Why Trump’s Honesty is Europe's Hypocrisy
There has been a massive reaction
to Trump’s announcement that the United States recognises Jerusalem as the
capital of Israel. European leaders have
been unanimous in their disapproval. If
one didn’t know better one might assume they had been in the forefront of the
BDS movement, as a means to pressurise Israel into a 2 States Solution.
But of course Theresa May, Macron
et al. have been vociferous in condemning the ‘anti-Semitic’ Boycott movement.
They are resolutely opposed to putting any pressure on Israel, knowing full well that no Zionist party in Israel
(bar the tiny Meretz) supports a 2 State Solution. It is in this respect interesting that
the Israeli Labour Party under its new leader Avi Gabbay has welcomed
Trump’s announcement. So much for
the idea that the ILP represents something different in Zionist politics.
People may be surprised by my
heading. Why should I welcome Trump’s statement
that Jerusalem in its entirety belongs to the Zionists? Why should I welcome
the death of the 2 States Solution?
Because that has always been the real if unstated position of the West.
Of course I don’t believe that Jerusalem
is the property of the Zionist state.
But what I also don’t
support is the fictional support for 2 states that
the West pays lip service to. There has
never ever been a chance of a 2 state solution.
Neither Oslo nor Ehud Barak, the last Israeli Labour Prime Minister ever
supported 2 States. At best they
supported a cut down version of a Bantustan.
A ridiculous demilitarised version of Transkei and Bophutswana.
All opponents of Apartheid
opposed South Africa’s homelands policy.
The idea of shunting Black Africans into enclaves controlled by Black
collaborators. But in Palestine all
sorts of progressive people have given lip-service to the idea of a Palestinian
bantustan.
Unfortunately and tragically so
have the representative organisations, the PLO, of the Palestinian people. As I wrote in Labour Briefing regarding the
Oslo Accords in October 1993, ‘this is an
agreement built on shifting sands. It
represents a massive victory for imperialism.’
 |
| The New York Times agonises over whether Trump has killed off the 2 States solution but it decides he hasn't! |
The pursuit of the 2 States
illusion has cost the Palestinian movement dearly. It has been the smokescreen behind which Zionism
has effectively colonised the West Bank, laid siege to Gaza and weakened the Palestinians
by arming a collaborationist police authority (the PA) to do Israel’s work for
it.
The reason for opposing 2 States
is not though merely practical. Partition
as a solution to settler colonialism, be it in Ireland or Palestine, is a cure
worse than the original problem. 2
States means that the Israeli Jewish state survives. The ‘conflict’ in Palestine, in actual fact
the steady colonisation of Palestine, is a consequence of a political movement
based on the ideology of Jewish supremacism.
In this Israel is no different
from any other settler colonial state.
In Ireland the rallying cry of the Unionists was Protestant Supremacy,
in the words
of the first Viscount James Craigavon, a former Prime Minister, Stormont was a
Protestant parliament for a Protestant people.
Likewise in South Africa Apartheid was the means by which White
Supremacy was maintained. The only solution is the deZionisation of Israel.
 |
| Demonstration in the Wadi Arab area of Israel |
It is therefore interesting to see how the New York Times the American
paper of record sees it. In an article Did
Trump Kill Off a Two-State Solution? He Says No, Palestinians Say Yes Saeb Erekat, the PLO’s main negotiator is
quoted as saying that Trump and Netanyahu “have
managed to destroy that hope.” Of a 2 States solution. He is described as embracing ‘a radical shift in the P.L.O.’s goals — to a
single state, but with Palestinians enjoying the same civil rights as Israelis,
including the vote.’
Ererkat bemoans that “They’ve left us with no option. This is the
reality. We live here. Our struggle should focus on one thing: equal rights.” Of course no one should hold their breath
that Erekat is doing anything other than letting off steam. This is the same Erekat who was willing to
hand Tsipi Livni, when she was negotiating with the PA, a ‘big Yerushalayim’ in
exchange for just one small Palestinian suburb to call a capital.
Nonetheless Mark Landler of the
NYT disapproves. After having quoted a number
of Israeli talking heads he states that ‘Mr.
Erekat’s change of heart is unlikely to change Palestinian policy. The dream of
a Palestinian state is too deeply ingrained in a generation of its leaders for
the Palestinian Authority to abandon it now.’
Which is true in so far as one
distinguishes between the PA’s quisling leaders and the Palestinians
themselves. But then Landler goes
further and says, without any hesitation that:
‘Israel would be unlikely to accede to equal rights, because granting a
vote to millions of Palestinians would eventually lead to the end of Israel as
a Jewish state.
And this is exactly what it is
about. A Jewish State cannot be a democratic state. Israel cannot accede to equal rights. Therefore, just as in Apartheid South Africa,
the Palestinians must be shunted into their own homelands. Except that the West Bank is nowhere near as
big as South Africa so the Palestinians must be content with a few hemmed in
urban conurbations as the settlements slowly eat into Palestinian patrimony.
If there is anyone who doesn’t
quite get it, let us replace a few words in the above statement.
‘Israel South Africa would be unlikely to accede to equal rights, because
granting a vote to millions of Palestinians Africans
would eventually lead to the end of Israel South
Africa as a Jewish White state.
This is what the supporters of
two states are supporting. And if anyone
has doubts that Israel within the 1948 borders is also an apartheid state that
considers its Palestinian citizens as guests to be discarded as soon as
convenient, let us look at the reaction of its Defence Minister Avigdor
Lieberman to the riots in Arab areas in the wake of Trump’s announcement.
Lieberman, whose Deputy Eli
Dahan, is of the opinion
that Arabs are sub-human has called for Israeli
Jews to boycott the Wadi Ara area of Israel where many Arabs live. They should ‘feel unwanted here’ and become part of Ramallah. ‘Speaking in an interview
Lieberman said that ‘the residents of
Wadi Ara were not part of the State of Israel.’ And this is increasingly the view of Israelis,
48% of whom according to the Pew Research Report Israel’s
Religiously Divided Society support the physical removal of Israel’s Palestinian
citizens.
Following Saturday's violent protest in northern
Israeli Arab region against US recognition of Jerusalem, in which rioters
hurled stones at police cars and buses, defense minister urges Israeli citizens
to boycott area and make its residents 'feel unwanted here'; they should become
part of Ramallah, he adds.
Attila
Somfalvi|Published: 10.12.17 , 10:35
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday called
for a boycott of the Israeli Arab region of Wadi Ara, following Saturday's violent protests in the area, in which rioters hurled at police
cars and buses, as well as on Yedioth Ahronoth photographer Gil Nechushtan.
Speaking in an interview to the Ynet Studio,
Lieberman said the residents of Wadi Ara were not part of the State of Israel.
"I call
on all of Israel's residents to stop buying there," he said. "Simply impose a consumers' boycott and
don't go in there—don't enter their restaurants or their businesses, don't get
your cars fixed there. The residents of Wadi Ara must understand that they're
unwanted and that they're not part of us. They’re working from within to harm
the State of Israel.
 |
| Lieberman. 'I have never seen a protest in Wadi Ara with a single Israeli flag' (Photo: AFP) |
"We've
seen terrorists come out of there, we've seen funerals for the terrorists from
Umm al-Fahm who murdered police officers at the Temple Mount, and we've seen a terrorist murder people at the
terror attack on Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Street, including
an Arab taxi driver from Lod. They are not part of us," the defense
minister said, reiterating his initiative to hand Wadi Ara over to the
Palestinian Authority as part of a future agreement.
"They
should become part of Ramallah," he said. "There,
they will receive convalescence pay, an unemployment allowance and maternity
benefits instead of the billions of shekels they are currently receiving from
the National Security Institute. Let (Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas pay
all their rights and payments the Palestinian democracy and the Palestinian
society are certainly much better than the State of Israel."
 |
| One of the buses pelted with stones in Wadi Ara, Saturday |
Calling for a boycott of the area, Lieberman said: "I urge all citizens of the State of
Israel to stop entering stores there, to stop buying and to stop receiving
services. We should simply impose a boycott on them and let them feel unwanted
here. I have never seen a protest in Wadi Ara with a single Israeli flag. I've
seen many Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Authority flags there, and I've
never seen a single State of Israel flag there."
Wadi Ara protest
"Wadi Ara is becoming an incitement
center," the minister stated. "On Saturday, a journalist was nearly
lynched, and there is wild incitement in the schools. The generation being
raised there isn't learning anything apart from hatred toward the State of
Israel. The residents of Wadi Ara enjoy the best living conditions in the
Middle East."
Lieberman added that the residents had a right to
protest, but that "terror, support
for terror, solidarity with terror organizations and solidarity with Israel's
enemies cannot be part of the rules of the game. That's what we see in Wadi Ara
and it's the same line separating between them and others."
The defense minister said he hoped the tensions
following US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital were over. "On Saturday, I traveled across the
Judea area and it was completely calm. According to reports from this morning,
everything is calm and quiet. Even the Arab League conference settled for a
verbal statement and nothing else. So when I look at the situation in Judea and
Samaria today, and on the fence in the Gaza Strip, I believe it's behind
us."
As for reports that Saudi Arabia had supported
Trump's announcement, Lieberman said earlier in an interview to Army Radio: "The Saudis have personally experienced
the meaning of Islamic terror and Iranian subversion, so I think they have a
different outlook. We heard the crown prince call (Iranian supreme leader) Ali
Khamenei the modern Hitler. Such declarations
are not for the love of Israel."
Addressing the tensions on Israel's southern border
following the barrage of rockets fired at Gaza vicinity communities from the Strip
over the weekend, the defense minister said: "We have hit all of Hamas' critical sites, destroyed a rocket
manufacturing facility and a storehouse with strategic Hamas weapons inside the
Gaza Strip. I'm certain that everyone can send their children back to school
and kindergarten, and I believe all these events are behind us. It's Hamas'
responsibility."
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