The scathing remarks of Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against Barak Obama for suggesting that the
‘two state solution’ should be based upon the pre-1967 borders, just
before boarding the plane to Washington for a state visit, exposed the
diplomatic weakness of the imperialist leaders.
The scathing remarks of Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against Barak Obama for suggesting that the
‘two state solution’ should be based upon the pre-1967 borders, just
before boarding the plane to Washington for a state visit, exposed the
diplomatic weakness of the imperialist leaders.
The
arrogance displayed by one of its closest allies laid bare the
political and diplomatic impotence of the USA, and its inability to
solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The standing ovation for
Netanyahu during his speech to the US Congress was another humiliating
setback for Obama who was fortunate enough to be touring Buckingham
Palace at the time. Netanyahu’s offensive was devised to avoid the
question of the Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, which is
blocking any even partial peace settlement. In fact he rejected almost
every demand of the so-called international community.
The fact is
that he cannot make any significant concessions if he is to preserve
the exploitative system on which Israel was created under the pretext of
the biblical myth of the “land of Judea and Samara”. Thus the talks
stalled once again. The general pessimism about a negotiated settlement
in the Middle East was expressed by The Economist in its recent issue:
“In
the end, after much brouhaha and hyperbole, there were no real winners:
no sign that negotiations between Israel and Palestinians would resume;
no hint of flexibility from Mr. Netanyahu; no expectations from the
Palestinians that they would talk to Mr. Netanyahu under the present
circumstances… Rarely has the outlook seemed so bleak.”
The
“two state solution” was always a non-starter. After the occupation of
the West Bank the process of building settlements has made the
geographical differentiation between Jewish and Arab neighbourhoods
almost impossible. These Jewish settlements are deep intrusions into the
West Bank that even surround large towns and cities like Ariel,
Ramallah, Bethlehem and, of course, East Jerusalem.
A number of
areas within the Palestinian Territories have been dissected by these
settlements and the monstrous concrete wall imposed by the Zionist
state. Gaza and the West Bank are already divided up by large tracts of
Israeli occupied territory. There are many other unresolved questions:
the Israeli demand for a demilitarised Palestinian state; trade and
commerce under Israeli tutelage; the use of the Israeli currency the
shekel in Palestinian areas; but above all the vast number of
Palestinian workers that are employed in Israeli industry.
Under
these conditions, a two- state solution would not bring anything like
independence or sovereignty to the Palestinians. It will rather increase
the military and economic subjugation of the Palestinian masses to the
Zionist state. All those who are constantly harping about the
independence of Palestine through this two-state solution carefully
avoid all mention of the realities on the ground. While talking about a
“peace process”, they ignore the crude reality of imperialist
aggression, brutalisation and the daily killings of the Palestinians by
Israeli state terrorism.
The Arab rulers have used and abused the
Palestinian cause to perpetuate their despotic rule and distract their
subjects from the economic and political repression they were
inflicting. The conduct of the so called United Nations reeks of
hypocrisy. Scores of resolutions have been passed in the General
Assembly proclaiming the rights of the Palestinian masses. But not one
has been implemented. This decrepit assembly of the ruling elites of the
world can never grant the Palestinians their freedom. The declaration
of an independent state at the UN general assembly in September will be
yet another hoax. Even if it is passed, the Americans will veto it.
The
Palestinian masses have a long history of sacrifices and struggle.
However, the methods of individual terrorism over the years played into
the hands of the vicious Israeli ruling class, who replied with the most
brazen state terrorism. The blowing up of passenger planes and school
busses only provided them with an excuse to carryout ferocious massacres
of the Palestinians like those in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps
in the early 1980s.
Neither could the negotiated settlements with
imperialism attain freedom for the Palestinians. It was the first
intifada of 1987, the huge revolutionary upsurge of the Palestinian
masses that rattled the Zionist state. However, the Oslo accords signed
between Arafat and imperialism were bitter pills coated with layers of
saccharine diplomatic hypocrisy. They were doomed from the start. A
solution of the Palestinian question is more distant today than it was
sixty three years ago.
The recent revolutionary upsurge in the
Arab world has re-aroused the Palestinian movement. During the revolts
in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere there were Palestinian spontaneous
uprisings in support of the Arab revolution. The Israeli rulers were not
the only ones who were terrified. The leaders of Fatah in the West Bank
and Hamas in the Gaza Strip were shaken and they used severe repression
to crush the Palestinian demonstrations in solidarity with the Arab
Revolution.
These leaders are equally corrupt and repressive. The
recent rapprochement between Mahmud Abbas and Khalid Mishaal is the
result of the fear of these “factions” of the mass upsurge that could
challenge the capitalist system upon which Hamas and Fatah are both
based.
Israel was created on 15 May 1948, a day of infamy known to
the Arabs as the “Nakba Day”. This year saw the largest ever
Palestinian mobilisations not only in Palestine and Israel but also in
Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and other countries where there are large
numbers of Palestinian refugees. These courageous demonstrators breached
the “international” boundaries. Scores were killed and hundreds
injured.
The perpetrators of these heinous crimes were not only
the Israeli army but the armed forces of Lebanon, Syria and Egypt along
with the security forces of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. A
similar mass defiance was seen on “Naksa Day” (June 5, 2011), the 44th anniversary of the 1967 war.
Although
the Hezbollah leaders are giving rhetorical support to the Palestinian
cause they have been trying to curb the mobilisation in Lebanon. In one
of its recent press statement we read that the task was, “To freeze
preparations in the light of security developments.” Similarly the other
Arab states were on high alert to stop the border crossings by
Palestinians. But the Israeli military had a problem: by their resorting
to brutal measures to stop the protests, a revolutionary movement of
the Palestinian masses that could connect with the movements across the
whole Middle East. This can begin to divide Israeli society on class
lines. Such a development would seal the fate of the Zionist state. It
would be a gigantic step in the direction of a socialist federation of
the Middle East
