Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas listened as President Obama addressed the Palestinian bid for statehood in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.
President Obama declared his opposition to the Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood through the Security Council on Wednesday, throwing the weight of the United States directly in the path of the Arab democracy movement even as he hailed what he called the democratic aspirations that have taken hold throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
“Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the U.N.,” Mr. Obama said, in an address before world leaders at the General Assembly. “If it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now.”
Less than an hour after Mr. Obama spoke, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France stood at the same podium in a sharp repudiation, calling for a General Assembly resolution that would upgrade the Palestinians to “observer status,” as a bridge towards statehood. “Let us cease our endless debates on the parameters,” Mr. Sarkozy said. “Let us begin negotiations and adopt a precise timetable.” For Mr. Obama, the challenge in crafting the much-anticipated General Assembly speech on Wednesday was how to address the incongruities of the administration’s position: the president who committed himself to making peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians a priority from Day One, who still has not been able to even get peace negotiations going after two and a half years; the president who opened the door to Palestinian state membership at the United Nations last year ending up threatening to veto that very membership; the president who was determined to get on the right side of Arab history ending up, in the views of many on the Arab street, on the wrong side of it on the Palestinian issue.
Contradictions have paralyzed Obama's approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well. He promised to act as an even-handed peace broker, yet hasn't dared to defy a Congress dominated by supporters of Israel's right-wing government. After Israel refused Obama's demand that it halt settlement construction he quickly backtracked and has since been silent on the issue. When a U.N. human rights commission condemned Israeli war crimes in Gaza, the U.S. stood firmly by Israel at the U.N. Security Council.
On July 1, the day after Israel issued demolition orders against dozens of Palestinian homes in the Jordan Valley, the European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, spoke out, saying, "Settlements and the demolition of Palestinian homesites are illegal under international law, an obstacle to peace, and threaten to make a two-state solution impossible."
The fact that Israel is violating international law did not prevent Obama from embracing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the White House five days later. "The bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable," the president declared, and expressed faith that Netanyahu was committed to peace. Obama again urged the Palestinians to agree to direct talks with Israel, saying they would "create a climate" that would lead to a solution.
But in fact the "climate" Israel is creating will prevent any solution short of the Palestinians' surrender. The indirect talks brokered this spring by Middle East envoy George J. Mitchell have only deepened differences between the two sides. The Palestinians want to discuss final borders and provisions guaranteeing mutual security. The Israelis refuse to discuss borders until the Palestinians agree to demilitarize completely, recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and accept an Israeli buffer zone in the Jordan Valley.
The Israelis know these demands are unacceptable to the Palestinians, and undoubtedly intend them to prevent serious negotiations. Shortly before Netanyahu left for Washington his national security adviser, Uzi Arad, urged that Israel abandon peace negotiations altogether. "In trying to make peace," he said, "we are embracing an adversary who is conducting a very effective battle against us internationally... Maybe we should be less zealous to champion the Palestinians and more eager to defend our own ranks."
Obama's faith in Netanyahu as peacemaker nevertheless remained intact even after the prime minister said the 10-month construction freeze would not be resumed. In fact, settlement construction during what Netanyahu promised was a 10-month freeze proceeded more rapidly than ever, since the government had hastily authorized thousands of new housing starts in the West Bank in anticipation of the freeze.
The Israeli army recently began driving hundreds of Palestinians from their homes in the Hebron hills and the Jordan Valley to make way for settlements. According to B'Tselem, Israeli settlements now claim jurisdiction over 42 percent of West Bank territory.
The expulsion of Palestinians from East Jerusalem has escalated as well. A week after Netanyahu's visit to Washington Israel announced that construction would begin on 52 new houses in Pisgat Zeev in East Jerusalem. In late June Mayor Nir Barkat announced plans to demolish 22 homes in Silwan, each housing large extended families, to make way for King David Gardens, a collection of upscale shops and apartments for Jews only. Lawyers for the Popular Committee for Silwan say the plans actually call for demolishing 88 homes, not 22.
Israel holds nearly 11,000 Palestinian prisoners, including increasing numbers of nonviolent activists arrested for "incitement." Yet despite popular pressure to do so, the government has refused to agree to Hamas' demand for the release of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for one Gilad Shalit, the young soldier captured by Hamas in 2006. The government finally did release four Hamas parliament members who had been held for four years as bargaining chips for Shalit. Although all were natives of Jerusalem they were ordered either to move to Gaza or the West Bank or be returned to prison.
On July 10 Israel began construction of a segment of its separation wall that will completely surround the West Bank village of Walajeh. The barrier will curve deeply into the West Bank in order to keep several Israeli settlements, including Har Gilo and the Gush Etzion bloc, on the Israeli side. In 2004 the International Court of Justice ruled, with only the American judge abstaining, that the wall's route through the West Bank created an illegal border, and ordered Israel to tear down the parts of it built on Palestinian territory. Israel rejected the order.
A house belonging to Omar Hajajla lies just outside the wall and consequently will be surrounded entirely by an electric fence. "My children need to cross four gates to get to school," Hajajla said. "It will be hell for my entire family." Like the other residents of Wallajeh, Hajajla is now cut off from his fields and the village is destined to die.
The suffering inflicted on the Palestinians is an integral part of Israeli policy, according to David Shulman, professor of Humanistic Studies at Hebrew University. In an article in the July 15 issue of the New York Review of Books Shulman writes that Israel's government is dominated by right-wing extremists whose policies call for "the further entrenchment of the occupation, with the primary aim of absorbing more and more Palestinian land into Israel," and restricting the Palestinians to isolated enclaves. It is a process, he writes, "that we see advancing literally hour by hour and day by day in the West Bank."
Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery describes Israel's government as an "Israeli version of fascism." That a president of the United States who is dedicated to the advancement of human rights should express unqualified support for such a government is the greatest contradiction of all.
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