America’s injustice in Palestine

Former British prime minister Tony Blair has finally come out and admitted the mistake in toppling Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, which led, in part at least, to the chaos witnessed now in both Iraq and the region.

While the Bush administration, which led the war on Iraq based entirely on false assumptions or a hidden agenda, is yet to do so, several noted American politicians, including current and former members of the Obama administration, have admitted the mistake.

There is, however, another American grave mistake in the Middle East that America refuses to recognise and come clean about: its blind support for Israel.

A quick distinction needs to be made clear here between the US backing of the state of Israel’s right to exist securely, peacefully and civilly in the region within its internationally recognised borders (which all of Israel’s Arab neighbours officially accept) and its backing of Israel’s apartheid, colonisation of Palestine and oppression of Palestinians.

The latter is something that America should stand firmly against, and yet, it is not only condoning Israel’s continued occupation and oppression of Palestinians, but directly contributing to it.

Financially, immense sums of American money go into the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories and the building of new settlements, and into the most deadly weaponry that Israel’s ruthless army is using against peaceful Palestinian civilians. Not to mention the huge aid packages in other spheres, which only contribute to promoting Israel’s apartheid policies and ruthless occupation of the very territories that Palestinians hope to make their state.

Politically, the US always blocks, at the UN and elsewhere, any resolution that condemns Israel’s aggression and oppression, and opposes any international move or initiative that furthers the cause of a Palestinian state — ironically, despite America’s recognition of the two-state solution.

America’s shameful stance towards Israel and the Palestinians is best epitomised in the US Congress’ irresponsible statements and decisions regarding the question of Palestine, and in the equally irresponsible statements of American candidates for the presidency and other senior posts in the country, regardless of whether one is Democrat or Republican.

It is in fact America’s blind, misguided support for Israel’s occupation and apartheid that is, fatally and tragically, subverting the resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and promoting the suffering of Palestinian people.

Everyone knows now that the call for resuming “negotiations” between the Israelis and the Palestinians is not only a waste of time, but also a convenient cover for Israel’s continued expansion into Palestinian territories and liquidation of the issue.

And yet, America continues to insist on negotiations and, by doing so, becomes complicit in subverting any peaceful resolution of the Palestine question, which can only happen when Israel abides by the agreements it signed with Arab neighbours and with the Palestinians, and with the relevant UN resolutions.

The US needs to draw the line — as many of its former politicians, and current prominent thinkers and peace advocates have done (Jimmy Carter, Noam Chomsky, etc.) — between supporting an Israel that wants to live and let live, and one that is intent upon colonising Palestine and depriving the Palestinians of their home and state.

Such a line cannot be drawn unless and until America realises a basic fact: that backing and abetting Israel’s aggression is harmful not only to the Palestinians but to Israel itself, and that actively opposing such aggression is a bliss to both the Palestinians and the Israelis.

Unless America does that, Israel will continue its aggressive, criminal policies and actions unabashed, and America will continue to bear direct responsibility for the Palestinian tragedy and for a mistake that it is yet to acknowledge.

America’s recognition of its unforgivable mistake in Iraq and its consequences on the region is imminent, but recognising the great injustice its flawed policies have caused for decades in Palestine is long overdue.