The Humiliation of the U.S. President

President B. Obama announced recently that he is no longer demanding that the Israeli prime minister freeze the construction of Jewish settlements – not even for 3 months to start the peace discussions between the Israelis and Palestinians. The U.S. president capitulated to the Israelis’ demands despite the lucrative incentive of$3 billion military equipments as security fund he offered Netanyahu. This rejection is nothing but a big humiliation for President Obama. This Israeli political behavior is not unusual. The Jewish state has gotten used to biting the hand that feeds it. More than $160 billion of American taxpayers’ money has been sent to Israel since 1948, in addition to massive amounts of military equipment. One of the basic reasons behind Israeli political arrogance and the defiance of the U.S. president is the near total support they have from the U.S. Congress. An ex-member of the Senate put it clearly that the U.S. Congress supports Israel on every issue, no questions asked. This is attributed to the power of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). It is the most powerful lobby in the nation’s capital. Also, many Jewish Zionist organizations are influential in the American political arena, politically and financially. Furthermore, Christian Evangelical Zionist groups are playing a supportive role in Israeli policy regarding the occupation of the West Bank that they consider part of greater Israel.

The tragedy of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been dragging for more than four decades, since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967. Since then, the Israeli government has built more than 300 Jewish settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, where more than 500,000 Jewish settlers are living. Furthermore, the Israeli government has been following an ethnic cleansing policy by destroying more than 20,000 Palestinian homes. Also, they have cut down more than one million olive trees that were the major economic support of more than 100,000 Palestinians. All such activities were in violations of the U.N. Security Council resolutions and international law. The U.N. has been paralyzed because the U.S. government has been the main protector of Israel at the U.N. Security Council. For that reason, since its creation Israel has snubbed the U.N., which gave it its birth certificate. Israeli leaders have gotten used to letting the U.S. do their dirty work for them, especially at the U.N. The U.S. government has exercised its veto power more than 70 times to prevent the passage of any meaningful resolutions in regard to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.

For that reason and others, the Israeli government has not only ignored the U.N., but the rest of the world as well.

The BBC reported (12/10/2010) that a group of 26 ex-EU leaders has urged the union to impose sanctions on Israel for continuing to build settlements on occupied Palestinian land. They said Israel, “like any other state”, should be made to feel the “consequences” and pay a price for breaking international law.

The least President Obama can do is to instruct the U.S. representative at the Security Council to not use its veto power and/or abstain from voting. The supporters of Israel in Congress can’t do anything about it. Another alternative for the president to follow is to develop his own plan to resolve the conflict and enforce it on both sides. The president will receive worldwide support for his initiative.