Netanyahu: Israel at cusp of normalization deal with Saudi Arabia

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has presented a “new Middle East” map erasing Palestine as he touted 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.

MG