Palestine: occupied more interested in peace than occupier

December 1, 2012

West Palm Beach

Palestinian diplomacy is punished, an overkill.

In the wake of a UN vote to upgrade Palestine’s status, the US Congress threatens to stop foreign aid to the West Bank; Israel considers not paying Palestinian tax-owed revenues and announces plans to add 3000 homes to its existing settlements.

It is hard to understand the logic of the intended “discipline”. Washington and Israel claim that Palestine’s newly established non-member status at the United Nations is “counterproductive” to the peace process. It is rather strange for the occupier to accuse the occupied of being disinterested in negotiating for independence.

Have the Palestinians not yet begged enough for peace?  Is a 45-year wait for recognition too short? Did the Arab states not submit a peace plan ten years ago? Does the world community still believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu is eager to forge peace based on viable terms?

Palestinians are not blameless for they have already done extensive harm to their own cause. But in recent years, it is Israel who has become reluctant to offer workable terms for a comprehensive accord.

There is no evidence that Netanyahu genuinely accepts a future Palestinian state comprising Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  Israel could receive many concessions in a permanent Arab-Israeli settlement: land swap for settlers, full acceptance in the Palestinian community and the larger Arab world, demilitarization of Palestine and resolution of the refugee issues. Regrettably, despite all these incentives, the current mood in Israel is for maintaining the occupation. Israel’s politics is shifting to the right.

Since the occupation of 1967 Palestinians have lost control over the majority of their land, their freedoms, their ability to build a viable economy, the world’s attention to their plight and their hope for establishing a state of their own.

Let us count the ways in which Israel ignores the necessary requirements for the creation of a Palestinian state. Tel Aviv now calls the West Bank by its biblical name Judea and Samaria, expands settlements, denies its control of Gaza, expects Israeli permanent presence in the Palestinian Jordan valley, discounts East Jerusalem (as a future capital for Palestine), and equates the plight of Palestinian refugees to the suffering of Arab Jews who migrated to Israel after 1948.

Witnessing the dismantling of future Palestine, dissipation of the peace process, weakening of Israel’s peace camp, growing tolerance of the US congress for the occupation, it is natural for the Palestinian Authority to seek UN diplomatic recognition to preserve their claim to a nation.

The overwhelming UN vote to recognize Palestine as a non- member observer state this week was a message of affirmation and guidance to the Palestinian Authority. The message for the Palestinians was twofold: return soon to the peace table, regardless of the pace of settlement expansion, and avoid taking further steps at the UN. Rightly, it would be unwise in the near future for the Palestinians to seek charges against Israel’s occupation at the (UN affiliated) International Criminal Court, given a broken Arab world, a divided Palestinian community, a non sympathetic US congress and an occupier in the mood of revenge.

The UN vote has given a message to Israel as well: approach the peace process seriously and stop expanding settlements.

The third UN message was intended to Washington: President Obama must reactivate the peace process. The world community expects more than willingness to mediate peace from a second term president. The US could articulate where it stands on a final settlement since it is deeply involved in the conflict, being a close ally to one side and a massive donor. In pretending to be neutral Washington is losing influence and trust in the region.

The world community expects the Palestinians to rush to the peace table, Israel to stop building settlements and President Obama to articulate the parameters of a final settlement.

Punishing the Palestinians for seeking world recognition does not serve Israel’s future or fit Washington’s stature.