Israel’s Vision for the Future is Terrifying
By
Ramzy Baroud
February
16, 2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- Empirical historical evidence combined
with little common-sense are enough to tell us
the type of future options that Israel has in
store for the Palestinian people: perpetual
apartheid or ethnic cleansing, or a mix of both.
The
passing of the “Regularisation
Bill” on 6 February is all we need to
imagine the Israeli-envisaged future. The new
law allows the Israeli government to
retroactively recognise Jewish outposts built
without official permission on privately-owned
Palestinian land.
All
settlements – officially recognised settlements
and unauthorised outposts – are illegal under
international law. The verdict has been passed
numerous times by the United Nations and, more
recently, pronounced with unmistakable clarity
in UN
Security Council Resolution 2334.
Israel’s response was the announcement of the
construction of over 6,000 new housing units to
be built throughout the Occupied Palestinian
territories, the construction of a brand new
settlement (the first in 20 years), and the new
law that paves the way for the annexation of
large swathes of the occupied West Bank.
Undoubtedly, the law is the “last
nail in the coffin of the two-state solution”,
but that is not important. It never mattered to
Israel, anyway. The talk of a solution was mere
smoke and mirrors as far as Israel was
concerned. All the “peace talks” and the
entirety of “peace process”, even when it was in
its zenith, rarely slowed down the Israeli
bulldozers, the construction of more “Jewish
homes” or ended the unceasing ethnic cleansing
of the Palestinians.
Writing in Newsweek,
Diana Buttu described how the process of
building settlements is always accompanied by
the demolition of Palestinian homes.
140 Palestinian structures were demolished
since the beginning of 2017, according to the
United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied
Territories.
Since
Donald Trump was sworn in as president of
America, Israel has felt liberated from its
obligation to doublespeak. For decades, Israeli
officials spoke passionately about peace, and
did everything in their power to hinder its
attainment. Now, they simply do not care.
Period.
They
have perfected their balancing act simply
because they had to, because Washington expected
it, demanded it. But Trump had given them a
blank cheque: do as you please; settlements are
not obstacles to peace; Israel has been “treated
very, very unfairly” and I will correct that
historical injustice, and so on.
Almost
immediately after Trump was inaugurated as
president on 20 January, all masks came off.
On 25
January, the real Benjamin Netanyahu resurfaced,
dropping his act altogether, and declaring
in enviable brazenness: “We are building,
and we will continue to build” illegal
settlements.
What
more is there to talk about with Israel at this
point? Nothing. The only solution that mattered
to Israel is Israel’s own “solution”, always
driven by blind American support, European
uselessness and always imposed on the
Palestinians and other Arab countries, by force
if needed.
The
guardians of the grand charade of the two-state
solution, who shrewdly crafted the “peace
process” and danced to every Israeli tune are
now bewildered. They have been outed by Israel’s
dreadful plans that shot their “solution” right
between the eyes, leaving Palestinians to choose
between subjugation, humiliation or
imprisonment.
Jonathan Cook is right.
The new law is the first step towards the
annexing of the West Bank or, at least, most of
it. Once small outposts are legalised, they
would need to be fortified, (“naturally”)
expanded and protected. The military occupation,
in effect for 50 years, will no longer be
temporary and reversible. Civil law will
continue to apply to Jews in Occupied
Palestinian Territories and military laws on
occupied Palestinians.
It is
the very definition of Apartheid, in case you
are still wondering.
To meet
the “security needs” of the settlers, more
“Jewish-only” bypass roads will be constructed,
more walls erected, more gates to keep
Palestinians away from their land, schools and
livelihood will be put up, more checkpoints,
more suffering, more pain, more anger and more
violence.
That is
Israel’s vision. Even Trump is growing
frustrated by Israel’s shamelessness and
audacity. He called on Israel in an interview
with Israel Hayom newspaper to “be
reasonable with respect to peace”.
“There
is so much land left. And every time you take
land for settlements, there is less land left,”
Trump said. He is backtracking on promises he
made with regard to moving the US embassy and
the unchecked expansion of the settlements and
more, as he is realising that Netanyahu and his
US supporters have led him to a cliff and are
now asking him to jump.
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But it
matters little, anyway. Whether Trump holds on
to his extremely pro-Israel position or reverts
to a wishy-washy stance similar to that of his
predecessor, Barack Obama, reality is unlikely
to change – for only Israel is ultimately
allowed to influence outcomes.
Israeli
lawmakers’ approval of the bill is, indeed, an
end of an era. We have reached the point where
we can openly declare that the so-called “peace
process” was an illusion from the start, for
Israel had no intentions of ever conceding the
occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem to the
Palestinians.
The
Palestinian leadership is hardly blameless in
all of this.
The
greatest mistake that the Palestinian leadership
committed (aside from its disgraceful disunity)
was entrusting the US, Israel’s main enabler,
with managing a “peace process” that has allowed
Israel time and resources to finish its colonial
projects, while devastating Palestinian rights
and political aspirations.
Returning to the same old channels, using the
same language, seeking salvation at the altar of
the same old “two-state solution” will achieve
nothing but waste further time and energy.
But
Israel’s humiliating options to the Palestinians
can also be read in a different way. Indeed, it
is Israel’s obstinacy that is now leaving
Palestinians (and Israelis) with one option, and
only one option: equal citizenship in one single
state or a horrific apartheid and more ethnic
cleansing.
In the words of former President
Jimmy Carter: “Israel
will never find peace until it permit(s) the
Palestinians to exercise their basic human and
political rights.”
That
Israeli “permission” is yet to arrive, leaving
the international community with the moral
responsibility to exact it.
Dr.
Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle
East for over 20 years. He is an
internationally-syndicated columnist, a media
consultant, an author of several books and the
founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His books
include “Searching Jenin”, “The Second
Palestinian Intifada” and his latest “My Father
Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story”. His
website is
www.ramzybaroud.net.
