Netanyahu erases Palestine in new map charting normalization with Saudi Arabia

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has presented a “new Middle East” map erasing Palestine as he touted the Tel Aviv regime being “at the cusp” of a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia.

During his roughly 25-minute speech at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday, Netanyahu enthusiastically promoted the reshaping of the region wherein the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip appeared to be part of Israel.

The map that the 73-year-old chairman of the Likud party held up made no reference to the Gaza Strip or the West Bank and East al-Quds – the territories that Israel captured in 1967 and Palestinians want for their future state. The map appeared to show the Israeli regime encompassing all three.

Israel did not control the three following its violent creation in 1948 on 80 percent of historic Palestine. It illegally occupied them in 1967, and continues to do so in what is known as the longest occupation in modern history. 

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

An earlier erroneous map shown by Netanyahu also included the Palestinian territories as part of Israel in 1948. 

Earlier this year, 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. In the same event, he said there was "no such thing as Palestinians". 

The use of such maps by Israeli officials comes at a time when Netanyahu's extremist regime has taken steps that experts say amount to the "de jure annexation" of the occupied West Bank.  

During the presentation of the map on Friday, Netanyahu enthusiastically promoted the reshaping of the region based on establishing ties with Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia. 

The far-right prime minister stressed that Palestinians should not be allowed to veto the regional deal-making.

The chamber was largely empty during Netanyahu's address, while protesters demonstrated across the street from the UN headquarters.

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Netanyahu’s speech came a day after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the same forum, saying that peace in the West Asia region is not achievable until Palestinians are granted full rights with statehood.

“Those who think that peace can prevail in the Middle East without the Palestinian people enjoying their full legitimate and national rights would be mistaken,” Abbas said.

Biden declared on July 28 that a deal for Israel and Saudi Arabia to normalize relations may be on the horizon following his national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s talks with Saudi officials in Jeddah.

In order to sign a deal with Israel, Riyadh publicly asked Tel Aviv to implement the 2002 so-called Arab Peace Initiative to establish a Palestinian state first.

However, Israeli officials say they will not make any concession to the Palestinians as part of a potential deal for normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia.

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A group of former Israeli officials has warned that the policies of the incumbent far-right regime led by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu are “dismantling” Israel

Washington’s efforts for adding Saudi Arabia to the list of Arab countries that have signed the so-called Abraham Accords come at a critical time when Biden is seeking re-election and the US government has been left embarrassed by the kingdom’s bolstering of ties with Iran and Syria, and its further gravitation toward China.

The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco signed US-brokered normalization agreements with Israel in 2020, drawing condemnations from Palestinians who slammed the deals as “a stab in the back of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people.” 

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