Daily Times

The scathing remarks of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against Barack 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 its closest ally laid bare the political and diplomatic impotence of the US, 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 Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, which is blocking any partial peace settlement. In fact, he rejected almost every demand of the so-called international community.

He cannot do otherwise 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’. 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 in 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 territory have been dissected by these settlements and the monstrous concrete wall imposed by the Zionist state. Gaza and the West Bank are already split asunder by a large swath of Israeli-occupied territory. There are many other intractable 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 and, above all, a vast number of Palestinian workers 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 on 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 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 inflict. 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 sacrifice and struggle. But the methods of individual terrorism 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 buses only provided them with an excuse to carry out ferocious massacres of the Palestinians like those of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in the early 1980s.

Nor could a negotiated settlement with imperialism attain freedom for the Palestinians. It was the first intifada of 1987, the mass 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-laced diplomatic hypocrisy. They were doomed from the start. A solution of the Palestinian question is more distant today than it was 63 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 jolted 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 Mashal is the result of the fear of these ‘factions’ of the masses’ upsurge that could challenge the capitalist system upon which Hamas and Fatah are both based.

Israel was created on May 15, 1948, a day of infamy known to the Arabs as Nakba (Catastrophe). This year saw the largest ever Palestinian mobilisations not only in Palestine and Israel but also in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Sinai and other countries where there are large numbers of Palestinian refugees. These courageous demonstrators breached ‘international’ boundaries. Scores were killed and hundreds injured.

The perpetrators of these heinous crimes were not only the Israeli army but also the armed forces of Lebanon, Syria and Egypt along with the security forces of Hamas and the Palestinian authority. A similar mass defiance is being prepared on the ‘Nakba Day’, the 44th anniversary of the 1967 war on June 5, 2011.

Although the Hezbollah leaders are giving rhetorical support to the Palestinian cause, they are trying to curb the mobilisation in Lebanon. Its recent press statement read: “To freeze preparations in the light of security developments.” Similarly, other Arab states are already on high alert to stop the border crossings by Palestinians. But the Israeli military has a problem. If they resort to a massacre, the Palestinian masses can ignite a revolutionary conflagration that could sweep through the whole Middle East. It 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 — the only way to achieve a genuine and lasting liberation of Palestine.

The writer is the editor of Asian Marxist Review and International Secretary of Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign. He can be reached at ptudc@hotmail.com