As prospects of true
peace in Palestine look as bleak as
ever, mainly because of Israeli
intransigence and American
complicity with the Zionist state,
peace-loving people in
the Middle East and around the
world are once again
affronted by yet another disingenuous visit to the region
by US Secretary of State.
Rice has made numerous visits to Ramallah and occupied
Jerusalem ever since she became Secretary of State more
than three years ago.
However, the overall situation pertaining to the Palestinian plight
has more or less remained unchanged. In fact, one can safely
contend that the Israeli occupation and apartheid are now much
worse than they were three years ago.
Hence, it is highly unlikely that Rice’s current visit is
going to make any difference.
It is really not difficult to pinpoint the causes and reasons for the
failure of American “peace efforts” in this part of the world.
The US knows very well that Israel will not move even one
centimeter toward peace without serious American pressure.
But the US government lacks both the inclination and the willingness
to do so. The Jewish-control of Congress and the virtual complete
subservience of Bush administration to the powerful Jewish lobby,
known as AIPAC, as well as to pro-Israeli neocons, make any
breakthrough, even any genuine progress in peacemaking ,
extremely unlikely.
Rice knows that very well, despite the artificial optimism she
often tries to foster, mainly to give a false impression that the
moribund peace process is still alive.
The Israelis, too, know well that, when it comes to Israel, American
officials don’t always mean what they say, nor say what they mean.
Take, for example, the issue of Israeli roadblocks and checkpoints
dotting the map of the West Bank, which really render any normal
economic activities outright impossible. US officials, from Bush
himself, to Rice, to other US and Quartet envoys, have on numerous
occasions urged Israel to remove the estimated 600 roadblocks,
often manned by trigger-happy Nazi-like Israeli soldiers.
However, instead of heeding American and international demands,
the Israeli government decided to erect more roadblocks and
checkpoints to make Palestinian daily life even more miserable
and unbearable.
Why does Israel fly in the face of the Bush administration, which has
asked Israel for the umpteenth time to relax its harsh and crippling
measures against ordinary Palestinians in both the West Bank and
Gaza Strip?
The answer is very clear? Israel thinks, rightly or wrongly,
that it controls the United States of America, that it controls
American politics and policies, that it controls congress and
media and major financial institutions in the US.
A few years ago, it was rumored that former Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon told Shimon Peres, who was then
Foreign Minister, that “we control America and the
Americans know it”
One Jewish settler leader in Hebron, whom this reporter met a
few years ago, was even blunter. He said that “the Jewish people
could bring America to its knees in less than 24 hours.”
I asked the apparently arrogant settler leader, who himself
had immigrated to occupied Palestine from Florida, how a
few million American Jews could bring the most powerful
country on earth to its knees. “We don’t directly control
the 300 million Americans,” he said rather ostentatiously.
“We control those who control them.”
Many Israel apologists may dismiss such remarks as “nonsense.”
However, there are a growing number of Americans who have
come to the conclusion that American foreign policies,
particularly toward Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan,
even toward Europe, are made in Israel, not in Washington.
Two months ago, I met with a group of American Christian
leaders at a restaurant in West Bank town of Hebron. One lady,
I think from Illinois, told me the following. “I am sorry to tell
you that you will languish under the Israeli occupation for many
years to come.” Baffled by her remarks, I asked the nearly 65-year-
old retiree how she could be so sure about this bleak assessment.
Her answer was even more baffling. “Today the only country that
is able to pressure Israel to end its occupation of Palestine is the
United States. And Israel controls our government and our country,
I would say very tightly.”
In short, it would be futile to really expect the US to bring peace
to the Middle East since peace would depend nearly entirely on
the US government exerting real pressure on Israel, something
that is highly unlikely at least in the foreseeable future.
Yes, the US tries often to have the appearance of a peace maker
and honest broker. But it is a disingenuous appearance since everyone
knows that the eternally barren talks between Olmert and Abbas have
got nowhere and will get no where.
Today, with Israel having created irreversible facts in the
occupied West Bank, especially in East Jerusalem, the
prospect of the so-called Two-State Solution is dead, despite
all the empty babbling we keep hearing from Israeli,
American and even Palestinian officials.
Hence, it is imperative that the Palestinian people and their true
leaders and representatives stop letting the United States of Israel
…yes, the United States of Israel, to dupe them endlessly toward
the liquidation of their enduring cause.
their uncorrupted leaders and representatives find an
alternative salvation strategy based on the one-state solution.
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