WarSclerotic

Roger Waters on Wednesday called on Madonna to cancel her rumored performance at the Eurovision Song Contest finals in Tel Aviv on May 18, claiming that it “normalizes the occupation, the apartheid, the ethnic cleansing, the incarceration of children, the slaughter of unarmed protesters.”

Madonna has been booked to perform at the finals of the competition next month, but her participation has not yet been officially announced by the event organizers.

“I am routinely accused of being anti-Semitic,” Waters wrote in an open letter published by The Guardian. “That accusation can be used as a smokescreen to divert attention and discredit those who shine a light on Israel’s crimes against humanity.

“I should point out that I support the fight for human rights for all oppressed peoples everywhere. The religion of the oppressor is neither here nor there,” he said.

Waters, best known as a former member of Pink Floyd who conceived the rock opera “The Wall,” has long been a passionate supporter of the Palestinian cause and has angered Israelis by leading calls for a cultural boycott of the Jewish state.

He is also is known for publicly harassing artists scheduled to visit Israel or perform there as part of a campaign by the BDS — Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions — movement, which calls on musicians to shun Israel as a way to press the Jewish state to change its treatment of the Palestinians.

In September, some 140 artists, including Waters, called for a boycott of the song contest.

Having previously defended Waters from accusations of anti-Semitism, the Anti-Defamation League in 2013 said “anti-Semitic conspiracy theories” have “seeped into the totality” of the former Pink Floyd frontman’s views.

Nearly every large act to book a show in Israel has come under pressure from pro-Palestinian activists as part of the BDS campaign. While some, like Lorde, Elvis Costello and Cat Power, have canceled gigs, most have resisted the boycott effort.

Israel’s defenders have denounced the boycott campaign as hypocritical, saying the democratic country has been singled out when some prominent musicians are willing to play in dictatorships.

The new Palestinian Authority prime minister on Tuesday accused the United States of declaring “financial war” on his people and said an American peace plan purported to be in the works will be “born dead.”

In his first interview with the international media since taking office over the weekend, Mohammad Shtayyeh laid out plans to get through the financial crisis he has inherited and predicted that the international community, including US allies in the Arab world, would join the Palestinians in rejecting President Donald Trump’s expected peace plan.

“There are no partners in Palestine for Trump. There are no Arab partners for Trump and there are no European partners for Trump,” Shtayyeh said during a wide-ranging hour-long interview.

Shtayyeh, a British-educated economist, takes office at a difficult time for the Palestinians, with his government, the Palestinian Authority, mired in a dire financial crisis. The PA administers autonomous zones in the West Bank.

The Trump administration has slashed hundreds of millions of dollars of aid, including all of its support for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Israel has also withheld tens of millions of dollars of tax transfers to punish the Palestinians for their “martyrs’ fund,” a program that provides stipends to the families of Palestinians imprisoned or killed as a result of fighting with Israel, including many who have carried out terror attacks.

The Israelis say the fund rewards and encourages violence, while the Palestinians say the payments are a national duty to families affected by decades of violence. Furious about the withholding, the Palestinians have in turn refused to accept partial tax transfers from Israel.

Without its key sources of revenue, the Palestinian Authority has begun paying only half salaries to tens of thousands of civil servants, reduced services and increased borrowing. In a new report being released Wednesday, the World Bank said the Palestinian deficit will grow from $400 million last year to over $1 billion this year.

“Israel is part of the financial war that has been declared upon us by the United States. The whole system is to try to push us to surrender” and agree to an unacceptable peace proposal, Shtayyeh said. “This a financial blackmail, which we reject.”

Shtayyeh laid out a number of proposals for weathering the storm. He said he has imposed spending cuts by reducing perks for his cabinet ministers.

He said he would seek to develop the Palestinian agricultural, economic and education sectors and seek ways to reduce the Palestinian economy’s dependence on Israel. For example, he proposed importing fuel from neighboring Jordan, instead of from Israel, and even floating a Palestinian currency. He also said the Palestinians would seek financial backing from Arab and European donors.

Despite the tensions with Israel and the US, Shtayyeh said the Palestinians remain committed to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on areas captured by Israel in the 1967 war. That includes establishing a capital in East Jerusalem, which Israel has annexed and claims as part of its eternal capital.

The two-state solution has enjoyed overwhelming international support for the past two decades. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his hard-line political allies reject Palestinian independence.

Netanyahu secured another term in office in elections last week and is expected to form a new coalition with religious and nationalist parties that oppose the two-state solution. On the campaign trail, Netanyahu even raised the possibility of annexing Israeli settlements in the West Bank, a step that could extinguish any remaining hopes for an independent Palestine.

Netanyahu has received a boost from Trump, who has given Netanyahu a number of diplomatic gifts since taking office. Trump has recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved the US Embassy to the holy city, slashed aid to the Palestinians and shuttered the Palestinian diplomatic office in Washington.

In a departure from Republican and Democratic predecessors, Trump also has notably refused to endorse the two-state solution. His peace team, led by son-in-law Jared Kushner, has repeatedly pushed back the release of a peace plan it says it is preparing, and it remains unclear if or when it will be released.

Kushner’s team has said little about their proposal. But their limited public statements have indicated it will call for large amounts of economic investment in the Palestinians, but given no sign that it will include their demand for independence.

Shtayyeh said that after all of the US moves in favor of Israel, particularly the recognition of Jerusalem, there is nothing left to negotiate.

He said any proposal that ignores key Palestinian demands will be rejected by the international community. The European Union this week reiterated its call for peace talks aimed at establishing a Palestinian state.

“Where are we going to have the Palestinian state?” he asked. “We are not looking for an entity. We are looking for a sovereign state.”

“Palestinians are not interested in economic peace. We are interested in ending occupation,” he said. “Life cannot be enjoyed under occupation.”

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is prepared to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if Russia hosts the gathering, PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki told Sputnik, a Russian state-run news site.

Palestinian officials have said that Abbas agreed to accept a Russian suggestion to meet Netanyahu in Moscow last year, but the prime minister turned it down.

The last known encounter between Abbas and Netanyahu was at the funeral of former prime minister Shimon Peres in September 2016, where the two briefly exchanged pleasantries.

The last known time Abbas and Netanyahu met formally for negotiations was in September 2010 in Jerusalem.

“Abbas is ready to meet Netanyahu without preconditions, if Moscow hosts this meeting,” PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said in an interview with Sputnik published on Tuesday.

Malki met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Monday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a state-of-the-nation address in Moscow, Russia, February 20, 2019. (Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

Abbas has previously demanded that Israel freeze settlement construction as a precondition to the resumption of negotiations between the Jewish state and the Palestinians.

Asked whether Netanyahu would be willing to meet Abbas in Moscow, a spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond.

Malki added that the Palestinians will reject any proposal to resolve the conflict “that does not acknowledge the State of Palestine’s independence.”

US President Donald Trump’s administration has said it intends to release a plan to resolve the conflict, but has not publicized the date it plans to do so.

While Trump has said he thinks the two-state solution, including the creation of a Palestinian state, “works best,” he has not committed to it.

The Washington Post reported on Monday that while the US administration’s apparently forthcoming plan “promises practical improvements in the lives of Palestinians,” it “is likely to stop short of ensuring a separate, fully sovereign Palestinians state,” citing people knowledgeable of its “main elements.”

The PA foreign minister also said that Abbas may visit Moscow in the next two to three months.

Abbas last visited Moscow in July 2018, when he met Russian President Vladimir Putin and attended the World Cup.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is prepared to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if Russia hosts the gathering, PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki told Sputnik, a Russian state-run news site.

Palestinian officials have said that Abbas agreed to accept a Russian suggestion to meet Netanyahu in Moscow last year, but the prime minister turned it down.

The last known encounter between Abbas and Netanyahu was at the funeral of former prime minister Shimon Peres in September 2016, where the two briefly exchanged pleasantries.

The last known time Abbas and Netanyahu met formally for negotiations was in September 2010 in Jerusalem.

“Abbas is ready to meet Netanyahu without preconditions, if Moscow hosts this meeting,” PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said in an interview with Sputnik published on Tuesday.

Malki met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Monday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a state-of-the-nation address in Moscow, Russia, February 20, 2019. (Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

Abbas has previously demanded that Israel freeze settlement construction as a precondition to the resumption of negotiations between the Jewish state and the Palestinians.

Asked whether Netanyahu would be willing to meet Abbas in Moscow, a spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond.

Malki added that the Palestinians will reject any proposal to resolve the conflict “that does not acknowledge the State of Palestine’s independence.”

US President Donald Trump’s administration has said it intends to release a plan to resolve the conflict, but has not publicized the date it plans to do so.

While Trump has said he thinks the two-state solution, including the creation of a Palestinian state, “works best,” he has not committed to it.

The Washington Post reported on Monday that while the US administration’s apparently forthcoming plan “promises practical improvements in the lives of Palestinians,” it “is likely to stop short of ensuring a separate, fully sovereign Palestinians state,” citing people knowledgeable of its “main elements.”

The PA foreign minister also said that Abbas may visit Moscow in the next two to three months.

Abbas last visited Moscow in July 2018, when he met Russian President Vladimir Putin and attended the World Cup.