that such an installation is “unacceptable.” What would be the reaction if China armed Cuba to the teeth or sent hundreds of soldiers there as the U.S. has done to Taiwan? It is not hard to imagine. One immediately thinks of the U.S. sponsored invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs and later the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Clearly, the arming of Taiwan is a provocative act that pushes the U.S. closer to war with China, a nuclear power.

The Secessionist Movement in Taiwan

According to the One China Policy, the official policy of the U.S., Taiwan is part of China. The UN took the same position in 1971 with passage of Resolution 2758 (also known as the Resolution on Admitting Peking) which recognized the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the legitimate government of all of China and its sole representative in the UN.

In recent decades a secessionist movement has developed on the island of Taiwan, a sentiment represented by the DPP (Democratic Progressive Party). Currently Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP is President. But in the local elections of 2022, the DPP lost very badly to the KMT (Kuomintang) which is friendly to the Mainland and wishes to preserve the status quo or “strategic ambiguity,” as it is called. Tsai built the DPP’s 2022 campaign on hostility to Beijing, not on local issues. And at the same time, her government passed legislation to increase the compulsory service for young Taiwanese males from 6 months to a year. Needless to say, this hawkish move was not popular with the under 30 set.

Polling in 2022 showed that an overwhelming majority of Taiwanese now want to preserve the status quo. Only 1.3% want immediate unification and only 5.3% want immediate independence. Compared to previous years, a record 28.6 percent of those polled said they preferred to “maintain the status quo indefinitely,” while 28.3 percent chose the status quo to “decide at a later date,” and 25.2 percent opted for the status quo with a view to “move toward independence.” Thus, a total of 82.1% now favor the status quo! Not surprisingly, every prominent presidential candidate professes to be in favor of the status quo. However, DPP candidates also contend there is no need to declare independence since in their eyes Taiwan is already independent.

The stated policy of the People’s Republic of China is to seek peaceful reunification with Taiwan. Only if the secessionist movement formally declares independence does Beijing threaten to use force. Clearly the Taiwanese do not wish to find themselves in the position of Ukrainians, cannon fodder in a U.S. proxy war.

Here we might once more consider how the alleged enemy of the U.S., China, sees things and might react to a formal act of secession and declaration of independence by Taiwan. And again, we might be guided by our own history. When the Confederate States seceded from the Union, the U.S. descended into the bloodiest war in its history with 620,000 soldiers dead. Moreover, a secessionist Taiwan, as an armed ally of the U.S., represents to China a return to the “Century of Humiliation” at the hands of the colonial West. Given these circumstances, arming Taiwan clearly creates a “powder keg.” A single spark could ignite it.

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the U.S. is trying to gin up a proxy war that would engulf East Asia, damaging not only China but other U.S. economic competitors like Japan and South Korea. The U.S. would come out on top. It is the neocon Wolfowitz Doctrine put into play. But in the nuclear age such stratagems amount to total insanity.

If some Taiwanese hope that the U.S. will come to its aid, they should ponder carefully the tragedy of Ukraine. Somewhere between 150,000 and 200,000 Ukrainian soldiers have lost their lives so far and millions more turned into refugees. A similar U.S. proxy war in Taiwan could easily turn into a full-scale conflict between the world’s two largest economies, certainly triggering a global depression and perhaps a nuclear exchange. And U.S. President Joe Biden has committed to send troops to fight the People’s Liberation Army should hostilities break out. So, the situation is even more perilous than the one in Ukraine!

No Arms to Taiwan.

When all this is considered, arming Taiwan is asking for trouble on a global scale. Taipei and Beijing can settle their disagreements by themselves. Frankly put, disagreements between the two are none of America’s business.

So, we Americans must stop our government from arming Taiwan. And we need to get our military out of East Asia. It is an ocean away, and no power there is threatening the U.S. We do not have Chinese warships off our Pacific Coast, nor do we have Chinese troops or Chinese military bases anywhere in our entire hemisphere.

China calls for peaceful coexistence and a win-win set of relationships between us. Let’s take them up on that.

And let’s bring all those troops, submarines, bombers, rockets, and warships out of East Asia before they stumble into a conflict or become the instrument of a false flag operation. We should keep in mind the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, a fake report of a Vietnamese attack on a U.S. ship that led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, a de facto declaration of war against Vietnam. In the end millions lost their lives in Southeast Asia in that brutal, horrific war. Even that will look like a schoolyard squabble compared to the conflagration unleashed by a U.S.-China war.

Author: John V. Walsh

John V. Walsh writes about issues of war, peace, empire, and health care for Antiwar.com, Consortium News, DissidentVoice.org, The Unz Review, and other outlets. Now living in the East Bay, he was until recently Professor of Physiology and Cellular Neuroscience at a Massachusetts Medical School. John V. Walsh can be reached at john.endwar@gmail.com View all posts by John V. Walsh

PA President Mahmoud Abbas: A Puppet in the Hands of Israel and the US?

by Ramzy Baroud Posted onJuly 28, 2023

This is the perfect opportunity for Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, to exit the stage. But he will not.

Abbas’ brief visit to the devastated Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank on July 12 demonstrated the absurdity and danger of the PA and its 87-year-old leader.

As he walked, Abbas struggled to keep his balance, in what was promoted as a "solidarity" visit to the camp.

Thousands of frustrated Jenin residents took to the streets, hardly chanting Abbas’ name. Some looked on with disappointment; others asked where the President’s forces were when Israel invaded the camp, killing 12, wounding and arresting hundreds more.

The BBC reported on a “huge armed deployment” to secure Abbas’ visit, where “PA security forces joined a thousand-strong unit of Mr. Abbas’ elite presidential guard." Their only job was to “clear a path” for Abbas into the camp.

On the initial and most deadly first day of the Israeli invasion of Jenin, Israeli media, citing military sources, said that 1,000 Israeli soldiers were taking part in the military operation.

Yet, it took more Palestinian soldiers to secure Abbas’ brief visit to Jenin.

Indeed, where were those well-dressed and equipped PA soldiers when Jenin was fighting and dying alone? And why does Abbas need to be protected from his own people?

To address these questions, it is important to examine recent contexts, three significant dates in particular:

On July 5, Israel ended its military operation in Jenin.

On July 9, despite protests by some of his security cabinet members, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel would do its utmost to prevent the collapse of the PA. He stated outright that the PA "works for us."

And, finally, on July 12, Abbas visited Jenin with a stern message to Palestinian Resistance groups.

These three dates are directly related: Israel’s failed raid on Jenin has heightened the significance of the PA in Israel’s eyes. Abbas visited Jenin to reassure Israel that his Authority is up for the task.

To live up to Israel’s expectations and to ensure its survival, the PA is willing to clash directly with Palestinians who refuse to toe the line.

“There will be one Authority and one security force,” Abbas declared angrily, only days following the burial of Jenin’s victims. “Anyone who seeks to undermine its unity and security will face the consequences,” he added, further promising that “Any hand that reaches out to harm the people and their stability shall be cut off.”

The hand in reference is not that of Israel, but any Palestinian who resists Israel.

Abbas knows that Palestinians outright despise him and his Authority. Just days earlier, Fatah party deputy Chairman, Mahmoud Aloul, was removed from Jenin by angry crowds.

The crowds chanted in unison, “get out," to Aloul and two other PA officials.

They did, but Abbas returned to the same scene. He was flown in a Jordanian military helicopter. Waiting for him, below, was a small PA army that had taken over the streets and the high buildings – or whatever remained of them – in the destroyed camp.

All of this happened through logistical arrangements with the Israeli military.

But why is Netanyahu keen on the PA’s survival?

Netanyahu wants the PA to survive simply because he does not want the Israeli occupation administration and military to be fully responsible for the welfare of Palestinians in the West Bank and the security of the illegal settlers.

Despite its near complete failure, the Oslo Accords succeeded in one thing: it provided Israel with a Palestinian force whose main mission is to assist the Israeli occupation in its quest to maintain total control over the West Bank.

Abbas’ trip to Jenin was intended to reassure Tel Aviv that the PA is still committed to its obligations to Israel.

Another message was sent to US President Joe Biden, who has, in a recent interview, cast doubts on the PA’s ‘credibility’. “The PA is losing its credibility,” Biden told CNN, and that has “created a vacuum for extremism.”

The message to Washington was that the hands of the so-called ‘extremists’ will be “cut off," and that there will be “consequences” for those who defy the PA’s will.

Abbas seemed to speak, not only on behalf of his Authority but that of Tel Aviv and Washington as well.

Even ordinary Palestinians understand this to be the case; in fact, they always have. The only difference now is that they feel strong and emboldened by a new generation of Resistance which has succeeded in reclaiming a degree of Palestinian unity, amid factional politics and PA corruption.

The PA is now seen by most Palestinians as the obstacle in the face of full unity. That position is fully fathomable. While Israel was ramping up its deadly operations in Jenin and Nablus, the PA police was arresting Palestinian activists, angering Resistance groups in the West Bank and Gaza.

If this continues, a civil war in the West Bank is a real possibility, especially as Abbas’ potential successors are equally distrusted, even by Fatah’s own rank and file. These men were also in Jenin, standing shoulder to shoulder behind Abbas as he was frantically trying to lay out the new rules.

This time around, Palestinians are unlikely to listen. For the Resistance, the stakes are too high to back down now. For the PA, losing the West Bank means losing billions of dollars of Western financial handouts.

A clash between the Resistance and their popular support, on the one hand, and the West-Israel-backed PA forces, on the other, will prove very costly for Palestinians.

Yet, for Tel Aviv, it is a win-win. This is why Netanyahu is anxious to help Abbas keep his job, at least long enough to ensure that the post-Abbas transition goes through efficiently.

Palestinians must find a way to block such designs, preserve Palestinian blood, and restructure their leadership, so that it represents them, not the interests of the Israeli occupation.

 

The War to Save Mahmoud Abbas: Is Netanyahu Pushing for Palestinian Civil Conflict?

by Ramzy Baroud Posted onJuly 21, 2023

This is the perfect opportunity for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to exit the stage. But he will not.

Abbas’ brief visit to the devastated Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank on July 12 demonstrated the absurdity and danger of the PA and its 87-year-old leader.

As he walked, Abbas struggled to keep his balance, in what was promoted as a “solidarity” visit to the camp.

Thousands of frustrated Jenin residents took to the streets, hardly chanting Abbas’ name. Some looked on with disappointment; others asked where the president’s forces were when Israel invaded the camp, killing 12, wounding and arresting hundreds more.

The BBC reported on a “huge armed deployment” to secure Abbas’ visit, where “PA security forces joined a thousand-strong unit of Mr. Abbas’ elite presidential guard.” Their only job was to “clear a path” for Abbas into the camp.

On the first and most deadly day of the Israeli invasion of Jenin, Israeli media, citing military sources, said that 1,000 Israeli soldiers were taking part in the military operation.

Yet, it took more Palestinian soldiers to secure Abbas’ brief visit to Jenin.

Indeed, where were those well-dressed and equipped PA soldiers when Jenin was fighting and dying alone? And why does Abbas need to be protected from his own people?

To address these questions, it is important to examine recent contexts, three significant dates in particular.

On July 5, Israel ended its military operation in Jenin.

On July 9, despite protests by some of his security cabinet members, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel would do its utmost to prevent the collapse of the PA. He stated outright that the PA “works for us.”

And, finally, on July 12, Abbas visited Jenin with a stern message to Palestinian Resistance groups.

These three dates are directly related; Israel’s failed raid on Jenin has heightened the significance of the PA in Israel’s eyes. Abbas visited Jenin to reassure Israel that his Authority is up for the task.

To live up to Israel’s expectations and to ensure its survival, the PA is willing to clash directly with Palestinians who refuse to toe the line.

“There will be one Authority and one security force,” Abbas declared angrily, only days following the burial of Jenin’s victims. “Anyone who seeks to undermine its unity and security will face the consequences,” he added, further promising that “Any hand that reaches out to harm the people and their stability shall be cut off.”

The hand in reference is not that of Israel, but any Palestinian who resists Israel.

Abbas knows that Palestinians outright despise him and his Authority. Just days earlier, Fatah Party Deputy Chairman, Mahmoud Aloul, was removed from Jenin by angry crowds.

The crowds chanted in unison “Get out” to Aloul and two other PA officials.

They did, but Abbas returned to the same scene. He was flown in a Jordanian military helicopter. Waiting for him below was a small PA army that had taken over the streets and the high buildings — or whatever remained of them — in the destroyed camp.

All of this happened through logistical arrangements with the Israeli military.

But why is Netanyahu keen on the PA’s survival?

Netanyahu wants the PA to survive simply because he does not want the Israeli occupation administration and military to be fully responsible for the welfare of Palestinians in the West Bank and the security of the illegal settlers.

Despite its near complete failure, the Oslo Accords succeeded in one thing: it provided Israel with a Palestinian force whose main mission is to assist the Israeli occupation in its quest to maintain total control over the West Bank.

Abbas’ trip to Jenin was intended to reassure Tel Aviv that the PA is still committed to its obligations to Israel.

Another message was sent to U.S. President Joe Biden, who has, in a recent interview, cast doubts on the PA’s ‘credibility.’ “The PA is losing its credibility,” Biden told CNN, and that has “created a vacuum for extremism.”

The message to Washington was that the hands of the so-called “extremists” will be “cut off,” and that there will be “consequences” for those who defy the PA’s will.

Abbas seemed to speak, not only on behalf of his Authority, but that of Tel Aviv and Washington as well.

Even ordinary Palestinians understand this to be the case; in fact, they always have. The only difference now is that they feel strong and emboldened by a new generation of resistance which has succeeded in reclaiming a degree of Palestinian unity, amid factional politics and PA corruption.

The PA is now seen by most Palestinians as the obstacle in the face of full unity. That position is fully fathomable. While Israel was ramping up its deadly operations in Jenin and Nablus, the PA police were arresting Palestinian activists, angering resistance groups in the West Bank and Gaza.

If this continues, a civil war in the West Bank is a real possibility, especially as Abbas’ potential successors are equally distrusted, even by Fatah’s own rank and file. These men were also in Jenin, standing shoulder to shoulder behind Abbas as he was frantically trying to lay out the new rules.

This time around, Palestinians are unlikely to listen. For the resistance, the stakes are too high to back down now. For the PA, losing the West Bank means losing billions of dollars of Western financial handouts.

A clash between the resistance and their popular support, on the one hand, and the West-Israel-backed PA forces, on the other, will prove very costly for Palestinians.

Yet, for Tel Aviv, it is a win-win. This is why Netanyahu is anxious to help Abbas keep his job, at least long enough to ensure that the post-Abbas transition goes through efficiently.

Palestinians must find a way to block such designs, preserve Palestinian blood, and restructure their leadership so that it represents them, not the interests of the Israeli occupation.

Netanyahu: No Palestinian State and the PA ‘Works for Us’

by Ramzy Baroud Posted onJuly 13, 2023

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not just against the establishment of a Palestinian state, he wants to eliminate the very aspirations for such a state.

This was the gist of Netanyahu’s remarks, made at a meeting of the Israeli Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. They were reported in Israeli media on June 26.

Some, including officials in the Palestinian Authority (PA), seemed oddly surprised following the release of the reports, as if Israel’s intentions regarding Palestinian freedom and statehood are not known even to a political novice.

The official spokesperson for the Palestinian presidency retorted by emphasizing that only an independent Palestinian state can achieve "security" and "stability."

These two terms are often used by Palestinian officials to induce US sympathy, as such language is borrowed from US political discourse in Palestine and the Middle East. Practically, the term "security" is almost always linked to Israel, and "stability" is related to the US agenda in the region.

For Israel, however, such language is of little urgency, because "security," from Tel Aviv’s perspective, is obtained through two different channels: one, unconditional US support and two, "security coordination" between the Israeli military occupation and the PA.

Both aspects are already satisfied. Tel Aviv is so content with this arrangement to the extent that Netanyahu, in his recently reported comments, stressed the following: “In the areas which (The Palestinian Authority) manages to act, it does the work for us. And we have no interest in it collapsing.”

Namely, Netanyahu sees the PA as another line of defense against the very Palestinians that the PA is supposed to represent.

As for "stability," this is of little concern to Israel, for it practically defines stability as complete Israeli dominance over the Palestinians – actually, the whole region.

None of the above assertions are predicated on complex analyses or guesswork but are exacted from official Israeli statements and actions on the ground.

When far-right Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared in March that there was “no such thing as Palestinians because there’s no such thing as the Palestinian people," he was not giving a history lecture, or merely engaging in hate speech. He was circuitously stating that Israel is neither morally, legally nor politically accountable for its actions against those who do not exist.

His remarks were consistent with the ongoing pogroms carried out by his supporters, the armed and dangerous illegal Jewish settlers of the West Bank against Palestinians in Huwwara in February and, more recently, against Turmus’ayya and other Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank.

Neither the Americans nor the Europeans carried out any punitive actions against Smotrich or against the gangs of settlers who torched Palestinian homes and cars, killing and wounding many in the process.

Yet, that is only a microcosm of a large ailment, where Israel says and does what it wants, while the Americans continue to read from an old political script as if nothing has changed on the ground.

Without doubt, US foreign policymakers know too well that Israel has zero interest in a just and peaceful settlement to its military occupation of Palestine.

However, if this is the case, why does the US government insist on following the same tired blueprint of urging both sides to re-engage in the so-called "peace process" and return to negotiations?

This mantra continues to define the US foreign policy agenda since the early 1990s, when Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed the Oslo Accords.

Oslo worsened a bad situation – tripled the illegal settlements and settlers, and made the Palestinian people even more vulnerable, not only to Israeli violence but to the PA’s repression and corruption as well.

Though Oslo was unfair to Palestinians since it operated largely outside acceptable international paradigms and had no enforcement clauses or deadlines, Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders objected to it anyway, because – although symbolically – it expected Israel to behave in a certain manner.

To be told not to build or expand settlements, for example, has always infuriated Netanyahu, who lashed out even at his American benefactors many times in the past – most notably under the administration of President Barack Obama.

Israeli leaders feel that they are above any law or expectations emanating from outside, even if these expectations are quite minimal and made by close allies, such as Washington.

Alas, with time, Netanyahu prevailed, not only over any supposed "pressures" from the US and the international community, but also over the more "liberal" political forces in his own society.

Now, armed with a stable coalition, immune from any meaningful criticism, let alone tangible consequences to his action, the Israeli leader feels ready to carry out his right-wing agenda without further hesitation.

Netanyahu’s recent remarks are a more emboldened version of the derisive remarks made in October 2004 by top Israeli government advisor, Dov Weissglass who explained the true intentions behind the Israeli military deployment in Gaza in 2005. It was an Israeli tactic aimed at “freezing the peace process," he said.

"And when you freeze that process,” Weissglass told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, “you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and you prevent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem. Effectively, this whole package called the Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has been removed indefinitely from our agenda.”

Though this "whole package" has, indeed, been long removed from the Israeli agenda, the country’s leaders kept referencing a Palestinian state anyway, only to satisfy the minimal expectations of US policy. Even Netanyahu played this game on more than one occasion, including his February interview with CNN, where he argued that a Palestinian state is possible, but only if it has no sovereignty.

Now, Netanyahu is ready to move past that seemingly old language, to new political territories, where the very aspiration of an independent Palestine is not permissible.

While Netanyahu’s bad but honest language is likely to invite yet more Israeli violence and Palestinian resistance, it should also bring about greater clarity, shelving, once and for all, the fraudulent discourse of "security," "stability" and all the rest.

Author: Ramzy Baroud

Ramzy Baroud is editor of the Palestine Chronicle. His latest book is My Father was A Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto Press). View all posts by Ramzy Baroud

Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out. His other books include My Father was a Freedom Fighter and The Last Earth. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net.

Jenin is Just the Start: Did Palestinians Finally Bury the Ghosts of the Past?

by Ramzy Baroud 

Posted onJuly 17, 2023

The deadly Israeli invasion of Jenin on July 3 was not a surprise.

Unsurprising also is the fact that the killing of 12 Palestinians, wounding of 120 more, and the destruction of nearly 80 percent of the Jenin Refugee Camp’s homes and infrastructure will not make an iota of a difference.

Even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite his lofty promises of destroying the “safe haven … of the terrorist enclave in Jenin,” must have known that his bloody exercise was ultimately futile.

Indeed, as the Israeli military machine was toppling homes, smashing cars, and harvesting lives, several Palestinian retaliatory attacks were reported, including in Tel Aviv on July 4, and in the Kedumim illegal settlement on July 6.

In fact, unlike the Israeli response to the Second Palestinian Uprising (Intifada) of 2000, extreme violence will not weaken instead but heighten Palestinian Resistance and counter attacks.

Back then, the Palestinian Authority had a degree of control over Palestinian groups and managed, although with great difficulties, to contain the Palestinian street.

Now, the PA has no such leverage.

Indeed, when a delegation of PA officials visited Jenin on July 5 to show ‘solidarity’ and to promise help in the recovery efforts, Jenin residents kicked the officials out of their camp.

Thus, neither did Israel manage to regain any kind of control over Jenin, nor did the PA succeed in reinventing itself as the savior of the people.

So, what was the point of all of this?

Writing in Haaretz, Zvi Bar’el linked the whole Jenin operation, dubbed ‘House and Garden,’ to Netanyahu’s “loss of political control” over his government; in fact, the whole country.

It was “a showy operation,” Bar’el wrote, and “no sensible person in the army or the Shin Bet security service, or even in the silent circles of the right, actually believed that the operation would eradicate” the armed resistance, not only in Jenin, but anywhere throughout the West Bank.

A “showy operation,” indeed, and the best proof of that is the language emanating from official Israeli sources, lead among them Netanyahu himself.

The politically, but also legally embattled rightwing Israeli leader bragged about his army’s “comprehensive action,” carried out in “very systemic way … from the ground, from the air (and) with superb intelligence.”

He vowed to “return to Jenin” if “Jenin returns to terror,” and this “will happen much faster and with much greater power than what people might imagine.”

Tel Aviv’s Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, also spoke about the military’s “success,” in “deal(ing) a heavy blow to the terror organizations in Jenin,” and recording “impressive operational achievements.”

But none of this hyped language is true. What Israel refers to as ‘terror organizations’ in Jenin is part of a much larger phenomenon of armed resistance, itself an outcome of an even larger movement of popular resistance that is felt in every corner of Occupied Palestine.

Quelling the rebellion is not a question of firepower. To the contrary, Israel’s “impressive operational achievement” has simply poured fuel on a raging fire.

To distract from his mounting problems, and to keep his hardline coalition of far-right politicians and their popular base of illegal Jewish settlers happy, Netanyahu has done the most foolish thing. He has simply turned a potential armed rebellion in Palestine into an imminent West Bank-wide revolution.

Unlike the Second Intifada, neither Israel nor the PA has any leverage over the new generation of Palestinian resisters. They are neither moved by false promises of a state, of jobs, of international funds, nor seem to fear threats of detention, torture, or even death.

To the contrary, the greater the violence Israel metes out against Palestinians, the more emboldened they become.

Any examination of the political discourse of this new Palestinian generation, including that of social media, demonstrates a degree of fearlessness that is truly unprecedented.

This courage can be attributed in part to Gaza, whose ongoing resistance, despite the siege and horrific wars in the last two decades have greatly impacted the youth of the West Bank.

And, while PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian enemies engaged in a protracted charade of ‘national unity talks’ and ‘power sharing,’ the new generation operated entirely independent from these superficial and insincere slogans.

Though they were mostly born or matured after the signing of the Oslo accords in 1993, they perceive the political language and culture of that era as alien to them.

It is as if two different Palestines exist — one of Abbas, Fatah, factions, Oslo, donors’ money, ‘peace process’ and dirty politics, and another of united resistance on the ground, sumoud (steadfastness), Gaza, Jenin, Nablus, Lions’ Den and more.

Neither Netanyahu and Gallant, nor Abbas and his PA allies, seem to understand nor are willing to understand this historical shift in political discourses, cultures, and language.

They are disinterested in the cultural shift simply because it does not serve the status quo, which has served them well. Netanyahu wants to stay in power as long as possible; Gallant wants to demonstrate his military prowess — for the sake of running for a higher office in the future — and Abbas wants to keep whatever share of power and money allocated to him.

Perhaps, at a deeper level, they all understand that what worked in the past — more violence in the case of Israel and more financial bribes and corruption in the case of the PA — will not work in the present.

Yet, they are likely to stay the course simply because they are weak, desperate, and have no long-term visions, let alone a real understanding of what is transpiring in Palestine now.

In some ways, it is a generational problem and conflict.

As soon as Israel invaded Jenin, all the traditional actors returned to the old script of previous Israeli wars and invasions. They scurried into position, using the ever-predictable language, approving, condemning, applauding, and cautioning.

For the older generation, time has stood still. But it has not. The new Palestinian generation has buried the ghosts of the past and moved on. And now, they are ready to speak for themselves and to fight for themselves. Jenin is just the start.

Author: Ramzy Baroud

Ramzy Baroud is editor of the Palestine Chronicle. His latest book is My Father was A Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto Press). View all posts by Ramzy Baroud

BLUFF AND BLUSTER FROM ISRAEL'S FRONT MAN

Palestinian president calls for unity against 'barbaric Israeli aggression’

'We must ensure our national unity to fight against the occupation, which targets our rights and sanctities as well as our existence,' says Mahmoud Abbas

Anadolu staff |31.07.2023 

RAMALLAH/GAZA CITY, Palestine

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Sunday on the leaders of Palestinian factions attending a meeting in Egypt to unite against “Israeli aggression.”

The general secretaries-level meeting taking place upon a call by Abbas kicked off in the Egyptian coastal city of El Alamein and is closed to the press, said Palestinian Ambassador to Egypt Diab Allouh.

Noting that it is inevitable for all Palestinians to assume national responsibility against the ongoing “barbaric aggression of Israel,” Abbas said "we must ensure our national unity to fight against the occupation, which targets our rights and sanctities as well as our existence."

“The coup d'état (staged by Hamas in the Gaza Strip) in 2007 and the division that befell us after must end," he said.

He stressed that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is the “sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.”

Abbas advised all parties not to be hesitative towards the PLO and its national political agenda, praising the group for paving the way for the country to be able to become a full-time party to 130 international agreements and institutions.

Abbas underlined that the struggle to become a full-time member of the UN will continue.

He stressed that one of the basic principles that will ensure the unity of Palestine is to "adhere to international legitimacy and peaceful popular resistance," noting they have resorted to various stages of resistance so far, and in today's conditions, it would be best for the Palestinians to continue their struggle “peacefully.”

He accused Israel of preventing elections from taking place and called on the international community, including the US and the European Union, to put pressure on Israel over the matter.

Meeting

The parties will discuss "developments in Palestine, the restoration of national unity, and ways to end divisions in the shadow of the great difficulties facing the Palestinian issue," Egypt’s official news agency MENA reported.

During initial talks held on Saturday, the leaders of the Palestinian groups stressed that decisions should be made to strengthen national unity and support the resistance of the people in the face of Israeli attacks.

The Palestinian groups also emphasized that their ranks should be strengthened as part of the PLO.

Hamas spokesman Hazim Qassim told Anadolu they were holding talks with most of the Palestinian groups to prepare the ground for the meeting to end successfully and with a resulting statement suitable for all parties.

He said the talks are an attempt to expand the common areas between the Palestinian groups and reach a consensus that will result in practical steps.

Fehmi Sahin, political chief of the Palestinian People's Party, told Anadolu on Saturday that the meeting would focus on “strengthening and expanding the role of the PLO, the functional role of the Palestinian Authority, and the strategy of resistance to be developed against Israel and its crimes.”

He expressed hope for all parties to find common ground.

Attendees should put aside disagreements and focus on the struggle against occupation and supporting the people’s resistance, he said.

Some Palestinian groups including the Islamic Jihad Movement (PIJ), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) and the Vanguard for the Popular Liberation War — Lightning Forces (As-Sa'iqa) have announced that they will not take part in the meeting because they think it will “fail.”

On July 10, Abbas announced the extraordinary meeting of Palestinian groups’ general secretaries in Egypt.

The meeting is expected to address the dangers and challenges facing the Palestinian cause following a 48-hour attack by Israel earlier this month on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

*Writing by Merve Berker

Thousands Take to Streets in Gaza in Rare Public Display of Discontent With Hamas

July 30, 2023
Associated Press

Palestinian demonstrators chant slogans during a protest against the territory's chronic power outages and difficult living conditions along the streets of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, July 30, 2023.

GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP —

Several thousand people briefly took to the streets across the Gaza Strip on Sunday to protest chronic power outages and difficult living conditions, providing a rare public show of discontent with the territory's Hamas government. Hamas security forces quickly dispersed the gatherings.

Marches took place in Gaza City, the southern town of Khan Younis and other locations, with chants "what a shame" and in one place burning Hamas flags, before police moved in and broke up the protests.

Police destroyed mobile phones of people who were filming in Khan Younis, and witnesses said there were several arrests. Dozens of young supporters and opponents of Hamas briefly faced off, throwing stones at one another.

The demonstrations were organized by a grassroots online movement called "alvirus alsakher," or "the mocking virus." It was not immediately known who is behind the movement.

Hamas rules Gaza with an iron fist, barring most demonstrations and quickly stamping out public displays of dissent.

The Islamic militant group seized control of Gaza in 2007 from the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, prompting Israel and Egypt to impose a crippling blockade on the territory. Israel says the closure is needed to prevent Hamas, which does not recognize Israel's right to exist, from building up its military capabilities.

The closure has devastated Gaza's economy, sent unemployment skyrocketing and led to frequent power outages. During the current heat wave, people have been receiving four to six hours of power a day due to heavy demand.

"Where is the electricity and where is the gas?" the crowds shouted in Khan Younis. "What a shame. What a shame."

Protesters also criticized Hamas for deducting a roughly $15 fee from monthly $100 stipends given to Gaza's poorest families by the wealthy Gulf state of Qatar.

There was no immediate comment from the Hamas authorities.