Time for a new Israeli leadership

Why is the United States hesitant to join the Arab world and several key European powers to compel Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories in the West Bank, an infuriating situation that has lasted since 1967?

Is it because of the influence of the Israeli lobby, as is often charged, the failure of US governments to act fairly and honestly, or both?

After all, in 1948, Israel was unfairly awarded 55 per cent of Palestine by the United Nations, while the Palestinian Arabs were given 45 per cent; their portion was mostly undeveloped, compared to Israel’s key Palestinian coastal cities on the Mediterranean.

The Israeli territories have, as a result of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, expanded to 78 per cent of Palestine, a development that the Palestinians have conceded.

Now, US Secretary of State John Kerry shockingly says he believes that it is better to wait until the results of the Israeli elections, on March 17 to recognise the state of Palestine, though it is clear that Israel needs a straightforward leader, unlike Benjamin Netanyahu, the weakened and devious prime minister.

Netanyahu’s record so far has been far from praiseworthy.

As is well known, his present coalition government includes Cabinet ministers who want to retain all the territories occupied illegally or hold on to some of the occupied areas in the West Bank where some 350,000 Israeli settlers are now living.

One Cabinet minister does not approve of the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Much to the dismay of some Israelis, a growing number of European states, including several key governments, are nowadays supporting the recognition of an independent Palestinian state. 

Among these are Sweden, Britain, Germany, France and Spain, and the list is expanding almost daily.

Another noteworthy achievement for the Palestinians took place last Monday when the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, told the member states of the International Criminal Court in his first address there that the Palestinians plan to join the ICC “at an appropriate time”.

Palestine has recently been given the status of observer state at the ICC, but it has yet to formally apply to join the 122-member court.

“It is the court where the Palestinian people desire to seek justice for the war crimes and crimes against humanity being perpetrated against them by Israel, the occupying power, in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem,” Mansour said.

The Palestinian Authority has also threatened to file a suit against Israel over the 50-day war on the Gaza Strip, during which more than 2,000 Palestinians were killed last July and August, most of them civilians.

At present, the situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and within some areas of Israel is troublesome.

Recently, a prominent Palestinian Cabinet minister, Ziad Abu Ein, who frequently led peaceful protests against Jewish settlements, died last Wednesday in a confrontation with Israeli police.

Three days of mourning were announced by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas; several Palestinian witnesses said the highly praised 55-year-old minister “was punched in the throat, kicked and became overwhelmed by tear gas”.

Yousef Munayyer, executive director of The Jerusalem Fund, a Washington-based think tank, said the death of Abu Ein “is the latest proof that even non-violent protest in the West Bank can lead to death at the hands of Israeli forces”.

He pointed out that the Cabinet minister was “part of a non-violent act that aimed at planting olive trees on Palestinian land confiscated by Israel for settlement expansion”.

A similar attack by Israeli forces was reported at a school last Monday in the village of Burin, north of Nablus, a key Palestinian town in the West Bank.

The attackers were reportedly throwing stones at Israeli soldiers who responded by firing tear gas and stun grenades inside the schoolyards.

On the same day, three Israelis from a far-right group, reported Reuters, were charged last Monday with setting fire to a classroom in an Arab-Jewish school that has been a symbol of coexistence in Jerusalem.

According to the indictment, the Israelis “set fire to a classroom in the Hand-on-Hand school last month and sprayed anti-Arab graffiti on the walls of the courtyard”.

Israelis, and especially their supporters, particularly in the US, should realise that a genuine peace settlement needs a new and sincere Israeli leadership that is willing to abide by international law.

It is time to end the Israeli occupation of the West Bank that more than two million Palestinians call home.

The writer is a Washington-based columnist.