Can Israel be pressured? Or is it the only exception to international norms and the global political order in which every country, big or small, is subjected to pressures and subsequent changes in attitude and behaviour? Events in recent days bring the question of Israel’s legal and moral accountability to the fore. On 21 February, the Israeli Nature and Park Authority decided to withdraw a plan which aimed to seize, illegally, church-owned lands on the Mount of Olives in occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem. The plan sparked anger and resistance among Palestinian Christians and Muslims alike. Local Christian leaders denounced the proposed theft of the land as a “premeditated attack on the Christians in the Holy Land.” After the Times of … Continue reading Why Israel is no longer the exception to international norms