A Major Obstacle to the Solution of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Recently (September, 2010), 87 out 100 members of the U.S. Senate sent a letter to President Obama urging him to pressure Mahmoud Abbas, the chair of the Palestinian authority, not to withdraw from the negotiations with Israel. They emphasized in their letters that the Palestinians should not threaten to leave the negotiations that might lead to peace and security for Israel. No reference was made to the fact that Israel should continue the freeze on the construction of settlements in Jerusalem and the West Bank. The Israeli Prime Minister, as of October 3rd, 2010, has refused to extend the freeze on the construction of settlements. This lead the Palestinians to declare publicly their withdrawal from the peace negotiation as long as Israel continues their construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Despite all the efforts that President Obama made to convince Netanyahu to continue the freeze, he was ignored by the Israeli prime minister. Even the major Israeli newspapers noted that the American president made extensive offers in his last letter to Mr. Netanyahu of more sophisticated military equipments to Israel, in addition to written guarantees to protect that safety of Israel, provided the freeze be extended 2 months. The Israeli press even wondered if all these offers to extend the freeze did not convince Netanyahu to do so, then what would it take for him to sign a peace treaty with the Palestinians? The major reason behind the Israeli prime minister dismissing Obama’s offers is attributed to the fact that Israel has successfully put the U.S. Congress under its thumb. During the past year, several letters were signed by members of Congress and sent to the president telling him to stop pressuring Netanyahu, and also accused Obama of being hard on Israel. These members of Congress who are backing the Israeli Zionist ideology of expansionism are not aware that they are ignoring the American national interest and encouraging international terrorism. Those who are aware of the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will recognize that it was President Truman who pressured the U.N. to partition Palestine in 1948 into a Jewish and Palestinian state. Even at the time, the majority of the population was Palestinian. Furthermore, since then, the U.S. government has failed to play an evenhanded role between the Palestinians and Israelis. In my judgment, that type of continuous pro-Israeli American foreign policy is a major factor influencing the rise of al-Qaeda and international terrorism. As I mentioned earlier, Obama offered advanced military equipment as well as the promise to protect Israel and use its veto power, as usual, against any proposal against Israel that might be submitted at the Security Council. These generous offers did not convince Netanyahu to extend the settlement construction freeze.

The president has lost his courage and objectivity in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The American Congress has lost its bearings and cannot resist the influence and power of the Israeli-Jewish lobby (AIPAC). The president should address the American public directly to get their support since he has been challenged by his Congress on the issue.

The other alternative is for the Arab states to challenge the U.S. government and demand that the U.N., who created this mess, implement its resolutions and stop the Fascist state of Israel from their continuous human rights violations against the Palestinians. If the U.N. fails to respond, then the oil producng countries in the Arab world should exercise their judgment, as they did in the 19270s, and force a solution to end the conflict.

It is unfortunate to say that Arab political leaders lack the courage to stand up to their rights. Hence, they do not have the ability to stop abuses and bring sanity back to the Arab world.