(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The United States, European Union and the United Nations have issued unusually stern criticism of Israel, provoking a sharp response from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and raising Palestinians' hopes of steps against their neighbour.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday described Israel's settlements as "provocative acts" that raised questions about its commitment to a two-state solution, nearly 50 years after occupying lands the Palestinians seek for a state.
Ban also laid some of the blame for four months of stabbings and car rammings by Palestinians at Israel's door, saying "as oppressed peoples have demonstrated throughout the ages, it is human nature to react to occupation, which often serves as a potent incubator of hate and extremism".
Netanyahu's response was quick and furious. Ban's remarks "give a tailwind to terrorism", he said, and ignore the fact "Palestinian murderers do not want to build a state".
"The UN lost its neutrality and moral force a long time ago," he added, singling Ban out for personal criticism.
While terse words between Israel and the United Nations are nothing new, Israel's closest allies, the United States and the European Union, have publicly expressed their own frustration with the policies of Netanyahu's right-wing government.
Speaking at a security conference last week, US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro questioned how equitably justice is applied in the occupied West Bank, saying: "At times there seem to be two standards of adherence to the rule of law: one for Israelis and another for Palestinians."
That, too, drew an angry response from Netanyahu. Shapiro later said he regretted the timing of his remarks, made on the day an Israeli woman, stabbed to death by a Palestinian in a West Bank settlement, was buried.
The European Union's policy of labelling products made in Israeli settlements has provoked similar anger from officials, while Sweden's foreign minister was branded an anti-Semite after calling for an independent investigation into Israel's efforts to quell the current wave of violence.
The criticism, particularly about the settlements, where some 550,000 Jews live in around 250 communities scattered across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, has raised Palestinian hopes that world powers might finally be minded to support a UN resolution condemning Israel's policy outright.
"We are continuing our contacts with the international community... and will go to the Security Council for a resolution against the colonial settlement enterprise," Saeb Erakat, the Palestinians' chief negotiator, said last week.
The last attempt at such a resolution failed in 2011 after the United States vetoed it, saying it harmed the chances for peace. The feeling among Palestinian diplomats now is that the United States may be less inclined to veto given the absence of peace talks and the depth of US frustration with Israel.
Israeli diplomats are also wary of that possibility.
"It's always a risk and we are extremely attentive to it," said Emmanuel Nahshon, the foreign ministry's spokesman.
"There has indeed been a lot of criticism of Israel recently, but I don't know whether that necessarily translates into a UN resolution."
He said there had been "anti-Israeli resolutions" at the United Nations in the past, regardless of developments on the ground.
The Palestinians hope France, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, might sponsor such a resolution, but it is unclear whether the French have the appetite for such a course.
A hunger-striking Palestinian journalist is to remain in jail in Israel despite warnings over his deteriorating health, the country's top court ruled yesterday.
The Supreme Court said it would not release Mohamed al-Qiq immediately but would follow his health on a daily basis.
Qiq has been on hunger strike for 63 days over his detention under Israel's administrative detention law and his organs are at risk of failure any day, his legal team says.
The European Union yesterday said it was "especially concerned" about his deteriorating health.
After 50 days of a hunger strike, the risk of death grows daily, experts say, with few able to survive beyond 70 days if only drinking water.
His lawyer Jawad Boulus asked the Supreme Court to release him but the three judges ruled that an earlier decision by a military court to detain him was legal.
Boulus said the judges were "briefed on classified material and are convinced" that Qiq "constitutes a danger to the security of Israel", so declined to overturn the military court's ruling.
The evidence provided by the Shin Bet security services was presented to the judges without witnesses, who had to leave the room.
Under Israel's controversial administrative detention law, the state can hold suspects for renewable six-month periods without trial.
Qiq, a 33-year-old father of two and a correspondent for Saudi Arabia's Almajd television, was arrested on November 21 at his home in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Shin Bet said he was arrested for "terror activity" as a member of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
He denies the charges and has been refusing food since November 25 in protest at the "torture and ill-treatment that he was subjected to during interrogation", according to Addameer, a Palestinian human rights organisation.
During the trial, which was attended by four Arab members of the Israeli parliament, judge Elyakim Rubinstein brought up the case of Mohamed Allan.
Allan ended a two-month hunger strike last summer after Israel suspended his detention without trial. During his strike and after his release he became a symbol of resistance for many Palestinians.
Rubinstein asked how long after abandoning his strike Allan was able to return to health, and he was told about a month by lawyer Boulus.
Over 680 Palestinians are currently under administrative detention, out of 6,800 in jail in Israel, according to Addameer.
Qiq was jailed for a month in 2003 and then for 13 months in 2004 for Hamas-related activities.
In 2008, he was sentenced to 16 months in prison on charges linked to his activities on the student council at the West Bank's Birzeit University.
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