Tell the Truth About Israel and Palestine Too…
For nearly 50 years, Israel has occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. Occupiers have very specific responsibilities under international law: Their presence should be brief and solely for the benefit of the native population; they should not move their own people into the territory, or destroy buildings, or export local resources, or seize land or property. Israel has systematically violated all these standards from the beginning, relying on US backing at the UN and elsewhere to get away with it.
As Palestinian resistance grew in the 1980s, the US promoted the Oslo Accords, which promised a “two state solution” – the occupation would be ended in 5 years and a new Palestinian state would emerge. But that depended on Israel’s willingness to depart, and Israeli Zionists were determined to keep the occupied territories. For the past quarter century, Israeli politicians have given official lip service to a “two state solution,” but unofficially (and often loudly) they worked to change “facts on the ground”, making two states impossible.
All that while, the US supported Israel while claiming to serve as an “honest broker” in negotiations that never got anywhere, because Israel had no intention of ever leaving the territories.
At first It was possible not to notice Israel’s systematic efforts to build Jewish-only cities and road networks to carve up the West Bank into ungovernable fragments. Later, major US donors (both Christians and Jews) rewarded pro-Israel US politicians for not noticing.
It is now clear as day, however: Israel aims to keep the occupied territories under its control. Even Gaza has been converted into a densely populated region under siege. Israel also crowds as many Palestinians as possible into a few cities so that the bulk of the West Bank and East Jerusalem can continue to be colonized by Jewish-only settlers.
Some very smart people serve on the foreign and military policy committees of the US Congress. Two of them are Connecticut’s senators, Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal. They know perfectly well that Israel is determined to oppress the Palestinians. But they never speak up against the decades of human rights violations.
In the last days of the Obama administration, the US finally withheld its veto of a UN resolution stating the obvious: Israel’s path makes two states impossible. Secretary of State John Kerry clearly acknowledged that fact in a major speech. But then Senators and representatives of both parties rushed to condemn the US for not supporting Israel.
And now we have President Trump. He has nominated two ardent rightwing Zionists to advance his pro-Israel policies: The new “honest broker” to press for concessions from the Palestinians will be his son-in-law Jared Kushner; the new ambassador will be his bankruptcy attorney, David Friedman. Both have financed illegal settlements. America will soon move its embassy to Jerusalem, violating international law.
And here is the irony. Trump, who never hesitates to lie and to market “alternative facts,” has not hidden his support for permanent Israeli annexation of Palestine. MAYBE Murphy and Blumenthal will oppose the Trump nominees, but will they also admit the obvious: Israel does not want a two state solution. It wants all of Palestine, and that will be an apartheid state.
1/29/2017 Contact Jewish Voice for Peace New Haven at: JVPNH.org
JOIN THIS VIGIL FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE—EVERY SUNDAY 12-1 P.M.,
BROADWAY, PARK & ELM STREETS:RESIST THIS ENDLESS WAR!
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