Int’l Lawyer Calls Upcoming Israeli Conference in Bahrain ‘A Sham’

“This so-called ‘Peace Conference’ is a sham and an attempt to rehabilitate Israel's image in the West and to try to get the conservative and feudal Arab regimes to work with Israel and to take steps moving towards these autocratic Arab regimes to officially recognize Israel,” Edward Corrigan from Ontario said in an interview with the Tasnim News Agency.

“US President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner and a handful of Arab dictators and feudal leaders are delusional if they think they can sell this so-called "Deal of the Century" to the Palestinians and the Arab and Muslim World,” he noted. 

Edward C. Corrigan is certified as a specialist by the Law Society of Ontario, Canada in Citizenship, Immigration and Immigration and Refugee Law. He is also an analyst and commentator for a number of media outlets around the world.

The following is the full text of the interview:

Tasnim: Israeli soldiers last Friday shot and wounded at least 16 unarmed Palestinian protesters, including a volunteer and medic, according to Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra. As you know, Palestinians have staged the weekly anti-Israeli protests dubbed the “Great March of Return” along the Gaza border for more than a year. According to media reports, more than 270 people, including 52 children, have been killed since the demonstrations began in March 2018. Most of the dead and the thousands wounded were unarmed civilians against whom Israel was using excessive force. What do you think about the Israeli regime’s crimes?

Corrigan: First, I admire the heroism and perseverance of the Palestinians in Gaza. They live in the world's largest prison under deplorable conditions and yet they struggle on. According to human rights organizations, the Palestinians are close to running out of food. To quote an American Jewish friend, Israel is using the Palestinians for "target practice." Palestinians are peacefully protesting and Israel is trying to crush all signs of Palestinian resistance to their imprisonment and deplorable human rights situation. As a result, many Palestinians are being injured and maimed, including clearly marked medical personnel.  

Tasnim: Khalil al-Hayya, a Hamas leader, recently said Palestinians have united to reject the so-called “deal of the century” plan initiated by the US government, saying there is a consensus among them to restore the Palestinians’ rights. He also said the Palestinian people are unified to boycott an upcoming US-Israeli conference in Bahrain. What is your opinion about the remarks and the upcoming conference in Manama? How do you predict future developments?

Corrigan: I agree that there is almost unanimous opposition from all Palestinian political groups and the Palestinians themselves. The Palestinians are correct to boycott the US-Israeli conference in Bahrain. This so-called "Peace Conference" is a sham and an attempt to rehabilitate Israel's image in the West and to try to get the conservative and feudal Arab regimes to work with Israel and to take steps moving towards these autocratic Arab regimes to officially recognize Israel. As it is, there are presently many military and security contacts between Israel and some of the American-supported feudal regimes or autocratic regimes. Jordan, Egypt, and Yemen have stated that they will not support a deal with Israel that does not have the support of the Palestinians. The international consensus is a viable Palestinian State based on the 1967 armistice lines and with Jerusalem, or Al Quds, as its capital. The Arab on the street will not support a sellout of Palestinian rights in exchange for a few dollars and some sort of Bantustan or reservations for the Palestinians. US President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner and a handful of Arab dictators and feudal leaders are delusional if they think they can sell this so-called "Deal of the Century" to the Palestinians and the Arab and Muslim World.     

Tasnim: As you know, on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan each year, Muslims and anti-Israeli activists hold worldwide demonstrations to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people and condemn the Israeli regime’s continued inhumane acts against the defenseless people. This year, Muslims around the world marked the International Quds Day on May 31. What do you think about the importance of the day? Why has the international community, particularly the Western mainstream media, made a muted response to the Tel Aviv regime’s human rights violations against Palestinians so far?

Corrigan: The reason for the International community and the Western mainstream media are largely silent on Israel's crimes against the Palestinians is in part due to the guilt the Western powers feel over the past treatment of the Jews in Europe and their failure to act against the persecution of Jews by the Nazis. Unfortunately, there is a long history of discrimination and persecution of Jews in Western societies. There is nothing similar in the Arab and Islamic World. Many European Jews fled persecution in Europe and found sanctuary in the Arab and Islamic World. Unfortunately, this past persecution of the Jews in Europe is the primary focus of the West who want to atone for their sins against the Jews but are blind to the massacres, ethnic cleansing and violence inflicted upon the Palestinians in 1948 and continuing to this day. Also, a big part of the problem is the propaganda campaign launched by Zionist Jews and their Christian Zionist allies which has resulted in most of the West accepting the Israeli Zionist narrative and which blinds them to the plight of the Palestinians. This factor is, however, changing as many Western academics and informed elites are shifting their support from Israel to the Palestinians. We see this in the United States where a large number of supporters of the Democratic Party are shifting their position to being more sympathetic to the Palestinians.

Another part of the problem is the Arab World, the Islamic World and much of the Third World, as well as China and Russia, have to do more than spout platitudes in support of the Palestinians. Concrete action must take place in support of Palestinian human rights and to force a return of the Golan Heights to Syria, the eastern part of Jerusalem to the Palestinians and to dismantle all of Israel's illegal "Jewish only" settlements in the West Bank. The pro-Palestinian side needs to have a much more effective information campaign to explain the Palestinians story. The Arab World and their friends in the Islamic World must learn how to use their economic and political power in a much more effective way if there is to be a peaceful and fair resolution of the Palestinian problem.