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By Ramzy Baroud 
Certainly, it’s now time to show phrases into actions, particularly when hundreds of kids are being killed for no fault of their very own however for being born Palestinian.
Left to its personal units, Israel would by no means grant Palestinians their freedom.
Up to now, some, whether or not ignorantly or not, claimed that peace in Palestine can solely be achieved by ‘unconditional negotiations’.
This mantra was additionally championed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when he cared sufficient to pay lip service to the ‘peace course of’ and different US-originated fantasies. Again then, he spoke about his readiness to carry unconditional negotiations, although always arguing that Israel doesn’t have a peace accomplice.
All of this was, in fact, ‘doublespeak’. What Netanyahu and different Israelis had been, in reality, saying is that Israel ought to be free of any dedication to worldwide legislation, not to mention worldwide stress. Worse, by declaring that Israel has no Palestinian peace accomplice, the Israeli authorities has primarily canceled the hypothetical and ‘unconditional negotiations’ earlier than they even passed off.
For years – in reality, for many years – Israel was allowed to perpetuate such nonsense, empowered, in fact, by the entire and unconditional help of Washington and its different Western allies.
In an surroundings the place Israel receives billions of {dollars} of US-Western assist, and the place it grew to grow to be a thriving technological hub, not to mention one of many world’s largest weapons exporters, Tel Aviv merely had no purpose to finish its occupation or to dismantle its racist apartheid in Palestine.
However issues should change now. The genocidal Israeli battle in Gaza ought to fully alter our understanding, not solely of the tragic actuality underway in Palestine however of previous misunderstandings as effectively. It ought to be made clear that Israel by no means had any intentions of attaining a simply peace, ending its colonialism in Palestine, that’s, the growth of unlawful settlements or granting Palestinians an iota of rights.
On the contrary, Israel has been planning to hold out a genocide in opposition to the Palestinians all alongside.
Israel has already carried out horrible battle crimes in opposition to Palestinians, in the course of the Nakba in 1947-48, and in successive wars, ever since. Every crime, giant or small, was all the time accompanied by a marketing campaign of ethnic cleaning. Over 800,000 Palestinians had been ethnically cleansed when Israel was established on the ruins of Palestine 76 years in the past. A further 300,000 had been ethnically cleansed in the course of the Naksa, the battle and ‘setback’ of 1967.
All through the years, mainstream Western media did its greatest to fully disguise the Israeli crimes, or reduce their influence, or blame another person completely for them. This course of of defending Israel stays in place to at the present time, even when tens of hundreds of Palestinians have been killed since October 7 and when the vast majority of Gaza, together with its hospitals, colleges, mosques, church buildings, civilian properties and shelters have been erased.
Contemplating all of this, anybody who nonetheless speaks of ‘unconditional negotiations’ – particularly these carried out below the auspices of Washington – is, frankly, solely doing so to assist Israel escape worldwide authorized and political accountability.
Fortunately, the world is waking as much as this truth and, hopefully, this awakening will mature sooner relatively than later, as Israeli massacres in Gaza proceed to assert a whole lot of harmless lives each single day.
This collective realization that Israel have to be stopped by worldwide measures can be accompanied by an equally crucial realization that the US just isn’t an sincere peace dealer. In actual fact, it by no means was.
To understand the ruinous function of the US on this so-called battle, simply marvel at this truth. Whereas virtually each nation that participated with a authorized opinion and a political place within the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice (ICJ) public hearings from February 19 to the 26, formulated its place primarily based on worldwide legislation, the US didn’t.
“The Courtroom mustn’t discover that Israel is legally obligated to right away and unconditionally withdraw from occupied territory,” the appearing authorized adviser for the US State Division, Richard Visek, embarrassingly mentioned on February 21.
76 years after the Nakba and following 57 years of army occupation, the US authorized place stays dedicated to defending the illegality of Israel’s conduct all through Palestine.
Examine the above stance to the rounded, brave and legally grounded place of just about each nation on the planet, particularly of the over 50 international locations which requested to talk on the ICJ hearings.
China, whose phrases, and actions appear way more in line with worldwide legislation than many Western nations, particularly now, went even additional. “In pursuit of the proper to self-determination, Palestinian folks’s use of pressure to withstand overseas oppression and full the institution of an unbiased state is (an) inalienable proper effectively based in worldwide legislation,” Chinese language consultant Ma Xinmin informed the ICJ on February 22.
Not like the cliched and non-committal place of the likes of UK International Minister, David Cameron, on the necessity to begin an “irreversible progress” in the direction of an unbiased Palestinian state, the Chinese language place is arguably probably the most complete and reasonable articulation.
Ma linked self-determination to liberation wrestle, to sovereignty, to the inalienable rights of individuals, that are all in line with worldwide legal guidelines and norms. In actual fact, it’s these very ideas which have led to the liberation of quite a few international locations within the World South. Contemplating that Israel has no intention to free Palestinians from the grip of apartheid and army occupation, the Palestinian folks have had no different choice however to withstand.
The query now could be, will the worldwide neighborhood proceed to defy the US place in phrases solely, or will it formulate a brand new method to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, thus bringing it to an finish by any means vital?
In his assertion to the ICJ on February 19, British barrister Philippe Sands, who’s a member of crew Palestine, supplied a roadmap on how the worldwide neighborhood can pressure Israel to finish its occupation: “The proper of self-determination requires that UN Member States deliver Israel’s occupation to an instantaneous finish. No assist. No help. No complicity. No contribution to forcible actions. No cash. No arms. No commerce. No nothing.”
Certainly, it’s now time to show phrases into actions, particularly when hundreds of kids are being killed for no fault of their very own however for being born Palestinian.
– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He’s the writer of six books. His newest guide, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Imaginative and prescient for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Communicate 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.web
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