‘Neither Israel nor Palestinians wardens of the US,’ Cassif says

Hadash MK Ofer Cassif slammed  US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, writing to him that "Neither Israel or the Palestinians are wardens of the US," in a letter sent on Sunday, Maariv reported. 

Cassif went on to say “US involvement in recent years only worsened the [Arab-Israeli] conflict and prevented a just solution that will include the end of the [Israeli] occupation and the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel.”  

On social media, the MK was even more blunt, calling the current ‘America First’ policy of US President Donald Trump the idea that “only the American empire will decide right and wrong” and calling the idea expressed by Friedman "drivel." 

 

Friedman gave an interview to the New York Times on Friday in which he said that, in his view, Israel has a right to some of the land in the West Bank. 

 

The concept that large Jewish communities currently in the West Bank will be annexed to Israel in exchange for land given to a future Palestinian state as part of a comprehensive peace deal is shared by many who wish to promote a peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis. 

    

"The current American administration is a close ally of the Israeli right-wing and its vision of annexation," said Hadash MK Aida Touma-Sliman. "The 'Deal of the Century' they envision aims to crush the Palestinian aspiration for statehood. This plan shall not pass.

"Friedman, [Special Envoy to the Middle East Jason] Greenblatt and [senior White House advisor Jared] Kushner, just like their boss [US President Donald] Trump, are entirely aligned with the criminal occupation's interests. Friedman himself is a long-standing supporter of the settlements. This is yet further proof of the pro-Israeli bias of the Americans, while they present themselves as mediators. The Trump administration is not a legitimate mediator for the conflict."