November 20 , 2009
Final Chance for Palestine?
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has gone on for over a century now in
one form or another, may be reaching a point of no return, at least for those
hoping for a two-state solution. More than 15 years after the Oslo agreements
ushered in a period of pseudo-state building by the Palestinians, combined with
negotiations over final status, the chance for a real Palestinian state looks
more hopeless than ever. The reason for this is that the Israelis, even after
all these years, still refuse to see the Palestinians as equals. It is this
fundamental desire to subjugate the Palestinians forever that lies at the heart
of the despair over any possible real peace.
The Israelis like to say that the fault is with the Palestinians. If they just didn't fire the Qassem rockets out of Gaza, Israel would quickly agree to a real peace. Or if they just hadn't engaged in suicide bombing, or hadn't launched the second intifada, or hadn't insisted on staying in the West Bank instead of emigrating to Jordan, or any of another dozen ifs Israel would have been reasonable. This is nonsense. For the first 20 years of the occupation, from 1967 to 1987, the Palestinians were completely docile. They never lifted a finger in opposition to the occupation. Did Israel at any point therefore release the Palestinians from occupation? In the six years after Oslo, the Palestinians suspended their intifada, and in 1999 and in 2000 up till Camp David, there was not a single suicide bombing. But during that time the Israelis never even accepted publicly that Palestine should exist. In fact, the goal of the Israelis has always been to colonize and grab the West Bank in its entirety. That was the purpose of the settlements.
It was after Oslo that most of the settlements were built. The total settler population has more than doubled since 1994. There is no clearer sign of the utter bad faith of Israel than this. And even now, while Netanyahu makes ridiculous statements about negotiating uselessly and forever, Israel plans thousands more settlers to further colonize and control the West Bank.
For the Palestinians, they clearly now understand the utter futility and pointlessness of talking to Israel. There is essentially no hope for a two-state solution as the Israelis cannot bring themselves to accept that the two states require the Palestinians to actually have a state. What Israel wants is to get rid of the Palestinian people but keep the land of the West Bank. This can only be done by getting the Palestinians to crowd themselves into small little bits and pieces of land, have Israel build fences around this patchwork, and call such a fanciful concoction a state. In addition, Israel keeps control of water, airspace, borders, and even the airwaves. This is not a state but a giant jail, and this is the dark fantasy that Israel insists that the Palestinians accept. This is what was offered at Camp David and labeled "generous".
Obama, who came into the Presidency with pretensions of dealing with this issue, totally rolled over and accepted dictation from Netanyahu on Israel's right to build thousands of more settlements. Not only did Obama fall apart in the face of Netanyahu and AIPAC, he then had Hilary Clinton explain to the Muslim world that Israel should be praised for its actions on the settlements.
President Abbas has decided that there is no point in further talks with Israel. As the current situation will not lead to a state, he has decided there is no need for him to remain as President. He has called for elections in January, which may not occur as Hamas will not allow voting in Gaza. There is a good chance that if he steps down, no one will take his place and the Palestinian Authority will disband. This is likely a good thing, as for the last 15 years it has mainly served the role of Israel's jailor and enabler of the settlements.
There are a very few Israelis who see this course as disastrous in the long run, and there are a few supporters of Israel in the US that share that view. But they are totally marginalized, with no say over Israel's policies and no ability to fortify the US government when confronted by AIPAC's demands.
The majority of Israelis, forced to choose between the status quo or concluding a real peace that requires a confrontation with the powerful right-wing and the settler movement, have chosen to support the settler movement. Israel wants the West Bank and subjugation of the Palestinians forever much more than it wants peace. That is the real and only truth one needs to know about the conflict.
Comments can reach me at nali@socal.rr.com
