One of the hardest done people in the modern world is the Palestinians. Ever since the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which set out a homeland for the Jews in the already long settled lands of Palestine, their destiny seems to be always decreed by powerful countries and interests. And it is done in a way as if the Palestinians were responsible for the sad plight of the Jewish people over the centuries, blamed for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
History bears witness to the persecution of Jews in Europe, and where it was not so blatant, anti-Semitism was still rampant just waiting to explode if given half-a-chance.
Under Donald Trump, who prides himself on giving everything to Israel at the cost of the Palestinians, he still had good things for the Nazi rioters of Charlottesville, saying that there were good people on both sides, equating White racists with others who opposed them. In Philip Roth’s novel, The Plot Against America, this deep anti-Semitism in American society is well woven in the story.
Hitler’s Holocaust brought out such deep racism into the open with an estimated six million Jews killed. In the midst of WWII, it started to weigh on the conscience of allied powers, but not enough to receive Jewish refugees in their own countries. They decided to send the Jews away to Palestine, regarded as the legendry/mythical homeland of the Jews. That required creating space for them by pushing out Palestinians and turning them into a new wave of refugees.
In the process, the state of Israel was created and recognised in 1948. Of course, Israel annexed more territory through the 1967 Six-Day war, refusing to vacate much of the conquered territory and even adding to it through an extensive settlement of more Jewish people on Palestinian land. And there they remain against international law and conventions.
In the process, the internationally promoted two-state solution of Israel and Palestine has so far fallen by the way. Israel has somehow managed to evade it because of its powerful friends, like the United States, on the ground that an independent state of Palestine will somehow be a threat to Israel’s security. And that is despite the fact it is militarily the most powerful country regionally, and its security is underwritten by the United States.
Times have been hard for Palestinians ever since their territory was handed over on a platter, as if to salvage western guilt over their horrible treatment of the Jewish people over the centuries
It has been a very unsatisfactory state of affairs and all diplomatic efforts of the Obama administration to set the ball rolling for a two-state solution didn’t make any headway. If anything, the Netanyahu government did everything possible to put it in the reverse gear, including by expanding the settlement programme.
Since Trump became president, Israel has become his spoiled child, beyond comprehension and international conventions and norms. He and the US recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moving the US embassy there from Tel Aviv. The Israeli occupation of Golan Heights was recognised. Israeli settlements in West Bank, Palestine’s core territory, were legally validated, as far as the US was concerned.
Even as it was going on, Trump also announced his “peace” plan for Israel and Palestine. Basically, Israel is allowed to keep all, and also move into the Jordan valley, calling it the “deal of the century,” which the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas mockingly called “the slap of the century.”
No prize for guessing that Palestine is not interested in signing on and away their territories and sovereignty. Trump even boasted about his plan, “My vision presents a win-win opportunity for both sides, a realistic two-state solution that resolves the risk of Palestinian statehood to Israel’s security.” In other words, Palestine, whatever might be left of it, must fit into Israel’s sense of its security, with its Palestinian population held ransom to Israel’s whims. It is a kind of take it or leave it situation for the Palestinians.
Times have been hard for Palestinians ever since their territory was handed over on a platter, as if to salvage western guilt over their horrible treatment of the Jewish people over the centuries. And granting a state, without requiring much, if any sacrifice on their part seemed the easy way, especially when Palestinians didn’t have much international clout.
After rallying behind the Palestinian issue for some years following its creation in 1948, the Arab states also virtually gave up when faced with an Israel with political and military backing of the United States. And they-like Egypt and Jordan-seemed keen to make their own peace with Israel and be on the US side. Saudi Arabia and Gulf states just want the Palestinian authorities to accept whatever is on offer and stop being an impediment in their strategic ties with Israel against Iran, which is their obsession and overwhelming fear.
The sordid nature of the Trump peace plan is aptly summed up by a reader in his letter to the Sydney Morning Herald. And I quote: “A US President impeached for abuse of power stands with an Israeli Prime Minister indicted for bribery and corruption to deliver a Middle East peace plan drawn up by a New York real estate developer [apparently a reference to Trump’s son-in-law] whose father was jailed for fraud. Sounds reasonable.”
The writer is a senior journalist and academic based in Sydney, Australia