[News] International insistence on ‘two states’ endorses US-Israeli annexation plans

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200428-international-insistence-on-two-states-endorses-us-israeli-annexation-plans/
International
insistence on ‘two states’ endorses US-Israeli annexation plans
Ramona Wadi
------------------------------

April 28, 2020

Having failed to protect the political rights of the Palestinian people,
the UN is diverting attention away from the evasion of its duties by
focusing on coronavirus cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian
Authority. “This recognition of interdependence could – if there is
political will – translate into tangible progress towards resolving the
conflict,” declared <https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/04/1062452> UN
Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov.

In these Covid-19 times, the humanitarian card is easier to play.
“Interdependence,” after all, is more convenient for the international
community than the dynamics of the coloniser and the colonised. If the
coronavirus pandemic can be exploited to alter the foundations for
negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the UN will have
achieved another boost for the colonial state.

Of course, Mladenov acknowledged the looming annexation which, “combined
with the devastating impact of Covid-19, can ignite the situation and
destroy any hope of peace.” In UN rhetoric, peace is prioritised over human
rights, contradicting its own charters and requirements when it comes to
the Palestinian anti-colonial struggle.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation’s Secretary General, Saeb Erekat, has
not fared any better. As the PA embarks upon its stale lobbying of the
international community to garner support against annexation, Erekat
reportedly stated
<https://imemc.org/article/erekat-majority-of-international-leaders-oppose-netanyahus-colonial-plans/>
that, “The majority of international leaders oppose Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu’s colonial plans, by insisting that a two-state solution
is the way out of the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”

Here we have two examples of pro-colonial intent from two political figures
purportedly working to safeguard Palestinian rights. As a mouthpiece for
the UN, Mladenov’s persistent downplaying of the Palestinians being
deprived of their political rights, and instead promoting efforts towards
“resolving the conflict” will not prevent annexation from happening.
Erekat, on the other hand, promotes international betrayal of the
Palestinian cause by presenting global consensus over the two-state
compromise as an anti-colonial stance, which it isn’t.

[image: Image of the United Nations (UN) Special Coordinator for the Middle
East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov on 17 February 2015 [A Paranoid
Optimist/Flickr]]

United Nations (UN) Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process,
Nickolay Mladenov on 17 February 2015 [A Paranoid Optimist/Flickr]

While failing to articulate the demands of Palestinian people — because the
PA is politically far removed from the collective experience of Israeli
colonial violence through its collaboration — Erekat is unequivocally
lending his support to international diplomacy, even though consensus on
two-state politics does not constitute a solution, or even the premise of a
solution. In all the current hype about annexation, it has become clear
that the international community and its various institutions no longer
consider Palestine a Palestinian cause. Rather, Palestine has become a
diplomatic testing ground and Palestinians are victims not only of Israel
weapons, but also of the global race to support colonialism through
different political tactics.

The two-state paradigm is a colonial construct which facilitates Israel’s
annexation plans. While US political backing through the deal of the
century allows Israel to speed up the process, Erekat’s promotion of
international diplomacy, rather than the Palestinians’ legitimate right of
return to their land, is a bonus for colonialism. Decades of separating
each Israeli violation from the colonisation process contradicts Erekat’s
claim that international leaders are opposed to Netanyahu’s colonial
scheming. The international community’s insistence upon the moribund
two-state compromise is thus a tacit endorsement of the US-Israeli plans
for annexation.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
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