Israeli PM Shows “New Middle East” Without Palestine

Web Desk — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) 78th session added fuel to the Middle East fire rather than extinguishing it.

The Israeli Premier, in his speech, showed a new map wherein the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip appeared to be part of Israel.

Israel did not have control over 80 percent of historic Palestine including the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the West Bank following its violent creation in 1948. It illegally occupied the Palestinian territories in 1967 and continues to do so till today.

The act of including the Palestinian and sometimes Syrian and Lebanon lands in Israeli maps is common among believers of the concept of Eretz Yisrael – Greater Israel. The concept of Greater Israel is key part of ultra-nationalist Zionism that claims all of these lands belong to a Zionist state.

Earlier, Netanyahu’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, spoke from a podium adorned with a map that also included Palestine, Lebanon and Syria as part of Greater Israel. Making tall but false claims in the same event, he said there was “no such thing as Palestinians”.

It is worth-mentioning that the Israeli Prime Minister did this at a time when he is enthusiastically trying to promote ties with Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia.

Netanyahu’s speech comes a day after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the UNGA, saying that Middle East peace is not achievable until Palestinians are granted full rights with statehood.