[News] Breaking with Washington: Arabs and Muslims must take a stand for Palestine

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200212-breaking-with-washington-arabs-and-muslims-must-take-a-stand-for-palestine/ 



  Breaking with Washington: Arabs and Muslims must take a stand for
  Palestine

Ramzy Baroud - February 12, 2020
------------------------------------------------------------------------

A negotiated solution to the ‘Palestinian-Israeli conflict’, at least 
the way envisaged by successive US administrations, has failed. Now, 
Palestinians and their allies would have to explore a whole new path of 
liberation that does not go through Washington.

It is easy to place all the blame on the current US administration, 
setting apart dodgy characters such as the President’s son-in-law, Jared 
Kushner, as the man who has single-handedly diminished any real chances 
for a just peace in Palestine and Israel.

The truth, however, greatly differs from conveniently moulded 
assumptions. The US-championed ‘peace process’ has been in a hiatus 
since the last negotiations 
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/16/the-real-reason-the-israel-palestine-peace-process-always-fails> 
in 2014. For years prior to the announcement of Donald Trump’s ‘Middle 
East Plan’ on January 28, Israel did everything in its power to ensure 
Palestinians can never have a state of their own. Not only did Israeli 
officials openly speak 
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-week-israel-says-yes-to-annexing-the-west-bank-consequences-be-damned/> 
of their desire to illegally annex much of the occupied territories, but 
the Israeli government has taken numerous steps 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/on-campaign-trail-netanyahu-vows-to-annex-west-bank-settlements--again/2019/09/01/2c133f4c-cc96-11e9-87fa-8501a456c003_story.html> 
to ensure the constant expansion of illegal Jewish settlements.

One would have to be politically naive and morally blind to assume that 
the Israeli government, at any point in the past, had an iota of 
interest in a just peace that would guarantee the Palestinian people a 
minimum amount of dignity, freedom and justice.

Yet, everyone has played along: Israel complained that it has no peace 
partner while simultaneously entrenching its military occupation and 
expanding its colonial regime; the Palestinian Authority (PA) of 
President Mahmoud Abbas ceaselessly waved empty threats, which 
ultimately amounted to nothing; the Americans urged both parties to 
return to ‘unconditional negotiations’, all the while funding, to the 
amount 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/world/middleeast/israel-benjamin-netanyahu-military-aid.html> 
of $3.8 billion, the Israeli military and economy; the United Nations 
and the European Union followed a predictable political script that was 
seen as more ‘moderate’ than that of Washington, yet failed to take a 
single meaningful action to discourage Israel from further violations of 
international law.

Meanwhile, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation 
(OIC), who are arguably Palestine’s more solid and consistent allies, 
remained marginal and, by far, the least relevant of all parties. Their 
occasional statements in support of Palestinians and condemnation of the 
Israeli occupation became so predictable and ineffectual. Aside from 
Abbas and his Authority, ordinary Palestinians saw no value in verbal 
support that hardly ever translated into tangible action.

Somehow, this skewed paradigm sustained itself for many years, partly 
because it suited everyone except the Palestinian people, of course, 
whose subjugation and humiliation by Israel carried on unhindered.

Presently, there are two different currents fighting to define the 
situation in Palestine in the post-‘Deal of the Century’ era.

First, Israel and the United States, who are keen to translate the 
‘Middle East plan’ into rapid and irreversible action. They are eager to 
annex the illegal settlements of the West Bank and the Jordan Valley 
<https://www.jns.org/israelis-and-palestinians-consider-how-jordan-valley-annexation-plan-will-affect-them/> 
(approximately 30% of the total size of the West Bank). Moreover, 
Washington would like to see its diligent, clandestine efforts aimed at 
normalization between Arabs and Israel translate into actual agreements 
and, eventually, full diplomatic ties.

Second, the Palestinian Authority, the EU, the UN, the Arab League and 
the OIC, want the ‘Deal of the Century’ defeated 
<https://www.islamtimes.org/en/news/842634/european-union-rejects-us-one-sided-deal-of-the-century>, 
but they have no alternative path to follow. They insist on respect for 
international law and remain die-hard supporters of the unfeasible 
<https://www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=51875&SEO=a-two-state-solution-is-the-only-viable-one-for-palestine-says-un> 
two-state paradigm, but they have no actual strategy, let alone an 
enforcement mechanism to make that happen.

The pro-PA camp reeks with contradictions, that are no less obvious than 
that of Abbas’ Authority, which speaks of ‘popular resistance’ while, 
jointly with Israel, is suppressing any attempt aimed at challenging the 
Israeli occupation.

A perfect example of the contradictions in this camp is that only two 
days after the Arab League issued its statement 
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/backing-abbas-arab-league-rejects-trumps-middle-east-peace-plan/>rejecting 
the ‘Deal of the Century’, the head of Sudan’s Sovereign Council, Abdel 
Fattah al-Burhan, met 
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/sudanese-leader-says-he-met-netanyahu-to-achieve-countrys-interests/> 
with right-wing Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Uganda. 
Burhan is hoping to swap normalization with Israel for Washington’s 
favours 
<https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/talk-sudan-israel-normalisation-200205145823074.html>.

Another example is reflected in the behaviour of Abbas himself, who, on 
February 1, declared 
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-abbas-speech-official-says-pa-has-not-halted-security-ties-with-israel/> 
that he would sever all contacts with Israel, including the so-called 
security coordination, the main pillar in the Oslo agreement, which 
practically employs PA security forces in the service of the Israeli 
occupation.

*Read: Palestine’s Mufti’s fatwa prohibits working with US ‘peace deal’ 
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200211-palestines-muftis-fatwa-prohibits-working-with-us-peace-deal/>*

This is not the first time that Abbas has resorted to this lifeline, but 
he has never gone through with his promises. We have no reason to 
believe that this time is any different.

There is little hope that the pro-PA camp, as exemplified in the current 
political structure, can truly defeat the ‘Deal of the Century’.

The final statements resulting from the Arab League summit in Cairo and 
the OIC summit 
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/oic-hold-emergency-meeting-trump-middle-east-plan-200203064919675.html>in 
Jeddah on February 1 and 3 respectively, is a repeat of numerous past 
conferences, where promises were made and condemnations were levelled, 
with no follow-up nor any action.

If Arabs and Muslims are, indeed, sincere in their desire to confront 
US-Israeli plotting, they ought to go beyond this stifling pattern of 
impractical politics. It is not enough to reject Washington’s stratagem 
and to denounce Israeli action. They ought to muster enough courage to 
turn their statements into an actual, unified strategy, and their 
strategy into action, using all means at their disposal.

Arab countries enjoy massive economic and political leverage in 
Washington and throughout the world. What’s the value of all of this 
leverage if not used in defence of Palestine and her people?

Washington and Tel Aviv are counting on the fact that anger at the ‘Deal 
of the Century’ among Arabs and Muslims will eventually peter out, 
exactly as happened 
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/10/trump-jerusalem-arab-league-dangerous-violation-international-law> 
after Trump recognized all of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moving his 
country’s embassy there in May 2018.

If Arabs and Muslims fail Palestine again, then, once more, the 
Palestinian people will find themselves alone in this desperate fight, 
which they have no other alternative but to undergo. And when 
Palestinians rise, as they surely will, their uprising will challenge 
not just Israel but the entire regional and international apparatus that 
allowed the Israeli occupation to go unchallenged for so many years.


-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20200212/d68054ef/attachment.htm>