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By Ramzy Baroud
To evaluate US President Joe Biden’s latest go to to Israel and Palestine as a ‘failure’ when it comes to activating the dormant ‘peace course of’ is solely a misnomer. For this assertion to be correct, Washington would have needed to point out even a nominal want to push for negotiations between the Israeli authorities and the Palestinian management.
Political and diplomatic platitudes apart, the present American administration has carried out the precise reverse as indicated in Biden’s phrases and actions. Alleging that the US dedication to a two-state answer “has not modified”, Biden dismissed his Administration’s curiosity in making an attempt to realize such a purpose by declaring that the “floor will not be ripe” for negotiations.
Contemplating that the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly introduced its readiness to return to negotiations, one can solely assume that the method is being stalled as a consequence of Israel’s intransigence. Certainly, none of Israel’s prime leaders or main events champion negotiations, or the so-called peace course of, as a strategic goal.
Nevertheless, Israel will not be the one social gathering guilty. The Individuals, too, have made it clear that they moved on from that political sham altogether, one which they’ve invented and sustained for many years. The truth is, the ultimate nail within the ‘negotiating answer’ coffin was hammered by the Donald Trump Administration, which has merely backed each Israeli declare, thus shunning all rightful Palestinian calls for.
The Biden Administration has been habitually blamed by Palestinians, Arabs and progressive voices inside the Democratic Occasion for failing to reverse Trump’s prejudiced strikes in favor of Israel: for instance, shifting the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, shutting down the US consulate in East Jerusalem, accepting the unfounded Israeli claims concerning its jurisdiction over unlawful Jewish settlements constructed over occupied Palestinian land, and so forth.
Even when one assumes that the Biden Administration is able to reversing some or all of Trump’s illegal actions, what good would that be within the higher scheme of issues? Washington was, and stays, Israel’s biggest benefactor, funding its army occupation of Palestine with an annual reward of $4 billion, along with many different schemes, together with an enormous and rising funds allotted for Israel’s Iron Dome alone.
As horrific as Trump’s years had been when it comes to undermining a simply decision to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, Biden’s insurance policies are however a continuation of an present pro-Israel American legacy that surpasses that of Trump by many years.
As for Israel, the ‘peace course of’ has served its objective, which explains the notorious declaration by the CEO of the Jewish settlement council within the occupied West Financial institution, referred to as Yesha, in 2018, “I don’t need to brag that we’ve gained. (…) Others would say it seems that we’re profitable.”
Nevertheless, Israel’s supposed ‘victory’ following three many years of a fraudulent ‘peace course of’ can’t be credited to Trump alone. Biden and different prime US officers have additionally been fairly helpful. Whereas it’s extensively understood that US politicians help Israel out of sheer curiosity, for instance, the necessity to appease the influential pro-Israel foyer in Washington DC, Biden’s, help for Israel stems from an ideological basis. The US President was hardly bashful when he repeated, upon his arrival at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on July 13, his well-known assertion, “You needn’t be a Jew to be Zionist.”
Consequently, it could seem puzzling to listen to Palestinian officers name on the US – and Biden, particularly – to stress Tel Aviv to finish its 55-year occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Financial institution and Gaza.
Mohannad al-Aklouk, the Palestinian consultant on the Arab League, for instance, repeated the identical cliched and unrealistic language of anticipating the US to “exert sensible stress on Israel”, “set the stage for a good political course of based mostly on worldwide legislation”, and “meet its position as a good sponsor of the peace course of”. Surprisingly, Mr. al-Aklouk actually believes that Washington, with its dismal observe document of pro-Israeli bias, can probably be the savior of the Palestinians.
One other Palestinian official advised The New Arab that PA President Abbas was “disenchanted with the outcomes of Biden’s go to,” as, apparently, the Palestinian chief “anticipated that the US President would make progress within the peace course of”. The identical supply continued to say that Abbas’ Authority is holding conferences with representatives from “highly effective nations” to exchange the US as sponsors of the as soon as US-sponsored negotiations.
Abbas’ political stance is complicated. The ‘peace course of’ is, in spite of everything, an American invention. It was a singular, self-serving model of diplomacy that was formulated to make sure Israel’s priorities stay at middle stage of US international coverage within the Center East. Within the Palestinian case, the ‘peace course of’ solely served to entrench Israeli colonization of Palestine, whereas degrading, or fully sidelining, official Palestinian calls for. This ‘course of’ was additionally constructed with the goal of marginalizing worldwide legislation as a political and authorized body of reference to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
As an alternative of questioning the whole ‘peace course of’ equipment and apologizing for the strategic plunders of pursuing American mirages on the expense of Palestinian rights, the Palestinian Authority remains to be desperately clutching on to the identical previous fantasy, even when the US, together with Israel, have deserted their very own political farce.
Even when, supposedly, China, Russia or India would comply with be the brand new sponsors of the ‘peace course of’, there is no such thing as a motive for Tel Aviv to have interaction in future negotiations, when it is ready to obtain its colonial targets with full American help. Furthermore, none of those nations have, for now, a lot leverage over Israel, due to this fact are unable to maintain any type of significant stress on Tel Aviv to respect worldwide legislation.
But, the PA remains to be holding on, just because the ‘peace course of’ proved vastly helpful when it comes to funds, energy and status loved by a small however highly effective class of Palestinians that was largely formulated after the Oslo Accords in 1993.
It’s time for Palestinians to cease investing their political capital within the Biden Administration or another administration. What they want will not be a brand new ‘highly effective’ sponsor of the ‘peace course of’ however a grassroots-based wrestle for freedom and liberation beginning at residence, one which galvanizes the energies of the Palestinian individuals themselves. Alas, this new paradigm can’t be achieved when the priorities of the Palestinian management stay fixated on the handouts and political validation of Washington and its Western allies.
– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He’s the writer of six books. His newest e-book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Imaginative and prescient for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Converse out”. Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Analysis Fellow on the Middle for Islam and World Affairs (CIGA). His web site is www.ramzybaroud.internet
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